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3614
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Demographics of Botswana
|
<!-- "none" is a legitimate description when the title is already adequate; see WP:SDNONE -->
Demographic features of the population of Botswana include population density, ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations and other aspects.
, year 2008; Number of inhabitants in thousands.]]
Botswana, like many nations in southern Africa, suffers from a high HIV infection rate, estimated among adults ages 15 to 49 to be 20.7%.
Population
Census results
Bechuanaland Protectorate
The seven censuses of Botswana before its independence happened irregularly. Due to the Anglo-Boer War, the first census of Bechuanaland Protectorate, originally set to occur in 1901, took place on 17 April 1904. The 1931 census was postponed to 1936 because of the Great Depression.
UN estimates
According to the total population was in , compared to only 413,000 in 1950. The proportion of children below the age of 15 in 2020 was about 33.4%, 62.1% were between 15 and 65 years of age, while 4.5% of the population were 65 years or older.
{| class"wikitable" style"text-align: right;"
|-
!
! width="80pt"|Total population
! width="80pt"|Population aged 0–14 (%)
! width="80pt"|Population aged 15–64 (%)
! width="80pt"|Population aged 65+ (%)
|-
| 1950
| 413 000||40.9||54.8||4.4
|-
| 1955
| 463 000||41.7||53.9||4.3
|-
| 1960
| 503 000||43.6||52.1||4.3
|-
| 1965
| 560 000||46.8||49.3||4.0
|-
| 1970
| 628 000||47.8||48.3||3.9
|-
| 1975
| 741 000||48.0||48.5||3.5
|-
| 1980
| 898 000||48.5||48.1||3.4
|-
| 1985
|1 070 000||47.9||49.0||3.1
|-
| 1990
|1 287 000||45.0||51.7||3.3
|-
| 1995
|1 469 000||42.2||54.6||3.3
|-
| 2000
|1 643 000||38.7||58.1||3.3
|-
| 2005
|1 799 000||36.5||60.3||3.1
|-
| 2010
|1 987 000||35.0||61.7||3.3
|-
| 2015
|2 121 000||34.9||61.2||3.8
|-
| 2020
|2 352 000||33.4||62.1||4.5
|}
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! width="80pt"|Age Group
! width="80pt"|Male
! width="80pt"|Female
! width="80pt"|Total
! width="80pt"|%
|-
| align="right" | Total
| align="right" | 988 957
| align="right" | 1 035 947
| align="right" | 2 024 904
| align="right" | 100
|-
| align="right" | 0–4
| align="right" | 119 999
| align="right" | 117 315
| align="right" | 237 314
| align="right" | 11.72
|-
| align="right" | 5–9
| align="right" | 108 544
| align="right" | 106 618
| align="right" | 215 162
| align="right" | 10.63
|-
| align="right" | 10–14
| align="right" | 104 419
| align="right" | 102 875
| align="right" | 207 294
| align="right" | 10.24
|-
| align="right" | 15–19
| align="right" | 104 818
| align="right" | 105 928
| align="right" | 210 746
| align="right" | 10.41
|-
| align="right" | 20–24
| align="right" | 97 249
| align="right" | 103 101
| align="right" | 200 350
| align="right" | 9.89
|-
| align="right" | 25–29
| align="right" | 101 194
| align="right" | 106 658
| align="right" | 207 852
| align="right" | 10.26
|-
| align="right" | 30–34
| align="right" | 84 515
| align="right" | 86 027
| align="right" | 170 542
| align="right" | 8.42
|-
| align="right" | 35–39
| align="right" | 68 435
| align="right" | 66 784
| align="right" | 135 219
| align="right" | 6.68
|-
| align="right" | 40–44
| align="right" | 48 767
| align="right" | 50 530
| align="right" | 99 297
| align="right" | 4.90
|-
| align="right" | 45–49
| align="right" | 37 881
| align="right" | 44 380
| align="right" | 82 261
| align="right" | 4.06
|-
| align="right" | 50–54
| align="right" | 29 742
| align="right" | 36 620
| align="right" | 66 362
| align="right" | 3.28
|-
| align="right" | 55–59
| align="right" | 24 368
| align="right" | 29 681
| align="right" | 54 049
| align="right" | 2.67
|-
| align="right" | 60–64
| align="right" | 17 344
| align="right" | 20 240
| align="right" | 37 584
| align="right" | 1.86
|-
| align="right" | 65–69
| align="right" | 12 243
| align="right" | 15 504
| align="right" | 27 747
| align="right" | 1.37
|-
| align="right" | 70–74
| align="right" | 9 464
| align="right" | 12 797
| align="right" | 22 261
| align="right" | 1.10
|-
| align="right" | 75–79
| align="right" | 6 968
| align="right" | 10 924
| align="right" | 17 892
| align="right" | 0.88
|-
| align="right" | 80–84
| align="right" | 4 875
| align="right" | 8 344
| align="right" | 13 219
| align="right" | 0.65
|-
| align="right" | 85–89
| align="right" | 2 825
| align="right" | 5 422
| align="right" | 8 247
| align="right" | 0.41
|-
| align="right" | 90–94
| align="right" | 1 377
| align="right" | 2 544
| align="right" | 3 921
| align="right" | 0.19
|-
| align="right" | 95+
| align="right" | 3 930
| align="right" | 3 655
| align="right" | 7 585
| align="right" | 0.37
|-
! width="50"|Age group
! width="80pt"|Male
! width="80"|Female
! width="80"|Total
! width="50"|Percent
|-
| align="right" | 0–14
| align="right" | 332 962
| align="right" | 326 808
| align="right" | 659 770
| align="right" | 32.58
|-
| align="right" | 15–64
| align="right" | 614 313
| align="right" | 649 949
| align="right" | 1 264 262
| align="right" | 62.44
|-
| align="right" | 65+
| align="right" | 41 682
| align="right" | 59 190
| align="right" | 100 872
| align="right" | 4.98
|-
|}
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! width="80pt"|Age Group
! width="80pt"|Male
! width="80pt"|Female
! width="80pt"|Total
! width="80pt"|%
|-
| align="right" | Total
| align="right" | 1 171 507
| align="right" | 1 227 171
| align="right" | 2 398 679
| align="right" | 100
|-
| align="right" | 0–4
| align="right" | 142 150
| align="right" | 138 970
| align="right" | 281 120
| align="right" | 11.72
|-
| align="right" | 5–9
| align="right" | 128 580
| align="right" | 126 298
| align="right" | 254 879
| align="right" | 10.63
|-
| align="right" | 10–14
| align="right" | 123 694
| align="right" | 121 865
| align="right" | 245 558
| align="right" | 10.24
|-
| align="right" | 15–19
| align="right" | 124 166
| align="right" | 125 481
| align="right" | 249 647
| align="right" | 10.41
|-
| align="right" | 20–24
| align="right" | 115 200
| align="right" | 122 132
| align="right" | 237 332
| align="right" | 9.89
|-
| align="right" | 25–29
| align="right" | 119 873
| align="right" | 126 346
| align="right" | 246 219
| align="right" | 10.26
|-
| align="right" | 30–34
| align="right" | 100 116
| align="right" | 101 907
| align="right" | 202 022
| align="right" | 8.42
|-
| align="right" | 35–39
| align="right" | 81 067
| align="right" | 79 112
| align="right" | 160 179
| align="right" | 6.68
|-
| align="right" | 40–44
| align="right" | 57 769
| align="right" | 59 857
| align="right" | 117 626
| align="right" | 4.90
|-
| align="right" | 45–49
| align="right" | 44 873
| align="right" | 52 572
| align="right" | 97 445
| align="right" | 4.06
|-
| align="right" | 50–54
| align="right" | 35 232
| align="right" | 43 380
| align="right" | 78 612
| align="right" | 3.28
|-
| align="right" | 55–59
| align="right" | 28 866
| align="right" | 35 160
| align="right" | 64 026
| align="right" | 2.67
|-
| align="right" | 60–64
| align="right" | 20 546
| align="right" | 23 976
| align="right" | 44 522
| align="right" | 1.86
|-
| align="right" | 65–69
| align="right" | 14 503
| align="right" | 18 366
| align="right" | 32 869
| align="right" | 1.37
|-
| align="right" | 70–74
| align="right" | 11 211
| align="right" | 15 159
| align="right" | 26 370
| align="right" | 1.10
|-
| align="right" | 75–79
| align="right" | 8 254
| align="right" | 12 940
| align="right" | 21 195
| align="right" | 0.88
|-
| align="right" | 80–84
| align="right" | 5 775
| align="right" | 9 884
| align="right" | 15 659
| align="right" | 0.65
|-
| align="right" | 85–89
| align="right" | 3 346
| align="right" | 6 423
| align="right" | 9 769
| align="right" | 0.41
|-
| align="right" | 90–94
| align="right" | 1 631
| align="right" | 3 014
| align="right" | 4 645
| align="right" | 0.19
|-
| align="right" | 95+
| align="right" | 4 655
| align="right" | 4 330
| align="right" | 8 985
| align="right" | 0.37
|-
! width="50"|Age group
! width="80pt"|Male
! width="80"|Female
! width="80"|Total
! width="50"|Percent
|-
| align="right" | 0–14
| align="right" | 394 424
| align="right" | 387 133
| align="right" | 781 557
| align="right" | 32.58
|-
| align="right" | 15–64
| align="right" | 727 708
| align="right" | 769 922
| align="right" | 1 497 630
| align="right" | 62.44
|-
| align="right" | 65+
| align="right" | 49 375
| align="right" | 70 116
| align="right" | 119 491
| align="right" | 4.98
|-
|}
{{Hidden begin
|titlePopulation by Sex and Age Group (Census 18.III.2022):
{| class"wikitable sortable" style"text-align:right"
|-
!
! style="width:80pt;"|Mid-year population (thousands)
! style="width:80pt;"|Live births (thousands)
! style="width:80pt;"|Deaths (thousands)
! style="width:80pt;"|Natural change (thousands)
! style="width:80pt;"|Crude birth rate (per 1000)
! style="width:80pt;"|Crude death rate (per 1000)
! style="width:80pt;"|Natural change (per 1000)
! style="width:80pt;"|Total fertility rate (TFR)
! style="width:80pt;"|Infant mortality (per 1000 live births)
! style="width:80pt;"|Life expectancy (in years)
|-
|1950
| 413
| 19
| 8
| 10
|45.4
|20.3
|25.0
|6.43
|138.1
|44.95
|-
|1951
| 423
| 19
| 9
| 11
|45.6
|20.3
|25.3
|6.43
|136.4
|45.25
|-
|1952
| 433
| 20
| 9
| 11
|45.9
|19.9
|25.9
|6.44
|132.8
|45.86
|-
|1953
| 442
| 21
| 9
| 12
|46.4
|19.5
|26.8
|6.49
|129.3
|46.46
|-
|1954
| 452
| 21
| 9
| 13
|46.8
|19.2
|27.7
|6.53
|125.9
|47.06
|-
|1955
| 462
| 22
| 9
| 13
|47.2
|18.8
|28.4
|6.56
|122.6
|47.65
|-
|1956
| 471
| 22
| 9
| 14
|47.5
|18.4
|29.1
|6.60
|119.5
|48.22
|-
|1957
| 481
| 23
| 9
| 14
|style="color:blue" |47.7
|18.1
|29.7
|6.65
|116.5
|48.74
|-
|1958
| 491
| 24
| 9
| 15
|47.6
|17.6
|30.0
|6.65
|113.4
|49.32
|-
|1959
| 502
| 24
| 9
| 15
|47.5
|17.2
|30.3
|6.65
|110.6
|49.84
|-
|1960
| 513
| 24
| 9
| 16
|47.1
|16.8
|30.3
|6.63
|107.8
|50.37
|-
|1961
| 524
| 25
| 9
| 16
|46.6
|16.3
|30.3
|6.60
|105.0
|50.89
|-
|1962
| 536
| 25
| 9
| 16
|46.1
|15.8
|30.3
|6.57
|102.3
|51.39
|-
|1963
| 549
| 25
| 8
| 17
|46.2
|15.4
|30.8
|6.63
|99.7
|51.88
|-
|1964
| 562
| 26
| 8
| 18
|46.2
|15.0
|31.2
|style="color:blue"|6.69
|97.2
|52.35
|-
|1965
| 571
| 27
| 8
| 18
|45.9
|14.6
|31.3
|6.69
|94.8
|52.81
|-
|1966
| 575
| 27
| 8
| 18
|45.8
|14.3
|31.5
|6.69
|92.4
|53.26
|-
|1967
| 579
| 27
| 8
| 19
|45.7
|14.0
|31.7
|6.68
|90.0
|53.72
|-
|1968
| 583
| 27
| 8
| 19
|45.7
|13.7
|32.0
|6.67
|87.6
|54.19
|-
|1969
| 587
| 27
| 8
| 19
|45.6
|13.4
|32.3
|6.64
|85.0
|54.68
|-
|1970
| 592
| 27
| 8
| 20
|45.7
|13.0
|32.7
|6.62
|82.3
|55.20
|-
|1971
| 604
| 28
| 8
| 20
|45.8
|12.7
|33.1
|6.59
|79.6
|55.75
|-
|1972
| 627
| 29
| 8
| 21
|46.0
|12.2
|33.8
|6.59
|76.6
|56.30
|-
|1973
| 657
| 30
| 8
| 22
|46.1
|11.7
|34.4
|6.59
|73.6
|56.86
|-
|1974
| 692
| 32
| 8
| 24
|46.3
|11.3
|35.0
|6.59
|70.5
|57.42
|-
|1975
| 728
| 34
| 8
| 26
|46.4
|10.9
|35.5
|6.58
|67.3
|58.00
|-
|1976
| 766
| 35
| 8
| 27
|46.4
|10.4
|36.0
|6.56
|64.1
|58.58
|-
|1977
| 807
| 37
| 8
| 29
|46.0
|10.0
|36.0
|6.50
|61.0
|59.17
|-
|1978
| 849
| 39
| 8
| 30
|45.7
|9.6
|style="color:blue" |36.1
|6.44
|57.9
|59.69
|-
|1979
| 894
| 40
| 8
| 32
|45.1
|9.2
|35.9
|6.36
|55.0
|60.18
|-
|1980
| 939
| 42
| 8
| 33
|44.5
|8.9
|35.6
|6.25
|52.3
|60.65
|-
|1981
| 983
| 43
| 8
| 34
|43.7
|8.5
|35.2
|6.13
|49.7
|61.13
|-
|1982
| 1 023
| 43
| 8
| 35
|42.5
|8.2
|34.3
|5.93
|47.2
|61.57
|-
|1983
| 1 061
| 44
| 8
| 36
|41.5
|7.9
|33.5
|5.75
|44.9
|62.00
|-
|1984
| 1 099
| 45
| 8
| 36
|40.6
|7.7
|32.9
|5.58
|42.8
|62.36
|-
|1985
| 1 139
| 45
| 8
| 37
|39.8
|7.5
|32.3
|5.43
|40.8
|62.63
|-
|1986
| 1 179
| 46
| 9
| 37
|39.0
|7.4
|31.6
|5.27
|39.1
|62.68
|-
|1987
| 1 220
| 46
| 9
| 37
|37.8
|7.3
|30.4
|5.06
|37.7
|62.52
|-
|1988
| 1 261
| 46
| 10
| 36
|36.5
|7.6
|28.9
|4.85
|37.3
|61.76
|-
|1989
| 1 302
| 46
| 10
| 36
|35.3
|7.7
|27.7
|4.65
|36.5
|61.43
|-
|1990
| 1 341
| 46
| 11
| 35
|34.4
|8.0
|26.4
|4.49
|36.9
|60.53
|-
|1991
| 1 381
| 46
| 12
| 35
|33.5
|8.4
|25.1
|4.34
|38.2
|59.47
|-
|1992
| 1 421
| 47
| 13
| 34
|33.2
|8.9
|24.2
|4.23
|40.2
|58.35
|-
|1993
| 1 462
| 48
| 14
| 34
|32.8
|9.3
|23.5
|4.13
|42.4
|57.72
|-
|1994
| 1 504
| 48
| 15
| 33
|32.2
|10.0
|22.2
|4.01
|44.9
|56.15
|-
|1995
| 1 544
| 48
| 16
| 31
|31.0
|10.6
|20.4
|3.80
|47.8
|55.06
|-
|1996
| 1 582
| 47
| 17
| 30
|29.9
|11.0
|18.9
|3.60
|50.2
|54.36
|-
|1997
| 1 619
| 47
| 19
| 28
|29.1
|11.5
|17.6
|3.46
|52.7
|53.45
|-
|1998
| 1 656
| 48
| 20
| 28
|29.0
|12.1
|16.9
|3.40
|54.7
|52.52
|-
|1999
| 1 692
| 49
| 21
| 27
|28.9
|12.6
|16.3
|3.34
|56.3
|51.69
|-
|2000
| 1 727
| 50
| 23
| 27
|29.0
|13.1
|15.8
|3.31
|57.3
|51.01
|-
|2001
| 1 762
| 51
|style="color:red" | 24
| 27
|28.9
|13.4
|15.5
|3.26
|57.1
|50.68
|-
|2002
| 1 795
| 51
| 24
| 27
|28.5
|13.5
|14.9
|3.18
|56.0
|50.63
|-
|2003
| 1 827
| 51
| 24
| 27
|28.2
|13.4
|14.8
|3.11
|54.6
|50.95
|-
|2004
| 1 859
| 52
| 24
| 28
|28.1
|13.1
|15.1
|3.07
|52.5
|51.62
|-
|2005
| 1 893
| 54
| 24
| 30
|28.4
|12.6
|15.8
|3.08
|48.9
|52.61
|-
|2006
| 1 929
| 55
| 23
| 32
|28.6
|11.9
|16.8
|3.09
|46.0
|53.92
|-
|2007
| 1 967
| 56
| 21
| 35
|28.6
|10.9
|17.6
|3.08
|43.4
|55.73
|-
|2008
| 2 007
| 57
| 21
| 36
|28.4
|10.3
|18.2
|3.07
|42.7
|57.12
|-
|2009
| 2 049
| 58
| 20
| 38
|28.2
|9.7
|18.5
|3.05
|41.2
|58.28
|-
|2010
| 2 092
| 58
| 19
| 40
|27.9
|8.9
|19.0
|3.02
|38.6
|60.01
|-
|2011
| 2 134
| 59
| 19
| 40
|27.6
|8.7
|18.9
|3.00
|38.9
|60.53
|-
|2012
| 2 175
| 60
| 19
| 41
|27.4
|8.7
|18.7
|2.98
|38.2
|60.80
|-
|2013
| 2 217
| 60
| 18
| 42
|27.1
|8.2
|18.9
|2.96
|37.4
|62.00
|-
|2014
| 2 260
| 61
| 18
| 43
|26.8
|7.9
|18.8
|2.95
|37.8
|62.61
|-
|2015
| 2 305
| 61
| 17
| 44
|26.4
|7.4
|19.0
|2.94
|37.4
|63.82
|-
|2016
| 2 352
| 61
| 16
| 45
|26.1
|6.8
|19.3
|2.93
|37.1
|65.46
|-
|2017
| 2 402
|style="color:blue" | 62
| 15
|style="color:blue" | 46
|25.7
|style="color:blue" |6.3
|19.4
|2.91
|36.2
|66.75
|-
|2018
| 2 451
| 62
| 17
| 45
|25.3
|6.9
|18.4
|2.90
|35.6
|65.42
|-
|2019
| 2 500
| 62
| 17
| 45
|24.9
|7.0
|17.9
|2.88
|34.9
|65.46
|-
|2020
| 2 546
| 62
| 18
| 44
|24.2
|7.0
|17.2
|2.84
|34.2
|65.65
|-
|2021
| 2 588
| 61
| 24
| 37
|style="color:red" |23.6
|9.5
|style="color:red" |14.1
|style="color:red" |2.79
|33.3
|61.14
|-
|}
Registered births and deaths
{| class="wikitable"
! width="70" |Year
! width="70" |Population
! width="70" |Live births
! width="70" |Deaths
! width="70" |Natural increase
! width="70" |Crude birth rate
! width="70" |Crude death rate
! width="70" |Rate of natural increase
! width="70" |TFR
|-
| align="right" |1964
| align="right" |514 876
| align="right" |
| align="right" |
| align="right" |
| align="right" |
| align="right" |
| align="right" |
| align="right" |
|-
| align="right" |1971
| align="right" |574 094
| align="right" |
| align="right" |
| align="right" |
| align="right" |45.3
| align="right" |13.7
| align="right" |31.6
| align="right" |6.5
|-
| align="right" |1981
| align="right" |941 027
| align="right" |45 026
| align="right" |12 835
| align="right" |32 191
| align="right" |48.7
| align="right" |13.9
| align="right" |34.8
| align="right" |6.6
|-
| align="right" |1991
| align="right" |1 326 796
| align="right" |52 351
| align="right" |15 221
| align="right" |37 130
| align="right" |39.3
| align="right" |11.5
| align="right" |27.8
| align="right" |4.2
|-
| align="right" |1992
| align="right" |1 358 639
| align="right" |52 416
| align="right" |15 344
| align="right" |37 072
| align="right" |38.6
| align="right" |11.3
| align="right" |27.3
| align="right" |4.2
|-
| align="right" |1993
| align="right" |1 391 245
| align="right" |52 437
| align="right" |15 578
| align="right" |36 859
| align="right" |37.7
| align="right" |11.2
| align="right" |26.5
| align="right" |4.1
|-
| align="right" |1994
| align="right" |1 424 636
| align="right" |52 598
| align="right" |15 822
| align="right" |36 776
| align="right" |36.9
| align="right" |11.1
| align="right" |25.8
| align="right" |4.1
|-
| align="right" |1995
| align="right" |1 458 828
| align="right" |52 759
| align="right" |15 926
| align="right" |36 833
| align="right" |33.7
| align="right" |11.0
| align="right" |22.7
| align="right" |4.1
|-
| align="right" |1996
| align="right" |1 495 993
| align="right" |52 921
| align="right" |16 031
| align="right" |36 890
| align="right" |32.4
| align="right" |10.9
| align="right" |21.5
| align="right" |4.0
|-
| align="right" |1997
| align="right" |1 533 393
| align="right" |53 083
| align="right" |16 137
| align="right" |36 946
| align="right" |32.3
| align="right" |10.8
| align="right" |21.5
| align="right" |4.0
|-
| align="right" |1998
| align="right" |1 571 728
| align="right" |53 245
| align="right" |16 244
| align="right" |37 001
| align="right" |32.2
| align="right" |10.7
| align="right" |21.5
| align="right" |4.0
|-
| align="right" |1999
| align="right" |1 611 021
| align="right" |53 407
| align="right" |16 352
| align="right" |37 055
| align="right" |32.1
| align="right" |10.6
| align="right" |21.5
| align="right" |3.9
|-
| align="right" |2001
| align="right" |1 680 862
| align="right" |41 080
| align="right" |20 823
| align="right" |20 257
| align="right" |28.9
| align="right" |12.4
| align="right" |16.5
| align="right" |3.3
|-
| align="right" |2002
| align="right" |1 667 487
| align="right" |
| align="right" |
| align="right" |
| align="right" |
| align="right" |
| align="right" |
| align="right" |
|-
| align="right" |2003
| align="right" |1 691 390
| align="right" |41 206
| align="right" |
| align="right" |
| align="right" |24.4
| align="right" |
| align="right" |
| align="right" |
|-
| align="right" |2004
| align="right" |1 711 334
| align="right" |37 947
| align="right" |
| align="right" |
| align="right" |22.2
| align="right" |
| align="right" |
| align="right" |
|-
| align="right" |2005
| align="right" |1 727 372
| align="right" |46 945
| align="right" |
| align="right" |
| align="right" |27.2
| align="right" |
| align="right" |
| align="right" |
|-
| align="right" |2006
| align="right" |1 739 556
| align="right" |44 050
| align="right" |19 088
| align="right" |24 962
| align="right" |29.8
| align="right" |11.2
| align="right" |18.6
| align="right" |3.2
|-
| align="right" |2007
| align="right" |1 756 651
| align="right" |44 452
| align="right" |
| align="right" |
| align="right" |25.3
| align="right" |
| align="right" |
| align="right" |
|-
| align="right" |2008
| align="right" |1 776 283
| align="right" |44 961
| align="right" |
| align="right" |
| align="right" |25.3
| align="right" |
| align="right" |
| align="right" |
|-
| align="right" |2009
| align="right" |1 798 372
| align="right" |46 624
| align="right" |
| align="right" |
| align="right" |25.9
| align="right" |
| align="right" |
| align="right" |
|-
| align="right" |2010
| align="right" |1 822 858
| align="right" |50 328
| align="right" |
| align="right" |
| align="right" |27.6
| align="right" |
| align="right" |
| align="right" |
|-
| align="right" |2011
| align="right" |2 024 904
| align="right" |51 871
| align="right" |13 301
| align="right" |38 570
| align="right" |25.7
| align="right" |6.3
| align="right" |19.4
| align="right" |2.89
|-
| align="right" |2012
| align="right" |2 068 529
| align="right" |50 048
| align="right" |12 270
| align="right" |37 778
| align="right" |24.2
| align="right" |5.9
| align="right" |18.3
| align="right" |
|-
| align="right" |2013
| align="right" |2 110 050
| align="right" |49 839
| align="right" |11 967
| align="right" |37 872
| align="right" |23.6
| align="right" |5.6
| align="right" |18.0
| align="right" |
|-
| align="right" |2014
| align="right" |2 149 255
| align="right" |47 478
| align="right" |12 177
| align="right" |35 301
| align="right" |22.1
| align="right" |5.6
| align="right" |16.5
| align="right" |
|-
| align="right" |2015
| align="right" |2 185 903
| align="right" |57 480
| align="right" |13 030
| align="right" |44 450
| align="right" |26.3
| align="right" |6.0
| align="right" |20.3
| align="right" |
|-
| align="right" |2016
| align="right" |2 219 732
| align="right" |54 267
| align="right" |12 825
| align="right" |41 442
| align="right" |24.4
| align="right" |5.8
| align="right" |18.6
| align="right" |
|-
| align="right" |2017
| align="right" |2 254 021
| align="right" |52 358
| align="right" |12 386
| align="right" |39 972
| align="right" |23.2
| align="right" |5.5
| align="right" |17.7
| align="right" |3.1
|-
| align="right" |2018
| align="right" |2 288 656
| align="right" |54 023
| align="right" |12 609
| align="right" |41 414
| align="right" |23.6
| align="right" |5.5
| align="right" |18.1
| align="right" |2.656
|-
| align="right" |2019
| align="right" |2 323 493
| align="right" |54 100
| align="right" |13 185
| align="right" |40 015
| align="right" |23.3
| align="right" |5.7
| align="right" |17.6
| align="right" |2.648
|-
| align="right" |2020
| align="right" |2 358 445
| align="right" |58 646
| align="right" |12 219
| align="right" |46 427
| align="right" |24.9
| align="right" |5.2
| align="right" |19.7
| align="right" |2.844
|-
| align="right" |2021
| align="right" |2 393 396
| align="right" |50 962
| align="right" |17 590
| align="right" |33 372
| align="right" |21.1
| align="right" |7.3
| align="right" |13.8
| align="right" |2.478
|-
| align="right" |2022
| align="right" |
| align="right" |48 464
| align="right" |
| align="right" |
| align="right" |20.5
| align="right" |
| align="right" |
| align="right" |2.442
|-
|}
Source: Vital Statistics Report 2012.
Life expectancy at birth
Life expectancy from 1950 to 2020 (UN World Population Prospects):
{| class"wikitable" style"text-align:center"
!Period
!Life expectancy in
Years
|-
|1950–1955
|44.89
|-
|1955–1960
| 47.82
|-
|1960–1965
| 50.42
|-
|1965–1970
| 52.67
|-
|1970–1975
| 55.09
|-
|1975–1980
| 57.92
|-
|1980–1985
| 60.11
|-
|1985–1990
| 61.09
|-
|1990–1995
| 56.43
|-
|1995–2000
| 52.63
|-
|2000–2005
| 50.06
|-
|2005–2010
| 55.86
|-
|2010–2015
| 64.45
|-
|2015–2020
| 69.09
|}
Ethnic groups
:Tswana 79%, Kalanga 11%, Basarwa 3%, Other 7% (including Kgalagadi, Indians and Whites).Languages
Setswana 77.3%, Kalanga 7.4%, Sekgalagadi 3.4%, English 2.8%, Shona 2.0%, Sesarwa 1.7%, Sehambukushu 1.6%, Ndebele 1.0%, Others 2.8%. (2011 est.)<ref name"CIATONGA"/>Religions
: Christian 79.1%, Badimo 4.1%, Other 1.4% (includes the Baháʼí Faith, Hindu, Islam, Rastafari), None 15.2%, Unspecified 0.3% (2011 est.)<ref name"CIATONGA"/>Migrants
According to the United Nations, there were 110,596 international migrants in Botswana in 2019. Their most common countries of origin were as follows:
{| class"wikitable" style"width:30em;"
! colspan=2|International migrants in Botswana in 2019
|-
! style="background:#ddf; width:75%;"|
! style="background:#ddf; width:25%;"|
|-
| ||
|-
| ||
|-
| ||
|-
| ||
|-
| ||
|-
| ||
|-
| ||
|-
| ||
|-
| ||
|-
| ||
|-
| ||
|-
| ||
|-
| ||
|-
| ||
|-
| ||
|-
| ||
|-
| ||
|-
| ||
|-
| ||
|-
|colspan"2" style"text-align:center;"| <small>Source: United Nations</small>
|}
References
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20060618200158/http://www.cso.gov.bw/html/tabdem04_dem1.html Botswana Demographics 2001] Central Statistics Office (Botswana), Census and Demographic Statistics for the year 2001.
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Botswana
|
2025-04-05T18:26:27.096153
|
3615
|
Politics of Botswana
|
Botswana is a parliamentary republic in which the President of Botswana is both head of state and head of government. The nation's politics are based heavily on British parliamentary politics and on traditional Batswana chiefdom. The legislature is made up of the unicameral National Assembly and the advisory body of tribal chiefs, the Ntlo ya Dikgosi. The National Assembly chooses the president, but once in office the president has significant authority over the legislature with only limited separation of powers.
The Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) ruled as the dominant party from 1966 to 2024; while elections are considered free and fair by observers, the BDP controlled the National Assembly since independence.
Political opposition often existed between factions in the BDP rather than through separate parties, though several opposition parties existed and regularly held a small number of seats in the National Assembly. The Umbrella for Democratic Change is a coalition of opposition parties, and won power 1 November 2024.
Botswana achieved independence from the United Kingdom in 1966. The BDP led by Seretse Khama formed the first government, and continued winning elections every five years. Quett Masire became president following Khama's death in 1980, and the BDP was enveloped by factionalism in the 1990s. This factionalism persisted through the presidencies of Festus Mogae from 1998 to 2008 and Ian Khama from 2008 to 2018. Khama's successor, Mokgweetsi Masisi, became president in 2018 and developed a strong political rivalry with Khama, which came to define politics in Botswana over the following years.
Elections were held on 30 October 2024, in which the Umbrella for Democratic Change won and took power, ending the BDP's rule since 1966, with Duma Boko being sworn in as President on 1 November 2024.
Botswana has an above average human rights record, and it is recognised by human rights groups as one of the strongest democracies in Africa. Economic policy in Botswana revolves around the nation's lucrative diamond industry, which makes up a significant portion of the economy. The country has been praised as an economic success as it pursued free market policies in the 20th century, and it has since shifted to more redistributive economic policy. Wealth inequality remains high and welfare programs are limited, but public services and infrastructure receive strong funding. Foreign policy in Botswana has historically emphasised multilateralism and realpolitik. Apartheid-era South Africa was the nation's primary foreign policy concern until 1994 and then instability in Zimbabwe thereafter.
History
Pre-statehood
The location of present-day Botswana was historically controlled by Bantu peoples, primarily the Tswana people. Many legal traditions practiced by the Tswana people, such as respect for traditional authority and protection of property rights, have played a role in the development of post-colonial Botswana politics. Centralised political structures developed prior to colonisation have also been retained. Politics of the Tswana people prior to statehood was often led by chiefs, who continue to have a role in Botswana politics. In the early-19th century, these chiefdoms developed into nation states. These nation states incorporated limited government and ethnic pluralism.
The United Kingdom first began influencing the region in the 1820s, and the region became part of the British Empire in 1885 as the Bechuanaland Protectorate. The Tswana people were made subjects of the Crown and placed under British law. The first significant movement for independence was led by the radical Bechuanaland People's Party. The Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) was formed by Seretse Khama in 1962 as part of a negotiated independence process. Botswana became self-governing in 1965, and it became an independent republic in 1966. The United Kingdom continued to invest in the country financially and pay some of its expenses through 1971. Mmusi's resignation led to Festus Mogae being chosen as the next vice president. The incident firmly established a growing factional conflict within the BDP. Mmusi and Kwelagobe formed one faction, the Big Two. Mompati Merafhe and his supporters—namely David Magang, Bahiti Temane, Roy Blackbeard, and Chapson Butale—formed an opposing faction, the Big Five. Kwelagobe aligned with Ponatshego Kedikilwe following Mmusi's death, and they renamed themselves the Barata-Phathi. The BDP underwent its first split in 2010 when Khama encouraged the Barata-Phathi faction to leave the party, and they formed the Botswana Movement for Democracy, led by Gomolemo Motswaledi.
Khama stepped down in 2018, and Vice President Mokgweetsi Masisi became president. He immediately reversed Khama's policies and replaced top officials who had been appointed by Khama. The two former allies quickly became political rivals, and Khama defected from the Botswana Democratic Party. He instead aligned with the newly formed Botswana Patriotic Front in addition to supporting the Umbrella for Democratic Change. This made the 2019 general election the first competitive election in the nation's history, but the BDP remained in power with 52.7% of the total vote, winning 38 of the 57 seats in the assembly.
Opposition's rise to power
In the run-up to the 2024 Botswana general election, the opposition was splintered, therefore it was thought that BDP would cruise to a comfortable victory again. Despite this division, opposition UDC was able to gain an outright majority of seats in the parliament and Duma Boko was elected to the Presidency. BDP was relegated to fourth place. Masisi peacefully conceded defeat and handed over power to the opposition.
National government
Botswana is a parliamentary republic governed by the Constitution of Botswana. The constitution has been in effect since Botswana became independent from the United Kingdom on 30 September 1966. This makes it the longest uninterrupted democracy in Africa.
The legislative body of Botswana is the National Assembly, a unicameral body consisting of 63 members. 57 of these members are directly elected by their constituents and six of these members are chosen by the National Assembly. The President of Botswana and the Speaker of the National Assembly are ex officio members. For a bill to become a law, it must be approved by the National Assembly and by the president. The assembly uses a question time procedure to obtain information. and the position has historically been associated with a major tribe. There are eight judges of the Court of Appeal, who are all expatriates drawn from different parts of the Commonwealth. To date, no Motswana has ever been appointed to the Court of Appeal.
The High Court is a superior court of record with unlimited original jurisdiction to hear and determine any criminal and civil cases under any law. The High Court is constituted under section 95 of the Constitution, and consists of a Chief Justice and such number of other judges of the High Court as may be prescribed by the National Assembly. There are also Magistrates' Courts in Botswana. These courts are subordinate to the High Court and hear a range of civil, criminal and family law matters. There are nineteen Magistrates' Courts in the country, with fifty magistrates of whom seventeen are expatriate. Smaller towns also have town councils, while rural areas are collected under district councils. These councils are primarily responsible for education, health, roads, water, local development, and general welfare. Local governmental bodies do not collect significant funds, and nearly all local spending is funded by the national government. Each district is under the jurisdiction of a district administration, led by a district commissioner. A multi-party system allows several opposition parties to stand for election and seek representation in the legislature. Despite never holding a majority, opposition parties in Botswana wield more power than those of most other African countries, as there are no legal barriers to restrict the creation or growth of an opposition party. The opposition in the Botswana legislature has often been fragmented, with several parties competing with one another in addition to challenging the BDP.
Elections
Botswana has held regular elections since its independence at five year intervals, all of which have been won by the Botswana Democratic Party. Elections are overseen by the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC). Elections in Botswana use first-past-the-post voting in which the winner is the candidate that receives a majority or plurality of votes.
The independence of Botswana's elections have been the subject of scrutiny. While elections are free and opposition parties are unrestrained, the incumbent party has access to other advantages. Prior to the creation of the IEC, the ruling party controlled elections through the Office of the Supervisor of Elections. The creation of the IEC has mitigated this to some extent, though its power to regulate elections is questioned. The country's economic success is attributed to neoliberal policies of free markets and private property protections, significantly increasing the population's post-independence living standards. Its landlocked territory and export-driven economy have incentivised it to maintain strong diplomatic ties with other countries, As South Africa liberalised after 1994, Botswana's primary foreign policy concern became the instability in neighbouring Zimbabwe.
Social policy
Botswana's relative wealth compared to other countries in the region has allowed for high spending on public services such as education, health, and infrastructure. As of 2014, the Ministry of Education and Skills Development had the largest budget of any government initiative. Transparency International has regularly recognised Botswana as the least corrupt country in Africa,
References
Bibliography
External links
Judgments of the Botswana Court of Appeal
Judgments of the Botswana High Court
Republic of Botswana – Government portal
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Politics_of_Botswana
|
2025-04-05T18:26:27.135910
|
3616
|
Economy of Botswana
|
| population 2,630,296 (2022)
| gdp = $22.12 billion (nominal, 2025 est.)}}
| gdp rank =
| growth =
| per capita = $8,000 (nominal, 2025 est.)}}
| inflation 4% (2024 est.)
| poverty = )
*60.4% on less than $5.50/day (2015)}}
| gini 45.5 (2016)
| hdi = 0.708 (2022)}}
| labor = 1,107,235 (2019)
*55.7% employment rate (2013)}}
| edbr 87th (easy, 2020)
| unemployment 23.4% ()
| industries = diamonds, copper, nickel, salt, soda ash, potash, coal, iron ore, silver; beef processing; textiles
| exports $8.9 billion (2022 est.)
| revenue 5.305 billion (2017 est.)
| credit =
| reserves $4.279 billion (2022 est.) averaging about 5% per annum over the past decade. Economic growth since the late 1960s has been on par with some of Asia's largest economies. The government has consistently maintained budget surpluses and has extensive foreign-exchange reserves.
Botswana's impressive economic record compared to some of its neighbors has been built on a foundation of diamond mining, prudent fiscal policies, and a cautious foreign policy. Botswana's economy is mostly dependent on diamond mining. Diamond mining contributes to 50% of the government revenue mainly through its 50:50 joint venture with De Beers in the Debswana Diamond Company. As of 2020, it is rated as the third least corrupt country in Africa in the Corruption Perceptions Index by international corruption watchdog Transparency International. It has the fourth highest gross national income per capita in purchasing power in Africa and above the world average.
Trade unions represent a minority of workers in the Botswana economy. In general they are loosely organised "in-house" unions, although the Botswana Federation of Trade Unions (BFTU) is consolidating its role as the sole national trade union centre in the country.
Although Botswana's economy is considered a model for countries in the region, its overreliance on mining and its high rate of HIV/AIDS infection (one in every three adults is seropositive) and unemployment may threaten its future success. Botswana has become the first high-burden country to be certified for achieving an important milestone on the path to eliminating mother-to-child transmission of HIV by the World Health Organization (WHO).
History
thumb|300px
|GDP per capita (current), compared to neighbouring countries (world average = 100)
Agriculture still provides a livelihood for 70% of the rural population but supplies only about 50% of food needs and accounted for only 1.8% of GDP as of 2016. Subsistence farming and cattle raising predominate. This was exacerbated by a major global downturn in the industrial sector, which shrank by 30%, Botswana's steep economic downturn contrasted with most other African nations which experienced continued growth through this period.
Trade
]]
Botswana is crossed by the trans-African automobile route - the Cairo-Cape Town Highway and the Trans-Kalahari Corridor. Botswana is part of the Southern African Customs Union (SACU) with South Africa, Lesotho, Eswatini, and Namibia. The World Bank reports that in 2001 (the most recent year for which World Bank data is available), the SACU had a weighted average common external tariff rate of 3.6%. According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, "there are very few tariff or non-tariff barriers to trade with Botswana, apart from restrictions on licensing for some business operations, which are reserved for [Botswana] companies." Based on the revised trade factor methodology, Botswana's trade policy score is unchanged.
The main export of Botswana is diamonds. As of 2024 it is the world's second largest diamond exporter. Due to Botswana's heavy reliance on diamonds, strong global demand is vital to the health of the economy. Diamond exports provide Botswana's economy with strong supplies of foreign exchange and have offered a basis for industrial development and stimulated improvements in Botswana's infrastructure. However, despite their preeminent role in Botswana's economy, there are concerns that diamond mines are not labour-intensive enough to provide sufficient employment for Botswana's workforce, and this mismatch has been cited as a factor in the country's structurally high unemployment rate.Mining
Two large mining companies, Debswana (formed by the government and South Africa's De Beers in equal partnership) and Bamangwato Concessions, Ltd. (BCL, also with substantial government equity participation) operate in the country. Diamonds and other gems is the second biggest in the world today.]]Since early 1980s, the country has been one of the world's largest producers of gem diamonds. Eight large diamond mines have opened since independence. De Beers prospectors discovered diamonds in northern Botswana in the early 1970s. Botswana produced a total of 24 million carats of diamonds from Debswana in 2022, and is the highest producer of diamonds by value in the world as of 2023. The Orapa 2000 Expansion of the existing Orapa mine was opened in 2000. In 2003, Debswana opened the Damtshaa diamond mine about 220 kilometers (140 mi) west of the city of Francistown. The mine was placed into care and maintenance in December 2015 due to weak global demand but was scheduled to reopen in January 2018. In 2008, Australia's Kimberley Diamond Company opened a mine in Lerala, Botswana's fifth mine and the first not operated by Debswana. However, Kimberley shut down the mine in May 2017, citing weak market conditions.
Most of Botswana's electricity is imported from South Africa's Eskom. Debswana operates the nearby Morupule Colliery to supply coal to it. Botswana exported $3.12k worth of electricity from 2021 to 2022, all going to Zimbabwe. In early 2008, the entire southern African region was hit hard by massive shortages of power, since the region works to share its power resources through the Southern African Power Pool, with most of its capacity coming from South Africa. Botswana has in turn put in place plans to become a net exporter of power to the regional pool, through governmental expansion of the Morupule power station, as well as encouraging private investment in the form of a 4 gigawatt power station by the Canadian greenfield company CIC Energy. In 2012, CIC Energy was acquired by India's Jindal Steel and Power. Jindal Africa currently aims to operate three surface mines in the coalfields of Mmamabula, as well as a power plant. According to the company, "the mine’s development will meet the demands of 600MW power stations and export region coal markets, with the potential to employ more than 2,000 people."
Botswana also produces soda ash through Botash, a joint venture between the government and South Africa's Chlor-Alkali Holdings (CAH) Group. Botash has been operating in the Sua Pan in northeastern Botswana since April 1991.TourismTourism is an increasingly important industry in Botswana, accounting for approximately 13.1% of GDP in 2019. However, , it was reported to be less than 10%. One of the world's unique ecosystems, the Okavango Delta, is located in Botswana.
The main safari destinations for tourism are Moremi Game Reserve in the Okavango Delta, and Chobe National Park. Botswana is also participating in community-based natural resource management projects by trying to involve villagers in tourism. One example is the village of Khwai and its Khwai Development Trust.
Botswana was the setting for the 1980 movie The Gods Must Be Crazy, although the movie was mostly filmed in South Africa.
The seventh season of The Amazing Race visited Botswana. Tourism has been stimulated by the series of detective novels by Alexander McCall Smith and the American dramatisation that followed them.AgricultureMore than half of Botswana's population lives in rural areas and depends on subsistence crops and livestock farming. Cattle raising dominated Botswana's social and economic life before independence. The national herd was about 2.5 million in the mid-1990s, though the 1995 government-ordered slaughter of the entire herd in Botswana's north-west Ngamiland District, to prevent the spread of "cattle lung disease" to other parts of the country, reduced the number by at least 200,000.Manufacturing
Manufacturing industries in Botswana include food processing, predominantly beef processing, diamond processing, textile and garment manufacturing, beverage making, jewellery making, metals and metal products, soap making, construction materials manufacturing, and glass production.
Manufacturing has potential growth, however, accounting for roughly 5% of the nation's gross domestic product. Over the years, there has been a notable decline in the role of the manufacturing sector in the national economy. The reason for this can be pinned to a number of factors, the main ones being lack of skills, failing to keep up with the latest technology, lack of competitiveness along with bad marketing techniques.
Science and technology
There is a growing science sector in Botswana. The number of publications by Botswanan scientists catalogued in international databases increased from 133 in 2009 to 210 in 2014. In 2018, Botswana produced 281 scientific and technical journal articles. The country has one of the highest levels of scientific productivity in Sub-Saharan Africa. The country also has a high-tech industry, being home to a number of information technology companies. In 2022, Botswana's high-tech exports were worth about $38 million.
Private sector development and foreign investment
Botswana seeks to diversify its economy away from minerals,
External investment in Botswana has grown fitfully. In the early 1990s, two American companies, Owens Corning and H.J. Heinz, made major investments in production facilities in Botswana. In 1997, the St. Paul Group purchased Botswana Insurance, one of the country's leading short-term insurance providers. An American Business Council (ABC), with over 30 member companies, was inaugurated in 1995. Hyundai operated a car assembly plant in Botswana from 1994 to 2000.
]]
Botswana seeks to further diversify its economy away from minerals, down from nearly half of GDP in the early 1990s.
The government considers private-sector participation as being critical to the success of the country's Tenth National Development Plan (2009–2016) and enhancing the role of research and development as being the most effective way to nurture entrepreneurship and private-sector growth. The government is considering additional policies to enhance competitiveness, including a new Foreign Direct Investment Strategy, Competition Policy, Privatisation Master Plan and National Export Development Strategy.
Botswana is known to have vast coal deposits making it possibly one of the most coal-rich countries in the world. Large coal mines, massive coal-fired power plants, as well as a coals to liquid plant (through the Fischer–Tropsch process) to produce synthetic automotive fuel have been planned.
With its proven record of good economic governance, Botswana was ranked as Africa's third least corrupt country in the Corruption Perceptions Index in 2020, ahead of many European and Asian countries. The World Economic Forum rated Botswana as the third most economically competitive nation in Africa in 2002. In 2001 Botswana was once again assigned "A" grade credit ratings by Moody's and Standard & Poor's.
U.S. investment in Botswana remains at relatively low levels but continues to grow. Major U.S. corporations, such as Coca-Cola and H.J. Heinz, are present through direct investments, while others, such as Kentucky Fried Chicken, are present via franchise. Following South Africa's accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO), Botswana also joined; many of the SACU duties are thus declining, making products from outside the area more competitive in Botswana.
]]
Gaborone is host to the headquarters of the fourteen-nation Southern African Development Community (SADC), a successor to the Southern African Development Coordination Conference (SADCC, established in 1980), which focused its efforts on freeing regional economic development from dependence on apartheid South Africa.
Financial sector
Botswana has a growing financial sector, and the country's national stock market, the Botswana Stock Exchange (BSE), based in Gaborone, is given the responsibility to operate and regulate the equities and fixed interest securities market. Formally established in 1989, the BSE continues to be pivotal to Botswana's financial system, and in particular the capital market, as an avenue on which government, quasi-government and the private sector can raise debt and equity capital. Although the BSE has just under 40 companies listed, it plays host to the most pre-eminent companies doing business in Botswana. These companies represent a spectrum of industries and commerce, from Banking and financial services to Wholesaling and Retailing, Tourism and Information Technology.
Botswana's currency, the pula, is fully convertible and is valued against a basket of currencies heavily weighted toward the South African Rand. Mobile banking services have just started to be offered. In recent years the government and Central Bank have undertaken serious steps to modernize the country's payment system infrastructure. These efforts included the establishment of a code-line clearing system for the exchange of cheques and electronic funds as well as a Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) system, including SWIFT connection.
Gaborone is host to the headquarters of the 14-nation Southern African Development Community (SADC).<ref name"Background 2002" /> A successor to the Southern African Development Coordination Conference (SADCC), which focused its efforts on freeing regional economic development from dependence on apartheid in South Africa, SADC embraced the newly democratic South Africa as a member in 1994 and has a broad mandate to encourage growth, development, and economic integration in Southern Africa.<ref name"Background 2002" /> SADC's Trade Protocol, which was launched on 1 September 2000, calls for the elimination of all tariff and non-tariff barriers to trade by 2012 among the 11 signatory countries.<ref name"Background 2002" /> If successful, it will give Botswana companies free access to the far larger regional market.<ref name"Background 2002" /> The Regional Centre for Southern Africa (RCSA), which implements the U.S. Agency for International Development's (USAID) Initiative for Southern Africa (ISA), is headquartered in Gaborone as well.<ref name"Background 2002" />See also
* Botswana
* Education in Botswana
* List of Botswana companies
* Science and technology in Botswana
* United Nations Economic Commission for Africa
References
Further reading
*
*
*
*
*
External links
* [http://www.trademap.org/open_access/Index.aspx?proceedtrue&reporter072 Botswana latest trade data on ITC Trade Map]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20080921071451/http://mbendi.co.za/land/af/bo/p0005.htm MBendi Botswana overview]
Botswana
Botswana
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Botswana
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Telecommunications in Botswana
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Telecommunications in Botswana include newspapers, radio, television, fixed and mobile telephones, and the Internet.
In addition to the government-owned newspaper and national radio network, there is an active, independent press (six weekly newspapers). Foreign publications are sold without restriction in Botswana. Two privately owned radio stations began operations in 1999. Botswana's first national television station, the government-owned Botswana Television (BTV), was launched in July 2000. It began broadcasting with three hours of programming on weekdays and five on weekends, offering news in Setswana and English, entertainment, and sports, with plans to produce 60% of its programming locally. The cellular phone providers Orange and MTN cover most of the country.
Radio stations
2 state-owned national radio stations; 3 privately owned radio stations broadcast locally (2007);
101,713 (2001);
98,568 (2003).
173,327 (2006)
297,233 (2008)
297,971 (2011)
365,650 (2014).
Telephones
Main lines in use:
160,500 lines, 134th in the world (2012);
136,900 (2006).
Mobile cellular in use:
3.1 million lines, 129th in the world (2012);
120,000 users, 154th in the world (2009);
348,124 wireless broadband subscriptions, 102nd in the world; 16.6% of the population, 76th in the world.
Internet hosts:
1,806 hosts (2012);
Internet Service Providers:
11 ISPs (2001);
2 ISPs (1999).
ADSL has been introduced in the following areas:
Gaborone, Tlkokweng, Mogoditsane, Phakalane, Francistown, Lobatse, Palapye, Maun, Kasane, Selibe-Phikwe, Letlhakane, Jwaneng, and Orapa.
See also
Botswana
Botswana Television
Media of Botswana
Internet in Botswana
Botswana Internet Exchange
Telephone numbers in Botswana
Botswana Communications Regulatory Authority
References
External links
Botswana Communications Regulatory Authority (BOCRA).
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telecommunications_in_Botswana
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Transport in Botswana
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thumb|Flag of Botswana
Transportation in Botswana is provided by an extensive network of railways, highways, ferry services and air routes that criss-cross the country. The transport sector in Botswana played an important role in economic growth following its independence in 1966. The country discovered natural resources which allowed it to finance the development of infrastructure, and policy ensured that the transport sector grew at an affordable pace commensurate with demands for services.
Rail transport
Rail services are provided by Botswana Railways, with most routes radiating from Gaborone. Botswana has the 93rd longest railway network in the world at 888 km, it is one of the busiest railways in Africa. The track gauge is 1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in) (cape gauge). Botswana is an associate member of the International Union of Railways (UIC).thumb|The new chairs of BR Express
Regional trains (BR Express)
Botswana Railways run 2 nightly passenger trains, one from Lobatse to Francistown, and the other from Francistown to Lobatse, with stops in Gaborone, Mahalapye, Palapye, and Serule. The passenger train is termed the "BR Express" (Botswana Railways). Passenger services were suspended from 2009 to 2016, with the exception of an international link to Zimbabwe from Francistown.thumb
Commuter/suburban trains
In Botswana, the (Botswana Railways) "BR Express" has a commuter train between Lobatse and Gaborone. The train departs to Lobatse at 0530hrs and arrives at Gaborone at 0649hrs. This train returns to Lobatse in the evening, departing in Gaborone at 1800hrs. Arrival time at Lobatse is 1934hrs. The train stops at Otse, Ramotswa, and Commerce Park Halt.
BR Express Sleeping & Dining Department
thumb|BR Express Dining Department
From the beginning, the BR decided to operate its own sleeping cars, thus building bigger-sized berths and more comfortable surroundings. Providing and operating their cars allowed better control of the services and revenue. While the food was served to passengers, the profits were never result of serving the food. Those who could afford to travel great distances expected better facilities, and favorable opinions from the overall experience would attract others to Botswana and the BR's trains.
Stations
Freight trains
thumb|Freight Train of Botswana
Over half of BRs freight traffic is in coal, grain and intermodal freight, and it also ships automotive parts and assembled automobiles, sulphur, fertilizers, other chemicals, soda ash, forest products and other types of the commodities.
Locomotives
thumb|BR Express Train from Gaborone to Francistown
thumb
Diesel locomotives
As of March 2009:
8 General Electric UM 22C diesel-electric locomotive, 1982.
20 General Motors Model GT22LC-2 diesel-electric locomotive, 1986.
10 General Electric UI5C diesel-electric locomotive, 1990.
8 new gt142aces were delivered in the end of 2017.
Network
thumb|Botswana rail network
total: 888 km (since 2015)
number of stations: 13
standard gauge: 1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in) cape gauge.
Railway links with adjacent countries
Existing
South Africa (same gauge)
Zimbabwe (same gauge)
Currently under construction
Zambia - being built at Kazungula Bridge in Kazungula.
Proposed
Namibia
Mozambique
Road transport
Vehicle population
Botswana had 584,000 locally registered vehicles at the end of June 2019 - more than double the number compared to 10 years prior. This equates to around 250 vehicles per 1,000 people in the country.
30,583 vehicles were registered in the first 6 months of 2019.
Secondhand imports from Asia and the UK are a significant source of vehicles in Botswana.
thumb|Bus on the A1l
thumb|Cargo Trucking o the A3
A-roads
A-roads are highways and other major roads.
RoadConnectionsA1Zimbabwe (A7) - Ramokgwebane (B315) - Tshesebe (B311) - Francistown (A3, B162) - Dikabeya (B151) - Serule (A15) - Palapye (A14, B140) - Mahalapye (B145, B147) - Pilane (B130) - Gaborone (A10, A12) - Ramotswa (A11, B111) - Otse (B105) - Lobatse (A2) - Ramatlabama (B202) - South Africa (R503)A2Namibia (B6) - Charleshill (B214) - A3 (south of Ghanzi) - Morwamosu (B102) - Sekoma (A20) - Kanye (A10, B105, B202) - Lobatse (A1) - South Africa (N4)A3A2 - Ghanzi - Sehithwa (A35) - Maun (B334) - Matopi (B300) - Nata (A33) - Dukwe (A32) - Sebina (A31) - Francistown (A30, A1)A10Gaborone (A1, A12) - Thamaga (B111) - Mosopa - Kanye (A2, B105, B202)A11A1 - RamotswaA12Molepolole (B102, B111, B112) - Metsimotlhaba (B122) - Gaborone (A1) - South Africa (R49)A14Orapa (A30, B300) - Serowe (B145) - Palapye (A1, B140)A15Serule (A1) - Selebi Phikwe (B157, B150)A20Sekoma (A2) - Khakhea (B205) - Tshabong (B210, B211)A30Orapa (A14, B300) - Francistown (A3)A31Tutume - Sebina (A3)A32Sowa - Dukwe (A3)A33Namibia (B6) - Muchenje - Kasane - Pandamatenga (B333) - Nata (A3)A35Namibia - Shakawe - Sehithwa (A3)
B-roads
B-roads are smaller distributor roads.
RoadConnectionsB102Morwamosu (A2) - Molepolole (A12, B111, B112)B105Kanye (A2, A10, B202) - Otse (A1)B111Molepolole (A12, B102, B112) - Thamaga (A10) - Ramotswa (A1, A11)B112Shoshong (B145) - Molepolole (A12, B102, B111)B122Lentsweletau (B123) - Metsimotlhaba (A12)B123Lentsweletau (B122) - eastB130Pilane (A1) - Mochudi - Sikwane (B135) - South AfricaB135Malolwane - Sikwane (B130)B140Palapye (A1, A14) - Sherwood (B141) - South Africa (Grobler's Bridge, N11)B141Machaneng (B147, B148) - Sherwood (B140)B145Serowe (A14) - Shoshong (B112) - Mahalapye (A1, B147)B147Mahalapye (A1, B145) - Machaneng (B141, B148)B148B140 - Machaneng (B141, B147)B150Selebi Phikwe (A15) - Sefophe (B150) - TsetsebjweB151Dikabeya (A1) - Sefophe (B151) - Bobonong (B155) - KobojangoB155Bobonong (B150) - MolalatauB157Mmadinare - Selebi Phikwe (A15)B162Francistown (A1, A3) - MatsilojeB202Kanye (A2, A10, B105) - Ramatlabama (A1)B205A2 - Khakhea (A20) - southB210Tshabong (A20, B211) - South Africa (R380)B211South Africa - Bokspits - Tshabong (A20, B210)B214Charleshill (A2) - NcojaneB300Matopi (A3) - Rakops - Orapa (A14, A30)B311Masunga (B316) - Tshesebe (A1)B315Zwenshambe (B316) - Moroka - Ramokgwebane (A1)B316Zwenshambe (B315) - Masunga (B311)B333A33 - Pandamatenga - ZimbabweB334Shorobe - Maun (A3)
Motorways
Motorways in Botswana have a set of restrictions, which prohibit certain traffic from using the road. The following classes of traffic are not allowed on Botswana motorways:
Learner drivers
Slow vehicles (i.e., not capable of reaching 60 km/h on a level road)
Invalid carriages (lightweight three-wheeled vehicles)
Pedestrians
Pedal-cycles (bicycles, etc.)
Vehicles under 50cc (e.g. mopeds)
Tractors
Animals
Rules for driving on motorways include the following:
The keep-left rule applies unless overtaking
No stopping at any time
No reversing
No hitchhiking
Only vehicles that travel faster than 80 km/h may use the outside lane
No driving on the hard-shoulder
The general motorway speed limit is 120 km/h.
Road signs
thumb|right|60px|Botswana's old "caution curves" sign
thumb|right|65px|New sign
Traditionally, road signs in Botswana used blue backgrounds rather than the yellow, white, or orange that the rest of the world uses on traffic warning signs. In the early 2010s, officials announced plans to begin phasing out the distinctive blue signs in favour of more typical signs in order to be more in line with the neighbouring Southern African Development Community member states.
Interchanges
Existing
Kenneth Nkhwa Interchange at the junction of A1 / Blue Jacket Street and A3 in Francistown.
Boatle Interchange in Boatle.
Under construction
The Government of Botswana is building three interchanges along K.T Motsete Drive (Western Bypass) in Gaborone. This project started in August 2019, and deadline date is set 2022.
Longest bridges
The Kazungula Bridge in Kazungula and the Okavango River Bridge (constructed 2022) in Mohembo are the two longest bridges.
Roadway links with adjacent countries
Existing
Namibia by Trans-Kalahari Corridor.
South Africa by A1 highway (Botswana), A2 highway (Botswana), A11 road (Botswana) and A12 highway (Botswana).
Zambia by A33 road (Botswana).
Zimbabwe by A1 highway (Botswana).
Mass transit by road
Taxicabs
In most parts of Botswana, there are many taxicabs of various colours and styles. Botswana has no limitation in taxicab design, so each taxicab company adopts its own design.
Minibus taxis
thumb|Combi (Minibus taxi)
Minibus taxis, also known as Combi, are the predominant form of transport for people in urban areas of Botswana. Most of them are found within cities, towns, major villages, and even the least populated areas.
They also have their own minibus station within a particular area; only transporting people within that specific area using different and unique routes. This is due to their availability and affordability to the public.
Most minibus taxis do not have a specific departure time that is allocated by the state and most of them have 15-seaters. The minibuses are owned and operated by many individual minibus owners.
Coach bus
Coach buses are used for longer-distance services within and outside Botswana. These are normally operated by private companies and are the only buses that have departure times allocated by the Ministry of Transport. Coach buses have multiple departures, routes, and stations all over Botswana.
Water transport
thumb|Border crossing (ferry) from Botswana to Zambia
Ferries
The Kazungula Ferry was a pontoon ferry that crossed the Zambezi River between Botswana and Zambia.
Tour boats
Aviation
thumb|Sir Seretse Khama International Airport in Gaborone, Botswana
In 2004 there were an estimated 85 airports, 10 of which (as of 2005), were paved. The country's main international airport is Sir Seretse Khama International Airport in Gaborone. The government-owned Air Botswana operates scheduled flights to Francistown, Gaborone, Maun, and Selebi-Phikwe. There is international service to Johannesburg, South Africa; Mbabane, Eswatini; and Harare, Zimbabwe. A new international airport near Gaborone was opened in 1984. Air passengers arriving to and departing from Botswana during 2003 totalled about 183,000.thumb|Maun International Airport
International airports
Botswana has 4 international airports.
Sir Seretse Khama International Airport in Gaborone.
Francistown Airport in Francistown.
Kasane International Airport|alt=Kasane International Airport |thumb
Kasane Airport in Kasane.
Maun Airport in Maun.
Proposed airports
"Mophane International Airport" is planned in Palapye Sub-District near Moremi village.
Pedestrian elevated walkways
alt=Gaborone's Pedestrian Elevated Walkway|thumb|Gaborone's Pedestrian Elevated WalkwayBotswana has many pedestrian elevated walkways at different places.
Water pipelines
thumb|Botswana NSC and extension
Under construction
North-South Carrier
NSC is a pipeline in Botswana that carries raw water, south for a distance of to the capital city of Gaborone. It was done in phases. However, phase 1 was completed in 2000.
Phase 2 of the NSC, still under construction, will duplicate the pipeline to carry water from the Dikgatlhong Dam, which was completed in 2012.
A proposed extension to deliver water from the Zambezi would add another to the total pipeline length.
Lesotho-Botswana Water Transport
The Lesotho-Botswana Water Transfer is an ongoing project which is expected to provide two hundred million cubic meters per year to transfer water to the south-eastern parts of Botswana.
The scheme involves the supply of water to Gaborone from Lesotho via a pipeline.
The project commenced on the 1 August 2018 and is set for completion in June 2020.
Proposed
Sea water desalination project
The Government of Botswana intends to sign the Sea Water Desalination Project from Namibia. The project is at a tendering stage.
Border posts
thumb|Pandamatenga Border Post Sign
Bokspits Border Post
Kazungula Border Post
Ramatlabama Border Post
Ramokgwebana Border Post
Mamuno Border Post
Pandamatenga Border Post
thumb|BW Tour boats
See also
Botswana
Sprint Couriers
References
External links
UN Map of Botswana
Air Botswana UK - The national airline of Botswana
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transport_in_Botswana
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Foreign relations of Botswana
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Botswana has put a premium on economic and political integration in southern Africa. It has sought to make the Southern African Development Community (SADC) a working vehicle for economic development, and it has promoted efforts to make the region self-policing in terms of preventive diplomacy, conflict resolution, and good governance.
Diplomatic relations
List of countries which Botswana maintains diplomatic relations with:
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Bilateral relations
{| class"wikitable sortable" style"width:100%; margin:auto;"
|-
! style="width:15%;"| Country
! style="width:12%;"| Formal relations began
!Notes
|- valign="top"
|||1973||
* Australia is accredited to Botswana from its high commission in Pretoria, South Africa, with an honourary consul in Gaborone.
* Botswana has a high commission in Canberra and a consulate in Kendall
|- valign="top"
|||26 September 1985||Both countries established diplomatic relations on 26 September 1985
* Botswana has an embassy in Brasília.
* Brazil has an embassy in Gaborone.
|- valign="top"
|||6 January 1975||Both countries established diplomatic relations on 6 January 1975
See Botswana–China relations
* Botswana has an embassy in Beijing.
* China has an embassy in Gaborone.
|- valign="top"
|||10 April 1978||Both countries established diplomatic relations on 10 April 1978
* Botswana is accredited to Greece from its Permanent Representation to the United Nation Office in Geneva, Switzerland.
* Greece is accredited to Botswana from its embassy in Pretoria, South Africa.
|- valign="top"
|||<!--Date started-->28 October 1975||
* Both countries have established diplomatic relations on 28 October 1975.
* Guyana is accredited to Botswana from its Permanent Mission to the United Nations in New York City.
* Both countries are full members of Commonwealth of Nations.
|- valign="top"
|||17 January 1972||See Botswana–India relations
* Botswana has a high commission in New Delhi.
* India has a high commission in Gaborone.
|- valign="top"
|||28 March 2012||Both countries established diplomatic relations on 28 March 2012
*Botswana is accredited to Indonesia from its high commission in Canberra, Australia.
* Indonesia is accredited to Botswana from its embassy in Pretoria, South Africa.
|- valign="top"
||| ||See Botswana–Israel relations
* Botswana is accredited to Israel from its high commission London, United Kingdom.
* Israel is accredited to Botswana from its embassy in Pretoria, South Africa.
|- valign="top"
|||30 October 1967||See Botswana–Kenya relations
* Botswana has a high commission in Nairobi.
* Kenya has a high commission in Gaborone.
|- valign="top"
|||<!--Date started-->5 December 1975||Both countries established diplomatic relations on 5 December 1975
* Botswana is accredited to Mexico from its embassy in Washington, D.C., United States and maintains an honorary consulate in Mexico City.
* Mexico is accredited to Botswana from its embassy in Pretoria, South Africa.
|- valign="top"
|||11 September 1990||See Botswana–Namibia relations
Botswana–Namibia relations are friendly, with the two neighbouring countries cooperating on economic development. Botswana gained independence from Britain in September 1966. Namibia gained independence from South Africa in 1990 following the South African Border War.
* Botswana has a high commission in Windhoek.
* Namibia has a high commission in Gaborone.
|- valign="top"
|||27 December 1974, but severs 19 February 2014||See Botswana–North Korea relations
|- valign="top"
|||<!--Date started-->6 March 1970||See Botswana–Russia relations
Botswana and the Soviet Union initiated diplomatic relations on 6 March 1970. Despite its pro-Western orientation, Botswana participated in the 1980 Summer Olympics. The present-day relations between the two countries are described as friendly and long standing. In March, the two countries also celebrated the 35th anniversary of establishing diplomatic relations. According to the minister of Foreign Affairs, Russia was one of the first countries to establish full diplomatic relations with Botswana.
Trade and economic cooperation between Russia and Botswana are stipulated by the Trade Agreement of 1987 and the Agreement on Economic and Technical Cooperation of 1988. The Government of the Russian Federation and the Government of the Republic of Botswana signed the Agreement on Cultural, Scientific and Educational Cooperation in September 1999. Russia and Botswana have had fruitful cooperation in a variety of fields, particularly in human resource development. And Russia is still offering more scholarship in key sectors such as health, which is currently experiencing a critical shortage of manpower. Botswana also is one of the countries where Russian citizens do not require a visa. Russia has an embassy in Gaborone, while Botswana covers Russia from its embassy in Stockholm (Sweden) and an honorary consulate in Moscow.
|- valign="top"
|||22 June 1994||Both countries established diplomatic relations on 22 June 1994
See Botswana–South Africa relations
* Botswana has a high commission in Pretoria and consulates-general in Cape Town and Johannesburg.
* South Africa has a high commission in Gaborone
|- valign="top"
|||18 April 1968||The establishment of diplomatic relations between the Republic of Korea and the Republic of Botswana began on 18 April 1968. In 2011 the number of South Koreans living in Botswana amounted to 163. Since 2014, the government of Botswana recognized ROK as the sole legitimate government of Korea.
|- valign="top"
|||20 January 1981 ||
*Permanent Representation of Botswana in the UN Geneva Office is also accredited to Turkey.
*Turkey has an embassy in Gaborone
*Trade volume between the two countries was US$2.9 million in 2019.
* The United Kingdom is accredited to Botswana through its high commission in Gaborone.
The UK governed Botswana from 1885 to 1966, when it achieved full independence.
Both countries share common membership of the Commonwealth, the International Criminal Court, and the World Trade Organization, as well as the SACUM–UK Economic Partnership Agreement.
|- valign="top"
|||30 September 1966||See Botswana–United States relations
]]
The United States considers Botswana an advocate of and a model for stability in Africa and has been a major partner in Botswana's development since its independence. The U.S. Peace Corps returned to Botswana in August 2002 with a focus on HIV/AIDS-related programs after concluding 30 years of more broadly targeted assistance in 1997. Similarly, the USAID phased out a long-standing bilateral partnership with Botswana in 1996, after successful programs emphasizing education, training, entrepreneurship, environmental management, and reproductive health. Botswana, however, continues to benefit along with its neighbours in the region from USAID's Initiative for Southern Africa, now based in Pretoria, and USAID's Southern Africa Global Competitiveness Hub, headquartered in Gaborone. The United States International Board of Broadcasters (IBB) operates a major Voice of America (VOA) relay station in Botswana serving most of the African continent.
In 1995, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) started the BOTUSA Project in collaboration with the Botswana Ministry of Health in order to generate information to improve tuberculosis control efforts in Botswana and elsewhere in the face of the TB and HIV/AIDS co-epidemics. Under the 1999 U.S. Government's Leadership and Investment in Fighting an Epidemic (LIFE) Initiative, CDC through the BOTUSA Project has undertaken many projects and has assisted many organizations in the fight against the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Botswana. Botswana is one of the 15 focus countries for PEPFAR, the President's Emergency Plan for Aids Relief, and has received more than $230 million since the program began in January 2004 through September 2007. PEPFAR assistance to Botswana, which totalled $76.2 million in FY 2007, is contributing to HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment, and care interventions.
The Governments of Botswana and the United States entered into an agreement in July 2000 to establish an International Law Enforcement Academy (ILEA) in Gaborone. The academy, jointly financed, managed and staffed by the two nations, provides training to police and government officials from across the Sub-Saharan region. The academy's permanent campus, in Otse outside of Gaborone, opened March 2003. Over 3,000 law enforcement professionals from Sub-Saharan Africa have received training from ILEA since it began offering classes in 2001.
* Botswana has an embassy in Washington, D.C.
* United States has an embassy in Gaborone.
|- valign="top"
|||31 May 1983||See Botswana–Zimbabwe relations
Both countries established diplomatic relations on 31 May 1983
Botswana still struggles to seal its border from thousands of Zimbabweans who flee economic collapse and political persecution. In 2015, 22,000 Zimbabweans were arrested and deported. This has increased to nearly 29,000 deportations in 2018.
* Botswana has an embassy in Harare.
* Zimbabwe has an embassy in Gaborone.
|}
Botswana and the Commonwealth of Nations
Botswana has been a republic in the Commonwealth of Nations since independence in 1966.
Botswana and FOSS
Botswana has been a member of The Forum of Small States (FOSS) since the group's founding in 1992.
See also
* List of diplomatic missions in Botswana
* List of diplomatic missions of Botswana
Notes
References
External links* [http://www.botswana.mid.ru/ Embassy of the Russian Federation in Gaborone]
Category:Botswana and the Commonwealth of Nations
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foreign_relations_of_Botswana
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Geography of Brazil
|
<!-- "none" is preferred when the title is sufficiently descriptive; see WP:SDNONE -->
|area ranking = 5th
|km area = 8,514,877
|percent land = 99.34
|percent water = 0.66
|km coastline = 7,491
|borders Argentina <br />Bolivia <br />Colombia <br />French Guiana <br />Guyana <br />Paraguay <br />Peru <br />Suriname <br />Uruguay <br />Venezuela
|highest point Pico da Neblina<br />
|lowest point Atlantic Ocean,<br />
|longest river Amazon River,<br />
|largest lake Lagoa dos Patos<br />
|climate = North: tropical, South: temperate
|terrain = Coastal mountain ranges, vast central plateau (Planalto Central), remainder is primarily sedimentary basins
|natural resources = bauxite, gold, iron ore, manganese, nickel, phosphates, platinum, tin, clay, rare earth elements, uranium, petroleum, hydropower, and timber
|natural hazards =recurring droughts in northeast; floods and occasional frost in south
|environmental issues = deforestation in the Amazon basin, illegal wildlife trade, illegal poaching, air and water pollution, land degradation and water pollution caused by mining activities, wetland degradation and severe oil spills
|exclusive economic zone
}}
The country of Brazil occupies roughly half of South America, bordering the Atlantic Ocean. Brazil covers a total area of which includes of land and of water. The highest point in Brazil is Pico da Neblina at . Brazil is bordered by the countries of Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay, Venezuela, and French Guiana.
Much of the climate is tropical, with the south being relatively temperate. The largest river in Brazil, and the second longest in the world, is the Amazon.
Size and geographical location
Brazil occupies most of the eastern part of the South American continent and its geographic heartland and various islands in the Atlantic Ocean. The only countries in the world that are larger are Russia, Canada, China and the United States. Geology, geomorphology and drainage In contrast to the Andes, which rose to elevations of nearly in a relatively recent epoch and inverted the Amazon's direction of flow from westward to eastward, Brazil's geological formation is ancient.
The Parcel de Manuel Luís Marine State Park off the coast of Maranhão protects the largest coral reef in South America.
Brazil has one of the world's most extensive river systems, with eight major drainage basins, all of which drain into the Atlantic Ocean. Rivers and lakes
According to organs of the Brazilian government there are 12 major hydrographic regions in Brazil. Seven of these are river basins named after their main rivers; the other five are groupings of various river basins in areas which have no dominant river.
*7 hydrographic regions named after their dominant rivers:
** Amazonas
** Paraguai
** Paraná
** Parnaíba
** São Francisco
** Tocantins
** Uruguay
*5 coastal Hydrographic Regions based on regional groupings of minor river basins (listed from north to south):
** Atlântico Nordeste Ocidental (Western North-east Atlantic)
** Atlântico Nordeste Oriental (Eastern North-east Atlantic)
** Atlântico Leste (Eastern Atlantic)
** Atlântico Sudeste (South-east Atlantic)
** Atlântico Sul (South Atlantic)
The Amazon River is the widest and second longest river (behind the Nile) in the world. This huge river drains the greater part of the world's rainforests. Another major river, the Paraná, has its source in Brazil. It forms the border of Paraguay and Argentina, then winds its way through Argentina and into the Atlantic Ocean, along the southern coast of Uruguay.
Soil and vegetation
Brazil's tropical soils produce almost 210 million tons of grain crops per year, from about 70 million hectares of crops. The country also has the 5th largest arable land area in the world. Burning also is used traditionally to remove tall, dry, and nutrient-poor grass from pasture at the end of the dry season.
Brazil has one of the world's most extensive river systems, with eight major drainage basins, all of which drain into the Atlantic Ocean.<ref name"Hudson-1998" /> Two of these basins—the Amazon and Tocantins-Araguaia account for more than half the total drainage area.<ref name"Hudson-1998" /> The largest river system in Brazil is the Amazon, which originates in the Andes and receives tributaries from a basin that covers 45.7% of the country, principally the north and west.<ref name"Hudson-1998" /> The main Amazon river system is the Amazonas-Solimões-Ucayali axis (the -long Ucayali is a Peruvian tributary), flowing from west to east.<ref name"Hudson-1998" /> Through the Amazon Basin flows one-fifth of the world's fresh water.<ref name"Hudson-1998" /> A total of of the Amazon are in Brazilian territory.<ref name"Hudson-1998" /> Over this distance, the waters decline only about .<ref name"Hudson-1998" /> The major tributaries on the southern side are, from west to east, the Javari, Juruá, Purus (all three of which flow into the western section of the Amazon called the Solimões), Madeira, Tapajós, Xingu, and Tocantins.<ref name"Hudson-1998" /> On the northern side, the largest tributaries are the Branco, Japurá, Jari, and Rio Negro.<ref name"Hudson-1998" /> The above-mentioned tributaries carry more water than the Mississippi (its discharge is less than one-tenth that of the Amazon).<ref name"Hudson-1998" /> The Amazon and some of its tributaries, called "white" rivers, bear rich sediments and hydrobiological elements.<ref name"Hudson-1998" /> The black-white and clear rivers—such as the Negro, Tapajós, and Xingu—have clear (greenish) or dark water with few nutrients and little sediment.<ref name"Hudson-1998" />
The major river system in the Northeast is the Rio São Francisco, which flows northeast from the south-central region.<ref name"Hudson-1998" /> Its basin covers 7.6% of the national territory.<ref name"Hudson-1998" /> Only of the lower river are navigable for oceangoing ships.<ref name"Hudson-1998" /> The Paraná system covers 14.5% of the country.<ref name"Hudson-1998" /> The Paraná flows south among the Río de la Plata Basin, reaching the Atlantic between Argentina and Uruguay.<ref name"Hudson-1998" /> The headwaters of the Paraguai, the Paraná's major eastern tributary, constitute the Pantanal, the largest contiguous wetlands in the world, covering as much as .<ref name="Hudson-1998" />
Below their descent from the highlands, many of the tributaries of the Amazon are navigable.<ref name"Hudson-1998" /> Upstream, they generally have rapids or waterfalls, and boats and barges also must face sandbars, trees, and other obstacles.<ref name"Hudson-1998" /> Nevertheless, the Amazon is navigable by oceangoing vessels as far as upstream, reaching Iquitos in Peru.<ref name"Hudson-1998" /> The Amazon river system was the principal means of access until new roads became more important.<ref name"Hudson-1998" /> Hydroelectric projects are Itaipu, in Paraná, with 12,600 MW; Tucuruí, in Pará, with 7,746 MW; and Paulo Afonso, in Bahia, with 3,986 MW.<ref name"Hudson-1998" />
Locations
Brazil occupies most of the eastern part of the South American continent and its geographic heartland, as well as various islands in the Atlantic Ocean.<ref name"Hudson-1998" /> The only countries in the world that are larger are Russia, Canada, China, and the United States.<ref name"Hudson-1998" /> The national territory extends from north to south (5°16'20" N to 33°44'32" S latitude), and from east to west (34°47'30" W to 73°59'32" W longitude).<ref name"Hudson-1998" /> It spans four time zones, the westernmost of which is equivalent to Eastern Standard Time in the United States.<ref name"Hudson-1998" /> The time zone of the capital (Brasília) and of the most populated part of Brazil along the east coast (UTC-3) is two hours ahead of Eastern Standard Time.<ref name"Hudson-1998" /> The Atlantic islands are in the easternmost time zone.<ref name"Hudson-1998" />
Brazil possesses the archipelago of Fernando de Noronha, located northeast of its "horn", and several small islands and atolls in the Atlantic - Abrolhos, Atol das Rocas, Penedos de São Pedro e São Paulo, Trindade, and Martim Vaz.<ref name"Hudson-1998" /> In the early 1970s, Brazil claimed a territorial sea extending from the country's shores, including those of the islands.<ref name"Hudson-1998" />
On Brazil's east coast, the Atlantic coastline extends .<ref name"Hudson-1998" /> In the west, in clockwise order from the south, Brazil has of borders with Uruguay, Argentina, Paraguay, Bolivia, Peru, Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname, and French Guiana (overseas department of France).<ref name"Hudson-1998" /> The only South American countries with which Brazil does not share borders are Chile and Ecuador.<ref name"Hudson-1998" /> A few short sections are in question, but there are no true major boundary controversies with any of the neighboring countries.<ref name"Hudson-1998" /> Brazil has the 10th largest Exclusive Economic Zone of .References
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geography_of_Brazil
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Politics of Brazil
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The politics of Brazil take place in a framework of a federal presidential representative democratic republic, whereby the President is both head of state and head of government, and of a multi-party system. The political and administrative organization of Brazil comprises the federal government, the 26 states and a federal district, and the municipalities.
The federal government exercises control over the central government and is divided into three independent branches: executive, legislative and judicial. Executive power is exercised by the President, advised by a cabinet. Legislative power is vested upon the National Congress, a two-chamber legislature comprising the Federal Senate and the Chamber of Deputies. Judicial power is exercised by the judiciary, consisting of the Supreme Federal Court, the Superior Court of Justice and other Superior Courts, the National Justice Council and the Regional Federal Courts.
The states are autonomous sub-national entities with their own governments that, together with the other federal units, form the Federative Republic of Brazil. Currently, Brazil is divided politically and administratively into 27 federal units, being 26 states and one federal district. The executive power is exercised by a governor elected to a four-year term. The judiciary is exercised by courts of first and second instance addressing the common justice. Each state has a unicameral legislature with deputies who vote on state laws. The Constitution of Brazil knows also two elements of direct democracy, stated in Article 14. The legislative assemblies supervise the activities of the Executive power of the states and municipalities.
The municipalities are minor federal units of the Federative Republic of Brazil. Each municipality has an autonomous local government, comprising a mayor, directly elected by the people to a four-year term, and a legislative body, also directly elected by the people.
Brazil has an unrestricted multiparty system with a large number of political parties. Some parties lack ideological consistency and it is common for congressmen to switch parties, weakening electoral coalitions. At same time, the high number of political parties makes the Executive need to gather alliances of different political parties must piece together diverse and often ideologically incoherent coalitions to pass legislation (this is known as coalition presidentialism). The Economist Intelligence Unit's Democracy Index rated Brazil as a "flawed democracy" in 2022. Brazil was 2023 the 13th most electoral democratic country in Latin America and the Caribbean according to the V-Dem Democracy indices.
Constitution
thumb|Supreme Federal Court
Brazil has had seven constitutions:
Constitution of 1824 – the first Brazilian constitution, enacted by Emperor Pedro I. It was monarchic, hereditary, and highly centralized, permitting suffrage only to property-holders.
Constitution of 1891 – the republic was proclaimed in 1889, but a new constitution was not promulgated until 1891. This federalist, democratic constitution was heavily influenced by the U.S. model. However, women and illiterates were not permitted to vote.
Constitution of 1934 – when Getúlio Vargas came to power in 1930, he canceled the 1891 constitution and did not permit a new one until 1934. The Constitutionalist Revolution of 1932 forced Vargas to enact a new democratic constitution that permitted women's suffrage. Getúlio Vargas was indirectly elected president by the Constitutional Assembly to a four-year term, beginning in 1933.
Constitution of 1937 – Getúlio Vargas suppressed a Communist uprising in 1935 and two years later (November 10, 1937) used it as a pretext to establish autocratic rule. He instituted a corporatist constitution nicknamed the Polish, (because it was said to have been inspired by a Polish constitution), written by Francisco Campos.
Constitution of 1946 – in October, 1945, with World War II over, a civil-military coup ousted dictatorial Getúlio Vargas, an Assembly wrote a democratic constitution.
Constitution of 1967 – after the 1964 coup d'État against João Goulart, the military dictatorship passed the Institutional Acts, a supraconstitutional law. This strongly undemocratic constitution simply incorporated these Acts.
Constitution of 1988 – the current constitution, drafted in the process of redemocratization. It is marked by a reaction to the military dictatorship, guaranteeing individual rights, it is also more expansive than a typical constitution – many statutory acts in other countries are written into this constitution, like Social Security and taxes.
Political parties and elections
thumb|right|National Congress of Brazil, the national legislature and the only in bicameral format
thumb|right|Palácio do Planalto, the seat of the executive power
According to sociologist Marcelo Ridenti, Brazilian politics is divided between internationalist liberals and statist nationalists. The first group consists of politicians arguing that internationalization of the economy is essential for the development of the country, while the latter rely on interventionism, and protection of state enterprises.
As of May 2017, 16,668,589 Brazilians were affiliated with a political party. The largest parties are MDB (which accounts for 14.4% of affiliated voters), the PT (9.5% of affiliated voters), and PSDB (8.7% of affiliated voters).
Government
Federal government
thumb|left|Chamber of Deputies, the lower house
thumb|Federal Senate, the upper house
Brazil is a federal presidential constitutional republic, based on representative democracy. The federal government has three independent branches: executive, legislative, and judicial. Executive power is exercised by the executive branch, headed by the President, advised by a Cabinet. The President is both the head of state and the head of government. Legislative power is vested upon the National Congress, a two-chamber legislature comprising the Federal Senate and the Chamber of Deputies. Judicial power is exercised by the judiciary, consisting of the Supreme Federal Court, the Superior Court of Justice and other Superior Courts, the National Justice Council and the Regional Federal Courts.
States
thumb|left|The Legislative Assembly of Rio de Janeiro holds the legislature of Rio de Janeiro state.
thumb|Palácio Tiradentes holds the executive power of Minas Gerais state.
The 26 Brazilian states are semi-autonomous self-governing entities organized with complete administration branches, relative financial independence and their own set of symbols, similar to those owned by the country itself. Despite their relative autonomy they all have the same model of administration, as set by the Federal Constitution.
States hold elections every four years and exercise a considerable amount of power. The 1988 constitution allows states to keep their own taxes, set up State Houses, and mandates regular allocation of a share of the taxes collected locally by the federal government.
The Executive role is held by the (Governor) and his appointed (Secretaries); the Legislative role is held by the (Legislative Assembly); and the Judiciary role, by the (Justice Tribunal). The governors and the members of the assemblies are elected, but the members of the Judiciary are appointed by the governor from a list provided by the current members of the State Law Court containing only judges (these are chosen by merit in exams open to anyone with a law degree). The name chosen by the governor must be approved by the Assembly before inauguration. The 1988 Constitution has granted the states the greatest amount of autonomy since the Old Republic.
Each of the 26 state governors must achieve more than 50% of the vote, including a second round run-off between the top two candidates if necessary. In contrast to the federal level, state legislatures are unicameral, although the deputies are elected through similar means, involving an open-list system in which the state serves as one constituency. State level elections occur at the same time as those for the presidency and Congress. In 2002, candidates from eight different parties won the gubernatorial contest while 28 parties are represented in the country's state legislatures. The last set of elections took place in 2006.
Municipalities
thumb|left|The Municipal Chamber of São Paulo, the municipal legislature of São Paulo city
thumb|Palácio do Anhangabaú holds the municipal executive power of São Paulo.
Brazil has no clear distinction between towns and cities (in effect, the Portuguese word cidade means both). The only possible difference is regarding the municipalities that have a court of first instance and those that do not. The former are called Sedes de Comarca (seats of a comarca, which is the territory under the rule of that court). Other than that, only size and importance differs one from another.
The municipality (município) is a territory comprising one urban area, the sede (seat), from which it takes the name, and several other minor urban or rural areas, the distritos (districts). The seat of a municipality must be the most populous urban area within it; when another urban area grows too much it usually splits from the original municipality to form another one.
A municipality is relatively autonomous: it enacts its own "constitution", which is called organic law (Lei Orgânica), and it is allowed to collect taxes and fees, to maintain a municipal police force (albeit with very restricted powers), to pass laws on any matter that do not contradict either the state or the national constitutions, and to create symbols for itself (like a flag, an anthem and a coat-of-arms). However, not all municipalities exercise all of this autonomy. For instance, only a few municipalities keep local police forces, some of them do not collect some taxes (to attract investors or residents) and many of them do not have a flag (although they are all required to have a coat-of-arms).
Municipalities are governed by an elected prefeito (Mayor) and a unicameral Câmara de Vereadores (Councillors' Chamber). In municipalities with more than 200,000 voters, the Mayor must be elected by more than 50% of the valid vote. The executive power is called Prefeitura.
Brazilian municipalities can vary widely in area and population. The municipality of Altamira, in the State of Pará, with 161,445.9 square kilometres of area, is larger than many countries in the world. Several Brazilian municipalities have over 1,000,000 inhabitants, with São Paulo, at more than 9,000,000, being the most populous.
Until 1974 Brazil had one state-level municipality, the State of Guanabara, now merged with the State of Rio de Janeiro, which comprised the city of Rio de Janeiro solely.
Federal District
thumb|Legislative Chamber of the Federal District
The Federal District is an anomalous unit of the federation, as it is not organized in the same manner as a municipality, does not possess the same autonomy as a state (though usually ranked among them), and is closely related to the central power.
It is considered a single and indivisible entity, constituted by the seat, Brasília and some of the satellite cities. Brasília and the satellite cities are governed by the Regional Administrators individually and as a whole are governed by the Governor of the Federal District.
History
Throughout its modern history, Brazil has struggled to build a democratic and egalitarian society because of its origins as a plantation colony and the strong influence of slavery.
Empire
In 1822 the Prince Pedro de Alcântara, son of King John VI of Portugal, proclaimed independence. He was the first Emperor (Pedro I) until his abdication in 1831 in favor of his elder son. Due to the son's age (five years) a regency was established and the country had its first elections, though voting was restricted to a minority of the population.
Old Republic (1889–1930)
In 1889, Marshal Deodoro da Fonseca declared the republic, by a coup d'état.
When the republic succeeded the empire, Auguste Comte's motto "Order and Progress" appeared on the flag of the Republic and the 1891 Constitution was inspired by Auguste Comte's Course of Positive Philosophy and System of Positive Politics. The Republic's beginnings were marked by "coronelism", an equivalent of the caudillism of the Spanish-speaking countries. The "old republic" (1889–1930) is also known as the "oligarchic republic".
Until 1930, the Brazilian republic was formally a democracy, although the power was concentrated in the hands of powerful land owners.
Vargas years (1930–1945)
In 1930, a bloodless coup led Getúlio Vargas to power. For about 15 years, he controlled the country's politics, with a brief three-year constitutional interregnum from 1934 to 1937. A longer, heavier regime, the Estado Novo had loose ties with European fascism and spanned the years 1938 to 1945.
Populist years (1946–1964)
Like most of Latin America, Brazil experienced times of political instability after the Second World War. When Vargas was ousted from the presidency in another bloodless coup d'état, in 1945, a new and modern constitution was passed and the country had its first experience with an effective and widespread democracy. But the mounting tension between populist politicians (like Vargas himself and, later, Jânio Quadros) and the right led to a crisis that ultimately brought up the military coup d'état in 1964, now known, through declassified documents, to have been supported by the American Central Intelligence Agency.
Military dictatorship (1964–1985)
In 1964 a military-led coup d'état deposed the democratically elected president of Brazil, João Goulart. Between 1964 and 1985, Brazil was governed by the military, with a two-party system that comprised a pro-government National Renewal Alliance Party (ARENA) and an opposition Brazilian Democratic Movement (MDB). Thousands of politicians (including former president Juscelino Kubitschek) had their political rights suspended, and military-sanctioned indirect elections were held for most elected positions until political liberalization during the government of João Figueiredo.
New Republic (1985–1990)
In 1985, the military were defeated in an election according to the scheme they had set up as a consequence of the loss of political support among the elites. The opposition candidate, Tancredo Neves, was elected president, but died of natural causes before he was able to take office. Fearing a political vacuum that might stifle the democratic effort, Neves' supporters urged vice-president, José Sarney to take the oath and govern the country. Tancredo Neves had said that his election and the demise of military régime would create a "New Republic" and Sarney's term of government is often referred to by this name.
Sarney's government was disastrous in almost every field. The ongoing recession and the soaring external debt drained the country's assets while ravaging inflation (which later turned into hyperinflation) demonetized the currency and prevented any stability. In an attempt to revolutionize the economy and defeat inflation, Sarney carried on an ambitious "heterodox" economic plan (Cruzado) in 1986, which included price controls, default on the external debts and reduction of salaries. The plan seemed successful for some months, but it soon caused wholesale shortages of consumer goods (especially of easily exportable goods like meat, milk, automobiles, grains, sugar and alcohol) and the appearance of a black market in which such goods were sold for higher prices. Buoyed by the ensuing popularity from the apparent success of the plan, Sarney secured the largest electoral win in Brazilian history; the party he had just joined, Brazilian Democratic Movement Party (PMDB), won in 26 out of 27 states and in more than 3,000 municipalities. Just after the elections, Sarney's "corrections" to the economy failed to control inflation and the public perception that he had used an artificial control of inflation to win the elections proved to be his undoing. His popularity never recovered and he was plagued by vehement criticism from most sectors of society until the end of his term. Despite popular rejection, Sarney managed to extend his term from four to five years, and exerted pressure on the Constitutional Assembly that was drafting the new constitution to abort the adoption of Parliamentarism.
Collor government (1990–1992)
In 1989 Fernando Collor de Mello was elected president for the term from 1990 to 1994. The elections were marked by unanimous condemnation of José Sarney, with all candidates trying to keep distance from him.
Collor made some very bold statements, like saying that the Brazilian industry (of which the Brazilians used to be very proud) was mostly obsolete and polluting or that defaulting the debt was equal to not paying the rent. He also took quite revolutionary measures, like reducing the number of ministries to only 12 and naming Zélia Cardoso de Mello Minister of Economy or removing existing barriers to importing of goods.
His inflation control plan was based on an attempt to control prices and a complicated currency conversion process that prevented people from cashing their bank accounts for 18 months.
All of this made him quite unpopular and denied him support in the parliament that he needed since his own party held few seats. At the beginning of his third year in office, he resigned as a result of in a huge corruption scandal. The charges against him would later be dropped, some on mere technicalities, some for actually being irrelevant or false.
Collor desperately tried to resist impeachment by rallying the support of the youth and of the lower classes, but his call for help was answered by massive popular demonstrations, led mostly by students, demanding his resignation.
Itamar government (1992–1994)
In 1992, the vice-president, Itamar Franco, took office as president and managed to evade the most feared consequences of Collor's downfall. He had to face a country with hyper-inflation, high levels of misery and unemployment. Far-left organizations were trying to turn the anti-Collor campaign into a wider revolutionary fight to overthrow the regime. Itamar finally granted full powers to his Minister of Economy, Fernando Henrique Cardoso, so the minister could launch the Plano Real, a new economic plan that seemed to be just the same as the many unsuccessful plans launched by Sarney, Collor and their military predecessor. But the Real was a success because of Rubens Ricupero and essentially because of Ciro Gomes, according to Itamar Franco himself, and terminated inflation in a few months.
FHC government (1995–2003)
In 1994, Cardoso with Ricupero, Ciro Gomes and others launched their Plano Real, a successful economic reform that managed to permanently rid the country of the excessive inflation that had plagued it for more than forty years. The plan consisted of replacing the discredited old currency (cruzeiro and cruzeiro real) and pegging its value temporarily to the United States dollar. Inflation – which had become a fact of Brazilian life – was cut dramatically, a change that the Brazilians took years to get used to. Because of the success of Plano Real, Cardoso was chosen by his party to run for president and, with the strong support of Franco, eventually won, beating Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who had emerged as the favorite only one year earlier.
Cardoso's term was marked by other major changes in Brazilian politics and economy. Public services and state-owned companies were privatized (some for values supposedly too cheap according to his adversaries), the strong real made it easy to import goods, forcing Brazilian industry to modernize and compete (which had the side effect of causing many of them to be bought by foreign companies). During his first term, a constitutional amendment was passed to enable a sitting Executive chief to run for re-election, after which he again beat Lula in 1998.
Lula government (2003–2011)
thumb|right|Meeting of the Cabinet of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in the Oval Room, Palácio do Planalto, 2007
thumb|The deforestation rate in Brazil declined significantly during Lula's first time in office, a decline that reversed in the time of Bolsonaro.
In 2002, at his fourth attempt, Lula was elected president. In part his victory was derived from the significant unpopularity of Cardoso's second term, which failed to address economic inequality, and to an extent from a softening of his and the party's radical stance, including a vice-presidential candidate from the Liberal Party, acceptance of an International Monetary Fund (IMF) agreement from the previous government administration, and a line of discourse friendly to the financial markets.
Despite some achievements in solving part of the country's biggest problems, his term was plagued by multiple corruption scandals that rocked his cabinet, forcing some members to resign their posts.
In 2006 Lula regained part of his popularity and ran for re-election. After almost winning on the first round, he won the run-off against Geraldo Alckmin from the Brazilian Social Democracy Party (PSDB), by a margin of 20 million votes.
In 2010, Lula's handpicked successor, Dilma Rousseff, was elected to the Presidency.
Rousseff government (2011–2016)
In 2011, Rousseff became the first woman to be elected president of Brazil.
In 2015 and 2016, many demonstrations were held against Rousseff demanding for her to be impeached because of corruption scandals. According to studies by the Brazilian Institute of Public Opinion and Statistics (Ibope), 70-80% of demonstrators questioned supported harsher sentences for criminal offences, and a reduction of the age of criminal responsibility to 16. Between 2010 and 2016, support for the death penalty increased from 31% to 49%, and the number of people declaring themselves conservative from 49% to 59%.
The decline in poverty and the development of the middle class during the Lula years also allowed right-wing parties to address broader segments of the electorate on economic issues. "The new lower middle class dream of being entrepreneurs and consumers" according to the Perseu Abramo Foundation. "They are very sensitive to the meritocracy rhetoric of the right and the evangelical churches, and less affected by the PT message, which is still aimed at the poor".
Michel Temer government (2016–2018)
Jair Bolsonaro government (2019–2022)
Second Lula government (2023–present)
The second presidency of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva started on 1 January 2023, when he was inaugurated as the 39th President of Brazil. he was elected for a third term as President of Brazil on 30 October 2022, by obtaining 50.9% of the valid votes in the 2022 Brazilian general election.
2023 Brazilian Congress attack
Political corruption
Operação Lava Jato (Operation Car Wash)
This was a set of investigations carried out by the Federal Police of Brazil, aimed at investigating a money laundering scheme that involved billions of reals in bribes. It resulted in more than a thousand search and seizure warrants, temporary arrests, preventive detentions and bench warrants. The operation started on March 17, 2014, and had 71 operational phases authorized, among others, by the then judge Sérgio Moro, during which more than one hundred people were arrested and convicted. It investigated crimes of active and passive corruption, fraudulent management, money laundering, criminal organization, obstruction of justice, fraudulent exchange operation and receipt of undue advantage. According to investigations and awarded claims, administrative members of the state-owned oil company Petrobras, politicians from the largest parties in Brazil, including presidents of the Republic, presidents of the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate, and state governors, as well as businessmen from large Brazilian companies, were involved. The Federal Police considers it the largest corruption investigation in the country's history.
Political conflicts
Brazil is one of the most dangerous countries for militant farmworkers, with sixty-five murders of farmworkers engaged in conflicts over the right to land in 2017 alone. Between 1985 and 2017, 1,722 activists of the Landless Workers' Movement were murdered.
In 2016, at least 49 people were murdered in Brazil defending the environment against companies or landowners.
International organization participation
African Development Bank
Customs Cooperation Council
United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean
Food and Agriculture Organization
Group of 11
Group of 15
Group of 19
Group of 24
Group of 77
Inter-American Development Bank
International Atomic Energy Agency
International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (World Bank)
International Civil Aviation Organization
International Chamber of Commerce
International Criminal Court
International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement
International Development Association
International Fund for Agricultural Development
International Finance Corporation
International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
International Hydrographic Organization
International Labour Organization
International Monetary Fund
International Maritime Organization
Inmarsat
International Telecommunications Satellite Organization
Interpol
International Olympic Committee
International Organization for Migration (observer)
International Organization for Standardization
International Telecommunication Union
International Trade Union Confederation
Latin American Economic System
Asociación Latinoamericana de Integración
Mercosur, Non-Aligned Movement (observer)
Nuclear Suppliers Group
Organization of American States
Agency for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in Latin America and the Caribbean
Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons
Permanent Court of Arbitration
Rio Group
United Nations
United Nations Conference on Trade and Development
United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization
Union of South American Nations
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
United Nations Industrial Development Organization
United Nations Mission of Observers in Prevlaka
United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor
United Nations University
Universal Postal Union
World Federation of Trade Unions
World Health Organization
World Intellectual Property Organization
World Meteorological Organization
World Tourism Organization
World Trade Organization
Notes
References
External links
Global Integrity Report: Brazil Reports on anti-corruption efforts.
Reports on political culture and political news, with a focus on transparency and good government.
Essays on Brazilian politics and policies by leading intellectuals and public figures.
Reports on the politics and issues surrounding Brazilian soccer and the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.
Further reading
Goertzel, Ted and Paulo Roberto Almeida, The Drama of Brazilian Politics from Dom João to Marina Silva Amazon Digital Services. .
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Politics_of_Brazil
|
2025-04-05T18:26:27.590903
|
3634
|
Economy of Brazil
|
)
| year = 1 January – 31 December
| organs = WTO, BRICS, MERCOSUR, G20 and others
| group =
| population 213 million (2024)
| gdp = $2.310 trillion (nominal; 2025)
* $4.893 trillion (PPP; 2025)
* 3.7 }}
| inflation = 4.83% YoY (Dec 2024)
| poverty 24% on less than $6.85/day (2022)
| gini 52 (2022)
| hdi = 0.760 (2022) (89th)
* 0.577 IHDI (95th) (2022) (107th)
| labor = 108,695,239 (2023)
* 56.85% employment rate (2023)
}}
| edbr 124th (medium, 2020)
| occupations =
| unemployment 6.5% (January 2025)
| average gross salary monthly (January 2025)
| industries =
| exports $337.04 billion (2024)
| export-goods = Aircraft, armaments, steel, machinery, transport equipment, automobiles, vehicle parts, electrical equipment, kitchenware, oil, semi-finished iron, iron ore, pulp (cellulose), soybeans, maize, beef, chicken meat, pork meat, soybean meal, sugar, coffee, sugarcane, tobacco, cotton, orange juice, gold, ethanol
| export-partners = 28%
* 14.3%
* 12%
* 4.1%
* 2.3%}}
| imports $262.86 billion (2024)
| FDI $997.5 billion (2024)
| gross external debt $607.21 billion (2023)
| revenue $382.6 billion (2022)
| expenses $319.4 billion (2022)
| balance −7.75% of GDP (2023)
| aid | reserves $366 billion (October 2024)
| credit =
| cianame = brazil
| spelling = US
}}
The economy of Brazil is historically the largest in Latin America and the Southern Hemisphere in nominal terms. As of 2024, the Brazilian economy is the third largest in the Americas in nominal terms, and second largest in purchasing power parity. It is an upper-middle income developing mixed economy. In 2024, according to International Monetary Fund (IMF), Brazil had the 10th largest nominal gross domestic product in the world, but the 7th largest purchasing power parity GDP in the world. Brazil is one of the ten chief industrial states in the world according to International Labour Organization. According to International Monetary Fund (IMF), Brazilian nominal GDP was US$2.331 trillion, the country has a long history of being among the largest economies in the world and the GDP per capita was US$11,178 per inhabitant. and the country entered a recession in 2014. The economy started to recover in 2017, with a 1% growth in the first quarter, followed by a 0.3% growth in second quarter compared to the same period of the previous year. It officially exited the recession.
According to the World Economic Forum, Brazil was the top country in upward evolution of competitiveness in 2009, gaining eight positions among other countries, overcoming Russia for the first time, and partially closing the competitiveness gap with India and China among the BRICS economies. Important steps taken since the 1990s toward fiscal sustainability, as well as measures taken to liberalize and open the economy, have significantly boosted the country's competitiveness fundamentals, providing a better environment for private-sector development.
Brazil is a member of diverse economic organizations, such as Mercosur, Prosur, G8+5, G20, WTO, Paris Club, Cairns Group, and is advanced to be a permanent member of the OECD.
From a colony focused on primary sector goods (sugar, gold and cotton), Brazil managed to create a diversified industrial base during the 20th century. The steel industry is a prime example of that, with Brazil being the 9th largest steel producer in 2018, and the 5th largest steel net exporter in 2018. Gerdau is the largest producer of long steel in the Americas, and Vale is the largest producer of iron ore in the world. Petrobras, the Brazilian oil and gas company, is the most valuable company in Latin America.
History
When the Portuguese explorers arrived in the 16th century, the native tribes of current-day Brazil totaled about 2.5 million people and had lived virtually unchanged since the Stone Age. From Portugal's colonization of Brazil (1500–1822) until the late 1930s, the Brazilian economy relied on the production of primary products for exports.
In the Portuguese Empire, Brazil was a colony subjected to an imperial mercantile policy, which had three main large-scale economic production cycles – sugar, gold and from the early 19th century on, coffee. The economy of Brazil was heavily dependent on African slave labor until the late 19th century (about 3 million imported African slaves in total). In that period Brazil was also the colony with the largest number of European settlers, most of them Portuguese (including Azoreans and Madeirans) but also some Dutch (see Dutch Brazil), Spaniards, English, French, Germans, Flemish, Danish, Scottish and Sephardic Jews.
Subsequently, Brazil experienced a period of strong economic and demographic growth accompanied by mass immigration from Europe, mainly from Portugal (including the Azores and Madeira), Italy, Spain, Germany, Poland, Ukraine, Switzerland, Austria and Russia. Smaller numbers of immigrants also came from the Netherlands, France, Finland, Iceland and the Scandinavian countries, Lithuania, Belgium, Bulgaria, Hungary, Greece, Latvia, England, Ireland, Scotland, Croatia, Czech Republic, Malta, North Macedonia and Luxembourg, the Middle East (mainly from Lebanon, Syria and Armenia), Japan, the United States and South Africa, until the 1930s. In fact, international mass immigration to Brazil during the 19th century had positive effects on the country's human capital development. Immigrants usually exhibited better formal and informal training than native Brazilians and tended to have more entrepreneurial spirit. Their arrival was beneficial for the region, not only because of the skills and knowledge they brought to the country themselves, but also because of spillover effects of their human capital to the native Brazilian population. Human capital spillover effects were strongest in regions with the highest numbers of immigrants, and the positive effects are still observable today, in some regions.
In 2007, with a population of over 190 million and abundant natural resources, Brazil is one of the ten largest markets in the world, producing tens of millions of tons of steel, 26 million tons of cement, 3.5 million television sets, and 3 million refrigerators. In addition, about 70 million cubic meters of petroleum were being processed annually into fuels, lubricants, propane gas, and a wide range of hundreds of petrochemicals.
Brazil has at least 161,500 kilometers of paved roads, more than 150 gigawatts of installed electric power capacity and its real per capita GDP surpassed US$9,800 in 2017. Its industrial sector accounts for three-fifths of the South American economy's industrial production. The country's scientific and technological development is argued to be attractive to foreign direct investment, in 2019, Brazil occupied the 4th largest destination for foreign investments, behind only the United States, China and Singapore.
The agricultural sector, locally called the agronegócio (agro-business), has also been dynamic: for two decades this sector has kept Brazil among the most highly productive countries in areas related to the rural sector.
One of the most important corruption cases in Brazil concerns the company Odebrecht. Since the 1980s, Odebrecht has spent several billion dollars in the form of bribes to bribe parliamentarians to vote in favour of the group. At the municipal level, Odebrecht's corruption was aimed at "stimulating privatisations", particularly in water and sewer management. Data
in August 2014 when the 1 year bond got above the 10 year bond
]]
{|style="margin: 0 auto; float:center;"
|
|
|}
The following table shows the main economic indicators in 1980–2023 (with IMF estimates for 2024–2028). Inflation below 5% is in green.
{| class"wikitable sortable sticky-header" style"text-align:center;"
!Year
!GDP<br />(in bn. US$PPP)
!GDP per capita<br />(in US$ PPP)
!GDP<br />(in bn. US$ nominal)
!GDP per capita<br />(in US$ nominal)
!GDP growth<br />(real)
!Inflation rate<br />(in Percent)
!Unemployment<br />(in Percent)
!Government debt<br />(in % of GDP)
|-
|1980
|570.5
|4,811.9
|145.8
|1,203.6
|9.2%
|90.2%
|n/a
|n/a
|-
|1981
|597.0
|4,925.3
|167.6
|1,353.0
|−4.4%
|101.7%
|n/a
|n/a
|-
|1982
|637.7
|5,147.3
|179.2
|1,415.3
|0.6%
|100.6%
|n/a
|n/a
|-
|1983
|640.1
|5,057.3
|143.7
|1,110.7
|−3.4%
|135.0%
|n/a
|n/a
|-
|1984
|698.4
|5,402.7
|143.0
|1,082.2
|5.3%
|192.1%
|n/a
|n/a
|-
|1985
|777.4
|5,890.6
|226.9
|1,682.8
|7.9%
|226.0%
|n/a
|n/a
|-
|1986
|852.9
|6,334.2
|263.3
|1,913.3
|7.5%
|147.1%
|n/a
|n/a
|-
|1987
|905.5
|6,596.4
|286.5
|2,042.9
|3.6%
|228.3%
|n/a
|n/a
|-
|1988
|939.9
|6,722.2
|320.1
|2,240.5
|0.3%
|629.1%
|n/a
|n/a
|-
|1989
|1,008.0
|7,083.3
|439.4
|3,022.0
|3.2%
|1430.7%
|n/a
|n/a
|-
|1990
|1,002.1
|6,836.1
|455.3
|3,108.8
|−4.2%
|2947.7%
|n/a
|n/a
|-
|1991
|1,046.7
|7,020.5
|399.2
|2,717.5
|1.0%
|432.8%
|10.1%
|n/a
|-
|1992
|1,065.6
|7,031.3
|382.5
|2,561.1
|−0.5%
|952.0%
|11.6%
|n/a
|-
|1993
|1,141.7
|7,414.4
|429.2
|2,828.5
|4.7%
|1927.4%
|11.0%
|n/a
|-
|1994
|1,228.3
|7,852.0
|546.8
|3,547.0
|5.3%
|2075.8%
|10.5%
|n/a
|-
|1995
|1,309.4
|8,364.1
|770.9
|4,923.9
|4.4%
|66.0%
|9.9%
|n/a
|-
|1996
|1,362.9
|8,457.1
|851.1
|5,281.7
|2.2%
|15.8%
|11.2%
|n/a
|-
|1997
|1,433.4
|8,757.6
|883.9
|5,400.0
|3.4%
|6.9%
|11.6%
|n/a
|-
|1998
|1,454.5
|8,749.7
|864.3
|5,199.5
|0.3%
|3.2%
|14.7%
|n/a
|-
|1999
|1,481.9
|8,816.5
|599.6
|3,567.6
|0.5%
|4.9%
|14.7%
|n/a
|-
|2000
|1,581.9
|9,328.0
|655.5
|3,864.9
|4.4%
|7.0%
|13.9%
|65.6%
|-
|2001
|1,640.1
|9,536.6
|560.0
|3,256.2
|1.4%
|6.8%
|12.5%
|70.1%
|-
|2002
|1,716.5
|9,852.9
|509.8
|2,926.3
|3.1%
|8.5%
|13.0%
|78.8%
|-
|2003
|1,770.3
|10,037.8
|558.2
|3,165.2
|1.1%
|14.7%
|13.7%
|73.8%
|-
|2004
|1,922.6
|10,772.3
|669.3
|3,750.1
|5.8%
|6.6%
|12.9%
|70.1%
|-
|2005
|2,046.3
|11,334.1
|891.6
|4,938.5
|3.2%
|6.9%
|11.4%
|68.6%
|-
|2006
|2,193.1
|12,012.3
|1,107.6
|6,067.0
|4.0%
|4.2%
|11.5%
|65.8%
|-
|2007
|2,389.0
|12,949.0
|1,397.1
|7,572.6
|6.1%
|3.6%
|10.9%
|64.1%
|-
|2008
|2,558.9
|13,726.5
|1,695.9
|9,096.9
|5.1%
|5.7%
|9.4%
|62.3%
|-
|2009
|2,572.1
|13,638.5
|1,669.2
|8,851.1
|−0.1%
|4.9%
|9.7%
|65.5%
|-
|2010
|2,798.9
|14,672.8
|2,208.7
|11,578.7
|7.5%
|5.0%
|8.5%
|63.0%
|-
|2011
|2,970.6
|15,491.0
|2,614.0
|13,631.4
|4.0%
|6.6%
|7.8%
|61.2%
|-
|2012
|2,998.5
|15,555.6
|2,464.1
|12,782.8
|1.9%
|5.4%
|7.4%
|62.2%
|-
|2013
|3,133.9
|16,168.6
|2,471.7
|12,752.3
|3.0%
|6.2%
|7.2%
|60.2%
|-
|2014
|3,187.2
|16,352.3
|2,456.1
|12,601.3
|0.5%
|6.3%
|6.9%
|62.3%
|-
|2015
|3,014.8
|15,379.9
|1,800.0
|9,183.0
|−3.5%
|9.0%
|8.6%
|72.6%
|-
|2016
|2,939.1
|14,915.4
|1,796.6
|9,117.6
|−3.3%
|8.7%
|11.7%
|78.3%
|-
|2017
|3,018.7
|15,242.7
|2,063.5
|10,419.6
|1.3%
|3.4%
|12.9%
|83.6%
|-
|2018
|3,146.4
|15,805.9
|1,916.9
|9,629.6
|1.8%
|3.7%
|12.4%
|85.6%
|-
|2019
|3,241.9
|16,176.0
|1,873.3
|9,364.2
|1.2%
|3.7%
|12.0%
|87.1%
|-
|2020
|3,335.9
|16,063.9
|1,476.1
|7,057.5
|−3.3%
|3.2%
|13.8%
|96.0%
|-
|2021
|3,787.7
|18,028.3
|1,670.6
|7,952.6
|5.0%
|8.3%
|13.2%
|90.1%
|-
|2022
|4,180.2
|19,824.7
|1,951.0
|9,256.3
|3.0%
|9.4%
|9.3%
|85.3%
|-
|2023
|4,456.6
|21,052.9
|2,173.8
|10,268.0
|3.2%
|3.7%
|8.3%
|88.0%
|-
|2024
|4,702.0
|22,123.5
|2,188.4
|10,296.2
|3.5%
|3.4%
|8.2%
|90.3%
|-
|2025
|4,890.9
|22,928.1
|2,307.1
|10,816.8
|2.2%
|3.3%
|8.1%
|92.4%
|-
|2026
|5,094.0
|23,799.3
|2,444.9
|11,423.8
|2.3%
|3.0%
|8.1%
|93.9%
|-
|2027
|5,309.5
|24,728.8
|2,571.5
|11,977.4
|2.4%
|3.0%
|8.0%
|95.0%
|-
|2028
|5,539.3
|25,724.6
|2,709.5
|12,583.1
|2.5%
|3.0%
|7.9%
|96.0%
|-
|2029
|5,780.4
|26,771.9
|2,854.9
|13,222.9
|2.5%
|3.0%
|7.2%
|98.0%
|}
Components
The service sector is the largest component of the gross domestic product (GDP) at 67.0 percent, followed by the industrial sector at 27.5 percent. Agriculture represents 5.5 percent of GDP (2011). The Brazilian labor force is estimated at 100.77 million of which 10 percent is occupied in agriculture, 19 percent in the industry sector and 71 percent in the service sector.
Agricultural sector
{| style"toc: 25em; font-size: 85%; lucida grande, sans-serif; text-align: left; max-width:22em" class"wikitable floatright plainrowheaders"
|+Agriculture production
|-
! scope="row" | Main products
| Coffee, soybeans, wheat, rice, corn, sugarcane, cocoa, citrus; beef
|-
! scope="row" | Labor force
| 15.7% of total labor force
|-
! scope="row" |GDP of sector
| 5.9% of total GDP
|}
on a plantation|alt=Refer to caption]]
Brazil is the world's largest producer of sugarcane, soy, coffee, orange, guaraná, açaí and Brazil nut; is one of the top 5 producers of maize, papaya, tobacco, pineapple, banana, cotton, beans, coconut, watermelon and lemon; is one of the top 10 world producers of cocoa, cashew, avocado, tangerine, persimmon, mango, guava, rice, sorghum and tomato; and is one of the top 15 world producers of grape, apple, melon, peanut, fig, peach, onion, palm oil and natural rubber.
In the production of animal proteins, Brazil is today one of the largest countries in the world. In 2019, the country was the world's largest exporter of chicken meat. It was also the second largest producer of beef, the world's third largest producer of milk, the world's fourth largest producer of pork and the seventh largest producer of eggs in the world.
Agribusiness contributes to Brazil's trade balance, in spite of trade barriers and subsidizing policies adopted by the developed countries. an increase of over 2 percent per year. Brazil created and expanded a complex agribusiness sector. responsible for exports of more than US$1 billion/year.Mining
production in the area of Pantanal.]]
In the mining sector, Brazil stands out in the extraction of iron ore (where it is the world's second largest exporter), copper, gold, bauxite (one of the 5 largest producers in the world), manganese (one of the 5 largest producers in the world), tin (one of the largest producers in the world), niobium (concentrates 98% of reserves known to the world) and nickel. In terms of gemstones, Brazil is the world's largest producer of amethyst, topaz, agate and one of the main producers of tourmaline, emerald, aquamarine, garnet and opal.
In 2019, Brazil's figures were as follows: it was the world's largest producer of niobium (88.9 thousand tons); the 2nd largest world producer of tantalum (430 tons); the 2nd largest world producer of iron ore (405 million tons); the 4th largest world producer of manganese (1.74 million tons); the 4th largest world producer of bauxite (34 million tons); the 4th largest world producer of vanadium (5.94 thousand tons); the 5th largest world producer of lithium (2.4 thousand tons); the 6th largest world producer of tin (14 thousand tons); the 8th largest world producer of nickel (60.6 thousand tons); the 8th largest world producer of phosphate (4.7 million tons); the 12th largest world producer of gold (90 tons); the 14th largest world producer of copper (360 thousand tons); the 14th largest world producer of titanium (25 thousand tons); the 13th largest world producer of gypsum (3 million tons); the 3rd largest world producer of graphite (96 thousand tons); the 21st largest world producer of sulfur (500 thousand tons); the 9th largest world producer of salt (7.4 million tons); besides having had a chromium production of 200 thousand tons.
|-
! style="background:#f0f0f0; text-align:left; vertical-align:top"|Labor force
| style="background:#f0f0f0; vertical-align:top"| 13.3% of total labor force
|-
!style="text-align:left; vertical-align:top"|GDP of sector
|style="vertical-align:top"| 22.2% of total GDP
|}
jet manufactured by Embraer]]
Brazil has the second-largest manufacturing sector in the Americas. Accounting for 28.5 percent of GDP, Brazil's industries range from automobiles, steel and petrochemicals to computers, aircraft, and consumer durables. With increased economic stability provided by the Plano Real, Brazilian and multinational businesses have invested heavily in new equipment and technology, a large proportion of which has been purchased from U.S. firms.
The World Bank lists the main producing countries each year, based on the total production value. According to the 2019 list, Brazil has the 13th most valuable industry in the world (US$173.6 billion). In the Americas, it is second only to the United States (2nd place) and Mexico (12th place). In the food industry, in 2019, Brazil was the second largest exporter of processed foods in the world. In 2016, the country was the 2nd largest producer of pulp in the world and the 8th producer of paper. In the footwear industry, in 2019, Brazil ranked 4th among world producers. In 2019, the country was the 8th producer of vehicles and the 9th producer of steel in the world. In 2018, the chemical industry of Brazil was the 8th in the world. In textile industry, Brazil, although it was among the 5 largest world producers in 2013, is very little integrated in world trade. In the aviation sector, Brazil has Embraer, the third largest aircraft manufacturer in the world, behind Boeing and Airbus.
Brazil has a diverse and sophisticated services industry as well. During the early 1990s, the banking sector accounted for as much as 16 percent of the GDP. Although undergoing a major overhaul, Brazil's financial services industry provides local businesses with a wide range of products and is attracting numerous new entrants, including U.S. financial firms. On 8 May 2008, the São Paulo Stock Exchange (Bovespa) and the São Paulo-based Brazilian Mercantile and Futures Exchange (BM&F) merged, creating BM&F Bovespa, one of the largest stock exchanges in the world. Also, the previously monopolistic reinsurance sector is being opened up to third-party companies. 31 December 2007, there were an estimated 21,304,000 broadband lines in Brazil. Over 75 percent of the broadband lines were via DSL and 10 percent via cable modems. Proven mineral resources are extensive. Large iron and manganese reserves are important sources of industrial raw materials and export earnings. Deposits of nickel, tin, chromite, uranium, bauxite, beryllium, copper, lead, tungsten, zinc, gold, and other minerals are exploited. High-quality coking-grade coal required in the steel industry is in short supply.
In the last years, the defence industry in Brazil achieved prominence with exports of more than US$1 billion per year and sales abroad of high-technology products like the transport jet Embraer C-390 Millennium, the Embraer EMB 314 Super Tucano, a light attack aircraft, the 6×6 armoured personnel carrier VBTP-MR Guarani and others armaments like pistols and rifles by the company Taurus Armas. Embraer is one the world's top 100 defense contractors.
Creative Industries
The first study into the impact of the Creative Industries on the Brazilian economy was published by FIRJAN. The creative economy in Latin America was termed the "Orange Economy" in a publication released by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). This 2013 study valued Brazil's Orange Economy at US$66.87 billion providing 5,280,000 jobs and responsible for US$9.414 million in exports, with the value of creative exports being higher than the US$8.016 million value of coffee exports over the same period.
.]]
A 2021 study into the Intellectual Property Intensive Sectors in the Brazilian Economy was undertaken as part of the National Strategy on Intellectual Property 2021–2030. The study found that 450 of the 673 economic classes could be classified as IP-intensive sectors that collectively employed 19.3 million people. The share of GDP between 2014 and 2016 across these economic classes amounted to R$2.1 trillion reais or 44.2% of GDP over this time. Tourism
In the list of world tourist destinations, in 2018, Brazil was the 48th most visited country, with 6.6 million tourists (and revenues of 5.9 billion dollars). Tourism in South America as a whole is still underdeveloped: in Europe, for example, countries obtain annual tourism figures like $73.7 billion (Spain), receiving 82.7 million tourists or 67.3 billion (France), receiving 89.4 million tourists. While Europe received 710 million tourists in 2018, Asia 347 million and North America 142.2 million, South America received only 37 million, Central America 10.8 million and the Caribbean 25.7 million. Largest companies
is the largest financial center in the country and one of the largest in the world.]]
In 2017, 20 Brazilian companies were listed in the Forbes Global 2000 list – an annual ranking of the top 2000 public companies in the world by Forbes magazine based on a combination of sales, assets, profit, and market value. The 20 companies listed were:
{| class="wikitable" sortable"
|- style="background-color:#efefef;"
!World Rank !! Company !! Industry !! Revenue <br /> (billion $) !! Profits <br /> (billion $) !! Assets <br /> (billion $) !! Market Value <br /> (billion $) !! Headquarters
|-style="text-align:right"
|38 || style"text-align:left" | Banco Itaú Unibanco || style"text-align:left" | Banking || 61.3 || 6.7 || 419.9 || 79.2 || style="text-align:left" | São Paulo
|-style="text-align:right"
|62 || style"text-align:left" | Banco Bradesco || style"text-align:left" | Banking || 70.2 || 4.3 || 362.4 || 53.5 || style="text-align:left" | Osasco, SP
|-style="text-align:right"
|132 || style"text-align:left" | Banco do Brasil || style"text-align:left" | Banking || 57.3 || 2.3 || 430.6 || 29 || style="text-align:left" | Brasília
|-style="text-align:right"
|156 || style"text-align:left" | Vale || style"text-align:left" | Mining || 27.1 || 3.8 || 99.1 || 45.4 || style="text-align:left" | Rio de Janeiro
|-style="text-align:right"
|399 || style"text-align:left" | Petrobras || style"text-align:left" | Oil & Gas || 81.1 || −4.3 || 247.3 || 61.3 || style="text-align:left" | Rio de Janeiro
|-style="text-align:right"
|610|| style"text-align:left" | Eletrobras || style"text-align:left" | Utilities || 17.4 || 0.983 || 52.4 || 7.2 || style="text-align:left" | Rio de Janeiro
|-style="text-align:right"
|791 || style"text-align:left" | Itaúsa || style"text-align:left" | Conglomerate || 1.3 || 2.4 || 18.1 || 23 || style="text-align:left" | São Paulo
|-style="text-align:right"
|895 || style"text-align:left" | JBS || style"text-align:left" | Food Processing || 48.9 || 0.108 || 31.6 || 8.2 || style="text-align:left" | São Paulo
|-style="text-align:right"
|981|| style"text-align:left" | Ultrapar || style"text-align:left" | Conglomerate || 22.2 || 0.448 || 7.4 || 12.5 || style="text-align:left" | São Paulo
|-style="text-align:right"
|1103 || style"text-align:left" | Cielo || style"text-align:left" | Financial services || 3.5 || 1.1 || 9.4 || 20.9 || style="text-align:left" | Barueri, SP
|-style="text-align:right"
|1233 || style"text-align:left" | Braskem || style"text-align:left" | Chemicals || 13.8 || −0.136 || 15.9 || 7.9 || style="text-align:left" | São Paulo
|-style="text-align:right"
|1325 || style"text-align:left" | BRF || style"text-align:left" | Food processing || 9.7 || −0.107 || 13.8 || 9.3 || style="text-align:left" | Itajaí, SC
|-style="text-align:right"
|1436 || style"text-align:left" | Sabesp || style"text-align:left" | Waste Management || 4 || 0.846 || 11.6 || 7.4 || style="text-align:left" | São Paulo
|-style="text-align:right"
|1503 || style"text-align:left" | Oi || style"text-align:left" | Telecommunications || 7.5 || −2 || 25.2 || 0.952 || style="text-align:left" | Rio de Janeiro
|-style="text-align:right"
|1515 || style"text-align:left" | Gerdau || style"text-align:left" | Iron & Steel || 10.8 || −0.395 || 16.8 || 1.4 || style="text-align:left" | Porto Alegre, RS
|-style="text-align:right"
|1545 || style"text-align:left" | CBD || style"text-align:left" | Retail || 12 || 0.139 || 13.9 || 5.9 || style="text-align:left" | São Paulo
|-style="text-align:right"
|1572 || style"text-align:left" | CCR || style"text-align:left" | Transportation || 2.9 || 0.429 || 7.5 || 11.5 || style="text-align:left" | São Paulo
|-style="text-align:right"
|1597 || style"text-align:left" | Bovespa || style"text-align:left" | Stock Exchange || 0.666 || 0.415 || 9.7 || 12.8 || style="text-align:left" | São Paulo
|-style="text-align:right"
|1735 || style"text-align:left" | CPFL Energia || style"text-align:left" | Electricity || 5.4 || 0.258 || 13 || 8.4 || style="text-align:left" | Campinas, SP
|-style="text-align:right"
|1895 || style"text-align:left" | Cogna Educação || style"text-align:left" | Higher Education || 1.5 || 0.535 || 5.4 || 7.1 || style="text-align:left" | Belo Horizonte, MG
|}
Energy
in Parnaíba.]]
The Brazilian government has undertaken an ambitious program to reduce dependence on imported petroleum. Imports previously accounted for more than 70% of the country's oil needs but Brazil became self-sufficient in oil in 2006–2007. Brazil was the 10th largest oil producer in the world in 2019, with 2.8 million barrels / day. Production manages to supply the country's demand. In the beginning of 2020, in the production of oil and natural gas, the country exceeded 4 million barrels of oil equivalent per day, for the first time. In January this year, 3.168 million barrels of oil per day and 138.753 million cubic meters of natural gas were extracted. in Paraná.|left]]Brazil is one of the main world producers of hydroelectric power. In 2019, Brazil had 217 hydroelectric plants in operation, with an installed capacity of 98,581 MW, 60.16% of the country's energy generation. In the total generation of electricity, in 2019 Brazil reached 170,000 megawatts of installed capacity, more than 75% from renewable sources (the majority, hydroelectric). in Angra dos Reis, Rio de Janeiro]]In 2013, the Southeast Region used about 50% of the load of the National Integrated System (SIN), being the main energy consuming region in the country. The region's installed electricity generation capacity totaled almost 42,500 MW, which represented about a third of Brazil's generation capacity. The hydroelectric generation represented 58% of the region's installed capacity, with the remaining 42% corresponding basically to the thermoelectric generation. São Paulo accounted for 40% of this capacity; Minas Gerais by about 25%; Rio de Janeiro by 13.3%; and Espírito Santo accounted for the rest. The South Region owns the Itaipu Dam, which was the largest hydroelectric plant in the world for several years, until the inauguration of Three Gorges Dam in China. It remains the second largest operating hydroelectric in the world. Brazil is the co-owner of the Itaipu Plant with Paraguay: the dam is located on the Paraná River, located on the border between countries. It has an installed generation capacity of 14 GW for 20 generating units of 700 MW each. North Region has large hydroelectric plants, such as Belo Monte Dam and Tucuruí Dam, which produce much of the national energy. Brazil's hydroelectric potential has not yet been fully exploited, so the country still has the capacity to build several renewable energy plants in its territory..]] according to ONS, total installed capacity of wind power was 22 GW, with average capacity factor of 58%. While the world average wind production capacity factors is 24.7%, there are areas in Northern Brazil, specially in Bahia State, where some wind farms record with average capacity factors over 60%; In 2019, wind energy represented 9% of the energy generated in the country. In 2019, it was estimated that the country had an estimated wind power generation potential of around 522 GW (this, only onshore), enough energy to meet three times the country's current demand. In 2021 Brazil was the 7th country in the world in terms of installed wind power (21 GW), and the 4th largest producer of wind energy in the world (72 TWh), behind only China, USA and Germany.
Nuclear energy accounts for about 4% of Brazil's electricity. The nuclear power generation monopoly is owned by Eletronuclear (Eletrobrás Eletronuclear S/A), a wholly owned subsidiary of Eletrobrás. Nuclear energy is produced by two reactors at Angra. It is located at the Central Nuclear Almirante Álvaro Alberto (CNAAA) on the Praia de Itaorna in Angra dos Reis, Rio de Janeiro. It consists of two pressurized water reactors, Angra I, with capacity of 657 MW, connected to the power grid in 1982, and Angra II, with capacity of 1,350 MW, connected in 2000. A third reactor, Angra III, with a projected output of 1,350 MW, is planned to be finished.
according to ONS, total installed capacity of photovoltaic solar was 21 GW, with average capacity factor of 23%. Some of the most irradiated Brazilian States are MG ("Minas Gerais"), BA ("Bahia") and GO (Goiás), which have indeed world irradiation level records. In 2019, solar power represented 1,27% of the energy generated in the country. and the 11th largest producer of solar energy in the world (16.8 TWh).
In 2020, Brazil was also the 2nd largest country in the world in the production of energy through biomass (energy production from solid biofuels and renewable waste), with 15,2 GW installed.
{| class="wikitable"
|+Total energy consumption in Terrawatt-hours (TWh)
!1970
!1980
!1990
!2000
!2010
!2020
!2023
|-
|453
|1,153
|1,566
|2,357
|3,185
|3,394
|3,854
|-
! colspan"7" |Per capita energy consumption in Kilowatt-hours (KWh)
|-
|4,704
|9,430
|10,391
|13,400
|16,221
|15,921
|17,806
|-
! colspan"7" |Oil production in Terrawatt-hours (TWh)
|-
|102
|115
|397
|780
|1,298
|1,853
|2,136
|}
Transport
.]]
is connected with the São Paulo Metro.]]
, one of the 40 largest and busiest ports in the world.]]
Transport in Brazil is basically carried out using the road mode, the most developed in the region. There is also a considerable infrastructure of ports and airports. The railway and fluvial sector, although it has potential, is usually treated in a secondary way.
Brazil has more than 1.7 million km of roads, of which 215,000 km are paved, and about 17,000 km are divided highways. The two most important highways in the country are BR-101 and BR-116. Due to the Andes Mountains, Amazon River and Amazon Forest, there have always been difficulties in implementing transcontinental or bioceanic highways. Practically the only route that existed was the one that connected Brazil to Buenos Aires, in Argentina and later to Santiago, in Chile. However, in recent years, with the combined effort of South American countries, new routes have started to emerge, such as Brazil-Peru (Interoceanic Highway), and a new highway between Brazil, Paraguay, northern Argentina and northern Chile (Bioceanic Corridor).
There are more than 2,000 airports in Brazil. The country has the second largest number of airports in the world, behind only the United States. São Paulo International Airport, located in the Metropolitan Region of São Paulo, is the largest and busiest in the country – the airport connects São Paulo to practically all major cities around the world. Brazil has 44 international airports, such as those in Rio de Janeiro, Brasília, Belo Horizonte, Porto Alegre, Florianópolis, Cuiabá, Salvador, Recife, Fortaleza, Belém and Manaus, among others. The 10 busiest airports in South America in 2017 were: São Paulo-Guarulhos (Brazil), Bogotá (Colombia), São Paulo-Congonhas (Brazil), Santiago (Chile), Lima (Peru), Brasília (Brazil), Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), Buenos Aires-Aeroparque (Argentina), Buenos Aires-Ezeiza (Argentina), and Minas Gerais (Brazil).
About ports, Brazil has some of the busiest ports in South America, such as Port of Santos, Port of Rio de Janeiro, Port of Paranaguá, Port of Itajaí, Port of Rio Grande, Port of São Francisco do Sul and Suape Port. The 15 busiest ports in South America are: Port of Santos (Brazil), Port of Bahia de Cartagena (Colombia), Callao (Peru), Guayaquil (Ecuador), Buenos Aires (Argentina), San Antonio (Chile), Buenaventura (Colombia), Itajaí (Brazil), Valparaíso (Chile), Montevideo (Uruguay), Paranaguá (Brazil), Rio Grande (Brazil), São Francisco do Sul (Brazil), Manaus (Brazil) and Coronel (Chile).
The Brazilian railway network has an extension of about 30,000 kilometers. It is basically used for transporting ores.
Among the main Brazilian waterways, two stand out: Hidrovia Tietê-Paraná (which has a length of 2,400 km, 1,600 on the Paraná River and 800 km on the Tietê River, draining agricultural production from the states of Mato Grosso, Mato Grosso do Sul, Goiás and part of Rondônia, Tocantins and Minas General) and Hidrovia do Solimões-Amazonas (it has two sections: Solimões, which extends from Tabatinga to Manaus, with approximately 1600 km, and Amazonas, which extends from Manaus to Belém, with 1650 km.
Almost entirely passenger transport from the Amazon basin is done by this waterway, in addition to practically all cargo transportation that is directed to the major regional centers of Belém and Manaus). In Brazil, this transport is still underutilized: the most important waterway stretches, from an economic point of view, are found in the Southeast and South of the country. Its full use still depends on the construction of locks, major dredging works and, mainly, of ports that allow intermodal integration.
Exports and imports
in the world. Farm in Southern Brazil.]]
in the world. Brazilian coffee farmer producing.]]
.]]
with its skyscrapers.]]
Trade statistics
{| class="wikitable"
!Year
!Goods exports<br /><small>(billion US$)</small>
!Goods imports<br /><small>(in</small> b<small>illion US$)</small>
!Net trade<br /><small>(in</small> b<small>illion US$)</small>
|-
|2023
|$343.8
|$241.5
|$92.8
|-
|2020
|$210.7
|$175.0
|$35.7
|-
|2015
|$189.9
|$172.5
|$17.4
|-
|2010
|$201.2
|$182.8
|$18.4
|-
|2000
|$55.2
|$57.0
|−$1.8
|-
|1990
|$31.4
|$20.7
|$10.8
|-
|1980
|$20.1
|$23.0
|−$2.8
|}
Products
Brazil was the 25th largest exporter in the world in 2020, with 1.1% of the global total.
In 2021, Brazil exported US$280.4 billion and imported US$219.4 billion, with a surplus of US$61 billion.
The country's top ten export products were:
* Iron ore: US$42.2 billion
* Soy: US$37.3 billion
* Crude petroleum oils: US$27.4 billion
* Sugar: US$8.5 billion
* Beef: US$7.4 billion
* Soybean meal: US$7.2 billion
* Petroleum fuel oils: US$6.6 billion
* Manufacturing Industry: US$6.4 billion
* Chicken meat: US$6.3 billion
* Cellulose: US$6.1 billion
The country also exports maize, coffee, cotton, tobacco, orange juice, footwear, airplanes, helicopters, cars, vehicle parts, gold, ethanol, semi-finished iron, among others.
Exports
The main countries to which Brazil exports in 2021 were:
* China: US$87.6 billion (31.28%)
* United States: US$31.1 billion (11.09%)
* Argentina: US$11.8 billion (4.24%)
* Netherlands: US$9.3 billion (3.32%)
* Chile: US$6.9 billion (2.50%)
* Singapore: US$5.8 billion (2.10%)
* Mexico: US$5.5 billion (1.98%)
* Germany: US$5.5 billion (1.97%)
* Japan: US$5.5 billion (1.97%)
* Spain: US$5.4 billion (1.94%)
The country's export model, until today, is excessively based on exports of basic or semi-manufactured products, generating criticism, since such model generates little monetary value, which prevents further growth in the country in the long run. There are several factors that cause this problem, the main ones being: the excessive collection of taxes on production (due to the country's economic and legislative model being based on State Capitalism and not on Free-Market Capitalism), the lack or deficiency of infrastructure (means of transport such as roads, railways and ports that are insufficient or weak for the country's needs, bad logistics and excessive bureaucracy) for export, high production costs (expensive energy, expensive fuel, expensive maintenance of trucks, expensive loan rates and bank financing for production, expensive export rates), the lack of an industrial policy, the lack of focus on adding value, the lack of aggressiveness in international negotiations, in addition to abusive tariff barriers imposed by other countries on the country's exports. Because of this, Brazil has never been very prominent in international trade.
Due to its size and potential, it would be able to be among the 10 largest exporters in the world, however, its participation in global commercial transactions usually oscillates between 0.5 and 2% only. In 2019, among the ten products that Brazil exports the most and that generate the most value, eight come from the agribusiness. Although still modest, the country's exports have evolved, and today they are more diversified than they were in the past. At the beginning of the 20th century, 70% of Brazilian exports were restricted to coffee. Overall, however, global trade still concentrates its few exports on low-tech products (mainly agricultural and mineral commodities) and, therefore, with low added value. Imports The main countries from which Brazil imports in 2021 were:
|-
!style"text-align:center; background:lightblue" colspan"2"|Average GDP growth rate 1950–2029
|-
!style="text-align:left; vertical-align:top"|1950–59
|style="vertical-align:top"| 7.1%
|-
! style="background:#f0f0f0; text-align:left; vertical-align:top"|1960–69
| style="background:#f0f0f0; vertical-align:top"| 6.1%
|-
!style="text-align:left; vertical-align:top"|1970–79
|style="vertical-align:top"| 8.9%
|-
! style="background:#f0f0f0; text-align:left; vertical-align:top"|1980–89
| style="background:#f0f0f0; vertical-align:top"| 3.0%
|-
!style="text-align:left; vertical-align:top"|1990–99
|style="vertical-align:top"| 1.7%
|-
! style="background:#f0f0f0; text-align:left; vertical-align:top"|2000–09
| style="background:#f0f0f0; vertical-align:top"| 3.3%
|-
!style="text-align:left; vertical-align:top"|2010–19
|style="vertical-align:top"| 1.4%
|-
!2020-29
|2.3%
|-
!style"text-align:center; vertical-align:top" colspan"2"|Source:
|}
Sustainable growth
Portuguese explorers arrived in 1500, but it was only in 1808 that Brazil obtained a permit from the Portuguese colonial government to set up its first factories and manufacturers. In the 21st century, Brazil became the eighth largest economy in the world. Originally, its exports were basic raw and primary goods, such as sugar, rubber and gold. Today, 84% of exports are of manufactured and semi-manufactured products.
The period of great economic transformation and growth occurred between 1875 and 1975.
In the last decade, domestic production increased by 32.3%. Agribusiness (agriculture and cattle-raising), which grew by 47% or 3.6% per year, was the most dynamic sector – even after having weathered international crises that demanded constant adjustments to the Brazilian economy. The Brazilian government also launched a program for economic development acceleration called Programa de Aceleração do Crescimento, aiming to spur growth.
Brazil's transparency rank in the international world is 75th according to Transparency International.
Control and reform
Among measures recently adopted to balance the economy, Brazil carried out reforms to its social security (state and retirement pensions) and tax systems. These changes brought with them a noteworthy addition: a Law of Fiscal Responsibility which controls public expenditure by the executive branches at federal, state and municipal levels. At the same time, investments were made towards administration efficiency and policies were created to encourage exports, industry and trade, thus creating "windows of opportunity" for local and international investors and producers.
With these alterations in place, Brazil has reduced its vulnerability: it does not import the oil it consumes; it has halved its domestic debt through exchange rate-linked certificates and has seen exports grow, on average, by 20% a year. The exchange rate does not put pressure on the industrial sector or inflation (at 4% a year), and does away with the possibility of a liquidity crisis. As a result, the country, after 12 years, has achieved a positive balance in the accounts which measure exports/imports, plus interest payments, services and overseas payment. Thus, respected economists say that the country will not be deeply affected by the current world economic crisis.
In 2017, President Michel Temer refused to make public the list of companies accused of "modern slavery". The list, made public yearly since the presidency of Luís Inácio Lula da Silva in 2003, was intended to persuade companies to settle their fines and conform to labor regulations, in a country where corruption of the political class risked compromising respect for the law. The relations of the president-in-office with the "landowner lobby" were denounced by dismissed President Dilma Rousseff on this occasion.
.]]
Consistent policies
Support for the productive sector has been simplified at all levels; active and independent, Congress and the Judiciary Branch carry out the evaluation of rules and regulations. Among the main measures taken to stimulate the economy are the reduction of up to 30 percent on manufactured products tax (IPI), and the investment of $8 billion on road cargo transportation fleets, thus improving distribution logistics. Further resources guarantee the propagation of business and information telecenters.
The policy for industry, technology and foreign trade, at the forefront of this sector, for its part, invests $19.5 billion in specific sectors, following the example of the software and semiconductor, pharmaceutical and medicine product, and capital goods sectors.
Mergers and acquisitions
Between 1985 and 2017, 11,563 mergers & acquisitions with a total known value of US$1,185 billion<!-- 1,185 billion 1.18 trillion?? --> with the involvement of Brazilian firms were announced. The year 2010 was a new record in terms of value with $115 billion of transactions. It is worth noticing, that in the top 100 deals by value there are only four cases of Brazilian companies acquiring a foreign company. This reflects the strong interest in the country from a direct investment perspective.
Here is a list of the largest deals where Brazilian companies took on either the role of the acquiror or the target:
{| class="wikitable"
! Date Announced
! Acquiror Name
! Acquiror Mid Industry
! Acquiror Nation
! Target Name
! Target Mid Industry
! Target Nation
! Value of Transaction ($mil)
|-
|9 January 2010
|Petrobras
|Oil & Gas
|Brazil
|Brazil-Oil & Gas Blocks
|Oil & Gas
|Brazil
|42,877.03
|-
|20 February 2017
|Vale SA
|Metals & Mining
|Brazil
|Valepar SA
|Metals & Mining
|Brazil
|20,956.66
|-
|8 November 2006
|Cia Vale do Rio Doce SA
|Metals & Mining
|Brazil
|Inco Ltd
|Metals & Mining
|Canada
|17,150.30
|-
|20 February 2008
|BM&F
|Brokerage
|Brazil
|Bovespa Holding SA
|Brokerage
|Brazil
|10,309.09
|-
|13 January 2000
|Telefónica SA
|Telecommunications Services
|Spain
|Telecommunicacoes de São Paulo
|Telecommunications Services
|Brazil
|10,213.31
|-
|31 July 2014
|Telefónica Brasil SA
|Telecommunications Services
|Brazil
|GVT Participacoes SA
|Telecommunications Services
|Brazil
|9,823.31
|-
|5 October 2010
|Telefónica SA
|Telecommunications Services
|Spain
|Brasilcel NV
|Telecommunications Services
|Brazil
|9,742.79
|-
|11 March 2008
|Banco Itaú Holding Financeira
|Banks
|Brazil
|Unibanco Holdings SA
|Other Financials
|Brazil
|8,464.77
|-
|3 March 2004
|Ambev
|Food and Beverage
|Brazil
|John Labatt Ltd
|Food and Beverage
|Canada
|7,758.01
|-
|10 January 2010
|China Petrochemical Corporation
|Oil & Gas
|China
|Repsol YPF Brasil SA
|Oil & Gas
|Brazil
|7,111.00
|-
|2 July 2012
|Banestado Participacoes
|Other Financials
|Brazil
|Redecard SA
|Computers & Peripherals
|Brazil
|6,821.71
|}
Entrepreneurship
, a Brazilian company, is the third-largest commercial jet maker in the world, just behind Airbus and Boeing.]]
According to a search of Global Entrepreneurship Monitor in 2011 Brazil had 27 million adults aged between 18 and 64 either starting or owning a business, meaning that more than one in four Brazilian adults were entrepreneurs. In comparison to the other 54 countries studied, Brazil was the third-highest in total number of entrepreneurs. The Institute of Applied Economic Research (Ipea), a government agency, found that 37 million jobs in Brazil were associated with businesses with less than 10 employees.
Even though Brazil ranks internationally as one of the hardest countries in the region to do business due to its complicated bureaucracy, there is a healthy number of entrepreneurs, thanks to the huge internal consumer market and various government programs.
The most recent research of Global Entrepreneurship Monitor revealed in 2013 that 50.4% of Brazilian new entrepreneurs are men, 33.8% are in the 35–44 age group, 36.9% completed high school and 47.9% earn 3–6 times the Brazilian minimum wage. In contrast, 49.6% of entrepreneurs are female, only 7% are in the 55–64 age group, 1% have postgraduate education and 1.7% earn more than 9 times the minimum wage.
Credit rating
Brazil's credit rating was downgraded by Standard & Poor's (S&P) to BBB in March 2014, just one notch above junk. It was further downgraded in January 2018 by S&P to BB−, which is 2 notches below investment grade.
Climate change
See also
* Economic history of Brazil
* List of economic crises in Brazil
* Brazilian packaging market
* Brazil and the World Bank
* Economy of São Paulo
* List of Brazilian federative units by gross domestic product
* List of Brazilian states by poverty rate
* 2015–2017 Brazilian economic crisis
* List of Latin American and Caribbean countries by GDP growth
* List of Latin American and Caribbean countries by GDP (nominal)
* List of Latin American and Caribbean countries by GDP (PPP)
References
Further reading
* Furtado, Celso. Formação econômica do Brasil [http://www.afoiceeomartelo.com.br/posfsa/Autores/Furtado,%20Celso/Celso%20Furtado%20-%20Forma%C3%A7%C3%A3o%20Econ%C3%B4mica%20do%20Brasil.pdf]
* Prado Junior, Caio. História econômica do Brasil[http://www.afoiceeomartelo.com.br/posfsa/Autores/Prado%20Jr,%20Caio/Historia%20Economica%20do%20Brasil.pdf]
External links
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*[http://www.fazenda.gov.br/ Ministry of Finance (Brazil)]
*[http://www.ibge.gov.br/english/ IBGE : Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics]
*[http://wits.worldbank.org/CountryProfile/en/Country/BRA/Year/LTST/Summary World Bank Summary Trade Statistics Brazil]
*[https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/brazil/ Brazil profile] at the CIA World Factbook
*[http://www.worldbank.org/en/country/brazil Brazil profile] at The World Bank
Brazil
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Telecommunications in Brazil
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Brazil has both modern technologies in the center-south portion, counting with LTE, 3G HSPA, DSL ISDB based Digital TV. Other areas of the country, particularly the North and Northeast regions, lack even basic analog PSTN telephone lines. This is a problem that the government is trying to solve by linking the liberation of new technologies such as WiMax and FTTH) only tied with compromises on extension of the service to less populated regions.
Telephone system
Landline
The Brazilian landline sector is fully open to competition and continues to attract operators. The bulk of the market is divided between three operators: Telefónica, América Móvil, and Oi (controlled by Brazilian investors and Pharol SGPS). Telefónica operates through Telefónica Brasil, which has integrated its landline and mobile services under the brand name Vivo. The América Móvil group in Brazil comprises long distance incumbent Embratel, mobile operator Claro, and cable TV provider Net Serviços. The group has started to integrate its landline and mobile services under the brand name Claro, previously used only for mobile services. Oi offers landline and mobile services under the Oi brand name. GVT was the country's most successful alternative network provider, offering landline services only, until it was acquired by Telefónica in 2015 and integrated into Vivo.
National:
extensive microwave radio relay system and a national satellite system with 64 earth stations.
International:
country code - 55; landing point for a number of submarine cables, including Atlantis 2, that provide direct links to South and Central America, the Caribbean, the US, Africa, and Europe; satellite earth stations - 3 Intelsat (Atlantic Ocean), 1 Inmarsat (Atlantic Ocean region east), connected by microwave relay system to Mercosur Brazilsat B3 satellite earth station (2007)
Served locations: 37,355
Installed terminals: 43,626,836
In service: 33,800,370
Public terminals: 1,128,350
Density: 22,798 Phones/100 Hab
Mobile
The history of mobile telephony in Brazil began on 30 December 1990, when the Cellular Mobile System began operating in the city of Rio de Janeiro, with a capacity for 10,000 terminals. At that time, according to Anatel (the national telecommunications agency), there were 667 devices in the country. The number of devices rose to 6,700 in the next year, to 30,000 in 1992.
In November 2007 3G services were launched, and increased rapidly to almost 90% of the population in 2012 and the agreements signed as part of the auction specify a 3G coverage obligation of 100% of population by 2019.
After the auction that took place in June 2012, LTE tests were undertaken in several cities, tourist locations and international conference venues. The first LTE-compatible devices became available in the local market and LTE services was commercially launched in 2013. Under the 4G licence terms, operators were required to have commercial networks in all twelve state capitals which are acting as host cities for the 2014 FIFA World Cup.
5G services were commercially launched in 2020, initially only in a few cities and in DSS mode. In 2021, the regulatory agency Anatel carried out the auction of the 3.5 GHz spectrum, which allowed the operation of 5G in standalone mode (SA). In July 2022, Brasília was the first city to have 5G NR SA made available, with all state capitals being served by the three major carriers by the end of 2022. By July 2023, 753 cities had 5G coverage, which accounts for 46% of the country's population.
The mobile market is ruled by 3 companies:
Vivo, belongs to Telefônica Brasil, is the leading mobile and landline carrier in Brazil. In 1Q2023, Vivo served 98 million mobile subscribers.
Claro, controlled by the Mexican América Móvil (owned by Carlos Slim), ranks second in Brazilian mobile market. In 1Q2023, Claro served 82.8 million mobile subscribers.
Algar Telecom is the largest regional mobile carrier, operating in 4 states. The company's customers have national coverage through roaming agreements with the three major telcos. In 1Q2023, Algar Telecom served 4.5 million mobile subscribers.
Americas II cable entered operations in September 2000, connecting Brazil (Fortaleza) to United States.
ATLANTIS-2, with around 12 thousand kilometers in extension, operating since 2000, it connects Brazil (Rio de Janeiro and Natal) to Europe, Africa and South America. This is the only cable that connects South America to Africa and Europe.
EMERGIA – SAM 1 cable connects all three Americas, surrounding it with a total extension of more than 25 thousand kilometers.
GLOBAL CROSSING - SAC Connects all Americas, surrounding them with a total extension of more than 15 thousand kilometers.
GLOBENET/360 NETWORK Another link from North America to South America.
UNISUR Interconnects Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina.
All these cables have a bandwidth from 20 Gbit/s to 80 Gbit/s, and some have a projected final capacity of more than 1 Tbit/s.
Satellite connections
List of business and satellites they operate (Brazilian Geostationary Satellites)
Satellite operatorSatelliteBandsOrbital positionsOperationalHispamar Amazonas 1C e Ku61.0° WYesAmazonas 2Loral SkynetEstrela do Sul 1Ku63.0° WYesEstrela do Sul 2Ku63.0° WNoStar OneBrasilsat B1C and X70.0° WYesBrasilsat B2C and X65.0° WYesBrasilsat B3C84.0° WYesBrasilsat B4C92.0° WYesStar One C1C and Ku65.0° WYesStar One C2C and Ku70.0° WYesStar One C3C and Ku75.0° WNoStar One C4C, L, S75.0° WNoStar One C5C and Ku68.0° WNo
Television and radio
Under the Brazilian constitution, television and radio are not treated as forms of telecommunication, in order to avoid creating problems with a series of regulations that reduce and control how international businesses and individuals can participate. Brazil has the second largest media conglomerate in the world in terms of revenue, Grupo Globo.
Internet
The Internet has become quite popular in Brazil, with steadily growing numbers of users as well as increased availability. Brazil holds the 6th spot in number of users worldwide. Many technologies are used to bring broadband Internet to consumers, with DSL and cable being the most common (respectively, about 13 million and 9 million connections), and 3G technologies. 4G technologies were introduced in April 2013 and presently are available in over 90% of the country.
See also
List of telecommunications companies in Brazil
References
External links
Brazilian National Telecommunications Agency
Brazilian Ministry of Communications
Brazil, SubmarineCableMap.com
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Transport in Brazil
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Transport infrastructure in Brazil is characterized by strong regional differences and lack of development of the national rail network. Brazil's fast-growing economy, and especially the growth in exports, will place increasing demands on the transport networks. However, sizeable new investments that are expected to address some of the issues are either planned or in progress. It is common to travel domestically by air because the price is low. Brazil has the second highest number of airports in the world, after the USA.
Railways
The Brazilian railway network has an extension of about . It is basically used for transporting ores.
In 2021, a New Framework for Railways was created, allowing the construction of railways by authorization, as occurs in the exploration of infrastructure in sectors such as telecommunications, electricity and ports. It's also possible to authorize the exploration of stretches not implemented, idle, or in the process of being returned or deactivated. With the change of rules in the sector, in December 2021, there were already requests to open of new tracks, in 64 requests for implementation of new railways. Nine new railroads had already been authorized by the Federal Government, in of new tracks.
*Total actual network: 29,888 km of railroad and 1,411 km of subway and light rail
*Sobral (13.9 km)*
*Belo Horizonte (28.1 km)
*João Pessoa (30 km)*
*Maceió (32.1 km)*
*Salvador (33 km)
| width=40 |
|
* Federal District (42.4 km)
*Porto Alegre (43.4 km)*
*Fortaleza (43.6 km)*
*Natal (56.2 km)
* Recife (71 km)*
* Rio de Janeiro (100 km)*
* São Paulo (112.2 km)*
|}
Note (*): Light Rail Transit, Light Metro, Tram or Subway-Surface fully or partially operated.
Railway links with adjacent countries
International rail links exist between Brazil and Argentina, Bolivia and Uruguay.
Tramways
Brazil had a hundred tramway systems. Currently, there are vintage tramways operating in Belém, Campinas, Campos do Jordão, Itatinga, Rio de Janeiro and Santos. Highways
]]
highlighted in red.}}]]
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Brazil has more than of roads, of which are paved (12,4%), and about are divided highways, only in the State of São Paulo. Currently it is possible to travel from Rio Grande, in the extreme south of the country, to Brasília () or Casimiro de Abreu, in the state of Rio de Janeiro (), only on divided highways. The total of paved roads increased from 35,496 km (22,056 mi) in 1967 to 215,000 km (133,595 mi) in 2018. The two most important highways in the country are BR-101 and BR-116.
Although Brazil has the largest duplicated road network in Latin America, it's considered insufficient for the country's needs: in 2021, it was calculated that the ideal amount of duplicated roads would be something around from to . The main road axes also have problems because they often have inadequate geometry and constructive characteristics that don't allow quality long-distance flow (non-interference from local traffic and high speed). The Brazilian Federal Government has never implemented a National Highway Plan at the same level as developed countries such as the US, Japan or European countries, which specifically aimed at inter-regional travel, and which should preferably be served by highways (which would differ from the common duplicated highways by geometric pattern, access control without access to neighboring lots, zero level crossings and returns, prohibition of circulation of non-motorized vehicles such as cyclists, animal traction or human propulsion, as per the Vienna Convention). The Brazilian State, despite some planning efforts, has been guided by a reactive action to the increase in demand (only duplicating some roads with old and inadequate layout) and not by a purposeful vision, directing occupation and economic density in the territory. Another problem is the lack of directing the Union Budget towards infrastructure works: in Brazil there is no law that guarantees funds from the Federal Budget for works on highways and other modes of transport (unlike what happens in sectors such as Education and Health), depending exclusively on the goodwill of the rulers. In the US, for example, the gasoline tax can only be used for transport infrastructure works. Brazil even invested 1.5% of the country's budget in infrastructure in the 1970s, being the time when the most investment was made in highways; but in the 1990s, only 0.1% of the budget was invested in this sector, maintaining an average of 0.5% in the 2000s and 2010, insufficient amounts for the construction of an adequate road network. For comparative purposes, the average investment of the US and the European Union was 1% between 1995 and 2013, even though they already have a much more advanced road infrastructure than Brazil.
The country has a medium rate of car ownership of 471 per 1000 people, however in comparison to the other developing economies of the BRIC group Brazil exceeds India and China.
The country still has several states where paved access to 100% of the state's municipalities has not yet been reached. Some states have 100% of cities with asphalt access, such as Santa Catarina, which reached this goal in 2014; Paraíba, which reached this goal in 2017, and Alagoas, which reached this goal in 2021 In states like Rio Grande do Sul, in 2020, there were still 54 cities without asphalt access. In Paraná, in 2021, there were still 4 cities without asphalt access. In Minas Gerais, in 2016, there were still 5 cities without asphalt access.
Waterways
50,000 km navigable (most in areas remote from industry or population) (2012)Pipelines
* condensate/gas 62 km
* natural gas 11,696 km (1,165 km distribution, 4,794 km transport)
* liquid petroleum gas 353 km (37 km distribution, 40 km transport)
* crude oil 4,517 km (1,985 km distribution)
* refined products 5,959 km (1,165 km distribution, 4,794 km transport)
Atlantic Ocean
{|
|-valign=top
|
* Santos
* Paranaguá
* Rio Grande
* Itajaí
* Tubarão
* Porto Alegre
| width=40 |
|
* Suape
* Rio de Janeiro
* Pecém
* Ponta da Madeira
* Itaqui
* Antonina
| width=40 |
|
* São Francisco do Sul
* São Sebastião
* Açu
* Salvador
* Natal
* Itaguaí
|}
Amazon river
* Belém
* Manaus
* Santarém
Paraguay River (international water way)
* Corumbá
Merchant marine
770 ships ( (or over) totaling /
ships by type: (1999, 2019 and 2021 est.) such as those in Rio de Janeiro, Brasília, Belo Horizonte, Porto Alegre, Florianópolis, Cuiabá, Salvador, Recife, Fortaleza, Belém and Manaus, among others.
Most international flights must go to São Paulo–Guarulhos International Airport or Rio de Janeiro–Galeão International Airport. Belo Horizonte is the main international airport outside Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo. A few go to Brasília, Recife, Natal, and just recently Fortaleza has accepted international flights.
As of 2020, Brazil had the eighth largest passenger air market in the world.
Airports - with paved runways
*total: 698<ref name=":0" />
*over 3,047 m: 7
*2,438 to 3,047 m: 27
*1,524 to 2,437 m: 179
*914 to 1,523 m: 436 (2017)
*under 914 m: 39 (2017)
Airports - with unpaved runways
*total: 3,395<ref name=":0" />
*1,524 to 2,437 m: 92
*914 to 1,523 m: 1,619
*under 914 m: 1,684 (2013)
Main airlines
*Azul Brazilian Airlines
*Gol Linhas Aéreas Inteligentes
*LATAM Brasil
*Voepass Linhas Aéreas
Heliports
*16 (2007)
*13 (2010)
*13 (2013)<ref name":0" /> See also
* National Association of Cargo Transportation and Logistics (Brazil)
* Rail transport by country
* List of countries by road network size
References
*[https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/brazil/ CIA - The World Factbook - Brazil - Transportation]
External links
* [https://www.gov.br/infraestrutura/ Infrastructure Ministry of Brazil]
* [https://www.gov.br/antaq/ Brazilian National Aquatic Transport Agency (ANTAQ)]
* [https://www.gov.br/anac/ Brazilian National Civil Aviation Agency (ANAC)]
* [https://www.gov.br/antt/ Brazilian National Terrestrial Transportation Agency (ANTT)]
* [https://www.cnt.org.br/ Brazilian National Transport Confederation (CNT)]
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Brazilian Armed Forces
|
|
|
}}
| headquarters = Ministry of Defense, Brasília
| commander-in-chief Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva
| commander-in-chief_title = Commander-in-Chief
| minister José Múcio
| minister_title = Minister of Defence
| commander Renato Freire
| commander_title = Chief of the Joint Staff of the Armed Forces
| amount (2023)
| percent_GDP = 1,1% (2023)
| age = 18–45 years of age for compulsory military service for men
| conscription = 10 to 12 months
| active 376,000
| ranked | reserve 1,340,000
Brazil's armed forces are the second largest in the Americas, after the United States, and the largest in Latin America and the Southern Hemisphere by the level of military equipment, with 334,500 active-duty troops and officers. Brazilian soldiers were in Haiti from 2004 until 2017, leading the United Nations Stabilization Mission (MINUSTAH).
Organization
The Armed Forces of Brazil are divided into 3 branches:
* Brazilian Army
**Brazilian Army Aviation Command
* Brazilian Navy
**Brazilian Marine Corps
**Brazilian Naval Aviation
* Brazilian Air Force
**Aerospace Operations Command
The Military Police (state police) alongside the Military Firefighters Corps are described as an auxiliary and reserve force of the Army.
The Brazilian Navy which is the oldest of the Brazilian Armed Forces, includes the Brazilian Marine Corps and the Brazilian Naval Aviation.
Service obligation and manpower
There is compulsory military service for those aged 18-45; conscript service obligation – 10 to 12 months; voluntary service is allowed from age 17-45. An increasing percentage of the ranks are "long-service" volunteer professionals; women were allowed to serve in the armed forces beginning in the early 1980s when the Brazilian Army became the first army in South America to accept women into career ranks; women serve in Navy and Air Force only in Women's Reserve Corps.Mission and challengesSouth America is a relatively peaceful continent in which wars are a rare event; as a result, Brazil hasn't had its territory invaded since 1865 during the Paraguayan War. Additionally, Brazil has no contested territorial disputes with any of its neighbours However, Brazil is the only country besides China and Russia that has land borders with 10 or more nations. Moreover, Brazil has of land borders and of coastline to be patrolled and defended. Overall, the Armed Forces have to defend 8.5 million km<sup>2</sup> (around 3.2 million sq. mi.) of land and patrol 4.4 million km<sup>2</sup> (around 1.7 million sq. mi.) of territorial waters – or Blue Amazon, as the Brazilian Navy calls them. To achieve this mission, significant manpower and funding is required.
Military history of Brazil
Since 1648 the Brazilian Armed Forces have been relied upon to fight in defense of Brazilian sovereignty and to suppress civil rebellions. The Brazilian military also has three times intervened militarily to overthrow the Brazilian government.
The Brazilian Armed Forces were subordinated to the Emperor, its Commander-in-Chief. He was aided by the Ministers of War and Navy in regard to matters concerning the Army and the Armada, respectively. Traditionally, the Ministers of War and Navy were civilians but there were some exceptions. The model chosen was the British parliamentary or Anglo-American system, in which "the country's Armed Forces observed unrestricted obedience to the civilian government while maintaining distance from political decisions and decisions referring to borders' security".
The military personnel were allowed to run and serve in political offices while staying on active duty. However, they did not represent the Army or the Armada but instead the population of the city or province where elected.
It has built a tradition of participating in UN peacekeeping missions such as in Haiti and East Timor. Below a list of some of the historical events in which the Brazilian Armed Forces took part:Armed conflicts involving Brazil
* First Battle of Guararapes (1648): Decisive Portuguese victory that helped end Dutch occupation. Due to this battle, the year 1648 is considered as the year of the foundation of the Brazilian Army.
* Invasion of Cayenne (1809) (1809) : Was a combined military operation by an Anglo-Portuguese expeditionary force against Cayenne, capital of the French South American colony of French Guiana in 1809, during the Napoleonic Wars.
* Luso-Brazilian invasion (1816–1820) : Was an armed conflict between the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves and the partisans of José Artigas over the Banda Oriental (Eastern Bank), present-day Uruguay.
* Brazilian War of Independence (1822–1824): Series of military campaigns that had as objective to cement Brazilian sovereignty and end Portuguese resistance.
* Confederation of the Equator (1824) : Was a short-lived rebellion that occurred in the northeastern region of Brazil during that nation's struggle for independence from Portugal.
* Cisplatine War (1825–1828) : Armed conflict over an area known as Banda Oriental or "Eastern Shore" between the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata and Empire of Brazil in the aftermath of the United Provinces' emancipation from Spain.
* Ragamuffin War (1835–1845) : Was a Republican uprising that began in southern Brazil, in the states of Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina in 1835. The rebels, led by Generals Bento Gonçalves da Silva and Antônio de Sousa Neto with the support of the Italian fighter Giuseppe Garibaldi, surrendered to imperial forces in 1845.
* Platine War (1851–1852): The Brazilian Empire and its allies went to war against the dictator Juan Manuel de Rosas of the Argentine Confederation.
* Uruguayan War (1864–1865): Brazilian intervention in Uruguay. With support from Argentina, imperial forces deposed President Atanasio Aguirre from office and instated general Venancio Flores in his place.
* Paraguayan War (1864–1870): Over 200,000 Brazilians fought on this conflict,
* Brazilian Naval Revolt (1893–1894) : Were armed mutinies promoted mainly by Admirals Custodio de Mello and Saldanha da Gama and their fleet of Brazilian Navy ships against unconstitutional staying in power of the central government in Rio de Janeiro.
* War of Canudos (1893–1897): The deadliest rebellion of Brazil, the insurrectionists defeated the first 3 military forces sent to quell the rebellion.
Brazilian military coups d'état
Although no military coups occurred during the 67 years of the Brazilian Empire, the Republican period experienced four military coups d'état in the 75 years between 1889 and 1964.
* Proclamation of the Republic (1889): End of the Brazilian Empire, this was the first coup d'état by the Brazilian military.
Joint Staff of the Armed Forces
HQ in Brasília]]
Joint Staff of the Armed Forces is an agency of the Ministry of Defense of Brazil, which centralizes the coordination of command of the armed forces: Army, Navy and Air Force. It was created by Complementary Law No. 136 of 25 August 2010, and has in Ordinance No. 1429 its operating guidelines.
Advising the Minister of Defense in the upper direction of the armed forces, aiming the organization, preparation and employment, in order to fulfill its constitutional mission and its subsidiaries assignments, with the goals strategic planning and the joint use of the military services.
It is up to JSAF plan together and integrated employment of staff of the Navy, Army and Air Force, optimizing the use of the military and logistical support in the defense of the country and in peacekeeping, humanitarian and rescue operations; border security; and civil defense actions.
The body has its powers and duties according to the Regimental Structure approved by Decree 7.9744, April 1, 2013. Since its inception, the JSAF has worked with the Central Administration of the Ministry of Defence, on the Esplanade of Ministries in Brasilia (DF).
The head of the JSAF is private of a general officer of the last post, active or reserve, designated by the Ministry of Defence and appointed by the president. Their hierarchical level is the same of the military commanders of the Navy, Army and Air Force. Under the coordination of the Joint Armed Forces also operates the Committee of Chiefs of Staffs of the military services.
The current head of JSAF is the Admiral Renato Rodrigues de Aguiar Freire.Brazilian Army
The Army High Command of Brazil is formed by the Army Commander and other army generals in active service. The country current have sixteen active 4-star generals, several of them in command posts. The mission of ACE include the selection of a list of candidates to the post of commander, the prospection of regional and global political situations, among others roles. All Brazilian generals are graduates of the Brazilian Superior War School.
FORPRON
The Brazilian Army Readiness Forces (Forças de Prontidão do Exército Brasileiro in Portuguese), is a division of the Army created to be ready for real combat 365 days per year. This division composed of 15,000 infantry troops, paratroopers and armored cavalry brigades is able to operate in real missions of conventional combat, law and order guarantee and interagency operations within the Brazilian territory or as divisional forces abroad led by officers from the General Staff of the Readiness Forces subordinate to the Army High Command.
<gallery mode="packed">
File:Infantryy.jpg|Brazilian Army Infantry
File:Blindados em Rosário do Sul - RS (9919079464).jpg|Leopard 1A5 main battle tank
File:Cavalaria (29242886961).jpg|Brazilian VBTP-MR Guarani IFVs
File:Cavalaria (28698748214).jpg|EE-9 Cascavel armored reconnaissance
File:Brazilian Army Iveco LMV.jpg|Iveco LMV infantry mobility vehicle
File:Cavalaria (29242889921).jpg|Leopard 1A5 in night shooting exercise
File:19 04 2022- Dia do Exército Brasileiro (52017080500).jpg|Brazilian Army EC725
File:Ministro Jaques Wagner assiste exercício de artilharia antiaérea do Exército (20161936520).jpg|Brazilian Flakpanzer Gepard
File:Exército Brasileiro (4968751470).jpg|Electronic Warfare trucks
File:Junglee.jpg|Jungle Warfare infantry
File:Aviation Command.jpg|Airmobile infantry with a AS565 Panther of the Aviation Command
File:Paratroopers.jpg|Brazilian Army Paratroopers
File:Makunfron.jpg|Border Battalion Soldier
File:Specialforces.jpg|Army Special Forces
File:Brazilian military helicopter underway, 2012.jpg|Brazilian UH-60 Black Hawk in the Amazon region
File:Combatente da Caatinga (26700198395).jpg|Brazilian Caatinga soldiers
</gallery>
Brazilian Navy
The navy () has eight bases throughout Brazil.
<gallery mode="packed">
File:Operação "Poseidon 2021" (51474511477).jpg|Helicopter carrier Atlântico
File:Operação Poseidon (51443464716).jpg|EC725 helicopter aboard Atlântico
File:GLAM MB Piloto Caça Untitled-1 (36124829324).jpg|Brazilian Navy A-4 Skyhawk
File:Aspirantex 2020 (49488413213).jpg|Frigate Constituição underway
File:US Navy 110422-N-ZI300-115 The Brazilian navy frigate Bosisio (F 48) fires at an unmanned aerial vehicle during a drone exercise (DRONEX) with ship.jpg|Brazilian frigates in shooting exercise
File:GLAM MB IMG 4068 (28933649305).jpg|Corvette Barroso firing missile Exocet
File:Lançamento de Armas 2021 Exocet 11 (51279148576).png|EC725 firing an Exocet missile
File:ABC 3561 (26818408105).jpg|Task Force with Bahia leading
File:Aeronaves UH 15 - Super Cougar (52098235541).jpg|Brazilian Navy squadron of EC725s in flight
File:Operação Formosa 2014 (15481886779).jpg|Brazilian Marines ASTROS system
File:Operação Ágata Norte 2022 - Operação Demonstrativa em Belém (PA) (52130022414).jpg|Brazilian Navy SOF (GRUMEC)
File:Operação Formosa 2016 (30388031181).jpg|Brazilian Marines SOF (COMANF)
File:Aeronave ScanEagle em um lançador (52200554203).jpg|Brazilian ScanEagle UAV
File:Fuzileiros Navais (32669765020).jpg|Brazilian Marines MOWAG Piranha
</gallery>
Brazilian Air Force
The Brazilian Air Force (, , also known as FAB, or ) is the second-largest air force in the Americas (behind only the United States) and has around 70,000 active personnel. The FAB is subdivided into four operational commands.
<gallery mode="packed">
File:Brazilian Saab Gripen E (cropped).jpg|F-39E Gripen during an exercise
File:22 10 2021 Solenidade Militar alusiva ao Dia do Aviador e ao Dia da Força Aérea Brasileira (51619395824).jpg|KC-390 in formation with F-5M and F-39E
File:Aeronave A-29 Super Tucano em voo sobre a Floresta Amazônica.jpg|A-29 Super Tucano patrolling the Amazon rainforest
File:Brazilian Air Force AMX air-to-air refuelling.jpg|AMX attack aircraft
File:Brazilian Gripen F-39E (cropped).jpg|F-39E Gripen multirole fighter
File:Sábado Aéreo 2014 (15101174380).jpg|UH-60L helicopter
File:R99 - RIAT 2007 (2370466415).jpg|Brazilian Air Force E-99 AEW&C
File:CRUZEX 2013 (10798689103).jpg|Two F-5M taking off in aerial alert
File:Operação Atlântico 2018 (31993852168).jpg|Brazilian Air Force EC725
File:P3am-orion.jpg|P-3AM Orion patrol aircraft
File:Revo02.jpg|Air Force KC-130 refuels H-36 Caracal over Rio de Janeiro
File:Vant Hermes 450 da FAB no aeroporto de Cáceres (MT) (8101398607).jpg|RQ-450 UAV
File:Infantaria.jpg|Brazilian Air Force Infantry
File:Parasar.jpg|Air Force SOF (Para-SAR)
</gallery>
Brazilian aerospace command
]]
The Aerospace Operations Command is a Brazilian air and space command created in 2017 and is part of the Brazilian Air Force. It is responsible for planning, coordinating, executing and controlling the country's air and space operations. The Brazilian Navy and Brazilian Army also are part of the organization.Troop relocationBrazil has the need to patrol its of land borders. the 3rd Infantry Battalion, the 19th Logistics Battalion, and the 22nd Army Police Platoon were transferred by the Army from the states of Rio de Janeiro and Rio Grande do Sul to the Amazon region in accordance with the friendship policy with Argentina. After those redeployments the number of Army troops in that region rose to 25,000. Also relocated from the state of Rio de Janeiro were the 1st and 3rd Combat Cars Regiment, now stationed in the city of Santa Maria, in the state of Rio Grande do Sul. and its land border is over 16.000 km and 4,5 million km2 of sea territory. With the objective of ensuring Brazil's sovereignty, strategic monitoring and communications projects have been launched in recent years.SGDCThe Geostationary Defense and Strategic Communications Satellites or SGDC, are geostationary communication satellites developed by the Brazilian Air Force and the Brazilian Space Agency, created with the objective of operating strategic military, government and civil communications, also offering broadband internet throughout the national territory. The first satellite called SGDC-1, was launched in 2017 and the SGDC-2 has planned to launch in 2022. The Space Operations Center (COPE) was inaugurated in 2020, subordinated to the Aerospace Operations Command, with the objective of operating the satellites. The SisGAAz integrates equipment and systems composed of radars incorporated on land and vessels, as well as high resolution cameras and features such as the fusion of information received from collaborative systems.
Link-BR2
The Link-BR2 is a datalink developed by the Air Force and the Brazilian defence company AEL Sistemas, this technology allow the exchange of data such radar information, videos and images with other units of the three branches anytime and anywhere, using an advanced encrypted protocol with a high degree of security.
Future
See also
* Joint Staff of the Armed Forces
* Brazilian Naval Aviation
* Brazilian Navy
**Brazilian Marines
* Brazilian Army
** Brazilian Army Aviation
* Brazilian Air Force
* National Force of Public Safety
* National Defense Council (Brazil)
* Brazil and weapons of mass destruction
* Policing in Brazil
** Military Police of Brazilian States
** Rondas Ostensivas Tobias de Aguiar: Military Police of the State of São Paulo.
** BOPE: Special Police Operations Battalion of the Military Police of the State of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
** Military Police of Rio de Janeiro State
* List of Wars involving Brazil
* Military of the Empire of Brazil
References
Bibliography
*
*
External links
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20071204213707/https://www.defesa.gov.br/ Brazilian Ministry of Defence]
* [https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/brazil/ Brazil military profile] from the CIA World Factbook
* [http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/brazil/index.html Brazil military guide] from GlobalSecurity.org
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brazilian_Armed_Forces
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Foreign relations of Brazil
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The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is responsible for managing the foreign relations of Brazil. Brazil has the largest economy in Latin America and is a key political and economic power on the world stage. Brazil's foreign policy reflects its role as a regional power and a potential world power and is designed to help protect the country's national interests, national security, ideological goals, and economic prosperity.
Between World War II and 1990, both democratic and military governments sought to expand Brazil's influence in the world by pursuing a state-led industrial policy and an independent foreign policy. Brazilian foreign policy has recently aimed to strengthen ties with other South American countries, engage in multilateral diplomacy through the United Nations and the Organization of American States, and act at times as a countervailing force to U.S. political and economic influence in Latin America.
Overview
The President has ultimate authority over foreign policy, while Congress is tasked with reviewing and considering all diplomatic nominations and international treaties, as well as legislation relating to Brazilian foreign policy.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, also known as Itamaraty, is the government department responsible for advising the President and conducting Brazil's foreign relations with other countries and international bodies. Itamaraty's scope includes political, commercial, economic, financial, cultural and consular relations, areas in which it performs the classical tasks of diplomacy: represent, inform and administer. Foreign policy priorities are established by the President.
Foreign policy
Brazil's foreign policy is a by-product of the country's unique position as a regional power in Latin America, a leader among developing countries, and an emerging world power. Brazilian foreign policy has generally been based on the principles of multilateralism, peaceful dispute settlement, and non-intervention in the affairs of other countries. Brazil engages in multilateral diplomacy through the Organization of American States and the United Nations, and has increased ties with developing countries in Africa and Asia. Brazil is currently commanding a multinational U.N. stabilization force in Haiti, the MINUSTAH. Instead of pursuing unilateral prerogatives, Brazilian foreign policy has tended to emphasize regional integration, first through the Southern Cone Common Market (Mercosul) and now the Union of South American Nations. Brazil is also committed to cooperation with other Portuguese-speaking nations through joint-collaborations with the rest of the Portuguese-speaking world, in several domains which include military cooperation, financial aid, and cultural exchange. This is done in the framework of CPLP, for instance. Lula da Silva visit to Africa in 2003 included State visits to three Portuguese-speaking African nations (Angola, São Tomé and Príncipe, and Mozambique). Finally, Brazil is also strongly committed in the development and restoration of peace in East Timor, where it has a very powerful influence.
Brazil's political, business, and military ventures are complemented by the country's trade policy. In Brazil, the Ministry of Foreign Relations continues to dominate trade policy, causing the country's commercial interests to be (at times) subsumed by a larger foreign policy goal, namely, enhancing Brazil's influence in Latin America and the world. For example, while concluding meaningful trade agreements with developed countries (such as the United States and the European Union) would probably be beneficial to Brazil's long-term economic self-interest, the Brazilian government has instead prioritized its leadership role within Mercosul and expanded trade ties with countries in Africa, Asia and the Middle East.
Brazil's soft power diplomacy involves institutional strategies such as the formation of diplomatic coalitions to constrain the power of the established great powers. In recent years, it has given high priority in establishing political dialogue with other strategic actors such as India, Russia, China and South Africa through participation in international groupings such as BASIC, IBSA and BRICS. The BRICS states have been amongst the most powerful drivers of incremental change in world diplomacy and they benefit most from the connected global power shifts.
These directives implied precise emphasis on: the search for political coordination with emerging and developing countries, namely India, South Africa, Russia and China; creation of the Union of South American Nations and its derivative bodies, such as the South American Security Council; strengthening of Mercosul; projection at the Doha Round and WTO; maintenance of relations with developed countries, including the United States; undertaking and narrowing of relations with African countries; campaign for the reform of the United Nations Security Council and for a permanent seat for Brazil; and defense of social objectives allowing for a greater equilibrium between the States and populations. Lula stated Brazil's commitment to the One China principle that is the position held by the People's Republic of China and the ruling Chinese Communist Party, saying that the government of the People's Republic of China was the sole legal government representing the whole of China, including Taiwan -- as part of China.
Under Lula, Brazil provided money and corporate support to Cuba. The state-controlled Brazilian oil company Petrobras studied the possibility of drilling for oil off of Cuba, while the Odebrecht construction firm headed a revamp of the Cuban port of Mariel into the island's main commercial port. Brazil's state-run Brazilian Development Bank gave $300 million to Odebrecht to build new roads, rail lines, wharves, and warehouses at Mariel. He said: "There is no risk with Chávez."
The foreign policy of the Rousseff administration (2011–2016) sought to deepen Brazil's regional commercial dominance and diplomacy, expand Brazil's presence in Africa, and play a major role in the G20 on global warming and in other multilateral settings. At the United Nations, Brazil continues to oppose Economic sanctions and foreign military intervention, while seeking to garner support for a permanent seat at the Security Council. Cooperation with other emerging powers remain a top priority in Brazil's global diplomatic strategy. On the recent airstrike resolution supporting military action in Libya, Brazil joined fellow BRICS in the Council and abstained. On the draft resolution condemning violence in Syria, Brazil worked with India and South Africa to try to bridge the Western powers' divide with Russia and China.
Bolsonaro administration, 2019-2022
After Rousseff's impeachment, Brazil started reconnecting with its western allies. In 2019 Jair Bolsonaro succeeded Michel Temer. The new foreign policy focused on a reapprochement with major governments especially the United States and Colombia in the Americas; Israel, Japan and South Korea in Asia; United Kingdom, Italy and Greece in Europe. The Brazil–Portugal relations were also strengthened, and despite disagreements over the crisis in Venezuela, Brazil remained close to the BRICS countries.
right|thumb|Bolsonaro with United States President Donald Trump at the White House, 19 March 2019
thumb|right|Bolsonaro with United Kingdom Prime Minister Boris Johnson, 20 September 2021
During the 2018 presidential campaign, Bolsonaro said he would make considerable changes to Brazil's foreign relations, saying that the "Itamaraty needs to be in service of the values that were always associated with the Brazilian people". He also said that the country should stop "praising dictators" and attacking democracies, such as the United States, Israel and Italy. In early 2018, he affirmed that his "trip to the five democratic countries the United States, Israel, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan showed who we will be and we would like to join good people". Bolsonaro has shown distrust towards China throughout the presidential campaign claiming they "[want to] buy Brazil", although Brazil recorded a US$20 billion trade surplus with China in 2018, and China is only the 13th largest source of foreign direct investment into Brazil. Bolsonaro said he wishes to continue to have business with the Chinese but he also said that Brazil should "make better [economic] deals" with other countries, with no "ideological agenda" behind it. His stance towards China has also been interpreted as an attempt to curry favor from the Trump administration to garner concessions from the US. He has also said that Brazil will stay out of the ongoing China-U.S. trade war. Bolsonaro also said that the State of Palestine "is not a country, so there should be no embassy here", adding that "you don't negotiate with terrorists." but was met with condemnation from the Arab League, which warned Bolsonaro it could damage diplomatic ties. "I love Israel," Bolsonaro said in Hebrew at a welcoming ceremony, with Netanyahu at his side, at Tel Aviv's Ben-Gurion airport.
left|thumb|Bolsonaro with Chinese President Xi Jinping in October 2019
Bolsonaro also praised U.S. President Donald Trump and his foreign policy, His son Eduardo has indicated that Brazil should distance itself from Iran, sever ties with Nicolás Maduro's government in Venezuela and relocate Brazil's embassy in Israel to Jerusalem. Bolsonaro is widely considered the most pro-American candidate in Brazil since the 1980s. PSL members said that if elected, he would dramatically improve relations between the United States and Brazil. During an October 2017 campaign rally in Miami, he saluted the American flag and led chants of "USA! USA!" to a large crowd. U.S. National Security Advisor John Bolton praised Bolsonaro as a "like-minded" partner and said his victory was a "positive sign" for Latin America.
At the regional level, Bolsonaro praised Argentine President Mauricio Macri for ending the 12-year rule of Néstor and Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, which he saw as similar to Lula and Rousseff. Although he does not have plans to leave the Mercosur, he criticized it for prioritizing ideological issues over economic ones. A staunch anti-communist, Bolsonaro has condemned Cuba's former leader Fidel Castro and the current regime in that island.
Bolsonaro praised British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, saying that he had learned from Churchill: "Patriotism, love for your fatherland, respect for your flag – something that has been lost over the last few years here in Brazil... and governing through example, especially at that difficult moment of the Second World War." Bolsonaro said he's open to the possibility of hosting a U.S. military base in Brazil to counter Russian influence in the region. With the intention to persuade Trump to make Brazil a NATO member in March 2019, Bolsonaro said: "the discussions with the United States will begin in the coming months".
right|thumb|Bolsonaro with Russian President Vladimir Putin in November 2019
With formal U.S. support for Brazil's entry to OECD in May 2019, Bolsonaro said, "currently, all 36 members of the organization support the entry of the country, fruit of confidence in the new Brazil being built, more free, open and fair". In October 2019, on a state visit to China, he announced the end of the need for visas for Chinese and Indian entry into Brazil. Brazil had already removed the need for visas for people from the U.S., Canada, Japan, and Australia.
Lula second presidency, 2023-present
In May 2022, Lula placed blame for Russia's invasion of Ukraine on Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, saying "This guy is as responsible as Putin for the war". Lula also repeatedly attacked NATO and the European Union as having caused the war. After Germany appealed to Lula to provide military aid to Ukraine by selling it arms, Lula refused. In December 2023, Lula said that he will invite Vladimir Putin to Brazil. In February 2024, he was visited by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
In November 2023, Lula met in Riyadh with the prime minister and crown prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman. They discussed strengthening bilateral relations, and investments in both countries. It has traditionally, if controversially, been a leader in the inter-American community and played an important role in collective security efforts, as well as in economic cooperation in the Western Hemisphere. Brazilian foreign policy supports economic and political integration efforts in order to reinforce long-standing relationships with its neighbors. In January 2020, Brazil suspended its participation in the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States, (Celac).
Brazil regularly extends export credits and university scholarships to its Latin American neighbors. In recent years, the Brazilian Development Bank (BNDES) has provided US$5 billion worth of loans to countries in the region. Brazil has also increasingly provided Latin American nations with financial aid and technical assistance.
In November 2019, Brazil made a historic move to break with the rest of Latin America on the U.S. embargo of Cuba, becoming the first Latin American country in twenty-six years to vote against condemning the U.S.-led embargo of Cuba at the United Nations General Assembly.
United Nations politics
Brazil is a founding member of the United Nations and participates in all of its specialized agencies. It has participated in 33 United Nations peacekeeping missions and contributed with over 27,000 soldiers. Brazil has been a member of the United Nations Security Council ten times, most recently 2010–2011. Along with Japan, Brazil has been elected more times to the Security Council than any other U.N. member state. It is a member of the G4, an alliance among Brazil, Germany, India, and Japan for the purpose of supporting each other's bids for permanent seats on the Security Council.
Brazil declared in 1986 the sector between 28°W to 53°W Brazilian Antarctica (Antártica Brasileira) as its Zone of Interest. It overlaps Argentine and British claims
In 2004, the country submitted its claims to the United Nations Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (CLCS) to extend its maritime continental margin.
Foreign aid
Overseas aid has become an increasingly important tool for Brazil's foreign policy. Brazil provides aid through the Brazilian Agency of Cooperation (Abbreviation: ABC; ), in addition to offering scientific, economical, and technical support. More than half of Brazilian aid is provided to Africa, whereas Latin America receives around 20% of Brazilian aid. The share of aid allocated to the Asian continent is small. Within Africa, more than 80% of Brazilian aid is received by Portuguese-speaking countries. Brazil concentrates its aid for Portuguese-speaking countries in the education sector, specially in secondary and post-secondary education, but it is more committed to agricultural development in other countries. Estimated to be around $1 billion annually, Brazil is on par with China and India and ahead of many more traditional donor countries. Concomitantly, South-South relations have become a major subfield of specialisation among Brazilian foreign policy experts. Some studies have suggested that, by giving aid, Brazil could be trying to get access to mineral and energy resources.
Participation in international organizations
ACS • ACTO • AfDB • ALECSO • BIS • CAF-BDLAC • Cairns Group • CAN • CDB • CPLP • FAO • G4 • BASIC countries • G8+5 • G15 • G20 • G20+ • G24 • G77 • IADB • IDB • IAEA • IBRD • IBSA •ICAO • ICC • ICRM • IDA • IFAD • IFC • IFRCS • IHO • ILO • IMF • IMO • Inmarsat •INSARAG • Intelsat • Interpol • IOC • IOM • ISO • ITU • LAES • LAIA • Mercosul • MINUSTAH • NAM • NSG • OAS • OEI • OPANAL • OPCW • PCA • Rio Group • Rio Treaty • UN • UNASUR • UNCTAD • UNESCO • UNHCR • UNIDO • UNITAR • UNMIL • UNMIS • UNMOVIC • UNOCI • UNTAET • UNWTO • UPU • WCO • WHO • WIPO • WMO • WTO • ZPCAS
Diplomatic relations
Brazil has a large global network of diplomatic missions, and maintains diplomatic relations with As of 2019, Brazil's diplomatic network consisted of 194 overseas posts.
Relations with non-UN members or observers:
- Brazil does not recognize Kosovo as an independent state and has announced it has no plans to do so without an agreement with Serbia. However, Brazil accepts the Kosovan passport.
- Brazil does not recognize the Republic of China as it has recognized the People's Republic of China, although it has non-diplomatic relations and maintains a special office in Taiwan. Brazil also accepts the Taiwan passport.234567891011—1213141516171819202122232425262728303132333435373840414244454647484951525455—57586061626364656668697071727374757677787980818283848687888990919294959697101102103104105106107108110111112113114115116117118119120121122123124126127128130131132133134137138145146147154157158159160161162163167168174175176177180185190192
Algeria has an embassy in Brasilia.
Brazil has an embassy in Algiers.12 November 1975See Angola–Brazil relations
Both countries established diplomatic relations on 12 November 1975
Brazil is accredited to Chad from its embassy in Yaoundé, Cameroon.
Chad is accredited to Brazil from its embassy in Washington, D.C., United States.21 June 1968See Brazil–Democratic Republic of the Congo relations
Both countries established diplomatic relations on 21 June 1968
Brazil has an embassy in Cairo.
Egypt has an embassy in Brasília, a consulate-general in Rio de Janeiro, and a commercial office in São Paulo.9 January 1951See Brazil–Ethiopia relations
Both countries established diplomatic relations on 9 January 1951 when was accredited first Minister of Ethiopia to Brazil Mr. Blatta Dawit Ogbazgy
Brazil has an embassy in Addis Ababa.
Ethiopia has an embassy in Brasília.11 January 1974Both countries established diplomatic relations on 11 January 1974
Brazil has an embassy in Libreville.
Gabon has an embassy in Brasília.1960 Ghana and Brazil share a historically close relationship.
Brazil has an embassy in Accra.
Ghana has an embassy in Brasília.4 September 1974Both countries established diplomatic relations on 4 September 1974
Brazil has an embassy in Conakry.
Guinea has an embassy in Brasília.22 November 1974See Brazil–Guinea-Bissau relations
Both countries established diplomatic relations on 22 November 1974.
Brazil has an embassy in Bissau.
Guinea-Bissau has an embassy in Brasília..4 July 1967See Brazil–Kenya relations
Both countries established diplomatic relations on 4 July 1967
Brazil is accredited to Madagascar from its embassy in Maputo, Mozambique.
Madagascar is accredited to Brazil from its embassy in Washington, D.C., United States.23 August 1990Both countries established diplomatic relations on 23 August 1990
Bilateral relations between Nigeria and Brazil focus primarily upon trade and culture. The largest country in Latin America by size, and the largest country in Africa by population are remotely bordered across from one another by the Atlantic Ocean. Brazil and Nigeria for centuries, have enjoyed a warmly, friendly, and strong relationship on the basis of culture (many Afro-Brazilians trace their ancestry to Nigeria) and commercial trade.
Brazil has an embassy in Abuja and a consulate-general in Lagos.
Nigeria has an embassy in Brasília.1975See Brazil–São Tomé and Príncipe relations
Brazil has an embassy in São Tomé.
São Tomé and Príncipe is accredited to Brazil from its Permanent Mission to the United Nations in New York City, United States.26 April 1961Both countries established diplomatic relations on 26 April 1961
Brazil has an embassy in Dakar.
Senegal has an embassy in Brasília.31 January 1948See Brazil–South Africa relations
Both countries established diplomatic relations on 31 January 1948
Brazil-South Africa relations have traditionally been close. Brazil has provided military assistance to South Africa in the form of warfare training and logistics. Bilateral relations between the countries have recently increased, as a result of Brazil's new South-South foreign policy aimed to strengthen integration between the major powers of the developing world. South Africa is part of the IBSA Dialogue Forum, alongside Brazil and India.
Brazil has an embassy in Pretoria and a consulate-general in Cape Town.
South Africa has an embassy in Brasília and a consulate-general in São Paulo.10 October 1968Both countries established diplomatic relations on 10 October 1968
After democratization, a strong integration and partnership began between the two countries. In 1985 they signed the basis for the MERCOSUL, a Regional Trade Agreement. In the field of science, the two regional giants had been rivals since the 1950s when both governments launched parallel nuclear and space programs, however, several agreements were signed since then such as the creation of the Brazilian–Argentine Agency for Accounting and Control of Nuclear Materials (ABACC) to verify both countries' pledges to use nuclear energy only for peaceful purposes. National spaces agencies CONAE and the AEB had also begun working together since the 1990s. Brazil's decision to prevent a Royal Navy ship docking in Rio de Janeiro was seen as backing Argentina over the Falklands dispute.
Also on the military side there has been greater rapprochement. In accordance with the friendship policy, both armies dissolved or moved major units previously located at their common border (for example, Argentine's 7th Jungle and 3rd Motorized Infantry Brigades). Brazilian soldiers are embedded in the Argentine peacekeeping contingent at UNFICYP in Cyprus and they are working together at MINUSTAH in Haiti and, as another example of collaboration, Argentine Navy aircraft routinely operate from the Brazilian Navy carrier NAe São Paulo.
Argentina has an embassy in Brasília and maintains several consulates throughout the country.
Brazil has an embassy in Buenos Aires and maintains several consulates throughout the country.
In May 2023, Argentina and Brazil announced plans to continue working on the development of a mechanism allowing them to avoid using the US dollar in bilateral trade.See Bolivia–Brazil relations
Bolivia has an embassy in Brasilia and maintains several consulates throughout the country.
Brazil has an embassy in La Paz and maintains several consulates throughout the country.See Brazil–Canada relations
Brazil-Canada relations have been cordial but relatively limited, although the relationship between the two countries has been gradually evolving over time.
Brazil has an embassy in Ottawa and consulates-general in Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver.
Canada has an embassy in Brasília, and consulates-general in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo.22 April 1836See Brazil–Chile relations
Both countries established diplomatic relations on 22 April 1836
Chile and Brazil have acted numerous times as mediators in international conflicts, such as in the 1914 diplomatic impasse between the United States and Mexico, avoiding a possible state of war between those two countries. More recently, since the 2004 Haiti rebellion, Chile and Brazil have actively participated in the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti, which is led by the Brazilian Army. They are also two of the three most important economies in South America along with Argentina.
Brazil has an embassy in Santiago.
Chile has an embassy in Brasília and consulates-general in Porto Alegre, Rio de Janeiro, and São Paulo.See Brazil–Colombia relations
Brazil has an embassy in Bogotá and a vice-consulate in Leticia.
Colombia has an embassy in Brasilia and maintains several consulates throughout the country.See Brazil–Costa Rica relations
Brazil has an embassy in San José.
Costa Rica has an embassy in Brasilia.See Brazil–Cuba relations
Brazilian-Cuban relations were classified as "excellent" in May 2008 following a meeting of foreign ministers. During a January 2008 state visit to Cuba by Brazilian President Lula da Silva, the Brazilian leader expressed desire for his country to be Cuba's "number one partner".
Brazilian-Cuban relations have deteriorated greatly during the presidency of Brazilian rightwing president Jair Bolsonaro since 2019 .He stopped Mais Médicos (More Doctors) programme and thousands of Cuban doctors left Brazil. In November 2019, Brazil voted for the first time against an annual United Nations resolution condemning and calling for an end to Washington's economic embargo on Cuba.
Brazil has an embassy in Havana.
Cuba has an embassy in Brasília and a consulate-general in São Paulo.9 February 1981Both countries established diplomatic relations on 9 February 1981
Brazil is accredited to Dominica from its embassy in Bridgetown, Barbados.
Dominica is accredited to Brazil from its embassy in Washington, D.C., United States.18 November 1968See Brazil–Guyana relations
Both countries established diplomatic relations on 18 November 1968
Brazil–Guyana relations have traditionally been close. Brazil has provided military assistance to Guyana in the form of warfare training and logistics. Bilateral relations between the countries have recently increased, as a result of Brazil's new South-South foreign policy aimed to strengthen South American integration.
Brazil has an embassy in Georgetown.
Guyana has an embassy in Brasília and a consulate-general in Boa Vista.1928See Brazil–Haiti relations
Brazil has an embassy in Port-au-Prince.
Haiti has an embassy in Brasília.14 October 1962See Brazil–Jamaica relations
Both countries established diplomatic relations on 14 October 1962
Both countries are full members of the Group of 15.
Brazil has an embassy in Kingston.
Jamaica has an embassy in Brasília.7 August 1824See Brazil–Mexico relations
Brazil and Mexico have the two largest emerging economies in Latin-America and the global stage. Both nations are considered to be regional powers and highly influential within the American continent. Both nations have historically been friendly and they have both participated in and are members of several multilateral organizations such as the G20, Organization of American States, Organization of Ibero-American States, Rio Group and the United Nations. Several high-level diplomatic meeting have been held by presidents of both nations to enhance bilateral relations.
Brazil has an embassy in Mexico City.
Mexico has an embassy in Brasilia and consulates-general in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo.See Brazil–Paraguay relations
Paraguay–Brazil relations have improved greatly after Brazilian President Lula's decision in 2009 to triple its payments to Paraguay for energy from a massive hydro-electric dam on their border, ending a long-running dispute. Under the accord, Brazil will pay Paraguay $360m a year for energy from the jointly-operated Itaipu plant. Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva called it a "historic agreement" and the deal slated as a political victory for Paraguayan President Fernando Lugo.
In February 2019, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro praised the late military strongman of Paraguay, Alfredo Stroessner, calling him "a man of vision." Bolsonaro made the comments during a ceremony at the Itaipu hydroelectric dam on the countries' shared border. At his side was his close ally, Paraguayan right-wing President Mario Abdo Benitez.
Brazil has an embassy in Asunción and maintains several consulates throughout the country.
Paraguay has an embassy in Brasília and maintains several consulates throughout the country.See Brazil–Peru relations
Brazil has an embassy in Lima and a consulate in Iquitos.
Peru has an embassy in Brasilía and maintains several consulates throughout the country.25 November 1975See Brazil–Suriname relations
Both countries established diplomatic relations on 25 November 1975
Brazil has an embassy in Paramaribo.
Suriname has an embassy in Brasilia, and a consulate-general in Belém.27 July 1965See Brazil-Trinidad and Tobago relations
Both countries established diplomatic relations on 27 July 1965
Brazil has an embassy in Port of Spain.
Trinidad and Tobago has an embassy in Brasilia.26 May 1824See Brazil–United States relations
Both countries established diplomatic relations on 26 May 1824
Brazil-United States relations has a long history, characterized by some moments of remarkable convergence of interests but also by sporadic and critical divergences on sensitive international issues. The United States has increasingly regarded Brazil as a significant power, especially in its role as a stabilizing force and skillful interlocutor in Latin America. As a significant political and economic power, Brazil has traditionally preferred to cooperate with the United States on specific issues rather than seeking to develop an all-encompassing, privileged relationship with the United States.
Brazil has an embassy in Washington, D.C., and maintains several consulates throughout the country.
United States has an embassy in Brasília and maintains several consulates throughout the country.1828See Brazil–Uruguay relations
Brazil and Uruguay are neighboring countries that share close historical, cultural and geographical ties. The singularity of the bilateral relationship between the two countries originates from the strong historical connection - marked by important events, such as the establishment of the Colônia do Sacramento in 1680, the annexation by Brazil and the subsequent creation of the Província Cisplatina in 1815, and Uruguay's independence from Brazil in 1828.
Brazil has an embassy in Montevideo and maintains several consulates throughout the country.
Uruguay has an embassy in Brasília and maintains several consulates throughout the country.See Brazil–Venezuela relations
During the Brazilian government of President Jair Bolsonaro since 2019, Brazil has cut off the relations with the current Venezuelan leftwing and disputed government of president Nicolás Maduro. Brazil downgraded its diplomatic relations with the ruling Venezuelan government. Brazil has recognised Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaidó as the legitimate President of Venezuela.
Brazil has an embassy in Caracas and maintains several consulates throughout the country.
Venezuela has an embassy in Brasilia and maintains several consulates throughout the country.
Asia
Country Formal relations beganNotes17 February 1992See Armenia–Brazil relations
Both countries established diplomatic relations on 17 February 1992
Armenia has an embassy in Brasília.
Brazil has an embassy in Yerevan.
Brazil has recognized the Armenian genocide in 2015.21 October 1993See Azerbaijan–Brazil relations
Both countries established diplomatic relations on 21 October 1993
Azerbaijan has an embassy in Brasília.
Brazil has an embassy in Baku.8 July 1974See Bangladesh-Brazil relations
Both countries established diplomatic relations on 8 July 1974
Relations have been good. In 2013, Bangladesh has sought Brazil's support for its candidature at the Human Rights Council in 2015 and non-permanent seat of the UN Security Council for 2016–17 term. In 2014, Brazil assured its support to Bangladesh for the posts of United Nations Human Rights Commission and CEDAW (The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women). Bangladesh also supported Brazil's candidature for the post of Director General of World Trade Organization.
Bangladesh has an embassy in Brasília.
Brazil has an embassy in Dhaka.15 August 1974See Brazil–China relations
Both countries established diplomatic relations on 15 August 1974
Brazil has an embassy in Beijing and consulates-general in Chengdu, Guangzhou, Hong Kong and Shanghai.
China has an embassy in Brasília and consulates-general in Recife, Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo.28 April 1993See Brazil–Georgia relations
Both countries established diplomatic relations on 28 April 1993
Brazil has an embassy in Tbilisi.
Georgia has an embassy in Brasília.6 April 1948See Brazil–India relations
Both countries established diplomatic relations on 6 April 1948
The two countries share similar perceptions on issues of interest to developing countries and have cooperated in the multilateral level on issues such as reform to the UN and the UNSC expansion.
Brazil has an embassy in New Delhi and a consulate-general in Mumbai.
India has an embassy in Brasília and a consulate-general in São Paulo.March 1953See Brazil–Indonesia relations
Both countries established diplomatic relations in March 1953
Both are large tropical country endowed with rich natural resources, Brazil and Indonesia possess the largest tropical rain forest of the world that contains the world's richest biodiversity, which gave them a vital role in global environment issues, such as ensuring tropical forests protection. Both countries leading the list of Megadiverse countries with Indonesia second only to Brazil.
Brazil has an embassy in Jakarta.
Indonesia has an embassy in Brasília.See Brazil–Iran relations
Brazil has an embassy in Tehran.
Iran has an embassy in Brasília.1 December 1967See Brazil–Iraq relations
Both countries established diplomatic relations on 1 December 1967
Brazil maintains an embassy in Baghdad.
Iraq maintains an embassy in Brasília.
Both countries are full members of the Group of 77. Brazil was the first Latin American country to reopen its embassy in Iraq since the 1991 Gulf War.1949-2-7See Brazil–Israel relations
Brazil played a large role in the establishment of the State of Israel. Brazil held the Presidency office of the UN General Assembly in 1947, which proclaimed the Partition Plan for Palestine. The Brazilian delegation to the U.N., supported and heavily lobbied for the partition of Palestine toward the creation of the State of Israel. Brazil was also one of the first countries to recognize the State of Israel, on 7 February 1949, less than one year after Israeli Declaration of Independence.
Nowadays, Brazil and Israel maintains close political, economic and military ties. Brazil is a full member state of Israel Allies Caucus, a political advocacy organization that mobilizes pro-Israel parliamentarians in governments worldwide. The two nations enjoy a degree of arms cooperation as Brazil is a key buyer of Israeli weapons and military technology. Also, Brazil is Israel's largest trading partner in Latin America. Brazil has the 9th largest Jewish community in the world, about 107,329 by 2010, according to the IBGE census. The Jewish Confederation of Brazil (CONIB) estimates to more than 120,000. Brazil-Israel relations have improved significantly during the presidency of Jair Bolsonaro since 2019. Brazilian president Bolsonaro has expressed his love for Israel several times. He has even said to have turned Brazil into Israel's new best friend.
Brazil has an embassy in Tel Aviv.
Israel has an embassy in Brasília and a consulate-general in São Paulo.1895See Brazil–Japan relations
Brazil has an embassy in Tokyo and consulates-general in Hamamatsu and Nagoya.
Japan has an embassy in Brasília and consulates-general in Belém, Curitiba, Manaus, Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo and consular offices in Recife and Porto Alegre.6 April 1959Both countries established diplomatic relations on 6 April 1959 at Legation level
Brazil has an embassy in Amman.
Jordan has an embassy in Brasília.22 September 1993See Brazil–Kazakhstan relations
Both countries established diplomatic relations on 22 September 1993
Brazil has an embassy in Astana.
Kazakhstan has an embassy in Brasília.20 January 1968Both countries established diplomatic relations on 20 January 1968
Brazil has an embassy in Kuwait City.
Kuwait has an embassy in Brasília.13 November 1945See Brazil–Lebanon relations
Both countries established diplomatic relations on 13 November 1945
Brazil has an embassy in Beirut.
Lebanon has an embassy in Brasília and consulates-general in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo.11 August 1959See Brazil–Malaysia relations
Both countries established diplomatic relations on 11 August 1959
Brazil has an embassy in Kuala Lumpur.
Malaysia has an embassy in Brasília.9 March 2001See Brazil–North Korea relations
Brazil has an embassy in Pyongyang.
North Korea has an embassy in Brasília.January 1951See Brazil–Pakistan relations
Both countries established diplomatic relations in January 1951
Brazil has an embassy in Islamabad.
Pakistan has an embassy in Brasília.See Brazil–Palestine relations
Brazil has a representative office in Ramallah.
Palestine has an embassy in Brasília.See Brazil–Philippines relations
In June 2009, Brazil and the Philippines made their pledges as they signed mutual cooperation agreements in the fields of bio-energy and agriculture. The two countries committed themselves to take the necessary steps to implement the signed Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation in Agriculture and the Memorandum of Understanding on Bioenergy Cooperation. The Philippines and Brazil signed six memoranda of understanding and agreements on the development and production of renewable energy, and agriculture cooperation. It intends to "facilitate technical cooperation... on the production and use of biofuels, particularly ethanol, and promote the expansion of bilateral trade and investment in biofuel,"
Brazil has an embassy in Manila.
Philippines has an embassy in Brasília.20 May 1974See Brazil–Qatar relations
Both countries established diplomatic relations on 20 May 1974
Brazil has an embassy in Doha.
Qatar has an embassy in Brasília. See Brazil–Saudi Arabia relations
Brazil has an embassy in Riyadh.
Saudi Arabia has an embassy in Brasília.2 November 1967Both countries established diplomatic relations on 2 November 1967
Brazil has an embassy in Singapore.
Singapore has an embassy in Brasília.31 October 1959See Brazil–South Korea relations
Both countries established diplomatic relations on 31 October 1959
Brazil has an embassy in Seoul. 13 November 1945See Brazil–Syria relations
Both countries established diplomatic relations on 13 November 1945
Brazil has an embassy in Damascus.
Syria has an embassy in Brasília and a consulate-general in São Paulo.See Brazil–Taiwan relations
Brazil has a Commercial Office in Taipei.
Taiwan has an Economic and Cultural Office in Brasília and in São Paulo.17 April 1959Both countries established diplomatic relations on 17 April 1959
Brazil has an embassy in Bangkok.
Thailand has an embassy in Brasília.
Brazil is the main trading partner of Thailand in Latin America.See Brazil–Timor-Leste relations
Brazil has an embassy in Dili.
Timor-Leste has an embassy in Brasilia.1927See Brazil–Turkey relations
Brazil has an embassy in Ankara, a Consulate General in Istanbul.
The Brazilian Embassy in Hanoi was opened in 1994, being the first Latin American country to open an embassy in Hanoi. Vietnamese Presidents Lê Đức Anh and Trần Đức Lương have visited Brazil in October 1995 and November 2004, respectively.
Brazil has an embassy in Hanoi.
Vietnam has an embassy in Brasília.
Europe
Country Formal relations beganNotes4 April 1961See Albania–Brazil relations
Both countries established diplomatic relations on 4 April 1961
Andorra does not have an accreditation to Brazil.
Brazil is accredited to Andorra from its embassy in Madrid, Spain and maintains an honorary consulate in Andorra la Vella.See Austria–Brazil relations
Austria has an embassy in Brasília and a consulate-general in São Paulo.
Brazil has an embassy in Vienna. Brazil has an embassy in Sofia.
Bulgaria has an embassy in Brasília. 23 December 1992 Brazil has an embassy in Zagreb.
Croatia has an embassy in Brasília.1918See Brazil–Czech Republic relations
Brazil has an embassy in Prague.
Czech Republic has an embassy in Brasília and a consulate-general in São Paulo.See Brazil–Denmark relations
Brazil has an embassy in Copenhagen.
Denmark has an embassy in Brasília and a consulate-general in São Paulo.16 December 1991Both countries established diplomatic relations on 16 December 1991
Brazil has an embassy in Tallinn.
Estonia is accredited to Brazil from its Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Tallinn.8 April 1929 See Brazil–Finland relations
Both countries established diplomatic relations on 8 April 1929
Brazil recognised the independence of Finland on December 26, 1919.
Brazil has an embassy in Helsinki.
Finland has an embassy in Brasília and a consulate in São Paulo.25 October 1825See Brazil–France relations
Both countries established diplomatic relations on 25 October 1825 when France recognized independent of Brazil
France has recognized Brazil as its special partner in South America and as a global player in international affairs. The two countries are committed to strengthening their bilateral cooperation in the areas for which working groups have been created: nuclear power, renewable energies, defence technologies, technological innovation, joint cooperation in African countries and space technologies, medicines and the environment.
Recently, France announced its support to the Brazilian bid for a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council.
Brazil has an embassy in Athens.
Greece has an embassy in Brasília and a consulate general in São Paulo.See Brazil–Holy See relations
Brazil has an embassy to the Holy See based in Rome.
Holy See has an Apostolic nunciature in Brasília.1927See Brazil–Hungary relations
Brazil has an embassy in Budapest.
Hungary has an embassy in Brasília and a consulate-general in São Paulo.
The two countries signed the Brazil-Hungary Cultural Agreement in 1992.1952 Brazil is accredited to Iceland from its embassy in Oslo, Norway and maintains an honorary consulate in Reykjavík.
Iceland is accredited to Brazil from its Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Reykjavík and maintains honorary consulates in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo.1 September 1975See Brazil–Ireland relations
Both countries established diplomatic relations on 1 September 1975
Italy has an embassy in Brasília, consulates-general in Curitiba, Porto Alegre, Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, and consulates in Belo Horizonte and in Recife.7 November 1991Both countries established diplomatic relations on 7 November 1991
Brazil is accredited to Latvia from its embassy in Stockholm, Sweden.
Latvia is accredited to Brazil from its embassy in Lisbon, Portugal.5 November 1991See Brazil–Lithuania relations
Both countries established diplomatic relations on 5 November 1991
Brazil is accredited to Lithuania from its embassy in Copenhagen, Denmark and maintains an honorary consulate in Vilnius.
Lithuania has a consulate-general in São Paulo. Brazil is accredited to Montenegro from its embassy in Belgrade, Serbia.
Montenegro is accredited to Brazil from its embassy in Buenos Aires, Argentina.See Brazil–Netherlands relations
Brazil has an embassy in The Hague a consulate-general in Rotterdam and a consulate in Curaçao.
Netherlands has an embassy in Brasilia and two consulates-general in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo.11 May 1908See Brazil–Norway relations
Both countries established diplomatic relations on 11 May 1908
Brazil has an embassy in Oslo.
Norway has an embassy in Brasília and a consulate-general in Rio de Janeiro.27 May 1920See Brazil–Poland relations
Both countries established diplomatic relations on 27 May 1920
Poland has an embassy in Brasília and a consulate-general in Curitiba.
Brazil has an embassy in Warsaw.29 August 1825See Brazil–Portugal relations
Both countries established diplomatic relations on 29 August 1825
Portugal and Brazil have countless bilateral agreements in areas such as culture, language, R&D, immigration, defence, tourism, economy, environment, among others. Portugal and Brazil hold regular Summits to discuss bilateral and multilateral agreements and current topics (last one in Bahia in 2008, before that one in Porto in 2005). One rather controversial topic was the spelling reform that aims at homogenising spelling in lusophone countries. Both countries share a common heritage and are committed in its preservation, be it through bilateral agreements or involving other nations, such as in the framework of CPLP. Both countries lobby within the UN to upgrade Portuguese to a working language in that Organisation. Portugal has also lobbied for Brazil to become a permanent member of the UN Security Council. Finally, Portugal hosted the 1st EU-Brazil summit, in 2007.
Brazil has an embassy in Lisbon and consulates-general in Faro and Porto.
Portugal has an embassy in Brasília, consulates-general in Rio de Janeiro, Salvador, São Paulo and consulates in Belém, Belo Horizonte, Curitiba, Porto Alegre, Recife and Santos. 1928See Brazil–Romania relations
Brazil has an embassy in Bucharest.
Romania has an embassy in Brasília and a consulate-general in Rio de Janeiro. October 3, 1828See Brazil–Russia relations
Brazil–Russia relations have seen a significant improvement in recent years, characterized by an increasing commercial trade and cooperation in military and technology segments. Today, Brazil shares an important alliance with the Russian Federation, with partnerships in areas such as space and military technologies, and telecommunications.
Brazil has an embassy in Moscow.
Russia has an embassy in Brasília and consulates-general in Rio de Janeiro and in São Paulo.1 April 2002Both countries established diplomatic relations on 1 April 200215 June 1938See Brazil–Serbia relations
Both countries established diplomatic relations on 15 June 1938
Brazil has an embassy in Belgrade.
Serbia has an embassy in Brasília.1834See Brazil–Spain relations
Brazil has an embassy in Madrid and a consulate-general in Barcelona.
Spain has an embassy in Brasília and consulates-general in Porto Alegre, Rio de Janeiro, Salvador and in São Paulo.1826See Brazil–Sweden relations
Brazil has an embassy in Stockholm.
Sweden has an embassy in Brasília. Brazil has an embassy in Bern and consulates-general in Geneva and Zürich.
Switzerland has an embassy in Brasília.11 February 1992See Brazil–Ukraine relations
Both countries established diplomatic relations on 11 February 1992
Brazil has an embassy in Kyiv.
Ukraine has an embassy in Brasilia, a consulate-general in Rio de Janeiro and a consulate in Curitiba.18 October 1825See Brazil–United Kingdom relations
Both countries established diplomatic relations on 18 October 1825 when United Kingdom recognized independent of Brazil
Brazil maintains an embassy in London, and a Consulate-General in Edinburgh.
The United Kingdom is accredited to Brazil through its embassy in Brasília, and consulates in Belo Horizonte, Recife, Rio de Janeiro, and São Paulo.
Both countries share common membership of the Atlantic co-operation pact,
Brazil is accredited to Fiji from its embassy in Canberra, Australia.
Fiji does not have an accreditation to Brazil.4 March 1964See Brazil–New Zealand relations
Both countries established diplomatic relations on 4 March 1964
Brazil has an embassy in Wellington.
New Zealand has an embassy in Brasilia and a consulate-general in São Paulo.
See also
Brazil and the European Union
Brazil–Nicaragua relations
Brazil and the United Nations
Brazil and weapons of mass destruction
Brazilian Antarctica
List of diplomatic missions in Brazil
List of diplomatic missions of Brazil
Mercosul
Ministry of Foreign Relations of Brazil
Union of South American Nations
Visa requirements for Brazilian citizens
References
Bibliography
Almeida, Paulo Roberto de. "Never before seen in Brazil: Luis Inácio Lula da Silva's grand diplomacy." Revista Brasileira de Política Internacional 53 (2010): 160–177. online
Buarque, Daniel. "Brazil is not (perceived as) a serious country: exposing gaps between the external images and the international ambitions of the nation." Brasiliana: Journal for Brazilian Studies 8.1-2 (2019): 285-314 online.
Burges, Sean W. Brazil in the world: The international relations of a South American giant (2016) excerpt; wide-ranging survey.
Burges, Sean W. Brazilian Foreign Policy after the Cold War (UP of Florida, 2009)
Burges, Sean W., and Fabrício H. Chagas Bastos. "The importance of presidential leadership for Brazilian foreign policy." Policy Studies 38.3 (2017): 277–290. online
Burges, Sean W. "Without Sticks or Carrots: Brazilian Leadership in South America during the Cardoso Era, 1992–2003." Bulletin of Latin American Research 25#1 (2006): 23–42.
Burges, Sean W. Consensual Hegemony: Theorizing Brazilian Foreign Policy after the Cold War." International Relations (2008) 22 (1): 65–84.
Brazilian foreign policy under Jair Bolsonaro: far-right populism and the rejection of the liberal international order.
Academic Journal
Casarões, Guilherme et al. "Brazilian foreign policy under Jair Bolsonaro: far-right populism and the rejection of the liberal international order." Cambridge Review of International Affairs vol 34 (September 2021), p1-21. https://doi.org/10.1080/09557571.2021.1981248
Chagas-Bastos, Fabrício H., and Marcela Franzoni. "The dumb giant: Brazilian foreign policy under Jair Bolsonaro." E-international Relations 16 (2019). online
Dehshiri, Mohammad Reza, and Mohammad Hossein Neshastesazan. "Human Rights Diplomacy: Case Study of Brazil." World Sociopolitical Studies 2.1 (2018): 87–125. online
De Sá Guimarães, Feliciano, and Irma Dutra De Oliveira E Silva. "Far-right populism and foreign policy identity: Jair Bolsonaro's ultra-conservatism and the new politics of alignment." International Affairs 97.2 (2021): 345–363. online
Gardini, G., and M. Tavares de Almeida. Foreign Policy Responses to the Rise of Brazil: Balancing Power in Emerging States (Palgrave, 2017). How other states responded. excerpt
Long, Tom. "The US, Brazil and Latin America: the dynamics of asymmetrical regionalism." Contemporary Politics 24.1 (2018): 113–129. online
Lopes, Dawisson Belém. "De-westernization, democratization, disconnection: the emergence of Brazil's post-diplomatic foreign policy." Global Affairs 6.2 (2020): 167–184. online
Magalhães, Diego Trindade D'Ávila, and Laís Forti Thomaz. "The Conspiracy-Myth Diplomacy: anti-globalism vs pragmatism in Bolsonaro's foreign policy for South American integration." OIKOS 20.3 (2022). online
Mares, David R., and Harold A. Trinkunas, eds. Aspirational power: Brazil on the long road to global influence (Brookings Institution Press, 2016).
Pitts, Bryan. "The Empire Strikes Back: US-Brazil Relations from Obama to Trump" in The Future of US Empire in the Americas (Routledge, 2020) pp. 165–187.
Rossone de Paula, Francine. The Emergence of Brazil to the Global Stage: Ascending and Falling in the International Order of Competition (2018) preview; also online review
Rossone de Paula, Francine. "Brazil's non-indifference: a case for a feminist diplomatic agenda or geopolitics as usual?." International Feminist Journal of Politics 21.1 (2019): 47–66.
Saraiva, Miriam Gomes. "The democratic regime and the changes in Brazilian foreign policy towards South America." Brazilian Political Science Review 14 (2020). online
Smith, Joseph. Brazil and the United States: Convergence and Divergence (U of Georgia Press; 2010), 256 pages
Visentini, Paulo. "The Brazil of Lula: a global and affirmative diplomacy (2003-2010)" Austral: Brazilian Journal of Strategy & International Relations 1.1 (2012): 23–35. online
Vigevani, Tullo, and Gabriel Cepaluni, eds. Brazilian Foreign Policy in Changing Times: The Quest for Autonomy from Sarney to Lula (Lexington Books, 2009).
Weiffen, Brigitte. "Foreign Policy and International Relations: Taking Stock after Two Years of the Bolsonaro Administration." in Brazil under Bolsonaro. How endangered is democracy? (2022): 55–66. online
Historical
Bethell, Leslie. The Abolition of the Brazilian Slave Trade: Britain, Brazil and the Slave Trade Question (2009) excerpt
Fritsch, Winston. External Restraints on Economic Policy in Brazil, 1889-1930 (1988), emphasis on role of Great Britain.
Garcia, Eugenio V. "Antirevolutionary diplomacy in oligarchic Brazil, 1919–30." Journal of Latin American Studies 36.4 (2004): 771–796. online
Graham, Richard. Britain and the Onset of Modernization in Brazil 1850–1914 (1972) excerpt
Harmer, Tanya. "Brazil's Cold War in the Southern Cone, 1970–1975' Cold War History (2012) 12#4 pp 659-681.
Hilton, Stanley E. "The Argentine factor in twentieth-century Brazilian foreign policy strategy." Political Science Quarterly 100.1 (1985): 27–51. online
Mota, Isadora Moura. "On the Verge of War: Black Insurgency, the 'Christie Affair', and British Antislavery in Brazil." Slavery & Abolition 43.1 (2022): 120–139. London threatened war in 1862–1863 in the "Christie Affair."
Rivere, Peter. Absent Minded Imperialism: Britain and the Expansion of Empire in 19th-Century Brazil (1995)
Rodrigues, Jose Honorio. "The Foundations of Brazil's Foreign Policy." International Affairs 38.3 (1962): 324–338; covers 1822 to 1889. online
Roett, Riordan. "Brazil ascendant: international relations and geopolitics in the late 20th century." Journal of international affairs (1975): 139–154. online
Skidmore, Thomas E. "The Historiography of Brazil, 1889-1964," Hispanic American Historical Review (1976) 56#1 pp 81–109; emphasis is on economics and foreign policy. DOI: 10.2307/2513726
Smith, Joseph. Unequal Giants: Diplomatic Relations between the United States & Brazil, 1889-1930 1991).
Topik, Steven C. Trade & Gunboats: The United States & Brazil in the Age of Empire (1997), covers 1870 to 1899.
External links
The Sino-Brazilian Principles in a Latin American and BRICS Context: The Case for Comparative Public Budgeting Legal Research Wisconsin International Law Journal, 13 May 2015
Ministério das Relações Exteriores - Official website of the Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Relations
Ministério das Relações Exteriores - Official website of the Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Relations
Brazilian Mission to the United Nations - Official website
Agência Brasileira de Cooperação - Official website of the Brazilian Agency of Cooperation
IBSA News and Media - IBSA Dialogue Forum | India, Brazil and South Africa | News, Opinion and Analysis
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foreign_relations_of_Brazil
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Geography of the British Virgin Islands
|
<!-- "none" is preferred when the title is sufficiently descriptive; see WP:SDNONE -->
| etymology | location Caribbean Sea, Atlantic Ocean
| GridReference = <!-- UK only -->
| archipelago = Leeward Islands
| total_islands | major_islands
| area_km2 = 151
| area_footnotes | rank
| length_km <!-- or |length_m -->
| length_footnotes | width_km <!-- or |width_m= -->
| width_footnotes | coastline_km 80
| coastline_footnotes | elevation_m
| elevation_footnotes | highest_mount Mount Sage 521m
| country = United Kingdom
| country_admin_divisions_title = Overseas territory
| country_admin_divisions = British Virgin Islands
| country_admin_divisions_title_1 | country_admin_divisions_1
| country_admin_divisions_title_2 | country_admin_divisions_2
| country_capital_type | country_capital
| country_largest_city_type | country_largest_city
| country_capital_and_largest_city | country_largest_city_population
| country_leader_title | country_leader_name
| country_area_km2 <!-- or |country_area_m2 or |country_area_ha= -->
| demonym | population 37,891
| population_as_of = July, 2021
| population_footnotes | population_rank
| population_rank_max | density_km2
| density_rank | density_footnotes
| languages | ethnic_groups
| timezone1 | utc_offset1
| timezone1_DST | utc_offset1_DST
| website | additional_info
}}
The British Virgin Islands (BVI) are one of three political divisions of the Virgin Islands archipelago located in the Lesser Antilles, between the Caribbean Sea and the North Atlantic Ocean. The BVI are the easternmost part of the island chain. The land area totals () (about 0.9 times the size of Washington, DC) and comprises 16 inhabited and more than 20 uninhabited islands. The islands of Tortola (), Anegada (), Virgin Gorda () and Jost van Dyke () are the largest. Maritime claims include territorial sea and a exclusive fishing zone. The lowest point of the island chain is the Caribbean Sea while the highest point is Mount Sage at above sea level and there are of coastline. Anegada is geologically distinct, being composed of carbonate reef deposits. This bank formed from tectonic forces at the boundary where the Caribbean Plate collides with the North American Plate.
Settlements
The capital of the territory and the main port of entry for yachts and cruise ships visiting the BVI is Road Town on Tortola.
Spanish Town on Virgin Gorda, also known as "The Valley", is the second largest settlement and the original capital of the territory. Virgin Gorda was mined for copper in the 17th through 19th centuries but declined when the mine closed in 1867. The creation of a yacht harbour and resort by Laurance Rockefeller in the early 1960s turned Spanish Town into a wealthy tourist destination.
|date=July 2012
}}
See also
*List of Caribbean islands#British Virgin Islands
References
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geography_of_the_British_Virgin_Islands
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Demographics of the British Virgin Islands
|
<!-- "none" is a legitimate description when the title is already adequate; see WP:SDNONE -->
This is a demography of the population of the British Virgin Islands including population density, ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations and various other aspects.
Population
A July 2009 estimate placed the population of the British Virgin Islands at 24,491. In 2003, 21.9% of the population was under 15 (male 2,401; female 2,358), 73.1% between 15 and 64 (male 8,181; female 7,709), and 5% over 64 (male 578; female 503). 40% of the total population lived in urban areas, with an estimated 1.7% annual rate of urbanization. In 2014, the average woman produced 1.25 children.
The estimated population of is ().
Structure of the population
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! width="80pt"|Age Group
! width="80pt"|Male
! width="80pt"|Female
! width="80pt"|Total
! width="80pt"|%
|-
| align="right" | Total
| align="right" | 13 820
| align="right" | 14 234
| align="right" | 28 054
| align="right" | 100
|-
| align="right" | 0–4
| align="right" | 1 126
| align="right" | 1 008
| align="right" | 2 134
| align="right" | 7.61
|-
| align="right" | 5–9
| align="right" | 1 065
| align="right" | 1 025
| align="right" | 2 090
| align="right" | 7.45
|-
| align="right" | 10–14
| align="right" | 1 032
| align="right" | 1 012
| align="right" | 2 044
| align="right" | 7.29
|-
| align="right" | 15–19
| align="right" | 867
| align="right" | 900
| align="right" | 1 767
| align="right" | 6.30
|-
| align="right" | 20–24
| align="right" | 789
| align="right" | 931
| align="right" | 1 720
| align="right" | 6.13
|-
| align="right" | 25–29
| align="right" | 1 126
| align="right" | 1 190
| align="right" | 2 316
| align="right" | 8.26
|-
| align="right" | 30–34
| align="right" | 1 165
| align="right" | 1 372
| align="right" | 2 537
| align="right" | 9.04
|-
| align="right" | 35–39
| align="right" | 1 226
| align="right" | 1 373
| align="right" | 2 599
| align="right" | 9.26
|-
| align="right" | 40–44
| align="right" | 1 236
| align="right" | 1 323
| align="right" | 2 559
| align="right" | 9.12
|-
| align="right" | 45–49
| align="right" | 1 193
| align="right" | 1 145
| align="right" | 2 338
| align="right" | 8.33
|-
| align="right" | 50–54
| align="right" | 962
| align="right" | 880
| align="right" | 1 842
| align="right" | 6.57
|-
| align="right" | 55–59
| align="right" | 680
| align="right" | 707
| align="right" | 1 387
| align="right" | 4.94
|-
| align="right" | 60–64
| align="right" | 541
| align="right" | 487
| align="right" | 1 028
| align="right" | 3.66
|-
| align="right" | 65–69
| align="right" | 350
| align="right" | 320
| align="right" | 670
| align="right" | 2.39
|-
| align="right" | 70–74
| align="right" | 204
| align="right" | 211
| align="right" | 415
| align="right" | 1.48
|-
| align="right" | 75–79
| align="right" | 98
| align="right" | 132
| align="right" | 230
| align="right" | 0.82
|-
| align="right" | 80–84
| align="right" | 91
| align="right" | 125
| align="right" | 216
| align="right" | 0.77
|-
| align="right" | 85–89
| align="right" | 39
| align="right" | 45
| align="right" | 84
| align="right" | 0.30
|-
| align="right" | 90+
| align="right" | 30
| align="right" | 48
| align="right" | 78
| align="right" | 0.28
|-
! width="50"|Age group
! width="80pt"|Male
! width="80"|Female
! width="80"|Total
! width="50"|Per cent
|-
| align="right" | 0–14
| align="right" | 3 223
| align="right" | 3 045
| align="right" | 6 268
| align="right" | 22.34
|-
| align="right" | 15–64
| align="right" | 9 785
| align="right" | 10 308
| align="right" | 20 093
| align="right" | 71.62
|-
| align="right" | 65+
| align="right" | 812
| align="right" | 881
| align="right" | 1 693
| align="right" | 6.03
|-
|}
Vital statistics
, fertility rate and net reproduction rate, United Nations estimates]]
{| class"wikitable sortable" style"text-align: right;"
|-
!
! width="70pt"|Average population (x 1000)
! width="70pt"|Live births
! width="70pt"|Deaths
! width="70pt"|Natural change
! width="70pt"|Crude birth rate (per 1000)
! width="70pt"|Crude death rate (per 1000)
! width="70pt"|Natural change (per 1000)
! width="70pt"|TFR
|-
| 1950
| 7
| 227|| 68|| 159
|30.5||9.1||21.4
|-
| 1951
| 8
| 282|| 84|| 198
|37.6||11.2||26.4
|-
| 1952
| 8
| 311|| 70|| 241
|41.1||9.3||style="color: blue"|31.9
|-
| 1953
| 8
| 318|| 84|| 234
|style="color: blue"|41.8||11.0||30.8
|-
| 1954
| 8
| 305|| 85|| 220
|39.9||11.1||28.8
|-
| 1955
| 8
| 292|| 74|| 218
|38.0||9.6||28.4
|-
| 1956
| 8
| 317|| 87|| 230
|41.0||11.3||29.8
|-
| 1957
| 8
| 319|| 106|| 213
|41.0||style="color: red"|13.6||27.4
|-
| 1958
| 8
| 315|| 93|| 222
|40.1||11.8||28.3
|-
| 1959
| 8
| 306|| 84|| 222
|38.6||10.6||28.0
|-
| 1960
| 8
| 279|| 67|| 212
|34.7||8.3||26.4
|-
| 1961
| 8
| 257|| 79|| 178
|31.5||9.7||21.8
|-
| 1962
| 8
| 277|| 70|| 207
|33.4||8.4||24.9
|-
| 1963
| 8
| 264|| 67|| 197
|31.2||7.9||23.3
|-
| 1964
| 9
| 225|| 75|| 150
|26.1||8.7||17.4
|-
| 1965
| 9
| || ||
| || ||
|-
| 1966
| 9
| || ||
| || ||
|-
| 1967
| 9
| 225|| 70|| 155
|24.4||7.6||16.8
|-
| 1968
| 9
| 288|| 63|| 225
|30.6||6.7||23.9
|-
| 1969
| 10
| 238|| 74|| 164
|24.7||7.7||17.0
|-
| 1970
| 10
| 313|| 67|| 246
|31.9||6.8||25.1
|-
| 1971
| 10
| 297|| 66|| 231
|29.8||6.6||23.2
|-
| 1972
| 10
| 307|| 67|| 240
|30.3||6.6||23.7
|-
| 1973
| 10
| 252|| 71|| 181
|24.6||6.9||17.6
|-
| 1974
| 10
| 247|| 79|| 168
|23.8||7.6||16.2
|-
| 1975
| 10
| 221|| 65|| 156
|21.1||6.2||14.9
|-
| 1976
| 11
| 243|| 62|| 181
|23.0||5.9||17.2
|-
| 1977
| 11
| 206|| 62|| 144
|19.4||5.9||13.6
|-
| 1978
| 11
|style="color: red"| 203|| 65|| 138
|19.0||6.1||12.9
|-
| 1979
| 11
| 216|| 63|| 153
|20.0||5.8||14.2
|-
| 1980
| 11
| 272|| 69|| 203
|24.7||6.3||18.4
|-
| 1981
| 11
| 231|| style="color: blue"|53|| 178
|20.4||4.7||15.7
|-
| 1982
| 12
| 235|| 67|| 168
|20.1||5.7||14.3
|-
| 1983
| 12
| 281|| 61|| 220
|23.0||5.0||18.0
|-
| 1984
| 13
| 225|| 66|| 159
|17.7||5.2||12.5
|-
| 1985
| 13
| 241|| 65|| 176
|18.1||4.9||13.2
|-
| 1986
| 14
| 213|| 82|| 131
|15.3||5.9||9.4
|-
| 1987
| 15
| 263|| 83|| 180
|18.0||5.7||12.3
|-
| 1988
| 15
| 237|| 59|| 178
|15.5||3.9||11.7
|-
| 1989
| 16
| 244|| 77|| 167
|15.3||4.8||10.5
|-
| 1990
| 16
| || ||
| || ||
|-
| 1991
| 17
| 303|| 77|| 226
|17.9||4.5||13.3
|-
| 1992
| 17
| 290|| 90|| 200
|16.7||5.2||11.5
|-
| 1993
| 18
| 318|| 76|| 242
|18.0||4.3||13.7
|-
| 1994
| 18
| 298|| 105|| 193
|16.5||5.8||10.7
|-
| 1995
| 18
| 287|| 90|| 197
|15.6||4.9||10.7
|-
| 1996
| 19
| 287|| 88|| 199
|15.2||4.7||10.6
|-
| 1997
| 19
| style"color: blue"|350|| 97||style"color: blue"| 253
|18.2||5.0||13.1
|-
| 1998
| 20
| 278|| 87|| 191
|14.1||4.4||9.7
|-
| 1999
| 20
| 315|| 94|| 221
|15.6||4.7||10.9
|-
| 2000
| 21
| 325|| 91|| 234
|15.7||4.4||11.3
|-
| 2001
| 21
| 314|| 101|| 213
|14.9||4.8||10.1
|-
| 2002
| 22
| 253|| 97|| 156
|11.8||4.5||7.2
|-
| 2003
| 22
| 269|| 104|| 165
|12.2||4.7||7.5
|-
| 2004
| 23
| 316|| 120|| 196
|14.0||5.3||8.7
|-
| 2005
| 25.422
| 285|| 106|| 179
|10.9||4.1||6.8
||1.3
|-
| 2006
| 26.108
| 264|| 79|| 185
|9.8||style="color: blue"|3.0||6.8
||1.2
|-
| 2007
| 27.007
| 283|| 104|| 179
|10.1||3.8||6.4
||1.3
|-
| 2008
| 28.084
| 313|| 100|| 213
|10.9||3.54||7.36
||1.45
|-
| 2009
| 28.020
| 323|| 109|| 214
|11.2 || 3.77||7.43
||1.5
|-
| 2010
| 28.037
| 303|| 104|| 199
|10.1 ||3.52 ||6.58
||1.17
|-
| 2011
| 28.103
|333 || 98|| 235
| 11.8|| 3.49||8.31
||1.29
|-
| 2012
| 30.254
| 286||122|| 164
|9.5||4.0|| style="color: red" |5.4
||1.09
|-
| 2013
| 31.516
| 277||113||style="color: red"| 114
|style="color: red"|8.8||3.6||3.6
||1.07
|-
| 2014
|style="color: blue"| 33.054
| 282||111|| 171
|8.5||3.4||5.2
||1.07
|-
| 2015
| 34.064
| 266||style="color: red"|136|| 130
|7.8||4.0||3.8
||0.98
|-
| 2016
| 36.092
| 269|| 120|| 149
|7.5||3.3||4.1
||0.98
|-
| 2017
| 32.800
| 245|| 155|| 90
|7.5||4.7||2.7
||0.86
|-
| 2018
| 33.789
| 252|| 115|| 137
|7.5||3.4||4.1
||
|-
| 2019
| 36.009
| 272|| 108|| 164
|7.6||3.0||4.6
||
|-
| 2020
| 36.521
| 325|| 154|| 171
|8.9||4.2||4.7
||
|-
| 2021
| 37.408
| 272|| 171|| 101
|7.3||4.6||2.7
||
|}
In 2009, the infant mortality rate in the British Virgin Islands was 14.65/1000 births (16.61/1000 for females and 12.58/1000 for males). Life expectancy at birth was 77.26 years: 76.03 years for males and 78.55 years for females.
Ethnicity
Historical
{| class="wikitable sortable"
!Year
! %
W
! %
B
|-
|1678
|87.9
|12.1
|-
|1717
|titlebar=#ddd
|left1=Ethnic groups
|right1=per cent
|float=none
|bars=
}}
Religion
}}
References
}}
Category:Society of the British Virgin Islands
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_the_British_Virgin_Islands
|
2025-04-05T18:26:29.654580
|
3652
|
Economy of the British Virgin Islands
|
|imports = $275.1 million (2011 est.)
|import-goods = building materials, automobiles, foodstuffs, machinery
|import-partners = 34%
* 9.71%
* 8.58%
* 8.42% (2023)}}
|debt $173.3 million (2017 est.) In global terms the size of the Territory's GDP measured in terms of purchasing power is ranked as 215th out of a total of 229 countries. The economy of the Territory is based upon the "twin pillars" of financial services, which generates approximately 60% of government revenues, and tourism, which generates nearly all of the rest.
Historically the British Virgin Islands has normally produced a Government budget surplus, but during the financial crisis of 2007–2008 the Territory began to run at a deficit, which continued after the global recession receded. In 2011 the Territory had its largest ever budget deficit, of US$29 million (approximately 2.6% of GDP). By 2012 public debt had quadrupled from pre-crisis levels to approximately US$113 million (approximately 10.3% of GDP). Nearly 84% of that public debt was attributable to a new public hospital built in Road Town between 2003 and 2014. The Economist argued that deteriorating economic conditions in the British Virgin Islands were caused "not [by] sagging revenues but public-sector profligacy". By 2014 public debt had been reduced to US$106 million and the annual deficit reduced to US$25 million (including budgeted capital expenditure).
By 2016, the Government had returned to a primary budget surplus, but public debt had increased to approximately US$141 million and debt service accounted for over US$12 million of the primary surplus. However, because of an ongoing aggressive capital investment programme, and budget overruns on key public projects, the Government ran dangerously low on available cash. Cash in the consolidated fund fell below US$7 million (with average monthly expenditure at nearly US$30 million), and Government accrued over US$13 million in due but unpaid invoices.
Business environment
In 2015, British Virgin Islands has been assessed as the 34th in terms of global financial centres. This was the highest ranking of any offshore financial centre, and of any Latin American country. The Territory scored strongly in areas such as local taxation, rule of law, regulatory environment and quality of law for human resources. It scored less highly on infrastructure, access to capital and access to labour.
The G-20 considers it a tax haven and its banking system is described as 'opaque'.
2017 government budget
The most recent national budget to be delivered was the 2017 budget (the Territory's fiscal year runs from 1 April to 31 March).
The 2017 budget predicted that 2016 final revenue figures of $310,470,000 which was a decrease of 6.2% from the year before. It also predicted recurrent expenditure for 2016 at $288,640,000 which was an increase of 3.6% on the preceding year. That would mean a primary budget surplus of $21,830,000 which would be a decrease of 56.6% from the preceding year.
According to the World Travel and Tourism Council:
* In 2013, the direct contribution of travel and tourism to the Territory's GDP was US$274 million (accounting for 27.0% of total GDP), and was forecast to rise by 2.8% in 2014, and to rise by 2.7% per annum for the period 2014–2024.
* The total contribution of travel and tourism to GDP was US$780.8 million (76.9% of GDP) in 2013, and is forecast to rise by 3.2% in 2014, and to rise by 2.6% per annum for the period 2014–2024.
* In 2013, travel and tourism directly supported 3,300 jobs in the Territory (33.2% of total employment). This was expected to remain unchanged in 2014 and fall by 0.3% per annum to 3,000 jobs (29.6% of total employment) by 2024.
* The total contribution to employment in 2013 (which includes jobs indirectly supported by the industry), was 90.1% of total employment (8,850 jobs). This was expected to rise by 1.9% in 2014 to 9,050 jobs, but fall by 0.2% per annum to 9,000 jobs in 2024 (80.9% of total).
* Travel and tourism investment in 2013 was US$35.8 million, or 14.8% of total investment. This was expected to rise by 10.1% in 2014, and rise by 2.0% per annum over the next ten years to a total of US$48.2 million in 2024.
However, these statistics include travel as well as tourism, and so non-tourist related travel (i.e. travel relating to domestic consumption and other industries and services) are included and inflate the figures.
Financial services
In the mid-1980s, the government began offering offshore registration to companies wishing to incorporate in the islands, and incorporation fees now generate an estimated 51.4% of Government revenues. As of 2019, it costs $450 to form a company with fewer than 50,000 shares and another $450 a year to maintain registration.
According to official statistics 447,801 BVI companies were 'active' (i.e. incorporated and not yet struck-off, liquidated or dissolved) as at 30 June 2012. There are no recent official statistics on total numbers of incorporations (including struck, liquidated and dissolved companies) but these are estimated at 950,000. Many of these companies were originally formed under the International Business Companies Act, 1984, but have now been consolidated into the BVI Business Companies Act, 2004.
In 2000, KPMG were commissioned by the British Government to produce a report on the offshore financial industry generally, and the report indicated that nearly 45% of the offshore companies in the world were formed in the British Virgin Islands. The British Virgin Islands is now one of the world's leading offshore financial centres, and boasts one of the highest incomes per capita in the Caribbean.
In addition to basic company incorporations, the British Virgin Islands also forms limited partnerships and trusts (including signature "VISTA" trusts) but these have not proved to be as popular as companies.
On 12 April 2007, the Financial Times reported that the British Virgin Islands was the second largest source of foreign direct investment in the world (behind Hong Kong) with over US$123,000,000,000. Almost all of these sums are directly attributable to investment through the Territory's offshore finance industry.
In 2017, the total value of assets held in offshore companies in the British Virgin Islands was estimated at $1.5 trillion and two-fifths of company owners were based in Hong Kong and China, according to a report by Capital Economics and commissioned by BVI Finance.
The British Virgin Islands also promotes a number of regulated financial services products. The most important of these is the formation and regulation of offshore investment funds. The Territory is also the second largest domicile for formation of offshore investment funds (behind the Cayman Islands) with 2,422 licensed open-ended funds as at 30 June 2012 Within the space of a few years, hundreds of such companies had been incorporated.
This eventually came to the attention of the United States government, who unilaterally revoked the Treaty in 1981.
In 1984, the British Virgin Islands, trying to recapture some of the lost offshore business, enacted a new form of companies legislation, the International Business Companies Act, under which an offshore company which was exempt from local taxes could be formed. The development was only a limited success until 1991, when the United States invaded Panama to oust General Manuel Noriega. At the time Panama was one of the largest providers of offshore financial services in the world, but the business fled subsequent the invasion, and the British Virgin Islands was one of the main beneficiaries.
Moreover, in 1988, Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca's founder Ramón Fonseca Mora advised his clients to bring their business from Panama to the British Virgin Islands.AgricultureLivestock raising is the most important agricultural activity; poor soils limit the islands' ability to meet domestic food requirements. Fewer than 0.6% are estimated to work in agriculture. Despite its tiny economic impact, agriculture has its own dedicated Government minister (unlike financial services).
Dollarisation
Because of traditionally close links with the U.S. Virgin Islands, the British Virgin Islands has used the US dollar as its currency since 1959.
Footnotes
See also
* List of Commonwealth of Nations countries by GDP
* List of Latin American and Caribbean countries by GDP (nominal)
* List of Latin American and Caribbean countries by GDP (PPP)
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_the_British_Virgin_Islands
|
2025-04-05T18:26:29.664523
|
3653
|
Telecommunications in the British Virgin Islands
|
Country Code: +1284
International Call Prefix: 011 (outside NANP)
Calls from the British Virgin Islands to the US, Canada, and other NANP Caribbean nations, are dialled as 1 + NANP area code + 7-digit number. Calls from the British Virgin Islands to non-NANP countries are dialled as 011 + country code + phone number with local area code.
Number Format: nxx-xxxx
Telephones – main lines in use:
11,700 (2002)
Telephones – mobile cellular:
8,000 (2002)
Telephone system:
worldwide telephone service
general assessment:
worldwide telephone service
domestic:
NA
international:
Connected via submarine cable to Bermuda; the East Caribbean Fibre System (ECFS) submarine cable provides connectivity to 13 other islands in the eastern Caribbean (2007)
Radio stations:
AM 1, FM 5, shortwave 0 (2004)
ZBVI 780 Tortola
ZJKC-FM 90.9 Tortola (repeats WJKC 95.1 Christiansted, USVI)
ZGLD-FM 91.7 Tortola
ZCCR-FM 94.1 Todman's Peak
ZWVE-FM 97.3 Tortola
ZKNG-FM 100.9 Chalwell
ZROD-FM 103.7 Tortola
ZVCR-FM 106.9 Chalwell
Television stations:
1 (ZBTV), (plus one cable company) (1997)
Internet service providers (ISPs):
1 (1999)
Internet country code:
VG
Internet hosts:
465 (2008)
Internet users:
4,000 (2002)
See also : British Virgin Islands
Deregulation of the telephone market
thumb|right|250px|bmobile's headquarters in the BVI.
In 2006, the British Virgin Islands government undertook a deregulation of the telephone industry. Prior to 2006, in common with many other Caribbean countries, Cable & Wireless (Caribbean) had a statutory monopoly on telephone and other electronic communications services. However, in the 1990s, a local company called CCT Boatphone, which had previously provided radio boatphones to tourists on charter boats, expanded into cellular (mobile) telecommunications for land-based users. Although technically in breach of the statutory monopoly, CCT Boatphone was backed by a powerful collection of local interests known as the BVI Investment Club. Negotiations between Cable & Wireless and CCT Boatphone led to a split of the monopolies, with Cable & Wireless retaining a monopoly over fixed line and internet services, and CCT Boatphone keeping a de facto monopoly over cellular telephones.
In 2007 the government abolished the previously existing monopolies under an order made pursuant to the new legislation. The process proved politically fraught, and the government's Minister for Communications and Works, Alvin Christopher, ended up leaving the government and joining the opposition party as a result of the furore. The process was also criticised as cumbersome and slow, the initial deregulation having been announced in 2004, and taking no less than three years to come to fruition through delays in legislation and regulation.
Although there have been no new entrants into the fixed line industry, the government issued three licences under the new regime to cellular telephone service providers. The existing provider, CCT Boatphone, obtained one licence. Bmobile, the cellular arm of Cable & Wireless, obtained a second. The third licence was obtained by BVI Cable TV, a local cable television service. The licence in favour of BVI Cable was controversial, as the Regulator had announced in advance that only three licences in total would be issued, and BVI Cable TV had crumbling cable television infrastructure, and was in no position to offer cellular telephone services (and to date, has not offered any cellular telephone services, or anything other than simple cable television). However, bmobile's main regional competitor, Digicel, was rejected for a licence. The decision was regarded as highly controversial in the local media.
Digicel then issued court proceedings against the Regulator, arguing that he had acted improperly by imposing an arbitrary limit of three licences (although no complaint was made about the decision to prefer BVI Cable TV's improbable licence over Digicel). Bmobile was joined to the suit as an interested party. High Court Judge Rita Joseph-Olivetti found in favour of Digicel and quashed the original decision. Digicel commenced separate proceedings against Cable and Wireless (as bmobile's parent company) in the English courts, claiming that Cable & Wireless has unfairly stifled competition in several Caribbean jurisdictions. During the intervening period, bmobile has obtained a virtual stranglehold on the cellular telecommunications market in the British Virgin Islands by a combination of low prices and aggressive advertising, as well as significant investment in infrastructure and technology.
Digicel was finally granted a licence on 17 December 2007 and started operations in the BVI on 28 November 2008.
References
External links
Ministry of Communications and Works of the British Virgin Islands
British Virgin Islands, SubmarineCableMap.com
British Virgin
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telecommunications_in_the_British_Virgin_Islands
|
2025-04-05T18:26:29.669047
|
3654
|
Transport in the British Virgin Islands
|
The systems of transport in the British Virgin Islands include 113 kilometres of highway and a harbour at Road Town.
Roads
total: 200 km
paved: 200 km
unpaved: 0 km (2007)
Despite using left-hand traffic, most vehicles are left-hand-drive, being imported from the United States.
Ports and terminals
Road Town
Airports
4 (2008)
Paved runways
total: 2
914 to 1,523 m: 1
under 914 m: 1 (2008)
Unpaved runways
total: 2
914 to 1,523 m: 2 (2008)
Merchant Marine
registered in other countries: 1 (Panama) (2008)
References
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transport_in_the_British_Virgin_Islands
|
2025-04-05T18:26:29.670594
|
3658
|
Geography of Brunei
|
<!-- "none" is preferred when the title is sufficiently descriptive; see WP:SDNONE -->
| area ranking = 163rd
| km area = 5765
| percent land = 91.33
| km coastline = 266
| exclusive economic zone
| borders = Malaysia
| geographic center | highest point Bukit Pagon <br>
| lowest point = South China Sea <br>
| longest river Belait River <br>
| largest lake Tasek Merimbun <br>
}}
Brunei is a country in Southeast Asia, bordering the South China Sea and East Malaysia. Its geographical coordinates are . The country is small with a total size of . It is larger in size than Trinidad and Tobago. It is close to vital sea lanes through the South China Sea linking the Indian and Pacific Oceans. The country has two parts physically separated by Malaysia, making it almost an enclave within Malaysia.
Brunei shares a border with Malaysia, and has a coastline. The terrain is a flat coastal plain that rises to mountainous in the east and hilly lowlands in the west. While earthquakes are quite rare, Brunei is located near the Pacific Ring of Fire. Climate
A tropical climate with high humidity prevails in Brunei. Typically, the entire nation experiences the same climate. The entire year is hot in the country. The monsoon winds and other wind systems in the area brought on by the distribution of air pressure in Southeast Asia, as well as the location on Borneo's northwest coast, which lies in the equatorial tropics, all have an impact on the climate. ITCZ (Intertropical Convergence Zone) is the name given to the low pressure trough that occurs around the equator. Areas in the subtropics on both hemispheres, however, experience high pressure, resulting in a pressure difference. This is due to air masses from the southern and northern hemispheres meet in this region, causing major climate shifts, the Intertropical Convergence Zone is crucial.
It's vital that the ITCZ's position typically oscillates based on the sun's zenithal position and is not always fixed. The magnitude of the latitudinal oscillation is reduced to roughly half that of the sun because of the movement's two-month delay. There are two distinct seasons in the nation that are separated by two transitional phases as a result of the ITCZ's shifting location throughout the year and the associated trade winds. The South China Sea and Borneo are substantially impacted by northeast monsoon winds that recurve via the Inter-Tropical Convergence zone to become northwesterly winds that blow across Indonesia between December and March. The ITCZ's typical location is between latitudes 50S and 100S when it migrated south across Brunei and Borneo in late December, a time period known as the Northeast Monsoon.
The Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone, which is positioned east of the Philippines around latitude 150N between June and September, transforms into a monsoon trough to the west. The Southwest Monsoon is created by southeast trade winds that originate in the southern hemisphere and recurve on the equator. The northeast monsoon dominates from December to March whereas the southwest monsoon blows from May to September. Transitional months are recognized as April, October, and November. Most of the country is a flat coastal plain with mountains in the east and hilly lowland in the west. The lowest point is at sea level and the highest is Bukit Pagon (). The climatic regions of the country is as follows: Deutscher Wetterdienst (extremes, 1971–2012 and humidity, 1972–1990)
|source 2 NOAA (sun, 1961–1990)
|date = August 2010
}}
Natural disasters
Since the nation lies outside of the typhoon belt and mostly untouched by earthquakes, it is less likely to experience major disasters, making it a relatively safe area to live and work. Foreigners from temperate climes who want to avoid harsh winters are drawn to the country by its milder temperature. Additionally, the weather is suitable for outdoor activities and water sports.Area:
*Total:
*Land:
<br>exclusive economic zone:
and or to median line
Elevation extremes:
<br>lowest point:
South China Sea 0 m
Land use:
<br>arable land:
0.76%
<br>permanent crops:
1.14%
<br>other:
98.10% (2012)
Irrigated land:
(2003)
Total renewable water resources:
Freshwater withdrawal (domestic/industrial/agricultural)
<br>total:
0.09 km<sup>3</sup>/yr (97%/0%/3%)
<br>per capital:
301.6 m<sup>3</sup>/yr (2009)
Environment – current issues:
seasonal smoke/haze resulting from forest fires in Indonesia
Environment – international agreements:
<br>party to:
Biodiversity, Climate Change, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution
References
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geography_of_Brunei
|
2025-04-05T18:26:29.682008
|
3661
|
Economy of Brunei
|
| population 458,949 (2023)
| gdp = $16.68 billion (nominal, 2025)
* $42.82 billion (PPP, 2025)}}
| inflation 0.5% (2024) (55th)
}}
| edbr 66th (easy, 2020)
| labor = 233,198 (2023)
*60.5% employment rate (2023)}}
| occupations =
In the 1970s, Brunei invested sharply increasing revenues from petroleum exports and maintained government spending at a low and constant rate. Consequently, the government was able to build its foreign reserves and invest them around the world to help provide for future generations. Part of the reserve earnings were reportedly also used to help finance the government's annual budget deficit. Since 1986, however, petroleum revenues have decreased, and government spending has increased. The government has been running a budget deficit since 1988. The disappearance of a revenue surplus has made Brunei's economy more vulnerable to petroleum price fluctuations.
Brunei's gross domestic product (GDP) soared with the petroleum price increases of the 1970s to a peak of $5.7 billion in 1980. It declined slightly in each of the next 5 years, then fell by almost 30% in 1986.
This drop was caused by a combination of sharply lower petroleum prices in world markets and voluntary production cuts in Brunei. The GDP recovered somewhat since 1986, growing by 12% in 1987, 1% in 1988, and 9% in 1989. In recent years, GDP growth was 3.5% in 1996, 4.0% in 1997, 1.0% in 1998, and an estimated 2.5% in 1999. However, the 1999 GDP was still only about $4.5 billion, well below the 1980 peak.
The Asian financial crisis in 1997 and 1998, coupled with fluctuations in the price of oil have created uncertainty and instability in Brunei's economy. In addition, the 1998 collapse of Amedeo Development Corporation, Brunei's largest construction firm whose projects helped fuel the domestic economy, caused the country to slip into a mild recession.
This is a chart of trend of gross domestic product of Brunei Darussalam at market prices estimated by the International Monetary Fund with figures in millions of Bruneian dollars.
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Year || Gross domestic product || US dollar exchange || Inflation index (2000=100)
|-
| 1985 || 7,777 || 2.20 Bruneian dollars || 76
|-
| 1990 || 6,509 || 1.81 Bruneian dollars || 82
|-
| 1995 || 7,394 || 1.41 Bruneian dollars || 95
|-
| 2000 || 7,441 || 1.72 Bruneian dollars || 100
|-
| 2005 || 10,401 || 1.62 Bruneian dollars || 100
|}
For purchasing power parity comparisons, the US dollar is exchanged at 1.52 Bruneian dollars only. Mean wages were $25.38 per man-hour in 2009.
The government regulates the immigration of foreign labor out of concern it might disrupt Brunei's society. Work permits for foreigners are issued only for short periods and must be continually renewed. Despite these restrictions, foreigners make up a significant portion of the work force. The government reported a total work force of 122,800 in 1999, with an unemployment rate of 5.5%.
Oil and natural gas account for almost all exports. Since only a few products other than petroleum are produced locally, a wide variety of items must be imported. Brunei statistics show Singapore as the largest point of origin of imports, accounting for 25% in 1997. However, this figure includes some transshipments, since most of Brunei's imports transit Singapore. Japan and Malaysia were the second-largest suppliers. As in many other countries, Japanese products dominate local markets for motor vehicles, construction equipment, electronic goods, and household appliances. The United States was the third-largest supplier of imports to Brunei in 1998.
Brunei's substantial foreign reserves are managed by the Brunei Investment Agency (BIA), an arm of the Ministry of Finance and Economy. BIA's guiding principle is to increase the real value of Brunei's foreign reserves while pursuing a diverse investment strategy, with holdings in the United States, Japan, western Europe, and the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries.
The Brunei Government actively encourages more foreign investment. New enterprises that meet certain criteria can receive pioneer status, exempting profits from income tax for up to 5 years, depending on the amount of capital invested. The normal corporate income tax rate is 30%. There is no personal income tax or capital gains tax.
One of the government's most important priorities is to encourage the development of Brunei Malays as leaders of industry and commerce. There are no specific restrictions of foreign equity ownership, but local participation, both shared capital and management, is encouraged. Such participation helps when tendering for contracts with the government or Brunei Shell Petroleum.
Companies in Brunei must either be incorporated locally or registered as a branch of a foreign company and must be registered with the Registrar of Companies. Public companies must have a minimum of seven shareholders. Private companies must have a minimum of two but not more than 50 shareholders. At least half of the directors in a company must be residents of Brunei.
Between 1981 and 2013 the Sultan owned cattle stations in Australia that supplied most of the country's beef. In 1984 it was reported that at , the total area of the stations was larger than Brunei itself. Some of the stations were sold in 2006 As of 2019, the Sultan still owned the Opium Creek station.
Eggs and chickens are largely produced locally, but most of Brunei's other food needs must be imported. Agriculture and fisheries are among the industrial sectors that the government has selected for highest priority in its efforts to diversify the economy.
The following table shows the main economic indicators in 1983–2021 (with IMF staff estimates in 2022–2027). Inflation below 5% is in green.
{| class"wikitable" style"text-align:center;"
!Year
!GDP
<small>(in Bil. US$PPP)</small>
!GDP per capita
<small>(in US$ PPP)</small>
!GDP
<small>(in Bil. US$nominal)</small>
!GDP per capita
<small>(in US$ nominal)</small>
!GDP growth
<small>(real)</small>
!Inflation rate
<small>(in Percent)</small>
!Unemployment
<small>(in Percent)</small>
!Government debt
<small>(in % of GDP)</small>
|-
|1982
|n/a
|n/a
|n/a
|n/a
|n/a
|0.0%
|n/a
|n/a
|-
|1983
|n/a
|n/a
|n/a
|n/a
|n/a
|1.2%
|n/a
|n/a
|-
|1984
|n/a
|n/a
|n/a
|n/a
|n/a
|3.1%
|n/a
|n/a
|-
|1985
|12.3
|55,627.7
|4.8
|21,606.1
|n/a
|2.1%
|n/a
|0.0%
|-
|1986
|12.3
|54,133.4
|3.3
|14,434.4
|-2.7%
|1.8%
|n/a
|0.0%
|-
|1987
|12.8
|54,771.6
|3.8
|16,435.8
|2.0%
|1.2%
|n/a
|0.0%
|-
|1988
|13.4
|55,520.5
|3.7
|15,165.5
|1.1%
|1.2%
|n/a
|0.0%
|-
|1989
|13.8
|55,942.4
|4.1
|16,557.0
|-1.1%
|1.3%
|n/a
|0.0%
|-
|1990
|14.5
|57,024.3
|4.9
|19,281.9
|1.1%
|2.1%
|n/a
|0.0%
|-
|1991
|15.4
|59,154.3
|5.2
|20,018.8
|3.1%
|1.6%
|n/a
|0.0%
|-
|1992
|16.5
|61,787.9
|5.5
|20,523.3
|4.8%
|1.3%
|n/a
|0.0%
|-
|1993
|17.0
|61,983.5
|5.5
|20,275.6
|0.3%
|4.3%
|n/a
|0.0%
|-
|1994
|17.9
|63,533.3
|6.0
|21,188.9
|3.1%
|2.5%
|n/a
|0.0%
|-
|1995
|19.1
|66,308.1
|7.1
|24,707.3
|4.5%
|6.0%
|n/a
|0.0%
|-
|1996
|20.0
|67,767.4
|7.1
|24,275.8
|2.9%
|2.0%
|n/a
|0.0%
|-
|1997
|20.0
|66,300.8
|7.0
|23,167.9
|-1.5%
|1.7%
|n/a
|0.0%
|-
|1998
|20.1
|64,992.3
|5.3
|17,164.1
|-0.6%
|-0.4%
|n/a
|0.0%
|-
|1999
|21.0
|66,333.7
|5.7
|18,099.1
|3.1%
|-0.4%
|n/a
|0.0%
|-
|2000
|22.1
|68,072.5
|6.7
|20,473.3
|2.8%
|1.6%
|n/a
|0.0%
|-
|2001
|23.2
|69,788.5
|6.2
|18,646.0
|2.7%
|0.6%
|n/a
|0.0%
|-
|2002
|24.5
|72,049.2
|6.5
|19,037.8
|3.9%
|-2.3%
|n/a
|0.0%
|-
|2003
|25.7
|74,229.5
|7.3
|20,975.5
|2.9%
|0.3%
|n/a
|0.0%
|-
|2004
|26.5
|75,323.6
|8.7
|24,759.5
|0.5%
|0.8%
|n/a
|0.0%
|-
|2005
|27.5
|76,638.4
|10.6
|29,459.7
|0.4%
|1.2%
|n/a
|0.0%
|-
|2006
|29.6
|81,119.6
|12.7
|34,869.2
|4.4%
|0.2%
|n/a
|0.6%
|-
|2007
|30.4
|82,199.5
|13.6
|36,678.3
|0.2%
|1.0%
|n/a
|0.7%
|-
|2008
|30.4
|81,056.2
|15.9
|42,529.7
|-1.9%
|2.1%
|n/a
|0.9%
|-
|2009
|30.1
|79,061.0
|11.9
|31,287.3
|-1.8%
|1.0%
|n/a
|1.1%
|-
|2010
|31.2
|80,668.9
|13.7
|35,437.3
|2.6%
|0.4%
|n/a
|1.1%
|-
|2011
|33.0
|84,001.0
|18.5
|47,092.3
|3.7%
|0.1%
|9.3%
|2.1%
|-
|2012
|35.2
|88,311.7
|19.0
|47,776.4
|0.9%
|0.1%
|8.5%
|2.1%
|-
|2013
|33.9
|84,019.1
|18.1
|44,865.2
|-2.1%
|0.4%
|7.7%
|2.2%
|-
|2014
|33.3
|81,806.0
|17.1
|41,947.5
|-2.5%
|-0.2%
|6.9%
|3.2%
|-
|2015
|25.9
|62,921.9
|12.9
|31,353.8
|-0.4%
|-0.5%
|7.7%
|3.0%
|-
|2016
|23.6
|56,638.3
|11.4
|27,322.0
|-2.5%
|-0.3%
|8.5%
|3.0%
|-
|2017
|25.9
|60,281.7
|12.1
|28,237.9
|1.3%
|-1.3%
|9.3%
|2.8%
|-
|2018
|26.5
|59,953.3
|13.6
|30,666.6
|0.1%
|1.0%
|8.7%
|2.6%
|-
|2019
|28.0
|61,028.0
|13.5
|29,312.8
|3.9%
|-0.4%
|6.8%
|2.6%
|-
|2020
|28.7
|63,276.0
|12.0
|26,467.8
|1.1%
|1.9%
|6.8%
|2.9%
|-
|2021
|29.4
|68,416.7
|14.0
|32,573.3
|-1.6%
|1.7%
|6.8%
|2.5%
|-
|2022
|31.9
|74,196.0
|18.5
|42,939.4
|1.2%
|2.5%
|6.8%
|1.9%
|-
|2023
|34.1
|79,408.5
|17.9
|41,713.0
|3.3%
|2.0%
|6.8%
|1.9%
|-
|2024
|36.0
|83,693.3
|18.1
|42,046.7
|3.2%
|1.5%
|6.8%
|1.9%
|-
|2025
|37.8
|88,002.0
|18.4
|42,711.8
|3.2%
|1.0%
|6.8%
|1.9%
|-
|2026
|39.5
|91,921.3
|18.7
|43,499.7
|2.5%
|1.0%
|6.8%
|1.9%
|-
|2027
|41.7
|96,927.8
|19.3
|44,913.6
|3.4%
|1.0%
|6.8%
|1.8%
|}
Oil and gas industry
Brunei Shell Petroleum (BSP), a joint venture owned in equal shares by the Brunei Government and the Royal Dutch/Shell group of companies, is the chief oil and gas production company in Brunei. It also operates the country's only refinery. BSP and four sister companies constitute the largest employer in Brunei after the government. BSP's small refinery has a distillation capacity of . This satisfies domestic demand for most petroleum products.
The French oil company Elf Aquitaine became active in petroleum exploration in Brunei in the 1980s. Its affiliate Elf Petroleum Asia BV has discovered commercially exploitable quantities of oil and gas in three of the four wells drilled since 1987, including a particularly promising discovery announced in early 1990. Recently, UNOCAL, partnered with New Zealand's Fletcher Challenge has been granted concessions for oil exploration. Brunei is preparing to tender concessions for deep water oil and gas exploration.
Brunei's oil production peaked in 1979 at over . Since then it has been deliberately cut back to extend the life of oil reserves and improve recovery rates. Petroleum production is currently averaging some . Japan has traditionally been the main customer for Brunei's oil exports, but its share dropped from 45% of the total in 1982 to 19% in 1998. In contrast, oil exports to South Korea increased from only 8% of the total in 1982 to 29% in 1998. Other major customers include Taiwan (6%), and the countries of ASEAN (27%). Brunei's oil exports to the United States accounted for 17% of the total exported.
Almost all of Brunei's natural gas is liquefied at Brunei Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) plant, which opened in 1972 and is one of the largest LNG plants in the world. Over 82% of Brunei's LNG produced is sold to Japan under a long-term agreement renewed in 1993. The agreement calls for Brunei to provide over 5 million tons of LNG per year to three Japanese utilities. The Japanese company, Mitsubishi, is a joint venture partner with Shell and the Brunei Government in Brunei LNG, Brunei Coldgas, and Brunei Shell Tankers, which together produce the LNG and supply it to Japan. Since 1995, Brunei has supplied more than 700,000 tons of LNG to the Korea Gas Corporation as well. In 1999, Brunei's natural gas production reached 90 cargoes per day. A small amount of natural gas is used for domestic power generation. Brunei is the fourth-largest exporter of LNG in the Asia-Pacific region behind Indonesia, Malaysia, and Australia.
Brunei's proven oil and gas reserves are sufficient, as of 2015, to last until at least 2035. Deep sea exploration may find significant new reserves but can be prohibitively expensive. The government sought in the past decade to diversify the economy with limited success. Oil and gas and government spending still account for most of Brunei's economic activity. Brunei's non-petroleum industries include agriculture, forestry, fishing, and banking.
In 2015, Brunei registered its third year of economic recession, the only ASEAN nation to do so. Declining oil prices and a drop in production due to maintenance and repair work at major oil wells have dented the country's budget which will see a deficit in the fiscal years 2015-16 and 2016–17.
In 2020, more than 99% of produced electricity in Brunei was based on fossil fuels, while electricity produced from renewable energy accounted for less than 1%. It is advised for Brunei to diversify the economy away from the use of fossil fuels and focus more on renewable energy as part of climate change mitigation measures.
Petrochemical industry
In the western part of the country, Liang is currently experiencing a major development with the establishment of SPARK, which is a site developed to be a world-class petrochemical hub. The first major investment at SPARK is the US$450 million Methanol plant developed by the Brunei Methanol Company, a joint venture between Petroleum Brunei and two leading Japanese companies, Mitsubishi Chemical Holdings and Itochu. The plant design will give an output of 2,500t of methanol per day (850,000t annually). The plant was officially launched by Sultan of Brunei Hassanal Bolkiah on 25 May 2010.Halal brandBrunei Darussalam in July 2009 launched its national halal branding scheme Brunei Halal which allows manufacturers in Brunei and in other countries to use the premium Brunei Halal trademark to help them penetrate lucrative markets in countries with significant numbers of Muslim consumers. The Brunei Halal brand is said to be the first proper attempt to put together a global halal brand that will reap the potential commercial returns of catering to the consumption needs of Muslims worldwide.
As envisioned by the Sultanate, the use of the Brunei Halal brand would signify to Muslim consumers the manufacturers' strict compliance with laws relating to Islamic teachings. Brunei also aims to build confidence in the brand through strategies that will both ensure the halal integrity of the products and unfaltering compliance with set rules governing the sourcing of raw materials, manufacturing process, logistics and distribution.
A new company, government-owned Brunei Wafirah Holdings Sdn Bhd, has been established as the owner of the Brunei Halal brand. Wafirah has entered into a joint venture with Brunei Global Islamic Investment and Hong Kong-based logistics firm Kerry FSDA Limited to form Ghanim International Food Corporation Sdn Bhd. Ghanim International manages the use of the Brunei Halal trademark. Producers that want to use the brand are required to first acquire the Brunei halal label (or the certification for compliance with accepted manufacturing and slaughtering practices under Islam) through the Department of Syariah Affairs' Halal Food Control Section. They can then approach Ghanim for their application to use the brand.References
Brunei
Category:CPTPP
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Brunei
|
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Telecommunications in Brunei
|
thumb|A telecommunication tower in Belait District.
Telecommunications
Telephone
Telephone service throughout the country is excellent; international service is good to Southeast Asia, Middle East, Western Europe, and the US.
Main lines in use: 122,204 (2022)
Internet fixed subscriptions: 49,452 (2020)
Internet users: 410,800 (2019) They aimed to provide FTTH coverage to around 85% of the population by 2017. They also split the plans which have unlimited quota into 'unlimited plans'
+Broadband Plans Effective 1 March 2018Type of planBandwidth Up ToMonthly ChargeQuotaQuota Based10 Mbit/s$2550GBQuota Based10 Mbit/s$39100GBQuota Based15 Mbit/s$59200GBQuota Based20 Mbit/s$75250GBQuota Based20 Mbit/s$99350GBHigh Speed Quota Based30 Mbit/s$7550GBHigh Speed Quota Based45 Mbit/s$135100GBHigh Speed Quota Based60 Mbit/s$240200GBHigh Speed Quota Based100 Mbit/s$290250GBHigh Speed Quota Based300 Mbit/s$350350GBUnlimited30 Mbit/s$199N/AUnlimited45 Mbit/s$259N/AUnlimited60 Mbit/s$339N/AUnlimited100 Mbit/s$459N/AUnlimited300 Mbit/s$999N/A
On 4 September 2019, The UNN took over all of the telecommunications infrastructure in Brunei. By doing so they aimed to provide equal infrastructure to all the isps in the country. This brought an end to a long held monopoly by Imagine Sdn Bhd (Formerly Known as Telbru) over the home broadband market with the introduction of Datastream Digital's 'Infinity' home broadband plans on 24 January 2020.
Television
Terrestrial TV Stations (Free to air)
In some areas residents may enjoy some of the Malaysian TV channels
RTB Perdana (Formerly known as RTB 1 and RTB 5) - An 17.5-hour national flagship channel of Radio Television Brunei aired news and information programs, with local and sinetron Indonesia series in 1080p HDTV.
RTB Aneka (Formerly known as RTB 2 and RTB 3 HD) - A 16.5-hour second channel of Radio Television Brunei airs entertainment programmes in 1080p HDTV.
RTB Sukmaindera (Formerly known as RTB 4) - A 24-hour international satellite television channel airing all of RTB programs both locally and internationally in 1080p HDTV.
Pay TV (Satellite TV) 1 - Kristal Astro
Radio
All radio stations in the country use FM. 5 radio stations are broadcast by the state controlled Radio Television Brunei. The British Forces Broadcast Service (BFBS) broadcasts 2 other stations in the country. Reception from some Malaysia stations can be received.
References
Brunei
Brunei
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telecommunications_in_Brunei
|
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|
Foreign relations of Brunei
|
Brunei maintains diplomatic relations with 170 out of 193 countries, joined ASEAN on 7 January 1984, one week after resuming full independence, and gives its ASEAN membership the highest priority in its foreign relations. Brunei joined the United Nations in September 1984. It is also a member of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum and the Commonwealth of Nations. Brunei hosted the APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting in November 2000. In 2005 it attended the inaugural East Asia Summit.
Brunei has a number of diplomatic missions abroad and has close relations with Singapore, sharing an interchangeable currency regime as well as close military relations with the latter island-state. Aside from relations with other ASEAN states, of which the Philippines, Indonesia, and Malaysia are key partners, Brunei also has extensive relations with the Muslim world and the Arab world outside its own region.
International organizations
Brunei became a member state of the Commonwealth in 1984, ASEAN and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation in 1984, the 7th member of the ASEAN-Japan Centre in 1990, the 159th United Nations member on 21 September 1985, a major player in BIMP-EAGA in 1994, and a founding member of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 1995. Since 2009, Brunei and the Philippines signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) that seeks to strengthen the bilateral co-operation of the two countries in the fields of agriculture and farm-related trade and investments.
Diplomatic relations
Brunei maintains diplomatic relations with the following countries:
frameless|425x425px#CountryDate123456789101112131416182427293031323335363943444547495253545556576266697071757778818283—8790929495103105106107108109113114116117118121124126127128130138140143144145146148153157158160161162164165166 Both countries are full members of the Commonwealth of Nations. Relations between the two countries were established in 1984 when Australia became one of the first countries to establish diplomatic ties with Brunei.9 June 1992Brunei has an embassy in Phnom Penh, and Cambodia has an embassy in Bandar Seri Begawan. Relations were established on 9 June 1992. Brunei has a High Commission in Ottawa, and Canada has a High Commission in Bandar Seri Begawan. Relations can be traced back to over 2,000 years ago, as early as the Western Han periods.8 May 1984Brunei has an embassy in Paris, and France has an embassy in Bandar Seri Begawan. Relations between the two countries have been established since 8 May 1984. Relations between the two countries has been established since 1 May 1984.10 May 1984Brunei has a High Commission in New Delhi, and India has a High Commission in Bandar Seri Begawan. Both countries are full members of the Commonwealth of Nations. Relations have been established since 10 May 1984. 1 May 19902 April 1984thumb|Embassy of Japan in Bandar Seri Begawan
Brunei has an embassy in Tokyo, and Japan has an embassy in Bandar Seri Begawan. Relations were established on 2 April 1984. Relations were established on 27 July 1993. Like Brunei, Malaysia is a full member of the Commonwealth of Nations.2 October 1991Both countries established diplomatic relations on 2 October 1991
Brunei is accredited to Mexico from its embassy in Washington, D.C.
Mexico is accredited to Brunei from its embassy in Singapore.21 September 1993Both countries established diplomatic relations on 21 September 1993
Brunei has an embassy in Yangon, and Myanmar has an embassy in Gadong. Relations were established on 21 September 1993. Relations has been established since 5 May 1984 and have always been friendly and positive with such co-operation in education trade and defence.7 January 1999In August 2013 Brunei's Foreign Affairs and Vice-Minister, Prince Mohamed Bolkiah arrived in Pyongyang.
Brunei is represented in North Korea, through its embassy in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
North Korea established diplomatic relations with Brunei on 7 January 1999.24 March 1984Brunei has an embassy in Muscat, and Oman has an embassy in Bandar Seri Begawan. Relations has been established since 24 March 1984.1 January 1984Relations between Brunei and the natives of a then divided Philippines under a classical era started since the 10th to 13th centuries and continued even under the colonial regimes. Relations continued through the Sultanate of Sulu. Post World War II relations between the two countries has been re-established since January 1984. In April 2009, Brunei and The Philippines signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) that seeks to strengthen the bilateral co-operation of the two countries in the fields of agriculture and farm-related trade and investments. The MOU further strengthened bilateral co-operation between the two Southeast Asian countries, particularly in the fields of agriculture and farm-related trade and investments. The two countries have agreed to co-operate in plant science, crops technology, vegetable and fruit preservation, biotechnology, post-harvest technology, livestock, organic agriculture, irrigation and water resources and Halal industry. Brunei is viewed by the Philippines as a key ASEAN and Islamic ally. While Brunei view the Philippines as an ASEAN and Christian ally with a Muslim minority.
2 October 1991Both countries established diplomatic relations on 2 October 1991
Brunei has an embassy in Doha, and Qatar has an embassy in Bandar Seri Begawan. 1 October 1991Both countries established diplomatic relations on 1 October 1991
Brunei maintains an embassy in Moscow, the Russian embassy in Brunei was established in March 2010.1 January 1984The official relations between the two countries have been established since 1984. Brunei and Singapore agreed to have Singapore train its armed forces with Brunei. Like Brunei, Singapore is a full member of the Commonwealth of Nations.
Brunei and Singapore have a currency agreement that the currencies of both countries can be used in either of the two countries. The Brunei dollar and the Singapore dollar are maintained at par.
In August 2005, Brunei's Foreign Affairs and Trade Minister, Prince Mohamed Bolkiah arrived in Singapore for a three-day visit during which the two countries signed an agreement to eliminate double taxation, paving the way for further bilateral trade and investment.
The Royal Brunei Navy and the Republic of Singapore Navy conduct an annual Exercise Pelican signifying strong ties between the two navies.1 January 1984Brunei has an embassy in Seoul, and South Korea has an embassy in Bandar Seri Begawan. South Korea established diplomatic relations with Brunei on 1 June 1984 right after the country gained independence from the United Kingdom on 1 January on that year.1 January 1984Brunei has an embassy in Bangkok, and Thailand has an embassy in Bandar Seri Begawan. The relations have always been close and cordial. January 1984 Brunei established diplomatic relations with the United Kingdom in January 1984.
Brunei maintains a high commission in London.
The United Kingdom is accredited to the Brunei through its high commission in Bandar Seri Begawan.
The UK governed Brunei from 1888 to 1984, when Brunei achieved full independence.
Both countries share common membership of the Commonwealth, CPTPP, and the World Trade Organization. Bilaterally the two countries have a Double Taxation Agreement, and a Joint Defence Commission. Brunei has an embassy in Hanoi, and Vietnam has an embassy in Bandar Seri Begawan.
See also
List of diplomatic missions in Brunei
List of diplomatic missions of Brunei
Visa requirements for Bruneian citizens
References
Category:Brunei and the Commonwealth of Nations
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foreign_relations_of_Brunei
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Geography of Bulgaria
|
<!-- "none" is preferred when the title is sufficiently descriptive; see WP:SDNONE -->
|area ranking = 103rd
|km area 110,993.6
|km coastline = 378
|borders = 1,867 km
|highest point Musala,<br/>
|lowest point = Black Sea, 0 m
|longest river Iskar River, <br/>
|largest lake Lake Burgas<br/>
|climate = temperate in north to Mediterranean in south
|terrain = mountains and hills with lowlands in north and southeast
|natural resources = copper, lead, zinc, coal, timber, arable land
|natural hazards = earthquakes (in certain areas), floods, landslides
|environmental issues air and water pollution, deforestation, soil contamination
|exclusive economic zone}}
Bulgaria is a country situated in Southeast Europe that occupies the eastern quarter of the Balkan peninsula, being the largest country within its geographic boundaries. It borders Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, and the Black Sea to the east. The northern border with Romania follows the river Danube until the city of Silistra. The land area of Bulgaria is {{convert|110994
The country has a dense river network but with the notable exception of the river Danube, rivers are mostly short and with low water flow.
Bulgaria has substantial land in agriculture and forest. In 2006 land use and land cover was 5% intensive human use, 52% agriculture including pasture, 31% forest, 11% woodland-shrub, grassland, and non-vegetated, and 1% water.
Phytogeographically, Bulgaria straddles the Illyrian and Euxinian provinces of the Circumboreal Region within the Boreal Kingdom. The country falls within six terrestrial ecoregions of the Palearctic realm: Balkan mixed forests (main), Rodope montane mixed forests (main in the mountains), Euxine-Colchic deciduous forests, Aegean and Western Turkey sclerophyllous and mixed forests, East European forest steppe and Pontic–Caspian steppe. Boundaries and territory The borders of Bulgaria have a total length of 2,245 km; of them 1,181 km are land boundary and 686 km are formed by rivers. The coastline is 378 km.
The northern border with Romania is 609 km. Most of the frontier (470 km) is formed by the river Danube from the mouth of the river Timok in the west to the city of Silistra in the east. The land border from Silistra to Cape Sivriburun at the Black Sea is 139 km long. The land frontier has three border crossings at Silistra, Kardam and Durankulak at the Black Sea. It is also crossed by a major gas pipeline transporting natural gas from Russia to Bulgaria. The Bulgaria–Turkey frontier runs from the mouth of the Rezovo River in the east through the Strandzha Mountains and the Dervent Heights, crosses the river Tundzha at the village of Matochina and ends at the river Maritsa at the village of Kapitan Andreevo. There are three border crossings at Malko Tarnovo, Lesovo and Kapitan Andreevo. The frontier with North Macedonia runs from the Tumba Peak in the south through the mountains of Ograzhden, Maleshevo, Vlahina and Osogovo up to mount Kitka. There are three border crossings near the town of Petrich and at the villages of Logodazh and Gyueshevo. The main characteristic of Bulgaria's topography is four alternating bands of high and low terrain that extend east to west across the country. From north to south, those bands, called geomorphological regions, are the Danubian Plain, the Balkan Mountains, the Transitional region and the Rilo-Rhodope region. The easternmost sections near the Black Sea are hilly, but they gradually gain height to the west until the westernmost part of the country is entirely high ground.
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Height zones
! Height (m)
! Area (km<sup>2</sup>)
! Area (%)
|-
| Lowlands || 0–200 || 34,858 || 31.42
|-
| Hills || 200–600 || 45,516 || 41.00
|-
| Low mountains || 600–1000 || 16,918 || 15.24
|-
| Medium-high mountains || 1000–1600 || 10,904 || 9.82
|-
| High mountains || 1600–2925 || 2,798 || 2.52
|-
|}
More than two-thirds of the country is plains, plateaus, or hilly land at an altitude less than 600 m. Plains (below 200 m) make up 31% of the land, plateaus and hills (200 to 600 m) 41%, low mountains (600 to 1,000 m) 10%, medium-high mountains (1,000 to 1,500 m) 10%, and high mountains (over 1,500 m) 3%. The Mesozoic era (252 million to 66 million years ago) saw the beginning of the Alpine orogeny that has formed the mountain ranges of the Alpide belt, including the Balkan Mountains and Sredna Gora. The exogenous processes have formed stone rivers in Vitosha; screes in the Balkan Mountains, Rila and Pirin; earth pyramids in Melnik, Stob and Katina; landslides, mainly along the Danube banks and the northern Black Sea coast; fluvial terraces; aeolian forms, such as dunes; karst forms, including numerous caves, sinkholes, ponors, etc.
Danubian Plain
The Danubian Plain encompasses the Moesian plate and extends from the river Timok in the west to the Black Sea in the east and from the river Danube in the north to the Balkan Mountains in the south, covering 31,520 km<sup>2</sup>, or almost 1/3 of Bulgaria's total area. Its width varies from 25 to 30 km in the west to 120 km in the east. The highest point is Tarnov Dyal (502 m) on the Shumen Plateau; the average altitude is 178 m. As a result of the rock weathering processes the relief is uneven with fertile alluvial plains along the Danube (Vidinska, Chernopolska, Zlatia, Belenska, Pobrezhie, Aidemirska), and hilly terrain in the remaining area, including plateaus in the east. The altitude rises from west to east. The valleys of the rivers Vit and Yantra divide the Danubian Plain into three parts – western, central and eastern.
The predominant soil types are loess in the north, reaching a depth of up to 100 m at the banks of the Danube, and chernozem in the south. The climate is temperate. The flat relief and the openness of plain to the north facilitate arrival of moist air masses in spring, summer and autumn. In winter the Danubian Plain falls under the influence of the Eastern European anticyclone, which brings cold Arctic air masses. The mountain range stretches from the valley of the river Timok in the west to Cape Emine at the Black Sea coast in the east, spanning a length of 555 km and width between 20 and 70 km. The Balkan Mountains are divided into western, central and eastern part by the Zlatitsa and Vratnik Passes. This region includes the Sub-Balkan valleys; the mountains and valleys of the Kraishte region, such as Ruy Mountain, Miloslavska planina and Milevska Planina; the mountains Lyulin, Vitosha, Sredna Gora, Strandzha and Sakar; the Dervent Heights; as well as the fertile Upper Thracian Plain. The Kazanlak Valley is also known as the Valley of the Thracian Kings due to the extremely high concentration and variety of monuments of the Thracian culture.
Srednogorie region stretches between the Sub-Balkan valleys in the north and the Rilo-Rhodope Massif in the south and from west to east includes the mountains Zavalska Planina, Viskyar, Lyulin, Vitosha, Plana and Sredna Gora. The largest of these, Sredna Gora, is 280 km and reaches a maximum width of 50 km.
The Upper Thracian Plain encompasses the middle valley of the river Maritsa and has a roughly triangular shape, situated between Sredna Gora in the north, the Rhodope Mountains in the south and Sakar Mountain in the east. The lowland is 180 km long and up to 50 km wide, spanning an area of 6,000 km<sup>2</sup>. To the east are located the Burgas Plain, Svetliyski Heights, Manastirski Heights, Dervent Heights, and the low mountains Sakar and Strandzha.
Rilo-Rhodope region
The Rilo-Rhodope geomorphological region covers the south-western regions of Bulgaria and includes the Rhodope Mountains, Rila, Pirin, Osogovo, Vlahina, Maleshevo, Ograzhden, Slavyanka and Belasitsa, as well as the valleys of the rivers Struma and Mesta. The altitude decreases from west to east. Further west is the Osogovo–Belasitsa mountain group along the border with North Macedonia, whose highest peak is Ruen in Osogovo at 2,251 m.
Black Sea coast
]]
The Bulgarian Black Sea Coast has a total length of 378 km from Durankulak in the north to the mouth of the river Rezovska in the south. The northernmost section between the Bulgarian-Romanian border to Shabla has extensive sandy beaches and several coastal lakes, then the elevation rises as the coast reaches Cape Kaliakra, with 70 m high vertical cliffs. Near Balchik and Kavarna the limestone rocky coast is cut by wooded valleys. The landscape around the coast resorts of Albena and Golden Sands is hilly, with a clearly expressed land slides. Dense forests at the mouth of the river Batova mark the beginning of Frangensko plateau. South of Varna the coastline is densely wooded, especially at the alluvial longose groves of the Kamchia Biosphere Reserve. Cape Emine marks the end of the Balkan Mountain and divides the Bulgarian Black Sea coast in northern and southern parts. The southern section has wide and long beaches, with a number of small bays and headlands. The two most important gulf are the Gulf of Varna in the north and the Gulf of Burgas in the south, which is the largest in the Bulgarian Black Sea coast. The continental zone is predominant, because continental air masses flow easily into the unobstructed Danubian Plain. The continental influence, stronger during the winter, produces abundant snowfall; the Mediterranean influence increases during the second half of summer and produces hot and dry weather. Bulgaria is subdivided into five climatic zones: continental zone (Danubian Plain, Pre-Balkan and the higher valleys of the Transitional geomorphological region); transitional zone (Upper Thracian Plain, most of the Struma and Mesta valleys, the lower Sub-Balkan valleys); continental-Mediterranean zone (the southernmost areas of the Struma and Mesta valleys, the eastern Rhodope Mountains, Sakar and Strandzha); Black Sea zone along the coastline with an average length of 30–40 km inland; and alpine zone in the mountains above 1000 m altitude (central Balkan Mountains, Rila, Pirin, Vitosha, western Rhodope Mountains, etc.).
Despite the large distance, the most important climate-forming factor is the Atlantic Ocean through the atmospheric circulation of the Icelandic cyclone and the Azores anticyclone, which bring cool and rainy weather in summer and relatively mild weather with abundant snowfall in winter. The influence of the Mediterranean Sea is strongest in the southern parts of Bulgaria, mainly through the Mediterranean cyclones. Due to its small area, the influence of the Black Sea only affects a 30–40 km long strip along the coastline, mainly in summer, when the daily breeze circulation is most pronounced.
Another important factor is the relief. The Bulgarian mountains and valleys act as barriers or channels for air masses, causing sharp contrasts in weather over relatively short distances. The Balkan Mountains form a barrier which effectively stops the cool air masses coming from the north and the warm masses from the south. The average temperature in the Danubian Plain is 11.4 °C, in the Upper Thracian Plain 13.9 °C, in the lower mountains 8.1 °C and in the higher mountains 2.4 °C. It is uneven in terms of seasons and territory. In northern Bulgaria the highest precipitation is in May–June, while in southern Bulgaria it is in winter. The average amount of precipitation also varies in term of altitude – from 450 to 850 mm in the plains to 850–1200 mm. The lowest mean precipitation is in the eastern part of Dobrudzha and the Burgas Plain (450 mm) and in the area between Plovdiv and Pazardzhik (500 mm); the highest rainfall falls in the mountains – the Petrohan Pass in the western Balkan Mountains and Zlatograd in the Rhodope Mountains. Climatebase.ru (precipitation days and extremes), NOAA, freemeteo.bg and Weather Atlas
}}
Hydrography
Bulgaria has a dense network of about 540 rivers, but with the notable exception of the Danube, most have short length and low water-level. The density is highest in the mountain areas and lowest in Dobrudzha, the Danubian Plain and the Upper Thracian Plain. There are two catchment basins: the Black Sea (57% of the territory and 42% of the rivers) and the Aegean Sea (43% of the territory and 58% of the rivers) basins.
The Balkan Mountains divide Bulgaria into two nearly equal drainage systems. The larger system drains northward to the Black Sea, mainly by way of the Danube. This system includes the entire Danubian Plain and a stretch of land running 48–80 km inland from the coastline in the south. The Danube gets slightly more than 4% of its total volume from its Bulgarian tributaries. As it flows along the northern border, the Danube averages 1.6 to 2.4 km in width. The river's highest water levels usually occur during the May floods; it is frozen over an average of 40 days per year. The longest river located entirely in Bulgarian territory, the Iskar, with a length of 368 km and a catchment area of 8,640 km<sup>2</sup>, is the only Bulgarian Danubian tributary that does not rise in the Balkan Mountains. Instead, the Iskar has its origin in the Rila Mountains. It passes through Sofia's eastern suburbs and crosses the Balkan Mountains through a spectacular 65 km–long gorge.
The Aegean Sea catchment basin drains the Thracian Plain and most of the higher lands to the south and southwest. Several major rivers flow directly to the Aegean Sea. Most of these streams fall swiftly from the mountains and have cut deep, scenic gorges. The 480 km–long Maritsa (of them 321 km in Bulgaria) and its tributaries drain all of the western Thracian Plain, all of Sredna Gora, the southern slopes of the Balkan Mountains, and the northern slopes of the eastern Rhodopes. After it leaves Bulgaria, the Maritsa forms most of the Greco-Turkish border. The limans and lagoons along the Black Sea coast include from north to south Lake Durankulak, Lake Shabla, Lake Varna, Lake Beloslav, Lake Pomorie, Lake Atanasovsko, Lake Burgas and Lake Mandrensko. Of them, Lake Burgas is the most extensive with 27,6 km<sup>2</sup> and Lake Varna has the largest volume with 165,5 million m<sup>3</sup>. There are around 2,200 reservoirs with a total volume of c. 7 billion km<sup>3</sup>. Most of them, 148, are situated in southern Bulgaria, while the other 77 are in the northern part of the country. The springs in the north tend to be with cool water, while those to the south are mainly warm and hot. The hottest spring in Bulgaria and the Balkans is situated in Sapareva Banya and reaches 101.4 °C.
Soils
The soil cover of Bulgaria is diverse. The soil resources of the country are adequately researched and include 17 soil types and 28 sub-types. Of them, six types form 88.7% of the soil cover: cinnamon soils (22.0%); chernozem (20.4%); grey forest soils (17.0%); brown forest soils (14.8%); alluvial soils (9.0%) and smolnitsi (5.4%). The Southern xerothermal zone encompasses Southern Bulgaria up to 700–800 m altitude and includes several specific soil types due to the more diverse topography and climate. The most common soil types are the cinnamon forest soils with acidic (cinnamonic) traces, smolnitsi and yellow-podzolic soils.
!Type!!1000 ha
|-
|cinnamon || 2,430
|-
|chernozem || 2,240
|-
|grey forest || 1,960
|-
|brown forest || 1,640
|-
|meadow, alluvial and diluvial || 995
|-
|smolnitsi || 595
|-
|yellow-podzol || 0.026
|-
|salty || 0.025
|-
|mountain meadow || 173
|-
|other|| 1,016
|}
Mineral resources
There are approximately 60 types of minerals that are extracted commercially in Bulgaria. The mineral resources are divided into three groups: fossil fuels, metals and industrial minerals.
The fossil fuels include coal, petroleum and natural gas. Bulgaria possesses significant reserves of coal estimated at 4,8 billion tons. More than 92% of them, or 4,5 billion tons, Other lignite basins include Sofia valley (reserves of 870 million tons), Elhovo (656 million tons), Lom (277 million tons), Maritsa Zapad (170 million tons). The recoverable reserves of bituminous coal and anthracite are insignificant – only 10 and 2,5 million tons respectively. However, there is a huge basin of bituminous coal in Southern Dobruja with estimated reserves of over 1 billion tons but its large depth (1370–1950 m) is an obstacle for its commercial exploitation.
, Pazardzhik Province. Bulgaria is an important producer of copper.]]
The Bulgarian exclusive economic zone has a total size of in the Black Sea. Petroleum and natural gas are found in northern Bulgaria and its EEZ in the Black Sea. Crude oil is extracted in Dolni Dabnik and Gigen in Pleven Province and in Tyulenovo, Dobrich Province. The proven reserves are 20 million tons but there are prospects for new discovering in the EEZ. Gas fields have been discovered off cape Kaliakra (reserves of 3 billion m<sup>3</sup>), Deventsi (6 billion m<sup>3</sup>), between Lovech and Etropole (est. 22 billion m<sup>3</sup>), as well as near Devetaki and Butan. Manganese ore is extracted near Obrochishte in Dobrich Province (reserves of 85 million tons), as well as in the provinces of Sofia and Varna. The reserves of chromium are small and are scattered in the Rhodope Mountains. Bulgaria possesses important reserves of lead and zinc, of them 60% are situated in the southern reaches of the Rhodope Mountains along the border with Greece at Madan, Zlatograd, Madzharovo, Rudozem, Laki, etc. Other mines are located near Ustrem and Gyueshevo.
Bulgaria is rich in industrial minerals, with 70 types being mined. There are important reserves of rock salt near the town of Provadia (4,4 billion tons). Solnitsata, an ancient town located nearby is believed by Bulgarian archaeologists to be the oldest in Europe and was the site of a salt production facility approximately six millennia ago. The reserves of kaolinite are estimated at 70 million tons, situated mainly in north-eastern Bulgaria – Kaolinovo, Todor Ikonomovo, Senovo and Vetovo. Marble is extracted in the mountainous regions – Pirin, Rhodopes, Strandzha, the western Balkan Mountains. There are important quantities of limestone, gypsum, baryte, perlite, feldspar, granite, etc.
Biodiversity
, southeastern Bulgaria.]]
The interaction of climatic, hydrological, geological and topographical conditions make Bulgaria one of the most biologically diverse countries of Europe. Phytogeographically, Bulgaria straddles the Illyrian and Euxinian provinces of the Circumboreal Region within the Boreal kingdom. The country falls within six terrestrial ecoregions of the Palearctic realm: Balkan mixed forests, Rodope montane mixed forests, Euxine-Colchic deciduous forests, Aegean and Western Turkey sclerophyllous and mixed forests, East European forest steppe and Pontic–Caspian steppe. which include some of the oldest individual trees in the world, such as Baikushev's pine and the Granit oak. Bulgaria's flora contains between 3,800 and 4,200 vascular plant species of which 170 are endemic and 150 are considered endangered. There more than 6,500 species of non-vascular plants and fungi.
There are three zoogeographical regions; the Eurosiberian region, encompassing the Danubian Plain and the mountainous regions of the country; the Irano-Turanian Region encompassing Southern Dobrudzha; and the Mediterranean region that includes the Upper Thracian Plain, the lower Struma valley and the Black Sea coast. Bulgaria is inhabited by around 100 mammal species, including brown bears, grey wolves, wild boars, golden jackals, red foxes, wildcats, red deer, roe deer, European fallow deer, European hares, southern white-breasted hedgehogs, badgers, marbled polecats, European polecats, European pine martens, four species of oceanic dolphins, and Mediterranean monk seals. Protection, reintroductions and repopulations like those of the European bison, the Eurasian beaver, and the Eurasian lynx are intended and reported.
The avian fauna is represented by 434 species of birds, which is the second highest number in Europe. Almost all species of the true owls live in the country, also white stork, common crane, and demoiselle crane. Important conservation species are the eastern imperial eagle, the cinereous, griffon, Egyptian and the bearded vultures, the great white pelican, and the Dalmatian pelican.
There are 38 reptile and the 20 amphibian species found in Bulgaria. There are four turtle and two tortoise species of four families – Cheloniidae, Emydidae, Geoemydidae and Testudinidae; fourteen lizard species of four families – Anguidae, Gekkonidae, Lacertidae and Scincidae; and eighteen snake species of four families – Boidae, Colubridae, Typhlopidae and Viperidae.
The ichthyofauna (fish) of the country has not been fully researched, but there is a rich variety of sturgeons, Black Sea shark, longnose spurdog, thornback ray, common stingray, northern pike, European eel, etc. As of 2000 there were 207 fish species.
There are an estimated 27,000 species of insects and other invertebrates. Bulgaria has some of the largest Natura 2000 areas in the European Union covering 33.8% of its territory. The national policy for governing and management of the protected areas is implemented by the Ministry of Environment and Water. Bulgaria's biodiversity is conserved in three national parks, 11 nature parks and 55 nature reserves. Of them, Pirin National Park, Srebarna Nature Reserve and nine forest reserves within the Central Balkan National Park are included in the UNESCO World Heritage List. Spanning a territory of 1,161 square kilometres Strandzha Nature Park is the largest protected area in the country. Established in 1936 Vitosha Nature Park is the oldest in Bulgaria and in the Balkan Peninsula. See also
* List of ecoregions in Bulgaria
* List of protected areas of Bulgaria
* Extreme points of Bulgaria
* Reservoirs and dams in Bulgaria
* Rivers of Bulgaria
* List of cities in Bulgaria
* List of mountains in Bulgaria
* List of islands of Bulgaria
* Livingston Island
* Geography of Europe
* Southernmost glacial mass in Europe
* List of glaciers in Europe
* List of European ultra-prominent peaks
* List of the highest European ultra-prominent peaks
* Most isolated major summits of Europe
Footnotes
Citations
References
Sources
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*
*
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External links
*
* [https://jbalkanproperty.eu/en/buyers-guide/where-is-the-best-region-to-buy-a-property-in-bulgaria/ Maritime region]
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Politics of Bulgaria
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<!-- "none" is preferred when the title is sufficiently descriptive; see WP:SDNONE -->
The politics of Bulgaria take place in a framework of a parliamentary representative democratic republic, whereby the prime minister is the head of government, and of a multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the National Assembly. The Judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature.
After forty-five years of single party system, Bulgaria became an unstable party system in 1989. This system was dominated by democratic parties and opposition to socialiststhe Union of Democratic Forces and several personalistic parties and the post-communist Bulgarian Socialist Party or its creatures, which emerged for a short period of time in the past decade. Personalistic parties could have been seen in the former governing (from 2001 to 2005) Simeon II's NDSV party and Boyko Borisov's GERB party.
Bulgaria has generally good freedom of speech and human rights records as reported by the US Library of Congress Federal Research Division in 2006, while Freedom House listed it as "free" in 2020, giving it scores of 33 for political rights and 45 for civil liberties. However, in 2014, there were some concerns that the proposed new Penal Code would limit freedom of the press and assembly, and as a consequence freedom of speech. Bulgaria was fully admitted to the Schengen area on January 1, 2025.
Developments since 1990
Parliamentary
After the fall of the communism in 1989, the former communist party was restructured and succeeded by the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP), which won the first post-communist elections for the Constitutional Assembly in 1990 with a small majority. Meanwhile, Zhelyu Zhelev, a communist-era dissident from the new democratic party - Union of Democratic Forces (abbreviated in Bulgarian as SDS), was elected president by the Assembly in 1990. In the first years after the change of regime, Bulgarian politics had to (re)establish the foundations of a democratic society in the country after nearly fifty years of de facto totalitarian communism. The so-called period of transition (from a Soviet socialist model to an economic structure focused on development through economic growth) began in the early 1990s. The politics of Bulgaria was aimed at joining the European Union and the NATO fold, as the alliances were recognised to have political agendas similar to the goals of the new Bulgarian democracy.
In contemporary Bulgaria, the government and its leader - the Prime Minister, have more political influence and significance than the President. Thus, the parliamentary elections set the short-term social and political environment in the country since the cabinet (chosen by the Prime Minister and approved by the parliament) decides how the country is governed while the President can only make suggestions and impose vetoes.
In the first parliamentary elections held under the new constitution of Bulgaria, in October 1991, the Union of Democratic Forces (SDS) party won a plurality of the seats, having won 110 out of the 240 seats, and created a cabinet alone with the support of the Movement for Rights and Freedoms—a liberal party (in Bulgarian abbreviated: DPS) which is widely perceived as a party of the ethnic Turks minority in Bulgaria. Yet, their government collapsed in late 1992, and was succeeded by a technocratic team put forward by the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP), which served until 1994 when it also collapsed. The President dissolved the government and appointed a provisional one to serve until early parliamentary elections could be held in December.
BSP won convincingly these elections in December 1994 with a majority of 125 seats out of the 240. Due to the severe economic crisis in Bulgaria during their government, BSP's cabinet collapsed and in 1997 a caretaker cabinet was appointed by the President, again, to serve until early parliamentary elections could be held in April 1997.
The April 1997 elections resulted in a landslide victory for the SDS, winning a majority of 137 seats in parliament, and allowing them to form the next government. This proved to be the first post-communist government that did not collapse and served its full 4-year term until 2001.
In 2001, the former monarch of Bulgaria Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha returned to power, this time as prime minister with his National Movement Simeon II (in Bulgarian abbreviated: NDSV), having won half (120) of the seats. His party entered a coalition with the DPS and invited two functionaries of the BSP (who sat as independents). In opposition were the two previously governing parties - the Socialist Party and the Union of Democratic Forces. In the four years in opposition the SDS suffered the defection of numerous splinter groups. The ruling party NDSV itself ruptured into a pro-right core and a pro-liberal fringe group. Bulgaria entered NATO in 2004.
In the aftermath, the BSP won the parliamentary elections in 2005 with 82 out of the 240 seats, but as it did not get the majority of the seats, a coalition government was formed by the three biggest parties - BSP, NDSV and DPS. The elections also put in parliament some of the right-wing parties, as well as the extreme-right nationalist coalition led by the party Ataka as an answer to the former coalition government of NDSV with DPS. Bulgarian entered the European Union in 2007.
In the parliamentary elections of 2009, the centre-right party of Boyko Borisov, the mayor of Sofia, GERB, won with 117 seats. The party formed a minority government with the support of the right-wing parties. Once the governing party - the National Movement Simeon II did not amass enough votes to enter the parliament. The austerity measures required in the stagnation of the Great Recession led to massive protests and the resignation of the cabinet in early 2013, months before the end of GERB's term.
In the early elections the former opposition party BSP received highest vote from the people. The socialist party chose the non-party former Minister of Finance Plamen Oresharski to form a cabinet. His cabinet was supported by the BSP and the DPS, opposed by GERB, while Ataka was absent.
Only two weeks after its initial formation the Oresharski government came under criticism and had to deal with large-scale protests some with more than 11 000 participants. One of the main reasons for these protests was the controversial appointment of media mogul Delyan Peevski as a chief of the National Security State Agency. The protests continued over the lifetime of the Oresharski government. In all, the government survived 5 votes of no-confidence before voluntarily resigning. Following an agreement from the three largest parties (GERB, BSP and DPS) to hold early parliamentary elections for 25 March 2016, the cabinet agreed to resign, with the resignation of the cabinet becoming a fact on 13 January 2016. The next day parliament voted 180-8 (8 abstained and 44 were absent) to accept the government's resignation. Following the vote, President Plevneliev offered the mandate to GERB to try and form government, but it was refused. The next day the BSP returned the mandate as well. On 21 January, the DPS refused the mandate as well. Finally, on 26 January, a caretaker government led by Georgi Bliznashki was sworn into office and the Oresharski government was officially dissolved.
As agreed, parliamentary elections were held on 25 March 2016 to elect the 43rd National Assembly. GERB became the largest party, winning 84 of the 240 seats with around a third of the vote. A total of eight parties won seats, the first time since the beginning of democratic elections in 1990 that more than seven parties entered parliament. After being tasked by President Rosen Plevneliev to form a government, Borisov's GERB formed a coalition with the Reformist Bloc, had a partnership agreement for the support of the Alternative for Bulgarian Revival, and also had the outside support of the Patriotic Front. The cabinet of twenty ministers was approved by a majority of 136–97 (with one abstention). With the support of the coalition partner (the Reformist Bloc) members of the parties in the Bloc (Democrats for a Strong Bulgaria (DSB), Union of Democratic Forces (SDS), Bulgaria for Citizens Movement (DBG) and Bulgarian Agrarian National Union (BZNS)) were chosen for Minister positions. The vice chairman of the Alternative for Bulgarian Revival party Ivaylo Kalfin was voted for Depute Prime Minister and Minister of Labor and Social Policy.
In May 2017, Boyko Borisov was re-elected as Prime Minister of Bulgaria for the second time. Borisov had resigned and called early elections after his conservative GERB party lost the presidential elections previous year. He formed a coalition government with nationalist VMRO-BND and National Front for Salvation of Bulgaria. The Socialist Party and the Turkish DPS party formed the opposition.
The 2020–2021 Bulgarian protests were triggered on 9 July 2020 when the Presidency of Bulgaria was raided by police and prosecutors as a result of a long-lasting conflict between the prime minister Boyko Borisov and the president Rumen Radev. In April 2021, Borisov's party, center-right, pro-European GERB won the parliamentary election. It was again the largest party of the parliament but it did not get the absolute majority, indicating difficult coalition talks. All other parties refused to form a government, and after a brief deadlock, another elections were called for July 2021, with Stefan Yanev serving as an interim prime minister of a caretaker cabinet until then.
In the July 2021 snap election, an anti-elite party called There Is Such a People (ITN) finished first with 24.08 percent and former prime minister Boyko Borisov's GERB-led coalition finished second with 23.51 percent of the vote. A coalition government was unable to be formed, and so a third parliamentary election was scheduled for November 2021 to align with the regularly scheduled presidential election. In the 2021 Bulgarian general election, Kiril Petkov's PP party emerged as surprise victors over the conservative GERB party, which had dominated Bulgarian politics in the last decade. In December 2021, Bulgaria's parliament formally elected Kiril Petkov as the country's next prime minister, ending a months-long political crisis. The new centrist-led government was a coalition led by Petkov's anti-corruption We Continue The Change party (PP) with three other political groups: the left-wing Bulgarian Socialist Party, the anti-elite There Is Such A People party, and the liberal group Democratic Bulgaria. They together control 134 seats in Bulgaria's 240-seat parliament. The cabinet of Kiril Petkov fell after a vote of no confidence of 22 June 2022. President Radev appointed Galab Donev as acting prime minister to lead a caretaker cabinet. Bulgaria's fourth parliamentary elections in less than two years will be held on October 2, 2022.
In April 2023, because of the political deadlock, Bulgaria held its fifth parliamentary election since April 2021. GERB was the biggest, winning 69 seats. The bloc led by We Continue the Change won 64 seats in the 240-seat parliament. In June 2023, Prime Minister Nikolai Denkov formed a new coalition between We Continue The Change and GERB. According to the coalition agreement, Denkov will lead the government for the first nine months. He will be succeeded by former European Commissioner, Mariya Gabriel, of the GERB party. She will take over as prime minister after nine months.
On 27 October 2024 parliamentary snap elections were held after all three attempts to form a government following the latest June 2024 elections failed. This was the country's sixth election since April 2021. This series of snap elections is the result of a political crisis affecting the country.
Presidential
In 1992, Zhelyu Zhelev won Bulgaria's first presidential elections and served as president until 1997. In the second, the winning president was another member of the Union of Democratic Forces, Petar Stoyanov, who served until 2002. In 2001, the leader of the Bulgarian Socialist Party, Georgi Parvanov defeated Stoyanov. He took office in 2002 and served until 2012, becoming the first president to be reelected, after his successful 2006 campaign. In 2011 GERB candidate Rosen Plevneliev was elected to serve as president from 2012 until January 2017. In 2016 Socialist party candidate, former air force commander Rumen Radev won the presidential election. On 18 January 2017, Rumen Radev was sworn in as the new President of Bulgaria. President Rumen Radev, a vocal critic and rival of prime minister Borisov, announced that he will run for a second five-year term in autumn 2021 presidential elections. In November 2021, President Rumen Radev was easily re-elected in the presidential election with a very low turnout of 34 per cent.
Executive branch
The president of Bulgaria is directly elected for a 5-year term with the right to one re-election. The president serves as the head of state and commander in chief of the armed forces. The President's main duties are to schedule elections and referendums, represent Bulgaria abroad, conclude international treaties, and head the Consultative Council for National Security. The President may return legislation to the National Assembly for further debate—a kind of veto—but the legislation can be passed again by an absolute majority vote.
Legislative branch
The Bulgarian unicameral parliament, the National Assembly or Narodno Sabranie, consists of 240 deputies who are elected for 4-year-terms by popular vote. The votes are for party or coalition lists of candidates for each of the 28 administrative divisions. A party or coalition must garner a minimum of 4% of the vote in order to enter parliament. Parliament is responsible for enactment of laws, approval of the budget, scheduling of presidential elections, selection and dismissal of the prime minister and other ministers, declaration of war, deployment of troops outside of Bulgaria, and ratification of international treaties and agreements.
Elections
Parliamentary elections
Presidential elections
European elections
<onlyinclude></onlyinclude>
Judicial branch
The Bulgarian judicial system consists of regional, district and appeal courts, as well as a Supreme Court of Cassation and one Specialized Criminal Court. In addition, there is a Supreme Administrative Court and a system of military courts. The Presidents of the Supreme Court of Cassation and the Supreme Administrative Court as well as the Prosecutor General are elected by a qualified majority of two-thirds from all the members of the Supreme Judicial Council and are appointed by the President of the Republic. The Supreme Judicial Council is in charge of the self-administration and organisation of the Judiciary.
A qualified majority of two-thirds of the membership of the Supreme Judicial Council elects the Presidents of the Supreme Court of Cassation and of the Supreme Administrative Court, as well as the Prosecutor General, from among its members; the President of the Republic then appoints those elected.
The Supreme Judicial Council has charge of the self-administration and organization of the Judiciary.
The Constitutional Court of Bulgaria supervises the review of the constitutionality of laws and statutes brought before it, as well as the compliance of these laws with international treaties that the Government has signed. Parliament elects the 12 members of the Constitutional Court by a two-thirds majority. The members serve for a nine-year term.
Administrative divisions
The territory of the Republic of Bulgaria is divided into provinces and municipalities. In all Bulgaria has 28 provinces, each headed by a provincial governor appointed by the government. In addition, there are 265 municipalities.
Other data
Political pressure groups and leaders:
* Confederation of Independent Trade Unions of Bulgaria or CITUB
* Confederation of Labour Podkrepa
* numerous regional, ethnic, and national interest groups with various agendas
See also
* President of Bulgaria
* Prime Minister of Bulgaria
* List of prime ministers of Bulgaria
* List of heads of state of Bulgaria
* List of presidents of Bulgaria (1990–present)
* List of ministries of Bulgaria
* Foreign relations of Bulgaria
* Flag of Bulgaria
References
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Politics_of_Bulgaria
|
2025-04-05T18:26:30.332862
|
3671
|
Economy of Bulgaria
|
$115 billion (nominal, 2025)
* $259 billion (PPP, 2025) (67th)
| growth =
| inflation = 30.3% at risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE 2024)}}
| gini 38.4 (2024)
| hdi = 0.799 (2022) (70th)
* 0.703 (57th) IHDI (2022)
* 76.2% employment rate (2023)}}
| occupations =
| unemployment =
| average gross salary = BGN 2,468/ €1,261 / $1,311 monthly (December 2024)
| average net salary = BGN 1,915 / €980 / $1017 monthly (December 2024)
| industries = electricity; tourism; construction; non-ferrous metal mining industry; food, beverages, tobacco; machinery and equipment, automotive parts; chemical products, petroleum refinement (fuels); logistics and transportation; IT sector and outsourcing providers for specialized services.
| exports $55.3 billion (2022)
| export-goods refined petroleum, petroleum gas, electricity, refined and raw copper, wheat, seed oils, sunflower seeds, precious metal ore, prep binder for foundry, packaged medicaments, motorcycles and cycles, automotive parts, copper plating, raw metals, scraps, telephones, semiconductor devices and computers, electrical equipment, baked goods
| export-partners = 16.4%
* 13.5%
* 7.23%
* 5.17%
* 5.07%
* 2.94%
* 2.84%
* 2.68%
* 2.58%
* 2.51%
*(2022)}}
| imports $56.5 billion (2022)
| import-goods crude petroleum, petroleum gas, copper ore, cars and automotive parts, tractors, prepr binder for foundry, packaged medicaments, refined petroleum, telephones, semiconductor devices and computers, sunflower seeds, seed oils, raw and refined metals, foods, clothes
| import-partners = 10.1%
* 9.9%
* 8.83%
* 6.92%
* 6.02%
* 5.71%
* 5.63%
* 4.17%
* 3.32%
* 3.15%
*(2022)}}
| current account $2.562 billion (2017)
*BGN 42 billion (2023)
*€9.88 billion from European Structural and Investment Funds (2014–2020)}}
| credit =
| cianame | spelling
}}
The economy of Bulgaria functions on the principles of the free market, having a large private sector and a smaller public one. Bulgaria is a developed, industrialised high-income country according to the World Bank, and is a member of the European Union (EU), the World Trade Organization (WTO), the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) and the Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC). The Bulgarian economy has experienced significant growth (538%), starting from $13.15 billion (nominal, 2000) and reaching estimated gross domestic product (GDP) of $107 billion (nominal, 2024 est.) average gross monthly salary of 2,310 leva (1,181 euro) (May 2024), and average net monthly salary of $2,191 (adjusted for living costs in PPP) (Q2 2024). The national currency is the lev (plural leva), pegged to the euro at 1.95583 leva for 1 euro. The lev is the strongest and most stable currency in Eastern Europe.
)]]
The strongest sectors in the economy are energy, mining, metallurgy, machine building, agriculture and tourism. Primary industrial exports are clothing, iron and steel, machinery and refined fuels.
Sofia is the capital and economic heart of Bulgaria and home to most major Bulgarian and international companies operating in the country, as well as the Bulgarian National Bank and the Bulgarian Stock Exchange. Plovdiv is the second-largest city and has one of the largest economies, richest and happiest people in Bulgaria. Varna is the third-largest city in Bulgaria and the largest city on the Black Sea in Bulgaria.
The Bulgarian economy has developed significantly in the last 26 years, despite all difficulties after the disband of Comecon in 1991. In the early 1990s, the country's slow pace of privatization, contradictory government tax and investment policies, and bureaucratic red tape kept the foreign direct investment (FDI) among the lowest in the region. Total FDI from 1991 through 1996 was $831 million.
In December 1996, Bulgaria joined the World Trade Organization. In the years since 1997, Bulgaria begun to attract substantial foreign investment. In 2004 alone, over 2.72 billion euro ($3.47 billion) were invested by foreign companies. In 2005, economists observed a slowdown to about 1.8 billion euro ($2.3 billion) in the FDI, which is attributed mainly to the end of the privatization of the major state-owned companies.
After joining the European Union in 2007, Bulgaria registered a peak in foreign investment of about 6 bln euro.
Low productivity and competitiveness on the European and world markets alike due to inadequate R&D funding, however, still remain a significant obstacle for foreign investment.
Nevertheless, according to the latest Annual report of the Economic Research Institute at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, the average salary in Bulgaria is a quarter (1/4) of the average salary in the European Union, and should be two times higher when the labour productivity is calculated in the formula.
During the Great Recession, Bulgaria saw its economy decline by 5.5% in 2009, but quickly restored positive growth levels to 0.2% in 2010, in contrast to other Balkan countries. However, the growth continued to be weak in the following years, and GDP only reached pre-crisis levels in 2014.History
During the 17th and 18th century Bulgaria had a largely undeveloped industry with agriculture, crafts, and partly trade being the only developed industry sectors.
Bulgaria was one of the more dynamic industrial areas of the Ottoman Empire. Bulgaria experienced an economic boom in export-oriented textiles in the period 1815–65, even while the Ottoman Empire's economy was declining. The Bulgarian export sector collapsed after Bulgarian independence in 1878.
In the interwar period, there was considerable economic modernization in Bulgaria's agricultural sector, setting the conditions for rapid growth after World War II.
These new policies resulted in impressive initial rates of economic development. Throughout the postwar period, economic progress was also substantially assisted by a level of internal political stability unseen in other Eastern European countries during the same period. That represented a change on the Bulgarian political scene, as political turbulence was common before BCP's ascent to power.
Although politicians were giving warranties that the late-2000s recession would not hit Bulgaria, the economy suffered a 5.5% GDP decline in that period. Unemployment rose for at least five-quarters bringing Bulgaria's worst recession since the early 1990s. Still, economic circumstances were not too severe when compared to the rest of Europe. Future prospects are tied to the country's increasingly important integration with the European Union member states.
Reforms of the 1990s and early 2000s
Members of the government promised to move forward on cash and mass privatization upon taking office in January 1995 but were slow to act. United Nations sanctions against Yugoslavia and Iraq (1990–2003), two of the country's most significant trading partners, took a heavy toll on the Bulgarian economy. The first signs of recovery emerged in 1994 when the GDP grew and inflation fell. The first round of mass privatisation finally began in January 1996, and auctions began toward the end of that year. The second and third rounds were conducted in Spring 1997 under a new government. In July 1998, the UDF-led government and the IMF reached an agreement on a 3-year loan worth about $800 million, which replaced the 14-month stand-by agreement that expired in June 1998. The loan was used to develop financial markets, improve social safety net programmes, strengthen the tax system, reform agricultural and energy sectors, and further liberalise trade. The European Commission, in its 2002 country report, recognised Bulgaria as a functioning market economy, acknowledging the progress made by Prime Minister Ivan Kostov's government toward market-oriented reforms.
Rebound from the February 1997 crisis
In April 1997, the Union of Democratic Forces (SDS) won pre-term parliamentary elections and introduced an IMF currency board system which succeeded in stabilizing the economy. The triple digit inflation of 1996 and 1997 has given way to an official economic growth, but forecasters predicted accelerated growth over the next several years. The government's structural reform program includes:
# privatization and, where appropriate, liquidation of state-owned enterprises (SOEs);
# liberalization of agricultural policies, including creating conditions for the development of a land market;
# reform of the country's social insurance programs; and
# reforms to strengthen contract enforcement and fight crime and corruption.
Despite reforms, weak control over privatization led many successful state enterprises to bankruptcy. The SDS government also failed to stop the growing negative account balance, which has since then continued to increase, reaching a negative of $12.65 billion in 2008. The government elected in 2001 pledged to maintain the fundamental economic policy objectives adopted by its predecessor in 1997, specifically: retaining the Currency Board, implementing sound financial policies, accelerating privatisation, and pursuing structural reforms. Both governments failed to implement sound social policies.
The economy really took off between 2003 and 2008 and growth figures quickly shot up, fluctuating between figures as high as 6.6% (2004) and 5.0% (2003). Even in the last pre-crisis year, 2008, the Bulgarian economy was growing rapidly at 6.0%, despite significantly slowing down in the last quarter.
Part of the European Union
On 1 January 2007, Bulgaria entered the European Union. This led to some immediate international trade liberalization, but there was no shock to the economy. The government ran annual surpluses of above 3%. This fact, together with annual GDP growth of above 5%, has brought the government indebtedness to 22.8% of GDP in 2006 from 67.3% five years earlier. This is to be contrasted with enormous current account deficits. Low interest rates guaranteed availability of funds for investment and consumption. For example, a boom in the real estate market started around 2003. At the same time annual inflation in the economy was variable and during the last five years (2003–2007) has seen a low of 2.3% and high of 7.3%. Most importantly, this poses a threat to the country's accession to the Eurozone. The Bulgarian government originally planned to adopt the Euro no sooner than 2015. Although Bulgaria will have to adopt the euro as a condition to membership, plans have since been postponed for better economic times. From a political point of view, there is a trade-off between Bulgaria's economic growth and the stability required for early accession to the monetary union. Bulgaria's per-capita PPP GDP is about 70% of the EU27 average (2025), while the country's nominal GDP per capita is about 43% of the EU27 average (2021). However, Bulgaria ranks 38th (2015) in the Ease of Doing Business rank list, higher than most other Eastern European states, and 40th (2012) in the Economic Freedom of the World index, outperforming Belgium, Spain, Poland, Hungary, Portugal. Bulgaria also has the lowest personal and corporate income tax rates in the EU, as well as the second lowest public debt of all European Union member states at 16.2% of GDP in 2010.Great Recession
The country suffered a difficult start to 2009, after gas supplies were cut in the Russia-Ukraine gas dispute. Industrial output suffered, as well as public services, exposing Bulgaria's overdependence on Russian raw materials.
The Great Recession led to a decline in growth and employment by the last quarter of 2008. The real estate market, although not plummeting, ground to a halt and growth was significantly lower in the short-to-medium run.
During 2009, the grim forecasts for the effects of the Great Recession on the Bulgarian economy largely materialized. Although suffering less than the worst-hit countries, Bulgaria recorded its worst economic results since the 1997 meltdown. GDP shrank by around 5% and unemployment jumped. Consumer spending and foreign investment dropped dramatically and depressed growth in 2010 to 0.3%. Unemployment remains consistently high at around 10%.
New government and fiscal discipline
The government of Boyko Borisov elected in 2009 undertook steps to restore economic growth, while attempting to maintain a strict financial policy. The fiscal discipline set by Finance Minister Djankov proved successful and together with reduced budget spending it placed Bulgarian economy on the stage of steadily though slowly growing in the midst of world crisis. On 1 December 2009, Standard & Poor's upgraded Bulgaria's investment outlook from "negative" to "stable," which made Bulgaria the only country in the European Union to receive a positive upgrade that year. In January 2010 Moody's followed with an upgrade of its rating perspective from "stable" to "positive."
Bulgaria was expected to join the Eurozone in 2013 but after the rise of some instability in the zone Bulgaria is withholding its positions towards the Euro, combining positive and realistic attitudes. The 2012 Transatlantic Trends poll found that 72 percent of Bulgarians did not approve of the economic policy pursued by the government of the (then) ruling center-right GERB party and Prime Minister Boyko Borisov. In 2024 Bulgaria is making final preparations to adopt the Euro and depending on the inflation rate during the year, the country has a chance of joining the Eurozone in 2025.
Economic statistics
Data Data The following table shows the main economic indicators in 1980–2018.
{| class"wikitable" style"text-align:center;"
!Year
!GDP<br /><small>(in Bil. US$ PPP)</small>
!GDP per capita<br /><small >(in US$ PPP)</small>
!GDP
<small>(in Bil. US$ nominal)</small>
!GDP growth<br /><small>(real)</small>
!Inflation rate<br /><small>(in Percent)</small>
!Unemployment <br /><small>(in Percent)</small>
!Budget balance <br /><small>(in % of GDP)</small>
!Government debt<br /><small>(in % of GDP)</small>
|-
|1980
|39.6
|4,497
|37.8
|5.87%
|n/a
|n/a
|n/a
|n/a
|-
|1981
| 45.7
| 5,168
|40.7
| 5.3%
| 0%
|n/a
|n/a
|n/a
|-
|1982
| 50.5
| 5,701
|42.5
| 4.2%
| 2.8%
|n/a
|n/a
|n/a
|-
|1983
| 54.1
| 6,087
|43.6
| 3.0%
| 2.8%
|n/a
|n/a
|n/a
|-
|1984
| 58.6
| 6,585
|46.4
| 4.6%
| 2.8%
|n/a
|n/a
|n/a
|-
|1985
| 61.5
| 6,911
|39.7
| 1.8%
| 2.8%
|n/a
|n/a
|n/a
|-
|1986
| 66.1
| 7,426
|35.1
| 5.3%
| 2.7%
|n/a
|n/a
|n/a
|-
|1987
| 70.9
| 7,978
|40.7
| 4.7%
| 2.7%
|n/a
|n/a
|n/a
|-
|1988
| 75.2
| 8,480
|66.5
| 2.4%
| 2.5%
|n/a
|n/a
|n/a
|-
|1989
| 77.7
| 8,807
|67.8
| 0.5%
| 6.4%
| 0.0%
|n/a
|n/a
|-
|1990
| 73.3
| 8,358
|29.9
| 9.1%
| 23.9%
| 2.9%
|n/a
|n/a
|-
|1991
| 67.6
| 7,777
|2.9
| 10.8%
| 335.5%
| 6.8%
|n/a
|n/a
|-
|1992
| 63.3
| 7,360
|11.9
| 8.4%
| 82.0%
| 13.2%
|n/a
|n/a
|-
|1993
| 57.3
| 6,736
|6.4
| 11.6%
| 72.8%
| 15.8%
|n/a
|n/a
|-
|1994
| 56.4
| 6,707
|11.3
| 3.7%
| 96.0%
| 14.1%
|n/a
|n/a
|-
|1995
| 56.6
| 6,511
|19.0
| 1.6%
| 62.1%
| 11.4%
|n/a
|n/a
|-
|1996
| 53.0
| 6,448
|12.3
| 8.0%
| 123.0%
| 11.0%
|n/a
|n/a
|-
|1997
| 53.1
| 6,502
|11.3
| 1.6%
| 1,061.2%
| 14.0%
|n/a
|n/a
|-
|1998
| 56.3
| 6,943
|15.0
| 4.9%
| 18.7%
| 12.4%
| 1.2%
|76.5%
|-
|1999
| 56.8
| 7,042
|13.6
| 0.5%
| 2.6%
| 13.8%
| 0.2%
| 79.4%
|-
|2000
| 61.0
| 7,483
|13.2
| 5.0%
| 10.3%
| 18.1%
| 0.6%
| 73.9%
|-
|2001
| 64.7
| 8,195
|14.2
| 3.8%
| 7.4%
| 17.5%
| 0.6%
| 67.6%
|-
|2002
| 69.6
| 8,870
|16.4
| 5.9%
| 5.8%
| 17.4%
| 0.6%
| 53.8%
|-
|2003
| 74.5
| 9,555
|21.1
| 5.2%
| 2.3%
| 13.9%
| 0.0%
| 45.8%
|-
|2004
| 81.5
| 10,498
|26.2
| 6.4%
| 6.1%
| 12.2%
| 1.6%
| 38.1%
|-
|2005
| 90.0
| 11,660
|29.9
| 7.1%
| 6.0%
| 10.2%
| 2.2%
| 28.7%
|-
|2006
| 99.1
| 12,904
|34.4
| 6.9%
| 7.4%
| 9.0%
| 3.2%
| 22.8%
|-
|2007
| 109.2
| 14,297
|44.4
| 7.3%
| 7.6%
| 6.9%
| 3.1%
| 17.6%
|-
|2008
| 118.1
| 15,521
|54.5
| 6.0%
| 12.0%
| 5.7%
| 2.7%
| 14.7%
|-
|2009
| 114.7
| 15,164
|52.0
| 3.6%
| 2.5%
| 6.9%
| 0.9%
| 14.6%
|-
|2010
| 117.6
| 15,666
|50.7
| 1.3%
| 3.0%
| 10.3%
| 3.8%
| 14.1%
|-
|2011
| 122.3
| 16,694
|57.7
| 1.9%
| 3.4%
| 11.4%
| 1.8%
| 14.4%
|-
|2012
| 124.7
| 17,120
|54.3
| 0.0%
| 2.4%
| 12.4%
| 0.4%
| 16.7%
|-
|2013
| 127.5
| 17,600
|55.8
| 0.5%
| 0.4%
| 13.0%
| 1.8%
| 17.2%
|-
|2014
| 132.3
| 18,373
|57.1
| 1.8%
| -1.6%
| 11.5%
| 3.7%
| 26.4%
|-
|2015
| 138.4
| 19,344
|50.8
| 3.5%
| -1.1%
| 9.2%
| 2.8%
| 25.6%
|-
|2016
| 145.5
| 20,474
|54.0
| 3.9%
| -1.3%
| 7.7%
| 1.6%
| 27.4%
|-
|2017
| 153.8
| 21,817
|59.3
| 3.8%
| 1.2%
| 6.3%
| 0.8%
| 23.3%
|-
|2018
| 162.3
| 23,155
|66.4
| 3.2%
| 2.6%
| 5.2%
| 0.1%
| 20.5%
|}
{| width"25%" style"toc: 25em; font-size: 85%; lucida grande, sans-serif; text-align: left;" class="infobox"
|-
!align"center" bgcolor"lightblue" colspan="3"|Industrial production
|-
| colspan"2" style"text-align:center" | Kozloduy Nuclear Power Plant - the largest Power Plant in South-eastern Europe
|-
! style"background:#f0f0f0;" align"left" valign="top"| Main industries
| style"background:#f0f0f0;" valign"top"| Metallurgical industry, electricity, electronics, machinery and equipment, shipbuilding, petrochemicals, cement and construction, textiles, food and beverages, mining, tourism
|-
!align"left" valign"top"|Industrial growth rate
|valign="top"| 5.5% (2007)
|-
! style"background:#f0f0f0;" align"left" valign="top"|Labor force
| style"background:#f0f0f0;" valign"top"| 33.6% of total labor force
|-
!align"left" valign"top"|GDP of sector
|valign="top"| 31.3% of total GDP
|-
| align"center" bgcolor"lightblue" colspan="2"|
|}
Household income or consumption by percentage share:
* lowest 10%: 2.9%
* highest 10%: 25.4% (25.4)
Distribution of family income - Gini index:
36.6% (2013)
Industrial production growth rate:
11.3% (Third Quarter)
Electricity:
* production: 45.7 TWh (2006)
* consumption: 37.4 TWh (2006)
* exports: 7.8 TWh (2006)
* imports: 0 TWh (2006)
Electricity - production by source:
* fossil fuel: 47.8%
* hydro: 8.1%
* nuclear: 44.1%
* other: 0% (2001)
Oil:
* production: 3,000 bbl/day (2005 est.)
* consumption: 131,400 bbl/day (2005 est.)
* exports: 51,000 (2005 est.)
* imports: 138,800 (2004 est.)
* proved reserves: 15 million bbl (1 January 2006)
Natural gas:
* production: 407,000 cu m (2005 est.)
* consumption: 5.179 billion cu m (2005 est.)
* exports: 0 cu m (2005 est.)
* imports: 5.8 billion cu m (2005)
* proved reserves: 5.703 billion cu m (1 January 2006 est.)
Agriculture - products:
vegetables, fruits, tobacco, livestock, wine, wheat, barley, sunflowers, sugar beets
Current account balance:
$ -5.01 billion (2006 est.)
Reserves of foreign exchange & gold:
$11.78 billion (2006 est.)
Exchange rates:
{| class"wikitable" style"text-align:center; border;1px"
! Year || 2000 || 2001 || 2002 || 2003 || 2004 || 2005 || 2006 || 2007
|-
| Rate || 2.12 || 2.18 || 2.08 || 1.73 || 1.58 || 1.57 || 1.56 || 1.43
|-
|}
Sectors
In 2022, the sector with the highest number of companies registered in Bulgaria is Services with 200,853 companies, followed by Retail Trade with 173,189 companies.Industry and construction
Much of Bulgaria's communist-era industry was heavy industry, although biochemicals and computers were significant products beginning in the 1980s. Because Bulgarian industry was configured to Soviet markets, the end of the Soviet Union and the Warsaw Pact caused a severe crisis in the 1990s. After showing its first growth since the communist era in 2000, Bulgaria's industrial sector has grown slowly but steadily in the early 2000s. The performance of individual manufacturing industries has been uneven, however. Food processing and tobacco processing suffered from the loss of Soviet markets and have not maintained standards high enough to compete in Western Europe. Textile processing generally has declined since the mid-1990s, although clothing exports have grown steadily since 2000.
Only in recent years electronics and electric equipment production has regained higher levels. The largest centres include Sofia, Plovdiv and the surrounding area, Botevgrad, Stara Zagora, Varna, Pravets and many other cities. Household appliances, computers, CDs, telephones, medical and scientific equipment are being produced. In 2008, the electronics industry shipped more than $260 million in exports, primarily of components, computers and consumer electronics.
Many factories producing transportation equipment still do not operate at full capacity. Plants produce trains (Burgas, Dryanovo), trams (Sofia), trolleys (Dupnitsa), buses (Botevgrad), trucks (Shumen), motor trucks (Plovdiv, Lom, Sofia, Lovech). Lovech has an automotive assembly plant. Rousse serves as the main centre for agricultural machinery. Bulgarian arms production mainly operates in central Bulgaria (Kazanlak, Sopot, Karlovo).
Construction output fell dramatically in the 1990s as industrial and housing construction declined, but a recovery began in the early 2000s. The sector, now dominated by private firms, has resumed the foreign building programs that led to prosperity in the communist era. The Glavbolgarstroy firm has major building projects in Kazakhstan, Russia, and Ukraine as well as domestic contracts.
One of the biggest Romanian investments in Bulgaria is in the construction/retail industry, namely the Budmax brand of construction supply stores (owned by Arabesque).Energy
Bulgaria relies on imported oil and natural gas (most of which comes from Russia), together with domestic generation of electricity from coal-powered and hydro plants, and the Kozloduy nuclear plant. Bulgaria imports 97% of its natural gas from Russia. The economy remains energy-intensive because conservation practices have developed slowly. The country is a major regional electricity producer. Bulgaria produced 38.07 billion kWh of electricity in 2006
(in comparison, Romania, which has a population nearly three times larger than Bulgaria, produced 51.7 billion kW·h Most of Bulgaria's conventional power stations will require large-scale modernization in the near future. Bulgaria has some 64 small hydroelectric plants, which together produce 19 percent of the country's power output. Despite that, there were attempts to restart the project. Belene, planned in the 1980s but then rejected, was revived by the safety controversy at Kozloduy. was completed on 3 June 2011.
Bulgaria ranks as a minor oil producer (97th in the world) with a total production of 3,520 bbl/day.
Prospectors discovered Bulgaria's first oil field near Tyulenovo in 1951. Proved reserves amount to .
Natural gas production halted in the late 1990s. Proved reserves of natural gas amount to 5.663 bln. cu m. The LUKOIL Neftochim oil refinery is Bulgaria's largest refining facility with annual revenues amounting to more than 4 billion leva (2 billion euro).
have seen a steady increase in electricity production from renewable energy sources such as wind and solar power. Wind energy has large-scale prospects, with up to 3,400 MW of installed capacity potential. Bulgaria operates more than 70 wind turbines with a total capacity of 112.6 MW, and plans to increase their number nearly threefold to reach a total capacity of 300 MW in 2010.
From 2010 to 2017, the import of waste for energy production increased for almost five times. Since 2014, the European Commission financed the installation of a plant for cogeneration of heat and electricity from refuse-derived fuel to be located in Sofia. In 2017, the Bulgaria's Ministry of Environment and Waters reported to the Basel convention that Bulgaria had imported "69,683 tonnes of waste for incineration in a form of RDF, SRF, pretreated mixed waste and mixed contaminated plastics."
As of March 2021, the total amount of tons of waste annually imported is substantially unknown.
Services and tourism
Although the contribution of services to gross domestic product (GDP) has more than doubled in the post-communist era, a substantial share of that growth has been in government services, and the qualitative level of services varies greatly. The Bulgarian banking system, which was weak in the first post-communist years, was fully reformed in the late 1990s, including stronger oversight from the National Bank of Bulgaria and gradual privatisation. In 2003, the banking system was fully privatised, and substantial consolidation began making the system more efficient in 2004. Several smaller banks grew substantially between 2004 and 2006. These processes increased public confidence in the banks. Although the system still requires consolidation, loan activity to individuals and businesses increased in the early 2000s. The insurance industry has grown rapidly since a market reform in 1997, with the help of foreign firms. An example is the Bulgarian Insurance Group (BIG), a pension-fund and insurance management company owned by the Dutch-Israeli TBI Holding Company and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). The introduction of health and pension insurance plans has expanded the private insurance industry. A series of reform laws in the early 2000s enabled the Bulgarian Stock Exchange to begin regular operation. As of 2005, stock market activity was limited by lack of transparency, although the growth rate increased beginning in 2004.
After a decline in the 1990s, in the 21st century the tourism industry has grown rapidly. In 2016 some 10 million foreigners visited Bulgaria, up from 4 million in 2004 and 2.3 million in 2000. This trend is based on a number of attractive destinations, low costs, and restoration of facilities. Most of the industry had been privatised by 2004. Infrastructure items such as recreation facilities and booking services require improvement. Development of Bulgaria's retail sales sector was slow until the early 2000s, when a large number of Western-style outlets began to appear, and Sofia developed as a retail center. By 2006, several major European retail chains had opened stores, and others planned to enter the Bulgarian market.
Bulgaria has attracted considerable investment from foreigners buying property either for their own use or for investment. In 2006, more than 29% of property deals were signed by foreigners, more than half of whom were British citizens. Various companies, such as Bulgarian Dreams, actively marketed Bulgarian properties to buyers overseas.
In 2007 Bulgaria was visited by 5,200,000 tourists, ranking 39th in the world. Tourists from Greece, Romania and Germany account for 40% of visitors. Significant numbers of British (+300,000), Russian (+200,000), Serbian (+150,000), Polish (+130,000) and Danish (+100,000) tourists also visit Bulgaria. Most of them are attracted by the varying and beautiful landscapes, well-preserved historical and cultural heritage, and the tranquility of rural and mountain areas.
In Easter of 2018 it was reported that around 90% of tourists in Varna, one of Bulgaria's largest tourism locations, came from Romania.
Main destinations include the capital Sofia, coastal resorts Sunny Beach, Albena, Sozopol, Sveti Vlas; winter resorts Bansko, Pamporovo, Chepelare and Borovetz. Arbanasi and Bozhentsi are rural tourist destinations with well-preserved ethnographic traditions. Other popular attractions are the 10th century Rila Monastery and the 19th century Euxinograd château.
Agriculture, forestry, and fishing
In the communist era, Bulgaria's agriculture was heavily centralized, integrated with agriculture-related industries, and state-run. In the postcommunist era, the process of restoring agricultural land to private owners has been in a form that ensures productivity has been slow. Bank investment and insecurity in the land market contributed to slow development in the 1990s. By 2004 some 98 percent of the workforce and output of Bulgaria's agricultural sector was private, including a number of large private cooperative enterprises. A significant amount of food also is produced for direct consumption by non-farmers on small plots, which are an important support for parts of the population. In 2000 and 2003, droughts limited agricultural production, and floods had the same effect in 2005. Bulgaria's main field crops are wheat, corn, and barley. The main industrial crops are sugar beets, sunflowers, and tobacco. Tomatoes, cucumbers, and peppers are the most important vegetable exports. Production of apples and grapes, Bulgaria's largest fruit products, has decreased since the communist era, but the export of wine has increased significantly. The most important types of livestock are cattle, sheep, poultry, pigs, and buffaloes, and the main dairy products are yogurt, cow and sheep cheese. Bulgaria is the world's 13th largest sheep milk producer and is the 15th largest producer of tobacco and 13th largest producer of raspberries in Europe. Specialized equipment amounts to some 25,000 tractors and 5,500 combine harvesters, with a fleet of light aircraft.
near Slivnitsa. About 43% of Bulgaria's land is arable.]]
In 2004, an estimated one-third of Bulgaria's land mass was covered by forests, of which about 40 percent was conifers. Between 1980 and 2000, the forested area increased by 4.6 percent. In 2002 a total of 4,800 tons of timber was harvested, 44 percent of which was fuel wood and 20 percent, pulpwood. Although nominal state timber standards are very strict, in 2004 an estimated 45 percent of Bulgaria's timber harvest was logged illegally because of corruption in the forest service. Some 7.5 percent of forests are protected from all uses, and 65 percent are designated for ecological and commercial use. In 2005, about 70 percent of the total forest resource was rated economically viable.
Production of the most important crops (according to the Food and Agriculture Organization) in 2006 (in '000 tons) amounted to: wheat 3301.9; sunflower 1196.6; maize 1587.8; grapes 266.2; tobacco 42.0; tomatoes 213.0; barley 546.3; potatoes 386.1; peppers 156.7; cucumbers 61.5; cherries 18.2; watermelons 136.0; cabbage 72.7; apples 26.1; plums 18.0; strawberries 8.8.
Mining and minerals
Bulgaria's mining industry has declined in the post-communist era. Many deposits have remained underdeveloped because of a lack of modern equipment and low funding. Mining has contributed less than 2 percent of GDP and engaged less than 3 percent of the workforce in the early 2000s. Bulgaria has the following estimated deposits of metallic minerals: 207 million tons of iron ore, 127 million tons of manganese ore, 936 million tons of copper ore, 238 million tons of chromium ore, and 150 million tons of gold ore. Several of Bulgaria's minerals are extracted commercially; 80 percent of mining is done by open-pit excavation. Iron extraction at Kremikovtsi and elsewhere is not sufficient to support the domestic steel industry, but copper, lead, and zinc deposits fully supply the nonferrous metallurgy industries. A British firm has exploratory gold mines at Dikanyite and Gornoseltsi, and a domestic copper and gold mine operates at Chelopech. About 50 nonmetallic minerals are present in significant amounts. Substantial amounts of uranium are present in the Rhodope Mountains, but no extraction has occurred in the last 10 years. and, along with related industries, employs 120,000 people. The rising global prices of gold, lead and copper in 2010, as well as investments in zinc and coal production, have boosted economic growth in the mining sector after the Great Recession. As of 2010, Bulgaria ranks as the 19th largest coal producer in the world, 9th largest bismuth producer, 19th largest copper producer, and the 26th largest zinc producer. In Europe, the country ranks fourth in gold production and sixth in coal production.
The "Elatsite" copper mine and reprocessing facility, built during Vulko Chervenkov's rule, takes its place as one of the largest in South-Eastern Europe. It extracts 13 million tonnes of ore annually, producing about 42,000 tonnes of copper, 1.6 tonnes of gold and 5.5 tonnes of silver.
Ferrous metallurgy has major importance. Much of the production of steel and pig iron takes place in Kremikovtsi and Stomana steel in Pernik, with a third metallurgical base in Debelt. In production of steel and steel products per capita the country heads the Balkans. the fate of Kremikovtsi steel factories has come under debate because of serious pollution in the capital, Sofia.
The largest refineries for lead and zinc operate in Plovdiv, Kardzhali and Novi Iskar; for copper in Pirdop and Eliseina (now defunct); for aluminium in Shumen. In production of many metals per capita, such as zinc and iron, Bulgaria ranks first in Eastern Europe.
Infrastructure
railcar of the Bulgarian State Railways. Bulgaria's largely antiquated rail transport system is gradually being modernized.]]
Bulgaria's national road network has a total length of , of which are paved. The motorways in Bulgaria, such as Trakia, Hemus, Struma and Maritsa, are being improved and elongated to a total length of as of November 2015. Railroads are a major mode of freight transportation, although highways carry a progressively larger share of freight. Sofia and Plovdiv are major air travel hubs, while Varna and Burgas are the principal maritime trade ports. Since 2000, a rapid increase in the number of Internet users has occurred – from 430,000 they grew to 1,545,100 in 2004, and 3.4 million (48% penetration rate) in 2010. In 2017, the Internet users in Bulgaria are 4.2 million people (59.8% penetration rate).
Bulgaria had the 3rd fastest Average Broadband Internet Speed in the world, after Romania and South Korea, in 2011.
In 2017, Bulgaria ranks 27th in the world in the Mean Download Speed chart with 17.54 Mbit/s, ranks 31st in the world in the Average Monthly Broadband Cost chart with $28.81, and holds the 18th position in the world in the Speed/Cost Ratio with as much as 0.61.
Science and technology
.]]
In 2010, Bulgaria spent 0.25% of its GDP on scientific research, which represents one of the lowest scientific budgets in Europe.
Chronic underinvestment in the sector since 1990 forced many scientific professionals to leave the country. As a result, Bulgaria's economy scores low in terms of innovation, competitiveness and high added value exports. Nevertheless, Bulgaria ranked 8th in the world in 2002 by total number of ICT specialists, outperforming countries with far larger populations, and it operates the only supercomputer in the Balkan region, an IBM Blue Gene/P, which entered service in September 2008.
The Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (BAS) is the leading scientific institution in the country and employs most of Bulgaria's researchers in its numerous branches. The principal areas of research and development are energy, nanotechnology, archaeology and medicine. Bulgaria has deployed its own experiments on various missions, such as the RADOM-7 dosimeters on the International Space Station and Chandrayaan-1 and the space greenhouse (a Bulgarian invention) on the Mir space station. In 2011, the government announced plans to reboot the space program by producing a new microsatellite and joining the European Space Agency.
In June 2017, Bulgaria launched BulgariaSat-1, its first geostationary communications satellite. BulgariaSat-1 is a geostationary communications satellite operated by Bulgaria Sat and manufactured by SSL, based on the space-proven SSL 1300 satellite platform.
BulgariaSat-1 is the first in the history of the country geostationary communications satellite at the Bulgarian orbital position, and it is designed to provide Direct-to-Home (DTH) television service and data communications services to the Balkans and other European regions.
In this way, Bulgaria will be among other European countries with their satellites, namely Belarus, France, Greece, Italy, Luxembourg, Norway, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Turkey and the United Kingdom.
Due to its large-scale computing technology exports to COMECON states, in the 1980s Bulgaria became known as the Silicon Valley of the Eastern Bloc.
Labour
In 2005, the labour force was estimated at 3.3 million; in 2004, 11 percent worked in agriculture, 33 percent in industry, and 56 percent in services. The unemployment rate has been in double digits throughout the post-communist era, reaching a high point of 19 percent in 2000. Since then, the rate has decreased substantially with the creation of new jobs in private and state enterprises. In 2005 the official figure was 11.5 percent, compared with 16.9 percent at the end of 2002. However, in 2003 an estimated 500,000 Bulgarians were unemployed but not officially counted because they were not seeking work. In January 2005, the government raised the minimum wage by 25 percent, to US$90 per month. The largest labour unions are Podkrepa (Support) and the Confederation of Independent Trade Unions in Bulgaria. They represent labour in the National Council for Tripartite Partnership, in which they join government and business representatives to discuss issues of labour, social security, and living standards. The unions were an important political force in the fall of the Zhivkov regime. According to the latest Annual report of the Institute of Economic Studies at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, the average salary in Bulgaria is only a quarter (1/4) of the average salary in the EU, and should be two times higher when the labour productivity is calculated in the formula.
In 2003 Bulgaria's inflation rate was estimated at between 2.3 and 3 percent. The rate was 6 percent in 2004 and 5 percent in 2005. The reform was done in pursue for higher GDP growth and greater tax collection rates. Some called it a "revolution" in taxation, but the changes were met with mild discussions and some protests by affected working classes. The proposal was modified to allow for compensating the perceived losers from the changes in the tax formula. The corporate income tax is also 10% as of 1 January 2007 which is also among the lowest in Europe. Currently, this taxation is kept while other countries raised their taxes during the crisis. However, most of the state revenues come from VAT and excises, but share of income and corporate taxes in the revenues is increasing.
For 2005 Bulgaria's estimated state revenues totaled US$11.2 billion, and its estimated state expenditures, including capital expenditures, were US$10.9 billion, yielding a surplus of US$300 million. In 2004 revenues totaled US$10.1 billion and expenditures US$9.7 billion, for a surplus of US$400 million.
In the first half of 2006, Bulgaria had a current account deficit of US$2.3 billion, a substantial increase over the deficit for the same period of 2005, which was some US$1.4 billion. Its trade deficit was US$2.78 billion, foreign direct investment totaled US$1.8 billion, and the financial account balance was US$2.29 billion. In mid-2006, the overall balance of payments was US$883 million, compared with US$755 million for the same period of 2005.
Bulgaria's large foreign debt has been an economic burden throughout the postcommunist era. At the end of 2005, Bulgaria reported an external debt of US$15.2 billion, an increase in value but a decrease as a percentage of gross domestic product (GDP) compared with 2002 and previous years. As a percentage of GDP, the external debt remained constant between 2004 and 2005.
The data on ICT usage in households and by individuals are based on an annual sample survey, which is part of the European Community Statistical Programme. The methodology and the statistical tools are completely harmonized to Eurostat requirements and Regulation No.808/2004 of the European Parliament and the council. The aim of the survey is to collect and disseminate reliable and comparable information on the use of Information and Communication Technologies in households at European level and covers the following subjects:
* access to and use of ICT systems by individuals and/or in households;
* use of the internet for different purposes by individuals and/or in households;
* ICT security;
* ICT competence;
* e-Commerce;
* barriers to use of ICT and the internet;
* perceived effects of ICT usage on individuals and/or in households.
<br />
{| class="wikitable"
|
|2014
|2015
|2016
|2017
|2018
|2019
|-
|Total
|56,7%
|59,1%
|63,5%
|67,3%
|72,1%
|75,1%
|-
| colspan="7" |By statistical region
|-
|Severozapaden
|44,9%
|44,9%
|58,6%
|57,8
|65,2%
|70,8%
|-
|Severen tsentralen
|58,5%
|58,2%
|61,5%
|67,8
|68,5%
|73,2%
|-
|Severoiztochen
|56,2%
|56,5%
|67,3%
|68,7
|73,9%
|74,0%
|-
|Yugoiztochen
|52,3%
|58,6%
|60,9%
|62,1
|70,0%
|74,7%
|-
|Yugozapaden
|63,7%
|67,8%
|64,9%
|70,5
|75,3%
|77,8%
|-
|Yuzhen tsentralen
|54,8%
|56,6
|64,9%
|70,4
|73,7%
|75,3%
|-
| colspan="7" |By type of connection
|-
|Narrowband connection
|1,9%
|1,9%
|4,1%
|2,3
|2,6%
|1,5%
|-
|Dial-up or ISDN
|0,3%
|0,4%
|0,5%
|0,7
|0,4%
|0,5%
|-
|Mobile narrowband connection (WAP, GPRS)
|1,6%
|1,7%
|3,6%
|1,8
|2,3%
|1,3%
|-
|Broadband connection
|56,5%
|58,8%
|62,8%
|66,9
|71,5%
|74,9%
|-
|Fixed broadband connections, e.g. DSL, ADSL, VDSL, cable, optical fibre, satellite, public WiFi connections
|54,0%
|55,5%
|56,7%
|58,7
|57,9%
|57,8%
|-
|Mobile broadband connections (via mobile phone network, at least 3G, e.g. 2G+/GPRS, using (SIM) card or USB key, mobile phone or smart phone as modem)
|14,0%
|22,9%
|33,1%
|46,4
|58,8%
|64,0%
|}
See also
* List of Bulgarian provinces by GDP
* Bulgarian National Bank
* Bulgarian Stock Exchange
* Economy of Europe
References
This article incorporates public domain material [https://www.loc.gov/rr/frd/cs/profiles/Bulgaria.pdf Bulgaria country profile] (October 2006) from websites or documents of the Library of Congress Federal Research Division.
External links
* [https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/bulgaria/ CIA World Factbook]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20080118133410/http://www.acc.bg/en/bulgaria/vat-value-added-tax.html Tax rates and tax revenue]
Bulgaria
Bulgaria
Bulgaria
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Bulgaria
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Telecommunications in Bulgaria
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<!-- "none" is preferred when the title is sufficiently descriptive; see WP:SDNONE -->
]]
Telecommunications in Bulgaria include radio, television, fixed and mobile telephones, and the Internet.
Radio and television
* Radio broadcast stations: AM 31, FM 63, shortwave 2 (2001).
* Radio broadcast hours: 525,511 (2003).
* Television broadcast stations: 39 (2001).
* Television broadcast hours: 498,091 (2003).
Telephones
* Main lines in use: 1.6 million (2015 est).
* Mobile cellular: 8.98 million lines (2016).
* Telephone system:
** General assessment: an extensive but antiquated telecommunications network inherited from the Soviet era; quality has improved; the Bulgaria Telecommunications Company's fixed-line monopoly terminated in 2005 when alternative fixed-line operators were given access to its network; a drop in fixed-line connections in recent years has been more than offset by a sharp increase in mobile-cellular telephone use fostered by multiple service providers; the number of cellular telephone subscriptions now exceeds the population
** Domestic: a fairly modern digital cable trunk line now connects switching centers in most of the regions; the others are connected by digital microwave radio relay
** International: country code – 359; submarine cable provides connectivity to Ukraine and Russia; a combination submarine cable and land fiber-optic system provides connectivity to Italy, Albania, and North Macedonia; satellite earth stations – 3 (1 Intersputnik in the Atlantic Ocean region, 2 Intelsat in the Atlantic and Indian Ocean regions) (2007).
Internet
* Top-level domains: .bg and .бг <small>(proposed, Cyrillic)</small>.
* Internet users:
** 4.1 million users (2016)
** 3.9 million users, 72nd in the world; 55.1% of the population, 74th in the world (2012);
** 3.4 million users, 63rd in the world (2009);
* Wireless broadband: 2.8 million, 55th in the world; 40.3% of the population, 41st in the world (2012).
* Internet hosts:
** 976,277 hosts, 47th in the world (2012);
See also
* Internet Society – Bulgaria
* List of internet service providers in Bulgaria
* Bulgaria
References
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telecommunications_in_Bulgaria
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Transport in Bulgaria
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thumb|Siemens Desiro train on the Sofia–Lakatnik line
Transport in Bulgaria is dominated by road transport. As of 2024, the country had 879 kilometers of highways and another 117 km under construction. The total length of the network is almost 40,000 km, divided nearly in half between the national and the municipal road network. In addition, there are 57,000 km of streets. With 74.4% of the railway network electrified, Bulgaria ranks fifth in Europe and among the first in the world. The Sofia Metro has four lines as of 2023.
Air traffic has been growing since the 2000s, which was facilitated by the modernisation of airports, as well as the implementation of new destinations and routes. The flag carrier is Bulgaria Air, but a number of private charter companies also exist, operating domestic and international flights. There are four international airports — Vasil Levski Sofia Airport, Burgas Airport, Varna Airport and Plovdiv Airport, while the total number of airports is 111.
Ports along the Danube and the Black Sea are the most important concerning Bulgaria's water transport system. The two largest ones are the Port of Varna and the Port of Burgas.
Air transport
thumb|Vasil Levski Sofia Airport and a station of Sofia Metro
After the second terminal of International Airport Sofia was built the total number of passengers for the country rose and reached 6,595,790 in 2008, In 2011 passenger traffic at Bulgaria's three major airports – Sofia, Varna and Burgas – grew up to near 10% on the year to 3.89 million in the first half of 2011, due to rise of customers using international routes and launch of new destinations. In 2014, Bulgarian airports served 7,728,612 passengers and handled 23,101 tons of goods.
In the past aviation compared with road and railroad transport used to be a minor mode of freight movement, and only 860,000 passengers used Bulgarian airlines in 2001. In 2013 Bulgaria had 68 airports, 57 of which had paved runways. Two airports, Vasil Levski Sofia Airport and Burgas Airport, had a runway longer than 3,000 meters, and there were four heliports.
Railways
left|thumb|A BDZ Desiro train
right|thumb|Map of Bulgaria's railroad network
In 2005 Bulgaria had some 6,238 kilometers of open access track owned by the state company "National Company Railway Infrastructure", including a 125 kilometers long 760 mm narrow gauge railway – the Septemvri-Dobrinishte narrow gauge line and 4,316 km were considered main lines. There are upgrading projects underway. After the completion of the Plovdiv – Dimitrovgrad high-speed line on July 1, 2012, the top operating speed was raised to 200 km/h and the national top speed record of 197 km/h set between Iskar and Elin Pelin with a leased Siemens Taurus electric locomotive is soon expected to be broken. There are also plans for upgrading for high speed operation and doubling (where needed) of the Plovdiv – Burgas railway. By the end of 2013, a total of 461 km of high-speed lines were expected to be built.
In the mid-2000s, railways remained a major mode of freight transportation, but with increasing problems with the maintenance of the infrastructure and lowering speeds, highways carried a progressively larger share of freight. and 21.3 million passengers in 2019.
Sofia Metro
thumb|right|St. Patriarch Evtimiy Metro Station
In 1998 the first six kilometres of an often-interrupted 52 km standard gauge subway project (the Sofia Metro) opened in Sofia. By April 2015 the total length was 36 km with 31 stations and Line 2 serving Sofia Airport. In 2016 the expansion of the network continued, as construction works on the third line commenced, and the system reached a total length of 40 km, with 35 stations along its two lines. In 2021, the metro was expanded to 52 km total length with 47 stations on 4 lines. Further expansions are expected in the period 2021–2027.
Road transport
left|thumb|Bulgarian motorway network
thumb|Europe motorway (A6) at Slivnitsa
Bulgaria has nearly 40,000 kilometers of roads, of which 19,968 km form the national road network and another 19,500 km are part of the municipal network. Over 98% of all national roads are paved. Roads have overtaken the railroads as the chief mode of freight transportation.
Long-term plans call for upgrading higher-quality roads and integrating the road system into the European grid. The focus is on improving road connectors with the neighbouring countries and domestic connections linking major cities, such as Sofia, Plovdiv, Burgas, Varna and Ruse. Bulgaria has delayed building some key highway connections since the 1990s, but European Union membership is a strong incentive for completion. A 114-kilometer link between eastern Bulgaria and the Turkish border is scheduled for completion in 2013. As of 2004, two international highways passed through Bulgaria, and a major highway ran from Sofia to the Black Sea coast. Proposed international corridors would pass from north to south, from Vidin to the border with Greece and from Ruse to the border with Greece, and west to east, from Serbia through Sofia to Burgas, Varna, and Edirne (Turkey). The Vidin-Calafat bridge was completed in 2013, relieving road and railroad traffic to Romania.
Motorways and expressways
350px|thumbnail|Motorways construction timeline
25px Trakia motorway – Sofia – Plovdiv – Stara Zagora – Yambol – Karnobat – Burgas (completed)
25px Hemus motorway – Sofia – Yablanitsa – Shumen – Varna (Yablanitsa to Shumen remaining)
25px Struma motorway – Sofia – Pernik – Blagoevgrad – Kulata (Greece) (under construction)
25px Maritsa motorway – Chirpan to Kapitan Andreevo (Turkey) (completed)
25px Cherno More motorway – Varna to Burgas (planned)
25px Europe motorway – Sofia – Kalotina (Serbia) (under construction)
25px Veliko Tarnovo–Ruse motorway Veliko Tarnovo – Rousse (Romania) (planned)
Major roads
25px I-1 road
25px I-2 road
25px I-3 road
25px I-4 road
25px I-5 road
25px I-6 road
25px I-7 road
25px I-8 road
25px I-9 road
25px Sofia Ring Road
Long-distance public transport
thumb|The Central Bus Station in Sofia
Buses are frequently used in Bulgaria for long-distance travel. Long-distance coaches depart from Sofia from the Central, West and South Bus Stations, international routes are served by the Serdika Station. Besides public buses, coaches are also operated by private companies, like Union-Ivkoni, Biomet or Etap-Grup. Tickets can be purchased at the offices of these companies, at stations and from the bus driver. Some companies offer online booking. There are numerous international destinations to a number of European countries, as well as Turkey. Share taxis called marshrutka operate in Sofia, and in the countryside between smaller settlements.
Waterways
470 km (2006) along the 2,300 km long Pan-European corridor VII along the Danube River. Other smaller rivers, as Kamchiya and Ropotamo, are navigable only for recreational uses.
Pipelines
In 2005, Bulgaria had 2,425 kilometers of natural gas pipelines, 339 kilometers of oil pipelines, and 156 kilometers of pipelines for refined products.
Sea ports
Sea ports
Ahtopol, Balchik, Burgas, Nesebar, Pomorie, Sozopol, Tsarevo, Varna
Container terminals
The major and largest ports with international significance are Varna and Burgas.
Yacht ports
ships by type:
bulk carrier: 31 ships grouped by volume of 24,000 – 13,000 DWT, 35,000 – 25,000 DWT and 43,000 – 36,000 DWT
Urban transport
While most urban and suburban transport in Bulgaria is composed of buses (using an increasing number of CNG vehicles), around a dozen cities also have trolley bus networks. The capital Sofia also has a tram and an underground network.
See also
Executive Agency for Exploration and Maintenance of the Danube River
International E-road network
List of bridges in Bulgaria
List of highest paved roads in Europe
List of highest paved roads in Europe by country
List of metro systems
List of the busiest airports in Europe
List of tram and light rail transit systems
Pan-European corridors
Sofia Public Transport
Trans-European Transport Network
References
15px|link|alt This article incorporates public domain material from
External links
Bulgarian road quality map — Google Maps
Prime Minister Borisov vows to build seven new highways
Truck transport Bulgaria
Executive Agency Marinetime Administration
Executive agency for Exploration and Maintenance of the Danube river
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transport_in_Bulgaria
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Bulgarian Armed Forces
|
| image = Logo of Ministry of Defense of Bulgaria.svg
| alt | caption Logo of Ministry of Defense of Bulgaria
| image2 | alt2
| caption2 | motto
| founded
| current_form = 2002
| disbanded | branches
*
*
}}
| headquarters = Sofia
| flying_hours | website
<!-- Leadership -->| commander-in-chief = Rumen Radev
| commander-in-chief_title = President
| chief minister = Rosen Zhelyazkov
| chief minister_title = Prime Minister
| minister = Atanas Zapryanov
| minister_title = Minister of Defence
| commander = Admiral Emil Eftimov
| commander_title = Chief of the Defence
<!-- Manpower -->| age = 18
| conscription = No
| manpower_data = no
| manpower_age = 78
| available | available_f
| fit | fit_f
| reaching | reaching_f
| active 36,950
| ranked | reserve 3,000
| percent_GDP 2.05% (2024)
<!-- Related articles -->| history =
| ranks = Military ranks of Bulgaria
}}
The Bulgarian Army (), also called Bulgarian Armed Forces, is the military of Bulgaria. The commander-in-chief is the president of Bulgaria. The Ministry of Defense is responsible for political leadership, while overall military command is in the hands of the Defense Staff, headed by the Chief of the Defense. There are three main branches of the Bulgarian military, named literally the Land Forces, the Air Forces and the Naval Forces (the term "Bulgarian Army" refers to them encompassed all together).
Throughout history, the Army has played a major role in defending the country's sovereignty. Only several years after its inception in 1878, Bulgaria became a regional military power and was involved in several major wars – Serbo-Bulgarian War (1885), First Balkan War (1912–13), Second Balkan War (1913), First World War (1915–1918) and Second World War (1941–1945), during which the Army gained considerable combat experience. During the Cold War, the People's Republic of Bulgaria maintained one of the largest militaries in the Warsaw Pact, numbering an estimated 152,000 troops in 1988. Since the Fall of Communism, the political leadership has decided to pursue a pro-NATO policy, thus reducing military personnel and weaponry. Bulgaria joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organization on 29 March 2004.
The patron saint of the Bulgarian Army is St. George. The Armed Forces Day or St. George's Day (6 May) is an official holiday in Bulgaria.
History of the Bulgarian Army
19th Century
men from the Ganchev Detachment in the region of Western Bulgaria, ca. 1900]]
The modern Bulgarian military dates back to 1878. On 22 July 1878 (10 July O.S.) a total of 12 battalions of opalchentsi who participated in the Liberation war, formed the Bulgarian Armed Forces. According to the Tarnovo Constitution, all men between 21 and 40 years of age were eligible for military service. In 1883 the military was reorganised in four infantry brigades (in Sofia, Pleven, Ruse and Shumen) and one cavalry brigade.
Serbo-Bulgarian war
The Serbo-Bulgarian War was the first armed conflict after Bulgaria's liberation. It was a result of the unification with Eastern Rumelia, which happened on 6 September 1885. The unification was not completely recognised, however, and one of the countries that refused to recognise the act was the Kingdom of Serbia. The Austro-Hungarian Empire had been expanding its influence in the Balkans, and was particularly opposed. Serbia also feared this would diminish its dominance in the region. In addition, Serbian ruler Milan Obrenović IV was annoyed that Serbian opposition leaders like Nikola Pašić, who had escaped persecution after the Timok Rebellion, had found asylum in Bulgaria. Lured by Austria-Hungary's promises of territorial gains from Bulgaria (in return for concessions in the western Balkans), Milan IV declared war on Bulgaria on 14 November 1885.
Military strategy relied largely on surprise, as Bulgaria had moved most of its troops near the border with the Ottoman Empire, in the southeast. As it happened, the Ottomans did not intervene and the Serbian army's advance was stopped after the Battle of Slivnitsa. The main body of the Bulgarian army travelled from the Ottoman border in the southeast to the Serbian border in the northwest to defend the capital, Sofia. After the defensive battles at Slivnitsa and Vidin, Bulgaria began an offensive that took the city of Pirot. At this point the Austro-Hungarian Empire stepped in, threatening to join the war on Serbia's side if Bulgarian troops did not retreat. Fighting lasted for only 14 days, from 14 to 28 November. A peace treaty was signed in Bucharest on 19 February 1886. No territorial changes were made to either country, but Bulgarian unification was recognised by the Great Powers.
First Balkan War
Instability in the Balkan region in the early 1900s quickly became a precursor for a new war. Serbia's aspirations towards Bosnia and Herzegovina were thwarted by the Austrian annexation of the province in October 1908, so the Serbs focused their attention onto Kosovo, and to the south for expansion. Greek officers, revolting in August 1909, had secured the appointment of a progressive government under Eleftherios Venizelos, which they hoped would resolve the Cretan issue in Greece's favor and reverse their defeat of 1897 by the Ottomans. Bulgaria, which had secured Ottoman recognition of its independence in April 1909 and enjoyed the friendship of Russia, also looked to districts of Ottoman Thrace and Macedonia for expansion.
caravan of the Bulgarian 17th Regiment carrying supplies for the Çatalca operation, 1912 ]]
In March 1910 an Albanian insurrection broke out in Kosovo. In August Montenegro followed Bulgaria's precedent by becoming a kingdom. In 1911 Italy launched an invasion of Tripolitania, which was quickly followed by the occupation of the Dodecanese Islands. The Italians' decisive military victories over the Ottoman Empire greatly influenced the Balkan states to prepare for war against Turkey. Thus, in the spring of 1912 consultations among the various Christian Balkan nations resulted in a network of military alliances that became known as the Balkan League. The Great Powers, most notably France and Austria-Hungary, reacted to this diplomatic sensation by trying to dissuade the League from going to war, but failed.
In late September both the League and the Ottoman Empire mobilised their armies. Montenegro was the first to declare war, on 25 September (O.S.)/ 8 October. The other three states, after issuing an impossible ultimatum to the Porte on 13 October, declared war on Turkey on 17 October. The Balkan League relied on 700,000 troops, 370,000 of whom were Bulgarians. Bulgaria, often dubbed "the Prussia of the Balkans", was militarily the most powerful of the four states, with a large, well-trained and well-equipped army. The peacetime army of 60,000 troops was expanded during the war to 370,000, The Bulgarian field army consisted of nine infantry divisions, one cavalry division and 1,116 artillery units.
, 1912]]
Bulgaria's war aims were focused on Thrace and Macedonia. For the latter, Bulgaria had a secret agreement with Serbia to divide it between them, signed on 13 March 1912 during the negotiations that led to the establishment of the Balkan League. However, it was not a secret that Bulgaria's target was the fulfillment of the never-materialized Treaty of San Stefano, signed after the Russo-Turkish War, 1877–78. They deployed their main force in Thrace, forming three armies. The First Army, under Gen. Vasil Kutinchev with three infantry divisions, was deployed to the south of Yambol, with direction of operations along the Tundzha River. The Second Army, under Gen. Nikola Ivanov with two infantry divisions and one infantry brigade, was deployed west of the First and was assigned to capture the strong fortress of Adrianople (now Edirne). According to the plans, the Third Army, under Gen. Radko Dimitriev, was deployed east of and behind the First and was covered by the cavalry division hiding it from the Turkish view. The Third Army had three infantry divisions and was assigned to cross the Stranja mountain and to take the fortress of Lozengrad (Kirk Kilisse). The 2nd and 7th divisions were assigned independent roles, operating in western Thrace and eastern Macedonia, respectively.
The first great battles were at the Adrianople–Kirk Kilisse defensive line, where the Bulgarian 1st and 3rd Armies (together 110,000 men) defeated the Ottoman East Army (130,000 men) near Gechkenli, Seliolu, and Petra. The fortress of Adrianople was besieged and Kirk Kilisse was taken without resistance under the pressure of the Bulgarian Third Army. The initial Bulgarian attack by First and Third Army defeated the Turkish forces, numbering some 130,000, and reached the Sea of Marmara. However, the Turks, with the aid of fresh reinforcements from the Asian provinces, established their third and strongest defensive position at the Chataldja Line, across the peninsula where Constantinople is located. New Turkish forces landed at Bulair and Şarköy, but after heavy fighting they were crushed by the newly formed 4th Bulgarian Army under the command of Gen Stiliyan Kovachev. The offensive at Chataldja failed, too. On 11 March the final Bulgarian assault on Adrianople began. Under the command of Gen. Georgi Vazov the Bulgarians, reinforced with two Serb divisions, conquered the "untakeable" city. On 17/30 May a peace treaty was signed between Turkey and the Balkan Alliance. The First Balkan War, which lasted from October 1912-May 1913, strengthened Bulgaria's position as a regional military power, significantly reduced Ottoman influence over the Balkans and resulted in the formation of an independent Albanian state.
Second Balkan War
The peace settlement of the First Balkan War proved unsatisfactory for both Serbia and Bulgaria. Serbia refused to cede a part of the territories in Macedonia, which it occupied and promised to give to Bulgaria according to a secret agreement. Serbia, on its side, was not satisfied with the independence of Albania and sought a secret alliance with Greece. Armed skirmishes between Serbian and Bulgarian troops occurred.
On 16 June 1913, just a few months after the end of the first war, the Bulgarian government ordered an attack on Serbian and Greek positions in Macedonia, without declaring war. Almost all of Bulgaria's 500,000-man standing army was positioned against these two countries, on two fronts—western and southern—while the borders with Romania and the Ottoman Empire were left almost unguarded. Montenegro sent a 12,000-strong force to assist the Serbs. Exhausted from the previous war, which took the highest toll on Bulgaria, the Bulgarian army soon turned to the defensive. Romania attacked from the north and northeast and the Ottoman Empire also intervened in Thrace. Allied numerical superiority was almost 2:1. After a month and two days of fighting, the war ended as a moral disaster for Bulgaria, and at the same time its economy was ruined and its military demoralised.
First World War
, Commander-in-Chief of the Bulgarian Army during World War I]]
The Kingdom of Bulgaria participated in World War I on the side of the Central Powers between 15 October 1915, when the country declared war on Serbia, and 29 September 1918, when the Armistice of Thessalonica was signed. In the aftermath of the Balkan Wars, Bulgarian opinion turned against Russia and the western powers, whom the Bulgarians felt had done nothing to help them. The government of Vasil Radoslavov aligned the country with Germany and Austria-Hungary, even though this meant also becoming an ally of the Ottomans, Bulgaria's traditional enemy. However, Bulgaria now had no claims against the Ottomans, whereas Serbia, Greece and Romania (allies of Britain and France) were all in possession of lands perceived in Bulgaria as its own.
In 1915 Germany promised to restore the boundaries according to the Treaty of San Stefano and Bulgaria, which had the largest army in the Balkans, declared war on Serbia in October of that year. In the First World War Bulgaria decisively asserted its military capabilities. The second Battle of Doiran, with Gen. Vladimir Vazov as commander, inflicted a heavy blow on the numerically superior British army, which suffered 12,000 casualties against 2,000 from the opposite side. One year later, during the third battle of Doiran, the United Kingdom, supported by Greece, once again suffered a humiliating defeat, losing 3,155 men against just about 500 on the Bulgarian side. The reputation of the French army also suffered badly. The Battle of the Red Wall was marked by the total defeat of the French forces, with 5,700 out of 6,000 men killed. The 261 Frenchmen who survived were captured by Bulgarian soldiers.
Despite the outstanding victories, Germany was near defeat, which meant that Bulgaria would be left without its most powerful ally. The Russian Revolution of February 1917 had a great effect in Bulgaria, spreading antiwar and anti-monarchist sentiment among the troops and in the cities. In June Radoslavov's government resigned. In 1919 Bulgaria officially left the war with the Treaty of Neuilly-sur-Seine.
The army between the World Wars
tankettes, early 1930s]]
The Treaty of Neuilly-sur-Seine proved to be a severe blow to Bulgaria's military. According to the treaty, the country had no right to organize a conscription-based military. The professional army was to be no more than 20,000 men, including 10,000 internal forces and 3,000 border guards. Equipping the army with tanks, submarines, bombers and heavy artillery was strictly prohibited, although Bulgaria managed to get around some of these prohibitions. Nevertheless, on the eve of World War II the Bulgarian army was still well-trained and well-equipped. In fact, the Bulgarian Army had been expanded in 1935.
World War II
The government of the Kingdom of Bulgaria under Prime Minister Bogdan Filov declared a position of neutrality upon the outbreak of World War II. Bulgaria was determined to observe it until the end of the war but it hoped for bloodless territorial gains, especially in the lands with a significant Bulgarian population occupied by neighbouring countries after the Second Balkan War and World War I. However, it was clear that the central geopolitical position of Bulgaria in the Balkans would inevitably lead to strong external pressure by both World War II factions. Turkey had a non-aggression pact with Bulgaria. On 7 September 1940 Bulgaria succeeded in negotiating a recovery of Southern Dobruja with the Treaty of Craiova (see Second Vienna Award). Southern Dobruja had been part of Romania since 1913. This recovery of territory reinforced hopes for resolving other territorial problems without direct involvement in the war. The country joined the Axis Powers in 1941, when German troops preparing to invade Yugoslavia and Greece reached the Bulgarian borders and demanded permission to pass through its territory.
, 1944]]
On 1 March 1941, Bulgaria signed the Tripartite Pact and officially joined the Axis bloc. After a short period of inaction, the army launched an operation against Yugoslavia and Greece. The goal of reaching the shores of the Aegean Sea and completely occupying the region of Macedonia was successful. Even though Bulgaria did not send any troops to support the German invasion of the Soviet Union, its navy was involved in a number of skirmishes with the Soviet Black Sea Fleet, which attacked Bulgarian shipping. Besides this, Bulgarian Armed Forces garrisoned in the Balkans battled various resistance groups. The Bulgarian government declared a token war on the United Kingdom and the United States near the end of 1941, an act that resulted in the bombing of Sofia and other Bulgarian cities by Allied aircraft.
Some communist activists managed to begin a guerrilla movement, headed by the underground Bulgarian Communist Party. A resistance movement called Otechestven front (Fatherland front, Bulgarian: Отечествен фронт) was set up in August 1942 by the Communist Party, the Zveno movement and a number of other parties to oppose the elected government, after a number of Allied victories indicated that the Axis might lose the War. In 1943 Tsar Boris III died suddenly. In the summer of 1944, after having crushed the Nazi defense around Iaşi and Chişinău, the Soviet Army was approaching the Balkans and Bulgaria. On 23 August 1944 Romania quit the Axis Powers, declared war on Germany and allowed Soviet forces to cross its territory to reach Bulgaria. On 26 August 1944 the Fatherland Front made the decision to incite an armed rebellion against the government, which led to the appointment of a new government on 2 September. Support for the government was withheld by the Fatherland Front, since it was composed of pro-Nazi elements, in a desperate attempt to hold on to power. On 5 September 1944 the Soviet Union declared war and invaded Bulgaria. On 8 September 1944 the Bulgarian army joined the Soviet Union in its war against Germany.
Cold War era
As the Red Army invaded Bulgaria in 1944 and installed a communist government, the armed forces were rapidly forced to reorganise following the Soviet model, and were renamed the Bulgarian People's Army (Bohlgarska Narodna Armija, BNA). Moscow quickly supplied Bulgaria with T-34-85 tanks, SU-100 guns, Il-2 attack planes and other new combat machinery. As the country was a Soviet satellite, it was a part of the Eastern Bloc and entered the Warsaw Pact as one of its founders. By this time the army had expanded to over 200,000 men with hundreds of thousands of more reserve troops. Military service was obligatory. A special defensive line, known as the Krali Marko defensive line, was constructed along the entire border with Turkey. It was heavily fortified with concrete walls and turrets of T-34, Panzer III and Panzer IV tanks.
The army was involved in a number of border skirmishes from 1948 to 1952, repulsing several Greek attacks, and took part in the suppression of the Prague Spring events. In the meantime, during the rule of Todor Zhivkov, a significant military-industrial complex was established, capable of producing armored vehicles, self-propelled artillery, small arms and ammunition, as well as aircraft engines and spare parts. Bulgaria provided weapons and military expertise to Algeria, Yemen, Libya, Iraq, Nicaragua, Egypt and Syria. Some military and medical aid was also supplied to North Korea and North Vietnam in the 1950s and 1960s. During the 1970s the Air Force was at the apogee of its power, possessing at least 500 modern combat aircraft in its inventory. Training in the Bulgarian People's Army was exhaustive even by Soviet standards; however, it was never seen as a major force within the Warsaw Pact. In 1989, when the Cold War was coming to its end, the army (the combined number of ground, air and naval forces) numbered about 120,000 men, most of them conscripts. There were, however, several services which, while falling outside of Ministry of Defense jurisdiction in peacetime, were considered part of the armed forces. These were foremost the Labour Troops (construction forces), the People's Militia (the police forces of the country, which fell under Ministry of the Interior jurisdiction, but the ministry was itself a militarized structure) and, more importantly, its Interior Troops, the Border Troops—which in different periods fell under either Ministry of Defense or Ministry of the Interior control—Civil Defense Service, the Signals Troops (government communications) and the Transport Troops (mostly railway infrastructure maintenance), which were two separate services under the Postal and Communications Committee (a ministry), etc. The combined strength of the Bulgarian People's Army and all those services reached well over 325,000 troops.
From 1990
With the collapse of the Warsaw Pact & the end of the Cold War, Bulgaria could no longer support a vast military. A rapid reduction in personnel & active equipment was to be carried out in parallel with a general re-alignment of strategic interests. In 1990, Bulgaria had a total of more than 2,400 tanks, 2,000 armored vehicles, 2,500 large caliber artillery systems, 300 fighter & bomber aircraft, 100 trainer aircraft, more than 40 combat & 40 transport helicopters, 4 submarines, 6 fast missile craft, 2 frigates, 5 corvettes, 6 torpedo boats, 9 patrol craft, 30 minesweepers, and 21 transport vessels. Due to the economic crisis that affected most former Eastern bloc countries, a steady reform in the military could not be carried out; much of the equipment fell into disrepair and some of it was smuggled and sold to the international black market. Inadequate payments, fuel & spare part shortages and the disbandment of many capable units led to an overall drop in combat readiness, morale & discipline.
After partially recovering from the 1990s crisis, the Bulgarian military became a part of NATO. Even before that, Bulgaria sent a total of 485 soldiers to Iraq (2003–2008) as a participant in the Iraq War and maintained a 608-men strong force in Afghanistan as part of ISAF. Bulgaria had a significant missile arsenal, including 67 SCUD-B, 50 FROG-7 & 24 SS-23 ballistic missiles. In 2002, Bulgaria disbanded the Rocket Forces despite nationwide protests and has disbanded its submarine component. Bulgaria is to have 27,000 standing troops by 2014, consisting of 14,310 troops in the land forces, 6,750 in the air force, 3,510 in the navy, and 2,420 in the joint command. In 2018, the Bulgarian Armed Forces numbered around 33,150 soldiers, 73 aircraft, 2234 vehicles, including 531 tanks, and 29 naval assets.Organization Defence Staff The Bulgarian Armed Forces are headquartered in Sofia, where most of the Defence staff is based. Until recently the supreme military institution was the General Staff and the most senior military officer was known as the Chief of the General Staff. After the latest military reform has been implemented the General Staff became a department within the Ministry of Defence and for that matter its name had to be changed to match the new situation. For that reason the former GS became the Defence Staff and the supreme military commander became the Chief of Defence. Currently headed by Chief of Defence admiral Emil Eftimov, the Defence Staff is responsible for operational command of the Bulgarian Army and its three major branches. Deputies: Vice Admiral Petar Petrov, General Atanas Zaprianov, General Dimitar Zekhtinov.
Supreme officer rank assignments in the Bulgarian Army and other militarised services
Established by Executive Order of the President No. 85 / 28.02.2012, most recent amendment published in the State Gazette Issue 96 from December 2, 2022:
Ministry of Defence
* Chief of Defence – General / Admiral
* Deputy Chief of Defence – Lieutenant-General / Vice-Admiral
* Deputy Chief of Defence – Lieutenant-General / Vice-Admiral (until October 1, 2014, Major-General / Rear-Admiral)
* Defense Staff
** Director of the Defence Staff – Major-General / Rear-Admiral (established on May 6, 2018, the de facto Chief of Staff of the BAF)
** Director, "Operations and Training" Directorate – Brigade General / Flotilla Admiral
** Director, "Logistics" Directorate – Brigade General / Flotilla Admiral
** Director, "Strategical Planning" Directorate – Brigade General / Flotilla Admiral
** Director, "Communication and Information Systems" Directorate – Brigade General / Flotilla Admiral
** Director, "Defence Policy and Planning" Directorate (established on January 1, 2019) – Brigade General / Flotilla Admiral
* Joint Forces Command
** Commander, Joint Forces Command – Major-General / Rear-Admiral (until August 31, 2021, Lieutenant-General / Vice-Admiral)
** Deputy Commander, Joint Forces Command – Brigade General / Flotilla Admiral (until August 31, 2021, Major-General / Rear-Admiral)
** Chief of Staff, Joint Forces Command – Brigade General / Flotilla Admiral
* Land Forces
** Commander, Land Forces – Major-General
** Deputy Commander, Land Forces – Brigade General
** Chief of Staff, Land Forces – Brigade General
** Commander, 2nd Mechanised Brigade – Brigade General
** Commander, 61st Mechanised Brigade – Brigade General
* Air Forces
** Commander, Air Forces – Major-General
** Deputy Commander, Air Forces – Brigade General
** Commander, 3rd Air Base – Brigade General
** Commander, 24th Air Base – Brigade General
* Navy
** Commander, Naval Forces – Rear-Admiral
** Deputy Commander, Naval Forces – Flotilla Admiral
** Commander, Combat and Support Ships Fltilla – Flotilla Admiral
* Joint Special Forces Command
** Commander, Joint Special Forces Command – Major-General
* Logistics Support Command (established on September 1, 2021)
** Commander, Logistics Support Command – Brigade General
* Communications and Information Support and Cyber-Defence Command (established on September 1, 2021, on the basis of the Stationary Communications and Information System)
** Commander, Communications and Information Support and Cyber-Defence Command – Brigade General
* Military Police Service, directly subordinated to the Minister of Defense
** Director, Military Police Service – Brigade General / Flotilla Admiral
* Military Intelligence Service, directly subordinated to the Minister of Defense
** Director, Military Intelligence Service – Brigade General / Flotilla Admiral or civil servant equal in rank
* Military education institutions, directly subordinated to the Minister of Defense
** Chief of the "Georgi Stoykov Rakovski" Military Academy – Major-General / Rear-Admiral
** Chief of the Military Medical Academy and the Armed Forces Medical Service – Major-General / Rear-Admiral
** Chief of the "Vasil Levski" National Military University – Brigade General
** Chief of the "Georgi Benkovski" Higher Air Force School (re-established on January 1, 2020) – Brigade General
** Chief of the "Nikola Yonkov Vaptsarov" Higher Naval School – Flotilla Admiral
* Other positions at the Ministry of Defense
** Military Advisor on Military Security Matters to the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, the President of the Republic of Bulgaria – Major-General / Rear-Admiral
** Military Representative of the Chief of Defense at the NATO Military Committee and at the EU Military Committee – Lieutenant-General / Vice-Admiral
** Director of the Cooperation and Regional Security Directorate at the NATO Military Committee – Major-General / Rear-Admiral
** National Military Representative at the NATO Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe – Major-General / Rear-Admiral
** Deputy Commander of the NATO Rapid Deployable Corps – Greece (Thessaloniki) – Major-General / Rear-Admiral
** Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations, Multinational Corps Southeast – Sibiu, Romania – Brigade General
In addition to the aforementioned positions, there are general rank positions in the National Intelligence Service and the National Close Protection Service (the bodyguard service to high-ranking officials and visiting dignitaries). These two services are considered part of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Bulgaria, but are directly subordinated to the President of Bulgaria and fall out of the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Defense.
* National Intelligence Service
** With the transformation of the National Intelligence Service into the State Agency for Intelligence the positions of Director, National Intelligence Service (Major-General / Rear-Admiral) and deputy director, National Intelligence Service (Brigade General / Flotilla Admiral) were stricken from the list of supreme officer assignments through Executive Order of the President No.58/22.03.2016. The newly established positions are the civilian assignments of chairman and Deputy-Chairman of the State Agency for Intelligence.
* National Close Protection Service
** Director, National Close Protection Service - Major-General / Rear-Admiral
** Deputy Director, National Close Protection Service - Brigade General / Flotilla Admiral
With the establishment of the State Agency for National Security - SANS (Bulgarian: Darzhavna Agentsiya za Natsionalna Sigurnost - DANS, Държавна агенция за национална сигурност - ДАНС) part of the military security personnel came under its authority. Before that the security aspects of the armed forces were handled by a unified organisation under the General Staff - the "Military Service of Security and Military Police". After the formation of SANS the service was split, with the military counter-intelligence personnel entering the newly formed structure and the military police personnel staying under Ministry of Defense subordination. While technically civilian servants not part of the armed forces, the military counter-intelligence personnel of the State Agency of National Security retain their military ranks.
Ministry of Defence
Ministry of Defence<br>
The organisation of the Ministry of Defence includes:
* Minister of Defence
* 3 Deputy-Ministers of Defence
* Political Cabinet
* Permanent Secretary of Defence (the highest-ranking civil servant of the Ministry)
* Inspectorate
* General Administration
** "Administration and Information Support" Directorate
** "Public Relations and Protocol" Directorate
** "Finances" Directorate
* Specialised Administration
** "Defence Infrastructure" Main Directorate
** "Defence Policy and Planning" Directorate
** "Planning, Programming and Budgeting" Directorate
** "Defence Legal Activities" Directorate
** "Defence Human Resources Management" Directorate
** "Defence Public Orders" Directorate
** "Armament Policy" Directorate
** "Social Policy and Military-Patriotic Upbringing" Directorate
* "Security of Information" Directorate
* "Internal Audit" Directorate
* "Financial Control and Check of Material Accountability" Unit
* Civil servant in charge of personal data protection
* Chief of Defence (the highest-ranking officer, the only four-star rank on active duty)
** Deputy-Chief of Defence (Lieutenant-General / Vice-Admiral)
** Deputy-Chief of Defence (Lieutenant-General / Vice-Admiral)
** Director of the Defence Staff (Major-General / Rear-Admiral, the Defence Staff is the successor of the General Staff and thus the Director is the Chief of Staff of the Bulgarian Army)
*** "Operations and Training" Directorate
*** "Logistics" Directorate
*** "Strategical Planning" Directorate
*** "Communication and Information Systems" Directorate
*** "Defence Policy and Planning" Directorate
** Command Sergeant-Major of the Bulgarian Army
Structures directly subordinated to the Ministry of Defence
Structures directly subordinated to the Ministry of Defence include:
* Defence Intelligence Service, Sofia (commanded by a Major-General/ Rear-Admiral)
** Director
** Directorate
** Information Division
** Analysis Division
** Resources Supply Division
* Military Police Service, Sofia (commanded by a Brigade General / Flotilla Admiral)
** Military Police Command
** Military Police Operational Company (MRAV Sand Cat)
** Regional Military Police Service Sofia
** Regional Military Police Service Plovdiv
** Regional Military Police Service Pleven
** Regional Military Police Service Varna
** Regional Military Police Service Sliven
** Military Police Service Logistics and Training Centre, Sofia
* Military Geographical Service
** MGS Headquarters
** Geographical Information Support Centre
** Geodesic Observatory (GPS Observatory)
** Military Geographical Centre
** Information Security Unit
** Financial Comptroller
* National Guards Unit, Sofia (commanded by a Colonel)
** Headquarters
** 1st Guards Battalion
** 2nd Mixed Guards Battalion
** National Guards Unit Representative Military Band
** Armed Forces Representative Dance Company
** Guardsmen Training Centre
** Logistics Support Company
* Military Medical Academy, Sofia (commanded by a Major-General / Rear-Admiral)
** Chief of the MMA, Chief of the MATH - Sofia and General Surgeon of the Bulgarian Armed Forces
** Deputy Chief for Diagnostics and Medical Treatment Activities
** Deputy Chief for Education and Scientific Activities
** Deputy Chief for Medical Support of Military Units and Overseas Military Missions
** Multiprofile Active Treatment Hospital - Sofia
** Multiprofile Active Treatment Hospital (informally known as the Naval Hospital)- Varna
** Multiprofile Active Treatment Hospital - Plovdiv
** Multiprofile Active Treatment Hospital - Sliven
** Multiprofile Active Treatment Hospital - Pleven
** Follow-up Long-term Treatment and Rehabilitation Hospital "Saint George the Victorious" - Pomorie
** Follow-up Long-term Treatment and Rehabilitation Hospital "Caleroya" - Hisar
** Follow-up Long-term Treatment and Rehabilitation Hospital - Bankya
** Military Medical Quick Reaction Force (expeditionary disaster and crisis relief unit)
** Psychological Health and Prevention Centre
** Scientific and Application Centre for Military Medical Expertise and Aviation and Seaborne Medicine
** Scientific and Application Centre for Military Epidemiology and Hygiene
* Military Academy "Georgi Stoykov Rakovski", Sofia (commanded by a Major-General / Rear-Admiral)
** Command
*** Commandant of the Military Academy
*** Deputy Chief for Study and Scientific Activities
*** Deputy Chief for Administrative Activities and Logistics
** Administrative Units
*** Personnel and Administrative Support Department
*** Logistics Department
*** Study and Scientific Activities Department
*** Financial Department
*** Library and Publishing Activities Sector
*** Public Relations, International Activities and Protocol Sector
** Training Units
*** National Security and Defence College
*** Command Staff College
*** Peacekeeping Operations and Computer Simulations Sector
*** Foreign Languages Studies Department
** Perspective Defence Research Institute
* National Military University "Vasil Levski", Veliko Tarnovo (commanded by a Brigade General)
** Combined Arms Education Department, Veliko Tarnovo
** Artillery and Communication Systems Education Department, Shumen
** NCO School, Veliko Tarnovo
** Foreign Languages and Computer Systems Education Department, Shumen
* Higher Air Force School "Georgi Benkovski", Dolna Mitropoliya (commanded by a Brigade General, temporarily a faculty of the NMU, reinstated on January 20, 2020)
*Higher Naval School "Nikola Yonkov Vaptsarov", Varna (commanded by a Flotilla Admiral)
** Chief of the Higher Naval Officer School
** Deputy Chief for Administration and Logistics
** Deputy Chief for Studies and Science Activities
** Navigation Department
** Engineering Department
** Post-Graduate Qualification Department
** Professional Petty Officers College
* Defence Institute "Prof. Tsvetan Lazarov", Sofia
** The Defence Institute is the research and development administration of the MoD. It includes the:
** Administration and Financial Management Department
** Military Standardisation, Quality and Certification Department
** Armament, Equipment and Materials Development Department
** Armament, Equipment and Materials Testing and Control Department
** C4I Systems Development Department
* Central Artillery Technical Evaluation Proving Ground, Stara Zagora
* Central Office of Military District, Sofia
* Commandment Service of the Ministry of Defence, Sofia
** The Commandment Service is an institution in charge of real estate management, transportation, library services, documentation publishing and communications support for the central administration of the MoD, transportation support to the immediate MoD personnel, classified information, cryptographic and perimeter security for the MoD administration buildings.
** Director
** Deputy Director
** Chief Legal Advisor
** Financial Comptroller
** Administrative Department
** Financial Department
** Business Department
** Transportation Support Department
** Support Department
** CIS Support Department
** Technical Centre for Armed Forces Information Security
* Executive Agency for the Military Clubs and Recreational Activities, Sofia
* National Museum of Military History, Sofia
Joint Forces Command
The Joint Operational Command (Съвместно оперативно командване (СОК)) was established on October 15, 2004, with HQ in Sofia. The country became member of NATO in the same year and this reorganisation was done to streamline the Bulgarian Armed Forces to NATO practices. The planning and execution of military operation was transferred from the respective armed service commands to a joint organisation.
In 2010 the Ministry of Defence completed a thorough study of the defence policy and issued a White Book, or a White Paper on Defence, calling for a major overhaul of the structure of Defence Forces. On July 1, 2011, the Joint Operational Command was reorganised into the Joint Forces Command (Съвместно командване на силите (СКС)) According to the document the military of the Republic of Bulgaria should include two mechanized brigades, four regiments (Logistics, Artillery, Engineering, SpecOps), four battalions (Reconnaissance, Mechanized, NBC, psychological operations) in the Land Forces; two air bases, SAM air defense base and Air force training base in the Air Force; and one naval base consisting of two homeports in the Navy. There are seven brigade level formations, including the two mechanised brigades and the special forces brigade of the army, the two air bases of the air force, the naval base and the logistical brigade of the JOC.
On September 1, 2021, the Joint Forces Command was reorganised again in accordance with the Development Plant for the Armed Forces until 2026 (План за развитие на Въоръжените сили до 2026 г.), set in action by Resolution of the Government No. 183/07.05.2021. The logistics brigade and the movement control units of the JFC formed the Logistics Support Command. Since then the Joint Forces Command has seven units directly subordinated to it:
*Military Command Centre
*Operational Intelligence Information Center
* Centre for Radiological, Chemical, Biological and Ecological Environment Monitoring and Control
* Mobile Communication and Information System
* Operational Archive of the Bulgarian Army
* Joint Forces Training Range "Novo Selo"
* National Military Study Complex "Charalitsa"
* Support and Maintenance Group of the JFC
With the introduction of the new force structure of the Bulgarian Armed Forces the commands of three armed services of the Bulgarian Army - the Land, Air and Naval Forces are responsible for the generation of combat-ready forces, which are transferred under the operational command and control of the JFC.
* Land Forces Command
* Naval Forces Command
* Air Forces Command
Under the previous structure they were subordinated to the JFC.
The logistics units of the JFC were re-arranged into the newly formed Logistical Support Command (Командване за логистична поддръжка (КЛП)):
*Logistical Support Command, Sofia
**Logistics Brigade
*** Brigade Headquarters
*** 1st Transport Battalion, Sofia
*** 2nd Transport Battalion, Burgas
*** Central Supply Base, Negushevo
*** repair and maintenance bases
*** depots, storage facilities and technical inspection units
** Movement Control Headquarters
The previous 62nd Signals Brigade at Gorna Malina was responsible for maintaining the higher military communication lines. Next to the functions of the Signals Regiment in the Sofia suburb of Suhodol, the brigade had at least three dispersed signals regiments for government communications, such as the 75th Signals Regiment (Lovech), the 65th Signals Regiment (Nova Zagora) and at least one additional unknown Signals Regiment in the Rila-Pirin mountain massif. The modern successor of the 62nd Signals Brigade are the Stationary Communication and Information System (Стационарна Комуникационна Информационна Система (СКИС)) of the Defence Staff (which fulfils also the tasks of SIGINT and Cyber Defence next to its strategic communications mission) and the Mobile Communication and Information System (Мобилна Комуникационна Информационна Система (МКИС)) of the Joint Forces Command.
On September 1, 2021, the Stationary Communications and Information System, which was directly subordinated to the Minister of Defence, became the Communications and Information Support and Cyber-Defence Command (Командване за комуникационно-информационна поддръжка и киберотбрана (ККИПКО)).
* Communications and Information Support and Cyber-Defence Command, Sofia
** Communications and Information Centre
** Government Communications Support Centre,
** Operational Centres
** Engineering and CIS recovery Centre
** Stationary Communications Network
Joint Special Operations Command
The 68th Special Forces Brigade was removed from the Land Forces' ORBAT on 1 February 2017, de facto becoming the country's fourth combat service. Unlike Bulgaria's Land, Air and Naval Forces, however, it fell outside of the Joint Forces Command structure, having been assigned directly under the authority of the Chief of Defence. The brigade was transformed into the JSOC, taking effect on November 1, 2019, and its commander, Brigade General Yavor Mateev was promoted to a major general as the chief of the new command.
* Joint Special Operations Command, Plovdiv
** Command Staff and Command Battalion
** 68th Special Forces Group (designated in honour of the former 68th Training Para-Recon Base, Plovdiv)
** 86th Special Forces Group (designated in honour of the former 86th Training Para-Recon Base, Musachevo)
** 1st Special Forces Group (Newest Special Operations Group, Stationed in Bankya)
** 3rd Special Forces Group
** Training and Combat Support Center
** Logistics Support Battalion
** Medical Point
Personnel and education
Bulgaria's total military personnel as of 2014 is 37,100, of which 30,400 (80.1%) are active military personnel and 8,100 (11.9%) are civilian personnel. The Land Forces are the largest branch, with at least 18,000 men serving there. In terms of percentage, 53% of all Army personnel are in the Land Forces, 25% are in the Air Force, 13% are in the Navy and 9% are in the Joint Forces Command.
Unlike many former Soviet bloc militaries, discipline and morale problems are not common. During the Communist era, the army members enjoyed extensive social privileges. After the fall of Communism and Bulgaria's transition to a market economy, wages fell severely. For almost a decade social benefits were virtually non-existent, and some of them have been restored but recently. Nikolai Tsonev, defence minister under the 2005–2009 cabinet, undertook steps to provide the members of the military and their families with certain privileges in terms of healthcare and education, and to improve living conditions.
Military education in Bulgaria is provided in military universities and academies. Due to cuts in spending and manpower some universities have been disbanded and their campuses were included as faculties of other, larger educational entities. The largest institutions of military education in Bulgaria are:
* Vasil Levski National Military University
* Rakovski Defence and Staff College
* Nikola Vaptsarov Naval Academy
* Military Medical Academy – a mixed military academy/hospital institution
Training
.50 cal machine gun at the Novo Selo training range]]
The Land Forces practice extensive year-round military training in various conditions. Cooperative drills with the United States are very common, the last series of them conducted in 2008. Bulgaria's most recent full-scale exercise simulating a foreign invasion was carried out in 2009. It was conducted at the Koren range, and included some 1,700 personnel with tanks, ATGMs, attack aircraft, AA guns and armored vehicles. The combat skills of individual soldiers are on a very high level, on par with troops of the U.S. Army.
]]
Until recent years the Air Force suffered somewhat from fuel shortages; a problem which was overcome in 2008. Fighter pilots have year-round flights, but gunship pilots do not fly often due to the yet unfulfilled modernization of the Mi-24 gunships. Due to financial difficulties fighter pilots have 60 hours of flying time per year, only a third of the national norm of 180 hours.
The Navy also has some fuel shortage problems, but military training is still effective. The most recent overseas operation of the Navy was along the coast of Libya as part of Operation Unified Protector.
Budget
After the collapse of the Warsaw pact, Bulgaria lost the ability to acquire cheap fuel and spares for its military. A large portion of its nearly 2,000 T-55 tanks fell into disrepair, and eventually almost all of them were scrapped or sold to other countries. In the early 1990s the budget was so small, that regulars only received token-value payments. Many educated and well-trained officers lost the opportunity to educate younger soldiers, as the necessary equipment and basis lacked adequate funding. Military spending increased gradually, especially in the last 10 years. As of 2005, the budget was no more than $400 mln., while military spending for 2009 amounted to more than $1.3 bln. – almost a triple increase for 4 years. Despite this growth, the military still does not receive sufficient funds for modernisation. An example of bad spending plans is the large-scale purchasing of transport aircraft, while the Air Force has a severe need of new fighters (the MiG-29s, even though modernised, are nearing their operational limits). The planned procurement of 2–4 Gowind class corvettes has been cancelled. As of 2009, military spending was about 1.98% of GDP. In 2010 the budget is to be only 1.3% due to the international financial crisis.
Land Forces
The Land Forces are functionally divided into Deployable and Reserve Forces. Their main functions include deterrence, defence, peace support and crisis management, humanitarian and rescue missions, as well as social functions within Bulgarian society. Active troops in the land forces number about 18,000 men, and reserve troops number about 13,000.
The equipment of the land forces is impressive in terms of numbers, but most of it is nonoperational and scheduled to be scrapped or refurbished and exported to other nations. Bulgaria has a military stockpile of about 5,000,000 small arms, models ranging from World War II-era MP 40 machine pistols to modern Steyr AUG, AK-74, HK MP5, HK416 and AR-M12F assault rifles.
National guard unit
The National Guard of Bulgaria, founded in 1879, is the successor to the personal guards of Knyaz Alexander I. On 12 July of that year, the guards escorted the Bulgarian knyaz for the first time; today the official holiday of the National Guard is celebrated on 12 July. Throughout the years the structure of the guards has evolved, going from convoy to squadron, to regiment and, subsequent to 1942, to division. Today it includes military units for army salute and wind orchestra duties.
In 2001, the National Guard unit was designated an official military unit of the Bulgarian army and one of the symbols of state authority, along with the flag, the coat of arms and the national anthem. It is a formation, directly subordinate to the Minister of Defence and while legally part of the armed forces, it is totally independent from the Defence Staff.
Statistics and equipment
Note: This table shows combined active and reserve force. Most are listed here.
In 2019 what remained from the scrapping of the previous new equipment some but not all of the T-72 Main battle tanks were sent for mechanical service for the first time in years.
Most of the equipment that should be battle ready is in dire condition, old, rusty or non-functional, the rest about 50,000 tons of what was sold as scrap" can be found in some of the scrap depots near the railroad in Sofia including battle tanks, artillery, and other battle soviet era equipment.
{| class="wikitable"
|-
| style"background:#f22 style;"text-align:center;" colspan="2"| Statistics
|-
| Personnel
| 36,112
|-
| Main battle tanks
| <100 T-72M/M1
|-
| Heavy armored vehicles (IFVs and APCs)
| <1000 (BMP-23/A, BMP-1P; BTR-60PB-MD1, MT-LB, MT-LBu)
|-
| Light armored vehicles
| <500 M1117 Guardian/Commando Select (7/10), BRDM-2 (<50), M1114 Humvees (50+),<br> Sand Cat (<25), G-class (<300)
|-
| Artillery pieces over 100 mm (excl. mortar)
| <100 (BM-21,2S1, D-20)
|-
| SAMs
| 84 – SA-10 Grumble (10), SA-5 Gammon (10), SA-6 Gainful (20),<br> SA-8 Gecko (24), SA-13 Gopher (20)
|-
| ATGM systems
| AT-3 Sagger, AT-4 Spigot, AT-5 Spandrel,<br> AT-6 Spiral, AT-7 Saxhorn, BRDM-2 Konkurs (24 vehicles)
|-
| MANPADS
| SA-7 Grail, SA-14 Gremlin, SA-16 Gimlet, SA-18 Grouse
|-
| SS-21 Scarab
| 8 TELs
|}
Navy
The Navy has traditionally been the smallest component of the Bulgarian military. Established almost simultaneously with the Ground forces in 1879, initially it consisted of a small fleet of boats on the Danube river. Bulgaria has a coastline of about 354 kilometres – thus, naval warfare is not considered a priority.
After the downturn in 1990, the Navy was largely overlooked and received almost no funding. No projects for modernisation were carried out until 2005, when a Wielingen class frigate (F912 Wandelaar) was acquired from Belgium. By 2009, Bulgaria acquired two more frigates of the same class. The first of them was renamed 41 Drazki and took part in several operations and exercises, most notably the UNIFIL Maritime Patrol along the coast of Lebanon in 2006, and Operation Active Endeavour. It also participated in the enforcement of the naval blockade against Muammar Gaddafi's regime off the coast of Libya from 2011 until 2012.
The equipment is typical for a small navy, consisting mostly of light multi-purpose vessels – four frigates, three corvettes, five minesweepers, three fast missile craft and two landing ships. Other equipment includes a coastal defence missile battalion armed with locally modified P-15 Termit missiles, a coastal artillery battery, a naval helicopter airbase and a marine special forces unit.
The Bulgarian Navy is centered in two main bases – in Varna and in Burgas.
Air Force
MiG-29 at Graf Ignatievo Air Base]]
In the past decade Bulgaria has been trying actively to restructure its army as a whole and a lot of attention has been placed on keeping the aging Russian aircraft operational. Currently the attack and defence branches of the Bulgarian air force are mainly MiG-29s and Su-25s. About 15 MiG-29 fighters have been modernised in order to meet NATO standards. The first aircraft arrived on 29 November 2007 and final delivery was due in March 2009. In 2006 the Bulgarian government signed a contract with Alenia Aeronautica for the delivery of five C-27J Spartan transport aircraft to replace the Soviet-made An-24 and An-26, although the contract was later changed to only three aircraft. Modern EU-made transport helicopters were purchased in 2005 and a total of 12 Eurocopter Cougar have been delivered (eight transport and four CSAR). Three Eurocopter AS565 Panther helicopters for the Bulgarian Navy arrived in 2016.
Branches of the Air Force include fighter aviation, assault aviation, intelligence aviation and transportation aviation, aid defence troops, radio-technical troops, communications troops, radio-technical support troops, logistics and medical troops.
The Bulgarian Ministry of Defense has announced plans to withdraw and replace the MiG-29 fighters with new F-16V Fighting Falcon by 2025–2026.Aircraft inventory
With the exception of the Navy's small helicopter fleet, the Air Force are responsible for all military aircraft in Bulgaria. The Air Force's inventory numbers <50 aircraft, including combat jets and helicopters. Aircraft of Western origin have only begun to enter the fleet, making up a small number of the total in service. Most aircraft are unusable, old and inactive.
Bulgarian-American cooperation
IFV on a training range near Novo Selo]]
The Bulgarian-American Joint Military Facilities were established by a Defence Cooperation Agreement signed by the United States and Bulgaria in April 2006. Under the agreement, U.S. forces can conduct training at several bases in the country, which remain under Bulgarian command and under the Bulgarian flag. Under the agreement, no more than 2,500 U.S. military personnel can be located at the joint military facilities.
Foreign Policy magazine lists Bezmer Air Base as one of the six most important overseas facilities used by the USAF.
Deployments
Both during Communist rule and after, Bulgaria has deployed troops with different tasks in various countries. The table below lists Bulgarian military deployments in foreign countries. Active missions are shown in bold.
{|class"wikitable" style"width:100%;"
|-
!Country !! Operation !! Organisation !! Timespan !! Personnel !! Casualties
|-
| Libyan Arab Jamahiriya || – || People's Republic of Bulgaria || ? || a total of 9,000 military and non-military advisors || –
|-
| || Nicaraguan Revolution || People's Republic of Bulgaria || 1980s || unknown number of military instructors || –
|-
| || peacekeeping || UNTAC || 1992–1993 || 850 troops<br>34 military observers<br>11 military police<br>10 officers || 11
|-
| || military observation || UNOMA|| 1995–2000 ||48 military observers || –
|-
| || military observation || UNMOT || 1995–2000 ||27 military observers || –
|-
| || peacekeeping (EUFOR Althea) || SFOR / EUFOR|| 1997–present || 140 || -
|-
| || demining || OSCE || 1999–2001 || unknown || –
|-
| / || peacekeeping || UNMEE || 2001–2004 || 11 military observers || –
|-
| || construction / peacekeeping || UNMIK and KFOR|| 2000–present ||Around 300 || –
|-
| || humanitarian (construction of field kitchens and a hospital) || – || 1999–2003 || ? || –
|-
| || internal security / anti-terrorist || ISAF || 2001–2021 || a total of 11,148 armed forces servicemen|| -
|-
| || peacekeeping || UNMIL|| 2003–2018 || 2 || -
|-
| || Iraq War || Multi-National Force – Iraq || 2003–2008 || 485 || 13
|-
| || peacekeeping || EUMM Georgia|| 2008–present || 12 || -
|-
| || training mission || NATO Training Mission – Iraq || 2009–December 2011 || - || -
|-
| || Operation Unified Protector || – || 27 April 2011 – 3 June 2011 || 160 military observers, including a group of 12 naval special commandos with the frigate Drazki|| –
|-
| || anti-piracy || Atalanta/Ocean Shield|| 2012–present || 3 || –
|}
Modernization program
On April 19, 2024, the Bulgarian National Assembly approved the <nowiki>Program for investments in defence until 2032</nowiki>. It is supposed to introduce new technologies in the Bulgarian Armed Forces and make up for 30 years of lack of modernization and new equipment. The program includes acquisitions of:
New Armored vehicles for mechanized battalions in the Land Forces.( Already done in the form of the Stryker vehicles ordered in December 2023)
New AESA 3D radars for the Bulgarian Air Force.(Process almost done as of April 2024)
New coastal Anti-ship missiles for the Bulgarian Navy.
Communication and Information systems for divisional headquarters of multinational divisional command.
New Medium to Long range Surface-to-air missiles for the Bulgarian Air Force.
New air defence systems for a mechanized brigade for the Bulgarian Land Forces.(SHORAD)
New Multiple launch rocket system with increased mobility for the Bulgarian Land Forces.(HIMARS)
New 155 mm Self-propelled howitzers for the Bulgarian Land Forces
Unmanned combat aerial vehicles for the Bulgarian Air Force
New Attack helicopters for the Bulgarian Air Force.
New Minehunters for the Bulgarian Navy.
Development of abilities to overcome dry and water obstacles.
New Multipurpose corvettes/ missile boats for the Bulgarian Navy
See also
* Defense industry of Bulgaria
* List of modern equipment of the Bulgarian Armed Forces
* Bulgaria and weapons of mass destruction
* Medieval Bulgarian Army
References
Sources
*
* [http://www.mod.bg/bg/doc/drugi/20100930_WhiteBook.pdf Бяла книга на Въоръжените сили (White Paper of the Armed Forces)], Ministry of Defence of Bulgaria, 2011.
* Wikisource:Great Battles of Bulgaria
Bibliography
*
*
External links
* [https://www.mod.bg/en/ Ministry of Defence of Bulgaria]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20080628103442/http://www.tdg.nu/OOBs/1946%2B/oob_bulgaria_1996.htm Equipment holdings in 1996]
* https://web.archive.org/web/20110528070137/http://www.wikileaks.ch/cable/2007/10/07SOFIA1271.html – U.S. Embassy Sofia views via United States diplomatic cables leak on appropriate future equipment purchases, 2007
* http://www.mediafire.com/download/heyrxhrnpqx06mz/Bulgarian_Military.docx and http://www.mediafire.com/download/ba571l7jiid2tf8/Bulgarian+Military.pdf - Download the word file and a pdf file for the Bulgarian Military's equipment list and specific details.
Category:Military of Bulgaria
Category:Permanent Structured Cooperation
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Geography of Burkina Faso
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<!-- "none" is preferred when the title is sufficiently descriptive; see WP:SDNONE -->
Burkina Faso (formerly Upper Volta) is a landlocked Sahel country that shares borders with six nations. It lies between the Sahara desert and the Gulf of Guinea, south of the loop of the Niger River, mostly between latitudes 9° and 15°N (a small area is north of 15°), and longitudes 6°W and 3°E. The land is green in the south, with forests and fruit trees, and semi-arid in the north. Most of central Burkina Faso lies on a savanna plateau, above sea level, with fields, brush, and scattered trees. Burkina Faso's game preserves – the most important of which are Arly, Nazinga, and W National Park—contain lions, elephants, hippopotamus, monkeys, common warthogs, and antelopes. Previously the endangered painted hunting dog, Lycaon pictus occurred in Burkina Faso, but, although the last sightings were made in Arli National Park, the species is considered extirpated from Burkina Faso.
Area
Burkina Faso has a total area of , of which is land and water. Comparatively, it is slightly larger than New Zealand and Colorado. Its borders total : Benin , Ivory Coast , Ghana , Mali , Niger , and Togo . It has no coastline or maritime claims. Extreme points
This is a list of the extreme points of Burkina Faso, the points that are farther north, south, east or west than any other location.
* Northernmost point – unnamed location on the border with Mali, Sahel Region
* Easternmost point – unnamed location on the border with Benin immediately south of the Burkina Faso-Benin-Niger tripoint, Est Region
* Southernmost point – unnamed location on the border with Ivory Coast immediately south of the village of Kpuere, Sud-Ouest Region
* Westernmost point – the tripoint with Mali and Ivory Coast, Cascades Region
Terrain
It is made up of two major types of countryside. The larger part of the country is covered by a peneplain, which forms a gently undulating landscape with, in some areas, a few isolated hills, the last vestiges of a Precambrian massif. The southwest of the country, on the other hand, forms a sandstone massif, where the highest peak, Ténakourou, is found at an elevation of . The massif is bordered by sheer cliffs up to high. The average altitude of Burkina Faso is and the difference between the highest and lowest terrain is no greater than . Burkina Faso is therefore a relatively flat country. Its elevation extremes are a lowest point at the Mouhoun (Black Volta) River () and highest point at Tena Kourou ().
Administrative divisions
The country is divided into 13 administrative regions. These regions encompass 45 provinces and 351 departments.
Hydrography
The country owes its former name of Upper Volta to three rivers which cross it: the Black Volta (or Mouhoun), the White Volta (Nakambé) and the Red Volta (Nazinon). The Black Volta is one of the country's only two rivers which flow year-round, the other being the Komoé, which flows to the southwest. The basin of the Niger River also drains 27% of the country's surface.
The Niger's tributaries – the Béli, the Gorouol, the Goudébo and the Dargol – are seasonal streams and flow for only four to six months a year. They still, however, can cause large floods. The country also contains numerous lakes – the principal ones are Tingrela, Bam and Dem. The country contains large ponds, as well, such as Oursi, Béli, Yomboli and Markoye. Water shortages are often a problem, especially in the north of the country.
Climate
Burkina Faso has a primarily tropical climate with two very distinct seasons. In the rainy season, the country receives between 600 and 900 millimetres (23.6 and 35.4 in) of rainfall; in the dry season, the harmattan – a hot dry wind from the Sahara – blows. The rainy season lasts approximately four months, May/June to September, and is shorter in the north of the country. Three climatic zones can be defined: the Sahel, the Sudan-Sahel, and the Sudan-Guinea. The Sahel in the north typically receives less than of rainfall per year and has high temperatures, .
A relatively dry tropical savanna, the Sahel extends beyond the borders of Burkina Faso, from the Horn of Africa to the Atlantic Ocean, and borders the Sahara to its north and the fertile region of the Sudan to the South. Situated between 11°3' and 13°5' north latitude, the Sudan-Sahel region is a transitional zone with regards to rainfall and temperature. Further to the south, the Sudan-Guinea zone receives more than of rain each year and has cooler average temperatures.
}}
}}
Resources and environment
Burkina Faso's natural resources include manganese, limestone, marble, phosphates, pumice, salt and small deposits of gold. 21.93% of its land is arable, and 0.26% has permanent crops as of 2012. As of 2003, 250 km<sup>2</sup> were irrigated. Its total renewable water resources as of 2011 were 12.5 m<sup>3</sup>, with a total freshwater withdrawal of 0.72 km<sup>3</sup>/yr (46% domestic, 3% industrial, 51% agricultural; this amounts to a per-capita withdrawal of 54.99 m<sup>3</sup>/yr.
In Burkina Faso forest cover is around 23% of the total land area, equivalent to 6,216,400 hectares (ha) of forest in 2020, down from 7,716,600 hectares (ha) in 1990. In 2020, naturally regenerating forest covered 6,039,300 hectares (ha) and planted forest covered 177,100 hectares (ha). Of the naturally regenerating forest 0% was reported to be primary forest (consisting of native tree species with no clearly visible indications of human activity) and around 16% of the forest area was found within protected areas. For the year 2015, 100% of the forest area was reported to be under public ownership.
Burkina Faso's fauna and flora are protected in two national parks and several reserves: see List of national parks in Africa, Nature reserves of Burkina Faso.
Recurring droughts and floods are a significant natural hazard. Current environmental issues include: recent droughts and desertification severely affecting agricultural activities, population distribution, and the economy; overgrazing; soil degradation; deforestation.
Burkina Faso is party to the following international environmental agreements: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Marine Life Conservation, Ozone Layer Protection, Wetlands. It has signed, but not ratified, the Law of the Sea and the Nuclear Test Ban.
See also
*2010 Sahel famine
*:Category:Treaties of Burkina Faso
Notes
Line note references
External links
* Soil Maps of Burkina Faso [https://web.archive.org/web/20070905063706/http://eusoils.jrc.it/esdb_archive/EuDASM/africa/lists/cbf.htm European Digital Archive on the Soil Maps of the world]
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Demographics of Burkina Faso
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<!-- "none" is a legitimate description when the title is already adequate; see WP:SDNONE -->
, year 2005; Number of inhabitants in thousands.]]
Burkina Faso's |,||}}/1e6 round 1}} million people belong to two major West African cultural groups: the Gur (Voltaic) and the Mandé. The Voltaic are far more numerous and include the Mossi, who make up about one-half of the population. The Mossi claim descent from warriors who migrated to present-day Burkina Faso and established an empire that lasted more than 800 years. Predominantly farmers, the Mossi are still bound by the traditions of the Mogho Naba, who hold court in Ouagadougou.
Most of Burkina Faso's population is concentrated in the south and center of the country, with a population density sometimes exceeding . This population density, high for Africa, causes annual migrations of hundreds of thousands of Burkinabé to Ivory Coast and Ghana for seasonal agricultural work. About a third of Burkinabé adhere to traditional African religions. The introduction of Islam to Burkina Faso was initially resisted by the Mossi rulers. Christians, predominantly Roman Catholics, are largely concentrated among the urban elite.
Few Burkinabé have had formal education. Schooling is free but not compulsory, and only about 29% of Burkina's primary school-age children receive a basic education. The University of Ouagadougou, founded in 1974, was the country's first institution of higher education. The Polytechnic University of Bobo-Dioulasso in Bobo-Dioulasso was opened in 1995.
seller in Ouagadougou]]
Population
Burkina Faso has a young age structure – the result of declining mortality combined with steady high fertility – and continues to experience rapid population growth, which is putting increasing pressure on the country's limited arable land. More than 65% of the population is under the age of 25, and the population is growing at 3% annually. Mortality rates, especially those of infants and children, have decreased because of improved health care, hygiene, and sanitation, but women continue to have an average of almost 6 children. Even if fertility were substantially reduced, today's large cohort entering their reproductive years would sustain high population growth for the foreseeable future. Only about a third of the population is literate and unemployment is widespread, dampening the economic prospects of Burkina Faso's large working-age population.
According to the United Nations' Population Division, the population was 20,903,000 in 2020, compared to only 4,284,000 in 1950. The proportion of children below the age of 15 in 2020 was 44.4%, 53.2% of the population was between 15 and 65 years of age, while 2.4% was 65 years or older.
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! width="80pt"|Age Group
! width="80pt"|Male
! width="80pt"|Female
! width="80pt"|Total
! width="80pt"|%
|-
| align="right" | Total
| align="right" | 10 393 241
| align="right" | 11 116 202
| align="right" | 21 509 443
| align="right" | 100
|-
| align="right" | 0–4
| align="right" | 1 971 908
| align="right" | 1 860 417
| align="right" | 3 832 325
| align="right" | 17.82
|-
| align="right" | 5–9
| align="right" | 1 646 122
| align="right" | 1 589 070
| align="right" | 3 235 192
| align="right" | 15.04
|-
| align="right" | 10–14
| align="right" | 1 367 531
| align="right" | 1 390 910
| align="right" | 2 758 441
| align="right" | 12.82
|-
| align="right" | 15–19
| align="right" | 1 122 566
| align="right" | 1 204 719
| align="right" | 2 327 285
| align="right" | 10.82
|-
| align="right" | 20–24
| align="right" | 908 843
| align="right" | 1 033 776
| align="right" | 1 942 619
| align="right" | 9.03
|-
| align="right" | 25–29
| align="right" | 730 372
| align="right" | 884 547
| align="right" | 1 614 919
| align="right" | 7.51
|-
| align="right" | 30–34
| align="right" | 588 794
| align="right" | 728 172
| align="right" | 1 316 966
| align="right" | 6.12
|-
| align="right" | 35–39
| align="right" | 468 316
| align="right" | 586 269
| align="right" | 1 054 585
| align="right" | 4.90
|-
| align="right" | 40–44
| align="right" | 372 345
| align="right" | 466 984
| align="right" | 839 329
| align="right" | 3.90
|-
| align="right" | 45–49
| align="right" | 300 835
| align="right" | 370 491
| align="right" | 671 326
| align="right" | 3.12
|-
| align="right" | 50–54
| align="right" | 248 194
| align="right" | 293 790
| align="right" | 541 984
| align="right" | 2.52
|-
| align="right" | 55–59
| align="right" | 194 917
| align="right" | 224 363
| align="right" | 419 280
| align="right" | 1.95
|-
| align="right" | 60–64
| align="right" | 149 409
| align="right" | 164 492
| align="right" | 313 901
| align="right" | 1.46
|-
| align="right" | 65–69
| align="right" | 112 992
| align="right" | 120 551
| align="right" | 233 543
| align="right" | 1.09
|-
| align="right" | 70–74
| align="right" | 83 974
| align="right" | 84 008
| align="right" | 167 982
| align="right" | 0.78
|-
| align="right" | 75–79
| align="right" | 60 706
| align="right" | 51 775
| align="right" | 112 481
| align="right" | 0.52
|-
| align="right" | 80+
| align="right" | 65 417
| align="right" | 61 868
| align="right" | 127 285
| align="right" | 0.59
|-
! width="50"|Age group
! width="80pt"|Male
! width="80"|Female
! width="80"|Total
! width="50"|Percent
|-
| align="right" | 0–14
| align="right" | 4 985 561
| align="right" | 4 840 397
| align="right" | 9 825 958
| align="right" | 45.68
|-
| align="right" | 15–64
| align="right" | 5 084 591
| align="right" | 5 957 603
| align="right" | 11 042 194
| align="right" | 51.34
|-
| align="right" | 65+
| align="right" | 323 089
| align="right" | 318 202
| align="right" | 641 291
| align="right" | 2.98
|-
|}
Vital statistics
, fertility rate and net reproduction rate, United Nations estimates]]
Registration of vital events is not complete in Burkina Faso. The website Our World in Data prepared the following estimates based on statistics from the Population Department of the United Nations.
{| class"wikitable sortable" style"text-align:right"
!
! style="width:80pt;" |Mid-year population (thousands)
! style="width:80pt;" |Live births (thousands)
! style="width:80pt;" |Deaths (thousands)
! style="width:80pt;" |Natural change (thousands)
! style="width:80pt;" |Crude birth rate (per 1000)
! style="width:80pt;" |Crude death rate (per 1000)
! style="width:80pt;" |Natural change (per 1000)
! style="width:80pt;" |Total fertility rate (TFR)
! style="width:80pt;" |Infant mortality (per 1000 live births)
! style="width:80pt;" |Life expectancy (in years)
|-
|1950
|4 214
| 184
| 119
| 65
|43.5
|28.2
|15.3
|5.82
|170.1
|33.12
|-
|1951
| 4 262
| 188
| 119
| 68
|43.9
|27.9
|16.0
|5.87
|168.9
|33.38
|-
|1952
| 4 313
| 192
| 121
| 71
|44.3
|27.9
|16.4
|5.93
|167.8
|33.55
|-
|1953
| 4 364
| 195
| 121
| 74
|44.6
|27.8
|16.9
|5.98
|166.6
|33.85
|-
|1954
| 4 417
| 199
| 123
| 76
|44.9
|27.7
|17.2
|6.01
|165.2
|34.13
|-
|1955
| 4 473
| 202
| 124
| 79
|45.1
|27.6
|17.6
|6.06
|163.8
|34.45
|-
|1956
| 4 531
| 206
| 125
| 81
|45.4
|27.5
|17.8
|6.09
|162.3
|34.67
|-
|1957
| 4 591
| 210
| 126
| 83
|45.5
|27.4
|18.1
|6.13
|160.8
|34.97
|-
|1958
| 4 652
| 214
| 128
| 86
|45.8
|27.3
|18.5
|6.17
|159.3
|35.26
|-
|1959
| 4 715
| 218
| 128
| 89
|46.1
|27.2
|18.9
|6.22
|157.7
|35.61
|-
|1960
| 4 783
| 222
| 130
| 92
|46.3
|27.1
|19.2
|6.25
|156.2
|35.87
|-
|1961
| 4 853
| 226
| 131
| 95
|46.5
|26.9
|19.6
|6.29
|154.8
|36.24
|-
|1962
| 4 924
| 231
| 132
| 99
|46.7
|26.7
|20.0
|6.32
|153.5
|36.67
|-
|1963
| 4 999
| 235
| 133
| 102
|46.9
|26.5
|20.4
|6.36
|152.4
|36.97
|-
|1964
| 5 076
| 240
| 134
| 106
|47.2
|26.4
|20.8
|6.42
|151.2
|37.25
|-
|1965
| 5 158
| 245
| 135
| 110
|47.3
|26.1
|21.2
|6.47
|150.1
|37.69
|-
|1966
| 5 243
| 249
| 137
| 113
|47.5
|26.0
|21.5
|6.53
|149.1
|37.92
|-
|1967
| 5 331
| 254
| 138
| 117
|47.6
|25.8
|21.8
|6.59
|148.2
|38.29
|-
|1968
| 5 422
| 260
| 139
| 120
|47.8
|25.6
|22.1
|6.65
|147.3
|38.53
|-
|1969
| 5 516
| 263
| 140
| 123
|47.6
|25.4
|22.2
|6.66
|146.6
|38.86
|-
|1970
| 5 612
| 268
| 141
| 126
|47.6
|25.1
|22.4
|6.69
|145.4
|39.24
|-
|1971
| 5 708
| 272
| 142
| 129
|47.5
|24.9
|22.6
|6.70
|144.4
|39.56
|-
|1972
| 5 805
| 276
| 142
| 134
|47.5
|24.5
|23.0
|6.72
|142.6
|40.05
|-
|1973
| 5 908
| 282
| 143
| 139
|47.6
|24.1
|23.5
|6.77
|140.4
|40.55
|-
|1974
| 6 018
| 288
| 141
| 147
|47.7
|23.4
|24.3
|6.84
|137.3
|41.35
|-
|1975
| 6 138
| 295
| 140
| 155
|47.9
|22.7
|25.2
|6.91
|133.6
|42.31
|-
|1976
| 6 270
| 302
| 138
| 164
|48.1
|22.0
|26.1
|6.95
|129.6
|43.25
|-
|1977
| 6 417
| 312
| 137
| 175
|48.5
|21.4
|27.2
|7.05
|125.7
|44.15
|-
|1978
| 6 578
| 323
| 137
| 186
|49.0
|20.7
|28.3
|7.15
|122.1
|45.07
|-
|1979
| 6 750
| 333
| 136
| 196
|style="color:blue"|49.2
|20.2
|29.0
|7.19
|119.0
|45.90
|-
|1980
| 6 933
| 341
| 137
| 204
|49.1
|19.8
|29.4
|7.22
|116.3
|46.54
|-
|1981
| 7 124
| 350
| 139
| 211
|49.1
|19.5
|29.5
|style="color:blue"|7.26
|114.4
|46.87
|-
|1982
| 7 322
| 358
| 139
| 219
|48.9
|19.0
|29.9
|7.25
|112.1
|47.60
|-
|1983
| 7 531
| 367
| 140
| 227
|48.7
|18.6
|30.1
|7.25
|110.3
|48.09
|-
|1984
| 7 751
| 379
| 141
| 238
|48.8
|18.2
|30.6
|7.25
|108.5
|48.64
|-
|1985
| 7 979
| 390
| 143
| 247
|48.9
|17.9
|30.9
|7.24
|106.7
|48.95
|-
|1986
| 8 208
| 398
| 146
| 252
|48.5
|17.8
|30.7
|7.22
|104.8
|49.01
|-
|1987
| 8 435
| 406
| 149
| 257
|48.0
|17.7
|30.4
|7.17
|103.1
|49.06
|-
|1988
| 8 664
| 412
| 152
| 260
|47.5
|17.5
|30.0
|7.11
|101.7
|49.13
|-
|1989
| 8 895
| 419
| 155
| 265
|47.1
|17.3
|29.7
|7.05
|100.8
|49.17
|-
|1990
| 9 131
| 429
| 156
| 272
|46.8
|17.1
|29.8
|7.01
|100.2
|49.44
|-
|1991
| 9 365
| 438
| 160
| 279
|46.7
|17.0
|29.7
|6.97
|100.0
|49.45
|-
|1992
| 9 599
| 447
| 163
| 284
|46.4
|16.9
|29.5
|6.94
|99.8
|49.44
|-
|1993
| 9 840
| 455
| 167
| 288
|46.2
|17.0
|29.2
|6.89
|99.7
|49.21
|-
|1994
| 10 091
| 466
| 170
| 296
|46.1
|16.8
|29.3
|6.84
|99.3
|49.31
|-
|1995
| 10 353
| 478
| 173
| 305
|46.0
|16.7
|29.4
|6.81
|98.7
|49.45
|-
|1996
| 10 621
| 490
| 175
| 314
|46.0
|16.5
|29.5
|6.78
|97.6
|49.61
|-
|1997
| 10 897
| 500
| 180
| 319
|45.8
|16.5
|29.3
|6.72
|96.8
|49.40
|-
|1998
| 11 201
| 510
| 180
| 331
|45.5
|16.0
|29.5
|6.66
|95.0
|49.99
|-
|1999
| 11 534
| 523
| 181
| 342
|45.3
|15.7
|29.6
|6.59
|93.6
|50.33
|-
|2000
| 11 883
| 537
| 182
| 355
|45.2
|15.3
|29.9
|6.52
|92.1
|50.85
|-
|2001
| 12 250
| 549
| 185
| 364
|44.8
|15.1
|29.7
|6.43
|90.4
|51.07
|-
|2002
| 12 632
| 561
| 187
| 374
|44.5
|14.8
|29.6
|6.34
|88.8
|51.27
|-
|2003
| 13 031
| 579
| 188
| 391
|44.5
|14.4
|30.0
|6.28
|86.7
|51.79
|-
|2004
| 13 446
| 595
| 188
| 407
|44.2
|14.0
|30.3
|6.22
|84.1
|52.42
|-
|2005
| 13 876
| 614
| 187
| 426
|44.2
|13.5
|30.7
|6.18
|81.3
|53.09
|-
|2006
| 14 316
| 636
| 187
| 448
|44.4
|13.1
|31.3
|6.17
|78.6
|53.74
|-
|2007
| 14 757
| 652
| 187
| 466
|44.2
|12.6
|31.5
|6.11
|75.8
|54.38
|-
|2008
| 15 198
| 668
| 183
| 485
|43.9
|12.0
|31.9
|6.05
|72.7
|55.34
|-
|2009
| 15 650
| 682
| 182
| 500
|43.5
|11.6
|31.9
|5.99
|70.2
|55.96
|-
|2010
| 16 117
| 697
| 182
| 516
|43.2
|11.3
|style="color:blue"|32.0
|5.94
|67.8
|56.48
|-
|2011
| 16 603
| 712
| 180
| 531
|42.8
|10.8
|32.0
|5.87
|65.5
|57.13
|-
|2012
| 17 114
| 725
| 180
| 545
|42.3
|10.5
|31.8
|5.79
|63.6
|57.62
|-
|2013
| 17 636
| 736
| 182
| 554
|41.7
|10.3
|31.4
|5.70
|61.8
|57.82
|-
|2014
| 18 170
| 745
| 181
| 564
|41.0
|10.0
|31.0
|5.60
|60.0
|58.36
|-
|2015
| 18 718
| 751
| 180
| 570
|40.1
|9.6
|30.5
|5.48
|58.3
|58.85
|-
|2016
| 19 275
| 751
| 180
| 572
|39.0
|9.3
|29.7
|5.32
|56.7
|59.33
|-
|2017
| 19 836
| 752
| 181
| 571
|37.9
|9.1
|28.8
|5.16
|55.0
|59.54
|-
|2018
| 20 393
| 761
| 180
| 581
|37.3
|8.8
|28.5
|5.07
|53.5
|60.05
|-
|2019
| 20 962
| 720
| 180
| 540
|34.3
|8.6
|25.8
|4.68
|58.7
|60.2
|-
|2020
| 21 479
| 703
| 179
| 524
|32.7
|8.3
|24.4
|4.44
|57.0
|60,5
|-
|2021
| 21 995
| 713
| 186
| 527
|32.4
|8.4
|24.0
|4.36
|55.3
|60.0
|-
|2022
| 22 509
| 721
| 183
| 538
|32.0
|8.1
|23.9
|4.28
|53.8
|60.7
|-
|2023
| 23 026
| 729
| 183
| 545
|31.6
|8.0
|23.7
|4.28
|52.3
|61.1
|-
|}
Demographic and Health Surveys
Total Fertility Rate (TFR) (Wanted Fertility Rate) and Crude Birth Rate (CBR):
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! style="width:50pt;"| Year
! style="width:50pt;"| CBR (Total)
! style="width:50pt;"| TFR (Total)
! style="width:50pt;"| CBR (Urban)
! style="width:50pt;"| TFR (Urban)
! style="width:50pt;"| CBR (Rural)
! style="width:50pt;"| TFR (Rural)
|-
| 1993
| style="text-align:right;"| 43.0
| style="text-align:right;"| 6.9 (6.0)
| style="text-align:right;"| 39.0
| style="text-align:right;"| 5.0 (3.9)
| style="text-align:right;"| 43.0
| style="text-align:right;"| 7.3 (6.5)
|-
| 1998–99
| style="text-align:right;"| 45.1
| style="text-align:right;"| 6.8 (6.0)
| style="text-align:right;"| 32.6
| style="text-align:right;"| 4.1 (3.4)
| style="text-align:right;"| 47.0
| style="text-align:right;"| 7.3 (6.5)
|-
| 2003
| style="text-align:right;"| 42.6
| style="text-align:right;"| 6.2 (5.4)
| style="text-align:right;"| 32.4
| style="text-align:right;"| 3.7 (3.2)
| style="text-align:right;"| 44.5
| style="text-align:right;"| 6.9 (6.0)
|-
| 2010
| style="text-align:right;"| 41.2
| style="text-align:right;"| 6.0 (5.2)
| style="text-align:right;"| 33.3
| style="text-align:right;"| 3.9 (3.3)
| style="text-align:right;"| 43.3
| style="text-align:right;"| 6.7 (5.9)
|-
|2014
| style="text-align:right;"|38.6
| style="text-align:right;"|5.5
| style="text-align:right;"|33.6
| style="text-align:right;"|4.0
| style="text-align:right;"|40.2
| style="text-align:right;"|6.1
|-
|2017-18
| style="text-align:right;"|35.1
| style="text-align:right;"|5.2
| style="text-align:right;"|30.9
| style="text-align:right;"|3.7
| style="text-align:right;"|36.1
| style="text-align:right;"|5.6
|-
|2021
| style="text-align:right;"|30.7
| style="text-align:right;"|4.4 (4.2)
| style="text-align:right;"|28.4
| style="text-align:right;"|3.4 (3.3)
| style="text-align:right;"|31.6
| style="text-align:right;"|4.9 (4.6)
|-
|}
Fertility data as of 2013 (DHS Program):
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! style="width:100pt;"| Region
! style="width:100pt;"| Total fertility rate
! style="width:100pt;"| Percentage of women age 15-49 currently pregnant
! style="width:100pt;"| Mean number of children ever born to women age 40–49
|-
|Centre|| 3.7 || 6.8 || 5.3
|-
|Boucle du Mouhoun|| 6.8 || 10.8 || 7.1
|-
|Cascades|| 6.0 || 10.4 || 7.0
|-
|Centre-Est|| 6.3 || 8.1 || 6.6
|-
|Centre-Nord|| 6.7 || 10.7 || 7.1
|-
|Centre-Ouest|| 6.4 || 10.4 || 7.1
|-
|Centre-Sud|| 5.6 || 9.4 || 6.8
|-
|Est|| 7.5 || 15.0 || 7.9
|-
|Hauts Bassins|| 5.2 || 9.3 || 5.9
|-
|Nord|| 6.2 || 10.3 || 7.0
|-
|Plateau Central|| 5.8 || 9.4 || 6.8
|-
|Sahel|| 7.5 || 12.9 || 7.6
|-
|Sud-ouest|| 6.4 || 10.8 || 7.1
|}
Life expectancy at birth
:total population: 63.44 years
:male: 61.63 years
:female: 65.31 years (2022 est.)
:Total population: 63.06 years
:Male: 61.28 years
:Female: 64.89 years (2021 est.)
Ethnic groups
men in Bobo-Dioulasso]]
: Mossi 53.7%, Fulani (Peuhl) 6.8%, Gurunsi 5.9%, Bissa 5.4%, Gurma 5.2%, Bobo 3.4%, Senufo 2.2%, Bissa 1.5%, Lobi 1.5%, Tuareg/Bella 0.1%, other 12.8%, foreign 0.7% (2021 est.)
Languages
:French(official), native African languages belonging to Sudanic family spoken by 90% of the population
Religion
:Islam 61.5%, Roman Catholic 23.3%, Traditional/Animist 7.8%, Protestant 6.5%, Other/No Answer 0.2%, None 0.7% (2010 est.)
References
Attribution:
*
External links
* [http://www.insd.bf/n/ Institut National de la Statistique et de la Démographie]
Category:Society of Burkina Faso
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Burkina_Faso
|
2025-04-05T18:26:30.536034
|
3679
|
Politics of Burkina Faso
|
<!-- "none" is preferred when the title is sufficiently descriptive; see WP:SDNONE -->
}}
The Politics of Burkina Faso takes place in a framework of a semi-presidential republic, whereby the Prime Minister of Burkina Faso is the head of government, and of a multi-party system. The President of Burkina Faso is the head of state. Executive power is exercised by both the President and the Government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and parliament. The party system was dominated by the Congress for Democracy and Progress (CDP) until 2014. Burkina Faso's CDP fell victim to a series of demonstrations and riots, to alter the constitution and extend the former president's term in office - referred to as the 2014 Burkinabé uprising. The military then declared itself to be in power and the state shifted to an electoral autocracy. Burkina Faso lacks the foundation that would support a democracy, with its current transition to a military regime, but not all hope is lost. After an internal coup ousted Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba, the previous military head of state, a new transitional charter was adopted, naming Captain Ibrahim Traoré as president. Mr. Damiba's progressional failures on the state's security front “swung a majority of domestic opinion in favour of the MPSR”. Mr. Traoré pledged a major reinforcement of armed forces to strengthen frontline units and recruited over 3,000 more troops. As the violence becomes so entrenched, it is nonetheless expected that the security situation will remain dire in the medium term. “However, we expect that elections will still be held in 2024 as part of the army's plan to stabilise the security situation by boosting counter-terrorism operations.”
Important questions facing the state were the length of the MPSR rule, who would be president, and which institutions would run the country. Immediately after Mr. Damiba's ouster, the junta declared that it accepted a previous agreement to hold elections by July 2024, ending debate about the timeline. The MPSR initially suggested that the president might be "civilian or military", but widespread demonstrations expressed strong preferences for Mr. Traoré. This tilted the balance among contending military factions in his favor. Within the varieties of authoritarian regimes and transitions, we see how the rivalries between the officer corps and coups can be shaped by citizen preferences and with lots of time dedicated to internal consensus, democracy is one of the future.
Political history
ruled Burkina Faso from a coup d'état in 1987 to his resignation in 2014.]]
In 1990, the Popular Front held its first National Congress, which formed a committee to draft a national constitution. The constitution was approved by referendum in 1991. In 1992, Blaise Compaoré was elected president, running unopposed after the opposition boycotted the election because of Compaoré's refusal to accede to demands of the opposition such as a Sovereign National Conference to set modalities. The opposition did participate in the following year's legislative elections, in which the ODP/MT won a majority of the seats contested for.
The government of the Fourth Republic includes a strong presidency, a prime minister, a Council of Ministers presided over by the president, a National Assembly, and the judiciary. The legislature and judiciary are independent but remain susceptible to outside influence.
In 1995, Burkina held its first multiparty municipal elections since it gained independence. The president's ODP/MT won over 1,100 of some 1,700 councilor seats being contested.
In February 1996, the ruling ODP/MT merged with several small opposition parties to form the Congress for Democracy and Progress (CDP). This effectively co-opted much of what little viable opposition to Compaoré existed. The remaining opposition parties regrouped in preparation for 1997 legislative elections and the 1998 presidential election. The 1997 legislative elections, which international observers pronounced to be substantially free, fair, and transparent, resulted in a large CDP majority—101 to 111 seats.
In January 2022 a coup d'état took place, the military announced on television that Kaboré had been deposed from his position as president. After the announcement, the military declared that the parliament, government and constitution had been dissolved. On 31 January, the military junta restored the constitution and appointed Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba as interim president. A few months later, On 30 September 2022, Damiba was himself ousted by Ibrahim Traoré, his military colleague. President Damiba resigned and left the country. On 6 October 2022, Captain Ibrahim Traore was officially appointed as president of Burkina Faso.
Government
Executive branch
|President
|Ibrahim Traoré
|Military
|30 September 2022
|-
|Prime Minister
|Apollinaire Joachim Kyélem de Tambèla
|None
|21 October 2022
|}
The president is elected by popular vote for a five-year term and may serve up to two terms. The prime minister is appointed by the president with the consent of the legislature. The constitution of 2 June 1991, established a semi-presidential government with a parliament () which can be dissolved by the President of the Republic, who is elected for a term of 5 years.
The year 2000 saw a constitutional amendment reducing the presidential term from seven to five years, which was enforced during the 2005 elections. Another change according to the amendment would have prevented sitting president Blaise Compaoré from being re-elected. However, notwithstanding a challenge by other presidential candidates, in October 2005, the constitutional council ruled that because Compaoré was already a sitting president in 2000, the amendment would not apply to him until the end of his second term in office, thereby clearing the way for his candidacy in the 2005 election. On 13 November Compaoré was reelected in a landslide due to a divided political opposition.
In 2010, Compaoré was once again re-elected, and the term limit requirement was held to not apply to him. A proposed constitutional amendment in 2014 would have permitted him to run again, but public resistance led to the 2014 Burkinabé uprising, and Compaoré resigned on 31 October 2014. A transitional government headed by President Michel Kafando and Prime Minister Isaac Zida took power for a one-year mandate. Elections were to have been held in October 2015, but members of the Regiment of Presidential Security launched a coup on 16 September 2015, detaining President Kafando and Prime Minister Zida. RSP commander Gilbert Diendéré named himself the head of the new military junta, but popular resistance, backed by army and gendarmerie forces not aligned with the RSP, forced his resignation and the restoration of the transitional government a week later.
Council of Ministers
The Burkinabe Council of Ministers nominated on 5 March 2022 included prime minister Albert Ouédraogo and 25 ministers.
Legislative branch
According to the constitution, the Parliament votes on the law, consents to taxation, and controls the actions of the government under provisions of the constitution. The Parliament, which is made up of the National Assembly and Senate, meets each year in two ordinary sessions, each of which may not exceed ninety days. The first session opens on the first Wednesday of March and the second the last Wednesday of September. If either of these days lands on a holiday, the session opens the next first working day. Each chamber of Parliament meets in extraordinary session on request of the President, demand of the Prime Minister, or of an absolute majority of half of the Deputies or Senators on a specific agenda and closes at the completion of said agenda.
The National Assembly (Assemblée Nationale) has 111 members, named Deputies, and are elected for a five-year term by proportional representation.
The Senate, as described in the Constitution of Burkina Faso, would consist of representatives from local government divisions, customary and religious authorities, workers, employers, Burkinabes abroad and people appointed by the President of Burkina Faso and serve a term of six years. The constitution requires that anyone elected or appointed must be 45 years old by the day of the ballot. With Senate elections being held in July 2013, government opposition groups warned against a legislative body with a majority of handpicked sympathizers by the president. Compaoré was successful in appointing 1/3rd of the Senate, prompting protesters rallying in the streets of Bobo-Dioulasso and the capital Ouagadougou to protest the establishment of the Senate, which has since been postponed.
The Presidents of both the Senate and National Assembly are elected for the duration of the legislator by an absolute majority of half the chamber in the first round of voting, or a simple majority in the second round. Their functions can be terminated during the course of a legislature at the demand of two-fifths and a vote of the absolute majority of the members of the Assembly. In the case of vacancy of the presidency of either chamber of Parliament by death, resignation, or other reason, said chamber elects a new president by the same method. Each chamber has financial autonomy, with the President of the said chamber managing the credits allocated to them for the functioning of the chamber, but with a vote of the absolute majority, the chamber can dismiss the President for incompetence in managing finances.<ref name=BurkinaFasoConst />
Unless discovered in flagrante delicto, any member of Parliament can only be prosecuted or arrested in a penal or criminal matter with the authorization of at least one-third members of the chamber which they reside.<ref nameBurkinaFasoConst />Political parties and elections
* 2020 Burkinabé general election
Political pressure groups
Burkinabé General Confederation of Labor (CGTB); Burkinabé Movement for Human Rights (HBDHP); Group of 14 February; National Confederation of Burkinabé Workers (CNTB); National Organization of Free Unions (ONSL); watchdog/political action groups throughout the country in both organizations and communities
Administrative divisions
Burkina Faso is divided into 13 regions and 45 provinces:
Regions:
* Boucle du Mouhoun, Cascades, Centre, Centre-Est, Centre-Nord, Centre-Ouest, Centre-Sud, Est, Hauts-Bassins, Nord, Plateau-Central, Sahel, Sud-Ouest
Provinces:
*Balé, Bam, Banwa, Bazega, Bougouriba, Boulgou, Boulkiemde, Comoé, Ganzourgou, Gnagna, Gourma, Houet, Ioba, Kadiogo, Kenedougou, Komondjari, Kompienga, Kossi, Koulpelogo, Kouritenga, Kourweogo, Leraba, Loroum, Mouhoun, Namentenga, Nahouri, Nayala, Noumbiel, Oubritenga, Oudalan, Passore, Poni, Sanguie, Sanmatenga, Séno, Sissili, Soum, Sourou, Tapoa, Tuy, Yagha, Yatenga, Ziro, Zondoma, Zoundweogo
International organization participation
ACCT, ACP, AfDB, AU, ECA, ECOWAS, Entente, FAO, G-77, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ITUC, ICRM, IDA, IDB, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, Intelsat, Interpol, IOC, ITU, NAM, OAU, OIC, OPCW, PCA, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UPU, WADB, WADB (regional), WAEMU, WCO, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTOO, WTrO.International relationships
The ambassador of Burkina Faso to Canada is Juliette Bonkoungou.
The ambassador of Burkina Faso to Mexico is Jonathan Hodgson.
The former ambassador of Burkina Faso to the United States was Tertius Zongo, he left his post when appointed Prime Minister in July 2007; the US Ambassador to Burkina Faso is Andrew Robert Young.
See also
* 2019 Burkina Faso government resignation
Notes
Further reading
* Grotz, Florian (1999), Nohlen, Dieter; Thibaut, Bernard; Krennerich, Michael (eds.), "Burkina Faso." in Elections in Africa: A Data Handbook, Oxford University Press.
References
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Politics_of_Burkina_Faso
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Economy of Burkina Faso
|
| population 19,751,535 (2018)
| gdp = $21.076 billion (nominal, 2023 est.)
* $63.808 billion (PPP, 2023 est.)}}
| per capita = $900 (nominal, 2023 est.)
* $2,726 (PPP, 2023 est.)
*43.7% on less than $1.90/day (2014)}}
| gini 35.3 (2014)
| hdi = 0.449 (2021) (184nd)
*0.315 IHDI (2021)}}
| labor = 8,074,705 (2021)
*a large part of the male labor force migrates annually to neighboring countries for seasonal employment
*61.4% employment rate (2014)}}
| occupations = agriculture 90%, industry and services 10% (2000 est.)
| unemployment = 5% (2023)
| industries = cotton, beverages, agricultural processing, soap, cigarettes, textiles, gold
| edbr 151st (below average, 2020)
| exports = $3.14 billion (2017 est.)
| export-goods = gold, cotton, livestock, sesame seeds
| export-partners = 25.9%
* 12%
* 5.7%
* 5.6%
* 5.1%
* 4.9%
* 4.6%
*(2013 est.)}}
| imports = $3.305 billion (2017 est.)
| import-goods = capital goods, foodstuffs, petroleum
| import-partners = 18.9%
* 18.1%
* 4.5%
* 4.3%
* 4.3%
* 4.2%
*(2013 est.)}}
| gross external debt = $2.442 billion (31 December 2012)
| FDI = n/av
| debt = 38.1% of GDP (2017 est.)
| revenue = $2.666 billion (2017 est.)
| expenses = $3.655 billion (2017 est.)
| credit =
| reserves = $0.049 billion (31 December 2017)
| cianame = burkina-faso
| spelling =
}}
The economy of Burkina Faso is based primarily on subsistence farming and livestock raising. Burkina Faso has an average income purchasing-power-parity per capita of $1,900 and nominal per capita of $790 in 2014. More than 80% of the population relies on subsistence agriculture with only a small fraction directly involved in industry and services. Highly variable rainfall, poor soils, lack of adequate communications and other infrastructure, a low literacy rate, and a stagnant economy are all longstanding problems of this landlocked country. The export economy also remained subject to fluctuations in world prices.
The country has a high population density, few natural resources, and a fragile soil. Industry remains dominated by unprofitable government-controlled corporations. Following the African franc currency devaluation in January 1994 the government updated its development program in conjunction with international agencies, and exports and economic growth have increased. Maintenance of its macroeconomic progress depends on continued low inflation, reduction in the trade deficit, and reforms designed to encourage private investment.
The Burkinabé financial system represents 30% of the country's GDP and is dominated by the banking sector, which accounts for 90% of total financial system assets. Eleven banks and five non-bank financial institutions operate in the country.
The banking sector is highly concentrated, with the three largest banks holding nearly 60% of total financial sector assets. Banks are generally adequately capitalized, but remain vulnerable due to their overexposure to the cotton sector, the prices of which are subject to significant oscillations.
A December 2018 report from the World Bank indicates that cotton had become the most important cash crop, while gold exports were increasing in recent years. In 2017, economic growth increased to 6.4% in 2017 (vs. 5.9% in 2016) primarily due to gold production and increased investment in infrastructure. The increase in consumption linked to growth of the wage bill also supported economic growth. Inflation remained low, 0.4% that year but the public deficit grew to 7.7% of GDP (vs. 3.5% in 2016). The government was continuing to get financial aid and loans to finance the debt. To finance the public deficit, the Government combined concessional aid and borrowing on the regional market. The World Bank said that the economic outlook remained favorable in the short and medium term, although that could be negatively impacted. Risks included high oil prices (imports), lower prices of gold and cotton (exports) as well as terrorist threat and labour strikes.Macro-economic trend{| class"wikitable"
|+Gross Domestic Product of Burkina Faso at market prices estimated by the International Monetary Fund with figures in millions of CFA Francs.
! Year || Gross Domestic Product || US Dollar Exchange || Inflation Index (2000=100)
|-
| 1980 || 412,240 || 211.29 CFA Francs || 45
|-
| 1985 || 642,387 || 449.22 CFA Francs || 67
|-
| 1990 || 848,910 || 272.26 CFA Francs || 65
|-
| 1995 || 1,330,159 || 499.12 CFA Francs || 88
|-
| 2000 || 1,861,522 || 711.86 CFA Francs || 100
|-
| 2005 || 3,027,196 || 526.56 CFA Francs || 115
|}
For purchasing power parity comparisons, the US Dollar is exchanged at 470.70 CFA Francs only. Mean wages were $0.56 per man-hour in 2009.
Current GDP per capita of Burkina Faso grew 13% in the Sixties reaching a peak growth of 237% in the Seventies. But this proved unsustainable and growth consequently scaled back to 23% in the Eighties. Finally, it shrank by 37% in the Nineties. Average wages in 2007 hover around 2 to 3 dollars per day.
Although disadvantaged by an extremely resource-deprived domestic economy, Burkina Faso remains committed to the structural adjustment program it launched in 1991. It has largely recovered from the devaluation of the CFA in January 1994, with a 1996 growth rate of 5.9%.
Many Burkinabé migrate to neighbouring countries for work, and their remittances provide a substantial contribution to the balance of payments. Burkina Faso is attempting to improve the economy by developing its mineral resources, improving its infrastructure, making its agricultural and livestock sectors more productive and competitive, and stabilizing the supplies and prices of cereals.
The agricultural economy remains highly vulnerable to fluctuations in rainfall. The Mossi Plateau in north central Burkina Faso faces encroachment from the Sahara. The resultant southward migration means heightened competition for control of very limited water resources south of the Mossi Plateau. Most of the population ekes out a living as subsistence farmers, living with problems of climate, soil erosion, and rudimentary technology. The staple crops are pearl millet, sorghum, maize, and rice. The cash crops are cotton, groundnuts, karite (shea nuts), and sesame. Livestock, once a major export, has declined.
A 2018 report by the African Development Bank Group discussed a macroeconomic evolution: "higher investment and continued spending on social services and security that will add to the budget deficit". This group's prediction for 2018 indicated that the budget deficit would be reduced to 4.8% of GDP in 2018 and to 2.9% in 2019. Public debt associated with the National Economic and Social Development Plan was estimated at 36.9% of GDP in 2017.Agriculture
Burkina Faso produced in 2018:
* 1.9 million tons of sorghum;
* 1.7 million tons of maize;
* 1.1 million tons of millet;
* 630 thousand tons of cowpea (3rd largest producer in the world, preceded only by Niger and Nigeria);
* 490 thousand tons of sugar cane;
* 482 thousand tons of cotton;
* 329 thousand tons of peanut;
* 253 thousand tons of sesame seed (8th largest producer in the world);
* 240 thousand tons of vegetable;
* 160 thousand tons of rice;
* 103 thousand tons of cashew nuts (12th largest producer in the world);
In addition to smaller productions of other agricultural products.
External trade
Industry, still in an embryonic stage, is located primarily in Bobo-Dioulasso, Ouagadougou, Banfora, and Koudougou. Manufacturing is limited to food processing, textiles, and other import substitution heavily protected by tariffs. Some factories are privately owned, and others are set to be privatized. Burkina Faso's exploitable natural resources are limited, although a manganese ore deposit is located in the remote northeast. Gold mining has increased greatly since the mid-1980s and, along with cotton, is a leading export moneyearner. However, both gold and cotton are listed as goods produced mostly by child labor and forced labor according to a recent U.S. Department of Labor report.
Child labour
See also
*Agriculture in Burkina Faso
*List of companies based in Burkina Faso
*United Nations Economic Commission for Africa
*List of banks in Burkina Faso
References
*
External links
* [http://www.resimao.org West African Agricultural Market Observer/Observatoire du Marché Agricole (RESIMAO)], a project of the West-African Market Information Network (WAMIS-NET), provides live market and commodity prices from fifty seven regional and local public agricultural markets across Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire, Guinea, Niger, Mali, Senegal, Togo, and Nigeria. Sixty commodities are tracked weekly. The project is run by the Benin Ministry of Agriculture, and a number of European, African, and United Nations agencies.
* [http://www.trademap.org/open_access/Index.aspx?proceedtrue&reporter854 Burkina Faso latest trade data on ITC Trade Map]
Burkina Faso
Burkina Faso
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Telecommunications in Burkina Faso
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<!-- "none" is preferred when the title is sufficiently descriptive; see WP:SDNONE -->
Telecommunications in Burkina Faso include radio, television, fixed and mobile telephones, and the Internet.
The telephony market in Burkina Faso is still relatively underdeveloped. Although mobile penetration is just over 100%, it is still below the African average. Fixed-line telephony and internet connections are very low, due in large part to poor network infrastructure. The government has a number of policies intended to improve the levels of investment and usage of networks but the impact of the SARS-Cov2 pandemic has hampered such efforts.
Radio is the country's most popular communications medium. Use of telecommunications in Burkina Faso are extremely low, limited due to the low penetration of electricity, even in major cities. There were just 141,400 fixed line phones in use in 2012, in a country with a population of 17.4 million. Use of mobile phones has skyrocketed from 1.0 million lines in 2006 to 10 million in 2012. Internet use is also low, with only 3.7 users per 100 inhabitants in 2012, just over 643,000 users total. The Internet penetration rate in Africa as a whole was 16 users per 100 inhabitants in 2013.
Regulation and control
The constitution and law provide for freedom of speech and of the press, and the government generally respects these rights in practice. state-owned radio runs a national and regional network; substantial number of privately owned radio stations; transmissions of several international broadcasters available in Ouagadougou (2007).
* Television stations: 14 digital channels, 2 of them are state-owned by the broadcaster Radio Télévision du Burkina (2019).Telephones
* Calling code: +226
* Main lines:
** 141,400 lines in use (2012);
Early Development of the Mobile Market
The state-run Office National Des Telecommunications (ONATEL) launched the first mobile network based on CDMA2000 technology in 1998.
Competition was introduced to the mobile telephone segment in 2000 with the introduction of new GSM network operators Celtel, Télécel Faso and ONATEL's Telmob. This pushed rates down even as density and coverage area increased.
Use of mobile phones grew quickly in the 2000s, growing from 2,700 subscribers in 1998, to 1.0 million in 2006,
ARPU remained low, however, as mobile subscribers adopted behaviours such as "flashing" to minimize their costs and Burkina Faso's ancient oral tradition and talking drum culture harmonized with the introduction of mobile phone technologies. Additionally, mobile phone owners acquired status by being able to lend their phones to others in their communities. and from July 1, 2019, Maroc Telecom consolidated Onatel, Mauritel, Gabon Télécom, Sotelma, Casanet, AT Côte d'Ivoire, Etisalat Benin, AT Togo, AT Niger, AT Centrafrique, and Tigo Tchad in its accounts.
In January 2021, Maroc Telecom rebranded all of its African subsidiaries as Moov Africa.
In 2005, Celtel was acquired by the Kuwaiti Zain Group.
In 2010, Zain Group decided to sell most of the Celtel group to Indian group Bharti Airtel, which rebranded Celtel as Airtel Burkina Faso.
On June 2016, Orange S.A. acquired the network and 4.6M subscribers of Airtel Burkina Faso. Following an ambitious network modernization plan, 9 months later the network rebranded as Orange Burkina Faso boasting a subscriber base of 6.3M.
According to the website of the Communication Regulator of Burkina Faso,
** 178,100 users, 144th in the world (2009);
* Wireless broadband: Unknown (2012).
* Internet hosts:
** 1,795, 164th in the world (2012);
* Internet Service Providers: 1 ISP (1999).
Internet use is low, but the sector began to improve following installation of a 22 Mbit/s fiber optic international link, a vast improvement over the previous 128 kbit/s link. Secondary access nodes began to appear in major cities, and cybercafés were providing Internet access to a broader spectrum of end users.
ONATEL's FasoNet is the country's leading wired Internet service provider, dominating the broadband market with its ADSL and EV-DO fixed-wireless offerings.
The mobile operators are offering data services using GPRS and EDGE technology, and third generation (3G) mobile broadband technology was not introduced until 2013 by Bharti Airtel.
A March 2013 ITU Study on international Internet connectivity in sub-Saharan Africa reports that the Burkina Faso "Internet market is not sufficiently dynamic and competitive" and that the high costs for Internet capable mobile phones (more than six times the cost of a basic mobile phone) and mobile Internet subscriptions (up to seven times the cost for basic mobile) limit the number of Internet users.
Internet censorship and surveillance
There are no government restrictions on access to the Internet; however, the Superior Council of Communication (SCC) monitors Internet Web sites and discussion forums to ensure compliance with existing regulations. For example, in May 2012 the SCC issued a warning to a Web site on which a user had allegedly insulted President Compaore in an Internet forum.
The constitution and law provide for freedom of speech and of the press, and the government generally respects these rights in practice. The law prohibits persons from insulting the head of state or using derogatory language with respect to the office; however, individuals criticize the government publicly or privately without reprisal.<ref name=USDOS-CRHRP-BurkinaFaso-2012/>
The constitution and law prohibit arbitrary interference with privacy, family, home, or correspondence, and the government generally respects these prohibitions in practice. In cases of national security, however, the law permits surveillance, searches, and monitoring of telephones and private correspondence without a warrant.<ref nameUSDOS-CRHRP-BurkinaFaso-2012/>See also
* Radio Télévision du Burkina, national broadcaster of Burkina Faso.
* Maroc Telecom, a 51% owner of ONATEL since December 2006.
* List of terrestrial fibre optic cable projects in Africa
* Media in Burkina Faso
* Economy of Burkina Faso
References
*
*
External links
* [http://www.artel.bf/ Autorité de régulation des communications électroniques] (ARCE, Regulatory authority for electronic communications) , registrar for the .bf domain.
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Transport in Burkina Faso
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<!-- "none" is preferred when the title is sufficiently descriptive; see WP:SDNONE -->
Transport in Burkina Faso consists primarily of road, air and rail transportation. The World Bank classified country's transportation as underdeveloped but noted that Burkina Faso is a natural geographic transportation hub for West Africa.
Highways
In 2002, there were a total of of highway in Burkina Faso, of which are paved.
In 2000, the Government of Burkina Faso classified 15,000 kilometers of road as part of the national road network managed under the Ministry of Infrastructures Transport and Housing (MITH) through the Directorate of Roads (DGR). This network includes main inter-city roads and access roads for départments' capital cities. Only ten of the network's main roads are even partially paved, and the paved roads are plagued by dangerous potholes, missing signage, missing barriers and guardrails near roadside hazards, and no pavement markings to separate traffic moving in opposite directions
As of May 2011 the country's road infrastructure was rated by the World Bank to be in relatively good condition and noted that country was regional hub with paved roads linking the country to Mali, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo, and Niger.
Air transport
There are international airports at Ouagadougou and Bobo-Dioulasso and numerous smaller airfields. In 2004, the number of airports totaled 23, only 2 of which had paved runways as of 2005. Air Burkina, which began in 1967, is government-run and has a monopoly on domestic service but also flies to neighboring countries.
Ouagadougou airport handles about 98% percent of all scheduled commercial air traffic in Burkina Faso. Air Burkina and Air France handle about 60% of all scheduled passenger traffic. approximately 35 km northeast of Ouagadougou. The new airport is expected to be completed around 2018 and the government received an $85 million loan from the World Bank to help finance the construction. Railways
There are 622 kilometres of railway in Burkina Faso, of which 517 km run from Ouagadougou to Abidjan, Ivory Coast; and 105 km from Ouagadougou to Kaya. As of June 2014 Sitarail operates a passenger train three times a week along the route from Ouagadougou to Abidjan via Banfora, Bobo-Dioulasso and Koudougou.
All of the railways in the country are of . Only Ivory Coast is connected to Burkina Faso by rail.
Instability in Ivory Coast in 2003 forced a rerouting of rail freight from the Abidjan corridor to ports in Togo, Benin, and Ghana via the road network. A proposed rail link between Ouagadougou and Pô in Burkina Faso and Kumasi and Boankra in Ghana, has been discussed with Ghanaian officials, and feasibility studies are being undertaken to explore this possibility, which would provide rail access to the inland port of Bonakra. Burkina Faso and Ghana use different rail gauges and this break-of-gauge can be overcome to a greater or lesser extent with a number of methods.
In 2006, an Indian proposal surfaced to link the railways in Benin and Togo with landlocked Niger and Burkina Faso. Additionally, a Czech proposal also surfaced to link Ghana railways with Burkina Faso. The manganese deposits near Dori are one source of traffic. Burkina Faso would also be a participant in the AfricaRail project.
In May, 2011 the World Bank reported that Sitarail had recovered well from the political crisis in Ivory Coast but was experiencing financial distress, needed to re-balance its financial structure and find alternative funding for rehabilitation backlog.
}}
External links
* [https://www.un.org/Depts/Cartographic/map/profile/burkina.pdf UN Map of Burkina Faso]
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Burkina Faso Armed Forces
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| headquarters = Ouagadougou
| commander-in-chief = Captain Ibrahim Traoré
| commander-in-chief_title = Commander-in-chief
| minister = Colonel Kassoum Coulibaly
| minister_title = Minister of Defense and Veteran Affairs
| commander = Colonel-Major Célestin Simporé
| commander_title = Chief of General Staff
| website =
| deployed | amount $450 million (2019)
| percent_GDP 2.2% (2019)
| founded | current_form 1985
| disbanded | branches Burkina Faso Ground Force<br />Air Force of Burkina Faso<br />National Gendarmerie<br />People's Militia
| manpower_age | active 15,500 (Army 10,000, Air 500, Gendarmerie 5,000; 2023) On April 18, 2011, it was reported that the mutiny had spread to Kaya after demonstrations in Pô and Tenkodogo. On April 29, 2011, the army said the mutiny would end after Compaoré promised to improve the military's housing, clothing and food allowances, though there were later protests by soldiers.
After a coup by members of the Regiment of Presidential Security on September 16, 2015, army units marched on Ouagadougou to oppose the coup, resulting in the restoration of Burkina Faso's transitional government (which was appointed after the 2014 Burkinabe uprising) on September 23, 2015.
In a coup attempt on January 24, 2022, mutinying soldiers arrested President Roch Kabore following gunfire.
On April 20, 2023, the 3rd Battalion of the Rapid Intervention Brigade committed the Karma massacre, rounding up and executing between 60 and 156 civilians, including women and children.Ground forces
(2010)]]
The Army of Burkina Faso (''L'Armée de Terre or LAT – Ground Forces) is a skeletonised force structure of some 5,800–6,000 officers and men, augmented by a conscript force or People's Militia'' of some 45,000 men and women. Unlike the police and security forces, the Army and the People's Militia are organised along Soviet/Chinese models and precepts. The Army is equipped with light wheeled armoured cars, some mounting cannons.
The International Institute for Strategic Studies estimated in 2011–12 that Burkina Faso had 6,400 personnel in ''L'Armée de Terre'' in three military regions, one tank battalion (two tank platoons), five infantry regiments that may be under-strength, and an airborne regiment. Artillery and engineer battalions are also listed.
In recent years, the United States has begun providing military assistance and training to Burkina Faso's ground forces. It has trained three 750-man battalions for peace support operations in Darfur. During a recent UN inspection, a U.S. Department of Defense evaluation team found Burkina's Laafi battalion fit to deploy to Sudan. Using a small Department of Defense International Military Education and Training (IMET) budget, the U.S. Embassy has established English-language courses at an LAT military base, and has brought LAT officers to attend officer basic training courses in the U.S. The government of Burkina Faso has also accepted additional U.S. training assistance in counter-terrorism tactics and humanitarian assistance. Burkina Faso has recently become a member of the Trans-Sahara Counterterrorism Partnership (TSCTP).
]]
Three years of increasingly frequent and deadly attacks, by various jihadist groups, prompted the replacement of the Army Chief of Staff, Sadou Oumarou, appointed three years ago with the same mandate, with General Moise Minoungou on 6 January 2019.
There is a multi-national training camp in Loumbila Department, staffed by Czech and Polish instructors.EquipmentAir Force
used by the Air Force]]
The Air Force was founded in 1964 as the Escadrille de la République de Haute-Volta (EHV) or the Republic of Upper Volta Air Squadron, a subordinate unit of the Army. That year, a transient air support base was created with the assistance of the French Air Force. After acquiring an initial fleet of utility and transport aircraft, the squadron was attached to an inter-army support regiment. In 1970, the Escadrille was renamed the Force Aérienne de Haute-Volta, or FAHV, and in 1977 became an autonomous force. In October 1985, the Force Aérienne du Burkina Faso, or FABF, was officially inaugurated.
The EHV was initially formed with two Douglas C-47 Skytrain and three MH.1521M Broussard aircraft. These were later followed by two Alouette III SA.316 B helicopters, used mostly for liaison purposes, one twin-engined Aero Commander 500 light utility aircraft, two Hawker-Siddeley HS.748-2A twin turboprop transport aircraft, and two Nord 262 twin turboprop transport aircraft. Two escadrilles (squadrons) or sub-formations were created: the Escadrille de Transport (Transport Unit), and the ''Escadrille d'Hélicoptères (Helicopter Unit). Later, the Escadrille d'Entraînement (Training Unit) was added. All squadrons were initially based at Ouagadougou.
In mid-1984, Libyan military aid brought eight Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21 jet fighters, along with two MiG-21U combat trainer versions. These ex-Libyan Air Force MiG-21 "Fishbed" fighters were based in Ouagadougou, although they were actually operated by the Libyan Air Force on loan by Libya, and were removed in 1985 without seeing combat. A single MiG-17F Fresco that was also operated by the FABF did see combat service in the Agacher Strip War in 1985–86.
In 1985, the FABF also acquired two ex-Soviet Mi-4 transport helicopters from an unknown supplier, followed by an additional two Mi-4s. The Mi-4s were operated by the FABF until the late 1980s, when they were taken out of service. Five Mi-8/17 transport helicopters were later added to the Escadrille d'Hélicoptères. While supervising the ceasefire after the Agacher Strip War, an FABF SA.316B Alouette III crashed at Kouni on 14 January 1986, leaving only one SA.316B still in service with the Escadrille d'Hélicoptères.
In 1986, the FABF formed a new unit, the Escadrille de Chasse'' (EdC) (Attack Unit). In mid-1986 six ex-Philippine Air Force SF.260WP Warrior armed trainers/light strike aircraft were acquired from a dealer in Belgium, which offered the FABF a much simpler and less expensive alternative in tactical air support to the expensive MiGs. The Warriors were not only used for pilot training, but also as light strike aircraft, and a number of them were employed by the FABF's Escadrille de Chasse (EdC). Four additional SF.260WPs were subsequently bought directly from Italy. The six ex-Philippine SF.260WP aircraft were taken out of service in 1993 and returned to their previous owner, although the four newly built SF.260WP aircraft were retained in service, and stationed at Bobo Dioulasso air base.
Most of the other light aircraft acquired by the FABF in the 1970s and 1980s have also now been retired along with the Mi-4 helicopters, but some recent acquisitions have been made, including a Beechcraft King Air, a Piper PA-34 Seneca, a CEAPR Robin light training aircraft, and a single Air Tractor AT-802 aerial sprayer aircraft for spraying insecticides, purchased after the northern part of the country suffered heavy crop damage from a 2004 invasion of swarming locusts. In 2009, two Xenon Gyroplane autogyros were purchased for use by police and security forces.
In late 2005, the FABF acquired two Mil Mi-35 "Hind" attack helicopters from Russia in an apparent response to moves by neighbouring Ivory Coast to bolster its own air attack capabilities during the Ivorian Civil War.
Aircraft
{| class="wikitable"
! style="text-align:center; background:#acc;"|Aircraft
! style="text-align: center; background:#acc;"|Origin
! style="text-align:l center; background:#acc;"|Type
! style="text-align:left; background:#acc;"|Variant
! style="text-align:center; background:#acc;"|In service
! style="text-align: center; background:#acc;"|Notes
|-
! style"align: center; background: lavender;" colspan"7" | Combat aircraft
|-
| Embraer EMB-314
| Brazil
| Light attack
|
| 3
|
|-
! style"align: center; background: lavender;" colspan"7" | Reconnaissance
|-
| Diamond DA42
| Austria
| Surveillance
|
| 1
|-
| Eurocopter AS350
| France
| Utility
|
| 8
| Also provides surveillance
|-
! colspan="6" |Unmanned aerial vehicle
|-
|Bayraktar TB2
|Turkey
|UCAV
|
|5
|
|-
|Bayraktar Akıncı
|Turkey
|UCAV
|
|2
|
|}
References
Sources
*World aircraft information files, Brightstar publishing London File 338 sheet 4
Further reading
*Alan Bryden, Boubacar N'Diaye, 'Security Sector Governance in Francophone West Africa: Realities and Opportunities,' DCAF/Lit Verlag, 2011.
*Cooper, Tom & Weinert, Peter (2010). African MiGs: Volume I: Angola to Ivory Coast. Harpia Publishing LLC. .
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burkina_Faso_Armed_Forces
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Foreign relations of Burkina Faso
|
Burkina Faso has good relations with the European Union, African and certain Asian countries.
According to the U.S. State Department, "U.S. relations with Burkina Faso are good but subject to strains in the past because of the Compaoré government's past involvement in arms trading and other sanctions-breaking activity." Burkina Faso cut diplomatic ties with Taiwan in May 2018 (being the most populous state to do so in the 21st century) and the foreign ministry of China stated it approved of its decision.
Burkina Faso's relations with its West African neighbors have improved in recent years. Relations with Ghana, in particular, have warmed. President Compaoré had mediated a political crisis in Togo and helped to resolve the Tuareg conflict in Niger. Burkina maintains cordial relations with Libya, but recalled its in ambassador in 2017 over issues of treatment of migrants trying to reach Europe, and the reemergence of the slave trade there. A territorial dispute with Mali was mediated by Ghana and Nigeria, which has led to lessening of tensions between the two nations.
Nineteen provinces of Burkina Faso are joined with contiguous areas of Mali and Niger under the Liptako–Gourma Authority, a regional economic organization. As of 7/6/24, Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger have turned away from the West African bloc ECOWAS to pursue their own confederation of junta states, which they claim is to create a "community of sovereign peoples far from the control of foreign powers. A community of peace, solidarity, prosperity based on our African values."
Burkina Faso is also a member of the International Criminal Court with a bilateral immunity agreement of protection for the United States-military (as covered under Article 98).
Diplomatic relations
List of countries which Burkina Faso maintains diplomatic relations with:
frameless|425x425px#CountryDate1346710111415171820212224252628303334353637384243444547484950515254575860616365666768697072767779808183848586878990929495100101103104106107108112115117119123125129—135136137138139140141142143144146147148149154Unknown155Unknown—Unknown156Unknown
Bilateral relations
Country Formal Relations BeganNotes1970Austria is represented in Burkina Faso by its embassy in Dakar, Senegal
Diplomatic relations were established in 1960.In September 2007, Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) intervened to attempt to resolve the dispute over two villages along the Benin–Burkina Faso border that remain from a 2005 ICJ decision. 15 September 1973See Burkina Faso–China relations
Diplomatic relations were established on 15 September 1973. On February 2, 1994, Burkina Faso signed a communique to resume diplomatic relations with Taiwan. On February 4, the Chinese government announced the suspension of diplomatic relations with Burkina Faso. A communique on the re-establishment of diplomatic relations was signed on 26 May 2018.13 June 2001See Burkina Faso–Cyprus relations1971See Burkina Faso–Denmark relations11 April 1968Diplomatic relations were established on 11 April 1968 when the first Ethiopian ambassador to Upper Volta, Ato Haile Mechecha, has presented his credentials to President Lamizana4 August 1960See Burkina Faso–France relations
Diplomatic relations were established on 4 August 1960.
Present day Burkina Faso was formerly part of a French colony called French Upper Volta. France has special forces stationed in Burkina Faso.
Burkina Faso has an embassy in Paris.
France has an embassy in Ouagadougou.
In January 2023, Burkina Faso's military junta asked France to recall its ambassador amid a surge of anti-French sentiment as the country moved to develop closer ties to Russia
On 29 December 1969 first Ambassador of Gabon to Upper Volta Mr. Marcel Sandoungout has presented his letters of credence.See Burkina Faso–Ghana relations
Diplomatic relations were established on
With the coming to power of Thomas Sankara in Burkina Faso in 1983, relations between Ghana and Burkina became both warm and close. Indeed, Rawlings and Sankara began discussions about uniting Ghana and Burkina in the manner of the defunct Ghana-Guinea-Mali Union, which Nkrumah had sought unsuccessfully to promote as a foundation for his dream of unified continental government. Political and economic ties between Ghana and Burkina, a poorer country, were strengthened through joint commissions of cooperation and through border demarcation committee meetings. Frequent high-level consultations and joint military exercises, meant to discourage potential dissidents and to protect young "revolutions" in each country, were fairly regular features of Ghana-Burkina relations.1978See Burkina Faso–Greece relations23 October 2001Burkina Faso is represented in Iceland by its embassy in Copenhagen, Denmark.23 March 1962See Burkina Faso–India relations
Both countries established diplomatiuc relations on 23 March 1962
India and Burkina Faso enjoy warm relations.1 November 1984Diplomatic relations were established on 1 November 1984
See Burkina Faso–Iran relations5 July 1961Both countries established diplomatic relations on 5 July 1961.
Although Burkina Faso operates a consulate in Tel Aviv, Israel has no diplomatic nor consular presence in Burkina Faso.
The Israeli ambassador to Côte d'Ivoire Dr. Eliyahu Ben-Tura is accredited as the non-resident Ambassador to Burkina Faso (as well as Benin and Togo).16 June 1962Diplomatic relations were established on 16 June 1962 when Mr. Renzo Luigi Romanelli, the first Italian Ambassador to Upper Volta, has presented his letters of credence to President Maurice Yameogo.
Burkina Faso has an embassy in Rome and honorary consulates in Florence, Milan, Napoli, and Palermo.
Italy has an honorary consulate in Ouagadougou.30 December 1966Both countries established diplomatic relations on 30 December 1966
When Thomas Sankara came to power in 1983 relations between Burkina Faso and Ivory Coast became hostile as Félix Houphouët-Boigny was threatened by Sankara's revolutionary regime. That was one of the main reasons why Blaise Compaore launched his coup in 1987 killing Sankara and making himself president. Under Blaise Compaore Ivory Coast and Burkina Faso reestablished good relations and both countries supported Charles Taylor's NPFL in their overthrow of Samuel Doe. They remain allies and are active trading partners.6 December 2012Burkina Faso recognised the Republic of Kosovo on April 24, 2008. Burkina Faso and Kosovo established diplomatic relations on 6 December 2012.12 January 1981See Burkina Faso–Libya relations
Both countries established diplomatic relations on 12 January 1981.30 June 1976Diplomatic relations were established on 30 June 1976
Burkina Faso is accredited to Mexico from its embassy in Washington, D.C., United States and an honorary consulate in Mexico City.
Mexico is accredited to Burkina Faso from its embassy in Abuja, Nigeria.29 December 2017Diplomatic relations were established on 29 December 2017
Both countries are Landlocked developing countries.14 December 1961Diplomatic relations were established on 14 December 1961
Burkina Faso is represented in the Netherlands by its embassy in Brussels, Belgium and an honorary consulate in Rotterdam.
The Netherlands are represented in Burkina Faso by their embassy in Bamako, Mali.19 February 1970Diplomatic relations were established on 19 February 1970 when Ambassador of Upper Volta to Nigeria (resident in Accra) Mr. Victor Kabore, presented his credentials.11 October 1972See Burkina Faso–North Korea relations
Diplomatic relations were established on 11 October 19727 July 1978Diplomatic relations were established on 7 July 1978 when Ambassador of Upper Volta M. Victor Kabore, has presented his credentials to President of Portugal Ramalho Eanes.18 February 1967See Burkina Faso–Russia relations
Diplomatic relations between Burkina Faso and the Soviet Union were established for the first time on February 18, 1967. After the breakup of the Soviet Union, Burkina Faso recognized Russia as the USSR's successor. However financial reasons has shut the embassies between the two nations. In 1992, the embassy of the Russian Federation in Ouagadougou was closed, and in 1996, the embassy of Burkina Faso in Moscow was closed. Burkina Faso has since re-opened its embassy in Moscow.26 November 1975Diplomatic relations were established on 26 November 1975 when Rwanda's first Ambassador to Upper Volta (resident in Kinshasa), M. Canisius Mudenge, has presented his credentials to President Lamizana.10 October 2021Diplomatic relations were established on 10 October 2021
Diplomatic relations were established and signed a visa agreement at the 60th Anniversary Additional Commemorative Non-Aligned Meeting.11 May 1994Diplomatic relations were established on 11 May 1994
Both countries are full members of the African Union.27 November 1964See Burkina Faso–Spain relations
Diplomatic relations were established on 27 November 19641969See Burkina Faso–Sweden relations
Diplomatic relations were established in
Sweden is a major contributor of developmental aid to Burkina Faso. The Burkina Faso–Sweden Friendship Association was formed in 1986 to promote exchange between the two countries.6 April 1970See also Burkina Faso–Turkey relations
Diplomatic relations were established on 6 April 1970
Burkina Faso has an embassy in Ankara.
Turkey has an embassy in Ouagadougou.See Foreign relations of the United Kingdom
Burkina Faso established diplomatic relations with the United Kingdom on 6 October 1960, then known as Upper Volta.
Both countries share common membership of the World Trade Organization.5 August 1960See Burkina Faso–United States relations
Diplomatic relations were established on 5 August 1960
Relations are good but subject to strains in the past because of the Compaoré government's past involvement in arms trading and other sanctions-breaking activity. In addition to regional peace and stability, U.S. interests in Burkina are to promote continued democratization and greater respect for human rights and to encourage sustainable economic development. Although the Agency for International Development (USAID) closed its office in Ouagadougou in 1995, about $18 million annually of USAID funding goes to Burkina's development through non-governmental and regional organizations. The largest is a Food for Peace school lunch program administered by Catholic Relief Services. Burkina has been the site of several development success stories. U.S. leadership in building food security in the Sahel after the 1968–74 drought has been successful in virtually eliminating famine, despite recurrent drought years. River blindness has been eliminated from the region. In both cases, the U.S. was the main donor to inter-African organizations headquartered in Ouagadougou which through sustained efforts have achieved and consolidated these gains. In 2005, Burkina Faso and the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) signed a $12 million Threshold Country Program to build schools and increase girls' enrollment rates. In November 2005, the Millennium Challenge Corporation selected Burkina Faso as eligible to submit a proposal for Millennium Challenge Account assistance for fiscal year 2006, making it one of only two countries eligible for threshold as well as compact funding. The Government of Burkina Faso is working closely with MCC staff to finalize its compact submission.16 November 1973Diplomatic relations were established on 16 November 1973
Both countries are full members of the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie.
See also
List of diplomatic missions in Burkina Faso
List of diplomatic missions of Burkina Faso
List of current ambassadors of Burkina Faso
References
External websites
– Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Burkina Faso
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foreign_relations_of_Burkina_Faso
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Geography of Burundi
|
<!-- "none" is preferred when the title is sufficiently descriptive; see WP:SDNONE -->
| area ranking = 142nd
| km area = 27830
| percent land = 92.2
| percent water = 7.8
| km coastline = 0
| borders = 1,140 km (DRC 236 km, Rwanda 315 km, Tanzania 589 km)
| highest point = Mount Heha 2684 m
| lowest point = Lake Tanganyika 772 m
| longest river = Ruvubu 300 km
| largest lake = Lake Tanganyika
}}
Burundi is located in East Africa, to the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, at the coordinates .
Physical geography
Burundi occupies an area equal to in size, of which is land. The country has of land border: of which is shared with the Democratic Republic of the Congo, with Rwanda and with Tanzania. As a landlocked country, Burundi possesses no coastline. It straddles the crest of the Congo–Nile Divide which separates the basins of the Congo and Nile rivers. The farthest headwaters of the Nile, the Ruvyironza River, has its source in Burundi.
Terrain
The terrain of Burundi is hilly and mountainous, dropping to a plateau in the east. The southern and eastern plains have been categorised by the World Wide Fund for Nature as part of the Central Zambezian miombo woodlands ecoregion.
The lowest point in the country is at Lake Tanganyika, at , with the highest point being on Mount Heha, at . Natural hazards are posed in Burundi by flooding and lands.
Forests
In Burundi forest cover is around 11% of the total land area, equivalent to 279,640 hectares (ha) of forest in 2020, up from 276,480 hectares (ha) in 1990. In 2020, naturally regenerating forest covered 166,670 hectares (ha) and planted forest covered 112,970 hectares (ha). Of the naturally regenerating forest 23% was reported to be primary forest (consisting of native tree species with no clearly visible indications of human activity) and around 41% of the forest area was found within protected areas. For the year 2015, 100% of the forest area was reported to be under public ownership.Natural resources
Burundi possesses reserves of: nickel, uranium, rare earth oxides, peat, cobalt, copper, platinum (not yet exploited), vanadium, niobium, tantalum, gold, tin, tungsten, kaolin, and limestone. There is also arable land and the potential for hydropower. Burundi has of land that is irrigated. The table below describes land use in Burundi.
{| class"wikitable" style"text-align:center"
|+Land use
|-
! Use !! Percentage of Area
|-
! arable land
| 42.83
|-
! permanent crops
| 13.63
|-
! other
| 43.54
|-
|}
Climate
The climate of Burundi is equatorial in nature and is marked by high mean annual temperatures, small temperature ranges, and rainfall throughout the year. The temperature and amount of rainfall varies dependent upon altitude. Burundi experiences its dry season between May and August, and its rainy season between February and May.EnvironmentCurrent issuesIn Burundi, soil erosion poses a significant challenge, exacerbated by overgrazing and the expansion of agriculture into marginal lands. This problem is compounded by other environmental issues such as deforestation, driven by the uncontrolled cutting of trees for fuel, and habitat loss, which severely threatens wildlife populations. The cumulative effect of these issues not only degrades the environment but also undermines the agricultural productivity that is crucial for the country's economy and food security. The "Adapting to Climate Change in the Lake Victoria Basin" project, initiated by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and funded by the Adaptation Fund, addresses these interconnected concerns. By promoting nature-based solutions like reforestation and the construction of terraces, the project helps stabilize the soil and improve water retention, which mitigates the impact of soil erosion. Additionally, the introduction of sustainable practices such as the eco-friendly fish-drying kiln helps reduce the dependence on wood for fuel, thereby curbing deforestation. This comprehensive approach not only aims to enhance environmental resilience but also supports sustainable development by preserving natural habitats and promoting the sustainable use of resources, thereby securing the livelihoods of local communities against the backdrop of climate change.International agreementsBurundi is a party to the following international agreements that relate to the environment: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes and Ozone Layer Protection. The following have been signed but not yet ratified by Burundi: Law of the Sea and Nuclear Test Ban. Extreme points
This is a list of the extreme points of Burundi, the points that are farther north, south, east or west than any other location.
* Northernmost point – Muyinga Province; unnamed location on the border with Rwanda immediately south of the Rwandan town of Mbuye
* Easternmost point – Cankuzo Province; unnamed location on the border with Tanzania immediately northwest of Mburi hill
* Southernmost point – Makamba Province; unnamed location on the border with Tanzania immediately north of the Tanzanian town of Mwenene,
* Westernmost point – Cibitoke Province; unnamed location on the border the Democratic Republic of the Congo immediately east of the Congolese town of Kamanyola
References
<references/>
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geography_of_Burundi
|
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Demographics of Burundi
|
Demographic features of the population of Burundi include population density, ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations and other aspects.
At 206.1 persons per km<sup>2</sup>, Burundi has the second-largest population density in Sub-Saharan Africa. Most people live on farms near areas of fertile volcanic soil. The population is made up of three major ethnic groups – Hutu (Bahutu), Tutsi (Batutsi or Watusi), and Twa (Batwa). Kirundi is the common language. Intermarriage takes place frequently between the Hutus and Tutsis. The terms "pastoralist" and "agriculturist", often used as ethnic designations for Watusi and Bahutu, respectively, are only occupational titles which vary among individuals and groups. Although Hutus encompass the majority of the population, historically Tutsis have been politically and economically dominant.Population
, fertility rate and net reproduction rate by year according to United Nations estimates]]
According to , the total population was 11,891,000 in 2020, compared to only 2 309 000 in 1950. The proportion of children below the age of 15 in 2020 was 45.3%, 52.4% were between 15 and 65 years of age, while 2.4% of the population was 65 years or older.
.
{| class"wikitable" style"text-align: right;"
|-
!
! width="80" |Total population
! width="80" |Population aged 0–14 (%)
! width="80" |Population aged 15–64 (%)
! width="80" |Population aged 65+ (%)
|-
| 1950
|2 309 000||40.9||55.9||3.2
|-
| 1955
|2 537 000||42.4||54.5||3.1
|-
| 1960
|2 798 000||43.8||53.2||2.9
|-
| 1965
|3 094 000||45.3||51.8||3.0
|-
| 1970
|3 479 000||45.5||51.5||3.0
|-
| 1975
|3 701 000||45.4||51.3||3.3
|-
| 1980
|4 157 000||44.7||52.2||3.1
|-
| 1985
|4 751 000||46.2||50.9||3.0
|-
| 1990
|5 439 000||47.9||49.3||2.8
|-
| 1995
|5 987 000||50.3||47.1||2.5
|-
| 2000
|6 379 000||50.1||47.4||2.5
|-
| 2005
|7 365 000||47.0||50.7||2.3
|-
| 2010
|8 676 000||45.1||52.7||2.2
|-
| 2015
|10 160 000||45.5||52.4||2.1
|-
|2020
|11 891 000||45.3||52.4||2.4
|}
Population Estimates by Sex and Age Group (01.VII.2015) (Unrevised data.):
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! width="80pt"|Age Group
! width="80pt"|Male
! width="80pt"|Female
! width="80pt"|Total
! width="80pt"|%
|-
| align="right" | Total
| align="right" | 4 822 838
| align="right" | 5 000 990
| align="right" | 9 823 828
| align="right" | 100
|-
| align="right" | 0–4
| align="right" | 856 714
| align="right" | 855 769
| align="right" | 1 712 483
| align="right" | 17.43
|-
| align="right" | 5–9
| align="right" | 679 740
| align="right" | 699 260
| align="right" | 1 379 000
| align="right" | 14.04
|-
| align="right" | 10–14
| align="right" | 604 457
| align="right" | 629 629
| align="right" | 1 234 086
| align="right" | 12.56
|-
| align="right" | 15–19
| align="right" | 496 353
| align="right" | 525 562
| align="right" | 1 021 915
| align="right" | 10.40
|-
| align="right" | 20–24
| align="right" | 467 123
| align="right" | 507 522
| align="right" | 974 645
| align="right" | 9.92
|-
| align="right" | 25–29
| align="right" | 397 323
| align="right" | 446 043
| align="right" | 843 366
| align="right" | 8.58
|-
| align="right" | 30–34
| align="right" | 321 348
| align="right" | 337 758
| align="right" | 659 106
| align="right" | 6.71
|-
| align="right" | 35–39
| align="right" | 236 115
| align="right" | 230 446
| align="right" | 466 561
| align="right" | 4.75
|-
| align="right" | 40–44
| align="right" | 182 701
| align="right" | 183 765
| align="right" | 366 466
| align="right" | 3.73
|-
| align="right" | 45–49
| align="right" | 153 796
| align="right" | 156 798
| align="right" | 310 594
| align="right" | 3.16
|-
| align="right" | 50–54
| align="right" | 134 933
| align="right" | 130 247
| align="right" | 265 180
| align="right" | 2.70
|-
| align="right" | 55–59
| align="right" | 113 470
| align="right" | 111 808
| align="right" | 225 278
| align="right" | 2.29
|-
| align="right" | 60–64
| align="right" | 74 556
| align="right" | 70 655
| align="right" | 145 211
| align="right" | 1.48
|-
| align="right" | 65–69
| align="right" | 44 744
| align="right" | 46 041
| align="right" | 90 785
| align="right" | 0.92
|-
| align="right" | 70–74
| align="right" | 25 722
| align="right" | 28 826
| align="right" | 54 548
| align="right" | 0.56
|-
| align="right" | 75–79
| align="right" | 16 056
| align="right" | 20 164
| align="right" | 36 220
| align="right" | 0.37
|-
| align="right" | 80+
| align="right" | 17 687
| align="right" | 20 697
| align="right" | 38 384
| align="right" | 0.39
|-
! width="50"|Age group
! width="80pt"|Male
! width="80"|Female
! width="80"|Total
! width="50"|Percent
|-
| align="right" | 0–14
| align="right" | 2 140 911
| align="right" | 2 184 658
| align="right" | 4 325 569
| align="right" | 44.03
|-
| align="right" | 15–64
| align="right" | 2 577 718
| align="right" | 2 700 604
| align="right" | 5 278 322
| align="right" | 53.73
|-
| align="right" | 65+
| align="right" | 104 209
| align="right" | 115 728
| align="right" | 219 937
| align="right" | 2.24
|-
|}
Population Estimates by Sex and Age Group (01.VII.2020):}}
|}
Source: UN DESA, World Population Prospects, 2022
Demographic and Health Surveys
Total Fertility Rate (TFR) (Wanted Fertility Rate) and Crude Birth Rate (CBR):
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! rowspan=2| Year
! colspan=2| Total
! colspan=2| Urban
! colspan=2| Rural
|-
! CBR !! TFR
! CBR !! TFR
! CBR !! TFR
|-
| 1987
| style="text-align:right;"|
| style="text-align:right;"| 6.6 (5.3)
| style="text-align:right;"|
| style="text-align:right;"| 5.2 (4.2)
| style="text-align:right;"|
| style="text-align:right;"| 6.6 (5.4)
|-
| 2010
| style="text-align:right;"| 44.5
| style="text-align:right;"| 6.4 (4.2)
| style="text-align:right;"| 37.3
| style="text-align:right;"| 4.8 (3.4)
| style="text-align:right;"| 45.3
| style="text-align:right;"| 6.6 (4.3)
|-
| 2016–17
| style="text-align:right;"| 37.9
| style="text-align:right;"| 5.5 (3.6)
| style="text-align:right;"| 33.0
| style="text-align:right;"| 4.1 (3.0)
| style="text-align:right;"| 38.5
| style="text-align:right;"| 5.7 (3.7)
|-
|}
Fertility data as of 2010 (DHS Program):
Languages
:Kirundi (official) only: 29.7%, French (official) only: 0.3%, Kirundi and French: 8.4%, Kurundi, French and English: 2.4%, Swahili only: 0.2%, other language combinations: 2%, unspecified: 56.9% (2008 est.)
:NOTE: Data represents only languages read and written by people 10 years of age or older; spoken Kirundi is nearly universal.
Religion
:Roman Catholic 62.1%, Protestant 23.9% (includes Adventist 2.3% and other Protestant 21.6%), Islam 2.5%, Other 3.6%, Unspecified 7.9% (2008 est.)
References
Attribution:
Category:Society of Burundi
pt:Burundi#Demografia
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Burundi
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Politics of Burundi
|
The Politics of Burundi takes place in a framework of a transitional presidential representative democratic republic, whereby the President of Burundi is both head of state and head of government, and of a multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the two chambers of parliament, the Senate and the National Assembly.
Political landscape after the civil war
The political landscape of Burundi has been dominated in recent years by the civil war and a long peace process and move to democracy. Pierre Nkurunziza, a former rebel leader of the Hutu National Council for the Defense of Democracy – Forces for the Defense of Democracy, was elected to become president in a vote by parliament on 19 August 2005. Nkurunziza, who was the sole candidate, was the first president chosen through democratic means since the start of the civil war in 1993 and was sworn in on 26 August, replacing transitional president Domitien Ndayizeye.
Incumbent president Évariste Ndayishimiye took office on 18 June 2020, ten days after the death of Nkurunziza.
In November 1995, the presidents of Burundi, Rwanda, Uganda, and Zaire (currently Democratic Republic of Congo) announced a regional initiative for a negotiated peace in Burundi facilitated by former Tanzanian President Julius Nyerere. In July 1996, former Burundian President Buyoya returned to power in a bloodless coup. He declared himself president of a transitional republic, even as he suspended the National Assembly, banned opposition groups, and imposed a nationwide curfew. Widespread condemnation of the coup ensued, and regional countries imposed economic sanctions pending a return to a constitutional government. Buyoya agreed in 1996 to liberalize political parties. Nonetheless, fighting between the army and Hutu militias continued. In June 1998, Buyoya promulgated a transitional constitution and announced a partnership between the government and the opposition-led National Assembly. After facilitator Julius Nyerere's death in October 1999, the regional leaders appointed Nelson Mandela as Facilitator of the Arusha peace process. Under Mandela the peace process has revived and important progress has taken place.
In April 2015 the 2015 Burundian unrest broke out after the ruling party announced President Pierre Nkurunziza would seek a third term in office. Protests in the capital lasted over a week, and while President Nkurunziza was in Tanzania for talks at resolving the situation, Major General Godefroid Niyombare declared a coup, leading to gun battles in the capital for control of key locations.
Elections took place in 2020; despite concerns that these elections would be severely compromised, following the announcement that the President would not seek reelection, the opposition announced that they would be taking part in the election. Evariste Ndayishimiye, a candidate who was hand-picked as Nkurunziza's successor by the CNDD-FDD, won the election with 71.45% of the vote. Shortly after, on 9 June 2020, Nkurunziza died of a cardiac arrest, at the age of 55. As per the constitution, Pascal Nyabenda, the president of the national assembly, led the government until Ndayishimiye's inauguration on 18 June 2020.
Executive branch
|President
|Évariste Ndayishimiye
|CNDD-FDD
|18 June 2020
|-
|Vice-president
|Prosper Bazombanza
|UPRONA
|23 June 2020
|-
|Prime Minister
|Gervais Ndirakobuca
|CNDD-FDD
|08 September 2022
|}
The president is popularly elected by a two-round system. They nominate a vice-president and a prime minister, who form together with the Council of Ministers the executive branch.
Legislative branch
The National Assembly (Assemblée nationale) has 118 members, elected for a five-year term by proportional representation with a 2% barrier. The Senate (Sénat) has 49 members, elected for a five-year term by electoral colleges of communal councilors. Extra seats in both chambers can be added to ensure that ethnic and gender quotas are met. Burundi has a multi-party system, with two or three strong parties and a third party that is electorally successful. Parties are usually based on ethnic background.
Political parties and elections
Administrative divisions
Burundi has 18 provinces: Bubanza, Bujumbura Mairie, Bujumbura Rural, Bururi, Cankuzo, Cibitoke, Gitega, Karuzi, Kayanza, Kirundo, Makamba, Muramvya, Muyinga, Mwaro, Ngozi, Rutana, Rumonge and Ruyigi.
International relations
Burundi is member of the AfDB, CEEAC, CEPGL, ECA, FAO, G-77, IBRD, ICAO, ICRM, IDA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, Intelsat (nonsignatory user), Interpol, IOC, ITU, NAM, OAU, OPCW, PMAESA, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UPU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO, and WTrO.
References
External links
*[https://archive.today/20130414211600/http://report.globalintegrity.org/burundi Global Integrity Report: Burundi] reports on Burundi's anti-corruption efforts.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Politics_of_Burundi
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Economy of Burundi
|
| gdp = $2.15 billion (nominal, 2025 est.)
* $13.897 billion (PPP, 2025 est.)}}
| growth =
| per capita = $156 (nominal, 2025 est.)
* $1,011 (PPP, 2025 est.) (187th)
*0.296 IHDI (2018)}}
| edbr | labor 4.08 million ()
| occupations agriculture (89%), industry (5.3%, services (4.1%) ()
| unemployment = 90% (2023)
| industries = light consumer goods such as blankets, shoes, soap, assembly of imported components, public works construction, food processing<br />Agriculture: coffee, cotton, tea, corn, sorghum, sweet potatoes, bananas, manioc (tapioca); beef, milk, hides
| exports $208 million ()
| export-goods = coffee, tea, sugar, cotton, hides
| export-partners 15.2% <br> 9.3% <br> 8.5% <br> 7.8% <br> 7.3% <br> 5.3% <br> 4.6% <br> 4.5% <br> 4.2% (2018 est.)
| imports $1.260 billion ()
| import-goods = capital goods, petroleum products, foodstuffs
| import-partners 17.3% <br> 8.1% <br> 7.8% <br> 7.2% <br> 6.9% <br> 6.7% <br> 5.6% <br> 5.3% (2018 est.)
| gross external debt $820 million ()
| revenue $350.4 million ()
| expenses $351.3 million ()
| aid $90.7 million ()
| credit | reserves $412.2 million
| cianame = burundi
| spelling =
}}
The economy of Burundi is $3.436 billion by gross domestic product as of 2018, being heavily dependent on agriculture, which accounts for 32.9% of gross domestic product as of 2008. Burundi itself is a landlocked country lacking resources, and with almost nonexistent industrialization. Agriculture supports more than 70% of the labor force, the majority of whom are subsistence farmers.
Although Burundi is potentially self-sufficient in food production, issues such as civil unrest, overpopulation, and soil erosion have contributed to the contraction of the subsistence economy by 25% in recent years. Large numbers of internally displaced persons have been unable to produce their own food and are largely dependent on international humanitarian assistance. Burundi is a net food importer, with food accounting for 17% of imports in 1997. Burundi is a least developed country according to the United Nations.
Agriculture
Burundi produced in 2022:
* 2.6 million tons of cassava;
* 1.3 million tons of banana;
* 808 thousand tons of sweet potato;
* 507 thousand tons of vegetables;
* 499 thousand tons of beans;
* 355 thousand tons of potato;
* 280 thousand tons of maize;
* 188 thousand tons of sugar cane;
* 130 thousand tons of fruit;
* 127 thousand tons of rice;
* 94 thousand tons of taro;
* 89 thousand tons of palm oil;
* 50 thousand tons of tea;
In addition to smaller productions of other agricultural products, like sorghum (25 thousand tons) and coffee (17 thousand tons).
Industry
Little industry exists except for the processing of agricultural exports. Although potential wealth in petroleum, nickel, copper, and other natural resources is being explored, the uncertain security situation has prevented meaningful investor interest. Industrial development also is hampered by Burundi's distance from the sea and high transport costs. Lake Tanganyika remains an important trading point. The trade embargo, lifted in 1999, negatively impacted trade and industry. Since October 1993 the nation has suffered from massive ethnic-based violence which has resulted in the death of perhaps 250,000 people and the displacement of about 800,000 others. Foods, medicines, and electricity remain in short supply.
Burundi is heavily dependent on bilateral and multilateral aid, with external debt totaling $1.247 billion (1.247 G$) in 1997. A series of largely unsuccessful 5-year plans initiated in July 1986 in partnership with the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund attempted to reform the foreign exchange system, liberalize imports, reduce restrictions on international transactions, diversify exports, and reform the coffee industry.
IMF structural adjustment programs in Burundi were suspended following the outbreak of the crisis in 1993. The World Bank has identified key areas for potential growth, including the productivity of traditional crops and the introduction of new exports, light manufactures, industrial mining, and services. Other serious problems include the state's role in the economy, the question of governmental transparency, and debt reduction.
To protest the 1996 coup by President Pierre Buyoya, neighboring countries imposed an economic embargo on Burundi. Although the embargo was never officially ratified by the United Nations Security Council, most countries refrained from official trade with Burundi. Following the coup, the United States also suspended all but humanitarian aid to Burundi. The regional embargo was lifted on January 23, 1999, based on progress by the government in advancing national reconciliation through the Burundi peace process.
In an article titled "The Blood Cries Out," Foreign Policy (FP) reported that the Burundian population growth rate is 2.5 percent per year, more than double the average global pace, and that a Burundian woman has on average 6.3 children, nearly triple the international fertility rate. FP further reported that "The vast majority of Burundians rely on subsistence farming, but under the weight of a booming population and in the long-standing absence of coherent policies governing land ownership, many people barely have enough earth to sustain themselves." In 2014, the average size for a farm was about one acre. FP added that "The consequence is remarkable scarcity: In the 2013 Global Hunger Index, Burundi had the severest hunger and malnourishment rates of all 120 countries ranked."
Energy
Burundi is one of the least electrified countries in the world, only about 10% of the country's population has access to electricity. In 2022, the country produced a total of 565 GWh of electricity, 50% of which was generated via fossil fuels while the other 50% was generated via renewables. Oil is the main fossil fuel in use, while the renewable energy is sourced primarily from hydropower and to a much lesser degree from solar energy as well as bioenergy. This domestic production however does not fulfil Burundi's demand and it imports sizeable amount of energy from neighbouring countries.
The opening of the Rusumo Hydroelectric Power Station in 2023 was a boon to the country as Burundi receives 27 MW of electricity generated in it. The power station combined with improved transmission cables allowed Burundi to provide the capital city of Gitega with a more reliable and consistent power supply. At the same time it allowed the government to decommission the old oil-fired power station that supplied the city before and save over two million USD in costs. This project was a part of a wider international aid-assisted initiative in Burundi to pursue low-carbon electrification and improving access to electricity across the country. Macro-economic trend The following table shows the main economic indicators in 1980–2024.
{| class"wikitable" style"text-align:center; vertical-align:middle;"
|- style="font-weight:bold;"
! Year
! GDP<br />(in bil. US$ PPP)
! GDP per capita<br />(in US$ PPP)
!GDP<br />(in bil. US$ nominal)
! GDP Growth<br />(real)
! Inflation rate<br />(in Percent)
!Government debt<br />(Percentage of GDP)
|-
|1980
|1.54
|375
|0.95
|−6.8%
|1.2%
|n/a
|-
|1981
|1.88
|448
|0.99
|12.2%
|12.2%
|n/a
|-
|1982
|1.98
|457
|1.05
| -1.1%
|5.9%
|n/a
|-
|1983
|2.13
|478
|1.11
|3.7%
|8.2%
|n/a
|-
|1984
|2.21
|482
|1.01
|0.2%
|14.3%
|n/a
|-
|1985
|2.55
|540
|1.17
|11.8%
|3.8%
|n/a
|-
|1986
|2.69
|553
|1.23
|3.3%
|1.7%
|n/a
|-
|1987
|2.91
|581
|1.16
|5.5%
|7.1%
|n/a
|-
|1988
|3.16
|614
|1.09
|5.0%
|4.5%
|n/a
|-
|1989
|3.33
|628
|1.13
|1.3%
|11.7%
|n/a
|-
|1990
|3.57
|655
|1.13
|3.5%
|7.0%
|n/a
|-
|1991
|3.91
|696
|1.17
|5.8%
|9.0%
|n/a
|-
|1992
|4.04
|699
|1.08
|1.0%
|1.8%
|n/a
|-
|1993
|3.88
|672
|0.94
|−6.2%
|9.7%
|n/a
|-
|1994
|3.81
|649
|0.92
|−3.8%
|14.9%
|n/a
|-
|1995
|3.58
|599
|1.00
|−7.9%
|19.2%
|n/a
|-
|1996
|3.35
|551
|0.87
|−8.0%
|26.5%
|n/a
|-
|1997
|3.43
|553
|0.97
|0.4%
|31.1%
|n/a
|-
|1998
|3.63
|576
|0.89
|4.8%
|12.5%
|n/a
|-
|1999
|3.72
|574
|0.87
|1.2%
|3.5%
|n/a
|-
|2000
|3.87
|580
|0.87
|1.8%
|25.5%
|136.4%
|-
|2001
|4.03
|585
|0.88
|1.7%
|7.9%
|127.4%
|-
|2002
|4.19
|590
|0.83
|2.4%
| -1.3%
|159.1%
|-
|2003
|4.37
|603
|0.79
|2.5%
|10.6%
|172.0%
|-
|2004
|4.66
|623
|0.92
|3.8%
|8.2%
|172.7%
|-
|2005
|5.02
|668
|1.12
|4.4%
|13.3%
|137.0%
|-
|2006
|5.45
|705
|1.27
|5.4%
|2.7%
|130.3%
|-
|2007
|5.79
|727
|1.36
|3.5%
|8.4%
|129.6%
|-
|2008
|6.19
|752
|1.61
|4.9%
|24.4%
|102.5%
|-
|2009
|6.47
|761
|1.78
|3.8%
|10.6%
|25.7%
|-
|2010
|6.88
|784
|2.03
|5.1%
|6.5%
|46.9%
|-
|2011
|7.31
|808
|2.24
|4.0%
|9.6%
|42.7%
|-
|2012
|7.77
|833
|2.33
|4.4%
|18.2%
|41.4%
|-
|2013
|8.30
|863
|2.46
|4.9%
|7.9%
|37.9%
|-
|2014
|8.80
|888
|2.71
|4.2%
|4.4%
|38.0%
|-
|2015
|8.53
|836
|3.10
|−3.9%
|5.6%
|39.9%
|-
|2016
|8.56
|813
|2.96
|−0.6%
|5.5%
|46.1%
|-
|2017
|8.76
|806
|3.17
|0.5%
|16.6%
|46.9%
|-
|2018
|8.94
|798
|3.04
|1.6%
|−2.8%
|53.0%
|-
|2019
|9.55
|828
|3.01
|1.8%
|−0.7%
|60.0%
|-
|2020
|9.92
|836
|3.09
|0.3%
|7.3%
|66.0%
|-
|2021
|10.85
|887
|3.35
|3.1%
|8.3%
|66.6%
|-
|2022
|11.83
|939
|3.92
|1.8%
|18.9%
|68.4%
|-
|2023
|12.59
|970
|4.24
|2.7%
|27.0%
|62.4%
|-
|2024
|13.17
|986
|4.29
|2.2%
|20.0%
|86.8%
|}
See also
* United Nations Economic Commission for Africa
* List of companies based in Burundi
*
References
*
External links
*[http://www.trademap.org/open_access/Index.aspx?proceedtrue&reporter108 Burundi latest trade data on ITC Trade Map]
Burundi
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Burundi
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Communications in Burundi
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Communications in Burundi include radio, television, fixed and mobile telephones, the Internet, and the postal service in Burundi.
Radio and television
Radio is the main source of information for many Burundians.
Radio stations:
La Radiodiffusion et Television Nationale de Burundi (RTNB), the state-controlled broadcaster operates the only national radio network, broadcasting in Kirundi, Swahili, French, and English;
No AM radio stations, four FM stations, and one shortwave station (2001).
Telephone system:
In 2011, system described as sparse open-wire, radiotelephone communications, and low-capacity microwave radio relays; telephone density one of the lowest in the world; fixed-line connections stand at well less than 1 per 100 persons; mobile-cellular usage is increasing but remains at roughly 20 per 100 persons;
65,000 users, 167th in the world (2008);
Wireless broadband: Unknown (2012).
Internet censorship and surveillance
There are no government restrictions on access to the Internet or credible reports that the government monitors e-mail or Internet chat rooms. Operating in a turbulent political climate, Burundi's media are subject to occasional government censorship and may practice self-censorship.
See also
Burundi National Radio and Television (RTNB), the national broadcaster of Burundi.
Media of Burundi
Economy of Burundi
References
External links
NIC.bi, registry for the .bi domain.
Radio Télévision Nationale du Burundi (RTNB), the national broadcaster of Burundi.
Burundi
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communications_in_Burundi
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Transport in Burundi
|
There are a number of systems of transport in Burundi, including road and water-based infrastructure, the latter of which makes use of Lake Tanganyika. Furthermore, there are also some airports in Burundi.
Burundi has limited ferry services on Lake Tanganyika, few road connections to neighboring countries, no rail connections, and only one airport with a paved runway. Public transport is extremely limited and private bus companies operate buses on the route to Kigali, Uganda, Tanzania and Democratic Republic of Congo.
Roads
Roads total as of 2004. On paper, there are 90 public buses in the country but few of these are operational. Transport is extremely limited, and private bus companies operate buses on the route to Kigali, Uganda, Tanzania or the Democratic Republic of Congo.
As of May 2015, MV Mwongozo, a passenger and cargo ferry, connects Bujumbura with Kigoma in Tanzania.
Airports and air services
thumb|Arrival at Bujumbura International Airport
Burundi possesses eight airports, of which one has paved runways, whose length exceeds 3,047m. Bujumbura International Airport is the country's primary airport and the country's only airport with a paved runway. There are also a number of helicopter landing strips.
As of May 2015, the airlines serving Burundi are: Brussels Airlines, Ethiopian Airlines, flydubai, Kenya Airways, and RwandAir. Kigali is the city with the most daily departures.
Railways
Burundi does not possess any railway infrastructure, although there are proposals to connect Burundi to its neighbours via railway.
At a meeting in August 2006 with members of the Rwanda Patriotic Front, Wu Guanzheng, of the Chinese Communist Party, confirmed the intention of China to fund a study into the feasibility of constructing a railway connecting at Isaka with the existing Tanzanian railway network, and running via Kigali in Rwanda through to Burundi. Tanzanian railways use , although TAZARA and other neighbouring countries, including the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) use the gauge, leading to some potential difficulties.
Another project was launched in the same year, which aims to link Burundi and Rwanda (which also has no railways) to the DRC and Zambia, and therefore to the rest of Southern Africa. At a meeting to inaugurate the Northern Corridor Transit and Transport Coordination Authority (NCTTCA), the governments of Uganda and Burundi backed the proposed new railway from the Ugandan western railhead at Kasese into the DRC.
Additionally, Burundi has been added to a planned railway project to connect Tanzania and Rwanda. In January 2022, the governments of Burundi and Tanzania announced the planned construction of an electrified standard gauge railway, which will link the two countries. The line is known as the Tanzania–Burundi Standard Gauge Railway.
2013
A project started in November 2013 to build a Standard Gauge line from Mombassa, Kenya, to Burundi, via Rwanda and Uganda. The main line from Mombasa will also feature branches in other directions, including Ethiopia and DR Congo.
See also
East African Railway Master Plan
External links
UN Map of Burundi
Map of railways in southern Africa
References
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transport_in_Burundi
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Burundi National Defence Force
|
| branches = Ground Force<br />Naval Force<br />Air Force
| website =
<!-- Leadership -->| commander-in-chief = Évariste Ndayishimiye
| commander-in-chief_title = Commander-in-chief
| minister = Ir Alain Tribert Mutabazi
| minister_title = Minister of National Defense & War Veterans
| commander = General Prime Niyongabo
| commander_title = Chief of the Defence Staff
<!-- Manpower -->| manpower_age = 16
| active 30,050 (2024)
<!-- Financial -->| amount = $US 64 million (2011)
| percent_GDP = 3.7% (2011)
<!-- Industrial -->
<!-- Related articles -->| ranks = Military ranks of Burundi
| Engagements | history
* Burundian Civil War
* First Congo War
* Second Congo War
* Somali Civil War
** African Union Mission in Somalia
* Kivu conflict
** M23 campaign (2022–present)
}}
The Burundi National Defence Force (French: Force de Défense Nationale du Burundi; FDNB) is the military of Burundi. A general staff commands the armed forces, consisting of a joint staff; a training staff, and a logistics staff. Naval and aviation commands exist, as well as specialised units.
History
Independence and early history (1962–1993)
Under Belgian colonial rule, the mandatory status of Ruanda-Urundi established limits on the recruitment of Barundi for military service. Instead, Ruanda-Urundi was garrisoned by a small unit of the Force Publique recruited in the Belgian Congo which combined its military role with the role of gendarmerie. Its members were popularly known as Bamina in Burundi, after the large military base at Kamina in the Congo. Amid the Congo's independence, the Belgian colonial administration formed the Burundian National Guard (Garde Nationale Burundaise) in 1960. It consisted of 650 men, recruited equally from the Hutu and Tutsi ethnic groups (though the Tutsi mostly consisted of those from the Hima subgroup). When Burundi became independent in 1962 the force was renamed the Burundian National Army (Armée Nationale Burundaise) and assumed a purely military function. The gendarmarie function was allocated to a civilian authority called the National Gendarmerie (Gendarmerie nationale) after independence in 1962, though this became part of the army on 7 March 1967.
s) at the coronation ceremony of King Ntare V, 1 September 1966]]
Burundi became independent on 1 July 1962 with the army organised into eight platoons. A coup attempt in October 1965 led by the Hutu-dominated police was carried out but failed. The Tutsi dominated army, then led by Tutsi officer Captain Michel Micombero purged Hutu from their ranks and carried out reprisal attacks which ultimately claimed the lives of up to 5,000 people in a predecessor to Burundian genocides. Micombero then became prime minister.
King Mwambutsa IV, who had fled the country during the October 1965 coup attempt, was deposed by a coup in July 1966 and his teenage son, Crown Prince Charles Ndizeye, claimed the throne as King Ntare V. Later that same year, Prime Minister, then-Colonel, Michel Micombero, carried out another coup in November 1966, this time deposing Ntare, abolishing the monarchy and declaring the nation a republic. His one-party government was effectively a military dictatorship. As president, Micombero became an advocate of African socialism and received support from China. He imposed a staunch regime of law and order and sharply repressed Hutu militarism. After Micombero's coup d’etat which deposed the monarchy, he became the first general in Burundian history. He was also commissioned by the National Council of the Revolution (French: Conseil National de la Révolution (CNR)), and made a Lieutenant Général. In his turn, Micombero raised Thomas Ndabemeye to the grade of Major General. They were the sole generals of the First Republic.
In 1972 the Tutsi-dominated Burundi Army and government carried out a series of mass killings, the Ikiza, often characterised as a genocide, primarily against educated and elite Hutus who lived in the country. Conservative estimates place the death toll of the event between 100,000 and 150,000 killed, while some estimates of the death toll go as high as 300,000. This included a purge of all Hutus and some politically unfavorable Tutsis from the military, shrinking it to about 2,300 members. On 30 December 1974 a naval division was created.
In 1981–82 the IISS estimated that the Burundian armed forces were 6,000 strong, with 2 infantry battalions, 1 airborne battalion, 1 commando battalion, and an armoured car company. The same estimate was repeated in the 1988–89 edition except that the strength figure had been dropped to 5,500.
The Civil War and aftermath
In 1993, Hutu President Melchior Ndadaye was elected in the 1 June presidential election and was sworn in on 10 July.
On 21 October, a coup was attempted by a Tutsi–dominated National Defence Force faction, led by Chief of Staff Lt. Col. Jean Bikomagu, ex-President Jean-Baptiste Bagaza, and former interior minister François Ngeze. The coup attempt resulted in the assassination of Ndadaye and numerous other casualties.
Following the coup, the Committee of Public Salvation (CSP) was created as the ruling junta, and François Ngeze (a prominent Hutu member of UPRONA) was installed as the new president. Ngeze himself comdemned the assassination of Ndadaye. Faced with widespread condemnation, the Army leaders urged civilian politicians to resume control. Consequently, Prime Minister Sylvie Kinigi (who took refuge in the French embassy with other senior government figures) was installed as Acting President on 27 October.
The [https://undocs.org/S/1996/682 1996 UN inquiry] names three units - para 122-3 indicates that at the time of the October coup, the 2e Commando were the presidential guard and the 1er Parachutiste and 11e Blinde were the units involved in the coup. (Para 115 notes that some officers of the 2e Commando were previously involved in an attempted coup in July, before Ndadaye was sworn in, but presumably by October the unit was thought to be loyal). In addition, U.S. Ambassador Bob Krueger mentions members of the 1st Parachute Battalion being active during the coup in his book.
The coup attempted sparked the Burundian Civil War, which lasted from 1993 to 2005, killing an estimated 300,000 people. The Arusha Accords ended 12 years of war and stopped decades of ethnic killings. The 2005 constitution provided guaranteed representation for both Hutu and Tutsi, and 2005 parliamentary elections that led to Pierre Nkurunziza, from the Hutu FDD, becoming president.
According to a 2004 report by Child Soldiers International, Burundi's military used conscripted child soldiers. Children in military service were subject to military courts which fell short of international law standards.
The armed forces have deployed significant numbers of troops to the African Union Mission in Somalia since c. 2007. On February 1, 2007 Burundi committed to the mission, pledging up to 1,000 troops. By March 27, it was confirmed that 1700 Burundian troops would be sent to Somalia. In 2011 the IISS estimated that three Burundian battalions were deployed there.
The army's forces in 2011 included, according to IISS estimates, 2 light armoured battalions (squadrons), seven infantry battalions and independent companies; and artillery, engineer, and air defence battalions (SA-7 'Grail' man-portable SAMs and 14.5mm, 23mm and 37mm guns were reported). Separately reported were the 22nd commando battalion (Gitega) and 124th commando battalion (Bujumbura). Despite the elapse of another six years, the 2017 listing from the Military Balance was essentially unchanged except for an increase in size to some 30,000 and the addition of ten reserve infantry battalions.
In the wake of the Burundian unrest, personnel faced a choice between supporting President Pierre Nkurunziza, with whom some fought when he was a military commander, or opposing him. Interviewed by Reuters on May 14, 2015, an Africa analyst at Verisk Maplecroft said a coup then reported in progress by Major General Godefroid Niyombare, former director of the intelligence service, "starkly highlight[ed] Nkurunziza’s lack of unified support among his military chiefs." "Even if Niyombare’s attempt fails, Nkurunziza’s political credibility may be damaged irreparably."
The 121e Régiment de Parachutistes were mentioned in French news articles as one of the units that supported the attempted coup in 2015.
In the aftermath of the coup and the later disputed election, armed forces chief of staff Major General Prime Niyongabo survived an assassination attempt on September 11, 2015.
In 2015/16, Laurent Touchard wrote that the BNDF included ten two-battalion infantry brigades. (Touchard 2016)
Structure
.]]
In 2011 the IISS estimated that three Burundian battalions were deployed in Somalia. The army's forces in 2011 included, according to IISS estimates, 2 light armoured battalions (squadrons), seven infantry battalions and independent companies; and artillery, engineer, and air defence battalions (SA-7 'Grail' man-portable SAMs and 14.5mm, 23mm and 37mm guns were reported).
Separately reported were the 22nd commando battalion (Gitega) and 124th commando battalion (Bujumbura).
Despite the elapse of another six years, the 2017 listing from the Military Balance was essentially unchanged except for an increase in size to some 30,000 and the addition of ten reserve infantry battalions.
As of 2024 the Burundian ground forces consist of two armored battalions, seven infantry battalions, one artillery battalion, one air defense battalion, and one engineer battalion. The navy included several patrol boats.Equipment Small arms {| class"wikitable" style="width:90%;"
|-
! width=16%| Name
! width=10%| Image
! width=15%| Caliber
! width=12%| Type
! width=10%| Origin
! width=28%| Notes
|-
! colspan="6"| Machine guns and assault rifles
|-
| DShK
|
| 12.7×108mm
| Heavy machine gun
|
| In service
|-
| RPK
|
| 7.62×39mm
| Squad automatic weapon
|
| In service
|-
| PKM
|
| 7.62×54mm
| General Purpose Machine Gun
|
| In service
|-
| AK-47
|
| 7.62×39mm
| Assault rifle
|
| In service
|-
| PM md. 63
|
| 5.56x45mm
| Assault rifle
|
| In service
|}
Anti-tank weapons
{| class"wikitable" style"width:90%;"
|-
! width=16%| Name
! width=21%| Image
! width=15%| Type
! width=12%| Origin
! width=10%| Caliber
! width=26%| Notes
|-
| RPG-7
|
| Rocket-propelled grenade
|
| 40mm
| In service
|-
| M20 Super bazooka
|
| Rocket-propelled grenade
|
| 60mm
| In service
|-
| RL-83 Blindicide
|
| Anti-tank rocket launcher
|
| 83mm
| In service
|-
| Type 52
|
| Recoilless rifle
| <br>
| 75mm
| In service
|-
| MILAN
|
| Anti-tank missile
| <br>
| 103mm (MILAN 1); 115mm (other variants)
| In service
|}
Scout cars
{| class"wikitable" style"width:90%;"
|-
! width=14%| Name
! width=20%| Image
! width=14%| Type
! width=12%| Origin
! width=10%| Quantity
! width=24%| Notes
|-
| BRDM-2
|
| Amphibious armored scout car
|
| 30
| In service
|}
Armored personnel carriers
{| class"wikitable" style"width:90%;"
|-
! width=14%| Name
! width=20%| Image
! width=14%| Type
! width=12%| Origin
! width=10%| Quantity
! width=24%| Notes
|-
| BTR-40
|
| Armored personnel carrier
|
| 29
| In service
|-
| BTR-80
|
| Armored personnel carrier
|
| 10
| In service
|-
| Walid
|
| Armored personnel carrier
|
| 6
| In service
|-
| WZ-551
|
| Armored personnel carrier
|
| 15
| In service
|-
| Panhard M3
|
| Armored personnel carrier
|
| 9
| In service
|}
Reconnaissance
{| class"wikitable" style"width:90%;"
|-
! width=14%| Name
! width=20%| Image
! width=14%| Type
! width=12%| Origin
! width=10%| Quantity
! width=24%| Notes
|-
| Panhard AML
|
| Armored car
|
| 18
| In service
*12 AML-90
*06 AML-60
|-
| Shorland S52
|
| Armored car
|
| 7
| In service
|}
Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected
{| class"wikitable" style"width:90%;"
|-
! width=14%| Name
! width=20%| Image
! width=14%| Type
! width=12%| Origin
! width=10%| Quantity
! width=06%| Notes
|-
| RG-31 Nyala
|
| MRAP
| /
| 12
| In service
|-
| RG-33L
|
| MRAP
|
| 10
| In service
|-
| Casspir
|
| MRAP
| /
| 27
| In service
|-
| Cougar
|
| MRAP
|
| 16
| In service
|}
Artillery
{| class"wikitable" style"width:90%;"
|-
! width=14%| Name
! width=20%| Image
! width=14%| Type
! width=12%| Origin
! width=10%| Quantity
! width=06%| Status
|-
! colspan="6" | Mortars
|-
| BM-37
|
| Mortar
|
| 15
| In service
|-
| MO-120-RT61
|
| Mortar
|
| 75
| In service
|-
! colspan="6" | Rocket artillery
|-
| BM-21 Grad
|
| Multiple rocket launcher
|
| 12
| In service
|-
! colspan="6" | Field artillery
|-
| D-30
|
| Howitzer
|
| 18
| In service
|}
Air defence systems
{| class"wikitable" style"width:90%;"
|-
! width=14%| Name
! width=20%| Image
! width=14%| Type
! width=12%| Origin
! width=10%| Quantity
! width=06%| Status
|-
| Type 55
|
| Anti-aircraft gun
| <br>
| rowspan"2" | 135+
| In service
|-
| ZU-23-2
|
| Autocannon
|
| In service
|-
| ZPU-4
|
| SPAAG
|
| 15
| In service
|-
| 9K32 Strela-2
|
| MANPADS
|
| Unknown
| In service
|}
Aircraft inventory
The Burundi Army's air unit operates 12 helicopters.
{| class="wikitable"
!Image
! Aircraft
! Type
! Versions
! In service
! Notes
|-
|
| Aérospatiale Alouette III
| Utility helicopter
|SA 316
| 3
|
|-
|-
|
| Aérospatiale SA 342 Gazelle
| Utility helicopter
| SA 342L
| 6<ref name="World Air Forces 2025"/>
|
|-
|
| Mil Mi-24 Hind
| Attack helicopter
| Mi-35
| 3<ref name="World Air Forces 2025"/>
|
|}
References
Sources
*
*
*
*[http://issat.dcaf.ch/content/download/62427/1033023/file/Burundi%20lesson%20learned%20report_Final%20ENGLISH1.pdf Burundi Defence Review Lessons Learned]
*
*
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burundi_National_Defence_Force
|
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|
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Foreign relations of Burundi
|
Burundi's relations with its neighbours have often been affected by security concerns. During the Burundian Civil War, hundreds of thousands of Burundian refugees have at various times crossed to neighboring Rwanda, Tanzania, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Some Burundian rebel groups have used neighboring countries as bases for insurgent activities. The 1993 embargo placed on Burundi by regional states hurt diplomatic relations with its neighbors; relations have improved since the 1999 suspension of these sanctions.
Burundi is a member of various international and regional organizations, including the United Nations, the African Union, the African Development Bank and the Francophonie. The Swedish Minister for Integration and Gender Equality, Nyamko Sabuni, was born in Burundi.
Diplomatic relations
List of countries which Burundi maintains diplomatic relations with:
frameless|425x425px#CountryDate123689—111215171920222324252627283132333435364042454648495051525354555657585960626364707172737475768081828385868789909192969798102103104106108109114115116121123131132133135136139140141142144147148—149151Unknown152Unknown
Bilateral relations
Africa
Country Formal Relations Began.NotesApril 1972Both countries established diplomatic relations in April 1972
Algeria is represented in Burundi through its embassy in Bujumbura.
Burundi has an embassy in Algiers21 December 1988Both countries established diplomatic relations on 21 December 1988 when Angola's first Ambassador to Burundi, Miguel Gaspar Neto presented his credentials.
Angola is represented in Burundi through its embassy in Tanzania.1 August 1980Both countries established diplomatic relations on 1 August 1980
Both countries are members of the Economic Community of Central African States.The two countries maintain diplomatic relations and Burundian President Pierre Nkurunziza visited the country in 2014.1963Both countries established diplomatic relations in 1963
Burundi has an embassy in Kinshasa.
Congo is represented in Burundi through its embassy in Rwanda.
Burundi has an embassy in Cairo. Burundi is represented in Equatorial Guinea through its embassy in Nigeria.
Equatorial Guinea is represented in Burundi through its embassy in the Republic of Congo.
Burundi has an embassy in Addis Ababa.25 August 1964Both countries established diplomatic relations on 25 August 1964
Ghana is represented in Burundi through its embassy in Kenya.28 June 1967Both countries established diplomatic relations on
Guinea is represented in Burundi through its embassy in Gabon.1967See Kenya–Burundi relations
Kenya has an embassy in Bujumbura.
Burundi has an embassy in Nairobi.
Burundi has an embassy in Rabat.
Burundi has an embassy in Abuja.
Rwanda has an embassy in Bujumbura.January 1969Both countries established diplomatic relations in
Senegal is represented in Burundi through its embassy in Ethiopia.
Sierra Leone is represented in Burundi through its embassy in Ethiopia.23 June 1995Both countries established diplomatic relations on 23 June 1995
Burundi has an embassy in Pretoria.
South Sudan is represented in Burundi through its embassy in Uganda.
Sudan is represented in Burundi through its embassy in Uganda.
Burundi has an embassy in Kampala.
Burundi has an embassy in Lusaka.
Both countries are full members of the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie.28 July 1977Both countries established diplomatic relations on 28 July 1977
Burundi is accredited to Mexico from its embassy in Washington, D.C., United States.
Mexico is accredited to Burundi from its embassy in Nairobi, Kenya and maintains an honorary consulate Bujumbura.1 July 1962See Burundi-United States relations
Burundi has an embassy in Washington, D.C.
United States has an embassy in Bujumbura.
Asia
Country Formal Relations BeganNotes21 December 1963See Burundi–China relations
On December 21, 1963, the People's Republic of China established the diplomatic relations with the Republic of Burundi. But on January 29, 1965, the Burundi government unilaterally announced the break-up of the diplomatic relations with China. On October 13, 1971, the two countries restored the diplomatic relations and afterwards it has witnessed a favorable development.
Burundi has an embassy in Beijing.
China has an embassy in Bujumbura.1967See Burundi–India relations
Burundi has an embassy in New Delhi.
India is accredited to Burundi from its high commission in Kampala, Uganda.
Both countries have a number of bilateral agreements.27 September 1980Both countries established diplomatic relations on 27 September 1980 when Ambassador of Iraq Mr. Fakhri Ahmed Oasio presented his credentials to President of Burundi Colonel Jean-Baptiste Bagaza.Diplomatic relations were broken off 16 May 1973 and resumption on 1 March 199516 January 1981Both countries established diplomatic relations on 16 January 1981 when ambassador of Burundi Mr. Julian Nahabo presented his credentials to Amir of Kuwait Shaikh Jaber.12 March 1967See Burundi–North Korea relations3 October 1991Establishment of diplomatic Relations between South Korea and the Republic of Burundi was on 3 October 1991. In October 1985 Minister of Finance Pierre Ngerngi attended the Annual General Meeting of the IMF and the IBRD in Seoul, Korea.16 April 1973Both countries established diplomatic relations on April 16, 1973
Both countries are full members of the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie.
Europe
Country Formal Relations BeganNotes18 July 1962Both countries established diplomatic relations on 18 July 1962.
Belgium has an embassy in Bujumbura.
Burundi has an embassy in Brussels.26 November 2001Both countries established diplomatic relations on
Burundi is represented in Cyprus by its embassy in Geneva, Switzerland and an honorary consulate in Nicosia.
Cyprus is represented in Burundi by its embassy in Doha, Qatar and an honorary consulate in Bujumbura.
Both countries are full members of the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie.25 June 1965 Denmark is represented in Burundi, through its embassy in Kampala.
Burundi is represented in Denmark, through its embassy in Berlin.1968Greece is represented in Burundi through its embassy in Uganda, while Uganda is represented in Greece through its embassy in Switzerland.1967Burundi and Italy maintain diplomatic relations and Italy is represented in Burundi through its embassy in Uganda.4 July 1962The Netherlands have an embassy in Bujumbura.8 August 1962See Burundi–Poland relations1 October 1962Both countries established diplomatic relations on 1 October 1962
See Burundi–Russia relations30 April 1980Both countries established diplomatic relations on
Burundi has an embassy in Ankara.
Turkey has an embassy in Bujumbura.
Burundi maintains an embassy in London.
The United Kingdom is accredited to Burundi through its embassy office in Bujumbura.
Both countries share common membership of the World Trade Organization. Bilaterally the two countries have an Investment Agreement.
Pacific
Country Formal Relations BeganNotesAustralia is represented in Burundi by its embassy in Nairobi, Kenya.
See also
List of diplomatic missions in Burundi
List of diplomatic missions of Burundi
References
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foreign_relations_of_Burundi
|
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|
Bosporus
|
| image | caption
| image_bathymetry | caption_bathymetry
| depth | max-depth
| inflow | outflow
| catchment | basin_countries Turkey
| length
| width | min_width
| islands | etymology
| location | pushpin_map Istanbul#Turkey#Europe#Asia
| pushpin_label_position | pushpin_map_alt
| pushpin_map_caption | coordinates
| coor_pinpoint | part_of Turkish Straits
| alt | type Strait
| cities | area
| oceans | other_name
}}
(yellow) and the Sea of Marmara]]
in April 2004. The body of water at the top is the Black Sea, the one at the bottom is the Marmara Sea, and the Bosporus is the winding waterway that connects the two. The western banks of the Bosporus constitute the geographic starting point of the European continent, while the banks to the east are the geographic beginnings of the continent of Asia. The city of Istanbul is visible along both banks.]]
The Bosporus or Bosphorus Strait ( ;s online version has only this spelling and its search function does not find anything for the spelling Bosphorus. The Columbia Encyclopedia specifies that the pronunciation of the alternative spelling ph is also , but dictionaries also list the pronunciation for this spelling.}} , colloquially ) is a natural strait and an internationally significant waterway located in Istanbul, Turkey. The Bosporus connects the Black Sea to the Sea of Marmara and forms one of the continental boundaries between Asia and Europe. It also divides Turkey by separating Asia Minor from Thrace. It is the world's narrowest strait used for international navigation.
Most of the shores of the Bosporus Strait, except for the area to the north, are heavily settled, with the city of Istanbul's metropolitan population of 17 million inhabitants extending inland from both banks.
The Bosporus Strait and the Dardanelles Strait at the opposite end of the Sea of Marmara are together known as the Turkish Straits.
Sections of the shore of the Bosporus in Istanbul have been reinforced with concrete or rubble and those sections of the strait prone to deposition are periodically dredged.
Name
The name of the strait comes from the Ancient Greek (), which was folk-etymologised as , i.e. "cattle strait" (like "Ox-ford"), from the genitive of 'ox, cattle' + 'passage', thus meaning 'cattle-passage', or 'cow passage'. This is a reference to the Greek mythological story of Io, who was transformed into a cow and condemned to wander the Earth until she crossed the Bosporus, where she met the Titan Prometheus, who comforted her by telling her that she would be restored to human form by Zeus and become the ancestor of the greatest of all heroes, Heracles (Hercules).
Io supposedly went ashore near Chrysopolis (present-day Üsküdar), which was named 'the Cow'. The same site was also known as Damalis (), as it was where the Athenian general Chares had erected a monument to his wife Damalis, which included a colossal statue of a cow (the name translating to 'heifer').
The English spelling with -ph- (Bosphor) is not justified by the ancient Greek name, and dictionaries prefer the spelling with -p-. However -ph- occurs as a variant in medieval Latin (as Bosphor, and occasionally Bosphorus or Bospherus), and in medieval Greek sometimes as , giving rise to the French , the Spanish , the Italian and the Russian . The 12th-century Greek scholar John Tzetzes calls it (after Damalis), but he also reports that in popular usage the strait was known as during his day, the name of the most ancient northern harbour of Constantinople. In English, the preferred spelling tends to be Bosphorus.
Historically, the Bosporus was also known as the "Strait of Constantinople", or the Thracian Bosporus to distinguish it from the Cimmerian Bosporus in Crimea. These are expressed in Herodotus's Histories, 4.83; as , , and (), respectively. Other names used by Herodotus to refer to the strait include Chalcedonian Bosporus (, [], Herodotus 4.87), or Mysian Bosporus ().
The term eventually came to be used as the common noun , meaning "a strait", and was also formerly applied to the Hellespont in Classical Greek by Aeschylus and Sophocles.
Boğaziçi
Boğaziçi consists of those parts of Istanbul and overlapping administrative districts with a view of the Bosphorus. It is considered more particularly to consist of those parts of Istanbul that are situated north of the Golden Horn (Haliç), starting with the district of Beşiktaş on the European side of the Bosphorus. Thus it includes, from south to north, along the European shore, Beşiktaş, Ortaköy, Arnavutköy, Bebek, Rumelihisarı, Baltalimanı, Emirgan, İstinye, Yeniköy, Tarabya, Kireçburnu, Büyükdere and Sarıyer; and, along the Asian shore, Beylerbeyi, Çengelköy, Vaniköy, Kandilli, Anadolu Hisarı, Kanlıca and Beykoz.
Geography
As a maritime waterway, the Bosporus connects the Black Sea to the Sea of Marmara and thence to the Aegean and Mediterranean seas via the Dardanelles. It also connects various seas along the Eastern Mediterranean, the Balkans, the Near East, and Western Eurasia. Thus, the Bosporus allows maritime connections from the Black Sea all the way to the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean via Gibraltar, and to the Indian Ocean through the Suez Canal, making it a crucial international waterway, in particular for the passage of goods coming from Russia.
There is one very small island in the Bosporus just off Kuruçeşme. Now generally known as Galatasaray Island (Galatasaray Adası), this was given to the Armenian architect Sarkis Balyan by Sultan Abdülhamid II in 1880. The house he built on it was later demolished. The island became a walled garden and then a water sports centre, before it was given to the Galatasaray Sports Club, hence its name. However, in the 2010s it was completely overbuilt with nightclubs and the government had these torn down in 2017. It reopened exclusively to the Galatasaray club members in the summer of 2022. Formation
The exact cause and date of the formation of the Bosporus remain a subject of debate among geologists. One recent hypothesis, dubbed the Black Sea deluge hypothesis, which was launched by a study of the same name in 1997 by two scientists from Columbia University, postulates that the Bosporus was flooded around 5600 BC (revised to 6800 BC in 2003) when the rising waters of the Mediterranean Sea and the Sea of Marmara broke through to the Black Sea, which at the time, according to the hypothesis, was a low-lying body of fresh water.
Many geologists, however, claim that the strait is much older, even if relatively young on a geologic timescale.
Present morphology
The limits of the Bosporus are defined as the line connecting the lighthouses of Rumeli Feneri and Anadolu Feneri in the north, and between the Ahırkapı Feneri and the Kadıköy İnciburnu Feneri in the south ("Fener" is Turkish for lighthouse). Between these limits, the strait is long, with a width of at the northern entrance and at the southern entrance. Its maximum width is between Umuryeri and Büyükdere Limanı, and minimum width is between Kandilli Point and Aşiyan.
The depth of the Bosporus varies from in midstream with an average of . The deepest point is between Kandilli and Bebek, at . The shallowest locations are off Kadıköy İnciburnu at and off Aşiyan Point at .
The southbound flow of water is 16 000 m<sup>3</sup>/s (fresh water at the surface) and the northbound flow is 11 000 m<sup>3</sup>/s (salt water near the bottom). Dan Parsons and researchers at the University of Leeds School of Earth and Environment describe a Black Sea undersea river.
The Golden Horn is an estuary off the main strait that historically acted as a moat to protect Constantinople from attack, as well as providing sheltered anchorage for the imperial navies of various empires until the 19th century, after which it became a historic neighbourhood at the heart of Istanbul.
Newer explorations
Before the 20th century it was already known that the Black Sea and the Sea of Marmara flow into each other in a geographic example of "density flow". Then in August 2010, a continuous 'underwater channel' of suspension composition was discovered flowing along the floor of the Bosporus, which would be the sixth largest river on Earth if it were on land. The 2010 team of scientists, led by the University of Leeds, used a robotic "yellow submarine" to observe detailed flows within this "undersea river", scientifically referred to as a submarine channel,}}
The central tenet of the Black Sea deluge hypothesis is that as the ocean rose at the end of the last Ice Age when the massive ice sheets melted, the sealed Bosporus was overwhelmed by a spectacular flood that increased the then fresh water Black Sea Lake by 50%, and drove people back from the shores for many months. This hypothesis was supported by the findings of undersea explorer Robert Ballard, who discovered settlements along the old shoreline; scientists dated the flood to 7500 BP or 5500 BC from fresh-salt water microflora. Driven out by the rapidly rising water, which must have been terrifying and inexplicable, people spread to all corners of the Western world carrying the story of a major flood. As the waters surged, they scoured a network of sea-floor channels less resistant to denser suspended solids in liquid, which remains a very active layer today.
The first images of these submarine channels showing them to be of great size, were obtained in 1999 during a NATO SACLANT Undersea Research project using jointly the NATO RV Alliance, and the Turkish Navy survey ship Çubuklu. In 2002, a survey carried out on board the Ifremer RV Le Suroit for BlaSON project (Lericolais, et al., 2003) completed the multibeam mapping of this underwater channel fan-delta. A complete map was published in 2009 using these previous results together with high quality mapping obtained in 2006 (by researchers at Memorial University of Newfoundland who were project partners in the study).
The project was led by Jeff Peakall and Daniel Parsons at the University of Leeds, in collaboration with the University of Southampton, Memorial University of Newfoundland, and the Institute of Marine Sciences. The survey was run and coordinated from the Institute of Marine Sciences research ship, the R/V Koca Piri Reis.
Villages
The shores of the Bosporus were once lined with small fishing villages that had grown up since Byzantine times but really came into their own in the 19th century. Until the early 20th century most were only accessible by boat (known as caiques) along the Bosporus since there were no coast roads. Today the villages are no more than suburbs of Greater Istanbul but many retain the memory of their original village status in the suffix '-köy (village' to their names. e.g. Ortaköy, Yeniköy, Arnavutköy, Çengelköy and Vaniköy. These villages often had distinct identities associated with agriculture: Arnavutköy, for example, was associated with strawberry-growing while Çengelköy was famous for its sweet cucumbers.
Human history
As part of the only passage between the Black Sea and the Mediterranean, the Bosporus has always been of great importance from a commercial and military point of view, and it remains strategically important today. It is a major sea access route for numerous countries, including Russia and Ukraine. Control over it has been an objective of a number of conflicts in modern history, notably the Russo-Turkish War (1877–78), as well as of the attack of the Allied Powers on the Dardanelles during the 1915 Battle of Gallipoli in the course of World War I. In 2022 during the Russian invasion of Ukraine the Bosporus' importance as a route by which grain reached the world was thrown into sharp profile.
Ancient Greek, Persian, Roman and Byzantine eras (pre-1453)
cartographer Cristoforo Buondelmonti. This is the oldest surviving map of the city, and the only surviving map that predates the Turkish conquest of 1453. The Bosporus is visible along the right-hand side of the map, wrapping vertically around the historic city.]]
The strategic importance of the Bosporus dates back millennia. In the 5th century BC the Greek city-state of Athens, which depended on grain imports from the Black Sea ports of Scythia, maintained critical alliances with cities which controlled the straits, such as the Megarian colony of Byzantium.
In an attempt to subdue the Scythian horsemen who roamed across the north of the Black Sea, the Persian King Darius I the Great () crossed the Bosporus, then marched towards the River Danube. His army crossed the Bosporus using an enormous bridge made by connecting boats. This bridge essentially connected the farthest geographic tip of Asia to Europe, encompassing at least some 1,000 metres of open. Years later, Xerxes I would construct a similar boat bridge across the Dardanelles (Hellespont) strait (480 BC), during his invasion of Greece.
The Byzantines called the Bosporus "Stenon" and used the following major toponyms in the area:
* on the European side:
** Bosporios Akra
** Argyropolis
** St. Mamas
** St. Phokas
** Hestiai or Michaelion
** Phoneus
** Anaplous or Sosthenion
* on the Asian side:
** Hieron tower
** Eirenaion
** Anthemiou
** Sophianai
** Bithynian Chrysopolis
The strategic significance of the strait was one of the factors in the decision of the Roman Emperor Constantine the Great to found his new capital, Constantinople, there in AD 330. This then became the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire.
Ottoman era (1453–1922)
. The castles are Rumelihisarı and Anadoluhisarı, respectively. The original is a watercolor available in the online collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum. ]]
On 29 May 1453, the then-emergent Ottoman Empire conquered the city of Constantinople following a lengthy campaign during which the Ottomans constructed fortifications on each side of the strait, the Anadoluhisarı (Anatolian Castle, 1393) and the Rumelihisarı (European Castle, 1451), in preparation for not only the primary battle but to assert long-term control over the Bosporus and surrounding waterways. The final 53-day campaign, which resulted in Ottoman victory, constituted an important turn in world history. Together with Christopher Columbus's first voyage to the Americas in 1492, the 1453 conquest of Constantinople is commonly noted as among the events that brought an end to the Middle Ages and marked the transition to the Renaissance and the Age of Discovery.
The event also marked the end of the Byzantines—the final remnants of the Roman Empire—and the transfer of the control of the Bosporus into Ottoman hands. The Ottomans then made Constantinople their new capital, and the base from which they expanded their empire in the centuries that followed.
At its peak between the 16th and 18th centuries, the Ottoman Empire was able to use the strategic importance of the Bosporus to wrest control of the entire Black Sea area, which they regarded as an "Ottoman lake", from which Russian warships were prohibited.
Subsequently, several international treaties have governed access to the strait. Under the Treaty of Hünkâr İskelesi of 8 July 1833, the Bosporus and Dardanelles straits were to be closed to the naval vessels of other powers on Russian demand. By the terms of the London Straits Convention, concluded on 13 July 1841 between the Great Powers of Europe (Russia, the United Kingdom, France, Austria and Prussia), the "ancient rule" of the Ottoman Empire was re-established by closing the Turkish Straits to all warships, barring those of the Sultan's allies during wartime. This benefited British naval power at the expense of the Russians, as the latter then lacked direct access to the Mediterranean. Summer Embassies During the 19th century many of the foreign powers represented in Constantinople maintained second embassies up the Bosporus and would relocate their staff there during the hot, humid summer months. Most of these summer embassies were on the European shore at Yeniköy (Austrian), Tarabya (German, English, French, Italian) and Büyükdere (Spanish, Russian). Some of the buildings still survive today although the British Summer Embassy burnt down in 1911 and the Italian Summer Embassy, a fine building by Raimondo d'Aronco, survives in very dilapidated condition.
Turkish republican era (1923–present)
Following the First World War, the 1920 Treaty of Sèvres demilitarised the strait and made it an international territory under the control of the League of Nations. This was amended by the Treaty of Lausanne (1923), which restored the straits to Turkey but allowed all foreign warships and commercial shipping to traverse the straits freely. Turkey eventually rejected the terms of that treaty, and remilitarised the straits area. The reversion was formalised under the Montreux Convention Regarding the Regime of the Turkish Straits of 20 July 1936. That convention - which is still in force - treats the straits as an international shipping lane except that Turkey retains the right to restrict the naval traffic of non–Black Sea states.
Turkey was neutral in the Second World War until February 1945, and the straits were closed to the warships of belligerent nations during this time, although some German auxiliary vessels were permitted to transit. In diplomatic conferences, Soviet representatives had expressed an interest in obtaining naval bases on the straits. This, together with Stalin's demands for the restitution of the Turkish provinces of Kars, Artvin and Ardahan to the Soviet Union (which were lost by Turkey in the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878, but were regained with the Treaty of Kars in 1921), was a consideration in Turkey's decision to abandon neutrality in foreign affairs. Turkey declared war against Germany in February 1945, but did not engage in offensive actions.
Turkey joined NATO in 1952, thus affording the straits even more strategic importance as a commercial and military waterway.
During the early 21st century, the Turkish Straits have become particularly important for the oil industry. Russian oil, from ports such as Novorossiysk, was exported by tankers primarily to the U.S. via the Bosporus and the Dardanelles straits.
Istanbul Canal
In 2011, Turkey proposed to build a canal west of the Bosporus, suggesting that it would reduce the risk presented to the Bosporus by oil tankers and other cargo ships. The project proved highly controversial and, , work had not been started on building the canal even though a route for it had been established. In mythology
The Bosphorus takes its name from the Greek mythological story of Io, who was transformed into a cow and, pursued by a gadfly, was condemned to wander the Earth until she reached the strait. There she met the Titan Prometheus, who comforted her by telling her that she would be restored to human form by Zeus and become the ancestor of the greatest of all heroes, Heracles (Hercules).
According to ancient Greek mythology, it was said that colossal floating rocks known as the Symplegades, or Clashing Rocks, once guarded both sides of the Bosporus and destroyed any ship that attempted to pass through the strait by crushing them. Their destructive power was finally overcome by the Argonaut hero Jason who managed to pass between them unscathed, whereupon the rocks became fixed, opening Greek access to the Black Sea.
Crossings
(Bosphorus Bridge), the first to be built across the Bosporus, completed in 1973]]
, the second crossing built in 1988, looking from the Asian side towards Rumelihisarı on the European side of the Bosporus]]
, the third and most recent crossing, in September 2016. The bridge was opened on 26 August 2016.]]
Maritime
The Bosporus is traversed by numerous passenger and vehicular ferries daily, as well as by recreational and fishing boats ranging from dinghies to yachts owned by both public and private entities.
The strait also serves a significant amount of international commercial shipping traffic in the form of freighters and tankers. Between its northern limits at Rumeli Feneri and Anadolu Feneri and its southern ones at Ahırkapı Feneri and Kadıköy İnciburnu Feneri, there are numerous dangerous points for large-scale maritime traffic that require sharp turns and management of visual obstructions. Famously, the stretch between Kandilli Point and Aşiyan requires a 45-degree course alteration in a location where the currents can reach . To the south, at Yeniköy, the necessary course alteration is 80 degrees. Compounding these difficult changes in trajectory, the rear and forward sight lines at Kandilli and Yeniköy are also completely blocked prior to and during the course alteration, making it impossible for ships approaching from the opposite direction to see around the bends. The risks posed by this geography are further multiplied by the heavy ferry traffic across the strait, linking the European and Asian sides of the city. As such, all the dangers and obstacles characteristic of narrow waterways are present and acute in this vital sea lane.
In 2011, the Turkish Government started to discuss creating a man-made canal roughly long that would run north–south through the western edges of Istanbul Province as a second route from the Black Sea to the Marmara. It was suggested that this would reduce the risk from shipping to the Bosporus.
In 2022 the dues levied by Turkey for freight ships increased 500% to US$4 per ton, the first change since 1983.
The Bosporus is fairly deep and there is no definite limit on the depth and length of a ship, but ships over 150 metres long or 10 metres deep must pre-book their passage. Those over 300 metres long must follow a special clearance procedure. There is an air draft limit of 57 metres.
Land bridges
Two suspension bridges and a cable-stayed bridge cross the Bosporus. The first of these, the long 15th July Martyrs Bridge was completed in 1973 when it was called the Bosporus Bridge. The second, named Fatih Sultan Mehmet (Bosporus II) Bridge, is long, and was completed in 1988 about north of the first bridge. The first Bosporus Bridge forms part of the O1 Motorway, while the Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge forms part of the Trans-European Motorway. The third and most recent bridge, the Yavuz Sultan Selim Bridge, is long and was completed in 2016. It is located near the northern end of the Bosporus, between the villages of Garipçe on the European side and Poyrazköy on the Asian side, as part of the "Northern Marmara Motorway", integrated into the existing Black Sea Coastal Highway, and allowing transit traffic to bypass city traffic. Approximately of the tunnel runs under the strait, at a depth of about .
An undersea water supply tunnel with a length of ,
The Eurasia Tunnel is a undersea highway tunnel designed for vehicular traffic between Kazlıçeşme on the European side of Istanbul and Göztepe on the Asian side. Construction began in February 2011, and the tunnel opened on 20 December 2016.
Up to four submarine fibre optics lines (MedNautilus and possibly others) approach Istanbul, coming from the Mediterranean through the Dardanelles. Strategic importance
, sailing through the Bosporus]]
The Bosporus is the only way for Bulgaria, Georgia, Romania, Russia (south-western part) and Ukraine to reach the Mediterranean Sea and other seas. Thus sovereignty over the straits is an important issue for these countries, as well as Turkey, the state the Bosporus actually flows through.
Turkey does not receive tolls from ships passing through the strait. Turkey's military has broad powers in accordance with the terms of the Montreux Convention. As of 2021, the Bosporus Command is located on the shores of the Bosporus and the military ships connected to the Command are anchored in the Bosporus waters.
Located on a peninsula at the intersection of the Black Sea, the Bosporus and the Marmara Sea, Istanbul has historically been one of the most protected and hardest-to-conquer cities from Roman times to the Ottoman Empire. Divided by the Bosporus, it is one of very few intercontinental cities in the world.
Sightseeing
The Bosporus has 620 waterfront houses (yalı) built during the Ottoman period along the strait's European and Asian shorelines. Ottoman palaces such as the Topkapı Palace, Dolmabahçe Palace, Yıldız Palace, Çırağan Palace, Feriye Palaces, Beylerbeyi Palace, Küçüksu Palace, Ihlamur Palace, Hatice Sultan Palace and Adile Sultan Palace also stand on or near its shores. Other buildings and landmarks on the Bosporus include the Kılıç Egyptian Consulate at Bebek, Bebek Mosque, Boğaziçi University, Robert College, Rumeli Castle (RumelihisarI), Borusan Museum of Contemporary Art, Sakıp Sabancı Museum, Sadberk Hanım Museum, Üsküdar Mihrimah Sultan Mosque, Şemsipaşa Mosque, Maiden's Tower (Kızkulesi), Beylerbeyi Mosque, Anadolu Castle (Anadoluhisarı), Kuleli Military High School, Adile Sultan Palace, Küçüksu Pavilion, Khedive's Villa, Beykoz Mecidiye Pavilion and Yoros Castle (Anadaolu Kavağı).
, one of the castles on the Bosporus, with two of the suspension bridges which span the strait]]
Most of the public ferries that traverse the strait leave from Eminönü on the historic peninsula of Istanbul and travel as far as Anadolu Kavağı near the Black Sea. On the way they call briefly at points on both the European and Asian shores. Private ferries, also leaving from Eminönü, travel only as far as one of the first two Bosporus bridges. Ferries from Eminönü also travel as far as Rumeli Kavaği, stopping only at points on the European shore, while other ferries from Üsküdar travel as far as Anadolu Kavağı, stopping only at points on the Asian shore. Frequent public ferries from Eminõnü, Karaköy, Beşiktaş, Kadıköy and Usküdar offer short hops from one side of the Bosporus to the other throughout the day.
Catamaran sea buses offer high-speed commuter services between the European and Asian shores of the Bosporus, but they stop at fewer ports and piers in comparison to the public ferries. Both the public ferries and the sea buses also provide commuter services between the Bosporus and the Prince Islands in the Sea of Marmara.
Tourist cruises are available from various points along the Bosporus, including Ortaköy. The prices vary considerably, and some feature music and dining.
Architecture
-era waterfront houses (yalıs) on the Bosporus]]
The many yalı (waterside mansions) which were constructed along the shores of the Bosporus during the Ottoman period have long been synonymous with the strait. Those that still preserve their original form are among the most expensive real estate in Turkey although many have been lost to time, weather and 'accidental' fires. The oldest yalı on the European shore is the Şerifler Yalı at Emirgan which was built in the 18th century and belonged for a while to the Şerifs, the hereditary rulers of Mecca. It is still in good condition unlike the oldest yalı on the Asian side which is the Köprülü Amcazade Hüseyin Paşa Yalı at Anadolu Hisarı, built in 1698. Only the central section of this yalı survives and it has been behind hoardings promising restoration since 2009.
Most of the yalıs originally sat right on the water's edge and came with private docks and ports where boats (caiques) could be stored. On the Anatolian shore some yalıs are still right beside the water but on the European shore most now stand back behind a coast road built on reclaimed land.
of Ahmet Rasim Pasha]]
The original yalıs usually had two main sections: the selamlık which was the public area and the part of the house used by the men, and the haremlik which was the private part of the house reserved for women and the family. These were the luxurious dwellings of the wealthy and some came with their own private hamams (Turkish baths). Egyptian legacy During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the Egyptian royal family took a great liking to the Bosporus and often spent their summers on its shores. They left behind a legacy of fine buildings on or overlooking its shores, including the building at Bebek that now houses the Egyptian Consulate and the Khedive's Villa (Hıdiv Kasrı) high on the hill above Çubuklu.
See also
* Black Sea trade and economy
* Great Istanbul Tunnel, a proposed three-level road-rail undersea tunnel
* Istanbul Canal
* List of maritime incidents in the Turkish Straits
* Public transport in Istanbul
* Rail transport in Turkey
* Eastern Bosphorus
Notes
References
Sources
*
*
*
External links
*
Category:Landforms of Istanbul Province
Category:Straits of the Mediterranean Sea
Category:Straits of Turkey
Category:Tourism in Istanbul
Category:Turkish Straits
Category:Important Bird Areas of Turkey
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bosporus
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2025-04-05T18:26:31.752997
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Brussels
|
|}}
| native_name = | }}
| settlement_type = Region
| image_skyline =
| image_caption | image_flag Flag of the Brussels-Capital Region.svg
| flag_size = 125px
| flag_link = Flag of the Brussels-Capital Region
| image_blank_emblem = Be Brussels logo (full).svg
| blank_emblem_type = Brandmark
| nickname Capital of Europe,
| area_total_km2 = 162.42
| area_total_sq_mi | elevation_footnotes
| elevation_m = 13
| elevation_ft | population_total 1,249,597
| population_as_of = 1 January 2024
| population_footnotes
| population_density_km2 = auto
| population_density_sq_mi | population_urban
| population_metro = 2,500,000
| population_blank1_title | population_blank1
| population_demonym = | | /}}
| demographics_type1 = Demographics
| demographics1_footnotes | demographics1_title1 Official languages
| demographics1_info1 = FrenchDutch
| demographics1_title2 = Ethnic groups
| demographics1_info2 25.7% Belgian<br/> 74.3% others<br/>• 41.8% non-European
| postal_code_type = ISO 3166
| postal2_code_type = Postal code(s)
| postal2_code = 42 postal codes
| area_code = 02
| website
| footnotes | p2 Auderghem / Oudergem
| p3 = Berchem-Sainte-Agathe / Sint-Agatha-Berchem
| p4 = Bruxelles-Ville / Brussel-Stad
| p5 = Etterbeek
| p6 = Evere
| p7 = Forest / Vorst
| p8 = Ganshoren
| p9 = Ixelles / Elsene
| p10 = Jette
| p11 = Koekelberg
| p12 = Molenbeek-Saint-Jean / Sint-Jans-Molenbeek
| p13 = Saint-Gilles / Sint-Gillis
| p14 = Saint-Josse-ten-Noode / Sint-Joost-ten-Node
| p15 = Schaerbeek / Schaarbeek
| p16 = Uccle / Ukkel
| p17 = Watermael-Boitsfort / Watermaal-Bosvoorde
| p18 = Woluwe-Saint-Lambert / Sint-Lambrechts-Woluwe
| p19 = Woluwe-Saint-Pierre / Sint-Pieters-Woluwe
| leader_title2 = Minister-President
| leader_name2 = Rudi Vervoort (PS)
| leader_title3 = Legislature
| leader_name3 = Parliament of the Brussels-Capital Region
| leader_title4 = Speaker
| leader_name4 = Rachid Madrane (PS)
| demographics_type2 = GDP
| demographics2_footnotes
| demographics2_title1 = Region/City
| demographics2_info1 €103.285 billion (2023)
| demographics2_title2 Metro
| demographics2_info2 = €200.457 billion (2022)
| timezone = CET
| utc_offset = +1
| timezone_DST = CEST
| utc_offset_DST = +2
| blank_name_sec2 = GeoTLD
| blank_info_sec2 = .brussels
| blank1_name_sec2 = HDI (2021)
| blank1_info_sec2 0.953<br /> · 1st of 11
| population_est | pop_est_as_of
| founder = Charles, Duke of Lower Lorraine
| established_title4 = Region established
| established_date4 = 18 June 1989
| established_title3 = City charter granted
| established_date3 = 10 June 1229
| iso_code = <code>BE-BRU</code>
}}
Brussels,; ; }} officially the Brussels-Capital Region, ; }} is a region of Belgium comprising 19 municipalities, including the City of Brussels, which is the capital of Belgium. The Brussels-Capital Region is located in the central portion of the country. It is a part of both the French Community of Belgium and the Flemish Community, and is separate from the Flemish Region (Flanders), within which it forms an enclave, and the Walloon Region (Wallonia), located less than to the south.
Brussels grew from a small rural settlement on the river Senne to become an important city-region in Europe. Since the end of the Second World War, it has been a major centre for international politics and home to numerous international organisations, politicians, diplomats and civil servants. Brussels is the de facto capital of the European Union, as it hosts a number of principal EU institutions, including its administrative-legislative, executive-political, and legislative branches (though the judicial branch is located in Luxembourg, and the European Parliament meets for a minority of the year in Strasbourg). Because of this, its name is sometimes used metonymically to describe the EU and its institutions. The secretariat of the Benelux and the headquarters of NATO are also located in Brussels.
Brussels is the most densely populated region in Belgium, and although it has the highest GDP per capita, The Brussels Region covers and has a population of over 1.2 million. Its five times larger metropolitan area comprises over 2.5 million people, which makes it the largest in Belgium. It is also part of a large conurbation extending towards the cities of Ghent, Antwerp, and Leuven, known as the Flemish Diamond, as well as the province of Walloon Brabant, in total home to over 5 million people. As Belgium's economic capital and a top financial centre in Western Europe with Euronext Brussels, Brussels is classified as an Alpha global city. It is also a national and international hub for rail, road and air traffic, and is sometimes considered, together with Belgium, as Europe's geographic, economic and cultural crossroads. The Brussels Metro is the only rapid transit system in Belgium. In addition, both its airport and railway stations are the largest and busiest in the country.
Historically Dutch-speaking, Brussels saw a language shift to French from the late 19th century. Since its creation in 1989, the Brussels-Capital Region has been officially bilingual in French and Dutch, although French is the majority language and lingua franca. Brussels is also increasingly becoming multilingual. English is spoken widely and many migrants and expatriates speak other languages as well.
Brussels is known for its cuisine and gastronomic offer (including its local waffle, its chocolate, its French fries and its numerous types of beers), as well as its historical and architectural landmarks; some of them are registered as UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Principal attractions include its historic Grand-Place/Grote Markt (main square), Manneken Pis, the Atomium, and cultural institutions such as La Monnaie/De Munt and the Museums of Art and History. Due to its long tradition of Belgian comics, Brussels is also hailed as a capital of the comic strip.ToponymyEtymologyThe most common theory of the origin of the name Brussels is that it derives from the Old Dutch , or , meaning ( / ) and ( / / ) or . Saint Vindicianus, the Bishop of Cambrai, made the first recorded reference to the place in 695, when it was still a hamlet. The names of all the municipalities in the Brussels-Capital Region are also of Dutch origin, except for Evere, which is possibly Celtic or Old Frankish.PronunciationIn French, is pronounced (the x is pronounced , as in English, and the final s is silent) and in Dutch, is pronounced . Inhabitants of Brussels are known in French as (pronounced ) and in Dutch as (pronounced ). In the Brabantian dialect of Brussels (known as Brusselian, and also sometimes referred to as Marols or Marollien), they are called Brusseleers or Brusseleirs. The pronunciation in French only dates from the 18th century, but this modification did not affect the traditional Brussels usage. In France, the pronunciations and (for ) are often heard, but are rather rare in Belgium.HistoryEarly history, traditionally considered the founder of what would become Brussels, ]]
The history of Brussels is closely linked to that of Western Europe. Traces of human settlement go back to the Stone Age, with vestiges and place-names related to the civilisation of megaliths, dolmens and standing stones (Plattesteen near the Grand-Place/Grote Markt and Tomberg in Woluwe-Saint-Lambert, for example). During late antiquity, the region was home to Roman occupation, as attested by archaeological evidence discovered on the current site of Tour & Taxis, north-west of the Pentagon (Brussels' city centre). Following the decline of the Western Roman Empire, it was incorporated into the Frankish Empire.
According to local legend, the origin of the settlement which was to become Brussels lies in Saint Gaugericus' construction of a chapel on an island in the river Senne around 580. The official founding of Brussels is usually said to be around 979, when Charles, Duke of Lower Lorraine, transferred the relics of the martyr Saint Gudula from Moorsel (located in today's province of East Flanders) to Saint Gaugericus' chapel. When Otto II, Holy Roman Emperor, appointed the same Charles to become Duke of Lower Lotharingia in 977, Charles ordered the construction of the city's first permanent fortification, doing so on that same island.
Middle Ages
Lambert I, Count of Louvain, gained the County of Brussels around 1000 by marrying Charles' daughter. Because of its location on the banks of the Senne, on an important trade route between the Flemish cities of Bruges and Ghent, and Cologne in the Kingdom of Germany, Brussels became a commercial centre specialised in the textile trade. The town grew quite rapidly and extended towards the upper town (Treurenberg, Coudenberg and Sablon/Zavel areas), where there was a reduced risk of floods. As the town grew to a population of around 30,000, the surrounding marshes were drained to allow for further expansion. In 1183, the Counts of Leuven became Dukes of Brabant. Brabant, unlike the county of Flanders, was not fief of the king of France but was incorporated into the Holy Roman Empire.
In the early 13th century, the first walls of Brussels were built and after this, the city grew significantly. Around this time, work began on what is now the Cathedral of St. Michael and St. Gudula (1225), replacing an older Romanesque church. To let the city expand, a second set of walls was erected between 1356 and 1383. Traces of these walls can still be seen; the Small Ring, a series of boulevards bounding the historical city centre, follows their former course.
Early modern
In the 14th century, the marriage between heiress Margaret III, Countess of Flanders, and Philip the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, produced a new Duke of Brabant of the House of Valois, namely Anthony, their son. In 1477, the Burgundian duke Charles the Bold perished in the Battle of Nancy. Through the marriage of his daughter Mary of Burgundy (who was born in Brussels) to Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I, the Low Countries fell under Habsburg sovereignty. Brabant was integrated into this composite state, and Brussels flourished as the Princely Capital of the prosperous Burgundian Netherlands, also known as the Seventeen Provinces. After the death of Mary in 1482, her son Philip the Handsome succeeded as Duke of Burgundy and Brabant.
Philip died in 1506, and he was succeeded by his son Charles V who then also became King of Spain (crowned in the Cathedral of St. Michael and St. Gudula) and even Holy Roman Emperor at the death of his grandfather Maximilian I in 1519. Charles was now the ruler of a Habsburg Empire "on which the sun never sets" with Brussels serving as one of his main capitals. It was in the Coudenberg Palace that Charles V was declared of age in 1515, and it was there in 1555 that he abdicated all of his possessions and passed the Habsburg Netherlands to King Philip II of Spain. This palace, famous all over Europe, had greatly expanded since it had first become the seat of the Dukes of Brabant, but it was destroyed by fire in 1731.
after the 1695 bombardment by the French army]]
In the 16th and 17th centuries, Brussels was a centre for the lace industry. In addition, Brussels tapestry hung on the walls of castles throughout Europe. In 1695, during the Nine Years' War, King Louis XIV of France sent troops to bombard Brussels with artillery. Together with the resulting fire, it was the most destructive event in the entire history of Brussels. The Grand-Place was destroyed, along with 4,000 buildings—a third of all the buildings in the city. The reconstruction of the city centre, effected during subsequent years, profoundly changed its appearance and left numerous traces still visible today.
During the War of the Spanish Succession in 1708, Brussels again sustained a French attack, which it repelled. Following the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713, Spanish sovereignty over the Southern Netherlands was transferred to the Austrian branch of the House of Habsburg. This event started the era of the Austrian Netherlands. Brussels was captured by France in 1746, during the War of the Austrian Succession, but was handed back to Austria three years later. It remained with Austria until 1795, when the Southern Netherlands were captured and annexed by France, and the city became the chef-lieu of the department of the Dyle. The French rule ended in 1815, with the defeat of Napoleon on the battlefield of Waterloo, located south of today's Brussels-Capital Region. With the Congress of Vienna, the Southern Netherlands joined the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, under King William I of Orange. The former Dyle department became the province of South Brabant, with Brussels as its capital.
Late modern
of 1830'', Gustaf Wappers, 1834]]
In 1830, the Belgian Revolution began in Brussels, after a performance of Auber's opera La Muette de Portici at the Royal Theatre of La Monnaie. The city became the capital and seat of government of the new nation. South Brabant was renamed simply Brabant, with Brussels as its administrative centre. On 21 July 1831, Leopold I, the first King of the Belgians, ascended the throne, undertaking the destruction of the city walls and the construction of many buildings.
Following independence, Brussels underwent many more changes. It became a financial centre, thanks to the dozens of companies launched by the Société Générale de Belgique. The Industrial Revolution and the opening of the Brussels–Charleroi Canal in 1832 brought prosperity to the city through commerce and manufacturing. The Free University of Brussels was established in 1834 and Saint-Louis University in 1858. In 1835, the first passenger railway built outside England linked the municipality of Molenbeek-Saint-Jean with Mechelen.
in the late 19th century]]
During the 19th century, the population of Brussels grew considerably; from about 80,000 to more than 625,000 people for the city and its surroundings. The Senne had become a serious health hazard, and from 1867 to 1871, under the tenure of the city's then-mayor, Jules Anspach, its entire course through the urban area was completely covered over. This allowed urban renewal and the construction of modern buildings of Haussmann-esque style along grand central boulevards, characteristic of downtown Brussels today. Buildings such as the Brussels Stock Exchange (1873), the Palace of Justice (1883) and Saint Mary's Royal Church (1885) date from this period. This development continued throughout the reign of King Leopold II. The International Exposition of 1897 contributed to the promotion of the infrastructure. Among other things, the Palace of the Colonies, today's Royal Museum for Central Africa, in the suburb of Tervuren, was connected to the capital by the construction of an grand alley.
Brussels became one of the major European cities for the development of the Art Nouveau style in the 1890s and early 1900s. The architects Victor Horta, Paul Hankar, and Henry van de Velde, among others, were known for their designs, many of which survive today. and the first Metro line was opened in 1976. Starting from the early 1960s, Brussels became the de facto capital of what would become the European Union (EU), and many modern offices were built. Development was allowed to proceed with little regard to the aesthetics of newer buildings, and numerous architectural landmarks were demolished to make way for newer buildings that often clashed with their surroundings, giving name to the process of Brusselisation.
Contemporary
The Brussels-Capital Region was formed on 18 June 1989, after a constitutional reform in 1988. It is one of the three federal regions of Belgium, along with Flanders and Wallonia, and has bilingual status.
In recent years, Brussels has become an important venue for international events. In 2000, it was named European Capital of Culture alongside eight other European cities. In 2013, the city was the site of the Brussels Agreement. In 2014, it hosted the 40th G7 summit, and in 2017, 2018 and 2021 respectively the 28th, 29th and 31st NATO Summits.
On 22 March 2016, three coordinated nail bombings were detonated by ISIL in Brussels—two at Brussels Airport in Zaventem and one at Maalbeek/Maelbeek metro station—resulting in 32 victims and three suicide bombers killed, and 330 people were injured. It was the deadliest act of terrorism in Belgium.GeographyLocation and topography
Brussels lies in the north-central part of Belgium, about from the Belgian coast and about from Belgium's southern tip. It is located in the heartland of the Brabantian Plateau, about south of Antwerp (Flanders), and north of Charleroi (Wallonia). Its average elevation is above sea level, varying from a low point in the valley of the almost completely covered Senne, which cuts the Brussels-Capital Region from east to west, up to high points in the Sonian Forest, on its southeastern side. In addition to the Senne, tributary streams such as the Maalbeek and the Woluwe, to the east of the region, account for significant elevation differences. Brussels' central boulevards are above sea level. Contrary to popular belief, the highest point (at ) is not near the / in Forest, but at the / in the Sonian Forest.
Climate
Brussels experiences an oceanic climate (Köppen: Cfb) with warm summers and cool winters. Proximity to coastal areas influences the area's climate by sending marine air masses from the Atlantic Ocean. Nearby wetlands also ensure a maritime temperate climate. On average (based on measurements in the period 1981–2010), there are approximately 135 days of rain per year in the Brussels-Capital Region. Snowfall is infrequent, averaging 24 days per year. The city also often experiences violent thunderstorms in summer months.
Brussels as a capital
Despite its name, the Brussels-Capital Region is not the capital of Belgium. Article 194 of the Belgian Constitution establishes that the capital of Belgium is the City of Brussels, the municipality in the region that is the city's core. is situated alongside Brussels Park (not to be confused with the Royal Palace of Laeken, the official home of the Belgian royal family). The Palace of the Nation is located on the opposite side of this park, and is the seat of the Belgian Federal Parliament. The office of the Prime Minister of Belgium, colloquially called Law Street 16 (, ), is located adjacent to this building. It is also where the Council of Ministers holds its meetings. The Court of Cassation, Belgium's main court, has its seat in the Palace of Justice. Other important institutions in the City of Brussels are the Constitutional Court, the Council of State, the Court of Audit, the Royal Belgian Mint and the National Bank of Belgium.
The City of Brussels is also the capital of both the French Community of Belgium and so do the Parliament of the French Community and the Government of the French Community.
, the official palace of the King and Queen of the Belgians]]
Municipalities
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| Schaarbeek
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The 19 municipalities (, ) of the Brussels-Capital Region are political subdivisions with individual responsibilities for the handling of local level duties, such as law enforcement and the upkeep of schools and roads within its borders. Municipal administration is also conducted by a mayor, a council, and an executive. Unlike most of the municipalities in Belgium, the ones now located in the Brussels-Capital Region were not merged with others during mergers occurring in 1964, 1970, and 1975. These comprise the northern bulge in the municipality. To the south-east is a strip of land along the Avenue Louise/Louizalaan that, in addition to the Bois de la Cambre/Ter Kamerenbos, was annexed from Ixelles in 1864. Part of the (ULB)'s Solbosch campus is also part of the City of Brussels, partially accounting for the bulge in the south-eastern end.
The largest municipality in area and population is the City of Brussels, covering and with 145,917 inhabitants; the least populous is Koekelberg with 18,541 inhabitants. The smallest in area is Saint-Josse-ten-Noode, which is only , but still has the highest population density in the region, with . Watermael-Boitsfort has the lowest population density in the region, with .
There is much controversy on the division of 19 municipalities for a highly urbanised region, which is considered as (half of) one city by most people. Some politicians mock the "19 baronies" and want to merge the municipalities under one city council and one mayor. That would lower the number of politicians needed to govern Brussels, and centralise the power over the city to make decisions easier, thus reduce the overall running costs. The current municipalities could be transformed into districts with limited responsibilities, similar to the current structure of Antwerp or to structures of other capitals like the boroughs in London or arrondissements in Paris, to keep politics close enough to the citizen.
In the 2010s, Molenbeek-Saint-Jean gained international attention as the base for Islamist terrorists who carried out attacks in both Paris and Brussels.
<gallery mode"packed-hover" heights"140" caption="Municipalities of Brussels">
File:Town hall of Anderlecht (DSC 2233).jpg|Anderlecht
File:Auderghem CH2.jpg|Auderghem (Oudergem)
File:SintAgathaBerchemMC7229.jpg|Berchem-Sainte-Agathe (Sint-Agatha-Berchem)
File:Brussels, townhall oeg2043-00090 foto3 2015-06-07 08.38.jpg|City of Brussels
File:Town hall of Etterbeek (DSC 2183).jpg|Etterbeek
File:EvereTownHall.jpg|Evere
File:MaisonCommunaleForest.jpg|Forest (Vorst)
File:Ganshoren town hall.jpg|Ganshoren
File:Town Hall Ixelles 1.jpg|Ixelles (Elsene)
File:Jette voormalig gemeentehuis 27-04-2013.jpg|Jette
File:Maison communale Koekelberg.jpg|Koekelberg
File:Gemeentehuis St Jans Molenbeek.jpg|Molenbeek-Saint-Jean (Sint-Jans-Molenbeek)
File:StGillesTownHall.jpg|Saint-Gilles (Sint-Gillis)
File:Town hall of Saint-Josse-ten-Noode.01.jpg|Saint-Josse-ten-Noode (Sint-Joost-ten-Node)
File:Hôtel communal de Schaerbeek (2) - 2264-0007-0.jpg|Schaerbeek (Schaarbeek)
File:3557uccleTownHall.jpg|Uccle (Ukkel)
File:WatermaelBoitsfortTownHall.jpg|Watermael-Boitsfort (Watermaal-Bosvoorde)
File:Town hall of Woluwe-Saint-Lambert during golden hour (DSC 2171).jpg|Woluwe-Saint-Lambert (Sint-Lambrechts-Woluwe)
File:Mais.Comm.W-S-P.01.JPG|Woluwe-Saint-Pierre (Sint-Pieters-Woluwe)
</gallery>
Brussels-Capital Region
}}]]
Political status
The Brussels-Capital Region is one of the three federated regions of Belgium, alongside the Walloon Region and the Flemish Region. Geographically and linguistically, it is a bilingual enclave in the monolingual Flemish Region. Regions are one component of Belgium's institutions; the three communities being the other component. Brussels' inhabitants deal with either the French Community or the Flemish Community for matters such as culture and education, as well as a Common Community for competencies which do not belong exclusively to either Community, such as healthcare and social welfare.
Since the split of Brabant in 1995, the Brussels Region does not belong to any of the provinces of Belgium, nor is it subdivided into provinces itself. Within the Region, 99% of the areas of provincial jurisdiction are assumed by the Brussels regional institutions and community commissions. Remaining is only the governor of Brussels-Capital and some aides, analogously to provinces. Its status is roughly akin to that of a federal district.
Institutions
, housing the Brussels Regional Parliament]]
The Brussels-Capital Region is governed by a parliament of 89 members (72 French-speaking, 17 Dutch-speaking—parties are organised on a linguistic basis) and an eight-member regional cabinet consisting of a minister-president, four ministers and three state secretaries. By law, the cabinet must comprise two French-speaking and two Dutch-speaking ministers, one Dutch-speaking secretary of state and two French-speaking secretaries of state. The minister-president does not count against the language quota, but in practice every minister-president has been a bilingual francophone. The regional parliament can enact ordinances (, ), which have equal status as a national legislative act.
Nineteen of the 72 French-speaking members of the Brussels Parliament are also members of the Parliament of the French Community of Belgium, and, until 2004, this was also the case for six Dutch-speaking members, who were at the same time members of the Flemish Parliament. Now, people voting for a Flemish party have to vote separately for 6 directly elected members of the Flemish Parliament.
Agglomeration of Brussels
Before the creation of the Brussels-Capital Region, regional competences in the 19 municipalities were performed by the Brussels Agglomeration. The Brussels Agglomeration was an administrative division established in 1971. This decentralised administrative public body also assumed jurisdiction over areas which, elsewhere in Belgium, were exercised by municipalities or provinces.
The Brussels Agglomeration had a separate legislative council, but the by-laws enacted by it did not have the status of a legislative act. The only election of the council took place on 21 November 1971. The working of the council was subject to many difficulties caused by the linguistic and socio-economic tensions between the two communities.
After the creation of the Brussels-Capital Region, the Brussels Agglomeration was never formally abolished, although it no longer has a purpose.
French and Flemish communities
/ Dutch language area}}]]
The French Community and the Flemish Community exercise their powers in Brussels through two community-specific public authorities: the French Community Commission ( or COCOF) and the Flemish Community Commission ( or VGC). These two bodies each have an assembly composed of the members of each linguistic group of the Parliament of the Brussels-Capital Region. They also have a board composed of the ministers and secretaries of state of each linguistic group in the Government of the Brussels-Capital Region.
The French Community Commission also has another capacity: some legislative powers of the French Community have been devolved to the Walloon Region (for the French language area of Belgium) and to the French Community Commission (for the bilingual language area). The Flemish Community, however, did the opposite; it merged the Flemish Region into the Flemish Community. This is related to different conceptions in the two communities, one focusing more on the Communities and the other more on the Regions, causing an asymmetrical federalism. Because of this devolution, the French Community Commission can enact decrees, which are legislative acts.
Common Community Commission
A bi-communitarian public authority, the Common Community Commission (, COCOM, , GGC) also exists. Its assembly is composed of the members of the regional parliament, and its board are the ministers—not the secretaries of state—of the region, with the minister-president not having the right to vote. This commission has two capacities: it is a decentralised administrative public body, responsible for implementing cultural policies of common interest. It can give subsidies and enact by-laws. In another capacity, it can also enact ordinances, which have equal status as a national legislative act, in the field of the welfare powers of the communities: in the Brussels-Capital Region, both the French Community and the Flemish Community can exercise powers in the field of welfare, but only in regard to institutions that are unilingual (for example, a private French-speaking retirement home or the Dutch-speaking hospital of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel). The Common Community Commission is responsible for policies aiming directly at private persons or at bilingual institutions (for example, the centres for social welfare of the 19 municipalities). Its ordinances have to be enacted with a majority in both linguistic groups. Failing such a majority, a new vote can be held, where a majority of at least one third in each linguistic group is sufficient.
Brussels and the European Union
, hosting most of the European Union (EU)'s institutions]]
<!-- -->
Brussels serves as de facto capital of the European Union (EU), hosting the major political institutions of the Union. The EU has not declared a capital formally, though the Treaty of Amsterdam formally gives Brussels the seat of the European Commission (the executive branch of government) and the Council of the European Union (a legislative institution made up from executives of member states). It locates the formal seat of European Parliament in Strasbourg, where votes take place, with the council, on the proposals made by the commission. However, meetings of political groups and committee groups are formally given to Brussels, along with a set number of plenary sessions. Three quarters of Parliament sessions now take place at its Brussels hemicycle. Between 2002 and 2004, the European Council also fixed its seat in the city. In 2014, the Union hosted a G7 summit in the city. However, the European presence has contributed significantly to the importance of Brussels as an international centre. also becoming one of the largest convention centres in the world. The presence of the EU and the other international bodies has, for example, led to there being more ambassadors and journalists in Brussels than in Washington, D.C. The city hosts 120 international institutions, 181 embassies () and more than 2,500 diplomats, making it the second centre of diplomatic relations in the world (after New York City). International schools have also been established to serve this presence. In 2009, there were an estimated 286 lobbying consultancies known to work in Brussels. Finally, Brussels has more than 1,400 NGOs.North Atlantic Treaty Organization
wave at the entrance of NATO's headquarters in Haren]]
The Treaty of Brussels, which was signed on 17 March 1948 between Belgium, France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, was a prelude to the establishment of the intergovernmental military alliance which later became the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). , the alliance consists of 32 independent member countries across North America and Europe. Several countries also have diplomatic missions to NATO through embassies in Belgium. Since 1949, a number of NATO Summits have been held in Brussels, the most recent taking place in June 2021. A new €750 million headquarters building begun in 2010 and was completed in 2017.Eurocontrol
The European Organisation for the Safety of Air Navigation, commonly known as Eurocontrol, is an international organisation which coordinates and plans air traffic control across European airspace. The corporation was founded in 1960 and has 41 member states. Its headquarters are located in Haren, Brussels.DemographicsPopulation
of Europe. Brussels is located between the largest urban centres.]]
Brussels is located in one of the most urbanised regions of Europe, between Paris, London, the Rhine-Ruhr (Germany), and the Randstad (Netherlands). The Brussels-Capital Region has a population of around 1.2 million and has witnessed, in recent years, a remarkable increase in its population. In general, the population of Brussels is younger than the national average, and the gap between rich and poor is wider.
Brussels is the core of a built-up area that extends well beyond the region's limits. Sometimes referred to as the urban area of Brussels (, ) or Greater Brussels (, ), this area extends over a large part of the two Brabant provinces, including much of the surrounding arrondissement of Halle-Vilvoorde and some small parts of the arrondissement of Leuven in Flemish Brabant, as well as the northern part of Walloon Brabant.
The metropolitan area of Brussels is divided into three levels. Firstly, the central agglomeration (within the regional borders), with a population of 1,218,255 inhabitants.
{| class="wikitable"
!
!01-07-2004
!01-07-2005
|-
| || 68,418
|-
| || 45,243
|-
| || 35,154
|-
| || 33,955
|-
| || 30,609
|-
| || 20,060
|-
| || 18,968
|-
| || 13,104
|-
| || 10,927
|-
| || 9,675
|-
| || 9,555
|-
| || 8,494
|-
| || 8,287
|-
| || 7,836
|-
| || 7,273
|-
| || 5,322
|-
| || 5,231
|-
| || 4,834
|-
| || 4,473
|-
| || 2,996
|}
There have been numerous migrations towards Brussels since the end of the 18th century, when the city acted as a common destination for political refugees from neighbouring or more distant countries, particularly France. From 1871, many of the Paris Communards fled to Brussels, where they received political asylum. Other notable international exiles living in Brussels at the time included Victor Hugo, Karl Marx, Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, Georges Boulanger, Paul Verlaine, Arthur Rimbaud, and Léon Daudet, to name a few. Attracted by the industrial opportunities, many workers moved in, first from the other Belgian provinces (mainly rural residents from Flanders) and France, then from Southern European, and more recently from Eastern European and African countries.
Since the second half of the 20th century, Brussels has been home to a large number of immigrants and émigré communities, as well as labour migrants, former foreign students or expatriates, and many Belgian families in Brussels can claim at least one foreign grandparent. At the last Belgian census in 1991, 63.7% of inhabitants in Brussels-Capital Region answered that they were Belgian citizens, born as such in Belgium, indicating that more than a third of residents had not been born in the country. According to Statbel (the Belgian Statistical Office), in 2020, taking into account the nationality of birth of the parents, 74.3% of the population of the Brussels-Capital Region was of foreign origin and 41.8% was of non-European origin (including 28.7% of African origin). Among those aged under 18, 88% were of foreign origin and 57% of non-European origin (including 42.4% of African origin).Languages
Brussels was historically Dutch-speaking, using the Brabantian dialect,<!--see page 13--><!--see page 47--><!--see page 184--> but since the 19th century<!--see page 227--> French has become the predominant language of the city. The main cause of this transition was the rapid assimilation of the local Flemish population,<!--see page 99-100--><!--see page 103--><!--see page 1686--><!--see page 390--> The rise of French in public life gradually began by the end of the 18th century,<!--see page 71--><!--see page 226--> quickly accelerating after Belgian independence.<!--see page 54--><!--see page 51--> Dutch — of which standardisation in Belgium was still very weak<!--see page 17--><!--see page 191--><!--see page 120--><!--see page 369--><!--see page 209--> to such an extent that after 1880,<!--see page 283--><!--see page 19--> declined, leading to an increase of monolingual French-speakers from 1910 onwards.<!--see page 117--><!--see page 392--> From the mid-20th century, the number of monolingual French-speakers surpassed the number of mostly bilingual Flemish inhabitants. This process of assimilation weakened after the 1960s, as the language border was fixed, the status of Dutch as an official language of Belgium was reinforced, and the economic centre of gravity shifted northward to Flanders.<!--see page 415--> a further number of Dutch-speaking municipalities in the Brussels periphery also became predominantly French-speaking.<!--see page 254--> This phenomenon of expanding Francisation — dubbed "oil slick" by its opponents<!--see page 69--> one of the most controversial topics in Belgian politics.<!--see page 258--><!--see page 22-->
French and Dutch street signs in Brussels]]
Since its creation in 1989, the Brussels-Capital Region has been legally bilingual, with both French and Dutch having official status, as is the administration of the 19 municipalities. Flemish political parties demanded, for decades, that the Flemish part of Brussels-Halle-Vilvoorde (BHV) arrondissement be separated from the Brussels Region (which made Halle-Vilvoorde a monolingual Flemish electoral and judicial district). BHV was divided mid-2012. The French-speaking population regards the language border as artificial and demands the extension of the bilingual region to at least all six municipalities with language facilities in the surroundings of Brussels. Flemish politicians have strongly rejected these proposals.
(in red) near Brussels]]
Owing to migration and to its international role, Brussels is home to a large number of native speakers of languages other than French or Dutch. Currently, about half of the population speaks a home language other than these two. In 2013, academic research showed that approximately 17% of families spoke none of the official languages in the home, while in a further 23% a foreign language was used alongside French. The share of unilingual French-speaking families had fallen to 38% and that of Dutch-speaking families to 5%, while the percentage of bilingual Dutch-French families reached 17%. At the same time, French remains widely spoken: in 2013, French was spoken "well to perfectly" by 88% of the population, while for Dutch this percentage was only 23% (down from 33% in 2000); Despite the rise of English as a second language in Brussels, including as an unofficial compromise language between French and Dutch, as well as the working language for some of its international businesses and institutions, French remains the lingua franca and all public services are conducted exclusively in French or Dutch. (or Brusseleirs''), many of them quite bi- and multilingual, or educated in French and not writing in Dutch. The ethnic and national self-identification of Brussels' inhabitants is nonetheless sometimes quite distinct from the French and Dutch-speaking communities. For the French-speakers, it can vary from Francophone Belgian,
in Koekelberg]]
In reflection of its multicultural makeup, Brussels hosts a variety of religious communities, as well as large numbers of atheists and agnostics. Minority faiths include Islam, Anglicanism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Judaism, and Buddhism. According to a 2016 survey, approximately 40% of residents of Brussels declared themselves Catholics (12% were practising Catholics and 28% were non-practising Catholics), 30% were non-religious, 23% were Muslim (19% practising, 4% non-practising), 3% were Protestants and 4% were of another religion.
As guaranteed by Belgian law, recognised religions and non-religious philosophical organisations (, ) enjoy public funding and school courses. It was once the case that every pupil in an official school from 6 to 18 years old had to choose two hours per week of compulsory religious—or non-religious-inspired morals—courses. However, in 2015, the Belgian Constitutional Court ruled religious studies could no longer be required in the primary and secondary educational systems.
, former seat of the Islamic and Cultural Centre of Belgium]]
Brussels has a large concentration of Muslims, mostly of Moroccan, Turkish, Syrian and Guinean ancestry. The Great Mosque of Brussels, located in the Parc du Cinquantenaire/Jubelpark, is the oldest mosque in Brussels and the former seat of the Islamic and Cultural Centre of Belgium. Belgium does not collect statistics by ethnic background or religious beliefs, so exact figures are unknown. It was estimated that, in 2005, people of Muslim background living in the Brussels Region numbered 256,220 and accounted for 25.5% of the city's population, a much higher concentration than those of the other regions of Belgium.
{| class="wikitable"
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! Regions of Belgium
, a well-known public sculpture]]
Very little medieval architecture is preserved in Brussels. Buildings from that period are mostly found in the historical centre (called the ), Saint Géry/Sint-Goriks and / neighbourhoods. The Brabantine Gothic Cathedral of St. Michael and St. Gudula remains a prominent feature in the skyline of downtown Brussels. Isolated portions of the first city walls were saved from destruction and can be seen to this day. One of the only remains of the second walls is the Halle Gate. The Grand-Place is the main attraction in the city centre and has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1998. The square is dominated by the 15th century Flamboyant Town Hall, the neo-Gothic Breadhouse and the Baroque guildhalls of the former Guilds of Brussels. Manneken Pis'', a fountain containing a small bronze sculpture of a urinating youth, is a tourist attraction and symbol of the city.
, a UNESCO World Heritage Site]]
The neoclassical style of the 18th and 19th centuries is represented in the Royal Quarter/Coudenberg area, around Brussels Park and the Place Royale/Koningsplein. Examples include the Royal Palace, the Church of St. James on Coudenberg, the Palace of the Nation (Parliament building), the Academy Palace, the Palace of Charles of Lorraine, the Palace of the Count of Flanders and the Egmont Palace. Other uniform neoclassical ensembles can be found around the Place des Martyrs/Martelaarsplein and the /. Some additional landmarks in the centre are the Royal Saint-Hubert Galleries (1847), one of the oldest covered shopping arcades in Europe, the Congress Column (1859), the former Brussels Stock Exchange building (1873) and the Palace of Justice (1883). The latter, designed by Joseph Poelaert, in eclectic style, is reputed to be the largest building constructed in the 19th century.
Located outside the historical centre, in a greener environment bordering the European Quarter, are the Parc du Cinquantenaire/Jubelpark with its memorial arcade and nearby museums, and in Laeken, the Royal Palace of Laeken and the Royal Domain with its large greenhouses, as well as the Museums of the Far East.
Also particularly striking are the buildings in the Art Nouveau style, most famously by the Belgian architects Victor Horta, Paul Hankar and Henry Van de Velde. Some of Brussels' municipalities, such as Schaerbeek, Etterbeek, Ixelles, and Saint-Gilles, were developed during the heyday of Art Nouveau and have many buildings in that style. The Major Town Houses of the Architect Victor Horta—Hôtel Tassel (1893), Hôtel van Eetvelde (1898), Hôtel Solvay (1900) and the Horta Museum (1901)—have been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2000. Another example of Brussels' Art Nouveau is the Stoclet Palace (1911), by the Viennese architect Josef Hoffmann, designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in June 2009.
<gallery mode"packed" heights"160px" caption="Art Nouveau in Brussels">
File:Victor Horta Hotel Tassel.JPG|Hôtel Tassel by Victor Horta (1893)
File:Tassel House stairway-00.JPG|Stairway in the Hôtel Tassel
File:Hôtel Ciamberlani (DSCF7523).jpg|Hôtel Albert Ciamberlani by Paul Hankar (1897)<!-- Brighter image, less shadows -->
File:Old England facade, Brussels (DSCF7544).jpg|Former Old England department store by Paul Saintenoy (1899)<!-- Brighter image, view more from the front -->
File:Maison Saint-Cyr (DSCF7558).jpg|Saint-Cyr House by Gustave Strauven (1903)<!-- Brighter image, less shadows -->
File:Maison Cauchie-445.jpg|Cauchie House by Paul Cauchie (1905)
File:Maison Cauchie sgraffitopaneel.jpg|Sgraffito panel in the Cauchie House
File:20120923 Brussels PalaisStoclet Hoffmann DSC06725 PtrQs.jpg|Stoclet Palace by Josef Hoffmann (1911)<!-- Empty street, no distractions -->
</gallery>
in Ixelles]]
Art Deco structures in Brussels include the Résidence Palace (1927) (now part of the Europa building), the Centre for Fine Arts (1928), the Villa Empain (1934), the Town Hall of Forest (1938), and the Flagey Building (also known as the Radio House) on the Place Eugène Flagey/Eugène Flageyplein (1938) in Ixelles. Some religious buildings from the interwar era were also constructed in that style, such as the Church of St. John the Baptist (1932) in Molenbeek and the Church of St. Augustine (1935) in Forest. Completed only in 1969, and combining Art Deco with neo-Byzantine elements, the Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Koekelberg is one of the largest churches by area in the world, and its cupola provides a panoramic view of Brussels and its outskirts. Another example are the exhibition halls of the Centenary Palace, built for the 1935 World's Fair on the Heysel/Heizel Plateau in northern Brussels, home to the Brussels Exhibition Centre (Brussels Expo).
]]
The Atomium is a symbolic modernist structure, located on the Heysel Plateau, which was originally built for the 1958 World's Fair (Expo 58). It consists of nine steel spheres connected by tubes, and forms a model of an iron crystal (specifically, a unit cell), magnified 165 billion times. The architect André Waterkeyn devoted the building to science. It is now considered a landmark of Brussels. Next to the Atomium, is Mini-Europe miniature park, with 1:25 scale maquettes of famous buildings from across Europe.
Since the second half of the 20th century, modern office towers have been built in Brussels (Madou Tower, Rogier Tower, Proximus Towers, Finance Tower, the World Trade Center, among others). There are some thirty towers, mostly concentrated in the city's main business district: the Northern Quarter (also called Little Manhattan), near Brussels-North railway station. The South Tower, standing adjacent to Brussels-South railway station, is the tallest building in Belgium, at . Along the North–South connection, is the State Administrative Centre, an administrative complex in the International Style. The postmodern buildings of the Espace Léopold complete the picture.
The city's embrace of modern architecture translated into an ambivalent approach towards historic preservation, leading to the destruction of notable architectural landmarks, most famously the Maison du Peuple/Volkshuis by Victor Horta, a process known as Brusselisation.
Culture
Visual arts and museums
memorial arcade and museums]]
Brussels contains over 80 museums. The Royal Museums of Fine Arts has an extensive collection of various painters, such as Flemish old masters like Bruegel, Rogier van der Weyden, Robert Campin, Anthony van Dyck, Jacob Jordaens, and Peter Paul Rubens. The Magritte Museum houses the world's largest collection of works by the surrealist artist René Magritte. Museums dedicated to the national history of Belgium include the BELvue Museum, the Royal Museums of Art and History, and the Royal Museum of the Armed Forces and Military History. The Musical Instruments Museum (MIM), housed in the Old England building, is part of the Royal Museums of Art and History, and is internationally renowned for its collection of over 8,000 instruments.
The Brussels Museums Council is an independent body for all the museums in the Brussels-Capital Region, covering around 100 federal, private, municipal, and community museums. It promotes member museums through the Brussels Card (giving access to public transport and 30 of the 100 museums), the Brussels Museums Nocturnes (every Thursday from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. from mid-September to mid-December) and the Museum Night Fever (an event for and by young people on a Saturday night in late February or early March).
Brussels has had a distinguished artist scene for many years. The famous Belgian surrealists René Magritte and Paul Delvaux, for instance, studied and lived there, as did the avant-garde dramatist Michel de Ghelderode. The city was also home of the impressionist painter Anna Boch from the artists' group Les XX, and includes other famous Belgian painters such as Léon Spilliaert. Brussels is also a capital of the comic strip; some treasured Belgian characters are Tintin, Lucky Luke, The Smurfs, Spirou, Gaston, Marsupilami, Blake and Mortimer, Boule et Bill and Cubitus (see Belgian comics). Throughout the city, walls are painted with large motifs of comic book characters; these murals taken together are known as Brussels' Comic Book Route.
Performing arts venues and festivals
<!---redirects, including Kunstenfestivaldesarts, target this section - please do not change the subheading without fixing redirects--->
]]
Brussels is well known for its performing arts scene, with the Royal Theatre of La Monnaie, the Royal Park Theatre, the Théâtre Royal des Galeries, and the Kaaitheater among the most notable institutions.
The Kunstenfestivaldesarts, an international performing arts festival, is organised every year in May. Its main hub is the Kaaitheater, but performances and artworks are also hosted in around 30 venues throughout the city.
The King Baudouin Stadium is a concert and competition facility with a 50,000 seat capacity, the largest in Belgium. The site was formerly occupied by the Heysel Stadium. The Centre for Fine Arts (often referred to as BOZAR in French or PSK in Dutch), a multi-purpose centre for theatre, cinema, music, literature, and art exhibitions, is home to the National Orchestra of Belgium and to the annual Queen Elisabeth Competition for classical singers and instrumentalists, one of the most challenging and prestigious competitions of the kind. Studio 4 in Le Flagey cultural centre hosts the Brussels Philharmonic.
Other concert venues include Forest National/Vorst Nationaal, the Ancienne Belgique, the Cirque Royal/Koninklijk Circus, the Botanique and Palais 12/Paleis 12. Furthermore, the Jazz Station in Saint-Josse-ten-Noode is a museum and archive on jazz, and a venue for jazz concerts.
Other cultural events and festivals
(BSF)]]
Many events are organised or hosted in Brussels throughout the year. In addition, many festivals animate the Brussels scene.
The Iris Festival is the official festival of the Brussels-Capital Region and is held annually in spring. The International Fantastic Film Festival of Brussels (BIFFF) is organised during the Easter holidays and the Magritte Awards in February. The Festival of Europe, an open day and activities in and around the institutions of the European Union, is held on 9 May. On Belgian National Day, on 21 July, a military parade and celebrations take place on the / and in Brussels Park, ending with a fireworks display in the evening.
Some summer festivities include Couleur Café Festival, a festival of world and urban music, around the end of June or early July, the Brussels Summer Festival (BSF), a music festival in August, the Midi Fair, the most important yearly fair in Brussels, lasting more than a month, in July and August, and Brussels Beach, when the banks of the canal are turned into a temporary urban beach. Other biennial events are the Zinneke Parade, a colourful, multicultural parade through the city, which has been held since 2000 in May, as well as the popular Flower Carpet at the Grand-Place in August. Heritage Days are organised on the third weekend of September (sometimes coinciding with the car-free day) and are a good opportunity to discover the wealth of buildings, institutions and real estate in Brussels. The "Winter Wonders" animate the heart of Brussels in December; these winter activities were launched in Brussels in 2001.
Folklore
giants in Brussels, a UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage]]
Brussels' identity owes much to its rich folklore and traditions, among the liveliest in the country.
The Ommegang, a folkloric costumed procession, commemorating the Joyous Entry of Emperor Charles V and his son Philip II in the city in 1549, takes place every year in July. The colourful parade includes floats, traditional processional giants, such as Saint Michael and Saint Gudula, and scores of folkloric groups, either on foot or on horseback, dressed in medieval garb. The parade ends in a pageant on the Grand-Place. Since 2019, it has been recognised as a Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO.
The Meyboom, an even-older folk tradition of Brussels (1308), celebrating the "May tree"—in fact, a corruption of the Dutch tree of joy—takes place paradoxically on 9 August. After parading a young beech in the city, it is planted in a joyful spirit with lots of music, Brusseleir songs, and processional giants. It has also been recognised as an expression of intangible cultural heritage by UNESCO, as part of the bi-national inscription "Processional giants and dragons in Belgium and France". The celebration is reminiscent of the town's long-standing (folkloric) feud with Leuven, which dates back to the Middle Ages.
Saint Verhaegen (often shortened to St V), a folkloric student procession, celebrating the anniversary of the founding of the (ULB) and the (VUB), is held on 20 November. Since 2019, it has also been listed as intangible cultural heritage of the Brussels-Capital Region.
Another good introduction to the Brusseleir local dialect and way of life can be obtained at the Royal Theatre Toone, a folkloric theatre of marionettes, located a stone's throw away from the Grand-Place. Finally, two famous folkloric plays, Le Mariage de Mademoiselle Beulemans by Frantz Fonson and Fernand Wicheler, and Bossemans et Coppenolle by Joris d'Hanswyck and Paul Van Stalle, are still the subject of regular revivals.Cuisine
s.]]
Brussels is well known for its local waffle, its chocolate, its French fries and its numerous types of beers. The Brussels sprout, which has long been popular in Brussels, and may have originated there, is also named after the city.
Owing to Brussels' cosmopolitan population, almost every national cuisine in the world can be found there. The gastronomic offer includes approximately 1,800 restaurants (including three 2-starred and ten 1-starred Michelin restaurants), and a number of bars. In addition to the traditional restaurants, there are many cafés, bistros and the usual range of international fast food chains. The cafés are similar to bars, and offer beer and light dishes; coffee houses are called (literally "tea salons"). Also widespread are brasseries, which usually offer a variety of beers and typical national dishes.
Belgian cuisine is known among connoisseurs as one of the best in Europe. It is characterised by the combination of French cuisine with the more hearty Flemish fare. Notable specialities include Brussels waffles (gaufres) and mussels (usually as moules-frites, served with fries). The city is a stronghold of chocolate and praline manufacturers with renowned companies like Côte d'Or, Neuhaus, Leonidas and Godiva. Pralines were first introduced in 1912 by Jean Neuhaus II, a Belgian chocolatier of Swiss origin, in the Royal Saint-Hubert Galleries. Numerous friteries are spread throughout the city, and in tourist areas, fresh hot waffles are also sold on the street.
As well as other Belgian beers, the spontaneously fermented lambic style, brewed in and around Brussels, is widely available there and in the nearby Senne valley where the wild yeasts that ferment it have their origin. Kriek, a cherry lambic, is available in almost every bar or restaurant in Brussels.
Brussels is known as the birthplace of the Belgian endive. The technique for growing blanched endives was accidentally discovered in the 1850s at the Botanical Garden of Brussels in Saint-Josse-ten-Noode.Shopping
on the Place du Jeu de Balle/Vossenplein]]
Famous shopping areas in Brussels include the pedestrian-only Rue Neuve/Nieuwstraat, the second busiest shopping street in Belgium (after the Meir, in Antwerp) with a weekly average of 230,000 visitors, home to popular international chains (H&M, C&A, Zara, Primark), as well as the City 2 and Anspach galleries. The Royal Saint-Hubert Galleries hold a variety of luxury shops and some six million people stroll through them each year. The neighbourhood around the / has become, in recent years, a focal point for fashion and design; this main street and its side streets also feature Belgium's young and most happening artistic talent.
In Ixelles, the / and the Namur Gate area offer a blend of luxury shops, fast food restaurants and entertainment venues, and the /, in the mainly-Congolese Matongé district, offers a taste of African fashion and lifestyle. The nearby Avenue Louise/Louizalaan is lined with high-end fashion stores and boutiques, making it one of the most expensive streets in Belgium.
There are shopping centres outside the inner ring: Basilix, Woluwe Shopping Center, Westland Shopping Center, and Docks Bruxsel, which opened in October 2017. The nearby Sablon/Zavel area is home to many of Brussels' antique dealers. The Midi Market around Brussels-South station and the / is reputed to be one of the largest markets in Europe.Sports
]]
Sport in Brussels is under the responsibility of the Communities. The (ADEPS) is responsible for recognising the various French-speaking sports federations and also runs three sports centres in the Brussels-Capital Region. Its Dutch-speaking counterpart is (formerly called BLOSO).
The King Baudouin Stadium (formerly the Heysel Stadium) is the largest in the country and home to the national teams in football and rugby union. It hosted the final of the 1972 UEFA European Football Championship, and the opening game of the 2000 edition. Several European club finals have been held at the ground, including the 1985 European Cup Final which saw 39 deaths due to hooliganism and structural collapse. The King Baudouin Stadium is also home of the annual Memorial Van Damme athletics event, Belgium's foremost track and field competition, which is part of the Diamond League. Other important athletics events are the Brussels Marathon and the 20 km of Brussels, an annual run with 30,000 participants.
Football
fans at the Constant Vanden Stock Stadium]]
R.S.C. Anderlecht, based in the Constant Vanden Stock Stadium in Anderlecht, is the most successful Belgian football club in the Belgian Pro League, with 34 titles. It has also won the most major European tournaments for a Belgian side, with 6 European titles. Brussels is also home to Union Saint-Gilloise, the most successful Belgian club before World War II, with 11 titles. The club was founded in Saint-Gilles but is based in nearby Forest, and plays in the Belgian Pro League. Racing White Daring Molenbeek, based in Molenbeek-Saint-Jean, and often referred to as RWDM, is a very popular football club that, since 2023, is back playing in the Belgian Pro League.
Other Brussels clubs that played in the national series over the years were Royal White Star Bruxelles, Ixelles SC, Crossing Club de Schaerbeek (born from a merger between RCS de Schaerbeek and Crossing Club Molenbeek), Scup Jette, RUS de Laeken, Racing Jet de Bruxelles, AS Auderghem, KV Wosjot Woluwe and FC Ganshoren.
Cycling
Brussels is home to notable cycling races. The city is the arrival location of the Brussels Cycling Classic, formerly known as Paris–Brussels, which is one of the oldest semi classic bicycle races on the international calendar. From World War I until the early 1970s, the Six Days of Brussels was organised regularly. In the last decades of the 20th century, the Grand Prix Eddy Merckx was also held in Brussels.Economy
building]]
Serving as the centre of administration for Belgium and Europe, Brussels' economy is largely service-oriented. It is dominated by regional and world headquarters of multinationals, by European institutions, by various local and federal administrations, and by related services companies, though it does have a number of notable craft industries, such as the Cantillon Brewery, a lambic brewery founded in 1900.
business district]]
Brussels has a robust economy. The region contributes to one fifth of Belgium's GDP, and its 550,000 jobs account for 17.7% of Belgium's employment. Its GDP per capita is nearly double that of Belgium as a whole, and it has the highest GDP per capita of any NUTS 1 region in the EU, at ~$80,000 in 2016. That being said, the GDP is boosted by a massive inflow of commuters from neighbouring regions; over half of those who work in Brussels live in Flanders or Wallonia, with 230,000 and 130,000 commuters per day respectively. Conversely, only 16.0% of people from Brussels work outside Brussels (68,827 (68.5%) of them in Flanders and 21,035 (31.5%) in Wallonia). Not all of the wealth generated in Brussels remains in Brussels itself, and , the unemployment among residents of Brussels is 20.4%.
There are approximately 50,000 businesses in Brussels, of which around 2,200 are foreign. This number is constantly increasing and can well explain the role of Brussels in Europe. The city's infrastructure is very favourable in terms of starting up a new business. House prices have also increased in recent years, especially with the increase of young professionals settling down in Brussels, making it the most expensive city to live in Belgium. In addition, Brussels holds more than 1,000 business conferences annually, making it the ninth most popular conference city in Europe.
Brussels is rated as the 34th most important financial centre in the world as of 2020, according to the Global Financial Centres Index. The Brussels Stock Exchange, abbreviated to BSE, now called Euronext Brussels, is part of the European stock exchange Euronext, along with Paris Bourse, Lisbon Stock Exchange and Amsterdam Stock Exchange. Its benchmark stock market index is the BEL20.
Media
Brussels is a centre of both media and communications in Belgium, with many Belgian television stations, radio stations, newspapers and telephone companies having their headquarters in the region. The French-language public broadcaster RTBF, the Dutch-language public broadcaster VRT, the two regional channels BX1 (formerly Télé Bruxelles) and Bruzz (formerly TV Brussel), the encrypted BeTV channel and private channels RTL-TVI and VTM are headquartered in Brussels. Some national newspapers such as Le Soir, La Libre, De Morgen and the news agency Belga are based in or around Brussels. The Belgian postal company bpost, as well as the telecommunication companies and mobile operators Proximus, Orange Belgium and Telenet are all located there.
As English is spoken widely,EducationTertiary education
(ULB)]]
There are several universities in Brussels. Except for the Royal Military Academy, a federal military college established in 1834, all universities in Brussels are private and autonomous. The Royal Military Academy also the only Belgian university organised on the boarding school model.
The Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB), a French-speaking university, with about 20,000 students, has three campuses in the city, and the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), its Dutch-speaking sister university, has about 10,000 students. Both universities originate from a single ancestor university, founded in 1834, namely the Free University of Brussels, which was split in 1970, at about the same time the Flemish and French Communities gained legislative power over the organisation of higher education.
Saint-Louis University, Brussels (also known as UCLouvain Saint-Louis – Bruxelles) was founded in 1858 and is specialised in social and human sciences, with 4,000 students, and located on two campuses in the City of Brussels and Ixelles. From September 2018 on, the university uses the name UCLouvain, together with the Catholic University of Louvain, in the context of a merger between both universities.
Still other universities have campuses in Brussels, such as the French-speaking Catholic University of Louvain (UCLouvain), which has 10,000 students in the city with its medical faculties at UCLouvain Bruxelles Woluwe since 1973, in addition to its Faculty of Architecture, Architectural Engineering and Urban Planning and UCLouvain's Dutch-speaking sister Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (KU Leuven) (offering bachelor's and master's degrees in economics & business, law, arts, and architecture; 4,400 students). In addition, the University of Kent's Brussels School of International Studies is a specialised postgraduate school offering advanced international studies.
Also a dozen of university colleges are located in Brussels, including two drama schools, founded in 1832: the French-speaking Conservatoire Royal and its Dutch-speaking equivalent, the Koninklijk Conservatorium.
Primary and secondary education
Most of Brussels pupils between the ages of 3 and 18 go to schools organised by the French-speaking Community or the Flemish Community, with close to 80% going to French-speaking schools, and roughly 20% to Dutch-speaking schools. Due to the post-war international presence in the city, there are also a number of international schools, including the International School of Brussels, with 1,450 pupils, between the ages of and 18, the British School of Brussels, and the four European Schools, which provide free education for the children of those working in the EU institutions. The combined student population of the four European Schools in Brussels is around 10,000.
Libraries
(KBR)]]
Brussels has a number of public or private-owned libraries on its territory. Most public libraries in Brussels fall under the competence of the Communities and are usually separated between French-speaking and Dutch-speaking institutions, although some are mixed.
The Royal Library of Belgium (KBR) is the national library of Belgium and one of the most prestigious libraries in the world. It owns several collections of historical importance, like the famous Fétis archives, and is the depository for all books ever published in Belgium or abroad by Belgian authors. It is located on the Mont des Arts/Kunstberg in central Brussels, near the Central Station.
There are several academic libraries and archives in Brussels. The libraries of the Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB) and the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) constitute the largest ensemble of university libraries in the city. In addition to the Solbosch location, there are branches in La Plaine and Erasme/Erasmus. Other academic libraries include those of Saint-Louis University, Brussels and the Catholic University of Louvain (UCLouvain).Science and technology
of the Royal Observatory of Belgium]]
Science and technology in Brussels is well developed with the presence of several universities and research institutes. The Brussels-Capital Region is home to several national science and technology institutes including the National Fund for Scientific Research (NFSR), the Institute for the Encouragement of Scientific Research and Innovation of Brussels (ISRIB), the Royal Academies for Science and the Arts of Belgium (RASAB) and the Belgian Academy Council of Applied Sciences (BACAS). Several science parks associated with the universities are also spread over the region.
The Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, located in Leopold Park, houses the world's largest hall completely dedicated to dinosaurs, with its collection of 30 fossilised Iguanodon skeletons. In addition, the Planetarium of the Royal Observatory of Belgium (part of the institutions of the Belgian Federal Science Policy Office), on the Heysel Plateau in Laeken, is one of the largest in Europe.
Healthcare
in Anderlecht]]
Brussels is home to a thriving pharmaceutical and health care industry which includes pioneering biotechnology research. The health sector employs 70,000 employees in 30,000 companies. There are 3,000 life sciences researchers in the city and two large science parks: Da Vinci Research Park and Erasmus Research Park. There are five university hospitals, a military hospital and more than 40 general hospitals and specialist clinics.
Due to its bilingual nature, hospitals in the Brussels-Capital Region can be either monolingual French, monolingual Dutch, or bilingual, depending on their nature. University hospitals belong to one of the two linguistic communities and are thus monolingual French or Dutch by law. Other hospitals managed by a public authority must be legally bilingual. Private hospitals are legally not bound to either language, but most cater to both. However, all hospital emergency services in the Capital Region (whether part of a public or private hospital) are required to be bilingual, since patients transported by emergency ambulance cannot choose the hospital they will be brought to.
Transport
Brussels has an extensive network of both private or public transportation means. Public transportation includes Brussels buses, trams, and metro (all three operated by the Brussels Intercommunal Transport Company (STIB/MIVB)), as well as a set of railway lines (operated by Infrabel) and railway stations served by public trains (operated by the National Railway Company of Belgium (NMBS/SNCB)). Air transport is available via one of the city's two airports (Brussels Airport and Brussels South Charleroi Airport), and boat transport is available via the Port of Brussels. Bicycle-sharing and car-sharing public systems are also available.
The complexity of the Belgian political landscape makes some transportation issues difficult to solve. The Brussels-Capital Region is surrounded by the Flemish and Walloon regions, which means that the airports, as well as many roads serving Brussels (most notably the Brussels Ring) are located in the other two Belgian regions. The city is relatively car-dependent by northern European standards and is considered to be the most congested city in the world according to the INRIX traffic survey.Air
Airbus A319 landing at Brussels Airport in Zaventem]]
The Brussels-Capital Region is served by two airports, both located outside of the administrative territory of the region. The most notable is Brussels Airport, located in the nearby Flemish municipality of Zaventem, east of the capital, which can be accessed by highway (A201), train, taxi and bus. Brussels National Airport has its own railway station. This station is located in the underground (level -1) of the airport terminal building itself. The secondary airport is Brussels South Charleroi Airport, located in Gosselies, a part of the city of Charleroi (Wallonia), some south-west of Brussels, which can be accessed by highway (E19 then E420) or a private bus. There is also Melsbroek Air Base, located in Steenokkerzeel, a military airport which shares its infrastructure with Brussels Airport. The aforementioned airports are also the main airports of Belgium.Water
in Anderlecht]]
Since the 16th century, Brussels has had its own harbour, the Port of Brussels. It has been enlarged throughout the centuries to become the second Belgian inland port. Historically situated near the /, it lies today to the north-west of the region, on the Brussels–Scheldt Maritime Canal (commonly called Willebroek Canal), which connects Brussels to Antwerp via the Scheldt. Ships and large barges up to can penetrate deep into the country, avoiding break-ups and load transfers between Antwerp and the centre of Brussels, hence reducing the cost for companies using the canal, and thus offering a competitive advantage.
Moreover, the connection of the Willebroek Canal with the Brussels–Charleroi Canal, in the very heart of the capital, creates a north–south link, by means of waterways, between the Netherlands, Flanders and the industrial zone of Hainaut (Wallonia). There, navigation can access the network of French canals, thanks to the important inclined plane of Ronquières and the lifts of Strépy-Bracquegnies.
The importance of river traffic in Brussels makes it possible to avoid the road equivalent of 740,000 trucks per year—almost 2,000 per day—which, in addition to easing traffic problems, represents an estimated carbon dioxide saving of per year.Train
, home to the Eurostar train service to London]]
The Brussels-Capital Region has three main train stations: Brussels-South, Brussels-Central and Brussels-North, which are also the busiest of the country. by Thalys and InterCity connections; to Amsterdam, Paris, and Cologne by Thalys; and to Cologne and Frankfurt by the German ICE.
The train rails in Brussels go underground, near the centre, through the North–South connection, with Brussels Central Station also being largely underground. The tunnel itself is only six tracks wide at its narrowest point, which often causes congestion and delays due to heavy use of the route.
The City of Brussels has minor railway stations at Bockstael, Brussels-Chapel, Brussels-Congress, Brussels-Luxembourg, Brussels-Schuman, Brussels-West, Haren, Haren-South and Simonis. In the Brussels Region, there are also railways stations at Berchem-Sainte-Agathe, Boitsfort, Boondael, Bordet (Evere), Etterbeek, Evere, Forest-East, Forest-South, Jette, Meiser (Schaerbeek), Moensberg (Uccle), Saint-Job (Uccle), Schaarbeek, Uccle-Calevoet, Uccle-Stalle, Vivier d'Oie-Diesdelle (Uccle), Merode and Watermael.
Public transport
The Brussels Intercommunal Transport Company (STIB/MIVB) is the local public transport operator in Brussels. It covers the 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region and some surface routes extend to the near suburbs in the other two regions, linking with the De Lijn network in Flanders and the TEC network in Wallonia.
Metro, trams and buses
carriage at Erasme/Erasmus metro station]]
]]
The Brussels Metro dates back to 1976, but underground lines known as the premetro have been serviced by tramways since 1968. It is the only rapid transit system in Belgium (Antwerp and Charleroi both having light rail systems). The network consists of four conventional metro lines and three premetro lines. The metro-grade lines are M1, M2, M5, and M6, with some shared sections, covering a total of . , the Metro network within the region has a total of 69 metro and premetro stations. The Metro is an important means of transport, connecting with six railway stations of the National Railway Company of Belgium (NMBS/SNCB), and many tram and bus stops operated by STIB/MIVB, as well as with Flemish De Lijn and Walloon TEC bus stops.
A comprehensive bus and tram network covers the region. , the Brussels tram system consists of 17 tram lines (three of which – lines T4, T7 and T10 – qualify as premetro lines that partly travel over underground sections that were intended to be eventually converted into metro lines). The total route length is , The fare on these night buses is the same as during the day. All the lines leave from the Place de la Bourse/Beursplein in the city centre at 30 minutes intervals and cover all the main streets in the capital, as they radiate outwards to the suburbs. Noctis services returned from 2 July 2021 after over a year of disruption due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Belgium.Ticketing
MoBIB is the STIB/MIVB electronic smart card, introduced in 2007, replacing the discontinued paper tickets. The hourly travel fare includes all means of transport (metro, tram and bus) operated by STIB/MIVB. Each trip has a different cost depending on the type of support purchased. Passengers can purchase monthly passes, yearly passes, 1 and 10-trip tickets and daily and 3-day passes. These can be bought over the Internet, but require customers to have a smart card reader. GO vending machines accept coins, local and international chip and PIN credit and debit cards.
Moreover, a complimentary interticketing system means that a combined STIB/MIVB ticket holder can, depending on the option, also use the train network operated by NMBS/SNCB and/or long-distance buses and commuter services operated by De Lijn or TEC. With this ticket, a single journey can include multiple stages across the different modes of transport and networks.
Other public transport
shared bicycles in Brussels]]
Since 2003, Brussels has had a car-sharing service operated by the Bremen company Cambio, in partnership with STIB/MIVB and the local ridesharing company Taxi Stop. In 2006, a public bicycle-sharing programme was introduced. The scheme was subsequently taken over by Villo!. Since 2008, this night-time public transport service has been supplemented by Collecto, a shared taxi system, which operates on weekdays between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m. In 2012, the Zen Car electric car-sharing scheme was launched in the university and European areas, though it ceased operating in the city in 2020.
Road network
is one of the city's main streets.]]
In medieval times, Brussels stood at the intersection of routes running north–south (the modern /) and east–west (/–/–/). The ancient pattern of streets, radiating from the Grand-Place, in large part remains, but has been overlaid by boulevards built over the river Senne, over the city walls and over the railway connection between the North and South Stations. In 2012, Brussels had the most congested traffic in Europe and North America, according to US traffic information platform INRIX.
Brussels is the hub of a range of national roads, the main ones being clockwise: the N1 (N to Breda), N2 (E to Maastricht), N3 (E to Aachen), N4 (SE to Luxembourg), N5 (S to Reims), N6 (S to Maubeuge), N7 (SW to Lille), N8 (W to Koksijde) and N9 (NW to Ostend). Usually named /, these highways normally run in a straight line, but sometimes lose themselves in a maze of narrow shopping streets. The region is skirted by the European route E19 (N-S) and the E40 (E-W), while the E411 leads away to the SE. Brussels has an orbital motorway, numbered R0 (R-zero) and commonly referred to as the Ring. It is pear-shaped, as the southern side was never built as originally conceived, owing to residents' objections.
The city centre, sometimes known as the Pentagon, is surrounded by an inner ring road, the Small Ring (, ), a sequence of boulevards formally numbered R20 or N0. These were built upon the site of the second set of city walls following their demolition. The Metro line 2 runs under much of these. Since June 2015, a number of central boulevards inside the Pentagon have become car-free, limiting transit traffic through the old city.
On the eastern side of the region, the R21 or Greater Ring (, ) is formed by a string of boulevards that curves round from Laeken to Uccle. Some premetro stations (see Brussels Metro) were built on that route. A little further out, a stretch numbered R22 leads from Zaventem to Saint-Job.
Security and emergency services
Police
The Brussels local police, supported by the federal police, is responsible for law enforcement in Brussels. The 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region are divided into six police zones, all bilingual (French and Dutch):
* 5339 Brussels Capital Ixelles: the City of Brussels and Ixelles
* 5340 Brussels West: Berchem-Sainte-Agathe, Ganshoren, Jette, Koekelberg and Molenbeek-Saint-Jean
* 5341 South: Anderlecht, Forest and Saint-Gilles
* 5342 Uccle/Watermael-Boitsfort/Auderghem: Auderghem, Uccle and Watermael-Boitsfort
* 5343 Montgomery: Etterbeek, Woluwe-Saint-Lambert and Woluwe-Saint-Pierre
* 5344 Polbruno: Evere, Saint-Josse-ten-Noode and Schaerbeek
Fire department
The Brussels Fire and Emergency Medical Care Service, commonly known by its acronym SIAMU (DBDMH), operates in the 19 municipalities of Brussels. It is a class X fire department and the largest fire service in Belgium in terms of annual operations, equipment, and personnel. It has 9 fire stations, spread over the entire Brussels-Capital Region, and employs about 1,000 professional firefighters. As well as preventing and fighting fires, SIAMU also provides emergency medical care services in Brussels via its centralised 100 number (and the single 112 emergency number for the 27 countries of the European Union). It is bilingual (French–Dutch).Parks and green spaces
Brussels is one of the greenest capitals in Europe, with over 8,000 hectares of green spaces. Vegetation cover and natural areas are higher in the outskirts, where they have limited the peri-urbanisation of the capital, but they decrease sharply towards the centre of Brussels; 10% in the central Pentagon, 30% of the municipalities in the first ring, and 71% of the municipalities in the second ring are occupied by green spaces.
Many parks and gardens, both public and privately owned, are scattered throughout the city. In addition to this, the Sonian Forest is located in its southern part and stretches out over the three Belgian regions. , it has been inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the only Belgian component to the multinational inscription 'Primeval Beech Forests of the Carpathians and Other Regions of Europe'.
<gallery mode"packed" heights"160">
File:Brussels Park in summer 2007 1.JPG|Brussels Park
File:Brussels, Jardin du Mont des Arts foto5 2015-06-07 14.01.jpg|Mont des Arts/Kunstberg
File:Brussels Cinquantenaire R04.jpg|Parc du Cinquantenaire/Jubelpark
File:Brusel, Bois de la Cambre, jezero.jpg|Bois de la Cambre/Ter Kamerenbos
File:Ixelles Ponds.JPG|Ixelles Ponds
File:Parc de Forest - 20080325.JPG|Forest Park
File:Autumn light in the Sonian Forest.jpg|Sonian Forest
</gallery>
Notable people
Twin towns – sister cities
Brussels is twinned with the following cities:
* Atlanta, United States
* Beijing, China
* Berlin, Germany
* Breda, Netherlands
* Casablanca, Morocco
* Kinshasa, Congo
* Kyiv, Ukraine
* Macao, China
* Madrid, Spain
* Ljubljana, Slovenia
* Prague, Czech Republic
* Washington, D.C., United States
<!--rest - other form of cooperation than twinning-->
See also
* Bourgeois of Brussels
* Nazi ghost train
* Seven Noble Houses of Brussels
* Sculpture in Brussels
* Brussels Regional Investment Company
* European Network of Information Centres for the Performing Arts
* List of urban areas in the European Union
References
Footnotes
Citations
Bibliography
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* |titleLe Patrimoine monumental de la Belgique: Bruxelles|volume1C: Pentagone N–Z|locationLiège|languagefr|publisherPierre Mardaga|year1994|urlhttps://monument.heritage.brussels/files/cities/1000/documents/03-vol-c-fr-def_k.pdf|access-date13 October 2022|archive-date13 October 2022|archive-urlhttps://web.archive.org/web/20221013095753/https://monument.heritage.brussels/files/cities/1000/documents/03-vol-c-fr-def_k.pdf|url-statuslive}}
External links
<!---Links to official and standard-reference sites only, please.--->
* [http://be.brussels/about-the-region Brussels-Capital Region]
* [https://www.visit.brussels/en/visitors Official tourism website]
* [http://www.ilotsacre.be/site/en/default_en.htm Interactive map]
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Category:Brabant
Category:Regions of Belgium
Category:Regions of Europe with multiple official languages
Category:Enclaves and exclaves
Category:French-speaking countries and territories
Category:Autonomous regions
Category:NUTS 1 statistical regions of the European Union
Category:Populated places established in the 1st millennium
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brussels
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Be
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BE or be may refer to:
Linguistics
Be (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic alphabet
be (interjection), in several languages
Be languages or Ong Be, a pair of languages of northern Hainan province, China
Belarusian language, ISO 639-1 code: be
Black English, or African-American Vernacular English, an English dialect
British English, abbr. BE, usually used in contrast to AE (American English)
To be, the English copular verb
Music
Albums
Be (Beady Eye album), 2013
Be (Casiopea album), 1998
Be (Common album), 2005
BE (Pain of Salvation album), 2004
BE (Original Stage Production), a 2005 live album by Pain of Salvation
Be (BTS album), 2020
Songs
"Be" (Neil Diamond song), a 1973 single
"Be", a song by Jessica Simpson from In This Skin
"Be", a song by Lenny Kravitz from Let Love Rule
"Be", a song by Slade from Whatever Happened to Slade
Organisations
Be Inc., a former US software company (1990–2001) and developer of the Be Operating System (BeOS)
Be Unlimited, a former UK Internet service provider (2003–2014)
Badminton Europe, the governing body of badminton in Europe
British Eventing, the British governing body for the equestrian sport of eventing
BearingPoint (former stock ticker symbol BE)
or Left Bloc, a Portuguese political party
Bob Evans Restaurants, an American restaurant chain
Places
Bè, a neighborhood in Togo
Belgium (ISO 3166-1 and FIPS 10-4 country code: BE)
Berlin, a state of Germany
Bermuda (World Meteorological Organization territory code: BE)
Canton of Bern, a canton of Switzerland
Science and technology
Base excess (BE), excess or deficit in the amount of base in the blood
Beryllium, symbol Be, a chemical element
Computing
.be, the country code top-level domain for Belgium
Backup Exec, backup and recovery software from Veritas Software
Big-endian, a system that stores the most significant byte of a word at the smallest memory address
BeOS, an operating system by Be
Physics
Baumé scale (°Bé), a density scale
Be star, in astronomy, a B-type star
Bejan number (Be), in thermodynamics and fluid mechanics
Transportation
BE Be Electric, Electric Car Manufacturing Company
Baltimore and Eastern Railroad Company (B&E), US
Beriev (design office prefix: Be), a Russian aircraft manufacturer
Blue Engines (prefix: BE), the rocket engines from Blue Origin
BE, then IATA code of Flybe (2022–2023), former English airline
BE, then IATA code of Flybe (1979–2020), former English airline
BE, then IATA code of British European Airways (1946–1974), former British airline
Other uses
Bé (footballer), Portuguese footballer
Bachelor of Engineering, an academic degree
Bahá'í Era, in timekeeping
Buddhist Era, in timekeeping
See also
B (disambiguation)
Bay (disambiguation)
BBE (disambiguation)
Bebe (disambiguation)
Bee (disambiguation)
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Bell (disambiguation)
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A bell is a percussion instrument, usually cup-shaped.
Bell may also refer to:
Sound and music
Bell (wind instrument), a part of a wind instrument
Bell cymbal, a type of cymbal, tending to be thick and uniformly so, and small
Bell effect, a musical technique
Cymbal bell, the most central part of a cymbal
Signals
Bell, a signal from an engine order telegraph, a communications device used on a ship or submarine
Alarm bell, used to alert people of a fire or burglary detected or, as part of a traditional alarm clock, to awaken or remind
Church bell, indicating when to go to church
Doorbell, a signaling device to alert residents to visitors
Division bell, used in a parliament to call members to a vote
Last call bell, a signal that a bar is closing soon
School bell, a signal used for transitions during a school day
Ship's bell, a signal for marking time on a ship
People
Bell (surname), a list of people with the surname Bell
Alexander Graham Bell (1847–1922), inventor of the telephone
Jocelyn Bell Burnell (1943-), astrophysicist who discovered pulsars
John Stewart Bell (1928–1990), originator of Bell's theorem in quantum physics
bell hooks (Gloria Jean Watkins, 1952–2021), American author, academic, and activist
Bell (singer), Swedish singer and songwriter
Places
Australia
Bell, New South Wales
Bell, Queensland, a town in the Western Downs Region
Canada
Bell Island (Newfoundland and Labrador)
Bell Peninsula, Nunavut
Bell River (Quebec)
Germany
Bell, Mayen-Koblenz, Germany, a municipality
Bell, Rhein-Hunsrück, Germany, a municipality
United States
Bell, California
Bell, Florida
Bell, Illinois
Bell, Oklahoma
Bell, Wisconsin
Bell Canyon, California
Bell City, Missouri
Bell County, Kentucky
Bell County, Texas
Bell Township, Pennsylvania (disambiguation)
Other places
Bell (crater), a crater on the Moon
Bell, South Africa
Bell Creek (disambiguation)
Businesses
Telecommunications
Bell Canada, a Canadian telecommunications company
Bell Labs, a research & development organization founded by AT&T, now owned by Nokia
Bell System, the organization that provided telephone service in the United States until 1984
Bell Telephone Company, founded in 1877 by the family of Alexander Graham Bell
Other businesses
Bell Aircraft, a former American aircraft manufacturer
Bell Textron, formerly Bell Helicopter
Bell ID, a Dutch software company
Bell Inn, Enfield, London, England
Bell Records, a record label
Bell Sports, a helmet manufacturer
Bell (St. Paul's Churchyard), a historical bookseller in London
Bell's Brewery, based in Michigan, U.S.
Bell's whisky, a brand of Scotch
Science and technology
Bell, the body of a jellyfish
Bell character, in computing, a device control code
Bell number, in mathematics
Bell polynomials, in mathematics
Bell state, in quantum information science
Diving bell, a cable-suspended underwater airtight chamber
Transportation
Bell station (disambiguation)
SS Empire Bell, a ship
USS Bell, the name of two U.S. Navy ships
Bell (cyclecar), made in 1920
Bell maneuver, a version of the tailslide in aerobatics
Other uses
Bell (fictional currency), in the game Animal Crossing
Bell (typeface)
See also
Bel (disambiguation)
Bell High School (disambiguation)
Bell House (disambiguation)
Bell Lake (disambiguation)
Bell pepper
Bell, Book & Candle (disambiguation)
Belle (disambiguation)
Bells (disambiguation)
The Bell (disambiguation)
The Bells (disambiguation)
Justice Bell (disambiguation)
Old Bell (disambiguation)
Glockenspiel (disambiguation)
Alexander Graham Bell honors and tributes
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Bell Labs
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(as Bell Telephone Laboratories, Inc.)
| location = Murray Hill, New Jersey, U.S.
| industry = Telecommunication, information technology, material science
| key_people = <!-- So many notable people have had significant involvement in Bell Labs that it's best to leave this infobox parameter empty. -->
| products | subsid Nokia Shanghai Bell
| parent =
* Lucent Technologies (1996–2006)
* Alcatel-Lucent (2006–2016)
* Nokia (2016–present)
}}
| website =
}}
Nokia Bell Labs, commonly referred to as Bell Labs, is an American industrial research and development company owned by Finnish technology company Nokia. With headquarters located in Murray Hill, New Jersey, the company operates several laboratories in the United States and around the world.
As a former subsidiary of the American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T), Bell Labs and its researchers have been credited with the development of radio astronomy, the transistor, the laser, the photovoltaic cell, the charge-coupled device (CCD), information theory, the Unix operating system, and the programming languages B, C, C++, S, SNOBOL, AWK, AMPL, and others, throughout the 20th century. Eleven Nobel Prizes and five Turing Awards have been awarded for work completed at Bell Laboratories.
Bell Labs had its origin in the complex corporate organization of the Bell System telephone conglomerate. The laboratory began operating in the late 19th century as the Western Electric Engineering Department, located at 463 West Street in New York City. After years of advancing telecommunication innovations, the department was reformed into Bell Telephone Laboratories in 1925 and placed under the shared ownership of Western Electric and the American Telephone and Telegraph Company. In the 1960s, laboratory and company headquarters were moved to Murray Hill, New Jersey. Its alumni during this time include a plethora of world-renowned scientists and engineers.
With the breakup of the Bell System, Bell Labs became a subsidiary of AT&T Technologies in 1984, which resulted in a drastic decline in its funding. In 1996, AT&T spun off AT&T Technologies, which was renamed to Lucent Technologies, using the Murray Hill site for headquarters. Bell Laboratories was split with AT&T retaining parts as AT&T Laboratories. In 2006, Lucent merged with French telecommunication company Alcatel to form Alcatel-Lucent, which was acquired by Nokia in 2016.Origin and historical locations Bell's personal research after the telephone
building in Washington, D.C.]]
In 1880, when the French government awarded Alexander Graham Bell the Volta Prize of 50,000francs for the invention of the telephone (equivalent to about US$10,000 at the time, or about $}} now), he used the award to fund the Volta Laboratory (also known as the "Alexander Graham Bell Laboratory") in Washington, D.C. in collaboration with Sumner Tainter and Bell's cousin Chichester Bell. The laboratory was variously known as the Volta Bureau, the Bell Carriage House, the Bell Laboratory and the Volta Laboratory.
It focused on the analysis, recording, and transmission of sound. Bell used his considerable profits from the laboratory for further research and education advancing the diffusion of knowledge relating to the deaf.
After the invention of the telephone, Bell maintained a relatively distant role with the Bell System as a whole, but continued to pursue his own personal research interests.
Early antecedent
The Bell Patent Association was formed by Alexander Graham Bell, Thomas Sanders, and Gardiner Hubbard when filing the first patents for the telephone in 1876.
Bell Telephone Company, the first telephone company, was formed a year later. It later became a part of the American Bell Telephone Company.
In 1884, the American Bell Telephone Company created the Mechanical Department from the Electrical and Patent Department formed a year earlier.
The American Telephone and Telegraph Company and its own subsidiary company took control of American Bell and the Bell System by 1899.
American Bell held a controlling interest in Western Electric (which was the manufacturing arm of the business) whereas AT&T was doing research into the service providers.Formal organization and location changes
, built at 463 West Street in New York City in 1925]]
In 1896, Western Electric bought property at 463 West Street to centralize the manufacturers and engineers which had been supplying AT&T with such technology as telephones, telephone exchange switches and transmission equipment.
During the early 20th century, several historically significant laboratories were established. In 1915, the first radio transmissions were made from a shack in Montauk, Long Island. That same year, tests were performed on the first transoceanic radio telephone at a house in Arlington County, Virginia. A radio reception laboratory was established in 1919 in the Cliffwood section of Aberdeen Township, New Jersey. Additionally for 1919, a transmission studies site was established in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania that built, in 1929, the coaxial conductor line for first tests of long-distance transmission in various frequencies.
On January 1, 1925, Bell Telephone Laboratories, Inc. was organized to consolidate the development and research activities in the communication field and allied sciences for the Bell System. Ownership was evenly shared between Western Electric and AT&T. The new company had 3600 engineers, scientists, and support staff. Its space was expanded with a new building occupying about one quarter of a city block.
The first chairman of the board of directors was John J. Carty, AT&T's vice president, and the first president was Frank B. Jewett, The operations were directed by E. B. Craft, executive vice-president, and formerly chief engineer at Western Electric.
In the early 1920s, a few outdoor facilities and radio communications development facilities were developed. In 1925, the test plot studies were established at Gulfport, Mississippi, where there were numerous telephone pole samples established for wood preservation. At the Deal, New Jersey location, work was done on ship-to-shore radio telephony. In 1926, in the Whippany section of Hanover Township, New Jersey, land was acquired and established for the development of a 50-kilowatt broadcast transmitter. In 1931, Whippany increased with added from a nearby property. In 1928, a site in Chester Township, New Jersey, was leased for outdoor tests, though the facility became inadequate for such purposes. In 1930, the Chester location required the purchase of an additional of land to be used for a new outdoor plant development laboratory. Prior to Chester being established, a test plot was installed in Limon, Colorado in 1929, similar to the one in Gulfport. The three test plots at Gulfport, Limon, and Chester were outdoor facilities for preservatives and prolonging the use of telephone poles. Additionally, in 1929, a land expansion was done at the Deal Labs to . This added land increased the facility for radio transmission studies.
The beginning of 1930s, established three facilities with radio communications experiments and chemical aspects testing. By 1939, the Summit, New Jersey, chemical laboratory was nearly 10 years established in a three-story building conducted experiments in corrosion, using various fungicides tests on cables, metallic components, or wood. For 1929, land was purchased in Holmdel Township, New Jersey, for a radio reception laboratory to replace the Cliffwood location that had been in operation since 1919. In 1930, the Cliffwood location was ending its operations as Holmdel was established. Whereas, in 1930, a location in Mendham Township, New Jersey, was established to continue radio receiver developments farther from the Whippany location and eliminate transmitter interference at that facility with developments. The Mendham location worked on communication equipment and broadcast receivers. These devices were used for marine, aircraft, and police services as well as the location performed precision frequency-measuring apparatus, field strength measurements, and conducted radio interference.
By the early 1940s, Bell Labs engineers and scientists had begun to move to other locations away from the congestion and environmental distractions of New York City, and in 1967 Bell Laboratories headquarters was officially relocated to Murray Hill, New Jersey.
Among the later Bell Laboratories locations in New Jersey were Holmdel Township, Crawford Hill, the Deal Test Site, Freehold, Lincroft, Long Branch, Middletown, Neptune Township, Princeton, Piscataway, Red Bank, Chester Township, and Whippany. Of these, Murray Hill and Crawford Hill remain in existence (the Piscataway and Red Bank locations were transferred to and are now operated by Telcordia Technologies and the Whippany site was purchased by Bayer).
The largest grouping of people in the company was in Illinois, at Naperville-Lisle, in the Chicago area, which had the largest concentration of employees (about 11,000) prior to 2001. There also were groups of employees in Indianapolis, Indiana; Columbus, Ohio; North Andover, Massachusetts; Allentown, Pennsylvania; Reading, Pennsylvania; and Breinigsville, Pennsylvania; Burlington, North Carolina (1950s–1970s, moved to Greensboro 1980s) and Westminster, Colorado. Since 2001, many of the former locations have been scaled down or closed.
, located about 20 miles south of New York City, in New Jersey]]
Bell's Holmdel research and development lab, a structure set on , was closed in 2007. The mirrored-glass building was designed by Eero Saarinen. In August 2013, Somerset Development bought the building, intending to redevelop it into a mixed commercial and residential project. A 2012 article expressed doubt on the success of the newly named Bell Works site, but several large tenants had announced plans to move in through 2016 and 2017.Building Complex Location (code) information, past and present* Chester (CH) – North Road, Chester Township, New Jersey (began 1930, outdoor test site for small size telephone pole preservation, timber-related equipment, cable laying mechanism for the first undersea voice cable, research for loop transmission, Lucent Technologies donated land for park)
* Crawford Hill (HOH) – Crawfords Corner Road, Holmdel, NJ (built 1930s, currently as exhibit and building sold, horn antenna used for "Big Bang" theory)
* Red Hill (HR) – located at exit 114 on the Garden State Parkway (480 Red Hill Rd, Middletown, NJ), the building that formerly housed hundreds of Bell Labs researchers is now in use by Memorial Sloan Kettering
* Holmdel (HO) – 101 Crawfords Corner, Holmdel, NJ (built 1959–1962, older structures in the 1920s, currently as private building called Bell Works, discovered extraterrestrial radio emissions, undersea cable research, satellite transmissions systems Telstar 3 and 4); provided office space for ~8000 workers in the 1980s (reaching a peak of ~9000 in 1982); prized glass building with hollow interior designed by Eero Saarinen; a 3-legged white water tower built to resemble a transistor marks the long entrance drive to this facility.
* Indian Hill (IH) – 2000 Naperville Road, Naperville, IL (built 1966, currently Nokia, developed switching technology and systems)
* Indian Hill New (IHN) – 1960 Lucent Lane, Naperville, IL (built in 2000 by Lucent Technologies for growth of the Indian Hill Bell Labs complex. The steel and glass designed, building with 900 parking places, was sold by Nokia for $4.8 million in April 2023. The buyer, Franklin Partners, purchased the site for warehousing but decisions were made to demolish the building for future approved planning. The pedestrian bridge to Indian Hill building was demolished as a separated company. The conference room and lobby scenes of the building were filmed in July 2010, during Alcatel-Lucent ownership, for the Ron Howard film, The Dilemma.)
* Indian Hill Park (IHP) – 200 Park Pl, Naperville, IL (Leased facility until Lucent Technologies consolidation to Indian Hill location.)
* Indian Hill South (IX) – Naperville, IL (Leased facility until Lucent Technologies consolidation to Indian Hill location.)
* Indian Hill West (IW) – Naperville, IL (Leased facility until Lucent Technologies consolidation to Indian Hill location.)
* Murray Hill (MH) – 600 Mountain Ave, Murray Hill, NJ (built 1941–1945, currently Nokia, developed transistor, UNIX operating system and C programming language, anechoic chamber, several building sections demolished)
* Network Software Center (NSC and/or NW) – 2500-2600 Warrenville Rd, Lisle, IL (Built in mid 1970s. Owned property under AT&T Bell Labs, then Lucent Technologies constructed an additional building in 2000s. During Alcatel-Lucent consolidation to Indian Hill location, the buildings were placed for sale and sold to Navistar in 2010.)
* Short Hills (HL) – 101–103 JFK Parkway, Short Hills, NJ (Various departments such as Accounts Payable, IT Purchasing, HR Personnel, Payroll, Telecom, and the Government group, and Unix Administration Systems Computer Center. Buildings exist without the overhead walkway between the two buildings and two different companies are located from banking and business analytics.)
* Summit (SF) – 190 River Road, Summit, NJ (building was part of the UNIX Software Operations and became UNIX System Laboratories, Inc. In December 1991, USL combined with Novell. Location is a banking company.)
* West St ( ) – 463 West Street, New York, NY (built 1898, 1925 until December 1966 as Bell Labs headquarters, experimental talking movies, wave nature of matter, radar)
* Whippany (WH) – 67 Whippany Road, Whippany, NJ (built 1920s, demolished and portion building as Bayer, performed military research and development, research and development in radar, in guidance for the Nike missile, and in underwater sound, Telstar 1, wireless technologies)
* Madison – Madison, NJ
* Merrimack Valley – North Andover, MA
* Murray Hill – Murray Hill, NJ
* Raritan River Center – Piscataway, NJ
* Reading – Reading, PA
* Union – Union, NJ
* Warren Service Center – Warren, NJ
* Whippany – Whippany, NJ
List of Bell Labs (2024)
Nokia Bell Lab's 2024 website pictured 10 labs, located in:
* Antwerp – (Copernicuslaan 50, 2018 Antwerp, Belgium)
* Budapest – (Skypark 8A, Bókay János utca 36–42, 1083, Budapest, Hungary)
* Cambridge – (Broers Building, 21 J.J. Thomson Avenue, Cambridge, CB3 0FA, United Kingdom)
* Espoo – (Karaportti 3 FI-02610, Espoo, Finland)
* Munich – (Werinherstrasse 91 81541, Munich, Germany)
* Murray Hill – (600 Mountain Avenue, Murray Hill, New Jersey 07974-0636) (Global Headquarters)
* Oulu – (Kaapelitie 4, 90620 Oulu, Finland)
* Paris – (12 rue Jean Bart, 91300 Massy) Paris-Saclay, Nozay, France
* Shanghai – (No.388 Ningqiao Road, Pudong Jinqiao, Shanghai 201206 China
* Stuttgart – (Magirusstraße 8, 70469 Stuttgart, Germany)
Also listed as research locations without additional information was Sunnyvale, California, US and Tampere, Finland.
The Naperville, Illinois Bell Labs location near Chicago was considered the Chicago Innovation Center and hosted Nokia's second annual Algorithm World event in 2022.Discoveries and developments
Bell Laboratories was, and is, regarded by many as the premier research facility of its type, developing a wide range of revolutionary technologies, including radio astronomy, the transistor, the laser, information theory, the operating system Unix, the programming languages C and C++, solar cells, the charge-coupled device (CCD), and many other optical, wireless, and wired communications technologies and systems.
1920s
In 1924, Bell Labs physicist Walter A. Shewhart proposed the control chart as a method to determine when a process was in a state of statistical control. Shewhart's methods were the basis for statistical process control (SPC): the use of statistically based tools and techniques to manage and improve processes. This was the origin of the modern quality control movement, including Six Sigma.
In 1926, the laboratories invented an early synchronous-sound motion picture system, in competition with Fox Movietone and DeForest Phonofilm.
In 1927, a Bell team headed by Herbert E. Ives successfully transmitted long-distance 128-line television images of Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover from Washington to New York. In 1928 the thermal noise in a resistor was first measured by John B. Johnson, for which Harry Nyquist provided the theoretical analysis; this is now termed Johnson-Nyquist noise. During the 1920s, the one-time pad cipher was invented by Gilbert Vernam and Joseph Mauborgne at the laboratories. Bell Labs' Claude Shannon later proved that it is unbreakable.
In 1928, Harold Black invented the negative feedback system commonly used in amplifiers. Later, Harry Nyquist analyzed Black's design rule for negative feedback. This work was published in 1932 and became known as the Nyquist criterion.
1930s
at Bell Telephone Laboratories in 1932]]
In 1931, a foundation for radio astronomy was laid by Karl Jansky during his work investigating the origins of static on long-distance shortwave communications. He discovered that radio waves were being emitted from the center of the galaxy.
In 1931 and 1932, the labs made experimental high fidelity, long playing, and even stereophonic recordings of the Philadelphia Orchestra, conducted by Leopold Stokowski.
In 1933, stereo signals were transmitted live from Philadelphia to Washington, D.C.
In 1937, the vocoder, an electronic speech compression device, or codec, and the Voder, the first electronic speech synthesizer, were developed and demonstrated by Homer Dudley, the Voder being demonstrated at the 1939 New York World's Fair. Bell researcher Clinton Davisson shared the Nobel Prize in Physics with George Paget Thomson for the discovery of electron diffraction, which helped lay the foundation for solid-state electronics.
1940s
, a point-contact germanium device, invented at Bell Laboratories in 1947]]
In the early 1940s, the photovoltaic cell was developed by Russell Ohl. In 1943, Bell developed SIGSALY, the first digital scrambled speech transmission system, used by the Allies in World War II. The British wartime codebreaker Alan Turing visited the labs at this time, working on speech encryption and meeting Claude Shannon.
Bell Labs Quality Assurance Department gave the world and the United States such statisticians as Walter A. Shewhart, W. Edwards Deming, Harold F. Dodge, George D. Edwards, Harry Romig, R. L. Jones, Paul Olmstead, E.G.D. Paterson, and Mary N. Torrey. During World War II, Emergency Technical Committee – Quality Control, drawn mainly from Bell Labs' statisticians, was instrumental in advancing Army and Navy ammunition acceptance and material sampling procedures.
In 1947, the transistor, arguably the most important invention developed by Bell Laboratories, was invented by John Bardeen, Walter Houser Brattain, and William Bradford Shockley (who subsequently shared the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1956). In 1947, Richard Hamming invented Hamming codes for error detection and correction. For patent reasons, the result was not published until 1950.
In 1948, "A Mathematical Theory of Communication", one of the founding works in information theory, was published by Claude Shannon in the Bell System Technical Journal. It built in part on earlier work in the field by Bell researchers Harry Nyquist and Ralph Hartley, but went much further. Bell Labs also introduced a series of increasingly complex calculators through the decade. Shannon was also the founder of modern cryptography with his 1949 paper Communication Theory of Secrecy Systems.
Calculators
* Model I: A complex number calculator, completed in 1939 and put into operation in 1940, for doing calculations of complex numbers.
* Model II: Relay Computer / Relay Interpolator, September 1943, for interpolating data points of flight profiles (needed for performance testing of a gun director). This model introduced error detection (self checking).
* Model III: Ballistic Computer, June 1944, for calculations of ballistic trajectories.
* Model IV: Error Detector Mark II, March 1945, an improved ballistic computer.
* Model V: General-purpose electromechanical computer, of which two were built, July 1946 and February 1947
* Model VI: 1949, an enhanced Model V.1950s
The 1950s also saw developments based upon information theory. The central development was binary code systems. Efforts concentrated on the prime mission of supporting the Bell System with engineering advances, including the N-carrier system, TD microwave radio relay, direct distance dialing, E-repeater, wire spring relay, and the Number Five Crossbar Switching System.
In 1952, William Gardner Pfann revealed the method of zone melting, which enabled semiconductor purification and level doping.
In 1953, Maurice Karnaugh developed the Karnaugh map, used for managing of Boolean algebraic expressions.
In January 1954, Bell Labs built one of the first completely transistorized computer machines, TRADIC or Flyable TRADIC, for the United States Air Force with 10,358 germanium point-contact diodes and 684 Bell Labs Type 1734 Type A cartridge transistors. The design team was led by electrical engineer Jean Howard Felker with James R. Harris and Louis C. Brown ("Charlie Brown") as the lead engineers on the project, which started in 1951. The device took only 3 cubic-feet and consumed 100 watt power for its small and low powered design in comparison to the vacuum tube designs of the times. The device could be installed in a B-52 Stratofortress Bomber and had a performance up to one million logical operations a second. The flyable program used a Mylar sheet with punched holes, instead of the removable plugboard.
In 1954, the first modern solar cell was invented at Bell Laboratories.
In 1955, Carl Frosch and Lincoln Derick discovered semiconductor surface passivation by silicon dioxide.
In 1956 TAT-1, the first transatlantic communications cable to carry telephone conversations, was laid between Scotland and Newfoundland in a joint effort by AT&T, Bell Laboratories, and British and Canadian telephone companies.
In 1957, Max Mathews created MUSIC, one of the first computer programs to play electronic music. Robert C. Prim and Joseph Kruskal developed new greedy algorithms that revolutionized computer network design.
In 1957 Frosch and Derick, using masking and predeposition, were able to manufacture silicon dioxide field effect transistors; the first planar transistors, in which drain and source were adjacent at the same surface. They showed that silicon dioxide insulated, protected silicon wafers and prevented dopants from diffusing into the wafer.
In 1958, a technical paper by Arthur Schawlow and Charles Hard Townes first described the laser.
Following Frosch and Derick research, Mohamed Atalla and Dawon Kahng proposed a silicon MOS transistor in 1959 and successfully demonstrated a working MOS device with their Bell Labs team in 1960. Their team included E. E. LaBate and E. I. Povilonis who fabricated the device; M. O. Thurston, L. A. D’Asaro, and J. R. Ligenza who developed the diffusion processes, and H. K. Gummel and R. Lindner who characterized the device.
K. E. Daburlos and H. J. Patterson of Bell Laboratories continued on the work of C. Frosch and L. Derick, and developed a process similar to Hoerni’s planar process about the same time.
J.R. Ligenza and W.G. Spitzer studied the mechanism of thermally grown oxides, fabricated a high quality Si/SiO<sub>2</sub> stack and published their results in 1960.
1960s
On October 1, 1960, the Kwajalein Field Station was announced as a location for the Nike Zeus test program. Mr. R. W. Benfer was the first director to arrive shortly on October 5 for the program. Bell Labs designed many of the major system elements and conducted fundamental investigations of phase-controlled scanning antenna arrays.
]]
In December 1960, Ali Javan, PhD physicist from the University of Tehran, Iran with help by Rolf Seebach and his associates William Bennett and Donald Heriot, successfully operated the first gas laser, the first continuous-light laser, operating at an unprecedented accuracy and color purity.
In 1962, the electret microphone was invented by Gerhard M. Sessler and James E. West. Also in 1962, John R. Pierce's vision of communications satellites was realized by the launch of Telstar.
On July 10, 1962, the Telstar spacecraft was launched into orbit by NASA and it was designed and built by Bell Laboratories. The first worldwide television broadcast was July 23, 1962 with a press conference by President Kennedy.
In Spring 1964, the building of an electronic switching systems center was planned at Bell Laboratories near Naperville, Illinois. The building in 1966 would be called Indian Hill, and development work from former electronic switching organization at Holmdel and Systems Equipment Engineering organization would occupy the laboratory with engineers from Western Electric Hawthorne Works. Scheduled for work were about 1,200 people when completed in 1966, and peaked at 11,000 before October 2001 Lucent Technologies downsizing occurred.
In 1964, the carbon dioxide laser was invented by Kumar Patel and the discovery/operation of the Nd:YAG laser was demonstrated by J.E. Geusic et al. Experiments by Myriam Sarachik provided the first data that confirmed the Kondo effect. The research of Philip W. Anderson into electronic structure of magnetic and disordered systems led to improved understanding of metals and insulators for which he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1977.
In 1965, Penzias and Wilson discovered the cosmic microwave background, for which they were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1978.
Frank W. Sinden, Edward E. Zajac, Ken Knowlton, and A. Michael Noll made computer-animated movies during the early to mid-1960s. Ken Knowlton invented the computer animation language BEFLIX. The first digital computer art was created in 1962 by Noll.
In 1966, orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM), a key technology in wireless services, was developed and patented by R. W. Chang.
In December 1966, the New York City site was sold and became the Westbeth Artists Community complex.
In 1968, molecular beam epitaxy was developed by J.R. Arthur and A.Y. Cho; molecular beam epitaxy allows semiconductor chips and laser matrices to be manufactured one atomic layer at a time.
In 1969, Dennis Ritchie and Ken Thompson created the computer operating system UNIX for the support of telecommunication switching systems as well as general-purpose computing. Also, in 1969, the charge-coupled device (CCD) was invented by Willard Boyle and George E. Smith, for which they were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2009.
From 1969 to 1971, Aaron Marcus, the first graphic designer involved with computer graphics, researched, designed, and programmed a prototype interactive page-layout system for the Picturephone.
1970s
The 1970s and 1980s saw more and more computer-related inventions at the Bell Laboratories as part of the personal computing revolution.
In the 1970s, major central office technology evolved from crossbar electromechanical relay-based technology and discrete transistor logic to Bell Labs-developed thick film hybrid and transistor–transistor logic (TTL), stored program-controlled switching systems; 1A/#4 TOLL Electronic Switching Systems (ESS) and 2A Local Central Offices produced at the Bell Labs Naperville and Western Electric Lisle, Illinois facilities. This technology evolution dramatically reduced floor space needs. The new ESS also came with its own diagnostic software that needed only a switchman and several frame technicians to maintain.
About 1970, the coax-22 cable was developed by Bell Labs. This coax cable with 22 strands allowed a total capacity of 132,000 telephone calls. Previously, a 12-strand coax cable was used for L-carrier systems. Both of these types of cables were manufactured at Western Electrics' Baltimore Works facility on machines designed by a Western Electric Senior development engineer.
In 1970, A. Michael Noll invented a tactile, force-feedback system, coupled with interactive stereoscopic computer display.
In 1971, an improved task priority system for computerized telephone exchange switching systems for telephone traffic was invented by Erna Schneider Hoover, who received one of the first software patents for it.
In 1972, Dennis Ritchie developed the compiled programming language C as a replacement for the interpreted language B, which was then used in a worse is better rewrite of UNIX. Also, the language AWK was designed and implemented by Alfred Aho, Peter Weinberger, and Brian Kernighan of Bell Laboratories. Also in 1972, Marc Rochkind invented the Source Code Control System.
In 1976, optical fiber systems were first tested in Georgia.
Production of their first internally designed microprocessor, the BELLMAC-8, began in 1977. In 1980 they demonstrated the first single-chip 32-bit microprocessor, the Bellmac 32A, which went into production in 1982.
In 1978, the proprietary operating system Oryx/Pecos was developed from scratch by Bell Labs in order to run AT&T's large-scale PBX switching equipment. It was first used with AT&T's flagship System 75, and until very recently was used in all variations up through and including Definity G3 (Generic 3) switches, now manufactured by Avaya.
1980s
During the 1980s, the operating system Plan 9 from Bell Labs was developed extending the UNIX model. Also, the Radiodrum, an electronic music instrument played in three space dimensions, was invented.
In 1980, the TDMA digital cellular telephone technology was patented.
In late 1981, the Bell Labs Research organization internal use of a terminal called Jerq led to the Blit terminal being renamed by designers Rob Pike and Bart Locanthi, Jr for the UNIX operating system. It was a programmable bitmap graphics terminal using multi-layers of opened windows operated by a keyboard and a distinguished red-colored three-button digitized mouse. It was later known as the AT&T 5620 DMD terminal for commercial sales. The Blit used the Motorola 68000 microprocessor, whereas the Teletype/AT&T 5620 Dot Mapped Display terminal used the Western Electric WE32000 microprocessor.
The launching of the Bell Labs Fellows Award started in 1982 to recognize and honor scientists and engineers who have made outstanding and sustained R&D contributions at AT&T with a level of distinction. As of the 2021 inductees, 336 people have received the honor.
Ken Thompson and Dennis Ritchie were also Bell Labs Fellows for 1982. Ritchie started in 1967 at Bell Labs in the Bell Labs Computer Systems Research department. Thompson started in 1966. Both co-inventors of the UNIX operating system and C language were also awarded decades later the 2011 Japan Prize for Information and Communications.
In 1982, fractional quantum Hall effect was discovered by Horst Störmer and former Bell Laboratories researchers Robert B. Laughlin and Daniel C. Tsui; they consequently won a Nobel Prize in 1998 for the discovery.
In 1984, the first photoconductive antennas for picosecond electromagnetic radiation were demonstrated by Auston and others. This type of antenna became an important component in terahertz time-domain spectroscopy. In 1984, Karmarkar's algorithm for linear programming was developed by mathematician Narendra Karmarkar. Also in 1984, a divestiture agreement signed in 1982 with the American Federal government forced the breakup of AT&T, and Bellcore (now iconectiv) was split off from Bell Laboratories to provide the same R&D functions for the newly created local exchange carriers. AT&T also was limited to using the Bell trademark only in association with Bell Laboratories. Bell Telephone Laboratories, Inc. became a wholly owned company of the new AT&T Technologies unit, the former Western Electric. The 5ESS Switch was developed during this transition.
The National Medal of Technology was awarded to Bell Labs, the first corporation to achieve this honor in February 1985.
In 1985, laser cooling was used to slow and manipulate atoms by Steven Chu and team. In 1985, the modeling language A Mathematical Programming Language, AMPL, was developed by Robert Fourer, David M. Gay and Brian Kernighan at Bell Laboratories. Also in 1985, Bell Laboratories was awarded the National Medal of Technology "For contribution over decades to modern communication systems".
In 1985, the programming language C++ had its first commercial release. Bjarne Stroustrup started developing C++ at Bell Laboratories in 1979 as an extension to the original C language. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics (2018) for his work involving optical tweezers and their application to biological systems.
In the mid-1980s, the Transmission System departments of Bell Labs developed highly reliable long-haul fiber-optic communications systems based on SONET, and network operations techniques, that enabled very high volume, near-instantaneous communications across the North American continent. Fail-safe and disaster-related traffic management operations systems enhanced the usefulness of the fiber optics. There was a synergy in the land-based and seas-based fiber optic systems, although they were developed by different divisions within the company. These systems are still in use throughout the U.S. today.
Charles A. Burrus became a Bell Labs Fellow in 1988 for his work done as a Technical Staff member. Prior to this accomplishment, was awarded in 1982 the AT&T Bell Laboratories Distinguished Technical Staff Award. Charles started in 1955 at the Holmdel Bell Labs location and retired in 1996 with consultations to Lucent Technologies up to 2002.
In 1988, TAT-8 became the first transatlantic fiber-optic cable. Bell Labs in Freehold, NJ developed the 1.3-micron fiber, cable, splicing, laser detector, and 280 Mbit/s repeater for 40,000 telephone-call capacity.
In the late 1980s, realizing that voiceband modems were approaching the Shannon limit on bit rate, Richard D. Gitlin, Jean-Jacques Werner, and their colleagues pioneered a major breakthrough by inventing DSL (digital subscriber line) and creating the technology that enabled megabit transmission on installed copper telephone lines, thus facilitating the broadband era.
1990s
Bell Labs' John Mayo received the National Medal of Technology in 1990.
In May 1990, Ronald Snare was named AT&T Bell Laboratories Fellow, for "Singular contributions to the development of the common-channel signaling network and the signal transfer points globally." This system began service in the United States in 1978.
In the early 1990s, approaches to increase modem speeds to 56K were explored at Bell Labs, and early patents were filed in 1992 by Ender Ayanoglu, Nuri R. Dagdeviren and their colleagues.
The scientist, W. Lincoln Hawkins in 1992 received the National Medal of Technology for work done at Bell Labs. Subsequently, the BLAST system proposed by Gerard Foschini and colleagues dramatically expanded the capacity of wireless systems. This technology, known today as MIMO (Multiple Input Multiple Output), was a significant factor in the standardization, commercialization, performance improvement, and growth of cellular and wireless LAN systems.
Amos Joel in 1993 received the National Medal of Technology.
In 1996, AT&T spun off Bell Laboratories, along with most of its equipment manufacturing business, into a new company named Lucent Technologies. AT&T retained a small number of researchers who made up the staff of the newly created AT&T Labs.
Lucy Sanders was the third woman to receive the Bell Labs Fellow award in 1996, for her work in creating a RISC chip that allowed more phone calls using software and hardware on a single server. She started in 1977 and was one of the few woman engineers at Bell Labs.
In November 1997, Lucent planned a Bell Laboratories location at Yokosuka Research Park in Yokosuka, Japan for developing a third generation Wideband Code Division Multiple Access cellular system (W-CDMA.)
In 1997, the smallest then-practical transistor (60 nanometers, 182 atoms wide) was built. In 1998, the first optical router was invented.
Rudolph Kazarinov and Federico Capasso received the optoelectronics Rank Prize on December 8, 1998.
In 2004, Lucent Technologies awarded two women the prestigious Bell Labs Fellow Award. Magaly Spector, a director in INS/Network Systems Group, was awarded for "sustained and exceptional scientific and technological contributions in solid-state physics, III-V material for semiconductor lasers, Gallium Arsenide integrated circuits, and the quality and reliability of products used in high speed optical transport systems for next generation high bandwidth communication." Eve Varma, a technical manager in MNS/Network Systems Group, was awarded for her citation in "sustained contributions to digital and optical networking, including architecture, synchronization, restoration, standards, operations and control."
In 2005, Jeong H. Kim, former President of Lucent's Optical Network Group, returned from academia to become the President of Bell Laboratories.
In April 2006, Bell Laboratories' parent company, Lucent Technologies, signed a merger agreement with Alcatel. On December 1, 2006, the merged company, Alcatel-Lucent, began operations. This deal raised concerns in the United States, where Bell Laboratories works on defense contracts. A separate company, LGS Innovations, with an American board was set up to manage Bell Laboratories' and Lucent's sensitive U.S. government contracts. In March 2019, LGS Innovations was purchased by CACI.
In December 2007, it was announced that the former Lucent Bell Laboratories and the former Alcatel Research and Innovation would be merged into one organization under the name of Bell Laboratories. This is the first period of growth following many years during which Bell Laboratories progressively lost manpower due to layoffs and spin-offs making the company shut down briefly.
In February 2008, Alcatel-Lucent continued the Bell Laboratories tradition of awarding the prestigious award for outstanding technical contributors. Martin J. Glapa, a former chief Technical Officer of Lucent's Cable Communications Business Unit and Director of Advanced Technologies, was presented by Alcatel-Lucent Bell Labs President Jeong H. Kim with the 2006 Bell Labs Fellow Award in Network Architecture, Network Planning, and Professional Services with particular focus in Cable TV Systems and Broadband Services having "significant resulting Alcatel-Lucent commercial successes." Glapa is a patent holder and has co-written the 2004 technical paper called "Optimal Availability & Security For Voice Over Cable Networks" and co-authored the 2008 "Impact of bandwidth demand growth on HFC networks" published by IEEE.
As of July 2008, however, only four scientists remained in physics research, according to a report by the scientific journal Nature.
On August 28, 2008, Alcatel-Lucent announced it was pulling out of basic science, material physics, and semiconductor research, and it will instead focus on more immediately marketable areas, including networking, high-speed electronics, wireless networks, nanotechnology and software.
In 2009, Willard Boyle and George Smith were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for the invention and development of the charge-coupled device (CCD).
Rob Soni was an Alcatel-Lucent Bell Labs Fellow in 2009 as cited for work in winning North American customers wireless business and for helping to define 4G wireless networks with transformative system architectures.2010s
from 2016 to 2022]]
Gee Rittenhouse, former Head of Research, returned from his position as chief operating officer of Alcatel-Lucent's Software, Services, and Solutions business in February 2013, to become the 12th President of Bell Labs.
On November 4, 2013, Alcatel-Lucent announced the appointment of Marcus Weldon as President of Bell Labs. His stated charter was to return Bell Labs to the forefront of innovation in Information and communications technology by focusing on solving the key industry challenges, as was the case in the great Bell Labs innovation eras in the past.
On May 20, 2014, Michel Combes, CEO of Alcatel-Lucent, announced the opening of a Bell Labs location in Tel Aviv, Israel by summer time. The Bell Labs research team would be directed by an Israeli computer scientist and alum of Bell Labs, Danny Raz. The Bell Labs research would be in 'cloud networking' technologies for communications. The location would have approximately twenty academic scientific background employees.
In July 2014, Bell Labs announced it had broken "the broadband Internet speed record" with a new technology dubbed XG-FAST that promises 10 gigabits per second transmission speeds.
In 2014, Eric Betzig shared the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work in super-resolved fluorescence microscopy which he began pursuing while at Bell Labs in the Semiconductor Physics Research Department.
On April 15, 2015, Nokia agreed to acquire Alcatel-Lucent, Bell Labs' parent company, in a share exchange worth $16.6 billion. Their first day of combined operations was January 14, 2016.
In September 2016, Nokia Bell Labs, along with Technische Universität Berlin, Deutsche Telekom T-Labs and the Technical University of Munich achieved a data rate of one terabit per second by improving transmission capacity and spectral efficiency in an optical communications field trial with a new modulation technique.
Antero Taivalsaari became a Bell Labs Fellow in 2016 for his specific work.
In 2017, Dragan Samardzija was awarded the Bell Labs Fellow.
In 2018, Arthur Ashkin shared the Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on "the optical tweezers and their application to biological systems"
In December 2021, Nokia's Chief Strategy and Technology Officer decided to reorganize Bell Labs in two separate functional organizations: Bell Labs Core Research and Bell Labs Solutions research. Bell Labs Core Research is in charge of creating disruptive technologies with 10-year horizon. Bell Labs Solutions Research, looks for shorter term solutions that can provide growth opportunities for Nokia.
The Nokia 2022 Bell Labs Fellows were recognized on November 29, 2022, in a New Jersey ceremony. Five researchers were inducted to the total of 341 recipients since its inception by AT&T Bell Labs in 1982. One member was from New Jersey, two were from Cambridge, UK, and two were from Finland representing Espoo and Tampere locations.
On December 11, 2023, Nokia announced a state of the art research facility in New Brunswick, New Jersey. The planned relocation of the 80 year old, Murray Hill New Jersey Bell Labs facility would take place before 2028. The new building would be LEED Gold certified. The Murray Hill location has had iconic research of various historical innovations for AT&T Corp., Lucent Technologies, Alcatel-Lucent, and Nokia.Nobel Prize, Turing Award, IEEE Medal of HonorEleven Nobel Prizes have been awarded for work completed at Bell Laboratories.
* 1937: Clinton J. Davisson shared the Nobel Prize in Physics for demonstrating the wave nature of matter.
* 1956: John Bardeen, Walter H. Brattain, and William Shockley received the Nobel Prize in Physics for inventing the first transistors.
* 1977: Philip W. Anderson shared the Nobel Prize in Physics for developing an improved understanding of the electronic structure of glass and magnetic materials.
* 1978: Arno A. Penzias and Robert W. Wilson shared the Nobel Prize in Physics. Penzias and Wilson were cited for their discovering cosmic microwave background radiation, a nearly uniform glow that fills the Universe in the microwave band of the radio spectrum.
* 1997: Steven Chu shared the Nobel Prize in Physics for developing methods to cool and trap atoms with laser light.
* 1998: Horst Störmer, Robert Laughlin, and Daniel Tsui, were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for discovering and explaining the fractional quantum Hall effect.
* 2009: Willard S. Boyle, George E. Smith shared the Nobel Prize in Physics with Charles K. Kao. Boyle and Smith were cited for inventing charge-coupled device (CCD) semiconductor imaging sensors.
* 2014: Eric Betzig shared the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work in super-resolved fluorescence microscopy which he began pursuing while at Bell Labs.
* 2018: Arthur Ashkin shared the Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on "the optical tweezers and their application to biological systems" which he began at Bell Labs.
* 2024: John Hopfield shared the Nobel Prize in Physics for his work in artificial networks for machine learning.
The Turing Award has been won five times by Bell Labs researchers.
* 1968: Richard Hamming for his work on numerical methods, automatic coding systems, and error-detecting and error-correcting codes.
* 1983: Ken Thompson and Dennis Ritchie for their work on operating system theory, and for developing Unix. with John Hopcroft, for fundamental achievements in the design and analysis of algorithms and data structures.
* 2018: Yann LeCun and Yoshua Bengio shared the Turing Award with Geoffrey Hinton for their work in Deep Learning.
* 2020: Alfred Aho and Jeffrey Ullman shared the Turing Award for their work on Compilers.
First awarded in 1917, the IEEE Medal of Honor is the highest form of recognition by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. The IEEE Medal of Honor has been won 22 times by Bell Labs researchers.
* 1926 Greenleaf Whittier Pickard For his contributions as to crystal detectors, coil antennas, wave propagation and atmospheric disturbances.
* 1936 G A Campbell For his contributions to the theory of electrical network.
* 1940 Lloyd Espenschied For his accomplishments as an engineer, as an inventor, as a pioneer in the development of radio telephony, and for his effective contributions to the progress of international radio coordination.
* 1946 Ralph Hartley For his early work on oscillating circuits employing triode tubes and likewise for his early recognition and clear exposition of the fundamental relationship between the total amount of information which may be transmitted over a transmission system of limited band-width and the time required.
* 1949 Ralph Brown For his extensive contributions to the field of radio and for his leadership in Institute affairs
* 1955 Harald T. Friis For his outstanding technical contributions in the expansion of the useful spectrum of radio frequencies, and for the inspiration and leadership he has given to young engineers.
* 1960 Harry Nyquist For fundamental contributions to a quantitative understanding of thermal noise, data transmission and negative feedback.
* 1963 George C. Southworth (with John H. Hammond, Jr.) For pioneering contributions to microwave radio physics, to radio astronomy, and to waveguide transmission.
* 1966 Claude Shannon For his development of a mathematical theory of communication which unified and significantly advanced the state of the art.
* 1967 Charles H. Townes For his significant contributions in the field of quantum electronics which have led to the maser and the laser.
* 1971 John Bardeen For his profound contributions to the understanding of the conductivity of solids, to the invention of the transistor, and to the microscopic theory of superconductivity
* 1973 Rudolf Kompfner For a major contribution to world-wide communication through the conception of the traveling wave tube embodying a new principle of amplification.
* 1975 John R. Pierce For his pioneering concrete proposals and the realization of satellite communication experiments, and for contributions in theory and design of traveling wave tubes and in electron beam optics essential to this success.
* 1977 H. Earle Vaughan For his vision, technical contributions and leadership in the development of the first high-capacity pulse-code-modulation time-division telephone switching system.
* 1980 William Shockley For the invention of the junction transistor, the analog and the junction field-effect transistor, and the theory underlying their operation.
* 1981 Sidney Darlington For fundamental contributions to filtering and signal processing leading to chirp radar.
* 1982 John Wilder Tukey For his contributions to the spectral analysis of random processes and the fast Fourier transform algorithm.
* 1989 C. Kumar N. Patel For fundamental contributions to quantum electronics, including the carbon dioxide laser and the spin-flip Raman laser.
* 1992 Amos E. Joel Jr. For fundamental contributions to and leadership in telecommunications switching systems.
* 1994 Alfred Y. Cho For seminal contributions to the development of molecular beam epitaxy.
* 2001 Herwig Kogelnik For fundamental contributions to the science and technology of lasers and optoelectronics, and for leadership in research and development of photonics and lightwave communication systems.
* 2005 James L. Flanagan For sustained leadership and outstanding contributions in speech technology.
Emmy Awards, Grammy Award, and Academy Award
The Emmy Award has been won five times by Bell Labs: one under Lucent Technologies, one under Alcatel-Lucent, and three under Nokia.
* 1997: Primetime Engineering Emmy Award for "work on digital television as part of the HDTV Grand Alliance."
* 2013: Technology and Engineering Emmy for its "Pioneering Work in Implementation and Deployment of Network DVR"
* 2016: Technology & Engineering Emmy Award for the pioneering invention and deployment of fiber-optic cable.
* 2020: Technology & Engineering Emmy Award for the CCD (charge-coupled device) was crucial in the development of television, allowing images to be captured digitally for recording transmission.
* 2021: Technology & Engineering Emmy Award for the "ISO Base Media File Format standardization, in which our multimedia research unit has played a major role."
The inventions of fiber-optics and research done in digital television and media File Format were under former AT&T Bell Labs ownership.
The Grammy Award has been won once by Bell Labs under Alcatel-Lucent.
* 2006: Technical Grammy Award for outstanding technical contributions to the recording field.
The Academy Award has been won once by E. C. Wente and Bell Labs.
* 1937: Scientific or Technical Award (Class II) for their multi-cellular high-frequency horn and receiver.
Publications
The American Telephone and Telegraph Company, Western Electric, and other Bell System companies issued numerous publications, such as local house organs, for corporate distribution, for the scientific and industry communities, and for the general public, including telephone subscribers.
The Bell Laboratories Record was a principal house organ, featuring general interest content such as corporate news, support staff profiles and events, reports of facilities upgrades, but also articles of research and development results written for technical or non-technical audiences. The publication commenced in 1925 with the founding of the laboratories.
A prominent journal for the focussed dissemination of original or reprinted scientific research by Bell Labs engineers and scientists was the Bell System Technical Journal, started in 1922 by the AT&T Information Department. Bell researchers also published widely in industry journals.
Some of these articles were reprinted by the Bell System as Monographs, consecutively issued starting in 1920. These reprints, numbering over 5000, comprise a catalog of Bell research over the decades. Research in the Monographs is aided by access to associated indexes, for monographs 1–1199, 1200–2850 (1958), 2851–4050 (1962), and 4051–4650 (1964).
Essentially all of the landmark work done by Bell Labs is memorialized in one or more corresponding monographs. Examples include:
* Monograph 1598 – Shannon, A Mathematical Theory of Communication, 1948 (reprinted from BSTJ).
* Monograph 1659 – Bardeen and Brattain, Physical Principles Involved in Transistor Action, 1949 (reprinted from BSTJ).
* Monograph 1757 – Hamming, Error Detecting and Error Correcting Codes, 1950 (reprinted from BSTJ).
* Monograph 3289 – Pierce, Transoceanic Communications by Means of Satellite, 1959 (reprinted from Proc. I.R.E.).
* Monograph 3345 – Schawlow & Townes, Infrared and Optical Masers, 1958 (reprinted from Physical Review).
Presidents
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! || Period || Name of President || Lifetime
|-
| 1 || 1925–1940 ||Frank Baldwin Jewett|| 1879–1949
|-
| 2 || 1940–1951 ||Oliver Buckley|| 1887–1959
|-
| 3 || 1951–1959 ||Mervin Kelly|| 1895–1971
|-
| 4 || 1959–1973 ||James Brown Fisk|| 1910–1981
|-
| 5 || 1973–1979 ||William Oliver Baker|| 1915–2005
|-
| 6 || 1979–1991 ||Ian Munro Ross|| 1927–2013
|-
| 7 || 1991–1995 ||John Sullivan Mayo|| b. 1930
|-
| 8 || 1995–1999 ||Dan Stanzione|| b. 1945
|-
| 9 || 1999–2001 ||Arun Netravali|| b. 1946
|-
| 10 || 2001–2005 ||Bill O'Shea|| b. 1957
|-
| 11 || 2005–2013 ||Jeong Hun Kim|| b. 1961
|-
| 12 || 2013–2013 ||Gee Rittenhouse||
|-
| 13 || 2013–2021||Marcus Weldon|| b. 1968
|-
| || 2021–||Thierry Klein (Bell Labs Solutions Research)|| b. 1971
|-
| || 2021–||Peter Vetter (Bell Labs Core Research)|| b. 1963
|}
See also
* Bell Labs Technical Journal—Published scientific journal of Bell Laboratories (1996–present)
* Bell Labs Record
* Industrial laboratory
* George Stibitz—Bell Laboratories engineer—"father of the modern digital computer"
* History of mobile phones—Bell Laboratories conception and development of cellular phones
* High speed photography & Wollensak—Fastax high speed (rotating prism) cameras developed by Bell Labs
* Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory
* Simplified Message Desk Interface
* Sound film—Westrex sound system for cinema films developed by Bell Labs
* TWX Magazine—A short-lived trade periodical published by Bell Laboratories (1944–1952)
* Experiments in Art and Technology—A collaboration between artists and Bell Labs engineers & scientists to create new forms of art
* Xerox PARC
Notes
References
Further reading
* Martin, Douglas. [https://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/17/business/ian-ross-who-led-bell-labs-dies-at-85.html Ian M. Ross, a President at Bell Labs, Dies at 85], The New York Times, March 16, 2013, p. A23
*
* Gleick, James. The Information: A History, a Theory, a Flood. Vintage Books, 2012, 544 pages. .
External links
*
*
* [https://bell.works Bell Works], the re-imagining of the historic former Bell Labs building in Holmdel, New Jersey
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20100520212253/http://www.alcatel-lucent.com/wps/portal/BellLabs/History/Timeline Timeline of discoveries as of 2006] <[https://www.bell-labs.com/timeline Nokia Bell-Labs Timeline]>
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20150411150628/https://www.bell-labs.com/anechoic-chamber/ Bell Labs' Murray Hill anechoic chamber]
* [http://www.stokowski.org/Development_of_Electrical_Recording.htm Bell Laboratories and the Development of Electrical Recording]
* [https://bellsystemmemorial.com/belllabs.html History of Bell Telephone Laboratories, Inc. (from Bell System Memorial)]
* [https://www.publicartinpublicplaces.info/bell-communications-1961-by-anthony-b-heinsbergen Bell Communications Around the Globe], public art sculpture, Los Angeles, California
* [http://www.c-span.org/video/?305445-1/book-discussion-idea-factory The Idea Factory] a video interview with Jon Gertner, author of "The Idea Factory: Bell Labs and the Great Age of American Innovation, by Dave Iverson of KQED-FM Public Radio, San Francisco
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Bjarne Stroustrup
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| birth_place = Aarhus, Denmark
| resting_place | resting_place_coordinates <!-- -->
| citizenship | nationality Danish
| spouse =
| children = 2
| fields | workplaces
| doctoral_advisor David Wheeler
| known_for = C++
| thesis_url https://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uinuk.bl.ethos.474113
| thesis_year = 1979
| alma_mater =
| thesis_title = Communication and control in distributed computer systems
| influences | influenced
| awards =
| signature = <!--(filename only)-->
| signature_alt | website
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}}
Bjarne Stroustrup (; ; born 30 December 1950) is a Danish computer scientist, known for the development of the C++ programming language. He led the Large-scale Programming Research department at Bell Labs, served as a professor of computer science at Texas A&M University, and spent over a decade at Morgan Stanley while also being a visiting professor at Columbia University. Since 2022 he has been a full professor at Columbia. Early life and education Stroustrup was born in Aarhus, Denmark. His family was working class, and he attended local schools.
He attended Aarhus University from 1969 to 1975 and graduated with a Candidatus Scientiarum in mathematics with computer science. His interests focused on microprogramming and machine architecture. He learned the fundamentals of object-oriented programming from its inventor, Kristen Nygaard, who frequently visited Aarhus.
In 1979, he received his PhD in computer science from the University of Cambridge, where his research on distributed computing was supervised by David Wheeler.Career and research
In 1979, Stroustrup began his career as a member of technical staff in the Computer Science Research Center of Bell Labs in Murray Hill, New Jersey. There, he began his work on C++ and programming techniques. Stroustrup was the head of AT&T Bell Labs' Large-scale Programming Research department, from its creation until late 2002. In 1993, he was made a Bell Labs fellow and in 1996, an AT&T Fellow.
From 2002 to 2014, Stroustrup was the College of Engineering Chair Professor in Computer Science at Texas A&M University. From 2011, he was made a University Distinguished Professor.
From January 2014 to April 2022, Stroustrup was a technical fellow and managing director in the technology division of Morgan Stanley in New York City and a visiting professor in computer science at Columbia University.
As of July 2022, Stroustrup is a full professor of Computer Science at Columbia University.C++Stroustrup is best known for his work on C++. In 1979, he began developing C++ (initially called "C with Classes"). In his own words, he "invented C++, wrote its early definitions, and produced its first implementation [...] chose and formulated the design criteria for C++, designed all its major facilities, and was responsible for the processing of extension proposals in the C++ standards committee." C++ was made generally available in 1985. For non-commercial use, the source code of the compiler and the foundation libraries was the cost of shipping (US$75); this was before Internet access was common. Stroustrup also published a textbook for the language in 1985, The C++ Programming Language.
The key language-technical areas of contribution of C++ are:
* A static type system with equal support for built-in types and user-defined types (that requires control of the construction, destruction, copying, and movement of objects; and operator overloading).
* Value and reference semantics.
* Systematic and general resource management (RAII): constructors, destructor, and exceptions relying on them.
* Support for efficient object-oriented programming: based on the Simula model with statically checked interfaces, multiple inheritance, and efficient implementation based on virtual function tables.
* Support for flexible and efficient generic programming: templates with specialization and concepts.
* Support for compile-time programming: template metaprogramming and compile-time evaluated functions ("constexpr functions").
* Direct use of machine and operating system resources.
* Concurrency support through libraries (where necessary, implemented using intrinsics).
Stroustrup documented his principles guiding the design of C++ and the evolution of the language in his 1994 book, The Design and Evolution of C++, and three papers for ACM's History of Programming Languages conferences.
Stroustrup was a founding member of the C++ standards committee (from 1989, it was an ANSI committee and from 1991 an ISO committee) and has remained an active member ever since. For 24 years he chaired the subgroup chartered to handle proposals for language extensions (Evolution Working Group).
Awards and honors
Selected honors
* Stroustrup has been a noble doctor at ITMO University since 2013.
* Honorary Professor in Object Oriented Programming Languages, Department of Computer Science, University of Aarhus. 2010.
Publications
Stroustrup has written or co-written a number of publications, including the books:
* A Tour of C++ (1st, 2nd and 3rd edition)
* Programming: Principles and Practice Using C++
* The C++ Programming Language (1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th edition)
* The Design and Evolution of C++
* The Annotated C++ Reference Manual.
In all, these books have been translated into 21 languages.
More than 100 academic articles, including:
*Thriving in a crowded and changing world
References
External links
*
Category:1950 births
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Brain
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braine|brane}}
The brain is an organ that serves as the center of the nervous system in all vertebrate and most invertebrate animals. It consists of nervous tissue and is typically located in the head (cephalization), usually near organs for special senses such as vision, hearing, and olfaction. Being the most specialized organ, it is responsible for receiving information from the sensory nervous system, processing those information (thought, cognition, and intelligence) and the coordination of motor control (muscle activity and endocrine system).
While invertebrate brains arise from paired segmental ganglia (each of which is only responsible for the respective body segment) of the ventral nerve cord, vertebrate brains develop axially from the midline dorsal nerve cord as a vesicular enlargement at the rostral end of the neural tube, with centralized control over all body segments. All vertebrate brains can be embryonically divided into three parts: the forebrain (prosencephalon, subdivided into telencephalon and diencephalon), midbrain (mesencephalon) and hindbrain (rhombencephalon, subdivided into metencephalon and myelencephalon). The spinal cord, which directly interacts with somatic functions below the head, can be considered a caudal extension of the myelencephalon enclosed inside the vertebral column. Together, the brain and spinal cord constitute the central nervous system in all vertebrates.
In humans, the cerebral cortex contains approximately 14–16 billion neurons, and the estimated number of neurons in the cerebellum is 55–70 billion. Each neuron is connected by synapses to several thousand other neurons, typically communicating with one another via cytoplasmic processes known as dendrites and axons. Axons are usually myelinated and carry trains of rapid micro-electric signal pulses called action potentials to target specific recipient cells in other areas of the brain or distant parts of the body. The prefrontal cortex, which controls executive functions, is particularly well developed in humans.
Physiologically, brains exert centralized control over a body's other organs. They act on the rest of the body both by generating patterns of muscle activity and by driving the secretion of chemicals called hormones. This centralized control allows rapid and coordinated responses to changes in the environment. Some basic types of responsiveness such as reflexes can be mediated by the spinal cord or peripheral ganglia, but sophisticated purposeful control of behavior based on complex sensory input requires the information integrating capabilities of a centralized brain.
The operations of individual brain cells are now understood in considerable detail but the way they cooperate in ensembles of millions is yet to be solved. Recent models in modern neuroscience treat the brain as a biological computer, very different in mechanism from a digital computer, but similar in the sense that it acquires information from the surrounding world, stores it, and processes it in a variety of ways.
This article compares the properties of brains across the entire range of animal species, with the greatest attention to vertebrates. It deals with the human brain insofar as it shares the properties of other brains. The ways in which the human brain differs from other brains are covered in the human brain article. Several topics that might be covered here are instead covered there because much more can be said about them in a human context. The most important that are covered in the human brain article are brain disease and the effects of brain damage.
Structure
of a rat, stained in two different ways at the same time: one stain shows neuronal cell bodies, the other shows receptors for the neurotransmitter GABA.|262x262px]]
The shape and size of the brain varies greatly between species, and identifying common features is often difficult. Nevertheless, there are a number of principles of brain architecture that apply across a wide range of species. Some aspects of brain structure are common to almost the entire range of animal species; others distinguish "advanced" brains from more primitive ones, or distinguish vertebrates from invertebrates. Cellular structure
s generate electrical signals that travel along their axons. When an electrical impulse reaches a junction called a synapse, it causes a neurotransmitter to be released, which binds to receptors on other cells and thereby alters their electrical activity.]]
The brains of all species are composed primarily of two broad classes of brain cells: neurons and glial cells. Glial cells (also known as glia or neuroglia) come in several types, and perform a number of critical functions, including structural support, metabolic support, insulation, and guidance of development. Neurons, however, are usually considered the most important cells in the brain.<!--p. 20--> In humans, the cerebral cortex contains approximately 14–16 billion neurons, These axons transmit signals in the form of electrochemical pulses called action potentials, which last less than a thousandth of a second and travel along the axon at speeds of 1–100 meters per second. Some neurons emit action potentials constantly, at rates of 10–100 per second, usually in irregular patterns; other neurons are quiet most of the time, but occasionally emit a burst of action potentials.
Axons transmit signals to other neurons by means of specialized junctions called synapses. A single axon may make as many as several thousand synaptic connections with other cells. The essential function of the brain is cell-to-cell communication, and synapses are the points at which communication occurs. The human brain has been estimated to contain approximately 100 trillion synapses; even the brain of a fruit fly contains several million. The functions of these synapses are very diverse: some are excitatory (exciting the target cell); others are inhibitory; others work by activating second messenger systems that change the internal chemistry of their target cells in complex ways. and cnidarians (which have a diffuse nervous system consisting of a nerve net), At a schematic level, that basic worm-shape continues to be reflected in the body and nervous system architecture of all modern bilaterians, including vertebrates. The fundamental bilateral body form is a tube with a hollow gut cavity running from the mouth to the anus, and a nerve cord with an enlargement (a ganglion) for each body segment, with an especially large ganglion at the front, called the brain. The brain is small and simple in some species, such as nematode worms; in other species, such as vertebrates, it is a large and very complex organ.
There are a few types of existing bilaterians that lack a recognizable brain, including echinoderms and tunicates. It has not been definitively established whether the existence of these brainless species indicates that the earliest bilaterians lacked a brain, or whether their ancestors evolved in a way that led to the disappearance of a previously existing brain structure.
Invertebrates
) have been extensively studied to gain insight into the role of genes in brain development.]]
This category includes tardigrades, arthropods, molluscs, and numerous types of worms. The diversity of invertebrate body plans is matched by an equal diversity in brain structures.
Two groups of invertebrates have notably complex brains: arthropods (insects, crustaceans, arachnids, and others), and cephalopods (octopuses, squids, and similar molluscs). The brains of arthropods and cephalopods arise from twin parallel nerve cords that extend through the body of the animal. Arthropods have a central brain, the supraesophageal ganglion, with three divisions and large optical lobes behind each eye for visual processing.
There are several invertebrate species whose brains have been studied intensively because they have properties that make them convenient for experimental work:
* Fruit flies (Drosophila), because of the large array of techniques available for studying their genetics, have been a natural subject for studying the role of genes in brain development. In spite of the large evolutionary distance between insects and mammals, many aspects of Drosophila neurogenetics have been shown to be relevant to humans. The first biological clock genes, for example, were identified by examining Drosophila mutants that showed disrupted daily activity cycles. A search in the genomes of vertebrates revealed a set of analogous genes, which were found to play similar roles in the mouse biological clock—and therefore almost certainly in the human biological clock as well. Studies done on Drosophila, also show that most neuropil regions of the brain are continuously reorganized throughout life in response to specific living conditions.
* The nematode worm Caenorhabditis elegans, like Drosophila, has been studied largely because of its importance in genetics. In the early 1970s, Sydney Brenner chose it as a model organism for studying the way that genes control development. One of the advantages of working with this worm is that the body plan is very stereotyped: the nervous system of the hermaphrodite contains exactly 302 neurons, always in the same places, making identical synaptic connections in every worm. Brenner's team sliced worms into thousands of ultrathin sections and photographed each one under an electron microscope, then visually matched fibers from section to section, to map out every neuron and synapse in the entire body. The complete neuronal wiring diagram of C.elegans – its connectome was achieved. Nothing approaching this level of detail is available for any other organism, and the information gained has enabled a multitude of studies that would otherwise have not been possible.
* The sea slug Aplysia californica was chosen by Nobel Prize-winning neurophysiologist Eric Kandel as a model for studying the cellular basis of learning and memory, because of the simplicity and accessibility of its nervous system, and it has been examined in hundreds of experiments.
Vertebrates
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The first vertebrates appeared over 500 million years ago (Mya) during the Cambrian period, and may have resembled the modern jawless fish (hagfish and lamprey) in form. Jawed vertebrates appeared by 445 Mya, tetrapods by 350 Mya, amniotes by 310 Mya and mammaliaforms by 200 Mya (approximately). Each vertebrate clade has an equally long evolutionary history, but the brains of modern fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals show a gradient of size and complexity that roughly follows the evolutionary sequence. All of these brains contain the same set of basic anatomical structures, but many are rudimentary in the hagfish, whereas in mammals the foremost part (forebrain, especially the telencephalon) is greatly developed and expanded.
Brains are most commonly compared in terms of their mass. The relationship between brain size, body size and other variables has been studied across a wide range of vertebrate species. As a rule of thumb, brain size increases with body size, but not in a simple linear proportion. In general, smaller animals tend to have proportionally larger brains, measured as a fraction of body size. For mammals, the relationship between brain volume and body mass essentially follows a power law with an exponent of about 0.75. This formula describes the central tendency, but every family of mammals departs from it to some degree, in a way that reflects in part the complexity of their behavior. For example, primates have brains 5 to 10 times larger than the formula predicts. Predators, who have to implement various hunting strategies against the ever changing anti-predator adaptations, tend to have larger brains relative to body size than their prey.
vertebrate brain (left), which later differentiate into structures of the adult brain (right)]]
All vertebrate brains share a common underlying form, which appears most clearly during early stages of embryonic development. In its earliest form, the brain appears as three vesicular swellings at the front end of the neural tube; these swellings eventually become the forebrain (prosencephalon), midbrain (mesencephalon) and hindbrain (rhombencephalon), respectively. At the earliest stages of brain development, the three areas are roughly equal in size. In many aquatic/semiaquatic vertebrates such as fish and amphibians, the three parts remain similar in size in adults, but in terrestrial tetrapods such as mammals, the forebrain becomes much larger than the other parts, the hindbrain develops a bulky dorsal extension known as the cerebellum, and the midbrain becomes very small as a result. (though at the same time blocking antibodies and some drugs, thereby presenting special challenges in treatment of diseases of the brain). As a result of the osmotic restriction by the blood-brain barrier, the metabolites within the brain are cleared mostly by bulk flow of the cerebrospinal fluid within the glymphatic system instead of via venules like other parts of the body.
Neuroanatomists usually divide the vertebrate brain into six main subregions: the telencephalon (the cerebral hemispheres), diencephalon (thalamus and hypothalamus), mesencephalon (midbrain), cerebellum, pons and medulla oblongata, with the midbrain, pons and medulla often collectively called the brainstem. Each of these areas has a complex internal structure. Some parts, such as the cerebral cortex and the cerebellar cortex, are folded into convoluted gyri and sulci in order to maximize surface area within the available intracranial space. Other parts, such as the thalamus and hypothalamus, consist of many small clusters of nuclei known as "ganglia". Thousands of distinguishable areas can be identified within the vertebrate brain based on fine distinctions of neural structure, chemistry, and connectivity. These distortions can make it difficult to match brain components from one species with those of another species.
Here is a list of some of the most important vertebrate brain components, along with a brief description of their functions as currently understood:
* The medulla, along with the spinal cord, contains many small nuclei involved in a wide variety of sensory and involuntary motor functions such as vomiting, heart rate and digestive processes.
* The hypothalamus is a small region at the base of the forebrain, whose complexity and importance belies its size. It is composed of numerous small nuclei, each with distinct connections and neurochemistry. The hypothalamus is engaged in additional involuntary or partially voluntary acts such as sleep and wake cycles, eating and drinking, and the release of some hormones.
* The thalamus is a collection of nuclei with diverse functions: some are involved in relaying information to and from the cerebral hemispheres, while others are involved in motivation. The subthalamic area (zona incerta) seems to contain action-generating systems for several types of "consummatory" behaviors such as eating, drinking, defecation, and copulation.
* The cerebellum modulates the outputs of other brain systems, whether motor-related or thought related, to make them certain and precise. Removal of the cerebellum does not prevent an animal from doing anything in particular, but it makes actions hesitant and clumsy. This precision is not built-in but learned by trial and error. The muscle coordination learned while riding a bicycle is an example of a type of neural plasticity that may take place largely within the cerebellum.
* The optic tectum allows actions to be directed toward points in space, most commonly in response to visual input. In mammals, it is usually referred to as the superior colliculus, and its best-studied function is to direct eye movements. It also directs reaching movements and other object-directed actions. It receives strong visual inputs, but also inputs from other senses that are useful in directing actions, such as auditory input in owls and input from the thermosensitive pit organs in snakes. In some primitive fishes, such as lampreys, this region is the largest part of the brain. The superior colliculus is part of the midbrain.
* The pallium is a layer of grey matter that lies on the surface of the forebrain and is the most complex and most recent evolutionary development of the brain as an organ. In reptiles and mammals, it is called the cerebral cortex. Multiple functions involve the pallium, including smell and spatial memory. In mammals, where it becomes so large as to dominate the brain, it takes over functions from many other brain areas. In many mammals, the cerebral cortex consists of folded bulges called gyri that create deep furrows or fissures called sulci. The folds increase the surface area of the cortex and therefore increase the amount of gray matter and the amount of information that can be stored and processed.
* The hippocampus, strictly speaking, is found only in mammals. However, the area it derives from, the medial pallium, has counterparts in all vertebrates. There is evidence that this part of the brain is involved in complex events such as spatial memory and navigation in fishes, birds, reptiles, and mammals.
* The basal ganglia are a group of interconnected structures in the forebrain. The primary function of the basal ganglia appears to be action selection: they send inhibitory signals to all parts of the brain that can generate motor behaviors, and in the right circumstances can release the inhibition, so that the action-generating systems are able to execute their actions. Reward and punishment exert their most important neural effects by altering connections within the basal ganglia.
* The olfactory bulb is a special structure that processes olfactory sensory signals and sends its output to the olfactory part of the pallium. It is a major brain component in many vertebrates, but is greatly reduced in humans and other primates (whose senses are dominated by information acquired by sight rather than smell). Reptiles
Comparison of Vertebrate Brains: Mammalian, Reptilian, Amphibian, Teleost, and Ammocoetes. CB., cerebellum; PT., pituitary body; PN., pineal body; C. STR., corpus striatum; G.H.R., right ganglion habenulæ. I., olfactory; II., optic nerves.]]
Modern reptiles and mammals diverged from a common ancestor around 320 million years ago. The number of extant reptiles far exceeds the number of mammalian species, with 11,733 recognized species of reptiles compared to 5,884 extant mammals. Along with the species diversity, reptiles have diverged in terms of external morphology, from limbless to tetrapod gliders to armored chelonians, reflecting adaptive radiation to a diverse array of environments.
Morphological differences are reflected in the nervous system phenotype, such as: absence of lateral motor column neurons in snakes, which innervate limb muscles controlling limb movements; absence of motor neurons that innervate trunk muscles in tortoises; presence of innervation from the trigeminal nerve to pit organs responsible to infrared detection in snakes. For instance, crocodilians have the largest brain volume to body weight proportion, followed by turtles, lizards, and snakes. Reptiles vary in the investment in different brain sections. Crocodilians have the largest telencephalon, while snakes have the smallest. Turtles have the largest diencephalon per body weight whereas crocodilians have the smallest. On the other hand, lizards have the largest mesencephalon. Vertebrates share the highest levels of similarities during embryological development, controlled by conserved transcription factors and signaling centers, including gene expression, morphological and cell type differentiation. In fact, high levels of transcriptional factors can be found in all areas of the brain in reptiles and mammals, with shared neuronal clusters enlightening brain evolution. Elaborated brains are characterized by migrated neuronal cell bodies away from the periventricular matrix, region of neuronal development, forming organized nuclear groups.
Size, however, is not the only difference: there are also substantial differences in shape. The hindbrain and midbrain of mammals are generally similar to those of other vertebrates, but dramatic differences appear in the forebrain, which is greatly enlarged and also altered in structure. The cerebral cortex is the part of the brain that most strongly distinguishes mammals. In non-mammalian vertebrates, the surface of the cerebrum is lined with a comparatively simple three-layered structure called the pallium. In mammals, the pallium evolves into a complex six-layered structure called neocortex or isocortex. Several areas at the edge of the neocortex, including the hippocampus and amygdala, are also much more extensively developed in mammals than in other vertebrates.
In placentals, there is a wide nerve tract connecting the cerebral hemispheres called the corpus callosum.
Primates
{| class"wikitable" align"right" style="margin-left: 10px;"
|+Encephalization Quotient
!Species
!EQ
|-
|Human||7.4–7.8
|-
|Common chimpanzee||2.2–2.5
|-
|Rhesus monkey||2.1
|-
|Bottlenose dolphin||4.14
|-
|Elephant||1.13–2.36
|-
|Dog||1.2
|-
|Horse||0.9
|-
|Rat||0.4
<!--|-
|colspan"2" style"text-align: left;" |EQ relative to the cat as standard species: EQ(cat)=1-->
|-
|}
The brains of humans and other primates contain the same structures as the brains of other mammals, but are generally larger in proportion to body size. The encephalization quotient (EQ) is used to compare brain sizes across species. It takes into account the nonlinearity of the brain-to-body relationship. The visual processing network of primates includes at least 30 distinguishable brain areas, with a complex web of interconnections. It has been estimated that visual processing areas occupy more than half of the total surface of the primate neocortex. The prefrontal cortex carries out functions that include planning, working memory, motivation, attention, and executive control. It takes up a much larger proportion of the brain for primates than for other species, and an especially large fraction of the human brain.
Development
The brain develops in an intricately orchestrated sequence of stages.<!--Ch. 1--> It changes in shape from a simple swelling at the front of the nerve cord in the earliest embryonic stages, to a complex array of areas and connections. Neurons are created in special zones that contain stem cells, and then migrate through the tissue to reach their ultimate locations. Once neurons have positioned themselves, their axons sprout and navigate through the brain, branching and extending as they go, until the tips reach their targets and form synaptic connections. In a number of parts of the nervous system, neurons and synapses are produced in excessive numbers during the early stages, and then the unneeded ones are pruned away.
Similar things happen in other brain areas: an initial synaptic matrix is generated as a result of genetically determined chemical guidance, but then gradually refined by activity-dependent mechanisms, partly driven by internal dynamics, partly by external sensory inputs. In some cases, as with the retina-midbrain system, activity patterns depend on mechanisms that operate only in the developing brain, and apparently exist solely to guide development.
There has long been debate about whether the qualities of mind, personality, and intelligence can be attributed to heredity or to upbringing. Although many details remain to be settled, neuroscience shows that both factors are important. Genes determine both the general form of the brain and how it reacts to experience, but experience is required to refine the matrix of synaptic connections, resulting in greatly increased complexity. The presence or absence of experience is critical at key periods of development. Additionally, the quantity and quality of experience are important. For example, animals raised in enriched environments demonstrate thick cerebral cortices, indicating a high density of synaptic connections, compared to animals with restricted levels of stimulation.
Physiology
The functions of the brain depend on the ability of neurons to transmit electrochemical signals to other cells, and their ability to respond appropriately to electrochemical signals received from other cells. The electrical properties of neurons are controlled by a wide variety of biochemical and metabolic processes, most notably the interactions between neurotransmitters and receptors that take place at synapses.
The two neurotransmitters that are most widely found in the vertebrate brain are glutamate, which almost always exerts excitatory effects on target neurons, and gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), which is almost always inhibitory. Neurons using these transmitters can be found in nearly every part of the brain. Because of their ubiquity, drugs that act on glutamate or GABA tend to have broad and powerful effects. Some general anesthetics act by reducing the effects of glutamate; most tranquilizers exert their sedative effects by enhancing the effects of GABA.
There are dozens of other chemical neurotransmitters that are used in more limited areas of the brain, often areas dedicated to a particular function. Serotonin, for example—the primary target of many antidepressant drugs and many dietary aids—comes exclusively from a small brainstem area called the raphe nuclei. Norepinephrine, which is involved in arousal, comes exclusively from a nearby small area called the locus coeruleus. Other neurotransmitters such as acetylcholine and dopamine have multiple sources in the brain but are not as ubiquitously distributed as glutamate and GABA.
Electrical activity
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As a side effect of the electrochemical processes used by neurons for signaling, brain tissue generates electric fields when it is active. When large numbers of neurons show synchronized activity, the electric fields that they generate can be large enough to detect outside the skull, using electroencephalography (EEG) or magnetoencephalography (MEG). EEG recordings, along with recordings made from electrodes implanted inside the brains of animals such as rats, show that the brain of a living animal is constantly active, even during sleep. Each part of the brain shows a mixture of rhythmic and nonrhythmic activity, which may vary according to behavioral state. In mammals, the cerebral cortex tends to show large slow delta waves during sleep, faster alpha waves when the animal is awake but inattentive, and chaotic-looking irregular activity when the animal is actively engaged in a task, called beta and gamma waves. During an epileptic seizure, the brain's inhibitory control mechanisms fail to function and electrical activity rises to pathological levels, producing EEG traces that show large wave and spike patterns not seen in a healthy brain. Relating these population-level patterns to the computational functions of individual neurons is a major focus of current research in neurophysiology. Most of the brain's energy consumption goes into sustaining the electric charge (membrane potential) of neurons. Most vertebrate species devote between 2% and 8% of basal metabolism to the brain. In primates, however, the percentage is much higher—in humans it rises to 20–25%. The energy consumption of the brain does not vary greatly over time, but active regions of the cerebral cortex consume somewhat more energy than inactive regions; this forms the basis for the functional brain imaging methods of PET, fMRI, and NIRS. The brain typically gets most of its energy from oxygen-dependent metabolism of glucose (i.e., blood sugar), lactate, acetate, and possibly amino acids. Function
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Information from the sense organs is collected in the brain. There it is used to determine what actions the organism is to take. The brain processes the raw data to extract information about the structure of the environment. Next it combines the processed information with information about the current needs of the animal and with memory of past circumstances. Finally, on the basis of the results, it generates motor response patterns. These signal-processing tasks require intricate interplay between a variety of functional subsystems.
Perception
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The human brain is provided with information about light, sound, the chemical composition of the atmosphere, temperature, the position of the body in space (proprioception), the chemical composition of the bloodstream, and more. In other animals additional senses are present, such as the infrared heat-sense of snakes, the magnetic field sense of some birds, or the electric field sense mainly seen in aquatic animals.
Each sensory system begins with specialized receptor cells,
|-
! scoperow style"text-align:left" | Oculomotor nuclei
| style"background: tan" | Midbrain || style"background:#ffdead" | Contains motor neurons that directly activate the eye muscles
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! scoperow style"text-align:left" | Cerebellum
| style"background: tan" | Hindbrain || style"background:#ffdead" | Calibrates precision and timing of movements
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! scoperow style"text-align:left" | Motor cortex
| style"background: tan" | Frontal lobe || style"background:#ffdead" | Direct cortical activation of spinal motor circuits
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! scoperow style"text-align:left" | Premotor cortex
| style"background: tan" | Frontal lobe || style"background:#ffdead" | Groups elementary movements into coordinated patterns
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! scoperow style"text-align:left" | Prefrontal cortex
| style"background: tan" | Frontal lobe || style"background:#ffdead" | Planning and other executive functions
|}
Sleep
Many animals alternate between sleeping and waking in a daily cycle. Arousal and alertness are also modulated on a finer time scale by a network of brain areas.
The SCN projects to a set of areas in the hypothalamus, brainstem, and midbrain that are involved in implementing sleep-wake cycles. An important component of the system is the reticular formation, a group of neuron-clusters scattered diffusely through the core of the lower brain. Reticular neurons send signals to the thalamus, which in turn sends activity-level-controlling signals to every part of the cortex. Damage to the reticular formation can produce a permanent state of coma. but this is now known to be far from true; activity continues, but patterns become very different. There are two types of sleep: REM sleep (with dreaming) and NREM (non-REM, usually without dreaming) sleep, which repeat in slightly varying patterns throughout a sleep episode. Three broad types of distinct brain activity patterns can be measured: REM, light NREM and deep NREM. During deep NREM sleep, also called slow wave sleep, activity in the cortex takes the form of large synchronized waves, whereas in the waking state it is noisy and desynchronized. Levels of the neurotransmitters norepinephrine and serotonin drop during slow wave sleep, and fall almost to zero during REM sleep; levels of acetylcholine show the reverse pattern. Maintaining homeostasis is a crucial function of the brain. The basic principle that underlies homeostasis is negative feedback: any time a parameter diverges from its set-point, sensors generate an error signal that evokes a response that causes the parameter to shift back toward its optimum value. The hypothalamus is a collection of small nuclei, most of which are involved in basic biological functions. Some of these functions relate to arousal or to social interactions such as sexuality, aggression, or maternal behaviors; but many of them relate to homeostasis. Several hypothalamic nuclei receive input from sensors located in the lining of blood vessels, conveying information about temperature, sodium level, glucose level, blood oxygen level, and other parameters. These hypothalamic nuclei send output signals to motor areas that can generate actions to rectify deficiencies. Some of the outputs also go to the pituitary gland, a tiny gland attached to the brain directly underneath the hypothalamus. The pituitary gland secretes hormones into the bloodstream, where they circulate throughout the body and induce changes in cellular activity. Motivation
and putamen. Green: globus pallidus. Red: subthalamic nucleus. Black: substantia nigra.]]
The individual animals need to express survival-promoting behaviors, such as seeking food, water, shelter, and a mate. The motivational system in the brain monitors the current state of satisfaction of these goals, and activates behaviors to meet any needs that arise. The motivational system works largely by a reward–punishment mechanism. When a particular behavior is followed by favorable consequences, the reward mechanism in the brain is activated, which induces structural changes inside the brain that cause the same behavior to be repeated later, whenever a similar situation arises. Conversely, when a behavior is followed by unfavorable consequences, the brain's punishment mechanism is activated, inducing structural changes that cause the behavior to be suppressed when similar situations arise in the future.
Most organisms studied to date use a reward–punishment mechanism: for instance, worms and insects can alter their behavior to seek food sources or to avoid dangers. In vertebrates, the reward-punishment system is implemented by a specific set of brain structures, at the heart of which lie the basal ganglia, a set of interconnected areas at the base of the forebrain.
Learning and memory
Almost all animals are capable of modifying their behavior as a result of experience—even the most primitive types of worms. Because behavior is driven by brain activity, changes in behavior must somehow correspond to changes inside the brain. Already in the late 19th century theorists like Santiago Ramón y Cajal argued that the most plausible explanation is that learning and memory are expressed as changes in the synaptic connections between neurons. Until 1970, however, experimental evidence to support the synaptic plasticity hypothesis was lacking. In 1971 Tim Bliss and Terje Lømo published a paper on a phenomenon now called long-term potentiation: the paper showed clear evidence of activity-induced synaptic changes that lasted for at least several days. Since then technical advances have made these sorts of experiments much easier to carry out, and thousands of studies have been made that have clarified the mechanism of synaptic change, and uncovered other types of activity-driven synaptic change in a variety of brain areas, including the cerebral cortex, hippocampus, basal ganglia, and cerebellum. Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and physical activity appear to play a beneficial role in the process.
Neuroscientists currently distinguish several types of learning and memory that are implemented by the brain in distinct ways:
* Working memory is the ability of the brain to maintain a temporary representation of information about the task that an animal is currently engaged in. This sort of dynamic memory is thought to be mediated by the formation of cell assemblies—groups of activated neurons that maintain their activity by constantly stimulating one another.
* Episodic memory is the ability to remember the details of specific events. This sort of memory can last for a lifetime. Much evidence implicates the hippocampus in playing a crucial role: people with severe damage to the hippocampus sometimes show amnesia, that is, inability to form new long-lasting episodic memories.
* Semantic memory is the ability to learn facts and relationships. This sort of memory is probably stored largely in the cerebral cortex, mediated by changes in connections between cells that represent specific types of information.
* Instrumental learning is the ability for rewards and punishments to modify behavior. It is implemented by a network of brain areas centered on the basal ganglia.
* Motor learning is the ability to refine patterns of body movement by practicing, or more generally by repetition. A number of brain areas are involved, including the premotor cortex, basal ganglia, and especially the cerebellum, which functions as a large memory bank for microadjustments of the parameters of movement. Research
is a large scientific research project, starting in 2013, which aims to simulate the complete human brain.]]
The field of neuroscience encompasses all approaches that seek to understand the brain and the rest of the nervous system. Cognitive science seeks to unify neuroscience and psychology with other fields that concern themselves with the brain, such as computer science (artificial intelligence and similar fields) and philosophy.
The oldest method of studying the brain is anatomical, and until the middle of the 20th century, much of the progress in neuroscience came from the development of better cell stains and better microscopes. Neuroanatomists study the large-scale structure of the brain as well as the microscopic structure of neurons and their components, especially synapses. Among other tools, they employ a plethora of stains that reveal neural structure, chemistry, and connectivity. In recent years, the development of immunostaining techniques has allowed investigation of neurons that express specific sets of genes. Also, functional neuroanatomy uses medical imaging techniques to correlate variations in human brain structure with differences in cognition or behavior.
Neurophysiologists study the chemical, pharmacological, and electrical properties of the brain: their primary tools are drugs and recording devices. Thousands of experimentally developed drugs affect the nervous system, some in highly specific ways. Recordings of brain activity can be made using electrodes, either glued to the scalp as in EEG studies, or implanted inside the brains of animals for extracellular recordings, which can detect action potentials generated by individual neurons. Because the brain does not contain pain receptors, it is possible using these techniques to record brain activity from animals that are awake and behaving without causing distress. The same techniques have occasionally been used to study brain activity in human patients with intractable epilepsy, in cases where there was a medical necessity to implant electrodes to localize the brain area responsible for epileptic seizures. Functional imaging techniques such as fMRI are also used to study brain activity; these techniques have mainly been used with human subjects, because they require a conscious subject to remain motionless for long periods of time, but they have the great advantage of being noninvasive.
Another approach to brain function is to examine the consequences of damage to specific brain areas. Even though it is protected by the skull and meninges, surrounded by cerebrospinal fluid, and isolated from the bloodstream by the blood–brain barrier, the delicate nature of the brain makes it vulnerable to numerous diseases and several types of damage. In humans, the effects of strokes and other types of brain damage have been a key source of information about brain function. Because there is no ability to experimentally control the nature of the damage, however, this information is often difficult to interpret. In animal studies, most commonly involving rats, it is possible to use electrodes or locally injected chemicals to produce precise patterns of damage and then examine the consequences for behavior.
Computational neuroscience encompasses two approaches: first, the use of computers to study the brain; second, the study of how brains perform computation. On one hand, it is possible to write a computer program to simulate the operation of a group of neurons by making use of systems of equations that describe their electrochemical activity; such simulations are known as biologically realistic neural networks. On the other hand, it is possible to study algorithms for neural computation by simulating, or mathematically analyzing, the operations of simplified "units" that have some of the properties of neurons but abstract out much of their biological complexity. The computational functions of the brain are studied both by computer scientists and neuroscientists.
Computational neurogenetic modeling is concerned with the study and development of dynamic neuronal models for modeling brain functions with respect to genes and dynamic interactions between genes.
Recent years have seen increasing applications of genetic and genomic techniques to the study of the brain In doing so, they annotated 28 cell types to evaluate expression and chromatin variation across gene families and drug targets. They identified about half a million cell type–specific regulatory elements and about 1.5 million single-cell expression quantitative trait loci (i.e., genomic variants with strong statistical associations with changes in gene expression within specific cell types), which were then used to build cell-type regulatory networks (the study also describes cell-to-cell communication networks). These networks were found to manifest cellular changes in aging and neuropsychiatric disorders. As part of the same investigation, a machine learning model was designed to accurately impute single-cell expression (this model prioritized ~250 disease-risk genes and drug targets with associated cell types). History
of how the brain implements a reflex response]]
The oldest brain to have been discovered was in Armenia in the Areni-1 cave complex. The brain, estimated to be over 5,000 years old, was found in the skull of a 12 to 14-year-old girl. Although the brains were shriveled, they were well preserved due to the climate found inside the cave.
Early philosophers were divided as to whether the seat of the soul lies in the brain or heart. Aristotle favored the heart, and thought that the function of the brain was merely to cool the blood. Democritus, the inventor of the atomic theory of matter, argued for a three-part soul, with intellect in the head, emotion in the heart, and lust near the liver. The unknown author of On the Sacred Disease, a medical treatise in the Hippocratic Corpus, came down unequivocally in favor of the brain, writing:
' Fabrica, published in 1543, showing the base of the human brain, including optic chiasma, cerebellum, olfactory bulbs, etc.]]
The Roman physician Galen also argued for the importance of the brain, and theorized in some depth about how it might work. Galen traced out the anatomical relationships among brain, nerves, and muscles, demonstrating that all muscles in the body are connected to the brain through a branching network of nerves. He postulated that nerves activate muscles mechanically by carrying a mysterious substance he called pneumata psychikon, usually translated as "animal spirits". Particularly critical was the invention of the Golgi stain, which (when correctly used) stains only a small fraction of neurons, but stains them in their entirety, including cell body, dendrites, and axon. Without such a stain, brain tissue under a microscope appears as an impenetrable tangle of protoplasmic fibers, in which it is impossible to determine any structure. In the hands of Camillo Golgi, and especially of the Spanish neuroanatomist Santiago Ramón y Cajal, the new stain revealed hundreds of distinct types of neurons, each with its own unique dendritic structure and pattern of connectivity.
of two types of Golgi-stained neurons from the cerebellum of a pigeon]]
In the first half of the 20th century, advances in electronics enabled investigation of the electrical properties of nerve cells, culminating in work by Alan Hodgkin, Andrew Huxley, and others on the biophysics of the action potential, and the work of Bernard Katz and others on the electrochemistry of the synapse. These studies complemented the anatomical picture with a conception of the brain as a dynamic entity. Reflecting the new understanding, in 1942 Charles Sherrington visualized the workings of the brain waking from sleep:
The invention of electronic computers in the 1940s, along with the development of mathematical information theory, led to a realization that brains can potentially be understood as information processing systems. This concept formed the basis of the field of cybernetics, and eventually gave rise to the field now known as computational neuroscience. The earliest attempts at cybernetics were somewhat crude in that they treated the brain as essentially a digital computer in disguise, as for example in John von Neumann's 1958 book, The Computer and the Brain. Over the years, though, accumulating information about the electrical responses of brain cells recorded from behaving animals has steadily moved theoretical concepts in the direction of increasing realism. A few years later David Hubel and Torsten Wiesel discovered cells in the primary visual cortex of monkeys that become active when sharp edges move across specific points in the field of view—a discovery for which they won a Nobel Prize. Follow-up studies in higher-order visual areas found cells that detect binocular disparity, color, movement, and aspects of shape, with areas located at increasing distances from the primary visual cortex showing increasingly complex responses. Other investigations of brain areas unrelated to vision have revealed cells with a wide variety of response correlates, some related to memory, some to abstract types of cognition such as space.
Theorists have worked to understand these response patterns by constructing mathematical models of neurons and neural networks, which can be simulated using computers. No model on any level is yet considered to be a fully valid description of brain function, though. The essential difficulty is that sophisticated computation by neural networks requires distributed processing in which hundreds or thousands of neurons work cooperatively—current methods of brain activity recording are only capable of isolating action potentials from a few dozen neurons at a time.
Furthermore, even single neurons appear to be complex and capable of performing computations. So, brain models that do not reflect this are too abstract to be representative of brain operation; models that do try to capture this are very computationally expensive and arguably intractable with present computational resources. However, the Human Brain Project is trying to build a realistic, detailed computational model of the entire human brain. The wisdom of this approach has been publicly contested, with high-profile scientists on both sides of the argument.
In the second half of the 20th century, developments in chemistry, electron microscopy, genetics, computer science, functional brain imaging, and other fields progressively opened new windows into brain structure and function. In the United States, the 1990s were officially designated as the "Decade of the Brain" to commemorate advances made in brain research, and to promote funding for such research.
In the 21st century, these trends have continued, and several new approaches have come into prominence, including multielectrode recording, which allows the activity of many brain cells to be recorded all at the same time; genetic engineering, which allows molecular components of the brain to be altered experimentally; genomics, which allows variations in brain structure to be correlated with variations in DNA properties and neuroimaging. Society and culture As food
, beef brain curry from Indonesia]]
Animal brains are used as food in numerous cuisines.
In rituals
Some archaeological evidence suggests that the mourning rituals of European Neanderthals also involved the consumption of the brain.
The Fore people of Papua New Guinea are known to eat human brains. In funerary rituals, those close to the dead would eat the brain of the deceased to create a sense of immortality. A prion disease called kuru has been traced to this. See also
*Aging brain
*Brain–computer interface
*Brain health and pollution
*Central nervous system disease
*Gut–brain axis
*List of neuroscience databases
*Neurological disorder
*Optogenetics
*Outline of neuroscience
References
External links
* [http://thebrain.mcgill.ca The Brain from Top to Bottom], at McGill University
* [https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00b54yx "The Brain"], BBC Radio 4 discussion with Vivian Nutton, Jonathan Sawday & Marina Wallace (In Our Time'', May 8, 2008)
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NifNfkliCos Our Quest to Understand the Brain – with Matthew Cobb] Royal Institution lecture. Archived at [https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/NifNfkliCos Ghostarchive].
Category:Animal anatomy
Category:Human anatomy by organ
Category:Organs (anatomy)
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Byzantium
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| location = Fatih, Istanbul, Turkey
| region = Marmara Region
| type = Ancient city
| part_of =
| length | width
| area enclosed within Constantinian Walls
enclosed within Theodosian Walls
<!-- find good source for this claim and discuss in article's text -->
| height | builder
| material | built 667 BC
| abandoned | epochs
| cultures =
| depende | occupants
||notes=Replaced by Constantinople in the 330s.}}
Byzantium (<!-- needing not the original Latin/Greek pronunciation, but the **Anglicized** pronunciation that Classics/Philosophy/History/etc. scholars use in English -->) or Byzantion () was an ancient Greek city in classical antiquity that became known as Constantinople in late antiquity and Istanbul today. The Greek name Byzantion and its Latinization Byzantium continued to be used as a name of Constantinople sporadically and to varying degrees during the thousand-year existence of the Eastern Roman Empire, which also became known by the former name of the city as the Byzantine Empire. Byzantium was colonized by Greeks from Megara in the 7th century BC and remained primarily Greek-speaking until its conquest by the Ottoman Empire in AD 1453.EtymologyThe etymology of Byzantium is unknown. It has been suggested that the name is of Thracian origin. It may be derived from the Thracian personal name Byzas which means "he-goat". Ancient Greek legend refers to the Greek king Byzas, the leader of the Megarian colonists and founder of the city. The name Lygos for the city, which likely corresponds to an earlier Thracian settlement,
Byzántios, plural Byzántioi (, ; adjective the same) referred to Byzantion's inhabitants, also used as an ethnonym for the people of the city and as a family name.
The name Byzantius and Byzantinus were applied from the 9th century to gold Byzantine coinage, reflected in the French besant (''d'or), Italian bisante, and English besant, byzant, or bezant.
Later, the name Byzantium became common in the West to refer to the Eastern Roman Empire, whose capital was Constantinople. As a term for the east Roman state as a whole, Byzantium was introduced by the historian Hieronymus Wolf only in 1555, a century after the last remnants of the empire, whose inhabitants continued to refer to their polity as the Roman Empire (), had ceased to exist.
Other places were historically known as Byzántion'' (Βυζάντιον) – a city in Libya mentioned by Stephanus of Byzantium and another on the western coast of India referred to by the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea; in both cases the names were probably adaptations of names in local languages.
Byzantium was mainly a trading city due to its location at the Black Sea's only entrance. Byzantium later conquered Chalcedon, across the Bosphorus on the Asiatic side.
The city was taken by the Persian Empire at the time of the Scythian campaign (513 BC) of Emperor Darius I (r. 522–486 BC), and was added to the administrative province of Skudra. Though Achaemenid control of the city was never as stable as compared to other cities in Thrace, it was considered, alongside Sestos, to be one of the foremost Achaemenid ports on the European coast of the Bosphorus and the Hellespont.
Byzantium was besieged by Greek forces during the Peloponnesian War. As part of Sparta's strategy for cutting off grain supplies to Athens during their siege of Athens, Sparta took control of the city in 411 BC, to bring the Athenians into submission. The Athenian military later retook the city in 408 BC, when the Spartans had withdrawn following their settlement.
After siding with Pescennius Niger against the victorious Septimius Severus, the city was besieged by Roman forces and suffered extensive damage in AD 196. Byzantium was rebuilt by Septimius Severus, now emperor, and quickly regained its previous prosperity. It was bound to Perinthus during the period of Septimius Severus. After the war, Byzantium lost its city status and free city privileges, but Caracalla persuaded Severus to restore these rights. In appreciation, the Byzantines named Caracalla an archon of their city. The strategic and highly defensible (due to being surrounded by water on almost all sides) location of Byzantium attracted Roman Emperor Constantine I who, in AD 330, refounded it as an imperial residence inspired by Rome itself, known as Nova Roma. Later the city was called Constantinople (Greek Κωνσταντινούπολις, Konstantinoupolis, "city of Constantine").
This combination of imperialism and location would affect Constantinople's role as the nexus between the continents of Europe and Asia. It was a commercial, cultural, and diplomatic centre and for centuries formed the capital of the Byzantine Empire, which decorated the city with numerous monuments, some still standing today. With its strategic position, Constantinople controlled the major trade routes between Asia and Europe, as well as the passage from the Mediterranean Sea to the Black Sea. On May 29, 1453, the city was conquered by the Ottoman Turks, and again became the capital of a powerful state, the Ottoman Empire. The Turks called the city "Istanbul" (although it was not officially renamed until 1930); the name derives from the Greek phrase "στην πόλη", which means "to the city". To this day it remains the largest and most populous city in Turkey, although Ankara is now the national capital.
Emblem
By the late Hellenistic or early Roman period (1st century BC), the star and crescent motif was associated to some degree with Byzantium; even though it became more widely used as the royal emblem of Mithradates VI Eupator (who for a time incorporated the city into his empire).
Some Byzantine coins of the 1st century BC and later show the head of Artemis with bow and quiver, and feature a crescent with what appears to be an eight-rayed star on the reverse.
According to accounts which vary in some of the details, in 340 BC the Byzantines and their allies the Athenians were under siege by the troops of Philip of Macedon. On a particularly dark and wet night Philip attempted a surprise attack but was thwarted by the appearance of a bright light in the sky. This light is occasionally described by subsequent interpreters as a meteor, sometimes as the moon, and some accounts also mention the barking of dogs. However, the original accounts mention only a bright light in the sky, without specifying the moon. To commemorate the event the Byzantines erected a statue of Hecate lampadephoros (light-bearer or bringer). This story survived in the works of Hesychius of Miletus, who in all probability lived in the time of Justinian I. His works survive only in fragments preserved in Photius and the tenth century lexicographer Suidas. The tale is also related by Stephanus of Byzantium, and Eustathius.
Devotion to Hecate was especially favored by the Byzantines for her aid in having protected them from the incursions of Philip of Macedon. Her symbols were the crescent and star, and the walls of her city were her provenance. This contradicts claims that only the symbol of the crescent was meant to symbolize Hecate, whereas the star was only added later in order to symbolize the Virgin Mary, as Constantine I is said to have rededicated the city to her in the year 330.
It is unclear precisely how the symbol Hecate/Artemis, one of many goddesses}} would have been transferred to the city itself, but it seems likely to have been an effect of being credited with the intervention against Philip and the subsequent honors. This was a common process in ancient Greece, as in Athens where the city was named after Athena in honor of such an intervention in time of war.
Cities in the Roman Empire often continued to issue their own coinage. "Of the many themes that were used on local coinage, celestial and astral symbols often appeared, mostly stars or crescent moons." The wide variety of these issues, and the varying explanations for the significance of the star and crescent on Roman coinage precludes their discussion here. It is, however, apparent that by the time of the Romans, coins featuring a star or crescent in some combination were not at all rare.
People
*Homerus, tragedian, lived in the early 3rd century BC
*Philo, engineer, lived
*Epigenes of Byzantium, astrologer, lived in the 3rd–2nd century BC
*Aristophanes of Byzantium, a scholar who flourished in Alexandria, 3rd–2nd century BC
*Myro, a Hellenistic female poet
See also
* Sarayburnu, which is the geographic location of ancient Byzantium
* Timeline of Istanbul history
Notes
References
Sources
*
* Harris, Jonathan, Constantinople: Capital of Byzantium (Hambledon/Continuum, London, 2007).
*Jeffreys, Elizabeth and Michael, and Moffatt, Ann, Byzantine Papers: Proceedings of the First Australian Byzantine Studies Conference, Canberra, 17–19 May 1978 (Australian National University, Canberra, 1979).
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20041205132031/http://www.istanbulinfolink.com/the_city/istanbul/history_1.htm Istanbul Historical Information – Istanbul Informative Guide To The City]. Retrieved January 6, 2005.
* [http://www.guideistanbul.net/tablo1a.htm The Useful Information about Istanbul] . Retrieved January 6, 2005.
* The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium (Oxford University Press, 1991)
*Yeats, William Butler, "Sailing to Byzantium",
External links
* [http://www.byzantinemuseum.gr/en/ Byzantine & Christian Museum] at byzantinemuseum.gr
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20170213055326/http://www.wegm.com/coins/byindex.htm Coins of the Byzantine empire] at wegm.com
* [http://www.galmarley.com/framesets/fs_monetary_history_faqs.htm History of money FAQs] at galmarley.com – description of Byzantine monetary system, fifth century BC
* [http://www.byzantium.ac.uk Society for the Promotion of Byzantine Studies] at www.byzantium.ac.uk
* [http://www.ellopos.net/elpenor/vasilief/default.asp Vasilief, A History of the Byzantine Empire], at ellopos.net – hyperlinked with notes and more resources, at Elpenor
Category:Megarian colonies in Thrace
Category:Ancient Greek archaeological sites in Turkey
Category:660s BC
Category:Populated places established in the 7th century BC
Category:Members of the Delian League
Category:Achaemenid ports
Category:Greek city-states
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byzantium
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Biotic
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Biotics describe living or once living components of a community; for example organisms, such as animals and plants.
Biotic may refer to:
Life, the condition of living organisms
Biology, the study of life
Biotic material, which is derived from living organisms
Biotic components in ecology
Biotic potential, an organism's reproductive capacity
Biotic community, all the interacting organisms living together in a specific habitat
Biotic energy, a vital force theorized by biochemist Benjamin Moore
Biotic Baking Brigade, an unofficial group of pie-throwing activists
See also
Abiotic
Antibiotics are agents that either kill bacteria or inhibit their growth
Prebiotic (nutrition) are non-digestible food ingredients that stimulate the growth or activity of bacteria in the digestive system
Probiotics consist of a live culture of bacteria that inhibit or interfere with colonization by microbial pathogens
Synbiotics refer to nutritional supplements combining probiotics and prebiotics
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biotic
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Berlin Wall
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The Berlin Wall (video game)|the ring wall around the historic city of Berlin|Berlin Customs Wall}}
* East Berlin; see History of Berlin for further info }}
| coordinates
| other_dimensions = |Border length between West Berlin and East Germany: |Border length between West and East Berlin: |Border length through residential areas in East Berlin: |Concrete segment of wall height: |Concrete segment of wall length: |Wire mesh fencing: |Anti-vehicle trenches length: |Contact/signal fence length: |Column track width: |Column track length: |Number of watch towers: 302|Number of bunkers: 20}}
| size =
| start_date = 13 August 1961
| building_type = Wall
| demolition_date 9 November 1989 – }} Construction of the Berlin Wall was commenced by the government of the GDR on 13 August 1961. It included guard towers placed along large concrete walls, accompanied by a wide area (later known as the "death strip") that contained anti-vehicle trenches, beds of nails and other defenses. The primary intention for the Wall's construction was to prevent East German citizens from fleeing to the West.
The Soviet Bloc propaganda portrayed the Wall as protecting its population from "fascist elements conspiring to prevent the will of the people" from building a communist state in the GDR. The authorities officially referred to the Berlin Wall as the Anti-Fascist Protection Rampart (, ). Conversely, West Berlin's city government sometimes referred to it as the "Wall of Shame", a term coined by mayor Willy Brandt in reference to the Wall's restriction on freedom of movement. Along with the separate and much longer inner German border, which demarcated the border between East and West Germany, it came to symbolize physically the Iron Curtain that separated the Western Bloc and Soviet satellite states of the Eastern Bloc during the Cold War.
Before the Wall's erection, 3.5 million East Germans circumvented Eastern Bloc emigration restrictions and defected from the GDR, many by crossing over the border from East Berlin into West Berlin; from there they could then travel to West Germany and to other Western European countries. Between 1961 and 1989, the deadly force associated with the Wall prevented almost all such emigration. During this period, over 100,000 people attempted to escape, and over 5,000 people succeeded in escaping over the Wall, with an estimated death toll of those murdered by East German authorities ranging from 136 After several weeks of civil unrest, the East German government announced on 9 November 1989 that all GDR citizens could visit the FRG and West Berlin. Crowds of East Germans crossed and climbed onto the Wall, joined by West Germans on the other side, and souvenir hunters chipped away parts of the Wall over the next few weeks.
Within two years, political divisions increased between the Soviets and the other occupying powers. These included the Soviets' refusal to agree to reconstruction plans making post-war Germany self-sufficient, and to a detailed accounting of industrial plants, goods and infrastructure—some of which had already been removed by the Soviets. France, the United Kingdom, the United States, and the Benelux countries later met to combine the non-Soviet zones of Germany into one zone for reconstruction, and to approve the extension of the Marshall Plan. As the Soviet Union already had an armed presence and political domination all over its eastern satellite states by 1955, the pact has been long considered "superfluous", and because of the rushed way in which it was conceived, NATO officials labeled it a "cardboard castle". There was no direct military confrontation between the two organizations; instead, the conflict was fought on an ideological basis and through proxy wars. Both NATO and the Warsaw Pact led to the expansion of military forces and their integration into the respective blocs.
At the same time, a parallel country was established under the control of the Western powers in the zones of post-war Germany occupied by them, culminating in the foundation of the Federal Republic of Germany in 1949, which initially claimed to be the sole legitimate power in all of Germany, East and West. The material standard of living in the Western zones of Berlin began to improve quickly, and residents of the Soviet zone soon began leaving for the West in large numbers, fleeing hunger, poverty and repression in the Soviet Zone for a better life in the West. Soon residents of other parts of the Soviet zone began to escape to the West through Berlin, and this migration, called in Germany "Republikflucht", deprived the Soviet zone not only of working forces desperately needed for post-war reconstruction but disproportionately of highly educated people, which came to be known as the "Brain Drain".
In 1948, in response to moves by the Western powers to establish a separate, federal system of government in the Western zones, and to extend the US Marshall Plan of economic assistance to Germany, the Soviets instituted the Berlin Blockade, preventing people, food, materials and supplies from arriving in West Berlin by land routes through the Soviet zone. The United States, the United Kingdom, France, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and several other countries began a massive "airlift", supplying West Berlin with food and other supplies. The Soviets mounted a public relations campaign against the Western policy change. Communists attempted to disrupt the elections of 1948, preceding large losses therein, while 300,000 Berliners demonstrated for the international airlift to continue. In May 1949, Stalin lifted the blockade, permitting the resumption of Western shipments to Berlin.
The German Democratic Republic (the "GDR"; East Germany) was declared on 7 October 1949. On that day, the USSR ended the Soviet military government which had governed the Soviet Occupation Zone (Sowetische Besatzungszone) since the end of the war and handed over legal power to the Provisorische Volkskammer under the new Constitution of the GDR which came into force that day. However, until 1955, the Soviets maintained considerable legal control over the GDR state, including the regional governments, through the Sowetische Kontrollkommission and maintained a presence in various East German administrative, military, and secret police structures. Even after legal sovereignty of the GDR was restored in 1955, the Soviet Union continued to maintain considerable influence over administration and lawmaking in the GDR through the Soviet embassy and through the implicit threat of force which could be exercised through the continuing large Soviet military presence in the GDR, which was used to repress protests in East Germany bloodily in June 1953.
East Germany differed from West Germany (Federal Republic of Germany), which developed into a Western capitalist country with a social market economy and a democratic parliamentary government. Continual economic growth starting in the 1950s fueled a 20-year "economic miracle" (). As West Germany's economy grew, and its standard of living steadily improved, many East Germans wanted to move to West Germany.
Emigration westward in the early 1950s
After the Soviet occupation of Eastern Europe at the end of World War II, the majority of those living in the newly acquired areas of the Eastern Bloc aspired to independence and wanted the Soviets to leave. Taking advantage of the zonal border between occupied zones in Germany, the number of GDR citizens moving to West Germany totaled 187,000 in 1950; 165,000 in 1951; 182,000 in 1952; and 331,000 in 1953. One reason for the sharp 1953 increase was fear of potential further Sovietization, given the increasingly paranoid actions of Joseph Stalin in late 1952 and early 1953. In the first six months of 1953, 226,000 had fled.
Erection of the inner German border
By the early 1950s, the Soviet approach to controlling national movement, restricting emigration, was emulated by most of the rest of the Eastern Bloc, including East Germany. The restrictions presented a quandary for some Eastern Bloc states, which had been more economically advanced and open than the Soviet Union, such that crossing borders seemed more natural—especially where no prior border existed between East and West Germany.
Up until 1952, the demarcation lines between East Germany and the western occupied zones could be easily crossed in most places. On 1 April 1952, East German leaders met the Soviet leader Joseph Stalin in Moscow; during the discussions, Stalin's foreign minister Vyacheslav Molotov proposed that the East Germans should "introduce a system of passes for visits of West Berlin residents to the territory of East Berlin [so as to stop] free movement of Western agents" in the GDR. Stalin agreed, calling the situation "intolerable". He advised the East Germans to build up their border defenses, telling them that "The demarcation line between East and West Germany should be considered a border—and not just any border, but a dangerous one ... The Germans will guard the line of defence with their lives."
Consequently, the inner German border between the two German states was closed, and a barbed-wire fence erected. The border between the Western and Eastern sectors of Berlin, however, remained open, although traffic between the Soviet and the Western sectors was somewhat restricted. This resulted in Berlin becoming a magnet for East Germans desperate to escape life in the GDR, and also a flashpoint for tension between the United States and the Soviet Union. Initially, East Germany granted "visits" to allow its residents access to West Germany. However, following the defection of large numbers of East Germans (known as Republikflucht) under this regime, the new East German state legally restricted virtually all travel to the West in 1956. the border in Berlin remained considerably more accessible because it was administered by all four occupying powers. On 11 December 1957, East Germany introduced a new passport law that reduced the overall number of refugees leaving Eastern Germany. The Berlin sector border was essentially a "loophole" through which Eastern Bloc citizens could still escape.
Brain drain
The emigrants tended to be young and well-educated, leading to the "brain drain" feared by officials in East Germany. Andropov reported that, while the East German leadership stated that they were leaving for economic reasons, testimony from refugees indicated that the reasons were more political than material. The brain drain of professionals had become so damaging to the political credibility and economic viability of East Germany that the re-securing of the German communist frontier was imperative.
The exodus of emigrants from East Germany presented two minor potential benefits: an easy way to smuggle East German secret agents to West Germany, and a reduction in the number of citizens hostile to the communist regime. Neither of these advantages, however, proved particularly useful.
Start of the construction (1961)
in 1961]]
close the border on 13 August 1961 in preparation for the Berlin Wall construction]]
On 15 June 1961, First Secretary of the Socialist Unity Party and GDR State Council chairman Walter Ulbricht stated in an international press conference, (No one has the intention of erecting a wall!). It was the first time the colloquial term (wall) had been used in this context.
The transcript of a telephone call between Nikita Khrushchev and Ulbricht, on 1 August in the same year, suggests that the initiative for the construction of the Wall came from Khrushchev. However, other sources suggest that Khrushchev had initially been wary about building a wall, fearing negative Western reaction. Nevertheless, Ulbricht had pushed for a border closure for some time, arguing that East Germany's existence was at stake. A feeling of miscalculation and failure immediately afterwards was admitted by Kennedy in a candid interview with New York Times columnist James "Scotty" Reston. On Saturday, 12 August 1961, the leaders of the GDR attended a garden party at a government guesthouse in , in a wooded area to the north of East Berlin. There, Ulbricht signed the order to close the border and erect a wall. The date of 13 August became commonly referred to as Barbed Wire Sunday in Germany. and the Lenné Triangle that is now much of the Potsdamer Platz development.
Later, the initial barrier was built up into the Wall proper, the first concrete elements and large blocks being put in place on 17 August. During the construction of the Wall, National People's Army (NVA) and Combat Groups of the Working Class (KdA) soldiers stood in front of it with orders to shoot anyone who attempted to defect. Additionally, chain fences, walls, minefields and other obstacles were installed along the length of East Germany's western border with West Germany proper. A wide no man's land was cleared as well to provide a better overview and a clear line of fire at fleeing refugees.Immediate effectsWith the closing of the east–west sector boundary in Berlin, the vast majority of East Germans could no longer travel or emigrate to West Germany. Berlin soon went from being the easiest place to make an unauthorized crossing between East and West Germany to being the most difficult. Many families were split, while East Berliners employed in the West were cut off from their jobs. West Berlin became an isolated exclave in a hostile land. West Berliners demonstrated against the Wall, led by their Mayor () Willy Brandt, who criticized the United States for failing to respond and went so far as to suggest to Washington what to do next. Kennedy was furious. Allied intelligence agencies had hypothesized about a wall to stop the flood of refugees, but the main candidate for its location was around the perimeter of the city. In 1961, Secretary of State Dean Rusk proclaimed, "The Wall certainly ought not to be a permanent feature of the European landscape. I see no reason why the Soviet Union should think it is to their advantage in any way to leave there that monument to communist failure."
The East German government claimed that the Wall was an "anti-fascist protective rampart" () intended to dissuade aggression from the West. Another official justification was the activities of Western agents in Eastern Europe. The Eastern German government also claimed that West Berliners were buying out state-subsidized goods in East Berlin. East Germans and others greeted such statements with skepticism, as most of the time, the border was only closed for citizens of East Germany traveling to the West, but not for residents of West Berlin travelling to the East. The construction of the Wall had caused considerable hardship to families divided by it. Most people believed that the Wall was mainly a means of preventing the citizens of East Germany from entering or fleeing to West Berlin.Secondary response
of the 1st anniversary of the Berlin Wall]]
John F. Kennedy visiting the Berlin Wall on 26 June 1963]]
The National Security Agency was the only American intelligence agency that was aware that East Germany was to take action to deal with the brain drain problem. On 9 August 1961, the NSA intercepted an advance warning information of the Socialist Unity Party's plan to close the intra-Berlin border between East and West Berlin completely for foot traffic. The interagency intelligence Berlin Watch Committee assessed that this intercept "might be the first step in a plan to close the border."
In response to the erection of the Berlin Wall, a retired general, Lucius D. Clay, was appointed by Kennedy as his special advisor with ambassadorial rank. Clay had been the Military Governor of the US Zone of Occupation in Germany during the period of the Berlin Blockade and had ordered the first measures in what became the Berlin Airlift. He was immensely popular with the residents of West Berlin, and his appointment was an unambiguous sign that Kennedy would not compromise on the status of West Berlin. As a symbolic gesture, Kennedy sent Clay and Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson to West Berlin. They landed at Tempelhof Airport on the afternoon of Saturday, 19 August 1961 and were greeted enthusiastically by the local population.
On Sunday morning, U.S. troops marched from West Germany through East Germany, bound for West Berlin. Lead elements—arranged in a column of 491 vehicles and trailers carrying 1,500 men, divided into five march units—left the Helmstedt-Marienborn checkpoint at 06:34. At Marienborn, the Soviet checkpoint next to Helmstedt on the West German-East German border, US personnel were counted by guards. The column was long, and covered from Marienborn to Berlin in full battle gear. East German police watched from beside trees next to the autobahn all the way along.
The creation of the Wall had important implications for both German states. By stemming the exodus of people from East Germany, the East German government was able to reassert its control over the country: despite discontent with the Wall, economic problems caused by dual currency and the black market were largely eliminated. The economy in the GDR began to grow. However, the Wall proved a public relations disaster for the communist bloc as a whole. Western powers portrayed it as a symbol of communist tyranny, particularly after East German border guards shot and killed would-be defectors. Such fatalities were later treated as acts of murder by the reunified Germany.
Structure and adjacent areas
Layout and modifications
{| class="wikitable float-right"
|+
! Length (km)
! Description
|-
|style="text-align:right" | 156.4
| Bordering around West Berlin within 3.4 m and 4.2 m in height
|-
|style="text-align:right" | 111.9
| Concrete walls
|-
|style="text-align:right" | 44.5
| Metal mesh fence (along death strip)
|-
|style="text-align:right" | 112.7
| Cross attachment in Potsdam
|-
|style="text-align:right" | 43.7
| Cross attachment along the border of East and West Berlin
|-
|style="text-align:right" | 0.5
| Remains of house fronts, land mansion bricks
|-
|style="text-align:right" | 58.95
| Wall-shaped front wall with a height of 3.40 m
|-
|style="text-align:right" | 68.42
| Expanded metal fence with a height of 2.90 m as a "front barrier"
|-
|style="text-align:right" | 161
| Light strip
|-
|style="text-align:right" | 113.85
| Limit signal and barrier fence (GSSZ)
|-
|style="text-align:right" | 127.5
| Contact and signal fence
|-
|style="text-align:right" | 124.3
| Border patrol
|-
! Actual number
! Descriptions
|-
|style="text-align:right" | 186
| Observation towers (302 in West-Berlin)
|-
|style="text-align:right" | 31
| Implementing agencies
|-
|style="text-align:right" | 259
| Dog runs
|-
|style="text-align:right" | 20
| Bunkers
|}
thumb|Structure of the Berlin Wall (left to right)<br/>
The Berlin Wall was more than long. In June 1962, a second, parallel fence, also known as a "hinterland" wall (inner wall), was built some farther into East German territory. The houses contained between the wall and fences were razed and the inhabitants relocated, thus establishing what later became known as the death strip. The death strip was covered with raked sand or gravel, rendering footprints easy to notice, easing the detection of trespassers and also enabling officers to see which guards had neglected their task;
*Wire fence and concrete block wall (1961)
*Improved wire fence (1962–1965)
*Improved concrete wall (1965–1975)
* (Border Wall 75) (1975–1989)
The "fourth-generation Wall", known officially as "" (retaining wall element UL 12.11), was the final and most sophisticated version of the Wall. Begun in 1975 and completed about 1980, it was constructed from 45,000 separate sections of reinforced concrete, each high and wide, and cost DDM16,155,000 or about US$3,638,000. The concrete provisions added to this version of the Wall were done to prevent escapees from driving their cars through the barricades. At strategic points, the Wall was constructed to a somewhat weaker standard, so that East German and Soviet armored vehicles could easily break through in the event of war. and 20 bunkers with hundreds of guards. This version of the Wall is the one most commonly seen in photographs, and surviving fragments of the Wall in Berlin and elsewhere around the world are generally pieces of the fourth-generation Wall. The layout came to resemble the inner German border in most technical aspects, except that the Berlin Wall had no landmines nor spring-guns. Maintenance was performed on the outside of the wall by personnel who accessed the area outside it either via ladders or via hidden doors within the wall. These doors could not be opened by a single person, needing two separate keys in two separate keyholes to unlock.
As was the case with the inner German border, an unfortified strip of Eastern territory was left outside the wall. This outer strip was used by workers to paint over graffiti and perform other maintenance on the outside of the wall Graffiti artist Thierry Noir has reported having often been pursued there by East German soldiers. While some graffiti artists were chased off the outer strip, others, such as Keith Haring, were seemingly tolerated.Surrounding municipalities
Besides the sector-sector boundary within Berlin itself, the Wall also separated West Berlin from the present-day state of Brandenburg. The following present-day municipalities, listed in counter-clockwise direction, share a border with the former West Berlin:
*Oberhavel: Mühlenbecker Land <small>(partially)</small>, Glienicke/Nordbahn, Hohen Neuendorf, Hennigsdorf
*Havelland: Schönwalde-Glien, Falkensee, Dallgow-Döberitz
*Potsdam (urban district)
*Potsdam-Mittelmark: Stahnsdorf, Kleinmachnow, Teltow
*Teltow-Fläming: Großbeeren, Blankenfelde-Mahlow
*Dahme-Spreewald: Schönefeld <small>(partially)</small>
Official crossings and usage
There were nine border crossings between East and West Berlin. These allowed visits by West Berliners, other West Germans, Western foreigners and Allied personnel into East Berlin, as well as visits by GDR citizens and citizens of other socialist countries into West Berlin, provided that they held the necessary permits. These crossings were restricted according to which nationality was allowed to use it (East Germans, West Germans, West Berliners, other countries). The best known was the vehicle and pedestrian checkpoint at the corner of Friedrichstraße and Zimmerstraße (Checkpoint Charlie), which was restricted to Allied personnel and foreigners.
Several other border crossings existed between West Berlin and surrounding East Germany. These could be used for transit between West Germany and West Berlin, for visits by West Berliners into East Germany, for transit into countries neighbouring East Germany (Poland, Czechoslovakia, and Denmark), and for visits by East Germans into West Berlin carrying a permit. After the 1972 agreements, new crossings were opened to allow West Berlin waste to be transported into East German dumps, as well as some crossings for access to West Berlin's exclaves (see Steinstücken).
Four autobahns connected West Berlin to West Germany, including Berlin-Helmstedt autobahn, which entered East German territory between the towns of Helmstedt and Marienborn (Checkpoint Alpha), and which entered West Berlin at Dreilinden (Checkpoint Bravo for the Allied forces) in southwestern Berlin. Access to West Berlin was also possible by railway (four routes) and by boat for commercial shipping via canals and rivers.
Non-German Westerners could cross the border at Friedrichstraße station in East Berlin and at Checkpoint Charlie. When the Wall was erected, Berlin's complex public transit networks, the S-Bahn and U-Bahn, were divided with it.CrossingWest Germans and citizens of other Western countries could generally visit East Germany, often after applying for a visa at an East German embassy several weeks in advance. Visas for day trips restricted to East Berlin were issued without previous application in a simplified procedure at the border crossing. However, East German authorities could refuse entry permits without stating a reason. In the 1980s, visitors from the western part of the city who wanted to visit the eastern part had to exchange at least DM 25 into East German currency at the poor exchange rate of 1:1. It was forbidden to export East German currency from the East, but money not spent could be left at the border for possible future visits. Tourists crossing from the west had to also pay for a visa, which cost DM 5; West Berliners did not have to pay this fee.
*Visits of relatives for important family matters
*People who had to travel to the West for professional reasons (for example, artists, truck drivers, musicians, writers, etc.)
For each of these exceptions, GDR citizens had to apply for individual approval, which was never guaranteed. In addition, even if travel was approved, GDR travellers could exchange only a very small number of East German Marks into Deutsche Marks (DM), thus limiting the financial resources available for them to travel to the West. This led to the West German practice of granting a small amount of DM annually (Begrüßungsgeld, or welcome money) to GDR citizens visiting West Germany and West Berlin to help alleviate this situation. Prior official figures listed 98 as being killed.
soldier Conrad Schumann defecting to West Berlin during the Wall's early days in 1961]]
The East German government issued shooting orders (Schießbefehl) to border guards dealing with defectors, though such orders are not the same as "shoot to kill" orders. GDR officials denied issuing the latter. In an October 1973 order later discovered by researchers, guards were instructed that people attempting to cross the Wall were criminals and needed to be shot:
Early successful escapes involved people jumping the initial barbed wire or leaping out of apartment windows along the line, but these ended as the Wall was fortified. East German authorities no longer permitted apartments near the Wall to be occupied, and any building near the Wall had its windows boarded and later bricked up. On 15 August 1961, Conrad Schumann was the first East German border guard to escape by jumping the barbed wire to West Berlin.
On 22 August 1961, Ida Siekmann was the first casualty at the Berlin Wall: she died after she jumped out of her third floor apartment at 48 Bernauer Strasse. The first person to be shot and killed while trying to cross to West Berlin was Günter Litfin, a twenty-four-year-old tailor. He attempted to swim across the Spree to West Berlin on 24 August 1961, the same day that East German police had received shoot-to-kill orders to prevent anyone from escaping.
Another dramatic escape was carried out in April 1963 by Wolfgang Engels, a 19-year-old civilian employee of the Nationale Volksarmee (NVA). Engels stole a Soviet armored personnel carrier from a base where he was deployed and drove it right into the Wall. He was fired at and seriously wounded by border guards. But a West German policeman intervened, firing his weapon at the East German border guards. The policeman removed Engels from the vehicle, which had become entangled in the barbed wire.
, 1982]]
East Germans successfully defected by a variety of methods: digging long tunnels under the Wall, waiting for favorable winds and taking a hot air balloon, sliding along aerial wires, flying ultralights and, in one instance, simply driving a sports car at full speed through the basic, initial fortifications. When a metal beam was placed at checkpoints to prevent this kind of defection, up to four people (two in the front seats and possibly two in the boot) drove under the bar in a sports car that had been modified to allow the roof and windscreen to come away when it made contact with the beam. They lay flat and kept driving forward. The East Germans then built zig-zagging roads at checkpoints. The sewer system predated the Wall, and some people escaped through the sewers, in a number of cases with assistance from the Unternehmen Reisebüro. In September 1962, 29 people escaped through a tunnel to the west. At least 70 tunnels were dug under the wall; only 19 were successful in allowing fugitives—about 400 persons—to escape. The East German authorities eventually used seismographic and acoustic equipment to detect the practice. In 1962, they planned an attempt to use explosives to destroy one tunnel, but this was not carried out as it was apparently sabotaged by a member of the Stasi.
If an escapee was wounded in a crossing attempt and lay on the death strip, no matter how close they were to the Western wall, Westerners could not intervene for fear of triggering engaging fire from the 'Grepos', the East Berlin border guards. The guards often let fugitives bleed to death in the middle of this ground, as in the most notorious failed attempt, that of Peter Fechter (aged 18) at a point near Zimmerstrasse in East Berlin. He was shot and bled to death, in full view of the Western media, on 17 August 1962. Fechter's death created negative publicity worldwide that led the leaders of East Berlin to place more restrictions on shooting in public places and provide medical care for possible "would-be escapers". The last person to be shot and killed while trying to cross the border was Chris Gueffroy on 6 February 1989, while the final person to die in an escape attempt was Winfried Freudenberg who was killed when his homemade natural gas-filled balloon crashed on 8 March 1989.
The Wall gave rise to a widespread sense of desperation and oppression in East Berlin, as expressed in the private thoughts of one resident, who confided to her diary "Our lives have lost their spirit... we can do nothing to stop them."
Concerts by Western artists and growing anti-Wall sentiment
David Bowie, 1987
On 6 June 1987, David Bowie, who earlier for several years lived and recorded in West Berlin, played a concert close to the Wall. This was attended by thousands of Eastern concertgoers across the Wall, followed by violent rioting in East Berlin. According to Tobias Ruther, these protests in East Berlin were the first in the sequence of riots that led to those of November 1989. Although other factors were probably more influential in the fall of the Wall,
Bruce Springsteen, 1988
On 19 July 1988, 16 months before the Wall came down, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, played Rocking the Wall, a live concert in East Berlin, which was attended by 300,000 in person and broadcast on television. Springsteen spoke to the crowd in German, saying: "I'm not here for or against any government. I've come to play rock 'n' roll for you in the hope that one day all the barriers will be torn down". East Germany and its FDJ youth organization were worried they were losing an entire generation. They hoped that by letting Springsteen in, they could improve their sentiment among East Germans. However, this strategy of "one step backwards, two steps forwards" backfired, and the concert only made East Germans hungrier for more of the freedoms that Springsteen epitomized.David Hasselhoff, 1989On 31 December 1989, American TV actor and pop music singer David Hasselhoff was the headlining performer for the Freedom Tour Live concert, which was attended by over 500,000 people on both sides of the Wall. The live concert footage was directed by music video director Thomas Mignone and aired on broadcast television station Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen ZDF throughout Europe. During shooting, film crew personnel pulled people up from both sides to stand and celebrate on top of the wall. Hasselhoff sang his number one hit song "Looking for Freedom" on a platform at the end of a twenty-meter steel crane that swung above and over the Wall adjacent to the Brandenburg Gate. A small museum was created in 2008 to celebrate Hasselhoff in the basement of the Circus Hostel.
Comments by politicians
at the Brandenburg Gate, 12 June 1987. "Tear down this wall" passage begins at 11:10 into this video.]]
On 26 June 1963, 22 months after the erection of the Berlin Wall, U.S. President John F. Kennedy visited West Berlin. Speaking from a platform erected on the steps of Rathaus Schöneberg for an audience of 450,000 and straying from the prepared script, he declared in his Ich bin ein Berliner speech the support of the United States for West Germany and the people of West Berlin in particular:
The message was aimed as much at the Soviets as it was at Berliners and was a clear statement of U.S. policy in the wake of the construction of the Berlin Wall. The speech is considered one of Kennedy's best, both a significant moment in the Cold War and a high point of the New Frontier. It was a great morale boost for West Berliners, who lived in an exclave deep inside East Germany and feared a possible East German occupation.
British prime minister Margaret Thatcher commented in 1982:
In a speech at the Brandenburg Gate commemorating the 750th anniversary of Berlin on 12 June 1987, U.S. President Ronald Reagan challenged Mikhail Gorbachev, then the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, to tear down the Wall as a symbol of increasing freedom in the Eastern Bloc:
In January 1989, GDR leader Erich Honecker predicted that the Wall would stand for 50 or 100 more years if the conditions that had caused its construction did not change.Fall
Due to the increasing economic problems in the Eastern Bloc and the failure of the USSR to intervene in relation to the individual communist states, the brackets of the Eastern Bloc slowly began to loosen from the end of the 1980s. One example is the fall of the communist government in neighboring Poland's 1989 Polish parliamentary election. Also in June 1989, the Hungarian government began dismantling the electrified fence along its border with Austria (with Western TV crews present) although the border was still very closely guarded and escape was almost impossible.
The opening of a border gate between Austria and Hungary at the Pan-European Picnic on 19 August 1989, which was based on an idea by Otto von Habsburg to test the reaction of Mikhail Gorbachev, then triggered a peaceful chain reaction, at the end of which there was no longer the GDR and the Eastern Bloc had disintegrated. Because with the non-reaction of the USSR and the GDR to the mass exodus, the media-informed Eastern Europeans could feel the increasing loss of power of their governments and more and more East Germans were now trying to flee via Hungary. Erich Honecker explained to the Daily Mirror regarding the Pan-European Picnic and thus showed his people his own inaction: "Habsburg distributed leaflets far into Poland, on which the East German holidaymakers were invited to a picnic. When they came to the picnic, they were given gifts, food and Deutsche Mark, and then they were persuaded to come to the West." Then, in September, more than 13,000 East German tourists escaped through Hungary to Austria. This set up a chain of events. The Hungarians prevented many more East Germans from crossing the border and returned them to Budapest. These East Germans flooded the West German embassy and refused to return to East Germany.
The East German government responded by disallowing any further travel to Hungary but allowed those already there to return to East Germany. This triggered similar events in neighboring Czechoslovakia. This time, however, the East German authorities allowed people to leave, provided that they did so by train through East Germany. This was followed by mass demonstrations within East Germany itself. Protest demonstrations spread throughout East Germany in September 1989. Initially, protesters were mostly people wanting to leave to the West, chanting ("We want out!"). Then protestors began to chant ("We are staying here!"). This was the start of what East Germans generally call the "Peaceful Revolution" of late 1989. The protest demonstrations grew considerably by early November. The movement neared its height on 4 November, when half a million people gathered to demand political change, at the Alexanderplatz demonstration, East Berlin's large public square and transportation hub. On 9 October 1989, the police and army units were given permission to use force against those assembled, but this did not deter the church service and march from taking place, which gathered 70,000 people.
The longtime leader of East Germany, Erich Honecker, resigned on 18 October 1989 and was replaced by Egon Krenz that day.
The wave of refugees leaving East Germany for the West kept increasing. By early November refugees were finding their way to Hungary via Czechoslovakia, or via the West German Embassy in Prague. This was tolerated by the new Krenz government, because of long-standing agreements with the communist Czechoslovak government, allowing free travel across their common border. However, this movement of people grew so large it caused difficulties for both countries. To ease the difficulties, the politburo led by Krenz decided on 9 November to allow refugees to exit directly through crossing points between East Germany and West Germany, including between East and West Berlin. Later the same day, the ministerial administration modified the proposal to include private, round-trip, and travel. The new regulations were to take effect the next day.
Günter Schabowski, the party boss in East Berlin and the spokesman for the SED Politburo, had the task of announcing the new regulations. However, he had not been involved in the discussions about the new regulations and had not been fully updated. Shortly before a press conference on 9 November, he was handed a note announcing the changes, but given no further instructions on how to handle the information. These regulations had only been completed a few hours earlier and were to take effect the following day, so as to allow time to inform the border guards. But this starting time delay was not communicated to Schabowski. At the end of the press conference, Schabowski read out loud the note he had been given. A reporter, ANSA's Riccardo Ehrman, asked when the regulations would take effect. After a few seconds' hesitation, Schabowski replied, "As far as I know, it takes effect immediately, without delay". He repeated that it was immediate in an interview with American journalist Tom Brokaw.
Excerpts from Schabowski's press conference were the lead story on West Germany's two main news programs that night—at 7:17 p.m. on ZDF's heute and at 8 p.m. on ARD's Tagesschau. As ARD and ZDF had broadcast to nearly all of East Germany since the late 1950s and had become accepted by the East German authorities, the news was broadcast there as well simultaneously. Later that night, on ARD's Tagesthemen, anchorman Hanns Joachim Friedrichs proclaimed, "This 9 November is a historic day. The GDR has announced that, starting immediately, its borders are open to everyone. The gates in the Wall stand open wide." As the Ossis swarmed through, they were greeted by Wessis waiting with flowers and champagne amid wild rejoicing. Soon afterward, a crowd of West Berliners jumped on top of the Wall, and were soon joined by East German youngsters. The evening of 9 November 1989 is known as the night the Wall came down.
Another border crossing to the south may have been opened earlier. An account by Heinz Schäfer indicates that he also acted independently and ordered the opening of the gate at Waltersdorf-Rudow a couple of hours earlier. This may explain reports of East Berliners appearing in West Berlin earlier than the opening of the Bornholmer Straße border crossing.
Thirty years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, The Guardian collected short stories from 9 November 1989 by five German writers who reflect on the day. In this, Kathrin Schmidt remembers comically: "I downed almost an entire bottle of schnapps".
Legacy
<gallery mode="packed">
File:Berlin wall 1.jpg|Remains of the Wall adjacent to the Topography of Terror, August 2007
File:Checkpoint Charlie Memorial.JPG|A memorial of over a thousand crosses and a segment of the Wall for those who died trying to cross. The memorial stood for ten months from 2004 to 2005.
File:BERLINER MAUER 1961–1989 plaque.jpg|alt=A "BERLINER MAUER 1961–1989" plaque near Checkpoint Charlie signifying where the Wall stood|A plaque near Checkpoint Charlie signifying where the Wall stood
File:Fort Gordon's Berlin Wall Display.JPG|Display of two sections of the Wall and a "You are leaving" sign at Fort Eisenhower, Georgia, US
File:Berlin Wall from the East.jpg|The Berlin Wall from the East Berlin side, 1967
File:Berlin wall-1.jpg|A sign reading "Until we see each other again in the capital of the GDR"
File:Berlin wall-3.jpg|Czech hedgehog anti-tank obstacles and the Wall
File:Berlin Wall Exhibition 2014-1.jpg|An exhibition dedicated to the 25th anniversary to the Berlin Wall destruction was located at Potsdamer Platz Arkaden.
File:Hole in berlin wall.jpg|A hole in the Berlin wall, 2019
</gallery>
in Friedrichshain called East Side Gallery, August 2006]]
Little is left of the Wall at its original site, which was destroyed almost in its entirety. Three long sections are still standing: an piece of the first (westernmost) wall at the Topography of Terror, site of the former Gestapo headquarters, halfway between Checkpoint Charlie and Potsdamer Platz; a longer section of the second (easternmost) wall along the Spree River near the , nicknamed East Side Gallery; and a third section that is partly reconstructed, in the north at Bernauer Straße, which was turned into a memorial in 1998. Other isolated fragments, lampposts, other elements, and a few watchtowers also remain in various parts of the city.
*The former leadership in the Schlesischen Busch in the vicinity of the Puschkinallee—the listed, twelve-meter high watchtower stands in a piece of the wall strip, which has been turned into a park, near the Lohmühleninsel.
*The former "Kieler Eck" (Kiel Corner) on Kieler Strasse in Mitte, close to the Berlin-Spandau Schifffahrtskanal—the tower is protected as a historic monument and now surrounded on three sides by new buildings. It houses a memorial site named after the Wallopfer Günter Litfin, who was shot at Humboldthafen in August 1961. The memorial site, which is run by the initiative of his brother Jürgen Liftin, can be viewed after registration.
*The former management office at Nieder Neuendorf, in the district of Hennigsdorf of the same name—here is the permanent exhibition on the history of the border installations between the two German states.
*The former management station at Bergfelde, today the district of Hohen Neuendorf—The tower is located in an already reforested area of the border strip and is used together with surrounding terrain as a nature protection tower by the Deutschen Waldjugend.
*The only one of the much slimmer observation towers (BT-11) in the Erna-Berger-Strasse also in Mitte—however, was moved by a few meters for construction work and is no longer in the original location; There is an exhibition about the wall in the area of the Potsdamer Platz in planning.
, just off Potsdamer Platz, in 2015]]
Nothing still accurately represents the Wall's original appearance better than a very short stretch at Bernauer Straße associated with the Berlin Wall Documentation Center. Other remnants are badly damaged by souvenir seekers. Fragments of the Wall were taken, and some were sold around the world. Appearing both with and without certificates of authenticity, these fragments are now a staple on the online auction service eBay as well as German souvenir shops. Today, the eastern side is covered in graffiti that did not exist while the Wall was guarded by the armed soldiers of East Germany. Previously, graffiti appeared only on the western side. Along some tourist areas of the city centre, the city government has marked the location of the former Wall by a row of cobblestones in the street. In most places only the "first" wall is marked, except near Potsdamer Platz where the stretch of both walls is marked, giving visitors an impression of the dimension of the barrier system.
After the fall of the Berlin Wall, there were initiatives that they want to preserve the death strip walkways and redevelop them into a hiking and cycling area, known as . It is part of the initiative by the Berlin Senate since 11 October 2001.
Cultural differences
, Portugal]]
For many years after reunification, people in Germany talked about cultural differences between East and West Germans (colloquially Ossis and Wessis), sometimes described as Mauer im Kopf (The wall in the head). A September 2004 poll found that 25 percent of West Germans and 12 percent of East Germans wished that East and West should be separated again by a "Wall". A poll taken in October 2009 on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Wall indicated, however, that only about a tenth of the population was still unhappy with the unification (8 percent in the East; 12 percent in the West). Although differences are still perceived between East and West, Germans make similar distinctions between North and South.
A 2009 poll conducted by Russia's VTsIOM, found that more than half of all Russians do not know who built the Berlin Wall. Ten percent of people surveyed thought Berlin residents built it themselves. Six percent said Western powers built it and four percent thought it was a "bilateral initiative" of the Soviet Union and the West. Fifty-eight percent said they did not know who built it, with just 24 percent correctly naming the Soviet Union and its then-communist ally East Germany.
Wall segments around the world
Not all segments of the Wall were ground up as the Wall was being torn down. Many segments have been given to various institutions around the world. They can be found, for instance, in presidential and historical museums, lobbies of hotels and corporations, at universities and government buildings, and in public spaces in different countries of the world.
50th anniversary commemoration
On 13 August 2011, Germany marked the 50th anniversary of East Germany beginning the erection of the Berlin Wall. Chancellor Angela Merkel joined with President Christian Wulff and Berlin Mayor Klaus Wowereit at the Bernauer Straße memorial park to remember lives and liberty. Speeches extolled freedom and a minute of silence at noon honored those who died trying to flee to the West. "It is our shared responsibility to keep the memory alive and to pass it on to the coming generations as a reminder to stand up for freedom and democracy to ensure that such injustice may never happen again." entreated Mayor Wowereit. "It has been shown once again: Freedom is invincible at the end. No wall can permanently withstand the desire for freedom", proclaimed President Wulff.
Polling
A small minority still support the wall or even support rebuilding the wall back up. In 2008 a poll found that 11% of participants from the former West Berlin and 12% form the former East Berlin said it would be better if the wall was still in place.
A November 2009 poll found that 12% of Germans said the wall should be rebuilt. The poll also found that in the former West German states support was at 12% and in the former East German states it was 13%. A September 2009 poll found 15% of Germans supported a wall, while in the west it was 16% and in the east it was at 10%.
A 2010 poll from Emnid for Bild, found that 24% of West Germans and 23% of East Germans wished for the wall still being in place.
A 2019 poll from Berliner Zeitung on the 30th anniversary, found that 8% of Berliners supported the idea if the wall was still standing, The overwhelming majority of Berliners at 87% however supported the fall of the wall. The poll also found that 28% of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) and 16% of Free Democratic Party (FDP) supporters supported bringing back the wall. A 2019 Yougov poll found that 13% of Germans wanted the wall back, in the West support was at 14% and in the East it was 13%.
A 2019 poll from Forsa found 35% of Berliners thought the construction of the Wall was not so wrong with supporters of the Left Party at 74%.Related media
Documentaries
Documentary films specifically about the Berlin Wall include:
*The Tunnel (December 1962), an NBC News Special documentary film.
*The Road to the Wall (1962), a documentary film.
*Something to Do with the Wall (1991), a documentary about the fall of the Berlin Wall by Ross McElwee and Marilyn Levine, originally conceived as a commemoration of the 25th anniversary of its construction.
*Rabbit à la Berlin (2009), a documentary film, directed by Bartek Konopka, told from the point of view of a group of wild rabbits that inhabited the zone between the two walls.
*The American Sector (2020), a documentary by Courtney Stephens and Pacho Velez that tracks down the wall segments located in the U.S.Feature films
Fictional films featuring the Berlin Wall have included:
*Escape from East Berlin (1962), American-West German film inspired by story of 29 East Germans that tunneled under the wall
*The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (1965), a Cold War classic set on both sides of The Wall, from the eponymous book by John le Carré, directed by Martin Ritt.
*The Boy and the Ball and the Hole in the Wall (1965), Spanish-Mexican co-production.
*Funeral in Berlin (1966), a spy movie starring Michael Caine, directed by Guy Hamilton.
*Casino Royale (1967), a film featuring a segment centred on a house apparently bisected by the Wall.
*The Wicked Dreams of Paula Schultz (1968), a Cold War spy farce about an Olympic athlete who defects, directed by George Marshall.
*Berlin Tunnel 21 (1981), a made-for-TV movie about a former American officer leading an attempt to build a tunnel underneath The Wall as a rescue route.
*Night Crossing (1982), a British-American drama film starring John Hurt, Jane Alexander, and Beau Bridges, based on the true story of the Strelzyk and Wetzel families, who on 16 September 1979, attempted to escape from East Germany to West Germany in a homemade hot air balloon, during the days of the Inner German border-era.
*The Innocent (1993), a film about the joint CIA/MI6 operation to build a tunnel under East Berlin in the 1950s, directed by John Schlesinger.
*Sonnenallee (1999), a German comedy film about life in East Berlin in the late 1970s, directed by Leander Haußmann.
*The Tunnel (2001), a dramatization of a collaborative tunnel under the Wall, filmed by Roland Suso Richter.
*Good Bye Lenin! (2003), film set during German unification that depicts the fall of the Wall through archive footage
*Open The Wall (2014), featuring a dramatized story of the East-German border guard who was the first to let East Berliners cross the border to West Berlin on 9 November 1989.
*Bridge of Spies (2015), featuring a dramatized subplot about Frederic Pryor, in which an American economics graduate student visits his German girlfriend in East Berlin just as the Berlin Wall is being built. He tries to bring her back into West Berlin but is stopped by Stasi agents and arrested as a spy.
Literature
Some novels specifically about the Berlin Wall include:
*John le Carré, The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (1963), classic Cold War spy fiction.
*Len Deighton, Berlin Game (1983), classic Cold War spy fiction
*T.H.E. Hill, The Day Before the Berlin Wall: Could We Have Stopped It? – An Alternate History of Cold War Espionage, 2010 – based on a legend told in Berlin in the 1970s.
*John Marks' The Wall (1999) in which an American spy defects to the East just hours before the Wall falls.
*Marcia Preston's West of the Wall (2007, published as ''Trudy's Promise'' in North America), in which the heroine, left behind in East Berlin, waits for news of her husband after he makes his escape over the Berlin Wall.
*Peter Schneider's The Wall Jumper, (1984; German: Der Mauerspringer, 1982), the Wall plays a central role in this novel set in Berlin of the 1980s.
Music
Music related to the Berlin Wall includes:
*Stationary Traveller (1984), a concept album by Camel that takes the theme of families and friends split up by the building of the Berlin Wall.
*"West of the Wall", a 1962 top 40 hit by Toni Fisher, which tells the tale of two lovers separated by the newly built Berlin Wall.
*"Holidays in the Sun", a song by the English punk rock band Sex Pistols which prominently mentions the Wall, specifically singer Johnny Rotten's fantasy of digging a tunnel under it.
*David Bowie's "Heroes" (1977), inspired by the image of a couple kissing at the Berlin Wall (in reality, the couple was his producer Tony Visconti and backup singer Antonia Maaß). The song (which, along with the album of the same name, was recorded in Berlin), makes lyrical references to the kissing couple, and to the "Wall of Shame" ("the shame was on the other side"). Upon Bowie's death, the Federal Foreign Office paid homage to Bowie on Twitter:see also above
*"" (1984), a song by the Dutch pop band , about the differences between East and West Berlin during the period of the Berlin Wall.
*"Chippin' Away" (1990), a song by Tom Fedora, performed by Crosby, Stills & Nash on the Berlin Wall, which appeared on Graham Nash's solo album Innocent Eyes (1986).
*"Berliners", a song by Roy Harper from his 1990 album Once (lyrics include "They built a wall, boys, it stayed up for thirty years"). The song uses a BBC news broadcast describing the fall of the wall.
*"Hedwig and the Angry Inch," a rock opera whose genderqueer protagonist Hedwig Robinson was born in East Berlin and later, living in the United States, describes herself as "the new Berlin Wall" standing between "East and West, slavery and freedom, man and woman, top and bottom." As a result, she says, people are moved to "decorate" her with "blood, graffiti and spit." (1998)
*The music video for Liza Fox's song "Free" (2013) contains video clips of the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Visual art
Artworks related to the Berlin Wall include:
(1996) by Veryl Goodnight, a statue depicting horses leaping over actual pieces of the Berlin Wall]]
*In 1982, the West-German artist created about 500 artworks along the former border strip around West Berlin as part of his work series Border Injuries''. On one of his actions he tore down a large part of the Wall, installed a prepared foil of 3x2m in it, and finished the painting there before the border soldiers on patrol could detect him. This performance was recorded on video. His actions are well-documented both in newspapers from that time and in recent scientific publications.
*The Day the Wall Came Down, 1996 and 1998 sculptures by Veryl Goodnight, which depict five horses leaping over actual pieces of the Berlin Wall.
Games
Video games related to the Berlin Wall include:
*The Berlin Wall (1991), a video game.
*Ostalgie: The Berlin Wall (2018), video game by Kremlingames, where the player, playing as the leader of the GDR from 1989 to 1991, can take down the Berlin Wall themselves or as a result of events in the game, or keep the wall intact as long as the country exists.
See also
*Berlin Crisis of 1961 (October 1961)
*Chapel of Reconciliation
*Deborah Kennedy, American artist whose works were featured on the wall before its fall
*Dissolution of the Soviet Union (1991)
*East Germany balloon escape
*Green Line (Lebanon)
*Inner German border
*Israeli annexation of East Jerusalem
*Korean Demilitarized Zone
**Military Demarcation Line
*List of walls
*Operation Gold
*Peace lines
*Removal of Hungary's border fence with Austria
*The Wall – Live in Berlin (rock opera/concert, 21 July 1990)
*World Freedom Day (United States)
Notes
References
Sources
*Childs, David (2001). ''The Fall of the GDR: Germany's Road To Unity, Longman, [https://web.archive.org/web/20120222073111/http://www.pearsoned.co.uk/Bookshop/detail.asp?item=100000000004463 Pearsoned.co.uk].
*Childs, David (1986) [1983]. The GDR: Moscow's German Ally, London: George Allen & Unwin, .
*Childs, David (2001). The Fall of the GDR, Longman. [https://www.amazon.co.uk/Fall-Themes-Modern-German-History/dp/0582315697 Amazon.co.uk]
*Childs, David (2000). The Two Red Flags: European Social Democracy & Soviet Communism Since 1945, Routledge.
*Childs, David (1991). Germany in the Twentieth Century, (From pre-1918 to the restoration of German unity), Batsford, Third edition.
*Childs, David (1987). [https://openlibrary.org/b/OL16520921M/East_Germany_to_the_1990s East Germany to the 1990s Can It Resist Glasnost?], The Economist Intelligence Unit. . [http://www.worldcat.org/search?qau%3A%22Childs%2C+David%2C%22&qthot_author WorldCat.org]
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*Luftbildatlas. Entlang der Berliner Mauer. Karten, Pläne und Fotos. Hans Wolfgang Hoffmann / Philipp Meuser (eds.) Berlin 2009.
*Sarotte, Mary Elise (2014). Collapse: The Accidental Opening of the Berlin Wall, New York: Basic Books,
*Sarotte, Mary Elise (2014) [1989]. The Struggle to Create Post-Cold War Europe'' (Second Edition) Princeton: Princeton University Press,
External links
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*[https://www.openstreetmap.org/relation/6651797 Berlin Wall on OpenStreetMap] (zoomable and scrollable)
*Other resources:
**[https://secure.flickr.com/groups/52809934@N00/ Berlin Wall image group] on Flickr
**[http://www.dailysoft.com/berlinwall/ Berlin Wall Online], historical chronicle
**
Category:Border barriers
Category:1961 establishments in East Germany
Category:1961 establishments in West Germany
Category:1961 in military history
Category:1961 in politics
Category:20th century in Berlin
Category:Allied occupation of Germany
Category:Articles containing video clips
Category:Buildings and structures completed in 1961
Category:Buildings and structures demolished in 1989
Category:Buildings and structures demolished in 1990
Category:Demolished buildings and structures in Germany
Category:Eastern Bloc
Category:Former buildings and structures in Germany
Category:Inner German border
Category:Separation barriers
Category:City walls in Germany
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Bass (sound)
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range.]]
in Mozart's Piano Sonata, K 545 opening. ]]
Bass ( ) (also called bottom end) describes tones of low (also called "deep") frequency, pitch and range from 16 to 250 Hz (C<sub>0</sub> to middle C<sub>4</sub>) and bass instruments that produce tones in the low-pitched range C<sub>2</sub>-C<sub>4</sub>. They belong to different families of instruments and can cover a wide range of musical roles. Since producing low pitches usually requires a long air column or string, and for stringed instruments, a large hollow body, the string and wind bass instruments are usually the largest instruments in their families or instrument classes.Musical roleWhen bass notes are played in a musical ensemble such an orchestra, they are frequently used to provide a counterpoint or counter-melody, in a harmonic context either to outline or juxtapose the progression of the chords, or with percussion to underline the rhythm.Rhythm section In popular music, the bass part, which is called the "bassline", typically provides harmonic and rhythmic support to the band. The bass player is a member of the rhythm section in a band, along with the drummer, rhythm guitarist, and, in some cases, a keyboard instrument player (e.g., piano or Hammond organ). The bass player emphasizes the root or fifth of the chord in their basslines (and to a lesser degree, the third of the chord) and accents the strong beats.Kinds of bass harmonyIn classical music, different forms of bass are: basso concertante, or basso recitante; the bass voice of the chorus; the bass which accompanies the softer passages of a composition, as well as those passages which employ the whole power of the ensemble, generally played by the violoncellos in orchestral music; contrabass (“under bass”), is described as that part which is performed by the double basses; violoncellos often play the same line an octave higher, or a different melodic or rhythmic part which is not a bassline when double basses are used; basso ripieno; that bass which joins in the full passages of a composition, and, by its depth of tone and energy of stroke, affords a powerful contrast to the lighter and softer passages or movements.
Basso continuo was an approach to writing music during the Baroque music era (1600–1750). With basso continuo, a written-out bassline served to set out the chord progression for an entire piece (symphony, concerto, Mass, or other work), with the bassline being played by pipe organ or harpsichord and the chords being improvised by players of chordal instruments (theorbo, lute, harpsichord, etc.).
"The bass differs from other voices because of the particular role it plays in supporting and defining harmonic motion. It does so at levels ranging from immediate, chord-by-chord events to the larger harmonic organization of an entire work."
Instruments
As seen in the musical instrument classification article, categorizing instruments can be difficult. For example, some instruments fall into more than one category. The cello is considered a tenor instrument in some orchestral settings, but in a string quartet it is the bass instrument. Also, the Bass Flute is actually the tenor member of the flute family even though it is called the "Bass" Flute.
Examples grouped by general form and playing technique include:
*Double bass from the viol or violin family (usually the instrument referred to as a "bass" in European classical music and jazz. Sometimes called a "string bass" to differentiate it from a "brass bass" or "bass horn", or an "upright bass" to differentiate it from a "bass guitar")
*Bass guitar and acoustic bass guitar, instruments shaped, constructed and held (or worn) like guitars, that play in the bass range. The electric bass guitar is usually the instrument referred to as a "bass" in pop and rock music.
*A bass horn, such as a tuba, serpent, and sousaphone from the wind family and low-tuned versions of specific types of brass and woodwind instruments, such as bassoon, bass clarinet, bass trombone and bass saxophone, etc. (less common usage)
*Keyboard bass, a keyboard alternative to the bass guitar or double bass (e.g. the Fender Rhodes piano bass in the 1960s or 13-note MIDI keyboard controllers in the 2000s)
*Washtub bass, a simple folk instrument
A musician playing one of these instruments is often known as a bassist. Other more specific terms such as 'bass guitarist', 'double bassist', 'bass player', etc. may also be used.Keyboards
*Keyboard bass
*Pedal keyboard
Percussion
Unpitched
*Bass drum
Pitched
*Timpani
Stringed
*Double bass
*Bass guitar
*Washtub bass
*Cello
Wind
Woodwind
*Bass recorder
*Bass oboe
*Bassoon
*Contrabassoon
*Bass saxophone
*Contrabass saxophone
*Subcontrabass saxophone
*Bass clarinet
*Contrabass clarinet
*Contrabass flute
Brass
*Tuba
*Subcontrabass tuba
*Bass trombone
*Euphonium
*Baritone Horn
Music shows and dances
With recorded music playback, for owners of 33 rpm LPs and 45 singles, the availability of loud and deep bass was limited by the ability of the phonograph record stylus to track the groove. While some hi-fi aficionados had solved the problem by using other playback sources, such as reel-to-reel tape players which were capable of delivering accurate, naturally deep bass from acoustic sources, or synthetic bass not found in nature, with the popular introduction of the compact cassette in the late 1960s it became possible to add more low-frequency content to recordings. By the mid-1970s, 12" vinyl singles, which allowed for "more bass volume", were used to record disco, reggae, dub and hip-hop tracks; dance club DJs played these records in clubs with subwoofers to achieve "physical and emotional" reactions from dancers.
In the early 1970s, early disco DJs sought out deeper bass sounds for their dance events. David Mancuso hired sound engineer Alex Rosner to design additional subwoofers for his disco dance events, along with "tweeter arrays" to "boost the treble and bass at opportune moments" at his private, underground parties at The Loft. The demand for sub-bass sound reinforcement in the 1970s was driven by the important role of "powerful bass drum" in disco, as compared with rock and pop; to provide this deeper range, a third crossover point from 40 Hz to 120 Hz (centering on 80 Hz) was added. The Paradise Garage discotheque in New York City, which operated from 1977 to 1987, had "custom designed 'sub-bass' speakers" developed by Alex Rosner's disciple, sound engineer Richard ("Dick") Long To overcome the lack of sub-bass frequencies on 1970s disco records (sub-bass frequencies below 60 Hz were removed during mastering), Long added a DBX 100 "Boom Box" subharmonic pitch generator into his system to synthesize 25 Hz to 50 Hz sub-bass from the 50 to 100 Hz bass on the records.
Deep, heavy bass is central to Jamaican musical styles such as dub and reggae. In Jamaica in the 1970s and 1980s, sound engineers for reggae sound systems began creating "heavily customized" subwoofer enclosures by adding foam and tuning the cabinets to achieve "rich and articulate speaker output below 100 Hz". The sound engineers who developed the "bass-heavy signature sound" of sound reinforcement systems have been called "deserving as much credit for the sound of Jamaican music as their better-known music producer cousins". The sound engineers for Stone Love Movement (a sound system crew), for example, modified folded horn subwoofers they imported from the US to get more of a bass reflex sound that suited local tone preferences for dancehall audiences, as the unmodified folded horn was found to be "too aggressive" sounding and "not deep enough for Jamaican listeners". Sound system crews hold 'sound clash' competitions, where each sound system is set up and then the two crews try to outdo each other.MoviesThe use of subwoofers to provide deep bass in film presentations received a great deal of publicity in 1974 with the movie Earthquake which was released in Sensurround. Initially installed in 17 U.S. theaters, the Cerwin Vega "Sensurround" system used large subwoofers which were driven by racks of 500 watt amplifiers which were triggered by control tones printed on one of the audio tracks on the film. Four of the subwoofers were positioned in front of the audience under (or behind) the film screen and two more were placed together at the rear of the audience on a platform. Powerful noise energy and loud rumbling in the range of 17 Hz to 120 Hz was generated at the level of 110–120 decibels of sound pressure level, abbreviated dB(SPL). The new low frequency entertainment method helped the film become a box office success. More Sensurround systems were assembled and installed. By 1976 there were almost 300 Sensurround systems in theaters. Other films to use the effect include Midway in 1976 and Rollercoaster in 1977.
See also
*Sub bass
*Treble (sound)
*Bass clef
*Figured bass
Sources
Further reading
*
External links
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Category:Contrabass instruments
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UK bass
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| cultural_origins = Mid-to-late 2000s, United Kingdom
| derivatives | subgenres
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}}
UK bass, also called bass music, is club music that emerged in the United Kingdom during the mid-2000s under the influence of diverse genres such as house, grime, dubstep, Future garage, R&B, and UK funky. The term "UK bass" came into use as artists began ambiguously blending the sounds of these defined genres while maintaining an emphasis on percussive, bass-led rhythm.
UK bass is sometimes conflated with bassline or post-dubstep. It is not to be confused with the hip hop and electro-based genre Miami bass, which is sometimes called "bass music" as well.
Origins
The breadth of styles that have come to be associated with the term preclude it from being a specific musical genre. Pitchfork writer Martin Clark has suggested that "well-meaning attempts to loosely define the ground we're covering here are somewhat futile and almost certainly flawed. This is not one genre. However, given the links, interaction, and free-flowing ideas… you can't dismiss all these acts as unrelated."</blockquote>
In the United Kingdom, bass music has had major mainstream success since the late 2000s and early 2010s, with artists such as James Blake, and Skream. The term "post-dubstep" has been used synonymously to refer to artists, such as Blake and Mount Kimbie whose work draws on UK garage, 2-step, and other forms of underground dance music, as well as ambient music and early R&B. Outside of nightclubs, UK bass has mainly been promoted and played on Internet radio stations such as Sub.FM and Rinse FM.References
Category:2000s in music
Category:2010s in music
Category:21st-century music genres
Category:British styles of music
Category:Dubstep
Category:Electronic dance music genres
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Burning glass
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, in his laboratory]]
A burning glass or burning lens is a large convex lens that can concentrate the Sun's rays onto a small area, heating up the area and thus resulting in ignition of the exposed surface. Burning mirrors achieve a similar effect by using reflecting surfaces to focus the light. They were used in 18th-century chemical studies for burning materials in closed glass vessels where the products of combustion could be trapped for analysis. The burning glass was a useful contrivance in the days before electrical ignition was easily achieved.
History
Burning glass technology has been known since antiquity, as described by Greek and Roman writers who recorded the use of lenses to start fires for various purposes. Pliny the Elder noted the use of glass vases filled with water to concentrate sunlight heat intensely enough to ignite clothing, as well as convex lenses that were used to cauterize wounds. Plutarch refers to a burning mirror made of joined triangular metal mirrors installed at the temple of the Vestal Virgins. Aristophanes mentions the burning lens in his play The Clouds (424 BC).
The Hellenistic Greek mathematician Archimedes was said to have used a burning glass as a weapon in 212 BC, when Syracuse was besieged by Marcus Claudius Marcellus of the Roman Republic. The Roman fleet was supposedly incinerated, though eventually the city was taken and Archimedes was slain.
The legend of Archimedes gave rise to a considerable amount of research on burning glasses and lenses until the late 17th century. Various researchers from medieval Christendom to the Islamic world worked with burning glasses, including Anthemius of Tralles (6th century AD), Proclus (6th century; who by this means purportedly destroyed the fleet of Vitalian besieging Constantinople), Ibn Sahl in his On Burning Mirrors and Lenses (10th century), Alhazen in his Book of Optics (1021), Roger Bacon (13th century), Giambattista della Porta and his friends (16th century), Athanasius Kircher and Gaspar Schott (17th century), and the Comte de Buffon in 1740 in Paris.
While the effects of camera obscura were mentioned by Greek philosopher Aristotle in the 4th century BC, contemporary Chinese Mohists of China's Warring States Period who compiled the Mozi described their experiments with burning mirrors and the pinhole camera. A few decades after Alhazen described camera obscura in Iraq, the Song dynasty Chinese statesman Shen Kuo was nevertheless the first to clearly describe the relationship of the focal point of a concave mirror, the burning point and the pinhole camera as separate radiation phenomena in his Dream Pool Essays (1088). By the late 15th century Leonardo da Vinci would be the first in Europe to make similar observations about the focal point and pinhole.
Burning lenses were used in the 18th century by both Joseph Priestley and Antoine Lavoisier in their experiments to obtain oxides contained in closed vessels under high temperatures. These included carbon dioxide by burning diamond, and mercuric oxide by heating mercury. This type of experiment contributed to the discovery of "dephlogisticated air" by Priestley, which became better known as oxygen, following Lavoisier's investigations.
Chapter 17 of William Bates' 1920 book Perfect Sight Without Glasses, in which the author argues that observation of the sun is beneficial to those with poor vision, includes a figure of somebody "Focussing the Rays of the Sun Upon the Eye of a Patient by Means of a Burning Glass."
The burning lens of the Grand Duke of Tuscany was used by Sir Humphry Davy and Michael Faraday to burn a diamond in oxygen on 27 March 1814.
Use
War: since the legend of Archimedes
The first story akin to that of burning glass is by Archimedes, for the purpose of war, in 212 BC. When Syracuse was besieged by Marcus Claudius Marcellus, the Roman fleet was supposedly incinerated by the use of not glass per se, but a concave mirror made of brass focusing sunlight. Whether or not that actually happened, eventually the city was taken and Archimedes was slain.
In 1796, during the French Revolution and three years after the declaration of war between France and Great Britain, physicist Étienne-Gaspard Robert met with the French government and proposed the use of mirrors to burn the invading ships of the British Royal Navy. They decided not to take up his proposal. Domestic use: primitive fire making
. This thin, lightweight, non-fragile and low-cost lens can be used as burning-glass in emergency situations.]]
, being used to burn a leaf.]]
Burning glasses (often called fire lenses) are still used to light fires in outdoor and primitive settings. Large burning lenses sometimes take the form of Fresnel lenses, similar to lighthouse lenses, including those for use in solar furnaces. Solar furnaces are used in industry to produce extremely high temperatures without the need for fuel or large supplies of electricity. They sometimes employ a large parabolic array of mirrors (some facilities are several stories high) to focus light to a high intensity.
Religion: sacred fire
In various religions settings, a burning glass is used to set off some sort of sacred fire.
From the 7th to the 16th centuries, a burning glass was used by Christians to set off the Easter Fire during the Easter vigil. Thus, Saint Boniface explained to Pope Zachary that he produced the new fire of Holy Saturday by means of a crystal lens concentrating the rays of the sun. This process was also mentioned in liturgical books until the Roman Pontifical of 1561.
In Cambodia, a burning glass has also been used since ancient times for the cremation of kings and most recently for the funeral of King Sihanouk. The crematorium of the king is traditionally prepared by the Bakus brahmin from the Royal Palace on the last day of the week-long funeral. Small pieces of fragrant agarwood are placed beneath the magnifying glass until it ignites. The incandescent wood is used to light candles and pass on the fire to the attendees, who usually take their lit candles home.
Sports: lighting the Olympic torch
The Olympic torch that is carried around the host country of the Olympic Games is lit by a burning glass, at the site of ancient Olympia in Greece. Popular culture: verification attempts There have been several real-world tests to evaluate the validity of the legend of Archimedes described above )}} over the centuries, including a test by Comte de Buffon (circa 1747), documented in the paper titled "Invention De Miroirs Ardens, Pour Brusler a Une Grande Distance", and an experiment by John Scott, which was documented in an 1867 paper.
In 1973, Greek scientist Dr. Ioannis Sakkas, curious about whether Archimedes could really have used a "burning glass" to destroy the Roman fleet in 212 BC, lined up nearly 60 Greek sailors, each holding an oblong mirror tipped to catch the sun's rays and direct them at a wooden ship 160 feet away. The ship caught fire at once. Sakkas said after the experiment there was no doubt in his mind the great inventor could have used bronze mirrors to scuttle the Romans.
However, accounting for battle conditions makes such a weapon impractical, with modern tests refuting such claims. An experiment was carried out by a group at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2005. It concluded that although the theory was sound for stationary objects, the mirrors would not likely have been able to concentrate sufficient solar energy to set a ship on fire under battle conditions. Similar experiments were conducted on the popular science-based TV show MythBusters in 2004, 2006, and 2010, arriving at similar results based on the premise of the controversial myth.
However, an episode of ''Richard Hammond's Engineering Connections'' relating to the Keck Observatory (whose reflector glass is based on the Archimedes' Mirror) did successfully use a much smaller curved mirror to burn a wooden model, although the scaled-down model was not made of the same quality of materials as in the MythBusters effort.
See also
* Diocles (mathematician)
* Nimrud lens
* Pyreliophorus
* Visby lenses
* Solar furnace
References
Further reading
*Temple, Robert. The Crystal Sun, .
External links
*
Category:Magnifiers
Category:Lenses
Category:Ancient weapons
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Battle of Adrianople (disambiguation)
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The Battle of Adrianople (378 CE), in which Gothic rebels defeated the Eastern Roman Empire, was the main battle of the Gothic War (376–382).
Battle of Adrianople may also refer to:
Battle of Adrianople (324), a battle in which Constantine the Great defeated Licinius in a Roman civil war
Siege of Adrianople (378), an unsuccessful siege by the Goths following the Battle of Adrianople
Battle of Adrianople (718), a battle between an alliance of Bulgarians and Byzantines against the Umayyad Caliphate, during the Siege of Constantinople (717–718)
Battle of Adrianople (813), a successful Bulgarian siege of the Byzantine city
Battle of Adrianople (914), a battle between Bulgarians and Byzantines
Battle of Adrianople (972), a battle between Byzantines and Kievan Rus' led by Sviatoslav I of Kiev
Battle of Adrianople (1003), a battle between Bulgarians and Byzantines
Battle of Adrianople (1094), part of the revolt of Constantine Diogenes (pretender) and his Cuman allies
Battle of Adrianople (1205), part of the Fourth Crusade, in which the Bulgarians defeated the Crusaders
Battle of Adrianople (1226), part of the revolt of Theodore Komnenos Doukas
Battle of Adrianople (1254), in which the Byzantines defeated the Bulgarians
Battle of Adrianople (1305), a battle between the Byzantines and the Catalan Company
Battle of Adrianople (1355), a battle between the Byzantines and the Serbs led by Stefan Dušan
Battle of Adrianople (1365), in which the Ottoman Empire took the city from the Byzantine Empire
Battle of Adrianople (1829), in which the Russians seized the city from the Ottoman Empire
Siege of Adrianople (1912–1913), in which the Serbs and Bulgarians took the city from the Ottomans in the First Balkan War
Siege of Adrianople (1913)
See also
Adrianople
Battle of Tzirallum, a 313 CE battle in which Licinius defeated Maximinus Daia in a Roman civil war
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Beacon
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A beacon is an intentionally conspicuous device designed to attract attention to a specific location. A common example is the lighthouse, which draws attention to a fixed point that can be used to navigate around obstacles or into port. More modern examples include a variety of radio beacons that can be read on radio direction finders in all weather, and radar transponders that appear on radar displays.
Beacons can also be combined with semaphoric or other indicators to provide important information, such as the status of an airport, by the colour and rotational pattern of its airport beacon, or of pending weather as indicated on a weather beacon mounted at the top of a tall building or similar site. When used in such fashion, beacons can be considered a form of optical telegraphy.
For navigation
right|thumb|A navigational beacon denoting the presence of Orontes Bank off Port Vincent, South Australia.
Beacons help guide navigators to their destinations. Types of navigational beacons include radar reflectors, radio beacons, sonic and visual signals. Visual beacons range from small, single-pile structures to large lighthouses or light stations and can be located on land or on water. Lighted beacons are called lights; unlighted beacons are called daybeacons. Aerodrome beacons are used to indicate locations of airports and helipads.
In the United States, a series of beacons were constructed across the country in the 1920s and 1930s to help guide pilots delivering air mail. They were placed about 25 miles apart from each other, and included large concrete arrows with accompanying lights to illuminate them.
Handheld beacons are also employed in aircraft marshalling, and are used by the marshal to deliver instructions to the crew of aircraft as they move around an active airport, heliport or aircraft carrier.
For defensive communications (historical)
thumb|left|16th-century beacon hut in Culmstock, Devon, England
Historically, beacons were fires lit at well-known locations on hills or high places, used either as lighthouses for navigation at sea, or for signalling over land that enemy troops were approaching, in order to alert defenses. As signals, beacons are an ancient form of optical telegraph and were part of a relay league.
Systems of this kind have existed for centuries over much of the world. The ancient Greeks called them phryctoriae, while beacons figure on several occasions on the column of Trajan.
In imperial China, sentinels on and near the Great Wall of China used a sophisticated system of daytime smoke and nighttime flame to send signals along long chains of beacon towers.
Legend has it that King You of Zhou played a trick multiple times in order to amuse his often melancholy concubine, ordering beacon towers lit to fool his vassals and soldiers. But when enemies, led by the Marquess of Shen really arrived at the wall, although the towers were lit, no defenders came, leading to King Yōu's death and the collapse of the Western Zhou dynasty. China's system of beacon towers was not extant prior to the Han dynasty.
Thucydides wrote that during the Peloponnesian War, the Peloponnesians who were in Corcyra were informed by night-time beacon signals of the approach of sixty Athenian vessels from Lefkada.
In the 10th century, during the Arab–Byzantine wars, the Byzantine Empire used a beacon system to transmit messages from the border with the Abbasid Caliphate, across Anatolia to the imperial palace in the Byzantine capital, Constantinople. It was devised by Leo the Mathematician for Emperor Theophilos, but either abolished or radically curtailed by Theophilos' son and successor, Michael III. Beacons were later used in Greece as well, while the surviving parts of the beacon system in Anatolia seem to have been reactivated in the 12th century by Emperor Manuel I Komnenos. In the Scottish borders country, a system of beacon fires was at one time established to warn of incursions by the English. Hume and Eggerstone castles and Soltra Edge were part of this network.
In Spain, the border of Granada in the territory of the Crown of Castile had a complex beacon network to warn against Moorish raiders and military campaigns. Due to the progressive advance of the borders throughout the process of the Reconquista, the entire Spanish geography is full of defensive lines of castles, towers and fortifications, visually connected to each other, which served as fortified beacons. Some examples are the Route of the Vinalopó castles or the distribution of the castles in Jaén.
Military use (20th–21st century)
Infrared marker
thumb|A CORE Survival HEL-STAR 6 IR strobe mounted atop this marine's helmet
Infrared strobes and other infrared beacons have increasingly been used in modern combat when operating at night as they can only be seen through night vision goggles. As a result, they are often used to mark friendly positions as a form of IFF to prevent friendly fire and improve coordination. Soldiers will typically affix them to their helmets or other gear so they are easily visible to others using night vision including other infantry, ground vehicles, and aerial platforms (drones, helicopters, planes, etc.).
Passive markers include IR patches, which reflect infrared light, and chemlights. The earliest such beacons were often IR chemlights taped to helmets.
As time went on, more sophisticated options began to emerge with electronically powered infrared strobes with specific mounting solutions for attaching to helmets or load bearing equipment. These strobes may have settings which allow constant on or strobes of IR light, hence the name.
Advancements in near-peer technology, however, present risk since if friendly units can see the strobe with night vision so could enemies with night vision capabilities. As a result, some in the American military have stressed that efforts should be made to improve training regarding light discipline (IR and visible) and other means of reducing a unit's visible signature. Incandescent and xenon light sources require the vehicle's engine to continue running to ensure that the battery is not depleted when the lights are used for a prolonged period. The low power consumption of LEDs allows the vehicle's engine to remain turned off while the lights operate.
Other uses
Beacons and bonfires are also used to mark occasions and celebrate events.
Beacons have also allegedly been abused by shipwreckers. An illicit fire at a wrong position would be used to direct a ship against shoals or beaches, so that its cargo could be looted after the ship sank or ran aground. There are, however, no historically substantiated occurrences of such intentional shipwrecking.
In wireless networks, a beacon is a type of frame which is sent by the access point (or WiFi router) to indicate that it is on.
Bluetooth based beacons periodically send out a data packet and this could be used by software to identify the beacon location. This is typically used by indoor navigation and positioning applications.
Beaconing is the process that allows a network to self-repair network problems. The stations on the network notify the other stations on the ring when they are not receiving the transmissions. Beaconing is used in Token ring and FDDI networks.
In fiction
In Aeschylus' tragedy Agamemnon, a chain of eight beacons staffed by so-called lampadóphoroi inform Clytemnestra in Argos, within a single night's time, that Troy has just fallen under her husband king Agamemnon's control, after a famous ten years siege.
In J. R. R. Tolkien's high fantasy novel, The Lord of the Rings, a series of beacons alerts the entire realm of Gondor when the kingdom is under attack. These beacon posts were staffed by messengers who would carry word of their lighting to either Rohan or Belfalas. In Peter Jackson's film adaptation of the novel, the beacons serve as a connection between the two realms of Rohan and Gondor, alerting one another directly when they require military aid, as opposed to relying on messengers as in the novel.
In publishing
The Beacon was an influential Caribbean magazine published in Trinidad in the 1930s. New Beacon Books was the first Caribbean publishing house in England, founded in London in 1966, was named after the Beacon journal.
In retail
Beacons are sometimes used in retail to send digital coupons or invitations to customers passing by.
Types
Infrared beacon
An infrared beacon (IR beacon) transmits a modulated light beam in the infrared spectrum, which can be identified easily and positively. A line of sight clear of obstacles between the transmitter and the receiver is essential. IR beacons have a number of applications in robotics and in Combat Identification (CID).
Infrared beacons are the key infrastructure for the Universal Traffic Management System (UTMS) in Japan. They perform two-way communication with travelling vehicles based on highly directional infrared communication technology and have a vehicle detecting capability to provide more accurate traffic information.
Sonar beacon
A sonar beacon is an underwater device which transmits sonic or ultrasonic signals for the purpose of providing bearing information. The most common type is that of a rugged watertight sonar transmitter attached to a submarine and capable of operating independently of the electrical system of the boat. It can be used in cases of emergencies to guide salvage vessels to the location of a disabled submarine.
See also
Aerodrome beacon
Beacon mode service
Beacon School
Belisha beacon
Emergency locator beacon
Emergency position-indicating radiobeacon station (ELTs, PLBs & EPIRBs)
iBeacon
Lantern
Leading lights
Lighthouse of Alexandria
Milestone/Kilometric point
Polaris
Strobe beacon
Time ball
Trail blazing
Warning light (disambiguation)
Weather beacon
Web beacon
References
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Bhangra (music)
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| cultural_origins = 1960s, Punjab
| instruments | derivatives
| subgenres | fusiongenres
| regional_scenes | local_scenes
| other_topics =
}}
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Bhangra () is a type of non-traditional music of Punjab originating from the Punjab region.
Over the years, bhangra has evolved and gained popularity not only in South Asia but also around the world. It has become a significant part of the cultural identity of the Punjabi diaspora in countries like Australia, the United Kingdom, Canada, and the United States. Prior to this musical fusion, bhangra existed only as a dance form in the native Punjab. This Punjabi music was unique in that it was not traditional nor did it seek any authenticity. While the traditional folk music of Punjab has a set of melodies that are used by various singers, bhangra was a form of strict "band culture" in that new melodies were composed for each song. Therefore, the musicians were as important as the singers.
Origins
The roots of modern bhangra music date back to the Sikh Punjabi community in Punjab during the 1960s. An early pop music and modern recording group of this type of music in the United Kingdom was Bhujhangy Group, founded by Tarlochan Singh Bilga, Balbir Singh Khanpur, Gurpal, Rajinder Dhona and Dalvir Kahanpuri in Birmingham in 1971. Bhujhangy Group's first major hit was "Bhabiye Akh Larr Gayee". It was written by Tarlochan Singh Bilga in the early 1970s and was released on Birmingham's Oriental Star Agencies label. This was the first bhangra song to combine traditional Asian music with modern Western instruments.
Differences from folk music
Although bhangra music used many of the elements of Punjabi folk music (e.g., "Bakkrey Bulaaney" – the goat herding vocalizations), it was also radically different in its embrace of modernity. The song structure of a typical bhangra song featured four verses, a chorus, along with two alternating instrumental bridge sections. (e.g., CVB1CVB2CVB1CVB2C.) Hence it featured more musicianship than its folk predecessor.United Kingdom1970sA modern and commercial form of bhangra music was said to rise in Britain in the 1970s by Punjabi immigrants who took their native folk music and began experimenting by altering it using instruments from their host country. The new genre quickly became popular in Britain replacing Punjabi folk singers due to it being heavily influenced in Britain by the infusion of rock music and a need to move away from the simple and repetitive Punjabi folk music. It indicated the development of a self-conscious and distinctively rebellious British Asian youth culture centred on an experiential sense of self, e.g., language, gesture, bodily signification, desires, etc., in a situation in which tensions with British culture and racist elements in British society had resulted in alienation in many minority ethnic groups, fostered a sense of need for an affirmation of a positive identity and culture, and provided a platform for British Punjabi males to assert their masculinity.
In the 1980s, distributed by record labels such as Multitone Records, bhangra artists were selling over 30,000 cassettes a week in the UK, but no artists reached the Top 40 UK chart despite these artists outselling popular British ones; most of the bhangra cassette sales were not through the large UK record stores, whose sales were those recorded by the Official UK Charts Company for creating their rankings.
The group Alaap was formed in 1977, co-founded by Channi Singh and Harjeet Gandhi who both hailed from Southall, a Punjabi area in London. Their album Teri Chunni De Sitaray was released in 1982 by Multitone. Alaap was considered the first and original superstar bhangra band formed in the United Kingdom. Channi Singh has been awarded the OBE by the Queen for his services to bhangra music and services/charity for the British Asian community. Co-founder Harjeet Gandhi died in 2003.
The 1980s is commonly known as the golden age, or the age of bhangra music, which lasted roughly from 1985 to 1993. The primary emphasis during these times was on the melody/riff, played out usually on a synthesizer, harmonium, accordion or guitar. Folk instruments were rarely used.
One of the biggest bhangra stars of the last several decades is Malkit Singh and his band Golden Star. Singh was born in June 1963 in the village of Hussainpur in Punjab. He attended the Lyallpur Khalsa College, Jalandhar, in Punjab in 1980 to study for a bachelor of arts degree. There he met his mentor, Professor Inderjit Singh, who taught him Punjabi folk singing and bhangra dancing. Due to Singh's tutelage, Malkit entered and won song contests during this time. In 1983, he won a gold medal at the Guru Nanak Dev University in Amritsar, Punjab, for performing his song "Gurh Nalon Ishq Mitha", which later featured on his first album, Nach Gidhe Wich. The lyrics were by Tarlochan Singh Bilga and it was released in 1985. This album was created with Manager, Tarlochan Singh Bilga(TSB). The band has toured 27 countries. Malkit has been awarded the MBE by the Queen for his services to bhangra music.
Bhangra boy band, the Sahotas, were composed of five brothers from Wolverhampton. Their music is a fusion of bhangra, rock and dance.
Heera, formed by Bhupinder Bhindi and fronted by Kumar and Dhami, was one of the most popular bands of the 1980s.
Bands like Alaap and Heera incorporated rock-influenced beats into bhangra, because it enabled "Asian youth to affirm their identities positively" within the broader environment of alternative rock as an alternative way of expression. However, some believe that the progression of bhangra music created an "intermezzo culture" post-India's partition, within the unitary definitions of Southeast Asians within the diaspora, thus "establishing a brand new community in their home away from home".
Several other influential groups appeared around the same time, including The Saathies, Premi Group, Bhujungy Group, and Apna Sangeet. Apna Sangeet, best known for their hit "Mera Yaar Vajavey Dhol", re-formed for charity in May 2009 after a break-up.
When bhangra and General Indian sounds and lyrics were combined, British-Asian artists began incorporating them in their music. Some Asian artists such as Bally Sagoo and Talvin Singh are creating their own form of British hip-hop.
This era also brought about bhangra art, which like the bhangra music it represented was rebellious. Unlike folk music art, which consisted of a picture of the folk singer, bhangra recordings had details such as distinctive artwork, logos, clever album names and band/musician listings (who played what).
Folk backlash
Unlike bhangra, folk music depends on a set number of traditional melodies that may be hundreds of years old. Each new singer simply writes new lyrics using one of those melodies.
In the mid-1990s, many artists, attracted to the economics of a bandless singer only act that technology such as karaoke machines now enabled, returned to the original, traditional folk beats away from bhangra music, often incorporating more dhol drum beats and tumbi. This time also saw the rise of several young Punjabi folk singers as a backlash to bhangra music. They were aided by DJs who mixed hip-hop samples with folk singing.
Beginning around 1994, there was a trend towards the use of samples (often sampled from mainstream hip hop) mixed with traditional folk rhythm instruments, such as the tumbi and dhol. Using folk instruments and hip-hop samples, along with relatively inexpensive folk vocals imported from Punjab, Punjabi folk music was able to cause the decline of bhangra music.
Pioneering DJs instrumental in the decline of bhangra were Bally Sagoo and Panjabi MC. As DJs who were initially hired by bhangra labels to remix the original recordings on the label's roster (OSA and Nachural respectively), they along with the record labels quickly found that remixing folk singers from India was much cheaper than working with outsourced bhangra bands.
A pioneering folk singer that was instrumental in bhangra's demise was Jazzy B, who debuted in 1992. Having sold over 55,000 copies of his third album, Folk and Funky, he is now one of the best-selling Punjabi folk artists in the world, with a vocal style likened to that of Kuldip Manak.
Other influential folk artists include Surinder Shinda – famous for his "Putt Jattan De" – Harbhajan Mann, Manmohan Waris, Sarbjit Cheema, Hans Raj Hans, Sardool Sikander, B21, Paaras and Bombay Talkie.
By the end of the 1990s, bhangra music had largely declined and been replaced with Punjabi folk singers. The same folk singers which bhangra bands had replaced a decade earlier were being utilized by DJs to make relatively inexpensive live music on laptops. This "folkhop" genre was short lived as records could not be officially released due to nonclearance copyrights on samples used to create the "beat". This continued until the end of the century. Folk-hop record labels such as Hi-Tech were investigated by BPI (British Phonographic Industry) for copyright infringement by way of uncleared samples on releases by folk DJs such as DJ Sanj.
Toward the end of the decade, bhangra continued to decline, with folk-hop artists such as Bally Sagoo and Apache Indian signing with international recording labels Sony and Island. Moreover, Multitone Records, one of the major recording labels associated with bhangra in Britain in the 1980s and 1990s, was bought by BMG. A recent Pepsi commercial launched in Britain featured South Asian actors and Punjabi folk music.2000s remixes
Punjabi folk remixed with hip-hop, known as folkhop, is most often produced when folk vocals are purchased online to be remixed in a studio. Folk vocals are usually sung to traditional melodies, that are often repeated with new lyrics.
Some South Asian DJs, especially in America, have mixed Punjabi folk music with house, reggae, and hip-hop to add a different flavour to Punjabi folk. These remixes continued to gain popularity as the 1990s came to an end.
A notable remix artist is Bally Sagoo, a Punjabi-Sikh, Anglo-Indian raised in Birmingham, England. Sagoo described his music as "a bit of tablas, a bit of the Indian sound. But bring on the bass lines, bring on the funky-drummer beat, bring on the James Brown samples", to Time magazine in 1997. He was recently signed by Sony. Daler Mehndi, a Punjabi singer from India has a type of music known as "folk pop". Mehndi has released tracks such as "Bolo Ta Ra Ra" and "Ho Jayegee Balle Balle". His song "Tunak Tunak Tun" was released in 1998.
Canada and the United States
, famous for her numerous album releases ]]
Punjabi immigrants have encouraged the growth of Punjabi folk music in the Western hemisphere rather than bhangra music. The bhangra industry has grown in North America much less than in the United Kingdom.
North American (non bhangra) folk artists such as Manmohan Waris, Jazzy Bains, Kamal Heer, Harbhajan Mann, Sarabjit Cheema, and Debi Makhsoospuri have emerged and the remix market has grown.
In 2001, Punjabi folk, and its hip-hop form, folkhop, began to exert an influence over US R&B music, when Missy Elliott released the folkhop-influenced song "Get Ur Freak On". In 2003, a version of Panjabi MC's "Mundian To Bach Ke" ("Beware of the Boys") featured U.S. rapper Jay-Z. Additionally, American rapper Pras of The Fugees recorded tracks with British alternative bhangra band Swami. American singer and actress Selena Gomez released her bhangra-influenced single "Come & Get It" from her first solo album Stars Dance in 2013.
Lyrics
.]]
Bhangra lyrics, which generally cover social issues or love, are sung in Punjabi. Bhangra lyrics were generally kept deliberately simple by the creators of the genre because the youth did not understand complex lyrics. Traditional Punjabi folk lyrics are generally more complex and often tell the tales of Punjabi history. There are many bhangra songs devoted to Punjabi pride themes and Punjabi heroes. The lyrics are tributes to the cultural traditions of Punjab. In particular, many bhangra tracks have been written about Udham Singh and Bhagat Singh. Less serious topics include beautiful women with their colourful duppattas. Lyrics can also be about crops and the coming of a new season. Bhangra is sung fiercely with strong lyrics often yelling: "balle balle" or "chakde phate", which refer to celebration and/or pride.
Notable bhangra or Punjabi lyricists include Harbans Jandu who wrote "Giddhian Di Rani".
Instruments
Punjabi instruments contribute to bhangra. Originally this was primarily the dhol. The 20th century has brought changes to the instruments that define bhangra, to include the tumbi, sarangi, dholak (smaller than the dhol), flute, zither, fiddle, harmonium, tabla, guitar, mandolin, saxophone, synthesizer, drum set, and other Western instruments. Perhaps the most famous bhangra instrument is the dhol. It is a double-sided barrel drum that creates the beat to which bhangra is danced. The person who plays the instrument, the dholi, plays various beats to create the different bhangra segments, such as Dhamaal, Jhummar, One side of the dhol has thicker skin, which creates a deeper sound, and the other side has a thinner skin, resulting in a higher-pitched sound. Two sticks are used to play the dhol instrument. The thicker stick, called the dagga, is used to play the bass side. The thinner tilli is used to play the treble side. Both sticks are usually made of wood or bamboo.
The string instruments include the guitar (both electrical), bass, sitar, tumbi, veena, violin and sarangi. The snare, toms, dhadd, dafli, dholki, and damru are the other drums. The tumbi, originally played by folk artists such as Lalchand Yamla Jatt and Kuldip Manak in true folk recordings and then notably used by Chamkila, a Punjabi folk (not bhangra) singer, is a high-tone, single-string instrument and Chimta by (Late) Alam Lohar.Cultural impact and resurgence of Punjabi folk music in the West
The third and fourth generation are generally unable to speak Punjabi if their parents could hardly speak it. There is a move towards Punjabi folk music which is the purest form of Punjabi music. Much of the youth struggle to understand the lyrics, although, there are some children and young adults who have maintained their folk roots. Another reason why some fans express an anti-folk sentiment is that many folk songs were written for the dominant Jatts clan whereas Sikhs do not believe in castes, so they disapproved of Punjabi folk music. However, today with artists like Jazzy B, PMC, Sukhshinder Shinda and Diljit Dosanjh, Punjabi folk has increased in popularity although it is fused in some cases. iTunes has catalogs of many Punjabi folk singers available.
Another cause of the resurgence of Punjabi folk music is due to the increased popularity of bhangra in areas like the UK, Canada and U.S. Bhangra has become more accessible through social media platforms such as YouTube and Instagram, for the younger generation. In addition, multiple universities, across the UK, US and Canada have teams as well as academies being set up by senior dancers separate from universities. This resurgence has led to a desire for more traditional folk songs and beats, but also a learning opportunity for children of their cultures.
Derivatives
Bhangragga
Bhangragga or bhangramuffin is a term for the style of music incorporating elements of bhangra and dancehall (or ragga, short for the word Raggamuffin) created by British Asian producers Simon and Diamond on the debut album by Apache Indian No Reservations (1993).
The sound is very percussion-heavy – a distinct holdover from bhangra – with a propulsive beat clearly designed for dancing. The dancehall influence can be felt through the use of pre-programmed music, similar to Dancehall "riddims".
Lyrically, the style features a combination of Sub-Continental-accented (usually Indian) vocals delivered in the clipped style associated with dancehall – and sometimes including the Patois of the latter style.
This style is almost exclusively a British phenomenon, as the two cultures involved in its genesis mix reasonably freely there. The most successful exponent, however, is Apache Indian, who had a worldwide hit with "Boom Shack-A-Lak", which was included on the soundtrack to the film Dumb and Dumber, among others.<ref name"tms2014"/>See also
*List of bhangra artists
*Music of Punjab
*Punjabi culture
*Asian Underground
*Multitone records
*Dhol
*Punjab region
*Music of the United Kingdom
References
External links
*[http://www.gabroo.tv Where Bhangra Lives]
*[http://www.simplybhangra.com Bhangra News, Music Videos & Interviews]
*[http://www.bhangra.org www.Bhangra.org]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20090913221449/http://houseofbhangra.co.uk/ House Of Bhangra]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20140703023931/http://www.indiamusic.com/ India Music – The first ever Indian Music domain and web site registered.]
Category:Punjabi music
Category:Indian styles of music
Category:Pakistani styles of music
Category:Punjabi words and phrases
Category:Culture of the United Kingdom
Category:Indian diaspora in the United Kingdom
Category:Pakistani diaspora in the United Kingdom
Category:Dance music genres
Category:Punjabi diaspora
Category:Pop music genres
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Beastie Boys
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| alt = A group of three men on a stairwell in front of a light background
| caption = Beastie Boys in 2009. From left to right: Ad-Rock, MCA, and Mike D.
| origin = New York City, U.S.
| genre =
| discography = Beastie Boys discography
| years_active = 1979–2012
| label =
}}
| website =
| past_members = <!--The three prominent "Beastie Boys" are listed first, followed by the two founding members who left in early years.-->
* John Berry
* MCA
* Mike D
* Kate Schellenbach
* Ad-Rock
}}
The Beastie Boys were an American hip hop and rap rock group formed in New York City in 1979. They were composed of Adam "Ad-Rock" Horovitz (vocals, guitar), Adam "MCA" Yauch (vocals, bass), and Michael "Mike D" Diamond (vocals, drums). The Beastie Boys were formed out of members of experimental hardcore punk band the Young Aborigines, which was formed in 1979, with Diamond on drums, Jeremy Shatan on bass guitar, John Berry on guitar, and Kate Schellenbach later joining on percussion. When Shatan left New York City in mid-1981, Yauch replaced him on bass and the resulting band was named the Beastie Boys. Berry left shortly thereafter and was replaced by Horovitz.
After achieving local success with the 1983 comedy hip hop single "Cooky Puss", the Beastie Boys made a full transition to hip hop, and Schellenbach left. They toured with Madonna in 1985 and a year later released their debut album, Licensed to Ill (1986), the first rap album to top the Billboard 200 chart. Their second album, ''Paul's Boutique (1989), composed almost entirely of samples, was a commercial failure that later received critical acclaim. Check Your Head (1992) and Ill Communication (1994) found mainstream success, followed by Hello Nasty (1998), To the 5 Boroughs (2004), The Mix-Up (2007), and Hot Sauce Committee Part Two'' (2011).
The Beastie Boys have sold 20 million records in the United States and had seven platinum-selling albums from 1986 to 2004. They are the biggest-selling rap group since Billboard began recording sales in 1991. In 2012, they became the third rap group to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In the same year, Yauch died of cancer and the Beastie Boys disbanded. The remaining members have released several retrospective works, including a book, a documentary, and a career-spanning compilation album.
History
1979–1983: Formation and early years
Prior to forming the Beastie Boys, Michael Diamond was part of a number of bands such as the Walden Jazz Band, and BAN. The Beastie Boys formed in 1979 as the Young Aborigines. In 1981, when the Young Aborigines bassist Jeremy Shatan left New York City for the summer, the remaining members Diamond, John Berry and Kate Schellenbach began to perform with Adam Yauch.
In a 2007 interview with Charlie Rose, Yauch recalled that it was Berry who suggested the name the Beastie Boys. Although the band stated that "Beastie" is an acronym standing for "Boys Entering Anarchistic States Towards Inner Excellence", in the Charlie Rose interview, both Yauch and Diamond acknowledged that the acronym was an "afterthought" conceived after the name was chosen. the Misfits and Reagan Youth at venues such as CBGB, A7, Trude Heller's and Max's Kansas City, playing at the latter venue on its closing night. In November 1982, the Beastie Boys recorded the 7-inch EP Polly Wog Stew at 171A studios, an early recorded example of New York hardcore.
On November 13, 1982, the Beastie Boys played Philip Pucci's birthday for the purposes of his short concert film, Beastie. Pucci held the concert in Bard College's Preston Drama Dance Department Theatre. This performance marked the Beastie Boys' first on-screen appearance in a published motion picture. Pucci's concept for Beastie was to distribute a mixture of both a half dozen 16 mm Bell & Howell Filmo cameras, and 16 mm Bolex cameras to audience members and ask that they capture the Beastie Boys performance from the audience's own point of view while a master sync sound camera filmed from the balcony of the abandoned theater where the performance was held. It was a part of the new lineup's first EP, also called Cooky Puss, which was the first piece of work that showed their incorporation of the underground rap phenomenon and the use of samples. It quickly became a hit in New York underground dance clubs and night clubs. After "Beastie Revolution" was later sampled in a British Airways commercial, the Beastie Boys threatened to sue them over the use of the song, and the airline immediately paid them $40,000 in royalties. 1984–1987: Def Jam years and Licensed to Ill Following the success of "Cooky Puss", the band began to incorporate rap into their sets. They hired a DJ for their live shows, New York University student Rick Rubin, who began producing records soon thereafter. "I met Mike first," Rubin recalled. "I thought he was an arrogant asshole. Through spending time with the Beasties I grew to see that they had this great sense of humor. It wasn't that they were assholes, and even if it was, they were funny with it." Rubin formed Def Jam Recordings with Russell Simmons, and approached the band about producing them for his new label. As the band was transitioning to hip hop, Schellenbach was fired in 1984, with Diamond taking over on drums. In their 2018 memoir, Ad-Rock expressed regret for firing Schellenbach, which he attributed to her not fitting with the "new tough-rapper-guy identity".
The band's 12-inch single "Rock Hard" (1984) was the second Def Jam record crediting Rubin as producer (the first was "It's Yours" by T La Rock and Jazzy Jay). During 1985, the group was the supporting act of the Virgin Tour, Madonna's first concert series. On July 22, 1986, the Beastie Boys opened for John Lydon's post-Sex Pistols band Public Image Ltd., They headlined with Fishbone and Murphy's Law with DJ Hurricane, and later in the year the group was on the Raising Hell tour with Run-DMC, Whodini, LL Cool J, and the Timex Social Club. Thanks to this exposure, "Hold It Now, Hit It" charted on Billboards US R&B and dance charts. "She's on It" from the Krush Groove soundtrack continued in a rap/metal vein while a double A-side 12", "Paul Revere/The New Style", was released at the end of the year.
The band recorded Licensed to Ill in 1986 and released it on November 15, 1986. The album was favorably reviewed by Rolling Stone magazine. Licensed to Ill became one of the best-selling rap albums of the 1980s and the first rap album to go number 1 on the Billboard 200 chart, where it stayed for five weeks. It also reached number 2 on the Top R&B album chart. It was Def Jam's fastest selling debut record to date and sold over nine-million copies. The fourth single, "(You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (To Party!)", reached number 7 on the US Billboard Hot 100. Although the group has sold over 26-million records in the US, this is their only single to peak in the US top ten or top twenty. The accompanying video (directed by Ric Menello and Adam Dubin) became an MTV staple. Another song from the album, "No Sleep till Brooklyn", peaked at number 14 on the UK Singles Chart.
The band took the Licensed to Ill tour around the world the following year. The tour was troubled by lawsuits and arrests, with the band accused of provoking the crowd. This culminated in a notorious gig at the Royal Court Theatre, Liverpool, England, on May 30, 1987, that erupted into a riot approximately 10 minutes after the group hit the stage and the arrest of Adam Horovitz by Merseyside Police. He was charged with assault causing grievous bodily harm.
1988–1989: Move to Capitol Records and ''Paul's Boutique
In 1988, the Beastie Boys appeared in Tougher Than Leather, a film directed by Rubin as a star vehicle for Run-D.M.C. and Def Jam Recordings. After Def Jam stopped paying them for work they had already done and were owed money for, the Beastie Boys left Def Jam and signed with Capitol Records.
The second Beastie Boys album, Paul's Boutique'', was released on July 25, 1989. Produced by the Dust Brothers, it blends eclectic samples and has been described as an early work of experimental hip hop. It failed to match the sales of Licensed to Ill, but later attracted acclaim; Rolling Stone ranked it number 156 on its list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. It also made it onto the Apple Music 100 Best Albums list at number 48.1990–1996: Check Your Head and Ill CommunicationCheck Your Head was recorded in the band's G-Son studio in Atwater Village, California, and released on its Grand Royal record label. The band was influenced to play instruments on this album by Dutch group Urban Dance Squad; with Mike D on drums, Yauch on bass, Horovitz on guitar and Mark Ramos Nishita ("Keyboard Money Mark") on keyboards. Mario Caldato, Jr., who had helped in the production of ''Paul's Boutique, engineered the record and became a longtime collaborator. Check Your Head was released in 1992 and was certified double Platinum in the US and peaked at number 10 on the Billboard'' 200. and charted on both the Rap and Modern Rock Chart, while the album's first single, "Pass the Mic", peaked at number 38 on the Hot Dance Music chart.
The Beastie Boys signed an eclectic roster of artists to their Grand Royal label, including Luscious Jackson, Sean Lennon, and Australian artist Ben Lee. The group owned Grand Royal Records until 2001. Grand Royal's first independent release was Luscious Jackson's album In Search of Manny in 1993. Also in 1993, the band contributed the track "It's the New Style" (with DJ Hurricane) to the AIDS benefit album No Alternative, produced by the Red Hot Organization.
The Beastie Boys also published Grand Royal Magazine, which ran for six issues between 1993 and 1997, the first issue featuring a cover story on Bruce Lee, artwork by George Clinton, and interviews with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and A Tribe Called Quest's MC Q-Tip. The 1995 issue of the magazine contained a piece on the mullet. The Oxford English Dictionary cites this as the first published use of the term, along with the lyrics from the band's 1994 song, "Mullet Head". That term was not heard in the 1980s, even though that decade has retroactively been hailed as the mullet's peak in popularity. The OED says that the term was "apparently coined, and certainly popularized, by US hip-hop group Beastie Boys".
Ill Communication, released in 1994, saw the Beastie Boys' return to the top of the charts when the album debuted at number 1 on the Billboard 200 Also in 1994, the band released Some Old Bullshit, featuring the band's early independent material, which made it to number 46 on the Billboard Independent Albums chart.
The Beastie Boys headlined at Lollapalooza—an American travelling music festival—in 1994, together with the Smashing Pumpkins. In addition, the band performed three concerts (in Los Angeles, New York City, and Washington, D.C.) to raise money for the Milarepa Fund and dedicated the royalties from "Shambala" and "Bodhisattva Vow" from Ill Communication to the cause. The Milarepa Fund aims to raise awareness of Tibetan human rights issues and the exile of the Dalai Lama. In 1996, Yauch organized the largest rock benefit show since 1985's Live Aid – the Tibetan Freedom Concert, a two-day festival at Golden Gate Park in San Francisco that attracted over 100,000 attendees.
In 1995, the popularity of the Beastie Boys was underlined when tickets for an arena tour went on sale in the US and Madison Square Garden and Chicago's Rosemont Horizon sold out within 30 minutes. One dollar from each ticket sold went through Milarepa to local charities in each city on the tour. The Beastie Boys toured South America and Southeast Asia for the first time. The band also released Aglio e Olio (Italian for "Garlic and Oil"), a collection of eight songs lasting just 11 minutes harking back to their punk roots, in 1995. The In Sound from Way Out!, a collection of previously released jazz/funk instrumentals, was released on Grand Royal in 1996 with the title and artwork a homage to an album by electronic pop music pioneers Perrey and Kingsley.
In 1992, the Beastie Boys decided to sample portions of the sound recording of "Choir" by James Newton in various renditions of their song "Pass the Mic". The band did not obtain a license from Newton to use the composition. Pursuant to their license from ECM Records, the Beastie Boys digitally sampled the opening six seconds of Newton's sound recording of "Choir", and repeated this six-second sample as a background element throughout their song. Newton brought suit, claiming that the band infringed his copyright in the underlying composition of "Choir". The district court granted the Beastie Boys summary judgment. The album displayed a substantial shift in musical feel, with the addition of Mix Master Mike. The album featured bombastic beats, rap samples, and experimental sounds. Released on July 14, 1998, Hello Nasty earned first week sales of 681,000 in the US and went straight to number 1 in the US, the UK, Germany, Australia, the Netherlands, New Zealand, and Sweden. The album achieved number 2 rank on the charts in Canada and Japan, and reached top-ten chart positions in Austria, Switzerland, Ireland, Belgium, Finland, France and Israel.
The Beastie Boys won two Grammy Awards in 1999, receiving the Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album for Hello Nasty as well as the Grammy Award for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group for "Intergalactic". This was the first time that a band had won awards in both rap and alternative categories. The following year at the 1999 MTV Video Music Awards, they also won the award for Best Hip Hop Video for their hit song "Intergalactic". The Beastie Boys used both appearances at the Video Music Awards to make politically charged speeches of considerable length to the sizable MTV audiences. At the 1998 ceremony, Yauch addressed the issue of Muslim people being stereotyped as terrorists and that most people of the Muslim faith are not terrorists. These comments were made in the wake of the US Embassy bombings that had occurred in both Kenya and Tanzania only a month earlier. At the 1999 ceremony in the wake of the horror stories that were coming out of Woodstock 99, Adam Horovitz addressed the fact that there had been many cases of sexual assaults and rapes at the festival, suggesting the need for bands and festivals to pay much more attention to the security details at their concerts. the band made live downloads of their performances available for their fans, but were temporarily thwarted when Capitol Records removed them from its website. The Beastie Boys was one of the first bands who made MP3 downloads available on their website. The group got a high level of response and public awareness as a result including a published article in The Wall Street Journal on the band's efforts.
The Beastie Boys released The Sounds of Science, a two-CD anthology of their works in 1999. This album reached number 19 on the Billboard 200,
In 2000, the Beastie Boys had planned to co-headline the Rhyme and Reason Tour with Rage Against the Machine and Busta Rhymes, but the tour was canceled when drummer Mike D sustained a serious injury due to a bicycle accident. The official diagnosis was fifth-degree acromioclavicular joint dislocation; he needed surgery and extensive rehabilitation. By the time he recovered, Rage Against the Machine had disbanded, although they would reunite seven years later.
Under the name Country Mike, Mike D recorded an album, ''Country Mike's Greatest Hits'', and gave it to friends and family for Christmas in 2000. Adam "Ad-Rock" Horovitz's side project BS 2000 released Simply Mortified in 2001. In October 2001, after the September 11, 2001 attacks, the Beastie Boys organized and headlined the New Yorkers Against Violence Concert at the Hammerstein Ballroom.
2002–2008: To the 5 Boroughs and The Mix-Up
In 2002, Adam Yauch started building a new studio facility, Oscilloscope Laboratories, in downtown Manhattan, New York and the band started work on a new album there. The band released a protest song, "In a World Gone Mad", against the 2003 Iraq war as a free download on several websites, including the Milarepa website, the MTV website, MoveOn.org, and Win Without War. The 19th and 20th Tibetan Freedom Concerts were held in Tokyo and Taipei, the Beastie Boys' first Taiwan appearance. The Beastie Boys also headlined the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival.
Their single, "Ch-Check It Out", debuted on The O.C. in the season 1 episode "The Vegas", which aired April 28, 2004.
To the 5 Boroughs was released worldwide on June 15, 2004. It was the first album the band produced themselves and reached number 1 on the Billboard albums chart,
The album was the cause of some controversy with allegations that it installed spyware when inserted into the CD drive of a computer. The band denied this allegation, defending that there is no copy protection software on the albums sold in the US and UK. While there is Macrovision CDS-200 copy protection software installed on European copies of the album, this is standard practice for all European releases on EMI/Capitol Records released in Europe, and it does not install spyware or any form of permanent software.
The band stated in mid-2006 that they were writing material for their next album and would be producing it themselves.
in September 2007]]
Speaking to British music weekly NME (April 26, 2007), Diamond revealed that a new album was to be called The Mix-Up. Despite initial confusion regarding whether the album would have lyrics as opposed to being purely instrumental, the Mic-To-Mic blog reported that Capitol Records had confirmed it would be strictly instrumental and erroneously reported a release date scheduled for July 10, 2007. (The album was eventually released June 26, as originally reported.) On May 1, 2007, this was further cemented by an e-mail sent to those on the band's mailing list – explicitly stating that the album would be all instrumental:
The band subsequently confirmed the new album and announced a short tour that focused on festivals as opposed to a traditional tour, including the likes of Sónar (Spain), Roskilde (Denmark), Hurricane/Southside (Germany), Bestival (Isle of Wight), Electric Picnic (Ireland) and Open'er Festival (Poland). The Beastie Boys performed at the UK leg of Live Earth July 7, 2007 at Wembley Stadium, London with "Sabotage", "So What'cha Want", "Intergalactic", and "Sure Shot".
They worked with Reverb, a non-profit environmental organization, on their 2007 summer tour, and headlined the Langerado Music Festival in South Florida on Friday, March 7, 2008. The band won a Grammy for The Mix-Up in the "Best Pop Instrumental Album" category at the 50th Annual Grammy Awards in 2008. The tentative title for the record was ''Tadlock's Glasses'', of which Yauch explained the inspiration behind the title:
On July 20, Yauch announced on the band's official YouTube channel and through the fan mailing list, the cancellation of several tour dates and the postponement of the new album due to the discovery of a cancerous tumor in his parotid gland and a lymph node. The group also had to cancel their co-headlining gig at the Osheaga Festival in Montreal and another headlining spot for the first night of the All Points West Festival in Jersey City, New Jersey.
In late October 2010, the Beastie Boys sent out two emails regarding the status of Hot Sauce Committee Pts. 1 and 2 to their online mailing list. An email dated October 18 read: "Although we regret to inform you that Hot Sauce Committee Part 1 will continue to be delayed indefinitely, Hot Sauce Committee Part 2 will be released on time as originally planned in spring of 2011." One week later, a second email was sent out, reading as follows:
The official release dates were April 27, 2011, for Japan; April 29 in the UK and Europe, and May 3, 2011, in the US. The third single for the album "Make Some Noise" was made available for download on April 11, 2011, as well as a limited edition 7-inch vinyl single for Record Store Day five days later with a Passion Pit remix of the track as a b-side. The track was leaked online on April 6 and subsequently made available via their blog.
On April 22, the Beastie Boys emailed out the cryptic message "This Sat, 10:35 am EST – Just listen, listen, listen to the beat box". A day later, they live streamed their album online via beatbox inside Madison Square Garden.
The band was announced as an inductee into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in December 2011. They were inducted by Chuck D and LL Cool J on April 14, 2012. Yauch was too sick to attend the ceremony, having been admitted to NewYork–Presbyterian Hospital the same day, therefore the group didn't perform; instead Black Thought, Travie from Gym Class Heroes and Kid Rock performed a medley of their songs. Diamond and Horovitz accepted and read a letter that Yauch had written.
2012–present: Deaths of Yauch and Berry, and disbandment
On May 4, 2012, Yauch died from cancer at the age of 47. Mike D told Rolling Stone that the Beastie Boys had recorded new music in late 2011, but did not say if these recordings would be released. He also said that the Beastie Boys would likely disband due to the death of MCA, though he was open to making new music with Ad-Rock and that "Yauch would genuinely want us to try whatever crazy thing we wanted but never got around to". In June 2014, Mike D confirmed that he and Ad-Rock would not make music under the Beastie Boys name again.
The founding Beastie Boys guitarist John Berry died on May 19, 2016, aged 52, as a result of frontotemporal dementia, following several years of ill health. He was credited with naming the band and played guitar on the first EP. The first Beastie Boys show took place at Berry's loft. They were awarded $1.7 million in damages and $668,000 for legal fees.
In October 2018, Mike D and Ad-Rock released a memoir, Beastie Boys Book, recounting events throughout the group's history. The book was adapted into a documentary in April 2020, Beastie Boys Story, directed by Spike Jonze and premiered on Apple TV+. The book and documentary were also complemented by the compilation album Beastie Boys Music, released in October 2020.
Activism
In 1994, Yauch and activist Erin Potts organized the Tibetan Freedom Concert in order to raise awareness of humans rights abuses by the Chinese government on the Tibetan people. Yauch became aware of this after hiking in Nepal and speaking with Tibetan refugees. The events became annual, and shortly after went international with acts such as Live, Mike Mills and Michael Stipe of R.E.M., Rage Against the Machine, the Smashing Pumpkins, and U2.
Musical style and influences
Originally a hardcore punk band, the Beastie Boys had largely abandoned the genre in favor of hip hop and rap rock by the time work began on their debut studio album Licensed to Ill. The group mixed elements of hip hop, punk, funk, electro, jazz and Latin music into their music. and punk rap.Legacy, influence and cultural impactAround the time of the release of their debut album, Licensed to Ill, Mike D started to appear on stage and in publicity photographs wearing a large Volkswagen emblem attached to a chain-link necklace. This started a rash of thefts of the emblem from vehicles around the world as fans tried to emulate him. A controversial concert in Columbus, Georgia, in 1987 led to the passage of a lewdness ordinance in that city.
The Beastie Boys are influential in the hip hop and rock music scenes, with artists such as Eminem, Rage Against the Machine, Hed PE, , Sublime, and Blur citing them as an influence. In the 2022 book ''What's That Sound?: An Introduction to Rock Music and Its History'', music journalists Andrew Flory and John Covach surmised "perhaps the Beastie Boys will prove to be the Elvises of rap—the inevitable white catalysts necessary for exploding black music innovations into Anglo ears."
The Beastie Boys have had four albums reach the top of the Billboard album charts (Licensed to Ill, Ill Communication, Hello Nasty and To the 5 Boroughs) since 1986. In the November 2004 issue, Rolling Stone named "Sabotage" the 475th song on their 500 Greatest Songs of All Time list.
In their April 2005 issue, Rolling Stone ranked them number 77 on their list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time. VH1 ranked them number 89 on their list of their 100 Greatest Artists of All Time. On September 27, 2007, it was announced that the Beastie Boys were one of the nine nominees for the 2008 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Inductions. In December 2011, they were announced to be official 2012 inductees.
The Beastie Boys have many high-profile longtime fans, including Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) president Dana White, who has a bass guitar signed by all three members and a copy of Beastie Boys Book in his office. Speaking on the death of Adam Yauch, White said, "I seriously haven't been impacted by a death in a long time like I was with the Beastie Boys". Actor Seth Rogen, who appeared in the video for "Make Some Noise", also said, "I'm a huge Beastie Boys fan and they just called and asked if I wanted to be a part of it, and I said yes without hesitation. I didn't need to hear anything. I didn't need to see anything, any concepts. I was just like, 'I will literally do anything you ask me to do'". Ben Stiller was seen in the crowd for the DVD release ''Awesome; I Fuckin' Shot That! and featured Horovitz in his movie While We're Young'', where he said, "I'm a huge Beastie Boys fan, so doing that, for me, was beyond anything". Eminem was highly influenced by the Beastie Boys and cited them alongside LL Cool J as being the reason he got into rap. During an interview with MTV after the death of Yauch, he said, "Adam Yauch brought a lot of positivity into the world and I think it's obvious to anyone how big of an influence the Beastie Boys were on me and so many others. They are trailblazers and pioneers and Adam will be sorely missed. My thoughts and prayers are with his family, Mike D., and Ad-Rock." His album cover for Kamikaze paid homage to Licensed to Ill and he also paid homage in his "Berzerk" video. In an interview with Rolling Stone, Beavis and Butt-Head creator Mike Judge acknowledged he was a fan of the band, citing his favorite song as "Fight for Your Right", as the Beastie Boys appeared on Beavis and Butt-Head on numerous occasions. Kid Rock wrote an in-depth tribute to Yauch after being influenced by the band, which said, "I thought I was the 4th member of Beastie Boys in 7th grade. You couldn't tell me I wasn't. The first time I ever saw them on stage was a very early show of theirs before Licensed to Ill came out, opening for Run DMC at Joe Louis Arena. My jaw dropped to the floor!" In 2020, Spin ranked the Beastie Boys as the 12th-most influential artist of the previous 35 years.
Tributes
In 2022, the New York City Council voted to rename the intersection of Ludlow and Rivington streets in Manhattan's Lower East Side—the location of the ''Paul's Boutique album cover—"Beastie Boys Square". The vote was the result of a grassroots campaign started in 2013 by historian LeRoy McCarthy. The renaming was voted down when first proposed in 2014, but it passed on July 14, 2022. The square was renamed on September 9, 2023, coinciding with the 50th anniversary of hip hop.Legal issues
In 2003, the Beastie Boys were involved in the landmark sampling decision Newton v. Diamond. In that case, a federal judge ruled that the band was not liable for sampling James Newton's "Choir" in their track "Pass the Mic". The sample used is the six-second flute stab. In short, the Beastie Boys cleared the sample but obtained only the rights to use the sound recording and not the composition rights to the song "Choir". In the decision, the judge found that:
... Because Beastie Boys' use of the sound recording was authorized, the sole basis of Newton's infringement action is his remaining copyright interest in the 'Choir' composition. We hold today that Beastie Boys' use of a brief segment of that composition, consisting of three notes separated by a half-step over a background C note, is not sufficient to sustain a claim for copyright infringement.}}
Members
Members
* Mike D – vocals, drums (1981–2012)
* Kate Schellenbach – drums, percussion, backing vocals (1981–1984)
* John Berry – guitars (1981–1982; died 2016)
* MCA – vocals, bass (1981–2012; his death)
* Ad-Rock – vocals, guitars (1982–2012)
Touring musicians
* DJ Double R (Rick Rubin) – disc jockey (1984–1985)
* Sam Sever – disc jockey (1986)
* Doctor Dré – disc jockey (1986)
* DJ Hurricane – disc jockey, backing vocals (1986–1997)
* Eric Bobo – percussion, drums (1992–1996)
* Money Mark (Mark Ramos-Nishita) – keyboards, vocals (1992–2012)
* Amery "AWOL" Smith – drums, backing vocals, percussion (1992–1998)
* Alfredo Ortiz – drums, percussion (1996–2012)
* Mix Master Mike – disc jockey, backing vocals (1998–2012)
Timeline
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Touring Members Timeline
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Discography
Studio albums
* Licensed to Ill (1986)
* ''Paul's Boutique (1989)
* Check Your Head (1992)
* Ill Communication (1994)
* Hello Nasty (1998)
* To the 5 Boroughs (2004)
* The Mix-Up (2007)
* Hot Sauce Committee Part Two'' (2011)
Tours
* The Virgin Tour (1985) (supporting Madonna)
* Raising Hell Tour (1986) (supporting Run-D.M.C.)
* Licensed to Ill Tour (1987) (with Public Enemy)
* Together Forever Tour (1987) (with Run-D.M.C.)
* Check Your Head Tour (1992) (with Cypress Hill, Rollins Band, Firehose, and Basehead)
* Lollapolooza (1994)
* Ill Communication Tour (1994–1995)
* In the Round Tour (1998–1999) (with A Tribe Called Quest and Money Mark)
* To the 5 Boroughs Tour (2004)
* The Mix-Up Tour (2007–2008)
Awards and nominations
;Grammy Awards
|-
|1992
|Check Your Head
|Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group
|
|-
|1995
|"Sabotage"
|Best Hard Rock Performance
|
|-
|Rowspan="2"|1999
|"Intergalactic"
|Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group
|
|-
|Hello Nasty
|Best Alternative Music Album
|
|-
|2001
|"Alive"
|Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group
|
|-
|rowspan="2"|2005
|"Ch-Check It Out"
|Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group
|
|-
|To The 5 Boroughs
|Best Rap Album
|
|-
|rowspan="2"|2008
|"Off the Grid"
|Best Pop Instrumental Performance
|
|-
|The Mix-Up
|Best Contemporary Instrumental Album
|
|-
|2010
|"Too Many Rappers" <small>(featuring Nas)</small>
|Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group
|
|}
;MTV Video Music Awards
|-
|rowspan="5"|1994
|rowspan="5"|"Sabotage"
|Video of the Year
|
|-
|Best Group Video
|
|-
|Breakthrough Video
|
|-
|Best Direction <small>(Director: Spike Jonze)</small>
|
|-
|Viewer's Choice
|
|-
|1998
|Beastie Boys
|Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award
|
|-
|1999
|"Intergalactic"
|Best Hip-Hop Video
|
|-
|2009
|"Sabotage"
|Best Video (That Should Have Won a Moonman)
|
|-
|rowspan="2"|2011
|rowspan="2"|"Make Some Noise"
|Video of the Year
|
|-
|Best Direction <small>(Director: Adam Yauch)</small>
|
|}
;MTV Europe Music Awards
|-
|1994
|Beastie Boys
|Best Group
|
|-
|rowspan="4"|1998
|"Intergalactic"
|Best Video
|
|-
|Hello Nasty
|Best Album
|
|-
|rowspan="2"|Beastie Boys
|Best Group
|
|-
|Best Hip-Hop
|
|-
|1999
|Beastie Boys
|Best Hip-Hop
|
|-
|rowspan="2"|2004
|rowspan="2"|Beastie Boys
|Best Group
|
|-
|Best Hip-Hop
|
|-
|2011
|"Make Some Noise"
|Best Video
|
|}
;MTV Video Music Awards Japan
|-
|2005
|"Ch-Check It Out"
|Best Hip-Hop Video
|
|-
|2009
|Beastie Boys
|MTV Street Icon Award
|
|}
Filmography
* Beastie (1982)
* Krush Groove (1985)
* Tougher Than Leather (1988)
* Futurama episode "Hell Is Other Robots" (1999)
* ''Awesome; I Fuckin' Shot That! (2006)
* Fight for Your Right Revisited (2011)
* Beastie Boys Story'' (2020)
Notes
References
Further reading
* External links
*
*
* [http://www.beastieboysannotated.com/ Beastie Boys Lyrics Annotated] – Beastie Boys lyrics laid out with annotated comments explaining popular culture and historical references as well as known samples.
*
}}
Category:1981 establishments in New York City
Category:Beastie Boys
Category:Alternative hip-hop groups
Category:East Coast hip-hop groups
Category:American rap rock groups
Category:Hip-hop groups from New York City
Category:Hardcore punk groups from New York (state)
Category:Alternative rock groups from New York (state)
Category:Capitol Records artists
Category:Def Jam Recordings artists
Category:ROIR artists
Category:Grand Royal artists
Category:Grammy Award winners for rap music
Category:MTV Europe Music Award winners
Category:MTV Video Music Award winners
Category:American feminist musicians
Category:Musical groups established in 1981
Category:Musical groups disestablished in 2012
Category:Mixed-gender bands
Category:Fellaheen Records artists
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beastie_Boys
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2025-04-05T18:26:32.281115
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British Isles
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|2 =
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|image_caption = A 2012 NASA satellite image of the British Isles, excluding Shetland and the Channel Islands which are out of the frame
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|map_image = British Isles (orthographic projection).svg
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|location = North-western Europe
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|area_km2 = 315159
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|timezone1 = Greenwich Mean Time / Western European Time
|utc_offset1 = ±0UTC
|timezone1_DST = Western European Summer Time
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The British Isles are an archipelago in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-western coast of continental Europe, consisting of the islands of Great Britain, Ireland, the Isle of Man, the Inner and Outer Hebrides, the Northern Isles (Orkney and Shetland), and over six thousand smaller islands. They have a total area of and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The Channel Islands, off the north coast of France, are normally taken to be part of the British Isles, even though geographically they do not form part of the archipelago. Under the UK Interpretation Act 1978, the Channel Islands are clarified as forming part of the British Islands, not to be confused with the British Isles.
The oldest rocks are 2.7 billion years old and are found in Ireland, Wales and the north-west of Scotland. During the Silurian period, the north-western regions collided with the south-east, which had been part of a separate continental landmass. The topography of the islands is modest in scale by global standards. Ben Nevis, the highest mountain, rises to only , and was not inhabited until after 8000 BC. Great Britain became an island by 7000 BC with the flooding of Doggerland.
The Gaels (Ireland), Picts (northern Great Britain) and Britons (southern Great Britain), all speaking Insular Celtic languages, inhabited the islands at the beginning of the 1st millennium BC. Much of Brittonic-occupied Britain was conquered by the Roman Empire from AD 43. The first Anglo-Saxons arrived as Roman power waned in the 5th century, and eventually they dominated the bulk of what is now England. Viking invasions began in the 9th century, followed by more permanent settlements and political change, particularly in England. The Norman conquest of England in 1066 and the later Angevin partial conquest of Ireland from 1169 led to the imposition of a new Norman ruling elite across much of Britain and parts of Ireland. By the Late Middle Ages, Great Britain was separated into the Kingdom of England and Kingdom of Scotland, while control in Ireland fluxed between Gaelic kingdoms, Hiberno-Norman lords and the English-dominated Lordship of Ireland, soon restricted only to the Pale. The 1603 Union of the Crowns, Acts of Union 1707 and Acts of Union 1800 aimed to consolidate Great Britain and Ireland into a single political unit, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, with the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands remaining as Crown Dependencies. The expansion of the British Empire and migrations following the Irish Famine and Highland Clearances resulted in the dispersal of some of the islands' population and culture throughout the world, and rapid depopulation of Ireland in the second half of the 19th century. Most of Ireland seceded from the United Kingdom after the Irish War of Independence and the subsequent Anglo-Irish Treaty (1919–1922), with six counties remaining in the UK as Northern Ireland.
As a term, "British Isles" is a geographical name and not a political unit. In Ireland, the term is controversial, and there are objections to its usage. The Government of Ireland does not officially recognise the term, and its embassy in London discourages its use. "Britain and Ireland" is used as an alternative description, and "Atlantic Archipelago" has also seen limited use in academia. In official documents created jointly by Ireland and the United Kingdom, such as the Good Friday Agreement, the term "these islands" is used.Etymology
The earliest known references to the islands as a group appeared in the writings of seafarers from the ancient Greek colony of Massalia. have survived.
In the 1st century BC, Diodorus Siculus has Prettanikē nēsos, "the British Island", and Prettanoi, "the Britons", describes Julius Caesar as having "advanced the Roman Empire as far as the British Isles" (), and remarks on the region "about the British Isles" (). According to Philip Freeman in 2001, "it seems reasonable, especially at this early point in classical knowledge of the Irish, for Diodorus or his sources to think of all inhabitants of the Brettanic Isles as Brettanoi".
Strabo used Βρεττανική (Brettanike), and Marcian of Heraclea, in his Periplus maris exteri, used αἱ Πρεττανικαί νῆσοι (the Prettanic Isles) to refer to the islands.
According to A. L. F. Rivet and Colin Smith in 1979 "the earliest instance of the name which is textually known to us" is in The Histories of Polybius, who referred to them . According to Rivet and Smith, this name encompassed "Britain with Ireland".
Historians today, though not in absolute agreement, largely agree that these Greek and Latin names were probably drawn from native Celtic-language names for the archipelago. Along these lines, the inhabitants of the islands were called the Πρεττανοί (Priteni or Pretani). The shift from the "P" of Pretannia to the "B" of Britannia by the Romans occurred during the time of Julius Caesar.
Greco-Egyptian Claudius Ptolemy referred to the larger island as great Britain (μεγάλη Βρεττανία megale Brettania) and to Ireland as little Britain (μικρὰ Βρεττανία mikra Brettania) in his work Almagest (147–148 AD). According to Philip Freeman in 2001, Ptolemy "is the only ancient writer to use the name "Little Britain" for Ireland, though in doing so he is well within the tradition of earlier authors who pair a smaller Ireland with a larger Britain as the two Brettanic Isles". In the second book of Ptolemy's Geography (), the second and third chapters are respectively titled in and .
In Arabic geography and cartography in the medieval Islamic world, the British Isles are known as or . Arabic geographies, including the of al-Battānī, mention the British Isles as twelve islands.
John Skelton's English translation of Diodorus Siculus's , written in the middle 1480s, mentions the British Isles as . Thomas Twyne's English translation of Dionysius Periegetes's , published in 1572, mentions the British Isles as . The earliest citation of the phrase in the Oxford English Dictionary is in a work by John Dee dated 1577.
Other names used to describe the islands include the Anglo-Celtic Isles, Atlantic archipelago (a term coined by the historian J. G. A. Pocock in 1975), British-Irish Isles, Britain and Ireland, UK and Ireland, and British Isles and Ireland.
Owing to political and national associations with the word British, the Government of Ireland does not use the term British Isles British Isles is the most widely accepted term for the archipelago. Of particular note was the Caledonian orogeny during the Ordovician and early Silurian periods, when the craton Baltica collided with the terrane Avalonia to form the mountains and hills in northern Britain and Ireland. Baltica formed roughly the north-western half of Ireland and Scotland. Further collisions caused the Variscan orogeny in the Devonian and Carboniferous periods, forming the hills of Munster, south-west England, and southern Wales. Over the last 500 million years the land that forms the islands has drifted north-west from around 30°S, crossing the equator around 370 million years ago to reach its present northern latitude.
The islands have been shaped by numerous glaciations during the Quaternary Period, the most recent being the Devensian. As this ended, the central Irish Sea was deglaciated and the English Channel flooded, with sea levels rising to current levels some 8,000 years ago, leaving the British Isles in their current form.
There are about 136 permanently inhabited islands in the group, the largest two being Great Britain and Ireland. Great Britain is to the east and covers . Ireland is to the west and covers . but has the third highest population behind Great Britain and Ireland.
The islands are at relatively low altitudes, with central Ireland and southern Great Britain particularly low-lying: the lowest point in the islands is the North Slob in County Wexford, Ireland, with an elevation of . The Scottish Highlands in the northern part of Great Britain are mountainous, with Ben Nevis being the highest point on the islands at . There are a number of major rivers within the British Isles. The longest is the Shannon in Ireland at . The river Severn at is the longest in Great Britain.ClimateThe climate of the British Isles is mild, moist and changeable with abundant rainfall and a lack of temperature extremes. It is defined as a temperate oceanic climate, or Cfb on the Köppen climate classification system, a classification it shares with most of north-west Europe. The North Atlantic Drift ("Gulf Stream"), which flows from the Gulf of Mexico, brings with it significant moisture and raises temperatures above the global average for the islands' latitudes. Most Atlantic depressions pass to the north of the islands; combined with the general westerly circulation and interactions with the landmass, this imposes a general east–west variation in climate. There are four distinct climate patterns: south-east, with cold winters, warm and dry summers; south-west, having mild and very wet winters, warm and wet summers; north-west, generally wet with mild winters and cool summers; and north-east with cold winters, cool summers.Flora and fauna
, Ireland]]
The islands enjoy a mild climate and varied soils, giving rise to a diverse pattern of vegetation. Animal and plant life is similar to that of the north-western European mainland. There are however, fewer numbers of species, with Ireland having even less. All native flora and fauna in Ireland is made up of species that migrated primarily from Great Britain. The only window when this could have occurred was prior to the melting of the ice bridge between the two islands 14,000 years ago approaching the end of the last ice age.
As with most of Europe, prehistoric Britain and Ireland were covered with forest and swamp. Clearing began around 6000 BC and accelerated in medieval times. Despite this, Britain retained its primeval forests longer than most of Europe due to a small population and later development of trade and industry, and wood shortages were not a problem until the 17th century. By the 18th century, most of Britain's forests were consumed for shipbuilding or manufacturing charcoal and the nation was forced to import lumber from Scandinavia, North America, and the Baltic. Most forest land in Ireland is maintained by state forestation programmes. Almost all land outside urban areas is farmland. However, relatively large areas of forest remain in east and north Scotland and in southeast England. Oak, elm, ash and beech are amongst the most common trees in England. In Scotland, pine and birch are most common. Natural forests in Ireland are mainly oak, ash, wych elm, birch and pine. Beech and lime, though not native to Ireland, are also common there. Farmland hosts a variety of semi-natural vegetation of grasses and flowering plants. Woods, hedgerows, mountain slopes and marshes host heather, wild grasses, gorse and bracken.
Many larger animals, such as wolves, bears and European elk are today extinct. However, some species such as red deer are protected. Other small mammals, such as rabbits, foxes, badgers, hares, hedgehogs, and stoats, are very common and the European beaver has been reintroduced in parts of Scotland. Wild boar have also been reintroduced to parts of southern England, following escapes from boar farms and illegal releases. Many rivers contain otters and grey and common seals are numerous on coasts. There are about 250 bird species regularly recorded in Great Britain, and another 350 that occur with varying degrees of rarity. The most numerous species are wren, robin, house sparrow, woodpigeon, chaffinch and blackbird. Farmland birds are declining in number, except for those kept for game such as pheasant, red-legged partridge, and red grouse. Fish are abundant in the rivers and lakes, in particular salmon, trout, perch and pike. Sea fish include dogfish, cod, sole, pollock and bass, as well as mussels, crab and oysters along the coast. There are more than 21,000 species of insects.
Few species of reptiles or amphibians are found in Great Britain or Ireland. Only three snakes are native to Great Britain: the adder, the barred grass snake and the smooth snake; none are native to Ireland. In general, Great Britain has slightly more variation and native wildlife, with weasels, polecats, wildcats, most shrews, moles, water voles, roe deer and common toads also being absent from Ireland. This pattern is also true for birds and insects. Notable exceptions include the Kerry slug and certain species of woodlouse native to Ireland but not Great Britain.
Domestic animals include the Connemara pony, Shetland pony, English Mastiff, Irish Wolfhound and many varieties of cattle and sheep.
Demographics
]]
England has a generally high population density, with almost 80% of the total population of the islands. Elsewhere in Great Britain and Ireland, high density of population is limited to areas around a few large cities. The largest urban area by far is the Greater London Built-up Area with 9 million inhabitants. Other major population centres include the Greater Manchester Built-up Area (2.4 million), West Midlands conurbation (2.4 million) and West Yorkshire Urban Area (1.6 million) in England, Greater Glasgow (1.2 million) in Scotland and Greater Dublin Area (1.9 million) in Ireland.
The population of England rose rapidly during the 19th and 20th centuries, whereas the populations of Scotland and Wales showed little increase during the 20th century; the population of Scotland has remained unchanged since 1951. Ireland for most of its history had much the same population density as Great Britain (about one-third of the total population). However, since the Great Irish Famine, the population of Ireland has fallen to less than one-tenth of the population of the British Isles. The famine caused a century-long population decline, drastically reduced the Irish population and permanently altered the demographic make-up of the British Isles. On a global scale, this disaster led to the creation of an Irish diaspora that numbers fifteen times the current population of the island.
The linguistic heritage of the British Isles is rich, with twelve languages from six groups across four branches of the Indo-European family. The Insular Celtic languages of the Goidelic sub-group (Irish, Manx and Scottish Gaelic) and the Brittonic sub-group (Cornish, Welsh and Breton, spoken in north-western France) are the only remaining Celtic languages—the last of their continental relations were extinct before the 7th century. The Norman languages of Guernésiais, Jèrriais and Sercquiais spoken in the Channel Islands are similar to French, a language also spoken there. A cant, called Shelta, is spoken by Irish Travellers, often to conceal meaning from those outside the group. However, English, including Scots, is the dominant language, with few monoglots remaining in the other languages of the region. The Norn language of Orkney and Shetland became extinct around 1880. <!-- This image might be of interest to keep, but hard to place right now in the article: showing language branches, major languages and typically where they are spoken for modern languages in the British Isles.]] -->
Urban areas
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Rank
! Urban area
! Population
! Country
|-
! 1
|align=left|London||9,787,426||England
|-
! 2
|align=left|Greater Manchester||2,553,379||England
|-
! 3
|align=left|West Midlands Conurbation||2,440,986||England
|-
! 4
|align=left|West Yorkshire Urban Area||1,777,934||England
|-
! 5
|align=left|Glasgow||1,209,143||Scotland
|-
! 6
|align=left|Dublin||1,173,179||Republic of Ireland
|-
! 7
|align=left|Liverpool||864,122||England
|-
! 8
|align=left|South Hampshire||855,569||England
|-
! 9
|align=left|Tyneside||774,891||England
|-
! 10
|align=left|Nottingham||729,977||England
|-
! 11
|align=left|Sheffield||685,386||England
|-
! 12
|align=left|Bristol||617,280||England
|-
! 13
|align=left|Belfast||595,879||Northern Ireland
|-
! 14
|align=left|Leicester||508,916||England
|-
! 15
|align=left|Edinburgh||482,005||Scotland
|-
! 16
|align=left|Brighton and Hove||474,485||England
|-
! 17
|align=left|Bournemouth||466,266||England
|-
! 18
|align=left|Cardiff||481,082||Wales
|-
! 19
|align=left|Teesside||376,633||England
|-
! 20
|align=left|Stoke-on-Trent||372,775||England
|-
! 21
|align=left|Coventry||359,262||England
|-
! 22
|align=left|Sunderland||335,415||England
|-
! 23
|align=left|Birkenhead||325,264||England
|-
! 24
|align=left|Reading||318,014||England
|-
! 25
|align=left|Kingston-upon-Hull||314,018||England
|-
! 26
|align=left|Preston||313,322||England
|-
! 27
|align=left|Newport||306,844||Wales
|-
! 28
|align=left|Swansea||300,352||Wales
|-
! 29
|align=left|Southend-on-Sea||295,310||England
|-
! 30
|align=left|Derby||270,468||England
|-
! 31
|align=left|Plymouth||260,203||England
|-
! 32
|align=left|Luton||258,018||England
|-
! 33
|align=left|Aldershot||252,397||England
|-
! 34
|align=left|Medway||243,931||England
|-
! 35
|align=left|Blackpool||239,409||England
|-
! 36
|align=left|Milton Keynes||229,431||England
|-
! 37
|align=left|Barnsley||223,281||England
|-
! 38
|align=left|Cork||222,000||Republic of Ireland
|-
! 39
|align=left|Northampton||215,963||England
|-
! 40
|align=left|Norwich||213,166||England
|-
! 41
|align=left|Aberdeen||207,932||Scotland
|}
History
2.5 million years ago the British Isles were repeatedly submerged beneath an ice sheet which extended into the middle of the North Sea, with a larger ice sheet that covered a significant proportion of Scandinavia on the opposite side. Around 1.9 million years ago these two ice sheets frequently merged, essentially creating a land bridge between Scandinavia and northern Great Britain. Further south, there was a direct land bridge, now known as Doggerland, which was gradually submerged as sea levels rose. However, the Irish Sea was formed before Doggerland was completely covered in water, with Ireland becoming an island roughly 6,000 years before Great Britain did.
The first evidence of human activity on the islands dates from 840,000 or 950,000 years ago, based in flint tools found near Happisburgh on the Norfolk coast of Great Britain. In contrast, the earliest evidence of human activity on the island of Ireland dates from 12,500 years ago.
At the time of the Roman Empire, about two thousand years ago, various tribes, which spoke Celtic dialects of the Insular Celtic group, were inhabiting the islands. The Romans expanded their civilisation to control southern Great Britain but were impeded in advancing any further, building Hadrian's Wall to mark the northern frontier of their empire in 122 AD. At that time, Ireland was populated by a people known as Hiberni, the northern third or so of Great Britain by a people known as Picts and the southern two thirds by Britons.
(9th century)]]
Anglo-Saxons arrived as Roman power waned in the 5th century AD. Initially, their arrival seems to have been at the invitation of the Britons as mercenaries to repulse incursions by the Hiberni and Picts. In time, Anglo-Saxon demands on the British became so great that they came to culturally dominate the bulk of southern Great Britain, though recent genetic evidence suggests Britons still formed the bulk of the population. This dominance created what is now England and left culturally British enclaves only in the north of what is now England, in Cornwall and what is now known as Wales. Ireland had been unaffected by the Romans except, significantly, for being Christianised—traditionally by the Romano-Briton, Saint Patrick. As Europe, including Britain, descended into turmoil following the collapse of Roman civilisation, an era known as the Dark Ages, Ireland entered a golden age and responded with missions (first to Great Britain and then to the continent), the founding of monasteries and universities. These were later joined by Anglo-Saxon missions of a similar nature.
Viking invasions began in the 9th century, followed by more permanent settlements, particularly along the east coast of Ireland, the west coast of modern-day Scotland and the Isle of Man. Though the Vikings were eventually neutralised in Ireland, their influence remained in the cities of Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Waterford and Wexford. England, however, was slowly conquered around the turn of the first millennium AD, and eventually became a feudal possession of Denmark. The relations between the descendants of Vikings in England and counterparts in Normandy, in northern France, lay at the heart of a series of events that led to the Norman conquest of England in 1066. The remnants of the Duchy of Normandy, which conquered England, remain associated to the English Crown as the Channel Islands to this day. A century later, the marriage of the future Henry II of England to Eleanor of Aquitaine created the Angevin Empire, partially under the French Crown. At the invitation of Diarmait Mac Murchada, a provincial king, and under the authority of Pope Adrian IV (the only Englishman to be elected pope), the Angevins invaded Ireland in 1169. Though initially intended to be kept as an independent kingdom, the failure of the Irish High King to ensure the terms of the Treaty of Windsor led Henry II, as King of England, to rule as effective monarch under the title of Lord of Ireland. This title was granted to his younger son, but when Henry's heir unexpectedly died, the title of King of England and Lord of Ireland became entwined in one person.
By the Late Middle Ages, Great Britain was separated into the Kingdoms of England and Scotland. Power in Ireland fluxed between Gaelic kingdoms, Hiberno-Norman lords and the English-dominated Lordship of Ireland. A similar situation existed in the Principality of Wales, which was slowly being annexed into the Kingdom of England by a series of laws. During the course of the 15th century, the Crown of England would assert a claim to the Crown of France, thereby also releasing the King of England from being vassal of the King of France. In 1534, King Henry VIII, at first having been a strong defender of Roman Catholicism in the face of the Reformation, separated from the Roman Church after failing to secure a divorce from the Pope. His response was to place the King of England as "the only Supreme Head in Earth of the Church of England", thereby removing the authority of the Pope from the affairs of the English Church. Ireland, which had been held by the King of England as Lord of Ireland, but which strictly speaking had been a feudal possession of the Pope since the Norman invasion was declared a separate kingdom in personal union with England.
Scotland meanwhile had remained an independent Kingdom. In 1603, that changed when the King of Scotland inherited the Crown of England, and consequently the Crown of Ireland also. The subsequent 17th century was one of political upheaval, religious division and war. English colonialism in Ireland of the 16th century was extended by large-scale Scottish and English colonies in Ulster. Religious division heightened, and the king of England came into conflict with parliament over his tolerance towards Catholicism. The resulting English Civil War or War of the Three Kingdoms led to a revolutionary republic in England. Ireland, largely Catholic, was mainly loyal to the king, but by military conquest was subsumed into the new republic. Following defeat to the parliament's army, large scale land distributions from loyalist Irish nobility to English commoners in the service of the parliamentary army created a new Ascendancy class which obliterated the remnants of Old English (Hiberno-Norman) and Gaelic Irish nobility in Ireland. The new ruling class was Protestant and English, whilst the populace was largely Catholic and Irish. This theme would influence Irish politics for centuries to come. When the monarchy was restored in England, the king found it politically impossible to restore the lands of former landowners in Ireland. The "Glorious Revolution" of 1688 repeated similar themes: a Catholic king pushing for religious tolerance in opposition to a Protestant parliament in England. The king's army was defeated at the Battle of the Boyne and at the militarily crucial Battle of Aughrim in Ireland. Resistance held out, eventually forcing the guarantee of religious tolerance in the Treaty of Limerick. However, the terms were never honoured and a new monarchy was installed.
The Kingdoms of England and Scotland were unified in 1707 creating the Kingdom of Great Britain. Following an attempted republican revolution in Ireland in 1798, the Kingdoms of Ireland and Great Britain were unified in 1801, creating the United Kingdom. The Isle of Man and the Channel Islands remaining outside of the United Kingdom, but with their ultimate good governance being the responsibility of the British Crown (effectively the British government). Although the colonies of North America that would become the United States of America were lost by the start of the 19th century, the British Empire expanded rapidly elsewhere. A century later, it would cover one-third of the globe. Poverty in the United Kingdom remained desperate, however, and industrialisation in England led to terrible conditions for the working classes. Mass migrations following the Irish Famine and Highland Clearances resulted in the distribution of the islands' population and culture throughout the world and a rapid de-population of Ireland in the second half of the 19th century. Most of Ireland seceded from the United Kingdom after the Irish War of Independence and the subsequent Anglo-Irish Treaty (1919–1922), with the six counties that formed Northern Ireland remaining as an autonomous region of the UK.
Politics
of the subdivisions of the British Isles. Geographical subdivisions are in green, political subdivisions in blue.]]
and economic arrangements]]
There are two sovereign states in the British Isles: Ireland and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Ireland, sometimes called the Republic of Ireland, governs five-sixths of the island of Ireland, with the remainder of the island forming Northern Ireland. Northern Ireland is a part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, usually shortened to simply "the United Kingdom", which governs the remainder of the archipelago with the exception of the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands. The Isle of Man and the two Bailiwicks of the Channel Islands, Jersey and Guernsey, are known as the Crown Dependencies. They exercise constitutional rights of self-government and judicial independence; responsibility for international representation rests largely with the UK (in consultation with the respective governments); and responsibility for defence is reserved by the UK. The United Kingdom is made up of four constituent parts: England, Scotland and Wales, forming Great Britain, and Northern Ireland in the northeast of the island of Ireland. Of these, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have devolved governments, meaning that each has its own parliament or assembly and is self-governing with respect to certain matters set down by law. For judicial purposes, Scotland, Northern Ireland and England and Wales (the latter being one entity) form separate legal jurisdictions, with there being no single law for the UK as a whole.
Ireland, the United Kingdom and the three Crown dependencies are all parliamentary democracies, with their own separate parliaments. All parts of the United Kingdom return Members of Parliament (MPs) to parliament in London. In addition to this, voters in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland return members to a devolved parliament in Edinburgh and in Cardiff and an assembly in Belfast. Governance in the norm is by majority rule; however, Northern Ireland uses a system of power sharing whereby unionists and nationalists share executive posts proportionately and where the assent of both groups is required for the Northern Ireland Assembly to make certain decisions. (In the context of Northern Ireland, unionists are those who want Northern Ireland to remain a part of the United Kingdom and nationalists are those who want Northern Ireland to join with the rest of Ireland.) The British monarch is the head of state of the United Kingdom, while in the Republic of Ireland the head of state is the President of Ireland.
Ireland is the only part of the isles that is a member state of the European Union (EU). The UK was a member between 1 January 1973 and 31 January 2020, but the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands were not. Since the partition of Ireland, an informal free-travel area has existed across the island of Ireland. This area required formal recognition in 1997 during the course of negotiations for the Amsterdam Treaty of the European Union, and (together with the Crown dependencies) is now known as the Common Travel Area. As such, Ireland is not part of the Schengen Area, which allows passport-free travel between most EU member states, and is the only member state with an opt-out from the obligation to join the Schengen Zone.
Reciprocal arrangements allow British and Irish citizens specific voting rights in the two states. In Ireland, British citizens can vote in General and local elections, but not in European Parliament elections, constitutional referendums or presidential elections (for which there is no comparable franchise in the United Kingdom). In the United Kingdom, Irish and Commonwealth citizens can vote in every election for which British citizens are eligible. In the Crown dependencies, any resident can vote in general elections, but in Jersey and the Isle of Man only British citizens can run for office. These pre-date European Union law, and in both jurisdictions go further than what was required by European Union law (EU citizens may only vote in local elections in both states and European elections in Ireland). In 2008, a UK Ministry of Justice report investigating how to strengthen the British sense of citizenship proposed to end this arrangement, arguing that "the right to vote is one of the hallmarks of the political status of citizens; it is not a means of expressing closeness between countries".
In addition, some civil bodies are organised throughout the islands as a whole—for example, the Samaritans, which is deliberately organised without regard to national boundaries on the basis that a service which is not political or religious should not recognise sectarian or political divisions. The Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI), a charity that operates a lifeboat service, is also organised throughout the islands as a whole, covering the waters of the United Kingdom, Ireland, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islands.
The Northern Ireland peace process has led to a number of unusual arrangements between the Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland and the United Kingdom. For example, citizens of Northern Ireland are entitled to the choice of Irish or British citizenship or both, and the Governments of Ireland and the United Kingdom consult on matters not devolved to the Northern Ireland Executive. The Northern Ireland Executive and the Government of Ireland also meet as the North/South Ministerial Council to develop policies common across the island of Ireland. These arrangements were made following the 1998 Good Friday Agreement.
British–Irish Council
Another body established under the Good Friday Agreement, the British–Irish Council, is made up of all of the states and territories of the British Isles. The British–Irish Parliamentary Assembly () predates the British–Irish Council and was established in 1990. Originally it comprised 25 members of the Oireachtas, the Irish parliament, and 25 members of the parliament of the United Kingdom, with the purpose of building mutual understanding between members of both legislatures. Since then the role and scope of the body has been expanded to include representatives from the Scottish Parliament, the Senedd (Welsh Parliament), the Northern Ireland Assembly, the States of Jersey, the States of Guernsey and the High Court of Tynwald (Isle of Man).
The Council does not have executive powers but meets biannually to discuss issues of mutual importance. Similarly, the Parliamentary Assembly has no legislative powers but investigates and collects witness evidence from the public on matters of mutual concern to its members. Reports on its findings are presented to the Governments of Ireland and the United Kingdom. During the February 2008 meeting of the British–Irish Council, it was agreed to set up a standing secretariat that would serve as a permanent 'civil service' for the Council. Leading on from developments in the British–Irish Council, the chair of the British–Irish Inter-Parliamentary Assembly, Niall Blaney, has suggested that the body should shadow the British–Irish Council's work.
Culture
teeing off at the Open Championship (golf) in 2007]]
The United Kingdom and Ireland have separate media, although British television, newspapers and magazines are widely available in Ireland, giving people in Ireland a high level of familiarity with the culture of the United Kingdom. Irish newspapers are also available in the UK, and Irish state and private television are widely available in Northern Ireland. Certain reality TV shows have embraced the whole of the islands, for example The X Factor, seasons 3, 4 and 7 of which featured auditions in Dublin and were open to Irish voters, whilst the show previously known as ''Britain's Next Top Model became Britain and Ireland's Next Top Model'' in 2011. A few cultural events are organised for the island group as a whole. For example, the Costa Book Awards are awarded to authors resident in the UK or Ireland. The Mercury Music Prize is handed out every year to the best album from a British or Irish musician or group.
Many globally popular sports had their modern rules codified in the British Isles, including golf, association football, cricket, rugby, snooker and darts, as well as many minor sports such as croquet, bowls, pitch and putt, water polo and handball. A number of sports are popular throughout the British Isles, the most prominent of which is association football. While this is organised separately in different national associations, leagues and national teams, even within the UK, it is a common passion in all parts of the islands. Rugby union is also widely enjoyed across the islands with four national teams from England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales. The British and Irish Lions is a team chosen from each national team and undertakes tours of the Southern Hemisphere rugby-playing nations every four years. Ireland plays as a united team, represented by players from both Northern Ireland and the Republic. These national rugby teams play each other each year for the Triple Crown as part of the Six Nations Championship. Also, since 2001, the professional club teams of Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Italy and South Africa compete against each other in the United Rugby Championship.
The Ryder Cup in golf was originally played between a United States team and a team representing Great Britain and Ireland. From 1979 onwards, this was expanded to include the whole of Europe.
Transport
London Heathrow Airport is Europe's busiest airport in terms of passenger traffic, and the Dublin-London route is the busiest air route in Europe collectively, the busiest route out of Heathrow, and among the top-20 busiest international air routes in the world. The English Channel and the southern North Sea are the busiest seaways in the world. The Channel Tunnel, opened in 1994, links Great Britain to France and is the second-longest rail tunnel in the world.
The idea of building a tunnel under the Irish Sea has been raised since 1895, when it was first investigated. Several potential Irish Sea tunnel projects have been proposed, most recently the Tusker Tunnel between the ports of Rosslare and Fishguard proposed by The Institute of Engineers of Ireland in 2004. A rail tunnel was proposed in 1997 on a different route, between Dublin and Holyhead, by British engineering firm Symonds. Either tunnel, at , would be by far the longest in the world, and would cost an estimated £15 billion (€20 billion). A proposal in 2007, estimated the cost of building a bridge from County Antrim in Northern Ireland to Galloway in Scotland at £3.5bn (€5bn).
See also
* British Islands
* Extreme points of the British Isles
* List of islands of the British Isles
* Proposed British Isles fixed sea link connections
Notes
References
* {{Dead link|dateOctober 2023 |botInternetArchiveBot |fix-attemptedyes}
*
*
*
* Further reading
*
*
*
*
* Simon Schama (2000). A History of Britain: At the Edge of the World, 3500 B.C. – 1603 A.D. BBC/Miramax. .
* Simon Schama (2002). A History of Britain: The Complete Collection on DVD. BBC.
* G. M. Trevelyan (1987). Shortened History of England. Penguin Books. .
External links
* An [https://www.bgs.ac.uk/map-viewers/bgs-geology-viewer/ interactive geological map] of the British Isles
Category:Archipelagoes of Europe
Category:Geography of Europe
Category:Northwestern Europe
Category:Regions of Europe
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Isles
|
2025-04-05T18:26:32.654618
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3738
|
Basque language
|
| states = Spain, France
| pronunciation =
| region = Basque Country
| ethnicity = Basque
| speakers = 806,000
| date = 2021
| ref
| speakers2 434,000 passive speakers
| familycolor = Isolate
| family = Language isolate
| ancestor = Proto-Basque
| ancestor2 = Aquitanian
| dia1 = Biscayan
| dia2 = Gipuzkoan
| dia3 = Upper Navarrese
| dia4 = Navarro-Lapurdian
| dia5 = Eastern Navarrese
| dia6 = Souletin (Zuberoan)
| dia7 = Alavese
| dia8 = Salazarese
| script = * Basque alphabet
* Basque Braille
* Northeastern Iberian script (c. 80 BC)
| nation = Spain
* Basque Autonomous Community
* Navarre
<br/> France
*Pyrénées-Atlantiques, Nouvelle-Aquitaine
| agency = Euskaltzaindia
| iso1 = eu
| iso2b = baq
| iso2t = eus
| iso3 = eus
| lingua = 40-AAA-a
| glotto = basq1248
| glottorefname = Basque
| map = Euskalkiak.svg
| mapscale = 0.8
| mapcaption = Dialect areas of Basque. Light-coloured dialects are extinct. See
| map2 = File:Basque % (most recent).svg
| mapcaption2 = Basque speakers, including second-language speakers
| notice = IPA
}}
)
|people Basques ()|language Basque ()}}
Basque ( ; ) is a language spoken by Basques and other residents of the Basque Country, a region that straddles the westernmost Pyrenees in adjacent parts of northern Spain and southwestern France. Basque is classified as a language isolate (unrelated to any other known languages) and the only language isolate in Europe. The Basques are indigenous to and primarily inhabit the Basque Country. The Basque language is spoken by 806,000 Basques in all territories. Of these, 93.7% (756,000) are in the Spanish area of the Basque Country and the remaining 6.3% (50,000) are in the French portion. Franco's regime suppressed Basque from official discourse, education, and publishing, making it illegal to register newborn babies under Basque names, and even requiring tombstone engravings in Basque to be removed. In some provinces the public use of Basque was suppressed, with people fined for speaking it. Public use of Basque was frowned upon by supporters of the regime, often regarded as a sign of anti-Francoism or separatism. Overall, in the 1960s and later, the trend reversed and education and publishing in Basque began to flourish. As a part of this process, a standardised form of the Basque language, called Euskara Batua, was developed by the Euskaltzaindia in the late 1960s.
Besides its standardised version, the five historic Basque dialects are Biscayan, Gipuzkoan, and Upper Navarrese in Spain and Navarrese–Lapurdian and Souletin in France. They take their names from the historic Basque provinces, but the dialect boundaries are not congruent with province boundaries. Euskara Batua was created so that the Basque language could be used—and easily understood by all Basque speakers—in formal situations (education, mass media, literature), and this is its main use today. In both Spain and France, the use of Basque for education varies from region to region and from school to school.
Basque is the only surviving language isolate in Europe. The current mainstream scientific view on the origin of the Basques and of their language is that early forms of Basque developed before the arrival of Indo-European languages in the area, i.e. before the arrival of Celtic and Romance languages in particular, as the latter today geographically surround the Basque-speaking region. Typologically, with its agglutinative morphology and ergative–absolutive alignment, Basque grammar remains markedly different from that of Standard Average European languages. Nevertheless, Basque has borrowed up to 40 percent of its vocabulary from Romance languages, and the Latin script is used for the Basque alphabet.
Names of the language
In Basque, the name of the language is officially (alongside various dialect forms).
In French, the language is normally called , though has become common in recent times. Spanish has a greater variety of names for the language. Today, it is most commonly referred to as , , or . Both terms, and , are inherited from the Latin ethnonym , which in turn goes back to the Greek term (), an ethnonym used by Strabo in his (23 CE, Book III).
The Spanish term , derived from Latin , has acquired negative connotations over the centuries and is not well-liked amongst Basque speakers generally. Its use is documented at least as far back as the 14th century when a law passed in Huesca in 1349 stated that —essentially penalising the use of Arabic, Hebrew, or Basque in marketplaces with a fine of 30 sols (the equivalent of 30 sheep).
History and classification
Although the Basque language is geographically surrounded by Romance languages, it is a language isolate that is unrelated to them or to any other language. Most scholars believe Basque to be the last remaining descendant of one of the pre-Indo-European languages of prehistoric Europe. Others find this theory unlikely.
Latin inscriptions in preserve a number of words with cognates in the reconstructed proto-Basque language, for instance, the personal names and ( and mean 'young girl' and 'man', respectively in modern Basque). This language is generally referred to as Aquitanian and is assumed to have been spoken in the area before the Roman Republic's conquests in the western Pyrenees. Some authors even argue for late Basquisation, that the language moved westward during Late Antiquity after the fall of the Western Roman Empire into the northern part of Hispania into what is now the Basque Country.
While those six factors influenced the revitalisation process, the extensive development and use of language technologies is also considered a significant additional factor.
Hypotheses concerning Basque's connections to other languages
Many linguists have tried to link Basque with other languages, but no hypothesis has gained mainstream acceptance. Apart from pseudoscientific comparisons, the appearance of long-range linguistics gave rise to several attempts to connect Basque with geographically very distant language families such as Georgian. Historical work on Basque is challenging since written material and documentation has only been available for some few hundred years. Almost all hypotheses concerning the origin of Basque are controversial, and the suggested evidence is not generally accepted by mainstream linguists. Some of these hypothetical connections are:
(Navarre)]]
* Ligurian substrate: this hypothesis, proposed in the 19th century by d'Arbois de Jubainville, J. Pokorny, P. Kretschmer and several other linguists, encompasses the Basco-Iberian hypothesis.
* Iberian: another ancient language once spoken in the Iberian Peninsula, shows several similarities with Aquitanian and Basque. However, not enough evidence exists to distinguish geographical connections from linguistic ones. Iberian itself remains unclassified. Eduardo Orduña Aznar claims to have established correspondences between Basque and Iberian numerals and noun case markers.
* Vasconic substratum hypothesis: this proposal, made by the German linguist Theo Vennemann, claims that enough toponymical evidence exists to conclude that Basque is the only survivor of a larger family that once extended throughout most of western Europe, and has also left its mark in modern Indo-European languages spoken in Europe.
* Georgian: linking Basque to the Kartvelian languages is now widely discredited. The hypothesis was inspired by the existence of the ancient Kingdom of Iberia in the Caucasus and some similarities in societal practices and agriculture between the two populations. Historical comparisons are difficult due to the dearth of historical material for Basque and several of the Kartvelian languages. Typological similarities have been proposed for some of the phonological characteristics and most importantly for some of the details of the ergative constructions, but these alone cannot prove historical relatedness between languages since such characteristics are found in other languages across the world, even if not in Indo-European. According to J. P. Mallory, the hypothesis was also inspired by a Basque place-name ending in -dze which is common in Kartvelian. The hypothesis suggested that Basque and Georgian were remnants of a pre-Indo-European group.
* Northeast Caucasian languages, such as Chechen, are seen by some linguists as more likely candidates for a very distant connection.
* Dené–Caucasian: based on the possible Caucasian link, some linguists, for example John Bengtson and Merritt Ruhlen, have proposed including Basque in the Dené–Caucasian superfamily of languages, but this proposed superfamily includes languages from North America and Eurasia, and its existence is highly controversial. and Juliette Blevins, who has identified potential phonological correspondences between Proto-Basque and Proto-Indo-European. Such hypotheses are rejected by most reviewers, both including scholars adhering to the mainstream view of Basque as a language isolate (Gorrochategui, Lakarra), as well as proponents of wide-range genetic relations (Bengtson).
Geographic distribution
The region where Basque is spoken has become smaller over centuries, especially at the northern, southern, and eastern borders. Nothing is known about the limits of this region in ancient times, but on the basis of toponyms and epigraphs, it seems that in the beginning of the Common Era it stretched to the river Garonne in the north (including the south-western part of present-day France); at least to the Val d'Aran in the east (now a Gascon-speaking part of Catalonia), including lands on both sides of the Pyrenees; the southern and western boundaries are not clear at all.
The Reconquista temporarily counteracted this contracting tendency when the Christian lords called on northern Iberian peoples — Basques, Asturians, and "Franks" — to colonise the new conquests. The Basque language became the main everyday language, while other languages like Spanish, Gascon, French, or Latin were preferred for the administration and high education.
By the 16th century, the Basque-speaking area was reduced basically to the present-day seven provinces of the Basque Country, excluding the southern part of Navarre, the south-western part of Álava, and the western part of Biscay, and including some parts of Béarn.
In 1807, Basque was still spoken in the northern half of Álava—including its capital city Vitoria-Gasteiz—and a vast area in central Navarre, but in these two provinces, Basque experienced a rapid decline that pushed its border northwards. In the French Basque Country, Basque was still spoken in all the territory except in Bayonne and some villages around, and including some bordering towns in Béarn.
In the 20th century, however, the rise of Basque nationalism spurred increased interest in the language as a sign of ethnic identity, and with the establishment of autonomous governments in the Southern Basque Country, it has recently made a modest comeback. In the Spanish part, Basque-language schools for children and Basque-teaching centres for adults have brought the language to areas such as western Enkarterri and the Ribera del Ebro in southern Navarre, where it is not known to ever have been widely spoken; and in the French Basque Country, these schools and centres have almost stopped the decline of the language.
Official status
Historically, Latin or Romance languages have been the official languages in this region. However, Basque was explicitly recognised in some areas. For instance, the fuero or charter of the Basque-colonised Ojacastro (now in La Rioja) allowed the inhabitants to use Basque in legal processes in the 13th and 14th centuries. Basque was allowed in telegraph messages in Spain thanks to the royal decree of 1904.
The Spanish Constitution of 1978 states in Article 3 that the Spanish language is the official language of the nation, but allows autonomous communities to provide a co-official language status for the other languages of Spain. Consequently, the Statute of Autonomy of the Basque Autonomous Community establishes Basque as the co-official language of the autonomous community. The Statute of Navarre establishes Spanish as the official language of Navarre, but grants co-official status to the Basque language in the Basque-speaking areas of northern Navarre. Basque has no official status in the French Basque Country and French citizens are barred from officially using Basque in a French court of law. However, the use of Basque by Spanish nationals in French courts is permitted (with translation), as Basque is officially recognised on the other side of the border.
The positions of the various existing governments differ with regard to the promotion of Basque in areas where Basque is commonly spoken. The language has official status in those territories that are within the Basque Autonomous Community, where it is spoken and promoted heavily, but only partially in Navarre. The (), seen as contentious by many Basques, but considered fitting Navarra's linguistic and cultural diversity by some of the main political parties of Navarre, divides Navarre into three language areas: Basque-speaking, non-Basque-speaking, and mixed. Support for the language and the linguistic rights of citizens vary, depending on the area. Others consider it unfair, since the rights of Basque speakers differ greatly depending on the place they live.
Demographics
in an exercise book given as punishment during Franco's regime. The line is "" ().]]
The 2021 sociolinguistic survey of all Basque-speaking territories showed that, of all people aged 16 and above:
|22.3%
|24.1%
|9.5%
| -
|-
| 1996
| 27.0% ( 1.3%)
| 32.0% ( 1.9%)
| 11.7% ( 0.6%)
| 21.4% ( 1.1%)
|-
| 2016
| 28.4% ( 1.4%)
| 33.9% ( 1.9%)
| 12.9% ( 1.2%)
| 20.5% ( 0.9%)
|-
| 2021 Dialects
The modern Basque dialects show a high degree of dialectal divergence, sometimes making cross-dialect communication difficult. This is especially true in the case of Biscayan and Souletin, which are regarded as the most divergent Basque dialects.
Modern Basque dialectology distinguishes five dialects:
* Biscayan or "Western"
* Gipuzkoan or "Central"
* Upper Navarrese
* Navarro-Lapurdian
* Souletin (Zuberoan)
These dialects are divided in 11 subdialects, and 24 minor varieties among them.
According to Koldo Zuazo, the Biscayan dialect or "Western" is the most widespread dialect, with around 300,000 speakers out of a total of around 660,000 speakers. This dialect is divided in two minor subdialects: the Western Biscayan and Eastern Biscayan, plus transitional dialects. Influence on other languages
Although the influence of the neighbouring Romance languages on the Basque language (especially the lexicon, but also to some degree Basque phonology and grammar) has been much more extensive, it is usually assumed that there has been some feedback from Basque into these languages as well. In particular Gascon and Aragonese, and to a lesser degree Spanish are thought to have received this influence in the past. In the case of Aragonese and Gascon, this would have been through substrate interference following language shift from Aquitanian or Basque to a Romance language, affecting all levels of the language, including place names around the Pyrenees.
Although a number of words of alleged Basque origin in the Spanish language are circulated (e.g. 'anchovies', 'dashing, gallant, spirited', 'puppy', etc.), most of these have more easily explicable Romance etymologies or not particularly convincing derivations from Basque. The lack of initial in Gascon could arguably be due to a Basque influence but this issue is under-researched. and the Asturian Xíriga.
Part of the Romani community in the Basque Country speaks Erromintxela, which is a rare mixed language, with a Kalderash Romani vocabulary and Basque grammar.
Basque pidgins
A number of Basque-based or Basque-influenced pidgins have existed. In the 16th century, Basque sailors used a Basque–Icelandic pidgin in their contacts with Iceland. The Algonquian–Basque pidgin arose from contact between Basque whalers and the Algonquian peoples in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence and Strait of Belle Isle. Phonology Vowels {| class"wikitable"
|-
!
!Front
!Central
!Back
|- style="text-align:center;"
!Close
|i<br /> || || u<br />
|- style="text-align:center;"
!Mid
|e<br /> || || o<br />
|- style="text-align:center;"
!Open
| || a<br /> ||
|}
The Basque language features five vowels: , , , and (the same that are found in Spanish, Asturian and Aragonese). In the Zuberoan dialect, extra phonemes are featured:
* the close front rounded vowel , graphically represented as ;
* a set of contrasting nasal vowels.
There is no distinctive vowel length in Basque, although vowels can be lengthened for emphasis. The mid vowels and are raised before nasal consonants.
Basque has an a-Elision Rule, according to which the vowel is elided before any following vowel. This does not prevent the existence of diphthongs with present.
{| class"wikitable" style"text-align: center; float: right;"
|+ caption| Basque diphthongs
! IPA
! Example
! Meaning
! IPA
! Example
! Meaning
|-
| || || yes
|
|
| night
|-
| || || six
|
|
| rain
|-
| || || foot
|
|
|
|-
| || || fruit
|
|
|
|}
There are six diphthongs in Basque, all falling and with or as the second element. Consonants {| class"wikitable" style="margin:autmargin:auto;"
|+caption | Table of consonant phonemes of Standard Basque
|-
! colspan="2" |
! Labial
! Lamino-<br />dental
! Apico-<br />alveolar
! Palatal or<br />postalveolar
! Velar
! Glottal
|- style="text-align:center;"
! colspan="2" | Nasal
| m<br />
|
| n<br />
| ñ, -in-<br />
|
|
|- style="text-align:center;"
! rowspan="2" | Plosive
! <small>voiceless</small>
| p<br />
| t<br />
|
| tt, -it-<br />
| k<br />
|
|- style="text-align:center;"
! <small>voiced</small>
| b<br />
| d<br />
|
| dd, -id-<br />
| g<br />
|
|- style="text-align:center;"
! colspan="2" | Affricate
|
| tz<br />
| ts<br />
| tx<br />
|
|
|- style="text-align:center;"
! rowspan="2"| Fricative
! <small>voiceless</small>
| f<br />
| z<br />
| s<br />
| x<br />
|
| h<br />,
|- style="text-align:center;"
! <small>(mostly)<sup>1</sup> voiced</small>
| || ||
| colspan="2" | j<br />~
|
|- style="text-align:center;"
! colspan="2"| Lateral
|
|
| l<br />
| ll, -il-<br />
|
|
|- style="text-align:center;"
! rowspan"2" | Rhotic 'more beautiful', from 'beautiful' and . There is a small number of words which are exceptions to this rule, with de Rijk listing the following ten common ones: , , , , , , , , , and .}}
! Trill
|
|
| r-, -rr-, -r <br />
|
|
|
|- style="text-align:center;"
! Tap
|
|
| -r-, -r<br />
|
|
|
|}
In syllable-final position, all plosives are devoiced and are spelled accordingly in Standard Basque. When between vowels, and often when after or , the voiced plosives , , and , are pronounced as the corresponding fricatives , , and .
Basque has a distinction between laminal and apical articulation for the alveolar fricatives and affricates. With the laminal alveolar fricative , the friction occurs across the blade of the tongue, the tongue tip pointing toward the lower teeth. This is the usual in most European languages. It is written with an orthographic . By contrast, the voiceless apicoalveolar fricative is written ; the tip of the tongue points toward the upper teeth and friction occurs at the tip (apex). For example, (singular, respectful) is distinguished from . The affricate counterparts are written and . So, is distinguished from ; is distinguished from .
In the westernmost parts of the Basque country, only the apical and the alveolar affricate are used.
Basque also features postalveolar sibilants (, written , and , written ).
The letter has a variety of realisations according to the regional dialect: , as pronounced from west to east in south Bizkaia and coastal Lapurdi, central Bizkaia, east Bizkaia and Gipuzkoa, south Navarre, inland Lapurdi and Low Navarre, and Zuberoa, respectively.
The letter is pronounced in the northern dialects, but not pronounced in the southern ones. Unified Basque spells it except when it is predictable, in a position following a consonant.
Unless they are recent loanwords (e.g. , , ... ), words may not have initial . In older loans, initial r- took a prosthetic vowel, resulting in err- ( , ), more rarely irr- (for example , ) and arr- (for example ).
Basque does not have in syllable final position, and syllable-final assimilates to the place of articulation of following plosives. As a result, is pronounced like , and is realized as . Palatalization Basque has two types of palatalization, automatic palatalization and expressive palatalization. Automatic palatalization occurs in western Labourd, much of Navarre, all of Gipuzkoa, and nearly all of Biscay. As a result of automatic palatalization, and become the palatal nasal and the palatal lateral respectively after the vowel and before another vowel. An exception is the loanword 'lily'. The same palatalization occurs after the semivowel of the diphthongs ai, ei, oi, ui. This palatalization occurs in a wider area, including Soule, all of Gipuzkoa and Biscay, and almost all of Navarre. In a few regions, and can be palatalized even in the absence of a following vowel. After palatalization, the semivowel is usually absorbed by the palatal consonant. This can be seen in older spellings, such as instead of modern 'degree'. That said, the modern orthography for Standard Basque ignores automatic palatalization.
In certain regions of Gipuzkoa and Biscay, intervocalic is often palatalized after and especially . It may become indistinguishable from the affricate , spelled , so 'father' may sound like it were spelled or . This type of palatalization is far from general, and is often viewed as substandard.
In Goizueta Basque, there are a few examples of being palatalized after , and optional palatalization of . For example, 'seedbed' becomes , and 'lamb' can be .
Basque nouns, adjectives, and adverbs can be expressively palatalized. These express 'smallness', rarely literal and often showing affection, in nouns, and mitigation in adjectives and adverbs. This is often used in the formation of pet names and nicknames. In words containing one or more sibilant, these sibilants are palatalized in order to form the palatalized form. That is, s and z become x, and ts and tz become tx. As a result, 'man' becomes 'little fellow', 'crazy, insane' becomes 'silly, foolish', and 'lamb' becomes 'lambkin, young lamb'.
In words without sibilants, , , , and can become palatalized. This palatalization is indicated in writing with a double consonant, except in the case of palatalized which is written . Thus, 'drop' becomes 'droplet', and 'grey' becomes 'grey and pretty, greyish'.
The pronunciation of tt and dd, and the existence of dd, differ by dialect. In the Gipuzkoan and Biscayan dialects tt is often pronounced the same as tx, that is, as , and dd does not exist. Likewise, in Goizueta Basque, tt is a voiceless palatal stop and the corresponding voiced palatal stop, , is absent except as an allophone of . In Goizueta Basque, is sometimes the result of an affectionate palatalization of .
Palatalization of the rhotics is rare and only occurs in the eastern dialects. When palatalized, the rhotics become the palatal lateral . Likewise, palatalization of velars, resulting in tt or tx, is quite rare.
A few common words, such as 'dog', pronounced , use palatal sounds even though in current usage they have lost the diminutive sense, the corresponding non-palatal forms now acquiring an augmentative or pejorative sense: 'big dog'. Sandhi There are some rules which govern the behavior of consonants in contact with each other. These apply both within and between words. When two plosives meet, the first one is dropped, and the second must become voiceless. If a sibilant follows a plosive, the plosive is dropped, and the sibilant becomes the corresponding affricate. When a plosive follows an affricate, the affricate becomes a sibilant, and a voiced plosive is devoiced. When a voiced plosive follows a sibilant, it is devoiced except in very slow and careful speech. In the central dialects of Basque, a sibilant turns into an affricate when it follows a liquid or a nasal. When a plosive follows a nasal, there is a strong tendency for it to become voiced.
Stress and pitch
Basque features great dialectal variation in accentuation, from a weak pitch accent in the western dialects to a marked stress in central and eastern dialects, with varying patterns of stress placement. Stress is in general not distinctive (and for historical comparisons not very useful); there are, however, a few instances where stress is phonemic, serving to distinguish between a few pairs of stress-marked words and between some grammatical forms (mainly plurals from other forms), e.g. (, absolutive case) vs. (, absolutive case; an adoption from Spanish ); (, ergative case) vs. (, ergative case) vs. ( or , absolutive case).
Given its great deal of variation among dialects, stress is not marked in the standard orthography and Euskaltzaindia (the Academy of the Basque Language) provides only general recommendations for a standard placement of stress, basically to place a high-pitched weak stress (weaker than that of Spanish, let alone that of English) on the second syllable of a syntagma, and a low-pitched even-weaker stress on its last syllable, except in plural forms where stress is moved to the first syllable.
This scheme provides Basque with a distinct musicality that differentiates its sound from the prosodical patterns of Spanish (which tends to stress the second-to-last syllable). Some (, i.e. second-language Basque-speakers) with Spanish as their first language tend to carry the prosodical patterns of Spanish into their pronunciation of Basque, e.g. pronouncing () as (– – ´ –), instead of as (– ´ – `).
Morphophonology
The combining forms of nominals in final vary across the regions of the Basque Country. The can stay unchanged, be lowered to an , or it can be lost. Loss is most common in the east, while lowering is most common in the west. For instance, , , has the combining forms and , as in , , and , , whereas , , has the combining form , as in , . Michelena suggests that the lowering to is generalised from cases of Romance borrowings in Basque that retained Romance stem alternations, such as , with combining form , borrowed from Romance canto, canta-.
Grammar
Basque is an ergative–absolutive language. The subject of an intransitive verb is in the absolutive case (which is unmarked), and the same case is used for the direct object of a transitive verb. The subject of the transitive verb is marked differently, with the ergative case (shown by the suffix -k). This also triggers main and auxiliary verbal agreement.
The auxiliary verb, which accompanies most main verbs, agrees not only with the subject, but with any direct object and the indirect object present. Among European languages, this polypersonal agreement is found only in Basque, some languages of the Caucasus (especially the Kartvelian languages), Mordvinic languages, Hungarian, and Maltese (all non-Indo-European). The ergative–absolutive alignment is also rare among European languages—occurring only in some languages of the Caucasus—but not infrequent worldwide.
Consider the phrase:
|Martin-ek egunkari-ak erosten di-zki-t
|Martin-ERG newspaper-PL.ABS buy-GER AUX.3.OBJ-PL.OBJ-me.IO[3SG_SBJ]
|"Martin buys the newspapers for me." }}
is the agent (transitive subject), so it is marked with the ergative case ending -k (with an epenthetic -e-). has an -ak ending, which marks plural object (plural absolutive, direct object case). The verb is , in which is a kind of gerund ("buying") and the auxiliary means "he/she (does) them for me". This can be split like this:
* di- is used in the present tense when the verb has a subject (ergative), a direct object (absolutive), and an indirect object, and the object is him/her/it/them.
* -zki- means the absolutive (in this case the newspapers) is plural; if it were singular there would be no infix; and
* -t or -da- means "to me/for me" (indirect object).
* in this instance there is no suffix after -t. A zero suffix in this position indicates that the ergative (the subject) is third person singular (he/she/it).
|Zu-ek egunkari-ak erosten di-zki-da-zue
|you-ERG(PL) newspaper-PL buy-GER AUX.3.OBJ-PL.OBJ-me.IO-you(PL).SBJ
|"You (plural) buy the newspapers for me."}}
The auxiliary verb is composed as di-zki-da-zue and means 'you pl. (do) them for me'
* di- indicates that the main verb is transitive and in the present tense
* -zki- indicates that the direct object is plural
* -da- indicates that the indirect object is me (to me/for me; -t becomes -da- when not final)
* -zue indicates that the subject is you (plural)
The pronoun 'you (plural)' has the same form both in the nominative or absolutive case (the subject of an intransitive sentence or direct object of a transitive sentence) and in the ergative case (the subject of a transitive sentence). In spoken Basque, the auxiliary verb is never dropped even if it is redundant, e.g. in 'you (pl.) are buying the newspapers for me'. However, the pronouns are almost always dropped, e.g. in 'you (pl.) are buying the newspapers for me'. The pronouns are used only to show emphasis: 'it is you (pl.) who buys the newspapers for me', or 'it is me for whom you buy the newspapers'.
Modern Basque dialects allow for the conjugation of about fifteen verbs, called synthetic verbs, some only in literary contexts. These can be put in the present and past tenses in the indicative and subjunctive moods, in three tenses in the conditional and potential moods, and in one tense in the imperative. Each verb that can be taken intransitively has a (absolutive) paradigm and possibly a (absolutive–dative) paradigm, as in the sentence (). Each verb that can be taken transitively uses those two paradigms for antipassive-voice contexts in which no agent is mentioned (Basque lacks a passive voice, and displays instead an antipassive voice paradigm), and also has a (absolutive–ergative) paradigm and possibly a (absolutive–dative–ergative) paradigm. This last is exemplified by above. In each paradigm, each constituent noun can take on any of eight persons, five singular and three plural, with the exception of in which the absolutive can only be third person singular or plural. The most ubiquitous auxiliary, , can be used in any of these paradigms, depending on the nature of the main verb.
There are more persons in the singular (5) than in the plural (3) for synthetic (or filamentous) verbs because of the two familiar persons—informal masculine and feminine second person singular. The pronoun hi is used for both of them, but where the masculine form of the verb uses a -k, the feminine uses an -n. This is a property rarely found in Indo-European languages. The entire paradigm of the verb is further augmented by inflecting for "listener" (the allocutive) even if the verb contains no second person constituent. If the situation calls for the familiar masculine, the form is augmented and modified accordingly. Likewise for the familiar feminine.
(, ; , , , , , ) This multiplies the number of possible forms by nearly three. Still, the restriction on contexts in which these forms may be used is strong, since all participants in the conversation must be friends of the same sex, and not too far apart in age. Some dialects dispense with the familiar forms entirely. Note, however, that the formal second person singular conjugates in parallel to the other plural forms, perhaps indicating that it was originally the second person plural, later came to be used as a formal singular, and then later still the modern second person plural was formulated as an innovation.
All the other verbs in Basque are called periphrastic, behaving much like a participle would in English. These have only three forms in total, called aspects: perfect (various suffixes), habitual (suffix -t[z]en), and future/potential (suffix. -ko/-go). Verbs of Latinate origin in Basque, as well as many other verbs, have a suffix -tu in the perfect, adapted from the Latin perfect passive -tus suffix. The synthetic verbs also have periphrastic forms, for use in perfects and in simple tenses in which they are deponent.
Within a verb phrase, the periphrastic verb comes first, followed by the auxiliary.
A Basque noun phrase is inflected in 17 different ways for case, multiplied by four ways for its definiteness and number (indefinite, definite singular, definite plural, and definite close plural: [Basque speaker], [the Basque speaker, a Basque speaker], [Basque speakers, the Basque speakers], and [we Basque speakers, those Basque speakers]). These first 68 forms are further modified based on other parts of the sentence, which in turn are inflected for the noun again. It has been estimated that, with two levels of recursion, a Basque noun may have 458,683 inflected forms.
{| class="wikitable"
!Word
!Case
!Result
!meaning
|-
|
|Ø
|
|house
|-
|
|
|
|the house
|-
|
|
|
|the houses
|-
|
|
|
|to the house
|-
|
|
|
|to the houses
|-
|
|
|
|from the house
|-
|
|
|
|from the houses
|-
|
|
|
|until the house
|-
|
|
|
|until the houses
|-
|
|
|
|in the house
|-
|
|
|
|in the houses
|-
|
|
|
|of the house (belonging to)
|-
|
|
|
|of the houses (belonging to)
|}
The common noun is declined as follows:
{| class="wikitable"
!Case/Number
!Singular
!Plural
!Undetermined
|-
| Absolutive
| -Ø
|
| -Ø
|-
| Ergative
|
|
|
|-
| Dative
|
|
|
|-
|Local genitive
|
|
|
|-
|Possessive genitive
|
|
|
|-
|Comitative (with)
|
|
|
|-
|Benefactive (for)
|
|
|
|-
|Causal (because of)
|
|
|
|-
|Instrumental
|
|
|
|-
|Inessive (in, on)
|
|
|
|-
|Ablative (from)
|
|
|
|-
|Allative (where to: 'to')
|
|
|
|-
|Directive ('towards')
|
|
|
|-
|Terminative (up to)
|
|
|
|-
|Prolative
|
|
|
|-
|Partitive
|
|
|
|}
The proper name (Michael) is declined as follows:
{| class="wikitable"
!Word
!Case
!Result
!meaning
|-
|
|
|
|of Mikel
|-
|
|
|
|to Mikel
|-
|
|
|
|with Mikel
|}
Within a noun phrase, modifying adjectives follow the noun. As an example of a Basque noun phrase, is morphologically analysed as follows by Agirre et al.
{| class="wikitable"
!Word
!Form
!Meaning
|-
|
|noun
|house
|-
|
|adjective
|old
|-
|
|epenthetical elements
|n/a
|-
|
|determinate, singular
|the
|-
|
|inessive case
|in
|}
Basic syntactic construction is subject–object–verb (unlike Spanish, French or English where a subject–verb–object construction is more common). The order of the phrases within a sentence can be changed for thematic purposes, whereas the order of the words within a phrase is usually rigid. As a matter of fact, Basque phrase order is topic–focus, meaning that in neutral sentences (such as sentences to inform someone of a fact or event) the topic is stated first, then the focus. In such sentences, the verb phrase comes at the end. In brief, the focus directly precedes the verb phrase. This rule is also applied in questions, for instance, What is this? can be translated as or , but in both cases the question tag immediately precedes the verb . This rule is so important in Basque that, even in grammatical descriptions of Basque in other languages, the Basque word is used.
In negative sentences, the order changes. Since the negative particle must always directly precede the auxiliary, the topic most often comes beforehand, and the rest of the sentence follows. This includes the periphrastic, if there is one: , , in the negative becomes , in which () is separated from its auxiliary and placed at the end.
Vocabulary
Through contact with neighbouring peoples, Basque has adopted many words from Latin, Spanish, French and Gascon, among other languages. There are a considerable number of Latin loans (sometimes obscured by being subject to Basque phonology and grammar for centuries), for example: (, from ), (, from , ), (, from ), (, from ).
Writing system
Basque is written using the Latin script including and sometimes and . Basque does not use for native words, but the Basque alphabet (established by Euskaltzaindia) does include them for loanwords:
:⟨Aa, Bb, Cc,, Dd, Ee, Ff, Gg, Hh, Ii, Jj, Kk, Ll, Mm, Nn, Ññ, Oo, Pp, Qq, Rr, Ss, Tt, Uu, Vv, Ww, Xx, Yy, Zz⟩
The phonetically meaningful digraphs are treated as pairs of letters.
All letters and digraphs represent unique phonemes. The main exception is when precedes and , which in most dialects palatalises their sounds into and , even if these are not written. Hence, can also be written without changing the sound, whereas the proper name requires the mute to break the palatalisation of the .
is mute in most regions, but it is pronounced in many places in the north-east, the main reason for its existence in the Basque alphabet.
Its acceptance was a matter of contention during the standardisation process because the speakers of the most extended dialects had to learn where to place , silent for them.
In Sabino Arana's (1865–1903) alphabet, digraphs and were replaced with and , respectively.
A typically Basque style of lettering is sometimes used for inscriptions.
It derives from the work of stone and wood carvers and is characterised by thick serifs.
Number system used by millers
Basque millers traditionally employed a separate number system of unknown origin. In this system the symbols are arranged either along a vertical line or horizontally. On the vertical line the single digits and fractions are usually off to one side, usually at the top. When used horizontally, the smallest units are usually on the right and the largest on the left. As with the Basque system of counting in general, it is vigesimal (base 20). Although it is in theory capable of indicating numbers above 100, most recorded examples do not go above 100. Fractions are relatively common, especially .
The exact systems used vary from area to area but generally follow the same principle with 5 usually being a diagonal line or a curve off the vertical line (a V shape is used when writing a 5 horizontally). Units of ten are usually a horizontal line through the vertical. The twenties are based on a circle with intersecting lines. This system is no longer in general use but is occasionally employed for decorative purposes.
Examples
Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
{|
|-
||
||
|| duintas̺un eta es̺kubide berbeɾak ditus̻tela eta es̻aɡueɾa eta konts̻ients̻ia dutenes̻ ɡeɾo elkaren artean s̺enide leges̻ jokatu be(h)ara dute}}
||
|| All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
|}
{|
|
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
|
IPA pronunciation
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
|
The blacksmith slave
<br />Captive in the rainforests of the West
<br />they brought you to Rome, slave,
<br />they gave you the blacksmith work
<br />and you make chains.
<br />The incandescent iron you take out of the oven
<br />can be adapted as you wish,
<br />you could make swords
<br />so your people could break the chains,
<br />but you, o, slave,
<br />you make chains, more chains.
|-
|align=right|Joseba Sarrionandia
|align=right|Joseba Sarrionandia
|}
Language video gallery
<gallery>
File:WIKITONGUES- Jon speaking Basque.webm|A Basque speaker
File:WIKITONGUES- Txeli speaking Basque.webm|A Basque speaker, recorded in Basque Country, Spain
File:WIKITONGUES- Iñaki speaking Basque.webm|A Basque speaker, recorded during Wikimania 2019
</gallery>
See also
* Basque dialects
* Vasconic languages
* List of Basques
* Basque Country
* Late Basquisation
* Languages of France
* Languages of Spain
* Aquitanian language
* List of ideophones in Basque
* Wiktionary: Swadesh list of Basque words
* Basque literature
References
Further reading
General and descriptive grammars
* Allières, Jacques (1979): Manuel pratique de basque, "Connaissance des langues" v. 13, A. & J. Picard (Paris), .
* de Azkue Aberasturi, Resurrección María (1969): Morfología vasca. La Gran enciclopedia vasca, Bilbao 1969.
* Campion, Arturo (1884): [https://archive.org/details/gramticadeloscu02campgoog Gramática de los cuatro dialectos literarios de la lengua euskara], Tolosa.
* Euskara Institutua ([https://web.archive.org/web/20140716231709/http://www.ei.ehu.es/ Euskara Institutuaren ataria (UPV - EHU)]), University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), Sareko Euskal Gramatika, SEG [http://www.ehu.es/seg/ Aurkezpena [Sareko Euskal Gramatika]]
* Hualde, José Ignacio & Ortiz de Urbina, Jon (eds.): A Grammar of Basque. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, 2003. .
*
* Lafitte, Pierre (1962): Grammaire basque – navarro-labourdin littéraire. Elkarlanean, Donostia/Bayonne, . (Dialectal.)
* Lafon, R. (1972): "Basque" In Thomas A. Sebeok (ed.) Current Trends in Linguistics. Vol. 9. Linguistics in Western Europe, Mouton, The Hague, Mouton, pp. 1744–1792. [https://www.degruyter.com/downloadpdf/books/9783111684970/9783111684970-018/9783111684970-018.pdf Part 2 The study of languages]
*
* Tovar, Antonio, (1957): The Basque Language, U. of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia.
*
* Urquizu Sarasúa, Patricio (2007): Gramática de la lengua vasca. UNED, Madrid, .
* van Eys, Willem J. (1879): [https://archive.org/details/grammairecompar00eyswuoft Grammaire comparée des dialectes basques], Paris.
Linguistic studies
* Agirre, Eneko, et al. (1992): [https://web.archive.org/web/20050930084123/http://acl.ldc.upenn.edu/A/A92/A92-1016.pdf XUXEN: A spelling checker/corrector for Basque based on two-level morphology].
* Gavel, Henri (1921): [https://web.archive.org/web/20110718171653/http://hedatuz.euskomedia.org/4896/1/12001536.pdf Eléments de phonetique basque] (Revista Internacional de los Estudios Vascos Revue Internationale des Etudes Basques 12, París. (Study of the dialects.)
* Hualde, José Ignacio (1991): Basque phonology, Taylor & Francis, .
*
* Lakarra Andrinua, Joseba A.; Hualde, José Ignacio (eds.) (2006): Studies in Basque and historical linguistics in memory of R. L. Trask – R. L. Trasken oroitzapenetan ikerketak euskalaritzaz eta hizkuntzalaritza historikoaz, (= Anuario del Seminario de Filología Vasca Julio de Urquijo: International journal of Basque linguistics and philology Vol. 40, No. 1–2), San Sebastián.
* Lakarra, J. & Ortiz de Urbina, J.(eds.) (1992): Syntactic Theory and Basque Syntax, Gipuzkoako Foru Aldundia, Donostia-San Sebastian, .
* Orduña Aznar, Eduardo. 2005. [http://ifc.dpz.es/publicaciones/ver/id/2622 Sobre algunos posibles numerales en textos ibéricos.] Palaeohispanica 5:491–506. This fifth volume of the journal Palaeohispanica consists of Acta Palaeohispanica IX, the proceedings of the ninth conference on Paleohispanic studies.
* de Rijk, R. (1972): [http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/12980 Studies in Basque Syntax: Relative clauses] PhD Dissertation, MIT, Cambridge, Massachusetts, US.
* Uhlenbeck, C.C. (1909–1910): "Contribution à une phonétique comparative des dialectes basques", Revista Internacional de los Estudios Vascos = Revue Internationale des Etudes Basques 3 [https://web.archive.org/web/20110718171753/http://hedatuz.euskomedia.org/4581/1/03465503.pdf Wayback Machine] pp. 465–503 4 [https://web.archive.org/web/20110718171841/http://hedatuz.euskomedia.org/5044/1/04065120.pdf Wayback Machine] pp. 65–120.
* Zuazo, Koldo (2008): Euskalkiak: euskararen dialektoak. Elkar. .
Lexicons
* Aulestia, Gorka (1989): Basque–English dictionary University of Nevada Press, Reno, .
* Aulestia, Gorka & White, Linda (1990): English–Basque dictionary, University of Nevada Press, Reno, .
* Azkue Aberasturi, Resurrección María de (1905): Diccionario vasco–español–francés, Geuthner, Bilbao/Paris (reprinted many times).
* Michelena, Luis: Diccionario General Vasco/Orotariko Euskal Hiztegia. 16 vols. Real academia de la lengua vasca, Bilbao 1987ff. .
* Morris, Mikel (1998): "Morris Student Euskara–Ingelesa Basque–English Dictionary", Klaudio Harluxet Fundazioa, Donostia
* Sarasola, Ibon (2010–), "Egungo Euskararen Hiztegia EEH" [http://www.ehu.es/eeh/ Egungo Euskararen Hiztegia (EEH) - UPV/EHU], Bilbo: Euskara Institutua [https://web.archive.org/web/20140716231709/http://www.ei.ehu.es/ Euskara Institutuaren ataria (UPV - EHU)], The University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU
* Sarasola, Ibon (2010): "Zehazki" [http://ehu.es/ehg/zehazki/ Zehazki - UPV/EHU], Bilbo: Euskara Institutua [https://web.archive.org/web/20140716231709/http://www.ei.ehu.es/ Euskara Institutuaren ataria (UPV - EHU)], The University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU
* Sota, M. de la, et al., 1976: Diccionario Retana de autoridades de la lengua vasca: con cientos de miles de nuevas voces y acepciones, Antiguas y modernas, Bilbao: La Gran Enciclopedia Vasca. .
* Van Eys, W. J. 1873. [http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k414812q.r+basque.langEN Dictionnaire basque–français]. Paris/London: Maisonneuve/Williams & Norgate. Basque corpora
* Sarasola, Ibon; Pello Salaburu, Josu Landa (2011): "ETC: Egungo Testuen Corpusa" [http://www.ehu.es/etc/ Egungo Testuen Corpusa (ETC) - UPV/EHU], Bilbo: Euskara Institutua [https://web.archive.org/web/20140716231709/http://www.ei.ehu.es/ Euskara Institutuaren ataria (UPV - EHU)], The University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU [http://www.ehu.es/ University of the Basque Country]
* Sarasola, Ibon; Pello Salaburu, Josu Landa (2009): "Ereduzko Prosa Gaur, EPG" [http://www.ehu.es/euskara-orria/euskara/ereduzkoa/ Ereduzko Prosa Gaur (EPG) - UPV/EHU], Bilbo: Euskara Institutua [https://web.archive.org/web/20140716231709/http://www.ei.ehu.es/ Euskara Institutuaren ataria (UPV - EHU)], The University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU [http://www.ehu.es/ University of the Basque Country]
* Sarasola, Ibon; Pello Salaburu, Josu Landa (2009–): "Ereduzko Prosa Dinamikoa, EPD" [http://ehu.es/ehg/epd/ Ereduzko Prosa Dinamikoa (EPD) - UPV/EHU], Bilbo: Euskara Institutua [https://web.archive.org/web/20140716231709/http://www.ei.ehu.es/ Euskara Institutuaren ataria (UPV - EHU)], The University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU [http://www.ehu.es/ University of the Basque Country]
* Sarasola, Ibon; Pello Salaburu, Josu Landa (2013): "Euskal Klasikoen Corpusa, EKC" [http://www.ehu.es/ehg/kc/ Euskal Klasikoen Corpusa (EKC) - UPV/EHU], Bilbo: Euskara Institutua [https://web.archive.org/web/20140716231709/http://www.ei.ehu.es/ Euskara Institutuaren ataria (UPV - EHU)], The University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU [http://www.ehu.es/ University of the Basque Country]
* Sarasola, Ibon; Pello Salaburu, Josu Landa (2014): "Goenkale Corpusa" [http://ehu.es/ehg/goenkale/ Goenkale Corpusa - UPV/EHU], Bilbo: Euskara Institutua [https://web.archive.org/web/20140716231709/http://www.ei.ehu.es/ Euskara Institutuaren ataria (UPV - EHU)], The University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU [http://www.ehu.es/ University of the Basque Country]
* Sarasola, Ibon; Pello Salaburu, Josu Landa (2010): "Pentsamenduaren Klasikoak Corpusa" [http://ehu.es/ehg/pkc/ Pentsamenduaren Klasikoak Corpusa - UPV/EHU], Bilbo: Euskara Institutua [https://web.archive.org/web/20140716231709/http://www.ei.ehu.es/ Euskara Institutuaren ataria (UPV - EHU)], The University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU [http://www.ehu.es/ University of the Basque Country]
Other
* Agirre Sorondo, Antxon. 1988. Tratado de Molinología: Los molinos en Guipúzcoa. San Sebastián: Eusko Ikaskunza-Sociedad de Estudios Vascos. Fundación Miguel de Barandiarán.
*
* Bakker, Peter, et al. 1991. Basque pidgins in Iceland and Canada. Anejos del Anuario del Seminario de Filología Vasca "Julio de Urquijo", XXIII.
* Deen, Nicolaas Gerard Hendrik. 1937. Glossaria duo vasco-islandica. Amsterdam. Reprinted 1991 in Anuario del Seminario de Filología Vasca Julio de Urquijo, 25(2):321–426.
* History of the language and etymologies *
* Azurmendi, Joxe: "Die Bedeutung der Sprache in Renaissance und Reformation und die Entstehung der baskischen Literatur im religiösen und politischen Konfliktgebiet zwischen Spanien und Frankreich" In: Wolfgang W. Moelleken (Herausgeber), Peter J. Weber (Herausgeber): Neue Forschungsarbeiten zur Kontaktlinguistik, Bonn: Dümmler, 1997.
* Hualde, José Ignacio; Lakarra, Joseba A. & R.L. Trask (eds) (1996): Towards a History of the Basque Language, "Current Issues in Linguistic Theory" 131, John Benjamin Publishing Company, Amsterdam, .
* Michelena, Luis, 1990. Fonética histórica vasca. Bilbao.
* Lafon, René (1944): Le système du verbe basque au XVIe siècle, Delmas, Bordeaux.
* Löpelmann, Martin (1968): Etymologisches Wörterbuch der baskischen Sprache. Dialekte von Labourd, Nieder-Navarra und La Soule. 2 Bde. de Gruyter, Berlin (non-standard etymologies; idiosyncratic).
* Orpustan, J. B. (1999): La langue basque au Moyen-Age. Baïgorri, .
* Pagola, Rosa Miren. 1984. Euskalkiz Euskalki. Vitoria-Gasteiz: Eusko Jaurlaritzaren Argitalpe.
* Rohlfs, Gerhard. 1980. Le Gascon: études de philologie pyrénéenne. Zeitschrift für Romanische Philologie 85.
* Trask, R.L.: History of Basque. New York/London: Routledge, 1996. .
* Trask, R.L. † (edited by Max W. Wheeler) (2008): [http://elibrary.bsu.edu.az/files/books_400/N_86.pdf Etymological Dictionary of Basque], University of Sussex (unfinished). Also "Some Important Basque Words (And a Bit of Culture)" [http://www.buber.net/Basque/Euskara/Larry/WebSite/basque.words.html Buber's Basque Page: The Larry Trask Archive: Some Important Basque Words (And a Bit of Culture)]
*
Relationship to other languages
Proto-Indo-European
* General reviews of the theories * Jacobsen, William H. Jr. (1999): "[http://dwgateway.library.unr.edu/reserves/jacobsenbasquebasque.pdf Basque Language Origin Theories]" In Basque Cultural Studies, edited by William A. Douglass, Carmelo Urza, Linda White, and Joseba Zulaika, 27–43. Basque Studies Program Occasional Papers Series, No. 5. Reno: Basque Studies Program, University of Nevada, Reno.
* Lakarra Andrinua, Joseba (1998): "[https://web.archive.org/web/20110717181605/http://www.uztaro.com/uztaro_fitxategiak/511_uztaro25_3.pdf Hizkuntzalaritza konparatua eta aitzineuskararen erroa]" (in Basque), Uztaro 25, pp. 47–110, (includes review of older theories).
* Lakarra Andrinua, Joseba (1999): "[https://web.archive.org/web/20110717181509/http://www.uztaro.com/uztaro_fitxategiak/595_uztaro31_2.pdf Ná-De-Ná]" (in Basque), Uztaro 31, pp. 15–84.
* Trask, R.L. (1995): "Origin and Relatives of the Basque Language : Review of the Evidence" in Towards a History of the Basque Language, ed. J. Hualde, J. Lakarra, R.L. Trask, John Benjamins, Amsterdam / Philadelphia.
* Trask, R.L.: History of Basque. New York/London: Routledge, 1996. ; pp. 358–414.
Afroasiatic hypothesis
* Schuchardt, Hugo (1913): "[https://web.archive.org/web/20110718171520/http://hedatuz.euskomedia.org/4881/1/07289340.pdf Baskisch-Hamitische wortvergleichungen]" Revista Internacional de Estudios Vascos = "Revue Internationale des Etudes Basques" 7:289–340.
* Mukarovsky, Hans Guenter (1964/66): "Les rapports du basque et du berbère", ''Comptes rendus du GLECS (Groupe Linguistique d'Etudes Chamito-Sémitiques) 10:177–184.
*
* Trombetti, Alfredo (1925): Le origini della lingua basca, Bologna, (new edit ).
Dené–Caucasian hypothesis
* Bengtson, John D. (1999): The Comparison of Basque and North Caucasian. in: Mother Tongue. Journal of the Association for the Study of Language in Prehistory''. Gloucester, Mass.
*
* Bengtson, John D. (2004): "[https://web.archive.org/web/20110728041607/http://jdbengt.net/articles/CILL30a.pdf Some features of Dene–Caucasian phonology (with special reference to Basque)]." Cahiers de l'Institut de Linguistique de Louvain (CILL) 30.4, pp. 33–54.
* Bengtson, John D.. (2006): "Materials for a Comparative Grammar of the Dene–Caucasian (Sino-Caucasian) Languages." (there is also a [https://web.archive.org/web/20110810015721/http://www.nostratic.ru/books/%28221%29bengtson%20-%20comparative%20grammar.pdf preliminary draft])
* Bengtson, John D. (1997): Review of "The History of Basque". London: Routledge, 1997. Pp.xxii,458" by R.L. Trask.
* Bengtson, John D., (1996): "A Final (?) Response to the Basque Debate in Mother Tongue 1."
* Caucasian hypothesis
* Bouda, Karl (1950): "[https://wayback.archive-it.org/all/20111218060006/http://www.euskomedia.org/PDFAnlt/congresos/07/07663672.pdf L'Euskaro-Caucasique]" Boletín de la Real Sociedad Vasca de Amigos del País. Homenaje a D. Julio de Urquijo e Ybarra vol. III, San Sebastián, pp. 207–232.
* Klimov, Georgij A. (1994): [http://titus.uni-frankfurt.de/personal/jg/pdf/jg1992d1.pdf Einführung in die kaukasische Sprachwissenschaft], Buske, Hamburg, ; pp. 208–215.
*
*
* Trombetti, Alfredo (1925): Le origini della lingua basca, Bologna, (new edit ).
* Míchelena, Luis (1968): "L'euskaro-caucasien" in Martinet, A. (ed.) Le langage, Paris, pp. 1414–1437 (criticism).
* Uhlenbeck, Christian Cornelius (1924): "[https://web.archive.org/web/20110718171602/http://hedatuz.euskomedia.org/333/1/15565588.pdf De la possibilité d' une parenté entre le basque et les langues caucasiques]", Revista Internacional de los Estudios Vascos = Revue Internationale des Etudes Basques 15, pp. 565–588.
* Zelikov, Mixail (2005): "[https://web.archive.org/web/20071214021724/http://www2.unil.ch/slav/ling/recherche/biblio/05MarrCB/Zelikov.pdf L'hypothèse basco-caucasienne dans les travaux de N. Marr]" ''Cahiers de l'ILSL, N° 20, pp. 363–381.
* Зыцарь Ю. В. O родстве баскского языка с кавказскими // [https://web.archive.org/web/20160404095134/http://www.ruslang.ru/doc/voprosy/voprosy1955-5.pdf Вопросы языкознания. 1955. No. 5.]
Iberian hypothesis
* Bähr, Gerhard (1948): "Baskisch und Iberisch" Eusko Jakintza II, pp. 3–20, 167–194, 381–455.
* Gorrochategui, Joaquín (1993): La onomástica aquitana y su relación con la ibérica, Lengua y cultura en Hispania prerromana : actas del V Coloquio sobre lenguas y culturas de la Península Ibérica: (Colonia 25–28 de Noviembre de 1989) (Francisco Villar and Jürgen Untermann, eds.), , pp. 609–634.
* Rodríguez Ramos, Jesús (2002). [http://dialnet.unirioja.es/servlet/fichero_articulo?codigo263566&orden65367 La hipótesis del vascoiberismo desde el punto de vista de la epigrafía íbera], Fontes linguae vasconum: Studia et documenta, 90, pp. 197–218, .
* Schuchardt, Hugo Ernst Mario (1907): Die Iberische Deklination, Wien.
Uralic-Altaic hypothesis
* Bonaparte, Louis Lucien (1862): [https://books.google.com/books?idfo8CAAAAQAAJ Langue basque et langues finnoises], London. Vasconic-Old European hypothesis
* Vennemann, Theo (2003): Europa Vasconica – Europa Semitica, Trends in Linguistics. Studies and Monographs 138, De Gruyter, Berlin, .
* Vennemann, Theo (2007): "Basken wie wir: Linguistisches und Genetisches zum europäischen Stammbaum", BiologenHeute 5/6, 6–11.
Other theories
* Thornton, R.W. (2002): Basque Parallels to Greenberg's Eurasiatic. in: Mother Tongue.'' Gloucester, Mass., 2002.
External links
* – Euskaltzaindia (The Royal Academy of the Basque Language)
* [http://ixa2.si.ehu.eus/welcome/index.php/English.html An overview of language technology tools for Basque]: Automatic translators for Basque, dictionaries, resources to learn Basque... (~ 2016)
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20140716231709/http://www.ei.ehu.es/ Euskara Institutua], The University of the Basque Country, UPV/EHU
* [https://ahotsak.eus/english/ Ahotsak.eus - Basque Oral Archive]
Category:Agglutinative languages
Category:Articles containing video clips
Category:Language isolates of Europe
Category:Subject–object–verb languages
Category:Synthetic languages
Category:Languages of Spain
Category:Languages of France
Category:Languages attested from the 1st century BC
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Björn Ulvaeus
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| image = Björn Ulvaeus 2023 (53338026438) (cropped).jpg
| caption = Ulvaeus in 2023
| image_size = <!-- Only for images narrower than 220 pixels -->
| birth_name = Björn Kristian Ulvaeus
| birth_date
| birth_place = Gothenburg, Sweden
| occupation =
| years_active = 1963–present
| spouse =
*
*
}}
| children = 4, including Linda
| relations | signature Björn Ulvaeus signature.svg
| module
| label =
| instrument =
| past_member_of = Hootenanny Singers, ABBA
}}
| website =
}}
Björn Kristian Ulvaeus (; born 25 April 1945) is a Swedish musician, singer, songwriter, and producer best known as a member of the musical group ABBA. He is also the co-composer of the musicals Chess, Kristina från Duvemåla, and Mamma Mia! He co-produced the films Mamma Mia! and Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again with fellow ABBA member and close friend Benny Andersson. He is the oldest member of the group.
Early life
Björn Kristian Ulvaeus was born in Gothenburg on 25 April 1945. At aged 6, he moved with his family to Västervik, Kalmar County. His parents were Aina Eliza Viktoria (née Bengtsson; 1909–2005) and Erik Gunnar Ulvaeus (1912–1999). Ulvaeus has one sister, Eva Margareta (born 1948). Ulvaeus did military service. Career Pre-ABBA
Before gaining international recognition with ABBA, Ulvaeus was a member of the Swedish folk-schlager band Hootenanny Singers, known earlier as the "West Bay Singers", who had an enormous following in Scandinavia. While on the road in southern Sweden in 1966, they encountered the Hep Stars, and Ulvaeus quickly became friends with the group's keyboard player, Benny Andersson. The two musicians shared a passion for songwriting, and each found a composing partner in the other. On meeting again that summer, they composed their first song together: "Isn't It Easy To Say", a song soon to be recorded by Andersson's group. The two continued teaming up for music, helping out each other's bands in the recording studio, and adding guitar or keyboards respectively to the recordings. In 1968, they composed two songs together: "A Flower in My Garden", recorded by Hep Stars, and their first real hit "Ljuva Sextiotal", performed by popular Swedish artist Brita Borg, for which Stig Anderson wrote lyrics. The latter, a cabarét-style ironic song about the 1960s, was submitted for the 1969 Swedish heats for the Eurovision Song Contest, but was rejected; it was later recorded by diva Brita Borg. Another hit came in 1969 with "Speleman", also recorded by Hep Stars., 1967]]
While filming a nostalgic schlager special for television in May 1969, Björn met eighteen-year-old future wife and singer-songwriter Agnetha Fältskog.
Björn Ulvaeus continued recording and touring with Hootenanny Singers to great acclaim while working as in-house producer at Polar Record Company (headed by future manager Stig Anderson), with Benny as his new partner. The twosome produced records by other artists and continued writing songs together. Polar artist Arne Lamberts Swedish version of "A Flower in My Garden" ("Fröken Blåklint") was one of Björn & Benny's first in-house productions. In December 1969, they recorded the new song "She's My Kind of Girl", which became their first single as a duo. It was released in March 1970, giving them a minor hit in Sweden and a top-ten hit in Japan two years later.
The Hootenanny Singers entered Svensktoppen, the Swedish radio charts, in 1970 with "Omkring Tiggarn Från Luossa", a cover of an old folk-schlager song. It remained on the charts for 52 consecutive weeks, a record which endured until 1990; the song was produced by Björn and Benny, and had Ulvaeus's solo vocal and Benny's piano.
ABBA years
Björn Ulvaeus's girlfriend Agnetha Fältskog eventually joined Björn&Benny becoming Björn, Benny & Agnetha, Frida eventually shortening it to ABBA. Björn was the guitar player in the band, but he also sang lead vocals in the following songs: "People Need Love", "Merry Go Round", "Santa Rosa", "Another Town Another Train", "I Saw It in the Mirror", "Love Isn't Easy (But It Sure Is Hard Enough)", "He Is Your Brother", "Rock'n Roll Band", "She's My Kind of Girl", "Honey Honey", "Sitting in the Palmtree", "King King Song", "Watch Out, Man in the Middle, Rock Me, Crazy World", "Why Did It Have To Be Me?", "Summer Night City", "Does Your Mother Know", "Two for the Price Of One".
Björn and Agnetha Fältskog divorced, and the band broke up shortly after the divorce.
Post-ABBA
After ABBA went on hiatus in 1982, Ulvaeus and Andersson created the musicals Chess, a collaboration with lyricist Tim Rice, Kristina från Duvemåla (based on The Emigrants novels by Swedish writer Vilhelm Moberg), and Mamma Mia! (based on ABBA songs).
Together with Andersson, Ulvaeus was nominated for the Drama Desk Award in the category "Outstanding Music" (for the musical Chess), and for a Tony Award in a category "Best Orchestrations" (for the musical Mamma Mia!). The original cast recordings for both musicals were nominated for a Grammy Award.
For the 2004 semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest in Istanbul, thirty years after ABBA had won the 1974 contest in Brighton, UK, Ulvaeus appeared briefly in a special comedy video made for the interval act, entitled "Our Last Video". Each of the four members of the group appeared briefly in cameo roles, as did others such as Cher and Rik Mayall. The video was not included in the official DVD release of the Eurovision Contest, but was issued as a separate DVD release. It was billed as the first time the four had worked together since the group split. In fact, they each filmed their appearances separately.
Ulvaeus also shared with Andersson "The Special International Ivor Novello Award" from the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors, "The Music Export Prize" from the Swedish Ministry of Industry and Trade (2008), and "Lifetime Achievement Award" from the Swedish Music Publishers Association (SMFF).
On 15 April 2013, it was officially announced by the EBU and the SVT that Ulvaeus and Andersson, with the late Swedish DJ and record producer Avicii, had composed the anthem for the 2013 Eurovision Song Contest. The song was performed for the first time in the Final on 18 May.
In 2016 American media reported that British entrepreneur Simon Fuller had approached Ulvaeus and other members of ABBA with his idea to create a virtual reality ABBA using new technology. In November that year Fuller was photographed in London meeting with Ulvaeus. In September 2017, Benny Andersson told Swedish newspaper Expressen that there were plans for ABBA to tour "virtually", using digital avatars of the group and Ulvaeus told the BBC that the idea had been proposed to the band by Simon Fuller. In April 2018, the four members issued a statement saying that during preparations for the tour, they had regrouped with Fuller in the studio and recorded two new songs, titled "I Still Have Faith in You" and "Don't Shut Me Down".
In 2020, Björn Ulvaeus has been appointed President of CISAC, the International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers.
On 2 September 2021, via YouTube livestream, ABBA announced their virtual concert residency "ABBA Voyage", as well as the release of a studio album, recorded between 2017 and 2021. The new record, their first in 40 years, features ten tracks, including "I Still Have Faith In You" and "Don't Shut Me Down", which were first shown in the aforementioned livestream event and released as a double A-side single. On 5 November 2021, the Voyage album was released worldwide, and on 27 May 2022, ABBA Voyage opened in a purpose-built venue named the ABBA Arena at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in London.
Since November 2021, Ulvaeus and British actor Ian McKellen have posted Instagram videos featuring the pair knitting Christmas jumpers and other festive attire. In 2023, it was revealed that Ulvaeus and McKellen would be knitting stagewear for Kylie Minogue as part of her More Than Just a Residency concert residency at Voltaire at The Venetian Las Vegas.
In October 2023, it was confirmed that Ulvaeus would be the keynote speaker for The Business Day at Bridlington Spa in the United Kingdom on Friday 7 June 2024. Ulvaeus is expected to discuss the creation of ABBA Voyage, leadership, entrepreneurship, artificial intelligence (AI), Technology, Innovation, Meta Data and the complexity of business in the music industry. Personal life
On 6 July 1971, Ulvaeus married Agnetha Fältskog. They had two children: Linda Elin Ulvaeus (born 23 February 1973), and Peter Christian Ulvaeus (born 4 December 1977). The couple separated in early 1979, and their divorce was finalised in July 1980.
Ulvaeus married music journalist Lena Källersjö on 6 January 1981. They have two daughters. Ulvaeus and Källersjö lived on a private island in Djursholm, an upscale area in Danderyd Municipality north of Stockholm. From 1984 to 1990, they lived in the United Kingdom, where Ulvaeus founded an IT business with his brother. In February 2022, Ulvaeus and Källersjö announced their separation.
In 2021, while producing Voyage, Ulvaeus met Christina Sas, a product manager at Universal Music Group, and they began dating the following year. Ulvaeus and Sas were married on 21 September 2024 in Copenhagen, Denmark. The ceremony was officiated by Sandi Toksvig.
Ulvaeus is one of the four owners (along with Per Gessle) of NoteHeads, a Swedish company which publishes the music notation program Igor Engraver.
Ulvaeus is a member of the International Humanist and Ethical Union's Swedish member organisation Humanisterna, and was awarded their annual prize, Hedenius-priset, in 2006. Ulvaeus describes himself as an atheist. He has appeared on several shows discussing his views about religion.
Ulvaeus suffered from severe long-term memory loss. However, in a 2009 interview, he stated that reports of his memory loss were "hugely exaggerated". In a TV interview with Fredrik Skavlan, Ulvaeus said the memory loss pertained to episodic memory. He said that, for instance, he was not nostalgic for his days with ABBA: "It was good while it lasted."
The Guardian called him Sweden's "highest-profile cash-free campaigner", explaining that "after his son was robbed several years ago, Ulvaeus became an evangelist for the electronic payment movement, claiming that cash was the primary cause of crime and that 'all activity in the black economy requires cash'". He has reportedly been living cash-free for more than a decade, and ABBA The Museum has operated cash-free since it opened in May 2013. Tax vindication The Swedish Tax Agency accused Björn Ulvaeus of failing to pay 90 million kronor (US$12.8 million) in back taxes for eight years ending in 2005. The agency claimed that he "laundered" his music royalty income through institutions in several foreign countries. Ulvaeus paid the taxes as a precautionary measure during the 2½-year dispute. In October 2008, the county administrative court decided the case in Ulvaeus' favour, ruling that he never owed any of the 90 million kronor.
Awards
On 21 March 2024, all four members of ABBA were appointed Commander, First Class, of the Royal Order of Vasa by His Majesty King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden. This was the first time in almost 50 years that the Swedish Royal Orders of Knighthood was bestowed on Swedes, also the 50th anniversary of ABBA winning the Eurovision Song Contest. ABBA shared the honour with nine other people.
* : Royal Order of Vasa, Commander First Class (21 March 2024) Discography Björn solo singles
* 1968: "Raring" (Swedish version of "Honey")/"Vill du ha en vän"
* 1968: "Fröken Fredriksson" (Swedish version of "Harper Valley PTA")/"Vår egen sång" – (Polar POS 162)
* 1969: "Saknar du något min kära" (Swedish version of "Where Do You Go To (My Lovely)?"/"Gömt är inte glömt")
* 1969: "Partaj-aj-aj-aj"/"Kvinnan i mitt liv"
Björn and Benny singles
* 1970: "She's My Kind of Girl"/"Inga Theme"
* 1970: "Hej, gamle man!"/"Lycka" (Happiness)
* 1971: "Hey, Musikant"/"Was die Liebe sagt"
* 1971: "Det kan ingen doktor hjälpa" (It Can't Be Remedied by a Doctor)/"På bröllop"
* 1971: "Tänk om jorden vore ung" (If Only We Had The Time)/"Träskofolket"
* 1972: "En karusell" (Merry-Go-Round)/"Att finnas till"
* 1972: "Love Has Its Ways"/"Rock 'N' Roll Band" (Benny & Björn 1st version)
{| class"wikitable plainrowheaders" style"text-align:center;"
! rowspan"2" scope"col" style="width:16em;" |Title
! rowspan"2" scope"col" style="width:2em;" |Year
! colspan"3" scope"col" style="width:2em;" |Peak chart positions
! rowspan"2" scope"col" style="width:10em;" |Sales
! rowspan"2" scope"col" style="width:13em;" |Album
|-
! style="width:3em;font-size:85%" |SWE
! style="width:3em;font-size:85%" |SWE (Svensktoppen)
! style="width:3em;font-size:85%" |JAP
|-
! scope="row" |"She's My Kind of Girl"
| rowspan="3" |1970
|—
|—
|6
|
* Japan: 188,000+
|Ring Ring
|-
! scope"row" |"Hej gamle man"
|5
|1
|—
|
| rowspan="2" |Lycka
|-
! scope="row" |"Livet går sin gång"
|—
|14
|—
|
|-
! scope="row" |"Hey, Musikant" (Germany only)
| rowspan="4" |1971
|—
|—
|—
|
| rowspan="3" |Lycka (2006 reissue)
|-
! scope"row" |"Det kan ingen doktor hjälpa"
| rowspan="2" |—
|9
| rowspan="2" |—
|
|-
! scope="row" |"På bröllop"
|9
|
|-
! scope"row" |"Tänk om jorden vore ung"
|—
|1
|—
|
|Lycka (1972 reissue)
|-
! scope="row" |"Love Has It’s Ways" (Japan only)
| rowspan="3" |1972
|—
|—
|—
|
| rowspan="3" |Lycka (2006 reissue)
|-
! scope="row" |"En karusell"
| rowspan="2" |—
|12
| rowspan="2" |—
|
|-
! scope="row" |"Att finnas till"
|6
|
|-
! colspan="7" |"—" denotes the single failed to chart or was not released.
|}
Björn and Benny albums
* 1970: Lycka
* 1984: Chess (concept album with Tim Rice)
* 1986: Chess Pieces
* 1988: Chess: Original Broadway Cast Recording
* 1994: Chess in Concert
* 1996: Kristina från Duvemåla
* 1998: Från Waterloo till Duvemåla
* 1999: 16 favoriter ur Kristina från Duvemåla
* 1999: Mamma Mia! (Original Cast Recording)
* 2000: Mamma Mia! (Original Broadway Cast Recording)
* 2002: Chess på svenska
* 2005: Mamma Mia! på svenska
* 2008: Mamma Mia! – The Movie Soundtrack
* 2009: Chess in Concert (London)
* 2010: Kristina at Carnegie Hall
* 2013: Hjälp sökes
Gemini
* 1985: Gemini
* 1987: Geminism
Josefin Nilsson
* 1993: Shapes
See also
*List of Swedes in music
*Abbacadabra
Notes
References
External links
*
*
Anne-Marie David<br />with "Tu te reconnaîtras}}
Teach-In<br />with "Ding-A-Dong}}
}}
}}
}}
Category:1945 births
Category:Living people
Category:Singers from Gothenburg
Category:ABBA members
Category:Litteris et Artibus recipients
Category:20th-century Swedish composers
Category:Swedish male composers
Category:Swedish humanists
Category:Swedish musical theatre composers
Category:Swedish male singer-songwriters
Category:21st-century Swedish guitarists
Category:Swedish male guitarists
Category:Eurovision Song Contest winners
Category:Ivor Novello Award winners
Category:Eurodisco musicians
Category:Swedish expatriates in the United Kingdom
Category:Swedish rock guitarists
Category:Swedish mandolinists
Category:Swedish banjoists
Category:Acoustic guitarists
Category:Swedish atheists
Category:Swedish agnostics
Category:Swedish lyricists
Category:Swedish pop singers
Category:20th-century Swedish male singers
Category:Swedish rock singers
Category:21st-century Swedish composers
Category:21st-century Swedish male singers
Category:Commanders First Class of the Order of Vasa
Category:Swedish record producers
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Benny Andersson
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| image = Benny Andersson 2012-09-24 001 (cropped).jpg
| caption = Andersson in 2012
| image_size = <!-- Only for images narrower than 220 pixels -->
| birth_name = Göran Bror Benny Andersson
| birth_date
| birth_place = Stockholm, Sweden
| occupation =
| years_active = 1964–present
| spouse =
*
}}
| children = 3
| relations | partner Christina Grönvall (1961–1966)
| signature = Benny Andersson signature.svg
| module =
| instrument =
| current_member_of = Benny Anderssons orkester
| past_member_of =
}}
}}
Göran Bror Benny Andersson (; born 16 December 1946) is a Swedish musician, composer and producer best known as a member of the pop group ABBA and co-composer of the musicals Chess, Kristina från Duvemåla, and Mamma Mia! For the 2008 film version of Mamma Mia! and its 2018 sequel, Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again, he worked also as an executive producer. Since 2001, he has been active with his own band Benny Anderssons orkester.
Early life
Göran Bror Benny Andersson was born 16 December 1946 in the Vasastan district of Stockholm to civil engineer Gösta Andersson (1912–1973) and his wife Laila (1920–1971). His sister Eva-Lis Andersson followed in 1948. Andersson's musical background comes from his father and grandfather (Efraim); they both enjoyed playing the accordion, and at six, Benny got his own. His father and grandfather taught him Swedish folk music, traditional music, and schlager. The first records Benny bought were "Du Bist Musik" by Italian schlager singer Caterina Valente and Elvis Presley's "Jailhouse Rock". He was especially impressed by the flip side, "Treat Me Nice", as this featured a piano. This variety of different kinds of music influenced him through the years.
At ten, Andersson got his own piano and taught himself to play. He was influenced by Brian Jones, left school at 15 and began to perform at youth clubs. This is when he met his first girlfriend Christina Grönvall, with whom he had two children: Peter (born 1963) and Heléne (born 1965). In early 1964, Benny and Christina joined "Elverkets Spelmanslag" ("The Electricity Board Folk Music Group"); the name was a punning reference to their electric instruments. Their repertoire consisted mainly of instrumentals, including "Baby Elephant Walk"; he also wrote his first songs.
Career
Hep Stars (1964–1969)
in 1965]]
In October 1964 he joined the Hep Stars as keyboardist and they made a breakthrough in March 1965 with their hit "Cadillac", eventually becoming the most celebrated of the Swedish 1960s pop bands. Andersson secured his place as the band's keyboardist and musical driving force as well as a teen idol. The band performed mostly covers of international hits, but Andersson soon started writing his own material, and gave the band the classic hits "No Response", "Sunny Girl", "Wedding", "Consolation", "It's Nice To Be Back" and "She Will Love You", among others.
Before ABBA (1969–1972)
Andersson met Björn Ulvaeus in June 1966, and the two men started writing songs together, their first being "Isn't It Easy To Say", eventually recorded by the Hep Stars. He also had a fruitful songwriting collaboration with Lasse Berghagen, with whom he wrote several songs and submitted "Hej, Clown" for the 1969 Melodifestivalen – the Swedish Eurovision Song Festival finals. The song finished in second place. During this contest, he met vocalist Anni-Frid Lyngstad, and they soon became a couple. Around the same time, his songwriting companion Ulvaeus met vocalist Agnetha Fältskog.
The personal relationships and Andersson and Ulvaeus' songwriting collaboration led quite naturally to the very close cooperation which the four friends had during the following years. Benny and Björn scored their first hits as songwriters in the spring of 1969: "Ljuva sextital" (a hit with Brita Borg) and "Speleman" (a hit for the Hep Stars). As the two couples began supporting each other during recording sessions, the sound of the women's voices convinced the songwriters to model their 'group' on various MOR acts such as Blue Mink, Middle of the Road and Sweet.
ABBA (1972–1982)
The group's breakthrough came with winning the Eurovision Song Contest for Sweden with "Waterloo" on 6 April 1974. During the next eight years, Andersson (together with Ulvaeus) wrote music for and produced eight studio albums with ABBA. The group achieved great success globally and scored a chain of No. 1 hits.
With ABBA, Benny sang lead vocal on only one song – "Suzy-Hang-Around", from the Waterloo album.
After ABBA: Chess, Kristina and Mamma Mia! (1983–present)
After ABBA, Andersson continued writing music with Ulvaeus. Their first project was the stage musical Chess, written with Tim Rice. The Chess concept album – with vocals by Elaine Paige, Barbara Dickson, Murray Head and Swedes Tommy Körberg and Björn Skifs – was released in October 1984, selling two million copies worldwide. The Paige/Dickson duet "I Know Him So Well" became a major UK No. 1 hit, and Murray Head's "One Night in Bangkok" gave Andersson/Ulvaeus a US No. 3 hit.
Chess was staged in London's West End Prince Edward Theatre in May 1986 and received mixed to positive reviews, running for about three years. A revised staging on Broadway in April 1988 received poor reviews, running for two months.
In 1985, Andersson produced and released an album with brother and sister Anders and Karin Glenmark, featuring new songs by Andersson/Ulvaeus. The duo named themselves Gemini, and a second album with more music by Björn and Benny was released in April 1987, containing the big hit "Mio My Mio"; also to be found on the soundtrack to the film Mio in the Land of Faraway, for which Andersson co-produced the music.
In 1987, Andersson released his first solo album Klinga Mina Klockor ("Chime, My Bells"). All the music was written by and performed by himself on accordion, backed by the Orsa Spelmän (Orsa Folk Musicians) on fiddles. A second solo album followed: November 1989.
In 1990, Andersson scored a Swedish No. 1 hit with "Lassie", sung by female cabaret group Ainbusk, for whom he also wrote the Svensktoppen hits "Älska Mig" and "Drömmarnas Golv". He decided to produce an album with Josefin Nilsson from this quartet, resulting in the 1993 English-language album Shapes, featuring ten new Andersson/Ulvaeus compositions.
In 1992, he wrote the introduction melody for the European football championship, which was organised by Sweden that year.
From the late 1980s, Andersson had worked on an idea for an epic Swedish language musical based on his affection for traditional folk music, and in October 1995, Kristina från Duvemåla premiered in Sweden. The musical was based on The Emigrants novels by Swedish writer Vilhelm Moberg. The musical ran successfully for almost five years, before closing in June 1999. An English-language version, simply titled Kristina, was staged in concert at Carnegie Hall in New York City for two nights in September 2009, yielding a live recording, and at the Royal Albert Hall for one night in April 2010.
Andersson's next project was Mamma Mia!, a musical built around 24 of ABBA's songs, which has become a worldwide box-office blockbuster, with versions in several languages being played in many countries, including the UK (West End premiere in April 1999), Canada (Toronto premiere in 2000), the USA (Broadway premiere in 2001), and Sweden (Swedish language premiere in 2005).
For the 2004 semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest, staged in Istanbul thirty years after ABBA had won the contest in Brighton, Benny appeared briefly in a special comedy video made for the interval act, entitled "Our Last Video". Each of the four members of the group appeared briefly in cameo roles, as did others such as Cher and Rik Mayall. The video was not included in the official DVD release of the Eurovision Contest, but was issued as a separate DVD release. It was billed as the first time the four had worked together since the group split; however, Frida's appearance was filmed separately.
A film version of Mamma Mia! premiered on 18 July 2008. In April/May 2007, Andersson worked on the film soundtrack, re-recording the ABBA songs with musicians from the original ABBA recording sessions. Mamma Mia! The Movie has become the most successful film musical of all time, and the biggest-selling DVD ever in the UK.
Benny Anderssons Orkester (2001–present)
Andersson currently performs with his own band of 16 musicians, Benny Anderssons Orkester ("Benny Andersson's orchestra", BAO), with fellow Swedes Helen Sjöholm (of Kristina from Duvemåla) and Tommy Körberg (of Chess), with lyrics to new material sometimes written by Björn Ulvaeus. BAO has released five albums to huge success in Sweden, all containing hit singles.
In 2009 BAO achieved a new record in Sweden on the Svensktoppen chart by staying there for 243 weeks with the song "Du är min man" ("You Are My Man"), sung by Sjöholm.
New compositions (1984–present)
Andersson composes primarily for his band BAO, with vocalists Sjöholm and Körberg, but he keeps his older material alive by re-visiting it, as in Mamma Mia! and the Swedish version of Chess.
For a compilation album of the Glenmark duo Gemini, Andersson had Björn Ulvaeus write new Swedish lyrics for the re-recording of two songs from 1984 and 1987.
Andersson and Ulvaeus have continuously been writing new material; most recently the two wrote seven songs for Andersson's BAO 2011 album O klang och jubeltid, performed as usual by vocalists Sjöholm, Körberg and Kalle Moraeus. In July 2009, BAO, now named "The Benny Andersson Band", released their first international record, the album The Story of a Heart. It was a compilation of 14 tracks from Andersson's five Swedish-language releases between 1987 and 2007, including five songs now recorded with lyrics by Ulvaeus in English, and the new title song premiered on BBC2's Ken Bruce Show. A Swedish-language version of the title track, "Sommaren Du Fick" ("The Summer You Got"), was released as a single in Sweden prior to the English version, with vocals by Helen Sjöholm.
In the spring of 2009, Andersson also released a single recorded by the staff at his privately owned Stockholm hotel Hotel Rival, titled "2nd Best to None", accompanied by a video showing the staff at work. In 2008, Andersson and Ulvaeus wrote a song for Swedish singer Sissela Kyle, titled "Jag vill bli gammal" ("I Wanna Grow Old"), for her Stockholm stage show "Your Days Are Numbered", which was never recorded and released but did get a TV performance. Ulvaeus also contributed lyrics to ABBA's 1976 instrumental track "Arrival" for Sarah Brightman's cover version recorded for her 2008 album A Winter Symphony. New English lyrics have also been written for Andersson's 1999 song "Innan Gryningen" (then also named "Millennium Hymn"), with the new title "The Silence of the Dawn" for Barbara Dickson was performed live, but not yet recorded and released. In 2007, they wrote the new song "Han som har vunnit allt" ("He Who's Won It All") for actor and singer Anders Ekborg.
Ulvaeus wrote English lyrics for two older songs from Andersson's solo albums I Walk with You Mama ("Stockholm by Night", 1989) and After the Rain ("Efter regnet", 1987) for opera singer Anne Sofie Von Otter, for her Andersson tribute album I Let the Music Speak. Barbara Dickson recorded an Ulvaeus and Andersson song called "The Day The Wall Came Tumbling Down"; the song eventually was released by Australian Mamma Mia! musical star Anne Wood's album of ABBA covers, Divine Discontent. As of October 2012, Ulvaeus had mentioned writing new material with Andersson for a BAO Christmas release (also mentioned as a BAO box), and Andersson is busy writing music for a Swedish language obscure musical, Hjälp Sökes ("Help is Wanted") together with Kristina Lugn and Lars Rudolfsson, premiering 8 February 2013.
in 2013]]
Andersson has also written music for a documentary film about Olof Palme, re-recording the track "Sorgmarch" from his last album as a theme throughout the film.
The song "Kärlekens Tid", recorded 2004 by Helen Sjöholm with BAO, has also been performed in concert in English (lyrics by Ylva Eggehorn) by opera baritone Bryn Terfel.
On 15 April 2013, it was officially announced by the EBU and the SVT that Andersson, along with Ulvaeus and the late Stockholm based DJ and record producer Avicii, had composed the anthem for the 2013 Eurovision Song Contest. The song was performed for the first time in the Final on 18 May.
A new album of Andersson compositions presented in a choral style was released on 18 September 2015. "Kärlekens Tid" was produced in Andersson's Mono Music studio, under the direction of choirmaster Gustaf Sjökvist, who died before the album's release. Gustaf Sjökvists Choir, conducted by Cecilia Rydinger Alin, performed two concerts at Skeppsholmen on 20 September, featuring Benny Andersson on piano. The album includes songs in Swedish and English from a range of Andersson's projects, such as Chess, Kristina and BAO.
In November 2018, Deutsche Grammophon released Piano, a collection of ABBA tunes, tunes from Chess and original compositions all played by Andersson on solo piano.
Andersson reunited with ABBA in 2018. On 2 September 2021, via YouTube livestream, ABBA announced their upcoming virtual concert residency "ABBA Voyage", as well as the imminent release of an eponymous album, recorded between 2017 and 2021. The new record, their first studio album in 40 years, features ten tracks, including "I Still Have Faith In You" and "Don't Shut Me Down", which also were first shown in the aforementioned livestream event and released as a double A-side single. On 5 November 2021, the Voyage album was released worldwide. On 27 May 2022, ABBA Voyage opened in a purpose-built venue named the ABBA Arena at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in London.
Film music
Andersson has written music to several films for screen and television; the first attempt in the early 1970s for the Swedish erotica movie The Seduction of Inga; the film was not a success, but the 'Björn & Benny' single "She's My Kind of Girl" surprised the composers by being released in Japan and becoming a Top 10 hit (the song renamed in Japan as "The Little Girl of the Cold Wind").
In 1987, Andersson wrote music and co-produced the soundtrack with Anders Eljas for the film Mio in the Land of Faraway, based on Swedish author Astrid Lindgrens Mio, My Son. The title song became a huge hit in Sweden for Gemini.
In 2000, he wrote the music for fellow Swede (no relation) Roy Andersson's film Songs from the Second Floor (the music later re-recorded, featuring new lyrics, with BAO! with vocals by Helen Sjöholm). He also wrote the theme for Roy Andersson's next film, You, the Living, from 2007.
Andersson worked on the film adaptation of Mamma Mia!. He also wrote the film score for the 2012 documentary Palme about Swedish prime minister Olof Palme. He later won a Guldbagge Award for Best Original Score, for that film at the 48th Guldbagge Awards.Awards
Together with Ulvaeus, Andersson was nominated for a Drama Desk Award in a category "Outstanding Music" (for the musical Chess), and for a Tony Award in a category "Best Orchestrations" (for musical Mamma Mia!). Original cast recordings of both musicals were nominated for a Grammy Award. Andersson/Ulvaeus also won a Touring Broadway Award for the musical "Mamma Mia" (best score).
During his post-ABBA career Andersson won four Swedish Grammis awards, and together with Ulvaeus received the "Special International" Ivor Novello award from 'The British Academy of Composers and Songwriters', twice "The Music Export Prize" from the Swedish Ministry of Industry and Trade (2008), as well as the "Lifetime Achievement" award from the Swedish Music Publishers Association (SMFF). In 2002, Andersson was given an honorary professorship by the Swedish Government for his "ability to create high-class music reaching people around the world".
in 2008]]
In 2007, he was elected a member of Royal Swedish Academy of Music, and in 2008 received an Honorary Doctorate from the Stockholm University Faculty of Humanities for contributing importantly both to the preservation and the growth of the Swedish folk music tradition.
On 15 March 2010, Andersson appeared on stage in New York with former wife Anni-Frid Lyngstad to accept ABBA's award of induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. During his acceptance speech he reflected on the important influence of traditional European music and the melancholy of the Swedish soul on ABBA's brand of pop music. "If you live in a country like Sweden, with five, six months of snow, and the sun disappears totally for like two months, that would be reflected in the work of artists," he said. "It's definitely in the Swedish folk music, you can hear it in the Russian folk songs, you can hear in the music from Jean Sibelius or Edvard Grieg from Norway, you can see it in the eyes of Greta Garbo and you can hear it in the voice of Jussi Björling. And you can hear in the sound of Frida and Agnetha on some of our songs too."
In 2012, he received an Honorary Doctorate of Philosophy from the Luleå Tekniska Universitet Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences.
Andersson won the Swedish "Guldbaggen" award in 2012 as composer of the music for the film "Palme".
For his album Piano he received the Opus Klassik award in 2018.
On 21 March 2024, all four members of ABBA were appointed Commander, First Class, of the Royal Order of Vasa by His Majesty King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden. This was the first time in almost 50 years that the Swedish Royal Orders of Knighthood was bestowed on Swedes, also the 50th anniversary of ABBA winning the Eurovision Song Contest. ABBA shared the honour with nine other persons.
* : Royal Order of Vasa, Commander First Class (21 March 2024)Personal lifeAndersson was engaged to Christina Grönvall. They have two children. The couple split in 1966 and Christina kept custody of the children as Andersson was then at the peak of his Hep Stars' success. In the 1990s, their son Peter Grönvall formed One More Time, a group that enjoyed European success with the ABBA-like "Highland" and, later, as Sweden's entry to the Eurovision Song Contest 1996.
Andersson was in a relationship with Anni-Frid Lyngstad of ABBA for about 11 years, from 1969 till 1980. They married on 6 October 1978, but separated on 26 November 1980 and divorced in 1981.
He married Swedish TV presenter Mona Nörklit in 1981 and had a son, Ludvig. Ludvig is also one of the producers of the concert residency ABBA Voyage.
Andersson was an alcoholic through much of his adult life. He has remained a teetotaler since 2001. Andersson did not disclose the extent of his substance abuse problems until a 2011 interview, at which point he had maintained nearly a decade of sobriety.<ref name"tele" />
Discography
Also appears on
*''Beginner's Guide to Scandinavia (3CD, Nascente 2011)
See also
*List of Swedes in music
References
External links
* [http://www.deutschegrammophon.com/de/artist/ Deutsche Grammophon page on Benny Andersson]
* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/2J8nGhHFq1hX3KPB6S8bQHH/new-generation-artists-a-to-z BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artists page]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20200519092504/https://www.icethesite.com/ icethesite (Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus news site)]
* [http://www.thehepstars.se/indexE.html The Hep Stars International Official website (Benny before ABBA)]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20090207121434/http://dummipedia.org/Chronology%3ABenny_Andersson Chronology: Benny Andersson]
* [http://www.abbasite.com/ Official ABBA site]
Anne-Marie David<br/>with "Tu te reconnaîtras"}}
Teach-In<br/>with "Ding-A-Dong"}}
}}
Category:1946 births
Category:Living people
Category:Musicians from Stockholm
Category:ABBA members
Category:Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Music
Category:Swedish accordionists
Category:Swedish keyboardists
Category:Swedish pianists
Category:Swedish male songwriters
Category:20th-century Swedish male singers
Category:Swedish musical theatre composers
Category:Swedish film score composers
Category:Georges Delerue Award winners
Category:Swedish pop pianists
Category:Eurodisco musicians
Category:Ivor Novello Award winners
Category:Swedish feminists
Category:Male feminists
Category:Feminist musicians
Category:Eurovision Song Contest winners
Category:Best Original Score Guldbagge Award winners
Category:21st-century Swedish male singers
Category:Acoustic guitarists
Category:Male organists
Category:21st-century accordionists
Category:Swedish male pianists
Category:21st-century Swedish organists
Category:Swedish male film score composers
Category:Deutsche Grammophon artists
Category:Commanders First Class of the Order of Vasa
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benny_Andersson
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2025-04-05T18:26:32.884486
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Bluetooth
|
| hardware =
| range Typically less than , up to .<br/>Bluetooth 5.0: It is mainly used as an alternative to wired connections to exchange files between nearby portable devices and connect cell phones and music players with wireless headphones, wireless speakers, HIFI systems, car audio and wireless transmission between TVs and soundbars.
Bluetooth is managed by the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG), which has more than 35,000 member companies in the areas of telecommunication, computing, networking, and consumer electronics. The IEEE standardized Bluetooth as IEEE 802.15.1 but no longer maintains the standard. The Bluetooth SIG oversees the development of the specification, manages the qualification program, and protects the trademarks. A manufacturer must meet Bluetooth SIG standards to market it as a Bluetooth device. A network of patents applies to the technology, which is licensed to individual qualifying devices. , 4.7 billion Bluetooth integrated circuit chips are shipped annually. Bluetooth was first demonstrated in space in 2024, an early test envisioned to enhance IoT capabilities.
Etymology
The name "Bluetooth" was proposed in 1997 by Jim Kardach of Intel, one of the founders of the Bluetooth SIG. The name was inspired by a conversation with Sven Mattisson who related Scandinavian history through tales from Frans G. Bengtsson's The Long Ships, a historical novel about Vikings and the 10th-century Danish king Harald Bluetooth. Upon discovering a picture of the runestone of Harald Bluetooth in the book A History of the Vikings by Gwyn Jones, Kardach proposed Bluetooth as the codename for the short-range wireless program which is now called Bluetooth.
According to Bluetooth's official website,
Bluetooth is the Anglicised version of the Scandinavian Blåtand/Blåtann (or in Old Norse blátǫnn). It was the epithet of King Harald Bluetooth, who united the disparate
Danish tribes into a single kingdom; Kardach chose the name to imply that Bluetooth similarly unites communication protocols.
The Bluetooth logo is a bind rune merging the Younger Futhark runes (ᚼ, Hagall) and (ᛒ, Bjarkan), Harald's initials.
History
The development of the "short-link" radio technology, later named Bluetooth, was initiated in 1989 by Nils Rydbeck, CTO at Ericsson Mobile in Lund, Sweden. The purpose was to develop wireless headsets, according to two inventions by Johan Ullman, and . Nils Rydbeck tasked Tord Wingren with specifying and Dutchman Jaap Haartsen and Sven Mattisson with developing. Both were working for Ericsson in Lund. Principal design and development began in 1994 and by 1997 the team had a workable solution. From 1997 Örjan Johansson became the project leader and propelled the technology and standardization.
In 1997, Adalio Sanchez, then head of IBM ThinkPad product R&D, approached Nils Rydbeck about collaborating on integrating a mobile phone into a ThinkPad notebook. The two assigned engineers from Ericsson and IBM studied the idea. The conclusion was that power consumption on cellphone technology at that time was too high to allow viable integration into a notebook and still achieve adequate battery life. Instead, the two companies agreed to integrate Ericsson's short-link technology on both a ThinkPad notebook and an Ericsson phone to accomplish the goal.
Since neither IBM ThinkPad notebooks nor Ericsson phones were the market share leaders in their respective markets at that time, Adalio Sanchez and Nils Rydbeck agreed to make the short-link technology an open industry standard to permit each player maximum market access. Ericsson contributed the short-link radio technology, and IBM contributed patents around the logical layer. Adalio Sanchez of IBM then recruited Stephen Nachtsheim of Intel to join and then Intel also recruited Toshiba and Nokia. In May 1998, the Bluetooth SIG was launched with IBM and Ericsson as the founding signatories and a total of five members: Ericsson, Intel, Nokia, Toshiba, and IBM.
The first Bluetooth device was revealed in 1999. It was a hands-free mobile headset that earned the "Best of show Technology Award" at COMDEX. The first Bluetooth mobile phone was the unreleased prototype Ericsson T36, though it was the revised Ericsson model T39 that actually made it to store shelves in June 2001. However Ericsson released the R520m in Quarter 1 of 2001, making the R520m the first ever commercially available Bluetooth phone. In parallel, IBM introduced the IBM ThinkPad A30 in October 2001 which was the first notebook with integrated Bluetooth.
Bluetooth's early incorporation into consumer electronics products continued at Vosi Technologies in Costa Mesa, California, initially overseen by founding members Bejan Amini and Tom Davidson. Vosi Technologies had been created by real estate developer Ivano Stegmenga, with United States Patent 608507, for communication between a cellular phone and a vehicle's audio system. At the time, Sony/Ericsson had only a minor market share in the cellular phone market, which was dominated in the US by Nokia and Motorola. Due to ongoing negotiations for an intended licensing agreement with Motorola beginning in the late 1990s, Vosi could not publicly disclose the intention, integration, and initial development of other enabled devices which were to be the first "Smart Home" internet connected devices.
Vosi needed a means for the system to communicate without a wired connection from the vehicle to the other devices in the network. Bluetooth was chosen, since Wi-Fi was not yet readily available or supported in the public market. Vosi had begun to develop the Vosi Cello integrated vehicular system and some other internet connected devices, one of which was intended to be a table-top device named the Vosi Symphony, networked with Bluetooth. Through the negotiations with Motorola, Vosi introduced and disclosed its intent to integrate Bluetooth in its devices. In the early 2000s a legal battle ensued between Vosi and Motorola, which indefinitely suspended release of the devices. Later, Motorola implemented it in their devices, which initiated the significant propagation of Bluetooth in the public market due to its large market share at the time.
In 2012, Jaap Haartsen was nominated by the European Patent Office for the European Inventor Award. This is in the globally unlicensed (but not unregulated) industrial, scientific and medical (ISM) 2.4GHz short-range radio frequency band. Bluetooth uses a radio technology called frequency-hopping spread spectrum. Bluetooth divides transmitted data into packets, and transmits each packet on one of 79 designated Bluetooth channels. Each channel has a bandwidth of 1MHz. It usually performs 1600hops per second, with adaptive frequency-hopping (AFH) enabled.
Originally, Gaussian frequency-shift keying (GFSK) modulation was the only modulation scheme available. Since the introduction of Bluetooth 2.0+EDR, π/4-DQPSK (differential quadrature phase-shift keying) and 8-DPSK modulation may also be used between compatible devices. Devices functioning with GFSK are said to be operating in basic rate (BR) mode, where an instantaneous bit rate of 1Mbit/s is possible. The term Enhanced Data Rate (EDR) is used to describe π/4-DPSK (EDR2) and 8-DPSK (EDR3) schemes, transferring 2 and 3Mbit/s respectively.
In 2019, Apple published an extension called HDR which supports data rates of 4 (HDR4) and 8 (HDR8) Mbit/s using π/4-DQPSK modulation on 4 MHz channels with forward error correction (FEC).
Bluetooth is a packet-based protocol with a master/slave architecture. One master may communicate with up to seven slaves in a piconet. All devices within a given piconet use the clock provided by the master as the base for packet exchange. The master clock ticks with a period of 312.5μs, two clock ticks then make up a slot of 625μs, and two slots make up a slot pair of 1250μs. In the simple case of single-slot packets, the master transmits in even slots and receives in odd slots. The slave, conversely, receives in even slots and transmits in odd slots. Packets may be 1, 3, or 5 slots long, but in all cases, the master's transmission begins in even slots and the slave's in odd slots.
The above excludes Bluetooth Low Energy, introduced in the 4.0 specification, which uses the same spectrum but somewhat differently. Communication and connection
A master BR/EDR Bluetooth device can communicate with a maximum of seven devices in a piconet (an ad hoc computer network using Bluetooth technology), though not all devices reach this maximum. The devices can switch roles, by agreement, and the slave can become the master (for example, a headset initiating a connection to a phone necessarily begins as master—as an initiator of the connection—but may subsequently operate as the slave).
The Bluetooth Core Specification provides for the connection of two or more piconets to form a scatternet, in which certain devices simultaneously play the master/leader role in one piconet and the slave role in another.
At any given time, data can be transferred between the master and one other device (except for the little-used broadcast mode). The master chooses which slave device to address; typically, it switches rapidly from one device to another in a round-robin fashion. Since it is the master that chooses which slave to address, whereas a slave is (in theory) supposed to listen in each receive slot, being a master is a lighter burden than being a slave. Being a master of seven slaves is possible; being a slave of more than one master is possible. The specification is vague as to required behavior in scatternets.
Uses
Bluetooth is a standard wire-replacement communications protocol primarily designed for low power consumption, with a short range based on low-cost transceiver microchips in each device. Because the devices use a radio (broadcast) communications system, they do not have to be in visual line of sight of each other; however, a quasi optical wireless path must be viable.
Bluetooth classes and power use
{| class"wikitable floatright" style"text-align:right;"
|+ Bluetooth device power by class
|-
! rowspan=2 | Class
! colspan=2 | Maximum permitted power
|-
! mW
! dBm
|-
! 1
| 10–100 || +10–+20
|-
! 1.5*
| 2.5–10 || +4–+10
|-
! 2
| 1–2.5 || 0–+4
|-
! 3
| 0.01–1 || −20–0
|-
| colspan"4" style"text-align:left;"| * Class1.5 included in Class1 for BR/EDR
|-
| colspan"4" style"text-align:left;"| Source: Bluetooth Core Specification revision5.3,<br>Volume6, PartA, §3, and<br>Volume2, PartA, §3, [https://www.bluetooth.com/specifications/specs/core-specification-5-3/ Bluetooth SIG]
|}
Historically, the Bluetooth range was defined by the radio class, with a lower class (and higher output power) having larger range. The actual range of a given link depends on several qualities of both communicating devices and the air and obstacles in between. The primary attributes affecting range are the data rate, protocol (Bluetooth Classic or Bluetooth Low Energy), transmission power, and receiver sensitivity, and the relative orientations and gains of both antennas.
The effective range varies depending on propagation conditions, material coverage, production sample variations, antenna configurations and battery conditions. Most Bluetooth applications are for indoor conditions, where attenuation of walls and signal fading due to signal reflections make the range far lower than specified line-of-sight ranges of the Bluetooth products.
Most Bluetooth applications are battery-powered Class 2 devices, with little difference in range whether the other end of the link is a Class 1 or Class 2 device as the lower-powered device tends to set the range limit. In some cases the effective range of the data link can be extended when a Class 2 device is connecting to a Class 1 transceiver with both higher sensitivity and transmission power than a typical Class 2 device. In general, however, Class 1 devices have sensitivities similar to those of Class 2 devices. Connecting two Class 1 devices with both high sensitivity and high power can allow ranges far in excess of the typical 100 m, depending on the throughput required by the application. Some such devices allow open field ranges of up to 1 km and beyond between two similar devices without exceeding legal emission limits. Bluetooth profile
To use Bluetooth wireless technology, a device must be able to interpret certain Bluetooth profiles.
For example,
* The Headset Profile (HSP) connects headphones and earbuds to a cell phone or laptop.
* The Health Device Profile (HDP) can connect a cell phone to a digital thermometer or heart rate detector.
* The Video Distribution Profile (VDP) sends a video stream from a video camera to a TV screen or a recording device.
Profiles are definitions of possible applications and specify general behaviors that Bluetooth-enabled devices use to communicate with other Bluetooth devices. These profiles include settings to parameterize and to control the communication from the start. Adherence to profiles saves the time for transmitting the parameters anew before the bi-directional link becomes effective. There are a wide range of Bluetooth profiles that describe many different types of applications or use cases for devices. List of applications
from the early 2000s]]
with a rechargeable battery, made in the late 2010s]]
* Wireless control and communication between a mobile phone and a handsfree headset. This was one of the earliest applications to become popular.
* Wireless control of audio and communication functions between a mobile phone and a Bluetooth compatible car stereo system (and sometimes between the SIM card and the car phone).
*Wireless communication between a smartphone and a smart lock for unlocking doors.
* Wireless control of and communication with iOS and Android device phones, tablets and portable wireless speakers.
* Wireless Bluetooth headset and intercom. Idiomatically, a headset is sometimes called "a Bluetooth".
* Wireless streaming of audio to headphones with or without communication capabilities.
* Wireless streaming of data collected by Bluetooth-enabled fitness devices to phone or PC.
* Wireless networking between PCs in a confined space and where little bandwidth is required.
* Wireless communication with PC input and output devices, the most common being the mouse, keyboard and printer.
* Transfer of files, contact details, calendar appointments, and reminders between devices with OBEX and sharing directories via FTP.
* Triggering the camera shutter of a smartphone using a Bluetooth controlled selfie stick.
* Replacement of previous wired RS-232 serial communications in test equipment, GPS receivers, medical equipment, bar code scanners, and traffic control devices.
* For controls where infrared was often used.
* For low bandwidth applications where higher USB bandwidth is not required and cable-free connection desired.
* Sending small advertisements from Bluetooth-enabled advertising hoardings to other, discoverable, Bluetooth devices.
* Wireless bridge between two Industrial Ethernet (e.g., PROFINET) networks.
* Game consoles have been using Bluetooth as a wireless communications protocol for peripherals since the seventh generation, including Nintendo's Wii and Sony's PlayStation 3 which use Bluetooth for their respective controllers.
* Dial-up internet access on personal computers or PDAs using a data-capable mobile phone as a wireless modem.
* Short-range transmission of health sensor data from medical devices to mobile phone, set-top box or dedicated telehealth devices.
* Allowing a DECT phone to ring and answer calls on behalf of a nearby mobile phone.
*Real-time location systems (RTLS) are used to track and identify the location of objects in real time using "Nodes" or "tags" attached to, or embedded in, the objects tracked, and "Readers" that receive and process the wireless signals from these tags to determine their locations.
* Personal security application on mobile phones for prevention of theft or loss of items. The protected item has a Bluetooth marker (e.g., a tag) that is in constant communication with the phone. If the connection is broken (the marker is out of range of the phone) then an alarm is raised. This can also be used as a man overboard alarm.
* Calgary, Alberta, Canada's Roads Traffic division uses data collected from travelers' Bluetooth devices to predict travel times and road congestion for motorists.
* Wireless transmission of audio (a more reliable alternative to FM transmitters)
* Live video streaming to the visual cortical implant device by Nabeel Fattah in Newcastle university 2017.
* Connection of motion controllers to a PC when using VR headsets
* Wireless connection between TVs and soundbars.
Devices
dongle]]
Bluetooth exists in numerous products such as telephones, speakers, tablets, media players, robotics systems, laptops, and game console equipment as well as some high definition headsets, modems, hearing aids and even watches. Bluetooth is useful when transferring information between two or more devices that are near each other in low-bandwidth situations. Bluetooth is commonly used to transfer sound data with telephones (i.e., with a Bluetooth headset) or byte data with hand-held computers (transferring files).
Bluetooth protocols simplify the discovery and setup of services between devices. Bluetooth devices can advertise all of the services they provide. This makes using services easier, because more of the security, network address and permission configuration can be automated than with many other network types. Operating system implementation
For Microsoft platforms, Windows XP Service Pack 2 and SP3 releases work natively with Bluetooth v1.1, v2.0 and v2.0+EDR. Previous versions required users to install their Bluetooth adapter's own drivers, which were not directly supported by Microsoft. Microsoft's own Bluetooth dongles (packaged with their Bluetooth computer devices) have no external drivers and thus require at least Windows XP Service Pack 2. Windows Vista RTM/SP1 with the Feature Pack for Wireless or Windows Vista SP2 work with Bluetooth v2.1+EDR.
Linux has two popular Bluetooth stacks, BlueZ and Fluoride. The BlueZ stack is included with most Linux kernels and was originally developed by Qualcomm. Fluoride, earlier known as Bluedroid is included in Android OS and was originally developed by Broadcom.
There is also Affix stack, developed by Nokia. It was once popular, but has not been updated since 2005.
FreeBSD has included Bluetooth since its v5.0 release, implemented through netgraph.
NetBSD has included Bluetooth since its v4.0 release. Its Bluetooth stack was ported to OpenBSD as well, however OpenBSD later removed it as unmaintained.
DragonFly BSD has had NetBSD's Bluetooth implementation since 1.11 (2008). A netgraph-based implementation from FreeBSD has also been available in the tree, possibly disabled until 2014-11-15, and may require more work. Specifications and features {| class"wikitable floatright mw-datatable"
|+Bluetooth versions
! colspan="2" |Version
! rowspan="2" |Adoption Year
! rowspan="2" |Radio
frequency
! colspan="2" |Maximum rate
! rowspan="2" |Max Range
|-
!Major
!Minor
!Classic
!Low Energy
|-
! rowspan="3" |1
!1.0
|1999
| rowspan="15" |2.4 GHz
|732.2 Kb/s
|N/A
|10 m
|-
!1.1
|2001
|732.2 Kb/s
|N/A
|10 m
|-
!1.2
|2003
|1 Mb/s
|N/A
|10 m
|-
! rowspan="2" |2
!2.0
|2004
|2.1 Mb/s
|N/A
|10 m
|-
!2.1
|2007
|2.1 Mb/s
|N/A
|10 m
|-
!3
!3.0
|2009
|24 Mb/s
|N/A
|10 m
|-
! rowspan="3" |4
!4.0
|2009
|3 Mb/s
|1 Mb/s
|60 m
|-
!4.1
|2013
|3 Mb/s
|1 Mb/s
|60 m
|-
!4.2
|2014
|3 Mb/s
|1 Mb/s
|60 m
|-
! rowspan="5" |5
!5.0
|2016
|50 Mb/s
|2 Mb/s
|240 m
|-
!5.1
|2019
|50 Mb/s
|2 Mb/s
|240 m
|-
!5.2
|2020
|50 Mb/s
|2 Mb/s
|240 m
|-
!5.3
|2021
|50 Mb/s
|2 Mb/s
|240 m
|-
!5.4
|2023
|50 Mb/s
|2 Mb/s
|240 m
|-
!6
!6.0
|2024
|?
|3 Mb/s
|300 m
|}
The specifications were formalized by the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) and formally announced on 20 May 1998. In 2014 it had a membership of over 30,000 companies worldwide. It was established by Ericsson, IBM, Intel, Nokia and Toshiba, and later joined by many other companies.
All versions of the Bluetooth standards are backward-compatible with all earlier versions.
The Bluetooth Core Specification Working Group (CSWG) produces mainly four kinds of specifications:
* The Bluetooth Core Specificationtypically released every few years
* Core Specification Addendum (CSA)
* Core Specification Supplements (CSS)can be released more frequently than Addenda
* Errataavailable with a Bluetooth SIG account: [https://www.bluetooth.com/log-in?btorgReturnURL/errata/index.cfm?_ga1.184939692.467079692.1485266743 Errata login])
Bluetooth 1.0 and 1.0B
* Products were not interoperable.
* Anonymity was not possible, preventing certain services from using Bluetooth environments.
Bluetooth 1.1
* Ratified as IEEE Standard 802.15.1–2002
* Many errors found in the v1.0B specifications were fixed.
* Added possibility of non-encrypted channels.
* Received signal strength indicator (RSSI)
Bluetooth 1.2
Major enhancements include:
* Faster connection and discovery
* Adaptive frequency-hopping spread spectrum (AFH), which improves resistance to radio frequency interference by avoiding the use of crowded frequencies in the hopping sequence
* Higher transmission speeds in practice than in v1.1, up to 721 kbit/s
* Extended Synchronous Connections (eSCO), which improve voice quality of audio links by allowing retransmissions of corrupted packets, and may optionally increase audio latency to provide better concurrent data transfer
* Host Controller Interface (HCI) operation with three-wire UART
* Ratified as IEEE Standard 802.15.1–2005
* Introduced flow control and retransmission modes for
Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR
This version of the Bluetooth Core Specification was released before 2005. The main difference is the introduction of an Enhanced Data Rate (EDR) for faster data transfer. The data rate of EDR is 3Mbit/s, although the maximum data transfer rate (allowing for inter-packet time and acknowledgements) is 2.1Mbit/s. EDR can provide a lower power consumption through a reduced duty cycle.
The specification is published as Bluetooth v2.0 + EDR, which implies that EDR is an optional feature. Aside from EDR, the v2.0 specification contains other minor improvements, and products may claim compliance to "Bluetooth v2.0" without supporting the higher data rate. At least one commercial device states "Bluetooth v2.0 without EDR" on its data sheet.
Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR
Bluetooth Core Specification version 2.1 + EDR was adopted by the Bluetooth SIG on 26 July 2007.
Version 2.1 allows various other improvements, including extended inquiry response (EIR), which provides more information during the inquiry procedure to allow better filtering of devices before connection; and sniff subrating, which reduces the power consumption in low-power mode.
Bluetooth 3.0 + HS
Version 3.0 + HS of the Bluetooth Core Specification or earlier Core Specification Addendum 1.
; L2CAP Enhanced modes: Enhanced Retransmission Mode (ERTM) implements reliable L2CAP channel, while Streaming Mode (SM) implements unreliable channel with no retransmission or flow control. Introduced in Core Specification Addendum 1.
; Alternative MAC/PHY: Enables the use of alternative MAC and PHYs for transporting Bluetooth profile data. The Bluetooth radio is still used for device discovery, initial connection and profile configuration. However, when large quantities of data must be sent, the high-speed alternative MAC PHY 802.11 (typically associated with Wi-Fi) transports the data. This means that Bluetooth uses proven low power connection models when the system is idle, and the faster radio when it must send large quantities of data. AMP links require enhanced L2CAP modes.
; Unicast Connectionless Data: Permits sending service data without establishing an explicit L2CAP channel. It is intended for use by applications that require low latency between user action and reconnection/transmission of data. This is only appropriate for small amounts of data.
; Enhanced Power Control: Updates the power control feature to remove the open loop power control, and also to clarify ambiguities in power control introduced by the new modulation schemes added for EDR. Enhanced power control removes the ambiguities by specifying the behavior that is expected. The feature also adds closed loop power control, meaning RSSI filtering can start as the response is received. Additionally, a "go straight to maximum power" request has been introduced. This is expected to deal with the headset link loss issue typically observed when a user puts their phone into a pocket on the opposite side to the headset.
Ultra-wideband
The high-speed (AMP) feature of Bluetooth v3.0 was originally intended for UWB, but the WiMedia Alliance, the body responsible for the flavor of UWB intended for Bluetooth, announced in March 2009 that it was disbanding, and ultimately UWB was omitted from the Core v3.0 specification.
On 16 March 2009, the WiMedia Alliance announced it was entering into technology transfer agreements for the WiMedia Ultra-wideband (UWB) specifications. WiMedia has transferred all current and future specifications, including work on future high-speed and power-optimized implementations, to the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG), Wireless USB Promoter Group and the USB Implementers Forum. After successful completion of the technology transfer, marketing, and related administrative items, the WiMedia Alliance ceased operations.
In October 2009, the Bluetooth Special Interest Group suspended development of UWB as part of the alternative MAC/PHY, Bluetooth v3.0 + HS solution. A small, but significant, number of former WiMedia members had not and would not sign up to the necessary agreements for the IP transfer. As of 2009, the Bluetooth SIG was in the process of evaluating other options for its longer-term roadmap.
Bluetooth 4.0
The Bluetooth SIG completed the Bluetooth Core Specification version 4.0 (called Bluetooth Smart) and has been adopted . It includes Classic Bluetooth, Bluetooth high speed and Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) protocols. Bluetooth high speed is based on Wi-Fi, and Classic Bluetooth consists of legacy Bluetooth protocols.
Bluetooth Low Energy, previously known as Wibree, is a subset of Bluetooth v4.0 with an entirely new protocol stack for rapid build-up of simple links. As an alternative to the Bluetooth standard protocols that were introduced in Bluetooth v1.0 to v3.0, it is aimed at very low power applications powered by a coin cell. Chip designs allow for two types of implementation, dual-mode, single-mode and enhanced past versions. The provisional names Wibree and Bluetooth ULP (Ultra Low Power) were abandoned and the BLE name was used for a while. In late 2011, new logos "Bluetooth Smart Ready" for hosts and "Bluetooth Smart" for sensors were introduced as the general-public face of BLE.
Compared to Classic Bluetooth, Bluetooth Low Energy is intended to provide considerably reduced power consumption and cost while maintaining a similar communication range. In terms of lengthening the battery life of Bluetooth devices, represents a significant progression.
* In a single-mode implementation, only the low energy protocol stack is implemented. Dialog Semiconductor, STMicroelectronics, AMICCOM, CSR, Nordic Semiconductor and Texas Instruments have released single mode Bluetooth Low Energy solutions.
* In a dual-mode implementation, Bluetooth Smart functionality is integrated into an existing Classic Bluetooth controller. , the following semiconductor companies have announced the availability of chips meeting the standard: Qualcomm Atheros, CSR, Broadcom and Texas Instruments. The compliant architecture shares all of Classic Bluetooth's existing radio and functionality resulting in a negligible cost increase compared to Classic Bluetooth.
Cost-reduced single-mode chips, which enable highly integrated and compact devices, feature a lightweight Link Layer providing ultra-low power idle mode operation, simple device discovery, and reliable point-to-multipoint data transfer with advanced power-save and secure encrypted connections at the lowest possible cost.
General improvements in version 4.0 include the changes necessary to facilitate BLE modes, as well the Generic Attribute Profile (GATT) and Security Manager (SM) services with AES Encryption.
Core Specification Addendum 2 was unveiled in December 2011; it contains improvements to the audio Host Controller Interface and to the High Speed (802.11) Protocol Adaptation Layer.
Core Specification Addendum 3 revision 2 has an adoption date of 24 July 2012.
Core Specification Addendum 4 has an adoption date of 12 February 2013.
Bluetooth 4.1
The Bluetooth SIG announced formal adoption of the Bluetooth v4.1 specification on 4 December 2013. This specification is an incremental software update to Bluetooth Specification v4.0, and not a hardware update. The update incorporates Bluetooth Core Specification Addenda (CSA 1, 2, 3 & 4) and adds new features that improve consumer usability. These include increased co-existence support for LTE, bulk data exchange rates—and aid developer innovation by allowing devices to support multiple roles simultaneously.
New features of this specification include:
* Mobile wireless service coexistence signaling
* Train nudging and generalized interlaced scanning
* Low Duty Cycle Directed Advertising
* L2CAP connection-oriented and dedicated channels with credit-based flow control
* Dual Mode and Topology
* LE Link Layer Topology
* 802.11n PAL
* Audio architecture updates for Wide Band Speech
* Fast data advertising interval
* Limited discovery time
Some features were already available in a Core Specification Addendum (CSA) before the release of v4.1.
Bluetooth 4.2
Released on 2 December 2014, it introduces features for the Internet of things.
The major areas of improvement are:
* Bluetooth Low Energy Secure Connection with Data Packet Length Extension to improve the cryptographic protocol
* Link Layer Privacy with Extended Scanner Filter Policies to improve data security
* Internet Protocol Support Profile (IPSP) version 6 ready for Bluetooth smart devices to support the Internet of things and home automation
Older Bluetooth hardware may receive 4.2 features such as Data Packet Length Extension and improved privacy via firmware updates. Bluetooth 5 The Bluetooth SIG released Bluetooth 5 on 6 December 2016. Its new features are mainly focused on new Internet of Things technology. Sony was the first to announce Bluetooth 5.0 support with its Xperia XZ Premium in Feb 2017 during the Mobile World Congress 2017. The Samsung Galaxy S8 launched with Bluetooth 5 support in April 2017. In September 2017, the iPhone 8, 8 Plus and iPhone X launched with Bluetooth 5 support as well. Apple also integrated Bluetooth 5 in its new HomePod offering released on 9 February 2018. Marketing drops the point number; so that it is just "Bluetooth 5" (unlike Bluetooth 4.0); the change is for the sake of "Simplifying our marketing, communicating user benefits more effectively and making it easier to signal significant technology updates to the market."
Bluetooth 5 provides, for BLE, options that can double the data rate (2Mbit/s burst) at the expense of range, or provide up to four times the range at the expense of data rate. The increase in transmissions could be important for Internet of Things devices, where many nodes connect throughout a whole house. Bluetooth 5 increases capacity of connectionless services such as location-relevant navigation of low-energy Bluetooth connections.
The major areas of improvement are:
* Slot Availability Mask (SAM)
* 2 Mbit/s PHY for
* LE Long Range
* High Duty Cycle Non-Connectable Advertising
* LE Advertising Extensions
* LE Channel Selection Algorithm #2
Features added in CSA5 – integrated in v5.0:
* Higher Output Power
The following features were removed in this version of the specification:
* Park State
Bluetooth 5.1
The Bluetooth SIG presented Bluetooth 5.1 on 21 January 2019.
The major areas of improvement are:
* Angle of arrival (AoA) and Angle of Departure (AoD) which are used for locating and tracking of devices
* Advertising Channel Index
* GATT caching
* Minor Enhancements batch 1:
** HCI support for debug keys in LE Secure Connections
** Sleep clock accuracy update mechanism
** ADI field in scan response data
** Interaction between and Flow Specification
** Block Host channel classification for secondary advertising
** Allow the SID to appear in scan response reports
** Specify the behavior when rules are violated
* Periodic Advertising Sync Transfer
Features added in Core Specification Addendum (CSA) 6 – integrated in v5.1:
* Models
* Mesh-based model hierarchy
The following features were removed in this version of the specification:
* Unit keys
Bluetooth 5.2
On 31 December 2019, the Bluetooth SIG published the Bluetooth Core Specification version 5.2. The new specification adds new features:
* Enhanced Attribute Protocol (EATT), an improved version of the Attribute Protocol (ATT)
* LE Power Control
* LE Isochronous Channels
* LE Audio that is built on top of the new 5.2 features. BT LE Audio was announced in January 2020 at CES by the Bluetooth SIG. Compared to regular Bluetooth Audio, Bluetooth Low Energy Audio makes lower battery consumption possible and creates a standardized way of transmitting audio over BT LE. Bluetooth LE Audio also allows one-to-many and many-to-one transmission, allowing multiple receivers from one source or one receiver for multiple sources, known as Auracast. It uses a new LC3 codec. BLE Audio will also add support for hearing aids. On 12 July 2022, the Bluetooth SIG announced the completion of Bluetooth LE Audio. The standard has a lower minimum latency claim of 20–30 ms vs Bluetooth Classic audio of 100–200 ms. At IFA in August 2023 Samsung announced support for Auracast through a software update for their Galaxy Buds2 Pro and two of their TVs. In October users started getting updates for the earbuds. Bluetooth 5.3 The Bluetooth SIG published the Bluetooth Core Specification version 5.3 on 13 July 2021. The feature enhancements of Bluetooth 5.3 are:
* Connection Subrating
* Periodic Advertisement Interval
* Channel Classification Enhancement
* Encryption key size control enhancements
The following features were removed in this version of the specification:
* Alternate MAC and PHY (AMP) Extension
Bluetooth 5.4
The Bluetooth SIG released the Bluetooth Core Specification version 5.4 on 7 February 2023. This new version adds the following features:
* Periodic Advertising with Responses (PAwR)
* Encrypted Advertising Data
* LE Security Levels Characteristic
* Advertising Coding Selection
Bluetooth 6.0
The Bluetooth SIG released the Bluetooth Core Specification version 6.0 on 27 August 2024. This version adds the following features:
* Bluetooth Channel Sounding
* Decision-based advertising filtering
* Monitoring advertisers
* enhancement
* LL extended feature set
* Frame space update
Technical information
Architecture
Software
Seeking to extend the compatibility of Bluetooth devices, the devices that adhere to the standard use an interface called HCI (Host Controller Interface) between the host and the controller.
High-level protocols such as the SDP (Protocol used to find other Bluetooth devices within the communication range, also responsible for detecting the function of devices in range), RFCOMM (Protocol used to emulate serial port connections) and TCS (Telephony control protocol) interact with the baseband controller through the L2CAP (Logical Link Control and Adaptation Protocol). The L2CAP protocol is responsible for the segmentation and reassembly of the packets.
Hardware
The hardware that makes up the Bluetooth device is made up of, logically, two parts; which may or may not be physically separate. A radio device, responsible for modulating and transmitting the signal; and a digital controller. The digital controller is likely a CPU, one of whose functions is to run a Link Controller; and interfaces with the host device; but some functions may be delegated to hardware. The Link Controller is responsible for the processing of the baseband and the management of ARQ and physical layer FEC protocols. In addition, it handles the transfer functions (both asynchronous and synchronous), audio coding (e.g. SBC (codec)) and data encryption. The CPU of the device is responsible for attending the instructions related to Bluetooth of the host device, in order to simplify its operation. To do this, the CPU runs software called Link Manager that has the function of communicating with other devices through the LMP protocol.
A Bluetooth device is a short-range wireless device. Bluetooth devices are fabricated on RF CMOS integrated circuit (RF circuit) chips.
Bluetooth protocol stack
Bluetooth is defined as a layer protocol architecture consisting of core protocols, cable replacement protocols, telephony control protocols, and adopted protocols. Mandatory protocols for all Bluetooth stacks are LMP, L2CAP and SDP. In addition, devices that communicate with Bluetooth almost universally can use these protocols: HCI and RFCOMM. Link Manager
The Link Manager (LM) is the system that manages establishing the connection between devices. It is responsible for the establishment, authentication and configuration of the link. The Link Manager locates other managers and communicates with them via the management protocol of the LMP link. To perform its function as a service provider, the LM uses the services included in the Link Controller (LC).
The Link Manager Protocol basically consists of several PDUs (Protocol Data Units) that are sent from one device to another. The following is a list of supported services:
* Transmission and reception of data.
* Name request
* Request of the link addresses.
* Establishment of the connection.
* Authentication.
* Negotiation of link mode and connection establishment.
Host Controller Interface
The Host Controller Interface provides a command interface between the controller and the host.
Logical Link Control and Adaptation Protocol
The Logical Link Control and Adaptation Protocol (L2CAP) is used to multiplex multiple logical connections between two devices using different higher level protocols.
Provides segmentation and reassembly of on-air packets.
In Basic mode, L2CAP provides packets with a payload configurable up to 64 kB, with 672 bytes as the default MTU, and 48 bytes as the minimum mandatory supported MTU.
In Retransmission and Flow Control modes, L2CAP can be configured either for isochronous data or reliable data per channel by performing retransmissions and CRC checks.
Bluetooth Core Specification Addendum 1 adds two additional L2CAP modes to the core specification. These modes effectively deprecate original Retransmission and Flow Control modes:
; Enhanced Retransmission Mode (ERTM): This mode is an improved version of the original retransmission mode. This mode provides a reliable L2CAP channel.
; Streaming Mode (SM): This is a very simple mode, with no retransmission or flow control. This mode provides an unreliable L2CAP channel.
Reliability in any of these modes is optionally and/or additionally guaranteed by the lower layer Bluetooth BDR/EDR air interface by configuring the number of retransmissions and flush timeout (time after which the radio flushes packets). In-order sequencing is guaranteed by the lower layer.
Only L2CAP channels configured in ERTM or SM may be operated over AMP logical links.
Service Discovery Protocol
The Service Discovery Protocol (SDP) allows a device to discover services offered by other devices, and their associated parameters. For example, when you use a mobile phone with a Bluetooth headset, the phone uses SDP to determine which Bluetooth profiles the headset can use (Headset Profile, Hands Free Profile (HFP), Advanced Audio Distribution Profile (A2DP) etc.) and the protocol multiplexer settings needed for the phone to connect to the headset using each of them. Each service is identified by a Universally unique identifier (UUID), with official services (Bluetooth profiles) assigned a short form UUID (16 bits rather than the full 128).
Radio Frequency Communications
Radio Frequency Communications (RFCOMM) is a cable replacement protocol used for generating a virtual serial data stream. RFCOMM provides for binary data transport and emulates EIA-232 (formerly RS-232) control signals over the Bluetooth baseband layer, i.e., it is a serial port emulation.
RFCOMM provides a simple, reliable, data stream to the user, similar to TCP. It is used directly by many telephony related profiles as a carrier for AT commands, as well as being a transport layer for OBEX over Bluetooth.
Many Bluetooth applications use RFCOMM because of its widespread support and publicly available API on most operating systems. Additionally, applications that used a serial port to communicate can be quickly ported to use RFCOMM.
Bluetooth Network Encapsulation Protocol
The Bluetooth Network Encapsulation Protocol (BNEP) is used for transferring another protocol stack's data via an L2CAP channel.
Its main purpose is the transmission of IP packets in the Personal Area Networking Profile.
BNEP performs a similar function to SNAP in Wireless LAN.
Audio/Video Control Transport Protocol
The Audio/Video Control Transport Protocol (AVCTP) is used by the remote control profile to transfer AV/C commands over an L2CAP channel. The music control buttons on a stereo headset use this protocol to control the music player.
Audio/Video Distribution Transport Protocol
The Audio/Video Distribution Transport Protocol (AVDTP) is used by the advanced audio distribution (A2DP) profile to stream music to stereo headsets over an L2CAP channel intended for video distribution profile in the Bluetooth transmission.
Telephony Control Protocol
The Telephony Control Protocol– Binary (TCS BIN) is the bit-oriented protocol that defines the call control signaling for the establishment of voice and data calls between Bluetooth devices. Additionally, "TCS BIN defines mobility management procedures for handling groups of Bluetooth TCS devices."
TCS-BIN is only used by the cordless telephony profile, which failed to attract implementers. As such it is only of historical interest.
Adopted protocols
Adopted protocols are defined by other standards-making organizations and incorporated into Bluetooth's protocol stack, allowing Bluetooth to code protocols only when necessary. The adopted protocols include:
;Point-to-Point Protocol (PPP): Internet standard protocol for transporting IP datagrams over a point-to-point link.
;TCP/IP/UDP: Foundation Protocols for TCP/IP protocol suite
;Object Exchange Protocol (OBEX): Session-layer protocol for the exchange of objects, providing a model for object and operation representation
;Wireless Application Environment/Wireless Application Protocol (WAE/WAP): WAE specifies an application framework for wireless devices and WAP is an open standard to provide mobile users access to telephony and information services.
The E0 stream cipher is used for encrypting packets, granting confidentiality, and is based on a shared cryptographic secret, namely a previously generated link key or master key. Those keys, used for subsequent encryption of data sent via the air interface, rely on the Bluetooth PIN, which has been entered into one or both devices.
An overview of Bluetooth vulnerabilities exploits was published in 2007 by Andreas Becker.
In September 2008, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) published a Guide to Bluetooth Security as a reference for organizations. It describes Bluetooth security capabilities and how to secure Bluetooth technologies effectively. While Bluetooth has its benefits, it is susceptible to denial-of-service attacks, eavesdropping, man-in-the-middle attacks, message modification, and resource misappropriation. Users and organizations must evaluate their acceptable level of risk and incorporate security into the lifecycle of Bluetooth devices. To help mitigate risks, included in the NIST document are security checklists with guidelines and recommendations for creating and maintaining secure Bluetooth piconets, headsets, and smart card readers.
Bluetooth v2.1 – finalized in 2007 with consumer devices first appearing in 2009 – makes significant changes to Bluetooth's security, including pairing. See the pairing mechanisms section for more about these changes.
Bluejacking
Bluejacking is the sending of either a picture or a message from one user to an unsuspecting user through Bluetooth wireless technology. Common applications include short messages, e.g., "You've just been bluejacked!" Bluejacking does not involve the removal or alteration of any data from the device.
Some form of DoS is also possible, even in modern devices, by sending unsolicited pairing requests in rapid succession; this becomes disruptive because most systems display a full screen notification for every connection request, interrupting every other activity, especially on less powerful devices.
History of security concerns
2001–2004
In 2001, Jakobsson and Wetzel from Bell Laboratories discovered flaws in the Bluetooth pairing protocol and also pointed to vulnerabilities in the encryption scheme. In 2003, Ben and Adam Laurie from A.L. Digital Ltd. discovered that serious flaws in some poor implementations of Bluetooth security may lead to disclosure of personal data. In a subsequent experiment, Martin Herfurt from the trifinite.group was able to do a field-trial at the CeBIT fairgrounds, showing the importance of the problem to the world. A new attack called BlueBug was used for this experiment. In 2004 the first purported virus using Bluetooth to spread itself among mobile phones appeared on the Symbian OS.
The virus was first described by Kaspersky Lab and requires users to confirm the installation of unknown software before it can propagate. The virus was written as a proof-of-concept by a group of virus writers known as "29A" and sent to anti-virus groups. Thus, it should be regarded as a potential (but not real) security threat to Bluetooth technology or Symbian OS since the virus has never spread outside of this system. In August 2004, a world-record-setting experiment (see also Bluetooth sniping) showed that the range of Class 2 Bluetooth radios could be extended to with directional antennas and signal amplifiers.
This poses a potential security threat because it enables attackers to access vulnerable Bluetooth devices from a distance beyond expectation. The attacker must also be able to receive information from the victim to set up a connection. No attack can be made against a Bluetooth device unless the attacker knows its Bluetooth address and which channels to transmit on, although these can be deduced within a few minutes if the device is in use.
2005
In January 2005, a mobile malware worm known as Lasco surfaced. The worm began targeting mobile phones using Symbian OS (Series 60 platform) using Bluetooth enabled devices to replicate itself and spread to other devices. The worm is self-installing and begins once the mobile user approves the transfer of the file (Velasco.sis) from another device. Once installed, the worm begins looking for other Bluetooth enabled devices to infect. Additionally, the worm infects other .SIS files on the device, allowing replication to another device through the use of removable media (Secure Digital, CompactFlash, etc.). The worm can render the mobile device unstable.
In April 2005, University of Cambridge security researchers published results of their actual implementation of passive attacks against the PIN-based pairing between commercial Bluetooth devices. They confirmed that attacks are practicably fast, and the Bluetooth symmetric key establishment method is vulnerable. To rectify this vulnerability, they designed an implementation that showed that stronger, asymmetric key establishment is feasible for certain classes of devices, such as mobile phones.
In June 2005, Yaniv Shaked and Avishai Wool published a paper describing both passive and active methods for obtaining the PIN for a Bluetooth link. The passive attack allows a suitably equipped attacker to eavesdrop on communications and spoof if the attacker was present at the time of initial pairing. The active method makes use of a specially constructed message that must be inserted at a specific point in the protocol, to make the master and slave repeat the pairing process. After that, the first method can be used to crack the PIN. This attack's major weakness is that it requires the user of the devices under attack to re-enter the PIN during the attack when the device prompts them to. Also, this active attack probably requires custom hardware, since most commercially available Bluetooth devices are not capable of the timing necessary.
In August 2005, police in Cambridgeshire, England, issued warnings about thieves using Bluetooth enabled phones to track other devices left in cars. Police are advising users to ensure that any mobile networking connections are de-activated if laptops and other devices are left in this way.
2006
In April 2006, researchers from Secure Network and F-Secure published a report that warns of the large number of devices left in a visible state, and issued statistics on the spread of various Bluetooth services and the ease of spread of an eventual Bluetooth worm.
In October 2006, at the Luxembourgish Hack.lu Security Conference, Kevin Finistere and Thierry Zoller demonstrated and released a remote root shell via Bluetooth on Mac OS X v10.3.9 and v10.4. They also demonstrated the first Bluetooth PIN and Linkkeys cracker, which is based on the research of Wool and Shaked.
2017
In April 2017, security researchers at Armis discovered multiple exploits in the Bluetooth software in various platforms, including Microsoft Windows, Linux, Apple iOS, and Google Android. These vulnerabilities are collectively called "BlueBorne". The exploits allow an attacker to connect to devices or systems without authentication and can give them "virtually full control over the device". Armis contacted Google, Microsoft, Apple, Samsung and Linux developers allowing them to patch their software before the coordinated announcement of the vulnerabilities on 12 September 2017. 2018 In July 2018, Lior Neumann and Eli Biham, researchers at the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology identified a security vulnerability in the latest Bluetooth pairing procedures: Secure Simple Pairing and LE Secure Connections.
Also, in October 2018, Karim Lounis, a network security researcher at Queen's University, identified a security vulnerability, called CDV (Connection Dumping Vulnerability), on various Bluetooth devices that allows an attacker to tear down an existing Bluetooth connection and cause the deauthentication and disconnection of the involved devices. The researcher demonstrated the attack on various devices of different categories and from different manufacturers. 2019
In August 2019, security researchers at the Singapore University of Technology and Design, Helmholtz Center for Information Security, and University of Oxford discovered a vulnerability, called KNOB (Key Negotiation of Bluetooth) in the key negotiation that would "brute force the negotiated encryption keys, decrypt the eavesdropped ciphertext, and inject valid encrypted messages (in real-time)".
Google released an Android security patch on 5 August 2019, which removed this vulnerability. 2023 In November 2023, researchers from Eurecom revealed a new class of attacks known as BLUFFS (Bluetooth Low Energy Forward and Future Secrecy Attacks). These 6 new attacks expand on and work in conjunction with the previously known KNOB and BIAS (Bluetooth Impersonation AttackS) attacks. While the previous KNOB and BIAS attacks allowed an attacker to decrypt and spoof Bluetooth packets within a session, BLUFFS extends this capability to all sessions generated by a device (including past, present, and future). All devices running Bluetooth versions 4.2 up to and including 5.4 are affected.
Health concerns
Bluetooth uses the radio frequency spectrum in the 2.402GHz to 2.480GHz range, which is non-ionizing radiation, of similar bandwidth to that used by wireless and mobile phones. No specific harm has been demonstrated, even though wireless transmission has been included by IARC in the possible carcinogen list. Maximum power output from a Bluetooth radio is 100mW for Class1, 2.5mW for Class2, and 1mW for Class3 devices. Even the maximum power output of Class1 is a lower level than the lowest-powered mobile phones. UMTS and W-CDMA output 250mW, GSM1800/1900 outputs 1000mW, and GSM850/900 outputs 2000mW.
Award programs
The Bluetooth Innovation World Cup, a marketing initiative of the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG), was an international competition that encouraged the development of innovations for applications leveraging Bluetooth technology in sports, fitness and health care products. The competition aimed to stimulate new markets.
The Bluetooth Innovation World Cup morphed into the Bluetooth Breakthrough Awards in 2013. Bluetooth SIG subsequently launched the Imagine Blue Award in 2016 at Bluetooth World. The Bluetooth Breakthrough Awards program highlights the most innovative products and applications available today, prototypes coming soon, and student-led projects in the making.
See also
* ANT+
* Bluetooth stack – building blocks that make up the various implementations of the Bluetooth protocol
* List of Bluetooth profiles – features used within the Bluetooth stack
* Bluesniping
* BlueSoleil – proprietary Bluetooth driver
* Bluetooth Low Energy beacons (AltBeacon, iBeacon, Eddystone)
* Bluetooth mesh networking
* Continua Health Alliance
* DASH7
* Audio headset
* Wi-Fi hotspot
* Java APIs for Bluetooth
* Key finder
* Li-Fi
* List of Bluetooth protocols
* MyriaNed
* Near-field communication
* NearLink
* RuBee – secure wireless protocol alternative
* Tethering
* Thread (network protocol)
* Wi-Fi HaLow
* Zigbee – low-power lightweight wireless protocol in the ISM band based on IEEE 802.15.4
Notes
References
External links
*
* [https://www.bluetooth.org/en-us/specification/adopted-specifications Specifications] at Bluetooth SIG
Category:Bluetooth
Category:Mobile computers
Category:Networking standards
Category:Wireless communication systems
Category:Telecommunications-related introductions in 1989
Category:Swedish inventions
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The Bluetooth Special Interest Group (Bluetooth SIG) is the standards organization that oversees the development of Bluetooth standards and the licensing of the Bluetooth technologies and trademarks to manufacturers. The SIG is a not-for-profit, non-stock corporation founded in September 1998. The SIG is headquartered in Kirkland, Washington, US.
The SIG does not make, manufacture or sell Bluetooth-enabled products.
Introduction
Bluetooth technology provides a way to exchange information between wireless devices such as PDAs, laptops, computers, printers and digital cameras via a secure, low-cost, globally available short-range radio frequency band. Originally developed by Ericsson, Bluetooth technology is now used in many different products by many different manufacturers. These manufacturers must be either Associate or Promoter members of (see below) the Bluetooth SIG before they are granted early access to the Bluetooth specifications, but published Bluetooth specifications are available online via the Bluetooth SIG Website bluetooth.com.
The SIG owns the Bluetooth word mark, figure mark and combination mark. These trademarks are licensed out for use to companies that are incorporating Bluetooth wireless technology into their products. To become a licensee, a company must become a member of the Bluetooth SIG. The SIG also manages the Bluetooth SIG Qualification program, a certification process required for any product using Bluetooth wireless technology and a pre-condition of the intellectual property license for Bluetooth technology. The main tasks for the SIG are to publish the Bluetooth specifications, protect the Bluetooth trademarks and evangelize Bluetooth wireless technology. In 2016, the SIG introduced a new visual and creative identity to support Bluetooth technology as the catalyst for the Internet of Things (IoT). This change included an updated logo, a new tagline and deprecation of the Bluetooth Smart and Bluetooth Smart Ready logos.
At its inception in 1998, the Bluetooth SIG was primarily run by a staff effectively seconded from its member companies. In 2001 Tom Siep served as the group's managing director, and from 2002 to 2004 Mike McCamon led the group as its executive director. In 2004 he was replaced by Michael W. Foley (Mike). From 2012-mid-2024, Mark Powell acted as the Bluetooth SIG's CEO/Executive Director. Effective 29 May 2024, [https://www.bluetooth.com/press/bluetooth-sig-welcomes-neville-meijers/ Neville Meijers became the SIG's CEO]. Beginning in 2002 a professional staff was hired, composed of operations, engineering and marketing specialists. From 2002 to 2004 the Bluetooth SIG was based in Overland Park, Kansas, US, and is now based in Kirkland, Washington. In addition to its professional staff, the SIG is supported by its more than 40,000 member companies who participate in the various working groups that produce the standardization documents and oversee the qualification process for new products and help to evangelize the technology.
Structure
The SIG members participate in study groups, expert groups, working groups along with committees.Study groupsThe study groups carry out research into their various areas which informs the development of the Bluetooth specifications. They may eventually become working groups in their own right.Expert groups
The expert groups deal with issues of technical importance to all aspects of Bluetooth development. As with the Study Groups their work informs the working groups as well as the corporate groups.
Participation in the Expert Groups is restricted to Promoter members and Associate members.
Working groups
The working groups develop new Bluetooth specifications and enhance adopted specifications. They are responsible for the vast majority of published standards and specifications. Participation in the working groups is restricted to Promoter members and Associate members.
Committees
The committees of the SIG deal with the other aspects of licensing, marketing and review including developing and maintaining the Qualification Process, oversight of the Bluetooth specifications, and developing, improving and maintaining the test methodology and concepts as well as other strategic functions.
Membership
Any company incorporating Bluetooth wireless technology into products, using the technology to offer goods and services or simply re-branding a product with Bluetooth technology may become a member of the Bluetooth SIG. There are three levels of corporate membership totaling more than 20,000 members, and individuals from member companies may also participate.
Promoter members
These members are the most active in the SIG and have considerable influence over both the strategic and technological directions of Bluetooth as a whole.
*Ericsson (founder member)
*Intel (founder member)
*Nokia (founder member)
*Toshiba (founder member)
*Microsoft (since 1999)
*Lenovo (since 2005, replaced founder member IBM after the divestment of personal computing division)
*Apple (since 2015)
*Google (since 2017)
*Telink Semiconductor (Since 2019)
Each Promoter member has one seat (and one vote) on the board of directors and the Qualification Review Board (the body responsible for developing and maintaining the qualification process). They each may have multiple staff in the various working groups and committees that comprise the work of the SIG.
The SIG's website carries a [https://www.bluetooth.com/develop-with-bluetooth/join/member-directory full list of members].
Associate members
The Bluetooth SIG Associate membership fees have stayed the same since 2006. Associate membership is renewed annually and the yearly fee depends on the individual company's revenue. Companies with annual revenue in excess of $100M US are considered Large Associates and pay annual membership fees of $42,000 US. Small Associates are categorized as those organizations with revenue less than $100M US and join the SIG with an annual membership fee of $9,000 US. Associate members of the SIG get early access to draft specifications at versions 0.5 and 0.7 and are eligible to participate and gain a voting seat in working groups and committees—a key opportunity to work with other Associate and Promoter members on enhancing existing specifications. They are also eligible for enhanced marketing support, receive discounts on product qualification listings and SIG events including Bluetooth World and UnPlugFest (UPF) testing events.Adopter membersAdopter membership in the SIG is free and entitles members to use published Bluetooth wireless specifications and Bluetooth trademarks. Adopter members do not have early access to unpublished specifications and may not participate in working groups or committees to influence the development of the technology.IndividualsMembership is not currently open to individuals.UniversitiesUniversities or other educational facilities are not accepted for membership.Qualification
Next to the development of the technology itself, the qualification process is one of the most important aspects of Bluetooth technology, supporting interoperability, conformance to the Bluetooth specifications, and to strengthening the Bluetooth brand.
Members of the Bluetooth SIG must complete the qualification and declaration process for their Bluetooth enabled product(s) to demonstrate and declare compliance to the [https://www.bluetooth.com/about-us/governing-documents].
The primary objective of the qualification process is for members to demonstrate their product(s) compliance to the adopted specifications through testing and documentation. After qualification is completed, members need to complete the declaration process. Members declare their compliance to both the Bluetooth Patent/Copyright License Agreement and Bluetooth Trademark License Agreement ("BTLA").
An overview of both processes including steps of the processes, types and fees is available on the [https://www.bluetooth.com/develop-with-bluetooth/qualification-listing Bluetooth SIG public portal].
Bluetooth Qualification Experts (BQEs) and Bluetooth Qualification Test Facilities (BQTFs) are available to support members through the processes. Members uncertain or unfamiliar with the qualification process are encouraged to consider using one or both of these service types.See also
*Wireless LAN
*IEEE 802.15.1
References
External links
*
Category:Bluetooth
Category:Standards organizations in the United States
Category:Organizations based in Washington (state)
Category:Organizations established in 1998
Category:Kirkland, Washington
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Boney M.
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| years_active =
| label =
| current_members = Liz Mitchell
| past_members =
* Marcia Barrett
* Maizie Williams
* Bobby Farrell
* Reggie Tsiboe
}}
Boney M. is a reggae, funk and disco music group founded in 1974, who achieved popularity during the disco era of the second half of the 1970s. The band was created by German record producer Frank Farian, who was the group's primary songwriter and singer. Originally based in West Germany, the four original members of the band's official line-up were Liz Mitchell and Marcia Barrett from Jamaica, Maizie Williams from Montserrat, and Bobby Farrell from Aruba. Since the 1980s, various line-ups of the band have performed with different members.
The band has sold millions of records worldwide and is known for international hits including "Daddy Cool", "Ma Baker", "Belfast", "Sunny", "Rasputin", "Rivers of Babylon/Brown Girl in the Ring", "Hooray! Hooray! It's a Holi-Holiday", "Mary's Boy Child/Oh My Lord" and "Gotta Go Home".History1974–1976: Formation and early careerGerman singer-songwriter Frank Farian recorded the dance track "Baby Do You Wanna Bump" in December 1974. Farian sang the repeated line "Do you do you wanna bump?" in a deep voice as well as performing the high falsetto chorus. When the record was released as a single in early 1975, it was credited to "Boney M.". Farian had created this pseudonym for himself after watching the Australian television detective series Boney, whose main character was named Napoleon Bonaparte. Farian said:
1 in West Germany and the UK Top 10.
1978 was the group's biggest year. They released a new double A-sided single, "Rivers of Babylon/Brown Girl in the Ring", which was a hit all over Europe, reaching no.1 in several countries as well as becoming one of the biggest selling singles of all time in the UK. It also became their most successful single in the United States, peaking at no.30 on the U.S. pop singles chart. Following this came their biggest-selling album, Nightflight to Venus, which spawned further hit singles with "Rasputin" and "Painter Man". Continuing with their success, they released "Mary's Boy Child – Oh My Lord", which was the 1978 Christmas number one single in the United Kingdom and became another of the biggest selling singles of all time there. Also during 1978, Boney M. made a much-publicised promotional visit to the Soviet Union, one of the very few Western acts along with Elton John to do so, although tracks like "Rasputin" were not released in the Soviet Union due to their subject matter.
While it had never been a secret that Bobby Farrell never sang on the group's records (Farian did the male vocals in the studio), in 1978 it became public knowledge that Maizie Williams did not sing on the studio recordings either, since "her voice wasn't suited for this kind of music" as Farian stated in an interview with German teen magazine Bravo. Since this had become common practice within the disco genre of the late 1970s, few people caredunlike when Farian repeated the practice to much more severe backlash with Milli Vanilli in the late 1980s. While only two of Boney M.'s official members actually contributed to the sound of the band's records, all four members of the group, including Williams and Farrell, performed the vocals live at Boney M. concerts. The band's live sound was also augmented by several backing vocalists, which served to mitigate any vocal deficiencies the group may have had compared with the studio productions.
1979 saw Boney M. release a brand new single, "Hooray! Hooray! It's a Holi-Holiday", which became another Top 10 hit across Europe. Later in the year they released their fourth album, Oceans of Fantasy, containing two hit singles – "Gotta Go Home"/"El Lute" and "I'm Born Again"/"Bahama Mama". The album also included lead and backing vocals credits for the first time. Oceans of Fantasy reached no.1 in the UK and was certified Platinum, though their run of Top 10 singles had now ended with "Gotta Go Home" peaking at no.12 and "I'm Born Again" peaking at no.35.
1980–1986: The Magic of Boney M. Departure of Farrell and split
In 1980, Boney M. released a greatest hits album, The Magic of Boney M. – 20 Golden Hits, which also contained two new songs, "My Friend Jack" and "I See a Boat on the River". It made the no.1 spot in the UK, reaching Gold status within six weeks of release, though it was their last big-selling album in the UK.
Boney M.'s fifth album had been scheduled for release in November 1980 but the recording sessions dragged on through 1981. When Boonoonoonoos was finally released by the end of that year, Bobby Farrell departed from the group due to issues with Frank Farian. While still a healthy seller in continental Europe, Boonoonoonoos failed to crack the UK Top 100 after three consecutive no.1 albums due to the group being unable to promote it without Farrell. Following this, the group released Christmas Album.
In 1982 "Rasputin" was played by local broadcasters in Vietnam during the waiting periods before live games of the España 82 – the 1982 FIFA World Cup. This led to the popularity of the band in Vietnam for decades following.
Reggie Tsiboe was hired to replace Farrell as the new male member of Boney M. in 1982 but the singles "The Carnival Is Over" and "Jambo" fared poorly, and the group's seventh album Ten Thousand Lightyears, issued in 1984, marked another commercial low point, peaking at number 23 in the German album charts. The group, however, returned to the German Top 20 in the autumn of 1984 with "Kalimba de Luna" (a Top 10 hit in France) and "Happy Song", the latter seeing Bobby Farrell return to the group. Both songs were carbon-copies of the original Italian hits by Tony Esposito and Baby's Gang respectively.
By 1985, Farian clearly began losing interest in the group, and their eighth and final studio album Eye Dance was widely regarded as uninspired and disappointing. After celebrating Boney M.'s 10th anniversary in early 1986, the group officially disbanded after the release of the commercially unsuccessful single "Young, Free and Single", which peaked at no.48.1990 and on: Failed reunions and public interest
From this point, different versions of the group were formed by members, some with cooperation of Farian, others without, for example by independently obtaining the rights to use the Boney M. name in a different country. One version began touring in the first half of 1987 with Marilyn Scharbaai (Carrilho) taking Liz Mitchell's place. Mitchell returned for a second leg of the tour late 1987, and Marcia Barrett soon left the band. At the same time, Bobby Farrell had set up a deal for a new Boney M. album to be recorded without Farian in Belgium. When Farrell failed to show up for either recording or tour, and Maizie Williams had never sung on record, the album ended up being released as Liz Mitchell's first solo album No One Will Force You. Mitchell and Williams completed a tour during 1987–88, adding singer Celena Duncan and Ron Gale as replacements for Barrett and Farrell. Carol Grey later replaced Celena Duncan and Curt De Daran later replaced Ron Gale.
In October 1988, the classic Boney M. line-up reunited without producer Frank Farian for the album ''Greatest Hits of All Times – Remix '88'' but tensions ran high between the members, and Liz Mitchell left in the spring of 1989 to be replaced by Madeleine Davis. While Mitchell promoted her solo album, the group recorded the single "Everybody Wants to Dance Like Josephine Baker", without Farian's knowledge or approval. Threatened with legal action by the producer over the use of the Boney M. name, the single was subsequently withdrawn and Farian issued Stories with his own new Boney M. line-up featuring Liz Mitchell, Reggie Tsiboe and two new members, Sharon Stevens and Patty Onoyewenjo, Stories peaked at number 11 in the Swiss charts. A second remix album ''Greatest Hits of All Times – Remix '89 – Volume II'' was released but fared poorly.
1992 saw a renewed interest in Boney M.'s music with the Boney M. Megamix single returning the group to the UK Top 10 for the first time since 1980, and a subsequent Greatest Hits album, Gold – 20 Super Hits, reaching the UK Top 20 in 1993. While Marcia Barrett, by then living in Florida, had cancer and was unable to perform, Boney M. toured the world with a line-up of Liz Mitchell, Carol Grey, Patricia Lorna Foster and Curt Dee Daran (replaced by Tony Ashcroft in 1994). They released the single Papa Chico but failed to chart. Maizie Williams assembled her own Boney M. with an ever-changing line-up. Bobby Farrell also toured with varying trios of female performers.
Liz Mitchell was touring the world with her line-up of Boney M., which was the only line-up officially supported by Farian; the court ruling of 1990 stated that all four members are entitled to perform their own Boney M. shows. Bobby Farrell and Liz Mitchell have released solo albums containing their own re-recordings of Boney M.'s classic hits. Maizie Williams released her first solo album in 2006 and her own single version of Boney M.'s Sunny. In 2007 her rendition of "Daddy Cool" with Melo-M hit the number one spot in the Latvian (LMK) Charts. Marcia Barrett has released two solo albums with a third scheduled for release in 2010.
As recounted in his 1988 book Touching the Void, the British climber Joe Simpson was subsequently to find the catchy tune of Brown Girl in the Ring haunting him in the final hours of his struggle to survive the descent of Siula Grande in the Andes, and the song was later used in the 2003 film of Touching the Void made by Kevin Macdonald. Simpson recalls: "I remember thinking, bloody hell, I'm going to die to Boney M.".
A musical based on the music of Boney M., Daddy Cool, opened in London in August 2006 to mixed reviews and sluggish ticket sales, causing it to close in February 2007. From April to July 2007, the show played in a mobile theatre in Berlin, which was specially designed for it.
In April 2007, Australian pop singer Peter Wilson released a song co-written by Frank Farian entitled "Doin' Fine". It is described as "paying tribute to the sound of Boney M." and features the famous string arrangement from their first number 1 hit, "Daddy Cool". Boney M. (featuring Marcia Barrett) made a live appearance at the 37th International Film Festival of India (IFFI), which took place on 23 November 2006 in Panaji, the state capital of Goa, India.
In the UK, a new album of their greatest hits, entitled The Magic of Boney M. was released via BMG on 27 November 2006. Special additions to this release were a Mousse T. remix of Sunny and a brand new song from 2006, featuring Liz Mitchell, entitled A Moment of Love. On 10 April 2007, Boney M.'s first four albums were reissued on compact disc with bonus tracks, this time also in the United States (the first time these were available to the U.S. music market since their original releases in the 1970s).
In September 2007, Boney M.'s last four original albums, Boonoonoonoos, Ten Thousand Lightyears, Kalimba de Luna - 16 Happy Songs and Eye Dance were reissued on compact disc in Europe and the United States, all including bonus tracks. In November 2007, a new Christmas compilation was scheduled for release as well as the DVD Fantastic Boney M. – On Stage and on the Road featuring a live performance recorded in Vienna on 1 November 1977 (the DVD cover erroneously states it to be a live show from Hamburg), and a film from the band's 1981 visit to Jamaica (made to promote the Boonoonoonoos album that year).
Bobby Farrell's Boney M. performed a concert at the Amphi in Ra'anana, Israel, in May 2007. On 28 June 2007 Boney M. featuring Matthew Felsenfeld and Liz Mitchell performed at the Oktiabrsky concert hall in St. Petersburg, Russia. In September 2007, Maizie Williams' Boney M. line-up performed live at the Royal Albert Hall, UK, to raise awareness of HIV/AIDS in Africa, performing her own renditions of Brown Girl in the Ring and ''Hooray! Hooray! It's a Holi-Holiday''.
The legal rights to the name "Boney M." have been a matter of controversy, and even court cases, between the former members of the band and producer Frank Farian ever since the late 1980s. Farian, the man who in effect created the group, continued to work with Liz Mitchell and her line-up all through the 1990s and 2000s. In January 2007, Bobby Farrell's daughter Zanillya Farrell and his ex-wife Yasmina Ayad-Saban renewed the trademark to the name Boney M. in Germany for a 10-year period.
In January 2009, Farian released the single Felicidad America (Obama Obama), a version of the 1980 Boney M. song "Felicidad (Margherita)" with new lyrics about newly elected U.S. president Barack Obama. The song was recorded with two new vocalists, and credited to "Boney M. feat. Sherita O. & Yulee B."
In July 2010, Maizie Williams headlined a Boney M. performance at Ramallah's Cultural Palace, in the West Bank, as part of the Palestine International Festival. The band played Daddy Cool, Ma Baker and Brown Girl in the Ring, but refrained from playing Rivers of Babylon, rumored to be at the event organizers' request because of its description of the Jewish yearning for Zion.
Bobby Farrell died at the age of 61 from heart failure on 30 December 2010. His agent said Farrell was complaining of breathing problems after performing with his band the evening before. Farrell lived in Amsterdam until his death. His final performance was in Saint Petersburg, Russia, the city where Rasputin first became famous and was later killed. Farrell died in a hotel room there, 94 years to the day after Rasputin.
Maizie Williams' line-up of Boney M. toured Australia in June 2014. They sang at Guilfest, Guildford, UK, on 20 July 2014, and Watchet Live music festival UK, on 24 August 2014.
In March 2015, Farian released Diamonds, a three-CD box celebrating the 40th anniversary of Boney M. It contained re-mastered versions of the original hit singles or of previously unreleased versions, a remix disc and the new digital single Song of Joy featuring Liz Mitchell. A major DVD set was also released.
In February 2017, they performed at the closing ceremony of Patras Carnival in Patras, Greece. At the end of 2017 the album World Music for Christmas was released under Boney M. and Friends with Liz Mitchell singing on three songs, along with the single and video Like Diamonds in the Sky featuring Liz Mitchell, based on El Cóndor Pasa.
In 2021, a remix of Rasputin by house music producer and Kiss FM DJ Kevin Christie was released by Sony Music's Ministry of Sound label. Credited to Majestic & Boney M (with the former being the DJ alias of Christie), the record reached number 11 on the UK singles chart and was released with a video featuring Bimini Bon-Boulash from ''RuPaul's Drag Race UK. In December 2021, Mitchell was one of the contributors to the Channel 5 music show Britain's Biggest 70s Hits'' alongside other musicians from the era like Dean Friedman and Barry Blue, and radio presenters like David Hamilton.
In August 2023, Boney M., headed by Liz Mitchell, embarked on a multi city US tour along with Samantha Fox and Bad Boys Blue, which included stops in Boston, Los Angeles, Chicago, New York City and San Jose. The shows were put together by Los Angeles-based promoters LA Concert Group.
In January 2024, the group's producer and main founder Frank Farian died.
The group is scheduled for a farewell tour in Australia in June and July, 2024.
UK sales mark
In 1978, "Rivers of Babylon", a cover of a track by The Melodians with lyrics partly based on Psalm 137 and partly on Psalm 19, became (at the time) the second highest-selling single of all time in the UK. After remaining at no.1 for five weeks, "Rivers of Babylon" began dropping down the chart, at which point the B-side "Brown Girl in the Ring" was given extensive radio airplay, and the single ascended to no.2. The single spent six months in the UK Top 40, including 19 weeks in the Top 10. It eventually sold more than two million copies, the second single to do so, and is still one of only seven to achieve this feat. (see List of million-selling singles in the United Kingdom)
The group achieved a second UK million-seller with their version of the calypso classic "Mary's Boy Child", released as a medley "Mary's Boy Child – Oh My Lord", which was previously a million-seller for Harry Belafonte. The single sold more than 1.8 million copies, 1.6 million of which were in the four weeks the song was at No.1 in December 1978.
Boney M. is the only artist to appear twice in the top 12 best selling singles of all time in the UK, with "Rivers of Babylon" in seventh place and "Mary's Boy Child/Oh My Lord" at number 11. They are also one of six artists to sell a million copies with two singles in the same year.
Back catalogue
Compared to other best-selling artists of the 1970s like ABBA, Donna Summer, and the Bee Gees, the Boney M. discography is quite unusual – while the greater part of the band's back catalogue has been remixed, remade, remodeled and reissued all through the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s by producer Frank Farian and record company BMG-Ariola (now Sony Music), most of the original 7" and 12" versions issued on vinyl in the 1970s and early 1980s remained unavailable on CD until 2007, where they were released on various compilations, most notably The Collection (2008), the Ultimate Boney M. series (2008), Let It All Be Music: The Party Album (2009), Hit Story (2010) and Diamonds (2015). Some of these CDs were compiled by Frank Eberlein, who had also been interviewed on a fansite called "Fantastic Boney M." about the compiling process.
"Greatest hits" collections containing edited and/or overdubbed versions of the original recordings are still being released, such as Boney M. & Friends (Their Ultimate Top 40 Collection) (2017), Rasputin – Big And Strong: The Greatest Hits of Boney M. (2021) and the 2022 re-issue of the 2006 compilation "The Magic of Boney M."
Popularity outside the West
Boney M. was hugely popular in the Soviet Union in the 1970s, although the song "Rasputin" was banned by the Soviet authorities from being played at the group's concert in Moscow in December 1978. The song has been used in several films and television shows, including Johnny English Strikes Again, ''The King's Man, Black Mirror and in the Doctor Who special The Power of the Doctor, in which The Master dances to the song while disguised as Rasputin himself.
In the Soviet film Repentance (1984, released 1987), "Sunny" is played at a party of high-ranked communist officials. "Sunny" is played during a few parts of the successful Korean film of the same name, Sunny.
During the 2002 presidential election campaign of South Korea, then-candidate Roh Moo-hyun, who eventually won the presidency at that event, took Bahama Mama to promote his aim of positive political reform.
The 2005 Chinese film Shanghai Dreams features a scene depicting a rural Chinese disco in 1983, with teenagers dancing to "Rivers of Babylon" and "Gotta Go Home".
In the 2008 Kazakh film Tulpan, the tractor driver Boni continually plays a cassette of "Rivers of Babylon", an example of his fascination for all things Western.
In the 2008 Chinese film Cheung Gong 7 hou (English title: CJ7), "Sunny" is a vital part of the soundtrack. "Sunny" is the theme song of the 2011 Taiwanese drama, Sunny Girl. The song has also appeared in The Umbrella Academy and Boogie Nights.
Boney M. was immensely popular in India throughout the 1970s and 1980s. Liz Mitchell recalled her visits to India in the 1980s in a 2015 interview with Hindustan Times'': "It was amazing. We've had the most-wonderful tours here. We even went out shopping to so many places. We met several Bollywood stars and had dinners with them." Personnel
* Liz Mitchell – lead and backing vocals (1976–1986, 1988–1989, 1990, 1992–present)
* Marcia Barrett – lead and backing vocals (1975–1986, 1988–1989)
* Maizie Williams – dancer, live vocals (1975–1986, 1988–1989)
* Bobby Farrell – dancer, live vocals (1975–1981, 1984–1986, 1988–1989; died 2010)
* Reggie Tsiboe – lead and backing vocals (1982–1986, 1990)
Discography
*Take the Heat off Me (1976)
*Love for Sale (1977)
*Nightflight to Venus (1978)
*Oceans of Fantasy (1979)
*Boonoonoonoos (1981)
*Christmas Album (1981)
*Ten Thousand Lightyears (1984)
*Eye Dance (1985)
References
External links
* [http://www.fantasticboneym.com Fantastic Boney M. – The Story of Boney M.]
Category:Musical groups established in 1975
Category:German disco groups
Category:German Eurodisco groups
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Category:German pop music groups
Category:1975 establishments in West Germany
Category:Atlantic Records artists
Category:German musical quartets
Category:1986 disestablishments in West Germany
Category:Musical groups disestablished in 1986
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Category:English-language musical groups from Germany
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Britain
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Britain most often refers to:
Great Britain, a large island comprising the countries of England, Scotland and Wales
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, a sovereign state in Europe comprising Great Britain and the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland.
The realm of the Monarchy of the United Kingdom, comprising the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies, and British Overseas Territories.
Britain may also refer to:
Places
British Isles, an archipelago comprising Great Britain, Ireland and many other smaller islands
British Islands, the UK, Channel Islands and Isle of Man collectively
Roman Britain, a Roman province corresponding roughly to modern-day England and Wales
Historical predecessors to the present-day United Kingdom:
Kingdom of Great Britain (1707 to 1800)
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (1801 to 1922)
Britain (place name)
Britain, Virginia, an unincorporated community in the United States
People
Calvin Britain (1800–1862), an American politician
Clarissa Britain (1816–1895), an American inventor
Kristen Britain (born 1965), an American novelist
Other uses
Captain Britain, a Marvel Comics superhero
See also
Terminology of the British Isles
England
Britains
Britannia
Brittain (disambiguation)
Brittany (disambiguation)
Brit (disambiguation)
Britten (disambiguation)
Briton (disambiguation)
Brittonic languages
British (disambiguation)
Great Britain (disambiguation)
Little Britain (disambiguation)
New Britain (disambiguation)
National sports teams of the United Kingdom
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Blade Runner
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Blade Runner (franchise)||Blade Runner (disambiguation)}}
| based_on =
| starring =
| music = Vangelis
| cinematography = Jordan Cronenweth
| editing =
| studio =
| distributor = Warner Bros. (Worldwide)<br />Shaw Brothers (Hong Kong)
| released =
| runtime 117 minutes<!-- First theatrical run, not the later Director's or Final Cut --><!-- Theatrical runtime: 117:04 --><br />Hong Kong
| language = English
| budget $30 million
| gross $41.8 million
}}
Blade Runner is a 1982 <!-- Do not add Neo-noir here, only the primary genre should be listed, which is science fiction. Neo-noir is detailed later in the article. -->science fiction film directed by Ridley Scott from a screenplay by Hampton Fancher and David Peoples. Starring Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, Sean Young, and Edward James Olmos, it is an adaptation of Philip K. Dick's 1968 novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? The film is set in a dystopian future Los Angeles of 2019, in which synthetic humans known as replicants are bio-engineered by the powerful Tyrell Corporation to work on space colonies. When a fugitive group of advanced replicants led by Roy Batty (Hauer) escapes back to Earth, burnt-out cop Rick Deckard (Ford) reluctantly agrees to hunt them down.
Blade Runner initially underperformed in North American theaters and polarized critics; some praised its thematic complexity and visuals, while others critiqued its slow pacing and lack of action. The film's soundtrack, composed by Vangelis, was nominated in 1982 for a BAFTA and a Golden Globe as best original score. Blade Runner later became a cult film, and has since come to be regarded as one of the greatest science fiction films. Hailed for its production design depicting a high-tech but decaying future, the film is often regarded as both a leading example of neo-noir cinema and a foundational work of the cyberpunk
The screenplay by Hampton Fancher<!-- Not titled "Android" initially – See Sammon, pp. 32 and 38 for explanation --> was optioned in 1977. Producer Michael Deeley became interested in Fancher's draft and convinced director Ridley Scott to film it. Scott had previously declined the project but, after leaving the slow production of Dune, wanted a faster-paced project to take his mind off his older brother's recent death. He joined the project on February 21, 1980, and managed to push up the promised Filmways financing from US$13 million to $15 million. Fancher's script focused more on environmental issues and less on issues of humanity and religion, which are prominent in the novel, and Scott wanted changes. Fancher found a cinema treatment by William S. Burroughs for Alan E. Nourse's novel The Bladerunner (1974), titled Blade Runner (a movie). Scott liked the name, so Deeley obtained the rights to the titles. Eventually, he hired David Peoples to rewrite the script and Fancher left the job over the issue on December 21, 1980, although he later returned to contribute additional rewrites.
Having invested more than $2.5 million in pre-production, as the date of commencement of principal photography neared, Filmways withdrew financial backing. In ten days Deeley had secured $21.5 million in financing through a three-way deal between the Ladd Company (through Warner Bros.), the Hong Kong-based producer Sir Run Run Shaw and Tandem Productions.
Dick became concerned that no one had informed him about the film's production, which added to his distrust of Hollywood. After Dick criticized an early version of Fancher's script in an article written for the Los Angeles Select TV Guide, the studio sent Dick the Peoples rewrite. Although Dick died shortly before the film's release, he was pleased with the rewritten script and with a 20-minute special effects test reel that was screened for him when he was invited to the studio. Despite his well-known skepticism of Hollywood in principle, Dick enthused to Scott that the world created for the film looked exactly as he had imagined it. He said, "I saw a segment of Douglas Trumbull's special effects for Blade Runner on the KNBC news. I recognized it immediately. It was my own interior world. They caught it perfectly." He also approved of the film's script, saying: "After I finished reading the screenplay, I got the novel out and looked through it. The two reinforce each other so that someone who started with the novel would enjoy the movie and someone who started with the movie would enjoy the novel." The motion picture was dedicated to Dick. Principal photography of Blade Runner began on March 9, 1981, and ended four months later.
In 1992, Ford revealed, "Blade Runner is not one of my favorite films. I tangled with Ridley." Apart from friction with the director, Ford also disliked the voiceovers: "When we started shooting it had been tacitly agreed that the version of the film that we had agreed upon was the version without voiceover narration. It was a nightmare. I thought that the film had worked without the narration. But now I was stuck re-creating that narration. And I was obliged to do the voiceovers for people that did not represent the director's interests." "I went kicking and screaming to the studio to record it." The narration monologs were written by an uncredited Roland Kibbee.
In 2006, Scott was asked "Who's the biggest pain in the arse you've ever worked with?" He replied: "It's got to be Harrison ... he'll forgive me because now I get on with him. Now he's become charming. But he knows a lot, that's the problem. When we worked together it was my first film up and I was the new kid on the block. But we made a good movie." Ford said of Scott in 2000: "I admire his work. We had a bad patch there, and I'm over it." In 2006 Ford reflected on the production of the film saying: "What I remember more than anything else when I see Blade Runner is not the 50 nights of shooting in the rain, but the voiceover ... I was still obliged to work for these clowns that came in writing one bad voiceover after another." Ridley Scott confirmed in the summer 2007 issue of Total Film that Harrison Ford contributed to the Blade Runner Special Edition DVD, and had already recorded his interviews. "Harrison's fully on board", said Scott.
in Los Angeles was used as one of the filming locations.]]
The Bradbury Building in downtown Los Angeles served as a filming location, and a Warner Bros. backlot housed the 2019 Los Angeles street sets. Other locations included the Ennis-Brown House and the 2nd Street Tunnel. Test screenings resulted in several changes, including adding a voice-over, a happy ending, and the removal of a Holden hospital scene. The relationship between the filmmakers and the investors was difficult, which culminated in Deeley and Scott being fired but still working on the film. Casting
Casting the film proved troublesome, particularly for the lead role of Deckard. Screenwriter Hampton Fancher envisioned Robert Mitchum as Deckard and wrote the character's dialogue with Mitchum in mind. According to production documents, several actors were considered for the role, including Gene Hackman, Sean Connery, Jack Nicholson, Paul Newman, Clint Eastwood, Tommy Lee Jones, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Peter Falk, Nick Nolte, Al Pacino and Burt Reynolds. Director Ridley Scott and the film's producers spent months meeting and discussing the role with Dustin Hoffman, who eventually departed over differences in vision. the violent yet thoughtful leader of the replicants. Scott cast Hauer without having met him, based on his performances in Paul Verhoeven's movies that Scott had seen (Katie Tippel, Soldier of Orange, and Turkish Delight). Hauer rewrote his character's "tears in rain" speech himself and presented the words to Scott on set prior to filming.
Blade Runner used a number of then-lesser-known actors: Sean Young portrays Rachael, an experimental replicant implanted with the memories of Tyrell's niece, causing her to believe she is human; Nina Axelrod auditioned for the role. Daryl Hannah portrays Pris, a "basic pleasure model" replicant; Stacey Nelkin auditioned for the role, but was given another part in the film, which was ultimately cut before filming. Casting Pris and Rachael was challenging, requiring several screen tests with Morgan Paull playing the role of Deckard. Paull was cast as Deckard's fellow bounty hunter Holden based on his performances in the tests. James Hong portrays Hannibal Chew, an elderly geneticist specializing in synthetic eyes, and Hy Pyke portrayed the sleazy bar owner Taffey Lewis – in a single take, something almost unheard-of with Scott, whose drive for perfection resulted at times in double-digit takes.
Design
Scott credits Edward Hopper's painting Nighthawks and the French science fiction comics magazine Métal Hurlant, to which the artist Jean "Moebius" Giraud contributed, as stylistic mood sources. He also drew on the landscape of "Hong Kong on a very bad day" and the industrial landscape of his one-time home in northeast England. The visual style of the movie is influenced by the work of futurist Italian architect Antonio Sant'Elia. Scott hired Syd Mead as his concept artist; like Scott, he was influenced by Métal Hurlant. Moebius was offered the opportunity to assist in the pre-production of Blade Runner, but he declined so that he could work on René Laloux's animated film Les Maîtres du temps – a decision that he later regretted. Production designer Lawrence G. Paull and art director David Snyder realized Scott's and Mead's sketches. Douglas Trumbull and Richard Yuricich supervised the special effects for the film, and Mark Stetson served as chief model maker.
Blade Runner has numerous similarities to Fritz Lang's Metropolis, including a built-up urban environment, in which the wealthy literally live above the workers, dominated by a huge building – the Stadtkrone Tower in Metropolis and the Tyrell Building in Blade Runner. Special effects supervisor David Dryer used stills from Metropolis when lining up Blade Runners miniature building shots.
The extended end scene in the original theatrical release shows Rachael and Deckard traveling into daylight with pastoral aerial shots filmed by director Stanley Kubrick. Ridley Scott contacted Kubrick about using some of his surplus helicopter aerial photography from The Shining. Spinner
Spinner (Blade Runner)}}
in the 1990s]]
"Spinner" is the generic term for the fictional flying cars used in the film. A spinner can be driven as a ground-based vehicle, and take off vertically, hover, and cruise much like vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft. They are used extensively by the police as patrol cars, and wealthy people can also acquire spinner licenses. The vehicle was conceived and designed by Syd Mead who described the spinner as an aerodyne – a vehicle which directs air downward to create lift, though press kits for the film stated that the spinner was propelled by three engines: "conventional internal combustion, jet, and anti-gravity". A spinner is on permanent exhibit at the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame in Seattle, Washington. Mead's conceptual drawings were transformed into 25 vehicles by automobile customizer Gene Winfield; at least two were working ground vehicles, while others were light-weight mockups for crane shots and set decoration for street shots. Two of them ended up at Disney World in Orlando, Florida, but were later destroyed, and a few others remain in private collections.
Music
Blade Runner (soundtrack)}}
The Blade Runner soundtrack by Vangelis is a dark melodic combination of classic composition and futuristic synthesizers which mirrors the film noir retro-future envisioned by Scott. Vangelis, fresh from his Academy Award-winning score for Chariots of Fire, composed and performed the music on his synthesizers. He also made use of various chimes and the vocals of collaborator Demis Roussos. Another memorable sound is the tenor sax solo "Love Theme" by British saxophonist Dick Morrissey, who performed on many of Vangelis's albums. Ridley Scott also used "Memories of Green" from the Vangelis album See You Later, an orchestral version of which Scott would later use in his film Someone to Watch Over Me.
Along with Vangelis's compositions and ambient textures, the film's soundscape also features a track by the Japanese ensemble Nipponia – "Ogi no Mato" or "The Folding Fan as a Target" from the Nonesuch Records release Traditional Vocal and Instrumental Music – and a track by harpist Gail Laughton from "Harps of the Ancient Temples" on Laurel Records.
Despite being well received by fans and critically acclaimed and nominated in 1982 for a BAFTA and a Golden Globe as best original score, and the promise of a soundtrack album from Polydor Records in the end titles of the film, the release of the official soundtrack recording was delayed for over a decade. There are two official releases of the music from Blade Runner. In light of the lack of a release of an album, the New American Orchestra recorded an orchestral adaptation in 1982 which bore little resemblance to the original. Some of the film tracks would, in 1989, surface on the compilation Vangelis: Themes, but not until the 1992 release of the ''Director's Cut'' version would a substantial amount of the film's score see commercial release.
These delays and poor reproductions led to the production of many bootleg recordings over the years. A bootleg tape surfaced in 1982 at science fiction conventions and became popular given the delay of an official release of the original recordings, and in 1993 "Off World Music, Ltd" created a bootleg CD that would prove more comprehensive than Vangelis' official CD in 1994. A set with three CDs of Blade Runner-related Vangelis music was released in 2007. Titled Blade Runner Trilogy, the first disc contains the same tracks as the 1994 official soundtrack release, the second features previously unreleased music from the film, and the third disc is all newly composed music from Vangelis, inspired by, and in the spirit of the film.
Special effects
The film's special effects are generally recognized to be among the best in the genre, using the available (non-digital) technology to the fullest. Special effects engineers who worked on the film are often praised for the innovative technology they used to produce and design certain aspects of those visuals.
Release
Theatrical run
Blade Runner was released in 1,290 theaters on June 25, 1982. That date was chosen by producer Alan Ladd Jr. because his previous highest-grossing films (Star Wars and Alien) had a similar opening date (May 25) in 1977 and 1979, making the 25th of the month his "lucky day". Blade Runner grossed reasonably good ticket sales in its opening weekend; earning $6.1 million during its first weekend in theaters. The film was released close to other major science-fiction and fantasy releases such as The Thing, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Conan the Barbarian and E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, which affected its commercial success.
Versions
Several versions of Blade Runner have been shown. The original workprint version (1982, 113 minutes) was shown for audience test previews in Denver and Dallas in March 1982. Negative responses to the previews led to the modifications resulting in the U.S. theatrical version. The workprint was shown as a director's cut without Scott's approval at the Los Angeles Fairfax Theater in May 1990, at an AMPAS showing in April 1991, and in September and October 1991 at the Los Angeles NuArt Theater and the San Francisco Castro Theatre. Positive responses pushed the studio to approve work on an official director's cut. A San Diego Sneak Preview was shown only once, in May 1982, and was almost identical to the U.S. theatrical version but contained three extra scenes not shown in any other version, including the 2007 Final Cut.
Two versions were shown in the film's 1982 theatrical release: the U.S. theatrical version (117 minutes), known as the original version or Domestic Cut (released on Betamax, CED Videodisc and VHS in 1983, and on LaserDisc in 1987), and the International Cut (117 minutes), also known as the "Criterion Edition" or "uncut version", which included more violent action scenes than the U.S. version. Although initially unavailable in the U.S. and distributed in Europe and Asia via theatrical and local Warner Home Video releases, the International Cut was later released on VHS and The Criterion Collection Laserdisc in North America, and re-released in 1992 as a "10th Anniversary Edition".
Ridley Scott's ''Director's Cut (1992, 116 minutes) had significant changes from the theatrical version including the removal of Deckard's voice-over, the re-insertion of a sequence in which Deckard dreams of a unicorn, and the removal of the studio-imposed happy ending. Scott provided extensive notes and consultation to Warner Bros. through film preservationist Michael Arick, who was put in charge of creating the ''Director's Cut''.
It is often falsely claimed that the unicorn sequence was an outtake from Ridley Scott's follow-up film Legend which also features unicorns, but it was in fact shot for Blade Runner as "additional photography" by second unit cinematographer Brian Tufano.
Scott's definitive The Final Cut (2007, 117 minutes) was released by Warner Bros. theatrically on October 5, 2007, and subsequently released on DVD, HD DVD, and Blu-ray Disc in December 2007. This is the only version over which Scott had complete artistic and editorial control.
Reception
Critical response
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an 89% approval rating based on 132 reviews, with an average rating of 8.50/10. The website's critics consensus reads: "Misunderstood when it first hit theaters, the influence of Ridley Scott's mysterious, neo-noir Blade Runner has deepened with time. A visually remarkable, achingly human sci-fi masterpiece." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 84 out of 100 based on 15 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".
Initial reactions among film critics were mixed. Some wrote that the plot took a back seat to the film's special effects and did not fit the studio's marketing as an action and adventure film. Others acclaimed its complexity and predicted it would stand the test of time. Negative criticism in the United States cited its slow pace. Sheila Benson from the Los Angeles Times called it "Blade Crawler", and Pat Berman in The State and Columbia Record described it as "science fiction pornography". Pauline Kael praised Blade Runner as worthy of a place in film history for its distinctive sci-fi vision, yet criticized the film's lack of development in "human terms". Ares magazine said, "Misunderstood by audiences and critics alike, it is by far the best science fiction film of the year."
Cultural analysis
Academics began analyzing the film almost as soon as it was released. One of the first books on the film was Paul M. Sammon's Future Noir: The Making of Blade Runner (1996), which dissects all the details concerning the film's production. He was followed by Scott Bukatman's Blade Runner and other books and academic articles. In Postmodern Metanarratives: Blade Runner and Literature in the Age of Image, Décio Torres Cruz analyzes the philosophical and psychological issues and the literary influences in Blade Runner. He examines the film's cyberpunk and dystopic elements by establishing a link between the Biblical, classical and modern traditions and the postmodern aspects in the film's collage of several literary texts.
The boom in home video formats helped establish a growing cult around the film, which scholars have dissected for its dystopic aspects, questions regarding "authentic" humanity, ecofeminist aspects and use of conventions from multiple genres. Popular culture began to reassess its impact as a classic several years after it was released. Roger Ebert praised the visuals of both the original and the ''Director's Cut and recommended it for that reason; however, he found the human story clichéd and a little thin. Critic Chris Rodley and Janet Maslin theorized that Blade Runner changed cinematic and cultural discourse through its image repertoire and subsequent influence on films. In 2012, Time'' film critic Richard Corliss surgically analyzed the durability, complexity, screenplay, sets and production dynamics from a personal, three-decade perspective. Denis Villeneuve, who directed the sequel, Blade Runner 2049, cites the film as a huge influence for him and many others. Furthermore, the futuristic version of Los Angeles has been widely discussed by academics, with some comparing it to Milton's descriptions of hell in Paradise Lost. In a 2019 retrospective, the BBC argued that elements of the film's socio-political themes remained prescient in the real year of the film's setting, such as its depiction of climate change. From a more philosophical perspective, Alison Landsberg described Scott's direction of the film as a "prosthetic memory"—an action that has never happened and appears to be divorced from lived experience, yet it defines personhood and identity within the wider Blade Runner universe.
Awards and nominations
Blade Runner won or received nominations for the following awards:
{| class"wikitable" style"width:99%;"
|-
! Year !! Award !! Category !! Nominee !! Result
|-
| rowspan="2"| 1982
| British Society of Cinematographers
| Best Cinematography
| rowspan="3"| Jordan Cronenweth
|
|-
| Los Angeles Film Critics Association
| Best Cinematography
|
|-
| rowspan="18"| 1983
| rowspan="8"| British Academy Film Awards
| Best Cinematography
|
|-
| Best Costume Design
| Charles Knode and Michael Kaplan
|
|-
| Best Editing
| Terry Rawlings
|
|-
| Best Film Music
| Vangelis
|
|-
| Best Makeup and Hair
| Marvin Westmore
|
|-
| Best Production Design
| Lawrence G. Paull
|
|-
| Best Sound
| Peter Pennell, Bud Alper, Graham V. Hartstone, and Gerry Humphreys
|
|-
| Best Special Visual Effects
| Douglas Trumbull, Richard Yuricich, and David Dryer
|
|-
| Hugo Award
| Best Dramatic Presentation
|
|
|-
| London Film Critics' Circle
| Special Achievement Award
| Lawrence G. Paull, Douglas Trumbull, and Syd Mead
|
|-
| Golden Globe Awards
| Best Original Score
| Vangelis
|
|-
| rowspan="2"| Academy Awards
| Best Art Direction
| Lawrence G. Paull, David Snyder, and Linda DeScenna
|
|-
| Best Visual Effects
| Douglas Trumbull, Richard Yuricich, and David Dryer
|
|-
| rowspan="4"| Saturn Award
| Best Director
| Ridley Scott
|
|-
| Best Science Fiction Film
|
|
|-
| Best Special Effects
| Douglas Trumbull and Richard Yuricich
|
|-
| Best Supporting Actor
| Rutger Hauer
|
|-
| Fantasporto
| International Fantasy Film Award
| Ridley Scott
|
|-
| 1993
| Fantasporto
| International Fantasy Film Award
| Best Film – Ridley Scott (Director's Cut)
|
|-
| 1994
| rowspan=2| Saturn Award
| Best Genre Video Release
| Blade Runner (Director's Cut)
|
|-
| 2008
| Best DVD Special Edition Release
| Blade Runner (5-Disc Ultimate Collector's Edition)
|
|}
Themes
The film operates on multiple dramatic and narrative levels. It employs some of the conventions of film noir, among them the character of a femme fatale; narration by the protagonist (in the original release); chiaroscuro cinematography; and giving the hero a questionable moral outlook – extending to include reflections upon the nature of his own humanity. It is a literate science fiction film, thematically enfolding the philosophy of religion and moral implications of human mastery of genetic engineering in the context of classical Greek drama and hubris. It also draws on Biblical images, such as Noah's flood, and literary sources, such as Frankenstein and William Blake. Although Scott said any similarity was merely coincidental, fans claimed that the chess game between Sebastian and Tyrell was based on the famous Immortal Game of 1851.
Blade Runner delves into the effects of technology on the environment and society by reaching to the past, using literature, religious symbolism, classical dramatic themes, and film noir techniques. This tension between past, present, and future is represented in the "retrofitted" future depicted in the film, one which is high-tech and gleaming in places but decayed and outdated elsewhere. In an interview with The Observer in 2002, director Ridley Scott described the film as "extremely dark, both literally and metaphorically, with an oddly masochistic feel". He also said that he "liked the idea of exploring pain" in the wake of his brother's death: "When he was ill, I used to go and visit him in London, and that was really traumatic for me."
A sense of foreboding and paranoia pervades the world of the film: corporate power looms large; the police seem omnipresent; vehicle and warning lights probe into buildings; and the consequences of huge biomedical power over the individual are explored –
especially regarding replicants' implanted memories. The film depicts a world post ecocide, where warfare and capitalism have led to destruction of 'normal' ecological systems. Control over the environment is exercised on a vast scale, and goes hand in hand with the absence of any natural life; for example, artificial animals stand in for their extinct predecessors. This oppressive backdrop explains the frequently referenced migration of humans to "off-world" (extraterrestrial) colonies. Eyes are a recurring motif, as are manipulated images, calling into question the nature of reality and our ability to accurately perceive and remember it. The film also consists of themes of Japan as a power, coming amid a time of anti-Japanese sentiment in the United States.
These thematic elements provide an atmosphere of uncertainty for Blade Runners central theme of examining humanity. In order to discover replicants, an empathy test is used, with a number of its questions focused on the treatment of animals – seemingly an essential indicator of one's "humanity". Replicants will not respond the same way humans would, showing a lack of concern. The film goes so far as to question if Deckard might be a replicant, in the process asking the audience to re-evaluate what it means to be human.
The question of whether Deckard is intended to be a human or a replicant has been an ongoing controversy since the film's release. Both Michael Deeley and Harrison Ford wanted Deckard to be human, while Hampton Fancher preferred ambiguity. Ridley Scott has stated that he envisaged Deckard as a replicant. Deckard's unicorn-dream sequence, inserted into Scott's ''Director's Cut'' and concomitant with Gaff's parting gift of an origami unicorn, is seen by many as showing that Deckard is a replicant – because Gaff could have retrieved Deckard's implanted memories. The interpretation that Deckard is a replicant is challenged by others who believe the unicorn imagery shows that the characters, whether human or replicant, share the same dreams and recognize their affinity, or that the absence of a decisive answer is crucial to the film's main theme. The film's inherent ambiguity and uncertainty, as well as its textual richness, have permitted multiple interpretations. Legacy Cultural impact
While not initially a success with North American audiences, Blade Runner was popular internationally and garnered a cult following. The film's dark style and futuristic designs have served as a benchmark and its influence can be seen in many subsequent science fiction films, video games, anime, and television programs. Rian Johnson, Ronald D. Moore and David Eick have all cited it as an influence. Nolan notes that he has seen Blade Runner "literally hundreds of times",
The film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry in 1993 and is frequently taught in university courses. In 2007, it was named the second-most visually influential film of all time by the Visual Effects Society. The film has also been the subject of parody, such as the comics Blade Bummer by Crazy comics, Bad Rubber by Steve Gallacci, and the Red Dwarf 2009 three-part miniseries "Back to Earth". The anime series Psycho-Pass by Production I.G was also highly influenced by the film.
Blade Runner continues to reflect modern trends and concerns, and an increasing number of critics consider it one of the greatest science fiction films of all time. It was voted the best science fiction film ever made in a 2004 poll of 60 eminent world scientists. Blade Runner is also cited as an important influence to both the style and story of the Ghost in the Shell franchise, which itself has been highly influential to the future-noir genre. Blade Runner has been very influential to the cyberpunk movement. It also influenced the cyberpunk derivative biopunk, which revolves around biotechnology and genetic engineering. The film is also considered to be one of the early examples of the tech noir subgenre.
The dialogue and music in Blade Runner has been sampled in music more than any other film of the 20th century. The 2009 album I, Human by Singaporean band Deus Ex Machina makes numerous references to the genetic engineering and cloning themes from the film, and even features a track titled "Replicant".
Blade Runner is cited as a major influence on Warren Spector, designer of the video game Deus Ex, which displays evidence of the film's influence in both its visual rendering and plot. Indeed, the film's look – and in particular its overall darkness, preponderance of neon lights and opaque visuals – are easier to render than complicated backdrops, making it a popular reference point for video game designers. It has influenced adventure games such as the 2012 graphical text adventure Cypher, Rise of the Dragon, Snatcher, the Tex Murphy series, Beneath a Steel Sky, Flashback: The Quest for Identity, the role-playing game Shadowrun, the shooter game Skyhammer, and the Syndicate series of video games.
The logos of Atari, Bell, Coca-Cola, Cuisinart, Pan Am, and RCA, all market leaders at the time, were prominently displayed as product placement in the film, and all experienced setbacks after the film's release, leading to suggestions of a Blade Runner curse. Coca-Cola and Cuisinart recovered, and Tsingtao beer was also featured in the film and was more successful after the film than before.
The design of Tesla's Cybertruck was inspired by the film. Prior to its release Elon Musk promised that it would "look like something out of Blade Runner". Besides referring to the truck as the "Blade Runner Truck", Musk chose to debut the truck in order to coincide with the film's setting of November 2019. The film's art designer Syd Mead praised the truck and said he was "flattered" by the homage to Blade Runner.
|-
| rowspan=3 | 2002
| Online Film Critics Society (OFCS)
| Top 100 Sci-fi Films of the Past 100 Years
| 2
|
|-
| Sight & Sound
| Sight & Sound Top Ten Poll 2002
| 45
|
|-
| colspan="2"| 50 Klassiker, Film
| rowspan="2"
|
|-
| rowspan=2 | 2003
| colspan="2"| 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die
|
|-
| Entertainment Weekly
| The Top 50 Cult Movies
| 9
|
|-
| 2004
| The Guardian, scientists
| Top 10 Sci-fi Films of All Time
| 1
|
|-
| rowspan=2 | 2005
| Total Films editors
| 100 Greatest Movies of All Time
| 47
|
|-
| Time magazine's critics
| "All-Time 100" Movies
|
|
|-
| rowspan=2 | 2008
| New Scientist
| All-time favorite science fiction film (readers and staff)
| 1
|
|-
| Empire
| The 500 Greatest Movies of All Time
| 20
|
|-
| 2010
| Total Film
| 100 Greatest Movies of All Time
|
|
|-
| rowspan=2 | 2012
| Sight & Sound
| Sight & Sound 2012 critics top 250 films
| 69
|
|-
| Sight & Sound
| Sight & Sound 2012 directors top 100 films
| 67
|
|-
| 2017
| Empire
| The 100 Greatest Movies Of All Time
| 13
|
|-
| 2022
| IGN
| Top 25 Sci-Fi Movies of All Time
| 2
|
|-
| 2022
| Sight & Sound
| Sight & Sound 2022 critics top 100 films
| 54
|
|-
|2024
|Far Out Magazine
|10 most accurate movie psychopaths according to the FBI (replicant Leon Kowalski)
|8
|
|}
American Film Institute recognition
* AFI's 100 Years...100 Thrills – No. 74
* AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies (10th Anniversary Edition) – No. 97
* AFI's 10 Top 10 – No. 6 Science Fiction Film
In other media
Before filming began, Cinefantastique magazine commissioned Paul M. Sammon to write a special issue about Blade Runners production which became the book Future Noir: The Making of Blade Runner. The book chronicles Blade Runners evolution, focusing on film-set politics, especially the British director's experiences with his first American film crew; of which producer Alan Ladd, Jr. has said, "Harrison wouldn't speak to Ridley and Ridley wouldn't speak to Harrison. By the end of the shoot Ford was 'ready to kill Ridley', said one colleague. He really would have taken him on if he hadn't been talked out of it." Future Noir has short cast biographies and quotations about their experiences as well as photographs of the film's production and preliminary sketches. A second edition of Future Noir was published in 2007, and additional materials not in either print edition have been published online.
Philip K. Dick refused a $400,000 offer to write a Blade Runner novelization, saying: "[I was] told the cheapo novelization would have to appeal to the twelve-year-old audience" and it "would have probably been disastrous to me artistically". He added, "That insistence on my part of bringing out the original novel and not doing the novelization – they were just furious. They finally recognized that there was a legitimate reason for reissuing the novel, even though it cost them money. It was a victory not just of contractual obligations but of theoretical principles." Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? was eventually reprinted as a tie-in, with the film poster as a cover and the original title in parentheses below the Blade Runner title. Additionally, a novelization of the movie entitled Blade Runner: A Story of the Future by Les Martin was released in 1982. Archie Goodwin scripted the comic book adaptation, A Marvel Comics Super Special: Blade Runner, published in September 1982, which was illustrated by Al Williamson, Carlos Garzon, Dan Green, and Ralph Reese, and lettered by Ed King.
Blue Dolphin Enterprises published the film's screenplay combined with selected production storyboards as The Illustrated Blade Runner (June 1982); a book of original production artwork by Syd Mead, Mentor Huebner, Charles Knode, Michael Kaplan, and Ridley Scott as Blade Runner Sketchbook (1982); and The Blade Runner Portfolio (1982), a collection of twelve photographic prints, similar to the artist portfolios released by their Schanes & Schanes imprint.
There are two video games based on the film, both titled Blade Runner: one from 1985, a side-scrolling video game for Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum, and Amstrad CPC by CRL Group PLC, which is marked as "a video game interpretation of the film score by Vangelis" rather than of the film itself (due to licensing issues); and another from 1997, a point-and-click adventure for PC by Westwood Studios. The 1997 game has a non-linear plot based in the Blade Runner'' world, non-player characters that each ran in their own independent AI, and an unusual pseudo-3D engine (which eschewed polygonal solids in favor of voxel elements) that did not require the use of a 3D accelerator card to play the game. Eldon Tyrell, Gaff, Leon, Rachael, Chew, J. F. Sebastian and Howie Lee appear, and their voice files are recorded by the original actors, with the exception of Gaff, who is replaced by Javier Grajeda (as Victor Gardell) and Howie Lee, who is replaced by Toru Nagai. The player assumes the role of McCoy, another replicant-hunter working at the same time as Deckard. Many similarities between Total Recall 2070 and Blade Runner were noted, as well as apparent influences on the show from Isaac Asimov's The Caves of Steel and the TV series Holmes & Yoyo.
Documentaries
The film has been the subject of several documentaries.
; Blade Runner: Convention Reel (1982, 13 minutes)
: Co-directed by Muffet Kaufman and Jeffrey B. Walker, shot and screened in 16 mm, featured no narrator, was filmed in 1981 while Blade Runner was still in production and featured short "behind-the-scenes" segments showing sets being built and sequences being shot, as well as interviews with Ridley Scott, Syd Mead and Douglas Trumbull. Appears on the Blade Runner Ultimate Collector's Edition.
; On the Edge of Blade Runner (2000, 55 minutes)
: Directed by Andrew Abbott and hosted/written by Mark Kermode. Interviews with production staff, including Scott, give details of the creative process and the turmoil during pre-production. Insights into Philip K. Dick and the origins of Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? are provided by Paul M. Sammon and Hampton Fancher.
; Future Shocks (2003, 27 minutes)
: Directed by TVOntario. It includes interviews with executive producer Bud Yorkin, Syd Mead, and the cast, and commentary by science fiction author Robert J. Sawyer and from film critics.
; Dangerous Days: Making Blade Runner (2007, 213 minutes)
: Directed and produced by Charles de Lauzirika for The Final Cut version of the film. Its source material comprises more than 80 interviews, including extensive conversations with Ford, Young, and Scott. The documentary is presented in eight chapters, with each of the first seven covering a portion of the filmmaking process. The final chapter examines Blade Runner<nowiki />'s controversial legacy.
; All Our Variant Futures: From Workprint to Final Cut (2007, 29 minutes)
: Produced by Paul Prischman, appears on the Blade Runner Ultimate Collector's Edition and provides an overview of the film's multiple versions and their origins, as well as detailing the seven-year-long restoration, enhancement and remastering process behind The Final Cut. It entered production in mid-2016 and is set decades after the first film. Harrison Ford reprised his role as Rick Deckard. The film won two Academy Awards, for cinematography and visual effects.
The world of Blade Runner has also come to be explored in animation. Blade Runner 2049 was preceded by the release of three short films that served as prequels, where the chronological first, Blade Runner Black Out 2022, was anime (the other two, 2036: Nexus Dawn and 2048: Nowhere to Run, were live action, not animated).
In November 2021, a Japanese-American anime television series called Blade Runner: Black Lotus was released. The series tells the story of a female replicant protagonist, rather than that of a male Blade Runner one.
Dick's friend K. W. Jeter wrote three authorized Blade Runner novels that continue Rick Deckard's story, attempting to resolve the differences between the film and Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? These are Blade Runner 2: The Edge of Human (1995), Blade Runner 3: Replicant Night (1996), and Blade Runner 4: Eye and Talon (2000).
Blade Runner co-writer David Peoples wrote the 1998 action film Soldier, which he referred to as a "sidequel" or spiritual successor to the original film; the two are set in a shared universe. A bonus feature on the Blu-ray for Prometheus, the 2012 film by Scott set in the Alien universe, states that Eldon Tyrell, CEO of the Blade Runner Tyrell Corporation, was the mentor of Guy Pearce's character Peter Weyland.
In late 2022, Amazon announced a Blade Runner 2049 sequel series would be produced. On October 12, 2022, an apparent official approval to actually make a Blade Runner 2099 TV series was reported. See also
* Arcology
* Biorobotics
* List of adaptations of works by Philip K. Dick
* List of cult films
* List of dystopian films
* List of fictional robots and androids
* Synthetic biology
Notes
References Bibliography * }}
* }}
*Doll, Susan, and Greg Faller. 1986. "Blade Runner and Genre: Film Noir and Science Fiction." Literature Film Quarterly 14 (2): 89–100.
*Eagan, Daniel (2010) ''America's Film Legacy: The Authoritative Guide to the Landmark Movies in the National Film Registry, A&C Black, , pages 775–776
*
*
*Morgan, David. [https://www.loc.gov/static/programs/national-film-preservation-board/documents/blade_runner.pdf Blade Runner] at National Film Registry
* }}
External links
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Bill Gates
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| birth_place = Seattle, Washington, U.S.<!-- DO NOT LINK, see MOS:GEOLINK -->
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| Chair of the Gates Foundation
| Chairman and founder of Cascade Investment
| Chairman and founder of Branded Entertainment Network
| Chairman and co-founder of TerraPower
| Founder of Breakthrough Energy
| Founder of Gates Ventures
| Technology advisor of Microsoft}}
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William Henry Gates III <!-- (a) "Bill" is excluded; see MOS:HYPOCORISM. (b) Please see the FAQ and previous discussions on the article's talk page; the FAQ records a consensus not to include post-nominals here or the top of the infobox, and WP:POSNOM only says to include them when they are issued by a state or organization "with which the subject has been closely associated" (which does not apply here). --> (born October 28, 1955) is an American businessman and philanthropist. A pioneer of the microcomputer revolution of the 1970s and 1980s, he co-founded the software company Microsoft in 1975 with his childhood friend Paul Allen. Following the company's 1986 initial public offering (IPO), Gates became then the youngest ever billionaire in 1987, at age 31. Forbes magazine ranked him as the world's wealthiest person for 18 out of 24 years between 1995 and 2017, including 13 years consecutively from 1995 to 2007. He became the first centibillionaire in 1999, when his net worth briefly surpassed $100 billion. On the 2024 Forbes list, he was ranked the world's seventh wealthiest person, with an estimated net worth of $128 billion.
Born and raised in Seattle, Washington, Gates was privately educated at Lakeside School, where he befriended Allen and others with strong computing interests. He enrolled at Harvard College in 1973 but dropped out in 1975 to co-found and lead Microsoft, serving as its CEO for the next 25 years. When the company incorporated in 1981, Gates also became president and chairman of the board. Succeeded as CEO by Steve Ballmer in 2000, he transitioned to chief software architect, a position he held until 2008. He stepped down as chairman of the board in 2014 and became technology adviser to CEO Satya Nadella and other Microsoft leaders. He resigned from the board in 2020. Over time, he has reduced his role at Microsoft to focus on his philanthropic work with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the world's largest private charitable organization, which he and his then-wife Melinda French Gates established in 2000. Gates and French Gates co-chaired the foundation until 2024, when the latter resigned following the couple's divorce; it has since been renamed the Gates Foundation, with Gates as its sole chair.
Gates is founder and chairman of several other companies, including BEN, Cascade Investment, TerraPower, Gates Ventures, and Breakthrough Energy. In 2010, he and Warren Buffett founded the Giving Pledge, whereby they and other billionaires pledge to give at least half their wealth to philanthropy. Named as one of the 100 most influential people of the 20th century by Time magazine in 1999, he has received numerous other honors and accolades, including a Presidential Medal of Freedom, awarded jointly to him and French Gates in 2016 for their philanthropic work. The subject of several documentary films, he published the first of three planned memoirs, Source Code: My Beginnings, in 2025.
Early life and education
William Henry Gates III was born on October 28, 1955, in Seattle, Washington, as the only son of William H. Gates Sr. (1925–2020) and his first wife, Mary Maxwell Gates (1929–1994). His ancestry includes English, German, and Irish/Scots-Irish. His father was a prominent lawyer, and his mother served on the board of directors of First Interstate BancSystem and United Way of America. Gates's maternal grandfather J. W. Maxwell was a national bank president. Gates also has an older sister Kristi (Kristianne) and a younger sister Libby. He is the fourth of his name in his family but is known as William Gates III or "Trey" (i.e., three) because his father had the "II" suffix. The family lived in the Sand Point area of Seattle in a home that was damaged by a rare tornado when Gates was 7.
When Gates was young his parents wanted him to pursue a career in law. During his childhood, his family regularly attended a church of the Congregational Christian Churches, a Protestant Reformed denomination.
Gates was small for his age and was bullied as a child.
seated at Teletype Model 33 ASR terminals in Lakeside School, 1970]]
At age 13, he enrolled in the private Lakeside prep school. When he was in the eighth grade, the Mothers' Club at the school used proceeds from Lakeside School's rummage sale to buy a Teletype Model 33 ASR terminal and a block of computer time on a General Electric (GE) computer for the students. Gates took an interest in programming the GE system in BASIC, and he was excused from math classes to pursue his interest. He wrote his first computer program on this machine, an implementation of tic-tac-toe that allowed users to play games against the computer. Gates was fascinated by the machine and how it would always execute software code perfectly. After the Mothers Club donation was exhausted, Gates and other students sought time on systems including DEC PDP minicomputers. One of these systems was a PDP-10 belonging to Computer Center Corporation (CCC) which banned Gates, Paul Allen, Ric Weiland, and Gates's best friend and first business partner Kent Evans for the summer after it caught them exploiting bugs in the operating system to obtain free computer time.
The four students formed the Lakeside Programmers Club to make money. At the end of the ban, they offered to find bugs in CCC's software in exchange for extra computer time. Rather than using the system remotely via Teletype, Gates went to CCC's offices and studied source code for various programs that ran on the system, including Fortran, Lisp, and machine language. The arrangement with CCC continued until 1970 when the company went out of business. The following year, a Lakeside teacher enlisted Gates and Evans to automate the school's class-scheduling system, providing them computer time and royalties in return. The duo worked diligently in order to have the program ready for their senior year. Towards the end of their junior year, Evans was killed in a mountain climbing accident, which Gates described as one of the saddest days of his life. He then turned to Allen who helped him finish the system for Lakeside. He was a national merit scholar when he graduated from Lakeside School in 1973. He scored 1590 out of 1600 on the Scholastic Aptitude Tests (SAT) and enrolled at Harvard College in the autumn of 1973.
He did not stay at Harvard long enough to choose a concentration, but took mathematics (including Math 55) and graduate level computer science courses. While at Harvard, he met fellow student and future Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer. Gates left Harvard after two years while Ballmer stayed and graduated magna cum laude. Years later, Ballmer succeeded Gates as Microsoft's CEO and maintained that position from 2000 until his resignation in 2014.
Gates devised an algorithm for pancake sorting as a solution to one of a series of unsolved problems presented in a combinatorics class by professor Harry Lewis. His solution held the record as the fastest version for over 30 years, and its successor is faster by only 2%. His solution was formalized and published in collaboration with Harvard computer scientist Christos Papadimitriou.
Gates remained in contact with Paul Allen and joined him at Honeywell during the summer of 1974. In 1975, the MITS Altair 8800 was released based on the Intel 8080 CPU, and Gates and Allen saw the opportunity to start their own computer software company. Gates dropped out of Harvard that same year. His parents were supportive of him after seeing how much he wanted to start his own company. He explained his decision to leave Harvard: "if things hadn't worked out, I could always go back to school. I was officially on leave." Microsoft BASIC Computer with floppy disk system whose first programming language was Microsoft's founding product, Altair BASIC]]
Gates read the January 1975 issue of Popular Electronics which demonstrated the Altair 8800, and contacted Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems (MITS) to inform them that he and others were working on a BASIC interpreter for the platform. In reality, Gates and Allen did not have an Altair and had not written code for it; they merely wanted to gauge MITS's interest. MITS president Ed Roberts agreed to meet them for a demonstration, and over the course of a few weeks they developed an Altair emulator that ran on a minicomputer, and then the BASIC interpreter. The demonstration was held at MITS's offices in Albuquerque, New Mexico; it was a success and resulted in a deal with MITS to distribute the interpreter as Altair BASIC. MITS hired Allen, and Gates took a leave of absence from Harvard to work with him at MITS in November 1975. Allen named their partnership "Micro-Soft", a combination of "microcomputer" and "software", and their first office was in Albuquerque. The first employee Gates and Allen hired was their high school collaborator Ric Weiland. IBM partnership IBM, the leading supplier of computer equipment to commercial enterprises at the time, approached Microsoft in July 1980 concerning software for its upcoming personal computer, the IBM PC, after Gates's mother mentioned Microsoft to John Opel, IBM's then CEO. IBM's discussions with Digital Research went poorly and they did not reach a licensing agreement. IBM representative Jack Sams mentioned the licensing difficulties during a subsequent meeting with Gates and asked if Microsoft could provide an operating system. A few weeks later, Gates and Allen proposed using 86-DOS, an operating system similar to CP/M, that Tim Paterson of Seattle Computer Products (SCP) had made for hardware similar to the PC. Microsoft made a deal with SCP to be the exclusive licensing agent of 86-DOS, and later the full owner. Microsoft employed Paterson to adapt the operating system for the PC and delivered it to IBM as PC DOS for a one-time fee of $50,000.
The contract itself only earned Microsoft a relatively small fee. It was the prestige brought to Microsoft by IBM's adoption of their operating system that would be the origin of Microsoft's transformation from a small business to the leading software company in the world. Gates had not offered to transfer the copyright on the operating system to IBM because he believed that other personal computer makers would clone IBM's PC hardware. They did, making the IBM-compatible PC, running DOS, a de facto standard. The sales of MS-DOS (the version of DOS sold to customers other than IBM) made Microsoft a major player in the industry. The press quickly identified Microsoft as being very influential on the IBM PC. PC Magazine asked if Gates was "the man behind the machine?".
Gates oversaw Microsoft's company restructuring on June 25, 1981, which re-incorporated the company in Washington state and made Gates the president and chairman of the board, with Paul Allen as vice president and vice chairman. In early 1983, Allen left the company after receiving a Hodgkin lymphoma diagnosis, effectively ending the formal business partnership between Gates and Allen, which had been strained months prior due to a contentious dispute over Microsoft equity. Later in the decade, Gates repaired his relationship with Allen and together the two donated millions to their childhood school Lakeside.
Windows
Microsoft and Gates launched their first retail version of Microsoft Windows on November 20, 1985, in an attempt to fend off competition from Apple's Macintosh GUI, which had captivated consumers with its simplicity and ease of use. In August 1986, the company struck a deal with IBM to develop a separate operating system called OS/2. Although the two companies successfully developed the first version of the new system, the partnership deteriorated due to mounting creative differences. The operating system grew out of DOS in an organic fashion over a decade until Windows 95, which hid the DOS prompt by default. Windows XP was released one year after Gates stepped down as Microsoft CEO. Windows 8.1 was the last version of the OS released before Gates left the chair of the firm to John W. Thompson on February 5, 2014. Management style
in Switzerland, January 2008.|280x280px]]
During Microsoft's early years, Gates was an active software developer, particularly in the company's programming language products, but his primary role in most of the company's history was as a manager and executive. He has not officially been on a development team since working on the TRS-80 Model 100, but he wrote code that shipped with the company's products as late as 1989. Jerry Pournelle wrote in 1985 when Gates announced Microsoft Excel: "Bill Gates likes the program, not because it's going to make him a lot of money (although I'm sure it will do that), but because it's a neat hack." During the late 1990s, he was criticized for his business tactics, which were considered anti-competitive. This opinion has been upheld by numerous court rulings.
In June 2006, Gates announced that he would transition out of his role at Microsoft to dedicate more time to philanthropy. He gradually divided his responsibilities between two successors when he placed Ray Ozzie in charge of management and Craig Mundie in charge of long-term product strategy. The process took two years to fully transfer his duties to Ozzie and Mundie, and was completed on June 27, 2008. Post-Microsoft Since leaving day-to-day operations at Microsoft, Gates has continued his philanthropy and works on other projects. He stepped down as chairman of Microsoft in February 2014 to become technology advisor at the firm to support newly appointed CEO Satya Nadella.
Gates provided his perspective on a range of issues in an interview that was published in the March 2014 issue of Rolling Stone magazine. In the interview, he provided his perspective on climate change, his charitable activities, various tech companies and people involved in them, and the state of America. In response to a question about his greatest fear when he looks 50 years into the future, Gates stated: "there'll be some really bad things that'll happen in the next 50 or 100 years, but hopefully none of them on the scale of, say, a million people that you didn't expect to die from a pandemic, or nuclear or bioterrorism." Gates also identified innovation as the "real driver of progress" and pronounced that "America's way better today than it's ever been." Gates has often expressed concern about the potential harms of superintelligence; in a Reddit "ask me anything", he stated that:
In an interview that was held at the TED conference in March 2015, with Baidu co-founder and CEO, Robin Li, Gates said he would "highly recommend" Nick Bostrom's recent work, Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies. During the conference, Gates warned that the world was not prepared for the next pandemic, a situation that would come to pass in late 2019 when the COVID-19 pandemic began. In March 2018, Gates met at his home in Seattle with Mohammed bin Salman, the crown prince and de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia to discuss investment opportunities for Saudi Vision 2030. In June 2019, Gates admitted that losing the mobile operating system race to Android was his biggest mistake. He stated that it was within their skill set of being the dominant player, but partially blames the antitrust litigation during the time. That same year, Gates became an advisory board member of the Bloomberg New Economy Forum.
at COP28 in Dubai on December 1, 2023]]
In March 2020, Microsoft announced Gates would be leaving his board positions at Berkshire Hathaway and Microsoft to dedicate himself to philanthropic endeavors such as climate change, global health and development, and education. The Wall Street Journal reported in May 2021 that Gates stepped down before Microsoft's board finished its investigation into Gates's alleged inappropriate sexual relationship with a Microsoft employee, which an external law firm had begun probing in late 2019.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Gates has widely been looked at by media outlets as an expert on the issue, despite him not being a public official or having any prior medical training. His foundation did, however, establish the COVID-19 Therapeutics Accelerator in 2020 to hasten the development and evaluation of new and repurposed drugs and biologics to treat patients for COVID-19, and, as of February 2021, Gates expressed that he and Anthony Fauci frequently talk and collaborate on matters including vaccines and other medical innovations to fight the pandemic. Business ventures and investments
Gates has a multi-billion dollar investment portfolio with stakes in companies in multiple sectors and has participated in several entrepreneurial ventures beyond Microsoft, including:
* AutoNation, an automotive retailer which trades on the NYSE and in which Gates has a 16% stake.
* bgC3 LLC, a think-tank and research company founded by Gates.
* Canadian National Railway (CN), a Canadian Class I freight railway. As of 2019, Gates is the single largest shareholder of the company.
* Cascade Investment LLC, a private investment and holding company incorporated in the United States, founded and controlled by Gates and headquartered in Kirkland, Washington.
**Gates is the largest private owner of farmland in the United States with his landholdings owned through Cascade Investment totalling 242,000 acres across 19 states. He is the 49th largest private owner of land in the US.
* Carbon Engineering, a for-profit venture founded by David Keith, which Gates helped fund. It is also supported by Chevron Corporation and Occidental Petroleum.
** SCoPEx, Keith's academic venture in "sun-dimming" geoengineering, which Gates provided most of the $12 million for.
* Corbis (originally named Interactive Home Systems and now known as Branded Entertainment Network), a digital image licensing and rights services company founded and chaired by Gates.
* EarthNow, a Seattle-based startup company aiming to blanket the Earth with live satellite video coverage. Gates is a large financial backer.
* Eclipse Aviation, a defunct manufacturer of very light jets. Gates was a major stake-holder early on in the project.
* Impossible Foods, a company that develops plant-based substitutes for meat products. Some of the $396 million Patrick O. Brown collected for his business came from Gates around 2014 to 2017.
* Ecolab, a global provider of water, hygiene and energy technologies and services to the food, energy, healthcare, industrial and hospitality markets. Combined with the shares owned by the Foundation, Gates owns 11.6% of the company. A shareholder agreement in 2012 allowed him to own up to 25% of the company, but this agreement was removed.
* ResearchGate, a social networking site for scientists. Gates participated in a $35 million round of financing along with other investors.
* TerraPower, a nuclear reactor design company co-founded and chaired by Gates, which is developing next generation traveling-wave reactor nuclear power plants in an effort to tackle climate change.
* Breakthrough Energy Ventures, a closed fund for wealthy individuals who seek ROI on a 20-year horizon (see next section), which "is funding green start-ups and a host of other low-carbon entrepreneurial projects, including everything from advanced nuclear technology to synthetic breast milk." It was founded by Gates in 2015.
* Ginkgo Bioworks, a biotech startup that received $350 million in venture funding in 2019, in part from Gates's investment firm Cascade Investment.
* Luminous Computing, a company that develops neuromorphic photonic integrated circuits for AI acceleration.
* Mologic, a British diagnostic technology company that Gates purchased, along with the Soros Economic Development Fund, "which has developed 10-minute Covid lateral flow tests that it aims to make for as little as $1". Climate change and energy
at the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow in November 2021]]
Gates considers climate change and global access to energy to be critical, interrelated issues. He has urged governments and the private sector to invest in research and development to make clean, reliable energy cheaper. Gates envisions that a breakthrough innovation in sustainable energy technology could drive down both greenhouse gas emissions and poverty, and bring economic benefits by stabilizing energy prices. In 2011, he said: "If you gave me the choice between picking the next 10 presidents or ensuring that energy is environmentally friendly and a quarter as costly, I'd pick the energy thing."
In 2015, he wrote about the challenge of transitioning the world's energy system from one based primarily on fossil fuels to one based on sustainable energy sources. Global energy transitions have historically taken decades. He wrote, "I believe we can make this transition faster, both because the pace of innovation is accelerating, and because we have never had such an urgent reason to move from one source of energy to another." This rapid transition, according to Gates, would depend on increased government funding for basic research and financially risky private-sector investment, to enable innovation in diverse areas such as nuclear energy, grid energy storage to facilitate greater use of solar and wind energy, and solar fuels.
, European Investment Bank and Gates' Breakthrough Energy Catalyst agreed at the 2021 UN Climate Change conference to work together to bring green technologies to market.]]
Gates spearheaded two initiatives that he announced at the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris. One was Mission Innovation, in which 20 national governments pledged to double their spending on research and development for carbon-free energy in over five years' time. Gates has also urged rich nations to shift to 100% synthetic beef industries to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from food production.
Gates has been criticized for holding a large stake in Signature Aviation, a company that services emissions-intensive private jets. In 2019, he began to divest from fossil fuels. He does not expect divestment itself to have much practical impact, but says that if his efforts to provide alternatives were to fail, he would not want to personally benefit from an increase in fossil fuel stock prices. After he published his book How to Avoid a Climate Disaster, parts of the climate activist community criticized Gates's approach as technological solutionism. In 2022, educational streamer Wondrium produced the series "Solving for Zero: The Search for Climate Innovation" inspired by the book.
In June 2021, Gates's company TerraPower and Warren Buffett's PacifiCorp announced the first sodium nuclear reactor in Wyoming. Wyoming Governor Mike Gordon hailed the project as a step toward carbon-negative nuclear power. Wyoming Senator John Barrasso also said that it could boost the state's once-active uranium mining industry.
Gates supported the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022. He tried to convince Joe Manchin to support a climate bill starting in 2019, and especially in the months leading up to the adoption of the bill. The bill aimed to cut the global greenhouse gas emissions in a level similar to "eliminating the annual planet-warming pollution of France and Germany combined" and may help to limit the warming of the planet to 1.5 degrees – the target of the Paris Agreement. He thanked both Joe Manchin and Chuck Schumer for their efforts in a guest essay in The New York Times, where he said "Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 may be the single most important piece of climate legislation in American history" given its potential to spur development of new technologies. Gates gave further insights on climate change in his commencement address at Northern Arizona University on May 6, 2023, where he was bestowed an honorary doctorate.
Political positions
In October 2024, The New York Times reported Gates had recently donated $50 million to Future Forward USA Action, a 501(c)(4) organization supporting Kamala Harris's 2024 presidential campaign. In response to the report, he did not explicitly address the donation or endorse Harris, but said "this election is different." Regulation of the software industry
In 1998, Gates rejected the need for regulation of the software industry in testimony before the United States Senate.}} Donald Trump Facebook ban After Facebook and Twitter had banned Donald Trump from their platforms on February 18, 2021, as a result of the 2020 United States presidential election which led to the January 6 United States Capitol attack, Gates said a permanent ban of Trump "would be a shame" and would be an "extreme measure". He warned that it would cause "polarization" if users with different political views divide up among various social networks, and said: "I don't think banning somebody who actually did get a fair number of votes (in the presidential election) – well less than a majority – forever would be that good." Patents for COVID-19 vaccines
In April 2021, during the COVID-19 pandemic, Gates was criticized for suggesting that pharmaceutical companies should hold onto patents for COVID-19 vaccines. The criticism came due to the possibility of this preventing poorer nations from obtaining adequate vaccines. Tara Van Ho of the University of Essex stated, "Gates speaks as if all the lives being lost in India are inevitable but eventually the West will help when in reality the US & UK are holding their feet on the neck of developing states by refusing to break [intellectual property rights] protections. It's disgusting."
Gates is opposed to the TRIPS waiver. Bloomberg News reported him as saying he argued that Oxford University should not give away the rights to its COVID-19 information, as it had announced, but instead sell it to a single industry partner, as it did. His views on the value of legal monopolies in medicine have been linked to his views on legal monopolies in software. Philanthropy In an interview with the BBC in 2025, Gates stated that his charitable donations have totalled $100 billion, of which $60 billion have gone to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
, Queen Rania of Jordan, then British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, then President of Nigeria Umaru Yar'Adua and others during the Annual Meeting 2008 of the World Economic Forum]]
Gates studied the work of Andrew Carnegie and John D. Rockefeller, and donated some of his Microsoft stock in 1994 to create the "William H. Gates Foundation". In 2000, Gates and his wife combined three family foundations and donated stock valued at $5 billion to create the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which was identified by the Funds for NGOs company in 2013, as the world's largest charitable foundation, with assets reportedly valued at more than $34.6 billion. The foundation allows benefactors to access information that shows how its money is being spent, unlike other major charitable organizations such as the Wellcome Trust. Gates, through his foundation, also donated $20 million to the Carnegie Mellon University for a new building to be named Gates Center for Computer Science which opened in 2009.
Gates has credited the generosity and extensive philanthropy of David Rockefeller as a major influence. He and his father met with Rockefeller several times, and their charity work is partly modeled on the Rockefeller family's philanthropic focus, whereby they are interested in tackling the global problems that are ignored by governments and other organizations.
The foundation is organized into five program areas: Global Development Division, Global Health Division, United States Division, and Global Policy & Advocacy Division. Among others, it supports a wide range of public health projects, granting aid to fight transmissible diseases such AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria, as well as widespread vaccine programs to eradicate polio. It grants funds to learning institutes and libraries and supports scholarships at universities. The foundation established a water, sanitation and hygiene program to provide sustainable sanitation services in poor countries. Its agriculture division supports the International Rice Research Institute in developing Golden Rice, a genetically modified rice variant used to combat vitamin A deficiency. The foundation aims to provide women and girls in the developing world with information and support regarding contraception and, ultimately, universal access to consensual family planning. In 2007, the Los Angeles Times criticized the foundation for investing its assets in companies that have been accused of worsening poverty, pollution and pharmaceutical firms that do not sell to developing countries. Although the foundation announced a review of its investments to assess social responsibility, it was subsequently canceled and upheld its policy of investing for maximum return, while using voting rights to influence company practices.
virtually at the Singapore FinTech Festival 2020]]
Gates delivered his thoughts in a fireside chat moderated by journalist and news anchor Shereen Bhan virtually at the Singapore FinTech Festival on December 8, 2020, on the topic, "Building Infrastructure for Resilience: What the COVID-19 Response Can Teach Us About How to Scale Financial Inclusion".
estate has a swimming pool with an underwater music system, as well as a gym and a dining room.
Gates purchased the Codex Leicester, a collection of scientific writings by Leonardo da Vinci, for US$30.8 million at an auction in 1994. In 1998, he reportedly paid $30 million for the original 1885 maritime painting Lost on the Grand Banks, at the time a record price for an American painting. In 2016, he revealed that he was color-blind. On May 10, 2022, Gates said that he tested positive for COVID-19 and was experiencing mild symptoms. Gates has received three doses of the COVID-19 vaccine. Marriage, family and divorce
, June 2009]]
In 1987, at a trade fair in New York, Gates met Melinda French, then a recent graduate of Duke University who had begun working at Microsoft around four months earlier. Gates and French became engaged in 1993 after dating for six years. They married on January 1, 1994, at the 12th hole of the Jack Nicklaus–designed Manele Golf Course on the Hawaiian Island of Lānaʻi. They had three children together: Jennifer Katherine Gates (born April 26, 1996; married to Olympic equestrian Nayel Nassar since October 2021), Rory John Gates (born May 23, 1999), and Phoebe Adele Gates (born September 14, 2002). Gates also has two granddaughters, born to Jennifer Gates in March 2023 and October 2024.
On May 3, 2021, Bill and Melinda Gates announced their decision to divorce after more than 27 years of marriage. The Wall Street Journal reported that Melinda had begun meeting with divorce attorneys in 2019, citing interviews that suggested Gates's ties with Jeffrey Epstein were among her concerns. However, the couple delayed their divorce until their youngest child Phoebe graduated from high school. The divorce was finalized on August 2, 2021, and the financial details have remained confidential. In February 2023, Gates confirmed that he was dating Paula Hurd, widow of former Oracle Corporation and Hewlett-Packard chief executive Mark Hurd. Appearing on the Today show in February 2025, he described Hurd as a "serious girlfriend", stating he had "moved past the divorce".
Public image
, February 2017.|alt=]]
Gates's public image has changed over the years. At first he was perceived as a brilliant but ruthless "robber baron", a "nerd-turned-tycoon". Starting in 2000 with the foundation of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and particularly after he stepped down as head of Microsoft, he turned his attention to philanthropy, spending more than $50 billion on causes like health, poverty, and education. His image morphed from "tyrannical technocrat to saintly savior" to a "huggable billionaire techno-philanthropist", celebrated on magazine covers and sought after for his opinions on major issues like global health and climate change. This information and his response to the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in some deterioration of his public image, going from "a lovable nerd who was out to save the world" to "a tech supervillain who wants to protect profits over public health."
Investigative journalist Tim Schwab has accused Gates of using his contributions to the media to shape their coverage of him in order to protect his public image. In September 2022, Politico published an exposé critical of NGO leadership at the helm of the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic response, written in cooperation with the German newspaper Die Welt. Criticisms included the interconnectivity of the non-profits with Gates, as well as his personal lack of formal credentials in medicine.
Gates and the projects of his foundation have been the subject of many conspiracy theories that proliferate on Facebook and elsewhere. He has been implausibly accused of attempting to depopulate the world, distributing harmful or unethical vaccines, and implanting people with privacy-violating microchips. These unfounded theories reached a new level of influence during the COVID-19 pandemic when, according to New York Times journalist Rory Smith, the uncertainties of pandemic life drove people to seek explanations from the Internet. When asked about the theories, Gates has remarked that some people are tempted by the "simple explanation" that an evil person rather than biological factors are to blame, and that he does not know for what purpose anyone believes he would want to track them with microchips. Religious views In an interview with Rolling Stone, Gates said in regard to his faith: "The moral systems of religion, I think, are super important. We've raised our kids in a religious way; they've gone to the Catholic church that Melinda goes to and I participate in. I've been very lucky, and therefore I owe it to try and reduce the inequity in the world. And that's kind of a religious belief. I mean, it's at least a moral belief." Wealth In 1987, Gates was listed as a billionaire in Forbes magazine's first ever America's richest issue; he was the world's youngest-ever self-made billionaire, with a net worth of $1.25 billion. Since then, he has been featured on The World's Billionaires list and was ranked as the richest person in 1995, 1996, 1998–2007, and 2009, maintaining the position until 2018, when Jeff Bezos surpassed his wealth. Gates was ranked first on the Forbes 400 list of wealthiest Americans from 1993 to 2007, in 2009, and from 2014 to 2017. According to Forbes, as of 17 February 2025, Gates' estimated net worth stood at US$108.8 billion, making him the 16th richest individual in the world.
Gates's wealth briefly surpassed US$100 billion in 1999, making him the first person to reach this net worth. After 2000, the nominal value of his Microsoft holdings declined, partly because of the decline in Microsoft's stock price after the dot-com bubble burst, and partly because of the multi-billion dollar donations he had made to his charitable foundations. In May 2006, Gates remarked that he wished that he was not the richest man in the world, because he disliked the attention that it brought. In March 2010, Gates was the second wealthiest person after Carlos Slim, but regained the top position in 2013, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Slim regained the position again in June 2014 (but then lost the top position back to Gates). Between 2009 and 2014, his wealth doubled from US$40 billion to US$82 billion. In October 2017, Gates was surpassed by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos as the richest person in the world. In the Forbes 400 list of wealthiest Americans in 2023, he was ranked sixth with a wealth of $115.0 billion.<!-- Do not update his net worth everyday – stick to once a week at most. --> He once again became the richest person in the world in November 2019 after a 48% increase in Microsoft shares, surpassing Bezos. Gates told the BBC, "I've paid more tax than any individual ever, and gladly so ... I've paid over $6 billion in taxes." He is a proponent of higher taxes, particularly for the rich.
Gates has several investments outside Microsoft, which in 2006 paid him a salary of US$616,667 and a bonus of US$350,000, for a total of US$966,667. In 1989, he founded Corbis, a digital imaging company. In 2004, he became a board member of Berkshire Hathaway, the investment company headed by long-time friend Warren Buffett.
Controversies
Antitrust litigation
During his tenure as CEO of Microsoft, Gates approved of many decisions that led to antitrust litigation over Microsoft's business practices. In the 1998 United States v. Microsoft case, Gates gave deposition testimony that several journalists characterized as evasive. He argued with examiner David Boies over the contextual meaning of words such as "compete", "concerned", and "we". Later in the year, when portions of the videotaped deposition were played back in court, the judge was seen laughing and shaking his head. BusinessWeek reported:
Gates later said that he had simply resisted attempts by Boies to mischaracterize his words and actions. "Did I fence with Boies? ... I plead guilty ... rudeness to Boies in the first degree." Despite Gates's denials, the judge ruled that Microsoft had committed monopolization, tying and blocking competition, each in violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act. An Atari executive recalled that he showed Gates a game and defeated him 35 of 37 times. When they met again a month later, Gates "won or tied every game. He had studied the game until he solved it. That is a competitor".
In the early 1980s, while business partner Paul Allen was undergoing treatments for cancer, Gates—according to Allen—conspired to reduce Allen's share in Microsoft by issuing himself stock options. In his autobiography, Allen would later recall that Gates was "scheming to rip me off. It was mercenary opportunism plain and simple". He met regularly with Microsoft's senior managers and program managers, and the managers described him as being verbally combative, berating them for perceived holes in their business strategies or proposals that placed the company's long-term interests at risk. Gates saw competition in personal terms; when Borland's Turbo Pascal performed better than Microsoft's own tools, he yelled at programming director Greg Whitten "for half an hour" because, Gates believed, Borland's Philippe Kahn had surpassed Gates. Gates interrupted presentations with such comments as "that's the stupidest thing I've ever heard" and "why don't you just give up your options and join the Peace Corps?" The target of his outburst would then have to defend the proposal in detail until Gates was fully convinced. When subordinates appeared to be procrastinating, he was known to remark sarcastically, "I'll do it over the weekend".
Relationship with Jeffrey Epstein
A 2019 New York Times article reported that Gates's relationship with financier Jeffrey Epstein started in 2011, just a few years after Epstein was convicted for procuring a child for prostitution, and continued for some years, including a visit to Epstein's house with his wife in the fall of 2013, despite her declared discomfort. Gates said in 2011 about Epstein: "His lifestyle is very different and kind of intriguing although it would not work for me". However, Gates visited Epstein "many times, despite [Epstein's] past".
It has also been reported that Epstein and Gates met with Nobel Committee chair Thorbjørn Jagland at his residence in Strasbourg, France, in March 2013 to discuss the Nobel Prize. Also in attendance were representatives of the International Peace Institute which has received millions in grants from the Gates Foundation, including a $2.5 million "community engagement" grant in October 2013. In 2023, it was reported that Epstein threatened to expose an alleged affair Gates had with a Russian bridge player.
Recognition
in 2016]]
* Time magazine listed Gates as one of the 100 most influential people of the 20th century in 1999, as well as one of the 100 most influential people in 2004, 2005, and 2006 respectively.
* Time also collectively named Gates, his wife Melinda and U2's lead singer Bono as the 2005 Persons of the Year for their humanitarian efforts. In 2006, he was voted eighth in the list of "Heroes of our time" published by New Statesman.
* Gates was listed in the Sunday Times power list in 1999, named CEO of the year by Chief Executive Officers magazine in 1994, ranked number one in the "Top 50 Cyber Elite" by Time in 1998, ranked number two in the Upside Elite 100 in 1999, and was also included in The Guardian as one of the "Top 100 influential people in media" in 2001.
* Gates has received honorary doctorates from Nyenrode Business Universiteit (1996), KTH Royal Institute of Technology (2002), Waseda University (2005), Tsinghua University (2007), Harvard University (2007), the Karolinska Institute (2007), the University of Cambridge (2009), and Northern Arizona University (2023). He was also made an honorary trustee of Peking University in 2007.
* In 1994, he was honored as the 20th Distinguished Fellow of the British Computer Society (DFBCS). In 1999, Gates received New York Institute of Technology's President's Medal.
* Gates was elected a Member of the US National Academy of Engineering in 1996 "for contributions to the founding and development of personal computing".
* Entomologists named Bill Gates' flower fly, , in his honor in 1997.
* He was awarded American Library Association Honorary Membership in 1998.
* In 2002, Bill and Melinda Gates received the Jefferson Award for Greatest Public Service Benefiting the Disadvantaged.
* Gates was made an Honorary Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE) by Queen Elizabeth II in 2005.
* He was given the 2006 James C. Morgan Global Humanitarian Award from the Tech Awards.
* In January 2006, he was awarded the Grand Cross of the Order of Prince Henry by the then President of Portugal Jorge Sampaio.
* In November 2006, he was awarded the Placard of the Order of the Aztec Eagle, together with his wife Melinda who was awarded the Insignia of the same order, both for their philanthropic work around the world in the areas of health and education, particularly in Mexico, and specifically in the program "".
* Gates received the 2010 Bower Award for Business Leadership from The Franklin Institute for his achievements at Microsoft and his philanthropic work.
* Also in 2010, he was honored with the Silver Buffalo Award by the Boy Scouts of America, its highest award for adults, for his service to youth.
* According to Forbes, Gates was ranked as the fourth most powerful person in the world in 2012, up from fifth in 2011.
* In 2015, Gates and his wife Melinda received the Padma Bhushan, India's third-highest civilian award for their social work in the country.
* In 2016, Barack Obama honored Bill and Melinda Gates with the Presidential Medal of Freedom for their philanthropic efforts.
* In 2017, François Hollande awarded Bill and Melinda Gates with France's highest national order, as Commanders in the Legion of Honour, for their charity efforts.
* He was elected a foreign member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering in 2017.
* In 2019, Gates was awarded the Professor Hawking Fellowship of the Cambridge Union in the University of Cambridge.
* In 2020, Gates received the Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun for his contributions to Japan and the world in regard to worldwide technological transformation and advancement of global health.
* In 2021, Gates was nominated at the 11th annual Streamy Awards for the crossover for his personal YouTube channel.
* In 2022, Gates received the Hilal-e-Pakistan, the second-highest civilian award in Pakistan for his social work in the country.
Depiction in media
Documentary films about Gates
* The Machine That Changed the World (1990)
* Triumph of the Nerds (1996)
* Nerds 2.0.1 (1998)
* Waiting for "Superman" (2010)
* The Virtual Revolution (2010)
* ''Inside Bill's Brain: Decoding Bill Gates (2019)
* What's Next? The Future with Bill Gates (2024)
Feature films
* 1999: Pirates of Silicon Valley, a film that chronicles the rise of Apple and Microsoft from the early 1970s to 1997. Gates is portrayed by Anthony Michael Hall.
* 2002: Nothing So Strange, a mockumentary featuring Gates as the subject of a modern assassination. Gates briefly appears at the start, played by Steve Sires.
* 2010: The Social Network'', a film that chronicles the development of Facebook. Gates is portrayed by Steve Sires.
* 2015: Steve Jobs vs. Bill Gates: The Competition to Control the Personal Computer, 1974–1999: Original film from the National Geographic Channel for the American Genius series.
Video and film clips
at D: All Things Digital in 2007]]
* 1983: Steve Jobs hosts Gates and others in the "Macintosh dating game" at the Macintosh pre-launch event (a parody of the television game show The Dating Game)
* 1991: Gates spoke to the Berkeley Macintosh Users Group lively weekly Thursday night meeting with questions and answers in PSL Hall (renamed Pimentel Hall in 1994) at University of California, Berkeley
* 2007: , All Things Digital
* Since 2009, Gates has given numerous TED talks on current concerns such as innovation, education and fighting global diseases Radio Gates was the guest on BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs on January 31, 2016, in which he talked about his relationships with his father and Steve Jobs, meeting Melinda Ann French, the start of Microsoft and some of his habits (for example reading The Economist "from cover to cover every week"). His choice of things to take on a desert island were, for music: "Blue Skies" by Willie Nelson; a book: The Better Angels of Our Nature by Steven Pinker; and luxury item: a DVD Collection of Lectures from The Teaching Company.
Television
Gates starred as himself in a brief appearance on the Frasier episode “The Two Hundredth Episode". He also made a guest appearance as himself on the TV show The Big Bang Theory, in an episode titled "The Gates Excitation". He also appeared in a cameo role in 2019 on the series finale of Silicon Valley. Gates was parodied in The Simpsons episode "Das Bus". In 2023, Gates was the interviewee in an episode of the Amol Rajan Interviews series on BBC Two, and was the subject of an episode of the UK Channel 4 series The Billionaires Who Made Our World. Books * See also
* Big History Project
* List of richest Americans in history
Notes
References
Bibliography
*
*
*
*
*
Primary sources
* Gates, Bill (2024). "[https://www.cnn.com/2024/01/16/tech/bill-gates-ai-gps-interview/index.html Bill Gates Explains How AI Will Change Our Lives in 5 Years]". CNN.
* Gates, Bill (2013). "[https://web.archive.org/web/20191102112703/http://www.nicoleguihaume.eu/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/An-exclusive-interview-with-Bill-Gates.pdf An Exclusive Interview with Bill Gates]". Financial Times 1.
* Gates, Bill. "[https://web.archive.org/web/20191102112703/http://www.mountbatteninstitute.org/docs/Bill_Gates_Harvard_Commencement_Address.Pdf Remarks of Bill Gates, Harvard Commencement 2007]". The Harvard Gazette 7 (2007).
* Kinsley, Michael, and Conor Clarke, Eds. Creative Capitalism: A Conversation with Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, and Other Economic Leaders (Simon and Schuster, 2009).
* National Museum of American History. "[https://americanhistory.si.edu/comphist/gates.htm Bill Gates Interview]".
Further reading
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* [https://www.forbes.com/profile/bill-gates/ Forbes profile]
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Category:1955 births
Category:Living people
Category:20th-century American businesspeople
Category:21st-century American businesspeople
Category:21st-century American philanthropists
Category:American billionaires
Category:American chairpersons of corporations
Category:American computer businesspeople
Category:American computer programmers
Category:American financiers
Category:Inventors from Washington (state)
Category:American memoirists
Category:American nonprofit chief executives
Category:American people of English descent
Category:American people of German descent
Category:American people of Scotch-Irish descent
Category:American people of Scottish descent
Category:American technology chief executives
Category:American technology company founders
Category:American technology writers
Category:American venture capitalists
Category:Benjamin Franklin Medal (Franklin Institute) laureates
Category:Big History
Category:Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation people
Category:Businesspeople from Seattle
Category:Businesspeople in software
Category:Commanders of the Legion of Honour
Category:Cornell family
Category:Directors of Berkshire Hathaway
Category:Directors of Microsoft
Category:Engineers from Washington (state)
Category:Fellows of the British Computer Society
Category:Foreign members of the Chinese Academy of Engineering
Category:Gates family
Category:Grand Cordons of the Order of the Rising Sun
Category:Harvard College alumni
Category:History of computing
Category:History of Microsoft
Category:Honorary Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire
Category:Lakeside School (Seattle) alumni
Category:Members of the United States National Academy of Engineering
Category:Microsoft employees
Category:Microsoft Windows people
Category:National Medal of Technology recipients
Category:Nerd culture
Category:People self-diagnosed with autism
Category:People from Medina, Washington
Category:Personal computing
Category:Philanthropists from Washington (state)
Category:Phillips family (New England)
Category:Presidential Medal of Freedom recipients
Category:Recipients of Hilal-i-Pakistan
Category:Recipients of the Cross of Recognition
Category:Recipients of the Padma Bhushan in social work
Category:Wired (magazine) people
Category:Writers from Seattle
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Bourbon
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Bourbon may refer to:
Food and drink
Bourbon whiskey, an American whiskey made using a corn-based mash
Bourbon, a beer produced by Brasseries de Bourbon
Bourbon biscuit, a chocolate sandwich biscuit
Bourbon coffee, a type of coffee made from a cultivar of Coffea arabica
Bourbon vanilla, a cultivar of vanilla
Places
Bourbon, Indiana, United States
Bourbon, Missouri, United States
Bourbon, Boone County, Missouri
Bourbon County, Kentucky, United States
Bourbon County, Kansas, United States
Bourbon Street, a street in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States
Bourbon-l'Archambault, Allier département, France
Bourbon-Lancy, Saône-et-Loire département, France
Bourbonne-les-Bains, Haute-Marne département, France
Bourbonnais, an area derived from the former dukedom of Bourbon, France
Île Bourbon, former name for the Island of Réunion
Politics and history
House of Bourbon, French and Spanish royal dynasties
Spanish royal family
Duke of Bourbon, a title in the peerage of France
Bourbon Reforms, a series of measures taken by the Spanish Crown
Bourbon Restoration (disambiguation), the return to monarchs in the Bourbon Dynasty in France and Spain
Bourbon Democrat, from 1876 to 1904 a conservative member of the US Democratic Party
Palais Bourbon : meeting place of the French National Assembly
Other uses
USS Bourbon, a frigate
Bourbon virus, a tick-borne virus discovered in the summer of 2014
Bourbon (horse) (foaled in 1774), a British Thoroughbred racehorse
"Bourbon", a 2019 song by Chad Brownlee from Back in the Game
"Bourbon", a 2024 song by Megan Thee Stallion from Megan: Act II
See also
Barbon, a village in Cumbria, England
Bhurban, a small town and a hill station in Punjab province, Pakistan
Bourbonism (disambiguation)
Borbon (disambiguation)
Constable de Bourbon (disambiguation)
Bourbon Kid, a supernatural horror book series by an anonymous British author
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Belgian Blue
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|DAD-IS (2022): not at risk}}
| altname | country Belgium
| distribution = Africa, Americas, Europe, Oceania
| standard =
| use = two types, beef and dual-purpose
| weight | maleweight average 1200 kg
| femaleweight average 700 kg
| height | maleheight average 148 cm
| femaleheight average 132 cm
| skincolour | coat
| horn | subspecies taurus
| note =
}}
]]
The Belgian Blue (, , both literally meaning "Belgian White-Blue") is a breed of beef cattle from Belgium. It may also be known as the , or (literally "fat buttocks" in Dutch). Alternative names for this breed include Belgian Blue-White; Belgian White and Blue Pied; Belgian White Blue; Blue; and Blue Belgian. The Belgian Blue's extremely lean, hyper-sculpted, ultra-muscular physique is termed "double-muscling". The double-muscling phenotype is a heritable condition caused by a deletion in the myostatin gene, resulting in an increased number of muscle fibres (hyperplasia), instead of the (normal) enlargement of individual muscle fibres (hypertrophy).
This particular trait is shared with another breed of cattle known as Piedmontese. Both of these breeds have an increased ability to convert feed into lean muscle, which causes these particular breeds' meat to have a reduced fat content and reduced tenderness. The Belgian Blue is named after its typically blue-grey mottled hair colour; however, its actual colour can vary from white to black.
History
The breed originated in central and upper Belgium in the 19th century, from crossing local breeds with a Shorthorn breed of cattle from the United Kingdom. Charolais cattle possibly were cross-bred, as well. Belgian Blue cattle were first used as a dairy and beef breed. The modern beef breed was developed in the 1950s by Professor Hanset, working at an artificial insemination centre in Liège Province. The breed's characteristic gene mutation was maintained through linebreeding to the point where the condition was a fixed property in the Belgian Blue breed.
In bulls, testicular weight and semen quantity and quality are lower than in other cattle, perhaps because of the greater amount of connective tissue in the testicles. however this is less of an issue when compared to the dam's difficulties in calving.
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Category:Cattle breeds originating in Belgium
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Boron
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Boron is a chemical element. It has the symbol B and atomic number 5. In its crystalline form it is a brittle, dark, lustrous metalloid; in its amorphous form it is a brown powder. As the lightest element of the boron group it has three valence electrons for forming covalent bonds, resulting in many compounds such as boric acid, the mineral sodium borate, and the ultra-hard crystals of boron carbide and boron nitride.
Boron is synthesized entirely by cosmic ray spallation and supernovas and not by stellar nucleosynthesis, so it is a low-abundance element in the Solar System and in the Earth's crust. It constitutes about 0.001 percent by weight of Earth's crust. It is concentrated on Earth by the water-solubility of its more common naturally occurring compounds, the borate minerals. These are mined industrially as evaporites, such as borax and kernite. The largest known deposits are in Turkey, the largest producer of boron minerals.
Elemental boron is found in small amounts in meteoroids, but chemically uncombined boron is not otherwise found naturally on Earth.
Several allotropes exist: amorphous boron is a brown powder; crystalline boron is silvery to black, extremely hard (9.3 on the Mohs scale), and a poor electrical conductor at room temperature (1.5 × 10<sup>−6</sup> Ω<sup>−1</sup> cm<sup>−1</sup> room temperature electrical conductivity). The primary use of the element itself is as boron filaments with applications similar to carbon fibers in some high-strength materials.
Boron is primarily used in chemical compounds. About half of all production consumed globally is an additive in fiberglass for insulation and structural materials. The next leading use is in polymers and ceramics in high-strength, lightweight structural and heat-resistant materials. Borosilicate glass is desired for its greater strength and thermal shock resistance than ordinary soda lime glass. As sodium perborate, it is used as a bleach. A small amount is used as a dopant in semiconductors, and reagent intermediates in the synthesis of organic fine chemicals. A few boron-containing organic pharmaceuticals are used or are in study. Natural boron is composed of two stable isotopes, one of which (boron-10) has a number of uses as a neutron-capturing agent.
Borates have low toxicity in mammals (similar to table salt) but are more toxic to arthropods and are occasionally used as insecticides. Boron-containing organic antibiotics are known. Although only traces are required, it is an essential plant nutrient.
History
The word boron was coined from borax, the mineral from which it was isolated, by analogy with carbon, which boron resembles chemically.
]]
Borax in its mineral form (then known as tincal) first saw use as a glaze, beginning in China circa 300 AD. Some crude borax traveled westward, and was apparently mentioned by the alchemist Jabir ibn Hayyan around 700 AD. Marco Polo brought some glazes back to Italy in the 13th century. Georgius Agricola, in around 1600, reported the use of borax as a flux in metallurgy. In 1777, boric acid was recognized in the hot springs (soffioni) near Florence, Italy, at which point it became known as sal sedativum, with ostensible medical benefits. The mineral was named sassolite, after Sasso Pisano in Italy. Sasso was the main source of European borax from 1827 to 1872, when American sources replaced it. Boron compounds were rarely used until the late 1800s when Francis Marion Smith's Pacific Coast Borax Company first popularized and produced them in volume at low cost.
Boron was not recognized as an element until it was isolated by Sir Humphry Davy Jöns Jacob Berzelius identified it as an element in 1824. Pure boron was arguably first produced by the American chemist Ezekiel Weintraub in 1909.
Characteristics of the element
Isotopes
Boron has two naturally occurring and stable isotopes, <sup>11</sup>B (80.1%) and <sup>10</sup>B (19.9%). The mass difference results in a wide range of δ<sup>11</sup>B values, which are defined as a fractional difference between the <sup>11</sup>B and <sup>10</sup>B and traditionally expressed in parts per thousand, in natural waters ranging from −16 to +59. There are 13 known isotopes of boron; the shortest-lived isotope is <sup>7</sup>B which decays through proton emission and alpha decay with a half-life of 3.5×10<sup>−22</sup> s. Isotopic fractionation of boron is controlled by the exchange reactions of the boron species B(OH)<sub>3</sub> and [[tetrahydroxyborate|[B(OH)<sub>4</sub>]<sup>−</sup>]]. Boron isotopes are also fractionated during mineral crystallization, during H<sub>2</sub>O phase changes in hydrothermal systems, and during hydrothermal alteration of rock. The latter effect results in preferential removal of the [<sup>10</sup>B(OH)<sub>4</sub>]<sup>−</sup> ion onto clays. It results in solutions enriched in <sup>11</sup>B(OH)<sub>3</sub> and therefore may be responsible for the large <sup>11</sup>B enrichment in seawater relative to both oceanic crust and continental crust; this difference may act as an isotopic signature.
The exotic <sup>17</sup>B exhibits a nuclear halo, i.e. its radius is appreciably larger than that predicted by the liquid drop model.NMR spectroscopyBoth <sup>10</sup>B and <sup>11</sup>B possess nuclear spin. The nuclear spin of <sup>10</sup>B is 3 and that of <sup>11</sup>B is . These isotopes are, therefore, of use in nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy; and spectrometers specially adapted to detecting the boron-11 nuclei are available commercially. The <sup>10</sup>B and <sup>11</sup>B nuclei also cause splitting in the resonances of attached nuclei.Allotropes
Boron forms four major allotropes: α-rhombohedral and β-rhombohedral (α-R and β-R), γ-orthorhombic (γ) and β-tetragonal (β-T). All four phases are stable at ambient conditions, and β-rhombohedral is the most common and stable. An α-tetragonal phase also exists (α-T), but is very difficult to produce without significant contamination. Most of the phases are based on B<sub>12</sub> icosahedra, but the γ phase can be described as a rocksalt-type arrangement of the icosahedra and B<sub>2</sub> atomic pairs. It can be produced by compressing other boron phases to 12–20 GPa and heating to 1500–1800 °C; it remains stable after releasing the temperature and pressure. The β-T phase is produced at similar pressures, but higher temperatures of 1800–2200 °C. The α-T and β-T phases might coexist at ambient conditions, with the β-T phase being the more stable. Compressing boron above 160 GPa produces a boron phase with an as yet unknown structure, and this phase is a superconductor at temperatures below 6–12 K.
{| class"wikitable" style"margin:auto; text-align:center;"
|-
!Boron phase
!α-R
!β-R
!γ
!β-T
|-
!Symmetry
|Rhombohedral
|Rhombohedral
|Orthorhombic
|Tetragonal
|-
!Atoms/unit cell
|2.46
|2.35
|2.52
|2.36
|-
!Vickers hardness (GPa)
|185
|224
|227
|
|-
!Bandgap (eV)
|2
|1.6
|2.1
|
|}
Atomic structure
Atomic boron is the lightest element having an electron in a p-orbital in its ground state. Its first three ionization energies are higher than those for heavier group III elements, reflecting its electropositive character.Chemistry of the elementPreparationElemental boron is rare and poorly studied because the pure material is extremely difficult to prepare. Most studies of "boron" involve samples that contain small amounts of carbon. Very pure boron is produced with difficulty because of contamination by carbon or other elements that resist removal.
Some early routes to elemental boron involved the reduction of boric oxide with metals such as magnesium or aluminium. However, the product was often contaminated with borides of those metals. Pure boron can be prepared by reducing volatile boron halides with hydrogen at high temperatures. Ultrapure boron for use in the semiconductor industry is produced by the decomposition of diborane at high temperatures and then further purified by the zone melting or Czochralski processes.
Reactions of the element
Crystalline boron is a hard, black material with a melting point of above 2000 °C. Crystalline boron is chemically inert and resistant to attack by boiling hydrofluoric or hydrochloric acid. When finely divided, it is attacked slowly by hot concentrated hydrogen peroxide, hot concentrated nitric acid, hot sulfuric acid or hot mixture of sulfuric and chromic acids.
Since elemental boron is very rare, its chemical reactions are of little significance practically speaking. The elemental form is not typically used as a precursor to compounds. Instead, the extensive inventory of boron compounds are produced from borates. The rate of oxidation of boron depends on the crystallinity, particle size, purity and temperature. At higher temperatures boron burns to form boron trioxide:
:4 B + 3 O<sub>2</sub> → 2 B<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub>
Chemical compounds
General trends
In some ways, boron is comparable to carbon in its capability to form stable covalently bonded molecular networks (even nominally disordered (amorphous) boron contains boron icosahedra, which are bonded randomly to each other without long-range order.). In terms of chemical behavior, boron compounds resembles silicon. Aluminium, the heavier congener of boron, does not behave analogously to boron: it is far more electropositive, it is larger, and it tends not to form homoatomic Al-Al bonds. In the most familiar compounds, boron has the formal oxidation state III. These include the common oxides, sulfides, nitrides, and halides, as well as organic derivatives 4ZnO·B<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub>·H<sub>2</sub>O, ZnO·B<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub>·1.12H<sub>2</sub>O, ZnO·B<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub>·2H<sub>2</sub>O, 6ZnO·5B<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub>·3H<sub>2</sub>O, 2ZnO·3B<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub>·7H<sub>2</sub>O, 2ZnO·3B<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub>·3H<sub>2</sub>O, 3ZnO·5B<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub>·14H<sub>2</sub>O, and ZnO·5B<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub>·4.5H<sub>2</sub>O.
As illustrated by the preceding examples, borate anions tend to condense by formation of B-O-B bonds. Borosilicates, with B-O-Si, and borophosphates, with B-O-P linkages, are also well represented in both minerals and synthetic compounds.
Related to the oxides are the alkoxides and boronic acids with the formula B(OR)<sub>3</sub> and R<sub>2</sub>BOH, respectively. Boron forms a wide variety of such metal-organic compounds, some of which are used in the synthesis of pharmaceuticals. These developments, especially the Suzuki reaction, was recognized with the 2010 Nobel Prize in Chemistry to Akira Suzuki.Hydrides
s showing the structures of the boron skeletons of borane clusters. The structures can be rationalised by polyhedral skeletal electron pair theory.]]
Boranes and borohydrides are neutral and anionic compounds of boron and hydrogen, respectively. Sodium borohydride is the progenitor of the boranes. Sodium borohydride is obtained by hydrogenation of trimethylborate: A large number of anionic boron hydrides are also known, e.g. [[dodecaborate|[B<sub>12</sub>H<sub>12</sub>]<sup>2−</sup>]]. In these cluster compounds, boron has a coordination number greater than four.
Organoboron compounds
A large number of organoboron compounds, species with B-C bonds, are known. Many organoboron compounds are produced from hydroboration, the addition of B-H bonds to bonds. Diborane is traditionally used for such reactions, as illustrated by the preparation of trioctylborane:
:
This regiochemistry, i.e. the tendency of B to attach to the terminal carbon - is explained by the polarization of the bonds in boranes, which is indicated as B<sup>δ+</sup>-H<sup>δ-</sup>. The significance of these methods was recognized by the award of Nobel Prize in Chemistry to H. C. Brown in 1979. Even complicated boron hydrides, such as decaborane undergo hydroboration. Like the volatile boranes, the alkyl boranes ignite spontaneously in air.
In the 1950s, several studies examined the use of boranes as energy-increasing "Zip fuel" additives for jet fuel.
Triorganoboron(III) compounds are trigonal planar and exhibit weak Lewis acidity. The resulting adducts are tetrahedral. This behavior contrasts with that of triorganoaluminium compounds (see trimethylaluminium), which are tetrahedral with bridging alkyl groups.
A compound with the B≡C triple bond was synthesized for the first time in 2025.
Nitrides
The boron-nitrides follow the pattern of avoiding B-B and N-N bonds: only B-N bonding is observed generally. The boron nitrides exhibit structures analogous to various allotropes of carbon, including graphite, diamond, and nanotubes. This similarity reflects the fact that B and N have eight valence electrons as does a pair of carbon atoms. In cubic boron nitride (tradename Borazon), boron and nitrogen atoms are tetrahedral, just like carbon in diamond. Cubic boron nitride, among other applications, is used as an abrasive, as its hardness is comparable with that of diamond. Hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) is the BN analogue of graphite, consisting of sheets of alternating B and N atoms. These sheets stack with boron and nitrogen in registry between the sheets. Graphite and h-BN have very different properties, although both are lubricants, as these planes slip past each other easily. However, h-BN is a relatively poor electrical and thermal conductor in the planar directions. Molecular analogues of boron nitrides are represented by borazine, (BH)<sub>3</sub>(NH)<sub>3</sub>.Carbidesconsist of boron atoms, and black spheres are carbon atoms.]]
Boron carbide is a ceramic material. It is obtained by carbothermal reduction of B<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub>in an electric furnace:
:2 B<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub> + 7 C → B<sub>4</sub>C + 6 CO
Boron carbide's structure is only approximately reflected in its formula of B<sub>4</sub>C, and it shows a clear depletion of carbon from this suggested stoichiometric ratio. This is due to its very complex structure. The substance can be seen with empirical formula B<sub>12</sub>C<sub>3</sub> (i.e., with B<sub>12</sub> dodecahedra being a motif), but with less carbon, as the suggested C<sub>3</sub> units are replaced with C-B-C chains, and some smaller (B<sub>6</sub>) octahedra are present as well (see the boron carbide article for structural analysis). The repeating polymer plus semi-crystalline structure of boron carbide gives it great structural strength per weight.BoridesBinary metal-boron compounds, the metal borides, contain only boron and a metal. They are metallic, very hard, with high melting points. TiB<sub>2</sub>, ZrB<sub>2</sub>, and HfB<sub>2</sub> have melting points above 3000 °C.
Occurrence
Boron is rare in the Universe and solar system. The amount of boron formed in the Big Bang is negligible. Boron is not generated in the normal course of stellar nucleosynthesis and is destroyed in stellar interiors.
In the high oxygen environment of the Earth's surface, boron is always found fully oxidized to borate. Boron does not appear on Earth in elemental form. Extremely small traces of elemental boron were detected in Lunar regolith.
Although boron is a relatively rare element in the Earth's crust, representing only 0.001% of the crust mass, it can be highly concentrated by the action of water, in which many borates are soluble. It is found naturally combined in compounds such as borax and boric acid (sometimes found in volcanic spring waters). About a hundred borate minerals are known.
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On 5 September 2017, scientists reported that the Curiosity rover detected boron on the planet Mars. Such a finding, along with previous discoveries that water may have been present on ancient Mars, further supports the possible early habitability of Gale Crater on Mars. -->
Production
Economically important sources of boron are the minerals colemanite, rasorite (kernite), ulexite and tincal. Together these constitute 90% of mined boron-containing ore. The largest global borax deposits known, many still untapped, are in Central and Western Turkey, including the provinces of Eskişehir, Kütahya and Balıkesir. Global proven boron mineral mining reserves exceed one billion metric tonnes, against a yearly production of about four million tonnes.
Turkey and the United States are the largest producers of boron products. Turkey produces about half of the global yearly demand, through Eti Mine Works () a Turkish state-owned mining and chemicals company focusing on boron products. It holds a government monopoly on the mining of borate minerals in Turkey, which possesses 72% of the world's known deposits. In 2012, it held a 47% share of production of global borate minerals, ahead of its main competitor, Rio Tinto Group.
Almost a quarter (23%) of global boron production comes from the Rio Tinto Borax Mine (also known as the U.S. Borax Boron Mine) near Boron, California.Market trendThe average cost of crystalline elemental boron is US$5/g. Elemental boron is chiefly used in making boron fibers, where it is deposited by chemical vapor deposition on a tungsten core (see below). Boron fibers are used in lightweight composite applications, such as high strength tapes. This use is a very small fraction of total boron use. Boron is introduced into semiconductors as boron compounds, by ion implantation.
Estimated global consumption of boron (almost entirely as boron compounds) was about 4 million tonnes of B<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub> in 2012. As compounds such as borax and kernite its cost was US$377/tonne in 2019.
Increasing demand for boric acid has led a number of producers to invest in additional capacity. Turkey's state-owned Eti Mine Works opened a new boric acid plant with the production capacity of 100,000 tonnes per year at Emet in 2003. Rio Tinto Group increased the capacity of its boron plant from 260,000 tonnes per year in 2003 to 310,000 tonnes per year by May 2005, with plans to grow this to 366,000 tonnes per year in 2006. Chinese boron producers have been unable to meet rapidly growing demand for high quality borates. This has led to imports of sodium tetraborate (borax) growing by a hundredfold between 2000 and 2005 and boric acid imports increasing by 28% per year over the same period.
The rise in global demand has been driven by high growth rates in glass fiber, fiberglass and borosilicate glassware production. A rapid increase in the manufacture of reinforcement-grade boron-containing fiberglass in Asia, has offset the development of boron-free reinforcement-grade fiberglass in Europe and the US. The recent rises in energy prices may lead to greater use of insulation-grade fiberglass, with consequent growth in the boron consumption. Roskill Consulting Group forecasts that world demand for boron will grow by 3.4% per year to reach 21 million tonnes by 2010. The highest growth in demand is expected to be in Asia where demand could rise by an average 5.7% per year.ApplicationsNearly all boron ore extracted from the Earth is refined as boric acid and sodium tetraborate pentahydrate. In the United States, 70% of the boron is used for the production of glass and ceramics.
The major global industrial-scale use of boron compounds (about 46% of end-use) is in production of glass fiber for boron-containing insulating and structural fiberglasses, especially in Asia. Boron is added to the glass as borax pentahydrate or boron oxide, to influence the strength or fluxing qualities of the glass fibers. Another 10% of global boron production is for borosilicate glass as used in high strength glassware. About 15% of global boron is used in boron ceramics, including super-hard materials discussed below. Agriculture consumes 11% of global boron production, and bleaches and detergents about 6%.
Boronated fiberglass
Fiberglasses, a fiber reinforced polymer sometimes contain borosilicate, borax, or boron oxide, and is added to increase the strength of the glass. The highly boronated glasses, E-glass (named for "Electrical" use) are alumino-borosilicate glass. Another common high-boron glasses, C-glass, also has a high boron oxide content, used for glass staple fibers and insulation. D-glass, a borosilicate glass, named for its low dielectric constant.
Because of the ubiquitous use of fiberglass in construction and insulation, boron-containing fiberglasses consume over half the global production of boron, and are the single largest commercial boron market.Borosilicate glass
Borosilicate glass, which is typically 12–15% B<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub>, 80% SiO<sub>2</sub>, and 2% Al<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub>, has a low coefficient of thermal expansion, giving it a good resistance to thermal shock. Schott AG's "Duran" and Owens-Corning's trademarked Pyrex are two major brand names for this glass, used both in laboratory glassware and in consumer cookware and bakeware, chiefly for this resistance.
Elemental boron fiber
Boron fibers (boron filaments) are high-strength, lightweight materials that are used chiefly for advanced aerospace structures as a component of composite materials, as well as limited production consumer and sporting goods such as golf clubs and fishing rods. The fibers can be produced by chemical vapor deposition of boron on a tungsten filament.
Boron fibers and sub-millimeter sized crystalline boron springs are produced by laser-assisted chemical vapor deposition. Translation of the focused laser beam allows production of even complex helical structures. Such structures show good mechanical properties (elastic modulus 450 GPa, fracture strain 3.7%, fracture stress 17 GPa) and can be applied as reinforcement of ceramics or in micromechanical systems.
Boron carbide ceramic
Boron carbide's ability to absorb neutrons without forming long-lived radionuclides (especially when doped with extra boron-10) makes the material attractive as an absorbent for neutron radiation arising in nuclear power plants. Nuclear applications of boron carbide include shielding, control rods and shut-down pellets. Within control rods, boron carbide is often powdered, to increase its surface area.
High-hardness and abrasive compounds
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!cubic-BC<sub>2</sub>N
!cubic-BC<sub>5</sub>
!cubic-BN
!B<sub>4</sub>C
!ReB<sub>2</sub>
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!Vickers hardness (GPa)
|115
|76
|71
|62
|38
|22
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!Fracture toughness (MPa m<sup>1⁄2</sup>)
|5.3
|4.5
|9.5
|6.8
|3.5
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Boron carbide and cubic boron nitride powders are widely used as abrasives. Boron nitride is a material isoelectronic to carbon. Similar to carbon, it has both hexagonal (soft graphite-like h-BN) and cubic (hard, diamond-like c-BN) forms. h-BN is used as a high temperature component and lubricant. c-BN, also known under commercial name borazon, is a superior abrasive. Its hardness is only slightly smaller than, but its chemical stability is superior, to that of diamond. Heterodiamond (also called BCN) is another diamond-like boron compound.
Metallurgy
Boron is added to boron steels at the level of a few parts per million to increase hardenability. Higher percentages are added to steels used in the nuclear industry due to boron's neutron absorption ability.
Boron can also increase the surface hardness of steels and alloys through boriding. Additionally metal borides are used for coating tools through chemical vapor deposition or physical vapor deposition. Implantation of boron ions into metals and alloys, through ion implantation or ion beam deposition, results in a spectacular increase in surface resistance and microhardness. Laser alloying has also been successfully used for the same purpose. These borides are an alternative to diamond coated tools, and their (treated) surfaces have similar properties to those of the bulk boride.
For example, rhenium diboride can be produced at ambient pressures, but is rather expensive because of rhenium. The hardness of ReB<sub>2</sub> exhibits considerable anisotropy because of its hexagonal layered structure. Its value is comparable to that of tungsten carbide, silicon carbide, titanium diboride or zirconium diboride.Detergent formulations and bleaching agentsBorax is used in various household laundry and cleaning products. It is also present in some tooth bleaching formulas.
Insecticides and antifungals
Zinc borates and boric acid, popularized as fire retardants, are widely used as wood preservatives and insecticides. Boric acid is also used as a domestic insecticide.SemiconductorsBoron is a useful dopant for such semiconductors as silicon, germanium, and silicon carbide. Having one fewer valence electron than the host atom, it donates a hole resulting in p-type conductivity. Traditional method of introducing boron into semiconductors is via its atomic diffusion at high temperatures. This process uses either solid (B<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub>), liquid (BBr<sub>3</sub>), or gaseous boron sources (B<sub>2</sub>H<sub>6</sub> or BF<sub>3</sub>). However, after the 1970s, it was mostly replaced by ion implantation, which relies mostly on BF<sub>3</sub> as a boron source. Boron trichloride gas is also an important chemical in semiconductor industry, however, not for doping but rather for plasma etching of metals and their oxides. Triethylborane is also injected into vapor deposition reactors as a boron source. Examples are the plasma deposition of boron-containing hard carbon films, silicon nitride–boron nitride films, and for doping of diamond film with boron.MagnetsBoron is a component of neodymium magnets (Nd<sub>2</sub>Fe<sub>14</sub>B), which are among the strongest type of permanent magnet. These magnets are found in a variety of electromechanical and electronic devices, such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) medical imaging systems, in compact and relatively small motors and actuators. As examples, computer HDDs (hard disk drives), CD (compact disk) and DVD (digital versatile disk) players rely on neodymium magnet motors to deliver intense rotary power in a remarkably compact package. In mobile phones 'Neo' magnets provide the magnetic field which allows tiny speakers to deliver appreciable audio power.
Shielding and neutron absorber in nuclear reactors
Boron shielding is used as a control for nuclear reactors, taking advantage of its high cross-section for neutron capture.
In pressurized water reactors a variable concentration of boronic acid in the cooling water is used as a neutron poison to compensate the variable reactivity of the fuel. When new rods are inserted the concentration of boronic acid is maximal, and is reduced during the lifetime.
Other nonmedical uses
* Because of its distinctive green flame, amorphous boron is used in pyrotechnic flares.
* Some anti-corrosion systems contain borax.
* Sodium borates are used as a flux for soldering silver and gold and with ammonium chloride for welding ferrous metals. They are also fire retarding additives to plastics and rubber articles.
* Boric acid (also known as orthoboric acid) H<sub>3</sub>BO<sub>3</sub> is used in the production of textile fiberglass and flat panel displays and in many PVAc- and PVOH-based adhesives.
* Triethylborane is a substance which ignites the JP-7 fuel of the Pratt & Whitney J58 turbojet/ramjet engines powering the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird. It was also used to ignite the F-1 Engines on the Saturn V Rocket utilized by NASA's Apollo and Skylab programs from 1967 until 1973. Today SpaceX uses it to ignite the engines on their Falcon 9 rocket. Triethylborane is suitable for this because of its pyrophoric properties, especially the fact that it burns with a very high temperature. Triethylborane is an industrial initiator in radical reactions, where it is effective even at low temperatures.
* Borates are used as environmentally benign wood preservatives.
Pharmaceutical and biological applications
Boron plays a role in pharmaceutical and biological applications as it is found in various antibiotics produced by bacteria, such as boromycins, aplasmomycins, borophycins, and tartrolons. These antibiotics have shown inhibitory effects on the growth of certain bacteria, fungi, and protozoa. Boron is also being studied for its potential medicinal applications, including its incorporation into biologically active molecules for therapies like boron neutron capture therapy for brain tumors. Some boron-containing biomolecules may act as signaling molecules interacting with cell surfaces, suggesting a role in cellular communication.
Boric acid has antiseptic, antifungal, and antiviral properties and, for these reasons, is applied as a water clarifier in swimming pool water treatment. Mild solutions of boric acid have been used as eye antiseptics.
Bortezomib (marketed as Velcade and Cytomib). Boron appears as an active element in the organic pharmaceutical bortezomib, a new class of drug called the proteasome inhibitor, for treating myeloma and one form of lymphoma (it is currently in experimental trials against other types of lymphoma). The boron atom in bortezomib binds the catalytic site of the 26S proteasome with high affinity and specificity.
* A number of potential boronated pharmaceuticals using boron-10, have been prepared for use in boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT).
* Some boron compounds show promise in treating arthritis, though none have as yet been generally approved for the purpose.
Tavaborole (marketed as Kerydin) is an Aminoacyl tRNA synthetase inhibitor which is used to treat toenail fungus. It gained FDA approval in July 2014.
Dioxaborolane chemistry enables radioactive fluoride (<sup>18</sup>F) labeling of antibodies or red blood cells, which allows for positron emission tomography (PET) imaging of cancer and hemorrhages, respectively. A <u>H</u>uman-<u>D</u>erived, <u>G</u>enetic, <u>P</u>ositron-emitting and <u>F</u>luorescent (HD-GPF) reporter system uses a human protein, PSMA and non-immunogenic, and a small molecule that is positron-emitting (boron bound <sup>18</sup>F) and fluorescence for dual modality PET and fluorescent imaging of genome modified cells, e.g. cancer, CRISPR/Cas9, or CAR T-cells, in an entire mouse. The dual-modality small molecule targeting PSMA was tested in humans and found the location of primary and metastatic prostate cancer, fluorescence-guided removal of cancer, and detects single cancer cells in tissue margins.
Research
MgB<sub>2</sub>
Magnesium diboride (MgB<sub>2</sub>) is a superconductor with the transition temperature of 39 K. MgB<sub>2</sub> wires are produced with the powder-in-tube process and applied in superconducting magnets. A project at CERN to make MgB<sub>2</sub> cables has resulted in superconducting test cables able to carry 20,000 amperes for extremely high current distribution applications, such as the contemplated high luminosity version of the Large Hadron Collider.
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Amorphous boron is used as a melting point depressant in nickel-chromium braze alloys.-->Commercial isotope enrichment<!-- looks unlikely significance-->
Because of its high neutron cross-section, boron-10 is often used to control fission in nuclear reactors as a neutron-capturing substance. Several industrial-scale enrichment processes have been developed; however, only the fractionated vacuum distillation of the dimethyl ether adduct of boron trifluoride (DME-BF<sub>3</sub>) and column chromatography of borates are being used.
Radiation-hardened semiconductors
Cosmic radiation will produce secondary neutrons if it hits spacecraft structures. Those neutrons will be captured in <sup>10</sup>B, if it is present in the spacecraft's semiconductors, producing a gamma ray, an alpha particle, and a lithium ion. Those resultant decay products may then irradiate nearby semiconductor "chip" structures, causing data loss (bit flipping, or single event upset). In radiation-hardened semiconductor designs, one countermeasure is to use depleted boron, which is greatly enriched in <sup>11</sup>B and contains almost no <sup>10</sup>B. This is useful because <sup>11</sup>B is largely immune to radiation damage. Depleted boron is a byproduct of the nuclear industry (see above).Enriched boron (boron-10)The <sup>10</sup>B isotope is useful for capturing thermal neutrons (see neutron cross section#Typical cross sections). The nuclear industry enriches natural boron to nearly pure <sup>10</sup>B. The less-valuable by-product, depleted boron, is nearly pure <sup>11</sup>B.
Enriched boron or <sup>10</sup>B is used in both radiation shielding and is the primary nuclide used in neutron capture therapy of cancer. In the latter ("boron neutron capture therapy" or BNCT), a compound containing <sup>10</sup>B is incorporated into a pharmaceutical which is selectively taken up by a malignant tumor and tissues near it. The patient is then treated with a beam of low energy neutrons at a relatively low neutron radiation dose. The neutrons, however, trigger energetic and short-range secondary alpha particle and lithium-7 heavy ion radiation that are products of the boron-neutron nuclear reaction, and this ion radiation additionally bombards the tumor, especially from inside the tumor cells.
In nuclear reactors, <sup>10</sup>B is used for reactivity control and in emergency shutdown systems. It can serve either function in the form of borosilicate control rods or as boric acid. In pressurized water reactors, <sup>10</sup>B boric acid is added to the reactor coolant after the plant is shut down for refueling. When the plant is started up again, the boric acid is slowly filtered out over many months as fissile material is used up and the fuel becomes less reactive.
<!-- crap sources on kiddie scienceIn future crewed interplanetary spacecraft, <sup>10</sup>B has a theoretical role as structural material (as boron fibers or BN nanotube material) which would also serve a special role in the radiation shield. One of the difficulties in dealing with cosmic rays, which are mostly high energy protons, is that some secondary radiation from interaction of cosmic rays and spacecraft materials is high energy spallation neutrons. Such neutrons can be moderated by materials high in light elements, such as polyethylene, but the moderated neutrons continue to be a radiation hazard unless actively absorbed in the shielding. Among light elements that absorb thermal neutrons, <sup>6</sup>Li and <sup>10</sup>B appear as potential spacecraft structural materials which serve both for mechanical reinforcement and radiation protection.Depleted boron (boron-11)
not an app, just another paper or two by academics:
Hexagonal boron nitride forms atomically thin layers, which have been used to enhance the electron mobility in graphene devices. It also forms nanotubular structures (BNNTs), which have high strength, high chemical stability, and high thermal conductivity, among its list of desirable properties.-->
Nuclear fusion
Boron has been investigated for possible applications in nuclear fusion research. It is commonly used for conditioning the walls in fusion reactors by depositing boron coatings on plasma-facing components and walls to reduce the release of hydrogen and impurities from the surfaces. It is also being used for the dissipation of energy in the fusion plasma boundary to suppress excessive energy bursts and heat fluxes to the walls.Neutron capture therapyIn neutron capture therapy (BNCT) for malignant brain tumors, boron is researched to be used for selectively targeting and destroying tumor cells. The goal is to deliver higher concentrations of the non-radioactive boron isotope (<sup>10</sup>B) to the tumor cells than to the surrounding normal tissues. When these <sup>10</sup>B-containing cells are irradiated with low-energy thermal neutrons, they undergo nuclear capture reactions, releasing high linear energy transfer (LET) particles such as α-particles and lithium-7 nuclei within a limited path length. These high-LET particles can destroy the adjacent tumor cells without causing significant harm to nearby normal cells. Boron acts as a selective agent due to its ability to absorb thermal neutrons and produce short-range physical effects primarily affecting the targeted tissue region. This binary approach allows for precise tumor cell killing while sparing healthy tissues. The effective delivery of boron involves administering boron compounds or carriers capable of accumulating selectively in tumor cells compared to surrounding tissue. BSH and BPA have been used clinically, but research continues to identify more optimal carriers. Accelerator-based neutron sources have also been developed recently as an alternative to reactor-based sources, leading to improved efficiency and enhanced clinical outcomes in BNCT. By employing the properties of boron isotopes and targeted irradiation techniques, BNCT offers a potential approach to treating malignant brain tumors by selectively killing cancer cells while minimizing the damage caused by traditional radiation therapies.
BNCT has shown promising results in clinical trials for various other malignancies, including glioblastoma, head and neck cancer, cutaneous melanoma, hepatocellular carcinoma, lung cancer, and extramammary Paget's disease. The treatment involves a nuclear reaction between nonradioactive boron-10 isotope and low-energy thermal or high-energy epithermal neutrons to generate α particles and lithium nuclei that selectively destroy DNA in tumor cells. The primary challenge lies in developing efficient boron agents with higher content and specific targeting properties tailored for BNCT. Integration of tumor-targeting strategies with BNCT could potentially establish it as a practical personalized treatment option for different types of cancers. Ongoing research explores new boron compounds, optimization strategies, theranostic agents, and radiobiological advances to overcome limitations and cost-effectively improve patient outcomes.
Biological role
Boron is an essential plant nutrient, required primarily for maintaining the integrity of cell walls. However, high soil concentrations of greater than 1.0 ppm lead to marginal and tip necrosis in leaves as well as poor overall growth performance. Levels as low as 0.8 ppm produce these same symptoms in plants that are particularly sensitive to boron in the soil. Nearly all plants, even those somewhat tolerant of soil boron, will show at least some symptoms of boron toxicity when soil boron content is greater than 1.8 ppm. When this content exceeds 2.0 ppm, few plants will perform well and some may not survive.
Some boron-containing antibiotics exist in nature. The first one found was boromycin, isolated from streptomyces in the 1960s. Others are tartrolons, a group of antibiotics discovered in the 1990s from culture broth of the myxobacterium Sorangium cellulosum.
In 2013, chemist and synthetic biologist Steve Benner suggested that the conditions on Mars three billion years ago were much more favorable to the stability of RNA and formation of oxygen-containing boron and molybdenum catalysts found in life. According to Benner's theory, primitive life, which is widely believed to have originated from RNA, first formed on Mars before migrating to Earth.
In human health
It is thought that boron plays several essential roles in animals, including humans, but the exact physiological role is poorly understood. Boron deficiency has only been clearly established in livestock; in humans, boron deficiency may affect bone mineral density, though it has been noted that additional research on the effects of bone health is necessary.
Boron is not classified as an essential human nutrient because research has not established a clear biological function for it. The U.S. Food and Nutrition Board (FNB) found the existing data insufficient to derive a Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA), Adequate Intake (AI), or Estimated Average Requirement (EAR) for boron and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has not established a daily value for boron for food and dietary supplement labeling purposes.
Still, studies suggest that boron may exert beneficial effects on reproduction and development, calcium metabolism, bone formation, brain function, insulin and energy substrate metabolism, immunity, and steroid hormone (including estrogen) and vitamin D function, among other functions. Environmental boron appears to be inversely correlated with arthritis.
The exact mechanism by which boron exerts its physiological effects is not fully understood, but may involve interactions with adenosine monophosphate (ADP) and S-adenosyl methionine (SAM-e), two compounds involved in important cellular functions. Furthermore, boron appears to inhibit cyclic ADP-ribose, thereby affecting the release of calcium ions from the endoplasmic reticulum and affecting various biological processes.
In humans, boron is usually consumed with food that contains boron, such as fruits, leafy vegetables, and nuts.
Health issues and toxicity
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Elemental boron, boron oxide, boric acid, borates, and many organoboron compounds are relatively nontoxic to humans and animals (with toxicity similar to that of table salt). The LD<sub>50</sub> (dose at which there is 50% mortality) for animals is about 6 g per kg of body weight. Substances with an LD<sub>50</sub> above 2 g/kg are considered nontoxic. An intake of 4 g/day of boric acid was reported without incident, but more than this is considered toxic in more than a few doses. Intakes of more than 0.5 grams per day for 50 days cause minor digestive and other problems suggestive of toxicity.
Boric acid is more toxic to insects than to mammals, and is routinely used as an insecticide. However, it has been used in neutron capture therapy alongside other boron compounds such as sodium borocaptate and boronophenylalanine with reported low toxicity levels.
The boranes (boron hydrogen compounds) and similar gaseous compounds are quite poisonous. As usual, boron is not an element that is intrinsically poisonous, but the toxicity of these compounds depends on structure (for another example of this phenomenon, see phosphine).
Boron is necessary for plant growth, but an excess of boron is toxic to plants, and occurs particularly in acidic soil. It presents as a yellowing from the tip inwards of the oldest leaves and black spots in barley leaves, but it can be confused with other stresses such as magnesium deficiency in other plants.See also
* Allotropes of boron
* Boron deficiency
* Boron oxide
* Boron nitride
* Boron neutron capture therapy
* Boronic acid
* Hydroboration-oxidation reaction
* Suzuki coupling
Notes
ReferencesExternal links
* [http://www.periodicvideos.com/videos/005.htm Boron] at The Periodic Table of Videos (University of Nottingham)
* J. B. Calvert: [http://mysite.du.edu:80/~jcalvert/phys/boron.htm Boron], 2004, private website ([https://web.archive.org/web/20030202000419/http://www.du.edu/~jcalvert/phys/boron.htm archived version])
Category:Chemical elements
Category:Metalloids
Category:Neutron poisons
Category:Pyrotechnic fuels
Category:Rocket fuels
Category:Nuclear fusion fuels
Category:Dietary minerals
Category:Reducing agents
Category:Articles containing video clips
Category:Chemical elements with rhombohedral structure
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Bromine
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Bromine is a chemical element; it has symbol Br and atomic number 35. It is a volatile red-brown liquid at room temperature that evaporates readily to form a similarly coloured vapour. Its properties are intermediate between those of chlorine and iodine. Isolated independently by two chemists, Carl Jacob Löwig (in 1825) and Antoine Jérôme Balard (in 1826), its name was derived , referring to its sharp and pungent smell.
Elemental bromine is very reactive and thus does not occur as a free element in nature. Instead, it can be isolated from colourless soluble crystalline mineral halide salts analogous to table salt, a property it shares with the other halogens. While it is rather rare in the Earth's crust, the high solubility of the bromide ion (Br) has caused its accumulation in the oceans. Commercially the element is easily extracted from brine evaporation ponds, mostly in the United States and Israel. The mass of bromine in the oceans is about one three-hundredth that of chlorine.
At standard conditions for temperature and pressure it is a liquid; the only other element that is liquid under these conditions is mercury. At high temperatures, organobromine compounds readily dissociate to yield free bromine atoms, a process that stops free radical chemical chain reactions. This effect makes organobromine compounds useful as fire retardants, and more than half the bromine produced worldwide each year is put to this purpose. The same property causes ultraviolet sunlight to dissociate volatile organobromine compounds in the atmosphere to yield free bromine atoms, causing ozone depletion. As a result, many organobromine compounds—such as the pesticide methyl bromide—are no longer used. Bromine compounds are still used in well drilling fluids, in photographic film, and as an intermediate in the manufacture of organic chemicals.
Large amounts of bromide salts are toxic from the action of soluble bromide ions, causing bromism. However, bromine is beneficial for human eosinophils,
Löwig isolated bromine from a mineral water spring from his hometown Bad Kreuznach in 1825. Löwig used a solution of the mineral salt saturated with chlorine and extracted the bromine with diethyl ether. After evaporation of the ether, a brown liquid remained. With this liquid as a sample of his work he applied for a position in the laboratory of Leopold Gmelin in Heidelberg. The publication of the results was delayed and Balard published his results first.
After the French chemists Louis Nicolas Vauquelin, Louis Jacques Thénard, and Joseph-Louis Gay-Lussac approved the experiments of the young pharmacist Balard, the results were presented at a lecture of the Académie des Sciences and published in Annales de Chimie et Physique. Other sources claim that the French chemist and physicist Joseph-Louis Gay-Lussac suggested the name brôme for the characteristic smell of the vapors.
<!-- Some also suggest that it may have been discovered by Bernard Courtois, the man who discovered iodine.-->
Apart from some minor medical applications, the first commercial use was the daguerreotype. In 1840, bromine was discovered to have some advantages over the previously used iodine vapor to create the light sensitive silver halide layer in daguerreotypy.
By 1864, a 25% solution of liquid bromine in .75 molar aqueous potassium bromide was widely used to treat gangrene during the American Civil War, before the publications of Joseph Lister and Pasteur.
Potassium bromide and sodium bromide were used as anticonvulsants and sedatives in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, but were gradually superseded by chloral hydrate and then by the barbiturates. In the early years of the First World War, bromine compounds such as xylyl bromide were used as poison gas.PropertiesBromine is the third halogen, being a nonmetal in group 17 of the periodic table. Its properties are thus similar to those of fluorine, chlorine, and iodine, and tend to be intermediate between those of chlorine and iodine, the two neighbouring halogens. Bromine has the electron configuration [Ar]4s3d4p, with the seven electrons in the fourth and outermost shell acting as its valence electrons. Like all halogens, it is thus one electron short of a full octet, and is hence a strong oxidising agent, reacting with many elements in order to complete its outer shell. Corresponding to periodic trends, it is intermediate in electronegativity between chlorine and iodine (F: 3.98, Cl: 3.16, Br: 2.96, I: 2.66), and is less reactive than chlorine and more reactive than iodine. It is also a weaker oxidising agent than chlorine, but a stronger one than iodine. Conversely, the bromide ion is a weaker reducing agent than iodide, but a stronger one than chloride. It is intermediate in atomic radius between chlorine and iodine, and this leads to many of its atomic properties being similarly intermediate in value between chlorine and iodine, such as first ionisation energy, electron affinity, enthalpy of dissociation of the X molecule (X Cl, Br, I), ionic radius, and X–X bond length.
All four stable halogens experience intermolecular van der Waals forces of attraction, and their strength increases together with the number of electrons among all homonuclear diatomic halogen molecules. Thus, the melting and boiling points of bromine are intermediate between those of chlorine and iodine. As a result of the increasing molecular weight of the halogens down the group, the density and heats of fusion and vaporisation of bromine are again intermediate between those of chlorine and iodine, although all their heats of vaporisation are fairly low (leading to high volatility) thanks to their diatomic molecular structure. The colour fades at low temperatures so that solid bromine at −195 °C is pale yellow.
Like solid chlorine and iodine, solid bromine crystallises in the orthorhombic crystal system, in a layered arrangement of Br molecules. The Br–Br distance is 227 pm (close to the gaseous Br–Br distance of 228 pm) and the Br···Br distance between molecules is 331 pm within a layer and 399 pm between layers (compare the van der Waals radius of bromine, 195 pm). This structure means that bromine is a very poor conductor of electricity, with a conductivity of around 5 × 10 Ω cm just below the melting point, although this is higher than the essentially undetectable conductivity of chlorine.
Isotopes
Bromine has two stable isotopes, Br and Br. These are its only two natural isotopes, with Br making up 51% of natural bromine and Br making up the remaining 49%. Both have nuclear spin 3/2− and thus may be used for nuclear magnetic resonance, although Br is more favourable. The relatively 1:1 distribution of the two isotopes in nature is helpful in identification of bromine containing compounds using mass spectroscopy. Other bromine isotopes are all radioactive, with half-lives too short to occur in nature. Of these, the most important are Br (t 17.7 min), Br (t 4.421 h), and Br (t 35.28 h), which may be produced from the neutron activation of natural bromine.
Chemistry and compounds
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|+ style"margin-bottom: 5px;" | Halogen bond energies (kJ/mol)
: 2 P + 6 HO + 3 Br → 6 HBr + 2 HPO
: HPO + HO + Br → 2 HBr + HPO
At room temperature, hydrogen bromide is a colourless gas, like all the hydrogen halides apart from hydrogen fluoride, since hydrogen cannot form strong hydrogen bonds to the large and only mildly electronegative bromine atom; however, weak hydrogen bonding is present in solid crystalline hydrogen bromide at low temperatures, similar to the hydrogen fluoride structure, before disorder begins to prevail as the temperature is raised.
Unlike hydrogen fluoride, anhydrous liquid hydrogen bromide is difficult to work with as a solvent, because its boiling point is low, it has a small liquid range, its dielectric constant is low and it does not dissociate appreciably into HBr and ions – the latter, in any case, are much less stable than the bifluoride ions () due to the very weak hydrogen bonding between hydrogen and bromine, though its salts with very large and weakly polarising cations such as Cs and (R Me, Et, Bu) may still be isolated. Anhydrous hydrogen bromide is a poor solvent, only able to dissolve small molecular compounds such as nitrosyl chloride and phenol, or salts with very low lattice energies such as tetraalkylammonium halides.
Bromination of metals with Br tends to yield lower oxidation states than chlorination with Cl when a variety of oxidation states is available. Bromides can be made by reaction of an element or its oxide, hydroxide, or carbonate with hydrobromic acid, and then dehydrated by mildly high temperatures combined with either low pressure or anhydrous hydrogen bromide gas. These methods work best when the bromide product is stable to hydrolysis; otherwise, the possibilities include high-temperature oxidative bromination of the element with bromine or hydrogen bromide, high-temperature bromination of a metal oxide or other halide by bromine, a volatile metal bromide, carbon tetrabromide, or an organic bromide. For example, niobium(V) oxide reacts with carbon tetrabromide at 370 °C to form niobium(V) bromide.
The pale-brown bromine monofluoride (BrF) is unstable at room temperature, disproportionating quickly and irreversibly into bromine, bromine trifluoride, and bromine pentafluoride. It thus cannot be obtained pure. It may be synthesised by the direct reaction of the elements, or by the comproportionation of bromine and bromine trifluoride at high temperatures.
Bromine pentafluoride (BrF) was first synthesised in 1930. It is produced on a large scale by direct reaction of bromine with excess fluorine at temperatures higher than 150 °C, and on a small scale by the fluorination of potassium bromide at 25 °C. It also reacts violently with water and is a very strong fluorinating agent, although chlorine trifluoride is still stronger.Polybromine compoundsAlthough dibromine is a strong oxidising agent with a high first ionisation energy, very strong oxidisers such as peroxydisulfuryl fluoride (SOF) can oxidise it to form the cherry-red cation. A few other bromine cations are known, namely the brown and dark brown . The tribromide anion, , has also been characterised; it is analogous to triiodide. and may be made from the low-temperature decomposition of bromine dioxide in a vacuum. It oxidises iodine to iodine pentoxide and benzene to 1,4-benzoquinone; in alkaline solutions, it gives the hypobromite anion.
So-called "bromine dioxide", a pale yellow crystalline solid, may be better formulated as bromine perbromate, BrOBrO. It is thermally unstable above −40 °C, violently decomposing to its elements at 0 °C. Dibromine trioxide, syn-BrOBrO, is also known; it is the anhydride of hypobromous acid and bromic acid. It is an orange crystalline solid which decomposes above −40 °C; if heated too rapidly, it explodes around 0 °C. A few other unstable radical oxides are also known, as are some poorly characterised oxides, such as dibromine pentoxide, tribromine octoxide, and bromine trioxide.
:{|
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| Br + HO || HOBr + H + Br || K = 7.2 × 10 mol l
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| Br + 2 OH || OBr + HO + Br || K = 2 × 10 mol l
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Hypobromous acid is unstable to disproportionation. The hypobromite ions thus formed disproportionate readily to give bromide and bromate: More important are the bromates, which are prepared on a small scale by oxidation of bromide by aqueous hypochlorite, and are strong oxidising agents. Unlike chlorates, which very slowly disproportionate to chloride and perchlorate, the bromate anion is stable to disproportionation in both acidic and aqueous solutions. Bromic acid is a strong acid. Bromides and bromates may comproportionate to bromine as follows:Organobromine compounds
, a common brominating reagent in organic chemistry]]
Like the other carbon–halogen bonds, the C–Br bond is a common functional group that forms part of core organic chemistry. Formally, compounds with this functional group may be considered organic derivatives of the bromide anion. Due to the difference of electronegativity between bromine (2.96) and carbon (2.55), the carbon atom in a C–Br bond is electron-deficient and thus electrophilic. The reactivity of organobromine compounds resembles but is intermediate between the reactivity of organochlorine and organoiodine compounds. For many applications, organobromides represent a compromise of reactivity and cost.
Organobromides are the most common organohalides in nature, even though the concentration of bromide is only 0.3% of that for chloride in sea water, because of the easy oxidation of bromide to the equivalent of Br, a potent electrophile. The enzyme bromoperoxidase catalyzes this reaction. The oceans are estimated to release 1–2 million tons of bromoform and 56,000 tons of bromomethane annually.Occurrence and production
(right) and Israel (left) produce salt and bromine]]
Bromine is significantly less abundant in the crust than fluorine or chlorine, comprising only 2.5 parts per million of the Earth's crustal rocks, and then only as bromide salts. It is the 46th most abundant element in Earth's crust. It is significantly more abundant in the oceans, resulting from long-term leaching. There, it makes up 65 parts per million, corresponding to a ratio of about one bromine atom for every 660 chlorine atoms. Salt lakes and brine wells may have higher bromine concentrations: for example, the Dead Sea contains 0.4% bromide ions. It is from these sources that bromine extraction is mostly economically feasible. Bromine is the tenth most abundant element in seawater.
The main sources of bromine production are Israel and Jordan. The element is liberated by halogen exchange, using chlorine gas to oxidise Br to Br. This is then removed with a blast of steam or air, and is then condensed and purified. Today, bromine is transported in large-capacity metal drums or lead-lined tanks that can hold hundreds of kilograms or even tonnes of bromine. The bromine industry is about one-hundredth the size of the chlorine industry. Laboratory production is unnecessary because bromine is commercially available and has a long shelf life.
Applications
A wide variety of organobromine compounds are used in industry. Some are prepared from bromine and others are prepared from hydrogen bromide, which is obtained by burning hydrogen in bromine.Flame retardantsBrominated flame retardants represent a commodity of growing importance, and make up the largest commercial use of bromine. When the brominated material burns, the flame retardant produces hydrobromic acid which interferes in the radical chain reaction of the oxidation reaction of the fire. The mechanism is that the highly reactive hydrogen radicals, oxygen radicals, and hydroxyl radicals react with hydrobromic acid to form less reactive bromine radicals (i.e., free bromine atoms). Bromine atoms may also react directly with other radicals to help terminate the free radical chain-reactions that characterise combustion.
To make brominated polymers and plastics, bromine-containing compounds can be incorporated into the polymer during polymerisation. One method is to include a relatively small amount of brominated monomer during the polymerisation process. For example, vinyl bromide can be used in the production of polyethylene, polyvinyl chloride or polypropylene. Specific highly brominated molecules can also be added that participate in the polymerisation process. For example, tetrabromobisphenol A can be added to polyesters or epoxy resins, where it becomes part of the polymer. Epoxies used in printed circuit boards are normally made from such flame retardant resins, indicated by the FR in the abbreviation of the products (FR-4 and FR-2). In some cases, the bromine-containing compound may be added after polymerisation. For example, decabromodiphenyl ether can be added to the final polymers.
A number of gaseous or highly volatile brominated halomethane compounds are non-toxic and make superior fire suppressant agents by this same mechanism, and are particularly effective in enclosed spaces such as submarines, airplanes, and spacecraft. However, they are expensive and their production and use has been greatly curtailed due to their effect as ozone-depleting agents. They are no longer used in routine fire extinguishers, but retain niche uses in aerospace and military automatic fire suppression applications. They include bromochloromethane (Halon 1011, CHBrCl), bromochlorodifluoromethane (Halon 1211, CBrClF), and bromotrifluoromethane (Halon 1301, CBrF).Other uses
, originally part of the headquarters of Emerson Drug Company, which made Bromo-Seltzer]]
Silver bromide is used, either alone or in combination with silver chloride and silver iodide, as the light sensitive constituent of photographic emulsions.
Brominated vegetable oil (BVO), a complex mixture of plant-derived triglycerides that have been reacted to contain atoms of the element bromine bonded to the molecules, is used primarily to help emulsify citrus-flavored soft drinks, preventing them from separating during distribution.
Poisonous bromomethane was widely used as pesticide to fumigate soil and to fumigate housing, by the tenting method. Ethylene bromide was similarly used.
In pharmacology, inorganic bromide compounds, especially potassium bromide, were frequently used as general sedatives in the 19th and early 20th century. Bromides in the form of simple salts are still used as anticonvulsants in both veterinary and human medicine, although the latter use varies from country to country. For example, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) does not approve bromide for the treatment of any disease, and sodium bromide was removed from over-the-counter sedative products like Bromo-Seltzer, in 1975. Commercially available organobromine pharmaceuticals include the vasodilator nicergoline, the sedative brotizolam, the anticancer agent pipobroman, and the antiseptic merbromin. Otherwise, organobromine compounds are rarely pharmaceutically useful, in contrast to the situation for organofluorine compounds. Several drugs are produced as the bromide (or equivalents, hydrobromide) salts, but in such cases bromide serves as an innocuous counterion of no biological significance.
Because it has similar antiseptic qualities to chlorine, bromine can be used in the same manner as chlorine as a disinfectant or antimicrobial in applications such as swimming pools. Bromine came into this use in the United States during World War II due to a predicted shortage of chlorine. However, bromine is usually not used outside for these applications due to it being relatively more expensive than chlorine and the absence of a stabilizer to protect it from the sun. For indoor pools, it can be a good option as it is effective at a wider pH range. It is also more stable in a heated pool or hot tub.Biological role and toxicity
A 2014 study suggests that bromine (in the form of bromide ion) is a necessary cofactor in the biosynthesis of collagen IV, making the element essential to basement membrane architecture and tissue development in animals. Nevertheless, no clear deprivation symptoms or syndromes have been documented in mammals. In other biological functions, bromine may be non-essential but still beneficial when it takes the place of chlorine. For example, in the presence of hydrogen peroxide, HO, formed by the eosinophil, and either chloride, iodide, thiocyanate, or bromide ions, eosinophil peroxidase provides a potent mechanism by which eosinophils kill multicellular parasites (such as the nematode worms involved in filariasis) and some bacteria (such as tuberculosis bacteria). Eosinophil peroxidase is a haloperoxidase that preferentially uses bromide over chloride for this purpose, generating hypobromite (hypobromous acid), although the use of chloride is possible.
α-Haloesters are generally thought of as highly reactive and consequently toxic intermediates in organic synthesis. Nevertheless, mammals, including humans, cats, and rats, appear to biosynthesize traces of an α-bromoester, 2-octyl 4-bromo-3-oxobutanoate, which is found in their cerebrospinal fluid and appears to play a yet unclarified role in inducing REM sleep. Marine organisms are the main source of organobromine compounds, and it is in these organisms that bromine is more firmly shown to be essential. More than 1600 such organobromine compounds were identified by 1999. The most abundant is methyl bromide (CHBr), of which an estimated 56,000 tonnes is produced by marine algae each year. The essential oil of the Hawaiian alga Asparagopsis taxiformis consists of 80% bromoform. Most of such organobromine compounds in the sea are made by the action of a unique algal enzyme, vanadium bromoperoxidase.
The bromide anion is not very toxic: a normal daily intake is 2 to 8 milligrams. Bromism is caused by a neurotoxic effect on the brain which results in somnolence, psychosis, seizures and delirium.
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Elemental bromine (Br) is toxic and causes chemical burns on human flesh. Inhaling bromine gas results in similar irritation of the respiratory tract, causing coughing, choking, shortness of breath, and death if inhaled in large enough amounts. Chronic exposure may lead to frequent bronchial infections and a general deterioration of health. As a strong oxidising agent, bromine is incompatible with most organic and inorganic compounds. Caution is required when transporting bromine; it is commonly carried in steel tanks lined with lead, supported by strong metal frames. Bromine is classified as an extremely hazardous substance in the United States as defined in Section 302 of the U.S. Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (42 U.S.C. 11002), and is subject to strict reporting requirements by facilities which produce, store, or use it in significant quantities.
References
General and cited references
*
Category:Chemical elements
Category:Diatomic nonmetals
Category:Gases with color
Category:Halogens
Category:Oxidizing agents
Category:Reactive nonmetals
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bromine
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Barium
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Barium is a chemical element; it has symbol Ba and atomic number 56. It is the fifth element in group 2 and is a soft, silvery alkaline earth metal. Because of its high chemical reactivity, barium is never found in nature as a free element.
The most common minerals of barium are barite (barium sulfate, BaSO<sub>4</sub>) and witherite (barium carbonate, BaCO<sub>3</sub>). The name barium originates from the alchemical derivative "baryta", from Greek (), meaning 'heavy'. Baric is the adjectival form of barium. Barium was identified as a new element in 1772, but not reduced to a metal until 1808 with the advent of electrolysis.
Barium has few industrial applications. Historically, it was used as a getter for vacuum tubes and in oxide form as the emissive coating on indirectly heated cathodes. It is a component of YBCO (high-temperature superconductors) and electroceramics, and is added to steel and cast iron to reduce the size of carbon grains within the microstructure. Barium compounds are added to fireworks to impart a green color. Barium sulfate is used as an insoluble additive to oil well drilling fluid. In a purer form it is used as X-ray radiocontrast agents for imaging the human gastrointestinal tract. Water-soluble barium compounds are poisonous and have been used as rodenticides.
Characteristics
Physical properties
Barium is a soft, silvery-white metal, with a slight golden shade when ultrapure. The silvery-white color of barium metal rapidly vanishes upon oxidation in air yielding a dark gray layer containing the oxide. Barium has a medium specific weight and high electrical conductivity. Because barium is difficult to purify, many of its properties have not been accurately determined. is intermediate between those of the lighter strontium ()
The metal is readily attacked by acids. Sulfuric acid is a notable exception because passivation stops the reaction by forming the insoluble barium sulfate on the surface. Barium combines with several other metals, including aluminium, zinc, lead, and tin, forming intermetallic phases and alloys.
Compounds
{| class"wikitable" style"float:left; margin-top:0; margin-right:1em; text-align:center; font-size:10pt; line-height:11pt; width:25%;"
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! scope"row"| They are denser than the strontium or calcium analogs, except for the halides (see table; zinc is given for comparison).
Barium hydroxide ("baryta") was known to alchemists, who produced it by heating barium carbonate. Unlike calcium hydroxide, it absorbs very little CO<sub>2</sub> in aqueous solutions and is therefore insensitive to atmospheric fluctuations. This property is used in calibrating pH equipment.
Barium compounds burn with a green to pale green flame, which is an efficient test to detect a barium compound. The color results from spectral lines at 455.4, 493.4, 553.6, and 611.1 nm. Theoretically, barium-132 can similarly undergo double beta decay to xenon-132; this decay has not been detected. The radioactivity of these isotopes is so weak that they pose no danger to life.
Of the stable isotopes, barium-138 composes 71.7% of all barium; other isotopes have decreasing abundance with decreasing mass number. Davy, by analogy with calcium, named "barium" after baryta, with the "-ium" ending signifying a metallic element. Robert Bunsen and Augustus Matthiessen obtained pure barium by electrolysis of a molten mixture of barium chloride and ammonium chloride.
The production of pure oxygen in the Brin process was a large-scale application of barium peroxide in the 1880s, before it was replaced by electrolysis and fractional distillation of liquefied air in the early 1900s. In this process barium oxide reacts at with air to form barium peroxide, which decomposes above by releasing oxygen:
:2 BaO + O<sub>2</sub> ⇌ 2 BaO<sub>2</sub>
Barium sulfate was first applied as a radiocontrast agent in X-ray imaging of the digestive system in 1908.
Occurrence and production
The abundance of barium is 0.0425% in the Earth's crust and 13 μg/L in sea water. The primary commercial source of barium is baryte (also called barytes or heavy spar), a barium sulfate mineral.
The mined ore is washed, crushed, classified, and separated from quartz. If the quartz penetrates too deeply into the ore, or the iron, zinc, or lead content is abnormally high, then froth flotation<!--https://books.google.com/books?idzNicdkuulE4C&pgPA223--> is used. The product is a 98% pure baryte (by mass); the purity should be no less than 95%, with a minimal content of iron and silicon dioxide. Barium also exists in the ocean as BaSO<sub>4</sub>, or barite. Barium has a nutrient-like profile with a residence time of 10,000 years. There is little depletion of barium concentrations in the upper ocean for an ion with a nutrient-like profile, thus lateral mixing is important.Other barium compounds
Other compounds of barium find only niche applications, limited by the toxicity of Ba<sup>2+</sup> ions (barium carbonate is a rat poison), which is not a problem for the insoluble BaSO<sub>4</sub>.
* Barium oxide coating on the electrodes of fluorescent lamps facilitates the release of electrons.
* By its great atomic density, barium carbonate increases the refractive index and luster of glass for brilliant green barium chloride is used.
* Barium peroxide is a catalyst in the aluminothermic reaction (thermite) for welding rail tracks. It is also a green flare in tracer ammunition and a bleaching agent.
* Barium titanate is a promising electroceramic.
* Barium fluoride is used for optics in infrared applications because of its wide transparency range of 0.15–12 micrometers.
* YBCO was the first high-temperature superconductor cooled by liquid nitrogen, with a transition temperature of greater than the boiling point of nitrogen ().
* Ferrite, a type of sintered ceramic composed of iron oxide (Fe<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub>) and barium oxide (BaO), is both electrically nonconductive and ferrimagnetic, and can be temporarily or permanently magnetized.
<!-- *The ratio of barium (biogenic barium) to aluminium within marine cores is used as a proxy for surface ocean export production in the past.-->PalaeoceanographyThe lateral mixing of barium is caused by water mass mixing and ocean circulation. Global ocean circulation reveals a strong correlation between dissolved barium and silicic acid. Particulate barium shows a strong correlation with particulate organic carbon or POC.
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Soluble barium compounds have LD50 near 10 mg/kg (oral rats). Symptoms include "convulsions... paralysis of the peripheral nerve system ... severe inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract". The US EPA considers it unlikely that barium is carcinogenic when consumed orally. Inhaled dust containing insoluble barium compounds can accumulate in the lungs, causing a benign condition called baritosis.See also* Han purple and Han blue – synthetic barium copper silicate pigments developed and used in ancient and imperial ChinaReferencesExternal links
* [http://www.periodicvideos.com/videos/056.htm Barium] at The Periodic Table of Videos (University of Nottingham)
* [http://elements.vanderkrogt.net/element.php?sym=Ba Elementymology & Elements Multidict]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20120227061852/http://oai.dtic.mil/oai/oai?verbgetRecord&metadataPrefixhtml&identifier=ADA338490 3-D Holographic Display Using Strontium Barium Niobate]
Category:Chemical elements
Category:Alkaline earth metals
Category:Toxicology
Category:Reducing agents
Category:Chemical elements with body-centered cubic structure
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Berkelium
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Berkelium is a synthetic chemical element; it has symbol Bk and atomic number 97. It is a member of the actinide and transuranium element series. It is named after the city of Berkeley, California, the location of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (then the University of California Radiation Laboratory) where it was discovered in December 1949. Berkelium was the fifth transuranium element discovered after neptunium, plutonium, curium and americium.
The major isotope of berkelium, <sup>249</sup>Bk, is synthesized in minute quantities in dedicated high-flux nuclear reactors, mainly at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee, United States, and at the Research Institute of Atomic Reactors in Dimitrovgrad, Russia. The longest-lived and second-most important isotope, <sup>247</sup>Bk, can be synthesized via irradiation of <sup>244</sup>Cm with high-energy alpha particles.
Just over one gram of berkelium has been produced in the United States since 1967. There is no practical application of berkelium outside scientific research which is mostly directed at the synthesis of heavier transuranium elements and superheavy elements. A 22-milligram batch of berkelium-249 was prepared during a 250-day irradiation period and then purified for a further 90 days at Oak Ridge in 2009. This sample was used to synthesize the new element tennessine for the first time in 2009 at the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research, Russia, after it was bombarded with calcium-48 ions for 150 days. This was the culmination of the Russia–US collaboration on the synthesis of the heaviest elements on the periodic table.
Berkelium is a soft, silvery-white, radioactive metal. The berkelium-249 isotope emits low-energy electrons and thus is relatively safe to handle. It decays with a half-life of 330 days to californium-249, which is a strong emitter of ionizing alpha particles. This gradual transformation is an important consideration when studying the properties of elemental berkelium and its chemical compounds, since the formation of californium brings not only chemical contamination, but also free-radical effects and self-heating from the emitted alpha particles.
Characteristics
Physical
Berkelium is a soft, silvery-white, radioactive actinide metal. In the periodic table, it is located to the right of the actinide curium, to the left of the actinide californium and below the lanthanide terbium with which it shares many similarities in physical and chemical properties. Its density of 14.78 g/cm<sup>3</sup> lies between those of curium (13.52 g/cm<sup>3</sup>) and californium (15.1 g/cm<sup>3</sup>), as does its melting point of 986 °C, below that of curium (1340 °C) but higher than that of californium (900 °C).
Between 70 K and room temperature, berkelium behaves as a Curie–Weiss paramagnetic material with an effective magnetic moment of 9.69 Bohr magnetons (μ<sub>B</sub>) and a Curie temperature of 101 K. This magnetic moment is almost equal to the theoretical value of 9.72 μ<sub>B</sub> calculated within the simple atomic L-S coupling model. Upon cooling to about 34 K, berkelium undergoes a transition to an antiferromagnetic state. The enthalpy of dissolution in hydrochloric acid at standard conditions is −600 kJ/mol, from which the standard enthalpy of formation (Δ<sub>f</sub>H°) of aqueous ions is obtained as −601 kJ/mol. The standard electrode potential /Bk is −2.01 V. The ionization potential of a neutral berkelium atom is 6.23 eV.AllotropesAt ambient conditions, berkelium assumes its most stable α form which has a hexagonal symmetry, space group P6<sub>3</sub>/mmc, lattice parameters of 341 pm and 1107 pm. The crystal has a double-hexagonal close packing structure with the layer sequence ABAC and so is isotypic (having a similar structure) with α-lanthanum and α-forms of actinides beyond curium.
Upon heating, α-berkelium transforms into another phase with an fcc lattice (but slightly different from β-berkelium), space group Fmm and the lattice constant of 500 pm; this fcc structure is equivalent to the closest packing with the sequence ABC. This phase is metastable and will gradually revert to the original α-berkelium phase at room temperature.ChemicalLike all actinides, berkelium dissolves in various aqueous inorganic acids, liberating gaseous hydrogen and converting into the state. This trivalent oxidation state (+3) is the most stable, especially in aqueous solutions, but tetravalent (+4), and possibly divalent (+2) berkelium compounds are also known. The existence of divalent berkelium salts is uncertain and has only been reported in mixed lanthanum(III) chloride-strontium chloride melts. A similar behavior is observed for the lanthanide analogue of berkelium, terbium.
Isotopes
Nineteen isotopes and six nuclear isomers (excited states of an isotope) of berkelium have been characterized, with mass numbers ranging from 233 to 253 (except 235 and 237). All of them are radioactive. The longest half-lives are observed for <sup>247</sup>Bk (1,380 years), <sup>248</sup>Bk (over 300 years), and <sup>249</sup>Bk (330 days); the half-lives of the other isotopes range from microseconds to several days. The isotope which is the easiest to synthesize is berkelium-249. This emits mostly soft β-particles which are inconvenient for detection. Its alpha radiation is rather weak (1.45%) with respect to the β-radiation, but is sometimes used to detect this isotope. The second important berkelium isotope, berkelium-247, is an alpha-emitter, as are most actinide isotopes.
Occurrence
All berkelium isotopes have a half-life<!-- of up to 1,380 years---> far too short to be primordial.<!---over ~50 My---> Therefore, any primordial berkelium − that is, berkelium present on the Earth during its formation − has decayed by now.
On Earth, berkelium is mostly concentrated in certain areas, which were used for the atmospheric nuclear weapons tests between 1945 and 1980, as well as at the sites of nuclear incidents, such as the Chernobyl disaster, Three Mile Island accident and 1968 Thule Air Base B-52 crash. Analysis of the debris at the testing site of the first United States' first thermonuclear weapon, Ivy Mike, (1 November 1952, Enewetak Atoll), revealed high concentrations of various actinides, including berkelium. For reasons of military secrecy, this result was not published until 1956.
Nuclear reactors produce mostly, among the berkelium isotopes, berkelium-249. During the storage and before the fuel disposal, most of it beta decays to californium-249. The latter has a half-life of 351 years, which is relatively long compared to the half-lives of other isotopes produced in the reactor, and is therefore undesirable in the disposal products.
The transuranium elements from americium to fermium, including berkelium, occurred naturally in the natural nuclear fission reactor at Oklo, but no longer do so.
Berkelium is also one of the elements that have theoretically been detected in Przybylski's Star.
History
]]
Although very small amounts of berkelium were possibly produced in previous nuclear experiments, it was first intentionally synthesized, isolated and identified in December 1949 by Glenn T. Seaborg, Albert Ghiorso, Stanley Gerald Thompson, and Kenneth Street Jr. They used the 60-inch cyclotron at the University of California, Berkeley. Similar to the nearly simultaneous discovery of americium (element 95) and curium (element 96) in 1944, the new elements berkelium and californium (element 98) were both produced in 1949–1950.
The name choice for element 97 followed the previous tradition of the Californian group to draw an analogy between the newly discovered actinide and the lanthanide element positioned above it in the periodic table. Previously, americium was named after a continent as its analogue europium, and curium honored scientists Marie and Pierre Curie as the lanthanide above it, gadolinium, was named after the explorer of the rare-earth elements Johan Gadolin. Thus, the discovery report by the Berkeley group reads: "It is suggested that element 97 be given the name berkelium (symbol Bk) after the city of Berkeley in a manner similar to that used in naming its chemical homologue terbium (atomic number 65) whose name was derived from the town of Ytterby, Sweden, where the rare earth minerals were first found."
The most difficult steps in synthesising berkelium were its separation from the final products and the production of sufficient quantities of americium for the target material. First, americium (<sup>241</sup>Am) nitrate solution was coated on a platinum foil, the solution was evaporated and the residue converted by annealing to americium dioxide (). This target was irradiated with 35 MeV alpha particles for 6 hours in the 60-inch cyclotron at the Lawrence Radiation Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley. The (α,2n) reaction induced by the irradiation yielded the <sup>243</sup>Bk isotope and two free neutrons:
:<chem>^{238}_{92}U ->[\ce{(n,\gamma)}] ^{239}_{92}U ->[\beta^-][23.5 \ \ce{min}] ^{239}_{93}Np ->[\beta^-][2.3565 \ \ce{d}] ^{239}_{94}Pu</chem> <small>(the times are half-lives)</small>
Plutonium-239 is further irradiated by a source that has a high neutron flux, several times higher than a conventional nuclear reactor, such as the 85-megawatt High Flux Isotope Reactor (HFIR) at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee, US. The higher flux promotes fusion reactions involving not one but several neutrons, converting <sup>239</sup>Pu to <sup>244</sup>Cm and then to <sup>249</sup>Cm:
:<math chem>\begin{align}
\ce{^{239}_{94}Pu ->[\ce{4(n,\gamma)}] ^{243}_{94}Pu ->[\beta^-][4.956 \ \ce{h}] ^{243}_{95}Am ->[\ce{(n,\gamma)}] ^{244}_{95}Am ->[\beta^-][10.1 \ \ce{h}]} & \ce{^{244}_{96}Cm}\\
& \ce{^{244}_{96}Cm ->[\ce{5(n,\gamma)}] ^{249}_{96}Cm}
\end{align}</math>
Curium-249 has a short half-life of 64 minutes, and thus its further conversion to <sup>250</sup>Cm has a low probability. Instead, it transforms by beta-decay into <sup>249</sup>Bk:
:<chem>^{249}_{97}Bk ->[\ce{(n,\gamma)}] ^{250}_{97}Bk ->[\beta^-][3.212 \ \ce{h}] ^{250}_{98}Cf</chem>
Although <sup>247</sup>Bk is the most stable isotope of berkelium, its production in nuclear reactors is very difficult because its potential progenitor <sup>247</sup>Cm has never been observed to undergo beta decay. Thus, <sup>249</sup>Bk is the most accessible isotope of berkelium, which still is available only in small quantities (only 0.66 grams have been produced in the US over the period 1967–1983) at a high price of the order 185 USD per microgram. It is the only berkelium isotope available in bulk quantities, and thus the only berkelium isotope whose properties can be extensively studied.
The isotope <sup>248</sup>Bk was first obtained in 1956 by bombarding a mixture of curium isotopes with 25 MeV α-particles. Although its direct detection was hindered by strong signal interference with <sup>245</sup>Bk, the existence of a new isotope was proven by the growth of the decay product <sup>248</sup>Cf which had been previously characterized. The half-life of <sup>248</sup>Bk was estimated as hours, though later 1965 work gave a half-life in excess of 300 years (which may be due to an isomeric state). Berkelium-247 was produced during the same year by irradiating <sup>244</sup>Cm with alpha-particles:
:<math chem>\begin{cases}
\ce{^{244}_{96}Cm ->[\ce{(\alpha,n)}] ^{247}_{98}Cf ->[\epsilon][3.11 \ \ce{h}] ^{247}_{97}Bk}\\
\ce{^{244}_{96}Cm ->[\ce{(\alpha,p)}] ^{247}_{97}Bk}
\end{cases}</math>
Berkelium-242 was synthesized in 1979 by bombarding <sup>235</sup>U with <sup>11</sup>B, <sup>238</sup>U with <sup>10</sup>B, <sup>232</sup>Th with <sup>14</sup>N or <sup>232</sup>Th with <sup>15</sup>N. It converts by electron capture to <sup>242</sup>Cm with a half-life of minutes. A search for an initially suspected isotope <sup>241</sup>Bk was then unsuccessful; <sup>241</sup>Bk has since been synthesized.
:<math chem>\begin{cases}
\ce{^{235}_{92}U + ^{11}_{5}B -> ^{242}_{97}Bk + 4^{1}_{0}n} & \ce{^{232}_{90}Th + ^{14}_{7}N -> ^{242}_{97}Bk + 4^{1}_{0}n}\\
\ce{^{238}_{92}U + ^{10}_{5}B -> ^{242}_{97}Bk + 6^{1}_{0}n} & \ce{^{232}_{90}Th + ^{15}_{7}N -> ^{242}_{97}Bk + 5^{1}_{0}n}
\end{cases}</math>
Separation
The fact that berkelium readily assumes oxidation state +4 in solids, and is relatively stable in this state in liquids greatly assists separation of berkelium away from many other actinides. These are inevitably produced in relatively large amounts during the nuclear synthesis and often favor the +3 state. This fact was not yet known in the initial experiments, which used a more complex separation procedure. Various inorganic oxidation agents can be applied to the solutions to convert it to the +4 state, such as bromates (), bismuthates (), chromates ( and ), silver(I) thiolate (), lead(IV) oxide (), ozone (), or photochemical oxidation procedures. More recently, it has been discovered that some organic and bio-inspired molecules, such as the chelator called 3,4,3-LI(1,2-HOPO), can also oxidize Bk(III) and stabilize Bk(IV) under mild conditions. is then extracted with ion exchange, extraction chromatography or liquid-liquid extraction using HDEHP (bis-(2-ethylhexyl) phosphoric acid), amines, tributyl phosphate or various other reagents. These procedures separate berkelium from most trivalent actinides and lanthanides, except for the lanthanide cerium (lanthanides are absent in the irradiation target but are created in various nuclear fission decay chains).
A more detailed procedure adopted at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory was as follows: the initial mixture of actinides is processed with ion exchange using lithium chloride reagent, then precipitated as hydroxides, filtered and dissolved in nitric acid. It is then treated with high-pressure elution from cation exchange resins, and the berkelium phase is oxidized and extracted using one of the procedures described above. Reduction of the thus-obtained to the +3 oxidation state yields a solution, which is nearly free from other actinides (but contains cerium). Berkelium and cerium are then separated with another round of ion-exchange treatment.
Bulk metal preparation
In order to characterize chemical and physical properties of solid berkelium and its compounds, a program was initiated in 1952 at the Material Testing Reactor, Arco, Idaho, US. It resulted in preparation of an eight-gram plutonium-239 target and in the first production of macroscopic quantities (0.6 micrograms) of berkelium by Burris B. Cunningham and Stanley Gerald Thompson in 1958, after a continuous reactor irradiation of this target for six years. This irradiation method was and still is the only way of producing weighable amounts of the element, and most solid-state studies of berkelium have been conducted on microgram or submicrogram-sized samples.
The world's major irradiation sources are the 85-megawatt High Flux Isotope Reactor at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee, USA, and the SM-2 loop reactor at the Research Institute of Atomic Reactors (NIIAR) in Dimitrovgrad, Russia, which are both dedicated to the production of transcurium elements (atomic number greater than 96). These facilities have similar power and flux levels, and are expected to have comparable production capacities for transcurium elements, although the quantities produced at NIIAR are not publicly reported. In a "typical processing campaign" at Oak Ridge, tens of grams of curium are irradiated to produce decigram quantities of californium, milligram quantities of berkelium-249 and einsteinium, and picogram quantities of fermium. In total, just over one gram of berkelium-249 has been produced at Oak Ridge since 1967.
:
Similar results are obtained with fluoride. Berkelium metal can also be produced by the reduction of oxide with thorium or lanthanum.
Compounds
Oxides
Two oxides of berkelium are known, with the berkelium oxidation state of +3 () and +4 (). oxide is a brown solid, while oxide is a yellow-green solid with a melting point of 1920 °C<br />(yellow-green)
| <br /> (yellow)
|}
fluoride () is a yellow-green ionic solid and is isotypic with uranium tetrafluoride or zirconium tetrafluoride. fluoride () is also a yellow-green solid, but it has two crystalline structures. The most stable phase at low temperatures is isotypic with yttrium(III) fluoride, while upon heating to between 350 and 600 °C, it transforms to the structure found in lanthanum trifluoride.
Visible amounts of chloride () were first isolated and characterized in 1962, and weighed only 3 billionths of a gram. It can be prepared by introducing hydrogen chloride vapors into an evacuated quartz tube containing berkelium oxide at a temperature about 500 °C. Upon heating to nearly melting point, converts into an orthorhombic phase.
Two forms of bromide are known: one with berkelium having coordination 6, and one with coordination 8. The latter is less stable and transforms to the former phase upon heating to about 350 °C. An important phenomenon for radioactive solids has been studied on these two crystal forms: the structure of fresh and aged <sup>249</sup>BkBr<sub>3</sub> samples was probed by X-ray diffraction over a period longer than 3 years, so that various fractions of berkelium-249 had beta decayed to californium-249. No change in structure was observed upon the <sup>249</sup>BkBr<sub>3</sub>—<sup>249</sup>CfBr<sub>3</sub> transformation. However, other differences were noted for <sup>249</sup>BkBr<sub>3</sub> and <sup>249</sup>CfBr<sub>3</sub>. For example, the latter could be reduced with hydrogen to <sup>249</sup>CfBr<sub>2</sub>, but the former could not – this result was reproduced on individual <sup>249</sup>BkBr<sub>3</sub> and <sup>249</sup>CfBr<sub>3</sub> samples, as well on the samples containing both bromides. phosphorus, arsenic and antimony. They crystallize in the rock-salt structure and are prepared by the reaction of either hydride () or metallic berkelium with these elements at elevated temperature (about 600 °C) under high vacuum.
sulfide, , is prepared by either treating berkelium oxide with a mixture of hydrogen sulfide and carbon disulfide vapors at 1130 °C, or by directly reacting metallic berkelium with elemental sulfur. These procedures yield brownish-black crystals.
and hydroxides are both stable in 1 molar solutions of sodium hydroxide. phosphate () has been prepared as a solid, which shows strong fluorescence under excitation with a green light. Berkelium hydrides are produced by reacting metal with hydrogen gas at temperatures about 250 °C. One cyclopentadienyl ring in (η<sup>5</sup>–C<sub>5</sub>H<sub>5</sub>)<sub>3</sub>Bk can be substituted by chlorine to yield . The optical absorption spectra of this compound are very similar to those of (η<sup>5</sup>–C<sub>5</sub>H<sub>5</sub>)<sub>3</sub>Bk.
Berkelium also forms Berkelocene, an actinocene complex, with substituted cyclooctatetraenides.
Applications
of berkelium (as nitrate) prepared at HFIR in 2009 at a cost of approximately one million dollars, used for the synthesis of tennessine in JINR|alt=A very small sample of a blue liquid in a plastic pipette held by a hand wearing heavy protection equipment]]
There is currently no use for any isotope of berkelium outside basic scientific research. such as lawrencium, rutherfordium and bohrium.
A 22 milligram batch of berkelium-249 was prepared in a 250-day irradiation and then purified for 90 days at Oak Ridge in 2009. This target yielded the first 6 atoms of tennessine at the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (JINR), Dubna, Russia, after bombarding it with calcium ions in the U400 cyclotron for 150 days. This synthesis was a culmination of the Russia-US collaboration between JINR and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory on the synthesis of elements 113 to 118 which was initiated in 1989.
Nuclear fuel cycle
The nuclear fission properties of berkelium are different from those of the neighboring actinides curium and californium, and they suggest berkelium to perform poorly as a fuel in a nuclear reactor. Specifically, berkelium-249 has a moderately large neutron capture cross section of 710 barns for thermal neutrons, 1200 barns resonance integral, but very low fission cross section for thermal neutrons. In a thermal reactor, much of it will therefore be converted to berkelium-250 which quickly decays to californium-250. In principle, berkelium-249 can sustain a nuclear chain reaction in a fast breeder reactor. Its critical mass is relatively high at 192 kg, which can be reduced with a water or steel reflector but would still exceed the world production of this isotope.
Berkelium-247 can maintain a chain reaction both in a thermal-neutron and in a fast-neutron reactor, however, its production is rather complex and thus the availability is much lower than its critical mass, which is about 75.7 kg for a bare sphere, 41.2 kg with a water reflector and 35.2 kg with a steel reflector (30 cm thickness).
Most available berkelium toxicity data originate from research on animals. Upon ingestion by rats, only about 0.01% of berkelium ends in the blood stream. From there, about 65% goes to the bones, where it remains for about 50 years, 25% to the lungs (biological half-life about 20 years), 0.035% to the testicles or 0.01% to the ovaries where berkelium stays indefinitely. The balance of about 10% is excreted. In all these organs berkelium might promote cancer, and in the skeleton, its radiation can damage red blood cells. The maximum permissible amount of berkelium-249 in the human skeleton is 0.4 nanograms.ReferencesBibliography*
*
*
External links
* [http://www.periodicvideos.com/videos/097.htm Berkelium] at The Periodic Table of Videos (University of Nottingham)
Category:Chemical elements
Category:Chemical elements with double hexagonal close-packed structure
Category:Actinides
Category:Synthetic elements
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Bauxite
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for comparison]]
mineral maps of bauxite ore-forming pisoliths]]
Bauxite () is a sedimentary rock with a relatively high aluminium content. It is the world's main source of aluminium and gallium. Bauxite consists mostly of the aluminium minerals gibbsite (), boehmite (γ-AlO(OH)) and diaspore (α-AlO(OH)), mixed with the two iron oxides goethite (FeO(OH)) and haematite (), the aluminium clay mineral kaolinite () and small amounts of anatase () and ilmenite ( or ).
Bauxite appears dull in luster and is reddish-brown, white, or tan.
In 1821, the French geologist Pierre Berthier discovered bauxite near the village of Les Baux in Provence, southern France.
Formation
Numerous classification schemes have been proposed for bauxite but, , there was no consensus.
Vadász (1951) distinguished lateritic bauxites (silicate bauxites) from karst bauxite ores (carbonate bauxites):
Production and reserves
, in northern Queensland, Australia]]
Australia is the largest producer of bauxite, followed by Guinea and China. Bauxite is usually strip mined because it is almost always found near the surface of the terrain, with little or no overburden. Increased aluminium recycling, which requires less electric power than producing aluminium from ores, may considerably extend the world's bauxite reserves.
Aluminium production
, to be shipped elsewhere for processing; 2007]]
, approximately 70% to 80% of the world's dry bauxite production is processed first into alumina and then into aluminium by electrolysis. Bauxite rocks are typically classified according to their intended commercial application: metallurgical, abrasive, cement, chemical, and refractory.
Bauxite ore is usually heated in a pressure vessel along with a sodium hydroxide solution at a temperature of . At these temperatures, the aluminium is dissolved as sodium aluminate (the Bayer process). The aluminium compounds in the bauxite may be present as gibbsite (Al(OH)<sub>3</sub>), boehmite (AlOOH) or diaspore (AlOOH); the different forms of the aluminium component will dictate the extraction conditions. The undissolved waste, bauxite tailings, after the aluminium compounds are extracted contains iron oxides, silica, calcia, titania and some un-reacted alumina. After separation of the residue by filtering, pure gibbsite is precipitated when the liquid is cooled, and then seeded with fine-grained aluminium hydroxide. The gibbsite is usually converted into aluminium oxide, Al<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub>, by heating in rotary kilns or fluid flash calciners to a temperature in excess of . This aluminium oxide is dissolved at a temperature of about in molten cryolite. Next, this molten substance can yield metallic aluminium by passing an electric current through it in the process of electrolysis, which is called the Hall–Héroult process, named after its American and French discoverers.
Prior to the invention of this process, and prior to the Deville process, aluminium ore was refined by heating ore along with elemental sodium or potassium in a vacuum. The method was complicated and consumed materials that were themselves expensive at that time. This made early elemental aluminium more expensive than gold.
Maritime safety
As a bulk cargo, bauxite is a Group A cargo that may liquefy if excessively moist. Liquefaction and the free surface effect can cause the cargo to shift rapidly inside the hold and make the ship unstable, potentially sinking the ship. One vessel suspected to have been sunk in this way was the MS Bulk Jupiter in 2015. One method which can demonstrate this effect is the "can test", in which a sample of the material is placed in a cylindrical can and struck against a surface many times. If a moist slurry forms in the can, then there is a likelihood for the cargo to liquefy; although conversely, even if the sample remains dry it does not conclusively prove that it will remain that way, or that it is safe for loading.Source of galliumBauxite is the main source of the rare metal gallium.
During the processing of bauxite to alumina in the Bayer process, gallium accumulates in the sodium hydroxide liquor. From this it can be extracted by a variety of methods. The most recent is the use of ion-exchange resin. Achievable extraction efficiencies critically depend on the original concentration in the feed bauxite. At a typical feed concentration of 50 ppm, about 15 percent of the contained gallium is extractable.
Bauxite is also a potential source for vanadium. Socio-ecological impacts The social and environmental impacts of bauxite extraction are well documented. Most of the world's bauxite deposits can be found within of the earths surface. Strip mining is the most common technique used for extracting shallow bauxite. It contains several elements such as sodium aluminoscilicate, calcium titanate, monohydrate aluminium, and trihydrate aluminium that do not break down in nature. When improperly stored, red mud can contaminate soil and water, which can result in local extinction of all life. Red mud was responsible for killing all life in the Marcal River in Hungary after a spill occurred in 2010. When red mud dries, it turns into dust that can cause lung disease, cancer and birth defects. In the Boké Region of Guinea, there has been a significant increase in bauxite mining pressure on the local population. This has resulted in potable water issues, air pollution, food contamination, and land expropriation disputes due to improper compensation. The forest reserve is one of the only two upland evergreen forests in Ghana, and makes up a significant portion of the remaining 20% of forested habitat left in Ghana. The Atewa range falls under the jurisdiction of Akyem Abuakwa Traditional Area and is overseen by the king known as Okyenhene. These tribal lands are densely populated and home to over 100 million Indigenous Indian peoples. The mountain summits located on these lands act as a source of water and greatly contribute to the regions fertility.<ref name"Padel-2015" /> The Indian bauxite industry is interested in developing this land for aluminum production, which poses great risk to the terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. Historically, the Indigenous peoples living on these lands have shown resistance to development, and oppose any new bauxite mining projects in the area. This has led to violent conflicts between Indigenous communities and police.<ref name"Padel-2015" /> On December 16, 2000, police killed three Indigenous protestors and wounded over a dozen more during a protest over a bauxite project in the Rayagada district of Odisha.<ref name"Padel-2015" />
See also
*Bauxite, Arkansas
*Rio Tinto Alcan
*United Company RUSAL
*MS Bulk Jupiter
References
Further reading
*Bárdossy, G. (1982): Karst Bauxites: Bauxite deposits on carbonate rocks. Elsevier Sci. Publ. 441 p.
*Bárdossy, G. and Aleva, G.J.J. (1990): Lateritic Bauxites. Developments in Economic Geology 27, Elsevier Sci. Publ. 624 p.
*Grant, C.; Lalor, G. and Vutchkov, M. (2005) Comparison of bauxites from Jamaica, the Dominican Republic and Suriname. Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry p. 385–388 Vol.266, No.3
*Hanilçi, N. (2013). Geological and geochemical evolution of the Bolkardaği bauxite deposits, Karaman, Turkey: Transformation from shale to bauxite. Journal of Geochemical Exploration
External links
*[http://minerals.usgs.gov/minerals/pubs/commodity/bauxite/ USGS Minerals Information: Bauxite]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20051003232659/http://www.mii.org/Minerals/photoal.html Mineral Information Institute]
*
Category:Sedimentary rocks
Category:Aluminium minerals
Category:Articles containing video clips
Category:Regolith
Category:Weathering
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Bavaria
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<br /></small>
| native_name_lang = 0p
| settlement_type = State
| image_skyline | imagesize 270px
| image_caption | image_flag <br /><br />
| flag_size = 120px
| image_shield = Coat of arms of Bavaria.svg
| shield_size = 110
| anthem }}<br /><br /><div style"display:inline-block;margin-top:0.4em;"></div>
| image_map
| mapsize = 155px
| map_caption | coordinates
| subdivision_type = Country
| subdivision_name = Germany
| seat_type = Capital
| seat = Munich
| governing_body = Landtag of Bavaria
| leader_party = CSU
| leader_title = Minister-President
| leader_name = Markus Söder
| leader_title1 = Governing parties
| leader_name1 = CSU / FW
| leader_title2 = Bundesrat votes
| leader_name2 = 6 (of 69)
| leader_title3 = Bundestag seats
| leader_name3 = 117 (of 736)
| total_type = Total
| area_footnotes | area_total_km2 70550.19
| elevation_m | population_footnotes
| population_total = 13,369,393
| population_as_of = 2022-12-31
| population_density_km2 = auto
| population_urban | population_metro
| population_demonym = Bavarian
| demographics_type1 = GDP
| demographics1_footnotes
| demographics1_title1 = Total
| demographics1_info1 = €716.784 billion (2022)
| demographics1_title2 = Per capita
| demographics1_info2 = €53,768 (2022)
| timezone1 = CET
| utc_offset1 = +1
| timezone1_DST = CEST
| utc_offset1_DST = +2
| postal_code_type | postal_code
| area_code_type | area_code
| registration_plate | blank2_name_sec2 HDI (2022)
| blank2_info_sec2 0.958<br /> · 4th of 16
| iso_code = DE-BY
| blank_name_sec2 = NUTS Region
| blank_info_sec2 = DE2
| website =
| footnotes =
}}
Bavaria, ; }} officially the Free State of Bavaria,; Bavarian: Freistoot Bayern}} is a state in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the largest German state by land area, comprising approximately 1/5 of the total land area of Germany, and with over 13.08 million inhabitants, it is the second most populous German state, behind only North Rhine-Westphalia; however, due to its large land area, its population density is below the German average. Major cities include Munich (its capital and largest city, which is also the third largest city in Germany), Nuremberg, and Augsburg.
The history of Bavaria includes its earliest settlement by Iron Age Celtic tribes, followed by the conquests of the Roman Empire in the 1st century BC, when the territory was incorporated into the provinces of Raetia and Noricum. It became the Duchy of Bavaria (a stem duchy) in the 6th century AD following the collapse of the Western Roman Empire. It was later incorporated into the Holy Roman Empire, became the independent Kingdom of Bavaria after 1806, joined the Prussian-led German Empire in 1871 while retaining its title of kingdom, and finally became a state of the Federal Republic of Germany in 1949.
Bavaria has a distinct culture, largely because of its Catholic heritage and conservative traditions, which includes a language, cuisine, architecture, festivals and elements of Alpine symbolism. It also has the second-largest economy among the German states by GDP figures, giving it the status of a wealthy German region.
Contemporary Bavaria also includes parts of the historical regions of Franconia and Swabia, in addition to Altbayern.
History
Antiquity
Though Bavaria has been occupied by humans since the Paleolithic era, Celtic tribes of the Bronze Age, such as the Boii were the first documented inhabitants of the Bavarian Alps. In June 2023, Archeologists discovered a bronze sword, dated to the 14th century BC, in a former Celtic village; its workmanship so well-preserved "it almost shines." During the early modern era, these peoples were retrospectively romanticized as the most ancient culture of Bavaria, even though the Indo-European languages were relative newcomers to the region. Evidence of the ancient Straubing culture, Únětice culture and La Tène culture may be found in what is Bavaria today.
Archeologists know of a large Celtic Iron Age settlement which was founded in Feldmoching-Hasenbergl, in the North of suburban Munich. The settlement featured food ovens, pottery kilns and metallurgical furnaces. An imperial military camp was built 60 km north-west of where Munich sits today, under orders of Augustus Caesar, between 8 and 5 BC. The camp later became the town of Augusta Vindelicorum, which would become the capital of the Roman province of Raetia. By the late 2nd century AD, Germanic tribes, including Marcomanni people, were pushing back on Roman forces of Marcus Aurelius and later, Commodus in the Marcomannic Wars. By 180 AD, Commodus had decided to abandon the annexed positions in Bavaria, leaving its control to Celtic and Germanic tribes.Middle AgesAround the year 500 AD, some elements of that victorious Marcomanni people helped form the Bavarii confederation, which incorporated Bohemia and Bavaria. In the 530s, the Merovingian dynasty incorporated the kingdom of Thuringia after their defeat by the Franks. The Baiuvarii were Frankicised a century later. The Lex Thuringorum documents an upper class nobility of adalingi. From about 554 to 788, the house of Agilolfing ruled the Duchy of Bavaria, ending with Tassilo III who was deposed by Charlemagne.
Tassilo I of Bavaria tried unsuccessfully to hold the eastern frontier against the expansion of Slavic peoples and the Pannonian Avars around 600. Garibald II seems to have achieved a balance of power between 610 and 616.
At Hugbert's death in 735, the duchy passed to Odilo of Bavaria from the neighboring Alemannia. Odilo issued a Lex Baiuvariorum for Bavaria, completed the process of church organization in partnership with Saint Boniface in 739, and tried to intervene in Frankish succession disputes by fighting for the claims of the Carolingian dynasty. He was defeated near Augsburg in 743 but continued to rule until his death in 748.
Saint Boniface completed the people's conversion to Christianity in the early 8th century. Tassilo III of Bavaria succeeded to rule Bavaria. He initially ruled under Frankish oversight but began to function independently from 763 onward. He was particularly noted for founding new monasteries and for expanding eastwards, oppressing Slavs in the eastern Alps and along the Danube and colonizing these lands. After 781, however, Charlemagne began to exert pressure and Tassilo III was deposed in 788. Dissenters attempted a coup against Charlemagne at Regensburg in 792, led by Pepin the Hunchback.
With the revolt of Henry II, Duke of Bavaria in 976, Bavaria lost large territories in the south and southeast.
One of the most important dukes of Bavaria was Henry the Lion of the house of Welf, founder of Munich, and de facto the second most powerful man in the empire as the ruler of two duchies. When in 1180, Henry the Lion was deposed as Duke of Saxony and Bavaria by his cousin, Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor (a.k.a. "Barbarossa" for his red beard), Bavaria was awarded as fief to the Wittelsbach family, counts palatinate of Schyren ("Scheyern" in modern German). They ruled for 738 years, from 1180 to 1918. In 1180, however, Styria was also separated from Bavaria. The Electorate of the Palatinate by Rhine (Kurpfalz in German) was also acquired by the House of Wittelsbach in 1214, which they would subsequently hold for six centuries.
The first of several divisions of the duchy of Bavaria occurred in 1255. With the extinction of the Hohenstaufen in 1268, Swabian territories were acquired by the Wittelsbach dukes. Emperor Louis the Bavarian acquired Brandenburg, Tyrol, Holland and Hainaut for his House but released the Upper Palatinate for the Palatinate branch of the Wittelsbach in 1329. That time also Salzburg finally became independent from the Duchy of Bavaria.
In the 14th and 15th centuries, upper and lower Bavaria were repeatedly subdivided. Four Duchies existed after the division of 1392: Bavaria-Straubing, Bavaria-Landshut, Bavaria-Ingolstadt and Bavaria-Munich. In 1506 with the Landshut War of Succession, the other parts of Bavaria were reunited, and Munich became the sole capital. The country became a center of the Jesuit-inspired Counter-Reformation.
Electorate of Bavaria
In 1623, the Bavarian duke replaced his relative of the Palatinate branch, the Electorate of the Palatinate in the early days of the Thirty Years' War and acquired the powerful prince-elector dignity in the Holy Roman Empire, determining its Emperor thence forward, as well as special legal status under the empire's laws. During the early and mid-18th century the ambitions of the Bavarian prince electors led to several wars with Austria as well as occupations by Austria (War of the Spanish Succession, War of the Austrian Succession with the election of a Wittelsbach emperor instead of a Habsburg).
To mark the unification of Bavaria and the Electoral Palatinate, both being principal Wittelsbach territories, Elector Maximilian IV Joseph was crowned king of Bavaria. King Maximilian Joseph was quick to change the coat of arms. The various heraldic symbols were replaced and a classical Wittelsbach pattern introduced. The white and blue lozenges symbolized the unity of the territories within the Bavarian kingdom.
The new state also comprised the Duchy of Jülich and Berg as these on their part were in personal union with the Palatinate.Kingdom of Bavaria
When the Holy Roman Empire dissolved under Napoleon's onslaught, Bavaria became a kingdom in 1806 and joined the Confederation of the Rhine.
The Duchy of Jülich was ceded to France and the Electoral Palatinate was divided between France and the Grand Duchy of Baden. The Duchy of Berg was given to Joachim Murat. The County of Tyrol and the federal state of Salzburg were temporarily annexed with Bavaria but eventually ceded to Austria at the Congress of Vienna. In return, Bavaria was allowed to annex the modern-day region of Palatinate to the west of the Rhine and Franconia in 1815.
Between 1799 and 1817, the leading minister, Count Montgelas, followed a strict policy of modernization copying Napoleonic France; he laid the foundations of centralized administrative structures that survived the monarchy and, in part, have retained core validity through to the 21st century. In May 1808, a first constitution was passed by Maximilian I, being modernized in 1818. This second version established a bicameral Parliament with a House of Lords (Kammer der Reichsräte) and a House of Commons (Kammer der Abgeordneten). That constitution was followed until the collapse of the monarchy at the end of World War I.
After the rise of Prussia in the early 18th century, Bavaria preserved its independence by playing off the rivalry of Prussia and Austria. Allied to Austria, it was defeated along with Austria in the 1866 Austro-Prussian War and was not incorporated into the North German Confederation of 1867, but the question of German unity was still alive. When France declared war on Prussia in 1870, all the south German states (Baden, Württemberg, Hessen-Darmstadt and Bavaria) aside from Austria, joined the Prussian forces and ultimately joined the Federation, which was renamed (German Empire) in 1871.
Bavaria continued as a monarchy, and retained some special rights within the federation (such as railways and postal services and control of its army in peace times).
Part of the German Empire
, which was formed in 1871 and endured until 1918]]
When Bavaria became part of the newly formed German Empire, this action was considered controversial by Bavarian nationalists who had wanted to retain independence from the rest of Germany, as had Austria.
As Bavaria had a heavily Catholic majority population, many people resented being ruled by the mostly Protestant northerners in Prussia. As a direct result of the Bavarian-Prussian feud, political parties formed to encourage Bavaria to break away and regain its independence.
In the early 20th century, Wassily Kandinsky, Paul Klee, Henrik Ibsen, and other artists were drawn to Bavaria, especially to the Schwabing district in Munich, a center of international artistic activity at the time.
Free State of Bavaria
and World War II in Kröning, Bavaria]]
World War I led to the abolition of monarchy all over Germany in 1918. The Bavarian monarchy was the first to fall when on 8 November 1918 Socialist politician Kurt Eisner proclaimed the Free State (i.e. republic) of Bavaria. Eisner headed a new, republican government as minister-president. On 12 November, King Ludwig III signed the Anif declaration, releasing both civil and military officers from their oaths, which the Eisner government interpreted as an abdication.
After losing the January 1919 elections, Eisner was assassinated in February 1919, ultimately leading to a Communist revolt and the short-lived Bavarian Soviet Republic being proclaimed 6 April 1919. After violent suppression by elements of the German Army and notably the Freikorps, the Bavarian Soviet Republic fell in May 1919. The Bamberg Constitution () was enacted on 12 or 14 August 1919 and came into force on 15 September 1919, placing Bavaria inside the Weimar Republic.
Extremist activity further increased, notably the 1923 Beer Hall Putsch led by the Nazis, and Munich and Nuremberg became seen as strongholds of Nazism during the Weimar Republic and Nazi dictatorship. However, in the crucial German federal election, March 1933, the Nazis received less than 50% of the votes cast in Bavaria.
As a manufacturing centre, Munich was heavily bombed during World War II and was occupied by United States Armed Forces, becoming a major part of the American Zone of Allied-occupied Germany, which lasted from 1945 to 1947, and then of Bizone.
The Rhenish Palatinate was detached from Bavaria in 1946 and made part of the new state Rhineland-Palatinate. In 1949, Bavaria became part of the Federal Republic of Germany, despite the Bavarian Parliament voting against adopting the Basic Law of Germany, mainly because it was seen as not granting sufficient powers to the individual states (Länder), but at the same time declared that it would accept it if two-thirds of the other Länder ratified it. All of the other states ratified it, so it became law. Thus, during the Cold War, Bavaria was part of West Germany.Bavarian identityBavarians have often emphasized a separate national identity and considered themselves as "Bavarians" first, "Germans" second. In the 19th-century sense, an independent Kingdom of Bavaria existed from only 1806 to 1871. A separate Bavarian identity was emphasized more strongly when Bavaria joined the Prussia-dominated German Empire in 1871, while the Bavarian nationalists wanted to keep Bavaria as Catholic and an independent state. Aside from the minority Bavaria Party, most Bavarians now accept Bavaria as part of Germany.
Another consideration is that Bavaria is not culturally uniform. While inhabitants Altbayern ("Old Bavaria"), the regions forming the historic Bavaria before further acquisitions in 1806–1815, speak a Bavarian dialect of German, Franconia in the north and Bavarian Swabia in the south west, have their unique culture, including different dialects of German, East Franconian and Swabian, respectively.
Flags and coat of arms
Flags
Uniquely among German states, Bavaria has two official flags of equal status, one with a white and blue stripe, the other with white and blue diamond-shaped lozenges. Either may be used by civilians and government offices, who are free to choose between them. Unofficial versions of the flag, especially a lozenge style with coat of arms, are sometimes used by civilians.
Coat of arms
The modern coat of arms of Bavaria was designed by Eduard Ege in 1946, following heraldic traditions.
* The Golden Lion: At the dexter chief, sable, a lion rampant Or, armed and langued gules. This represents the administrative region of Upper Palatinate.
* The "Franconian Rake": At the sinister chief, per fess dancetty, gules, and argent. This represents the administrative regions of Upper, Middle and Lower Franconia.
* The Blue "Pantier" (mythical creature from French heraldry, sporting a flame instead of a tongue): At the dexter base, argent, a Pantier rampant azure, armed Or and langued gules. This represents the regions of Lower and Upper Bavaria.
* The Three Lions: At the sinister base, Or, three lions passant guardant sable, armed and langued gules. This represents Swabia.
* The White-And-Blue inescutcheon: The inescutcheon of white and blue fusils askance was originally the coat of arms of the Counts of Bogen, adopted in 1247 by the House of Wittelsbach. The white-and-blue fusils are indisputably the emblem of Bavaria and these arms today symbolize Bavaria as a whole. Along with the People's Crown, it is officially used as the Minor Coat of Arms.
* The People's Crown (Volkskrone): The coat of arms is surmounted by a crown with a golden band inset with precious stones and decorated with five ornamental leaves. This crown first appeared in the coat of arms to symbolize sovereignty of the people after the royal crown was eschewed in 1923.
Geography
(foreground) and Tyrol in Austria (background), including the Inn valley (center), Kaisergebirge (left), Pendling (right), and the snow-capped High Tauern (center left)]]
Bavaria shares international borders with Austria (Salzburg, Tyrol, Upper Austria and Vorarlberg) and the Czech Republic (Karlovy Vary, Plzeň and South Bohemian Regions), as well as with Switzerland (across Lake Constance to the Canton of St. Gallen).
Neighboring states within Germany are Baden-Württemberg, Hesse, Thuringia, and Saxony. Two major rivers flow through the state: the Danube (Donau) and the Main. The Bavarian Forest and the Bohemian Forest form the vast majority of the frontier with the Czech Republic and Bohemia.
The geographic center of the European Union is located in the northwestern corner of Bavaria.Climate
At lower elevations the climate is classified according to Köppen's guide as "Cfb" or "Dfb". At higher altitudes the climate becomes "Dfc" and "ET".
The summer months have been getting hotter in recent years. For example, June 2019 was the warmest June in Bavaria since weather observations have been recorded In general winter months are seeing more precipitation which is taking the form of rain more often than that of snow compared to the past.
! colspan="2" | Area (km<sup>2</sup>)
! colspan="2" | No. municipalities
|-
| Lower Bavaria
| style="text-align:center;"|
| Landshut
| style="text-align:right;"| 1,244,169
| style="text-align:right;"| 9.48%
| style="text-align:right;"| 10,330
| style="text-align:right;"| 14.6%
| style="text-align:right;"| 258
| style="text-align:right;"| 12.5%
|-
| Lower Franconia
| style="text-align:center;"|
| Würzburg
| style="text-align:right;"| 1,317,619
| style="text-align:right;"| 10.46%
| style="text-align:right;"| 8,531
| style="text-align:right;"| 12.1%
| style="text-align:right;"| 308
| style="text-align:right;"| 15.0%
|-
| Upper Franconia
| style="text-align:center;"|
| Bayreuth
| style="text-align:right;"| 1,065,371
| style="text-align:right;"| 8.49%
| style="text-align:right;"| 7,231
| style="text-align:right;"| 10.2%
| style="text-align:right;"| 214
| style="text-align:right;"| 10.4%
|-
| Middle Franconia
| style="text-align:center;"|
| Ansbach
| style="text-align:right;"| 1,775,169
| style="text-align:right;"| 13.65%
| style="text-align:right;"| 7,245
| style="text-align:right;"| 10.3%
| style="text-align:right;"| 210
| style="text-align:right;"| 10.2%
|-
| Upper Palatinate
| style="text-align:center;"|
| Regensburg
| style="text-align:right;"| 1,112,102
| style="text-align:right;"| 8.60%
| style="text-align:right;"| 9,691
| style="text-align:right;"| 13.7%
| style="text-align:right;"| 226
| style="text-align:right;"| 11.0%
|-
| Swabia
| style="text-align:center;"|
| Augsburg
| style="text-align:right;"| 1,899,442
| style="text-align:right;"| 14.21%
| style="text-align:right;"| 9,992
| style="text-align:right;"| 14.2%
| style="text-align:right;"| 340
| style="text-align:right;"| 16.5%
|-
| Upper Bavaria
| style="text-align:center;"|
| Munich
| style="text-align:right;"| 4,710,865
| style="text-align:right;"| 35.12%
| style="text-align:right;"| 17,530
| style="text-align:right;"| 24.8%
| style="text-align:right;"| 500
| style="text-align:right;"| 24.3%
|- style="background:lightgrey;"
! Total
!
!
! style="text-align:right;"| 13,124,737
! style="text-align:right;"| 100.0%
! style="text-align:right;"| 70,549
! style="text-align:right;"| 100.0%
! style="text-align:right;"| 2,056
! style="text-align:right;"| 100.0%
|}
Districts
]]
The second communal layer is made up of 71 rural districts (called , singular ) that are comparable to counties, as well as the 25 independent cities (, singular ), both of which share the same administrative responsibilities.
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Independent cities:
# Amberg
# Ansbach
# Aschaffenburg
# Augsburg
# Bamberg
# Bayreuth
# Coburg
# Erlangen
# Fürth
# Hof
# Ingolstadt
# Kaufbeuren
# Kempten
# Landshut
# Memmingen
# Munich (München)
# Nuremberg (Nürnberg)
# Passau
# Regensburg
# Rosenheim
# Schwabach
# Schweinfurt
# Straubing
# Weiden
# Würzburg
Municipalities
with Frauenkirche (left) and Rathaus, Munich's town hall]]
The 71 rural districts are on the lowest level divided into 2,031 regular municipalities (called , singular ). Together with the 25 independent cities (, which are in effect municipalities independent of administrations), there are a total of 2,056 municipalities in Bavaria.
In 44 of the 71 rural districts, there are a total of 215 unincorporated areas (as of 1 January 2005, called , singular ), not belonging to any municipality, all uninhabited, mostly forested areas, but also four lakes (-without islands, -without island , , which are the three largest lakes of Bavaria, and ).
Major cities and towns
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|- style="background:#ddd;"
! City
! Region
! Inhabitants <br />
! Inhabitants <br />
! Inhabitants <br />
! Inhabitants <br />
! Change <br />
|-
|Munich
| Upper Bavaria
| style="text-align:right;"|1,210,223
| style="text-align:right;"|1,259,677
| style="text-align:right;"|1,353,186
| style="text-align:right;"|1,450,381
| align=right|+11.81
|-
|Nuremberg
| Middle Franconia
| style="text-align:right;"|488,400
| style="text-align:right;"|499,237
| style="text-align:right;"|505,664
| style="text-align:right;"|509,975
| align=right|+3.53
|-
|Augsburg
| Swabia
| style="text-align:right;"|254,982
| style="text-align:right;"|262,676
| style="text-align:right;"|264,708
| style="text-align:right;"|286,374
| align=right|+3.81
|-
|Regensburg
| Upper Palatinate
| style="text-align:right;"|125,676
| style="text-align:right;"|129,859
| style="text-align:right;"|135,520
| style="text-align:right;"|145,465
| align=right|+7.83
|-
|Ingolstadt
| Upper Bavaria
| style="text-align:right;"|115,722
| style="text-align:right;"|121,314
| style="text-align:right;"|125,088
| style="text-align:right;"|132,438
| align=right|+8.09
|-
|Würzburg
| Lower Franconia
| style="text-align:right;"|127,966
| style="text-align:right;"|133,906
| style="text-align:right;"|133,799
| style="text-align:right;"|124,873
| align=right|+4.56
|-
|Fürth
| Middle Franconia
| style="text-align:right;"|110,477
| style="text-align:right;"|113,422
| style="text-align:right;"|114,628
| style="text-align:right;"|124,171
| align=right|+3.76
|-
|Erlangen
| Middle Franconia
| style="text-align:right;"|100,778
| style="text-align:right;"|103,197
| style="text-align:right;"|105,629
| style="text-align:right;"|108,336
| align=right|+4.81
|-
|Bayreuth
| Upper Franconia
| style="text-align:right;"|74,153
| style="text-align:right;"|73,997
| style="text-align:right;"|72,683
| style="text-align:right;"|72,148
| align=right|−1.98
|-
|Bamberg
| Upper Franconia
| style="text-align:right;"|69,036
| style="text-align:right;"|70,081
| style="text-align:right;"|70,004
| style="text-align:right;"|73,331
| align=right|+1.40
|-
|Aschaffenburg
| Lower Franconia
| style="text-align:right;"|67,592
| style="text-align:right;"|68,642
| style="text-align:right;"|68,678
| style="text-align:right;"|68,986
| align=right|+1.61
|-
|Landshut
| Lower Bavaria
| style="text-align:right;"|58,746
| style="text-align:right;"|61,368
| style="text-align:right;"|63,258
| style="text-align:right;"|69,211
| align=right|+7.68
|-
|Kempten
| Swabia
| style="text-align:right;"|61,389
| style="text-align:right;"|61,360
| style="text-align:right;"|62,060
| style="text-align:right;"|66,947
| align=right|+1.09
|-
|Rosenheim
| Upper Bavaria
| style="text-align:right;"|58,908
| style="text-align:right;"|60,226
| style="text-align:right;"|61,299
| style="text-align:right;"|61,844
| align=right|+4.06
|-
|Neu-Ulm
| Swabia
| style="text-align:right;"|50,188
| style="text-align:right;"|51,410
| style="text-align:right;"|53,504
| style="text-align:right;"|57,237
| align=right|+6.61
|-
|Schweinfurt
| Lower Franconia
| style="text-align:right;"|54,325
| style="text-align:right;"|54,273
| style="text-align:right;"|53,415
| style="text-align:right;"|51,969
| align=right|−1.68
|-
|Passau
| Lower Bavaria
| style="text-align:right;"|50,536
| style="text-align:right;"|50,651
| style="text-align:right;"|50,594
| style="text-align:right;"|50,566
| align=right|+0.11
|-
|Freising
| Upper Bavaria
| style="text-align:right;"|40,890
| style="text-align:right;"|42,854
| style="text-align:right;"|45,223
| style="text-align:right;"|46,963
| align=right|+10.60
|-
| Straubing
| Lower Bavaria
| style="text-align:right;"|44,014
| style="text-align:right;"|44,633
| style="text-align:right;"|44,450
| style="text-align:right;"|46,806
| align=right|+0.99
|-
|Dachau
| Upper Bavaria
| style="text-align:right;"|38,398
| style="text-align:right;"|39,922
| style="text-align:right;"|42,954
| style="text-align:right;"|46,705
| align=right|+11.87
|-
| colspan"63" style"text-align: center;" | Source: Bayerisches Landesamt für Statistik und Datenverarbeitung
|}
Politics
in Munich]]
Bavaria has a multiparty system dominated by the conservative Christian Social Union (CSU), which has won every election since 1945 with the exception of the 1950 ballot. Other important parties are the Free Voters, which became the second largest party in the 2023 Bavarian state election, The Greens, which became the second biggest political party in the 2018 Bavarian state elections, and the center-left Social Democrats (SPD), who had dominated the city of Munich until 2020. Hitherto, Wilhelm Hoegner has been the only SPD candidate to ever become Minister-President; notable successors in office include multi-term Federal Minister Franz Josef Strauss, a key figure among West German conservatives during the Cold War years, and Edmund Stoiber, who both failed with their bids for Chancellorship.
The German Greens and the center-right Free Voters have been represented in the state parliament since 1986 and 2008 respectively.
In the 2003 elections the CSU won a two-thirds supermajority – something no party had ever achieved in postwar Germany. However, in the subsequent 2008 elections the CSU lost the absolute majority for the first time in 46 years.
The losses were partly attributed by some to the CSU's stance for an anti-smoking bill. (A first anti-smoking law had been proposed by the CSU and passed but was watered down after the election, after which a referendum enforced a strict antismoking bill with a large majority).Current Landtag <!-- Update "current" -->
:|CSU: 85 seats}}]]
The last state elections were held on 8 October 2023. The CSU could almost maintain the results from the last elections with 37%. The Greens lost 3% compared to the last election with a result of 14.4%. The SPD lost again compared to the last election and was now at 8.4%. The liberals of the FDP were not able to reach the five-percent-threshold thus they are not part of the Landtag anymore, the second time after the 2013 elections. The right-wing populist Alternative for Germany (AfD) gained another 4% with 14.6% of the vote.
The center-right Free Voters party gained 15.8% of the votes and for the second time formed a government coalition with the CSU which led to the subsequent reelection of Markus Söder as Minister-President of Bavaria.
Government
The Constitution of Bavaria of the Free State of Bavaria was enacted on 8 December 1946. The new Bavarian Constitution became the basis for the Bavarian State after the Second World War.
Bavaria has a unicameral (English: State Parliament), elected by universal suffrage. Until December 1999, there was also a , or Senate, whose members were chosen by social and economic groups in Bavaria, but following a referendum in 1998, this institution was abolished.
The Bavarian State Government consists of the Minister-President of Bavaria, eleven Ministers and six Secretaries of State. The Minister-President is elected for a period of five years by the State Parliament and is head of state. With the approval of the State Parliament he appoints the members of the State Government. The State Government is composed of the:
*State Chancellery ()
*Ministry of the Interior, for Sport and Integration ()
*Ministry for Housing, Construction and Transport ()
*Ministry of Justice ()
*Ministry for Education and Culture ()
*Ministry for Science and Art ()
*Ministry of Finance and for Home Affairs ()
*Ministry for Economic Affairs, Regional Development and Energy ()
*Ministry for Environment and Consumer Protection ()
*Ministry for Food, Agriculture and Forestry ()
*Ministry for Family, Labour and Social Affairs ()
*Ministry for Health and Care ()
*Ministry for Digital Affairs ()
Political processes also take place in the seven regions ( or ) in Bavaria, in the 71 rural districts () and the 25 towns and cities forming their own districts (), and in the 2,031 local authorities ().
In 1995 Bavaria introduced direct democracy on the local level in a referendum. This was initiated bottom-up by an association called Mehr Demokratie (English: More Democracy). This is a grass-roots organization which campaigns for the right to citizen-initiated referendums. In 1997 the Bavarian Supreme Court tightened the regulations considerably (including by introducing a turn-out quorum). Nevertheless, Bavaria has the most advanced regulations on local direct democracy in Germany. This has led to a spirited citizens' participation in communal and municipal affairs—835 referendums took place from 1995 through 2005.
Minister-presidents of Bavaria since 1945
, the current prime minister of Bavaria]]
{| class="wikitable"
! style"background:#eef; text-align:center;" colspan"6"| Minister-presidents of Bavaria
|- style="background:#eef;"
! No.
! Name
! Born and died
! Party affiliation
! Begin of tenure
! End of tenure
|- style="background:#C5DFE1;"
|| 1
|| Fritz Schäffer
| style="text-align:center;"| 1888–1967
| style="text-align:center;"| CSU
| style="text-align:center;"| 1945
| style="text-align:center;"| 1945
|- style="background:#FFE8E8;"
|| 2
|| Wilhelm Hoegner
| style="text-align:center;"| 1887–1980
| style="text-align:center;"| SPD
| style="text-align:center;"| 1945
| style="text-align:center;"| 1946
|- style="background:#C5DFE1;"
|| 3
|| Hans Ehard
| style="text-align:center;"| 1887–1980
| style="text-align:center;"| CSU
| style="text-align:center;"| 1946
| style="text-align:center;"| 1954
|- style="background:#FFE8E8;"
|| 4
|| Wilhelm Hoegner
| style="text-align:center;"| 1887–1980
| style="text-align:center;"| SPD
| style="text-align:center;"| 1954
| style="text-align:center;"| 1957
|- style="background:#C5DFE1;"
|| 5
|| Hanns Seidel
| style="text-align:center;"| 1901–1961
| style="text-align:center;"| CSU
| style="text-align:center;"| 1957
| style="text-align:center;"| 1960
|- style="background:#C5DFE1;"
|| 6
|| Hans Ehard
| style="text-align:center;"| 1887–1980
| style="text-align:center;"| CSU
| style="text-align:center;"| 1960
| style="text-align:center;"| 1962
|- style="background:#C5DFE1;"
|| 7
|| Alfons Goppel
| style="text-align:center;"| 1905–1991
| style="text-align:center;"| CSU
| style="text-align:center;"| 1962
| style="text-align:center;"| 1978
|- style="background:#C5DFE1;"
|| 8
|| Franz Josef Strauß
| style="text-align:center;"| 1915–1988
| style="text-align:center;"| CSU
| style="text-align:center;"| 1978
| style="text-align:center;"| 1988
|- style="background:#C5DFE1;"
|| 9
|| Max Streibl
| style="text-align:center;"| 1932–1998
| style="text-align:center;"| CSU
| style="text-align:center;"| 1988
| style="text-align:center;"| 1993
|- style="background:#C5DFE1;"
|| 10
|| Edmund Stoiber
| style="text-align:center;"| *1941
| style="text-align:center;"| CSU
| style="text-align:center;"| 1993
| style="text-align:center;"| 2007
|- style="background:#C5DFE1;"
|| 11
|| Günther Beckstein
| style="text-align:center;"| *1943
| style="text-align:center;"| CSU
| style="text-align:center;"| 2007
| style="text-align:center;"| 2008
|- style="background:#C5DFE1;"
|| 12
|| Horst Seehofer
| style="text-align:center;"| *1949
| style="text-align:center;"| CSU
| style="text-align:center;"| 2008
| style="text-align:center;"| 2018
|- style="background:#C5DFE1;"
|| 13
|| Markus Söder
| style="text-align:center;"| *1967
| style="text-align:center;"| CSU
| style="text-align:center;"| 2018
| style="text-align:center;"| Incumbent
|}
Designation as a "free state"
Unlike most German states (Länder), which simply designate themselves as "State of" (Land [...]), Bavaria uses the style of "Free State of Bavaria" (Freistaat Bayern). The difference from other states is purely terminological, as German constitutional law does not draw a distinction between "States" and "Free States". The situation is thus analogous to the United States, where some states use the style "Commonwealth" rather than "State". The term "Free State", a creation of the 19th century and intended to be a German alternative to (or translation of) the Latin-derived republic, was common among the states of the Weimar Republic, after German monarchies had been abolished. Unlike most other states – many of which were new creations – Bavaria has resumed this terminology after World War II. Two other states, Saxony and Thuringia, also call themselves "Free States".
Arbitrary arrest and human rights
In July 2017, Bavaria's parliament enacted a new revision of the "Gefährdergesetz", allowing the authorities to imprison a person for a three months term, renewable indefinitely, when they have not committed a crime but it is assumed that they might commit a crime "in the near future". Critics like the prominent journalist Heribert Prantl have called the law "shameful" and compared it to Guantanamo Bay detention camp, assessed it to be in violation of the European Convention on Human Rights, and also compared it to the legal situation in Russia, where a similar law allows for imprisonment for a maximum term of two years (i.e., not indefinitely).Economy
and BMW Headquarters, Munich]]
Bavaria has one of the largest economies in Germany and Europe as a whole, having a GDP of €768.469 billion ($790.813 billion) in 2023, the second highest of the 16 German states, only behind North Rhine-Westphalia which had a GDP of €839.074 billion ($863.6 billion) in 2023. Bavaria had a GDP per capita of €53,768 ($56,456) in 2022, giving it the third highest GDP per capita behind Bremen in second and Hamburg in first. One of Bavaria's largest industries is the automotive industry, with Bavaria having four BMW and two Audi manufacturing plants and the headquarters of both companies. Bavaria has the second-most employees (207,829) in the automotive industry of all German states after Baden-Württemberg as of 2018. Other countries such as Czechia, Austria, Switzerland and Italy have strong economic ties with Bavaria.
]]
Bavaria also is home to the headquarters of commercial vehicle manufacturer MAN and aircraft engine manufacturer MTU Aero Engines. Many other global companies such as Adidas, Siemens, and Allianz also have headquarters in Bavarian cities and towns. Several American companies have set up research and development facilities in Bavaria such as Apple, Google, IBM, Intel, Texas Instruments and Coherent. Despite being hundreds of miles from the sea, companies such as Bavaria Yachtbau produce sailing yachts and motorboats.
Bavaria is the most visited state in Germany, as over 38.86 million tourists visited Bavaria in 2023 alone, significantly higher than North Rhine-Westphalia's 23.58 million tourists. In 2019, tourism brought in a gross value of €28.1 billion ($28.918 billion), making up 4.9% of Bavaria's economy. Some significant tourist destinations include the Bavarian National Museum, Margravial Opera House, Deutsches Museum, Christmas markets in Nuremburg and Munich and the annually held Oktoberfest event, which made €1.2 billion ($1.236 billion) in 2018 alone.
The unemployment rate stood at 2.9% in October 2018, the lowest in Germany and one of the lowest in the European Union.
{| class="wikitable"
!Year
!2006
!2007
!2008
!2009
!2010
!2011
!2012
!2013
!2014
!2015
!2016
!2017
!2018
!2019
!2020
!2021
|-
|Unemployment rate in %
|6.8
|5.3
|4.2
|4.8
|4.5
|3.8
|3.7
|3.8
|3.8
|3.6
|3.5
|3.2
|2.9
|2.8
|3.6
|3.5
|}
Demographics
with Bavaria in the southeast]]
Bavaria has a population of approximately 13.1 million inhabitants (2020). Eight of the 80 largest cities in Germany are located within Bavaria with Munich being the largest (1,484,226 inhabitants, approximately 6.1 million when including the broader metropolitan area), followed by Nuremberg (518,370 inhabitants, approximately 3.6 million when including the broader metropolitan area), Augsburg (296,582 inhabitants) and Regensburg (153,094 inhabitants). All other cities in Bavaria had less than 150,000 inhabitants each in 2020. Population density in Bavaria was , below the national average of . Foreign nationals resident in Bavaria (both immigrants and refugees/asylum seekers) were principally from other EU countries and Turkey.
{| class="wikitable"
|+ Top-ten foreign resident populations
|-
! || Nationality || Population (31 December 2022) || Population (31 December 2023)
|-
|1|||| 209,810 || 213,770
|-
|2|||| 194,730 || 204,260
|-
|3|||| 178,925 || 181,880
|-
|4|||| 133,090 || 133,425
|-
|5||||119,320 || 120,100
|-
|6||||107,930 || 108,230
|-
|7||||85,445||92,405
|-
|8||||90,050||84,210
|-
|9||||76,705||79,365
|-
|10||||78,875||76,155
|}
Vital statistics
{| class"wikitable sortable zebra" style"text-align:right"
|+ Vital statistics
|- class="hintergrundfarbe5"
! | Comparison period
! | Births
! | Deaths
! | Natural growth
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| January – November 2016
| 115,032
| 116,915
| -1,883
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| January – November 2017
| 115,690
| 122,247
| -6,557
|}
Culture
Some features of the Bavarian culture and mentality are remarkably distinct from the rest of Germany. Noteworthy differences (especially in rural areas, less significant in the major cities) can be found with respect to religion, traditions, and language.
Religion
}}
near Füssen with the Alps in the background]]
Bavarian culture (Altbayern) has a long and predominant tradition of Roman Catholic faith. Pope Benedict XVI (Joseph Alois Ratzinger) was born in Marktl am Inn in Upper Bavaria and was Cardinal-Archbishop of Munich and Freising. Otherwise, the culturally Franconian and Swabian regions of the modern State of Bavaria are historically more diverse in religiosity, with both Catholic and Protestant traditions. In 1925, 70.0% of the Bavarian population was Catholic, 28.8% was Protestant, 0.7% was Jewish, and 0.5% was placed in other religious categories.
46.9% of Bavarians adhered to Catholicism (a decline from 70.4% in 1970). of the traditional , or beer purity law, initially established by the Duke of Bavaria for the City of Munich (i.e. the court) in 1487 and the duchy in 1516. According to this law, only three ingredients were allowed in beer: water, barley, and hops. In 1906 the made its way to all-German law, and remained a law in Germany until the EU partly struck it down in 1987 as incompatible with the European common market. German breweries, however, cling to the principle, and Bavarian breweries still comply with it in order to distinguish their beer brands. Bavarians are also known as some of the world's most prolific beer drinkers, with an average annual consumption of 170 liters per person.
Bavaria is also home to the Franconia wine region, which is situated along the river Main in Franconia. The region has produced wine (Frankenwein) for over 1,000 years and is famous for its use of the Bocksbeutel wine bottle. The production of wine forms an integral part of the regional culture, and many of its villages and cities hold their own wine festivals (Weinfeste) throughout the year.
<gallery>
Krustenbraten_mit_Dunkelbierso%C3%9Fe.jpg|Schweinsbraten
N%C3%BCrnberger_Rostbratw%C3%BCrste.JPG|Nürnberger Rostbratwürste
</gallery>
Language and dialects
speaker recorded in Germany]]
and Central German form the German language; Austro-Bavarian dialects are highlighted in blue.]]
Three German dialects are most commonly spoken in Bavaria: Austro-Bavarian in Old Bavaria (Upper Bavaria, Lower Bavaria, and the Upper Palatinate), Swabian German (an Alemannic German dialect) in the Bavarian part of Swabia (southwest) and East Franconian German in Franconia (north). In the small town Ludwigsstadt in the north, district Kronach in Upper Franconia, Thuringian dialect is spoken. During the 20th century an increasing part of the population began to speak Standard German (Hochdeutsch), mainly in the cities.
Ethnography
Bavarians consider themselves to be egalitarian and informal. Their sociability can be experienced at the annual Oktoberfest, the world's largest beer festival, which welcomes around six million visitors every year, or in the famous beer gardens. In traditional Bavarian beer gardens, patrons may bring their own food but buy beer only from the brewery that runs the beer garden. <!-- "...nur die Getränke und das Bier muß man kühl vom Wirt kaufen." --> Museums There are around 1,300 museums in Bavaria, including museums of art and cultural history, castles and palaces, archaeological and natural history collections, museums of technological and industrial history, and farm and open-air museums. The history of Bavarian museums dates back to manorial cabinets of curiosities and treasuries. The art holdings of the House of Wittelsbach thus formed the first and essential foundation of later state museums. As early as the mid-16th century, Duke Albrecht V (r. 1550–1579) had collected paintings as well as Greek and Roman sculptures (or copies made of them). He had the Antiquarium in the Munich Residence built specifically for his collection of antique sculptures. The electors Maximilian I (r. 1594–1651) and Max II. Emanuel (r. 1679–1726) expanded the art collections considerably. In the Age of Enlightenment at the end of the 18th century, there was a demand to open up art collections to the general public in the spirit of "popular education". But Museums were not founded by the state until the time of the art-loving King Ludwig I (r. 1825–1848). In Munich, he built Glyptothek (opened 1830), Alte Pinakothek (opened 1836), and Neue Pinakothek (opened 1853). Also, the foundation of the Germanisches Nationalmuseum in Nuremberg (1852), the establishment of the Neue Pinakothek, which opened in 1853, and the Bavarian National Museum (1867) in Munich were of central importance for the development of museums in Bavaria in the 19th century. With the end of the monarchy in 1918, many castles and formerly Wittelsbach property passed to the young Free State. In particular, the castles of king Ludwig II (r. 1864–1886) Neuschwanstein, Linderhof and Herrenchiemsee, quickly became magnets for the public. Since then, the number of Bavarian Museums has grown considerably, from 125 in 1907 to around 1,300 today.
Sports
Football
Bavaria is home to several football clubs including FC Bayern Munich, 1. FC Nürnberg, FC Augsburg, TSV 1860 Munich, FC Ingolstadt 04 and SpVgg Greuther Fürth. Bayern Munich is the most successful football team in Germany having won a record 33 German titles and 6 UEFA Champions League titles. They are followed by 1. FC Nürnberg who have won 9 titles. SpVgg Greuther Fürth have won 3 championships while TSV 1860 Munich have been champions once.
Basketball
Bavaria is also home to four professional basketball teams, including FC Bayern Munich, Brose Baskets Bamberg, s.Oliver Würzburg, Nürnberg Falcons BC, and TSV Oberhaching Tropics.
Ice hockey
There are five Bavarian ice hockey teams playing in the German top-tier league DEL: EHC Red Bull München, Nürnberg Ice Tigers, Augsburger Panther, ERC Ingolstadt, and Straubing Tigers.
Notable people
Notable people who have lived, or live currently, in Bavaria include:
*Kings: Arnulf of Carinthia, Carloman of Bavaria, Charles the Fat, Lothair I, Louis the Child, Louis the German, Louis the Younger, Ludwig I of Bavaria, Ludwig II of Bavaria, Ludwig III of Bavaria, Maximilian I Joseph of Bavaria, Maximilian II of Bavaria, Otto, King of Bavaria
*Religious leaders: Pope Benedict XVI (Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger); Pope Damasus II, Pope Victor II
*Painters: Albrecht Dürer, Albrecht Altdorfer, Joseph Karl Stieler, Carl Spitzweg, Erwin Eisch, Franz von Lenbach, Franz von Stuck, Franz Marc, Gabriele Münter, Hans Holbein the Elder, Johann Christian Reinhart, Lucas Cranach, Paul Klee
*Classical musicians: Orlando di Lasso, Christoph Willibald Gluck, Leopold Mozart, Max Reger, Richard Wagner, Richard Strauss, Carl Orff, Johann Pachelbel, Theobald Boehm, Klaus Nomi
*Other musicians: Hans-Jürgen Buchner, Barbara Dennerlein, Klaus Doldinger, Franzl Lang, Bands: Spider Murphy Gang, Sportfreunde Stiller, Obscura, Michael Bredl
*Opera singers: Jonas Kaufmann, Diana Damrau
*Writers, poets and playwrights: Hans Sachs, Jean Paul, Friedrich Rückert, August von Platen-Hallermünde, Frank Wedekind, Christian Morgenstern, Oskar Maria Graf, Bertolt Brecht, Lion Feuchtwanger, Thomas Mann, Klaus Mann, Golo Mann, Ludwig Thoma, Michael Ende, Ludwig Aurbacher
*Scientists: Max Planck, Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen, Werner Heisenberg, Adam Ries, Joseph von Fraunhofer, Georg Ohm, Johannes Stark, Carl von Linde, Ludwig Prandtl, Rudolf Mössbauer, Lothar Rohde, Hermann Schwarz, Robert Huber, Martin Behaim, Levi Strauss, Rudolf Diesel, Feodor Lynen, Georges J. F. Köhler, Erwin Neher, Ernst Otto Fischer, Johann Deisenhofer
*Physicians: Alois Alzheimer, Max Joseph von Pettenkofer, Sebastian Kneipp
*Politicians: Ludwig Erhard, Horst Seehofer, Christian Ude, Kurt Eisner, Franz-Josef Strauß, Roman Herzog, Leonard John Rose, Henry Kissinger
*Football players: Max Morlock, Karl Mai, Franz Beckenbauer, Sepp Maier, Gerd Müller, Paul Breitner, Bernd Schuster, Klaus Augenthaler, Lothar Matthäus, Philipp Lahm, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Holger Badstuber, Thomas Müller, Mario Götze, Dietmar Hamann, Stefan Reuter
*Other sportspeople: Bernhard Langer, Dirk Nowitzki, Phoenix Sanders
*Actors: Michael Herbig, Werner Stocker, Helmut Fischer, Walter Sedlmayr, Gustl Bayrhammer, Ottfried Fischer, Ruth Drexel, Elmar Wepper, Fritz Wepper, Uschi Glas, Yank Azman
*Entertainers: Siegfried Fischbacher, Thomas Gottschalk
*Film directors: Helmut Dietl, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Bernd Eichinger, Joseph Vilsmaier, Hans Steinhoff, Werner Herzog
*Designers: Peter Schreyer, Damir Doma, Thomas Nast
*Entrepreneurs: Charles Diebold, Adi Dassler, Rudolf Dassler, Levi Strauss, Ed Meier
*Military: Claus von Stauffenberg
*Nazis: Sepp Dietrich, Karl Fiehler, Karl Gebhardt, Hermann Göring, Heinrich Himmler, Alfred Jodl, Josef Kollmer, Josef Mengele, Ernst Röhm, Franz Ritter von Epp, Julius Streicher
*Others: Kaspar Hauser, The Smith of Kochel, Mathias Kneißl, Matthias Klostermayr, Anneliese Michel, Herluka von Bernried
See also
* Outline of Germany
* Former countries in Europe after 1815
* List of Bavaria-related topics
* List of minister-presidents of Bavaria
* List of rulers of Bavaria
Notes
References
Citations
General and cited sources
*
External links
* [http://www.bayern.de Official government website]
*
}}
Category:Boii
Category:States of Germany
Category:States of the Weimar Republic
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bavaria
|
2025-04-05T18:26:34.060759
|
3765
|
Brandenburg
|
<br/><br/></small>
| native_name_lang | settlement_type State
| image_skyline | imagesize 270px
| image_caption | image_flag Flag of Brandenburg.svg
| flag_size = 120px
| image_shield = Brandenburg Wappen.svg
| shield_size = 75px
| anthem (Unofficial)<br />()<div style="display:inline-block;padding-top:0.4em;"></div>
| image_map
| mapsize = 155px
| map_caption | coordinates
| subdivision_type = Country
| subdivision_name = Germany
| seat_type = Capital
| seat = Potsdam
| governing_body = Landtag of Brandenburg
| leader_party = SPD
| leader_title = Minister-President
| leader_name = Dietmar Woidke
| leader_title1 = Governing parties
| leader_name1 = / BSW
| leader_title2 = Bundesrat votes
| leader_name2 = 4 (of 69)
| leader_title3 = Bundestag seats
| leader_name3 = 25 (of 736)
| total_type = Total
| area_footnotes | area_total_km2 29480.24
| elevation_m | population_footnotes
| population_total = 2520198
| population_as_of = 2019-09-30
| population_density_km2 = auto
| population_urban | population_metro
| population_demonym | demographics_type1 GDP
| demographics1_footnotes
| demographics1_title1 = Total
| demographics1_info1 = €88.800 billion (2022)
| demographics1_title2 = Per capita
| demographics1_info2 = €34,610 (2022)
| timezone1 = CET
| utc_offset1 = +1
| timezone1_DST = CEST
| utc_offset1_DST = +2
| postal_code_type | postal_code
| area_code_type | area_code
| registration_plate formerly: BP<small> (1945–1947)</small>, SB (1948–1953)
| iso_code = DE-BB
| blank_name_sec2 = NUTS Region
| blank_info_sec2 = DE4
| blank2_name_sec2 = HDI (2021)
| blank2_info_sec2 0.926<br/> · 14th of 16
| website = [https://www.brandenburg.de/cms/detail.php/bb1.c.330014.de brandenburg.de]
| footnotes =
}}
Brandenburg, officially the State of Brandenburg (see Names), is a state in northeastern Germany. Brandenburg borders Poland and the states of Berlin, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Saxony. It is the fifth-largest German state by area and the tenth-most populous, with 2.5 million residents. Potsdam is the state capital and largest city. Other major towns are Cottbus, Brandenburg an der Havel and Frankfurt (Oder).
Brandenburg surrounds the national capital and city-state of Berlin. Together they form the Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region, the third-largest metropolitan area in Germany. There was an unsuccessful attempt to unify both states in 1996, however the states still cooperate on many matters.
Brandenburg originated in the Northern March in the 900s AD, from areas conquered from the Wends. It later became the Margraviate of Brandenburg, a major principality of the Holy Roman Empire. In the 15th century, it came under the rule of the House of Hohenzollern, which later established Brandenburg-Prussia, the core of the later Kingdom of Prussia. From 1815 to 1947, Brandenburg was a province of Prussia.
Following the abolition of Prussia after World War II, Brandenburg was established as a state by the Soviet Military Administration in Germany. In 1952, the German Democratic Republic dissolved the state and broke it up into multiple regional districts. After German reunification, Brandenburg was re-established in 1990 as one of the five new states of the Federal Republic.
Southeastern Brandenburg contains part of the historical Lower Lusatia, and most of these localities have two official languages, German and Lower Sorbian (of the Sorbs/Wends).NamesBrandenburg takes its name from Brandenburg an der Havel. The name's origin is unclear but it is thought to derive from the Slavic ('marshy/boggy') Other theories have included West Slavic ('defensive forest') and ('pine forest'). in German means 'castle'. In the extinct local language Polabian, Brandenburg was .
In the modern local languages, Brandenburg and the State of Brandenburg are named:
* German: () and
* and
* and
History
In late medieval and early modern times, Brandenburg was, with varying borders, one of seven electoral states of the Holy Roman Empire, and, along with Prussia, formed the original core of the German Empire, the first unified German state. Governed by the Hohenzollern dynasty from 1415, it contained the future German capital Berlin. After 1618 the Margraviate of Brandenburg and the Duchy of Prussia were combined to form Brandenburg-Prussia, which was ruled by the same branch of the House of Hohenzollern. In 1701 the state was elevated as the Kingdom of Prussia. Franconian Nuremberg and Ansbach, Swabian Hohenzollern, the eastern European connections of Berlin, and the status of Brandenburg's ruler as prince-elector together were instrumental in the rise of that state.
Early Middle Ages
Brandenburg is situated in territory known in antiquity as Magna Germania, which reached to the Vistula river. By the 7th century, Slavic people are believed to have settled in the Brandenburg area. The Slavs expanded from the east, possibly driven from their homelands in present-day Ukraine and perhaps Belarus by the invasions of the Huns and Avars. They relied heavily on river transport. The two principal Slavic groups in the present-day area of Brandenburg were the Hevelli in the west and the Sprevane in the east.
Beginning in the early 10th century, Henry the Fowler and his successors conquered territory up to the Oder River. Slavic settlements such as Brenna (Brandenburg an der Havel), Budusin (Bautzen), and Chośebuz (Cottbus) came under imperial control through the installation of margraves. Their main function was to defend and protect the eastern marches. In 948 Emperor Otto I established margraves to exert imperial control over the pagan Slavs west of the Oder River. Otto founded the Bishoprics of Brandenburg and Havelberg. The Northern March was founded as a northeastern border territory of the Holy Roman Empire. However, a great uprising of Wends drove imperial forces from the territory of present-day Brandenburg in 983. The region returned to the control of Slavic leaders. The eastern parts of current Brandenburg, i.e. the Lubusz Land and Lower Lusatia, became part of Poland in the 10th-11th centuries.Late Middle Ages
]]
In the early 12th century, the Slavic Duchy of Kopanica was established in the central part of present-day Brandenburg, whereas the Lubusz Land in the east remained part of medieval Poland. During the 12th century, the German kings and emperors re-established control over the Slav-inhabited lands of present-day Brandenburg, excluding Polish-controlled Lubusz Land, although some Slavs like the Sorbs in Lusatia adapted to Germanization while retaining their distinctiveness. The Roman Catholic Church brought bishoprics which, with their walled towns, afforded protection from attacks for the townspeople. With the monks and bishops, the history of the town of Brandenburg an der Havel, which was the first center of the state of Brandenburg, began.
In 1134, in the wake of a German crusade against the Wends, the German magnate, Albert the Bear, was granted the Northern March by the Emperor Lothar III. He formally inherited the town of Brandenburg and the lands of the Hevelli from their last Wendish ruler, Pribislav, in 1150. After crushing a force of Sprevane who occupied the town of Brandenburg in the 1150s, Albert proclaimed himself ruler of the new Margraviate of Brandenburg. Albert, and his descendants the Ascanians, then made considerable progress in conquering, colonizing, Christianizing, and cultivating lands as far east as the Oder. Within this region, Slavic and German residents intermarried. During the 13th century, the Ascanians began acquiring and seizing territory around and east of the Oder from Poland (Lubusz Land and north-western Greater Poland), later known as the Neumark, in contrast to the Altmark, the cradle of the March of Brandenburg.
In 1320, the Brandenburg Ascanian line came to an end, and from 1323 up until 1415 Brandenburg was under the control of the Wittelsbachs of Bavaria, followed by the Luxembourg Dynasties. Under the Luxembourgs, the Margrave of Brandenburg gained the status of a prince-elector of the Holy Roman Empire. In the period 1373–1415, Brandenburg was a part of the Bohemian Crown. In 1415, the Electorate of Brandenburg was granted by Emperor Sigismund to the House of Hohenzollern, which would rule until the end of World War I. The Hohenzollerns established their capital in Berlin, by then the economic center of Brandenburg.
16th and 17th centuries
in 1675]]
Brandenburg converted to Protestantism in 1539 in the wake of the Protestant Reformation, and generally did quite well in the 16th century, with the expansion of trade along the Elbe, Havel, and Spree rivers. The Hohenzollerns expanded their territory by co-rulership since 1577 and acquiring the Duchy of Prussia in 1618, the Duchy of Cleves (1614) in the Rhineland, and territories in Westphalia. The result was a sprawling, disconnected country known as Brandenburg-Prussia that was in poor shape to defend itself during the Thirty Years' War.
Beginning near the end of that devastating conflict, however, Brandenburg enjoyed a string of talented rulers who expanded their territory and power in Europe. The first of these was Frederick William, the so-called "Great Elector", who worked tirelessly to rebuild and consolidate the nation. He moved the royal residence to Potsdam. At the Peace of Westphalia, his envoy Joachim Friedrich von Blumenthal negotiated the acquisition of several important territories such as Halberstadt. Under the Treaty of Oliva Christoph Caspar von Blumenthal (son of the above) negotiated the incorporation of the Duchy of Prussia into the Hohenzollern inheritance.
Kingdom of Prussia and German Empire
in Potsdam, the former summer palace of Frederick the Great, is today a World Heritage Site.]]
When Frederick William died in 1688, he was followed by his son Frederick, third of that name in Brandenburg. As the lands that had been acquired in Prussia were outside the boundaries of the Holy Roman Empire, Frederick assumed (as Frederick I) the title of "King in Prussia" (1701). Although his self-promotion from margrave to king relied on his title to the Duchy of Prussia, Brandenburg was still the most important portion of the kingdom. However, this combined state is known as the Kingdom of Prussia.
, as superimposed on modern borders]]
Brandenburg remained the core of the Kingdom of Prussia, and it was the site of the kingdom's capitals, Berlin and Potsdam. When Prussia was subdivided into provinces in 1815, the territory of the Margraviate of Brandenburg became the Province of Brandenburg, again subdivided into the government region of Frankfurt and Potsdam. It also included Lower Lusatia, previously ruled at various times by Poland, Bohemia, Hungary and Saxony. In 1881, the City of Berlin was separated from the Province of Brandenburg. However, industrial towns ringing Berlin lay within Brandenburg, and the growth of the region's industrial economy brought an increase in the population of the province. The Province of Brandenburg had an area of and a population of 2.6 million (1925).
Under the Nazi government and during World War II, repressions of Poles, especially autochthones in the eastern part of the province, intensified with expulsions of Poles, censorship of Polish newspapers, invigilation, arrests and assassinations of Polish leaders, activists, teachers, entrepreneurs, editors, etc., deportations to concentration camps and closure of Polish organizations, enterprises, schools and libraries. The Sachsenhausen concentration camp with a network of subcamps was located in Brandenburg, and several prisoner-of-war camps, including Stalag III-A, Stalag III-B, Stalag III-C, Stalag III-D, Oflag II-A, Oflag III-A, Oflag III-B, Oflag III-C, Oflag 8 and Oflag 80 for Polish, Belgian, British, Dutch, French, Serbian, Italian, American, Czechoslovak, Soviet, Romanian, Greek, Bulgarian and other Allied POWs with numerous forced labour subcamps. In early 1945, the death marches of prisoners of various nationalities from various dissolved camps passed through the region. In the final stages of the war, it was the place of heavy fights, including the Battle of the Seelow Heights and Battle of Berlin, won by the Allied Soviet and Polish armies. After Germany's defeat, the part of Brandenburg east of the Oder–Neisse line, which formed part of Poland in the Middle Ages and partly also in the early modern period, became again part of Poland. The entire population of former East Brandenburg was expelled en masse in accordance with the Potsdam Agreement. The remainder of the province became a state in the Soviet Zone of occupation in Germany when Prussia was dissolved in 1947.
East Germany
, which connected East Germany to the American sector of West Berlin, became known for the exchange of captured spies.]]
After the foundation of East Germany in 1949, Brandenburg formed one of its component states. The State of Brandenburg was completely dissolved in 1952 by the Socialist government of East Germany, doing away with all component states. The East German government then divided Brandenburg among several Bezirke or districts. (See Administrative division of the German Democratic Republic). Most of Brandenburg lay within the Bezirke of Cottbus, Frankfurt, or Potsdam, but parts of the former province passed to the Schwerin, Neubrandenburg and Magdeburg districts (town Havelberg). East Germany relied heavily on lignite (the lowest grade of coal) as an energy source, and lignite strip mines marred areas of south-eastern Brandenburg. The industrial towns surrounding Berlin were important to the East German economy, while rural Brandenburg remained mainly agricultural.
Federal Republic of Germany
The present State of Brandenburg was re-established on 3 October 1990 upon German reunification. The newly elected Landtag of Brandenburg first met on 26 October 1990. As in other former parts of East Germany, the lack of modern infrastructure and exposure to West Germany's competitive market economy brought widespread unemployment and economic difficulty. In the recent years, however, Brandenburg's infrastructure has been modernized and unemployment has slowly declined.
Berlin-Brandenburg fusion attempt
The legal basis for a combined state of Berlin and Brandenburg is different from other state fusion proposals. Normally, Article 29 of the Basic Law stipulates that states may only merge after a specific federal Act of Parliament is enacted. However, a clause added to the Basic Law in 1994, Article 118a, allows Berlin and Brandenburg to unify without federal approval, requiring a referendum and a ratification by both state parliaments.
In 1996, an attempt of unifying the states of Berlin and Brandenburg was rejected at referendum. Both share a common history, dialect and culture and in 2020, over 225,000 residents of Brandenburg commute to Berlin. The fusion had the near-unanimous support by a broad coalition of both state governments, political parties, media, business associations, trade unions and churches. Though Berlin voted in favor by a small margin, largely based on support in former West Berlin, Brandenburg voters disapproved of the fusion by a large margin. It failed largely due to Brandenburg voters not wanting to take on Berlin's large and growing public debt and fearing losing identity and influence to the capital.
| 1875 | 1444441
| 1890 | 1578138
| 1910 | 1879375
| 1925 | 2048866
| 1939 | 2433881
| 1950 | 2746002
| 1964 | 2620071
| 1971 | 2667096
| 1981 | 2667052
| 1990 | 2602404
|2000|2589504|2011|2455780|2022|2534075}}
Religion
}}
17.1% of the Brandenburgers are registered members of the local, regional Protestant church (mostly the Evangelical Church in Berlin, Brandenburg and Silesian Upper Lusatia), while 3.1% are registered with the Roman Catholic Church (mostly the Archdiocese of Berlin, and a minority in the Diocese of Görlitz). The majority (79.8%)
|-
! Nationality || Population (31.12.2023)
|-
| || 35,685
|-
| || 29,460
|-
| || 22,320
|-
| || 12,100
|-
| || 12,070
|-
| || 8,945
|-
| || 6,420
|-
| || 4,215
|-
| || 3,815
|-
| || 3,695
|-
|}
Politics
Politically, Brandenburg is a stronghold of the Social Democratic Party, which won the largest share of the vote and seats in every state election. All three Minister-Presidents of Brandenburg have come from the Social Democratic Party (unlike any other state except Bremen) and they even won an absolute majority of seats and every single-member constituency in the 1994 state election.
On a federal level, the Social Democratic Party has also been the strongest party in most federal elections, their strongholds being the northwestern part of the state and Potsdam and its surrounding areas. However, the Christian Democratic Union won the most votes in 1990, their 2013 landslide and in 2017. In 2009, The Left won the most votes in a year where, like in 2017, the Social Democratic collapsed. Prominent politicians from Brandenburg include Social Democrats Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who served in the Bundestag for Brandenburg before being elected President of Germany, and Chancellor of Germany Olaf Scholz, who sits in the Bundestag for Potsdam.
Like in all other New states of Germany, the leftist party of The Left and, more recently, the far-right Alternative for Germany are especially strong in Brandenburg.
Brandenburg has 4 out of 69 votes in the Bundesrat and, as of 2021, 25 seats out of 736 in the Bundestag.
Subdivisions
Brandenburg is divided into 14 rural districts (Landkreise) and four urban districts (kreisfreie Städte), shown with their population in 2011:
{| class="sortable wikitable"
!District
!Population
|-
| Barnim
|align="right"|176,953
|-
| Dahme-Spreewald
|align="right"|161,556
|-
| Elbe-Elster
|align="right"|110,291
|-
| Havelland
|align="right"|155,226
|-
| Märkisch-Oderland
|align="right"|189,673
|-
| Oberhavel
|align="right"|203,508
|-
| Oberspreewald-Lausitz
|align="right"|120,023
|-
| Oder-Spree
|align="right"|182,798
|-
| Ostprignitz-Ruppin
|align="right"|102,108
|-
| Potsdam-Mittelmark
|align="right"|205,678
|-
| Prignitz
|align="right"|80,872
|-
| Spree-Neiße
|align="right"|124,662
|-
| Teltow-Fläming
|align="right"|161,546
|-
| Uckermark
|align="right"|128,174
|-
| Stadt Brandenburg an der Havel
|align="right"|71,534
|-
| Stadt Cottbus
|align="right"|102,129
|-
| Stadt Frankfurt (Oder)
|align="right"|60,002
|-
| Stadt Potsdam
|align="right"|158,902
|}
Government
Election of 2024
{| class="wikitable floatright"
|+ Election 2024
|-
! Party !! Seats !! +/- !! In Majority?
|-
| |border=silver}} SPD || 32 || +7 || government
|-
| |border=silver}} AfD || 30 || +7 || opposition
|-
| |border=silver}} BSW || 14 || New || government
|-
| |border=silver}} CDU || 12 || -3 || opposition
|-
| Total ||88
|}
The 2024 Brandenburg state election took place on 22 September. One important outcome of the election was that the number of parties with representation in the state parliament went from six to four. The Greens, the Left, and the Brandenburg United Civic Movements/Free Voters all lost their representation while a new party, the Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW), gained 14 votes. The BSW was formed on 8 January, 2024, mostly by members who had broken away from the Left. While it shares the Left's economic outlook, it is more closely aligned with stances traditionally held by the right on certain issues. For example, the BSW is broadly anti-immigration and anti-Nato, and has been accused of having Russophile tendencies, partially based on their desire for the war in Ukraine to be ended by diplomacy.
Other German parties have generally been unwilling to work with the AfD and that trend continued with the formation of the new government based on this election. Assuming that the AfD would be in the opposition, the only two options that the SPD, with the plurality of seats, had to obtain a majority were to work with the BSW as well as the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) or to just work with the BSW. Ultimately, the latter option was chosen and a majority of 46 out of 88 seats was obtained.
While this should have been enough votes to reelect Woidke as the Minister-President, he lost the first vote, having only 43 supporters in the secret ballot. While there were only 40 votes against him (there were two abstentions and two votes that were invalid), an absolute majority, 45 votes, was required to win the first round. On 11 December, in the second round of voting, all that was needed was for Woidke to receive more votes in his favor than there were in opposition, and he won in this round with 50 votes. This meant that at least 4 members of the opposition, whether from the AfD, the CDU, or a combination of the two, had voted with the coalition government to reelect Woidke. The CDU accused the SPD of receiving help from the AfD, but it is impossible to know because the ballot was secret. The government in Brandenburg has been led by the SPD since 1990.
Election of 2019
building (Landtag) in Potsdam, the seat of the parliament is the reconstructed Potsdam City Palace]]
The 2019 elections took place on 1 September. A coalition government was formed by the Social Democrats, The Greens, and the Christian Democratic Union led by incumbent Minister-President Dietmar Woidke (SPD), replacing the previous coalition between the Social Democrats and The Left.
Economy
]]
The Gross domestic product (GDP) of the state was 72.9 billion euros in 2018, accounting for 2.2% of German economic output. GDP per capita adjusted for purchasing power was 26,700 euros or 88% of the EU27 average in the same year. The GDP per employee was 91% of the EU average. The GDP per capita was the third lowest of all states in Germany.
The unemployment rate stood at 5.6% in November 2022 and was higher than the German average but lower than the average of Eastern Germany.
{| class="wikitable"
!Year
!2000
!2001
!2002
!2003
!2004
!2005
!2006
!2007
!2008
!2009
!2010
!2011
!2012
!2013
!2014
!2015
!2016
!2017
!2018
!2019
!2020
!2021
|-
|Unemployment rate in %
|17.0
|17.5
|17.5
|18.8
|18.7
|18.2
|17.0
|14.7
|13.0
|12.3
|11.1
|10.7
|10.2
|9.9
|9.4
|8.7
|8.0
|7.0
|6.3
|5.8
|6.3
|5.9
|}
Tesla Gigafactory Berlin-Brandenburg is located in Brandenburg.
Transport
]]
Berlin Schönefeld Airport (IATA code: SXF) was the largest airport in Brandenburg. It was the second largest international airport of the Berlin-Brandenburg metropolitan region and was located southeast of central Berlin in Schönefeld. The airport was a base for Condor, easyJet and Ryanair. In 2016, Schönefeld handled 11,652,922 passengers (an increase of 36.7%).
Schönefeld's existing infrastructure and terminals were incorporated into the new Berlin Brandenburg Airport (BER), which opened in 2020. Berlin Brandenburg Airport had an initial capacity of 35–40 million passengers a year. Due to increasing air traffic in Berlin and Brandenburg, plans for airport expansions were in the making.
Berlin Brandenburg Airport receives over sixty combined passenger, charter and cargo airlines.
Education and research
Higher education
|right]]
In 2016, around 49,000 students were enrolled in Brandenburg universities and higher education facilities. The largest institution is the University of Potsdam, located southwest of Berlin. In 2019 the state of Brandenburg adopted an Open Access strategy calling on universities to develop transformation strategies to make knowledge from Brandenburg freely accessible to all.
Universities in Brandenburg:
* University of Potsdam
* Brandenburg University of Technology in Cottbus and Senftenberg
* European University Viadrina in Frankfurt (Oder)
* Konrad Wolf Film University of Babelsberg
* Medizinische Hochschule Brandenburg Theodor Fontane
* Medizinische Universität Lausitz – Carl Thiem
Culture
Music
The Brandenburg Concertos by Johann Sebastian Bach (original title: Six Concerts à plusieurs instruments) are a collection of six instrumental works presented by Bach to Christian Ludwig, Margrave of Brandenburg-Schwedt, in 1721 (though probably composed earlier). They are widely regarded as among the finest musical compositions of the Baroque era and are among the composer's best known works.Cuisine
A famous speciality food from Brandenburg are the Spreewald gherkins. The wet soil of the Spreewald makes the region ideal for growing cucumbers. Spreewald gherkins are protected by the EU as a Protected Geographical Indication (PGI). They are one of the biggest exports of Brandenburg.Notable people
* Wilhelm von Humboldt (1767–1835), philosopher, linguist, diplomat, and founder of the Humboldt University of Berlin
* Heinrich von Kleist (1777–1811), poet, dramatist, and novelist
* Karl Friedrich Schinkel (1781–1841), architect, city planner, and painter
* Peter Joseph Lenné (1789–1866), gardener and landscape architect
* Theodor Fontane (1819–1898), novelist and poet
* Wilhelm Pieck (1876–1960), politician, first President of the German Democratic Republic
*Kurt Demmler (1943–2009), songwriter; accused of sexual abuse he hanged himself in his jail cell.
* Wolfgang Joop (born 1944), fashion designer, founder of JOOP!
* Matthias Platzeck (born 1953), politician, Minister President of Brandenburg from 2002 to 2013
* Henry Maske (born 1964), professional boxer
* Paul van Dyk (born 1971), DJ, record producer, and musician
* Britta Steffen (born 1983), competitive swimmer, former Olympic, World, and European champion
* Robert Harting (born 1984), discus thrower, former Olympic, World, and European champion
* Roehl brothers, Charles (1857–1927) and William (1890–1968), businessmen and pioneers of Washington state.
* Mike David Ortmann (born 1999), racing driver
See also
*Outline of Germany
* Former countries in Europe after 1815
Notes
References
External links
* [https://www.brandenburg.de/cms/detail.php/bb1.c.330014.de Official website]
* [https://www.brandenburg-business-guide.de/en Official local information system]
* [https://www.brandenburg-tourism.com/ Brandenburg Tourist Board]
*
Category:NUTS 2 statistical regions of the European Union
Category:States and territories established in 1990
Category:1990 establishments in Germany
Category:States of Germany
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brandenburg
|
2025-04-05T18:26:34.095658
|
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|
Bundestag
|
| legislature = 21st Bundestag
| coa_pic Deutscher Bundestag logo.svgclassskin-invert
| coa_res = 150px
| preceded_by =
| established
| leader1_type = President
| leader1 = Julia Klöckner
| party1 = CDU/CSU
| election1 = 25 March 2025
| leader2_type = Vice presidents
| leader2 = Josephine Ortleb
| party2 = SPD
| election2 = 25 March 2025
| leader3_type | leader3 Andrea Lindholz
| party3 = CDU/CSU
| election3 = 25 March 2025
| leader4_type | leader4 Omid Nouripour
| party4 = Alliance 90/The Greens
| election4 = 25 March 2025
| leader5_type | leader5 Bodo Ramelow
| party5 = The Left
| election5 = 25 March 2025
| leader6_type | leader6 Vacant
| party6 AfD
| leader8_type = President by right of age
| leader8 = Gregor Gysi
| party8 = The Left
| election8 = 25 March 2025
| leader9_type = Chancellor
| leader9 = Olaf Scholz
| party9 = SPD
| election9 = 8 December 2021<br>(acting since 25 March 2025)
| leader10_type = Leader of the Opposition
| leader10 = Friedrich Merz
| election10 = 15 February 2022
| party10 = CDU/CSU
| members = 630
| structure1 = File:21stBundestag.svg
| structure1_res = 250px
| political_groups1 = Government (caretaker) (205)
*|border=silver}} SPD (120)
*|border=silver}} The Greens (85)
Opposition (425)
*|border=silver}} CDU/CSU (208)
*:|border=silver}} CDU (164)
*:|border=silver}} CSU (44)
*|border=silver}} AfD (152)
*|border=silver}} The Left (64)
*|border=silver}} Non-attached (1)}}
*:|border=silver}} SSW (1)
| voting_system1 = Mixed-member proportional representation (MMP)
| last_election1 = 23 February 2025
| next_election1 = On or before 25 March 2029
| session_room = Deutscher Bundestag Plenarsaal Seitenansicht.jpg
| meeting_place = Reichstag building<br>Mitte, Berlin, Germany
| website =
| constitution = Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany
| rules = [https://www.btg-bestellservice.de/pdf/80060000.pdf Rules of Procedure of the German Bundestag and Mediation Committee] (English)
}}
The Bundestag (, "Federal Diet") is the German federal parliament. It is the only constitutional body of the federation directly elected by the German people. The Bundestag was established by Title III of the Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany () in 1949 as one of the legislative bodies of Germany, the other being the Bundesrat. It is thus the historical successor to the earlier Reichstag.
The members of the Bundestag are representatives of the German people as a whole, are not bound by any orders or instructions and are only accountable to their conscience. As of the current 21st legislative period, the Bundestag has a fixed number of 630 members.
The Bundestag is elected every four years by German citizens aged 18 and older. Elections use a mixed-member proportional representation system which combines First-past-the-post voting for constituency-seats with proportional representation to ensure its composition mirrors the national popular vote. The German Bundestag cannot dissolve itself; only the President of Germany can do so under certain conditions.
Together with the Bundesrat, the Bundestag forms the legislative branch of government on federal level. The Bundestag is considerably more powerful than the Bundesrat, which represents the state governments. All bills must first be passed in the Bundestag before they are discussed in the Bundesrat. The Bundesrat can only accept laws passed by the Bundestag without amendment. Only in some areas, where laws directly affect the states, can the Bundesrat reject laws; otherwise, it can only lodge an objection to them, which the Bundestag can overrule. Above all, however, the Chancellor and the federal government are solely responsible to the Bundestag. The Bundestag also has sole budgetary authority.
The Bundestag's presiding officer is the President of the Bundestag; he or she is deputized by the Vice Presidents of the Bundestag. Since 2025, Julia Klöckner of the CDU/CSU is the president of the Bundestag. In the protocol order of the federation, the President of the Bundestag ranks second after the President and before the Chancellor.
Since 1999, the Bundestag has met in the Reichstag building in Berlin. The Bundestag also operates in multiple new government buildings in Berlin around the neo-renaissance house and has its own police force (the Bundestagspolizei), directly subordinated to the Bundestag Presidency.History
that was raised on 3 October 1990; it waves in front of the Reichstag building in Berlin, seat of the Bundestag.]]
The first body to be called Bundestag was the legislative body of the German Confederation, which convened in Frankfurt am Main from 1816 to 1866. At this time, Germany was not yet a federal state and this Bundestag was not a (democratic) parliament, but an assembly of envoys of the sovereign princes. During the revolution of 1848/49, the National Assembly, which met in Frankfurt am Main, was the first elected parliament to serve as a constituent assembly for a German state, which ultimately did not come to pass.
The North German Confederation, founded in 1866/67, was the first German nation state with an elected parliament, the Reichstag. In 1870/71, the federation was expanded to include the southern German territories and was henceforth called the German Empire. The Reichstag building, where the current Bundestag meets since 1999 (see below), was built in 1888. The German Empire was not yet a parliamentary democracy in the modern sense, but a constitutional monarchy with democratic elements. The Reichstag had to approve all bills, had the right to initiate legislation and, in particular, had budgetary sovereignty. However, the Chancellor and the imperial government were not responsible to parliament, but to the emperor alone. It was not until 1918, a few weeks before the end of the First World War, that the Reichstag was given the right, as part of a constitutional reform, to withdraw its confidence in the Chancellor and thus force him to resign. There was also no universal suffrage for the Reichstag; only men over the age of 25 were entitled to vote.
After its defeat in the First World War, Germany became a republic and a parliamentary democracy with the Weimar Constitution of 1919. The voting age was lowered to 21 years and women were given the right to vote for (and serve in) the Reichstag. However, the first German democracy failed for various reasons, some of which were directly related to the Reichstag. The pure proportional representation system in elections did not produce clear majorities and the various parties were not sufficiently willing to compromise to form stable governments. This led to numerous changes of government and snap elections. In the last years of the Weimar Republic, the extreme right and extreme left parties had a destructive majority in the Reichstag, which forced the governments to rule largely by emergency decrees to bypass parliament. In 1933, Adolf Hitler was appointed chancellor and through the Reichstag Fire Decree, the Enabling Act of 1933 and the death of President Paul von Hindenburg in 1934, gained unlimited power. After this, the Reichstag, in which only the Nazi Party was represented from November 1933 on, met only rarely, above all to extend the emergency laws on which the Nazi dictatorship was formally based. It last convened on 26 April 1942.
With the Basic Law of 1949, Germany's second democratic constitution, the Bundestag was established as the new parliament. Due to the division of Germany, the Bundestag was de facto a West German parliament until 1990. The socialist GDR in East Germany had its own parliament, the People's Chamber, which, however, did not emerge from democratic elections except for its last electoral term in 1990. Because West Berlin was not officially under the jurisdiction of the Basic Law during the division, the Bundestag met in Bonn in several different buildings, including (provisionally) a former waterworks facility and finally in the Bundeshaus in Bonn. In addition, owing to the city's legal status, citizens of West Berlin were unable to vote in elections to the Bundestag, and were instead represented by 22 non-voting delegates chosen by the House of Representatives, the city's legislature. <!-- EVERYTHING BELOW LACKS SOURCES. PLEASE add them if possible! -->
Since German reunification in 1990, the Bundestag has once again been a pan-German parliament. In 1999, the German parliament moved from Bonn to Berlin and sits once again in the Reichstag building.
Tasks
Legislative process
Together with the Bundesrat, the Bundestag forms the legislative branch of the German political system.
The Bundestag is one of three constitutional bodies (along with the Bundesrat and the federal government) that have the right of initiative for the legislative process. In order to introduce a bill in the Bundestag, the support of a faction or of a number of MPs corresponding to at least 5% of all MPs is required. All bills (including those introduced by the Bundesrat and the government) are first voted on in the Bundestag (for bills from the Bundesrat and the government, however, an opinion must first be obtained from the other body). A bill is first discussed at first reading, then referred to one or more committees, where it can be amended; the resulting committee version then goes back to the plenary, where it is passed at second and third reading. Amendments can also be tabled at this stage. A simple majority (more yes votes than no votes and abstentions combined) is required for normal legislative proposals. In some very rare cases, the Basic Law requires the so-called chancellor majority (majority of all members of parliament) for simple laws, for example to establish new intermediate and subordinate federal authorities. Laws amending the Basic Law require a two-thirds majority of all members of the Bundestag.
A law passed by the Bundestag is passed on to the Bundesrat. Laws that directly affect the states must be passed by the Bundesrat by majority vote (amendments to the Basic Law, again, by a two-thirds majority); all other laws are considered passed if the Bundesrat does not object to them within 14 days. An objection by the Bundesrat can be overruled by the Bundestag with a chancellor majority if the Bundesrat has not raised the objection with a two-thirds majority (in the latter case, in order to override an objection, a two-thirds majority of members present corresponding at least to the chancellor majority is necessary). In no case can the Bundesrat make amendments to a bill. If the Bundesrat rejects a bill, the matter is often referred to the so-called mediation committee, a body made up of an equal number of members of the Bundestag and Bundesrat, which attempts to negotiate whether the bill can find the approval of both chambers with certain amendments. A version amended in this way must then be passed again by a majority in both chambers in order to become law (in this case the rules of procedure of both chambers provide for an abbreviated legislative procedure).
In the final step, a law must be signed by the President of Germany (in theory, he has a right of veto, but this has only been used very rarely in the history of the Federal Republic).
Elections
The Bundestag has an elective function for a number of offices.
Chancellor
The chancellor is elected by the Bundestag and formally appointed by the president of Germany. A chancellor's election is necessary whenever the office of chancellor has fallen vacant. This is the case if a newly elected Bundestag meets for the first time, or during legislative periods, if the former chancellor died or resigned.
The chancellor's election is one of the few cases in which a vote in the Bundestag requires a majority of all elected members, not just a majority of those assembled at the time, the so-called Kanzlermehrheit ("chancellor majority"). As with other elections performed by the Bundestag, the chancellor is elected via secret ballot. The election procedure laid down in the Basic Law can be divided into three phases: The process begins with the President of Germany proposing a candidate to the Bundestag (usually a candidate on which the majority party or the coalition parties have agreed to beforehand), who is then voted upon without debate ("1st voting phase"). If the nominee reaches the necessary "chancellor majority", the president appoint him or her and, after that, the president of the Bundestag will administer the oath of office before the assembled house. If this nominee is not elected, the right of nomination is transferred onto the Bundestag: Candidates can now be nominated for election, whereby a nomination must be supported by at least a quarter of all MPs. The Bundestag can hold any number of ballots in this manner for two weeks. To be elected, a candidate still needs a "chancellor majority" of yes-votes ("Second voting phase"). If the Bundestag is unable to elect a chancellor in these fourteen days, a final ballot is held on the very next day. Once again, candidates can be nominated by at least a quarter of all MPs. Candidates receiving a "chancellor majority" in this ballot are elected. Otherwise, it is up to the President of Germany either to appoint the candidate with the plurality of votes as Chancellor or to dissolve the Bundestag and call new elections ("Third voting phase").
Another possibility to vote a new chancellor into office is the constructive vote of no confidence, which allows the Bundestag to replace a sitting chancellor, if it elects a new chancellor with the "chancellor-majority".
As of 2025, all chancellors of the federal republic have been (re-)elected on proposal of the President and on the first ballot with the sole exception of Helmut Kohl, who was elected to his first term via a constructive vote of no confidence against Helmut Schmidt.
Judges of the federal constitutional court
The Bundestag shares responsibility with the Bundesrat for electing the judges of the Federal Constitutional Court. Both chambers elect four judges to each of the court's two senates. They also elect the president and vice-president of the Federal Constitutional Court in alternating order. In the Bundestag, this requires a two-thirds majority of members present, which has equal at least a majority of all members.
Further elective functions
In addition to these central elections, the Bundestag elects the President and Vice President of the Federal Audit Office, the Commissioner for the Armed Forces, the Federal Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information, the Federal Commissioner for the Victims of the SED Dictatorship, two-thirds of the members of the Joint Committee and half of the members of the Mediation Committee.
All members of the Bundestag are ex officio members of the Federal Convention, a non-permanent constitutional body whose sole task is to elect the President of Germany. As such, the Bundestag is also involved in the presidential election.
Electoral term und principle of discontination
The Bundestag is elected for four years, and new elections must be held no earlier than 46 and no later than 48 months after the beginning of a given legislative session.
By way of exception, there may be an early election if the President of Germany dissolves the Bundestag. However, the President only has the right to do so in the event of a failed chancellor election or if an incumbent chancellor requests dissolution after losing a vote of confidence. The possibility of an early election is therefore much more limited than is the case in other parliamentary democracies. This restriction is intended to encourage the parliamentary groups to cooperate in difficult situations and is a lesson learned from the experience of the Weimar Republic, in which snap elections were very frequent because the parties were unable to compromise and form stable governments. In constitutional reality however, the deliberately lost vote of confidence (also known as a false vote of confidence) has established itself as a way for the chancellor to bring about new elections, de facto at his or her discretion (this has happened four times so far: 1972, 1982/83, 2005 and 2024/25).
A legislative session ends in the moment, a newly elected Bundestag convenes for the first time, which must occur within 30 days after an election. The principle applies that there can be no 'period without parliament'. An elected Bundestag is fully competent to act until a newly elected Bundestag convenes for its first session. Prorogations and dissolutions (in the strict sense), as known in the Westminster system, do not exist in Germany. Even an early dissolution of the Bundestag, as described above, in practice only leads to an early election, but does not end the legislative period itself. Before a constitutional amendment in 1976, the "Standing Committee" took the place of the Bundestag with all its rights after dissolution by the President or 48 months after its constitution until a new Bundestag was constituted. Since then, a legislative session generally only ends when the new Bundestag convenes, meaning that lame duck sessions can occur in the four weeks following an election. This has happened four times so far:
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Legislative Session !! Session !! Date !! Reason or subject !! Plenary protocoll
|-
| 13th || 248th || 16 October 1998 || Government statement by Foreign Minister Klaus Kinkel<hr>Resolution on participation in the air operations planned by NATO in the Kosovo conflict ||
|-
| 15th || 187th || 26 September 2005 || Resolution on continuation of the participation of armed German forces in the deployment of an International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan under NATO leadership ||
|-
| 20th || 213th || 13 March 2025 || Motion to amend the Basic Law (amendment of Art. 109 and 115 and introduction of Art. 143 h), first reading ||
|-
| 20th || 214th || 18 March 2025 || Motion to amend the Basic Law (amendment of Art. 109 and 115 and introduction of Art. 143 h), second and third reading ||
|}
<!-- The historical reasons for this constitutional arrangement (Weimar + 1976) should possibly be discussed -->
<!-- Parts of the following section should probably be moved here and the section heading changed to "Electoral term and premature dissolution" -->
Following the tradition of German parliamentarism, the Bundestag is subject to the principle of discontinuation, meaning that a newly elected Bundestag is legally regarded to be a body and entity completely different from the previous Bundestag. This leads to the result that any motion, application or action submitted to the previous Bundestag, e.g. a bill referred to the Bundestag by the Federal Government, is regarded as void by non-decision (German terminology: "Die Sache fällt der Diskontinuität anheim"). Thus any bill that has not been decided upon by the beginning of the new electoral period must be brought up by the government again if it aims to uphold the motion, this procedure in effect delaying the passage of the bill. Furthermore, any newly elected Bundestag will have to freshly decide on the rules of procedure (Geschäftsordnung), which is done by a formal decision of taking over such rules from the preceding Bundestag by reference. If the succeeding Bundestag convents with same or similar majorities like its predecessor, the parliament can decide to take over earlier initiatives of legislation in the same fashion to abbreviate the process, thus effectively breaking the principle of discontinuation by a pull.
Election and membership
Election system (since 2023)
After the imperial Reichstag was elected according to a pure first-past-the-post electoral system (with run-off elections) and the Reichstag of the Weimar Republic according to a pure proportional representation system, mixed-member proportional representation, a system combining proportional representation with elements of first-past-the-post voting, has been used for the Bundestag since the founding of the Federal Republic. Before an electoral reform in 2023, the Bundestag nominally had 598 members, with the mixture of majority and proportional representation regularly leading to a large number of additional overhang and compensation mandates. In 2023, this was remedied with a series of modifications that led to a fixed number of seats of 630 and significantly increased the proportional aspect; after this revised electoral law was confirmed by the Federal Constitutional Court with some modifications following constitutional complaints, it was applied for the first time in 2025.
Every elector has two votes: a constituency vote (first vote) and a party list vote (second vote). Based solely on the first votes, 299 members are elected in single-member constituencies by first-past-the-post voting. The second votes are used to produce a proportional number of seats for parties (Listenkandidat), first on the federal level and then on state level (Sainte-Laguë method). In most cases, the number of constituencies won by a party in a given state does not exactly correspond to the number of seats to which the party is entitled in that state via second votes. This is balanced in two different ways:
*If a party wins more constituency seats in a state than its second votes would entitle it to, only the correspondent number of constituency winners with the highest percentage of first votes are elected.
*If a party wins fewer constituencies in a state than it is entitled to based on the second-vote result, the highest-placed candidates from the state list are elected accordingly to the additional seats.
To qualify for any seats, however, a party must either win three single-member constituencies via first votes () or exceed a threshold of 5% of the second votes nationwide. This does not apply to independent constituency candidates: these always enter the Bundestag if they win their constituency (however, no independent constituency candidate has managed to win a constituency since 1949). Seats allocated in this way are subtracted from the base number of 630 when the mandates are distributed among the parties. In addition, the second votes of voters who have elected a successful independent constituency candidate are not taken into account when calculating the number of mandates (although they are for the 5% threshold).
Parties representing recognized national minorities (currently Danes, Frisians, Sorbs, and Romani people) are exempt from both the 5% national threshold and the basic mandate clause. The only party that has been able to benefit from this provision so far on the federal level is the South Schleswig Voters' Association, which represents the minorities of Danes and Frisians in Schleswig-Holstein and managed to win a seat in 1949, 2021, and 2025.
in the Würzburg district. The column for the constituency vote (with the name, occupation, and address of each candidate) is on the left in black print; the column for the party list vote (showing top five list candidates in the state) is on the right in blue print.]]
Succession in case of early retirement
If a member of parliament leaves the Bundestag during the current legislative session, either through resignation or death, another candidate from that party from the corresponding state takes their place. Successful constituency candidates who did not receive a seat in the previous election due to the principle of second vote coverage are considered first, followed by the candidates on the respective state list. However, if the list is exhausted, the seat in question remains vacant for the remainder of the session. If the departing member was an independent constituency candidate, the seat also remains empty.
Latest election result
Regular election of 2025
The latest federal election was held on Sunday, 23 February 2025, to elect the members of the 21st Bundestag.
List of Bundestag by session
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! colspan"10" style"background:#eecdab; text-align:center;"| Seat distribution in the German Bundestag (at the beginning of each session)
|- style="background:#ffffff"
! style="width:100px;"| Session
! style="width:100px;"| Election
! style="width:100px;"| Seats
! style="width:85px;"| CDU/CSU
! style="width:85px;"| SPD
! style="width:85px;"| FDP
! style="width:85px;"| Greens
! style="width:85px;"| The Left
! style="width:80px;"| AfD
! style="width:80px;"| Others<br />Sonstige
|- style="text-align:center; background:cornsilk;"
| |1st || 1949
| 402 || style"background:#82E0AA;"| 139 || 131 || style"background:#82E0AA;"| 52 || – || – || – || style="background:#82E0AA;"| 80
|- style="text-align:center; background:cornsilk;"
| 2nd || 1953
| 487 || style"background:#82E0AA;"| 243 || 151 || style"background:#82E0AA;"| 48 || – || – || – || style="background:#82E0AA;"| 45
|- style="text-align:center; background:cornsilk;"
| 3rd || 1957
| 497 || style"background:#82E0AA;"| 270 || 169 || 41 || – || – || – || style"background:#82E0AA;"| 17
|- style="text-align:center; background:cornsilk;"
| 4th || 1961
| 499 || style"background:#82E0AA;"| 242 || 190 || style"background:#82E0AA;"| 67 || – || – || – || –
|- style="text-align:center; background:cornsilk;"
| 5th || 1965
| 496 || style"background:#82E0AA;"| 245 || style"background:#82E0AA;"| 202 || 49 || – || – || – || –
|- style="text-align:center; background:cornsilk;"
| 6th || 1969
| 496 || 242 || style"background:#82E0AA;"| 224 || style"background:#82E0AA;"| 30 || – || – || – || –
|- style="text-align:center; background:cornsilk;"
| 7th || 1972
| 496 || 225 || style"background:#82E0AA;"| 230 || style"background:#82E0AA;"| 41 || – || – || – || –
|- style="text-align:center; background:cornsilk;"
| 8th || 1976
| 496 || 243 || style"background:#82E0AA;"| 214 || style"background:#82E0AA;"| 39 || – || – || – || –
|- style="text-align:center; background:cornsilk;"
| 9th || 1980
| 497 || 226 || style"background:#82E0AA;"| 218 || style"background:#82E0AA;"| 53 || – || – || – || –
|- style="text-align:center; background:cornsilk;"
| 10th || 1983
| 498 || style"background:#82E0AA;"| 244 || 193 || style"background:#82E0AA;"| 34 || 27 || – || – || –
|- style="text-align:center; background:cornsilk;"
| 11th || 1987
| 497 || style"background:#82E0AA;"| 223 || 186 || style"background:#82E0AA;"| 46 || 42 || – || – || –
|- style="text-align:center; background:cornsilk;"
| 12th || 1990
| 662 || style"background:#82E0AA;"| 319 || 239 || style"background:#82E0AA;"| 79 || 8 || 17 || – || –
|- style="text-align:center; background:cornsilk;"
| 13th || 1994
| 672 || style"background:#82E0AA;"| 294 || 252 || style"background:#82E0AA;"| 47 || 49 || 30 || – || –
|- style="text-align:center; background:cornsilk;"
| 14th || 1998
| 669 || 245 || style"background:#82E0AA;"| 298 || 43 || style"background:#82E0AA;"| 47 || 36 || – || –
|- style="text-align:center; background:cornsilk;"
| 15th || 2002
| 603 || 248 || style"background:#82E0AA;"| 251 || 47 || style"background:#82E0AA;"| 55 || 2 || – || –
|- style="text-align:center; background:cornsilk;"
| 16th || 2005
| 614 || style"background:#82E0AA;"| 226 || style"background:#82E0AA;"| 222 || 61 || 51 || 54 || – || –
|- style="text-align:center; background:cornsilk;"
| 17th || 2009
| 622 || style"background:#82E0AA;"| 239 || 146 || style"background:#82E0AA;"| 93 || 68 || 76 || – || –
|- style="text-align:center; background:cornsilk;"
| 18th || 2013
| 630 || style"background:#82E0AA;"| 311 || style"background:#82E0AA;"| 192 || – || 63 || 64 || – || –
|- style="text-align:center; background:cornsilk;"
| 19th || 2017
| 709 || style"background:#82E0AA;"| 246 || style"background:#82E0AA;"| 153 || 80 || 67 || 69 || 94 || –
|- style="text-align:center; background:cornsilk;"
| 20th || 2021
| 736(735) || 197 || style"background:#82E0AA;"| 206 || style"background:#82E0AA;"| 92(91) || style="background:#82E0AA;"| 118 || 39 || 83 || 1
|}
Parties that were only present between 1949 and 1957
| align = center
| content =
}}
Presidents since 1949
{| class="wikitable"
|+ Presidents of the Bundestag
|-
! style="width:12px;"|No.
! style="width:280px;"|Name
! style="width:20px;"|Party
! style="width:180px;"|Beginning of term
! style="width:180px;"|End of term
! style="width:180px;"|Length of term
|-
| 1
| Erich Köhler (1892–1958)
| style="text-align:center;"|CDU
| style="text-align:center;"|7 September 1949
| style="text-align:center;"|18 October 1950
| style="text-align:center;"|
|-
| 2
| Hermann Ehlers (1904–1954)
| style="text-align:center;"|CDU
| style="text-align:center;"|19 October 1950
| style="text-align:center;"|29 October 1954
| style="text-align:center;"|
|-
| 3
| Eugen Gerstenmaier (1906–1986)
| style="text-align:center;"|CDU
| style="text-align:center;"|16 November 1954
| style"text-align:center;"|31 January 1969
| style="text-align:center;"|
|-
| 4
| Kai-Uwe von Hassel (1913–1997)
| style="text-align:center;"|CDU
| style="text-align:center;"|5 February 1969
| style="text-align:center;"|13 December 1972
| style="text-align:center;"|
|-
|style="background:#FFE8E8;" |5
|style="background:#FFE8E8;" |Annemarie Renger (1919–2008)
| style="background:#ffe8e8; text-align:center;"|SPD
| style="background:#ffe8e8; text-align:center;"|13 December 1972
| style="background:#ffe8e8; text-align:center;"|14 December 1976
| style="background:#ffe8e8; text-align:center;"|
|-
| 6
| Karl Carstens (1914–1992)
| style="text-align:center;"|CDU
| style="text-align:center;"|14 December 1976
| style="text-align:center;"|31 May 1979
| style="text-align:center;"|
|-
| 7
| Richard Stücklen (1916–2002)
| style="text-align:center;"|CSU
| style="text-align:center;"|31 May 1979
| style="text-align:center;"|29 March 1983
| style="text-align:center;"|
|-
| 8
| Rainer Barzel (1924–2006)
| style="text-align:center;"|CDU
| style="text-align:center;"|29 March 1983
| style"text-align:center;"|25 October 1984
| style="text-align:center;"|
|-
| 9
| Philipp Jenninger (1932–2018)
| style="text-align:center;"|CDU
| style="text-align:center;"|5 November 1984
| style"text-align:center;"|11 November 1988
| style="text-align:center;"|
|-
| 10
| Rita Süssmuth (b. 1937)
| style="text-align:center;"|CDU
| style="text-align:center;"|25 November 1988
| style="text-align:center;"|26 October 1998
| style="text-align:center;"|
|-
| style="background:#FFE8E8;" |11
| style="background:#FFE8E8;" |Wolfgang Thierse (b. 1943)
| style="background:#ffe8e8; text-align:center;" |SPD
| style="background:#ffe8e8; text-align:center;" |26 October 1998
| style="background:#ffe8e8; text-align:center;" |18 October 2005
| style="background:#ffe8e8; text-align:center;"|
|-
| 12
| Norbert Lammert (b. 1948)
| style="text-align:center;"|CDU
| style="text-align:center;"|18 October 2005
| style="text-align:center;"|24 October 2017
| style="text-align:center;"|
|-
| 13
| Wolfgang Schäuble (1942–2023)
| style="text-align:center;"|CDU
| style="text-align:center;"|24 October 2017
| style="text-align:center;"|26 October 2021
| style="text-align:center;"|
|-
|style="background:#FFE8E8;" |14
|style="background:#FFE8E8;" |Bärbel Bas (b. 1968)
| style="background:#ffe8e8; text-align:center;"|SPD
| style="background:#ffe8e8; text-align:center;"|26 October 2021
| style="background:#ffe8e8; text-align:center;"|25 March 2025
| style="background:#ffe8e8; text-align:center;"|
|-
| 15
| Julia Klöckner (b. 1972)
| style="text-align:center;"|CDU
| style="text-align:center;"|25 March 2025
| style="text-align:center;"|present
| style="text-align:center;"|
|}
Membership
Organization
Presidium and Council of Elders
The executive bodies of the Bundestag are the Presidium and the Council of Elders. The Presidium consists of the President, the presiding officer, and several Vice Presidents. The President and Vice Presidents are elected by the plenary of the Bundestag, whereby traditionally the largest fraction nominates the President and each fraction may nominate a Vice President. In addition to the members of the Presidium, the Council of Elders includes 23 other deputies who are delegated proportionally by the factions. The council is the coordination hub, determining the daily legislative agenda and assigning committee chairpersons based on Parliamentary group representation. The council also serves as an important forum for interparty negotiations on specific legislation and procedural issues. The Presidium is responsible for the routine administration of the Bundestag, including its clerical and research activities.
Legislative calender
The Bundestag cannot be adjourned or prorogued during the current legislative session, but is always fully capable of acting and sets its own legislative calendar. Normally, the Bundestag sits for at least twenty weeks per year, interrupted by non-sessional weeks, especially a long parliamentary summer recess, during which the MPs are present in their constituencies. The course of a session week is traditionally always the same: meetings of the parliamentary faction's internal committees take place on Monday and Tuesday mornings, and meetings in the faction-plenary on Tuesday afternoon. From Wednesday to Friday, plenary sessions and committee meetings take place in parallel (this is the reason why often very few members are present at plenary debates). Committee meetings are interrupted on very important items on the agenda so that all MPs have the opportunity to be present in the plenary hall. The highlights of the procedures include government statements by the Chancellor and the general debate at the beginning of the annual budget deliberations, during which there is a direct clash between the Chancellor and the opposition leader.
Independently of the usual procedure, the Bundestag can also convene for extraordinary sessions at any time. This must happen if one third of the MPs, the President of Germany or the Chancellor request it (Basic Law, Article 39.3).
Factions and groups
The most important organisational structures within the Bundestag are 'factions' (Fraktionen; sing. Fraktion). A parliamentary faction must consist of at least 5% of all members of parliament. Members of parliament from different parties may only join in a faction if those parties did not run against each other in any German state during the election. Normally, all parties that surpassed the 5%-threshold build a faction of their own. The CDU and CSU however, have always formed a joint faction, called CDU/CSU or Union. This is possible, as the CSU only runs in the state of Bavaria and the CDU only runs in the other 15 states. The size of a faction determines the extent of its representation on committees, the time slots allotted for speaking, the number of committee chairs it can hold, and its representation in executive bodies of the Bundestag. The factions, not the members, receive the bulk of government funding for legislative and administrative activities.
The leadership of each fraction consists of a parliamentary party leader, several deputy leaders, and an executive committee. The leadership's major responsibilities are to represent the Fraktion, enforce party discipline and orchestrate the party's parliamentary activities. The members of each Fraktion are distributed among working groups focused on specific policy-related topics such as social policy, economics, and foreign policy. The Fraktion meets every Tuesday afternoon in the weeks in which the Bundestag is in session to consider legislation before the Bundestag and formulate the party's position on it.
Parties that do not hold 5% of the Bundestag-seats may be granted the status of a group in the Bundestag; this is decided case by case, as the rules of procedure do not state a fixed number of seats for this. This status entails some privileges which are in general less than those of a faction.
Committees
Most of the legislative work in the Bundestag is the product of standing committees, which exist largely unchanged throughout one legislative period. The number of committees approximates the number of federal ministries, and the titles of each are roughly similar (e.g., defense, agriculture, and labor). There are, as of the current nineteenth Bundestag, 24 standing committees. The distribution of committee chairs and the membership of each committee reflect the relative strength of the various Parliamentary groups in the chamber. In the current nineteenth Bundestag, the CDU/CSU chaired ten committees, the SPD five, the AfD and the FDP three each, The Left and the Greens two each. Members of the opposition party can chair a significant number of standing committees (e.g. the budget committee is by tradition chaired by the biggest opposition party). These committees have either a small staff or no staff at all.
Administration
The members of Bundestag and the presidium are supported by the Bundestag Administration. It is headed by the Director, that reports to the President of the Bundestag.
The Bundestag Administrations four departments are Parliament Service, Research, Information / Documentation and Central Affairs.
The Bundestag Administration employs around 3,000 employees.
Location
Also following the tradition of German diets, the German Bundestag can legally convene on any location, domestic and foreign. The Reichstag plenary chamber is not determined by law as the location of the assembly, making it a facility of convenience. Bundestag's predecessor, the German Reichstag, convened in the Kroll Opera House in Berlin, after the Reichstag with its then wooden interior and walls burned down in the Reichstag fire.
After World War II, the Bundestag did not have own facilities to call home and had to convene in the Bundeshaus in Bonn together with the Bundesrat. 1953, the plenary chambers in the Bundeshaus had to be expanded and the Bundestag assembled in a radio building in Cologne. Until 1965, the Bundestag assembled in West Berlin for nine sessions. Seven sessions have been held in the Technische Universität Berlin and two sessions in Berlin's Congress Hall in Tiergarten. The assemblies met severe protest from the communist side, the last session even interrupted by Soviet aircraft in supersonic low-altitude flight. 1971, the four occupying powers agree to not accept Bundestag assemblies in West Berlin anymore. The Bundestag assembled in the Old Waterworks Building in Bonn when the old plenary chamber had to get broken down, and in the new plenary chamber for only a few years after Germany's reunification.
The most distinctive assembly of the Bundestag outsite its regular chambers was on 4 October 1990, the day after German reunification. The Bundestag assembled inside the Reichstag building in Berlin for the first time after 57 years, and remote from its then-regular home in Bonn. Soon after this most memorable assembly, the Bundestag decided to move from Bonn back to Berlin by a law which sets only the city of Berlin to be the home of the Bundestag, not the building.
See also
* German governing coalition
* Parliamentwatch
References
Informational notes
-->
}}
Citations
External links
*
* [http://www.election.de/ German election database]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070928053901/http://www.bundeswahlleiter.de/bundestagswahl2005/downloads/Karte_Wahlkreise_16DBT_A1.pdf Map of constituencies]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20150928021725/http://direkte-demokratie.de/tabelle/weiter/demokratie-schaubild-detail.htm Distribution of power]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20160304054257/https://open.corsis.eu/ Plenary speech search engine]
Germany
Germany
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bundestag
|
2025-04-05T18:26:34.155918
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3769
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Bundesrat
|
Bundesrat is a German word that means federal council and may refer to:
Federal Council (Austria)
German Bundesrat
Federal Council (Switzerland)
Bundesrat (German Empire)
See also
Federal Council (disambiguation)
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bundesrat
|
2025-04-05T18:26:34.175500
|
3772
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BMW
|
|DAX component}}
| industry = Automotive
| predecessors =
| former_name = Rapp Motorenwerke
| foundation (as Rapp Motorenwerke)<br> (as BMW)
| founder = Karl Rapp
| location_city = Munich
| location_country = Germany
| area_served = Worldwide
| key_people =
| products =
| services = Car-sharing services, financing, leasing, insurance and other financial services
| production 2,661,922 cars (2023)| 221,988 motorcycles (2023)
| operating_income billion (2023)}}
| num_employees 154,950 (2023) with 2,555,341 vehicles produced in that year alone. In 2023, the company was ranked 46th in the Forbes Global 2000. The company has significant motor-sport history, especially in touring cars, sports cars, and the Isle of Man TT.
BMW is headquartered in Munich and produces motor vehicles in Germany, the United Kingdom, the United States, Brazil, Mexico, South Africa, India, China, and previously also in the Netherlands (ceased in 2023). The is a long-term shareholder of the company, following investments by the brothers Herbert and Harald Quandt in 1959 that saved BMW from bankruptcy, with the remaining shares owned by the public.
History
The Otto Flugmaschinenfabrik was founded in 1910 by Gustav Otto in the Kingdom of Bavaria, which was a state of the German Empire. The firm was reorganized on 7 March 1916 into . This company was then renamed to (BMW) in 1922. However, the name BMW dates back to 1913, when a company to use the name was founded by Karl Rapp initially as . The name and 's engine-production assets were transferred to in 1922, who adopted the name the same year. BMW's first product was produced for fighter aircraft of the . It was a straight-six aircraft engine called the BMW IIIa, designed in the spring of 1917 by engineer Max Friz. Following the end of World War I, BMW remained in business by producing motorcycle engines, agricultural equipment, household items, and railway brakes. The company produced its first motorcycle, the BMW R 32, in 1923.
BMW became an automobile manufacturer in 1928 when it purchased Fahrzeugfabrik Eisenach, which, at the time, built the Austin 7 under licence from Dixi. The first car sold as a BMW was a rebadged BMW Dixi called the BMW 3/15, following BMW's acquisition of the car manufacturer Automobilwerk Eisenach. Throughout the 1930s, BMW expanded its range into sports cars and larger luxury cars.
Aircraft engines, motorcycles, and automobiles would be BMW's main products until World War II. During the war, BMW concentrated on the BMW 801 aircraft engine using as many as 40,000 slave laborers. These consisted primarily of prisoners from Nazi concentration camps, most prominently Dachau. Motorcycles remained as a side-line and automobile manufacture ceased altogether.
BMW's factories were heavily bombed during the war and its remaining West German facilities were banned from producing motor vehicles or aircraft after the war. Again, the company survived by making pots, pans, and bicycles. In 1948, BMW restarted motorcycle production. BMW resumed car production in Bavaria in 1952 with the BMW 501 luxury saloon. The range of cars was expanded in 1955, through the production of the cheaper Isetta microcar under licence. Slow sales of luxury cars and small profit margins from microcars, meant BMW was in serious financial trouble and in 1959 the company was nearly taken over by rival Daimler-Benz.
A large investment in BMW by Herbert Quandt and Harald Quandt resulted in the company surviving as a separate entity. Günther Quandt was a well-known German industrialist and joined the Nazi party in 1933; he made a fortune arming the German Wehrmacht, manufacturing weapons and batteries. Many of his enterprises were appropriated from Jewish owners under duress with minimal compensation. At least three of his enterprises made extensive use of slave laborers, as many as 50,000 in all. One of his battery factories had its own on-site concentration camp, complete with gallows. Life expectancy for laborers was six months. While Quandt and BMW were not directly connected during the war, funds amassed in the Nazi era by his father allowed Herbert Quandt to buy BMW. with most engines switching over to turbocharging over the 2010s. The first hybrid BMW was the 2010 BMW ActiveHybrid 7, and BMW's first mass-production electric car was the BMW i3 city car, which was released in 2013, (from 1968 to 1972, BMW built two battery-electric BMW 1602 Elektro saloons for the 1972 Olympic Games). After many years of establishing a reputation for sporting rear-wheel drive cars, BMW's first front-wheel drive car was the 2014 BMW 2 Series Active Tourer multi-purpose vehicle (MPV).
In March 2018, Daimler and BMW merged their mobility services.
In August 2019, Oliver Zipse replaced Harald Krüger as the head of the BMW Group.
21st century
In January 2021, BMW announced that its sales in 2020 fell by 8.4 percent due to the impact of COVID-19 pandemic restrictions. However, in the fourth quarter of 2020, BMW witnessed a rise of 3.2% in its customers' demands. This recovery was supported by the company's adoption of widely accepted technologies and integration of third-party services such as Apple Pay and on-demand music as well as key partnerships such as its collaboration with Daimler on autonomous driving. Additionally, BMW's strategic investment decisions which include localizing production of its SUVs to the Spartanburg plant in the U.S., placed the group in a position to easily navigate trade challenges and shifting consumer patterns. the last BMW series production vehicle to be fitted with a V-12 engine. Branding
Company name
BMW is an abbreviation for Bayerische Motoren Werke. This name is grammatically incorrect (in German, compound words must not contain spaces), which is why the grammatically correct form of the name, Bayerische Motorenwerke () has been used in several publications and advertisements in the past. Bayerische Motorenwerke translates into English as Bavarian Motor Works. The suffix AG, short for Aktiengesellschaft, signifies an incorporated entity owned by shareholders, thus akin to "Inc." (US) or PLC, "Public Limited Company" (UK).
The terms Beemer, Bimmer and Bee-em are sometimes used as slang for BMW in the English language and are sometimes used interchangeably for cars and motorcycles.
Logo
The circular blue and white BMW logo or roundel evolved from the circular Rapp Motorenwerke company logo, which featured a black ring bearing the company name surrounding the company logo, an image of a horse head on a plinth. BMW retained Rapp's black ring inscribed with the company name, but the interior of the ring is quartered blue and white, reminiscent of the coat of arms and flag of Bavaria (which in turn are based on the arms of the historic House of Wittelsbach, which ruled Bavaria for many centuries).
A persistent myth claims that the logo is based on the image of an airplane propeller spinning in a blue sky. This myth likely stems from a 1929 BMW advertisement that depicted the logo superimposed on a rotating propeller. However, the logo predates that advertisement by 12 years.
The current iteration of the logo was introduced in 2020, removing 3D effects that had been used in previous renderings of the logo while removing the black outline encircling the rondel. The logo is used for BMW's branding communications but it is not used on vehicles.
Slogan
The slogan 'The Ultimate Driving Machine' was first used in North America in 1974. In 2010, this long-lived campaign was mostly supplanted by a campaign intended to make the brand more approachable and to better appeal to women, 'Joy'. By 2012 BMW had returned to 'The Ultimate Driving Machine'.
Marks
In 2023, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)’s Madrid Yearly Review ranked BMW's number of marks applications filled under the Madrid System as 2nd in the world, with 124 trademarks applications submitted during 2023. Corporate affairs {| class"wikitable floatright"
|+Sales by region (2023)
!Region
!share
|-
|China
|25.7%
|-
|Rest of Europe
|25.1%
|-
|United States
|20.1%
|-
|Germany
|11.9%
|-
|Rest of Asia
|9.9%
|-
|Rest of Americas
|3.4%
|-
|Rest of the World
|1.9%
|}
{| class="wikitable floatright"
|+Sales by business unit (2023)
{| class"wikitable float-left" style"text-align: center;"
!Year
!Revenue<br />(€ bn)
!Net income<br />(€ bn)
!Total assets<br />(€ bn)
!Number of<br />sold cars<br />(m)
!Employees<br />(k)
|-
|2007
|56.0
|3.1
|88.9
|1.5
|107
|-
|2008
|53.1
|0.32
|101
|1.4
|100
|-
|2009
|50.6
|0.20
|101
|1.2
|96.2
|-
|2010
|60.4
|3.2
|108
|1.4
|95.4
|-
|2011
|68.8
|4.8
|123
|1.6
|100
|-
|2012
|76.8
|5.0
|131
|1.8
|105
|-
|2013
|76.0
|5.3
|138
|1.9
|110
|-
|2014
|80.4
|5.7
|154
|2.1
|116
|-
|2015
|92.1
| 6.3
|172
|2.2
|122
|-
|2016
|94.1
|6.8
|188
|2.3
|124
|-
|2017
|98.6
|8.6
|193
|2.4
|129
|-
|2018
|97.4
|7.1
|208
|2.4
|134
|-
|2019
|104
|4.9
|241
|2.5
|133
|-
|2020
|98.9
|3.7
|216
|2.3
|120
|-
|2021
|111
|12.3
|229
|2.5
|118
|-
|2022
|142
|17.9
|246
|2.3
|146
|-
|2023
|155
|11.2
|250
|2.5
|152
|}
Motorcycles
motorcycle, the first BMW motor vehicle, at the BMW Museum in Munich]]
]]
BMW began production of motorcycle engines and then motorcycles after World War I. Its motorcycle brand is now known as BMW Motorrad. Their first successful motorcycle after the failed Helios and Flink, was the "R32" in 1923, though production originally began in 1921. This had a "boxer" twin engine, in which a cylinder projects into the air-flow from each side of the machine. Apart from their single-cylinder models (basically to the same pattern), all their motorcycles used this distinctive layout until the early 1980s. Many BMW's are still produced in this layout, which is designated the R Series.
The entire BMW Motorcycle production has, since 1969, been located at the company's Berlin-Spandau factory.
During the Second World War, BMW produced the BMW R75 motorcycle with a motor-driven sidecar attached, combined with a lockable differential, this made the vehicle very capable off-road.
In 1982, came the K Series, shaft drive but water-cooled and with either three or four cylinders mounted in a straight line from front to back. Shortly after, BMW also started making the chain-driven F and G series with single and parallel twin Rotax engines.
In the early 1990s, BMW updated the airhead Boxer engine which became known as the oilhead. In 2002, the oilhead engine had two spark plugs per cylinder. In 2004 it added a built-in balance shaft, an increased capacity to and enhanced performance to for the R1200GS, compared to of the previous R1150GS. More powerful variants of the oilhead engines are available in the R1100S and R1200S, producing , respectively.
In 2004, BMW introduced the new K1200S Sports Bike which marked a departure for BMW. It had an engine producing , derived from the company's work with the Williams F1 team, and is lighter than previous K models. Innovations include electronically adjustable front and rear suspension, and a Hossack-type front fork that BMW calls Duolever.
BMW introduced anti-lock brakes on production motorcycles starting in the late 1980s. The generation of anti-lock brakes available on the 2006 and later BMW motorcycles paved the way for the introduction of electronic stability control, or anti-skid technology later in the 2007 model year.
BMW has been an innovator in motorcycle suspension design, taking up telescopic front suspension long before most other manufacturers. Then they switched to an Earles fork, front suspension by swinging fork (1955 to 1969). Most modern BMWs are truly rear swingarm, single sided at the back (compare with the regular swinging fork usually, and wrongly, called swinging arm). Some BMWs started using yet another trademark front suspension design, the Telelever, in the early 1990s. Like the Earles fork, the Telelever significantly reduces dive under braking.
BMW Group, on 31 January 2013, announced that Pierer Industrie AG has bought Husqvarna Motorcycles for an undisclosed amount, which will not be revealed by either party in the future. The company is headed by Stephan Pierer (CEO of KTM). Pierer Industrie AG is 51% owner of KTM and 100% owner of Husqvarna.
In September 2018, BMW unveiled a new self-driving motorcycle with BMW Motorrad with a goal of using the technology to help improve road safety. The design of the bike was inspired by the company's BMW R1200 GS model. Automobiles Current models
The current model lines of BMW cars are:
* 1 Series five-door hatchbacks (model code F70).
* 2 Series two-door coupes (model code G42), "Active Tourer" five-seat MPVs (U06), four-door "Gran Coupe" fastback sedans (model code F74) and long wheelbase model exclusive to China (F78).
* 3 Series four-door sedans (model code G20), five-door station wagons (G21) and long wheelbase model exclusive to China (G28).
* 4 Series two-door coupes (model code G22), two-door convertibles (model code G23) and five-door "Gran Coupe" fastbacks (model code G26).
* 5 Series four-door sedans (model code G60), five-door station wagons (G61) and long wheelbase model exclusive to China (G68).
* 7 Series four-door sedans (model code G70).
* 8 Series two-door coupes (model code G14), two-door convertibles (G15) and "Gran Coupe" four-door fastback sedans (G16).
<gallery mode"packed" heights"120px" style="text-align:left">
File:BMW 120 (F70) IMG 0362.jpg|1 Series (F70)
File:BMW 220d (F74) DSC 7359.jpg|2 Series Gran Coupé (F74)
File:BMW G42 1X7A0370.jpg|2 Series (G42)
File:2019 BMW 318d SE Automatic 2.0 Front.jpg|3 Series (G20)
File:2020 BMW 420i Sport Automatic 2.0.jpg|4 Series (G22)
File:BMW G60 520d 1X7A1681.jpg|5 Series (G60)
File:BMW G70 740d 1X7A7230.jpg|7 Series (G70)
File:BMW G14 IMG 6039.jpg|8 Series (G15)
</gallery>
The current model lines of the X Series SUVs and crossovers are:
* X1 (U11)
* X2 (U10)
* X3 (G45)
* X4 (G02)
* X5 (G05)
* X6 (G06)
* X7 (G07)
* XM (G09)
<gallery mode"packed" heights"120px" style="text-align:left">
File:BMW U11 1X7A6826.jpg|X1 (U11)
File:BMW U10 1X7A2456.jpg|X2 (U10)
File:BMW G45 20 IMG 2276.jpg|X3 (G45)
File:2018 BMW X4 xDrive20d M Sport Automatic 2.0 Front.jpg|X4 (G02)
File:2019 BMW X5 M50d Automatic 3.0.jpg|X5 (G05)
File:BMW G06 IMG 3715.jpg|X6 (G06)
File:BMW G07 (2022) 1X7A6450.jpg|X7 (G07)
File:BMW XM (G09) IMG 7778.jpg|XM (G09)
</gallery>
The current model line of the Z Series two-door roadsters is the Z4 (model code G29).
<gallery mode"packed" heights"120" style="text-align:left">
File:2019 BMW Z4 M40i Automatic 3.0.jpg|Z4 (G29)
</gallery>
i models
All-electric vehicles and plug-in hybrid vehicles are sold under the BMW i sub-brand. The current model range consists of:
* i3 D-segment (compact) sedan, exclusive to China
* i4 D-segment (compact) liftback
* i5 E-segment (executive) sedan
* i7 F-segment (full-size) sedan
* iX1 C-segment (subcompact) SUV
* iX2 C-segment (subcompact) SUV
* iX3 D-segment (compact) SUV
* iX E-segment (mid-size) SUV
<gallery mode"packed" style"text-align:left">
File:BMW i3 (G28) China (2) (cropped).jpg|i3
File:BMW i4 IMG 6695.jpg|i4
File:BMW i5 1X7A1826.jpg|i5
File:BMW i7 xDrive60 1X7A6822.jpg|i7
File:BMW iX1 1X7A6829.jpg|iX1
File:BMW iX2 xDrive30 IMG 1811.jpg|iX2
File:BMW iX3 G08 FL IMG 6225.jpg|iX3
File:BMW iX 1X7A0305.jpg|iX
</gallery>
In addition, several plug-in hybrid models built on existing platforms have been marketed as iPerformance models. Examples include the 225xe using a 1.5 L three-cylinder turbocharged petrol engine with an electric motor, the 330e/530e using a 2.0 L four-cylinder engine with an electric motor, and the 550e/750e using a 3.0 L six-cylinder engine with an electric motor. Also, crossover and SUV plug-in hybrid models have been released using i technology: X1 xDrive25e, X2 xDrive25e, X3 xDrive30e, and X5 xDrive40e.
M models
The BMW M GmbH subsidiary (called BMW Motorsport GmbH until 1993) started making high-performance versions of various BMW models in 1978.
, the M lineup is:
* M2 two-door coupe
* M3 four-door sedan and five-door station wagon
* M4 two-door coupe/convertible
* M5 four-door sedan and five-door station wagon
* M8 two-door coupe/convertible and four-door sedan
* X4 M compact coupe SUV
* X5 M mid-size SUV
* X6 M mid-size coupe SUV
*XM Large SUV
<gallery mode"packed" heights"120px" style="text-align:left">
File:BMW G87 M2 1X7A6663.jpg|M2
File:2021 BMW M3 Competition Automatic 3.0 Front.jpg|M3
File:BMW M4 (G82) IMG 4183.jpg|M4
File:2024 BMW M5 G99 BS O24.jpg|M5
File:BMW M8 Competition IMG 3364.jpg|M8
File:2019 BMW X4 M Competition Automatic 3.0 Front.jpg|X4 M
File:BMW X5 M (G05) IMG 3370.jpg|X5 M
File:BMW X6 M Competition (G06) IMG 3572.jpg|X6 M
</gallery>
The letter "M" is also often used in the marketing of BMW's regular models, for example the F20 M140i model, the G11 M760Li model and various optional extras called "M Sport", "M Performance" or similar.
Naming convention for models
Motorsport
BMW has a long history of motorsport activities, including:
* Touring cars, such as DTM, WTCC, ETCC and BTCC
* Formula One
* Endurance racing, such as 24 Hours Nürburgring, 24 Hours of Le Mans, 24 Hours of Daytona and Spa 24 Hours
* Isle of Man TT
* Dakar Rally
* American Le Mans Series
*IMSA SportsCar Championship
* Formula BMW, a junior racing Formula category
* Formula Two
* Formula E
<gallery mode"packed" heights"120" style="text-align:left">
File:16 Timo Glock (27860673816).jpg|2016 BMW M4 DTM
File:BMW M6 GT3 of Richards & Twigg 2016.jpg|2016 BMW M6 GT3
File:Christian Iddon BSB Knockhill 2016.jpg|2016 BMW S1000RR
File:Nick Heidfeld 2007 Britain 2.jpg|2007 BMW Sauber F1.07
</gallery>
Involvement in the arts
Architecture
The global BMW Headquarters in Munich represents the cylinder head of a four-cylinder engine. It was designed by Karl Schwanzer and was completed in 1972. The building has become a European icon The interior has a spiral theme and the roof is a 40-metre diameter BMW logo.
BMW Welt, the company's exhibition space in Munich, was designed by Coop Himmelb(l)au and opened in 2007. It includes a showroom and lifting platforms where a customer's new car is theatrically unveiled to the customer.
<gallery mode"packed" heights"120" style="text-align:left">
File:BMW Museum Old Wing Interior 200905.jpg|BMW Museum
File:BMW Welt, Múnich, Alemania, 2013-04-22, DD 03.jpg|BMW Welt
</gallery>
Art Cars
In 1975, sculptor Alexander Calder was commissioned to paint the BMW 3.0 CSL racing car driven by Hervé Poulain at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, which became the first in the series of BMW Art Cars. Since Calder's work of art, many other renowned artists throughout the world have created BMW Art Cars, including David Hockney, Jenny Holzer, Roy Lichtenstein, Robert Rauschenberg, Frank Stella, and Andy Warhol. To date, a total of 19 BMW Art Cars, based on both racing and regular production vehicles, have been created.
<gallery mode"packed" heights"120" style="text-align:left">
File:Calder CSL.jpg|1975 3.0 CSL Art Car by Alexander Calder
File:BMW M1.jpg|1979 M1 Art Car by Andy Warhol
</gallery>
Visual arts
BMW sponsors a number of awards in the visual arts. These include the BMW Art Journey award, which honors a young or mid-career artist in collaboration with Art Basel, and the BMW Painting Award, which was created to promote painting in Spain by finding new talent and showcasing their work.
BMW was the principal sponsor of the 1998 The Art of the Motorcycle exhibition at various Guggenheim museums, though the financial relationship between BMW and the Guggenheim Foundation was criticised in many quarters.
In 2012, BMW began sponsoring Independent Collectors production of the BMW Art Guide, which is the first global guide to private and publicly accessible collections of contemporary art worldwide. The fourth edition, released in 2016, features 256 collections from 43 countries.
Production and sales
3 Series bodies in Leipzig, Germany]]
BMW produces complete automobiles in the following countries:
* Germany: Munich, Dingolfing, Regensburg and Leipzig
* United States: Spartanburg
* Mexico: San Luis Potosí
* China: Shenyang
* South Africa: Rosslyn
BMW also has local assembly operation using complete knock-down (CKD) components in Brazil, Thailand, Russia, Egypt, Indonesia, Malaysia and India.
In the UK, BMW has a Mini factory near Oxford, plants in Swindon and Hams Hall, and Rolls-Royce vehicle assembly at Goodwood. In 2020, these facilities were shut down for the period from 23 March to 17 April due to the coronavirus outbreak.
The BMW group (including Mini and Rolls-Royce) produced 1,366,838 automobiles in 2006 and then 1,481,253 automobiles in 2010. On average, 9,000 vehicles per day exit BMW plants, and 63% are transported by rail.
Annual production since 2005, according to BMW's annual reports:
{|class"wikitable sortable" style"text-align: center;"
|-
!Year!!BMW!!MINI!!Rolls-Royce!!Motorcycle*
|-
|2005||1,122,308 ||200,119 ||692 ||92,013
|-
|2006||1,179,317 ||186,674 ||847 |||103,759
|-
|2007||1,302,774 ||237,700 ||1,029 ||104,396
|-
|2008||1,203,482 ||235,019 ||1,417 ||118,452
|-
|2009||1,043,829 ||213,670 ||918 ||93,243
|-
|2010||1,236,989 ||241,043 ||3,221 ||112,271
|-
|2011||1,440,315 ||294,120 ||3,725 ||110,360
|-
|2012||1,547,057 ||311,490 ||3,279 ||113,811
|-
|2013||1,699,835 ||303,177 ||3,354 ||110,127
|-
|2014||1,838,268 ||322,803 ||4,495 ||133,615
|-
|2015||1,933,647 ||342,008 ||3,848 ||151,004
|-
|2016||2,002,997 ||352,580 ||4,179 ||145,555
|-
|2017||2,123,947 ||378,486 ||3,308 ||185,682
|-
|2018||2,168,496 ||368,685 ||4,353 ||162,687
|-
|2019||2,205,841 ||352,729 ||5,455 ||187,116
|-
|2020||1,980,740 ||271,121 ||3,776 ||168,104
|-
|2021||2,166,644 ||288,713 ||5,912 ||187,500
|}
Annual sales and deliveries since 1972, according to BMW's annual reports:
{|class"wikitable sortable" style"text-align: center;"
|-
! Year !! BMW !! MINI !! Rolls-Royce !! Motorcycle*
|-
|1972
|182,858
|
|
|
|-
|1973
|197,446
|
|
|
|-
|1974
|184,330
|
|
|
|-
|1975
|226,688
|
|
|
|-
|1976
|275,596
|
|
|
|-
|1977
|288,260
|
|
|
|-
|1978
|321,196
|
|
|
|-
|1979
|335,132
|
|
|
|-
|1980
|339,232
|
|
|
|-
|1981
|348,946
|
|
|
|-
|1982
|377,684
|
|
|
|-
|1983
|422,500
|
|
|
|-
|1984
|434,300
|
|
|
|-
|1985
|440,700
|
|
|
|-
|1986
|446,100
|
|
|
|-
|1987
|459,500
|
|
|
|-
|1988
|495,800
|
|
|
|-
|1989
|523,000
|
|
|
|-
|1990
|525,900
|
|
|
|-
|1991
|552,700
|
|
|
|-
|1992
|582,493
|
|
|
|-
|1993
|534,397
|
|
|
|-
|1994
|573,000
|
|
|
|-
|1995
|595,000
|
|
|
|-
|1996
|644,107
|
|
|
|-
|1997
|675,076
|
|
|
|-
|1998
|699,378
|
|
|
|-
|1999
|751,272
|
|
|
|-
|2000
|822,181
|
|
|
|-
|2001
|880,677
|
|
|
|-
|2002
|913,225
|
|
|
|-
|2003
|928,000
|
|
|
|-
|2004
|1,023,583
|
|
|
|-
| 2005 || 1,126,798 || 200,428 || 797 || 97,474
|-
| 2006 || 1,185,088 || 188,077 || 805 || 100,064
|-
| 2007 || 1,276,793 || 222,875 || 1,010 || 102,467
|-
| 2008 || 1,202,239 || 232,425 || 1,212 || 115,196
|-
| 2009 || 1,068,770 || 216,538|| 1,002 || 100,358
|-
| 2010 || 1,224,280 || 234,175 || 2,711 || 110,113
|-
| 2011 || 1,380,384 || 285,060 || 3,538 || 113,572
|-
| 2012 || 1,540,085 || 301,525 || 3,575 || 117,109
|-
| 2013 || 1,655,138 || 305,030 || 3,630 || 115,215**
|-
| 2014 || 1,811,719 || 302,183 || 4,063 || 123,495
|-
| 2015 || 1,905,234 || 338,466 || 3,785 || 136,963
|-
| 2016 || 2,003,359 || 360,233 || 4,011 || 145,032
|-
| 2017 || 2,088,283 || 371,881 || 3,362 || 164,153
|-
|2018
|2,114,963
|364,135
|4,194
|165,566
|-
|2019
|2,185,793
|347,474
|5,100
|175,162
|-
|2020
|2,028,841
|292,582
|3,756
|169,272
|-
|2021
|2,213,379
|302,138
|5,586
|194,261
|-
|2022
|2,100,689
|
|
|
|-
|2023
|2,225,793
|
|
|
|}
<nowiki>*</nowiki> In 2008–2012, motorcycle productions figures include Husqvarna models.<br/>
<nowiki>**</nowiki> Excluding Husqvarna, sales volume up to 2013: 59,776 units.
Recalls
In November 2016, BMW recalled 136,000 2007–2012 model year U.S. cars for fuel pump wiring problems possibly resulting in fuel leak and engine stalling or restarting issues.
In 2018, BMW recalled 106,000 diesel vehicles in South Korea with a defective exhaust gas recirculation module, which caused 39 engine fires. The recall was then expanded to 324,000 more cars in Europe. Following the recall in South Korea, the government banned cars which had not yet been inspected from driving on public roads. This affected up to 25% of the recalled cars, where the owners had been notified but the cars had not yet been inspected. BMW is reported to have been aware since 2016 that more than 4% of the affected cars in South Korea had experienced failures in the EGR coolers, leading to approximately 20 owners suing the company.
Industry collaboration
BMW has collaborated with other car manufacturers on the following occasions:
* McLaren Automotive: BMW designed and produced the V12 engine that powered the McLaren F1.
* Groupe PSA (predecessor to Stellantis): Joint production of four-cylinder petrol engines, beginning in 2004.
* Daimler Benz: Joint venture to produce the hybrid drivetrain components used in the ActiveHybrid 7. Development of automated driving technology.
* Toyota: Three-part agreement in 2013 to jointly develop fuel cell technology, develop a joint platform for a sports car (for the 2018 BMW Z4 (G29) and Toyota Supra) and research lithium-air batteries.
* Audi and Mercedes: Joint purchase of Nokia's Here WeGo (formerly Here Maps) in 2015.
*In 2018, Horizn Studios collaborated with BMW to launch special luggage editions. Sponsorships BMW made a six-year sponsorship deal with the United States Olympic Committee in July 2010.
In golf, BMW has sponsored various events, including the PGA Championship since 2007, the Italian Open from 2009 to 2012, the BMW Masters in China from 2012 to 2015 and the BMW International Open in Munich since 1989.
In rugby, BMW sponsored the South Africa national rugby union team from 2011 to 2015.
Car-sharing services
DriveNow was a joint-venture between BMW and Sixt that operated in Europe from 2011 until 2019. By December 2012, DriveNow operated over 1,000 vehicles, in five cities and with approximately 60,000 customers.
In 2012, the BMW-owned subsidiary Alphabet began a corporate car-sharing service in Europe called AlphaCity.
The ReachNow car-sharing service was launched in Seattle in April 2016. ReachNow currently operates in Seattle, Portland and Brooklyn.
In 2018, BMW announced the launching of a pilot car subscription service for the United States called Access by BMW (its first one for the country), in Nashville, Tennessee. In January 2021, the company said that Access by BMW was "suspended". Overseas subsidiaries Production facilities China
The first BMW production facility in China was opened in 2004, as a result of a joint venture between BMW and Brilliance Auto. The plant was opened in the Shenyang industrial area and produces 3 Series and 5 Series models for the Chinese market. In 2012, a second factory was opened in Shenyang.
Between January and November 2014, BMW sold 415,200 vehicles in China, through a network of over 440 BMW stores and 100 Mini stores.
On 7 October 2021, BMW announced it would begin additional production of the X5 in China.
In February 2022, BMW invested an additional $4.2 billion into the Chinese joint venture, increasing its stake from 50% to 75%, becoming one of the first foreign automakers holding majority stake in China.
In June 2022, BMW announced a new plant project in Lydia, Shenyang designed for electric vehicles. It will become BMW Group's largest single project in China, costing 15 billion yuan (2.13 billion euros). The investment amount was raised by a further 10 billion yuan (US$1.4 billion) in November 2022, following German Chancellor Olaf Scholz's visit to China.HungaryOn 31 July 2018, BMW announced to build a 1 billion euro car factory in Hungary. The plant, to be built near Debrecen, will have a production capacity of 150,000 cars a year.
Mexico
In July 2014, BMW announced it was establishing a plant in Mexico, in the city and state of San Luis Potosí involving an investment of $1 billion. The plant will employ 1,500 people, and produce 150,000 cars annually.
Netherlands
The Mini Convertible, Mini Countryman and BMW X1 are currently produced in the Netherlands at the VDL Nedcar factory in Born. Long-term orders for the Mini Countryman ended in 2020.
South Africa
BMWs have been assembled in South Africa since 1968, when Praetor Monteerders' plant was opened in Rosslyn, near Pretoria. BMW initially bought shares in the company, before fully acquiring it in 1975; in so doing, the company became BMW South Africa, the first wholly owned subsidiary of BMW to be established outside Germany. Unlike United States manufacturers, such as Ford and GM, which divested from the country in the 1980s, BMW retained full ownership of its operations in South Africa.
Following the end of apartheid in 1994, and the lowering of import tariffs, BMW South Africa ended local production of the 5 Series and 7 Series, in order to concentrate on production of the 3 Series for the export market. South African–built BMWs are now exported to right hand drive markets including Japan, Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, and Hong Kong, as well as Sub-Saharan Africa. Since 1997, BMW South Africa has produced vehicles in left-hand drive for export to Taiwan, the United States and Iran, as well as South America.
Three unique models that BMW Motorsport created for the South African market were the E23 M745i (1983), which used the M88 engine from the BMW M1, the BMW 333i (1986), which added a six-cylinder 3.2-litre M30 engine to the E30, and the E30 BMW 325is (1989) which was powered by an Alpina-derived 2.7-litre engine.
The plant code (position 11 in the VIN) for South African built models is "N". United States
, South Carolina]]
BMW cars have been officially sold in the United States since 1956 and manufactured in the United States since 1994. The first BMW dealership in the United States opened in 1975. In 2016, BMW was the twelfth highest selling brand in the United States.
The manufacturing plant in Greer, South Carolina has the highest production of the BMW plants worldwide, currently producing approximately 1,500 vehicles per day. The models produced at the Spartanburg plant are the X3, X4, X5, X6, X7 and XM SUV models.
In addition to the South Carolina manufacturing facility, BMW's North American companies include sales, marketing, design, and financial services operations in the United States, Mexico, Canada and Latin America.
Complete knock-down assembly facilities
Brazil
On 9 October 2014, BMW's new complete knock-down (CKD) assembly plant in Araquari, assembled its first car— an F30 3 Series.
The cars assembled at Araquari are the F20 1 Series, F30 3 Series, F48 X1, F25 X3 and Mini Countryman.
Egypt
Bavarian Auto Group became the importer of the BMW and Mini brands in 2003.
Since 2005, the 3 Series, 5 Series, 7 Series, X1 and X3 models sold in Egypt are assembled from complete knock-down components at the BMW plant in Cairo. The 20 Million Euro plant aims to produce 1,700 cars per year.
Indonesia
PT. BMW Indonesia was established in 2001 as a subsidiary with a head office located in Central Jakarta. It was managed by PT. Astra International.
10 years later in 2011, BMW Group invested more than 100 Billion Indonesian rupiah to expand its production, by establish the complete knock-down (CKD) assembly plant in Gaya Motor's production facility in Sunter, Jakarta. the plant is currently assembling Indonesian-market 2 Series (gran coupé), 3 Series (sedan), 5 Series (sedan), 7 Series, X1, X3, X5, X7, and Mini Countryman.
Malaysia
BMW's complete knock-down (CKD) assembly plant in Kedah. Assembled Malaysia-market 1 Series, 3 Series, 5 Series, 7 Series, X1, X3, X4, X5, X6 and Mini Countryman since 2008. Russia Russian-market 3 Series and 5 Series cars are assembled from complete knock-down components in Kaliningrad beginning in 1999. In March 2022, BMW withdrew from the Russian market and ceased production within Russia in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Uruguay In Uruguay, Spanish-born businessman José Arijón founded Convex (later Camur), which assembled BMW cars from 1965 to 1992. Four models were produced: the 1600, 2002, 3 Series and 5 Series, totalling 12,000 units. Vehicle importers Canada BMW's first dealership in Canada, located in Ottawa, was opened in 1969. In 1986, BMW established a head office in Canada.
BMW sold 28,149 vehicles in Canada in 2008. Japan BMW Japan Corp, a wholly owned subsidiary, imports and distributes BMW vehicles in Japan.
Philippines
BMW Philippines, an owned subsidiary of San Miguel Corporation, is the official importer and distributor of BMW in the Philippines.
BMW sold 920 vehicles in the Philippines in 2019. Korea BMW Korea imports BMW vehicles in South Korea with more than fifty service centers to fully cater to South Korean customers. Also, BMW Korea has its own driving center in near Incheon International Airport. Criticism BMW has received criticism for attempting to lock vehicle hardware features behind subscription fees. In 2018, BMW stated at the Detroit Auto Show that they will start charging users a subscription fee for Apple Car Play. After receiving widespread criticism, BMW removed the subscription. In 2022, BMW announced that they will start charging owners $18 a month to use heated seats. They removed the feature in 2023 after it was criticised.See also
* BMW Group Classic
* List of BMW engines
References
Further reading
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Bisexual (disambiguation)
|
Bisexuality better known as bisexual, in human sexuality, describes a person that is sexually attracted to persons of both the same sex and persons of the opposite sex.
Bisexual may also refer to:
Bisexual characteristics, having an ambiguous sexual identity (e.g. epicenity or androgyny)
A bisexual flower (monoicy), in botany, one that possesses both male (pollen-producing) and female (seed-producing) parts
A bisexual plant (monoecy), in botany, having separate male and female cones or flowers on the same plant
Dioecy, in biology, a species that has members of two different distinct sexes (e.g. humans), opposed to unisexual (only one sex present, always females)
The Bisexual, a 2018 British-American comedy-drama television series
See also
By-Sexual, a Japanese visual kei punk rock band from Osaka
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bisexual_(disambiguation)
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Bornholm
|
| archipelago | total_islands
| major_islands | area_km2 588.36
| highest_mount = Rytterknægten
| elevation_m = 162
| country = Denmark
| country_admin_divisions_title = Region
| country_admin_divisions = Capital Region
| country_admin_divisions_title_1 = Municipality
| country_admin_divisions_1 = Bornholm
| country_admin_divisions_title_2 | country_admin_divisions_2
| country_capital_city | country_largest_city Rønne
| country_largest_city_population = 13,772 (2020)
| country_leader_title | country_leader_name
| population = 39,332
| population_as_of = January 2024
| density_km2 = 66.85
| ethnic_groups | additional_info
}}
Bornholm () is a Danish island in the Baltic Sea, to the east of the rest of Denmark, south of Sweden, northeast of Germany and north of Poland.
Strategically located, Bornholm has been fought over for centuries. It has usually been ruled by Denmark, but also by Sweden and by Lübeck. The ruin of Hammershus, at the northwestern tip of the island, is the largest medieval fortress in northern Europe, testament to the importance of its location. Bornholm and Ertholmene comprise the last remaining Danish territory in Skåneland east of Øresund, having been surrendered to Sweden in 1658, but regained by Denmark in 1660 after a local revolt.
The island is known as ("sunshine island") because of its weather and ("rock island") because of its geology, which consists of granite, except along the southern coast. The heat from the summer is stored in the rock formations and the weather is quite warm until October. As a result of the climate, a local variety of the common fig, known as Bornholm's Diamond (Bornholms Diamant) (''Ficus carica 'Bornholm' ''), can grow locally on the island. The island's topography consists of dramatic rock formations in the north (unlike the rest of Denmark, which is mostly gentle rolling hills) sloping down towards pine and deciduous forests (greatly affected by storms in the 1950s), farmland in the middle and sandy beaches in the south.
The island is home to many of Denmark's round churches. Occupying an area of , the island had a total population of 39,332 . History Medieval
ruin]]
In Old Norse the island was known as Burgundaholmr, and in ancient Danish especially the island's name was Borghand or Borghund; these names were related to Old Norse borg 'height' and bjarg/berg 'mountain, rock' because it is an island that rises high from the sea. Other names known for the island include Burgendaland (9th century), Hulmo / Holmus (Gesta Hammaburgensis ecclesiae pontificum), Burgundehulm (1145), and Borghandæholm (14th century). The Old English translation of Orosius uses the form Burgenda land. There are scholars who believe that the Burgundians are named after Bornholm. The Burgundians were a Germanic people who were settled in the Rhone region by the Romans, and who the region of Burgundy in France is named after.
Modern
]]
Bornholm was pawned to Lübeck for 50 years starting in 1525. Its first militia, Bornholms Milits, was formed in 1624. Swedish forces conquered the island in 1645, but returned the island to Denmark in the following peace settlement. After the war in 1658, Denmark ceded the island to Sweden under the Treaty of Roskilde along with the rest of the Skåneland, Bohuslän and Trøndelag, and it was occupied by Swedish forces.
A revolt broke out the same year, culminating in Villum Clausen's shooting of the Swedish commander Johan Printzensköld on 8 December 1658. After the revolt, the inhabitants handed back their island to the Danish kings.
]]
Bornholm attracted many famous artists at the beginning of the 20th century, forming a group now known as the Bornholm school of painters. In addition to Oluf Høst, they include Karl Isaksson (1878–1922) from Sweden, and the Danes Edvard Weie (1879–1943), Olaf Rude (1886–1957), Niels Lergaard (1893–1982), and Kræsten Iversen (1886–1955).
World War II
On 22 August 1942 a V-1 flying bomb crashed on Bornholm during a test – the warhead was a dummy made of concrete. The wreckage was photographed and sketched by the Danish Naval Officer-in-Charge on Bornholm, Lieutenant Commander Hasager Christiansen. This was one of the first signs British Intelligence saw of Germany's aspirations to develop flying bombs and rockets which were to become known as V-1. The Bornholm rocket turned out to be from Peenemünde.
During the Soviet bombing of the two main towns on 7-8 May 1945, Danish radio was not allowed to broadcast the news because it was thought it would spoil the liberation festivities in Denmark. On 9 May, Soviet troops landed on the island, and after a short fight, the German garrison (about 12,000 strong) surrendered. Soviet forces would leave the island on 5 April 1946.
Later research found that the Soviet bombing of Bornholm resulted in approximately three thousand Danish civilians in Rønne becoming homeless, while damaging a majority of the houses in Nexø, fully destroying roughly one-tenth. Ten Danes were killed and thirty-five wounded, considered a low number, owing to the fact that many civilians were evacuated to shelters on the outskirts of the respective towns before the worst raids hit. Cold War After the evacuation of their forces from Bornholm, the Soviets took the position that the stationing of foreign troops on Bornholm would be considered a declaration of war against the Soviet Union, and that Denmark should keep troops on it at all times to protect it from such foreign aggression. This policy remained in force after NATO was formed, with Denmark as a founding member. The Soviets accepted the stationing there of Danish troops, which were part of NATO but viewed as militarily inferior elements of the alliance, but they strongly objected to the presence of other NATO troops on Bornholm, US troops in particular.
On 5 March 1953, the day of Stalin's death, Polish pilot Franciszek Jarecki defected from the Eastern Bloc and landed a MiG-15 fighter on the island. He was later granted asylum and rewarded for providing Western intelligence with the then-newest Soviet jet fighter.
In 2017, Denmark's Defence Intelligence Service decided to build a listening tower near Østermarie, almost 90 meters high, to intercept radio communications across the Baltic Sea and in parts of Russia.
Municipality
{| class"wikitable" style"float: right;"
|+Result of referendum 29 May 2001 on merger of municipalities with the county 1 January 2003
|- align="center"
! rowspan="2" |Municipality
! colspan="2" |Yes
! colspan="2" |No
|-
!Votes!!Percent!!Votes!!Percent
|-
|Allinge-Gudhjem
!3,590!!74!!1,287!!26
|-
|Hasle
!2,886!!70!!1,219!!30
|-
|Nexø
!3,218!!59!!2,252!!41
|-
|Rønne
!7,754!!85!!1,366!!15
|-
|Aakirkeby
!3,131!!74!!1,118!!26
|-
|Total:27821
!20,579!!74!!7,242!!26
|}
hundreds and 5 municipalities (1970–2002) in green colour and 21 municipalities before 1 April 1970]]
numbered]]
(the tourist flag)]]
is clearly visible with the green cross inserted in the white cross.]]
Bornholm Regional Municipality is the local authority (Danish, kommune) covering the entire island. Its formal name is Bornholm Municipality. It is given the right in the law establishing it to be called Bornholm Regional Municipality. (For explanation read on). It is the result of a merger of the five former (1 April 1970 until 2002) municipalities on the island (Allinge-Gudhjem, Hasle, Nexø, Rønne and Aakirkeby) and the former Bornholm County. Bornholm Regional Municipality was also a county in its own right during its first four years from 1 January 2003 until 31 December 2006. From 1 January 2007 all counties were abolished, and Bornholm became part of the Capital Region of Denmark whose main responsibility is the health service. In the bill (Danish forslag) (Bill of Law on merger of the municipalities of Bornholm) presented 30 January 2002 by the Minister of Interior and Health to Folketinget, it says in §1 that (1st sentence) "The 1st of January 2003 Bornholm Municipality is established by a merger of (names of municipalities mentioned, and county's name mentioned), and (2nd sentence) Bornholm Municipality is called Bornholm Regional Municipality".
The island had 21 municipalities until March 1970, of which 6 were market towns and 15 parishes. In addition to supervising parish municipalities, which was the responsibility of the counties in all of Denmark, the market town municipalities of Bornholm were supervised by Bornholm County as well and not by the Interior Ministry as was the case in the rest of Denmark. The seat of the municipal council is the island's main town, Rønne. The voters decided to merge the county with the municipalities in a referendum 29 May 2001, effective from 1 January 2003. The question on the ballot was, "Do you want the six municipal entities of Bornholm to be joined to form one municipal entity as of 1 January 2003?" 73.9% voted in favour. The lowest percentage for the merger was in Nexø municipality (966 more people voting "Yes" than "No"), whose mayor, Annelise Molin, a Social Democrat, spoke out against the merger. It was required that each municipality had more "Yes" votes than "No" votes. Otherwise the merger would have to be abandoned altogether. The six municipal entities had up to 122 councillors (of which county clls were 18, from 1998 15), reduced to 89 in the municipalities from the 1990s, in the 1970s and the new regional municipality would have 27 councillors from the start 1 January 2003. They were reduced to 23 from 1 January 2018 (election November 2017). From 1 January 2003 until 31 December 2006 the 27 cllrs were called Regional Council (Danish Regionsråd), from 1 January 2007 changed to Municipal Board (Danish Kommunalbestyrelse) as is the usual term in almost all Danish municipalities. This was to avoid confusion with the Regional Council in Region Hovedstaden, and in the other regions
The merger was approved in a law by the Folketing 19 (and signature by the head of state 25) March 2002, transferring the tasks of the abolished county and old municipalities to the new Bornholm Regional Municipality. The first regional mayor in the first three years from 2003 until 2005 was Thomas Thors (born 28 July 1949), a physician and member of the Social Democrats and previously the last mayor of Rønne Municipality for five years from 1998 until 2002. He became a mayor again in 2021. Bjarne Kristiansen, who was the last mayor of Hasle years from the summer of 2000 until 2002, representing the local Borgerlisten political party, served as mayor for four years from 1 January 2006 until 2009. From 1 January 2007, Bornholm became a part of the Capital Region of Denmark. From 1 January 2010 until 31 December 2020 the mayor was Winni Grosbøll, a high school teacher and a member of the Social Democrats (Socialdemokratiet) political party. The deputy mayor Morten Riis was mayor for a short interlude from 1 January until 4 January 2021. He is from the Red-Green Alliance. Thomas Thors, who was elected again in 2017, became mayor again from 4 January 2021. After the 2021 Danish local elections Jacob Trøst became mayor from January 2022. He is from the Conservative party. This was after an agreement (aftale om konstituering) between the Red-Green Alliance, amongst whom Morten Riis will be deputy mayor, and the Danish People's Party with the Conservatives.
Municipal council
Bornholm's municipal council today consists of 23 members, elected every four years. In the first four local elections in the newly created municipality there were 27 members elected to the municipal council. The 2002 local election only took place on Bornholm. From the election in 2017 the number of councillors elected was reduced to 23 members, serving their term of office from 1 January 2018 until 31 December 2021.
Below are the election results to the new merged municipal council beginning with the first election 29 May 2002.
{| class="wikitable"
! rowspan="2" | Election
! colspan="12" | Party
! rowspan="2" | Total<br />seats
! rowspan="2" | Turnout
! rowspan="2" | Elected<br />mayor
|-
| style="background:#B5211D;" |
| style="background:#843A93;" |
| style="background:#89A920;" |
| style="background:#C9096C;" |
| style="background:#EC7D14;" |
| style="background:#8B8989;" ||Borgerlisten Bornholm}}
| style="background:#F4D44D;" |
| style="background:#8B8989;" ||Regionslisten}}
| style="background:#254C85;" |
| style="background:#8B8989;" ||Bornholmerlisten}}
| style="background:#FF0000;" |
| style="background:#00FF00;" |
|-
|2002
|8
| rowspan"2" style"background:#CDC9C9;" |
|style="background:#CDC9C9;" |
|1
|1
|9
|style="background:#CDC9C9;" |
|style="background:#CDC9C9;" |
|8
| rowspan"3" style"background:#CDC9C9;" |
| rowspan"3" style"background:#CDC9C9;" |
| rowspan"4" style"background:#CDC9C9;" |
| rowspan="4" |27
|79.3%
|Thomas Thors (A)
|-
|2005
|7
|2
|3
|1
|2
|1
|5
|6
|78.0%
|Bjarne Kristiansen (L)
|-
|2009
|8
|1
|1
|4
|1
|3
|1
| rowspan"4" style"background:#CDC9C9;" |
|8
|72.1%
| rowspan="3" |Winni Grosbøll (A)<br />Morten Riis (Ø)(14 January 2021)<br/>Thomas Thors (A)(4 JanDec 2021)
|-
|2013
|12
|1
|2
| style="background:#CDC9C9;" |
|1
| rowspan"3" style"background:#CDC9C9;" |
|2
|6
|1
|2
|77.1%
|-
|2017
|8
| rowspan"2" style"background:#CDC9C9;" |
| style="background:#CDC9C9;" |
|1
|1
|4
|5
|1
|2
|1
|rowspan="2"|23
|75.6%
|-
|2021
|4
|3
| style="background:#CDC9C9;" |
|1
|4
|2
|2
|7
| style="background:#CDC9C9;" |
|72.91%
|Jacob Trøst (C)
|-
| colspan="99" |Data from [https://www.kmdvalg.dk/ KMDValg.dk]
|}
Transport
Ferry services connect Rønne to Świnoujście (Poland), Sassnitz (Germany), Køge, by road ( as the crow flies) south of Copenhagen, Denmark; the destination to Køge replaced the nighttime route directly to and from Copenhagen (for both cargo and passengers) from 1 October 2004; and catamaran services to Ystad (Sweden). Simrishamn (Sweden) has a ferry connection during the summer. There are also regular catamaran services between Nexø and the Polish ports of Kołobrzeg, Łeba and Ustka. There are direct bus connections Ystad-Copenhagen, coordinated with the catamaran. There are also flights from Bornholm Airport to Copenhagen and other locations.
Because of its remote location Bornholm Regional Municipality has its own traffic company, BAT, and is its own employment region, and also performs other tasks normally carried out by the regions in the rest of Denmark. In some respects the municipality forms a region of its own.
Bornholm Regional Municipality was not merged with other municipalities on 1 January 2007 in the nationwide Municipal Reform of 2007.
Towns and villages
The larger towns on the island are located on the coast and have harbours. There is however one exception, centrally placed Aakirkeby, which was also the name of the municipality from 1970 until 2002, but it included the harbour of Boderne, to the south. The largest town is Rønne; it is the seat, in the southwest on the westernmost point of the island. The other main towns (clockwise around the island) are Hasle, Sandvig, Allinge, Gudhjem, Svaneke and Nexø. Monday morning 22 September 2014 it was documented by Folkeregistret in the municipality that the number of people living in the municipality that day were 39,922, the lowest number in over 100 years.
, Statistics Denmark gave the populations as follows:
{|
|----- valign="top"
|
{| class="wikitable"
|-
|Rønne|| align="center" |12,887
|-
|Nexø|| align="center" |3,644
|-
|Aakirkeby|| align="center" |2,083
|-
|Hasle|| align="center" |1,622
|-
|Allinge-Sandvig|| align="center" |1,489
|-
|Svaneke|| align="center" |1,078
|-
|Tejn|| align="center" |890
|}
|
{| class="wikitable"
|-
|Gudhjem|| align="center" |723
|-
|Snogebæk|| align="center" |715
|-
|Nyker|| align="center" |701
|-
|Klemensker|| align="center" |639
|-
|Sorthat-Muleby|| align="center" |519
|-
|Østermarie|| align="center" |486
|-
|Aarsdale|| align="center" |387
|}
|
{| class="wikitable"
|-
|Lobbæk|| align="center" |355
|-
|Østerlars|| align="center" |238
|-
|Balka|| align="center" |214
|-
|Vestermarie|| align="center" |256
|-
|Pedersker|| align="center" |242
|-
|Nylars|| align="center" |228
|-
|Listed|| align="center" |204
|}
| valign"top" width"15%" |<br /><br />
|}
The town of Rønne after the merger of the island's administrative entities 1 January 2003 reached a low point of 13,568 inhabitants 1 January 2014. 15,957 people in 1965 (date unknown;number not registerbased) lived in the two parishes that would become Rønne municipality from 1 April 1970. In the table, numbers for Rønne are for the parish of Rønne, Rønne Sogn, alone. The year is unknown but sometime between 2000 and 2005. It does not include Knudsker Sogn, which was also part of Rønne Municipality. Other localities (with approximate populations, not updated) include Aarsballe (86), Arnager (151), Olsker (67), Rutsker (64), Rø (181), Stenseby (?) and Vang (92). In 2010 and 2018 10,297 and 9,111 respectively lived in rural districts, and 88 and 71 had no fixed address. A rural district is defined by Statistics Denmark as a settlement with less than 200 inhabitants.
Population
On 22 September 2014 population numbers showed fewer than 40,000 inhabitants on the island for the first time in over 100 years. The Folkeregister in the municipality could document 39,922 inhabitants in the municipality on that date.
Religion
Most inhabitants are members of the Lutheran Church of Denmark (Folkekirken). Various Christian denominations have become established on the island, most during the 19th century.
* Church of Denmark (1536)
* Baptist church (1843)
* The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) (1850)
* Methodist church (1895)
* Jehovah's Witnesses (1897)
* Roman Catholic Church (ca. 1150–1536, 1849)
Sights and landmarks
Geological formations are immediately visible in Bornholm in a way not common elsewhere in Denmark. The still-operated Stubbeløkken and Klippeløkken granite quarries in Knudsker parish just east of central Rønne are among the few remaining of many formerly active quarries on the island. The island's varied geography and seascapes attract visitors to its many beauty spots from the Hammeren promontory in the northwest to the Almindingen forest in the centre and the Dueodde beaches in the southeast. Of special interest are the rocky sea cliffs at Jons Kapel and Helligdomsklipperne, the varied topography of Paradisbakkerne and rift valleys such as Ekkodalen and Døndalen. Furongian (late Cambrian period) sediments of the Alum Shale Formation of Bornholm presented by all six superzones; three agnostoid and fourteen trilobite zones are defined by fossils. 8502 specimens, most of which are disarticulated sclerites, have been collected from these strata. Described gerena include Ctenopyge, Eurycare, Leptoplastus, Olenus, Parabolina, Peltura, Protopeltura, Sphaerophthalmus, Lotagnostus and Triangulopyge.
Bornholm's numerous windmills include the post mill of Egeby and the well-kept Dutch mill at Aarsdale. The lighthouse at Dueodde is Denmark's tallest, while Hammeren Lighthouse stands at a height of above sea level and Rønne Lighthouse rises over the waterfront.
Examples of roads that have (very) steep climbs and descents are: (inland) Simblegårdsvej in Klemensker, which begins by the village inn Klemens Kro, and Slamrebjergvej just outside Nexø extending northward from the main road from Rønne. Along the coast there are several steep roads, which is also the case in some parts of Denmark as a whole, for instance in and around Vejle.
, one of Bornholm's four round churches]]
, a medieval fortress]]
The island hosts examples of 19th- and early-20th-century architecture, and about 300 wooden houses in Rønne and Nexø, donated by Sweden after World War II, when the island was repairing damage caused by the war.
The island is home to 15 medieval churches, four of which are round churches with unique artwork and architecture. The ancient site of Rispebjerg has remains of sun temples from the Neolithic and earthworks from the Iron Age.
There are 14 European bison near Åkirkeby, attracting 100,000 visitors a year. Education Because of the dilapidated state of their buildings, all secondary educational facilities in Rønne, including adult evening classes, are being transferred to new facilities at Campus Bornholm in 2018. Campus Bornholm is a merger formed in June 2010 consisting of Bornholms Erhvervsskole (youth and adults), Bornholm High School (youth) and VUC Bornholm (adults), then occupying separate addresses. Learning institutions not part of this formalised collaboration will also be housed at Minervavej in Rønne. The building costs were over 300 million DKK (US$46.9 million (29 June 2018)). The A.P. Møller Foundation contributed a sum of 56 million DKK (US$8.76 million (29 June 2018)) to the project.Economy
Among Bornholm's chief industrial activities are dairy farming and arts and crafts industries such as glass production and pottery using locally worked clay.
Jensen-Group, an industrial washing and folding machine company, was founded on the island and has a factory in Rønne. It is headquartered in Belgium.
Tourism is also important during the summer months.
Electricity supply
Bornholm is also home to a large internationally funded demonstration project to test the viability of novel energy market mechanisms to regulate energy networks with a high prevalence of renewables (such as wind turbines and photovoltaics). 50% of the EcoGrid project is EU-funded, with the remainder coming mainly from large corporations.
Military
Almegårds Kaserne on Bornholm is home to the III Reconnaissance Battalion (III/GHR) from the Guard Hussar Regiment.
Climate
Bornholm has an oceanic climate relatively similar to southern Sweden and mainland Denmark, whose summer highs and winter lows are heavily moderated by its maritime and isolated position. Though intense heat is rare, the climate is sunny during summer and rainfall is generally sparse for a climate of this type. The winter of 2010 – 2011 was exceptionally extreme with snow depth reaching at least 146 cm (58 inches) and snowdrifts of six meters (20 feet), the highest in Northern Europe. Military assistance was needed to clear roadways. The DMI estimated the weight of snow to be 100 million tons.
Sports
Bornholm's geography as an island and moderate climate makes Bornholm an ideal location for sailing and other water-based sports. Bornholm has also become an internationally recognised venue for 'match racing', a sailing sport where two identical yachts are raced in one-on-one events on the water. The Danish Open event was held in Bornholm in September 2010 at the port town of Rønne on the western coast of Bornholm. The five-day Danish Open is a key event in the World Match Racing Tour calendar which is one of only 3 events awarded 'special event' status by the International Sailing Federation. The Tour is the world's leading professional 'match racing' series and features a nine-event calendar which crosses three continents during the series. Points accrued during the Danish Open contribute directly to the World Match Racing Tour championship with the winner of the season finale at the Monsoon Cup in Malaysia claiming the ultimate match racing title ISAF World Match Racing Champion.
There are two small stadiums: Nexø Stadion, in Nexø, where NB Bornholm association football club play; and the slightly larger multi-use stadium Rønne Stadion Nord in Rønne, which serves the Bornholm national football team, multi-section club most well known for athletics IK Viking, and several local football clubs. The DBU Bornholm is the local branch governing football on the island.
Cultural references
* Russian writer Nikolay Karamzin in his 1794 short story "The Island of Bornholm" ("") depicts formidable rocks and green meadows of the island. This story about forbidden love is considered one of the first Russian gothic tales.
* The Academy Award-winning 1987 Bille August film Pelle the Conqueror, an adaptation of Martin Andersen Nexø's four volume novel by the same name, is set and was shot on the island.
* A considerable part of the Second World War spy thriller Hornet Flight by Ken Follett takes place on Bornholm, depicting the island under German occupation.
* Megaheavy by Danish filmmaker Fenar Ahmad is set on Bornholm in the 1980s. It won the Grand Prix at the 2010 Odense Film Festival.
* The 2006 film Tempelriddernes Skat (The Lost Treasure of the Knights Templar) takes place on Bornholm.
* Bornholm has an appearance in a Roblox game titled Dynamic Ship Simulator 3, made by CaptainMarcin and his dev team, Badyacht.
* Minor planet 4453 Bornholm is named after the island.
* The 1933 work, Folkeliv og Indstiftelser paa Bornholm, describes the culture and history of the island.
* In the webcomic Stand Still, Stay Silent by Minna Sundberg, Bornholm is the last remaining inhabited area of Denmark after the world is ravaged by a pandemic, and the southernmost area known to still be inhabited by humans.
Notable residents
Arts
* Kristian Zahrtmann (1843 in Rønne – 1917) painter, favoured naturalism and realism
* Michael Ancher (1849 in Rutsker – 1927) realist artist, painted fishermen in Skagen
* Mathias Bidstrup (1852 in Rønne – 1929) architect of many buildings on Bornholm, schools, churches (including Gudhjem Church), train stations and the post office in Rønne
* Hans Henny Jahnn (1894–1959), German playwright, novelist, and organ-builder, lived in Rutsker from 1934 to 1950.
* Janus Laurentius Ridter (1854 in Aakirkeby – 1921) painter and illustrator of topographical watercolours
* Julius Folkmann (1864 in Rønne – 1948) a Danish photographer and cinematographer
* Vilhelm Herold (1865 in Hasle – 1937) operatic tenor, voice teacher, and theatre director
* Oluf Høst (1884 in Svaneke – 1966) Expressionist painter, the only native member of the Bornholm school of painters
* Else Højgaard (1906–1979) ballerina and an actress of stage and screen, noted for her fiery temperament and edgy intensity
* Gustaf Munch-Petersen (1912–1938) writer and painter, moved to Bornholm in 1935
* Gertrud Vasegaard (1913 in Rønne – 2007), a ceramist remembered for her stoneware, in 1933 she moved to Bornholm whence her family originated and opened a studio in Gudhjem.
* Arne Ranslet (1931–2018) sculptor and ceramist, moved to Bornholm in 1955
* Tulla Blomberg Ranslet (born 1928) Norwegian painter, moved to Bornholm in 1955
* Heather Spears (1934–2021), Canadian poet, artist, and novelist, moved to Bornholm in 1962
* Ursula Munch-Petersen (born 1937 in Rønne) ceramist
* Bente Hammer (born 1950) textile artist and fashion designer, moved to Bornholm in 1987, opened a workshop and boutique
* Pia Ranslet (born 1956 in Allinge) painter and sculptor
* Klaus Bondam (born 1963 in Aakirkeby) actor and ex-politician
* Sofie Stougaard (born 1966 in Svaneke) actress
* Jonas Jeberg (born 1975 in Rønne) a songwriter and music producer, lives in Los Angeles
* Engelina Andrina Larsen (born 1978) singer and songwriter
* Aura Dione (born 1985) pop singer and songwriter, resident on Bornholm since age seven
Science
* Peder Olsen Walløe (1716–1793) Dano-Norwegian Arctic explorer, explored the former Norse settlements on Greenland
* Peter Schousboe (1766 in Rønne – 1832) botanist and Danish consul general in Tangier
* Johan Nicolai Madvig (1804 in Svaneke – 1886) a Danish philologist and Kultus Minister of Denmark.
* Peter Ludvig Panum (1820 in Rønne – 1885) physiologist and pathologist
* Dr. Lilli Nielsen (1926 in Rønne – 2013) psychologist, taught blind children and those with multiple disabilities
Business
* Hans Peder Kofoed (1743 in Svaneke – 1812) a Danish brewer, merchant and shipowner traded with Danish West Indies
* M.P. Möller (1854 in Østermarie – 1937), a pipe-organ builder and manufacturer, moved to the United States in 1872
* Christian Schmiegelow (1859 in Rønne – 1949) a Danish businessman, co-founder of Dampskibsselskabet Torm
* Nicolai Nørregaard (born 1979 in Svaneke) chef and restaurateur
Public affairs
* Jørgen Landt (1751–1804 in Olsker) a Danish priest, botanist and author
* Johan Peter Andreas Anker (1838 in Knudsker Sogn – 1876) a Danish military officer
* Johanne Münter (1844 in Rønne – 1921) a Danish women's rights activist and writer
* Martin Andersen Nexø (1869–1954) socialist writer, moved to the island aged 8 and adopted the city name
* Vilhelm Grønbech (1873 in Allinge – 1948) cultural historian and professor of the history of religion at the University of Copenhagen
* Mogens Glistrup (1926–2008) controversial politician, lawyer and tax protester
* Flemming Kofod-Svendsen (born 1944 in Aakirkeby) an ordained minister in the Lutheran Church and politician
* Lea Wermelin (born 1985 in Rønne) a Danish politician, Minister for the Environment
* Peter Kofod Poulsen (born 1990 in Snogebæk) a Danish politician, MEP since 2019
Sport
* Hans Colberg (1921 in Klemensker – 2007) football player, over 200 pro appearances
* Allan Kuhn (born 1968 in Rønne) a Danish association football coach and former player.
* Julie Houmann (born in Rønne 1979) badminton player
* Lisbet Jakobsen (born 1987 in Nexø) rower, competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics
* Magnus Cort (born 1993) professional road bicycle racer
* Mathias Christiansen (born 1994) badminton player
* Amir Hadžiahmetović (born 1997 in Nexø) a Bosnian professional footballer
See also
* Bornholm disease
* Battle of Bornholm (disambiguation)
* Dromaeosauroides bornholmensis, the first dinosaur found in Denmark
* Arts and Crafts movement
* List of islands of Denmark
References
Category:Municipalities in the Capital Region of Denmark
Category:Municipalities of Denmark
Category:Danish islands in the Baltic
Category:Islands of Denmark
Category:Populated places established in 2003
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Bay (disambiguation)
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A bay is an area of water bordered by land on three sides.
Bay, Bays, baying, or The Bay may also refer to:
Places
China
Bay County or Baicheng County, Aksu Prefecture, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region
France
Bay, Haute-Saône, a commune
Philippines
Bay, Laguna, a municipality
Bay River
Somalia
Bay, Somalia
United Kingdom
Bay, Dorset, a location in England
Bay, Highland, a location in Scotland
United States
Bay, Arkansas
Bay, Springfield, Massachusetts, a neighborhood
Bay, Missouri
Bay County, Florida
Bay County, Michigan
Bays, Kentucky
Bays, Ohio
San Francisco Bay Area, California, a metropolitan area often referred to as just "the Bay"
Animals and plants
Animals
Bay (horse), a color of the hair coats of some horses
Baying, a kind of howling made by canines
Plants
Bay laurel, the evergreen laurel tree species Laurus nobilis
Bay leaf, the aromatic leaves of several species of the Laurel family
Rose bay, a common name for Rhododendron maximum
Architecture and interior design
Bay (architecture), a module in classical or Gothic architecture
Bay, the name in English of a ken, a Japanese unit of measure and proportion
Bay window, a window space projecting outward from the main walls of a building and forming a bay in a room
Bay (shelving), a basic unit of library shelving
Arts, entertainment, and media
Radio stations
Bay Radio (Malta), a radio station located in Malta
Bay Radio (Spain), a radio station serving the Valencian Community in Spain
Heart North Lancashire & Cumbria, formerly The Bay, a radio station in North West England
Hot Radio, originally operating as The Bay 102.8, a radio station in Dorset, England,
Easy Radio, formerly Swansea Bay Radio, a radio station in South Wales
WZBA, a classic rock radio station, operating as 100.7 The Bay, in Westminster, Maryland
Other arts, entertainment, and media
The Bay (film), a 2012 American found footage horror film
The Bay (web series), a soap opera web series that premiered in 2010
"The Bay", a 2011 single by Metronomy
The Bay (TV series), a British crime drama
Bays (album), a 2015 album by Fat Freddy's Drop
Businesses
Bank of Ayudhya, a Thai commercial bank (Stock symbol: BAY)
Bay Networks, a network hardware vendor acquired by Nortel Networks in 1998
Bay Trading Company, a retailer of woman's clothes in the UK
Hudson's Bay (retailer) or The Bay, a chain of department stores in Canada
Transport
Baia Mare Airport in Baia Mare, Romania
Bay platform, a dead-end platform at a railway station which has through lines
Bay station, a subway station in Toronto
Bayswater railway station, Melbourne
Bay, the space enclosed by a set of struts on a biplane (see )
Loading bay, a synonym for loading dock
People
Bay (chancellor), a royal scribe to an ancient Egyptian ruler
Bay (surname)
Bay Buchanan (born 1948), a prominent American conservative political commentator
Other uses
Bay (cloth), a coarse woolen cloth similar to Baize but lighter in weight and with shorter pile.
Drive bay, an area for adding hardware in a computer
Sick bay, nautical term for the location in a ship that is used for medical purposes
The Bay School of San Francisco, a private high school
Substation bay, an interconnection of equipment in an electrical substation
See also
:Category:Lists of bays
Bay Area (disambiguation)
Bay breeze (disambiguation)
Bay Bridge (disambiguation)
Bay City (disambiguation)
Bay School (disambiguation)
Bay Street (disambiguation)
Bay Township (disambiguation)
Baye (disambiguation)
Bae (disambiguation)
Bays (disambiguation)
Bey (disambiguation)
eBay
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Book
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, one of the first books to be printed using the printing press]]
A book is an object recording information in the form of printed writing or images. Modern books are typically in codex format, composed of many pages bound together and protected by a cover. Older formats include the scroll and the tablet.
As a conceptual object, a book refers to a written work of substantial length, which may be distributed either physically or digitally as an electronic book (ebook). These works can be broadly classified into fiction (containing invented content, often narratives) and non-fiction (containing content intended as factual truth). A physical book may not contain such a work: for example, it may contain only drawings, engravings, photographs, puzzles, or removable content like paper dolls. It may also be left empty for personal use, as in the case of account books, appointment books, autograph books, notebooks, diaries and sketchbooks. Books are sometimes contrasted with periodical literature, such as newspapers or magazines, where new editions are published according to a regular schedule.
The book publishing process is the series of steps involved in their creation and dissemination. Books are sold at both regular stores and specialized bookstores, as well as online for delivery, and can be borrowed from libraries. The reception of books has led to a number of social consequences, including censorship.
The modern book industry has seen several major changes due to new technologies, including ebooks and audiobooks (recordings of books being read aloud). Awareness of the needs of print-disabled people has led to a rise in formats designed for greater accessibility, such as braille printing and large-print editions. Google Books estimated in 2010 that approximately 130 million total unique books had been published.
Etymology
The word book comes from the Old English , which in turn likely comes from the Germanic root , cognate to "beech". In Slavic languages like Russian, Bulgarian, Macedonian —"letter" is cognate with "beech". In Russian, Serbian and Macedonian, the word () or () refers to a primary school textbook that helps young children master the techniques of reading and writing. It is thus conjectured that the earliest Indo-European writings may have been carved on beech wood. The Latin word , meaning a book in the modern sense (bound and with separate leaves), originally meant "block of wood".
An avid reader or collector of books is a bibliophile, or colloquially a "bookworm". Definitions In its modern incarnation, a book is typically composed of many pages (commonly of paper, parchment, or vellum) that are bound together along one edge and protected by a cover. By extension, book refers to a physical book's written, printed, or graphic contents. A single part or division of a longer written work may also be called a book, especially for some works composed in antiquity: each part of Aristotle's Physics, for example, is a book.
It is difficult to create a precise definition of the book that clearly delineates it from other kinds of written material across time and culture. The meaning of the term has changed substantially over time with the evolution of communication media. Historian of books James Raven has suggested that when studying how books have been used to communicate, they should be defined in a broadly inclusive way as "portable, durable, replicable and legible" means of recording and disseminating information, rather than relying on physical or contextual features. This would include, for example, ebooks, newspapers, and quipus (a form of knot-based recording historically used by cultures in Andean South America), but not objects fixed in place such as inscribed monuments.
A stricter definition is given by UNESCO: for the purpose of recording national statistics on book production, it recommended that a book be defined as "a non-periodical printed publication of at least 49 pages, exclusive of the cover pages, published in the country and made available to the public", distinguishing them from other written material such as pamphlets. Kovač et al. have critiqued this definition for failing to account for new digital formats. They propose four criteria (a minimum length; textual content; a form with defined boundaries; and "information architecture" like linear structure and certain textual elements) that form a "hierarchy of the book", in which formats that fulfill more criteria are considered more similar to the traditional printed book.
Although in academic language a monograph is a specialist work on a single subject, in library and information science the term is used more broadly to mean any non-serial publication complete in one volume (a physical book) or a definite number of volumes (such as a multi-volume novel), in contrast to serial or periodical publications. Across regions like China, the Middle East, Europe, and South Asia, diverse methods of book production evolved. The Middle Ages saw the rise of illuminated manuscripts, intricately blending text and imagery, particularly during the Mughal era in South Asia under the patronage of rulers like Akbar and Shah Jahan.
Prior to the invention of the printing press in the 15th century, made famous by the Gutenberg Bible, each text was a unique handcrafted valuable article, personalized through the design features incorporated by the scribe, owner, bookbinder, and illustrator. Its creation marked a pivotal moment for book production. Innovations like movable type and steam-powered presses accelerated manufacturing processes and contributed to increased literacy rates. Copyright protection also emerged, securing authors' rights and shaping the publishing landscape. The Late Modern Period introduced chapbooks, catering to a wider range of readers, and mechanization of the printing process further enhanced efficiency.
The 20th century witnessed the advent of typewriters, computers, and desktop publishing, transforming document creation and printing. Digital advancements in the 21st century led to the rise of ebooks, propelled by the popularity of ereaders and accessibility features. While discussions about the potential decline of physical books have surfaced, print media has proven remarkably resilient, continuing to thrive as a multi-billion dollar industry. Additionally, efforts to make literature more inclusive emerged, with the development of Braille for the visually impaired and the creation of spoken books, providing alternative ways for individuals to access and enjoy literature., dated to the early 3rd millennium BC]]
Tablet
Some of the earliest written records were made on tablets. Clay tablets (flattened pieces of clay impressed with a stylus) were used in the Ancient Near East throughout the Bronze Age and well into the Iron Age, especially for writing in cuneiform. Wax tablets (pieces of wood covered in a layer of wax) were used in classical antiquity and throughout the Middle Ages.
The custom of binding several wax tablets together (Roman pugillares) is a possible precursor of modern bound books. The etymology of the word codex (block of wood) suggests that it may have developed from wooden wax tablets. Scroll
of Hunefer; c. 1275 BC; ink and pigments on papyrus; 45 × 90.5 cm; British Museum (London)]]
Scrolls made from papyrus were first used for writing in Ancient Egypt, perhaps as early as the First Dynasty, although the earliest evidence is from the account books of King Neferirkare Kakai of the Fifth Dynasty (about 2400 BC). According to Herodotus (History 5:58), the Phoenicians brought writing and papyrus to Greece around the 10th or 9th century BC. Whether made from papyrus, parchment, or paper, scrolls were the dominant writing medium in the Hellenistic, Roman, Chinese, Hebrew, and Macedonian cultures. The codex dominated in the Roman world by late antiquity, but scrolls persisted much longer in Asia. Codex
meets the modern definition of codex.]]
The codex is the ancestor of the modern book, consisting of sheets of uniform size bound along one edge and typically held between two covers made of some more robust material. Isidore of Seville (died 636) explained the then-current relation between a codex, book, and scroll in his Etymologiae (VI.13): "A codex is composed of many books; a book is of one scroll. It is called codex by way of metaphor from the trunks (codex) of trees or vines, as if it were a wooden stock, because it contains in itself a multitude of books, as it were of branches".
The first written mention of the codex as a form of book is from Martial, in his Apophoreta <small>CLXXXIV</small> at the end of the first century, where he praises its compactness. However, the codex never gained much popularity in the pagan Hellenistic world, and only within the Christian community did it gain widespread use. This change happened gradually during the 3rd and 4th centuries, and the reasons for adopting the codex form of the book were several: the format was more economical than the scroll, as both sides of the writing material can be used; and it was portable, searchable, and easier to conceal. The Christian authors may also have wanted to distinguish their writings from the pagan and Judaic texts written on scrolls.
The codices of pre-Columbian Mesoamerica had the same form as the European codex, but were instead made with long folded strips of either fig bark (amatl) or plant fibers, often with a layer of whitewash applied before writing. New World codices were written as late as the 16th century (see Maya codices and Aztec codices). Those written before the Spanish conquests seem all to have been single long sheets folded concertina-style, sometimes written on both sides of the local amatl paper.
Manuscript
contains an author portrait of Virgil. Note the bookcase (capsa), reading stand and the text written without word spacing in rustic capitals.]]
Manuscripts, handwritten and hand-copied documents, were the only form of writing before the invention and widespread adoption of print. Advances were made in the techniques used to create them.
In the early Western Roman Empire, monasteries continued Latin writing traditions related to Christianity, and the clergy were the predominant readers and copyists. The bookmaking process was long and laborious. They were usually written on parchment or vellum, writing surfaces made from processed animal skin. The parchment had to be prepared, then the unbound pages were planned and ruled with a blunt tool or lead, after which the text was written by a scribe, who usually left blank areas for illustration and rubrication. Finally, it was bound by a bookbinder.
Because of the difficulties involved in making and copying books, they were expensive and rare. Smaller monasteries usually had only a few dozen books. By the 9th century, larger collections held around 500 volumes and even at the end of the Middle Ages, the papal library in Avignon and Paris library of the Sorbonne held only around 2,000 volumes.
The rise of universities in the 13th century led to an increased demand for books, and a new system for copying appeared. The books were divided into unbound leaves (pecia), which were lent out to different copyists, so the speed of book production was considerably increased. The system was maintained by secular stationers guilds, which produced both religious and non-religious material., from his Miracles de Notre Dame, 15th century]]In India, bound manuscripts made of birch bark or palm leaf had existed since antiquity. The text in palm leaf manuscripts was inscribed with a knife pen on rectangular cut and cured palm leaf sheets; coloring was then applied to the surface and wiped off, leaving the ink in the incised grooves. Each sheet typically had a hole through which a string could pass, and with these the sheets were tied together with a string to bind like a book.
Woodblock printing
, a traditional woodblock printing technique that originated in Bagh, Madhya Pradesh, India]]
In woodblock printing, a relief image of an entire page is carved into blocks of wood, inked, and used to print copies of that page. It originated in the Han dynasty before 220 AD, used to print textiles and later paper, and was widely used throughout East Asia. The oldest dated book printed by this method is The Diamond Sutra (868 AD). The method (called woodcut when used in art) arrived in Europe in the early 14th century. Books (known as block-books), as well as playing-cards and religious pictures, began to be produced by this method. Creating an entire book was a painstaking process, requiring a hand-carved block for each page, and the wooden blocks could crack if stored for too long.
Movable type and incunabula
|italic=no}}]]
The Chinese inventor Bi Sheng made movable type of earthenware , but there are no known surviving examples of his printing. Around 1450, Johannes Gutenberg independently invented movable type in Europe, along with innovations in casting the type based on a matrix and hand mould. This invention gradually made books less expensive to produce and more widely available. Early printed books, single sheets and images which were created before 1501 in Europe are known as incunables or incunabula.
]]
19th century to present
Steam-powered printing presses became popular in the early 19th century. These machines could print 1,100 sheets per hour, but workers could only set 2,000 letters per hour. Monotype and linotype typesetting machines were introduced in the late 19th century. They could set more than 6,000 letters per hour and an entire line of type at once. There have been numerous improvements in the printing press. In mid-20th century, European book production had risen to over 200,000 titles per year.
During the 20th century, libraries faced an ever-increasing rate of publishing, sometimes called an information explosion. The advent of electronic publishing and the internet means that new information is often published online rather than in printed books, for example through a digital library. "Print on demand" technologies, which make it possible to print as few as one book at a time, have made self-publishing (and vanity publishing) much easier and more affordable, and has allowed publishers to keep low-selling books in print rather than declaring them out of print.
Contemporary publishing
Presently, books are typically produced by a publishing company in order to be put on the market by distributors and bookstores. The publisher negotiates a formal legal agreement with authors in order to obtain the copyright to works, then arranges for them to be produced and sold. The major steps of the publishing process are: editing and proofreading the work to be published; designing the printed book; manufacturing the books; and selling the books, including marketing and promotion. Each of these steps is usually taken on by third-party companies paid by the publisher. This is in contrast to self-publishing, where an author pays for the production and distribution of their own work and manages some or all steps of the publishing process.
English-language publishing is currently dominated by the so-called "Big Five" publishers: Penguin Random House, Hachette Book Group, HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster, and Macmillan Publishers. They were estimated to make up almost 60 percent of the market for general-readership books in 2021.
Design
Book design is the art of incorporating the content, style, format, design, and sequence of the various elements of a book into a coherent unit.
Layout
thumb|350px|Diagram of a book
}}]]
Modern books are organized according to a particular format called the book's layout. Although there is great variation in layout, modern books tend to adhere to a set of rules with regard to what the parts of the layout are and what their content usually includes. A basic layout will include a front cover, a back cover and the book's content which is called its body copy or content pages. The front cover often bears the book's title (and subtitle, if any) and the name of its author or editor(s). The inside front cover page is usually left blank in both hardcover and paperback books. The next section, if present, is the book's front matter, which includes all textual material after the front cover but not part of the book's content such as a foreword, a dedication, a table of contents and publisher data such as the book's edition or printing number and place of publication. Between the body copy and the back cover goes the end matter which would include any indices, sets of tables, diagrams, glossaries or lists of cited works (though an edited book with several authors usually places cited works at the end of each authored chapter). The inside back cover page, like that inside the front cover, is usually blank. The back cover is the usual place for the book's ISBN and maybe a photograph of the author(s)/ editor(s), perhaps with a short introduction to them. Also here often appear plot summaries, barcodes and excerpted reviews of the book.
The body of the books is usually divided into parts, chapters, sections and sometimes subsections that are composed of at least a paragraph or more.
Size
The size of a book is generally measured by the height against the width of a leaf, or sometimes the height and width of its cover. A series of terms commonly used by contemporary libraries and publishers for the general sizes of modern books ranges from folio (the largest), to quarto (smaller) and octavo (still smaller). Historically, these terms referred to the format of the book, a technical term used by printers and bibliographers to indicate the size of a leaf in terms of the size of the original sheet. For example, a quarto was a book printed on sheets of paper folded in half twice, with the first fold at right angles to the second, to produce 4 leaves (or 8 pages), each leaf one fourth the size of the original sheet printed – note that a leaf refers to the single piece of paper, whereas a page is one side of a leaf. Because the actual format of many modern books cannot be determined from examination of the books, bibliographers may not use these terms in scholarly descriptions.
Illustration
" in The Complete Collection of Pictures & Songs; engraving and printing by Edmund Evans, illustration by Randolph Caldecott (1887)]]
While some form of book illustration has existed since the invention of writing, the modern Western tradition of illustration began with 15th-century block books, in which the book's text and images were cut into the same block. Techniques such as engraving, etching, and lithography have also been influential.
Manufacturing
The methods used for the printing and binding of books continued fundamentally unchanged from the 15th century into the early 20th century. While there was more mechanization, a book printer in 1900 still used movable metal type assembled into words, lines, and pages to create copies. Modern paper books are printed on paper designed specifically for printing. Traditionally, book papers are off-white or low-white papers (easier to read), are opaque to minimize the show-through of text from one side of the page to the other and are (usually) made to tighter caliper or thickness specifications, particularly for case-bound books. Different paper qualities are used depending on the type of book: Machine finished coated papers, woodfree uncoated papers, coated fine papers and special fine papers are common paper grades.
Today, the majority of books are printed by offset lithography. When a book is printed, the pages are laid out on the plate so that after the printed sheet is folded the pages will be in the correct sequence. Books tend to be manufactured nowadays in a few standard sizes. The sizes of books are usually specified as "trim size": the size of the page after the sheet has been folded and trimmed. The standard sizes result from sheet sizes (therefore machine sizes) which became popular 200 or 300 years ago, and have come to dominate the industry. British conventions in this regard prevail throughout the English-speaking world, except for the US. The European book manufacturing industry works to a completely different set of standards.
Hardcover books have a stiff binding, while paperback books have cheaper, flexible covers which tend to be less durable. Publishers may produce low-cost pre-publication copies known as galleys or "bound proofs" for promotional purposes, such as generating reviews in advance of publication. Galleys are usually made as cheaply as possible, since they are not intended for sale.
Printing
Some books, particularly those with shorter runs (i.e. with fewer copies) will be printed on sheet-fed offset presses, but most books are now printed on web presses, which are fed by a continuous roll of paper, and can consequently print more copies in a shorter time. As the production line circulates, a complete "book" is collected together in one stack of pages, and another machine carries out the folding, pleating, and stitching of the pages into bundles of signatures (sections of pages) ready to go into the gathering line. The pages of a book are printed two at a time, not as one complete book. Excess numbers are printed to make up for any spoilage due to make-readies or test pages to assure final print quality.
A make-ready is the preparatory work carried out by the pressmen to get the printing press up to the required quality of impression. Included in make-ready is the time taken to mount the plate onto the machine, clean up any mess from the previous job, and get the press up to speed. As soon as the pressman decides that the printing is correct, all the make-ready sheets will be discarded, and the press will start making books. Similar make readies take place in the folding and binding areas, each involving spoilage of paper.
Recent developments in book manufacturing include the development of digital printing. Book pages are printed, in much the same way as an office copier works, using toner rather than ink. Each book is printed in one pass, not as separate signatures. Digital printing has permitted the manufacture of much smaller quantities than offset, in part because of the absence of make readies and of spoilage. Digital printing has opened up the possibility of print-on-demand, where no books are printed until after an order is received from a customer.
, commemorating the invention of modern book printing]]
Binding
After the signatures are folded and gathered, they move into the bindery. In the middle of last century there were still many trade binders—stand-alone binding companies which did no printing, specializing in binding alone. At that time, because of the dominance of letterpress printing, typesetting and printing took place in one location, and binding in a different factory. When type was all metal, a typical book's worth of type would be bulky, fragile and heavy. The less it was moved in this condition the better: so printing would be carried out in the same location as the typesetting. Printed sheets on the other hand could easily be moved. Now, because of increasing computerization of preparing a book for the printer, the typesetting part of the job has flowed upstream, where it is done either by separately contracting companies working for the publisher, by the publishers themselves, or even by the authors. Mergers in the book manufacturing industry mean that it is now unusual to find a bindery which is not also involved in book printing (and vice versa).
If the book is a hardback its path through the bindery will involve more points of activity than if it is a paperback. Unsewn binding is now increasingly common. The signatures of a book can also be held together by "Smyth sewing" using needles, "McCain sewing", using drilled holes often used in schoolbook binding, or "notch binding", where gashes about an inch long are made at intervals through the fold in the spine of each signature. The rest of the binding process is similar in all instances. Sewn and notch bound books can be bound as either hardbacks or paperbacks.
Finishing
"Making cases" happens off-line and prior to the book's arrival at the binding line. In the most basic case-making, two pieces of cardboard are placed onto a glued piece of cloth with a space between them into which is glued a thinner board cut to the width of the spine of the book. The overlapping edges of the cloth (about 5/8" all round) are folded over the boards, and pressed down to adhere. After case-making the stack of cases will go to the foil stamping area for adding decorations and type.
Retail and distribution
Bookselling is the commercial trading of books that forms the retail and distribution end of the publishing process.
Accessible publishing
showing documents that are inaccessible, readable and accessible]]
Accessible publishing is an approach to publishing and book design whereby books and other texts are made available in alternative formats designed to aid or replace the reading process. It is particularly relevant for people who are blind, visually impaired or otherwise print-disabled.
Alternative formats that have been developed to aid different people to read include varieties of larger fonts, specialized fonts for certain kinds of reading disabilities, braille, ebooks, and automated audiobooks and DAISY digital talking books.
Accessible publishing has been made easier through developments in technology such as print on demand, ebook readers, the XML structured data format, the EPUB3 format and the Internet.
Audiobooks
An audiobook or talking book is a recording of a book or other work being read out loud. A reading of the complete text is described as "unabridged", while readings of shorter versions are abridgements.
Spoken audio has been available in schools and public libraries and to a lesser extent in music shops since the 1930s. Many spoken word albums were made prior to the age of cassettes, compact discs, and downloadable audio, often of poetry and plays rather than books. It was not until the 1980s that the medium began to attract book retailers, and then book retailers started displaying audiobooks on bookshelves rather than in separate displays.
Ebooks
e-reader]]An ebook (short for electronic book), also spelled e-book or eBook, is a book publication made available in electronic form, consisting of text, images, or both, readable on the flat-panel display of computers or other electronic devices. Although sometimes defined as "an electronic version of a printed book", some ebooks exist without a printed equivalent. Ebooks can be read on dedicated e-reader devices and on any computer device that features a controllable viewing screen, including desktop computers, laptops, tablets and smartphones.
In some markets, the sale of printed books has decreased due to the increased use of ebooks. However, printed books still largely outsell ebooks, and many people have a preference for print. Dummy books
Dummy books (or faux books) are books that are designed to imitate a real book by appearance to deceive people, some books may be whole with empty pages, others may be hollow or in other cases, there may be a whole panel carved with spines which are then painted to look like books, titles of some books may also be fictitious.
There are many reasons to have dummy books on display such as; to allude visitors of the vast wealth of information in their possession and to inflate the owner's appearance of wealth, to conceal something, for shop displays or for decorative purposes.
In early 19th century at Gwrych Castle, North Wales, Lloyd Hesketh Bamford-Hesketh was known for his vast collection of books at his library, however, at the later part of that same century, the public became aware that parts of his library was a fabrication, dummy books were built and then locked behind glass doors to stop people from trying to access them, from this a proverb was born, "Like Hesky's library, all outside". Content
s in a bookstore]]
Libraries, bookstores, and collections commonly divide books into fiction and non-fiction, though other types exist beyond this. Other books, which remain unpublished or are primarily published as part of different business functions (such as phone directories) may not be sold by bookstores or collected by libraries. Manuscripts, logbooks and other records may be classified and stored differently by special collections or archives.
Fiction
Fiction books contain invented material, typically narratives. Other literary forms such as poetry are included in the broad category. Most fiction is additionally categorized by literary form and genre.
The novel is the most common form of fiction book. Novels are extended works of narrative fiction, typically featuring a plot, setting, themes and characters. The novel has had a tremendous impact on entertainment and publishing markets. A novella is a term sometimes used for fiction prose typically between 17,500 and 40,000 words, and a novelette between 7,500 and 17,500. A short story may be any length up to 10,000 words, but these word lengths vary.
Comic books or graphic novels are books in which the story is illustrated. The characters and narrators use speech or thought bubbles to express verbal language.
Non-fiction
]]
Non-fiction books are in principle based on fact, encompassing subjects such as history, politics, social and cultural issues, as well as autobiographies and memoirs. Nearly all academic literature is non-fiction.
Reference
Reference books are non-fiction books intended to be quickly referred to for information, rather than read beginning to end. The writing style used in these works is informative; the authors avoid opinions and the use of the first person, and emphasize facts.
An almanac is a very general reference book, usually one-volume, with lists of data and information on many topics. An encyclopedia is a book or set of books designed to have more in-depth articles on many topics. A book listing words, their etymology, meanings, and other information is called a dictionary. An atlas is a book containing a collection of maps. A specialized reference work giving information about a particular field or technique, often intended for professional use, is often called a handbook. Books which try to list references and abstracts in a certain broad area may be called an index, such as Engineering Index, or abstracts such as chemical abstracts and biological abstracts.
Technical
]]
Books with technical information on how to do something or how to use some equipment are called instruction manuals. Other popular how-to books include cookbooks and home improvement books.
Educational
Students often carry textbooks and schoolbooks for study purposes. Lap books are a learning tool created by students. Elementary school pupils often use workbooks, which are published with spaces or blanks to be filled by them for study or homework. In US higher education, it is common for a student to take an exam using a blue book.
Religious
Religious texts, including scripture, are texts which various religions consider to be of central importance to their religious tradition. They often feature a compilation or discussion of beliefs, ritual practices, moral commandments and laws, ethical conduct, spiritual aspirations, and admonitions for fostering a religious community.
Hymnals are books with collections of musical hymns that can typically be found in churches. Prayerbooks or missals are books that contain written prayers and are commonly carried by monks, nuns, and other devoted followers or clergy.
Children's books
Unpublished
Many books are only used to record personal ideas, notes, and accounts, such as notebooks, logbooks, commonplace books, and diaries. These books are rarely published and are typically destroyed or remain private.
Address books, phone books, and calendar/appointment books are commonly used for recording appointments, meetings and personal contact information. Businesses historically used accounting books such as journals and ledgers to record financial data in a practice called bookkeeping (now usually held on computers rather than in hand-written form).
Collection and classification
Personal and public libraries, archives and other forms of book collection have led to the creation of many different organization and classification strategies. In the 19th and 20th century, libraries and library professionals systematized book collecting and classification systems to respond to the growing industry. The most widely used system is ISBN, which has provided unique identifiers for books since 1970.
Libraries
in Ephesus, Turkey, was built in 135 AD, and could house around 12,000 scrolls.]]
A library is a collection of books, and possibly other materials and media, that is accessible for use by its members and members of allied institutions. Libraries provide physical (hard copies) or digital (soft copies) materials, and may be a physical location, a virtual space, or both. A library's collection normally includes printed materials which may be borrowed, and usually also includes a reference section of publications which may only be utilized inside the premises. Resources such as commercial releases of films, television programs, other video recordings, radio, music and audio recordings may be available in many formats. These include DVDs, Blu-rays, CDs, cassettes, or other applicable formats such as microform. They may also provide access to information, music or other content held on bibliographic databases.
Libraries can vary widely in size and may be organized and maintained by a public body such as a government, an institution (such as a school or museum), a corporation, or a private individual. In addition to providing materials, libraries also provide the services of librarians who are trained experts in finding, selecting, circulating and organising information while interpreting information needs and navigating and analyzing large amounts of information with a variety of resources.
Library buildings often provide quiet areas for studying, as well as common areas for group study and collaboration, and may provide public facilities for access to their electronic resources, such as computers and access to the Internet.
The library's clientele and general services offered vary depending on its type: users of a public library have different needs from those of a special library or academic library, for example. Libraries may also be community hubs, where programs are made available and people engage in lifelong learning. Modern libraries extend their services beyond the physical walls of the building by providing material accessible by electronic means, including from home via the Internet.
Identification and classification
with barcode]]
In 2011, the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) created the International Standard Bibliographic Description (ISBD) in order to standardize descriptions in bibliographies and library catalogs. Each book is specified by an International Standard Book Number, or ISBN, which is meant to be unique to every edition of every book produced by participating publishers, worldwide. It is managed by the ISBN Society. An ISBN has four parts: the first part is the country code, the second the publisher code, and the third the title code. The last part is a check digit, and can take values from 0–9 and X (10). The EAN Barcodes numbers for books are derived from the ISBN by prefixing 978, for Bookland, and calculating a new check digit.
Commercial publishers in industrialized countries generally assign ISBNs to their books, so buyers may presume that the ISBN is part of a total international system, with no exceptions. However, many government publishers, in industrial as well as developing countries, do not participate fully in the ISBN system, and publish books which do not have ISBNs. A large or public collection requires a catalogue. Codes called "call numbers" relate the books to the catalogue, and determine their locations on the shelves. Call numbers are based on a Library classification system. The call number is placed on the spine of the book, normally a short distance before the bottom, and inside. Institutional or national standards, such as ANSI/NISO Z39.41 – 1997, establish the correct way to place information (such as the title, or the name of the author) on book spines, and on "shelvable" book-like objects, such as containers for DVDs, video tapes and software.
One of the earliest and most widely known systems of cataloguing books is the Dewey Decimal System. Another widely known system is the Library of Congress Classification system. Both systems are biased towards subjects which were well represented in US libraries when they were developed, and hence have problems handling new subjects, such as computing, or subjects relating to other cultures. Information about books and authors can be stored in databases like online general-interest book databases. Metadata, which means "data about data" is information about a book. Metadata about a book may include its title, ISBN or other classification number (see above), the names of contributors (author, editor, illustrator) and publisher, its date and size, the language of the text, its subject matter, etc. Classification systems
* Bliss bibliographic classification (BC)
* Chinese Library Classification (CLC)
* Colon Classification
* Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC)
* Harvard-Yenching Classification
* Library of Congress Classification (LCC)
* New Classification Scheme for Chinese Libraries
* Universal Decimal Classification (UDC)
Conservation
]]
The conservation and restoration of books, manuscripts, documents, and ephemera is dedicated to extending the life of items of historical and personal value made primarily from paper, parchment, and leather. When applied to cultural heritage, conservation activities are generally undertaken by a conservator. The primary goal of conservation is to extend the lifespan of the object as well as maintaining its integrity by keeping all additions reversible. Conservation of books and paper involves techniques of bookbinding, restoration, paper chemistry, and other material technologies including preservation and archival techniques.
Book and paper conservation seeks to prevent and, in some cases, reverse damage due to handling, inherent vice, and the environment. Carefully chosen methods and techniques of active conservation can both reverse damage and prevent further damage in batches or single-item treatments based on the value of the book or document.
Historically, book restoration techniques were less formalized and carried out by various roles and training backgrounds. Nowadays, the conservation of paper documents and books is often performed by a professional conservator. Many paper or book conservators are members of a professional body, such as the American Institute for Conservation (AIC) or the Guild of Bookworkers (both in the United States), the Archives and Records Association (in the United Kingdom and Ireland), or the Institute of Conservation (ICON) (in the United Kingdom).
Social and cultural issues
Reception
The impact of books can be various, and record of that reception comes in several formats: starting with initial public reception in contemporary newspapers, pop culture and correspondence, and then developing with different forms of literary criticism by professional and academic critics. For the publishing industry the "book review" is an important part of increasing awareness and reception of a book: able to make or break the public opinion about a new book. Book reviews Book censorship and bans Book censorship is the act of some authority taking measures to suppress ideas and information within a book. Censorship is "the regulation of free speech and other forms of entrenched authority". Censors typically identify as either a concerned parent, community members who react to a text without reading, or local or national organizations. Books have been censored by authoritarian dictatorships to silence dissent, such as the People's Republic of China, Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union. Books are most often censored for age appropriateness, offensive language, sexual content, amongst other reasons. Similarly, religions may issue lists of banned books, such as the historical example of the Catholic Church's Index Librorum Prohibitorum and bans of such books as Salman Rushdie's The Satanic Verses by Ayatollah Khomeini, which do not always carry legal force. Censorship can be enacted at the national or subnational level as well, and can carry legal penalties. In many cases, the authors of these books could face harsh sentences, exile from the country, or even execution.
Book burning
See also
* Accessible Books Consortium
* Book desert
* Book Lovers Day
* Books for the Blind
* Books to Prisoners
* Independent bookstore
* Lists of books
* Open access book
* Outline of books
* World Book Capital
* World Book Day
References
Citations
Bibliography
*
Further reading
*
*
*
* External links
*
Category:Documents
Category:Paper products
Category:Media formats
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B52 (disambiguation)
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The B-52 is an American strategic bomber aircraft.
B-52 or B52 may also refer to:
The B-52s, an American new wave band
The B-52's (album)
B52 (New York City bus), a bus line in Brooklyn, New York
B52 (chess opening), a chess opening based on the Sicilian Defence
B-52 (cocktail)
B-52 (hairstyle) or beehive, a hairstyle
B-52 Memorial Park, a park within the Orlando International Airport, Florida
Volvo B52 engine, a group of Volvo engines
Nora B-52, a Serbian self-propelled howitzer
HLA-B52, an HLA-B serotype
Bundesstraße 52, a federal highway in Germany
B52, route number for Kings Highway in Australia
B-52, a coded reference to Mao Zedong in Project 571
B-52, a pennant number of the Argentinian fast transport ship ARA Hércules (B-52)
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B52_(disambiguation)
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Bal Thackeray
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| birth_place = Poona, Bombay Presidency, British India (present-day Pune, Maharashtra, India)
| death_date
| death_place = Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
| party = Shiv Sena
| otherparty = National Democratic Alliance
| nickname = *Balasaheb <br/>
*Hindu Hriday Samrat
*Shiv Sena Pramukh
| occupation =
| spouse |1948|1995|endher death}}
| relatives = Aaditya Thackeray (grandson)<br>Raj Thackeray (nephew)<br>Thackeray Family
}}
Bal Keshav Thackeray (; 23 January 1926 – 17 November 2012), also known as Balasaheb Thackeray, was an Indian cartoonist and politician who founded the original Shiv Sena, a right-wing pro-Marathi and Hindu nationalist party active mainly in the state of Maharashtra.
Thackeray began his professional career as a cartoonist with the English-language daily, The Free Press Journal in Bombay, but he left the paper in 1960 to form his own political weekly, Marmik.
He had a large political influence in the state, especially in Mumbai. Thackeray was also the founder of the Marathi-language newspaper Saamana. After the riots of 1992–93, he and his party took a Hindutva stance. In 1999, Thackeray was banned from voting and contesting in any election for six years on the recommendations of the Election Commission for indulging in seeking votes in the name of religion. Thackeray was arrested multiple times and spent a brief stint in prison, but he never faced any major legal repercussions. Upon his death, he was accorded a state funeral, at which many mourners were present. Thackeray did not hold any official positions, and he was never formally elected as the leader of his party. His father Keshav was an admirer of India-born British writer William Makepeace Thackeray, and changed his own surname from Panvelkar to "Thackeray" an Anglicised version of their ancestral surname "Thakre".
Bal's father was a journalist and cartoonist by profession; he was also a social activist and a writer who was involved in a Samyukta Maharashtra Samiti, which advocated the creation of a separate linguistic state for Marathi speakers. He also started a magazine named Prabodhan, where he promoted Hindu philosophies and nationalistic ideals to revive Hindutva in society. This proved to be highly influential in shaping Bal Thackeray's political views.
Bal was the eldest of eight siblings, with brothers Shrikant Thackeray (father of Raj Thackeray) and Ramesh Thackeray, and five sisters (Sanjeevani Karandikar, Prabhavati (Pama) Tipnis, Malati (Sudha) Sule, Sarla Gadkari and Susheela Gupte).
Raj in 2006 broke away from Shiv Sena to form his own political party called the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena. Despite Raj's breakaway from the main party, he continues to maintain that Thackeray was his ideologue and relations between them improved during Thackeray's final years. In 1960, he launched the cartoon weekly Marmik with his brother Srikant. Bal Thackeray later stated that it was "not just a cartoon weekly but also the prime reason for the birth and growth of the Sena". It was the issue of Marmik on 5 June 1966 which first announced the launch of membership for the Shiv Sena.
Thackeray drew cartoons for the Free Press Journal, the Times of India and Marmik besides contributing to Saamna till 2012. He cited the New Zealander cartoonist David Low as his inspiration. It demanded that native speakers of the state's local language Marathi (the "sons of the soil" movement) be given preferential treatment in private and public sector jobs. The early objective of the Shiv Sena was to ensure their job security competing against South Indians and Gujaratis. In Marmik, Thackeray published a list of corporate officials from a local directory, many being south Indians, citing it as proof that Maharashtrians were being discriminated against. During the 1970s, it did not succeed in the local elections and it was active mainly in Mumbai, compared to the rest of the state. The party set up local branch offices and settled disputes, complaints against the government. Thackeray publicly supported Indira Gandhi during the 1975 Emergency; Thackeray supported the Congress party numerous times.
Politically, the Shiv Sena was anti-communist, and wrested control of trade unions in Mumbai from the Communist Party of India (CPI). Local unemployed youth from the declining textile industry joined the party By the 1980s, it became a threat to the ruling Congress party which had initially encouraged it because of it rivalling the CPI. In 1989, the Sena's newspaper Saamna was launched by Thackeray. Because of Thackeray being against the Mandal Commission report, his close aide Chhagan Bhujbal left the party in 1991. Following the 1992 Bombay riots, Thackeray took stances viewed as anti-Muslim and based on Hindutva.
Thackeray and the Chief Minister Manohar Joshi were explicitly named for inciting the Shivsainiks for violence against Muslims during the 1992–1993 riots in an inquiry ordered by the government of India, the Srikrishna Commission Report.
Thackeray had influence in the film industry. His party workers agitated against films he found controversial and would disrupt film screenings, causing losses. Bombay, a 1995 film on the riots, was opposed by them. In 2000, he was arrested for his role in the riots but was released because the statute of limitations expired. In response, the Maharashtra government registered a case against him for inciting enmity between different groups. At least two organisations founded and managed by retired Indian Army officers, Lt Col Jayant Rao Chitale and Lt Gen. P.N. Hoon (former commander-in-chief of the Western Command), responded to the call with such statements as not allowing Pakistanis to work in India due to accusations against Pakistan for supporting attacks in India by militants. After the six-year voting ban on Thackeray was lifted in 2005, he voted for the first time in the 2007 BMC elections. Eight or nine cases against Thackeray and Saamna for inflammatory writings were not investigated by the government. Thackeray believed that Hindus must be organised to struggle against those who oppose their identity and religion. Opposition leftist parties alleged that the Shiv Sena has done little to solve the problem of unemployment facing a large proportion of Maharashtrian youth during its tenure, in contradiction to its ideological foundation of 'sons of the soil.'
In 2006, Thackeray's nephew Raj Thackeray broke away from Shiv Sena to form the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) during Thackeray's retirement and appointment of his son, Uddhav rather than Raj as the leader of Shiv Sena. Narayan Rane also quit around that time.
The Sena acted as a "moral police" and opposed Valentine's Day celebrations. Thackeray and the Shiv Sena remained opposed to it, although they indicated support for an Indian alternative.
In 2007, he was briefly arrested and let out on bail after referring to Muslims as 'Green Poison' during a Shiv Sena rally. Views Thackeray declared that he was not against every Muslim, but only those who reside in this country but do not obey the laws of the land, considering such people to be traitors. The Shiv Sena is viewed by the media as being Islamophobic, though Shiv Sena members officially reject this accusation. When explaining his views on Hindutva, he equated Islam with violence and called on Hindus to fight terrorism and fight Islam. In an interview with Suketu Mehta, he called for the mass expulsion of illegal Bangladeshi Muslim migrants from India and for a visa system to enter Mumbai, the Indian National Congress state government had earlier during the Indira Gandhi declared national emergency considered a similar measure.
He told India Today "[Muslims] are spreading like a cancer and should be operated on like a cancer. The country...should be saved from the Muslims and the police should support them [Hindu Maha Sangh] in their struggle just like the police in Punjab were sympathetic to the Khalistanis." However, in an interview in 1998, he said that his stance had changed on many issues that the Shiv Sena had with Muslims, particularly regarding the Babri Mosque or Ram Janmabhoomi issue: "We must look after the Muslims and treat them as part of us." Again in 2008 he wrote: "Islamic terrorism is growing and Hindu terrorism is the only way to counter it. We need suicide bomb squads to protect India and Hindus." He also reiterated a desire for Hindus to unite across linguistic barriers to see a Hindustan for Hindus and to bring Islam in this country down to its knees.
Thackeray was criticised for his praise of Adolf Hitler. In a 1993 interview, Thackeray stated, "There is nothing wrong if Muslims are treated as Jews were in Nazi Germany." In another 1992 interview, Thackeray stated, "If you take Mein Kampf and if you remove the word 'Jew' and put in the word 'Muslim', that is what I believe in". Indian Express published an interview on 29 January 2007: "Hitler did very cruel and ugly things. But he was an artist, I love him [for that]. He had the power to carry the whole nation, the mob with him. You have to think what magic he had. He was a miracle...The killing of Jews was wrong. But the good part about Hitler was that he was an artist. He was a daredevil. He had good qualities and bad. I may also have good qualities and bad ones." Thackeray also praised Nathuram Godse, the assassin of Mahatma Gandhi.
In 2008, following agitation against Biharis and other north Indians travelling to Maharashtra to take civil service examinations for the Indian Railways due to an overlimit of the quota in their home provinces, Thackeray also said of Bihari MPs that they were spitting in the same plate from which they ate when they criticised Mumbaikars and Maharashtrians. He wrote: "They are trying to add fuel to the fire that has been extinguished, by saying that Mumbaikars have rotten brains." He also criticised Chhath Puja, a holiday celebrated by Biharis and those from eastern Uttar Pradesh, which occurs on six days of the Hindu month of Kartik. He said that it was not a real holiday. Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, upset with the remarks, called on the prime minister and the central government to intervene in the matter. A Saamna editorial prompted at least 16 MPs from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, belonging to the Rashtriya Janata Dal, Janata Dal (United), Samajwadi Party and the Indian National Congress, to give notice for breach of privilege proceedings against Thackeray.Views on SavarkarThackeray defended Savarkar against criticism and praised him as a great leader. In 2002, when President A. P. J. Abdul Kalam unveiled a portrait of Savarkar in the presence of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, the Congress Party opposed the unveiling of the portrait and boycotted the function. Thackeray criticised the opposition and said, "Who is [Congress president and Leader of the Opposition] Sonia Gandhi to object to the portrait? What relation does she have with the country? How much does she know about the history and culture of India?". Years later, when Congress General Secretary Digvijaya Singh made a statement that Savarkar was allegedly the first one to suggest the two-nation theory that led to the partition, Thackeray rejected the statement of Singh.
Support for Kashmiri Pandits
In 1990, Bal Thackeray got seats reserved in engineering colleges for the children of Kashmiri Pandits in Maharashtra. At a meeting with them he supported the idea that Kashmiri Pandits could be armed for their self-defence against Jihadis.
Personal life
Thackeray was married to Meena Thackeray (née Sarla Vaidya) on 13 June 1948 and had three sons, oldest son Bindumadhav, middle son Jaidev, and youngest son Uddhav. Meena died in 1995 and Bindumadhav died the following year in a car accident. Death
in 2012 shortly before his death]]
Thackeray died on 17 November 2012, of cardiac arrest. Mumbai came to a virtual halt immediately as news about his death broke out, with shops and commercial establishments shutting down. The entire state of Maharashtra was put on high alert. The police appealed for calm and 20,000 Mumbai police officers, 15 units of the State Reserve Police Force and three contingents of the Rapid Action Force were deployed. It was reported that Shiv Sena workers forced shops to close down in some areas.
He was accorded a state funeral at Shivaji Park, which generated some controversy and resulted from demands made by Shiv Sena. It was the first public funeral in the city since that of Bal Gangadhar Tilak in 1920. Thackeray's body was moved to the park on 18 November. Many mourners attended his funeral, although there were no official figures. The range reported in media sources varied from around 1 million, to 1.5 million and as many as nearly 2 million. His cremation took place the next day, where his son Uddhav lit the pyre. Among those present at his cremation were senior representatives of the Maharashtra government and the event was broadcast live on national television channels. The Parliament of India opened for its winter session on 21 November 2012. Thackeray was the only non-member to be noted in its traditional list of obituaries. He is one of few people to have been recorded thus without being a member of either the Lok Sabha or the Rajya Sabha. Despite having not held any official position, he was given the 21-gun salute, which was again a rare honour. Both houses of Bihar Assembly also paid tribute. The funeral expenses created further controversies when media reports claimed that the BMC had used taxpayers' money. In response to these reports, the party later sent a cheque of Rs. 500,000 to the corporation. Following his death, police arrested a 21-year-old woman who posted a Facebook comment against him, as well as her friend who "liked" the comment. Shiv Sena members also vandalised the clinic owned by the woman's relative.
Legacy
Thackeray was called Hindū Hṛdaya Samrāṭa () by his supporters. His yearly address at Shivaji Park was popular among his followers. In 2012, he instead gave a video-taped speech and urged his followers "to give the same love and affection to his son and political heir Uddhav as they had given him".
Thackeray is satirised in Salman Rushdie's 1995 novel ''The Moor's Last Sigh'' as 'Raman Fielding'. The book was banned by the Maharashtra state government. Suketu Mehta interviewed Thackeray in his critically acclaimed, Pulitzer-nominated, non-fiction 2004 book Maximum City. In popular culture In 2005, Ram Gopal Varma directed the Godfatheresque-Sarkar, a super-hit thriller was inspired by the life of Bal Thackeray and North Indian politics. In this film, Amitabh Bachchan's character was inspired by Thackeray.
Balkadu a 2015 Marathi film is loosely expected to be based on the ideologies of Bal Thackeray, the film contains voice clippings of Thackeray's political career.
A Bollywood biopic titled Thackeray, starring Nawazuddin Siddiqui and written by Shiv Sena politician Sanjay Raut, was released on 25 January 2019.
Makarand Padhye played Balasaheb Thakeray in the 2022 Marathi film Dharmaveer and its sequel based on the life of Shiv Sena politician Anand Dighe.
Dushyant Wagh played Thackeray in the 2023 Marathi film Maharashtra Shahir based on the life of Padma Shri Shahir Sable.
See also
* Thackeray family
** Prabodhankar Thackeray
** Uddhav Thackeray
* Shiv Sena
* Marmik
Notes
References
Further reading
*
External links
*
*
*
*
Category:1926 births
Category:2012 deaths
Category:Indian anti-communists
Category:Shiv Sena politicians
Category:Politicians from Mumbai
Category:Indian political party founders
Category:Marathi-language writers
Category:Indian editorial cartoonists
Category:Marathi politicians
Category:Anti-Bihari sentiment
Category:Indian Hindus
Category:Indian far-right politicians
Category:20th-century Indian politicians
Category:Thackeray family
Category:Indian Hindu religious leaders
Category:Hindu religious leaders
Category:Political families of India
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3784
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BSE
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BSE may refer to:
Medicine
Bovine spongiform encephalopathy, also known as mad cow disease, a neurodegenerative disease of cattle
Breast self-examination
Stock exchanges
Bahrain Stock Exchange, Bahrain
Baku Stock Exchange, Azerbaijan
Barbados Stock Exchange
Beijing Stock Exchange, China
Bombay Stock Exchange, Mumbai, India
Boston Stock Exchange, Massachusetts, US
Botswana Stock Exchange in Gaborone, Botswana
Budapest Stock Exchange, Hungary
Bulgarian Stock Exchange – Sofia, BSE-Sofia
Other uses
Blueprint for a Safer Economy, California classification of safe practices within a lockdown economy
Britain Stronger in Europe, a lobbying group
Board of Secondary Education, Odisha, India
Biological systems engineering
Bury St Edmunds railway station (station code), Suffolk, England
Backscattered electron (see scanning electron microscope)
Blender Stack Exchange, a Q&A site for the Blender 3D software
BSE (satellite), a Japanese satellite
Bachelor of Science in Engineering, an undergraduate academic degree awarded to a student after 3-5 years of studying engineering at a university or college
Black Sun Empire, a Dutch drum and bass group
Bethe–Salpeter equation, an equation in quantum field theory
Bendigo South East College, a secondary school in Victoria, Australia
Banco de Seguros del Estado, a Uruguayan state-owned insurance company
Sematan Airport (IATA code: BSE), an airport in Sarawak, Malaysia
See also
Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease, sometimes called a human form of bovine spongiform encephalopathy
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3785
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Bille August
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| birth_place = Brede, Denmark
| occupation = Film director
| years_active = 1978–present
| spouse =
*
*
*
}}
| children = 8, including Anders, Alba and Asta
}}
Bille August (born 9 November 1948) is a Danish director, screenwriter, and cinematographer of film and television.
August's 1987 film Pelle the Conqueror won the , Academy Award and Golden Globe Award. He is one of only ten directors to win the twice, winning the award again in 1992 for The Best Intentions, based on the autobiographical script by Ingmar Bergman.
His filmography includes The House of the Spirits, based on the novel by Isabel Allende; ''Smilla's Sense of Snow; Les Misérables; Night Train to Lisbon, Silent Heart, The Chinese Widow and A Fortunate Man. He has received five Robert Awards (including Best Film and Best Director) and three Bodil Awards for Best Danish Film. He is also a Knight of the Order of the Dannebrog.
Life and career
August was born on 9 November 1948, in Brede, Denmark. After attending local schools, he graduated from the Foto- och Dokumentärskolan in Stockholm, Sweden, and later from the National Film School of Denmark. He began his career as a cinematographer. He made his feature directorial debut in 1978 with In My Life, which won the Bodil Award for Best Danish Film.
He collaborated twice with then wife Pernilla August under George Lucas on The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones in The Perils of Cupid and Tales of Innocence. Pernilla would later star in the first two films of the Star Wars prequel trilogy and appeared in an episode of The Clone Wars'' television series to reprise her role from the films.
After decades of writing, directing and producing notable films in Denmark, on 23 September 2011, Bille August announced that he had opened a studio in Hangzhou, China and taken a position as Tianpeng Media's Art Director, in order to produce Chinese films for Tianpeng Media over the next few years. Tianpeng Media is a new media company established in 2010. The company produced two films, The Women Knight of Mirror (竞雄女侠秋瑾) and The Years of Qi Xiao Fu (七小福之燃情岁月), to be released later in 2011. He is the first foreign director to be hired by the Chinese film company. In 2011, August also accepted the invitation from the Hangzhou government to serve as a "culture consultant" for the city.
His film Night Train to Lisbon (2013) premiered out of competition at the 63rd Berlin International Film Festival. He had planned to direct a Gianni Versace biopic with Antonio Banderas as Versace, but this project was cancelled. In August 2021, it was announced that August would direct a feature film adaptation of Karen Blixen's novel Ehrengard, which is being produced by Netflix and SF Studios. Personal life
August has been married four times and has a total of eight children with five different women.
He was first married to Annie Munksgård Lauritzen; they had a son Anders Frithiof August. His second wife was Masja Dessau with whom he had a son; both sons have become screenwriters. His third marriage to Swedish actress Pernilla August was from 1991 to 1997. Together they had two daughters, including Alba Adèle August; he also became the stepfather of her daughter from her first marriage to Swedish novelist and screenwriter Klas Östergren. In 2012, he married his fourth wife, actress Sara-Marie Maltha after 10 years together; they have three children.
He has a daughter from a previous relationship.
Filmography
Film
Director
{| class = "wikitable"
|-
! Year
! Title
! Director
! Writer
! Notes
|-
|1978
|In My Life
|
|
|
|-
|1983
|Zappa
|
|
|
|-
| rowspan="2" |1984
|Busters verden
|
|
|
|-
|Twist and Shout
|
|
|
|-
| 1987
|Pelle the Conqueror
|
|
|
|-
| 1992
|The Best Intentions
|
|
|
|-
|1993
|The House of the Spirits
|
|
|
|-
|1996
|Jerusalem
|
|
|
|-
|1997
|''Smilla's Sense of Snow
|
|
|
|-
|1998
|Les Misérables
|
|
|
|-
|2001
|A Song for Martin
|
|
|Also producer
|-
|2004
|Return to Sender
|
|
|
|-
| rowspan="2" |2007
|Goodbye Bafana
|
|
|
|-
|To Each His Own Cinema
|
|
|Segment "The Last Dating Show"
|-
|2012
|The Passion of Marie
|
|
|
|-
|2013
|Night Train to Lisbon
|
|
|
|-
|2014
|Silent Heart
|
|
|
|-
| rowspan="2" |2017
|The Chinese Widow
|
|
|
|-
|55 Steps
|
|
|
|-
|2018
|A Fortunate Man
|
|
|
|-
|2021
|The Pact
|
|
|
|-
|2022
|The Kiss
|
|
|
|-
|2023
|Ehrengard: The Art of Seduction
|
|
| [https://www.imdb.com/title/tt27727074/reference/ IMDb]
|-
|}
Director of photography
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Year
! Title
! Director
! Notes
|-
| rowspan="2" |1977
|Christiania
|Flemming Colstrup<br>Ove Nyholm
|Documentary film
|-
|Hemåt i natten
|Jon Lindström
|
|-
|1978
|Men Can't Be Raped
|Jörn Donner
|
|-
| rowspan="3" |1980
|Love
|Theodor Kallifatides
|
|-
|Mördare! Mördare!
|Jon Lindström
|
|-
|Tomas: A Child You Cannot Reach
|Lone Hertz
|Documentary film
|-
|1981
|Killing Heat
|Michael Raeburn
|
|-
| 1982
|Sova räv
|Gun Jönsson
|
|}
Television
Miniseries
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Year
! Title
!Director
!Writer
|-
|1978
|Et par dage med Magnus
|
|
|-
|2024
|The Count of Monte Cristo
|
|
|}
TV movies
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Year
! Title
!Director
!Writer
|-
|1980
|Verden er så stor, så stor
|
|
|-
|1982
|Maj
|
|
|-
|2003
|Detaljer
|
|
|}
TV series
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Year
! Title
! Notes
|-
|1993
|The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles
|2 episodes
|-
|}
Awards and nominations
{| class = "wikitable"
|-
! Year
! Title
! Notes
|-
|1978
|In My Life
|Bodil Award for Best Danish Film<br>Nominated- Chicago Gold Hugo<br>Nominated- Golden Moscow Prize
|-
|1983
|Zappa
|Nominated- Golden Moscow Prize
|-
| rowspan="2" |1984
|Busters verden
|UNICEF Award<br>C.I.F.E.J. Prize of the International Film Festival for Children and Youth
|-
|Twist and Shout
|Robert Award for Best Screenplay<br>UNICEF Award<br>C.I.F.E.J. Prize of the International Film Festival for Children and Youth<br>Nominated- Golden Moscow Prize
|-
| 1987
|Pelle the Conqueror
|<br>Bodil Award for Best Danish Film<br>Robert Award for Best Danish Film<br>Robert Award for Best Screenplay<br>Guldbagge Award for Best Film<br>Nominated- César Award for Best European Film
|-
| 1992
|The Best Intentions
|<br>Nominated- Guldbagge Award for Best Director
|-
|1993
|The House of the Spirits
|Robert Award for Best Danish Film<br>Robert Award for Best Screenplay
|-
|1996
|Jerusalem
|Lübeck Nordic Film Days
|-
|1997
|Smilla's Sense of Snow
|Nominated- Golden Berlin Bear
|-
|1998
|Les Misérables
|Nominated- Golden Cairo Pyramid Award
|-
|2001
|A Song for Martin
|Nominated- Bodil Award for Best Danish Film<br>Nominated- Crystal Globe<br>Nominated- Guldbagge Award for Best Director<br>Nominated- Guldbagge Award for Best Screenplay<br>Nominated- Golden Festroia Dolphin<br>Nominated- Miami Grand Jury Prize
|-
|2007
|Goodbye Bafana
|Berlin Peace Film Award<br>Capri Arts Award<br>Nominated- Golden Berlin Bear
Cinema for Peace Award for the Most Valuable Director of the Year
|-
|2012
|The Passion of Marie
|Nominated- Chicago Gold Hugo
|-
|2014
|Silent Heart
|Bodil Award for Best Danish Film<br>Nominated- Robert Award for Best Danish Film<br>Nominated- Robert Award for Best Director<br>Nominated- Robert Audience Award<br>Nominated- Nordic Council Film Prize<br>Nominated- Golden Shell
|-
|2017
|The Chinese Widow
|Nominated- Shanghai Golden Goblet Award for Best Feature Film
|-
|2018
|A Fortunate Man
|Beijing Tiantian Award for Best Film<br>Nominated- Robert Award for Best Danish Film<br>Nominated- Robert Award for Best Director<br>Nominated- Robert Award for Best Adapted Screenplay<br>Nominated- Filmfest Hamburg Critics Choice Award
|-
|2021
|The Pact''
|Nominated- Beijing Tiantian Award for Best Film
|-
|}
References
External links
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070809013413/http://desires.com/3.2/Performance/Reviews/Docs/august.html 1997 interview with Bille August] about Smilla's Sense of Snow
*
*
*
Category:1948 births
Category:Living people
Category:People from Lyngby-Taarbæk Municipality
Category:Danish film directors
Category:Danish male screenwriters
Category:Danish cinematographers
Category:Directors of Palme d'Or winners
Category:Directors of Best Foreign Language Film Academy Award winners
Category:Knights of the Order of the Dannebrog
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bille_August
|
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Body
|
Body may refer to:
In science
Physical body, an object in physics that represents a large amount, has mass or takes up space
Body (biology), the physical material of an organism
Body plan, the physical features shared by a group of animals
Human body, the entire structure of a human organism
Dead body, cadaver, or corpse, a dead human body
(living) matter, see: Mind–body problem, the relationship between mind and matter in philosophy
Aggregates within living matter, such as inclusion bodies
In arts and entertainment
In film and television
Jism (2003 film) or Body, a 2003 Indian film
Body (2015 Polish film), a 2015 Polish film
Body (2015 American film), a 2015 American film
"Body" (Wonder Showzen episode), a 2006 episode of American sketch comedy television series Wonder Showzen
"Body", an episode of the Adult Swim television series, Off the Air
In literature and publishing
body text, the text forming the main content of any printed matter
body (typography), the size of a piece of metal type
B.O.D.Y. (manga), by Ao Mimori
B O D Y, an international online literary magazine
In music
Electronic body music, a genre
Albums
Body (Aaamyyy album), 2019
Body (The Necks album), 2018
B.O.D.Y. (album) (Band Of D Year), 2006 album by Machel Montano
Best Night of My Life, a 2010 Jamie Foxx album originally named Body
Songs
"Body" (A Boogie wit da Hoodie song), 2024
"Body" (Dreezy song), 2016
"Body" (Ja Rule song), 2007
"Body" (The Jacksons song), 1984
"Body" (Loud Luxury song), 2017
"Body" (Marques Houston song), 2009
"Body" (Megan Thee Stallion song), 2020
"Body" (Russ Millions and Tion Wayne song), 2021
"Body" (Sean Paul song), 2017
"Body", a song by Ella Henderson from Everything I Didn't Say, 2022
"Body", a song by Funky Green Dogs from Star, 1999
"Body", a song by Haley Blais from Wisecrack
"Body", a song by Julia Michaels from Inner Monologue Part 2, 2019
"Body", a song by Men Without Hats from No Hats Beyond This Point, 2003
"Body", a song by Mother Mother from O My Heart, 2008
"Body", a song by Teairra Marí, 2010
Other uses
Jesse Ventura (born 1951), nicknamed "The Body", American media personality, actor, author, former politician and retired professional wrestler
Body (surname)
Body (transistor), a terminal of a field-effect transistor
Body (wine), a wine tasting descriptor of sense of alcohol and feeling in the mouth
Automobile body, the outer body of a motor vehicle which is built around a chassis
Body corporate, a corporation capable of having legal rights and duties within a certain legal system
Body politic, metaphor in which a nation is considered to be a corporate entity, being likened to a human body
An HTML element that contains the displayable content of a page
See also
Bodi (disambiguation)
Bodie (disambiguation)
Bodies (disambiguation)
Body of Evidence (disambiguation)
Body part (disambiguation)
Corporeal (disambiguation)
Remains (disambiguation)
The Body (disambiguation)
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Body
|
2025-04-05T18:26:34.552349
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Bitola
|
Monastir}}
| settlement_type = City
| image_skyline
| imagesize = 250px
| image_caption = Bitola
| image_flag = Flag of Bitola Municipality.svg
| flag_size = 150px
| image_blank_emblem = Coat of arms of Bitola Municipality.svg
| blank_emblem_type = Coat of arms
| nickname <wbr/>}}<br/>Gradot na konzulite<br/>("The City of Consuls")
| motto <wbr/>}}<br/>Bitola, babam Bitola
| map_caption | pushpin_map Republic of North Macedonia#Balkans
| coordinates
| subdivision_type = Country
| subdivision_name =
| subdivision_type1 = Region
| subdivision_name1 = Pelagonia
| subdivision_type2 = Municipality
| subdivision_name2 = Bitola
| leader_title = Mayor
| leader_name = Toni Konjanovski (VMRO-DPMNE)
| area_total_km2 = 26,37
| area_total_sq_mi | elevation_m 650
| elevation_ft | population_total 69,287
| population_as_of = 2021
| population_density_km2 = auto
| population_density_sq_mi | population_metro 105,644
| timezone1_DST = CEST
| utc_offset1_DST = +2
| postal_code_type = Postal codes
| postal_code = 7000
| area_code = +389 (0)47
| blank_name_sec1 = Car plates
| blank_info_sec1 = BT
| website =
| population approximately 2014 | timezone CET
| utc_offset = +1
| timezone_DST | utc_offset_DST
| blank_name = Patron Saints
| blank_info Saint Nectarios of Bitola
| blank1_name = Climate
| blank1_info = Cfb
}}
Bitola (; ) is a city in the southwestern part of North Macedonia. It is located in the southern part of the Pelagonia valley, surrounded by the Baba, Nidže, and Kajmakčalan mountain ranges, north of the Medžitlija-Níki border crossing with Greece. The city stands at an important junction connecting the south of the Adriatic Sea region with the Aegean Sea and Central Europe, and it is an administrative, cultural, industrial, commercial, and educational centre. It has been known since the Ottoman period as the "City of Consuls", since many European countries had consulates in Bitola.
Bitola, known during the Ottoman Empire as Manastır or Monastir, is one of the oldest cities in North Macedonia. It was founded as Heraclea Lyncestis in the middle of the 4th century BC by Philip II of Macedon. The city was the last capital of the First Bulgarian Empire (1015–1018) and the last capital of Ottoman Rumelia, from 1836 to 1867. According to the 2002 census, Bitola is the third largest city in the country, after the capital Skopje and Kumanovo. Bitola is also the seat of the Bitola Municipality.EtymologyThe name Bitola is derived from the Old Church Slavonic word ѡ҆би́тѣл҄ь (obitěĺь, meaning "monastery" or "cloister"), literally "abode," as the city was formerly noted for its monastery. When the meaning of the name was no longer understood, it lost its prefix "o-". The name Bitola is mentioned in the Bitola inscription, related to the old city fortress built in 1015 during the ruling of Gavril Radomir of Bulgaria (1014–1015) when Bitola served as capital of the First Bulgarian Empire. Modern Slavic variants include the Macedonian (), the Serbian () and Bulgarian (). In Byzantine times, the name was Hellenized to () or (), hence the names Butella used by William of Tyre and Butili by the Arab geographer al-Idrisi.
The Modern Greek name for the city (, ), also meaning "monastery", is a calque of the Slavic name. The Turkish name () is derived from the Greek name, as is the Albanian name (), and the Ladino name ( ). The Aromanian name, or alternatively, , is derived from the same root as the Macedonian name.Geography
Bitola is located in the southwestern part of North Macedonia. The Dragor River flows through the city. Bitola lies at an elevation of 615 metres above sea level, at the foot of Baba Mountain. Its magnificent Pelister mountain (2,601 m) is a national park with exquisite flora and fauna, among which is the rarest species of pine, known as Macedonian pine or pinus peuce. It is also the location of a well-known ski resort.
Covering an area of and with a population of 122,173 (1991), Bitola is an important industrial, agricultural, commercial, educational and cultural centre. It represents an important junction that connects the Adriatic Sea to the south with the Aegean Sea and Central Europe.
Climate
Bitola has a mildly continental climate typical of the Pelagonija region, experiencing very warm and dry summers, and cold and snowy winters. The Köppen climate classification for this climate is Cfb, which would be an oceanic climate, going by the original threshold.
History
Prehistory
There are a number of prehistoric archaeological sites around Bitola. The earliest evidence of organized human settlements are the archaeological sites from the early Neolithic period, among which the most important are the tells of Veluška Tumba and Bara Tumba near the village of Porodin, first inhabited around 6000 BC.
Ancient and early Byzantine periods
The region of Bitola was known as Lynkestis in antiquity, a region that became part of Upper Macedonia, and was ruled by semi-independent chieftains until the later Argead rulers of Macedon. The tribes of Lynkestis were known as Lynkestai. According to Nicholas Hammond, they were a Greek tribe belonging to the Molossian group of the Epirotes. There are important metal artifacts from the ancient period at the necropolis of Crkvište near the village of Beranci. A golden earring dating from the 4th century BC is depicted on the obverse of the Macedonian 10-denar banknote, issued in 1996.
Heraclea Lyncestis ( - City of Hercules upon the Land of the Lynx) was an important settlement from the Hellenistic period till the early Middle Ages. It was founded by Philip II of Macedon by the middle of the 4th century BC, and named after the Greek hero Heracles. With its strategic location, it became a prosperous city. The Romans conquered this part of Macedon in 148 BC and destroyed the political power of the city. However, its prosperity continued mainly due to the Roman Via Egnatia road which passed near the city. A number of archaeological monuments from the Roman period can be seen today in Heraclea, including a portico, thermae (baths), a theater. The theatre was once capable of housing an audience of around 2,500 people.
In the early Byzantine period (4th to 6th centuries AD) Heraclea became an important episcopal centre. Some of its bishops were mentioned in the acts of the first Church Councils, including Bishop Evagrius of Heraclea in the Acts of the Sardica Council of 343. The city walls, a number of Early Christian basilicas, the bishop's residence, and a lavish city fountain are some of the remains of this period. The floors in the three naves of the Great Basilica are covered with mosaics with a very rich floral and figurative iconography; these well preserved mosaics are often regarded as one of the finest examples of the early Christian art in the region. During the 4th and 6th centuries, the names of other bishops from Heraclea were recorded. The city was sacked by Ostrogothic forces, commanded by Theodoric the Great in 472 AD and, despite a large gift to him from the city's bishop, it was sacked again in 479. It was restored in the late 5th and early 6th centuries. However, in the late 6th century the city suffered successive attacks by various tribes, and eventually the region was settled by the early Slavic peoples. Its imperial buildings fell into disrepair and the city gradually declined to a small settlement, and survived as such until around the 11th century AD.Middle AgesIn the 6th and 7th centuries, the region around Bitola experienced a demographic shift as more and more Slavic tribes settled in the area. In place of the deserted theater, several houses were built during that time. The Slavs also built a fortress around their settlement. Bitola was a part of the First Bulgarian Empire from the middle of the 8th to the early 11th centuries, after which it again became part of the Byzantine Empire, and in turn was briefly part of the Serbian Empire during the 14th century. Arguably, a number of monasteries and churches were built in and around the city during the Medieval period (hence its other name Manastir).
. The Slavic name of the city of Bitola is mentioned in the inscription for the first time. The inscription reveals a fortress was built as a haven for the Bulgarians.]]
In the 10th century, Bitola came under the rule of tsar Samuel of Bulgaria. He built a castle in the town, later used by his successor Gavril Radomir of Bulgaria. The town is mentioned in several medieval sources. John Skylitzes's 11th-century chronicle mentions that Emperor Basil II burned Gavril's castle in Bitola, when passing through and ravaging Pelagonia. The second chrysobull (1019) of Basil II mentioned that the Bishop of Bitola depended on the Archbishopric of Ohrid. During the reign of Samuil, the city was the seat of the Bitola Bishopric. In many medieval sources, especially Western, the name Pelagonia was synonymous with the Bitola Bishopric. According to some sources, Bitola was known as Heraclea since what once was the Heraclea Bishopric later became the Pelagonian Metropolitan's Diocese. In 1015, Tsar Gavril Radomir was killed by his cousin Ivan Vladislav, who then declared himself tsar and rebuilt the city's fortress. To commemorate the occasion, a stone inscription written in the Cyrillic alphabet was set in the fortress; in it the Slavic name of the city is mentioned: Bitol.
During the battle of Bitola in 1015 between a Bulgarian army under the command of the voivode Ivats and a Byzantine army led by the strategos George Gonitsiates, the Bulgarians were victorious and the Byzantine Emperor Basil II had to retreat from the Bulgarian capital Ohrid, whose outer walls were by that time already breached by the Bulgarians. Afterwards Ivan Vladislav moved the capital from Ohrid to Bitola, where he re-erected the fortress. However, the Bulgarian victory only postponed the fall of Bulgaria to Byzantine rule in 1018.
As a military, political and religious center, Bitola played a very important role in the life of the medieval society in the region, prior to the Ottoman conquest in the mid-14th century. On the eve of the Ottoman conquest, Bitola (Monastir in Ottoman Turkish) experienced great growth with its well-established trading links all over the Balkan Peninsula, especially with big economic centers like Constantinople, Thessalonica, Ragusa and Tarnovo. Caravans carrying various goods came and went from Bitola.
Ottoman rule
in the train station in Bitola, 1911]]
]]
From 1382 to 1912, Bitola was part of the Ottoman Empire, and was known as Monastir. Fierce battles took place near the city during the Ottoman conquest. Ottoman rule was completely established after the death of Prince Marko in 1395 when the Ottoman Empire established the Sanjak of Ohrid as a part of the Rumelia Eyalet and one of the earliest established sanjaks in Europe. Before it became part of the Ottoman Empire in 1395, Bitola was part of the realm of Prince Marko. Initially, its county town was Bitola and later it was Ohrid, so it was sometimes referred to as the Sanjak of Monastir and sometimes as the Sanjak of Bitola.
After the Austro-Ottoman wars, the trade development and the overall prosperity of the city declined. But in the late 19th century, it again became the second-largest city in the wider southern Balkan region after Thessaloniki.
Between 1815 and 1822, the town was ruled by the Albanian Ali Pasha as part of the Pashalik of Yanina.
During the Great Eastern Crisis, the local Bulgarian movement of the day was defeated when armed Bulgarian groups were repelled by the League of Prizren, an Albanian organisation opposing Bulgarian geopolitical aims in areas like Bitola that contained an Albanian population. Nevertheless, in April 1881, an Ottoman army captured Prizren and suppressed the League's rebellion.
In 1874, Manastır became the center of Monastir Vilayet which included the sanjaks of Debra, Serfidze, Elbasan, Manastır (Bitola), Görice and the towns of Kırcaova, Pirlepe, Florina, Kesriye and Grevena.
Traditionally a strong trading center, Bitola was also known as "the city of the consuls". In the final period of Ottoman rule (1878–1912), Bitola had consulates from twelve countries. During the same period, there were a number of prestigious schools in the city, including a military academy that, among others, was attended by the Turkish reformer Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. In 1883, there were 19 schools in Monastir, of which 11 were Greek, 5 were Bulgarian and 3 were Romanian. In Bitola, besides the schools where Ottomanism and Turkism flourished in the 19th century, schools of various nations were also opened. These institutions, which were very effective in increasing the education level and the rate of literacy, caused the formation of a circle of intellectuals in Bitola. Bitola was also the headquarters of many cultural organizations at that time.
In 1894, Manastır was connected with Thessaloniki by train. The first motion picture made in the Balkans was produced by the Aromanian Manakis brothers in Manastır in 1903. In their honour, the annual Manaki Brothers International Cinematographers Film Festival is held in Bitola since 1979.
In November 1905, the Secret Committee for the Liberation of Albania, a secret organization formed to fight for the liberation of Albania from the Ottoman Empire, was founded by Bajo Topulli and other Albanian nationalists and intellectuals. Three years later, the Congress of Manastir of 1908, which standardized the modern Albanian alphabet, was held in the city. The congress was held at the house of Fehim Zavalani. Mit'hat Frashëri was chairman of the congress. The participants in the Congress were prominent figures from the cultural and political life of Albanian-inhabited territories in the Balkans, and the Albanian diaspora.
Ilinden Uprising
.]]
The Bitola region was a stronghold of the Ilinden Uprising. The uprising was conceived in 1903 in Thessaloniki by the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (IMRO). The uprising in the Bitola region was planned in Smilevo village in May 1903. Battles were fought in the villages of Bistrica, Rakovo, Buf, Skocivir, Paralovo, Brod, Novaci, Smilevo, Gjavato, Capari and others. Smilevo was defended by 600 rebels led by Dame Gruev and Georgi Sugarev. They were defeated and the villages were burned.
Balkan Wars
In 1912, Montenegro, Serbia, Bulgaria and Greece fought the Ottomans in the First Balkan War. After a victory at Sarantaporo, Greek troops advanced towards Monastir but were defeated by the Ottomans at Sorovich. The Battle of Monastir (16–19 November 1912) led to Serbian occupation of the city. According to the Treaty of Bucharest, 1913, the region of Macedonia was divided into three parts among Greece, Serbia and Bulgaria. Monastir was ceded to Serbia and its official name became the Slavic toponym Bitola.
World War I
commemorating the Bulgarian occupation (1915).]]
During World War I Bitola was on the Salonica front. Bulgaria, a Central Power, took the city on 21 November 1915, while the Allied forces recaptured it in 1916. Bitola was divided into French, Russian, Italian and Serbian sections, under the command of French general Maurice Sarrail. Until Bulgaria's surrender in late autumn 1918, Bitola remained a front line city and was bombarded almost daily by air bombardment and artillery fire and was nearly destroyed.Inter-war periodAt the end of World War I Bitola was restored to the Kingdom of Serbia, and, consequently, in 1918 became part of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, which was renamed Yugoslavia in 1929. Bitola became one of the major cities of the Vardarska banovina.World War IIDuring World War II (1939–45), the Germans (on 9 April 1941) and Bulgarians (on 18 April 1941) took control of the city. But in September 1944, Bulgaria switched sides in the war and withdrew from Yugoslavia. On 4 November, the 7th Macedonian Liberation Brigade entered Bitola after the German withdrawal. The historical Jewish community, of Sephardic origin, lived in the city until World War II, when some were able to immigrate to the United States and Chile. On 11 March 1943 the Bulgarians deported the vast majority of the Jewish population (3,276 Jews) to Treblinka extermination camp. After the end of the war, PR Macedonia was established within FPR Yugoslavia.
Socialist Yugoslavia
In 1945, the first Gymnasium (named "Josip Broz Tito") to use the Macedonian language, was opened in Bitola. In 1951–52, as part of an education campaign total of 40 Turkish schools were opened in Debar, Kičevo, Kumanovo, Struga, Resen, Bitola, Kruševo and Prilep.Main sightsThe city has many historical building dating from many historical periods. The most notable ones are from the Ottoman age, but there are some from the more recent past.Širok Sokak
Širok Sokak (, meaning "Wide Alley") is a long pedestrian street that runs from Magnolia Square to the City Park.
Clock Tower
with Russian Consulate]]
]]
It is unknown when Bitola's clock tower was built. Written sources from the 16th century mention a clock tower, but it is unclear if it is the same. Some believe it was built at the same time as St. Dimitrija Church in 1830. Legend says that the Ottoman authorities collected around 60,000 eggs from nearby villages and mixed them in the mortar to make the walls stronger.
The tower has a rectangular base and is about 30 meters high. Near the top is a rectangular terrace with an iron fence. On each side of the fence is an iron console construction which holds the lamps for lighting the clock. The clock is on the highest of three levels. The original clock was replaced during World War II with a working one, given by the Nazis because the city had maintained German graves from World War I.
The massive tower is composed of walls, massive spiral stairs, wooden mezzanine constructions, pendentives and the dome. During the construction of the tower, the façade was simultaneously decorated with simple stone plastic.
Church of Saint Demetrius
The Church of Saint Demetrius was built in 1830 with the voluntary contributions of local merchants and craftsmen. It is plain on the outside, as all churches in the Ottoman Empire had to be, but lavishly decorated with chandeliers, a carved bishop throne and an engraved iconostasis on the inside. According to some theories, iconostasis is a work of the Mijak engravers. Its most impressive feature is the arc above the imperial quarters with modelled figures of Jesus and the apostles.
Other engraved wood items include the bishop's throne made in the spirit of Mijak engravers, several icon frames and five more-recent pillars shaped like thrones. The frescoes originate from two periods: the end of the 19th century and the end of World War I to the present. The icons and frescoes were created thanks to voluntary contributions of local businessmen and citizens. The authors of many of the icons had a vast knowledge of iconography schemes of the New Testament. The icons show a great sense of color, dominated by red, green and ochra shades. The abundance of golden ornaments is noticeable and points to the presence of late-Byzantine artwork and baroque style. The icon of Saint Demetrius is signed with the initials "D. A. Z.", showing that it was made by iconographer Dimitar Andonov the zograph in 1889. There are many other items, including the chalices made by local masters, a darohranilka of Russian origin, and several paintings of scenes from the New Testament, brought from Jerusalem by pilgrims.
The opening scenes of the film The Peacemaker were shot in the "Saint Dimitrija" church in Bitola, as well as some Welcome to Sarajevo scenes.
Co-Cathedral of the Sacred Heart
Heraclea Lyncestis
Heraclea Lyncestis () was an important ancient settlement from the Hellenistic period till the early Middle Ages. It was founded by Philip II of Macedon by the middle of the 4th century BC. Today, its ruins are in the southern part of Bitola, from the city center.The covered bazaar
Situated near the city centre, the covered bedisten () is one of the most impressive and oldest buildings in Bitola from the Ottoman period. With its numerous cupolas that look like a fortress, with its tree-branch-like inner streets and four large metal doors it is one of the biggest covered markets in the region.
It was built in the 15th century by Kara Daut Pasha Uzuncarsili, then Rumelia's Beylerbey. Although the bazaar appears secure, it has been robbed and set on fire, but has managed to survive. The bedisten, from the 15th to the 19th centuries, was rebuilt, and many stores, often changing over time, were located there. Most of them were selling textile and other luxurious fabrics. At the same time the Bedisten was a treasury, where in specially made small rooms the money from the whole Rumelian Vilaet was kept, before it was transferred into the royal treasury. In the 19th century the Bedisten contained 84 shops. Today most of them are contemporary and they sell different types of products, but despite the internal renovations, the outwards appearance of the structure has remained unchanged.Gazi Hajdar Kadi MosqueThe Gazi Hajdar Kadi Mosque is one of the most attractive monuments of Islamic architecture in Bitola. It was built in the early 1560s, as the project of the architect Mimar Sinan, ordered by the Bitola kadija Ajdar-kadi. Over time, it was abandoned and heavily damaged, and at one point used as a stare, but recent restoration and conservation has restored to some extent its original appearance.New Mosque, Bitola
]]
The New Mosque is located in the center of the city. It has a square base, topped with a dome. Near the mosque is a minaret, 40 m high. Today, the mosque's rooms house permanent and temporary art exhibitions. Recent archaeological excavations have revealed that it has been built upon an old church.
Ishak Çelebi Mosque
The Ishak Çelebi Mosque is the inheritance of the kadi Ishak Çelebi. In its spacious yard are several tombs, attractive because of the soft, molded shapes of the sarcophagi.
Kodža Kadi Mosque
The old bazaar
The old bazaar (Macedonian: Стара Чаршија) is mentioned in a description of the city from the 16th and the 17th centuries. The present bedisten does not differ much in appearance from the original one. The bedisten had eighty-six shops and four large iron gates. The shops used to sell textiles, and today sell food products.
Deboj Bath
The Deboj Bath is an Ottoman Empire-era hamam. It is not known when exactly it was constructed. At one point, it was heavily damaged, but after repairs it regained its original appearance: a façade with two large domes and several minor ones.
Bitola today
Bitola is the economic and industrial center of southwestern North Macedonia. Many of the largest companies in the country are based in the city. The Pelagonia agricultural combine is the largest producer of food in the country. The Streževo water system is the largest in North Macedonia and has the best technological facilities. The three thermoelectric power stations of REK Bitola produce nearly 80% of electricity in the state. The Frinko refrigerate factory was a leading electrical and metal company. Bitola also has significant capacity in the textile and food industries.
Bitola is also home to thirteen consulates, which gives the city the nickname "the city of consuls."
;General consulates
* (since 2006)
* (since 2006)
;Honorary consulates
* (since 2019)
* (since 2014)
* (since 2014)
* (since 1996)
* (since 2012)
* (since 2008)
* (since 2007)
* (since 2007)
* (since 1998)
* (since 2011)
;Former consulates
* (2006–2014)
* (2005–2014)
* (2000–2014)
* (2001–2023)
Italy has also expressed interest in opening a consulate in Bitola.
Media
There is only one television station in Bitola: Tera, few regional radio stations: the private Radio 105 (Bombarder), Radio 106,6, UKLO FM, Radio Delfin as well as a local weekly newspaper — Bitolski Vesnik.
City Council
The Bitola Municipality Council () is the governing body of the city and municipality of Bitola. The city council approves and rejects projects that would have place inside the municipality given by its members and the Mayor of Bitola. The Council consists of elected representatives. The number of members of the council is determined according to the number of residents in the community and can not be fewer than nine nor more than 33. Currently the council is composed of 31 councillors. Council members are elected for a term of four years.
Following the 2021 local elections, the City Council is constituted as follows:
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Party / List
! Seats
| rowspan="10" |
|- style="text-align:center;"
| style="text-align:left;"| VMRO-DPMNE || 13
|- style="text-align:center;"
| style="text-align:left;"| SDSM|| 11
|- style="text-align:center;"
| style="text-align:left;"| DUI || 1
|- style="text-align:center;"
| style="text-align:left;"| The Left || 2
|- style="text-align:center;"
| style="text-align:left;"| Independent politicians || 3
|- style="text-align:center;"
| style="text-align:left;"| DOM/LDP || 1
|-
||Total || style="text-align:center;" |31
|}
Examining matters within its competence, the Council set up committees. Council committees are either permanent or temporary.
Permanent committees of the council:
* Finance and Budget Committee;
* Commission for Public Utilities;
* Committee on Urban Planning, public works and environmental protection;
* Commission for social activities;
* Commission for local government;
* Commission to mark holidays, events and award certificates and awards;
Sports
]]
The most popular sports in Bitola are football and handball.
The main football team is FK Pelister and they play at the Petar Miloševski Stadium which has a capacity of 6,100. Georgi Hristov, Dragan Kanatlarovski, Toni Micevski, Nikolče Noveski, Toni Savevski and Mitko Stojkovski are some of the Bitola natives to start their careers with the club.
Bitola's main handball club and most famous sports team is RK Eurofarm Pelister. RK Eurofarm Pelister 2 is the second club from the city, and both teams play their games at the Sports Hall Boro Čurlevski.
The main basketball club is KK Pelister, and they also compete at the Sports Hall Boro Čurlevski.
All the sports teams under the name Pelister are supported by the fans known as Čkembari.
Transport
The city is served by Bitola railway station, with service as far north as Belgrade.
Demographics
;Ethnic groups
Bitola's population was historically diverse. It numbered some 37,500 at the end of the 19th century. There were around 7,000 Aromanians, most of whom fully embraced the Hellenic culture, although some preferred the Romanian culture. Bitola also had a significant Muslim population - 11,000 (Turks, Roma, and Albanians) as well as a Jewish community of 5,200. The Slavic-speakers were divided between the Bulgarian Exarchate - 8,000, and the Greek Patriarchate - 6,300. A significant part of the Muslim Albanian population of Bitola was Turkified during Ottoman rule.
In statistics gathered by Vasil Kanchov in 1900, the city of Bitola was inhabited by 37,000 people, of whom 10,500 were Turks, 10,000 Christian Bulgarians, 7,000 Vlachs, 2,000 Romani, 5,500 Jews, 1,500 Muslim Albanians, 500 inhabitants of various other origins. The Bulgarian researcher Vasil Kanchov wrote in 1900 that many Albanians declared themselves as Turks. In Bitola, the population that declared itself Turkish "was of Albanian blood", but it "had been Turkified after the Ottoman invasion, including Skanderbeg", referring to Islamization.
During Ottoman times, Bitola had a significant Aromanian population, which according to some sources was larger than the Bulgarian and Jewish ones. In 1901, the Italian consul to the Ottoman Empire in Bitola said that "Undoubtedly, Koutzo-Vlach [Aromanian] population in Bitola is most significant in this town in terms of number of inhabitants, social status and importance in trade".
According to the statistics of the secretary of the Bulgarian Exarchate, Dimitar Mishev (" La Macédoine et sa Population Chrétienne "), in 1905 the Christian population of Bitola consisted of 8,844 Bulgarian Exarchists, 6,300 Greek Patriarchal Bulgarians, 72 Serboman Patriarchal Bulgarians, 36 Protestant Bulgarians, 100 Greeks, 7,200 Vlachs, 120 Albanians and 120 Gypsies. In the city there are 10 primary and 3 secondary Bulgarian schools, 7 primary and 2 secondary Greek, 2 primary and 2 secondary Romanian and 1 primary and 2 secondary Serbian schools.
According to a 1911 Ottoman census, there were 350,000 Greeks, 246,000 Bulgarians and 456,000 Muslims in the vilayet of Manastır, however the basis of the Ottoman censuses was the millet system where people were assigned an ethnicity according to their religion. Therefore, all Sunni Muslims were categorised as "Turks" even though many of them were Albanians, while all members of the Greek Orthodox church were listed as "Greeks" although this group was composed of Aromanians, Slavs, and Tosk Albanians, in addition to the Greeks which were numbered at ~100,000. The Slavic-speakers were divided between the Bulgarian majority and a small Serbian minority.
Bulgarian ethnographer Jordan Ivanov, professor at the University of Sofia, wrote in 1915 that Albanians, since they did not have their own alphabet, lacked a consolidated national consciousness and were influenced by foreign propaganda, declared themselves as Turks, Greeks and Bulgarians, depending on which religion they belonged to. Ivan further stated that Albanians were losing their mother tongue in Bitola.
According to the 1948 census Bitola had 30,761 inhabitants. 77.2% (or 23,734 inhabitants) were Macedonians, 11.5% (or 3,543 inhabitants) were Turks, 4.3% (or 1,327 inhabitants) were Albanians, 3% (or 912 inhabitants) were Serbs and 1.3% (or 402 inhabitants) were Aromanians. As of 2021, the city of Bitola has 69,287 inhabitants and the ethnic composition is the following:
In the 1953 census, large portions of Albanians declared themselves as ethnic Turks. In the municipality of Bitola, 13,166 Albanians were registered in 1948 and 4,014 in 1953, with the Turkish community going from 14,050 members in 1948, to numbering 29,151 in 1953.
{| class="wikitable"
|+
City of Bitola population according to ethnic group 1948–2002
|- style="background:#e0e0e0;"
! rowspan="2" | Ethnic<br />group
! colspan="2" | census 1948
! colspan="2" | census 1953
! colspan="2" | census 1961
! colspan="2" | census 1971
! colspan="2" | census 1981
! colspan="2" | census 1994
! colspan="2" | census 2002
! colspan="2" | census 2021
|- style="background:#e0e0e0;"
! Number
! %
! Number
! %
! Number
! %
! Number
! %
! Number
! %
! Number
! %
! Number
! %
! Number
! %
|-
| Macedonians
| style="text-align:right;"| 23,734
| style="text-align:right;"| 77.2
| style="text-align:right;"| 28,912
| style="text-align:right;"| 77.0
| style="text-align:right;"| 43,108
| style="text-align:right;"| 88.0
| style="text-align:right;"| 57,282
| style="text-align:right;"| 88.1
| style="text-align:right;"| 68,897
| style="text-align:right;"| 87.8
| style="text-align:right;"| 70,528
| style="text-align:right;"| 91.0
| style="text-align:right;"| 66,038
| style="text-align:right;"| 88.6
| style="text-align:right;"| 55,995
| style="text-align:right;"| 80.8
|-
| Romani
| style="text-align:right;"| ..
| style="text-align:right;"| ..
| style="text-align:right;"| 3
| style="text-align:right;"| 0.0
| style="text-align:right;"| ..
| style="text-align:right;"| ..
| style="text-align:right;"| 28
| style="text-align:right;"| 0.0
| style="text-align:right;"| 535
| style="text-align:right;"| 0.7
| style="text-align:right;"| 1,676
| style="text-align:right;"| 2.2
| style="text-align:right;"| 2,577
| style="text-align:right;"| 3.5
| style="text-align:right;"| 2,862
| style="text-align:right;"| 4.1
|-
| Albanians
| style="text-align:right;"| 1,327
| style="text-align:right;"| 4.3
| style="text-align:right;"| 484
| style="text-align:right;"| 1.3
| style="text-align:right;"| 378
| style="text-align:right;"| 0.8
| style="text-align:right;"| 1,317
| style="text-align:right;"| 2.0
| style="text-align:right;"| 2,347
| style="text-align:right;"| 3.0
| style="text-align:right;"| 1,967
| style="text-align:right;"| 2.5
| style="text-align:right;"| 2,360
| style="text-align:right;"| 3.2
| style="text-align:right;"| 2,441
| style="text-align:right;"| 3.5
|-
| Turks
| style="text-align:right;"| 3,543
| style="text-align:right;"| 11.5
| style="text-align:right;"| 6,189
| style="text-align:right;"| 16.5
| style="text-align:right;"| 3,265
| style="text-align:right;"| 6.7
| style="text-align:right;"| 3,061
| style="text-align:right;"| 4.7
| style="text-align:right;"| 3,068
| style="text-align:right;"| 3.9
| style="text-align:right;"| 1,547
| style="text-align:right;"| 2.0
| style="text-align:right;"| 1,562
| style="text-align:right;"| 2.1
| style="text-align:right;"| 1,115
| style="text-align:right;"| 1.6
|-
| Aromanians
| style="text-align:right;"| 420
| style="text-align:right;"| 1.4
| style="text-align:right;"| 482
| style="text-align:right;"| 1.3
| style="text-align:right;"| ..
| style="text-align:right;"| ..
| style="text-align:right;"| ..
| style="text-align:right;"| ..
| style="text-align:right;"| 543
| style="text-align:right;"| 0.7
| style="text-align:right;"| 696
| style="text-align:right;"| 0.9
| style="text-align:right;"| 997
| style="text-align:right;"| 1.3
| style="text-align:right;"| 1,003
| style="text-align:right;"| 1.4
|-
| Serbs
| style="text-align:right;"| 912
| style="text-align:right;"| 3.0
| style="text-align:right;"| 834
| style="text-align:right;"| 2.2
| style="text-align:right;"| 1,035
| style="text-align:right;"| 2.1
| style="text-align:right;"| 1,143
| style="text-align:right;"| 1.8
| style="text-align:right;"| 843
| style="text-align:right;"| 1.1
| style="text-align:right;"| 556
| style="text-align:right;"| 0.7
| style="text-align:right;"| 499
| style="text-align:right;"| 0.7
| style="text-align:right;"| 321
| style="text-align:right;"| 0.5
|-
| Bosniaks
| style="text-align:right;"| 0
| style="text-align:right;"| 0.0
| style="text-align:right;"| 0
| style="text-align:right;"| 0.0
| style="text-align:right;"| 0
| style="text-align:right;"| 0.0
| style="text-align:right;"| 0
| style="text-align:right;"| 0.0
| style="text-align:right;"| 0
| style="text-align:right;"| 0.0
| style="text-align:right;"| 0
| style="text-align:right;"| 0.0
| style="text-align:right;"| 20
| style="text-align:right;"| 0.3
| style="text-align:right;"| 0.0
| style="text-align:right;"| 0.1
|-
| Others
| style="text-align:right;"| 825
| style="text-align:right;"| 2.7
| style="text-align:right;"| 660
| style="text-align:right;"| 1.8
| style="text-align:right;"| 1,215
| style="text-align:right;"| 2.5
| style="text-align:right;"| 2,204
| style="text-align:right;"| 3.4
| style="text-align:right;"| 2,274
| style="text-align:right;"| 2.9
| style="text-align:right;"| 494
| style="text-align:right;"| 0.6
| style="text-align:right;"| 497
| style="text-align:right;"| 0.7
| style="text-align:right;"| 729
| style="text-align:right;"| 1.1
|-
| PWDTFAS*
| colspan="14" |
| style="text-align:right;"| 4,774
| style="text-align:right;"| 6.9
|- style="background:#e0e0e0;"
! style="text-align:left;"| Total
! colspan="2" | 30,761
! colspan="2" | 37,564
! colspan="2" | 49,001
! colspan="2" | 65,035
! colspan="2" | 78,507
! colspan="2" | 77,464
! colspan="2" | 74,550
! colspan="2" | 69,287
|-
| colspan="15" | <small></small>
|}
*PWDTFAS-Persons for whom data are taken
;Language
According to the 2002 census the most common languages in the city are the following:
;Manaki Festival of Film and Camera
Held in memory of the first cameramen on the Balkans, Milton Manaki, every September the Film and Photo festival "Brothers Manaki" takes place. It is a combination of documentary and full-length films that are shown. The festival is a world class event with high recognition from press. A number of high-profile actors such as Catherine Deneuve, Isabelle Huppert, Victoria Abril, Predrag Manojlovic, Michael York, Juliette Binoche, and Rade Sherbedgia have attended.
;Ilindenski Denovi
Every year, the traditional folk festival "Ilinden Days" takes place in Bitola. It is a 4-5 day festival of music, songs, and dances that is dedicated to the Ilinden Uprising against the Turks, where the main concentration is placed on the folk culture of North Macedonia. Folk dances and songs are presented with many folklore groups and organizations taking part.
;Small Montmartre of Bitola
In the last few years, the art exhibition "Small Montmartre of Bitola" that is organized by the art studio "Kiril and Metodij" has turned into a successful children's art festival. Children from all over the world come to create art, making a number of highly valued art pieces that are presented in the country and around the world. "Small Montmartre of Bitola" has won numerous awards and nominations.
; Bitolino
Bitolino is an annual children's theater festival held in August with the Babec Theater. Every year professional children's theaters from all over the world participate in the festival. The main prize is the grand prix for best performance.
;Si-Do
Every May, Bitola hosts the international children's song festival Si-Do, which in recent years has increased in attendance. Children from all over Europe participate in this event which usually consists of about 20 songs. This festival is supported by ProMedia which organizes the event with a new topic each year. Many Macedonian musicians have participated in the festival including: Next Time and Karolina Goceva who also represented North Macedonia at the Eurovision Song Contest.
;Festival for classical music Interfest
Interfest is an international festival dedicated mainly to classical music where musicians from around the world play their classical pieces. In addition to the classical music concerts, there are also few nights for pop-modern music, theater plays, art exhibitions, and a day for literature presentation during the event. In the last few years there have been artists from Russia, Slovakia, Poland, and many other countries.
As Bitola has been called the city with most pianos, one night of the festival is dedicated to piano competitions. One award is given for the best young piano player, and another for competitors over 30.
;Akto Festival
The Akto Festival for Contemporary Arts is a regional festival. The festival includes visual arts, performing arts, music and theory of culture. The first Akto festival was held in 2006. The aim of the festival is to open the cultural frameworks of a modern society through "recomposing" and redefining them in a new context. In the past, the festival featured artists from regional countries like Slovenia, Greece or Bulgaria, but also from Germany, Italy, France and Austria.
; International Monodrama Festival
Is annual festival of monodrama held in April in organization of Centre of Culture of Bitola every year many actors from all over the world come in Bitola to play monodramas.
; Lokum fest
Is a cultural and tourist event which has existed since 2007. The founder and organizer of the festival is the Association of Citizens Center for Cultural Decontamination Bitola. The festival is held every year in mid-July in the heart of the old Turkish bazaar in Bitola, as part of Bitola Cultural Summer Bit Fest.
Education
St. Clement of Ohrid University of Bitola (. Климент Охридски — Битола) was founded in 1979, as a result of an increasing demand for highly skilled professionals outside the country's capital. Since 1994, it has carried the name of the Slavic educator St. Clement of Ohrid. The university has institutes in Bitola, Ohrid, and Prilep, and its headquarters is in Bitola. It has become a well established university, and cooperates with University of St. Cyril and Methodius from Skopje and other universities in the Balkans and Europe. The following institutes and scientific organizations are part of the university:
* Technical Faculty – Bitola
* Economical Faculty – Prilep
* Faculty of Tourism and Leisure management – Ohrid
* Teachers Faculty – Bitola
* Faculty of biotechnological sciences – Bitola
* Faculty of Information and Communication Technologies — Bitola
* Medical college – Bitola
* Faculty of Veterinary Sciences – Bitola
* Tobacco institute – Prilep
* Hydro-biological institute – Ohrid
* Slavic cultural institute – Prilep
There are seven high schools in Bitola:
*"Josip Broz-Tito", a gymnasium
*"Taki Daskalo", a gymnasium
** Stopansko School (mining survey, part of Taki Daskalo)
*"Dr. Jovan Kalauzi", a medical high school
*"Jane Sandanski", an economical high school
*"Gjorgji Naumov", a technological high school
*"Kuzman Šapkarev", an agricultural high school
*"Toše Proeski", a musical high school
Ten Primary Schools in Bitola are:
* "Todor Angelevski"
* "Sv. Kliment Ohridski"
* "Goce Delčev"
* "Elpida Karamandi"
* "Dame Gruev"
* "Kiril i Metodij"
* "Kole Kaninski"
* "Trifun Panovski"
* "Stiv Naumov"
* "Gjorgji Sugarev"
People from Bitola
Twin towns — sister cities
Bitola is twinned with:
* Épinal, France, since 1976
* Kranj, Slovenia, since 1976
* Požarevac, Serbia, since 1976
* Trelleborg, Sweden, since 1981
* Rockdale, Australia, since 1985
* Bursa, Turkey, since 1995
* Esztergom, Hungary, since 1998
* Pleven, Bulgaria, since 1999
* Pushkin, Russia, since 2005
* Kremenchuk, Ukraine, since 2006
* Stari Grad (Belgrade), Serbia, since 2006
* Veliko Tarnovo, Bulgaria, since 2006
* Nizhny Novgorod, Russia, since 2008
* Rijeka, Croatia, since 2011
* Ningbo, China, since 2014
* Cetinje, Montenegro, since 2020
Gallery
<br/>
<gallery class"center" widths"120" heights="120px">
File:St._Demetrius_Church_(Bitola).jpg| St. Demetrius Church, Cathedral church of Prespa-Pelagonium Eparchy
File:BitolskiKorzo.JPG|Shirok Sokak
File:Турска чаршија во Битола.jpg|The old bazzar
File:Bitolj - crkva svete bogorodice.jpg|Orthodox St. Bogorodica church
File:Hajdar Kadi Mosque (Bitola).jpg|Hajdar Kadi mosque
File:Jevrejsko groblje.JPG|The Jewish cemetery
File:CrkvaBair.JPG|View from Krkardaš
File:Muzej_Bitola.jpg|Bitola museum
File:Spomenik na Branitelite - Bitola 6.JPG|A monument of an angel for the defenders of Macedonia
File:Saat Kula - Bitola 2.JPG|The tower clock
File:Heraclea.jpg|A mosaic from Heraclea Lyncestis
File:Bitolskiot Filip Makedonski, Macedonia.jpg|A monument of Philip II of Macedon
File:Bitolj.jpg|A view to Bitola from Baba mountain
File:Mount Pelister MK.jpg|Pelister National Park
File:Dragor_river_(Bitola).jpg|Dragor River
File:Columns from Synagogue in Bitola 120505.jpg|Columns from the "Kahal Portugal" Synagogue
</gallery>
References
<!--This article uses the Cite.php citation mechanism. If you would like more information on how to add footnotes to this article, please see http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Cite/Cite.php -->
Bibliography
* Basil Gounaris, "From Peasants into Urbanites, from Village into Nation: Ottoman Monastir in the Early Twentieth Century", [http://ehq.sagepub.com/ European History Quarterly] 31:1 (2001), pp. 43–63. [https://web.archive.org/web/20110813101340/http://www.arts.yorku.ca/hist/tgallant/documents/gounarisfrompeasantsintourbanites.pdf online copy]
Category:Cities in North Macedonia
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bitola
|
2025-04-05T18:26:34.616559
|
3793
|
Battle of Bosworth Field
|
| result Victory for the House of Tudor and their allies<br/>
| combatant1 = House of York
| combatant2 = House of Tudor <small>(Lancastrian)</small><br>Supported by:<br>Kingdom of France<br>Kingdom of Scotland<hr>Stanley family
| commander1 = |Duke of Norfolk||Earl of Surrey|Earl of Lincoln|Viscount Lovell|Sir Richard Ratcliffe}}
| commander2 = <hr>Baron Stanley<br>Sir William Stanley
| strength1 = 7,500–12,000
| strength2 = 5,000–8,000 (including 2,000 French)<hr>4,000–6,000 Stanley men
| casualties1 Unknown
| casualties2 100<br>Stanley losses unknown
}}
The Battle of Bosworth or Bosworth Field ( ) was the last significant battle of the Wars of the Roses, the civil war between the houses of Lancaster and York that extended across England in the latter half of the 15th century. Fought on 22 August 1485, the battle was won by an alliance of Lancastrians and disaffected Yorkists. Their leader Henry Tudor, Earl of Richmond, became the first English monarch of the Tudor dynasty by his victory and subsequent marriage to a Yorkist princess. His opponent Richard III, the last king of the House of York, was killed during the battle, the last English monarch to fall in battle. Historians consider Bosworth Field to mark the end of the Plantagenet dynasty, making it one of the defining moments of English history.
Richard's reign began in 1483 when he ascended the throne after his twelve-year-old nephew, Edward V, was declared illegitimate. The boy and his younger brother Richard soon disappeared, and their fate remains a mystery. Across the English Channel Henry Tudor, a descendant of the greatly diminished House of Lancaster, seized on Richard's difficulties and laid claim to the throne. Henry's first attempt to invade England in 1483 foundered in a storm, but his second arrived unopposed on 7 August 1485 on the southwest coast of Wales. Marching inland, Henry gathered support as he made for London. Richard hurriedly mustered his troops and intercepted Henry's army near Ambion Hill, south of the town of Market Bosworth in Leicestershire. Lord Stanley and Sir William Stanley also brought a force to the battlefield, but held back while they decided which side it would be most advantageous to support, initially lending only four knights to Henry's cause; these were: Sir Robert Tunstall, Sir John Savage (nephew of Lord Stanley), Sir Hugh Persall and Sir Humphrey Stanley. Sir John Savage was placed in command of the left flank of Henry's army.
Richard divided his army, which outnumbered Henry's, into three groups (or "battles"). One was assigned to the Duke of Norfolk and another to the Earl of Northumberland. Henry kept most of his force together and placed it under the command of the experienced Earl of Oxford. Richard's vanguard, commanded by Norfolk, attacked but struggled against Oxford's men, and some of Norfolk's troops fled the field. Northumberland took no action when signalled to assist his king, so Richard gambled everything on a charge across the battlefield to kill Henry and end the fight. Seeing the king's knights separated from his army, the Stanleys intervened; Sir William led his men to Henry's aid, surrounding and killing Richard. After the battle, Henry was crowned king.
Henry hired chroniclers to portray his reign favourably; the Battle of Bosworth Field was popularised to represent his Tudor dynasty as the start of a new age, marking the end of the Middle Ages for England. From the 15th to the 18th centuries the battle was glamourised as a victory of good over evil, and features as the climax of William Shakespeare's play Richard III. The exact site of the battle is disputed because of the lack of conclusive data, and memorials have been erected at different locations. The Bosworth Battlefield Heritage Centre was built in 1974, on a site that has since been challenged by several scholars and historians. In October 2009, a team of researchers who had performed geological surveys and archaeological digs in the area since 2003 suggested a location southwest of Ambion Hill.Background
<!-- This section is neither for determining Richard's involvement in the Princes' death, nor his motivations behind his taking the throne or the actions in doing so. Richard III of England and Princes in the Tower are the proper articles for that. -->
During the 15th century civil war raged across England as the Houses of York and Lancaster fought each other for the English throne. In 1471 the Yorkists defeated their rivals in the battles of Barnet and Tewkesbury. The Lancastrian King Henry VI and his only son, Edward of Westminster, died in the aftermath of the Battle of Tewkesbury. Their deaths left the House of Lancaster with no direct claimants to the throne. The Yorkist king, Edward IV, was in complete control of England. He attainted those who refused to submit to his rule, such as Jasper Tudor and his nephew Henry, naming them traitors and confiscating their lands. The Tudors tried to flee to France but strong winds forced them to land in Brittany, which was a semi-independent duchy, where they were taken into the custody of Duke Francis II. Henry's mother, Lady Margaret Beaufort, was a great-granddaughter of John of Gaunt, uncle of King Richard II and father of King Henry IV. The Beauforts were originally bastards, but Richard II legitimised them through an Act of Parliament, a decision quickly modified by a royal decree of Henry IV ordering that their descendants were not eligible to inherit the throne. Henry Tudor, the only remaining Lancastrian noble with a trace of the royal bloodline, had a weak claim to the throne, and Edward regarded him as "a nobody". The Duke of Brittany, however, viewed Henry as a valuable tool to bargain for England's aid in conflicts with France, and kept the Tudors under his protection.
Edward IV died 12 years after Tewkesbury in April 1483. His 12-year-old elder son succeeded him as King Edward V; the younger son, nine-year-old Richard of Shrewsbury, was next in line to the throne. Edward V was too young to rule and a Royal Council was established to rule the country until the king's coming of age. Some among the council were worried when it became apparent that the relatives of Edward V's mother, Elizabeth Woodville, were plotting to use their control of the young king to dominate the council. Having offended many in their quest for wealth and power, the Woodville family was not popular. To frustrate the Woodvilles' ambitions, Lord Hastings and other members of the council turned to the new king's uncle—Richard, Duke of Gloucester, brother of Edward IV. The courtiers urged Gloucester to assume the role of Protector quickly, as had been previously requested by his now dead brother. On 29 April Gloucester, accompanied by a contingent of guards and Henry Stafford, 2nd Duke of Buckingham, took Edward V into custody and arrested several prominent members of the Woodville family. After bringing the young king to London, Gloucester had the Queen's brother Anthony Woodville, 2nd Earl Rivers, and her son by her first marriage Richard Grey executed, without trial, on charges of treason.
On 13 June, Gloucester accused Hastings of plotting with the Woodvilles and had him beheaded. Nine days later the Three Estates of the Realm, an informal Parliament declared the marriage between Edward IV and Elizabeth illegal, rendering their children illegitimate and disqualifying them from the throne. With his brother's children out of the way, he was next in the line of succession and was proclaimed King Richard III on 26 June. The timing and extrajudicial nature of the deeds done to obtain the throne for Richard won him no popularity, and rumours that spoke ill of the new king spread throughout England. After they were declared bastards, the two princes were confined in the Tower of London and never seen in public again.
In October 1483, a conspiracy emerged to displace him from the throne. The rebels were mostly loyalists to Edward IV, who saw Richard as a usurper. Their plans were coordinated by a Lancastrian, Henry's mother Lady Margaret, who was promoting her son as a candidate for the throne. The highest-ranking conspirator was Buckingham. No chronicles tell of the duke's motive in joining the plot, although historian Charles Ross proposes that Buckingham was trying to distance himself from a king who was becoming increasingly unpopular with the people. Michael Jones and Malcolm Underwood suggest that Margaret deceived Buckingham into thinking the rebels supported him to be king.
: rumours of her marriage launched Henry's invasion.]]
The plan was to stage uprisings within a short time in southern and western England, overwhelming Richard's forces. Buckingham would support the rebels by invading from Wales, while Henry came in by sea. Bad timing and weather wrecked the plot. An uprising in Kent started 10 days prematurely, alerting Richard to muster the royal army and take steps to put down the insurrections. Richard's spies informed him of Buckingham's activities, and the king's men captured and destroyed the bridges across the River Severn. When Buckingham and his army reached the river, they found it swollen and impossible to cross because of a violent storm that broke on 15 October. Buckingham was trapped and had no safe place to retreat; his Welsh enemies seized his home castle after he had set forth with his army. The duke abandoned his plans and fled to Wem, where he was betrayed by his servant and arrested by Richard's men. On 2 November he was executed. Henry had attempted a landing on 10 October (or 19 October), but his fleet was scattered by a storm. He reached the coast of England (at either Plymouth or Poole) and a group of soldiers hailed him to come ashore. They were, in fact, Richard's men, prepared to capture Henry once he set foot on English soil. Henry was not deceived and returned to Brittany, abandoning the invasion. Without Buckingham or Henry, the rebellion was easily crushed by Richard.
The survivors of the failed uprisings fled to Brittany, where they openly supported Henry's claim to the throne. At Christmas, Henry Tudor swore an oath in Rennes Cathedral to marry Edward IV's daughter, Elizabeth of York, to unite the warring houses of York and Lancaster. Henry's rising prominence made him a great threat to Richard, and the Yorkist king made several overtures to the Duke of Brittany to surrender the young Lancastrian. Francis refused, holding out for the possibility of better terms from Richard. In mid-1484 Francis was incapacitated by illness and while recuperating, his treasurer Pierre Landais took over the reins of government. Landais reached an agreement with Richard to send back Henry and his uncle in exchange for military and financial aid. John Morton, a bishop of Flanders,<!--not John Morton, who was Bishop of Ely at this time --> learned of the scheme and warned the Tudors, who fled to France. The French court allowed them to stay; the Tudors were useful pawns to ensure that Richard's England did not interfere with French plans to annex Brittany. On 16 March 1485 Richard's queen, Anne Neville, died, and rumours spread across the country that she was murdered to pave the way for Richard to marry his niece, Elizabeth. Later findings though, showed that Richard had entered into negotiations to marry Joanna of Portugal and to marry off Elizabeth to Manuel, Duke of Beja. The gossip must have upset Henry across the English Channel. The loss of Elizabeth's hand in marriage could unravel the alliance between Henry's supporters who were Lancastrians and those who were loyalists to Edward IV. Anxious to secure his bride, Henry recruited mercenaries formerly in French service to supplement his following of exiles and set sail from France on 1 August.
Factions
, commemorates the Battle of Bosworth fought nearby and the leaders of the combatants, Richard III (left) and Henry VII (right).]]
By the 15th century, English chivalric ideas of selfless service to the king had been corrupted. Armed forces were raised mostly through musters in individual estates; every able-bodied man had to respond to his lord's call to arms, and each noble had authority over his militia. Although a king could raise personal militia from his lands, he could muster a large army only through the support of his nobles. Richard, like his predecessors, had to win over these men by granting gifts and maintaining cordial relationships. Powerful nobles could demand greater incentives to remain on the liege's side or else they might turn against him. Three groups, each with its own agenda, stood on Bosworth Field: Richard III and his Yorkist army; his challenger, Henry Tudor, who championed the Lancastrian cause; and the fence-sitting Stanleys.
Yorkist
Small and slender, Richard III did not have the robust physique associated with many of his Plantagenet predecessors. However, he enjoyed very rough sports and activities that were considered manly. His performances on the battlefield impressed his brother greatly, and he became Edward's right-hand man. During the 1480s Richard defended the northern borders of England. In 1482, Edward charged him to lead an army into Scotland with the aim of replacing King James III with the Duke of Albany. Richard's army broke through the Scottish defences and occupied the capital, Edinburgh, but Albany decided to give up his claim to the throne in return for the post of Lieutenant General of Scotland. As well as obtaining a guarantee that the Scottish government would concede territories and diplomatic benefits to the English crown, Richard's campaign retook the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, which the Scots had conquered in 1460. Edward was not satisfied by these gains, which, according to Ross, could have been greater if Richard had been resolute enough to capitalise on the situation while in control of Edinburgh. In her analysis of Richard's character, Christine Carpenter sees him as a soldier who was more used to taking orders than giving them. However, he was not averse to displaying his militaristic streak; on ascending the throne he made known his desire to lead a crusade against "not only the Turks, but all [his] foes".
Richard's most loyal subject was John Howard, 1st Duke of Norfolk. The duke had served Richard's brother for many years and had been one of Edward IV's closer confidants. He was a military veteran, having fought in the Battle of Towton in 1461 and served as Hastings' deputy at Calais in 1471. Ross speculates that he bore a grudge against Edward for depriving him of a fortune. Norfolk was due to inherit a share of the wealthy Mowbray estate on the death of eight-year-old Anne de Mowbray, the last of her family. However, Edward convinced Parliament to circumvent the law of inheritance and transfer the estate to his younger son, who was married to Anne. Consequently, Howard supported Richard III in deposing Edward's sons, for which he received the dukedom of Norfolk and his original share of the Mowbray estate.
Henry Percy, 4th Earl of Northumberland, also supported Richard's ascension to the throne of England. The Percys were loyal Lancastrians, but Edward IV eventually won the earl's allegiance. Northumberland had been captured and imprisoned by the Yorkists in 1461, losing his titles and estates; however, Edward released him eight years later and restored his earldom. From that time Northumberland served the Yorkist crown, helping to defend northern England and maintain its peace. Initially the earl had issues with Richard III as Edward groomed his brother to be the leading power of the north. Northumberland was mollified when he was promised he would be the Warden of the East March, a position that was formerly hereditary for the Percys. He served under Richard during the 1482 invasion of Scotland, and the allure of being in a position to dominate the north of England if Richard went south to assume the crown was his likely motivation for supporting Richard's bid for kingship. However, after becoming king, Richard began moulding his nephew, John de la Pole, 1st Earl of Lincoln, to manage the north, passing over Northumberland for the position. According to Carpenter, although the earl was amply compensated, he despaired of any possibility of advancement under Richard.LancastriansHenry Tudor was unfamiliar with the arts of war and was a stranger to the land he was trying to conquer. He spent the first fourteen years of his life in Wales and the next fourteen in Brittany and France. Slender but strong and decisive, Henry lacked a penchant for battle and was not much of a warrior; chroniclers such as Polydore Vergil and ambassadors like Pedro de Ayala found him more interested in commerce and finance. Having not fought in any battles, Henry recruited several experienced veterans to command his armies.
<!-- Mediaeval historian Thomas Brynmor Pugh believes that instead of participating in the battle, Jasper Tudor stayed behind in Wales to secure an escape route for his nephew, in case the battle was lost.-->
John de Vere, 13th Earl of Oxford, was Henry's principal military commander. He was adept in the arts of war. At the Battle of Barnet, he commanded the Lancastrian right wing and routed the division opposing him. However, as a result of confusion over identities, Oxford's group came under friendly fire from the Lancastrian main force and retreated from the field. The earl fled abroad and continued his fight against the Yorkists, raiding shipping and eventually capturing the island fort of St Michael's Mount in 1473. He surrendered after receiving no aid or reinforcement, but in 1484 escaped from prison and joined Henry's court in France, bringing along his erstwhile gaoler Sir James Blount. Oxford's presence raised morale in Henry's camp and troubled Richard III.StanleysIn the early stages of the Wars of the Roses, the Stanleys of Cheshire had been predominantly Lancastrians. Sir William Stanley, however, was a staunch Yorkist supporter, fighting in the Battle of Blore Heath in 1459 and helping Hastings to put down uprisings against Edward IV in 1471. When Richard took the crown, Sir William showed no inclination to turn against the new king, refraining from joining Buckingham's rebellion, for which he was amply rewarded. Sir William's elder brother, Thomas Stanley, 2nd Baron Stanley, was not as steadfast. By 1485, he had served three kings, namely Henry VI, Edward IV, and Richard III. Lord Stanley's skilled political manoeuvrings—vacillating between opposing sides until it was clear who would be the winner—gained him high positions; he was Henry's chamberlain and Edward's steward. His non-committal stance, until the crucial point of a battle, earned him the loyalty of his men, who felt he would not needlessly send them to their deaths.
Lord Stanley's relations with the king's brother, the eventual Richard III, were not cordial. The two had conflicts that erupted into violence around March 1470. Furthermore, having taken Lady Margaret as his second wife in June 1472, Stanley was Henry Tudor's stepfather, a relationship which did nothing to win him Richard's favour. Despite these differences, Stanley did not join Buckingham's revolt in 1483. When Richard executed those conspirators who had been unable to flee England, he spared Lady Margaret. However, he declared her titles forfeit and transferred her estates to Stanley's name, to be held in trust for the Yorkist crown. Richard's act of mercy was calculated to reconcile him with Stanley, but it may have been to no avail—Carpenter has identified a further cause of friction in Richard's intention to reopen an old land dispute that involved Thomas Stanley and the Harrington family. Edward IV had ruled the case in favour of Stanley in 1473, but Richard planned to overturn his brother's ruling and give the wealthy estate to the Harringtons. Immediately before the Battle of Bosworth, being wary of Stanley, Richard took his son, Lord Strange, as hostage to discourage him from joining Henry.Crossing the English Channel and through WalesHenry's initial force consisted of the English and Welsh exiles who had gathered around Henry, combined with a contingent of mercenaries put at his disposal by Charles VIII of France. The history of Scottish author John Major (published in 1521) claims that Charles had granted Henry 5,000 men, of whom 1,000 were Scots, headed by Sir Alexander Bruce. No mention of Scottish soldiers was made by subsequent English historians.
Henry's crossing of the English Channel in 1485 was without incident. Thirty ships sailed from Harfleur on 1 August and, with fair winds behind them, landed in his native Wales, at Mill Bay (near Dale) on the north side of Milford Haven on 7 August, easily capturing nearby Dale Castle. Henry received a muted response from the local population. No joyous welcome awaited him on shore, and at first few individual Welshmen joined his army as it marched inland. Historian Geoffrey Elton suggests only Henry's ardent supporters felt pride over his Welsh blood. His arrival had been hailed by contemporary Welsh bards such as Dafydd Ddu and Gruffydd ap Dafydd as the true prince and "the youth of Brittany defeating the Saxons" in order to bring their country back to glory. When Henry moved to Haverfordwest, the county town of Pembrokeshire, Richard's lieutenant in South Wales, Sir Walter Herbert, failed to move against Henry, and two of his officers, Richard Griffith and Evan Morgan, deserted to Henry with their men.
The most important defector to Henry in this early stage of the campaign was probably Rhys ap Thomas, who was the leading figure in West Wales. Richard had appointed Rhys Lieutenant in West Wales for his refusal to join Buckingham's rebellion, asking that he surrender his son Gruffydd ap Rhys ap Thomas as surety, although by some accounts Rhys had managed to evade this condition. However, Henry successfully courted Rhys, offering the lieutenancy of all Wales in exchange for his fealty. Henry marched via Aberystwyth while Rhys followed a more southerly route, recruiting a force of Welshmen en route, variously estimated at 500 or 2,000 men, to swell Henry's army when they reunited at Cefn Digoll, Welshpool. By 15 or 16 August, Henry and his men had crossed the English border, making for the town of Shrewsbury.Shrewsbury: the gateway to EnglandSince 22 June Richard had been aware of Henry's impending invasion, and had ordered his lords to maintain a high level of readiness. News of Henry's landing reached Richard on 11 August, but it took three to four days for his messengers to notify his lords of their king's mobilisation. On 16 August, the Yorkist army started to gather; Norfolk set off for Leicester, the assembly point, that night. The city of York, a historical stronghold of Richard's family, asked the king for instructions, and receiving a reply three days later sent 80 men to join the king. Simultaneously Northumberland, whose northern territory was the most distant from the capital, had gathered his men and ridden to Leicester.
Although London was his goal, Henry did not move directly towards the city. After resting in Shrewsbury, his forces went eastwards and picked up Sir Gilbert Talbot and other English allies, including deserters from Richard's forces. Although its size had increased substantially since the landing, Henry's army was still considerably outnumbered by Richard's forces. Henry's pace through Staffordshire was slow, delaying the confrontation with Richard so that he could gather more recruits to his cause. Henry had been communicating on friendly terms with the Stanleys for some time before setting foot in England, and the Stanleys had mobilised their forces on hearing of Henry's landing. They ranged themselves ahead of Henry's march through the English countryside, meeting twice in secret with Henry as he moved through Staffordshire. At the second of these, at Atherstone in Warwickshire, they conferred "in what sort to arraign battle with King Richard, whom they heard to be not far off". On 21 August, the Stanleys were making camp on the slopes of a hill north of Dadlington, while Henry encamped his army at White Moors to the northwest of their camp.
On 20 August, Richard rode from Nottingham to Leicester, Northumberland arrived the following day. The royal army proceeded westwards to intercept Henry's march on London. Passing Sutton Cheney, Richard moved his army towards Ambion Hill—which he thought would be of tactical value—and made camp on it. Richard's sleep was not peaceful and, according to the Croyland Chronicle, in the morning his face was "more livid and ghastly than usual".
Engagement
The Yorkist army, variously estimated at between 7,500 and 12,000 men, deployed on the hilltop along the ridgeline from west to east. Norfolk's force (or "battle" in the parlance of the time) of spearmen stood on the right flank, protecting the cannon and about 1,200 archers. Richard's group, comprising 3,000 infantry, formed the centre. Northumberland's men guarded the left flank; he had approximately 4,000 men, many of them mounted. Standing on the hilltop, Richard had a wide, unobstructed view of the area. He could see the Stanleys and their 4,000–6,000 men holding positions on and around Dadlington Hill, while to the southwest was Henry's army.
Henry's force has been variously estimated at between 5,000 and 8,000 men, his original landing force of exiles and mercenaries having been augmented by the recruits gathered in Wales and the English border counties (in the latter area probably mustered chiefly by the Talbot interest), and by deserters from Richard's army. Historian John Mackie believes that 1,800 French mercenaries, led by Philibert de Chandée, formed the core of Henry's army. John Mair, writing thirty-five years after the battle, claimed that this force contained a significant Scottish component, and this claim is accepted by some modern writers, but Mackie argues that the French would not have released their elite Scottish knights and archers, and concludes that there were probably few Scottish troops in the army, although he accepts the presence of captains like Bernard Stewart, Lord of Aubigny.
In their interpretations of the vague mentions of the battle in the old text, historians placed areas near the foot of Ambion Hill as likely regions where the two armies clashed, and thought up possible scenarios of the engagement. In their recreations of the battle, Henry started by moving his army towards Ambion Hill where Richard and his men stood. As Henry's army advanced past the marsh at the southwestern foot of the hill, Richard sent a message to Stanley, threatening to execute his son, Lord Strange, if Stanley did not join the attack on Henry immediately. Stanley replied that he had other sons. Incensed, Richard gave the order to behead Strange but his officers temporised, saying that battle was imminent, and it would be more convenient to carry out the execution afterwards. Henry had also sent messengers to Stanley asking him to declare his allegiance. The reply was evasive—the Stanleys would "naturally" come, after Henry had given orders to his army and arranged them for battle. Henry had no choice but to confront Richard's forces alone.
Well aware of his own military inexperience, Henry handed command of his army to Oxford and retired to the rear with his bodyguards. Oxford, seeing the vast line of Richard's army strung along the ridgeline, decided to keep his men together instead of splitting them into the traditional three battles: vanguard, centre, and rearguard. He ordered the troops to stray no further than from their banners, fearing that they would become enveloped. Individual groups clumped together, forming a single large mass flanked by horsemen on the wings.
The Lancastrians were harassed by Richard's cannon as they manoeuvred around the marsh, seeking firmer ground. Once Oxford and his men were clear of the marsh, Norfolk's battle and several contingents of Richard's group, under the command of Sir Robert Brackenbury, started to advance. Hails of arrows showered both sides as they closed. Oxford's men proved the steadier in the ensuing hand-to-hand combat; they held their ground and several of Norfolk's men fled the field. Norfolk lost one of his senior officers, Walter Devereux, in this early clash.
Recognising that his force was at a disadvantage, Richard signalled for Northumberland to assist but Northumberland's group showed no signs of movement. Historians, such as Horrox and Pugh, believe Northumberland chose not to aid his king for personal reasons. Ross doubts the aspersions cast on Northumberland's loyalty, suggesting instead that Ambion Hill's narrow ridge hindered him from joining the battle. The earl would have had to either go through his allies or execute a wide flanking move—near impossible to perform given the standard of drill at the time—to engage Oxford's men.
At this juncture Richard saw Henry at some distance behind his main force. Seeing this, Richard decided to end the fight quickly by killing the enemy commander. He led a charge of mounted men around the melee and tore into Henry's group; several accounts state that Richard's force numbered 800–1000 knights, but Ross says it was more likely that Richard was accompanied only by his household men and closest friends. Richard killed Henry's standard-bearer Sir William Brandon in the initial charge and unhorsed burly John Cheyne, Edward IV's former standard-bearer, with a blow to the head from his broken lance. French mercenaries in Henry's retinue related how the attack had caught them off guard and that Henry sought protection by dismounting and concealing himself among them to present less of a target. Henry made no attempt to engage in combat himself.
Oxford had left a small reserve of pike-equipped men with Henry. They slowed the pace of Richard's mounted charge, and bought Tudor some critical time. The remainder of Henry's bodyguards surrounded their master, and succeeded in keeping him away from the Yorkist king. Meanwhile, seeing Richard embroiled with Henry's men and separated from his main force, William Stanley made his move and rode to the aid of Henry. Now outnumbered, Richard's group was surrounded and gradually pressed back. Richard's force was driven several hundred yards away from Tudor, near to the edge of a marsh, into which the king's horse toppled. Richard, now unhorsed, gathered himself and rallied his dwindling followers, supposedly refusing to retreat: "God forbid that I retreat one step. I will either win the battle as a king, or die as one." In the fighting Richard's banner man—Sir Percival Thirlwall—lost his legs, but held the Yorkist banner aloft until he was killed. It is likely that James Harrington also died in the charge. The king's trusted advisor Richard Ratcliffe was also slain.}}
Polydore Vergil, Henry Tudor's official historian, recorded that "King Richard, alone, was killed fighting manfully in the thickest press of his enemies". Richard had come within a sword's length of Henry Tudor before being surrounded by William Stanley's men and killed. The Burgundian chronicler Jean Molinet says that a Welshman struck the death-blow with a halberd while Richard's horse was stuck in the marshy ground. It was said that the blows were so violent that the king's helmet was driven into his skull. The contemporary Welsh poet Guto'r Glyn implies the leading Welsh Lancastrian Rhys ap Thomas, or one of his men, killed the king, writing that he ("Killed the boar, shaved his head"). Analysis of King Richard's skeletal remains found 11 wounds, nine of them to the head; a blade consistent with a halberd had sliced off part of the rear of Richard's skull, suggesting he had lost his helmet.
Richard's forces disintegrated as news of his death spread. Northumberland and his men fled north on seeing the king's fate, and Norfolk was killed by the knight Sir John Savage in single combat according to the Ballad of Lady Bessy.After the battleAlthough he claimed fourth-generation maternal Lancastrian descendancy, Henry seized the crown by right of conquest. After the battle, Richard's circlet is said to have been found and brought to Henry, who was proclaimed king at the top of Crown Hill, near the village of Stoke Golding. According to Vergil, Henry's official historian, Lord Stanley found the circlet. Historians Stanley Chrimes and Sydney Anglo dismiss the legend of the circlet's finding in a hawthorn bush; none of the contemporary sources reported such an event. Ross, however, does not ignore the legend. He argues that the hawthorn bush would not be part of Henry's coat of arms if it did not have a strong relationship to his ascendance. Baldwin points out that a hawthorn bush motif was already used by the House of Lancaster, and Henry merely added the crown.
In Vergil's chronicle, 100 of Henry's men, compared to 1,000 of Richard's, died in this battle—a ratio Chrimes believes to be an exaggeration. The bodies of the fallen were brought to St James Church at Dadlington for burial. However, Henry denied any immediate rest for Richard; instead the last Yorkist king's corpse was stripped naked and strapped across a horse. His body was brought to Leicester and openly exhibited to prove that he was dead. Early accounts suggest that this was in the major Lancastrian collegiate foundation, the Church of the Annunciation of Our Lady of the Newarke.}} After two days, the corpse was interred in a plain tomb, within the church of the Greyfriars. The church was demolished following the friary's dissolution in 1538, and the location of Richard's tomb was long uncertain.
's corpse found on the battlefield. Image by Charles Rochussen]]
On 12 September 2012, archaeologists announced the discovery of a buried skeleton with spinal abnormalities and head injuries under a car park in Leicester, and their suspicions that it was Richard III. On 4 February 2013, it was announced that DNA testing had convinced Leicester University scientists and researchers "beyond reasonable doubt" that the remains were those of King Richard. On 26 March 2015, these remains were ceremonially buried in Leicester Cathedral. Richard's tomb was unveiled on the following day.
Henry dismissed the mercenaries in his force, retaining only a small core of local soldiers to form a "Yeomen of his Garde", and proceeded to establish his rule of England. Parliament reversed his attainder and recorded Richard's kingship as illegal, although the Yorkist king's reign remained officially in the annals of England history. The proclamation of Edward IV's children as illegitimate was also reversed, restoring Elizabeth's status to a royal princess. The marriage of Elizabeth, the heiress to the House of York, to Henry, the master of the House of Lancaster, marked the end of the feud between the two houses and the start of the Tudor dynasty. The royal matrimony, however, was delayed until Henry was crowned king and had established his claim on the throne firmly enough to preclude that of Elizabeth and her kin. Henry further convinced Parliament to backdate his reign to the day before the battle, enabling him retrospectively to declare as traitors those who had fought against him at Bosworth Field. Northumberland, who had remained inactive during the battle, was imprisoned but later released and reinstated to pacify the north in Henry's name. Henry proved prepared to accept those who submitted to him regardless of their former allegiances.
Of his supporters, Henry rewarded the Stanleys the most generously. Aside from making William his chamberlain, he bestowed the earldom of Derby upon Lord Stanley along with grants and offices in other estates. Henry rewarded Oxford by restoring to him the lands and titles confiscated by the Yorkists and appointing him as Constable of the Tower and admiral of England, Ireland, and Aquitaine. For his kin, Henry created Jasper Tudor the Duke of Bedford. He returned to his mother the lands and grants stripped from her by Richard, and proved to be a filial son, granting her a place of honour in the palace and faithfully attending to her throughout his reign. Parliament's declaration of Margaret as femme sole effectively empowered her; she no longer needed to manage her estates through Stanley. Elton points out that despite his initial largesse, Henry's supporters at Bosworth would enjoy his special favour for only the short term; in later years, he would instead promote those who best served his interests.
Like the kings before him, Henry faced dissenters. The first open revolt occurred two years after Bosworth Field; Lambert Simnel claimed to be Edward Plantagenet, 17th Earl of Warwick, who was Edward IV's nephew. The Earl of Lincoln backed him for the throne and led rebel forces in the name of the House of York. The rebel army fended off several attacks by Northumberland's forces, before engaging Henry's army at the Battle of Stoke Field on 16 June 1487. Oxford and Bedford led Henry's men, including several former supporters of Richard III. Henry won this battle easily, but other malcontents and conspiracies would follow. A rebellion in 1489 started with Northumberland's murder; military historian Michael C. C. Adams says that the author of a note, which was left next to Northumberland's body, blamed the earl for Richard's death.
Legacy and historical significance
Contemporary accounts of the Battle of Bosworth can be found in four main sources, one of which is the English Croyland Chronicle, written by a senior Yorkist chronicler who relied on second-hand information from nobles and soldiers. The other accounts were written by foreigners—Vergil, Jean Molinet, and Diego de Valera. Whereas Molinet was sympathetic to Richard, Vergil was in Henry's service and drew information from the king and his subjects to portray them in a good light. Diego de Valera, whose information Ross regards as unreliable, compiled his work from letters of Spanish merchants. However, other historians have used Valera's work to deduce possibly valuable insights not readily evident in other sources. Ross finds the poem, The Ballad of Bosworth Field, a useful source to ascertain certain details of the battle. The multitude of different accounts, mostly based on second- or third-hand information, has proved an obstacle to historians as they try to reconstruct the battle. Their common complaint is that, except for its outcome, very few details of the battle are found in the chronicles. According to historian Michael Hicks, the Battle of Bosworth is one of the worst-recorded clashes of the Wars of the Roses.Historical depictions and interpretations
History Society re-enacts Henry's march through Wales to Bosworth Field during the battle's quincentenary celebration.]]
Henry tried to present his victory as a new beginning for the country; he hired chroniclers to portray his reign as a "modern age" with its dawn in 1485. Hicks states that the works of Vergil and the blind historian Bernard André, promoted by subsequent Tudor administrations, became the authoritative sources for writers for the next four hundred years. As such, Tudor literature paints a flattering picture of Henry's reign, depicting the Battle of Bosworth as the final clash of the civil war and downplaying the subsequent uprisings. For England the Middle Ages ended in 1485, and English Heritage claims that other than William the Conqueror's successful invasion of 1066, no other year holds more significance in English history. By portraying Richard as a hunchbacked tyrant who usurped the throne by killing his nephews, the Tudor historians attached a sense of myth to the battle: it became an epic clash between good and evil with a satisfying moral outcome. According to Reader Colin Burrow, André was so overwhelmed by the historic significance of the battle that he represented it with a blank page in his Henry VII (1502). For Professor Peter Saccio, the battle was indeed a unique clash in the annals of English history, because "the victory was determined, not by those who fought, but by those who delayed fighting until they were sure of being on the winning side."
Historians such as Adams and Horrox believe that Richard lost the battle not for any mythic reasons, but because of morale and loyalty problems in his army. Most of the common soldiers found it difficult to fight for a liege whom they distrusted, and some lords believed that their situation might improve if Richard were dethroned. According to Adams, against such duplicities Richard's desperate charge was the only knightly behaviour on the field. As fellow historian Michael Bennet puts it, the attack was "the swan-song of [mediaeval] English chivalry". Adams believes this view was shared at the time by the printer William Caxton, who enjoyed sponsorship from Edward IV and Richard III. Nine days after the battle, Caxton published Thomas Malory's story about chivalry and death by betrayal—''Le Morte d'Arthur''—seemingly as a response to the circumstances of Richard's death.
Elton does not believe Bosworth Field has any true significance, pointing out that the 20th-century English public largely ignored the battle until its quincentennial celebration. In his view, the dearth of specific information about the battle—no-one even knows exactly where it took place—demonstrates its insignificance to English society. Elton considers the battle as just one part of Henry's struggles to establish his reign, underscoring his point by noting that the young king had to spend ten more years pacifying factions and rebellions to secure his throne.
Mackie asserts that, in hindsight, Bosworth Field is notable as the decisive battle that established a dynasty which would rule unchallenged over England for more than a hundred years. Mackie notes that contemporary historians of that time, wary of the three royal successions during the long Wars of the Roses, considered Bosworth Field just another in a lengthy series of such battles. It was through the works and efforts of Francis Bacon and his successors that the public started to believe the battle had decided their futures by bringing about "the fall of a tyrant".
Shakespearean dramatisation
William Shakespeare gives prominence to the Battle of Bosworth in his play, Richard III. It is the "one big battle"; no other fighting scene distracts the audience from this action, represented by a one-on-one sword fight between Henry Tudor and Richard III. Shakespeare uses their duel to bring a climactic end to the play and the Wars of the Roses; he also uses it to champion morality, portraying the "unequivocal triumph of good over evil". Richard, the villainous lead character, has been built up in the battles of Shakespeare's earlier play, Henry VI, Part 3, as a "formidable swordsman and a courageous military leader"—in contrast to the dastardly means by which he becomes king in Richard III. Although the Battle of Bosworth has only five sentences to direct it, three scenes and more than four hundred lines precede the action, developing the background and motivations for the characters in anticipation of the battle.
, awakens after a nightmare visit by the ghosts of his victims.]]
Shakespeare's account of the battle was mostly based on chroniclers Edward Hall's and Raphael Holinshed's dramatic versions of history, which were sourced from Vergil's chronicle. However, Shakespeare's attitude towards Richard was shaped by scholar Thomas More, whose writings displayed extreme bias against the Yorkist king. The result of these influences is a script that vilifies the king, and Shakespeare had few qualms about departing from history to incite drama. Margaret of Anjou died in 1482, but Shakespeare had her speak to Richard's mother before the battle to foreshadow Richard's fate and fulfill the prophecy she had given in Henry VI. Shakespeare exaggerated the cause of Richard's restless night before the battle, imagining it as a haunting by the ghosts of those whom the king had murdered, including Buckingham. Richard is portrayed as suffering a pang of conscience, but as he speaks he regains his confidence and asserts that he will be evil, if such needed to retain his crown.
The fight between the two armies is simulated by rowdy noises made off-stage (alarums or alarms) while actors walk on-stage, deliver their lines, and exit. To build anticipation for the duel, Shakespeare requests more alarums after Richard's councillor, William Catesby, announces that the king is "[enacting] more wonders than a man". Richard punctuates his entrance with the classic line, "A horse, a horse! My kingdom for a horse!" He refuses to withdraw, continuing to seek to slay Henry's doubles until he has killed his nemesis. There is no documentary evidence that Henry had five decoys at Bosworth Field; the idea was Shakespeare's invention. He drew inspiration from Henry IV's use of them at the Battle of Shrewsbury (1403) to amplify the perception of Richard's courage on the battlefield. Similarly, the single combat between Henry and Richard is Shakespeare's creation. The True Tragedy of Richard III, by an unknown playwright, earlier than Shakespeare's, has no signs of staging such an encounter: its stage directions give no hint of visible combat.
attitude towards history]]
Despite the dramatic licences taken, Shakespeare's version of the Battle of Bosworth was the model of the event for English textbooks for many years during the 18th and 19th centuries. This glamorised version of history, promulgated in books and paintings and played out on stages across the country, perturbed humorist Gilbert Abbott à Beckett. He voiced his criticism in the form of a poem, equating the romantic view of the battle to watching a "fifth-rate production of Richard III": shabbily costumed actors fight the Battle of Bosworth on-stage while those with lesser roles lounge at the back, showing no interest in the proceedings.
In Laurence Olivier's 1955 film adaptation of Richard III, the Battle of Bosworth is represented not by a single duel but a general melee that became the film's most recognised scene and a regular screening at Bosworth Battlefield Heritage Centre. The film depicts the clash between the Yorkist and Lancastrian armies on an open field, focusing on individual characters amidst the savagery of hand-to-hand fighting, and received accolades for the realism portrayed. One reviewer for The Manchester Guardian newspaper, however, was not impressed, finding the number of combatants too sparse for the wide plains and a lack of subtlety in Richard's death scene. The means by which Richard is shown to prepare his army for the battle also earned acclaim. As Richard speaks to his men and draws his plans in the sand using his sword, his units appear on-screen, arraying themselves according to the lines that Richard had drawn. Intimately woven together, the combination of pictorial and narrative elements effectively turns Richard into a storyteller, who acts out the plot he has constructed. Shakespearian critic Herbert Coursen extends that imagery: Richard sets himself up as a creator of men, but dies amongst the savagery of his creations. Coursen finds the depiction a contrast to that of Henry V and his "band of brothers".
The adaptation of the setting for Richard III to a 1930s fascist England in Ian McKellen's 1995 film, however, did not sit well with historians. Adams posits that the original Shakespearian setting for Richard's fate at Bosworth teaches the moral of facing one's fate, no matter how unjust it is, "nobly and with dignity". By overshadowing the dramatic teaching with special effects, McKellen's film reduces its version of the battle to a pyrotechnic spectacle about the death of a one-dimensional villain. Coursen agrees that, in this version, the battle and Richard's end are trite and underwhelming.Battlefield location
The site of the battle is deemed by Leicestershire County Council to be in the vicinity of the town of Market Bosworth. The council engaged historian Daniel Williams to research the battle, and in 1974 his findings were used to build the Bosworth Battlefield Heritage Centre and the presentation it houses. Williams's interpretation, however, has since been questioned. Sparked by the battle's quincentenary celebration in 1985, a dispute among historians has led many to doubt the accuracy of Williams's theory. In particular, geological surveys conducted from 2003 to 2009 by the Battlefields Trust, a charitable organisation that protects and studies old English battlefields, show that the southern and eastern flanks of Ambion Hill were solid ground in the 15th century, contrary to Williams's claim that it was a large area of marshland. Landscape archaeologist Glenn Foard, leader of the survey, said the collected soil samples and finds of medieval military equipment suggest that the battle took place southwest of Ambion Hill (52°34′41″N 1°26′02″W), contrary to the popular belief that it was fought near the foot of the hill.
Historians' theories
English Heritage argues that the battle was named after Market Bosworth because the town was then the nearest significant settlement to the battlefield. As explored by Professor Philip Morgan, a battle might initially not be named specifically at all. As time passes, writers of administrative and historical records find it necessary to identify a notable battle, ascribing it a name that is usually toponymical in nature and sourced from combatants or observers. This name then becomes accepted by society and without question. Early records associated the Battle of Bosworth with "Brownehethe", "bellum Miravallenses", "Sandeford" and "Dadlyngton field". The earliest record, a municipal memorandum of 23 August 1485 from York, locates the battle "on the field of Redemore". This is corroborated by a 1485–86 letter that mentions "Redesmore" as its site. According to the historian, Peter Foss, records did not associate the battle with "Bosworth" until 1510.
Foss is named by English Heritage as the principal advocate for "Redemore" as the battle site. He suggests the name is derived from "Hreod Mor", an Anglo-Saxon phrase that means "reedy marshland". Basing his opinion on 13th- and 16th-century church records, he believes "Redemore" was an area of wetland that lay between Ambion Hill and the village of Dadlington, and was close to the Fenn Lanes, a Roman road running east to west across the region. Foard believes this road to be the most probable route that both armies took to reach the battlefield. Williams dismisses the notion of "Redmore" as a specific location, saying that the term refers to a large area of reddish soil; Foss argues that Williams's sources are local stories and flawed interpretations of records. Moreover, he proposes that Williams was influenced by William Hutton's 1788 The Battle of Bosworth-Field, which Foss blames for introducing the notion that the battle was fought west of Ambion Hill on the north side of the River Sence. Hutton, as Foss suggests, misinterpreted a passage from his source, Raphael Holinshed's 1577 Chronicle. Holinshed wrote, "King Richard pitched his field on a hill called Anne Beame, refreshed his soldiers and took his rest." Foss believes that Hutton mistook "field" to mean "field of battle", thus creating the idea that the fight took place on Anne Beame (Ambion) Hill. To "[pitch] his field", as Foss clarifies, was a period expression for setting up a camp.
: the dead of Bosworth Field were buried here.]]
Foss brings further evidence for his "Redemore" theory by quoting Edward Hall's 1550 Chronicle. Hall stated that Richard's army stepped onto a plain after breaking camp the next day. Furthermore, historian William Burton, author of Description of Leicestershire (1622), wrote that the battle was "fought in a large, flat, plaine, and spacious ground, three miles [5 km] distant from [Bosworth], between the Towne of Shenton, Sutton [Cheney], Dadlington and Stoke [Golding]". In Foss's opinion both sources are describing an area of flat ground north of Dadlington.Physical siteEnglish Heritage, responsible for managing England's historic sites, used both theories to designate the site for Bosworth Field. Without preference for either theory, they constructed a single continuous battlefield boundary that encompasses the locations proposed by both Williams and Foss. The region has experienced extensive changes over the years, starting after the battle. Holinshed stated in his chronicle that he found firm ground where he expected the marsh to be, and Burton confirmed that by the end of the 16th century, areas of the battlefield were enclosed and had been improved to make them agriculturally productive. Trees were planted on the south side of Ambion Hill, forming Ambion Wood. In the 18th and 19th centuries, the Ashby Canal carved through the land west and south-west of Ambion Hill. Winding alongside the canal at a distance, the Ashby and Nuneaton Joint Railway crossed the area on an embankment. The changes to the landscape were so extensive that when Hutton revisited the region in 1807 after an earlier 1788 visit, he could not readily find his way around.
Bosworth Battlefield Heritage Centre was built on Ambion Hill, near Richard's Well. According to legend, Richard III drank from one of the several springs in the region on the day of the battle. In 1788, a local pointed out one of the springs to Hutton as the one mentioned in the legend. A stone structure was later built over the location. The inscription on the well reads:
}}
Northwest of Ambion Hill, just across the northern tributary of the , a flag and memorial stone mark Richard's Field. Erected in 1973, the site was selected on the basis of Williams's theory. St James's Church at Dadlington is the only structure in the area that is reliably associated with the Battle of Bosworth; the bodies of those killed in the battle were buried there.Rediscovered battlefield and possible battle scenarioThe very extensive survey carried out (2005–2009) by the Battlefields Trust headed by Glenn Foard led eventually to the discovery of the real location of the core battlefield. This lies about a kilometre further west of the location suggested by Peter Foss. It is in what was at the time of the battle an area of marginal land at the meeting of several township boundaries. There was a cluster of field names suggesting the presence of marshland and heath. Thirty four lead round shot were discovered as a result of systematic metal detecting (more than the total found previously on all other C15th European battlefields), as well as other significant finds, including a small silver gilt badge depicting a boar. Experts believe that the boar badge could indicate the actual site of Richard III's death, since this high-status badge depicting his personal emblem was probably worn by a member of his close retinue.
A new interpretation of the battle now integrates the historic accounts with the battlefield finds and landscape history. The new site lies either side of the Fenn Lanes Roman road, close to Fenn Lane Farm and is some three kilometres to the southwest of Ambion Hill.
Based on the round shot scatter, the likely size of Richard III's army, and the topography, Glenn Foard and Anne Curry think that Richard may have lined up his forces on a slight ridge which lies just east of Fox Covert Lane and behind a postulated medieval marsh. Richard's vanguard commanded by the Duke of Norfolk was on the right (north) side of Richard's battle line, with the Earl of Northumberland on Richard's left (south) side.
Tudor's forces approached along the line of the Roman road and lined up to the west of the present day Fenn Lane Farm, having marched from the vicinity of Merevale in Warwickshire.
Historic England have re-defined the boundaries of the registered Bosworth Battlefield to incorporate the newly identified site. There are hopes that public access to the site will be possible in the future.
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External links
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* [http://www.bosworthbattlefield.com Bosworth Battlefield Heritage Centre and Country Park]: website for the museum, contains information and photos about the current state of the battlefield
* [http://www.r3.org/bosworth/ Richard III Society] : history society, which contains photos and articles that present several competing theories about the location of the battle
* [http://www.historynotes.info/bosworth-field-the-battle-of-1485-2-2076/Bosworth Field – The Battle of 1485:] on website The History Notes
Category:1485 in England
Bosworth 1485
Category:Conflicts in 1485
Category:Military history of Leicestershire
Category:Registered historic battlefields in England
Category:Tourist attractions in Leicestershire
Category:Richard III of England
Category:Henry VII of England
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Brassicaceae
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Brassicaceae () or (the older) Cruciferae () is a medium-sized and economically important family of flowering plants commonly known as the mustards, the crucifers, or the cabbage family. Most are herbaceous plants, while some are shrubs. The leaves are simple (although are sometimes deeply incised), lack stipules, and appear alternately on stems or in rosettes. The inflorescences are terminal and lack bracts. The flowers have four free sepals, four free alternating petals, two shorter free stamens and four longer free stamens. The fruit has seeds in rows, divided by a thin wall (or septum).
The family contains 372 genera and 4,060 accepted species. The largest genera are Draba (440 species), Erysimum (261 species), Lepidium (234 species), Cardamine (233 species), and Alyssum (207 species). , it was divided into two subfamilies, Brassicoideae and Aethionemoideae. Some rarer Pieris butterflies, such as P. virginiensis, depend upon native mustards for their survival in their native habitats. Some non-native mustards such as Alliaria petiolata (garlic mustard), an extremely invasive species in the United States, can be toxic to their larvae.
Description
]]
Species belonging to the Brassicaceae are mostly annual, biennial, or perennial herbaceous plants, some are dwarf shrubs or shrubs, and very few vines. Although generally terrestrial, a few species such as water awlwort live submerged in fresh water. They may have a taproot or a sometimes woody caudex that may have few or many branches, some have thin or tuberous rhizomes, or rarely develop runners. Few species have multi-cellular glands. Hairs consist of one cell and occur in many forms: from simple to forked, star-, tree- or T-shaped, rarely taking the form of a shield or scale. They are never topped by a gland. The stems may be upright, rise up towards the tip, or lie flat, are mostly herbaceous but sometimes woody. Stems carry leaves or the stems may be leafless (in Caulanthus), and some species lack stems altogether. The leaves do not have stipules, but there may be a pair of glands at base of leaf stalks and flower stalks. The leaf may be seated or have a leafstalk. The leaf blade is usually simple, entire or dissected, rarely trifoliolate or pinnately compound. A leaf rosette at the base may be present or absent. The leaves along the stem are almost always alternately arranged, rarely apparently opposite. The stomata are of the anisocytic type. The genome size of Brassicaceae compared to that of other Angiosperm families is very small to small (less than 3.425 million base pairs per cell), varying from 150 Mbp in Arabidopsis thaliana and Sphaerocardamum spp., to 2375 Mbp Bunias orientalis. The number of homologous chromosome sets varies from four (n4) in some Physaria and Stenopetalum species, five (n5) in other Physaria and Stenopetalum species, Arabidopsis thaliana and a Mathiola species, to seventeen (n17). About 35% of the species in which chromosomes have been counted have eight sets (n8). Due to polyploidy, some species may have up to 256 individual chromosomes, with some very high counts in the North American species of Cardamine, such as C. diphylla. Hybridisation is not unusual in Brassicaceae, especially in Arabis, Rorippa, Cardamine and Boechera. Hybridisation between species originating in Africa and California, and subsequent polyploidisation is surmised for Lepidium species native to Australia and New Zealand. Ovary, fruit and seed There is one superior pistil that consists of two carpels that may either sit directly above the base of the stamens or on a stalk. It initially consists of only one cavity but during its further development a thin wall grows that divides the cavity, both placentas and separates the two valves (a so-called false septum). Rarely, there is only one cavity without a septum. The 2–600 ovules are usually along the side margin of the carpels, or rarely at the top. Fruits are capsules that open with two valves, usually towards the top. These are called silique if at least three times longer than wide, or silicle if the length is less than three times the width. The fruit is very variable in its other traits. There may be one persistent style that connects the ovary to the globular or conical stigma, which is undivided or has two spreading or connivent lobes. The variously shaped seeds are usually yellow or brown in color, and arranged in one or two rows in each cavity. The seed leaves are entire or have a notch at the tip. The seed does not contain endosperm. Brassicaceae contain different cocktails of dozens of glucosinolates. They also contain enzymes called myrosinases, that convert the glucosinolates into isothiocyanates, thiocyanates and nitriles, which are toxic to many organisms, and so help guard against herbivory. The Cleomaceae and Brassicaceae diverged approximately 41 million years ago. All three families have consistently been placed in one order (variably called Capparales or Brassicales).
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|2=family Emblingiaceae
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Relationships within the family
Early classifications depended on morphological comparison only, but because of extensive convergent evolution, these do not provide a reliable phylogeny. Although a substantial effort was made through molecular phylogenetic studies, the relationships within the Brassicaceae have not always been well resolved yet. It has long been clear that the Aethionema are sister of the remainder of the family. One analysis from 2014 represented the relation between 39 tribes with the following tree.
As of 2023 the Brassicaceae have been divided into two subfamilies -- the Brassicoideae and the Aethionemoideae (containing only Aethionema) -- the former of which contains five supertribes, Arabodae, Brassicodae, Camelinodae, Heliophilodae, and Hesperodae.
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|6=Iberideae
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Genera
As of October 2023 Plants of the World Online accepts 346 genera. Etymology The name Brassicaceae comes to international scientific vocabulary from Neo-Latin, from Brassica, the type genus, + -aceae, a standardized suffix for plant family names in modern taxonomy. The genus name comes from the Classical Latin word brassica, referring to cabbage and other cruciferous vegetables. The alternative older name, Cruciferae, meaning "cross-bearing", describes the four petals of mustard flowers, which resemble a cross. Cruciferae is one of eight plant family names, not derived from a genus name and without the suffix -aceae that are authorized alternative names. Distribution Brassicaceae can be found almost on the entire land surface of the planet, but the family is absent from Antarctica, and also absent from some areas in the tropics i.e. northeastern Brazil, the Congo basin, Maritime Southeast Asia and tropical Australasia. The area of origin of the family is possibly the Irano-Turanian region, where approximately 900 species occur in 150 different genera. About 530 of those 900 species are endemics. Next in abundance comes the Mediterranean region, with around 630 species (290 of which are endemic) in 113 genera. The family is less prominent in the Saharo-Arabian region—65 genera, 180 species of which 62 are endemic—and North America (comprising the North American Atlantic region and the Rocky Mountain floristic region)—99 genera, 780 species of which 600 are endemic. South America has 40 genera containing 340 native species, Southern Africa 15 genera with over 100 species, and Australia and New-Zealand have 19 genera with 114 species between them. Several Alyssum species can accumulate nickel up to 0.3% of their dry weight, and may be useful in soil remediation or even bio-mining.
Brassicaceae contain glucosinolates as well as myrosinases inside their cells. When the cell is damaged, the myrosinases hydrolise the glucosinolates, leading to the synthesis of isothiocyanates, which are compounds toxic to most animals, fungi and bacteria. Some insect herbivores have developed counter adaptations such as rapid absorption of the glucosinates, quick alternative breakdown into non-toxic compounds and avoiding cell damage. In the whites family (Pieridae), one counter mechanism involves glucosinolate sulphatase, which changes the glucosinolate, so that it cannot be converted to isothiocyanate. A second is that the glucosinates are quickly broken down, forming nitriles. Differences between the mixtures of glucosinolates between species and even within species is large, and individual plants may produce in excess of fifty individual substances. The energy penalty for synthesising all these glucosinolates may be as high as 15% of the total needed to produce a leaf. Barbarea vulgaris (bittercress) also produces triterpenoid saponins. These adaptations and counter adaptations probably have led to extensive diversification in both the Brassicaceae and one of its major pests, the butterfly family Pieridae. A particular cocktail of volatile glucosinates triggers egg-laying in many species. Thus a particular crop can sometimes be protected by planting bittercress as a deadly bait, for the saponins kill the caterpillars, but the butterfly is still lured by the bittercress to lay its egg on the leaves.
A moth that feeds on a range of Brassicaceae is the diamondback moth (Plutella xylostella). Like the Pieridae, it is capable of converting isothiocyanates into less problematic nitriles. Managing this pest in crops became more complicated after resistance developed against a toxin produced by Bacillus thuringiensis, which is used as a wide spectrum biological plant protection against caterpillars. Parasitoid wasps that feed on such insect herbivores are attracted to the chemical compounds released by the plants, and thus are able to locate their prey. The cabbage aphid (Brevicoryne brassicae) stores glucosinolates and synthesises its own myrosinases, which may deter its potential predators. It is estimated that adequate control can be achieved with the introduction of two European weevils, including one that is monophagous. The USDA's TAG group has blocked these introductions since 2004. In addition to being invasive, garlic mustard also is a threat to native North American Pieris butterflies such as P. oleracea, as they preferentially oviposit on it, although it is toxic to their larvae.
Invasive aggressive mustard species are known for being self-fertile, seeding very heavily with small seeds that have a lengthy lifespan coupled with a very high rate of viability and germination, and for being completely unpalatable to both herbivores and insects in areas to which they are not native. Garlic mustard is toxic to several rarer North American Pieris species.
Uses
with dry walls of the fruit]]
is endemic to the midlatitude mountains of western North America.]]
This family includes important agricultural crops, among which many vegetables such as cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, kale, Brussels sprouts, collard greens, Savoy, kohlrabi, and gai lan (Brassica oleracea), turnip, napa cabbage, mizuna, bok choy and rapini (Brassica rapa), rocket salad/arugula (Eruca sativa), garden cress (Lepidium sativum), watercress (Nasturtium officinale) and radish (Raphanus) and a few spices like horseradish (Armoracia rusticana), wasabi (Eutrema japonicum), white, Indian and black mustard (Sinapis alba, Brassica juncea and B. nigra respectively). Vegetable oil is produced from the seeds of several species such as Brassica napus (rapeseed oil), perhaps providing the largest volume of vegetable oils of any species. Woad (Isatis tinctoria) was used in the past to produce a blue textile dye (indigo), but has largely been replaced by the same substance from unrelated tropical species like Indigofera tinctoria.
Pringlea antiscorbutica, commonly known as Kerguelen cabbage, is edible, containing high levels of potassium. Its leaves contain a vitamin C-rich oil, a fact which, in the days of sailing ships, made it very attractive to sailors suffering from scurvy, hence the species name's epithet antiscorbutica, which means "against scurvy" in Low Latin. It was essential to the diets of the whalers on Kerguelen when pork, beef, or seal meat was used up.
The Brassicaceae also includes ornamentals, such as species of Aethionema, Alyssum, Arabis, Aubrieta, Aurinia, Cheiranthus, Erysimum, Hesperis, Iberis, Lobularia, Lunaria, Malcolmia, and Matthiola. It can be a pest species in areas where it is not native.
The small Eurasian weed Arabidopsis thaliana is widely used as model organism in the study of the molecular biology of flowering plants (Angiospermae).
Some species are useful as food plants for Lepidoptera, such as certain wild mustard and cress species, such as Turritis glabra and Boechera laevigata that are utilized by several North American butterflies.
Gallery
<gallery>
File:Brassicaceae_Coast_Sand_Loving_wallflower_erysimum_ammophilum.jpg|Coast/sand-loving wallflower Erysimum ammophilum
File:Brassicaceae_Money_Plant_Honesty_Lunaria_annua.jpg|Honesty Lunaria annua
File:Brassicaceae_Western_wallflower_erysimum_capitatum_var_capitatum.jpg|Western wallflower Erysimum capitatum var. capitatum
</gallery>
References
External links
* [https://brassibase.cos.uni-heidelberg.de/ BrassiBase], a collection of resources on Brassicaceae biology
* [https://brassitol.vercel.app/ BrassiToL app], an online Brassicaceae Tree of Life viewer and explorer
Further reading
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Category:Brassicales families
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brassicaceae
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Baseball statistics
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thumb|1911 baseball card showing Jake Daubert, his statistics, and statistics for Nap Rucker.
Baseball statistics include a variety of metrics used to evaluate player and team performance in the sport of baseball.
Because the flow of a baseball game has natural breaks to it, and player activity is characteristically distinguishable individually, the sport lends itself to easy record-keeping and compiling statistics. Baseball "stats" have been recorded since the game's earliest beginnings as a distinct sport in the middle of the nineteenth century, and as such are extensively available through the historical records of leagues such as the National Association of Professional Base Ball Players and the Negro leagues, although the consistency, standards, and calculations are often incomplete or questionable.
Since the National League (NL) was founded in 1876, statistics in the most elite levels of professional baseball have been kept at some level, with efforts to standardize the stats and their compilation improving during the early 20th century. Such efforts have evolved in tandem with advances in available technology ever since. The NL was joined by the American League (AL) in 1903; together the two constitute contemporary Major League Baseball.
New advances in both statistical analysis and technology made possible by the "PC revolution" of the 1980s and 1990s have driven teams and fans to evaluate players by an ever-increasing set of new statistics, which hold them to ever-evolving standards. With the advent of many of these methods, players can conditionally be compared across different time eras and run scoring environments.
Development
The practice of keeping records of player achievements was started in the 19th century by English-American sportswriter Henry Chadwick. Based on his experience with the sport of cricket, Chadwick devised the predecessors to modern-day statistics including batting average, runs scored, and runs allowed.
Traditionally, statistics such as batting average (the number of hits divided by the number of at bats) and earned run average (the average number of runs allowed by a pitcher per nine innings, less errors and other events out of the pitcher's control) have dominated attention in the statistical world of baseball. However, the recent advent of sabermetrics has created statistics drawing from a greater breadth of player performance measures and playing field variables. Sabermetrics and comparative statistics attempt to provide an improved measure of a player's performance and contributions to his team from year to year, frequently against a statistical performance average.
Comprehensive, historical baseball statistics were difficult for the average fan to access until 1951, when researcher Hy Turkin published The Complete Encyclopedia of Baseball. In 1969, Macmillan Publishing printed its first Baseball Encyclopedia, using a computer to compile statistics for the first time. Known as "Big Mac", the encyclopedia became the standard baseball reference until 1988, when Total Baseball was released by Warner Books using more sophisticated technology. The publication of Total Baseball led to the discovery of several "phantom ballplayers", such as Lou Proctor, who did not belong in official record books and were removed.
Use
Throughout modern baseball, a few core statistics have been traditionally referenced – batting average, RBI, and home runs. To this day, a player who leads the league in all of these three statistics earns the "Triple Crown". For pitchers, wins, ERA, and strikeouts are the most often-cited statistics, and a pitcher leading his league in these statistics may also be referred to as a "triple crown" winner. General managers and baseball scouts have long used the major statistics, among other factors and opinions, to understand player value. Managers, catchers and pitchers use the statistics of batters of opposing teams to develop pitching strategies and set defensive positioning on the field. Managers and batters study opposing pitcher performance and motions in attempting to improve hitting. Scouts use stats when they are looking at a player who they may end up drafting or signing to a contract.
Some sabermetric statistics have entered the mainstream baseball world that measure a batter's overall performance including on-base plus slugging, commonly referred to as OPS. OPS adds the hitter's on-base percentage (number of times reached base by any means divided by total plate appearances) to their slugging percentage (total bases divided by at-bats). Some argue that the OPS formula is flawed and that more weight should be shifted towards OBP (on-base percentage).
OBA (or just AVG) – Opponents batting average: hits allowed divided by at-bats faced
PC-ST – An individual pitcher's total game pitches [Pitch Count] and [ST] his no. of strikes thrown within that PC.
PIT (or NP) – Pitches thrown (Pitch count)
PFR – Power finesse ratio: The sum of strikeouts and walks divided by innings pitched.
pNERD – Pitcher's NERD: expected aesthetic pleasure of watching an individual pitcher
QOP – Quality of pitch: comprehensive pitch evaluation statistic which combines speed, location and movement (rise, total break, vertical break and horizontal break) into a single numeric value
QS – Quality start: a game in which a starting pitcher completes at least six innings and permits no more than three earned runs
RA – Run average: number of runs allowed times nine divided by innings pitched
SHO – Shutout: number of complete games pitched with no runs allowed
SIERA – Skill-Interactive Earned Run Average: another advanced stat that measures pitching. SIERA builds on FIP and xFIP by taking a deeper look at what makes pitchers better.
SV – Save: number of games where the pitcher enters a game led by the pitcher's team, finishes the game without surrendering the lead, is not the winning pitcher, and either (a) the lead was three runs or fewer when the pitcher entered the game; (b) the potential tying run was on base, at bat, or on deck; or (c) the pitcher pitched three or more innings
SVO – Save opportunity: When a pitcher 1) enters the game with a lead of three or fewer runs and pitches at least one inning, 2) enters the game with the potential tying run on base, at bat, or on deck, or 3) pitches three or more innings with a lead and is credited with a save by the official scorer
W – Win: number of games where pitcher was pitching while their team took the lead and went on to win, also the starter needs to pitch at least 5 innings of work (also related: winning percentage)
W + S – Wins in relief + saves.
whiff rate: a term, usually used in reference to pitchers, that divides the number of pitches swung at and missed by the total number of swings in a given sample. If a pitcher throws 100 pitches at which batters swing, and the batters fail to make contact on 26 of them, the pitcher's whiff rate is 26%.
WHIP – Walks and hits per inning pitched: average number of walks and hits allowed by the pitcher per inning
WP – Wild pitches: charged when a pitch is too high, low, or wide of home plate for the catcher to field, thereby allowing one or more runners to advance or score
Fielding statistics
A – Assists: number of outs recorded on a play where a fielder touched the ball, except if such touching is the putout
CI – Catcher's Interference (e.g., catcher makes contact with bat)
DP – Double plays: one for each double play during which the fielder recorded a putout or an assist.
E – Errors: number of times a fielder fails to make a play he should have made with common effort, and the offense benefits as a result
FP – Fielding percentage: total plays (chances minus errors) divided by the number of total chances
INN – Innings: number of innings that a player is at one certain position
PB – Passed ball: charged to the catcher when the ball is dropped and one or more runners advance
PO – Putout: number of times the fielder tags, forces, or appeals a runner and he is called out as a result
RF – Range factor: 9*(putouts + assists)/innings played. Used to determine the amount of field that the player can cover
TC – Total chances: assists plus putouts plus errors
TP – Triple play: one for each triple play during which the fielder recorded a putout or an assist
UZR – Ultimate zone rating: the ability of a player to defend an assigned "zone" of the field compared to an average defensive player at his position
Overall player value
VORP – Value over replacement player: a statistic that calculates a player's overall value in comparison to a "replacement-level" player. There are separate formulas for position players and pitchers
Win shares: a complex metric that gauges a player's overall contribution to his team's wins
WAR – Wins above replacement: a non-standard formula to calculate the number of wins a player contributes to his team over a "replacement-level player"
PWA – Player Win Average: performance of players is shown by how much they increase or decrease their team's chances of winning a specific game
PGP – Player Game Percentage: defined as, "the sum of changes in the probability of winning the game for each play in which the player has participated" for the 2004 through 2015 seasons, the following tables show top ranges in various statistics, in alphabetical order. For each statistic, two values are given:
Top5: the top five players bettered this value in all of the reported seasons
Best: this is the best of all of the players for all of the reported seasons
+Batting Statistics Statistic Top5 Best BA .322 .372 HR 41 58 RBI 116 156 SLG .568 .812 SB 42 78 OPS .974 1.422+Pitching Statistics Statistic Top5 Best CG 4 11 ERA 2.38 1.66 G 89 94 GS 34 35 IP 227.2 255 K 245 301 SHO 2 6 SV 44 62 W 19 24 WHIP 0.98 0.84
See also
Baseball awards
Cy Young Award winners
Glossary of baseball terms
Hank Aaron Award winners (best offensive performer)
List of MLB awards
MLB Most Valuable Player Award winners
MLB Rookie of the Year Award winners
Official Baseball Rules (OBR)
List of pitches
Rawlings Gold Glove Award winners
Retrosheet
Sabermetrics
Silver Slugger Award winners
Society for American Baseball Research (SABR)
Strike zone
Triple Crown in Major League Baseball
References
Bibliography
Albert, Jim, and Jay M. Bennett. Curve Ball: Baseball, Statistics, and the Role of Chance in the Game. New York: Copernicus Books, 2001. . A book on new statistics for baseball. MLB Record Book by: MLB.com
Alan Schwarz, The Numbers Game: Baseball's Lifelong Fascination with Statistics (New York: St. Martin's, 2005). .
The Official Site of Major League baseball – Baseball Basics: Abbreviations
External links
Baseball 1 Stats
Baseball Almanac
Baseball-Reference.com
Retrosheet
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At bat
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thumb|right|350px|Ichiro Suzuki at bat
In baseball, an at bat (AB) or time at bat is a batter's turn batting against a pitcher. An at bat is different from a plate appearance. A batter is credited with a plate appearance regardless of what happens upon completion of their turn at bat, but a batter is charged with an at bat only if that plate appearance does not have one of the results enumerated below. While at bats are used to calculate certain statistics, including batting average and slugging percentage, a player can qualify for the season-ending rankings in these categories only if they accumulate 502 plate appearances during the season.
Batters will not be charged an at bat if their plate appearances end under the following circumstances:
Receiving a base on balls (BB).
Being hit by a pitch (HBP).
Hitting a sacrifice fly or a sacrifice bunt (also known as sacrifice hit).
Being awarded first base due to catcher's interference or fielder's obstruction.
Being replaced by another hitter before their at bat is completed, in which case the plate appearance and any related statistics go to the pinch hitter (unless they are replaced with two strikes and their replacement completes a strikeout, in which case the at bat and strikeout are charged to the first batter).
In addition, if the inning ends during at bat (due to the third out being made by a runner caught stealing, for example), no at bat or plate appearance will result because neither were completed.
An at bat is a specific type of plate appearance in which the batter stands at the plate intending to put the ball in play and get on base. This is why at bats, and not plate appearances, are used to calculate batting average, as plate appearances in general can result in many outcomes that do not necessarily involve putting the ball in play, and batting average specifically measures a batter's contact hitting.
Rule 9.02(a)(1) of the official rules of Major League Baseball defines an at bat as: "Number of times batted, except that no time at bat shall be charged when a player: (A) hits a sacrifice bunt or sacrifice fly; (B) is awarded first base on four called balls; (C) is hit by a pitched ball; or (D) is awarded first base because of interference or obstruction[.]"
Examples
An at bat is counted when:
The batter reaches first base on a hit
The batter reaches first base on an error
The batter strikes out or is called out for any reason other than a sacrifice
There is a fielder's choice
Records
Pete Rose had 14,053 career at bats, the all-time major league and National League record. The American League record is held by Carl Yastrzemski, whose 11,988 career at bats were all in the AL.
The single season record is held by Jimmy Rollins, who had 716 at bats in 2007. Willie Wilson, Ichiro Suzuki and Juan Samuel also had more than 700 at bats in a season. 14 players share the single game record of 11 at bats in a single game, all of which were extra inning games. In games of 9 innings or fewer, the record is 7 at bats and has occurred more than 200 times.
The team record for most at bats in a single season is 5,781 by the 1997 Boston Red Sox.
At bat as a phrase
"At bat", "up", "up at bat", and "at the plate" are all phrases describing a batter who is facing the pitcher. Just because a player is described as being "at bat" in this sense, he will not necessarily be given an at bat in his statistics; the phrase actually signifies a plate appearance (assuming it is eventually completed). This ambiguous terminology is usually clarified by context. To refer explicitly to a statistical "at bat", the term "official at bat" is sometimes used.
"Time at bat" in the rulebook
Official Baseball Rule 5.06(c) provides that "[a] batter has legally completed his time at bat when he is put out or becomes a runner" (emphasis added). The "time at bat" defined in this rule is more commonly referred to as a plate appearance, and the playing rules (Rules 1 through 8) uses the phrase "time at bat" in this sense. In contrast, the scoring rules use the phrase "time at bat" to refer to the statistic at bat, defined in Rule 9.02(a)(1), but sometimes uses the phrase "official time at bat" or refers back to Rule 9.02(a)(1) when mentioning the statistic. The phrase "plate appearance" is used in Rules 9.22 and 9.23 dealing with batting titles and hitting streaks, and in Rule 5.10(g) comment regarding the Three-Batter Minimum: "[t]o qualify as one of three consecutive batters, the batter must complete his plate appearance, which ends only when the batter is put out or becomes a runner." The term is not elsewhere defined in the rulebook.
See also
Batting order
At bats with runners in scoring position
Notes
References
Category:Batting statistics
Category:Batting (baseball)
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/At_bat
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Earned run
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In baseball, an earned run is any run that was fully enabled by the offensive team's production in the face of competent play from the defensive team. Conversely, an unearned run is a run that would not have been scored without the aid of an error or a passed ball committed by the defense; it is "unearned" in that it was, in a sense, "given away" by the defensive team.
Earned and unearned runs count equally toward the game score; the difference is purely statistical. Both total runs and earned runs are tabulated as part of a pitcher's statistics, but earned runs are specially denoted because of their use in calculating a pitcher's earned run average (ERA), the number of earned runs allowed by the pitcher per nine innings pitched (i.e., averaged over a regulation game). Thus, in effect, the pitcher is held personally accountable for earned runs, while the responsibility for unearned runs is shared with the rest of the team.
To determine whether a run is earned, the official scorer must reconstruct the inning as it would have occurred without errors or passed balls.
Details
If no errors and no passed balls occur during the inning, all runs scored are automatically earned (assigned responsible to the pitcher(s) who allowed each runner to reach base). Also, in some cases, an error can be rendered harmless as the inning progresses. For example, a runner on first base advances to second on a passed ball and the next batter walks. Since the runner would now have been at second anyway, the passed ball no longer has any effect on the earned/unearned calculation. On the other hand, a batter/runner may make his entire circuit around the bases without the aid of an error, yet the run would be counted as unearned if an error prevented the third out from being made before he crossed the plate to score.
An error made by the pitcher in fielding at his position is counted the same as an error by any other player.
A run is counted as unearned when:
A batter reaches base on an error (including catcher's interference) that would have retired the batter except for the error, and later scores a run in that inning by any means.
A batter hits a foul fly ball that is dropped by a fielder for an error, extending the at-bat, and later scores. In this case, the manner in which the batter reached base becomes irrelevant.
A baserunner remains on base or advances to the next base as the result of an error on a fielder's choice play that would put the baserunner out except for the error, and later scores.
A batter reaches first base on a passed ball (but not a wild pitch) and later scores.
A baserunner scores by any means after the third out would have been made except for an error other than catcher's interference.
A batter or runner advances one or more bases on an error or passed ball (but not a wild pitch) and scores on a play that would otherwise not have provided the opportunity to score.
Under either form of a WBSC tiebreaker in which each half-inning starts with the last one or two batters from the previous inning being placed on either second base (and if two runners, first base) to begin the inning, a run scored by these runners are unearned. If the runners are erased on a fielder's choice which places a batter on base, and the new batter-runner later scores, this would also be an unearned run. This rule was first implemented in WBSC competitions in 2008 and in the World Baseball Classic in 2013, with Major League Baseball adding it in 2020.
While the inning is still being played, the second and the second-last scenario can cause a temporary situation where a run has already scored, but its earned/unearned status is not yet certain. Under the last circumstance, for example, with two outs, a runner on third base scores on a passed ball. For the time being, the run is unearned since the runner should still be at third. If the batter strikes out to end the inning, it will stay that way. If the batter gets a base hit, which would have scored the runner anyway, the run now becomes earned.
Under the second circumstance, if there are runners on base and a batter hits a foul fly ball that is dropped, and then bats in the runners on base through a base hit (including a home run), the runs are unearned for the time being, as the runners should not have advanced. If the results of the remaining at-bats in the inning would not have scored the runners, the runs remain unearned. However, if results of subsequent at-bats would have scored the runs anyway, the runs would count as earned, unless they only would have scored as a result of a subsequent error or passed ball.
A baserunner who reaches on catcher's interference and subsequently scores with two outs scores an unearned run, but baserunners who subsequently score after the runner who has reached on catcher's interference exclusively on clean plays score earned runs; the baserunner cannot be assumed to have been put out except for the error. (2019 MLB Rule 9.16(a)(4)).
If a run is scored by a pinch-runner who replaces a baserunner who represents an unearned run, or by a pinch-hitter who continues the turn at bat of a batter who would be out except for an error, the run remains unearned, regardless of the substitution.
Pitching changes
When pitchers are changed in the middle of an inning, and one or more errors have already occurred, it is possible to have a run charged as earned against a specific pitcher, but unearned to the team. The simplest example is when the defensive team records two outs and makes an error on a play that would have been the third out. A new pitcher comes into the game, and the next batter hits a home run. The runner who reached on the error comes around to score, and his run is unearned to both the prior pitcher and the team. However, the run scored by the batter is counted as earned against the relief pitcher, but unearned to the team (since there should have already been three outs). Had the team not switched pitchers, neither run would be counted as an earned run because that pitcher should have already been out of that inning.
A pitcher who is relieved mid-inning may be charged with earned runs equal to the number of batters who reached base while he was pitching, even if the specific batters he faced do not score. The batters he put on base may be erased by fielder's choice plays after he has been relieved by another pitcher, but if earned runs are scored in the inning the original pitcher is liable for as many earned runs as the number of batters he put on base.
Example:
On April 15, 2017, Detroit's Justin Verlander allowed the first two Cleveland batters in the 5th inning to reach base on base hits; Verlander was then relieved by Shane Greene. Greene walked the next batter to load the bases. The next batter hit a grounder and Miguel Cabrera threw home to force out the runner on third in a fielder's choice, so the bases remained loaded with one out. Greene struck out the next batter for the second out. Carlos Santana then hit a single that scored the runners from second and third (only one of whom was put on base by Verlander), and the runner from first was thrown out at the plate to end the inning. Since Verlander allowed two batters to reach base, he was charged with two earned runs, even though only one of the two specific batters he faced actually scored.
When a pitching change occurs, the new pitcher is said to "inherit" any runners that are on base at the time, and if they later score, those runs are charged (earned or unearned) to the prior pitcher. Most box scores now list inherited runners, and the number that scored, as a statistic for the relief pitcher.
See also
Baseball statistics
Earned run average
Run average
References
Category:Baseball terminology
Category:Pitching statistics
Category:Scoring (baseball)
it:Media PGL
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Base on balls
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thumb|A depiction of the strike zone. A base on balls occurs as a result of a plate appearance during which four pitches are thrown out of the strike zone that the batter does not swing at.
A base on balls (BB), better known as a walk,
occurs in baseball when a batter receives four pitches during a plate appearance that the umpire calls balls, and is in turn awarded first base without the possibility of being called out. The base on balls is defined in Section 2.00 of baseball's Official Rules, and further detail is given in 6.08(a). Despite being known as a "walk", it is considered a faux pas for a professional player to actually walk to first base; the batter-runner and any advancing runners normally jog on such a play.
thumb|Rashad Eldridge of the Oklahoma Redhawks walks to first base after drawing a base on balls.
The term "base on balls" distinguishes a walk from the other manners in which a batter can be awarded first base without liability to be put out (e.g., hit by pitch (HBP), catcher's interference). Though a base on balls, catcher's interference, or a batter hit by a pitched ball all result in the batter (and possibly runners on base) being awarded a base, the term "walk" usually refers only to a base on balls, and not the other methods of reaching base without the bat touching the ball. An important difference is that for a hit batter or catcher's interference, the ball is dead and no one may advance unless forced; the ball is live after a walk (see below for details).
A batter who draws a base on balls is commonly said to have been "walked" by the pitcher. When the batter is walked, runners advance one base without liability to be put out only if forced to vacate their base to allow the batter to take first base. If a batter draws a walk with the bases loaded, all preceding runners are forced to advance, including the runner on third base who is forced to home plate to score a run; when a run is forced on a walk, the batter is credited with a run batted in per rule 9.04.
Receiving a base on balls does not count as a hit or an at bat for a batter but does count as a time on base and a plate appearance. Therefore, a base on balls does not affect a player's batting average, but it can increase his on-base percentage.
A hit by pitch is not counted statistically as a walk, though the effect is mostly the same, with the batter receiving a free pass to first base. One exception is that on hit-by-pitch, the ball is dead, and any runners attempting to steal on the play must return to their original base unless forced to the next base anyway. When a walk occurs, the ball is still live: any runner not forced to advance may nevertheless attempt to advance at his own risk, which might occur on a steal play, passed ball, or wild pitch. Also, because a ball is live when a base on balls occurs, runners on base forced to advance one base may attempt to advance beyond one base, at their own risk. The batter-runner himself may attempt to advance beyond first base, at his own risk. Rule 6.08 addresses this matter as well. An attempt to advance an additional base beyond the base awarded might occur when ball four is a passed ball or a wild pitch.
History
In early baseball, there was no concept of a "ball". It was created by the NABBP in 1863, originally as a sort of unsportsmanlike-conduct penalty: "Should the pitcher repeatedly fail to deliver to the striker fair balls, for the apparent purpose of delaying the game, or for any other cause, the umpire, after warning him, shall call one ball, and if the pitcher persists in such action, two and three balls; when three balls shall have been called, the striker shall be entitled to the first base; and should any base be occupied at that time, each player occupying them shall be entitled to one base without being put out." Note that this rule in effect gave the pitcher 9 balls, since each penalty ball could only be called on a third offense. In 1869 the rule was modified so that only those baserunners forced to advance could advance. From 1871 through 1886, the batter was entitled to call "high" or "low", i.e. above or below the waist; a pitch which failed to conform was "unfair". Certain pitches were defined as automatic balls in 1872: any ball delivered over the batter's head, that hit the ground in front of home plate, was delivered to the opposite side from the batter, or came within one foot of him. In 1880, the National League changed the rules so that eight "unfair balls" instead of nine were required for a walk. In 1884, the National League changed the rules so that six balls were required for a walk. In 1886, the American Association changed the rules so that six balls instead of seven were required for a walk; however, the National League changed the rules so that seven balls were required for a walk instead of six. In 1887, the National League and American Association agreed to abide by some uniform rule changes, including, for the first time, a strike zone which defined balls and strikes by rule rather than the umpire's discretion, and decreased the number of balls required for a walk to five. In 1889, the National League and the American Association decreased the number of balls required for a walk to four.
In 2017, Major League Baseball approved a rule change allowing for a batter to be walked intentionally by having the defending bench signal to the umpire. The move was met with some controversy.
Intentional base on balls
thumb|right|Mark Hendrickson of the Florida Marlins intentionally walking the Atlanta Braves' Yunel Escobar in 2008. Note the Florida catcher, Mike Rabelo, in a standing position behind the opposite batter's box to receive the pitch. This method of issuing an intentional walk is no longer used in Major League Baseball.
A subset of the base on balls, an intentional base on balls (IBB), or intentional walk, is when the defensive team intentionally issues a walk to the batter. In Major League Baseball and many amateur leagues, an intentional base on balls is signaled to the home plate umpire by the defensive team's manager holding up four fingers, at which point the batter is awarded first base without any further pitches being thrown. In some leagues and in Major League Baseball prior to 2017, an intentional base on balls is issued when the pitcher deliberately pitches the ball away from the batter four times (or as many times as needed to get to ball four if the decision to issue the intentional walk is made with one or more balls already on the count). As with any other walk, an intentional walk entitles the batter to first base without liability to be put out, and entitles any runners to advance if forced.
Intentional walks are a strategic defensive maneuver, commonly done to bypass one hitter for one the defensive team believes is less likely to initiate a run-scoring play (e.g., a home run, sacrifice fly, or RBI base hit). Teams also commonly use intentional walks to set up a double play or force out situation for the next batter.
Major League Baseball leaders
Career
Single-season
*Member of the National Baseball Hall of Fame
Most by Batters Rank Player Year Base on balls 1 Barry Bonds 2004 232 2 2002 198 3 2001 177 4 Babe Ruth* 1923 170 5 Mark McGwire 1998 162 Ted Williams* 1947 1949 8 1946 156 9 Barry Bonds 1996 151 Eddie Yost 1956
Most by Pitchers Rank Player Year Base on balls 1 Amos Rusie* 289 2 Mark Baldwin 274 3 Amos Rusie* 270 4 262 5 Mark Baldwin 249 6 Jack Stivetts 232 7 Mark Baldwin 227 8 Phil Knell 226 9 Bob Barr 219 10 Amos Rusie* 218
Game
Jimmie Foxx, Andre Thornton, Jeff Bagwell and Bryce Harper have each been walked six times during a major league regular season game. Among pitchers, Tommy Byrne and Bruno Haas both gave up 16 bases on balls in a game. On September 17, 1920, the Boston Red Sox drew 20 walks in a 12-inning game against the Detroit Tigers. , this is the most walks drawn or allowed by a team in a single game in Major League history according to available data.
See also related lists
Baseball statistics
List of Major League Baseball career bases on balls leaders
List of Major League Baseball career total bases leaders
List of Major League Baseball career on-base percentage leaders
List of Major League Baseball career OPS leaders
3,000 strikeout club
List of Major League Baseball career strikeout leaders
References
External links
Career walks leaders, Baseball-Reference.com
Single-season walks leaders, Baseball-Reference.com
Category:Baseball terminology
Category:Pitching (baseball)
Category:Batting (baseball)
Category:Pitching statistics
Category:Batting statistics
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List of Major League Baseball career total bases leaders
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thumb|120px|Hank Aaron, the all-time leader in total bases.
In baseball statistics, total bases (TB) is the number of bases a player has gained with hits. It is a weighted sum for which the weight value is 1 for a single, 2 for a double, 3 for a triple, and 4 for a home run. Only bases attained from hits count toward this total. Reaching base by other means (such as a base on balls) or advancing further after the hit (such as on a stolen base) does not increase the player's total bases.
The total bases divided by the number of at bats is the player's slugging average.
Hank Aaron is the career leader in total bases with 6,856. Albert Pujols (6,211), Stan Musial (6,134), and Willie Mays (6,080) are the only other players with at least 6,000 career total bases.
As of March 28, 2025, no active players are in the top 100 for career total bases. The active leader is Los Angeles Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman, 109th with 3,870.
Key
Rank Rank amongst leaders in career total bases. A blank field indicates a tie. Player (2025 TBs) Number of total bases during the 2025 Major League Baseball season TB Total career total bases*Denotes elected to National Baseball Hall of Fame. BoldDenotes active player.
List
thumb|120px|Freddie Freeman, the active leader and 107th all-time in career times on base.
Stats updated as of March 29, 2025.
RankPlayer (2025 TBs)TB1Hank Aaron*6,8562Albert Pujols6,2113Stan Musial*6,1344Willie Mays*6,0805Barry Bonds5,9766Ty Cobb*5,8547Alex Rodriguez5,8138Babe Ruth*5,7939Pete Rose5,75210Carl Yastrzemski*5,53911Eddie Murray*5,39712Rafael Palmeiro5,38813Frank Robinson*5,37314Miguel Cabrera5,36815Adrián Beltré*5,30916Ken Griffey Jr.*5,27117Dave Winfield*5,22118Cal Ripken Jr.*5,16819Tris Speaker*5,10120Lou Gehrig*5,06021George Brett*5,04422Mel Ott*5,04123Jimmie Foxx*4,95624Derek Jeter*4,92125Ted Williams*4,88426Honus Wagner*4,87027Paul Molitor*4,85428Al Kaline*4,85229Reggie Jackson*4,83430Manny Ramirez4,82631Andre Dawson*4,78732David Ortiz*4,76533Chipper Jones*4,75534Carlos Beltrán4,75135Gary Sheffield4,73736Robin Yount*4,73037Rogers Hornsby*4,71238Craig Biggio*4,71139Ernie Banks*4,70640Sammy Sosa4,70441Al Simmons*4,68542Jim Thome*4,66743Harold Baines*4,60444Billy Williams*4,59945Cap Anson*4,59246Rickey Henderson*4,58847Frank Thomas*4,55048Tony Pérez*4,53249Mickey Mantle*4,51150Vladimir Guerrero*4,506
RankPlayer (2025 TBs)TB51Roberto Clemente*4,49252Paul Waner*4,47853Nap Lajoie*4,47254Fred McGriff*4,45855Iván Rodríguez*4,45156Dave Parker*4,40557Mike Schmidt*4,40458Luis Gonzalez4,38559Eddie Mathews*4,34960Sam Crawford*4,32861Goose Goslin*4,32562Todd Helton*4,29263Robinson Canó4,28264Brooks Robinson*4,27065Eddie Collins*4,26866Vada Pinson4,26467Tony Gwynn*4,25968Charlie Gehringer*4,25769Jeff Kent4,24670Lou Brock*4,23871Dwight Evans4,23072Willie McCovey*4,21973Johnny Damon4,21474Jeff Bagwell*4,21375Willie Stargell*4,19076Rusty Staub4,18577Jake Beckley*4,16078Steve Finley4,15779Harmon Killebrew*4,14380Jim Rice*4,12981Zack Wheat*4,10082Torii Hunter4,08783Paul Konerko4,083Al Oliver4,08385Wade Boggs*4,06486Harry Heilmann*4,05387Andrés Galarraga4,03888Bobby Abreu4,02689Roberto Alomar*4,01890Aramis Ramírez4,00491Carlton Fisk*3,99992Rod Carew*3,99893Ichiro Suzuki*3,99494Garret Anderson3,98495Carlos Delgado3,97696Joe Morgan*3,96297Orlando Cepeda*3,95998Sam Rice*3,95599Joe DiMaggio*3,948100Steve Garvey3,941
General references
Baseball's Top 100: The Game's Greatest Records, page 32
10 Hank Aaron numbers that aren't 715
Notes
External links
MLB official list
Total
Category:Major League Baseball statistics
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Major_League_Baseball_career_total_bases_leaders
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2025-04-05T18:26:34.889694
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