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Bud Selig
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|birth_place=Milwaukee, Wisconsin, U.S.
|death_date|death_place
|death_cause| office Commissioner Emeritus of Baseball
| termlabel = Life tenure
| term_start = January 25, 2015
| term_end | predecessor Position created
| successor | office2 Commissioner of Baseball
| order2 = 9th
| term_start2 = July 9, 1998
| term_end2 =January 25, 2015<br>Acting: September 7, 1992 – July 9, 1998
| predecessor2 = Fay Vincent
| successor2 = Rob Manfred
|alma_mater=University of Wisconsin–Madison (BA)
|blank1 |data1
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*
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Allan Huber "Bud" Selig (; born July 30, 1934) is an American baseball executive who currently serves as the commissioner emeritus of baseball. Previously, he served as the ninth commissioner of baseball from 1998 to 2015. He initially served as de facto acting commissioner beginning in 1992 in his capacity as chairman of the Major League Baseball (MLB) Executive Committee before being named the official commissioner in 1998. Selig oversaw baseball through the 1994 strike, the introduction of the wild card, interleague play, and the de facto merging of the National and American Leagues under the Office of the Commissioner. He was instrumental in organizing the World Baseball Classic in 2006. Selig also introduced revenue sharing. He is credited for the financial turnaround of baseball during his tenure with a 400 percent increase in the revenue of MLB and annual record breaking attendance. Following the release of the Mitchell Report, Congressman Cliff Stearns called publicly for Selig to step down as commissioner, citing his "glacial response" to the "growing stain on baseball."
A Milwaukee native, Selig was previously the owner and team president of the Milwaukee Brewers. The franchise, originally known as the Seattle Pilots, was acquired by Selig in bankruptcy court in 1970, and renamed after the minor league team of the same name that he had watched in his youth and had existed until the arrival of the Braves in Milwaukee in 1953. Selig was credited with keeping baseball in Milwaukee. The Brewers went to the 1982 World Series (but were defeated in seven games by the St. Louis Cardinals), and Selig won seven Organization of the Year awards during his tenure. Selig remains a resident of Milwaukee.
On January 17, 2008, Selig's contract was extended through 2012, after which he planned to retire, but he then decided to stay as commissioner until the end of the 2014 season, a move approved by the owners on January 12, 2012, which would take his leadership past his 80th birthday. Selig made $14.5 million in the 12-month period ending October 31, 2005. On January 22, 2015, MLB announced that Selig would formally step down from the office when his current term expired on January 24, 2015. He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2017.
Early life
Selig was born in Milwaukee, and grew up in a Jewish family. His father, Ben Selig, had come to the United States from Romania with his family when he was four years old. Selig graduated from the University of Wisconsin–Madison with a B.A. in American history and political science in 1956. He served two years in the U.S. Army before working with his father who owned a car leasing business in Milwaukee. Selig continues to be involved in the automotive industry, serving as president of the Selig Executive Lease Company. Milwaukee Brewers owner
As a minority owner of the Milwaukee Braves, Selig founded the organization Teams, Inc., in an attempt to prevent the majority owners (based out of Chicago) from moving the club to a larger television market. This was challenged legally on the basis that no prior team relocations (in the modern era) left a city without a team. Prior movements had all originated in cities that were home to at least two teams. When his quest to keep the team in Milwaukee finally failed after the 1965 season, he changed the group's name to Milwaukee Brewers Baseball Club, Inc., after the minor league baseball team he grew up watching, and devoted himself to returning Major League Baseball to Milwaukee.
Selig arranged for major league games to be played at Milwaukee County Stadium. The first, a pre-season match-up between the Chicago White Sox and Minnesota Twins, drew more than 51,000 spectators. Selig followed this up by hosting nine White Sox regular-season games in 1968 and eleven in 1969. One of the games played in Milwaukee that year was against the expansion Seattle Pilots, the team that would become the Brewers. Those Milwaukee "home" games were phenomenally successful, with the handful of games accounting for about one-third of total White Sox home attendance.
To satisfy that fan base, Selig decided to purchase the White Sox (with the intention of moving them to Milwaukee) in 1969. He entered into an agreement to buy the club, but the American League vetoed the sale, preferring to keep an American League team in Chicago, which at the time was still America's second-largest city. Selig turned his attention to other franchises.
In 1970, he purchased the bankrupt Seattle Pilots franchise, moving them to his hometown and officially renaming the team the Brewers.
During Selig's tenure as club president, the Brewers participated in postseason play in 1981, when the team finished first in the American League East during the second half of the season, and in 1982, when the team made it to the World Series, under the leadership of future Hall of Famers Robin Yount and Paul Molitor. Under Selig's watch, the Brewers also won seven Organization of the Year awards. Selig was part of the owners' collusion in 1985–1987, resulting in the owners paying US$280 million in damages to the players.
Upon his assumption of the commissioner's role, Selig transferred his ownership interest in the Brewers to his daughter Wendy Selig-Prieb in order to remove any technical conflicts of interest, though it was widely presumed he maintained some hand in team operations. Although the team was sold to Los Angeles investor Mark Attanasio in 2005, questions remain regarding Selig's past involvement. Selig's defenders point to the poor management of the team after Selig-Prieb took control as proof that Selig was not working behind the scenes.
Selig was elected to the Wisconsin Athletic Hall of Fame in 2001.
On August 24, 2010, a statue of Selig, the Selig Monument, commissioned by Brewers owner Mark Attanasio and designed by artist Brian Maughan, was unveiled outside Miller Park in Milwaukee.
Acting Commissioner (1992–1998)
Selig became an increasingly vocal opponent of Commissioner Fay Vincent, and soon became the leader of a group of owners seeking his removal. Selig has never stated that the owners colluded, while Vincent has:
Following an 18-9 no-confidence vote, Vincent resigned. Selig had by this time become chairman of the Executive Council of Major League Baseball, and as such became de facto acting commissioner.
His first major act was to institute the Wild Card and divisional playoff play, which has created much controversy amongst baseball fans. Those against the Wild Card see it as diminishing the importance of the pennant race and the regular season, with the true race often being for second rather than first place, while those in favor of it view it as an opportunity for teams to have a shot at the playoffs even when they have no chance of a first-place finish in their division, thus maintaining fan interest later in the season.
Selig suspended Cincinnati Reds owner Marge Schott for a year in 1993 for repeated racially insensitive and prejudicial remarks and actions. The same year, Selig reinstated New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner from a lifelong suspension that was instituted by Selig's predecessor Fay Vincent. Pete Rose has claimed that he applied for reinstatement over the years and received no such consideration. Rose, along with his close friend and former teammate Mike Schmidt (who is a strong supporter of Rose's reinstatement into baseball), met with Selig in 2002, where Rose privately admitted to Selig (two years before going public with his admission) about betting on baseball. Bud Selig was a close friend of the late Bart Giamatti, who was the commissioner when Rose was first banned from the sport in 1989.
As acting commissioner, Selig represented MLB owners during the 1994 strike. On September 15, he cancelled the World Series, marking the first time the annual event had not been staged since 1904.
While serving as acting commissioner, MLB also implemented interleague play in 1997. This action led to Selig (along with former Expos owner Jeffrey Loria) being sued for racketeering and conspiring with Loria to deliberately defraud the Expos minority owners. If found liable, the league could have been ordered to pay as much as $500 million in total damages. The judge ruled that the Expos could not be moved or contracted until the case was over. The case eventually went to arbitration and was settled out of court for an undisclosed sum.
A week after Selig's announcement, Hennepin County Judge Harry Seymour Crump issued a temporary restraining order that forced the Twins to honor their lease and play the 2002 season at the Metrodome. In August 2002, the effort to contract the Twins officially fizzled as players and owners reached a consensus on a new labor agreement which extended the team's Metrodome lease. to the dissatisfaction of the Milwaukee fans. Selig later said that this call was "embarrassing" and that he was "tremendously saddened" by the outcome of the game. The American television audience increased in 2006 (9.3 rating; 16 share).
Disciplinary actions
On July 1, 2005, Selig suspended Texas Rangers pitcher Kenny Rogers for 20 games and fined him US$50,000. The punishment stemmed from an incident on June 29, 2005, during a Rangers pre-game warmup session, where Rogers had shoved two local news reporters and knocked one camera to the ground. One of the reporters resumed filming after picking up said camera, which angered Rogers into shoving him again, after grabbing and throwing the camera to the ground, kicking it. He was then led away by a teammate and later sent home by the club. While an appeal of his suspension was pending, Rogers appeared at the 2005 All-Star Game in Detroit, where fans loudly booed him. On July 22, 2005, Selig heard Rogers' appeal of his suspension. Selig decided to uphold the 20 games, however, an independent arbitrator ruled that Selig had exceeded his authority and reduced it to 13 games, but upheld the fine.
Performance-enhancing drugs
In 2005, Selig faced Congress on the issue of steroids. After the Congressional hearings in early 2005, and with the scrutiny of the sports and national media upon this issue, Selig put forth a proposal for a stricter performance-enhancing drug testing regime to replace the current system. This proposal also included the banning of amphetamines, a first for the major North American sports leagues. The MLB Players Association and MLB reached an agreement in November on the new policy.
Selig's testimony on the subject has been contradictory. In 2005, Selig told reporters, "I never even heard about them [steroids] until 1998 or 1999. I ran a team and nobody was closer to their players and I never heard any comment from them. It wasn't until 1998 or '99 that I heard the discussion." But a year later, testifying to Congress in 2006, Selig claimed personal credit for spotting the problem early: "In 1994, before anybody was really talking about steroids in baseball, we proposed a program of testing for such substances to the MLBPA. As early as 1998, I began formulating a strategic plan to eliminate the use of performance-enhancing substances from the game." During the 1988 ALCS, Oakland's Jose Canseco had been repeatedly taunted by Boston fans with a chant of "ster-oids, ster-oids, ster-oids." Speaking at the 2013 All-Star Game, Selig complained, "People say, 'Well, you were slow to react.' We were not slow to react. In fact, I heard that this morning, and it aggravated me all over again."
By early 2006, Selig was forced to deal with the issue of steroid use. On March 30, 2006, as a response to the controversy of the use of performance-enhancing drugs and the anticipated career home run record to be set by Barry Bonds, Selig asked former U.S. Senator George J. Mitchell to lead an independent investigation into the use of steroids in baseball's recent past. Joe Sheehan from Baseball Prospectus wrote that the commission has been focusing "blame for the era exclusively on uniformed personnel", and failing to investigate any role played by team ownership and management.
Much controversy surrounded Selig and his involvement in Bonds' all-time home run record chase. For months, speculation surrounded Selig and the possibility that he and Henry Aaron would not attend Bonds' games as he closed in on the record. Selig announced in July 2007 when Bonds was near 755 home runs that he would attend the games. Selig was in attendance for Bonds' record-tying home run against the San Diego Padres, sitting in Padres owner John Moores' private suite. When Bonds hit his 755th home run, Selig refused to applaud Bonds' accomplishment, instead choosing to keep his hands in his pockets and have a look of disdain on his face. Bud Selig also did not attend the San Francisco Giants' game on August 7 when Barry Bonds hit his record-breaking 756th home run against the Washington Nationals; after the event, Selig released a statement congratulating Bonds.
On December 13, 2007, former senator Mitchell released his report on the use of performance-enhancing substances by MLB players. The report names many current and former players who allegedly used performance-enhancing drugs during their careers.
Selig has been widely criticized for not taking an active enough role to stem the tide of steroid use in baseball until it had blossomed into a debilitating problem for the industry. Chicago Sun-Times columnist Jay Mariotti called Selig the "Steroids Commissioner." Selig has been called to Congress several times to testify on performance-enhancing drug use. Congressman Cliff Stearns said in December 2007 that Selig should resign because of use of performance-enhancing drugs in baseball during his tenure. Controversies Selig has been embroiled in a number of controversial decisions during his tenure as commissioner. Notably, he has been accused of favoring the Milwaukee Brewers, his former team, such as he was during the 2001 contraction controversy when it was suggested the Minnesota Twins be one of two teams (the other being the Montreal Expos) to be contracted for economic reasons. Sportswriter Rob Dibble posted an open letter to Bud Selig, criticizing the plan for benefiting only the Brewers, noting that the contraction of the Twins would benefit the Brewers, as they would potentially claim the Twins' share of the upper Midwest market.
During the 2011 Los Angeles Dodgers ownership dispute, he was accused of not acting in good faith towards and treating the Dodgers differently from other teams when he rejected the television deal that Frank McCourt negotiated that intended to bring the franchise out of bankruptcy, claiming McCourt violated the Baseball Agreement. In comparison, no action was taken against New York Mets owner Fred Wilpon despite being in a similar position. United States bankruptcy judge Kevin Gross rendered a stern warning to Selig, stating: "Should the Commissioner falter in proving alleged wrongdoing, the Court may allow LAD (Los Angeles Dodgers) to take further, limited discovery." Some critics have used Selig's handling of the Dodgers to point out a double standard in treatment of MLB owners. More specifically in regards to the Mets, critics have accused Selig of favoritism towards the Mets due to Selig's personal relationship with Wilpon, claiming that it motivated him to stall any possible removal of Wilpon as that club's principal owner.
Selig also notably failed to resolve a 6-year conflict between the San Francisco Giants and the Oakland Athletics regarding the Athletics' proposed move to San Jose. Selig established a blue-ribbon panel in 2009 to resolve the dispute; however, despite years to find a resolution, the blue-ribbon panel completely failed to make any progress toward resolving the issue, leading San Jose to sue MLB. The lawsuit, which is currently ongoing, questions the league's anti-trust exemption and its ability to enforce particular clubs' geographic territories. In addition, he blocked the sale of the Athletics in 1999 to an ownership group led by Bob Piccinini, then the CEO of Save Mart Supermarkets, and Joe Lacob, who would later purchase Golden State Warriors, from purchasing the Athletics in 2005. Both potential ownership groups were committed to keeping the team in Oakland that would render this territorial dispute meaningless. Instead, Selig permitted only Lew Wolff, his fraternity brother from college, and John J. Fisher to buy the team. The latter has since initiated the process to move the Athletics from Oakland to Las Vegas. Term of service On December 1, 2006, Selig announced that he would be retiring as commissioner of baseball upon the expiration of his contract in 2009. Selig earned $14.5 million from MLB over the timespan October 31, 2005 to October 31, 2006. However, in January 2008, Selig agreed to a three-year contract extension, announcing he planned to retire after the 2012 season. He further decided against retirement, and after a two-year extension for the previous deal was agreed to on January 12, 2012, it was announced that Selig would remain commissioner until the end of the 2014 season. The committee elected Bud Fowler and Buck O'Neil. Notable changes to Major League Baseball
Bud Selig has overseen the following changes in Major League Baseball:
* Realignment of teams into three divisions per league, and the introduction of playoff wild card teams (1994)
* Interleague play (1997)
* Retired Jackie Robinson's uniform number, 42, across all MLB teams (1997)
* Two additional franchises: the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, now the Tampa Bay Rays (1998)
* Transfer of the Milwaukee Brewers from the American League to the National League (1998)
* Abolition of the American and National league offices and presidencies, and inclusion of all umpiring crews into a common pool for AL and NL games, instead of having separate pools per league (2000)
* Unbalanced schedule (2001)
* Home field advantage in the World Series granted to the winner of the All Star Game in the same season (2003)
* Transfer of Montreal Expos franchise to Washington, D.C., becoming the Washington Nationals (2004)
* Dedicating April 15 as Jackie Robinson Day (2004)
* Stricter Major League Baseball performance-enhancing drug testing policy (2005)
* World Baseball Classic (2006)
* Introduction of instant replay in the event of a disputed home run call (2008)
* Addition of a second wild-card playoff team in each league (2012)
* Transfer of the Houston Astros from the National League to the American League (2013), as a condition of the sale of the team to Jim Crane, resulting in each league having the same number of teams (15) and interleague play throughout the season
* Expanded instant replay (2014) and the institution of the manager challenge system
During Selig's terms as executive council chairman (from 1992 to 1998) and commissioner, new stadiums opened in Arizona, Atlanta, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Colorado, Detroit, Houston, Miami, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, New York City (Flushing, Queens and the Bronx), Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, Arlington, St. Louis, and Washington, D.C.
Israel Baseball League
Selig and his family served a supportive role on the advisory board of the Israel Baseball League during its inaugural season in 2007. In response to issues with the league's financial management, after the season, the Selig family requested that their names be removed from the list of board members.
Selig Experience
In May 2015, the Milwaukee Brewers honored Bud Selig with the unveiling of the Selig Experience exhibit at American Family Field (formerly Miller Park.) The Selig Experience is a fifteen-minute documentary showing Bud Selig's life and work for the Milwaukee Brewers. Personal life
at the 2009 Major League Baseball All-Star Game]]
Selig has been married twice. He married his first wife, Donna Chaimson, in the 1950s, and they had two daughters: Sari (born 1957) and Wendy (born 1960). The couple divorced in 1976 after 19 years of marriage on the grounds that Selig had been "unduly absenting yourself from the home of the parties and isolating yourself ... in pursuit of your baseball interests to the detriment of your marriage." Chaimson later stated that
the marriage ended because her husband "divorced me and married baseball." Since 1977, Selig has been married to the former Suzanne Steinman, who has a daughter from a previous marriage. Teaching In 2009, Selig began teaching as an adjunct professor of sports law and policy at Marquette University Law School. His classes have covered numerous topics, including "the history of collective bargaining and free agency, baseball's antitrust exemption, revenue sharing – as well as finer points of sports law like intellectual property rights, ambush marketing, and why baseball does not allow game footage on YouTube."
In 2010, Selig endowed the Allan H. Selig Chair in the History of Sport and Society in the United States, as well as a Distinguished Lecture Series in Sport and Society at his alma mater, the University of Wisconsin. The inaugural lecture was given by Adrian Burgos. Selig has since endowed two more chairs in the university's history department.
In February 2016, Selig began teaching at the Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law at Arizona State University. His title at the law school is distinguished professor of sports in America. He is also a lecturer at UW–Madison and Marquette.
Honors
from Army Chief of Staff Ray Odierno in 2015]]
Selig was awarded the U.S. Department of the Army Outstanding Civilian Service Award in April 2015 for supporting soldiers, veterans, and their families through his work in Major League Baseball. On April 6, 2015, the Milwaukee Brewers retired uniform number 1 in his honor.
In 2014, Selig was inducted onto the inaugural Milwaukee Brewers Wall of Honor.
On December 4, 2016, it was announced Selig was elected into the National Baseball Hall of Fame Class of 2017. He was formally inducted on July 30, 2017.
In 2016, Selig was honored with the "Lombardi Award of Excellence" from the Vince Lombardi Cancer Foundation. The award was created to honor Coach Lombardi's legacy, and is awarded annually to an individual who exemplifies the spirit of the Coach.
Publications
* For the Good of the Game: The Inside Story of the Surprising and Dramatic Transformation of Major League Baseball, with Phil Rogers. United States: HarperCollins, 2019.
* Foreword to ''American Jews and America's Game: Voices of a Growing Legacy in Baseball'' by Larry Ruttman. Lincoln, Nebraska and London, England: University of Nebraska Press, 2013.
* Special introduction to The Plan Epstein, Maddon, and the Audacious Blueprint for a Cubs Dynasty by David Kaplan. United States: Triumph Books, 2017. See also
*Selig v. United States
References
Further reading
* This chapter in Ruttman's history, based on a January 16, 2009 interview with Selig conducted for the book, discusses Selig's American, Jewish, baseball, and life experiences from youth to the present.
*
External links
* [http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/official_info/about_mlb/executives.jsp?bio=selig_bud MLB.com: Official info]
* [http://www.baseball-almanac.com/articles/bud_selig_biography.shtml Bud Selig Biography by Baseball Almanac]
* [https://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/12/sports/baseball/12selig.html The Commissioner of Baseball Is on Deck] www.nytimes.com
* [http://bballbiz.blogspot.com/2007/02/mlb-commissioner-bud-seligs-speech-at_16.html Video Of MLB Commissioner's Speech On The State Of Baseball, February 8, 2007]
* [http://www.slate.com/id/2118114/ "Bud Selig: A baseball hero. Really."] – Nicholas Thompson, Slate.com, May 5, 2005
*
Category:1934 births
Category:Living people
Category:20th-century American Jews
Category:20th-century American businesspeople
Category:21st-century American Jews
Category:21st-century American businesspeople
Category:American people of Romanian-Jewish descent
Category:American people of Ukrainian-Jewish descent
Category:Businesspeople from Milwaukee
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Category:Major League Baseball commissioners
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Category:Military personnel from Milwaukee
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Category:Jews from Wisconsin
Category:Jewish American sports executives and administrators
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bud_Selig
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Bison
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<small>Early Pleistocene – present</small>
| image = American bison k5680-1.jpg
| image_caption = American bison<br /> (Bison bison)
| image2 = Bison bonasus (Linnaeus 1758).jpg
| image2_caption = European bison<br /> (Bison bonasus)
| taxon = Bison <!--- do not change this without first obtaining consensus at WT:TOL or WT:MAMMAL --->
| authority = Hamilton Smith, 1827
| type_species = Bison bison
| type_species_authority = Linnaeus, 1758
| subdivision_ranks = Species
| subdivision = *Subgenus Eobison
**†B. palaeosinensis
**†B. sivalensis
**†B. georgicus
**†B. degiulii?
*Subgenus Bison
**†B. schoetensacki
**†B. hanaizumiensis
**†B. menneri
**†B. voigtstedtensis
**†B. antiquus
**†B. latifrons
**†B. occidentalis
**†B. priscus
**B. bison
**B. bonasus
*Incertae sedis
**†B. tamanensis
| range_map
| range_map_caption = IUCN range of the two American bison subspecies.
| range_map2
| range_map2_caption = IUCN range of the European bison.
}}
A bison (: bison) is a large bovine in the genus Bison (Greek: "wild ox" (bison)) within the tribe Bovini. Two extant and numerous extinct species are recognised.
Of the two surviving species, the American bison, B. bison, found only in North America, is the more numerous. Although colloquially referred to as a buffalo in the United States and Canada, it is only distantly related to the true buffalo. The North American species is composed of two subspecies, the Plains bison, B. b. bison, and the generally more northern wood bison, B. b. athabascae. A third subspecies, the eastern bison (B. b. pennsylvanicus) is no longer considered a valid taxon, being a junior synonym of B. b. bison. Historical references to "woods bison" or "wood bison" from the Eastern United States refer to this synonym animal (and to their eastern woodland habitat), not to B. b. athabascae, which was not found in the region. Its European kind B. bonasus or wisent —also 'zubr' or colloquially 'European buffalo'— is found in Europe and the Caucasus, reintroduced after being extinct in the wild.
While bison species have been traditionally classified in their own genus, modern genetics indicates that they are nested within the genus Bos, which includes, among others, cattle, yaks and gaur, being most closely related to yaks.
Description
bison on plaque, 17,000–9,000 BC, Bédeilhac grottoe, Ariège]]
The American bison and the European bison (wisent) are the largest surviving terrestrial animals in North America and Europe. They are typical artiodactyl (cloven hooved) ungulates, and are similar in appearance to other bovines such as cattle and true buffalo. They are broad and muscular with shaggy coats of long hair. Adults grow up to in height and in length for American bison and up to in height and in length for European bison. American bison can weigh from around and European bison can weigh from .
American bison are known for living in the Great Plains, but formerly had a much larger range, including much of the eastern United States and parts of Mexico. Both species were hunted close to extinction during the 19th and 20th centuries, but have since rebounded. The wisent in part owes its survival to the Chernobyl disaster, as the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone has become a kind of wildlife preserve for wisent and other rare megafauna such as the Przewalski's horse, though poaching has become a threat in the 21st century. The American Plains bison is no longer listed as endangered, but this does not mean the species is secure. Genetically pure B. b. bison currently number only about 20,000, separated into fragmented herds—all of which require active conservation measures. The wood bison is on the endangered species list in Canada and is listed as threatened in the United States, though numerous attempts have been made by beefalo ranchers to have it entirely removed from the Endangered Species List.
Although superficially similar, physical and behavioural differences exist between the American and European bison. The American species has 15 ribs, while the European bison has 14. The American bison has four lumbar vertebrae, while the European has five. (The difference in this case is that what would be the first lumbar vertebra has ribs attached to it in American bison and is thus counted as the 15th thoracic vertebra, compared to 14 thoracic vertebrae in wisent.) Adult American bison are less slim in build and have shorter legs. American bison tend to graze more, and browse less than their European relatives. Their anatomies reflect this behavioural difference; the American bison's head hangs lower than the European's. The body of the American bison is typically hairier, though its tail has less hair than that of the European bison. The horns of the European bison point through the plane of their faces, making them more adept at fighting through the interlocking of horns in the same manner as domestic cattle, unlike the American bison, which favours butting. American bison are more easily tamed than their European cousins, and breed with domestic cattle more readily.
Evolution and genetic history
The bovine tribe (Bovini) split about 5 to 10 million years ago into the buffalos (Bubalus and Syncerus) and a group leading to bison and taurine cattle. Genetic evidence from nuclear DNA indicates that the closest living relatives of bison are yaks, with bison being nested within the genus Bos, rendering Bos without including bison paraphyletic. While nuclear DNA indicates that both extant bison species are each other's closest living relatives, the mitochondrial DNA of European bison is more closely related to that of domestic cattle and aurochs (while the mitochondrial DNA of American bison is closely related to that of yaks). This discrepancy is either suggested to be the result of incomplete lineage sorting or ancient introgression. Bison are widely believed to have evolved from a lineage belonging to the extinct genus Leptobos during the Late Pliocene to Early Pleistocene in Asia. The earliest members of the bison lineage, known from the Late Pliocene to Early Pleistocene of the Indian Subcontinent (Bison sivalensis) and China (Bison palaeosinensis), approximately 3.4-2.6 million years ago (Ma) are placed in the subgenus Bison (Eobison). The oldest remains of Eobison in Europe are those Bison georgicus found in Dmanisi, Georgia, dated to around 1.76 Ma. More derived members of the genus are placed in the subgenus Bison (Bison), which first appeared towards the end of the Early Pleistocene, around 1.2 Ma, with early members of the subgenus including the widespread Bison schoetensacki.
The steppe bison (Bison priscus) first appeared during the mid-Middle Pleistocene in eastern Eurasia, and subsequently became widely distributed across Eurasia. Modern American bison are thought to have evolved from B. antiquus during the Late Pleistocene-Holocene transition via the intermediate form Bison occidentalis. The European bison, Bison bonasus, first appeared in Europe during the late Middle Pleistocene, where it existed in sympatry with the steppe bison. Its relationship with other extinct bison species is unclear, though it appears to be only distantly related to the steppe and American bisons, with possibly some interbreeding between the two lineages during the Middle Pleistocene.
Prior to the late 19th century, the population of American bison likely numbered in the tens of millions, perhaps as many as 60 million. During the population bottleneck caused by the great slaughter of American bison during the 19th century, the number of bison remaining alive in North America declined to as low as 541. During that period, a handful of ranchers gathered remnants of the existing herds to save the species from extinction. These ranchers bred some of the bison with cattle in an effort to produce "cattleo" Herds of importance are found in Yellowstone National Park, Wind Cave National Park in South Dakota, Blue Mounds State Park in Minnesota, Elk Island National Park in Alberta, and Grasslands National Park in Saskatchewan. In 2015, a purebred herd of 350 individuals was identified on public lands in the Henry Mountains of southern Utah via genetic testing of mitochondrial and nuclear DNA. This study, published in 2015, also showed the Henry Mountains bison herd to be free of brucellosis, a bacterial disease that was imported with non-native domestic cattle to North America.
In 2021, the American Society of Mammalogists considered Bison to be a subgenus, and placed both bison species back into Bos.
Relationships of bovines based on nuclear DNA, after Sinding, et al. 2021.
}}
|2=}}}}}}
Behavior
, set to motion to illustrate the movement of the bison]]
in Yellowstone National Park.]]
Wallowing is a common behavior of bison. A bison wallow is a shallow depression in the soil, either wet or dry. Bison roll in these depressions, covering themselves with mud or dust. Possible explanations suggested for wallowing behavior include grooming behavior associated with moulting, male-male interaction (typically rutting behavior), social behavior for group cohesion, play behavior, relief from skin irritation due to biting insects, reduction of ectoparasite load (ticks and lice), and thermoregulation. In the process of wallowing, bison may become infected by the fatal disease anthrax, which may occur naturally in the soil.
Bison temperament is often unpredictable. They usually appear peaceful, unconcerned, or even lazy, but they may attack without warning or apparent reason. They can move at speeds up to and cover long distances at a lumbering gallop.
Their most obvious weapons are the horns borne by both males and females, but their massive heads can be used as battering rams, effectively using the momentum produced by what is a typical weight of moving at . The hind legs can also be used to kill or maim with devastating effect. In the words of early naturalists, they were dangerous, savage animals that feared no other animal and in prime condition could best any foe except for a brown bear or a pack of wolves.
European bison most commonly live in lightly wooded to fully wooded areas as well as areas with increased shrubs and bushes. European bison can sometimes be found living on grasslands and plains as well.
Restrictions
Throughout most of their historical range, landowners have sought restrictions on free-ranging bison. Herds on private land are required to be fenced in.
In the state of Montana, free-ranging bison on public land are legally shot, due to transmission of disease to cattle and damage to public property.
In 2013, Montana legislative measures concerning the bison were proposed and passed, but opposed by Native American tribes as they impinged on sovereign tribal rights. Three such bills were vetoed by Steve Bullock, the governor of Montana. The bison's circumstances remain an issue of contention between Native American tribes and private landowners.
Diet
Bison are ruminants, able to ferment cellulose in a specialized stomach prior to digestion. Bison were once thought to almost exclusively consume grasses and sedges, but are now known to consume a wide-variety of plants including woody plants and herbaceous eudicots. Over the course of the year, bison shift which plants they select in their diet based on which plants have the highest protein or energy concentrations at a given time and will reliably consume the same species of plants across years. Bison are thought to migrate to optimize their diet, and will concentrate their feeding on recently burned areas due to the higher quality forage that regrows after the burn. Wisent tend to browse on shrubs and low-hanging trees more often than do the American bison, which prefer grass to shrubbery and trees.
Reproduction
Female bison ("cows") typically reproduce after three years of age and can continue beyond 19 years of age.
Predators
Owing to their size, bison have few predators. Five exceptions are humans, grey wolves, cougars, grizzly bears, and coyotes. Wolves generally take down a bison while in a pack, but cases of a single wolf killing bison have been reported. though brucellosis is a serious concern in the Yellowstone Park bison herd. Bison in the Antelope Island bison herd are regularly inoculated against brucellosis, parasites, Clostridium infection, infectious bovine rhinotracheitis, and bovine vibriosis.
The major illnesses in European bison are foot-and-mouth disease and balanoposthitis. Inbreeding of a small population plays a role in a number of genetic defects and lowers immunity to disease; that poses greater risk to the population. so did Roman authors Pliny the Elder and Gaius Julius Solinus (as Latin ). The Latin was made into a genus name by Charles Hamilton Smith in 1827.
Although called "buffalo" in American English, they are only distantly related to two "true buffalo", the Asian water buffalo and the African buffalo. Samuel de Champlain applied the French term buffle to the bison in 1616 (published 1619), after seeing skins and a drawing shown to him by members of the Nipissing First Nation, who said they travelled 40 days (from east of Lake Huron) to trade with another nation who hunted the animals. Though "bison" might be considered more scientifically correct, "buffalo" is also considered correct as a result of standard usage in American English, and is listed in many dictionaries as an acceptable name for American buffalo or bison. "Buffalo" has a much longer history than "bison", which was first recorded in 1774.
Bison and human culture
Bison was a significant resource for indigenous peoples of North America for food and raw materials until near extinction in the late 19th century. For the indigenous peoples of the Plains, it was their principal food source. Native Americans highly valued their relationship with the bison and saw them as sacred, treating them respectfully to ensure their abundance and longevity. In his biography, Lakota teacher and elder John Fire Lame Deer describes the relationship as such:
]]
European colonials were almost exclusively accountable for the near-extinction of the American bison in the 1800s. At the beginning of the century, tens of millions of bison roamed North America. Colonists slaughtered an estimated 50 million bison during the 19th century, although the causes of decline and the numbers killed are disputed and debated. Railroads were advertising "hunting by rail", where trains encountered large herds alongside or crossing the tracks. Men aboard fired from the train's roof or windows, leaving countless animals to rot where they died. This overhunting was in part motivated by the U.S. government's desire to limit the range and power of indigenous plains Indians whose diets and cultures depended on the buffalo herds. The overhunting of the bison reduced their population to hundreds.
The American bison's nadir came in 1889, with an estimated population of only 1,091 animals (both wild and captive). Repopulation attempts via enforced protection of government herds and extensive ranching began in 1910 and have continued (with excellent success) to the present day, with some caveats. Extensive farming has increased the bison's population to nearly 150,000, and it is officially no longer considered an endangered species.
As of July 2015, an estimated 4,900 bison lived in Yellowstone National Park, the largest U.S. bison population on public land. During 1983–1985 visitors experienced 33 bison-related injuries (range 10–13/year), so the park implemented education campaigns. After years of success, five injuries associated with bison encounters occurred in 2015, because visitors did not maintain the required distance of 75 ft (23 m) from bison while hiking or taking pictures.Nutrition<!--
-->Bison is an excellent source of complete protein and a rich source (20% or more of the Daily Value, DV) of multiple vitamins, including riboflavin, niacin, vitamin B<sub>6</sub>, and vitamin B<sub>12</sub>, and is also a rich source of minerals, including iron, phosphorus, and zinc. Additionally, bison is a good source (10% or more of the DV) of thiamine.
<div style="float: right; clear: right;">
</div>
Livestock
The earliest plausible accounts of captive bison are those of the zoo at Tenochtitlan, the Aztec capital, which held an animal the Spaniards called "the Mexican bull". In 1552, Francisco Lopez de Gomara described Plains Indians herding and leading bison like cattle in his controversial book, Historia general de las Indias. Gomara, having never visited the Americas himself, likely misinterpreted early ethnographic accounts as the more familiar pastoralist relationship of the Old World. Today, bison are increasingly raised for meat, hides, and wool products. The majority of bison in the world are raised for human consumption or fur clothing. Bison meat is generally considered to taste very similar to beef, but is lower in fat and cholesterol, yet higher in protein than beef. A market even exists for kosher bison meat; these bison are slaughtered at one of the few kosher mammal slaughterhouses in the U.S. and Canada, and the meat is then distributed worldwide. Beefalo have been advertised as a hybrid breed between bison and cattle, but many beefalo, including the original pedigree founding herd of the breed, have no detectable bison ancestry.
In America, the commercial industry for bison has been slow to develop despite individuals, such as Ted Turner, who have long marketed bison meat. In the 1990s, Turner found limited success with restaurants for high-quality cuts of meat, which include bison steaks and tenderloin. Lower-quality cuts suitable for hamburger and hot dogs have been described as "almost nonexistent". Restaurants have played a role in popularizing bison meat, like Ted's Montana Grill, which added bison to their menus. Ruby Tuesday first offered bison on their menus in 2005.
See also
* Bison hunting
* Gaur
* National Bison Day (1 November in the United States)
* Yellowstone Park bison herd
References
Bibliography
* Boyd, Delaney P. (April 2003). [http://www.buffalofieldcampaign.org/legal/esacitations/boydconservation.pdf Conservation of North American bison: status and recommendations (PDF)] (Thesis). University of Calgary, Calgary, AB. – via Buffalo Field Campaign
* Cunfer, Geoff and Bill Waiser. Bison and People on the North American Great Plains: A Deep Environmental History. College Station, TX: Texas A&M University Press, 2016.
*
*
* External links
*
Category:Fauna of the Holarctic realm
Category:Mammal genera
Category:Extant Gelasian first appearances
Category:Taxa named by Charles Hamilton Smith
Category:Bovina (subtribe)
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Baryon
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In particle physics, a baryon is a type of composite subatomic particle that contains an odd number of valence quarks, conventionally three. Protons and neutrons are examples of baryons; because baryons are composed of quarks, they belong to the hadron family of particles. Baryons are also classified as fermions because they have half-integer spin.
The name "baryon", introduced by Abraham Pais, comes from the Greek word for "heavy" (βαρύς, barýs), because, at the time of their naming, most known elementary particles had lower masses than the baryons. Each baryon has a corresponding antiparticle (antibaryon) where their corresponding antiquarks replace quarks. For example, a proton is made of two up quarks and one down quark; and its corresponding antiparticle, the antiproton, is made of two up antiquarks and one down antiquark.
Baryons participate in the residual strong force, which is mediated by particles known as mesons. The most familiar baryons are protons and neutrons, both of which contain three quarks, and for this reason they are sometimes called triquarks. These particles make up most of the mass of the visible matter in the universe and compose the nucleus of every atom (electrons, the other major component of the atom, are members of a different family of particles called leptons; leptons do not interact via the strong force). Exotic baryons containing five quarks, called pentaquarks, have also been discovered and studied.
A census of the Universe's baryons indicates that 10% of them could be found inside galaxies, 50 to 60% in the circumgalactic medium, and the remaining 30 to 40% could be located in the warm–hot intergalactic medium (WHIM).
Background
Baryons are strongly interacting fermions; that is, they are acted on by the strong nuclear force and are described by Fermi–Dirac statistics, which apply to all particles obeying the Pauli exclusion principle. This is in contrast to the bosons, which do not obey the exclusion principle.
Baryons, alongside mesons, are hadrons, composite particles composed of quarks. Quarks have baryon numbers of B and antiquarks have baryon numbers of B −. The term "baryon" usually refers to triquarks—baryons made of three quarks (B + + 1).
Other exotic baryons have been proposed, such as pentaquarks—baryons made of four quarks and one antiquark (B + + + − 1), but their existence is not generally accepted. The particle physics community as a whole did not view their existence as likely in 2006, and in 2008, considered evidence to be overwhelmingly against the existence of the reported pentaquarks. However, in July 2015, the LHCb experiment observed two resonances consistent with pentaquark states in the Λ → J/ψKp decay, with a combined statistical significance of 15σ<!-- YES, FIFTEEN SIGMA. See Talk:Pentaquark-->.
In theory, heptaquarks (5 quarks, 2 antiquarks), nonaquarks (6 quarks, 3 antiquarks), etc. could also exist.
Baryonic matter
Nearly all matter that may be encountered or experienced in everyday life is baryonic matter, which includes atoms of any sort, and provides them with the property of mass. Non-baryonic matter, as implied by the name, is any sort of matter that is not composed primarily of baryons. This might include neutrinos and free electrons, dark matter, supersymmetric particles, axions, and black holes.
The very existence of baryons is also a significant issue in cosmology because it is assumed that the Big Bang produced a state with equal amounts of baryons and antibaryons. The process by which baryons came to outnumber their antiparticles is called baryogenesis.
Baryogenesis
Experiments are consistent with the number of quarks in the universe being conserved alongside the total baryon number, with antibaryons being counted as negative quantities. Within the prevailing Standard Model of particle physics, the number of baryons may change in multiples of three due to the action of sphalerons, although this is rare and has not been observed under experiment. Some grand unified theories of particle physics also predict that a single proton can decay, changing the baryon number by one; however, this has not yet been observed under experiment. The excess of baryons over antibaryons in the present universe is thought to be due to non-conservation of baryon number in the very early universe, though this is not well understood.
Properties
Isospin and charge
thumb|200px|
Combinations of three up quark|u, d or s quarks forming baryons with a spin- form the uds baryon decuplet
, d or s' quarks forming baryons with a spin- form the uds baryon octet]]
The concept of isospin was first proposed by Werner Heisenberg in 1932 to explain the similarities between protons and neutrons under the strong interaction. Although they had different electric charges, their masses were so similar that physicists believed they were the same particle. The different electric charges were explained as being the result of some unknown excitation similar to spin. This unknown excitation was later dubbed isospin by Eugene Wigner in 1937.
This belief lasted until Murray Gell-Mann proposed the quark model in 1964 (containing originally only the u, d, and s quarks). The success of the isospin model is now understood to be the result of the similar masses of u and d quarks. Since u and d quarks have similar masses, particles made of the same number then also have similar masses. The exact specific u and d quark composition determines the charge, as u quarks carry charge + while d quarks carry charge −. For example, the four Deltas all have different charges ( (uuu), (uud), (udd), (ddd)), but have similar masses (~1,232 MeV/c<sup>2</sup>) as they are each made of a combination of three u or d quarks. Under the isospin model, they were considered to be a single particle in different charged states.
The mathematics of isospin was modeled after that of spin. Isospin projections varied in increments of 1 just like those of spin, and to each projection was associated a "charged state". Since the "Delta particle" had four "charged states", it was said to be of isospin I . Its "charged states" , , , and , corresponded to the isospin projections I<sub>3</sub> +, I<sub>3</sub> +, I<sub>3</sub> −, and I<sub>3</sub> −, respectively. Another example is the "nucleon particle". As there were two nucleon "charged states", it was said to be of isospin . The positive nucleon (proton) was identified with I<sub>3</sub> + and the neutral nucleon (neutron) with I<sub>3</sub> −. It was later noted that the isospin projections were related to the up and down quark content of particles by the relation:
: <math>I_\mathrm{3}=\frac{1}{2}[(n_\mathrm{u}-n_\mathrm{\bar{u}})-(n_\mathrm{d}-n_\mathrm{\bar{d}})],</math>
where the n'''s are the number of up and down quarks and antiquarks.
In the "isospin picture", the four Deltas and the two nucleons were thought to be the different states of two particles. However, in the quark model, Deltas are different states of nucleons (the N<sup>++</sup> or N<sup>−</sup> are forbidden by Pauli's exclusion principle). Isospin, although conveying an inaccurate picture of things, is still used to classify baryons, leading to unnatural and often confusing nomenclature.
Flavour quantum numbers
The strangeness flavour quantum number S (not to be confused with spin) was noticed to go up and down along with particle mass. The higher the mass, the lower the strangeness (the more s quarks). Particles could be described with isospin projections (related to charge) and strangeness (mass) (see the uds octet and decuplet figures on the right). As other quarks were discovered, new quantum numbers were made to have similar description of udc and udb octets and decuplets. Since only the u and d mass are similar, this description of particle mass and charge in terms of isospin and flavour quantum numbers works well only for octet and decuplet made of one u, one d, and one other quark, and breaks down for the other octets and decuplets (for example, ucb octet and decuplet). If the quarks all had the same mass, their behaviour would be called symmetric, as they would all behave in the same way to the strong interaction. Since quarks do not have the same mass, they do not interact in the same way (exactly like an electron placed in an electric field will accelerate more than a proton placed in the same field because of its lighter mass), and the symmetry is said to be broken.
It was noted that charge (Q) was related to the isospin projection (I<sub>3</sub>), the baryon number (B) and flavour quantum numbers (S, C, B′, T) by the Gell-Mann–Nishijima formula:
There is another quantity of angular momentum, called the orbital angular momentum (azimuthal quantum number L), that comes in increments of 1 ħ, which represent the angular moment due to quarks orbiting around each other. The total angular momentum (total angular momentum quantum number J) of a particle is therefore the combination of intrinsic angular momentum (spin) and orbital angular momentum. It can take any value from L − S}} to L + S}}, in increments of 1.
{|class"wikitable" style"margin:1em auto; text-align: center;"
|+ Baryon angular momentum quantum numbers for L = 0, 1, 2, 3
|-
! Spin, <br />S
! Orbital angular <br />momentum, L
! Total angular <br />momentum, J
! Parity, <br />P
! Condensed <br />notation, J<sup>P</sup>
|-
|rowspan="4"|
| 0 || || + || <sup>+</sup>
|-
| 1 || , || − || <sup>−</sup>, <sup>−</sup>
|-
| 2 || , || + || <sup>+</sup>, <sup>+</sup>
|-
| 3 || , || − || <sup>−</sup>, <sup>−</sup>
|-
|rowspan="4"|
| 0 || || + || <sup>+</sup>
|-
| 1 || , , || − || <sup>−</sup>, <sup>−</sup>, <sup>−</sup>
|-
| 2 || , , , || + || <sup>+</sup>, <sup>+</sup>, <sup>+</sup>, <sup>+</sup>
|-
| 3 || , , , || − || <sup>−</sup>, <sup>−</sup>, <sup>−</sup>, <sup>−</sup>
|}
Particle physicists are most interested in baryons with no orbital angular momentum (L 0), as they correspond to ground states—states of minimal energy. Therefore, the two groups of baryons most studied are the S ; L 0 and S ; L 0, which corresponds to J <sup>+</sup> and J <sup>+</sup>, respectively, although they are not the only ones. It is also possible to obtain J <sup>+</sup> particles from S and L 2, as well as S and L 2. This phenomenon of having multiple particles in the same total angular momentum configuration is called degeneracy. How to distinguish between these degenerate baryons is an active area of research in baryon spectroscopy.
Parity
If the universe were reflected in a mirror, most of the laws of physics would be identical—things would behave the same way regardless of what we call "left" and what we call "right". This concept of mirror reflection is called "intrinsic parity" or simply "parity" (P). Gravity, the electromagnetic force, and the strong interaction all behave in the same way regardless of whether or not the universe is reflected in a mirror, and thus are said to conserve parity (P-symmetry). However, the weak interaction does distinguish "left" from "right", a phenomenon called parity violation (P-violation).
Based on this, if the wavefunction for each particle (in more precise terms, the quantum field for each particle type) were simultaneously mirror-reversed, then the new set of wavefunctions would perfectly satisfy the laws of physics (apart from the weak interaction). It turns out that this is not quite true: for the equations to be satisfied, the wavefunctions of certain types of particles have to be multiplied by −1, in addition to being mirror-reversed. Such particle types are said to have negative or odd parity (P −1, or alternatively P –), while the other particles are said to have positive or even parity (P +1, or alternatively P +).
For baryons, the parity is related to the orbital angular momentum by the relation:
: <math>P=(-1)^L.\ </math>
As a consequence, baryons with no orbital angular momentum (L 0) all have even parity (P +).
Nomenclature
Baryons are classified into groups according to their isospin (I) values and quark (q) content. There are six groups of baryons: nucleon (), Delta (), Lambda (), Sigma (), Xi (), and Omega (). The rules for classification are defined by the Particle Data Group. These rules consider the up (), down () and strange () quarks to be light and the charm (), bottom (), and top () quarks to be heavy. The rules cover all the particles that can be made from three of each of the six quarks, even though baryons made of top quarks are not expected to exist because of the top quark's short lifetime. The rules do not cover pentaquarks.
* Baryons with (any combination of) three and/or quarks are s (I ) or baryons (I ).
* Baryons containing two and/or quarks are baryons (I 0) or baryons (I 1). If the third quark is heavy, its identity is given by a subscript.
* Baryons containing one or quark are baryons (I ). One or two subscripts are used if one or both of the remaining quarks are heavy.
* Baryons containing no or quarks are baryons (I 0), and subscripts indicate any heavy quark content.
* Baryons that decay strongly have their masses as part of their names. For example, Σ<sup>0</sup> does not decay strongly, but Δ<sup>++</sup>(1232) does.
It is also a widespread (but not universal) practice to follow some additional rules when distinguishing between some states that would otherwise have the same symbol.<ref name="WongA" />
* Baryons in total angular momentum J configuration that have the same symbols as their J counterparts are denoted by an asterisk ( * ).
* Two baryons can be made of three different quarks in J = configuration. In this case, a prime ( ′ ) is used to distinguish between them.
** Exception: When two of the three quarks are one up and one down quark, one baryon is dubbed Λ while the other is dubbed Σ.
Quarks carry a charge, so knowing the charge of a particle indirectly gives the quark content. For example, the rules above say that a contains a c quark and some combination of two u and/or d quarks. The c quark has a charge of (Q +), therefore the other two must be a u quark (Q +), and a d quark (Q −) to have the correct total charge (Q +1).
See also
* Eightfold way
* List of baryons
* Meson
* Timeline of particle discoveries
Citations
General references
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
External links
* Particle Data Group—[http://pdg.lbl.gov/index.html Review of Particle Physics (2018).]
* Georgia State University—[http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/hframe.html HyperPhysics]
* [http://www.thingsmadethinkable.com/item/baryons.php Baryons made thinkable], an interactive visualisation allowing physical properties to be compared
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Braille embosser
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A braille embosser is an impact printer that renders text as tactile braille cells. Using braille translation software, a document or digital text can be embossed with relative ease. This makes braille production efficient and cost-effective. Braille translation software may be free and open-sourced or paid. Braille embossers can emboss single-sided or double-sided (called interpoint) and can produce 6- or 8-dot braille.
Types
The fastest industrial braille embosser is probably the $92,000 Belgian-made NV Interpoint 55, first produced in 1991, which uses a separate air compressor to drive the embossing head and can output up to 800 braille characters per second. Adoption was slow at first; in 2000 the National Federation of the Blind said there were only three of these in the US, one owned by the NFB itself and the other two by the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society. As of 2008, there are more than 60 in use across the world.
Smaller desktop braille embossers are more common and can be found in libraries, universities, and specialist education centers, as well as being privately owned by blind individuals. It may be necessary to use an acoustic cabinet or hood to dampen the noise level.
Braille embossers usually need special braille paper which is thicker and more expensive than normal paper. Some high-end embossers are capable of printing on normal paper. Embossers can be either one-sided or two-sided. Two-sided embossing requires lining up the dots so they do not overlap (called "interpoint" because the points on the other side are placed in between the points on the first side). Two-sided embossing uses less paper and reduces the size of the output. See also
* Braigo
* Mountbatten Brailler
* Book
* E-book
* Braille e-book
* Braille translator
References
Embosser
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Basic Role-Playing
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Basic Role-Playing (BRP) is a tabletop role-playing game which originated in the RuneQuest fantasy role-playing game. Chaosium released the BRP standalone booklet in 1980 in the boxed set release of the second edition of RuneQuest. Greg Stafford and Lynn Willis are credited as the authors. Chaosium used the percentile skill-based system as the basis for most of their games, including Call of Cthulhu, Stormbringer, and Elfquest.
History
The core rules were written by Steve Perrin as part of his game RuneQuest. It was Greg Stafford's idea to simplify the rules (eliminating such mechanics as Strike Ranks and Hit Locations) and issue them in a 16-page booklet called Basic Role-Playing. Since the first BRP release, designers including Sandy Petersen, Lynn Willis, and Steve Henderson, have contributed to the system.
The system was notable for being the first role-playing game system to introduce a full skill system to characters regardless of their profession. This was developed in RuneQuest but was also later adopted by the more skill-oriented Call of Cthulhu RPG.
BRP was conceived of as a generic system. Specific rule systems for support differing genres could be added to the core rules in a modular fashion. In order to underscore this, in 1982 Chaosium released the Worlds of Wonder box set, which contained a revised main booklet and several booklets providing the additional rules for playing in specific genres. The superhero-themed Superworld originated as part of this set. A third edition of the core booklet, now entitled Basic Roleplaying: The Chaosium System, was released in 2002.
In 2004, Chaosium began publishing the Basic Roleplaying monographs, a series of paperback booklets. The first four monographs (Players Book, Magic Book, Creatures Book, and Gamemaster Book) was the same as RuneQuest 3rd Edition, but with trademarked elements removed, as Chaosium had lost the rights to the name but retained copyright to the rules text. Additional monographs allowing for new mechanics, thereby extending the system to other genres, were released in the following years. Many of these monographs reproduced rules from other Chaosium-published BRP games that had gone out of print.
Jason Durall and Sam Johnson gathered up previous works and updated them to a new edition. published in 2008. This comprehensive book, Basic Roleplaying: The Chaosium System nicknamed the "Big Gold Book". It allowed game masters to build their own game out of the included subsystems. A quickstart booklet for new players accompanied it. In 2011, it was updated to a second edition.
In 2020, Chaosium released Basic Roleplaying as a System Reference Document (SRD).
A new edition, entitled Basic Roleplaying: Universal Game Engine, appeared in 2023, initially as a PDF and later as a hardbound book.
Licensed adaptations
Preexisting RPG and fiction settings converted to the system by Chaosium using the BRP ruleset include Ringworld, Hawkmoon, and an adaptation of the French RPG Nephilim.
Rules system
BRP is similar to other generic systems such as GURPS, Hero System, or Savage Worlds in that it uses a simple resolution method which can be broadly applied. It uses a core set of seven characteristics: Size, Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Power, and Appearance or Charisma. From these, a character derives scores in various skills, expressed as percentages. These skill scores are the basis of play. When attempting an action, the player rolls percentile dice to attempt to get a result equal to or lower than the character's skill score. Each incarnation of the BRP rules changed or added to the core ideas and mechanics, so that games are not identical. For example, in Call of Cthulhu, skills may never be over 100%, while in Stormbringer skills in excess of 100% are within reach for all characters. Scores can increase through experience checks, the mechanics of which vary in an individual game.
The system treats armor and defense as separate: the act of parrying is a defensive skill that reduces an opponent's chance to successfully land an attack, and the purpose of armor is to absorb damage.
In most BRP games there is no difference between the player character race systems and that of monsters or other opponents. By varying ability scores, the same system is used for a human hero as a troll villain. This approach allows for players to play a variety of nonhuman species.
Adaptations of the system
Chaosium was an early adopter of licensing out its BRP system to other companies, something that was unique at the time they began but commonplace now thanks to the d20 licenses. This places BRP in the notable position of being one of the first products to allow other game companies to develop games or game aids for their work. For example, Other Suns, published by Fantasy Games Unlimited, used them under license. BRP was also used as the base for the Swedish game Drakar och Demoner from Target Games.
Reception
In the July 1981 edition of The Space Gamer (Issue No. 41), Ronald Pehr commented that "Basic Role-Playing is too little too late. RuneQuest is long established, does an adequate job of teaching role-playing, and there are now even more games to choose from. If you want to teach role-playing to a very young, but literate, child, Basic Role-Playing is excellent. Otherwise, for all its charm, it's not much use.".
In the August 1981 edition of Dragon (Issue 52), John Sapienza noted that Basic Roleplaying was "not a fantasy role-playing game as such, but a handbook on how to role-play and a simple combat system to help the beginner get into the act." Despite this, Sapienza called it "one of the best introductions to the practical social interactions in gaming that I have read, and will give beginning gamers the kind of guidance they typically do not get in the full-scale games they will graduate to, since game writers usually spend their time on mechanics instead of on the proper relationships between player and player, player and referee, or player and character." He concluded, "Basic Role-Playing is a truly universal introduction to the hobby — highly recommended."
Awards
The BRP itself has been the recipient, via its games, of many awards. Most notable was the 1981 Origins Award for Best Roleplaying Rules of 1981 for Call of Cthulhu. Other editions of Call of Cthulhu have also won Origins Awards including the Hall of Fame award. The BRP Character Generation software has also won awards for its design.
References
External links
Chaosium's Basic Role-Playing Product Line Page
Basic Roleplaying Central - The community fansite for Basic Roleplaying game systems.
Category:Chaosium games
Category:Greg Stafford games
Category:Role-playing games introduced in 1980
Category:Universal role-playing games
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Block cipher
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In cryptography, a block cipher is a deterministic algorithm that operates on fixed-length groups of bits, called blocks. Block ciphers are the elementary building blocks of many cryptographic protocols. They are ubiquitous in the storage and exchange of data, where such data is secured and authenticated via encryption.
A block cipher uses blocks as an unvarying transformation. Even a secure block cipher is suitable for the encryption of only a single block of data at a time, using a fixed key. A multitude of modes of operation have been designed to allow their repeated use in a secure way to achieve the security goals of confidentiality and authenticity. However, block ciphers may also feature as building blocks in other cryptographic protocols, such as universal hash functions and pseudorandom number generators.
Definition
A block cipher consists of two paired algorithms, one for encryption, , and the other for decryption, . Both algorithms accept two inputs: an input block of size bits and a key of size bits; and both yield an -bit output block. The decryption algorithm is defined to be the inverse function of encryption, i.e., <sup>−1</sup>}}. More formally, a block cipher is specified by an encryption function
:<math>E_K(P) := E(K,P): \{0,1\}^k \times \{0,1\}^n \rightarrow \{0,1\}^n,</math>
which takes as input a key , of bit length (called the key size), and a bit string , of length (called the block size), and returns a string of bits. is called the plaintext, and is termed the ciphertext. For each , the function <sub></sub>() is required to be an invertible mapping on {{math|{0,1}<sup></sup>}}. The inverse for is defined as a function
:<math>E_K^{-1}(C) :D_K(C) D(K,C): \{0,1\}^k \times \{0,1\}^n \rightarrow \{0,1\}^n,</math>
taking a key and a ciphertext to return a plaintext value , such that
:<math>\forall P: D_K(E_K(P)) = P.</math>
For example, a block cipher encryption algorithm might take a 128-bit block of plaintext as input, and output a corresponding 128-bit block of ciphertext. The exact transformation is controlled using a second input – the secret key. Decryption is similar: the decryption algorithm takes, in this example, a 128-bit block of ciphertext together with the secret key, and yields the original 128-bit block of plain text.
For each key K, E<sub>K</sub> is a permutation (a bijective mapping) over the set of input blocks. Each key selects one permutation from the set of <math>(2^n)!</math> possible permutations.HistoryThe modern design of block ciphers is based on the concept of an iterated product cipher. In his seminal 1949 publication, Communication Theory of Secrecy Systems, Claude Shannon analyzed product ciphers and suggested them as a means of effectively improving security by combining simple operations such as substitutions and permutations. Iterated product ciphers carry out encryption in multiple rounds, each of which uses a different subkey derived from the original key. One widespread implementation of such ciphers named a Feistel network after Horst Feistel is notably implemented in the DES cipher. Many other realizations of block ciphers, such as the AES, are classified as substitution–permutation networks.
The root of all cryptographic block formats used within the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) and American National Standards Institute (ANSI) standards lies with the Atalla Key Block (AKB), which was a key innovation of the Atalla Box, the first hardware security module (HSM). It was developed in 1972 by Mohamed M. Atalla, founder of Atalla Corporation (now Utimaco Atalla), and released in 1973. The AKB was a key block, which is required to securely interchange symmetric keys or PINs with other actors in the banking industry. This secure interchange is performed using the AKB format. The Atalla Box protected over 90% of all ATM networks in operation as of 1998, and Atalla products still secure the majority of the world's ATM transactions as of 2014.
The publication of the DES cipher by the United States National Bureau of Standards (subsequently the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology, NIST) in 1977 was fundamental in the public understanding of modern block cipher design. It also influenced the academic development of cryptanalytic attacks. Both differential and linear cryptanalysis arose out of studies on DES design. , there is a palette of attack techniques against which a block cipher must be secure, in addition to being robust against brute-force attacks.
Design
Iterated block ciphers
Most block cipher algorithms are classified as iterated block ciphers which means that they transform fixed-size blocks of plaintext into identically sized blocks of ciphertext, via the repeated application of an invertible transformation known as the round function, with each iteration referred to as a round.
Usually, the round function R takes different round keys K<sub>i</sub> as a second input, which is derived from the original key:
:<math>M_i = R_{K_i}(M_{i-1})</math>
where <math>M_0</math> is the plaintext and <math>M_r</math> the ciphertext, with r being the number of rounds.
Frequently, key whitening is used in addition to this. At the beginning and the end, the data is modified with key material (often with XOR):
:<math> M_0 = M \oplus K_0 </math>
:<math>M_i R_{K_i}(M_{i-1})\; ; \; i 1 \dots r</math>
:<math>C = M_r \oplus K_{r+1}</math>
Given one of the standard iterated block cipher design schemes, it is fairly easy to construct a block cipher that is cryptographically secure, simply by using a large number of rounds. However, this will make the cipher inefficient. Thus, efficiency is the most important additional design criterion for professional ciphers. Further, a good block cipher is designed to avoid side-channel attacks, such as branch prediction and input-dependent memory accesses that might leak secret data via the cache state or the execution time. In addition, the cipher should be concise, for small hardware and software implementations.
Substitution–permutation networks
One important type of iterated block cipher known as a substitution–permutation network (SPN) takes a block of the plaintext and the key as inputs and applies several alternating rounds consisting of a substitution stage followed by a permutation stage—to produce each block of ciphertext output. The non-linear substitution stage mixes the key bits with those of the plaintext, creating Shannon's confusion. The linear permutation stage then dissipates redundancies, creating diffusion.
A substitution box (S-box) substitutes a small block of input bits with another block of output bits. This substitution must be one-to-one, to ensure invertibility (hence decryption). A secure S-box will have the property that changing one input bit will change about half of the output bits on average, exhibiting what is known as the avalanche effect—i.e. it has the property that each output bit will depend on every input bit.
A permutation box (P-box) is a permutation of all the bits: it takes the outputs of all the S-boxes of one round, permutes the bits, and feeds them into the S-boxes of the next round. A good P-box has the property that the output bits of any S-box are distributed to as many S-box inputs as possible.
At each round, the round key (obtained from the key with some simple operations, for instance, using S-boxes and P-boxes) is combined using some group operation, typically XOR.
Decryption is done by simply reversing the process (using the inverses of the S-boxes and P-boxes and applying the round keys in reversed order).
Feistel ciphers
s]]
In a Feistel cipher'', the block of plain text to be encrypted is split into two equal-sized halves. The round function is applied to one half, using a subkey, and then the output is XORed with the other half. The two halves are then swapped.
Let <math>{\rm F}</math> be the round function and let
<math>K_0,K_1,\ldots,K_{n}</math> be the sub-keys for the rounds <math>0,1,\ldots,n</math> respectively.
Then the basic operation is as follows:
Split the plaintext block into two equal pieces, (<math>L_0</math>, <math>R_0</math>)
For each round <math>i =0,1,\dots,n</math>, compute
:<math>L_{i+1} = R_i\,</math>
:<math>R_{i+1}= L_i \oplus {\rm F}(R_i, K_i)</math>.
Then the ciphertext is <math>(R_{n+1}, L_{n+1})</math>.
The decryption of a ciphertext <math>(R_{n+1}, L_{n+1})</math> is accomplished by computing for <math>i=n,n-1,\ldots,0</math>
:<math>R_{i} = L_{i+1}\,</math>
:<math>L_{i} = R_{i+1} \oplus {\rm F}(L_{i+1}, K_{i})</math>.
Then <math>(L_0,R_0)</math> is the plaintext again.
One advantage of the Feistel model compared to a substitution–permutation network is that the round function <math>{\rm F}</math> does not have to be invertible.Lai–Massey ciphers
.]]
The Lai–Massey scheme offers security properties similar to those of the Feistel structure. It also shares the advantage that the round function <math>\mathrm F</math> does not have to be invertible. Another similarity is that it also splits the input block into two equal pieces. However, the round function is applied to the difference between the two, and the result is then added to both half blocks.
Let <math>\mathrm F</math> be the round function and <math>\mathrm H</math> a half-round function and let <math>K_0,K_1,\ldots,K_n</math> be the sub-keys for the rounds <math>0,1,\ldots,n</math> respectively.
Then the basic operation is as follows:
Split the plaintext block into two equal pieces, (<math>L_0</math>, <math>R_0</math>)
For each round <math>i =0,1,\dots,n</math>, compute
:<math>(L_{i+1}',R_{i+1}') = \mathrm H(L_i' + T_i,R_i' + T_i),</math>
where <math>T_i \mathrm F(L_i' - R_i', K_i)</math> and <math>(L_0',R_0') \mathrm H(L_0,R_0)</math>
Then the ciphertext is <math>(L_{n+1}, R_{n+1}) = (L_{n+1}',R_{n+1}')</math>.
The decryption of a ciphertext <math>(L_{n+1}, R_{n+1})</math> is accomplished by computing for <math>i=n,n-1,\ldots,0</math>
:<math>(L_i',R_i') = \mathrm H^{-1}(L_{i+1}' - T_i, R_{i+1}' - T_i)</math>
where <math>T_i \mathrm F(L_{i+1}' - R_{i+1}',K_i)</math> and <math>(L_{n+1}',R_{n+1}')\mathrm H^{-1}(L_{n+1},R_{n+1})</math>
Then <math>(L_0,R_0) (L_0',R_0')</math> is the plaintext again.OperationsARX (add–rotate–XOR)Many modern block ciphers and hashes are ARX algorithms—their round function involves only three operations: (A) modular addition, (R) rotation with fixed rotation amounts, and (X) XOR. Examples include ChaCha20, Speck, XXTEA, and BLAKE. Many authors draw an ARX network, a kind of data flow diagram, to illustrate such a round function.
These ARX operations are popular because they are relatively fast and cheap in hardware and software, their implementation can be made extremely simple, and also because they run in constant time, and therefore are immune to timing attacks. The rotational cryptanalysis technique attempts to attack such round functions.
Other operations
Other operations often used in block ciphers include data-dependent rotations as in RC5 and RC6, a substitution box implemented as a lookup table as in Data Encryption Standard and Advanced Encryption Standard, a permutation box, and multiplication as in IDEA.
Modes of operation
(ECB) mode encoding]]
A block cipher by itself allows encryption only of a single data block of the cipher's block length. For a variable-length message, the data must first be partitioned into separate cipher blocks. In the simplest case, known as electronic codebook (ECB) mode, a message is first split into separate blocks of the cipher's block size (possibly extending the last block with padding bits), and then each block is encrypted and decrypted independently. However, such a naive method is generally insecure because equal plaintext blocks will always generate equal ciphertext blocks (for the same key), so patterns in the plaintext message become evident in the ciphertext output.
To overcome this limitation, several so-called block cipher modes of operation have been designed and specified in national recommendations such as NIST 800-38A and BSI TR-02102 and international standards such as ISO/IEC 10116. The general concept is to use randomization of the plaintext data based on an additional input value, frequently called an initialization vector, to create what is termed probabilistic encryption. In the popular cipher block chaining (CBC) mode, for encryption to be secure the initialization vector passed along with the plaintext message must be a random or pseudo-random value, which is added in an exclusive-or manner to the first plaintext block before it is encrypted. The resultant ciphertext block is then used as the new initialization vector for the next plaintext block. In the cipher feedback (CFB) mode, which emulates a self-synchronizing stream cipher, the initialization vector is first encrypted and then added to the plaintext block. The output feedback (OFB) mode repeatedly encrypts the initialization vector to create a key stream for the emulation of a synchronous stream cipher. The newer counter (CTR) mode similarly creates a key stream, but has the advantage of only needing unique and not (pseudo-)random values as initialization vectors; the needed randomness is derived internally by using the initialization vector as a block counter and encrypting this counter for each block. A suitable padding scheme is therefore needed to extend the last plaintext block to the cipher's block size. While many popular schemes described in standards and in the literature have been shown to be vulnerable to padding oracle attacks, a solution that adds a one-bit and then extends the last block with zero-bits, standardized as "padding method 2" in ISO/IEC 9797-1, has been proven secure against these attacks. Earlier block ciphers such as the DES have typically selected a 64-bit block size, while newer designs such as the AES support block sizes of 128 bits or more, with some ciphers supporting a range of different block sizes.Differential cryptanalysis
Linear cryptanalysis
A linear cryptanalysis is a form of cryptanalysis based on finding affine approximations to the action of a cipher. Linear cryptanalysis is one of the two most widely used attacks on block ciphers; the other being differential cryptanalysis.
The discovery is attributed to Mitsuru Matsui, who first applied the technique to the FEAL cipher (Matsui and Yamagishi, 1992).
Integral cryptanalysis
Integral cryptanalysis is a cryptanalytic attack that is particularly applicable to block ciphers based on substitution–permutation networks. Unlike differential cryptanalysis, which uses pairs of chosen plaintexts with a fixed XOR difference, integral cryptanalysis uses sets or even multisets of chosen plaintexts of which part is held constant and another part varies through all possibilities. For example, an attack might use 256 chosen plaintexts that have all but 8 of their bits the same, but all differ in those 8 bits. Such a set necessarily has an XOR sum of 0, and the XOR sums of the corresponding sets of ciphertexts provide information about the cipher's operation. This contrast between the differences between pairs of texts and the sums of larger sets of texts inspired the name "integral cryptanalysis", borrowing the terminology of calculus.Other techniques
enabled differential cryptanalysis techniques to be applied to many ciphers that had previously been deemed secure against differential attacks]]
In addition to linear and differential cryptanalysis, there is a growing catalog of attacks: truncated differential cryptanalysis, partial differential cryptanalysis, integral cryptanalysis, which encompasses square and integral attacks, slide attacks, boomerang attacks, the XSL attack, impossible differential cryptanalysis, and algebraic attacks. For a new block cipher design to have any credibility, it must demonstrate evidence of security against known attacks.
Provable security
When a block cipher is used in a given mode of operation, the resulting algorithm should ideally be about as secure as the block cipher itself. ECB (discussed above) emphatically lacks this property: regardless of how secure the underlying block cipher is, ECB mode can easily be attacked. On the other hand, CBC mode can be proven to be secure under the assumption that the underlying block cipher is likewise secure. Note, however, that making statements like this requires formal mathematical definitions for what it means for an encryption algorithm or a block cipher to "be secure". This section describes two common notions for what properties a block cipher should have. Each corresponds to a mathematical model that can be used to prove properties of higher-level algorithms, such as CBC.
This general approach to cryptography – proving higher-level algorithms (such as CBC) are secure under explicitly stated assumptions regarding their components (such as a block cipher) – is known as provable security.
Standard model
Informally, a block cipher is secure in the standard model if an attacker cannot tell the difference between the block cipher (equipped with a random key) and a random permutation.
To be a bit more precise, let E be an n-bit block cipher. We imagine the following game:
# The person running the game flips a coin.
#* If the coin lands on heads, he chooses a random key K and defines the function f = E<sub>K</sub>.
#* If the coin lands on tails, he chooses a random permutation on the set of n-bit strings and defines the function f = .
# The attacker chooses an n-bit string X, and the person running the game tells him the value of f(X).
# Step 2 is repeated a total of q times. (Each of these q interactions is a query.)
# The attacker guesses how the coin landed. He wins if his guess is correct.
The attacker, which we can model as an algorithm, is called an adversary. The function f (which the adversary was able to query) is called an oracle.
Note that an adversary can trivially ensure a 50% chance of winning simply by guessing at random (or even by, for example, always guessing "heads"). Therefore, let P<sub>E</sub>(A) denote the probability that adversary A wins this game against E, and define the advantage of A as 2(P<sub>E</sub>(A) − 1/2). It follows that if A guesses randomly, its advantage will be 0; on the other hand, if A always wins, then its advantage is 1. The block cipher E is a pseudo-random permutation (PRP) if no adversary has an advantage significantly greater than 0, given specified restrictions on q and the adversary's running time. If in Step 2 above adversaries have the option of learning f<sup>−1</sup>(X) instead of f(X) (but still have only small advantages) then E is a strong PRP (SPRP). An adversary is non-adaptive if it chooses all q values for X before the game begins (that is, it does not use any information gleaned from previous queries to choose each X as it goes).
These definitions have proven useful for analyzing various modes of operation. For example, one can define a similar game for measuring the security of a block cipher-based encryption algorithm, and then try to show (through a reduction argument) that the probability of an adversary winning this new game is not much more than P<sub>E</sub>(A) for some A. (The reduction typically provides limits on q and the running time of A.) Equivalently, if P<sub>E</sub>(A) is small for all relevant A, then no attacker has a significant probability of winning the new game. This formalizes the idea that the higher-level algorithm inherits the block cipher's security.
Ideal cipher model
Practical evaluationBlock ciphers may be evaluated according to multiple criteria in practice. Common factors include:
* Key parameters, such as its key size and block size, both of which provide an upper bound on the security of the cipher.
* The estimated security level, which is based on the confidence gained in the block cipher design after it has largely withstood major efforts in cryptanalysis over time, the design's mathematical soundness, and the existence of practical or certificational attacks.
* The cipher's complexity and its suitability for implementation in hardware or software. Hardware implementations may measure the complexity in terms of gate count or energy consumption, which are important parameters for resource-constrained devices.
* The cipher's performance in terms of processing throughput on various platforms, including its memory requirements.
* The cost of the cipher refers to licensing requirements that may apply due to intellectual property rights.
* The flexibility of the cipher includes its ability to support multiple key sizes and block lengths.
Notable block ciphers
Lucifer / DES
Lucifer is generally considered to be the first civilian block cipher, developed at IBM in the 1970s based on work done by Horst Feistel. A revised version of the algorithm was adopted as a U.S. government Federal Information Processing Standard: FIPS PUB 46 Data Encryption Standard (DES). It was chosen by the U.S. National Bureau of Standards (NBS) after a public invitation for submissions and some internal changes by NBS (and, potentially, the NSA). DES was publicly released in 1976 and has been widely used.
DES was designed to, among other things, resist a certain cryptanalytic attack known to the NSA and rediscovered by IBM, though unknown publicly until rediscovered again and published by Eli Biham and Adi Shamir in the late 1980s. The technique is called differential cryptanalysis and remains one of the few general attacks against block ciphers; linear cryptanalysis is another but may have been unknown even to the NSA, prior to its publication by Mitsuru Matsui. DES prompted a large amount of other work and publications in cryptography and cryptanalysis in the open community and it inspired many new cipher designs.
DES has a block size of 64 bits and a key size of 56 bits. 64-bit blocks became common in block cipher designs after DES. Key length depended on several factors, including government regulation. Many observers in the 1970s commented that the 56-bit key length used for DES was too short. As time went on, its inadequacy became apparent, especially after a special-purpose machine designed to break DES was demonstrated in 1998 by the Electronic Frontier Foundation. An extension to DES, Triple DES, triple-encrypts each block with either two independent keys (112-bit key and 80-bit security) or three independent keys (168-bit key and 112-bit security). It was widely adopted as a replacement. As of 2011, the three-key version is still considered secure, though the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) standards no longer permit the use of the two-key version in new applications, due to its 80-bit security level.
IDEA
The International Data Encryption Algorithm (IDEA) is a block cipher designed by James Massey of ETH Zurich and Xuejia Lai; it was first described in 1991, as an intended replacement for DES.
IDEA operates on 64-bit blocks using a 128-bit key and consists of a series of eight identical transformations (a round) and an output transformation (the half-round). The processes for encryption and decryption are similar. IDEA derives much of its security by interleaving operations from different groups – modular addition and multiplication, and bitwise exclusive or (XOR) – which are algebraically "incompatible" in some sense.
The designers analysed IDEA to measure its strength against differential cryptanalysis and concluded that it is immune under certain assumptions. No successful linear or algebraic weaknesses have been reported. , the best attack which applies to all keys can break a full 8.5-round IDEA using a narrow-bicliques attack about four times faster than brute force.
RC5
RC5 is a block cipher designed by Ronald Rivest in 1994 which, unlike many other ciphers, has a variable block size (32, 64, or 128 bits), key size (0 to 2040 bits), and a number of rounds (0 to 255). The original suggested choice of parameters was a block size of 64 bits, a 128-bit key, and 12 rounds.
A key feature of RC5 is the use of data-dependent rotations; one of the goals of RC5 was to prompt the study and evaluation of such operations as a cryptographic primitive. RC5 also consists of a number of modular additions and XORs. The general structure of the algorithm is a Feistel-like a network. The encryption and decryption routines can be specified in a few lines of code. The key schedule, however, is more complex, expanding the key using an essentially one-way function with the binary expansions of both e and the golden ratio as sources of "nothing up my sleeve numbers". The tantalizing simplicity of the algorithm together with the novelty of the data-dependent rotations has made RC5 an attractive object of study for cryptanalysts.
12-round RC5 (with 64-bit blocks) is susceptible to a differential attack using 2<sup>44</sup> chosen plaintexts. 18–20 rounds are suggested as sufficient protection.Rijndael / AES
The Rijndael cipher developed by Belgian cryptographers, Joan Daemen and Vincent Rijmen was one of the competing designs to replace DES. It won the 5-year public competition to become the AES (Advanced Encryption Standard).
Adopted by NIST in 2001, AES has a fixed block size of 128 bits and a key size of 128, 192, or 256 bits, whereas Rijndael can be specified with block and key sizes in any multiple of 32 bits, with a minimum of 128 bits. The block size has a maximum of 256 bits, but the key size has no theoretical maximum. AES operates on a 4×4 column-major order matrix of bytes, termed the state (versions of Rijndael with a larger block size have additional columns in the state).
Blowfish
Blowfish is a block cipher, designed in 1993 by Bruce Schneier and included in a large number of cipher suites and encryption products. Blowfish has a 64-bit block size and a variable key length from 1 bit up to 448 bits. It is a 16-round Feistel cipher and uses large key-dependent S-boxes. Notable features of the design include the key-dependent S-boxes and a highly complex key schedule.
It was designed as a general-purpose algorithm, intended as an alternative to the aging DES and free of the problems and constraints associated with other algorithms. At the time Blowfish was released, many other designs were proprietary, encumbered by patents, or were commercial/government secrets. Schneier has stated that "Blowfish is unpatented, and will remain so in all countries. The algorithm is hereby placed in the public domain, and can be freely used by anyone." The same applies to Twofish, a successor algorithm from Schneier.
Generalizations
Tweakable block ciphers
M. Liskov, R. Rivest, and D. Wagner have described a generalized version of block ciphers called "tweakable" block ciphers. A tweakable block cipher accepts a second input called the tweak along with its usual plaintext or ciphertext input. The tweak, along with the key, selects the permutation computed by the cipher. If changing tweaks is sufficiently lightweight (compared with a usually fairly expensive key setup operation), then some interesting new operation modes become possible. The disk encryption theory article describes some of these modes.Format-preserving encryption
Block ciphers traditionally work over a binary alphabet. That is, both the input and the output are binary strings, consisting of n zeroes and ones. In some situations, however, one may wish to have a block cipher that works over some other alphabet; for example, encrypting 16-digit credit card numbers in such a way that the ciphertext is also a 16-digit number might facilitate adding an encryption layer to legacy software. This is an example of format-preserving encryption. More generally, format-preserving encryption requires a keyed permutation on some finite language. This makes format-preserving encryption schemes a natural generalization of (tweakable) block ciphers. In contrast, traditional encryption schemes, such as CBC, are not permutations because the same plaintext can encrypt multiple different ciphertexts, even when using a fixed key.
Relation to other cryptographic primitives
Block ciphers can be used to build other cryptographic primitives, such as those below. For these other primitives to be cryptographically secure, care has to be taken to build them the right way.
* Stream ciphers can be built using block ciphers. OFB mode and CTR mode are block modes that turn a block cipher into a stream cipher.
* Cryptographic hash functions can be built using block ciphers. See the one-way compression function for descriptions of several such methods. The methods resemble the block cipher modes of operation usually used for encryption.
* Cryptographically secure pseudorandom number generators (CSPRNGs) can be built using block ciphers.
* Secure pseudorandom permutations of arbitrarily sized finite sets can be constructed with block ciphers; see Format-Preserving Encryption.
* A publicly known unpredictable permutation combined with key whitening is enough to construct a block cipher -- such as the single-key Even–Mansour cipher, perhaps the simplest possible provably secure block cipher.
* Message authentication codes (MACs) are often built from block ciphers. CBC-MAC, OMAC, and PMAC are such MACs.
* Authenticated encryption is also built from block ciphers. It means to both encrypt and MAC at the same time. That is to both provide confidentiality and authentication. CCM, EAX, GCM, and OCB are such authenticated encryption modes.
Just as block ciphers can be used to build hash functions, like SHA-1 and SHA-2 are based on block ciphers which are also used independently as SHACAL, hash functions can be used to build block ciphers. Examples of such block ciphers are BEAR and LION.
See also
* Cipher security summary
* Topics in cryptography
* XOR cipher
References
Further reading
*
External links
* [http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hopwood/crypto/scan/cs.html A list of many symmetric algorithms, the majority of which are block ciphers.]
* [http://www.mat.dtu.dk/people/Lars.R.Knudsen/bc.html The block cipher lounge]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070306055504/http://www.rsa.com/rsalabs/node.asp?id=2168 What is a block cipher?] from RSA FAQ
* [https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp&arnumber8746274 Block Cipher based on Gold Sequences and Chaotic Logistic Tent System]
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Category:Cryptographic primitives
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Block_cipher
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Wireless broadband
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thumb |right |upright=1.3 |Three fixed wireless dishes with protective covers on top of 307 W. 7th Street, Fort Worth, Texas, around 2001
Wireless broadband is a telecommunications technology that provides high-speed wireless Internet access or computer networking access over a wide area. The term encompasses both fixed and mobile broadband.
The term broadband
Originally the word "broadband" had a technical meaning, but became a marketing term for any kind of relatively high-speed computer network or Internet access technology.
According to the 802.16-2004 standard, broadband means "having instantaneous bandwidths greater than 1 MHz and supporting data rates greater than about 1.5 Mbit/s."
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) recently re-defined the word to mean download speeds of at least 25 Mbit/s and upload speeds of at least 3 Mbit/s.
Technology and speeds
thumb|right |A typical WISP Customer Premises Equipment (CPE) installed on a residence
A wireless broadband network is an outdoor fixed and/or mobile wireless network providing point-to-multipoint or point-to-point terrestrial wireless links for broadband services.
Wireless networks can feature data rates exceeding 1 Gbit/s. Many fixed wireless networks are exclusively half-duplex (HDX), however, some licensed and unlicensed systems can also operate at full-duplex (FDX) allowing communication in both directions simultaneously.
Outdoor fixed wireless broadband networks commonly use a priority TDMA based protocol in order to divide communication into timeslots. This timeslot technique eliminates many of the issues common to 802.11 Wi-Fi protocol in outdoor networks such as the hidden node problem.
Few wireless Internet service providers (WISPs) provide download speeds of over 100 Mbit/s; most broadband wireless access (BWA) services are estimated to have a range of from a tower. Technologies used include Local Multipoint Distribution Service (LMDS) and Multichannel Multipoint Distribution Service (MMDS), as well as heavy use of the industrial, scientific and medical (ISM) radio bands and one particular access technology was standardized by IEEE 802.16, with products known as WiMAX.
WiMAX is highly popular in Europe but has not been fully accepted in the United States because cost of deployment. In 2005 the Federal Communications Commission adopted a Report and Order that revised the FCC's rules to open the 3650 MHz band for terrestrial wireless broadband operations.
Development in the United States
On November 14, 2007, the Commission released Public Notice DA 07–4605 in which the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau announced the start date for licensing and registration process for the 3650–3700 MHz band.
In 2010 the FCC adopted the TV White Space Rules (TVWS) and allowed some of the better no line of sight frequency (700 MHz) into the FCC Part-15 Rules. The Wireless Internet Service Providers Association, a national association of WISPs, petitioned the FCC and won.
Initially, WISPs were found only in rural areas not covered by cable or DSL. These early WISPs would employ a high-capacity T-carrier, such as a T1 or DS3 connection, and then broadcast the signal from a high elevation, such as at the top of a water tower. To receive this type of Internet connection, consumers mount a small dish to the roof of their home or office and point it to the transmitter. Line of sight is usually necessary for WISPs operating in the 2.4 and 5 GHz bands with 900 MHz offering better NLOS (non-line-of-sight) performance.
Residential Wireless Internet
Providers of fixed wireless broadband services typically provide equipment to customers and install a small antenna or dish somewhere on the roof. This equipment is usually deployed as a service and maintained by the company providing that service. Fixed wireless services have become particularly popular in many rural areas where cable, DSL or other typical home internet services are not available.
Business Wireless Internet
Many companies in the US and worldwide have started using wireless alternatives to incumbent and local providers for internet and voice service. These providers tend to offer competitive services and options in areas where there is a difficulty getting affordable Ethernet connections from terrestrial providers such as ATT, Comcast, Verizon and others. Also, companies looking for full diversity between carriers for critical uptime requirements may seek wireless alternatives to local options.
Demand for spectrum
To cope with increased demand for wireless broadband, increased spectrum would be needed. Studies began in 2009, and while some unused spectrum was available, it appeared broadcasters would have to give up at least some spectrum. This led to strong objections from the broadcasting community. In 2013, auctions were planned, and for now any action by broadcasters is voluntary.
Mobile wireless broadband
In the United States, mobile broadband technologies include services from providers such as Verizon, AT&T Mobility, and T-Mobile which allow a more mobile version of Internet access. Consumers can purchase a PC card, laptop card, USB equipment, or mobile broadband modem, to connect their PC or laptop to the Internet via cell phone towers. This type of connection would be stable in almost any area that could also receive a strong cell phone connection. These connections can cost more for portable convenience as well as having speed limitations in all but urban environments.
On June 2, 2010, after months of discussion, AT&T became the first wireless Internet provider in the US to announce plans to charge according to usage. As the only iPhone service in the United States, AT&T experienced the problem of heavy Internet use more than other providers. About 3 percent of AT&T smart phone customers account for 40 percent of the technology's use. 98 percent of the company's customers use less than 2 gigabytes (4000 page views, 10,000 emails or 200 minutes of streaming video), the limit under the $25 monthly plan, and 65 percent use less than 200 megabytes, the limit for the $15 plan. For each gigabyte in excess of the limit, customers would be charged $10 a month starting June 7, 2010, though existing customers would not be required to change from the $30 a month unlimited service plan. The new plan would become a requirement for those upgrading to the new iPhone technology later in the summer.
Licensing
A wireless connection can be either licensed or unlicensed. In the US, licensed connections use a private spectrum the user has secured rights to from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). The unlicensed mobile wireless broadband, in US operates on CBRS Which has three tiers. Tier 1 – Incumbent Access, reserved for US Federals Government, Tier 2 – Priority Access, a paid access with priority on the spectrum, Tier 3 – General Authorized Access (GAA), a shared spectrum. In other countries, spectrum is licensed from the country's national radio communications authority (such as the ACMA in Australia or Nigerian Communications Commission in Nigeria (NCC)). Licensing is usually expensive and often reserved for large companies who wish to guarantee private access to spectrum for use in point to point communication. Because of this, most wireless ISP's use unlicensed spectrum which is publicly shared.
See also
CorDECT
HIPERMAN
iBurst
802.20
Connect card
Policies promoting wireless broadband
References
External links
Wireless Internet Service Provider Association
Wireless Internet Service Provider Ontario
Category:Wireless networking
Category:Broadband
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wireless_broadband
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2025-04-05T18:26:54.165833
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4601
|
Björn Borg
|
| birth_place = Stockholm, Sweden
| country =
| height = 1.80 m
| turnedpro = 1973 (comeback in 1991)
| retired = 1984, 1993
| coach = Lennart Bergelin (1971–1983)<br />Ron Thatcher (1991–1993)
| plays = Right-handed (two-handed backhand)
| careerprizemoney = US$3,655,751
| tennishofyear = 1987
| tennishofid = bjorn-borg
| singlesrecord
| singlestitles = 66 (8th in the Open Era)
| highestsinglesranking = No. 1 (23 August 1977)
| AustralianOpenresult = 3R (1974)
| FrenchOpenresult = W (1974, 1975, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981)
| Wimbledonresult = W (1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980)
| USOpenresult = F (1976, 1978, 1980, 1981)
| Othertournaments = Yes
| MastersCupresult = W (1979, 1980)
| WCTFinalsresult = W (1976)
| Promajors = yes
| USProresult = W (1974, 1975, 1976)
| WembleyProresult = W (1977)
| doublesrecord = 86–81 (51.2%)
| doublestitles = 4
| highestdoublesranking | AustralianOpenDoublesresult 3R (1973)
| FrenchOpenDoublesresult = SF (1974, 1975)
| WimbledonDoublesresult = 3R (1976)
| USOpenDoublesresult = 3R (1975)
| Team = yes
| DavisCupresult = W (1975)
}}
Björn Rune Borg (; born 6 June 1956) is a Swedish former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 109 weeks. Borg won 66 singles titles during his career, including eleven majors: six at the French Open and five consecutively at Wimbledon. Borg was ATP Player of the Year from 1976 to 1980, the year-end No. 1 in the ATP rankings in 1979 and 1980, and the ITF World Champion from 1978 to 1980.
A teenage sensation at the start of his career, Borg experienced unprecedented stardom and consistent success that helped propel the rising popularity of tennis during the 1970s. Between 1974 and 1981, Borg claimed 11 major singles titles, the most by any man in the Open Era up to that point. His rivalries with Jimmy Connors and John McEnroe became cultural touchstones beyond the world of tennis, with the latter rivalry peaking at the 1980 Wimbledon final, considered one of the greatest matches ever played. Following defeats to McEnroe in the 1981 Wimbledon and US Open finals, Borg unexpectedly retired from tennis at the age of 25. He made a brief and unsuccessful comeback in 1991.
Borg won four consecutive French Open titles (1978–81) and was undefeated in six French Open finals. He is the only man to achieve the Channel Slam three times. He won three major titles without losing a set during those tournaments. However, he never won the US Open despite four runner-up finishes. Borg also won three year-end championships and 16 Grand Prix Super Series titles. In 1979, Borg became the first player to earn more than US$1 million in prize money in a single season. Overall, he set numerous records, some of which still stand.
Borg is widely considered one of the all-time greats of the sport, and was ranked by Tennis magazine as the sixth-greatest male player of the Open Era.Early lifeBjörn Borg was born in Stockholm, Sweden, on 6 June 1956, the only child of Rune (1932–2008), an electrician, and Margaretha Borg (b. 1934).
A player of great athleticism and endurance, he had a distinctive style and appearance—bowlegged and very fast. His muscularity allowed him to put heavy topspin on both his forehand and two-handed backhand. He followed Jimmy Connors in using the two-handed backhand. By the time he was 13, he was beating the best of Sweden's under-18 players, and Davis Cup captain Lennart Bergelin (who served as Borg's primary coach throughout his professional career) cautioned against anyone trying to change Borg's rough-looking, jerky strokes.
Career
1972–73 – Davis Cup debut and first year on the tour
At the age of 15, Borg represented Sweden in the 1972 Davis Cup and won his debut singles rubber in five sets against veteran Onny Parun of New Zealand. Later that year, he won the Wimbledon junior singles title, recovering from a 5–2 deficit in the final set to overcome Britain's Buster Mottram. Then in December, he won the Orange Bowl Junior Championship for boys 18 and under after a straight-sets victory in the final over Vitas Gerulaitis. Borg joined the professional circuit in 1973, and reached his first singles final in April at the Monte Carlo Open, which he lost to Ilie Năstase. He was unseeded at his first French Open and reached the fourth round where he lost in four sets to eighth-seeded Adriano Panatta. Borg was seeded sixth at his first Wimbledon Championships, in large part due to a boycott by the ATP, and reached the quarterfinal, where he was defeated in a five-set match by Roger Taylor. In the second half of 1973, he was runner-up in San Francisco, Stockholm and Buenos Aires and finished the year ranked No. 18.
1974 – First French Open title
at Rotterdam Open in 1975]]
Borg made his only appearance at the Australian Open at the age of 17, and reached the third round, where he lost in straight sets to eventual finalist Phil Dent. In January, he won his first career singles title at the New Zealand Open, followed by titles in London and São Paulo in February and March respectively. Just before his 18th birthday in June 1974, Borg won his first top-level singles title at the Italian Open, defeating defending champion and top-seeded Ilie Năstase in the final and becoming its youngest winner. Two weeks later, he won the singles title at the French Open, his first Grand Slam tournament title, defeating Manuel Orantes in the final in five sets. Barely 18, Borg was the youngest-ever male French Open champion up to that point.1975 – Retained French Open title
at the French Open final in 1975]]
In early 1975, Borg defeated Rod Laver, then 36 years old, in a semifinal of the World Championship Tennis (WCT) finals in Dallas, Texas, in five sets. Borg subsequently lost to Arthur Ashe in the final.
Borg retained his French Open title in 1975, beating Guillermo Vilas in the final in straight sets. Borg then reached the Wimbledon quarterfinals, where he lost to eventual champion Ashe. Borg did not lose another match at Wimbledon until 1981. Borg won two singles and one doubles rubber in the 1975 Davis Cup final, as Sweden beat Czechoslovakia 3–2. With these singles wins, Borg had won 19 consecutive Davis Cup singles rubbers since 1973. That was already a record at the time. However, Borg never lost another Davis Cup singles rubber, and, by the end of his career, he had stretched that winning streak to 33.
1976 – First Wimbledon title
In early 1976, Borg won the World Championship Tennis year-end WCT Finals in Dallas, Texas, with a four-set victory over Guillermo Vilas in the final. At the 1976 French Open, Borg lost to the Italian Adriano Panatta, who remains the only player to defeat Borg at this tournament. Panatta did it twice: in the fourth round in 1973, and in the 1976 quarterfinals. Borg won Wimbledon in 1976 without losing a set, defeating the favored Ilie Năstase in the final. Borg became the youngest male Wimbledon singles champion since Sidney Wood in 1931 at 20 years and 1 month (a record subsequently broken by Boris Becker, who won Wimbledon aged 17 in 1985). Năstase later said, "We're playing tennis and he's playing something else." Borg also reached the final of the 1976 U.S. Open, which was then being played on clay courts. Borg lost in four sets to world no. 1 Jimmy Connors. Borg was awarded the ATP Player of the Year award and ranked world No. 1 by Tennis Magazine (France).1977 – Second Wimbledon title and world No.1 rankingIn February 1977 World Championship Tennis (WCT) sued Borg and his management company IMG claiming that Borg had committed a breach of contract by electing to participate in the competing 1977 Grand Prix circuit instead of the WCT circuit. Borg eventually played, and won, a single WCT event, the Monte Carlo WCT. An out-of-court settlement was reached whereby Borg committed to play six or eight WCT events in 1978 which were then part of the Grand Prix circuit.
Borg skipped the French Open in 1977 because he was under contract with WTT, but he repeated his Wimbledon triumph, although this time he was pushed much harder. He defeated his good friend Vitas Gerulaitis in a semifinal in five sets. His match with Gerulaitis was deemed by Wimbledon itself as "probably the greatest gentlemen's singles match played at Wimbledon". In the 1977 final Borg was pushed to five sets for the third time in the tournament, this time by Connors. The win propelled Borg to the No. 1 ranking in the ATP point system, albeit for just one week in August. Prior to the 1977 US Open, Borg aggravated a shoulder injury while waterskiing with Vitas Gerulaitis. This injury ultimately forced him to retire from the Open during a Round of 16 match vs Dick Stockton. Borg was rated number one for 1977 by Tennis Magazine (France), Tennis Magazine (U.S.), Barry Lorge, Lance Tingay, Rino Tommasi, Judith Elian and Rod Laver. Borg was also named "ATP Player of the Year". Through 1977, he had never lost to a player younger than himself.
1978 – French and Wimbledon titles
Borg was at the height of his career from 1978 through 1980, completing the French Open-Wimbledon double all three years. In 1978, Borg won the French Open with a win over Vilas in the final. Borg did not drop a set during the tournament, a feat only he, Năstase (in 1973), and Rafael Nadal (in 2008, 2010, 2017 and 2020) have accomplished at the French Open during the open era. Borg defeated Connors in straight sets in the 1978 Wimbledon final. At the 1978 US Open, now held on hard courts in Flushing Meadow, New York, he lost the final in straight sets to Connors. Borg was suffering from a bad blister on his thumb that required pre-match injections. That autumn, Borg faced John McEnroe for the first time in a semifinal of the Stockholm Open, and lost. Borg was named ATP Player of the Year and was the first ITF World Champion.
1979 – French and Wimbledon titles and year-end No. 1 ranking
]]
Borg lost to McEnroe again in four sets in the final of the 1979 WCT Finals but was now overtaking Connors for the top ranking. Borg established himself firmly in the top spot with his fourth French Open singles title and fourth straight Wimbledon singles title, defeating Connors in a straight-set semifinal at the latter tournament. At the 1979 French Open, Borg defeated big-serving Víctor Pecci in a four-set final, and in the 1979 Wimbledon final Borg came from behind to overcome an even bigger server, Roscoe Tanner. Borg was upset by Tanner at the US Open, in a four-set quarterfinal played under the lights. At the season-ending Masters tournament in January 1980, Borg survived a close semifinal against McEnroe. He then beat Gerulaitis in straight sets, winning his first Masters and first title in New York. Borg finished the year at No. 1 in the ATP Point rankings and was considered the No. 1 player in the world by most authorities.
Borg then won his fifth consecutive Wimbledon singles title, defeating McEnroe in a five-set final, often cited as the best Wimbledon final ever played. Having lost the opening set to an all-out McEnroe assault, Borg took the next two and had two championship points at 5–4 in the fourth. However, McEnroe averted disaster and went on to level the match in Wimbledon's most memorable tiebreaker, which McEnroe won 18–16. In the fourth-set tiebreak, McEnroe saved five match points, and Borg six set points, before McEnroe won the set.
In September, 1980 Borg reached the final of the U.S. Open for the third time, losing to John McEnroe in five sets in a match that cemented what had become the greatest contemporary rivalry, albeit short-lived, in men's tennis.
He defeated McEnroe in the final of the 1980 Stockholm Open, and faced him one more time that year, in the round-robin portion of the year-end Masters, actually played in January 1981. With 19,103 fans in attendance, Borg won a deciding third-set tie-break for the second year in a row. Borg then defeated Ivan Lendl for his second Masters title. Nevertheless, Borg's announcement in January 1983 that he was retiring from the game at the age of 26 was a shock to the tennis world. McEnroe tried unsuccessfully to persuade Borg to continue. He did, however, play Monte Carlo again in March 1983, reaching the second round, and Stuttgart in July 1984, losing to Henri Leconte in both occasions.
Upon retirement, Borg had three residences: a penthouse in Monte Carlo, not far from his pro shop; a mansion on Long Island, New York and a small island off the Swedish coast.
Borg later bounced back as the owner of the Björn Borg fashion label. In Sweden, his label has become very successful, second only to Calvin Klein.Attempted comebackIn 1991–1993, Borg attempted a comeback on the men's professional tennis tour, coached by Welsh karate expert Ron Thatcher. Before his 1991 return, Borg grew his hair out as it had been during his previous professional tennis career and he returned to using a wooden racket; he had kept his hair cut and used modern graphite rackets in exhibitions he played during the late 1980s. Borg, however, failed to win a single match. He faced Jordi Arrese in his first match back, again at Monte Carlo but without practising or playing any exhibition matches and lost in two sets. In his first nine matches, played in 1991 and 1992, Borg failed to win a single set. He fared slightly better in 1993, taking a set off his opponent in each of the three matches he played. He came closest to getting a win in what turned out to be his final tour match, falling to second seed Alexander Volkov 6–4, 3–6, 6–7<sup>(7–9)</sup> at the 1993 Kremlin Cup in Moscow.
In 1992 Borg, aged 35, using a graphite racket, defeated John Lloyd, 37, at the Inglewood Forum Tennis Challenge. Borg later joined the Champions tour, using modern rackets.
Playing style
Borg had one of the most distinctive playing styles in the Open Era. He played from the baseline, with powerful ground-strokes. His highly unorthodox backhand involved taking his racket back with both hands but actually generating his power with his dominant right hand, letting go of the grip with his left hand around point of contact, and following through with his swing as a one-hander. He hit the ball hard and high from the back of the court and brought it down with considerable topspin, which made his ground strokes very consistent. There had been other players, particularly Rod Laver and Arthur Ashe, who played with topspin on both the forehand and backhand, yet Laver and Ashe used topspin only as a way to mix up their shots to pass their opponents at the net easily. Borg was one of the first top players to use heavy topspin on his shots consistently.
One of the factors that made Borg unique was his dominance on the grass courts of Wimbledon, where, since World War II, baseliners did not usually succeed. Some experts attributed his dominance on this surface to his consistency, an underrated serve, equally underrated volleys, and his adaptation to grass courts. Against the best players, he almost always served-and-volleyed on his first serves, while he naturally played from the baseline after his second serves.
Another trait usually associated with Borg was his grace under pressure. His calm court demeanor earned him the nickname of the "Ice Man" or "Ice-Borg".
Borg's physical conditioning was unrivalled by contemporaries. He could outlast most of his opponents under the most grueling conditions. Contrary to popular belief, however, this was not due to his exceptionally low resting heart rate, often reported to be near 35 beats per minute. In his introduction to Borg's autobiography My Life and Game, Eugene Scott relates that this rumor arose from a medical exam the 18-year-old Borg once took for military service, where his pulse was recorded as 38. Scott goes on to reveal Borg's true pulse rate as "about 50 when he wakes up and around 60 in the afternoon". Borg is credited with helping to develop the style of play that has come to dominate the game today. This mental approach changed by 1981, when he has said that when he lost the Wimbledon final "what shocked me was I wasn't even upset".Personal life
in Snagov, Romania, on 24 July 1980]]
Borg and Romanian tennis pro Mariana Simionescu began their relationship in 1976 The marriage ended in divorce in 1984. He fathered a son named Robin in 1985 with the Swedish model Jannike Björling; Robin had a daughter in 2014. Borg was married to the Italian singer Loredana Bertè from 1989 to 1993.
He narrowly avoided personal bankruptcy when business ventures failed. After selling his mansion Astaholm at Ingarö in the Stockholm archipelago in 2019, Borg moved to an apartment in Norrmalm, central Stockholm.FilmIn 2017, Borg vs McEnroe, a biographical film focusing on the rivalry between Borg and McEnroe and the 1980 Wimbledon final, was released. In 2022, interviews about this friendship and rivalry were also featured in [https://www.sho.com/titles/3496614/mcenroe "McEnroe,"] a Showtime documentary.Memorabilia preservedIn March 2006, Bonhams Auction House in London announced that it would auction Borg's Wimbledon trophies and two of his winning rackets on 21 June 2006. Several players then called Borg in an attempt to make him reconsider, including Jimmy Connors and Andre Agassi, who volunteered to buy them to keep them together. According to – who had talked to Borg – McEnroe called Borg from New York and asked, "What's up? Have you gone mad?" and said "What the hell are you doing?" The conversation with McEnroe, paired with pleas from Connors and Agassi, eventually persuaded Borg to buy out the trophies from Bonhams for an undisclosed amount.
* In December 2014 he was elected Sweden's top sportsperson of all time by the newspaper .RecognitionWith 11 Grand Slam titles, Borg ranks sixth in the list of male tennis players who have won the most Grand Slam singles titles behind Novak Djokovic (24), Rafael Nadal (22), Roger Federer (20), Pete Sampras (14) and Roy Emerson (12). The French Open—Wimbledon double he achieved three times consecutively was described by Wimbledon officials as "the most difficult double in tennis". Only Nadal (in 2008 and 2010), Federer (in 2009), Djokovic (in 2021) and Alcaraz (in 2024) have managed to achieve this double since, and Agassi, Nadal, Federer, Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz are the only male players since Borg to have won the French Open and Wimbledon men's singles titles over their career. Ilie Năstase once said about Borg, "We're playing tennis, and he's playing something else".
Borg is widely considered to be one of the greatest players in the history of the sport.
In his 1979 autobiography, Jack Kramer, the long-time tennis promoter and great player himself, had already included Borg in his list of the 21 greatest players of all time. And in 2003, Bud Collins chose Borg as one of his top-five male players of all time. In 1983 Fred Perry listed his greatest male players of all time and listed them in two categories, before World War 2 and after. Perry's modern best behind Laver: "Borg, McEnroe, Connors, Hoad, Jack Kramer, John Newcombe, Ken Rosewall, Manuel Santana". In 1988, a panel consisting of Bud Collins, Cliff Drysdale, and Butch Buchholz ranked their top five male tennis players of all time. Buchholz and Drysdale both listed Borg number two on their lists, behind Rod Laver. Collins listed Borg number five behind Laver, McEnroe, Rosewall and Gonzales.
In 2008, ESPN.com asked tennis analysts, writers, and former players to build the perfect open-era player. Borg was the only player mentioned in four categories: defense, footwork, intangibles, and mental toughness—with his mental game and footwork singled out as the best in open-era history.
Borg never won the US Open, losing in the final four times. Borg also did not win the Australian Open, which he only played once in 1974 as a 17-year-old. The only players to defeat Borg in a Grand Slam final were fellow World No. 1 tennis players John McEnroe and Jimmy Connors. Even though it was then played on grass, a surface where he enjoyed much success, Borg chose to play the Australian Open only once, in 1974, where he lost in the third round. Phil Dent, a contemporary of Borg, has pointed out that skipping Grand Slam tournaments—especially the Australian Open—was not unusual then, before counting Grand Slam titles became the norm. Additionally, another contemporary Arthur Ashe told Sports Illustrated, "I think Bjorn could have won the US Open. I think he could have won the Grand Slam, but by the time he left, the historical challenge didn't mean anything. He was bigger than the game. He was like Elvis or Liz Taylor or somebody."
Laver Cup
From 22 to 24 September 2017, Borg was the victorious captain of Team Europe in the first-ever edition of the Laver Cup, held in Prague, Czech Republic. Borg's Team Europe defeated a rest of the world team, known as Team World, who were coached by Borg's old rival, John McEnroe. Europe won the contest 15 points to 9, with Roger Federer achieving a narrow vital victory over Nick Kyrgios in the last match played.
Borg returned as the coach of Team Europe for the second edition in Chicago, Illinois from 21 to 23 September 2018. McEnroe also returned as the coach for Team World. Borg again led Europe to victory as Alexander Zverev defeated Kevin Anderson to secure the title 13–8, after trailing Anderson in the match tiebreak until the last few points.
In the tournament's third edition, held in Geneva, Switzerland, from 20 to 22 September 2019, Borg captained Team Europe to a third consecutive victory, defeating McEnroe's Team World 13 points to 11, with Zverev again winning the deciding match.
The fourth edition was held in Boston from 24 to 26 September 2021, having had its original September 2020 date postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Borg once again returned as captain of Team Europe, which had a resounding win over Team World, defeating McEnroe's players 14 to 1.
Career statistics
Singles performance timeline
{| classwikitable styletext-align:center;font-size:97%
|-
! Tournament !!1972!!1973!!1974!!1975!!1976!! colspan="2" | 1977 !!1978!!1979!!1980!!1981!! !! !! Win %
|-
| colspan"15" style"text-align:left;" |Grand Slam tournaments
|-
| align=left | Australian Open
| A
| A
| style="background:#afeeee;"| 3R
| A
| A
| A
|A
| A
| A
| A
| A
| 0 / 1
| 1–1
| 50.00
|-
| align=left | French Open
| A
| style="background:#afeeee;"| 4R
| style="background:lime;"| W
| style="background:lime;"| W
| style="background:#ffebcd;"| QF
| colspan="2" | A
| style="background:lime;"| W
| style="background:lime;"| W
| style="background:lime;"| W
| style="background:lime;"| W
| 6 / 8
| 49–2
| 96.08
|-
| align=left | Wimbledon
| A
| style="background:#ffebcd;"| QF
| style="background:#afeeee;"| 3R
| style="background:#ffebcd;"| QF
| style="background:lime;"| W
| colspan"2" style"background:lime;" | W
| style="background:lime;"| W
| style="background:lime;"| W
| style="background:lime;"| W
| style="background:thistle;"| F
| 5 / 9
| 51–4
| 92.73
|-
| align=left | US Open
| style="background:#afeeee;"| PR*
| style="background:#afeeee;"| 4R
| style="background:#afeeee;"| 2R
| style="background:yellow;"| SF
| style="background:thistle;"| F
| colspan"2" style"background:#afeeee;" | 4R
| style="background:thistle;"| F
| style="background:#ffebcd;"| QF
| style="background:thistle;"| F
| style="background:thistle;"| F
| 0 / 10
| 40–10
| 80.00
|-
! style=text-align:left|Win–loss
! 0–1
! 10–3
! 11–3
! 16–2
! 17–2
! colspan="2" | 10–1
! 20–1
! 18–1
! 20–1
! 19–2
! 11 / 28
! 141–17
! 89.24
|-
| colspan"15" style"text-align:left;" |Year-end championship
|-
| alignleft | The Masters
| A
| A
| style="background:#afeeee;"| RR
| style="background:thistle;"| F
| A
| colspan"2" style"background:thistle;" | F
| A
| style="background:lime;"| W
| style="background:lime;"| W
| A
! 2 / 5
! 16–6
! 72.72
|-
| align=left | WCT Finals
| A
| A
| style="background:thistle;"| F
| style="background:thistle;"| F
| style="background:lime;"| W
| colspan="2" | A
| style="background:yellow;"| SF
| style="background:thistle;"| F
| A
| A
! 1 / 5
! 10–3
! 76.92
|-
| colspan="15" |
|-
| align=left | Year-end ranking
| align=center |
| 18
| style="background:#9cf;"| 3
| style="background:#9cf;"| 3
| style="background:thistle;"| 2
| colspan"2" style"background:#9cf;" | 3
| style="background:thistle;"| 2
| style="background:lime;"| 1
| style="background:lime;"| 1
| style="background:#eee8aa;"| 4
! colspan=3 | $3,655,751
|}
* The Australian Open was held twice in 1977, in January and December. Borg did not play in either.
* The 1972 US Open had a special preliminary round before the main 128 player draw began.
Records
* These records were attained in the entire period of tennis from 1877.
* Records in bold indicate peer-less achievements.
* ^ Denotes consecutive streak.
All-time records
{| class="wikitable"
|- style="background:#efefef;"
! Tournament
! Since
! Record accomplished
! Players matched
! References
|-
| Grand Slam||align=center|1972||86.96% (20–3) five set match record||Stands alone||
|-
| Grand Slam||aligncenter|1977||3 consecutive Channel Slams, French Open + Wimbledon (1978–80) ^||Stands alone||
|-
| Grand Slam||aligncenter|1978||Grand Slam title won (1978 French Open) with fewest games lost (32)||Stands alone||
|-
| Wimbledon||aligncenter|1977||92.73% (51–4) match win percentage ||Stands alone||
|-
| Wimbledon||aligncenter|1977||41 consecutive match wins ||Stands alone||
|-
| 1977–1981 || 5 consecutive years with a match winning percentage of 90%+ ^|| Stands alone||
|-
| 1978 French Open —<br />1978 US Open || 66.5% (380–191) games winning percentage in 1 season || Stands alone||
|-
| 1978 French Open || 79.9% (127–32) games winning in one tournament|| Stands alone||
|-
| 1976 Wimbledon —<br />1980 Wimbledon || 6 existing Major champions defeated in finals ||Roger Federer||
|-
| 1976 Wimbledon —<br />1980 Wimbledon || 6 concurrent Major champions defeated in finals ||Stands alone||
|-
| 1980 Wimbledon || Longest tiebreak in a final (by points – 34) vs. John McEnroe || John McEnroe||
|-
| 1974 French Open||Won a Grand Slam final from two sets down.||Ivan Lendl<br />Andre Agassi<br />Gastón Gaudio<br />Dominic Thiem<br />Novak Djokovic<br />Rafael Nadal<br />Jannik Sinner||
|}
{| class="wikitable collapsible collapsed"
|-
! Grand Slam tournaments
! Time span
! Records at each Grand Slam tournament
! Players matched
! References
|-
|rowspan"2"| French Open || 1979–1981 || 41 consecutive sets won ^|| Stands alone||
|-
| 1978 || 79.9% (127–32) games winning percentage in 1 tournament || Stands alone||
|-
| French Open—Wimbledon || 1978–1980 || 3 consecutive "Channel Slams": Winning both tournaments in the same year ^|| Stands alone||
|-
|rowspan"4"| Wimbledon || 1976–1980 || 5 consecutive titles ^||rowspan"2"| Roger Federer||
|-
| 1976–1981 || 41 consecutive match wins || Stands alone||
|}
{| class="wikitable collapsible collapsed"
|-
! Time span
! Other selected records
! Players matched
! References
|-
| 1973–1981 || 72.5% (111–42) career winning percentage against top 10 players || Stands alone||
|-
| 1977–1980 || 4 consecutive years with a match winning percentage of 90%+ || Stands alone||
|-
| 1979–1980 || 10 consecutive titles || Stands alone||
|-
| 1978 || 50 consecutive matches won in 1 season ||Stands alone||
|-
| 1978–1980 || 2 winning streaks of 35+ matches ^ || Roger Federer<br />Jimmy Connors||
|-
| 1974–1981 || 63 titles until the age of 25 || Stands alone||
|-
| 1974–1976 || 17 titles won as a teenager|| Stands alone||
|-
| 1972–1981 || 81.8% (27–6) career 5 set match record || Jean Borotra<br />Johan Kriek||
|}
Professional awards
* ITF World Champion: 1978, 1979, 1980
* ATP Player of the Year: 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980
See also
* Borg–McEnroe rivalry
* Borg–Connors rivalry
* List of Grand Slam men's singles champions
* List of Swedish sportspeople
* World number one male tennis player rankings
* Björn Borg (brand)
Notes
ReferencesSources*
*
* John Barrett, editor, World of Tennis Yearbooks, London, from 1976 through 1983.
* Michel Sutter, Vainqueurs Winners 1946–2003, Paris, 2003. Sutter has attempted to list all tournaments meeting his criteria for selection beginning with 1946 and ending in the fall of 1991. For each tournament, he has indicated the city, the date of the final, the winner, the runner-up, and the score of the final. A tournament is included in his list if: (1) the draw for the tournament included at least eight players (with a few exceptions, such as the Pepsi Grand Slam tournaments in the second half of the 1970s which included only players that had won a Grand Slam tournament); and (2) the level of the tournaments was at least equal to the present day challenger tournaments. Sutter's book is probably the most exhaustive source of tennis tournament information since World War II, even though some professional tournaments held before the start of the open era are missing. Later, Sutter issued a second edition of his book, with only the players, their wins, and years for the 1946 through 27 April 2003, period.
Video
* The Wimbledon Collection – Legends of Wimbledon – Björn Borg Standing Room Only, DVD Release Date: 21 September 2004, Run Time: 52 minutes, ASIN: B0002HODA4.
* The Wimbledon Collection – The Classic Match – Borg vs. McEnroe 1981 Final Standing Room Only, DVD Release Date: 21 September 2004, Run Time: 210 minutes, ASIN: B0002HODAE.
* The Wimbledon Collection – The Classic Match – Borg vs. McEnroe 1980 Final Standing Room Only, DVD Release Date: 21 September 2004, Run Time: 240 minutes; ASIN: B0002HOEK8.
* Wimbledon Classic Match: Gerulaitis vs Borg Standing Room Only, DVD Release Date: 31 October 2006, Run Time: 180 minutes, ASIN: B000ICLR8O.
External links
*
*
*
*
* ([https://web.archive.org/web/20110203182757/http://www.wimbledon.org/en_GB/about/history/bjorn_borg.html archive])
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/tennis/wimbledon_history/3742099.stm BBC profile]
* [http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/tennis/article6637160.ece Sunday Times article 5 July 2009]
}
|list1=<div>
Jimmy Connors<br /> Jimmy Connors<br /> Jimmy Connors<br /> John McEnroe<br /> John McEnroe<br /> John McEnroe}}
Jimmy Connors<br /> Jimmy Connors<br /> John McEnroe<br /> John McEnroe<br /> John McEnroe<br /> John McEnroe}}
John McEnroe}}
Muhammad Ali}}
Jack Nicklaus}}
John Newcombe<br /> Rod Laver}}
Pete Sampras}}
</div>
}}
}}
}}
}}
Category:French Open champions
Category:International Tennis Hall of Fame inductees
Category:Living people
Category:People from Monte Carlo
Category:Sportspeople from Södertälje
Category:Tennis players from Stockholm
Category:Swedish expatriate sportspeople in Monaco
Category:Swedish male tennis players
Category:Wimbledon champions
Category:Wimbledon junior champions
Category:1956 births
Category:Grand Slam (tennis) champions in men's singles
Category:Grand Slam (tennis) champions in boys' singles
Category:Masters tennis players
Category:ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis players
Category:ITF World Champions
Category:BBC Sports Personality Lifetime Achievement Award recipients
Category:20th-century Swedish sportsmen
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Björn_Borg
|
2025-04-05T18:26:54.232883
|
4606
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Battle of the Nile
|
|result=British victory
|combatant1=
|combatant2= France
|commander1= Horatio Nelson
|commander2= Brueys d'Aigalliers
|strength1=14 ships of the line <br> 1 sloop (OOB)
|strength2=13 ships of the line <br> 4 frigates (OOB)
|casualties1=218 killed<br>677 wounded
|casualties2=2,000–5,000 killed and wounded<br>3,000–3,900 captured<br>2 ships of the line destroyed<br>9 ships of the line captured<br>2 frigates destroyed
|map_type=Lower Egypt#Mediterranean
|map_relief=1
|map_size=300
|campaignbox=
}}
| zoom = 4
| float = right
| nolabels = 1
| width = 304
| height = 160
| title =Egypt and Syria
| caption =
| shapeD = n-circle
| shape-colorD = maroon
| shape-outlineD = white
| label-colorD = maroon
| label-sizeD = 12
| label-posD = left
| label-offset-xD = 0
| label-offset-yD = 0
| label1 = Malta
| mark-coord1 =
| mark-title1 = French invasion of Malta from 10 to 12 June 1798
| label-pos1 = right
| label2 Alexandria|jdx29
| mark-coord2 =
| mark-title2 = Battle of the Nile from 1 to 3 August 1798<br>Napoleon's return to France from 23 August to 9 October 1799<br>Siege of Alexandria (1801) from 17 August to 2 September 1801
| shape-color2 = black
| label-color2 = black
| label3 Cairo|jdx39
| mark-coord3 =
| mark-title3 = Battle of the Pyramids on 21 July 1798<br>Revolt of Cairo from 21 to 22 October 1798<br>Napoleon's return to France<br>Siege of Cairo from May to June 1801
| label4 Jaffa|jdx411
| mark-coord4 =
| mark-title4 = Siege of Jaffa from 3 to 7 March 1799
| label5 | mark-coord5
| mark-title5 = Siege of Acre (1799) from 20 March to 21 May 1799
| label6 | mark-coord6
| mark-title6 = Battle of Mount Tabor (1799) on 16 April 1799
}}
The Battle of the Nile (also known as the Battle of Aboukir Bay; ) was a major naval battle fought between Britain's Royal Navy and the French Republic Navy at Aboukir Bay on the Mediterranean coast off the Nile Delta of Egypt between 1–3 August 1798. The battle was the climax of a naval campaign that had raged across the Mediterranean during the previous three months, as a large French convoy sailed from Toulon to Alexandria carrying an expeditionary force under General Napoleon Bonaparte. The British fleet was led in the battle by Rear-Admiral Sir Horatio Nelson; they decisively defeated the French under Vice-Admiral François-Paul Brueys d'Aigalliers, destroying the best of the French navy, which was weakened for the rest of the Napoleonic Wars.
Bonaparte sought to invade Egypt as the first step in a campaign against British India, as part of a greater effort to drive Britain out of the French Revolutionary Wars. As Bonaparte's fleet crossed the Mediterranean, it was pursued by a British force under Nelson who had been sent from the British fleet in the Tagus to learn the purpose of the French expedition and to defeat it. He chased the French for more than two months, on several occasions missing them only by a matter of hours. Bonaparte was aware of Nelson's pursuit and enforced absolute secrecy about his destination. He was able to capture Malta and then land in Egypt without interception by the British naval forces.
With the French army ashore, the French fleet anchored in Aboukir Bay, northeast of Alexandria. Commander Vice-Admiral François-Paul Brueys d'Aigalliers believed that he had established a formidable defensive position. The British fleet arrived off Egypt on 1 August and discovered Brueys's dispositions, and Nelson ordered an immediate attack. His ships advanced on the French line and split into two divisions as they approached. One cut across the head of the line and passed between the anchored French and the shore, while the other engaged the seaward side of the French fleet. Trapped in a crossfire, the leading French warships were battered into surrender during a fierce three-hour battle, although the centre of the line held out for a while until more British ships were able to join the attack. At 22:00, the French flagship exploded which prompted the rear division of the French fleet to attempt to break out of the bay. With Brueys dead and his vanguard and centre defeated, only two ships of the line and two frigates escaped from a total of 17 ships engaged.
The battle reversed the strategic situation between the two nations' forces in the Mediterranean and entrenched the Royal Navy in the dominant position that it retained for the rest of the Napoleonic Wars. It also encouraged other European countries to turn against France, and was a factor in the outbreak of the War of the Second Coalition. Bonaparte's army was trapped in Egypt, and Royal Navy dominance off the Syrian coast contributed significantly to the French defeat at the siege of Acre in 1799 which preceded Bonaparte's abandonment of Egypt and return to Europe. Nelson was wounded in the battle, and he was proclaimed a hero across Europe and was subsequently made Baron Nelson—although he was privately dissatisfied with his rewards. His captains were also highly praised and went on to form the nucleus of the legendary Nelson's Band of Brothers. The legend of the battle has remained prominent in the popular consciousness, with perhaps the best-known representation being Felicia Hemans' 1826 poem Casabianca.
Background
Napoleon Bonaparte's victories in northern Italy over the Austrian Empire helped secure victory for the French in the War of the First Coalition in 1797, and Great Britain remained the only major European power still at war with the French Republic. The French Directory investigated a number of strategic options to counter British opposition, including projected invasions of Ireland and Britain and the expansion of the French Navy to challenge the Royal Navy at sea. Despite significant efforts, British control of Northern European waters rendered these ambitions impractical in the short term, and the Royal Navy remained firmly in control of the Atlantic Ocean. However, the French navy was dominant in the Mediterranean, following the withdrawal of the British fleet after the outbreak of war between Britain and Spain in 1796. This allowed Bonaparte to propose an invasion of Egypt as an alternative to confronting Britain directly, believing that the British would be too distracted by an imminent Irish uprising to intervene in the Mediterranean.
Bonaparte believed that, by establishing a permanent presence in Egypt (nominally part of the neutral Ottoman Empire), the French would obtain a staging point for future operations against British India, possibly by means of an alliance with the Tipu Sultan of Seringapatam, that might successfully drive the British out of the war. The campaign would sever the chain of communication that connected Britain with India, an essential part of the British Empire whose trade generated the wealth that Britain required to prosecute the war successfully. The French Directory agreed with Bonaparte's plans, although a major factor in their decision was a desire to see the politically ambitious Bonaparte and the fiercely loyal veterans of his Italian campaigns travel as far from France as possible. During the spring of 1798, Bonaparte assembled more than 35,000 soldiers in Mediterranean France and Italy and developed a powerful fleet at Toulon. He also formed the Commission des Sciences et des Arts, a body of scientists and engineers intended to establish a French colony in Egypt. Napoleon kept the destination of the expedition top secret—most of the army's officers did not know of its target, and Bonaparte did not publicly reveal his goal until the first stage of the expedition was complete.Mediterranean campaign
, 1800, National Maritime Museum. Visible on his cocked hat is the aigrette presented by the Ottoman Sultan as a reward for the victory at the Nile|alt=Portrait of a man in an ornate naval uniform festooned with medals and awards.]]
Bonaparte's armada sailed from Toulon on 19 May, making rapid progress through the Ligurian Sea and collecting more ships at Genoa, before sailing southwards along the Sardinian coast and passing Sicily on 7 June. On 9 June, the fleet arrived off Malta, then under the ownership of the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem, ruled by Grand Master Ferdinand von Hompesch zu Bolheim. Bonaparte demanded that his fleet be permitted entry to the fortified harbour of Valletta. When the Knights refused, the French general responded by ordering a large scale invasion of the Maltese Islands, overrunning the defenders after 24 hours of skirmishing. The Knights formally surrendered on 12 June and, in exchange for substantial financial compensation, handed the islands and all of their resources over to Bonaparte, including the extensive property of the Roman Catholic Church on Malta. Within a week, Bonaparte had resupplied his ships, and on 19 June, his fleet departed for Alexandria in the direction of Crete, leaving 4,000 men at Valletta under General Claude-Henri Vaubois to ensure French control of the islands.
While Bonaparte was sailing to Malta, the Royal Navy re-entered the Mediterranean for the first time in more than a year. Alarmed by reports of French preparations on the Mediterranean coast, Lord Spencer at the Admiralty sent a message to Vice-Admiral Earl St. Vincent, commander of the Mediterranean Fleet based in the Tagus, to despatch a squadron to investigate. This squadron, consisting of three ships of the line and three frigates, was entrusted to Rear-Admiral Sir Horatio Nelson.
Nelson was a highly experienced officer who had been blinded in one eye during fighting in Corsica in 1794 and subsequently commended for his capture of two Spanish ships of the line at the Battle of Cape St. Vincent in February 1797. In July 1797, he lost an arm at the Battle of Santa Cruz de Tenerife and had been forced to return to Britain to recuperate. Returning to the fleet at the Tagus in late April 1798, he was ordered to collect the squadron stationed at Gibraltar and sail for the Ligurian Sea. On 21 May, as Nelson's squadron approached Toulon, it was struck by a fierce gale and Nelson's flagship, , lost its topmasts and was almost wrecked on the Corsican coast. The remainder of the squadron was scattered. The ships of the line sheltered at San Pietro Island off Sardinia; the frigates were blown to the west and failed to return.
On 7 June, following hasty repairs to his flagship, a fleet consisting of ten ships of the line and a fourth-rate joined Nelson off Toulon. The fleet, under the command of Captain Thomas Troubridge, had been sent by Earl St. Vincent to reinforce Nelson, with orders that he was to pursue and intercept the Toulon convoy. Although he now had enough ships to challenge the French fleet, Nelson suffered two great disadvantages: He had no intelligence regarding the destination of the French, and no frigates to scout ahead of his force. Striking southwards in the hope of collecting information about French movements, Nelson's ships stopped at Elba and Naples, where the British ambassador, Sir William Hamilton, reported that the French fleet had passed Sicily headed in the direction of Malta. Despite pleas from Nelson and Hamilton, King Ferdinand of Naples refused to lend his frigates to the British fleet, fearing French reprisals. On 22 June, a brig sailing from Ragusa brought Nelson the news that the French had sailed eastwards from Malta on 16 June. After conferring with his captains, the admiral decided that the French target must be Egypt and set off in pursuit. Incorrectly believing the French to be five days ahead rather than two, Nelson insisted on a direct route to Alexandria without deviation.
On the evening of 22 June, Nelson's fleet passed the French in the darkness, overtaking the slow invasion convoy without realising how close they were to their target. Making rapid time on a direct route, Nelson reached Alexandria on 28 June and discovered that the French were not there. After a meeting with the suspicious Ottoman commander, Sayyid Muhammad Kurayyim, Nelson ordered the British fleet northwards, reaching the coast of Anatolia on 4 July and turning westwards back towards Sicily. Nelson had missed the French by less than a day—the scouts of the French fleet arrived off Alexandria in the evening of 29 June.
Concerned by his near encounter with Nelson, Bonaparte ordered an immediate invasion, his troops coming ashore in a poorly managed amphibious operation in which at least 20 drowned. Marching along the coast, the French army stormed Alexandria and captured the city, after which Bonaparte led the main force of his army inland. He instructed his naval commander, Vice-Admiral François-Paul Brueys D'Aigalliers, to anchor in Alexandria harbour, but naval surveyors reported that the channel into the harbour was too shallow and narrow for the larger ships of the French fleet. As a result, the French selected an alternative anchorage at Aboukir Bay, northeast of Alexandria.
Nelson's fleet reached Syracuse in Sicily on 19 July and took on essential supplies. There the admiral wrote letters describing the events of the previous months: "It is an old saying, 'the Devil's children have the Devil's luck.' I cannot find, or at this moment learn, beyond vague conjecture where the French fleet are gone to. All my ill fortune, hitherto, has proceeded from want of frigates." Meanwhile, the French were securing Egypt by the Battle of the Pyramids. By 24 July, the British fleet was resupplied and, having determined that the French must be somewhere in the Eastern Mediterranean, Nelson sailed again in the direction of the Morea. On 28 July, at Coron, Nelson finally obtained intelligence describing the French attack on Egypt and turned south across the Mediterranean. His scouts, and , sighted the French transport fleet at Alexandria on the afternoon of 1 August.
Aboukir Bay
When Alexandria harbour had proved inadequate for his fleet, Brueys had gathered his captains and discussed their options. Bonaparte had ordered the fleet to anchor in Aboukir Bay, a shallow and exposed anchorage, but had supplemented the orders with the suggestion that, if Aboukir Bay was too dangerous, Brueys could sail north to Corfu, leaving only the transports and a handful of lighter warships at Alexandria. Brueys refused, in the belief that his squadron could provide essential support to the French army on shore, and called his captains aboard his 120-gun flagship to discuss their response should Nelson discover the fleet in its anchorage. Despite vocal opposition from Contre-amiral Armand Blanquet, who insisted that the fleet would be best able to respond in open water, the rest of the captains agreed that anchoring in a line of battle inside the bay presented the strongest tactic for confronting Nelson. It is possible that Bonaparte envisaged Aboukir Bay as a temporary anchorage: on 27 July, he expressed the expectation that Brueys had already transferred his ships to Alexandria, and three days later, he issued orders for the fleet to make for Corfu in preparation for naval operations against the Ottoman territories in the Balkans, although Bedouin partisans intercepted and killed the courier carrying the instructions.
|alt=A man in an ornate naval uniform with long grey hair stands on a ship's quarterdeck.]]
Aboukir Bay is a coastal indentation across, stretching from the village of Abu Qir in the west to the town of Rosetta to the east, where one of the mouths of the River Nile empties into the Mediterranean. In 1798, the bay was protected at its western end by extensive rocky shoals which ran into the bay from a promontory guarded by Aboukir Castle. A small fort situated on an island among the rocks protected the shoals. The fort was garrisoned by French soldiers and armed with at least four cannon and two heavy mortars. Brueys had augmented the fort with his bomb vessels and gunboats, anchored among the rocks to the west of the island in a position to give support to the head of the French line. Further shoals ran unevenly to the south of the island and extended across the bay in a rough semicircle approximately from the shore. These shoals were too shallow to permit the passage of larger warships, and so Brueys ordered his thirteen ships of the line to form up in a line of battle following the northeastern edge of the shoals to the south of the island, a position that allowed the ships to disembark supplies from their port sides while covering the landings with their starboard batteries. Orders were issued for each ship to attach strong cables to the bow and stern of their neighbours, which would effectively turn the line into a long battery forming a theoretically impregnable barrier. Brueys positioned a second, inner line of four frigates approximately west of the main line, roughly halfway between the line and the shoal. The van of the French line was led by , positioned southeast of Aboukir Island and about from the edge of the shoals that surrounded the island. with the flagship Orient at the centre and two large 80-gun ships anchored on either side. The rear division of the line was under the command of Contre-amiral Pierre-Charles Villeneuve in . However, he had made a serious misjudgement: he had left enough room between Guerrier and the shoals for an enemy ship to cut across the head of the French line and proceed between the shoals and the French ships, allowing the unsupported vanguard to be caught in a crossfire by two divisions of enemy ships.
The port side gun ports were closed, and the decks on that side were uncleared, with various stored items blocking access to the guns. Brueys' dispositions had a second significant flaw: The 160-yard gaps between ships were large enough for a British ship to push through and break the French line. Furthermore, not all of the French captains had followed Brueys' orders to attach cables to their neighbours' bow and stern, which would have prevented such a manoeuvre. The problem was exacerbated by orders to only anchor at the bow, which allowed the ships to swing with the wind and widened the gaps. It also created areas within the French line not covered by the broadside of any ship. British vessels could anchor in those spaces and engage the French without reply. In addition, the deployment of Brueys' fleet prevented the rear from effectively supporting the van due to the prevailing winds.
A more pressing problem for Brueys was a lack of food and water for the fleet: Bonaparte had unloaded almost all of the provisions carried aboard and no supplies were reaching the ships from the shore. To remedy this, Brueys sent foraging parties of 25 men from each ship along the coast to requisition food, dig wells, and collect water. Brueys wrote a letter describing the situation to Minister of Marine Étienne Eustache Bruix, reporting that "Our crews are weak, both in number and quality. Our rigging, in general, out of repair, and I am sure it requires no little courage to undertake the management of a fleet furnished with such tools."BattleNelson's arrival, 1816, National Maritime Museum. The British fleet bears down on the French line.|altAn engraved print showing a tightly packed line of 13 warships flying the French flag. The ships are firing on eight ships flying the British flag that are steadily approaching them from the right of the picture.]]
Although initially disappointed that the main French fleet was not at Alexandria, Nelson knew from the presence of the transports that they must be nearby. At 14:00 on 1 August, lookouts on reported the French anchored in Aboukir Bay, its signal lieutenant just beating the lieutenant on with the signal, but inaccurately describing 16 French ships of the line instead of 13. At the same time, French lookouts on , the ninth ship in the French line, sighted the British fleet approximately nine nautical miles off the mouth of Aboukir Bay. The French initially reported just 11 British ships – Swiftsure and Alexander were still returning from their scouting operations at Alexandria, and so were to the west of the main fleet, out of sight. Troubridge's ship, , was also some distance from the main body, towing a captured merchant ship. At the sight of the French, Troubridge abandoned the vessel and made strenuous efforts to rejoin Nelson.
As his ships readied for action, Brueys ordered his captains to gather for a conference on Orient and hastily recalled his shore parties, although most had still not returned by the start of the battle. Blanquet protested the order on the grounds that there were not enough men aboard the French ships to both sail the ships and man the guns. Nelson gave orders for his leading ships to slow down, to allow the British fleet to approach in a more organised formation. This convinced Brueys that rather than risk an evening battle in confined waters, the British were planning to wait for the following day. He rescinded his earlier order to sail. Brueys may have been hoping that the delay would allow him to slip past the British during the night and thus follow Bonaparte's orders not to engage the British fleet directly if he could avoid it.
Nelson ordered the fleet to slow down at 16:00 to allow his ships to rig "springs" on their anchor cables, a system of attaching the bow anchor that increased stability and allowed his ships to swing their broadsides to face an enemy while stationary. It also increased manoeuvrability and therefore reduced the risk of coming under raking fire. Nelson's plan, shaped through discussion with his senior captains during the return voyage to Alexandria, The direction of the wind meant that the French rear division would be unable to join the battle easily and would be cut off from the front portions of the line. As his ship was readied for battle, Nelson held a final dinner with Vanguards officers, announcing as he rose: "Before this time tomorrow I shall have gained a peerage or Westminster Abbey," in reference to the rewards of victory or the traditional burial place of British military heroes.
, 1808, National Maritime Museum|alt=A broad view of a bay. Running vertically from the foreground to the background is a line of 14 anchored ships flying red, white and blue tricolour flags. to their left are four more anchored ships and to the left of these vessels is a distant shoreline. In the foreground of this shore is a hillside on which several men in turbans watch the scene below. To the right of the line a number of ships with all sails set are grouped around the head of the line, as smoke rises from many of the ships on both sides.]]
Shortly after the French order to set sail was abandoned, the British fleet began rapidly approaching once more. Brueys, now expecting to come under attack that night, ordered each of his ships to place springs on their anchor cables and prepare for action. and a 35-year-old French map aboard Goliath. Hood replied that he would take careful soundings as he advanced to test the depth of the water, and that, "If you will allow the honour of leading you into battle, I will keep the lead going." Shortly afterwards, Nelson paused to speak with the brig , whose commander, Lieutenant Thomas Hardy, had seized some maritime pilots from a small Alexandrine vessel. As Vanguard came to a stop, the following ships slowed. This caused a gap to open up between Zealous and Goliath and the rest of the fleet. Following the rapid change from a loose formation to a rigid line of battle, both fleets raised their colours; each British ship hoisted additional Union Flags in its rigging in case its main flag was shot away. At 18:20, as Goliath and Zealous rapidly bore down on them, the leading French ships Guerrier and opened fire.
</ref> The map has been simplified, and differs from the text in several minor particulars.|alt=Plan illustrating a line of shoals running roughly north to south. Following the direction of the shoal is a line of 13 large blue "ship" symbols, with two more large symbols and four smaller ones inside this line. Clustered around the head of the "ship" line are 14 red ship symbols, with tracks showing their movements during the engagement.]]
Ten minutes after the French opened fire, Goliath, ignoring fire from the fort to starboard and from Guerrier to port, most of which was too high to trouble the ship, crossed the head of the French line. Foley had intended to anchor alongside the French ship and engage it closely, but his anchor took too long to descend and his ship passed Guerrier entirely. Goliath eventually stopped close to the bow of Conquérant, opening fire on the new opponent and using the unengaged starboard guns to exchange occasional shots with the frigate and bomb vessel Hercule, which were anchored inshore of the battle line. Within five minutes Guerriers foremast had fallen, to cheers from the crews of the approaching British ships. The speed of the British advance took the French captains by surprise; they were still aboard Orient in conference with the admiral when the firing started. Hastily launching their boats, they returned to their vessels. Captain Jean-François-Timothée Trullet of Guerrier shouted orders from his barge for his men to return fire on Zealous. As he did so, the frigate Sérieuse opened fire on Orion, wounding two men. The convention in naval warfare of the time was that ships of the line did not attack frigates when there were ships of equal size to engage, but in firing first French Captain Claude-Jean Martin had negated the rule. Saumarez waited until the frigate was at close range before replying. Orion needed just one broadside to reduce the frigate to a wreck, and Martin's disabled ship drifted away over the shoal. followed Foley's track across Guerriers bow. Miller steered his ship through the middle of the melee between the anchored British and French ships until he encountered the third French ship, . Anchoring to port, Miller's ship opened fire at close range. under Captain Davidge Gould crossed the French line between Guerrier and Conquérant, anchoring between the ships and raking them both.
The next three British ships, Vanguard in the lead followed by and , remained in line of battle formation and anchored on the starboard side of the French line at 18:40. Both ships were soon fighting enemies much more powerful than they and began to take severe damage. Captain Henry Darby on Bellerophon missed his intended anchor near Franklin and instead found his ship underneath the main battery of the French flagship. Captain George Blagdon Westcott on Majestic also missed his station and almost collided with Heureux, coming under heavy fire from . Unable to stop in time, Westcott's jib boom became entangled with Tonnants shroud.
The French suffered too, Admiral Brueys on Orient was severely wounded in the face and hand by flying debris during the opening exchange of fire with Bellerophon.Surrender of the French vanguardAt 19:00 the identifying lights in the mizzenmasts of the British fleet were lit. By this time, Guerrier had been completely dismasted and heavily battered. Zealous by contrast was barely touched: Hood had situated Zealous outside the arc of most of the French ship's broadsides, and in any case Guerrier was not prepared for an engagement on both sides simultaneously, with its port guns blocked by stores. In addition to his cannon fire, Hood called up his marines and ordered them to fire volleys of musket shot at the deck of the French ship, driving the crew out of sight but still failing to secure the surrender from Captain Trullet. It was not until 21:00, when Hood sent a small boat to Guerrier with a boarding party, that the French ship finally surrendered. With his opponents defeated, Captain Gould on Audacious used the spring on his cable to transfer fire to Spartiate, the next French ship in line. To the west of the battle the battered Sérieuse sank over the shoal. Her masts protruded from the water as survivors scrambled into boats and rowed for the shore. The wound caused a flap of skin to fall across his face, rendering him temporarily completely blind. Nelson collapsed into the arms of Captain Edward Berry and was carried below. Certain that his wound was fatal, he cried out "I am killed, remember me to my wife", The wound was immediately inspected by Vanguards surgeon Michael Jefferson, who informed the admiral that it was a simple flesh wound and stitched the skin together. Nelson subsequently ignored Jefferson's instructions to remain inactive, returning to the quarterdeck shortly before the explosion on Orient to oversee the closing stages of the battle. With his opponent defeated, Captain Thomas Louis then took Minotaur south to join the attack on Franklin.
, 1805, National Maritime Museum. Nelson returns on deck after his wound is dressed.|alt=the quarterdeck of a ship, with many sailors moving about. In the centre stands a man in an officer's uniform with a bandage around his head. He is looking to the left of the picture, where in the background a large ship is on fire.]]
Defence and Orion attacked the fifth French ship, Peuple Souverain, from either side and the ship rapidly lost the fore and main masts. Orion and Defence were unable to immediately pursue. Defence had lost its fore topmast and an improvised fireship that drifted through the battle narrowly missed Orion. The origin of this vessel, an abandoned and burning ship's boat laden with highly flammable material, is uncertain, but it may have been launched from Guerrier as the battle began.
To the south, HMS Bellerophon was in serious trouble as the huge broadside of Orient pounded the ship. At 19:50 the mizzenmast and main mast both collapsed and fires broke out simultaneously at several points. Although the blazes were extinguished, the ship had suffered more than 200 casualties. Captain Darby recognised that his position was untenable and ordered the anchor cables cut at 20:20. The battered ship drifted away from the battle under continued fire from Tonnant as the foremast collapsed as well. Orient had also suffered significant damage and Admiral Brueys had been struck in the midriff by a cannonball that almost cut him in half. Orients captain, Luc-Julien-Joseph Casabianca, was also wounded, struck in the face by flying debris and knocked unconscious, while his twelve-year-old son had a leg torn off by a cannonball as he stood beside his father. The most southerly British ship, Majestic, had become briefly entangled with the 80-gun Tonnant, and in the resulting battle, suffered heavy casualties. Captain George Blagdon Westcott was among the dead, killed by French musket fire. Lieutenant Robert Cuthbert assumed command and successfully disentangled his ship, allowing the badly damaged Majestic to drift further southwards so that by 20:30 it was stationed between Tonnant and the next in line, Heureux, engaging both. To support the centre, Captain Thompson of Leander abandoned the futile efforts to drag the stranded Culloden off the shoal and sailed down the embattled French line, entering the gap created by the drifting Peuple Souverain and opening a fierce raking fire on Franklin and Orient.
. Orient is on fire, and visible under her stern, and drifting clear of the burning ship, is the dismasted Bellerophon.]]
While the battle raged in the bay, the two straggling British ships made strenuous efforts to join the engagement, focusing on the flashes of gunfire in the darkness. Warned away from the Aboukir shoals by the grounded Culloden, Captain Benjamin Hallowell in Swiftsure passed the melee at the head of the line and aimed his ship at the French centre. Alexander, the final unengaged British ship, which had followed Swiftsure, pulled up close to Tonnant, which had begun to drift away from the embattled French flagship. Captain Alexander Ball then joined the attack on Orient.
Destruction of ''L'Orient
, Mather Brown, 1825, National Maritime Museum]]
At 21:00, the British observed a fire on the lower decks of the Orient, the French flagship. Identifying the danger this posed to the Orient, Captain Hallowell directed his gun crews to fire their guns directly into the blaze. Sustained British gun fire spread the flames throughout the ship's stern and prevented all efforts to extinguish them. At 22:00 the fire reached the magazines, and the Orient was destroyed by a massive explosion. The concussion of the blast was powerful enough to rip open the seams of the nearest ships, Falling wreckage started fires on Swiftsure, Alexander, and Franklin, although in each case teams of sailors with water buckets succeeded in extinguishing the flames,
, 1834|alt=A confused naval battle. Two battered ships drift in the foreground while smoke and flames boil from a third. In the background smoke rises from a confused melee of battling ships.]]
It has never been firmly established how the fire on Orient broke out, but one common account is that jars of oil and paint had been left on the poop deck, instead of being properly stowed after painting of the ship's hull had been completed shortly before the battle. Burning wadding from one of the British ships is believed to have floated onto the poop deck and ignited the paint. The fire rapidly spread through the admiral's cabin and into a ready magazine that stored carcass ammunition, which was designed to burn more fiercely in water than in air. Whatever its origin, the fire spread rapidly through the ship's rigging, unchecked by the fire pumps aboard, which had been smashed by British shot. A second blaze then began at the bow, trapping hundreds of sailors in the ship's waist. Subsequent archaeological investigation found debris scattered over of seabed and evidence that the ship was wracked by two explosions. Hundreds of men dived into the sea to escape the flames, but fewer than 100 survived the blast. British boats picked up approximately 70 survivors, including the wounded staff officer Léonard-Bernard Motard. A few others, including Ganteaume, managed to reach the shore on rafts.
For ten minutes after the explosion there was no firing; sailors from both sides were either too shocked by the blast or desperately extinguishing fires aboard their own ships to continue the fight. Isolated and battered, Blanquet's ship was soon dismasted and the admiral, suffering a severe head wound, was forced to surrender by the combined firepower of Swiftsure and Defence. More than half of Franklins crew had been killed or wounded. Throughout the engagement the French rear had kept up an arbitrary fire on the battling ships ahead. The only noticeable effect was the smashing of s rudder by misdirected fire from the neighbouring .
Morning
, 1816, National Maritime Museum – the climax of the battle, as Orient explodes]]
As the sun rose at 04:00 on 2 August, firing broke out once again between the French southern division of Guillaume Tell, Tonnant, Généreux and Timoléon and the battered Alexander and Majestic. Although briefly outmatched, the British ships were soon joined by Goliath and Theseus. As Captain Miller manoeuvred his ship into position, Theseus briefly came under fire from the frigate . The surviving French ships of the line, covering their retreat with gunfire, gradually pulled to the east away from the shore at 06:00. Zealous pursued, and was able to prevent the frigate from boarding Bellerophon, which was anchored at the southern point of the bay undergoing hasty repairs. Alexander, Goliath, Theseus and Leander attacked the stranded and defenceless ships, and both surrendered within minutes. As the ship was unable to make the required speed it was driven ashore by its crew. Timoléon was too far south to escape with Villeneuve and, in attempting to join the survivors, had also grounded on the shoal. The force of the impact dislodged the ship's foremast. The remaining French vessels—the ships of the line Guillaume Tell and Généreux and the frigates Justice and —formed up and stood out to sea, pursued by Zealous. Despite strenuous efforts, Captain Hood's isolated ship came under heavy fire and was unable to cut off the trailing Justice as the French survivors escaped seawards. Zealous was struck by a number of French shot and lost one man killed.
For the remainder of 2 August Nelson's ships made improvised repairs and boarded and consolidated their prizes. Culloden especially required assistance. Troubridge, having finally dragged his ship off the shoal at 02:00, found that he had lost his rudder and was taking on more than of water an hour. Emergency repairs to the hull and fashioning a replacement rudder from a spare topmast took most of the next two days. On the morning of 3 August, Nelson sent Theseus and Leander to force the surrender of the grounded Tonnant and Timoléon. The Tonnant, its decks crowded with 1,600 survivors from other French vessels, surrendered as the British ships approached while Timoléon was set on fire by its remaining crew who then escaped to the shore in small boats. Timoléon exploded shortly after midday, the eleventh and final French ship of the line destroyed or captured during the battle.}}
, 1800, National Maritime Museum|alt=A map showing a line of 13 ships, mostly dismasted and two on fire. On either side are six ships flying British flags, some in a state of disrepair. Four other ships sit along the coastline, one on fire while a large ship and a small ship are grounded on a shoal which is surmounted by a burning fort.]]
British casualties in the battle were recorded with some accuracy in the immediate aftermath as 218 killed and approximately 677 wounded, although the number of wounded who subsequently died is not known.
French casualties are harder to calculate but were significantly higher. Estimates of French losses range from 2,000 to 5,000, with a suggested median point of 3,500, which includes more than 1,000 captured wounded and nearly 2,000 killed, half of whom died on Orient. In addition to Admiral Brueys killed and Admiral Blanquet wounded, four captains died and seven others were seriously wounded. The French ships suffered severe damage: Two ships of the line and two frigates were destroyed (as well as a bomb vessel scuttled by its crew), and three other captured ships were too battered ever to sail again. Of the remaining prizes, only three were ever sufficiently repaired for frontline service. For weeks after the battle, bodies washed up along the Egyptian coast, decaying slowly in the intense, dry heat. remained at anchor in Aboukir Bay for the next two weeks, preoccupied with recovering from his wound, writing dispatches, and assessing the military situation in Egypt using documents captured on board one of the prizes. Nelson's head wound was recorded as being "three inches long" with "the cranium exposed for one inch". He suffered pain from the injury for the rest of his life and was badly scarred, styling his hair to disguise it as much as possible. As their commander recovered, his men stripped the wrecks of useful supplies and made repairs to their ships and prizes. On 5 August, Leander was despatched to Cadiz with messages for Earl St. Vincent carried by Captain Edward Berry. Over the next few days the British landed all but 200 of the captured prisoners on shore under strict terms of parole, although Bonaparte later ordered them to be formed into an infantry unit and added to his army. The wounded officers taken prisoner were held on board Vanguard, where Nelson regularly entertained them at dinner. Historian Joseph Allen recounts that on one occasion Nelson, whose eyesight was still suffering following his wound, offered toothpicks to an officer who had lost his teeth and then passed a snuff-box to an officer whose nose had been torn off, causing much embarrassment. On 8 August the fleet's boats stormed Aboukir Island, which surrendered without a fight. The landing party removed four of the guns and destroyed the rest along with the fort they were mounted in, renaming the island "Nelson's Island". On 12 August the frigates under Captain Thomas Moutray Waller and under Captain George Johnstone Hope, and the sloop under Captain Robert Retalick, arrived off Alexandria.
The first message to reach Bonaparte regarding the disaster that had overtaken his fleet arrived on 14 August at his camp on the road between Salahieh and Cairo. To quell any uprising among the native inhabitants, Egyptians overheard discussing the battle were threatened with having their tongues cut out.
Reaction
Nelson's first set of dispatches were captured when Leander was intercepted and defeated by Généreux in a fierce engagement off the western shore of Crete on 18 August 1798. entering the Admiralty at 11:15 and personally delivering the news to Lord Spencer, who collapsed unconscious when he heard the report. Within four days Nelson had been elevated to Baron Nelson of the Nile and Burnham Thorpe, a title with which he was privately dissatisfied, believing his actions deserved better reward. King George III addressed the Houses of Parliament on 20 November with the words:
Saumarez's convoy of prizes stopped first at Malta, where Saumarez provided assistance to a rebellion on the island among the Maltese population. It then sailed to Gibraltar, arriving on 18 October to the cheers of the garrison. Saumarez wrote that, "We can never do justice to the warmth of their applause, and the praises they all bestowed on our squadron." On 23 October, following the transfer of the wounded to the military hospital and provision of basic supplies, the convoy sailed on towards Lisbon, leaving Bellerophon and Majestic behind for more extensive repairs. Peuple Souverain also remained at Gibraltar: The ship was deemed too badly damaged for the Atlantic voyage to Britain and so was converted to a guardship under the name of HMS Guerrier. before eventually arriving at Plymouth. Their age and battered state meant that neither Conquérant nor Aquilon were considered fit for active service in the Royal Navy and both were subsequently hulked, although they had been bought into the service for £20,000 (the equivalent of £|0}} million as of ) each as HMS Conquerant and HMS Aboukir to provide a financial reward to the crews that had captured them. Similar sums were also paid out for Guerrier, Mercure, Heureux and Peuple Souverain, while the other captured ships were worth considerably more. Constructed of Adriatic oak, Tonnant had been built in 1792 and Franklin and Spartiate were less than a year old. Tonnant and Spartiate, both of which later fought at the Battle of Trafalgar, joined the Royal Navy under their old names while Franklin, considered to be "the finest two-decked ship in the world", Both parliaments gave unanimous votes of thanks, each captain who served in the battle was presented with a specially minted gold medal and the first lieutenant of every ship engaged in the battle was promoted to commander. Nelson's own captains presented him with a sword and a portrait as "proof of their esteem." Nelson publicly encouraged this close bond with his officers and on 29 September 1798 described them as "We few, we happy few, we band of brothers", echoing William Shakespeare's play Henry V. From this grew the notion of the Nelsonic Band of Brothers, a cadre of high-quality naval officers that served with Nelson for the remainder of his life. Nearly five decades later the battle was among the actions recognised by a clasp attached to the Naval General Service Medal, awarded upon application to all British participants still living in 1847.
, 1798, National Maritime Museum. The crocodiles represent Fox and Sheridan.|alt=An engraved print showing a man in a distinctive naval uniform dragging two crocodiles with human heads. To the right of the image a man in a peasant's smock cheers approvingly.]]
Other rewards were bestowed by foreign states, particularly the Ottoman Emperor Selim III, who made Nelson the first Knight Commander of the newly created Order of the Crescent, and presented him with a chelengk, a diamond studded rose, a sable fur and numerous other valuable presents. Tsar Paul I of Russia sent, among other rewards, a gold box studded with diamonds, and similar gifts in silver arrived from other European rulers. On his return to Naples, Nelson was greeted with a triumphal procession led by King Ferdinand IV and Sir William Hamilton and was introduced for only the third time to Sir William's wife Emma, Lady Hamilton, who fainted violently at the meeting, and apparently took several weeks to recover from her injuries. Lauded as a hero by the Neapolitan court, Nelson was later to dabble in Neapolitan politics and become the Duke of Bronté, actions for which he was criticised by his superiors and his reputation suffered. British general John Moore, who met Nelson in Naples at this time, described him as "covered with stars, medals and ribbons, more like a Prince of Opera than the Conqueror of the Nile."
Rumours of a battle first appeared in the French press as early as 7 August, although credible reports did not arrive until 26 August, and even these claimed that Nelson was dead and Bonaparte a British prisoner. When the news became certain, the French press insisted that the defeat was the result both of an overwhelmingly large British force and unspecified "traitors." Villeneuve came under scathing attack on his return to France for his failure to support Brueys during the battle. In his defence, he pleaded that the wind had been against him and that Brueys had not issued orders for him to counterattack the British fleet. Writing many years later, Bonaparte commented that if the French Navy had adopted the same tactical principles as the British:
By contrast, the British press were jubilant; many newspapers sought to portray the battle as a victory for Britain over anarchy, and the success was used to attack the supposedly pro-republican Whig politicians Charles James Fox and Richard Brinsley Sheridan.
In the United States, the outcome of the battle led President John Adams to pursue diplomacy with France to end the Quasi-War, as the French naval defeat rendered the prospect of an invasion of the United States less likely.
There has been extensive historiographical debate over the comparative strengths of the fleets, although they were ostensibly evenly matched in size, each containing 13 ships of the line. However, the loss of Culloden, the relative sizes of Orient and Leander and the participation in the action by two of the French frigates and several smaller vessels, as well as the theoretical strength of the French position,EffectsThe Battle of the Nile has been called "arguably, the most decisive naval engagement of the great age of sail", and "the most splendid and glorious success which the British Navy gained." Historian and novelist C. S. Forester, writing in 1929, compared the Nile to the great naval actions in history and concluded that "it still only stands rivalled by Tsu-Shima as an example of the annihilation of one fleet by another of approximately equal material force". The effect on the strategic situation in the Mediterranean was immediate, reversing the balance of the conflict and giving the British control at sea that they maintained for the remainder of the war. The destruction of the French Mediterranean fleet allowed the Royal Navy to return to the sea in force, as British squadrons set up blockades off French and allied ports. The ensuing siege of Malta lasted for two years before the defenders were finally starved into surrender. In 1799, British ships harassed Bonaparte's army as it marched east and north through Palestine, and played a crucial part in Bonaparte's defeat at the siege of Acre, when the barges carrying the siege train were captured and the French storming parties were bombarded by British ships anchored offshore. It was during one of these latter engagements that Captain Miller of Theseus was killed in an ammunition explosion. The defeat at Acre forced Bonaparte to retreat to Egypt and effectively ended his efforts to carve an empire in the Middle East. The French general returned to France without his army late in the year, leaving Kléber in command of Egypt.
The Ottoman Empire, with whom Bonaparte had hoped to conduct an alliance once his control of Egypt was complete, was encouraged by the Battle of the Nile to go to war against France. This led to a series of campaigns that slowly sapped the strength from the French army trapped in Egypt. The British victory also encouraged the Austrian Empire and the Russian Empire, both of whom were mustering armies as part of a Second Coalition, which declared war on France in 1799. Without their best general and his veterans, the French suffered a series of defeats and it was not until Bonaparte returned to become First Consul that France once again held a position of strength on Continental Europe. In 1801 a British Expeditionary Force defeated the demoralised remains of the French army in Egypt. The Royal Navy used its dominance in the Mediterranean to invade Egypt without the fear of ambush while anchored off the Egyptian coast.
In spite of the overwhelming British victory in the climactic battle, the campaign has sometimes been considered a strategic success for France. Historian Edward Ingram noted that if Nelson had successfully intercepted Bonaparte at sea as ordered, the ensuing battle could have annihilated both the French fleet and the transports. As it was, Bonaparte was free to continue the war in the Middle East and later to return to Europe personally unscathed. The potential of a successful engagement at sea to change the course of history is underscored by the list of French army officers carried aboard the convoy who later formed the core of the generals and marshals under Emperor Napoleon. In addition to Bonaparte himself, Louis-Alexandre Berthier, Auguste de Marmont, Jean Lannes, Joachim Murat, Louis Desaix, Jean Reynier, Antoine-François Andréossy, Jean-Andoche Junot, Louis-Nicolas Davout and Dumas were all passengers on the cramped Mediterranean crossing.
Legacy
The Battle of the Nile remains one of the Royal Navy's most famous victories, and has remained prominent in the British popular imagination, sustained by its depiction in a large number of cartoons, paintings, poems, and plays. One of the best known poems about the battle is Casabianca, which was written by Felicia Dorothea Hemans in 1826 and gives a fictional account of the actual death of the French Captain Casabianca's son on Orient, i.e. the boy who famously "stood on the burning deck" was French.
Monuments were raised, including Cleopatra's Needle in London. Muhammad Ali of Egypt gave the monument in 1819 in recognition of the battle of 1798 and the campaign of 1801 but Great Britain did not erect it on the Victoria Embankment until 1878. Another memorial, the Nile Clumps near Amesbury, consists of stands of beech trees purportedly planted by Lord Queensbury at the behest of Lady Hamilton and Thomas Hardy after Nelson's death. The trees form a plan of the battle; each clump represents the position of a British or French ship.
On the Hall Place estate, Burchetts Green, Berkshire (now Berkshire College of Agriculture), a double line of oak trees, each tree representing a ship of the opposing fleets, was planted by William East, Baronet, in celebration of the victory. He also constructed a scale-sized pyramid and a life-sized statue of Nelson on the highest point of the estate.
The composer Joseph Haydn had just completed the Missa in Angustiis (mass for troubled times) after Napoleon Bonaparte had defeated the Austrian army in four major battles. The well received news of France's defeat at the Nile however resulted in the mass gradually acquiring the nickname Lord Nelson Mass. The title became indelible when, in 1800, Nelson himself visited the Palais Esterházy, accompanied by his mistress, Lady Hamilton, and may have heard the mass performed.
The Royal Navy commemorated the battle with the ship names , and , and in 1998 commemorated the 200th anniversary of the battle with a visit to Aboukir Bay by the modern frigate , whose crew laid wreaths in memory of those who lost their lives in the battle.
In John le Carré's novel Smiley's People there is mention of a bar on Battle of the Nile Street named 'The Defeated Frog'.
Archaeology
Although Nelson biographer Ernle Bradford assumed in 1977 that the remains of Orient "are almost certainly unrecoverable," the first archaeological investigation into the battle began in 1983, when a French survey team under Jacques Dumas discovered the wreck of the French flagship. Franck Goddio later took over the work, leading a major project to explore the bay in 1998. He found that material was scattered over an area in diameter. In addition to military and nautical equipment, Goddio recovered a large number of gold and silver coins from countries across the Mediterranean, some from the 17th century. It is likely that these were part of the treasure taken from Malta that was lost in the explosion aboard Orient. In 2000, Italian archaeologist Paolo Gallo led an excavation focusing on ancient ruins on Nelson's Island. It uncovered a number of graves that date from the battle, as well as others buried there during the 1801 invasion. These graves, which included a woman and three children, were relocated in 2005 to a cemetery at Shatby in Alexandria. The reburial was attended by sailors from the modern frigate and a band from the Egyptian Navy, as well as a descendant of the only identified burial, Commander James Russell.
Notes
References
Bibliography
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External links
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Category:1798 in Egypt
Category:Conflicts in 1798
Category:Battles of the French invasion of Egypt and Syria
Category:Horatio Nelson
Category:Mediterranean campaign of 1798
Category:Naval battles of the French Revolutionary Wars involving France
Category:Naval battles of the French Revolutionary Wars involving Great Britain
Category:Naval history of Egypt
Category:Nile Delta
Category:History of the Nile
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Nile
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Barnabas
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Barrabas}}
by Sandro Botticelli, c. 1490
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Barnabas (; ; ), born Joseph () or Joses (), he and Paul the Apostle undertook missionary journeys together and defended Gentile converts against the Judaizers. They traveled together making more converts ( AD), and participated in the Council of Jerusalem ( AD). Barnabas and Paul successfully evangelized among the "God-fearing" Gentiles who attended synagogues in various Hellenized cities of Anatolia.
Barnabas' story appears in the Acts of the Apostles, and Paul mentions him in some of his epistles. Tertullian named him as the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews, but this and other attributions are conjecture. The Epistle of Barnabas was ascribed to him by Clement of Alexandria and others in the early church and the epistle is included under his name in Codex Sinaiticus, the earliest extant manuscript of the complete New Testament. A few modern scholars concur with this traditional attribution but it is presently a minority view.
Although the date, place, and circumstances of his death are historically unverifiable, Christian tradition holds that Barnabas was martyred at Salamis, Cyprus. He is traditionally identified as the founder of the Cypriot Orthodox Church. The feast day of Barnabas is celebrated on 11 June.
Barnabas is usually identified as the cousin of Mark the Evangelist on the basis of the term used in Colossians 4, which carries the connotation of "cousin". Orthodox tradition holds that Aristobulus of Britannia, one of the Seventy Disciples, was the brother of Barnabas.
Name and etymologies
His Hellenic Jewish parents called him Joseph (although the Byzantine text-type calls him , , 'Joses', a Greek variant of 'Joseph'), but when recounting the story of how he sold his land and gave the money to the apostles in Jerusalem, the Book of Acts says the apostles called him Barnabas. (The "s" at the end is the Greek nominative case ending, and it is not present in the Aramaic form.) The Greek text of Acts 4:36 explains the name as , , meaning "son of encouragement" or "son of comforter". One theory is that this is from the Aramaic , , meaning 'son (of) prophet'. Another is that it is related to the Hebrew word (, Aramaic ) meaning "prophet". In the Syriac Bible, the phrase "son of prophet" is translated . Biblical narrative
, Musée des Beaux-Arts de Rouen, ]]
Barnabas appears mainly in Acts, a history of the early Christian church. He also appears in several of Paul's epistles.
Barnabas, a native of Cyprus and a Levite, is first mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles as a member of the early Christian community in Jerusalem, who sold the land that he owned and gave the proceeds to the community.
The successful preaching of Christianity at Antioch to non-Jews led the church at Jerusalem to send Barnabas there to oversee the movement. He found the work so extensive and weighty that he went to Tarsus in search of Paul (still referred to as Saul), "an admirable colleague", to assist him. Paul returned with him to Antioch and labored with him for a whole year. At the end of this period, the two were sent up to Jerusalem (44 AD) with contributions from the church at Antioch for the relief of the poorer Christians in Judea.
They returned to Antioch taking John Mark with them, the cousin or nephew of Barnabas. Later, they went to Cyprus and some of the principal cities of Pamphylia, Pisidia, and Lycaonia. After recounting what the governor of Cyprus Sergius Paulus believed, Acts 13:9 speaks of Barnabas's spiritual brother no longer as Saul, but as Paul, his Roman name. From that point forward, when Acts refers to the two as a pair, it generally no longer uses "Barnabas and Saul", but "Paul and Barnabas". Only in Acts 14:14 and Acts 15:12,25 does Barnabas again occupy the first place; in Acts 14:14 with reference to Barnabas being mentioned first two verses earlier in Acts 14:12, and in Acts 15:12,25, because Barnabas stood in closer relation to the Jerusalem church than Paul. Paul appears as the more eloquent missionary, whence the Lystrans regarded him as Hermes and Barnabas as Zeus.
, 1637, Princeton University Art Museum]]
Returning from this first missionary journey to Antioch, they were again sent up to Jerusalem to consult with the church there regarding the relation of Gentiles to the church. In Galatians 2:11–13, Paul says, "And when Kephas [Peter] came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face because he clearly was wrong. For, until some people came from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles; but when they came, he began to draw back and separated himself, because he was afraid of the circumcised. And the rest of the Jews (also) acted hypocritically along with him, with the result that even Barnabas was carried away by their hypocrisy."
Paul then asked Barnabas to accompany him on another journey. Barnabas wished to take John Mark along, but Paul did not, as John Mark had left them on the earlier journey. The dispute ended by Paul and Barnabas taking separate routes. Paul took Silas as his companion, and journeyed through Syria and Cilicia; while Barnabas took John Mark to visit Cyprus.
Some of those who had been scattered by the persecution that arose because of Stephen went to Antioch, which became the site of an early Christian community. A considerable minority of the Antioch church of Barnabas's time belonged to the merchant class, and they provided support to the poorer Jerusalem church. Martyrdom
Juan Martín Cabezalero, c. 1640|titlesApostle, Disciple, Preacher, and Martyr
|birth_date=1st century AD
|death_date|feast_dayJune 11
|venerated_in=Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox Churches, Oriental Orthodox Churches, Anglican Communion, Lutheran Church
|birth_place=Salamis, Roman Cyprus
|death_place=Salamis, Roman Cyprus
|beatified_date|beatified_place
|beatified_by|canonized_datePre-Congregation
|canonized_place|canonized_by
|attributes= Red Martyr, Pilgrim's staff; olive branch; holding the Gospel of Matthew
|patronage=Cyprus, Antioch, against hailstorms, invoked as peacemaker
|major_shrine=Monastery of St Barnabas in Famagusta, Cyprus}}
Church tradition developed outside of the canon of the New Testament describes the martyrdom of many saints, including the legend of the martyrdom of Barnabas. It relates that certain Jews coming to Syria and Salamis, where Barnabas was then preaching the gospel, being highly exasperated at his extraordinary success, fell upon him as he was disputing in the synagogue, dragged him out, and stoned him to death. His kinsman, John Mark, privately interred his body.
Although it is believed he was martyred by being stoned, the apocryphal Acts of Barnabas states that he was bound with a rope by the neck, and then being dragged only to the site where he would be burned to death.
According to the History of the Cyprus Church, in 478 Barnabas appeared in a dream to the Archbishop Anthemios of Cyprus and revealed to him the place of his sepulchre beneath a carob-tree. The following day Anthemios found the tomb and inside it the remains of Barnabas with a manuscript of Matthew's Gospel on his breast. Anthemios presented the Gospel to Emperor Zeno at Constantinople and received from him the privileges of the Greek Orthodox Church of Cyprus, that is, the purple cloak which the Greek Archbishop of Cyprus wears at festivals of the church, the imperial sceptre and the red ink with which he affixes his signature.
Anthemios then placed the venerable remains of Barnabas in a church which he founded near the tomb. Excavations near the site of a present-day church and monastery, have revealed an early church with two empty tombs, believed to be that of St. Barnabas and Anthemios.
St. Barnabas is venerated as the patron saint of Cyprus. He is also considered a patron saint in many other places in the world, highlighting
Milan in Italy. On the island of Tenerife (Spain), St. Barnabas was invoked in historical times as patron saint and protector of the island's fields against drought, together with St. Benedict of Nursia.
Barnabas the Apostle is remembered in the Church of England with a festival on 11 June.
Other sources
Although many assume that the biblical Mark the cousin of Barnabas is the same as John Mark and Mark the Evangelist, the traditionally believed author of the Gospel of Mark, they are listed as three distinct people in Pseudo-Hippolytus' On the Seventy Apostles of Christ, which includes Barnabas himself as one of the Seventy-Two Disciples. There are two people named Barnabas among Hippolytus' list of Seventy Disciples, One (#13) became the bishop of Milan, the other (#25) the bishop of Heraclea. Most likely one of these two is the biblical Barnabas; the first one is more likely, because the numbering by Hippolytus seems to indicate a level of significance, and Barnabas is traditionally credited with founding the apostolic see of Milan. Clement of Alexandria also makes Barnabas one of the Seventy Disciples that are mentioned in the Gospel of Luke.
Other sources bring Barnabas to Rome and Alexandria. In the "Clementine Recognitions" (i, 7) he is depicted as preaching in Rome even during Christ's lifetime.
Cypriots developed the tradition of his later activity and martyrdom no earlier than the 3rd century. The question whether Barnabas was an apostle was often discussed during the Middle Ages.
Alleged writings
Tertullian and other Western writers regard Barnabas as the author of the Letter to the Hebrews. This may have been the Roman tradition—which Tertullian usually follows—and in Rome the epistle may have had its first readers. Modern biblical scholarship considers its authorship unknown, though Barnabas amongst others has been proposed as potential authors.
"Photius of the ninth century, refers to some in his day who were uncertain whether the Acts was written by Clement of Rome, Barnabas, or Luke. Yet Photius is certain that the work must be ascribed to Luke."
He is also traditionally associated with the Epistle of Barnabas, although some modern scholars think it more likely that the epistle was written in Alexandria in the 130s.
The 5th century Decretum Gelasianum includes a Gospel of Barnabas amongst works condemned as apocryphal; but no certain text or quotation from this work has been identified.
Another book using that same title, the Gospel of Barnabas, survives in two post-medieval manuscripts in Italian and Spanish. Contrary to the canonical Christian Gospels, and in accordance with the Islamic view of Jesus, this later Gospel of Barnabas states that Jesus was not the son of God, but a prophet and messenger.
The Barnabites
In 1538, the Catholic religious order officially known as "Clerics Regular of St. Paul" (Clerici Regulares Sancti Pauli), gained the grand old Monastery of Saint Barnabas by the city wall of Milan as their main seat. The Order was thenceforth known by the popular name of Barnabites. See also
* Catholic Church in Cyprus
* Lectionary 214 – apocryphal Apodemia of Barnabas
* List of early Christian saints
* Saint Barnabas, patron saint archive
Notes
References
*
* Attwater, Donald and Catherine Rachel John. "The Penguin Dictionary of Saints," 3rd edition, New York: Penguin Books, 1993.
*
*
*
*
*
Attribution
*
Further reading
* Die Apostolischen Väter. Griechisch-deutsche Parallelausgabe. J.C.B. Mohr Tübingen 1992.
* Der Barnabasbrief. Übersetzt und erklärt von Ferdinand R. Prostmeier. Series: Kommentar zu den Apostolischen Vätern (KAV, Vol. 8). Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht: Göttingen 1999.
*
*
*
External links
* [http://www.ccel.org/fathers2/ANF-01/anf01-41.htm The Epistle of Barnabas]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20051109023644/http://www.catholic-forum.com/saints/saintb12.htm St. Barnabas the Apostle]
* [http://www.cypnet.co.uk/ncyprus/city/famagusta/stbarnabas/index.html St Barnabas Monastery and Icon Museum, Famagusta, Cyprus]
* [http://www.christianiconography.info/barnabas.html St. Barnabas] at the [http://www.christianiconography.info Christian Iconography] web site.
* [http://www.christianiconography.info/goldenLegend/barnabas.htm The Life of St. Barnabas the Apostle] in Caxton's translation of the Golden Legend
Category:1st-century Italian bishops
Category:1st-century Christian martyrs
Category:1st-century Christian theologians
Category:1st-century writers
Category:1st-century Jews
Category:1st-century people
Category:Anglican saints
Category:Archbishops of Milan
Category:Biblical apostles
Category:Christian saints from the New Testament
Category:Christian writers
Category:Cypriot Jews
Category:Cypriot saints
Category:Early Jewish Christians
Category:Eastern Catholic saints
Category:Jewish writers
Category:Jews and Judaism in Cyprus
Category:People from Famagusta
Category:People in the Pauline epistles
Category:Prophets of the New Testament
Category:Seventy disciples
Category:Year of birth unknown
Category:People in Acts of the Apostles
Category:Levites
Category:Year of death unknown
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Birka
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|location = Ekerö Municipality, Sweden
|region |type
|part_of |length
|width |area
|height |builder
|material |built 8th century
|abandoned = 10th century
|epochs = Viking Age
|cultures |dependency_of
|occupants |event
|excavations |archaeologists
|condition |ownership
|management |public_access
|website = <!-- -->
|notes | designation1 WHS
| designation1_offname = Birka and Hovgården
| designation1_date = 1993 <small>(17th session)</small>
| designation1_number = [https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/555 555]
| designation1_criteria = iii, iv
| designation1_type = Cultural
| designation1_free1name = Region
| designation1_free1value = Europe and North America
}}
Birka (Birca in medieval sources), on the island of Björkö (lit. "Birch Island") in present-day Sweden, was an important Viking Age trading center which handled goods from Scandinavia as well as many parts of Continental Europe and the Orient. Björkö is located in Lake Mälaren, 30 kilometers west of contemporary Stockholm, in the municipality of Ekerö.
Birka was founded around AD 750 and it flourished for more than 200 years. It was abandoned c. AD 975, around the same time Sigtuna was founded as a Christian town some 35 km to the northeast. It has been estimated that the population in Viking Age Birka was between 500 and 1000 people. Birka (along with Hovgården) has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1993. Many burial sites have been uncovered at Birka, leading to the finding of many objects including jewelry and many textile fragments. In recent years, objects from Birka have been in the public eye due to ongoing academic research connection Birka to evidence of trade with the Middle East.
History
. Engraving by Willem Swidde.]]
Birka was founded around 750 AD as a trading port by a king or merchants trying to control trade. Birka is the site of the first known Christian congregation in Sweden, founded in 831 by Saint Ansgar.
As a trading center, Birka most likely offered furs, iron goods, and craft products, in exchange for various materials from much of Europe and Western Asia. Furs were obtained from the Sami people, the Finns, and people in Northwestern Russia, as well as from local trappers. Furs included bear, fox, marten, otter, beaver, and other species. Reindeer antlers and objects carved from reindeer antlers like combs were important items of trade. The trade of walrus tusks, amber, and honey is also documented.
Foreign goods found from the graves of Birka include glass and metalware, pottery from the Rhineland, clothing and textiles including Chinese silk, Byzantine embroidery with extremely fine gold thread, brocades with gold passementerie, and plaited cords of high quality. From the ninth century onwards coins minted at Haithabu in Northern Germany and elsewhere in Scandinavia start to appear. However, the vast majority of the coins found at Birka are silver dirhams from the Middle East while English and Carolingian coins are rare. However, Björkö is the only location that shows remains of a town of Birka's significance, which is why the vast majority of scholars regard Björkö as the location of Birka.
Birka was abandoned during the latter half of the 10th century. Based on the dating of the coins, the city seems to have died out around 960. Roughly around the same time, the nearby settlement of Sigtuna supplanted Birka as the main trading center in the Mälaren area. The reasons for Birka's decline are disputed. The Baltic island of Gotland was also in a better strategic position for Rus'-Byzantine trade and was gaining eminence as a mercantile stronghold. Historian Neil Kent has speculated that the area may have been the victim of an enemy assault. monk and later archbishop of Hamburg-Bremen Rimbert gives the first known description of Birka. The town was the center of Catholic missionary activities in the 9th century Sweden. Rimbert's interests were in the Christian faith, not so much in the Swedish geopolicy, so his descriptions of Birka remain approximate at best.
Bridgehead of Christian missionaries
This is how it all started in 829:
<blockquote>Meanwhile it happened that Swedish ambassadors had come to the Emperor Louis the Pious, and, amongst other matters which they had been ordered to bring to the attention of the emperor, they informed him that there were many belonging to their nation who desired to embrace the Christian religion, and that their king so far favoured this suggestion that he would permit God's priests to reside there, provided that they might be deemed worthy of such a favour and that the emperor would send them suitable preachers. (Chapter IX)</blockquote>
<blockquote>Ansgar then undertook the mission committed to him by the emperor, who desired that he should go to the Swedes and discover whether this people was prepared to accept the faith as their messengers had declared. (Chapter X)</blockquote>
Ansgar was already experienced in the missionary work in Denmark, and set forth to Sweden. Rimbert describes the trip very generally:
<blockquote>It may suffice for me to say that while they were in the midst of their journey they fell into the hands of pirates. The merchants with whom they were travelling, defended themselves vigorously and for a time successfully, but eventually they were conquered and overcome by the pirates, who took from them their ships and all that they possessed, whilst they themselves barely escaped on. foot to land. —With great difficulty they accomplished their long journey on foot, traversing also the intervening seas (maria), where it was possible, by ship, and eventually arrived at the Swedish port called Birka. (Chapters X and XI)</blockquote>
Rimbert does not say where Ansgar sailed off or where he landed. Noteworthy is just his note about several "seas" that they had to cross to get to Birka from the place they had landed to. Since Rimbert mentions them to have crossed the seas by ship "where it was possible" they clearly had the alternative of going around them as well, meaning that the seas were probably the numerous lakes in southern Sweden. When Ansgar again travelled to Birka from Germany about 852, it went easier:
<blockquote>Ansgar accomplished the journey on which he had set out, and after spending nearly twenty days in a ship, he arrived at Birka (Chapter XXVI)</blockquote>
This might mean that he sailed off from Hamburg or Bremen instead of some port in Baltic Sea, since the later account by Adam of Bremen gives the distance of Scania and Birka to be only five days at sea.
Kings
Several Swedish kings of the 9th century, Björn, Anund and Olof, are all mentioned in Vita to have spent time in Birka. None of them is however said to have had his residence there, as the Swedish king and his retinue periodically moved between the Husbys, parts of the network of royal estates called Uppsala öd.
King Björn met Ansgar in Birka when he arrived there in 829 (Chapter XI). Later King Olof met him there as well during his last trip in 852 (Chapter XXVI).
Church
Ansgar's missionary work resulted in first churches to be built in Sweden. Talking about Herigar, the prefect of Birka:
<blockquote>A little later he built a church on his own ancestral property and served God with the utmost devotion. (Chapter XI)</blockquote>
Herigar's church was not far from the place where tings were held:
<blockquote>On one occasion he himself was sitting in an assembly of people, a stage having been arranged for a council on an open plain. He then summoned his servants and told them to carry him to his church. (Chapter XIX)</blockquote>
Another church was also built in Sweden, however location is left open:
<blockquote>This Gautbert, who at his consecration received the honoured name of the apostle Simeon, went to Sweden, and was honourably received by the king and the people; and he began, amidst general goodwill and approval, to build a church there (Chapter XIV)</blockquote>
The exiled Swedish King Anund Uppsale confirms that either one of the churches was in Birka itself when he ponders if Birka should be plundered:
<blockquote>"There are there," he said, "many great and powerful gods, and in former time a church was built there, and there are many Christians there who worship Christ" (Chapter XIX)</blockquote>
Probable fortress
Danes attacked Birka, accompanied with the deposed king Anund, which caused great distress in the town.
<blockquote>Being in great difficulty they fled to a neighbouring city (ad civitatem, quæ iuxta erat, confugerunt) and began to promise and offer to their gods—But inasmuch as the city was not strong and there were few to offer resistance, they sent messengers to the Danes and asked for friendship and alliance. —Hergeir, the faithful servant of the Lord, was angry with them and said, "They will lead away your wives and sons as captives, they will burn our city (urbs) and town (vicus)" and will destroy you with the sword (Chapter XIX)</blockquote>
As the neighbouring "city" is not mentioned in any other context than during the Danish attack as a place where people took refuge, it probably meant a nearby fortress. Eventually Danes left, sparing Birka from destruction.
Ting assembly
When Ansgar asked if King Olof would permit him to establish the Christian religion in the kingdom during his second visit in 852, the king said to him:
<blockquote>On this account I have not the power, nor do I dare, to approve the objects of your mission until I can consult our gods by the casting of lots and until I can enquire the will of the people in regard to this matter. Let your messenger attend with me the next assembly (Chapter XXVI)</blockquote>
<blockquote>When the day for the assembly which was held in the town of Birka drew near, in accordance with their national custom the king caused a proclamation to be made to the people by the voice of a herald, in order that they might be informed concerning the object of their mission. —The king then rose up from amongst the assembly and forthwith directed one of his own messengers to accompany the bishop's messenger, and to tell him that the people were unanimously inclined to accept his proposal and at the same time to tell him that, whilst their action was entirely agreeable to him, he could not give his full consent until, in another assembly, which was to be held in another part of his kingdom, he could announce this resolution to the people who lived in that district. (Chapter XXVII)</blockquote>
Tings were huge open-air events, which required plenty of space. The more important ting that king Olof talked about was probably the Ting of all Swedes, which was held at the end of February in Uppsala, during the Disting. The king was obliged to obey the common decisions made at this ting, and the most powerful man at this assembly was not the king, but the lawspeaker of Tiundaland. Locally important tings were the Westrogothic Ting of all Geats in Skara and the Ostrogothic Lionga ting in the vicinity of today's Linköping.
Adam of Bremen's description
In Gesta Hammaburgensis ecclesiae pontificum (Deeds of Bishops of the Hamburg Church), Adam of Bremen mentions Birka many times, and the book is the main source of information on the city. After its initial release in 1075–6, Gesta was complemented with supplementary Scholias until the death of Adam in the 1080s. Birca is described as an existing city in the original version, but then as destroyed in Scholia 138.
One of Adam's main sources had been the German bishop Adalvard the Younger of Sigtuna and later of Skara as hinted in Scholia 119. He was also very familiar with Rimbert's work. Adam himself never visited Birka.
Location and port
Adam described Birka as a Geatish port town and had gathered many details about it.
<blockquote>Birka is the main Geatish town (oppidum Gothorum), situated in the middle of Sweden (Suevoniae), not far (non longe) from the temple called Uppsala (Ubsola) which the Swedes (Sueones) held in the highest esteem when it comes to the worship of the gods; here forms an inlet of the Baltic or the Barbaric Sea a port facing north which welcomes all the wild peoples all around this sea but which is risky for those who are careless or ignorant of such places ... they have therefore blocked this inlet of the troubled sea with hidden masses of rocks along more than 100 stadions (18 km). On this anchorage, being the best sheltered within the maritime region of Sweden (Suevoniae), all the ships belonging to Danes (Danorum) known as Norwegians (Nortmannorum) as well as to Slavs (Sclavorum), Sembrians (Semborum) and other Scythian (Scithiae) peoples use to convene every year for sundry necessary commerce. (I 62)</blockquote>
<blockquote>Turning from the northern parts to the mouth of the Baltic Sea we first meet the Norwegians (Nortmanni), then the Danish region of Skåne (Sconia) stands out, and beyond these live the Geats (Gothi) for a long stretch all the way to Birka. (IV 14)</blockquote>
Having described Västergötland and Skara, Adam writes:
<blockquote>Beyond it Östergötland (Ostrogothia) extends along the sea, that is called the Baltic Sea, all the way to Birka. (IV 23)</blockquote>
Noteworthy in the following statement is the usage of the term "not far" (non longe) which was also used to describe the distance between Birka and the Uppsala temple:
<blockquote>Furthermore we have been told that there are many more islands in that sea, one of which is called the Great Estland (Aestland) – And this island is told to be quite close to the Woman Land (terrae feminarum), which is not far (non longe) away from Birka of the Swedes. (IV 17)</blockquote>
Adam also had travel instructions from Skåne to Sigtuna:
<blockquote>From Skåne (Sconia) of the Danes one reaches Sigtuna (Sictonam) or Birka after five days at sea, for they are indeed alike. But by land from Skåne across the Geatish people (Gothorum populos) and cities Skara (Scaranem), Telgas and Birka, one reaches Sigtuna only after a full month. (IV 28)</blockquote>
"Telgas" is not mentioned anywhere else, and it remains as speculative as Birka. The most popular identification among many telge names in Sweden is Södertälje. Scholia 121 of IV 20 tells also:
<blockquote>For those who sail from Skåne (Sconia) of the Danes to Birka, the journey takes five days, from Birka to Russia (Ruzziam) likewise five days at sea. (Scholia 121)</blockquote>
The following definition remains even more mysterious:
<blockquote>In pity of their errors, our archbishop ordained as their diocesan capital Birka, which is in the middle of Sweden (Sueoniae) facing Jumne (Iumnem), the capital of the Slavs, and equally distant from all the coasts of the surrounding sea. (IV 20)</blockquote>
Since it is physically impossible for any Swedish town to face Jumne, the latter being situated along River Oder, Adam's statement is probably a misunderstanding. No place having a similar name to Birka is known to have situated on the opposite shore of Oder, so it may be possible that something similar to Jumne was located opposite to Birka.
Bishop
Archbishopric of Hamburg-Bremen that oversaw the missionary work in Scandinavia until 1103, had appointed bishops to Sweden at least from 1014 onwards, the first see being in Skara. Several bishops were appointed for Sweden in 1060s, one also for Birka.
<blockquote>For Sweden, six were consecrated: Adalvard the Elder (Adalwardum) and Acilinum, also Adalvard the Younger (Adalwardum) and Tadicum, and furthermore Simeon (Symeonem) and the monk John (Iohannem). (III 70)</blockquote>
Scholia 94 appends this as follows:
<blockquote>Adalvard the Elder (Adalwardus senior) was to superintend both lands of the Geats (uterque praefectus est Gothiae), Adalvard the Younger Sigtuna (Sictunam) and Uppsala (Ubsalam), Simeon (Symon) the Sami people (Scritefingos), John (Iohannes) the islands of the Baltic Sea. (Scholia 94)</blockquote>
Furthermore, the following was said about John's location after talking about Birka:
<blockquote>For this city he ordained, as the first among our people, the abbot Hiltin, whom he wanted to call John. (IV 20)</blockquote>
John seems to have been situated in Birka in order to prepare for the missionary work among the many heathen people that flooded to Birca from around the Baltic coasts. This was a logical continuation to Birka's position as the first missionary town in Sweden. Noteworthy here is that the biggest islands in the Baltic Sea, Öland and Gotland, were part of the diocese of Linköping in the Middle Ages, covering also Östergötland and eastern Småland.
Location of Unni's tomb
Scholia 122 of IV 20 locates the tomb of Hamburg's archbishop Unni in Birka:
<blockquote>There is the port of Saint Ansgar and the tomb of the holy Archbishop Unni, and a familiar haven, it is said, for the holy confessors of our diocese. (Scholia 122)</blockquote>
According to Gesta, Unni had died in 936 (I 64).
Destruction
After having consistently described Birka as an existing city, Scholia 138 of IV 29 describes Birka's sudden demise. Talking about Adalvard the Younger, the bishop of Sigtuna and later that of Skara, Adam or a later copyist has written:
<blockquote>During his journey he seized the opportunity to make a detour to Birka, which is now reduced to loneliness so that one can hardly find vestiges of the city; therefore impossible to come upon the tomb of the holy Archbishop Unni. (Scholia 138)</blockquote>
The remark does not make it clear if Adalvard found the city destroyed or if that had happened after his visit and the later remark was just to warn the future pilgrims not to go there anymore in vain. As Adalvard was back in Bremen already by 1069 and is mentioned as one of Adam's sources of information, it would have been expected that word about Birka's destruction had reached also Adam before he published his work half a decade later.
Björkö archaeological site
The exact location of Birka was also lost during the centuries, leading to speculation from Swedish historians. In 1450, the island of Björkö was first claimed to be Birka by the "Chronicle of Sweden" (Prosaiska krönikan).
In search of Birka, National Antiquarian Johan Hadorph was the first to attempt excavations on Björkö in the late 17th century.
In the late 19th century, Hjalmar Stolpe, an entomologist by education, arrived on Björkö to study fossilized insects found in amber on the island. Stolpe found very large amounts of amber, which is unusual since amber is not normally found in lake Mälaren. Stolpe speculated that the island may have been an important trading post, prompting him to conduct a series of archeological excavations between 1871 and 1895. The excavations soon indicated that a major settlement had been located on the island and eventually Stolpe spent two decades excavating the island. After Björkö came to be identified with ancient Birka, it has been assumed that the original name of Birka was simply Bierkø (sometimes spelled Bjärkö), an earlier form of Björkö.
A significant collection of textiles fragments were retrieved during excavations, mostly from chamber graves. Agnes Geijer published the most detailed analysis of this collection in 1938, although her study was based upon only around 5% of the 4800 textile fragments preserved from the site. The collection represents a usual variety of different types of textiles showing high quality textiles manufactured by different techniques like tabby and twill. Mostly made from wool and flax, the quality of the textiles studied by Geijer ranged from very coarse to fine fabrics with high thread counts that required complicated techniques to create. The variety of materials and techniques to make the tablet woven textiles led Geijer to theorize that some of the textiles were imported. Geijer also found remains of the three-end twill textile that has not been found anywhere else in Northern Europe. Geijer theorized that some of the fragments came from the East, possibly China, due the use of gold and silver wire as well as silk.
Ownership of Björkö is today mainly in private hands and is used for farming and management also benefits biodiversity.
The archaeological remains are located in the north part of Björkö and span an area of about 7 hectares (17 acres). The remains are both burial-sites and buildings, and in the south part of this area, there is also a hill fort called "Borgen" ("The Fortress"). The construction technique of the buildings is still unknown, but the main material was wood. An adjacent island holds the remains of Hovgården, an estate that housed the King's retinue during visits.
Approximately 700 people lived at Birka when it was at its largest, and about 3,000 graves have been found. Its administrative center was supposedly located outside of the settlement itself, on the nearby island of Adelsö.
The most recent large excavation was undertaken between 1990 and 1995 in a region of dark earth, believed to be the site of the main settlement.
Shipyard
On 15 June 2022, it was announced that archaeologists from Stockholm University's Archaeological Research Laboratory had found a Viking Age shipyard in Lake Mälaren. It was the first time a site like the shipyard had been found.
"The site found consisted of a stone-lined depression in the Viking Age shore zone with a wooden boat slip at the bottom. The finds at the site consist of large quantities of both unused and used boat rivets, whetstones made from slate and woodworking tools."
Björkö objects
"Allah" textile controversy
In 2017, Annika Larsson, a textile researcher, claimed in a press release by Uppsala University to have discovered a textile among the finds from Birka that bore the Arabic words "Allah" and "Ali". She theorized that some of the Vikings could have been influenced by Islam, leading to widespread media coverage. Stephennie Mulder, a professor of Islamic art at the University of Texas at Austin, replied to Larsson's findings in a Twitter thread. Based on the epigraphy, Mulder argued that the textile bore a simple geometric pattern and not Arabic writing because the dating of the textile was from the 10th century and the style of writing Larsson claimed was on the textile, square Kufic, is not seen until the 15th century. Larsson had also proposed extensions to the tablet weaving that expanded beyond the original drawing by Agnes Geijer in 1938. Textile specialist Carolyn Priest-Dorman argued that the expansions are impossible because the fragment has finished edges called selvages and the band would have shown cut weft threads if the fragment had been narrowed at some point. Larsson's drawings were speculative and not based on evidence that an expansion existed. The backlash following these criticisms led the press release on the Uppsala University website to include a note that Larsson's research was preliminary and a comment regarding the criticisms. "Allah" ring controversy A ring was found during the archeological excavations at Birka between 1872 and 1895, when archeologist Hjalmar Stolpe discovered it in a 9th-century Viking woman's burial. It is made of high-quality silver alloy and is set with a pink-violet oval glass. The ring, preserved at the Swedish history museum, became known as the "Allah ring" because of the pseudo-Kufic inscription found on the ring's glass that resembles the word Allah (Arabic: الله). While other rings were found at the Birka excavations, the "Allah ring" was the only one that had this type of inscription. The Arabic historical linguist Marijn van Putten argued that the inscription on the ring was an example of pseudo-Kufic and that it has no meaning in Arabic. Nevertheless, other analysts extrapolated that the pseudo-Kufic engraving was indeed Arabic and that this was sufficient evidence to directly link Vikings to Islamic civilization. Dragonhead The Birka dragonhead is a 45mm long decorative object made from a tin alloy. Sven Kalmring and Lena Holmquist maintain that the dragonhead was cast from a soapstone mold due to the presence of casting burs on the object and the fact that similar casting molds of dragons have been found in Birka. Stylistically similar dragonheads have been discovered around the Baltic, and scholars like Anne-Sofie Gräslund believe they likely functioned as dress pins.
, found at Birka]]
Wearable accessories
10 small silver crosses were found in graves at Birka. Missionaries, brought by Rimbert and others, lead to some converts to Christianity.
Many Birka grave excavations produced a number of funerary findings unique to the deceased and the region of the grave. In the excavation of grave Bj 463, a small copper alloy brooch with animal motifs was found alongside the skeletal remains of a young girl from Birka, and similar ones appeared in other excavations around Birka.
The brooch is understood to be typically related to female burials and also female jewelry of the Viking period. The surrounding fragments of textiles attached to these brooches, scattered around various graves across Sweden, also give an understanding of what the typical womenswear of the Viking age may have been in the 9th and 10th centuries. Dirham coins Dirham coins have been located all around Scandinavian countries and suggest strong trade relations existed between the medieval Middle East and Northern Europe. A dirham coin was found in the excavation of grave sites in Birka, with Arabic writing and an absence of imagery that would date the coin sometime after the 7th century. Other writing on the coin indicates the location of the mint as well as the names of a caliph and an Amir, which place the coin's origins in al-Shah, modern day Tashkent in Uzbekistan. The coin's inscription in Arabic translates into English:<blockquote>There is no deity but Allah alone he has no equal For God Muhammad is the messenger of God.</blockquote>
Birka burial sites
Over 3,000 grave sites are located in Birka, including both cremations and inhumations in coffins or chamber graves. Skeletal analysis and the presence of gender-specific jewelry and objects in graves has shown that the majority of the deceased are female. Scholar Nancy L. Wicker suggests that the disproportionate number of female graves is due to the fact that female grave goods are easily identifiable, but male graves without objects are difficult to identify. Scholar Marianne Hem Eriksen maintains that this girl is an unusual case of a high-status child burial, as children were seldom buried with identifiable grave goods.<ref name":6" />
See also
* List of runestones
* Uppland Runic Inscription 6 on display in Birka's museum
References
External links
* [http://www.raa.se/upplev-kulturarvet/varldsarv/birka-och-hovgarden/ Birka and Hovgården] at the Swedish National Heritage Board
* [https://whc.unesco.org/sites/555.htm Birka and Hovgården] – at UNESCO
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070301092846/http://uk.geocities.com/ancientinstruments/page0006.html Reconstructions of Bone Flutes like the ones from Birka]
* [http://historiska.se/birka// The Swedish History Museum]
Category:Viking Age in Sweden
Category:World Heritage Sites in Sweden
Category:Mälaren
Category:Archaeological sites in Sweden
Category:Archaeology of Northern Europe
Category:Former populated places in Sweden
Category:Geography of Stockholm County
Category:Uppland
Category:Museums in Stockholm County
Category:Archaeological museums in Sweden
Category:Viking Age museums
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Beta-lactamase
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, , , , , , , , , , ,
}}
s (top) and cephalosporins (bottom). Beta-lactam ring in red.]]
bacteria on the right are sensitive to two beta-lactam antibiotics, and do not grow in the semi-circular regions surrounding antibiotics. E. coli'' bacteria on the left are resistant to beta-lactam antibiotics, and grow next to one antibiotic (bottom) and are less inhibited by another antibiotic (top).]]
Beta-lactamases (β-lactamases) are enzymes () produced by bacteria that provide multi-resistance to beta-lactam antibiotics such as penicillins, cephalosporins, cephamycins, monobactams and carbapenems (ertapenem), although carbapenems are relatively resistant to beta-lactamase. Beta-lactamase provides antibiotic resistance by breaking the antibiotics' structure. These antibiotics all have a common element in their molecular structure: a four-atom ring known as a beta-lactam (β-lactam) ring. Through hydrolysis, the enzyme lactamase breaks the β-lactam ring open, deactivating the molecule's antibacterial properties.
Beta-lactamases produced by gram-negative bacteria are usually secreted, especially when antibiotics are present in the environment. Structure
The structure of a Streptomyces serine β-lactamase (SBLs) is given by . The alpha-beta fold () resembles that of a <small>DD</small>-transpeptidase, from which the enzyme is thought to have evolved. β-lactam antibiotics bind to <small>DD</small>-transpeptidases to inhibit bacterial cell wall biosynthesis. Serine β-lactamases are grouped by sequence similarity into types A, C, and D.
The other type of beta-lactamase is of the metallo type ("type B"). Metallo-beta-lactamases (MBLs) need metal ion(s) (1 or 2 Zn<sup>2+</sup> ions) on their active site for their catalytic activities. The structure of the New Delhi metallo-beta-lactamase 1 is given by . It resembles a RNase Z, from which it is thought to have evolved. Mechanism of action The two types of beta-lactamases work on the basis of the two basic mechanisms of opening the β-lactam ring.
Penicillinase
Penicillinase is a specific type of β-lactamase, showing specificity for penicillins, again by hydrolysing the β-lactam ring. Molecular weights of the various penicillinases tend to cluster near 50 kilodaltons.
Penicillinase was the first β-lactamase to be identified. It was first isolated by Abraham and Chain in 1940 from E. coli (which are gram-negative) even before penicillin entered clinical use, but penicillinase production quickly spread to bacteria that previously did not produce it or produced it only rarely. Penicillinase-resistant beta-lactams such as methicillin were developed, but there is now widespread resistance to even these.Resistance in gram-negative bacteria
Among gram-negative bacteria, the emergence of resistance to extended-spectrum cephalosporins has been a major concern. It appeared initially in a limited number of bacterial species (E. cloacae, C. freundii, S. marcescens, and P. aeruginosa) that could mutate to hyperproduce their chromosomal class C β-lactamase. A few years later, resistance appeared in bacterial species not naturally producing AmpC enzymes (K. pneumoniae, Salmonella spp., P. mirabilis) due to the production of TEM- or SHV-type ESBLs (extended spectrum beta lactamases). Characteristically, such resistance has included oxyimino- (for example ceftizoxime, cefotaxime, ceftriaxone, and ceftazidime, as well as the oxyimino-monobactam aztreonam), but not 7-alpha-methoxy-cephalosporins (cephamycins; in other words, cefoxitin and cefotetan); has been blocked by inhibitors such as clavulanate, sulbactam or tazobactam and did not involve carbapenems and temocillin. Chromosomal-mediated AmpC β-lactamases represent a new threat, since they confer resistance to 7-alpha-methoxy-cephalosporins (cephamycins) such as cefoxitin or cefotetan but are not affected by commercially available β-lactamase inhibitors, and can, in strains with loss of outer membrane porins, provide resistance to carbapenems.Extended-spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL)Members of this family commonly express β-lactamases (e.g., TEM-3, TEM-4, and SHV-2 ) which confer resistance to expanded-spectrum (extended-spectrum) cephalosporins. In the mid-1980s, this new group of enzymes, the extended-spectrum β-lactamases (ESBLs), was detected (first detected in 1979). The prevalence of ESBL-producing bacteria have been gradually increasing in acute care hospitals. The prevalence in the general population varies between countries, e.g. approximately 6% in Germany and France, 13% in Saudi Arabia, and 63% in Egypt. ESBLs are beta-lactamases that hydrolyze extended-spectrum cephalosporins with an oxyimino side chain. These cephalosporins include cefotaxime, ceftriaxone, and ceftazidime, as well as the oxyimino-monobactam aztreonam. Thus ESBLs confer multi-resistance to these antibiotics and related oxyimino-beta lactams. In typical circumstances, they derive from genes for TEM-1, TEM-2, or SHV-1 by mutations that alter the amino acid configuration around the active site of these β-lactamases. A broader set of β-lactam antibiotics are susceptible to hydrolysis by these enzymes. An increasing number of ESBLs not of TEM or SHV lineage have recently been described. The ESBLs are frequently plasmid encoded. Plasmids responsible for ESBL production frequently carry genes encoding resistance to other drug classes (for example, aminoglycosides). Therefore, antibiotic options in the treatment of ESBL-producing organisms are extremely limited. Carbapenems are the treatment of choice for serious infections due to ESBL-producing organisms, yet carbapenem-resistant (primarily ertapenem-resistant) isolates have recently been reported. ESBL-producing organisms may appear susceptible to some extended-spectrum cephalosporins. However, treatment with such antibiotics has been associated with high failure rates. Types TEM beta-lactamases (class A) TEM-1 is the most commonly encountered beta-lactamase in gram-negative bacteria. Up to 90% of ampicillin resistance in E. coli is due to the production of TEM-1. Also responsible for the ampicillin and penicillin resistance that is seen in H. influenzae and N. gonorrhoeae in increasing numbers. Although TEM-type beta-lactamases are most often found in E. coli and K. pneumoniae, they are also found in other species of gram-negative bacteria with increasing frequency. The amino acid substitutions responsible for the extended-spectrum beta lactamase (ESBL) phenotype cluster around the active site of the enzyme and change its configuration, allowing access to oxyimino-beta-lactam substrates. Opening the active site to beta-lactam substrates also typically enhances the susceptibility of the enzyme to β-lactamase inhibitors, such as clavulanic acid. Single amino acid substitutions at positions 104, 164, 238, and 240 produce the ESBL phenotype, but ESBLs with the broadest spectrum usually have more than a single amino acid substitution. Based upon different combinations of changes, currently 140 TEM-type enzymes have been described. TEM-10, TEM-12, and TEM-26 are among the most common in the United States. The term TEM comes from the name of the Athenian patient (Temoniera) from which the isolate was recovered in 1963.
SHV beta-lactamases (class A)
SHV-1 shares 68 percent of its amino acids with TEM-1 and has a similar overall structure. The SHV-1 beta-lactamase is most commonly found in K. pneumoniae and is responsible for up to 20% of the plasmid-mediated ampicillin resistance in this species. ESBLs in this family also have amino acid changes around the active site, most commonly at positions 238 or 238 and 240. More than 60 SHV varieties are known. SHV-5 and SHV-12 are among the most common. CTX-M beta-lactamases (class A) These enzymes were named for their greater activity against cefotaxime than other oxyimino-beta-lactam substrates (e.g., ceftazidime, ceftriaxone, or cefepime). Rather than arising by mutation, they represent examples of plasmid acquisition of beta-lactamase genes normally found on the chromosome of Kluyvera species, a group of rarely pathogenic commensal organisms. These enzymes are not very closely related to TEM or SHV beta-lactamases in that they show only approximately 40% identity with these two commonly isolated beta-lactamases. More than 172 CTX-M enzymes are currently known. Despite their name, a few are more active on ceftazidime than cefotaxime. They are widely described among species of Enterobacteriaceae, mainly E. coli and K. pneumoniae. Detected in the 1980s they have since the early 2000s spread and are the now the predominant ESBL type in the world. They are generally clustred into five groups based on sequencing homologies; CTX-M-1, CTX-M-2, CTX-M-8, CTX-M-9 and CTX-M-25. CTX-M-15 (belonging to the CTX-M-1 cluster) is the most prevalent CTX-M-gene. An example of beta-lactamase CTX-M-15, along with ISEcp1, has been found to have transposed onto the chromosome of Klebsiella pneumoniae ATCC BAA-2146. The initials stand for "Cefotaxime-Munich". OXA beta-lactamases (class D) OXA beta-lactamases were long recognized as a less common but also plasmid-mediated beta-lactamase variety that could hydrolyze oxacillin and related anti-staphylococcal penicillins. These beta-lactamases differ from the TEM and SHV enzymes in that they belong to molecular class D and functional group 2d. The OXA-type beta-lactamases confer resistance to ampicillin and cephalothin and are characterized by their high hydrolytic activity against oxacillin and cloxacillin and the fact that they are poorly inhibited by clavulanic acid. Amino acid substitutions in OXA enzymes can also give the ESBL phenotype. While most ESBLs have been found in E. coli, K. pneumoniae, and other Enterobacteriaceae, the OXA-type ESBLs have been found mainly in P. aeruginosa. OXA-type ESBLs have been found mainly in Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolates from Turkey and France. The OXA beta-lactamase family was originally created as a phenotypic rather than a genotypic group for a few beta-lactamases that had a specific hydrolysis profile. Therefore, there is as little as 20% sequence homology among some of the members of this family. However, recent additions to this family show some degree of homology to one or more of the existing members of the OXA beta-lactamase family. Some confer resistance predominantly to ceftazidime, but OXA-17 confers greater resistance to cefotaxime and cefepime than it does resistance to ceftazidime. Others Other plasmid-mediated ESBLs, such as PER, VEB, GES, and IBC beta-lactamases, have been described but are uncommon and have been found mainly in P. aeruginosa and at a limited number of geographic sites. PER-1 in isolates in Turkey, France, and Italy; VEB-1 and VEB-2 in strains from Southeast Asia; and GES-1, GES-2, and IBC-2 in isolates from South Africa, France, and Greece. PER-1 is also common in multiresistant acinetobacter species in Korea and Turkey. Some of these enzymes are found in Enterobacteriaceae as well, whereas other uncommon ESBLs (such as BES-1, IBC-1, SFO-1, and TLA-1) have been found only in Enterobacteriaceae.TreatmentWhile ESBL-producing organisms were previously associated with hospitals and institutional care, these organisms are now increasingly found in the community. CTX-M-15-positive E. coli are a cause of community-acquired urinary infections in the UK, and tend to be resistant to all oral β-lactam antibiotics, as well as quinolones and sulfonamides. Treatment options may include nitrofurantoin, fosfomycin, mecillinam and chloramphenicol. In desperation, once-daily ertapenem or gentamicin injections may also be used. Inhibitor-resistant β-lactamases Although the inhibitor-resistant β-lactamases are not ESBLs, they are often discussed with ESBLs because they are also derivatives of the classical TEM- or SHV-type enzymes. These enzymes were at first given the designation IRT for inhibitor-resistant TEM β-lactamase; however, all have subsequently been renamed with numerical TEM designations. There are at least 19 distinct inhibitor-resistant TEM β-lactamases. Inhibitor-resistant TEM β-lactamases have been found mainly in clinical isolates of E. coli, but also some strains of K. pneumoniae, Klebsiella oxytoca, P. mirabilis, and Citrobacter freundii. Although the inhibitor-resistant TEM variants are resistant to inhibition by clavulanic acid and sulbactam, thereby showing clinical resistance to the beta-lactam—lactamase inhibitor combinations of amoxicillin-clavulanate (co-amoxiclav), ticarcillin-clavulanate (co-ticarclav), and ampicillin/sulbactam, they normally remain susceptible to inhibition by tazobactam and subsequently the combination of piperacillin/tazobactam, although resistance has been described. This is no longer a primarily European epidemiology, it is found in northern parts of America often and should be tested for with complex UTI's. AmpC-type β-lactamase organisms are often clinically grouped through the acronym, "SPACE": Serratia, Pseudomonas or Proteus, Acinetobacter, Citrobacter, and Enterobacter.Carbapenemases
Carbapenems are famously stable to AmpC β-lactamases and extended-spectrum-β-lactamases. Carbapenemases are a diverse group of β-lactamases that are active not only against the oxyimino-cephalosporins and cephamycins but also against the carbapenems. Aztreonam is stable to the metallo-β-lactamases,
but many IMP and VIM producers are resistant, owing to other mechanisms. Carbapenemases were formerly believed to derive only from classes A, B, and D, but a class C carbapenemase has been described.
IMP-type carbapenemases (metallo-β-lactamases) (class B)
Plasmid-mediated IMP-type carbapenemases (IMP stands for active-on-imipenem), 19 varieties of which are currently known, became established in Japan in the 1990s both in enteric gram-negative organisms and in Pseudomonas and Acinetobacter species. IMP enzymes spread slowly to other countries in the Far East, were reported from Europe in 1997, and have been found in Canada and Brazil.
VIM (Verona integron-encoded metallo-β-lactamase) (Class B)
A second growing family of carbapenemases, the VIM family, was reported from Italy in 1999 and now includes 10 members, which have a wide geographic distribution in Europe, South America, and the Far East and have been found in the United States. VIM-1 was discovered in P. aeruginosa in Italy in 1996; since then, VIM-2 - now the predominant variant - was found repeatedly in Europe and the Far East; VIM-3 and -4 are minor variants of VIM-2 and -1, respectively.
Amino acid sequence diversity is up to 10% in the VIM family, 15% in the IMP family, and 70% between VIM and IMP. Enzymes of both the families, nevertheless, are similar. Both are integron-associated, sometimes within plasmids. Both hydrolyse all β-lactams except monobactams, and evade all β-lactam inhibitors. The VIM enzymes are among the most widely distributed MBLs, with >40 VIM variants having been reported. Biochemical and biophysical studies revealed that VIM variants have only small variations in their kinetic parameters but substantial differences in their thermal stabilities and inhibition profiles. OXA (oxacillinase) group of β-lactamases (class D) The OXA group of β-lactamases occur mainly in Acinetobacter species and are divided into two clusters. OXA carbapenemases hydrolyse carbapenems very slowly in vitro, and the high MICs seen for some Acinetobacter hosts (>64 mg/L) may reflect secondary mechanisms. They are sometimes augmented in clinical isolates by additional resistance mechanisms, such as impermeability or efflux. OXA carbapenemases also tend to have a reduced hydrolytic efficiency towards penicillins and cephalosporins.
KPC (K. pneumoniae carbapenemase) (class A)
A few class A enzymes, most noted the plasmid-mediated KPC enzymes, are effective carbapenemases as well. Ten variants, KPC-2 through KPC-11 are known, and they are distinguished by one or two amino acid substitutions (KPC-1 was re-sequenced in 2008 and found to be 100% homologous to published sequences of KPC-2). KPC-1 was found in North Carolina, KPC-2 in Baltimore and KPC-3 in New York. They have only 45% homology with SME and NMC/IMI enzymes and, unlike them, can be encoded by self-transmissible plasmids.
, the class A Klebsiella pneumoniae carbapenemase (KPC) globally has been the most common carbapenemase, and was first detected in 1996 in North Carolina, USA. A 2010 publication indicated that KPC producing Enterobacteriaceae were becoming common in the United States.CMY (class C)The first class C carbapenemase was described in 2006 and was isolated from a virulent strain of Enterobacter aerogenes. It is carried on a plasmid, pYMG-1, and is therefore transmissible to other bacterial strains.SME (Serratia marcescens enzymes), IMI (IMIpenem-hydrolysing β-lactamase), NMC and CcrA
In general, these are of little clinical significance.
CcrA (CfiA). Its gene occurs in ca. 1–3% of B. fragilis isolates, but fewer produce the enzyme since expression demands appropriate migration of an insertion sequence. CcrA was known before imipenem was introduced, and producers have shown little subsequent increase.NDM-1 (New Delhi metallo-β-lactamase) (class B)
Originally described from New Delhi in 2009, this gene is now widespread in Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae from India and Pakistan. As of mid-2010, NDM-1 carrying bacteria have been introduced to other countries (including the United States and UK), most probably due to the large number of tourists travelling the globe, who may have picked up the strain from the environment, as strains containing the NDM-1 gene have been found in environmental samples in India. NDM have several variants which share different properties. It was theorized that the breakdown of penicillin by the enzyme would treat the allergic reaction. While it was not useful in acute anaphylactic shock, it showed positive results in cases of urticaria and joint pain suspected to be caused by penicillin allergy. Its use was proposed in pediatric cases where penicillin allergy was discovered upon administration of the polio vaccine, which used penicillin as a preservative. However, some patients developed allergies to neutrapen. The Albany Hospital removed it from its formulary in 1960, only two years after adding it, citing lack of use. Some researchers continued to use it in experiments on penicillin resistance as late as 1972. It was voluntarily withdrawn from the American market by 3M Pharmaceuticals in 1997. Detection Beta-lactamase enzymatic activity can be detected using nitrocefin, a chromogenic cephalosporin substrate which changes color from yellow to red upon beta-lactamase mediated hydrolysis.
Extended spectrum beta lactamase (ESBL) screening can be performed using disk-diffusion. Cefpodoxime, ceftazidime, aztreonam, cefotaxime, and/or ceftriaxone discs are used.
Evolution
Beta-lactamases are ancient bacterial enzymes. Metallo β-lactamases ("class B") are all structurally similar to RNase Z and may have evolved from it. Of the three subclasses B1, B2, and B3, B1 and B2 are theorized to have evolved about one billion years ago, while B3 seems to have arisen independently, possibly before the divergence of the gram-positive and gram-negative eubacteria about two billion years ago. PNGM-1 (Papua New Guinea Metallo-β-lactamase-1) has both metallo-β-lactamase (MBL) and tRNase Z activities, suggesting that PNGM-1 is thought to have evolved from a tRNase Z, and that the B3 MBL activity of PNGM-1 is a promiscuous activity and subclass B3 MBLs are thought to have evolved through PNGM-1 activity. Subclasses B1 and B3 has been further subdivided.
Serine beta-lactamases (classes A, C, and D) appear to have evolved from <small>DD</small>-transpeptidases, which are penicillin-binding proteins involved in cell wall biosynthesis, and as such are one of the main targets of beta-lactam antibiotics. These three classes show undetectable sequence similarity with each other, but can still be compared using structural homology. Groups A and D are sister taxa and group C diverged before A and D. These serine-based enzymes, like the group B betalactamases, are of ancient origin and are theorized to have evolved about two billion years ago.
The OXA group (in class D) in particular is theorized to have evolved on chromosomes and moved to plasmids on at least two separate occasions.
Etymology
The "β" (beta) refers to the nitrogen's position on the second carbon in the ring. Lactam is a blend of lactone (from the Latin lactis, milk, since lactic acid was isolated from soured milk) and amide. The suffix -ase, indicating an enzyme, is derived from diastase (from the Greek diastasis, "separation"), the first enzyme discovered in 1833 by Payen and Persoz. See also
* β-lactamase inhibitor
* ESBL-producing E. coli
* Nitrocefin
* Antimicrobial resistance
References
Further reading
*
*
*
External links
* [http://bldb.eu/ Beta-lactamase database]
*
Category:Beta-lactam antibiotics
Category:EC 3.5.2
Category:Enzymes of known structure
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beta-lactamase
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Burhanuddin Rabbani
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| native_name_lang = fa
| image = Burhanuddin Rabbani Cropped DVIDS.jpg
| caption = Rabbani in 2010
| order = 6th
| office = President of Afghanistan
| term_start = 28 June 1992
| term_end = 22 December 2001<br>Disputed by Mullah Omar<br>(as Supreme Leader)<br>from 27 September 1996 – 13 November 2001
| predecessor = Mohammad Najibullah
| successor = Hamid Karzai
| primeminister =
*Abdul Rahim Ghafoorzai
}}
| vicepresident =
| birth_date
| birth_place = Badakhshan, Afghanistan
| death_date }}
| death_place = Kabul, Afghanistan
| children = 4, including Salahuddin
| education = Kabul University <br>Al-Azhar University
| occupation = Politician, teacher, Mujahideen leader
| awards * : Order of Ismoili Somoni – posthumously awarded on 2 September 2014<br>
* : Order of José Marti – posthumously awarded on 15 August 2021
| party = Jamiat-e Islami (Founder)
}}
Burhānuddīn Rabbānī (; 20 September 1940 – 20 September 2011) was an Afghan politician and teacher who served as the sixth president of Afghanistan from 1992 to 1996, and again from November to December 2001 (in exile from 1996 to 2001).
Born in the Badakhshan Province, Rabbani studied at Kabul University and worked there as a professor of Islamic theology. He formed the Jamiat-e Islami (Islamic Society) at the university which attracted then-students Gulbuddin Hekmatyar and Ahmad Shah Massoud, both would eventually become the two leading commanders of the Afghan mujahideen in the Soviet–Afghan War from 1979. Rabbani was chosen to be the President of Afghanistan after the end of the former communist regime in 1992. Rabbani and his Islamic State of Afghanistan government was later forced into exile by the Taliban, and he then served as the political head of the Northern Alliance, an alliance of various political groups who fought against the Taliban regime in Afghanistan. During his time in the office, there were a lot of internal clashes between different fighting groups.
After the Taliban government was toppled during Operation Enduring Freedom, Rabbani returned to Kabul and served briefly as president from 13 November to 22 December 2001, when Hamid Karzai was chosen as his succeeding interim leader at the Bonn International Conference. In later years he became head of Afghanistan National Front (known in the media as United National Front), the largest political opposition to Karzai's government.
On 20 September 2011, Rabbani was assassinated by a suicide bomber entering his home in Kabul. As suggested by the Afghan parliament, Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai gave him the title of "Martyr of Peace". His son Salahuddin Rabbani was chosen in April 2012 to lead efforts to forge peace in Afghanistan with the Taliban.Early life and educationRabbani, son of Muhammed Yousuf, was born on 20 September 1940 in the northern province of Badakhshan. He was a Persian-speaking ethnic Tajik. After finishing school in his native province, he went to Darul-uloom-e-Sharia (Abu-Hanifa), a religious school in Kabul. When he graduated from Abu-Hanifa, he attended Kabul University to study Islamic Law and Theology, graduating in 1963. In two years, he received his master's degree in Islamic Philosophy. He resumed his position at the university and became closely associated with his fellow professor, Gholam Mohammad Niazi, whom he served as secretary in 1969 and 1970.
In the spring of 1974, the police came to Kabul University to arrest Rabbani for his pro-Islamic stance, but with the help of his students the police were unable to capture him, and he managed to escape to the countryside. In Pakistan, Rabbani gathered important people and established the party. Sayed Noorullah Emad, who was then a young Muslim in the University of Kabul, became the General Secretary of the party and, later, its deputy chief. Rabbani alongside Ahmad Shah Massoud and others planned to take action either against the Daoud government or people who they deemed communist in 1975, but failed.
When the Soviets intervened in 1979, Rabbani helped lead Jamiat-e Islami in resistance to the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan regime. Rabbani's forces were the first Mujahideen elements to enter Kabul in 1992 when the PDPA government fell from power. He took over as president from 1992 in accordance to the Peshawar Accords. Rabbani was the third ethnic Tajik leader of modern Afghanistan after Habibullah Kalakani in 1929 and Abdul Qadir in 1978 (and possibly including Babrak Karmal, whose ethnicity was disputed). His rule was limited since the country was fractured by civil war between different sides. Rabbani was forced to flee following the Taliban's conquest of Kabul in 1996. Rabbani operated his government in exile, following the establishment of the Taliban rule of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. In this period between 1996 and 2001, the Rabbani government of the Islamic State of Afghanistan remained the internationally recognized government, despite only controlling about 10% of Afghan territory. For the next five years, he and the Northern Alliance, commanded by Ahmad Shah Massoud and others, were fighting the Taliban until the 2001 US-led Operation Enduring Freedom toppled the Taliban government. Rabbani was head of Afghanistan's High Peace Council, which had been formed in 2010 to initiate peace talks with the Taliban and other groups in the insurgency, until his death.Assassination
<!--Karzai at UN and funeral-->
Rabbani was killed in a suicide bombing at his home in Kabul on 20 September 2011, his 71st birthday. Two men posing as Taliban representatives approached him to offer a hug and detonated their explosives. At least one of them had hidden the explosives in his turban. The suicide bomber claimed to be a Taliban commander, said he bore a "very important and positive message" from Taliban leaders in Pakistan, and said he wanted to "discuss peace" with Rabbani. Four other members of Afghanistan's High Peace Council were also killed in the blast.
Afghan officials blamed the Quetta Shura, which was the leadership of the Afghan Taliban allegedly hiding in the affluent Satellite Town of Quetta in Pakistan. The Pakistani government confirmed that Rabbani's assassination was linked to Afghan refugees in Pakistan. A senior Pakistani official stated that over 90% of terrorist attacks in Pakistan were traced back to Afghan elements and that their presence in the country was "an important issue for [peace in] Pakistan" and "a problem for Afghanistan". Pakistani foreign minister Hina Rabbani Khar stated that Pakistan was "not responsible if Afghan refugees crossed the border and entered Kabul, stayed in a guest house and attacked Professor Rabbani".
In 2011, just days before he died, Rabbani was trying to persuade Islamic scholars to issue a religious edict denouncing suicide bombings. The former president's 28-year-old daughter said in an interview that her father died shortly after he spoke at a conference on "Islamic Awakening" in Tehran. "Right before he was assassinated, he talked about the suicide bombing issue," Fatima Rabbani told Reuters. "He called on all Islamic scholars in the conference to release a fatwa" against the tactic.
Government minister Nematullah Shahrani said Rabbani is irreplaceable because "he had relations with all these tribes."
United States President Barack Obama and several NATO military leaders condemned the assassination. Japan also offered its condolences at the Sixty-sixth session of the United Nations General Assembly. Afghan President Hamid Karzai cut short his trip for the General debate of the sixty-sixth session of the United Nations General Assembly following Rabbani's assassination. Rabbani's son Salahuddin then took over chairmanship of the High Peace Council from his father.
Honors and awards
* :
** Order of Ismoili Somoni – posthumously awarded on 2 September 2014
* :
** Order of José Marti – posthumously awarded on 15 August 2021
See also
* Ahmad Shah Massoud
* Mohammad Panah
* Salahuddin Rabbani
* Gholam Mohammad Niazi
* Badaber Uprising
* Jamiat-e-Islami (Afghanistan)
References
External links
* [https://www.un.org/millennium/webcast/statements/afghanistan.htm Burhanuddin Rabbani, President of the Islamic State of Afghanistan] webcast at the United Nations Millennium Summit, 8 September 2000
* [http://www.afghan-web.com/bios/today/brabbani.html Biography] at Afghan-web.com
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/static/in_depth/world/2001/war_on_terror/after_the_taleban/b_rabbani.stm Afghanistan's Powerbrokers: Burhanuddin Rabbani] at BBC News, with link to November 2001 profile
*
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20110926132902/http://www.english.rfi.fr/asia-pacific/20110921-hundreds-mourn-rabbani-taliban-claim-responsibility-killing Hundreds mourn Rabbani] RFI English
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20110925033308/http://www.english.rfi.fr/asia-pacific/20110921-who-kiled-burhanuddin-rabbani-and-why Who killed Burhanuddin Rabbani ... and why?] RFI English
* [http://www.llukasz.com/Bibi_mahru_hill.htm Bibi Mahru Hill & Burhanuddin Rabbani's grave - Kabul]
Category:1940 births
Category:2011 deaths
Category:2011 murders in Afghanistan
Category:20th-century heads of state of Afghanistan
Category:21st-century heads of state of Afghanistan
Category:Presidents of Afghanistan
Category:Islamic State of Afghanistan
Category:Members of the House of the People (Afghanistan)
Category:Mujahideen members of the Soviet–Afghan War
Category:Afghan Sunni Muslims
Category:Afghan anti-communists
Category:Assassinated Afghan politicians
Category:Afghan Muslim Brotherhood members
Category:Afghan Tajik people
Category:Hanafi fiqh scholars
Category:Deaths by explosive device
Category:People killed by the Taliban
Category:People murdered in Afghanistan
Category:People from Badakhshan Province
Category:Al-Azhar University alumni
Category:Tajik politicians
Category:Kabul University alumni
Category:Jamiat-e Islami politicians
Category:United National Front (Afghanistan) politicians
Category:1990s in Afghanistan
Category:Leaders ousted by a coup
Category:Asian politicians assassinated in the 2010s
Category:Assassinated presidents in Asia
Category:Assassinated national legislators
Category:Politicians assassinated in 2011
Category:National presidents assassinated in the 21st century
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burhanuddin_Rabbani
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Boeing 747
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| introduction = , with Pan Am
| status = In cargo service; in limited passenger service
| primary_user = Pan Am (historical)<!--Limit one (1) primary user-->
| more_users = <!-- Limit is THREE (3) in 'more users' field, four (4) total users with primary user. -->
| produced = 1968–2023<!-- see NYT Jan2023 -->
| number_built = }} (inc N7470 prototype)<!-- Boeing built, but never "delivered" the prototype (N7470) to a customer, so it is not included in the company's official "orders and deliveries" number of 1,573. -->
| variants =
| developed_into =
}}
The Boeing 747 is a long-range wide-body airliner designed and manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes in the United States between 1968 and 2023.
<!--Development-->
After the introduction of the 707 in October 1958, Pan Am wanted a jet times its size, to reduce its seat cost by 30%.<!-- see Time7Dec1998--> In 1965, Joe Sutter left the 737 development program to design the 747. In April 1966, Pan Am ordered 25 Boeing 747-100 aircraft, and in late 1966, Pratt & Whitney agreed to develop the JT9D engine, a high-bypass turbofan. On September 30, 1968, the first 747 was rolled out of the custom-built Everett Plant, the world's largest building by volume. The 747's first flight took place on February 9, 1969, and the 747 was certified in December of that year. It entered service with Pan Am on January 22, 1970. The 747 was the first airplane called a "Jumbo Jet"<!-- See talk. The nickname "Jumbo Jet" was first explicitly coined with the introduction of the Boeing 747, although in contemporary lay use, "jumbo jet" may be attributed to any "large jet airplane with a seating capacity of several hundred passengers", according to the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary. --> as the first wide-body airliner.
<!--Design-->
The 747 is a four-engined jet aircraft, initially powered by Pratt & Whitney JT9D turbofan engines, then General Electric CF6 and Rolls-Royce RB211 engines for the original variants. With a ten-abreast economy seating, it typically accommodates 366 passengers in three travel classes. It has a pronounced 37.5° wing sweep, allowing a cruise speed, and its heavy weight is supported by four main landing gear legs, each with a four-wheel bogie. The partial double-deck aircraft was designed with a raised cockpit so it could be converted to a freighter airplane by installing a front cargo door, as it was initially thought that it would eventually be superseded by supersonic transports.
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Boeing introduced the -200 in 1971, with uprated engines for a heavier maximum takeoff weight (MTOW) of from the initial , increasing the maximum range from . It was shortened for the longer-range 747SP in 1976, and the 747-300 followed in 1983 with a stretched upper deck for up to 400 seats in three classes. The heavier 747-400 with improved RB211 and CF6 engines or the new PW4000 engine (the JT9D successor), and a two-crew glass cockpit, was introduced in 1989 and is the most common variant. After several studies, the stretched 747-8 was launched on November 14, 2005, using the General Electric GEnx engine first developed for the 787 Dreamliner (the inspiration for the -8 in the name), and was first delivered in October 2011. The 747 is the basis for several government and military variants, such as the VC-25 (Air Force One), E-4 Emergency Airborne Command Post, Shuttle Carrier Aircraft, and some experimental test aircraft such as the YAL-1 and SOFIA airborne observatory.
<!-- Operators and see NYT Jan2023 -->Initial competition came from the smaller trijet widebodies: the Lockheed L-1011 (introduced in 1972), McDonnell Douglas DC-10 (1971) and later MD-11 (1990). Airbus competed with later variants with the heaviest versions of the A340 until surpassing the 747 in size with the A380, delivered between 2007 and 2021. Freighter variants of the 747 remain popular with cargo airlines. The final 747 was delivered to Atlas Air in January 2023 after a 54-year production run, with 1,574 aircraft built.
<!--Accidents and incidents-->, 64 Boeing 747s (%) have been lost in accidents and incidents, in which a total of 3,746 people have died.<!-- see ASNstats--> Development Background In 1963, the United States Air Force began a series of study projects on a very large strategic transport aircraft. Although the C-141 Starlifter was being introduced, officials believed that a much larger and more capable aircraft was needed, especially to carry cargo that would not fit in any existing aircraft. These studies led to initial requirements for the CX-Heavy Logistics System (CX-HLS) in March 1964 for an aircraft with a load capacity of and a speed of Mach 0.75 (), and an unrefueled range of with a payload of . The payload bay had to be wide by high and long with access through doors at the front and rear.
The desire to keep the number of engines to four required new engine designs with greatly increased power and better fuel economy. In May 1964, airframe proposals arrived from Boeing, Douglas, General Dynamics, Lockheed, and Martin Marietta; engine proposals were submitted by General Electric, Curtiss-Wright, and Pratt & Whitney. Boeing, Douglas, and Lockheed were given additional study contracts for the airframe, along with General Electric and Pratt & Whitney for the engines. In 1965, Lockheed's aircraft design and General Electric's engine design were selected for the new C-5 Galaxy transport, which was the largest military aircraft in the world at the time. Airliner proposal The 747 was conceived while air travel was increasing in the 1960s. The era of commercial jet transportation, led by the enormous popularity of the Boeing 707 and Douglas DC-8, had revolutionized long-distance travel. In this growing jet age, Juan Trippe, president of Pan American Airways (Pan Am), one of Boeing's most important airline customers, asked for a new jet airliner times size of the 707, with a 30% lower cost per unit of passenger-distance and the capability to offer mass air travel on international routes. Trippe also thought that airport congestion could be addressed by a larger new aircraft.
747-200, showing an early-production 747 cockpit with a flight engineer, located on the upper deck |alt= A view of an early-production 747 cockpit]]
In 1965, Joe Sutter was transferred from Boeing's 737 development team to manage the design studies for the new airliner, already assigned the model number 747. Sutter began a design study with Pan Am and other airlines to better understand their requirements. At the time, many thought that long-range subsonic airliners would eventually be superseded by supersonic transport aircraft. Boeing responded by designing the 747 so it could be adapted easily to carry freight and remain in production even if sales of the passenger version declined.
In April 1966, Pan Am ordered 25 Boeing 747-100 aircraft for US$525 million (equivalent to $ billion in dollars). During the ceremonial 747 contract-signing banquet in Seattle on Boeing's 50th Anniversary, Juan Trippe predicted that the 747 would be "…a great weapon for peace, competing with intercontinental missiles for mankind's destiny". As launch customer, and because of its early involvement before placing a formal order, Pan Am was able to influence the design and development of the 747 to an extent unmatched by a single airline before or since. Design effort Ultimately, the high-winged CX-HLS Boeing design was not used for the 747, although technologies developed for their bid had an influence. The original design included a full-length double-deck fuselage with eight-across seating and two aisles on the lower deck and seven-across seating and two aisles on the upper deck. However, concern over evacuation routes and limited cargo-carrying capability caused this idea to be scrapped in early 1966 in favor of a wider single deck design. (A different configuration that had been considered to keep the flight deck out of the way for freight loading had the pilots below the passengers, and was dubbed the "anteater".)
high-bypass turbofan engine was developed for the 747.|alt=The Pratt & Whitney JT9D turbofan suspended under the wing pylon of the 747 prototype. It is stripped of its outer casing, revealing the engine's core at The Museum of Flight in Seattle, WA]]
One of the principal technologies that enabled an aircraft as large as the 747 to be drawn up was the high-bypass turbofan engine. This engine technology was thought to be capable of delivering double the power of the earlier turbojets while consuming one-third less fuel. General Electric had pioneered the concept but was committed to developing the engine for the C-5 Galaxy and did not enter the commercial market until later. Pratt & Whitney was also working on the same principle and, by late 1966, Boeing, Pan Am and Pratt & Whitney agreed to develop a new engine, designated the JT9D to power the 747. Additionally, some of the most advanced high-lift devices used in the industry were included in the new design, to allow it to operate from existing airports. These included Krueger flaps running almost the entire length of the wing's leading edge, as well as complex three-part slotted flaps along the trailing edge of the wing. The wing's complex three-part flaps increase wing area by 21% and lift by 90% when fully deployed compared to their non-deployed configuration.
Boeing agreed to deliver the first 747 to Pan Am by the end of 1969. The delivery date left 28 months to design the aircraft, which was two-thirds of the normal time. The schedule was so fast-paced that the people who worked on it were given the nickname "The Incredibles". Developing the aircraft was such a technical and financial challenge that management was said to have "bet the company" when it started the project. and Ling-Temco-Vought (LTV) for the empennage. Production plant |altAirplane assembly hall, featuring heavy machinery. Large cylindrical airplane sections and wings are readied for mating with other major components. Above are the cranes which ferry heavy and outsize parts of the 747.]]
As Boeing did not have a plant large enough to assemble the giant airliner, they chose to build a new plant. The company considered locations in about 50 cities, and eventually decided to build the new plant some north of Seattle on a site adjoining a military base at Paine Field near Everett, Washington. It bought the site in June 1966. To level the site, more than of earth had to be moved. Time was so short that the 747's full-scale mock-up was built before the factory roof above it was finished. The plant is the largest building by volume ever built, and has been substantially expanded several times to permit construction of other models of Boeing wide-body commercial jets. Tests also involved taxiing such a large aircraft. Boeing built an unusual training device known as "Waddell's Wagon" (named for a 747 test pilot, Jack Waddell) that consisted of a mock-up cockpit mounted on the roof of a truck. While the first 747s were still being built, the device allowed pilots to practice taxi maneuvers from a high upper-deck position.
In 1968, the program cost was US$1 billion (equivalent to $ billion in dollars). On September 30, 1968, the first 747 was rolled out of the Everett assembly building before the world's press and representatives of the 26 airlines that had ordered the airliner. Over the following months, preparations were made for the first flight, which took place on February 9, 1969, with test pilots Jack Waddell and Brien Wygle at the controls and Jess Wallick at the flight engineer's station. Despite a minor problem with one of the flaps, the flight confirmed that the 747 handled extremely well. The 747 was found to be largely immune to "Dutch roll", a phenomenon that had been a major hazard to the early swept-wing jets.
Issues, delays and certification
|alt= A view of the 747's four main landing gear, each with four wheels]]
During later stages of the flight test program, flutter testing showed that the wings suffered oscillation under certain conditions. This difficulty was partly solved by reducing the stiffness of some wing components. However, a particularly severe high-speed flutter problem was solved only by inserting depleted uranium counterweights as ballast in the outboard engine nacelles of the early 747s. This measure caused some concern when these aircraft crashed, for example El Al Flight 1862 at Amsterdam in 1992 with of uranium in the tailplane (horizontal stabilizer); detailed investigations showed, however, that the best estimate of the exposure to depleted uranium was ".. several orders of magnitude less than the workers' limit for chronic exposure."
The flight test program was hampered by problems with the 747's JT9D engines. Difficulties included engine stalls caused by rapid throttle movements and distortion of the turbine casings after a short period of service. The problems delayed 747 deliveries for several months; up to 20 aircraft at the Everett plant were stranded while awaiting engine installation. The program was further delayed when one of the five test aircraft suffered serious damage during a landing attempt at Renton Municipal Airport, the site of Boeing's Renton factory. The incident happened on December 13, 1969, when a test aircraft was flown to Renton to have test equipment removed and a cabin installed. Pilot Ralph C. Cokely undershot the airport's short runway and the 747's right, outer landing gear was torn off and two engine nacelles were damaged. However, these difficulties did not prevent Boeing from taking a test aircraft to the 28th Paris Air Show in mid-1969, where it was displayed to the public for the first time. Finally, in December 1969, the 747 received its FAA airworthiness certificate, clearing it for introduction into service.
The huge cost of developing the 747 and building the Everett factory meant that Boeing had to borrow heavily from a banking syndicate. During the final months before delivery of the first aircraft, the company had to repeatedly request additional funding to complete the project. Had this been refused, Boeing's survival would have been threatened. The firm's debt exceeded $2 billion, with the $1.2 billion owed to the banks setting a record for all companies. Allen later said, "It was really too large a project for us." Ultimately, the gamble succeeded, and Boeing held a monopoly in very large passenger aircraft production for many years.
Entry into service
christened the first commercial 747 on January 15, 1970.]]
On January 15, 1970, First Lady Pat Nixon christened Pan Am's first 747 at Dulles International Airport<!--(later Washington Dulles International Airport)--> in the presence of Pan Am chairman Najeeb Halaby. Instead of champagne, red, white, and blue water was sprayed on the aircraft. The 747 entered service on January 22, 1970, on Pan Am's New York–London route; the flight had been planned for the evening of January 21, but engine overheating made the original aircraft (Clipper Young America, registration N735PA) unusable. Finding a substitute delayed the flight by more than six hours to the following day when Clipper Victor (registration N736PA) was used. The 747 enjoyed a fairly smooth introduction into service, overcoming concerns that some airports would not be able to accommodate an aircraft that large. Although technical problems occurred, they were relatively minor and quickly solved.
Improved 747 versions
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After the initial , Boeing developed the , a higher maximum takeoff weight (MTOW) variant, and the (Short Range), with higher passenger capacity. Increased maximum takeoff weight allows aircraft to carry more fuel and have longer range. The model followed in 1971, featuring more powerful engines and a higher MTOW. Passenger, freighter and combination passenger-freighter versions of the were produced.
The 747 line was further developed with the launch of the on June 11, 1980, followed by interest from Swissair a month later and the go-ahead for the project. followed by 747EUD, before the 747-300 designation was used. Passenger, short range and combination freighter-passenger versions of the 300 series were produced. The variant had a new glass cockpit, which allowed for a cockpit crew of two instead of three, new engines, lighter construction materials, and a redesigned interior. Development costs soared, and production delays occurred as new technologies were incorporated at the request of airlines. Insufficient workforce experience and reliance on overtime contributed to early production problems on the .
In 1991, a record-breaking 1,087 passengers were flown in a 747 during a covert operation to airlift Ethiopian Jews to Israel. Generally, the 747-400 held between 416 and 524 passengers. The 747 remained the heaviest commercial aircraft in regular service until the debut of the Antonov An-124 Ruslan in 1982; variants of the 747-400 surpassed the An-124's weight in 2000. The Antonov An-225 Mriya cargo transport, which debuted in 1988, remains the world's largest aircraft by several measures (including the most accepted measures of maximum takeoff weight and length); one aircraft has been completed and was in service until 2022. The Scaled Composites Stratolaunch is currently the largest aircraft by wingspan.
Further developments
After the arrival of the , several stretching schemes for the 747 were proposed. Boeing announced the larger 747-500X and preliminary designs in 1996. The new variants would have cost more than US$5 billion to develop, In 2000, Boeing offered the more modest 747X and 747X stretch derivatives as alternatives to the Airbus A38X. However, the 747X family was unable to attract enough interest to enter production. A year later, Boeing switched from the 747X studies to pursue the Sonic Cruiser, and after the Sonic Cruiser program was put on hold, the 787 Dreamliner. Some of the ideas developed for the 747X were used on the 747-400ER, a longer range variant of the .
After several variants were proposed but later abandoned, some industry observers became skeptical of new aircraft proposals from Boeing. However, in early 2004, Boeing announced tentative plans for the 747 Advanced that were eventually adopted. Similar in nature to the 747-X, the stretched 747 Advanced used technology from the 787 to modernize the design and its systems. The 747 remained the largest passenger airliner in service until the Airbus A380 began airline service in 2007.
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On November 14, 2005, Boeing announced it was launching the 747 Advanced as the Boeing 747-8. The last 747-400s were completed in 2009. , most orders of the 747-8 were for the freighter variant. On February 8, 2010, the 747-8 Freighter made its maiden flight. The first delivery of the 747-8 went to Cargolux in 2011. The first 747-8 Intercontinental passenger variant was delivered to Lufthansa on May 5, 2012. The 1,500th Boeing 747 was delivered in June 2014 to Lufthansa.
In January 2016, Boeing stated it was reducing 747-8 production to six per year beginning in September 2016, incurring a $569 million post-tax charge against its fourth-quarter 2015 profits. At the end of 2015, the company had 20 orders outstanding. On January 29, 2016, Boeing announced that it had begun the preliminary work on the modifications to a commercial 747-8 for the next Air Force One presidential aircraft, then expected to be operational by 2020.
On July 12, 2016, Boeing announced that it had finalized an order from Volga-Dnepr Group for 20 747-8 freighters, valued at $7.58 billion (~$}} in ) at list prices. Four aircraft were delivered beginning in 2012. Volga-Dnepr Group is the parent of three major Russian air-freight carriers – Volga-Dnepr Airlines, AirBridgeCargo Airlines and Atran Airlines. The new 747-8 freighters would replace AirBridgeCargo's current 747-400 aircraft and expand the airline's fleet and will be acquired through a mix of direct purchases and leasing over the next six years, Boeing said. End of production On July 27, 2016, in its quarterly report to the Securities and Exchange Commission, Boeing discussed the potential termination of 747 production due to insufficient demand and market for the aircraft. With a firm order backlog of 21 aircraft and a production rate of six per year, program accounting had been reduced to 1,555 aircraft. In October 2016, UPS Airlines ordered 14 -8Fs to add capacity, along with 14 options, which it took in February 2018 to increase the total to 28 -8Fs on order. The backlog then stood at 25 aircraft, though several of these were orders from airlines that no longer intended to take delivery.
747-8F N863GT, the last Boeing 747 to be built and delivered]]
On July 2, 2020, it was reported that Boeing planned to end 747 production in 2022 upon delivery of the remaining jets on order to UPS and the Volga-Dnepr Group due to low demand. On July 29, 2020, Boeing confirmed that the final 747 would be delivered in 2022 as a result of "current market dynamics and outlook" stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic, according to CEO David Calhoun. The last aircraft, a 747-8F for Atlas Air registered N863GT, rolled off the production line on December 6, 2022, and was delivered on January 31, 2023. Boeing hosted an event at the Everett factory for thousands of workers as well as industry executives to commemorate the delivery. Design
Boeing 747-400|Boeing 747-8#Design747-8|Boeing 747SP#Design747SP}}
The Boeing 747 is a large, wide-body (two-aisle) airliner with four wing-mounted engines. Its wings have a high sweep angle of 37.5° for a fast, efficient cruise speed of Mach 0.84 to 0.88, depending on the variant. The sweep also reduces the wingspan, allowing the 747 to use existing hangars. Its seating capacity is over 366 with a 3–4–3 seat arrangement (a cross section of three seats, an aisle, four seats, another aisle, and three seats) in economy class and a 2–3–2 layout in first class on the main deck. The upper deck has a 3–3 seat arrangement in economy class and a 2–2 layout in first class.
Raised above the main deck, the cockpit creates a hump. This raised cockpit allows front loading of cargo on freight variants.
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The 747 has redundant structures along with four redundant hydraulic systems and four main landing gears each with four wheels; these provide a good spread of support on the ground and safety in case of tire blow-outs. The main gear are redundant so that landing can be performed on two opposing landing gears if the others are not functioning properly. The 747 also has split control surfaces and was designed with sophisticated triple-slotted flaps that minimize landing speeds and allow the 747 to use standard-length runways.
For transportation of spare engines, the 747 can accommodate a non-functioning fifth-pod engine under the aircraft's port wing between the inner functioning engine and the fuselage. The fifth engine mount point was also used by Virgin Orbit's LauncherOne program to carry an orbital-class rocket to cruise altitude where it was deployed. Operational history After the aircraft's introduction with Pan Am in 1970, other airlines that had bought the 747 to stay competitive began to put their own 747s into service. Boeing estimated that half of the early 747 sales were to airlines desiring the aircraft's long range rather than its payload capacity. While the 747 had the lowest potential operating cost per seat, this could only be achieved when the aircraft was fully loaded; costs per seat increased rapidly as occupancy declined. A moderately loaded 747, one with only 70 percent of its seats occupied, used more than 95 percent of the fuel needed by a fully occupied 747. Nonetheless, many flag-carriers purchased the 747 due to its prestige "even if it made no sense economically" to operate. During the 1970s and 1980s, over 30 regularly scheduled 747s could often be seen at John F. Kennedy International Airport.
The recession of 1969–1970, despite having been characterized as relatively mild, greatly affected Boeing. For the year and a half after September 1970, it only sold two 747s in the world, both to Irish flag carrier Aer Lingus.
No 747s were sold to any American carrier for almost three years. When economic problems in the US and other countries after the 1973 oil crisis led to reduced passenger traffic, several airlines found they did not have enough passengers to fly the 747 economically, and they replaced them with the smaller and recently introduced McDonnell Douglas DC-10 and Lockheed L-1011 TriStar trijet wide bodies (and later the 767 and Airbus A300/A310 twinjets). Having tried replacing coach seats on its 747s with piano bars in an attempt to attract more customers, American Airlines eventually relegated its 747s to cargo service and in 1983 exchanged them with Pan Am for smaller aircraft; Delta Air Lines also removed its 747s from service after several years. Later, Delta acquired 747s again in 2008 as part of its merger with Northwest Airlines, although it retired the Boeing 747-400 fleet in December 2017.
International flights bypassing traditional hub airports and landing at smaller cities became more common throughout the 1980s, thus eroding the 747's original market. Many international carriers continued to use the 747 on Pacific routes. In Japan, 747s on domestic routes were configured to carry nearly the maximum passenger capacity.
Variants
The 747-100 with a range of 4,620 nautical miles (8,556 km), was the original variant launched in 1966. The 747-200 soon followed, with its launch in 1968 and the shorter 747SP launched in 1973. The 747-300 was launched in 1980 and was followed by the in 1985. Ultimately, the 747-8 was announced in 2005. Several versions of each variant have been produced, and many of the early variants were in production simultaneously. The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) classifies variants using a shortened code formed by combining the model number and the variant designator (e.g. "B741" for all -100 models). 747-100
introduced it on January 22, 1970]]
The first 747-100s were built with six upper deck windows (three per side) to accommodate upstairs lounge areas. Later, as airlines began to use the upper deck for premium passenger seating instead of lounge space, Boeing offered an upper deck with ten windows on either side as an option. Some early -100s were retrofitted with the new configuration. The -100 was equipped with Pratt & Whitney JT9D-3A engines. No freighter version of this model was developed, but many 747-100s were converted into freighters as 747-100(SF). The first 747-100(SF) was delivered to Flying Tiger Line in 1974. A total of 168 747-100s were built; 167 were delivered to customers, while Boeing kept the prototype, City of Everett. In 1972, its unit cost was US$24M (M today). 747SR Responding to requests from Japanese airlines for a high-capacity aircraft to serve domestic routes between major cities, Boeing developed the 747SR as a short-range version of the with lower fuel capacity and greater payload capability. With increased economy class seating, up to 498 passengers could be carried in early versions and up to 550 in later models. The initial 747SR model, the -100SR, had a strengthened body structure and landing gear to accommodate the added stress accumulated from a greater number of takeoffs and landings. Extra structural support was built into the wings, fuselage, and the landing gear along with a 20% reduction in fuel capacity.
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The initial order for the -100SR – four aircraft for Japan Air Lines (JAL, later Japan Airlines) – was announced on October 30, 1972; rollout occurred on August 3, 1973, and the first flight took place on August 31, 1973. The type was certified by the FAA on September 26, 1973, with the first delivery on the same day. The -100SR entered service with JAL, the type's sole customer, on October 7, 1973, and typically operated flights within Japan. Seven -100SRs were built between 1973 and 1975, each with a MTOW and Pratt & Whitney JT9D-7A engines derated to of thrust.
Following the -100SR, Boeing produced the -100BSR, a 747SR variant with increased takeoff weight capability. Debuting in 1978, the -100BSR also incorporated structural modifications for a high cycle-to-flying hour ratio; a related standard -100B model debuted in 1979. The -100BSR first flew on November 3, 1978, with first delivery to All Nippon Airways (ANA) on December 21, 1978. A total of 20 -100BSRs were produced for ANA and JAL. The -100BSR had a MTOW and was powered by the same JT9D-7A or General Electric CF6-45 engines used on the -100SR. ANA operated this variant on domestic Japanese routes with 455 or 456 seats until retiring its last aircraft in March 2006.
In 1986, two -100BSR SUD models, featuring the stretched upper deck (SUD) of the -300, were produced for JAL. The type's maiden flight occurred on February 26, 1986, with FAA certification and first delivery on March 24, 1986. JAL operated the -100BSR SUD with 563 seats on domestic routes until their retirement in the third quarter of 2006. While only two -100BSR SUDs were produced, in theory, standard -100Bs can be modified to the SUD certification.
747-100B
, the last in passenger service|alt=Top view of quadjet on apron]]
The 747-100B model was developed from the -100SR, using its stronger airframe and landing gear design. The type had an increased fuel capacity of , allowing for a range with a typical 452-passenger payload, and an increased MTOW of was offered. The first -100B order, one aircraft for Iran Air, was announced on June 1, 1978. This version first flew on June 20, 1979, received FAA certification on August 1, 1979, and was delivered the next day. Nine -100Bs were built, one for Iran Air and eight for Saudi Arabian Airlines. Unlike the original -100, the -100B was offered with Pratt & Whitney JT9D-7A, CF6-50, or Rolls-Royce RB211-524 engines. However, only RB211-524 (Saudia) and JT9D-7A (Iran Air) engines were ordered. The last 747-100B, EP-IAM was retired by Iran Air in 2014, the last commercial operator of the 747-100 and -100B. 747SP
The development of the 747SP stemmed from a joint request between Pan American World Airways and Iran Air, who were looking for a high-capacity airliner with enough range to cover Pan Am's New York–Middle Eastern routes and Iran Air's planned Tehran–New York route. The Tehran–New York route, when launched, was the longest non-stop commercial flight in the world. The 747SP is shorter than the . Fuselage sections were eliminated fore and aft of the wing, and the center section of the fuselage was redesigned to fit mating fuselage sections. The SP's flaps used a simplified single-slotted configuration. The 747SP, compared to earlier variants, had a tapering of the aft upper fuselage into the empennage, a double-hinged rudder, and longer vertical and horizontal stabilizers. Power was provided by Pratt & Whitney JT9D-7(A/F/J/FW) or Rolls-Royce RB211-524 engines.
The 747SP was granted a type certificate on February 4, 1976, and entered service with launch customers Pan Am and Iran Air that same year. A total of 45 747SPs were built, Iran Air, the last civil operator of the type, retired its final 747-SP (EP-IAC) in June 2016. 747-200
While the 747-100 powered by Pratt & Whitney JT9D-3A engines offered enough payload and range for medium-haul operations, it was marginal for long-haul route sectors. The demand for longer range aircraft with increased payload quickly led to the improved -200, which featured more powerful engines, increased MTOW, and greater range than the -100. A few early -200s retained the three-window configuration of the -100 on the upper deck, but most were built with a ten-window configuration on each side. The 747-200 was produced in passenger (-200B), freighter (-200F), convertible (-200C), and combi (-200M) versions.
The 747-200B was the basic passenger version, with increased fuel capacity and more powerful engines; it entered service in February 1971. The freighter model, the 747-200F, had a hinged nose cargo door and could be fitted with an optional side cargo door, The convertible version, the 747-200C, could be converted between a passenger and a freighter or used in mixed configurations,
The combi aircraft model, the 747-200M (originally designated 747-200BC), could carry freight in the rear section of the main deck via a side cargo door. A removable partition on the main deck separated the cargo area at the rear from the passengers at the front. The -200M could carry up to 238 passengers in a three-class configuration with cargo carried on the main deck. The model was also known as the 747-200 Combi.
In 1976, its unit cost was US$39M (M today).
A total of 393 of the 747-200 versions had been built when production ended in 1991. Of these, 225 were -200B, 73 were -200F, 13 were -200C, 78 were -200M, and 4 were military. Iran Air retired the last passenger in May 2016, 36 years after it was delivered. , five 747-200s remain in service as freighters. 747-300 took the first delivery on March 23, 1983. After being made standard on the 747-300, the SUD was offered as a retrofit, and as an option to earlier variants still in-production. An example for a retrofit were two UTA -200 Combis being converted in 1986, and an example for the option were two brand-new JAL -100 aircraft (designated -100BSR SUD), the first of which was delivered on March 24, 1986.
The 747-300 introduced a new straight stairway to the upper deck, instead of a spiral staircase on earlier variants, which creates room above and below for more seats. The variant revived the 747-300 designation, which had been previously used on a design study that did not reach production. The 747-300 first flew on October 5, 1982, and the type's first delivery went to Swissair on March 23, 1983. The 747-300SR, a short range, high-capacity domestic model, was produced for Japanese markets with a maximum seating for 584. No production freighter version of the 747-300 was built, but Boeing began modifications of used passenger -300 models into freighters in 2000.
A total of 81 series aircraft were delivered, 56 for passenger use, 21 -300M and 4 -300SR versions. In 1985, just two years after the -300 entered service, the type was superseded by the announcement of the more advanced 747-400. The last 747-300 was delivered in September 1990 to Sabena. While some -300 customers continued operating the type, several large carriers replaced their 747-300s with 747-400s. Air France, Air India, Japan Airlines, Pakistan International Airlines, and Qantas were some of the last major carriers to operate the . On December 29, 2008, Qantas flew its last scheduled 747-300 service, operating from Melbourne to Los Angeles via Auckland. In July 2015, Pakistan International Airlines retired their final 747-300 after 30 years of service. Mahan Air was the last passenger operator of the Boeing 747-300. In 2022, their last 747-300M was leased by Emtrasur Cargo. The 747-300M was later seized by the US Department of Justice and scrapped in 2024. As of 2024, TransAVIAExport, a Belarusian cargo airline operates one Boeing 747-300F. As of 2024, a former Saudia 747-300 is used for VVIP transport, operated by the Saudi Arabian Government.
747-400
s, entered service in February 1989 with Northwest Airlines]]
The 747-400 is an improved model with increased range. It has wingtip extensions of and winglets of , which improve the type's fuel efficiency by four percent compared to previous 747 versions. The 747-400 introduced a new glass cockpit designed for a flight crew of two instead of three, with a reduction in the number of dials, gauges and knobs from 971 to 365 through the use of electronics. The type also features tail fuel tanks, revised engines, and a new interior. The longer range has been used by some airlines to bypass traditional fuel stops, such as Anchorage. A 747-400 loaded with of fuel flying consumes an average of . Powerplants include the Pratt & Whitney PW4062, General Electric CF6-80C2, and Rolls-Royce RB211-524. As a result of the Boeing 767 development overlapping with the 747-400's development, both aircraft can use the same three powerplants and are even interchangeable between the two aircraft models.
The was offered in passenger (-400), freighter (-400F), combi (-400M), domestic (-400D), extended range passenger (-400ER), and extended range freighter (-400ERF) versions. Passenger versions retain the same upper deck as the , while the freighter version does not have an extended upper deck. The 747-400D was designed for short-range operations with maximum seating for 624. So winglets were not included though they can be retrofitted. Cruising speed is up to Mach 0.855 on different versions of the . The combi version entered service in September 1989 with KLM, while the freighter version entered service in November 1993 with Cargolux. The 747-400ERF entered service with Air France in October 2002, while the 747-400ER entered service with Qantas, its sole customer, in November 2002. In January 2004, Boeing and Cathay Pacific launched the Boeing 747-400 Special Freighter program, later referred to as the Boeing Converted Freighter (BCF), to modify passenger 747-400s for cargo use. The first 747-400BCF was redelivered in December 2005.
In March 2007, Boeing announced that it had no plans to produce further passenger versions of the -400. However, orders for 36 -400F and -400ERF freighters were already in place at the time of the announcement. Japan Airlines, , 331 Boeing 747-400s were in service; (originally called the 747 Large Cargo Freighter or LCF) is a Boeing-designed modification of existing 747-400s into a larger outsize cargo freighter configuration to ferry 787 Dreamliner sub-assemblies. Evergreen Aviation Technologies Corporation of Taiwan was contracted to complete modifications of 747-400s into Dreamlifters in Taoyuan. The aircraft flew for the first time on September 9, 2006, in a test flight. Modification of four aircraft was completed by February 2010. The Dreamlifters have been placed into service transporting sub-assemblies for the 787 program to the Boeing plant in Everett, Washington, for final assembly.
747-8
made its maiden flight on February 8, 2010, as a freighter|alt=Side view of quadjet over clouds]]
Boeing announced a new 747 variant, the , on November 14, 2005. Referred to as the 747 Advanced prior to its launch, Boeing selected the designation 747-8 to show the connection with the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, as the aircraft would use technology and the General Electric GEnx engines from the 787 to modernize the design and its systems. The variant is designed to be quieter, more economical, and more environmentally friendly. The 747-8's fuselage is lengthened from to , marking the first stretch variant of the aircraft.
The 747-8 Freighter, or 747-8F, has 16% more payload capacity than its predecessor, allowing it to carry seven more standard air cargo containers, with a maximum payload capacity of of cargo. As on previous 747 freighters, the 747-8F features a flip up nose-door, a side-door on the main deck, and a side-door on the lower deck ("belly") to aid loading and unloading. The 747-8F made its maiden flight on February 8, 2010. The variant received its amended type certificate jointly from the FAA and the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) on August 19, 2011. The -8F was first delivered to Cargolux on October 12, 2011.
The passenger version, named 747-8 Intercontinental or 747-8I, is designed to carry up to 467 passengers in a 3-class configuration and fly more than at Mach 0.855. As a derivative of the already common , the 747-8I has the economic benefit of similar training and interchangeable parts. The type's first test flight occurred on March 20, 2011. The 747-8 has surpassed the Airbus A340-600 as the world's longest airliner, a record it would hold until the 777X, which first flew in 2020. The first -8I was delivered in May 2012 to Lufthansa. The 747-8 has received 155 total orders, including 106 for the -8F and 47 for the -8I . Partially completed aircraft from Everett, Washington, were flown to Wichita, Kansas, for final outfitting by Boeing Military Airplane Company. Two new aircraft, based around the , are being procured which will be designated as VC-25B.
* E-4B – This is an airborne command post designed for use in nuclear war. Three E-4As, based on the 747-200B, with a fourth aircraft, with more powerful engines and upgraded systems delivered in 1979 as an E-4B, with the three E-4As upgraded to this standard. Formerly known as the National Emergency Airborne Command Post (referred to colloquially as "Kneecap"), this type is now referred to as the National Airborne Operations Center (NAOC).
** Survivable Airborne Operations Center - In April 2024, Sierra Nevada Corporation was awarded a contract to develop and build the Survivable Airborne Operations Center aircraft to replace the Boeing E-4 NAOC. Five 747-8Is were purchased from Korean Air for conversion, with the contract calling for nine in total.
* YAL-1 – This was the experimental Airborne Laser, a planned component of the U.S. National Missile Defense.
* Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (SCA) – Two 747s were modified to carry the Space Shuttle orbiter. The first was a 747-100 (N905NA), and the other was a 747-100SR (N911NA). The first SCA carried the prototype Enterprise during the Approach and Landing Tests in the late 1970s. The two SCA later carried all five operational Space Shuttle orbiters.
* C-33 – This aircraft was a proposed U.S. military version of the 747-400F intended to augment the C-17 fleet. The plan was canceled in favor of additional C-17s.
* KC-25/33 – A proposed 747-200F was also adapted as an aerial refueling tanker and was bid against the DC-10-30 during the 1970s Advanced Cargo Transport Aircraft (ACTA) program that produced the KC-10 Extender. Before the 1979 Iranian Revolution, Iran bought four 747-100 aircraft with air-refueling boom conversions to support its fleet of F-4 Phantoms. There is a report of the Iranians using a 747 Tanker in H-3 airstrike during Iran–Iraq War. It is unknown whether these aircraft remain usable as tankers. Since then there have been proposals to use a 747-400 for that role.
* 747F Airlifter – Proposed US military transport version of the 747-200F intended as an alternative to further purchases of the C-5 Galaxy. This 747 would have had a special nose jack to lower the sill height for the nose door. System tested in 1980 on a Flying Tiger Line 747-200F.
* 747 CMCA – This "Cruise Missile Carrier Aircraft" variant was considered by the U.S. Air Force during the development of the B-1 Lancer strategic bomber. It would have been equipped with 50 to 100 AGM-86 ALCM cruise missiles on rotary launchers. This plan was abandoned in favor of more conventional strategic bombers.
* MC-747 – Two separate studies from the 1970s and 2005, the first by Boeing and the second by ATK and BAE Systems, to horizontally store up to four Peacekeeper ICBMs or seven Minutemen above bomb bay-like doors in the first study, and to vertically store twelve Minutemen or 32 JDAM-equipped conventional missiles for launch from in situ tubes in the second.
* 747 AAC – A Boeing study under contract from the USAF for an "airborne aircraft carrier" for up to 10 Boeing Model 985-121 "microfighters" with the ability to launch, retrieve, re-arm, and refuel. Boeing believed that the scheme would be able to deliver a flexible and fast carrier platform with global reach, particularly where other bases were not available. Modified versions of the 747-200 and Lockheed C-5A were considered as the base aircraft. The concept, which included a complementary 747 AWACS version with two reconnaissance "microfighters", was considered technically feasible in 1973.
* Evergreen 747 Supertanker – A Boeing 747-200 modified as an aerial application platform for fire fighting using of firefighting chemicals.
* Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) – A former Pan Am Boeing 747SP modified to carry a large infrared-sensitive telescope, in a joint venture of NASA and DLR. High altitudes are needed for infrared astronomy, to rise above infrared-absorbing water vapor in the atmosphere.
* A number of other governments also use the 747 as a VIP transport, including Bahrain, Brunei, India, Iran, Japan, Kuwait, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates. Several Boeing 747-8s have been ordered by Boeing Business Jet for conversion to VIP transports for several unidentified customers.
Proposed variants
Boeing studied a number of 747 variants that did not advance beyond the concept stage.
747 trijet
During the late 1960s and early 1970s, Boeing studied the development of a shorter 747 with three engines, to compete with the smaller Lockheed L-1011 TriStar and McDonnell Douglas DC-10. The center engine would have been fitted in the tail with an S-duct intake similar to the L-1011's. Overall, the 747 trijet would have had more payload, range, and passenger capacity than either of the two other aircraft. However, engineering studies showed that a major redesign of the 747 wing would be necessary. Maintaining the same 747 handling characteristics would be important to minimize pilot retraining. Boeing decided instead to pursue a shortened four-engine 747, resulting in the 747SP.
747-500
In January 1986, Boeing outlined preliminary studies to build a larger, ultra-long haul version named the , which would enter service in the mid- to late-1990s. The aircraft derivative would use engines evolved from unducted fan (UDF) (propfan) technology by General Electric, but the engines would have shrouds, sport a bypass ratio of 15–20, and have a propfan diameter of . The aircraft would be stretched (including the upper deck section) to a capacity of 500 seats, have a new wing to reduce drag, cruise at a faster speed to reduce flight times, and have a range of at least , which would allow airlines to fly nonstop between London, UK and Sydney, Australia. <!-- The Propfan powered Boeing 747 never made it to the production stage. --> 747 ASB Boeing announced the 747 ASB (Advanced Short Body) in 1986 as a response to the Airbus A340 and the McDonnell Douglas MD-11. This aircraft design would have combined the advanced technology used on the 747-400 with the foreshortened 747SP fuselage. The aircraft was to carry 295 passengers over a range of . However, airlines were not interested in the project and it was canceled later that year.
747-500X, -600X, and -700X
illustration|alt=Aircraft comparison diagram.]]
Boeing announced the 747-500X and -600X at the 1996 Farnborough Airshow.
The 747-500X concept featured a fuselage length increased by to , and the aircraft was to carry 462 passengers over a range up to , with a gross weight of over 1.0 Mlb (450 tonnes). Power would have been supplied by either the Engine Alliance GP7172 or the Rolls-Royce Trent 600, which were also proposed for the 767-400ERX. A new flight deck based on the 777's would be used. The 747X aircraft was to carry 430 passengers over ranges of up to . The 747X Stretch would be extended to long, allowing it to carry 500 passengers over ranges of up to . Freighter versions of the 747X and 747X Stretch were also studied.
Like its predecessor, the 747X family was unable to garner enough interest to justify production, and it was shelved along with the 767-400ERX in March 2001, when Boeing announced the Sonic Cruiser concept.
747-400XQLR
After the end of the 747X program, Boeing continued to study improvements that could be made to the 747. The 747-400XQLR (Quiet Long Range) was meant to have an increased range of , with improvements to boost efficiency and reduce noise. Improvements studied included raked wingtips similar to those used on the 767-400ER and a sawtooth engine nacelle for noise reduction. Although the 747-400XQLR did not move to production, many of its features were used for the 747 Advanced, which was launched as the 747-8 in 2005.
Operators
In 1979, Qantas became the first airline in the world to operate an all Boeing 747 fleet, with seventeen aircraft.
, there were 462 Boeing 747s in airline service, with Atlas Air and British Airways being the largest operators with 33 747-400s each.
The last US passenger Boeing 747 was retired from Delta Air Lines in December 2017. The model flew for almost every American major carrier since its 1970 introduction. Delta flew three of its last four aircraft on a farewell tour, from Seattle to Atlanta on December 19 then to Los Angeles and Minneapolis/St Paul on December 20.
As the IATA forecast an increase in air freight from 4% to 5% in 2018 fueled by booming trade for time-sensitive goods, from smartphones to fresh flowers, demand for freighters is strong while passenger 747s are phased out.<!--
In July 2020, British Airways announced that it was retiring its 747 fleet. The final British Airways 747 flights departed London Heathrow on October 8, 2020.
Orders and deliveries
{| class"wikitable" style"text-align:right; font-size:96%;"
|-
! Year !! Total
! 2023 !! 2022 !! 2021 !! 2020 !! 2019 !! 2018 !! 2017 !! 2016 !! 2015 !! 2014 !! 2013 !! 2012 !! 2011 !! 2010 !! 2009 !! 2008 !! 2007 !! 2006
|-
! Orders
| 1,573
|| – || – || 5 || 1 || – || 13 || 6 || 18 || 6 || 2 || 13 || 7 || 3 || 1 || 5 || 2 || 16 || 53
|-
! Deliveries
| 1,573
|| 1 || 5 || 7 || 5 || 7 || 6 || 14 || 9 || 18 || 19 || 24 || 31 || 9 || – || 8 || 14 || 16 || 14
|}
{| class"wikitable" style"text-align:right; font-size:96%;"
|-
! Year !! 2005 !! 2004 !! 2003 !! 2002 !! 2001 !! 2000 !! 1999 !! 1998 !! 1997 !! 1996 !! 1995 !! 1994 !! 1993 !! 1992 !! 1991 !! 1990 !! 1989 !! 1988 !! 1987 !! 1986
|-
! Orders
| 46 || 10 || 4 || 17 || 16 || 26 || 35 || 15 || 36 || 56 || 32 || 16 || 2 || 23 || 31 || 122 || 56 || 49 || 66 || 84
|-
! Deliveries
| 13 || 15 || 19 || 27 || 31 || 25 || 47 || 53 || 39 || 26 || 25 || 40 || 56 || 61 || 64 || 70 || 45 || 24 || 23 || 35
|}
{| class"wikitable" style"text-align:right; font-size:96%;"
|-
! Year !! 1985 !! 1984 !! 1983 !! 1982 !! 1981 !! 1980 !! 1979 !! 1978 !! 1977 !! 1976 !! 1975 !! 1974 !! 1973 !! 1972 !! 1971 !! 1970 !! 1969 !! 1968 !! 1967 !! 1966
|-
! Orders
| 42 || 23 || 24 || 14 || 23 || 49 || 72 || 76 || 42 || 14 || 20 || 29 || 29 || 18 || 7 || 20 || 30 || 22 || 43 || 83
|-
! Deliveries
| 24 || 16 || 22 || 26 || 53 || 73 || 67 || 32 || 20 || 27 || 21 || 22 || 30 || 30 || 69 || 92 || 4 || – || – || –
|}
Boeing 747 orders and deliveries (cumulative, by year):<br />
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</timeline>
: — Model summary {| class"wikitable" style="text-align:center"
|-
! Model Series||| ICAO code including 64 hull losses (52 in-flight accidents), causing }} fatalities. There have been several hijackings of Boeing 747s, such as Pan Am Flight 73, a 747-100 hijacked by four terrorists, resulting in 20 deaths. The 747 also fell victim to several mid-air bombings, two of which resulted in major fatalities and hull losses, Air India Flight 182 in 1985, and Pan Am Flight 103 in 1988.
Few crashes have been attributed to 747 design flaws. The deadliest aviation accident, the Tenerife airport disaster, resulted from pilot error and communications failure, while the Japan Air Lines Flight 123 and China Airlines Flight 611 crashes stemmed from improper aircraft repair due to a tail-strike. United Airlines Flight 811, which suffered an explosive decompression mid-flight on February 24, 1989, led the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) to issue a recommendation that the Boeing 747-100 and 747-200 cargo doors similar to those on the Flight 811 aircraft be modified to those featured on the Boeing . Korean Air Lines Flight 007 was shot down by a Soviet fighter aircraft in 1983 after it had strayed into Soviet territory, causing US President Ronald Reagan to authorize the then-strictly-military global positioning system (GPS) for civilian use. South African Airways Flight 295, a 747-200M Combi, which crashed on 28 November 1987 due to an inflight fire, led to the mandate of adding fire-suppression systems on board Combi variants.
The lack of adequate warning systems combined with flight crew error led to a preventable crash of Lufthansa Flight 540 in November 1974, which was the first fatal crash of a 747, while an instrument malfunction leading to crew disorientation caused the crash of Air India Flight 855 on New Years Day in 1978. TWA Flight 800, a 747-100 that exploded in mid-air on July 17, 1996, was probably caused due to sparking from the old and cracked electrical wires inside the fuel tank, where voltage levels exceeded the maximum limit, causing ignition of the fuel vapors inside the tank. This finding led the FAA to adopt a rule in July 2008 requiring installation of an inerting system in the center fuel tank of most large aircraft, after years of research into solutions. At the time, the new safety system was expected to cost US$100,000 to $450,000 per aircraft and weigh approximately . Two 747-200F freighters - China Airlines Flight 358 in December 1991 and El Al Flight 1862 in October 1992, crashed after the fuse pins for an engine (no. 3) broke off shortly after take-off due to metal fatigue, and instead of simply dropping away from the wing, the engine knocked off the adjacent engine and damaged the wing. Following these crashes, Boeing issued a directive to examine and replace all fuse pins found to be cracked.
Other incidents did not result in any hull losses, but the planes suffered certain damages and were put back into service after repair. On July 30, 1971, Pan Am Flight 845 struck approach lighting system structures while taking off from San Francisco for Tokyo, Japan; the plane dumped fuel and landed back. The cause was pilot error with improper calculations, and the plane was repaired and returned to service. On June 24, 1982, British Airways Flight 9, a Boeing 747-200, registration G-BDXH, flew through a cloud of volcanic ash and dust from the eruption of Mount Galunggung, suffering an all engine flameout; the crew restarted the engines and successfully landed at Jakarta. The volcanic ash caused windscreens to be sandblasted along with engine damage and paint rip-off; the plane was repaired with engines replaced and returned to service. On December 11, 1994, on board Philippine Airlines Flight 434 from Manila to Tokyo via Cebu, a bomb exploded under a seat, killing one passenger; the plane landed safely at Okinawa despite damage to the plane's controls. The bomber, Ramzi Yousef, was caught on 7 February 1995 in Islamabad, Pakistan, and the plane was repaired, but converted for cargo use. Preserved aircraft Aircraft on display livery on display at the Technikmuseum Speyer in Germany|altVentral view of museum aircraft raised on struts.]]
in France|alt=A parked museum aircraft on static display]]
As increasing numbers of "classic" 747-100 and series aircraft have been retired, some have been used for other uses such as museum displays. Some older 747-300s and 747-400s were later added to museum collections.
* 20235/001 – 747-121 registration N7470 City of Everett, the first 747 and prototype, is at the Museum of Flight, Seattle, Washington.
* 19651/025 – 747-121 registration N747GE at the Pima Air & Space Museum, Tucson, Arizona, US.
* 19778/027 – 747-151 registration N601US nose at the National Air and Space Museum, Washington, D.C.
* 19661/070 – 747-121(SF) registration N681UP preserved at a plaza on Jungong Road, Shanghai, China.
* 19896/072 – 747-132(SF) registration N481EV at the Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum, McMinnville, Oregon, US.
* 20107/086 – 747-123 registration N905NA, a NASA Shuttle Carrier Aircraft, at the Johnson Space Center, Houston, Texas, US.
* 20269/150 – 747-136 registration G-AWNG nose at Hiller Aviation Museum, San Carlos, California.
* 20239/160 – 747-244B registration ZS-SAN nicknamed Lebombo, at the South African Airways Museum Society, Rand Airport, Johannesburg, South Africa.
* 20541/200 – 747-128 registration F-BPVJ at Musée de l'Air et de l'Espace, Paris, France.
* 20770/213 – 747-2B5B registration HL7463 at Jeongseok Aviation Center, Jeju, South Korea.
* 20713/219 - 747-212B(SF) registration N482EV at the Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum, McMinnville, Oregon, US.
* 20825/223 - 747-200 registration SX-OAB at the site of Ellinikon International Airport, Athens, Greece. After over 20 years sitting at the closed airport, it was moved to a permanent location within the boundaries of the airport and put on display as part of the ongoing regeneration work.
* 21134/288 – 747SP-44 registration ZS-SPC at the South African Airways Museum Society, Rand Airport, Johannesburg, South Africa.
* 21549/336 – 747-206B registration PH-BUK at the Aviodrome, Lelystad, Netherlands.
* 21588/342 – 747-230B(M) registration D-ABYM preserved at Technik Museum Speyer, Germany.
* 21650/354 – 747-2R7F/SCD registration G-MKGA preserved at Cotswold Airport, UK as an event space.
* 22145/410 – 747-238B registration VH-EBQ at the Qantas Founders Outback Museum, Longreach, Queensland, Australia.
* 21942/471 – 747-212B registration N642NW nose at the Museum of Aeronautical Science in Narita, Japan, near Narita International Airport.
* 22455/515 – 747-256BM registration EC-DLD Lope de Vega nose at the National Museum of Science and Technology, A Coruña, Spain.
* 23719/696 – 747-451 registration N661US at the Delta Flight Museum, Atlanta, Georgia, US. This particular plane was the first in service, as well as the prototype.
* 24354/731 – 747-438 registration VH-OJA at Shellharbour Airport, Albion Park Rail, New South Wales, Australia.
* 21441/306 - SOFIA - 747SP-21 registration N747NA at Pima Air and Space Museum in Tucson, Arizona, US. Former Pan Am and United Airlines 747SP bought by NASA and converted into a flying telescope, for astronomy purposes. Named Clipper Lindbergh.
Other uses
at Arlanda Airport, Sweden|alt=A parked aircraft on a grassy field.]]
Upon its retirement from service, the 747 which was number two in the production line was dismantled and shipped to Hopyeong, Namyangju, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea where it was re-assembled, repainted in a livery similar to that of Air Force One and converted into a restaurant. Originally flown commercially by Pan Am as N747PA, Clipper Juan T. Trippe, and repaired for service following a tailstrike, it stayed with the airline until its bankruptcy. The restaurant closed by 2009, and the aircraft was scrapped in 2010.
A former British Airways 747-200B, G-BDXJ, is parked at the Dunsfold Aerodrome in Surrey, England and has been used as a movie set for productions such as the 2006 James Bond film, Casino Royale. The airplane also appears frequently in the television series Top Gear, which is filmed at Dunsfold.
The Jumbo Stay hostel, using a converted 747-200 formerly operated by Singapore Airlines and registered as 9V-SQE, opened at Arlanda Airport, Stockholm in January 2009.
A former Pakistan International Airlines 747-300 was converted into a restaurant by Pakistan's Airports Security Force in 2017. It is located at Jinnah International Airport, Karachi.
The wings of a 747 have been repurposed as roofs of a house in Malibu, California.
In 2023, a Boeing 747-412, retired from Lion Air, was turned into a steak restaurant in Bekasi, Indonesia. The aircraft had been sitting since 2018 but the construction of the restaurant was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Specifications
{| class"wikitable sortable sticky-header" style"text-align:center"
|-
! Model
! 747SP
! 747-100
! 747-8
|-
! Cockpit crew
| colspan=4 | Three (captain, first officer, flight engineer)
| colspan=2 | Two (captain, first officer)
|-
! Typical seats
| 276 (25F, 57J, 194Y)
| colspan=2 | 366 (32F, 74J, 260Y)
| 400 (34F, 76J, 290Y)
| 416 (23F, 78J, 315Y)
| 467 (24F, J, 356Y)
|-
! Exit limit
| 400
| colspan=2 | 440/550
| colspan=2 | 550/660
| 495/605
|-
! Cargo
| |ft3|m3|abbr=on}}
| colspan"3" | , 30×LD1
|
| |ft3|m3|abbr=on}}
|-
<!--Dimensions-->
! Length
|
| colspan"4" |
| 250 ft 2 in (76.25 m)
|-
! Cabin width
| colspan"6" | |in|m|abbron}}
|
|-
! Wing sweep
| colspan6 | 37.5°
|-
! Aspect ratio
| colspan=4 |
|
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|-
! Tail height
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| colspan"3" |
|
|
|-
<!--Weights-->
! MTOW
|
|
| colspan"2" |
|
| 975,000–987,000 lb<br/>442.3–447.7 t
|-
! OEW
| colspan2 |
|-
! Range
|
|
|
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|-
! Takeoff
|
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Cultural impact
Following its debut, the 747 rapidly achieved iconic status. The aircraft entered the cultural lexicon as the original Jumbo Jet, a term coined by the aviation media to describe its size, and was also nicknamed Queen of the Skies. Test pilot David P. Davies described it as "a most impressive aeroplane with a number of exceptionally fine qualities", and praised its flight control system as "truly outstanding" because of its redundancy. the 747 is one of the most widely depicted civilian aircraft and is considered by many as one of the most iconic in film history. It has appeared in film productions such as the disaster films Airport 1975 and ''Airport '77, as well as Air Force One, Die Hard 2, and Executive Decision.
See also
References
Notes
Bibliography
* Bowers, Peter M. Boeing Aircraft Since 1916. London: Putnam Aeronautical Books, 1989. .
* Davies, R.E.G. Delta: An Airline and Its Aircraft: The Illustrated History of a Major U.S. Airline and the People Who Made It. McLean, VA: Paladwr Press, 1990. .
* Donald, David and Lake, Jon. Encyclopedia of World Military Aircraft. London: Aerospace Publishing, 1996. .
* Haenggi, Michael. Boeing Widebodies. St. Paul, MN: MBI Publishing Co., 2003. .
* Irving, Clive. Wide Body: The Making of the Boeing 747. Philadelphia: Coronet, 1994. .
* Itabashi, M., K. Kawata and S. Kusaka. [https://books.google.com/books?id=m34NOcdKzu8C "Pre-fatigued 2219-T87 and 6061-T6 aluminium alloys"]. Structural Failure: Technical, Legal and Insurance Aspects. Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon.: Taylor & Francis, 1995. .
* Jenkins, Dennis R. Boeing 747-100/200/300/SP (AirlinerTech Series, Vol. 6). North Branch, MN: Specialty Press, 2000. .
* Kane, Robert M. Air Transportation: 1903–2003. Dubuque, IA: Kendall Hunt Publishing Co., 2004. .
* Lawrence, Philip K. and David Weldon Thornton. Deep Stall: The Turbulent Story of Boeing Commercial Airplanes. Burlington, VT: Ashgate Publishing Co., 2005, .
* Norris, Guy and Mark Wagner. Boeing 747: Design and Development Since 1969. St. Paul, MN: MBI Publishing Co., 1997. .
* Norton, Bill. Lockheed Martin C-5 Galaxy. North Branch, MN: Specialty Press, 2003. .
* Orlebar, Christopher. The Concorde Story. Oxford: Osprey Publishing, 5th ed., 2002. .
* Seo, Hiroshi. Boeing 747. Worthing, West Sussex: Littlehampton Book Services Ltd., 1984. .
* Sutter, Joe. 747: Creating the World's First Jumbo Jet and Other Adventures from a Life in Aviation. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Books, 2006. .
* Taylor, John W. R. (editor). Jane's All the World's Aircraft 1988–89''. Coulsdon, UK: Jane's Defence Data, 1988. .
* Thisdell, Dan and Seymour, Chris. "World Airliner Census". Flight International, July 30 – August 5, 2019, Vol. 196, No. 5697. pp. 24–47. .
Further reading
* Ingells, Douglas J. 747: Story of the Boeing Super Jet. Fallbrook, CA: Aero Publishers, 1970. .
* The Great Gamble: The Boeing 747. The Boeing – Pan Am Project to Develop, Produce, and Introduce the 747. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 1973. .
* Lucas, Jim. Boeing 747 – The First 20 Years. Browcom Pub. Ltd, 1988. .
* Wright, Alan J. Boeing 747. Hersham, Surrey: Ian Allan, 1989. .
* Minton, David H. The Boeing 747 (Aero Series 40). Fallbrook, CA: Aero Publishers, 1991. .
* Shaw, Robbie. Boeing 747 (Osprey Civil Aircraft series). London: Osprey, 1994. .
* Baum, Brian. Boeing 747-SP (Great Airliners, Vol. 3). Osceola, WI: Motorbooks International, 1997. .
* Falconer, Jonathan. Boeing 747 in Color. Hersham, Surrey: Ian Allan, 1997. .
* Gilchrist, Peter. Boeing 747-400 (Airliner Color History). Osceola, WI: Motorbooks International, 1998. .
* Henderson, Scott. Boeing 747-100/200 In Camera. Minneapolis, MN: Scoval Publishing, 1999. .
* Pealing, Norman, and Savage, Mike. ''Jumbo Jetliners: Boeing's 747 and the Widebodies (Osprey Color Classics). Osceola, WI: Motorbooks International, 1999. .
* Shaw, Robbie. Boeing 747-400: The Mega-Top (Osprey Civil Aircraft series)/ London: Osprey, 1999. .
* Wilson, Stewart. Boeing 747 (Aviation Notebook Series). Queanbeyan, NSW: Wilson Media Pty. Ltd, 1999. .
* Wilson, Stewart. Airliners of the World. Fyshwick, Australia: Aerospace Publications Pty Ltd., 1999. .
* Birtles, Philip. Boeing 747-400. Hersham, Surrey: Ian Allan, 2000. .
* Bowman, Martin. Boeing 747 (Crowood Aviation Series). Marlborough, Wilts.: Crowood, 2000.
* Dorr, Robert F. Boeing 747-400 (AirlinerTech Series, Vol. 10). North Branch, MN: Specialty Press, 2000. .
* Gesar, Aram. Boeing 747: The Jumbo. New York: Pyramid Media Group, 2000. .
* Gilchrist, Peter. Boeing 747 Classic (Airliner Color History). Osceola, WI: Motorbooks International, 2000. .
* Graham, Ian. In Control: How to Fly a 747. Somerville, MA: Candlewick, 2000. .
* Nicholls, Mark. The Airliner World Book of the Boeing 747. New York: Osprey Publishing, 2002. .
* March, Peter. The Boeing 747 Story''. Stroud, Glos.: The History Press, 2009. .
* }}
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External links
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Boeing 747
Category:1960s United States airliners
Category:Quadjets
Category:Aircraft first flown in 1969
Category:Double-deck aircraft
747
Category:Low-wing aircraft
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Category:Aircraft with retractable tricycle landing gear
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_747
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4615
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Battle of Agincourt
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| result = <!-- not Decisive per consensus and sources; see talk -->English victory
| combatant1 = Kingdom of England
| combatant2 = Kingdom of France
| commander1 =
* Henry V
* Edward, Duke of York
* Thomas Camoys
* Thomas Erpingham
| commander2 =
* Charles d'Albret
* Jean Le Maingre
* Duke of Orléans
* Duke of Alençon
* Duke of Bourbon
| strength1 6,000–8,100 men <br/>(modern estimates; see Numbers at Agincourt)<br/>• About archers<br/>• dismounted men-at-arms in heavy armour
| strength2 14,000–15,000 men or up to 25,000 if counting armed servants<br/>• 10,000 men-at-arms<br/>• 4,000–5,000 archers and crossbowmen<br/>• Up to 10,000 mounted and armed servants (gros valets) present
| casualties1 Up to 600 killed (112 identified)
| casualties2 • 6,000 killed (most of whom were of the French nobility)<br/>• 700–2,200 captured
}}
The Battle of Agincourt ( ; has become established. The modern tendency is to use a style closer to French, such as or .}} ) was an English victory in the Hundred Years' War. It took place on 25 October 1415 (Saint Crispin's Day) near Azincourt, in northern France. for the way the date of the battle was established.}} The unexpected English victory against the numerically superior French army boosted English morale and prestige, crippled France, and started a new period of English dominance in the war that would last for 14 years until England was defeated by France in 1429 during the Siege of Orléans.
After several decades of relative peace, the English had resumed the war in 1415 amid the failure of negotiations with the French. In the ensuing campaign, many soldiers died from disease, and the English numbers dwindled; they tried to withdraw to English-held Calais but found their path blocked by a considerably larger French army. Despite the numerical disadvantage, the battle ended in an overwhelming victory for the English.
King Henry V of England led his troops into battle and participated in hand-to-hand fighting. King Charles VI of France did not command the French army as he suffered from psychotic illnesses and associated mental incapacity. The French were commanded by Constable Charles d'Albret and various prominent French noblemen of the Armagnac party. This battle is notable for the use of the English longbow in very large numbers, with the English and Welsh archers comprising nearly 80 percent of Henry's army.
The Battle of Agincourt is one of England's most celebrated victories and was one of the most important English triumphs in the Hundred Years' War, along with the Battle of Crécy (1346) and Battle of Poitiers (1356). The battle continues to fascinate scholars and the general public into the modern day. It forms the backdrop to notable works such as William Shakespeare's play Henry V, written in 1599.
Contemporary accounts
of an English knight wearing armour at the time of Agincourt (Sir Maurice Russell (d. 1416), St Peter's Church, Dyrham, Gloucestershire)]]
The Battle of Agincourt is well documented by at least seven contemporary accounts, three from eyewitnesses. The general location of the battle is not disputed and the site remains relatively unaltered after 600 years. A paucity of archeological evidence, though, has led to a debate as to the exact location of the battlefield.
Immediately after the battle, Henry summoned the heralds of the two armies who had watched the battle together with principal French herald Montjoie, and they settled on the name of the battle as Azincourt, after the nearest fortified place. Two of the most frequently cited accounts come from Burgundian sources, one from Jean Le Fèvre de Saint-Remy who was present at the battle, and the other from Enguerrand de Monstrelet. The English eyewitness account comes from the anonymous author of the Gesta Henrici Quinti, believed to have been written by a chaplain in the King's household who would have been in the baggage train at the battle. A recent re-appraisal of Henry's strategy of the Agincourt campaign incorporates these three accounts and argues that war was seen as a legal due process for solving the disagreement over claims to the French throne.Background
Henry V invaded France following the failure of negotiations with the French. He claimed the title of King of France through his great-grandfather Edward III of England, although in practice the English kings were generally prepared to renounce this claim if the French would acknowledge the English claim on Aquitaine and other French lands (the terms of the Treaty of Brétigny). He initially called a Great Council in the spring of 1414 to discuss going to war with France, but the lords insisted that he should negotiate further and moderate his claims. In the ensuing negotiations Henry said that he would give up his claim to the French throne if the French would pay the 1.6 million crowns outstanding from the ransom of John II (who had been captured at the Battle of Poitiers in 1356), and concede English ownership of the lands of Anjou, Brittany, Flanders, Normandy, and Touraine, as well as Aquitaine. Henry would marry Catherine, Charles VI's young daughter, and receive a dowry of 2 million crowns.
The French responded with what they considered the generous terms of marriage with Catherine, a dowry of 600,000 crowns, and an enlarged Aquitaine. In December 1414, the English parliament was persuaded to grant Henry a "double subsidy", a tax at twice the traditional rate, to recover his inheritance from the French. By 1415, negotiations had ground to a halt, with the English claiming that the French had mocked their claims and ridiculed Henry himself. On 19 April 1415, Henry again asked the Great Council to sanction war with France, and this time they agreed.
Henry's army landed in northern France on 13 August 1415, carried by a vast fleet. It was often reported to comprise 1,500 ships, but was probably far smaller. Theodore Beck also suggests that among Henry's army was "the king's physician and a little band of surgeons". Thomas Morstede, Henry V's royal surgeon, had previously been contracted by the king to supply a team of surgeons and makers of surgical instruments to take part in the Agincourt campaign. The siege took longer than expected. The town surrendered on 22 September, and the English army did not leave until 8 October. The campaign season was coming to an end, and the English army had suffered many casualties through disease. Rather than retire directly to England for the winter, with his costly expedition resulting in the capture of only one town, Henry decided to march most of his army (roughly 9,000) through Normandy to the port of Calais, the English stronghold in northern France, to demonstrate by his presence in the territory at the head of an army that his right to rule in the duchy was more than a mere abstract legal and historical claim. He also intended the manoeuvre as a deliberate provocation to battle aimed at the dauphin, who had failed to respond to Henry's personal challenge to combat at Harfleur.
During the siege, the French had raised an army which assembled around Rouen. This was not strictly a feudal army, but an army paid through a system similar to that of the English. The French hoped to raise 9,000 troops, but the army was not ready in time to relieve Harfleur.
After Henry V marched to the north, the French moved to block them along the River Somme. They were successful for a time, forcing Henry to move south, away from Calais, to find a ford. The English finally crossed the Somme south of Péronne, at Béthencourt and Voyennes and resumed marching north.
Without a river obstacle to defend, the French were hesitant to force a battle. They shadowed Henry's army while calling a semonce des nobles, calling on local nobles to join the army. By 24 October, both armies faced each other for battle, but the French declined, hoping for the arrival of more troops. The two armies spent the night of 24 October on open ground. The next day the French initiated negotiations as a delaying tactic, but Henry ordered his army to advance and to start a battle that, given the state of his army, he would have preferred to avoid, or to fight defensively: that was how Crécy and the other famous longbow victories had been won. The English had very little food, had marched in two and a half weeks, were suffering from sickness such as dysentery, and were greatly outnumbered by well-equipped French men-at-arms. The French army blocked Henry's way to the safety of Calais, and delaying battle would only further weaken his tired army and allow more French troops to arrive.SettingBattlefieldThe precise location of the battle is not known. It may be in the narrow strip of open land formed between the woods of Tramecourt and Azincourt (close to the modern village of Azincourt). The lack of archaeological evidence at this traditional site has led to suggestions it was fought to the west of Azincourt. In 2019, the historian Michael Livingston also made the case for a site west of Azincourt, based on a review of sources and early maps.English deploymentEarly on the 25th, Henry deployed his army (approximately 1,500 men-at-arms and 7,000 longbowmen) across a part of the defile. The army was divided into three groups, with the right wing led by Edward, Duke of York, the centre led by the king himself, and the left wing under the old and experienced Baron Thomas Camoys. The archers were commanded by Sir Thomas Erpingham, another elderly veteran. It is likely that the English adopted their usual battle line of longbowmen on either flank, with men-at-arms and knights in the centre. They might also have deployed some archers in the centre of the line. The English men-at-arms in plate and mail were placed shoulder to shoulder four deep. The English and Welsh archers on the flanks drove pointed wooden stakes, or palings, into the ground at an angle to force cavalry to veer off. This use of stakes could have been inspired by the Battle of Nicopolis of 1396, where forces of the Ottoman Empire used the tactic against French cavalry. }}
The English made their confessions before the battle, as was customary. Henry, worried about the enemy launching surprise raids, and wanting his troops to remain focused, ordered all his men to spend the night before the battle in silence, on pain of having an ear cut off. He told his men that he would rather die in the coming battle than be captured and ransomed.
Henry made a speech emphasising the justness of his cause, and reminding his army of previous great defeats the kings of England had inflicted on the French. The Burgundian sources have him concluding the speech by telling his men that the French had boasted that they would cut off two fingers from the right hand of every archer, so that he could never draw a longbow again. Whether this was true is open to question and continues to be debated to this day; however, it seems likely that death was the normal fate of any soldier who could not be ransomed.French deploymentThe French army had 10,000 men-at arms plus some 4,000–5,000 miscellaneous footmen () including archers, crossbowmen () and shield-bearers (), totaling 14,000–15,000 men. Probably each man-at-arms would be accompanied by a gros valet (or varlet), an armed servant, adding up to another 10,000 potential fighting men, though some historians omit them from the number of combatants.
The French were organized into two main groups (or battles), a vanguard up front and a main battle behind, both composed principally of men-at-arms fighting on foot and flanked by more of the same in each wing. There was a special, elite cavalry force whose purpose was to break the formation of the English archers and thus clear the way for the infantry to advance. A second, smaller mounted force was to attack the rear of the English army, along with its baggage and servants. Many lords and gentlemen demanded and received position in the front lines, where they would have a higher chance to acquire glory and valuable ransoms; this resulted in the bulk of the men-at-arms being massed in the front lines and the other troops, for which there was no remaining space, to be placed behind. Although it had been planned for the archers and crossbowmen to be placed with the infantry wings, they were now regarded as unnecessary and placed behind them instead. On account of the lack of space, the French drew up a third battle, the rearguard, which was on horseback and mainly comprised the valets mounted on the horses belonging to the men fighting on foot ahead.
The French vanguard and main battle numbered respectively 4,800 and 3,000 men-at-arms. Both lines were arrayed in tight, dense formations of about 16 ranks each, and were positioned a bowshot length from each other. Albret, Boucicaut and almost all the leading noblemen were assigned stations in the vanguard. The dukes of Alençon and Bar led the main battle. A further 600 dismounted men-at-arms stood in each wing, with the left under the Count of Vendôme and the right under the Count of Richemont. To disperse the enemy archers, a cavalry force of 800–1,200 picked men-at-arms, led by Clignet de Bréban and Louis de Bosredon, was distributed evenly between both flanks of the vanguard (standing slightly forward, like horns). Some 200 mounted men-at-arms would attack the English rear. along with 800 and 200 in each cavalry force, the total number of men-at-arms was 10,000. There may have been men-at-arms in the rearguard but, if so, no more than a couple of hundred. }} The French apparently had no clear plan for deploying the rest of the army. The rearguard, leaderless, would serve as a "dumping ground" for the surplus troops.
Terrain
The field of battle was arguably the most significant factor in deciding the outcome. The recently ploughed land hemmed in by dense woodland favoured the English, both because of its narrowness, and because of the thick mud through which the French knights had to walk.
Accounts of the battle describe the French engaging the English men-at-arms before being rushed from the sides by the longbowmen as the melee developed. The English account in the Gesta Henrici says: "For when some of them, killed when battle was first joined, fall at the front, so great was the undisciplined violence and pressure of the mass of men behind them that the living fell on top of the dead, and others falling on top of the living were killed as well."
Although the French initially pushed the English back, they became so closely packed that they were described as having trouble using their weapons properly. The French monk of St. Denis says: "Their vanguard, composed of about 5,000 men, found itself at first so tightly packed that those who were in the third rank could scarcely use their swords," and the Burgundian sources have a similar passage.
Recent heavy rain had made the battle field very muddy, proving very tiring to walk through in full plate armour. The French monk of St. Denis describes the French troops as "marching through the middle of the mud where they sank up to their knees. So they were already overcome with fatigue even before they advanced against the enemy". The deep, soft mud particularly favoured the English force because, once knocked to the ground, the heavily armoured French knights had a hard time getting back up to fight in the melee. Barker states that some knights, encumbered by their armour, actually drowned in their helmets.FightingOpening moves
The Morning of the Battle of Agincourt (1884), Guildhall Art Gallery]]
On the morning of 25 October, the French were still waiting for additional troops to arrive. The Duke of Brabant (about 2,000 men), the Duke of Anjou (about 600 men), and the Duke of Brittany (6,000 men, according to Monstrelet), were all marching to join the army.
For three hours after sunrise there was no fighting. Military textbooks of the time stated: "Everywhere and on all occasions that foot soldiers march against their enemy face to face, those who march lose and those who remain standing still and holding firm win." On top of this, the French were expecting thousands of men to join them if they waited. They were blocking Henry's retreat, and were willing to wait for as long as it took. There had been a suggestion that the English would run away rather than give battle when they saw that they would be fighting so many French princes.
Henry's men were already very weary from hunger and illness and from their ongoing retreat. Apparently Henry believed his fleeing army would perform better on the defensive, but had to halt the retreat and somehow engage the French before a defensive battle was possible. This entailed abandoning his chosen position, in which the longbowmen were defended from cavalry charges by long sharpened wooden stakes set in the ground and pointed towards the French lines. These stakes had to be pulled out of the ground, carried to the army's new position, and reinstalled to defend the English lines. The use of stakes was an innovation for the English: during the Battle of Crécy, for example, the archers had been instead protected by pits and other obstacles.
The tightness of the terrain also seems to have restricted the planned deployment of the French forces. The French had originally drawn up a battle plan that had archers and crossbowmen in front of their men-at-arms, with a cavalry force at the rear specifically designed to "fall upon the archers, and use their force to break them," but in the event, the French archers and crossbowmen were deployed behind and to the sides of the men-at-arms. The French archers seem to have played almost no part, except possibly for an initial volley of arrows at the start of the battle. The cavalry force, which could have devastated the English line if it had attacked while they moved their stakes, charged only after the initial volley of arrows from the English. It is unclear whether the delay occurred because the French were hoping the English would launch a frontal assault and were surprised when the English instead started shooting from their new defensive position, or whether the French mounted knights instead did not react quickly enough to the English advance. French chroniclers agree that when the mounted charge did come, it did not contain as many men as it should have; Gilles le Bouvier states that some had wandered off to warm themselves and others were walking or feeding their horses.
French cavalry attack
The French cavalry, despite being disorganised and not at full numbers, charged towards the longbowmen. It was a disastrous attempt. The French knights were unable to outflank the longbowmen because of the encroaching woodland; they were also unable to charge through the array of sharpened stakes that protected the archers. John Keegan argues that the longbows' main influence on the battle at this point was injuries to horses: armoured only on the head, many horses would have become dangerously out of control when struck in the back or flank from the high-elevation, long-range shots used as the charge started. The mounted charge and subsequent retreat churned up the already muddy terrain between the French and the English. Juliet Barker quotes a contemporary account by a monk from Saint Denis Basilica who reports how the wounded and panicking horses galloped through the advancing infantry, scattering them and trampling them down in their headlong flight from the battlefield.
Main French assault
Despite advancing through what the French monk of Saint Denis described as "a terrifying hail of arrow shot", the plate armour of the French men-at-arms allowed them to close the distance to the English lines after the English longbowmen started shooting from extreme longbow range (approximately ). A complete coat of plate was considered such good protection that shields were generally not used, although the Burgundian contemporary sources distinguish between Frenchmen who used shields and those who did not, and Rogers has suggested that the front elements of the French force used axes and shields. Modern historians are divided on how effective the longbows would have been against plate armour of the time. Modern test and contemporary accounts conclude that arrows could not penetrate the better quality steel armour, which became available to knights and men-at-arms of fairly modest means by the middle of the 14th century, but could penetrate the poorer quality wrought iron armour. Rogers suggested that the longbow could penetrate a wrought iron breastplate at short range and penetrate the thinner armour on the limbs even at . He considered a knight in the best-quality steel armour invulnerable to an arrow on the breastplate or top of the helmet, but vulnerable to shots hitting the limbs, particularly at close range. In any case, to protect themselves as much as possible from the arrows, the French had to lower their visors and bend their helmeted heads to avoid being shot in the face, as the eye- and air-holes in their helmets were among the weakest points in the armour. This head-lowered position restricted their breathing and their vision. Then they had to walk a few hundred yards (metres) through thick mud and a press of comrades while wearing armour weighing , gathering sticky clay all the way. Increasingly, they had to walk around or over fallen comrades.
The surviving French men-at-arms reached the front of the English line and pushed it back, with the longbowmen on the flanks continuing to shoot at point-blank range. When the archers ran out of arrows, they dropped their bows and, using hatchets, swords, and the mallets they had used to drive their stakes in, attacked the now disordered, fatigued and wounded French men-at-arms massed in front of them. The French could not cope with the thousands of lightly armoured longbowmen assailants, who were much less hindered by the mud and weight of their armour, combined with the English men-at-arms. The impact of thousands of arrows, combined with the slog in heavy armour through the mud, the heat and difficulty breathing in plate armour with the visor down, and the crush of their numbers, meant the French men-at-arms could "scarcely lift their weapons" when they finally engaged the English line. The exhausted French men-at-arms were unable to get up after being knocked to the ground by the English. As the melee developed, the French second line also joined the attack, but they too were swallowed up, with the narrow terrain meaning the extra numbers could not be used effectively. Rogers suggested that the French at the back of their deep formation would have been attempting to literally add their weight to the advance, without realising that they were hindering the ability of those at the front to manoeuvre and fight by pushing them into the English formation of lancepoints. After the initial wave, the French would have had to fight over and on the bodies of those who had fallen before them. In such a "press" of thousands of men, Rogers suggested that many could have suffocated in their armour, as was described by several sources, and which was also known to have happened in other battles.
The French men-at-arms were taken prisoner or killed in the thousands. The fighting lasted about three hours, but eventually the leaders of the second line were killed or captured, as those of the first line had been. The English Gesta Henrici described three great heaps of the slain around the three main English standards.
According to contemporary English accounts, Henry fought hand to hand. Upon hearing that his youngest brother Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester had been wounded in the groin, Henry took his household guard and stood over his brother, in the front rank of the fighting, until Humphrey could be dragged to safety. The king received an axe blow to the head, which knocked off a piece of the crown that formed part of his helmet.Attack on the English baggage trainThe only French success was an attack on the lightly protected English baggage train, with Ysembart d'Azincourt (leading a small number of men-at-arms and varlets plus about 600 peasants) seizing some of Henry's personal treasures, including a crown. Whether this was part of a deliberate French plan or an act of local brigandage is unclear from the sources. Certainly, d'Azincourt was a local knight but he might have been chosen to lead the attack because of his local knowledge and the lack of availability of a more senior soldier. In some accounts the attack happened towards the end of the battle, and led the English to think they were being attacked from the rear. Barker, following the Gesta Henrici, believed to have been written by an English chaplain who was actually in the baggage train, concluded that the attack happened at the start of the battle.
Henry executes French prisoners
Regardless of when the baggage assault happened, at some point after the initial English victory, Henry became alarmed that the French were regrouping for another attack. The Gesta Henrici places this after the English had overcome the onslaught of the French men-at-arms and the weary English troops were eyeing the French rearguard ("in incomparable number and still fresh"). Le Fèvre and Wavrin similarly say that it was signs of the French rearguard regrouping and "marching forward in battle order" which made the English think they were still in danger.
Henry ordered the slaughter of most of the French prisoners, possibly numbering in the thousands. He ordered only the highest-ranked prisoners to be spared, presumably because they were the most likely to fetch a large ransom under the chivalric system of warfare. The prisoners outnumbered their captors; according to most chroniclers, Henry feared that the prisoners would realise their advantage in numbers, rearm themselves with the weapons strewn about the field, and overwhelm the exhausted English forces. Contemporary chroniclers did not criticise Henry for ordering the killing. In his study of the battle John Keegan argued that the main aim was not to actually kill the French prisoners but rather to terrorise them into submission and quell any possibility they might resume the fight, which would probably have caused the uncommitted French reserve forces to join the fray, as well. Such an event would have posed a risk to the still-outnumbered English and could have easily turned their victory into a mutually destructive defeat, as the English forces were now largely intermingled with the French and would have suffered grievously from the arrows of their own longbowmen had they needed to resume fighting. The English knights refused to assist in the killing of these prisoners due to their belief that it was unchivalrous. Keegan, estimating that only around 200 archers were involved in the task and recognizing the difficulty of killing thousands of prisoners quickly, speculates that relatively few prisoners were actually killed before the French reserves fled the field and Henry rescinded the order.AftermathThe French had suffered a catastrophic defeat. In all, around 6,000 of their fighting men were killed. The list of casualties, one historian has noted, "read like a roll call of the military and political leaders of the past generation". Among them were 90–120 great lords and bannerets killed, including three dukes (Alençon, Bar and Brabant), nine counts (Blâmont, Dreux, Fauquembergue, Grandpré, Marle, Nevers, Roucy, Vaucourt, Vaudémont) and one viscount (Puisaye), also an archbishop. Of the great royal office holders, France lost its constable (Albret), an admiral (the lord of Dampierre), the Master of Crossbowmen (David de Rambures, dead along with three sons), Master of the Royal Household (Guichard Dauphin) and prévôt of the marshals. According to the heralds, 3,069 knights and squires were killed, Other sources agree closely, citing 4,000 dead in this group. Reportedly 1,500 knights died. }} while at least 2,600 more corpses were found without coats of arms to identify them. Entire noble families were wiped out in the male line, and in some regions an entire generation of landed nobility was annihilated. The bailiffs of nine major northern towns were killed, often along with their sons, relatives and supporters. In the words of Juliet Barker, the battle "cut a great swath through the natural leaders of French society in Artois, Ponthieu, Normandy, Picardy."
Estimates of the number of prisoners vary between 700 and 2,200, amongst them the dukes of Orléans and Bourbon, the counts of Eu, Vendôme, Richemont (brother of the Duke of Brittany and stepbrother of Henry V) and Harcourt, and marshal Jean Le Maingre.
While numerous English sources give the English casualties in double figures, record evidence identifies at least 112 Englishmen killed in the fighting, while Monstrelet reported 600 English dead. These included the Duke of York, the young Earl of Suffolk and the Welsh esquire Dafydd ("Davy") Gam. Jean de Wavrin, a knight on the French side, wrote that English fatalities were 1,600 "men of all ranks".
Although the victory had been militarily decisive, its impact was complex. It did not lead to further English conquests immediately as Henry's priority was to return to England, which he did on 16 November, to be received in triumph in London on the 23rd. Henry returned a conquering hero, seen as blessed by God in the eyes of his subjects and European powers outside France. It established the legitimacy of the Lancastrian monarchy and the future campaigns of Henry to pursue his "rights and privileges" in France. Other benefits to the English were longer term. Very quickly after the battle, the fragile truce between the Armagnac and Burgundian factions broke down. The brunt of the battle had fallen on the Armagnacs and it was they who suffered the majority of senior casualties and carried the blame for the defeat. The Burgundians seized on the opportunity and within 10 days of the battle had mustered their armies and marched on Paris. This lack of unity in France allowed Henry eighteen months to prepare militarily and politically for a renewed campaign. When that campaign took place, it was made easier by the damage done to the political and military structures of Normandy by the battle.
Numbers at Agincourt
Most primary sources which describe the battle have the English outnumbered by several times. By contrast, Anne Curry in her 2005 book Agincourt: A New History argued, based on research into the surviving administrative records, that the French army was 12,000 strong, and the English army 9,000, proportions of four to three. While not necessarily agreeing with the exact numbers Curry uses, Bertrand Schnerb, a professor of medieval history at the University of Lille, states the French probably had 12,000–15,000 troops. Juliet Barker, Jonathan Sumption and Clifford J. Rogers criticized Curry's reliance on administrative records, arguing that they are incomplete and that several of the available primary sources already offer a credible assessment of the numbers involved. Ian Mortimer endorsed Curry's methodology, though applied it more liberally, noting how she "minimises French numbers (by limiting her figures to those in the basic army and a few specific additional companies) and maximises English numbers (by assuming the numbers sent home from Harfleur were no greater than sick lists)", and concluded that "the most extreme imbalance which is credible" is 15,000 French against 8,000–9,000 English. Barker opined that "if the differential really was as low as three to four then this makes a nonsense of the course of the battle as described by eyewitnesses and contemporaries".
Barker, Sumption and Rogers all wrote that the English probably had 6,000 men, these being 5,000 archers and 900–1,000 men-at-arms. These numbers are based on the Gesta Henrici Quinti and the chronicle of Jean Le Fèvre, the only two eyewitness accounts on the English camp. Curry and Mortimer questioned the reliability of the Gesta, as there have been doubts as to how much it was written as propaganda for Henry V. Both note that the Gesta vastly overestimates the number of French in the battle; its proportions of English archers to men-at-arms at the battle are also different from those of the English army before the siege of Harfleur. Mortimer also considers that the Gesta vastly inflates the English casualties – 5,000 – at Harfleur, and that "despite the trials of the march, Henry had lost very few men to illness or death; and we have independent testimony that no more than 160 had been captured on the way". Rogers, on the other hand, finds the number 5,000 plausible, giving several analogous historical events to support his case, and Barker considers that the fragmentary pay records which Curry relies on actually support the lower estimates.
Historians disagree less about the French numbers. Rogers, Mortimer and Sumption all give more or less 10,000 men-at-arms for the French, using as a source the herald of the Duke of Berry, an eyewitness. The number is supported by many other contemporary accounts. Curry, Rogers and Mortimer all agree the French had 4 to 5 thousand missile troops. Sumption, thus, concludes that the French had 14,000 men, basing himself on the monk of St. Denis; Mortimer gives 14 or 15 thousand fighting men. One particular cause of confusion may have been the number of servants on both sides, or whether they should at all be counted as combatants. Since the French had many more men-at-arms than the English, they would accordingly be accompanied by a far greater number of servants. Rogers says each of the 10,000 men-at-arms would be accompanied by a gros valet (an armed, armoured and mounted military servant) and a noncombatant page, counts the former as fighting men, and concludes thus that the French in fact numbered 24,000. Barker, who believes the English were outnumbered by at least four to one, says that the armed servants formed the rearguard in the battle. Mortimer notes the presence of noncombatant pages only, indicating that they would ride the spare horses during the battle and be mistakenly thought of as combatants by the English.Popular representations
]]
The battle remains an important symbol in popular culture. Some notable examples are listed below.
Music
Soon after the victory at Agincourt, a number of popular folk songs were created about the battle, the most famous being the "Agincourt Carol", produced in the first half of the 15th century. Other ballads followed, including "King Henry Fifth's Conquest of France", raising the popular prominence of particular events mentioned only in passing by the original chroniclers, such as the gift of tennis balls before the campaign.
Literature
The most famous cultural depiction of the battle today is in Act IV of William Shakespeare's Henry V, written in 1599. The play focuses on the pressures of kingship, the tensions between how a king should appear – chivalric, honest, and just – and how a king must sometimes act – Machiavellian and ruthless. Shakespeare illustrates these tensions by depicting Henry's decision to kill some of the French prisoners, whilst attempting to justify it and distance himself from the event. This moment of the battle is portrayed both as a break with the traditions of chivalry and as a key example of the paradox of kingship.
Shakespeare's depiction of the battle also plays on the theme of modernity. He contrasts the modern, English king and his army with the medieval, chivalric, older model of the French.
Shakespeare's play presented Henry as leading a truly English force into battle, playing on the importance of the link between the monarch and the common soldiers in the fight. The original play does not, however, feature any scenes of the actual battle itself, leading critic Rose Zimbardo to characterise it as "full of warfare, yet empty of conflict."
The play introduced the famous St Crispin's Day Speech, considered one of Shakespeare's most heroic speeches, which Henry delivers movingly to his soldiers just before the battle, urging his "band of brothers" to stand together in the forthcoming fight. Critic David Margolies describes how it "oozes honour, military glory, love of country and self-sacrifice", and forms one of the first instances of English literature linking solidarity and comradeship to success in battle. Partially as a result, the battle was used as a metaphor at the beginning of the First World War, when the British Expeditionary Force's attempts to stop the German advances were widely likened to it.
Shakespeare's portrayal of the casualty loss is ahistorical in that the French are stated to have lost 10,000 and the English 'less than' thirty men, prompting Henry's remark, "O God, thy arm was here".
In 2008, English-American author Bernard Cornwell released a retelling of both the events leading up the battle and the battle itself, titled Azincourt. The story is told predominantly through the eyes of an English longbowman named Nicholas Hook.
Films
Shakespeare's version of the battle of Agincourt has been turned into several minor and two major films. The latter, each titled Henry V, star Laurence Olivier in 1944 and Kenneth Branagh in 1989. Made just prior to the invasion of Normandy, Olivier's rendition gives the battle what Sarah Hatchuel has termed an "exhilarating and heroic" tone, with an artificial, cinematic look to the battle scenes. Branagh's version gives a longer, more realist portrayal of the battle itself, drawing on both historical sources and images from the Vietnam and Falkland Wars.
In his 2007 film adaptation, director Peter Babakitis uses digital effects to exaggerate realist features during the battle scenes, producing a more avant-garde interpretation of the fighting at Agincourt. The battle also forms a central component of the 2019 Netflix film The King, which stars Timothée Chalamet as Henry V and Robert Pattinson as the Dauphin of Viennois. The film takes inspiration from Shakespeare's Henriad plays.Mock trialIn March 2010, a mock trial of Henry V for the crimes associated with the slaughter of the prisoners was held in Washington, D.C., drawing from both the historical record and Shakespeare's play. Participating as judges were Justices Samuel Alito and Ruth Bader Ginsburg. The trial ranged widely over whether there was just cause for war and not simply the prisoner issue. Although an audience vote was "too close to call", Henry was unanimously found guilty by the court on the basis of "evolving standards of civil society".
Agincourt today
There is a modern museum in Azincourt village dedicated to the battle. The museum lists the names of combatants of both sides who died in the battle.
<gallery widths"150px" heights"200px">
File:Agincourt Memorial.jpg|Agincourt Memorial
File:Agincourt archers memorial.jpg|A list of English archers killed at Agincourt, as recorded in the village's museum
</gallery>
Notes
References
Citations
General sources
*
* |titleAgincourt: The King, the Campaign, the Battle |date2015 |publisherAbacus |isbn978-0-349-11918-2 |editionrevised and updated |locationLondon |trans-titleUS title: Agincourt: Henry V and the Battle that Made England |orig-year=2005}}
<!-- Book not cited in text* -->
* |titleArms, Armies and Fortifications in the Hundred Years War |publisherBoydell Press |year1994 |isbn978-0-85115-365-0 |editor-lastAnne Curry |editor-linkAnne Curry |locationWoodbridge |pages7–20 |chapterThe Development of Battle Tactics in the Hundred Years War |editor-last2Michael L. Hughes |chapter-urlhttp://concours.histegeo.org/Battle_Tactics.pdf |archive-urlhttps://web.archive.org/web/20180826113432/http://concours.histegeo.org/Battle_Tactics.pdf |archive-date26 August 2018 |url-status=live}}
* |titlePerspectives on Politics in Shakespeare |publisherLexington Books |year2006 |isbn978-0-7391-0900-7 |editor-lastJohn A. Murley |locationLanham, MD, US |pages11–32 |chapterShakespeare's Henry V: From the Medieval to the Modern World |editor-last2Sean D. Sutton |name-list-style=amp}}
* |titleThe Battle of Agincourt: Sources and Interpretations |publisherBoydell Press |year2000 |isbn978-0-85115-802-0 |locationWoodbridge}}
*
*
*
*
* |titleShakespeare on Screen: The Henriad |date2008 |publisherPublications des Universités de Rouen et du Havre |isbn978-2-87775-454-5 |editor-lastHatchuel |editor-firstSarah |locationRouen |ref |editor-last2Nathalie Vienne-Guerrin |name-list-styleamp}}
* .|ref= }}
*
*
* <!--|access-date8 December 2014-->
*
* .|ref= }}
* |title1415: Henry V's Year of Glory |date2009 |publisherThe Bodley Head |isbn978-0-224-07992-1 |locationLondon}}
*
*
*
*
* |titleThe Hundred Years War IV: Cursed Kings |date2015 |publisherFaber & Faber |isbn978-0-571-27454-3 |locationLondon}}
* in
*
*
*
Further reading
* Beck, Steve (2005). [http://www.militaryhistoryonline.com/hundredyearswar/agincourt.aspx The Battle of Agincourt], Military History Online
*
* Cooper, Stephen (2015). "Where was Agincourt fought?" [https://www.agincourt600.com/2015/06/09/where-was-agincourt-fought], Agincourt 600 website
*
* Family Chronicle.com, [https://web.archive.org/web/20050528061926/http://www.familychronicle.com/agincort.htm The Agincourt Honor Roll], [https://web.archive.org/web/20080410221606/http://familychronicle.com/fc-faq3.html Family Chronicle], March/April 1997.
* The Fitzwilliam Museum, University of Cambridge Macclesfield Psalter CD
*
* Grummitt, David. (Oxford University), [http://www.deremilitari.org/REVIEWS/review8.htm A review of Agincourt 1415: Henry V, Sir Thomas Erpingham and the triumph of the English archers] ed. Anne Curry, Pub: Tempus UK, 2000 . Accessed 15 April 2008.
* Hansen, Mogens Herman (Copenhagen Polis Centre) [https://web.archive.org/web/20110606042716/http://www.dur.ac.uk/Classics/histos/1998/hansen.html The Little Grey Horse – Henry V's Speech at Agincourt and the Battle Exhortation in Ancient Historiography] Histos volume 2 (March 1998), website of the Department of Classics and Ancient History, University of Durham
*
*
*
*
* "Battle of Agincourt" in Military Heritage, October 2005, Volume 7, No. 2, pp. 36–43. .
*
External links
* [https://www.spottinghistory.com/view/3106/battle-of-agincourt-memorial/ Battle of Agincourt memorial]
* [http://tls509.wixsite.com/archaeologyagincourt The Agincourt Battlefield Archaeology Project], Tim Sutherland (Project Director)
* [https://azincourt1415.com Azincourt Museum]
* – Bragg, Melvyn (presenter), with Anne Curry, Michael Jones and John Watts, 16 September 2004.
* [http://fr.geneawiki.com/index.php/1415 Detailed list of French casualties]
* [http://www.deremilitari.org/RESOURCES/SOURCES/agincourt.htm Contemporary account of battle] by Enguerrand de Monstrelet (d.1453), governor of Cambrai and supporter of the French crown.
* [http://www.medievalarchives.com/BattleofAgincourt Battle of Agincourt] on [http://www.medievalarchives.com/PodcastList Medieval Archives Podcast]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20150516030034/http://historyofengland.typepad.com/blog/animated-maps-the-battle-of-agincourt.html Battle of Agincourt animated map] by David Crowther
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20150508130241/http://historyofengland.typepad.com/blog/animated-maps-the-agincourt-campaign.html Agincourt campaign animated map] by David Crowther
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GBJww-70sCU] Lt Col John Woodford and Excavations at Azincourt (17 September 2015, Agincourt600 conference) by Tim Sutherland
Category:1410s in France
Category:1415 in England
Agincourt
Agincourt 1415
Category:Conflicts in 1415
Category:Henry V of England
Category:History of archery
Category:Military history of the Pas-de-Calais
Category:Hundred Years' War, 1415–1453
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Agincourt
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Burgundian
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Burgundian can refer to any of the following:
Someone or something from Burgundy.
Burgundians, an East Germanic tribe, who first appear in history in South East Europe. Later Burgundians colonised the area of Gaul that is now known as Burgundy (French Bourgogne)
The Old Burgundian language (Germanic), an East Germanic language spoken by the Burgundians
The Modern Burgundian language (Oïl), an Oïl language also known as spoken in the region of Burgundy, France.
Frainc-Comtou dialect, sometimes regarded as part of the Burgundian group of languages
Burgundian (party), a political faction in early 15th century during the Hundred Years' War
Kingdom of the Burgundians (411–534), an early medieval state founded by the Burgundians
Burgundian Netherlands (1384–1482), the parts of the Duchy of Burgundy that correspond to the Low Countries
See also
Burgundian War (disambiguation)
Burgundy (disambiguation)
Bourgogne (disambiguation)
Category:Language and nationality disambiguation pages
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burgundian
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Bronze Age
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from a pre-Hittite tomb dating to the 3rd millennium BC, from the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations in Ankara]]
The Bronze Age () was a historical period characterised principally by the use of bronze tools and the development of complex urban societies, as well as the adoption of writing in some areas. The Bronze Age is the middle principal period of the three-age system, following the Stone Age and preceding the Iron Age. Conceived as a global era, the Bronze Age follows the Neolithic, with a transition period between the two known as the Chalcolithic. The final decades of the Bronze Age in the Mediterranean basin are often characterised as a period of widespread societal collapse known as the Late Bronze Age collapse (), although its severity and scope are debated among scholars.
An ancient civilisation is deemed to be part of the Bronze Age if it either produced bronze by smelting its own copper and alloying it with tin, arsenic, or other metals, or traded other items for bronze from producing areas elsewhere. Bronze Age cultures were the first to develop writing. According to archaeological evidence, cultures in Mesopotamia, which used cuneiform script, and Egypt, which used hieroglyphs, developed the earliest practical writing systems. In the Archaeology of the Americas, a five-period system is conventionally used instead, which does not include a Bronze Age, though some cultures there did smelt copper and bronze. Indigenous metalworking arrived in Australia with European contact.
In many areas bronze continued to be rare and expensive, mainly because of difficulties in obtaining enough tin, which occurs in relatively few places, unlike the very common copper. Some societies appear to have gone through much of the Bronze Age using bronze only for weapons or elite art, such as Chinese ritual bronzes, with ordinary farmers largely still using stone tools. However, this is hard to assess as the rarity of bronze meant it was keenly recycled.
Metal use
Bronze Age civilisations gained a technological advantage due to bronze's harder and more durable properties than other metals available at the time. While terrestrial iron is naturally abundant, the higher temperature required for smelting, , in addition to the greater difficulty of working with it, placed it out of reach of common use until the end of the 2nd millennium BC. Tin's lower melting point of and copper's moderate melting point of placed both these metals within the capabilities of Neolithic pottery kilns, which date to 6000 BC and were able to produce temperatures of at least .
in Europe and Asia Minor—the darkest areas are the oldest.]]
The Bronze Age is characterised by the widespread use of bronze, though the introduction and development of bronze technology were not universally synchronous. Bronze was independently discovered in the Maykop culture of the North Caucasus as early as the mid-4th millennium BC, which makes them the producers of the oldest-known bronze. However, the Maykop culture only had arsenical bronze. Other regions developed bronze and its associated technology at different periods. Tin bronze technology requires systematic techniques: tin must be mined (mainly as the tin ore cassiterite) and smelted separately, then added to hot copper to make bronze alloy. The Bronze Age was a time of extensive use of metals and the development of trade networks.
A 2013 report suggests that the earliest tin-alloy bronze was a foil dated to the mid-5th millennium BC from a Vinča culture site in Pločnik, Serbia, although this culture is not conventionally considered part of the Bronze Age; however, the dating of the foil has been disputed. Near East
<!-- "Tuttul" links here --><!-- "Deir ez-Zor Museum" links here -->
West Asia and the Near East were the first regions to enter the Bronze Age, beginning with the rise of the Mesopotamian civilisation of Sumer in the mid-4th millennium BC. Cultures in the ancient Near East practised intensive year-round agriculture; developed writing systems; invented the potter's wheel, created centralised governments (usually in the form of hereditary monarchies), formulated written law codes, developed city-states, nation-states and empires; embarked on advanced architectural projects; and introduced social stratification, economic and civil administration, slavery, and practised organised warfare, medicine, and religion. Societies in the region laid the foundations for astronomy, mathematics, and astrology.
The following dates are approximate.
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Near East Bronze Age divisions
The Bronze Age in the Near East can be divided into Early, Middle and Late periods. The dates and phases below apply solely to the Near East, not universally. However, some archaeologists propose a "high chronology", which extends periods such as the Intermediate Bronze Age by 300 to 500–600 years, based on material analysis of the southern Levant in cities such as Hazor, Jericho, and Beit She'an.
* Early Bronze Age (EBA): 3300–2100 BC
** 3300–3000: EBA I
** 3000–2700: EBA II
** 2700–2200: EBA III
** 2200–2100: EBA IV
*Middle Bronze Age (MBA) or Intermediate Bronze Age (IBA): 2100–1550 BC
** 2100–2000: MBA I
** 2000–1750: MBA II A
** 1750–1650: MBA II B
** 1650–1550: MBA II C
*Late Bronze Age (LBA): 1550–1200 BC
** 1550–1400: LBA I
** 1400–1300: LBA II A
** 1300–1200: LBA II B (Late Bronze Age collapse)
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Anatolia
, Ankara]]
The Hittite Empire was established during the 18th century BC in Hattusa, northern Anatolia. At its height in the 14th century BC, the Hittite Kingdom encompassed central Anatolia, southwestern Syria as far as Ugarit, and upper Mesopotamia. After 1180 BC, amid general turmoil in the Levant, which is conjectured to have been associated with the sudden arrival of the Sea Peoples, the kingdom disintegrated into several independent "Neo-Hittite" city-states, some of which survived into the 8th century BC.
Arzawa, in Western Anatolia, during the second half of the 2nd millennium BC, likely extended along southern Anatolia in a belt from near the Turkish Lakes region to the Aegean coast. Arzawa was the western neighbour of the Middle and New Hittite Kingdoms, at times a rival and, at other times, a vassal.
The Assuwa league was a confederation of states in western Anatolia defeated by the Hittites under the earlier Tudhaliya I . Arzawa has been associated with the more obscure Assuwa generally located to its north. It probably bordered it, and may have been an alternative term for it during some periods. Egypt Early Bronze dynasties
(1540–1296 BC)]]
(1479–1425 BC)]]
In Ancient Egypt, the Bronze Age began in the Protodynastic Period . The archaic Early Bronze Age of Egypt, known as the Early Dynastic Period of Egypt, immediately followed the unification of Lower and Upper Egypt, . It is generally taken to include the First and Second dynasties, lasting from the Protodynastic Period until , or the beginning of the Old Kingdom. With the First Dynasty, the capital moved from Abydos to Memphis with a unified Egypt ruled by an Egyptian god-king. Abydos remained the major holy land in the south. The hallmarks of ancient Egyptian civilisation, such as art, architecture and religion, took shape in the Early Dynastic Period. Memphis, in the Early Bronze Age, was the largest city of the time. The Old Kingdom of the regional Bronze Age often described as a "dark period" in ancient Egyptian history, spanned about 100 years after the end of the Old Kingdom from about 2181 to 2055 BC. Very little monumental evidence survives from this period, especially from the early part of it. The First Intermediate Period was a dynamic time when the rule of Egypt was roughly divided between two areas: Heracleopolis in Lower Egypt and Thebes in Upper Egypt. These two kingdoms eventually came into conflict, and the Theban kings conquered the north, reunifying Egypt under a single ruler during the second part of the Eleventh Dynasty.
Nubia
The Bronze Age in Nubia started as early as 2300 BC. Egyptians introduced copper smelting to the Nubian city of Meroë in present-day Sudan . and Thirteenth dynasties, centred on el-Lisht. The unified kingdom was previously considered to comprise the Eleventh and Twelfth Dynasties, but historians now consider part of the Thirteenth Dynasty to have belonged to the Middle Kingdom.
During the Second Intermediate Period, Ancient Egypt fell into disarray a second time between the end of the Middle Kingdom and the start of the New Kingdom, best known for the Hyksos, whose reign comprised the Fifteenth and Sixteenth dynasties. The Hyksos first appeared in Egypt during the Eleventh Dynasty, began their climb to power in the Thirteenth Dynasty, and emerged from the Second Intermediate Period in control of Avaris and the Nile Delta. By the Fifteenth Dynasty, they ruled lower Egypt. They were expelled at the end of the Seventeenth Dynasty.
Late Bronze dynasties
The New Kingdom of Egypt, also referred to as the Egyptian Empire, existed during the 16th–11th centuries BC. The New Kingdom followed the Second Intermediate Period and was succeeded by the Third Intermediate Period. It was Egypt's most prosperous time and marked the peak of Egypt's power. The later New Kingdom, comprising the Nineteenth and Twentieth dynasties (1292–1069 BC), is also known as the Ramesside period, after the eleven pharaohs who took the name of Ramesses.
Iranian plateau
, with linear-Elamite inscription]]
Elam was a pre-Iranian ancient civilisation located east of Mesopotamia. In the Middle Bronze Age, Elam consisted of kingdoms on the Iranian plateau, centred in Anshan. From the mid-2nd millennium BC, Elam was centred in Susa in the Khuzestan lowlands. Its culture played a crucial role in both the Gutian Empire and the Iranian Achaemenid dynasty that succeeded it.
The Oxus civilisation was a Bronze Age Central Asian culture dated and centred on the upper Amu Darya (). In the Early Bronze Age, the culture of the Kopet Dag oases and Altyndepe developed a proto-urban society. This corresponds to level IV at Namazga-Tepe. Altyndepe was a major centre even then. Pottery was wheel-turned. Grapes were grown. The height of this urban development was reached in the Middle Bronze Age , corresponding to level V at Namazga-Depe. This Bronze Age culture is called the Bactria–Margiana Archaeological Complex.
The Kulli culture, similar to that of the Indus Valley Civilisation, was located in southern Balochistan (Gedrosia) . The economy was agricultural. Dams were found in several places, providing evidence for a highly developed water management system.
in chlorite, Jiroft culture, , Bronze Age I, National Museum of Iran]]
Konar Sandal is associated with the hypothesized Jiroft culture, a 3rd-millennium BC culture postulated based on a collection of artefacts confiscated in 2001.
Levant
, Negev Desert, Israel]]
In modern scholarship, the chronology of the Bronze Age Levant is divided into:
* Early Syrian, or Proto Syriancorresponding to the Early Bronze Age
* Old Syriancorresponding to the Middle Bronze Age
* Middle Syriancorresponding to the Late Bronze Age
The term Neo-Syria is used to designate the early Iron Age.
The old Syrian period was dominated by the Eblaite first kingdom, Nagar and the Mariote second kingdom. The Akkadians conquered large areas of the Levant and were followed by the Amorite kingdoms, , which arose in Mari, Yamhad, Qatna, and Assyria. From the 15th century BC onward, the term Amurru is usually applied to the region extending north of Canaan as far as Kadesh on the Orontes River.
The earliest-known contact of Ugarit with Egypt (and the first exact dating of Ugaritic civilisation) comes from a carnelian bead identified with the Middle Kingdom pharaoh Senusret I, whose reign is dated to 1971–1926 BC. A stela and a statuette of the Egyptian pharaohs Senusret III and Amenemhet III have also been found. However, it is unclear when they first arrived at Ugarit. In the Amarna letters, messages from Ugarit written by Ammittamru I, Niqmaddu II, and his queen have been discovered. From the 16th to the 13th century BC, Ugarit remained in constant contact with Egypt and Cyprus (Alashiya).
Mitanni was a loosely organised state in northern Syria and south-east Anatolia, emerging . Founded by an Indo-Aryan ruling class that governed a predominantly Hurrian population, Mitanni came to be a regional power after the Hittite destruction of Kassite Babylon created a power vacuum in Mesopotamia. At its beginning, Mitanni's major rival was Egypt under the Thutmosids. However, with the ascent of the Hittite empire, Mitanni and Egypt allied to protect their mutual interests from the threat of Hittite domination. At the height of its power during the 14th century BC, Mitanni had outposts centred on its capital, Washukanni, which archaeologists have located on the headwaters of the Khabur River. Eventually, Mitanni succumbed to the Hittites and later Assyrian attacks, eventually being reduced to a province of the Middle Assyrian Empire.
The Israelites were an ancient Semitic-speaking people of the Ancient Near East who inhabited part of Canaan during the tribal and monarchic periods (15th–6th centuries BC), and lived in the region in smaller numbers after the fall of the monarchy. The name "Israel" first appears , at the end of the Late Bronze Age and the very beginning of the Iron Age, on the Merneptah Stele raised by the Egyptian pharaoh Merneptah.
The Arameans were a Northwest Semitic semi-nomadic pastoral people who originated in what is now modern Syria (Biblical Aram) during the Late Bronze and early Iron Age. Large groups migrated to Mesopotamia, where they intermingled with the native Akkadian (Assyrian and Babylonian) population. The Aramaeans never had a unified empire; they were divided into independent kingdoms all across the Near East. After the Bronze Age collapse, their political influence was confined to Syro-Hittite states, which were entirely absorbed into the Neo-Assyrian Empire by the 8th century BC.
Mesopotamia
The Mesopotamian Bronze Age began and ended with the Kassite period ). The usual tripartite division into an Early, Middle and Late Bronze Age is not used in the context of Mesopotamia. Instead, a division primarily based on art and historical characteristics is more common.
The cities of the Ancient Near East housed several tens of thousands of people. Ur, Kish, Isin, Larsa, and Nippur in the Middle Bronze Age and Babylon, Calah, and Assur in the Late Bronze Age similarly had large populations. The Akkadian Empire (2335–2154 BC) became the dominant power in the region. After its fall, the Sumerians enjoyed a renaissance with the Neo-Sumerian Empire. Assyria, along with the Old Assyrian Empire (), became a regional power under the Amorite king Shamshi-Adad I. The earliest mention of Babylon (then a small administrative town) appears on a tablet from the reign of Sargon of Akkad in the 23rd century BC. The Amorite dynasty established the city-state of Babylon in the 19th century BC. Over a century later, it briefly took over the other city-states and formed the short-lived First Babylonian Empire during what is also called the Old Babylonian Period.
Akkad, Assyria, and Babylonia used the written East Semitic Akkadian language for official use and as a spoken language. By that time, the Sumerian language was no longer spoken, but was still in religious use in Assyria and Babylonia, and would remain so until the 1st century AD. The Akkadian and Sumerian traditions played a major role in later Assyrian and Babylonian culture. Despite this, Babylonia, unlike the more militarily powerful Assyria, was founded by non-native Amorites and often ruled by other non-indigenous peoples such as the Kassites, Aramaeans and Chaldeans, as well as by its Assyrian neighbours.
Asia
Central Asia
Agropastoralism
For many decades, scholars made superficial reference to Central Asia as the "pastoral realm" or alternatively, the "nomadic world", in what researchers call the "Central Asian void": a 5,000-year span that was neglected in studies of the origins of agriculture. Foothill regions and glacial melt streams supported Bronze Age agro-pastoralists who developed complex east–west trade routes between Central Asia and China that introduced wheat and barley to China and millet to Central Asia. Bactria–Margiana Archaeological Complex
The Bactria–Margiana Archaeological Complex (BMAC), also known as the Oxus civilisation, was a Bronze Age civilisation in Central Asia, dated , located in present-day northern Afghanistan, eastern Turkmenistan, southern Uzbekistan and western Tajikistan, centred on the upper Amu Darya (Oxus River). Its sites were discovered and named by the Soviet archaeologist Viktor Sarianidi (1976). Bactria was the Greek name for the area of Bactra (modern Balkh), in what is now northern Afghanistan, and Margiana was the Greek name for the Persian satrapy of Marguš, the capital of which was Merv in present-day Turkmenistan.
A wealth of information indicates that the BMAC had close international relations with the Indus Valley, the Iranian plateau, and possibly even indirectly with Mesopotamia. All civilisations were familiar with lost wax casting.
According to a 2019 study, the BMAC was not a primary contributor to later South-Asian genetics.
Seima-Turbino phenomenon
The Altai Mountains, in what is now southern Russia and central Mongolia, have been identified as the point of origin of a cultural enigma termed the Seima-Turbino Phenomenon. It is conjectured that changes in climate in this region , and the ensuing ecological, economic, and political changes, triggered a rapid and massive migration westward into northeast Europe, eastward into China, and southward into Vietnam and Thailand across a frontier of some .
It is further conjectured that the same migrations spread the Uralic group of languages across Europe and Asia, with extant members of the family including Hungarian, Finnish and Estonian.
The term "Bronze Age" has been transferred to the archaeology of China from that of Western Eurasia, and there is no consensus or universally used convention delimiting the "Bronze Age" in the context of Chinese prehistory. The "Early Bronze Age" in China is sometimes taken to be coterminous with the reign of the Shang dynasty (16th–11th centuries BC), and the Later Bronze Age with the subsequent Zhou dynasty (11th–3rd centuries BC), from the 5th century, called Iron Age China although there is an argument to be made that the Bronze Age never properly ended in China, as there is no recognisable transition to an Iron Age. Together with the jade art that precedes it, bronze was seen as a fine material for ritual art when compared with iron or stone.
Bronze metallurgy in China originated in what is referred to as the Erlitou period, which some historians argue places it within the Shang. Others believe the Erlitou sites belong to the preceding Xia dynasty. The United States National Gallery of Art defines the Chinese Bronze Age as , a period that begins with the Erlitou culture and ends abruptly with the disintegration of Western Zhou rule.
There is reason to believe that bronze work developed inside of China apart from outside influence. However, the discovery of the Europoid Tarim mummies in Xinjiang has caused some archaeologists such as Johan Gunnar Andersson, Jan Romgard, and An Zhimin to suggest a possible route of transmission from the West eastwards. According to An Zhimin, "It can be imagined that initially, bronze and iron technology took its rise in West Asia, first influenced the Xinjiang region, and then reached the Yellow River valley, providing external impetus for the rise of the Shang and Zhou civilizations." According to Jan Romgard, "bronze and iron tools seem to have traveled from west to east as well as the use of wheeled wagons and the domestication of the horse." There are also possible links to Seima-Turbino culture, "a transcultural complex across northern Eurasia", the Eurasian steppe, and the Urals. However, the oldest bronze objects found in China so far were discovered at the Majiayao site in Gansu rather than at Xinjiang.
The production of Erlitou represents the earliest large-scale metallurgy industry in the Central Plains of China. The influence of the Seima-Turbino metalworking tradition from the north is supported by a series of recent discoveries in China of many unique perforated spearheads with downward hooks and small loops on the same or opposite side of the socket, which could be associated with the Seima-Turbino visual vocabulary of southern Siberia. The metallurgical centres of northwestern China, especially the Qijia culture in Gansu and Longshan culture in Shaanxi, played an intermediary role in this process.
Iron use in China dates as early as the Zhou dynasty (256 BC), but remained minimal. Chinese literature authored during the 6th century BC attests to knowledge of iron smelting, yet bronze continues to occupy the seat of significance in the archaeological and historical record for some time after this. W. C. White argues that iron did not supplant bronze "at any period before the end of the Zhou dynasty (256 BC)" and that bronze vessels make up the majority of metal vessels through the Eastern Han period, or to 221 BC.<!-- It is unclear what White referred to: The former Han dynasty was 206–25 BCE, and the later Han dynasty ended in 220 AD. On iron, readers may prefer to refer to this newer book: Wagner, Donald B. Iron, and Steel in Ancient China. Leiden, Netherlands; New York: E.J. Brill, 1993. -->
The Chinese bronze artefacts generally are either utilitarian, like spear points or adze heads, or "ritual bronzes", which are more elaborate versions in precious materials of everyday vessels, as well as tools and weapons. Examples are the numerous large sacrificial tripods known as dings; there are many other distinct shapes. Surviving identified Chinese ritual bronzes tend to be highly decorated, often with the taotie motif, which involves stylised animal faces. These appear in three main motif types: those of demons, symbolic animals, and abstract symbols. Many large bronzes also bear cast inscriptions that are the bulk of the surviving body of early Chinese writing and have helped historians and archaeologists piece together the history of China, especially during the Zhou dynasty.
The bronzes of the Western Zhou document large portions of history not found in the extant texts that were often composed by persons of varying rank and possibly even social class. Further, the medium of cast bronze lends the record they preserve a permanence not enjoyed by manuscripts. These inscriptions can commonly be subdivided into four parts: a reference to the date and place, the naming of the event commemorated, the list of gifts given to the artisan in exchange for the bronze, and a dedication. The relative points of reference these vessels provide have enabled historians to place most of the vessels within a certain time frame of the Western Zhou period, allowing them to trace the evolution of the vessels and the events they record.
Japan
bronze bell]]
The Japanese archipelago saw the introduction of bronze during the early Yayoi period (), which saw the introduction of metalworking and agricultural practices brought by settlers arriving from the continent. Bronze and iron smelting spread to the Japanese archipelago through contact with other ancient East Asian civilisations, particularly immigration and trade from the ancient Korean peninsula, and ancient mainland China. Iron was mainly used for agricultural and other tools, whereas ritual and ceremonial artefacts were mainly made of bronze. Korea
, Korea]]
On the Korean Peninsula, the Bronze Age began . Initially centred around Liaoning and southern Manchuria, Korean Bronze Age culture exhibits unique typology and styles, especially in ritual objects.
The Mumun pottery period is named after the Korean name for undecorated or plain cooking and storage vessels that form a large part of the pottery assemblage over the entire length of the period, but especially between 850 and 550 BC. The Mumun period is known for the origins of intensive agriculture and complex societies in both the Korean Peninsula and the Japanese Archipelago.
The Middle Mumun pottery period culture of the southern Korean Peninsula gradually adopted bronze production () after a period when Liaoning-style bronze daggers and other bronze artefacts were exchanged as far as the interior part of the Southern Peninsula (). The bronze daggers lent prestige and authority to the personages who wielded and were buried with them in high-status megalithic burials at south-coastal centres such as the Igeum-dong site. Bronze was an important element in ceremonies and for mortuary offerings until 100 BC.
South Asia
(Dates are approximate, consult linked articles for details)
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Indus Valley
'' of Mohenjo-daro, ]]
The Bronze Age on the Indian subcontinent began with the beginning of the Indus Valley Civilization. Inhabitants of the Indus Valley, the Harappans, developed new techniques in metallurgy and produced copper, bronze, lead, and tin. The Late Harappan culture (1900–1400 BC), overlapped the transition from the Bronze Age to the Iron Age; thus it is difficult to date this transition accurately. It has been claimed that a 6,000-year-old copper amulet manufactured in Mehrgarh in the shape of a wheel spoke is the earliest example of lost-wax casting in the world.
The civilisation's cities were noted for their urban planning, baked brick houses, elaborate drainage systems, water supply systems, clusters of large non-residential buildings, and new techniques in handicraft (carnelian products, seal carving) and metallurgy (copper, bronze, lead, and tin). The large cities of Mohenjo-daro and Harappa likely grew to contain between 30,000 and 60,000 people, and the civilisation during its florescence may have contained between one and five million people. Southeast Asia The Vilabouly Complex in Laos is a significant archaeological site for dating the origin of bronze metallurgy in Southeast Asia. Thailand In Ban Chiang, Thailand, bronze artefacts have been discovered that date to 2100 BC. However, according to the radiocarbon dating on the human and pig bones in Ban Chiang, some scholars propose that the initial Bronze Age in Ban Chiang was in the late 2nd millennium. Ban Non Wat, excavated by Charles Higham, was a rich site with over 640 graves excavated that gleaned many complex bronze items that may have had social value connected to them.
Ban Chiang, however, is the most thoroughly documented site and has the clearest evidence of metallurgy when in Southeast Asia. With a rough date range from the late 3rd millennium BC to the 1st millennium AD, this site has artefacts such as burial pottery (dated 2100–1700 BC) and fragments of bronze and copper-base bangles. This technology suggested on-site casting from the beginning. The on-site casting supports the theory that bronze was first introduced in Southeast Asia from a different country. Some scholars believe that copper-based metallurgy was disseminated from northwest and central China south and southwest via areas such as Guangdong and Yunnan and finally into southeast Asia . Archaeology also suggests that Bronze Age metallurgy may not have been as significant a catalyst in social stratification and warfare in Southeast Asia as in other regions, and that social distribution shifted away from chiefdoms to a heterarchical network. Vietnam
Dating to the Neolithic, the first bronze drums, called the Dong Son drums, were uncovered in and around the Red River Delta regions of northern Vietnam and Southern China. These relate to the Dong Son culture of Vietnam.
Archaeological research in Northern Vietnam indicates an increase in rates of infectious disease following the advent of metallurgy; skeletal fragments in sites dating to the early and mid-Bronze Age evidence a greater proportion of lesions than in sites of earlier periods. There are a few possible implications of this. One is the increased contact with bacterial and/or fungal pathogens due to increased population density and land clearing/cultivation. Another implication is decreased levels of immunocompetence in the Metal Age due to changes in diet caused by agriculture. The last implication is that there may have been an emergence of infectious diseases that evolved into a more virulent form in the metal period.]]
Radivojevic et al. (2013) reported the discovery of a tin bronze foil from the Pločnik archaeological site dated to as well as 14 other artefacts from Serbia and Bulgaria dated before 4000 BC, showing that early tin bronze was more common than previously thought and developed independently in Europe 1500 years before the first tin bronze alloys in the Near East. The production of complex tin bronzes lasted for about 500 years in the Balkans. The authors reported that evidence for the production of such complex bronzes disappears at the end of the 5th millennium BC, coinciding with the "collapse of large cultural complexes in north-eastern Bulgaria and Thrace". Tin bronzes using cassiterite tin were reintroduced to the area some 1500 years later.
The Dabene Treasure was unearthed from 2004 to 2007 near Karlovo in central Bulgaria. The treasure consists of 20,000 gold jewellery items from 18 to 23 carats. The most important of them was a dagger made of gold and platinum with an unusual edge. The treasure was dated to the end of the 3rd millennium BC. Scientists suggest that the Karlovo valley used to be a major crafts centre that exported golden jewellery across Europe. It is considered one of the largest prehistoric golden treasures in the world. Aegean
produced during the Mycenaean civilisation, from Mycenae, Greece, 1550 BC]]
The Aegean Bronze Age began , when civilisations first established a far-ranging trade network. This network imported tin and charcoal to Cyprus, where copper was mined and alloyed with tin to produce bronze. Bronze objects were then exported far and wide. Isotopic analysis of tin in some Mediterranean bronze artefacts suggests that they may have originated from Bronze Age Britain.
Knowledge of navigation was well-developed by this time and reached a peak of skill not exceeded (except perhaps by Polynesian sailors) until 1730 when the invention of the chronometer enabled the precise determination of longitude.
The Minoan civilisation based in Knossos on the island of Crete appears to have coordinated and defended its Bronze Age trade. Ancient empires valued luxury goods in contrast to staple foods, leading to famine.
Aegean collapse
Bronze Age collapse theories have described aspects of the end of the Bronze Age in this region. At the end of the Bronze Age in the Aegean region, the Mycenaean administration of the regional trade empire followed the decline of Minoan primacy. Several Minoan client states lost much of their population to famine and pestilence. This would indicate that the trade network may have failed, preventing the trade that would previously have relieved such famines and prevented illness caused by malnutrition. It is also known that in this era, the breadbasket of the Minoan empire—the area north of the Black Sea—also suddenly lost much of its population and thus probably some capacity to cultivate crops. Drought and famine in Anatolia may have also led to the Aegean collapse by disrupting trade networks, therefore preventing the Aegean from accessing bronze and luxury goods.
The Aegean collapse has been attributed to the exhaustion of the Cypriot forests causing the end of the bronze trade. These forests are known to have existed in later times, and experiments have shown that charcoal production on the scale necessary for the bronze production of the late Bronze Age would have exhausted them in less than 50 years.
The Aegean collapse has also been attributed to the fact that as iron tools became more common, the main justification for the tin trade ended, and that trade network ceased to function as it did formerly. The colonies of the Minoan empire then suffered drought, famine, war, or some combination of the three, and had no access to the distant resources of an empire by which they could easily recover.
The Thera eruption occurred , north of Crete. Speculation includes that a tsunami from Thera (more commonly known today as Santorini) destroyed Cretan cities. A tsunami may have destroyed the Cretan navy in its home harbour, which then lost crucial naval battles; so that in the LMIB/LMII event () the cities of Crete burned and the Mycenaean civilisation conquered Knossos. If the eruption occurred in the late 17th century BC as most chronologists believe, then its immediate effects belong to the Middle to Late Bronze Age transition, and not to the end of the Late Bronze Age, but it could have triggered the instability that led to the collapse first of Knossos and then of Bronze Age society overall. One such theory highlights the role of Cretan expertise in administering the empire, post-Thera. If this expertise was concentrated in Crete, then the Mycenaeans may have made political and commercial mistakes in administering the Cretan empire.
Archaeological findings, including some on the island of Thera, suggest that the centre of the Minoan civilisation at the time of the eruption was actually on Thera rather than on Crete. According to this theory, the catastrophic loss of the political, administrative and economic centre due to the eruption, as well as the damage wrought by the tsunami to the coastal towns and villages of Crete, precipitated the decline of the Minoans. A weakened political entity with a reduced economic and military capability and fabled riches would have then been more vulnerable to conquest. Indeed, the Santorini eruption is usually dated to , while the Mycenaean Greeks first enter the historical record a few decades later, . The later Mycenaean assaults on Crete () and Troy () would have been a continuation of the steady encroachment of the Greeks upon the weakened Minoan world. Central Europe
from the Aunjetitz culture, present-day Germany (1800–1600 BC)]]
In Central Europe, the Early Bronze Age Unetice culture (2300–1600 BC) includes numerous smaller groups like the Straubing, Adlerberg and Hatvan cultures. Some very rich burials, such as the one located at Leubingen with grave gifts crafted from gold, point to an increase of social stratification already present in the Unetice culture. Cemeteries of this period are small and rare. The Unetice culture was followed by the Middle Bronze Age (1600–1200 BC) tumulus culture, characterised by inhumation burials in tumuli barrows. In the eastern Hungarian Körös tributaries, the early Bronze Age first saw the introduction of the Mako culture, followed by the Otomani and Gyulavarsand cultures.
The late Bronze Age Urnfield culture (1300–700 BC) was characterised by cremation burials. It included the Lusatian culture in eastern Germany and Poland (1300–500 BC) that continues into the Iron Age. The Central European Bronze Age was followed by the Iron Age Hallstatt culture (700–450 BC). Important sites include Biskupin in Poland, Nebra in Germany, Vráble in Slovakia, and Zug-Sumpf in Switzerland.
German prehistorian Paul Reinecke described Bronze A1 (Bz A1) period (2300–2000 BC: triangular daggers, flat axes, stone wrist-guards, flint arrowheads) and Bronze A2 (Bz A2) period (1950–1700 BC: daggers with metal hilt, flanged axes, halberds, pins with perforated spherical heads, solid bracelets) and phases Hallstatt A and B (Ha A and B).
Southern Europe
in Torralba, Sardinia, Italy]]
The Apennine culture was a technology complex in central and southern Italy spanning both the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age proper. The Camuni were an ancient people of uncertain origin who lived in Val Camonica, in present-day Lombardy, during the Iron Age, although groups of hunters, shepherds, and farmers are known to have lived in the area since the Neolithic.
Located in Sardinia and Corsica, the Nuragic civilisation lasted from the early Bronze Age (18th century BC) to the 2nd century AD, when the islands were already Romanised. They take their name from the characteristic Nuragic towers, which evolved from the pre-existing megalithic culture, which built dolmens and menhirs.
The towers are unanimously considered the best-preserved and largest megalithic remains in Europe. Their purpose is still debated: some scholars consider them monumental tombs, others as Houses of the Giants, other as fortresses, ovens for metal fusion, prisons, or finally temples for a solar cult. Near the end of the 3rd millennium BC, Sardinia exported to Sicily a culture that built small dolmens, trilithic or polygonal shaped, that served as tombs, as in the Sicilian dolmen of "Cava dei Servi". From this region, they reached Malta and other countries of Mediterranean basin.
houses]]
The Terramare was an early Indo-European civilisation in the area of what is now Pianura Padana in northern Italy, before the arrival of the Celts, and in other parts of Europe. They lived in square villages of wooden stilt houses. These villages were built on land, but generally near a stream, with roads forming a grid plan. The whole complex was of the nature of a fortified settlement. The Terramare culture was widespread in the Pianura Padana, especially along the Panaro river, between Modena and Bologna, and in the rest of Europe. The civilisation developed in the Middle and Late Bronze Age during the 17th–13th centuries BC.
The Castellieri culture developed in Istria during the Middle Bronze Age. It lasted for more than a millennium, from the 15th century BC until the Roman conquest in the 3rd century BC. It takes its name from the fortified boroughs (Castellieri, ) that characterised the culture.
The Canegrate culture developed from the mid-Bronze Age (13th century BC) until the Iron Age in the Pianura Padana, in what are now western Lombardy, eastern Piedmont, and Ticino. It takes its name from the township of Canegrate, where, in the 20th century, some fifty tombs with ceramics and metal objects were found. The Canegrate culture migrated from the northwest part of the Alps and descended to Pianura Padana from the Swiss Alps passes and the Ticino.
The Golasecca culture developed starting from the late Bronze Age in the Po plain. It takes its name from Golasecca, a locality next to the Ticino, where in the early 19th century abbot excavated its first findings comprising some 50 tombs with ceramics and metal objects. Remains of the Golasecca culture span an area of about south to the Alps, between the Po, Sesia, and Serio rivers, dating to the 9th–4th centuries BC.
Western Europe
Great Britain
, 1300–1000 BC]]
In Great Britain, the Bronze Age is considered to have been the period from to 750 BC. Migration brought new people to the islands from the continent. Tooth enamel isotope research on bodies found in early Bronze Age graves around Stonehenge indicates that at least some of the migrants came from the area of present-day Switzerland. Another example site is Must Farm near Whittlesey, host to the most complete Bronze Age wheel ever to be found. The Beaker culture displayed different behaviours from earlier Neolithic people, and cultural change was significant. Integration is thought to have been peaceful, as many of the early henge sites were seemingly adopted by the newcomers. The rich Wessex culture developed in southern Britain at this time. Additionally, the climate was deteriorating; where once the weather was warm and dry it became much wetter as the Bronze Age continued, forcing the population away from easily defended sites in the hills and into the fertile valleys. Large livestock farms developed in the lowlands and appear to have contributed to economic growth and inspired increasing forest clearances. The Deverel-Rimbury culture began to emerge in the second half of the Middle Bronze Age () to exploit these conditions. Devon and Cornwall were major sources of tin for much of western Europe and copper was extracted from sites such as the Great Orme mine in northern Wales. Social groups appear to have been tribal but with growing complexity and hierarchies becoming apparent.
The burials, which until this period had usually been communal, became more individual. For example, whereas in the Neolithic a large chambered cairn or long barrow housed the dead, Early Bronze Age people buried their dead in individual barrows (commonly known and marked on modern British Ordnance Survey maps as tumuli), or sometimes in cists covered with cairns.
The greatest quantities of bronze objects in England were discovered in East Cambridgeshire, with the most important finds being the 6500-piece Isleham Hoard. Alloying of copper with tin to make bronze was practiced soon after the discovery of copper. The techniques needed to deliberately alloy copper with zinc to form brass first arrived in Great Britain late in the first millennium BC. One copper mine at Great Orme in North Wales, reached a depth of 70 metres. At Alderley Edge in Cheshire, carbon dating has established mining at around 2280 to 1890 BC with a 95% probability. The earliest identified metalworking site (Sigwells, Somerset) came much later, dated by globular urn-style pottery to . The identifiable sherds from over 500 mould fragments included a perfect fit of the hilt of a sword in the Wilburton style held in Somerset County Museum. Atlantic Bronze Age
, ]]
The Atlantic Bronze Age as cultural geographic region is a cultural complex (800700 cal. BC|lkno}}) that includes different cultures in the context of the Atlantic Iberian Peninsula (Portugal, Andalucía, Galicia, Asturias, Cantabria, País Vasco, Navarra and Castilla and León), the Atlantic France, Britain and Ireland, while the Atlantic Bronze Age as cultural complex of the final phase of the Bronze Age period is dated between and 700 BC. It is marked by economic and cultural exchange. Commercial contacts extend to Denmark and the Mediterranean. The Atlantic Bronze Age was defined by many distinct regional centres of metal production, unified by a regular maritime exchange of products. Ireland
The Bronze Age in Ireland began when copper was alloyed with tin and used to manufacture Ballybeg type flat axes and associated metalwork. The preceding period is known as the Copper Age and is characterised by the production of flat axes, daggers, halberds and awls in copper. The period is divided into three phases: Early Bronze Age (2000–1500 BC), Middle Bronze Age (1500–1200 BC), and Late Bronze Age (1200). Ireland is known for a relatively large number of Early Bronze Age burials. The country's stone circles and stone rows were built during this period.
One of the characteristic types of artefacts of the Early Bronze Age in Ireland is the flat axe. There are five main types of flat axes: Lough Ravel crannog (), Ballybeg (), Killaha (), Ballyvalley (), Derryniggin (), and a number of metal ingots in the shape of axes. Northern Europe
, Denmark, ]]
The Bronze Age in Northern Europe spans the 2nd millennium BC, (Unetice culture, Urnfield culture, Tumulus culture, Terramare culture and Lusatian culture) lasting until . The Northern Bronze Age was both a period and a Bronze Age culture in Scandinavian pre-history, , with sites as far east as Estonia. Succeeding the Late Neolithic culture, its ethnic and linguistic affinities are unknown in the absence of written sources. It was followed by the Pre-Roman Iron Age.
Even though Northern European Bronze Age cultures came relatively late, and came into existence via trade, sites present rich and well-preserved objects made of wool, wood and imported Central European bronze and gold. Many rock carvings depict ships, and the large stone burial monuments known as stone ships suggest that shipping played an important role. Thousands of rock carvings depict ships, most probably representing sewn plank-built canoes for warfare, fishing, and trade. These may have a history as far back as the neolithic period and continue into the Pre-Roman Iron Age, as shown by the Hjortspring boat. There are many mounds and rock carving sites from the period. Numerous artefacts of bronze and gold are found. No written language existed in the Nordic countries during the Bronze Age. The rock carvings have been dated through comparison with depicted artefacts.
Eastern Europe
steppe pastoralist ancestry into two subcontinents—Europe and South Asia, and location of the Afanasievo culture, which has the same genetic characteristics as the Yamnayas. associated with early Indo-Europeans. It was followed on the steppe by the Catacomb culture () and the Poltavka culture (). The closely-related Corded Ware culture in the forest-steppe region to the north () spread eastwards with the Fatyanovo culture (), which subsequently developed into the Abashevo culture () and the Sintashta culture (). The earliest known chariots have been found in Sintashta burials and there is earlier evidence for chariot use in the Abashevo culture. The Sintashta culture expanded further eastwards into central Asia becoming the Andronovo culture, while the Srubnaya culture () continued the use of chariots in eastern Europe.
Caucasus
Arsenical bronze artefacts of the Maykop culture in the North Caucasus have been dated to around the 4th millennium BC. This innovation resulted in the circulation of arsenical bronze technology through southern and eastern Europe.
Africa
Sub-Saharan Africa
Iron and copper smelting appeared around the same time in most parts of Africa. As such, most Classical African civilisations outside Egypt did not experience a distinct Bronze Age. Evidence for iron smelting appears earlier or at the same time as copper smelting in Nigeria , Rwanda and Burundi and Tanzania .
There is a longstanding debate about whether copper and iron metallurgy were independently developed in sub-Saharan Africa or introduced from the outside across the Sahara from North Africa or the Indian Ocean. One scholar characterised the state of historical knowledge: "To say that the history of metallurgy in sub-Saharan Africa is complicated is perhaps an understatement." Bronze technology was developed further by the Inca and widely used for utilitarian objects and for sculpture. A later appearance of limited bronze smelting in western Mexico suggests either contact of that region with Andean civilisations or separate discovery of the technology. The Calchaquí people of northwestern Argentina had bronze technology. Trade Trade and industry played a major role in the development of Bronze Age civilisations. With artefacts of the Indus Valley Civilisation found in ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt, it is clear that these civilisations were not only in touch with one another, but also trading. Early long-distance trade was limited almost exclusively to luxury goods like spices, textiles, and precious metals. Not only did this make cities with ample amounts of these products rich, but it also led to an intermingling of cultures for the first time in history.
Trade routes were not just on land. The first and most extensive trade routes were along rivers such as the Nile, the Tigris, and the Euphrates, which led to the growth of cities on the banks of these rivers. The later domestication of camels also helped encourage trade routes overland, linking the Indus Valley with the Mediterranean. This further led to towns appearing where there was a pit-stop or caravan-to-ship port.
See also
* Dover Bronze Age Boat
* Ferriby Boats
* Hillfort
* Langdon Bay (Kent) hoard
* Middle Bronze Age migrations (ancient Near East)
* Oxhide ingot
* Shropshire bulla
* Timeline of human evolution
* Tollense valley battlefield
Notes
References
*
*
* Pernicka, E., Eibner, C., Öztunah, Ö., Wagener, G. A. (2003). "", In: Wagner, G. A., Pernicka, E. and Uerpmann, H-P. (eds), Troia and the Troad: scientific approaches, Natural science in archaeology, Berlin, Germany; London, England: Springer, , pp.
* Piccolo, Salvatore (2013). Ancient Stones: The Prehistoric Dolmens of Sicily. Abingdon (Great Britain): Brazen Head Publishing,
*Power, Denis. Archaeological inventory of County Cork, Volume 3: Mid Cork. Stationery Office, 1992.
* Waddell, John (1998). The prehistoric archaeology of Ireland, Galway University Press, 433 p.,
Further reading
*
*
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*
*
*
*
External links
*
* [http://www.bronze-age-craft.com/ Bronze Age Experimental Archeology and Museum Reproductions]
* [http://www.umha-aois.com/ Umha Aois – Reconstructed Bronze Age metal casting]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20181119084851/http://web.comhem.se/vikingbronze/umha_aois_06.wmv Umha Aois – ancient bronze casting videoclip]
* [http://www.aegeobalkanprehistory.net/ Aegean and Balkan Prehistory] articles, site-reports and bibliography database concerning the Aegean, Balkans and Western Anatolia
* "[http://penn.museum/sites/mmap/publications/whitejwp.pdf The Transmission of Early Bronze Technology to Thailand: New Perspectives]"
* [http://humanorigins.si.edu/evidence/human-evolution-timeline-interactive Human Timeline (Interactive)] – Smithsonian, National Museum of Natural History (August 2016)
; Seafaring
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/northamptonshire/4330031.stm Divers unearth Bronze Age hoard off the coast of Devon]
Category:Articles which contain graphical timelines
Category:Historical eras
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bronze_Age
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BBC News (UK TV channel)
|
| owner = BBC
| parent = BBC (domestic)<br/>BBC Studios (overseas)
| picture_format = 1080i HDTV<br /><small>(downscaled to 16:9 576i for the SDTV feed)</small>
| country = United Kingdom
| language = English
| area = United Kingdom
| headquarters = BBC Television Centre (1997–2013)<br />Broadcasting House (2013–present)
| former_names = BBC News 24 (1997–2008)
| sister_channels = BBC One<br />BBC Two<br />BBC Three<br />BBC Four<br />BBC Parliament<br />CBBC<br />CBeebies<br />BBC Scotland<br />BBC Alba
| replaced | website
| terr_serv_1 = Freeview
| terr_chan_1 = Channel 231 (SD)
| online_serv_1 = BBC iPlayer
| online_chan_1 = [https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/live/bbcnews Watch live] (UK only)
| online_serv_2 = BBC News Online
| online_chan_2 = [https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10318089 Watch live] (UK only)
| online_serv_3 = BBC News (TV channel)
| online_chan_3 = [https://www.bbc.com/watch-live-news Watch live] (Worldwide access is available)
| online_serv_4 | online_chan_4
| online_serv_5 | online_chan_5
}}
The BBC News channel is a British free-to-air public broadcast television news channel owned and operated by the BBC. The channel is based at and broadcasts from Broadcasting House in the West End of London from which it is anchored during British daytime, with overnight broadcasts anchored from Washington, D.C. and Singapore. It was launched as BBC News 24 on 9 November 1997 at 17:30, as part of the BBC's foray into digital domestic television channels, becoming the first competitor to Sky News, which had been running since 1989.
On 22 February 2006, the channel was named News Channel of the Year at the Royal Television Society Television Journalism Awards for the first time in its history. The judges remarked that this was the year that the channel had "really come into its own." The channel won the accolade for a second time in 2017. From May 2007, viewers in the UK could watch the channel via the BBC News website. In April 2008, the channel was renamed BBC News as part of a £550,000 rebranding of the BBC's news output, complete with a new studio and presentation.
The channel's international counterpart, formerly known as BBC World News, initially operated as a counterpart carrying international news, as well as selected programmes from the domestic service. Unlike BBC News in the UK, which is a free-to-air channel funded by the licence fee, the world feed is a pay television service distributed by BBC Studios and funded by advertising. Some of its programmes had been simulcast by the domestic BBC News channel, especially in the overnight hours.
In 2022, the BBC announced that it would further consolidate the programming and talent of the BBC News and World News channels as a cost-cutting move; these changes took place on 3 April 2023, with BBC World News being renamed "BBC News", and both channels restructured to use a common schedule with domestic opt-outs for UK-specific news coverage and programmes.
History
Rolling news began in the UK on 5 February 1989 when Sky News was launched and on 16 January 1995, the BBC launched an international news channel BBC World. However it was meant for global audiences and normally wasn't available to viewers in the UK. In May 1996, the BBC announced that it was to launch a UK rolling news service as part of its move into digital broadcasting.
BBC News 24 went on air on 9 November 1997, nearly a year before digital television was launched in the UK and due to a lack of space on satellite, the channel was only available on cable, with an overnight shop window on BBC One when that channel was not on air. However, Sky News had complained about the costs associated with running a channel that only a minority could view from the licence fee. Sky News claimed that a number of British cable operators had been incentivised to carry News 24 (which, as a licence-fee funded channel was made available to such operators for free) in preference to the commercial Sky News. However, in September 1999 the European Commission ruled against a complaint made by Sky News that the publicly funded channel was unfair and illegal under EU law. The Commission ruled that the licence fee should be considered state aid but that such aid was justified due to the public service remit of the BBC and that it did not exceed actual costs.
The advent of digital television in the United Kingdom in autumn 1998 saw the channel launch on Sky's new digital satellite service and a month later it started to broadcast via digital terrestrial television. Initially it was difficult to obtain a digital satellite or terrestrial receiver without a subscription to Sky or ONdigital respectively, but following the demise of ITV Digital in 2002 and the subsequent launch of Freeview, the channel started to become much more widely available and the BBC Governors' annual report for 2005/2006 reported that average audience figures for fifteen-minute periods had reached 8.6% in multichannel homes. The 2004 report also claimed that the channel outperformed Sky News in both weekly and monthly reach in multichannel homes for the January 2004 period, and for the first time in two years moved ahead of Sky News in being perceived as the channel best for news.
In 2005, the Head of television news Peter Horrocks outlined plans to provide more funding and resources for the channel and shift the corporation's emphasis regarding news away from the traditional BBC One bulletins and across to the rolling news channel. The introduction of simulcasts of the main bulletins on the channel was to allow the news bulletins to pool resources rather than work against each other at key times in the face of competition particularly from Sky News.
2008 rebranding
On 21 April 2008, BBC News 24 was renamed BBC News on the channel itself, and referred to as the BBC News Channel on other BBC services. This was part of the creative futures plan, launched in 2006, to bring all BBC News output under the single brand name.
The BBC News Channel moved from the Studio N8 set, which became home to BBC World News, to what was the home of the national news in Studio N6, allowing the channel to share its set with the BBC News at One and the BBC News at Ten – with other bulletins moving to Studio TC7. Move to Broadcasting House The channel relocated, along with the remaining BBC News services at Television Centre, to the newly refurbished Broadcasting House on 18 March 2013 at 13:00 GMT. Presentation and on-screen graphics were refreshed, with new full HD studios and a live newsroom backdrop. Moving cameras in the newsroom form part of the top of the hour title sequence and are used at the start of weather bulletins. Consolidation with BBC World NewsOn 26 May 2022, as part of planned cuts and streamlining across the broadcaster, the BBC announced plans for consolidation of the domestic BBC News channel in the UK with BBC World News. The domestic and international versions would share content, while maintaining the ability to opt out from the shared feed for domestic coverage if warranted. The BBC promoted that the service would offer "new flagship programmes built around high-profile journalists, and programmes commissioned for multiple platforms".
The BBC announced a new presenter lineup for the merged service in February 2023, led by Matthew Amroliwala, Christian Fraser, Yalda Hakim, Lucy Hockings, and Maryam Moshiri. On 3 April 2023, the BBC World News channel rebranded as BBC News, formally marking the implementation of the unified service with the UK feed opting out for UK-specific programming, such as BBC television newscasts and Newsnight, and coverage of UK-specific news not judged to be significant enough to warrant rolling coverage globally. Overall, the changes resulted in the layoffs of about 50 employees, including presenters David Eades, Joanna Gosling, and Tim Willcox.
Yalda Hakim left the channel to join Sky News in September 2023, meaning that Maryam Moshiri could have her own programme in the slot of Hakim's former Daily Global programme.
In February 2024, Ben Brown, Geeta Guru-Murthy, and Anita McVeigh rejoined the news channel after a year off air as chief presenters.
During the 2024 general election campaign, BBC News temporarily unwound the unified service, and reverted to broadcasting a domestic feed of rolling coverage from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily, as well as an additional UK-specific bulletin at 11 p.m. following Newsnight. This continued through the State Opening of Parliament, after which the prior schedule was reinstated beginning 18 July. The 11 p.m. bulletin remained until October 2024, when it was replaced with World News America. In January 2025, the UK feed dropped its simulcast of BBC Breakfast as a pilot, with world feed programming now carried in its timeslot; executive news editor Paul Royall considered the simulcast redundant, citing that the majority of its viewership came from BBC One and iPlayer. Between 6 a.m. and 9a.m. the channel also provides in-vision British Sign Language of the simulcast.
BBC News HD
On 16 July 2013, the BBC announced that a high-definition (HD) simulcast of BBC News would be launched by early 2014. HD output from BBC News has been simulcast on BBC One HD and BBC Two HD since the move to Broadcasting House in March 2013. The channel launched on 10 December 2013 (at an earlier date than originally planned) and rolled out nationwide over the next six months (as did BBC Four HD, CBBC HD and CBeebies HD).
There are HD versions of BBC News on BBC iPlayer, Freesat channel 200, Sky channel 503, and Virgin Media channel 601.
Programming
presenting the first BBC News at One at Broadcasting House, 18 March 2013, 13:00]]
Breaking news
<!-- Please do not replace this section with a schedule, it violates section 1.7.7. of Wikipedia:What Wikipedia is not and may also violate copyright -->
The BBC maintains guidelines for procedures to be taken for breaking news. With domestic news, the correspondent first recorded a "generic minute" summary (for use by all stations and channels) and then priority was to report on BBC Radio 5 Live, then on the BBC News channel and any other programmes that are on air. Since 5 Live's move to Manchester, this has been reversed. For foreign news, first a "generic minute" is recorded, then reports are to World Service radio, then the reporter talks to any other programmes that are on air.
A key claim made by Lord Lambert in his report had been that the channel was slower to react to breaking news compared with its main rival Sky News. To counteract this, a new feature introduced with the 2003 relaunch was a "breaking news sting": a globe shown briefly onscreen to direct a viewer's attention to the breaking news.
The graphics relaunch in January 2007 saw the globe sting replaced by a red strapline to highlight the breaking story immediately.
To complement this, a permanent live news ticker had earlier been introduced in 2006: this had previously been in use only sporadically. News statements are shown as continuously scrolling upper-case text located at the bottom of the screen; some past ambiguities noted have included spelling the plural of MPs as "MPS", together with other occasional spelling and grammatical errors. The design of this ticker was slightly altered with the 2007 graphics redesign and from June turned red to indicate breaking news, as Newswatch reported viewers' confusion. The ticker was removed during trails and weather forecasts.
presenting News Now at Broadcasting House, 7 October 2023]]
A new set of graphics, including a change to font style, was officially launched in July 2019 although it was broadcast in error up to a couple of months before. The news ticker, which had been a long-running feature of the Channel, was replaced by a flipper as stories no longer scroll across the screen. The headlines now have a limited length and appear in full in turn. The word "BREAKING" may appear on screen and flash to indicate breaking news. Occasionally a breaking news sting may appear on the Channel to call attention to breaking news. This sting gained some notoriety in June 2017 when a technical error caused it to appear several times in a row, delaying the start of the BBC News at Ten. Usually the BBC News Channel crosses over to live events, such as press conferences, without using the sting and the presenter on air introduces what viewers are seeing.
BBC World News simulcasts
The BBC began simulcasting the channel overnight on terrestrial channel BBC One with the launch of the channel, ending the tradition of a closedown but at the same time effectively making the service available to many more viewers. In the early 2000s, BBC Two also started simulcasting the channel, although the weekend morning show Weekend 24 had been simulcast on the channel in the early days. During major breaking news events, the BBC News Channel has been broadcast on BBC One; examples of special broadcasts include the 11 September 2001 attacks, 7 July 2005 London bombings, the capture of Saddam Hussein, the death of Osama bin Laden and the death and funerals of Prince Philip and Elizabeth II. In 2020, shared programming between BBC One and the News Channel often included the UK Government's Coronavirus Daily Update. This was usually broadcast during late afternoons when the Government made announcements.
Coverage of major events has also been simulcast on BBC World News. Currently, overnight viewers receive 25-minute editions of BBC News every hour, and on weekdays 23:00–02:00 receive Newsday, live from Singapore and from London which also includes Business Today and Sportsday between 00:30 and 01:00 and also between 01:30 and 02:00.
From 02:00 to 05:00 (00:00–06:00 on weekends) receive BBC World News. The Briefing airs between 05:00 and 06:00 on weekdays.
These simulcasts were expanded as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The BBC introduced a streamlined schedule and the News Channel and BBC World News now share major parts of evening and weekend coverage. From August 2020 this was changed and made permanent to 10:00 to 12:00 and on weekdays 19:00 to 06:00, with opt-outs for BBC News at Ten and half an hour at 20:30, weekends 21:00 to 06:00, apart from the evening BBC One bulletin.
World News is no longer simulcasted, given that the channel has been merged with the domestic provision, thereby any programming on the News Channel is broadcast as the channel says "Around the world and across the UK".
BBC One, BBC Two and BBC World News simulcasts
BBC Breakfast has been simulcast since its launch in 2000 on BBC One and BBC News, replacing the individual breakfast shows that had run on both channels. Since May 2006 until 17 March 2020, the simulcast generally ran from 06:00 until 08:30 during the week. Breakfast on BBC One continued from MediaCityUK until 09:15 with entertainment and features, whilst BBC News usually went to Business Live until 09:00 and reverted to its traditional format from 09:00. Since 18 March 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic has caused changes to these arrangements. Business Live, which had become Worklife, is no longer on air. Weekdays, BBC Breakfast ran runs until 09:00 on both BBC One and the BBC News Channel and there is then an hour of news, which was called the BBC News at Nine, on both channels. This continued as the first half of two hours of programming on the BBC News Channel, the second hour was usually taken by BBC Two presented by Victoria Derbyshire on Mondays to Wednesdays and was generally by Annita McVeigh on the other two days of the week.
BBC Two simulcasts the News Channel on weekday mornings from 09:00 until 12:15 or 13:00. Coverage switches to BBC One in the form of the simulcast BBC News at One. The BBC News at One may be broadcast on BBC One only however during periods of breaking news or major announcements in the House of Commons carried only on the News Channel, if it's an international story coverage will switch for the hour to simulcast with BBC World News. A similar arrangement applies for the BBC News at Six, generally simulcast on both BBC One and the News Channel but, as ever, subject to change for breaking news for the News Channel.
The BBC News at Ten began simulcasting on the channel on 30 January 2006 as part of the ''Ten O'Clock Newshour, followed by extended sport and business news updates. The bulletin was joined in being simulcast on 10 April 2006 when the BBC News at One (with British Sign Language in-vision signing) and BBC News at Six bulletins were added to the schedule following a similar format to the News at Ten in terms of content on the channel once each simulcast ends.
During the summer, the hour-long programme News 24 Sunday was broadcast both on BBC One and the BBC News Channel at 09:00, to replace The Andrew Marr Show, which is off air. It was presented by a news presenter, and came from the main News channel studio. The programme was made up mostly of interviews focusing on current affairs, and included a full paper review, a weather summary, and a news update at 09:00, 09:30 and 10:00. Sunday Morning Live and alternative programming now fill this slot.
From 2013, a new programme was created for BBC Two for 11:00–12:00 weekdays, consisting of 30 minutes of domestic news and 30 minutes of BBC World News. On Wednesdays, when parliament is sitting the latter is replaced by the Daily Politics'' for coverage of Prime Minister's Questions (PMQ). In March 2016 the channel started showing Newsnight at 23:15.
The coverage from 10:00 to 13:00 on BBC Two and the News Channel is part of three-hour block of BBC World News simulcast due to the Coronavirus Pandemic. However, by the end of 2021 the simulcast had been cut back to a single hour on weekdays, between 10:00 and 11:00 with all-morning simulcasts continuing at the weekend. BBC World News produces the three-hour BBC News / BBC World News simulcast between 19:00 to 22:00 and 23:00 to 06:00, including one edition of The Papers. From August 2020 this was changed and made permanent to 10:00 to 12:00 and on weekdays 19:00 to 06:00, with opt-outs for BBC News at Ten and half an hour at 20:30, weekends 21:00 to 06:00, these exclude BBC One bulletin.
* Newsday – Live international news from Singapore. Presented by Steve Lai. Usually airs three 30-minute editions each hour from 23:00 between Sunday to Thursday.
* BBC Sportsday – All the latest sports news and results from around the globe.
* Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg – Interviews and analysis of the weeks big news from the UK and around the world stories, including interviews with key politicians and personalities from all walks of life.
* Business Today – The latest business news. Launched on 7 May 2024.
* BBC News Now – Reactive and fast-paced international breaking news, business and sport, covering several stories in an immersive format with as much detail as possible. Launched on 22 May 2023.
* Verified Live – Forensic analysis and journalism from the BBC Verify team, using advanced editorial tools and techniques to investigate, source and verify information, video, and images. Launched on 22 May 2023. As well as interviews with leading figures from the arts, culture and entertainment.
* BBC World News America – News and analysis. Broadcast from the BBC's Washington D.C. studio. This programme was broadcast during a few weeks of the year when daylight savings schedules of the UK and the USA ran out of sync. It is now broadcast occasionally when BBC News at Ten is running late due to programming on BBC One and sometimes shown live when broadcasting significant events are happening in the Americas.
Other programmes
* Global Questions – The panels and contributing audiences discuss topical themes put to representatives from global politics, finance, business, the arts, media and other areas.
* Our World – Features the BBC's news programmes on current issues around the world. The documentaries are intended to showcase BBC journalism at its best.
* Panorama – Current affairs programme, featuring interviews and investigative reports on a wide variety of subjects.
*Talking Business – BBC business presenters, based in London, New York, Mumbai, Johannesburg and Singapore, discuss with the most important and influential people from the world of business and finance, the key issues of the day.
*Eye Investigations – Investigations by the world service specialist investigations team across the world, the main one being BBC Africa Eye
* The Travel Show – A source for the biggest travel stories and essential journalism, featuring a global team of presenters sharing experiences from London, Tokyo, Sydney, New York and Kuala Lumpur.
* Witness – A monthly round-up of BBC News stories of global events told by the people who were there.
* Unspun World – Provides an unvarnished version of the week's major global news stories with the BBC global expertise.
Previous programming
* BBC News at Five – An hour of news live from Broadcasting House in London, usually presented by Huw Edwards or Jane Hill, covering the day's national and international news, sports events, and weather. On 13 March 2020, the last edition of the BBC News at Five was broadcast and was suspended until further notice in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. The UK Government's daily press conference on the pandemic was broadcast in place of BBC News at Five on BBC One and the BBC News Channel. The new schedule under the COVID-19 pandemic involves the BBC News at One presenter continuing on air until 16:00, replacing Afternoon Live. The programme did not return after the daily news briefings ended later in 2020.
* BBC News at Nine – An in-depth look at the morning news and briefing on the day's events. This programme included News Briefing, involving a look at top stories on the BBC News website through smartphone access.
* The Briefing – Sally Bundock with news, business, and sports from BBC News. It is currently airing unbranded as part of an hour block of BBC News.
**Business Briefing – Sally Bundock with the latest business, economic and financial news, market updates and interviews with the key news-makers in the business world. It is currently airing as the 05:30 & 06:30 edition of World Business Report.
**News Briefing - A summary of the latest headlines from newspapers and websites. It is currently airing unbranded as part of an hour block of BBC News.
* Business Live – Sally Bundock and Ben Thompson or Tanya Beckett with the latest business news and a look ahead to the news that will shape the business day. With the latest news from end of trading in Asia, Europe, Middle East and Americas.
* Dateline London – Foreign correspondents based in London give their views on the week's international news. The final episode was broadcast on 15 October 2022.
* Outside Source – Ros Atkins hosts live reports linking up with the BBC's global network of correspondents. This was occasionally simulcast at 18:00 weekdays during major stories. It was broadcast at 19:00 to 20:00 (Monday to Thursday).
* The Papers – From 2013 until 2023, the channel broadcast The Papers which featured lively and informed conversation about the next day's or today's headlines as featured in the national newspapers. From around 2017 the nightly editions were usually to Clive Myrie and Martine Croxall, the latter having also generally covered some late weekday and weekend shifts. Other News Channel presenters filled in across the week. A Sunday-morning edition was usually presented by Ben Brown as part of his News Channel 09:00 to 14:00 shift. The Papers was axed in January 2023 ahead of the merger between the UK news channel with BBC World News.
* The Daily Global – A deep-dive into some of the significant news stories of the day, using in-depth interviews combined with a unique global perspective. Launched on 22 May 2023.
* STORYFix – A short-lived weekly programme which was broadcast in 2006 and 2007. It took a mildly satirical view of the week's events – although the satire was aimed more at the way the news was reported than at the news itself. The programme ended after just a year as it had been seen as being part of a video podcasting trial, and that the production team 'will be moving on to other projects'.
* Victoria Derbyshire – From 2015 until 2020, Victoria Derbyshire was broadcast on weekday mornings. The programme had featured original stories, exclusive interviews, audience debate and breaking news. On 22 January 2020, it was announced that the programme would be axed later in 2020 as part of BBC cuts. However, due to priority put on coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic, the BBC suspended the programme earlier than initially planned with the final episode airing on 17 March 2020. Derbyshire has remained as a presenter in the same time slot, instead presenting a standardly structured BBC News newscast.
* World News Today – This programme focused on the UK, Europe, Middle East and Africa and was presented by Kasia Madera, Nancy Kacungira, Lukwesa Burak and Lewis Vaughan Jones. It was broadcast at 19:00, 21:00 and 03:00. The 19:00 programme was simulcast on BBC Four, when Beyond 100 Days was not on air, and the 03:00 programme was simulcast on BBC One. Under COVID-19, the programme effectively ended when it became part of the news coverage simulcast with BBC World News during the weekends (including Friday mid-evening and the approximate half hour slot from 21:00 on Saturday and Sunday).
*Your News – A user-generated news programme which was part of the channel's weekend schedule from November 2006 until December 2008.
*BBC Newsroom Live - Breaking News, Business and Analysis, came to an end in 2020 due to cuts and the COVID-19 Pandemic. The hours in which it aired has been replaced with a regular bulletin, Business Today and BBC News Now.
*Afternoon Live - Presented by Simon McCoy, exclusive to the then called "BBC News Channel" airing from the hours of 14:00 - 17:00 BST. Ended in 2020 due to cuts and the COVID-19 Pandemic.
*Nicky Campbell - A visualised radio phone-in show from BBC Radio 5 Live simulcast from the hours of 9:00 BST to 11:00 BST on the UK feed and BBC Iplayer. The visual simulcast ended in 2023 and the schedule has been reverted back to BBC News programmes.
* Click – A guide to gadgets, websites, games and computer industry news.
* HARDtalk – Stephen Sackur talks to newsmakers and personalities from across the globe.
Other programmes previous broadcast on BBC News Channel included Head 2 Head, E24, The Record Europe, Politics Europe and News 24 Tonight, a weekday evening programme which ran from 2005 to 2008, providing a round up of the day's news.
2015 schedule changes
As part of budget cuts, major changes to the channel were announced in late 2014 / early 2015. This included axing some bulletins and replacing them with Victoria Derbyshire and BBC Business Live with Sally Bundock and Ben Thompson in the morning. Outside Source with Ros Atkins – an "interactive" show already broadcast on BBC World News – aired Mondays-Thursday at (during major stories at 18:00) and 21:00 and a new edition of World News Today Friday-Sunday at 21:00 (during major stories at 19:00/20:00 Monday-Friday) adding to the 19:00 edition on BBC Four. HARDtalk was moved to 20:30 in May. The 00:00 edition was replaced on Sundays–Thursday with Newsday and on Friday-Saturday a standard edition of BBC World News.
BBC World News shared programming history
On 1 October 2007, BBC World News started broadcasting BBC World News America and World News Today at 00:00 and 03:00 GMT respectively. World News Today was simulcast on the BBC News channel at 03:00 GMT. BBC World News America used to be aired as a reduced length, time-delayed version at 00:30 GMT, with ABC World News Tonight with David Muir also being shown at 01:30 every Tuesday-Friday.
From 13 June 2011, the weekday editions of BBC News at 01:00, 02:00, 03:00 and 04:00 were replaced with Newsday. The programme acts as a morning news bulletin for the Asia-Pacific region and is broadcast as a double-headed news bulletin with Rico Hizon in Singapore and Babita Sharma in London. Asia Business Report and Sport Today are aired at the back of the first three hours of Newsday. But Newsday changed to 23:00–02:00 on BBC News a year later meaning Mike Embley presents Tuesday-Friday BBC World News 23:00–02:00 with Kasia Madera on Saturdays and Daniela Ritorto 00:00–06:00 Sunday, 02:00–05:00 Friday/Monday.
BBC World News and World Business Report air at 05:00. This was previously known as The World Today, However, since November 2017 this was rebranded as The Briefing and Business Briefing on both channels and in lieu of commercials seen on the international broadcasts, the presenters gave a brief update on UK news for domestic audiences.
In June 2015, BBC News began simulcasting Outside Source with Ros Atkins on Mondays-Thursday at (during major stories 18:00) / at 21:00 and a new edition of World News Today Friday-Sunday at (during major stories Monday-Friday 19:00) 21:00. Since January 2017, they began simulcasting Beyond 100 Days (previously '100 Days and 100 Days +) Monday to Thursday at 19:00, presented from London and Washington. During August, Beyond 100 Days is replaced by another edition of World News Today.
On 26 May 2022, as part of planned cuts and streamlining to create a "digital first" broadcaster, the BBC announced plans to consolidate the BBC News and BBC World News networks into a single service under the "BBC News" name.
Sports
Since 5 March 2012, sports bulletins come from the BBC Sport Centre in MediaCityUK in Salford Quays, where the sports network BBC Radio 5 Live is also based.
Headlines are usually provided at 15 minutes past the hour with a full bulletin after the bottom-of-the-hour headlines. There are also extended sports bulletins per day, entitled Sportsday or Sport Today (when simulcasting with BBC World News) broadcast at 00:45, 01:45, 02:45, 03:45, 13:30, 18:30, 19:30 (weekends only), 22:30 (weekdays only). Each bulletin is read by a single sports presenter, with the exception of Saturday Sportsday, which is double headed.
The channel's sports bulletins (internally known as Sport 24) have always had a separate, dedicated production gallery, which is also responsible for the graphics.
Bulletins during BBC Breakfast are presented by Sally Nugent or Mike Bushell, with the latter also appearing on other sports bulletins on the channel. the main sports presenters on the channel are Olly Foster, Gavin Ramjaun, Katie Gornall, Chetan Pathak, Katherine Downes, Tulsen Tollett, Lizzie Greenwood-Hughes and John Watson.
Until March 2012, bulletins came from the News Channel studio at the quarter to the hour. Presenters for bulletins on the channel have included: Reshmin Chowdhury, Amanda Davies, Sean Fletcher, Matt Gooderick, Celina Hinchcliffe, Rachael Hodges, Damian Johnson, Adnan Nawaz and Olympic gold medallist turned journalist Matthew Pinsent.
Business
Before BBC News moved to Broadcasting House, an hourly business update was included during the weekday schedule from the BBC Business Unit. There were two shifts, from 08:30 to 14:00 and 14:00 to 23:00, presented by Penny Haslam, Maryam Moshiri, Ben Thompson, Adam Parsons, Susannah Streeter, Joe Lynam, Sara Coburn or Sally Eden. News Channel updates were usually broadcast at 40 minutes past the hour between 08:00 and 23:00. The 21:40 round-up was often earlier and the 22:40 bulletin is an extended round-up of the day's business news. Until May 2009, the business updates on the BBC News Channel were broadcast from one of the London Stock Exchange's studios in central London. From then until March 2013 the bulletins were provided from the channel's studio at BBC Television Centre. The business updates were axed in March 2013 as part of the BBC's Delivering Quality First plan. But after complaints returned in November 2013.
Stock market updates now only appear during the quarter-to-the-hour headlines. Rachel Horne is the main presenter from 13:30 to 18:00, with Vishala Sri-Pathma, Alice Baxter, Jamie Robertson, Aaron Heslehurst and Sally Bundock. There is normally an extended bulletin at 16:45 when the main business stories of the day are discussed on Afternoon Live. Bundock and Thompson present Business Live on weekdays at 08:30. Declan Curry presented Your Money, a weekly round-up on a Saturday morning.
Alice Baxter and Sally Bundock presented World Business Report.
News presenters
Presentation
Graphics
The channel was criticised at launch for its style of presentation, with accusations of it being less authoritative than the BBC One news bulletins, with presenters appearing on-screen without jackets. Jenny Abramsky had originally planned to have a television version of the informal news radio channel BBC Radio 5 Live, or a TV version of Radio 4 News FM both of which she had run. The bright design of the set was also blamed for this – one insider reportedly described it as a "car crash in a shower"
A graphics relaunch in January 2007 saw the channel updated, with redesigned headline straplines, a redesigned 'digital on-screen graphic' and repositioned clock. The clock was originally placed to the left hand side of the channel name though following complaints that this could only be viewed in widescreen, it was moved to the right in February 2007. Bulletins on BBC World News and BBC One also introduced similar graphics and title sequences on the same day.
In 2008, the graphics were again relaunched, using the style introduced in 2007 and a new colour scheme. The typeface of the on-screen text was changed from Helvetica to Gill Sans.
In 2013 the graphics were changed again, to coincide with the move to New Broadcasting House. The typeface was changed back to Helvetica.
These were updated again in July 2019 when the BBC redesigned its on-air look with the growth of television viewing on smartphones and tablets. These included again redesigned, larger headline straplines sharply contrasting with the background (drawing criticism for obscuring content) using the BBC Reith typeface with larger text. Despite this, the 2008 titles and music continue to be used for the updated local titles.
The Lambert Report
The Lambert Report into the channel's performance in 2002 called upon News 24 to develop a better brand of its own, to allow viewers to differentiate between itself and similar channels such as Sky News. As a direct result of this, a brand new style across all presentation for the channel launched on 8 December 2003 at 09:00. Philip Hayton and Anna Jones were the first two presenters on the set, the relaunch of which had been put back a week due to previous power disruptions at Television Centre where the channel was based. The new designs also featured a dynamic set of titles for the channel; the globe would begin spinning from where the main story was taking place, while the headline scrolled around in a ribbon; this was occasionally replaced by the BBC News logo. The titles concluded with a red globe surrounded by a red stylised clamshell and BBC News ribbons forming above the BBC News logo.
Bulletins on BBC One moved into a new set in January 2003 although retained the previous ivory Lambie-Nairn titles until February 2004. News 24 updated the title colours slightly to match those of BBC One bulletins in time for the 50th anniversary of BBC television news on 5 July 2004. Countdown sequence
An important part of the channel's presentation since launch has been the top of the hour countdown sequence, since there is no presentation system with continuity announcers so the countdown provides a link to the beginning of the next hour. A similar musical device is used on BBC Radio 5 Live, and mirrors the pips on BBC Radio 4.
Previous styles have included a series of fictional flags set to music between 1997 and 1999 before the major relaunch, incorporating the new contemporary music composed by David Lowe, and graphics developed by Lambie-Nairn. Various images, originally ivory numbers fully animated against a deep red background, were designed to fit the pace of the channel, and the music soon gained notoriety, and was often satirised and parodied in popular culture. Images of life around the UK were added in replacement later with the same music, together with footage of the newsroom and exterior of Television Centre. The 2003 relaunch saw a small change to this style with less of a metropolitan feel to the footage.
A new sequence was introduced on 28 March 2005, designed and created by Red Bee Media and directed by Mark Chaudoir. The full version ran for 60 seconds, though only around 30 seconds were usually shown on air. The music was revised completely but the biggest change came in the footage used – reflecting the methods and nature of newsgathering, while a strong emphasis was placed on the BBC logo itself. Satellite dishes are shown transmitting and receiving red "data streams". In production of the countdown sequence, Clive Norman filmed images around the United Kingdom, Richard Jopson in the United States, while BBC News camerapeople filmed images from Iraq, Beijing (Tiananmen Square), Bund of Shanghai, Africa, as well as areas affected by the 2004 Asian tsunami and others.
The sequence has since seen several remixes to the music and a change in visuals to focus more on the well-known journalists, with less footage of camera crews and production teams. Changes have also seen the channel logo included during the sequences and at the end, as well as the fonts used for the time. The conclusion of the countdown was altered in 2008 to feature the new presentation style, rather than a data stream moving in towards the camera. Also in 2008, the graphic for the countdown changed, resembling the BBC One Rhythm and Movement idents, due to the logo being in a red square in the bottom left corner.
To coincide with the move of BBC News to Broadcasting House, on 18 March 2013 the countdown was updated again along with several other presentation elements. Three of the most striking features of the new countdown include music performed by the BBC Concert Orchestra, a redesign of the "data streams" and the ending of the sequence no longer fading to the BBC News globe and logo, but instead stopping with a time-lapse shot outside the corporation's headquarters. The countdown was also extended to 87 seconds, which was fully shown before the first hour from Broadcasting House. In 2019, the countdown started using the BBC's new Reith font but otherwise retained the same style.
A full three-minute version of the countdown music was made available on BBC News Online and David Lowe's own website after a remix on 16 May 2006.
An international version of the countdown was launched on BBC World News on 5 September 2005 featuring more international content and similar music. Various changes have been made to the music and visuals since then, with presentation following the style of BBC News. The visuals in the sequence were updated on 10 May 2010. In June 2011, further imagery was added relating to recent events, including the conflict in Libya and views of outside 10 Downing Street. In January 2013, as part of the relocation of BBC News to Broadcasting House in Central London, BBC World News received a new countdown in the same style as the BBC News Channel's updated countdown, with some minor differences.
In April 2021, a new "sombre" version of the countdown was played, with no "data streams" and slower shots of places within the UK, or in the case of the international version, timelapse shots across the world. Both were introduced to run up to programmes immediately following the death of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, and were used again following the death of Queen Elizabeth II in 2022.
To coincide with the integration of BBC World News into BBC News, the countdown sequence was slightly refreshed in April 2023 to follow the new "Chameleon" branding scheme used by BBC television since October 2021, with the countdown now centred between the BBC and "News" wordmarks at the top- and bottom-centre of the screen respectively.Viewing audience figuresThe Daily Telegraph reported in November 2021, "BBC News reaches 370,000 for its best performing slots". See also
* List of television channels in the United Kingdom
* List of news television channels
* List of world news channels
References
Notes
External links
*
** via BBC iPlayer <small>(available to UK viewers only – TV Licence required)</small>
}}
Category:1997 establishments in the United Kingdom
Category:24-hour television news channels in the United Kingdom
Category:BBC News channels
Category:BBC television channels in the United Kingdom
Category:Lost BBC episodes
Category:Television channels and stations established in 1997
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BBC_News_(UK_TV_channel)
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2025-04-05T18:26:54.695785
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Bill Oddie
|
| birth_place = Rochdale, Lancashire, England
| occupation =
| party = Green
| years_active = 1963–present
| spouse =
| is an English actor, artist, birder, comedian, conservationist, musician, songwriter, television presenter and writer. He was a member of comedy trio The Goodies.
A birder since his childhood in Quinton, Birmingham, Oddie has established a reputation as a naturalist, conservationist, and television presenter on wildlife issues. Some of his books are illustrated with his own paintings and drawings. His wildlife programmes for the BBC include Springwatch and Autumnwatch, How to Watch Wildlife, Wild in Your Garden, Birding with Bill Oddie, Britain Goes Wild with Bill Oddie and Bill Oddie Goes Wild.Early lifeOddie was born on 7 July 1941 in Rochdale, Lancashire, but moved to Birmingham at a young age. He was raised by his father, Harry Oddie, and grandmother, Emily. His father was assistant chief accountant at the Midlands Electricity Board. His mother, Lilian, was diagnosed with schizophrenia and, during most of his youth, was hospitalised at the Barnsley Hall Hospital psychiatric facility. He was educated at Lapal Primary School, Halesowen Grammar School (now The Earls High School, Halesowen) and King Edward's School, Birmingham, an all-boys direct grant school, where he captained the school's rugby union team. He then studied English literature at Pembroke College, Cambridge.
Career
Comedy
While at Cambridge University Oddie appeared in several Footlights Club productions. One of these, a revue called A Clump of Plinths, was so successful at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe that it was renamed Cambridge Circus and transferred to the West End in London, then New Zealand and Broadway in September 1964. Meanwhile, still at Cambridge, Oddie wrote scripts for and appeared briefly in TV's That Was the Week That Was.
He appeared in Bernard Braden's television series On The Braden Beat in 1964. Subsequently, he was a key member of the performers in the BBC radio series ''I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again, where many of his musical compositions were featured. Some were released on the album Distinctly Oddie'' (Polydor, 1967). He was one of the first performers to parody a rock song, arranging the traditional Yorkshire folk song "On Ilkla Moor Baht'at" in the style of Joe Cocker's hit rendition of the Beatles' "With a Little Help from My Friends" (released on John Peel's Dandelion Records in 1970 and featured in Peel's special box of most-treasured singles), and singing "Andy Pandy" in the style of a brassy soul number such as Wilson Pickett or Geno Washington might perform. In many shows he would do short impressions of Hughie Green.
On television Oddie was co-writer and performer in the comedy series Twice a Fortnight with Graeme Garden, Terry Jones, Michael Palin and Jonathan Lynn. Later he was co-writer and performer in the comedy series Broaden Your Mind with Tim Brooke-Taylor and Graeme Garden, for which he became a cast member for the second series.
Oddie, Brooke-Taylor and Garden then co-wrote and appeared in their television comedy series The Goodies (1970–1982). The Goodies also released records, including "Father Christmas Do Not Touch Me"/"The In-Betweenies", "The Funky Gibbon" (co-written by Oddie with Dave MacRae) and "Black Pudding Bertha", which were hit singles in 1974–75. They reformed, briefly, in 2005 for a successful 13-date tour of Australia.
Oddie, Brooke-Taylor and Garden voiced characters on the 1983 animated children's programme Bananaman.
In the Amnesty International show A Poke in the Eye (With a Sharp Stick), Oddie, Brooke-Taylor and Garden sang their hit song "Funky Gibbon". They also appeared on Top of the Pops with the song. Together with Garden (who is a qualified medical doctor), Oddie co-wrote many episodes of the television comedy series Doctor in the House, including most of the first season and all of the second season. He has occasionally appeared on the BBC Radio 4 panel game ''I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue, on which Garden is and Brooke-Taylor was a regular panellist. In 1982 Garden and Oddie wrote, but did not perform in, a six-part science-fiction sitcom called Astronauts'' for Central and ITV. The show was set in an international space station in the near future.
Natural history
Oddie's first published work was an article about the birdlife of Birmingham's Bartley Reservoir in the West Midland Bird Club's 1962 Annual Report. (He is first credited in the 1956 report, in which reports of his bird observations are tagged with his initials "WEO".) He has since written a number of books about birds and birdwatching as well as articles for many specialist publications including British Birds, Birdwatching Magazine and Birdwatch.
He discussed bird-song recordings with Derek Jones in an August 1973 BBC Radio 4 programme called Sounds Natural.
In the autumn of 1976, Oddie was involved in the successful identification of Britain's first-ever record of Pallas's reed bunting on Fair Isle, Shetland.
One of Oddie's first forays into the world of television natural history was as a guest on Animal Magic in December 1977. Another early natural-history radio appearance was in October, as the guest on Radio 4's Through My Window, discussing the birds of Hampstead Heath.
On 30 July 1985, he was the subject of a 50-minute Nature Watch Special: Bill Oddie – Bird Watcher, in which he was interviewed by Julian Pettifer at places where he had spent time birding, including Bartley Reservoir, the Christopher Cadbury Wetland Reserve at Upton Warren, RSPB Titchwell Marsh and Blakeney Point.
*The Great Bird Race (1983; Channel 4)
*The Great Kenyan Bird Safari (BBC)
*Favourite Walks: "A Bird Walk" (1985; BBC; filmed on Fair Isle)
*Worldwise: "The Bird Business" (1985; Channel 4)
*Oddie in Paradise (1985; BBC)
*Wild Weekends (TV AM)
*Flight to Eilat (Channel 4)
*Bird in the Nest (two series, 1994 and 1995)
*Birding with Bill Oddie (three series, 1997, 1998 and 2000)
*Bill Oddie Goes Wild (three series, 2001, 2002 and 2003)
*Wild in Your Garden (2003)
*Britain Goes Wild (2004)
*Bill Oddie in Tiger Country (2004)
*''Bill Oddie's How to Watch Wildlife (two series, 2005 and 2006; also on DVD)
*Seven Natural Wonders (London edition) (2005)
*The Truth About Killer Dinosaurs (2005; also on DVD)
*Springwatch (2005–2008)
*Autumnwatch (2006–2008)
*Bill Oddie Back in the USA (2007)
*Bill Oddie's Top Ten Birds (2007; BBC Four)
*100 Years of Wildlife (2007)
*Bill Oddie's Wild Side (2008)
*Bill Oddie's Top 10 (2008)
The first broadcast, in 2004, of Britain Goes Wild set a record for its timeslot of 8 pm on BBC Two of 3.4 million viewers, one million more than the Channel 4 programme showing at that time. Britain Goes Wild, renamed Springwatch the following year, became a wildlife broadcasting phenomenon, attracting over 4 million viewers.
He became president of the West Midland Bird Club in 1999, having been vice-president since 1991, and a vice-president of the British Trust for Conservation Volunteers. He practised as a bird ringer but allowed his licence to lapse.
In 2011, Oddie featured as an investigator in Snares Uncovered: killers in the countryside. The film was an exposé of snaring in Scotland and was commissioned by the animal protection charity OneKind.
Music
Oddie wrote original music at Cambridge University for the Footlights and later wrote comic songs for I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again''. He also wrote a number of comic songs for The Goodies, most of which he also performed.
In the 1960s and early 1970s, Oddie released a number of singles and at least one album. One of the former, issued in 1970 on John Peel's Dandelion Records label (Catalogue No: 4786), was "On Ilkla Moor Baht 'at", performed in the style of Joe Cocker's "With a Little Help from My Friends". The B-side, "Harry Krishna", featured the Hare Krishna chant, substituting the names of contemporary famous people called Harry, including Harry Secombe, Harry Worth, Harry Lauder and Harry Corbett, as well as puns such as "Harry [Hurry] along now" and "Harrystotle [Aristotle]" and ending with "Harry-ly [I really] must go now". Both tracks appear on the compilation CD Life Too, Has Surface Noise: The Complete Dandelion Records Singles Collection 1969–1972 (2007). In 1966 he was credited as the vocalist with Spencer's Washboard Kings on "Five Feet Two" (Rayrick LCR1001a). The vocalist on the B-side of this 45rpm single, "If You Knew Susie", was Jean Hart, Oddie's future wife.
He played the drums and saxophone and appeared as Cousin Kevin in a production of The Who's rock opera Tommy by London Symphonic Orchestra and English Chamber Choir at the Rainbow Theatre, Finsbury Park, London, on 13 and 14 December 1973. He has also contributed vocals to a Rick Wakeman album, Criminal Record.
He recorded a single, "Superspike", with John Cleese and a group of UK athletes, billed the "Superspike Squad", to fund the latter's attendance at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal. He co-produced the record with Stephen Shane.
In 1986 Oddie took part in the English National Opera production of the Gilbert and Sullivan comic opera The Mikado, in which he appeared in the role of the Lord High Executioner, taking over the role from Eric Idle. During the early 1990s Oddie was a DJ for London-based jazz radio station 102.2 Jazz FM.
In 2007, Oddie appeared on the BBC series Play It Again. In the episode he attempts to realise his dream of becoming a rock guitarist. Initially teacher Bridget Mermikides tries to teach him using traditional methods but he rebels: instead he turns to old friends Albert Lee, Dave Davies (of The Kinks) and Mark Knopfler for advice and strikes out on his own. He succeeds in the target of playing lead guitar for his daughter Rosie's band at her 21st birthday party and even manages to impress his erstwhile teacher.
In November 2010, he agreed, along with fellow members of The Goodies, to rerelease their 1970s hit "The Funky Gibbon" to raise funds for the International Primate Protection League's Save the Gibbon appeal.
Other television and voice work
Oddie appeared as the hapless window cleaner in the Eric Sykes' comedy story The Plank in 1967. He also presented the live children's Saturday morning entertainment show Saturday Banana (ITV/Southern Television) during the late 1970s. In the late 1980s he was a presenter of the BBC TV show Fax (a show about 'facts').
In 1981, he appeared as a Telethon celebrity in New Zealand, hosted by TV1. He voices Asterix in the UK dub of the 1989 animated film Asterix and the Big Fight (an animated adaptation of the books Asterix and the Big Fight and Asterix and the Soothsayer, novelized as Operation Getafix).
In 1992, he was a guest star in the US comedy television series Married... with Children for a three-part episode set in England.
He voiced the chimney sweep in the 1996 film The Willows in Winter.
In 1997 and 1998, he appeared on the Channel 4 archaeological programme Time Team, as the team excavated a Roman villa site in Turkdean, Gloucestershire.
He was the compère of a daytime BBC gameshow History Hunt (in 2003); and has appeared in the Doctor Who audio drama Doctor Who and the Pirates. In 2004, he appeared on the first ever episode of the BBC series Who Do You Think You Are?, in which he looked into his ancestry: he was visibly moved by its revelations. In 2005, he took part in Rolf on Art – the big event at Trafalgar Square and in September that year was also a celebrity guest along with Lynda Bellingham on the ITV1 programme Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. He also gave opinions on 100 greatest cartoons on Channel 4 that year, talking about Tom and Jerry and cartoon incidents such as the "Asses of Fire skit" in South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut.
In 2006, Oddie appeared in the BBC show Never Mind the Buzzcocks, and also appeared on the topical quiz show 8 out of 10 Cats. He was also the voice behind many B&Q adverts throughout 2006/2007. On 25 May 2007, Oddie made a cameo appearance on Ronni Ancona's new comedy sketch show, Ronni Ancona & Co.
Also in 2007, three artists each painted a portrait of Oddie, as part of the BBC programme Star Portraits with Rolf Harris. One of the artists, Mark Roscoe, later revealed a dislike of Oddie, claiming to have included hidden insults in his work.
He hosted the genealogy-based series My Famous Family, broadcast on UKTV History in 2007. In 2008, Oddie was a guest on Jamie Oliver's television special ''Jamie's Fowl Dinners'', talking about free-range chickens.
He also appeared on Would I Lie To You? in 2011, where he revealed that he was saved from drowning by Freddy from popular children's series Rainbow and Rod, Jane and Freddy while on holiday in the Seychelles.
, 2013]]
In February 2015, Oddie appeared in The Keith Lemon Sketch Show as the narrator of the sketch Ed Sheeran Watch.
He appeared as a contestant on a celebrity edition of Fifteen to One in August 2015 and the following month he appeared on Through the Keyhole.
He has appeared three times on the programme Pointless Celebrities, the most recent appearance being in 2016.
In 2017, he appeared in three episodes of The Real Marigold Hotel.
In 2018, he featured on the programme The Two Ronnies: In Their Own Words. In 2019, he appeared on the show The Inbetweeners: Fwends Reunited.
In 2020, Oddie appeared in the documentary Celebrity Britain by Barge: Then & Now.
2013 Australian tour
Oddie undertook an Australian tour during June 2013 in all of the mainland states capital cities – Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth – in a series of one-off shows, An Oldie but a Goodie. A video message from Tim Brooke-Taylor and Graeme Garden was shown during the performances. Oddie made personal appearances on both The Project and Adam Hills Tonight TV shows during the tour; he also filmed a guest-programming spot for the ABC-TV's all-night music video show Rage.Personal lifeFamilyIn 1966, Oddie married Jeanne Hart, and from this marriage he has two daughters, one of whom is the actress Kate Hardie. The couple later divorced.
In 1983, Oddie married Laura Beaumont-Giles.
Mental health
Oddie has experienced depression for most of his life before being diagnosed with clinical depression in 2001. In March 2009 he was reportedly admitted to Capio Nightingale psychiatric hospital in Marylebone for treatment. His then agent, David Foster, said: "Bill gets these bouts every two or three years where he gets down for about two weeks and recovers. He sometimes goes into hospital or takes a break or has a change of scenery to recharge his batteries." In January 2010 Oddie spoke to the media, revealing that he had two separate stays in different hospitals, only being discharged "in time for Christmas". He said that he was dealing with depression and bipolar disorder, describing the period as "probably the worst 12 months of my life". Oddie stated that he was planning to meet BBC executives to discuss his return to television work.
His illness meant that Oddie did not appear in the 2009 and 2010 series of Springwatch, although he made a guest appearance in the penultimate episode of the latter. He subsequently said he was dismissed from Springwatch and that this had caused the depressive illness.
Oddie presented the BBC Radio 4 Appeal programme on 10 August 2014 on behalf of the charity Bipolar UK. He revealed that as a consequence of his bipolar disorder he had attempted suicide during one of his depressive episodes. On the UK TV programme Who Do You Think You Are? he attributed his depression and bipolar disorder as an adult to his minimal and painful relationship with his mother.
Political views
Oddie supports the Green Party. In October 2014, on the BBC's Sunday Morning Live, he stated that he wanted a limit on the number of children that British families can have, saying that he was "very often ashamed" to be British, calling them "a terrible race".
Honours
In 2002, Oddie became the third person to decline to appear on This Is Your Life but changed his mind a few hours later. On 16 October 2003 Oddie was made an OBE for his service to wildlife conservation in a ceremony at Buckingham Palace. He wore a camouflage shirt and crumpled jacket to receive his medal. In June 2004 Oddie and Johnny Morris were jointly profiled in the first of a three-part BBC Two series The Way We Went Wild, about television wildlife presenters. In May 2005 he received the British Naturalists' Association's Peter Scott Memorial Award, from BNA president David Bellamy, "in recognition of his great contribution to our understanding of natural history and conservation." He is a recipient of the RSPB Medal.
On 30 June 2009, he was proposed for inclusion in the Birmingham Walk of Stars, with the public invited to vote.Bibliography
(incomplete list)
*Bill Oddie Unplucked: Columns, Blogs and Musings (Bloomsbury, 2015)
*''Bill Oddie's Introduction to Birdwatching (Subbuteo Books, 2002)
*Bill Oddie's Colouring Guide to Birds (Piccolo, 1991)
*Bill Oddie's Little Black Bird Book
*Bill Oddie's Little Black Bird Book (paperback with additional material)
*Bill Oddie's Gone Birding
*The Big Bird Race (with David Tomlinson; Collins, 1983)
*Follow That Bird!
*Gripping Yarns (Christopher Helm, 2000)
*Bird in the Nest
*Bill Oddie's How to Watch Wildlife
*One Flew into the Cuckoos Egg (Autobiography)
Bill Oddie also co-wrote the Springwatch & Autumnwatch book with Kate Humble and Simon King.
Co-written with the other members of The Goodies:
*The Goodies File
*The Goodies Book of Criminal Records
*The Goodies Disaster Movie
Co-written with Laura Beaumont:
*The Toilet Book (or 11 & ½ minutes a day and how not to waste them) (Methuen, 1984, )
Contributions
*Confessions of a Scilly Birdman, David Hunt; Croom Helm, 1985. (foreword and postscript)
*Birds in the Yorkshire Museum, Michael Denton; North Yorkshire County Council, 1995. (foreword)
*Bird Brain of Britain, Charles Gallimore & Tim Appleton; Christopher Helm, 2004. (foreword)
*Blokes and Birds, Stephen Moss; New Holland Publishers. (foreword)
*The New Birds of the West Midlands, Graham and Janet Harrison (West Midland Bird Club, 2005) (foreword)
Discography
Albums
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Year
! Title
! Label
! Cat No.
|-
| 1967
| Distinctly Oddie''
| Polydor
| 582 007
|}
Singles
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Year
! A-side
! B-side
! Label
! Cat. No.
|-
| 1964
| Nothing Better To Do
| Traffic Island
| rowspan="3"| Parlophone
| R 5153
|-
| 1965
| The Knitting Song
| Ain't Got Rhythm
| R 5346
|-
| 1966
| I Can't Get Through
| Because She Is My Love
| R 5433
|-
| 1969
| Jimmy Young
| Irish Get Out
| Decca
| F 12903
|-
| 1970
| On Ilkla Moor Baht'at
| Harry Krishna
| Dandelion <br/> Epic
| 4786 <br/> S EPC 3793|-
|-
| 1976
| Superspike (Part 1)
| Superspike (Part 2)
| Bradley's
| BRAD 7606
|}
In popular culture
In the fictional world of comedy character Alan Partridge, Oddie is an unseen presence in Alan's life, buying him dressing gowns for Christmas and being part of a radicalised RSPB. He has also been referenced, often humorously, by the hosts of Top Gear.ReferencesSources*
*
External links
*
*
*
*
*
*[https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/familyhistory/get_started/wdytya_s1_celeb_gallery_01.shtml Bill Oddie's family history at the BBC website for the programme Who Do You Think You Are?]
*[https://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/programmes/tv/bill_oddie Bill Oddie Goes Wild] – on BBC's Science and Nature website
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20050501051049/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2005/04/28/ftoddie28.xml In-depth interview, The Telegraph, 28 April 2005]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20050830023048/http://gigrin.co.uk/bill-oddie.html Gigrin Farm chapter from Gripping Yarns]
*[http://www.uktv.co.uk/?uktvstandarditem.index&aID528034 Oddie on UKTV]
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Broadway (Manhattan)
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from Washington Heights to Mount Pleasant
| direction_a = South
| terminus_a = Battery Place in Financial District
| direction_b = North
| terminus_b in Mount Pleasant
| junction = in Washington Heights
* in Riverdale
* in Yonkers
* in Tarrytown
}}
| commissioning_date | construction_start_date
| completion_date | inauguration_date <!-- -->
| demolition_date | north
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Broadway () is a street and major thoroughfare in the U.S. state of New York. The street runs from Battery Place at Bowling Green in the south of Manhattan for through the borough, over the Broadway Bridge, and through the Bronx, exiting north from New York City to run an additional through the Westchester County municipalities of Yonkers, Hastings-on-Hudson, Dobbs Ferry, Irvington, Tarrytown, and Sleepy Hollow, after which the road continues, but is no longer called "Broadway". The latter portion of Broadway north of the George Washington Bridge/I-95 underpass comprises a portion of U.S. Route 9.
It is the oldest north–south main thoroughfare in New York City, with much of the current street said to have begun as the Wickquasgeck trail before the arrival of Europeans. This then formed the basis for one of the primary thoroughfares of the Dutch New Amsterdam colony, which continued under British rule, although most of it did not bear its current name until the late 19th century. Some portions of Broadway in Manhattan are interrupted for continuous vehicle traffic, including Times Square, Herald Square, and Union Square, and instead used as pedestrian-only plazas. South of Columbus Circle, the road is one-way going southbound.
Broadway in Manhattan is known widely as the heart of the American commercial theatrical industry, and is used as a metonym for it, as well as in the names of alternative theatrical ventures such as Off-Broadway and Off-off-Broadway.
History
Colonial history
Broadway was originally the Wickquasgeck trail, carved into the brush of Manhattan by its Native American inhabitants. This trail originally snaked through swamps and rocks along the length of Manhattan Island. Although currently the name of the street is simply "Broadway", in a 1776 map of New York City, it is labeled as "Broadway Street".18th centuryIn the 18th century, Broadway ended at the town commons north of Wall Street. The part of Broadway in what is now Lower Manhattan was initially known as Great George Street. Traffic continued up the East Side of the island via Eastern Post Road and the West Side via Bloomingdale Road, which opened in 1703, continued up to 117th Street and contributed to the development of the modern Upper West Side into an upscale area with mansions.
In her 1832 book Domestic Manners of the Americans, Fanny Trollope wrote of her impressions of New York City in general and of Broadway in particular:
19th centuryIn 1868, Bloomingdale Road between 59th Street (at the Grand Circle, now Columbus Circle) and 155th Streets would be paved and widened, becoming an avenue with landscaped medians. or "The Boulevard". An 1897 official map of the city shows a segment of what is now Broadway as "Kingsbridge Road" in the vicinity of Washington Heights.
On February 14, 1899, the name "Broadway" was extended to the entire Broadway / Bloomingdale / Boulevard / Kingsbridge complex.
20th century
In the 20th century, a 30-block stretch of Broadway, extending mainly between Times Square at 42nd Street and Sherman Square at 72nd Street, formed part of Manhattan's "Automobile Row". Before the first decade of the 20th century, the area was occupied mostly by equestrian industries and was "thoroughly lifeless", but by 1907, The New York Times characterized this section of Broadway as having "almost a solid line of motor vehicle signs all the way from Times Square to Sherman Square". In the late 1900s and early 1910s, several large automobile showrooms, stores, and garages were built on Broadway, including the U.S. Rubber Company Building at 58th Street, the B.F. Goodrich showroom at 1780 Broadway (between 58th and 57th Streets), the Fisk Building at 250 West 57th Street, and the Demarest and Peerless Buildings at 224 West 57th Street. Broadway became one-way from Columbus Circle south to Herald Square (34th Street) on March 10, 1957, in conjunction with Sixth Avenue becoming one-way from Herald Square north to 59th Street and Seventh Avenue becoming one-way from 59th Street south to Times Square (where it crosses Broadway). On June 3, 1962, Broadway became one-way south of Canal Street, with Trinity Place and Church Street carrying northbound traffic.
Another change was made on November 10, 1963, when Broadway became one-way southbound from Herald Square to Madison Square (23rd Street) and Union Square (14th Street) to Canal Street, and two routes – Sixth Avenue south of Herald Square and Centre Street, Lafayette Street, and Fourth Avenue south of Union Square – became one-way northbound. Finally, at the same time as Madison Avenue became one-way northbound and Fifth Avenue became one-way southbound, Broadway was made one-way southbound between Madison Square (where Fifth Avenue crosses) and Union Square on January 14, 1966, completing its conversion south of Columbus Circle. 21st century
.]]
in Midtown Manhattan]]
In 2001, a one-block section of Broadway between 72nd Street and 73rd Street at Verdi Square was reconfigured. Its easternmost lanes, which formerly hosted northbound traffic, were turned into a public park when a new subway entrance for the 72nd Street station was built in the exact location of these lanes. Northbound traffic on Broadway is now channeled onto Amsterdam Avenue to 73rd Street, makes a left turn on the three-lane 73rd Street, and then a right turn on Broadway shortly afterward.
In August 2008, two traffic lanes from 42nd to 35th Streets were taken out of service and converted to public plazas. Bike lanes were added on Broadway from 42nd Street to Union Square.
Since May 2009, the portions of Broadway through Duffy Square, Times Square, and Herald Square have been closed entirely to automobile traffic, except for cross traffic on the Streets and Avenues, as part of a traffic and pedestrianization experiment, with the pavement reserved exclusively for walkers, cyclists, and those lounging in temporary seating placed by the city. The city decided that the experiment was successful, and decided to make the change permanent in February 2010. Though the anticipated benefits to traffic flow were not as large as hoped, pedestrian injuries dropped dramatically and foot traffic increased in the designated areas; the project was popular with both residents and businesses. The current portions converted into pedestrian plazas are between West 47th and 42nd Streets within Times and Duffy Squares, and between West 35th and 33rd Streets in the Herald Square area. Additionally, portions of Broadway in Madison Square and Union Square have been dramatically narrowed, allowing ample pedestrian plazas to exist along the side of the road. 2010s A terrorist attempted to set off a bomb on Broadway in Times Square on May 1, 2010. The attempted bomber was sentenced to life in prison.
In May 2013, the NYCDOT decided to redesign Broadway between 35th and 42nd Streets for the second time in five years, owing to poor connections between pedestrian plazas and decreased vehicular traffic. With the new redesign, the bike lane is now on the right side of the street; it was formerly on the left side adjacent to the pedestrian plazas, causing conflicts between pedestrian and bicycle traffic.
In spring 2017, as part of a capital reconstruction of Worth Square, Broadway between 24th and 25th Streets was converted to a shared street, where through vehicles are banned and delivery vehicles are restricted to . Delivery vehicles go northbound from Fifth Avenue to 25th Street for that one block, reversing the direction of traffic and preventing vehicles from going south on Broadway south of 25th Street. The capital project expands on a 2008 initiative where part of the intersection of Broadway and Fifth Avenue was repurposed into a public plaza, simplifying that intersection. As part of the 2017 project, Worth Square was expanded, converting the adjoining block of Broadway into a "shared street".
on Broadway in NoMad, Manhattan]]
In September 2019, the pedestrian space in the Herald Square area was expanded between 33rd and 32nd Streets alongside Greeley Square. Five blocks of Broadway—from 50th to 48th, 39th to 39th, and 23rd to 21st Street—were converted into shared streets in late 2021. The block between 40th and 39th Streets, known as Golda Meir Square, was closed to vehicular traffic at that time. Following the success of the pedestrian-only street, the Flatiron/23rd Street Partnership BID closed the section between 25th and 27th Streets to vehicular traffic again during 2021 and 2022.
City officials announced in March 2023 that the section of Broadway between 32nd and 21st Streets would be redesigned as part of a project called Broadway Vision. The section between 32nd and 25th Streets would receive a bidirectional bike lane and would be converted to a shared street. Cars would be banned permanently from 27th to 25th Street. That work was finished the same July. In March 2024, the DOT announced plans to convert the section between 17th and 21st Streets into a shared street.RouteRoute descriptionBroadway runs the length of Manhattan Island, roughly parallel to the North River (the portion of the Hudson River bordering Manhattan), from Bowling Green at the south to Inwood at the northern tip of the island. South of Columbus Circle, it is a one-way southbound street. Since 2009, vehicular traffic has been banned at Times Square between 47th and 42nd Streets, and at Herald Square between 35th and 33rd Streets as part of a pilot program; the right-of-way is intact and reserved for cyclists and pedestrians. From the northern shore of Manhattan, Broadway crosses Spuyten Duyvil Creek via the Broadway Bridge and continues through Marble Hill (a discontiguous portion of the borough of Manhattan) and the Bronx into Westchester County. U.S. 9 continues to be known as Broadway until its junction with NY 117.Lower Manhattan
in the background]]
The section of lower Broadway from its origin at Bowling Green to City Hall Park is the historical location for the city's ticker-tape parades, and is sometimes called the "Canyon of Heroes" during such events. West of Broadway, as far as Canal Street, was the city's fashionable residential area until ; landfill has more than tripled the area, and the Hudson River shore now lies far to the west, beyond Tribeca and Battery Park City.
Broadway marks the boundary between Greenwich Village to the west and the East Village to the east, passing Astor Place. It is a short walk from there to New York University near Washington Square Park, which is at the foot of Fifth Avenue. A bend in front of Grace Church allegedly avoids an earlier tavern; from 10th Street it begins its long diagonal course across Manhattan, headed almost due north.
Midtown Manhattan
]]
Because Broadway preceded the grid that the Commissioners' Plan of 1811 imposed on the island, Broadway crosses midtown Manhattan diagonally, intersecting with both the east–west streets and north–south avenues. Broadway's intersections with avenues, marked by "squares" (some merely triangular slivers of open space), have induced some interesting architecture, such as the Flatiron Building.
At Union Square, Broadway crosses 14th Street, merges with Fourth Avenue, and continues its diagonal uptown course from the Square's northwest corner; Union Square is the only location wherein the physical section of Broadway is discontinuous in Manhattan (other portions of Broadway in Manhattan are pedestrian-only plazas). At Madison Square, the location of the Flatiron Building, Broadway crosses Fifth Avenue at 23rd Street, thereby moving from the east side of Manhattan to the west, and is discontinuous to vehicles for a one-block stretch between 24th and 25th Streets. At Greeley Square (West 32nd Street), Broadway crosses Sixth Avenue (Avenue of the Americas), and is discontinuous to vehicles until West 35th Street. Macy's Herald Square department store, one block north of the vehicular discontinuity, is located on the northwest corner of Broadway and West 34th Street and southwest corner of Broadway and West 35th Street; it is one of the largest department stores in the world.
One famous stretch near Times Square, where Broadway crosses Seventh Avenue in midtown Manhattan, is the home of many Broadway theatres, housing an ever-changing array of commercial, large-scale plays, particularly musicals. This area of Manhattan is often called the Theater District or the Great White Way, a nickname originating in the headline "Found on the Great White Way" in the February 3, 1902, edition of the New York Evening Telegram. The journalistic nickname was inspired by the millions of lights on theater marquees and billboard advertisements that illuminate the area. After becoming the city's de facto red-light district in the 1960s and 1970s (as can be seen in the films Taxi Driver and Midnight Cowboy), since the late 1980s Times Square has emerged as a family tourist center, in effect being Disneyfied following the company's purchase and renovation of the New Amsterdam Theatre on 42nd Street in 1993.
The New York Times, from which the Square gets its name, was published at offices at 239 West 43rd Street; the paper stopped printing papers there on June 15, 2007.Upper West Side
and the treetops of Verdi Square]]
At the southwest corner of Central Park, Broadway crosses Eighth Avenue (called Central Park West north of 59th Street) at West 59th Street and Columbus Circle; on the site of the former New York Coliseum convention center is the new shopping center at the foot of the Time Warner Center, headquarters of Time Warner. From Columbus Circle northward, Broadway becomes a wide boulevard to 169th Street; it retains landscaped center islands that separate northbound from southbound traffic. The medians are a vestige of the central mall of "The Boulevard" that had become the spine of the Upper West Side, and many of these contain public seating.
Broadway intersects with Columbus Avenue (known as Ninth Avenue south of West 59th Street) at West 65th and 66th Streets where the Juilliard School and Lincoln Center, both well-known performing arts landmarks, as well as the Manhattan New York Temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are located.
Between West 70th and 73rd Streets, Broadway intersects with Amsterdam Avenue (known as 10th Avenue south of West 59th Street). The wide intersection of the two thoroughfares has historically been the site of numerous traffic accidents and pedestrian casualties, partly due to the long crosswalks. Two small triangular plots of land were created at points where Broadway slices through Amsterdam Avenue. One is a tiny fenced-in patch of shrubbery and plants at West 70th Street called Sherman Square (although it and the surrounding intersection have also been known collectively as Sherman Square), and the other triangle is a lush tree-filled garden bordering Amsterdam Avenue from just above West 72nd Street to West 73rd Street. Named Verdi Square in 1921 for its monument to Italian composer Giuseppe Verdi, which was erected in 1909, this triangular sliver of public space was designated a Scenic Landmark by the Landmarks Preservation Commission in 1974, one of nine city parks that have received the designation. In the 1960s and 1970s, the area surrounding both Verdi Square and Sherman Square was known by local drug users and dealers as "Needle Park", and was featured prominently in the gritty 1971 dramatic film The Panic in Needle Park, directed by Jerry Schatzberg and starring Al Pacino in his second onscreen role.
The original brick and stone shelter leading to the entrance of the 72nd Street subway station, one of the first 28 subway stations in Manhattan, remains located on one of the wide islands in the center of Broadway, on the south side of West 72nd Street. For many years, all traffic on Broadway flowed on either side of this median and its subway entrance, and its uptown lanes went past it along the western edge of triangular Verdi Square. In 2001 and 2002, renovation of the historic 72nd Street station and the addition of a second subway control house and passenger shelter on an adjacent center median just north of 72nd Street, across from the original building, resulted in the creation of a public plaza with stone pavers and extensive seating, connecting the newer building with Verdi Square, and making it necessary to divert northbound traffic to Amsterdam Avenue for one block. While Broadway's southbound lanes at this intersection were unaffected by the new construction, its northbound lanes are no longer contiguous at this intersection. Drivers can either continue along Amsterdam Avenue to head uptown or turn left on West 73rd Street to resume traveling on Broadway.
Several notable apartment buildings are in close proximity to this intersection, including The Ansonia, its ornate architecture dominating the cityscape here. After the Ansonia first opened as a hotel, live seals were kept in indoor fountains inside its lobby. Later, it was home to the infamous Plato's Retreat nightclub. Immediately north of Verdi Square is the Apple Bank Building, formerly the Central Savings Bank, which was built in 1926 and designed to resemble the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Broadway is also home to the Beacon Theatre at West 74th Street, designated a national landmark in 1979 and still in operation as a concert venue after its establishment in 1929 as a vaudeville and music hall, and "sister" venue to Radio City Music Hall.
At its intersection with West 78th Street, Broadway shifts direction and continues directly uptown and aligned approximately with the Commissioners' grid. Past the bend are the historic Apthorp apartment building, built in 1908, and the First Baptist Church in the City of New York, incorporated in New York in 1762, its current building on Broadway erected in 1891. The road heads north and passes historically important apartment houses such as the Belnord, the Astor Court Building, and the Art Nouveau Cornwall.
At Broadway and 95th Street is Symphony Space, established in 1978 as home to avant-garde and classical music and dance performances in the former Symphony Theatre, which was originally built in 1918 as a premier "music and motion-picture house". At 99th Street, Broadway passes between the controversial skyscrapers of the Ariel East and West.
At 107th Street, Broadway merges with West End Avenue, with the intersection forming Straus Park with its Titanic Memorial by Augustus Lukeman.
Northern Manhattan and the Bronx
in Inwood]]
Broadway then passes the campus of Columbia University at 116th Street in Morningside Heights, in part on the tract that housed the Bloomingdale Insane Asylum from 1808 until it moved to Westchester County in 1894. Still in Morningside Heights, Broadway passes the park-like campus of Barnard College. Next, the Gothic quadrangle of Union Theological Seminary, and the brick buildings of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America with their landscaped interior courtyards, face one another across Broadway. On the next block is the Manhattan School of Music.
Broadway then runs past the Manhattanville campus of Columbia University, and the main campus of CUNY–City College near 135th Street; the Gothic buildings of the original City College campus are out of sight, a block to the east. Also to the east are the brownstones of Hamilton Heights. Hamilton Place is a surviving section of Bloomingdale Road, and originally the address of Alexander Hamilton's house, The Grange, which has been moved.
Broadway achieves a verdant, park-like effect, particularly in the spring, when it runs between the uptown Trinity Church Cemetery and the former Trinity Chapel, now the Church of the Intercession near 155th Street.
NewYork–Presbyterian Hospital lies on Broadway near 166th, 167th, and 168th Streets in Washington Heights. The intersection with St. Nicholas Avenue at 167th Street forms Mitchell Square Park. At 178th Street, US 9 becomes concurrent with Broadway.
Broadway crosses the Harlem River on the Broadway Bridge to Marble Hill. Afterward, it then enters the Bronx, where it is the eastern border of Riverdale and the western border of Van Cortlandt Park. At 253rd Street, NY 9A joins with US 9 and Broadway. (NY 9A splits off Broadway at Ashburton Avenue in Yonkers.)
Westchester County
) in Yonkers]]
on North Broadway in Irvington, not far from Washington Irving's home in Sunnyside]]
The northwestern corner of the park marks the New York City limit and Broadway enters Westchester County in Yonkers, where it is now known as South Broadway. It trends ever westward, closer to the Hudson River, remaining a busy urban commercial street. In downtown Yonkers, it drops close to the river, becomes North Broadway and 9A leaves via Ashburton Avenue. Broadway climbs to the nearby ridgetop runs parallel to the river and the railroad, a few blocks east of both as it passes St. John's Riverside Hospital. The neighborhoods become more residential and the road gently undulates along the ridgetop.
It remains Broadway as it leaves Yonkers for Hastings-on-Hudson, where it splits into separate north and south routes for . The trees become taller and the houses, many separated from the road by stone fences, become larger. Another National Historic Landmark, the John William Draper House, was the site of the first astrophotograph of the Moon.
In the next village, Dobbs Ferry, Broadway has various views of the Hudson River while passing through the residential section. Broadway passes by the Old Croton Aqueduct and nearby the shopping district of the village. After intersecting with Ashford Avenue, Broadway passes Mercy University, then turns left again at the center of town just past South Presbyterian Church, headed for equally comfortable Ardsley-on-Hudson and Irvington. Villa Lewaro, the home of Madam C. J. Walker, the first African-American millionaire, is along the highway here. At the north end of the village of Irvington, a memorial to writer Washington Irving, after whom the village was renamed, marks the turnoff to his home at Sunnyside. Entering into the southern portion of Tarrytown, Broadway passes by historic Lyndhurst mansion, a massive mansion built along the Hudson River built in the early 1800s.
North of here, at the Kraft Foods technical center, the Tappan Zee Bridge becomes visible. After crossing under the Thruway and I-87 again, here concurrent with I-287, and then intersecting with the four-lane NY 119, where 119 splits off to the east, Broadway becomes the busy main street of Tarrytown. Christ Episcopal Church, where Irving worshiped, is along the street. Many high-quality restaurants and shops are along this main road. This downtown ends at the eastern terminus of NY 448, where Broadway slopes off to the left, downhill, and four signs indicate that Broadway turns left, passing the Old Dutch Church of Sleepy Hollow, another NHL. The road then enters Sleepy Hollow (formerly North Tarrytown), and forks: To the right is Bedford Road which traverses the hills up to Pocantico Hills and Kykuit, the National Historic Landmark that was (and partially still is) the Rockefeller family's estate.
Broadway expands to four lanes at the trumpet intersection with NY 117, where it finally ends and U.S. 9 becomes Albany Post Road (and Highland Avenue) at the northern border of Sleepy Hollow, New York.
Nicknamed sections
Canyon of Heroes
astronauts on August 13, 1969]]
Canyon of Heroes is occasionally used to refer to the section of lower Broadway in the Financial District that is the location of the city's ticker-tape parades. The traditional route of the parade is northward from Bowling Green to City Hall Park. Most of the route is lined with tall office buildings along both sides, affording a view of the parade for thousands of office workers who create the snowstorm-like jettison of shredded paper products that characterize the parade.
While typical sports championship parades have been showered with some 50 tons of confetti and shredded paper, the V-J Day parade on August 14–15, 1945 – marking the end of World War II – was covered with 5,438 tons of paper, based on estimates provided by the New York City Department of Sanitation.
More than 200 black granite strips embedded in the sidewalks along the Canyon of Heroes list honorees of past ticker-tape parades.
Great White Way
U.S. Route 6 in Iowa|the film|The Great White Way (1924 film)|the fair attraction|1939 New York World's Fair#Amusement Area}}
"The Great White Way" is a nickname for a section of Broadway in Midtown Manhattan, specifically the portion that encompasses the Theater District, between 42nd and 53rd Streets, and encompassing Times Square.
In 1880, a stretch of Broadway between Union Square and Madison Square was illuminated by Brush arc lamps, making it among the first electrically lighted streets in the United States. By the 1890s, the portion from 23rd Street to 34th Street was so brightly illuminated by electrical advertising signs, that people began calling it "The Great White Way". When the theater district moved uptown, the name was transferred to the Times Square area.
The phrase "Great White Way" has been attributed to Shep Friedman, columnist for the New York Morning Telegraph in 1901, who lifted the term from the title of a book about the Arctic by Albert Paine. The headline "Found on the Great White Way" appeared in the February 3, 1902, edition of the New York Evening Telegram. written by the artist-historian Jerome Myers:
Transportation
's elevated structure in The Bronx]]
From south to north, Broadway at one point or another runs over or under various New York City Subway lines, including the IRT Lexington Avenue Line, the BMT Broadway Line, IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line, and IND Eighth Avenue Line (the IND Sixth Avenue Line is the only north–south trunk line in Manhattan that does not run along Broadway).
* The IRT Lexington Avenue Line runs under Broadway from Bowling Green to Fulton Street ().
* The BMT Broadway Line runs under it from City Hall to Times Square–42nd Street ().
* The IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line runs under and over Broadway from Times Square to 168th Street (), and again from 218th Street to its terminal in the Bronx at Van Cortlandt Park–242nd Street ().
* The northern portion of the IND Eighth Avenue Line runs under Broadway from Dyckman Street to Inwood–207th Street ().
Early street railways on Broadway included the Broadway and Seventh Avenue Railroad's Broadway and University Place Line (1864?) between Union Square (14th Street) and Times Square (42nd Street), the Ninth Avenue Railroad's Ninth and Amsterdam Avenues Line (1884) between 65th Street and 71st Street, the Forty-second Street, Manhattanville and St. Nicholas Avenue Railway's Broadway Branch Line (1885?) between Times Square and 125th Street, and the Kingsbridge Railway's Kingsbridge Line<!--when?--> north of 169th Street. The Broadway Surface Railroad's Broadway Line, a cable car line, opened on lower Broadway (below Times Square) in 1893, and soon became the core of the Metropolitan Street Railway, with two cable branches: the Broadway and Lexington Avenue Line and Broadway and Columbus Avenue Line.
These streetcar lines were replaced with bus routes in the 1930s and 1940s. Before Broadway became one-way, the main bus routes along it were the New York City Omnibus Company's (NYCO) 6 (Broadway below Times Square), 7 (Broadway and Columbus Avenue), and 11 (Ninth and Amsterdam Avenues), and the Surface Transportation Corporation's M100 (Kingsbridge) and M104 (Broadway Branch). Additionally, the Fifth Avenue Coach Company's (FACCo) 4 and 5 used Broadway from 135th Street north to Washington Heights, and their 5 and 6 used Broadway between 57th Street and 72nd Street. With the implementation of one-way traffic, the northbound 6 and 7 were moved to Sixth Avenue.
, Broadway is served by:
* The M4 (ex-FACCo 4) between Cathedral Parkway and West 165th Street uptown or Fort Washington Avenue downtown.
* The M7 (ex-NYCO 7) between Amsterdam Avenue and Columbus Circle.
* The downtown M55 south of East 8th Street.
* The M100 between Dyckman Street and Saint Nicholas Avenue, and uptown from 10th to 9th Avenues.
* The M104 between Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Columbus Circle, with uptown service absent from Amsterdam Avenue to West 73rd Street.
Other routes that use part of Broadway include:
* The downtown from East 8th to Grand Streets when running the full route.
* The M5 (ex-FACCo 5) between West 72nd Street and Columbus Circle and between West 135th and West 178th uptown or West 179th Streets downtown.
* The between Park Row and Barclay Street downtown or Warren Street uptown.
* The downtown M10 from West 63rd to West 57th Streets, where it terminates.
* The downtown from West 58th to West 57th Streets.
* The M20 from West 66th Street to Columbus Circle, while out of service from West 64th to West 63rd Streets.
* The eastbound from Chambers Street to Park Row.
* The looping around at West 72nd Street.
* The M60 Select Bus Service between West 120th Street and West End Avenue downtown or West 106th Street uptown.
* The westbound from West 86th to West 87th Streets.
* The westbound from West 96th to West 97th Streets.
* The looping around at West 116th Street.
* The eastbound from West 178th to West 181st Streets, joining the at West 179th Street.
* The between West 155th & West 157th Streets uptown or Edward M. Morgan Place downtown.
* The Bx7 from Saint Nicholas Avenue to West 231st Street uptown, and from West 230th to West 166th Streets downtown.
* The Bx9 between West 225th and West 262nd Streets, where it terminates.
* The from West 207th to Isham Streets, going out of service between stops.
* The Bx20 between West 207th and West 231st uptown or West 230th Streets downtown, with said direction continuing out of service to West 204th Street.
Express service is provided by the between Dyckman Street in Manhattan and West 230th Street in the Bronx, and the between Van Cortlandt Park South in the Bronx and Main Street in Yonkers, using South Broadway to terminate.
Bee-Line buses also serve Broadway within Riverdale and Westchester County. Routes 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 13, and several others run on a portion of Broadway.
Notable buildings
]]
Broadway is lined with many famous and otherwise noted and historic buildings, such as:
* 2 Broadway
* 280 Broadway (also known as the Marble Palace, the A.T. Stewart Company Store, or The Sun Building)
* Alexander Hamilton U.S. Custom House (1 Bowling Green, between the two legs of the southern end of Broadway)
* American Surety Building (100 Broadway)
* Ansonia Hotel (2109 Broadway)
* Bowling Green Fence and Park (between 25 and 26 Broadway)
* Bowling Green Offices Building (11 Broadway)
* Brill Building (1619 Broadway)
* Corbin Building (196 Broadway)
* Cunard Building (25 Broadway)
* Dyckman House (4881 Broadway)
* Equitable Building (120 Broadway)
* Flatiron Building (Fifth Avenue and Broadway at 23rd Street)
* Gilsey House (1200 Broadway)
* Gorham Manufacturing Company Building (889-91 Broadway)
* Home Life Building (253, 256 Broadway)
* International Mercantile Marine Company Building (1 Broadway)
* Morgan Stanley Building (1585 Broadway)
* One Times Square (1475 Broadway)
* Paramount Building (1501 Broadway)
* Standard Oil Building (26 Broadway)
* Trinity Church (79 Broadway)
* Union Theological Seminary (3041 Broadway)
* United Palace (4140 Broadway)
* United States Lines-Panama Pacific Lines Building (1 Broadway)
* Winter Garden Theatre (1634 Broadway)
* Woolworth Building (233 Broadway)
Historic buildings on Broadway that are now demolished include:
* Appleton Building
* Alexander Macomb House
* Barnum's American Museum
* Equitable Life Building
* Grand Central Hotel (673 Broadway)
* Mechanics' Hall
* Metropolitan Opera House, from 1883 to 1966, between 39th and 40th Streets
* Singer Tower (Liberty Street and Broadway)
* St. Nicholas Hotel
References
Notes
Citations
Bibliography
*
*
*
External links
* [http://www.barrypopik.com/article/17/great-white-way Great White Way]; historical citations from etymologist Barry Popik
* [http://www.nysonglines.com/broadway.htm New York Songlines: Broadway]; a virtual walking tour of the street
* [http://www.nyc.gov/html/dot/html/about/broadway.shtml Green Light for Midtown]; New York City Department of Transportation pilot program for Broadway traffic
* [http://www.nomadicnotes.com/travel-blog/walking-the-length-of-broadway-new-york/ Walking the length of Broadway]
Category:Harlem
Category:Inwood, Manhattan
Category:Lower Manhattan
Category:Midtown Manhattan
Category:Morningside Heights, Manhattan
Category:Native American trails in the United States
Category:Riverdale, Bronx
Category:Streets in Manhattan
Category:Streets in the Bronx
Category:U.S. Route 9
Category:Union Square, Manhattan
Category:Upper West Side
Category:Washington Heights, Manhattan
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broadway_(Manhattan)
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Bilinear transform
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The bilinear transform (also known as Tustin's method, after Arnold Tustin) is used in digital signal processing and discrete-time control theory to transform continuous-time system representations to discrete-time and vice versa.
The bilinear transform is a special case of a conformal mapping (namely, a Möbius transformation), often used for converting a transfer function H_a(s) of a linear, time-invariant (LTI) filter in the continuous-time domain (often named an analog filter) to a transfer function H_d(z) of a linear, shift-invariant filter in the discrete-time domain (often named a digital filter although there are analog filters constructed with switched capacitors that are discrete-time filters). It maps positions on the j \omega axis, \mathrm{Re}[s]0 , in the s-plane to the unit circle, |z| 1 , in the z-plane. Other bilinear transforms can be used for warping the frequency response of any discrete-time linear system (for example to approximate the non-linear frequency resolution of the human auditory system) and are implementable in the discrete domain by replacing a system's unit delays \left( z^{-1} \right) with first order all-pass filters.
The transform preserves stability and maps every point of the frequency response of the continuous-time filter, H_a(j \omega_a) to a corresponding point in the frequency response of the discrete-time filter, H_d(e^{j \omega_d T}) although to a somewhat different frequency, as shown in the Frequency warping section below. This means that for every feature that one sees in the frequency response of the analog filter, there is a corresponding feature, with identical gain and phase shift, in the frequency response of the digital filter but, perhaps, at a somewhat different frequency. The change in frequency is barely noticeable at low frequencies but is quite evident at frequencies close to the Nyquist frequency.
Discrete-time approximation
The bilinear transform is a first-order Padé approximant of the natural logarithm function that is an exact mapping of the z-plane to the s-plane. When the Laplace transform is performed on a discrete-time signal (with each element of the discrete-time sequence attached to a correspondingly delayed unit impulse), the result is precisely the Z transform of the discrete-time sequence with the substitution of
\begin{align}
z &= e^{sT} \\
&= \frac{e^{sT/2}}{e^{-sT/2}} \\
&\approx \frac{1 + s T / 2}{1 - s T / 2}
\end{align}
where T is the numerical integration step size of the trapezoidal rule used in the bilinear transform derivation; or, in other words, the sampling period. The above bilinear approximation can be solved for s or a similar approximation for s = (1/T) \ln(z) can be performed.
The inverse of this mapping (and its first-order bilinear approximation) is
\begin{align}
s &= \frac{1}{T} \ln(z) \\
&= \frac{2}{T} \left[\frac{z-1}{z+1} + \frac{1}{3} \left( \frac{z-1}{z+1} \right)^3 + \frac{1}{5} \left( \frac{z-1}{z+1} \right)^5 + \frac{1}{7} \left( \frac{z-1}{z+1} \right)^7 + \cdots \right] \\
&\approx \frac{2}{T} \frac{z - 1}{z + 1} \\
&= \frac{2}{T} \frac{1 - z^{-1}}{1 + z^{-1}}
\end{align}
The bilinear transform essentially uses this first order approximation and substitutes into the continuous-time transfer function, H_a(s)
s \leftarrow \frac{2}{T} \frac{z - 1}{z + 1}.
That is
H_d(z) H_a(s) \bigg|_{s \frac{2}{T} \frac{z - 1}{z + 1}}= H_a \left( \frac{2}{T} \frac{z-1}{z+1} \right). \
Stability and minimum-phase property preserved
A continuous-time causal filter is stable if the poles of its transfer function fall in the left half of the complex s-plane. A discrete-time causal filter is stable if the poles of its transfer function fall inside the unit circle in the complex z-plane. The bilinear transform maps the left half of the complex s-plane to the interior of the unit circle in the z-plane. Thus, filters designed in the continuous-time domain that are stable are converted to filters in the discrete-time domain that preserve that stability.
Likewise, a continuous-time filter is minimum-phase if the zeros of its transfer function fall in the left half of the complex s-plane. A discrete-time filter is minimum-phase if the zeros of its transfer function fall inside the unit circle in the complex z-plane. Then the same mapping property assures that continuous-time filters that are minimum-phase are converted to discrete-time filters that preserve that property of being minimum-phase.
Transformation of a General LTI System
A general LTI system has the transfer function
H_a(s) = \frac{b_0 + b_1s + b_2s^2 + \cdots + b_Qs^Q}{a_0 + a_1s + a_2s^2 + \cdots + a_Ps^P}
The order of the transfer function is the greater of and (in practice this is most likely as the transfer function must be proper for the system to be stable). Applying the bilinear transform
s = K\frac{z - 1}{z + 1}
where is defined as either or otherwise if using frequency warping, gives
H_d(z) = \frac{b_0 + b_1\left(K\frac{z - 1}{z + 1}\right) + b_2\left(K\frac{z - 1}{z + 1}\right)^2 + \cdots + b_Q\left(K\frac{z - 1}{z + 1}\right)^Q}
{a_0 + a_1\left(K\frac{z - 1}{z + 1}\right) + a_2\left(K\frac{z - 1}{z + 1}\right)^2 + \cdots + b_P\left(K\frac{z - 1}{z + 1}\right)^P}
Multiplying the numerator and denominator by the largest power of present, , gives
H_d(z) = \frac{b_0(z+1)^N + b_1K(z-1)(z+1)^{N-1} + b_2K^2(z-1)^2(z+1)^{N-2} + \cdots + b_QK^Q(z-1)^Q(z+1)^{N-Q}}
{a_0(z+1)^N + a_1K(z-1)(z+1)^{N-1} + a_2K^2(z-1)^2(z+1)^{N-2} + \cdots + a_PK^P(z-1)^P(z+1)^{N-P}}
It can be seen here that after the transformation, the degree of the numerator and denominator are both .
Consider then the pole-zero form of the continuous-time transfer function
H_a(s) = \frac{(s - \xi_1)(s - \xi_2) \cdots (s - \xi_Q)}{(s - p_1)(s - p_2) \cdots (s - p_P)}
The roots of the numerator and denominator polynomials, and , are the zeros and poles of the system. The bilinear transform is a one-to-one mapping, hence these can be transformed to the z-domain using
z = \frac{K + s}{K - s}
yielding some of the discretized transfer function's zeros and poles and
\begin{aligned}
\xi'_i &= \frac{K + \xi_i}{K - \xi_i} \quad 1 \leq i \leq Q \\
p'_i &= \frac{K + p_i}{K - p_i} \quad 1 \leq i \leq P
\end{aligned}
As described above, the degree of the numerator and denominator are now both , in other words there is now an equal number of zeros and poles. The multiplication by means the additional zeros or poles are
\begin{aligned}
\xi'_i &= -1 \quad Q
Given the full set of zeros and poles, the z-domain transfer function is then
H_d(z) = \frac{(z - \xi'_1)(z - \xi'_2) \cdots (z - \xi'_N)}
{(z - p'_1)(z - p'_2) \cdots (z - p'_N)}
Example
As an example take a simple low-pass RC filter. This continuous-time filter has a transfer function
\begin{align}
H_a(s) &= \frac{1/sC}{R+1/sC} \\
&= \frac{1}{1 + RC s}.
\end{align}
If we wish to implement this filter as a digital filter, we can apply the bilinear transform by substituting for s the formula above; after some reworking, we get the following filter representation:
{|
|-
|H_d(z) \
| =H_a \left( \frac{2}{T} \frac{z-1}{z+1}\right) \
|-
|
|= \frac{1}{1 + RC \left( \frac{2}{T} \frac{z-1}{z+1}\right)} \
|-
|
|= \frac{1 + z}{(1 - 2 RC / T) + (1 + 2RC / T) z} \
|-
|
|= \frac{1 + z^{-1}}{(1 + 2RC / T) + (1 - 2RC / T) z^{-1}}. \
|}
The coefficients of the denominator are the 'feed-backward' coefficients and the coefficients of the numerator are the 'feed-forward' coefficients used for implementing a real-time digital filter.
Transformation for a general first-order continuous-time filter
It is possible to relate the coefficients of a continuous-time, analog filter with those of a similar discrete-time digital filter created through the bilinear transform process. Transforming a general, first-order continuous-time filter with the given transfer function
H_a(s) \frac{b_0 s + b_1}{a_0 s + a_1} \frac{b_0 + b_1 s^{-1}}{a_0 + a_1 s^{-1}}
using the bilinear transform (without prewarping any frequency specification) requires the substitution of
s \leftarrow K \frac{1 - z^{-1}}{1 + z^{-1}}
where
K \triangleq \frac{2}{T} .
However, if the frequency warping compensation as described below is used in the bilinear transform, so that both analog and digital filter gain and phase agree at frequency \omega_0, then
K \triangleq \frac{\omega_0}{\tan\left(\frac{\omega_0 T}{2}\right)} .
This results in a discrete-time digital filter with coefficients expressed in terms of the coefficients of the original continuous time filter:
H_d(z)=\frac{(b_0 K + b_1) + (-b_0 K + b_1)z^{-1}}{(a_0 K + a_1) + (-a_0 K + a_1)z^{-1}}
Normally the constant term in the denominator must be normalized to 1 before deriving the corresponding difference equation. This results in
H_d(z)=\frac{\frac{b_0 K + b_1}{a_0 K + a_1} + \frac{-b_0 K + b_1}{a_0 K + a_1}z^{-1}}{1 + \frac{-a_0 K + a_1}{a_0 K + a_1}z^{-1}}.
The difference equation (using the Direct form I) is
y[n] = \frac{b_0 K + b_1}{a_0 K + a_1} \cdot x[n] + \frac{-b_0 K + b_1}{a_0 K + a_1} \cdot x[n-1] - \frac{-a_0 K + a_1}{a_0 K + a_1} \cdot y[n-1] \ .
General second-order biquad transformation
A similar process can be used for a general second-order filter with the given transfer function
H_a(s) \frac{b_0 s^2 + b_1 s + b_2}{a_0 s^2 + a_1 s + a_2} \frac{b_0 + b_1 s^{-1} + b_2 s^{-2}}{a_0 + a_1 s^{-1} + a_2 s^{-2}} \ .
This results in a discrete-time digital biquad filter with coefficients expressed in terms of the coefficients of the original continuous time filter:
H_d(z)=\frac{(b_0 K^2 + b_1 K + b_2) + (2b_2 - 2b_0 K^2)z^{-1} + (b_0 K^2 - b_1 K + b_2)z^{-2}}{(a_0 K^2 + a_1 K + a_2) + (2a_2 - 2a_0 K^2)z^{-1} + (a_0 K^2 - a_1 K + a_2)z^{-2}}
Again, the constant term in the denominator is generally normalized to 1 before deriving the corresponding difference equation. This results in
H_d(z)=\frac{\frac{b_0 K^2 + b_1 K + b_2}{a_0 K^2 + a_1 K + a_2} + \frac{2b_2 - 2b_0 K^2}{a_0 K^2 + a_1 K + a_2}z^{-1} + \frac{b_0 K^2 - b_1 K + b_2}{a_0 K^2 + a_1 K + a_2}z^{-2}}{1 + \frac{2a_2 - 2a_0 K^2}{a_0 K^2 + a_1 K + a_2}z^{-1} + \frac{a_0 K^2 - a_1 K + a_2}{a_0 K^2 + a_1 K + a_2}z^{-2}}.
The difference equation (using the Direct form I) is
y[n] = \frac{b_0 K^2 + b_1 K + b_2}{a_0 K^2 + a_1 K + a_2} \cdot x[n] + \frac{2b_2 - 2b_0 K^2}{a_0 K^2 + a_1 K + a_2} \cdot x[n-1] + \frac{b_0 K^2 - b_1 K + b_2}{a_0 K^2 + a_1 K + a_2} \cdot x[n-2] - \frac{2a_2 - 2a_0 K^2}{a_0 K^2 + a_1 K + a_2} \cdot y[n-1] - \frac{a_0 K^2 - a_1 K + a_2}{a_0 K^2 + a_1 K + a_2} \cdot y[n-2] \ .
Frequency warping
To determine the frequency response of a continuous-time filter, the transfer function H_a(s) is evaluated at s j \omega_a which is on the j \omega axis. Likewise, to determine the frequency response of a discrete-time filter, the transfer function H_d(z) is evaluated at z e^{ j \omega_d T} which is on the unit circle, |z| 1 . The bilinear transform maps the j \omega axis of the s-plane (which is the domain of H_a(s) ) to the unit circle of the z-plane, |z| 1 (which is the domain of H_d(z) ), but it is not the same mapping z = e^{sT} which also maps the j \omega axis to the unit circle. When the actual frequency of \omega_d is input to the discrete-time filter designed by use of the bilinear transform, then it is desired to know at what frequency, \omega_a , for the continuous-time filter that this \omega_d is mapped to.
H_d(z) = H_a \left( \frac{2}{T} \frac{z-1}{z+1}\right)
{|
|-
|H_d(e^{ j \omega_d T})
|= H_a \left( \frac{2}{T} \frac{e^{ j \omega_d T} - 1}{e^{ j \omega_d T} + 1}\right)
|-
|
|= H_a \left( \frac{2}{T} \cdot \frac{e^{j \omega_d T/2} \left(e^{j \omega_d T/2} - e^{-j \omega_d T/2}\right)}{e^{j \omega_d T/2} \left(e^{j \omega_d T/2} + e^{-j \omega_d T/2 }\right)}\right)
|-
|
|= H_a \left( \frac{2}{T} \cdot \frac{\left(e^{j \omega_d T/2} - e^{-j \omega_d T/2}\right)}{\left(e^{j \omega_d T/2} + e^{-j \omega_d T/2 }\right)}\right)
|-
|
|= H_a \left(j \frac{2}{T} \cdot \frac{ \left(e^{j \omega_d T/2} - e^{-j \omega_d T/2}\right) /(2j)}{\left(e^{j \omega_d T/2} + e^{-j \omega_d T/2 }\right) / 2}\right)
|-
|
|= H_a \left(j \frac{2}{T} \cdot \frac{ \sin(\omega_d T/2) }{ \cos(\omega_d T/2) }\right)
|-
|
|= H_a \left(j \frac{2}{T} \cdot \tan \left( \omega_d T/2 \right) \right)
|}
This shows that every point on the unit circle in the discrete-time filter z-plane, z e^{ j \omega_d T} is mapped to a point on the j \omega axis on the continuous-time filter s-plane, s j \omega_a. That is, the discrete-time to continuous-time frequency mapping of the bilinear transform is
\omega_a = \frac{2}{T} \tan \left( \omega_d \frac{T}{2} \right)
and the inverse mapping is
\omega_d = \frac{2}{T} \arctan \left( \omega_a \frac{T}{2} \right).
The discrete-time filter behaves at frequency \omega_d the same way that the continuous-time filter behaves at frequency (2/T) \tan(\omega_d T/2) . Specifically, the gain and phase shift that the discrete-time filter has at frequency \omega_d is the same gain and phase shift that the continuous-time filter has at frequency (2/T) \tan(\omega_d T/2). This means that every feature, every "bump" that is visible in the frequency response of the continuous-time filter is also visible in the discrete-time filter, but at a different frequency. For low frequencies (that is, when \omega_d \ll 2/T or \omega_a \ll 2/T), then the features are mapped to a slightly different frequency; \omega_d \approx \omega_a .
One can see that the entire continuous frequency range
-\infty
is mapped onto the fundamental frequency interval
-\frac{\pi}{T}
The continuous-time filter frequency \omega_a 0 corresponds to the discrete-time filter frequency \omega_d 0 and the continuous-time filter frequency \omega_a \pm \infty correspond to the discrete-time filter frequency \omega_d \pm \pi / T.
One can also see that there is a nonlinear relationship between \omega_a and \omega_d. This effect of the bilinear transform is called frequency warping. The continuous-time filter can be designed to compensate for this frequency warping by setting \omega_a = \frac{2}{T} \tan \left( \omega_d \frac{T}{2} \right) for every frequency specification that the designer has control over (such as corner frequency or center frequency). This is called pre-warping the filter design.
It is possible, however, to compensate for the frequency warping by pre-warping a frequency specification \omega_0 (usually a resonant frequency or the frequency of the most significant feature of the frequency response) of the continuous-time system. These pre-warped specifications may then be used in the bilinear transform to obtain the desired discrete-time system. When designing a digital filter as an approximation of a continuous time filter, the frequency response (both amplitude and phase) of the digital filter can be made to match the frequency response of the continuous filter at a specified frequency \omega_0 , as well as matching at DC, if the following transform is substituted into the continuous filter transfer function. This is a modified version of Tustin's transform shown above.
s \leftarrow \frac{\omega_0}{\tan\left(\frac{\omega_0 T}{2}\right)} \frac{z - 1}{z + 1}.
However, note that this transform becomes the original transform
s \leftarrow \frac{2}{T} \frac{z - 1}{z + 1}
as \omega_0 \to 0 .
The main advantage of the warping phenomenon is the absence of aliasing distortion of the frequency response characteristic, such as observed with Impulse invariance.
See also
Impulse invariance
Matched Z-transform method
References
External links
MIT OpenCourseWare Signal Processing: Continuous to Discrete Filter Design
Lecture Notes on Discrete Equivalents
The Art of VA Filter Design
Category:Digital signal processing
Category:Transforms
Category:Control theory
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilinear_transform
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Brian Boitano
|
| birth_place = Mountain View, California
| height = 5 ft 11 in
| retired = 1988, 1994
| country =
| discipline = Men's singles
| module
|WC=
|JWC=
|NC
}}
}}
Brian Anthony Boitano (born October 22, 1963) is an American figure skater from Sunnyvale, California. He is the 1988 Olympic champion, the 1986 and 1988 World Champion, and the 1985–1988 U.S. National Champion.
Boitano turned professional following the 1988 season. Under new rules by the ISU, he returned to competition in 1993 and competed at the 1994 Winter Olympics, where he placed sixth. In 1996, he was inducted into the World Figure Skating Hall of Fame and the United States Figure Skating Hall of Fame.Early lifeBrian Boitano was born in 1963 and raised in Mountain View, California. Boitano is a graduate of Marian A. Peterson High School in Sunnyvale, California. He is of Italian American descent, with family from northern Italy. As an adult, he has lived in San Francisco.Figure skating careerEarly careerBeginning skating as a child, Brian Boitano won a gold medal at the Junior U.S. Championships in 1978 and first made his mark on the international scene when he won the bronze medal at the 1978 World Junior Figure Skating Championships, beating future rival Brian Orser for that medal.
Early in his career, Boitano was known primarily for his jumping. He, along with several other skaters, helped push the technical envelope of men's skating. In 1982, Boitano became the first American to land a triple Axel. In 1987, he introduced his signature jump, the 'Boitano triple Lutz', in which the skater raises his left arm above his head. He attempted a quadruple jump throughout the 1986–87 season and at the 1988 World Figure Skating Championships, but did not cleanly land the jump; he double-footed the landing on two occasions.
At the 1983 World Championships, he became the first skater to ever land all six triple jumps in competition. the maximum number possible (see Zayak rule). He would jump two flip jumps and two triple Axels to compete with his rival, Brian Orser, who jumped one triple flip and one triple Axel. At the 1986 World Championships, Boitano took the title, He had always been good at the technical requirements ("The first mark"), but he was weak on the artistic ("the second mark"). He was a self-described "jumping robot." In order to help his growth as an artist, he hired choreographer Sandra Bezic to choreograph his programs for the 1987–1988 Olympic season.
Adding to the rivalry, Boitano and Orser were both performing military-themed programs. Boitano's free skate was set to music from Napoleon and Josephine, the television miniseries. For his free skate, Boitano wore a blue stretch suit with red braids and epaulets, and used military gestures and postures as much as his music allowed.
The Battle of the Brians at the 1988 Winter Olympics was the highlight of Boitano's amateur career. Boitano and Orser were effectively tied going into the free skating portion of the event and whoever won that portion would win the event. Alexander Fadeev had won the compulsory figures section of the competition, with Boitano second and Orser third. In the short program, Orser placed first and Boitano second. The free skating was, at the time, worth 50% of the score, and so Boitano's lead would not be enough to hold him in first place if he lost the free skate.
Boitano skated a clean, technically excellent long program, with eight triple jumps, including two axels, and a triple flip-triple toe loop combination. Landing his second triple axel jump cleanly was probably a critical factor in the battle. Orser made one small mistake on a jump and omitted his planned second triple axel. Boitano won the battle in a 5–4 split. It was later discovered that the Canadian Figure Skating Association had engaged in "vote trading" with several countries on the judging panel, particularly East Germany and the USSR. This ultimately backfired, as the Soviet judge refused to follow this agreement and voting "with his conscience," placing Boitano first. Had he followed his federation's directive, Boitano would have lost the gold medal. The judge was promptly suspended by his federation. Experts questioned why the scores were so close between the two skaters because Boitano had two triple axels, two triple flips and a triple triple combination, elements that were not included in Orser's program.
With his win, Boitano became the first Olympic champion to land the full complement of six types of triple jumps. Boitano also appeared in Carmen on Ice, for which he won an Emmy. He performed with Champions on Ice for many years. He wanted to return to amateur competition and make another run at the Olympics.
In June 1993, the International Skating Union (ISU) introduced a clause, commonly known as the "Boitano rule," which allowed professionals to reinstate as "amateur" or "eligible" skaters. Many others joined Boitano, including Ukrainian Viktor Petrenko, 1988 bronze medalist and 1992 gold medalist. The ISU decision was the result of Boitano's active involvement during the early 1990s, when the International Olympic Committee lifted the remaining limits on athletes' remuneration. Previously, the committee had been accused of rejecting Western professionals, while allowing Eastern Bloc state-sponsored "amateurs" to compete. Boitano reinstated as an amateur to compete in the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway. He skated a good long program and finished 6th.
Boitano returned to the professional ranks afterward. In 1996 he was inducted into the World Figure Skating Hall of Fame and the United States Figure Skating Hall of Fame.
The Sochi games and Russia were the targets of criticism and LGBT activism because of a Russian anti-gay "propaganda" law passed in June 2013. In January 2014, Boitano told the Associated Press that he had never wanted to come out until he was named to the delegation.
Boitano's older brother, Mark Boitano, is a real estate agent and former politician. He served as a member of the New Mexico Senate from 1997 to 2013.
Celebrity and popular culture career
South Park song
A caricature of Boitano as a superhero appears as a semi-recurring character in the cartoon series South Park. The film South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut (1999) features a musical number titled "What Would Brian Boitano Do?". He was also featured in Jesus vs. Santa.
Food Network show
On August 23, 2009, Food Network debuted a new series entitled What Would Brian Boitano Make?, which borrows both its name and opening musical theme from the South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut song. The show features Boitano preparing meals for his friends. The series was picked up for a ten-episode second season.
Other television and film appearances
* Boitano starred, along with Katarina Witt and archrival Brian Orser, in the 1990 German dance film Carmen on Ice; Boitano played Don Jose. All three won an Emmy Award for "Outstanding performance in classical music/dance programming".
* Boitano had a cameo in the 2007 film Blades of Glory as a world skating federation judge.
* He and fellow figure skater Michelle Kwan had a cameo as themselves in the 2005 Disney film, Ice Princess, appearing as commentators during the Sectionals competition.
* He appeared on Giada at Home for one episode.
* He appeared as a guest judge on Top Chef Masters, Season 4 episode 3. The episode is titled "What would Brian Boitano Make?"
* He appeared on Fox Business Network's Stossel, episode "Spontaneous Order" (February 10, 2011).
* He appeared in an episode of Check, Please! Bay Area, a restaurant review program which airs on KQED-TV in San Francisco.
*He hosted a series on HGTV, called The Brian Boitano Project, which premiered January 16, 2014, in which he purchased a near derelict ancestral home in Northern Italy, home to many Boitanos. During the series he gives the home in Favale di Malvaro a sympathetic restoration/renovation and shops flea markets with two nieces to find decor and furnishings. Local artisans, carpenters, masons and painters create a gem where he can live part-time and host Boitanos from afar.
*Boitano appeared as a guest on Season 18 of the reality series ''Hell's Kitchen'', where he along with Gordon Ramsay and Traci Des Jardins co-judged the team challenge in the episode "Hell Freezes Over".
Programs
{|class"wikitable" style"text-align:center"
|-
! Season
! Short program
! Free skating
! Exhibition
|-
! 1993–1994
| Carousel Waltz<br><small>Richard Rodgers</small>
| Appalachian Spring/Lincoln Portrait <br><small>by Aaron Copland</small>
| Elegy For Harp And Strings<br><small>Lee Holdridge</small>
|-
! 1987–1988
| Les Patineurs <br><small>(Meyerbeer)</small>
| Silent movie Napoleon <br><small>(Carmine Coppola / Francis Ford Coppola)</small>
| Adventures of Don Juan <br><small>from the Errol Flynn movie</small> <br> Parlami d'amore Mariu (Italian love song)
|}
Results
{| class"wikitable" style"text-align:center"
|-
! style"background-color: #ffdead; " colspan13 align=center | International
|-
! Event
!
! 78–79
! 79–80
! 80–81
! 81–82
! 82–83
! 83–84
! 84–85
! 85–86
! 86–87
! 87–88
! 93–94
|-
| alignleft | Olympics || || || || || || || 5th || || || || bgcolorgold | 1st || 6th
|-
| alignleft | Worlds || || || || || || 7th || 6th || bgcolorcc9966 | 3rd || bgcolorgold | 1st || bgcolorsilver | 2nd || bgcolor=gold | 1st ||
|-
| alignleft | Skate America || || || || || bgcolorcc9966 | 3rd || || bgcolorgold | 1st || || bgcolorsilver | 2nd || bgcolorgold | 1st || || bgcolorsilver | 2nd
|-
| alignleft | Skate Canada || || || || || || bgcolorgold | 1st || || || || || bgcolor=silver | 2nd ||
|-
| alignleft | NHK Trophy || || || || || || || || bgcolorcc9966 | 3rd || bgcolor=gold | 1st || || ||
|-
| alignleft | St. Ivel || || || || || || || || bgcolorgold | 1st || || || ||
|-
| alignleft | Nebelhorn || || || bgcolorcc9966 | 3rd || || || || || || || || ||
|-
| alignleft | St. Gervais || || || bgcolorcc9966 | 3rd || || || || || || || || ||
|-
! style"background-color: #ffdead; " colspan13 align=center | International: Junior
|-
| alignleft | Junior Worlds || bgcolorcc9966 | 3rd || || || || || || || || || || ||
|-
! style"background-color: #ffdead; " colspan13 align=center | National
|-
| alignleft | U.S. Champ. || bgcolorgold | 1st J || 8th || 5th || bgcolord1c571 | 4th || bgcolord1c571 | 4th || bgcolorsilver | 2nd || bgcolorsilver | 2nd || bgcolorgold | 1st || bgcolorgold | 1st || bgcolorgold | 1st || bgcolorgold | 1st || bgcolor=silver | 2nd
|}
References
Further reading
*
*
*Beisteiner, Johanna: Art music in figure skating, synchronized swimming and rhythmic gymnastics / Kunstmusik in Eiskunstlauf, Synchronschwimmen und rhythmischer Gymnastik. PhD thesis by Johanna Beisteiner, Vienna 2005, (German). The PhD thesis contains an extensive description and analysis of Carmen on Ice (Chapter II/2, pages 105–162). [https://web.archive.org/web/20120112202551/http://aleph20-prod-acc.obvsg.at/F?funcfind-b&find_codeIDN&local_baseacc01&requestAC05031512 Article about the PhD thesis] of Johanna Beisteiner in the catalogue of the Austrian Library Network. 2005. (German and English)
Bibliography
*
* External links
*
*
*
* [http://americanhistory.si.edu/sports/exhibit/olympians/boitano/index.cfm/ Brian Boitano's Gold-Medal Skates at the National Museum of American History]
Category:1963 births
Category:American male single skaters
Category:American male writers
Category:American writers of Italian descent
Category:Figure skaters at the 1984 Winter Olympics
Category:Figure skaters at the 1988 Winter Olympics
Category:Figure skaters at the 1994 Winter Olympics
Category:Figure skating commentators
Category:Food Network chefs
Category:LGBTQ figure skaters
Category:LGBTQ people from the San Francisco Bay Area
Category:American gay sportsmen
Category:Living people
Category:Olympic figure skaters for the United States
Category:Olympic gold medalists for the United States in figure skating
Category:Sportspeople from Mountain View, California
Category:World Figure Skating Championships medalists
Category:World Junior Figure Skating Championships medalists
Category:Medalists at the 1988 Winter Olympics
Category:21st-century American LGBTQ people
Category:20th-century American sportsmen
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Boitano
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4633
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List of political scandals in the United Kingdom
|
This is a list of political scandals in the United Kingdom in chronological order. Scandals implicating political figures or governments of the UK, often reported in the mass media, have long had repercussions for their popularity. Issues in political scandals have included alleged or proven financial and sexual matters, or various other allegations or actions taken by politicians that led to controversy. In British media and political discourse, such scandals have sometimes been referred to as political sleaze since the 1990s. in which the Liberal Party MP Jabez Balfour was exposed as running several fraudulent companies to conceal financial losses. Balfour fled to Argentina, but was eventually arrested and imprisoned.
1910s
Marconi scandal of insider trading by Liberal Party Ministers including:
Rufus Isaacs, 1st Marquess of Reading, the Attorney General
The Master of Elibank, Lord Murray, the Treasurer of the Liberal Party,
David Lloyd George, 1st Earl Lloyd-George of Dwyfor, the Chancellor of the Exchequer
Herbert Samuel, 1st Viscount Samuel, Postmaster General; was falsely implicated. (1912)
Shell Crisis of 1915, which led to the fall of H. H. Asquith's Liberal Party government during World War I.
1920s
Lloyd George and the honours scandal. Honours sold for large campaign contributions (1922)
Zinoviev Letter (1924)
1930s
Jimmy Thomas budget leak (1936)
1940s
Hugh Dalton budget leak (1947)
John Belcher corruptly influenced – led to Lynskey Tribunal
1950s
British Malayan headhunting scandal (1952). Involved generals, politicians, and activists, sparked by the Daily Worker's leaked photos of war crimes (notably headhunting) committed by British troops during the Malayan Emergency.
Crichel Down and the resignation of Thomas Dugdale (1954)
Suez Crisis (1956)
1960s
Vassall affair (1963): civil servant John Vassall, working for Minister Tam Galbraith, was revealed to be a spy for the Soviet Union and was arrested. The affair was investigated in the Vassall tribunal.
Profumo affair (1963): Secretary of State for War John Profumo had an affair with Christine Keeler (to whom he had been introduced by artist Stephen Ward) who was having an affair with a Soviet spy at the same time.
The Robert Boothby (Tory), Tom Driberg (Labour), Kray brothers affair and consequent cover-up involving senior politicians of both parties. The Daily Mirror published some details of the matter and was falsely sued for libel.
1970s
Corrupt architect John Poulson and links to Conservative Home Secretary Reginald Maudling, Labour council leader T. Dan Smith and others (1972–1974): Maudling resigned, Smith sentenced to imprisonment.
Earl Jellicoe and Lord Lambton sex scandal (1973): Conservatives, junior defence minister Lambton is arrested for using prostitutes and Cabinet minister Jellicoe also confesses.
Labour MP John Stonehouse's faked suicide (1974)
Harold Wilson's Prime Minister's Resignation Honours (known satirically as the "Lavender List") gives honours to a number of wealthy businessmen whose principles were considered antipathetic to those held by the Labour Party (May 1976)
Peter Jay's appointment as British Ambassador to the US by his father in law, the then Labour Prime Minister James Callaghan. At the time Jay was a journalist with little diplomatic experience. (1976)
"Rinkagate": the Thorpe affair. Liberal Party leader Jeremy Thorpe was arrested and tried for allegedly paying a hitman to murder his lover, model Norman Scott, while walking his dog on Exmoor; the hitman only shot the dog, Rinka. Thorpe was forced to resign due to his clandestine gay affairs, but was acquitted of conspiracy to murder.
1980s
Joseph Kagan, Baron Kagan, earlier ennobled by the Labour Prime Minister Harold Wilson's notorious Lavender List (1976), was convicted of fraud (1980)
Cecil Parkinson affair with secretary Sara Keays resulting in their child, Flora Keays (1983)
Al Yamamah contract alleged to have been obtained by bribery (1985)
Westland affair (1986): The Defence Secretary, Michael Heseltine, resigned from his Cabinet job in a disagreement with Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher over the Westland affair. Heseltine walked out of a meeting at Number 10 as his views on the future of the Westland helicopter company were being ignored at the time.
Jeffrey Archer and the prostitute allegations (1986), and his subsequent conviction for perjury (2001)
Westminster cemeteries scandal (1987)
Edwina Currie resigns as a junior Health minister after claiming that millions of British eggs were infected with salmonella, stating that "most of [British] egg production" was infected (1988)
"Homes for votes" gerrymandering scandal (1987–1989)
1990s
Arms-to-Iraq and the closely connected Iraqi Supergun affair (1990)
David Mellor resignation after press disclosure of his affair with Antonia de Sancha and gratis holiday from a daughter of a PLO official (1992)
Michael Mates gift of a watch ("Don't let the bastards grind you down") to Asil Nadir (1993)
Monklandsgate dominated the 1994 Monklands East by-election. It mainly consisted of allegations of sectarian spending discrepancies between Protestant Airdrie and Catholic Coatbridge, fuelled by the fact that all 17 of the ruling Labour group were Roman Catholics. (1994)
Back to Basics, a government policy slogan portrayed by opponents and the press as a morality campaign to compare it with a contemporaneous succession of sex scandals in John Major's government which led to the resignation of Tim Yeo and the Earl of Caithness, among others (1994)
Cash-for-questions affair involving Neil Hamilton, Tim Smith and Mohamed Al-Fayed (1994)
Jonathan Aitken and the Paris Ritz Hotel bill allegations, and his subsequent conviction for perjury after his failed libel action against The Guardian, resulting in Aitken being only the third person to have to resign from the Privy Council in the 20th century. (1995)
Conservative MP Jerry Hayes was "outed" as a homosexual by the News of the World with the headline "TORY MP 2-TIMED WIFE WITH UNDER-AGE GAY LOVER". Hayes had met Young Conservative Paul Stone at the 1991 Conservative conference and that same evening, "committed a lewd act which was in breach of the law at the time". Stone had been 18 at the time, whilst the legal age for homosexual sex in 1991 was 21. He had previously supported Section 28 and other anti-gay legislation. (1997)
Bernie Ecclestone was involved in a political scandal when it transpired he had given the Labour Party a million pound donation – which raised eyebrows when the incoming Labour government changed its policy to allow Formula One to continue being sponsored by tobacco manufacturers. The Labour Party returned the donation when the scandal came to light. (1997)
Peter Mandelson, Trade and Industry Secretary, resigned after failing to disclose £373,000 loan from Paymaster General Geoffrey Robinson. (1998)
Ron Davies resigned from the cabinet after being robbed by a man he met at Clapham Common (a well-known gay cruising ground) and then lying about it (1998)
2000s
Officegate (2001). Henry McLeish, Labour First Minister of Scotland, failed to refund the House of Commons for income he had received from the sub-let of his constituency office in Glenrothes while still a Westminster MP.
Keith Vaz, Peter Mandelson and the Hinduja brothers. Mandelson forced to resign for a second time due to misleading statements. (2001)
Jo Moore, within an hour of the September 11 attacks, sent an email to the press office of her department suggesting: "It's now a very good day to get out anything we want to bury. Councillors' expenses?" Although prior to the catastrophic collapse of the towers, the phrase "a good day to bury bad news" (not actually used by Moore) has since been used to refer to other instances of attempting to hide one item of news behind a more publicised issue.
Betsygate (2002), which revolved around the level of pay that Iain Duncan Smith's wife Elisabeth received as his diary secretary.
In 2002, Edwina Currie revealed that she had had an affair, beginning in 1984, with John Major before he became Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. This was criticised as Major had frequently pushed his Back To Basics agenda (see above), which was taken by the media as a form of moral absolutism.
The Burrell affair – allegations about the behaviour of the British royal family and their servants with possible constitutional implications. (2002)
Ron Davies stood down from the Welsh assembly following accusations of illicit gay sex. Davies had claimed he had been badger-watching in the area. (2003)
The apparent suicide of Dr. David Kelly and the Hutton Inquiry. On 17 July 2003, Kelly, an employee of the Ministry of Defence, apparently committed suicide after being misquoted by BBC journalist Andrew Gilligan as saying that Tony Blair's Labour government had knowingly "sexed up" the "September Dossier", a report into Iraq and weapons of mass destruction. The government was cleared of wrongdoing, while the BBC was strongly criticised by the subsequent inquiry, leading to the resignation of the BBC's chairman and director-general.
In April 2004, Beverly Hughes was forced to resign as minister for Immigration, Citizenship and Counter Terrorism when it was shown that she had been informed of procedural improprieties concerning the granting of visas to certain categories of workers from Eastern Europe. She had earlier told the House of Commons that if she had been aware of such facts she would have done something about it.
In 2005, David McLetchie, leader of the Scottish Conservatives, was forced to resign after claiming the highest taxi expenses of any MSP. These included personal journeys, journeys related solely with his second job as a solicitor, and Conservative Party business, for example travel to Conservative conferences. Conservative backbench MSP Brian Monteith had the whip withdrawn for briefing against his leader to the Scotland on Sunday newspaper.
Liberal Democrats Home Affairs spokesman Mark Oaten resigned after it was revealed by the News of the World that he paid rentboys to perform sexual acts on him.
David Mills financial allegations (2006). Tessa Jowell, Labour cabinet minister, was embroiled in a scandal about a property remortgage allegedly arranged to enable her husband, David Mills, to realise £350,000 from an off-shore hedge fund, money he allegedly received as a gift following testimony he had provided for Silvio Berlusconi in the 1990s. Nicknamed by the press as "Jowellgate".
Cash for Honours (2006). In March 2006 it emerged that the Labour Party had borrowed millions of pounds in 2005 to help fund their general election campaign. While not illegal, on 15 March the Treasurer of the party, Jack Dromey stated publicly that he had neither knowledge of nor involvement in these loans and had only become aware when he read about it in the newspapers. A story was running at the time that Dr Chai Patel and others had been recommended for life peerages after lending the Labour party money. He called on the Electoral Commission to investigate the issue of political parties taking out loans from non-commercial sources.
Following revelations about Dr Chai Patel and others who were recommended for peerages after lending the Labour party money, the Treasurer of the party, Jack Dromey said he had not been involved and did not know the party had secretly borrowed millions of pounds in 2005. He called on the Electoral Commission to investigate the issue of political parties taking out loans from non-commercial sources.
Angus McNeil (2007). The married SNP MP who made the initial police complaint over the cash for honours scandal was forced to make an apology after it was revealed that in 2005 he had a "heavy petting" session with two teenage girls aged 17 and 18 in a hotel room at the same time his wife was pregnant with their third child.
News of the World royal phone hacking scandal
In November 2007, it emerged that more than £400,000 had been accepted by the Labour Party from one person through a series of third parties, causing the Electoral Commission to seek an explanation. Peter Watt resigned as the General Secretary of the party the day after the story broke and was quoted as saying that he knew about the arrangement but had not appreciated that he had failed to comply with the reporting requirements.
On 24 January 2008, Peter Hain resigned his two cabinet posts (Secretary of State for Work and Pensions and Secretary of State for Wales) after the Electoral Commission referred donations to his Deputy Leadership campaign to the police.
Derek Conway (2008). The Conservative Party MP was found to have reclaimed salaries he had paid to his two sons who had in fact not carried out the work to the extent claimed. He was ordered to repay £16,918, suspended from the House of Commons for 10 days and removed from the party whip.
Cash for Influence (2009). Details of covertly recorded discussions with four Labour Party peers which their ability to influence legislation and the consultancy fees that they charged (including retainer payments of up to £120,000) were published by The Sunday Times.
United Kingdom parliamentary expenses scandal (2009). Widespread actual and alleged misuse of the permitted allowances and expenses claimed by Members of Parliament and attempts by MPs and peers to exempt themselves from Freedom of Information legislation.
2010s
2010
The Iris Robinson scandal in which First Minister of Northern Ireland Peter Robinson stepped aside for six weeks in January 2010 following revelations of his wife's involvement in an extramarital affair, her attempted suicide, and allegations that he had failed to properly declare details of loans she had procured for her lover to develop a business venture.
Red Sky scandal, involving contracts given to company Red Sky by the Northern Ireland Housing Executive.
The 2010 cash for influence scandal, in which undercover reporters for the Dispatches television series posed as political lobbyists offering to pay Members of Parliament to influence policy.
On 29 May 2010 Chief Secretary to the Treasury David Laws resigned from the Cabinet and was referred to the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards after The Daily Telegraph newspaper published details of Laws claiming around £40,000 in expenses on a second home owned by a secret partner between 2004 and 2009, whilst House of Commons rules have prevented MPs from claiming second home expenses on properties owned by a partner since 2006. By resigning Laws became the shortest serving Minister in modern British political history with less than 18 days' service as a Cabinet Minister.
2011
On 14 October 2011 Secretary of State for Defence Liam Fox resigned from the Cabinet after he "mistakenly allowed the distinction between [his] personal interest and [his] government activities to become blurred" over his friendship with Adam Werritty. (He again served as a cabinet minister under Theresa May.)
News International phone hacking scandal
The Ed Balls document leak was exposed by The Daily Telegraph and showed that shadow chancellor Ed Balls was involved in a supposed plot known as 'Project Volvo' to oust Tony Blair as leader and replace him with Gordon Brown shortly after the 2005 election.
2012
Conservative Party 'cash for access' scandal involving Peter Cruddas and Sarah Southern, March 2012.
In February 2012, Liberal Democrat MP Chris Huhne resigned from the Cabinet when he was charged with perverting the course of justice over a 2003 speeding case. His wife Vicky Pryce had claimed that she was driving the car, and accepted the licence penalty points on his behalf so that he could avoid being banned from driving. Huhne pleaded guilty at his trial, resigned as a member of parliament, and he and Pryce were sentenced to eight months in prison for perverting the course of justice.
In October 2012, Andrew Mitchell resigned from his post as Chief Whip following allegations made about his conduct during an altercation with police at Downing Street on 19 September, the incident becoming known as "plebgate".
2013
In the 2013 Labour Party Falkirk candidate selection, which began following the announcement that the incumbent MP Eric Joyce was to step down at the 2015 general election, allegations were made on the significant infiltration of the selection process by the Unite trade union, the Labour Party's largest financial backer.
2014
In April 2014 Maria Miller, the Culture Secretary, resigned following pressure relating to the results of an investigation into her past expenses claims.
On 20 November 2014 Emily Thornberry resigned her shadow cabinet position shortly after polls closed in the Rochester and Strood by-election. Earlier in the day, she had received criticism after tweeting a photograph of a house in the constituency adorned with three flags of St. George and the owner's white van parked outside on the driveway, under the caption "Image from #Rochester", provoking accusations of snobbery. She was criticised by fellow Labour Party MPs, including leader Ed Miliband who said her tweet conveyed a "sense of disrespect".
Namagate, involving allegations that First Minister of Northern Ireland Peter Robinson may have financially benefitted from a deal with National Asset Management Agency (NAMA).
2015
In September 2015, Lord Ashcroft published a biography of David Cameron, which suggested that the then Prime Minister took drugs regularly and performed an "outrageous initiation ceremony" which involved inserting "a private part of his anatomy" into the mouth of a dead pig during his time in university. This became known as "piggate". It also led to questions about the Prime Minister's honesty with party donors' known tax statuses as Lord Ashcroft suggested he had openly discussed his non-domiciled status with him in 2009, earlier than previously thought.
2017
In 2017 the contaminated blood scandal, in which many haemophiliacs died from infected Factor medicine, hit the headlines and Parliament with allegations of an "industrial scale" criminal cover-up. MP Ken Clarke retracted remarks from his autobiography relating to the scandal and a public inquiry is now underway.
The Renewable Heat Incentive scandal in Northern Ireland, in which Arlene Foster set up a green energy scheme but failed to introduce cost controls, creating perverse incentives which eventually led to a £480m bill to the Northern Ireland budget. There were allegations that members of the Democratic Unionist Party attempted to postpone the closure of the scheme, which gave way to a spike in applications and causing the public purse millions of pounds. In January 2017, the scandal caused the resignation of the deputy First Minister, Martin McGuinness, after Foster refused to stand aside as First Minister pending an investigation, collapsing the Executive Office and triggering an early election of the Northern Ireland Assembly. The resulting political rifts meant the Assembly did not meet again until 2020.
2018
The 2018 Windrush scandal, involving members of the Windrush generation being wrongly detained, deported, or threatened with deportation which caused the resignation of the then Home Secretary, Amber Rudd.
2020s
2020
The Dominic Cummings scandal, where Dominic Cummings, chief strategist of prime minister Boris Johnson, broke COVID-19 pandemic restrictions during the UK's first nationwide lockdown while experiencing symptoms of the disease. Cummings and Johnson rejected calls for the former to resign. It was suggested that the scandal undermined the public's compliance with pandemic restrictions.
The Alex Salmond scandal concerned how the Scottish Government, led by incumbent first minister of Scotland Nicola Sturgeon, breached its own guidelines in its investigation into the harassment claims against Sturgeon's predecessor as first minister, Alex Salmond. The Scottish Government lost a judicial review into their actions and had to pay over £500,000 to Salmond for legal expenses. Critics accused Sturgeon of breaking the ministerial code which resulted in calls for her resignation. Sturgeon disputed the allegations, arguing that while mistakes had been made, her government acted appropriately.
2021
The Greensill scandal, in which former prime minister David Cameron approached a number of government ministers on behalf of Greensill Capital to lobby for the company to receive Covid Corporate Financing Facility loans.
The Sun published pictures and then video of leaked CCTV footage from inside the Department of Health of health secretary Matt Hancock and Gina Coladangelo kissing in a breach of COVID-19 social distancing guidance. Boris Johnson accepted Matt Hancock's apology and stated that he "considers the matter closed", but Hancock resigned as health secretary the following day.
In November 2021, the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards found that Conservative MP Owen Paterson had broken paid advocacy rules, but instead of approving his suspension, the government enforced a three-line whip on Conservative MPs to pass a motion that the investigation was "clearly flawed". After an outcry from opposition parties, the government made a U-turn and Paterson resigned.
Partygate, involving social gatherings by Downing Street and Conservative Party staff during COVID-19 restrictions in late 2020.
2022
Neil Parish, Conservative MP for Tiverton and Honiton, was forced to resign in April after it was discovered that he had watched pornography in the House of Commons on at least two occasions.
Chris Pincher scandal: Chris Pincher, the deputy chief whip of the Conservative Party, resigned on 30 June following allegations about him groping two men. Further allegations of harassment emerged against Pincher, along with claims that prime minister Boris Johnson had already been informed of his behaviour. The incremental effect of this and other recent controversies led to the resignation of 59 Conservative politicians, including Rishi Sunak as chancellor and Sajid Javid as health secretary. This in turn led to Boris Johnson committing to resign as leader of the Conservative Party, and thus as prime minister when his replacement as leader had been chosen by his party.
2023
Michael Matheson iPad scandal: Scottish Health Secretary Michael Matheson incurred nearly £11,000 in roaming charges after taking a Scottish Parliamentary iPad on a family holiday to Morocco. When this was publicised, Matheson initially attempted to claim the charges as a parliamentary expense, but later admitted that the iPad had been used by his sons to stream football matches and agreed to personally pay back the full cost of the data roaming bill. Following an investigation by the Scottish Parliament Corporate Body, Matheson resigned as Health Secretary in February 2024. Matheson was subsequently banned from Holyrood for 27 days and had his salary withdrawn for 54 days, the heaviest sanction ever given to an MSP.
2024
In March 2024, The Guardian reported that Frank Hester, the largest ever donor to the Conservative Party, had made comments in a 2019 company meeting about the MP Diane Abbott. The paper reported that he said that looking at Abbott makes you "want to hate all black women" and that she "should be shot", as well as making comments about a female executive from another organisation, saying "it would be much better if she died", and about his own Asian female employees, saying "we take the piss out of the fact that all our Chinese girls sit together in Asian corner".
Election betting scandal: Following the scheduling of the 2024 general election for 4 July, it was discovered that Craig Williams, Parliamentary Private Secretary to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, had placed a £100 bet on the election being in July. Further investigation uncovered multiple similar bets made by Conservative Party members and MPs, including cabinet minister Alister Jack, as well as police officers on Sunak's protection detail. Both the Gambling Commission and the police investigated whether any criminal offences were committed by people involved in the scandal.
2025
Tulip Siddiq, City Minister and Economic Secretary to the Treasury, was implicated in corruption investigations into her aunt, the deposed Prime Minister of Bangladesh Sheikh Hasina. Siddiq was accused of helping her aunt to embezzle £3.9 billion during the construction of a nuclear power plant in 2013. She ultimately resigned on 14 January.
References
United Kingdom
Category:United Kingdom politics-related lists
Political scandals
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_political_scandals_in_the_United_Kingdom
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4635
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Bombardier Inc.
|
| S&P/TSX 60 component
}}
| industry = Aerospace
| foundation in Valcourt, Quebec, Canada
| founder = Joseph-Armand Bombardier
| location_city = Montreal, Quebec
| location_country = Canada
| area_served = Worldwide
| key_people =
| revenue =
| revenue_year = 2023
| operating_income =
| income_year = 2023
| net_income =
| net_income_year = 2023
| assets =
| assets_year = 2023
| equity = billion}}
| equity_year = 2023
| num_employees = 18,100
| num_employees_year = 2023
| divisions = Bombardier Defense
| homepage =
| footnotes Financials .<br />References: Headquartered in Montreal, the company was founded in 1942 by Joseph-Armand Bombardier to market his snowmobiles, and it later became one of the world's biggest producers of aircraft and trains.
During the 1970s and 1980s, the company diversified into public transport vehicles and commercial jets, and it became a multinational corporation. Bombardier grew particularly fast at the end of the 1980s, when the turnover multiplied sixfold within six years. At that time, it was North America's most important producer of railway vehicles, Canada's most important aerospace manufacturer and the worldwide leading snowmobile maker. The growth came mainly from buying failing government-owned companies at a low price and orchestrating a turnaround. With deliveries of 138 business jets in 2023, Bombardier was the number one manufacturer of business jets in the world.
Corporate affairs
The key trends of Bombardier are (as at the financial year ending December 31):
{| class"wikitable float-left" style"text-align: center;"
!Year
!Revenue (US$ bn)
!Net income (US$ m)
!Employees
!Refs
|-
|2018
|16.2
|318
|40,650
|
|-
|2019
|7.4
|–1,607
|24,350
|
|-
|2020
|6.4
|–568
|16,000
|
|-
|2021
|6.0
|5,070
|13,800
|
|-
|2022
|6.9
|–148
|15,900
|
|}
Divested lines of business
Commercial aviation
]]
In 1986, Bombardier acquired Canadair for C$120 million from the Government of Canada after it recorded the largest corporate loss in Canadian history.
In 1989, the company acquired Short Brothers.
By 1990, the first product of the company, the Ski-Doo snowmobile, had become its weakest part gaging up deficits and high inventories.
In 1995, the company founded Flexjet. In December 2013, the division was sold for $195 million.
(Airbus A220) in Swiss livery]]
On June 29, 2016, Bombardier delivered the first CSeries CS100 aircraft (now called the Airbus A220) to Swiss International Air Lines. Air Canada placed an order for the aircraft one day earlier.
In April 2016, Delta Air Lines placed an order for the aircraft. On September 26, 2017, after Boeing complained that Bombardier was selling the CS100 to Delta Air Lines below cost due to subsidies from the governments of Canada and Quebec, the United States Department of Commerce proposed a 219% tariff on the aircraft. Boeing's complaint stated that the CS100 planes were being sold at US$19.6 million each, below the US$33.2 million production cost. The governments of Canada and the United Kingdom threatened to stop ordering Boeing aircraft since the company was putting aerospace jobs at risk. On January 26, 2018, the United States International Trade Commission overturned the tariffs. Boeing did not appeal.
In July 2018, Airbus acquired a 50.01% stake in the CSeries for one Canadian dollar, with an option to acquire the remaining interest by 2024. Airbus built a second CSeries assembly line at its A320 assembly facility in Mobile, Alabama.
In November 2018, the company announced the sale of its turboprop passenger aircraft unit to an affiliate of Viking Air. It also announced 5,000 layoffs.
In March 2019, the company sold its Business Aircraft Training business to CAE Inc. for $645 million. The business included flight simulators and training devices for the Bombardier Learjet, Challenger, and Global product lines.
On June 25, 2019, Bombardier agreed with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries to sell the CRJ programme, a deal was expected to close in early 2020 subject to regulatory approval. Bombardier will retain the Mirabel assembly facility and produce the CRJ on behalf of Mitsubishi until the current order backlog is complete.
In October 2019, Bombardier announced the sale agreement of its remaining aerostructure division to US company Spirit AeroSystems. The division at time of sale involved component manufacture for new and after-market Bombardier group and Airbus group aircraft models, and also operated in aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul. Due to how the 2020 pandemic affected the industry, the agreement was renegotiated with the sale to Spirit concluded finally in October 2020. Bombardier's former aerostructures division purchased by Spirit consisted at time of sale of operations in Belfast, UK; Casablanca, Morocco; and Dallas, USA.
The 2019 to 2020 aerostructures division sell-off was described at the time as supporting Bombardier's "strategic decision to reposition itself as a pure-play business aircraft company".
Bombardier Capital
Bombardier Capital (BC), a subsidiary of Bombardier Inc., was formed during 1973 in Colchester, Vermont.
BC was involved in the secured financing of dealer inventories purchased from manufacturers and distributors of recreational and consumer products, especially Bombardier Recreational Products, in the United States, Canada and Europe. Their clients consisted of Sea-Doo and Ski-Doo dealers, as well as retailers in multiple industries, primarily manufactured housing, recreational boating and specialty and recreational vehicles. BC also provided a wide variety of domestic/international loans, asset management and leasing services for business aircraft and commercial/industrial products, including technology and telecommunication equipment.
That same year, BC began transitioning loan origination and servicing to Jacksonville, Florida.
BC ceased loan originations in 2001, then in 2005, BC sold their Inventory Finance Division to GE Commercial Finance before shutting down operations.MilitaryThe company acquired the rights to the Volkswagen Iltis in 1981. Production ceased in 1989.
When UTDC was acquired by Bombardier in 1991 several military products were added:
UTDC 24M32 - HLVW military trucks based on the Steyr 91 (Percheron)
* MLVW military trucks based on the M35 2-1/2 ton cargo truck
In 2003, the company sold its arms industry division in Canada. Military Aviation Services was sold to SPAR Aerospace. Land-based arms industry products made by Urban Transportation Development Corporation ceased operations.
Public transport bus in Ireland
In the late 1970s, in the Republic of Ireland, CIÉ (now Bus Éireann and Dublin Bus) commissioned a range of single and double-decker buses to be designed and produced.
CIÉ looked for partners to build these buses in Ireland, eventually finding two: Bombardier, and the United States–based General Automotive Corporation (GAC) from Ann Arbor, Michigan. The two companies formed a new company Bombardier Ireland Limited, 51% owned by Bombardier and 49% owned by GAC. In August 1983, Bombardier sold its shares to GAC, with the company renamed GAC Ireland Limited.
The prototypes were devised in Germany and production of 51 express coaches (KE type) and 366 double-decker buses (KD type) were assembled between 1980 and 1983 at a facility in Shannon, County Clare. They remained in service until 1997 and 2000, respectively. Some surviving examples are now exhibited at the National Transport Museum of Ireland at Howth Castle.Rail equipment
train arriving at D'Iberville station, September 2018]]
The company diversified into rail transport after the 1970s energy crisis reduced demand for snowmobiles.
In 1974, the company received its first order – to build MR-73 trains for Société de transport de Montréal for use on the Montreal Metro.
In 1975, the company acquired Montreal Locomotive Works. It was sold to General Electric in 1988.
In 1982, the company won a contract from New York's Metropolitan Transportation Authority to build 825 R62A cars for the New York City Subway for $663 million.
In 1985, the company ceased manufacturing locomotives and concentrated on producing passenger train rolling stock. It acquired a 45% stake in La Brugeoise et Nivelles (formerly BN Constructions Ferroviaires et Métalliques) based in Bruges in 1986, the assets of U.S. railcar manufacturers Budd Company and Pullman Company in 1987, and ANF Industrie based in Crespin, Nord, France in 1989. A series of acquisitions in the United Kingdom, Germany, Switzerland, Canada, and Mexico further increased operations.
In 1996, the company was selected as the lead developer for the Acela Express trains, the fastest trains in North America, in a $710 million contract. Problems with the trains resulted in lawsuits between the company and Amtrak.
In 2001, Bombardier acquired Adtranz (DaimlerChrysler Rail Systems), a manufacturer of trains which were widely used throughout Germany and Great Britain, becoming one of the largest manufacturers of railway rolling stock in the world. This division produced the Bombardier Turbostar.
In 2005, it launched the Bombardier Zefiro high-speed rail, with speeds of 200–380 kilometres per hour, for the Ministry of Railways (China).
On February 13, 2020, Alstom agreed to buy the Bombardier Transportation division for €7 billion. The acquisition deal was completed on January 29, 2021.
Bombardier Recreational Products
In January 1934, a blizzard prevented Joseph-Armand Bombardier from reaching the nearest hospital in time to save his two-year-old son, Yvon, who died from appendicitis complicated by peritonitis.
Bombardier was a mechanic who dreamed of building a vehicle that could "float on snow". They were used in rural Quebec to take children to school, carry freight, deliver mail, and as ambulances. In 1941, Bombardier opened a factory in Valcourt.
In 1942, ''L'Auto-Neige Bombardier Limitée'' ("Bombardier Snow Car Limited") was founded in Valcourt.
During World War II, the Government of Canada issued wartime rationing regulations. Bombardier customers had to prove that snowmobiles were essential to their livelihood in order to buy one. The company then shifted its focus to the arms industry.
In 1948, the Government of Quebec passed a law requiring all roads to be cleared of snow; Bombardier's sales fell by nearly half in one year. Armand Bombardier therefore decided to diversify his business, first by producing tracked snowplows sized specifically for use on municipal sidewalks, replacing horse-drawn vehicles, then by making all-terrain vehicles for the mining, petroleum, and forestry industries. against competitors Polaris Industries and Arctic Cat.
In 1963, Roski was created in Roxton Falls, Quebec as a manufacturer of composite parts for the Ski-Doo. In the 1960s, V-8 engines were added.
On February 18, 1964, J. Armand Bombardier died of cancer at age 56. Until then, he oversaw all areas of operation and controlled the research department, making all the drawings himself. The younger generation took over, led by Armand's sons and sons-in-law, reorganizing and decentralizing the company. The company adopted computer inventory, accounting, and billing. Distribution networks were improved and increased, and an incentive program was developed for sales staff. That year, a survey was mailed to Ski-Doo owners to find out how the product was being used. Germain Bombardier, who had been groomed by his father, took over the company upon his father's death in 1964. However, he quit and sold his shares in 1966 after a disagreement with other family members. Laurent Beaudoin, the son-in-law of the founder, then became president, a position he held until 1999.
In 1968, Clayton Jacobson II invented the jet ski and the company licensed his patents to create the Sea-Doo personal watercraft.
On January 23, 1969, the company became a public company, listing on the Montreal Exchange and the Toronto Stock Exchange. Also in 1971, Bombardier launched Operation SnoPlan, a program to promote snowmobile safety after a mounting death toll due to snowmobile accidents.
In the 1970s, the company began producing Can-Am motorcycles, which included Rotax engines.ReferencesFurther reading
* Hadekel, Peter. Silent Partners: Taxpayers and the Bankrolling of Bombardier. Toronto: Key Porter Books Limited, 2004. .
* MacDonald, Larry.The Bombardier Story: Planes, Trains and Snowmobiles. Toronto: J. Wiley & Sons, 2001. .
External links
*
* [http://digital.library.mcgill.ca/hrcorpreports/search/detail.php?ID=390 Bombardier Inc. Corporate Reports] – McGill University Library & Archives
Category:1942 establishments in Quebec
Bombardier
Category:Canadian brands
Category:Companies listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange
Category:Conglomerate companies of Canada
Category:Multinational companies headquartered in Canada
Category:S&P/TSX 60
Category:Truck manufacturers of Canada
Category:Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 1942
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Break key
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Pause}}
The Break key (or the symbol <big>⎉</big>) of a computer keyboard refers to breaking a telegraph circuit and originated with 19th century practice. In modern usage, the key has no well-defined purpose, but while this is the case, it can be used by software for miscellaneous tasks, such as to switch between multiple login sessions, to terminate a program, or to interrupt a modem connection.
Because the break function is usually combined with the pause function on one key since the introduction of the IBM Model M 101-key keyboard in 1985, the Break key is also called the Pause key. It can be used to pause some computer games.
History
A standard telegraph circuit connects all the keys, sounders and batteries in a single series loop. Thus the sounders actuate only when both keys are down (closed, also known as "marking" — after the ink marks made on paper tape by early printing telegraphs). So the receiving operator has to hold their key down or close a built-in shorting switch in order to let the other operator send. As a consequence, the receiving operator could interrupt the sending operator by opening their key, breaking the circuit and forcing it into a "spacing" condition. Both sounders stop responding to the sender's keying, alerting the sender (a physical break in the telegraph line would have the same effect).
The teleprinter operated in a very similar fashion except that the sending station kept the loop closed (logic 1, or "marking") even during short pauses between characters. Holding down a special "break" key opened the loop, forcing it into a continuous logic 0, or "spacing", condition. When this occurred, the teleprinter mechanisms continually actuated without printing anything, as the all-0s character is the non-printing NUL in both Baudot and ASCII. The resulting noise got the sending operator's attention.
This practice carried over to teleprinter use on time-sharing computers. A continuous spacing (logical 0) condition violates the rule that every valid character has to end with one or more logic 1 (marking) "stop" bits. The computer (specifically the UART) recognized this as a special "break" condition and generated an interrupt that typically stopped a running program or forced the operating system to prompt for a login. Although asynchronous serial telegraphy is now rare, the key once used with terminal emulators can still be used by software for similar purposes.
Sinclair
On the ZX80 and ZX81 computers, the Break is accessed by pressing . On the ZX Spectrum it is accessed by . The Spectrum+ and later computers have a dedicated key. It does not trigger an interrupt but will halt any running BASIC program, or terminate the loading or saving of data to cassette tape. An interrupted BASIC program can usually be resumed with the <code>CONTINUE</code> command. The Sinclair QL computer, without a key, maps the function to .
BBC Micro
On a BBC Micro computer, the key generates a hardware reset which would normally cause a warm restart of the computer. A cold restart is triggered by pressing . If a filing system is installed, will cause the computer to search for and load or run a file called <code>!Boot</code> on the filing system's default device (e.g. floppy disk 0, network user BOOT). The latter two behaviours were inherited by the successor to Acorn MOS, RISC OS. These behaviours could be changed or exchanged in software, and were often used in rudimentary anti-piracy techniques.
Because of the BBC Micro's near universal usage in British schools, later versions of the machine incorporated a physical lock on the Break key to stop children from intentionally resetting the computer.
Modern keyboards
On many modern PCs, interrupts screen output by BIOS until another key is pressed. This is effective during boot in text mode and in a DOS box in Windows safe mode with 50 lines. On early keyboards without a key (before the introduction of 101/102-key keyboards) the Pause function was assigned to , and the Break function to ; these key-combinations still work with most programs, even on modern PCs with modern keyboards. Pressing the dedicated key on 101/102-key keyboards sends the same scancodes as pressing , then , then releasing them in the reverse order would do; additionally, an E1<sub>hex</sub> prefix is sent, which enables 101/102-key-aware software to discern the two situations, while older software usually just ignores the prefix. The key is different from all other keys in that it sends no scancodes at all on release in PS/2 modes 1 or 2, so it is impossible to determine whether this key is being held down with older devices. In PS/2 mode 3 or USB HID mode, there is a release scancode, so it is possible to determine whether this key is being held down on modern computers.
On modern keyboards, the key is usually labeled Pause with Break below, sometimes separated by a line: }}, or Pause on the top of the keycap and Break on the front, or only Pause without Break at all. In most Windows environments, the key combination brings up the system properties.
Keyboards without Break key
Compact and notebook keyboards often do not have a dedicated key.
Substitutes for :
* or or on certain Lenovo laptops.
* or on certain Dell laptops.
* on some other Dell laptops. Although these two are often considered interchangeable, compilers and execution environments usually assign different signals to these. Additionally, in some kernels (e.g. miscellaneous DOS variants) is detected only at the time OS tries reading from a keyboard buffer and only if it's the only key sequence in the buffer, while is often translated instantly (e.g. by INT 1Bh under DOS). Because of this, is usually a more effective choice under these operating systems; sensitivity for these two combinations can be enhanced by the <code>BREAKON</code> CONFIG.SYS statement.
See also
*System request
*Scroll lock
*Num lock
References
External links
*
Category:Computer keys
Category:Out-of-band management
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Bogie
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Bogey}}
A bogie ( )<!-- Sound does not work. --> (or truck in North American English) comprises two or more wheelsets (two wheels on an axle), in a frame, attached under a vehicle by a pivot. Bogies take various forms in various modes of transport. A bogie may remain normally attached (as on many railroad cars and semi-trailers) or be quickly detachable (as for a dolly in a road train or in railway bogie exchange). It may include suspension components within it (as most rail and trucking bogies do), or be solid and in turn be suspended (as are most bogies of tracked vehicles). It may be mounted on a swivel, as traditionally on a railway carriage or locomotive, additionally jointed and sprung (as in the landing gear of an airliner), or held in place by other means (centreless bogies).
Although bogie is the preferred spelling and first-listed variant in various dictionaries, bogey and bogy are also used. In South Africa, the term bogie is often alternatively used to refer to a freight or goods wagon (shortened from bogie wagon).
]]
A locomotive with a bogie was built by engineer William Chapman in 1812. It hauled itself along by chains and was not successful, but Chapman built a more successful locomotive with two gear-driven bogies in 1814. The bogie was first used in America for wagons on the Quincy Granite Railroad in 1829. The first successful locomotive with a bogie to guide the locomotive into curves while also supporting the smokebox was built by John B. Jervis in 1831. The concept took decades before it was widely accepted but eventually became a component of the vast majority of mainline locomotive designs. The first use of bogie coaches in Britain was in 1872 by the Festiniog Railway. The first standard gauge British railway to build coaches with bogies, instead of rigidly mounted axles, was the Midland Railway in 1874.
Purpose
to more closely follow the direction of the rails when travelling around a curve in the railroad.]]
Bogies serve a number of purposes:
* Support of the rail vehicle body
* Stability on both straight and curved track
* Improve ride quality by absorbing vibration and minimizing the impact of centrifugal forces when the train runs on curves at high speed
* Minimizing generation of track irregularities and rail abrasion
Usually, two bogies are fitted to each carriage, wagon or locomotive, one at each end. Another configuration is often used in articulated vehicles, which places the bogies (often Jacobs bogies) under the connection between the carriages or wagons.
Most bogies have two axles, The journal boxes house plain bearings.]]
Key components of a bogie include: Steam On a steam locomotive, the leading and trailing wheels may be mounted on bogies like Bissel trucks (also known as pony trucks). Articulated locomotives (e.g. Fairlie, Garratt or Mallet locomotives) have power bogies similar to those on diesel and electric locomotives. Rollbock
A rollbock is a specialized type of bogie that is inserted under the wheels of a rail wagon/car, usually to convert for another track gauge. Transporter wagons carry the same concept to the level of a flatcar specialized to take other cars as its load.
Archbar bogies
In archbar or diamond frame bogies, the side frames are fabricated rather than cast.
<gallery mode"packed" heights"160px" caption="Archbar bogie pool">
File:Oigawa-Archbar-Truck.jpg|Japanese archbar bogie with axleboxes
File:Diamond Frame bogie (elliptical).jpg|Diamond frame bogie, elliptical springs and American style journal boxes
File:Diamond Frame bogie (coil).JPG|Diamond frame bogie, coil springs and journal boxes
File:archbar ACL143.JPG |Archbar bogie with journal bearings in American style journal boxes, as used on some steam locomotive tenders. Archbar bogies (trucks) were also used on freight cars.
</gallery>
Tramway
Modern
K-Car bogie]]
Tram bogies are much simpler in design because of their axle load, and the tighter curves found on tramways mean tram bogies almost never have more than two axles. Furthermore, some tramways have steeper gradients and vertical as well as horizontal curves, which means tram bogies often need to pivot on the horizontal axis, as well.
Some articulated trams have bogies located under articulations, a setup referred to as a Jacobs bogie. Often, low-floor trams are fitted with nonpivoting bogies; many tramway enthusiasts see this as a retrograde step, as it leads to more wear of both track and wheels and also significantly reduces the speed at which a tram can round a curve.
Historic
In the past, many different types of bogie (truck) have been used under tramcars (e.g. Brill, Peckham, maximum traction). A maximum traction truck has one driving axle with large wheels and one nondriving axle with smaller wheels. The bogie pivot is located off-centre, so more than half the weight rests on the driving axle.
Hybrid systems
of the pneumatic bogie system of an MP 89 carriage used on the Meteor metro, showing the two special wheelsets
Variable gauge axles
To overcome breaks of gauge some bogies are being fitted with variable gauge axles (VGA) so that they can operate on two different gauges. These include the SUW 2000 system from ZNTK Poznań.
Radial steering truck
Radial-steering trucks, also known as radial bogies, allow the individual axles to align with curves in addition to the bogie frame as a whole pivoting. For non-radial bogies, the more axles in the assembly, the more difficulty it has negotiating curves, due to wheel flange to rail friction. For radial bogies, the wheel sets actively steer through curves, thus reducing wear at the wheel's flange-to-rail interface and improving adhesion.
In the US, radial steering has been implemented in EMD and GE locomotives. The EMD version, designated HTCR, was made standard equipment for the SD70 series, first sold in 1993. The HTCR in operation had mixed results and relatively high purchase and maintenance costs. EMD subsequently introduced the HTSC truck, essentially the HTCR stripped of radial components. GE introduced their version in 1995 as a buyer option for the AC4400CW and later Evolution Series locomotives. However, it also met with limited acceptance because of its relatively high purchase and maintenance costs, and customers have generally chosen GE Hi-Ad standard trucks for newer and rebuilt locomotives.
<gallery mode"packed" heights"150">
File:CP9112 SD90MAC.jpg|EMD HTCR radial steering trucks on an EMD SD9043MAC
File:FSRR 01.jpg|GE radial steering trucks on a GE AC4400CW
</gallery>
broad-gauge passenger car in South Australia, one of six fitted with Cleminson self-steering axles; pictured in 1890, ten years after their purchase]]
A 19th century configuration of self-steering axles on rolling stock established the principle of radial steering. The Cleminson system involved three axles, each mounted on a frame that had a central pivot; the central axle could slide transversely. The three axles were connected by linkages that kept them parallel on the straight and moved the end ones radially on a curve, so that all three axles were continually at right angles to the rails. The configuration, invented by British engineer John James Davidge Cleminson, was first granted a patent in the UK in 1883. The system was widely used on British narrow-gauge rolling stock, such as on the Isle of Man and Manx Northern Railways. The Holdfast Bay Railway Company in South Australia, which later became the Glenelg Railway Company, purchased Cleminson-configured carriages in 1880 from the American Gilbert & Bush Company for its broad-gauge line. Articulated bogie
Siemens Desiro VT642]]
An articulated bogie (aka Jakob-type) is any one of a number of bogie designs that reduce weight, increase passenger comfort, and allow railway equipment to safely turn sharp corners, while reducing or eliminating the "screeching" normally associated with metal wheels rounding a bend in the rails. There are a number of such designs, and the term is also applied to train sets that incorporate articulation in the vehicle, as opposed to the bogies themselves.
If one considers a single bogie "up close", it resembles a small rail car with axles at either end. The same effect that causes the bogies to rub against the rails at longer radius causes each of the pairs of wheels to rub on the rails and cause the screeching. Articulated bogies add a second pivot point between the two axles (wheelsets) to allow them to rotate to the correct angle even in these cases.
Articulated lorries (tractor-trailers)
<!-- This section has nothing to do with locomotives or other railroad cars and no such article should be redirected to this section -->
In trucking, a bogie is the subassembly of axles and wheels that supports a semi-trailer, whether permanently attached to the frame (as on a single trailer) or making up the dolly that can be hitched and unhitched as needed when hitching up a second or third semi-trailer (as when pulling doubles or triples).
Tracked vehicles
Some tanks and other tracked vehicles have bogies as external suspension components (see armoured fighting vehicle suspension). This type of bogie usually has two or more road wheels and some type of sprung suspension to smooth the ride across rough terrain. Bogie suspensions keep much of their components on the outside of the vehicle, saving internal space. Although vulnerable to antitank fire, they can often be repaired or replaced in the field.
Aircraft bogies
See also
Articles on bogies and trucks
* Arnoux system
* Bissel bogie
* Blomberg B
* Gölsdorf axle
* Jacobs bogie
* Krauss-Helmholtz bogie
* Lateral motion device
* Mason Bogie
* Pony truck
* Rocker-bogie
* Scheffel bogie
* Schwartzkopff-Eckhardt bogie
* Syntegra
Related topics
* Caster
* Dolly
* Flange
* List of railroad truck parts
* Luttermöller axle
* Road–rail vehicle
* Skateboard truck
* Spring (device)
* Timmis system, an early form of coil spring used on railway axles.
* Trailing wheel
* Wheel arrangement
* Wheelbase
* Wheelset
References
Further reading
* External links
*
*[http://www.infovisual.info/05/050_en.html Truck (bogie) with tyres]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20060823034931/http://www.rtu.mmu.ac.uk/pubs/Iwnicki%20Grassie%20Kik%20-%20Track%20Settlement%20prediction%20using%20computer%20simulation%20tools.pdf Track modelling]
*[http://www.railway-technical.com/trains/rolling-stock-index-l/bogies.html Bogies/Trucks]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20160304045504/http://www.sctco.com/pdf/sect_1.pdf Barber truck parts]
* [https://www.wheel-rail-seminars.com/archives/2015/pc-papers/PC-06%20May19PrinciplesCourse_7.pdf Suspension systems]
* [https://rskr.irimee.in/sites/default/files/Locomotive%E2%80%99s%20bogies.pdf Locomotive’s Bogies & Components]
Category:Locomotive parts
Category:Rail technologies
Category:Vehicle technology
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British Steel (1967–1999)
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| defunct
| location | industry Steel
| key_people | products
| num_employees | parent
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}}
British Steel was a major British steel producer. It originated from the nationalised British Steel Corporation (BSC), formed in 1967, which was privatised as a public limited company, British Steel plc, in 1988. It was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. The company merged with Koninklijke Hoogovens to form Corus Group in 1999.
History
Alasdair M. Blair (1997), Professor of International Relations and Head of the Department of Politics and Public Policy at De Montfort University, has explored the history of British Steel since the Second World War to evaluate the impact of government intervention in a market economy. He suggests that entrepreneurship was lacking in the 1940s; the government could not persuade the industry to upgrade its plants. For generations, the industry had followed a piecemeal growth pattern that proved relatively inefficient in the face of world competition.
The Labour Party came to power at the 1945 general election, pledging to bring several industries into state ownership. In 1946, it put the first steel development plan into practice with the aim of increasing capacity. It passed the Iron and Steel Act 1949, which meant nationalisation of the industry, as the government bought out the shareholders, and created the Iron and Steel Corporation of Great Britain. American Marshall Plan aid in 1948–50 reinforced modernisation efforts and provided funding for them. However, the nationalisation was reversed by the Conservative government after 1952.
The industry was re-nationalised in 1967 under another Labour government, becoming British Steel Corporation (BSC). But by then, 20 years of political manipulation had left companies, such as British Steel, with serious problems: a complacency with existing equipment, plants operating below full capacity (hence the low efficiency), poor-quality assets, outdated technology, government price controls, higher coal and oil costs, lack of funds for capital improvement, and increasing competition on the world market.
By the 1970s, the Labour government's main goal for the declining industry was to keep employment high. Since British Steel was a major employer in depressed regions, it was decided to keep many mills and facilities operating at a loss. In the 1980s, Conservative Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher re-privatised BSC as British Steel. Under private control, the company dramatically cut its workforce and underwent a radical reorganisation and massive capital investment to again become competitive in the world marketplace. Nationalisation BSC was formed from the assets of former private companies which had been nationalised, largely under the Labour government of Harold Wilson, on 28 July 1967. Wilson's was the second attempt at nationalisation; the post-war government of Clement Attlee had created the Iron and Steel Corporation of Great Britain in 1951 taking public ownership of 80 companies but this had been largely reversed by the following Conservative governments of the 1950s with only Britain's largest steel company, Richard Thomas and Baldwins, remaining in public ownership.
Works, formerly South Durham Steel & Iron Company, in 1970]]
BSC was established under the Iron and Steel Act 1967, which vested in the Corporation the shares of the fourteen major UK-based steel companies then in operation, being:
*David Colville & Sons;
*Consett Iron Company Ltd;
*Dorman Long & Company Ltd;
*English Steel Corporation Ltd;
*GKN Steel Company Ltd;
*John Summers & Sons Ltd;
*The Lancashire Steel Corporation Ltd;
*The Park Gate Iron and Steel Company Ltd;
*Richard Thomas and Baldwins Ltd;
*Round Oak Steelworks Ltd;
*South Durham Steel & Iron Company Ltd;
*The Steel Company of Wales Ltd;
*Stewarts & Lloyds, Ltd; and
*The United Steel Companies Ltd.
At the time of its formation, BSC comprised around ninety per cent of the UK's steelmaking capacity; it had around 268,500 employees and around 200 wholly or partly-owned subsidiaries based in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Africa, South Asia, and South America.
Dorman Long, South Durham and Stewarts and Lloyds had merged as British Steel and Tube Ltd before vesting took place. BSC later arranged an exchange deal with Guest, Keen and Nettlefolds Ltd (GKN), the parent company of GKN Steel, under which BSC acquired Dowlais Ironworks at Merthyr Tydfil and GKN took over BSC's Brymbo Steelworks near Wrexham.
Restructuring
According to Blair (1997), British Steel faced serious problems at the time of its formation, including obsolescent plants; plants operating under capacity and thus at low efficiency; outdated technology; price controls that reduced marketing flexibility; soaring coal and oil costs; lack of capital investment funds; and increasing competition on the world market. By the 1970s, the government adopted a policy of keeping employment high in the declining industry. This especially impacted BSC since it was a major employer in a number of depressed regions.
* In Wales, works at East Moors (Cardiff) closed in 1978.
*Shotton closure of the heavy end with the loss of over 6,000 jobs.
* In Scotland, Western Europe's largest hot strip steel mill Ravenscraig steelworks, near Motherwell, North Lanarkshire, was closed by British Steel in 1992, leading to high levels of unemployment in the area. It also led to the closure of several local support and satellite businesses, such as the nearby British Steel Clydesdale Works in Mossend, Clyde Alloy in Netherton and equipment maker Anderson Strathclyde. Demolition of the site's landmark blue gasometer in 1996, and the subsequent cleanup operation, has created the largest brownfield site in Europe. This huge area between Motherwell and Wishaw is in line to be transformed into the new town of Ravenscraig, a project partly funded by Corus.
Privatisation
The Conservative manifesto for the 1987 general election noted that "British Steel has more than doubled its productivity since 1979 and made a profit last year for the first time in over ten years."
Following Margaret Thatcher's re-election, on 3 December 1987 the Conservative government formally announced in a statement by Kenneth Clarke, Minister of State for Trade and Industry, that it intended to privatise the British Steel Corporation.
On 5 September 1988 the assets, rights and liabilities of British Steel Corporation were transferred to British Steel plc, registered under the Companies Act as company number 2280000, by the British Steel Act 1988.
The government retained a special share which carried no voting rights but until 31 December 1993, permitted the government to stop any one party controlling more than 15% of the shares.
British Steel employees were given a free allocation of shares, and offered two free shares for each they purchased up to £165, discounted shares up to £2,200, and priority on applying for shares up to £10,000.
Post-privatisation
The privatised company later merged with the Dutch steel producer Koninklijke Hoogovens to form Corus Group on 6 October 1999. Corus itself was taken over in March 2007 by the Indian steel operator Tata Steel. Chairmen
*Lord Melchett (1967–1973)
*Monty Finniston (1973–1976)
*Charles Villiers (1976–1980)
*Ian MacGregor (1980–1983)
*Robert Haslam (1983–1986)
*Robert Scholey (1986–1992)
*Sir Brian Moffat (1992–1999)
Ian MacGregor later became famous for his role as Chairman of the National Coal Board during the UK miners' strike (1984–1985). During the strike the "Battle of Orgreave" took place at British Steel's coking plant.
Sponsorships
In 1971 British Steel sponsored Sir Chay Blyth in his record-making non-stop circumnavigation against the winds and currents, known as 'The Impossible Voyage'. In 1992 they sponsored the British Steel Challenge, the first of a series of 'wrong way' races for amateur crews.
British Steel had agreed a sponsorship deal with Middlesbrough Football Club during the 1994–95 season, with a view to British Steel-sponsored Middlesbrough shirts making their appearance the following season. But the sponsorship deal was terminated before it commenced after it was revealed that British steel only made up a tiny fraction of steel used in construction of the stadium, and that the bulk of the steel had been imported from Germany.
In popular culture
The English rock band XTC mentioned British Steel in their 1979 song Making Plans for Nigel.
The heavy metal band Judas Priest named their 1980 album British Steel after the British Steel Corporation. Lead singer Rob Halford explained in an interview that the 'sounds of heavy metal' have been with him since childhood, due to the close proximity of the BSC plant where he grew up.
See also
* British Iron and Steel Research Association
References
Bibliography
*
Further reading
* [https://archive.org/details/jones-worker-directors-speak Bank, John, and Jones, Ken, Worker Directors Speak: The British Steel Corporation Employee Directors (Gower Press, Farnborough, 1977)]
* , on nationalization 1945–50, pp 183–235
*Dudley, G. F., and J. J. Richardson, eds. Politics and Steel in Britain, 1967–1988: The Life and Times of the British Steel Corporation (1990)
*[https://archive.org/details/jones-human-face-of-change Jones, Ken. The Human Face of Change: Social Responsibility and Rationalization at British Steel (Institute of Personnel Management, London, 1974)]
*Rhodes, Martin; Wright, Vincent. "The European Steel Unions and the Steel Crisis, 1974–84: A Study in the Demise of Traditional Unionism," British Journal of Political Science, April 1988, Vol. 18 Issue 2, pp 171–195 [https://www.jstor.org/stable/193906 in JSTOR]
*Scheuerman, William. The Steel Crisis: The Economics and Politics of a Declining Industry (1986)
External links
*, 1988 Competition Commission report
*, 1990 Competition Commission report
*
*[https://mrc.epexio.com/records/BSC Catalogue of the BSC archives], held at the Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick
*[https://mrc.epexio.com/records/STO Catalogue of the BSC Department of Operational Research archives], held at the Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick
Category:Steel companies of the United Kingdom
Category:Defunct companies of the United Kingdom
Category:Former nationalised industries of the United Kingdom
Category:British companies established in 1967
Category:Manufacturing companies established in 1967
Category:Manufacturing companies disestablished in 1999
Category:1967 establishments in England
Category:1999 disestablishments in England
Category:Companies formerly listed on the London Stock Exchange
Category:British companies disestablished in 1999
Category:1999 mergers and acquisitions
Category:Tata Steel Europe
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BT Group
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|FTSE 100 Component}}
| industry = Telecommunications
| predecessor =
| founded <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />
| defunct <!-- -->
| hq_location = One Braham
| hq_location_city = London
| hq_location_country = England, UK
| area_served = Worldwide
| key_people =
| products =
| brands | services
| revenue £20.835 billion (2024)}}
| revenue_year | operating_income £3.201 billion (2024)|Deutsche Telekom (12%)|Carlos Slim (3.2%)}}
| num_employees 98,800 (2023)
BT's origins date back to the founding in 1846 of the Electric Telegraph Company, the world's first public telegraph company, which developed a nationwide communications network. BT Group as it came to be started in 1912, when the General Post Office, a government department, took over the system of the National Telephone Company becoming the monopoly telecoms supplier in the United Kingdom. The Post Office Act of 1969 led to the GPO becoming a public corporation, Post Office Telecommunications. The British Telecom brand was introduced in 1980, and became independent of the Post Office in 1981, officially trading under the name. British Telecom was privatised in 1984, becoming British Telecommunications plc, with some 50 percent of its shares sold to investors. The Government sold its remaining stake in further share sales in 1991 and 1993. BT holds a royal warrant and has a primary listing on the London Stock Exchange, and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index.
BT controls a number of large subsidiaries. Its BT Enterprise division supplies telecoms services to corporate and government customers worldwide, and its BT Consumer division supplies telephony, broadband, and subscription television services in the United Kingdom to around 18 million customers.
History
Electrical telegraphy
A number of privately owned electrical telegraph companies operated in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 1846 onwards. Among them were:
* Electric Telegraph Company, the world's first public telegraph company, which developed a nationwide communications network
* British and Irish Magnetic Telegraph Company
* British Telegraph Company
* London District Telegraph Company
* United Kingdom Telegraph Company
General Post Office
The Telegraph Act 1868 passed the control of all these to the Postal Telegraphs Department of the newly formed General Post Office (GPO). The Telegraph Act 1869 granted the GPO a monopoly over communications.
With the invention of the telephone by Alexander Graham Bell in 1876 the GPO began to provide telephone services from some of its telegraph exchanges. It was confirmed in 1880 that the 1869 Act included telephony even though the telephone had not been invented when the Act was first conceived. In 1882, the Postmaster-General, Henry Fawcett started to issue licences to operate a telephone service to private businesses and the telephone system grew under the GPO in some areas and private ownership in others. The GPO's main competitor, the National Telephone Company (NTC), emerged in this market by absorbing other private telephone companies. It controlled most of telephony in Britain before the 1880 ruling on the Telegraph Act 1869 mandated a nationalised service – which was instated in 1911 prior to the absorption of the NTC into the GPO in 1912.
The trunk network was unified under GPO control in 1896 and the local distribution network in 1912. A few municipally owned services remained outside of GPO control. These were Kingston upon Hull, Portsmouth and Guernsey. Hull still retains an independent operator, Kingston Communications, though it is no longer municipally controlled.
The assets of the National Telephone Company were acquired by the UK Government to form Post Office Telephones in late 1911. Post Office engineers in the inter-war period had considerable expertise in both telecommunications and hearing assistive devices. Transistors were invented by Bell Telephone Laboratories in the US in 1948, however it was not until the mid-1960s that a transistorised oscillator was introduced to make the calling sound on a telephone in the UK.
Post Office Telecommunications
, then known as the Post Office Tower, 1966 (shortly after construction)]]
In 1969 the GPO, a government department, became the Post Office, a nationalised industry separate from government. Post Office Telecommunications was set up as a division of the Post Office, in October 1969. The Post Office Act 1969 was passed to provide for greater efficiency in post and telephone services; rather than run a range of services, each organisation would be able to focus on their respective service, with dedicated management. By law, the Post Office retained the exclusive right to operate the UK national telecom network, (although since 1914 had licensed Hull City Council to operate its own local telephone network, Kingston Communications).
The 1970s was a period of great expansion for the Post Office. Most exchanges were modernised and expanded, and many services, such as STD and international dialling were extended. By the early 1970s, subscribers in most cities could dial direct to Western Europe, the US, and Canada; by the end of the decade, most of the world could be dialled direct. The System X digital switching platform was developed, and the first digital exchanges began to be installed. The Post Office also procured their own fleet of vans, based on the Commer FC model.
Post Office Telecommunications researched and implemented data communications using packet switching in the 1970s, resulting in the EPSS, International Packet Switched Service, and Packet Switch Stream.
British Telecom
In 1979 the Conservatives decided that telecommunications should be fully separated from the Post Office. The British Telecom brand was introduced in 1980. On 1 October 1981, this became the official name of Post Office Telecommunications, which became a state-owned corporation independent of the Post Office under the provisions of the British Telecommunications Act 1981. In 1982 BT's monopoly on telecommunications was broken with the granting of a licence to Mercury Communications. Privatisation On 19 July 1982, the Government announced its intention to sell shares in British Telecom to the public. On 1 April 1984, British Telecommunications was incorporated as a public limited company (plc) in anticipation of the passing of the Telecommunications Bill. This Bill received royal assent on 12 April as the Telecommunications Act 1984, and the transfer to British Telecommunications plc from British Telecom as a statutory corporation of its business, its property, its rights and liabilities took place on 6 August 1984. The remainder of the statutory corporation British Telecom was dissolved in 1994.
Initially all shares in the new plc were owned by the Government. In November 1984, 50.2% of the new company was offered for sale to the public and employees. Shares were listed in London, New York, and Toronto and the first day of trading on was 3 December 1984. The Government sold half its remaining interest in December 1991 and the other half in July 1993. In July 1997, the new Labour Government relinquished its Special Share ("Golden Share"), retained at the time of the flotation, which had effectively given it the power to block a takeover of the company, and to appoint two non-executive directors to the Board.
The company changed its trading name to "BT" on 2 April 1991. In 1996 Peter Bonfield was appointed CEO and chairman of the executive committee, promising a "rollercoaster ride". Diversification In the early 1980s, BT Merlin was established as a business unit of British Telecom, at first to sell products such as phone systems to small businesses. In 1983, the growing "office automation" market was addressed through Merlin-branded desktop computers made by ICL, with built-in modems to communicate over the phone network. Later products included the Merlin Tonto – developed by ICL from the Sinclair QL home computer – and the Merlin M4000, a rebadged Logica computer.
In the 1990s, BT entered the Irish telecommunications market through a joint venture with the Electricity Supply Board, the Irish state owned power provider. This venture, entitled Ocean, found its main success through the launch of Ireland's first subscription-free dial-up ISP, oceanfree.net. As a telecoms company it found much less success, mainly targeting corporate customers. BT acquired 100% of this venture in 1999.
Over the period 1980 to 2000, BT and other providers adopted Internet product strategies when it became commercially advantageous.
Attempted global alliances
MCI
In June 1994 BT and MCI Communications launched Concert Communications Services which was a $1 billion joint venture between the two companies. Its aim was to build a network which would provide easy global connectivity to multinational corporations.
This alliance progressed further on 3 November 1996 when the two companies announced that they had agreed to a merger, creating a global telecommunications company called Concert plc. The proposal gained approval from the European Commission, the US Department of Justice, and the US Federal Communications Commission and looked set to proceed.
However, in light of pressure from investors reacting to the slide in BT's share price on the London Stock Exchange, BT reduced its bid price for MCI, releasing MCI from its exclusivity clause and allowing it to speak to other interested parties. On 1 October 1997, Worldcom made a rival bid for MCI which was followed by a counter-bid from GTE.
BT sold its stake in MCI to Worldcom in 1998 for £4,159 million. As part of the deal, BT also bought out from MCI its 24.9% interest in Concert Communications, thereby making Concert a wholly owned part of BT.
The reaction to the failure of the deal in the City of London was critical of then Chairman Iain Vallance and CEO Peter Bonfield, and the lack of confidence from the failed merger led to their removal. AT&T As BT owned Concert in 1994, and still wanted access to the North American market, it needed a new partner. An AT&T/BT option had been mooted in the past, but stopped on regulatory grounds due to their individual virtual monopolies in their home markets. By 1996, this had receded to the point where a deal was possible, and a deal was consummated in 1998.
At its height, the Concert managed network was extensive. Although Concert continued signing customers, its rate of revenue growth slowed, so that in 1999 David Dorman was made CEO with a brief to revive it.
In late 2000, the BT and AT&T boards fell-out, partly due to each partner's excess debt and the resulting board room clear-outs, partly due to Concert's extensive annual losses. AT&T recognized that Concert was a threat to its ambitions if left intact, and so negotiated a deal where Concert was split in two in 2001: North America and Eastern Asia went to AT&T, the rest of the world and $400M to BT. BT's remaining Concert assets were merged into its BT Ignite, later BT Global Services group.
BT Ireland
In 2000, BT acquired Esat Telecom Group plc, and all its subsidiary companies, and Ireland On Line. Esat Group was renamed Esat BT in July 2002, and eventually BT Ireland in April 2005. Esat Digifone became part of BT Wireless, before being spun off into a separate independent company mmo2 plc (now Telefónica Europe). EsatBT installed the first DSL lines in Ireland, to try and compete heavily with former state telecoms company Eircom and operate one exchange, in Limerick. 2001 debt crisis and sale, demerger By 2001, BT had a debt of £30 billion, much of which was acquired during the bidding round for the 3rd generation mobile telephony (commonly known as 3G) licences. It had also failed in its series of proposed global mergers, and the funds flowing from its then virtual monopoly of the UK market place had been largely removed. It was also headed by two executives who had little support from the London Stock Exchange, particularly in light of a 60% drop in share price in sixteen months.
Philip Hampton joined as CFO, and in April 2001 Sir Iain Vallance was replaced as chairman by recognised turn around expert Sir Christopher Bland. In May 2001, BT carried out corporate Europe's largest ever rights issue, allowing it to raise £5.9 billion. A few days before, it sold stakes in Japan Telecom, in mobile operator J-Phone Communications, and in Airtel of India to Vodafone. In June 2001, BT's directory business was sold as Yell Group to a combination of private equity firms Apax Partners and Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst for £2.1 billion.
A demerger followed in November 2001, when the former mobile telecommunications business of BT, BT Cellnet, was hived off as a separate business named "mmO2". This included BT owned or operated networks in other countries, including BT Cellnet (UK), Esat Digifone (Ireland), and Viag Interkom (Germany). All networks now owned or operated by mmO2 (except Manx Telecom) were renamed as O2. The de-merger was accomplished via a share-swap, all British Telecommunications plc shareholders received one mmO2 plc and one BT Group plc (of which British Telecommunications is now a wholly owned subsidiary) share for each share they owned. British Telecommunications plc was de-listed on 16 November, and the two new companies started trading on 19 November. Aftermath, 2001 to 2006 At the end of the series of sales, Sir Peter Bonfield resigned in October 2001. Bonfield was replaced by former Lucent CEO Ben Verwaayen.
During Bonfield's tenure the share price went from £4 to £15, and back again to £5.
mmO2 plc was replaced by O2 plc in a further share-swap in 2005, and subsequently bought in an agreed takeover by Telefónica for £18 billion and delisted. In 2004, BT launched Consult 21, a consultation organisation that was to aid BT 21CN in the eventual conversion to digital telephony.
In 2004, BT was awarded the contract to deliver and manage N3, a secure and fast broadband network for the NHS National Programme for IT (NPfIT) program, on behalf of the English National Health Service (NHS).
In 2005, BT made a number of acquisitions. In February 2005, BT acquired Infonet (now re-branded BT Infonet), a large telecoms company based in El Segundo, California, giving BT access to new geographies. It also acquired the Italian company Albacom. Then in April 2005, it bought Radianz from Reuters (now rebranded as BT Radianz), which expanded BT's coverage and provided BT with more buying power in certain countries.
In August 2006, BT acquired online electrical retailer Dabs.com for £30.6 million. The BT Home Hub manufactured by Inventel was also launched in June 2006.
In October 2006, BT confirmed that it would be investing 75% of its total capital spending, put at £10 billion over five years, in its new Internet Protocol (IP) based 21st century network (21CN). Annual savings of £1 billion per annum were expected when the transition to the new network was to have been completed in 2010, with over 50% of its customers to have been transferred by 2008. That month the first customers on to 21CN was successfully tested at Adastral Park in Suffolk. 2007 to 2012 In January 2007, BT acquired Sheffield-based ISP, PlusNet plc, adding 200,000 customers. BT stated that PlusNet will continue to operate separately out of its Sheffield head-office. On 1 February 2007, BT announced agreed terms to acquire International Network Services Inc. (INS), an international provider of IT consultancy and software.
In February 2007, Sir Michael Rake succeeded Sir Christopher Bland. In April that year, they acquired COMSAT International, followed in October by the acquisition of Lynx Technology.
BT acquired Wire One Communications in June 2008 and folded the company into "BT Conferencing", its existing conferencing unit, as a new video business unit
In July 2008, BT acquired the online business directory firm Ufindus for £20 million in order to expand its position in the local information market in GB. On 28 July 2008, BT acquired Ribbit, of Mountain View, California, "Silicon Valley's First Phone Company". Ribbit provides Adobe Flash/Flex APIs, allowing web developers to incorporate telephony features into their software as a service (SaaS) applications.
In the early days of its fibre broadband rollout, BT said it would deliver fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) to around 25% of the Country, with the rest catered for by the slower fibre-to-the-cabinet (FTTC), which uses copper wiring to deliver the final stretch of the connection. In 2014, with less than 0.7% of the company's fibre network being FTTP, BT dropped the 25% target, saying that it was "far less relevant today" because of improvements made to the headline speed of FTTC, which had doubled to 80 Mbit/s since its fibre broadband rollout was first announced. To supplement FTTC, BT offered an 'FTTP on Demand' product. In January 2015, BT stopped taking orders for the on-demand product.
On 1 April 2009, BT Engage IT was created from the merger of two previous BT acquisitions, Lynx Technology and Basilica. Apart from the name change not much else changed in operations for another 12 months. On 14 May 2009, BT said it was cutting up to 15,000 jobs in the coming year after it announced its results for the year to 31 March 2009. Then in July 2009, BT offered workers a long holiday for an up front sum of 25% of their annual wage or a one-off payment of £1000 if they agree to go part-time.
On 6 April 2011, BT launched the first online not-for-profit fundraising service for UK charities called BT MyDonate as part of its investment to the community. The service will pass on 100% of all donations made through the site to the charity, and unlike other services which take a proportion as commission and charge charities for using their services, BT will only pass on credit/debit card charges for each donation. The service allows people to register to give money to charity or collect fundraising donations. BT developed MyDonate with the support of Cancer Research UK, Changing Faces, KidsOut, NSPCC and Women's Aid. 2013 to 2020 In March 2013, BT was allocated 4G spectrum in the UK following an auction and assignment by Ofcom, after paying £201.5m.
On 1 August 2013, BT launched its first television channels, BT Sport, to compete with rival broadcaster Sky Sports. Plans for the channels' launch came about when it was announced in June 2012 that BT had been awarded a package of broadcast rights for the Premier League from the 2013–14 to 2015–16 season, broadcasting 38 matches from each season. In February 2013, BT acquired ESPN Inc.'s UK and Ireland TV channels, continuing its expansion into sports broadcasting. ESPN America and ESPN Classic were both closed, while ESPN continued to be operated by BT. On 9 November 2013, BT announced it had acquired exclusive rights to the Champions League and Europa League for £897m, from the 2015 season, with some free games remaining including both finals.
On 1 November 2014, BT created a new central business services organisation to provide customer services and improve operational efficiency.
On 24 November 2014, shares in BT rose considerably on the announcement that the company was in talks to buy back O2, while at the same time confirmed it was also in talks to acquire EE. BT subsequently entered into exclusive talks to buy EE for £12.5 billion on 15 December 2014 and confirmed on 5 February 2015, subject to regulatory approval. The deal combined BT's 10 million retail customers and EE's 24.5 million direct mobile subscribers. Deutsche Telekom would own 12% of BT, while Orange S.A. would own 4%.
In March 2015, BT launched a 4G service as BT Mobile BT Group CEO Gavin Patterson announced that BT plans to migrate all of its customers onto the IP network by 2025, switching off the company's ISDN network.
On 15 January 2016, BT received approval by the Competition and Markets Authority to acquire EE. The deal was officially completed on 29 January 2016 with Deutsche Telekom then owning 12% of BT, while Orange S.A. owned 4%.
On 1 February 2016, BT announced a new organisational structure to take effect from April 2016 after acquiring EE. The EE brand, network and high street stores became a second consumer division, operating alongside BT Consumer to serve customers with mobile services, broadband and TV and continued to deliver the Emergency Services Network contract awarded to EE in late 2015. There was to be a new BT Business and Public Sector division with around £5bn of revenues to serve small and large businesses as well as the public sector in the UK and Ireland. It was to comprise the existing BT Business division along with EE's business division and those parts of BT Global Services that are UK focused. There will also be another new division; BT Wholesale and Ventures that will comprise the existing BT Wholesale division along with EE's MVNO business as well as some specialist businesses such as Fleet, Payphones and Directories. Gerry McQuade, Chief Sales and Marketing Officer, Business at EE, was to be its CEO. The June 2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum set off the Brexit process.
On 8 June 2017, BT appointed KPMG as its new auditor to replace PwC in the wake of a fraud scandal in Italy that triggered a major profit warning earlier that year. Also in of that year, KPMG fired six US employees over a scandal that calls into question efforts to ensure that public company accounts are being properly scrutinised.
On 8 July 2017, The Daily Telegraph reported that BT "has called in consultants from McKinsey to conduct a review of its businesses in the hope of saving hundreds of millions of pounds per year. The work, dubbed 'Project Novator', is understood to include a potential merger of BT's struggling global services corporate networking and IT unit with its business and public sector division". On 28 July 2017, BT again announced organisational changes to "simplify its operating model, strengthen accountabilities and accelerate its transformation" to bring together its BT Consumer and EE divisions into a new unified BT Consumer division to operate across three brands – BT, EE and Plusnet. It was to take effect from 1 April 2018.
On 18 April 2018, BT announced further organisational changes after unification of BT Consumer and EE divisions, bringing together its BT Business and Public Sector and BT Wholesale and Ventures divisions into a new unified division known as BT Enterprise. It was to include BT's Ventures business which "acts as an incubator for potential new growth areas of the company" and to report as a single unit from 1 October 2018.
2021 to present
In February 2021, BT and EE launched a fixed-line home broadband service that can also use the mobile network. With the introduction of the Hybrid Connect device, customers who lost connection through their Smart Hub 2 would automatically be connected to EE's mobile network, giving them an uninterrupted connection that BT described as "unbreakable".
In June 2021, French telecommunications company Altice acquired a 12% stake in BT, increasing to 18% in December 2021 and 24.5% in May 2023. Patrick Drahi's purchase of 650 million shares cost about £960 million. Altice's increasing stake in BT Group posed questions around the national security of the United Kingdom's infrastructure, and the UK government opened an investigation in May 2022 to look into possible security implications. In August 2022, the government completed its investigation and ruled that Drahi would not be required to cut his stake in BT, concluding that the investment did not pose any national security risks.
In July 2023, BT announced the appointment of businesswoman Allison Kirkby as its chief executive, replacing Philip Jansen in February 2024.
In June 2024, Carlos Slim acquired a 3.2% equity stake in the group. BT's businesses are operated under special government regulation by the British telecoms regulator Ofcom (formerly Oftel). BT has been found to have significant market power in some markets following market reviews by Ofcom. In these markets, BT is required to comply with additional obligations such as meeting reasonable requests to supply services and not to discriminate.
BT runs the telephone exchanges, trunk network and local loop connections for the vast majority of British fixed-line telephones. Apart from KCOM Group, which serves Kingston upon Hull, BT is the only UK telecoms operator to have a universal service obligation which means it must provide a fixed telephone line to any address in the UK, at a uniform price throughout the country. This requirement was introduced by the Electronic Communications (Universal Service) Order 2003, which also covers provision of directories, a directory enquiry service, and public call boxes. Legislation in 2018 added a minimum standard of fixed broadband service, subject to a cap on the cost of provision, which Ofcom implemented as a set of conditions applying to BT and KCOM in 2020. Reduced usage of public phone boxes led Ofcom to vary the conditions relating to them in 2022.
As well as continuing to provide service in those traditional areas in which BT has an obligation to provide services or is closely regulated, BT has expanded into more profitable products and services where there is less regulation. These are, principally, broadband internet service and bespoke solutions in telecommunications and information technology.
Branding
In 2019, a simplified BT logo and brand was launched to replace the previous multi-coloured globe logo. In April 2022, BT announced its intentions to focus on the EE brand for consumer products. Corporate affairs Buildings and facilities
As BT operates in around 180 countries, it owns and leases a range of buildings and facilities in the UK and around the world. In 2001, it sold some of its UK property portfolio for £2.38 billion to Telereal Trillium in a 30-year leaseback. The deal included 6,700 properties and contributed towards alleviating its debt at the time, with the main advantage being flexibility as it allows BT to vacate property over time, so as to adapt to changing operational requirements. Headquarters Until December 2021, BT Group's world headquarters and registered office was the BT Centre, a 10-storey office building at 81 Newgate Street in the City of London, opposite St Paul's tube station. In November 2021, BT relocated to new headquarters at One Braham, a brand new 18-storey building completed earlier in 2021. In March 2024, BT Group opened a new multi-million-pound hub and Welsh headquarters in Cardiff for 1,000 BT Group employees. Buildings and stations
Some of its UK buildings and stations are:
* Adastral Park – headquarters of BT Labs in Suffolk
* The Assembly – building in Bristol
* Baynard House – building in City of London
* BT Riverside Tower – headquarters of BT Northern Ireland in Belfast
* BT Tower – building in Swansea
* Goonhilly Satellite Earth Station – satellite earth station in Cornwall
* Guardian telephone exchange – telephone exchange in Manchester
* Madley Communications Centre – satellite earth station in Herefordshire
* National Network Management Centre – network operations centre in Shropshire
* Stadium House – building in Cardiff
Telecommunications towers
BT remains one of the largest owners of telecommunications towers in the UK and were a major node in its microwave network. Its BT Tower in London is notable for numerous reasons such as being the tallest building in the UK from its construction in the 1960s until the early 1980s, its revolving restaurant at the top known as 'Top of the Tower' in operation through the late 1960s and 1970s, and remains one of the UK's most important communications nerve centres, the heart of a vast broadcasting and communications network. It carries approximately 95% of the UK's TV content, including live broadcasts and 99% of all live football games as well as pioneering the first international HD, 3D and 4K television transmissions. It serves media production and distribution customers around the world and as part of the Things Connected Network launched in London, it became the highest building in the world to host an Internet of things (IoT) base station in September 2016. Some of its towers are:
Other
Some of its other UK facilities are:
Divisions
BT Group is organised into the following divisions:
* Openreach – fenced-off wholesale division, established in 2005 following a review by Ofcom and commenced operations in 2006, employing 25,000 engineers previously employed by BT. Its purpose is to ensure that other communications providers have the same operational conditions as BT, and is responsible for the provision and repair in the "last mile" of copper wire.
Internal services
* Networks – Responsible for designing, building and running the networks and technology platforms that BT and its customers use.
Corporate governance
at the 2016 Chatham House Corporate Leaders Series]]
BT's board of directors as of November 2021:
BT's executive committee as of March 2018:
Pension fund
BT has the second largest defined benefit pension plan of any UK public company. The trustees valued the scheme at £36.7 billion at the end of 2010; an actuarial valuation valued the deficit of the scheme at £9.043 billion as of 31 December 2008.
Following a change in the regulations governing inflation index linking, the deficit was estimated at £5.2 billion in November 2010.
Sponsorships
BT sponsored Scotland's domestic rugby union championship and cup competitions between 1999 and 2006.
On 29 July 2013, it was announced that BT had partnered up with Scottish Rugby Union in a four-year sponsorship deal with its two professional clubs; Edinburgh Rugby and Glasgow Warriors that will commence from August 2013. The deal involves BT Sport becoming the new shirt sponsor for both clubs as well as being promoted with BT Group at their respective home grounds; Scotstoun Stadium and Murrayfield Stadium.
On 13 May 2014, BT joined Sky, TalkTalk and Virgin Media as founding partners of Internet Matters, a not-for-profit organisation that provides online safety advice for parents and their children.
On 28 May 2014, it was announced that BT agreed a £20 million four-year sponsorship deal with Scottish Rugby Union which includes BT securing the naming rights for Murrayfield Stadium which becomes BT Murrayfield Stadium, become sponsor of the Scotland sevens team, become principal and exclusive sponsor of Scotland's domestic league and cup competitions from next season, taking over the role from The Royal Bank of Scotland and become sponsor of Scottish Rugby's four new academies that aims to drive forward standards for young players who have aspirations to play professionally.
On 14 April 2015, it was announced that as part of BT's current £20 million four-year sponsorship deal with Scottish Rugby Union that was announced in May 2014, BT has completed its sponsorship portfolio following an additional investment of £3.6 million for the 3 years remaining of its sponsorship deal, to become the new shirt sponsor for the Scotland national teams.
On 27 January 2016, it was announced that BT, alongside YouTube will be the new joint headline sponsors in a three-year deal with Edinburgh International Television Festival. The two companies will "share prominence across all branding of the 41st TV Festival, including the famous MacTaggart Lecture and will work closely with the festival organisers in their bid to reflect new trends in a rapidly transforming industry, from new ways of distributing content to technical innovations such as virtual reality".
BT is the founding and principal partner of the Wayne Rooney Foundation, which was established to improve the lives of children and young people. The Foundation will run events "to raise vital funds to support the work of key organisations dedicated to supporting disadvantaged and vulnerable children and young people". These organisations are four chosen charities which are, Manchester United Foundation, NSPCC, Claire House Children's Hospice and Alder Hey Children's Hospital. The first of these events was Wayne's testimonial match in August 2016 between Manchester United F.C. and Everton F.C. which raised £1.2 million. The match was screened live through BT Sport with BT MyDonate being the official fundraising platform for the testimonial, with both online and text options for donations promoted during the match.
On 26 May 2017, it was announced that BT is to sponsor the 2017 British Urban Film Festival (BUFF) and sees BT host every event of the film festival, including the Awards at the BT Tower. BT will also broadcast the awards ceremony on BT.com and will have the opportunity to screen films acquired from the festival on its BT TV store platform.
On 6 September 2017, it was announced that BT had extended its current £20 million four-year sponsorship deal with Scottish Rugby Union that was announced in May 2014, for a further three years beginning from June 2018. The new deal sees BT retain the naming rights to BT Murrayfield Stadium, alongside its role as principal partner of the Scotland national team and Scotland 7s. BT's logo will continue to be displayed on the front of Scotland rugby shirts across the world, in the Six Nations Championship, as well as the summer and autumn test matches. BT will also continue to be promoted at Edinburgh Rugby and Scotstoun Stadium in Glasgow.
Historical financial performance
BT's financial results have been as follows: Behavioural targeting In early 2008 it was announced that BT had entered into a contract (along with Virgin Media and TalkTalk) with the spyware company Phorm (responsible under their 121Media guise for the Apropos rootkit) to intercept and analyse their users' click-stream data and sell the anonymised aggregate information as part of Phorm's OIX advertising service. The practice, known as "behavioural targeting" and condemned by critics as "data pimping", came under intense fire from various internet communities and other interested-parties who believe that the interception of data without the consent of users and web site owners is illegal under UK law (RIPA). At a more fundamental level, many have argued that the ISPs and Phorm have no right to sell a commodity (a user's data, and the copyrighted content of web sites) to which they have no claim of ownership. In response to questions about Phorm and the interception of data by the Webwise system Sir Tim Berners-Lee, the creator of the World Wide Web, indicated his disapproval of the concept and is quoted as saying of his data and web history:
Huawei infrastructure access
Beginning in 2010 the UK intelligence community investigated Huawei, the Chinese supplier of BT's new fibre infrastructure with increasing urgency after the United States, Canada and Australia prevented the company from operating in their countries. Although BT had notified the UK government in 2003 of Huawei's interest in their £10bn network upgrade contract, they did not raise the security implications as BT failed to explain that the Chinese company would have unfettered access to critical infrastructure. On 16 December 2012 the then prime minister David Cameron was supplied with an in-depth report indicating that the intelligence services had very grave doubts regarding Huawei, and that UK governmental, military, and civilian privacy may have been under serious threat.
On 7 June 2013, British lawmakers concluded that BT should not have allowed Huawei access to the UK's communications network without ministerial oversight, saying they were 'deeply shocked' that BT did not inform government that they were allowing Huawei and ZTE, both with ties to the Chinese military, unfettered access to critical national systems. Furthermore, ministers discovered that the agency with the responsibility to ensure Chinese equipment and code was threat-free was entirely staffed by Huawei employees. Subsequently, parliamentarians confirmed that in case of an attack on the UK there was nothing that could be done to stop Chinese infiltration.
By 2016 Huawei had put measures in place to ensure the integrity of UK national security. Specifically their UK work is now overseen by a board that includes directors from GCHQ, the Cabinet Office and the Home Office.
ZTE, another Chinese company that supplies extensive network equipment and subscriber hardware used with BT 'Infinity', was also under scrutiny by parliament's intelligence and security committee after the US, Canada, Australia and the European Union declared the company a security risk.
In 2020 following a government ruling, BT began removing Huawei equipment from its broadband and mobile networks in order to comply with new restrictions on the usage of Huawei equipment. As of 2023, the process is still ongoing.
Alleged complicity with drone strikes in Yemen and Somalia
In September 2012, BT entered into a $23 million deal with the US military to provide a key communications cable connecting RAF Croughton, a US military base on UK soil, with Camp Lemonnier, a large US base in Djibouti. Camp Lemonnier is used as a base for American drone attacks in Yemen and Somalia, and has been described by The Economist as "the most important base for drone operations outside the war zone of Afghanistan."
Human rights groups including Reprieve and Amnesty International have criticised the use of armed drones outside declared war zones. Evidence produced by The Bureau of Investigative Journalism and Stanford University's International Human Rights & Conflict Resolution Clinic suggest that drone strikes have caused substantial civilian casualties, and may be illegal under international law.
In 2013, BT was the subject of a complaint by Reprieve to the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills under the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises, following their refusal to explain whether or not their infrastructure was used to facilitate drone strikes. The subsequent refusal of this complaint was appealed in May 2014, on the basis that the UK National Contact Point's decision did not follow the OECD Guidelines. The issue of bias was also raised, due to the appointment of Lord Ian Livingston as government minister for the department which was processing the complaint: Livingston had occupied a senior position at BT when the cable between RAF Croughton and Camp Lemonnier was originally built.
Overcharging
In February 2017, a review of the telecoms market by Ofcom found that BT's landline only contracts provided poor value to customers. Ofcom ordered BT to reduce their prices but stopped short of demanding that customers were compensated. In January 2021, Law firm Mishcon de Reya filed a claim with the Competition Appeal Tribunal against BT worth £600 million, accusing them of historic overcharging on landlines. The class action lawsuit claims BT have increased their prices for line-only services every year since 2009, whilst the wholesale cost for delivering these services has reduced. The claimants suggest that customers could be entitled to compensation of up to £500 each. Bidding rules violation In 2020, BT was fined £6.3m by the telecoms regulator Ofcom for violating the law on a large public sector deal in Northern Ireland. Under Ofcom's regulations, the BT network shall handle all wholesale customers similarly. In its report, Ofcom found that BT's network violated the rules by failing to supply Eir with the same details on its on-demand fiber-to-the-premises offering as its own rival team. Russia's invasion of Ukraine Following Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022, BT Group continues to maintain operations in Russia, primarily to ensure that communication links, such as phone calls between the UK and Russia, remain functional. In March 2022, BT explored the possibility of severing ties with Rostelecom, Russia's state-backed telecom operator, but concluded that such a move would disrupt communication capabilities between the two nations. OFCOM fines for non-functioning 999 calls On 25 June 2023, a "catastrophic failure" in BT's network resulted in nearly 14,000 attempted 999 emergency calls not being connected. Ofcom fined BT £17.5 million, citing the telecom giant's lack of preparedness and poorly documented backup procedures. Historical documents Records of the Post Office Corporation (Telecommunications division) 19691981 and its predecessors (including Post Office Telegraph and Telephone Service 18641969 and some private telegraph and telephone companies) are Public Records, and are held by BT Archives. See also
* List of telephone operating companies
* UK telephone area codes (STD codes)
References
Further reading
* Baldwin, F.G.C. The History of the Telephone in the United Kingdom (1925)
* Foreman-Peck, J. "The development and diffusion of telephone technology in Britain, 1900–1940," Transactions of the Newcomen Society, (1991–92). 63, pp165–180.
* Foreman-Peck, J., & Millward, R. Public and private ownership of British industry 1820–1990 (1994).
* Hazlewood, A. "The origins of the state telephone service in Britain" Oxford Economic Papers (1953). 5:13–25. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/2661863 in JSTOR]
*
* Johannessen, Neil. Ring up Britain: the Early Years of the Telephone in the United Kingdom (British Telecommunications plc, London, 1991)
* Johnston, S. F. "The telephone in Scotland." in: K. Veitch, ed., Transport and Communications. Publications of the European Ethnological Research Centre; Scottish life and society: a compendium of Scottish ethnology (2009): pp. 716–727 [http://eprints.gla.ac.uk/24894/1/id24894.pdf online]
* Magill, Frank N. Great Events from History II: Business and Commerce Series, volume 1:1897–1923 (1994) pp 218–23; historiography
* Meyer, Hugo Richard. Public Ownership and the Telephone in Great Britain: Restriction of the Industry by the State and the Municipalities (1907). [https://archive.org/details/publicownership02meyegoog/page/n21 <!-- pg=3 --> online]
* Pitt, D.C. The telecommunications function in the British Post Office. A case study of bureaucratic adaption (Westmead: Saxon House, 1980).
* Robertson, John Henry. The story of the telephone: A history of the telecommunications industry of Britain (1947)
*
*
External links
*
*
* [http://www.btplc.com/Thegroup/BTsHistory/BTgrouparchives/index.htm BT Archives]
* [http://www.digitalarchives.bt.com/Calmview/ BT Archives online catalogue]
* [https://login.wuaze.com/uncategorized/bt-login-email/ BT Login Links]
}}
Category:1846 establishments in the United Kingdom
Category:1912 establishments in the United Kingdom
Category:1969 establishments in the United Kingdom
Category:1981 establishments in the United Kingdom
Category:British royal warrant holders
Category:Companies based in the City of London
Category:Telecommunications companies established in 1846
Category:Telecommunications companies established in 1912
Category:Telecommunications companies established in 1969
Category:Telecommunications companies established in 1981
Category:British companies established in 1846
Category:British companies established in 1912
Category:British companies established in 1969
Category:British companies established in 1981
Category:Companies listed on the London Stock Exchange
Category:Companies in the FTSE 100 Index
Category:Internet service providers of the United Kingdom
Category:Multinational companies based in the City of London
Category:Telecommunications companies of the United Kingdom
Category:1960s initial public offerings
Category:1980s initial public offerings
Category:Former nationalised industries of the United Kingdom
Category:History of telecommunications in the United Kingdom
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Balmoral Castle
|
| altitude | current_tenants
| namesake | groundbreaking_date
| start_date =
| stop_date | est_completion
| topped_out_date | completion_date
| opened_date | inauguration_date
| relocated_date | renovation_date
| closing_date | demolition_date <!-- or | destruction_date = -->
| cost | ren_cost
| client | owner King Charles III
| landlord | affiliation
| height | architectural (Great Tower)
| tip | antenna_spire
| roof | top_floor
| observatory | diameter
| circumference | weight
| other_dimensions | structural_system
| material = Granite and slate
| size | floor_count Largely two- and three-storey
| floor_area | elevator_count
| grounds_area | architect William Smith (City Architect of Aberdeen)
| architecture_firm | developer Queen Victoria and Prince Albert
| engineer | structural_engineer
| services_engineer | civil_engineer
| other_designers = John Thomas (Sculptor)
| quantity_surveyor | main_contractor M. Stuart
| awards | designations
| known_for | ren_architect
| ren_firm | ren_engineer
| ren_str_engineer | ren_serv_engineer
| ren_civ_engineer | ren_oth_designers
| ren_qty_surveyor | ren_contractor
| ren_awards | rooms <!-- or | unit_count = -->
| parking | public_transit
| website =
| embed | embedded
or sometimes locally . It was first recorded as 'Bouchmorale' in 1451, and it was pronounced by local Scottish Gaelic speakers. Adam Watson and Elizabeth Allan wrote in The Place Names of Upper Deeside that the second part meant "big spot (of ground)". Alternatively, the second part could be a saint's name.
History
made major alterations to the original castle.]]
King Robert II of Scotland (1316–1390) had a hunting lodge in the area. Historical records also indicate that a house at Balmoral was built by Sir William Drummond in 1390. The estate was later tenanted by Alexander Gordon, second son of the 1st Earl of Huntly. A tower house was built on the estate by the Gordons.
In 1662, the estate passed to Charles Farquharson of Inverey, brother of John Farquharson, the "Black Colonel". The Farquharsons were Jacobite sympathisers and James Farquharson of Balmoral was involved in both the 1715 and 1745 Jacobite risings. He was wounded at the Battle of Falkirk (1746). The Farquharson estates were forfeited, and passed to the Farquharsons of Auchendryne. In 1798, James Duff, 2nd Earl Fife, acquired Balmoral and leased the castle. Sir Robert Gordon, a younger brother of George Gordon, 4th Earl of Aberdeen, acquired the lease in 1830. He made major alterations to the original castle at Balmoral, including baronial-style extensions that were designed by John Smith of Aberdeen. Frequent rain during the last trip led Sir James Clark, the queen's doctor, to recommend Deeside instead, for its healthier climate.
Sir Robert Gordon died in 1847 and his lease on Balmoral reverted to Lord Aberdeen. In February 1848 an arrangement was made that Prince Albert would acquire the remaining part of the lease on Balmoral, together with its furniture and staff, without having seen the property first. Victoria found the house "small but pretty", and recorded in her diary that: "All seemed to breathe freedom and peace, and to make one forget the world and its sad turmoils". but by then negotiations were under way to purchase the estate from James Duff, 4th Earl Fife. After seeing a corrugated iron cottage at the Great Exhibition of 1851, Prince Albert ordered a prefabricated iron building for Balmoral from E. T. Bellhouse & Co., to serve as a temporary ballroom and dining room. It was in use by 1 October 1851, and would serve as a ballroom until 1856.
The sale was completed in June 1852, the price being £32,000 () and Prince Albert formally took possession that autumn. The neighbouring estate of Birkhall was bought at the same time, and the lease on Abergeldie Castle secured as well. To mark the occasion, the Purchase Cairn was erected in the hills overlooking the castle, the first of many cairns on the estate.Construction of the new house
similar to that of Craigievar Castle is the central feature of the castle, while a large turreted country house is attached.]]
Space was needed for the growing family of Victoria and Albert, for additional staff, and for accommodation for visiting friends and official visitors such as cabinet members. Thus extension of the existing structure would not provide enough space, and a larger house needed to be built. In early 1852, this was commissioned from William Smith. William Smith's designs were amended by Prince Albert, who took a close interest in details such as turrets and windows.
Construction began in mid-1853, on a site some northwest of the original building that was considered to have a better vista. Another consideration was that during construction the family would still be able to use the old house. By the autumn of 1855, the royal apartments were ready for occupancy, although the tower was still under construction and the servants had to be lodged in the old house. It consists of two main blocks, each arranged around a courtyard. The southwestern block contains the main rooms, while the northeastern contains the service wings. At the southeast is an clock tower topped with turrets, Being similar in style to the demolished castle of the 1830s, the architecture of the new house is considered to be somewhat dated for its time when contrasted with the richer forms of Scots baronial being developed by William Burn and others during the 1850s. As an exercise in Scots baronial, it is sometimes described as too ordered, pedantic, and even Germanic as a consequence of Prince Albert's influence on the design. Added to the work of Sir Walter Scott, this became a major factor in promoting the adoption of Highland culture by Lowland Scots. Historian Michael Lynch comments that "the Scottishness of Balmoral helped to give the monarchy a truly British dimension for the first time".
Victoria and Albert at Balmoral
Even before the completion of the new house, the pattern of the life of the royal couple in the Highlands was soon established. Victoria took long walks of up to four hours daily and Albert spent many days hunting deer and game. In 1849, diarist Charles Greville described their life at Balmoral as resembling that of gentry rather than royalty. Victoria began a policy of commissioning artists to record Balmoral, its surroundings, and its staff. Over the years, numerous painters were employed at Balmoral, including Edwin and Charles Landseer, and Carl Haag.
During the 1850s, new plantations were established near the house and exotic conifers were planted on the grounds. Prince Albert had an active role in these improvements, overseeing the design of parterres, the diversion of the main road north of the river via a new bridge, and plans for farm buildings.
Following Albert's death, Victoria spent increasing periods at Balmoral, staying for as long as four months a year during early summer and autumn. She placed numerous mementos of Albert on display.
Few further changes were made to the grounds, with the exception of some alterations to mountain paths, the erection of various cairns and monuments, and the addition of some cottages (Karim Cottage and Baile na Coille) built for senior staff.
In September 1896, Victoria welcomed Emperor Nicholas II of Russia and Empress Alexandra, a granddaughter of Victoria, to Balmoral. Four years later Victoria made her last visit to the estate, three months before her death on 22 January 1901.
<gallery widths"200px" heights"155px">
BalmoralCastle1900.jpg|Balmoral ()
Cairn for Prince Albert Balmoral.JPG|Memorial cairn for Prince Albert, Balmoral Estate
George Washington Wilson (1823 - 1893) - Balmoral Business Room - ABDMS017805 - Aberdeen City Council (Archives, Gallery and Museums Collection).jpg|Queen Victoria's Business Room at Balmoral
</gallery>
After Victoria
After Victoria's death, the royal family continued to use Balmoral during annual autumn visits. George V had substantial improvements made during the 1910s and 1920s, including formal gardens to the south of the castle. In a break with tradition, Balmoral Castle, rather than Buckingham Palace, was the location of the appointment of British Prime Minister Liz Truss on 6 September 2022, due to concerns regarding the Queen's mobility issues. Elizabeth died at Balmoral at 15:10 BST on 8 September 2022 at the age of 96. She was the first monarch to die at Balmoral, and this was the first time a monarch had died in Scotland since James V died in 1542 at Falkland Palace. The Queen's coffin lay in repose in the ballroom of the castle for three days, to allow the Royal Family, estate staff and neighbours to pay their respects. On 11 September, the coffin was transported to the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh for the start of the state funeral proceedings.
Architecture
. Also called a "carriage porch", this structure is covered to protect people arriving and departing from inclement weather.]]
Though called a castle, Balmoral's primary function is that of a country house. It is a "typical and rather ordinary" country house from the Victorian period. The tower and "pepper pot turrets" are characteristic features of the residence's Scottish baronial style. The seven-storey tower is an architectural feature borrowed from medieval defensive tower houses. The "pepper pot" turrets were influenced by the style of 16th-century French châteaux. Other features of the Scottish baronial style are the crow-stepped gables, dormer windows, and battlemented porte-cochère.OwnershipBalmoral is private property and, unlike the monarch's official residences, is not the property of the Crown. It was originally purchased privately by Prince Albert, for Queen Victoria, meaning that no revenues from the estate go to Parliament or the public purse, as would otherwise be the case for property owned outright by the monarch by the Civil List Act 1760.
Elizabeth II inherited the Balmoral estate from her father, and then after her death, ownership passed to her eldest son King Charles III, but the estate is managed by trustees under Deeds of Nomination and Appointment.EstateExtent and operationBalmoral Estate is within the Cairngorms National Park and is partly within the Deeside and Lochnagar National Scenic Area. The estate contains a wide variety of landscapes, from the Dee river valley to open mountains. There are seven Munros (hills in Scotland over ) within the estate, the highest being Lochnagar at . This mountain was the setting for a children's story, The Old Man of Lochnagar, told originally by Charles III to his younger brothers, Andrew and Edward. The story was published in 1980, with royalties accruing to the Prince's Trust (now the King's Trust). The estate also incorporates the Delnadamph Lodge estate, bought by Elizabeth II in 1978. <!--data missing, the 7,500 ___ what? is the figure accurate? the lodge article states a different figure -->
stag near Glas-allt-Shiel lodge on the Balmoral estate]]
The estate extends to Loch Muick in the southeast where an old boat house and the Royal Bothy (hunting lodge) now named Glas-allt-Shiel, built by Victoria, are located.
The working estate includes grouse moors, forestry, and farmland, as well as managed herds of deer, Highland cattle, and ponies. Bird species inhabiting the moorlands include red grouse, black grouse, ptarmigan, and the capercaillie. In addition, there are four sites of special scientific interest on the estate.
There are approximately 150 buildings on the estate, Craigowan Lodge is regularly used by the family and friends of the royal family and has also been used while Balmoral Castle was being prepared for a royal visit. Six smaller buildings on the estate are let as holiday cottages. The hunting lodge of Inchnabobart has also been used by the royal family.Public access to gardens and castle groundsIn 1931, the gardens and castle grounds were opened to the public for the first time. They are now open daily between April and the end of July, after which royal family members arrive at the castle for their annual stay.
In 2024, limited numbers of the public were able to view the interior and several rooms used by members of the royal family during a month-long summer tour programme. This was the first time since the castle was completed in 1855 that it was open to the public. In addition, the gift shop, restaurant and café were redesigned and renovated, prioritising local Scottish craftsmanship and premium textiles.
Craigowan Lodge
Craigowan Lodge is a seven-bedroom stone house approximately from the main castle in Balmoral. More rustic than the castle, the lodge was often used by Prince Charles and Princess Diana when they visited. In May 1981 Charles and Diana posed for a photo at the lodge before their July 1981 wedding.
In the obituary of Prince Michael Andreevich of Russia in 2008, it was noted that his family spent most of World War II at Craigowan Lodge.
The lodge has been in the news periodically since 2005 because Elizabeth II and Prince Philip often spent the first few days of their summer holiday there. In the Netflix series The Crown, Ardverikie House was used as a stand-in. In the sci-fi film The Day After Tomorrow (2004), three helicopters of the Royal Air Force crash in Scotland during an attempt to evacuate the Royal Family from Balmoral Castle.
An illustration of the castle features on the reverse of £100 notes issued by the Royal Bank of Scotland.
See also
* Ardverikie House, often used as a stand-in for Balmoral Castle in film
* Crathie Kirk
* List of British royal residences
* Scottish castles
* Alatskivi Castle, an Estonian castle influenced by the Balmoral Castle style
* Balmoral chicken
References
Citations
General and cited references
* External links
*
Category:1856 establishments in Scotland
Category:Art museums and galleries in Aberdeenshire
Category:Carriage museums in Scotland
Category:Castles in Aberdeenshire
Category:Category A listed buildings in Aberdeenshire
Category:Country houses in Aberdeenshire
Category:Decorative arts museums in Scotland
Category:Gardens in Aberdeenshire
Category:Historic house museums in Aberdeenshire
Category:Houses completed in 1856
Category:Inventory of Gardens and Designed Landscapes
Category:Listed museum buildings in Scotland
Category:Royal residences in Scotland
Category:Scottish baronial architecture
Category:Tourist attractions in Aberdeenshire
Category:Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
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Breton language
|
| pronunciation = ,
| states = Brittany (France)
| region = Lower Brittany
| ethnicity = Bretons
| speakers = in Brittany
| date = 2018
| ref
| speakers2 in <br />(Number includes students in bilingual education)
| familycolor = Indo-European
| fam2 = Celtic
| fam3 = Insular Celtic
| fam4 = Brittonic
| fam5 = Southwestern Brittonic
| dia1 = Gwenedeg
| dia2 = Kerneveg
| dia3 = Leoneg
| dia4 = Tregerieg
| dia5 = Batz-sur-Mer †
| script = Latin script (Breton alphabet)
| minority = France
*Brittany
| agency =
| iso1 = br
| iso2 = bre
| lc1 = bre
| ld1 = Modern Breton
| lc2 = xbm
| ancestor2 = Middle Breton
| lc3 = obt
| ancestor = Old Breton
| linglist = xbm
| lingname = Middle Breton
| linglist2 = obt
| lingname2 = Old Breton
| lingua = 50-ABB-b (varieties:
50-ABB-ba to -be)
| image = File:Huelgoat Chaos mill.jpg
| imagescale = 1.45
| imagealt = Side of a stone building next to a stream; low stone wall in the foreground has a sign reading Mill of Chaos in both Breton and French; and
| imagecaption = Bilingual sign in Huelgoat in Brittany
| map = Breton - les taux de locuteurs selon le pays - sondage 2018.svg
| mapalt = Map showing the percentage of Breton speakers in each country of Brittany, 2018
| mapcaption = Percentage of Breton speakers in each country of Brittany, 2018
| map2 = Lang Status 40-SE.svg
| mapcaption2
| notice = IPA
| glotto = bret1244
| glottorefname = Breton
}}
Breton (, , ; <small>or</small> <small>in Morbihan</small>) is a Southwestern Brittonic language of the Celtic language group spoken in Brittany, part of modern-day France. It is the only Celtic language still widely in use on the European mainland, albeit as a member of the insular branch instead of the continental grouping.
Breton was brought from Great Britain to Armorica (the ancient name for the coastal region that includes the Brittany peninsula) by migrating Britons during the Early Middle Ages, making it an Insular Celtic language. Breton is most closely related to Cornish, another Southwestern Brittonic language. Welsh and the extinct Cumbric, both Western Brittonic languages, are more distantly related, and the Goidelic languages (Irish, Manx, Scottish Gaelic) have a slight connection due to both of their origins being from Insular Celtic.
Having declined from more than one million speakers around 1950 to about 200,000 in the first decade of the 21st century, Breton is classified as "severely endangered" by the UNESCO ''Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger. However, the number of children attending bilingual classes rose 33% between 2006 and 2012 to 14,709. It was the language of the upper classes until the 12th century, after which it became the language of commoners in Lower Brittany. The nobility, followed by the bourgeoisie, adopted French. The written language of the Duchy of Brittany was Latin, switching to French in the 15th century. There exists a limited tradition of Breton literature. Some philosophical and scientific terms in Modern Breton come from Old Breton. The recognized stages of the Breton language are: Old Breton – to , Middle Breton – to , Modern Breton – to present.
The French monarchy was not concerned with the minority languages of France, spoken by the lower classes, and required the use of French for government business as part of its policy of national unity. During the French Revolution, the government introduced policies favouring French over the regional languages, which it pejoratively referred to as . The revolutionaries assumed that reactionary and monarchist forces preferred regional languages to try to keep the peasant masses under-informed. In 1794, Bertrand Barère submitted his "report on the " to the Committee of Public Safety in which he said that "federalism and superstition speak Breton".
In the early 21st century, due to the political centralization of France, the influence of the media, and the increasing mobility of people, only about 200,000 people are active speakers of Breton, a dramatic decline from more than 1 million in 1950. The majority of today's speakers are more than 60 years old, and Breton is now classified as an endangered language. In 1993, parents were finally legally allowed to give their children Breton names.
Revival efforts
In 1925, Professor Roparz Hemon founded the Breton-language review . During its 19-year run, tried to raise the language to the level of a great international language. Its publication encouraged the creation of original literature in all genres, and proposed Breton translations of internationally recognized foreign works. In 1946, replaced . Other Breton-language periodicals have been published, which established a fairly large body of literature for a minority language.
In 1977, Diwan schools were founded to teach Breton by immersion. Since their establishment, Diwan schools have provided fully immersive primary school and partially immersive secondary school instruction in Breton for thousands of students across Brittany. This has directly contributed to the growing numbers of school-age speakers of Breton.
The Asterix comic series has been translated into Breton. According to the comic, the Gaulish village where Asterix lives is in the Armorica peninsula, which is now Brittany. Some other popular comics have also been translated into Breton, including The Adventures of Tintin, , Titeuf, Hägar the Horrible, Peanuts and Yakari.
Some original media are created in Breton. The sitcom, , is in Breton. Radio Kerne, broadcasting from Finistère, has exclusively Breton programming. Some movies (Lancelot du Lac, Shakespeare in Love, Marion du Faouet, Sezneg) and TV series (Columbo, Perry Mason) have also been translated and broadcast in Breton. Poets, singers, linguists, and writers who have written in Breton, including Yann-Ber Kallocʼh, Roparz Hemon, Añjela Duval, Xavier de Langlais, Pêr-Jakez Helias, Youenn Gwernig, Glenmor, Vefa de Saint-Pierre and Alan Stivell are now known internationally.
Today, Breton is the only living Celtic language that is not recognized by a national government as an official or regional language.
The first Breton dictionary, the Catholicon, was also the first French dictionary. Edited by Jehan Lagadec in 1464, it was a trilingual work containing Breton, French and Latin. Today bilingual dictionaries have been published for Breton and languages including English, Dutch, German, Spanish and Welsh. A monolingual dictionary, was published in 1995. The first edition contained about 10,000 words, and the second edition of 2001 contains 20,000 words.
In the early 21st century, the ("Public Office for the Breton language") began a campaign to encourage daily use of Breton in the region by both businesses and local communes. Efforts include installing bilingual signs and posters for regional events, as well as encouraging the use of the Spilhennig to let speakers identify each other. The office also started an Internationalization and localization policy asking Google, Firefox and SPIP to develop their interfaces in Breton. In 2004, the Breton Wikipedia started, which counts more than 85,000 articles as of August 2024. In March 2007, the signed a tripartite agreement with Regional Council of Brittany and Microsoft for the consideration of the Breton language in Microsoft products. In October 2014, Facebook added Breton as one of its 121 languages after three years of talks between the and Facebook.
France has twice chosen to enter the Eurovision Song Contest with songs in Breton; once in 1996 in Oslo with "" by Dan Ar Braz and the fifty piece band Héritage des Celtes, and most recently in 2022 in Turin with "" by Alvan Morvan Rosius and vocal trio Ahez. These are two of five times France has chosen songs in one of its minority languages for the contest, the others being in 1992 (bilingual French and Antillean Creole), 1993 (bilingual French and Corsican), and 2011 (Corsican).
Geographic distribution and dialects
Breton is spoken mainly in Lower Brittany, but also in a more dispersed way in Upper Brittany (where it is spoken alongside Gallo and French), and in areas around the world that have Breton emigrants.
The four traditional dialects of Breton correspond to medieval bishoprics rather than to linguistic divisions. They are (, of the county of Léon), (, of Trégor), (, of ), and (, of Vannes). was spoken up to the beginning of the 20th century in the region of Guérande and Batz-sur-Mer. There are no clear boundaries between the dialects because they form a dialect continuum, varying only slightly from one village to the next. , however, requires a little study to be intelligible with most of the other dialects.
]]
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|+Distribution of Breton speakers by region
!scope="col"| Region
! scope="col"|Population
!scope="col"| Number of speakers
!scope="col"| Percentage of speakers
|-
!scope="row"| Basse Bretagne
| 1,300,000 || 185,000 || 14.2%
|-
!scope="row"| Centre Ouest Bretagne
| 112,000 || 20,000 || 20%
|-
!scope="row"| Trégor-Goelo
| 127,000 || 25,000 || 20%
|-
!scope="row"| Pays de Brest
| 370,000 || 40,000 || 11%
|-
!scope="row"| Pays de Cornouaille
| 320,000 || 35,000 || 11.5%
|-
!scope="row"| Pays de Lorient
| 212,000 || 15,000 || 7.3%
|-
!scope="row"| Pays de Vannes
| 195,000 || 11,000 || 5.5%
|-
!scope="row"| Pays de Guingamp
| 76,000 || 12,000 || 17%
|-
!scope="row"| Pays de Morlaix
| 126,000 || 15,000 || 12%
|-
!scope="row"| Pays de St Brieuc
| 191,000 || 5,000 || 3%
|-
!scope="row"| Pays de Pontivy
| 85,000 || 6,500 || 8%
|-
!scope="row"| Pays d'Auray
| 85,000 || 6,500 || 7.6%
|-
!scope="row"|Haute Bretagne
| 1,900,000 || 20,000 || 2%
|-
!scope="row"| Pays de Rennes
| 450,000 || 7,000 || 1.5%
|-
!scope="row"|Loire-Atlantique
| 1,300,000 || ||
|-
!scope="row"| Pays de Nantes
| 580,000 || 4,000 || 0.8%
|- class="sortbottom"
!scope="row"| TOTAL
|| 4,560,000
| 216,000
|| 4.6%
|}
Official status
}}, the Breton language agency, was set up in 1999 by the Brittany region to promote and develop the use of Breton.]]
Nation
French is the sole official language of France. Supporters of Breton and other minority languages continue to argue for their recognition, and for their place in education, public schools, and public life.Constitution
In July 2008, the legislature amended the French Constitution, adding article 75-1: (the regional languages belong to the heritage of France).
The European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages, which obliges signatory states to recognize minority and regional languages, was signed by France in 1999 but has not been ratified. On 27 October 2015, the Senate rejected a draft constitutional law ratifying the charter.
/Vannes]]
Region
Regional and departmental authorities use Breton to a very limited extent. Some bilingual signage has also been installed, such as street name signs in Breton towns.
Under the French law known as Toubon, it is illegal for commercial signage to be in Breton alone. Signs must be bilingual or French only. Since commercial signage usually has limited physical space, most businesses have signs only in French.
, the Breton language agency, was set up in 1999 by the Brittany region to promote and develop the daily use of Breton. It helped to create the campaign, to encourage enterprises, organisations and communes to promote the use of Breton, for example by installing bilingual signage or translating their websites into Breton.EducationIn the late 20th century, the French government considered incorporating the independent Breton-language immersion schools (called ) into the state education system. This action was blocked by the French Constitutional Council based on the 1994 amendment to the Constitution that establishes French as the language of the republic. Therefore, no other language may be used as a language of instruction in state schools. The Toubon Law implemented the amendment, asserting that French is the language of public education.
The Diwan schools were founded in Brittany in 1977 to teach Breton by immersion. Since their establishment, Diwan schools have provided fully immersive primary school and partially immersive secondary school instruction in Breton for thousands of students across Brittany. This has directly contributed to the growing numbers of school-age speakers of Breton. The schools have also gained fame from their high level of results in school exams, including those on French language and literature. Breton-language schools do not receive funding from the national government, though the Brittany Region may fund them.
Another teaching method is a bilingual approach by ("Two Languages") in the State schools, created in 1979. ("Awakening") was created in 1990 for bilingual education in the Catholic schools.
Statistics
In 2018, 18,337
In 2007, some 4,500 to 5,000 adults followed an evening or correspondence one Breton-language course. The transmission of Breton in 1999 was estimated to be 3 percent.
|-
| Finistère || 9.0%
|-
| Morbihan || 6.7%
|-
| Côtes-d'Armor || 4.4%
|-
| Ille-et-Vilaine || 1.8%
|-
| Loire-Atlantique || 0.5%
|}
|}
Municipalities
{|
|valign="top"|
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|+The 10 communes with the highest percentage of pupils in bilingual primary education, listed with their total population
! Commune !! Percentage<br>(2023)
|-
| Saint-Rivoal (Finistère) || 100% || 177
|-
| Bulat-Pestivien (Côtes-d'Armor) || 100% || 412
|-
| Lanrivain (Côtes-d'Armor) || 100% || 457
|-
| Plounévez-Moëdec (Côtes-d'Armor) || 68.2% || 1,467
|-
| Langonnet (Morbihan) || 43.6% || 1771
|-
| Cavan (Côtes-d'Armor) || 42.9% || 1528
|-
| Commana (Finistère) || 42.1% || 995
|-
| Maël-Carhaix (Côtes-d'Armor) || 40.9% || 1463
|-
| Ploëzal / Runan (Côtes-d'Armor) || 39.4% || 1466
|-
| Melrand (Morbihan) || 38.8% || 1519
|}
|
|
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|+The 10 communes of historic Brittany with the highest total population, listed with their percentages of pupils in bilingual primary education<br />These figures include some cities in the department of Loire-Atlantique, which is now included in the Pays de la Loire region. See for example Brittany (administrative region).
! Commune !! Percentage<br>(2008) Additionally, the University of Rennes 2 has a Breton language department offering courses in the language along with a master's degree in Breton and Celtic Studies.
Phonology
Vowels
Vowels in Breton may be short or long. All unstressed vowels are short; stressed vowels can be short or long (vowel lengths are not noted in usual orthographies as they are implicit in the phonology of particular dialects, and not all dialects pronounce stressed vowels as long). An emergence of a schwa sound occurs as a result of vowel neutralization in post-tonic position, among different dialects.
All vowels can also be nasalized, which is noted by appending an 'n' letter after the base vowel, or by adding a combining tilde above the vowel (most commonly and easily done for a and o due to the Portuguese letters), or more commonly by non-ambiguously appending an letter after the base vowel (this depends on the orthographic variant).
{| class"wikitable" style"text-align: center;"
! rowspan="2" |
! colspan="2" | Front
! rowspan="2" |Central
! colspan="2" | Back
|-
! <small>unrounded</small>
! <small>rounded</small>
! <small>unrounded</small>
! <small>rounded</small>
|-
! Close
| i || u
| || || ou
|-
! Close-mid
| e || eu
| || || o
|-
! Open-mid
| e || eu
| || || o
|-
! Open
| ||
|a ||a ||
|}
Diphthongs are .
Consonants
{| class"wikitable" style"text-align: center;"
! rowspan"2" colspan"2" |
! rowspan="2" | Labial
! rowspan="2" | Dental
! rowspan="2" | Alveolar
! rowspan="2" | Post-<br />alveolar
! colspan="2" | Palatal
! colspan="2" | Velar
! rowspan="2" | Uvular
! rowspan="2" | Glottal
|-
! plain
! lab.
! plain
! lab.
|-
! colspan="2" | Nasal
| m
|
| n
|
| gn
|
|
|
|
|
|-
! rowspan="2" | Plosive
!
| b
|
| d
|
|
|
| g
| gw, gou
|
|
|-
!
| p
|
| t
|
|
|
| k
| kw, kou
|
|
|-
! rowspan="2" | Fricative
!
| v
| (z, d )
| z, zh
| j
|
|
| cʼh
|
|
|
|-
!
| f
|
| s
| ch
|
|
| cʼh
|
|
| h, zh
|-
! colspan="2" | Trill
|
|
|r
|
|
|
|
|
| (r )
|
|-
! rowspan="2" | Approximant
!
|
|
|
| (r )
| y
| u
|
| w
|
|
|-
!
|
|
| l
|
| lh
|
|
|
|
|
|}
* The pronunciation of the letter varies nowadays: is used in the French-influenced standard language and, generally speaking, in the central parts of Lower Brittany (including the south of Trégor, the west of Vannetais and virtually all parts of Cornouaille) whereas is the common realisation in Léon and often in the Haut-Vannetais dialect of central Morbihan (in and around the city of Vannes and the Pays de Pontivy), though in rapid speech mostly a tapped occurs. In the other regions of Trégor or even may be found.
* The voiced dental fricative () is a conservative realisation of the lenition (or the "spirant mutation" in cases where the phenomenon originates from the mutation of , respectively) of the consonants and which is to be found in certain varieties of Haut-Vannetais. Most of the Breton dialects do not inherit the sound and thus it is mostly not orthographically fixed. The Peurunvan, for instance, uses for both mutations, which are regularly and more prominently pronounced in Léonais, Cornouaillais, Trégorrois and Bas-Vannetais. In traditional literature written in the Vannetais dialect, two different graphemes are employed for representing the dental fricative, depending on the scripture's historical period. There once was a time when was used to transcribe the sound, but today mostly the regular is instead used, and this practice can be traced back to at least the end of the 17th century. The area this phenomenon has been found to be evident in encompasses the towns of Pontivy and Baud and surrounding smaller villages like Cléguérec, Noyal-Pontivy, Pluméliau, St. Allouestre, St. Barthélemy, Pluvigner and also parts of Belle-Île. The only known place where the mutation occurs outside of the Vannes country is the Île de Sein, an island located off Finistère's coast. Some scholars also used as the symbol for the sound to indicate that it was rather an "infra-dental" consonant than a clear interdental, which is the sound the symbol is usually describes. Other linguists, however, did not draw that distinction, either because they identified the sound to actually be an interdental fricative (such as Roparz Hemon in his phonetic transcription of the dialect used in Pluméliau or Joseph Loth in his material about the dialect of Sauzon in Belle-Île) or due to the fact that they attached no importance to it and ascertained that their descriptions were not in need of a further clarification of the sound's phonetic realisation as it was a clearly distinguishable phoneme.
* The digraph zh represents a variable sound that may exhibit as , , or , and descends from a now-extinct sound , which is still extant in Welsh as th.
Grammar
<!-- Description of the grammar of the language. -->
Nouns
Breton nouns are marked for gender and number. While Breton gender is fairly typical of gender systems across western Europe (with the exception of Basque and modern English), Breton number markers demonstrate rarer behaviors.
Gender
Breton has two genders: masculine () and feminine (), having largely lost its historic neuter () as has also occurred in the other Celtic languages as well as across the Romance languages. Certain suffixes (-ach/-aj, The suffix -eg can be masculine or feminine.
However, gender assignment to certain words often varies between dialects. However, the system is full of complexities That makes it perfectly possible to put the subject or the object at the beginning of the sentence, largely depending on the focus of the speaker. The following options are possible (all with a little difference in meaning):
*the first places the verbal infinitive in initial position (as in (1)), followed by the auxiliary 'to do'.
*the second places the Auxiliary verb 'to be' in initial position (as in (2)), followed the Subject, and the construction + infinitive. At the end comes the Object. This construction is an exception to verb-second.
*the third places the construction + infinitive in the initial position (as in (3)), followed by the Auxiliary verb , the Subject, and the Object.
*the fourth option places the Object in initial position (as in (4)), followed by an inflected verb, followed by the Subject.
*the fifth, and originally least common, places the Subject in initial position (as in (5)), followed by an inflected verb, followed by the Object, just like in English (SVO).
{{interlinear|number=(2)
| Ema Yann {o lenn} brezhoneg
| be.3SG Yann reading Breton
| 'Yann is reading Breton.'}}
{{interlinear|number=(3)
| {O lenn} ema Yann brezhoneg
| reading be.3SG Yann Breton
| 'Yann is reading Breton.'}}
Vocabulary
<!-- This section should contain a discussion of any special features of the vocabulary (or lexicon) of the language, like if it contains a large number of borrowed words or a different set of words for different politeness levels, taboo groups, etc. -->
Breton uses much more borrowed vocabulary than its relatives further north; by some estimates a full 40% of its core vocabulary consists of loans from French.Orthography
The first extant Breton texts, contained in the Leyde manuscript, were written at the end of the 8th century: 50 years prior to the Strasbourg Oaths, considered to be the earliest example of French. Like many medieval orthographies, Old- and Middle Breton orthography was at first not standardised, and the spelling of a particular word varied at authors' discretion. In 1499, however, the Catholicon, was published; as the first dictionary written for both French and Breton, it became a point of reference on how to transcribe the language. The orthography presented in the Catholicon was largely similar to that of French, in particular with respect to the representation of vowels, as well as the use of both the Latinate digraph —a remnant of the sound change > in Latin—and Brittonic or to represent before front vowels.
As phonetic and phonological differences between the dialects began to magnify, many regions, particularly the Vannes country, began to devise their own orthographies. Many of these orthographies were more closely related to the French model, albeit with some modifications. Examples of these modifications include the replacement of Old Breton - with - to denote word-final (an evolution of Old Breton in the Vannes dialect) and use of - to denote the initial mutation of (today this mutation is written ). and thus needed another transcription.
In the 1830s Jean-François Le Gonidec created a modern phonetic system for the language.
During the early years of the 20th century, a group of writers known as elaborated and reformed Le Gonidec's system. They made it more suitable as a super-dialectal representation of the dialects of Cornouaille, Leon and Trégor (known as from , and in Breton). This KLT orthography was established in 1911. At the same time writers of the more divergent Vannetais dialect developed a phonetic system also based on that of Le Gonidec.
Following proposals made during the 1920s, the KLT and Vannetais orthographies were merged in 1941 to create an orthographic system to represent all four dialects. This ("wholly unified") orthography was significant for the inclusion of the digraph , which represents a in Vannetais and corresponds to a in the KLT dialects.
In 1955 François Falcʼhun and the group proposed a new orthography. It was designed to use a set of graphemes closer to the conventions of French. This ("University Orthography", known in Breton as ) was given official recognition by the French authorities as the "official orthography of Breton in French education." It was opposed in the region and today is used only by the magazine and the publishing house Emgléo Breiz.
In the 1970s, a new standard orthography was devised – the or . This system is based on the derivation of the words.
Today the majority of writers continue to use the Peurunvan orthography, and it is the version taught in most Breton-language schools.
Alphabet
Breton is written in the Latin script. Peurunvan, the most commonly used orthography, consists of the following letters:
: a, b, ch, cʼh, d, e, f, g, h, i, j, k, l, m, n, o, p, r, s, t, u, v, w, y, z
The circumflex, grave accent, trema and tilde appear on some letters. These diacritics are used in the following way:
: â, ê, î, ô, û, ù, ü, ñ
Differences between and
Both orthographies use the above alphabet, although is used only in .
Differences between the two systems are particularly noticeable in word endings. In Peurunvan, final obstruents, which are devoiced in absolute final position and voiced in sandhi before voiced sounds, are represented by a grapheme that indicates a voiceless sound. In OU they are written as voiced but represented as voiceless before suffixes: "big", "bigger".
In addition, Peurunvan maintains the KLT convention, which distinguishes noun/adjective pairs by nouns written with a final voiced consonant and adjectives with a voiceless one. No distinction is made in pronunciation, e.g. "Breton language" vs. "Breton (adj)".
{| class="wikitable"
|+Comparison of different orthographies
! (1975) !! (1941) !! (1956)
!English gloss
|-
| || ||
|rain
|-
| || ||
|who
|-
| || ||
|book
|-
| || ||
|for
|-
| || ||
|with
|-
| || ||
|of her
|-
| || ||
|add
|-
| || ||
|most beautiful
|-
| || ||
|where
|}
Pronunciation of the Breton alphabet
{| class="wikitable sortable"
! Letter !! Revised!! Kerneveg !! Leoneg !! Tregiereg !! Gwenedeg
|-
| A a
| A a
| colspan="4" |
|-
| â
| â
| colspan="4" |
|-
| ae
| ae
|
|
| colspan="2" |
|-
| an
| agn
| colspan="4" |
|-
| añ
| ag
| colspan="4" |
|-
| ao
| aw
| colspan="2" |
|
|
|-
| aou
| aow
| colspan="4" |
|-
| B b
| B b
| colspan="4" |
|-
| Ch ch
| Sh sh
| colspan="4" |
|-
| Cʼh cʼh
| Ch ch
| ,
| , ,
| ,
|
|-
| cʼhw
| chw
|
| colspan="2" |
|
|-
| D d
| D d
| colspan="4" |
|-
| E e
| E e
| colspan="2" |
| colspan="2" | ,
|-
| ê
| ê
| colspan="4" |
|-
| ei
| ei
| colspan="4" |
|-
| eeu
| ey
| colspan="4" |
|-
| eo
| eo
|
|
|
|
|-
| eu
| y
| colspan="4" |
|-
| eü
| eu
| colspan="4" |
|-
| eue
| ye
| colspan="4" |
|-
| F f
| F f
| colspan="4" |
|-
| 'f
| ff
| colspan="4" |
|-
| G g
| Q q
| colspan="3" |
|
|-
| gn
| nh
| colspan="4" |
|-
| gw
| qw
| colspan="3" |
|
|-
| H h
| H h
| colspan="4" |
|-
| I i
| I i
| colspan="4" |
|-
| ilh
| ilh
| colspan="4" |
|-
| J j
| J j
| colspan="4" |
|-
| K k
| C c
| colspan="3" |
|
|-
| L l
| L l
| colspan="4" | ,
|-
| M m
| M m
| colspan="4" |
|-
| N n
| N n
| colspan="4" | ,
|-
| ñ
| g
| colspan="4" |
|-
| ñv
| gmf
| colspan="4" |
|-
| O o
| O o
| colspan="4" |
|-
| oa
| oa
|
|
|
|
|-
| ôa
| ôa
| colspan="4" |
|-
| oe
| oe
| colspan="4" |
|-
| on
| ogn
| colspan="4" |
|-
| oñ
| og
| colspan="4" |
|-
| ou
| w
| colspan="3" |
|
|-
| où
| ow
| colspan="2" |
|
|
|-
| oü
| oy
| colspan="4" |
|-
| P p
| P p
| colspan="4" |
|-
| R r
| R r
| colspan="4" | ,
|-
| S s
| S s
| colspan="4" |
|-
| sh
| ss
| colspan="3" |
|
|-
| sk
| sc
| colspan="3" |
|
|-
| st
| st
| colspan="3" |
|
|-
| T t
| T t
| colspan="4" |
|-
| U u
| U u
| colspan="4" |
|-
| ui
| ui
| colspan="4" |
|-
| ul, un, ur
| yl, yn, yr
|
|
|
|
|-
| V v
| V v
| colspan="4" |
|-
| vh
| ph
| colspan="4" |
|-
| W w
| W w
| colspan="3" |
|
|-
| Y y
| I i
| colspan="4" |
|-
| Z z
| Z z
| , Ø,
|
| , Ø
| , Ø,
|-
| zh
| th
| colspan="3" |
|
|}
Notes:
# Vocative particle: / "O Brittany".
# Word-initially.
# Word-finally.
# Unwritten lenition of and spirantization of > .
# Unstressed represent in Leoneg but in the other dialects. The realisations appear mainly before (also less often before ), semivowels , consonant clusters beginning with or . Stressed long represent .
# In Gwenedeg velars are palatalized before and , i.e. , , , , , , represent . In the case of word-final and palatalization to also occurs after .
# Before a vowel other than the digraph is written instead of , e.g. "to drive", radical , 1PS preterite , 3PS preterite .
# Silent in words such as , , , , , and . Always silent in Gwenedeg and Leoneg.
# is realized as when it precedes or follows a vowel (or when between vowels), but in words such as , , it represents (in orthography may be used: , , ).
# represents when it follows a vowel, after a consonant it represents . But before a vowel other than , is written instead of , e.g. "to follow", radical , 1PS preterite , 3PS preterite . In some regions may be heard instead of .
# Word-finally after a cluster of unvoiced consonants.
# In front of .
# The digraph is realized like when preceded or followed by a vowel (or when between vowels), but in words such as , , it represents .
# The digraph represents plural endings. Its pronunciation varies by dialect: rating geographically from Northwest Leon to Southeast Gwened.
# usually represents , but word-finally (except in word-final ) it represents in KLT, in Gwenedeg and in Goëlo. The pronunciation is retained word-finally in verbs. In words , , , , , it represents in KLT, in Gwenedeg and in Goëlo. Word-finally following it represents .
# But silent in words such as , , , , , , , , , , ', , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . is generally silent in Kerneweg, Tregerieg and Gwenedeg, but in Leoneg is always pronounced.
# Used to distinguish words such as "river", "heir", "town" (also written ) from "sense", "bold", "dear".
# Used to distinguish "circuit/tour" from "foot".
# In northern dialects (mainly in Leoneg), there is a tendency to voice between vowels. also appears as the lenition of and mixed mutation of .
# The lenition of and the spirantization of are both represented by is mainly pronounced although in certain regions (especially for the spirantization of in Cornouaille) and (in some Haut-Vannetais varieties) also occur.
# The pronunciation of varies by dialect, nowadays uvular (or ) is standard; occurs in Leoneg, or in Tregerieg, and in Gwenedeg.
# In Gwenedeg an unstressed often represents .
# Lenited varieties of may appear word-initially in case of soft mutation.
# In Leoneg in front of a nasal.
# In Leoneg represents before .
# In Leoneg represents or before .
# In Leoneg represents .
# Before a vowel.
# Forms of the indefinite article.
# A conservative realisation of the initial mutation of and , used in certain parts of the Vannes country.
Sample texts
Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
{|
|-
|| Breton: <br>
|style"padding-left: 1em"| English: <br> 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.
|}
Lord's Prayer
: Hon Tad,
: cʼhwi hag a zo en Neñv,
: ra vo santelaet hocʼh anv.
: Ra zeuio ho Rouantelezh.
: Ra vo graet ho youl war an douar evel en neñv.
: Roit dimp hiziv bara hor bevañs.
: Distaolit dimp hon dleoù
: ''evel m'hor bo ivez distaolet d'hon dleourion.
: Ha n'hon lezit ket da vont gant an temptadur,
: met hon dieubit eus an Droug.
Words and phrases in Breton
. Note the use of the word ti in the Breton for police station and tourist office, plus for all directions''.]]
<!--
Some short examples of the language in the writing system(s) used to write the language. You might also include sound samples of the language being spoken.
-->
Visitors to Brittany may encounter words and phrases (especially on signs and posters) such as the following:
{| class="wikitable"
! Breton !! English
|-
| || welcome
|-
| || you're welcome
|-
| || Brittany
|-
| || Breton (language)
|-
| , "ty" || house
|-
| || town hall
|-
| || town centre
|-
| || all directions
|-
| || school
|-
| || university
|-
| || pipe band (nearly)
|-
|
| lit. "night festival", a or "day festival" also exists
|-
| || goodbye
|-
| || pancakes (a pancake = )
|-
| || cider
|-
| || Breton mead
|-
| || Cheers!
|-
| || always at sea
|-
| || rich butter and sugar cake
|}
Language comparison
{| class="wikitable"
! English !! French !! Breton !! Cornish !! Welsh !! Scottish Gaelic !! Irish
|-
| earth || || || || || ||
|-
| sky || || (older ) || || || ||
|-
| heaven || || || || || ||
|-
| food || || || (older ) || || ||
|-
| house || || || || || || (south )
|-
| church || || || || || ||
|-
| person, man || || || || || ||
|-
| dog || || || || || || ( hound)
|-
| sell || || || || || || trade, pay
|-
| eat || || || || || ( feed) || ( feed)
|-
| drink || || || || || (archaic ) || (archaic )
|-
| see || || || || || (fut. ) || (south )
|-
| black || || || || || ||
|-
| white || || || || || ( 'fair') ||
|-
| green || || || || || ||
|-
| red || || || || (also: ) || (hair, etc. ) || (hair, etc. )
|-
| yellow || || || || || ||
|-
| book || || || || || ||
|-
| day || || || || || || (also in names of weekdays)
|-
| year || || || || || ||
|-
| beer || || || || || || ale
|-
| go || || || || || (verbal noun ) || (verbal noun, )
|-
| come || || || || || (verbal noun, ) || (participle, )
|-
| cat || || || || || ||
|-
| live || || || || || ||
|-
| dead || || || || || ||
|-
| name || || || || || ||
|-
| water || || || || || ||
|-
| true || || || || || ||
|-
| woman || || || || || ||
|-
| sheep || || || || || 'sheep' ( 'stag', 'ox';) || 'stag', 'ox'; 'sheep'
|-
| better || || || || || || níos fearr
|-
| say || || || || (also: ) || ( speak) || ( speak)
|-
| night || || || || || 'tonight'; 'night' || 'tonight'; 'night'
|-
| root || || || || || || , (south )
|-
| iron || || || || || ||
|-
| summer || || || || || ||
|-
| winter || || || || || ||
|}
Borrowing from Breton by other languages
The English words and have been borrowed from French, which took them from Breton. However, this is uncertain: for instance, is or ("long stone"), ("straight stone") (two words: noun + adjective) in Breton. Dolmen is a misconstructed word (it should be ). Some studies state that these words were borrowed from Cornish. can be directly translated from Welsh as "long stone" (which is exactly what a or is). The Cornish surnames Mennear, Minear and Manhire all derive from the Cornish ("long stone"), as does "settlement by the long stone".
The French word ("to jabber in a foreign language") is derived from Breton ("bread") and ("wine"). The French word ("large seagull") is derived from Breton , which shares the same root as English "gull" (Welsh , Cornish ).
.bzh
.bzh is an approved Internet generic top-level domains intended for Brittany and the Breton culture and languages. In 2023, the Breton internet extension .bzh had more than 12,000 registrations. Alongside the promotion of the .bzh internet extension, the www.bzh association promotes other services to develop Brittany's image on the web: campaign for a Breton flag emoji (), and email service.
See also
* Armoricani
* Gaelic revival, Irish language revival
* Julian Maunoir, 17th-century Breton language orthographer
* List of Celtic-language media
* an association promoting the language
References
Notes
Further reading
;Overviews
*
*
*
;Historical development
* Hemon, Roparz. A Historical Morphology and Syntax of Breton. Dublin: Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 1975.
*
*
*
*
;Grammars and handbooks
*
*
* Favereau, Francis. Grammaire du breton contemporain. Morlaix: Skol Vreizh, 1997.
* Hemon, Roparz. Breton Grammar, 3rd edn. Trans. & rev'd by Michael Everson. Westport: Evertype, 2011.
*
* McKenna, Malachy. A handbook of modern spoken Breton. Tübingen: Max Niemeyer, 1988 (repr. 2015).
* (repr. 2011).
* Press, Ian & Hervé Le Bihan. Colloquial Breton: the complete course for beginners. London: Routledge, 2004 (repr. 2007, 2015).
External links
* Ofis Publik ar Brezhoneg [http://www.ofis-bzh.org/ official website].
* , the public Breton TV channel.
* : an essay about the situation of the Breton language.
*
* : news in Breton.
* : Brittany information, articles about Breton.
* .
* .
Dictionaries
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20120120125126/http://www.etymos.de/us/languages/breton/index.htm English online dictionary and grammar for Breton]
* [http://www.langtolang.com/ A multilingual dictionary containing many Breton words alongside those of other languages]
Learning
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20140704082247/http://www.kervarker.org/index.php?newlang=english%2F Breton site including online lessons]
* [http://www.linguashop.com/breton-language/ Audio CD, workbooks, software in English to learn Breton]
* Breton site with learners' forum and lessons (mostly in French with some English)
* Jouitteau, M. [http://arbres.iker.cnrs.fr/index.php/Grammaire_du_breton Grammaire du breton], (extensive Breton grammar in French, with glossed examples and typological comparisons), IKER, CNRS, 2009 > 2017].
Bible
* [https://www.bible.com/en-GB/versions/1799-jen1897-ar-bibl-santel-jenkins-1897?ret=1 Ar Bibl Santel (Jenkins) 1897 (JEN1897). History of Bible translation in Breton and Breton Bible]
Category:Languages attested from the 9th century
Category:Southwestern Brittonic languages
*
*
Category:History of Brittany
Category:Endangered Celtic languages
Category:Languages of France
Category:Verb–subject–object languages
Category:Severely endangered languages
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Broch
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thumb|Broch of Mousa
In archaeology, a broch is an Iron Age drystone hollow-walled structure found in Scotland. Brochs belong to the classification "complex Atlantic roundhouse" devised by Scottish archaeologists in the 1980s.
Brochs are roundhouse buildings found throughout Atlantic Scotland. The word broch is derived from the Lowland Scots 'brough', meaning fort. In the mid-19th century, Scottish antiquaries called brochs 'burgs', after Old Norse borg, with the same meaning. Brochs are often referred to as dùns in the west, and they are the most spectacular of a complex class of buildings found in northern Scotland. There are approximately 571 candidate broch sites throughout the country, according to the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland.
The origin of brochs is still subject to ongoing research. While most archaeologists believed 80 years ago that brochs were built by immigrants, there is now little doubt that the hollow-walled broch tower was an invention in what is now Scotland. The first brochs may have been built circa 300 BCE, and there is evidence to suggest that they were used primarily for defensive or offensive purposes.
The distribution of brochs is centred on northern Scotland, with the densest concentrations found in Caithness, Sutherland, and the Northern Isles. A few examples occur in the Scottish Borders and on the west coast of Dumfries and Galloway, and near Stirling. The original interpretation of brochs was that they were defensive structures, places of refuge for the community and their livestock. They were sometimes regarded as the work of Danes or Picts, and from the 1930s to the 1960s, archaeologists regarded them as castles where local landowners held sway over a subject population.
However, the castle theory fell from favour among Scottish archaeologists in the 1980s, due to a lack of supporting archaeological evidence. These archaeologists suggested defensibility was never a major concern in the siting of a broch, and argued that they may have been the "stately homes" of their time, objects of prestige and very visible demonstrations of superiority for important families. Once again, however, there is a lack of archaeological proof for this reconstruction, and the sheer number of brochs makes it problematic. The article concludes by stating that the purpose of brochs may have been a combination of defensive, offensive, and symbolic functions.
Origin and definition
The word broch is derived from Lowland Scots 'brough', meaning (among other things) fort. In the mid-19th century Scottish antiquaries called brochs 'burgs', after Old Norse , with the same meaning. Place names in Scandinavian Scotland such as Burgawater and Burgan show that Old Norse is the older word used for these structures in the north. Brochs are often referred to as dùn in the west. Antiquarians began to use the spelling broch in the 1870s.
A precise definition for the word has proved elusive. Brochs are the most spectacular of a complex class of roundhouse buildings found throughout Atlantic Scotland. The Shetland Amenity Trust lists about 120 sites in Shetland as candidate brochs, while the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland (RCAHMS) identifies a total of 571 candidate broch sites throughout the country. Researcher Euan MacKie, using a restricted definition, has proposed a much smaller total for Scotland of 104.
thumb|left|Remains of Dun Carloway broch, Lewis, Scotland
The origin of brochs is a subject of continuing research. Eighty years ago most archaeologists believed that brochs, usually regarded as the 'castles' of Iron Age chieftains, were built by immigrants who had been pushed northward after being displaced first by the intrusions of Belgic tribes into what is now southeast England at the end of the 2nd century BC and later by the Roman invasion of southern Britain beginning in AD 43. Yet there is now little doubt that the hollow-walled broch tower was an invention in what is now Scotland; even the kinds of pottery found inside them that most resembled south British styles were local hybrid forms.
The first of the modern review articles on the subject (MacKie 1965) did not, as is commonly believed, propose that brochs were built by immigrants, but rather that a hybrid culture formed from the blending of a small number of immigrants with the native population of the Hebrides produced them in the 1st century BC, basing them on earlier, simpler, promontory forts. This view contrasted, for example, with that of Sir W. Lindsay Scott, who argued,
following V. Gordon Childe (1935), for a wholesale migration into Atlantic Scotland of people from southwest England.
MacKie's theory has fallen from favour too, mainly because starting in the 1970s there was a general move in archaeology away from 'diffusionist' explanations towards those pointing to exclusively indigenous development. Meanwhile, the increasing number – albeit still pitifully few – of radiocarbon dates for the primary use of brochs (as opposed to their later, secondary use) still suggests that most of the towers were built in the 1st centuries BC and AD. A few may be earlier, notably the one proposed for Old Scatness Broch in Shetland, where a sheep bone dating to between 390 and 200 BC has been reported.
The other broch claimed to be substantially older than the 1st century BC is Crosskirk in Caithness, but a recent review of the evidence suggests that it cannot plausibly be assigned a date earlier than the 1st centuries BC/AD.
Distribution
thumb|upright|right|Overview of the distribution of brochs.
The distribution of brochs is centred on northern Scotland. Caithness, Sutherland and the Northern Isles have the densest concentrations, but there are many examples in the west of Scotland and the Hebrides. Although mainly concentrated in the northern Highlands and the Islands, a few examples occur in the Borders (for example Edin's Hall Broch and Bow Castle Broch), on the west coast of Dumfries and Galloway, and near Stirling. In a sketch there appears to be a broch by the river next to Annan Castle in Dumfries and Galloway. This small group of southern brochs has never been satisfactorily explained.
Purposes
thumb|left|The remains of Kilphedir broch, Sutherland, are surrounded by massive earthworks.
The original interpretation of brochs, favoured by 19th-century antiquarians, was that they were defensive structures, places of refuge for the community and their livestock. They were sometimes regarded as the work of Danes or Picts. From the 1930s to the 1960s, archaeologists such as V. Gordon Childe and later John Hamilton regarded them as castles where local landowners held sway over a subject population.
The castle theory fell from favour among Scottish archaeologists in the 1980s, due to a lack of supporting archaeological evidence. These archaeologists suggested defensibility was never a major concern in the siting of a broch, and argued that they may have been the "stately homes" of their time, objects of prestige and very visible demonstrations of superiority for important families (Armit 2003). Once again, however, there is a lack of archaeological proof for this reconstruction, and the sheer number of brochs, sometimes in places with a lack of good land, makes it problematic.
thumb|Midhowe Broch
Brochs' close groupings and profusion in many areas may indeed suggest that they had a primarily defensive or even offensive function. Some of them were sited beside precipitous cliffs and were protected by large ramparts, artificial or natural: a good example is at Burland near Gulberwick in Shetland, on a clifftop and cut off from the mainland by huge ditches. Often they are at key strategic points. In Shetland they sometimes cluster on each side of narrow stretches of water: the Broch of Mousa, for instance, is directly opposite another at Burraland in Sandwick. In Orkney there are more than a dozen on the facing shores of Eynhallow Sound, and many at the exits and entrances of the great harbour of Scapa Flow. In Sutherland quite a few are placed along the sides and at the mouths of deep valleys. Writing in 1956 John Stewart suggested that brochs in Shetland were forts put up by a military society to scan and protect the countryside and seas.
Finally, some archaeologists consider broch sites individually, doubting that there ever was a single common purpose for which every broch was constructed. There are differences in the positions, dimensions and likely status of broch in the various areas in which brochs are found. For example, the broch "villages" which occur at a few places in Orkney have no parallel in the Western Isles.
Structures
thumb|upright=1.2|Broch of Mousa in the Shetland Isles
Generally, brochs have a single entrance with bar-holes, door-checks and lintels. There are mural cells and there is a scarcement (ledge), perhaps for timber-framed lean-to dwellings lining the inner face of the wall. Also there is a spiral staircase winding upwards between the inner and outer wall and connecting the galleries. Brochs vary from in internal diameter, with walls. On average, the walls only survive to a few metres in height. There are five extant examples of towers with significantly higher walls: Dun Carloway on Lewis, Dun Telve and Dun Troddan in Glenelg, Mousa in Shetland and Dun Dornaigil in Sutherland, all of whose walls exceed in height.
left|thumb|The remains of Dun Hallin Broch, Skye
Mousa's walls are the best preserved and are still tall; it is not clear how many brochs originally stood so high. A frequent characteristic is that the walls are galleried: with an open space between, the outer and inner wall skins are separate but tied together with linking stone slabs; these linking slabs may in some cases have served as steps to higher floors. It is normal for there to be a cell breaking off from the passage beside the door; this is known as the guard cell. It has been found in some Shetland brochs that guard cells in entrance passageways are close to large door-check stones. Although there was much argument in the past, it is now generally accepted among some archaeologists that brochs were roofed, perhaps with a conical timber framed roof covered with a locally sourced thatch. The evidence for this assertion is still very scanty, although excavations at Dun Bharabhat, Lewis, may support it. The main difficulty with the interpretation continues to be identifying potential sources of structural timber, though bog and driftwood may have been sources.
Very few of the brochs on the islands of Orkney and Shetland have cells on the ground floor. Most brochs have scarcements (ledges) which may have allowed the construction of a wooden first floor (spotted by the antiquary George Low in Shetland in 1774), and excavations at Loch na Berie on the Isle of Lewis may show signs of a further, second floor (e.g. stairs on the first floor, which head upwards). Some brochs such as Dun Dornaigil and Culswick in Shetland have unusual triangular lintels above the entrance door.
thumb|upright=1.2|Dun Telve Broch, Glenelg
As in the case of Old Scatness in Shetland (near Jarlshof) and Burroughston on Shapinsay, brochs were sometimes located close to arable land and a source of water (some have wells or natural springs rising within their central space). Sometimes, on the other hand, they were sited in wilderness areas (e.g. Levenwick and Culswick in Shetland, Castle Cole in Sutherland). Brochs are often built beside the sea (Carn Liath, Sutherland); sometimes they are on islands in lochs (e.g. Clickimin in Shetland).
About 20 Orcadian broch sites include small settlements of stone buildings surrounding the main tower. Examples include Howe, near Stromness, Gurness Broch in the north west of Mainland, Orkney, Midhowe on Rousay and Lingro near Kirkwall (destroyed by a farmer in the 1980s). There are "broch village" sites in Caithness, but elsewhere they are unknown.
Most brochs are unexcavated. The end of the broch building period seems to have come around AD 100–200. Those that have been properly examined show that they continued to be in use for many centuries, with the interiors often modified and changed, and that they underwent many phases of habitation and abandonment.
Heritage status
thumb|Internal stairs, Broch of Dun Troddan
The Crucible of Iron Age Shetland's Mousa, Old Scatness and Jarlshof sites are on the United Kingdom "Tentative List" of possible nominations for the UNESCO World Heritage Programme list of sites of outstanding cultural or natural importance to the common heritage of humankind. This list, published in July 2010, includes sites that may be nominated for inscription over the next 5–10 years.
New broch planned
The Caithness Broch Project was set up in 2013 as a project in experimental archaeology to build a broch using traditional techniques such as drystone walling. Purposes of the project include possible insights into the purpose of brochs, preservation of local skills in techniques such as drystone wall building, and to attract tourists. a site had not been acquired, and the funding required, estimated at £1m–£3m, had not yet been arranged.
See also
Oldest buildings in Scotland
Irish round tower
Fortified tower
Nuraghe
Ringfort
References and footnotes
General references
Armit, I. (1991) The Atlantic Scottish Iron Age: five levels of chronology, Proc. Soc. Antiq. Scot. v. 121, pp. 181–214;
Armit, I. (1996) The Archaeology of Skye and the Western Isles, Edinburgh University Press;
Armit, I. (2003) Towers in the North: The Brochs of Scotland, Stroud : Tempus;
Ballin Smith, B. and Banks, I. (eds) (2002) In the Shadow of the Brochs, the Iron Age in Scotland, Stroud: Tempus;
Fojut, N. (1982) Towards a Geography of Shetland Brochs, Glasgow Archaeological Journal, v. 9, pp. 38–59;
Harding, D.W. (2000) The Hebridean Iron Age: Twenty Years’ Research, University of Edinburgh Department of Archaeology, Occasional Paper No. 20;
Harding, D.W. (2004) The Iron Age in Northern Britain, London : Routledge;
Specific references and notes
Further reading
Armit, Ian (2002), Towers in the North: The Brochs of Scotland. The History Press.
MacKie, E W 1992 The Iron Age semibrochs of Atlantic Scotland: a case study in the problems of deductive reasoning. Archaeol Journ 149 (1991), 149–81.
MacKie, E W 1995a Gurness and Midhowe brochs in Orkney: some problems of misinterpretation. Archaeol Journ 151 (1994), 98–157.
MacKie, E W 1995b The early Celts in Scotland. Miranda Green (ed) The Celtic World. Routledge, London: 654–70.
MacKie, E W 1997 Dun Mor Vaul re-visited, J.N.G. Ritchie (ed) The Archaeology of Argyll. Edinburgh: 141–80.
MacKie, E W 1998 Continuity over three thousand years of northern prehistory: the ‘tel’ at Howe, Orkney. Antiq Journ 78, 1–42.
MacKie, E W 2000 The Scottish Atlantic Iron Age: indigenous and isolated or part of a wider European world? 99–116 in Jon C Henderson (ed) The Prehistory and Early History of Atlantic Europe. BAR International Series 861: Oxford.
MacKie, E W 2002a Excavations at Dun Ardtreck, Skye, in 1964 and 1965. Proc Soc Antiq Scot 131 (2000), 301–411.
MacKie, E W 2002b The Roundhouses, Brochs and Wheelhouses of Atlantic Scotland c. 700 BC – AD 500: architecture and material culture. Part 1 The Orkney and Shetland Isles. British Archaeological Reports British Series 342. Oxford.
MacKie, E. W. 2005 119. Scottish brochs at the start of the new millennium, 11–31 in Turner, Val E, Nicholson, Rebecca A, Dockrill, S J & Bond, Julie M (eds.) Tall stories? Two millennia of brochs. Lerwick.
Ritchie, J N G (1998), Brochs of Scotland. Shire Publications.
Hunter, Mollie, The Stronghold, an historical novel about the building of the first broch.
External links
"Towers of stone–the brochs of Scotland", from The Scotsman, 27 February 2006.
Pretanic World – Chart of Neolithic, Bronze Age and Celtic Stone Structures
Glenelg Brochs
New image of Iron Age broch reconstruction plan, from BBC, 25 January 2022.
The Caithness Broch Project with Kenneth McElroy and Iain Maclean, The Shindig - An Archaeology Podcast interview, 12 January 2022.
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Billy Crystal
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|birth_name = William Edward Crystal
|birth_place = New York City, U.S.
|alma_mater = Marshall University<br>Nassau Community College<br>New York University (BFA)
|years_active = 1975–present
|spouse =
|children = 2, including Jennifer Crystal
|medium =
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William Edward Crystal (born March 14, 1948) is an American comedian, actor, and filmmaker. He is known as a standup comedian and for his film and stage roles. Crystal has received numerous accolades, including six Primetime Emmy Awards and a Tony Award as well as nominations for three Grammy Awards and three Golden Globe Awards. He was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1991, the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor in 2007, the Critics' Choice Lifetime Achievement Award in 2022, and the Kennedy Center Honors in 2023.
Crystal gained prominence for television roles as Jodie Dallas on the ABC sitcom Soap from 1977 to 1981 and as a cast member and frequent host of Saturday Night Live from 1984 to 1985. Crystal then became known for his roles in films such as Running Scared (1986), Throw Momma from the Train (1987), Memories of Me (1988), When Harry Met Sally... (1989), City Slickers (1991), Mr. Saturday Night (1992), Forget Paris (1995), ''Father's Day (1997), America's Sweethearts (2001), and Parental Guidance'' (2012). Crystal is the voice of Mike Wazowski in Pixar's Monsters, Inc. franchise. He has hosted the Academy Awards 9 times, beginning in 1990 and most recently in 2012.
Crystal made his Broadway debut in his one man show 700 Sundays in 2004, for which he won the Tony Award for Best Special Theatrical Event. Crystal returned to the show again in 2014 which was filmed by HBO and received a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Variety Special nomination. He wrote and starred in the Broadway musical Mr. Saturday Night based on his film in 2022, for which Crystal received two Tony Award nominations for Best Actor in a Musical and Best Book of a Musical. He has written five books including his memoir ''Still Foolin' Em (2013).
Early life and education
, Herbie Hill and Lou Blum at the Commodore Music Shop (1947)]]
William Edward Crystal was born at Doctors Hospital on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, As a toddler, he moved with his family to 549 East Park Avenue in Long Beach, New York, on Long Island. Crystal's father was also a jazz promoter, a producer, and an executive for an affiliated jazz record label, Commodore Records, founded by Crystal's uncle, musician and songwriter Milt Gabler. and he grew up attending Temple Emanu-El (Long Beach, New York) where he had his bar mitzvah. The three young brothers would entertain by reprising comedy routines from the likes of Bob Newhart, Rich Little and Sid Caesar records their father would bring home. Crystal attended Marshall University in Huntington, West Virginia, on a baseball scholarship. Crystal did not return to Marshall as a sophomore, instead deciding to stay in New York to be close to his future wife. He studied acting at HB Studio. Crystal attended Nassau Community College with her and later transferred to New York University, where he was a film and television directing major. Crystal graduated from NYU in 1970 with a BFA from its then School of Fine Arts. One of his instructors was Martin Scorsese, while Oliver Stone and Christopher Guest were among his classmates. Career 1976–1985: Stand-up, Soap, and SNL Crystal returned to New York City. For four years, he was part of a comedy trio with two friends. They played colleges and coffee houses and Crystal worked as a substitute teacher on Long Island. Crystal later became a solo act and performed regularly at The Improv and Catch a Rising Star. In 1976, he appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson and on an episode of All in the Family. Crystal was on the dais for the Dean Martin celebrity roast of Muhammad Ali on February 19, 1976, where he performed impressions of both Ali and sportscaster Howard Cosell. This began a lifelong friendship between Ali and Crystal.
Crystal was scheduled to appear on the first episode of NBC Saturday Night on October 11, 1975 (the show was later renamed Saturday Night Live on March 26, 1977), but his sketch was cut. Crystal did perform on episode 17 of that first season, doing a monologue of an old jazz man capped by the line "Can you dig it? I knew that you could." Host Ron Nessen introduced him as "Bill Crystal." Crystal made a guest appearance on "The Love Boat" Season 2 Episode 5, which aired on October 20, 1978. He also made game show appearances such as The Hollywood Squares, All Star Secrets and The $20,000 Pyramid. To this day, Crystal holds the Pyramid franchise's record for getting his contestant partner to the top of the pyramid in the winner's circle in the fastest time: 26 seconds.
'' (1977). Back row, L-R: Robert Urich, Ted Wass, Richard Mulligan, Robert Guillaume, Robert Mandan, Jimmy Baio, Diana Canova, Arthur Peterson Jr. Seated: Billy Crystal, Cathryn Damon, Katherine Helmond, Jennifer Salt. ]]
Crystal's earliest prominent role was as Jodie Dallas on Soap, one of the first unambiguously gay characters in the cast of an American television series. He continued in the role during the series's entire 1977–1981 run.
In 1982, Crystal hosted his own variety show, The Billy Crystal Comedy Hour on NBC. When Crystal arrived to shoot the fifth episode, he learned it had been canceled after only the first two aired. After hosting Saturday Night Live twice, on March 17, 1984, and the show's ninth season finale on May 5, Crystal joined the regular cast for the 1984–85 season. Crystal appeared briefly in the Rob Reiner "rockumentary" This Is Spinal Tap (1984) as Morty The Mime, a waiter dressed as a mime at one of Spinal Tap's parties. He shared the scene with a then-unknown, non-speaking Dana Carvey, stating famously that "Mime is money."
1986–1999: Oscar host and leading man status
Due to the success of Crystal's standup and SNL career, in 1985, he released an album of his stand-up material titled Mahvelous!. The title track You Look Marvelous, written by Crystal and Paul Shaffer, had an accompanying music video that debuted on MTV. Both the song and video features Crystal in character as his SNL persona of talk show host Fernando Lamas. The video features Lamas cruising around in what was at the time the world's longest stretch limousine, built by custom-coach designer and builder Vini Bergeman, surrounded by models in bikinis. The single peaked at No. 58 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the US and No. 17 in Canada. The album was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Comedy Recording at the 1986 Grammy Awards. He later starred in the action comedy Running Scared (1986) opposite Gregory Hines. Film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert praised the two for their on-screen chemistry writing, "But Crystal and Hines...don't need a plot because they have so much good dialogue and such a great screen relationship."
During this time, Crystal hosted the Academy Awards broadcast a total of nine times, from 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1997, 1998, 2000, 2004 and 2012. His hosting was critically praised, resulting in two Primetime Emmy Award wins for hosting and writing the 63rd Academy Awards and an Emmy win for writing the 64th Academy Awards. San Francisco Chronicle columnist John Carman raved about Crystal's performance for the 70th Academy Awards writing, "It was the best Oscar show in two decades...Crystal was back in razor form." The Seattle Times television editor Kay McFadden praised Crystal commenting that "he possesses nearly impeccable timing and judgment."
Crystal reunited with director Rob Reiner in The Princess Bride (1987), in a comedic supporting role as "Miracle Max." Reiner got Crystal to accept the part by saying, "How would you like to play Mel Brooks?" Reiner also allowed Crystal to ad-lib, and his parting shot, "Have fun storming the castle!" is a frequently quoted line. Critic Roger Ebert described Crystal as a highlight of the film writing "the funniest sequences in the film stars Billy Crystal and Carol Kane, both unrecogizable behind makeup, as an ancient wizard and crone who specialize in bringing the dead back to life." Reiner directed Crystal for a third time in the romantic comedy When Harry Met Sally... (1989). Crystal starred alongside Meg Ryan, Bruno Kirby and Carrie Fisher in a script written by Nora Ephron. The Hollywood Reporter praised the film and Crystal's performance writing, "Crystal's lustrous, deeply-shaded performance is certain to win him legions of new fans; indeed, his prowess as a comic reaches its deepest human dimension here." Crystal was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy losing to Morgan Freeman in Driving Miss Daisy (1989). The film has since become an iconic classic for the genre and is Crystal's most celebrated film. In 2019, the BBC named the film the greatest romantic comedy of all time.
In 1991, Crystal created and produced the HBO six-part comedy miniseries Sessions starring Michael McKean and Elliott Gould. The Los Angeles Times praised the project describing it as "swankily written, elegantly staged and perfectly cast." Crystal then starred in the award-winning buddy comedy City Slickers (1991), which proved very successful both commercially and critically and for which Crystal was nominated for his second Golden Globe. The film was followed by a sequel, which was less successful. The name of his company is Face Productions. Entertainment Weekly praised Crystal's performance writing, "It's also the first movie ever to do the talented Billy Crystal justice...he's far more pleasureful to watch in this sort of dramatic-comedy role than, say, Robin Williams, because his comfy, urban-shlemiel personality helps ground the jokes." Following the significant success of these films, Crystal wrote, directed, and starred in Mr. Saturday Night (1992) and Forget Paris (1995). In the former, Crystal played a serious role in aging makeup, as an egotistical comedian who reflects back on his career.
In 1992, Crystal narrated Dr. Seuss Video Classics: Horton Hatches the Egg. He was originally asked to voice Buzz Lightyear in Toy Story (1995) but turned it down, a decision he later regretted due to the popularity of the series.
2000–2014: Later film work and Broadway debut
Crystal directed the made-for-television movie 61* (2001) based on Roger Maris's and Mickey Mantle's race to break Babe Ruth's single-season home run record in 1961. This earned Crystal an Primetime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Directing for a Miniseries, Movie or a Special. More recent performances include roles in ''America's Sweethearts (2001), the sequel Analyze That (2002), and Parental Guidance (2012). Crystal later went on to provide the voice of Mike Wazowski in the blockbuster Pixar film Monsters, Inc. (2001), Cars (2006), during the epilogue in the end credits, and to reprise his voice role in the prequel, Monsters University'' (2013). Crystal also provided the voice of Calcifer in the English version of Hayao Miyazaki's ''Howl's Moving Castle (2004). He won the 2005 Tony Award for Best Special Theatrical Event for 700 Sundays, a two-act, one-man play, which Crystal conceived and wrote about his parents and his childhood growing up on Long Island. His nine times is second only to Bob Hope's 19 in most ceremonies hosted. At the 83rd Academy Awards ceremony in 2011, Crystal appeared as a presenter for a digitally inserted Bob Hope and before doing so was given a standing ovation. Film critic Roger Ebert said when Crystal came onstage about two hours into the show, he got the first laughs of the broadcast. Crystal's hosting gigs have regularly included an introductory video segment in which he comedically inserts himself into scenes of that year's nominees in addition to a song following his opening monologue. In 2013, Crystal released his autobiographical memoir ''Still Foolin' Em''. The audiobook version was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album at the 2014 Grammy Awards. The televised special received three Primetime Emmy Award nominations including Outstanding Variety Special, and Outstanding Writing for a Variety Special.
In 2014, Crystal paid tribute to his close friend Robin Williams at the 66th Primetime Emmy Awards. In his tribute, Crystal talked about their friendship, saying, "As genius as he was on stage, he was the greatest friend you could ever imagine. Supportive. Protective. Loving. It's very hard to talk about him in the past because he was so present in all of our lives. For almost 40 years, he was the brightest star in the comedy galaxy… [His] beautiful light will continue to shine on us forever. And the glow will be so bright, it'll warm your heart. It'll make your eyes glisten. And you'll think to yourselves: Robin Williams. What a concept." Crystal stated that paying tribute to Williams so publicly and so soon after Williams had died was one of "the hardest things I've had to do" and that "I was really worried that I wasn't going to get through it." Crystal soon after appeared on The View where he and Whoopi Goldberg shared stories about Williams, reminiscing about their friendship, and their collaborations together on Comic Relief. 2015–present: Return to Broadway
, Crystal, Renée Fleming, Dionne Warrick, Queen Latifah, Barry Gibb, and Jill Biden in 2023]]
In 2015, Crystal co-starred alongside Josh Gad on the FX comedy series The Comedians, which ran for just one season before being canceled. His series received mixed reviews with many critics noting the chemistry developed further as the series went on. The series was compared to backstage shows such as The Larry Sanders Show and 30 Rock. Kate Kulzick of The A.V. Club wrote "The odd-couple pairing of Crystal and Gad works well, with their generational divide providing many of the show's early highlights...The friendly rapport that develops between the fictionalized Billy and Josh allows them to relax a bit and get to know each other better".
In 2016, Crystal gave one of the eulogies for Muhammad Ali at his funeral. In his remembrance of Ali, Crystal talked about his admiration for Ali as a boxer, and humanitarian. He also shared stories of their unlikely friendship after Crystal did a series of impersonations of him. Crystal stated of Ali's legacy, "Only once in a thousand years or so, do we get to hear a Mozart, or see a Picasso, or read a Shakespeare. Ali was one of them. And yet, at his heart, he was still a kid from Louisville who ran with the gods and walked with the crippled and smiled at the foolishness of it all."
In the fall of 2021, Crystal reprised the role of Buddy Young Jr., in a theatrical musical staging of Mr. Saturday Night at the Barrington Stage Company in Pittsfield, MA. In 2022, Crystal adapted his 1992 movie Mr. Saturday Night into a Broadway musical with the same name. Crystal stars in the musical reprising his role from the film alongside David Paymer. The production began previews on Broadway at the Nederlander Theatre on March 29, 2022, prior to officially opening on April 27. Crystal earned the Drama League Award for Contribution to the Theater Award for "his extraordinary work on stages across the country and commitment to mentorship in the field." Crystal performed a number with the ensemble from his musical at the 75th Tony Awards. Crystal also performed what he described as Yiddish scat singing. Crystal went into the crowd teaching Lin-Manuel Miranda and Samuel L. Jackson as well as the rest of the audience. The New York Times praised Crystal on his bit, describing it as a highlight of the telecast writing, "one of the few moments that broke through...is when [Crystal] brought it out into the audience, and threw it up to the balcony, he showed how precision delivery and command of a room can make even the oldest, silliest material impossibly compelling."
In 2023, Crystal was celebrated by the Kennedy Center Honors. Tributes came from Rob Reiner, Meg Ryan, Whoopi Goldberg, Robert De Niro, Jay Leno, and Bob Costas. Lin-Manuel Miranda and Marc Shaiman did a tribute to Crystal's "Oscar Medleys" to the tunes of "Too Marvelous for Words", "It Had to Be You" (the theme from When Harry Met Sally...), and "My Favorite Things" from The Sound of Music. Acting credits and accolades
Crystal has received numerous accolades including six Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Individual Performance in a Variety or Music Program as the host of the 31st Annual Grammy Awards (1989), 63rd Academy Awards (1991), and 70th Academy Awards (1998) and the Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series for writing his comedy special Midnight Train to Moscow (1990), and the 63rd Academy Awards and 64th Academy Awards (1992). For his Broadway debut, his one man show 700 Sundays (2005), Crystal won the Tony Award for Best Special Theatrical Event, and the Drama Desk Award. He received further Tony nominations for Best Actor in a Musical and Best Book of a Musical for Mr. Saturday Night (2022).
Crystal received nominations for three Grammy Awards for Best Comedy Album for You Look Marvelous (1986), Best Spoken Word Album for ''Still Foolin' Em (2014), and Best Musical Theatre Album for Mr. Saturday Night (2023). He also received three Golden Globe Award nominations for Best Actor in a Motion Picture Musical or Comedy for his performances in the romantic comedy When Harry Met Sally... (1989), the western comedy City Slickers'' (1991), and Crystal's directorial debut Mr. Saturday Night (1992).
Crystal has also received numerous honors including a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1991, and was awarded with the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor in 2007 where he was honored by Robin Williams, Whoopi Goldberg, Robert De Niro, Martin Short, and Rob Reiner at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington D.C. Crystal was made one of the Disney Legends in 2013 and also received the Critics' Choice Lifetime Achievement Award in 2022 and the Kennedy Center Honors in 2023. Personal life On June 4, 1970, Crystal married his high school sweetheart, Janice Goldfinger. Crystal has long credited his parents, "who always looked like they loved being together," with setting an example for his own marriage. They have two daughters: actress Jennifer and Lindsay, a producer, and are grandparents. They lived in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. In January 2025, their home was destroyed in the Palisades Fire.
Crystal received an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree from New York University in 2016 and spoke at the commencement at Yankee Stadium. Philanthropy
<!-- "Comic Relief" in this context is a USA charity for combating homelessness; the associated Wikipedia article is incomplete, as research is still being done. You are encouraged to edit "Comic Relief USA" to provide additional data. -->
In 1986, Crystal started hosting Comic Relief on HBO with Robin Williams and Whoopi Goldberg.
Crystal has participated in the Simon Wiesenthal Center Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles. His personal history is featured in the "Finding Our Families, Finding Ourselves" exhibit in the genealogy wing of the museum.
Political views
Crystal is a supporter of the Democratic Party and has appeared in advertisements on behalf of the party.
Crystal was an outspoken critic of Donald Trump, during Trump's 2016 Presidential campaign. Crystal supported Hillary Clinton in the 2016 United States presidential election. Sports On March 12, 2008, Crystal signed a one-day minor league contract to play with the New York Yankees, and he was invited to the team's major league spring training. Crystal wore uniform number 60 in honor of his upcoming 60th birthday. On March 13, in a spring training game against the Pittsburgh Pirates, Crystal led off as the designated hitter. He managed to make contact, fouling a fastball up the first base line, but was eventually struck out by Pirates pitcher Paul Maholm on six pitches and was later replaced in the batting order by Johnny Damon. Crystal was released on March 14, his 60th birthday.
Crystal's boyhood idol was Yankee Hall of Fame legend Mickey Mantle, who had signed a program for him when Crystal attended a game where Mantle had hit a home run. Years later on The Dinah Shore Show, in one of his first television appearances, Crystal met Mantle in person and had Mantle re-sign the same program. Crystal would be good friends with Mantle until Mantle's death in 1995. He and Bob Costas together wrote the eulogy Costas read at Mantle's funeral, and George Steinbrenner then invited Crystal to emcee the unveiling of Mantle's monument at Yankee Stadium. In his 2013 memoir ''Still Foolin' 'Em, Crystal said that after the ceremony, near the Yankees clubhouse, he was punched in the stomach by Joe DiMaggio, who was angry at Crystal for not having introduced him to the crowd as the "Greatest living player."
Crystal also was well known for his impressions of Yankees Hall of Famer turned broadcaster Phil Rizzuto. Rizzuto, known for his quirks calling games, did not travel to Anaheim, California in 1996 to call the game for WPIX. Instead, Crystal joined the broadcasters in the booth and pretended to be Rizzuto for a few minutes during the August 31 game.
Although a lifelong Yankees fan, he is a part-owner of the Arizona Diamondbacks, even earning a World Series ring in 2001 when the Diamondbacks beat his beloved Yankees.
In City Slickers, Crystal wore a New York Mets baseball cap. In the 1986 film Running Scared'', his character is an avid Chicago Cubs fan, wearing a Cubs' jersey in several scenes. In the 2012 film Parental Guidance, Crystal's character is the announcer for the Fresno Grizzlies, a Minor League Baseball team, who aspires to announce for their Major League affiliate, the San Francisco Giants.
Crystal appeared in Ken Burns's 1994 documentary Baseball, telling personal stories about his life-long love of baseball, including meeting Casey Stengel as a child and Ted Williams as an adult.
Crystal is also a longtime Los Angeles Clippers fan and season ticket holder. References External links
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*[http://stillfoolinem.com/ Website for Billy Crystal's book ''Still Foolin' 'Em'']
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Black hole
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A black hole is a massive, compact astronomical object so dense that its gravity prevents anything from escaping, even light. Albert Einstein's theory of general relativity predicts that a sufficiently compact mass will form a black hole. The boundary of no escape is called the event horizon. A black hole has a great effect on the fate and circumstances of an object crossing it, but has no locally detectable features according to general relativity. In many ways, a black hole acts like an ideal black body, as it reflects no light. Quantum field theory in curved spacetime predicts that event horizons emit Hawking radiation, with the same spectrum as a black body of a temperature inversely proportional to its mass. This temperature is of the order of billionths of a kelvin for stellar black holes, making it essentially impossible to observe directly.
Objects whose gravitational fields are too strong for light to escape were first considered in the 18th century by John Michell and Pierre-Simon Laplace. In 1916, Karl Schwarzschild found the first modern solution of general relativity that would characterise a black hole. Due to his influential research, the Schwarzschild metric is named after him. David Finkelstein, in 1958, first published the interpretation of "black hole" as a region of space from which nothing can escape. Black holes were long considered a mathematical curiosity; it was not until the 1960s that theoretical work showed they were a generic prediction of general relativity. The discovery of neutron stars by Jocelyn Bell Burnell in 1967 sparked interest in gravitationally collapsed compact objects as a possible astrophysical reality. The first black hole known was Cygnus X-1, identified by several researchers independently in 1971.
Black holes typically form when massive stars collapse at the end of their life cycle. After a black hole has formed, it can grow by absorbing mass from its surroundings. Supermassive black holes of millions of solar masses () may form by absorbing other stars and merging with other black holes, or via direct collapse of gas clouds. There is consensus that supermassive black holes exist in the centres of most galaxies.
The presence of a black hole can be inferred through its interaction with other matter and with electromagnetic radiation such as visible light. Matter falling toward a black hole can form an accretion disk of infalling plasma, heated by friction and emitting light. In extreme cases, this creates a quasar, some of the brightest objects in the universe. Stars passing too close to a supermassive black hole can be shredded into streamers that shine very brightly before being "swallowed." If other stars are orbiting a black hole, their orbits can be used to determine the black hole's mass and location. Such observations can be used to exclude possible alternatives such as neutron stars. In this way, astronomers have identified numerous stellar black hole candidates in binary systems and established that the radio source known as Sagittarius A*, at the core of the Milky Way galaxy, contains a supermassive black hole of about 4.3 million solar masses.
History
The idea of a body so big that even light could not escape was briefly proposed by English astronomical pioneer and clergyman John Michell and independently by French scientist Pierre-Simon Laplace. Both scholars proposed very large stars rather than the modern model of stars with extraordinary density.
Michell's idea, in a short part of a letter published in 1784, calculated that a star with the same density but 500 times the radius of the sun would not let any emitted light escape; the surface escape velocity would exceed the speed of light. Michell correctly noted that such supermassive but non-radiating bodies might be detectable through their gravitational effects on nearby visible bodies.
In 1796, Laplace mentioned that a star could be invisible if it were sufficiently large while speculating on the origin of the Solar System in his book Exposition du Système du Monde. Franz Xaver von Zach asked Laplace for a mathematical analysis, which Laplace provided and published in journal edited by von Zach. since light was understood as a wave rather than a particle, it was unclear what, if any, influence gravity would have on escaping light waves. A few months after Schwarzschild, Johannes Droste, a student of Hendrik Lorentz, independently gave the same solution for the point mass and wrote more extensively about its properties. This solution had a peculiar behaviour at what is now called the Schwarzschild radius, where it became singular, meaning that some of the terms in the Einstein equations became infinite. The nature of this surface was not quite understood at the time.
In 1924, Arthur Eddington showed that the singularity disappeared after a change of coordinates. In 1933, Georges Lemaître realised that this meant the singularity at the Schwarzschild radius was a non-physical coordinate singularity. Arthur Eddington commented on the possibility of a star with mass compressed to the Schwarzschild radius in a 1926 book, noting that Einstein's theory allows us to rule out overly large densities for visible stars like Betelgeuse because "a star of 250 million km radius could not possibly have so high a density as the Sun. Firstly, the force of gravitation would be so great that light would be unable to escape from it, the rays falling back to the star like a stone to the earth. Secondly, the red shift of the spectral lines would be so great that the spectrum would be shifted out of existence. Thirdly, the mass would produce so much curvature of the spacetime metric that space would close up around the star, leaving us outside (i.e., nowhere)."
In 1931, Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar calculated, using special relativity, that a non-rotating body of electron-degenerate matter above a certain limiting mass (now called the Chandrasekhar limit at ) has no stable solutions. His arguments were opposed by many of his contemporaries like Eddington and Lev Landau, who argued that some yet unknown mechanism would stop the collapse. They were partly correct: a white dwarf slightly more massive than the Chandrasekhar limit will collapse into a neutron star, which is itself stable.
In 1939, Robert Oppenheimer and others predicted that neutron stars above another limit, the Tolman–Oppenheimer–Volkoff limit, would collapse further for the reasons presented by Chandrasekhar, and concluded that no law of physics was likely to intervene and stop at least some stars from collapsing to black holes. Their original calculations, based on the Pauli exclusion principle, gave it as . Subsequent consideration of neutron-neutron repulsion mediated by the strong force raised the estimate to approximately to . Observations of the neutron star merger GW170817, which is thought to have generated a black hole shortly afterward, have refined the TOV limit estimate to ~.
Oppenheimer and his co-authors interpreted the singularity at the boundary of the Schwarzschild radius as indicating that this was the boundary of a bubble in which time stopped. This is a valid point of view for external observers, but not for infalling observers. The hypothetical collapsed stars were called "frozen stars", because an outside observer would see the surface of the star frozen in time at the instant where its collapse takes it to the Schwarzschild radius.
Also in 1939, Einstein attempted to prove that black holes were impossible in his publication "On a Stationary System with Spherical Symmetry Consisting of Many Gravitating Masses", using his theory of general relativity to defend his argument. Months later, Oppenheimer and his student Hartland Snyder provided the Oppenheimer–Snyder model in their paper "On Continued Gravitational Contraction", which predicted the existence of black holes. In the paper, which made no reference to Einstein's recent publication, Oppenheimer and Snyder used Einstein's own theory of general relativity to show the conditions on how a black hole could develop, for the first time in contemporary physics. This did not strictly contradict Oppenheimer's results, but extended them to include the point of view of infalling observers. Finkelstein's solution extended the Schwarzschild solution for the future of observers falling into a black hole. A complete extension had already been found by Martin Kruskal, who was urged to publish it.
These results came at the beginning of the golden age of general relativity, which was marked by general relativity and black holes becoming mainstream subjects of research. This process was helped by the discovery of pulsars by Jocelyn Bell Burnell in 1967, which, by 1969, were shown to be rapidly rotating neutron stars. Until that time, neutron stars, like black holes, were regarded as just theoretical curiosities; but the discovery of pulsars showed their physical relevance and spurred a further interest in all types of compact objects that might be formed by gravitational collapse.
In this period more general black hole solutions were found. In 1963, Roy Kerr found the exact solution for a rotating black hole. Two years later, Ezra Newman found the axisymmetric solution for a black hole that is both rotating and electrically charged. Through the work of Werner Israel, Brandon Carter, and David Robinson the no-hair theorem emerged, stating that a stationary black hole solution is completely described by the three parameters of the Kerr–Newman metric: mass, angular momentum, and electric charge. and Stephen Hawking used global techniques to prove that singularities appear generically. For this work, Penrose received half of the 2020 Nobel Prize in Physics, Hawking having died in 2018. Based on observations in Greenwich and Toronto in the early 1970s, Cygnus X-1, a galactic X-ray source discovered in 1964, became the first astronomical object commonly accepted to be a black hole.
Work by James Bardeen, Jacob Bekenstein, Carter, and Hawking in the early 1970s led to the formulation of black hole thermodynamics. These laws describe the behaviour of a black hole in close analogy to the laws of thermodynamics by relating mass to energy, area to entropy, and surface gravity to temperature. The analogy was completed when Hawking, in 1974, showed that quantum field theory implies that black holes should radiate like a black body with a temperature proportional to the surface gravity of the black hole, predicting the effect now known as Hawking radiation. Gaia mission observations have found evidence of a Sun-like star orbiting a black hole named Gaia BH1 around away; evidence suggests a brown dwarf star orbits Gaia BH2. Though only a couple dozen black holes have been found so far in the Milky Way, there are thought to be hundreds of millions, most of which are solitary and do not cause emission of radiation. Therefore, they would only be detectable by gravitational lensing. Etymology
Science writer Marcia Bartusiak traces the term "black hole" to physicist Robert H. Dicke, who in the early 1960s reportedly compared the phenomenon to the Black Hole of Calcutta, notorious as a prison where people entered but never left alive.
The term "black hole" was used in print by Life and Science News magazines in 1963, and by science journalist Ann Ewing in her article Black Holes' in Space", dated 18 January 1964, which was a report on a meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science held in Cleveland, Ohio.
In December 1967, a student reportedly suggested the phrase "black hole" at a lecture by John Wheeler; leading some to credit Wheeler with coining the phrase.
Properties and structure
The escape velocity from a black hole exceeds the speed of light. The formula for escape velocity is
<math display"block"> V \sqrt{2MGR}</math>
for an object at radius from a spherical mass , with being the gravitational constant. When the velocity is the speed of light, , the radius, <math>R_s 2MG/c^2,</math> is called the Schwarzschild radius.
A technical definition of a black hole is any object whose mass is contained in a radius is smaller than its Schwarzschild radius, a limit derived from one solution to the equations of general relativity.
The no-hair theorem postulates that, once it achieves a stable condition after formation, a black hole has only three independent physical properties: mass, electric charge, and angular momentum; the black hole is otherwise featureless. If the conjecture is true, any two black holes that share the same values for these properties, or parameters, are indistinguishable from one another. The degree to which the conjecture is true for real black holes under the laws of modern physics is currently an unsolved problem.
These properties are special because they are visible from outside a black hole. For example, a charged black hole repels other like charges just like any other charged object. Similarly, the total mass inside a sphere containing a black hole can be found by using the gravitational analogue of Gauss's law (through the ADM mass), far away from the black hole. Likewise, the angular momentum (or spin) can be measured from far away using frame dragging by the gravitomagnetic field, through for example the Lense–Thirring effect.
When an object falls into a black hole, any information about the shape of the object or distribution of charge on it is evenly distributed along the horizon of the black hole, and is lost to outside observers. The behaviour of the horizon in this situation is a dissipative system that is closely analogous to that of a conductive stretchy membrane with friction and electrical resistance—the membrane paradigm. This is different from other field theories such as electromagnetism, which do not have any friction or resistivity at the microscopic level, because they are time-reversible.
Because a black hole eventually achieves a stable state with only three parameters, there is no way to avoid losing information about the initial conditions: the gravitational and electric fields of a black hole give very little information about what went in. The information that is lost includes every quantity that cannot be measured far away from the black hole horizon, including approximately conserved quantum numbers such as the total baryon number and lepton number. This behaviour is so puzzling that it has been called the black hole information loss paradox. This means there is no observable difference at a distance between the gravitational field of such a black hole and that of any other spherical object of the same mass. The popular notion of a black hole "sucking in everything" in its surroundings is therefore correct only near a black hole's horizon; far away, the external gravitational field is identical to that of any other body of the same mass.
Solutions describing more general black holes also exist. Non-rotating charged black holes are described by the Reissner–Nordström metric, while the Kerr metric describes a non-charged rotating black hole. The most general stationary black hole solution known is the Kerr–Newman metric, which describes a black hole with both charge and angular momentum.
While the mass of a black hole can take any positive value, the charge and angular momentum are constrained by the mass. The total electric charge Q and the total angular momentum J are expected to satisfy the inequality
<math display="block">\frac{Q^2}{4\pi\epsilon_0} + \frac{c^2 J^2}{G M^2} \le G M^2</math>
for a black hole of mass M. Black holes with the minimum possible mass satisfying this inequality are called extremal. Solutions of Einstein's equations that violate this inequality exist, but they do not possess an event horizon. These solutions have so-called naked singularities that can be observed from the outside, and hence are deemed unphysical. The cosmic censorship hypothesis rules out the formation of such singularities, when they are created through the gravitational collapse of realistic matter. This is supported by numerical simulations.
Due to the relatively large strength of the electromagnetic force, black holes forming from the collapse of stars are expected to retain the nearly neutral charge of the star. Rotation, however, is expected to be a universal feature of compact astrophysical objects. The black-hole candidate binary X-ray source GRS 1915+105 appears to have an angular momentum near the maximum allowed value. That uncharged limit is can exceed1 for objects other than black holes. The largest value known for a neutron star is ≤ 0.4, and commonly used equations of state would limit that value to < 0.7.}}
{|class"wikitable" style"float:right; margin:0 0 0.5em 1em;"
|+ Black hole classifications
|-
! Class !! Approx.<br />mass !! Approx.<br />radius
|-
|Ultramassive black hole ||style"text-align: center;"| –}} ||style"text-align: center;"|>1,000 AU
|-
|Supermassive black hole ||style"text-align: center;"| –}} ||style"text-align: center;"|0.001–400 AU
|-
|Intermediate-mass black hole ||style"text-align: center;"| –}} ||style"text-align: center;"|10 km ≈ R
|-
|Stellar black hole ||style"text-align: center;"| ||style"text-align: center;"|30 km
|-
|Micro black hole ||style"text-align: center;"|up to M ||style"text-align: center;"|up to 0.1 mm
|}
Black holes are commonly classified according to their mass, independent of angular momentum, J. The size of a black hole, as determined by the radius of the event horizon, or Schwarzschild radius, is proportional to the mass, M, through
<math display"block">r_\mathrm{s}\frac{2GM}{c^2} \approx 2.95\, \frac{M}{M_\odot}~\mathrm{km,}</math>
where r is the Schwarzschild radius and is the mass of the Sun. For a black hole with nonzero spin or electric charge, the radius is smaller,^2 - Q^2}.</math>}} until an extremal black hole could have an event horizon close to
<math display"block">r_\mathrm{+}\frac{GM}{c^2}.</math>
Event horizon
| image3 = BH-no-escape-3.svg
| caption3 = Inside of the event horizon, all paths bring the particle closer to the centre of the black hole. It is no longer possible for the particle to escape.
}}
The defining feature of a black hole is the appearance of an event horizon—a boundary in spacetime through which matter and light can pass only inward towards the mass of the black hole. Nothing, not even light, can escape from inside the event horizon. The event horizon is referred to as such because if an event occurs within the boundary, information from that event cannot reach an outside observer, making it impossible to determine whether such an event occurred.
As predicted by general relativity, the presence of a mass deforms spacetime in such a way that the paths taken by particles bend towards the mass. At the event horizon of a black hole, this deformation becomes so strong that there are no paths that<!--to avoid false positives in search for 'that led/lead' typo--> lead away from the black hole.
In a thought experiment, a distant observer can imagine clocks near a black hole which would appear to tick more slowly than those farther away from the black hole. This effect, known as gravitational time dilation, would also cause an object falling into a black hole to appear to slow as it approaches the event horizon, taking an infinite amount of time to reach it. All processes on this object would appear to slow down, from the viewpoint of a fixed outside observer, and any light emitted by the object to appear redder and dimmer, an effect known as gravitational redshift. Eventually, the falling object fades away until it can no longer be seen. Typically this process happens very rapidly with an object disappearing from view within less than a second.
On the other hand, imaginary, indestructible observers falling into a black hole would not notice any of these effects as they cross the event horizon. Their own clocks appear to them to tick normally, they cross the event horizon after a finite time without noting any singular behaviour.
In general relativity, it is impossible to determine the location of the event horizon from local observations, due to Einstein's equivalence principle.
The topology of the event horizon of a black hole at equilibrium is always spherical. For non-rotating (static) black holes the geometry of the event horizon is precisely spherical, while for rotating black holes the event horizon is oblate. Singularity
At the centre of a black hole, as described by general relativity, may lie a gravitational singularity, a region where the spacetime curvature becomes infinite. For a non-rotating black hole, this region takes the shape of a single point; for a rotating black hole it is smeared out to form a ring singularity that lies in the plane of rotation. In both cases, the singular region has zero volume. It can also be shown that the singular region contains all the mass of the black hole solution. The singular region can thus be thought of as having infinite density.
Observers falling into a Schwarzschild black hole (i.e., non-rotating and not charged) cannot avoid being carried into the singularity once they cross the event horizon. They can prolong the experience by accelerating away to slow their descent, but only up to a limit. When they reach the singularity, they are crushed to infinite density and their mass is added to the total of the black hole. Before that happens, they will have been torn apart by the growing tidal forces in a process sometimes referred to as spaghettification or the "noodle effect".
In the case of a charged (Reissner–Nordström) or rotating (Kerr) black hole, it is possible to avoid the singularity. Extending these solutions as far as possible reveals the hypothetical possibility of exiting the black hole into a different spacetime with the black hole acting as a wormhole. The possibility of travelling to another universe is, however, only theoretical since any perturbation would destroy this possibility. It also appears to be possible to follow closed timelike curves (returning to one's own past) around the Kerr singularity, which leads to problems with causality like the grandfather paradox. It is expected that none of these peculiar effects would survive in a proper quantum treatment of rotating and charged black holes.
The appearance of singularities in general relativity is commonly perceived as signalling the breakdown of the theory. This breakdown, however, is expected; it occurs in a situation where quantum effects should describe these actions, due to the extremely high density and therefore particle interactions. To date, it has not been possible to combine quantum and gravitational effects into a single theory, although there exist attempts to formulate such a theory of quantum gravity. It is generally expected that such a theory will not feature any singularities. Photon sphere
The photon sphere is a spherical boundary where photons that move on tangents to that sphere would be trapped in a non-stable but circular orbit around the black hole.
For non-rotating black holes, the photon sphere has a radius 1.5 times the Schwarzschild radius. Their orbits would be dynamically unstable, hence any small perturbation, such as a particle of infalling matter, would cause an instability that would grow over time, either setting the photon on an outward trajectory causing it to escape the black hole, or on an inward spiral where it would eventually cross the event horizon.
While light can still escape from the photon sphere, any light that crosses the photon sphere on an inbound trajectory will be captured by the black hole. Hence any light that reaches an outside observer from the photon sphere must have been emitted by objects between the photon sphere and the event horizon.
Ergosphere
Rotating black holes are surrounded by a region of spacetime in which it is impossible to stand still, called the ergosphere. This is the result of a process known as frame-dragging; general relativity predicts that any rotating mass will tend to slightly "drag" along the spacetime immediately surrounding it. Any object near the rotating mass will tend to start moving in the direction of rotation. For a rotating black hole, this effect is so strong near the event horizon that an object would have to move faster than the speed of light in the opposite direction to just stand still.
The ergosphere of a black hole is a volume bounded by the black hole's event horizon and the ergosurface, which coincides with the event horizon at the poles but is at a much greater distance around the equator. A variation of the Penrose process in the presence of strong magnetic fields, the Blandford–Znajek process is considered a likely mechanism for the enormous luminosity and relativistic jets of quasars and other active galactic nuclei. Innermost stable circular orbit (ISCO)
In Newtonian gravity, test particles can stably orbit at arbitrary distances from a central object. In general relativity, however, there exists an innermost stable circular orbit (often called the ISCO), for which any infinitesimal inward perturbations to a circular orbit will lead to spiraling into the black hole, and any outward perturbations will, depending on the energy, result in spiraling in, stably orbiting between apastron and periastron, or escaping to infinity. The location of the ISCO depends on the spin of the black hole, in the case of a Schwarzschild black hole (spin zero) is:
<math display"block">r_{\rm ISCO}3 \, r_s=\frac{6 \, GM}{c^2}, </math>
and decreases with increasing black hole spin for particles orbiting in the same direction as the spin. Formation and evolution Given the bizarre character of black holes, it was long questioned whether such objects could actually exist in nature or whether they were merely pathological solutions to Einstein's equations. Einstein himself wrongly thought black holes would not form, because he held that the angular momentum of collapsing particles would stabilise their motion at some radius. This led the general relativity community to dismiss all results to the contrary for many years. However, a minority of relativists continued to contend that black holes were physical objects, and by the end of the 1960s, they had persuaded the majority of researchers in the field that there is no obstacle to the formation of an event horizon.
Penrose demonstrated that once an event horizon forms, general relativity without quantum mechanics requires that a singularity will form within. Conventional black holes are formed by gravitational collapse of heavy objects such as stars, but they can also in theory be formed by other processes.
The collapse may be stopped by the degeneracy pressure of the star's constituents, allowing the condensation of matter into an exotic denser state. The result is one of the various types of compact star. Which type forms depends on the mass of the remnant of the original star left if the outer layers have been blown away (for example, in a Type II supernova). The mass of the remnant, the collapsed object that survives the explosion, can be substantially less than that of the original star. Remnants exceeding are produced by stars that were over before the collapse. It has further been suggested that massive black holes with typical masses of ~}} could have formed from the direct collapse of gas clouds in the young universe. These massive objects have been proposed as the seeds that eventually formed the earliest quasars observed already at redshift <math>z \sim 7</math>. Some candidates for such objects have been found in observations of the young universe. Primordial black holes and the Big Bang Gravitational collapse requires great density. In the current epoch of the universe these high densities are found only in stars, but in the early universe shortly after the Big Bang densities were much greater, possibly allowing for the creation of black holes. High density alone is not enough to allow black hole formation since a uniform mass distribution will not allow the mass to bunch up. In order for primordial black holes to have formed in such a dense medium, there must have been initial density perturbations that could then grow under their own gravity. Different models for the early universe vary widely in their predictions of the scale of these fluctuations. Various models predict the creation of primordial black holes ranging in size from a Planck mass (<math> m_P \sqrt{\hbar c/G} </math> ≈ ≈ ) to hundreds of thousands of solar masses.
Despite the early universe being extremely dense, it did not re-collapse into a black hole during the Big Bang, since the expansion rate was greater than the attraction. Following inflation theory there was a net repulsive gravitation in the beginning until the end of inflation. Since then the Hubble flow was slowed by the energy density of the universe.
Models for the gravitational collapse of objects of relatively constant size, such as stars, do not necessarily apply in the same way to rapidly expanding space such as the Big Bang.
High-energy collisions
Gravitational collapse is not the only process that could create black holes. In principle, black holes could be formed in high-energy collisions that achieve sufficient density. As of 2002, no such events have been detected, either directly or indirectly as a deficiency of the mass balance in particle accelerator experiments. This suggests that there must be a lower limit for the mass of black holes. Theoretically, this boundary is expected to lie around the Planck mass, where quantum effects are expected to invalidate the predictions of general relativity.
This would put the creation of black holes firmly out of reach of any high-energy process occurring on or near the Earth. However, certain developments in quantum gravity suggest that the minimum black hole mass could be much lower: some braneworld scenarios for example put the boundary as low as . This would make it conceivable for micro black holes to be created in the high-energy collisions that occur when cosmic rays hit the Earth's atmosphere, or possibly in the Large Hadron Collider at CERN. These theories are very speculative, and the creation of black holes in these processes is deemed unlikely by many specialists. Even if micro black holes could be formed, it is expected that they would evaporate in about 10 seconds, posing no threat to the Earth.
Growth
Once a black hole has formed, it can continue to grow by absorbing additional matter. Any black hole will continually absorb gas and interstellar dust from its surroundings. This growth process is one possible way through which some supermassive black holes may have been formed, although the formation of supermassive black holes is still an open field of research. Black holes can also merge with other objects such as stars or even other black holes. This is thought to have been important, especially in the early growth of supermassive black holes, which could have formed from the aggregation of many smaller objects.
Evaporation
In 1974, Hawking predicted that black holes are not entirely black but emit small amounts of thermal radiation at a temperature ħc/(8πGMk); this effect has become known as Hawking radiation. By applying quantum field theory to a static black hole background, he determined that a black hole should emit particles that display a perfect black body spectrum. Since Hawking's publication, many others have verified the result through various approaches. If Hawking's theory of black hole radiation is correct, then black holes are expected to shrink and evaporate over time as they lose mass by the emission of photons and other particles.
A stellar black hole of has a Hawking temperature of 62 nanokelvins. This is far less than the 2.7 K temperature of the cosmic microwave background radiation. Stellar-mass or larger black holes receive more mass from the cosmic microwave background than they emit through Hawking radiation and thus will grow instead of shrinking. To have a Hawking temperature larger than 2.7 K (and be able to evaporate), a black hole would need a mass less than the Moon. Such a black hole would have a diameter of less than a tenth of a millimetre.
If a black hole is very small, the radiation effects are expected to become very strong. A black hole with the mass of a car would have a diameter of about 10 m and take a nanosecond to evaporate, during which time it would briefly have a luminosity of more than 200 times that of the Sun. Lower-mass black holes are expected to evaporate even faster; for example, a black hole of mass 1 TeV/c would take less than 10 seconds to evaporate completely. For such a small black hole, quantum gravity effects are expected to play an important role and could hypothetically make such a small black hole stable, although current developments in quantum gravity do not indicate this is the case.
The Hawking radiation for an astrophysical black hole is predicted to be very weak and would thus be exceedingly difficult to detect from Earth. A possible exception, however, is the burst of gamma rays emitted in the last stage of the evaporation of primordial black holes. Searches for such flashes have proven unsuccessful and provide stringent limits on the possibility of existence of low mass primordial black holes. NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope launched in 2008 will continue the search for these flashes.
If black holes evaporate via Hawking radiation, a solar mass black hole will evaporate (beginning once the temperature of the cosmic microwave background drops below that of the black hole) over a period of 10 years. Some monster black holes in the universe are predicted to continue to grow up to perhaps }} during the collapse of superclusters of galaxies. Even these would evaporate over a timescale of up to 10 years. Observational evidence By nature, black holes do not themselves emit any electromagnetic radiation other than the hypothetical Hawking radiation, so astrophysicists searching for black holes must generally rely on indirect observations. For example, a black hole's existence can sometimes be inferred by observing its gravitational influence on its surroundings.
Direct interferometry
black hole in polarised light]]
, black hole in the center of the Milky Way]]
The Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) is an active program that directly observes the immediate environment of black holes' event horizons, such as the black hole at the centre of the Milky Way. In April 2017, EHT began observing the black hole at the centre of Messier 87. "In all, eight radio observatories on six mountains and four continents observed the galaxy in Virgo on and off for 10 days in April 2017" to provide the data yielding the image in April 2019.
After two years of data processing, EHT released its first image of a black hole, at the center of the Messier 87 galaxy. What is visible is not the black hole—which shows as black because of the loss of all light within this dark region. Instead, it is the gases at the edge of the event horizon, displayed as orange or red, that define the black hole.
On 12 May 2022, the EHT released the first image of Sagittarius A*, the supermassive black hole at the centre of the Milky Way galaxy. The published image displayed the same ring-like structure and "shadow" seen in the M87* black hole. The boundary of the shadow or area of less brightness matches the predicted gravitationally lensed photon orbits. The image was created using the same techniques as for the M87 black hole. The imaging process for Sagittarius A*, which is more than a thousand times smaller and less massive than M87*, was significantly more complex because of the instability of its surroundings. The image of Sagittarius A* was partially blurred by turbulent plasma on the way to the galactic centre, an effect which prevents resolution of the image at longer wavelengths.
The brightening of this material in the 'bottom' half of the processed EHT image is thought to be caused by Doppler beaming, whereby material approaching the viewer at relativistic speeds is perceived as brighter than material moving away. In the case of a black hole, this phenomenon implies that the visible material is rotating at relativistic speeds (>), the only speeds at which it is possible to centrifugally balance the immense gravitational attraction of the singularity, and thereby remain in orbit above the event horizon. This configuration of bright material implies that the EHT observed M87* from a perspective catching the black hole's accretion disc nearly edge-on, as the whole system rotated clockwise.
In April 2023, an image of the shadow of the Messier 87 black hole and the related high-energy jet, viewed together for the first time, was presented.
Detection of gravitational waves from merging black holes
On 14 September 2015, the LIGO gravitational wave observatory made the first-ever successful direct observation of gravitational waves. The signal was consistent with theoretical predictions for the gravitational waves produced by the merger of two black holes: one with about 36 solar masses, and the other around 29 solar masses. This observation provides the most concrete evidence for the existence of black holes to date. For instance, the gravitational wave signal suggests that the separation of the two objects before the merger was just 350 km, or roughly four times the Schwarzschild radius corresponding to the inferred masses. The objects must therefore have been extremely compact, leaving black holes as the most plausible interpretation. From the LIGO signal, it is possible to extract the frequency and damping time of the dominant mode of the ringdown. From these, it is possible to infer the mass and angular momentum of the final object, which match independent predictions from numerical simulations of the merger. The frequency and decay time of the dominant mode are determined by the geometry of the photon sphere. Hence, observation of this mode confirms the presence of a photon sphere; however, it cannot exclude possible exotic alternatives to black holes that are compact enough to have a photon sphere.
The observation also provides the first observational evidence for the existence of stellar-mass black hole binaries. Furthermore, it is the first observational evidence of stellar-mass black holes weighing 25 solar masses or more.
Since then, many more gravitational wave events have been observed.
Stars orbiting Sagittarius A*
The proper motions of stars near the centre of our own Milky Way provide strong observational evidence that these stars are orbiting a supermassive black hole. Since 1995, astronomers have tracked the motions of 90 stars orbiting an invisible object coincident with the radio source Sagittarius A*. By fitting their motions to Keplerian orbits, the astronomers were able to infer, in 1998, that a }} object must be contained in a volume with a radius of 0.02 light-years to cause the motions of those stars.
Since then, one of the stars—called S2—has completed a full orbit. From the orbital data, astronomers were able to refine the calculations of the mass to }} and a radius of less than 0.002 light-years for the object causing the orbital motion of those stars.
Accretion of matter
; 12 August 2014)]]
Due to conservation of angular momentum, gas falling into the gravitational well created by a massive object will typically form a disk-like structure around the object. Artists' impressions such as the accompanying representation of a black hole with corona commonly depict the black hole as if it were a flat-space body hiding the part of the disk just behind it, but in reality gravitational lensing would greatly distort the image of the accretion disk.
Within such a disk, friction would cause angular momentum to be transported outward, allowing matter to fall farther inward, thus releasing potential energy and increasing the temperature of the gas.
When the accreting object is a neutron star or a black hole, the gas in the inner accretion disk orbits at very high speeds because of its proximity to the compact object. The resulting friction is so significant that it heats the inner disk to temperatures at which it emits vast amounts of electromagnetic radiation (mainly X-rays). These bright X-ray sources may be detected by telescopes. This process of accretion is one of the most efficient energy-producing processes known. Up to 40% of the rest mass of the accreted material can be emitted as radiation.
As such, many of the universe's more energetic phenomena have been attributed to the accretion of matter on black holes. In particular, active galactic nuclei and quasars are believed to be the accretion disks of supermassive black holes.
Stars have been observed to get torn apart by tidal forces in the immediate vicinity of supermassive black holes in galaxy nuclei, in what is known as a tidal disruption event (TDE). Some of the material from the disrupted star forms an accretion disk around the black hole, which emits observable electromagnetic radiation.
In November 2011 the first direct observation of a quasar accretion disk around a supermassive black hole was reported.
X-ray binaries
image of Cygnus X-1, which was the first strong black hole candidate discovered]]
X-ray binaries are binary star systems that emit a majority of their radiation in the X-ray part of the spectrum. These X-ray emissions are generally thought to result when one of the stars (compact object) accretes matter from another (regular) star. The presence of an ordinary star in such a system provides an opportunity for studying the central object and to determine if it might be a black hole.
The first strong candidate for a black hole, Cygnus X-1, was discovered in this way by Charles Thomas Bolton, Galactic nuclei
flare from Sagittarius A*, a black hole in the centre of the Milky Way galaxy on 5January 2015]]
Astronomers use the term "active galaxy" to describe galaxies with unusual characteristics, such as unusual spectral line emission and very strong radio emission. Theoretical and observational studies have shown that the activity in these active galactic nuclei (AGN) may be explained by the presence of supermassive black holes, which can be millions of times more massive than stellar ones. The models of these AGN consist of a central black hole that may be millions or billions of times more massive than the Sun; a disk of interstellar gas and dust called an accretion disk; and two jets perpendicular to the accretion disk.
Although supermassive black holes are expected to be found in most AGN, only some galaxies' nuclei have been more carefully studied in attempts to both identify and measure the actual masses of the central supermassive black hole candidates. Some of the most notable galaxies with supermassive black hole candidates include the Andromeda Galaxy, M32, M87, NGC 3115, NGC 3377, NGC 4258, NGC 4889, NGC 1277, OJ 287, APM 08279+5255 and the Sombrero Galaxy.
It is now widely accepted that the centre of nearly every galaxy, not just active ones, contains a supermassive black hole. The close observational correlation between the mass of this hole and the velocity dispersion of the host galaxy's bulge, known as the M–sigma relation, strongly suggests a connection between the formation of the black hole and that of the galaxy itself. Microlensing Another way the black hole nature of an object may be tested is through observation of effects caused by a strong gravitational field in their vicinity. One such effect is gravitational lensing: The deformation of spacetime around a massive object causes light rays to be deflected, such as light passing through an optic lens. Observations have been made of weak gravitational lensing, in which light rays are deflected by only a few arcseconds. Microlensing occurs when the sources are unresolved and the observer sees a small brightening. The turn of the millennium saw the first 3 candidate detections of black holes in this way, and in January 2022, astronomers reported the first confirmed detection of a microlensing event from an isolated black hole.
Another possibility for observing gravitational lensing by a black hole would be to observe stars orbiting the black hole. There are several candidates for such an observation in orbit around Sagittarius A*.
Alternatives
The evidence for stellar black holes strongly relies on the existence of an upper limit for the mass of a neutron star. The size of this limit heavily depends on the assumptions made about the properties of dense matter. New exotic phases of matter could push up this bound. and some supersymmetric models predict the existence of Q stars. Some extensions of the standard model posit the existence of preons as fundamental building blocks of quarks and leptons, which could hypothetically form preon stars. These hypothetical models could potentially explain a number of observations of stellar black hole candidates. However, it can be shown from arguments in general relativity that any such object will have a maximum mass. For example, in the fuzzball model based on string theory, the individual states of a black hole solution do not generally have an event horizon or singularity, but for a classical/semiclassical observer the statistical average of such states appears just as an ordinary black hole as deduced from general relativity.
A few theoretical objects have been conjectured to match observations of astronomical black hole candidates identically or near-identically, the black star, related nestar and the dark-energy star. Open questions Entropy and thermodynamics
k |Għ}} A}}|captionThe formula for the Bekenstein–Hawking entropy () of a black hole, which depends on the area of the black hole (). The constants are the speed of light (), the Boltzmann constant (), Newton's constant (), and the reduced Planck constant (). In Planck units, this reduces to }}.|width=220}}
In 1971, Hawking showed under general conditions that the total area of the event horizons of any collection of classical black holes can never decrease, even if they collide and merge. This result, now known as the second law of black hole mechanics, is remarkably similar to the second law of thermodynamics, which states that the total entropy of an isolated system can never decrease. As with classical objects at absolute zero temperature, it was assumed that black holes had zero entropy. If this were the case, the second law of thermodynamics would be violated by entropy-laden matter entering a black hole, resulting in a decrease in the total entropy of the universe. Therefore, Bekenstein proposed that a black hole should have an entropy, and that it should be proportional to its horizon area.
The link with the laws of thermodynamics was further strengthened by Hawking's discovery in 1974 that quantum field theory predicts that a black hole radiates blackbody radiation at a constant temperature. This seemingly causes a violation of the second law of black hole mechanics, since the radiation will carry away energy from the black hole causing it to shrink. The radiation also carries away entropy, and it can be proven under general assumptions that the sum of the entropy of the matter surrounding a black hole and one quarter of the area of the horizon as measured in Planck units is in fact always increasing. This allows the formulation of the first law of black hole mechanics as an analogue of the first law of thermodynamics, with the mass acting as energy, the surface gravity as temperature and the area as entropy.
Although general relativity can be used to perform a semiclassical calculation of black hole entropy, this situation is theoretically unsatisfying. In statistical mechanics, entropy is understood as counting the number of microscopic configurations of a system that have the same macroscopic qualities, such as mass, charge, pressure, etc. Without a satisfactory theory of quantum gravity, one cannot perform such a computation for black holes. Some progress has been made in various approaches to quantum gravity. In 1995, Andrew Strominger and Cumrun Vafa showed that counting the microstates of a specific supersymmetric black hole in string theory reproduced the Bekenstein–Hawking entropy. Since then, similar results have been reported for different black holes both in string theory and in other approaches to quantum gravity like loop quantum gravity. Information loss paradox
Because a black hole has only a few internal parameters, most of the information about the matter that went into forming the black hole is lost. Regardless of the type of matter which goes into a black hole, it appears that only information concerning the total mass, charge, and angular momentum are conserved. As long as black holes were thought to persist forever this information loss is not that problematic, as the information can be thought of as existing inside the black hole, inaccessible from the outside, but represented on the event horizon in accordance with the holographic principle. However, black holes slowly evaporate by emitting Hawking radiation. This radiation does not appear to carry any additional information about the matter that formed the black hole, meaning that this information appears to be gone forever.
The question whether information is truly lost in black holes (the black hole information paradox) has divided the theoretical physics community. In quantum mechanics, loss of information corresponds to the violation of a property called unitarity, and it has been argued that loss of unitarity would also imply violation of conservation of energy, though this has also been disputed.
One attempt to resolve the black hole information paradox is known as black hole complementarity. In 2012, the "firewall paradox" was introduced with the goal of demonstrating that black hole complementarity fails to solve the information paradox. According to quantum field theory in curved spacetime, a single emission of Hawking radiation involves two mutually entangled particles. The outgoing particle escapes and is emitted as a quantum of Hawking radiation; the infalling particle is swallowed by the black hole. Assume a black hole formed a finite time in the past and will fully evaporate away in some finite time in the future. Then, it will emit only a finite amount of information encoded within its Hawking radiation. According to research by physicists like Don Page and Leonard Susskind, there will eventually be a time by which an outgoing particle must be entangled with all the Hawking radiation the black hole has previously emitted.
This seemingly creates a paradox: a principle called "monogamy of entanglement" requires that, like any quantum system, the outgoing particle cannot be fully entangled with two other systems at the same time; yet here the outgoing particle appears to be entangled both with the infalling particle and, independently, with past Hawking radiation. In order to resolve this contradiction, physicists may eventually be forced to give up one of three time-tested principles: Einstein's equivalence principle, unitarity, or local quantum field theory. One possible solution, which violates the equivalence principle, is that a "firewall" destroys incoming particles at the event horizon. In general, which—if any—of these assumptions should be abandoned remains a topic of debate.
In science fiction
Christopher Nolan's 2014 science fiction epic Interstellar features a black hole known as Gargantua, which is the central object of a planetary system in a distant galaxy. Humanity accessed this system via a wormhole in the outer solar system, near Saturn.
See also
* Black brane or Black string
* Black Hole Initiative
* Black hole starship
* Black holes in fiction
* Blanet
* BTZ black hole
* Golden binary
* Hypothetical black hole (disambiguation)
* Kugelblitz (astrophysics)
* List of black holes
* List of nearest black holes
* Outline of black holes
* Sonic black hole
* Virtual black hole
* Susskind-Hawking battle
* Timeline of black hole physics
* White hole
* Planck star
* Dark star (dark matter)
Notes
References Sources* , the lecture notes on which the book was based are available for free from Sean Carroll's [https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/spacetimeandgeometry/ website]
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Further reading
Popular reading
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University textbooks and monographs
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Review papers
* Lecture notes from 2005 SLAC Summer Institute.
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External links
<!--Please do not add any more external links here. Wikipedia is not a collection of links. For details, please see Wikipedia:External links and dQ589|voyno|wiktblack hole|cCategory:Black holes|nCategory:Black holes|sno|b=General Astronomy/Black holes/Introduction}}
*
* [[Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: "[https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/spacetime-singularities/ Singularities and Black Holes]" by Erik Curiel and Peter Bokulich.
* [https://hubblesite.org/contents/articles/black-holes.html Black Holes: Gravity's Relentless Pull] – Interactive multimedia Web site about the physics and astronomy of black holes from the Space Telescope Science Institute (HubbleSite)
* ESA's [https://www.esa.int/gsp/ACT/phy/Projects/Blackholes/WebGL.html Black Hole Visualization]
* [https://apod.nasa.gov/htmltest/gifcity/bh_pub_faq.html Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) on Black Holes]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/19980118051503/http://casa.colorado.edu/~ajsh/schwp.html Schwarzschild Geometry]
* [https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/22/science/black-holes-astrophysics-names.html Black holes - basic (NYT; April 2021)]
Videos
* [https://www.eso.org/public/videos/eso0846b/ 16-year-long study tracks stars orbiting Sagittarius A*]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20040925044354/http://www.mpe.mpg.de/ir/GC/index.php Movie of Black Hole Candidate from Max Planck Institute]
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* [https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-35524440 Computer visualisation of the signal detected by LIGO]
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_88S8DWbcU Two Black Holes Merge into One (based upon the signal GW150914)]
Category:Galaxies
Category:Theory of relativity
Category:Concepts in astronomy
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Beta decay
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(the accompanying antineutrino is omitted). The inset shows beta decay of a free neutron. Neither of these depictions shows the intermediate virtual boson.]]
In nuclear physics, beta decay (β-decay) is a type of radioactive decay in which an atomic nucleus emits a beta particle (fast energetic electron or positron), transforming into an isobar of that nuclide. For example, beta decay of a neutron transforms it into a proton by the emission of an electron accompanied by an antineutrino; or, conversely a proton is converted into a neutron by the emission of a positron with a neutrino in what is called positron emission. Neither the beta particle nor its associated (anti-)neutrino exist within the nucleus prior to beta decay, but are created in the decay process. By this process, unstable atoms obtain a more stable ratio of protons to neutrons. The probability of a nuclide decaying due to beta and other forms of decay is determined by its nuclear binding energy. The binding energies of all existing nuclides form what is called the nuclear band or valley of stability. For either electron or positron emission to be energetically possible, the energy release (see below) or Q value must be positive.
Beta decay is a consequence of the weak force, which is characterized by relatively long decay times. Nucleons are composed of up quarks and down quarks, and the weak force allows a quark to change its flavour by means of a virtual W boson leading to creation of an electron/antineutrino or positron/neutrino pair. For example, a neutron, composed of two down quarks and an up quark, decays to a proton composed of a down quark and two up quarks.
Electron capture is sometimes included as a type of beta decay, because the basic nuclear process, mediated by the weak force, is the same. In electron capture, an inner atomic electron is captured by a proton in the nucleus, transforming it into a neutron, and an electron neutrino is released.Description
The two types of beta decay are known as beta minus and beta plus. In beta minus (β<sup>−</sup>) decay, a neutron is converted to a proton, and the process creates an electron and an electron antineutrino; while in beta plus (β<sup>+</sup>) decay, a proton is converted to a neutron and the process creates a positron and an electron neutrino. β<sup>+</sup> decay is also known as positron emission.
Beta decay conserves a quantum number known as the lepton number, or the number of electrons and their associated neutrinos (other leptons are the muon and tau particles). These particles have lepton number +1, while their antiparticles have lepton number −1. Since a proton or neutron has lepton number zero, β<sup>+</sup> decay (a positron, or antielectron) must be accompanied with an electron neutrino, while β<sup>−</sup> decay (an electron) must be accompanied by an electron antineutrino.
An example of electron emission (β<sup>−</sup> decay) is the decay of carbon-14 into nitrogen-14 with a half-life of about 5,730 years:
: → + + }}
In this form of decay, the original element becomes a new chemical element in a process known as nuclear transmutation. This new element has an unchanged mass number , but an atomic number that is increased by one. As in all nuclear decays, the decaying element (in this case ) is known as the parent nuclide while the resulting element (in this case ) is known as the daughter nuclide.
Another example is the decay of hydrogen-3 (tritium) into helium-3 with a half-life of about 12.3 years:
: → + + }}
An example of positron emission (β<sup>+</sup> decay) is the decay of magnesium-23 into sodium-23 with a half-life of about 11.3 s:
: → + + }}
β<sup>+</sup> decay also results in nuclear transmutation, with the daughter element having an atomic number that is decreased by one.
The beta spectrum, or distribution of energy values for the beta particles, is continuous. The total energy of the decay process is divided between the electron, the antineutrino, and the recoiling nuclide. In the figure to the right, an example of an electron with 0.40 MeV energy from the beta decay of <sup>210</sup>Bi is shown. In this example, the total decay energy is 1.16 MeV, so the antineutrino has the remaining energy: . An electron at the far right of the curve would have the maximum possible kinetic energy, leaving the energy of the neutrino to be only its small rest mass.
History
Discovery and initial characterization
Radioactivity was discovered in 1896 by Henri Becquerel in uranium, and subsequently observed by Marie and Pierre Curie in thorium and in the newly discovered elements polonium and radium. In 1899, Ernest Rutherford separated radioactive emissions into two types: alpha and beta (now beta minus), based on penetration of objects and ability to cause ionization. Alpha rays could be stopped by thin sheets of paper or aluminium, whereas beta rays could penetrate several millimetres of aluminium. In 1900, Paul Villard identified a still more penetrating type of radiation, which Rutherford identified as a fundamentally new type in 1903 and termed gamma rays. Alpha, beta, and gamma are the first three letters of the Greek alphabet.
In 1900, Becquerel measured the mass-to-charge ratio () for beta particles by the method of J.J. Thomson used to study cathode rays and identify the electron. He found that for a beta particle is the same as for Thomson's electron, and therefore suggested that the beta particle is in fact an electron.
In 1901, Rutherford and Frederick Soddy showed that alpha and beta radioactivity involves the transmutation of atoms into atoms of other chemical elements. In 1913, after the products of more radioactive decays were known, Soddy and Kazimierz Fajans independently proposed their radioactive displacement law, which states that beta (i.e., ) emission from one element produces another element one place to the right in the periodic table, while alpha emission produces an element two places to the left.
Neutrinos
The study of beta decay provided the first physical evidence for the existence of the neutrino. In both alpha and gamma decay, the resulting alpha or gamma particle has a narrow energy distribution, since the particle carries the energy from the difference between the initial and final nuclear states. However, the kinetic energy distribution, or spectrum, of beta particles measured by Lise Meitner and Otto Hahn in 1911 and by Jean Danysz in 1913 showed multiple lines on a diffuse background. These measurements offered the first hint that beta particles have a continuous spectrum. In 1914, James Chadwick used a magnetic spectrometer with one of Hans Geiger's new counters to make more accurate measurements which showed that the spectrum was continuous. The results, which appeared to be in contradiction to the law of conservation of energy, were validated by means of calorimetric measurements in 1929 by Lise Meitner and Wilhelm Orthmann. If beta decay were simply electron emission as assumed at the time, then the energy of the emitted electron should have a particular, well-defined value. For beta decay, however, the observed broad distribution of energies suggested that energy is lost in the beta decay process. This spectrum was puzzling for many years.
A second problem is related to the conservation of angular momentum. Molecular band spectra showed that the nuclear spin of nitrogen-14 is 1 (i.e., equal to the reduced Planck constant) and more generally that the spin is integral for nuclei of even mass number and half-integral for nuclei of odd mass number. This was later explained by the proton-neutron model of the nucleus. The properties of neutrinos were (with a few minor modifications) as predicted by Pauli and Fermi.
decay and electron capture
In 1934, Frédéric and Irène Joliot-Curie bombarded aluminium with alpha particles to effect the nuclear reaction + → + , and observed that the product isotope emits a positron identical to those found in cosmic rays (discovered by Carl David Anderson in 1932). This was the first example of decay (positron emission), which they termed artificial radioactivity since is a short-lived nuclide which does not exist in nature. In recognition of their discovery, the couple were awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1935.
The theory of electron capture was first discussed by Gian-Carlo Wick in a 1934 paper, and then developed by Hideki Yukawa and others. K-electron capture was first observed in 1937 by Luis Alvarez, in the nuclide <sup>48</sup>V. Alvarez went on to study electron capture in <sup>67</sup>Ga and other nuclides.
Non-conservation of parity
In 1956, Tsung-Dao Lee and Chen Ning Yang noticed that there was no evidence that parity was conserved in weak interactions, and so they postulated that this symmetry may not be preserved by the weak force. They sketched the design for an experiment for testing conservation of parity in the laboratory. Later that year, Chien-Shiung Wu and coworkers conducted the Wu experiment showing an asymmetrical beta decay of at cold temperatures that proved that parity is not conserved in beta decay. This surprising result overturned long-held assumptions about parity and the weak force. In recognition of their theoretical work, Lee and Yang were awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1957. However Wu, who was female, was not awarded the Nobel prize.β<sup>−</sup> decay <span class"anchor" id"beta minus decay"></span>for decay of a neutron into a proton, electron, and electron antineutrino via a virtual boson. For higher-order diagrams see ]]
In decay, the weak interaction converts an atomic nucleus into a nucleus with atomic number increased by one, while emitting an electron () and an electron antineutrino (). decay generally occurs in neutron-rich nuclei. The generic equation is:
: |BL|X}} → |BL|X′}} + + }} If it comes from the L-shell, the process is called L-capture, etc.
Electron capture is a competing (simultaneous) decay process for all nuclei that can undergo β<sup>+</sup> decay. The converse, however, is not true: electron capture is the only type of decay that is allowed in proton-rich nuclides that do not have sufficient energy to emit a positron and neutrino.
Nuclear transmutation
If the proton and neutron are part of an atomic nucleus, the above described decay processes transmute one chemical element into another. For example:
<!-- Autogenerated using Phykiformulae 0.11 by SkyLined]]
Cs-137 _ _ -> Ba-137 + e- + !ve (beta_minus_decay)
Na-22 _ _ -> Ne-22 + e+ + ve (beta_plus_decay)
Na-22 + e- -> Ne-22 + ve _ _ (electron_capture)
-->:{|border="0"
|- style="height:2em;"
| || || ||→ || ||+ || ||+ ||}} ||(beta minus decay)
|- style="height:2em;"
| || || ||→ || ||+ ||}} ||+ ||}} ||(beta plus decay)
|- style="height:2em;"
| ||+ || ||→ || ||+ ||}} || || ||(electron capture)
|}
Beta decay does not change the number () of nucleons in the nucleus, but changes only its charge . Thus the set of all nuclides with the same can be introduced; these isobaric nuclides may turn into each other via beta decay. For a given there is one that is most stable. It is said to be beta stable, because it presents a local minimum of the mass excess: if such a nucleus has numbers, the neighbour nuclei and have higher mass excess and can beta decay into , but not vice versa. For all odd mass numbers , there is only one known beta-stable isobar. For even , there are up to three different beta-stable isobars experimentally known; for example, , , and are all beta-stable. There are about 350 known beta-decay stable nuclides.Competition of beta decay types
Usually unstable nuclides are clearly either "neutron rich" or "proton rich", with the former undergoing beta decay and the latter undergoing electron capture (or more rarely, due to the higher energy requirements, positron decay). However, in a few cases of odd-proton, odd-neutron radionuclides, it may be energetically favorable for the radionuclide to decay to an even-proton, even-neutron isobar either by undergoing beta-positive or beta-negative decay.
Three types of beta decay in competition are illustrated by the single isotope (29 protons, 35 neutrons), which has a half-life of about 12.7 hours. This isotope has one unpaired proton and one unpaired neutron, so either the proton or the neutron can decay. This particular nuclide is almost equally likely to undergo proton decay (by positron emission, 18% or by electron capture, 43%; both forming ) or neutron decay (by electron emission, 39%; forming ).
Conservation rules for beta decay
Baryon number is conserved
<math display"block">B\frac{n_q - n_{\bar{q}}}{3}</math>
where
* <math>n_q</math> is the number of constituent quarks, and
* <math>n_{\overline{q}}</math> is the number of constituent antiquarks.
Beta decay just changes neutron to proton or, in the case of positive beta decay (electron capture) proton to neutron so the number of individual quarks doesn't change. It is only the baryon flavor that changes, here labelled as the isospin.
Up and down quarks have total isospin <math display"inline">I\frac{1}{2}</math> and isospin projections
<math display"block">I_\text{z}\begin{cases}
\frac{1}{2} & \text{up quark} \\
-\frac{1}{2} & \text{down quark}
\end{cases}</math>
All other quarks have .
In general<!-- antiquarks are not expected! -->
<math display"block">I_\text{z}\frac{1}{2} (n_\text{u} - n_\text{d})</math>
Lepton number is conserved
<math display="block">L \equiv n_{\ell} - n_{\bar{\ell}}</math>
so all leptons have assigned a value of +1, antileptons −1, and non-leptonic particles 0.
<math display="block">\begin{matrix}
& \text{n} & \rightarrow & \text{p} & + & \text{e}^- & + & \bar{\nu}_\text{e} \\
L: & 0 &=& 0 & + & 1 & - & 1
\end{matrix}</math>
Angular momentum
For allowed decays, the net orbital angular momentum is zero, hence only spin quantum numbers are considered.
The electron and antineutrino are fermions, spin-1/2 objects, therefore they may couple to total <math>S1</math> (parallel) or <math>S0</math> (anti-parallel).
For forbidden decays, orbital angular momentum must also be taken into consideration.
Energy release
The value is defined as the total energy released in a given nuclear decay. In beta decay, is therefore also the sum of the kinetic energies of the emitted beta particle, neutrino, and recoiling nucleus. (Because of the large mass of the nucleus compared to that of the beta particle and neutrino, the kinetic energy of the recoiling nucleus can generally be neglected.) Beta particles can therefore be emitted with any kinetic energy ranging from 0 to .
β<sup>−</sup> decay
Consider the generic equation for beta decay
: |BL|X}} → |BL|X′}} + + }}.
The value for this decay is
:<math chem>Q=\left[m_N\left(\ce{^\mathit{A}_\mathit{Z}X}\right) - m_N\left(\ce{^\mathit{A}_{\mathit{Z}+1}X'}\right)-m_e-m_{\overline\nu_e}\right]c^2</math>,
where <math chem>m_N\left(\ce{^\mathit{A}_\mathit{Z}X}\right)</math> is the mass of the nucleus of the |BL|X}} atom, <math chem>m_e</math> is the mass of the electron, and <math chem>m_{\overline\nu_e}</math> is the mass of the electron antineutrino. In other words, the total energy released is the mass energy of the initial nucleus, minus the mass energy of the final nucleus, electron, and antineutrino. The mass of the nucleus is related to the standard atomic mass by
<math chem display"block">m\left(\ce{^\mathit{A}_\mathit{Z}X}\right)c^2m_N\left(\ce{^\mathit{A}_\mathit{Z}X}\right)c^2 + Z m_e c^2-\sum_{i=1}^Z B_i.</math>
That is, the total atomic mass is the mass of the nucleus, plus the mass of the electrons, minus the sum of all electron binding energies for the atom. This equation is rearranged to find <math chem>m_N\left(\ce{^\mathit{A}_\mathit{Z}X}\right)</math>, and <math chem>m_N\left(\ce{^\mathit{A}_{\mathit{Z}+1}X'}\right)</math> is found similarly. Substituting these nuclear masses into the -value equation, while neglecting the nearly-zero antineutrino mass and the difference in electron binding energies, which is very small for high- atoms, we have
<math chem display"block">Q\left[m\left(\ce{^\mathit{A}_\mathit{Z}X}\right)-m\left(\ce{^\mathit{A}_{\mathit{Z}+1}X'}\right)\right]c^2</math>
This energy is carried away as kinetic energy by the electron and antineutrino.
Because the reaction will proceed only when the value is positive, β<sup>−</sup> decay can occur when the mass of atom |BL|X}} is greater than the mass of atom |BL|X′}}.
β<sup>+</sup> decay
The equations for β<sup>+</sup> decay are similar, with the generic equation
: |BL|X}} → |BL|X′}} + + }}
giving
<math chem display"block">Q\left[m_N\left(\ce{^\mathit{A}_\mathit{Z}X}\right) - m_N\left(\ce{^\mathit{A}_{\mathit{Z}-1}X'}\right)-m_e-m_{\nu_e}\right]c^2.</math>
However, in this equation, the electron masses do not cancel, and we are left with
<math chem display"block">Q\left[m\left(\ce{^\mathit{A}_\mathit{Z}X}\right)-m\left(\ce{^\mathit{A}_{\mathit{Z}-1}X'}\right)-2m_e\right]c^2.</math>
Because the reaction will proceed only when the value is positive, β<sup>+</sup> decay can occur when the mass of atom |BL|X}} exceeds that of |BL|X′}} by at least twice the mass of the electron.
<math display"block">N(T) C_L(T) F(Z,T) p E (Q-T)^2</math>
where is the kinetic energy, is a shape function that depends on the forbiddenness of the decay (it is constant for allowed decays), is the Fermi Function (see below) with Z the charge of the final-state nucleus, is the total energy, <math> p = \sqrt{(E/c)^2 - (mc)^2}</math> is the momentum, and is the Q value of the decay. The kinetic energy of the emitted neutrino is given approximately by minus the kinetic energy of the beta.
As an example, the beta decay spectrum of <sup>210</sup>Bi (originally called RaE) is shown to the right.
Fermi function
The Fermi function that appears in the beta spectrum formula accounts for the Coulomb attraction / repulsion between the emitted beta and the final state nucleus. Approximating the associated wavefunctions to be spherically symmetric, the Fermi function can be analytically calculated to be:
<math display"block">F(Z,T)\frac{2 (1+S)}{\Gamma(1+2S)^2} (2 p \rho)^{2S-2} e^{\pi \eta} |\Gamma(S+i \eta)|^2,</math>
where is the final momentum, Γ the Gamma function, and (if is the fine-structure constant and the radius of the final state nucleus) <math>S \sqrt{1 - \alpha^2 Z^2}</math>, <math>\eta \pm Ze^2E/(\hbar cp)</math> (+ for electrons, − for positrons), and <math>\rho = r_N/\hbar </math>.
For non-relativistic betas (), this expression can be approximated by:
<math display="block">F(Z,T) \approx \frac{2 \pi \eta}{1 - e^{- 2 \pi \eta}}.</math>
Other approximations can be found in the literature.
Kurie plot
<!-- Note: Kurie is correct (see References below); no relation to the Curies -->
A Kurie plot (also known as a Fermi–Kurie plot) is a graph used in studying beta decay developed by Franz N. D. Kurie, in which the square root of the number of beta particles whose momenta (or energy) lie within a certain narrow range, divided by the Fermi function, is plotted against beta-particle energy. It is a straight line for allowed transitions and some forbidden transitions, in accord with the Fermi beta-decay theory. The energy-axis (x-axis) intercept of a Kurie plot corresponds to the maximum energy imparted to the electron/positron (the decay's value). With a Kurie plot one can find the limit on the effective mass of a neutrino.Helicity (polarization) of neutrinos, electrons and positrons emitted in beta decay
After the discovery of parity non-conservation (see History), it was found that, in beta decay, electrons are emitted mostly with negative helicity, i.e., they move, naively speaking, like left-handed screws driven into a material (they have negative longitudinal polarization). Conversely, positrons have mostly positive helicity, i.e., they move like right-handed screws. Neutrinos (emitted in positron decay) have negative helicity, while antineutrinos (emitted in electron decay) have positive helicity.
The higher the energy of the particles, the higher their polarization.
Types of beta decay transitions
Beta decays can be classified according to the angular momentum ( value) and total spin ( value) of the emitted radiation. Since total angular momentum must be conserved, including orbital and spin angular momentum, beta decay occurs by a variety of quantum state transitions to various nuclear angular momentum or spin states, known as "Fermi" or "Gamow–Teller" transitions. When beta decay particles carry no angular momentum (), the decay is referred to as "allowed", otherwise it is "forbidden".
Other decay modes, which are rare, are known as bound state decay and double beta decay.
Fermi transitions
A Fermi transition is a beta decay in which the spins of the emitted electron (positron) and anti-neutrino (neutrino) couple to total spin <math>S0</math>, leading to an angular momentum change <math>\Delta J0</math> between the initial and final states of the nucleus (assuming an allowed transition). In the non-relativistic limit, the nuclear part of the operator for a Fermi transition is given by
<math display"block"> \mathcal{O}_{F}G_{V}\sum_{a} \hat{\tau}_{a\pm} </math>
with <math>G_V</math> the weak vector coupling constant, <math>\tau_{\pm}</math> the isospin raising and lowering operators, and <math>a</math> running over all protons and neutrons in the nucleus.
Gamow–Teller transitions
A Gamow–Teller transition is a beta decay in which the spins of the emitted electron (positron) and anti-neutrino (neutrino) couple to total spin <math>S1</math>, leading to an angular momentum change <math>\Delta J0,\pm 1</math> between the initial and final states of the nucleus (assuming an allowed transition).
In this case, the nuclear part of the operator is given by
<math display"block"> \mathcal{O}_{GT}G_{A}\sum_{a} \hat{\sigma}_{a}\hat{\tau}_{a\pm} </math>
with <math>G_{A}</math> the weak axial-vector coupling constant, and <math>\sigma</math> the spin Pauli matrices, which can produce a spin-flip in the decaying nucleon.
Forbidden transitions
When , the decay is referred to as "forbidden". Nuclear selection rules require high values to be accompanied by changes in nuclear spin () and parity (). The selection rules for the th forbidden transitions are:
<math display"block">\Delta JL-1, L, L+1; \Delta \pi=(-1)^L, </math>
where corresponds to no parity change or parity change, respectively. The special case of a transition between isobaric analogue states, where the structure of the final state is very similar to the structure of the initial state, is referred to as "superallowed" for beta decay, and proceeds very quickly. The following table lists the Δ and Δ values for the first few values of :
{|class="wikitable"
|-
! Forbiddenness !! Δ !! Δ
|-
|Superallowed ||0 ||
|-
|Allowed ||0, 1 ||
|-
|First forbidden ||0, 1, 2 ||
|-
|Second forbidden ||1, 2, 3 ||
|-
|Third forbidden ||2, 3, 4 ||
|}
Rare decay modes
Bound-state β decay
A very small minority of free neutron decays (about four per million) are "two-body decays": the proton, electron and antineutrino are produced, but the electron fails to gain the 13.6 eV energy necessary to escape the proton, and therefore simply remains bound to it, as a neutral hydrogen atom. In this type of beta decay, in essence all of the neutron decay energy is carried off by the antineutrino.
For fully ionized atoms (bare nuclei), it is possible in likewise manner for electrons to fail to escape the atom, and to be emitted from the nucleus into low-lying atomic bound states (orbitals). This cannot occur for neutral atoms with low-lying bound states which are already filled by electrons.
Bound-state β decays were predicted by Daudel, Jean, and Lecoin in 1947, and the phenomenon in fully ionized atoms was first observed for Dy in 1992 by Jung et al. of the Darmstadt Heavy-Ion Research Center. Though neutral Dy is stable, fully ionized Dy undergoes β decay into the K and L shells with a half-life of 47 days. The resulting nucleus – Ho – is stable only in this almost fully ionized state and will decay via electron capture into Dy in the neutral state. Likewise, while being stable in the neutral state, the fully ionized Tl undergoes bound-state β decay to Pb with a half-life of days. The half-lives of neutral Ho and Pb are respectively 4570 years and years. In addition, it is estimated that β decay is energetically impossible for natural atoms but theoretically possible when fully ionized also for <sup>193</sup>Ir, <sup>194</sup>Au, <sup>202</sup>Tl, <sup>215</sup>At, <sup>243</sup>Am, and <sup>246</sup>Bk.
Another possibility is that a fully ionized atom undergoes greatly accelerated β decay, as observed for Re by Bosch et al., also at Darmstadt. Neutral Re does undergo β decay, with half-life years, but for fully ionized Re this is shortened to only 32.9 years. This is because Re is energetically allowed to undergo β decay to the first-excited state in Os, a process energetically disallowed for natural Re. For comparison, the variation of decay rates of other nuclear processes due to chemical environment is less than 1%. Moreover, current mass determinations cannot decisively determine whether Rn is energetically possible to undergo β decay (the decay energy given in AME2020 is (−6 ± 8) keV), but in either case it is predicted that β will be greatly accelerated for fully ionized Rn. Thus, 2β is usually studied only for beta stable nuclei. Like single beta decay, double beta decay does not change ; thus, at least one of the nuclides with some given has to be stable with regard to both single and double beta decay.
"Ordinary" 2β results in the emission of two electrons and two antineutrinos. If neutrinos are Majorana particles (i.e., they are their own antiparticles), then a decay known as neutrinoless double beta decay will occur. Most neutrino physicists believe that neutrinoless 2β has never been observed.<ref name"Bilenky" />See also
* Common beta emitters
*Neutrino
*Betavoltaics
*Particle radiation
*Radionuclide
*Tritium illumination, a form of fluorescent lighting powered by beta decay
*Pandemonium effect
*Total absorption spectroscopy
References
Bibliography
*
*
External links
* [http://www-nds.iaea.org/livechart The Live Chart of Nuclides - IAEA ] with filter on decay type
*Beta decay simulation [https://phet.colorado.edu/en/simulation/legacy/beta-decay]
Category:Nuclear physics
Category:Radioactivity
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beta_decay
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Blitzkrieg
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s and mechanised infantry of the 24th Panzer Division advancing through Ukraine, June 1942, typifying fast-moving combined arms forces of classic blitzkrieg]]
Blitzkrieg , ; from "lightning" and "war". Also known as Bewegungskrieg.}} is a word used to describe a combined arms surprise attack, using a rapid, overwhelming force concentration that may consist of armored and motorized or mechanized infantry formations, together with artillery, air assault, and close air support. The intent is to break through an opponent's lines of defense, dislocate the defenders, confuse the enemy by making it difficult to respond to the continuously changing front, and defeat them in a decisive : a battle of annihilation.
During the interwar period, aircraft and tank technologies matured and were combined with the systematic application of the traditional German tactic of (maneuver warfare), involving the deep penetrations and the bypassing of enemy strong points to encircle and destroy opposing forces in a (cauldron battle/battle of encirclement). During the invasion of Poland, Western journalists adopted the term blitzkrieg to describe that form of armored warfare. The term had appeared in 1935, in the German military periodical ("German Defence"), in connection to quick or lightning warfare.
German maneuver operations were successful during the campaigns of 1939–1941, involving the invasions of Belgium, the Netherlands, and France and, by 1940, the term blitzkrieg was being extensively used in Western media. Blitzkrieg operations capitalised on surprise penetrations, such as that in the Ardennes forest, the Allies' general lack of preparedness, and their inability to match the pace of the German attack. During the Battle of France, the French made attempts to reform defensive lines along rivers but were frustrated when German forces arrived first and pressed on.
Despite being common in German and English-language journalism during World War II, the word was never used as an official military term by the Wehrmacht, except for propaganda, and it was never officially adopted as a concept or doctrine. According to David Reynolds, "Hitler himself called the term Blitzkrieg 'a completely idiotic word' ()". Some senior German officers, including Kurt Student, Franz Halder, and Johann Adolf von Kielmansegg, even disputed the idea that it was a military concept. Kielmansegg asserted that what many regarded as blitzkrieg was nothing more than "ad hoc solutions that simply popped out of the prevailing situation". Kurt Student described it as ideas that "naturally emerged from the existing circumstances" as a response to operational challenges.
In 2005, the historian Karl-Heinz Frieser summarized blitzkrieg as the result of German commanders using the latest technology in the most advantageous way, according to traditional military principles, and employing "the right units in the right place at the right time". Modern historians now understand blitzkrieg as the combination of traditional German military principles, methods and doctrines of the 19th century with the military technology of the interwar period. Modern historians use the term casually as a generic description for the style of maneuver warfare practised by Germany during the early part of World War II, rather than as an explanation. According to Frieser, in the context of the thinking of Heinz Guderian on mobile combined arms formations, blitzkrieg can be used as a synonym for modern maneuver warfare on the operational level.
Definition
Common interpretation
The traditional meaning of "blitzkrieg" is that of German tactical and operational methodology during the first half of the Second World War that is often hailed as a new method of warfare. The word, meaning "lightning war" or "lightning attack" in its strategic sense describes a series of quick and decisive short battles to deliver a knockout blow to an enemy state before it can fully mobilize. Tactically, blitzkrieg is a coordinated military effort by tanks, motorized infantry, artillery and aircraft, to create an overwhelming local superiority in combat power, to defeat the opponent and break through its defences. Blitzkrieg as used by Germany had considerable psychological or "terror" elements, such as the Jericho Trompete, a noise-making siren on the Junkers Ju 87 dive bomber, to affect the morale of enemy forces. The devices were largely removed when the enemy became used to the noise after the Battle of France in 1940, and instead, bombs sometimes had whistles attached. It is also common for historians and writers to include psychological warfare by using fifth columnists to spread rumours and lies among the civilian population in the theatre of operations.Origin of termThe origin of the term blitzkrieg is obscure. It was never used in the title of a military doctrine or handbook of the German Army or Air Force, and no "coherent doctrine" or "unifying concept of blitzkrieg" existed; German High Command mostly referred to the group of tactics as "Bewegungskrieg" (Maneuver Warfare). The term seems to have been rarely used in the German military press before 1939, and recent research at the German Militärgeschichtliches Forschungsamt, at Potsdam, found it in only two military articles from the 1930s. Both used the term to mean a swift strategic knockout, rather than a radically new military doctrine or approach to war.
The first article (1935) dealt primarily with supplies of food and materiel in wartime. The term blitzkrieg was used in reference to German efforts to win a quick victory in the First World War but was not associated with the use of armored, mechanized or air forces. It argued that Germany must develop self-sufficiency in food because it might again prove impossible to deal a swift knockout to its enemies, which would lead to a long war.
In the second article (1938), launching a swift strategic knockout was described as an attractive idea for Germany but difficult to achieve on land under modern conditions (especially against systems of fortification like the Maginot Line) unless an exceptionally high degree of surprise could be achieved. The author vaguely suggested that a massive strategic air attack might hold out better prospects, but the topic was not explored in detail.
A third relatively early use of the term in German occurred in Die Deutsche Kriegsstärke (German War Strength) by Fritz Sternberg, a Jewish Marxist political economist and refugee from Nazi Germany, published in 1938 in Paris and in London as Germany and a Lightning War. Sternberg wrote that Germany was not prepared economically for a long war but might win a quick war ("Blitzkrieg"). He did not go into detail about tactics or suggest that the German armed forces had evolved a radically new operational method. His book offered scant clues as to how German lightning victories might be won.
In English and other languages, the term had been used since the 1920s. The term was first used in the publications of Ferdinand Otto Miksche, first in the magazine "Army Quarterly", and in his 1941 book Blitzkrieg, in which he defined the concept. In September 1939, Time magazine termed the German military action as a "war of quick penetration and obliteration – Blitzkrieg, lightning war". After the invasion of Poland, the British press commonly used the term to describe German successes in that campaign. J. P. Harris called the term "a piece of journalistic sensationalism – a buzz-word with which to label the spectacular early successes of the Germans in the Second World War". The word was later applied to the bombing of Britain, particularly London, hence "The Blitz".
The German popular press followed suit nine months later, after the Fall of France in 1940; thus, although the word had first been used in Germany, it was popularized by British journalism. Heinz Guderian referred to it as a word coined by the Allies: "as a result of the successes of our rapid campaigns our enemies ... coined the word Blitzkrieg". After the German failure in the Soviet Union in 1941, the use of the term began to be frowned upon in Nazi Germany, and Hitler then denied ever using the term and said in a speech in November 1941, "I have never used the word Blitzkrieg, because it is a very silly word". In early January 1942, Hitler dismissed it as "Italian phraseology".
Military evolution, 1919–1939
Germany
In 1914, German strategic thinking derived from the writings of Carl von Clausewitz (1 June 1780 – 16 November 1831), Helmuth von Moltke the Elder (26 October 1800 – 24 April 1891) and Alfred von Schlieffen (28 February 1833 – 4 January 1913), who advocated maneuver, mass and envelopment to create the conditions for a decisive battle (). During the war, officers such as Willy Rohr developed tactics to restore maneuver on the battlefield. Specialist light infantry (Stosstruppen, "storm troops") were to exploit weak spots to make gaps for larger infantry units to advance with heavier weapons, exploit the success and leave isolated strong points to the troops that were following up. Infiltration tactics were combined with short hurricane artillery bombardments, which used massed artillery. Devised by Colonel Georg Bruchmüller, the attacks relied on speed and surprise, rather than on weight of numbers. The tactics met with great success in Operation Michael, the German spring offensive of 1918 and restored temporarily the war of movement once the Allied trench system had been overrun. The German armies pushed on towards Amiens and then Paris and came within before supply deficiencies and Allied reinforcements halted the advance.
The historian James Corum criticised the German leadership for failing to understand the technical advances of the First World War, conducting no studies of the machine gun prior to the war and giving tank production the lowest priority during the war. After Germany's defeat, the Treaty of Versailles limited the Reichswehr to a maximum of 100,000 men, which prevented the deployment of mass armies. The German General Staff was abolished by the treaty but continued covertly as the Truppenamt (Troop Office) and was disguised as an administrative body. Committees of veteran staff officers were formed within the Truppenamt to evaluate 57 issues of the war to revise German operational theories. By the time of the Second World War, their reports had led to doctrinal and training publications, including H. Dv. 487, Führung und Gefecht der verbundenen Waffen ("Command and Battle of the Combined Arms)", known as Das Fug (1921–1923) and Truppenführung (1933–1934), containing standard procedures for combined-arms warfare. The Reichswehr was influenced by its analysis of pre-war German military thought, particularly infiltration tactics since at the end of the war, they had seen some breakthroughs on the Western Front and the maneuver warfare which dominated the Eastern Front.
On the Eastern Front, the war did not bog down into trench warfare since the German and the Russian Armies fought a war of maneuver over thousands of miles, which gave the German leadership unique experience that was unavailable to the trench-bound Western Allies. Studies of operations in the East led to the conclusion that small and coordinated forces possessed more combat power than large uncoordinated forces.
After the war, the Reichswehr expanded and improved infiltration tactics. The commander in chief, Hans von Seeckt, argued that there had been an excessive focus on encirclement and emphasised speed instead. Seeckt inspired a revision of Bewegungskrieg (maneuver warfare) thinking and its associated Auftragstaktik in which the commander expressed his goals to subordinates and gave them discretion in how to achieve them. The governing principle was "the higher the authority, the more general the orders were"; it was the responsibility of the lower echelons to fill in the details. Implementation of higher orders remained within limits that were determined by the training doctrine of an elite officer corps.
Delegation of authority to local commanders increased the tempo of operations, which had great influence on the success of German armies in the early war period. Seeckt, who believed in the Prussian tradition of mobility, developed the German army into a mobile force and advocated technical advances that would lead to a qualitative improvement of its forces and better coordination between motorized infantry, tanks, and planes.Britain
]]
The British Army took lessons from the successful infantry and artillery offensives on the Western Front in late 1918. To obtain the best co-operation between all arms, emphasis was placed on detailed planning, rigid control and adherence to orders. Mechanization of the army, as part of a combined-arms theory of war, was considered a means to avoid mass casualties and the indecisive nature of offensives. The four editions of Field Service Regulations that were published after 1918 held that only combined-arms operations could create enough fire power to enable mobility on a battlefield. That theory of war also emphasised consolidation and recommended caution against overconfidence and ruthless exploitation.
During the Sinai and Palestine campaign, operations involved some aspects of what would later be called blitzkrieg. The decisive Battle of Megiddo included concentration, surprise and speed. Success depended on attacking only in terrain favouring the movement of large formations around the battlefield and tactical improvements in the British artillery and infantry attack. General Edmund Allenby used infantry to attack the strong Ottoman front line in co-operation with supporting artillery, augmented by the guns of two destroyers. Through constant pressure by infantry and cavalry, two Ottoman armies in the Judean Hills were kept off-balance and virtually encircled during the Battles of Sharon and Nablus (Battle of Megiddo).
The British methods induced "strategic paralysis" among the Ottomans and led to their rapid and complete collapse. In an advance of , captures were estimated to be "at least prisoners and 260 guns". Liddell Hart considered that important aspects of the operation had been the extent to which Ottoman commanders were denied intelligence on the British preparations for the attack through British air superiority and air attacks on their headquarters and telephone exchanges, which paralyzed attempts to react to the rapidly-deteriorating situation.FranceNorman Stone detects early blitzkrieg operations in offensives by French Generals Charles Mangin and Marie-Eugène Debeney in 1918. }} However, French doctrine in the interwar years became defence-oriented. Colonel Charles de Gaulle advocated concentration of armor and airplanes. His opinions appeared in his 1934 book ''Vers l'Armée de métier ("Towards the Professional Army"). Like von Seeckt, de Gaulle concluded that France could no longer maintain the huge armies of conscripts and reservists that had fought the First World War, and he sought to use tanks, mechanized forces and aircraft to allow a smaller number of highly trained soldiers to have greater impact in battle. His views endeared him little to the French high command, but, according to historian Henrik Bering, were studied with great interest by Heinz Guderian.
Russia and Soviet Union
In 1916, General Alexei Brusilov had used surprise and infiltration tactics during the Brusilov Offensive. Later, Marshal Mikhail Tukhachevsky (1893–1937), (1898–1976) and other members of the Red Army developed a concept of deep battle from the experience of the Polish–Soviet War of 1919–1920. Those concepts would guide the Red Army doctrine throughout the Second World War. Realising the limitations of infantry and cavalry, Tukhachevsky advocated mechanized formations and the large-scale industrialisation that they required. Robert Watt (2008) wrote that blitzkrieg has little in common with Soviet deep battle. In 2002, H. P. Willmott had noted that deep battle contained two important differences from blitzkrieg by being a doctrine of total war, not of limited operations, and rejecting decisive battle in favour of several large simultaneous offensives.
The Reichswehr and the Red Army began a secret collaboration in the Soviet Union to evade the Treaty of Versailles occupational agent, the Inter-Allied Commission. In 1926 war games and tests began at Kazan and Lipetsk, in the Soviet Russia. The centers served to field-test aircraft and armored vehicles up to the battalion level and housed aerial- and armoured-warfare schools through which officers rotated.Nazi GermanyAfter becoming Chancellor of Germany in 1933, Adolf Hitler ignored the provisions of the Treaty of Versailles. Within the Wehrmacht, which was established in 1935, the command for motorized armored forces was named the Panzerwaffe in 1936. The Luftwaffe'', the German air force, was officially established in February 1935, and development began on ground-attack aircraft and doctrines. Hitler strongly supported the new strategy. He read Guderian's 1937 book Achtung – Panzer! and upon observing armored field exercises at Kummersdorf, he remarked, "That is what I want – and that is what I will have".Guderian
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Guderian summarized combined-arms tactics as the way to get the mobile and motorized armored divisions to work together and support each other to achieve decisive success. In his 1950 book, Panzer Leader, he wrote:
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Guderian believed that developments in technology were required to support the theory, especially by equipping armored divisions, tanks foremost, with wireless communications. Guderian insisted in 1933 to the high command that every tank in the German armored force must be equipped with a radio. At the start of World War II, only the German Army was thus prepared with all tanks being "radio-equipped". That proved critical in early tank battles in which German tank commanders exploited the organizational advantage over the Allies that radio communication gave them.
All Allied armies would later copy that innovation. During the Polish campaign, the performance of armored troops, under the influence of Guderian's ideas, won over a number of skeptics who had initially expressed doubt about armored warfare, such as von Rundstedt and Rommel.RommelAccording to David A. Grossman, by the Twelfth Battle of Isonzo (October–November 1917), while he was conducting a light-infantry operation, Rommel had perfected his maneuver-warfare principles, which were the very same ones that were applied during the blitzkrieg against France in 1940 and were repeated in the Coalition ground offensive against Iraq in the 1991 Gulf War. During the Battle of France and against his staff advisor's advice, Hitler ordered that everything should be completed in a few weeks. Fortunately for the Germans, Rommel and Guderian disobeyed the General Staff's orders (particularly those of General Paul Ludwig Ewald von Kleist) and forged ahead making quicker progress than anyone had expected, on the way "inventing the idea of Blitzkrieg".
It was Rommel who created the new archetype of Blitzkrieg by leading his division far ahead of flanking divisions. MacGregor and Williamson remark that Rommel's version of blitzkrieg displayed a significantly better understanding of combined-arms warfare than that of Guderian. General Hermann Hoth submitted an official report in July 1940 which declared that Rommel had "explored new paths in the command of Panzer divisions".Methods of operationsSchwerpunktSchwerpunktprinzip was a heuristic device (conceptual tool or thinking formula) that was used in the German Army from the nineteenth century to make decisions from tactics to strategy about priority. Schwerpunkt has been translated as center of gravity, crucial, focal point and point of main effort. None of those forms is sufficient to describe the universal importance of the term and the concept of Schwerpunktprinzip. Every unit in the army, from the company to the supreme command, decided on a Schwerpunkt by schwerpunktbildung, as did the support services, which meant that commanders always knew what was the most important and why. The German army was trained to support the Schwerpunkt even when risks had to be taken elsewhere to support the point of main effort and to attack with overwhelming firepower. Schwerpunktbildung allowed the German Army to achieve superiority at the Schwerpunkt, whether attacking or defending, to turn local success at the Schwerpunkt into the progressive disorganisation of the opposing force and to create more opportunities to exploit that advantage even if the Germans were numerically and strategically inferior in general. In the 1930s, Guderian summarized that as Klotzen, nicht kleckern! (roughly "splash, don't spill")
Pursuit
Having achieved a breakthrough of the enemy's line, units comprising the Schwerpunkt were not supposed to become decisively engaged with enemy front line units to the right and the left of the breakthrough area. Units pouring through the hole were to drive upon set objectives behind the enemy front line. During the Second World War, German Panzer forces used their motorized mobility to paralyze the opponent's ability to react. Fast-moving mobile forces seized the initiative, exploited weaknesses and acted before the opposing forces could respond. Central to that was the decision cycle (tempo). Through superior mobility and faster decision-making cycles, mobile forces could act faster than the forces opposing them.
Directive control was a fast and flexible method of command. Rather than receiving an explicit order, a commander would be told of his superior's intent and the role that his unit was to fill in that concept. The method of execution was then a matter for the discretion of the subordinate commander. The staff burden was reduced at the top and spread among tiers of command with knowledge about their situation. Delegation and the encouragement of initiative aided implementation, and important decisions could be taken quickly and communicated verbally or with only brief written orders.Mopping-upThe last part of an offensive operation was the destruction of unsubdued pockets of resistance, which had been enveloped earlier and bypassed by the fast-moving armored and motorized spearheads. The Kesselschlacht ("cauldron battle") was a concentric attack on such pockets. It was there that most losses were inflicted upon the enemy, primarily through the mass capture of prisoners and weapons. During Operation Barbarossa, huge encirclements in 1941 produced nearly 3.5 million Soviet prisoners, along with masses of equipment.Air power
dive-bomber was used in blitzkrieg operations.]]
Close air support was provided in the form of the dive bomber and medium bomber, which would support the focal point of attack from the air. German successes are closely related to the extent to which the German Luftwaffe could control the air war in early campaigns in Western and Central Europe and in the Soviet Union. However, the Luftwaffe was a broadly based force with no constricting central doctrine other than its resources should be used generally to support national strategy. It was flexible and could carry out both operational-tactical, and strategic bombing.
Flexibility was the strength of the Luftwaffe in 1939 to 1941. Paradoxically, that became its weakness. While Allied Air Forces were tied to the support of the Army, the Luftwaffe deployed its resources in a more general operational way. It switched from air superiority missions to medium-range interdiction, to strategic strikes to close support duties, depending on the need of the ground forces. In fact, far from it being a specialist panzer spearhead arm, less than 15 percent of the Luftwaffe was intended for close support of the army in 1939.StimulantsMethamphetamine use among troops, especially Temmler's 3 mg Pervitin tablets, likely contributed to the Wehrmacht's blitzkrieg success by enabling synchronized, high-endurance operations with minimal rest.Limitations and countermeasuresEnvironmentThe concepts associated with the term blitzkrieg (deep penetrations by armor, large encirclements, and combined arms attacks) were largely dependent upon terrain and weather conditions. Wherever the ability for rapid movement across "tank country" was not possible, armored penetrations often were avoided or resulted in failure. The terrain would ideally be flat, firm, unobstructed by natural barriers or fortifications, and interspersed with roads and railways. If it were instead hilly, wooded, marshy, or urban, armor would be vulnerable to infantry in close-quarters combat and unable to break out at full speed. Additionally, units could be halted by mud (thawing along the Eastern Front regularly slowed both sides) or extreme snow. Operation Barbarossa helped confirm that armor effectiveness and the requisite aerial support depended on weather and terrain. The disadvantages of terrain could be nullified if surprise was achieved over the enemy by an attack in areas that had been considered natural obstacles, as occurred during the Battle of France in which the main German offensive went through the Ardennes. Since the French thought that the Ardennes unsuitable for massive troop movement, particularly for tanks, the area was left with only light defences, which were quickly overrun by the Wehrmacht. The Germans quickly advanced through the forest and knocked down the trees that the French had thought would impede them.Air superiority
, especially when armed with eight RP-3 rockets, posed a threat to German armour and motor vehicles during Operation Overlord in 1944.]]
The influence of air forces over forces on the ground changed significantly over the course of the Second World War. Early German successes were conducted when Allied aircraft could not make a significant impact on the battlefield. In May 1940, there was near parity in numbers of aircraft between the Luftwaffe and the Allies, but the Luftwaffe had been developed to support Germany's ground forces, had liaison officers with the mobile formations and operated a higher number of sorties per aircraft. In addition, the Germans' air parity or superiority allowed the unencumbered movement of ground forces, their unhindered assembly into concentrated attack formations, aerial reconnaissance, aerial resupply of fast moving formations and close air support at the point of attack. The Allied air forces had no close air support aircraft, training or doctrine. The Allies flew 434 French and 160 British sorties a day but methods of attacking ground targets had yet to be developed and so Allied aircraft caused negligible damage. Against the Allies' 600 sorties, the Luftwaffe on average flew 1,500 sorties a day.
On 13 May, Fliegerkorps VIII flew 1,000 sorties in support of the crossing of the Meuse. The following day the Allies made repeated attempts to destroy the German pontoon bridges, but German fighter aircraft, ground fire and Luftwaffe flak batteries with the panzer forces destroyed 56 percent of the attacking Allied aircraft, and the bridges remained intact.
Allied air superiority became a significant hindrance to German operations during the later years of the war. By June 1944, the Western Allies had the complete control of the air over the battlefield, and their fighter-bomber aircraft were very effective at attacking ground forces. On D-Day, the Allies flew 14,500 sorties over the battlefield area alone, not including sorties flown over Northwestern Europe. Against them the Luftwaffe flew some 300 sorties on 6 June. Though German fighter presence over Normandy increased over the next days and weeks, it never approached the numbers that the Allies commanded. Fighter-bomber attacks on German formations made movement during daylight almost impossible.
Subsequently, shortages soon developed in food, fuel and ammunition and severely hampered the German defenders. German vehicle crews and even flak units experienced great difficulty moving during daylight.}} Indeed, the final German offensive operation in the west, Operation Wacht am Rhein, was planned to take place during poor weather to minimise interference by Allied aircraft. Under those conditions, it was difficult for German commanders to employ the "armored idea", if at all.
Counter-tactics
Blitzkrieg is vulnerable to an enemy that is robust enough to weather the shock of the attack and does not panic at the idea of enemy formations in its rear area. That is especially true if the attacking formation lacks the reserve to keep funnelling forces into the spearhead or the mobility to provide infantry, artillery and supplies into the attack. If the defender can hold the shoulders of the breach, it has the opportunity to counter-attack into the flank of the attacker and potentially to cut it off the van, as what happened to Kampfgruppe Peiper in the Ardennes.
During the Battle of France in 1940, the 4th Armoured Division (Major-General Charles de Gaulle) and elements of the 1st Army Tank Brigade (British Expeditionary Force) made probing attacks on the German flank and pushed into the rear of the advancing armored columns at times. That may have been a reason for Hitler to call a halt to the German advance. Those attacks combined with Maxime Weygand's hedgehog tactic would become the major basis for responding to blitzkrieg attacks in the future. Deployment in depth, or permitting enemy or "shoulders" of a penetration, was essential to channelling the enemy attack; artillery, properly employed at the shoulders, could take a heavy toll on attackers. Allied forces in 1940 lacked the experience to develop those strategies successfully, which resulted in the French armistice with heavy losses, but those strategies characterized later Allied operations.
At the Battle of Kursk, the Red Army used a combination of defence in great depth, extensive minefields and tenacious defense of breakthrough shoulders. In that way, they depleted German combat power even as German forces advanced. The reverse can be seen in the Russian summer offensive of 1944, Operation Bagration, which resulted in the destruction of Army Group Center. German attempts to weather the storm and fight out of encirclements failed because of the Soviets' ability to continue to feed armored units into the attack, maintain the mobility and strength of the offensive and arrive in force deep in the rear areas faster than the Germans could regroup.LogisticsAlthough effective in quick campaigns against Poland and France, mobile operations could not be sustained by Germany in later years. Strategies based on maneuver have the inherent danger of the attacking force overextending its supply lines and can be defeated by a determined foe who is willing and able to sacrifice territory for time in which to regroup and rearm, as the Soviets did on the Eastern Front, as opposed to, for example, the Dutch, who had no territory to sacrifice. Tank and vehicle production was a constant problem for Germany. Indeed, late in the war, many panzer "divisions" had no more than a few dozen tanks.
As the end of the war approached, Germany also experienced critical shortages in fuel and ammunition stocks as a result of Anglo-American strategic bombing and blockade. Although the production of Luftwaffe fighter aircraft continued, they could not fly because of lack of fuel. What fuel there was went to panzer divisions, and even then, they could not operate normally. Of the Tiger tanks lost against the US Army, nearly half of them were abandoned for lack of fuel.Military operationsSpanish Civil WarGerman volunteers first used armor in live field-conditions during the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939). Armor commitment consisted of Panzer Battalion 88, a force built around three companies of Panzer I tanks that functioned as a training cadre for Spain's Nationalists. The Luftwaffe deployed squadrons of fighters, dive-bombers and transport aircraft as the Condor Legion. Guderian said that the tank deployment was "on too small a scale to allow accurate assessments to be made". (The true test of his "armored idea" would have to wait for the Second World War.) However, the Luftwaffe also provided volunteers to Spain to test both tactics and aircraft in combat, including the first combat use of the Stuka.
During the war, the Condor Legion undertook the 1937 bombing of Guernica, which had a tremendous psychological effect on the populations of Europe. The results were exaggerated, and the Western Allies concluded that the "city-busting" techniques were now part of the German way in war. The targets of the German aircraft were actually the rail lines and bridges, but lacking the ability to hit them with accuracy (only three or four Ju 87s saw action in Spain), the Luftwaffe chose a method of carpet bombing, resulting in heavy civilian casualties.
Poland, 1939
Although journalists popularized the term Blitzkrieg during the September 1939 invasion of Poland, the historians Matthew Cooper and J. P. Harris have written that German operations during the campaign were consistent with traditional methods. The Wehrmacht strategy was more in line with Vernichtungsgedanke, a focus on envelopment to create pockets in broad-front annihilation. The German generals dispersed Panzer forces among the three German concentrations with little emphasis on independent use. They deployed tanks to create or destroy close pockets of Polish forces and to seize operational-depth terrain in support of the largely-unmotorized infantry, which followed.
The Wehrmacht used available models of tanks, Stuka dive-bombers and concentrated forces in the Polish campaign, but the majority of the fighting involved conventional infantry and artillery warfare, and most Luftwaffe action was independent of the ground campaign. Matthew Cooper wrote:
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John Ellis wrote that "there is considerable justice in Matthew Cooper's assertion that the panzer divisions were not given the kind of strategic mission that was to characterize authentic armored blitzkrieg, and were almost always closely subordinated to the various mass infantry armies". Steven Zaloga wrote, "Whilst Western accounts of the September campaign have stressed the shock value of the panzer and Stuka attacks, they have tended to underestimate the punishing effect of German artillery on Polish units. Mobile and available in significant quantity, artillery shattered as many units as any other branch of the Wehrmacht."
Low Countries and France, 1940
The German invasion of France, with subsidiary attacks on Belgium and the Netherlands, consisted of two phases, Operation Yellow (Fall Gelb) and Operation Red (Fall Rot). Yellow opened with a feint conducted against the Netherlands and Belgium by two armored corps and paratroopers. Most of the German armored forces were placed in Panzer Group Kleist, which attacked through the Ardennes, a lightly defended sector that the French planned to reinforce if necessary before the Germans could bring up heavy and siege artillery. There was no time for the French to send such reinforcement, as the Germans did not wait for siege artillery but reached the Meuse and achieved a breakthrough at the Battle of Sedan in three days.
Panzer Group Kleist raced to the English Channel, reached the coast at Abbeville and cut off the BEF, the Belgian Army and some of the best-equipped divisions of the French Army in northern France. Armored and motorized units under Guderian, Rommel and others advanced far beyond the marching and horse-drawn infantry divisions and far in excess of what Hitler and the German high command had expected or wished. When the Allies counter-attacked at Arras by using the heavily armored British Matilda I and Matilda II tanks, a brief panic ensued in the German High Command.
Hitler halted his armored and motorized forces outside the port of Dunkirk, which the Royal Navy had started using to evacuate the Allied forces. Hermann Göring promised that the Luftwaffe would complete the destruction of the encircled armies, but aerial operations failed to prevent the evacuation of the majority of the Allied troops. In Operation Dynamo, some French and British troops escaped.
Case Yellow surprised everyone by overcoming the Allies' 4,000 armored vehicles, many of which were better than their German equivalents in armor and gunpower. The French and British frequently used their tanks in the dispersed role of infantry support, rather than by concentrating force at the point of attack, to create overwhelming firepower.<!--this is a bit old hat since the Allies had enough tanks for armored divisions and infantry support units, unlike the Germans-->
The French armies were much reduced in strength and the confidence of their commanders shaken. With much of their own armor and heavy equipment lost in Northern France, they lacked the means to fight a mobile war. The Germans followed their initial success with Operation Red, a triple-pronged offensive. The XV Panzer Corps attacked towards Brest, XIV Panzer Corps attacked east of Paris, towards Lyon and the XIX Panzer Corps encircled the Maginot Line. The French, hard pressed to organise any sort of counter-attack, were continually ordered to form new defensive lines and found that German forces had already bypassed them and moved on. An armored counter-attack, organized by Colonel Charles de Gaulle, could not be sustained, and he had to retreat.
Prior to the German offensive in May, Winston Churchill had said, "Thank God for the French Army". The same French Army collapsed after barely two months of fighting. That was in shocking contrast to the four years of trench warfare on which French forces had engaged during the First World War. French Prime Minister Paul Reynaud, analyzed the collapse in a speech on 21 May 1940:
The Germans had not used paratroopry attacks in France and made only one large drop in the Netherlands to capture three bridges; some small glider-landings were conducted in Belgium to take bottlenecks on routes of advance before the arrival of the main force (the most renowned being the landing on Fort Eben-Emael in Belgium).Eastern Front, 1941–1944Use of armored forces was crucial for both sides on the Eastern Front. Operation Barbarossa, the German invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941, involved a number of breakthroughs and encirclements by motorized forces. Its goal, according to Führer Directive 21 (18 December 1940), was "to destroy the Russian forces deployed in the West and to prevent their escape into the wide-open spaces of Russia". The Red Army was to be destroyed west of the Dvina and Dnieper rivers, which were about east of the Soviet border, to be followed by a mopping-up operation. The surprise attack resulted in the near annihilation of the Voyenno-Vozdushnye Sily (VVS, Soviet Air Force) by simultaneous attacks on airfields, allowing the Luftwaffe to achieve total air supremacy over all the battlefields within the first week. On the ground, four German panzer groups outflanked and encircled disorganized Red Army units, and the marching infantry completed the encirclements and defeated the trapped forces. In late July, after 2nd Panzer Group (commanded by Guderian) captured the watersheds of the Dvina and Dnieper rivers near Smolensk, the panzers had to defend the encirclement, because the marching infantry divisions remained hundreds of kilometers to the west.
The Germans conquered large areas of the Soviet Union, but their failure to destroy the Red Army before the winter of 1941-1942 was a strategic failure and made German tactical superiority and territorial gains irrelevant. The Red Army had survived enormous losses and regrouped with new formations far to the rear of the front line. During the Battle of Moscow (October 1941 to January 1942), the Red Army defeated the German Army Group Center and for the first time in the war seized the strategic initiative.
In the summer of 1942, Germany launched another offensive and this time focusing on Stalingrad and the Caucasus in the southern Soviet Union. The Soviets again lost tremendous amounts of territory, only to counter-attack once more during winter. The German gains were ultimately limited because Hitler diverted forces from the attack on Stalingrad and drove towards the Caucasus oilfields simultaneously. The Wehrmacht became overstretched. Although it won operationally, it could not inflict a decisive defeat as the durability of the Soviet Union's manpower, resources, industrial base and aid from the Western Allies began to take effect.
In July 1943, the Wehrmacht conducted Operation Zitadelle (Citadel) against a salient at Kursk, which Soviet troop heavily defended. Soviet defensive tactics had by now hugely improved, particularly in the use of artillery and air support. By April 1943, the Stavka had learned of German intentions through intelligence supplied by front-line reconnaissance and Ultra intercepts. In the following months, the Red Army constructed deep defensive belts along the paths of the planned German attack. The Soviets made a concerted effort to disguise their knowledge of German plans and the extent of their own defensive preparations, and the German commanders still hoped to achieve operational surprise when the attack commenced.
The Germans did not achieve surprise and could not outflank or break through into enemy rear areas during the operation. Several historians assert that Operation Citadel was planned and intended to be a blitzkrieg operation. Many of the German participants who wrote about the operation after the war, including Erich von Manstein, make no mention of blitzkrieg in their accounts. In 2000, Niklas Zetterling and Anders Frankson characterised only the southern pincer of the German offensive as a "classical blitzkrieg attack". Pier Battistelli wrote that the operational planning marked a change in German offensive thinking away from blitzkrieg and that more priority was given to brute force and fire power than to speed and maneuver.
In 1995, David Glantz stated that blitzkrieg was at Kursk for the first time defeated in summer, and the opposing Soviet forces mounted a successful counter-offensive. The Battle of Kursk ended with two Soviet counter-offensives and the revival of deep operations. In the summer of 1944, the Red Army destroyed Army Group Centre in Operation Bagration by using combined-arms tactics for armor, infantry and air power in a coordinated strategic assault, known as deep operations, which led to an advance of in six weeks.Western Front, 1944–1945Allied armies began using combined-arms formations and deep-penetration strategies that Germany had used in the opening years of the war. Many Allied operations in the Western Desert and on the Eastern Front, relied on firepower to establish breakthroughs by fast-moving armored units. The artillery-based tactics were also decisive in Western Front operations after 1944's Operation Overlord, and the British Commonwealth and American armies developed flexible and powerful systems for using artillery support. What the Soviets lacked in flexibility, they made up for in number of rocket launchers, guns and mortars. The Germans never achieved the kind of fire concentrations that their enemies were achieving 1944.
After the Allied landings in Normandy (June 1944), the Germans began a counter-offensive to overwhelm the landing force with armored attacks, but they failed because of a lack of co-ordination and to Allied superiority in anti-tank defense and in the air. The most notable attempt to use deep-penetration operations in Normandy was Operation Luttich at Mortain, which only hastened the Falaise Pocket and the destruction of German forces in Normandy. The Mortain counter-attack was defeated by the American 12th Army Group with little effect on its own offensive operations.
The last German offensive on the Western front, the Battle of the Bulge (Operation Wacht am Rhein), was an offensive launched towards the port of Antwerp in December 1944. Launched in poor weather against a thinly-held Allied sector, it achieved surprise and initial success as Allied air-power was grounded due to cloud cover. Determined defense by American troops in places throughout the Ardennes, the lack of good roads and German supply shortages caused delays. Allied forces deployed to the flanks of the German penetration, and as soon as the skies cleared, Allied aircraft returned to the battlefield. Allied counter-attacks soon forced back the Germans, who abandoned much equipment for lack of fuel.
Post-war controversy
Blitzkrieg had been called a Revolution in Military Affairs (RMA), but many writers and historians have concluded that the Germans did not invent a new form of warfare but applied new technologies to traditional ideas of Bewegungskrieg (maneuver warfare) to achieve decisive victory.Strategy
In 1965, Captain Robert O'Neill, Professor of the History of War at the University of Oxford produced an example of the popular view. In Doctrine and Training in the German Army 1919–1939, O'Neill wrote:
Other historians wrote that blitzkrieg was an operational doctrine of the German armed forces and a strategic concept on which the leadership of Nazi Germany based its strategic and economic planning. Military planners and bureaucrats in the war economy appear rarely, if ever, to have employed the term blitzkrieg in official documents. That the German army had a "blitzkrieg doctrine" was rejected in the late 1970s by Matthew Cooper. The concept of a blitzkrieg Luftwaffe was challenged by Richard Overy in the late 1970s and by Williamson Murray in the mid-1980s. That Nazi Germany went to war on the basis of "blitzkrieg economics" was criticized by Richard Overy in the 1980s, and George Raudzens described the contradictory senses in which historians have used the word. The notion of a German blitzkrieg concept or doctrine survives in popular history and many historians still support the thesis.
Frieser wrote that after the failure of the Schlieffen Plan in 1914, the German army concluded that decisive battles were no longer possible in the changed conditions of the twentieth century. Frieser wrote that the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht (OKW), which was created in 1938 had intended to avoid the decisive battle concepts of its predecessors and planned for a long war of exhaustion (Ermattungskrieg). It was only after the improvised plan for the Battle of France in 1940 was unexpectedly successful that the German General Staff came to believe that Vernichtungskrieg was still feasible. German thinking reverted to the possibility of a quick and decisive war for the Balkan campaign and Operation Barbarossa.DoctrineMost academic historians regard the notion of blitzkrieg as military doctrine to be a myth. Shimon Naveh wrote, "The striking feature of the blitzkrieg concept is the complete absence of a coherent theory which should have served as the general cognitive basis for the actual conduct of operations". Naveh described it as an "ad hoc solution" to operational dangers, thrown together at the last moment. Overy disagreed with the idea that Hitler and the Nazi regime ever intended a blitzkrieg war because the once-popular belief that the Nazi state organized its economy to carry out its grand strategy in short campaigns was false. Hitler had intended for a rapid unlimited war to occur much later than 1939, but Germany's aggressive foreign policy forced the state into war before it was ready. The planning of Hitler and the Wehrmacht in the 1930s did not reflect a blitzkrieg method but the opposite. J. P. Harris wrote that the Wehrmacht never used the word, and it did not appear in German army or air force field manuals. The word was coined in September 1939 by a Times newspaper reporter. Harris also found no evidence that German military thinking developed a blitzkrieg mentality. Karl-Heinz Frieser and Adam Tooze reached similar conclusions to Overy and Naveh that the notions of blitzkrieg economy and strategy are myths. Frieser wrote that surviving German economists and General Staff officers denied that Germany went to war with a blitzkrieg strategy. Robert M. Citino argues:
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Historian Victor Davis Hanson states that Blitzkrieg "played on the myth of German technological superiority and industrial dominance" and adds that German successes, particularly that of its Panzer divisions were "instead predicated on the poor preparation and morale of Germany's enemies". Hanson also reports that at a Munich public address in November 1941, Hitler had "disowned" the concept of Blitzkrieg by calling it an "idiotic word". Further, successful Blitzkrieg operations were predicated on superior numbers, air support and were possible for only short periods of time without sufficient supply lines. For all intents and purposes, Blitzkrieg ended at the Eastern Front once the German forces had given up Stalingrad, after they faced hundreds of new T-34 tanks, when the Luftwaffe became unable to assure air dominance, and after the stalemate at Kursk. To that end, Hanson concludes that German military success was not accompanied by the adequate provisioning of its troops with food and materiel far from the source of supply, which contributed to its ultimate failure. Despite its later disappointments as German troops extended their lines at too great a distance, the very specter of armored Blitzkrieg forces initially proved victorious against the Polish, Dutch, Belgian and French Armies early in the war.EconomicsIn the 1960s, Alan Milward developed a theory of blitzkrieg economics: Germany could not fight a long war and chose to avoid comprehensive rearmament and armed in breadth to win quick victories. Milward described an economy positioned between a full war economy and a peacetime economy. The purpose of the blitzkrieg economy was to allow the German people to enjoy high living standards in the event of hostilities and avoid the economic hardships of the First World War.
Overy wrote that blitzkrieg as a "coherent military and economic concept has proven a difficult strategy to defend in light of the evidence". Milward's theory was contrary to Hitler's and German planners' intentions. The Germans, aware of the errors of the First World War, rejected the concept of organizing its economy to fight only a short war. Therefore, focus was given to the development of armament in depth for a long war, instead of armament in breadth for a short war. Hitler claimed that relying on surprise alone was "criminal" and that "we have to prepare for a long war along with surprise attack". During the winter of 1939–1940, Hitler demobilized many troops from the army to return as skilled workers to factories because the war would be decided by production, not a quick "Panzer operation".
In the 1930s, Hitler had ordered rearmament programs that cannot be considered limited. In November 1937, he had indicated that most of the armament projects would be completed by 1943–1945. The rearmament of the Kriegsmarine was to have been completed in 1949 and the Luftwaffe rearmament program was to have matured in 1942, with a force capable of strategic bombing with heavy bombers. The construction and the training of motorized forces and a full mobilization of the rail networks would not begin until 1943 and 1944, respectively. Hitler needed to avoid war until these projects were complete but his misjudgements in 1939 forced Germany into war before rearmament was complete.
After the war, Albert Speer claimed that the German economy achieved greater armaments output not because of diversions of capacity from civilian to military industry but by streamlining of the economy. Overy pointed out some 23 percent of German output was military by 1939. Between 1937 and 1939, 70 percent of investment capital went into the rubber, synthetic fuel, aircraft and shipbuilding industries. Hermann Göring had consistently stated that the task of the Four Year Plan was to rearm Germany for total war. Hitler's correspondence with his economists also reveals that his intent was to wage war in 1943–1945, when the resources of central Europe had been absorbed into Nazi Germany.
Living standards were not high in the late 1930s. Consumption of consumer goods had fallen from 71 percent in 1928 to 59 percent in 1938. The demands of the war economy reduced the amount of spending in non-military sectors to satisfy the demand for the armed forces. On 9 September, Göring, as Head of the Reich Defense Council, called for complete "employment" of living and fighting power of the national economy for the duration of the war. Overy presents that as evidence that a "blitzkrieg economy" did not exist.
Adam Tooze wrote that the German economy was being prepared for a long war. The expenditure for the war was extensive and put the economy under severe strain. The German leadership were concerned less with how to balance the civilian economy and the needs of civilian consumption but to figure out how to best prepare the economy for total war. Once war had begun, Hitler urged his economic experts to abandon caution and expend all available resources on the war effort, but the expansion plans only gradually gained momentum in 1941. Tooze wrote that the huge armament plans in the pre-war period did not indicate any clear-sighted blitzkrieg economy or strategy.HeerFrieser wrote that the () was not ready for blitzkrieg at the start of the war. A blitzkrieg method called for a young, highly skilled mechanized army. In 1939–1940, 45 percent of the army was 40 years old and 50 percent of the soldiers had only a few weeks' training. The German Army, contrary to the blitzkrieg legend, was not fully motorized and had only 120,000 vehicles, compared to the 300,000 of the French Army. The British also had an "enviable" contingent of motorized forces. Thus, "the image of the German 'Blitzkrieg' army is a figment of propaganda imagination". During the First World War, the German army used 1.4 million horses for transport and in the Second World War 2.7 million horses. Only ten percent of the army was motorized in 1940.
Half of the German divisions available in 1940 were combat ready, but they were less well-equipped than the British and French or the Imperial German Army of 1914. In the spring of 1940, the German army was semi-modern in which a small number of well-equipped and "elite" divisions were offset by many second and third rate divisions". In 2003, John Mosier wrote that while the French soldiers in 1940 were better trained than German soldiers, as were the Americans later and that the German Army was the least mechanized of the major armies, its leadership cadres were larger and better and that the high standard of leadership was the main reason for the successes of the German army in World War II, as it had been in World War I.
Luftwaffe
James Corum wrote that it was a myth that the Luftwaffe had a doctrine of terror bombing in which civilians were attacked to break the will or aid the collapse of an enemy by the Luftwaffe in blitzkrieg operations. After the bombing of Guernica in 1937 and the Rotterdam Blitz in 1940, it was commonly assumed that terror bombing was a part of Luftwaffe doctrine. During the interwar period, the Luftwaffe leadership rejected the concept of terror bombing in favour of battlefield support and interdiction operations:
}}
Corum continued: General Walther Wever compiled a doctrine known as The Conduct of the Aerial War. This document, which the Luftwaffe adopted, rejected Giulio Douhet's theory of terror bombing. Terror bombing was deemed to be "counter-productive", increasing rather than destroying the enemy's will to resist. Such bombing campaigns were regarded as diversion from the ''Luftwaffe's'' main operations; destruction of the enemy armed forces. The bombings of Guernica, Rotterdam and Warsaw were tactical missions in support of military operations and were not intended as strategic terror attacks.
J. P. Harris wrote that most Luftwaffe leaders from Goering through the general staff believed, as did their counterparts in Britain and the United States, that strategic bombing was the chief mission of the air force and that given such a role, the Luftwaffe would win the next war and that
}}
The Luftwaffe ended up with an air force consisting mainly of relatively short-range aircraft, but that does not prove that the German air force was solely interested in "tactical" bombing. It happened because the German aircraft industry lacked the experience to build a long-range bomber fleet quickly and because Hitler was insistent on the very rapid creation of a numerically large force. It is also significant that Germany's position in the centre of Europe to a large extent obviated the need to make a clear distinction between bombers suitable only for "tactical" purposes and those necessary for strategic purposes in the early stages of a likely future war.Fuller and Liddell HartThe British theorists John Frederick Charles Fuller and Captain Basil Henry Liddell Hart have often been associated with the development of blitzkrieg, but that is a matter of controversy. In recent years historians have uncovered that Liddell Hart distorted and falsified facts to make it appear as if his ideas has been adopted. After the war Liddell Hart imposed his own perceptions after the event by claiming that the mobile tank warfare has been practiced by the Wehrmacht was a result of his influence. By manipulation and contrivance, Liddell Hart distorted the actual circumstances of the blitzkrieg formation, and he obscured its origins. By his indoctrinated idealization of an ostentatious concept, he reinforced the myth of blitzkrieg. Imposing retrospectively his own perceptions of mobile warfare upon the shallow concept of blitzkrieg, he "created a theoretical imbroglio that has taken 40 years to unravel". Blitzkrieg was not an official doctrine, and historians in recent times have come to the conclusion that it did not exist as such:
}}
The early 1950s literature transformed blitzkrieg into a historical military doctrine, which carried the signature of Liddell Hart and Guderian. The main evidence of Liddell Hart's deceit and "tendentious" report of history can be found in his letters to Erich von Manstein, Heinz Guderian, and the relatives and associates of Erwin Rommel. Liddell Hart, in letters to Guderian, "imposed his own fabricated version of blitzkrieg on the latter and compelled him to proclaim it as original formula". Kenneth Macksey found Liddell Hart's original letters to Guderian in the latter's papers. Liddell Hart requested Guderian to give him credit for "impressing him" with his ideas of armored warfare. When Liddell Hart was questioned about this in 1968 and the discrepancy between the English and German editions of Guderian's memoirs, "he gave a conveniently unhelpful though strictly truthful reply. ('There is nothing about the matter in my file of correspondence with Guderian himself except... that I thanked him... for what he said in that additional paragraph'.)".
During the First World War, Fuller had been a staff officer attached to the new tank corps. He developed Plan 1919 for massive independent tank operations, which he claimed were subsequently studied by the German military. It is variously argued that Fuller's wartime plans and post-war writings were inspirations or that his readership was low and German experiences during the war received more attention. The German view of themselves as the losers of the war may be linked to the senior and experienced officers' undertaking a thorough review in studying and rewriting of all of their Army doctrine and training manuals.
Fuller and Liddell Hart were "outsiders". Liddell Hart was unable to serve as a soldier after 1916 after being gassed on the Somme, and Fuller's abrasive personality resulted in his premature retirement in 1933. Their views had limited impact in the British army; the War Office permitted the formation of an Experimental Mechanized Force on 1 May 1927, composed of tanks, motorized infantry, self-propelled artillery and motorized engineers but the force was disbanded in 1928 on the grounds that it had served its purpose. A new experimental brigade was intended for the next year and became a permanent formation in 1933, during the cuts of the financial years.
Continuity
It has been argued that blitzkrieg was not new, and that the Germans did not invent something called blitzkrieg in the 1920s and 1930s. Rather, the German concept of wars of movement and concentrated force were seen in wars of Prussia and the German Wars of Unification. The first European general to introduce rapid movement, concentrated power and integrated military effort was Swedish King Gustavus Adolphus during the Thirty Years' War. The appearance of the aircraft and tank in the First World War, called an RMA, offered the German military a chance to get back to the traditional war of movement as practiced by Moltke the Elder. The so-called "blitzkrieg campaigns" of 1939 to around 1942 were well within that operational context.
At the outbreak of war, the German army had no radically new theory of war. The operational thinking of the German army had not changed significantly since the First World War or since the late 19th century. J. P. Harris and Robert M. Citino point out that the Germans had always had a marked preference for short decisive campaigns but were unable to achieve short-order victories in First World War conditions. The transformation from the stalemate of the First World War into tremendous initial operational and strategic success in the Second World War was partly the employment of a relatively-small number of mechanized divisions, most importantly the Panzer divisions, and the support of an exceptionally powerful air force.GuderianHeinz Guderian is widely regarded as being highly influential in developing the military methods of warfare used by Germany's tank men at the start of the Second World War. That style of warfare brought the maneuver back to the fore and placed an emphasis on the offensive. Along with the shockingly-rapid collapse in the armies that opposed it, that came to be branded as blitzkrieg warfare.
After Germany's military reforms of the Guderian emerged as a strong proponent of mechanized forces. Within the Inspectorate of Transport Troops, Guderian and colleagues performed theoretical and field exercise work. Guderian met with opposition from some in the General Staff, who were distrustful of the new weapons and who continued to view the infantry as the primary weapon of the army. Among them, Guderian claimed, was Chief of the General Staff Ludwig Beck (1935–1938), who he alleged was skeptical that armored forces could be decisive. That claim has been disputed by later historians. James Corum wrote:
}}
By Guderian's account, he single-handedly created the German tactical and operational methodology. Between 1922 and 1928 Guderian wrote a number of articles concerning military movement. As the ideas of making use of the combustible engine in a protected encasement to bring mobility back to warfare developed in the German army, Guderian was a leading proponent of the formations that would be used for this purpose. He was later asked to write an explanatory book, which was titled Achtung Panzer! (1937) in which he explained the theories of the tank men and defended them.
Guderian argued that the tank would be the decisive weapon of the next war. "If the tanks succeed, then victory follows", he wrote. In an article addressed to critics of tank warfare, he wrote that "until our critics can produce some new and better method of making a successful land attack other than self-massacre, we shall continue to maintain our beliefs that tanks—properly employed, needless to say—are today the best means available for land attack".
Addressing the faster rate at which defenders could reinforce an area than attackers could penetrate it during the First World War, Guderian wrote that "since reserve forces will now be motorized, the building up of new defensive fronts is easier than it used to be; the chances of an offensive based on the timetable of artillery and infantry co-operation are, as a result, even slighter today than they were in the last war." He continued, "We believe that by attacking with tanks we can achieve a higher rate of movement than has been hitherto obtainable, and—what is perhaps even more important—that we can keep moving once a breakthrough has been made". Guderian additionally required for tactical radios to be widely used to facilitate coordination and command by having one installed in all tanks.
Guderian's leadership was supported, fostered and institutionalized by his supporters in the Reichswehr General Staff system, which worked the Army to greater and greater levels of capability through massive and systematic Movement Warfare war games in the 1930s. Guderian's book incorporated the work of theorists such as Ludwig Ritter von Eimannsberger, whose book, The Tank War (Der Kampfwagenkrieg) (1934) gained a wide audience in the German Army. Another German theorist, Ernst Volckheim, wrote a huge amount on tank and combined arms tactics and was influential to German thinking on the use of armored formations, but his work was not acknowledged in Guderian's writings.See also
* AirLand Battle, blitzkrieg-like doctrine of US Army in 1980s
* Armoured warfare
* Maneuver warfare
* Shock and awe, the 21st century US military doctrine.
* Vernichtungsgedanke, or "annihilation concept".
* Mission-type tactics
* Deep Battle, Soviet Red Army Military Doctrine from the 1930s often confused with blitzkrieg.
* Battleplan (documentary TV series)
* Vernichtungsschlacht, Battle of annihilation
Notes
, John Paret , Karl-Heinz Frieser , Richard Overy , Mungo Melvin , and Steven Mercatante .
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; ; ), Jonathan House (; ), Lloyd Clark , Antony Beevor (; ), Mungo Melvin , John Erickson and Steven Mercatante .
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. Regulation 16 denied "terror" operations against civilians, and it was not until 1942 when indiscriminate "terror" operations, in which terror and civilian casualties become the primary target, took place .
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, Roger Moorhouse , Mary Kathryn Barbier , David Glantz (<!-- no reference-->; ), Jonathan House , Hedley Paul Willmott , Oscar Pinkus and others.
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, Erhard Raus , Friedrich Fangohr , Peter von der Groeben , Friedrich Wilhelm von Mellenthin , Erich von Manstein , and others.
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* Raudzens, George. "Blitzkrieg Ambiguities: Doubtful Usage of a Famous Word." War & Society 7.2 (1989): 77–94. https://doi.org/10.1179/106980489790305551
External links
* [http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?did1&uinuk.bl.ethos.448107 Armstrong, G. P. The Controversy over Tanks in the British Army 1919 to 1933 (PhD 1976)]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20080227081958/http://pages.prodigy.net/mpsinesi/Modern%20Bewegungskrieg.doc Sinesi, Michael. Patrick. Modern Bewegungskrieg: German Battle Doctrine, 1920–1940 (2001)]
* [http://etheses.lse.ac.uk/123/ Vardi, Gil-Li. The Enigma of German Operational Theory: the Evolution of Military Thought in Germany, 1919–1938 (PhD 2008)]
* [http://www.spiegel.de/international/the-nazi-death-machine-hitler-s-drugged-soldiers-a-354606.html Spiegel Online: The Nazi Death Machine, Hitler's Drugged Soldiers]
Category:Words and phrases with no direct English translation
Category:Military strategy
Category:Military terminology
Category:Armoured warfare
Category:Military theory
Category:German words and phrases
Category:Warfare by type
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blitzkrieg
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2025-04-05T18:26:55.418709
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4653
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The Beano
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<br>(4278 issues as of 22 March 2025)
| finaldate = <!-- -->
| finalnumber | company DC Thomson
| country = United Kingdom
| based = Dundee, Scotland
| language = English
| website =
| issn | eissn
| oclc = 28686914
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The Beano (formerly The Beano Comic) is a British anthology comic magazine created by Scottish publishing company DC Thomson. Its first issue was published on 30 July 1938, Popular and well-known comic strips and characters include Dennis the Menace, Minnie the Minx, The Bash Street Kids, Roger the Dodger, Billy Whizz, Lord Snooty and His Pals, Ivy the Terrible, General Jumbo, Jonah, and Biffo the Bear.
The Beano was planned as a pioneering children's magazine that contained mostly comic strips, in the style of American newspaper gag-a-days, as opposed to the more text-based story papers that were immensely popular before the Second World War. In the present, its legacy is its misbehaving characters, escapist tales and anarchic humour with an audience of all ages. Beano is a multimedia franchise with spin-off books and Christmas annuals, a website, theme park rides, games, cartoon adaptations, and a production company.
The Beano is the best-selling comic magazine outside Japan, having sold over 2 billion copies since its inception, and is the world’s longest-running comic magazine, having been run on a weekly basis since 1938, alongside its sister comic The Dandy until 2012.
It has had three characters as the mascot throughout the years: Big Eggo (1938–1948), Biffo the Bear (1948–1974), and the current, Dennis the Menace and Gnasher (1974–present).
History
Creation (1920s–1939)
Throughout the 1920s, DC Thomson dominated the British comics industry. Dubbed "the big five", the publisher's most successful comics were Adventure (1921), The Rover and The Wizard (1922), The Skipper (1930) and The Hotspur (1933). These were weekly issued boys' magazines for preteen males, containing anthologies by DC Thomson's creator staff designed in various formats and genres. They became popular throughout the United Kingdom, notably in English industrial cities, helped through the company's ability to view sales and promotions in the areas much more easily than the rival publishers in London. Although many were about "super men" the young readers could idolise, the rest of the stories would be comic strips inspired by the gag-a-day strips in American newspapers full of stylised characters, slapstick and puns.
Overseeing the magazines was the Managing Editor of Children's Publications, R. D. Low, who first joined the company in 1913. Almost a decade into the big five's success, the stories shifted to comedic and included more comic strips, which gave Low an idea of creating a new "big five" which focused on the funnies more than drama. The suggestion was approved; editors Bill Blain and (sub-editor) Albert Barnes of The Wizard and The Hotspur, respectively, joined Low's project. The new team placed a newspaper advertisement into The Daily Telegraph asking for artists and/or comic ideas. With the help of the advertisement responses and employed artists at DC Thomson, The Dandy was published in 1937, the New Big Five's first member. Tin-Can Tommy and Brave Captain Kipper were reprints, co-produced by the Italian art agency Torelli Bros.
Worth 2d with a free prize of a "whoopee mask", issue 1 of The Beano was released on 26 July 1938 for the 30th, selling roughly 443,000 copies. Like The Dandy, its name is from a Low-led DC Thomson office party called The DB Club (The Dandy Beano Club). Sparkler, Puck and some books from its Union Jack series (The Marvel, The Magnet and The Gem); and Target Publications' Chuckler, Rattler and Dazzler.}} Eventually, The Beano became a fortnightly magazine (alternating with The Dandy comic) until 23 July 1949.
Comic strips would encourage readers to help their parents and other adults with the war effort, and to be optimistic about the war's outcome. New comic strips mocked Mussolini and propagandist William Joyce, Lord Snooty and His Pals stories would be about the protagonists outsmarting the Axis leaders,}} and other stories would be about characters recycling paper. Big Eggo front covers were often about Eggo pranking servicemen during the Blitz, and Pansy Potter received a medal for single-handedly capturing a Nazi U-boat. Issue 192 would debut a 16-part prose story about a boy and his mother being evacuated to the United States and becoming the enemy of a Chicago gangster's widow.
Issues published weekly every Tuesday in 1938,
After the war saw a drift away from text stories and adventure comics, with the last text story published in 1955; adventure comics lasted longer with 1975 being the last year to feature them as General Jumbo eighth series drew to a close in issue 1734.
George Moonie resigned as editor-in-chief in 1959 to develop comics for girls. Sub-editor of The Beezer Harry Cramond succeeded Moonie until retiring in 1984, described as the most influential editor in The Beano history. He oversaw new merchandising, high sales, sales by 100,000 copies. but both magazines sometimes sold up to four million issues per week.}} and the thousandth and two thousandth issues. DC Thomson's Beano offices featured on documentary television and Cramond's successor Euan Kerr guest-starred on television for the magazine's 50th anniversary.
Move to full colour (1988–present)
The Beano began to advertise outside of DC Thomson's products in 1988 in order to keep both it and The Dandy "pocket money" cheap, beginning with issue 2407. Issue 2674 in 1993 was the first issue to feature every page in colour.
A notable revamp was the 50th birthday issue, which had an abnormally larger page count with more coloured sections and printed on wider sheets. A decade later, issues gained eight extra pages with computer-based art. In the 21st century, there were seven changes within a five-year span: logo updates, fonts assigned for certain design roles, and the magazine started using glossy paper.
From issue 3442 in 2008 (and as of 2020), the day the comic was released was changed to Wednesday.
Outside of the magazine, Beanos brand expanded into a multimedia franchise. Theme park tie-ins, a website, spin-off magazines, and animated television programmes starring the popular comic characters (several for Dennis the Menace) became common, keeping The Beano in popular culture. The turn of the millennium began a sales decline and led to friendly rival The Dandy being discontinued in 2012. Eventually, The Beano recovered after the creation of its magazine subscription service, which also shipped internationally.
Stories
was a popular text comic adventure that would have eight series (three of them reprints) between 1944 and 1959.]]
Plots and dialogue are written into a script by an (often) uncredited DC Thomson writer, a formerly common practice for DC Thomson magazines. Uncredited artists assigned to a strip(s) will design all its stories into a "series" that the chief editor will arrange into an order to publish for each issue. Strips are sometimes ghostwritten by other artists who imitate the original designer's style, which is helpful if artists retire or die unexpectedly, otherwise the strip is discontinued. "When I started I was drawing two pages a week and thinking 'Phew, that's quite a lot'. Now I do 10 or 12 pages a week. You have to do more all the time to stay where you are," explained Nigel Parkinson. From March 2016, authors and illustrators are now credited in issues.
There have been over a thousand stories throughout the magazine's history told through various ways. Since November 1975, the magazine has contained only comic strips in the style of American newspaper "funnies", but it began with other genres. The last genre to leave Beano was adventure stories: short tales eleven-pictures long in text comics format. The stories were either dramatic or dramedies, but heavily featured hobbies and interests young boys had (war and the military, hunting, sailing, jungle men). They also stood out because the illustrations of backgrounds, animals and human characters were photorealistic. Although artists like Dudley D. Watkins drew for a few series, the most prolific illustrator was Irish artist Paddy Brennan, who notably drew for The Daring Deeds of Sinbad the Sailor, Red Rory of the Eagles and General Jumbo in the 1950s. Comic adventure stories were a hybrid: adventure stories presented as a comic strip.
Prose stories were a page of text with an illustration at the top. Some stories were about animals with artwork by former Big Five illustrator Richard "Toby" Baines, but the longest-running prose character in the magazine's history was Prince Ivor, who first starred in Follow the Secret Hand. The last prose story to appear was Ace From Space in 1955.
Although comic strips have featured in The Beano since issue 1, their contents has changed throughout. Anthropomorphic animals were common stars that would partake in human activities, and the punchlines occurred from the failures to do so. Misbehaving children showed most popular with Lord Snooty and His Pals becoming the first longest-running strip when it concluded in 1991, but the most well known that continue to appear in issues are Dennis the Menace, Minnie the Minx, The Bash Street Kids, and Roger the Dodger. Some adult-starring characters also misbehaved but they were usually portrayed as incompetent, notably Jonah. In the late 20th century, merging comic strip characters in the same vicinity became common in the franchise, such as the video game Beanotown Racing, but characters living together in "Beanotown" became a prominent feature of comic strips into the present.
Due to the initial target audience of The Beano being schoolboys, masculine interests, hobbies, and values dominated issues constantly. Aside from aforementioned adventure stories and comedic characters, there were cowboys, aliens, fantasy creatures (and talking animals), and men whose lifestyle or jobs require physical strength (despite the story making their careers incidental). The Beano alternated between mocking or idolising these characters through story formats; wealthy characters causing mischief, caring about their families or the antagonist. Prose stories starring girls and women were about the protagonist searching out the truth to a secret, usually over a friend's/family disappearance, or they were witches cursing or tormenting the male protagonists. Female comic characters were also in supporting roles with or join-protagonist with a male character, but the starring characters notably had binary stereotypical traits: drawn as tall and flowy, Swanky, Lanky Liz is obsessed with fashion and makeup and acts vain and snobbish, whereas Pansy Potter, Minnie the Minx and Toots from The Bash Street Kids share the round-faced and snub-nosed art style of the boys in their stories and are unruly tomboys (in Pansy Potter's case, showcases the strength she inherited from her father). Non-White characters starred in their stories either set in Africa, Asia, or South America, or were about the character adapting to a new life in the United Kingdom.
Stories used to vary in length and layout, but in 2012, The Beano debuted a chapter called Funsize Funnies where shorter comic strips shared some pages. In some instances, these extremely short strips were brand new (Stunt Gran, BamBeanos, BSK CCTV, Gnash Gnews, Winston), but others were tiny reboots of older comic strips that the new audience could not recall reading before. Quiet reboots included Simply Smiffy (cancelled 1987), Rasher (cancelled 1995), Little Plum (cancelled 2007), Les Pretend (cancelled 2007), Baby Face Finlayson (cancelled 2005), Biffo the Bear (cancelled 1999), Pansy Potter (cancelled 1993), and Lord Snooty (cancelled 1991).Crossovers
, Tin-Can Tommy, Pansy Potter, Lord Snooty, and Big Fat Joe.]]
The Beano allows its characters from different strips to interact with each other. Reprinting old stories or redistributing characters into other magazines is common throughout DC Thomson's history, as if the stories are set in the same universe. The Lord Snooty series discontinued old characters and replaced them with Beano strip characters of the past; Dennis the Menace featured in DC Thomson's Champ magazine in the mid-1980s and The Weekly News tabloid-magazine for four years in the 1950s. Morgyn the Mighty, Tricky Dicky, Bananaman and Corporal Clott were stories previously from The Rover, Nutty and The Dandy, respectively, whereas one of Gnasher's puppies had her own strip in The Beezer and Topper and Jackie magazine. Anniversary issues Along with guest editors, anniversary issues are frequently contained with crossovers. The 2000th issue had the "Hall of Fame" strip which showed framed portraits of characters from the past, For the 80th anniversary, issue 3945 was guest edited by actor-turned children's author David Walliams and had a large crossover story about Bash Street School opening the Beanotown's 1938 time capsule and discovering a map, which leads to robots and a giant tentacle monster breaking out to attack the residents. There was also a flashback panel of the time capsule being sealed which featured a handful of comic strip characters from the first issue, later helping the present day characters discover how to defeat the tentacle monster, named Simon.<!-- NOTE: The official date of each editors' departures are unavailable to the public, or not documented. Some are known to have resigned in the middle of the year (i.e. George Moonie)-->
*George Moonie (1938–1939, c. 1946–1959)
*Harold Cramond (1959–1984)
*Euan Kerr (1984–2006)
*Alan Digby (2006–2011)
*Michael Stirling (2011–2012)
*Craig Graham (2012–2016)
*John Anderson (2016–present)}}
Temporary chief editors:
*Stuart Gilchrist (1939–c. 1946) stood in as editor when George Moonie joined the Navy for World War Two.
*Dick and Dom (2006) edited issue 3311 and chose their favourite strips from the available 2005 waiting list.
*Nick Park (2008) edited issue 3443 to celebrate Beano 70th anniversary.
*Harry Hill (published 6 March 2013) edited the 2013 Red Nose Day special.
*Andy Murray (28 June 2014) edited the Wimbledon special.
*David Walliams (2018) edited issue 3945 to celebrate the 80th anniversary.
*Joe Sugg (2021) edited issue 4077 for Dennis the Menace 70th anniversary.
*Marcus Rashford (2022) edited issue 4146 following the release of his book, You Can Do It: How to Find Your Voice and Make a Difference.
*Leah Williamson (2023) edited issue 4212 to celebrate Minnie The Mix 70th anniversary.
Notable artists
strips, but also has writer credits for other strips.
* Leo Baxendale created The Bash Street Kids and Minnie the Minx
* Gordon Bell
* Basil Blackaller
* Paddy Brennan
* Nick Brennan
* Sid Burgon
* Reg Carter created the first cover star Big Eggo.
* James Crighton also designed the first logo.
* Wilbur Dawbarn
* Hunt Emerson
* Sam Fair created comic strips for the spin-off annuals.
* Andy Fanton
* John Geering
* Barry Glennard
* Charlie Grigg
* Harry Hargreaves
* Ken H. Harrison
* Laura Howell became the first female artist to create strips for the magazine in 2007.
* Diego Jourdan
* Malcolm Judge
* David Law
* Trevor Metcalfe
* Allan Morley
* David Mostyn
* Vic Neill
* Robert Nixon
* Gary Northfield
* David Parkins
* Nigel Parkinson is considered the Beano ambassador, creating up to 20 strips for different stories a week. sweets, posters, and toys. Originally, free gifts would be attached inside the cover or strategically on the front so that it could distract the buyer from other comics next to The Beano on the shelves, hopefully excited for the next issue after reading it and eating/playing with the toys. Gifts were intentionally sporadic, especially during the Christmas period when families' money would be saved for food and presents. Issue 90 would be the last issue with a gift (licorice "black eye") due to rationing, the next free gift being the Flying Snorter Balloon in issue 953. The most popular free gift was issue 2201's Gnasher Snapper, a prank toy that would make a bang sound when unfolded, and was re-gifted occasionally in later issues, as well as the 60th anniversary.
During the 25th anniversary of Dennis the Menace, The Dennis the Menace Fan Club was formed. The fan club was instantly popular, recalls Euan Kerr in 1984; "The club enrolled over 2000 new members every week, well into the 90s[.]" Membership was 30p, and new members received a membership card full of classified communication tactics and two badges: a red one with Dennis' face on the front and a furry one of a googly-eyed Gnasher face—the latter was the most sought-after badge in the club's history. For two years, there was a tie-in agony aunt page called Dear Dennis (issue 1679–1767) where fan club members sent Dennis their problems that Dennis would reply to in the following issue; thousands of letters would arrive at DC Thomson per week and the authors of the messages would receive prizes. The club would be renamed The Beano Club, which ended in 2010, but had over 1.5 million members. A spin-off was introduced called Gnasher's Fang Club, and Gnasher would ask readers to send him stories about their pets' adventures which could be printed into the next issue. "The mailbag of little drawings of pets was several thousand per week," remembers sub-editor Morris Heggie. "And the popularity lasted and lasted."
The 21st century celebrated anniversaries with more memorabilia. For The Beano 70th birthday, DC Thomson published The Beano Special Collectors Edition: 70 Years of Fun (2008), and The History of The Beano (2008) was published by Waverly Books, both documenting the magazine's history; two exhibitions at the University of Dundee (Happy Birthday, Beano!) and The Cartoon Museum (Beano and Dandy Birthday Bash!) showed the public private DC Thomson artwork and the history of the magazine. For 2018, readers could buy a box for the 80th anniversary containing posters, reprints of selected older issues, and two books updating the previous documentation of the magazine's history, as well as Minnie the Minx origins. Limited-edition figurines from Robert Harrop were available to buy from their official website in late 2008. The 21st century also began Beano branching into different mediums: their first website, Beanotown.com, formed in 2000, and Chessington World of Adventures opened Beanoland in the same year. Both would later discontinue but Beanotown.com would be revamped as beano.com, a website full of games, Beano secrets and other activities for children. Gulliver's Travels opened the Beano 6 Super Ride in May 2021. The Beano was also the face of the United Kingdom's 2018 Summer Reading Challenge, called Mischief Makers, which included a special Dennis the Menace novel tie-in called Dennis the Menace and the Chamber of Mischief by Beano artist Nigel Auchterlounie. The Dennis the Menace Fan Club was re-launched as a phone app, rebranded as The Dennis and Gnasher Fan Club, and allowed readers free membership, printable badges, and pranks. On television, the Sky Kids show SO Beano! aired; a TV show with special guests, children presenters, and fun and games, in a similar style to Friday Download and Scrambled!
Annuals
The first Beano annual hardcover book was published as far back as 1939, a year after the first weekly comic was published. In 2018, it was estimated that an original first issue Beano annual in relatively good condition could fetch between £1,200 to £1,500.
Spin-off comics
Comic libraries
Since 1982 the comic, along with The Dandy, has also run "Comic Library" titles. Released monthly, these titles are a feature-length (usually about 64-page) adventure, featuring a character from the comic itself. They are available in A5 size only. In 1998, these were replaced by the Fun Size Beano. Fun Size Comics were discontinued in late 2010.
Beano Specials
The comic also ran A4-sized Beano Specials in 1987 with full coloured pages, which later were replaced by Beano Superstars which ran for 121 issues from 1992 to 2002. These were similar to the Comic Library series. Some of the last issues were printed versions of episodes from the 1996–1998 Dennis and Gnasher animated TV series. A Beano Poster Comic series was also printed in the early 1990s.
The Beano Specials returned in 2003, and are now published seasonally. The issues were numbered, and the first one was a Dennis and Friends special, the last a Christmas reprint special. These were replaced by BeanoMAX in early 2007.
BeanoMAX
On 15 February 2007, the first issue of a monthly comic entitled BeanoMAX was published. The sister comic features many of the same characters; however, the stories in BeanoMAX are written in a longer format meant for 10- to 13-year-olds. The first issue was a Comic Relief special featuring assorted celebrity guests. The magazine has been rebranded several times since 2013, and is currently known as EPIC Magazine.
Plug
Plug was a comic based on the eponymous character from The Bash Street Kids that began with issue dated 24 September 1977, and is notable for being the first comic to make use of rotogravure printing. The magazine similar in style to I.P.C's Krazy which had started the previous year. It contained uncharacteristically outlandish material for D C. Thomson, as well as later including celebrity appearances in the comic.
The comic revealed Plug's full name to be Percival Proudfoot Plugsley and also gave him a pet monkey by the name of Chumkee. Plug's strip was mostly drawn by Vic Neill but other artists, including Dave Gudgeon drew some later strips. Other strips included Antchester United, Violent Elizabeth, Eebagoom, ''Hugh's Zoo and D'ye Ken John Squeal and his Hopeless Hounds.
The venture was unsuccessful, in part because the comic cost 9p, with the Beano at the time only costing 4p and most of its rivals priced similarly. It merged with The Beezer on 24 February 1979.
Dennis and Gnasher
The brand new Dennis and Gnasher was launched separately from The Beano in September 2009. It coincided with their new cartoon on CBBC of the same name.
BeanOLD
44-page special issue 4062, with cover date 21 November 2020, during a lockdown in the COVID-19 pandemic had an eight-page adult pullout named BeanOLD, with cartoons poking fun at British politicians such as Boris Johnson and Dominic Cummings, and with appearances by Greta Thunberg, Captain Tom, and footballer Marcus Rashford. The slogan was "2020 has been tough. So tough that even grown-ups need Beano".Beano Studios
In June 2016, DC Thomson launched Beano Studios, a spin-off media studio based in London and Dundee, to create media for children and expand The Beano franchise. The launch was marked in The Beano issue 3854, featuring a new cover design, updated logo, and the introduction of the website beano.com.
Michael Stirling, former chief editor, returned as head of the Dundee studio, with Jodie Morris, James Neal, Nigel Pickard, and Emma Scott joining in key roles. The website beano.com offers games, news, videos, and content that appeals to children and nostalgic parents alike, drawing over two million annual visitors. This online presence contributed to a 10% rise in comic sales by 2018.
Beano Studios quickly expanded its reach with the popular CBBC series Dennis & Gnasher: Unleashed! in 2017, which aired in over 90 countries and earned an International Emmy nomination. Building on this success, Beano Studios pursued new projects including a live-action Minnie the Minx show, another Dennis the Menace adaptation, and a Bananaman cartoon in collaboration with Fox Entertainment.
Reception and legacy
in 2012.]]
The Beano was an instant success upon release, and became the longest-running, weekly-issued comic of all time in 2018. Although interest in comic magazines dwindled, it survived surrounding setbacks. In the 1950s, it (and The Dandy'') were unaffected by DC Thomson's magazine cancellations (selling over 100 million per year) that were caused by both paper rationing and public lack of interest. Alan Digby's attempt to boost sales with the 8-week "Missing Gnasher" plot in Dennis the Menace failed, but the story featured in newspapers and on radio broadcasts, causing people of all ages to contact Beano offices to voice their concerns. Roughly 31,000–41,000 copies are sold per week in the present day, but an estimated 2 billion Beano comic magazines have been sold in its lifetime. A 1997 television poll by the National Comics Awards selected it for the Best British Comic Ever award. Dennis the Menace would represent the comic when Royal Mail launched a special stamp collection in 2012, celebrating Britain's rich comic book history. The Dandy, Eagle, The Topper, Roy of the Rovers, Bunty, Buster, Valiant, Twinkle and 2000 AD were also featured. Beano annuals are the most popular Christmas annual sold, and old issues sell for thousands at auctions. Lord Snooty is often used as a pejorative in British politics. DC Thomson considers the 1950s Beano golden age possibly because of many commemorations based on the strips that first appeared from that decade: Dennis became the literal and metaphorical mascot of the magazine, his increasing popularity making him the last consistent cover star and his strips spawning three BBC animated adaptations; Minnie and the Bash Street Kids have a statue and a street named after the strip, respectively. The "anarchic" humour is credited as the key to the magazine's longevity, as well as its refusal to be condescending to its readers: "The Beano may have changed since the '30s but has always maintained its anti-authoritarian stance and steadfast refusal to treat children like idiots," theorised Morris Heggie.
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The magazine is cited as an inspiration to many readers. Beano artists Emily McGorman-Bruce, Zoom Rockman, Jess Bradley, and Barrie Appleby were avid readers of the magazine and/or its annuals before they became creators of its new strips. Meanwhile, The Beano inspired comic artists Jay Stephens, Guest chief-editors Nick Park, David Walliams, Joe Sugg, and Harry Hill are also fans of The Beano, with Park admitting "My dream job was always to work on The Beano and it's such an honour for me to be Guest Editor[.]"
Notable famous members of the old Dennis the Menace/Beano Club include Auberon Waugh, Mike Read, and Mark Hamill, as well as honorary members Paul Gascoigne, and Princes William and Harry. Chris Tarrant cited Dennis as his role model when he was a child, revealed Roger the Dodger was his favourite strip. Stella McCartney created tribute fashion to both The Beano and The Dandy, explaining they were "a huge part of my childhood" and wanted to celebrate "the next generation of Beano fans with a sustainable and practical range for kids who still share that ‘Beano’ spirit of these iconic characters". In music pop culture, the album Blues Breakers with Eric Clapton is nicknamed "The Beano Album" because Eric Clapton is holding issue 1242 on its cover.Audience participationInteraction with the audience is a historic practice in The Beano history. Excluding fan clubs and merchandise, Comic Idol is a sporadic election in which readers vote for their favourite strips to keep in the magazine. Cancelled strips with the least votes include Little Plum, Baby Face Finlayson, Les Pretend, the strips would later return to the magazine.}} Calamity James, Crazy for Daisy, and Lord Snooty. Super School and Meebo and Zuky were nominees who won polls and became official strips in the following issues. Readers would find a voting slip covered with the candidates printed in an issue that they would fill out and mail to DC Thomson, but the creation of Beano websites would allow real-time opinions from readers. ''Pets' Picture Gallery invited readers to send drawings of their pets to feature in the following issue.
Readers participated in the magazine's record-breaking stunts. In 1988, 100 children helped Euan Kerr and Beano scriptwriter Al Bernard recreate the front cover of issue 2396 on Scarborough Beach with Hann-Made Productions. It was awarded the Largest Comic Strip at 39950 square feet. Beano 2018 comic competition to celebrate the opening of V&A Dundee was awarded the biggest competition to finish a comic strip with 650 participants.
Along with Nick Park's guest editor issue, the 70th anniversary coincided with Gnashional Menace Day, a CLIC Sargent-partnered event where readers could be sponsored "behaving like Dennis" for charity. and misbehaving characters abandoning slingshots—the latter irritating former readers for being a "politically correct" notion, usually highlighted with claim "Dennis has lost his menace".
Racist depictions and terminology have been removed through the years as well. Little Plum sub-title "Your redskin chum" was not included in its 2002 revival. The first masthead character was a caricatured design of a black boy named Peanut, mascot of the ''Little Peanut's Page of Fun'' joke page (appeared from issues 1 to 112), usually eating watermelon. His last masthead feature was in December 1947, but subsequent reprints of the first issues have removed him. Hard-Nut the Nigger and Musso the Wop was accused of encouraging playground homophobia, so it was toned down. Walter was also rewritten to be a bit less soft, becoming more antagonistic and stood up to Dennis sometimes, eventually having his first girlfriend. Former chief-editor Mike Stirling explained it was due to fan letters from young readers asking why he was nicknamed so: "although it's always been used affectionately, and never pejoratively, we agreed it's time it changed." A News of the World report contained accusations of Uh Oh, Si Co! encouraging readers to mock children with anger issues or mental illness, which caused the strip to be cancelled.<ref name"si co"/>
See also
* The Beano Summer Special
* The Beano Annual
* List of magazines published in Scotland
*MAD magazine
* British comics
* List of Beano comic strips
* List of Beano comic strips by annual
* The Beano timeline
Notes
ReferencesBibliography*}}
*
*|isbn978-1-902407-73-9}}
*}}
External links
* [http://www.beano.com Official website]
* [https://shop.beano.com/ Official Beano shop]
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Category:1938 comics debuts
Category:1938 establishments in the United Kingdom
Category:British humour comics
Category:Children's magazines published in the United Kingdom
Category:Comics magazines published in the United Kingdom
Category:DC Thomson Comics titles
Category:Magazines established in 1938
Category:Scottish brands
Category:Weekly magazines published in the United Kingdom
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Bee
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Late Cretaceous – Present
| image = Tetragonula carbonaria (14521993792).jpg
| image_caption = The sugarbag bee, Tetragonula carbonaria
| display_parents = 3
| taxon = Anthophila
| authority | subdivision_ranks Families
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| synonyms = Apiformes (from Latin apis)
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Bees are winged insects closely related to wasps and ants, known for their roles in pollination and, in the case of the best-known bee species, the western honey bee, for producing honey. Bees are a monophyletic lineage within the superfamily Apoidea. They are currently considered a clade, called Anthophila. There are over 20,000 known species of bees in seven recognized biological families. Some speciesincluding honey bees, bumblebees, and stingless beeslive socially in colonies while most species (>90%)including mason bees, carpenter bees, leafcutter bees, and sweat beesare solitary.
Bees are found on every continent except Antarctica, in every habitat on the planet that contains insect-pollinated flowering plants. The most common bees in the Northern Hemisphere are the Halictidae, or sweat bees, but they are small and often mistaken for wasps or flies. Bees range in size from tiny stingless bee species, whose workers are less than long, to the leafcutter bee Megachile pluto, the largest species of bee, whose females can attain a length of .
Bees feed on nectar and pollen, the former primarily as an energy source and the latter primarily for protein and other nutrients. Most pollen is used as food for their larvae. Vertebrate predators of bees include primates and birds such as bee-eaters; insect predators include beewolves and dragonflies.
Bee pollination is important both ecologically and commercially, and the decline in wild bees has increased the value of pollination by commercially managed hives of honey bees. The analysis of 353 wild bee and hoverfly species across Britain from 1980 to 2013 found the insects have been lost from a quarter of the places they inhabited in 1980.
Human beekeeping or apiculture (meliponiculture for stingless bees) has been practiced for millennia, since at least the times of Ancient Egypt and Ancient Greece. Bees have appeared in mythology and folklore, through all phases of art and literature from ancient times to the present day, although primarily focused in the Northern Hemisphere where beekeeping is far more common. In Mesoamerica, the Mayans have practiced large-scale intensive meliponiculture since pre-Columbian times.
Genomic analysis indicates that despite only appearing much later in the fossil record, all modern bee families had already diverged from one another by the end of the Cretaceous. The Melittidae, Apidae, and Megachilidae had already evolved on the supercontinent prior to its fragmentation. Further divergences were facilitated by West Gondwana's breakup around 100 million years ago, leading to a deep Africa-South America split within both the Apidae and Megachilidae, the isolation of the Melittidae in Africa, and the origins of the Colletidae, Andrenidae and Halictidae in South America. The rapid radiation of the South American bee families is thought to have followed the concurrent radiation of flowering plants in the same region. Later in the Cretaceous (80 million years ago), colletid bees colonized Australia from South America (with an offshoot lineage evolving into the Stenotritidae), and by the end of the Cretaceous, South American bees had also colonized North America. A second extinction event among bees is thought to have occurred due to rapid climatic cooling around the Eocene-Oligocene boundary, leading to the extinction of some bee lineages such as the tribe Melikertini. Over the Paleogene and Neogene, different bee lineages continued to spread all over the world, and the shifting habitats and connectedness of continents led to the isolation and evolution of many new bee tribes. A fossil from the early Cretaceous (~100 mya), Melittosphex burmensis, was initially considered "an extinct lineage of pollen-collecting Apoidea sister to the modern bees", but subsequent research has rejected the claim that Melittosphex is a bee, or even a member of the superfamily Apoidea to which bees belong, instead treating the lineage as incertae sedis within the Aculeata.
The Allodapini (within the Apidae) appeared around 53 Mya.
The Colletidae appear as fossils only from the late Oligocene (~25 Mya) to early Miocene.
The Melittidae are known from Palaeomacropis eocenicus in the Early Eocene.
The Megachilidae are known from trace fossils (characteristic leaf cuttings) from the Middle Eocene.
The Andrenidae are known from the Eocene-Oligocene boundary, around 34 Mya, of the Florissant shale.
The Halictidae first appear in the Early Eocene with species found in amber. The Stenotritidae are known from fossil brood cells of Pleistocene age.
Coevolution
, like this Amegilla species (Apidae) on Acanthus ilicifolius.]]
The earliest animal-pollinated flowers were shallow, cup-shaped blooms pollinated by insects such as beetles, so the syndrome of insect pollination was well established before the first appearance of bees. The novelty is that bees are specialized as pollination agents, with behavioral and physical modifications that specifically enhance pollination, and are the most efficient pollinating insects. In a process of coevolution, flowers developed floral rewards such as nectar and longer tubes, and bees developed longer tongues to extract the nectar. The appearance of these structures drove the adaptive radiation of the angiosperms, and, in turn, bees themselves. Bees coevolved not only with flowers but it is believed that some species coevolved with mites. Some provide tufts of hairs called acarinaria that appear to provide lodgings for mites; in return, it is believed that mites eat fungi that attack pollen, so the relationship in this case may be mutualistic.
Phylogeny
External
Molecular phylogeny was used by Debevic et al, 2012, to demonstrate that the bees (Anthophila) arose from deep within the Crabronidae sensu lato, which was thus rendered paraphyletic. In their study, the placement of the monogeneric Heterogynaidae was uncertain. The small family Mellinidae was not included in this analysis.
Further studies by Sann et al., 2018, elevated the subfamilies (plus one tribe and one subtribe) of Crabronidae sensu lato to family status. They also recovered the placement of Heterogyna within Nyssonini and sunk Heterogynaidae. The newly erected family, Ammoplanidae, formerly a subtribe of Pemphredoninae, was recovered as the most sister family to bees.
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Internal
This cladogram of the bee families is based on Hedtke et al., 2013, which places the former families Dasypodaidae and Meganomiidae as subfamilies inside the Melittidae. English names, where available, are given in parentheses.
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Characteristics
of a honey bee, showing labium and maxillae]]
Bees differ from closely related groups such as wasps by having branched or plume-like setae (hairs), combs on the forelimbs for cleaning their antennae, small anatomical differences in limb structure, and the venation of the hind wings; and in females, by having the seventh dorsal abdominal plate divided into two half-plates.
Bees have the following characteristics:
* The thorax has three segments, each with a pair of robust legs, and a pair of membranous wings on the hind two segments. The front legs of corbiculate bees bear combs for cleaning the antennae, and in many species the hind legs bear pollen baskets, flattened sections with incurving hairs to secure the collected pollen. The wings are synchronized in flight, and the somewhat smaller hind wings connect to the forewings by a row of hooks along their margin which connect to a groove in the forewing.
* The abdomen has nine segments, the hindermost three being modified into the sting. The smallest species may be dwarf stingless bees in the tribe Meliponini whose workers are less than in length.
Sociality
Haplodiploid breeding system
s, along with a dead yellowjacket. Such altruistic behaviour may be favoured by the haplodiploid sex determination system of bees.]]
According to inclusive fitness theory, organisms can gain fitness not just through increasing their own reproductive output, but also that of close relatives. In evolutionary terms, individuals should help relatives when Cost < Relatedness * Benefit. The requirements for eusociality are more easily fulfilled by haplodiploid species such as bees because of their unusual relatedness structure.
In haplodiploid species, females develop from fertilized eggs and males from unfertilized eggs. Because a male is haploid (has only one copy of each gene), his daughters (which are diploid, with two copies of each gene) share 100% of his genes and 50% of their mother's. Therefore, they share 75% of their genes with each other. This mechanism of sex determination gives rise to what W. D. Hamilton termed "supersisters", more closely related to their sisters than they would be to their own offspring. Workers often do not reproduce, but they can pass on more of their genes by helping to raise their sisters (as queens) than they would by having their own offspring (each of which would only have 50% of their genes), assuming they would produce similar numbers. This unusual situation has been proposed as an explanation of the multiple (at least nine) evolutions of eusociality within Hymenoptera.
Haplodiploidy is neither necessary nor sufficient for eusociality. Some eusocial species such as termites are not haplodiploid. Conversely, all bees are haplodiploid but not all are eusocial, and among eusocial species many queens mate with multiple males, creating half-sisters that share only 25% of each other's genes. But, monogamy (queens mating singly) is the ancestral state for all eusocial species so far investigated, so it is likely that haplodiploidy contributed to the evolution of eusociality in bees.Eusociality
swarm]]
nest in the trunk of a spruce]]
Bees may be solitary or may live in various types of communities. Eusociality appears to have originated from at least three independent origins in halictid bees. The most advanced of these are species with eusocial colonies; these are characterized by cooperative brood care and a division of labour into reproductive and non-reproductive adults, plus overlapping generations. This division of labour creates specialized groups within eusocial societies which are called castes. In some species, groups of cohabiting females may be sisters, and if there is a division of labour within the group, they are considered semisocial. The group is called eusocial if, in addition, the group consists of a mother (the queen) and her daughters (workers). When the castes are purely behavioural alternatives, with no morphological differentiation other than size, the system is considered primitively eusocial, as in many paper wasps; when the castes are morphologically discrete, the system is considered highly eusocial.
True honey bees (genus Apis, of which eight species are currently recognized) are highly eusocial, and are among the best known insects. Their colonies are established by swarms, consisting of a queen and several thousand workers. There are 29 subspecies of one of these species, Apis mellifera, native to Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. Africanized bees are a hybrid strain of A. mellifera that escaped from experiments involving crossing European and African subspecies; they are extremely defensive.
Stingless bees are also highly eusocial. They practice mass provisioning, with complex nest architecture and perennial colonies also established via swarming.
carrying pollen in its pollen baskets (corbiculae)]]
Many bumblebees are eusocial, similar to the eusocial Vespidae such as hornets in that the queen initiates a nest on her own rather than by swarming. Bumblebee colonies typically have from 50 to 200 bees at peak population, which occurs in mid to late summer. Nest architecture is simple, limited by the size of the pre-existing nest cavity, and colonies rarely last more than a year. In 2011, the International Union for Conservation of Nature set up the Bumblebee Specialist Group to review the threat status of all bumblebee species worldwide using the IUCN Red List criteria.
There are many more species of primitively eusocial than highly eusocial bees, but they have been studied less often. Most are in the family Halictidae, or "sweat bees". Colonies are typically small, with a dozen or fewer workers, on average. Queens and workers differ only in size, if at all. Most species have a single season colony cycle, even in the tropics, and only mated females hibernate. A few species have long active seasons and attain colony sizes in the hundreds, such as Halictus hesperus. Some species are eusocial in parts of their range and solitary in others, or have a mix of eusocial and solitary nests in the same population. The orchid bees (Apidae) include some primitively eusocial species with similar biology. Some allodapine bees (Apidae) form primitively eusocial colonies, with progressive provisioning: a larva's food is supplied gradually as it develops, as is the case in honey bees and some bumblebees.Solitary and communal bees
, cutting circles from acacia leaves]]
Most other bees, including familiar insects such as carpenter bees, leafcutter bees and mason bees are solitary in the sense that every female is fertile, and typically inhabits a nest she constructs herself. There is no division of labor so these nests lack queens and worker bees for these species. Solitary bees typically produce neither honey nor beeswax.
Bees collect pollen to feed their young, and have the necessary adaptations to do this. However, certain wasp species such as pollen wasps have similar behaviours, and a few species of bee scavenge from carcases to feed their offspring.
(family Megachilidae), visiting Lantana]]
Most solitary bees are fossorial, digging nests in the ground in a variety of soil textures and conditions, while others create nests in hollow reeds or twigs, or holes in wood. The female typically creates a compartment (a "cell") with an egg and some provisions for the resulting larva, then seals it off. A nest may consist of numerous cells. When the nest is in wood, usually the last (those closer to the entrance) contain eggs that will become males. The adult does not provide care for the brood once the egg is laid, and usually dies after making one or more nests. The males typically emerge first and are ready for mating when the females emerge. Solitary bees are very unlikely to sting (only in self-defense, if ever), and some (esp. in the family Andrenidae) are stingless.
Osmia cornifrons nests in a hole in dead wood. Bee "hotels" are often sold for this purpose.]]
While solitary, females each make individual nests. Some species, such as the European mason bee Hoplitis anthocopoides, and the Dawson's Burrowing bee, Amegilla dawsoni, are gregarious, preferring to make nests near others of the same species, and giving the appearance of being social. Large groups of solitary bee nests are called aggregations, to distinguish them from colonies. In some species, multiple females share a common nest, but each makes and provisions her own cells independently. This type of group is called "communal" and is not uncommon. The primary advantage appears to be that a nest entrance is easier to defend from predators and parasites when multiple females use that same entrance regularly. Most solitary bees and bumble bees in temperate climates overwinter as adults or pupae and emerge in spring when increasing numbers of flowering plants come into bloom. The males usually emerge first and search for females with which to mate. Like the other members of Hymenoptera bees are haplodiploid; the sex of a bee is determined by whether or not the egg is fertilized. After mating, a female stores the sperm, and determines which sex is required at the time each individual egg is laid, fertilized eggs producing female offspring and unfertilized eggs, males. Tropical bees may have several generations in a year and no diapause stage.
The egg is generally oblong, slightly curved and tapering at one end. Solitary bees, lay each egg in a separate cell with a supply of mixed pollen and nectar next to it. This may be rolled into a pellet or placed in a pile and is known as mass provisioning. Social bee species provision progressively, that is, they feed the larva regularly while it grows. The nest varies from a hole in the ground or in wood, in solitary bees, to a substantial structure with wax combs in bumblebees and honey bees.
In most species, larvae are whitish grubs, roughly oval and bluntly-pointed at both ends. They have 15 segments and spiracles in each segment for breathing. They have no legs but move within the cell, helped by tubercles on their sides. They have short horns on the head, jaws for chewing food and an appendage on either side of the mouth tipped with a bristle. There is a gland under the mouth that secretes a viscous liquid which solidifies into the silk they use to produce a cocoon. The cocoon is semi-transparent and the pupa can be seen through it. Over the course of a few days, the larva undergoes metamorphosis into a winged adult. When ready to emerge, the adult splits its skin dorsally and climbs out of the exuviae and breaks out of the cell. This has led to a common misconception that bees "violate aerodynamic theory". In fact it merely confirms that bees do not engage in fixed-wing flight, and that their flight is explained by other mechanics, such as those used by helicopters. In 1996 it was shown that vortices created by many insects' wings helped to provide lift. High-speed cinematography and robotic mock-up of a bee wing showed that lift was generated by "the unconventional combination of short, choppy wing strokes, a rapid rotation of the wing as it flops over and reverses direction, and a very fast wing-beat frequency". Wing-beat frequency normally increases as size decreases, but as the bee's wing beat covers such a small arc, it flaps approximately 230 times per second, faster than a fruitfly (200 times per second) which is 80 times smaller.
<!--temperature regulation - bees need to warm up for flight...-->
Navigation, communication, and finding food
(1953) discovered that honey bee workers can navigate, indicating the range and direction to food to other workers with a waggle dance.]]
The ethologist Karl von Frisch studied navigation in the honey bee. He showed that honey bees communicate by the waggle dance, in which a worker indicates the location of a food source to other workers in the hive. He demonstrated that bees can recognize a desired compass direction in three different ways: by the Sun, by the polarization pattern of the blue sky, and by the Earth's magnetic field. He showed that the Sun is the preferred or main compass; the other mechanisms are used under cloudy skies or inside a dark beehive. Bees navigate using spatial memory with a "rich, map-like organization". Digestion The gut of bees is relatively simple, but multiple metabolic strategies exist in the gut microbiota. Pollinating bees consume nectar and pollen, which require different digestion strategies by somewhat specialized bacteria. While nectar is a liquid of mostly monosaccharide sugars and so easily absorbed, pollen contains complex polysaccharides: branching pectin and hemicellulose. Approximately five groups of bacteria are involved in digestion. Three groups specialize in simple sugars (Snodgrassella and two groups of Lactobacillus), and two other groups in complex sugars (Gilliamella and Bifidobacterium). Digestion of pectin and hemicellulose is dominated by bacterial clades Gilliamella and Bifidobacterium respectively. Bacteria that cannot digest polysaccharides obtain enzymes from their neighbors, and bacteria that lack certain amino acids do the same, creating multiple ecological niches.
Although most bee species are nectarivorous and palynivorous, some are not. Particularly unusual are vulture bees in the genus Trigona, which consume carrion and wasp brood, turning meat into a honey-like substance. Drinking guttation drops from leaves is also a source of energy and nutrients.Ecology Floral relationships Most bees are polylectic (generalist) meaning they collect pollen from a range of flowering plants, but some are oligoleges (specialists), in that they only gather pollen from one or a few species or genera of closely related plants. In Melittidae and Apidae we also find a few genera that are highly specialized for collecting plant oils both in addition to, and instead of, nectar, which is mixed with pollen as larval food. Male orchid bees in some species gather aromatic compounds from orchids, which is one of the few cases where male bees are effective pollinators. Bees are able to sense the presence of desirable flowers through ultraviolet patterning on flowers, floral odors, and even electromagnetic fields. Once landed, a bee then uses nectar quality to determine whether to continue visiting similar flowers.
In rare cases, a plant species may only be effectively pollinated by a single bee species, and some plants are endangered at least in part because their pollinator is also threatened. But, there is a pronounced tendency for oligolectic bees to be associated with common, widespread plants visited by multiple pollinator species. For example, the creosote bush in the arid parts of the United States southwest is associated with some 40 oligoleges.As mimics and models
'', a Batesian mimic of bees, taking nectar and pollinating a flower]]
lures male bees to attempt to mate with the flower's lip, which resembles a bee perched on a pink flower.]]
Many bees are aposematically colored, typically orange and black, warning of their ability to defend themselves with a powerful sting. As such they are models for Batesian mimicry by non-stinging insects such as bee-flies, robber flies and hoverflies, all of which gain a measure of protection by superficially looking and behaving like bees.
Bees are also mimicked by plants such as the bee orchid which imitates both the appearance and the scent of a female bee; male bees attempt to mate (pseudocopulation) with the furry lip of the flower, thus pollinating it.As brood parasites
, a brood parasite of the bumblebee Bombus terrestris'']]
Brood parasites occur in several bee families including the apid subfamily Nomadinae. Females of these species lack pollen collecting structures (the scopa) and do not construct their own nests. They typically enter the nests of pollen collecting species, and lay their eggs in cells provisioned by the host bee. When the "cuckoo" bee larva hatches, it consumes the host larva's pollen ball, and often the host egg also. In particular, the Arctic bee species, Bombus hyperboreus is an aggressive species that attacks and enslaves other bees of the same subgenus. However, unlike many other bee brood parasites, they have pollen baskets and often collect pollen.
In Southern Africa, hives of African honeybees (A. mellifera scutellata) are being destroyed by parasitic workers of the Cape honeybee, A. m. capensis. These lay diploid eggs ("thelytoky"), escaping normal worker policing, leading to the colony's destruction; the parasites can then move to other hives.
The cuckoo bees in the Bombus subgenus Psithyrus are closely related to, and resemble, their hosts in looks and size. This common pattern gave rise to the ecological principle "Emery's rule". Others parasitize bees in different families, like Townsendiella, a nomadine apid, two species of which are cleptoparasites of the dasypodaid genus Hesperapis, while the other species in the same genus attacks halictid bees. Nocturnal bees Four bee families (Andrenidae, Colletidae, Halictidae, and Apidae) contain some species that are crepuscular. Most are tropical or subtropical, but some live in arid regions at higher latitudes. These bees have greatly enlarged ocelli, which are extremely sensitive to light and dark, though incapable of forming images. Some have refracting superposition compound eyes: these combine the output of many elements of their compound eyes to provide enough light for each retinal photoreceptor. Their ability to fly by night enables them to avoid many predators, and to exploit flowers that produce nectar only or also at night.Predators, parasites and pathogens
'', specializes in feeding on bees; here a male catches a nuptial gift for his mate.]]
Vertebrate predators of bees include bee-eaters, shrikes and flycatchers, which make short sallies to catch insects in flight. The greater honeyguide interacts with humans by guiding them to the nests of wild bees. The humans break open the nests and take the honey and the bird feeds on the larvae and the wax. Among mammals, predators such as the badger dig up bumblebee nests and eat both the larvae and any stored food.
paralysing a bee with its sting]]
Specialist ambush predators of visitors to flowers include crab spiders, which wait on flowering plants for pollinating insects; predatory bugs, and praying mantises, some of which (the flower mantises of the tropics) wait motionless, aggressive mimics camouflaged as flowers. Beewolves are large wasps that habitually attack bees; Other predatory insects that sometimes catch bees include robber flies and dragonflies. However, some bees are believed to have a mutualistic relationship with mites.Relationship with humansIn mythology and folklore
, Rhodes. 7th century BC.]]
Homer's Hymn to Hermes describes three bee-maidens with the power of divination and thus speaking truth, and identifies the food of the gods as honey. Sources associated the bee maidens with Apollo and, until the 1980s, scholars followed Gottfried Hermann (1806) in incorrectly identifying the bee-maidens with the Thriae. Honey, according to a Greek myth, was discovered by a nymph called Melissa ("Bee"); and honey was offered to the Greek gods from Mycenean times. Bees were also associated with the Delphic oracle and the prophetess was sometimes called a bee.
The image of a community of honey bees has been used from ancient to modern times, in Aristotle and Plato; in Virgil and Seneca; in Erasmus and Shakespeare; Tolstoy, and by political and social theorists such as Bernard Mandeville and Karl Marx as a model for human society. In English folklore, bees would be told of important events in the household, in a custom known as "Telling the bees".
In art and literature
's illustration of Babbity Bumble in The Tale of Mrs Tittlemouse, 1910]]
Some of the oldest examples of bees in art are rock paintings in Spain which have been dated to 15,000 BC.
W. B. Yeats's poem The Lake Isle of Innisfree (1888) contains the couplet "Nine bean rows will I have there, a hive for the honey bee, / And live alone in the bee loud glade." At the time he was living in Bedford Park in the West of London. Beatrix Potter's illustrated book The Tale of Mrs Tittlemouse (1910) features Babbity Bumble and her brood (pictured). Kit Williams' treasure hunt book The Bee on the Comb (1984) uses bees and beekeeping as part of its story and puzzle. Sue Monk Kidd's The Secret Life of Bees (2004), and the 2009 film starring Dakota Fanning, tells the story of a girl who escapes her abusive home and finds her way to live with a family of beekeepers, the Boatwrights.
Bees have appeared in films such as Jerry Seinfeld's animated Bee Movie, or Eugene Schlusser's A Sting in the Tale (2014). The playwright Laline Paull's fantasy The Bees (2015) tells the tale of a hive bee named Flora 717 from hatching onwards.Beekeeping
Humans have kept honey bee colonies, commonly in hives, for millennia. Simple hives and smoke were used.
Among Classical Era authors, beekeeping with the use of smoke is described in Aristotle's History of Animals Book 9. The account mentions that bees die after stinging; that workers remove corpses from the hive, and guard it; castes including workers and non-working drones, but "kings" rather than queens; predators including toads and bee-eaters; and the waggle dance, with the "irresistible suggestion" of ("", it waggles) and ("", they watch).
Bees play an important role in pollinating flowering plants, and are the major type of pollinator in many ecosystems that contain flowering plants. It is estimated that one third of the human food supply depends on pollination by insects, birds and bats, most of which is accomplished by bees, whether wild or domesticated.
Since the 1970s, there has been a general decline in the species richness of wild bees and other pollinators, probably attributable to stress from increased parasites and disease, the use of pesticides, and a decrease in the number of wild flowers. Climate change probably exacerbates the problem. This is a major cause of concern, as it can cause biodiversity loss and ecosystem degradation as well as increase climate change.
Contract pollination has overtaken the role of honey production for beekeepers in many countries. After the introduction of Varroa mites, feral honey bees declined dramatically in the US, though their numbers have since recovered. The number of colonies kept by beekeepers declined slightly, through urbanization, systematic pesticide use, tracheal and Varroa mites, and the closure of beekeeping businesses. In 2006 and 2007 the rate of attrition increased, and was described as colony collapse disorder. In 2010 invertebrate iridescent virus and the fungus Nosema ceranae were shown to be in every killed colony, and deadly in combination. Winter losses increased to about 1/3. Varroa mites were thought to be responsible for about half the losses.
Apart from colony collapse disorder, losses outside the US have been attributed to causes including pesticide seed dressings, using neonicotinoids such as clothianidin, imidacloprid and thiamethoxam. From 2013 the European Union restricted some pesticides to stop bee populations from declining further. In 2014 the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report warned that bees faced increased risk of extinction because of global warming. In 2018 the European Union decided to ban field use of all three major neonicotinoids; they remain permitted in veterinary, greenhouse, and vehicle transport usage.
Farmers have focused on alternative solutions to mitigate these problems. By raising native plants, they provide food for native bee pollinators like Lasioglossum vierecki and L. leucozonium, leading to less reliance on honey bee populations.
<gallery widths"200px" heights"200px">
File:Peponapis pruinosaCane-12.JPG|Squash bees (Apidae) are important pollinators of squashes and cucumbers.
File:A bee covered with pollen.jpg|Bee covered in pollen
</gallery>
As food producers
Honey is a natural product produced by bees and stored for their own use, but its sweetness has always appealed to humans. Before domestication of bees was even attempted, humans were raiding their nests for their honey. Smoke was often used to subdue the bees and such activities are depicted in rock paintings in Spain dated to 15,000 BC.
As food
Bees are considered edible insects. People in some countries eat insects, including the larvae and pupae of bees, mostly stingless species. They also gather larvae, pupae and surrounding cells, known as bee brood, for consumption. In the Indonesian dish botok tawon from Central and East Java, bee larvae are eaten as a companion to rice, after being mixed with shredded coconut, wrapped in banana leaves, and steamed.
Bee brood (pupae and larvae) although low in calcium, has been found to be high in protein and carbohydrate, and a useful source of phosphorus, magnesium, potassium, and trace minerals iron, zinc, copper, and selenium. In addition, while bee brood was high in fat, it contained no fat soluble vitamins (such as A, D, and E) but it was a good source of most of the water-soluble B vitamins including choline as well as vitamin C. The fat was composed mostly of saturated and monounsaturated fatty acids with 2.0% being polyunsaturated fatty acids.
<gallery widths"200px" heights"145px">
File:Botoktawon.jpg|Bee larvae as food in the Javanese dish botok tawon
File:Fried bees dish.jpg|Fried whole bees served in a Ukrainian restaurant
</gallery>
As alternative medicine
Apitherapy is a branch of alternative medicine that uses honey bee products, including raw honey, royal jelly, pollen, propolis, beeswax and apitoxin (Bee venom). The claim that apitherapy treats cancer, which some proponents of apitherapy make, remains unsupported by evidence-based medicine.
Stings
The painful stings of bees are mostly associated with the poison gland and the Dufour's gland which are abdominal exocrine glands containing various chemicals. In Lasioglossum leucozonium, the Dufour's Gland mostly contains octadecanolide as well as some eicosanolide. There is also evidence of n-triscosane, n-heptacosane, and 22-docosanolide.
See also
* Australian native bees
* Fear of bees (apiphobia)
* Superorganism
* World Bee Day
Explanatory notes
References
External links
*
* [https://www.discoverlife.org/20/q?search=Apoidea "Apoidea"] at All Living Thingsimages, identification guides, and maps of bees
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20190411210512/http://cache.ucr.edu/~heraty/beepage.html Bee Genera of the World]
* [https://bugguide.net/node/view/8267 Anthophila (Apoidea) – Bees]North American species of bees at BugGuide
* [https://bugguide.net/node/view/475348 Native Bees of North America] at BugGuide
* [https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.1255957 "Bee declines driven by combined stress from parasites, pesticides, and lack of flowers"]Science
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Basques
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<br><br>
| image | image_caption
| population =
| region1 = Spain<br />(people living in the Basque Provinces of Spain, including some areas where most people do not identify themselves as Basque)
| pop1 = 2,410,000
| ref1
| region2 = France<br />(people living in the French Basque Country, not all of whom identify as Basque)
| pop2 = 239,000
| ref2
| region4 = Canada<br />(including those of mixed ancestry)
| pop4 7,745
| langs = Basque, Spanish, French, Gascon
| rels = Christianity (mostly Catholicism), others
}}
The Basques ( or ; ; ; ) are a Southwestern European ethnic group, characterised by the Basque language, a common culture and shared genetic ancestry to the ancient Vascones and Aquitanians. Basques are indigenous to, and primarily inhabit, an area traditionally known as the Basque Country ()—a region that is located around the western end of the Pyrenees on the coast of the Bay of Biscay and straddles parts of north-central Spain and south-western France.
In Basque, people call themselves the euskaldunak, singular euskaldun, formed from euskal- (i.e. "Basque (language)") and -dun (i.e. "one who has"); euskaldun literally means a Basque-speaker. Not all Basques are Basque-speakers. Therefore, the neologism euskotar, plural euskotarrak, was coined in the 19th century to mean a Basque person, whether Basque-speaking or not. Alfonso Irigoyen posits that the word euskara is derived from an ancient Basque verb enautsi "to say" (compare modern Basque esan) and the suffix -(k)ara ("way (of doing something)"). Thus, euskara would mean literally "way of saying" or "way of speaking". One item of evidence in favour of that hypothesis is found in the Spanish book Compendio Historial, written in 1571 by the Basque writer Esteban de Garibay. He records the name of the Basque language as enusquera. That may, however, be a writing mistake.
In the 19th century, the Basque nationalist activist Sabino Arana posited an original root euzko, which he thought came from eguzkiko ("of the sun", related to the assumption of an original solar religion). On the basis of that putative root, Arana proposed the name Euzkadi for an independent Basque nation, composed of seven Basque historical territories. Arana's neologism Euzkadi (in the regularized spelling Euskadi) is still widely used in both Basque and Spanish since it is now the official name of the Autonomous Community of the Basque Country.Genetic origins
next to the stream and cave Leze, home to legends featuring mythological character Mari]]
The distinctiveness noted by studies of classical genetic markers (such as blood groups) and the pre-Indo-European of the Basque language has resulted in a popular and long-held view that Basques are "living fossils" of the earliest modern humans who colonised Europe. Partly for these reasons, anthropological and genetic studies from the beginning and the end of the 20th century theorized that the Basques are the descendants of the original Cro-Magnons.
But although they are genetically distinctive in some ways due to isolation, the Basques are still very typically European in their Y-DNA and mtDNA sequences, and in some other genetic loci. These same sequences are widespread throughout the Western half of Europe, especially along the Western fringe of the continent.
History
in Pamplona (1903)]]
Basque tribes were mentioned in Roman times by Strabo and Pliny, including the Vascones, Aquitani, and others. There is enough evidence to support the hypothesis that at that time and later they spoke old varieties of the Basque language (see: Aquitanian language).
In the Early Middle Ages, the territory between the Ebro and Garonne rivers was known as Vasconia, a vaguely defined ethnic area and political entity struggling to fend off pressure from the Iberian Visigothic kingdom and Arab rule to the south, as well as the Frankish push from the north. By the turn of the first millennium, the territory of Vasconia had fragmented into different feudal regions, such as Soule and Labourd, while south of the Pyrenees the Castile, Pamplona and the Pyrenean counties of Aragon, Sobrarbe, Ribagorça (later Kingdom of Aragon), and Pallars emerged as the main regional entities with Basque population in the 9th and 10th centuries.
The Kingdom of Pamplona, a central Basque realm, later known as Navarre, underwent a process of feudalization and was subject to the influence of its much larger Aragonese, Castilian and French neighbours. Castile deprived Navarre of its coastline by conquering key western territories (1199–1201), leaving the kingdom landlocked. The Basques were ravaged by the War of the Bands, bitter partisan wars between local ruling families. Weakened by the Navarrese civil war, the bulk of the realm eventually fell before the onslaught of the Spanish armies (1512–1524). However, the Navarrese territory north of the Pyrenees remained beyond the reach of an increasingly powerful Spain. Lower Navarre became a province of France in 1620.
Nevertheless, the Basques enjoyed a great deal of self-government until the French Revolution (1790) and the Carlist Wars (1839, 1876), when the Basques supported heir apparent Carlos V and his descendants. On either side of the Pyrenees, the Basques lost their native institutions and laws held during the Ancien régime. Since then, despite the current limited self-governing status of the Basque Autonomous Community and Navarre as settled by the Spanish Constitution, many Basques have attempted higher degrees of self-empowerment (see Basque nationalism), sometimes by acts of violence. Labourd, Lower Navarre, and Soule were integrated into the French department system (starting 1790), with Basque efforts to establish a region-specific political-administrative entity failing to take off to date. However, in January 2017, a single agglomeration community was established for the Basque Country in France.GeographyPolitical and administrative divisions
, in Navarre, Basque Country]]
The Basque region is divided into at least three administrative units, namely the Basque Autonomous Community and Navarre in Spain, and the arrondissement of Bayonne and the cantons of Mauléon-Licharre and Tardets-Sorholus in the département of Pyrénées Atlantiques, France.
The autonomous community (a concept established in the Spanish Constitution of 1978) known as Euskal Autonomia Erkidegoa or EAE in Basque and as Comunidad Autónoma Vasca or CAV in Spanish (in English: Basque Autonomous Community or BAC), is made up of the three Spanish provinces of Álava, Biscay and Gipuzkoa. The corresponding Basque names of these territories are Araba, Bizkaia and Gipuzkoa, and their Spanish names are Álava, Vizcaya and Guipúzcoa.
The BAC only includes three of the seven provinces of the currently called historical territories. It is sometimes referred to simply as "the Basque Country" (or Euskadi) by writers and public agencies only considering those three western provinces, but also on occasions merely as a convenient abbreviation when this does not lead to confusion in the context. Others reject this usage as inaccurate and are careful to specify the BAC (or an equivalent expression such as "the three provinces", up to 1978 referred to as "Provincias Vascongadas" in Spanish) when referring to this entity or region. Likewise, terms such as "the Basque Government" for "the government of the BAC" are commonly though not universally employed. In particular in common usage the French term Pays Basque ("Basque Country"), in the absence of further qualification, refers either to the whole Basque Country ("Euskal Herria" in Basque), or not infrequently to the northern (or "French") Basque Country specifically.
Under Spain's present constitution, Navarre (Nafarroa in present-day Basque, Navarra historically in Spanish) constitutes a separate entity, called in present-day Basque Nafarroako Foru Erkidegoa, in Spanish Comunidad Foral de Navarra (the autonomous community of Navarre). The government of this autonomous community is the Government of Navarre. In historical contexts Navarre may refer to a wider area, and that the present-day northern Basque province of Lower Navarre may also be referred to as (part of) Nafarroa, while the term "High Navarre" (Nafarroa Garaia in Basque, Alta Navarra in Spanish) is also encountered as a way of referring to the territory of the present-day autonomous community.
There are three other historic provinces parts of the Basque Country: Labourd, Lower Navarre and Soule (Lapurdi, Nafarroa Beherea and Zuberoa in Basque; Labourd, Basse-Navarre and Soule in French), devoid of official status within France's present-day political and administrative territorial organization, and only minor political support to the Basque nationalists. A large number of regional and local nationalist and non-nationalist representatives have waged a campaign for years advocating for the creation of a separate Basque département, while these demands have gone unheard by the French administration.
Population, main cities, and languages
in Gipuzkoa, Basque Country]]
There are 2,123,000 people living in the Basque Autonomous Community (279,000 in Alava, 1,160,000 in Biscay and 684,000 in Gipuzkoa). The most important cities in this region, which serve as the provinces' administrative centers, are Bilbao (in Biscay), San Sebastián (in Gipuzkoa), and Vitoria-Gasteiz (in Álava). The official languages are Basque and Spanish. Knowledge of Spanish is compulsory under the Spanish constitution (article no. 3), and knowledge and usage of Basque is a right under the Statute of Autonomy (article no. 6), so only knowledge of Spanish is virtually universal. Knowledge of Basque, after declining for many years during Franco's dictatorship owing to official persecution, is again on the rise due to favorable official language policies and popular support. Currently about 33 percent of the population in the Basque Autonomous Community speaks Basque.
Navarre has a population of 601,000; its administrative capital and main city, also regarded by many nationalist Basques as the Basques' historical capital, is Pamplona (Iruñea in modern Basque). Only Spanish is an official language of Navarre, and the Basque language is only co-official in the province's northern region, where most Basque-speaking Navarrese are concentrated.
About a quarter of a million people live in the French Basque Country. Nowadays Basque-speakers refer to this region as Iparralde (Basque for North), and to the Spanish provinces as Hegoalde (South). Much of this population lives in or near the Bayonne-Anglet-Biarritz (BAB) urban belt on the coast (in Basque these are Baiona, Angelu and Miarritze). The Basque language, which was traditionally spoken by most of the region's population outside the BAB urban zone, is today rapidly losing ground to French. The French Basque Country's lack of self-government within the French state is coupled with the absence of official status for the Basque language in the region. Attempts to introduce bilingualism in local administration have so far met direct refusal from French officials.
Basque diaspora
, Argentina]]
, United States]]
Large numbers of Basques have left the Basque Country to settle in the rest of Spain, France or other parts of the world in different historical periods, often for economic or political reasons. Historically the Basques abroad were often employed in shepherding and ranching and by maritime fisheries and merchants. Millions of Basque descendants (see Basque American and Basque Canadian) live in North America (the United States; Canada, mainly in the provinces of Newfoundland and Quebec), all over Latin America, South Africa, and Australia.Latin AmericaMiguel de Unamuno said: "There are at least two things that clearly can be attributed to Basques: the Society of Jesus and the Republic of Chile." Chilean historian Luis Thayer Ojeda estimated that 48 percent of immigrants to Chile in the 17th and 18th centuries were Basque. Estimates range between 2.5 and 5 million Basque descendants live in Chile; the Basque have been a major if not the strongest influence in the country's cultural and economic development.
Basque place names are to be found, such as Nueva Vizcaya (now Chihuahua and Durango, Mexico), New Navarre (now Sonora and Sinaloa, Mexico), Biscayne Bay (United States), and Aguereberry Point (United States). Nueva Vizcaya was the first province in the north of the Viceroyalty of New Spain (Mexico) to be explored and settled by the Spanish. It consisted mostly of the area which is today the states of Chihuahua and Durango (the original Durango is a known city in Biscay).
In Mexico most descendants of Basque emigrees are concentrated in the cities of Monterrey, Saltillo, Reynosa, Camargo, and the states of Jalisco, Durango, Nuevo León, Tamaulipas, Coahuila, and Sonora. The Basques were important in the mining industry; many were ranchers and vaqueros (cowboys), and the rest opened small shops in major cities such as Mexico City, Guadalajara and Puebla. In Guatemala, most Basques have been concentrated in Sacatepequez Department, Antigua Guatemala, Jalapa for six generations now, while some have migrated to Guatemala City.
In Colombia, a large number of Basques settled mainly in Antioquia and the Coffee Axis. In 1955, Joaquín Ospina said: "Is there something more similar to the Basque people than the "antioqueños". Also, writer Arturo Escobar Uribe said in his book "Mitos de Antioquia" (Myths of Antioquia) (1950): "Antioquia, which in its clean ascendance predominates the peninsular farmer of the Basque provinces, inherited the virtues of its ancestors. ... Despite the predominance of the white race, its extension in the mountains ... has projected over Colombia's map the prototype of its race; in Medellín with the industrial paisa, entrepreneur, strong and steady ... in its towns, the adventurer, arrogant, world-explorer. ... Its myths, which are an evidence of their deep credulity and an indubitable proof of their Iberian ancestor, are the sequel of the conqueror's blood which runs through their veins". Bambuco, a Colombian folk music, has Basque roots.
United States
The largest of several important Basque communities in the United States is in the area around Boise, Idaho, home to the Basque Museum and Cultural Center, host to an annual Basque festival, as well as a festival for the Basque diaspora every five years. Reno, Nevada, where the Center for Basque Studies and the Basque Studies Library are located at the University of Nevada, is another significant nucleus of Basque population. Elko, Nevada, sponsors an annual Basque festival that celebrates the dance, cuisine and cultures of the Basque peoples of Spanish, French and Mexican nationalities who have arrived in Nevada since the late 19th century.
Texas has a large percentage of Hispanics descended from Basques who participated in the conquest of New Spain. Many of the original Tejanos had Basque blood, including those who fought in the Battle of the Alamo alongside many of the other Texans. Along the Mexican/Texan border, many Basque surnames can be found. The largest concentration of Basques who settled on Mexico's north-eastern "frontera", including the states of Chihuahua, Durango, Coahuila, Nuevo León, and Tamaulipas, also settled along Texas' Rio Grande from South Texas to West Texas. Many of the historic hidalgos, or noble families from this area, had gained their titles and land grants from Spain and Mexico; they still value their land. Some of North America's largest ranches, which were founded under these colonial land grants, can be found in this region.
California has a major concentration of Basques, most notably in the San Joaquin Valley between Stockton, Fresno and Bakersfield. The city of Bakersfield has a large Basque community and the city has several Basque restaurants, including Noriega's which won the 2011 James Beard Foundation America's Classic Award. There is a history of Basque culture in Chino, California. In Chino, two annual Basque festivals celebrate the dance, cuisine, and culture of the peoples. The surrounding area of San Bernardino County has many Basque descendants as residents. They are mostly descendants of settlers from Spain and Mexico. These Basques in California are grouped in the group known as Californios.
Basques of European Spanish-French and Latin American nationalities also settled throughout the western U.S. in states like Louisiana, New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, Oregon, and Washington.
Culture
]]
Language
The identifying language of the Basques is called Basque or Euskara, spoken today by 25%-30% of the region's population. An idea of the central place the language has in cultural terms is given by the fact that Basques identify themselves by the term euskaldun and their country as Euskal Herria, literally "Basque speaker" and "Country of the Basque Language" respectively. The language has been made a political issue by official Spanish and French policies restricting its use either historically or currently; however, this has not stopped the teaching, speaking, writing, and cultivating of this increasingly vibrant minority language. This sense of Basque identity tied to the local language does not only exist in isolation. For many Basques, it is juxtaposed with a sense of either Spanish or French identity tied with the use of the Spanish and French languages among other Basques, especially in the French Basque Country. Regarding the Spanish Basque Country, Basques that don't have a sense of Spanish identity make up an important part of the population. As with many European states, a regional identity, be it linguistically derived or otherwise, is not mutually exclusive with the broader national one. For example, Basque rugby union player for France, Imanol Harinordoquy, has said about his national identity:<blockquote>"I am French and Basque. There is no conflict, I am proud of both. ... I have friends who are involved in the political side of things but that is not for me. My only interest is the culture, the Euskera language, the people, our history and ways."</blockquote>
As a result of state language promotion, school policies, the effects of mass media and migration, today virtually all Basques (except for some children below school age) speak the official language of their state (Spanish or French). There are extremely few Basque monolingual speakers: essentially all Basque speakers are bilingual on both sides of the border. Spanish or French is typically the first language of citizens from other regions (who often feel no need to learn Basque), and Spanish or French is also the first language of many Basques, all of which maintains the dominance of the state tongues of both France and Spain. Recent Basque Government policies aim to change this pattern, as they are viewed as potential threats against mainstream usage of the minority tongue.
The Basque language is thought to be a genetic language isolate in contrast with other European languages, vast majority of which belong to the broad Indo-European language family. Another peculiarity of Basque is that it has probably been spoken continuously in situ, in and around its present territorial location, for longer than most other modern European languages, which are typically thought to have been introduced in historic or prehistoric times through population migrations or other processes of cultural transmission.
However, popular stereotypes characterizing Basque as "the oldest language in Europe" and "unique among the world's languages" may be misunderstood and lead to erroneous assumptions. Over the centuries, Basque has remained in continuous contact with neighboring western European languages with which it has come to share numerous lexical properties and typological features; it is therefore misleading to exaggerate the "outlandish" character of Basque. Basque is also a modern language, and is established as a written and printed one used in present-day forms of publication and communication, as well as a language spoken and used in a very wide range of social and cultural contexts, styles, and registers.Land and inheritance
, converted from a fortified tower]]
)]]
Basques have a close attachment to their home (etxe(a) 'house, home'), especially when this consists of the traditional self-sufficient, family-run farm or baserri(a). Home in this context is synonymous with family roots. Some Basque surnames were adapted from old baserri or habitation names. They typically related to a geographical orientation or other locally meaningful identifying features. Such surnames provide even those Basques whose families may have left the land generations ago with an important link to their rural family origins: Bengoetxea "the house of further down", Goikoetxea "the house above", Landaburu "top of the field", Errekondo "next to the stream", Elizalde "by the church", Mendizabal "wide hill", Usetxe "house of birds" Ibarretxe "house in the valley", Etxeberria "the new house", and so on.
In contrast to surrounding regions, ancient Basque inheritance patterns, recognised in the fueros, favoured survival of the unity of inherited land holdings. In a kind of primogeniture, these usually were inherited by the eldest male or female child. As in other cultures, the fate of other family members depended on the assets of a family: wealthy Basque families tended to provide for all children in some way, while less-affluent families may have had only one asset to provide to one child. However, this heir often provided for the rest of the family (unlike in England, with strict primogeniture, where the eldest son inherited everything and often did not provide for others). Even though they were provided for in some way, younger siblings had to make much of their living by other means. Mostly after the advent of industrialisation, this system resulted in the emigration of many rural Basques to Spain, France or the Americas. Harsh by modern standards, this custom resulted in a great many enterprising figures of Basque origin who went into the world to earn their way, from Spanish conquistadors such as Lope de Aguirre and Francisco Vásquez de Coronado, to explorers, missionaries and saints of the Catholic Church, such as Francis Xavier.
A widespread belief that Basque society was originally matriarchal is at odds with the current, clearly patrilineal kinship system and inheritance structures. Some scholars and commentators have attempted to reconcile these points by assuming that patrilineal kinship represents an innovation. In any case, the social position of women in both traditional and modern Basque society is somewhat better than in neighbouring cultures, and women have a substantial influence in decisions about the domestic economy. In the past, some women participated in collective magical ceremonies. They were key participants in a rich folklore, today largely forgotten.
Cuisine
Basque cuisine is at the heart of Basque culture, influenced by the neighboring communities and produce from the sea and the land. A 20th-century feature of Basque culture is the phenomenon of gastronomical societies (called txoko in Basque), food clubs where men gather to cook and enjoy their own food. Until recently, women were allowed entry only one day in the year. Cider houses (Sagardotegiak) are popular restaurants in Gipuzkoa open for a few months while the cider is in season.
Cultural production
, Basque Country.]]
At the end of the 20th century, despite ETA violence (ended in 2010) and the crisis of heavy industries, the Basque economic condition recovered remarkably. They emerged from the Franco regime with a revitalized language and culture. The Basque language expanded geographically led by large increases in the major urban centers of Pamplona, Bilbao, and Bayonne, where only a few decades ago the Basque language had all but disappeared. Nowadays, the number of Basque speakers is maintaining its level or increasing slightly.
Music
Religion
Traditionally Basques have been mostly Catholics. In the 19th century and well into the 20th, Basques as a group remained notably devout and churchgoing. In recent years church attendance has fallen off, as in most of Western Europe. The region has been a source of missionaries like Francis Xavier and Michel Garicoïts. Ignatius Loyola, founder of the Society of Jesus, was a Basque. California Franciscan Fermín Lasuén was born in Vitoria. Lasuén was the successor to Franciscan Padre Junípero Serra and founded 9 of the 21 extant California Missions along the coast.
A sprout of Protestantism in the continental Basque Country produced the first translation of the new Testament into Basque by Joanes Leizarraga. Queen Jeanne III of Navarre, a devout Huguenot, commissioned the translation of the New Testament into Basque and Béarnese for the benefit of her subjects. By the time Henry III of Navarre converted to Catholicism in order to become king of France, Protestantism virtually disappeared from the Basque community.
Bayonne held a Jewish community composed mainly of Sephardi Jews fleeing from the Spanish and Portuguese Inquisitions. There were also important Jewish and Muslim communities in Navarre before the Castilian invasion of 1512–21.
Nowadays, according to one single opinion poll, only slightly more than 50% of Basques profess some kind of belief in God, while the rest are either agnostic or atheist. The number of religious skeptics increases noticeably for the younger generations, while the older ones are more religious. Catholicism is, by far, the largest religion in Basque Country. In 2019, the proportion of Basques that identify themselves as Roman Catholic was 60%, while it is one of the most secularized communities of Spain: 24.6% were non-religious and 12.3% of Basques were atheist.
Pre-Christian religion and mythology
mountain is one of sites where Mari was believed to dwell]]
The Christianisation of the Basque Country has been the topic of some discussion. There are, broadly speaking, two views. According to one, Christianity arrived in the Basque Country during the 4th and 5th centuries but according to the other, it did not take place until the 12th and 13th centuries. The Encyclopaedia Britannica says that the Basques were not Christianized until the tenth century, however, and that their earlier animism survives in their folklore. The main issue lies in the different interpretations of what is considered Christianisation. Early traces of Christianity can be found in the major urban areas from the 4th century onwards, a bishopric from 589 in Pamplona and three hermit cave concentrations (two in Álava, one in Navarre) that were in use from the 6th century onwards. In this sense, Christianity arrived "early".
Pre-Christian belief seems to have focused on a goddess called Mari. A number of place-names contain her name, which would suggest these places were related to worship of her such as Anbotoko Mari who appears to have been related to the weather. According to one tradition, she travelled every seven years between a cave on Mount Anboto and one on another mountain (the stories vary); the weather would be wet when she was in Anboto, dry when she was in Aloña, or Supelegor, or Gorbea. One of her names, Mari Urraca possibly ties her to an historical Navarrese princess of the 11th and 12th century, with other legends giving her a brother or cousin who was a Roman Catholic priest. So far the discussions about whether the name Mari is original and just happened to coincide closely with the Christian name María or if Mari is an early Basque attempt to give a Christian veneer to pagan worship have remained speculative. At any rate, Mari (Andramari) is one of the oldest worshipped Christian icons in Basque territories.
Mari's consort is Sugaar. This chthonic couple seems to bear the superior ethical power and the power of creation and destruction. It's said that when they gathered in the high caves of the sacred peaks, they engendered the storms. These meetings typically happened on Friday nights, the day of historical akelarre or coven. Mari was said to reside in Mount Anboto; periodically she crossed the skies as a bright light to reach her other home at Mount Txindoki.
Legends also speak of many and abundant genies, like jentilak (equivalent to giants), lamiak (equivalent to nymphs), mairuak (builders of the cromlechs or stone circles, literally Moors), iratxoak (imps), sorginak (witches, priestess of Mari), and so on. Basajaun is a Basque version of the Woodwose. There is a trickster named San Martin Txiki ("St Martin the Lesser").
It is unclear whether Neolithic stone structures called dolmens have a religious significance or were built to house animals or resting shepherds. Some of the dolmens and cromlechs are burial sites serving also as border markers.
The jentilak ('Giants'), on the other hand, are a legendary people which explains the disappearance of a people of Stone Age culture that used to live in the high lands and with no knowledge of iron. Many legends about them tell that they were bigger and taller, with a great force, but were displaced by the ferrons, or workers of ironworks foundries, until their total fade-out. They were pagans, but one of them, Olentzero, accepted Christianity and became a sort of Basque Santa Claus. They gave name to several toponyms, as Jentilbaratza.
Society
's intervention in the Basque Country (1609–1612)]]
Historically, Basque society can be described as being somewhat at odds with Roman and later European societal norms. Strabo's account of the north of Spain in his Geographica (written between approximately 20 BC and 20 AD) makes a mention of "a sort of woman-rule—not at all a mark of civilization" (Hadington 1992), a first mention of the—for the period—unusual position of women: "Women could inherit and control property as well as officiate in churches." The evidence for this assertion is rather sparse however.
This preference for female dominance existed well into the 20th century:
<blockquote>... matrilineal inheritance laws, and agricultural work performed by women continued in Basque country until the early twentieth century. For more than a century, scholars have widely discussed the high status of Basque women in law codes, as well as their positions as judges, inheritors, and arbitrators through ante-Roman, medieval, and modern times. The system of laws governing succession in the French Basque region reflected total equality between the sexes. Up until the eve of the French Revolution, the Basque woman was truly 'the mistress of the house', hereditary guardian, and head of the lineage.</blockquote>
While women continued to have a higher position in Basque than other western European societies, it is highly unlikely that any point the society was 'matriarchal', as is often falsely claimed about pre-Indo-European peoples in general. The 'Basque matriarchy' argument is typically tied to 20th century nationalism and is at odds with earlier accounts of the society.
Although the Kingdom of Navarre did adopt feudalism, most Basques also possessed unusual social institutions different from those of the rest of feudal Europe. Some aspects of this include the elizate tradition where local house-owners met in front of the church to elect a representative to send to the juntas and Juntas Generales (such as the Juntas Generales de Vizcaya or Guipúzcoa) which administered much larger areas. Another example was that in the medieval period most land was owned by the farmers, not the Church or a king.Sports in the Basque Country]]Pelota
The great family of ball games has its unique offspring among Basque ball games, known generically as pilota (Spanish: pelota). Some variants have been exported to the United States and Macau under the name of Jai Alai.
Rural sports
]]
.]]
There are several sports derived by Basques from everyday chores. Heavy workers were challenged and bets placed upon them. Examples are:
* estropadak rowing regattas: from fishermen activities.
* sokatira: tug-of-war.
* harri-jasotzea: stone-lifting, from quarry works.
* aizkolaritza and trontzalaritza: wood-chopping and log sawing.
* sega jokoa: cutting grass with a scythe.
* Giza-abere probak: stone block pulling, from construction works:
** idi probak with teams of oxen.
** asto probak with donkeys.
** zaldi probak with horses.
** gizon probak with human teams.
* txinga eramatea: carrying of weights, one in each hand, representing milk canisters.
* ahari topaketa: ram fights.
* harri zulaketa competitions: drilling stone blocks with a metal bar, only in the former mining areas of West Biscay.
* Basque sheepdog trials competitions.
Bull runs and bullock games
The encierro (bull run) in Pamplona's fiestas Sanfermines started as a transport of bulls to the ring. These encierros, as well as other bull and bullock related activities are not exclusive to Pamplona but are traditional in many towns and villages of the Basque country.
Football
There are several clubs within the Basque Country, such as Athletic Bilbao, Real Sociedad, Deportivo Alavés, SD Eibar and, as Navarre club, the CA Osasuna (the only club in La Liga that has a Basque name—osasuna means "health"). In the 2016–17 season these five clubs played together in La Liga, the first instance where five Basque clubs have reached that level at the same time. Athletic's recruitment policy has meant the club refuses to sign any non-Basque players, with "Basque" currently defined to include either ethnic Basques or players of any ethnicity trained by a Basque club. Real Sociedad also previously employed such a policy.
Basketball
The Basque Country also features several professional basketball teams, the most notable of which is Saski Baskonia from Vitoria-Gasteiz, one of the 11 clubs that own stakes in Euroleague Basketball, the company that operates the continent-wide EuroLeague and EuroCup. They are currently joined in the Spanish top flight, Liga ACB, by Bilbao Basket, with the two clubs involved in a longstanding rivalry. Another club from the Basque Country, Gipuzkoa Basket from Donostia, currently plays in the second-level LEB Oro.
Rugby union
Rugby union is a popular sport among French Basques, with major clubs Biarritz Olympique and Aviron Bayonnais traditional powerhouses in the premier division of French Rugby (the Top 14). Biarritz regularly play Champions Cup matches, especially knockout matches, at Estadio Anoeta in San Sebastian. Games between the Basque clubs and Catalan club USA Perpignan are always hard fought.
Professional cycling
Cycling is popular and the professional cycling team, partly sponsored by the Basque Government participated in the UCI World Tour division until 2014. Known for their orange tops and hill-climbing ability, their fans were famous for lining the famous Pyrenean climbs in the Tour de France, in support of their compatriots.
Each April the week-long Tour of the Basque Country showcases the beautiful rolling Basque countryside. Miguel Indurain, born in Villava is one of the most celebrated cyclists in the world having won 5 consecutive Tours de France.
Politics
for the Basque Country's right to self-determination]]
in solidarity with Catalan independence referendum, September 2017]]
While there is no independent Basque state, Spain's autonomous community of the Basque Country, made up of the provinces of Álava (Araba), Biscay (Bizkaia) and Gipuzkoa, is primarily a historical consequence and an answer to the wide autonomy claim of its population.
Navarre has a separate statute of autonomy, a contentious arrangement designed during Spanish transition to democracy (the Amejoramiento, an 'upgrade' of its previous status during dictatorship). It refers back to the kingdom status of Navarre (up to 1841) and their traditional institutional and legal framework (charters). Basque, the original and main language of Navarre up to the late 18th century, has kept family transmission especially in the northern part of Navarre and central areas to a lesser extent, designated as Basque speaking or mixed area in Navarrese law. Questions of political, linguistic and cultural allegiance and identity are highly complex in Navarre. Politically some Basque nationalists would like to integrate with the Basque Autonomous Community.
The French Basque Country today does not exist as a formal political entity and is officially simply part of the French department of Pyrénées Atlantiques, centered in Béarn. In recent years the number of mayors of the region supporting the creation of a separate Basque department has grown to 63.87%. So far, their attempts have been unsuccessful.
Political conflicts
Language
Both the Spanish and French governments have, at times, suppressed Basque linguistic and cultural identity. The French Republics, the epitome of the nation-state, have a long history of attempting the complete cultural absorption of cultural minority groups. Spain has, at most points in its history, granted some degree of linguistic, cultural, and even political autonomy to its Basques, but under the regime of Francisco Franco, the Spanish government reversed the advances of Basque nationalism, as it had fought in the opposite side of the Spanish Civil War: cultural activity in Basque was limited to folkloric issues and the Catholic Church.
Today, the Southern Basque Country within Spain enjoys an extensive cultural and political autonomy. The majority of schools under the jurisdiction of the Basque education system use Basque as the primary medium of teaching. However, the situation is more delicate in the Northern Basque Country within France, where Basque is not officially recognized, and where lack of autonomy and monolingual public schooling in French exert great pressure on the Basque language.
In Navarre, Basque has been declared an endangered language, since the anti-Basque and conservative government of Navarrese People's Union opposes the symbols of Basque culture, highlighting a Spanish identity for Navarre.
Basque is also spoken by immigrants in the major cities of Spain and France, in Australia, in many parts of Latin America, and in the United States, especially in Nevada, Idaho, and California. Since self-determination is not recognized in the Spanish Constitution of 1978, a wide majority of Basques abstained (55%) and some even voted against it (23.5%) in the ratification referendum of 6 December that year. However, it was approved by clear majority overall in Spain (87%). The autonomous regime for the Basque Country was approved in a 1979 referendum but the autonomy of Navarre (Amejoramiento del Fuero: "improvement of the charter") was never subject to a referendum but only approved by the Navarrese Cortes (parliament).
Political violence
ClassificationAs with their language, the Basques are clearly a distinct cultural group in their region. They regard themselves as culturally and especially linguistically distinct from their surrounding neighbours. Some Basques identify themselves as Basques only whereas others identify themselves both as Basque and Spanish. Many Basques regard the designation as a "cultural minority" as incomplete, favouring instead the definition as a nation, the commonly accepted designation for the Basque people up to the rise of the nation-states and the definition imposed by the 1812 Spanish Constitution.
In modern times, as a European people living in a highly industrialized area, cultural differences from the rest of Europe are inevitably blurred, although a conscious cultural identity as a people or nation remains very strong, as does an identification with their homeland, even among many Basques who have emigrated to other parts of Spain or France, or to other parts of the world.
The strongest distinction between the Basques and their traditional neighbours is linguistic. Surrounded by Romance-language speakers, the Basques traditionally spoke (and many still speak) a language that was not only non-Romance but non-Indo-European. The prevailing belief amongst Basques, and forming part of their national identity, is that their language has continuity with the people who were in this region since not only pre-Roman and pre-Celtic times, but since the Stone Age.
Notable Basques
Among the most notable Basque people are Juan Sebastián Elcano (who led the first successful expedition to circumnavigate the globe after Ferdinand Magellan died mid-journey); Sancho III of Navarre; and Ignatius of Loyola and Francis Xavier, founders of the Society of Jesus.
Don Diego María de Gardoqui y Arriquibar (1735–1798) was also a Basque who became Spain's first Ambassador to the United States, and Miguel de Unamuno was a noted novelist and philosopher of the late 19th and the 20th century, was also a Basque.
Another well-known Basque was Father Alberto Hurtado, S.J. (1901–1952), a Jesuit priest who founded the charitable housing system Hogar de Cristo, meaning hearth, or home, of Christ, in Chile. El Hogar provided a home-like milieu for the homeless. Hurtado also founded the Chilean Trade Union Association to promote a union movement based on the social teachings of the Catholic Church. He was a friend and savior to all the poor and homeless, and was beatified by Pope John Paul II on 16 October 1994. He was canonized by Pope Benedict XVI on 23 October 2005.
See also
* Aberri Eguna
* Aquitani
* Basque code talkers
* Duchy of Vasconia
* Genetic history of Europe
* Iberians
* Late Basquisation
* List of Basques
* National and regional identity in Spain
* Spanish people
* Vascones
Footnotes
References
* Allières, Jacques. The Basques [https://scholarworks.unr.edu/bitstream/handle/11714/747/The_Basques_Allieres.pdf?sequence1&isAllowedy 1977; online 2016 reprint].
* The Basques, the Catalans and Spain, Daniele Conversi, 2000, .
* The Basque History of the World, Mark Kurlansky, 1999, .
* The Oldest Europeans, J. F. del Giorgio, A. J. Place, 2006, .
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20161010180708/https://www.ethnologue.com/country/fr/languages Ethnologue report for France] for population statistics in France.
* Euskal Herria en la Prehistoria, Xabier Peñalver Iribarren, 1996, .
* Gimbutas, Marija, The Living Goddesses (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2001).
*
*
External links
* [http://www.basques.euskadi.net/t32-7413/en/ Basque Autonomous Government]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20111118043051/http://www.8probintziak.com/ 8 Probintziak. Non profit association working with the basques in the world]
* [http://www.basque.unr.edu/oralhistory/index.htm Oroitzapenak Voices From Basque America], University of Nevada, Reno, Special Collections.
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20180421233206/http://contentdm.library.unr.edu/cdm/search/collection/basqcoll Basque Digital Collection], University of Nevada, Reno Special Collections
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20180930043837/http://knowledgecenter.unr.edu/sheepherders/default.aspx Sheepherders of Northern Nevada], University of Nevada, Reno, Special Collections
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20180421232444/http://contentdm.library.unr.edu/cdm/search/collection/basqpost Basque Posters], University of Nevada, Reno, Special Collections
* [http://www.basque.unr.edu/oralhistory/index.htm Voices from Basque America] University of Nevada, Reno Libraries
Category:Ethnic groups divided by international borders
Category:Ethnic groups in France
Category:Ethnic groups in Spain
Category:Ethnic groups in South America
Category:Ethnic groups in Cuba
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Blot
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Blot may refer to:
Surname
Guillaume Blot (born 1985), French racing cyclist
Harold W. Blot (born 1938), served as United States Deputy Chief of Staff for Aviation
Jean-François Joseph Blot (1781–1857), French soldier and politician
Yvan Blot (1948–2018), French conservative political figure, founder and president of the Club de l'Horloge
Jean Blot (1923–2019), French writer, translator, and senior civil servant of Russian origin
(born 1983), French judoka
Religion
Blót, a sacrifice to the gods or other beings in Germanic paganism and modern Germanic paganism
Blot (album), a 2003 album by Einherjer
"Hefja Blot", a song by Danheim for his album Friðr
"Blotjarl", a song by Danheim and Heldom for his album Skapanir
"Vetrnátta Blot", a song by Danheim and Heldom for his album Skapanir
Other
Blot (biology), method of transferring proteins, DNA, RNA or a protein onto a carrier
The Blot, a 1921 silent film
Another name of a trick-taking card game Belot
Blot (Transformers), a character from the Transformers franchise
Ink blots, as used in the Rorschach test
Blot (1994 film), a 1994 film
See also
Phantom Blot, a character made by the Walt Disney Company
Saint-Rémy-de-Blot, commune in the Puy-de-Dôme department in Auvergne in central France
The Blot on the Shield, 1915 short film directed by B. Reeves Eason
Blott (disambiguation)
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Bookkeeping
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thumb|right|250px|Portrait of the Italian Luca Pacioli, painted by Jacopo de' Barbari, 1495, (Museo di Capodimonte). Pacioli is regarded as the Father of Accounting.
Bookkeeping is the recording of financial transactions, and is part of the process of accounting in business and other organizations. It involves preparing source documents for all transactions, operations, and other events of a business. Transactions include purchases, sales, receipts and payments by an individual person, organization or corporation. There are several standard methods of bookkeeping, including the single-entry and double-entry bookkeeping systems. While these may be viewed as "real" bookkeeping, any process for recording financial transactions is a bookkeeping process.
The person in an organisation who is employed to perform bookkeeping functions is usually called the bookkeeper (or book-keeper). They usually write the daybooks (which contain records of sales, purchases, receipts, and payments), and document each financial transaction, whether cash or credit, into the correct daybook—that is, petty cash book, suppliers ledger, customer ledger, etc.—and the general ledger. Thereafter, an accountant can create financial reports from the information recorded by the bookkeeper. The bookkeeper brings the books to the trial balance stage, from which an accountant may prepare financial reports for the organisation, such as the income statement and balance sheet.
History
The origin of book-keeping is lost in obscurity, but recent research indicates that methods of keeping accounts have existed from the remotest times of human life in cities. Babylonian records written with styli on small slabs of clay have been found dating to 2600 BC. Mesopotamian bookkeepers kept records on clay tablets that may date back as far as 7,000 years. Use of the modern double entry bookkeeping system was described by Luca Pacioli in 1494.
The term "waste book" was used in colonial America, referring to the documenting of daily transactions of receipts and expenditures. Records were made in chronological order, and for temporary use only. Daily records were then transferred to a daybook or account ledger to balance the accounts and to create a permanent journal; then the waste book could be discarded, hence the name.
Process
The primary purpose of bookkeeping is to record the financial effects of transactions. An important difference between a manual and an electronic accounting system is the former's latency between the recording of a financial transaction and its posting in the relevant account. This delay, which is absent in electronic accounting systems due to nearly instantaneous posting to relevant accounts, is characteristic of manual systems, and gave rise to the primary books of accounts—cash book, purchase book, sales book, etc.—for immediately documenting a financial transaction.
In the normal course of business, a document is produced each time a transaction occurs. Sales and purchases usually have invoices or receipts. Historically, deposit slips were produced when lodgements (deposits) were made to a bank account; and checks (spelled "cheques" in the UK and several other countries) were written to pay money out of the account. Nowadays such transactions are mostly made electronically. Bookkeeping first involves recording the details of all of these source documents into multi-column journals (also known as books of first entry or daybooks). For example, all credit sales are recorded in the sales journal; all cash payments are recorded in the cash payments journal. Each column in a journal normally corresponds to an account. In the single entry system, each transaction is recorded only once. Most individuals who balance their check-book each month are using such a system, and most personal-finance software follows this approach.
After a certain period, typically a month, each column in each journal is totalled to give a summary for that period. Using the rules of double-entry, these journal summaries are then transferred to their respective accounts in the ledger, or account book. For example, the entries in the Sales Journal are taken and a debit entry is made in each customer's account (showing that the customer now owes us money), and a credit entry might be made in the account for "Sale of class 2 widgets" (showing that this activity has generated revenue for us). This process of transferring summaries or individual transactions to the ledger is called posting. Once the posting process is complete, accounts kept using the "T" format (debits on the left side of the "T" and credits on the right side) undergo balancing, which is simply a process to arrive at the balance of the account.
As a partial check that the posting process was done correctly, a working document called an unadjusted trial balance is created. In its simplest form, this is a three-column list. Column One contains the names of those accounts in the ledger which have a non-zero balance. If an account has a debit balance, the balance amount is copied into Column Two (the debit column); if an account has a credit balance, the amount is copied into Column Three (the credit column). The debit column is then totalled, and then the credit column is totalled. The two totals must agree—which is not by chance—because under the double-entry rules, whenever there is a posting, the debits of the posting equal the credits of the posting. If the two totals do not agree, an error has been made, either in the journals or during the posting process. The error must be located and rectified, and the totals of the debit column and the credit column recalculated to check for agreement before any further processing can take place.
Once the accounts balance, the accountant makes a number of adjustments and changes the balance amounts of some of the accounts. These adjustments must still obey the double-entry rule: for example, the inventory account and asset account might be changed to bring them into line with the actual numbers counted during a stocktake. At the same time, the expense account associated with use of inventory is adjusted by an equal and opposite amount. Other adjustments such as posting depreciation and prepayments are also done at this time. This results in a listing called the adjusted trial balance. It is the accounts in this list, and their corresponding debit or credit balances, that are used to prepare the financial statements.
Finally financial statements are drawn from the trial balance, which may include:
the income statement, also known as the statement of financial results, profit and loss account, or P&L
the balance sheet, also known as the statement of financial position
the cash flow statement
the statement of changes in equity, also known as the statement of total recognised gains and losses
Single-entry system
The primary bookkeeping record in single-entry bookkeeping is the cash book, which is similar to a checking account register (in UK: cheque account, current account), except all entries are allocated among several categories of income and expense accounts. Separate account records are maintained for petty cash, accounts payable and accounts receivable, and other relevant transactions such as inventory and travel expenses. To save time and avoid the errors of manual calculations, single-entry bookkeeping can be done today with do-it-yourself bookkeeping software.
Double-entry system
A double-entry bookkeeping system is a set of rules for recording financial information in a financial accounting system in which every transaction or event changes at least two different ledger accounts.
Daybooks
A daybook is a descriptive and chronological (diary-like) record of day-to-day financial transactions; it is also called a book of original entry. The daybook's details must be transcribed formally into journals to enable posting to ledgers. Daybooks include:
Sales daybook, for recording sales invoices.
Sales credits daybook, for recording sales credit notes.
Purchases daybook, for recording purchase invoices.
Purchases debits daybook, for recording purchase debit notes.
Cash daybook, usually known as the cash book, for recording all monies received and all monies paid out. It may be split into two daybooks: a receipts daybook documenting every money-amount received, and a payments daybook recording every payment made.
General Journal daybook, for recording journal entries.
Petty cash book
A petty cash book is a record of small-value purchases before they are later transferred to the ledger and final accounts; it is maintained by a petty or junior cashier. This type of cash book usually uses the imprest system: a certain amount of money is provided to the petty cashier by the senior cashier. This money is to cater for minor expenditures (hospitality, minor stationery, casual postage, and so on) and is reimbursed periodically on satisfactory explanation of how it was spent.
The balance of petty cash book is Asset.
Journals
Journals are recorded in the general journal daybook. A journal is a formal and chronological record of financial transactions before their values are accounted for in the general ledger as debits and credits. A company can maintain one journal for all transactions, or keep several journals based on similar activity (e.g., sales, cash receipts, revenue, etc.), making transactions easier to summarize and reference later. For every debit journal entry recorded, there must be an equivalent credit journal entry to maintain a balanced accounting equation.
Ledgers
A ledger is a record of accounts. The ledger is a permanent summary of all amounts entered in supporting Journals which list individual transactions by date. These accounts are recorded separately, showing their beginning/ending balance. A journal lists financial transactions in chronological order, without showing their balance but showing how much is going to be entered in each account. A ledger takes each financial transaction from the journal and records it into the corresponding accounts. The ledger also determines the balance of every account, which is transferred into the balance sheet or the income statement. There are three different kinds of ledgers that deal with book-keeping:
Sales ledger, which deals mostly with the accounts receivable account. This ledger consists of the records of the financial transactions made by customers to the business.
Purchase ledger is the record of the company's purchasing transactions; it goes hand in hand with the Accounts Payable account.
General ledger, representing the original five, main accounts: assets, liabilities, equity, income, and expenses.
Abbreviations used in bookkeeping
Chart of accounts
A chart of accounts is a list of the accounts codes that can be identified with numeric, alphabetical, or alphanumeric codes allowing the account to be located in the general ledger. The equity section of the chart of accounts is based on the fact that the legal structure of the entity is of a particular legal type. Possibilities include sole trader, partnership, trust, and company.
Computerized bookkeeping
Computerized bookkeeping removes many of the paper "books" that are used to record the financial transactions of a business entity; instead, relational databases are used today, but typically, these still enforce the norms of bookkeeping including the single-entry and double-entry bookkeeping systems. Certified Public Accountants (CPAs) supervise the internal controls for computerized bookkeeping systems, which serve to minimize errors in documenting the numerous activities a business entity may initiate or complete over an accounting period.
See also
Accounting
Comparison of accounting software
POS system: records sales and updates stock levels
Bookkeeping Associations
References
External links
Guide to the Account Book from Italy 1515–1520
Category:Accounting systems
Category:Accounting
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bookkeeping
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2025-04-05T18:26:55.622844
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Bézier curve
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s on the range for cubic Bézier curves:
(1 − t)<sup>3</sup>}},
3(1 − t)<sup>2</sup>t}},
3(1 − t)t<sup>2</sup>}}, and
t<sup>3</sup>}}.]]
A Bézier curve ( , ) is a parametric curve used in computer graphics and related fields. A set of discrete "control points" defines a smooth, continuous curve by means of a formula. Usually the curve is intended to approximate a real-world shape that otherwise has no mathematical representation or whose representation is unknown or too complicated. The Bézier curve is named after French engineer Pierre Bézier (1910–1999), who used it in the 1960s for designing curves for the bodywork of Renault cars. Other uses include the design of computer fonts and animation. user interface design and smoothing cursor trajectory in eye gaze controlled interfaces. For example, a Bézier curve can be used to specify the velocity over time of an object such as an icon moving from A to B, rather than simply moving at a fixed number of pixels per step. When animators or interface designers talk about the "physics" or "feel" of an operation, they may be referring to the particular Bézier curve used to control the velocity over time of the move in question.
This also applies to robotics where the motion of a welding arm, for example, should be smooth to avoid unnecessary wear.
Invention
The mathematical basis for Bézier curves—the Bernstein polynomials—was established in 1912, but the polynomials were not applied to graphics until some 50 years later when mathematician Paul de Casteljau in 1959 developed de Casteljau's algorithm, a numerically stable method for evaluating the curves, and became the first to apply them to computer-aided design at French automaker Citroën. De Casteljau's method was patented in France but not published until the 1980s while the Bézier polynomials were widely publicised in the 1960s by the French engineer Pierre Bézier, who discovered them independently and used them to design automobile bodies at Renault.
Specific cases
A Bézier curve is defined by a set of control points P<sub>0</sub> through P<sub>n</sub>, where n is called the order of the curve (n 1 for linear, 2 for quadratic, 3 for cubic, etc.). The first and last control points are always the endpoints of the curve; however, the intermediate control points generally do not lie on the curve. The sums in the following sections are to be understood as affine combinations – that is, the coefficients sum to 1.Linear Bézier curves
Given distinct points P<sub>0</sub> and P<sub>1</sub>, a linear Bézier curve is simply a line between those two points. The curve is given by
:<math>\mathbf{B}(t)\mathbf{P}_0 + t(\mathbf{P}_1-\mathbf{P}_0)(1-t)\mathbf{P}_0 + t\mathbf{P}_1,\ 0 \le t \le 1</math>
This is the simplest and is equivalent to linear interpolation. The quantity <math>\mathbf{P}_1-\mathbf{P}_0</math> represents the displacement vector from the start point to the end point.Quadratic Bézier curves
: The end points (•) and control point (×) define the quadratic Bézier curve (⋯).]]
A quadratic Bézier curve is the path traced by the function B(t), given points P<sub>0</sub>, P<sub>1</sub>, and P<sub>2</sub>,
: <math>\mathbf{B}(t) = (1 - t)[(1 - t) \mathbf P_0 + t \mathbf P_1] + t [(1 - t) \mathbf P_1 + t \mathbf P_2],\ 0 \le t \le 1</math>,
which can be interpreted as the linear interpolant of corresponding points on the linear Bézier curves from P<sub>0</sub> to P<sub>1</sub> and from P<sub>1</sub> to P<sub>2</sub> respectively. Rearranging the preceding equation yields:
: <math>\mathbf{B}(t) = (1 - t)^{2}\mathbf{P}_0 + 2(1 - t)t\mathbf{P}_1 + t^{2}\mathbf{P}_2,\ 0 \le t \le 1.</math>
This can be written in a way that highlights the symmetry with respect to P<sub>1</sub>:
: <math>\mathbf{B}(t) = \mathbf{P}_1+(1 - t)^{2}(\mathbf{P}_0 - \mathbf{P}_1) + t^{2}(\mathbf{P}_2-\mathbf{P}_1),\ 0 \le t \le 1.</math>
Which immediately gives the derivative of the Bézier curve with respect to t:
: <math>\mathbf{B}'(t) = 2 (1 - t) (\mathbf{P}_1 - \mathbf{P}_0) + 2 t (\mathbf{P}_2 - \mathbf{P}_1),</math>
from which it can be concluded that the tangents to the curve at P<sub>0</sub> and P<sub>2</sub> intersect at P<sub>1</sub>. As t increases from 0 to 1, the curve departs from P<sub>0</sub> in the direction of P<sub>1</sub>, then bends to arrive at P<sub>2</sub> from the direction of P<sub>1</sub>.
The second derivative of the Bézier curve with respect to t is
: <math>\mathbf{B}(t) 2(\mathbf{P}_2 - 2 \mathbf{P}_1 + \mathbf{P}_0).</math>Cubic Bézier curves
Four points P<sub>0</sub>, P<sub>1</sub>, P<sub>2</sub> and P<sub>3</sub> in the plane or in higher-dimensional space define a cubic Bézier curve.
The curve starts at P<sub>0</sub> going toward P<sub>1</sub> and arrives at P<sub>3</sub> coming from the direction of P<sub>2</sub>. Usually, it will not pass through P<sub>1</sub> or P<sub>2</sub>; these points are only there to provide directional information. The distance between P<sub>1</sub> and P<sub>2</sub> determines "how far" and "how fast" the curve moves towards P<sub>1</sub> before turning towards P<sub>2</sub>.
Writing B<sub>P<sub>i</sub>,P<sub>j</sub>,P<sub>k</sub></sub>(t) for the quadratic Bézier curve defined by points P<sub>i</sub>, P<sub>j</sub>, and P<sub>k</sub>, the cubic Bézier curve can be defined as an affine combination of two quadratic Bézier curves:
:<math>\mathbf{B}(t) = (1-t)\mathbf{B}_{\mathbf P_0,\mathbf P_1,\mathbf P_2}(t) + t \mathbf{B}_{\mathbf P_1,\mathbf P_2,\mathbf P_3}(t),\ 0 \le t \le 1.</math>
The explicit form of the curve is:
:<math>\mathbf{B}(t) = (1-t)^3\mathbf{P}_0+3(1-t)^2t\mathbf{P}_1+3(1-t)t^2\mathbf{P}_2+t^3\mathbf{P}_3,\ 0 \le t \le 1.</math>
For some choices of P<sub>1</sub> and P<sub>2</sub> the curve may intersect itself, or contain a cusp.
Any series of 4 distinct points can be converted to a cubic Bézier curve that goes through all 4 points in order.
Given the starting and ending point of some cubic Bézier curve, and the points along the curve corresponding to t 1/3 and t 2/3, the control points for the original Bézier curve can be recovered.
The derivative of the cubic Bézier curve with respect to t'' is
: <math>\mathbf{B}'(t) = 3(1-t)^2(\mathbf{P}_1 - \mathbf{P}_0) + 6(1-t)t(\mathbf{P}_2 - \mathbf{P}_1) + 3t^2(\mathbf{P}_3 - \mathbf{P}_2) \,.</math>
The second derivative of the Bézier curve with respect to t is
: <math>\mathbf{B}(t) 6(1-t)(\mathbf{P}_2 - 2 \mathbf{P}_1 + \mathbf{P}_0) + 6t(\mathbf{P}_3 - 2 \mathbf{P}_2 + \mathbf{P}_1) \,.</math>General definitionBézier curves can be defined for any degree n.Recursive definition
A recursive definition for the Bézier curve of degree n expresses it as a point-to-point linear combination (linear interpolation) of a pair of corresponding points in two Bézier curves of degree n − 1.
Let <math>\mathbf{B}_{\mathbf{P}_0\mathbf{P}_1\ldots\mathbf{P}_k}</math> denote the Bézier curve determined by any selection of points P<sub>0</sub>, P<sub>1</sub>, ..., P<sub>k</sub>. Then to start,
:<math>\mathbf{B}_{\mathbf{P}_0}(t) = \mathbf{P}_0 \text{, and}</math>
:<math>\mathbf{B}(t) \mathbf{B}_{\mathbf{P}_0\mathbf{P}_1\ldots\mathbf{P}_n}(t) (1-t)\mathbf{B}_{\mathbf{P}_0\mathbf{P}_1\ldots\mathbf{P}_{n-1}}(t) + t\mathbf{B}_{\mathbf{P}_1\mathbf{P}_2\ldots\mathbf{P}_n}(t)</math>
This recursion is elucidated in the animations below.
Explicit definition
The formula can be expressed explicitly as follows (where t<sup>0</sup> and (1-t)<sup>0</sup> are extended continuously to be 1 throughout [0,1]):
:<math>\begin{align}
\mathbf{B}(t) &\sum_{i0}^n {n\choose i}(1 - t)^{n - i}t^i\mathbf{P}_i \\
&=(1 - t)^n\mathbf{P}_0 + {n\choose 1}(1 - t)^{n - 1}t\mathbf{P}_1 + \cdots + {n\choose n - 1}(1 - t)t^{n - 1}\mathbf{P}_{n - 1} + t^n\mathbf{P}_n, && 0 \leqslant t \leqslant 1
\end{align}</math>
where <math>\scriptstyle {n \choose i}</math> are the binomial coefficients.
For example, when n = 5:
:<math>\begin{align}
\mathbf{B}(t) &= (1 - t)^5\mathbf{P}_0 + 5t(1 - t)^4\mathbf{P}_1 + 10t^2(1 - t)^3 \mathbf{P}_2 + 10t^3 (1-t)^2 \mathbf{P}_3 + 5t^4(1-t) \mathbf{P}_4 + t^5 \mathbf{P}_5, && 0 \leqslant t \leqslant 1.
\end{align}</math>
Terminology
Some terminology is associated with these parametric curves. We have
:<math>\mathbf{B}(t) \sum_{i0}^n b_{i, n}(t)\mathbf{P}_i,\ \ \ 0 \le t \le 1</math>
where the polynomials
:<math>b_{i,n}(t) {n \choose i} t^i (1 - t)^{n - i},\ \ \ i 0, \ldots, n</math>
are known as Bernstein basis polynomials of degree n.
t<sup>0</sup> 1, (1 − t)<sup>0</sup> 1, and the binomial coefficient, <math>\scriptstyle {n \choose i}</math>, is:
:<math>{n \choose i} = \frac{n!}{i!(n - i)!}.</math>
The points P<sub>i</sub> are called control points for the Bézier curve. The polygon formed by connecting the Bézier points with lines, starting with P<sub>0</sub> and finishing with P<sub>n</sub>, is called the Bézier polygon (or control polygon''). The convex hull of the Bézier polygon contains the Bézier curve.
Polynomial form
Sometimes it is desirable to express the Bézier curve as a polynomial instead of a sum of less straightforward Bernstein polynomials. Application of the binomial theorem to the definition of the curve followed by some rearrangement will yield
:<math>\mathbf{B}(t) \sum_{j 0}^n {t^j \mathbf{C}_j}</math>
where
:<math>\mathbf{C}_j \frac{n!}{(n - j)!} \sum_{i 0}^j \frac{(-1)^{i + j} \mathbf{P}_i}{i! (j - i)!} \prod_{m 0}^{j - 1} (n - m) \sum_{i = 0}^j \frac{(-1)^{i + j} \mathbf{P}_i}{i! (j - i)!}.</math>
This could be practical if <math>\mathbf{C}_j</math> can be computed prior to many evaluations of <math>\mathbf{B}(t)</math>; however one should use caution as high order curves may lack numeric stability (de Casteljau's algorithm should be used if this occurs). Note that the empty product is 1.
Properties
thumb|upright|A cubic Bézier curve (yellow) can be made identical to a quadratic one (black) by
<div style="margin-left:1em;text-indent:-1em">1. copying the end points, and</div>
<div style="margin-left:1em;text-indent:-1em">2. placing its 2 middle control points (yellow circles) 2/3 along line segments from the end points to the quadratic curve's middle control point (black rectangle).</div>
* The curve begins at <math>\mathbf P_0</math> and ends at <math>\mathbf P_n</math>; this is the so-called endpoint interpolation property.
* The curve is a line if and only if all the control points are collinear.
* The start and end of the curve is tangent to the first and last section of the Bézier polygon, respectively.
* A curve can be split at any point into two subcurves, or into arbitrarily many subcurves, each of which is also a Bézier curve.
* Some curves that seem simple, such as the circle, cannot be described exactly by a Bézier or piecewise Bézier curve; though a four-piece cubic Bézier curve can approximate a circle (see composite Bézier curve), with a maximum radial error of less than one part in a thousand, when each inner control point (or offline point) is the distance <math>\textstyle\frac{4\left(\sqrt {2}-1\right)}{3}</math> horizontally or vertically from an outer control point on a unit circle. More generally, an n-piece cubic Bézier curve can approximate a circle, when each inner control point is the distance <math>\textstyle\frac{4}{3}\tan(t/4)</math> from an outer control point on a unit circle, where <math display"inline">t 2\pi/n</math> (i.e. <math>t=360^\circ/n</math>), and <math>n>2</math>.
* Every quadratic Bézier curve is also a cubic Bézier curve, and more generally, every degree n Bézier curve is also a degree m curve for any m > n. In detail, a degree n curve with control points <math>\mathbf{P}_0,\,\dots,\,\mathbf{P}_n</math> is equivalent (including the parametrization) to the degree n + 1 curve with control points <math>\mathbf{P}'_0,\,\dots,\,\mathbf {P}'_{n+1}</math>, where <math>\mathbf P'_k\tfrac{k}{n+1}\mathbf P_{k-1}+\left(1-\tfrac{k}{n+1}\right)\mathbf P_k</math>, <math>\forall k 0,\,1,\,\dots,\,n,\,n+1</math> and define <math>\mathbf{P}_{n+1} :\mathbf{P}_{0}</math>, <math>\mathbf{P}_{-1} : \mathbf{P}_{n}</math>.
* Bézier curves have the variation diminishing property. What this means in intuitive terms is that a Bézier curve does not "undulate" more than the polygon of its control points, and may actually "undulate" less than that.
* There is no local control in degree n Bézier curves—meaning that any change to a control point requires recalculation of and thus affects the aspect of the entire curve, "although the further that one is from the control point that was changed, the smaller is the change in the curve".
* A Bézier curve of order higher than two may intersect itself or have a cusp for certain choices of the control points.
Second-order curve is a parabolic segment
A quadratic Bézier curve is also a segment of a parabola. As a parabola is a conic section, some sources refer to quadratic Béziers as "conic arcs".
# Tangents to the parabola at the endpoints of the curve (A and B) intersect at its control point (C).
# If D is the midpoint of AB, the tangent to the curve which is perpendicular to CD (dashed cyan line) defines its vertex (V). Its axis of symmetry (dash-dot cyan) passes through V and is perpendicular to the tangent.
# E is either point on the curve with a tangent at 45° to CD (dashed green). If G is the intersection of this tangent and the axis, the line passing through G and perpendicular to CD is the directrix (solid green).
# The focus (F) is at the intersection of the axis and a line passing through E and perpendicular to CD (dotted yellow). The latus rectum is the line segment within the curve (solid yellow).
Derivative
The derivative for a curve of order n is
:<math>\mathbf{B}'(t) n \sum_{i0}^{n-1} b_{i,n-1}(t) (\mathbf{P}_{i+1} - \mathbf{P}_i).</math>
Constructing Bézier curves
<span id"constructing-bezier-curves"></span>Linear curvesLet t denote the fraction of progress (from 0 to 1) the point B(t) has made along its traversal from P<sub>0</sub> to P<sub>1</sub>. For example, when t0.25, B(t) is one quarter of the way from point P<sub>0</sub> to P<sub>1</sub>. As t varies from 0 to 1, B(t) draws a line from P<sub>0</sub> to P<sub>1</sub>.
{| style="margin:1em auto; text-align:center; float:none; clear:both; font-size:95%; vertical-align:top;"
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|Animation of a linear Bézier curve, t in [0,1]
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Quadratic curves
For quadratic Bézier curves one can construct intermediate points Q<sub>0</sub> and Q<sub>1</sub> such that as t varies from 0 to 1:
* Point Q<sub>0</sub>(t) varies from P<sub>0</sub> to P<sub>1</sub> and describes a linear Bézier curve.
* Point Q<sub>1</sub>(t) varies from P<sub>1</sub> to P<sub>2</sub> and describes a linear Bézier curve.
* Point B(t) is interpolated linearly between Q<sub>0</sub>(t) to Q<sub>1</sub>(t) and describes a quadratic Bézier curve.
{| style="margin:1em auto; text-align:center; float:none; clear:both; font-size:95%; vertical-align:top;"
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|Construction of a quadratic Bézier curve||
|Animation of a quadratic Bézier curve, t in [0,1]
|}
Higher-order curves
For higher-order curves one needs correspondingly more intermediate points. For cubic curves one can construct intermediate points Q<sub>0</sub>, Q<sub>1</sub>, and Q<sub>2</sub> that describe linear Bézier curves, and points R<sub>0</sub> and R<sub>1</sub> that describe quadratic Bézier curves:
{| style="margin:1em auto; text-align:center; float:none; clear:both; font-size:95%; vertical-align:top;"
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|Construction of a cubic Bézier curve||
|Animation of a cubic Bézier curve, t in [0,1]
|}
For fourth-order curves one can construct intermediate points Q<sub>0</sub>, Q<sub>1</sub>, Q<sub>2</sub> and Q<sub>3</sub> that describe linear Bézier curves, points R<sub>0</sub>, R<sub>1</sub> and R<sub>2</sub> that describe quadratic Bézier curves, and points S<sub>0</sub> and S<sub>1</sub> that describe cubic Bézier curves:
{| style="margin:1em auto; text-align:center; float:none; clear:both; font-size:95%; vertical-align:top;"
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|Construction of a quartic Bézier curve||
|Animation of a quartic Bézier curve, t in [0,1]
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For fifth-order curves, one can construct similar intermediate points.
{| style="margin:1em auto; text-align:center; float:none; clear:both; font-size:95%; vertical-align:top;"
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|Animation of a fifth-order Bézier curve, t in [0,1] in red. The Bézier curves for each of the lower orders are also shown.
|}
These representations rest on the process used in De Casteljau's algorithm to calculate Bézier curves.Offsets (or stroking) of Bézier curvesThe curve at a fixed offset from a given Bézier curve, called an offset or parallel curve in mathematics (lying "parallel" to the original curve, like the offset between rails in a railroad track), cannot be exactly formed by a Bézier curve (except in some trivial cases). In general, the two-sided offset curve of a cubic Bézier is a 10th-order algebraic curve and more generally for a Bézier of degree n the two-sided offset curve is an algebraic curve of degree 4n − 2. However, there are heuristic methods that usually give an adequate approximation for practical purposes.
In the field of vector graphics, painting two symmetrically distanced offset curves is called stroking (the Bézier curve or in general a path of several Bézier segments).Degree elevation
A Bézier curve of degree n can be converted into a Bézier curve of degree n + 1 with the same shape. This is useful if software supports Bézier curves only of specific degree. For example, systems that can only work with cubic Bézier curves can implicitly work with quadratic curves by using their equivalent cubic representation.
To do degree elevation, we use the equality <math>\mathbf{B}(t) = (1-t)\mathbf{B}(t) + t\mathbf{B}(t).</math> Each component <math>\mathbf{b}_{i,n}(t)\mathbf{P}_i</math> is multiplied by (1 − t) and t, thus increasing a degree by one, without changing the value. Here is the example of increasing degree from 2 to 3.
:<math>\begin{align}
(1 - t)^2 \mathbf{P}_0 + 2(1 - t)t\mathbf{P}_1 + t^2 \mathbf{P}_2 &= (1 - t)^3 \mathbf{P}_0 + 2(1 - t)^2 t\mathbf{P}_1 + (1 - t)t^2 \mathbf{P}_2 + (1 - t)^{2}t\mathbf{P}_0 + 2(1 - t)t^2 \mathbf{P}_1 + t^3 \mathbf{P}_2 \\
&= (1 - t)^3 \mathbf{P}_0 + (1 - t)^2 t \left( \mathbf{P}_0 + 2\mathbf{P}_1\right) + (1 - t) t^2 \left(2\mathbf{P}_1 + \mathbf{P}_2\right) + t^{3}\mathbf{P}_2 \\
&= (1 - t)^3 \mathbf{P}_0 + 3(1 - t)^2 t \tfrac{1}{3} \left( \mathbf{P}_0 + 2\mathbf{P}_1 \right) + 3(1 - t) t^2 \tfrac{1}{3} \left( 2\mathbf{P}_1 + \mathbf{P}_2 \right) + t^{3}\mathbf{P}_2
\end{align}</math>
In other words, the original start and end points are unchanged. The new control points are <math>\mathbf{P'}_1 \tfrac{1}{3} \left( \mathbf{P}_0 + 2\mathbf{P}_1 \right)</math> and <math>\mathbf{P'}_2 \tfrac{1}{3} \left( 2\mathbf{P}_1 + \mathbf{P}_2 \right)</math>.
For arbitrary n we use equalities
: <math>\mathbf{P'}_i \frac{i}{n + 1}\mathbf{P}_{i - 1} + \frac{n + 1 - i}{n + 1}\mathbf{P}_i,\quad i0, \ldots, n + 1.</math>
Repeated degree elevation
The concept of degree elevation can be repeated on a control polygon R to get a sequence of control polygons R, R<sub>1</sub>, R<sub>2</sub>, and so on. After r degree elevations, the polygon R<sub>r</sub> has the vertices P<sub>0,r</sub>, P<sub>1,r</sub>, P<sub>2,r</sub>, ..., P<sub>n+r,r</sub> given by A number of approximation algorithms have been proposed and used in practice.Rational Bézier curvesThe rational Bézier curve adds adjustable weights to provide closer approximations to arbitrary shapes. The numerator is a weighted Bernstein-form Bézier curve and the denominator is a weighted sum of Bernstein polynomials. Rational Bézier curves can, among other uses, be used to represent segments of conic sections exactly, including circular arcs.
Given n + 1 control points P<sub>0</sub>, ..., P<sub>n</sub>, the rational Bézier curve can be described by
:<math>\mathbf{B}(t) = \frac{
\sum_{i=0}^n b_{i,n}(t) \mathbf{P}_{i}w_i
}
{
\sum_{i=0}^n b_{i,n}(t) w_i
},</math>
or simply
:<math>\mathbf{B}(t) = \frac{
\sum_{i=0}^n {n \choose i} t^i (1-t)^{n-i}\mathbf{P}_{i}w_i
}
{
\sum_{i=0}^n {n \choose i} t^i (1-t)^{n-i}w_i
}.</math>
The expression can be extended by using number systems besides reals for the weights. In the complex plane the points {1}, {-1}, and {1} with weights {<math>i</math>}, {1}, and {<math>-i</math>} generate a full circle with radius one. For curves with points and weights on a circle, the weights can be scaled without changing the curve's shape. Scaling the central weight of the above curve by 1.35508 gives a more uniform parameterization.
Applications
Computer graphics
]]
Bézier curves are widely used in computer graphics to model smooth curves. As the curve is completely contained in the convex hull of its control points, the points can be graphically displayed and used to manipulate the curve intuitively. Affine transformations such as translation and rotation can be applied on the curve by applying the respective transform on the control points of the curve.
Quadratic and cubic Bézier curves are most common. Higher degree curves are more computationally expensive to evaluate. When more complex shapes are needed, low order Bézier curves are patched together, producing a composite Bézier curve. A composite Bézier curve is commonly referred to as a "path" in vector graphics languages (like PostScript), vector graphics standards (like SVG) and vector graphics programs (like Artline<!-- 1990 -->, Timeworks Publisher<!-- early 1990s -->, Adobe Illustrator, CorelDraw, Inkscape, and Allegro). In order to join Bézier curves into a composite Bézier curve without kinks, a property called G1 continuity suffices to force the control point at which two constituent Bézier curves meet to lie on the line defined by the two control points on either side.
The simplest method for scan converting (rasterizing) a Bézier curve is to evaluate it at many closely spaced points and scan convert the approximating sequence of line segments. However, this does not guarantee that the rasterized output looks sufficiently smooth, because the points may be spaced too far apart. Conversely it may generate too many points in areas where the curve is close to linear. A common adaptive method is recursive subdivision, in which a curve's control points are checked to see if the curve approximates a line to within a small tolerance. If not, the curve is subdivided parametrically into two segments, 0 ≤ t ≤ 0.5 and 0.5 ≤ t ≤ 1, and the same procedure is applied recursively to each half. There are also forward differencing methods, but great care must be taken to analyse error propagation.
The rasterisation algorithm used in Metafont is based on discretising the curve, so that it is approximated by a sequence of "rook moves" that are purely vertical or purely horizontal, along the pixel boundaries. To that end, the plane is first split into eight 45° sectors (by the coordinate axes and the two lines <math> y \pm x </math>), then the curve is decomposed into smaller segments such that the direction of a curve segment stays within one sector; since the curve velocity is a second degree polynomial, finding the <math>t</math> values where it is parallel to one of these lines can be done by solving quadratic equations. Within each segment, either horizontal or vertical movement dominates, and the total number of steps in either direction can be read off from the endpoint coordinates; in for example the 0–45° sector horizontal movement to the right dominates, so it only remains to decide between which steps to the right the curve should make a step up.
There is also a modified curve form of Bresenham's line drawing algorithm by Zingl that performs this rasterization by subdividing the curve into rational pieces and calculating the error at each pixel location such that it either travels at a 45° angle or straight depending on compounding error as it iterates through the curve. This reduces the next step calculation to a series of integer additions and subtractions.
Animation
In animation applications, such as Adobe Flash and Synfig, Bézier curves are used to outline, for example, movement. Users outline the wanted path in Bézier curves, and the application creates the needed frames for the object to move along the path.
In 3D animation, Bézier curves are often used to define 3D paths as well as 2D curves for keyframe interpolation. Bézier curves are now very frequently used to control the animation easing in CSS, JavaScript, JavaFx and Flutter SDK.
Font engines, like FreeType, draw the font's curves (and lines) on a pixellated surface using a process known as font rasterization. Typically font engines and vector graphics engines render Bézier curves by splitting them recursively up to the point where the curve is flat enough to be drawn as a series of linear or circular segments. The exact splitting algorithm is implementation dependent, only the flatness criteria must be respected to reach the necessary precision and to avoid non-monotonic local changes of curvature. The "smooth curve" feature of charts in Microsoft Excel also uses this algorithm.
Because arcs of circles and ellipses cannot be exactly represented by Bézier curves, they are first approximated by Bézier curves, which are in turn approximated by arcs of circles. This is inefficient as there exists also approximations of all Bézier curves using arcs of circles or ellipses, which can be rendered incrementally with arbitrary precision. Another approach, used by modern hardware graphics adapters with accelerated geometry, can convert exactly all Bézier and conic curves (or surfaces) into NURBS, that can be rendered incrementally without first splitting the curve recursively to reach the necessary flatness condition. This approach also preserves the curve definition under all linear or perspective 2D and 3D transforms and projections.RoboticsBecause the control polygon allows to tell whether or not the path collides with any obstacles, Bézier curves are used in producing trajectories of the end effectors. Furthermore, joint space trajectories can be accurately differentiated using Bézier curves. Consequently, the derivatives of joint space trajectories are used in the calculation of the dynamics and control effort (torque profiles) of the robotic manipulator.
* Variation diminishing property of Bézier curves
Notes
References
Citations
Sources
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* Excellent discussion of implementation details; available for free as part of the TeX distribution.
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Further reading
* [https://pomax.github.io/bezierinfo A Primer on Bézier Curves] an open source online book explaining Bézier curves and associated graphics algorithms, with interactive graphics
* [http://vimeo.com/106757336 Cubic Bezier Curves – Under the Hood (video)] video showing how computers render a cubic Bézier curve, by Peter Nowell
* [https://www.ams.org/featurecolumn/archive/bezier.html#2 From Bézier to Bernstein] Feature Column from American Mathematical Society
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* This book is out of print and freely available from the author.
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* (60 pages)
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* Hovey, Chad (2022). Formulation and Python Implementation of Bézier and B-Spline Geometry. [https://hovey.github.io/docs/Hovey_2022_Bezier_B-Spline_SAND2022-7702_C.pdf SAND2022-7702C]. (153 pages)
External links
; Computer code
*[https://github.com/msteinbeck/tinyspline TinySpline: Open source C-library for NURBS, B-splines and Bézier curves with bindings for various languages]
* [https://github.com/staticbezier/ffd C++ library to generate Bézier functions at compile time]
*[https://gist.github.com/tikoyes94/02541e60f444359d9a914778983405d9 Simple Bézier curve implementation via recursive method in Python]
Category:Graphic design
Category:Digital typography
Category:Interpolation
Category:Curves
Category:Design
Category:French inventions
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Banach algebra
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In mathematics, especially functional analysis, a Banach algebra, named after Stefan Banach, is an associative algebra A over the real or complex numbers (or over a non-Archimedean complete normed field) that at the same time is also a Banach space, that is, a normed space that is complete in the metric induced by the norm. The norm is required to satisfy
\|x \, y\| \ \leq \|x\| \, \|y\| \quad \text{ for all } x, y \in A.
This ensures that the multiplication operation is continuous with respect to the metric topology.
A Banach algebra is called unital if it has an identity element for the multiplication whose norm is 1, and commutative if its multiplication is commutative.
Any Banach algebra A (whether it is unital or not) can be embedded isometrically into a unital Banach algebra A_e so as to form a closed ideal of A_e. Often one assumes a priori that the algebra under consideration is unital because one can develop much of the theory by considering A_e and then applying the outcome in the original algebra. However, this is not the case all the time. For example, one cannot define all the trigonometric functions in a Banach algebra without identity.
The theory of real Banach algebras can be very different from the theory of complex Banach algebras. For example, the spectrum of an element of a nontrivial complex Banach algebra can never be empty, whereas in a real Banach algebra it could be empty for some elements.
Banach algebras can also be defined over fields of p-adic numbers. This is part of p-adic analysis.
Examples
The prototypical example of a Banach algebra is C_0(X), the space of (complex-valued) continuous functions, defined on a locally compact Hausdorff space X, that vanish at infinity. C_0(X) is unital if and only if X is compact. The complex conjugation being an involution, C_0(X) is in fact a C*-algebra. More generally, every C*-algebra is a Banach algebra by definition.
The set of real (or complex) numbers is a Banach algebra with norm given by the absolute value.
The set of all real or complex n-by-n matrices becomes a unital Banach algebra if we equip it with a sub-multiplicative matrix norm.
Take the Banach space \R^n (or \Complex^n) with norm \|x\| \max_{} |x_i| and define multiplication componentwise: \left(x_1, \ldots, x_n\right) \left(y_1, \ldots, y_n\right) \left(x_1 y_1, \ldots, x_n y_n\right).
The quaternions form a 4-dimensional real Banach algebra, with the norm being given by the absolute value of quaternions.
The algebra of all bounded real- or complex-valued functions defined on some set (with pointwise multiplication and the supremum norm) is a unital Banach algebra.
The algebra of all bounded continuous real- or complex-valued functions on some locally compact space (again with pointwise operations and supremum norm) is a Banach algebra.
The algebra of all continuous linear operators on a Banach space E (with functional composition as multiplication and the operator norm as norm) is a unital Banach algebra. The set of all compact operators on E is a Banach algebra and closed ideal. It is without identity if \dim E = \infty.
If G is a locally compact Hausdorff topological group and \mu is its Haar measure, then the Banach space L^1(G) of all \mu-integrable functions on G becomes a Banach algebra under the convolution x y(g) = \int x(h) y\left(h^{-1} g\right) d \mu(h) for x, y \in L^1(G).
Uniform algebra: A Banach algebra that is a subalgebra of the complex algebra C(X) with the supremum norm and that contains the constants and separates the points of X (which must be a compact Hausdorff space).
Natural Banach function algebra: A uniform algebra all of whose characters are evaluations at points of X.
C*-algebra: A Banach algebra that is a closed *-subalgebra of the algebra of bounded operators on some Hilbert space.
Measure algebra: A Banach algebra consisting of all Radon measures on some locally compact group, where the product of two measures is given by convolution of measures.
If a Banach algebra has unit \mathbf{1}, then \mathbf{1} cannot be a commutator; that is, xy - yx \neq \mathbf{1} for any x, y \in A. This is because x y and y x have the same spectrum except possibly 0.
The various algebras of functions given in the examples above have very different properties from standard examples of algebras such as the reals. For example:
Every real Banach algebra that is a division algebra is isomorphic to the reals, the complexes, or the quaternions. Hence, the only complex Banach algebra that is a division algebra is the complexes. (This is known as the Gelfand–Mazur theorem.)
Every unital real Banach algebra with no zero divisors, and in which every principal ideal is closed, is isomorphic to the reals, the complexes, or the quaternions.
Every commutative real unital Noetherian Banach algebra with no zero divisors is isomorphic to the real or complex numbers.
Every commutative real unital Noetherian Banach algebra (possibly having zero divisors) is finite-dimensional.
Permanently singular elements in Banach algebras are topological divisors of zero, that is, considering extensions B of Banach algebras A some elements that are singular in the given algebra A have a multiplicative inverse element in a Banach algebra extension B. Topological divisors of zero in A are permanently singular in any Banach extension B of A.
Spectral theory
Unital Banach algebras over the complex field provide a general setting to develop spectral theory. The spectrum of an element x \in A, denoted by \sigma(x), consists of all those complex scalars \lambda such that x - \lambda \mathbf{1} is not invertible in A. The spectrum of any element x is a closed subset of the closed disc in \Complex with radius \|x\| and center 0, and thus is compact. Moreover, the spectrum \sigma(x) of an element x is non-empty and satisfies the spectral radius formula:
\sup \{|\lambda| : \lambda \in \sigma(x)\} = \lim_{n \to \infty} \|x^n\|^{1/n}.
Given x \in A, the holomorphic functional calculus allows to define f(x) \in A for any function f holomorphic in a neighborhood of \sigma(x). Furthermore, the spectral mapping theorem holds:
\sigma(f(x)) = f(\sigma(x)).
When the Banach algebra A is the algebra L(X) of bounded linear operators on a complex Banach space X (for example, the algebra of square matrices), the notion of the spectrum in A coincides with the usual one in operator theory. For f \in C(X) (with a compact Hausdorff space X), one sees that:
\sigma(f) = \{f(t) : t \in X\}.
The norm of a normal element x of a C*-algebra coincides with its spectral radius. This generalizes an analogous fact for normal operators.
Let A be a complex unital Banach algebra in which every non-zero element x is invertible (a division algebra). For every a \in A, there is \lambda \in \Complex such that
a - \lambda \mathbf{1} is not invertible (because the spectrum of a is not empty) hence a = \lambda \mathbf{1}: this algebra A is naturally isomorphic to \Complex (the complex case of the Gelfand–Mazur theorem).
Ideals and characters
Let A be a unital commutative Banach algebra over \Complex. Since A is then a commutative ring with unit, every non-invertible element of A belongs to some maximal ideal of A. Since a maximal ideal \mathfrak m in A is closed, A / \mathfrak m is a Banach algebra that is a field, and it follows from the Gelfand–Mazur theorem that there is a bijection between the set of all maximal ideals of A and the set \Delta(A) of all nonzero homomorphisms from A to \Complex. The set \Delta(A) is called the "structure space" or "character space" of A, and its members "characters".
A character \chi is a linear functional on A that is at the same time multiplicative, \chi(a b) \chi(a) \chi(b), and satisfies \chi(\mathbf{1}) 1. Every character is automatically continuous from A to \Complex, since the kernel of a character is a maximal ideal, which is closed. Moreover, the norm (that is, operator norm) of a character is one. Equipped with the topology of pointwise convergence on A (that is, the topology induced by the weak-* topology of A^*), the character space, \Delta(A), is a Hausdorff compact space.
For any x \in A,
\sigma(x) = \sigma(\hat x)
where \hat x is the Gelfand representation of x defined as follows: \hat x is the continuous function from \Delta(A) to \Complex given by \hat x(\chi) = \chi(x). The spectrum of \hat x, in the formula above, is the spectrum as element of the algebra C(\Delta(A)) of complex continuous functions on the compact space \Delta(A). Explicitly,
\sigma(\hat x) = \{\chi(x) : \chi \in \Delta(A)\}.
As an algebra, a unital commutative Banach algebra is semisimple (that is, its Jacobson radical is zero) if and only if its Gelfand representation has trivial kernel. An important example of such an algebra is a commutative C*-algebra. In fact, when A is a commutative unital C*-algebra, the Gelfand representation is then an isometric *-isomorphism between A and C(\Delta(A)).
Banach *-algebras
A Banach *-algebra A is a Banach algebra over the field of complex numbers, together with a map {}^* : A \to A that has the following properties:
\left(x^*\right)^* = x for all x \in A (so the map is an involution).
(x + y)^* = x^* + y^* for all x, y \in A.
(\lambda x)^* = \bar{\lambda}x^* for every \lambda \in \Complex and every x \in A; here, \bar{\lambda} denotes the complex conjugate of \lambda.
(x y)^* = y^* x^* for all x, y \in A.
In other words, a Banach *-algebra is a Banach algebra over \Complex that is also a *-algebra.
In most natural examples, one also has that the involution is isometric, that is,
\|x^*\| = \|x\| \quad \text{ for all } x \in A.
Some authors include this isometric property in the definition of a Banach *-algebra.
A Banach *-algebra satisfying \|x^* x\| = \|x^*\| \|x\| is a C*-algebra.
See also
Notes
References
Category:Fourier analysis
Category:Science and technology in Poland
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Boris Pasternak
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| birth_place = Moscow, Russian Empire
| death_date
| death_place = Peredelkino, Russian SFSR, USSR
| children = 2
| parent = Leonid Pasternak
| relatives = Lydia Pasternak Slater (sister)
| occupation =
| notableworks =
| awards =
| signature = Boris Pasternak signature.svg
}}
Boris Leonidovich Pasternak (; ; 30 May 1960) was a Russian and Soviet poet, novelist, composer, and literary translator.
Composed in 1917, Pasternak's first book of poems, My Sister, Life, was published in Berlin in 1922 and soon became an important collection in the Russian language. Pasternak's translations of stage plays by Goethe, Schiller, Calderón de la Barca and Shakespeare remain very popular with Russian audiences.
Pasternak was the author of Doctor Zhivago (1957), a novel that takes place between the Russian Revolution of 1905 and the First World War. Doctor Zhivago was rejected for publication in the USSR, but the manuscript was smuggled to Italy and was first published there in 1957.
Pasternak was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1958, an event that enraged the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, which forced him to decline the prize. In 1989, Pasternak's son Yevgeny finally accepted the award on his father's behalf. Doctor Zhivago has been part of the main Russian school curriculum since 2003. His father was the post-Impressionist painter Leonid Pasternak, who taught as a professor at the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture, and Architecture. His mother was Rosa Kaufman, a concert pianist and the daughter of Odessa industrialist Isadore Kaufman and his wife. Pasternak had a younger brother, Alex, and two sisters, Lydia and Josephine. The family claimed descent on the paternal line from Isaac Abarbanel, the famous 15th-century Sephardic Jewish philosopher, Bible commentator, and treasurer of Portugal.
Early education
From 1904 to 1907, Boris Pasternak was the cloister-mate of Peter Minchakievich (1890–1963) in Holy Dormition Pochayev Lavra (now in Ukraine). Minchakievich came from an Orthodox Ukrainian family and Pasternak came from a Jewish family. Some confusion has arisen as to Pasternak attending a military academy in his boyhood years. The uniforms of their monastery Cadet Corp were only similar to those of The Czar Alexander the Third Military Academy, as Pasternak and Minchakievich never attended any military academy. Most schools used a distinctive military-looking uniform particular to them as was the custom of the time in Eastern Europe and Russia. Boyhood friends, they parted in 1908, friendly but with different politics, never to see each other again. Pasternak went to the Moscow Conservatory to study music (and later to Germany to study philosophy), and Minchakievich went to Lvov University to study history and philosophy. The good dimension of the character Strelnikov in Dr. Zhivago is based upon Peter Minchakievich. Several of Pasternak's characters are composites. After World War One and the Revolution, fighting for the Provisional or Republican government under Kerensky, and then escaping a Communist jail and execution, Minchakievich trekked across Siberia in 1917 and became an American citizen. Pasternak stayed in Russia.
In a 1959 letter to Jacqueline de Proyart, Pasternak recalled:
Shortly after his birth, Pasternak's parents had joined the Tolstoyan Movement. Novelist Leo Tolstoy was a close family friend, as Pasternak recalled,
In a 1956 essay, Pasternak recalled his father's feverish work creating illustrations for Tolstoy's novel Resurrection.}}
According to Max Hayward,
Regular visitors to the Pasternaks' home also included Sergei Rachmaninoff, Alexander Scriabin, Lev Shestov, and Rainer Maria Rilke. Pasternak aspired first to be a musician. Inspired by Scriabin, Pasternak briefly was a student at the Moscow Conservatory. In 1910, he abruptly left for the University of Marburg in Germany, where he studied under neo-Kantian philosophers Hermann Cohen, Nicolai Hartmann, and Paul Natorp.
Life and career
Olga Freidenberg
In 1910 Pasternak was reunited with his cousin Olga Freidenberg (1890–1955). They had shared the same nursery but had been separated when the Freidenberg family moved to Saint Petersburg. They fell in love immediately but were never lovers. The romance, however, is made clear from their letters, Pasternak writing:
The cousins' initial passion developed into a lifelong close friendship. From 1910 Pasternak and Freidenberg exchanged frequent letters, and their correspondence lasted over 40 years until 1954. The cousins last met in 1936. Ida Wissotzkaya Pasternak fell in love with Ida Wissotzkaya, a girl from a notable Moscow Jewish family of tea merchants, whose company Wissotzky Tea was the largest tea company in the world. Pasternak had tutored her in the final class of high school. He helped her prepare for finals. They met in Marburg during the summer of 1912 when Boris' father, Leonid Pasternak, painted her portrait.
Although Professor Cohen encouraged him to remain in Germany and to pursue a Philosophy doctorate, Pasternak decided against it. He returned to Moscow around the time of the outbreak of the First World War. In the aftermath of events, Pasternak proposed marriage to Ida. However, the Wissotzky family was disturbed by Pasternak's poor prospects and persuaded Ida to refuse him. She turned him down and he told of his love and rejection in the poem "Marburg" (1917): as a pianist; poetry was still only a hobby for him at that time. It was in their group journal, Lirika, where some of his earliest poems were published. His involvement with the Futurist movement as a whole reached its peak when, in 1914, he published a satirical article in Rukonog, which attacked the jealous leader of the "Mezzanine of Poetry", Vadim Shershenevich, who was criticizing Lirika and the Ego-Futurists because Shershenevich himself was barred from collaborating with Centrifuge, the reason being that he was such a talentless poet.
Another failed love affair in 1917 inspired the poems in his third and first major book, My Sister, Life. His early verse cleverly dissimulates his preoccupation with Immanuel Kant's philosophy. Its fabric includes striking alliterations, wild rhythmic combinations, day-to-day vocabulary, and hidden allusions to his favourite poets such as Rilke, Lermontov, Pushkin and German-language Romantic poets.
During World War I, Pasternak taught and worked at a chemical factory in Vsevolodo-Vilva near Perm, which undoubtedly provided him with material for Dr. Zhivago many years later. Unlike the rest of his family and many of his closest friends, Pasternak chose not to leave Russia after the October Revolution of 1917. According to Max Hayward,
, Sergei Eisenstein (third from left) and Vladimir Mayakovsky (centre)]]
When it finally was published in 1922, Pasternak's My Sister, Life revolutionised Russian poetry. It made Pasternak the model for younger poets, and decisively changed the poetry of Osip Mandelshtam, Marina Tsvetayeva and others.
Following My Sister, Life, Pasternak produced some hermetic pieces of uneven quality, including his masterpiece, the lyric cycle Rupture (1921). Both Pro-Soviet writers and their White émigré equivalents applauded Pasternak's poetry as pure, unbridled inspiration.
In the late 1920s, he also participated in the much celebrated tripartite correspondence with Rilke and Tsvetayeva. As the 1920s wore on, however, Pasternak increasingly felt that his colourful style was at odds with a less educated readership. He attempted to make his poetry more comprehensible by reworking his earlier pieces and starting two lengthy poems on the Russian Revolution of 1905. He also turned to prose and wrote several autobiographical stories, notably "The Childhood of Luvers" and "Safe Conduct". (The collection ''Zhenia's Childhood and Other Stories'' would be published in 1982.)
In 1922 Pasternak married Evgeniya Lurye (Евгения Лурье), a student at the Art Institute. The following year their son Yevgeny was born.
Evidence of Pasternak's support of still-revolutionary members of the leadership of the Communist Party as late as 1926 is indicated by his poem "In Memory of Reissner" presumably written upon the premature death from typhus of Bolshevik leader Larissa Reissner aged 30 in February of that year.
By 1927, Pasternak's close friends Vladimir Mayakovsky and Nikolai Aseyev were advocating the complete subordination of the arts to the needs of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. In a letter to his sister Josephine, Pasternak wrote of his intentions to "break off relations" with both of them. Although he expressed that it would be deeply painful, Pasternak explained that it could not be prevented. He explained:
By 1932, Pasternak had strikingly reshaped his style to make it more understandable to the general public and printed the new collection of poems, aptly titled The Second Birth. Although its Caucasian pieces were as brilliant as the earlier efforts, the book alienated the core of Pasternak's refined audience abroad, which was largely composed of anti-communist émigrés.
In 1932, Pasternak fell in love with Zinaida Neuhaus, the wife of the Russian pianist Heinrich Neuhaus. They both got divorces and married two years later.
Pasternak continued to change his poetry, simplifying his style and language through the years, as expressed in his next book, Early Trains (1943).
Stalin Epigram
In April 1934 Osip Mandelstam recited his "Stalin Epigram" to Pasternak. After listening, Pasternak told Mandelstam:
On the night of 14 May 1934, Mandelstam was arrested at his home based on a warrant signed by NKVD boss Genrikh Yagoda. Devastated, Pasternak went immediately to the offices of Izvestia and begged Nikolai Bukharin to intercede on Mandelstam's behalf.
Soon after his meeting with Bukharin, the telephone rang in Pasternak's Moscow apartment. A voice from the Kremlin said,
Soon after, Pasternak appealed directly to Stalin, describing his family's strong Tolstoyan convictions and putting his own life at Stalin's disposal; he said that he could not stand as a self-appointed judge of life and death. Pasternak was certain that he would be arrested,
Pasternak's close friend Titsian Tabidze did fall victim to the Great Purge. In an autobiographical essay published in the 1950s, Pasternak described the execution of Tabidze and the suicides of Marina Tsvetaeva and Paolo Iashvili.
Ivinskaya wrote,
World War II
When the Luftwaffe began bombing Moscow, Pasternak immediately began to serve as a fire warden on the roof of the writer's building on Lavrushinski Street. According to Ivinskaya, he repeatedly helped to dispose of German bombs which fell on it.
In 1943, Pasternak was finally granted permission to visit the soldiers at the front. He bore it well, considering the hardships of the journey (he had a weak leg from an old injury), and he wanted to go to the most dangerous places. He read his poetry and talked extensively with the active and injured troops.
Olga Ivinskaya
In October 1946, the twice-married Pasternak met Olga Ivinskaya, a 34 year old single mother employed by Novy Mir. Deeply moved by her resemblance to his first love Ida Vysotskaya, Pasternak gave Ivinskaya several volumes of his poetry and literary translations. Although Pasternak never left his wife Zinaida, he started an extramarital relationship with Ivinskaya that would last for the remainder of Pasternak's life. Ivinskaya later recalled,
She gave him the phone number of her neighbour Olga Volkova who resided below. In the evenings, Pasternak would phone and Volkova would signal by Olga banging on the water pipe which connected their apartments.
When they first met, Pasternak was translating the verse of the Hungarian national poet, Sándor Petőfi. Pasternak gave his lover a book of Petőfi with the inscription,
Pasternak later noted on a photograph of himself: Ivinskaya would later describe the Petőfi translations as "a first declaration of love".
According to Ivinskaya, Zinaida Pasternak was infuriated by her husband's infidelity. Once, when his younger son Leonid fell seriously ill, Zinaida extracted a promise from her husband, as they stood by the boy's sickbed, that he would end his affair with Ivinskaya. Pasternak asked Luisa Popova, a mutual friend, to tell Ivinskaya about his promise. Popova told him that he must do it himself. Soon after, Ivinskaya happened to be ill at Popova's apartment, when suddenly Zinaida Pasternak arrived and confronted her.
Ivinskaya later recalled,
In 1948, Pasternak advised Ivinskaya to resign her job at Novy Mir, which was becoming extremely difficult due to their relationship. In the aftermath, Pasternak began to instruct her in translating poetry. In time, they began to refer to her apartment on Potapov Street as, "Our Shop".
On the evening of 6 October 1949, Ivinskaya was arrested at her apartment by the KGB. Ivinskaya relates in her memoirs that, when the agents burst into her apartment, she was at her typewriter working on translations of the Korean poet Won Tu-Son. Her apartment was ransacked and all items connected with Pasternak were piled up in her presence. Ivinskaya was taken to the Lubyanka Prison and repeatedly interrogated, where she refused to say anything incriminating about Pasternak. At the time, she was pregnant with Pasternak's child and had a miscarriage early in her ten-year sentence in the GULAG.
Upon learning of his mistress' arrest, Pasternak telephoned Luisa Popova and asked her to come at once to Gogol Boulevard. She found him sitting on a bench near the Palace of Soviets Metro Station. Weeping, Pasternak told her,
According to Ivinskaya,
Translating Goethe
Pasternak's translation of the first part of Faust led him to be attacked in the August 1950 edition of Novy Mir. The critic accused Pasternak of distorting Goethe's "progressive" meanings to support , as well as introducing aesthetic and individualist values. In a subsequent letter to the daughter of Marina Tsvetaeva, Pasternak explained that the attack was motivated by the fact that the supernatural elements of the play, which Novy Mir considered, "irrational", had been translated as Goethe had written them. Pasternak further declared that, despite the attacks on his translation, his contract for the second part had not been revoked.
After her release, Pasternak's relationship with Ivinskaya picked up where it had left off. Soon after he confided in her, During this period, Pasternak delighted in reading a clandestine copy of George Orwell's Animal Farm in English. In conversation with Ivinskaya, Pasternak explained that the pig dictator Napoleon, in the novel, "vividly reminded" him of Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev. The author, like his protagonist Yuri Zhivago, showed more concern for the welfare of individual characters than for the "progress" of society. Censors also regarded some passages as anti-Soviet, especially the novel's criticisms of Stalinism, Collectivisation, the Great Purge, and the Gulag.
Pasternak's fortunes were soon to change, however. In March 1956, the Italian Communist Party sent a journalist, Sergio D'Angelo, to work in the Soviet Union, and his status as a journalist as well as his membership in the Italian Communist Party allowed him to have access to various aspects of the cultural life in Moscow at the time. A Milan publisher, the communist Giangiacomo Feltrinelli, had also given him a commission to find new works of Soviet literature that would be appealing to Western audiences, and upon learning of Doctor Zhivagos existence, D'Angelo travelled immediately to Peredelkino and offered to submit Pasternak's novel to Feltrinelli's company for publication. At first Pasternak was stunned. Then he brought the manuscript from his study and told D'Angelo with a laugh,
According to Lazar Fleishman, Pasternak was aware that he was taking a huge risk. No Soviet author had attempted to deal with Western publishers since the 1920s, when such behavior led the Soviet State to declare war on Boris Pilnyak and Evgeny Zamyatin. Pasternak, however, believed that Feltrinelli's Communist affiliation would not only guarantee publication, but might even force the Soviet State to publish the novel in Russia.
In a rare moment of agreement, both Olga Ivinskaya and Zinaida Pasternak were horrified by the submission of Doctor Zhivago to a Western publishing house. Pasternak, however, refused to change his mind and informed an emissary from Feltrinelli that he was prepared to undergo any sacrifice in order to see Doctor Zhivago published.
In 1957, Feltrinelli announced that the novel would be published by his company. Despite repeated demands from visiting Soviet emissaries, Feltrinelli refused to cancel or delay publication. According to Ivinskaya, The Soviet government forced Pasternak to cable the publisher to withdraw the manuscript, but he sent separate, secret letters advising Feltrinelli to ignore the telegrams.
Helped considerably by the Soviet campaign against the novel (as well as by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency's secret purchase of hundreds of copies of the book as it came off the presses around the world – see "Nobel Prize" section below), Doctor Zhivago became an instant sensation throughout the non-Communist world upon its release in November 1957. In the State of Israel, however, Pasternak's novel was sharply criticized for its assimilationist views towards the Jewish people. When informed of this, Pasternak responded, According to Lazar Fleishman, Pasternak had written the disputed passages prior to Israeli independence. At the time, Pasternak had also been regularly attending Russian Orthodox Divine Liturgy. Therefore, he believed that Soviet Jews converting to Christianity was preferable to assimilating into atheism and Stalinism.
The first English translation of Doctor Zhivago was hastily produced by Max Hayward and Manya Harari in order to coincide with overwhelming public demand. It was released in August 1958, and remained the only edition available for more than fifty years. Between 1958 and 1959, the English language edition spent 26 weeks at the top of The New York Times' bestseller list.
Ivinskaya's daughter Irina circulated typed copies of the novel in Samizdat. Although no Soviet critics had read the banned novel, Doctor Zhivago was pilloried in the State-owned press. Similar attacks led to a humorous Russian saying, "I haven't read Pasternak, but I condemn him".
During the aftermath of the Second World War, Pasternak had composed a series of poems on Gospel themes. According to Ivinskaya, Pasternak had regarded Stalin as a Therefore, Pasternak's decision to write Christian poetry was .
On 9 September 1958, the Literary Gazette critic Viktor Pertsov retaliated by denouncing Furthermore, the author received much hate mail from Communists both at home and abroad. According to Ivinskaya, Pasternak continued to receive such letters for the remainder of his life.
In a letter written to his sister Josephine, however, Pasternak recalled the words of his friend Ekaterina Krashennikova upon reading Doctor Zhivago. She had said,
Nobel Prize
According to Yevgeni Borisovich Pasternak, According to the former Nobel Committee head Lars Gyllensten, his nomination was discussed every year from 1946 to 1950, then again in 1957 (it was finally awarded in 1958). Pasternak guessed at this from the growing waves of criticism in USSR. Sometimes he had to justify his European fame: 'According to the Union of Soviet Writers, some literature circles of the West see unusual importance in my work, not matching its modesty and low productivity...'
Meanwhile, Pasternak wrote to Renate Schweitzer and his sister, Lydia Pasternak Slater. In both letters, the author expressed hope that he would be passed over by the Nobel Committee in favour of Alberto Moravia. Pasternak wrote that he was wracked with torments and anxieties at the thought of placing his loved ones in danger.
On 23 October 1958, Boris Pasternak was announced as the winner of the Nobel Prize. The citation credited Pasternak's contribution to Russian lyric poetry and for his role in On 25 October, Pasternak sent a telegram to the Swedish Academy: That same day, the Literary Institute in Moscow demanded that all its students sign a petition denouncing Pasternak and his novel. They were further ordered to join a "spontaneous" demonstration demanding Pasternak's exile from the Soviet Union. Also on that day, the Literary Gazette published a letter which was sent to B. Pasternak in September 1956 by the editors of the Soviet literary journal Novy Mir to justify their rejection of Doctor Zhivago. In publishing this letter the Soviet authorities wished to justify the measures they had taken against the author and his work. On 26 October, the Literary Gazette ran an article by David Zaslavski entitled, Reactionary Propaganda Uproar over a Literary Weed.
According to Solomon Volkov:
Furthermore, Pasternak was informed that, if he traveled to Stockholm to collect his Nobel Medal, he would be refused re-entry to the Soviet Union. As a result, on 29 October Pasternak sent a second telegram to the Nobel Committee: The Swedish Academy announced:
According to Yevgenii Pasternak, }}
In The Oak and the Calf, Alexander Solzhenitsyn sharply criticized Pasternak, both for declining the Nobel Prize and for sending such a letter to Khrushchev. In her own memoirs, Olga Ivinskaya blames herself for pressuring her lover into making both decisions.
According to Yevgenii Pasternak, According to Yevgenii Pasternak, however, author Konstantin Paustovsky refused to attend the meeting. Yevgeny Yevtushenko did attend, but walked out in disgust.
Meanwhile, Bill Mauldin produced a cartoon about Pasternak that won the 1959 Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Cartooning. The cartoon depicts Pasternak as a GULAG inmate splitting trees in the snow, saying to another inmate:
Last years
in Peredelkino, where he lived between 1936 and 1960]]
Pasternak's post-Zhivago poetry probes the universal questions of love, immortality, and reconciliation with God. Boris Pasternak wrote his last complete book, When the Weather Clears, in 1959.
According to Ivinskaya, Pasternak continued to stick to his daily writing schedule even during the controversy over Doctor Zhivago. He also continued translating the writings of Juliusz Słowacki and Pedro Calderón de la Barca. In his work on Calderon, Pasternak received the discreet support of Nikolai Mikhailovich Liubimov, a senior figure in the Party's literary apparatus. Ivinskaya describes Liubimov as, "a shrewd and enlightened person who understood very well that all the mudslinging and commotion over the novel would be forgotten, but that there would always be a Pasternak." In a letter to his sisters in Oxford, England, Pasternak claimed to have finished translating one of Calderon's plays in less than a week.
During the summer of 1959, Pasternak began writing The Blind Beauty, a trilogy of stage plays set before and after Alexander II's abolition of serfdom in Russia. In an interview with Olga Carlisle from The Paris Review, Pasternak enthusiastically described the play's plot and characters. He informed Olga Carlisle that, at the end of The Blind Beauty, he wished to depict "the birth of an enlightened and affluent middle class, open to occidental influences, progressive, intelligent, artistic". However, Pasternak fell ill with terminal lung cancer before he could complete the first play of the trilogy. Death Boris Pasternak died of lung cancer in his dacha in Peredelkino on the evening of 30 May 1960. He first summoned his sons, and in their presence said, Pasternak's last words were,
Before Pasternak's civil funeral, Ivinskaya had a conversation with Konstantin Paustovsky. According to her,
Then, in the presence of a large number of foreign journalists, the body of Pasternak was removed to the cemetery. According to Ivinskaya,
To the horror of the assembled Party officials, however, someone with "a young and deeply anguished voice" began reciting Pasternak's banned poem Hamlet.
According to Ivinskaya,
As the spectators cheered, the bells of Peredelkino's Church of the Transfiguration began to toll. Written prayers for the dead were then placed upon Pasternak's forehead and the coffin was closed and buried. Pasternak's gravesite would go on to become a major shrine for members of the Soviet dissident movement. Legacy After Pasternak's death, Ivinskaya was arrested for the second time, with her daughter, Irina Emelyanova. Both were accused of being Pasternak's link with Western publishers and of dealing in hard currency for Doctor Zhivago. All of Pasternak's letters to Ivinskaya, as well as many other manuscripts and documents, were seized by the KGB. The KGB quietly released them, Irina after one year, in 1962, and Olga in 1964. By this time, Ivinskaya had served four years of an eight-year sentence, in retaliation for her role in Doctor Zhivago's publication. In 1978, her memoirs were smuggled abroad and published in Paris. An English translation by Max Hayward was published the same year under the title A Captive of Time: My Years with Pasternak.
Ivinskaya was rehabilitated only in 1988. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Ivinskaya sued for the return of the letters and documents seized by the KGB in 1961. The Russian Supreme Court ultimately ruled against her, stating that "there was no proof of ownership" and that the "papers should remain in the state archive".
In 1988, after decades of circulating in Samizdat, Doctor Zhivago was serialized in the literary journal Novy Mir.
In December 1989, Yevgenii Borisovich Pasternak was permitted to travel to Stockholm in order to collect his father's Nobel Medal. At the ceremony, acclaimed cellist and Soviet dissident Mstislav Rostropovich performed a Bach serenade in honor of his deceased countryman.
The Pasternak family papers are stored at the Hoover Institution Archives, Stanford University. They contain correspondence, drafts of Doctor Zhivago and other writings, photographs, and other material, of Boris Pasternak and other family members.
Since 2003, during the first presidency of Vladimir Putin, the novel Doctor Zhivago has entered the Russian school curriculum, where it is read in the 11th grade of secondary school. Commemoration In October 1984 by decision of a court, Pasternak's dacha in Peredelkino was taken from the writer's relatives and transferred to state ownership. Two years later, in 1986, the House-Museum of Boris Pasternak was founded (the first house-museum in the USSR).
In 1990, the year of the poet's 100th anniversary, the Pasternak Museum opened its doors in Chistopol, in the house where the poet evacuated to during the Great Patriotic War (1941–1943), and in Peredelkino, where he lived for many years until his death. The head of the poet's house-museum is Natalia Pasternak, his daughter-in-law (widow of the youngest son Leonid).
In 2008 a museum was opened in Vsevolodo-Vilva in the house where the budding poet lived from January to June 1916.
In 2009 on the City Day in Perm the first Russian monument to Pasternak was erected in the square near the Opera Theater (sculptor: Elena Munc).
, Netherlands]]
A memorial plaque was installed on the house where Pasternak was born.
In memory of the poet's three-time stay in Tula, on 27 May 2005 a marble memorial plaque to Pasternak was installed on the Wörmann hotel's wall, as Pasternak was a Nobel laureate and dedicated several of his works to Tula.
On 20 February 2008, in Kyiv, a memorial plaque was put up on the house No.9 on Lipinsky Street, but seven years later it was stolen by vandals.
In 2012 a monument to Boris Pasternak was erected in the district center of Muchkapsky by Z. Tsereteli.
In 1990, as part of the series "Nobel Prize Winners", the USSR and Sweden ("Nobel Prize Winners – Literature") issued stamps depicting Boris Pasternak.
In 2015, as part of the series "125th Annive. of the Birth of Boris Pasternak, 1890–1960", Mozambique issued a miniature sheet depicting Boris Pasternak. Although this issue was acknowledged by the postal administration of Mozambique, the issue was not placed on sale in Mozambique, and was only distributed to the new issue trade by Mozambique's philatelic agent.
In 2015, as part of the series "125th Birth Anniversary of Boris Pasternak", Maldives issued a miniature sheet depicting Boris Pasternak. The issue was acknowledged by the Maldive postal authorities, but only distributed by the Maldive philatelic agent for collecting purposes.
On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of B. Pasternak's Nobel Prize, the Principality of Monaco issued a postage stamp in his memory.
On 27 January 2015, in honor of the poet's 125th birthday, the Russian Post issued an envelope with the original stamp.
On 1 October 2015, a monument to Pasternak was erected in Chistopol.
On 10 February 2020, a celebration of the 130th birthday anniversary was held at Exhibition of Achievements of National Economy in Moscow.
On 10 February 2021, Google celebrated his 131st birthday with a Google Doodle. The Doodle was displayed in Russia, Sweden, some Middle Eastern countries and some Mediterranean countries.
Cultural influence
, 1921]]
* A minor planet (3508 Pasternak) discovered by Soviet astronomer Lyudmila Georgievna Karachkina in 1980 is named after him.
* Russian-American singer and songwriter Regina Spektor recites a verse from "Black Spring", a 1912 poem by Pasternak in her song "Apres Moi" from her album Begin to Hope.
*Russian-Dutch composer Fred Momotenko (Alfred Momotenko) wrote a companion composition to Sergej Rachmaninov's All-Night Vigil Op 37. based on the eponymous poem from the diptych Doktor Zhivago [http://www.alfredmomotenko.com/nastrastnoy/ Na Strastnoy]
Adaptations
The first screen adaptation of Doctor Zhivago, adapted by Robert Bolt and directed by David Lean, appeared in 1965. The film, which toured in the roadshow tradition, starred Omar Sharif, Geraldine Chaplin, and Julie Christie. Concentrating on the love triangle aspects of the novel, the film became a worldwide blockbuster, but was unavailable in Russia until perestroika.
In 2002, the novel was adapted as a television miniseries. Directed by Giacomo Campiotti, the serial starred Hans Matheson, Alexandra Maria Lara, Keira Knightley, and Sam Neill.
The Russian TV version of 2006, directed by Aleksandr Proshkin and starring Oleg Menshikov as Zhivago, is considered more faithful to Pasternak's novel than David Lean's 1965 film. Work Poetry Thoughts on poetry
According to Olga Ivinskaya:
For this reason, Pasternak avoided literary cafes where young poets regularly invited them to read their verse. According to Ivinskaya,
Translation
Reluctant to conform to socialist realism, Pasternak turned to translation in order to provide for his family. He soon produced acclaimed translations of Sándor Petőfi, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Rainer Maria Rilke, Paul Verlaine, Taras Shevchenko, and Nikoloz Baratashvili. Osip Mandelstam, however, privately warned him,
In a 1942 letter, Pasternak declared,
Pasternak's translations of William Shakespeare (Romeo and Juliet, Antony and Cleopatra, Othello, King Henry IV (Part I) and (Part II), Hamlet, Macbeth, King Lear) remain deeply popular with Russian audiences because of their colloquial, modernised dialogues. Pasternak's critics, however, accused him of "pasternakizing" Shakespeare. In a 1956 essay, Pasternak wrote:
According to Ivinskaya:
While they were both collaborating on translating Rabindranath Tagore from Bengali into Russian, Pasternak advised Ivinskaya: "1) Bring out the theme of the poem, its subject matter, as clearly as possible; 2) tighten up the fluid, non-European form by rhyming internally, not at the end of the lines; 3) use loose, irregular meters, mostly ternary ones. You may allow yourself to use assonances."}}
Music
Boris Pasternak was also a composer, and had a promising musical career as a musician ahead of him, had he chosen to pursue it. He came from a musical family: his mother was a concert pianist and a student of Anton Rubinstein and Theodor Leschetizky, and Pasternak's early impressions were of hearing piano trios in the home. The family had a dacha (country house) close to one occupied by Alexander Scriabin. Sergei Rachmaninoff, Rainer Maria Rilke and Leo Tolstoy were all visitors to the family home. His father Leonid was a painter who produced one of the most important portraits of Scriabin, and Pasternak wrote many years later of witnessing with great excitement the creation of Scriabin's Symphony No. 3 (The Divine Poem), in 1903.
Pasternak began to compose at the age of 13. The high achievements of his mother discouraged him from becoming a pianist, but – inspired by Scriabin – he entered the Moscow Conservatory, but left abruptly in 1910 at the age of twenty, to study philosophy in Marburg University. Four years later he returned to Moscow, having finally decided on a career in literature, publishing his first book of poems, influenced by Aleksandr Blok and the Russian Futurists, the same year.
Pasternak's early compositions show the clear influence of Scriabin. His single-movement Piano Sonata of 1909 shows a more mature and individual voice. Nominally in B minor, it moves freely from key to key with frequent changes of key-signature and a chromatic dissonant style that defies easy analysis. Although composed during his time at the Conservatory, the Sonata was composed at Rayki, some 40km north-east of Moscow, where Leonid Pasternak had his painting studio and taught his students.
Selected books by Pasternak
Poetry collections
* Twin in the Clouds (1914)
* Over the Barriers (1916)
* Themes and Variations (1917)
* My Sister, Life (1922)
* Second Birth (1932)
* On Early Trains (1944)
* Selected Poems (1946)
* Poems (1954)
* When the Weather Clears (1959)
* In The Interlude: Poems 1945–1960 (1962)
Books of prose
* Safe Conduct (1931)
* The Last Summer (1934)
* Childhood (1941)
* Selected Writings (1949)
* Collected Works (1945)
* ''Goethe's Faust (1952)
* Essay in Autobiography (1956)
* Doctor Zhivago (1957)
See also
* List of Jewish Nobel laureates
References
Sources
*
*
* .
*
Further reading
* Conquest, Robert. (1962). [https://archive.org/details/pasternakaffair The Pasternak Affair: Courage of Genius. A Documentary Report]. New York: J.B. Lippincott Company.
**
**
* Paolo Mancosu, Inside the Zhivago Storm: The Editorial Adventures of Pasternak's Masterpiece, Milan: Feltrinelli, 2013
*
* Mossman, Elliott (ed.) (1982) The Correspondence of Boris Pasternak and Olga Freidenberg 1910 – 1954, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich,
* Peter Finn and Petra Couvee, The Zhivago Affair: The Kremlin, the CIA, and the Battle Over a Forbidden Book, New York: Pantheon Books, 2014
* Paolo Mancosu, Zhivago's Secret Journey: From Typescript to Book, Stanford: Hoover Press, 2016
* Anna Pasternak, Lara: The Untold Love Story and the Inspiration for Doctor Zhivago, Ecco, 2017; .
* Paolo Mancosu, Moscow has Ears Everywhere: New Investigations on Pasternak and Ivinskaya,'' Stanford: Hoover Press, 2019
External links
*
*
* [http://www.theparisreview.org/viewinterview.php/prmMID/4679 Read Pasternak's interview with The Paris Review] Summer-Fall 1960 No. 24
*
* [http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/364 Pasternak profile at Poets.org]
* [https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/zhivago/ei_pasternak.html PBS biography of Pasternak]
* [http://www.oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/tf70000535/ Register of the Pasternak Family Papers at the Hoover Institution Archives]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20190329181426/http://pasternak-trust.org/boris/biography/ profile and images at the Pasternak Trust]
* [http://www.uni-marburg.de/aktuelles/unijournal/uj39/uj39.pdf pp. 36–39: Pasternak as a student at Marburg University, Germany]
* [http://stihipoeta.ru/poety-serebryanogo-veka/boris-pasternak/ Boris Pasternak poetry]
* [https://ruverses.com/boris-pasternak/ The Poems] by Boris Pasternak (English)
* Creation of Doctor Zhivago: a talk by E.B. Pasternak – Cornell University Lecture Tape Collection, 1990
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Binomial coefficient
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, in which each entry is the sum of the two immediately above.]]
In mathematics, the binomial coefficients are the positive integers that occur as coefficients in the binomial theorem. Commonly, a binomial coefficient is indexed by a pair of integers and is written <math>\tbinom{n}{k}.</math> It is the coefficient of the term in the polynomial expansion of the binomial power ; this coefficient can be computed by the multiplicative formula
: <math>\binom nk = \frac{n\times(n-1)\times\cdots\times(n-k+1)}{k\times(k-1)\times\cdots\times1},</math>
which using factorial notation can be compactly expressed as
: <math>\binom{n}{k} = \frac{n!}{k! (n-k)!}.</math>
For example, the fourth power of is
: <math>\begin{align}
(1 + x)^4 &= \tbinom{4}{0} x^0 + \tbinom{4}{1} x^1 + \tbinom{4}{2} x^2 + \tbinom{4}{3} x^3 + \tbinom{4}{4} x^4 \\
&= 1 + 4x + 6 x^2 + 4x^3 + x^4,
\end{align}</math>
and the binomial coefficient <math>\tbinom{4}{2} \tfrac{4\times 3}{2\times1} \tfrac{4!}{2!2!} = 6</math> is the coefficient of the term.
Arranging the numbers <math>\tbinom{n}{0}, \tbinom{n}{1}, \ldots, \tbinom{n}{n}</math> in successive rows for gives a triangular array called Pascal's triangle, satisfying the recurrence relation
: <math>\binom{n}{k} = \binom{n-1}{k-1} + \binom{n-1}{k} .</math>
The binomial coefficients occur in many areas of mathematics, and especially in combinatorics. In combinatorics the symbol <math>\tbinom{n}{k}</math> is usually read as " choose " because there are <math>\tbinom{n}{k}</math> ways to choose an (unordered) subset of elements from a fixed set of elements. For example, there are <math>\tbinom{4}{2}=6</math> ways to choose elements from }}, namely }}, }}, }}, }}, }} and }}.
The first form of the binomial coefficients can be generalized to <math>\tbinom{z}{k}</math> for any complex number and integer , and many of their properties continue to hold in this more general form.
History and notation
Andreas von Ettingshausen introduced the notation <math>\tbinom nk</math> in 1826, although the numbers were known centuries earlier (see Pascal's triangle). In about 1150, the Indian mathematician Bhaskaracharya gave an exposition of binomial coefficients in his book Līlāvatī.
Alternative notations include , C}}, C<sub>k</sub>}}, }}, }}, and }}, in all of which the stands for combinations or choices; the notation means the number of ways to choose k out of n objects. Many calculators use variants of the notation}} because they can represent it on a single-line display. In this form the binomial coefficients are easily compared to the numbers of -permutations of , written as , etc. Definition and interpretations {| class"wikitable" style="float:right;line-spacing:0.8;margin-left:1ex;"
|-
! !! 0 !! 1 !! 2 !! 3 !! 4 !! ⋯
|-
! 0
| 1 || || || || || ⋯
|-
! 1
| 1 || 1 || || || || ⋯
|-
! 2
| 1 || 2 || 1 || || || ⋯
|-
! 3
| 1 || 3 || 3 || 1 || || ⋯
|-
! 4
| 1 || 4 || 6 || 4 || 1 || ⋯
|-
! ⋮
| ⋮ || ⋮ || ⋮ || ⋮ || ⋮ || ⋱
|-
| colspan="7"|The first few binomial coefficients<br />on a left-aligned Pascal's triangle
|}
For natural numbers (taken to include 0) and , the binomial coefficient <math>\tbinom nk</math> can be defined as the coefficient of the monomial in the expansion of . The same coefficient also occurs (if ) in the binomial formula
{{NumBlk2|:|<math>(x+y)^n\sum_{k0}^n\binom nk x^ky^{n-k}</math>|∗}}
(valid for any elements , of a commutative ring),
which explains the name "binomial coefficient".
Another occurrence of this number is in combinatorics, where it gives the number of ways, disregarding order, that objects can be chosen from among objects; more formally, the number of -element subsets (or -combinations) of an -element set. This number can be seen as equal to the one of the first definition, independently of any of the formulas below to compute it: if in each of the factors of the power one temporarily labels the term with an index (running from to ), then each subset of indices gives after expansion a contribution , and the coefficient of that monomial in the result will be the number of such subsets. This shows in particular that <math>\tbinom nk</math> is a natural number for any natural numbers and . There are many other combinatorial interpretations of binomial coefficients (counting problems for which the answer is given by a binomial coefficient expression), for instance the number of words formed of bits (digits 0 or 1) whose sum is is given by <math>\tbinom nk</math>, while the number of ways to write <math>k a_1 + a_2 + \cdots + a_n</math> where every is a nonnegative integer is given by {{tmath|1 \tbinom{n+k-1}{n-1} }}. Most of these interpretations can be shown to be equivalent to counting -combinations.
Computing the value of binomial coefficients
Several methods exist to compute the value of <math>\tbinom{n}{k}</math> without actually expanding a binomial power or counting -combinations.
Recursive formula
One method uses the recursive, purely additive formula
<math display"block"> \binom nk \binom{n-1}{k-1} + \binom{n-1}k</math> for all integers <math>n,k</math> such that <math>1 \le k < n,</math>
with boundary values
<math display"block">\binom n0 \binom nn = 1</math>
for all integers .
The formula follows from considering the set }} and counting separately (a) the -element groupings that include a particular set element, say "", in every group (since "" is already chosen to fill one spot in every group, we need only choose from the remaining ) and (b) all the k-groupings that don't include ""; this enumerates all the possible -combinations of elements. It also follows from tracing the contributions to X<sup>k</sup> in . As there is zero or in , one might extend the definition beyond the above boundaries to include <math>\tbinom nk 0</math> when either or . This recursive formula then allows the construction of Pascal's triangle, surrounded by white spaces where the zeros, or the trivial coefficients, would be. Multiplicative formula
A more efficient method to compute individual binomial coefficients is given by the formula
<math display"block">\binom nk \frac{n^{\underline{k}}}{k!} \frac{n(n-1)(n-2)\cdots(n-(k-1))}{k(k-1)(k-2)\cdots 1} \prod_{i=1}^k\frac{ n+1-i}{ i},</math>
where the numerator of the first fraction, <math>n^{\underline{k}}</math>, is a falling factorial.
This formula is easiest to understand for the combinatorial interpretation of binomial coefficients.
The numerator gives the number of ways to select a sequence of distinct objects, retaining the order of selection, from a set of objects. The denominator counts the number of distinct sequences that define the same -combination when order is disregarded. This formula can also be stated in a recursive form. Using the "C" notation from above, <math>C_{n,k} C_{n, k-1} \cdot (n-k+1) / k</math>, where <math>C_{n,0} 1</math>. It is readily derived by evaluating <math>C_{n,k} / C_{n, k-1}</math> and can intuitively be understood as starting at the leftmost coefficient of the <math>n</math>-th row of Pascal's triangle, whose value is always <math>1</math>, and recursively computing the next coefficient to its right until the <math>k</math>-th one is reached.
Due to the symmetry of the binomial coefficients with regard to and , calculation of the above product, as well as the recursive relation, may be optimised by setting its upper limit to the smaller of and .
Factorial formula
Finally, though computationally unsuitable, there is the compact form, often used in proofs and derivations, which makes repeated use of the familiar factorial function:
<math display"block"> \binom nk \frac{n!}{k!\,(n-k)!} \quad \text{for }\ 0\leq k\leq n,</math>
where denotes the factorial of . This formula follows from the multiplicative formula above by multiplying numerator and denominator by ; as a consequence it involves many factors common to numerator and denominator. It is less practical for explicit computation (in the case that is small and is large) unless common factors are first cancelled (in particular since factorial values grow very rapidly). The formula does exhibit a symmetry that is less evident from the multiplicative formula (though it is from the definitions)
{{NumBlk2|:|<math> \binom nk = \binom n{n-k} \quad \text{for }\ 0\leq k\leq n,</math>|1}}
which leads to a more efficient multiplicative computational routine. Using the falling factorial notation,
<math display"block"> \binom nk
\begin{cases}
n^{\underline{k}}/k! & \text{if }\ k \le \frac{n}{2} \\
n^{\underline{n-k}}/(n-k)! & \text{if }\ k > \frac{n}{2}
\end{cases}.
</math>
Generalization and connection to the binomial series
The multiplicative formula allows the definition of binomial coefficients to be extended by replacing n by an arbitrary number α (negative, real, complex) or even an element of any commutative ring in which all positive integers are invertible:
<math display"block">\binom \alpha k \frac{\alpha^{\underline k}}{k!} = \frac{\alpha(\alpha-1)(\alpha-2)\cdots(\alpha-k+1)}{k(k-1)(k-2)\cdots 1}
\quad\text{for } k\in\N \text{ and arbitrary } \alpha.
</math>
With this definition one has a generalization of the binomial formula (with one of the variables set to 1), which justifies still calling the <math>\tbinom\alpha k</math> binomial coefficients:
{{NumBlk2|:|<math> (1+X)^\alpha \sum_{k0}^\infty {\alpha \choose k} X^k.</math>|2}}
This formula is valid for all complex numbers α and X with |X| < 1. It can also be interpreted as an identity of formal power series in X, where it actually can serve as definition of arbitrary powers of power series with constant coefficient equal to 1; the point is that with this definition all identities hold that one expects for exponentiation, notably
<math display"block">(1+X)^\alpha(1+X)^\beta(1+X)^{\alpha+\beta} \quad\text{and}\quad ((1+X)^\alpha)^\beta=(1+X)^{\alpha\beta}.</math>
If α is a nonnegative integer n, then all terms with are zero, and the infinite series becomes a finite sum, thereby recovering the binomial formula. However, for other values of α, including negative integers and rational numbers, the series is really infinite.
Pascal's triangle
.]]
Pascal's rule is the important recurrence relation
{{NumBlk2|:|<math> {n \choose k} + {n \choose k+1} = {n+1 \choose k+1},</math>|3}}
which can be used to prove by mathematical induction that <math> \tbinom n k</math> is a natural number for all integer n ≥ 0 and all integer k, a fact that is not immediately obvious from formula (1). To the left and right of Pascal's triangle, the entries (shown as blanks) are all zero.
Pascal's rule also gives rise to Pascal's triangle:
{|
|-
|0: || || || || || || || || ||1|| || || || || || || ||
|-
|1: || || || || || || || ||1|| ||1|| || || || || || ||
|-
|2: || || || || || || ||1|| ||2|| ||1|| || || || || ||
|-
|3: || || || || || ||1|| ||3|| ||3|| ||1|| || || || ||
|-
|4: || || || || ||1|| ||4|| ||6|| ||4|| ||1|| || || ||
|-
|5: || || || ||1|| ||5|| ||10|| ||10|| ||5|| ||1|| || ||
|-
|6: || || ||1|| ||6|| ||15|| ||20|| ||15|| ||6|| ||1|| ||
|-
|7: || ||1 || ||7 || ||21|| ||35|| ||35|| ||21|| ||7 || ||1 ||
|-
|8: ||1 || ||8 || ||28|| ||56|| ||70|| ||56|| ||28|| ||8 || ||1
|} <!--There is a wider cell made with in 1-digit columns, so triangle becomes more graphically symmetrical -->
Row number contains the numbers <math>\tbinom{n}{k}</math> for . It is constructed by first placing 1s in the outermost positions, and then filling each inner position with the sum of the two numbers directly above. This method allows the quick calculation of binomial coefficients without the need for fractions or multiplications. For instance, by looking at row number 5 of the triangle, one can quickly read off that
:<math>(x + y)^5 \underline{1}x^5 + \underline{5}x^4y + \underline{10}x^3y^2 + \underline{10}x^2y^3 + \underline{5}xy^4 + \underline{1}y^5.</math> Combinatorics and statistics
Binomial coefficients are of importance in combinatorics because they provide ready formulas for certain frequent counting problems:
* There are <math>\tbinom n k</math> ways to choose k elements from a set of n elements. See Combination.
* There are <math>\tbinom {n+k-1}k</math> ways to choose k elements from a set of n elements if repetitions are allowed. See Multiset.
* There are <math> \tbinom {n+k} k</math> strings containing k ones and n zeros.
* There are <math> \tbinom {n+1} k</math> strings consisting of k ones and n zeros such that no two ones are adjacent.
* The Catalan numbers are <math>\tfrac{1}{n+1}\tbinom{2n}{n}.</math>
* The binomial distribution in statistics is <math>\tbinom n k p^k (1-p)^{n-k} .</math>
Binomial coefficients as polynomials
For any nonnegative integer k, the expression <math display="inline">\binom{t}{k}</math> can be written as a polynomial with denominator :
: <math>\binom{t}{k} \frac{t^\underline{k}}{k!} \frac{t(t-1)(t-2)\cdots(t-k+1)}{k(k-1)(k-2)\cdots2 \cdot 1};</math>
this presents a polynomial in t with rational coefficients.
As such, it can be evaluated at any real or complex number t to define binomial coefficients with such first arguments. These "generalized binomial coefficients" appear in Newton's generalized binomial theorem.
For each k, the polynomial <math>\tbinom{t}{k}</math> can be characterized as the unique degree k polynomial satisfying and .
Its coefficients are expressible in terms of Stirling numbers of the first kind:
: <math>\binom{t}{k} \sum_{i0}^k s(k,i)\frac{t^i}{k!}.</math>
The derivative of <math>\tbinom{t}{k}</math> can be calculated by logarithmic differentiation:
: <math>\frac{\mathrm{d}}{\mathrm{d}t} \binom{t}{k} \binom{t}{k} \sum_{i0}^{k-1} \frac{1}{t-i}.</math>
This can cause a problem when evaluated at integers from <math>0</math> to <math>t-1</math>, but using identities below we can compute the derivative as:
: <math>\frac{\mathrm{d}}{\mathrm{d}t} \binom{t}{k} \sum_{i0}^{k-1} \frac{(-1)^{k-i-1}}{k-i} \binom{t}{i}.</math>
Binomial coefficients as a basis for the space of polynomials
Over any field of characteristic 0 (that is, any field that contains the rational numbers), each polynomial p(t) of degree at most d is uniquely expressible as a linear combination <math display"inline">\sum_{k0}^d a_k \binom{t}{k}</math> of binomial coefficients, because the binomial coefficients consist of one polynomial of each degree. The coefficient a<sub>k</sub> is the kth difference of the sequence p(0), p(1), ..., p(k). Explicitly,
{{NumBlk2|:|<math>a_k \sum_{i0}^k (-1)^{k-i} \binom{k}{i} p(i).</math>|4}}
Integer-valued polynomials
Each polynomial <math>\tbinom{t}{k}</math> is integer-valued: it has an integer value at all integer inputs <math>t</math>. (One way to prove this is by induction on k using Pascal's identity.) Therefore, any integer linear combination of binomial coefficient polynomials is integer-valued too. Conversely, () shows that any integer-valued polynomial is an integer linear combination of these binomial coefficient polynomials. More generally, for any subring R of a characteristic 0 field K, a polynomial in K[t] takes values in R at all integers if and only if it is an R-linear combination of binomial coefficient polynomials.
Example
The integer-valued polynomial can be rewritten as
:<math>9\binom{t}{2} + 6 \binom{t}{1} + 0\binom{t}{0}.</math>
Identities involving binomial coefficients
The factorial formula facilitates relating nearby binomial coefficients. For instance, if k is a positive integer and n is arbitrary, then
{{NumBlk2|:|<math> \binom{n}{k} = \frac{n}{k} \binom{n-1}{k-1}</math>|5}}
and, with a little more work,
: <math>\binom {n-1}{k} - \binom{n-1}{k-1} = \frac{n-2k}{n} \binom{n}{k}.</math>
We can also get
: <math>\binom {n-1}{k} = \frac{n-k}{n} \binom {n}{k}.</math>
Moreover, the following may be useful:
:<math>\binom{n}{k}\binom{k}{j} \binom{n}{j}\binom{n-j}{k-j}\binom{n}{k-j}\binom{n-k+j}{j}.</math>
For constant n, we have the following recurrence:
: <math> \binom{n}{k} = \frac{n-k+1}{k} \binom{n}{k-1}.</math>
To sum up, we have
: <math>\binom {n}{k} \binom n{n-k} \frac{n-k+1}{k} \binom {n}{k-1} = \frac{n}{n-k} \binom {n-1}{k} </math>
: <math>\frac{n}{k} \binom {n-1}{k-1} \frac{n}{n-2k} \Bigg(\binom {n-1}{k} - \binom{n-1}{k-1}\Bigg) \binom{n-1}k + \binom{n-1}{k-1}.</math> Sums of the binomial coefficients
The formula
{{NumBlk2|:|<math> \sum_{k0}^n \binom n k 2^n</math>|∗∗}}
says that the elements in the th row of Pascal's triangle always add up to 2 raised to the th power. This is obtained from the binomial theorem () by setting and . The formula also has a natural combinatorial interpretation: the left side sums the number of subsets of {1, ..., n} of sizes k = 0, 1, ..., n, giving the total number of subsets. (That is, the left side counts the power set of {1, ..., n}.) However, these subsets can also be generated by successively choosing or excluding each element 1, ..., n; the n independent binary choices (bit-strings) allow a total of <math>2^n</math> choices. The left and right sides are two ways to count the same collection of subsets, so they are equal.
The formulas
{{NumBlk2|:|<math>\sum_{k0}^n k \binom{n}{k} n 2^{n-1}</math>|6}}
and
: <math>\sum_{k0}^n k^2 \binom n k (n + n^2)2^{n-2}</math>
follow from the binomial theorem after differentiating with respect to (twice for the latter) and then substituting .
The Chu–Vandermonde identity, which holds for any complex values m and n and any non-negative integer k, is
{{NumBlk2|:|<math> \sum_{j0}^k \binom m j \binom{n-m}{k-j} \binom n k</math>|7}}
and can be found by examination of the coefficient of <math>x^k</math> in the expansion of using equation (). When , equation () reduces to equation (). In the special case , using (), the expansion () becomes (as seen in Pascal's triangle at right)
{{Image frame|width=395
|content=
<math>
\begin{array}{c}
1 \\
1 \qquad 1 \\
1 \qquad 2 \qquad 1 \\
{\color{blue}1 \qquad 3 \qquad 3 \qquad 1} \\
1 \qquad 4 \qquad 6 \qquad 4 \qquad 1 \\
1 \qquad 5 \qquad 10 \qquad 10 \qquad 5 \qquad 1 \\
1 \qquad 6 \qquad 15 \qquad {\color{red}20} \qquad 15 \qquad 6 \qquad 1 \\
1 \qquad 7 \qquad 21 \qquad 35 \qquad 35 \qquad 21 \qquad 7 \qquad 1
\end{array}
</math>
|captionPascal's triangle, rows 0 through 7. Equation for is illustrated in rows 3 and 6 as <math>1^2 + 3^2 + 3^2 + 1^2 20.</math>
}}
{{NumBlk2|:|<math> \sum_{j0}^m \binom{m}{j} ^2 \binom {2m} m,</math>|8}}
where the term on the right side is a central binomial coefficient.
Another form of the Chu–Vandermonde identity, which applies for any integers j, k, and n satisfying , is
{{NumBlk2|:|<math>\sum_{m0}^n \binom m j \binom {n-m}{k-j} \binom {n+1}{k+1}.</math>|9}}
The proof is similar, but uses the binomial series expansion () with negative integer exponents.
When , equation () gives the hockey-stick identity
: <math>\sum_{mk}^n \binom m k \binom {n+1}{k+1}</math>
and its relative
: <math>\sum_{r0}^m \binom {n+r} r \binom {n+m+1}{m}.</math>
Let F(n) denote the n-th Fibonacci number.
Then
: <math> \sum_{k0}^{\lfloor n/2\rfloor} \binom {n-k} k F(n+1).</math>
This can be proved by induction using () or by Zeckendorf's representation. A combinatorial proof is given below.
Multisections of sums
For integers s and t such that <math>0\leq t < s,</math> series multisection gives the following identity for the sum of binomial coefficients:
: <math>\binom{n}{t}+\binom{n}{t+s}+\binom{n}{t+2s}+\ldots\frac{1}{s}\sum_{j0}^{s-1}\left(2\cos\frac{\pi j}{s}\right)^n\cos\frac{\pi(n-2t)j}{s}.</math>
For small , these series have particularly nice forms; for example,
: <math> \binom{n}{0} + \binom{n}{3}+\binom{n}{6}+\cdots = \frac{1}{3}\left(2^n +2 \cos\frac{n\pi}{3}\right) </math>
: <math> \binom{n}{1} + \binom{n}{4}+\binom{n}{7}+\cdots = \frac{1}{3}\left(2^n +2 \cos\frac{(n-2)\pi}{3}\right) </math>
: <math> \binom{n}{2} + \binom{n}{5}+\binom{n}{8}+\cdots = \frac{1}{3}\left(2^n +2 \cos\frac{(n-4)\pi}{3}\right) </math>
: <math> \binom{n}{0} + \binom{n}{4}+\binom{n}{8}+\cdots = \frac{1}{2}\left(2^{n-1} +2^{\frac{n}{2}} \cos\frac{n\pi}{4}\right) </math>
: <math> \binom{n}{1} + \binom{n}{5}+\binom{n}{9}+\cdots = \frac{1}{2}\left(2^{n-1} +2^{\frac{n}{2}} \sin\frac{n\pi}{4}\right) </math>
: <math> \binom{n}{2} + \binom{n}{6}+\binom{n}{10}+\cdots = \frac{1}{2}\left(2^{n-1} -2^{\frac{n}{2}} \cos\frac{n\pi}{4}\right) </math>
: <math> \binom{n}{3} + \binom{n}{7}+\binom{n}{11}+\cdots \frac{1}{2}\left(2^{n-1} -2^{\frac{n}{2}} \sin\frac{n\pi}{4}\right) </math> Partial sums
Although there is no closed formula for partial sums
: <math> \sum_{j=0}^k \binom n j</math>
of binomial coefficients, one can again use () and induction to show that for ,
: <math> \sum_{j0}^k (-1)^j\binom{n}{j} (-1)^k\binom {n-1}{k},</math>
with special case
: <math>\sum_{j0}^n (-1)^j\binom n j 0</math>
for . This latter result is also a special case of the result from the theory of finite differences that for any polynomial P(x) of degree less than n,
:<math> \sum_{j0}^n (-1)^j\binom n j P(j) 0.</math>
Differentiating () k times and setting x = −1 yields this for
<math>P(x)=x(x-1)\cdots(x-k+1)</math>,
when 0 ≤ k < n,
and the general case follows by taking linear combinations of these.
When P(x) is of degree less than or equal to n,
{{NumBlk2|:|<math> \sum_{j0}^n (-1)^j\binom n j P(n-j) n!a_n</math>|10}}
where <math>a_n</math> is the coefficient of degree n in P(x).
More generally for (),
: <math> \sum_{j0}^n (-1)^j\binom n j P(m+(n-j)d) d^n n! a_n</math>
where m and d are complex numbers. This follows immediately applying () to the polynomial instead of , and observing that still has degree less than or equal to n, and that its coefficient of degree n is d<sup>n</sup>a<sub>n</sub>.
The series <math display"inline">\frac{k-1}{k} \sum_{j0}^\infty \frac 1 {\binom {j+x} k}\frac 1 {\binom{x-1}{k-1}}</math> is convergent for k ≥ 2. This formula is used in the analysis of the German tank problem. It follows from <math display"inline">\frac{k-1}k\sum_{j0}^{M}\frac 1 {\binom{j+x} k}\frac 1{\binom{x-1}{k-1}}-\frac 1{\binom{M+x}{k-1}}</math> which is proved by induction on M.
Identities with combinatorial proofs
Many identities involving binomial coefficients can be proved by combinatorial means. For example, for nonnegative integers <math>{n} \geq {q}</math>, the identity
: <math>\sum_{kq}^n \binom{n}{k} \binom{k}{q} 2^{n-q}\binom{n}{q}</math>
(which reduces to () when q 1) can be given a double counting proof, as follows. The left side counts the number of ways of selecting a subset of [n] {1, 2, ..., n} with at least q elements, and marking q elements among those selected. The right side counts the same thing, because there are <math>\tbinom n q</math> ways of choosing a set of q elements to mark, and <math>2^{n-q}</math> to choose which of the remaining elements of [n] also belong to the subset.
In Pascal's identity
: <math>{n \choose k} = {n-1 \choose k-1} + {n-1 \choose k},</math>
both sides count the number of k-element subsets of [n]: the two terms on the right side group them into those that contain element n and those that do not.
The identity () also has a combinatorial proof. The identity reads
: <math>\sum_{k0}^n \binom{n}{k}^2 \binom{2n}{n}.</math>
Suppose you have <math>2n</math> empty squares arranged in a row and you want to mark (select) n of them. There are <math>\tbinom {2n}n</math> ways to do this. On the other hand, you may select your n squares by selecting k squares from among the first n and <math>n-k</math> squares from the remaining n squares; any k from 0 to n will work. This gives
:<math>\sum_{k0}^n\binom n k\binom n{n-k} \binom {2n} n.</math>
Now apply () to get the result.
If one denotes by the sequence of Fibonacci numbers, indexed so that , then the identity
<math display"block">\sum_{k0}^{\left\lfloor\frac{n}{2}\right\rfloor} \binom {n-k} k = F(n)</math>
has the following combinatorial proof. One may show by induction that counts the number of ways that a strip of squares may be covered by and tiles. On the other hand, if such a tiling uses exactly of the tiles, then it uses of the tiles, and so uses tiles total. There are <math>\tbinom{n-k}{k}</math> ways to order these tiles, and so summing this coefficient over all possible values of gives the identity. Sum of coefficients row
The number of k-combinations for all k, <math display"inline">\sum_{0\leq{k}\leq{n}}\binom nk 2^n</math>, is the sum of the nth row (counting from 0) of the binomial coefficients. These combinations are enumerated by the 1 digits of the set of base 2 numbers counting from 0 to <math>2^n - 1</math>, where each digit position is an item from the set of n.
Dixon's identity
Dixon's identity is
: <math>\sum_{k-a}^{a}(-1)^{k}{2a\choose k+a}^3\frac{(3a)!}{(a!)^3}</math>
or, more generally,
: <math>\sum_{k-a}^a(-1)^k{a+b\choose a+k} {b+c\choose b+k}{c+a\choose c+k} \frac{(a+b+c)!}{a!\,b!\,c!}\,,</math>
where a, b, and c are non-negative integers.
Continuous identities
Certain trigonometric integrals have values expressible in terms of binomial coefficients: For any <math>m, n \in \N,</math>
: <math>\int_{-\pi}^{\pi} \cos((2m-n)x)\cos^n(x)\ dx = \frac{\pi}{2^{n-1}} \binom{n}{m}</math>
: <math>
\int_{-\pi}^{\pi} \sin((2m-n)x)\sin^n(x)\ dx =
\begin{cases}
(-1)^{m+(n+1)/2} \frac{\pi}{2^{n-1}} \binom{n}{m}, & n \text{ odd} \\
0, & \text{otherwise}
\end{cases}</math>
: <math>
\int_{-\pi}^{\pi} \cos((2m-n)x)\sin^n(x)\ dx =
\begin{cases}
(-1)^{m+(n/2)} \frac{\pi}{2^{n-1}} \binom{n}{m}, & n \text{ even} \\
0, & \text{otherwise}
\end{cases}</math>
These can be proved by using Euler's formula to convert trigonometric functions to complex exponentials, expanding using the binomial theorem, and integrating term by term.
Congruences
If n is prime, then <math display="block">\binom {n-1}k \equiv (-1)^k \mod n</math> for every k with <math>0\leq k \leq n-1.</math>
More generally, this remains true if n is any number and k is such that all the numbers between 1 and k are coprime to n.
Indeed, we have
: <math>
\binom {n-1} k {(n-1)(n-2)\cdots(n-k)\over 1\cdot 2\cdots k} \prod_{i1}^{k}{n-i\over i}\equiv \prod_{i1}^{k}{-i\over i} = (-1)^k \mod n.
</math>
Generating functions
Ordinary generating functions
For a fixed , the ordinary generating function of the sequence <math>\tbinom n0,\tbinom n1,\tbinom n2,\ldots</math> is
: <math>\sum_{k0}^\infty {n\choose k} x^k (1+x)^n.</math>
For a fixed , the ordinary generating function of the sequence <math>\tbinom 0k,\tbinom 1k, \tbinom 2k,\ldots,</math> is
: <math>\sum_{n0}^\infty {n\choose k} y^n \frac{y^k}{(1-y)^{k+1}}.</math>
The bivariate generating function of the binomial coefficients is
: <math>\sum_{n0}^\infty \sum_{k0}^n {n\choose k} x^k y^n = \frac{1}{1-y-xy}.</math>
A symmetric bivariate generating function of the binomial coefficients is
: <math>\sum_{n0}^\infty \sum_{k0}^\infty {n+k\choose k} x^k y^n = \frac{1}{1-x-y}.</math>
which is the same as the previous generating function after the substitution <math>x\to xy</math>.
Exponential generating function
A symmetric exponential bivariate generating function of the binomial coefficients is:
: <math>\sum_{n0}^\infty \sum_{k0}^\infty {n+k\choose k} \frac{x^k y^n}{(n+k)!} e^{x+y}.</math> Divisibility properties
In 1852, Kummer proved that if m and n are nonnegative integers and p is a prime number, then the largest power of p dividing <math>\tbinom{m+n}{m}</math> equals p<sup>c</sup>, where c is the number of carries when m and n are added in base p.
Equivalently, the exponent of a prime p in <math>\tbinom n k</math>
equals the number of nonnegative integers j such that the fractional part of k/p<sup>j</sup> is greater than the fractional part of n/p<sup>j</sup>. It can be deduced from this that <math>\tbinom n k</math> is divisible by n/gcd(n,k). In particular therefore it follows that p divides <math>\tbinom{p^r}{s}</math> for all positive integers r and s such that . However this is not true of higher powers of p: for example 9 does not divide <math>\tbinom{9}{6}</math>.
A somewhat surprising result by David Singmaster (1974) is that any integer divides almost all binomial coefficients. More precisely, fix an integer d and let f(N) denote the number of binomial coefficients <math>\tbinom n k</math> with n < N such that d divides <math>\tbinom n k</math>. Then
: <math> \lim_{N\to\infty} \frac{f(N)}{N(N+1)/2} = 1. </math>
Since the number of binomial coefficients <math>\tbinom n k</math> with n < N is N(N + 1) / 2, this implies that the density of binomial coefficients divisible by d goes to 1.
Binomial coefficients have divisibility properties related to least common multiples of consecutive integers. For example:
: <math>\binom{n+k}k</math> divides <math>\frac{\operatorname{lcm}(n,n+1,\ldots,n+k)}n</math>.
: <math>\binom{n+k}k</math> is a multiple of <math>\frac{\operatorname{lcm}(n,n+1,\ldots,n+k)}{n\cdot \operatorname{lcm}(\binom{k}0,\binom{k}1,\ldots,\binom{k}k)}</math>.
Another fact:
An integer is prime if and only if
all the intermediate binomial coefficients
: <math> \binom n 1, \binom n 2, \ldots, \binom n{n-1} </math>
are divisible by n.
Proof:
When p is prime, p divides
: <math> \binom p k \frac{p \cdot (p-1) \cdots (p-k+1)}{k \cdot (k-1) \cdots 1} </math> for all
because <math>\tbinom p k</math> is a natural number and p divides the numerator but not the denominator.
When n is composite, let p be the smallest prime factor of n and let . Then and
: <math> \binom n p \frac{n(n-1)(n-2)\cdots(n-p+1)}{p!}\frac{k(n-1)(n-2)\cdots(n-p+1)}{(p-1)!}\not\equiv 0 \pmod{n}</math>
otherwise the numerator has to be divisible by , this can only be the case when is divisible by p. But n is divisible by p, so p does not divide and because p is prime, we know that p does not divide and so the numerator cannot be divisible by n.
Bounds and asymptotic formulas
The following bounds for <math>\tbinom n k</math> hold for all values of n and k such that :
<math display="block">\frac{n^k}{k^k} \le {n \choose k} \le \frac{n^k}{k!} < \left(\frac{n\cdot e}{k}\right)^k.</math>
The first inequality follows from the fact that
<math display"block"> {n \choose k} \frac{n}{k} \cdot \frac{n-1}{k-1} \cdots \frac{n-(k-1)}{1} </math>
and each of these <math>k </math> terms in this product is <math display"inline"> \geq \frac{n}{k} </math>. A similar argument can be made to show the second inequality. The final strict inequality is equivalent to <math display"inline">e^k > k^k / k!</math>, that is clear since the RHS is a term of the exponential series <math display"inline"> e^k \sum_{j=0}^\infty k^j/j! </math>.
From the divisibility properties we can infer that
<math display="block">\frac{\operatorname{lcm}(n-k, \ldots, n)}{(n-k) \cdot \operatorname{lcm}\left(\binom{k}{0}, \ldots, \binom{k}{k}\right)}\leq\binom{n}{k} \leq \frac{\operatorname{lcm}(n-k, \ldots, n)}{n - k},</math>
where both equalities can be achieved.
<math display="block"> \frac{1}{n+1} 2^{nH(k/n)} \leq {n \choose k} \leq 2^{nH(k/n)} </math>
where <math>H(p) = -p\log_2(p) -(1-p)\log_2(1-p)</math> is the binary entropy function. It can be further tightened to
<math display="block"> \sqrt{\frac{n}{8k(n-k)}} 2^{nH(k/n)} \leq {n \choose k} \leq \sqrt{\frac{n}{2\pi k(n-k)}} 2^{nH(k/n)}</math>
for all <math>1 \leq k \leq n-1</math>. Both n and k large
Stirling's approximation yields the following approximation, valid when <math>n-k,k</math> both tend to infinity:
<math display="block">{n \choose k} \sim
\sqrt{n\over 2\pi k (n-k)} \cdot
{n^n \over k^k (n-k)^{n-k}}
</math>
Because the inequality forms of Stirling's formula also bound the factorials, slight variants on the above asymptotic approximation give exact bounds.
In particular, when <math>n</math> is sufficiently large, one has
<math display="block"> {2n \choose n} \sim \frac{2^{2n}}{\sqrt{n\pi }}</math> and <math>\sqrt{n}{2n \choose n} \ge 2^{2n-1}</math>. More generally, for and (again, by applying Stirling's formula to the factorials in the binomial coefficient),
<math display="block">\sqrt{n}{mn \choose n} \ge \frac{m^{m(n-1)+1}}{(m-1)^{(m-1)(n-1)}}.</math>
If n is large and k is linear in n, various precise asymptotic estimates exist for the binomial coefficient <math display"inline"> \binom{n}{k}</math>. For example, if <math>| n/2 - k | o(n^{2/3})</math> then
<math display="block"> \binom{n}{k} \sim \binom{n}{\frac{n}{2}} e^{-d^2/(2n)} \sim \frac{2^n}{\sqrt{\frac{1}{2}n \pi }} e^{-d^2/(2n)}</math>
where d n − 2k.
much larger than
If is large and is (that is, if ), then
<math display = block> \binom{n}{k} \sim \left(\frac{n e}{k} \right)^k \cdot (2\pi k)^{-1/2} \cdot \exp\left(- \frac{k^2}{2n}(1 + o(1))\right)</math>
where again is the little o notation. Sums of binomial coefficients
A simple and rough upper bound for the sum of binomial coefficients can be obtained using the binomial theorem:
<math display"block">\sum_{i0}^k {n \choose i} \leq \sum_{i=0}^k n^i\cdot 1^{k-i} \leq (1+n)^k</math>
More precise bounds are given by
<math display"block">\frac{1}{\sqrt{8n\varepsilon(1-\varepsilon)}} \cdot 2^{H(\varepsilon) \cdot n} \leq \sum_{i0}^{k} \binom{n}{i} \leq 2^{H(\varepsilon) \cdot n},</math>
valid for all integers <math>n > k \geq 1</math> with <math>\varepsilon \doteq k/n \leq 1/2</math>.
Generalized binomial coefficients
The infinite product formula for the gamma function also gives an expression for binomial coefficients
<math display"block">(-1)^k {z \choose k} {-z+k-1 \choose k} \frac{1}{\Gamma(-z)} \frac{1}{(k+1)^{z+1}} \prod_{jk+1} \frac{\left(1+\frac{1}{j}\right)^{-z-1}}{1-\frac{z+1}{j}}</math>
which yields the asymptotic formulas
<math display"block">{z \choose k} \approx \frac{(-1)^k}{\Gamma(-z) k^{z+1}} \qquad \text{and} \qquad {z+k \choose k} \frac{k^z}{\Gamma(z+1)}\left( 1+\frac{z(z+1)}{2k}+\mathcal{O}\left(k^{-2}\right)\right)</math>
as <math>k \to \infty</math>.
This asymptotic behaviour is contained in the approximation
<math display="block">{z+k \choose k}\approx \frac{e^{z(H_k-\gamma)}}{\Gamma(z+1)}</math>
as well. (Here <math>H_k</math> is the k-th harmonic number and <math>\gamma</math> is the Euler–Mascheroni constant.)
Further, the asymptotic formula
<math display="block">\frac\to \left(1-\frac{j}{k}\right)^{-z}\quad\text{and}\quad \frac\to \left(\frac{j}{k}\right)^z</math>
hold true, whenever <math>k\to\infty</math> and <math>j/k \to x</math> for some complex number <math>x</math>.
Generalizations
Generalization to multinomials
Binomial coefficients can be generalized to multinomial coefficients defined to be the number:
: <math>{n\choose k_1,k_2,\ldots,k_r} =\frac{n!}{k_1!k_2!\cdots k_r!}</math>
where
: <math>\sum_{i1}^rk_in.</math>
While the binomial coefficients represent the coefficients of , the multinomial coefficients
represent the coefficients of the polynomial
: <math>(x_1 + x_2 + \cdots + x_r)^n.</math>
The case r = 2 gives binomial coefficients:
: <math>{n\choose k_1,k_2}{n\choose k_1, n-k_1}{n\choose k_1}= {n\choose k_2}.</math>
The combinatorial interpretation of multinomial coefficients is distribution of n distinguishable elements over r (distinguishable) containers, each containing exactly k<sub>i</sub> elements, where i is the index of the container.
Multinomial coefficients have many properties similar to those of binomial coefficients, for example the recurrence relation:
: <math>{n\choose k_1,k_2,\ldots,k_r} ={n-1\choose k_1-1,k_2,\ldots,k_r}+{n-1\choose k_1,k_2-1,\ldots,k_r}+\ldots+{n-1\choose k_1,k_2,\ldots,k_r-1}</math>
and symmetry:
: <math>{n\choose k_1,k_2,\ldots,k_r} ={n\choose k_{\sigma_1},k_{\sigma_2},\ldots,k_{\sigma_r}}</math>
where <math>(\sigma_i)</math> is a permutation of (1, 2, ..., r).
Taylor series
Using Stirling numbers of the first kind the series expansion around any arbitrarily chosen point <math>z_0</math> is
: <math>\begin{align} {z \choose k} \frac{1}{k!}\sum_{i0}^k z^i s_{k,i}&\sum_{i0}^k (z- z_0)^i \sum_{ji}^k {z_0 \choose j-i} \frac{s_{k+i-j,i}}{(k+i-j)!} \\ &\sum_{i0}^k (z-z_0)^i \sum_{ji}^k z_0^{j-i} {j \choose i} \frac{s_{k,j}}{k!}.\end{align}</math>
Binomial coefficient with
The definition of the binomial coefficients can be extended to the case where <math>n</math> is real and <math>k</math> is integer.
In particular, the following identity holds for any non-negative integer <math>k</math>:
: <math>{{1/2}\choose{k}}={{2k}\choose{k}}\frac{(-1)^{k+1}}{2^{2k}(2k-1)}.</math>
This shows up when expanding <math>\sqrt{1+x}</math> into a power series using the Newton binomial series :
: <math>\sqrt{1+x}\sum_{k\geq 0}{\binom{1/2}{k}}x^k.</math> Products of binomial coefficients
One can express the product of two binomial coefficients as a linear combination of binomial coefficients:
: <math>{z \choose m} {z\choose n} \sum_{k0}^{\min(m,n)} {m + n - k \choose k, m - k, n - k} {z \choose m + n - k},</math>
where the connection coefficients are multinomial coefficients. In terms of labelled combinatorial objects, the connection coefficients represent the number of ways to assign labels to a pair of labelled combinatorial objects—of weight m and n respectively—that have had their first k labels identified, or glued together to get a new labelled combinatorial object of weight . (That is, to separate the labels into three portions to apply to the glued part, the unglued part of the first object, and the unglued part of the second object.) In this regard, binomial coefficients are to exponential generating series what falling factorials are to ordinary generating series.
The product of all binomial coefficients in the nth row of the Pascal triangle is given by the formula:
: <math>\prod_{k0}^{n}\binom{n}{k}\prod_{k1}^{n}k^{2k-n-1}.</math> Partial fraction decomposition
The partial fraction decomposition of the reciprocal is given by
: <math>\frac{1}\sum_{i0}^{n-1} (-1)^{n-1-i} {n \choose i} \frac{n-i}{z-i},
\qquad \frac{1}\sum_{i1}^n (-1)^{i-1} {n \choose i} \frac{i}{z+i}.</math>
Newton's binomial series
Newton's binomial series, named after Sir Isaac Newton, is a generalization of the binomial theorem to infinite series:
: <math> (1+z)^{\alpha} \sum_{n0}^{\infty}{\alpha\choose n}z^n = 1+{\alpha\choose1}z+{\alpha\choose 2}z^2+\cdots.</math>
The identity can be obtained by showing that both sides satisfy the differential equation .
The radius of convergence of this series is 1. An alternative expression is
: <math>\frac{1}{(1-z)^{\alpha+1}} \sum_{n0}^{\infty}{n+\alpha \choose n}z^n</math>
where the identity
: <math>{n \choose k} = (-1)^k {k-n-1 \choose k}</math>
is applied.
Multiset (rising) binomial coefficient
Binomial coefficients count subsets of prescribed size from a given set. A related combinatorial problem is to count multisets of prescribed size with elements drawn from a given set, that is, to count the number of ways to select a certain number of elements from a given set with the possibility of selecting the same element repeatedly. The resulting numbers are called multiset coefficients; the number of ways to "multichoose" (i.e., choose with replacement) k items from an n element set is denoted <math display="inline">\left(\!\!\binom n k\!\!\right)</math>.
To avoid ambiguity and confusion with n's main denotation in this article,<br /> let and .
Multiset coefficients may be expressed in terms of binomial coefficients by the rule
<math display"block">\binom{f}{k}\left(\!\!\binom{r}{k}\!\!\right)=\binom{r+k-1}{k}.</math>
One possible alternative characterization of this identity is as follows:
We may define the falling factorial as
<math display"block">(f)_{k}f^{\underline k}=(f-k+1)\cdots(f-3)\cdot(f-2)\cdot(f-1)\cdot f,</math>
and the corresponding rising factorial as
<math display"block">r^{(k)}\,r^{\overline k}=\,r\cdot(r+1)\cdot(r+2)\cdot(r+3)\cdots(r+k-1);</math>
so, for example,
<math display"block">17\cdot18\cdot19\cdot20\cdot21(21)_{5}21^{\underline 5}17^{\overline 5}=17^{(5)}.</math>
Then the binomial coefficients may be written as
<math display"block">\binom{f}{k} \frac{(f)_{k}}{k!} =\frac{(f-k+1)\cdots(f-2)\cdot(f-1)\cdot f}{1\cdot2\cdot3\cdot4\cdot5\cdots k} ,</math>
while the corresponding multiset coefficient is defined by replacing the falling with the rising factorial:
<math display"block">\left(\!\!\binom{r}{k}\!\!\right)\frac{r^{(k)}}{k!}\frac{r\cdot(r+1)\cdot(r+2)\cdots(r+k-1)}{1\cdot2\cdot3\cdot4\cdot5\cdots k}.</math> Generalization to negative integers n
For any n,
: <math>\begin{align}\binom{-n}{k} &= \frac{-n\cdot-(n+1)\dots-(n+k-2)\cdot-(n+k-1)}{k!}\\
&=(-1)^k\;\frac{n\cdot(n+1)\cdot(n+2)\cdots (n + k - 1)}{k!}\\
&=(-1)^k\binom{n + k - 1}{k}\\
&=(-1)^k\left(\!\!\binom{n}{k}\!\!\right)\;.\end{align}</math>
In particular, binomial coefficients evaluated at negative integers n are given by signed multiset coefficients. In the special case <math>n -1</math>, this reduces to <math>(-1)^k\binom{-1}{k}=\left(\!\!\binom{-k}{k}\!\!\right) .</math>
For example, if n −4 and k 7, then r 4 and f 10:
: <math>\begin{align}\binom{-4}{7} &= \frac
{-10\cdot-9\cdot-8\cdot-7\cdot-6\cdot-5\cdot-4}
{1\cdot2\cdot3\cdot4\cdot5\cdot6\cdot7}\\
&=(-1)^7\;\frac{4\cdot5\cdot6\cdot7\cdot8\cdot9\cdot10}
{1\cdot2\cdot3\cdot4\cdot5\cdot6\cdot7}\\
&\left(\!\!\binom{-7}{7}\!\!\right)\left(\!\!\binom{4}{7}\!\!\right)\binom{-1}{7}\binom{10}{7}.\end{align}</math>
Two real or complex valued arguments
The binomial coefficient is generalized to two real or complex valued arguments using the gamma function or beta function via
: <math>{x \choose y}\frac{\Gamma(x+1)}{\Gamma(y+1) \Gamma(x-y+1)} \frac{1}{(x+1) \Beta(y+1, x-y+1)}.</math>
This definition inherits these following additional properties from <math>\Gamma</math>:
: <math>{x \choose y}\frac{\sin (y \pi)}{\sin(x \pi)} {-y-1 \choose -x-1} \frac{\sin((x-y) \pi)}{\sin (x \pi)} {y-x-1 \choose y};</math>
moreover,
: <math>{x \choose y} \cdot {y \choose x}= \frac{\sin((x-y) \pi)}{(x-y) \pi}.</math>
The resulting function has been little-studied, apparently first being graphed in . Notably, many binomial identities fail: <math display"inline">\binom{n }{ m} \binom{n }{ n-m}</math> but <math display"inline">\binom{-n}{m} \neq \binom{-n}{-n-m}</math> for n positive (so <math>-n</math> negative). The behavior is quite complex, and markedly different in various octants (that is, with respect to the x and y axes and the line <math>yx</math>), with the behavior for negative x having singularities at negative integer values and a checkerboard of positive and negative regions:
* in the octant <math>0 \leq y \leq x</math> it is a smoothly interpolated form of the usual binomial, with a ridge ("Pascal's ridge").
* in the octant <math>0 \leq x \leq y</math> and in the quadrant <math>x \geq 0, y \leq 0</math> the function is close to zero.
* in the quadrant <math>x \leq 0, y \geq 0</math> the function is alternatingly very large positive and negative on the parallelograms with vertices <math display="block">(-n,m+1), (-n,m), (-n-1,m-1), (-n-1,m)</math>
* in the octant <math>0 > x > y</math> the behavior is again alternatingly very large positive and negative, but on a square grid.
* in the octant <math>-1 > y > x + 1</math> it is close to zero, except for near the singularities.
Generalization to q-series
The binomial coefficient has a q-analog generalization known as the Gaussian binomial coefficient.
Generalization to infinite cardinals
The definition of the binomial coefficient can be generalized to infinite cardinals by defining:
: <math>{\alpha \choose \beta} \left| \left\{ B \subseteq A : \left|B\right| \beta \right\} \right|</math>
where is some set with cardinality <math>\alpha</math>. One can show that the generalized binomial coefficient is well-defined, in the sense that no matter what set we choose to represent the cardinal number <math>\alpha</math>, <math display="inline">{\alpha \choose \beta}</math> will remain the same. For finite cardinals, this definition coincides with the standard definition of the binomial coefficient.
Assuming the Axiom of Choice, one can show that <math display"inline">{\alpha \choose \alpha} 2^{\alpha}</math> for any infinite cardinal <math>\alpha</math>.
See also
* Binomial transform
* Delannoy number
* Eulerian number
* Hypergeometric function
* List of factorial and binomial topics
* Macaulay representation of an integer
* Motzkin number
* Multiplicities of entries in Pascal's triangle
* Narayana number
* Star of David theorem
* Sun's curious identity
* Table of Newtonian series
* Trinomial expansion
Notes
References
*
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*
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External links
*
*
Category:Combinatorics
Category:Factorial and binomial topics
Category:Integer sequences
Category:Triangles of numbers
Category:Operations on numbers
Category:Articles with example Python (programming language) code
Category:Articles with example Scheme (programming language) code
Category:Articles with example C code
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binomial_coefficient
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Bill Holbrook
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Bill Holbrook (born 1958) is an American cartoonist and webcomic writer and artist, best known for his syndicated comic strip On the Fastrack.
Born in Los Angeles, Holbrook grew up in Huntsville, Alabama, and began drawing at an early age. While majoring in illustration and visual design at Auburn University, Holbrook served as art director of the student newspaper, doing editorial cartoons and a weekly comic strip. At the same time, his work was being published in the Huntsville Times and the Monroe Journal. After graduation in 1980, he joined the Atlanta Constitution as an editorial staff artist.
During a 1982 visit to relatives on the West Coast, Holbrook met Peanuts creator, Charles Schulz. Following his advice and encouragement, Holbrook created a strip in the fall of that year about a college graduate working in a rundown diner. It did not stir syndicate interest, but what he learned on the strip helped him when he created On the Fastrack.
Eleven days before On the Fastrack made its syndicated debut (March 19, 1984), Holbrook met Teri Peitso on a blind date. They were married on Pearl Harbor Day, 1985. They have two daughters, Chandler and Haviland. Peitso-Holbrook's novels have been nominated for both Edgar Awards and Agatha Awards. She is currently an assistant professor in literacy education at Georgia State University. The family lives in the Atlanta area.
On October 3, 1988, Holbrook began his second strip, Safe Havens, and his third strip, Kevin and Kell was launched in September 1995.
Comic strips
Every week Holbrook writes the story line for the next three weeks for one of his strips and draws the next three weeks' worth of strips for another. In 2010, characters from On the Fastrack and Safe Havens began appearing in both strips.
On the Fastrack - About the misadventures at Fastrack, Inc., On the Fastrack has been distributed by King Features Syndicate since 1984. It now appears in 75 newspapers nationwide.
Safe Havens - Initially about a day care center, this strip evolved into the adventures of Samantha Argus and her friends and is now syndicated nationally to over 50 newspapers.
Kevin and Kell - Originally an online-only strip but was also published in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution for some years, Kevin and Kell centers on the mixed marriage between a rabbit, Kevin and a grey wolf, Kell Dewclaw. The plot revolves around species-related humor, satire, and interpersonal conflict.
Duel In The Somme - Holbrook illustrated a story by Ben Bova and Rob Balder in this strip about a romantic rivalry between a computer-simulation designer and his boss.
References
External links
Category:1958 births
Category:American comic strip cartoonists
Category:American webcomic creators
Category:Artists from Los Angeles
Category:Artists from Alabama
Category:Auburn University alumni
Category:Living people
Category:Writers from Huntsville, Alabama
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Holbrook
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Bruce Campbell
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| birth_place = Royal Oak, Michigan, U.S.
| occupation =
| years_active = 1972–present
| spouse =
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}}
| children = 2
| website =
}}
Bruce Lorne Campbell (born June 22, 1958) is an American actor and filmmaker. He is known best for his role as Ash Williams in Sam Raimi's Evil Dead horror series, beginning with the short movie Within the Woods (1978). He has also featured in many low-budget cult movies, such as Crimewave (1985), Maniac Cop (1988), Sundown: The Vampire in Retreat (1989), and Bubba Ho-Tep (2002).
Campbell had the main roles of the television series The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr. (1993–1994) and Jack of All Trades (2000), and a recurring role as Autolycus, King of Thieves in Hercules: The Legendary Journeys (1995–1999) and Xena: Warrior Princess (1995–1999). He played Sam Axe on the USA Network series Burn Notice (2007–2013) and reprised his role as Ash for the Starz series Ash vs. Evil Dead (2015–2018). He also appeared in The Escort (2015).
Campbell directed, produced, and featured in the documentaries Fanalysis (2002) and A Community Speaks (2004); co-wrote, directed, produced, and featured in the movie Man with the Screaming Brain (2005); and directed, produced, and featured in a parody of his career My Name Is Bruce (2007).
Campbell is known for frequent collaborations with the aforementioned Raimi, his brother Ted, Josh Becker, and Scott Spiegel.
Early life
Bruce Lorne Campbell was born in Royal Oak, Michigan, on June 22, 1958, the son of advertising executive and college professor Charles Newton Campbell and homemaker Joanne Louise (née Pickens). He is of English and Scottish ancestry, His father was also an actor and director for local theater.
Career
Film
.]]
Campbell and Raimi collaborated with a 30-minute Super 8 version of the first Evil Dead movie, titled Within the Woods (1978), which was initially used to attract investors. He and Raimi got together with family and friends to begin working on The Evil Dead (1981). While featuring as the protagonist, Campbell also had participation with the production of the movie, receiving a co-executive producer credit. Raimi wrote, directed, and edited the movie, while Rob Tapert produced. After an endorsement by horror author Stephen King, the movie slowly began to receive attention and offers for distribution. Four years after its original release, it became the most popular movie in the UK. It was then distributed in the United States, resulting in the sequels Evil Dead II (1987) and Army of Darkness (1992).
Campbell was also drawn in the Marvel Zombie comics as his character, Ash Williams. He is featured in five comics, all in the series Marvel Zombies vs. Army of Darkness''. In them, he fights alongside the Marvel heroes against the heroes and people who have become zombies (deadites) while in search of the Necronomicon (Book of the Names of the Dead). Campbell also played as Coach Boomer in the movie “Sky High”.
He has appeared in several of Raimi's movies other than the Evil Dead series, notably having cameo appearances in the director's Spider-Man film series. Campbell also joined the cast of Raimi's movie Darkman and The Quick and the Dead, though having no actual screen time in the latter movie's theatrical version. In March 2022, Campbell was announced to have a cameo in Raimi's Marvel Cinematic Universe film Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.
Campbell often performs quirky roles, such as Elvis Presley for the movie Bubba Ho-Tep. Along with Bubba Ho-Tep, he played a supporting role in Maniac Cop and Maniac Cop 2, and spoofed his career in the self-directed My Name is Bruce.
Other mainstream movies for Campbell include supporting or featured roles in the Coen Brothers movie The Hudsucker Proxy, the Michael Crichton adaptation Congo, the movie version of ''McHale's Navy, Escape from L.A.'' (the sequel to John Carpenter's Escape from New York), the Jim Carrey drama The Majestic and the 2005 Disney movie Sky High.
Campbell had a major voice role for the 2009 animated adaptation of the children's book Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, and a supporting voice role for Pixar's Cars 2.
Campbell produced the 2013 remake of The Evil Dead, along with Raimi and Rob Tapert, appearing in the movie's post-credits scene in a cameo role with the expectation he would reprise that role in Army of Darkness 2. The next year, the comedy metal band Psychostick released a song titled "Bruce Campbell" on their album IV: Revenge of the Vengeance that pays a comedic tribute to his past roles.
Campbell worked as an executive producer for the 2023 movie Evil Dead Rise.
Television
in 2013]]
Other than cinema, Campbell has appeared in a number of television series. He featured in The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr. a boisterous science fiction comedy western created by Jeffrey Boam and Carlton Cuse that played for one season. He played a lawyer turned bounty hunter who was trying to hunt down John Bly, the man who killed his father. He featured in the television series Jack of All Trades, set on a fictional island occupied by the French in 1801. Campbell was also credited as co-executive producer, among others. The show was directed by Eric Gruendemann, and was produced by various people, including Sam Raimi. The show was broadcast for two seasons, from 2000 to 2001. He had a recurring role as "Bill Church Jr." based upon the character of Morgan Edge from the Superman comics on Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman.
From 1996 to 1997, Campbell was a recurring guest actor of the television series Ellen as Ed Billik, who becomes Ellen's boss when she sells her bookstore in season four.
He is also known for his supporting role as the recurring character Autolycus ("King of Thieves") on both Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and Xena: Warrior Princess, which reunited him with producer Rob Tapert. Campbell played Hercules/Xena series producer Tapert in two episodes of Hercules set in the present. He directed a number of episodes of Hercules and Xena, including the Hercules series finale.
Campbell also obtained the main role of race car driver Hank Cooper for the Disney made-for-television remake of The Love Bug.
Campbell had a critically acclaimed dramatic guest role as a grief-stricken detective seeking revenge for his father's murder in a two-part episode of the fourth season of Homicide: Life on the Street. Campbell later played the part of a bigamous demon in The X-Files episode "Terms of Endearment". He also featured as Agent Jackman in the episode "Witch Way Now?" of the WB series Charmed, as well as playing a state police officer in an episode of the short-lived series American Gothic titled "Meet The Beetles".
Campbell co-featured in the television series Burn Notice, which was broadcast from 2007 to 2013 by USA Network. He portrayed Sam Axe, a beer-chugging, former Navy SEAL now working as an unlicensed private investigator and occasional mercenary with his old friend Michael Westen, the show's main character. When working undercover, his character frequently used the alias Chuck Finley, which Bruce later revealed was the name of one of his father's old co-workers. Campbell was the star of a 2011 Burn Notice made-for-television prequel focusing on Sam's Navy SEAL career, titled Burn Notice: The Fall of Sam Axe.
In 2014, Campbell played Santa Claus for an episode of The Librarians. Campbell played Ronald Reagan in season 2 of the FX original series Fargo. More recently Campbell reprised his role as Ashley "Ash" Williams in Ash vs Evil Dead, a series based upon the Evil Dead series that began his career. Ash vs Evil Dead began airing on Starz on October 31, 2015, and was renewed by the cable channel for second and third seasons, before being cancelled.
In January 2019, Travel Channel announced a new version of the ''Ripley's Believe It or Not!'' reality series, with Campbell serving as host and executive producer. The 10-episode season debuted on June 9, 2019.
Voice acting
Campbell is featured as a voice actor for several video games. He provides the voice of Ash in the four games based on the Evil Dead movies series: Evil Dead: Hail to the King, Evil Dead: A Fistful of Boomstick, Evil Dead: Regeneration and Evil Dead: The Game. He has expressed his intent to return to the role in an upcoming Evil Dead animated series. He also provided the voice of Ash in Dead by Daylight. Despite the inclusion of his character "Ash Williams" in Telltale Games' Poker Night 2, Danny Webber voices the character in the game, instead of Bruce Campbell.
Campbell also provided voice talent in other titles such as Pitfall 3D: Beyond the Jungle, Spider-Man, Spider-Man 2, Spider-Man 3, and The Amazing Spider-Man.
He provided the voice of main character Jake Logan for the PC game, Tachyon: The Fringe, the voice of main character Jake Burton for the PlayStation game Broken Helix and the voice of Magnanimous for Megas XLR. Campbell voiced the pulp adventurer Lobster Johnson in Hellboy: The Science of Evil and has done voice-over work for the Codemaster's game Hei$t, a game which was announced on January 28, 2010, to have been "terminated". He also provided the voice of The Mayor for the 2009 movie Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs, the voice of Rod "Torque" Redline in Cars 2, the voice of Himcules in the 2003 Nickelodeon TV series My Life as a Teenage Robot, and the voice of Fugax in the 2006 movie The Ant Bully. Campbell also provided voice-over and motion capture for Sgt. Lennox in the Exo Zombies mode of Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare.WritingIn addition to acting and occasionally directing, Campbell has become a writer, starting with an autobiography, If Chins Could Kill: Confessions of a B Movie Actor, published in June 2001. The autobiography was a successful New York Times Best Seller. It describes Campbell's career to date as an actor in low-budget movies and television, providing his insight into "Blue-Collar Hollywood". He later recorded an audio play adaptation of Make Love with fellow Michigan actors, including longtime collaborator Ted Raimi. This radio drama was released by the independent label Rykodisc and spans six discs with a six-hour running time.
In addition to his books, Campbell also wrote a column for X-Ray Magazine in 2001, an issue of the popular comic series The Hire, and comic book adaptations of his Man with the Screaming Brain. Most recently he wrote the introduction to Josh Becker's The Complete Guide to Low-Budget Feature Filmmaking.
In late 2016, Campbell announced that he would be releasing a third book, Hail to the Chin: Further Confessions of a B Movie Actor, which will detail his life from where If Chins Could Kill ended. Hail to the Chin was released in August 2017, and accompanied by a book tour across the United States and Europe.
Campbell maintained a weblog on his official website, where he posted mainly about politics and the movie industry. However, the website has since been deleted.
Bruce Campbell Horror Film Festival
Since 2014, the Bruce Campbell Horror Film Festival, narrated and organized by Campbell, was held in the Muvico Theater in Rosemont, Illinois. The first festival was originally from August 21 to 25, 2014, presented by Wizard World, as part of the Chicago Comicon. The second festival was from August 20 to 23, 2015, with guests Tom Holland and Eli Roth. The third festival took place over four days in August 2016. Guests of the event were Sam Raimi, Robert Tapert and Doug Benson.Personal lifeCampbell married Christine Deveau in 1983; they had two children before divorcing in 1989. He met costume designer Ida Gearon while working on Mindwarp. They married in 1991. They reside in Jacksonville, Oregon.
Campbell is a Kentucky Colonel.Filmography{| class"wikitable"
|+Key
| style"background:#FFFFCC;"|
| Denotes works that have not yet been released
|}
Film
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! style="width:33px;"|Year
! style="width:225px;"|Film
! style="width:175px;"| Role
! style="width:135px;"| Director
! style="width:160px;"| Notes
|-
| 1977
| ''It's Murder!
| Cop on Bicycle
| rowspan="2" | Sam Raimi
|
|-
| rowspan="2" | 1978
| Within the Woods
| Bruce
| Short film; also executive producer
|-
| Shemp Eats the Moon
| Shemp Malone
| John Cameron
| Short film; also producer
|-
| 1979
| Attack of the Helping Hand
| The Hamburger Helper Helping Hand / The Pillsbury Doughboy
| Scott Spiegel
| Uncredited roles<br>Short film; also cinematographer
|-
| 1980
| The Blind Waiter
| The Blind Waiter
| Josh Becker and Scott Spiegel
| Uncredited role<br>Short film
|-
| 1981
| The Evil Dead
| Ash Williams
| Sam Raimi
| Also executive producer
|-
| rowspan="2" | 1982
| Cleveland Smith: Bounty Hunter
| Cleveland Smith
| Josh Becker
| rowspan="2" | Short film
|-
| Blood Simple investor trailer
| Julian Marty
| Joel and Ethan Coen
|-
| 1983
| Going Back
| Brice Chapman
| Ron Teachworth
|
|-
| rowspan="2" | 1985
| Crimewave''
| Renaldo 'The Heel'
| Sam Raimi
| Also co-producer
|-
| Thou Shalt Not Kill... Except
| Video newscaster
| Josh Becker
| Uncredited cameo<br>Also story writer
|-
| 1987
| Evil Dead II
| Ash Williams
| Sam Raimi
| Also co-producer
|-
| 1988
| Maniac Cop
| Jack Forrest
| William Lustig
|
|-
| rowspan="4" | 1989
| Intruder
| Officer Howard
| Scott Spiegel
|
|-
| Moontrap
| Ray Tanner
| Robert Dyke
|
|-
| Easy Wheels
|
| David O'Malley
| Producer
|-
| The Dead Next Door
| Raimi & Commander Carpenter
| J.R. Bookwalter
| Voices
|-
| rowspan="3" | 1990
| Sundown: The Vampire in Retreat
| Robert Van Helsing
| Anthony Hickox
|
|-
| Maniac Cop 2
| Jack Forrest
| William Lustig
|
|-
| Darkman
| Final Shemp
| Sam Raimi
| Cameo
|-
| 1991
| Lunatics: A Love Story
| Ray
| Josh Becker
| Also producer
|-
| rowspan="5" | 1992
| Eddie Presley
| Asylum Attendant
| Jeff Burr
| Cameo
|-
| Waxwork II: Lost in Time
| John Loftmore
| Anthony Hickox
|
|-
| Mindwarp
| Stover
| Steve Barnett
|
|-
| The Nutt House
|
| Adam Rifkin
| Writer
|-
| Army of Darkness
| Ash Williams
| Sam Raimi
| Also co-producer
|-
| 1994
| The Hudsucker Proxy
| Smitty
| Joel and Ethan Coen
|
|-
| rowspan="3" | 1995
| Congo
| Charles Travis
| Frank Marshall
|
|-
| The Quick and the Dead
| Wedding Shemp
| Sam Raimi
| Deleted scene
|-
| The Demolitionist
| Raffle Winner
| Robert Kurtzman
| rowspan="2" | Uncredited cameo
|-
| rowspan="2" | 1996
| Fargo
| Soap opera actor on TV
| Joel and Ethan Coen
|-
| Escape from L.A.
| Surgeon General of Beverly Hills
| John Carpenter
|
|-
| rowspan="4" | 1997
| In the Line of Duty: Blaze of Glory
| Jeff Erickson
| Dick Lowry
|
|-
| ''Menno's Mind
| Mick Dourif
| Jon Kroll
|
|-
| Running Time
| Carl
| Josh Becker
|
|-
| McHale's Navy
| Virgil
| Bryan Spicer
|
|-
| 1998
| The Ice Rink
| Actor
| Jean-Philippe Toussaint
|
|-
| 1999
| From Dusk Till Dawn 2: Texas Blood Money
| Barry
| Scott Spiegel
| Direct-to-DVD
|-
| rowspan="2" | 2000
| Icebreaker
| Carl Greig
| David Giancola
|
|-
| Timequest
| William Roberts
| Robert Dyke
|
|-
| rowspan="2" | 2001
| Hubert's Brain
| Thompson
| Phil Robinson
| Voice<br>Short film
|-
| The Majestic
| Roland the Intrepid Explorer
| Frank Darabont
| Cameo
|-
| rowspan="5" | 2002
| Spider-Man
| Ring Announcer
| Sam Raimi
| Cameo
|-
| 2023
| Evil Dead Rise
| Ash Williams
| Lee Cronin
| Voice; uncredited cameo; also executive producer
| 2 episodes
|-
| Randy Cunningham: 9th Grade Ninja
| The Creep (voice)
| Episode; "Ball's Well That Friend's Well"
|-
| 2015–2018
| Ash vs Evil Dead
| Ash Williams
| 30 episodes; also executive producer
|-
| 2018–2020
| ''Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure
| King Edmund (voice)
| 7 episodes
|-
| 2018
| Lodge 49
| Gary Green
| 3 episodes
|-
| 2019
| Ripley's Believe It or Not!
| Himself (host)
| 10 episodes; also executive producer
|-
| 2020–2021
| The Last Kids on Earth
| Chef (voice)
| 11 episodes
|-
| rowspan="4" | 2021
| Adopted
| John Voss
| Unaired pilot
|-
|A.P. Bio
| John Griffin
| Episode: "Tons of Rue"
|-
|Archer
| McGinley (voice)
| Episode: "Dingo, Baby, et Cetera"
|-
| One December Night
| Steve Bedford
| Television film
|-
| 2022
| My Southern Family Christmas
| Everett Bergeron
| Television film
|-
| rowspan="2" | 2023
| Impractical Jokers
| Himself (guest host)
| Episode: "Bruce Campbell"
|-
| Discontinued
| Himself (host)
| Streaming series, 10 episodes
|-
| 2024
| Hysteria!
| Chief Ben Dandridge
| 7 episodes
|-
| 2025
| Invincible
| Demon
| Voice; 1 episode
|-
|}
Video games
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Year
! Title
! Role
! class="unsortable" | Notes
|-
| 1997
| Broken Helix
| Jake Burton
|
|-
| 1998
| Pitfall 3D: Beyond the Jungle
| Pitfall Harry Jr
|
|-
| rowspan="2" | 2000
| Tachyon: The Fringe
| Protagonist
|
|-
| Evil Dead: Hail to the King
| Ash Williams
|
|-
| 2002
| Spider-Man
| Tutorial Narrator
|
|-
| 2003
| Evil Dead: A Fistful of Boomstick
| Ash Williams
|
|-
| 2004
| Spider-Man 2
| Tutorial Narrator
|
|-
| 2005
| Evil Dead: Regeneration
| Ash Williams
|
|-
| 2006
| The Ant Bully
| Fugax
|
|-
| 2007
| Spider-Man 3
| Tutorial Narrator
|
|-
| rowspan="2" | 2011
| Army of Darkness: Defense
| Ash Williams
| Game Closed
|-
| Cars 2
| Rod "Torque" Redline
|
|-
| 2012
| The Amazing Spider-Man
| The Extreme Reporter
|
|-
| 2014
| TOME: Immortal Arena
| Tutorial Narrator
| Game Closed
|-
| 2015
| Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare
| Lennox
| Exo Zombies DLC
|-
| 2019
| Dead by Daylight
| rowspan="4" | Ash Williams
| Ash vs Evil Dead DLC
|-
| 2022
| Evil Dead: The Game
| Also producer
|-
| rowspan="2" | 2023
| Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II
|
|-
| Call of Duty: Warzone 2.0
|
|}2024- Spooky Pinball’s-Evil Dead Callouts
Accolades
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Year
! Award
! Category
! Title
! Result
|-
| 1993
| Fangoria Chainsaw Award
| Best Actor
| Army of Darkness
|
|-
| rowspan="2" | 2003
| DVD Exclusive Award
| Best Audio Commentary (Limited Edition)
| The Evil Dead
|
|-
| The Comedy Festival
| Film Discovery Jury Award for Best Actor
| rowspan="4" | Bubba Ho-Tep
|
|-
| rowspan="2" | 2004
| Chlotrudis Award
| rowspan="2" | Best Actor
|
|-
| Fangoria Chainsaw Award
|
|-
| 2005
| Fantasporto Film Festival
| International Fantasy Film Award for Best Actor
|
|-
| 2007
| Ashland Independent Film Festival
| colspan="2" | Rogue Award
|
|-
| 2010
| Satellite Awards
| Best Supporting Actor – Series, Miniseries or Television Film
| Burn Notice
|
|-
| rowspan="2" | 2016
| Fangoria Chainsaw Award
| rowspan="2" | Best Actor on Television
| rowspan="5" | Ash vs Evil Dead
|
|-
| Saturn Awards
|
|-
| rowspan="2" | 2017
| Fangoria Chainsaw Award
| Best TV Actor
|
|-
| rowspan="2" | Saturn Awards
| rowspan="2" | Best Actor on a Television Series
|
|-
| 2018
|
|}
See also
* Make Love! The Bruce Campbell Way ()
References
External links
*
*
* [https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=101284771 "Not My Job"] Bruce Campbell appears on Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!''
Category:1958 births
Category:Living people
Category:American male film actors
Category:American male television actors
Category:American male video game actors
Category:American male voice actors
Category:American people of English descent
Category:American people of Scottish descent
Category:Male actors from Michigan
Category:People from Jacksonville, Oregon
Category:People from Royal Oak, Michigan
Category:Western Michigan University alumni
Category:20th-century American male actors
Category:21st-century American male actors
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruce_Campbell
|
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|
4671
|
Baron Aberdare
|
Baron Aberdare, of Duffryn in the County of Glamorgan, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created on 23 August 1873 for the Liberal politician Henry Bruce. He served as Home Secretary from 1868 to 1873.
His grandson, the third Baron, was a soldier, cricketer and tennis player and a member of the International Olympic Committee. His son, the fourth Baron, held office in the Conservative administration of Edward Heath and was later a Deputy Speaker of the House of Lords. Lord Aberdare was one of the ninety-two elected hereditary peers that were allowed to remain in the House of Lords after the passing of the House of Lords Act 1999.
, the title is held by his son, the fifth Baron, who succeeded in 2005 and was elected to the House of Lords in 2009.
Lineage
Henry Bruce, 1st Baron Aberdare, was the son of John Bruce-Pryce (born John Bruce Knight in Barnstaple, Devon), the eldest son of John Knight (died 1799) and Margaret Bruce (died 1809), daughter and heir of William Bruce of Llanblethian, Glamorgan. He descends from the Welsh Bruces, a branch of Bruce of Kennet of Clackmannan that dates to the 14th century.
In 1805, Lord Aberdare's father changed his surname from Knight to Bruce when he reached the age of majority and inherited the Bruce estates in Llanblethian, as per his grandfather's will. His younger brothers were Rev. William Bruce Knight (1785–1845) and Sir James Knight-Bruce (1791–1866).
In 1837, he changed his name again to Bruce-Pryce when he inherited Duffryn and the Monknash estates from a distant cousin, Frances Anne Grey (née Pryce), the daughter and heiress of Thomas Pryce, who had married Hon. William Booth Grey (1773–1852; the second son of the 5th Earl of Stamford). The Lewis family of Van Castle, Glamorgan, had been prominent in politics since the 16th century.
Coat of arms
The heraldic blazon for the coat of arms of the family is: Or, a saltire gules, on a chief of the last a martlet of the field.
Baron Aberdare (1873)
Henry Austin Bruce, 1st Baron Aberdare (1815–1895)
Henry Campbell Bruce, 2nd Baron Aberdare (1851–1929)
Hon. Henry Lyndhurst Bruce (1881–1914), killed in action at Ypres
Clarence Napier Bruce, 3rd Baron Aberdare (1885–1957)
Morys George Lyndhurst Bruce, 4th Baron Aberdare (1919–2005)
Alastair John Lyndhurst Bruce, 5th Baron Aberdare (born 1947)
The heir apparent is the present holder's son, the Hon. Hector Morys Napier Bruce (born 1974).
Title succession chart
References
Bibliography
Category:Baronies in the Peerage of the United Kingdom
Category:Noble titles created in 1873
Category:Peerages created for UK MPs
*
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baron_Aberdare
|
2025-04-05T18:26:55.858715
|
4673
|
Boy band
|
A boy band is a vocal group consisting of young male singers, usually in their teenage years or in their twenties at the time of formation. Generally, boy bands perform love songs marketed towards girls and young women. Many boy bands dance as well as sing, usually giving highly choreographed performances. South Korean boy bands usually also have designated rappers. Most boy band members do not play musical instruments, either in recording sessions or on-stage. They are similar in concept to their counterparts known as girl groups.
Some boy bands are formed on their own, but most are created by talent managers or record producers who hold auditions. The popularity of boy bands has peaked three times: first in the 1960s to '70s, with e.g. the Jackson 5 and the Osmonds; the second time during the late 1980s, the 1990s and the 2000s, when acts such as New Kids on the Block, Take That, Backstreet Boys, Boyzone, NSYNC, Five, Westlife and Blue dominated global pop charts; and the latest time in the 2010s up to the present, with the emergence of groups such as Big Time Rush, the Wanted, One Direction, and K-pop acts such as BTS and Seventeen.
History
The term was not established until the late 1980s when Lou Pearlman decided to form a record company to promote a new singing and dancing group after becoming fascinated with the success of New Kids on the Block.
Although generally described as a rock band, the highest-selling band in history – the Beatles – have been described by several journalists as "the first" or "the original" boy band, "before anyone had thought of the term", exclusively due to the enthusiastic response they received from their young female audience.
Other critics, however, have pointed out that this assessment of the Beatles as a "boy band" could be applied to all other bands of the 1960s, saying, "if they were a (boy band), so was everyone else" and is countered by others, including Ringo Starr, who point out that, from the beginning, the Beatles wrote and exercised creative control over their own music, played their own instruments, were not manufactured by a record label, and did not feature the choreographed dance moves that later came to be associated with boy bands. which featured a music group of the same name, created for the show, that consisted of the four starring actors. The Monkees had a career as a rock and pop band after their songs from the TV series were released as successful records. With the success of North American boy bands like New Kids on the Block in East Asia, Japanese entertainment company Johnny & Associates formed SMAP in 1992. The group enjoyed tremendous success, selling over 35 million records.
In 1992, after the disbandment of the heavy metal band Sinawe, in which he had a brief stint, Seo Taiji formed the boy band Seo Taiji and Boys (Korean: 서태지와 아이들) together with dancers Lee Juno and Yang Hyun-suk, which went on to become highly successful and created a craze at the time. Seo Taiji and Boys is credited with changing the South Korean music industry by pioneering the incorporation of rap and breakdance as well as the fusion of Korean music and various popular Western music genres in Korean popular music, and in turn creating the prototype for the modern hybrid K-pop genre or "rap-dance", as it was called at the time, and K-pop groups. They also left a lasting impact by explicitly putting social criticism at the forefront of their music, as well as paving the way for artistic freedom in South Korea by challenging censorship laws and the television networks hegemony over the music market. In 1995 the Korean Broadband is not 6 ft to a particular location casting Ethics Committee demanded that Seo Taiji and Boys change the lyrics for "Regret of the Times". As a result, Seo decided to release the song as a purely instrumental track. This incited protests and resulted in the abolishment of music pre-censorship in Korea. Seo Taiji also did not have to rely on television networks due to the fact that he owned his own studio. This autonomy allowed Seo to bring subcultures in Korea, such as heavy metal, to the forefront of popular culture and challenge pervasive social norms. The band's independent success diminished the power of the television networks to dictate which artists appeared on shows, and gave rise to the influence of record labels and talent agencies. In 1996, Seo Taiji and Boys disbanded. In April 1996, Billboard reported that the band's first three albums had each sold over 1.6 million copies, with the fourth nearing two million, making all four some of the best-selling albums of all time in South Korea to this day. Lee Juno became a record producer, and Yang Hyun-suk was successful in founding YG Entertainment, one of the three biggest record companies in the country. Seo Taiji returned to music two years later with a successful solo career as a rock artist; he rose to become one of the most prominent and influential cultural icons in South Korea and was dubbed "the President of culture". In 2017, Seo Taiji released a 25th Anniversary album with his greatest hits and remakes by prominent Korean artists, including the group BTS. He also held a joint celebratory concert with the latter, in which he acknowledged them as his spiritual successors in K-pop due to the socially conscious thematic similarities in their music as well their shared hip hop leanings, and metaphorically passed the torch, saying "This is your generation now".
sold over 100 million records.]]
In the early 1990s in North America, with New Kids on the Block's continued success and Color Me Badd also having success, boy bands became a continued staple of the Billboard charts. Continuing this success in the mid-1990s, most prominent boy bands were African American and had R&B and gospel elements, such as the groups All-4-One (formed in 1993) and Boyz II Men (formed in 1988). Boyz II Men are also the most successful boy band act on the U.S. Hot 100 as well as the Australian Singles Chart. Although they had success on the Billboard charts, they were not marketed towards youth but more towards adults. It was not until 1997 and the change to pop-oriented groups such as Backstreet Boys, 98 Degrees, NSYNC, the Moffatts, and Hanson that boy bands exploded commercially and dominated the market in the United States. This late 1990s marked the height of boy band popularity in North America, which has not been seen since.
Arguably the most successful boy band manager from the U.S. was Lou Pearlman, who founded commercially successful acts such as the Backstreet Boys in 1993, NSYNC and LFO in 1995, O-Town in 2000, and US5 in 2005. Backstreet Boys and NSYNC became the two biggest boy bands in the late 1990s and the early 2000s, and Backstreet Boys went on to become the best-selling boy band in history with over 100 million records sold. and was initially managed by a former member of the band Ronan Keating. Westlife would eventually overtake Take That in number one's tally in the UK although Take That's overall UK sales are still higher. In 2012, the Official Charts Company revealed the biggest selling singles artists in British music chart history with Take That placed 15th overall and the highest selling boyband act (9.3 million), followed by Boyzone at 29 (7.1 million) and Westlife at 34 (6.8 million). Even though Cowell is known to have managed several successful boy bands, he is also infamous for passing on signing two of the biggest boybands to emerge from the 1990s and 2000s, Take That and Busted.
2000s: Backstreet Boys, NSYNC, Westlife and Jonas Brothers
are described as a pop boy band.]]
With the continued success of Backstreet Boys and *NSYNC, American and British groups like 98 Degrees, Westlife, O-Town, A1, Blue, and Busted gained quick popularity both domestically and internationally. International boy bands would also occasionally spring up, such as the Moldovan band O-Zone, and Overground. American Christian boy band Plus One also enjoyed brief remarkable success during this time.
At the height of boy band popularity in North America, MTV created their own parody boyband, 2gether. Like the Monkees in the 1960s, they were a manufactured act composed of actors. 2gether played off of the idea that every successful boy band must have five distinct personality types: the bad boy, the shy one, the young one, the older brother type, and a heart throb.
Since 2001, the dominance of traditional boy bands on pop charts began to fade in the western hemisphere, although Gil Kaufman of MTV has described "new boy bands" that are "more likely to resemble My Chemical Romance, Sum 41, and Simple Plan.
In 2001, Taiwanese boy band F4 (called JVKV since 2007) blew up big as a result of the success of their TV drama Meteor Garden. According to Forbes, F4 has sold 3.5 million copies of their first two albums all over Asia as of July 2003.
With their success, many other Taiwanese boy bands emerged around this time, such as 5566 and Fahrenheit. In South Korea, Shinhwa also spread hallyu wave throughout Asia such as Japan, Thailand, Singapore, Taiwan, Hong Kong and China. Also in 2001, a new all-male pop band and dance group boyband hailing from Japan called Exile debuted under Avex Group's label Rhythm Zone with 14 members, putting them on par with Super Junior, a South Korean boy band, who at the time, had had 13 members at its peak.
Japanese boy band Arashi has sold over 30 million copies of their records since their first release in 1999. They had the yearly best-selling single in Japan in 2008 and 2009. In 2003 SMAP released the single "Sekai ni Hitotsu Dake no Hana" that has become the third best-selling single ever in Japan, with over three million copies sold.
In North America, the Jonas Brothers rose to fame from promotion on the Disney Channel in 2008. Other boy bands like JLS and Mindless Behavior also emerged and experienced remarkable success around this time. However, apart from them, boy bands have not seen the commercial boom experienced in the genre from the mid to late nineties in North America.
The mid 2000s, especially the United Kingdom and the rest of Europe, saw the continued longevity of nineties boy bands such as Backstreet Boys and Westlife (before they disbanded in 2012), and the successful comeback of Take That in 2005, Boyzone in 2007, and New Kids on the Block in 2008. Some sections of the press have referred to these acts, particularly those who have reformed after a previous split, such as Take That, Boyzone, and 98 Degrees, as 'man bands'.2010s and 2020s: Big Time Rush, One Direction and rise of K-pop
rose to fame in 2011.]]
In the early 2010s, there was somewhat of a resurgence of boy band popularity in countries where the trend had not maintained, with the emergence of new boy bands like Big Time Rush, the Wanted, and One Direction and the formation of supergroup NKOTBSB which comprised members of New Kids on the Block and Backstreet Boys. NKOTBSB's success inspired boy bands who were fairly popular during the 1990s and 2000s to make a comeback, such as A1, Blue, 98 Degrees, Five, 911, and O-Town. Like 2gether and the Monkees, Big Time Rush was a manufactured act created for a television show. One Direction were often credited as sparking a resurgence in the popularity and interest boy bands alongside being credited with forming part of a new "British Invasion" in the United States. Their Where We Are Tour was the highest-grossing tour by a vocal group in history and after the release of their fourth album, Four, they became the only group in the 58-year history of the Billboard 200 to have their first four albums debut at number one.
In Southeast Asia, local boy bands also emerged as a result of the continued success of Korean and Japanese boy bands. After the debut of the Philippines supergroup SB19 in 2018, the group appeared at number six on Billboard Year-End Social 50 chart, making them the first Southeast Asian act to reach the top 10 of the magazine's annual chart.
In South Korea, boy bands have been commercially successful. On the Circle Chart year-end albums chart of 2022, 7 of the top 10 and 13 of the top 20 albums are by boy bands or by subunits/members of boy bands. Seventeen's FML is the best-selling album of all time in South Korea, with more than 6.2 million copies sold, and BTS's Love Yourself: Her became the first album released since 2001 to sell more than 1 million copies.
In 2013, Billboard started covering music releases in K-pop, though K-pop had been entering the charts as early as 2009. By 2017, BTS crossed into the international music market, furthering the Korean Wave in the United States and becoming the first Korean group to receive a certification by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) with their single "Mic Drop". The band is the first Korean act to top the U.S. Billboard 200 with their studio album Love Yourself: Tear (2018) and have since hit the top of the U.S. charts with their albums Love Yourself: Answer (2018), Map of the Soul: Persona (2019), Map of the Soul: 7 (2020), Be (2020) and Proof. Love Yourself: Answer also broke South Korea's Gaon Album Chart's all-time monthly record previously set by Love Yourself: Tear and became the first Korean album certified Gold in the United States. SuperM later became the first K-pop group to debut at No. 1 in the U.S. Billboard 200. In 2020, BTS "Dynamite" debuted atop the Billboard Hot 100, making them the first all-South Korean act in Hot 100 history to debut at number one. It garnered the band their first Grammy nomination, for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance at 63rd Annual Grammy Awards, making them the first K-pop act to be nominated for one.
On 12 December 2024, South Korean boy group Stray Kids become the first act ever to debut at No. 1 on the U.S. Billboard 200 chart with their first six charting albums Oddinary (2022), Maxident (2022), 5-Star (2023), Rock-Star (2023), Ate (2024) and Hop (2024).
In Japan, Arashi was the best-selling music artist in Japan from 2013 through 2017 by value of sales and also having the yearly best-selling album in the country in 2010, 2011, 2013, 2015 and 2016. Other successful Japanese boy bands in this decade include Sandaime J Soul Brothers, the second best-selling music artist of 2016 in the country and Kanjani Eight, the fifth best-selling music artist of that year in Japan.
In Norway, the boy band Ballinciaga gained commercial success in 2022 with dance and party songs like "Dans På Bordet" and "Beklager (Guttaklubben)". The group is also known for keeping their identities anonymous by wearing pink-colored masks in the public. Other Norwegian boy bands that gained commercial success in the country in 2020s are Undergrunn and Tigergutt101 in 2022 and 2024 respectively.
Key factors of the concept
Seen as important to a "boy band" group's commercial success is the group's image, carefully controlled by managing all aspects of the group's attire, promotional materials (which are frequently supplied to teen magazines), and music videos. The key factor of a boy band is being trendy. This means that the band conforms to the most recent fashion and musical trends in the popular music scene. Typically, each member of the group will have some distinguishing feature and be portrayed as having a particular personality stereotype, such as "the baby", "the bad boy", or "the shy one". While managing the portrayal of popular musicians is as old as popular music, the particular pigeonholing of band members is a defining characteristic of boy and girl bands. In K-pop, officially designated positions within the group are common, such as "leader", "maknae" (Korean: 막내, English: "the youngest"), "visual", "center" "vocalist", "rapper" and "dancer". The latter three are based on the members' specialized skills and are further divided into "main-", "lead-" and "sub-" (vocalist/rapper/dancer) positions, with the members occupying the "main" positions often being considered the most skilled and having the most parts in songs or being highlighted during solo dance parts. The "leader" is the spokesperson who represents the group in public, and is in charge of mediating between group members, as well as between the group and the label.
In most cases, their music is written, arranged and produced by a producer who works with the band at all times and controls the group's sound – if necessary, to the point of hiring session singers to record guide vocals for each member of the group to sing individually if the members cannot harmonize well together. However, for clarity of each voice, recording each voice individually is most commonly the norm with most modern vocal groups. In recent years, auto-tune has become a popular tool in vocal producing, some boy bands have come under fire for that reason. Some have also come under fire for lip syncing in their performances as well, for example New Kids on the Block.
A typical boy band performance features elaborately choreographed dancing, with the members taking turns singing and/or rapping. Boy bands generally do not compose or produce their own material, unless the members lobby hard enough for creative control. However, some bands were created around the talent of a songwriter within the group like Gary Barlow of Take That or Tony Mortimer of East 17. It is not uncommon to find extra songs on an album written by one or more of the band members; however, their producers rarely use these as singles.
Since the 21st century, however, boy bands have been expected to write or at least contribute in some part lyrically to songs. Apart from the groups mentioned above who all had at least one primary songwriter from their beginning, other groups soon caught up. At the close of the nineties, groups like Backstreet Boys and *NSYNC who had previously used writers like Max Martin during their early albums began writing their own songs. Newer groups from late 2000s such as JLS have all made a point from early interviews that they write their own songs and hold their own image as this is an important part of marketing. Some bands like The Wanted have even spent time learning the craft of songwriting. There has also been a rising trend of so-called "songwriter-" or "producer idols" (Korean: Hangul 작곡돌, rev. Rom. jakgok-dol) in K-pop since the early 2000s. Nowadays, it is not uncommon for groups to have at least one member who is heavily involved in the songwriting and producing of the groups' music. In many cases, these members are the rappers in the group, who have often gained songwriting and producing experience while being active as amateur or underground rappers before joining the group. There is also a higher expectation for rappers to write their own lyrics due to self-expression being a core value of the hip-hop genre. There are cases of "producer idols" writing or producing for other artists outside of their solo or respective group work as well, such as BTS' RM and Suga.
Individuals can also go on to achieve greater success as a solo artist coming out of a boy band having used the groups popularity to build on. Usually this signals the end of the group until potential future reunions. Examples of this include Justin Timberlake from NSYNC, and Robbie Williams from Take That. Some boy band members have gone on to successful careers elsewhere in the media. In K-pop, it is expected and common practice for members to embark on solo endeavors as musical artists or in other entertainment sectors, such as acting, or as variety personalities, alongside their group career after a few years. At the latest, this happens around the time the eldest member reaches the age of 28 (in exceptional cases 30) and is drafted for mandatory military service, forcing the group into a temporary hiatus of at least 18 months. The other members then often go on to pursue solo endeavors and reconvene as a group while no member is serving, or after all members have completed their service.
Music genres
Although most boy bands consist of R&B or pop influences, other music genres, most notably country music and folk music, are also represented. South 65 and Marshall Dyllon, for example, were both country music boy bands. Il Divo, created by Simon Cowell in 2004, are a vocal group that performs operatic pop in several (mainly Italian) languages. Since then operatic/classical boy bands have become quite popular and common, especially in the UK. Since 2001, there has been some crossover with power pop and pop punk from bands that play live instruments. Just recently some boy bands decided to go back to their original doo-wop roots, most notably, The Overtones.
Controversy
Since the 2000s, groups such as Backstreet Boys and LFO have disliked the term "boy band" and have preferred to be known as a "male vocal group". Being categorized among boy bands was also the main reason the Moffatts split up. Boy bands have been accused by the music press of emphasizing the appearance and marketing of the group above the quality of music, deliberately trying to appeal to a preteen audience and for conforming to trends instead of being original. Such criticisms can become extremely scathing. Boy bands are often seen as being short-lived, although some acts such as the Jackson 5, Backstreet Boys, Human Nature, New Edition, SMAP, Shinhwa, Take That and Westlife have sustained lasting careers.
See also
* All-female band
References
Further reading
* External links
<!-- Don't add links to individual bands sites -->
* [http://www.boybandsradio.com Boybands Radio – Only boy bands 24/7]
* [http://top40.about.com/od/top10lists/tp/boyband10.htm Top 10 Boy Bands] at About.com
* [https://www.rollingstone.com/music/pictures/readers-poll-the-best-boy-bands-of-all-time-20120328 The Best Boy Bands of All Time]—Rolling Stone
* [http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/apr/29/list-best-boy-bands/ Best Boy Bands]—The Washington Times
* [http://www.billboard.com/articles/list/502728/10-biggest-boy-bands-1987-2012 10 Biggest Boy Bands (1987–2012)]—Billboard
Category:Pop music genres
Category:Types of musical groups
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boy_band
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2025-04-05T18:26:55.881640
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B-tree
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In computer science, a B-tree is a self-balancing tree data structure that maintains sorted data and allows searches, sequential access, insertions, and deletions in logarithmic time. The B-tree generalizes the binary search tree, allowing for nodes with more than two children. Unlike other self-balancing binary search trees, the B-tree is well suited for storage systems that read and write relatively large blocks of data, such as databases and file systems.
History
While working at Boeing Research Labs, Rudolf Bayer and Edward M. McCreight invented B-trees to efficiently manage index pages for large random-access files. The basic assumption was that indices would be so voluminous that only small chunks of the tree could fit in main memory. Bayer and McCreight's paper Organization and maintenance of large ordered indices McCreight, when asked "I want to know what B in B-Tree stands for," answered:<blockquote>Everybody does!
''So you just have no idea what a lunchtime conversation can turn into. So there we were, Rudy and I, at lunch. We had to give the thing a name.... We were working for Boeing at the time, but we couldn't use the name without talking to the lawyers. So there's a B.
It has to do with Balance. There's another B.
Rudy was the senior author. Rudy (Bayer) was several years older than I am, and had ... many more publications than I did. So there's another B.
And so at the lunch table, we never did resolve whether there was one of those that made more sense than the rest.
What Rudy likes to say is, the more you think about what the B in B-Tree means, the better you understand B-Trees!''</blockquote>
Definition
According to Knuth's definition, a B-tree of order m is a tree which satisfies the following properties:
# Every node has at most m children.
# Every node, except for the root and the leaves, has at least ⌈m/2⌉ children.
# The root node has at least two children unless it is a leaf.
# All leaves appear on the same level.
# A non-leaf node with k children contains k−1 keys.
Each internal node's keys act as separation values which divide its subtrees. For example, if an internal node has 3 child nodes (or subtrees) then it must have 2 keys: a<sub>1</sub> and a<sub>2</sub>. All values in the leftmost subtree will be less than a<sub>1</sub>, all values in the middle subtree will be between a<sub>1</sub> and a<sub>2</sub>, and all values in the rightmost subtree will be greater than a<sub>2</sub>.
;Internal nodes
: Internal nodes (also known as inner nodes) are all nodes except for leaf nodes and the root node. They are usually represented as an ordered set of elements and child pointers. Every internal node contains a maximum of U children and a minimum of L children. Thus, the number of elements is always 1 less than the number of child pointers (the number of elements is between L−1 and U−1). U must be either 2L or 2L−1; therefore each internal node is at least half full. The relationship between U and L implies that two half-full nodes can be joined to make a legal node, and one full node can be split into two legal nodes (if there's room to push one element up into the parent). These properties make it possible to delete and insert new values into a B-tree and adjust the tree to preserve the B-tree properties.
;The root node
: The root node's number of children has the same upper limit as internal nodes, but has no lower limit. For example, when there are fewer than L−1 elements in the entire tree, the root will be the only node in the tree with no children at all.
;Leaf nodes
: In Knuth's terminology, the "leaf" nodes are the actual data objects / chunks. The internal nodes that are one level above these leaves are what would be called the "leaves" by other authors: these nodes only store keys (at most m-1, and at least m/2-1 if they are not the root) and pointers (one for each key) to nodes carrying the data objects / chunks.
A B-tree of depth n+1 can hold about U times as many items as a B-tree of depth n, but the cost of search, insert, and delete operations grows with the depth of the tree. As with any balanced tree, the cost grows much more slowly than the number of elements.
Some balanced trees store values only at leaf nodes, and use different kinds of nodes for leaf nodes and internal nodes. B-trees keep values in every node in the tree except leaf nodes.
Differences in terminology
The literature on B-trees is not uniform in its terminology.
Bayer and McCreight (1972), Comer (1979), and others define the order of B-tree as the minimum number of keys in a non-root node. Folk and Zoellick points out that terminology is ambiguous because the maximum number of keys is not clear. An order 3 B-tree might hold a maximum of 6 keys or a maximum of 7 keys. Knuth (1998) avoids the problem by defining the order to be the maximum number of children (which is one more than the maximum number of keys).
The term leaf is also inconsistent. Bayer and McCreight (1972) considered the leaf level to be the lowest level of keys, but Knuth considered the leaf level to be one level below the lowest keys. There are many possible implementation choices. In some designs, the leaves may hold the entire data record; in other designs, the leaves may only hold pointers to the data record. Those choices are not fundamental to the idea of a B-tree.
For simplicity, most authors assume there are a fixed number of keys that fit in a node. The basic assumption is the key size is fixed and the node size is fixed. In practice, variable length keys may be employed.Informal descriptionNode structure
As with other trees, B-trees can be represented as a collection of three types of nodes: root, internal (a.k.a. interior), and leaf.
Note the following variable definitions:
*  : Maximum number of potential search keys for each node in a B-tree. (this value is constant over the entire tree).
* }} : The pointer to a child node which starts a sub-tree.
* }} : The pointer to a record which stores the data.
* }} : The search key at the zero-based node index .
In B-trees, the following properties are maintained for these nodes:
* If }} exists in any node in a B-tree, then }} exists in that node where <math>i \ge 1</math>.
* All leaf nodes have the same number of ancestors (i.e., they are all at the same depth).
Each internal node in a B-tree has the following format:
{| class"wikitable" style"margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; border: none;"
|+Internal node structure
!pt<sub>0</sub>
!k<sub>0</sub>
!pt<sub>1</sub>
!pr<sub>0</sub>
!k<sub>1</sub>
!pt<sub>2</sub>
!pr<sub>1</sub>
!...
!k<sub>K-1</sub>
!pt<sub>K</sub>
!pr<sub>K-1</sub>
|}
{| class"wikitable" style"margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; border: none;"
|+Internal node pointer structure
|
! }}
! colspan="3" | }}
|
! colspan="2" | }}
|-
! | when
! }} exists
! }} and }}<br/>exist
! }} exists,<br/>and }} does not exist
! }} and }}<br/>do not exist
|
! }} exists
! }} does not exist
|-
! | }} :<br/>Points to subtree<br/>in which all search keys
| < k}}
| < }} < }}}}
| > k}}
| }} is empty.
|
| Points to a record with a value<br/> k}}
| }} is empty.
|}
Each leaf node in a B-tree has the following format:
{| class"wikitable" style"margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; border: none;"
|+Leaf node structure
!pr<sub>0</sub>
!k<sub>0</sub>
!pr<sub>1</sub>
!k<sub>1</sub>
!...
!pr<sub>K-1</sub>
!k<sub>K-1</sub>
|}
{| class"wikitable" style"margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; border: none;"
|+Leaf node pointer structure
!}} when }} exists
!}} when }} does not exist
|-
|Points to a record with a value equal to }}.
|Here, }} is empty.
|}
The node bounds are summarized in the table below:
{| class"wikitable" style"margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; border: none;"
! rowspan="2" | Node type
! colspan="2" | number<br/> of keys
! colspan="2" | number<br/> of child nodes
|-
! Min !! Max
! Min !! Max
|-
|Root node when it is a leaf node
|0
|
|0
|0
|-
|Root node when it is an internal node
|1
|
|2
|<math> K + 1 </math>
|-
|Internal node
|<math> \lfloor K/2 \rfloor </math>
|
|<math> \lceil (K + 1)/2 \rceil \equiv \lfloor K / 2 \rfloor + 1 </math>
|<math> K + 1 </math>
|-
|Leaf node
|<math> \lceil K / 2 \rceil </math>
|
|0
|0
|}
Insertion and deletion
To maintain the predefined range of child nodes, internal nodes may be joined or split.
Usually, the number of keys is chosen to vary between and <math>2d</math>, where is the minimum number of keys, and <math>d+1</math> is the minimum degree or branching factor of the tree. The factor of 2 will guarantee that nodes can be split or combined.
If an internal node has <math>2d</math> keys, then adding a key to that node can be accomplished by splitting the hypothetical <math>2d+1</math> key node into two key nodes and moving the key that would have been in the middle to the parent node. Each split node has the required minimum number of keys. Similarly, if an internal node and its neighbor each have keys, then a key may be deleted from the internal node by combining it with its neighbor. Deleting the key would make the internal node have <math>d-1</math> keys; joining the neighbor would add keys plus one more key brought down from the neighbor's parent. The result is an entirely full node of <math>2d</math> keys.
A B-tree is kept balanced after insertion by splitting a would-be overfilled node, of <math>2d+1</math> keys, into two -key siblings and inserting the mid-value key into the parent. Depth only increases when the root is split, maintaining balance. Similarly, a B-tree is kept balanced after deletion by merging or redistributing keys among siblings to maintain the -key minimum for non-root nodes. A merger reduces the number of keys in the parent potentially forcing it to merge or redistribute keys with its siblings, and so on. The only change in depth occurs when the root has two children, of and (transitionally) <math>d-1</math> keys, in which case the two siblings and parent are merged, reducing the depth by one.
This depth will increase slowly as elements are added to the tree, but an increase in the overall depth is infrequent, and results in all leaf nodes being one more node farther away from the root.
Comparison to other trees
Because a range of child nodes is permitted, B-trees do not need re-balancing as frequently as other self-balancing search trees, but may waste some space, since nodes are not entirely full.
B-trees have substantial advantages over alternative implementations when the time to access the data of a node greatly exceeds the time spent processing that data, because then the cost of accessing the node may be amortized over multiple operations within the node. This usually occurs when the node data are in secondary storage such as disk drives. By maximizing the number of keys within each internal node, the height of the tree decreases and the number of expensive node accesses is reduced. In addition, rebalancing of the tree occurs less often. The maximum number of child nodes depends on the information that must be stored for each child node and the size of a full disk block or an analogous size in secondary storage. While 2–3 B-trees are easier to explain, practical B-trees using secondary storage need a large number of child nodes to improve performance.
Variants
The term B-tree may refer to a specific design or a general class of designs. In the narrow sense, a B-tree stores keys in its internal nodes but need not store those keys in the records at the leaves. The general class includes variations such as the B+ tree, the B<sup>*</sup> tree and the B<sup>*+</sup> tree.
* In the B+ tree, the internal nodes do not store any pointers to records, thus all pointers to records are stored in the leaf nodes. In addition, a leaf node may include a pointer to the next leaf node to speed up sequential access. Because B+ tree internal nodes have fewer pointers, each node can hold more keys, causing the tree to be shallower and thus faster to search.
* The B<sup>*</sup> tree balances more neighboring internal nodes to keep the internal nodes more densely packed. This variant ensures non-root nodes are at least 2/3 full instead of 1/2. As the most costly part of operation of inserting the node in B-tree is splitting the node, B<sup>*</sup>-trees are created to postpone splitting operation as long as they can. To maintain this, instead of immediately splitting up a node when it gets full, its keys are shared with a node next to it. This spill operation is less costly to do than split, because it requires only shifting the keys between existing nodes, not allocating memory for a new one. For inserting, first it is checked whether the node has some free space in it, and if so, the new key is just inserted in the node. However, if the node is full (it has keys, where is the order of the tree as maximum number of pointers to subtrees from one node), it needs to be checked whether the right sibling exists and has some free space. If the right sibling has keys, then keys are redistributed between the two sibling nodes as evenly as possible. For this purpose, keys from the current node, the new key inserted, one key from the parent node and keys from the sibling node are seen as an ordered array of keys. The array becomes split by half, so that }} lowest keys stay in the current node, the next (middle) key is inserted in the parent and the rest go to the right sibling. (The newly inserted key might end up in any of the three places.) The situation when right sibling is full, and left isn't is analogous. When both the sibling nodes are full, then the two nodes (current node and a sibling) are split into three and one more key is shifted up the tree, to the parent node. If the parent is full, then spill/split operation propagates towards the root node. Deleting nodes is somewhat more complex than inserting however.
* The B<sup>*+</sup> tree combines the main B+ tree and B<sup>*</sup> tree features together.
* B-trees can be turned into order statistic trees to allow rapid searches for the Nth record in key order, or counting the number of records between any two records, and various other related operations.
B-tree usage in databases
Time to search a sorted fileSorting and searching algorithms can be characterized by the number of comparison operations that must be performed using order notation. A binary search of a sorted table with records, for example, can be done in roughly comparisons. If the table had 1,000,000 records, then a specific record could be located with at most 20 comparisons: .
Large databases have historically been kept on disk drives. The time to read a record on a disk drive far exceeds the time needed to compare keys once the record is available due to seek time and a rotational delay. The seek time may be 0 to 20 or more milliseconds, and the rotational delay averages about half the rotation period. For a 7200 RPM drive, the rotation period is 8.33 milliseconds. For a drive such as the Seagate ST3500320NS, the track-to-track seek time is 0.8 milliseconds and the average reading seek time is 8.5 milliseconds. For simplicity, assume reading from disk takes about 10 milliseconds.
The time to locate one record out of a million in the example above would take 20 disk reads times 10 milliseconds per disk read, which is 0.2 seconds.
The search time is reduced because individual records are grouped together in a disk block. A disk block might be 16 kilobytes. If each record is 160 bytes, then 100 records could be stored in each block. The disk read time above was actually for an entire block. Once the disk head is in position, one or more disk blocks can be read with little delay. With 100 records per block, the last 6 or so comparisons don't need to do any disk reads—the comparisons are all within the last disk block read.
To speed up the search further, the time to do the first 13 to 14 comparisons (which each required a disk access) must be reduced.
An index speeds the search
A B-tree index can be used to improve performance. A B-tree index creates a multi-level tree structure that breaks a database down into fixed-size blocks or pages. Each level of this tree can be used to link those pages via an address location, allowing one page (known as a node, or internal page) to refer to another with leaf pages at the lowest level. One page is typically the starting point of the tree, or the "root". This is where the search for a particular key would begin, traversing a path that terminates in a leaf. Most pages in this structure will be leaf pages which refer to specific table rows.
Because each node (or internal page) can have more than two children, a B-tree index will usually have a shorter height (the distance from the root to the farthest leaf) than a Binary Search Tree. In the example above, initial disk reads narrowed the search range by a factor of two. That can be improved by creating an auxiliary index that contains the first record in each disk block (sometimes called a sparse index). This auxiliary index would be 1% of the size of the original database, but it can be searched quickly. Finding an entry in the auxiliary index would tell us which block to search in the main database; after searching the auxiliary index, we would have to search only that one block of the main database—at a cost of one more disk read.
In the above example the index would hold 10,000 entries and would take at most 14 comparisons to return a result. Like the main database, the last six or so comparisons in the auxiliary index would be on the same disk block. The index could be searched in about eight disk reads, and the desired record could be accessed in 9 disk reads.
Creating an auxiliary index can be repeated to make an auxiliary index to the auxiliary index. That would make an aux-aux index that would need only 100 entries and would fit in one disk block.
Instead of reading 14 disk blocks to find the desired record, we only need to read 3 blocks. This blocking is the core idea behind the creation of the B-tree, where the disk blocks fill out a hierarchy of levels to make up the index. Reading and searching the first (and only) block of the aux-aux index which is the root of the tree identifies the relevant block in aux-index in the level below. Reading and searching that aux-index block identifies the relevant block to read, until the final level, known as the leaf level, identifies a record in the main database. Instead of 150 milliseconds, we need only 30 milliseconds to get the record.
The auxiliary indices have turned the search problem from a binary search requiring roughly disk reads to one requiring only disk reads where is the blocking factor (the number of entries per block: entries per block in our example; reads).
In practice, if the main database is being frequently searched, the aux-aux index and much of the aux index may reside in a disk cache, so they would not incur a disk read. The B-tree remains the standard index implementation in almost all relational databases, and many nonrelational databases use them too.
Insertions and deletions
If the database does not change, then compiling the index is simple to do, and the index need never be changed. If there are changes, managing the database and its index require additional computation.
Deleting records from a database is relatively easy. The index can stay the same, and the record can just be marked as deleted. The database remains in sorted order. If there are a large number of lazy deletions, then searching and storage become less efficient.
Insertions can be very slow in a sorted sequential file because room for the inserted record must be made. Inserting a record before the first record requires shifting all of the records down one. Such an operation is just too expensive to be practical. One solution is to leave some spaces. Instead of densely packing all the records in a block, the block can have some free space to allow for subsequent insertions. Those spaces would be marked as if they were "deleted" records.
Both insertions and deletions are fast as long as space is available on a block. If an insertion won't fit on the block, then some free space on some nearby block must be found and the auxiliary indices adjusted. The best case is that enough space is available nearby so that the amount of block reorganization can be minimized. Alternatively, some out-of-sequence disk blocks may be used.
: <math>h_{\mathrm{max}} \left\lfloor \log_{d}\frac{n+1}{2} \right\rfloor .</math>Algorithms
}}
Search
Searching is similar to searching a binary search tree. Starting at the root, the tree is recursively traversed from top to bottom. At each level, the search reduces its field of view to the child pointer (subtree) whose range includes the search value. A subtree's range is defined by the values, or keys, contained in its parent node. These limiting values are also known as separation values.
Binary search is typically (but not necessarily) used within nodes to find the separation values and child tree of interest.
Insertion
All insertions start at a leaf node. To insert a new element, search the tree to find the leaf node where the new element should be added. Insert the new element into that node with the following steps:
# If the node contains fewer than the maximum allowed number of elements, then there is room for the new element. Insert the new element in the node, keeping the node's elements ordered.
# Otherwise the node is full, evenly split it into two nodes so:
## A single median is chosen from among the leaf's elements and the new element that is being inserted.
## Values less than the median are put in the new left node and values greater than the median are put in the new right node, with the median acting as a separation value.
## The separation value is inserted in the node's parent, which may cause it to be split, and so on. If the node has no parent (i.e., the node was the root), create a new root above this node (increasing the height of the tree).
If the splitting goes all the way up to the root, it creates a new root with a single separator value and two children, which is why the lower bound on the size of internal nodes does not apply to the root. The maximum number of elements per node is U−1. When a node is split, one element moves to the parent, but one element is added. So, it must be possible to divide the maximum number U−1 of elements into two legal nodes. If this number is odd, then U2L and one of the new nodes contains (U−2)/2 L−1 elements, and hence is a legal node, and the other contains one more element, and hence it is legal too. If U−1 is even, then U=2L−1, so there are 2L−2 elements in the node. Half of this number is L−1, which is the minimum number of elements allowed per node.
An alternative algorithm supports a single pass down the tree from the root to the node where the insertion will take place, splitting any full nodes encountered on the way pre-emptively. This prevents the need to recall the parent nodes into memory, which may be expensive if the nodes are on secondary storage. However, to use this algorithm, we must be able to send one element to the parent and split the remaining U−2 elements into two legal nodes, without adding a new element. This requires U 2L rather than U 2L−1, which accounts for why some textbooks impose this requirement in defining B-trees.Deletion
There are two popular strategies for deletion from a B-tree.
# Locate and delete the item, then restructure the tree to retain its invariants, OR
# Do a single pass down the tree, but before entering (visiting) a node, restructure the tree so that once the key to be deleted is encountered, it can be deleted without triggering the need for any further restructuring
The algorithm below uses the former strategy.
There are two special cases to consider when deleting an element:
# The element in an internal node is a separator for its child nodes
# Deleting an element may put its node under the minimum number of elements and children
The procedures for these cases are in order below.
Deletion from a leaf node
# Search for the value to delete.
# If the value is in a leaf node, simply delete it from the node.
# If underflow happens, rebalance the tree as described in section "Rebalancing after deletion" below.
Deletion from an internal node
Each element in an internal node acts as a separation value for two subtrees, therefore we need to find a replacement for separation. Note that the largest element in the left subtree is still less than the separator. Likewise, the smallest element in the right subtree is still greater than the separator. Both of those elements are in leaf nodes, and either one can be the new separator for the two subtrees. Algorithmically described below:
# Choose a new separator (either the largest element in the left subtree or the smallest element in the right subtree), remove it from the leaf node it is in, and replace the element to be deleted with the new separator.
# The previous step deleted an element (the new separator) from a leaf node. If that leaf node is now deficient (has fewer than the required number of nodes), then rebalance the tree starting from the leaf node.
Rebalancing after deletion
Rebalancing starts from a leaf and proceeds toward the root until the tree is balanced. If deleting an element from a node has brought it under the minimum size, then some elements must be redistributed to bring all nodes up to the minimum. Usually, the redistribution involves moving an element from a sibling node that has more than the minimum number of nodes. That redistribution operation is called a rotation. If no sibling can spare an element, then the deficient node must be merged with a sibling. The merge causes the parent to lose a separator element, so the parent may become deficient and need rebalancing. The merging and rebalancing may continue all the way to the root. Since the minimum element count doesn't apply to the root, making the root be the only deficient node is not a problem. The algorithm to rebalance the tree is as follows:
* If the deficient node's right sibling exists and has more than the minimum number of elements, then rotate left
*# Copy the separator from the parent to the end of the deficient node (the separator moves down; the deficient node now has the minimum number of elements)
*# Replace the separator in the parent with the first element of the right sibling (right sibling loses one node but still has at least the minimum number of elements)
*# The tree is now balanced
* Otherwise, if the deficient node's left sibling exists and has more than the minimum number of elements, then rotate right
*# Copy the separator from the parent to the start of the deficient node (the separator moves down; deficient node now has the minimum number of elements)
*# Replace the separator in the parent with the last element of the left sibling (left sibling loses one node but still has at least the minimum number of elements)
*# The tree is now balanced
* Otherwise, if both immediate siblings have only the minimum number of elements, then merge with a sibling sandwiching their separator taken off from their parent
*# Copy the separator to the end of the left node (the left node may be the deficient node or it may be the sibling with the minimum number of elements)
*# Move all elements from the right node to the left node (the left node now has the maximum number of elements, and the right node – empty)
*# Remove the separator from the parent along with its empty right child (the parent loses an element)
*#* If the parent is the root and now has no elements, then free it and make the merged node the new root (tree becomes shallower)
*#* Otherwise, if the parent has fewer than the required number of elements, then rebalance the parent
:<small>Note: The rebalancing operations are different for B+ trees (e.g., rotation is different because parent has copy of the key) and B<sup>*</sup>-tree (e.g., three siblings are merged into two siblings).</small>
Sequential access
While freshly loaded databases tend to have good sequential behaviour, this behaviour becomes increasingly difficult to maintain as a database grows, resulting in more random I/O and performance challenges.
Initial construction
A common special case is adding a large amount of pre-sorted data into an initially empty B-tree. While it is quite possible to simply perform a series of successive inserts, inserting sorted data results in a tree composed almost entirely of half-full nodes. Instead, a special "bulk loading" algorithm can be used to produce a more efficient tree with a higher branching factor.
When the input is sorted, all insertions are at the rightmost edge of the tree, and in particular any time a node is split, we are guaranteed that no more insertions will take place in the left half. When bulk loading, we take advantage of this, and instead of splitting overfull nodes evenly, split them as unevenly as possible: leave the left node completely full and create a right node with zero keys and one child (in violation of the usual B-tree rules).
At the end of bulk loading, the tree is composed almost entirely of completely full nodes; only the rightmost node on each level may be less than full. Because those nodes may also be less than half full, to re-establish the normal B-tree rules, combine such nodes with their (guaranteed full) left siblings and divide the keys to produce two nodes at least half full. The only node which lacks a full left sibling is the root, which is permitted to be less than half full.
In filesystems
In addition to its use in databases, the B-tree (or ) is also used in filesystems to allow quick random access to an arbitrary block in a particular file. The basic problem is turning the file block <math>i</math> address into a disk block address.
Some operating systems require the user to allocate the maximum size of the file when the file is created. The file can then be allocated as contiguous disk blocks. In that case, to convert the file block address <math>i</math> into a disk block address, the operating system simply adds the file block address <math>i</math> to the address of the first disk block constituting the file. The scheme is simple, but the file cannot exceed its created size.
Other operating systems allow a file to grow. The resulting disk blocks may not be contiguous, so mapping logical blocks to physical blocks is more involved.
MS-DOS, for example, used a simple File Allocation Table (FAT). The FAT has an entry for each disk block, and that entry identifies whether its block is used by a file and if so, which block (if any) is the next disk block of the same file. So, the allocation of each file is represented as a linked list in the table. In order to find the disk address of file block <math>i</math>, the operating system (or disk utility) must sequentially follow the file's linked list in the FAT. Worse, to find a free disk block, it must sequentially scan the FAT. For MS-DOS, that was not a huge penalty because the disks and files were small and the FAT had few entries and relatively short file chains. In the FAT12 filesystem (used on floppy disks and early hard disks), there were no more than 4,080 entries, and the FAT would usually be resident in memory. As disks got bigger, the FAT architecture began to confront penalties. On a large disk using FAT, it may be necessary to perform disk reads to learn the disk location of a file block to be read or written.
TOPS-20 (and possibly TENEX) used a 0 to 2 level tree that has similarities to a B-tree. A disk block was 512 36-bit words. If the file fit in a 512 (2<sup>9</sup>) word block, then the file directory would point to that physical disk block. If the file fit in 2<sup>18</sup> words, then the directory would point to an aux index; the 512 words of that index would either be NULL (the block isn't allocated) or point to the physical address of the block. If the file fit in 2<sup>27</sup> words, then the directory would point to a block holding an aux-aux index; each entry would either be NULL or point to an aux index. Consequently, the physical disk block for a 2<sup>27</sup> word file could be located in two disk reads and read on the third.
Apple's filesystem HFS+ and APFS, Microsoft's NTFS, AIX (jfs2) and some Linux filesystems, such as Bcachefs, Btrfs and ext4, use B-trees.
B<sup>*</sup>-trees are used in the HFS and Reiser4 file systems.
DragonFly BSD's HAMMER file system uses a modified B+-tree.Performance
A B-tree grows slower with growing data amount, than the linearity of a linked list. Compared to a skip list, both structures have the same performance, but the B-tree scales better for growing n. A T-tree, for main memory database systems, is similar but more compact.
Variations
Access concurrency
Lehman and Yao showed that all the read locks could be avoided (and thus concurrent access greatly improved) by linking the tree blocks at each level together with a "next" pointer. This results in a tree structure where both insertion and search operations descend from the root to the leaf. Write locks are only required as a tree block is modified. This maximizes access concurrency by multiple users, an important consideration for databases and/or other B-tree-based ISAM storage methods. The cost associated with this improvement is that empty pages cannot be removed from the btree during normal operations. (However, see for various strategies to implement node merging, and source code at.)
United States Patent 5283894, granted in 1994, appears to show a way to use a 'Meta Access Method' to allow concurrent B+ tree access and modification without locks. The technique accesses the tree 'upwards' for both searches and updates by means of additional in-memory indexes that point at the blocks in each level in the block cache. No reorganization for deletes is needed and there are no 'next' pointers in each block as in Lehman and Yao.
Parallel algorithms
Since B-trees are similar in structure to red-black trees, parallel algorithms for red-black trees can be applied to B-trees as well.
Maple tree
A Maple tree is a B-tree developed for use in the Linux kernel to reduce lock contention in virtual memory management.(a,b)-tree(a,b)-trees are generalizations of B-trees. B-trees require that each internal node have a minimum of <math>\lfloor K / 2 \rfloor + 1</math> children and a maximum of <math>K</math> children, for some preset value of <math>K</math>. In contrast, an (a,b)-tree allows the minimum number of children for an internal node to be set arbitrarily low. In an (a,b)-tree, each internal node has between and children, for some preset values of and .See also
* B+ tree
* R-tree
* Red–black tree
* 2–3 tree
* 2–3–4 tree
Notes
References
Sources
* .
* .
* Chapter 18: B-Trees.
* .
* Section 6.2.4: Multiway Trees, pp. 481–491. Also, pp. 476–477 of section 6.2.3 (Balanced Trees) discusses 2–3 trees.
Original papers
* .
* .External links
*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I22wEC1tTGo B-tree lecture] by David Scot Taylor, SJSU
*[https://ysangkok.github.io/js-clrs-btree/btree.html B-Tree visualisation] (click "init")
*[https://www.cs.usfca.edu/~galles/visualization/BTree.html Animated B-Tree visualization]
*[http://www.scholarpedia.org/article/B-tree_and_UB-tree B-tree and UB-tree on Scholarpedia] Curator: Dr Rudolf Bayer
*[http://www.bluerwhite.org/btree B-Trees: Balanced Tree Data Structures]
*[https://xlinux.nist.gov/dads/HTML/btree.html NIST's Dictionary of Algorithms and Data Structures: B-tree]
*[http://cis.stvincent.edu/html/tutorials/swd/btree/btree.html B-Tree Tutorial]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20110708080729/http://boilerbay.com/infinitydb/TheDesignOfTheInfinityDatabaseEngine.htm The InfinityDB BTree implementation]
*[http://supertech.csail.mit.edu/cacheObliviousBTree.html Cache Oblivious B(+)-trees]
*[https://xlinux.nist.gov/dads/HTML/bstartree.html Dictionary of Algorithms and Data Structures entry for B*-tree]
*[http://opendatastructures.org/versions/edition-0.1g/ods-python/14_2_B_Trees.html Open Data Structures - Section 14.2 - B-Trees], Pat Morin
*[http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/algorithms/cbtree.html Counted B-Trees]
*[http://sop.codeplex.com B-Tree .Net, a modern, virtualized RAM & Disk implementation]
Bulk loading
*
*
*
*
Category:Computer-related introductions in 1971
Category:Database index techniques
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B-tree
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British Museum
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| collection Approx. 8 million objects
| location = Great Russell Street, London, England
| leader_type = Chair
| leader = George Osborne
| director = Nicholas Cullinan
| visitors 5,820,860 (2023; up 42% from 2022)
* Ranked first nationally
| publictransit = <br/> ; ;
| website =
| embedded in<br /> 94 galleries}}
}}
The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is the largest in the world. It documents the story of human culture from its beginnings to the present. Established in 1753, the British Museum was the first public national museum.
In 2023, the museum received 5,820,860 visitors, an increase of 42% from 2022. It was the most popular attraction in the United Kingdom according to the Association of Leading Visitor Attractions (ALVA). It opened to the public in 1759, in Montagu House, on the site of the current building. The museum's expansion over the following 250 years was largely a result of British colonisation and resulted in the creation of several branch institutions, or independent spin-offs, the first being the Natural History Museum in 1881. Some of its best-known acquisitions, such as the Greek Elgin Marbles and the Egyptian Rosetta Stone, are subject to long-term disputes and repatriation claims.
In 1973, the British Library Act 1972 detached the library department from the British Museum, but it continued to host the now separated British Library in the same Reading Room and building as the museum until 1997. The museum is a non-departmental public body sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. Like all UK national museums, it charges no admission fee except for loan exhibitions.
History
Sir Hans Sloane
]]
Although today principally a museum of cultural art objects and antiquities, the British Museum was founded as a "universal museum". Its foundations lie in the will of the Anglo-Irish physician and naturalist Sir Hans Sloane (1660–1753), a London-based doctor and scientist from Ulster. During the course of his lifetime, and particularly after he married the widow of a wealthy Jamaican planter, Sloane gathered a large collection of curiosities, and not wishing to see his collection broken up after death, he bequeathed it to King George II, for the nation, for a sum of £20,000 () to be paid to his heirs by Parliament—intentionally far less than the estimated value of the artefacts, contemporarily estimated at £50,000 () or more according to some sources, and up to £80,000 () or more by others.
At that time, Sloane's collection consisted of around 71,000 objects of all kinds including some 40,000 printed books, 7,000 manuscripts, extensive natural history specimens including 337 volumes of dried plants, prints and drawings including those by Albrecht Dürer and antiquities from Sudan, Egypt, Greece, Rome, the Ancient Near and Far East and the Americas.
Foundation (1753)
On 7 June 1753, King George II gave his royal assent to the Act of Parliament which established the British Museum. The British Museum Act 1753 also added two other libraries to the Sloane collection, namely the Cottonian Library, assembled by Sir Robert Cotton, dating back to Elizabethan times, and the Harleian Library, the collection of the Earls of Oxford. They were joined in 1757 by the "Old Royal Library", now the Royal manuscripts, assembled by various British monarchs. Together these four "foundation collections" included many of the most treasured books now in the British Library including the Lindisfarne Gospels and the sole surviving manuscript of Beowulf.
, ]]
The British Museum was the first of a new kind of museum – national, belonging to neither church nor king, freely open to the public and aiming to collect everything. Sloane's collection, while including a vast miscellany of objects, tended to reflect his scientific interests. The addition of the Cotton and Harley manuscripts introduced a literary and antiquarian element, and meant that the British Museum now became both National Museum and library.Cabinet of curiosities (1753–1778)
on display in the British Museum in 1874]]
The body of trustees decided on a converted 17th-century mansion, Montagu House, as a location for the museum, which it bought from the Montagu family for £20,000. The trustees rejected Buckingham House, which was later converted into the present day Buckingham Palace, on the grounds of cost and the unsuitability of its location.
With the acquisition of Montagu House, the first exhibition galleries and reading room for scholars opened on 15 January 1759. At this time, the largest parts of collection were the library, which took up the majority of the rooms on the ground floor and the natural history objects, which took up an entire wing on the first floor . In 1763, the trustees of the British Museum, under the influence of Peter Collinson and William Watson, employed the former student of Carl Linnaeus, Daniel Solander, to reclassify the natural history collection according to the Linnaean system, thereby making the museum a public centre of learning accessible to the full range of European natural historians. In 1823, King George IV gave the King's Library assembled by George III, and Parliament gave the right to a copy of every book published in the country, thereby ensuring that the museum's library would expand indefinitely. During the few years after its foundation the British Museum received several further gifts, including the Thomason Collection of Civil War Tracts and David Garrick's library of 1,000 printed plays. The predominance of natural history, books and manuscripts began to lessen when in 1772 the museum acquired for £8,410 its first significant antiquities in Sir William Hamilton's "first" collection of Greek vases.Indolence and energy (1778–1800)
From 1778, a display of objects from the South Seas brought back from the round-the-world voyages of Captain James Cook and the travels of other explorers fascinated visitors with a glimpse of previously unknown lands. The bequest of a collection of books, engraved gems, coins, prints and drawings by Clayton Mordaunt Cracherode in 1800 did much to raise the museum's reputation; but Montagu House became increasingly crowded and decrepit and it was apparent that it would be unable to cope with further expansion.
The museum's first notable addition towards its collection of antiquities, since its foundation, was by Sir William Hamilton (1730–1803), British Ambassador to Naples, who sold his collection of Greek and Roman artefacts to the museum in 1784 together with a number of other antiquities and natural history specimens. A list of donations to the museum, dated 31 January 1784, refers to the Hamilton bequest of a "Colossal Foot of an Apollo in Marble". It was one of two antiquities of Hamilton's collection drawn for him by Francesco Progenie, a pupil of Pietro Fabris, who also contributed a number of drawings of Mount Vesuvius sent by Hamilton to the Royal Society in London.
Growth and change (1800–1825)
, Townley Gallery and Sir Robert Smirke's west wing under construction, July 1828]]
Room, 1920s]]
In the early 19th century the foundations for the extensive collection of sculpture began to be laid and Greek, Roman and Egyptian artefacts dominated the antiquities displays. After the defeat of the French campaign in the Battle of the Nile, in 1801, the British Museum acquired more Egyptian sculptures and in 1802 King George III presented the Rosetta Stone – key to the deciphering of hieroglyphs. Gifts and purchases from Henry Salt, British consul general in Egypt, beginning with the Colossal bust of Ramesses II in 1818, laid the foundations of the collection of Egyptian Monumental Sculpture. Many Greek sculptures followed, notably the first purpose-built exhibition space, the Charles Towneley collection, much of it Roman sculpture, in 1805. In 1806, Thomas Bruce, 7th Earl of Elgin, ambassador to the Ottoman Empire from 1799 to 1803 removed the large collection of marble sculptures from the Parthenon, on the Acropolis in Athens and transferred them to the UK. In 1816 these masterpieces of western art were acquired by the British Museum by Act of Parliament and deposited in the museum thereafter. The collections were supplemented by the Bassae frieze from Phigaleia, Greece in 1815. The Ancient Near Eastern collection also had its beginnings in 1825 with the purchase of Assyrian and Babylonian antiquities from Mary Mackintosh Rich, the widow of Assyriologist Claudius James Rich.
In 1802 a buildings committee was set up to plan for expansion of the museum, and further highlighted by the donation in 1822 of the King's Library, personal library of King George III's, comprising 65,000 volumes, 19,000 pamphlets, maps, charts and topographical drawings. The neoclassical architect, Sir Robert Smirke, was asked to draw up plans for an eastern extension to the museum "... for the reception of the Royal Library, and a Picture Gallery over it ..." and put forward plans for today's quadrangular building, much of which can be seen today. The dilapidated Old Montagu House was demolished and work on the King's Library Gallery began in 1823. The extension, the East Wing, was completed by 1831. However, following the founding of the National Gallery, London in 1824, the proposed Picture Gallery was no longer needed, and the space on the upper floor was given over to the Natural history collections.
The first Synopsis of the British Museum was published in 1808. This described the contents of the museum, and the display of objects room by room, and updated editions were published every few years.
The largest building site in Europe (1825–1850)
Library, 1875]]
As Sir Robert Smirke's grand neo-classical building gradually arose, the museum became a construction site. The King's Library, on the ground floor of the East Wing, was handed over in 1827, and was described as one of the finest rooms in London. Although it was not fully open to the general public until 1857, special openings were arranged during The Great Exhibition of 1851.
In 1840, the museum became involved in its first overseas excavations, Charles Fellows's expedition to Xanthos, in Asia Minor, whence came remains of the tombs of the rulers of ancient Lycia, among them the Nereid and Payava monuments. In 1857, Charles Newton was to discover the 4th-century BC Mausoleum of Halikarnassos, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. In the 1840s and 1850s the museum supported excavations in Assyria by A.H. Layard and others at sites such as Nimrud and Nineveh. Of particular interest to curators was the eventual discovery of Ashurbanipal's great library of cuneiform tablets, which helped to make the museum a focus for Assyrian studies.
Sir Thomas Grenville (1755–1846), a trustee of the British Museum from 1830, assembled a library of 20,240 volumes, which he left to the museum in his will. The books arrived in January 1847 in twenty-one horse-drawn vans. The only vacant space for this large library was a room originally intended for manuscripts, between the Front Entrance Hall and the Manuscript Saloon. The books remained here until the British Library moved to St Pancras in 1998.
Collecting from the wider world (1850–1875)
The opening of the forecourt in 1852 marked the completion of Robert Smirke's 1823 plan, but already adjustments were having to be made to cope with the unforeseen growth of the collections. Infill galleries were constructed for Assyrian sculptures and Sydney Smirke's Round Reading Room, with space for a million books, opened in 1857. Because of continued pressure on space the decision was taken to move natural history to a new building in South Kensington, which would later become the British Museum of Natural History.
Roughly contemporary with the construction of the new building was the career of a man sometimes called the "second founder" of the British Museum, the Italian librarian Anthony Panizzi. Under his supervision, the British Museum Library (now part of the British Library) quintupled in size and became a well-organised institution worthy of being called a national library, the largest library in the world after the National Library of Paris.
Until the mid-19th century, the museum's collections were relatively circumscribed but, in 1851, with the appointment to the staff of Augustus Wollaston Franks to curate the collections, the museum began for the first time to collect British and European medieval antiquities, prehistory, branching out into Asia and diversifying its holdings of ethnography. A real coup for the museum was the purchase in 1867, over French objections, of the Duke of Blacas's wide-ranging and valuable collection of antiquities. Overseas excavations continued and John Turtle Wood discovered the remains of the 4th century BC Temple of Artemis at Ephesos, another Wonder of the Ancient World.
Scholarship and legacies (1875–1900)
The natural history collections were an integral part of the British Museum until their removal to the new British Museum of Natural History in 1887, nowadays the Natural History Museum in South Kensington. With the departure and the completion of the new White Wing (fronting Montague Street) in 1884, more space was available for antiquities and ethnography and the library could further expand. This was a time of innovation as electric lighting was introduced in the Reading Room and exhibition galleries.
The William Burges collection of armoury was bequeathed to the museum in 1881. In 1882, the museum was involved in the establishment of the independent Egypt Exploration Fund (now Society) the first British body to carry out research in Egypt. A bequest from Miss Emma Turner in 1892 financed excavations in Cyprus. In 1897 the death of the great collector and curator, A. W. Franks, was followed by an immense bequest of 3,300 finger rings, 153 drinking vessels, 512 pieces of continental porcelain, 1,500 netsuke, 850 inro, over 30,000 bookplates and miscellaneous items of jewellery and plate, among them the Oxus Treasure.
In 1898 Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild bequeathed the Waddesdon Bequest, the glittering contents from his New Smoking Room at Waddesdon Manor. This consisted of almost 300 pieces of ''objets d'art et de vertu which included exquisite examples of jewellery, plate, enamel, carvings, glass and maiolica, among them the Holy Thorn Reliquary, probably created in the 1390s in Paris for John, Duke of Berry. The collection was in the tradition of a Schatzkammer'' such as those formed by the Renaissance princes of Europe. Baron Ferdinand's will was most specific, and failure to observe the terms would make it void, the collection should be
Following the retirement of George Francis Hill as Director and Principal Librarian in 1936, he was succeeded by John Forsdyke.
As tensions with Nazi Germany developed and it appeared that war may be imminent Forsdyke came to the view that with the likelihood of far worse air-raids than that experienced in World War I that the museum had to make preparations to remove its most valuable items to secure locations. Following the Munich crisis Forsdyke ordered 3,300 No-Nail Boxes and stored them in the basement of Duveen Gallery. At the same time he began identifying and securing suitable locations. As a result, the museum was able to quickly commence relocating selected items on 24 August 1939, (a mere day after the Home Secretary advised them to do so), to secure basements, country houses, Aldwych Underground station and the National Library of Wales. Many items were relocated in early 1942 from their initial dispersal locations to a newly developed facility at Westwood Quarry in Wiltshire. Meanwhile, prior to the war, the Nazis had sent a researcher to the British Museum for several years with the aim of "compiling an anti-Semitic history of Anglo-Jewry".
After the war, the museum continued to collect from all countries and all centuries: among the most spectacular additions were the 2600 BC Mesopotamian treasure from Ur, discovered during Leonard Woolley's 1922–34 excavations. Gold, silver and garnet grave goods from the Anglo-Saxon ship burial at Sutton Hoo (1939) and late Roman silver tableware from Mildenhall, Suffolk (1946). The immediate post-war years were taken up with the return of the collections from protection and the restoration of the museum after the Blitz. Work also began on restoring the damaged Duveen Gallery.
A new public face (1950–1975)
Gallery, 1980]]
In 1953, the museum celebrated its bicentenary. Many changes followed: the first full-time in-house designer and publications officer were appointed in 1964, the Friends organisation was set up in 1968, an Education Service established in 1970 and publishing house in 1973. In 1963, a new Act of Parliament introduced administrative reforms. It became easier to lend objects, the constitution of the board of trustees changed and the Natural History Museum became fully independent. By 1959 the Coins and Medals office suite, completely destroyed during the war, was rebuilt and re-opened, attention turned towards the gallery work with new tastes in design leading to the remodelling of Robert Smirke's Classical and Near Eastern galleries. In 1962 the Duveen Gallery was finally restored and the Parthenon Sculptures were moved back into it, once again at the heart of the museum.
By the 1970s, the museum was again expanding. More services for the public were introduced; visitor numbers soared, with the temporary exhibition "Treasures of Tutankhamun" in 1972, attracting 1,694,117 visitors, the most successful in British history. In the same year the Act of Parliament establishing the British Library was passed, separating the collection of manuscripts and printed books from the British Museum. This left the museum with antiquities; coins, medals and paper money; prints and drawings; and ethnography. A pressing problem was finding space for additions to the library which now required an extra of shelving each year. The Government suggested a site at St Pancras for the new British Library but the books did not leave the museum until 1997.
The Great Court emerges (1975–2000)
The departure of the British Library to a new site at St Pancras, finally achieved in 1998, provided the space needed for the books. It also created the opportunity to redevelop the vacant space in Robert Smirke's 19th-century central quadrangle into the Queen Elizabeth II Great Court – the largest covered square in Europe – which opened in 2000. The ethnography collections, which had been housed in the short-lived Museum of Mankind at 6 Burlington Gardens from 1970, were returned to new purpose-built galleries in the museum in 2000.
The museum again readjusted its collecting policies as interest in "modern" objects: prints, drawings, medals and the decorative arts reawakened. Ethnographical fieldwork was carried out in places as diverse as New Guinea, Madagascar, Romania, Guatemala and Indonesia and there were excavations in the Near East, Egypt, Sudan and the UK. The Weston Gallery of Roman Britain, opened in 1997, displayed a number of recently discovered hoards which demonstrated the richness of what had been considered an unimportant part of the Roman Empire. The museum turned increasingly towards private funds for buildings, acquisitions and other purposes. In 2000, the British Museum was awarded National Heritage Museum of the Year.The British Museum today
was developed in 2001 and surrounds the original Reading Room.]]
Today the museum no longer houses collections of natural history, and the books and manuscripts it once held now form part of the independent British Library. The museum nevertheless preserves its universality in its collections of artefacts representing the cultures of the world, ancient and modern. The original 1753 collection has grown to over 13 million objects at the British Museum, 70 million at the Natural History Museum and 150 million at the British Library.
The Round Reading Room, which was designed by the architect Sydney Smirke, opened in 1857. For almost 150 years researchers came here to consult the museum's vast library. The Reading Room closed in 1997 when the national library (the British Library) moved to a new building at St Pancras. Today it has been transformed into the Walter and Leonore Annenberg Centre.
With the bookstacks in the central courtyard of the museum empty, the demolition for Lord Foster's glass-roofed Great Court could begin. The Great Court, opened in 2000, while undoubtedly improving circulation around the museum, was criticised for having a lack of exhibition space at a time when the museum was in serious financial difficulties and many galleries were closed to the public. At the same time the African collections that had been temporarily housed in 6 Burlington Gardens were given a new gallery in the North Wing funded by the Sainsbury family – with the donation valued at £25 million.
The museum's online database had nearly 4,500,000 individual object entries in 2,000,000 records at the start of 2023. In 2022–23 there were 27 million visits to the website. This compares with 19.5 millions website visits in 2013.
There were 5,820,860 visits to the museum in 2023, a 42% increase on 2022. The museum was the most visited tourist attraction in Britain in 2023. The number of visits, however, has not recovered to the level reached before the Covid pandemic.
A number of films have been shot at the British Museum.Governance Director The British Museum is a non-departmental public body sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport through a three-year funding agreement. Its head is the Director of the British Museum. The British Museum was run from its inception by a 'principal librarian' (when the book collections were still part of the museum), a role that was renamed 'director and principal librarian' in 1898, and 'director' in 1973 (on the separation of the British Library). Trustees A board of 25 trustees (with the director as their accounting officer for the purposes of reporting to Government) is responsible for the general management and control of the museum, in accordance with the British Museum Act 1963 and the Museums and Galleries Act 1992. Prior to the 1963 Act, it was chaired by the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Lord Chancellor and the Speaker of the House of Commons. The board was formed on the museum's inception to hold its collections in trust for the nation without actually owning them themselves, and now fulfil a mainly advisory role. Trustee appointments are governed by the regulatory framework set out in the code of practice on public appointments issued by the Office of the Commissioner for Public Appointments.
Building
The Greek Revival façade facing Great Russell Street is a characteristic building of Sir Robert Smirke, with 44 columns in the Ionic order high, closely based on those of the temple of Athena Polias at Priene in Asia Minor. The pediment over the main entrance is decorated by sculptures by Sir Richard Westmacott depicting The Progress of Civilisation, consisting of fifteen allegorical figures, installed in 1852.
The construction commenced around the courtyard with the East Wing (The King's Library) in 1823–1828, followed by the North Wing in 1833–1838, which originally housed among other galleries a reading room, now the Wellcome Gallery. Work was also progressing on the northern half of the West Wing (The Egyptian Sculpture Gallery) 1826–1831, with Montagu House demolished in 1842 to make room for the final part of the West Wing, completed in 1846, and the South Wing with its great colonnade, initiated in 1843 and completed in 1847, when the Front Hall and Great Staircase were opened to the public. The museum is faced with Portland stone, but the perimeter walls and other parts of the building were built using Haytor granite from Dartmoor in South Devon, transported via the unique Haytor Granite Tramway.
, 2007|thumb|left]]
In 1846 Robert Smirke was replaced as the museum's architect by his brother Sydney Smirke, whose major addition was the Round Reading Room 1854–1857; at in diameter it was then the second widest dome in the world, the Pantheon in Rome being slightly wider.
The next major addition was the White Wing 1882–1884 added behind the eastern end of the South Front, the architect being Sir John Taylor.
In 1895, Parliament gave the museum trustees a loan of £200,000 to purchase from the Duke of Bedford all 69 houses which backed onto the museum building in the five surrounding streets – Great Russell Street, Montague Street, Montague Place, Bedford Square and Bloomsbury Street. The trustees planned to demolish these houses and to build around the west, north and east sides of the museum new galleries that would completely fill the block on which the museum stands. The architect Sir John James Burnet was petitioned to put forward ambitious long-term plans to extend the building on all three sides. Most of the houses in Montague Place were knocked down a few years after the sale. Of this grand plan only the Edward VII galleries in the centre of the North Front were ever constructed, these were built 1906–14 to the design by J.J. Burnet, and opened by King George V and Queen Mary in 1914. They now house the museum's collections of Prints and Drawings and Oriental Antiquities. There was not enough money to put up more new buildings, and so the houses in the other streets are nearly all still standing.
The Duveen Gallery, sited to the west of the Egyptian, Greek & Assyrian sculpture galleries, was designed to house the Elgin Marbles by the American Beaux-Arts architect John Russell Pope. Although completed in 1938, it was hit by a bomb in 1940 and remained semi-derelict for 22 years, before reopening in 1962. Other areas damaged during World War II bombing included: in September 1940 two unexploded bombs hit the Edward VII galleries, the King's Library received a direct hit from a high explosive bomb, incendiaries fell on the dome of the Round Reading Room but did little damage; on the night of 10 to 11 May 1941 several incendiaries fell on the south-west corner of the museum, destroying the book stack and 150,000 books in the courtyard and the galleries around the top of the Great Staircase – this damage was not fully repaired until the early 1960s.
and Great Court roof, 2005]]
The Queen Elizabeth II Great Court is a covered square at the centre of the British Museum designed by the engineers Buro Happold and the architects Foster and Partners. The Great Court opened in December 2000 and is the largest covered square in Europe. The roof is a glass and steel construction, built by an Austrian steelwork company, with 1,656 uniquely shaped panes of glass. At the centre of the Great Court is the Reading Room vacated by the British Library, its functions now moved to St Pancras.
Today, the British Museum has grown to become one of the largest museums in the world, covering an area of over 92,000 m<sup>2</sup> (990,000 sq. ft). In addition to 21,600 m<sup>2</sup> (232,000 sq. ft) of on-site storage space, and 9,400 m<sup>2</sup> (101,000 sq. ft)
There are nearly one hundred galleries open to the public, representing of exhibition space, although the less popular ones have restricted opening times. However, the lack of a large temporary exhibition space led to the £135 million World Conservation and Exhibitions Centre to provide one and to concentrate all the museum's conservation facilities into one centre. This project was announced in July 2007, with the architects Rogers Stirk Harbour and Partners. It was granted planning permission in December 2009 and was completed in time for the Viking exhibition in March 2014. In 2017, the World Conservation and Exhibitions Centre was shortlisted for the Stirling Prize for excellence in architecture.
Blythe House in West Kensington was used by the museum for off-site storage of small and medium-sized artefacts until the British Museum Archeological Collection, a purpose built storage facility near Reading, was opened in 2024. Another site Franks House in East London is used for storage and work on the "Early Prehistory" – Palaeolithic and Mesolithic – and some other collections.DepartmentsDepartment of Egypt and Sudan
, ]]
, key to the decipherment of Egyptian hieroglyphs, 196 BC]]
The British Museum houses the world's largest and most comprehensive collection of Egyptian antiquities (with over 100,000 pieces) outside the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. A collection of immense importance for its range and quality, it includes objects of all periods from virtually every site of importance in Egypt and the Sudan. Together, they illustrate every aspect of the cultures of the Nile Valley (including Nubia), from the Predynastic Neolithic period () through Coptic (Christian) times (12th century AD), and up to the present day, a time-span over 11,000 years.
Egyptian antiquities have formed part of the British Museum collection ever since its foundation in 1753 after receiving 160 Egyptian objects from Sir Hans Sloane. After the defeat of the French forces under Napoleon at the Battle of the Nile in 1801, the Egyptian antiquities collected were confiscated by the British army and presented to the British Museum in 1803. These works, which included the famed Rosetta Stone, were the first important group of large sculptures to be acquired by the museum. Thereafter, the UK appointed Henry Salt as consul in Egypt who amassed a huge collection of antiquities, some of which were assembled and transported with great ingenuity by the famous Italian explorer Giovanni Belzoni. Most of the antiquities Salt collected were purchased by the British Museum and the Musée du Louvre.
By 1866 the collection consisted of some 10,000 objects. Antiquities from excavations started to come to the museum in the latter part of the 19th century as a result of the work of the Egypt Exploration Fund under the efforts of E.A. Wallis Budge. Over the years more than 11,000 objects came from this source, including pieces from Amarna, Bubastis and Deir el-Bahari. Other organisations and individuals also excavated and donated objects to the British Museum, including Flinders Petrie's Egypt Research Account and the British School of Archaeology in Egypt, as well as the University of Oxford Expedition to Kawa and Faras in Sudan.
, 1350 BC]]
Active support by the museum for excavations in Egypt continued to result in important acquisitions throughout the 20th century until changes in antiquities laws in Egypt led to the suspension of policies allowing finds to be exported, although divisions still continue in Sudan. The British Museum conducted its own excavations in Egypt where it received divisions of finds, including Asyut (1907), Mostagedda and Matmar (1920s), Ashmunein (1980s) and sites in Sudan such as Soba, Kawa and the Northern Dongola Reach (1990s). The size of the Egyptian collections now stand at over 110,000 objects.
In autumn 2001 the eight million objects forming the museum's permanent collection were further expanded by the addition of six million objects from the Wendorf Collection of Egyptian and Sudanese Prehistory. These were donated by Professor Fred Wendorf of Southern Methodist University in Texas, and comprise the entire collection of artefacts and environmental remains from his excavations at Prehistoric sites in the Sahara Desert between 1963 and 1997. Other fieldwork collections have recently come from Dietrich and Rosemarie Klemm (University of Munich) and William Adams (University of Kentucky).
The seven permanent Egyptian galleries at the British Museum, which include its largest exhibition space (Room 4, for monumental sculpture), can display only 4% of its Egyptian holdings. The second-floor galleries have a selection of the museum's collection of 140 mummies and coffins, the largest outside Cairo. A high proportion of the collection comes from tombs or contexts associated with the cult of the dead, and it is these pieces, in particular the mummies, that remain among the most eagerly sought-after exhibits by visitors to the museum.
Highlights of the collections include:
Predynastic and Early Dynastic period ()
* Mummy of Ginger and five other individuals from Gebelein ()
* Flint knife with an ivory handle (known as the Pit-Rivers Knife), Sheikh Hamada, Egypt ()
* The Battlefield Palette and Hunters Palette, two cosmetic palettes with complex decorative schemes ()
* Ivory statuette of a king, from the early temple at Abydos, Egypt ()
* King Den's sandal label from Abydos, mid-1st Dynasty ()
* Stela of King Peribsen, Abydos ()
Old Kingdom (2690–2181 BC)
* Artefacts from the tomb of King Khasekhemwy from the 2nd Dynasty (2690 BC)
* Granite statue of Ankhwa, the shipbuilder, Saqqara, Egypt, 3rd Dynasty (c. 2650 BC)
* Several of the original casing stones from the Great Pyramid of Giza, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World (c. 2570 BC)
* Statue of Nenkheftka from Dishasha, 4th Dynasty (2500 BC)
* Limestone false door of Ptahshepses, Saqqara (2440 BC)
* Abusir Papyri, some of the oldest papyri from ancient Egypt, Abusir (2400 BC)
* Wooden tomb statue of Tjeti, 5th to 6th Dynasty (c. 2345–2181 BC)
Middle Kingdom (2134–1690 BC)
* Inner and outer coffin of Sebekhetepi, Beni Hasan (c. 2125–1795 BC)
* Quartzite statue of Ankhrekhu, 12th Dynasty (1985–1795 BC)
* Limestone stela of Heqaib, Abydos, Egypt, 12th Dynasty (1990–1750 BC)
* Block statue and stela of Sahathor, 12th Dynasty, reign of Amenemhat II (1922–1878 BC)
* Limestone statue and stelae from the offering chapel of Inyotef, Abydos, 12th Dynasty ()
* Stela of Samontu, Abydos (1910 BC)
* Reliefs from the tomb of Djehutyhotep, Deir-el-Bersha (1878–1855 BC)
* Three Granite statues of Senwosret III, Deir el-Bahri (1850 BC)
* Statue of Rehuankh, Abydos (1850–1830 BC)
* Colossal head of Amenemhat III, Bubastis (1800 BC)
* Stela of Nebipusenwosret, Abydos (1800 BC)
Second Intermediate Period (1650–1550 BC)
* Coffin of King Nubkheperre Intef, Thebes (1570 BC)
* The famous Rhind Mathematical Papyrus, an early example of Ancient Egyptian mathematics, Thebes (1550 BC)
New Kingdom (1549–1069 BC)
* Schist head of Pharaoh Hatshepsut or her successor Tuthmosis III (1480 BC)
* Statue of Senenmut with Princess Neferure on his lap, Karnak (1470 BC)
* Block statue of Sennefer, Western Thebes (1430 BC)
* Twenty Sekhmet statues from the Temple of Mut, Thebes (1400 BC)
* Fragment of the beard of the Great Sphinx of Giza (14th century BC)
* Pair of granite monumental lion statues from Soleb in Sudan, (1370 BC)
* Hoard of silver bullion from El-Amarna (1352–1336 BC)
* Colossal head from a statue of Amenhotep III (1350 BC)
* Colossal limestone bust of Amenhotep III (1350 BC)
* Amarna Tablets, 99 out of 382 tablets found, second largest collection in the world after the Vorderasiatisches Museum, Berlin (203 tablets) (1350 BC)
* Stela of Horemheb from his tomb at Saqqara (1330 BC)
* London Medical Papyrus with 61 medical and magical treatments (1300 BC)
* Papyrus of Ani, one of the finest extant Book of the Dead from antiquity, Thebes (1275 BC)
* List of the kings of Egypt from the Temple of Ramesses II (1250 BC)
* Statue of Khaemwaset, son of Ramses II, Abydos (1250 BC)
* The Great Harris Papyrus, the longest surviving papyrus from antiquity, Thebes (1200 BC)
* D'Orbiney Papyrus with the Tale of Two Brothers (1200–1194 BC)
* Seated statue of Seti II, Temple of Mut, Karnak (1200–1194 BC)
* Face from the sarcophagus of Ramses VI, Valley of the Kings (1140 BC)
* Book of the Dead of Nedjmet with painted offering-vignettes and columns of Hieroglyphic text, Deir el-Bahari (1070 BC)
Third Intermediate Period (1069–664 BC)
* Greenfield papyrus, funerary papyrus of Princess Nesitanebetashru, daughter of Pinudjem II and Neskhons, and priestess of Amen-Ra at Thebes (950–930 BC)
* Pair of gold bracelets that belonged to General Nemareth, son of Shoshenq I, Sais (940 BC)
* Colossal column capital of Hathor from Bubastis, 22nd Dynasty (922–887 BC)
* Statue of the Nile god Hapi, Karnak ()
* Mummy case and coffin of Nesperennub, Thebes ()
* Shabaka Stone from Memphis, Egypt, 25th Dynasty ()
* Coffin of king Menkaure, Giza (700–600 BC)
* One of the three statues of Amun in the form of a ram protecting King Taharqo, Kawa (683 BC)
* Inner and outer coffins of the priest Hor, Deir el-Bahari, Thebes, 25th Dynasty ()
* Granite statue of the Sphinx of Taharqo (680 BC)
Late Period (664–332 BC)
* Saite Sarcophagus of Sasobek, the vizier (prime minister) of the northern part of Egypt in the reign of Psammetichus I (664–610 BC)
* Sarcophagus lid of Sasobek (630 BC)
* Bronze figure of Isis and Horus, North Saqqara, Egypt (600 BC)
* Sarcophagus of Hapmen, Cairo, 26th Dynasty or later (600–300 BC)
* Kneeling statue of Wahibre, from near Lake Mariout (530 BC)
* Sarcophagus of Ankhnesneferibre (525 BC)
* Torso of Nectanebo I (380–362 BC)
* Obelisks and sarcophagus of Pharaoh Nectanebo II (360–343 BC)
* Sarcophagus of Nectanebo II, Alexandria (360–343 BC)
Ptolemaic dynasty (305–30 BC)
* The famous Rosetta Stone, trilingual stela that unlocked the ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics (196 BC)
* Naos or temple shrine of Ptolemy VIII from Philae (150 BC)
* Giant sculpture of a scarab beetle (32–30 BC)
* Fragment of a basalt Egyptian-style statue of Ptolemy I Soter (305–283 BC)
* Mummy of Hornedjitef (inner coffin), Thebes (3rd century BC)
* Wall from a chapel of Queen Shanakdakhete, Meroë ()
* Shrine of Ptolemy VII, Philae ()
Roman Period (30 BC – 641 AD)
* Schist head of a young man, Alexandria (after 30 BC)
* The Meriotic Hamadab Stela from the Kingdom of Kush found near the ancient site of Meroë in Sudan, 24 BC
* Lid of the coffin of Soter and Cleopatra from Qurna, Thebes (early 2nd century AD)
* Mummy of a youth with a portrait of the deceased, Hawara (100–200 AD)
* Over 30 Fayum mummy portraits from Hawara and other sites in Fayum (40–250 AD)
* Bronze lamp and patera from the X-group tombs, Qasr Ibrim (1st–6th centuries AD)
* Coptic wall painting of the martyrdom of saints, Wadi Sarga (6th century AD)
<gallery widths"190px" heights"190px">
File:Bm-ginger.jpg|Room 64 – Egyptian grave containing a Gebelein predynastic mummy, late predynastic, 3400 BC
File:London - British Museum - 2273.jpg|Room 4 – Three black granite statues of the pharaoh Senusret III,
File:ThreeStatuesOfGoddessSakhmet-ProfileView-BritishMuseum-August19-08.jpg|Room 4 – Three black granite statues of the goddess Sakhmet,
File:British Museum Egypt 086.JPG|Room 4 – Colossal statue of Amenhotep III,
File:Colossal quartzite head of Amenhotep III, British Museum EA7.jpg|Great Court – Colossal quartzite statue of Amenhotep III,
File:Egyptian Couple BM (1).JPG|Room 4 - Limestone statue of a husband and wife, 1300–1250 BC
File:P1050700 (5022075232).jpg|Room 63 - Gilded outer coffins from the tomb of Henutmehyt, Thebes, Egypt, 19th Dynasty, 1250 BC
File:Book of the Dead of Hunefer sheet 5.jpg|Book of the Dead of Hunefer, sheet 5, 19th Dynasty, 1250 BC
File:British Museum Egypt 101.jpg|Room 4 – Ancient Egyptian bronze statue of a cat from the Late Period, –332 BC
File:British Museum Egypt 107.jpg|Room 4 – Green siltstone head of a Pharaoh, 26th–30th Dynasty, 600–340 BC
File:The black siltstone obelisk of Pharaoh Nectanebo II, c.350 BCE. From Cairo, Egypt. British Museum.jpg|Great Court – Black siltstone obelisk of King Nectanebo II of Egypt, Thirtieth dynasty,
File:Fayum-66.jpg|Room 62 – Detail from the mummy case of Artemidorus the Younger, a Greek who had settled in Thebes, Egypt, during Roman times, 100–200 AD
</gallery>
Department of Greece and Rome
, c. 390 BC]]
marbles from the Acropolis of Athens, 447 BC]]
, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, mid-4th century BC]]
The British Museum has one of the world's largest and most comprehensive collections of antiquities from the Classical world, with over 100,000 objects. These mostly range in date from the beginning of the Greek Bronze Age (about 3200 BC) to the establishment of Christianity as the official religion of the Roman Empire, with the Edict of Milan under the reign of the Roman emperor Constantine I in 313 AD. Archaeology was in its infancy during the nineteenth century and many pioneering individuals began excavating sites across the Classical world, chief among them for the museum were Charles Newton, John Turtle Wood, Robert Murdoch Smith and Charles Fellows.
The Greek objects originate from across the Ancient Greek world, from the mainland of Greece and the Aegean Islands, to neighbouring lands in Asia Minor and Egypt in the eastern Mediterranean and as far as the western lands of Magna Graecia that include Sicily and southern Italy. The Cycladic, Minoan and Mycenaean cultures are represented, and the Greek collection includes important sculpture from the Parthenon in Athens, as well as elements of two of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus and the Temple of Artemis at Ephesos. and Bronze Head of Hypnos from Civitella d'Arna, Italy (1st–2nd centuries AD)
* Part of a large wooden wheel for draining a copper mine in Huelva, southern Spain (1st–2nd centuries AD)
* Capitals from some of the pilasters of the Pantheon, Rome (126 AD)
* Colossal marble head of Faustina the Elder, wife of the Roman emperor Antoninus Pius from Sardis, western Turkey (140 AD)
* Marble throne from the prohedria of the Panathenaic Stadium, Athens (140–143 AD)
* Hoard of jewellery from a tomb in the vicinity of Miletopolis, Turkey (175–180 AD)
* Inscribed marble base of the Roman Consul Tiberius Claudius Candidus, unearthed in Tarragona, Spain (195–199 AD)
* Jennings Dog, a statue of a Molossian guard dog, central Italy (2nd century AD)
* Segment of a decorated marble balustrade from the Colosseum, Rome, Italy (2nd century AD)
* Politarch inscription from the Vardar Gate, Thessaloniki, Greece (2nd century AD)
* Two Roman cavalry bronze parade masks from Nola, Italy and Gaziantep, Turkey, (2nd century AD)
* Various silver treasures found at Arcisate, Beaurains, Boscoreale, Bursa, Chaourse, Caubiac, Chatuzange, Conimbriga, Mâcon and Revel-Tourdan (1st–3rd century AD)
* Votive statue of Apollo of Cyrene, Libya (2nd century AD)
* Uerdingen Hoard found near Düsseldorf in Germany (2nd–3rd centuries AD)
The collection encompasses architectural, sculptural and epigraphic items from many other sites across the classical world including Amathus, Atripalda, Aphrodisias, Delos, Iasos, Idalion, Lindus, Kalymnos, Kerch, Rhamnous, Salamis, Sestos, Sounion, Tomis and Thessaloniki.
<gallery widths"190" heights"190">
File:Aegina treasure 01.jpg|Room 12 – A gold earring from the Aegina Treasure, Greece, 1700–1500 BC
File:BM; RM18 - GR, The Parthenon Galleries 1 Temple of Athena Parthenos (447-438 B.C) + North Slip Room, -Full Elevation & Viewing North-.JPG|Room 18 – Parthenon statuary from the east pediment and Metopes from the south wall, Athens, Greece, 447–438 BC
File:BM, GNR; The Acropolis & The late 5th C BC ~ Erechtheum Caryatid + Ionic Column (Room 19).jpg|Room 19 – Caryatid and Ionian column from the Erechtheion, Acropolis of Athens, Greece, 420–415 BC
File:Tomb of Payava 2.jpg|Room 20 – Tomb of Payava, Lycia, Turkey, 360 BC
File:Fragmentary horse from the colossal four-horses chariot group which topped the podium of the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, British Museum (8245662728).jpg|Room 21 – Fragmentary horse from the colossal chariot group which topped the podium of the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, Turkey,
File:Gold wreath BM 1908.4-14.1.jpg|Room 22 - Gold oak wreath with a bee and two cicadas, western Turkey,
File:Column drum Ephesus.JPG|Room 22 – Column from the Temple of Artemis in Ephesus, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, Turkey, early 4th century BC
File:Asklepios Melos BM Sc550.jpg|Room 22 - Colossal head of Asclepius wearing a metal crown (now lost), from a cult statue on Melos, Greece, 325–300 BC
File:Head and left hand from a bronze cult statue of Anahita, a local goddess shown here in the guide of Aphrodite, 200-100 BC, British Museum (8167358544).jpg|Room 22 – Bronze head and hand of an ancient Hellenistic statue discovered in Satala, Turkey, 200–100 BC
File:SFEC BritMus Roman 011.JPG|Room 1 - Farnese Hermes in the Enlightenment Gallery, Italy, 1st century AD
File:GladiatorHelmetBM.jpg|Room 69 - Roman gladiator helmet from Pompeii, Italy, 1st century AD
File:Lely Venus BM 1963.jpg|Room 23 - The famous version of the 'Crouching Venus', Roman,
File:Spinario-British Museum.jpg|Room 22 – Roman marble copy of the famous 'Spinario (Boy with Thorn)', Italy,
File:Apollo Kitharoidos BM 1380.jpg|Room 22 – Apollo of Cyrene (holding a lyre), Libya,
</gallery>
Department of the Middle East
, Nineveh, 701–681 BC]]
With a collection numbering some 330,000 works, the British Museum possesses the world's largest and most important collection of Mesopotamian antiquities outside Iraq. A collection of immense importance, the holdings of Assyrian sculpture, Babylonian and Sumerian antiquities are among the most comprehensive in the world with entire suites of rooms panelled in alabaster Assyrian palace reliefs from Nimrud, Nineveh and Khorsabad.
The collections represent the civilisations of the ancient Near East and its adjacent areas. These cover Mesopotamia, Persia, the Arabian Peninsula, Anatolia, the Caucasus, parts of Central Asia, Syria, the Holy Land and Phoenician settlements in the western Mediterranean from the prehistoric period and include objects from the 7th century.
The first significant addition of Mesopotamian objects was from the collection of Claudius James Rich in 1825. The collection was later dramatically enlarged by the excavations of A. H. Layard at the Assyrian sites of Nimrud and Nineveh between 1845 and 1851. At Nimrud, Layard discovered the North-West Palace of Ashurnasirpal II, as well as three other palaces and various temples. He later uncovered the Palace of Sennacherib at Nineveh with 'no less than seventy-one halls'. As a result, a large numbers of Lamassus, palace reliefs, stelae, including the Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser III, were brought to the British Museum.
and reliefs from Nimrud with the Balawat Gates, ]]
Layard's work was continued by his assistant, Hormuzd Rassam and in 1852–1854 he went on to discover the North Palace of Ashurbanipal at Nineveh with many magnificent reliefs, including the famous Lion Hunt of Ashurbanipal and Lachish reliefs. He also discovered the Royal Library of Ashurbanipal, a large collection of cuneiform tablets of enormous importance that today number around 130,000 pieces. W. K. Loftus excavated in Nimrud between 1850 and 1855 and found a remarkable hoard of ivories in the Burnt Palace. Between 1878 and 1882 Rassam greatly improved the museum's holdings with exquisite objects including the Cyrus Cylinder from Babylon, the bronze gates from Balawat, important objects from Sippar, and a fine collection of Urartian bronzes from Toprakkale including a copper figurine of a winged, human-headed bull.
In the early 20th century excavations were carried out at Carchemish, Turkey by D. G. Hogarth and Leonard Woolley, the latter assisted by T. E. Lawrence. The Mesopotamian collections were greatly augmented by excavations in southern Iraq after World War I. From Tell al-Ubaid came the bronze furnishings of a Sumerian temple, including life-sized lions and a panel featuring the lion-headed eagle Indugud found by H. R. Hall in 1919–24. Woolley went on to excavate Ur between 1922 and 1934, discovering the Royal Cemeteries of the 3rd millennium BC. Some of the masterpieces include the Standard of Ur, the Ram in a Thicket, the Royal Game of Ur, and two bull-headed lyres. The department also has three diorite statues of the ruler Gudea from the ancient state of Lagash and a series of limestone kudurru or boundary stones from different locations across ancient Mesopotamia.
, 559–530 BC]]
Although the collections centre on Mesopotamia, most of the surrounding areas are well represented. The Achaemenid collection was enhanced with the addition of the Oxus Treasure in 1897 and objects excavated by the German scholar Ernst Herzfeld and the Hungarian-British explorer Sir Aurel Stein. Reliefs and sculptures from the site of Persepolis were donated by Sir Gore Ouseley in 1825 and the 5th Earl of Aberdeen in 1861 and the museum received part of a pot-hoard of jewellery from Pasargadae as the division of finds in 1963 and part of the Ziwiye hoard in 1971. A large column base from the One Hundred Column Hall at Persepolis was acquired in exchange from the Oriental Institute, Chicago. Moreover, the museum has been able to acquire one of the greatest assemblages of Achaemenid silverware in the world. The later Sasanian Empire is also well represented by ornate silver plates and cups, many representing ruling monarchs hunting lions and deer. Phoenician antiquities come from across the region, but the Tharros collection from Sardinia, the hoard of about 150 metal bowls and hundreds of ivories from Nimrud, Phœnician inscriptions from Carthage including the Son of Baalshillek marble base, the Carthage Tariff and the Carthage tower model and the many punic stelae from Carthage and Maghrawa in Tunisia (such as the ) are outstanding. The number of Phoenician inscriptions from sites across Cyprus is also considerable, and include artefacts found at the Kition necropolis (with the two Kition Tariffs having the longest Phoenician inscription discovered on the island), the Idalion temple site and two bilingual pedestals found at Tamassos. Another often overlooked highlight is Yemeni antiquities, the finest collection outside that country. Furthermore, the museum has a representative collection of Dilmun and Parthian material excavated from various burial mounds at the ancient sites of A'ali and Shakhura (that included a Roman ribbed glass bowl) in Bahrain.
From the modern state of Syria come almost forty funerary busts from Palmyra and a group of stone reliefs from the excavations of Max von Oppenheim at Tell Halaf that was purchased in 1920. More material followed from the excavations of Max Mallowan at Chagar Bazar and Tell Brak in 1935–1938 and from Woolley at Alalakh in the years just before and after World War II. Mallowan returned with his wife Agatha Christie to carry out further digs at Nimrud in the postwar period which secured many important artefacts for the museum. The collection of Palestinian material was strengthened by the work of Kathleen Kenyon at Tell es-Sultan (Jericho) in the 1950s and the acquisition in 1980 of around 17,000 objects found at Lachish by the Wellcome-Marston expedition of 1932–1938. Archaeological digs are still taking place where permitted in the Middle East, and, depending on the country, the museum continues to receive a share of the finds from sites such as in Jordan.
The museum's collection of Islamic art, including archaeological material, numbers about 40,000 objects, one of the largest of its kind in the world. As such, it contains a broad range of pottery, paintings, tiles, metalwork, glass, seals, and inscriptions from across the Islamic world, from Spain in the west to India in the east. It is particularly famous for its collection of Iznik ceramics (the largest in the world), its large number of mosque lamps including one from the Dome of the Rock, mediaeval metalwork such as the Vaso Vescovali with its depictions of the Zodiac, a fine selection of astrolabes, and Mughal paintings and precious artwork including a large jade terrapin made for the emperor Jahangir. Thousands of objects were excavated after the war by professional archaeologists at Iranian sites such as Siraf by David Whitehouse and Alamut Castle by Peter Willey. The collection was augmented in 1983 by the Godman bequest of Iznik, Hispano-Moresque and early Iranian pottery. Artefacts from the Islamic world are on display in Gallery 34 of the museum.
A representative selection from the Department of Middle East, including the most important pieces, are on display in 13 galleries throughout the museum and total some 4,500 objects. A whole suite of rooms on the ground floor display the sculptured reliefs from the Assyrian palaces at Nineveh, Nimrud and Khorsabad, while 8 galleries on the upper floor hold smaller material from ancient sites across the Middle East. The remainder form the study collection which ranges in size from beads to large sculptures. They include approximately 130,000 cuneiform tablets from Mesopotamia.
Highlights of the collections include:
Nimrud:
Assyrian palace reliefs from:
* The North-West Palace of Ashurnasirpal II (883–859 BC)
* Palace of Adad-nirari III (811–783 BC)
* The Sharrat-Niphi Temple ()
* Temple of Ninurta ()
* South-East Palace ('Burnt Palace') (8th–7th century BC)
* Central- Palace of Tiglath-Pileser III (745–727 BC)
* South-West Palace of Esarhaddon (681–669 BC)
* The Nabu Temple (Ezida) ()
Sculptures and inscriptions:
* Pair of Human Headed Lamassu Lions (883–859 BC)
* Human Headed Lamassu Bull, sister piece in The Metropolitan Museum of Art (883–859 BC)
* Human Headed Lamassu Lion, sister piece in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (883–859 BC)
* Colossal Statue of a Lion (883–859 BC)
* Foundation tablet of Ashurnasirpal II from the Temple of Ishtar (875–865 BC)
* Rassam Obelisk of Ashurnasirpal II (873–859 BC)
* Stela and Statue of King Ashurnasirpal II (883–859 BC)
* The Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser III (858–824 BC)
* Stela of Shamshi-Adad V (824–811 BC)
* Rare Head of Human Headed 'Lamassu', recovered from the North-West Palace (811–783 BC)
* Pair of statues of attendant god dedicated to Nabu by Adad-Nirari III and Sammuramat (810–800 BC)
* Bilingual Assyrian lion weights with both cuneiform and Phoenician inscriptions (800–700 BC)
* Large sculpture of a male bearded head from a Lamassu with inscription dedicated to Esarhaddon (670 BC)
;Nineveh:
Assyrian palace reliefs and sculptures from:
* South-West Palace of Sennacherib (705–681 BC)
* North-Palace of Ashurbanipal (), including the Lion Hunt of Ashurbanipal and Lachish relief
* The famous Garden Party Relief (645 BC)
* Statue of a nude woman (11th century BC)
* Broken Obelisk of Ashur-bel-kala, the earliest known Assyrian obelisk (11th century BC)
* White Obelisk of Ashurnasirpal I (1050–1031 BC)
Royal Library of Ashurbanipal:
* A large collection of cuneiform tablets of enormous importance, approximately 22,000 inscribed clay tablets (7th century BC)
* The Flood Tablet, relating part of the famous Epic of Gilgamesh (7th century BC)
* Taylor Prism, hexagonal clay foundation record (691 BC)
* Rassam cylinder with ten faces, that describes the military campaigns of king Ashurbanipal (643 BC)
;Other Mesopotamian sites:
Khorsabad and Balawat:
* Alabaster bas-reliefs from the Palace of Sargon II (710–705 BC)
* Pair of Human Headed Winged Lamassu Bulls (710–705 BC)
* The Balawat Gates of Shalmaneser III (860 BC)
;Ur:
* The Standard of Ur with depictions of war and peace (2600 BC)
* Queen's Lyre and gold drinking cup from Queen Puabi's tomb (2600 BC)
* The Ram in a Thicket, one of pair, the other is in Philadelphia (2600–2400 BC)
* The Royal Game of Ur, an ancient game board (2600–2400 BC)
;Wider collection:
* Plastered human skull from Jericho, a very early form of portraiture, Palestine (7000–6000 BC)
* Tell Brak Head, one of the oldest portrait busts from the Middle East, north east Syria (3500–3300 BC)
* Uruk Trough, one of the earliest surviving works of narrative relief sculpture from the Middle East, southern Iraq (3300–3000 BC)
* Pair of inscribed stone objects known as the Blau Monuments from Uruk, Iraq (3100–2700 BC)
* Hoard of Bronze Age gold jewellery found at the Canaanite site of Tell el-Ajjul in Gaza (1750–1550 BC)
* Statue of Idrimi from the ancient city of Alalakh, southern Turkey (1600 BC)
* Bronze bowl and ivory cosmetic box in the shape of a fish from Tell es-Sa'idiyeh, Jordan (1250–1150 BC)
* Group of 16 stone reliefs from the palace of King Kapara at Tell Halaf, northern Syria (10th century BC)
* Tablet of Shamash, depicting the sun-god Shamash, from Sippar, Iraq (early 9th century BC)
* Hittite lion head from the monument to King Katuwa at Carchemish, southern Turkey (9th century BC)
* Two large Assyrian stelae from Kurkh, southern Turkey (850 BC)
* Seated statue of Kidudu or guardian spirit from the Assyrian city of Assur under Shalmaneser III, Iraq (835 BC)
* Basalt bowl with engraved inscription in Hieroglyphic Luwian found at Babylon, southern Iraq (8th century BC)
* Babylonian Chronicles, series of tablets recording major events in Babylonian history, Babylon, Iraq (8th–3rd centuries BC)
* Shebna Inscription from Siloam near Jerusalem (7th century BC)
* Group of 4 bronze shields with inscription of king Rusa III from the temple of Khaldi at the Urartian fortress of Toprakkale, eastern Turkey (650 BC)
* East India House Inscription from Babylon, Iraq (604–562 BC)
* Lachish Letters, group of ostraka written in alphabetic Hebrew from Lachish, Israel (586 BC)
* Cylinder of Nabonidus, foundation cylinder of King Nabonidus, Sippar, Iraq (555–540 BC)
* The famous Oxus Treasure, the largest ancient Persian hoard of gold artefacts (550–330 BC)
* Jar of Xerxes I, alabaster alabastron with quadrilingual signature of Achaemenid ruler Xerxes I, found in the ruins of the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus, Turkey (486–465 BC)
* Idalion Bilingual, bilingual Cypriot-Phoenician inscription, key to the decipherment of the Cypriot syllabary, Idalion, Cyprus (388 BC)
* Punic-Libyan Inscription from the Mausoleum of Ateban, key to the decipherment of the Numidian language, Dougga, Tunisia (146 BC)
* Amran Tablets found near Sana'a, Yemen (1st century BC)
* One of the pottery storage jars containing the Dead Sea Scrolls found in a cave near Qumran, Jordan (4 BC – 68 AD)
* Two limestone ossuaries from caves in Jerusalem (1st century AD)
* Fragment of a carved basalt architrave depicting a lion's head from the Temple of Garni, Armenia (1st century AD)
* Group of boulders with Safaitic inscriptions from Jordan/Syria, one of which was donated by Gertrude Bell (1st–2nd centuries AD)
* Parthian dynasty gold belt-buckle with central repoussé figure of eagle with outstretched wings from Nihavand, Iran (1st–3rd centuries AD)
* Silver bowl from Khwarezm depicting a four-armed goddess seated on a lion, Kazakhstan, (658 AD)
* One of the rare Hedwig glasses, originating from the Middle East or Norman Sicily (10th–12th centuries AD)
* Hoard of Seljuq artefacts from Hamadan including gold cup, silver gilt belt fittings and dress accessories, Iran (11th–12th centuries)
* Islamic brass ewers with engraved decoration and inlaid with silver and copper from Herat, Afghanistan and Mosul, Iraq (12th–13th centuries AD)
<gallery widths"190px" heights"190px">
File:Raminathicket2.jpg|Room 56 – The 'Ram in a Thicket' figure, one of a pair, from Ur, Southern Iraq,
File:Standard of Ur - War.jpg|Room 56 – The famous 'Standard of Ur', a hollow wooden box with scenes of war and peace, from Ur,
File:British Museum Middle east 14022019 Panel Imdugud 2500 BC 3640.jpg|Room 56 - Sculpture of the god Imdugud, lion-headed eagle surmounting a lintel made from sheets of copper, Temple of Ninhursag at Tell al-'Ubaid, Iraq,
File:Statue Kurlil BM WA114207.jpg|Room 56 - Statue of Kurlil, from the Temple of Ninhursag in Tell al-'Ubaid, southern Iraq,
File:Ishtar goddess.jpg|Room 56 – The famous Babylonian 'Queen of the Night relief' of the goddess Ishtar, Iraq,
File:Carved ivory depicting a woman at a window.jpg|Room 57 - Carved ivory object from the Nimrud Ivories, Phoenician, Nimrud, Iraq, 9th–8th century BC
File:Jehu-on-Obelisk-of-Shalmaneser.jpg|Room 6 – Depiction of the hypocrite, Jehu, King of Israel on the Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser III, Nimrud, c. 827 BC
File:Winged Human-headed Bulls.JPG|Room 10 – Human Headed Winged Bulls from Khorsabad, companion pieces in the Musée du Louvre, Iraq, 710–705 BC
File:BM; ANE - RM 55, Cuneiform Tablets Display.1.JPG|Room 55 – Cuneiform Collection, including the Epic of Gilgamesh, Iraq, –631 BC
File:Dying Lion.R.jpg|Room 55 – Lion Hunt of Ashurbanipal (detail), Nineveh, Neo-Assyrian, Iraq,
File:BabylonLion-BM.JPG|Room 55 - Panel with striding lion made from glazed bricks, Neo-Babylonian, Nebuchadnezzar II, Southern Iraq, 604–562 BC
File:Britishmuseumoxustreasuregoldchariotmodel.jpg|Room 52 – A chariot from the Oxus Treasure, the most important surviving collection of Achaemenid Persian metalwork, c. 5th to 4th centuries BC
File:Decorated column base from Persepolis.jpg|Great Court - Decorated column base from Hundred Column Hall, Persepolis, 470–450 BC
File:Bmane2002-1-114,1.jpg|Room 53 - Stela said to come from Tamma' cemetery, Yemen, 1st century AD
File:British Museum Yemen 07d.jpg|Room 53 - Alabaster statue of a standing female figure, Yemen, 1st-2nd centuries AD
File:Brass box BM 1878 12-30 674.jpg|Room 34 - Cylindrical lidded box with an Arabic inscription recording its manufacture for the ruler of Mosul, Badr al-Din Lu'lu', Iraq, – 1259 AD
</gallery>
Department of Prints and Drawings
The Department of Prints and Drawings holds the national collection of Western prints and drawings. It ranks as one of the largest and best print room collections in existence alongside the Albertina in Vienna, the Paris collections and the Hermitage. The holdings are easily accessible to the general public in the Study Room, unlike many such collections. The department also has its own exhibition gallery in Room 90, where the displays and exhibitions change several times a year.
Since its foundation in 1808, the prints and drawings collection has grown to international renown as one of the richest and most representative collections in the world. There are approximately 50,000 drawings and over two million prints.
There are groups of drawings by Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, Michelangelo, (including his only surviving full-scale cartoon), Dürer (a collection of 138 drawings is one of the finest in existence), Peter Paul Rubens, Rembrandt, Claude and Watteau, and largely complete collections of the works of all the great printmakers including Dürer (99 engravings, 6 etchings and most of his 346 woodcuts), Rembrandt and Goya. More than 30,000 British drawings and watercolours include important examples of work by Hogarth, Sandby, Turner, Girtin, Constable, Cotman, Cox, Gillray, Rowlandson, Towne and Cruikshank, as well as all the great Victorians. The collection contains the unique set of watercolours by the pioneering colonist John White, the first British artist in America and first European to paint Native Americans. There are about a million British prints including more than 20,000 satires and outstanding collections of works by William Blake and Thomas Bewick.. The great eleven volume Catalogue of Political and Personal Satires Preserved in the Department of Prints and Drawings in the British Museum compiled between 1870 and 1954 is the definitive reference work for the study of British Satirical prints. Over 500,000 objects from the department are now on the online collection database, many with high-quality images. A 2011 donation of £1 million enabled the museum to acquire a complete set of Pablo Picasso's Vollard Suite.
<gallery widths"190" heights"190">
File:Rogier van der Weyden - Portrait of an unknown young woman - British Museum 180945001.jpg|Rogier van der Weyden - Portrait of a Young Woman,
File:A fool, seated on a basket, about to be shaved by a nun holding a wafer iron by Hieronymus Bosch.jpg|Hieronymus Bosch - A comical barber scene, –1516
File:Botticelli, allegoria dell'abbondanza, disegno.jpg|Sandro Botticelli - Allegory of Abundance, 1480–1485
File:Leonardo da vinci, Study for the Burlington House Cartoon.jpg|Leonardo da Vinci – The Virgin and Child with Saint Anne and the Infant Saint John the Baptist (prep for 'The Burlington House Cartoon'), –1500
File:Adam study - Michelangelo.jpg|Michelangelo – Studies of a reclining male nude: Adam in the fresco The Creation of Man on the vault of the Sistine Chapel,
File:Raffaello, studio di testa di madonna e bambino.jpg|Raphael – Study of Heads, Mother and Child, –1511
File:Titian - Drowning of the Pharaoh's Host in the Red Sea - WGA22989.jpg|Titian – ''Drowning of the Pharaoh's Host in the Red Sea, 1515–1517
File:Albrecht Dürer - Walrus - WGA07101.jpg|Albrecht Dürer - Drawing of a walrus, 1521
File:A Lady, called Anne Boleyn, by Hans Holbein the Younger.jpg|Hans Holbein the Younger - Portrait of Anne Boleyn, 1536
File:Joris and Jacob Hoefnagel - Allegory on Life and Death.jpg|Joris Hoefnagel and Jacob Hoefnagel - Allegory on Life and Death, circa 1598
File:Peter Paul Rubens - Study for the figure of Christ on the Cross (cropped).jpg|Peter Paul Rubens - Study for the figure of Christ on the Cross, 1610
File:Head of a monk, 1625-64, Francisco de Zurbarán. Drawing, 277 x 196 mm. British Museum.jpg|Francisco de Zurbarán - Head of a monk, 1625–1664
File:Drawing of mules by Claude Lorrain.jpg|Claude Lorrain - Drawing of mules, including one full-length, 1630–1640
File:The Lamentation at the Foot of the Cross by Rembrandt van Rijn.jpg|Rembrandt – The Lamentation at the Foot of the Cross'', 1634–35
File:A woman with a rose drawn by Thomas Gainsborough.jpg|Thomas Gainsborough - Drawing of a woman with a rose, 1763–1765
File:Newport Castle by JMW Turner.jpg|J. M. W. Turner - Watercolour of Newport Castle, 1796
File:The happy effects of that grand systom of shutting ports against the English!!.jpg|Isaac Cruikshank - 'The happy effects of that grand system of shutting ports against the English!!', 1808
File:Hampstead Heath by John Constable watercolour.jpg|John Constable - London from Hampstead Heath in a Storm, (watercolour), 1831
File:Notes Nocturne lithograph by James McNeill Whistler 1878.jpg|James McNeill Whistler - View of the Battersea side of Chelsea Reach, London, (lithograph), 1878
File:Van Gogh - In the Orchard - 1883.jpg|Vincent van Gogh - Man Digging in the Orchard (print), 1883
</gallery>
Department of Britain, Europe and Prehistory
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The Department of Britain, Europe and Prehistory is responsible for collections that cover a vast expanse of time and geography. It includes some of the earliest objects made by humans in east Africa over 2 million years ago, as well as Prehistoric and neolithic objects from other parts of the world; and the art and archaeology of Europe from the earliest times to the present day. Archeological excavation of prehistoric material took off and expanded considerably in the twentieth century and the department now has literally millions of objects from the Paleolithic and Mesolithic periods throughout the world, as well as from the Neolithic, Bronze Age and Iron Age in Europe. Stone Age material from Africa has been donated by famous archaeologists such as Louis and Mary Leakey, and Gertrude Caton–Thompson. Paleolithic objects from the Sturge, Christy and Lartet collections include some of the earliest works of art from Europe. Many Bronze Age objects from across Europe were added during the nineteenth century, often from large collections built up by excavators and scholars such as Greenwell in Britain, Tobin and Cooke in Ireland, Lukis and de la Grancière in Brittany, Worsaae in Denmark, Siret at El Argar in Spain, and Klemm and Edelmann in Germany. A representative selection of Iron Age artefacts from Hallstatt were acquired as a result of the Evans/Lubbock excavations and from Giubiasco in Ticino through the Swiss National Museum.
In addition, the British Museum's collections covering the period AD 300 to 1100 are among the largest and most comprehensive in the world, extending from Spain to the Black Sea and from North Africa to Scandinavia; a representative selection of these has recently been redisplayed in a newly refurbished gallery. Important collections include Latvian, Norwegian, Gotlandic and Merovingian material from Johann Karl Bähr, Alfred Heneage Cocks, Sir James Curle and Philippe Delamain respectively. However, the undoubted highlight from the early mediaeval period is the magnificent items from the Sutton Hoo royal grave, generously donated to the nation by the landowner Edith Pretty. The late mediaeval collection includes a large number of seal-dies from across Europe, the most famous of which include those from the Town of Boppard in Germany, Isabella of Hainault from her tomb in Notre Dame Cathedral, Paris, Inchaffray Abbey in Scotland and Robert Fitzwalter, one of the Barons who led the revolt against King John in England. There is also a large collection of medieval signet rings, prominent among them is the gold signet ring belonging to Jean III de Grailly who fought in the Hundred Years' War, as well as those of Mary, Queen of Scots and Richard I of England. Other groups of artefacts represented in the department include the national collection of (c.100) icon paintings, most of which originate from the Byzantine Empire and Russia, and over 40 mediaeval astrolabes from across Europe and the Middle East. The department also includes the national collection of horology with one of the most wide-ranging assemblage of clocks, watches and other timepieces in Europe, with masterpieces from every period in the development of time-keeping. Choice horological pieces came from the Morgan and Ilbert collections. The department is also responsible for the curation of Romano-British objects – the museum has by far the most extensive such collection in Britain and one of the most representative regional collections in Europe outside Italy. It is particularly famous for the large number of late Roman silver treasures, many of which were found in East Anglia, the most important of which is the Mildenhall Treasure. The museum purchased many Roman-British objects from the antiquarian Charles Roach Smith in 1856. These quickly formed the nucleus of the collection. The department also includes ethnographic material from across Europe including a collection of Bulgarian costumes and shadow puppets from Greece and Turkey. A particular highlight are the three Sámi drums from northern Sweden of which only about 70 are extant.
Objects from the Department of Britain, Europe and Prehistory are mostly found on the upper floor of the museum, with a suite of galleries numbered from 38 to 51. Most of the collection is stored in its archive facilities, where it is available for research and study.
Highlights of the collections include:
Stone Age (c. 3.4 million years BC – c. 2000 BC)
* Palaeolithic material from across Africa, particularly Olduvai, Kalambo Falls, Olorgesailie and Cape Flats, (1.8 million BC onwards)
* One of the 11 leaf-shaped points found near Volgu, Saône-et-Loire, France and estimated to be 16,000 years old
* Ice Age art from France including the Wolverine pendant of Les Eyzies, Montastruc decorated stone and Baton fragment, (–11,000 BC)
* Ice Age art from Britain including the decorated jaw from Kendrick and Robin Hood Cave Horse, (11,500–10,000 BC)
* Rare mesolithic artefacts from the site of Star Carr in Yorkshire, northern England, (8770–8460 BC)
* Terracotta figurine from Vinča, Serbia, (5200–4900 BC)
* Callaïs bead jewellery from Lannec-er-Ro'h, intact schist bracelet from Le Lizo, Carnac and triangular pendant from , Morbihan, Brittany, western France, (5000–4300 BC)
* Polished jade axe produced in the Italian Alps and found in Canterbury, Kent, southeast England, (4500–4000 BC)
* Section of the Sweet Track, an ancient timber causeway from the Somerset Levels, England, (3807/6 BC)
* Small collection of Neolithic finds including a necklace of flat bone beads from Skara Brae, Orkneys, northern Scotland, (3180–2500 BC)
* Representative sample of artefacts (sherds, vessels, etc.) from the megalithic site of Tarxien, Malta, (3150–2500 BC)
* A number of carved stone balls from Scotland, Ireland and northern England, (3200–2500 BC)
* The three Folkton Drums, made from chalk and found in Yorkshire, northern England, (2600–2100 BC)
Bronze Age ()
* Jet beaded necklace from Melfort in Argyll, Scotland, ()
* Gold lunula from Blessington, Ireland, one of twelve from Ireland, England, LLanllyfini, Wales and Gwithian, Cornwall, (2400–2000 BC)
* Early Bronze Age hoards from Barnack, Driffield, Sewell and Snowshill in England, Arraiolos and Vendas Novas in Iberia and Auvernier, Biecz and Neunheilingen in central Europe (2280–1500 BC)
*Mold cape, unique cape made of gold sheet from Mold, Wales (1900–1600 BC)
* Contents of the Rillaton Barrow including a gold cup, and the related Ringlemere Cup, England, (1700–1500 BC)
* Bronze Age hoards from Forró, Paks-Dunaföldvár, Szőny and Zsujta in Hungary, (1600–1000 BC)
* Large ceremonial swords or dirks from Oxborough and Beaune, western Europe, (1450–1300 BC)
* Eight bronze shields including those from Moel Hebog and Rhyd-y-gors, Wales and Athenry, County Galway, Ireland, (12th–10th centuries BC)
* Gold hoards from Morvah and Towednack in Cornwall, Milton Keynes in Buckinghamshire and Mooghaun in Ireland, (1150–750 BC)
* Gold bowl with intricate repoussé decoration from Leer, Lower Saxony, northern Germany, (1100–800 BC)
* Dunaverney flesh-hook found near Ballymoney, Northern Ireland and part of the Dowris Hoard from County Offaly, Ireland, (1050–900 BC & 900–600 BC)
* Late Bronze Age gold hoards from Abia de la Obispalía and Mérida, Spain and an intricate gold collar from Sintra, Portugal, (10th–8th centuries BC)
*Shropshire bulla, gold pendant decorated with intricately carved geometric designs, (1000–750 BC)
* Part of a copper alloy lur from Årslev on the island of Funen, Denmark, one of only about 40 extant and the Dunmanway Horn from County Cork, Ireland (900–750 BC)
* Gold bowl with embossed ornament and fluted wire handle from Angyalföld, Budapest, Hungary, (800–600 BC)
Iron Age ()
* Basse Yutz Flagons, a pair of bronze drinking vessels from Moselle, eastern France, (5th century BC)
* Morel collection of La Tène material from eastern France, including the Somme-Bionne chariot burial and the Prunay Vase, (450-300BC)
* Important finds from the River Thames including the Battersea, Chertsey and Wandsworth shields and Waterloo Helmet, as well as the Witham Shield from Lincolnshire, eastern England, (350–50 BC)
* Bronze scabbard with La Tène engraved decoration, found at Lisnacrogher bog, County Antrim, Northern Ireland, (300–200 BC)
* Pair of gold collars called the Orense Torcs from northwest Spain, (300–150 BC)
* Arras culture items from chariot burials in the Lady's Barrow near Market Weighton and Wetwang Slack, Yorkshire, (300 BC – 100 BC)
* Other gold neck collars including the Ipswich Hoard and the Sedgeford Torc, England, (200–50 BC)
* Winchester Hoard of gold jewellery from southern England and the Great Torc from Snettisham in Norfolk, East Anglia, (100 BC)
* Eight out of about thirty extant intact Celtic bronze mirrors with La Tène decoration including those from Aston, Chettle, Desborough, Holcombe and St Keverne in England, (100 BC – 100 AD)
* Cordoba and Arcillera Treasures, two silver Celtic hoards from Spain, (100–20 BC)
* Grave find of ornately decorated bronze bucket with human shaped handles, a pan, jug, three brooches and at least four pottery vessels from Aylesford, Kent, (75 BC – 25 BC)
* Lindow Man found by accident in a peat bog in Cheshire, England, (1st century AD)
* Stanwick Hoard of horse and chariot fittings and the Meyrick Helmet, northern England, (1st century AD)
* La Tène silver hinged brooch from Székesfehérvár, Hungary, (1–100 AD)
* Lochar Moss Torc and two pairs of massive bronze armlets from Muthill and Strathdon, Scotland, (50–200 AD)
Romano-British (43 AD – 410 AD)
* Tombstone of Roman procurator Gaius Julius Alpinus Classicianus from London, (1st century)
* Ribbed glass bowl found in a grave at Radnage, Buckinghamshire, (1st century)
* Large milestone marker with inscription from the reign of the emperor Hadrian from Llanfairfechan, Gwynedd in North Wales, (120–121 AD)
* Ribchester, Guisborough and Witcham helmets once worn by Roman cavalry in Britain, (1st–2nd centuries)
* Elaborate gold bracelets and ring found near Rhayader, central Wales, (1st–2nd centuries)
* Hoard of gold jewellery found at Dolaucothi mine in Carmarthenshire, Wales, (1st–2nd centuries)
* Bronze heads of the Roman emperors Hadrian and Nero, found in London and Suffolk, (1st–2nd centuries)
* Vindolanda Tablets, important historical documents found near Hadrian's Wall in Northumberland, (1st–2nd centuries)
* Head of Mercury from Roman-Celtic Temple at Uley, Gloucestershire and limestone head from Towcester, Northamptonshire (2nd–4th centuries)
* Wall-paintings and sculptures from the Roman Villa at Lullingstone, Kent, south east England, 1st–4th centuries)
* Capheaton and Backworth treasures, remnants of two important hoards from northern England, (2nd–3rd centuries)
* Stony Stratford Hoard of copper headdresses, fibulae and silver votive plaques, central England, (3rd century)
* Square silver dish from Mileham in Norfolk, (4th century)
* Gold jewellery deposited at the site of Newgrange, Ireland, (4th century)
* Thetford Hoard, late Roman jewellery from eastern England, (4th century)
Early Mediaeval ()
* One of five Largitio silver dishes of the emperor Licinius found at Niš, Serbia and a hexagonal gold coin-set pendant of Constantine the Great, (Early 4th century AD)
*Two wooden ship figureheads dredged from the River Scheldt at Moerzeke and Appels, Belgium, (4th–6th centuries)
* Part of the Asyut, Domagnano, Artres, Sutri, Bergamo and Belluno Treasures, (4th–7th centuries)
* Lycurgus Cup, a unique figurative glass cage cup, and the Byzantine Archangel ivory panel, (4th–6th centuries)
* Three large Ogham stones from the Roofs More Rath, County Cork, Ireland, (5th–7th centuries)
* The Sutton Hoo treasure, Taplow burial and Crundale grave objects with some of the greatest finds from the early Middle Ages in Europe, England, (6th–7th centuries)
* One of the Burghead Bulls, Pictish stone relief from northeast Scotland, (7th–8th centuries)
* Three Viking hoards from Norway known as the Lilleberge Viking Burial, Tromsø Burial and Villa Farm barrow burial in Vestnes and the Ardvouray, Ballaquayle, Cuerdale, Goldsborough and Vale of York hoards from Britain, (7th–10th centuries)
* Irish reliquaries such as the Kells Crozier, Bell Shrine of St. Cuileáin and St Conall Cael's Shrine from Inishkeel, (7th–11th centuries)
* Early Anglo Saxon Franks Casket, a unique ivory container from northern England, (8th century)
* T-shaped Carolingian antler container with carved geometric interlace and zigzag decoration, found near Grüneck Castle, Ilanz, Switzerland, (8th–9th centuries)
* A number of luxurious penannular brooches such as the Londesborough Brooch, Breadalbane Brooch and those from the Penrith Hoard, British Isles, (8th–9th centuries)
* Three of the twenty extant Carolingian crystal intaglios including the Lothair Crystal, the Metz engraved gem with crucifixion and Saint-Denis Crystal, central Europe, (9th century)
* Anglo-Saxon Fuller and Strickland Brooches with their complex, niello-inlaid design, England, (9th century)
* One of the Magdeburg Ivories from a set of 16 surviving ivory panels illustrating episodes of the Life of Jesus, Magdeburg, Germany, (968 AD)
* Seax of Beagnoth, iron sword with long Anglo-Saxon Runic inscription, London, England, (10th century)
Mediaeval ()
* A number of mediaeval ivory panels including the Borradaile, Wernher and John Grandisson Triptychs, (10th–14th centuries)
* Several elephant ivory horns including the Borradaile Horn, Clephane Horn and Savernake Horn, (11th–12th centuries)
* The famous Lewis chessmen found in the Outer Hebrides, Scotland, (12th century)
* Reliquary of St. Eustace from the treasury of Basel Munster, Switzerland and fragments of a rare Romanesque crucifix from South Cerney, England, (12th century)
* Armenian stone-cross or Khachkar from the Noratus cemetery in Armenia, (1225 AD)
* Items from the tomb of Henry VI, Holy Roman Emperor at Palermo Cathedral, Sicily, including his mitre, silk pall and shoe, (late 12th century)
* The unique Warwick Castle Citole, an early form of guitar, central England, (1280–1330)
* Set of 10 wooden door panels engraved with Christian scenes from the Hanging Church in Old Cairo, Egypt, (1300)
* Asante Jug, mysteriously found at the Asante Court in the late 19th century, England, (1390–1400)
* Holy Thorn Reliquary bequeathed by Ferdinand de Rothschild as part of the Waddesdon Bequest, Paris, France, (14th century)
* Dunstable Swan Jewel, a gold and enamel brooch in the form of a swan, England, (14th century)
* A silver astrolabe quadrant from Canterbury, southeastern England, (14th century)
* Chalcis treasure of jewellery, dress accessories and silver plate from the island of Euboea, Greece, (14th–15th centuries)
* Magnificent cups made from precious metal such as the Royal Gold Cup and the Lacock Cup, western Europe, (14th–15th centuries)
* Complete church altar set from Medina de Pomar near Burgos, Spain (1455 AD)
Renaissance to Modern ( – present)
* Two luxurious silver brooches set with precious stones from Glen Lyon and Lochbuie, Scotland (early 16th century)
* Intricately decorated parade shield made by Giorgio Ghisi from Mantua, Italy, (1554 AD)
* The Armada Service, 26 silver dishes found in Devon, south west England, (late 16th to early 17th centuries)
* Early Renaissance Lyte Jewel, presented to Thomas Lyte of Lytes Cary, Somerset by King James I of England, (1610)
* Huguenot silver from the Peter Wilding bequest, England, (18th century)
* Pair of so-called Cleopatra Vases from the Chelsea porcelain factory, London, England, (1763)
* Jaspar ware vase known as the Pegasus Vase made by Josiah Wedgwood, England, (1786)
* Two of Charles Darwin's chronometers used on the voyage of HMS Beagle, (1795–1805)
* The Hull Grundy Gift of jewellery, Europe and North America, (19th century)
* Oak clock with mother-of-pearl engraving designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh, (1919)
* Silver tea-infuser MT 49 designed by Marianne Brandt from the Bauhaus art school, Germany, (1924)
* The Rosetta Vase, earthenware pottery vase designed by the contemporary British artist Grayson Perry, (2011)
The many hoards of treasure include those of Esquiline, Carthage, First Cyprus, Hockwold, Hoxne, Lampsacus, Mildenhall, Vale of York and Water Newton, (4th–10th centuries AD)
<gallery widths"190px" heights"190px">
File:British Museum Olduvai handaxe.jpg|Room 2 – Handaxe, Lower Palaeolithic, Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania,
File:Sleeping Reindeer 4512630872 d31dcb1207 o.jpg|Room 3 – Swimming Reindeer carving, France,
File:Ain Sakhri Lovers - British Museum - Joy of Museums.jpg|Room 2 – Ain Sakhri lovers, from the cave of Ain Sakhri, near Bethlehem,
File:British Museum gold thing 501594 fh000035.jpg|Room 51 – Mold gold cape, North Wales, Bronze Age, –1600 BC
File:Wandsworth Shield.png|Room 50 – Wandsworth Shield, Iron Age shield boss in La Tène style, England, 2nd century BC
File:IronAgeTorcBritishMuseum.JPG|Room 50 – Gold torc found in Needwood Forest, central England, 75 BC
File:Roman emperor head.jpg|Room 49 - Bronze head of a Roman emperor Nero, from Rendham in Suffolk, eastern England, 1st century AD
File:Romano-British crown and diadem.jpg|Room 49 – Romano-British crown and diadem found in Hockwold cum Wilton, England 1st century AD
File:Mosaic2 - plw.jpg|Room 49 – Hinton St Mary Mosaic with face of Christ in the centre, from Dorset, southern England, 4th century AD
File:Corbridge lanx.jpg|Room 49 – Corbridge Lanx, silver tray depicting a shrine to Apollo, northern England, 4th century AD
File:British Museum Coleraine Hoard.jpg|Room 41 – Silver objects from the Roman Coleraine Hoard, Northern Ireland, 4th-5th centuries AD
File:Sutton Hoo helmet 2016.png|Room 41 – Sutton Hoo helmet, Anglo-Saxon, England, early 7th century AD
File:Virgin and Child BM PE1978-05.02-3.jpg|Room 40 – Ivory statue of Virgin and Child, who is crushing a dragon under her left foot from Paris, France, 1310-1330 AD
File:Chaucer Astrolabe BM 1909.6-17.1.jpg|Room 40 – Chaucer Astrolabe, the oldest dated in Europe, 1326 AD
File:British Museum Royal Gold Cup.jpg|Room 40 – Royal Gold Cup or Saint Agnes Cup, made in Paris, France, 1370–80 AD
File:Holy Thorn Reliquary front 2018 (cropped).JPG|Room 2a – Holy Thorn Reliquary, made in Paris,
File:Ship Clock at British Museum.jpg|Room 38 – Mechanical Galleon clock, Augsburg, Germany, around 1585 AD
File:Carillon Clock with Automata, by Isaac Habrecht - British Museum.jpg|Room 38 – Carillon clock with automata by Isaac Habrecht, Switzerland, 1589 AD
File:Inside the British Museum, London - DSC04228.JPG|Room 39 – Ornate clock made by Thomas Tompion, England, 1690 AD
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Department of Asia
, southern India, 1st century BC and 3rd century AD]]
of Chinese ceramics]]
The scope of the Department of Asia is extremely broad; its collections of over 75,000 objects cover the material culture of the whole Asian continent and from the Neolithic up to the present day. Until recently, this department concentrated on collecting Oriental antiquities from urban or semi-urban societies across the Asian continent. Many of those objects were collected by colonial officers and explorers in former parts of the British Empire, especially the Indian subcontinent. Examples include the collections made by individuals such as James Wilkinson Breeks, Sir Alexander Cunningham, Sir Harold Deane, Sir Walter Elliot, James Prinsep, Charles Masson, Sir John Marshall and Charles Stuart. A large number of Chinese antiquities were purchased from the Anglo-Greek banker George Eumorfopoulos in the 1930s. The large collection of some 1800 Japanese prints and paintings owned by Arthur Morrison was acquired in the early twentieth century. In the second half of the twentieth century, the museum greatly benefited from the bequest of the philanthropist PT Brooke Sewell, which allowed the department to purchase many objects and fill in gaps in the collection.
In 2004, the ethnographic collections from Asia were transferred to the department. These reflect the diverse environment of the largest continent in the world and range from India to China, the Middle East to Japan. Much of the ethnographic material comes from objects originally owned by tribal cultures and hunter-gatherers, many of whose way of life has disappeared in the last century. Particularly valuable collections are from the Andaman and Nicobar Islands (much assembled by the British naval officer Maurice Portman), Sri Lanka (especially through the colonial administrator Hugh Nevill), Northern Thailand, south-west China, the Ainu of Hokkaido in Japan (chief among them the collection of the Scottish zoologist John Anderson), Siberia (with artefacts collected by the explorer Kate Marsden and Bassett Digby and is notable for its Sakha pieces, especially the ivory model of a summer festival at Yakutsk) and the islands of South-East Asia, especially Borneo. The latter benefited from the purchase in 1905 of the Sarawak collection put together by Dr Charles Hose, as well as from other colonial officers such as Edward A Jeffreys. In addition, a unique and valuable group of objects from Java, including shadow puppets and a gamelan musical set, was assembled by Sir Stamford Raffles.
The principal gallery devoted to Asian art in the museum is Gallery 33 with its comprehensive display of Chinese, Indian subcontinent and South-east Asian objects. An adjacent gallery showcases the Amaravati sculptures and monuments. Other galleries on the upper floors are devoted to its Japanese, Korean, painting and calligraphy, and Chinese ceramics collections.
Highlights of the collections include:
* The most comprehensive collection of sculpture from the Indian subcontinent in the world, including the celebrated Buddhist limestone reliefs from Amaravati excavated by Sir Walter Elliot
* An outstanding collection of Chinese antiquities, paintings, and porcelain, lacquer, bronze, jade, and other applied arts
* The collection of 147 Chinese paintings from the Tang to the Qing dynasties.
* The most comprehensive collection of Japanese pre-20th century art in the Western world, many of which originally belonged to the surgeon William Anderson and diplomat Ernest Mason Satow
East Asia
* A large collection of Chinese ritual bronzes, including a wine vessel in the shape of two rams supporting a jar, (1500–200 BC)
* Jade bi or disc with inscription from the Qianlong Emperor, (1500–1050 BC)
* Group of oracle bones that were used for divination from the Shang dynasty, China, (1200–1050 BC)
* Intricately designed gold dagger handle from Eastern Zhou period, China, (6th–5th centuries BC)
* Huixian Bronze Hu, an identical pair of bronze vessels from the Eastern Zhou period, China, (5th century BC)
* Japanese antiquities from the Kofun period excavated by the pioneering archaeologist William Gowland, (3rd–6th centuries AD)
* Three ornate bronze Dōtaku or bells from the Yayoi period, Japan, (200 BC – 200 AD)
* Gilded and inscribed Han dynasty wine-cup made from lacquer and found in Pyongyang, Korea (4 AD)
* Gandharan architectural wood carvings, furniture and dress accessories from Loulan, Xinjiang, (4th century AD)
* The famous Admonitions Scroll by Chinese artist Gu Kaizhi, (344–406 AD)
* The colossal Amitābha Buddha from Hancui, China, (585 AD)
* A set of ceramic Tang dynasty tomb figures of Liu Tingxun, ()
* Silk Princess painting from Dandan-oilik Buddhist sanctuary in Khotan, Xinjiang, China, (7th–8th century AD)
* Seated Luohan from Yixian, one from a set of eight surviving statues, China, (907–1125 AD)
* Hoard of Tang dynasty silverware from Beihuangshan, Shaanxi, China, (9th–10th centuries AD)
* Seventeen examples of extremely rare Ru ware, the largest collection in the West, (1100 AD)
* A fine assemblage of Buddhist scroll paintings from Dunhuang, western China, collected by the British-Hungarian explorer Aurel Stein, (5th–11th centuries AD)
* Pericival David collection of Chinese ceramics, (10th–18th centuries AD)
* Ivory stand in the form of a seated lion, Chos-'khor-yan-rtse monastery in Tibet, (13th century AD)
* Copy of a hanging scroll painting of Minamoto no Yoritomo, first Shogun of Japan, (14th century AD)
* Handscroll silk painting called 'Fascination of Nature' by Xie Chufang depicting insects and plants, China, (1321 AD)
* Ornate Sino-Tibetan figure of Buddha Sakyamuni made of gilded bronze, China, (1403–1424 AD)
* Large Cloisonné jar with dragon made for the Ming dynasty Imperial Court, paired with another in the Rietberg Museum, Zürich, Beijing, China, (1426–35 AD)
* Pair of ceramic Kakiemon elephants from Japan, (17th century AD)
* Moon jar from the Joseon Dynasty collected by the potter Bernard Leach, Korea, (18th century AD)
* Japanese prints including The Great Wave off Kanagawa, (1829–32 AD)
* Illustrations for the Great Picture Book of Everything, rare album of drawings by the celebrated Japanese artist Hokusai, (1820–1840 AD)
South Asia
* Excavated objects from the Indus Valley sites of Mohenjo-daro, and Harappa, Ancient India (now in Pakistan), (2500–2000 BC)
* Hoard of Copper Hoard Culture celts, plaques and disc from Gungeria, Madhya Pradesh, India, (2000–1000 BC)
* Assembly of prehistoric artefacts from the Nilgiri Hills in southern India, (10th century BC – 2nd century AD)
* Hoard of Iron Age metal weapons excavated at the Wurreegaon barrow near Kamptee in Maharastra, India, (7th – 1st centuries BC)
* Sandstone fragment of a Pillar of Ashoka with Brahmi inscription from Meerut, Uttar Pradesh, India, (238 BC)
* The Kulu Vase found near a monastery in Himachal Pradesh, one of the earliest examples of figurative art from the sub-continent, northern India, (1st century BC)
* Copper plate from Taxila, with important Kharoshthi inscription, Ancient India (now in Pakistan), (1st century BC – 1st century AD)
* Indo-Scythian sandstone Mathura Lion Capital and Bracket figure from one of the gateways to the Great Stupa at Sanchi, central India, (1st century AD)
* Bimaran Casket and Wardak Vase, reliquaries from ancient stupas in Afghanistan, (1st–2nd centuries AD)
* Hoard of gold jewellery with precious stones found under the Enlightenment Throne at the Mahabodhi Temple, Bodh Gaya, eastern India, (2nd century AD)
* Relic deposits from stupas at Ahin Posh, Ali Masjid, Gudivada, Manikyala, Sonala Pind, Sanchi and Taxila, (1st–3rd centuries AD)
* Seated Hārītī and Buddha statues and other Gandhara sculptures from Kafir Kot, Jamal Garhi, Takht-i-Bahi and Yusufzai, Pakistan, (1st–3rd centuries AD)
* Hephthalite silver bowl with hunting scenes from the Swat District, Pakistan, (460–479 AD)
* Three sandstone carved sculptures of the Buddha in Gupta style from Sarnath, eastern India, (5th–6th centuries AD)
* Aphsad inscription of Ādityasena with important record of the genealogy of the Later Gupta dynasty up to king Ādityasena, Ghosrawan, Bihar, India, (675 AD)
* The Buddhapad Hoard of bronze images from southern India, (6th–8th centuries AD)
* Small bronze figure of Buddha Shakyamuni, Bihar, eastern India, (7th century AD)
* Stone statue of Buddha from the Sultanganj hoard, Bihar, eastern India, (7th–8th centuries AD)
* Earliest known figure of the dancing four-armed god Shiva Nataraja, Pallava dynasty, southern India (800 AD)
* Statue of Tara from Sri Lanka and the Thanjavur Shiva from Tamil Nadu, southern India, (8th century & 10th century AD)
* Standing Pala statue of Buddha from Kurkihar, Bihar, India, (9th century AD)
* Several wooden architectural panels from the Kashmir Smast caves, northern Pakistan, (9th–10th centuries AD)
* Hoard of Buddhist terracotta sealings from the Pala period found at the Nālandā Monastery, Bihar, eastern India, (10th century AD)
* Statue of the goddess Ambika found at Dhar in central India, (1034 AD)
* Foundation inscription of the Ananta Vasudeva Temple in Bhubaneswar, Odisha, eastern India, (1278 AD)
* Jade dragon cup that once belonged to Sultan Ulugh Beg from Samarkand, Uzbekistan, (1420–1449 AD)
* Foundation inscription with Arabic inscription in Naskh script in the name of Sultan Yusufshah from Gauda, Bengal, eastern India, (1477 AD)
* Large standing gilded copper figure of the Bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara, Nepal, (15th–16th centuries AD)
Southeast Asia
* Earthenware tazza from the Phùng Nguyên culture, northern Vietnam, (2000–1500 BC)
* Pottery vessels and sherds from the ancient site of Ban Chiang, Thailand, (10th–1st centuries BC)
* Bronze bell from Klang and iron socketed axe (tulang mawas) from Perak, western Malaysia, (200 BC–200 AD)
* Group of six Buddhist clay votive plaques found in a cave in Patania, Penang, Malaysia, (6th–11th centuries AD)
* The famous Sambas Treasure of buddhist gold and silver figures from west Borneo, Indonesia, (8th–9th centuries AD)
* Three stone Buddha heads from the temple at Borobodur in Java, Indonesia, (9th century AD)
* Granite Kinnari figure in the shape of a bird from Candi Prambanan in Java, Indonesia, (9th century AD)
* Sandstone Champa figure of a rampant lion, Vietnam, (11th century AD)
* Gilded bronze figure of Śiva holding a rosary, Cambodia, (11th century AD)
* Stone figure representing the upper part of an eleven-headed Avalokiteśvara, Cambodia, (12th century AD)
* Bronze figure of a seated Buddha from Bagan, Burma, (12th–13th centuries AD)
* Hoard of Southern Song dynasty ceramic vessels excavated at Pinagbayanan, Taysan Municipality, Philippines, (12th–13th centuries AD)
* Statue of the Goddess Mamaki from Candi Jago, eastern Java, Indonesia, (13th–14th centuries AD)
* Glazed terracotta tiles from the Shwegugyi Temple erected by king Dhammazedi in Bago, Myanmar, (1476 AD)
* Inscribed bronze figure of a Buddha from Fang District, part of a large SE Asian collection amassed by the Norwegian explorer Carl Bock, Thailand, (1540 AD)
* Large impression of the Buddha's foot made of gilded stone (known as Shwesettaw Footprints) donated by Captain Frederick Marryat, from Ponoodang near Yangon, Myanmar, (18th–19th centuries AD)
<gallery widths"190" heights"190">
File:Poids cubiques harappéens - BM.jpg|Room 33 - Cubic weights made of chert from Mohenjo-daro, Pakistan, 2600-1900 BC
File:Periodo degli zhou dell'est, coppia di vasi rituali hu. V sec. ac. 01.JPG|Room 33 - One of the hu from Huixian, China, 5th century BC
File:CrystalGoose.JPG|Room 33 - A hamsa sacred goose vessel made of crystal from Stupa 32, Taxila, Pakistan, 1st century AD
File:Death of the Buddha BM.jpg|Room 33 - Stone sculpture of the death of Buddha, Gandhara, Pakistan, 1st-3rd centuries AD
File:Ku K'ai-chih 001.jpg|Room 91a - Section of the Admonitions Scroll by Chinese artist Gu Kaizhi, China, c. 380 AD
File:Denesar Khera Buddha.JPG|Room 33 - Gilded bronze statue of the Buddha, Dhaneswar Khera, India, 5th century AD
File:Amitabha Buddha Statue, British Museum - panoramio.jpg|The Amitābha Buddha from Hancui on display in the museum's stairwell, China, 6th century AD
File:Luóhàn at British Museum.jpg|Room 33 - The luohan from Yixian made of glazed stoneware, China, 907-1125 AD
File:Goddess Ambika from Dhar.JPG|Sculpture of Goddess Ambika found at Dhar, India, 1034 AD
File:Tirthankaras.jpg|Sculpture of the two Jain tirthankaras Rishabhanatha and Mahavira, Orissa, India, 11th-12th century AD
File:British Museum Kang Hou Gui Top.jpg|Room 33 - Western Zhou bronze ritual vessel known as the "Kang Hou Gui", China, 11th century BC
File:Seated Avalokiteshvara BM OA 1985.5-11.1.jpg|Room 33 - A crowned figure of the Bodhisattva Khasarpana Avalokiteśvara, India, 12th century AD
File:British Museum Asia 2 (cropped).jpg|Room 33 - Covered hanging jar with underglaze decoration, Si Satchanalai (Sawankalok), north-central Thailand, 14th-16th centuries AD
File:Hu-shaped altar vessel BM 1989.0309.1.jpg|Room 33 - Hu-shaped altar flower vessel, Ming dynasty, China, 15th -16th centuries AD
File:Judge assistant hell BM OA1917.11-16.1 n02.jpg|Room 33 - An assistant to the Judge of Hell, figure from a judgement group, Ming dynasty, China, 16th century AD
File:British Museum Asia 41-2.jpg|Room 33 - Statue of Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara, gilded bronze. Nepal, 16th century AD
File:Indischer Maler um 1615 (I) 001.jpg|Portrait of Ibrâhîm 'Âdil Shâh II (1580–1626), Mughal Empire of India, 1615 AD
File:Utagawa Toyoharu (attributed to), Courtesans of the Tamaya House.jpg|Room 90 - Courtesans of the Tamaya House, attributed to Utagawa Toyoharu, screen painting; Japan, Edo period, late 1770s or early 1780s AD
File:SFEC BritMus Asia 027.JPG|Room 33 - Large statue of Buddha made of lacquer from Burma, 18th-19th century AD
File:Seated.Lama-01-British.Museum.jpg|Room 33 - Figure of seated Lama; of painted and varnished papier-mâché, Ladakh, India, 19th century AD
</gallery>
Department of Africa, Oceania and the Americas
Gallery of Living and Dying, with Hoa Hakananai'a, a moai, in the centre]]
The British Museum houses one of the world's most comprehensive collections of ethnographic material from Africa, Oceania and the Americas, representing the cultures of indigenous peoples throughout the world. Over 350,000 objects spanning thousands of years tells the history of mankind from three major continents and many rich and diverse cultures; the collecting of modern artefacts is ongoing. Many individuals have added to the department's collection over the years but those assembled by Henry Christy, Harry Beasley and William Oldman are outstanding.
Objects from this department are mostly on display in several galleries on the ground and lower floors. Gallery 24 displays ethnographic from every continent while adjacent galleries focus on North America and Mexico. A long suite of rooms (Gallery 25) on the lower floor display African art. There are plans in place to develop permanent galleries for showcasing art from Oceania and South America.
Africa
]]
The Sainsbury African Galleries display 600 objects from the greatest permanent collection of African arts and culture in the world. The three permanent galleries provide a substantial exhibition space for the museum's African collection comprising over 200,000 objects. A curatorial scope that encompasses both archaeological and contemporary material, including both unique masterpieces of artistry and objects of everyday life. A great addition was material amassed by Sir Henry Wellcome, which was donated by the Wellcome Historical Medical Museum in 1954.
Highlights of the African collection include objects found at megalithic circles in The Gambia, a dozen exquisite Afro-Portuguese ivories, a series of soapstone figures from the Kissi people in Sierra Leone and Liberia, hoard of bronze Kru currency rings from the Sinoe River in Liberia, Asante goldwork and regalia from Ghana including the Bowdich collection, the rare Akan Drum from the same region in west Africa, pair of door panels and lintel from the palace at Ikere-Ekiti in Yorubaland, the Benin and Igbo-Ukwu bronze sculptures, the beautiful Bronze Head of Queen Idia, a magnificent brass head of a Yoruba ruler and quartz throne from Ife, a similar terracotta head from Iwinrin Grove near Ife, the Apapa Hoard from Lagos and other mediaeval bronze hoards from Allabia and the Forçados River in southern Nigeria.
Included is an Ikom monolith from Cross River State, several ancestral screens from the Kalabari tribe in the Niger Delta, the Torday collection of central African sculpture, textiles and weaponry from the Kuba Kingdom including three royal figures, the unique Luzira Head from Uganda, processional crosses and other ecclesiastical and royal material from Gondar and Magdala, Ethiopia following the British Expedition to Abyssinia, excavated objects from Great Zimbabwe (that includes a unique soapstone, anthropomorphic figure) and satellite towns such as Mutare including a large hoard of Iron Age soapstone figures, a rare divining bowl from the Venda peoples and cave paintings and petroglyphs from South Africa.
Oceania
The British Museum's Oceanic collections originate from the vast area of the Pacific Ocean, stretching from Papua New Guinea to Easter Island, from New Zealand to Hawaii. The three main anthropological groups represented in the collection are Polynesia, Melanesia and Micronesia – Aboriginal art from Australia is considered separately in its own right. Metal working was not indigenous to Oceania before Europeans arrived, so many of the artefacts from the collection are made from stone, shell, bone and bamboo. Prehistoric objects from the region include a bird-shaped pestle and a group of stone mortars from Papua New Guinea.
The British Museum is fortunate in having some of the earliest Oceanic and Pacific collections, many of which were put together by members of Cook's and Vancouver's expeditions or by colonial administrators and explorers such as Sir George Grey, Sir Frederick Broome, Joseph Bradshaw, Robert Christison, Gregory Mathews, Frederick Meinertzhagen, Thomas Mitchell and Arthur Gordon, before Western culture significantly impacted on indigenous cultures. The department has also benefited greatly from the legacy of pioneering anthropologists such as AC Haddon, Bronisław Malinowski and Katherine Routledge. An artefact is a wooden Aboriginal shield, probably dating from the late eighteenth century. There is some debate as to whether this shield was found at Botany Bay or, given the nature of the wood being red mangrove which grows abundantly only 500 km north of Botany Bay, possibly obtained through trade networks or at an entirely different location.
The Wilson cabinet of curiosities from Palau is an example of pre-contact ware. Another outstanding exemplar is the mourner's dress from Tahiti given to Cook on his second voyage, one of only ten in existence. In the collection is a large war canoe from the island of Vella Lavella in the Solomon Islands, one of the last ever to be built in the archipelago.
The Māori collection is the finest outside New Zealand with many intricately carved wooden and jade objects and the Aboriginal art collection is distinguished by its wide range of bark paintings, including two very early bark etchings collected by John Hunter Kerr. A particularly important group of objects was purchased from the London Missionary Society in 1911, that includes the unique statue of A'a from Rurutu Island, the rare idol from the isle of Mangareva and the Cook Islands deity figure. Other highlights include the huge Hawaiian statue of Kū-ka-ili-moku or god of war (one of three extant in the world) and the famous Easter Island statues Hoa Hakananai'a and Moai Hava.
Americas
The Americas collection mainly consists of 19th and 20th century items although the Paracas, Moche, Inca, Maya, Aztec, Taino and other early cultures are well represented. The Kayung totem pole, which was made in the late nineteenth century on Haida Gwaii, dominates the Great Court and provides a fitting introduction to this very wide-ranging collection that stretches from the very north of the North American continent where the Inuit population has lived for centuries, to the tip of South America where indigenous tribes have long thrived in Patagonia.
Highlights of the collection include Aboriginal Canadian and Native American objects from North America collected by the 5th Earl of Lonsdale, the Marquis of Lorne, the explorer David Haig-Thomas and Bryan Mullanphy, Mayor of St. Louis, the Squier and Davis collection of prehistoric mound relics from North America, two carved stone bowls in the form of a seated human figure made by ancient North West Coast peoples from British Columbia, the headdress of Chief Yellow Calf from the Arapaho tribe in Wyoming, a lidded rivercane basket from South Carolina and the earliest historic example of Cherokee basketry, a selection of pottery vessels found in prehistoric dwellings at Mesa Verde and Casas Grandes, one of the enigmatic crystal skulls of unknown origin, a collection of nine turquoise Aztec mosaics from Mexico (the largest in Europe), important artefacts from Teotihuacan and Isla de Sacrificios.
There are several rare pre-Columbian manuscripts including the Codex Zouche-Nuttall and Codex Waecker-Gotter and post-colonial ones such as the Codex Aubin and Codex Kingsborough, a spectacular series of Mayan lintels from Yaxchilan excavated by the British Mayanist Alfred Maudslay, a very high quality Mayan collection that includes sculptures from Copan, Tikal, Tulum, Pusilha, Naranjo and Nebaj (including the celebrated Fenton Vase), an ornate calcite vase with jaguar handles from the Ulua Valley in Honduras, the Lord Moyne collection from the Bay Islands, Honduras and Boyle collection from Nicaragua, over 20 stone metates with zoomorphic and anthropomorphic ornamentation from Costa Rica, a group of Zemi Figures from Vere, Jamaica, and wooden duhos from the Dominican Republic and The Bahamas.
There are a collection of Pre-Columbian human mummies from sites across South America including Ancon, Acari, Arica and Leyva, a number of prestigious pre-Columbian gold and votive objects from Colombia, three axe-shaped gold diadems found near Camaná from the Siguas culture in Peru, unique collection of Moche wooden figures and staffs from the off Peru, ethnographic objects from across the Amazon region including the Schomburgk and Maybury Lewis collections and part of the von Martius and von Spix collection, two rare Tiwanaku pottery vessels from Lake Titicaca and important items from Tierra del Fuego donated by Commander Phillip Parker King.
<gallery widths"190px" heights"190px">
File:British Museum otter pipe.jpg|Room 26 - Stone pipe representing an otter from Mound City, Ohio, USA, 200 BC - 400 AD
File:British Museum tomb guardian.jpg|Room 2 - Stone tomb guardian, part human part jaguar, from San Agustín, Colombia, c. 300-600 AD
File:Maya maize god statue.jpg|Room 1 - Maya maize god statue from Copán, Honduras, 600-800 AD
File:Gold Lime Flasks (poporos) Quimbaya Culture, Colombia AD 600-1100 - British Museum.jpg|Room 24 - Gold Lime Flasks (poporos), Quimbaya Culture, Colombia, 600-1100 AD
File:Maya, lintel 25, da yaxchilan, 725.JPG|Room 27 - Lintel 25 from Yaxchilan, Late Classic, Mexico, 600-900 AD
File:Bird pectoral, Popayan, gold alloy, AD900–1600..jpg|Room 24 - Bird pectoral made from gold alloy, Popayán, Colombia, 900-1600 AD
File:Hoa Hakananai'a, British Museum.jpg|Room 24 – Rapa Nui statue Hoa Hakananai'a, 1000 AD, Wellcome Trust Gallery
File:Aztec double-headed serpent - Denis Bourez - British Museum, London.jpg|Room 27 - Double-headed serpent turquoise mosaic, Aztec, Mexico, 1400-1500 AD
File:Denis Bourez - British Museum, London (8747055335).jpg|Room 27 - Turquoise Mosaic Mask, Mixtec-Aztec, Mexico, 1400-1500 AD
File:AHOTWgold lama.JPG|Room 2 - Miniature gold llama figurine, Inca, Peru, about 1500 AD
File:Benin Bronzes at the British Museum 1.jpg|Room 25 - Part of the famous collection of Benin brass plaques, Nigeria, 1500-1600 AD
File:Benin brass plaque 01.jpg|Room 25 - Detail of one of the Benin brass plaques in the museum, Nigeria, 1500-1600 AD
File:Idia mask BM Af1910 5-13 1.jpg|Room 25 - Benin ivory mask of Queen Idia, Nigeria, 16th century AD
File:Hawaiian feather helmet, British Museum 3.jpg|Room 24 - Hawaiian feather helmet or mahiole, late 1700s AD
File:Hawaiian bowl.jpg|Bowl decorated with pearl shell and boars' tusks, used to serve the intoxicating drink kava, Hawaii, late 1700s AD
File:British museum, totem.JPG|Great Court - Two house frontal totem poles, Haida, British Columbia, Canada, about 1850 AD
File:Punu mask BM Af1904 11-22 1.jpg|Room 25 - Mask (wood and pigment); Punu people, Gabon, 19th century AD
File:Otobo masquerade.jpg|Room 25 - Otobo masquerade in the Africa Gallery, Nigeria, 20th century AD
File:El Anatsui - Man's Cloth.jpg|Room 25 - Modern interpretation of kente cloth from Ghana, late 20th century AD
</gallery>
Department of Money and Medals
The British Museum is home to one of the world's finest numismatic collections, comprising about a million objects, including coins, medals, tokens and paper money. The collection spans the entire history of coinage from its origins in the 7th century BC to the present day and is representative of both the East and West. The Department of Coins and Medals was created in 1861 and celebrated its 150th anniversary in 2011.
Department of Conservation and Scientific Research
This department was founded in 1920. Conservation has six specialist areas: ceramics & glass; metals; organic material (including textiles); stone, wall paintings and mosaics; Eastern pictorial art and Western pictorial art. The science department has and continues to develop techniques to date artefacts, analyse and identify the materials used in their manufacture, to identify the place an artefact originated and the techniques used in their creation. The department also publishes its findings and discoveries.Libraries and archivesThis department covers all levels of education, from casual visitors, schools, degree level and beyond. The museum's various libraries hold in excess of 350,000 books, journals and pamphlets covering all areas of the museum's collection. Also the general museum archives which date from its foundation in 1753 are overseen by this department; the individual departments have their own separate archives and libraries covering their various areas of responsibility, which can be consulted by the public on application. The Anthropology Library is especially large, with 120,000 volumes. However, the Paul Hamlyn Library, which had become the central reference library of the British Museum and the only library there freely open to the general public, closed permanently in August 2011. The website and online database of the collection also provide increasing amounts of information.
British Museum Press
The British Museum Press (BMP) is the publishing business and a division of the British Museum Company Ltd., a company and a charity (established in 1973) wholly owned by the trustees of the British Museum.
The BMP publishes both popular and scholarly illustrated books to accompany the exhibition programme and explore aspects of the general collection. Profits from their sales goes to support the British Museum. They can be found on the [https://britishmuseum.iro.bl.uk/collections/40df3995-f6af-4278-a7c4-c0964f52c91d?localeen British Museum Research Repository].Controversies and criticism Contested artefacts
(also known as the Parthenon Marbles) from the East Pediment of the Parthenon in Athens.]]
It is a point of controversy whether museums should possess artefacts illegally taken from other countries, and the British Museum is a notable target for criticism. The Elgin Marbles, the Benin Bronzes, Ethiopian Tabots and the Rosetta Stone are among the most disputed objects in its collections, and organisations have been formed demanding the return of these artefacts to their native countries.
The Elgin Marbles or Parthenon Marbles claimed by Greece have been cited by UNESCO, among others, for restitution. From 1801 to 1812, Lord Elgin's agents removed about half of the surviving sculptures from the Parthenon, as well as sculptures from the Propylaea and Erechtheum. The former director of the museum has stated, "We are indebted to Elgin for having rescued the Parthenon sculptures and others from the Acropolis from the destruction they were suffering, as well as from the damage that the Acropolis monuments, including the sculptures that he did not remove, have suffered since." The British Museum itself damaged some of the artefacts during restoration in the 1930s. In late 2022, the British Museum had entered into preliminary negotiations with the Greek government about the future of the sculptures.
There is also controversy over artefacts taken during the destruction of the Old Summer Palace in Beijing by an Anglo-French expeditionary force during the Second Opium War in 1860, an event which drew protest from Victor Hugo. The British Museum and the Victoria and Albert Museum, among others, have been asked since 2009 to open their archives for investigation by a team of Chinese investigators as a part of an international mission to document Chinese national treasures in foreign collections. In 2010 Neil MacGregor, the former Director of the British Museum, said he hoped that both British and Chinese investigators would work together on the controversial collection. In 2020 the museum appointed a curator to research the history of its collections, including disputed items.
The British Museum has stated that the "restitutionist premise, that whatever was made in a country must return to an original geographical site, would empty both the British Museum and the other great museums of the world". The museum has also argued that the British Museum Act of 1963 prevents any object from leaving its collection once it has entered it. "The Museum owns its collections, but its Trustees are not empowered to dispose of them". Nevertheless, it has returned items such as Tasmanian Aboriginal burial remains when this was consistent with legislation regarding the disposal of items in the collections.
List of contested artefacts
* Elgin Marbles – claimed by Greece and backed by UNESCO among others for restitution
* Benin Bronzes – claimed by Nigeria; the Nigerian government has passed a resolution demanding the return of all 700 bronze pieces. 30 pieces of the bronzes were sold by the British Museum privately from the 1950s until 1972, mostly back to the Nigerians.
* Rosetta Stone – claimed by Egypt
* Ethiopian Tabots, Pre-Axumite Civilisation Coins – claimed by Ethiopia
* Maqdala Collection, various religious and artistic objects, claimed by Ethiopia
* Asante Gold Regalia, personal jewellery and royal insignia worn by the Asante king/emperor – claimed by Ghana
* Oxus Treasure – in 2007 the President of Tajikistan ordered experts to look into making a claim for these Achaemenid Empire gold and silver artefacts.
* Dunhuang manuscripts, part of a cache of scrolls, manuscripts, paintings, scriptures, and relics from the Mogao Caves, including the Diamond Sutra – claimed by the People's Republic of China
* Aboriginal shield – claimed by Aboriginal people of Australia.
*Irish artefacts — the Bell Shrine of St. Cuileáin, Londesborough Brooch, swords, half of the Dowris Hoard, part of the Mooghaun North Hoard, the Dunaverney flesh-hook, the Kells Crozier, torcs, four crucifixion plaques, armlets, seals, religious plaques, and rings.
* Welsh artefacts – the Mold gold cape the Rhos Rydd Shield, the Moel Hebog shield and the Llanllyfni lunula.
* Four stolen drawings (Nazi plunder) – Compensation paid to Uri Peled for the amount of £175,000 by the British Museum
* Repatriation and reburial of human remains is a controversial issue, and the British Museum has issued a policy on the subject. Nazi-looted art In 2002 the heirs of Arthur Feldmann, an art collector murdered in the Holocaust, requested that four old master drawings stolen by the Gestapo in 1939 be returned to the family. A UK High Court judge ruled in 2005 that it would be illegal for the British Museum to return artworks looted by the Nazis to a Jewish family, despite its willingness and moral obligation to do so. The law was changed in 2009, and again in 2022 giving museums additional powers to return looted art or provide compensation. Feldmann's heirs accepted a compensation payment for a looted drawing and stated that they were happy the drawing would remain in the British Museum collection.
According to the British Museum Spoliation report published by the Collections Trust in 2017, "Around 30% of some 21,350 continental and British drawings acquired since 1933 have an uncertain or incomplete provenance for the 1933–1945 period". The museum lists these works on its website and investigates claims for restitution.
BP sponsorship
Since 2016, there have been a number of protests by activist groups, trade unions and the public against the British Museum's relationship with the oil company BP which the protesters believe implicates the museum in global warming. In July 2019, Ahdaf Soueif resigned from the British Museum's board of trustees in protest against the sponsorship. In February 2020, 1,500 demonstrators, including British Museum staff, took part in a day of protest over the issue. In December 2023, it was announced that the British Museum had agreed to a new £50 million sponsorship deal with BP. Chairman's Advisory Group The Chairman's Advisory Group is an informal group of business leaders who provide advice to the chairman on various issues including the museum's relationship with the British government and policy on the museum's collections. Its existence was made public after a freedom of information request by a group campaigning against the museum's links with the fossil fuel industry. The museum has declined to name the members of the advisory group as they are acting in their personal capacity.TheftsThefts from the museum include: several historic coins and medals in the 1970s;
In July 2002 a marble head, valued at £50,000, was stolen from the Archaic Greek gallery. In 2004, 15 Chinese artefacts including jewels, ornate hairpins and fingernail guards were stolen. In 2017, it was revealed that a Cartier diamond had been missing since 2011. Some of the missing artefacts were later found to have been sold on eBay for considerably less than their estimated value. The museum had been warned of the thefts as early as 2021. The museum's director, Hartwig Fischer, resigned because of the museum's inadequate response to the warnings of theft. The number of artefacts stolen was estimated to be about 2,000. As a consequence of the thefts, the museum announced a five-year plan to digitise the complete collection and make it available to view online. By May 2024, 626 of the missing items had been recovered.
Copyright settlement
In August 2023, the British Museum reached a settlement with the translator Yilin Wang over her translations of poetry by Qiu Jin. The museum had used her work without credit or permission in their exhibition ''China's Hidden Century'' which ran between May 2023 and October 2023. Tibet naming conventions In January 2025, the British Museum was criticized by Tibetan human rights groups for referring to Tibet as "Xizang," the current preferred term of the government of the People's Republic of China.
Galleries
;Building
<gallery>
File:BM, Main Floor Main Entrance Hall ~ South Stairs.6.JPG|Main Staircase, Discobolus of Myron (the Discus-Thrower)
File:British Museum Reading Room Panorama Feb 2006.jpg|British Museum Reading Room
File:British Museum 2010-06-04 B.jpg|Ceiling of the Great Court and the black siltstone obelisks of Nectanebo II,
File:Flickr - Nic's events - British Museum with Cory and Mary, 6 Sep 2007 - 183.jpg|Detail of an Ionic capital on a pilaster in the Great Court
File:England; London - The British Museum, Facade South Front ~ -Main Entrance + West Wing- Colonnade + The Africa Garden.2.jpg|African Garden – created by BBC TV programme Ground Force
</gallery>
;Museum galleries
Department of Ancient Egypt and Sudan
<gallery>
File:BM, AES Egyptian Sculpture (Room 4), View South + Towards Assyrian Sculpture Gallery (Room 6).JPG|Room 4 – Egyptian Sculpture, view towards the Assyrian Transept
File:BM, AES Egyptian Sculpture (Room 4), View North.3.JPG|Room 4
File:Egyptian Gallery.JPG|Room 4
</gallery>
Department of the Middle East
<gallery>
File:BM; RM6 - ANE, Assyrian Sculpture 32 -East (N), Centre Island + North Wall- ~ Assyrian Empire + -Lamassu, Stela's, Statue's, Obelisk's, Relief Panel's & Full Projection.1.jpg|The British Museum, Room 6 – Assyrian Sculpture
File:BM; RM8 - ANE, Nimrud Palace Reliefs 75 South + East Wall (S) ~ Central Palace of Tiglath-pileser III (744-727 B.C) + Full Elevation & Viewing South.1.JPG|Room 8 – Pair of Lamassu from Nimrud and reliefs from the palace of Tiglath-Pileser III
File:BM; RM7 - ANE, Nimrud Palace Reliefs 1 Northwest Palace of Ashurnasirpal II (883-859 B.C) ~ Full Elevation & Viewing South.JPG|Room 7 – Reliefs from the North-west palace of Ashurnasirpal II, Nimrud
File:BM; ANE - RM 89, Assyrian Reliefs ~ Nineveh.JPG|Room 89 – Nimrud and Nineveh Palace Reliefs
File:BM; ANE - Nineveh, The Royal Lion Hunt (Room 10).JPG|Room 10 – Nineveh, The Royal Lion Hunt
</gallery>
Department of Greece and Rome
<gallery>
File:Parthenon Frieze.JPG|Room 18 – Ancient Greece
File:Tomb of Merehi 1.jpg|Room 20a – Tomb of Merehi and Greek vases, Lycia, 360 BC
File:British Museum - Room 85, Roman Portrait Sculpture.JPG|Room 85 – Portrait Sculpture, Roman
File:Townley Sculptures.JPG|Room 84 – Towneley Roman Sculptures
File:SFEC BritMus Roman 022.JPG|Main Staircase – Discobolus, Roman
File:The Townley Caryatid (anterior).jpg|Main Staircase – Townley Caryatid, Roman, 140–160 AD
</gallery>
Digital and online
The museum has a collaboration with the Google Cultural Institute to bring the collection online.Exhibitions
* [https://www.britishmuseum.org/pdf/RP_Exhibitions_Chronology.pdf Chronology of Temporary Exhibitions at the British Museum], by Joanna Bowring (British Museum Research Paper 189, 2012) lists all temporary exhibitions from 1838 to 2012.
* Helen Wang, 2022. ‘Displays of money and medals at the British Museum, 1759 to 2022’, Numismatic Chronicle 182, pp. 313–338.
Forgotten Empire Exhibition (October 2005 – January 2006)
<gallery widths"140px" heights"140px" perrow="4">
File:Forgotten Empire Exhibition, (Room 5).1.JPG|Room 5 – Exhibitions Panorama
File:The British Museum, Room 5-Persepolis Bas-relief.jpg|Room 5 – The Persepolis Casts
File:BM; ANE - Forgotten Empire Exhibition, (Room 5).3.JPG|Room 5 – Exhibitions Relics
File:BM; ANE - Forgotten Empire Exhibition, The Cyrus Cylinder (Room 5).JPG|Room 5 – The Cyrus Cylinder
</gallery>
From January to April 2012 the museum presented Hajj: Journey to the Heart of Islam, the first major exhibition on the topic of the Hajj, the pilgrimage that is one of the five pillars of Islam.See also*2016–17 all-female UK terror plot – involved a plan to attack the British MuseumNotesReferencesFurther reading
* Anderson, Robert (2005). The Great Court and the British Museum. London: The British Museum Press
* Arrowsmith, Rupert Richard. [https://books.google.com/books?idMIBNXScRj3QC&lpgPP1&dqmodernism%20and%20the%20museum&pgPP1 Modernism and the Museum: Asian, African and Pacific Art and the London Avant Garde]. Oxford University Press, 2011, pp. 103–164. .
* Arrowsmith, Rupert Richard. [http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/modernism-modernity/summary/v018/18.1.arrowsmith.html "The Transcultural Roots of Modernism: Imagist Poetry, Japanese Visual Culture, and the Western Museum System"] , Modernism/modernity Volume 18, Number 1, January 2011, pp. 27–42. .
* Bowring, Joanna (2012). [https://www.britishmuseum.org/pdf/RP_Exhibitions_Chronology.pdf Chronology of Temporary Exhibitions at the British Museum] London: British Museum Research Paper 189.
* Caygill, Marjorie (2006). The British Museum: 250 Years. London: The British Museum Press
* Caygill, Marjorie (2002). The Story of the British Museum. London: The British Museum Press
* --do.-- (2009) Treasures of the British Museum London: The British Museum Press (1st ed. 1985; 2nd ed. 1992)
* Cook, B. F. (2005). The Elgin Marbles. London: The British Museum Press
* Esdaile, Arundell (1946) The British Museum Library: a Short History and Survey. London: Allen & Unwin
* Jacobs, Norman (2010) Behind the Colonnade. Stroud: The History Press
* Jenkins, Ian (2006). Greek Architecture and its Sculpture in The British Museum. London: The British Museum Press
* Francis, Frank, ed. (1971) Treasures of the British Museum. London: Thames & Hudson (rev. ed., 1975)
* Moser, Stephanie (2006). Wondrous Curiosities: Ancient Egypt at The British Museum. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press
* Reade, Julian (2004). Assyrian Sculpture. London: The British Museum Press
* Reeve, John (2003). ''The British Museum: Visitor's Guide. London: The British Museum Press
* Wilson, David M. (2002). The British Museum: a history. London: The British Museum Press
External links
*
* [http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid45210&strquerymuseum The British Museum] from The Survey of London''
* [http://www.streetsensation.co.uk/sights/british_museum.htm British Museum elevation]
*
*
*
*[https://artsandculture.google.com/u/0/partner/the-british-museum?hl=en%3F%3F Virtual tour of the British Museum] provided by Google Arts & Culture
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Binomial theorem
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{{Image frame|width=215
|content=
<math>
\begin{array}{c}
1 \\
1 \quad 1 \\
1 \quad 2 \quad 1 \\
1 \quad 3 \quad 3 \quad 1 \\
1 \quad 4 \quad 6 \quad 4 \quad 1 \\
1 \quad 5 \quad 10 \quad 10 \quad 5 \quad 1 \\
1 \quad 6 \quad 15 \quad 20 \quad 15 \quad 6 \quad 1 \\
1 \quad 7 \quad 21 \quad 35 \quad 35 \quad 21 \quad 7 \quad 1
\end{array}
</math>
|caption=The binomial coefficient <math>\tbinom{n}{k}</math> appears as the th entry in the th row of Pascal's triangle (where the top is the 0th row <math>\tbinom{0}{0}</math>). Each entry is the sum of the two above it.}}
In elementary algebra, the binomial theorem (or binomial expansion) describes the algebraic expansion of powers of a binomial. According to the theorem, the power expands into a polynomial with terms of the form , where the exponents and are nonnegative integers satisfying and the coefficient of each term is a specific positive integer depending on and . For example, for ,
<math displayblock>(x+y)^4 x^4 + 4 x^3y + 6 x^2 y^2 + 4 x y^3 + y^4. </math>
The coefficient in each term is known as the binomial coefficient or {{tmath|\tbinom{n}{m} }} (the two have the same value). These coefficients for varying and can be arranged to form Pascal's triangle. These numbers also occur in combinatorics, where gives the number of different combinations (i.e. subsets) of elements that can be chosen from an -element set. Therefore is usually pronounced as " choose ".
Statement
According to the theorem, the expansion of any nonnegative integer power of the binomial is a sum of the form
<math display"block">(x+y)^n {n \choose 0}x^n y^0 + {n \choose 1}x^{n-1} y^1 + {n \choose 2}x^{n-2} y^2 + \cdots + {n \choose n}x^0 y^n,</math>
where each <math> \tbinom nk </math> is a positive integer known as a binomial coefficient, defined as
<math displayblock>\binom nk \frac{n!}{k!\,(n-k)!} = \frac{n(n-1)(n-2)\cdots(n-k + 1)}{k(k-1)(k-2)\cdots2\cdot1}.</math>
This formula is also referred to as the binomial formula or the binomial identity. Using summation notation, it can be written more concisely as
<math display"block">(x+y)^n \sum_{k0}^n {n \choose k}x^{n-k}y^k \sum_{k=0}^n {n \choose k}x^{k}y^{n-k}.</math>
The final expression follows from the previous one by the symmetry of and in the first expression, and by comparison it follows that the sequence of binomial coefficients in the formula is symmetrical, <math displayinline>\binom nk \binom n{n-k}.</math>
A simple variant of the binomial formula is obtained by substituting for , so that it involves only a single variable. In this form, the formula reads
<math display=block>\begin{align}
(x+1)^n
&= {n \choose 0}x^0 + {n \choose 1}x^1 + {n \choose 2}x^2 + \cdots + {n \choose n}x^n \\[4mu]
&\sum_{k0}^n {n \choose k}x^k. \vphantom{\Bigg)}
\end{align}</math><!-- \vphantom{\Bigg)} works around a mediawiki scrollbar bug -->
Examples
The first few cases of the binomial theorem are:
<math display="block">\begin{align}
(x+y)^0 & = 1, \\[8pt]
(x+y)^1 & = x + y, \\[8pt]
(x+y)^2 & = x^2 + 2xy + y^2, \\[8pt]
(x+y)^3 & = x^3 + 3x^2y + 3xy^2 + y^3, \\[8pt]
(x+y)^4 & = x^4 + 4x^3y + 6x^2y^2 + 4xy^3 + y^4,
\end{align}</math>
In general, for the expansion of on the right side in the th row (numbered so that the top row is the 0th row):
* the exponents of in the terms are (the last term implicitly contains );
* the exponents of in the terms are (the first term implicitly contains );
* the coefficients form the th row of Pascal's triangle;
* before combining like terms, there are terms in the expansion (not shown);
* after combining like terms, there are terms, and their coefficients sum to .
An example illustrating the last two points: <math display="block">\begin{align}
(x+y)^3 & = xxx + xxy + xyx + xyy + yxx + yxy + yyx + yyy & (2^3 \text{ terms}) \\
& = x^3 + 3x^2y + 3xy^2 + y^3 & (3 + 1 \text{ terms})
\end{align}</math> with <math>1 + 3 + 3 + 1 = 2^3</math>.
A simple example with a specific positive value of :
<math display="block">\begin{align}
(x+2)^3 &= x^3 + 3x^2(2) + 3x(2)^2 + 2^3 \\
&= x^3 + 6x^2 + 12x + 8.
\end{align}</math>
A simple example with a specific negative value of :
<math display="block">\begin{align}
(x-2)^3 &= x^3 - 3x^2(2) + 3x(2)^2 - 2^3 \\
&= x^3 - 6x^2 + 12x - 8.
\end{align}</math>
Geometric explanation
For positive values of and , the binomial theorem with is the geometrically evident fact that a square of side can be cut into a square of side , a square of side , and two rectangles with sides and . With , the theorem states that a cube of side can be cut into a cube of side , a cube of side , three rectangular boxes, and three rectangular boxes.
In calculus, this picture also gives a geometric proof of the derivative <math>(x^n)'nx^{n-1}:</math> if one sets <math>ax</math> and <math>b\Delta x,</math> interpreting as an infinitesimal change in , then this picture shows the infinitesimal change in the volume of an -dimensional hypercube, <math>(x+\Delta x)^n,</math> where the coefficient of the linear term (in <math>\Delta x</math>) is <math>nx^{n-1},</math> the area of the faces, each of dimension :
<math display"block">(x+\Delta x)^n x^n + nx^{n-1}\Delta x + \binom{n}{2}x^{n-2}(\Delta x)^2 + \cdots.</math>
Substituting this into the definition of the derivative via a difference quotient and taking limits means that the higher order terms, <math>(\Delta x)^2</math> and higher, become negligible, and yields the formula <math>(x^n)'=nx^{n-1},</math> interpreted as
:"the infinitesimal rate of change in volume of an -cube as side length varies is the area of of its -dimensional faces".
If one integrates this picture, which corresponds to applying the fundamental theorem of calculus, one obtains Cavalieri's quadrature formula, the integral <math>\textstyle{\int x^{n-1}\,dx \tfrac{1}{n} x^n}</math> – see proof of Cavalieri's quadrature formula for details. On the other hand, if , then and , so we get . Thus
<math display"block">(x+y)^{n+1} \sum_{k=0}^{n+1} \binom{n+1}{k} x^{n+1-k} y^k,</math>
which is the inductive hypothesis with substituted for and so completes the inductive step. Generalizations Newton's generalized binomial theorem
Around 1665, Isaac Newton generalized the binomial theorem to allow real exponents other than nonnegative integers. (The same generalization also applies to complex exponents.) In this generalization, the finite sum is replaced by an infinite series. In order to do this, one needs to give meaning to binomial coefficients with an arbitrary upper index, which cannot be done using the usual formula with factorials. However, for an arbitrary number , one can define
<math display"block">{r \choose k}\frac{r(r-1) \cdots (r-k+1)}{k!} =\frac{(r)_k}{k!},</math><!--This is not the same as \frac{r!}{k!(r−k)!}. Please do not change it.-->
where <math>(\cdot)_k</math> is the Pochhammer symbol, here standing for a falling factorial. This agrees with the usual definitions when is a nonnegative integer. Then, if and are real numbers with > }}, and is any complex number, one has
<math display="block">\begin{align}
(x+y)^r & \sum_{k0}^\infty {r \choose k} x^{r-k} y^k \\
&= x^r + r x^{r-1} y + \frac{r(r-1)}{2!} x^{r-2} y^2 + \frac{r(r-1)(r-2)}{3!} x^{r-3} y^3 + \cdots.
\end{align}</math>
When is a nonnegative integer, the binomial coefficients for are zero, so this equation reduces to the usual binomial theorem, and there are at most nonzero terms. For other values of , the series typically has infinitely many nonzero terms.
For example, gives the following series for the square root:
<math display"block">\sqrt{1+x} 1 + \frac{1}{2}x - \frac{1}{8}x^2 + \frac{1}{16}x^3 - \frac{5}{128}x^4 + \frac{7}{256}x^5 - \cdots.</math>
Taking , the generalized binomial series gives the geometric series formula, valid for < 1}}:
<math display"block">(1+x)^{-1} \frac{1}{1+x} = 1 - x + x^2 - x^3 + x^4 - x^5 + \cdots.</math>
More generally, with , we have for < 1}}:
<math display"block">\frac{1}{(1+x)^s} \sum_{k0}^\infty {-s \choose k} x^k \sum_{k=0}^\infty {s+k-1 \choose k} (-1)^k x^k.</math>
So, for instance, when ,
<math display"block">\frac{1}{\sqrt{1+x}} 1 - \frac{1}{2}x + \frac{3}{8}x^2 - \frac{5}{16}x^3 + \frac{35}{128}x^4 - \frac{63}{256}x^5 + \cdots.</math>
Replacing with yields:
<math display"block">\frac{1}{(1-x)^s} \sum_{k0}^\infty {s+k-1 \choose k} (-1)^k (-x)^k \sum_{k=0}^\infty {s+k-1 \choose k} x^k.</math>
So, for instance, when , we have for < 1}}:
<math display"block">\frac{1}{\sqrt{1-x}} 1 + \frac{1}{2}x + \frac{3}{8}x^2 + \frac{5}{16}x^3 + \frac{35}{128}x^4 + \frac{63}{256}x^5 + \cdots.</math>
Further generalizations
The generalized binomial theorem can be extended to the case where and are complex numbers. For this version, one should again assume > }}
<math display"block"> (a + b)^{(n)} \sum_{k=0}^{n}\binom{n}{k}a^{(n-k)}b^{(k)}.</math>
The case recovers the usual binomial theorem.
More generally, a sequence <math>\{p_n\}_{n=0}^\infty</math> of polynomials is said to be of binomial type if
* <math> \deg p_n = n </math> for all <math>n</math>,
* <math> p_0(0) = 1 </math>, and
* <math> p_n(x+y) \sum_{k0}^n \binom{n}{k} p_k(x) p_{n-k}(y) </math> for all <math>x</math>, <math>y</math>, and <math>n</math>.
An operator <math>Q</math> on the space of polynomials is said to be the basis operator of the sequence <math>\{p_n\}_{n0}^\infty</math> if <math>Qp_0 0</math> and <math> Q p_n n p_{n-1} </math> for all <math> n \geqslant 1 </math>. A sequence <math>\{p_n\}_{n0}^\infty</math> is binomial if and only if its basis operator is a Delta operator. Writing <math> E^a </math> for the shift by <math> a </math> operator, the Delta operators corresponding to the above "Pochhammer" families of polynomials are the backward difference <math> I - E^{-c} </math> for <math> c>0 </math>, the ordinary derivative for <math> c0 </math>, and the forward difference <math> E^{-c} - I </math> for <math> c<0 </math>. Multinomial theorem
The binomial theorem can be generalized to include powers of sums with more than two terms. The general version is
<math display"block">(x_1 + x_2 + \cdots + x_m)^n \sum_{k_1+k_2+\cdots +k_m = n} \binom{n}{k_1, k_2, \ldots, k_m} x_1^{k_1} x_2^{k_2} \cdots x_m^{k_m}, </math>
where the summation is taken over all sequences of nonnegative integer indices through such that the sum of all is . (For each term in the expansion, the exponents must add up to ). The coefficients <math> \tbinom{n}{k_1,\cdots,k_m} </math> are known as multinomial coefficients, and can be computed by the formula
<math display"block"> \binom{n}{k_1, k_2, \ldots, k_m} \frac{n!}{k_1! \cdot k_2! \cdots k_m!}.</math>
Combinatorially, the multinomial coefficient <math>\tbinom{n}{k_1,\cdots,k_m}</math> counts the number of different ways to partition an -element set into disjoint subsets of sizes . Multi-binomial theorem
When working in more dimensions, it is often useful to deal with products of binomial expressions. By the binomial theorem this is equal to
<math display"block"> (x_1+y_1)^{n_1}\dotsm(x_d+y_d)^{n_d} \sum_{k_10}^{n_1}\dotsm\sum_{k_d0}^{n_d} \binom{n_1}{k_1} x_1^{k_1}y_1^{n_1-k_1} \dotsc \binom{n_d}{k_d} x_d^{k_d}y_d^{n_d-k_d}. </math>
This may be written more concisely, by multi-index notation, as
<math display"block"> (x+y)^\alpha \sum_{\nu \le \alpha} \binom{\alpha}{\nu} x^\nu y^{\alpha - \nu}.</math>
General Leibniz rule
The general Leibniz rule gives the th derivative of a product of two functions in a form similar to that of the binomial theorem:
<math display"block">(fg)^{(n)}(x) \sum_{k=0}^n \binom{n}{k} f^{(n-k)}(x) g^{(k)}(x).</math>
Here, the superscript indicates the th derivative of a function, <math>f^{(n)}(x) \tfrac{d^n}{dx^n}f(x)</math>. If one sets }} and }}, cancelling the common factor of }} from each term gives the ordinary binomial theorem.
History
Special cases of the binomial theorem were known since at least the 4th century BC when Greek mathematician Euclid mentioned the special case of the binomial theorem for exponent <math>n2</math>. Greek mathematician Diophantus cubed various binomials, including <math>x-1</math>. and a suggestion that higher combinations could likewise be found. The Chandaḥśāstra by the Indian lyricist Piṅgala (3rd or 2nd century BC) somewhat crypically describes a method of arranging two types of syllables to form metres of various lengths and counting them; as interpreted and elaborated by Piṅgala's 10th-century commentator Halāyudha his "method of pyramidal expansion" (meru-prastāra) for counting metres is equivalent to Pascal's triangle. Varāhamihira (6th century AD) describes another method for computing combination counts by adding numbers in columns. By the 9th century at latest Indian mathematicians learned to express this as a product of fractions {{tmath| \tfrac{n}1 \times \tfrac{n - 1}2 \times \cdots \times \tfrac{n - k + 1}{n-k} }}, and clear statements of this rule can be found in Śrīdhara's Pāṭīgaṇita (8th–9th century), Mahāvīra's Gaṇita-sāra-saṅgraha (c. 850), and Bhāskara II's Līlāvatī (12th century).
The Persian mathematician al-Karajī (953–1029) wrote a now-lost book containing the binomial theorem and a table of binomial coefficients, often credited as their first appearance.
An explicit statement of the binomial theorem appears in al-Samawʾal's al-Bāhir (12th century), there credited to al-Karajī. Al-Samawʾal algebraically expanded the square, cube, and fourth power of a binomial, each in terms of the previous power, and noted that similar proofs could be provided for higher powers, an early form of mathematical induction. He then provided al-Karajī's table of binomial coefficients (Pascal's triangle turned on its side) up to and a rule for generating them equivalent to the recurrence relation {{tmath|1\textstyle \binom{n}{k} \binom{n-1}{k-1} + \binom{n-1}{k} }}. The Persian poet and mathematician Omar Khayyam was probably familiar with the formula to higher orders, although many of his mathematical works are lost. and also Chu Shih-Chieh.
In Europe, descriptions of the construction of Pascal's triangle can be found as early as Jordanus de Nemore's De arithmetica (13th century). In 1544, Michael Stifel introduced the term "binomial coefficient" and showed how to use them to express <math>(1+x)^n</math> in terms of <math>(1+x)^{n-1}</math>, via "Pascal's triangle". Other 16th century mathematicians including Niccolò Fontana Tartaglia and Simon Stevin also knew of it.
By the early 17th century, some specific cases of the generalized binomial theorem, such as for <math>n\tfrac{1}{2}</math>, can be found in the work of Henry Briggs' Arithmetica Logarithmica (1624). Isaac Newton is generally credited with discovering the generalized binomial theorem, valid for any real exponent, in 1665, inspired by the work of John Wallis's Arithmetic Infinitorum and his method of interpolation. A logarithmic version of the theorem for fractional exponents was discovered independently by James Gregory who wrote down his formula in 1670. Applications Multiple-angle identities
For the complex numbers the binomial theorem can be combined with de Moivre's formula to yield multiple-angle formulas for the sine and cosine. According to De Moivre's formula,
<math display"block">\cos\left(nx\right)+i\sin\left(nx\right) \left(\cos x+i\sin x\right)^n.</math>
Using the binomial theorem, the expression on the right can be expanded, and then the real and imaginary parts can be taken to yield formulas for and . For example, since
<math display"block">\left(\cos x + i\sin x\right)^2 \cos^2 x + 2i \cos x \sin x - \sin^2 x
= (\cos^2 x-\sin^2 x) + i(2\cos x\sin x),</math>
But De Moivre's formula identifies the left side with <math>(\cos x+i\sin x)^2 = \cos(2x)+i\sin(2x)</math>, so
<math display"block">\cos(2x) \cos^2 x - \sin^2 x \quad\text{and}\quad\sin(2x) = 2 \cos x \sin x,</math>
which are the usual double-angle identities. Similarly, since
<math display"block">\left(\cos x + i\sin x\right)^3 \cos^3 x + 3i \cos^2 x \sin x - 3 \cos x \sin^2 x - i \sin^3 x,</math>
De Moivre's formula yields
<math display"block">\cos(3x) \cos^3 x - 3 \cos x \sin^2 x \quad\text{and}\quad \sin(3x) = 3\cos^2 x \sin x - \sin^3 x.</math>
In general,
<math display"block">\cos(nx) \sum_{k\text{ even}} (-1)^{k/2} {n \choose k}\cos^{n-k} x \sin^k x</math>
and
<math display"block">\sin(nx) \sum_{k\text{ odd}} (-1)^{(k-1)/2} {n \choose k}\cos^{n-k} x \sin^k x.</math>There are also similar formulas using Chebyshev polynomials.
Series for e
The number is often defined by the formula
<math display"block">e \lim_{n\to\infty} \left(1 + \frac{1}{n}\right)^n.</math>
Applying the binomial theorem to this expression yields the usual infinite series for . In particular:
<math display"block">\left(1 + \frac{1}{n}\right)^n 1 + {n \choose 1}\frac{1}{n} + {n \choose 2}\frac{1}{n^2} + {n \choose 3}\frac{1}{n^3} + \cdots + {n \choose n}\frac{1}{n^n}.</math>
The th term of this sum is
<math display"block">{n \choose k}\frac{1}{n^k} \frac{1}{k!}\cdot\frac{n(n-1)(n-2)\cdots (n-k+1)}{n^k}</math>
As , the rational expression on the right approaches , and therefore
<math display"block">\lim_{n\to\infty} {n \choose k}\frac{1}{n^k} \frac{1}{k!}.</math>
This indicates that can be written as a series:
<math display"block">e\sum_{k0}^\infty\frac{1}{k!}\frac{1}{0!} + \frac{1}{1!} + \frac{1}{2!} + \frac{1}{3!} + \cdots.</math>
Indeed, since each term of the binomial expansion is an increasing function of , it follows from the monotone convergence theorem for series that the sum of this infinite series is equal to .
Probability
The binomial theorem is closely related to the probability mass function of the negative binomial distribution. The probability of a (countable) collection of independent Bernoulli trials <math>\{X_t\}_{t\in S}</math> with probability of success <math>p\in [0,1]</math> all not happening is
:<math> P\biggl(\bigcap_{t\in S} X_t^C\biggr) (1-p)^{|S|} \sum_{n=0}^{|S|} {|S| \choose n} (-p)^n.</math>
An upper bound for this quantity is <math> e^{-p|S|}.</math> In abstract algebra The binomial theorem is valid more generally for two elements and in a ring, or even a semiring, provided that . For example, it holds for two matrices, provided that those matrices commute; this is useful in computing powers of a matrix.
The binomial theorem can be stated by saying that the polynomial sequence }} is of binomial type. See also
* Binomial approximation
* Binomial distribution
* Binomial inverse theorem
* Binomial coefficient
* Stirling's approximation
* Tannery's theorem
* Polynomials calculating sums of powers of arithmetic progressions
* q-binomial theorem
Notes
References Further reading * |chapterBinomial Coefficients |isbn978-0-201-55802-9 }} External links
*
* [http://demonstrations.wolfram.com/BinomialTheorem/ Binomial Theorem] by Stephen Wolfram, and [http://demonstrations.wolfram.com/BinomialTheoremStepByStep/ "Binomial Theorem (Step-by-Step)"] by Bruce Colletti and Jeff Bryant, Wolfram Demonstrations Project, 2007.
*
Category:Factorial and binomial topics
Category:Theorems about polynomials
Category:Articles containing proofs
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Balboa
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Balboa may refer to:
Boats
Balboa 16, an American sailboat design
Balboa 20, an American sailboat design
Balboa 21, an American sailboat design
Balboa 22, an American sailboat design
Balboa 23, an American sailboat design
Balboa 24, an American sailboat design
Places
Balboa, Cauca, a town and municipality in Colombia
Balboa, León, a Spanish village and municipality
Balboa, Panama, a port city in Panama
Balboa District of Panamá Province in Panama
Balboa, Risaralda, a town and municipality in Colombia
Balboa (Los Angeles Metro station), on the Los Angeles Metro Orange Line
Balboa (lunar crater), located near the western limb of the Moon
Balboa High School (California), an American public high school of San Francisco, California
Balboa Island, Newport Beach, California, a harborside community in Newport Beach
Balboa Park (disambiguation), any of several
Balboa Peninsula, Newport Beach, California, a neighborhood of the city of Newport Beach
Naval Medical Center San Diego, a US Navy medical treatment facility informally known as "Balboa Hospital"
People
Vasco Núñez de Balboa ( 1475 – 1519), a Spanish explorer, governor, and conquistador
Javier Balboa (born 1985), football midfielder
Marcelo Balboa (born 1967), American former soccer defender
Álex Balboa (born 2001), football midfielder
Entertainment
Balboa (dance), a close embrace style of swing dancing
Balboa (band), a hardcore band from Philadelphia
Balboa County, a fictional county setting for the Veronica Mars television series
Rocky Balboa, protagonist of the Rocky film series
Balboa, the merged tribe name in Survivor: Pearl Islands
Balboa, a probe featured in Alien Planet
Balboa Amusement Producing Company, a silent film era production company
Balboa Productions, Sylvester Stallone's film production company
Other uses
Balboa (bug), a genus of dirt-colored seed bugs
Balboa Line, a former train route in California, U.S.
Panamanian balboa, the official currency of Panama
See also
Rocky Balboa (disambiguation)
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Boxing Day
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}}
) is a federal statutory holiday for employees of federally-regulated industries or workplaces. It's also recognized as a statutory holiday in the province of Ontario. In New Brunswick, Boxing Day is a holiday listed as a "prescribed day of rest" in the province's Days of Rest Act, but it is not a statutory holiday because it is not classified as a paid public holiday under New Brunswick's Employment Standards Act.
* In Hong Kong, despite the transfer of sovereignty from the UK to China in 1997, Boxing Day is a general holiday as the first weekday after Christmas. Starting in 2024, Boxing Day became a statutory holiday in the territory.
* In Ireland, when the entire island was part of the United Kingdom, the Bank Holidays Act 1871 established the 26 December as a bank holiday. The day is referred to as Saint Stephen's Day in most of Ireland, and as Boxing Day in most of Ulster (especially in Northern Ireland and County Donegal).
* In New Zealand, Boxing Day is a statutory holiday. On these holidays, people who must work receive times their salaries, and a day in lieu is provided to employees who work.
* In Nigeria, Boxing Day is a public holiday for working people and students. When it falls on a Saturday or Sunday, there is always a holiday on the following Monday.
* In Scotland, Boxing Day has been specified as an additional bank holiday since 1974, by royal proclamation under the Banking and Financial Dealings Act 1971.
* In Singapore, Boxing Day was a public holiday for working people and students; when it fell on a Saturday or Sunday, there was a holiday on the following Monday. However, Boxing Day is no longer a public holiday.
* In South Africa, 26 December is the Day of Goodwill, a public holiday.
* In Trinidad and Tobago, Boxing Day is a public holiday.
* In the UK outside Scotland, 26 December (unless it is a Sunday) has been a bank holiday since 1871. When 26 December falls on a Saturday, the associated public holiday is on the following Monday, 28 December. When 26 December falls on a Sunday, the public holiday is the following Tuesday 28 December, with the "substitute day" for Christmas Day being observed on the Monday. The same practice is observed in Canada.
* In the British overseas territory of Bermuda, the costumed Gombey dancers perform throughout the mid-Atlantic island on Boxing Day, a tradition believed to date back to the 18th century, when slaves were permitted to gather at Christmas.
* In Massachusetts, US, Governor William F. Weld declared in 1996 that every 26 December is Boxing Day, in response to the efforts of a coalition of British citizens to "transport the English tradition to the United States", but not an employee holiday. The holiday is otherwise not widely celebrated in the United States.
Shopping
in Canada, 2007]]
In the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and Trinidad and Tobago, Boxing Day is primarily known as a shopping holiday. Boxing Day sales are common, and shops often allow dramatic price reductions. For many merchants, Boxing Day has become the day of the year with the greatest revenue. In the UK, it was estimated in 2009 that up to 12 million shoppers appeared at the sales (a rise of almost 20% compared to 2008, although this was also affected by the fact that the VAT was about to revert to 17.5% from 1 January, following the temporary reduction to 15%).
Many retailers open very early (typically 5 am or even earlier) and offer doorbuster deals and loss leaders to draw people to their stores. It is not uncommon for long queues to form early in the morning of 26 December, hours before the opening of shops holding the big sales, especially at big-box consumer electronics retailers. Because of the shoulder-to-shoulder crowds, many choose to stay at home and avoid the hectic shopping experience. Local media often covers the event, mentioning how early the shoppers began queuing up and showing videos of shoppers queuing and later leaving with their purchased items. Many retailers have implemented practices aimed at managing large numbers of shoppers. They may limit entrances, restrict the number of patrons in a store at a time, provide tickets to people at the head of the queue to guarantee them a hot ticket item, or canvass queued-up shoppers to inform them of inventory limitations. The city council of Greater Sudbury, Ontario, which was the largest city in Canada to maintain this restriction as of the early 2010s, formally repealed its store hours bylaw on 9 December 2014.
While Boxing Day is 26 December, many retailers run the sales for several days before or after 26 December, often up to New Year's Eve, branding it as "Boxing Week". Notably, in the recession of late 2008, a record number of retailers held early promotions because of the weak economy. In 2009, many retailers with both online and High Street stores launched their online sales on Christmas Eve and their High Street sales on Boxing Day. Comparisons to Black Friday In terms of seasonal or holiday shopping traditions, Boxing Day sales have been compared to the US phenomenon of Black Friday salesBlack Friday being the Friday following the American Thanksgiving holiday in late November. In the late 2000s, when the Canadian and United States dollars were near parity, many Canadian retailers began to hold Black Friday promotions in an effort to discourage shoppers from crossing the border to visit United States stores. This may have been a contributory factor, since 2013, in a relative decline of traditional Canadian Boxing Day sales, when compared to sales on Black Friday.
The traditional Boxing Day sales in the United Kingdom were never as large an event as the Black Friday sales are in the United States. However, many British retailers began to see an opportunity to import the Black Friday tradition into the UK, not to replace Boxing Day sales, but as an addition to their overall seasonal promotions. However, Black Friday and Boxing Day are close enough together that spending on one sale was likely to affect spending on the other. Ultimately, the result was a marked decline in traditional Boxing Day sales in the UK. The change was initially facilitated, although not necessarily by design, by U.S.-owned retailers such as Amazon, and Asda (then a subsidiary of US-based Walmart). This phenomenon was furthered by a general decline in traditional high-street shopping and a growing online marketplace, which is more international by nature. This led, in 2015, to greater November retail sales in the UK than in December for the first time. In 2019, a retail analysis firm estimated that there was a 9.8% drop in British store traffic on Boxing Day in comparison to 2018 (the largest year-over-year drop since 2010), citing several factors, such as the weather, the increased prominence of online shopping, uncertainties in the wake of the general election, and the growing prominence of Black Friday sales.
Boxing Day sales are not a prominent tradition in the United States, although many retailers often begin after-Christmas sales that day. It is typically the earliest starting day after Christmas for people to return unwanted gifts for exchanges or refunds and to redeem gift cards.
Sport
at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, 2006]]
In the United Kingdom, it is traditional for the Home Nations' major football leagues (including, most prominently, the Premier League, Scottish Premiership, and NIFL Premiership) to hold a full programme of fixtures on Boxing Day. Originally, matches on Boxing Day were played against local rivals so that teams and their fans would not have to travel long distances to away games on the day after Christmas. The 2022 Premier League Boxing Day fixtures saw the return of domestic top flight football for the 2022–23 Premier League season, following the six-week break for the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
In Italy, Boxing Day football was played for the first time in the 2018–19 Serie A season. The experiment was successful, with Italian stadiums 69% full on average – more than any other match day in December 2018.
In rugby league, festive fixtures were a staple of the traditional winter season. Since the transition to a summer season in the 1990s, no formal fixtures are now arranged on Boxing Day but some clubs, such as Wakefield Trinity, arrange a traditional local derby friendly fixture instead.
Since 1980, the Australian cricket team has traditionally opened one of the test matches of its summer season on Boxing Day at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. While several test matches had occasionally been held at the MCG around Boxing Day, it was not until 1980 that the concept was formalized by the Australian Cricket Board. The Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race is also traditionally held on Boxing Day.
In horse racing, there is the King George VI Chase at Kempton Park Racecourse in Surrey, England. It is the second most prestigious chase in Britain, after the Cheltenham Gold Cup. In addition to the prestigious race at Kempton, in Britain, it is usually the day with the most racing meetings of the year, with eight in 2016, in addition to three more in Ireland. In Barbados, the final day of horse racing is held on Boxing Day at The Historic Garrison Savannah, a UNESCO world heritage site. This tradition has been going on for decades in this former British colony.
Boxing Day is one of the main days in the hunting calendar for hunts in the UK and US, with most hunts (both mounted foxhound or harrier packs and foot packs of beagles or bassets) holding meets, often in town or village centres.
Several ice hockey contests are associated with the day. The IIHF World Junior Championship typically begins on 26 December, while the Spengler Cup also begins on 23 December in Davos, Switzerland; the Spengler Cup competition includes HC Davos, Team Canada, and other top European hockey teams. The National Hockey League traditionally had close to a full slate of games (10 were played in 2011), following the league-wide days off given for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. However, the 2013 collective bargaining agreement (which followed a lock-out) extended the league mandate of Christmas Eve and Christmas Day off to include Boxing Day, except when it falls on a Saturday, in which case the league can choose to make 23 December a league-wide off day instead for that year. In Sweden, the related sport of bandy is also associated with the day, with Saint Stephen's Day bandy games having become an established tradition.
In some African Commonwealth nations, particularly Ghana, Uganda, Malawi, Zambia, and Tanzania, professional boxing contests are held on Boxing Day. This practice has also been followed for decades in Guyana and Italy.
Food
In the UK it is common to eat leftovers from the previous day's Christmas dinner, with turkey often being used in a Boxing Day sandwich or curry. Boxing Day Tsunami The 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami occurred on 26 December and thus has been referred to as "the Boxing Day Tsunami".
See also
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
References
External links
* [http://www.snopes.com/holidays/christmas/boxingday.asp The Origins of Boxing Day] at Snopes
}}
Category:Christmastide
Category:Christmas events and celebrations
Category:December observances
Category:Public holidays in Australia
Category:Public holidays in Canada
Category:Public holidays in New Zealand
Category:Public holidays in the United Kingdom
Category:Public holidays in Denmark
Category:Public holidays in Sweden
Category:Public holidays in Norway
Category:Public holidays in Iceland
Category:Public holidays in the Netherlands
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Balochistan, Pakistan
|
| native_name_lang = bal
| image_skyline =
| image_flag = Flag of Balochistan.svg
| flag_alt | image_seal Coat of arms of Balochistan.svg
| nickname | image_map Balochistan in Pakistan (claims hatched).svg
| map_alt | map_caption Location of Balochistan in Pakistan
| coordinates
| coordinates_footnotes | subdivision_type Country
| subdivision_name = Pakistan
| subdivision_type1 | subdivision_name1
| established_title = Established
| established_date = 1 July 1970
| seat_type = Capital<br />
| seat = Quetta
| parts_type = Subdivisions
| blank_name_sec1 = Main language(s)
| blank_info_sec1 = }}
| blank1_name_sec1 = Notable sports teams
| blank1_info_sec1 = Quetta Gladiators<br />Quetta Bears<br />Balochistan cricket team
| parts_style = list
| blank1_name_sec2 = Divisions
| blank1_info_sec2 = 8
| blank2_name_sec2 = Districts
| blank2_info_sec2 = 35
| blank3_name_sec2 = Tehsils
| blank3_info_sec2 = 134
| blank4_name_sec2 = Union Councils
| blank4_info_sec2 978
| government_footnotes | government_type Self-governing province subject to the federal government
| governing_body = Government of Balochistan
| leader_party | leader_title Governor
| leader_name = Sheikh Jaffar Khan Mandokhail
| leader_title1 = Chief Minister
| leader_name1 = Sarfraz Bugti
| leader_title2 = Chief Secretary
| leader_name2 = Shakeel Qadir Khan
| leader_title3 = Legislature
| leader_name3 = Provincial Assembly
| leader_title4 = High Court
| leader_name4 = Balochistan High Court
| unit_pref = Metric
| area_footnotes | area_total_km2 347190
| area_rank = 1st
| area_note | elevation_footnotes
| elevation_m | population_total 14,894,402
| population_density_km2 = auto
| population_as_of = 2023
| population_rank = 4th
| population_footnotes
| blank2_name_sec1 = HDI (2019)
| blank2_info_sec1 0.475 <br />
| blank3_name_sec1 = Literacy rate (2020)
| blank3_info_sec1 54.5%
| timezone1 = PKT
| utc_offset1 = +05:00
| postal_code_type | postal_code
| area_code | area_code_type
| iso_code = PK-BA
| blank4_name_sec1 = Seats in National Assembly
| blank4_info_sec1 = 20
| blank5_name_sec1 = Seats in Provincial Assembly
| blank5_info_sec1 = 65
| website =
| footnotes | demographics1_info1 $20 billion (4th)
| demographics_type1 = GDP (nominal)
| demographics1_title1 = Total (2022)
| demographics1_title2 = Per Capita
| demographics1_info2 = $1,621 (5th)
| demographics_type2 = GDP (PPP)
| demographics2_title1 = Total (2022)
| demographics2_info1 $80 billion (4th)
| demographics2_title2 = Per Capita
| demographics2_info2 = $6,485 (5th)
| flag_size = 130px
| seal_size = 100px
}}
Balochistan (; ; }}, ) is a province of Pakistan. Located in the southwestern region of the country, Balochistan is the largest province of Pakistan by land area but is the least populated one. It is bordered by the Pakistani provinces of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to the north-east, Punjab to the east and Sindh to the south-east; shares international borders with Iran to the west and Afghanistan to the north; and is bound by the Arabian Sea to the south. Balochistan is an extensive plateau of rough terrain divided into basins by ranges of sufficient heights and ruggedness. It has a large deep sea port, the Port of Gwadar lying in the Arabian Sea.
Although it makes up about 44% of the land area of Pakistan, only 5% of it is arable and it is noted for an extremely dry desert climate. Despite this, agriculture and livestock make up about 47% of Balochistan's economy.HistoryEarly history
. Mohenjo-Daro and Mehrgarh were among the centres of the Indus Valley Civilisation in the modern-day province. Balochistan marked the westernmost territory of the civilisation, which was one of the most developed in the old Bronze Age in the world.]]
Balochistan occupies the very southeasternmost portion of the Iranian plateau, the setting for the earliest known farming settlements in the pre-Indus Valley civilisation era, the earliest of which was Mehrgarh, dated at 7000 BCE, within the province. Balochistan marked the westernmost extent of civilisation. Centuries before the arrival of Islam in the seventh century, parts of Balochistan were ruled by the Paratarajas, an Indo-Scythian dynasty. At certain times, the Kushans also held political sway in parts of Balochistan.
The Hindu Sewa Dynasty ruled parts of Balochistan, chiefly Kalat. The Sibi Division, which was carved out of Quetta Division and Kalat Division in 1974, derives its name from Rani Sewi, the queen of the Sewa dynasty.
The region came under rule during the reign of King Kay Khosrow king of Iran of Kayanian dynasty. The Baloch, under the command of Ashkash, conquered this land, which Makran was a part of Balochistan.
The remnants of the earliest people in Balochistan were the Brahui people, a Dravidian speaking people. The Brahuis retained the Dravidian language throughout the millennias.
Although during the Stone and Bronze Age and Alexander the Great's empire an indigenous population existed, the Baloch people themselves did not enter the region until the 14th century CE. A theory of the origin of the Baloch people, the largest ethnic group in the region, is that they are of Median descent.Arrival of Islam
In 654, Abdulrehman ibn Samrah, governor of Sistan and the newly emerged Rashidun caliphate at the expense of Sassanid Persia and the Byzantine Empire, sent an Islamic army to crush a revolt in Zaranj, which is now in southern Afghanistan. After conquering Zaranj, a column of the army pushed north, conquering Kabul and Ghazni, in the Hindu Kush mountain range, while another column moved through Quetta District in north-western Balochistan and conquered the area up to the ancient cities of Dawar and Qandabil (Bolan). It is documented that the major settlements, falling within today's province, became in 654 controlled by the Rashidun caliphate, except for the well-defended mountain town of QaiQan which is now Kalat.
During the caliphate of Ali, a revolt broke out in southern Balochistan's Makran region. In 663, during the reign of Umayyad Caliph Muawiyah I, his Muslim rule lost control of north-eastern Balochistan and Kalat when Haris ibn Marah and a large part of his army died in battle against a revolt in Kalat.Pre-modern eraIn the 15th century, Mir Chakar Khan Rind became the first Sirdar of Afghan, Iranian and Pakistani Balochistan. He was a close aide of the Timurid ruler Humayun, and was succeeded by the Khanate of Kalat, which owed allegiance to the Mughal Empire. Later, Nader Shah won the allegiance of the rulers of eastern Balochistan. He ceded Kalhora, one of the Sindh territories of Sibi-Kachi, to the Khanate of Kalat. Ahmad Shah Durrani, founder of the Afghan Empire, also won the allegiance of that area's rulers, and many Baloch fought under him during the Third Battle of Panipat. Most of the area would eventually revert to local Baloch control after Afghan rule.Colonial era
, Balochistan, Pakistan]]
In 1876, northern Baluchistan became one of the presidencies and provinces of British India in colonial India. During this time from the fall of the Durrani Empire in 1823, four princely states were recognised and reinforced in Balochistan: Makran, Kharan, Las Bela and Kalat. In 1876, Robert Sandeman negotiated the Treaty of Kalat, which brought the Khan's territories, including Kharan, Makran, and Las Bela, under British protection, even though they remained independent princely states. After the Second Afghan War was ended by the Treaty of Gandamak in May 1879, the Afghan Emir ceded the districts of Quetta, Pishin, Harnai, Sibi and Thal Chotiali to British control. On 1 April 1883, the British took control of the Bolan Pass, south-east of Quetta, from the Khan of Kalat. In 1887, small additional areas of Balochistan were declared British territory. In 1893, Sir Mortimer Durand negotiated an agreement with the Amir of Afghanistan, Abdur Rahman Khan, to fix the Durand Line running from Chitral to Balochistan as the boundary between the Emirate of Afghanistan and British-controlled areas. Two devastating earthquakes occurred in Balochistan during British colonial rule: the 1935 Quetta earthquake, which devastated Quetta, and the 1945 Balochistan earthquake with its epicentre in the Makran region. During the time of the Indian independence movement, "three pro-Congress parties were still active in Balochistan's politics apart from Balochistan's Muslim League", such as the Anjuman-i-Watan Baluchistan, which favoured a united India and opposed its partition.
After independence
]]
In British-ruled Colonial India, Baluchistan contained a Chief Commissioner's province and princely states (including Kalat, Makran, Las Bela and Kharan) that became a part of Pakistan. The province's Shahi Jirga (the grand council of tribal elders) and the non-official members of the Quetta Municipality, however, the Shahi Jirga was stripped of its members from the Kalat State prior to the vote.
Initially aspiring for independence, The signing of the Instrument of Accession by Ahmad Yar Khan led his brother, Prince Abdul Karim, to revolt against his brother's decision due to their family rift. Princes Agha Abdul Karim Baloch and Muhammad Rahim refused to lay down arms, leading the Dosht-e Jhalawan in unconventional attacks on the army until 1950. The Prince indulged in Terror activities without any assistance from others. Jinnah and his successors allowed Yar Khan to retain his title until the province's dissolution in 1955.
Insurgencies by Baloch nationalists took place in 1948, 1958–59, 1962–63 and 1973–77, with a new ongoing insurgency by autonomy-seeking Baloch groups since 2003. While many Baloch support the demand for autonomy, the majority are not interested in seceding from Pakistan.
At a press conference on 8 June 2015 in Quetta, Balochistan's Home Minister Sarfraz Bugti accused India's prime minister Narendra Modi of openly supporting terrorism. Bugti implicated India's Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) of being responsible for recent attacks at military bases in Smangli and Khalid, and for subverting the China–Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) agreement.
Gwadar, a region of Balochistan, was a colony of Oman for more than a century, and in the 1960s Pakistan took over the land. Many people in this region are therefore Omani.
Geography
]]
Balochistan is situated in the southwest of Pakistan and covers an area of . It is Pakistan's largest province by area, constituting 44% of Pakistan's total landmass. The province is bordered by Afghanistan to the north and north-west, Iran to the south-west, Punjab and Sindh, and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas to the north-east. To the south lies the Arabian Sea. Balochistan is located on the south-eastern part of the Iranian plateau. It borders the geopolitical regions of the Middle East and Southwest Asia, Central Asia and South Asia. Balochistan lies at the mouth of the Strait of Hormuz and provides the shortest route from seaports to Central Asia. Its geographical location has placed the otherwise desolate region in the scope of competing for global interests for all of recorded history.
The capital city Quetta is located in a densely populated portion of the Sulaiman Mountains in the northeast of the province. It is situated in a river valley near the Bolan Pass, which has been used as the route of choice from the coast to Central Asia, entering through Afghanistan's Kandahar region. The British and other historic empires have crossed the region to invade Afghanistan by this route.
Balochistan is rich in exhaustible and renewable resources; it is the second major supplier of natural gas in Pakistan. The province's renewable and human resource potential has not been systematically measured or exploited. Local inhabitants have chosen to live in towns and have relied on sustainable water sources for thousands of years.
Climate
The climate of the upper highlands is characterised by very cold winters and hot summers. In the lower highlands, winters vary from extremely cold in northern districts Ziarat, Quetta, Kalat, Muslim Baagh and Khanozai, where temperatures can drop to , to milder conditions closer to the Makran coast. Winters are mild on the plains, with temperatures never falling below freezing point. Summers are hot and dry, especially in the arid zones of Chagai and Kharan districts. The plains are also very hot in summer, with temperatures reaching . The record highest temperature, , was recorded in Sibi on 26 May 2010, exceeding the previous record, . Other hot areas include Turbat and Dalbandin. The desert climate is characterised by hot and very arid conditions. Occasionally, strong windstorms make these areas very inhospitable.
Government and politics
In common with the other provinces of Pakistan, Balochistan has a parliamentary form of government. The ceremonial head of the province is the Governor, who is appointed by the President of Pakistan on the advice of the provincial Chief Minister. The Chief Minister, the province's chief executive, is normally the leader of the largest political party or alliance of parties in the provincial assembly.
The unicameral Provincial Assembly of Balochistan comprises 65 seats of which 11 are reserved for women and 3 reserved for non-Muslims. The judicial branch of government is carried out by the Balochistan High Court, which is based in Quetta and headed by a Chief Justice.
Besides dominant Pakistan-wide political parties (such as the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, Pakistan Muslim League (N) and the Pakistan Peoples Party), Balochistan nationalist parties (such as the National Party and the Balochistan National Party (Mengal)) have been prominent in the province.
As of June 2021, there are eight divisions. The eighth division, Loralai Division was created by bifurcating Zhob Division.
{| class"wikitable sortable" style"text-align:right"
!Sr. No.
!District
!Headquarters
!Area
(km<sup>2</sup>)
!Population
(2023) Official estimates of Balochistan's population grew from approximately 7.45 million in 2003 to 7.8 million in 2005. The 2023 Census enumerated a population of 14,894,402.Languages and ethnicities
According to the preliminary results of the 2023 census, the languages with the most native speakers in the province are Balochi, spoken by 39.91% of the population (an increase of 4% compared to the 2017 census), and Pashto whose share is at 34.34%.
The Pashtuns mainly inhabit the north of Balochistan and form the majority in Quetta. Baloch on the other hand are found throughout Balochistan, but most highly concentrated in the west and south of the province.
Brahui is spoken by 17.22% mainly in the central part of Balochistan. Other languages include Sindhi (3.81%), Saraiki (2.19%), Punjabi (0.59%), Urdu (0.53%) and others at (1.5%). Brahui has majority in 4 districts. In the Lasbela, Hub districts and in Kachhi plain region a large minority of the population speaks Lasi and Siraiki, which are dialects of Sindhi.
According to the Ethnologue, households speaking Balochi, whose primary dialect is Makrani constitutes 13%, Rukhshani 10%, Sulemani 7%, and Khetrani 3% of the population. Other languages spoken are Lasi, Urdu, Punjabi, Hazargi, Sindhi, Saraiki, Dehvari, Dari, Tajik, Hindko, Uzbek, and Hindki.
The 2005 census concerning Afghans in Pakistan showed that a total of 769,268 Afghan refugees were temporarily staying in Balochistan. However, there are probably fewer Afghans living in Balochistan today as many refugees repatriated in 2013. As of 2015, there are only 327,778 registered Afghan refugees according to the UNHCR.
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|+ Language in Balochistan Province (1911–2023)
! rowspan="2" |Mother Tongue
! colspan"2" |1911
! colspan"2" |2023
|-
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
|-
| Balochi
| 233,240
|
| 225,368
|
| 267,074
|
| 4,377,825
|
| 5,811,185
|
|-
| Pashto
| 227,553
|
| 201,873
|
| 207,181
|
| 4,359,533
|
| 4,955,245
|
|-
| Brahui
| 145,299
|
| 139,727
|
| 127,479
|
| 2,112,295
|
| 2,507,157
|
|-
| Sindhi
| 121,849
|
| 111,412
|
| 153,032
|
| 562,309
|
| 555,198
|
|-
| Punjabi/Saraiki/Hindko
| 75,641
|
| 80,706
|
| 69,869
|
| 500,164
|
| 429,715
|
|-
| Urdu
| 10,983
|
| 16,267
|
| 17,131
|
| 100,528
|
| 77,249
|
|-
| Dehwari
| 7,579
|
| 6,268
|
| 5,233
|
|
|
|
|
|-
| English
| 4,349
|
| 5,053
|
| 5,369
|
|
|
|
|
|-
| Persian
| 3,833
|
| 3,591
|
| 5,020
|
|
|
|
|
|-
| Pahari
| 2,258
|
| 5,401
|
| 7,901
|
|
|
|
|
|-
| Marathi
| 846
|
| 1,124
|
| 789
|
|
|
|
|
|-
| Gujarati
| 580
|
| 494
|
| 618
|
|
|
|
|
|-
| Rajasthani (Mewati)
| 324
|
| 962
|
| 530
|
|
|
| 285
|
|-
| Bihari
| 144
|
| 490
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|-
| Arabic
| 78
|
| 6
|
| 9
|
|
|
|
|
|-
| Tamil
| 55
|
| 349
|
| 150
|
|
|
|
|
|-
| Telugu
| 20
|
| 64
|
| 42
|
|
|
|
|
|-
| Kashmiri
| 16
|
| 165
|
| 201
|
| 17,803
|
| 7,352
|
|-
| Bengali
| 13
|
| 70
|
| 93
|
|
|
|
|
|-
| Shina
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 1,278
|
|-
| Kohistani
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 1,014
|
|-
| Balti
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 846
|
|-
| Kalasha
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 82
|
|-
| Others
| 43
|
| 235
|
| 896
|
| 304,672
|
| 215,405
|
|-
! Total responses
! 834,703
!
! 799,625
!
! 868,617
!
! 12,335,129
!
! 14,562,011
!
|-
! Total population
! 834,703
!
! 799,625
!
! 868,617
!
! 12,335,129
!
! 14,894,402
!
|}
Religion
According to the 2017 Census, nearly all of the population of Balochistan were Muslims. There were also Hindu and Christian minorities in the province. The Hindu population in the province was approximately 49,133 (including the Scheduled Castes). The Shri Hinglaj Mata mandir which is the largest Hindu pilgrimage centre in Pakistan is situated in Balochistan. There was also a Christian minority of 26,462 individuals in the province.
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|+ Religion in Balochistan (1901–2023)
! rowspan="2" |Religious<br />group
! colspan"2" |1901
! colspan"2" |1911
! colspan"2" |1921
! colspan"2" |1931
! colspan"2" |1941
! colspan"2" |1951
! colspan"2" |1998
! colspan"2" |2017
! colspan"2" |2023
|-
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
|-
! Islam
| 765,368
|
| 782,648
|
| 733,477
|
| 798,093
|
| 785,181
|
| 1,137,063
|
| 6,484,006
|
| 12,255,528
|
| 14,429,568
|
|-
! Hinduism
| 38,158
|
| 38,326
|
| 51,348
|
| 53,681
|
| 54,394
|
| 13,087
|
| 39,146
|
| 49,378
|
| 59,107
|
|-
! Sikhism
| 2,972
|
| 8,390
|
| 7,741
|
| 8,425
|
| 12,044
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 1,057
|
|-
! Christianity
| 4,026
|
| 5,085
|
| 6,693
|
| 8,059
|
| 6,056
|
| 3,937
|
| 26,462
|
| 33,330
|
| 62,731
|
|-
! Zoroastrianism
| 166
|
| 170
|
| 165
|
| 167
|
| 76
|
| 79
|
|
|
|
|
| 181
|
|-
! Judaism
| 48
|
| 57
|
| 19
|
| 17
|
| 20
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|-
! Jainism
| 8
|
| 10
|
| 17
|
| 17
|
| 7
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|-
! Buddhism
| 0
|
| 16
|
| 160
|
| 68
|
| 43
|
| 1
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|-
! Ahmadiyya
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 9,800
|
| 2,469
|
| 557
|
|-
! Others
| 0
|
| 1
|
| 5
|
| 75
|
| 14
|
| 0
|
| 6,471
|
| 3,703
|
| 8,810
|
|- class="sortbottom"
! Total responses
! 810,746
!
! 834,703
!
! 799,625
!
! 868,617
!
! 857,835
!
! 1,154,167
!
! 6,565,885
!
! 12,344,408
!
! 14,562,011
!
|- class="sortbottom"
! Total population
! 810,746
!
! 834,703
!
! 799,625
!
! 868,617
!
! 857,835
!
! 1,174,036
!
! 6,565,885
!
! 12,344,408
!
! 14,894,402
!
|}
Education
The literacy rate of the province in 2017 was 43.6%, an increase from 24.8% in 1998. List of universities Economy
The economy of Balochistan is largely based upon agriculture, livestock, fisheries, production of natural gas, coal and other minerals.
Though agriculture and livestock play a dominant role in the provincial economy by contributing 47% of its GDP, it faced intense damages due to the 2022 Pakistan floods. The floods killed around 500,000 of Balochistan's livestock and damaged cultivation and agricultural output in 32 out of 35 districts of the province. The Lasbela district was the worst hit as the floods washed away fourt-fifth's of the homes, crops and livestock. Due to the floods and severe drought conditions, the province faces food insecurity and is 85% dependent on the Sindh and Punjab provinces for the supply of wheat.
Furthermore, with the exception of Quetta, Balochistan has been called a "neglected province where a majority of population lacks amenities".
Since the mid-1970s the province's contribution to Pakistan's GDP has dropped from 4.9 to 3.7%, and as of 2007 it had the highest poverty rate and infant and maternal mortality rate, and the lowest literacy rate in comparison to other provinces, factors some allege have contributed to the insurgency. However, in seventh NFC awards, Punjab province and Federal contributed to increase Baluchistan share more than its entitled population based share. In Balochistan poverty is increasing. In 2001–2002 poverty incidences were at 48% and by 2005–2006 these were at 50.9%. According to a report on Dawn, the rate of multidimensional poverty in Balochistan had risen to 71% by 2016.
Several major development projects, including the construction of a new deep sea port at the strategically important town of Gwadar, are in progress in Balochistan. The port is projected to be the hub of an energy and trade corridor to and from China, Middle East and the Central Asian republics. The Mirani Dam on the Dasht River, west of Turbat in the Makran Division, is being built to provide water to expand agricultural land use by where it would otherwise be unsustainable. In the district Lasbela, there is an oil refinery owned by Byco International Incorporated (BII), which is capable of processing 120,000 barrels of oil per day. A power station is located adjacent to the refinery. Several cement plants and a marble factory are also located there. One of the world's largest ship breaking yards is located on the coast.
Natural resource extraction
Balochistan's share of Pakistan's national income has historically ranged between 3.7% to 4.9%. Since 1972, Balochistan's gross income has grown in size by 2.7 times. Outside Quetta, the resource extraction infrastructure of the province is gradually developing but still lags far behind other parts of Pakistan.
The agreements for royalty rights and ownership of mineral rights were reached during a period of unprecedented natural disasters, economic, social, political, and cultural unrest in Pakistan. The negotiations were widely considered to be insufficiently transparent.
Culture
Tourism
}}
Places of interest
Following is a list of a few tourist attractions and places of interest in Balochistan:
* Astola Island
* Bolan Pass
* Dureji
* Gadani Beach
* Gadani Ship Breaking Yard
* Gwadar
* Hanna Lake
* Hazarganji-Chiltan National Park, near Quetta.
* Hinglaj Mata Temples
* Hingol National Park
* Hub Dam
* Jiwani Coastal Wetland
* Khuzdar
* Kund Malir
* Makran Coastal Highway
* Mehrgarh
* Moola Chotok
* Pir Ghaib Waterfall, Balochistan
* Quaid-e-Azam Residency
* Quetta
* The princess of hope, Balochistan
* Urak Valley
* Zhob
* Ziarat Juniper Forest
* Ziarat
CNIC Codes
* Kalat Division (51XXX)
* Makran Division (52XXX)
* Nasirabad Division (53XXX)
* Quetta Division (54XXX)
* Sibi Division (55XXX)
* Zhob Division + Loralai Division (56XXX)
See also
* Balochistan (geographic region)
* Balochistan, Afghanistan
* Balochistan, Iran
* List of cities in Balochistan, Pakistan by population
* List of cultural heritage sites in Balochistan, Pakistan
* Insurgency in Balochistan
References and notes
Notes
References
Further reading
*
*Philippe Fabry, Balouchistan, le désert insoumis, Paris, Nathan Image, 1991, 136 p.,
External links
*
* [http://www.sibidistrict.com/ Sibi District];
* Guide to [https://web.archive.org/web/20130121095120/http://www.dmoz.pk/Provinces/Balochistan/ Balochistan]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20150614012814/http://balochistanarchives.gob.pk/ Balochistan Archives—Preserving our Past]
Category:1970 establishments in Pakistan
Category:Provinces of Pakistan
Category:States and territories established in 1970
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balochistan,_Pakistan
|
2025-04-05T18:26:56.192092
|
4688
|
William M. Tweed
|
| birth_place = New York City, U.S.
| death_date =
| death_place = New York City, U.S.
| party = Democratic
| spouse =
| restingplace = Green-Wood Cemetery
| profession = Bookkeeper, businessman, political boss
}}
William Magear<!--*NOT* "MARCY"--> "Boss" Tweed)}} (April 3, 1823 – April 12, 1878) was an American politician most notable for being the political boss of Tammany Hall, the Democratic Party's political machine that played a major role in the politics of 19th-century New York City and State.
At the height of his influence, Tweed was the third-largest landowner in New York City, a director of the Erie Railroad, a director of the Tenth National Bank, a director of the New-York Printing Company, the proprietor of the Metropolitan Hotel, a significant stockholder in iron mines and gas companies, a board member of the Harlem Gas Light Company, a board member of the Third Avenue Railway Company, a board member of the Brooklyn Bridge Company, and the president of the Guardian Savings Bank.
Tweed was elected to the United States House of Representatives in 1852 and the New York County Board of Supervisors in 1858, the year that he became the head of the Tammany Hall political machine. He was also elected to the New York State Senate in 1867. However, Tweed's greatest influence came from being an appointed member of a number of boards and commissions, his control over political patronage in New York City through Tammany, and his ability to ensure the loyalty of voters through jobs he could create and dispense on city-related projects.
Boss Tweed was convicted for stealing an amount estimated by an aldermen's committee in 1877 at between $25 million and $45 million from New York City taxpayers by political corruption, but later estimates ranged as high as $200 million (equivalent to $ billion in ). Unable to make bail, he escaped from jail once but was returned to custody. He died in the Ludlow Street Jail.Early life and educationTweed was born April 3, 1823, at 1 Cherry Street, on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. The son of a third-generation Scottish chair-maker, Tweed grew up on Cherry Street. His grandfather arrived in the United States from a town near the River Tweed close to Edinburgh. Tweed's religious affiliation was not widely known in his lifetime, but at the time of his funeral The New York Times, quoting a family friend, reported that his parents had been Quakers and "members of the old Rose Street Meeting house". At the age of 11, he left school to learn his father's trade, and then became an apprentice to a saddler.Early careerTweed became a member of the Odd Fellows and the Masons, and joined a volunteer fire company, Engine No. 12. Tweed became known for his ax-wielding violence, and was soon elected the Big Six foreman. Pressure from Alfred Carlson, the chief engineer, got him thrown out of the crew. However, fire companies were also recruiting grounds for political parties at the time, thus Tweed's exploits came to the attention of the Democratic politicians who ran the Seventh Ward. The Seventh Ward put him up for Alderman in 1850, when Tweed was 26. He lost that election to the Whig candidate Morgan Morgans, but ran again the next year and won, garnering his first political position. Tweed then became associated with the "Forty Thieves", the group of aldermen and assistant aldermen who, up to that point, were known as some of the most corrupt politicians in the city's history. In an attempt by Republican reformers in Albany, the state capital, to control the Democratic-dominated New York City government, the power of the New York County Board of Supervisors was beefed up. The board had 12 members, six appointed by the mayor and six elected, and in 1858 Tweed was appointed to the board, which became his first vehicle for large-scale graft; Tweed and other supervisors forced vendors to pay a 15% overcharge to their "ring" in order to do business with the city. Among other legal services he provided, he accepted almost $100,000 from the Erie Railroad in return for favors. He also became one of the largest owners of real estate in the city. He has been credited with originating the practice of spring training in 1869 by sending the club south to New Orleans to prepare for the season.
Tweed was a member of the New York State Senate (4th D.) from 1868 to 1873, sitting in the 91st, 92nd, 93rd, and 94th New York State Legislatures, but not taking his seat in the 95th and 96th New York State Legislatures. While serving in the State Senate, he split his time between Albany, New York and New York City. While in Albany, he stayed in a suite of seven rooms in Delevan House. Accompanying him in his rooms were his favorite canaries. Guests are presumed to have included members of the Black Horse Cavalry, thirty state legislators whose votes were up for sale. In the Senate he helped financiers Jay Gould and Big Jim Fisk to take control of the Erie Railroad from Cornelius Vanderbilt by arranging for legislation that legitimized fake Erie stock certificates that Gould and Fisk had issued. In return, Tweed received a large block of stock and was made a director of the company.CorruptionAfter the election of 1869, Tweed took control of the New York City government. His protégé, John T. Hoffman, the former mayor of the city, won election as governor, and Tweed garnered the support of good-government reformers like Peter Cooper and the Union League Club, by proposing a new city charter which returned power to City Hall at the expense of the Republican-inspired state commissions. The new charter passed, thanks in part to $600,000 in bribes Tweed paid to Republicans, and was signed into law by Hoffman in 1870. Mandated new elections allowed Tammany to take over the city's Common Council when they won all fifteen aldermanic contests. and enabling them to defraud the taxpayers of many more millions of dollars. In the words of Albert Bigelow Paine, "their methods were curiously simple and primitive. There were no skilful manipulations of figures, making detection difficult ... Connolly, as Controller, had charge of the books, and declined to show them. With his fellows, he also 'controlled' the courts and most of the bar." Crucially, the new city charter allowed the Board of Audit to issue bonds for debt in order to finance opportunistic capital expenditures the city otherwise could not afford. This ability to float debt was enabled by Tweed's guidance and passage of the Adjusted Claims Act in 1868. Contractors working for the city – "Ring favorites, most of them – were told to multiply the amount of each bill by five, or ten, or a hundred, after which, with Mayor Hall's 'O. K.' and Connolly's endorsement, it was paid ... through a go-between, who cashed the check, settled the original bill and divided the remainder ... between Tweed, Sweeny, Connolly and Hall".
For example, the construction cost of the New York County Courthouse, begun in 1861, grew to nearly $13 million—about $}} in dollars, and nearly twice the cost of the Alaska Purchase in 1867.
"A carpenter was paid $360,751 (roughly $}} in ) for one month's labor in a building with very little woodwork ... a plasterer got $133,187 ($}}) for two days' work". After the Tweed Charter to reorganize the city's government was passed in 1870, four commissioners for the construction of the New York County Courthouse were appointed. The commission never held a meeting, though each commissioner received a 20% kickback from the bills for the supplies.
, Richard B. Connolly, and Oakey Hall. To the left of Tweed in the background are James H. Ingersoll and Andrew Garvey, city contractors involved with much of the city construction.]]
Tweed and his friends also garnered huge profits from the development of the Upper East Side, especially Yorkville and Harlem. They would buy up undeveloped property, then use the resources of the city to improve the area – for instance by installing pipes to bring in water from the Croton Aqueduct – thus increasing the value of the land, after which they sold and took their profits. The focus on the east side also slowed down the development of the west side, the topography of which made it more expensive to improve. The ring also took their usual percentage of padded contracts, as well as raking off money from property taxes. Despite the corruption of Tweed and Tammany Hall, they did accomplish the development of upper Manhattan, though at the cost of tripling the city's bond debt to almost $90 million.
During the Tweed era, the proposal to build a suspension bridge between New York and Brooklyn, then an independent city, was floated by Brooklyn-boosters, who saw the ferry connections as a bottleneck to Brooklyn's further development. In order to ensure that the Brooklyn Bridge project would go forward, State Senator Henry Cruse Murphy approached Tweed to find out whether New York's aldermen would approve the proposal. Tweed's response was that $60,000 for the aldermen would close the deal, and contractor William C. Kingsley put up the cash, which was delivered in a carpet bag. Tweed and two others from Tammany also received over half the private stock of the Bridge Company, the charter of which specified that only private stockholders had voting rights, so that even though the cities of Brooklyn and Manhattan put up most of the money, they essentially had no control over the project.
Tweed bought a mansion on Fifth Avenue and 43rd Street, and stabled his horses, carriages and sleighs on 40th Street. By 1871, he was a member of the board of directors of not only the Erie Railroad and the Brooklyn Bridge Company, but also the Third Avenue Railway Company and the Harlem Gas Light Company. He was president of the Guardian Savings Banks and he and his confederates set up the Tenth National Bank to better control their fortunes. Although Tweed guarded Watson's estate in the week prior to Watson's death, and although another ring member attempted to destroy Watson's records, a replacement auditor, Matthew O'Rourke, associated with former sheriff James O'Brien, provided city accounts to O'Brien. The Orange riot of 1871 in the summer of that year did not help the ring's popularity. The riot was prompted after Tammany Hall banned a parade of Irish Protestants celebrating a historical victory against Catholicism, namely the Battle of the Boyne. The parade was banned because of a riot the previous year in which eight people died when a crowd of Irish Catholic laborers attacked the paraders. Under strong pressure from the newspapers and the Protestant elite of the city, Tammany reversed course, and the march was allowed to proceed, with protection from city policemen and state militia. The result was an even larger riot in which over 60 people were killed and more than 150 injured.
Although Tammany's electoral power base was largely centered in the Irish immigrant population, it also needed both the city's general population and elite to acquiesce in its rule, and this was conditional on the machine's ability to control the actions of its people. The July riot showed that this capability was not nearly as strong as had been supposed. – but their campaign had only limited success in gaining traction. They were able to force an examination of the city's books, but the blue-ribbon commission of six businessmen appointed by Mayor A. Oakey Hall, a Tammany man, which included John Jacob Astor III, banker Moses Taylor and others who benefited from Tammany's actions, found that the books had been "faithfully kept", letting the air out of the effort to dethrone Tweed.
The response to the Orange riot changed everything, and only days afterwards the Times/Nast campaign began to garner popular support. Shortly afterward, county auditor Matthew J. O'Rourke supplied additional details to the Times, The Times also obtained the accounts of the recently deceased James Watson, who was the Tweed Ring's bookkeeper, and these were published daily, culminating in a special four-page supplement on July 29 headlined "Gigantic Frauds of the Ring Exposed".]]
]]
Tweed was released on $1 million bail, and Tammany set to work to recover its position through the ballot box. Tweed was re-elected to the state senate in November 1871, due to his personal popularity and largesse in his district, but in general Tammany did not do well, and the members of the Tweed Ring began to flee the jurisdiction, many going overseas. Tweed was re-arrested, forced to resign his city positions, and was replaced as Tammany's leader. Once again, he was released on bail—$8 million this time—but Tweed's supporters, such as Jay Gould, felt the repercussions of his fall from power. in January 1873, ended when the jury was unable to deliver a verdict. Tweed's defense counsel included David Dudley Field II and Elihu Root. His retrial, again before Judge Noah Davis in November resulted in convictions on 204 of 220 counts, a fine of $12,750 After his release from The Tombs prison, New York State filed a civil suit against Tweed, attempting to recover $6 million in embezzled funds. where he worked as a common seaman on a Spanish ship.
Desperate and broken, Tweed now agreed to testify about the inner workings of the Tweed Ring to a special committee set up by the Board of Aldermen Mayor Smith Ely Jr. would not allow the flag at City Hall to be flown at half staff.</blockquote>
A minority view that Tweed was mostly innocent is presented in a scholarly biography by history professor Leo Hershkowitz. He states:<blockquote>Except for Tweed's own very questionable "confession," there really was no evidence of a "Tweed Ring," no direct evidence of Tweed's thievery, no evidence, excepting the testimony of the informer contractors, of "wholesale" plunder by Tweed....[Instead there was] a conspiracy of self-justification of the corruption of the law by the upholders of that law, of a venal irresponsible press and a citizenry delighting in the exorcism of witchery.</blockquote>
In depictions of Tweed and the Tammany Hall organization, most historians have emphasized the thievery and conspiratorial nature of Boss Tweed, along with lining his own pockets and those of his friends and allies. The theme is that the sins of corruption so violated American standards of political rectitude that they far overshadow Tweed's positive contributions to New York City.
Although he held numerous important public offices and was one of a handful of senior leaders of Tammany Hall, as well as the state legislature and the state Democratic Party,
Tweed recognized that the support of his constituency was necessary for him to remain in power, and as a consequence he used the machinery of the city's government to provide numerous social services, including building more orphanages, almshouses and public baths. Tweed also fought for the New York State Legislature to donate to private charities of all religious denominations, and subsidize Catholic schools and hospitals. From 1869 to 1871, under Tweed's influence, the state of New York spent more on charities than for the entire time period from 1852 to 1868 combined.
During Tweed's regime, the main business thoroughfare Broadway was widened between 34th Street and 59th Street, land was secured for the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Upper East Side and Upper West Side were developed and provided the necessary infrastructure – all to the benefit of the purses of the Tweed Ring.
Hershkowitz blames the implications of Thomas Nast in ''Harper's Weekly and the editors of The New York Times'', which both had ties to the Republican party. In part, the campaign against Tweed diverted public attention from Republican scandals such as the Whiskey Ring.
Tweed himself wanted no particular recognition of his achievements, such as they were. When it was proposed, in March 1871, when he was at the height of his power, that a statue be erected in his honor, he declared: "Statues are not erected to living men ... I claim to be a live man, and hope (Divine Providence permitting) to survive in all my vigor, politically and physically, some years to come."
Confusion derived from a Nast cartoon with a picture of Tweed supplemented with a quote from William L. Marcy, the former governor of New York.In popular culture
* Arthur Train featured Tweed in his 1940 novel of life in Gilded Age New York, Tassels On Her Boots. Tweed is portrayed as having contempt for the people he rules, at one point saying that once he would have been a Baron, with a castle, levying tribute on the people. But now, "'Boss', they call me – and they are glad to have me."
* In 1945, Tweed was portrayed by Noah Beery Sr. in the Broadway production of Up in Central Park, a musical comedy with music by Sigmund Romberg. The role was played by Malcolm Lee Beggs for a revival in 1947. In the 1948 film version, Tweed is played by Vincent Price.
* On the 1963–1964 CBS TV series The Great Adventure, which presented one-hour dramatizations of the lives of historical figures, Edward Andrews portrayed Tweed in the episode "The Man Who Stole New York City", about the campaign by The New York Times to bring down Tweed. The episode aired on December 13, 1963.
* In John Varley's 1977 science-fiction novel, The Ophiuchi Hotline, a crooked politician in a 27th-century human settlement on the Moon assumes the name "Boss Tweed" in emulation of the 19th-century politician, and names his lunar headquarters "Tammany Hall".
* Tweed was played by Philip Bosco in the 1986 TV movie Liberty. According to a review of the film in The New York Times, it was Tweed who made the suggestion to call the Statue of Liberty by that name, instead of its formal name Liberty Enlightening the World, in order to read better in newspaper headlines.
* Andrew O'Hehir of The New York Times notes that Forever, a 2003 novel by Pete Hamill, and Gangs of New York, a 2002 film, both "offer a significant supporting role to the legendary Manhattan political godfather Boss Tweed", among other thematic similarities. In a review of the latter work, Chuck Rudolph praised Jim Broadbent's portrayal of Tweed as "giving the role a masterfully heartless composure".
* Tweed appears as an antagonist in the 2016 novel, ''Assassin's Creed Last Descendants where he is the Grand Master of the American Templars during the American Civil War.
See also
* Elbert A. Woodward
* Timothy "Big Tim" Sullivan
* Tweed law
* William J. Sharkey (murderer)
References
Notes
Citations
Bibliography
* Ackerman, K. D. (2005). Boss Tweed: The rise and fall of the corrupt pol who conceived the soul of modern New York. New York: Carroll & Graf Publishers. .
*
* Callow, Alexander B. (1966). The Tweed Ring. New York: Oxford University Press
* Ellis, Edward R. (2004). The Epic of New York City: A Narrative History. Carroll & Graf Publishers. ,
* Hershkowitz, Leo. Tweed's New York: Another Look. (New York: Anchor Press, 1977), [https://archive.org/details/tweedsnewyorkano00hers online]
* [http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-Tweed-Wi.html "William Marcy [sic] Tweed"] Encyclopedia.com (Cengage), May 23, 2018
* Mandelbaum, Seymour J. (1965). Boss Tweed's New York. New York: John Wiley.
* Paine, Albert B. (1974). Th. Nast, His Period and His Pictures. Princeton: Pyne Press. (The original edition, published in 1904, is now in the public domain.)
* Sante, Lucy (2003). Low Life: Lures and Snares of Old New York. New York: Farrar, Straus, & Giroux.
* Staff (July 4, 2005). [https://www.gothamgazette.com/open-government/2878-boss-tweed "Boss Tweed"], Gotham Gazette
Further reading
* Lynch, Denis Tilden (2005) [1927]. Boss Tweed: The story of a grim generation''. Ann Arbor, Michigan: Michigan Historical Reprint Series, Scholarly Publishing Office, University of Michigan. ; [https://books.google.com/books?id8_eQzwEACAAJ 1927 1st edition] published by Boni & LiverightExternal links
* [http://www.green-wood.com/2010/william-magear-boss-tweed/ Green-Wood Cemetery page for WM Tweed ]
* [http://www.wdl.org/en/item/6780 Map Showing the Portions of the City of New York and Westchester County under the Jurisdiction of the Department of Public Parks] talks about Tweed's takeover of the New York City parks system, from the World Digital Library
*
**
**
**
}}
Category:1823 births
Category:1878 deaths
Category:American escapees
Category:American people of Scottish descent
Category:American people who died in prison custody
Category:American political bosses from New York (state)
Category:American politicians convicted of fraud
Category:Burials at Green-Wood Cemetery
Category:County legislators in New York (state)
Category:Criminals from New York City
Category:Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from New York (state)
Category:Escapees from New York (state) detention
Category:Fugitives
Category:Leaders of Tammany Hall
Category:New York (state) politicians convicted of crimes
Category:Democratic Party New York (state) state senators
Category:Prisoners and detainees of the United States federal government
Category:Prisoners who died in New York (state) detention
Category:American Freemasons
Category:American people convicted of tax crimes
Category:19th-century members of the New York State Legislature
Category:19th-century members of the United States House of Representatives
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_M._Tweed
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2025-04-05T18:26:56.212735
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Balsall Heath
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| os_grid_reference| post_town Birmingham
| postcode_area= B
| postcode_district= B12
| dial_code= 0121
| constituency_westminster | metropolitan_borough Birmingham
| metropolitan_county= West Midlands
| hide_services| population
| population_ref | area_total_km2
|static_image=Balsall Heath Baths and Library.jpg
|static_image_caption=Balsall Heath Baths and Library
|website=
}}
Balsall Heath is an inner-city area of Birmingham, West Midlands, England. It has a diverse cultural mix of people and is the location of the Balti Triangle.
History
The name is first found as Bordeshale in 1275, which is derived from the Old English words ''Bord's healh'' meaning 'Bord's heath' or 'Bord's nook' implying a corner or small area of land, perhaps a sheltered hollow in the landscape, protected by trees, possibly within a river-bend. The name stems from the Anglian personal name of one Bord, who held property in the area, and in this way shares its origin with that of neighbouring Bordesley, first record as Bordesleie or Bordeslea meaning 'Bord's clearing'.
Balsall Heath was largely agricultural and park land between Moseley village and the city of Birmingham until the 1850s when expansion along Moseley Road joined the two. Balsall Heath was formerly a chapelry in the parish of King's Norton, in Worcestershire, it was added to the county borough of Birmingham in Warwickshire on 1 October 1891. On 31 December 1894 Balsall Heath became a separate civil parish being formed from the part of King's Norton in the County Borough of Birmingham, on 1 April 1912 the parish was abolished and merged with Birmingham. In 1911 the parish had a population of 39,884.
During negotiations in the previous year it had been promised a public baths and a free library. In 1895, the library was opened on Moseley Road and, in 1907, Balsall Heath Baths were opened in an adjoining building.
In 1900, the city's College of Art was also opened on Moseley Road. By this time the small lake ("Lady Pool" on old maps) at the end of Ladypool Road had been filled in to create a park.
Balsall Heath initially had a reasonably affluent population, which can still be seen in the dilapidated grandeur of some of the larger houses. Brighton Road railway station led to further expansion, and the end of the 19th century saw a proliferation of high-density small terraced houses.
A Muslim community was started in June 1940 when two Yemenis purchased an artisan cottage on Mary Street. With the mosque being located in the area, more Muslim immigrants began to move into private lodgings in Balsall Heath. Today, Balsall Heath has one of the largest Muslim communities in Birmingham. It is also home to diverse communities from across the Commonwealth.
By the 1980s, many of Balsall Heath's houses were in a dilapidated condition; some still lacked bathrooms or indoor toilets. The local council considered demolishing these properties but chose to refurbish them as part of an urban renewal scheme. Most of these Victorian terraces still exist and, along with more modern social housing, characterise the area today. The area's traditional 'brick' pavements were replaced at this time by the more modern and conventional paving slabs.
Balsall Heath's low rents also attracted a bohemian student population. Its proximity to the University of Birmingham, the city centre and the "trendy" area of Moseley were all contributing factors. There was little conflict between the students and locals despite their vastly differing lifestyles. However, a knife-incident in 1991 led to an article in Redbrick warning students not to live in the area.
In July 2005, Balsall Heath was hit by a tornado, which devastated many buildings around Church Road and Ladypool Road. Birmingham City Council offered loans to those who would otherwise be unable to repair their properties, and the area has now made a full recovery.
Red light era
Street prostitution first appeared in Balsall Heath during the 1950s. Property values fell, attracting Birmingham's poorer migrants. By the 1970s, the area was notorious for street robberies and drug dealing. Cheddar Road was the centre of a red-light district worked by 450 women. About half of the 50 houses on this road had prostitutes advertising themselves in the windows, similar to Amsterdam. It was labelled Britain's busiest cul-de-sac. This period of the area's history is depicted in the 1980 film Prostitute.
In 1986, an organisation called ANAWIM was formed by the Sisters of Charity to provide outreach support to the prostitutes.
In September 1992, a report was published encouraging the formation of a zone of tolerance towards prostitution in Balsall Heath. This was opposed by residents and a local police inspector. In the following year Samo Paull, a woman working as a prostitute, was abducted from Balsall Heath and murdered.
In 1994, residents began to organise street patrols forcing the prostitutes and street criminals out of the area. These patrols had the qualified support of the police but were regarded as vigilantes by some. There was an immediate two-thirds reduction in street and window prostitution.<ref name=Sky/> By November 1995, they had been almost eliminated.
The area has enjoyed a slow revival. House prices are now similar to those in other inner-city areas, while the crime rate is among the lowest.
Politics and governance
Balsall Heath is divided by two wards for elections to Birmingham City Council; Balsall Heath West and Sparkbrook and Balsall Heath East.
Balsall Heath is part of the Birmingham Hall Green constituency for general elections to the House of Commons of the United Kingdom.
Notable buildings
<!--alphabetical order please-->
*Moseley Road Baths
*Moseley School of Art
*St Barnabas' Church
*St Paul's Church
Notable residents
<!--PLEASE NOTE: alphabetical order by surname and no red links--->
*Donnaleigh Bailey, Michelle Corrigan in the Birmingham-based soap Doctors
*Alderman John Bowen, JP
*Percy Bullock, Worcestershire cricketer
*Howard R. Davies, racing motorcyclist
*Alan Deakin, former Aston Villa captain
*Oscar Deutsch, founder of the Odeon cinema chain
*David Edgar, playwright
*John Kenneally VC
*Don Maclean, comedian
*Conroy Maddox, surrealist artist
*William Mosedale, George Cross recipient
*Sir Robert Howson Pickard FRS stereochemist and vice-chancellor of the University of London 1937–1939
*Anthony E. Pratt, inventor of the board game Cluedo
*UB40, a reggae band
References
* V.M. Hart (1992) Balsall Heath: A History. Brewin Books Limited
* J. Moth (1951) The City of Birmingham Baths Department 1851 – 1951.
External links
*[http://www.balsallheathhistory.co.uk/ Balsall Heath Local History Society]
*[http://www.balsallheathforum.org.uk/start.htm About Balsall Heath]
Category:Areas of Birmingham, West Midlands
Category:Former civil parishes in the West Midlands (county)
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balsall_Heath
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2025-04-05T18:26:56.218537
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4690
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Bunge & Born
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Bunge & Born was a multinational corporation based in Buenos Aires, Argentina, whose diverse interests included food processing and international trade in grains and oilseeds. It is now known as Bunge Limited.
History
thumb|315x315px|Bunge & Born's Buenos Aires headquarters
Bunge & Born was founded in 1884 by Ernesto Bunge, a German Argentine whose uncle, Carl Bunge, had been Consul General in Argentina for both the Netherlands and Prussia, and his brother-in-law, Jorge Born, who had recently arrived from Antwerp. The company superseded the Bunge Company founded in Amsterdam by Johann Bunge, in 1818. Following the purchase of of prime pampas wheat fields, Bunge & Born established Centenera, their first food processing plant, in 1899. They had one of the largest wheat mills in the country built on a Puerto Madero lot in 1902, and with it, established Molinos Río de la Plata (later a leader in the local retail foods market).
The company started Argentina's first burlap bag manufacturer, following which they successfully lobbied government policy makers for protective tariffs on the then-critical commercial staple. They established a mortgage bank, the Banco Hipotecario Franco Argentino, and a subsidiary in Brazil in 1905, and by 1910, they reportedly controlled 80% of Argentine cereal exports (Argentina was, by then, the world's third-largest grain exporter). They later established paint manufacturer Alba (1925), chemical and fertilizer maker Compañía Química, and textile maker Grafa (1932), among others; by the late 1920s, the company's annual export receipts alone reached US$300 million. The company inaugurated its neo-Gothic Buenos Aires headquarters on Leandro Alem Avenue, designed by local architect Pablo Naeff, in 1926.
Bunge & Born's near-monopoly on cereal and flour exports ended with populist President Juan Perón's 1946 establishment of the IAPI, a state agricultural purchasing and export agent. The company responded by extending its reach into the country fast-growing retail processed foods market, and though its prominence as the nation's chief exporter was partly restored by Perón's 1955 ousting and the IAPI's liquidation, its focus remained domestic over the next three decades. A privately held company, Bunge & Born did not release periodical financial statements, though it did report US$2bn in gross receipts in 1962; by then it had become an agribusiness leader, operating 110 offices worldwide.
The Bunge, Born, Hirsch, Engels and De La Tour families remained the company's chief stockholders, and by extension, leaders in the domestic textile, paint, chemical, fertilizer, and food processing industries. On September 19, 1974, however, the consortium was shaken by the kidnapping of siblings Jorge and Juan Born by the far-left terrorist group, Montoneros. Freed for a US$60 million ransom (the largest on record at that time), the ordeal triggered the company headquarters' relocation to São Paulo, Brazil, and contributed to the March 1976 coup.
Retaining their Argentine interests (44 companies, by the 1980s), the families continued to suffer from ongoing disputes, and in 1987, CEO Mario Hirsch died suddenly. The election of Carlos Menem to the Argentine Presidency in May 1989, however, resulted in an agreement between the President-elect and Jorge Born that gave the company partial control over national economic policy. Bunge & Born provided the Menem government with its first two economy ministers, and the combination of large rate increases on public services (around 500%), a simplified exchange rate and a massive, mandatory wage hike led to a sharp economic turnaround between July and November 1989. This foray into government policy making, however, ended in a new currency crisis that December and the failure (compounded by the company's lackluster business performance) resulted in Born's 1991 ouster from the board; he was replaced by Chief Operations Officer Octavio Caraballo. Bunge ultimately went public on the NYSE in 2001, becoming Bunge Limited''.
References
Category:Conglomerate companies established in 1884
Category:1884 establishments in Argentina
Category:Conglomerate companies of Argentina
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bunge_&_Born
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2025-04-05T18:26:56.222634
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Big Apple
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and Broadway, in Manhattan's Theater District]]
"The Big Apple" is a nickname for New York City. It was first popularized in the 1920s by John J. Fitz Gerald, a sportswriter for the New York Morning Telegraph. Its popularity since the 1970s is due in part to a promotional campaign by the New York tourist authorities.
Origin
Although the history of "Big Apple" was once thought a mystery, a clearer picture of the term's history has emerged due to the work of historian Barry Popik, and Gerald Cohen of the Missouri University of Science and Technology. A number of false theories had previously existed, including a claim that the term derived from a woman named Eve who ran a brothel in the city.
The earliest known usage of "big apple" appears in the book The Wayfarer in New York'' (1909), in which Edward Sandford Martin writes: <blockquote>Kansas is apt to see in New York a greedy city ... It inclines to think that the big apple gets a disproportionate share of the national sap.</blockquote> William Safire considered this the coinage, but because the phrase is not quoted in the text, it is likely that it was used as a metaphor, and not as a nickname for the city.
Horse racing origin
"The Big Apple" was popularized as a name for New York City by John J. Fitz Gerald in a number of horse-racing articles for the New York Morning Telegraph in the 1920s. The earliest of these was a casual reference on 3 May 1921:
Fitz Gerald referred to the "big apple" frequently thereafter. He explained his use in a column dated February 18, 1924, under the headline "Around the Big Apple":
Tucker had also earlier used "big apple" as a reference to Los Angeles. It is possible that he simply used "big apple" as a nickname for any large city:
References
External links
* [http://www.barrypopik.com/article/3/summary-the-big-apple The Big Apple] Research on the term's history by Barry Popik
* [http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a990917.html Straight Dope article]
Category:1900s neologisms
Category:Culture of New York City
Category:Symbols of New York City
Category:Etymologies
Category:American slang
Category:City fruit nicknames
Category:Apples in culture
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Apple
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2025-04-05T18:26:56.232774
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Boston Corbett
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| birth_name = Thomas H. Corbett
| birth_date = January 29, 1832
| birth_place = London, England
| disappeared_date = May 26, 1888 (aged 56)
| disappeared_place = Neodesha, Kansas, U.S.
| nickname = The Glory to God Man <br /> Lincoln's Avenger
| allegiance =
| branch =
| serviceyears = 1861–1865
| rank = Sergeant
| unit = 12th New York State Militia <br /> 16th New York Cavalry Regiment
| battles = American Civil War
| signature = Boston Corbett signature.svg
}}
Sergeant Thomas H. "Boston" Corbett (January 29, 1832 – disappeared ) was an English-born American soldier and milliner who killed John Wilkes Booth, the assassin of President Abraham Lincoln on April 26, 1865. Known for his devout religious beliefs and eccentric behavior, Corbett was reportedly a good soldier and had been a prisoner of war at Andersonville Prison. Corbett shot and mortally wounded Booth when his regiment surrounded the barn Booth was hiding in. For his actions, the American media and public largely considered Corbett a hero.
Corbett drifted around the United States before he was committed to Topeka Asylum for the Insane after being declared insane in 1887. Corbett escaped and disappeared in 1888.
Early life and education
Corbett was born in London, England, on January 29, 1832, and immigrated with his family to the US in 1840. The Corbetts moved frequently before settling in Troy, New York. As a teenager, Corbett began apprenticing as a milliner, a profession that he would hold intermittently throughout his life. As a milliner, Corbett was regularly exposed to the fumes of mercury(II) nitrate, then used in the treatment of fur to produce felt used on hats. Excessive exposure to the compound can lead to hallucinations, psychosis and erethism. Historians have theorized that the mental issues Corbett exhibited before and after the Civil War were caused by this exposure.
Family and religion
After working as a milliner in Troy, Corbett returned to New York City. In the early 1850s, Corbett met Susan Rebecca, who was thirteen years his senior, and they married. The couple migrated, and on June 9, 1855, Corbett became an American citizen, taking the oath in a Troy courthouse. Corbett had a hard time finding and keeping work in Richmond, Virginia, in large part because of his vociferous opposition to slavery. His wife became ill, and, as they were returning to New York City by ship, she died at sea on August 18, 1856. The body continued to New York, where her death was recorded and she was buried. Following her death, he moved to Boston. Corbett became despondent over the loss of his wife and, according to friends, began drinking heavily. He could not hold a job and eventually became homeless. After a night of heavy drinking, he was confronted by a street preacher whose message persuaded him to join the Methodist Episcopal Church. Corbett reportedly encountered some evangelical temperance Christians and was detained by them until he sobered up, undergoing a religious epiphany in the process.
In 1857, Corbett began working at a hat manufacturer's shop on Washington Street in downtown Boston. He was reported to be a proficient milliner but was known to proselytize frequently and stop work to pray and sing for co-workers who used profanity in his presence. He also began working as a street preacher and would sermonize and distribute religious literature in North Square. Corbett soon earned a reputation around Boston for being a "local eccentric" and religious fanatic. Corbett was released on August 15, and a friend recorded that "he was very much gratified with the result as his passion was not trouble any more...his object was that he might preach the gospel without being tormented by his passions." After being baptized on August 29, he subsequently changed his name to Boston, the name of the city where he was converted. He regularly attended meetings at the Fulton and Bromfield Street churches where his enthusiastic behavior earned him the nickname "The Glory to God man". Corbett was described as friendly and open, helpful to those he saw in need but also quick to condemn those he thought were out of step with God. Corbett routinely gathered up drunken sinners from the New York streets and took them to his room, where he would sober them up and feed them, restoring their health and also trying to help them find work. He continually expended all his own money and frequently borrowed from friends. When his hat-making boss asked Corbett about his lack of decent clothes for himself, Corbett always said he was "doing the Lord's work." His boss later described him as "a good man, for all of his faults were of the head, and not of the heart."Military careerEnlistment in the Union Army
uniform.]]
On April 19, 1861, early in the American Civil War, Corbett, who was anti-slavery, enlisted as a private in Company I of the Union Army's 12th New York State Militia. Corbett's eccentric behavior quickly got him into trouble. He always carried a Bible with him and read passages aloud from it regularly, held unauthorized prayer meetings, and argued with his superior officers. Corbett also condemned officers and superiors for what he perceived as violations of God's word. In one instance, he verbally reprimanded Colonel Daniel Butterfield for using profanity and taking the Lord's name in vain. He was sent to the guardhouse for several days but refused to apologize for his insubordination. Due to his continued disruptive behavior and refusal to take orders, Corbett was court-martialed and sentenced to be shot. His sentence was eventually reduced, and he was discharged in August 1863. Corbett re-enlisted later that month in Company L, 16th New York Cavalry Regiment. On February 26, 1864, he was demoted to private as punishment for an unknown incident.
Andersonville
Despite his religious-oriented eccentricities, Corbett reportedly was a good soldier. On June 24, 1864, after Confederate States Army troops led by John S. Mosby in Culpeper, Virginia had captured a good number of Corbett's comrades, Corbett continued to fire at the enemy from behind a persimmon tree and in a ditch with a seven-shooter repeating rifle. Three attempts were made to capture him before success was finally had when he ran out of ammo. Once Corbett was overtaken, one of the junior officers leaped from his saddle, enraged at Corbett's persistence, knocked the Spencer rifle from Corbett, and aimed a pistol at his head. Captain Chapman objected, "Don’t shoot that man! He has a right to defend himself to the last!" Corbett later related to friends that the man who saved his life was Mosby, though this is dubious.
Corbett was to be a prisoner of war at Andersonville Prison. While on the way to Andersonville, the following incident happened, told by a fellow prisoner of Corbett's named William Collins:
}}
Corbett met Richard Thatcher, a fellow POW who described Corbett as having "qualities that challenged my admiration, even more than the heroism he was capable of displaying in the battlefield. He read passages from the Scriptures to me, and spoke words of sound and wholesome advice, from which I began to learn that he was one who had the courage of his convictions." Corbett, among others, led prayer meetings and patriotic rallies to boost morale, according to John McElroy's eyewitness account in his 1879 memoir Andersonville.
After five months, Corbett was released in a prisoner exchange in November 1864 and was admitted to a military hospital in Annapolis, Maryland where he was treated for scurvy, malnutrition and exposure.Pursuit and death of John Wilkes Booth
for John Wilkes Booth, John Surratt, and David Herold.]]
John Wilkes Booth shot President Abraham Lincoln, on April 14, 1865; Lincoln died the next day. On the night Lincoln was shot, Corbett's regiment were based around the Potomac in Vienna, Virginia, and on Saturday morning, they were sent out to search for signs of the assassins and learned Booth's identity as the assassin. A two-hour procession down Pennsylvania Avenue to the Capitol Building took place during Lincoln's funeral. Corbett and the rest of the Cavalry formed part of the parade, joining other regiments leading the hearse. Corbett's regiment had barely left the Capitol after the funeral parade when orders caught up with Canadian-born Lt. Edward P. Doherty to pursue a lead about Booth. Corbett took time to request permission to attend night meetings at McKendree Chapel, where the leader allowed Corbett to lead in prayer over the President's death. On April 24, the regiment was sent to capture Booth. Corbett was among the first to volunteer. On April 26, the regiment surrounded Booth and one of his accomplices, David Herold, in a tobacco barn on the Virginia farm of Richard Garrett. Doherty asked Corbett "to deploy the men right and left" to surround the farm. Corbett and other soldiers arrayed themselves around the barn to ensure neither man escaped. Herold surrendered, but Booth refused and cried out, "I will not be taken alive!". The barn was set on fire in an attempt to force him out into the open, but Booth remained inside. Corbett was positioned near a large crack in the barn wall. He asked Doherty and offered to enter the barn and try to subdue Booth by himself; Corbett urged that if Booth shot him, the other soldiers could overwhelm him before he could reload (Corbett was unaware that Booth had a Spencer carbine and several revolvers.) Doherty rejected the suggestion, and Corbett moved back to his position. Lt. Colonel Everton Conger came past Corbett, igniting clumps of hay and slipped them in the cracks in the wall, hoping to burn Booth out. Booth walked to the flames, assessing whether he could extinguish the fire. Corbett claimed that he saw Booth aim his carbine, prompting him to shoot at Booth through the crack with his Colt revolver, mortally wounding him. Booth screamed in pain and fell to the ground.
'') ]]
of the Garrett farmhouse, where Booth died]]
Doherty, Conger, and several soldiers rushed into the burning barn and carried Booth out. Assessing his condition, Corbett and others felt a cosmic justice in that Booth's entry wound was in the same spot he shot Lincoln. The bullet struck Booth in the back of the head behind his left ear and passed through his neck. Three of Booth's vertebrae were pierced and his spinal cord was partially severed, leaving him completely paralyzed. As Mary Clemmer Ames would later put it, "The balls entered the skull of each at nearly the same spot, but the trifling difference made an immeasurable difference...Mr. Lincoln was unconscious...Booth suffered as exquisite agony as if he had been broken on a wheel." Conger initially thought Booth had shot himself, though Colonel Lafayette C. Baker was certain he had not. Corbett stepped forward and admitted he shot Booth, giving Doherty his gun. Doherty, Baker and Conger questioned Corbett, who said he had intended to merely wound Booth in the shoulder but that either his aim slipped or Booth moved when Corbett fired. Initial statements by Doherty and others made no mention of Corbett having violated any orders, nor did they suggest that he would face disciplinary action for shooting Booth. According to later sources, when asked why he had violated orders, Corbett replied, "Providence directed me." Author Scott Martelle disputes this, noting "his initial statement, and those by Baker, Conger, and Doherty don't mention Providence...those details came long after the shooting itself, amid the swirl of rumor and conjecture and considerable lobbying over the reward money."
Dragged to the porch of Garrett's farmhouse, Booth asked for water. Conger and Baker poured some into his mouth, which he immediately spat out, unable to swallow. Booth asked to be rolled over and turned facedown; Conger rejected the idea. "Then at least turn me on my side," Booth pleaded; the move did not relieve Booth's suffering. Baker said, "He seemed to suffer extreme pain whenever he was moved...and would several times repeat, 'Kill me!'" At sunrise, Booth remained in agony, and his breathing became more labored and irregular. Unable to move his limbs, he asked a soldier to lift his hands to his face and uttered his last words as he gazed at them: "Useless ... useless." Booth then began gasping for air as his throat continued to swell, and he made a gurgling sound before he died from asphyxia, approximately two to three hours after Corbett shot him.
Doherty told Corbett to ride to neighboring farms to find breakfast for the men. Corbett did so, but first "rode off to a spot when I could be alone and pray, and when I had gone through my usual morning prayer, I asked the Lord in regard to the shooting. At once, I was filled with praise, for I felt a clear consciousness that it was an act of duty in the sight of God." Corbett found supplies for half the men, and they finished their meal before Booth died. Conger and Corbett rode off to Washington.
Fame
]]
According to Johnson, Corbett was accompanied by Lt. Doherty to the War Department in Washington, D.C. to meet Secretary Edwin Stanton about Booth's shooting. Edward Steers writes that it was "not against orders. Conger (said)..."They had no orders either to fire or not to fire." Corbett maintained that he believed Booth had intended to shoot his way out of the barn and that he acted in self-defense. He told Stanton, "...Booth would have killed me if I had not shot first. I think I did right." Corbett maintained that he did not intend to kill Booth but merely wanted to inflict a disabling wound, but either his aim slipped or Booth moved at the moment Corbett pulled the trigger. Stanton paused and then stated, "The rebel is dead. The patriot lives; he has spared the country expense, continued excitement and trouble. Discharge the patriot."}}
Corbett testified in the trial of the Lincoln assassination conspirators, testifying on May 17, 1865. For his part in Booth's capture, Corbett received a portion of the $100,000 reward money, amounting to $1,653.84 (). His annual salary as a U.S. sergeant was $204 (). Corbett received offers to purchase the gun he used to shoot Booth. He refused, stating, "That is not mine—it belongs to the Government, and I would not sell it for any price." Corbett also declined an offer for one of Booth's pistols as he did not want a reminder of shooting Booth. Steers disputes this, noting that this contradicts original accounts.
Post-war life
Southern sympathizers sent letters threatening to kill Corbett, so he kept a gun nearby at all times to defend himself. After his discharge from the army in August 1865, Corbett returned to work as a milliner in Boston and frequently attended the Bromfield Street Church. When the hatting business in Boston slowed, Corbett moved to Danbury, Connecticut, to continue his work and also "preached in the country round about." By 1870, he had relocated once again to Camden, New Jersey, where he was known as a "Methodist lay preacher" while also continuing to be a milliner. Corbett's inability to hold a job was attributed to his fanatical behavior; he was routinely fired after continuing his habit of stopping work to pray for his co-workers. To earn money, Corbett capitalized on his role as "Lincoln's Avenger". Corbett's paranoia was furthered by hate mail he received for killing Booth. He became fearful that "Booth's Avengers" or organizations like the "Secret Order" were planning to seek revenge upon him and took to carrying a pistol with him at all times. As his paranoia increased, Corbett began brandishing his pistol at friends or strangers he deemed suspicious. Throughout the rest of his life, he began to become paranoid that Booth's family or friends would come and kill him, causing him to go insane.
Disappearance
Due to his fame as "Lincoln's Avenger", Corbett was appointed assistant doorkeeper of the Kansas House of Representatives in Topeka in January 1887. On February 15, he became convinced that
officers of the House were discriminating against him. He jumped to his feet, brandished a revolver, and began chasing the officers out of the building. No one was hurt, and Corbett was arrested. The following day, a judge declared Corbett insane and sent him to the Topeka Asylum for the Insane. On May 26, 1888, he escaped from the asylum on horseback. He then rode to Neodesha, Kansas, where he briefly stayed with Richard Thatcher. When Corbett left, he told Thatcher he was going to Mexico. Scott Martelle cited it as "too tenuous a connection to credit." In September, 2024, a presentation given to the [https://www.americanancestors.org/icghs2024/program/abstracts#Donovan 36th International Congress of Genealogical and Heraldic Sciences], showed that the man who died in the Hinckley fire was Thomas Gilbert Corbett, originally from Steuben County, New York, and not Boston Corbett. Proofs included the [https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/1779705:4654 Civil War "invalid" filing] by Thomas G. Corbitt, dated September 19, 1890 in Minnesota and on the same document, the widow's filing on August 9, 1895. Another proof included a newspaper article from the September 24, 1894 edition of the [https://news.google.com/newspapers?nidkzhWOX1w8eAC&dat18940926&printsecfrontpage&hlen Steuben Farmers Advocate], announcing that Thomas Corbett, formerly of Thurston, Steuben County, New York , had perished in the Hinckley Fire.ImpostorsSeveral men claimed to be him in the years following Corbett's disappearance. A few years after Corbett was last seen in Neodesha, Kansas, a patent medicine salesman in Enid, Oklahoma, filed an application using Corbett's name to receive pension benefits. After an investigation proved that the man was not Boston Corbett, he was imprisoned. In September 1905, a man arrested in Dallas also claimed to be Corbett. He, too, was proven to be an impostor and was sent to prison for perjury and then to the Government Hospital for the Insane.
Legacy
Scott Martelle, who wrote the 2015 biography The Madman and the Assassin: The Strange Life of Boston Corbett, the Man Who Killed John Wilkes Booth, called Corbett "the closest to an average, everyday person...a regular, run-of-the-mill American—albeit a strange one—who did his job as a hatter, and then as a soldier".MemorialsIn 1958, Boy Scout Troop 31 of Concordia, Kansas, built a roadside monument to Corbett on Key Road. A small sign was also placed to mark the dugout where Corbett had lived.PortrayalsA fictional version of Corbett appears in the novel Andersonville (1955). Dabbs Greer played a fictitious version of Corbett in the Lawman episode "The Unmasked" (1962), in which Corbett is living under the name "Joe Brockway" as a Wyoming hotel owner, being searched for by two former vengeful Confederate soldiers (although he gives his name as "Bill Corbett"). Corbett is portrayed by William Mark McCullough in the series Manhunt (2024).See also
*Edward P. Doherty
*Everton J. Conger
*Lafayette C. Baker
*List of fugitives from justice who disappeared
*Henry Rathbone, wounded by Booth during Lincoln's assassination; he was declared insane after killing his wife
Notes
References
Sources
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
External links
* [http://rogerjnorton.com/Lincoln32.html Boston Corbett: The Man Who Killed John Wilkes Booth]
* [http://www.kansasmemory.org/item/239 Photo on Kansas Memory website]
Category:1832 births
Category:1880s missing person cases
Category:19th-century Methodists
Category:American Civil War prisoners of war held by the Confederate States of America
Category:American escapees
Category:American prisoners sentenced to death
Category:Methodists from Massachusetts
Category:Castrated people
Category:Converts to Methodism
Category:English emigrants to the United States
Category:American milliners
Category:Members of the Methodist Episcopal Church
Category:Methodist evangelists
Category:Military personnel from London
Category:Military personnel from Troy, New York
Category:Missing person cases in Minnesota
Category:Prisoners sentenced to death by the United States military
Category:People associated with the assassination of Abraham Lincoln
Category:People declared dead in absentia
Category:Military personnel from Boston
Category:People from Camden, New Jersey
Category:People from Concordia, Kansas
Category:People from Hinckley, Minnesota
Category:People from Noble County, Ohio
Category:People of New York (state) in the American Civil War
Category:People with schizophrenia
Category:Union army soldiers
Category:Year of death unknown
Category:United States Army personnel who were court-martialed
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Berber languages
|
}}<br/>Tamaziɣt<br/>ⵜⴰⵎⴰⵣⵉⵖⵜ
| ethnicity = Berbers
| region = Scattered communities across parts of North Africa and Berber diaspora
| familycolor = Afroasiatic
| protoname = Proto-Berber
| child1 = Northern
| child2 = Western
| child3 = Tuareg
| child4 = Eastern
| child5 = ? Numidian †
| child6 = ? Guanche †
| iso2 = ber
| iso5 = ber
| glotto = berb1260
| glottorefname = Berber
| map = Map of Berber Languages 2018.png
| mapcaption = Berber-speaking populations are dominant in the coloured areas of Africa. Other areas, especially in North Africa, contain minority Berber-speaking populations.<br/>
Northern Berber
Kabyle
Atlas
Zenati
Western Berber
Eastern Berber
Tuareg
}}
The Berber languages, also known as the Amazigh languages .}} or Tamazight, ; Berber name: , or (, ), or , .}} are a branch of the Afroasiatic language family. spoken by Berber communities, who are indigenous to North Africa.
The Berber languages have a similar level of variety to the Romance languages, although they are sometimes referred to as a single collective language, often as "Berber", "Tamazight", or "Amazigh". There are also probably a few million speakers of Berber languages in Western Europe. Tashlhiyt, Kabyle, Central Atlas Tamazight, Tarifit, and Shawiya are some of the most commonly spoken Berber languages.
Following independence in the 20th century, the Berber languages have been suppressed and suffered from low prestige in North Africa. For example, Arabic loanwords represent 35% to 46% of the total vocabulary of the Kabyle language and represent 51.7% of the total vocabulary of Tarifit. Almost all Berber languages took from Arabic the pharyngeal fricatives /ʕ/ and /ħ/, the (nongeminated) uvular stop /q/, and the voiceless pharyngealized consonant /ṣ/. Unlike the Chadic,
Cushitic, and Omotic languages of the Afro-Asiatic phylum, Berber languages are not tonal languages.
Terminology
"Tamazight" and "Berber languages" are often used interchangeably. However, "Tamazight" is sometimes used to refer to a specific subset of Berber languages, such as Central Tashlhiyt. "Tamazight" can also be used to refer to Standard Moroccan Tamazight or Standard Algerian Tamazight, as in the Moroccan and Algerian constitutions respectively. In Morocco, besides referring to all Berber languages or to Standard Moroccan Tamazight, "Tamazight" is often used in contrast to Tashelhit and Tarifit to refer to Central Atlas Tamazight.
The use of Berber has been the subject of debate due to its historical background as an exonym and present equivalence with the Arabic word for "barbarian." One group, the Linguasphere Observatory, has attempted to introduce the neologism "Tamazic languages" to refer to the Berber languages. Amazigh people typically use "Tamazight" when speaking English. Historically, Berbers did not refer to themselves as Berbers/Amazigh but had their own terms to refer to themselves. For example, the Kabyles use the term "Leqbayel" to refer to their own people, while the Chaouis identified themselves as "Ishawiyen" instead of Berber/Amazigh.Origin
Since modern Berber languages are relatively homogeneous, the date of the Proto-Berber language from which the modern group is derived was probably comparatively recent, comparable to the age of the Germanic or Romance subfamilies of the Indo-European family. In contrast, the split of the group from the other Afroasiatic sub-phyla is much earlier, and is therefore sometimes associated with the local Mesolithic Capsian culture. A number of extinct populations are believed to have spoken Afroasiatic languages of the Berber branch. According to Peter Behrens and Marianne Bechaus-Gerst, linguistic evidence suggests that the peoples of the C-Group culture in present-day southern Egypt and northern Sudan spoke Berber languages. The Nilo-Saharan Nobiin language today contains a number of key loanwords related to pastoralism that are of Berber origin, including the terms for sheep and water/Nile. This in turn suggests that the C-Group population—which, along with the Kerma culture, inhabited the Nile valley immediately before the arrival of the first Nubian speakers—spoke Afroasiatic languages. Historically, they were written with the Libyco-Berber script. Early uses of the script have been found on rock art and in various sepulchres; the oldest known variations of the script dates to inscriptions in Dugga from 600 BC. Usage of this script, in the form of Tifinagh, has continued into the present day among the Tuareg people. Following the spread of Islam, some Berber scholars also utilized the Arabic script. The Berber Latin alphabet was developed following the introduction of the Latin script in the nineteenth century by the West.
There are now three writing systems in use for Berber languages: Tifinagh, the Arabic script, and the Berber Latin alphabet, with the Latin alphabet being the most widely used today. Maarten Kossmann notes that it is difficult to apply the classic tree model of historical linguistics towards the Berber languages:<blockquote>[The Berber language family]'s continuous history of convergence and differentiation along new lines makes an definition of branches arbitrary. Moreover, mutual intelligibility and mutual influence render notions such as "split" or "branching" rather difficult to apply except, maybe, in the case of Zenaga and Tuareg.</blockquote>Kossmann roughly groups the Berber languages into seven blocks: Otherwise, subclassifications by different linguists typically combine various blocks into different branches. Western Moroccan languages, Zenati languages, Kabyle, and Ghadames may be grouped under Northern Berber; Awjila is often included as an Eastern Berber language alongside Siwa, Sokna, and El Foqaha. These approaches divide the Berber languages into Northern, Southern (Tuareg), Eastern, and Western varieties. for Libya) make claims about population backed up neither by data nor by academic reputation. -->
The vast majority of speakers of Berber languages are concentrated in Morocco and Algeria. The exact population of speakers has been historically difficult to ascertain due to lack of official recognition. Morocco
Morocco is the country with the greatest number of speakers of Berber languages. As of 2022, Ethnologue estimates there to be 13.8 million speakers of Berber languages in Morocco, based on figures from 2016 and 2017.
In 1960, the first census after Moroccan independence was held. It claimed that 32 percent of Moroccans spoke a Berber language, including bi-, tri- and quadrilingual people. The 2004 census found that 3,894,805 Moroccans over five years of age spoke Tashelhit, 2,343,937 spoke Central Atlas Tamazight, and 1,270,986 spoke Tarifit, representing 14.6%, 8.8%, and 4.8% respectively of the surveyed population, or roughly 28.2% of the surveyed population combined. The 2014 census found that 14.1% of the population spoke Tashelhit, 7.9% spoke Central Atlas Tamazight, and 4% spoke Tarifit, or about 26% of the population combined.
The 2024 census found that 14.2% of the population spoke Tashelhit, 7.4% spoke Central Atlas Tamazight, and 3.2% spoke Tarifit, which represents 24.8% of the population.
These estimates, as well as the estimates from various academic sources, are summarized as follows:
{| class="wikitable"
|+ Estimated number of speakers of Berber languages in Morocco
! Source
! Date
! Total
! Tashelhit
! Central Atlas Tamazight
! Tarifit
! Notes
|-
|Moroccan census Only individuals over age 5 were included.
|-
|Multilingualism, Cultural Identity, and Education in Morocco
|2014
|8.8 million
|4.8 million
|2.7 million
|1.4 million
|Calculated via reported percentages. As in the 2004 census, only individuals over age 5 were surveyed for language.
|-
|Ethnologue
|2024
|9.1 million
|5.2 million
|2.7 million
|1.2 million
|Calculated via reported percentages. As in the 2004 and 2014 census, only individuals over age 5 were surveyed for language.
|}
Algeria
and Shawiya languages in the central-eastern part of Algeria|left]]Algeria is the country with the second greatest number of speakers of Berber languages. Secondary sources disagree on the percentage of self-declared native Berber speakers in the 1966 census, the last Algerian census containing a question about the mother tongue. Some give 17.9% while other report 19%.
in the central-western part of Algeria|left]]Kabyle speakers account for the vast majority of speakers of Berber languages in Algeria. Shawiya is the second most commonly spoken Berber language in Algeria. Other Berber languages spoken in Algeria include: Shenwa, with 76,300 speakers; Tashelhit, with 6,000 speakers; Ouargli, with 20,000 speakers; Tamahaq, with 71,400 speakers; Tugurt, with 8,100 speakers; Tidikelt, with 1,000 speakers; Gurara, with 11,000 speakers; and Mozabite, with 150,000 speakers.
Population estimates are summarized as follows:
{| class="wikitable"
|+ Estimated number of speakers of Berber languages in Algeria
! Source
! Date
! Total
! Kabyle
! Shawiya
! Other
|-
|Annales de Géographie
|1980
|3.6 million
| --
| --
| --
|-
|International Encyclopedia of Linguistics
|2003
| --
| 2.5 million
| --
| --
|-
|Language Diversity Endangered
|2015
| 4.5 million
| 2.5 million - 3 million
| 1.4 million
| 0.13 million - 0.190 million
|-
|Journal of African Languages and Literatures
|2021
| --
|3 million
| --
| --
|}
Other countries
As of 1998, there were an estimated 450,000 Tawellemmet speakers, 250,000 Air Tamajeq speakers, and 20,000 Tamahaq speakers in Niger.
As of 2018 and 2014 respectively, there were an estimated 420,000 speakers of Tawellemmet and 378,000 of Tamasheq in Mali.
As of 2022, based on figures from 2020, Ethnologue estimates there to be 285,890 speakers of Berber languages in Libya: 247,000 speakers of Nafusi, 22,800 speakers of Tamahaq, 13,400 speakers of Ghadamés, and 2,690 speakers of Awjila. The number of Siwi speakers in Libya is listed as negligible, and the last Sokna speaker is thought to have died in the 1950s.
There are an estimated 50,000 Djerbi speakers in Tunisia, based on figures from 2004. Sened is likely extinct, with the last speaker having died in the 1970s. Ghadamés, though not indigenous to Tunisia, is estimated to have 3,100 speakers throughout the country. Chenini is one of the rare remaining Berber-speaking villages in Tunisia.
There are an estimated 20,000 Siwi speakers in Egypt, based on figures from 2013.
As of 2018 and 2017 respectively, there were an estimated 200 speakers of Zenaga and 117,000 of Tamasheq in Mauritania.
As of 2009, there were an estimated 122,000 Tamasheq speakers in Burkina Faso.
There are an estimated 1.5 million speakers of various Berber languages in France. A small number of Tawellemmet speakers live in Nigeria.
In total, there are an estimated 3.6 million speakers of Berber languages in countries outside of Morocco and Algeria, summarized as follows:
{| class="wikitable"
|+ Estimated number of speakers of Berber languages in various countries
! Total
! Niger
! Mali
! Libya
! Tunisia
! Egypt
! Mauritania
! Burkina Faso
! France
|-
|3,577,300
|720,000
The 2000 Charter for Education Reform marked a change in policy, with its statement of "openness to Tamazight."
Planning for a public Tamazight-language TV network began in 2006; in 2010, the Moroccan government launched Tamazight TV. Algeria
After gaining independence from France in 1962, Algeria committed to a policy of Arabisation, which, after the imposition of the Circular of July 1976, encompassed the spheres of education, public administration, public signage, print publication, and the judiciary. While primarily directed towards the erasure of French in Algerian society, these policies also targeted Berber languages, leading to dissatisfaction and unrest amongst speakers of Berber languages, who made up about one quarter of the population. In 2002, following the riots of the Black Spring, Tamazight was recognized for the second time as a national language, though not as an official one. This was done on April 8, 2003.
Tamazight has been taught for three hours a week through the first three years of Algerian middle schools since 2005.
Libya
Although regional councils in Libya's Nafusa Mountains affiliated with the National Transitional Council reportedly use the Berber language of Nafusi and have called for it to be granted co-official status with Arabic in a prospective new constitution, it does not have official status in Libya as in Morocco and Algeria. As areas of Libya south and west of Tripoli such as the Nafusa Mountains were taken from the control of Gaddafi government forces in early summer 2011, Berber workshops and exhibitions sprang up to share and spread the Berber culture and language.
Other countries
In Mali and Niger, some Tuareg languages have been recognized as national languages and have been part of school curriculums since the 1960s. Phonology Notation In linguistics, the phonology of Berber languages is written with the International Phonetic Alphabet, with the following exceptions:
{| class="wikitable"
|+
! Notation
! Meaning
|-
|/š/
|unvoiced anterior post-alveolar, as in Slavic languages and Lithuanian
|-
|/ž/
|voiced anterior post-alveolar, also in Slavic languages and Lithuanian
|-
|/ɣ/
|voiced uvular fricative (in IPA, this represents the voiced velar fricative)
|-
|/◌͑/
|voiced pharyngeal fricative
|-
|/h/
|laryngeal voiced consonant
|-
|/◌͗/
|glottal stop
|-
|/ř/
|strident flap or /r̝/, as in Czech
|-
|!
|indicates the following segment is emphatic
|}
Consonants
The influence of Arabic, the process of spirantization, and the absence of labialization have caused the consonant systems of Berber languages to differ significantly by region. Berber languages found north of, and in the northern half of, the Sahara have greater influence from Arabic, including that of loaned phonemes, than those in more southern regions, like Tuareg. Most Berber languages in northern regions have additionally undergone spirantization, in which historical short stops have changed into fricatives. Northern Berber languages (which is a subset of but not identical to Berber languages in geographically northern regions) commonly have labialized velars and uvulars, unlike other Berber languages., one of the Berber languages, spoken by a man from Ait Melloul.]]Two languages that illustrate the resulting range in consonant inventory across Berber languages are Ahaggar Tuareg and Kabyle; Kabyle has two more places of articulation and three more manners of articulation than Ahaggar Tuareg. All Berber languages, as is common in Afroasiatic languages, have pharyngealized consonants and phonemic gemination. The consonants which may undergo gemination, and the positions in a word where gemination may occur, differ by language. They have also been observed to have tense and lax consonants, although the status of tense consonants has been the subject of "considerable discussion" by linguists. For example, Taselhiyt has the vowels /i/, /a/, and /u/, while Ayer Tuareg has the vowels /i/, /ə/, /u/, /e/, /ɐ/, /o/, and /a/. Contrastive vowel length is rare in Berber languages. Tuareg languages had previously been reported to have contrastive vowel length, but this is no longer the leading analysis.
Suprasegmentals
Most Berber languages:
* allow for any combination of CC consonant clusters.
* have no lexical tones.
* either have no lexical stress (Northern Berber languages) or have grammatically significant lexical stress. Some examples, of varying importance and regularity, include [g/ž/y]; [k/š]; [l/ř/r]; [l/ž, ll/dd<sup>ž</sup>]; [trill/ vocalized r]; [šš/tt<sup>š</sup>]; [ss/tt<sup>š</sup>]; [w/g/b]; [q/ɣ]; [h/Ø]; and [s-š-ž/h].
{| class="wikitable"
|+ Major Berber phonetic correspondences
! Tahaggart<br>
! Tashlhiyt<br>
! Kabyle<br>
! Figuig<br>
! Central Atlas Tamazight<br>
! Tarifit<br>
! Gloss
|-
|!oska
|!uskay
|!uššay
|(Arabic loan)
|!usça
|!uššay
|"greyhound"
|-
|t-a-!gzəl-t
|t-i-!gzzl-t
|t-i-!gzzəl-t
|t-i-!yžəl-t
|t-i-!ḡzəl-t
|θ-i-!yzzət<sup>š</sup>
|"kidney"
|-
|a-gelhim
|a-glzim
|a-gəlzim
|a-yəlzim
|a-ḡzzim
|a-řizim
|"axe"
|-
|éhéder
|i-gidr
|i-gider
|(Arabic loan)
|yidər
|žiða:
|"eagle"
|-
|t-adhan-t
|t-adgal-t
|t-add<sup>ž</sup>al-t
|t-ahžžal-t
|t-ad<sup>ž</sup>al-t
|θ-ažžat
|"window"
|-
|élem
|ilm
|a-g<sup>w</sup>lim
|ilem
|iləm
|iřem
|"skin"
|-
|a-!hiyod
|a-!žddid
|a-!žədd<sup>ž</sup>id
| –
|a-!ḡdd<sup>ž</sup>id
|a-!žžið
|"scabies"
|-
|a-gûhil
|i-gigil
|a-gužil
|a-yužil
|a-wižil
|a-yužiř
|"orphan"
|-
|t-immé
|i-gnzi
|t-a-g<sup>w</sup>ənza
|t-a-nyər-t
|t-i-nir-t
|θ-a-nya:-θ
|"forehead"
|-
|t-ahor-t
|t-aggur-t
|t-abbur-t
|(Arabic loan)
|t-aggur-t
|θ-!awwa:-θ
| rowspan="2" |"door"
|-
|t-a-flu-t
|t-i-flu-t
|t-i-flu-t
| –
|t-iflu-t
|--
|-
|a-fus
|a-fus
|a-fus
|a-fus
|(a-)fus
|fus
|"hand"
|}
Grammar
Berber languages characteristically make frequent use of apophony in the form of ablaut.
The gender, number, and case of nouns, as well as the gender, number, and person of verbs, are typically distinguished through affixes. When sentences have a verb, they essentially follow verb–subject–object word order, although some linguists believe alternate descriptors would better categorize certain languages, such as Taqbaylit. Pronouns Berber languages have both independent and dependent pronouns, both of which distinguish between person and number. Gender is also typically distinguished in the second and third person, and sometimes in first person plural. Some Arabic borrowings in Northern and Eastern Berber languages do not accept these affixes; they instead retain the Arabic article regardless of case, and follow Arabic patterns to express number and gender.
Gender can be feminine or masculine, and can be lexically determined, or can be used to distinguish qualities of the noun. The ways in which gender is used to distinguish nouns is shown in as follows, with examples from Figuig: The construct state is also called the "construct case, "relative case," "annexed state" (''état d'annexion), or the "nominative case"; the free state (état libre) is also called the "direct case" or "accusative case." Possessive phrases in noun phrases must have a genitive proposition.
Different linguists analyze and label aspects in the Berber languages very differently. Kossman roughly summarizes the basic stems which denote aspect as follows:
* Aorist, also called aoriste, without a preceding particle:
** imperative
** unmarked (taking aspect from preceding verb)
* Aorist, with the preceding article ad:
** irrealis (adhortative, future)
* Preterite, or accompli:
** past tense, in dynamic use
** states (such as "to want, to know"), in stative use
* Intensive Aorist, also called habitative or inaccompli:
** dynamic present
** habitative and iterative
** habitative imperative
** negation of any imperative
Different languages may have more stems and aspects, or may distinguish within the above categories. Stem formation can be very complex, with Tuareg by some measures having over two hundred identified conjugation subtypes.
{| class="wikitable"
|+
!
! Figuig
! Ghadames
! Ayer Tuareg
! Mali Tuareg
|-
|Aorist
|əlmədatəf
|ălmədatəf
|əlmədatəf
|əlmədaləm
|-
|Imperfective
|ləmmədttatəf
|lămmădttatăf
|--
|lămmădtiləm
|-
|Secondary imperfective
|--
|--
|lámmădtátăf
|lámmădtiləm
|-
|Negative imperfective
|ləmmədttitəf
|ləmmədttitəf
|ləmmədtitəf
|ləmmədtiləm
|-
|Perfective
|əlmədutəf
|əlmădutăf
|əlmădotăf
|əlmădolăm
|-
|Secondary perfective
|--
|--
|əlmádotáf
|əlmádolám
|-
|Negative perfective
|əlmidutif
|əlmedutef
|əlmedotef
|əlmedolem
|-
|Future
|--
|əlmădutăf
|--
|--
|}
Verb phrases are built with verb morphology, pronominal and deictic clitics, pre-verbal particles, and auxiliary elements. The pre-verbal particles are ad, wər, and their variants, which correspond to the meanings of "non-realized" and "negative" respectively.
Numerals
Many Berber languages have lost use of their original numerals from three onwards due to the influence of Arabic; Tarifit has lost all except one. Languages that may retain all their original numerals include Tashelhiyt, Tuareg, Ghadames, Ouargla, and Zenaga.
Original Berber numerals agree in gender with the noun they describe, whereas the borrowed Arabic forms do not. In contrast, Tahaggart has a rich vocabulary for the description of camels.
Some loanwords in the Berber languages can be traced to pre-Roman times. The Berber words te-ḇăyne "date" and a-sḇan'' "loose woody tissue around the palm tree stem" originate from Ancient Egyptian, likely due to the introduction of date palm cultivation into North Africa from Egypt. Around a dozen Berber words are probable Phoenician-Punic loanwords, although the overall influence of Phoenician-Punic on Berber languages is negligible. A number of loanwords could be attributed to Phoenician-Punic, Hebrew, or Aramaic. The similar vocabulary between these Semitic languages, as well as Arabic, is a complicating factor in tracing the etymology of certain words.
Words of Latin origin have been introduced into Berber languages over time. Maarten Kossman separates Latin loanwords in Berber languages into those from during the Roman empire ("Latin loans"), from after the fall of the Roman empire ("African Romance loans"), precolonial non-African Romance loans, and colonial and post-colonial Romance loans. It can be difficult to distinguish Latin from African Romance loans. There are about 40 likely Latin or African Romance loanwords in Berber languages, which tend to be agricultural terms, religious terms, terms related to learning, or words for plants or useful objects. Use of these terms varies by language. For example, Tuareg does not retain the Latin agricultural terms, which relate to a form of agriculture not practiced by the Tuareg people. There are some Latin loans that are only known to be used in Shawiya.
The most influential external language on the lexicon of Berber languages is Arabic. Maarten Kossmann calculates that 0-5% of Ghadames and Awdjila's core vocabularies, and over 15% of Ghomara, Siwa, and Senhadja de Sraïr's core vocabularies, are loans from Arabic. Most other Berber languages loan from 6–15% of their core vocabulary from Arabic. Salem Chaker estimates that Arabic loanwords represent 38% of Kabyle vocabulary, 25% of Tashelhiyt vocabulary, and 5% of Tuareg vocabulary, including non-core words.
On the one hand, the words and expressions connected to Islam were borrowed, e.g. Tashlhiyt bismillah "in the name of Allah" < Classical Arabic bi-smi-llāhi, Tuareg ta-mejjīda "mosque" (Arabic masjid); on the other, Berber adopted cultural concepts such as Kabyle ssuq "market" from Arabic as-sūq, tamdint "town" < Arabic madīna. Even expressions such as the Arabic greeting as-salāmu ʿalaikum "Peace be upon you!" were adopted (Tuareg salāmu ɣlīkum).
Influence on other languages
The Berber languages have influenced local Arabic dialects in the Maghreb. Although Maghrebi Arabic has a predominantly Semitic and Arabic vocabulary, it contains a few Berber loanwords which represent 2–3% of the vocabulary of Libyan Arabic, 8–9% of Algerian Arabic and Tunisian Arabic, and 10–15% of Moroccan Arabic. Their influence is also seen in some languages in West Africa. F. W. H. Migeod pointed to strong resemblances between Berber and Hausa in such words and phrases as these:
{|
! Berber
! Hausa
! gloss
|-
| || || his father
|-
| || || he was lost
|-
| || || he called
|}
In addition he notes that the genitive in both languages is formed with n "of" (though likely a common inheritance from Proto-Afro-Asiatic; cf. A.Eg genitive n).Extinct languagesA number of extinct populations are believed to have spoken Afro-Asiatic languages of the Berber branch. According to Peter Behrens (1981) and Marianne Bechaus-Gerst (2000), linguistic evidence suggests that the peoples of the C-Group culture in present-day southern Egypt and northern Sudan spoke Berber languages.See also
* List of Berber-language television channels
* Amazigh Cultural Association in America
* Shilha literature
Notes
References
External links
* [https://asegzawal.miraheze.org/wiki/Tamazight-English_Dictionary Tamazight-English Dictionary]
* [http://lotexx.de/Berberisch/index_en.htm "What does Berber sound like?" (Thamazight poems as text & MP3)]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20110624061513/http://www.llmap.org/languages/tzm.html Map of Berber language from the LL-Map Project] (archived 24 June 2011)
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20101102041258/http://sites.google.com/site/tamazight/the-tamazight-berber-language-profile The Berber Language Profile] (archived 2 October 2010)
* [https://www.scribd.com/doc/13240446/The-Etymology-of-Berber Etymology of "Berber"]
* [https://www.scribd.com/doc/15056143/The-Etymology-of-the-Word-Amazigh Etymology of "Amazigh"]
* [http://www.tachelhit.info/ Early Christian history of Berbers]
* [http://www.tifinagh.freeservers.com/custom.html Tifinagh]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20170826045645/http://www.ancientscripts.com/berber.html Ancient Scripts] (archived 26 August 2017)
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20130812220445/http://www.imyura.net/ Imyura Kabyle site about literature] (archived 12 August 2013)
* [http://www.amawal.net/ Amawal: The online open source Berber dictionary]
Category:Afroasiatic languages
Category:Maghreb
Category:Languages of Algeria
Category:Languages of Morocco
Category:Languages of Mali
Category:Languages of Niger
Category:Languages of Mauritania
Category:Languages of Tunisia
Category:Languages of Gibraltar
Category:Languages of Sicily
Category:Languages of Western Sahara
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Bankruptcy
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Bankrupt!|the band|Bankrupt (band)}}
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Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debtor.
Bankrupt is not the only legal status that an insolvent person may have, meaning the term bankruptcy is not a synonym for insolvency.
Etymology
The word bankruptcy is derived from Italian , literally meaning . The term is often described as having originated in Renaissance Italy, where there allegedly existed the tradition of smashing a banker's bench if he defaulted on payment. However, the existence of such a ritual is doubted.
History
's Mississippi Company led to French national bankruptcy in 1720.]]
In Ancient Greece, bankruptcy did not exist. If a man owed and he could not pay, he and his wife, children or servants were forced into "debt slavery" until the creditor recouped losses through their physical labour. Many city-states in ancient Greece limited debt slavery to a period of five years; debt slaves had protection of life and limb, which regular slaves did not have. However, servants of the debtor could be retained beyond that deadline by the creditor and were often forced to serve their new lord for a lifetime, usually under significantly harsher conditions. An exception to this rule was Athens, which by the laws of Solon forbade enslavement for debt; as a consequence, most Athenian slaves were foreigners (Greek or otherwise).
The Statute of Bankrupts of 1542 was the first statute under English law dealing with bankruptcy or insolvency. Bankruptcy is also documented in East Asia. According to al-Maqrizi, the Yassa of Genghis Khan contained a provision that mandated the death penalty for anyone who became bankrupt three times.
A failure of a nation to meet bond repayments has been seen on many occasions. In a similar way, Philip II of Spain had to declare four state bankruptcies in 1557, 1560, 1575 and 1596. According to Kenneth S. Rogoff, "Although the development of international capital markets was quite limited prior to 1800, we nevertheless catalog the various defaults of France, Portugal, Prussia, Spain, and the early Italian city-states. At the edge of Europe, Egypt, Russia, and Turkey have histories of chronic default as well."Modern law and debt restructuring
The principal focus of modern insolvency legislation and business debt restructuring practices no longer rests on the elimination of insolvent entities, but on the remodeling of the financial and organizational structure of debtors experiencing financial distress so as to permit the rehabilitation and continuation of the business.
For private households, it is important to assess the underlying problems and to minimize the risk of financial distress to recur. It has been stressed that debt advice, a supervised rehabilitation period, financial education and social help to find sources of income and to improve the management of household expenditures must be equally provided during this period of rehabilitation (Refiner et al., 2003; Gerhardt, 2009; Frade, 2010). In most EU member states, debt discharge is conditioned by a partial payment obligation and by a number of requirements concerning the debtor's behavior. In the United States (US), discharge is conditioned to a lesser extent. The spectrum is broad in the EU, with the UK coming closest to the US system (Reifner et al., 2003; Gerhardt, 2009; Frade, 2010). The other member states do not provide the option of a debt discharge. Spain, for example, passed a bankruptcy law () in 2003 which provides for debt settlement plans that can result in a reduction of the debt (maximally half of the amount) or an extension of the payment period of maximally five years (Gerhardt, 2009), but it does not foresee debt discharge.
In the US, it is very difficult to discharge federal or federally guaranteed student loan debt by filing bankruptcy. Unlike most other debts, those student loans may be discharged only if the person seeking discharge establishes specific grounds for discharge under the Brunner test, under which the court evaluates three factors:
* If required to repay the loan, the borrower cannot maintain a minimal standard of living;
* The borrower's financial situation is likely to continue for most or all of the repayment period; and
* The borrower has made a good faith effort to repay the student loans.
Fraud
<!-- "Bankruptcy fraud" redirects here -->
Bankruptcy fraud is a white-collar crime most typically involving concealment of assets by a debtor to avoid liquidation in bankruptcy proceedings. It may include filing of false information, multiple filings in different jurisdictions, bribery, and other acts.
While difficult to generalize across jurisdictions, common criminal acts under bankruptcy statutes typically involve concealment of assets, concealment or destruction of documents, conflicts of interest, fraudulent claims, false statements or declarations, and fee fixing or redistribution arrangements. Falsifications on bankruptcy forms often constitute perjury. Multiple filings are not in and of themselves criminal, but they may violate provisions of bankruptcy law. In the U.S., bankruptcy fraud statutes are particularly focused on the mental state of particular actions. Bankruptcy fraud is a federal crime in the United States.
Bankruptcy fraud should be distinguished from strategic bankruptcy, which is not a criminal act since it creates a real (not a fake) bankruptcy state. However, it may still work against the filer.
All assets must be disclosed in bankruptcy schedules whether or not the debtor believes the asset has a net value. This is because once a bankruptcy petition is filed, it is for the creditors, not the debtor, to decide whether a particular asset has value. The future ramifications of omitting assets from schedules can be quite serious for the offending debtor. In the United States, a closed bankruptcy may be reopened by motion of a creditor or the U.S. trustee if a debtor attempts to later assert ownership of such an "unscheduled asset" after being discharged of all debt in the bankruptcy. The trustee may then seize the asset and liquidate it to benefit the (formerly discharged) creditors. Whether or not a concealment of such an asset should also be considered for prosecution as fraud or perjury would then be at the discretion of the judge or U.S. Trustee.
By country
In some countries, such as the United Kingdom, bankruptcy is limited to individuals; other forms of insolvency proceedings (such as liquidation and administration) are applied to companies. In the United States, bankruptcy is applied more broadly to formal insolvency proceedings. In some countries, such as in Finland, bankruptcy is limited only to companies and individuals who are insolvent are condemned to de facto indentured servitude or minimum social benefits until their debts are paid in full, with accrued interest except when the court decides to show rare clemency by accepting a debtors application for debt restructuring, in which case an individual may have the amount of remaining debt reduced or be released from the debt.
Argentina
In Argentina, the national Act "24.522 de Concursos y Quiebras" regulates Bankruptcy and Reorganization of individuals and companies; public entities are not included.
Armenia
A person may be declared bankrupt with an application submitted to the court by the creditor or with an application to recognize his own bankruptcy. Legal and natural persons, including individual entrepreneurs, who have an indisputable payment obligation exceeding 60 days and amounting to more than one million AMD can be declared bankrupt. All creditors, including the state and municipalities, to whom the person has an obligation that meets the above-mentioned minimum criteria can submit an application to declare a person bankrupt by compulsory procedure. Basically, these obligations are derived from the legal acts of the court, transactions, the obligation of the debtor to pay taxes, duties, and other fees defined by law.
At the same time, when being declared bankrupt with a voluntary bankruptcy application, the applicant bears the obligation to prove the fact that the value of his assets is less than his assets by one million AMD or more.Australia
In Australia, bankruptcy is a status which applies to individuals and is governed by the federal Bankruptcy Act 1966. Companies do not go bankrupt but rather go into liquidation or administration, which is governed by the federal Corporations Act 2001.
If a person commits an act of bankruptcy, then a creditor can apply to the Federal Circuit Court or the Federal Court for a sequestration order. Acts of bankruptcy are defined in the legislation, and include the failure to comply with a bankruptcy notice. A bankruptcy notice can be issued where, among other cases, a person fails to pay a judgment debt of at least $5,000. A person can also seek to have themselves declared bankrupt for any amount of debt by lodging a debtor's petition with the "Official Receiver", which is the Australian Financial Security Authority (AFSA).
All bankrupts must lodge a Statement of Affairs document, also known as a Bankruptcy Form, with AFSA, which includes important information about their assets and liabilities. A bankruptcy cannot be discharged until this document has been lodged.
Ordinarily, a bankruptcy lasts three years from the filing of the Statement of Affairs with AFSA.
A Bankruptcy Trustee (in most cases, the Official Trustee at AFSA) is appointed to deal with all matters regarding the administration of the bankrupt estate. The Trustee's job includes notifying creditors of the estate and dealing with creditor inquiries; ensuring that the bankrupt complies with their obligations under the Bankruptcy Act; investigating the bankrupt's financial affairs; realising funds to which the estate is entitled under the Bankruptcy Act and distributing dividends to creditors if sufficient funds become available.
For the duration of their bankruptcy, all bankrupts have certain restrictions placed upon them. For example, a bankrupt must obtain the permission of their trustee to travel overseas. Failure to do so may result in the bankrupt being stopped at the airport by the Australian Federal Police. Additionally, a bankrupt is required to provide their trustee with details of income and assets. If the bankrupt does not comply with the Trustee's request to provide details of income, the trustee may have grounds to lodge an Objection to Discharge, which has the effect of extending the bankruptcy for a further three or five years depending on the type of Objection.
The realisation of funds usually comes from two main sources: the bankrupt's assets and the bankrupt's wages. There are certain assets that are protected, referred to as protected assets. These include household furniture and appliances, tools of the trade and vehicles up to a certain value. All other assets of value can be sold. If a house, including the main residence, or car is above a certain value, a third party can buy the interest from the estate in order for the bankrupt to utilise the asset. If this is not done, the interest vests in the estate and the trustee is able to take possession of the asset and sell it.
The bankrupt must pay income contributions if their income is above a certain threshold. If the bankrupt fails to pay, the trustee can ask the Official Receiver to issue a notice to garnishee the bankrupt's wages. If that is not possible, the Trustee may seek to extend the bankruptcy for a further three or five years.
Bankruptcies can be annulled, and the bankrupt released from bankruptcy, prior to the expiration of the normal three-year period if all debts are paid out in full. Sometimes a bankrupt may be able to raise enough funds to make an Offer of Composition to creditors, which would have the effect of paying the creditors some of the money they are owed. If the creditors accept the offer, the bankruptcy can be annulled after the funds are received.
After the bankruptcy is annulled or the bankrupt has been automatically discharged, the bankrupt's credit report status is shown as "discharged bankrupt" for some years. The maximum number of years this information can be held is subject to the retention limits under the Privacy Act. How long such information is on a credit report may be shorter, depending on the issuing company, but the report must cease to record that information based on the criteria in the Privacy Act.
Brazil
In Brazil, the Bankruptcy Law (11.101/05) governs court-ordered or out-of-court receivership and bankruptcy and only applies to public companies (publicly traded companies) with the exception of financial institutions, credit cooperatives, consortia, supplementary scheme entities, companies administering health care plans, equity companies and a few other legal entities. It does not apply to state-run companies.
Current law covers three legal proceedings. The first one is bankruptcy itself ("Falência"). Bankruptcy is a court-ordered liquidation procedure for an insolvent business. The final goal of bankruptcy is to liquidate company assets and pay its creditors.
The second one is Court-ordered Restructuring (Recuperação Judicial). The goal is to overcome the business crisis situation of the debtor in order to allow the continuation of the producer, the employment of workers and the interests of creditors, leading, thus, to preserving company, its corporate function and develop economic activity. It is a court procedure required by the debtor which has been in business for more than two years and requires approval by a judge.
The Extrajudicial Restructuring (Recuperação Extrajudicial) is a private negotiation that involves creditors and debtors and, as with court-ordered restructuring, also must be approved by courts.Canada
Bankruptcy, also referred to as insolvency in Canada, is governed by the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act and is applicable to businesses and individuals. For example, Target Canada, the Canadian subsidiary of the Target Corporation, the second-largest discount retailer in the United States filed for bankruptcy on 15 January 2015, and closed all of its stores by 12 April. The office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy, a federal agency, is responsible for ensuring that bankruptcies are administered in a fair and orderly manner by all licensed Trustees in Canada.
Trustees in bankruptcy, 1041 individuals licensed to administer insolvencies, bankruptcy and proposal estates are governed by the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act of Canada.
Bankruptcy is filed when a person or a company becomes insolvent and cannot pay their debts as they become due and if they have at least $1,000 in debt.
In 2011, the Superintendent of Bankruptcy reported that trustees in Canada filed 127,774 insolvent estates. Consumer estates were the vast majority, with 122,999 estates. The consumer portion of the 2011 volume is divided into 77,993 bankruptcies and 45,006 consumer proposals. This represented a reduction of 8.9% from 2010. Commercial estates filed by Canadian trustees in 2011 4,775 estates, 3,643 bankruptcies and 1,132 Division 1 proposals. This represents a reduction of 8.6% over 2010.
Duties of trustees
Some of the duties of the trustee in bankruptcy are to:
* Review the file for any fraudulent preferences or reviewable transactions
* Chair meetings of creditors
* Sell any non-exempt assets
* Object to the bankrupt's discharge
* Distribute funds to creditors
Creditors' meetings
Creditors become involved by attending creditors' meetings. The trustee calls the first meeting of creditors for the following purposes:
* To consider the affairs of the bankrupt
* To affirm the appointment of the trustee or substitute another in place thereof
* To appoint inspectors
* To give such directions to the trustee as the creditors may see fit with reference to the administration of the estate.
Consumer proposals
In Canada, a person can file a consumer proposal as an alternative to bankruptcy. A consumer proposal is a negotiated settlement between a debtor and their creditors.
A typical proposal would involve a debtor making monthly payments for a maximum of five years, with the funds distributed to their creditors. Even though most proposals call for payments of less than the full amount of the debt owing, in most cases, the creditors accept the deal—because if they do not, the next alternative may be personal bankruptcy, in which the creditors get even less money. The creditors have 45 days to accept or reject the consumer proposal. Once the proposal is accepted by both the creditors and the Court, the debtor makes the payments to the Proposal Administrator each month (or as otherwise stipulated in their proposal), and the general creditors are prevented from taking any further legal or collection action. If the proposal is rejected, the debtor is returned to his prior insolvent state and may have no alternative but to declare personal bankruptcy.
A consumer proposal can only be made by a debtor with debts to a maximum of $250,000 (not including the mortgage on their principal residence). If debts are greater than $250,000, the proposal must be filed under Division 1 of Part III of the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act. An Administrator is required in the Consumer Proposal, and a Trustee in the Division I Proposal (these are virtually the same although the terms are not interchangeable). A Proposal Administrator is almost always a licensed trustee in bankruptcy, although the Superintendent of Bankruptcy may appoint other people to serve as administrators.
In 2006, there were 98,450 personal insolvency filings in Canada: 79,218 bankruptcies and 19,232 consumer proposals.
Commercial restructuring
In Canada, bankruptcy always means liquidation. There is no way for a company to emerge from bankruptcy after restructuring, as is the case in the United States with a Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing. Canada does, however, have laws that allow for businesses to restructure and emerge later with a smaller debt load and a more positive financial future. While not technically a form of bankruptcy, businesses with $5M or more in debt may make use of the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act to halt all debt recovery efforts against the company while they formulate a plan to restructure.
China
The People's Republic of China legalized bankruptcy in 1986, and a revised law that was more expansive and complete was enacted in 2007.
Ireland
Bankruptcy in Ireland applies only to natural persons. Other insolvency processes including liquidation and examinership are used to deal with corporate insolvency.
Irish bankruptcy law has been the subject of significant comment, from both government sources and the media, as being in need of reform. Part 7 of the Civil Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2011 has started this process and the government has committed to further reform.IsraelBankruptcy in Israel is governed by the Insolvency and Rehabilitation Law, 2018. Insolvency proceedings below ₪150,000 will be administered entirely by the Enforcement and Collection Authority. Insolvency proceedings above ₪150,000 individual debtors file the documents will be conducted before the official receiver (the Insolvency Commissioner) and, if a creditor want to file against a debtor, he needs to open process, before the magistrate's court that hears in the district. Company bankruptcy will be conducted before District Court. Simultaneously, with the issue of the order for the commencement of insolvency proceedings, the Insolvency Commissioner shall appoint a trustee for the debtor and an audit will be carried out, in which the debtor's economic capability and his conduct will be examined (lasting approximately 12 months). At the end of this audit a payment plan is established, at the end of which the debtor will receive a discharge. The default scenario is a payment period of three years; however, the court reserves the right to increase or decrease the period depending upon the circumstances of the case. If the debtor has no proven financial ability to pay the creditors, he may be granted an immediate discharge. Since 1996, Israeli personal bankruptcy law has shifted to a relatively debtor-friendly regime, not unlike the American model.India
In May 2016, the Parliament of India passed the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC), updating outdated corporate insolvency laws. The IBC streamlined the process, reducing delays from a decade to 180 days, and replaced the Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction (BIFR) with a market-driven approach.
The Netherlands
Dutch bankruptcy law is governed by the Dutch Bankruptcy Code (). The code covers three separate legal proceedings:
# Bankruptcy (). The goal of bankruptcy is the liquidation of the assets of the company. Bankruptcy applies only to companies.
# (). This only applies to companies. Its goal is to reach an agreement with the creditors of the company. It is comparable to filing for protection against creditors.
# (). This proceeding is designed for individuals only and is the result of a court ruling. The judge appoints a monitor. The monitor is an independent third party who monitors the individual's ongoing business and decides about financial matters during the period of the . The individual can travel out of the country freely after the judge's decision on the case.
Russia
Federal Law No. 127-FZ "On Insolvency (Bankruptcy)" dated 26 October 2002 (as amended) (the "Bankruptcy Act"), replacing the previous law in 1998, to better address the above problems and a broader failure of the action. Russian insolvency law is intended for a wide range of borrowers: individuals and companies of all sizes, with the exception of state-owned enterprises, government agencies, political parties and religious organizations. There are also special rules for insurance companies, professional participants of the securities market, agricultural organizations and other special laws for financial institutions and companies in the natural monopolies in the energy industry. Federal Law No. 40-FZ "On Insolvency (Bankruptcy)" dated 25 February 1999 (as amended) (the "Insolvency Law of Credit Institutions") contains special provisions in relation to the opening of insolvency proceedings in relation to the credit company. Insolvency Provisions Act, credit organizations used in conjunction with the provisions of the Bankruptcy Act.
Bankruptcy law provides for the following stages of insolvency proceedings:
*Monitoring procedure or Supervision (, );
*Economic recovery (, );
*External control (, );
*Liquidation () and
*Amicable Agreement (, ).
The main face of the bankruptcy process is the insolvency officer (trustee in bankruptcy, bankruptcy manager). At various stages of bankruptcy, he must be determined: the temporary officer in monitoring procedure, external manager in external control, the receiver or administrative officer in the economic recovery, the liquidator. During the bankruptcy trustee in bankruptcy (insolvency officer) has a decisive influence on the movement of assets (property) of the debtor – the debtor and has a key influence on the economic and legal aspects of its operations.
South Africa
Spain
In Spain, people who cannot repay their home mortgages may declare bankruptcy. Bankruptcy and foreclosure discharges the obligation to pay mortgage interest, but not mortgage principal. Creditors can claim money through the Enforcement Administration anyway, and creditors do not usually benefit from the bankruptcy of individuals because there are costs of a bankruptcy manager which has priority. Unpaid debts remain after bankruptcy for individuals. People who are deeply in debt can obtain a debt arrangement procedure (). On application, they obtain a payment plan under which they pay as much as they can for five years, and then all remaining debts are cancelled. Debts that derive from a ban on business operations (issued by court, commonly for tax fraud or fraudulent business practices) or owed to a crime victim as compensation for damages, are exempted from this—and, as before this process was introduced in 2006, remain lifelong. Debts that have not been claimed during a 3–10 year period are cancelled. Often crime victims stop their claims after a few years since criminals often do not have job incomes and might be hard to locate, while banks make sure their claims are not cancelled. The most common reasons for personal insolvency in Sweden are illness, unemployment, divorce or company bankruptcy.
For companies, formal bankruptcy is a normal effect of insolvency, even if there is a reconstruction mechanism where the company can be given time to solve its situation, e.g. by finding an investor. The government can pay salaries to employees in insolvent companies which do not pay them, but only if the company is declared bankrupt. Therefore, it is normal that trade union do the application for bankruptcy if a supplier has not already done so.
The formal bankruptcy involves contracting a bankruptcy manager, who makes certain that assets are sold and money divided by the priority the law claims, and no other way. Banks have such a priority. After a finished bankruptcy for a company, it is terminated. The activities might continue in a new company which has bought important assets from the bankrupted company.
United Arab Emirates
The United Arab Emirates Bankruptcy Law came into force on 29 December 2016, and created a single law governing bankruptcy procedures, which had previously been spread across multiple sources. There are two court procedures: first, a procedure for a company that is not yet insolvent, known as a protective composition, and second, a formal bankruptcy that is split into a rescue process (similar to protective composition) or liquidation.
Directors of a company can be held personally liable for its debts.
The Bankruptcy Law does not apply to government bodies, or to companies trading in free zones such as the Dubai International Financial Centre or the Abu Dhabi Global Market, which have their own insolvency laws. Debtors may now retain occupational pensions while in bankruptcy, except in rare cases.
A debtor declares bankruptcy to obtain relief from debt, and this is normally accomplished either through a discharge of the debt or through a restructuring of the debt. When a debtor files a voluntary petition, their bankruptcy case commences.
Debts and exemptions
While bankruptcy cases are always filed in United States Bankruptcy Court (an adjunct to the U.S. District Courts), bankruptcy cases, particularly with respect to the validity of claims and exemptions, are often dependent upon State law. A Bankruptcy Exemption defines the property a debtor may retain and preserve through bankruptcy. Certain real and personal property can be exempted on "Schedule C" of a debtor's bankruptcy forms, and effectively be taken outside the debtor's bankruptcy estate. Bankruptcy exemptions are available only to individuals filing bankruptcy.
There are two alternative systems that can be used to exempt property from a bankruptcy estate, federal exemptions (available in some states but not all), and state exemptions (which vary widely between states). For example, Maryland and Virginia, which are adjoining states, have different personal exemption amounts that cannot be seized for payment of debts. This amount is the first $6,000 in property or cash in Maryland, but normally only the first $5,000 in Virginia. State law therefore plays a major role in many bankruptcy cases, such that there may be significant differences in the outcome of a bankruptcy case depending upon the state in which it is filed.
After a bankruptcy petition is filed, the court schedules a hearing called a 341 meeting or meeting of creditors, at which the bankruptcy trustee and creditors review the petitioner's petition and supporting schedules, question the petitioner, and can challenge exemptions they believe are improper.Chapters
There are six types of bankruptcy under the Bankruptcy Code, located at Title 11 of the United States Code:
* Chapter 7: basic liquidation for individuals and businesses; also known as straight bankruptcy; it is the simplest and quickest form of bankruptcy available
* Chapter 9: municipal bankruptcy; a federal mechanism for the resolution of municipal debts
* Chapter 11: rehabilitation or reorganization, used primarily by business debtors but sometimes by individuals with substantial debts and assets; known as corporate bankruptcy, it is a form of corporate financial reorganization that typically allows companies to continue to function while they follow debt repayment plans
* Chapter 12: rehabilitation for family farmers and fishermen
* Chapter 13: rehabilitation with a payment plan for individuals with a regular source of income; enables individuals with regular income to develop a plan to repay all or part of their debts; also known as wage earner bankruptcy
* Chapter 15: ancillary and other international cases; provides a mechanism for dealing with bankruptcy debtors and helps foreign debtors clear debts
An important feature applicable to all types of bankruptcy filings is the automatic stay. The automatic stay means that the mere request for bankruptcy protection automatically halts most lawsuits, repossessions, foreclosures, evictions, garnishments, attachments, utility shut-offs, and debt collection activity.
The most common types of personal bankruptcy for individuals are Chapter 7 and Chapter 13. Chapter 7, known as a "straight bankruptcy", involves the discharge of certain debts without repayment. Chapter 13 involves a plan of repayment of debts over a period of years. Whether a person qualifies for Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 is in part determined by income. As many as 65% of all US consumer bankruptcy filings are Chapter 7 cases.
Before a consumer may obtain bankruptcy relief under either Chapter 7 or Chapter 13, the debtor is to undertake credit counseling with approved counseling agencies prior to filing a bankruptcy petition and to undertake education in personal financial management from approved agencies prior to being granted a discharge of debts under either Chapter 7 or Chapter 13. Some studies of the operation of the credit counseling requirement suggest that it provides little benefit to debtors who receive the counseling because the only realistic option for many is to seek relief under the Bankruptcy Code.
Corporations and other business forms normally file under Chapters 7 or 11.
Chapter 7
Often called "straight bankruptcy" or "simple bankruptcy", a Chapter 7 bankruptcy potentially allows debtors to eliminate most or all of their debts over a period of as little as three or four months. In a typical consumer bankruptcy, the only debts that survive a Chapter 7 are student loans, child support obligations, some tax bills, and criminal fines. Credit cards, pay day loans, personal loans, medical bills, and just about all other bills are discharged.
In Chapter 7, a debtor surrenders non-exempt property to a bankruptcy trustee, who then liquidates the property and distributes the proceeds to the debtor's unsecured creditors. In exchange, the debtor is entitled to a discharge of some debt. However, the debtor is not granted a discharge if guilty of certain types of inappropriate behavior (e.g., concealing records relating to financial condition) and certain debts (e.g., spousal and child support and most student loans). Some taxes are not discharged even though the debtor is generally discharged from debt. Many individuals in financial distress own only exempt property (e.g., clothes, household goods, an older car, or the tools of their trade or profession) and do not have to surrender any property to the trustee. The typical cost of an attorney is $1,170.00. hiring a non-lawyer petition preparer, or using online software to generate the petition.
To be eligible to file a consumer bankruptcy under Chapter 7, a debtor must qualify under a statutory means test. The means test was intended to make it more difficult for a significant number of financially distressed individual debtors whose debts are primarily consumer debts to qualify for relief under Chapter 7 of the Bankruptcy Code. The "means test" is employed in cases where an individual with primarily consumer debts has more than the average annual income for a household of equivalent size, computed over a 180-day period prior to filing. If the individual must take the means test, their average monthly income over this 180-day period is reduced by a series of allowances for living expenses and secured debt payments in a very complex calculation that may or may not accurately reflect that individual's actual monthly budget. If the results of the means test show no disposable income (or in some cases a very small amount) then the individual qualifies for Chapter 7 relief. An individual who fails the means test will have their Chapter 7 case dismissed, or may have to convert the case to a Chapter 13 bankruptcy.
If a debtor does not qualify for relief under Chapter 7 of the Bankruptcy Code, either because of the Means Test or because Chapter 7 does not provide a permanent solution to delinquent payments for secured debts, such as mortgages or vehicle loans, the debtor may still seek relief under Chapter 13 of the Code.
Generally, a trustee sells most of the debtor's assets to pay off creditors. However, certain debtor assets will be protected to some extent by bankruptcy exemptions. These include Social Security payments, unemployment compensation, limited equity in a home, car, or truck, household goods and appliances, trade tools, and books. However, these exemptions vary from state to state.
Chapter 11
In Chapter 11 bankruptcy, the debtor retains ownership and control of assets and is re-termed a debtor in possession (DIP). The debtor in possession runs the day-to-day operations of the business while creditors and the debtor work with the Bankruptcy Court in order to negotiate and complete a plan. Upon meeting certain requirements (e.g., fairness among creditors, priority of certain creditors) creditors are permitted to vote on the proposed plan. If a plan is confirmed, the debtor continues to operate and pay debts under the terms of the confirmed plan. If a specified majority of creditors do not vote to confirm a plan, additional requirements may be imposed by the court in order to confirm the plan. Debtors filing for Chapter 11 protection a second time are known informally as "Chapter 22" filers.
In a corporate or business bankruptcy, an indebted company is typically recapitalized so that it emerges from bankruptcy with more equity and less debt, with potential for dispute over the valuation of the reorganized business.Chapter 13
In Chapter 13, debtors retain ownership and possession of all their assets but must devote some portion of future income to repaying creditors, generally over three to five years. The amount of payment and period of the repayment plan depend upon a variety of factors, including the value of the debtor's property and the amount of a debtor's income and expenses. Under this chapter, the debtor can propose a repayment plan in which to pay creditors over three to five years. If the monthly income is less than the state's median income, the plan is for three years, unless the court finds just cause to extend the plan for a longer period. If the debtor's monthly income is greater than the median income for individuals in the debtor's state, the plan must generally be for five years. A plan cannot exceed the five-year limit. If the debtor is an individual or a sole proprietor, the debtor is allowed to file for a Chapter 13 bankruptcy to repay all or part of the debts. Secured creditors may be entitled to greater payment than unsecured creditors.
In contrast to Chapter 7, the debtor in Chapter 13 may keep all property, whether or not exempt. If the plan appears feasible and if the debtor complies with all the other requirements, the bankruptcy court typically confirms the plan and the debtor and creditors are bound by its terms. Creditors have no say in the formulation of the plan, other than to object to it, if appropriate, on the grounds that it does not comply with one of the Code's statutory requirements. Generally, the debtor makes payments to a trustee who disburses the funds in accordance with the terms of the confirmed plan.
When the debtor completes payments pursuant to the terms of the plan, the court formally grant the debtor a discharge of the debts provided for in the plan. After a dismissal, creditors may resume pursuit of state law remedies to recover the unpaid debt.
European Union
In 2004, the number of insolvencies reached record highs in many European countries. In France, company insolvencies rose by more than 4%, in Austria by more than 10%, and in Greece by more than 20%. The increase in the number of insolvencies, however, does not indicate the total financial impact of insolvencies in each country because there is no indication of the size of each case. An increase in the number of bankruptcy cases does not necessarily entail an increase in bad debt write-off rates for the economy as a whole.
Bankruptcy statistics are also a trailing indicator. There is a time delay between financial difficulties and bankruptcy. In most cases, several months or even years pass between the financial problems and the start of bankruptcy proceedings. Legal, tax, and cultural issues may further distort bankruptcy figures, especially when comparing on an international basis. Two examples:
* In Austria, more than half of all potential bankruptcy proceedings in 2004 were not opened, due to insufficient funding.
* In Spain, it is not economically profitable to open insolvency/bankruptcy proceedings against certain types of businesses, and therefore the number of insolvencies is quite low. For comparison: In France, more than 40,000 insolvency proceedings were opened in 2004, but under 600 were opened in Spain. At the same time the average bad debt write-off rate in France was 1.3% compared to Spain with 2.6%.
The insolvency numbers for private individuals also do not show the whole picture. Only a fraction of heavily indebted households file for insolvency. Two of the main reasons for this are the stigma of declaring themselves insolvent and the potential business disadvantage.
Following the soar in insolvencies in the previous decade, a number of European countries, such as France, Germany, Spain and Italy, began to revamp their bankruptcy laws in 2013. They modelled these new laws on Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code. Currently, the majority of insolvency cases have ended in liquidation in Europe rather than the businesses surviving the crisis. These new law models are meant to change this; lawmakers are hoping to turn bankruptcy into a chance for restructuring rather than a death sentence for the companies.
EU policy aims to ensure that "honest entrepreneurs" are afforded a second chance at business development. A faster start-up programme for people affected by bankruptcy operating in Denmark and a scheme to support Belgian business owners and self-employed persons were highlighted in a 2008 European Commission Communication as good practice examples in this field.Effective sovereign bankruptcy
Technically, states do not collapse directly due to a sovereign default event itself. However, the tumultuous events that follow may bring down the state, so in common language, states would be described as being bankrupted.
An example of this is when the Goguryeo–Sui War in 614 A.D. ended in the disintegration of Sui dynasty China within 4 years, although their enemy Goguryeo (occupying modern Korea) also seemingly entered into decline and fell some 56 years later.See also
* Bankruptcy Act
* Bankruptcy alternatives
* Creditor's rights
* Debt consolidation
* Debt relief
* Debt restructuring
* Debtor in possession
* Default
* DIP Financing
* Distressed securities
* Financial distress
* Individual voluntary arrangement
* Insolvency
* Judicial estoppel
* Liquidation
* Protected trust deed
* Sole Trader Insolvency (UK)
* Stalking Horse Agreement
* Tools of trade
* Turnaround ADR
References
Further reading
*
*
*
* External links
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*
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20081217025425/http://www.uscourts.gov/bankruptcycourts.html U.S. Federal Bankruptcy Courts]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20081219112318/http://www.uscourts.gov/bnkrpctystats/bankruptcystats.htm Official U.S. Bankruptcy Statistics]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20090804091256/http://www.uscourts.gov/bankruptcycourts/bankruptcybasics.html US Courts Bankruptcy Law]
* [http://www.usdoj.gov/ust/index.htm Executive Office for United States Bankruptcy Trustees]
* [https://www.law.cornell.edu/topics/bankruptcy.html Cornell Bankruptcy Laws]
* [http://nacba.org National Association of Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys]
* [http://lopucki.law.ucla.edu/ Bankruptcy Research Database (WebBRD)]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20090429115235/http://www.insolvency.gov.uk/ Website of the Insolvency Service in the UK]
* [http://www.oro.gov.hk/cgi-bin/oro/stat.cgi Bankruptcy Statistics in Hong Kong]
* [https://www.justice.gov/ust/eo/bapcpa/meanstesting.htm Official Means Testing Information]
Category:Personal financial problems
Category:Corporate liquidations
Category:Debt relief
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Blissymbols
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Blissymbols or Blissymbolics is a constructed language conceived as an ideographic writing system called Semantography consisting of several hundred basic symbols, each representing a concept, which can be composed together to generate new symbols that represent new concepts. Blissymbols differ from most of the world's major writing systems in that the characters do not correspond at all to the sounds of any spoken language.
Semantography was published by Charles K. Bliss in 1949 and found use in the education of people with communication difficulties.
History
Semantography was invented by Charles K. Bliss (1897–1985), born Karl Kasiel Blitz to a Jewish family in Chernivtsi (then Czernowitz, Austria-Hungary), which had a mixture of different nationalities that "hated each other, mainly because they spoke and thought in different languages."
Bliss graduated as a chemical engineer at the Vienna University of Technology, and joined an electronics company. After the Nazi annexation of Austria in 1938, Bliss was sent to concentration camps but his German wife Claire managed to get him released, and they finally became exiles in Shanghai, where Bliss had a cousin.
Bliss devised the symbols while a refugee at the Shanghai Ghetto and Sydney, from 1942 to 1949. He wanted to create an easy-to-learn international auxiliary language to allow communication between different linguistic communities. He was inspired by Chinese characters, with which he became familiar at Shanghai.
Bliss published his system in Semantography (1949, exp. 2nd ed. 1965, 3rd ed. 1978.)
It had several names:
Bliss' concern about semantics finds an early referent in John Locke, whose Essay Concerning Human Understanding prevented people from those "vague and insignificant forms of speech" that may give the impression of being deep learning.
Another vital referent is Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz's project of an ideographic language "characteristica universalis", based on the principles of Chinese characters. It would contain small figures representing "visible things by their lines, and the invisible, by the visible which accompany them", adding "certain additional marks, suitable to make understood the flexions and the particles." which was considered a standard work on semantics. Bliss found especially useful their "triangle of reference": the physical thing or "referent" that we perceive would be represented at the right vertex; the meaning that we know by experience (our implicit definition of the thing), at the top vertex; and the physical word that we speak or symbol we write, at the left vertex. The reversed process would happen when we read or listen to words: from the words, we recall meanings, related to referents which may be real things or unreal "fictions". Bliss was particularly concerned with political propaganda, whose discourses would tend to contain words that correspond to unreal or ambiguous referents. Grammar
The grammar of Blissymbols is based on a certain interpretation of nature, dividing it into matter (material things), energy (actions), and human values (mental evaluations). In a natural language, these would give place respectively to nouns, verbs, and adjectives. In Blissymbols, they are marked respectively by a small square symbol, a small cone symbol, and a small V or inverted cone. These symbols may be placed above any other symbol, turning it respectively into a "thing", an "action", and an "evaluation":
Blissymbolics was used in 1971 to help children at the Ontario Crippled Children's Centre (OCCC, now the Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital) in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Since it was important that the children see consistent pictures, OCCC had a draftsman named Jim Grice draw the symbols. Both Charles K. Bliss and Margrit Beesley at the OCCC worked with Grice to ensure consistency. In 1975, a new organization named Blissymbolics Communication Foundation directed by Shirley McNaughton led this effort. Over the years, this organization changed its name to Blissymbolics Communication Institute, Easter Seal Communication Institute, and ultimately to Blissymbolics Communication International (BCI).
BCI is an international group of people who act as an authority regarding the standardization of the Blissymbolics language. It has taken responsibility for any extensions of the Blissymbolics language as well as any maintenance needed for the language. BCI has coordinated usage of the language since 1971 for augmentative and alternative communication. BCI received a licence and copyright through legal agreements with Charles K. Bliss in 1975 and 1982. Limiting the count of Bliss-characters (there are currently about 900) is very useful in order to help the user community. It also helps when implementing Blissymbolics using technology such as computers.
In 1991, BCI published a reference guide containing 2300 vocabulary items and detailed rules for the graphic design of additional characters, so they settled a first set of approved Bliss-words for general use.
The Standards Council of Canada then sponsored, on January 21, 1993, the registration of an encoded character set for use in ISO/IEC 2022, in the ISO-IR international registry of coded character sets.
After many years of requests, the Blissymbolic language was finally approved as an encoded language, with code , into the ISO 639-2 and ISO 639-3 standards.
A proposal was posted by Michael Everson for the Blissymbolics script to be included in the Universal Character Set (UCS) and encoded for use with the ISO/IEC 10646 and Unicode standards. BCI would cooperate with the Unicode Technical Committee (UTC) and the ISO Working Group.
The proposed encoding does not use the lexical encoding model used in the existing ISO-IR/169 registered character set, but instead applies the Unicode and ISO character-glyph model to the Bliss-character model already adopted by BCI, since this would significantly reduce the number of needed characters. Bliss-characters can now be used in a creative way to create many new arbitrary concepts, by surrounding the invented words with special Bliss indicators (similar to punctuation), something which was not possible in the ISO-IR/169 encoding.
However, by the end of 2009, the Blissymbolic script was not encoded in the UCS. Some questions are still unanswered, such as the inclusion in the BCI repertoire of some characters (currently about 24) that are already encoded in the UCS (like digits, punctuation signs, spaces and some markers), but whose unification may cause problems due to the very strict graphical layouts required by the published Bliss reference guides. In addition, the character metrics use a specific layout where the usual baseline is not used, and the ideographic em-square is not relevant for Bliss character designs that use additional "earth line" and "sky line" to define the composition square.
Some fonts supporting the BCI repertoire are available and usable with texts encoded with private-use assignments (PUA) within the UCS. But only the private BCI encoding based on ISO-IR/169 registration is available for text interchange.
See also
* Egyptian hieroglyphs
* Esperanto
* iConji
* Isotype
* Kanji
* sitelen pona
* LoCoS (language)
References
External links
*
** [http://www.blissymbols.co.uk/ Blissymbol Communication UK]
* [https://www.crockford.com/lesson1.pdf An Introduction to Blissymbols] (PDF file)
* [https://www.itscj.ipsj.or.jp/iso-ir/169.pdf Standard two-byte encoded character set for Blissymbols] , from the ISO-IR international registry of character sets, registration number 169 (1993-01-21).
* Michael Everson's [http://std.dkuug.dk/JTC1/SC2/WG2/docs/n1866.pdf First proposed encoding into Unicode and ISO/IEC 10646 of Blissymbolics characters], based on the decomposition of the ISO-IR/169 repertoire.
* [https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2023/23138-n5228-blissymbols.pdf Preliminary proposal for encoding Blissymbols (WG2 N5228)]
* [https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/radiolab/segments/257194-man-became-bliss Radiolab program about Charles Bliss] – Broadcast December 2012 – the item about Charles Bliss starts after 5 minutes and is approx 30 mins long.
Category:Engineered languages
Category:Auxiliary and educational artificial scripts
Category:International auxiliary languages
Category:Pictograms
Category:Augmentative and alternative communication
Category:Writing systems introduced in 1949
Category:Constructed languages
Category:Constructed languages introduced in the 1940s
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Bessel function
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.]]
Bessel functions, named after Friedrich Bessel who was the first to systematically study them in 1824, are canonical solutions of Bessel's differential equation
<math display"block">x^2 \frac{d^2 y}{dx^2} + x \frac{dy}{dx} + \left(x^2 - \alpha^2 \right)y 0</math>
for an arbitrary complex number <math>\alpha</math>, which represents the order of the Bessel function. Although <math>\alpha</math> and <math>-\alpha</math> produce the same differential equation, it is conventional to define different Bessel functions for these two values in such a way that the Bessel functions are mostly smooth functions of <math>\alpha</math>.
The most important cases are when <math>\alpha</math> is an integer or half-integer. Bessel functions for integer <math>\alpha</math> are also known as cylinder functions or the cylindrical harmonics because they appear in the solution to Laplace's equation in cylindrical coordinates. Spherical Bessel functions with half-integer <math>\alpha</math> are obtained when solving the Helmholtz equation in spherical coordinates.
Applications
Bessel's equation arises when finding separable solutions to Laplace's equation and the Helmholtz equation in cylindrical or spherical coordinates. Bessel functions are therefore especially important for many problems of wave propagation and static potentials. In solving problems in cylindrical coordinate systems, one obtains Bessel functions of integer order (); in spherical problems, one obtains half-integer orders (}}). For example:
* Electromagnetic waves in a cylindrical waveguide
* Pressure amplitudes of inviscid rotational flows
* Heat conduction in a cylindrical object
* Modes of vibration of a thin circular or annular acoustic membrane (such as a drumhead or other membranophone) or thicker plates such as sheet metal (see Kirchhoff–Love plate theory, Mindlin–Reissner plate theory)
* Diffusion problems on a lattice
* Solutions to the radial Schrödinger equation (in spherical and cylindrical coordinates) for a free particle
* Position space representation of the Feynman propagator in quantum field theory
* Solving for patterns of acoustical radiation
* Frequency-dependent friction in circular pipelines
* Dynamics of floating bodies
* Angular resolution
* Diffraction from helical objects, including DNA
* Probability density function of product of two normally distributed random variables
* Analyzing of the surface waves generated by microtremors, in geophysics and seismology.
Bessel functions also appear in other problems, such as signal processing (e.g., see FM audio synthesis, Kaiser window, or Bessel filter).
Definitions
Because this is a linear differential equation, solutions can be scaled to any amplitude. The amplitudes chosen for the functions originate from the early work in which the functions appeared as solutions to definite integrals rather than solutions to differential equations. Because the differential equation is second-order, there must be two linearly independent solutions. Depending upon the circumstances, however, various formulations of these solutions are convenient. Different variations are summarized in the table below and described in the following sections.
{| class="wikitable"
! Type !! First kind !! Second kind
|-
| Bessel functions
|
|
|-
| Modified Bessel functions
|
|
|-
| Hankel functions
| J<sub>α</sub> + iY<sub>α</sub>}}
| J<sub>α</sub> − iY<sub>α</sub>}}
|-
| Spherical Bessel functions
|
|
|-
| Modified spherical Bessel functions
|
|
|-
| Spherical Hankel functions
| j<sub>n</sub> + iy<sub>n</sub>}}
| j<sub>n</sub> − iy<sub>n</sub>}}
|}
Bessel functions of the second kind and the spherical Bessel functions of the second kind are sometimes denoted by and , respectively, rather than and .
<math display"block"> J_\alpha(x) \sum_{m=0}^\infty \frac{(-1)^m}{m!\, \Gamma(m+\alpha+1)} {\left(\frac{x}{2}\right)}^{2m + \alpha},</math>
where is the gamma function, a shifted generalization of the factorial function to non-integer values. Some earlier authors define the Bessel function of the first kind differently, essentially without the division by <math>2</math> in <math>x/2</math>; this definition is not used in this article. The Bessel function of the first kind is an entire function if is an integer, otherwise it is a multivalued function with singularity at zero. The graphs of Bessel functions look roughly like oscillating sine or cosine functions that decay proportionally to <math>x^{-{1}/{2}}</math> (see also their asymptotic forms below), although their roots are not generally periodic, except asymptotically for large . (The series indicates that is the derivative of , much like is the derivative of ; more generally, the derivative of can be expressed in terms of by the identities below.)
For non-integer , the functions and are linearly independent, and are therefore the two solutions of the differential equation. On the other hand, for integer order , the following relationship is valid (the gamma function has simple poles at each of the non-positive integers):
<math display"block">J_{-n}(x) (-1)^n J_n(x).</math>
This means that the two solutions are no longer linearly independent. In this case, the second linearly independent solution is then found to be the Bessel function of the second kind, as discussed below.
Bessel's integrals
Another definition of the Bessel function, for integer values of , is possible using an integral representation:
<math display"block">J_n(x) \frac{1}{\pi} \int_0^\pi \cos (n \tau - x \sin \tau) \,d\tau = \frac{1}{\pi} \operatorname{Re}\left(\int_{0}^\pi e^{i(n \tau-x \sin \tau )} \,d\tau\right),</math>
which is also called Hansen-Bessel formula.
This was the approach that Bessel used, and from this definition he derived several properties of the function. The definition may be extended to non-integer orders by one of Schläfli's integrals, for :
<math display"block">J_\alpha(x) \frac{1}{\pi} \int_0^\pi \cos(\alpha\tau - x \sin\tau)\,d\tau - \frac{\sin(\alpha\pi)}{\pi} \int_0^\infty e^{-x \sinh t - \alpha t} \, dt. </math>
Relation to hypergeometric series
The Bessel functions can be expressed in terms of the generalized hypergeometric series as
<math display"block">J_\alpha(x) \frac{\left(\frac{x}{2}\right)^\alpha}{\Gamma(\alpha+1)} \;_0F_1 \left(\alpha+1; -\frac{x^2}{4}\right).</math>
This expression is related to the development of Bessel functions in terms of the Bessel–Clifford function.
Relation to Laguerre polynomials
In terms of the Laguerre polynomials and arbitrarily chosen parameter , the Bessel function can be expressed as
<math display"block">\frac{J_\alpha(x)}{\left( \frac{x}{2}\right)^\alpha} \frac{e^{-t}}{\Gamma(\alpha+1)} \sum_{k0}^\infty \frac{L_k^{(\alpha)}\left( \frac{x^2}{4 t}\right)}{\binom{k+\alpha}{k}} \frac{t^k}{k!}.</math>Bessel functions of the second kind: The Bessel functions of the second kind, denoted by , occasionally denoted instead by , are solutions of the Bessel differential equation that have a singularity at the origin () and are multivalued. These are sometimes called Weber functions, as they were introduced by , and also Neumann functions after Carl Neumann.
For non-integer , is related to by
<math display"block">Y_\alpha(x) \frac{J_\alpha(x) \cos (\alpha \pi) - J_{-\alpha}(x)}{\sin (\alpha \pi)}.</math>
In the case of integer order , the function is defined by taking the limit as a non-integer tends to :
<math display"block">Y_n(x) \lim_{\alpha \to n} Y_\alpha(x).</math>
If is a nonnegative integer, we have the series
<math display"block">Y_n(z)-\frac{\left(\frac{z}{2}\right)^{-n}}{\pi}\sum_{k0}^{n-1} \frac{(n-k-1)!}{k!}\left(\frac{z^2}{4}\right)^k +\frac{2}{\pi} J_n(z) \ln \frac{z}{2} -\frac{\left(\frac{z}{2}\right)^n}{\pi}\sum_{k0}^\infty (\psi(k+1)+\psi(n+k+1)) \frac{\left(-\frac{z^2}{4}\right)^k}{k!(n+k)!}</math>
where <math>\psi(z)</math> is the digamma function, the logarithmic derivative of the gamma function.
There is also a corresponding integral formula (for ):
<math display"block">Y_n(x) \frac{1}{\pi} \int_0^\pi \sin(x \sin\theta - n\theta) \, d\theta -\frac{1}{\pi} \int_0^\infty \left(e^{nt} + (-1)^n e^{-nt} \right) e^{-x \sinh t} \, dt.</math>
In the case where 0}}: (with <math>\gamma</math> being Euler's constant)<math display"block">Y_{0}\left(x\right)=\frac{4}{\pi^{2}}\int_{0}^{\frac{1}{2}\pi}\cos\left(x\cos\theta\right)\left(\gamma+\ln\left(2x\sin^2\theta\right)\right)\, d\theta.</math>
is necessary as the second linearly independent solution of the Bessel's equation when is an integer. But has more meaning than that. It can be considered as a "natural" partner of . See also the subsection on Hankel functions below.
When is an integer, moreover, as was similarly the case for the functions of the first kind, the following relationship is valid:
<math display"block">Y_{-n}(x) (-1)^n Y_n(x).</math>
Both and are holomorphic functions of on the complex plane cut along the negative real axis. When is an integer, the Bessel functions are entire functions of . If is held fixed at a non-zero value, then the Bessel functions are entire functions of .
The Bessel functions of the second kind when is an integer is an example of the second kind of solution in Fuchs's theorem.
Hankel functions: }}, }}
Another important formulation of the two linearly independent solutions to Bessel's equation are the Hankel functions of the first and second kind, (x)}} and (x)}}, defined as
<math display="block">\begin{align}
H_\alpha^{(1)}(x) &= J_\alpha(x) + iY_\alpha(x), \\[5pt]
H_\alpha^{(2)}(x) &= J_\alpha(x) - iY_\alpha(x),
\end{align}</math>
where is the imaginary unit. These linear combinations are also known as Bessel functions of the third kind; they are two linearly independent solutions of Bessel's differential equation. They are named after Hermann Hankel.
These forms of linear combination satisfy numerous simple-looking properties, like asymptotic formulae or integral representations. Here, "simple" means an appearance of a factor of the form . For real <math>x>0</math> where <math>J_\alpha(x)</math>, <math>Y_\alpha(x)</math> are real-valued, the Bessel functions of the first and second kind are the real and imaginary parts, respectively, of the first Hankel function and the real and negative imaginary parts of the second Hankel function. Thus, the above formulae are analogs of Euler's formula, substituting (x)}}, (x)}} for <math>e^{\pm i x}</math> and <math>J_\alpha(x)</math>, <math>Y_\alpha(x)</math> for <math>\cos(x)</math>, <math>\sin(x)</math>, as explicitly shown in the asymptotic expansion.
The Hankel functions are used to express outward- and inward-propagating cylindrical-wave solutions of the cylindrical wave equation, respectively (or vice versa, depending on the sign convention for the frequency).
Using the previous relationships, they can be expressed as
<math display="block">\begin{align}
H_\alpha^{(1)}(x) &= \frac{J_{-\alpha}(x) - e^{-\alpha \pi i} J_\alpha(x)}{i \sin \alpha\pi}, \\[5pt]
H_\alpha^{(2)}(x) &= \frac{J_{-\alpha}(x) - e^{\alpha \pi i} J_\alpha(x)}{- i \sin \alpha\pi}.
\end{align}</math>
If is an integer, the limit has to be calculated. The following relationships are valid, whether is an integer or not:
<math display="block">\begin{align}
H_{-\alpha}^{(1)}(x) &= e^{\alpha \pi i} H_\alpha^{(1)} (x), \\[6mu]
H_{-\alpha}^{(2)}(x) &= e^{-\alpha \pi i} H_\alpha^{(2)} (x).
\end{align}</math>
In particular, if }} with a nonnegative integer, the above relations imply directly that
<math display="block">\begin{align}
J_{-(m+\frac{1}{2})}(x) &= (-1)^{m+1} Y_{m+\frac{1}{2}}(x), \\[5pt]
Y_{-(m+\frac{1}{2})}(x) &= (-1)^m J_{m+\frac{1}{2}}(x).
\end{align}</math>
These are useful in developing the spherical Bessel functions (see below).
The Hankel functions admit the following integral representations for :
<math display="block">\begin{align}
H_\alpha^{(1)}(x) &= \frac{1}{\pi i}\int_{-\infty}^{+\infty + \pi i} e^{x\sinh t - \alpha t} \, dt, \\[5pt]
H_\alpha^{(2)}(x) &= -\frac{1}{\pi i}\int_{-\infty}^{+\infty - \pi i} e^{x\sinh t - \alpha t} \, dt,
\end{align}</math>
where the integration limits indicate integration along a contour that can be chosen as follows: from to 0 along the negative real axis, from 0 to i}} along the imaginary axis, and from i}} to i}} along a contour parallel to the real axis.
<math display="block">\begin{align}
I_\alpha(x) &i^{-\alpha} J_\alpha(ix) \sum_{m=0}^\infty \frac{1}{m!\, \Gamma(m+\alpha+1)}\left(\frac{x}{2}\right)^{2m+\alpha}, \\[5pt]
K_\alpha(x) &= \frac{\pi}{2} \frac{I_{-\alpha}(x) - I_\alpha(x)}{\sin \alpha \pi},
\end{align}</math>
when is not an integer; when is an integer, then the limit is used. These are chosen to be real-valued for real and positive arguments . The series expansion for is thus similar to that for , but without the alternating factor.
<math>K_{\alpha}</math> can be expressed in terms of Hankel functions:
<math display"block">K_{\alpha}(x) \begin{cases}
\frac{\pi}{2} i^{\alpha+1} H_\alpha^{(1)}(ix) & -\pi < \arg x \leq \frac{\pi}{2} \\
\frac{\pi}{2} (-i)^{\alpha+1} H_\alpha^{(2)}(-ix) & -\frac{\pi}{2} < \arg x \leq \pi
\end{cases}</math>
Using these two formulae the result to <math>J_{\alpha}^2(z)</math>+<math>Y_{\alpha}^2(z)</math>, commonly known as Nicholson's integral or Nicholson's formula, can be obtained to give the following
<math display="block">
J_{\alpha}^2(x)+Y_{\alpha}^2(x)=\frac{8}{\pi^2}\int_{0}^{\infty}\cosh(2\alpha t)K_0(2x\sinh t)\, dt,
</math>
given that the condition is met. It can also be shown that
<math display="block">
J_\alpha^2(x)+Y_{\alpha}^2(x)=\frac{8\cos(\alpha\pi)}{\pi^2} \int_0^\infty K_{2\alpha}(2x\sinh t)\, dt,
</math>
only when || < }} and but not when .
We can express the first and second Bessel functions in terms of the modified Bessel functions (these are valid if }}):
<math display="block">\begin{align}
J_\alpha(iz) &= e^{\frac{\alpha\pi i}{2}} I_\alpha(z), \\[1ex]
Y_\alpha(iz) &= e^{\frac{(\alpha+1)\pi i}{2}}I_\alpha(z) - \tfrac{2}{\pi} e^{-\frac{\alpha\pi i}{2}}K_\alpha(z).
\end{align}</math>
and are the two linearly independent solutions to the '''modified Bessel's equation':
<math display"block">x^2 \frac{d^2 y}{dx^2} + x \frac{dy}{dx} - \left(x^2 + \alpha^2 \right)y 0.</math>
Unlike the ordinary Bessel functions, which are oscillating as functions of a real argument, and are exponentially growing and decaying functions respectively. Like the ordinary Bessel function , the function goes to zero at for and is finite at for . Analogously, diverges at with the singularity being of logarithmic type for , and Γ()(2/x)<sup></sup>}} otherwise.
{|
|
|
|}
<!-- <br />Plot of six modified Bessel functions. In solid line , , and . In dashed line: , , and . -->
Two integral formulas for the modified Bessel functions are (for ):
<math display="block">\begin{align}
I_\alpha(x) &= \frac{1}{\pi}\int_0^\pi e^{x\cos \theta} \cos \alpha\theta \,d\theta - \frac{\sin \alpha\pi}{\pi}\int_0^\infty e^{-x\cosh t - \alpha t} \,dt, \\[5pt]
K_\alpha(x) &= \int_0^\infty e^{-x\cosh t} \cosh \alpha t \,dt.
\end{align}</math>
Bessel functions can be described as Fourier transforms of powers of quadratic functions. For example (for ):
<math display"block">2\,K_0(\omega) \int_{-\infty}^\infty \frac{e^{i\omega t}}{\sqrt{t^2+1}} \,dt.</math>
It can be proven by showing equality to the above integral definition for . This is done by integrating a closed curve in the first quadrant of the complex plane.
Modified Bessel functions of the second kind may be represented with Bassett's integral
<math display"block"> K_n(xz) \frac{\Gamma\left(n+\frac{1}{2}\right)(2z)^{n}}{\sqrt{\pi} x^{n}} \int_0^\infty \frac{\cos (xt)\,dt}{(t^2+z^2)^{n+\frac{1}{2}}}.</math>
Modified Bessel functions and can be represented in terms of rapidly convergent integrals
<math display="block"> \begin{align}
K_{\frac{1}{3}}(\xi) &= \sqrt{3} \int_0^\infty \exp \left(- \xi \left(1+\frac{4x^2}{3}\right) \sqrt{1+\frac{x^2}{3}} \right) \,dx, \\[5pt]
K_{\frac{2}{3}}(\xi) &= \frac{1}{\sqrt{3}} \int_0^\infty \frac{3+2x^2}{\sqrt{1+\frac{x^2}{3}}} \exp \left(- \xi \left(1+\frac{4x^2}{3}\right) \sqrt{1+\frac{x^2}{3}}\right) \,dx.
\end{align}</math>
The modified Bessel function <math>K_{\frac{1}{2}}(\xi)=(2 \xi / \pi)^{-1/2}\exp(-\xi)</math> is useful to represent the Laplace distribution as an Exponential-scale mixture of normal distributions.
The modified Bessel function of the second kind has also been called by the following names (now rare):
* Basset function after Alfred Barnard Basset
* Modified Bessel function of the third kind
* Modified Hankel function
* Macdonald function after Hector Munro Macdonald
Spherical Bessel functions: ,
When solving the Helmholtz equation in spherical coordinates by separation of variables, the radial equation has the form
<math display"block">x^2 \frac{d^2 y}{dx^2} + 2x \frac{d y}{dx} +\left(x^2 - n(n + 1)\right) y 0.</math>
The two linearly independent solutions to this equation are called the spherical Bessel functions and , and are related to the ordinary Bessel functions and by
<math display="block">\begin{align}
j_n(x) &= \sqrt{\frac{\pi}{2x}} J_{n+\frac{1}{2}}(x), \\
y_n(x) &\sqrt{\frac{\pi}{2x}} Y_{n+\frac{1}{2}}(x) (-1)^{n+1} \sqrt{\frac{\pi}{2x}} J_{-n-\frac{1}{2}}(x).
\end{align}</math>
is also denoted or ; some authors call these functions the spherical Neumann functions.
From the relations to the ordinary Bessel functions it is directly seen that:
<math display="block">\begin{align}
j_n(x) &= (-1)^{n} y_{-n-1} (x)
\\
y_n(x) &= (-1)^{n+1} j_{-n-1}(x)
\end{align}</math>
The spherical Bessel functions can also be written as ('''')
<math display="block">\begin{align}
j_n(x) &= (-x)^n \left(\frac{1}{x}\frac{d}{dx}\right)^n \frac{\sin x}{x}, \\
y_n(x) &= -(-x)^n \left(\frac{1}{x}\frac{d}{dx}\right)^n \frac{\cos x}{x}.
\end{align}</math>
The zeroth spherical Bessel function is also known as the (unnormalized) sinc function. The first few spherical Bessel functions are:
<math display="block">\begin{align}
j_0(x) &= \frac{\sin x}{x}. \\
j_1(x) &= \frac{\sin x}{x^2} - \frac{\cos x}{x}, \\
j_2(x) &= \left(\frac{3}{x^2} - 1\right) \frac{\sin x}{x} - \frac{3\cos x}{x^2}, \\
j_3(x) &= \left(\frac{15}{x^3} - \frac{6}{x}\right) \frac{\sin x}{x} - \left(\frac{15}{x^2} - 1\right) \frac{\cos x}{x}
\end{align}</math>
and
<math display="block">\begin{align}
y_0(x) &-j_{-1}(x) -\frac{\cos x}{x}, \\
y_1(x) &j_{-2}(x) -\frac{\cos x}{x^2} - \frac{\sin x}{x}, \\
y_2(x) &-j_{-3}(x) \left(-\frac{3}{x^2} + 1\right) \frac{\cos x}{x} - \frac{3\sin x}{x^2}, \\
y_3(x) &j_{-4}(x) \left(-\frac{15}{x^3} + \frac{6}{x}\right) \frac{\cos x}{x} - \left(\frac{15}{x^2} - 1\right) \frac{\sin x}{x}.
\end{align}</math>
The first few non-zero roots of the first few spherical Bessel functions are:
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|+ Non-zero Roots of the Spherical Bessel Function (first kind)
! Order !! Root 1 !! Root 2 !! Root 3 !! Root 4 !! Root 5
|-
| <math>j_{0}</math> || 3.141593 || 6.283185 || 9.424778 || 12.566371 || 15.707963
|-
| <math>j_{1}</math> || 4.493409 || 7.725252 || 10.904122 || 14.066194 || 17.220755
|-
| <math>j_{2}</math> || 5.763459 || 9.095011 || 12.322941 || 15.514603 || 18.689036
|-
| <math>j_{3}</math> || 6.987932 || 10.417119 || 13.698023 || 16.923621 || 20.121806
|-
| <math>j_{4}</math> || 8.182561 || 11.704907 || 15.039665 || 18.301256 || 21.525418
|}
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|+ Non-zero Roots of the Spherical Bessel Function (second kind)
! Order !! Root 1 !! Root 2 !! Root 3 !! Root 4 !! Root 5
|-
| <math>y_{0}</math> || 1.570796 || 4.712389 || 7.853982 || 10.995574 || 14.137167
|-
| <math>y_{1}</math> || 2.798386 || 6.121250 || 9.317866 || 12.486454 || 15.644128
|-
| <math>y_{2}</math> || 3.959528 || 7.451610 || 10.715647 || 13.921686 || 17.103359
|-
| <math>y_{3}</math> || 5.088498 || 8.733710 || 12.067544 || 15.315390 || 18.525210
|-
| <math>y_{4}</math> || 6.197831 || 9.982466 || 13.385287 || 16.676625 || 19.916796
|}
Generating function
The spherical Bessel functions have the generating functions
<math display="block">\begin{align}
\frac{1}{z} \cos \left(\sqrt{z^2 - 2zt}\right) &\sum_{n0}^\infty \frac{t^n}{n!} j_{n-1}(z), \\
\frac{1}{z} \sin \left(\sqrt{z^2 - 2zt}\right) &\sum_{n0}^\infty \frac{t^n}{n!} y_{n-1}(z).
\end{align}</math>
Finite series expansions
In contrast to the whole integer Bessel functions , the spherical Bessel functions have a finite series expression:
<math display="block">\begin{alignat}{2}
j_n(x) &\sqrt{\frac{\pi}{2x}}J_{n+\frac{1}{2}}(x) \\
&\frac{1}{2x} \left[ e^{ix} \sum_{r0}^n \frac{i^{r-n-1}(n+r)!}{r!(n-r)!(2x)^r} + e^{-ix} \sum_{r=0}^n \frac{(-i)^{r-n-1}(n+r)!}{r!(n-r)!(2x)^r} \right] \\
&\frac{1}{x} \left[ \sin\left(x-\frac{n\pi}{2}\right) \sum_{r0}^{\left[ \frac{n}{2} \right]} \frac{(-1)^r (n+2r)!}{(2r)!(n-2r)!(2x)^{2r}} + \cos\left(x-\frac{n\pi}{2}\right) \sum_{r=0}^{\left[ \frac{n-1}{2} \right]} \frac{(-1)^r (n+2r+1)!}{(2r+1)!(n-2r-1)!(2x)^{2r+1}} \right] \\
y_n(x) &(-1)^{n+1} j_{-n-1}(x) (-1)^{n+1} \frac{\pi}{2x}J_{-\left(n+\frac{1}{2}\right)}(x) = \\
&\frac{(-1)^{n+1}}{2x} \left[ e^{ix} \sum_{r0}^n \frac{i^{r+n}(n+r)!}{r!(n-r)!(2x)^r} + e^{-ix} \sum_{r0}^n \frac{(-i)^{r+n}(n+r)!}{r!(n-r)!(2x)^r} \right] \\
&\frac{(-1)^{n+1}}{x} \left[ \cos\left(x+\frac{n\pi}{2}\right) \sum_{r0}^{\left[ \frac{n}{2} \right]} \frac{(-1)^r (n+2r)!}{(2r)!(n-2r)!(2x)^{2r}} - \sin\left(x+\frac{n\pi}{2}\right) \sum_{r=0}^{\left[ \frac{n-1}{2} \right]} \frac{(-1)^r (n+2r+1)!}{(2r+1)!(n-2r-1)!(2x)^{2r+1}} \right]
\end{alignat}</math>
Differential relations
In the following, is any of , , }}, }} for
<math display="block">\begin{align}
\left(\frac{1}{z}\frac{d}{dz}\right)^m \left (z^{n+1} f_n(z)\right ) &= z^{n-m+1} f_{n-m}(z), \\
\left(\frac{1}{z}\frac{d}{dz}\right)^m \left (z^{-n} f_n(z)\right ) &= (-1)^m z^{-n-m} f_{n+m}(z).
\end{align}</math>
Spherical Hankel functions: }}, }}
There are also spherical analogues of the Hankel functions:
<math display="block">\begin{align}
h_n^{(1)}(x) &= j_n(x) + i y_n(x), \\
h_n^{(2)}(x) &= j_n(x) - i y_n(x).
\end{align}</math>
In fact, there are simple closed-form expressions for the Bessel functions of half-integer order in terms of the standard trigonometric functions, and therefore for the spherical Bessel functions. In particular, for non-negative integers :
<math display"block">h_n^{(1)}(x) (-i)^{n+1} \frac{e^{ix}}{x} \sum_{m=0}^n \frac{i^m}{m!\,(2x)^m} \frac{(n+m)!}{(n-m)!},</math>
and }} is the complex-conjugate of this (for real ). It follows, for example, that }} and }}, and so on.
The spherical Hankel functions appear in problems involving spherical wave propagation, for example in the multipole expansion of the electromagnetic field.
Riccati–Bessel functions: , , ,
Riccati–Bessel functions only slightly differ from spherical Bessel functions:
<math display="block">\begin{align}
S_n(x) &x j_n(x) \sqrt{\frac{\pi x}{2}} J_{n+\frac{1}{2}}(x) \\
C_n(x) &-x y_n(x) -\sqrt{\frac{\pi x}{2}} Y_{n+\frac{1}{2}}(x) \\
\xi_n(x) &x h_n^{(1)}(x) \sqrt{\frac{\pi x}{2}} H_{n+\frac{1}{2}}^{(1)}(x) = S_n(x) - iC_n(x) \\
\zeta_n(x) &x h_n^{(2)}(x) \sqrt{\frac{\pi x}{2}} H_{n+\frac{1}{2}}^{(2)}(x) = S_n(x) + iC_n(x)
\end{align}</math>
They satisfy the differential equation
<math display"block">x^2 \frac{d^2 y}{dx^2} + \left (x^2 - n(n + 1)\right) y 0.</math>
For example, this kind of differential equation appears in quantum mechanics while solving the radial component of the Schrödinger's equation with hypothetical cylindrical infinite potential barrier. This differential equation, and the Riccati–Bessel solutions, also arises in the problem of scattering of electromagnetic waves by a sphere, known as Mie scattering after the first published solution by Mie (1908). See e.g., Du (2004) for recent developments and references.
Following Debye (1909), the notation , is sometimes used instead of , .
Asymptotic forms
The Bessel functions have the following asymptotic forms. For small arguments <math>0<z\ll\sqrt{\alpha+1}</math>, one obtains, when <math>\alpha</math> is not a negative integer:
<math display="block">\begin{align}
J_\alpha(z) &= \sqrt{\frac{2}{\pi z}}\left(\cos \left(z-\frac{\alpha\pi}{2} - \frac{\pi}{4}\right) + e^{\left|\operatorname{Im}(z)\right|}\mathcal{O}\left(|z|^{-1}\right)\right) && \text{for } \left|\arg z\right| < \pi, \\
Y_\alpha(z) &= \sqrt{\frac{2}{\pi z}}\left(\sin \left(z-\frac{\alpha\pi}{2} - \frac{\pi}{4}\right) + e^{\left|\operatorname{Im}(z)\right|}\mathcal{O}\left(|z|^{-1}\right)\right) && \text{for } \left|\arg z\right| < \pi.
\end{align}</math>
(For }} the last terms in these formulas drop out completely; see the spherical Bessel functions above.)
The asymptotic forms for the Hankel functions are:
<math display="block">\begin{align}
H_\alpha^{(1)}(z) &\sim \sqrt{\frac{2}{\pi z}}e^{i\left(z-\frac{\alpha\pi}{2}-\frac{\pi}{4}\right)} && \text{for } -\pi < \arg z < 2\pi, \\
H_\alpha^{(2)}(z) &\sim \sqrt{\frac{2}{\pi z}}e^{-i\left(z-\frac{\alpha\pi}{2}-\frac{\pi}{4}\right)} && \text{for } -2\pi < \arg z < \pi.
\end{align}</math>
These can be extended to other values of using equations relating (ze<sup>imπ</sup>)}} and (ze<sup>imπ</sup>)}} to (z)}} and (z)}}.
It is interesting that although the Bessel function of the first kind is the average of the two Hankel functions, is not asymptotic to the average of these two asymptotic forms when is negative (because one or the other will not be correct there, depending on the used). But the asymptotic forms for the Hankel functions permit us to write asymptotic forms for the Bessel functions of first and second kinds for complex (non-real) so long as }} goes to infinity at a constant phase angle (using the square root having positive real part):
<math display="block">\begin{align}
J_\alpha(z) &\sim \frac{1}{\sqrt{2\pi z}} e^{i\left(z-\frac{\alpha\pi}{2}-\frac{\pi}{4}\right)} && \text{for } -\pi < \arg z < 0, \\[1ex]
J_\alpha(z) &\sim \frac{1}{\sqrt{2\pi z}} e^{-i\left(z-\frac{\alpha\pi}{2}-\frac{\pi}{4}\right)} && \text{for } 0 < \arg z < \pi, \\[1ex]
Y_\alpha(z) &\sim -i\frac{1}{\sqrt{2\pi z}} e^{i\left(z-\frac{\alpha\pi}{2}-\frac{\pi}{4}\right)} && \text{for } -\pi < \arg z < 0, \\[1ex]
Y_\alpha(z) &\sim i\frac{1}{\sqrt{2\pi z}} e^{-i\left(z-\frac{\alpha\pi}{2}-\frac{\pi}{4}\right)} && \text{for } 0 < \arg z < \pi.
\end{align}</math>
For the modified Bessel functions, Hankel developed asymptotic expansions as well:
<math display="block">\begin{align}
I_\alpha(z) &\sim \frac{e^z}{\sqrt{2\pi z}} \left(1 - \frac{4 \alpha^2 - 1}{8z} + \frac{\left(4 \alpha^2 - 1\right) \left(4 \alpha^2 - 9\right)}{2! (8z)^2} - \frac{\left(4 \alpha^2 - 1\right) \left(4 \alpha^2 - 9\right) \left(4 \alpha^2 - 25\right)}{3! (8z)^3} + \cdots \right) &&\text{for }\left|\arg z\right|<\frac{\pi}{2}, \\
K_\alpha(z) &\sim \sqrt{\frac{\pi}{2z}} e^{-z} \left(1 + \frac{4 \alpha^2 - 1}{8z} + \frac{\left(4 \alpha^2 - 1\right) \left(4 \alpha^2 - 9\right)}{2! (8z)^2} + \frac{\left(4 \alpha^2 - 1\right) \left(4 \alpha^2 - 9\right) \left(4 \alpha^2 - 25\right)}{3! (8z)^3} + \cdots \right) &&\text{for }\left|\arg z\right|<\frac{3\pi}{2}.
\end{align}</math>
There is also the asymptotic form (for large real <math>z</math>)
<math display="block">\begin{align}
I_\alpha(z) = \frac{1}{\sqrt{2\pi z}\sqrt[4]{1+\frac{\alpha^2}{z^2}}}\exp\left(-\alpha \operatorname{arcsinh}\left(\frac{\alpha}{z}\right) + z\sqrt{1+\frac{\alpha^2}{z^2}}\right)\left(1 + \mathcal{O}\left(\frac{1}{z \sqrt{1+\frac{\alpha^2}{z^2}}}\right)\right).
\end{align}</math>
When }}, all the terms except the first vanish, and we have
<math display="block">\begin{align}
I_{{1}/{2}}(z) &= \sqrt{\frac{2}{\pi}} \frac{\sinh(z)}{\sqrt{z}} \sim \frac{e^z}{\sqrt{2\pi z}} && \text{for }\left|\arg z\right| < \tfrac{\pi}{2}, \\[1ex]
K_{{1}/{2}}(z) &= \sqrt{\frac{\pi}{2}} \frac{e^{-z}}{\sqrt{z}}.
\end{align}</math>
For small arguments <math>0<|z|\ll\sqrt{\alpha + 1}</math>, we have
<math display="block">\begin{align}
I_\alpha(z) &\sim \frac{1}{\Gamma(\alpha+1)} \left( \frac{z}{2} \right)^\alpha, \\[1ex]
K_\alpha(z) &\sim \begin{cases}
-\ln \left (\dfrac{z}{2} \right ) - \gamma & \text{if } \alpha=0 \\[1ex]
\frac{\Gamma(\alpha)}{2} \left( \dfrac{2}{z} \right)^\alpha & \text{if } \alpha > 0
\end{cases}
\end{align}</math>
Properties
<!-- This section is linked from Bessel function -->
For integer order , is often defined via a Laurent series for a generating function:
<math display"block">e^{\frac{x}{2}\left(t-\frac{1}{t}\right)} \sum_{n=-\infty}^\infty J_n(x) t^n</math>
an approach used by P. A. Hansen in 1843. (This can be generalized to non-integer order by contour integration or other methods.)
Infinite series of Bessel functions in the form <math display"inline"> \sum_{\nu-\infty}^\infty J_{N\nu + p}(x)</math> where <math display>\nu, p \in \mathbb{Z}, \ N \in \mathbb{Z}^+</math> arise in many physical systems and are defined in closed form by the Sung series. For example, when N 3: <math display"inline"> \sum_{\nu-\infty}^\infty J_{3\nu+p}(x) = \frac{1}{3}\left[1+2\cos{(x\sqrt{3}/2-2\pi p/3)}\right] </math>. More generally, the Sung series and the alternating Sung series are written as:
<math display "block"> \sum_{\nu-\infty}^\infty J_{N\nu+p}(x) \frac{1}{N}\sum_{q0}^{N-1} e^{ix\sin{2\pi q/N}}e^{-i2\pi pq/N}
</math>
<math display "block"> \sum_{\nu-\infty}^\infty (-1)^\nu J_{N\nu+p}(x) \frac{1}{N} \sum_{q0}^{N-1}e^{ix\sin{(2q+1)\pi/N}}e^{-i(2q+1)\pi p/N}
</math>
A series expansion using Bessel functions (Kapteyn series) is
: <math>
\frac {1}{1-z} 1 + 2 \sum _{n1}^{\infty } J_{n}(nz).
</math>
Another important relation for integer orders is the Jacobi–Anger expansion:
<math display"block">e^{iz \cos \phi} \sum_{n=-\infty}^\infty i^n J_n(z) e^{in\phi}</math>
and
<math display"block">e^{\pm iz \sin \phi} J_0(z)+2\sum_{n1}^\infty J_{2n}(z) \cos(2n\phi) \pm 2i \sum_{n0}^\infty J_{2n+1}(z)\sin((2n+1)\phi)</math>
which is used to expand a plane wave as a sum of cylindrical waves, or to find the Fourier series of a tone-modulated FM signal.
More generally, a series
<math display"block">f(z)a_0^\nu J_\nu (z)+ 2 \cdot \sum_{k=1}^\infty a_k^\nu J_{\nu+k}(z)</math>
is called Neumann expansion of . The coefficients for have the explicit form
<math display"block">a_k^0\frac{1}{2 \pi i} \int_{|z|=c} f(z) O_k(z) \,dz</math>
where is Neumann's polynomial.
Selected functions admit the special representation
<math display"block">f(z)\sum_{k=0}^\infty a_k^\nu J_{\nu+2k}(z)</math>
with
<math display"block">a_k^\nu2(\nu+2k) \int_0^\infty f(z) \frac{J_{\nu+2k}(z)}z \,dz</math>
due to the orthogonality relation
<math display"block">\int_0^\infty J_\alpha(z) J_\beta(z) \frac {dz} z \frac 2 \pi \frac{\sin\left(\frac \pi 2 (\alpha-\beta) \right)}{\alpha^2 -\beta^2}</math>
More generally, if has a branch-point near the origin of such a nature that
<math display"block">f(z) \sum_{k=0} a_k J_{\nu+k}(z)</math>
then
<math display"block">\mathcal{L}\left\{\sum_{k0} a_k J_{\nu+k}\right\}(s)\frac{1}{\sqrt{1+s^2}}\sum_{k0}\frac{a_k}{\left(s+\sqrt{1+s^2} \right) ^{\nu+k}}</math>
or
<math display"block">\sum_{k0} a_k \xi^{\nu+k}= \frac{1+\xi^2}{2\xi} \mathcal{L}\{f \} \left( \frac{1-\xi^2}{2\xi} \right)</math>
where <math>\mathcal{L}\{f \}</math> is the Laplace transform of .
Another way to define the Bessel functions is the Poisson representation formula and the Mehler-Sonine formula:
<math display="block">\begin{align}
J_\nu(z) &= \frac{\left(\frac{z}{2}\right)^\nu}{\Gamma\left(\nu +\frac{1}{2}\right)\sqrt{\pi}} \int_{-1}^1 e^{izs}\left(1-s^2\right)^{\nu-\frac{1}{2}} \,ds \\[5px]
&=\frac 2{{\left(\frac{z}{2}\right)}^\nu\cdot \sqrt{\pi} \cdot \Gamma\left(\frac{1}{2}-\nu\right)} \int_1^\infty \frac{\sin zu}{\left(u^2-1 \right )^{\nu+\frac 1 2}} \,du
\end{align}</math>
where }} and .
This formula is useful especially when working with Fourier transforms.
Because Bessel's equation becomes Hermitian (self-adjoint) if it is divided by , the solutions must satisfy an orthogonality relationship for appropriate boundary conditions. In particular, it follows that:
<math display"block">\int_0^1 x J_\alpha\left(x u_{\alpha,m}\right) J_\alpha\left(x u_{\alpha,n}\right) \,dx \frac{\delta_{m,n}}{2} \left[J_{\alpha+1} \left(u_{\alpha,m}\right)\right]^2 = \frac{\delta_{m,n}}{2} \left[J_{\alpha}'\left(u_{\alpha,m}\right)\right]^2</math>
where , is the Kronecker delta, and is the th zero of . This orthogonality relation can then be used to extract the coefficients in the Fourier–Bessel series, where a function is expanded in the basis of the functions for fixed and varying .
An analogous relationship for the spherical Bessel functions follows immediately:
<math display"block">\int_0^1 x^2 j_\alpha\left(x u_{\alpha,m}\right) j_\alpha\left(x u_{\alpha,n}\right) \,dx \frac{\delta_{m,n}}{2} \left[j_{\alpha+1}\left(u_{\alpha,m}\right)\right]^2</math>
If one defines a boxcar function of that depends on a small parameter as:
<math display"block">f_\varepsilon(x)\frac 1\varepsilon \operatorname{rect}\left(\frac{x-1}\varepsilon\right)</math>
(where is the rectangle function) then the Hankel transform of it (of any given order }}), , approaches as approaches zero, for any given . Conversely, the Hankel transform (of the same order) of is :
<math display"block">\int_0^\infty k J_\alpha(kx) g_\varepsilon(k) \,dk f_\varepsilon(x)</math>
which is zero everywhere except near 1. As approaches zero, the right-hand side approaches , where is the Dirac delta function. This admits the limit (in the distributional sense):
<math display"block">\int_0^\infty k J_\alpha(kx) J_\alpha(k) \,dk \delta(x-1)</math>
A change of variables then yields the closure equation:
<math display"block">\int_0^\infty x J_\alpha(ux) J_\alpha(vx) \,dx \frac{1}{u} \delta(u - v)</math>
for }}. The Hankel transform can express a fairly arbitrary function as an integral of Bessel functions of different scales. For the spherical Bessel functions the orthogonality relation is:
<math display"block">\int_0^\infty x^2 j_\alpha(ux) j_\alpha(vx) \,dx \frac{\pi}{2uv} \delta(u - v)</math>
for .
Another important property of Bessel's equations, which follows from Abel's identity, involves the Wronskian of the solutions:
<math display"block">A_\alpha(x) \frac{dB_\alpha}{dx} - \frac{dA_\alpha}{dx} B_\alpha(x) \frac{C_\alpha}{x}</math>
where and are any two solutions of Bessel's equation, and is a constant independent of (which depends on α and on the particular Bessel functions considered). In particular,
<math display"block">J_\alpha(x) \frac{dY_\alpha}{dx} - \frac{dJ_\alpha}{dx} Y_\alpha(x) \frac{2}{\pi x}</math>
and
<math display"block">I_\alpha(x) \frac{dK_\alpha}{dx} - \frac{dI_\alpha}{dx} K_\alpha(x) -\frac{1}{x},</math>
for .
For , the even entire function of genus 1, , has only real zeros. Let
<math display="block">0<j_{\alpha,1}<j_{\alpha,2}<\cdots<j_{\alpha,n}<\cdots</math>
be all its positive zeros, then
<math display"block">J_{\alpha}(z)\frac{\left(\frac{z}{2}\right)^\alpha}{\Gamma(\alpha+1)}\prod_{n=1}^{\infty}\left(1-\frac{z^2}{j_{\alpha,n}^2}\right)</math>
(There are a large number of other known integrals and identities that are not reproduced here, but which can be found in the references.)
Recurrence relations
The functions , , }}, and }} all satisfy the recurrence relations
<math display"block">\frac{2\alpha}{x} Z_\alpha(x) Z_{\alpha-1}(x) + Z_{\alpha+1}(x)</math>
and
<math display"block"> 2\frac{dZ_\alpha (x)}{dx} Z_{\alpha-1}(x) - Z_{\alpha+1}(x),</math>
where denotes , , , or . These two identities are often combined, e.g. added or subtracted, to yield various other relations. In this way, for example, one can compute Bessel functions of higher orders (or higher derivatives) given the values at lower orders (or lower derivatives). In particular, it follows that
<math display="block">\begin{align}
\left( \frac{1}{x} \frac{d}{dx} \right)^m \left[ x^\alpha Z_\alpha (x) \right] &= x^{\alpha - m} Z_{\alpha - m} (x), \\
\left( \frac{1}{x} \frac{d}{dx} \right)^m \left[ \frac{Z_\alpha (x)}{x^\alpha} \right] &= (-1)^m \frac{Z_{\alpha + m} (x)}{x^{\alpha + m}}.
\end{align}</math>
Modified Bessel functions follow similar relations:
<math display"block">e^{\left(\frac{x}{2}\right)\left(t+\frac{1}{t}\right)} \sum_{n=-\infty}^\infty I_n(x) t^n</math>
and
<math display"block">e^{z \cos \theta} I_0(z) + 2\sum_{n=1}^\infty I_n(z) \cos n\theta</math>
and
<math display"block"> \frac{1}{2\pi} \int_0^{2\pi} e^{z \cos (m\theta) + y \cos \theta} d\theta I_0(z)I_0(y) + 2\sum_{n=1}^\infty I_n(z)I_{mn}(y).</math>
The recurrence relation reads
<math display="block">\begin{align}
C_{\alpha-1}(x) - C_{\alpha+1}(x) &= \frac{2\alpha}{x} C_\alpha(x), \\[1ex]
C_{\alpha-1}(x) + C_{\alpha+1}(x) &= 2\frac{d}{dx}C_\alpha(x),
\end{align}</math>
where denotes or . These recurrence relations are useful for discrete diffusion problems.
Transcendence
In 1929, Carl Ludwig Siegel proved that , <sub>ν</sub>(x)}}, and the logarithmic derivative }} are transcendental numbers when ν is rational and x is algebraic and nonzero. The same proof also implies that is transcendental under the same assumptions.Sums with Bessel functions
The product of two Bessel functions admits the following sum:
<math display"block">\sum_{\nu-\infty}^\infty J_\nu(x) J_{n - \nu}(y) = J_{n}(x + y),</math>
<math display"block">\sum_{\nu-\infty}^\infty J_\nu(x) J_{\nu + n}(y) = J_{n}(y - x).</math>
From these equalities it follows that
<math display"block">\sum_{\nu-\infty}^\infty J_\nu(x) J_{\nu + n}(x) = \delta_{n, 0}</math>
and as a consequence
<math display"block">\sum_{\nu-\infty}^\infty J_{\nu}^2(x) = 1. </math>
These sums can be extended for a polynomial prefactor. For example,
<math display"block">\sum_{\nu-\infty}^\infty \nu J_\nu(x) J_{\nu + n}(x) = \frac{x}{2} \left( \delta_{n, 1} + \delta_{n, -1} \right),</math>
<math display"block">\sum_{\nu-\infty}^\infty \nu J_{\nu}^2(x) = 0, </math>
<math display"block">\sum_{\nu-\infty}^\infty \nu^2 J_\nu(x) J_{\nu + n}(x) = \frac{x}{2} \left( \delta_{n, -1} - \delta_{n, 1} \right) + \frac{x^2}{4} \left( \delta_{n, -2} + 2 \delta_{n, 0} + \delta_{n, 2} \right),</math>
<math display"block">\sum_{\nu-\infty}^\infty \nu^2 J_{\nu}^2(x) \frac{x^2}{2}. </math>Multiplication theorem
The Bessel functions obey a multiplication theorem
<math display"block">\lambda^{-\nu} J_\nu(\lambda z) \sum_{n=0}^\infty \frac{1}{n!} \left(\frac{\left(1 - \lambda^2\right)z}{2}\right)^n J_{\nu+n}(z),</math>
where and may be taken as arbitrary complex numbers. For < 1}}, When the functions are plotted on the same graph, though, none of the zeros seem to coincide for different values of except for the zero at . This phenomenon is known as '''Bourget's hypothesis' after the 19th-century French mathematician who studied Bessel functions. Specifically it states that for any integers and , the functions and have no common zeros other than the one at . The hypothesis was proved by Carl Ludwig Siegel in 1929.TranscendenceSiegel proved in 1929 that when ν is rational, all nonzero roots of and <sub>ν</sub>(x)}} are transcendental,
Numerical approaches
For numerical studies about the zeros of the Bessel function, see , and .
Numerical values
The first zeros in J<sub>0</sub> (i.e., j<sub>0,1</sub>, j<sub>0,2</sub> and j<sub>0,3</sub>) occur at arguments of approximately 2.40483, 5.52008 and 8.65373, respectively.
History
Waves and elasticity problems
The first appearance of a Bessel function appears in the work of Daniel Bernoulli in 1732, while working on the analysis of a vibrating string, a problem that was tackled before by his father Johann Bernoulli.<ref name":0" /> Daniel considered a flexible chain suspended from a fixed point above and free at its lower end.<ref name":0" /> The solution of the differential equation led to the introduction of a function that is now considered <math>J_0(x)</math>. Bernoulli also developed a method to find the zeros of the function.<ref name=":0" />
Leonhard Euler in 1736, found a link between other functions (now known as Laguerre polynomials) and Bernoulli's solution. Euler also introduced a non-uniform chain that lead to the introduction of functions now related to modified Bessel functions <math>I_n(x)</math>.<ref name=":0" />
In the middle of the eighteen century, Jean le Rond d'Alembert had found a formula to solve the wave equation. By 1771 there was dispute between Bernoulli, Euler, d'Alembert and Joseph-Louis Lagrange on the nature of the solutions vibrating strings.<ref name=":0" />
Euler worked in 1778 on buckling, introducing the concept of Euler's critical load. To solve the problem he introduced the series for <math>J_{\pm 1/3}(x)</math>.<ref name":0" /> Euler also worked out the solutions of vibrating 2D membranes in cylindrical coordinates in 1780. In order to solve his differential equation he introduced a power series associated to <math>J_n(x)</math>, for integer n.<ref name":0" />
During the end of the 19th century Lagrange, Pierre-Simon Laplace and Marc-Antoine Parseval also found equivalents to the Bessel functions.<ref name":0" /> Parseval for example found an integral represantion of <math>J_0(x)</math> using cosine.<ref name":0" />
At the beginning of the 1800s, Joseph Fourier used <math>J_0(x)</math> to solve the heat equation in a problem with cylindrical symmetry.<ref name":0" /> Fourier won a prize of the French Academy of Sciences for this work in 1811.<ref name":0" /> But most of the details of his work, including the use of a Fourier series, remained unpublished until 1822.<ref name":0" /> Poisson in rivalry with Fourier, extended Fourier's work in 1823, introducing new properties of Bessel functions including Bessel functions of half-integer order (now known as spherical Bessel functions).<ref name":0" />
Astronomical problems
In 1770, Lagrangre introduced the series expansion of Bessel functions to solve Kepler's equation, a trascendental equation in astronomy. Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel had seen Lagrange solution but found it difficult to handle. In 1813 in a letter to Carl Friedrich Gauss, Bessel simplified the calculation using trigonometric functions.<ref name":0" /> Bessel published his work in 1819, independently introducing the method of Fourier series unaware of the work of Fourier who was published later.<ref name":0" />
In 1824, Bessel carried out a systematic investigation of the Bessel functions which earned the function his name.<ref name":0" /> In older literature the functions were called cylindrical functions or even Bessel–Fourier functions.<ref name":0" />
See also
* Anger function
* Bessel polynomials
* Bessel–Clifford function
* Bessel–Maitland function
* Fourier–Bessel series
* Hahn–Exton -Bessel function
* Hankel transform
* Incomplete Bessel functions
* Jackson -Bessel function
* Kelvin functions
* Kontorovich–Lebedev transform
* Lentz's algorithm
* Lerche–Newberger sum rule
* Lommel function
* Lommel polynomial
* Neumann polynomial
* [https://mathworld.wolfram.com/Riccati-BesselFunctions.html Riccati-Bessel Functions]
* Schlömilch's series
* Sonine formula
* Struve function
* Vibrations of a circular membrane
* Weber function (defined at Anger function)
* Gauss' circle problem
Notes
References
*
* Arfken, George B. and Hans J. Weber, Mathematical Methods for Physicists, 6th edition (Harcourt: San Diego, 2005). .
* Reproduced as pages 84 to 109 in [https://drive.google.com/file/d/1W-z4BNN4s7nfGC9IbCkhQksHzGQG-wox/view?usp=sharing English translation of the text].
* Bowman, Frank Introduction to Bessel Functions (Dover: New York, 1958). .
*
*
*
* .
* .
* B Spain, M. G. Smith, [https://books.google.com/books?idkYgZAQAAIAAJ&qBessel Functions of mathematical physics], Van Nostrand Reinhold Company, London, 1970. Chapter 9 deals with Bessel functions.
* N. M. Temme, Special Functions. An Introduction to the Classical Functions of Mathematical Physics, John Wiley and Sons, Inc., New York, 1996. . Chapter 9 deals with Bessel functions.
* Watson, G. N., A Treatise on the Theory of Bessel Functions, Second Edition, (1995) Cambridge University Press. .
* .
External links
* .
* .
* .
* Wolfram function pages on Bessel [https://functions.wolfram.com/Bessel-TypeFunctions/BesselJ/ J] and [https://functions.wolfram.com/Bessel-TypeFunctions/BesselY/ Y] functions, and modified Bessel [https://functions.wolfram.com/Bessel-TypeFunctions/BesselI/ I] and [https://functions.wolfram.com/Bessel-TypeFunctions/BesselK/ K] functions. Pages include formulas, function evaluators, and plotting calculators.
*
* Bessel functions [http://www.librow.com/articles/article-11/appendix-a-34 J<sub>ν</sub>], [http://www.librow.com/articles/article-11/appendix-a-35 Y<sub>ν</sub>], [http://www.librow.com/articles/article-11/appendix-a-36 I<sub>ν</sub>] and [http://www.librow.com/articles/article-11/appendix-a-37 K<sub>ν</sub>] in Librow [http://www.librow.com/articles/article-11 Function handbook].
*F. W. J. Olver, L. C. Maximon, [https://dlmf.nist.gov/10 Bessel Functions] (chapter 10 of the Digital Library of Mathematical Functions).
*
Category:Special hypergeometric functions
Category:Fourier analysis
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bessel_function
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Backpacking
|
Backpacking may refer to:
Backpacking (travel), low-cost, independent, international travel
Backpacking (hiking), trekking and camping overnight in the wilderness
Ultralight backpacking, a style of wilderness backpacking with an emphasis on carrying as little as possible
See also
Hiking
Backpacking with animals, using pack animals to carry gear while hiking or camping
Backpacker (disambiguation)
Backpack (disambiguation)
Tramping (disambiguation), also called backpacking
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Backpacking
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Brahui language
|
}}
| region = Balochistan
| states Pakistan, Afghanistan |linksno}}; also romanised as Brahvi or Brohi) is a Dravidian language, spoken by the Brahui primarily in central areas (Brahuistan) of the Pakistani province of Balochistan; with smaller communities of speakers scattered in parts of Iranian Baluchestan, Afghanistan, and Turkmenistan (around Merv). It is also spoken by expatriate Brahui communities in Iraq, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates. It is isolated from the nearest Dravidian-speaking neighbouring population of South India by a distance of more than . The Kalat, Khuzdar, Mastung, Quetta, Bolan, Nasirabad, Nushki, and Kharan districts of Balochistan Province are predominantly Brahui-speaking.
Brahui is the only Dravidian language that is primarily written in the Perso-Arabic script. It is also written in the Latin script.
Distribution
thumb|right|upright=1.6|
<div style="text-align: center">The proportion of people with Brahui as their mother tongue in each Pakistani District as of the 2017 Pakistan Census</div>
Brahui is spoken in the central part of Pakistani Balochistan, mainly in the Kalat, Khuzdar and Mastung districts, but also in smaller numbers in neighboring districts, as well as in Afghanistan which borders Pakistani Balochistan; however, many members of the ethnic group no longer speak Brahui. There are also an unknown (but very small) number of expatriate Brahuis in the Arab States of the Persian Gulf, and Turkmenistan. However, some other scholars see it as a recent migrant language to its present region. They postulate that Brahui could only have migrated to Balochistan from central India after 1000 AD. This is contradicted by genetic evidence that shows the Brahui population to be indistinguishable from neighbouring Balochi speakers, and genetically distant from central Dravidian speakers. The main Iranian contributor to Brahui vocabulary, Balochi, is a Northwestern Iranian language, and moved to the area from the west only around 1000 AD. One scholar places the migration as late as the 13th or 14th century. The Brahui lexicon is believed to be of: 35% Perso-Arabic origin, 20% Balochi origin, 20% Indo-Aryan origin, 15% Dravidian origin, and 10% unknown origin.
Franklin Southworth proposed that Brahui is not a Dravidian language, but can be linked with the remaining Dravidian languages and Elamite to form the "Zagrosian family," which originated in Southwest Asia (southern Iran) and was widely distributed in South Asia and parts of eastern West Asia before the Indo-Aryan migration.
Dialects
There are no important dialectal differences. Jhalawani (southern, centered on Khuzdar) and Sarawani (northern, centered on Kalat) dialects are distinguished by the pronunciation of *h, which is retained only in the north (Elfenbein 1997).
Brahui has been influenced by the Iranian languages spoken in the area, including Persian, Balochi and Pashto.}}
Phonology
Brahui vowels show a partial length distinction between long and diphthongs and short . Brahui does not have short /e, o/ due to influence from neighbouring Indo-Aryan and Iranic languages, the PD short *e was replaced by a, ē and i, and ∗o by ō, u and a in root syllables.
{| class"wikitable" style"text-align:center"
|+Vowels
!
!Front
!Central
!Back
|-
!Close
|
|
|
|-
!Mid
|
|
|
|-
!Open
|
|
|
|}
Brahui consonants show patterns of retroflexion but lack the aspiration distinctions found in surrounding languages and include several fricatives such as the voiceless lateral fricative , a sound not otherwise found in the region.
Consonants are also very similar to those of Balochi, but Brahui has more fricatives and nasals (Elfenbein 1993).
{|classwikitable styletext-align:center
|+Consonants
!
!colspan=2|Labial
!colspan=2|Dentalalveolar
!colspan=2|Retroflex
!colspan=2|Palato-alveolar
!colspan=2|Velar
!colspan=2|Glottal
|-
!Nasal
|styleborder-right:0| ||styleborder-left:0|
|styleborder-right:0| ||styleborder-left:0|
|styleborder-right:0| ||styleborder-left:0|
|colspan=2|
|styleborder-right:0| ||styleborder-left:0|()
|colspan=2|
|-
!Stop
|styleborder-right:0|||styleborder-left:0|
|styleborder-right:0|||styleborder-left:0|
|styleborder-right:0|||styleborder-left:0|
|styleborder-right:0|||styleborder-left:0|
|styleborder-right:0|||styleborder-left:0|
|styleborder-right:0|||styleborder-left:0|
|-
!Fricative
|styleborder-right:0|||styleborder-left:0|
|styleborder-right:0|||styleborder-left:0|
|colspan=2|
|styleborder-right:0|||styleborder-left:0|
|styleborder-right:0|||styleborder-left:0|
|styleborder-right:0|||styleborder-left:0|
|-
!Lateral
|colspan=2|
|styleborder-right:0|||styleborder-left:0|
|colspan=2|
|colspan=2|
|colspan=2|
|colspan=2|
|-
!Rhotic
|colspan=2|
|styleborder-right:0| ||styleborder-left:0|
|styleborder-right:0| ||styleborder-left:0|
|colspan=2|
|colspan=2|
|colspan=2|
|-
!Glide
|colspan=2|
|colspan=2|
|colspan=2|
|styleborder-right:0| ||styleborder-left:0|
|styleborder-right:0| ||styleborder-left:0|
|colspan=2|
|}
* of north corresponds to a glottal stop of south initially and intervocalically. Before a C in word-final position it is lost. Non-phonemic glottal stop before word-initial vowels, e.g. hust (N), ʔust (S) 'heart'.
* and vary freely in many cases; contrast is limited to two or three items. Conditions for the emergence of are not clear.
* does not occur word-initially. → before in northern Brahui (Elfenbein 1998: 394), e.g. xūrt → xūṛt 'tiny'.
* The consonants freely alternate with aspirated counterparts in the northeast. Aspirated stops word-initially occur in loanwords in the south, where they freely vary with unaspirated stops.
* occurs before velar stops .
* Brahui preserves the PD laryngeal * as in some words e.g. PD. *caH- ~ *ceH- > Br. kah-.StressStress in Brahui follows a quantity-based pattern, occurring either on the first long vowel or diphthong, or on the first syllable if all vowels are short.OrthographyPerso-Arabic script
}}" and is written in Nastaliq script.]]
Brahui is the only Dravidian language which is not known to have been written in a Brahmi-based script; instead, it has been written in the Arabic script since the second half of the 20th century. Other Dravidian languages have also been historically written in the Arabic script by the Muslim minority speakers of each respective language, namely Arabi-Tamil and Arabi-Malayalam.
In Pakistan, an Urdu based Nastaʿlīq script is used in writing. Brahui orthography is unique in having the letter representing the sound . Table below presents the letters adopted for Brahui orthography:
{| class="wikitable"
! Letter !! Latin equivalent !! IPA
|-
| style="font-size:150%" | }} || á, a, i, u || , , ,
|-
| style="font-size:150%" | }} || b ||
|-
| style="font-size:150%" | }} || p ||
|-
| style="font-size:150%" | }} || t ||
|-
| style="font-size:150%" | }} || ŧ ||
|-
| style="font-size:150%" | }} || (s) ||
|-
| style="font-size:150%" | }} || j ||
|-
| style="font-size:150%" | }} || c ||
|-
| style="font-size:150%" | }} || (h) ||
|-
| style="font-size:150%" | }} || x ||
|-
| style="font-size:150%" | }} || d ||
|-
| style="font-size:150%" | }} || đ ||
|-
| style="font-size:150%" | }} || (z) ||
|-
| style="font-size:150%" | }} || r ||
|-
| style="font-size:150%" | }} || ŕ ||
|-
| style="font-size:150%" | }} || z ||
|-
| style="font-size:150%" | }} || ź ||
|-
| style="font-size:150%" | }} || s ||
|-
| style="font-size:150%" | }} || ş ||
|-
| style="font-size:150%" | }} || (s) ||
|-
| style="font-size:150%" | }} || (z) ||
|-
| style="font-size:150%" | }} || (t) ||
|-
| style="font-size:150%" | }} || (z) ||
|-
| style="font-size:150%" | }} || ', (a), (i), (u) || , , ,
|-
| style="font-size:150%" | }} || ģ ||
|-
| style="font-size:150%" | }} || f ||
|-
| style="font-size:150%" | }} || (k) ||
|-
| style="font-size:150%" | }} || k ||
|-
| style="font-size:150%" | }} || g ||
|-
| style="font-size:150%" | }} || l ||
|-
| style="font-size:150%" | }} || ļ ||
|-
| style="font-size:150%" | }} || m ||
|-
| style="font-size:150%" | }} || n ||
|-
| style="font-size:150%" | }} || ń ||
|-
| style="font-size:150%" | }} || v, o, ú || , ,
|-
| style="font-size:150%" | }} || h ||
|-
| style="font-size:150%" | }} || (h) ||
|-
| style="font-size:150%" | }} || y, í || ,
|-
| style="font-size:150%" | }} || e ||
|}
Latin script
More recently, a Roman-based orthography named Brolikva (an abbreviation of Brahui Roman Likvar) was developed by the Brahui Language Board of the University of Balochistan in Quetta and adopted by the newspaper Talár.
Below is the new promoted Bráhuí Báşágal Brolikva orthography:
{|class"wikitable" style"font-size: 110%;"
|b
|á
|p
|í
|s
|y
|ş
|v
|x
|e
|z
|ź
|ģ
|f
|ú
|m
|n
|l
|g
|c
|t
|ŧ
|r
|ŕ
|d
|o
|đ
|h
|j
|k
|a
|i
|u
|ń
|ļ
|}
The letters with diacritics are the long vowels, post-alveolar and retroflex consonants, the voiced velar fricative and the voiceless lateral fricative.
Sample text
English
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.
Arabic script
Latin script
Muccá insáńk ájo o izzat ná rid aŧ barebar vadí massuno. Ofte puhí o dalíl raseńgáne. andáde ofte asi elo ton ílumí e vaddifoí e.
Endangerment
According to a 2009 UNESCO report, Brahui is one of the 27 languages of Pakistan that are facing the danger of extinction. It was classified as "unsafe", the least endangered level out of the five levels of concern (Unsafe, Definitely Endangered, Severely Endangered, Critically Endangered and Extinct).}} This status has since been renamed to "vulnerable".PublicationsTalár is the first daily newspaper in the Brahui language. It uses the new Roman orthography and is "an attempt to standardize and develop [the] Brahui language to meet the requirements of modern political, social and scientific discourse."References
Sources
*
*
*Bray, Denys. The Brahui Language, an Old Dravidian Language Spoken in Parts of Baluchistan and Sind: Grammar. Gian Publishing House, 1986.
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
Further reading
* External links
*[http://www.ijunoon.com/Brahui/ Online Brahui Dictionary]
*[https://books.google.com/books?id=mrcOAAAAQAAJ Handbook of the Birouhi language By Allâh Baksh (1877)]
*[https://sites.google.com/site/brahuilb/home Brahui Language Board]
*[https://sites.google.com/site/brahuilb/videos-1/untitledpost Bráhuí Báşágal (Brahui Alphabet)]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20080106095702/http://www.lmp.ucla.edu/Profile.aspx?LangID207&menu004 Profile of the Brahui language]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20050421184249/http://www.southasiabibliography.de/Bibliography/Dravidian/Brahui___Birouhi/brahui___birouhi.html Partial bibliography of scholarly works on Brahui]
*[http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/77229/Brahui-language Britannica Brahui language]
* [http://starling.rinet.ru/cgi-bin/response.cgi?rootnew100&morpho0&basenamenew100\drv\bra&first0 Brahui basic lexicon at the Global Lexicostatistical Database]
Category:Agglutinative languages
Category:Dravidian languages
Category:Languages of Afghanistan
Category:Languages of Iran
Category:Languages of Iraq
Category:Languages of Turkmenistan
Category:Languages of Qatar
Category:Languages of Pakistan
Category:Languages of Balochistan, Pakistan
Category:Arabic alphabets for South Asian languages
Category:Vulnerable languages
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brahui_language
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Berkeley DB
|
| latest release version 18.1.40
| latest release date
| latest preview version | latest preview date
| programming language = C
| operating system = Windows, Unix-like
| platform | size ~1244 kB compiled on Windows x86
| language | genre Embedded database, NoSQL Database
| license = Dual licensed (GNU Affero General Public License and proprietary license
| website =
}}
Berkeley DB (BDB) is an embedded database software library for key/value data, historically significant in open-source software. Berkeley DB is written in C with API bindings for many other programming languages. BDB stores arbitrary key/data pairs as byte arrays and supports multiple data items for a single key. Berkeley DB is not a relational database, although it has database features including database transactions, multiversion concurrency control and write-ahead logging. BDB runs on a wide variety of operating systems, including most Unix-like and Windows systems, and real-time operating systems.
BDB was commercially supported and developed by Sleepycat Software from 1996 to 2006. Sleepycat Software was acquired by Oracle Corporation in February 2006, who continued to develop and sell the C Berkeley DB library. In 2013 Oracle re-licensed BDB under the AGPL license and released new versions until May 2020. Bloomberg L.P. continues to develop a fork of the 2013 version of BDB within their Comdb2 database, under the original Sleepycat permissive license.OriginBerkeley DB originated at the University of California, Berkeley as part of BSD, Berkeley's version of the Unix operating system. After 4.3BSD (1986), the BSD developers attempted to remove or replace all code originating in the original AT&T Unix from which BSD was derived. In doing so, they needed to rewrite the Unix database package. Seltzer and Yigit created a new database, unencumbered by any AT&T patents: an on-disk hash table that outperformed the existing dbm libraries. Berkeley DB itself was first released in 1991 and later included with 4.4BSD. In 1996 Netscape requested that the authors of Berkeley DB improve and extend the library, then at version 1.86, to suit Netscape's requirements for an LDAP server and for use in the Netscape browser. That request led to the creation of Sleepycat Software. This company was acquired by Oracle Corporation in February 2006.
Berkeley DB 1.x releases focused on managing key/value data storage and are referred to as "Data Store" (DS). The 2.x releases added a locking system enabling concurrent access to data. This is what is known as "Concurrent Data Store" (CDS). The 3.x releases added a logging system for transactions and recovery, called "Transactional Data Store" (TDS). The 4.x releases added the ability to replicate log records and create a distributed highly available single-master multi-replica database. This is called the "High Availability" (HA) feature set. Berkeley DB's evolution has sometimes led to minor API changes or log format changes, but very rarely have database formats changed. Berkeley DB HA supports online upgrades from one version to the next by maintaining the ability to read and apply the prior release's log records.
Starting with the 6.0.21 (Oracle 12c) release, all Berkeley DB products are licensed under the GNU AGPL. Previously, Berkeley DB was redistributed under the 4-clause BSD license (before version 2.0), and the Sleepycat Public License, which is an OSI-approved open-source license as well as an FSF-approved free software license. The product ships with complete source code, build script, test suite, and documentation. The comprehensive feature along with the licensing terms have led to its use in a multitude of free and open-source software. Those who do not wish to abide by the terms of the GNU AGPL, or use an older version with the Sleepycat Public License, have the option of purchasing another proprietary license for redistribution from Oracle Corporation. This technique is called dual licensing.
Berkeley DB includes compatibility interfaces for some historic Unix database libraries: dbm, ndbm and hsearch (a System V and POSIX library for creating in-memory hash tables).
Architecture
Berkeley DB has an architecture notably simpler than relational database management systems. Like SQLite and LMDB, it is not based on a server/client model, and does not provide support for network access programs access the database using in-process API calls. Oracle added support for SQL in 11g R2 release based on the popular SQLite API by including a version of SQLite in Berkeley DB (it uses Berkeley DB for storage).
A program accessing the database is free to decide how the data is to be stored in a record. Berkeley DB puts no constraints on the record's data. The record and its key can both be up to four gigabytes long.
Berkeley DB supports database features such as ACID transactions, fine-grained locking, hot backups and replication.
Oracle Corporation use of name "Berkeley DB"
The name "Berkeley DB" is used by Oracle Corporation for three different products, only one of which is BDB:
# Berkeley DB, the C database library that is the subject of this article
# Berkeley DB Java Edition, a pure Java library whose design is modelled after the C library but is otherwise unrelated
# Berkeley DB XML, a C++ program that supports XQuery, and which includes a legacy version of the C database libraryOpen-source programs still using Berkeley DB
BDB was once very widespread, but usage dropped steeply from 2013 (see licensing section). Notable software that still uses Berkeley DB for data storage include:
* Bogofilter – A free/open-source spam filter that saves its wordlists using Berkeley DB by default.
* Citadel/UX – A collaborative software (messaging and groupware) that is directly descended from the Citadel family of programs, which became popular in the 1980s and 1990s as a bulletin board system platform.
* Sendmail – A free/open-source MTA, first released in 1983 for Linux/Unix systems.
* Spamassassin – A free/open-source anti-spam application.
Open-source operating systems and languages such as Perl and Python still support old BerkelyDB interfaces. The FreeBSD and OpenBSD operating systems ship Berkeley DB 1.8x to support the <code>dbopen()</code> operating system call used by password programs such as <code>pwb_mkdb</code>. Linux operating systems, including those based on Debian, and Fedora ship Berkeley DB 5.3 libraries.Licensing
Berkeley DB V2.0 and higher is available under a dual license:
# Oracle commercial license
# The GNU AGPL v3.
Switching the open source license in 2013 from the [https://opensource.org/licenses/Sleepycat Sleepycat license] to the AGPL had a major effect on open source software. Since BDB is a library, any application linking to it must be under an AGPL-compatible license. Many open source applications and all closed source applications would need to be relicensed to become AGPL-compatible, which was not acceptable to many developers and open source operating systems. By 2013 there were many alternatives to BDB, and Debian Linux was typical in their decision to completely phase out Berkeley DB, with a preference for the Lightning Memory-Mapped Database (LMDB).
See also
* VSAM
References
External links
* [http://www.oracle.com/database/technologies/related/berkeleydb.html Oracle Berkeley DB]
* [https://www.oracle.com/database/technologies/related/berkeleydb-downloads.html Oracle Berkeley DB Downloads]
* [http://docs.oracle.com/en/database/other-databases/ Oracle Berkeley DB Documentation]
* [http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/products/berkeleydb/downloads/licensing-098979.html Oracle Berkeley DB Licensing Information]
* [http://omtco.eu/references/oracle/top-60-licensing-pitfalls-for-oracle-databases-and-oracle-technology-products/ Licensing pitfalls for Oracle Technology Products]
* [http://omtco.eu/references/oracle/ Oracle Licensing Knowledge Net]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20100131071155/http://www.apress.com/book/view/9781590596722 The Berkeley DB Book by Himanshu Yadava]
Category:Database engines
Category:Database-related software for Linux
Category:Embedded databases
Category:Free database management systems
Category:Free software programmed in C
Category:Key-value databases
Category:NoSQL
Category:Oracle software
Category:Structured storage
Category:Software using the GNU Affero General Public License
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berkeley_DB
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2025-04-05T18:26:56.504438
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Boolean satisfiability problem
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In logic and computer science, the Boolean satisfiability problem (sometimes called propositional satisfiability problem and abbreviated SATISFIABILITY, SAT or B-SAT) asks whether there exists an interpretation that satisfies a given Boolean formula. In other words, it asks whether the formula's variables can be consistently replaced by the values TRUE or FALSE to make the formula evaluate to TRUE. If this is the case, the formula is called satisfiable, else unsatisfiable. For example, the formula "a AND NOT b" is satisfiable because one can find the values a TRUE and b FALSE, which make (a AND NOT b) = TRUE. In contrast, "a AND NOT a" is unsatisfiable.
SAT is the first problem that was proven to be NP-complete—this is the Cook–Levin theorem. This means that all problems in the complexity class NP, which includes a wide range of natural decision and optimization problems, are at most as difficult to solve as SAT. There is no known algorithm that efficiently solves each SAT problem, and it is generally believed that no such algorithm exists, but this belief has not been proven mathematically, and resolving the question of whether SAT has a polynomial-time algorithm is equivalent to the P versus NP problem, which is a famous open problem in the theory of computing.
Nevertheless, as of 2007, heuristic SAT-algorithms are able to solve problem instances involving tens of thousands of variables and <!---"clauses" hasn't been introduced here:--->formulas consisting of millions of symbols, and automatic theorem proving.
Definitions
A propositional logic formula, also called Boolean expression, is built from variables, operators AND (conjunction, also denoted by ∧), OR (disjunction, ∨), NOT (negation, ¬), and parentheses. A formula is said to be satisfiable if it can be made TRUE by assigning appropriate logical values (i.e. TRUE, FALSE) to its variables. The Boolean satisfiability problem (SAT) is, given a formula, to check whether it is satisfiable. This decision problem is of central importance in many areas of computer science, including theoretical computer science, complexity theory, algorithmics, cryptography and artificial intelligence.Conjunctive normal form
A literal is either a variable (in which case it is called a positive literal) or the negation of a variable (called a negative literal). A clause is a disjunction of literals (or a single literal). A clause is called a Horn clause if it contains at most one positive literal. A formula is in conjunctive normal form (CNF) if it is a conjunction of clauses (or a single clause).
For example, is a positive literal, is a negative literal, and is a clause. The formula is in conjunctive normal form; its first and third clauses are Horn clauses, but its second clause is not. The formula is satisfiable, by choosing x<sub>1</sub> FALSE, x<sub>2</sub> FALSE, and x<sub>3</sub> arbitrarily, since (FALSE ∨ ¬FALSE) ∧ (¬FALSE ∨ FALSE ∨ x<sub>3</sub>) ∧ ¬FALSE evaluates to (FALSE ∨ TRUE) ∧ (TRUE ∨ FALSE ∨ x<sub>3</sub>) ∧ TRUE, and in turn to TRUE ∧ TRUE ∧ TRUE (i.e. to TRUE). In contrast, the CNF formula a ∧ ¬a, consisting of two clauses of one literal, is unsatisfiable, since for aTRUE or aFALSE it evaluates to TRUE ∧ ¬TRUE (i.e., FALSE) or FALSE ∧ ¬FALSE (i.e., again FALSE), respectively.
For some versions of the SAT problem,<!---need not list them in detail here---(viz. Exactly-1 3-satisfiability, XOR-satisfiability, and, more general, Schaefer's dichotomy theorem, discussed below),---> it is useful to define the notion of a generalized conjunctive normal form formula, viz. as a conjunction of arbitrarily many generalized clauses, the latter being of the form for some Boolean function R and (ordinary) literals . Different sets of allowed Boolean functions lead to different problem versions.<!---, see below.---> As an example, R(¬x,a,b) is a generalized clause, and R(¬x,a,b) ∧ R(b,y,c) ∧ R(c,d,¬z) is a generalized conjunctive normal form. This formula is used below, with R being the ternary operator that is TRUE just when exactly one of its arguments is.
<!---need not explain that already here---If R is the ternary operator that is TRUE just if exactly one of its arguments is, then a satisfying assignment for the latter formula can be found starting from every possible combination of truth values for x, y, z, except x y z = FALSE, and choosing the values of a, b, c, d appropriately; cf. the left table under Exactly-1 3-satisfiability below.--->
Using the laws of Boolean algebra, every propositional logic formula can be transformed into an equivalent conjunctive normal form, which may, however, be exponentially longer. For example, transforming the formula (x<sub>1</sub>∧y<sub>1</sub>) ∨ (x<sub>2</sub>∧y<sub>2</sub>) ∨ ... ∨ (x<sub>n</sub>∧y<sub>n</sub>) into conjunctive normal form yields
:
:
:
:
:
:
:
:;
while the former is a disjunction of n conjunctions of 2 variables, the latter consists of 2<sup>n</sup> clauses of n variables.
However, with use of the Tseytin transformation, we may find an equisatisfiable conjunctive normal form formula with length linear in the size of the original propositional logic formula.
Complexity
SAT was the first problem known to be NP-complete, as proved by Stephen Cook at the University of Toronto in 1971 and independently by Leonid Levin at the Russian Academy of Sciences in 1973. Until that time, the concept of an NP-complete problem did not even exist. The proof shows how every decision problem in the complexity class NP can be reduced to the SAT problem for CNF formulas, sometimes called CNFSAT. A useful property of Cook's reduction is that it preserves the number of accepting answers. For example, deciding whether a given graph has a 3-coloring is another problem in NP; if a graph has 17 valid 3-colorings, then the SAT formula produced by the Cook–Levin reduction will have 17 satisfying assignments.
NP-completeness only refers to the run-time of the worst case instances. Many of the instances that occur in practical applications can be solved much more quickly. See §Algorithms for solving SAT below.
3-satisfiability
. The green vertices form a 3-clique and correspond to the satisfying assignment xFALSE, yTRUE.]]
Like the satisfiability problem for arbitrary formulas, determining the satisfiability of a formula in conjunctive normal form where each clause is limited to at most three literals is NP-complete also; this problem is called 3-SAT, 3CNFSAT, or 3-satisfiability. To reduce the unrestricted SAT problem to 3-SAT, transform each clause to a conjunction of clauses
:
:
:
:
:
where are fresh variables not occurring elsewhere. Although the two formulas are not logically equivalent, they are equisatisfiable. The formula resulting from transforming all clauses is at most 3 times as long as its original; that is, the length growth is polynomial.
3-SAT is one of Karp's 21 NP-complete problems, and it is used as a starting point for proving that other problems are also NP-hard. This is done by polynomial-time reduction from 3-SAT to the other problem. An example of a problem where this method has been used is the clique problem: given a CNF formula consisting of c clauses, the corresponding graph consists of a vertex for each literal, and an edge between each two non-contradicting literals from different clauses; see the picture. The graph has a c-clique if and only if the formula is satisfiable.
There is a simple randomized algorithm due to Schöning (1999) that runs in time (4/3)<sup>n</sup> where n is the number of variables in the 3-SAT proposition, and succeeds with high probability to correctly decide 3-SAT.
The exponential time hypothesis asserts that no algorithm can solve 3-SAT (or indeed k-SAT for any ) in time (that is, fundamentally faster than exponential in n).
Selman, Mitchell, and Levesque (1996) give empirical data on the difficulty of randomly generated 3-SAT formulas, depending on their size parameters. Difficulty is measured in number recursive calls made by a DPLL algorithm. They identified a phase transition region from almost-certainly-satisfiable to almost-certainly-unsatisfiable formulas at the clauses-to-variables ratio at about 4.26.
3-satisfiability can be generalized to k-satisfiability (k-SAT, also k-CNF-SAT), when formulas in CNF are considered with each clause containing up to k literals. However, since for any k ≥ 3, this problem can neither be easier than 3-SAT nor harder than SAT, and the latter two are NP-complete, so must be k-SAT.
Some authors restrict k-SAT to CNF formulas with exactly k literals. This does not lead to a different complexity class either, as each clause with j < k literals can be padded with fixed dummy variables to . After padding all clauses, 2<sup>k</sup>–1 extra clauses, except }} must be appended to ensure that only can lead to a satisfying assignment. Since k does not depend on the formula length, the extra clauses lead to a constant increase in length. For the same reason, it does not matter whether duplicate literals are allowed in clauses, as in .Special cases of SATConjunctive normal formConjunctive normal form (in particular with 3 literals per clause) is often considered the canonical representation for SAT formulas. As shown above, the general SAT problem reduces to 3-SAT, the problem of determining satisfiability for formulas in this form.Disjunctive normal formSAT is trivial if the formulas are restricted to those in disjunctive normal form, that is, they are a disjunction of conjunctions of literals. Such a formula is indeed satisfiable if and only if at least one of its conjunctions is satisfiable, and a conjunction is satisfiable if and only if it does not contain both x and NOT x for some variable x. This can be checked in linear time. Furthermore, if they are restricted to being in full disjunctive normal form, in which every variable appears exactly once in every conjunction, they can be checked in constant time (each conjunction represents one satisfying assignment). But it can take exponential time and space to convert a general SAT problem to disjunctive normal form; to obtain an example, exchange "∧" and "∨" in the above exponential blow-up example for conjunctive normal forms.Exactly-1 3-satisfiability
A variant of the 3-satisfiability problem is the one-in-three 3-SAT (also known variously as 1-in-3-SAT and exactly-1 3-SAT). Given a conjunctive normal form with three literals per clause, the problem is to determine whether there exists a truth assignment to the variables so that each clause has exactly one TRUE literal (and thus exactly two FALSE literals). In contrast, ordinary 3-SAT requires that every clause has at least one TRUE literal. Formally, a one-in-three 3-SAT problem is given as a generalized conjunctive normal form with all generalized clauses using a ternary operator R that is TRUE just if exactly one of its arguments is. When all literals of a one-in-three 3-SAT formula are positive, the satisfiability problem is called one-in-three positive 3-SAT.
One-in-three 3-SAT, together with its positive case, is listed as NP-complete problem "LO4" in the standard reference Computers and Intractability: A Guide to the Theory of NP-Completeness by Michael R. Garey and David S. Johnson. One-in-three 3-SAT was proved to be NP-complete by Thomas Jerome Schaefer as a special case of Schaefer's dichotomy theorem, which asserts that any problem generalizing Boolean satisfiability in a certain way is either in the class P or is NP-complete.
Schaefer gives a construction allowing an easy polynomial-time reduction from 3-SAT to one-in-three 3-SAT. Let "(x or y or z)" be a clause in a 3CNF formula. Add six fresh Boolean variables a, b, c, d, e, and f, to be used to simulate this clause and no other. <!---now introduced already above---Let R(u,v,w) be a predicate that is TRUE if and only if exactly one of the Booleans u, v, and w
is TRUE.--->Then the formula R(x,a,d) ∧ R(y,b,d) ∧ R(a,b,e) ∧ R(c,d,f) ∧ R(z,c,FALSE) is satisfiable by some setting of the fresh variables if and only if at least one of x, y, or z is TRUE, see picture (left). Thus any 3-SAT instance with m clauses and n variables may be converted into an equisatisfiable one-in-three 3-SAT instance with 5m clauses and n + 6m variables. Another reduction involves only four fresh variables and three clauses: R(¬x,a,b) ∧ R(b,y,c) ∧ R(c,d,¬z), see picture (right).Not-all-equal 3-satisfiability
Another variant is the not-all-equal 3-satisfiability problem (also called NAE3SAT). Given a conjunctive normal form with three literals per clause, the problem is to determine if an assignment to the variables exists such that in no clause all three literals have the same truth value. This problem is NP-complete, too, even if no negation symbols are admitted, by Schaefer's dichotomy theorem.
2-satisfiability
SAT is easier if the number of literals in a clause is limited to at most 2, in which case the problem is called 2-SAT. This problem can be solved in polynomial time, and in fact is complete for the complexity class NL. If additionally all OR operations in literals are changed to XOR operations, then the result is called exclusive-or 2-satisfiability, which is a problem complete for the complexity class SL L.Horn-satisfiability
The problem of deciding the satisfiability of a given conjunction of Horn clauses is called Horn-satisfiability, or HORN-SAT. It can be solved in polynomial time by a single step of the unit propagation algorithm, which produces the single minimal model of the set of Horn clauses (w.r.t. the set of literals assigned to TRUE). Horn-satisfiability is P-complete. It can be seen as P's version of the Boolean satisfiability problem. Also, deciding the truth of quantified Horn formulas can be done in polynomial time.
Horn clauses are of interest because they are able to express implication of one variable from a set of other variables. Indeed, one such clause ¬x<sub>1</sub> ∨ ... ∨ ¬x<sub>n</sub> ∨ y can be rewritten as x<sub>1</sub> ∧ ... ∧ x<sub>n</sub> → y; that is, if x<sub>1</sub>,...,x<sub>n</sub> are all TRUE, then y must be TRUE as well.
A generalization of the class of Horn formulas is that of renameable-Horn formulae, which is the set of formulas that can be placed in Horn form by replacing some variables with their respective negation. For example, (x<sub>1</sub> ∨ ¬x<sub>2</sub>) ∧ (¬x<sub>1</sub> ∨ x<sub>2</sub> ∨ x<sub>3</sub>) ∧ ¬x<sub>1</sub> is not a Horn formula, but can be renamed to the Horn formula (x<sub>1</sub> ∨ ¬x<sub>2</sub>) ∧ (¬x<sub>1</sub> ∨ x<sub>2</sub> ∨ ¬y<sub>3</sub>) ∧ ¬x<sub>1</sub> by introducing y<sub>3</sub> as negation of x<sub>3</sub>. In contrast, no renaming of (x<sub>1</sub> ∨ ¬x<sub>2</sub> ∨ ¬x<sub>3</sub>) ∧ (¬x<sub>1</sub> ∨ x<sub>2</sub> ∨ x<sub>3</sub>) ∧ ¬x<sub>1</sub> leads to a Horn formula. Checking the existence of such a replacement can be done in linear time; therefore, the satisfiability of such formulae is in P as it can be solved by first performing this replacement and then checking the satisfiability of the resulting Horn formula.
{| style="float:right"
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XOR-satisfiability
{| align"right" class"wikitable collapsible collapsed" style="text-align:left; margin: 1em"
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! Solving an XOR-SAT example<BR>by Gaussian elimination
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{| align"left" class"collapsible collapsed" style="text-align:left"
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! Given formula
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| ("⊕" means XOR, the is optional)
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| (a⊕c⊕d) ∧ (b⊕¬c⊕d) ∧ (a⊕b⊕¬d) ∧ (a⊕¬b⊕¬c)
|}
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{| align"left" class"collapsible collapsed" style="text-align:left"
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! colspan="9" | Equation system
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| colspan="9" | ("1" means TRUE, "0" means FALSE)
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| colspan="9" | Each clause leads to one equation.
|-
| || a || ⊕ || || c || ⊕ || || d || = 1
|-
| || b || ⊕ || ¬ || c || ⊕ || || d || = 1
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| || a || ⊕ || || b || ⊕ || ¬ || d || = 1
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| || a || ⊕ || ¬ || b || ⊕ || ¬ || c || = 1
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| || || || || || || || ||
|}
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{| align"left" class"collapsible collapsed" style="text-align:left"
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! colspan="6" | Normalized equation system
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| colspan"6" | using properties of Boolean rings (¬x1⊕x, x⊕x=0)
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| a || ⊕ || c || ⊕ || d || = 1
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| b || ⊕ || c || ⊕ || d || = 0
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| a || ⊕ || b || ⊕ || d || = 0
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| a || ⊕ || b || ⊕ || c || = 1
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| || || || || ||
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| colspan="6" | (If the is present, contradicts
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| colspan="6" | the last black one, so the system is unsolvable.
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| colspan="6" | Therefore, Gauss' algorithm is
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| colspan="6" | used only for the black equations.)
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{| align"left" class"collapsible collapsed" style="text-align:left"
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! colspan="6" | Associated coefficient matrix
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! a !! b !! c !! d !! !! line
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|-
| 1 || 0 || 1 || 1
! 1
| A
|-
| 0 || 1 || 1 || 1
! 0
| B
|-
| 1 || 1 || 0 || 1
! 0
| C
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| 1 || 1 || 1 || 0
! 1
| D
|}
|-
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{| align"left" class"collapsible collapsed" style="text-align:left"
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! colspan="6" |Transforming to echelon form
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! a !! b !! c !! d !! !! operation
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| 1 || 0 || 1 || 1
! 1
| A
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| 1 || 1 || 0 || 1
! 0
| C
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| 1 || 1 || 1 || 0
! 1
| D
|-
| 0 || 1 || 1 || 1
! 0
| B (swapped)
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|-
| 1 || 0 || 1 || 1
! 1
| A
|-
| 0 || 1 || 1 || 0
! 1
| E = C⊕A
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| 0 || 1 || 0 || 1
! 0
| F = D⊕A
|-
| 0 || 1 || 1 || 1
! 0
| B
|-
|
|-
| 1 || 0 || 1 || 1
! 1
| A
|-
| 0 || 1 || 1 || 0
! 1
| E
|-
| 0 || 0 || 1 || 1
! 1
| G = F⊕E
|-
| 0 || 0 || 0 || 1
! 1
| H = B⊕E
|}
|-
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{| align"left" class"collapsible collapsed" style="text-align:left"
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! colspan="6" | Transforming to diagonal form
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! a !! b !! c !! d !! !! operation
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|-
| 1 || 0 || 1 || 0
! 0
| I = A⊕H
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| 0 || 1 || 1 || 0
! 1
| E
|-
| 0 || 0 || 1 || 0
! 0
| J = G⊕H
|-
| 0 || 0 || 0 || 1
! 1
| H
|-
|
|-
| 1 || 0 || 0 || 0
! 0
| K = I⊕J
|-
| 0 || 1 || 0 || 0
! 1
| L = E⊕J
|-
| 0 || 0 || 1 || 0
! 0
| J
|-
| 0 || 0 || 0 || 1
! 1
| H
|-
|}
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{| align"left" class"collapsible collapsed" style="text-align:left"
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! Solution:
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| If the is present: || Unsolvable
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| Else: || a 0 FALSE
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| || b 1 TRUE
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| || c 0 FALSE
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| || d 1 TRUE
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| colspan="2" | As a consequence:
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| colspan="2" | R(a,c,d) ∧ R(b,¬c,d) ∧ R(a,b,¬d) ∧ R(a,¬b,¬c)
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| colspan="2" | is not 1-in-3-satisfiable,
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| colspan="2" | while (a ∨ c ∨ d) ∧ (b ∨ ¬c ∨ d) ∧ (a ∨ b ∨ ¬d) ∧ (a ∨ ¬b ∨ ¬c)
|-
| colspan"2" | is 3-satisfiable with acFALSE and bd=TRUE.
|}
|}
Another special case is the class of problems where each clause contains XOR (i.e. exclusive or) rather than (plain) OR operators. This is in P, since an XOR-SAT formula can also be viewed as a system of linear equations mod 2, and can be solved in cubic time by Gaussian elimination; see the box for an example. This recast is based on the kinship between Boolean algebras and Boolean rings, and the fact that arithmetic modulo two forms a finite field. Since a XOR b XOR c evaluates to TRUE if and only if exactly 1 or 3 members of {a,b,c} are TRUE, each solution of the 1-in-3-SAT problem for a given CNF formula is also a solution of the XOR-3-SAT problem, and in turn each solution of XOR-3-SAT is a solution of 3-SAT; see the picture. As a consequence, for each CNF formula, it is possible to solve the XOR-3-SAT problem defined by the formula, and based on the result infer either that the 3-SAT problem is solvable or that the 1-in-3-SAT problem is unsolvable.
Provided that the complexity classes P and NP are not equal, neither 2-, nor Horn-, nor XOR-satisfiability is NP-complete, unlike SAT.
Schaefer's dichotomy theorem
The restrictions above (CNF, 2CNF, 3CNF, Horn, XOR-SAT) bound the considered formulae to be conjunctions of subformulas; each restriction states a specific form for all subformulas: for example, only binary clauses can be subformulas in 2CNF.
Schaefer's dichotomy theorem states that, for any restriction to Boolean functions that can be used to form these subformulas, the corresponding satisfiability problem is in P or NP-complete. The membership in P of the satisfiability of 2CNF, Horn, and XOR-SAT formulae are special cases of this theorem. etc. Such extensions typically remain NP-complete, but very efficient solvers are now available that can handle many such kinds of constraints.
The satisfiability problem becomes more difficult if both "for all" (∀) and "there exists" (∃) quantifiers are allowed to bind the Boolean variables. An example of such an expression would be ; it is valid, since for all values of x and y, an appropriate value of z can be found, viz. zTRUE if both x and y are FALSE, and zFALSE else. SAT itself (tacitly) uses only ∃ quantifiers. If only ∀ quantifiers are allowed instead, the so-called tautology problem is obtained, which is co-NP-complete. If any number of both quantifiers are allowed, the problem is called the quantified Boolean formula problem (QBF), which can be shown to be PSPACE-complete. It is widely believed that PSPACE-complete problems are strictly harder than any problem in NP, although this has not yet been proved. Using highly parallel P systems, QBF-SAT problems can be solved in linear time.
Ordinary SAT asks if there is at least one variable assignment that makes the formula true. A variety of variants deal with the number of such assignments:
* MAJ-SAT asks if at least half of all assignments make the formula TRUE. It is known to be complete for PP, a probabilistic class. Surprisingly, MAJ-kSAT is demonstrated to be in P for every finite integer k.
* #SAT, the problem of counting how many variable assignments satisfy a formula, is a counting problem, not a decision problem, and is #P-complete.
* UNIQUE SAT is the problem of determining whether a formula has exactly one assignment. It is complete for US, the complexity class describing problems solvable by a non-deterministic polynomial time Turing machine that accepts when there is exactly one nondeterministic accepting path and rejects otherwise.
*UNAMBIGUOUS-SAT is the name given to the satisfiability problem when the input is restricted to formulas having at most one satisfying assignment. The problem is also called USAT. A solving algorithm for UNAMBIGUOUS-SAT is allowed to exhibit any behavior, including endless looping, on a formula having several satisfying assignments. Although this problem seems easier, Valiant and Vazirani have shown that if there is a practical (i.e. randomized polynomial-time) algorithm to solve it, then all problems in NP can be solved just as easily.
* MAX-SAT, the maximum satisfiability problem, is an FNP generalization of SAT. It asks for the maximum number of clauses which can be satisfied by any assignment. It has efficient approximation algorithms, but is NP-hard to solve exactly. Worse still, it is APX-complete, meaning there is no polynomial-time approximation scheme (PTAS) for this problem unless P=NP.
*WMSAT is the problem of finding an assignment of minimum weight that satisfy a monotone Boolean formula (i.e. a formula without any negation). Weights of propositional variables are given in the input of the problem. The weight of an assignment is the sum of weights of true variables. That problem is NP-complete (see Th. 1 of ).
Other generalizations include satisfiability for first- and second-order logic, constraint satisfaction problems, 0-1 integer programming.
Finding a satisfying assignment
While SAT is a decision problem, the search problem of finding a satisfying assignment reduces to SAT. That is, each algorithm which correctly answers whether an instance of SAT is solvable can be used to find a satisfying assignment. First, the question is asked on the given formula Φ. If the answer is "no", the formula is unsatisfiable. Otherwise, the question is asked on the partly instantiated formula Φ{x<sub>1</sub>TRUE}, that is, Φ with the first variable x<sub>1</sub> replaced by TRUE, and simplified accordingly. If the answer is "yes", then x<sub>1</sub>TRUE, otherwise x<sub>1</sub>=FALSE. Values of other variables can be found subsequently in the same way. In total, n+1 runs of the algorithm are required, where n is the number of distinct variables in Φ.
This property is used in several theorems in complexity theory:
: NP ⊆ P/poly ⇒ PH = Σ<sub>2</sub> (Karp–Lipton theorem)
: NP ⊆ BPP ⇒ NP = RP
: P NP ⇒ FP FNP
Algorithms for solving SAT
Since the SAT problem is NP-complete, only algorithms with exponential worst-case complexity are known for it. In spite of this, efficient and scalable algorithms for SAT were developed during the 2000s and have contributed to dramatic advances in the ability to automatically solve problem instances involving tens of thousands of variables and millions of constraints (i.e. clauses). Examples of such problems in electronic design automation (EDA) include formal equivalence checking, model checking, formal verification of pipelined microprocessors, planning, and scheduling problems, and so on. A SAT-solving engine is also considered to be an essential component in the electronic design automation toolbox.
Major techniques used by modern SAT solvers include the Davis–Putnam–Logemann–Loveland algorithm (or DPLL), conflict-driven clause learning (CDCL), and stochastic local search algorithms such as WalkSAT. Almost all SAT solvers include time-outs, so they will terminate in reasonable time even if they cannot find a solution. Different SAT solvers will find different instances easy or hard, and some excel at proving unsatisfiability, and others at finding solutions. Recent attempts have been made to learn an instance's satisfiability using deep learning techniques.
SAT solvers are developed and compared in SAT-solving contests. Modern SAT solvers are also having significant impact on the fields of software verification, constraint solving in artificial intelligence, and operations research, among others.See also
*Unsatisfiable core
*Satisfiability modulo theories
*Counting SAT
*Planar SAT
*Karloff–Zwick algorithm
*Circuit satisfiability
Notes
External links
* [http://www.cril.univ-artois.fr/~roussel/satgame/satgame.php?lang=eng SAT Game]: try solving a Boolean satisfiability problem yourself
* [http://www.satcompetition.org/ The international SAT competition website]
* [http://www.satisfiability.org/ International Conference on Theory and Applications of Satisfiability Testing]
*
* [http://www.satlive.org SAT Live, an aggregate website for research on the satisfiability problem]
* [http://www.maxsat.udl.cat/ Yearly evaluation of MaxSAT solvers]
References
Sources
* This article includes material from https://web.archive.org/web/20070708233347/http://www.sigda.org/newsletter/2006/eNews_061201.html by Prof. Karem A. Sakallah.
Further reading
(by date of publication)
*
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Category:Boolean algebra
Category:Electronic design automation
Category:Formal methods
Category:Logic in computer science
Category:NP-complete problems
Category:Satisfiability problems
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boolean_satisfiability_problem
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2025-04-05T18:26:56.567888
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Bob Jones University
|
| motto_lang = Latin
| mottoeng = We seek, we trust
| top_free_label <!-- up to |top_free_label2 -->
| top_free <!-- up to |top_free2 -->
| type Private university
| academic_affiliation <!-- or |academic_affiliations -->
| endowment | budget
| officer_in_charge | chair
| chairman | chairperson
| chancellor = Bob Jones III
| president = Joshua Crockett
| vice_president | superintendent
| vice_chancellor | provost Gary Weier
| rector | principal
| director | dean
| head_label | head
| academic_staff 287
| undergrad 2,477
History
, the university's founder]]
During the Fundamentalist-Modernist controversy of the 1920s, Christian evangelist Bob Jones Sr. grew increasingly concerned about what he perceived to be the secularization of higher education and the influence of religious liberalism in denominational colleges. Jones recalled that in 1924, his friend William Jennings Bryan leaned over to him at a Bible conference service in Winona Lake, Indiana, and said, "If schools and colleges do not quit teaching evolution as a fact, we are going to become a nation of atheists." Though Jones was not a college graduate, he was determined to found a college. On September 12, 1927, Jones opened Bob Jones College in Panama City, Florida, with 88 students. Jones said that although he had been averse to naming the school after himself, his friends overcame his reluctance "with the argument that the school would be called by that name because of my connection with it, and to attempt to give it any other name would confuse the people".
Bob Jones took no salary from the college. He supported the school with personal savings and income from his evangelistic campaigns. The Florida land boom had peaked in 1925, and a hurricane in September 1926 further reduced land values. Bob Jones College barely survived bankruptcy and its move to Cleveland, Tennessee, in 1933. In the same year, the college also ended participation in intercollegiate sports. Bankrupt at the nadir of the Depression, without a home and with barely enough money to move its library and office furniture, the college became the largest liberal arts college in Tennessee thirteen years later. With the enactment of the GI Bill at the end of World War II, the need for campus expansion to accommodate increased enrollment led to a relocation to South Carolina.
Though Jones had served as acting president as early as 1934, his son, Bob Jones Jr. became the school's second president in 1947 before the college moved to Greenville, South Carolina, and became Bob Jones University. In Greenville, the university more than doubled in size within two years and started an AM radio station in 1949 (1260 WMUU with 94.5 WMUU-FM signing on in 1960), film department, and art gallery—the latter of which eventually became one of the largest collections of religious art in the Western Hemisphere.
During the late 1950s, BJU and alumnus Billy Graham, who had attended Bob Jones College for one semester in 1936 and received an honorary degree from the university in 1948, had a dispute over the propriety of theological conservatives cooperating with theological liberals to support evangelistic campaigns, a controversy that widened an already growing rift between separatist fundamentalists and other evangelicals. Negative publicity caused by the dispute precipitated a decline in BJU enrollment of about 10% in the years 1956–59, and seven members of the university board (of about a hundred) also resigned in support of Graham, including Graham himself and two of his staff members. When, in 1966, Graham held his only American campaign in Greenville, the university forbade BJU dormitory students to attend under penalty of expulsion. Enrollment quickly rebounded, and by 1970, there were 3,300 students, approximately 60% more than in 1958.
In 1971, Bob Jones III became president at age 32, though his father, with the title of Chancellor, continued to exercise considerable administrative authority into the late 1990s. At the 2005 commencement, Stephen Jones was installed as the fourth president, and Bob Jones III assumed the title of chancellor. Stephen Jones resigned in 2014 for health reasons, and evangelist Steve Pettit was named president, the first president unrelated to the Jones family.
In 2011, the university became a member of the Transnational Association of Christian Colleges and Schools (TRACS) and reinstated intercollegiate athletics. In March 2017, the university regained its federal tax exemption after a complicated restructuring divided the organization into for-profit and non-profit entities, and in June 2017, it was granted accreditation by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.
In March 2023, Pettit resigned, effective May 5, citing his inability to work with the chairman of the university's board of trustees. Shortly thereafter, the president of the board also resigned. Vice President Alan Benson became the interim president for the 2023–24 school year. In May of 2024, Baptist pastor and BJU alumnus Joshua Crockett was elected the university's sixth president.AcademicsThe university comprises seven colleges and schools offering more than 60 undergraduate majors, including fourteen associate degree programs. Many of the university employees consider their positions as much ministries as jobs. It is common for retiring professors to have served the university for more than forty years, a circumstance that has contributed to the stability and conservatism of an institution that has virtually no endowment and at which faculty salaries are "sacrificial".Religious educationSchool of ReligionThe School of Religion includes majors for both men and women, although only men train as ministerial students. Many of these students go on to a seminary after completing their undergraduate education. Others take ministry positions straight from college. In 1995, 1,290 BJU graduates were serving as senior or associate pastors in churches across the United States. In 2017 more than 100 pastors in the Upstate (South Carolina) alone were BJU graduates.
Fine arts
The Division of Fine Arts has the largest faculty of the university's six undergraduate schools. Each year, the university presents an opera in the spring semester and Shakespearean plays in both the fall and spring semesters. The Division of Fine Arts includes an RTV department with a campus radio and television station, WBJU. More than a hundred concerts, recitals, and laboratory theater productions are also presented annually.
Each fall, as a recruiting tool, the university sponsors a "High School Festival" in which students compete in music, art, and speech (including preaching) contests with their peers from around the country. In the spring, a similar competition sponsored by the American Association of Christian Schools, and hosted by BJU since 1977, brings thousands of national finalists to the university from around the country. In 2005, 120 of the finalists from previous years returned to BJU as freshmen.
Science
Bob Jones University supports young-earth creationism, all their biology faculty are young Earth creationists and the university rejects evolution, calling it "at best an unsupportable and unworkable hypothesis".
According to the BJU website, "More than 80% of our premed graduates are accepted to medical or dental school within a year of graduation." The Department of Biology hosts two research programs on campus, one in cancer research, the other in animal behavior. Although ten of the sixteen members of the science faculty have bachelor's degrees from BJU, all earned their doctorates from accredited, non-religious institutions.
The university's nursing major is approved by the South Carolina State Board of Nursing, and a BJU graduate with a BSN is eligible to take the National Council Licensure Examination to become a registered nurse. The BJU engineering program is accredited by the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET).Accreditation and rankingsBob Jones Sr. was leery of academic accreditation almost from the founding of the college, and by the early 1930s, he had publicly stated his opposition to holding regional accreditation. Jones and the college were criticized for this stance, and academic recognition, as well as student and faculty recruitment, were hindered.
In 1944, Jones wrote to John Walvoord of Dallas Theological Seminary that while the university had "no objection to educational work highly standardized…. We, however, cannot conscientiously let some group of educational experts or some committee of experts who may have a behavioristic or atheistic slant on education control or even influence the administrative policies of our college." Five years later, Jones reflected that "it cost us something to stay out of an association, but we stayed out. We have lived up to our convictions."
Because graduates did not benefit from accredited degrees, the faculty felt an increased responsibility to prepare their students. Early in the history of the college, there had been some hesitancy on the part of other institutions to accept BJU credits at face value, but by the 1960s, BJU alumni were being accepted by most of the major graduate and professional schools in the United States. Undoubtedly helpful was that some of the university's strongest programs were in the areas of music, speech, and art, disciplines in which ability could be measured by audition or portfolio rather than through paper qualifications.
Nevertheless, by the early 2000s, the university quietly reexamined its position on accreditation as degree mills proliferated, and some government agencies, such as local police departments, began excluding BJU graduates because the university did not appear on appropriate federal lists. In December 2011, BJU announced its intention to apply for regional accreditation with the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACSCOC), and it received that accreditation in 2017.
In 2017, US News ranked BJU as #61 (tie) in Regional Universities South and #7 in Best Value Schools.
Political involvement
As a twelve-year-old, Bob Jones Sr. made a twenty-minute speech in defense of the Populist Party. Jones was a friend and admirer of William Jennings Bryan but also campaigned throughout the South for Herbert Hoover (and against Al Smith) during the 1928 presidential election. The authorized history of BJU notes that both Bob Jones Sr. and Bob Jones Jr. "played political hardball" when dealing with the three municipalities in which the school was successively located. For instance, in 1962, Bob Jones Sr. warned the Greenville City Council that he had "four hundred votes in his pocket and in any election he would have control over who would be elected."
Bob Jones Sr.'s April 17, 1960, Easter Sunday sermon, broadcast on the radio, entitled "Is Segregation Scriptural?" served as the university position paper on race in the 60s, 70s, and 80s. The transcript was sent in pamphlet form in fund-raising letters and sold in the university bookstore. In the sermon, Jones states, "If you are against segregation and against racial separation, then you are against God Almighty." The school began a long history of supporting politicians who were considered aligned with racial segregation.Republican Party ties
and Strom Thurmond both played influential roles in the political life of BJU.]]
From nearly the inception of Bob Jones College, a majority of students and faculty were from the northern United States, where there was a larger ratio of Republicans to Democrats than in the South (which was solidly Democratic). Therefore, almost from its founding year, BJU had a larger portion of Republicans than the surrounding community. After South Carolina Senator Strom Thurmond switched his allegiance to the Republican Party in 1964, BJU faculty members became increasingly influential in the new state Republican party. BJU alumni were elected to local political and party offices. In 1976, candidates supported by BJU faculty and alumni captured the local Republican party with unfortunate short-term political consequences, but by 1980 the religious right and the "country club" Republicans had joined forces. From then on, most Republican candidates for local and statewide offices sought the endorsement of Bob Jones III and greeted faculty/staff voters at the University Dining Common.
National Republicans soon followed. Ronald Reagan spoke at the school in 1980, although the Joneses supported his opponent, John Connally, in the South Carolina primary. Later, Bob Jones III denounced Reagan as "a traitor to God's people" for choosing George H. W. Bush—whom Jones called a "devil"—as his vice president. Even later, Jones III shook Bush's hand and thanked him for being a good president. In the 1990s, other Republicans such as Dan Quayle, Pat Buchanan, Phil Gramm, Bob Dole, and Alan Keyes also spoke at BJU. Democrats were rarely invited to speak at the university, in part because they took political and social positions (especially support for abortion rights) opposed by the Religious Right.
2000 election
On February 2, 2000, then Texas Governor George W. Bush, as a candidate for president, spoke during school's chapel hour. His political opponents quickly noted his non-mention of the university's ban on interracial dating. During the Michigan primary, Bush was also criticized for not stating his opposition to the university's anti-Catholicism. The McCain campaign targeted Catholics with "Catholic Voter Alert" phone calls, reminding voters of Bush's visit to BJU. New York Republican Representative Peter King, who was supporting John McCain in the presidential primary, called Bush a tool of "anti-Catholic bigoted forces", after the visit. King described BJU as "an institution that is notorious in Ireland for awarding an honorary doctorate to Northern Ireland's tempestuous Protestant leader, Ian Paisley." Bush denied that he either knew of or approved what he regarded as BJU's intolerant policies. On February 26, Bush issued a formal letter of apology to Cardinal John Joseph O'Connor of New York for failing to denounce Bob Jones University's history of anti-Catholic statements. Bush said at a news conference following the letter's release, "I make no excuses. I had an opportunity and I missed it. I regret that....I wish I had gotten up then and seized the moment to set a tone, a tone that I had set in Texas, a positive and inclusive tone."
Withdrawal from politics
Although the March 2007 issue of Foreign Policy listed BJU as one of "The World's Most Controversial Religious Sites" because of its past influence on American politics, BJU has seen little political controversy since Stephen Jones became president. When asked by a Newsweek reporter if he wished to play a political role, Stephen Jones replied, "It would not be my choice." Further, when asked if he felt ideologically closer to his father's engagement with politics or to other evangelicals who have tried to avoid civic involvement, Jones answered, "The gospel is for individuals. The main message we have is to individuals. We're not here to save the culture." In a 2005 Washington Post interview, Jones dodged political questions and even admitted that he was embarrassed by "some of the more vitriolic comments" made by his predecessors. "I don't want to get specific," Jones said, "But there were things said back then that I wouldn't say today." Despite a hotly contested South Carolina primary, none of the candidates appeared on the platform of BJU's Founders' Memorial Amphitorium during the 2008 election cycle. In April 2008, Stephen Jones told a reporter, "I don't think I have a political bone in my body."Renewed political engagement
In 2015 BJU reemerged as a campaign stop for conservative Republicans. Ben Carson and Ted Cruz held large on-campus rallies on two successive days in November. BJU president Steve Pettit met with Marco Rubio, Rick Perry, Mike Huckabee, and Scott Walker. Jeb Bush, Carson, Cruz, and Rubio also appeared at a 2016 Republican presidential forum at BJU. Chip Felkel, a Greenville Republican consultant, noted that some candidates closely identified "with the folks at Bob Jones. So it makes sense for them to want to be there." Nevertheless, unlike BJU's earlier periods of political involvement, Pettit did not endorse a candidate.
According to Furman University political science professor Jim Guth, because Greenville has grown so much recently, it is unlikely BJU will ever again have the same political influence it had between the 1960s and the 1980s. Nevertheless, about a quarter of all BJU graduates continue to live in the Upstate, and as long-time mayor Knox White has said, "The alumni have had a big impact on every profession and walk of life in Greenville."
Campus
The university occupies 205 acres at the eastern city limit of Greenville. The institution moved into its initial 25 buildings during the 1947–48 school year, and later buildings were also faced with the light yellow brick chosen for the originals.
Museum and gallery
Bob Jones Jr. was a connoisseur of European art from his teen years and began collecting after World War II on about $30,000 a year authorized by the University Board of Directors. Jones first concentrated on the Italian Baroque, a style then out of favor and relatively inexpensive in the years immediately following the war. The museum also includes a variety of Holy Land antiquities. The museum also includes a variety of Holy Land antiquities collected in the early 20th century by missionaries Frank and Barbara Bowen.
BJU has been criticized by some fundamentalists for promoting "false Catholic doctrine" through its art gallery because much of Baroque art was created for the Counter-Reformation.
A painting by Lucas van Leyden that had been displayed in the gallery's collection for more than ten years and had been consigned to Sotheby's for sale was recognized by Interpol as art that had been stolen by the Nazis from the Mittelrhein-Museum in Koblenz. The painting was eventually returned to Germany after months of negotiations between the Mittelrhein-Museum and Julius H. Weitzner, a dealer in Old Master paintings.
After the death of Bob Jones Jr., Erin Jones, the wife of BJU president Stephen Jones, became director. According to David Steel, curator of European art at the North Carolina Museum of Art, Erin Jones "brought that museum into the modern era", employing "a top-notch curator, John Nolan", and following "best practices in conservation and restoration". The museum cooperates with other institutions, lending works for outside shows such as a Rembrandt exhibit in 2011. In February 2017, the Museum & Gallery closed both locations permanently. In 2018, the museum announced that a new home would be built at a yet undetermined located off the BJU campus. In 2021, Erin Jones said the museum was exploring a permanent home near the proposed downtown conference center.LibraryThe Mack Library (named for John Sephus Mack) holds a collection of more than 300,000 books and includes seating for 1,200 as well as a computer lab and a computer classroom. (Its ancillary, a music library, is included in the Gustafson Fine Arts Center.) Mack Library's Special Collections includes an American Hymnody Collection of about 700 titles. The "Jerusalem Chamber" is a replica of the room in Westminster Abbey in which work on the King James Version of the Bible was conducted, and it displays a collection of rare Bibles. An adjoining Memorabilia Room commemorates the life of Bob Jones Sr. and the history of the university.
The library's Fundamentalism File collects periodical articles and ephemera about social and religious matters of interest to evangelicals and fundamentalists. The University Archives holds copies of all university publications, oral histories of faculty and staff members, surviving remnants of university correspondence, and pictures and artifacts related to the Jones family and the history of the university.
Ancillary ministries
Unusual Films
Both Bob Jones Sr. and Bob Jones Jr. believed that film could be an excellent medium for mass evangelism, and in 1950, the university established Unusual Films within the School of Fine Arts. (The studio name derives from a former BJU promotional slogan, "The World's Most Unusual University".) Bob Jones Jr. selected a speech teacher, Katherine Stenholm, as the first director. Although she had no experience in cinema, she took summer courses at the University of Southern California and received personal instruction from Hollywood specialists, such as Rudolph Sternad.
Unusual Films has produced seven feature-length films, each with an evangelistic emphasis: Wine of Morning, Red Runs the River, Flame in the Wind, Sheffey, Beyond the Night, The Printing, and Milltown Pride. Wine of Morning (1955), based on a novel by Bob Jones Jr., represented the United States at the Cannes Film Festival. The first four films are historical dramas set, respectively, in the time of Christ, the U.S. Civil War, 16th-century Spain, and the late 19th-century South—the latter a fictionalized treatment of the life of Methodist evangelist, Robert Sayers Sheffey. Beyond the Night closely follows an actual 20th-century missionary saga in Central Africa, and The Printing uses composite characters to portray the persecution of believers in the former Soviet Union. According to The Dove Foundation, The Printing "no doubt will urge Christian believers everywhere to appreciate the freedoms they enjoy. It is inspiring!" In 1999, Unusual Films began producing feature films for children, including The Treasure Map, Project Dinosaur, and Appalachian Trial.<!-- Not a typo. -->
BJU Press
BJU Press originated from the need for textbooks for the burgeoning Christian school movement. The press publishes a full range of K–12 textbooks.
BJU Press also offers distance learning courses online, via DVD and hard drive. Another ancillary, the Academy of Home Education, is a "service organization for homeschooling families" that maintains student records, administers achievement testing, and issues high school diplomas. The press sold its music division, SoundForth, to Lorenz Publishing on October 1, 2012.Pre-college programs
The university operates Bob Jones Academy, which enrolls students from preschool through 12th grade. With about 1100 students, the school's demographic makeup leans heavily white (90.3%), with non-Black minorities making up the bulk of other ethnicities. Black students make up 0.5% of enrollment.ControversiesSexual abuse reportsIn December 2011, in response to accusations of mishandling of student reports of sexual abuse (most of which had occurred in their home churches when the students were minors) and a concurrent reporting issue at a church pastored by a university board member, the BJU board of trustees hired an independent ombudsman, GRACE (Godly Response to Abuse in the Christian Environment), to investigate. Released in December 2014, the GRACE report suggested that BJU had discouraged students from reporting past sexual abuse, and though the university declined to implement many of the report's recommendations, President Steve Pettit formally apologized "to those who felt they did not receive from us genuine love, compassion, understanding, and support after suffering sexual abuse or assault". The university's mishandling of sexual abuse in the past came into light again in August 2020 when a student filed a lawsuit against Bob Jones University and Furman University alleging both administrations ignored the sexual assault report and expelled the student for consuming alcohol, which is against the Student Code of Conduct handbook.
Racial policies and ban on interracial dating
Although BJU had admitted Asian students and other ethnic groups from its inception, it did not enroll Black students until 1971. From 1971 to 1975, BJU admitted only married Black people. However, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) had already determined in 1970 that "private schools with racially discriminatory admissions policies" were not entitled to federal tax exemption. In 1975, the University Board of Trustees authorized a policy change to admit Black students, a move that occurred shortly before the announcement of the Supreme Court decision in Runyon v. McCrary (427 U.S. 160 [1976]), which prohibited racial exclusion in private schools. In May 1975, BJU expanded rules against interracial dating and marriage.
In 1976, the Internal Revenue Service revoked the university's tax exemption retroactively to December 1, 1970, because it practiced racial discrimination. The case was heard by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1982. After BJU lost the decision in Bob Jones University v. United States (461 U.S. 574)[1983], the university chose to maintain its interracial dating policy and pay a million dollars in back taxes. The year following the Court decision, contributions to the university declined by 13 percent. In 2000, following a media uproar prompted by the visit of presidential candidate George W. Bush to the university, Bob Jones III dropped the university's interracial dating rule, announcing the change on CNN's Larry King Live. In the same year, Bob Jones III drew criticism after reposting a letter on the university's web page referring to Mormons and Catholics as being members of "cults which call themselves Christian".
In 2005, Stephen Jones, great-grandson of the founder, became BJU's president. Bob Jones III then took the title Chancellor. In 2008, the university declared itself "profoundly sorry" for having allowed "institutional policies to remain in place that were racially hurtful". That year, BJU enrolled students from fifty states and nearly fifty countries, representing diverse ethnicities and cultures, and the BJU administration declared itself "committed to maintaining on the campus the racial and cultural diversity and harmony characteristic of the true Church of Jesus Christ throughout the world".
In his first meeting with the university cabinet in 2014, the fifth president Steve Pettit said it was appropriate for BJU to regain its tax-exempt status because BJU no longer held its earlier positions about race. "The Bible is clear," said Pettit, "We are made of one blood." By February 17, 2017, the IRS website had listed the university as a 501(c)(3) organization, and by May 2017, BJU had forged a working relationship with Greenville's Phillis Wheatley Center. In 2017, 9% of the student body was "from the American minority population".
Student life
Religious atmosphere
{| class"toccolours" style"float: right; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 2em; font-size: 85%; background:#c6dbf7; color:black; width:50em; max-width: 75%;" cellspacing="5"
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"I believe in the inspiration of the Bible (both the Old and the New Testaments); the creation of man by the direct act of God; the incarnation and virgin birth of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ; His identification as the Son of God; His vicarious atonement for the sins of mankind by the shedding of His blood on the cross; the resurrection of His body from the tomb; His power to save men from sin; the new birth through the regeneration by the Holy Spirit; and the gift of eternal life by the grace of God."
|-
| style="text-align: left;"|— BJU Creed
|}
Religion is a major aspect of life and curriculum at BJU. The BJU Creed, written in 1927 by journalist and prohibitionist Sam Small, is recited by students and faculty four days a week at chapel services.
The university also encourages church planting in areas of the United States "in great need of fundamental churches", and it has provided financial and logistical assistance to ministerial graduates in starting more than a hundred new churches. Bob Jones III has also encouraged non-ministerial students to put their career plans on hold for two or three years to provide lay leadership for small churches. Students of various majors participate in Missions Advance (formerly Mission Prayer Band), an organization that prays for missionaries and attempts to stimulate campus interest in world evangelism. During summers and Christmas breaks, about 150 students participate in teams that promote Christian missions around the world. Through its "Timothy Fund", the university also sponsors international students who are training for the ministry.
The university requires the use of the King James Version (KJV) of the Bible in its services and classrooms, but it does not hold that the KJV is the only acceptable English translation or that it has the same authority as the original Hebrew and Greek manuscripts. The university's position has been criticized by some other fundamentalists, including fellow conservative university Pensacola Christian College, which in 1998 produced a widely distributed videotape which argued that this "defiling leaven in fundamentalism" was passed from the 19th-century Princeton theologian Benjamin B. Warfield through Charles Brokenshire to current BJU faculty members and graduates.
Rules of conduct
Strict rules govern student life at BJU. The 2015–16 Student Handbook states, "Students are to avoid any types of entertainment that could be considered immodest or that contain profanity, scatological realism, sexual perversion, erotic realism, lurid violence, occultism and false philosophical or religious assumptions." Grounds for immediate dismissal include stealing, immorality (including sex between unmarried students), possession of hard-core pornography, use of alcohol or drugs, and participating in a public demonstration for a cause the university opposes. Similar "moral failures" are grounds for terminating the employment of faculty and staff. In 1998, a homosexual alumnus was threatened with arrest if he visited the campus.
Men are allowed to wear polo shirts or dress shirts on weekdays until 17:00. Effective in 2018, women are no longer required to wear skirts or dresses and can now wear pants. They are also required to attend chapel three days a week, as well as at least two services per week at an approved "local fundamental church". In 2008 a campus spokesperson said that one goal of the dress code was "to teach our young people to dress professionally" on campus while giving them "the ability to...choose within the biblically accepted options of dress" when they were off campus.
Additional rules include requiring resident hall students to abide by a campus curfew of 11:00 pm on class days and 12:00 am on weekends. Students are requested to not go to movie theaters while in residence; however, they may watch movies rated G or PG while in the residence halls. Students are requested not to listen to popular contemporary music. Male students and graduate students may have facial hair that is neatly trimmed and well maintained at approximately ½ inch or less. Women are expected to dress modestly and wear business casual style clothing to class and religious services.
Extracurriculars
After BJU abandoned intercollegiate sports in 1933, its intramural sports program included competition in soccer, basketball, softball, volleyball, tennis, badminton, flag football, table tennis, racquetball, and water polo. The university also competed in intercollegiate debate within the National Educational Debate Association, in intercollegiate mock trial and computer science competitions, and participated at South Carolina Student Legislature. In 2012, BJU joined Division I of National Christian College Athletic Association (NCCAA) and in 2014 participated in intercollegiate soccer, basketball, cross-country, and golf. The teams are known as the Bruins.
The university requires all unmarried incoming first-year students under 23 to join one of 45 "societies". Societies meet most Fridays for entertainment and fellowship and hold weekly prayer meetings. Societies compete with one another in intramural sports, debate, and Scholastic Bowl. The university also has a student-staffed newspaper (The Collegian), and yearbook (Vintage).
Early in December, thousands of students, faculty, and visitors gather around the front campus fountain for an annual Christmas carol singing and lighting ceremony, illuminating tens of thousands of Christmas lights. On December 3, 2004, the ceremony broke the Guinness World Record for Christmas caroling with 7,514 carolers.
Before 2015, the university required students and faculty to attend a six-day Bible Conference instead of a traditional Spring Break. However, the university announced that beginning in 2016, it would hold the Bible Conference in February and give students a week of Spring Break in March. The Conference typically attracts fundamentalist preachers and laypeople from around the country, and some BJU class reunions are held during the week.Athletics
The Bob Jones (BJU) athletic teams are called the Bruins. The university is a member of the National Christian College Athletic Association (NCCAA), primarily competing in the South Region of the Division II level.
The Bruins previously competed as a member of the NCAA Division III ranks, primarily competing as an NCAA D-III Independent from 2020–21 to 2022–23.
BJU competes in 11 intercollegiate varsity sports. Men's sports include basketball, baseball, cross-country, golf, soccer, and track & field, while women's sports include basketball, cross-country, soccer, track & field, and volleyball.
History
In 2012, the university inaugurated intercollegiate athletics with four teams: men's soccer, men's basketball, women's soccer, and women's basketball. The university added intercollegiate golf and cross-country teams during the 2013–2014 school year. Men's and women's shooting sports were added in 2016. Men's baseball began in the spring of 2021, and women's beach volleyball started in the spring of 2022. Director of athletics Neal Ring resigned in 2023; he had overseen Bruins Athletics since inception.
Through its first 11 seasons, the athletic department amassed 22 NCCAA National Championships, nearly 100 All-Americans, and over 200 Scholar-Athletes. Bruins Athletics also received six straight Presidential Awards for Excellence, honoring the most successful NCCAA DII athletics program.
Move to NCAA Division III
In 2018, BJU explored National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) membership and applied for it in January 2020. The Bruins were accepted as Division III provisional members in June for three years, making it the only Division III school in the state. The school has been searching for a conference.
Notable people
Alumni
<!-- Please do not add more people here unless of earth-shaking importance. Rather add them to the larger list in List of Bob Jones University people.-->
A number of BJU graduates have become influential within evangelical Christianity, including Ken Hay (founder of "The Wilds" Christian camps) Ron "Patch" Hamilton (composer and president of Majesty Music) Billy Kim (former president of Baptist World Alliance), and Moisés Silva (president of the Evangelical Theological Society). BJU alumni also include the third pastor (1968–1976) of Riverside Church (Ernest T. Campbell), the former president of Northland Baptist Bible College (Les Ollila), late president of Baptist Bible College (Ernest Pickering), and the former president of Clearwater Christian College (Richard Stratton).
BJU alumnus, Asa Hutchinson, served as the governor of Arkansas and also served in the U.S. Congress; his brother Tim Hutchinson served in the U.S. Senate. Others have served in state government: Michigan state senator Alan Cropsey, Pennsylvania state representative Gordon Denlinger, Pennsylvania state representative Mark M. Gillen, former Speaker Pro Tempore of the South Carolina House of Representatives Terry Haskins, member of the South Carolina House of Representatives Wendy Nanney, Pennsylvania state representative Sam Rohrer, member of the Missouri House of Representatives Ryan Silvey, Maryland state senator Bryan Simonaire and his daughter, state delegate Meagan Simonaire, and South Carolina state senator Danny Verdin.ReferencesBibliography*
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* External links
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* [http://www.bjubruins.com Official athletics website]
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British Empire
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The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas possessions and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries, and colonisation attempts by Scotland during the 17th century. At its height in the 19th and early 20th centuries, it became the largest empire in history and, for a century, was the foremost global power. By 1913, the British Empire held sway over 412 million people, of the world population at the time, and by 1920, it covered , of the Earth's total land area. As a result, its constitutional, legal, linguistic, and cultural legacy is widespread. At the peak of its power, it was described as "the empire on which the sun never sets", as the sun was always shining on at least one of its territories.
During the Age of Discovery in the 15th and 16th centuries, Portugal and Spain pioneered European exploration of the globe, and in the process established large overseas empires. Envious of the great wealth these empires generated, England, France, and the Netherlands began to establish colonies and trade networks of their own in the Americas and Asia. A series of wars in the 17th and 18th centuries with the Netherlands and France left Britain the dominant colonial power in North America. Britain became a major power in the Indian subcontinent after the East India Company's conquest of Mughal Bengal at the Battle of Plassey in 1757.
The American War of Independence resulted in Britain losing some of its oldest and most populous colonies in North America by 1783. While retaining control of British North America (now Canada) and territories in and near the Caribbean in the British West Indies, British colonial expansion turned towards Asia, Africa, and the Pacific. After the defeat of France in the Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815), Britain emerged as the principal naval and imperial power of the 19th century and expanded its imperial holdings. It pursued trade concessions in China and Japan, and territory in Southeast Asia. The Great Game and Scramble for Africa also ensued. The period of relative peace (1815–1914) during which the British Empire became the global hegemon was later described as (Latin for "British Peace"). Alongside the formal control that Britain exerted over its colonies, its dominance of much of world trade, and of its oceans, meant that it effectively controlled the economies of, and readily enforced its interests in, many regions, such as Asia and Latin America. It also came to dominate the Middle East. Increasing degrees of autonomy were granted to its white settler colonies, some of which were formally reclassified as Dominions by the 1920s. By the start of the 20th century, Germany and the United States had begun to challenge Britain's economic lead. Military, economic and colonial tensions between Britain and Germany were major causes of the First World War, during which Britain relied heavily on its empire. The conflict placed enormous strain on its military, financial, and manpower resources. Although the empire achieved its largest territorial extent immediately after the First World War, Britain was no longer the world's preeminent industrial or military power.
In the Second World War, Britain's colonies in East Asia and Southeast Asia were occupied by the Empire of Japan. Despite the final victory of Britain and its allies, the damage to British prestige and the British economy helped accelerate the decline of the empire. India, Britain's most valuable and populous possession, achieved independence in 1947 as part of a larger decolonisation movement, in which Britain granted independence to most territories of the empire. The Suez Crisis of 1956 confirmed Britain's decline as a global power, and the handover of Hong Kong to China on 1 July 1997 symbolised for many the end of the British Empire, though fourteen overseas territories that are remnants of the empire remain under British sovereignty. After independence, many former British colonies, along with most of the dominions, joined the Commonwealth of Nations, a free association of independent states. Fifteen of these, including the United Kingdom, retain the same person as monarch, currently King Charles III.
Origins (1497–1583)
'', John Cabot's ship used for his second voyage to the New World in 1497]]
The foundations of the British Empire were laid when England and Scotland were separate kingdoms. In 1496, King Henry VII of England, following the successes of Spain and Portugal in overseas exploration, commissioned John Cabot to lead an expedition to discover a northwest passage to Asia via the North Atlantic. Cabot sailed in 1497, five years after the first voyage of Christopher Columbus, and made landfall on the coast of Newfoundland. He believed he had reached Asia, and there was no attempt to found a colony. Cabot led another voyage to the Americas the following year but did not return; it is unknown what happened to his ships.
No further attempts to establish English colonies in the Americas were made until well into the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, during the last decades of the 16th century. In the meantime, Henry VIII's 1533 Statute in Restraint of Appeals had declared "that this realm of England is an Empire". The Protestant Reformation turned England and Catholic Spain into implacable enemies. In 1562, Elizabeth I encouraged the privateers John Hawkins and Francis Drake to engage in slave-raiding attacks against Spanish and Portuguese ships off the coast of West Africa with the aim of establishing an Atlantic slave trade. This effort was rebuffed and later, as the Anglo-Spanish Wars intensified, Elizabeth I gave her blessing to further privateering raids against Spanish ports in the Americas and shipping that was returning across the Atlantic, laden with treasure from the New World. At the same time, influential writers such as Richard Hakluyt and John Dee (who was the first to use the term "British Empire") were beginning to press for the establishment of England's own empire. By this time, Spain had become the dominant power in the Americas and was exploring the Pacific Ocean, Portugal had established trading posts and forts from the coasts of Africa and Brazil to China, and France had begun to settle the Saint Lawrence River area, later to become New France.
Although England tended to trail behind Portugal, Spain, and France in establishing overseas colonies, it carried out its first modern colonisation, referred to as the Munster Plantations, in 16th century Ireland by settling it with English and Welsh Protestant settlers. England had already colonised part of the country following the Norman invasion of Ireland in 1169. Several people who helped establish the Munster plantations later played a part in the early colonisation of North America, particularly a group known as the West Country Men. English overseas possessions (1583–1707)
In 1578, Elizabeth I granted a patent to Humphrey Gilbert for discovery and overseas exploration. That year, Gilbert sailed for the Caribbean with the intention of engaging in piracy and establishing a colony in North America, but the expedition was aborted before it had crossed the Atlantic. In 1583, he embarked on a second attempt. On this occasion, he formally claimed the harbour of the island of Newfoundland, although no settlers were left behind. Gilbert did not survive the return journey to England and was succeeded by his half-brother, Walter Raleigh, who was granted his own patent by Elizabeth in 1584. Later that year, Raleigh founded the Roanoke Colony on the coast of present-day North Carolina, but lack of supplies caused the colony to fail.
In 1603, James VI of Scotland ascended (as James I) to the English throne and in 1604 negotiated the Treaty of London, ending hostilities with Spain. Now at peace with its main rival, English attention shifted from preying on other nations' colonial infrastructures to the business of establishing its own overseas colonies. The British Empire began to take shape during the early 17th century, with the English settlement of North America and the smaller islands of the Caribbean, and the establishment of joint-stock companies, most notably the East India Company, to administer colonies and overseas trade. This period, until the loss of the Thirteen Colonies after the American War of Independence towards the end of the 18th century, has been referred to by some historians as the "First British Empire".
Americas, Africa and the slave trade
in British America]]
England's early efforts at colonisation in the Americas met with mixed success. An attempt to establish a colony in Guiana in 1604 lasted only two years and failed in its main objective to find gold deposits. Colonies on the Caribbean islands of St Lucia (1605) and Grenada (1609) rapidly folded. The first permanent English settlement in the Americas was founded in 1607 in Jamestown by Captain John Smith, and managed by the Virginia Company; the Crown took direct control of the venture in 1624, thereby founding the Colony of Virginia. Bermuda was settled and claimed by England as a result of the 1609 shipwreck of the Virginia Company's flagship, while attempts to settle Newfoundland were largely unsuccessful. In 1620, Plymouth was founded as a haven by Puritan religious separatists, later known as the Pilgrims. Fleeing from religious persecution would become the motive for many English would-be colonists to risk the arduous trans-Atlantic voyage: Maryland was established by English Roman Catholics (1634), Rhode Island (1636) as a colony tolerant of all religions and Connecticut (1639) for Congregationalists. England's North American holdings were further expanded by the annexation of the Dutch colony of New Netherland in 1664, following the capture of New Amsterdam, which was renamed New York. Although less financially successful than colonies in the Caribbean, these territories had large areas of good agricultural land and attracted far greater numbers of English emigrants, who preferred their temperate climates.<!-- Insert some discussion of interaction with Native Indians here -->
The British West Indies initially provided England's most important and lucrative colonies. Settlements were successfully established in St. Kitts (1624), Barbados (1627) and Nevis (1628), but struggled until the "Sugar Revolution" transformed the Caribbean economy in the mid-17th century. Large sugarcane plantations were first established in the 1640s on Barbados, with assistance from Dutch merchants and Sephardic Jews fleeing Portuguese Brazil. At first, sugar was grown primarily using white indentured labour, but rising costs soon led English traders to embrace the use of imported African slaves. The enormous wealth generated by slave-produced sugar made Barbados the most successful colony in the Americas, and one of the most densely populated places in the world. Ships registered in Bristol, Liverpool and London were responsible for the bulk of British slave trading. For the transported, harsh and unhygienic conditions on the slaving ships and poor diets meant that the average mortality rate during the Middle Passage was one in seven. Rivalry with other European empires
in Madras, India was founded in 1639.]]
At the end of the 16th century, England and the Dutch Empire began to challenge the Portuguese Empire's monopoly of trade with Asia, forming private joint-stock companies to finance the voyages—the English, later British, East India Company and the Dutch East India Company, chartered in 1600 and 1602 respectively. The primary aim of these companies was to tap into the lucrative spice trade, an effort focused mainly on two regions: the East Indies archipelago, and an important hub in the trade network, India. There, they competed for trade supremacy with Portugal and with each other. Although England eclipsed the Netherlands as a colonial power, in the short term the Netherlands' more advanced financial system and the three Anglo-Dutch Wars of the 17th century left it with a stronger position in Asia. Hostilities ceased after the Glorious Revolution of 1688 when the Dutch William of Orange ascended the English throne, bringing peace between the Dutch Republic and England. A deal between the two nations left the spice trade of the East Indies archipelago to the Netherlands and the textiles industry of India to England, but textiles soon overtook spices in terms of profitability.
Peace between England and the Netherlands in 1688 meant the two countries entered the Nine Years' War as allies, but the conflict—waged in Europe and overseas between France, Spain and the Anglo-Dutch alliance—left the English a stronger colonial power than the Dutch, who were forced to devote a larger proportion of their military budget to the costly land war in Europe. The death of Charles II of Spain in 1700 and his bequeathal of Spain and its colonial empire to Philip V of Spain, a grandson of the King of France, raised the prospect of the unification of France, Spain and their respective colonies, an unacceptable state of affairs for England and the other powers of Europe. In 1701, England, Portugal and the Netherlands sided with the Holy Roman Empire against Spain and France in the War of the Spanish Succession, which lasted for thirteen years. Colonies and territories of Scotland (1629–1707)
Colonisation attempts by the Kingdom of Scotland predates the establishment of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and the British Empire. During the 17th century, the Kingdom of Scotland made attempts to establish trading schemes in Ireland and Canada. Nova Scotia, today a province of Canada, was a short lived scheme in the Mi'kmaq people territory. Additionally, there was a high number of Scots in Ireland, particularly in the region of Ulster, who settled there as planters.
North America
The first documented Scottish settlement in the Americas was of Nova Scotia in 1629. On 29 September 1621, the charter for the foundation of a colony was granted by James VI of Scotland to Sir William Alexander. Between 1622 and 1628, Sir William launched four attempts to send colonists to Nova Scotia; all failed for various reasons. A successful settlement of Nova Scotia was finally achieved in 1629. The colony's charter, in law, made Nova Scotia (defined as all land between Newfoundland and New England; i.e., The Maritimes) a part of mainland Scotland; this was later used to get around the English navigation acts.
As a country, Scotland engaged in two ventures in an attempt to establish colonies within English colonies during the 1680s in Carolina and East New Jersey. The attempt to establish themselves in Carolina was largely in part due to Scottish Presbyterians fleeing from the threat of religious persecution in Scotland, and were assisted in their efforts by Scottish merchants who were aiming to develop transatlantic trade which was not subjected to the English Navigation Acts. The Act restricted Scottish trade with English colonies. Scottish settlement attempts in Carolina began in 1682, and was eventually defeated by the dissolution of the Scottish settlement of Stewartstoun, which was established in 1684, by the Spanish in 1686.South AmericaIn 1695, the Parliament of Scotland granted a charter to the Company of Scotland, which established a settlement in 1698 on the Isthmus of Panama. Besieged by neighbouring Spanish colonists of New Granada, and affected by malaria, the colony was abandoned two years later. The Darien scheme was a financial disaster for Scotland: a quarter of Scottish capital was lost in the enterprise. The episode had major political consequences, helping to persuade the government of the Kingdom of Scotland of the merits of turning the personal union with England into a political and economic one under the Kingdom of Great Britain established by the Acts of Union 1707. British Empire (1707–1783)
's victory at the Battle of Plassey established the East India Company as both a military and commercial power.]]
The 18th century saw the newly united Great Britain rise to be the world's dominant colonial power, with France becoming its main rival on the imperial stage. Great Britain, Portugal, the Netherlands, and the Holy Roman Empire continued the War of the Spanish Succession, which lasted until 1714 and was concluded by the Treaty of Utrecht. Philip V of Spain renounced his and his descendants' claim to the French throne, and Spain lost its empire in Europe. The British Empire was territorially enlarged: from France, Britain gained Newfoundland and Acadia, and from Spain, Gibraltar and Menorca. Gibraltar became a critical naval base and allowed Britain to control the Atlantic entry and exit point to the Mediterranean. Spain ceded the rights to the lucrative asiento (permission to sell African slaves in Spanish America) to Britain. With the outbreak of the Anglo-Spanish War of Jenkins' Ear in 1739, Spanish privateers attacked British merchant shipping along the Triangle Trade routes. In 1746, the Spanish and British began peace talks, with the King of Spain agreeing to stop all attacks on British shipping; however, in the 1750 Treaty of Madrid Britain lost its slave-trading rights in Latin America.
In the East Indies, British and Dutch merchants continued to compete in spices and textiles. With textiles becoming the larger trade, by 1720, in terms of sales, the British company had overtaken the Dutch. During the middle decades of the 18th century, there were several outbreaks of military conflict on the Indian subcontinent, as the English East India Company and its French counterpart, struggled alongside local rulers to fill the vacuum that had been left by the decline of the Mughal Empire. The Battle of Plassey in 1757, in which the British defeated the Nawab of Bengal and his French allies, left the British East India Company in control of Bengal and as a major military and political power in India. France was left control of its enclaves but with military restrictions and an obligation to support British client states, ending French hopes of controlling India. In the following decades the British East India Company gradually increased the size of the territories under its control, either ruling directly or via local rulers under the threat of force from the Presidency Armies, the vast majority of which was composed of Indian sepoys, led by British officers. The British and French struggles in India became but one theatre of the global Seven Years' War (1756–1763) involving France, Britain, and the other major European powers.
The signing of the Treaty of Paris of 1763 had important consequences for the future of the British Empire. In North America, France's future as a colonial power effectively ended with the recognition of British claims to Rupert's Land, and the ceding of New France to Britain (leaving a sizeable French-speaking population under British control) and Louisiana to Spain. Spain ceded Florida to Britain. Along with its victory over France in India, the Seven Years' War therefore left Britain as the world's most powerful maritime power.
Loss of the Thirteen American Colonies
During the 1760s and early 1770s, relations between the Thirteen Colonies and Britain became increasingly strained, primarily because of resentment of the British Parliament's attempts to govern and tax American colonists without their consent. This was summarised at the time by the colonists' slogan "No taxation without representation", a perceived violation of the guaranteed Rights of Englishmen. The American Revolution began with a rejection of Parliamentary authority and moves towards self-government. In response, Britain sent troops to reimpose direct rule, leading to the outbreak of war in 1775. The following year, in 1776, the Second Continental Congress issued the Declaration of Independence proclaiming the colonies' sovereignty from the British Empire as the new United States of America. The entry of French and Spanish forces into the war tipped the military balance in the Americans' favour and after a decisive defeat at Yorktown in 1781, Britain began negotiating peace terms. American independence was acknowledged at the Peace of Paris in 1783.
The loss of such a large portion of British America, at the time Britain's most populous overseas possession, is seen by some historians as the event defining the transition between the first and second empires, in which Britain shifted its attention away from the Americas to Asia, the Pacific and later Africa. Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations, published in 1776, had argued that colonies were redundant, and that free trade should replace the old mercantilist policies that had characterised the first period of colonial expansion, dating back to the protectionism of Spain and Portugal. The growth of trade between the newly independent United States and Britain after 1783 seemed to confirm Smith's view that political control was not necessary for economic success.
The war to the south influenced British policy in Canada, where between 40,000 and 100,000 defeated Loyalists had migrated from the new United States following independence. The 14,000 Loyalists who went to the Saint John and Saint Croix river valleys, then part of Nova Scotia, felt too far removed from the provincial government in Halifax, so London split off New Brunswick as a separate colony in 1784. The Constitutional Act 1791 created the provinces of Upper Canada (mainly English speaking) and Lower Canada (mainly French-speaking) to defuse tensions between the French and British communities, and implemented governmental systems similar to those employed in Britain, with the intention of asserting imperial authority and not allowing the sort of popular control of government that was perceived to have led to the American Revolution.
Tensions between Britain and the United States escalated again during the Napoleonic Wars, as Britain tried to cut off American trade with France and boarded American ships to impress men into the Royal Navy. The United States Congress declared war, the War of 1812, and invaded Canadian territory. In response, Britain invaded the US, but the pre-war boundaries were reaffirmed by the 1814 Treaty of Ghent, ensuring Canada's future would be separate from that of the United States.
British Empire (1783–1815)
Exploration of the Pacific
'' by Nathaniel Dance-Holland, 1775. James Cook's mission was to find the alleged southern continent Terra Australis.]]
Since 1718, transportation to the American colonies had been a penalty for various offences in Britain, with approximately one thousand convicts transported per year. Forced to find an alternative location after the loss of the Thirteen Colonies in 1783, the British government looked for an alternative, eventually turning to Australia. On his first of three voyages commissioned by the government, James Cook reached New Zealand in October 1769. He was the first European to circumnavigate and map the country. From the late 18th century, the country was regularly visited by explorers and other sailors, missionaries, traders and adventurers but no attempt was made to settle the country or establish possession. The coast of Australia had been discovered for Europeans by the Dutch in 1606, but there was no attempt to colonise it. In 1770, after leaving New Zealand, James Cook charted the eastern coast, claimed the continent for Britain, and named it New South Wales. In 1778, Joseph Banks, Cook's botanist on the voyage, presented evidence to the government on the suitability of Botany Bay for the establishment of a penal settlement, and in 1787 the first shipment of convicts set sail, arriving in 1788. Unusually, Australia was claimed through proclamation. Indigenous Australians were considered too uncivilised to require treaties, and colonisation brought disease and violence that together with the deliberate dispossession of land and culture were devastating to these peoples. Britain continued to transport convicts to New South Wales until 1840, to Tasmania until 1853 and to Western Australia until 1868. The Australian colonies became profitable exporters of wool and gold, mainly because of the Victorian gold rush, making its capital Melbourne for a time the richest city in the world.
The British also expanded their mercantile interests in the North Pacific. Spain and Britain had become rivals in the area, culminating in the Nootka Crisis in 1789. Both sides mobilised for war, but when France refused to support Spain it was forced to back down, leading to the Nootka Convention. The outcome was a humiliation for Spain, which practically renounced all sovereignty on the North Pacific coast. This opened the way to British expansion in the area, and a number of expeditions took place; firstly a naval expedition led by George Vancouver which explored the inlets around the Pacific North West, particularly around Vancouver Island. On land, expeditions sought to discover a river route to the Pacific for the extension of the North American fur trade. Alexander Mackenzie of the North West Company led the first, starting out in 1792, and a year later he became the first European to reach the Pacific overland north of the Rio Grande, reaching the ocean near present-day Bella Coola. This preceded the Lewis and Clark Expedition by twelve years. Shortly thereafter, Mackenzie's companion, John Finlay, founded the first permanent European settlement in British Columbia, Fort St. John. The North West Company sought further exploration and backed expeditions by David Thompson, starting in 1797, and later by Simon Fraser. These pushed into the wilderness territories of the Rocky Mountains and Interior Plateau to the Strait of Georgia on the Pacific Coast, expanding British North America westward.
Continued conquest in India
The East India Company fought a series of Anglo-Mysore wars in Southern India with the Sultanate of Mysore under Hyder Ali and then Tipu Sultan. Defeats in the First Anglo-Mysore war and stalemate in the Second were followed by victories in the Third and the Fourth. Following Tipu Sultan's death in the fourth war in the Siege of Seringapatam (1799), the kingdom became a protectorate of the company. The Second and Third Anglo-Maratha wars resulted in British victories. After the surrender of Peshwa Bajirao II on 1818, the East India Company acquired control of a large majority of the Indian subcontinent. Wars with France
in 1815 ended in the defeat of Napoleon and marked the beginning of Pax Britannica.]]
Britain was challenged again by France under Napoleon, in a struggle that, unlike previous wars, represented a contest of ideologies between the two nations. It was not only Britain's position on the world stage that was at risk: Napoleon threatened to invade Britain itself, just as his armies had overrun many countries of continental Europe.
The Napoleonic Wars were therefore ones in which Britain invested large amounts of capital and resources to win. French ports were blockaded by the Royal Navy, which won a decisive victory over a French Imperial Navy-Spanish Navy fleet at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805. Overseas colonies were attacked and occupied, including those of the Netherlands, which was annexed by Napoleon in 1810. France was finally defeated by a coalition of European armies in 1815. Britain was again the beneficiary of peace treaties: France ceded the Ionian Islands, Malta (which it had occupied in 1798), Mauritius, St Lucia, the Seychelles, and Tobago; Spain ceded Trinidad; the Netherlands ceded Guiana, Ceylon and the Cape Colony, while the Danish ceded Heligoland. Britain returned Guadeloupe, Martinique, French Guiana, and Réunion to France; Menorca to Spain; Danish West Indies to Denmark and Java and Suriname to the Netherlands.<!--Aruba and Curaçao were returned as well I think-->
Abolition of slavery
With the advent of the Industrial Revolution, goods produced by slavery became less important to the British economy. Added to this was the cost of suppressing regular slave rebellions. With support from the British abolitionist movement, Parliament enacted the Slave Trade Act in 1807, which abolished the slave trade in the empire. In 1808, Sierra Leone Colony was designated an official British colony for freed slaves. Parliamentary reform in 1832 saw the influence of the West India Committee decline. The Slavery Abolition Act, passed the following year, abolished slavery in the British Empire on 1 August 1834, finally bringing the empire into line with the law in the UK (with the exception of the territories administered by the East India Company and Ceylon, where slavery was ended in 1844). Under the Act, slaves were granted full emancipation after a period of four to six years of "apprenticeship". Facing further opposition from abolitionists, the apprenticeship system was abolished in 1838. The British government compensated slave-owners.
Britain's imperial century (1815–1914)
Between 1815 and 1914, a period referred to as Britain's "imperial century" by some historians, around of territory and roughly 400 million people were added to the British Empire. Victory over Napoleon left Britain without any serious international rival, other than Russia in Central Asia. Unchallenged at sea, Britain adopted the role of global policeman, a state of affairs later known as the Pax Britannica, and a foreign policy of "splendid isolation". Alongside the formal control it exerted over its own colonies, Britain's dominant position in world trade meant that it effectively controlled the economies of many countries, such as China, Argentina and Siam, which has been described by some historians as an "Informal Empire".
The UK government finally decided to act, dispatching Captain William Hobson with instructions to take formal possession after obtaining native consent. There was no central Māori authority able to represent all New Zealand so, on 6 February 1840, Hobson and many Māori chiefs signed the Treaty of Waitangi in the Bay of Islands; most other chiefs signing in stages over the following months. William Hobson declared British sovereignty over all New Zealand on 21 May 1840, over the North Island by cession and over the South Island by discovery (the island was sparsely populated and deemed terra nullius). Hobson became Lieutenant-Governor, subject to Governor Sir George Gipps in Sydney, with British possession of New Zealand initially administered from Australia as a dependency of the New South Wales colony. From 16 June 1840 New South Wales laws applied in New Zealand. This transitional arrangement ended with the Charter for Erecting the Colony of New Zealand on 16 November 1840. The Charter stated that New Zealand would be established as a separate Crown colony on 3 May 1841 with Hobson as its governor.
Rivalry with Russia
in 1854]]
During the 19th century, Britain and the Russian Empire vied to fill the power vacuums that had been left by the declining Ottoman Empire, Qajar dynasty and Qing dynasty. This rivalry in Central Asia came to be known as the "Great Game". As far as Britain was concerned, defeats inflicted by Russia on Persia and Turkey demonstrated its imperial ambitions and capabilities and stoked fears in Britain of an overland invasion of India. In 1839, Britain moved to pre-empt this by invading Afghanistan, but the First Anglo-Afghan War was a disaster for Britain.
When Russia invaded the Ottoman Balkans in 1853, fears of Russian dominance in the Mediterranean and the Middle East led Britain and France to enter the war in support of the Ottoman Empire and invade the Crimean Peninsula to destroy Russian naval capabilities. The ensuing Crimean War (1854–1856), which involved new techniques of modern warfare, was the only global war fought between Britain and another imperial power during the Pax Britannica and was a resounding defeat for Russia. The situation remained unresolved in Central Asia for two more decades, with Britain annexing Baluchistan in 1876 and Russia annexing Kirghizia, Kazakhstan, and Turkmenistan. For a while, it appeared that another war would be inevitable, but the two countries reached an agreement on their respective spheres of influence in the region in 1878 and on all outstanding matters in 1907 with the signing of the Anglo-Russian Entente. The destruction of the Imperial Russian Navy by the Imperial Japanese Navy at the Battle of Tsushima during the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–1905 limited its threat to the British. Cape to Cairo
''—Cecil Rhodes spanning "Cape to Cairo"]]
The Dutch East India Company had founded the Dutch Cape Colony on the southern tip of Africa in 1652 as a way station for its ships travelling to and from its colonies in the East Indies. Britain formally acquired the colony, and its large Afrikaner (or Boer) population in 1806, having occupied it in 1795 to prevent its falling into French hands during the Flanders Campaign. British immigration to the Cape Colony began to rise after 1820, and pushed thousands of Boers, resentful of British rule, northwards to found their own—mostly short-lived—independent republics, during the Great Trek of the late 1830s and early 1840s. In the process the Voortrekkers clashed repeatedly with the British, who had their own agenda with regard to colonial expansion in South Africa and to the various native African polities, including those of the Sotho people and the Zulu Kingdom. Eventually, the Boers established two republics that had a longer lifespan: the South African Republic or Transvaal Republic (1852–1877; 1881–1902) and the Orange Free State (1854–1902). In 1902 Britain occupied both republics, concluding a treaty with the two Boer Republics following the Second Boer War (1899–1902).
In 1869 the Suez Canal opened under Napoleon III, linking the Mediterranean Sea with the Indian Ocean. Initially the Canal was opposed by the British; but once opened, its strategic value was quickly recognised and became the "jugular vein of the Empire". In 1875, the Conservative government of Benjamin Disraeli bought the indebted Egyptian ruler Isma'il Pasha's 44 per cent shareholding in the Suez Canal for £4 million (equivalent to £}} in ). Although this did not grant outright control of the strategic waterway, it did give Britain leverage. Joint Anglo-French financial control over Egypt ended in outright British occupation in 1882. Although Britain controlled the Khedivate of Egypt into the 20th century, it was officially a vassal state of the Ottoman Empire and not part of the British Empire. The French were still majority shareholders and attempted to weaken the British position, but a compromise was reached with the 1888 Convention of Constantinople, which made the Canal officially neutral territory.
With competitive French, Belgian and Portuguese activity in the lower Congo River region undermining orderly colonisation of tropical Africa, the Berlin Conference of 1884–85 was held to regulate the competition between the European powers in what was called the "Scramble for Africa" by defining "effective occupation" as the criterion for international recognition of territorial claims. The scramble continued into the 1890s, and caused Britain to reconsider its decision in 1885 to withdraw from Sudan. A joint force of British and Egyptian troops defeated the Mahdist Army in 1896 and rebuffed an attempted French invasion at Fashoda in 1898. Sudan was nominally made an Anglo-Egyptian condominium, but a British colony in reality.
British gains in Southern and East Africa prompted Cecil Rhodes, pioneer of British expansion in Southern Africa, to urge a "Cape to Cairo" railway linking the strategically important Suez Canal to the mineral-rich south of the continent. During the 1880s and 1890s, Rhodes, with his privately owned British South Africa Company, occupied and annexed territories named after him, Rhodesia.
Changing status of the white colonies
combining the arms of the dominions to represent their growing significance]]
The path to independence for the white colonies of the British Empire began with the 1839 Durham Report, which proposed unification and self-government for Upper and Lower Canada, as a solution to political unrest which had erupted in armed rebellions in 1837. This began with the passing of the Act of Union in 1840, which created the Province of Canada. Responsible government was first granted to Nova Scotia in 1848, and was soon extended to the other British North American colonies. With the passage of the British North America Act, 1867 by the British Parliament, the Province of Canada, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia were formed into Canada, a confederation enjoying full self-government with the exception of international relations. Australia and New Zealand achieved similar levels of self-government after 1900, with the Australian colonies federating in 1901. The term "dominion status" was officially introduced at the 1907 Imperial Conference. As the dominions gained greater autonomy, they would come to be recognized as distinct realms of the empire with unique customs and symbols of their own. Imperial identity, through imagery such as patriotic artworks and banners, began developing into a form that attempted to be more inclusive by showcasing the empire as a family of newly birthed nations with common roots.
The last decades of the 19th century saw concerted political campaigns for Irish home rule. Ireland had been united with Britain into the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland with the Act of Union 1800 after the Irish Rebellion of 1798, and had suffered a severe famine between 1845 and 1852. Home rule was supported by the British prime minister, William Gladstone, who hoped that Ireland might follow in Canada's footsteps as a Dominion within the empire, but his 1886 Home Rule bill was defeated in Parliament. Although the bill, if passed, would have granted Ireland less autonomy within the UK than the Canadian provinces had within their own federation, many MPs feared that a partially independent Ireland might pose a security threat to Great Britain or mark the beginning of the break-up of the empire. A second Home Rule bill was defeated for similar reasons. A third bill was passed by Parliament in 1914, but not implemented because of the outbreak of the First World War leading to the 1916 Easter Rising.
World wars (1914–1945)
By the turn of the 20th century, fears had begun to grow in Britain that it would no longer be able to defend the metropole and the entirety of the empire while at the same time maintaining the policy of "splendid isolation". Germany was rapidly rising as a military and industrial power and was now seen as the most likely opponent in any future war. Recognising that it was overstretched in the Pacific and threatened at home by the Imperial German Navy, Britain formed an alliance with Japan in 1902 and with its old enemies France and Russia in 1904 and 1907, respectively. First World War
Britain's fears of war with Germany were realised in 1914 with the outbreak of the First World War. Britain quickly invaded and occupied most of Germany's overseas colonies in Africa. In the Pacific, Australia and New Zealand occupied German New Guinea and German Samoa respectively. Plans for a post-war division of the Ottoman Empire, which had joined the war on Germany's side, were secretly drawn up by Britain and France under the 1916 Sykes–Picot Agreement. This agreement was not divulged to the Sharif of Mecca, who the British had been encouraging to launch an Arab revolt against their Ottoman rulers, giving the impression that Britain was supporting the creation of an independent Arab state.
The British declaration of war on Germany and its allies committed the colonies and Dominions, which provided invaluable military, financial and material support. Over 2.5 million men served in the armies of the Dominions, as well as many thousands of volunteers from the Crown colonies. The contributions of Australian and New Zealand troops during the 1915 Gallipoli Campaign against the Ottoman Empire had a great impact on the national consciousness at home and marked a watershed in the transition of Australia and New Zealand from colonies to nations in their own right. The countries continue to commemorate this occasion on Anzac Day. Canadians viewed the Battle of Vimy Ridge in a similar light. The important contribution of the Dominions to the war effort was recognised in 1917 by British prime minister David Lloyd George when he invited each of the Dominion prime ministers to join an Imperial War Cabinet to co-ordinate imperial policy.
Under the terms of the concluding Treaty of Versailles signed in 1919, the empire reached its greatest extent with the addition of and 13 million new subjects. The colonies of Germany and the Ottoman Empire were distributed to the Allied powers as League of Nations mandates. Britain gained control of Palestine, Transjordan, Iraq, parts of Cameroon and Togoland, and Tanganyika. The Dominions themselves acquired mandates of their own: the Union of South Africa gained South West Africa (modern-day Namibia), Australia gained New Guinea, and New Zealand Western Samoa. Nauru was made a combined mandate of Britain and the two Pacific Dominions. Inter-war period
The changing world order that the war had brought about, in particular the growth of the United States and Japan as naval powers, and the rise of independence movements in India and Ireland, caused a major reassessment of British imperial policy. Forced to choose between alignment with the United States or Japan, Britain opted not to renew its Anglo-Japanese Alliance and instead signed the 1922 Washington Naval Treaty, where Britain accepted naval parity with the United States. This decision was the source of much debate in Britain during the 1930s as militaristic governments took hold in Germany and Japan helped in part by the Great Depression, for it was feared that the empire could not survive a simultaneous attack by both nations. The issue of the empire's security was a serious concern in Britain, as it was vital to the British economy.
In 1919, the frustrations caused by delays to Irish home rule led the MPs of Sinn Féin, a pro-independence party that had won a majority of the Irish seats in the 1918 British general election, to establish an independent parliament in Dublin, at which Irish independence was declared. The Irish Republican Army simultaneously began a guerrilla war against the British administration. The Irish War of Independence ended in 1921 with a stalemate and the signing of the Anglo-Irish Treaty, creating the Irish Free State, a Dominion within the British Empire, with effective internal independence but still constitutionally linked with the British Crown. Northern Ireland, consisting of six of the 32 Irish counties which had been established as a devolved region under the 1920 Government of Ireland Act, immediately exercised its option under the treaty to retain its existing status within the United Kingdom.
(Seated front) with British and Dominion prime ministers at the 1926 Imperial Conference. Standing (left to right): W.S. Monroe (Newfoundland), Gordon Coates (New Zealand), Stanley Bruce (Australia), J. B. M. Hertzog (Union of South Africa), W. T. Cosgrave (Irish Free State). Seated left: Stanley Baldwin (United Kingdom), seated right: William Mackenzie King (Canada)]]
A similar struggle began in India when the Government of India Act 1919 failed to satisfy the demand for independence. Concerns over communist and foreign plots following the Ghadar conspiracy ensured that war-time strictures were renewed by the Rowlatt Acts. This led to tension, particularly in the Punjab region, where repressive measures culminated in the Amritsar Massacre. In Britain, public opinion was divided over the morality of the massacre, between those who saw it as having saved India from anarchy, and those who viewed it with revulsion. The non-cooperation movement was called off in March 1922 following the Chauri Chaura incident, and discontent continued to simmer for the next 25 years.
In 1922, Egypt, which had been declared a British protectorate at the outbreak of the First World War, was granted formal independence, though it continued to be a British client state until 1954. British troops remained stationed in Egypt until the signing of the Anglo-Egyptian Treaty in 1936, under which it was agreed that the troops would withdraw but continue to occupy and defend the Suez Canal zone. In return, Egypt was assisted in joining the League of Nations. Iraq, a British mandate since 1920, gained membership of the League in its own right after achieving independence from Britain in 1932. In Palestine, Britain was presented with the problem of mediating between the Arabs and increasing numbers of Jews. The Balfour Declaration, which had been incorporated into the terms of the mandate, stated that a national home for the Jewish people would be established in Palestine, and Jewish immigration allowed up to a limit that would be determined by the mandatory power. This led to increasing conflict with the Arab population, who openly revolted in 1936. As the threat of war with Germany increased during the 1930s, Britain judged the support of Arabs as more important than the establishment of a Jewish homeland, and shifted to a pro-Arab stance, limiting Jewish immigration and in turn triggering a Jewish insurgency.
The right of the Dominions to set their own foreign policy, independent of Britain, was recognised at the 1923 Imperial Conference. Britain's request for military assistance from the Dominions at the outbreak of the Chanak Crisis the previous year had been turned down by Canada and South Africa, and Canada had refused to be bound by the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne. After pressure from the Irish Free State and South Africa, the 1926 Imperial Conference issued the Balfour Declaration of 1926, declaring Britain and the Dominions to be "autonomous Communities within the British Empire, equal in status, in no way subordinate one to another" within a "British Commonwealth of Nations". This declaration was given legal substance under the 1931 Statute of Westminster. The parliaments of Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the Union of South Africa, the Irish Free State and Newfoundland were now independent of British legislative control, they could nullify British laws and Britain could no longer pass laws for them without their consent. Newfoundland reverted to colonial status in 1933, suffering from financial difficulties during the Great Depression. In 1937 the Irish Free State introduced a republican constitution renaming itself Ireland.
Second World War
, the Eighth Army was made up of units from many different countries in the British Empire and Commonwealth; it fought in the North African and Italian campaigns.]]
Britain's declaration of war against Nazi Germany in September 1939 included the Crown colonies and India but did not automatically commit the Dominions of Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Newfoundland and South Africa. All soon declared war on Germany. While Britain continued to regard Ireland as still within the British Commonwealth, Ireland chose to remain legally neutral throughout the war.
After the Fall of France in June 1940, Britain and the empire stood alone against Germany, until the German invasion of Greece on 7 April 1941. British Prime Minister Winston Churchill successfully lobbied President Franklin D. Roosevelt for military aid from the United States, but Roosevelt was not yet ready to ask Congress to commit the country to war. In August 1941, Churchill and Roosevelt met and signed the Atlantic Charter, which included the statement that "the rights of all peoples to choose the form of government under which they live" should be respected. This wording was ambiguous as to whether it referred to European countries invaded by Germany and Italy, or the peoples colonised by European nations, and would later be interpreted differently by the British, Americans, and nationalist movements. Nevertheless, Churchill rejected its universal applicability when it came to the self-determination of subject nations including the British Indian Empire. Churchill further added that he did not become Prime Minister to oversee the liquidation of the empire.
For Churchill, the entry of the United States into the war was the "greatest joy". He felt that Britain was now assured of victory, but failed to recognise that the "many disasters, immeasurable costs and tribulations [which he knew] lay ahead" in December 1941 would have permanent consequences for the future of the empire. The manner in which British forces were rapidly defeated in the Far East irreversibly harmed Britain's standing and prestige as an imperial power, including, particularly, the Fall of Singapore, which had previously been hailed as an impregnable fortress and the eastern equivalent of Gibraltar. The realisation that Britain could not defend its entire empire pushed Australia and New Zealand, which now appeared threatened by Japanese forces, into closer ties with the United States and, ultimately, the 1951 ANZUS Pact. The war weakened the empire in other ways: undermining Britain's control of politics in India, inflicting long-term economic damage, and irrevocably changing geopolitics by pushing the Soviet Union and the United States to the centre of the global stage.
Decolonisation and decline (1945–1997)
Though Britain and the empire emerged victorious from the Second World War, the effects of the conflict were profound, both at home and abroad. Much of Europe, a continent that had dominated the world for several centuries, was in ruins, and host to the armies of the United States and the Soviet Union, who now held the balance of global power. Britain was left essentially bankrupt, with insolvency only averted in 1946 after the negotiation of a US$3.75 billion loan from the United States, the last instalment of which was repaid in 2006. At the same time, anti-colonial movements were on the rise in the colonies of European nations. The situation was complicated further by the increasing Cold War rivalry of the United States and the Soviet Union. In principle, both nations were opposed to European colonialism. In practice, American anti-communism prevailed over anti-imperialism, and therefore the United States supported the continued existence of the British Empire to keep Communist expansion in check. At first, British politicians believed it would be possible to maintain Britain's role as a world power at the head of a re-imagined Commonwealth, but by 1960 they were forced to recognise that there was an irresistible "wind of change" blowing. Their priorities changed to maintaining an extensive zone of British influence and ensuring that stable, non-Communist governments were established in former colonies. In this context, while other European powers such as France and Portugal waged costly and unsuccessful wars to keep their empires intact, Britain generally adopted a policy of peaceful disengagement from its colonies, although violence occurred in Malaya, Kenya and Palestine. Between 1945 and 1965, the number of people under British rule outside the UK itself fell from 700 million to 5 million, 3 million of whom were in Hong Kong. Initial disengagement
in 1947.]]
The pro-decolonisation Labour government, elected at the 1945 general election and led by Clement Attlee, moved quickly to tackle the most pressing issue facing the empire: Indian independence. India's major political party—the Indian National Congress (led by Mahatma Gandhi) — had been campaigning for independence for decades, but disagreed with Muslim League (led by Muhammad Ali Jinnah) as to how it should be implemented. Congress favoured a unified secular Indian state, whereas the League, fearing domination by the Hindu majority, desired a separate Islamic state for Muslim-majority regions. Increasing civil unrest led Attlee to promise independence no later than 30 June 1948. When the urgency of the situation and risk of civil war became apparent, the newly appointed (and last) Viceroy, Lord Mountbatten, hastily brought forward the date to 15 August 1947. The borders drawn by the British to broadly partition India into Hindu and Muslim areas left tens of millions as minorities in the newly independent states of India and Pakistan. The princely states were provided with a choice to either remain independent or join India or Pakistan. Millions of Muslims crossed from India to Pakistan and Hindus vice versa, and violence between the two communities cost hundreds of thousands of lives. Burma, which had been administered as part of British India until 1937 gained independence the following year in 1948 along with Sri Lanka (formerly known as British Ceylon). India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka became members of the Commonwealth, while Burma chose not to join. That same year, the British Nationality Act was enacted, in hopes of strengthening and unifying the Commonwealth: it provided British citizenship and right of entry to all those living within its jurisdiction.
The British Mandate in Palestine, where an Arab majority lived alongside a Jewish minority, presented the British with a similar problem to that of India. The matter was complicated by large numbers of Jewish refugees seeking to be admitted to Palestine following the Holocaust, while Arabs were opposed to the creation of a Jewish state. Frustrated by the intractability of the problem, attacks by Jewish paramilitary organisations and the increasing cost of maintaining its military presence, Britain announced in 1947 that it would withdraw in 1948 and leave the matter to the United Nations to solve. The UN General Assembly subsequently voted for a plan to partition Palestine into a Jewish and an Arab state. It was immediately followed by the outbreak of a civil war between the Arabs and Jews of Palestine, and British forces withdrew amid the fighting. The British Mandate for Palestine officially terminated at midnight on 15 May 1948 as the State of Israel declared independence and the 1948 Arab-Israeli War broke out, during which the territory of the former Mandate was partitioned between Israel and the surrounding Arab states. Amid the fighting, British forces continued to withdraw from Israel, with the last British troops departing from Haifa on 30 June 1948.
Following the surrender of Japan in the Second World War, anti-Japanese resistance movements in Malaya turned their attention towards the British, who had moved to quickly retake control of the colony, valuing it as a source of rubber and tin. The fact that the guerrillas were primarily Malaysian Chinese Communists meant that the British attempt to quell the uprising was supported by the Muslim Malay majority, on the understanding that once the insurgency had been quelled, independence would be granted. The Malayan Emergency, as it was called, began in 1948 and lasted until 1960, but by 1957, Britain felt confident enough to grant independence to the Federation of Malaya within the Commonwealth. In 1963, the 11 states of the federation together with Singapore, Sarawak and North Borneo joined to form Malaysia, but in 1965 Chinese-majority Singapore was expelled from the union following tensions between the Malay and Chinese populations and became an independent city-state. Brunei, which had been a British protectorate since 1888, declined to join the union.
Suez and its aftermath
's decision to invade Egypt in 1956 revealed Britain's post-war weaknesses.]]
In the 1951 general election, the Conservative Party returned to power in Britain under the leadership of Winston Churchill. Churchill and the Conservatives believed that Britain's position as a world power relied on the continued existence of the empire, with the base at the Suez Canal allowing Britain to maintain its pre-eminent position in the Middle East in spite of the loss of India. Churchill could not ignore Gamal Abdul Nasser's new revolutionary government of Egypt that had taken power in 1952, and the following year it was agreed that British troops would withdraw from the Suez Canal zone and that Sudan would be granted self-determination by 1955, with independence to follow Sudan was granted independence on 1 January 1956.
In July 1956, Nasser unilaterally nationalised the Suez Canal. The response of Anthony Eden, who had succeeded Churchill as Prime Minister, was to collude with France to engineer an Israeli attack on Egypt that would give Britain and France an excuse to intervene militarily and retake the canal. Eden infuriated US President Dwight D. Eisenhower by his lack of consultation, and Eisenhower refused to back the invasion. Another of Eisenhower's concerns was the possibility of a wider war with the Soviet Union after it threatened to intervene on the Egyptian side. Eisenhower applied financial leverage by threatening to sell US reserves of the British pound and thereby precipitate a collapse of the British currency. Though the invasion force was militarily successful in its objectives, UN intervention and US pressure forced Britain into a humiliating withdrawal of its forces, and Eden resigned.
The Suez Crisis very publicly exposed Britain's limitations to the world and confirmed Britain's decline on the world stage and its end as a first-rate power, demonstrating that henceforth it could no longer act without at least the acquiescence, if not the full support, of the United States. The events at Suez wounded British national pride, leading one Member of Parliament (MP) to describe it as "Britain's Waterloo" and another to suggest that the country had become an "American satellite". Margaret Thatcher later described the mindset she believed had befallen Britain's political leaders after Suez where they "went from believing that Britain could do anything to an almost neurotic belief that Britain could do nothing", from which Britain did not recover until the successful recapture of the Falkland Islands from Argentina in 1982.
While the Suez Crisis caused British power in the Middle East to weaken, it did not collapse. Britain again deployed its armed forces to the region, intervening in Oman (1957), Jordan (1958) and Kuwait (1961), though on these occasions with American approval, as the new Prime Minister Harold Macmillan's foreign policy was to remain firmly aligned with the United States. Although Britain granted Kuwait independence in 1961, it continued to maintain a military presence in the Middle East for another decade. On 16 January 1968, a few weeks after the devaluation of the pound, Prime Minister Harold Wilson and his Defence Secretary Denis Healey announced that British Armed Forces troops would be withdrawn from major military bases East of Suez, which included the ones in the Middle East, and primarily from Malaysia and Singapore by the end of 1971, instead of 1975 as earlier planned. By that time over 50,000 British military personnel were still stationed in the Far East, including 30,000 in Singapore. The British granted independence to the Maldives in 1965 but continued to station a garrison there until 1976, withdrew from Aden in 1967, and granted independence to Bahrain, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates in 1971. Wind of change
(the future Zimbabwe) and the South African mandate of South West Africa (Namibia) had achieved recognised independence.]]
Macmillan gave a speech in Cape Town, South Africa in February 1960 where he spoke of "the wind of change blowing through this continent". Macmillan wished to avoid the same kind of colonial war that France was fighting in Algeria, and under his premiership decolonisation proceeded rapidly. To the three colonies that had been granted independence in the 1950s—Sudan, the Gold Coast and Malaya—were added nearly ten times that number during the 1960s. Owing to the rapid pace of decolonisation during this period, the cabinet post of Secretary of State for the Colonies was abolished in 1966, along with the Colonial Office, which merged with the Commonwealth Relations Office to form the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (now the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) in October 1968.
Britain's remaining colonies in Africa, except for self-governing Southern Rhodesia, were all granted independence by 1968. British withdrawal from the southern and eastern parts of Africa was not a peaceful process. From 1952 the Kenya Colony saw the eight-year long Mau Mau rebellion, in which tens of thousands of suspected rebels were interned by the colonial government in detention camps to suppress the rebellion and over 1000 convicts executed, with records systematically destroyed. Throughout the 1960s, the British government took a "No independence until majority rule" policy towards decolonising the empire, leading the white minority government of Southern Rhodesia to enact the 1965 Unilateral Declaration of Independence from Britain, resulting in a civil war that lasted until the British-mediated Lancaster House Agreement of 1979. The agreement saw the British Empire temporarily re-establish the Colony of Southern Rhodesia from 1979 to 1980 as a transitionary government to a majority rule Republic of Zimbabwe. This was the last British possession in Africa.
In Cyprus, a guerrilla war waged by the Greek Cypriot organisation EOKA against British rule, was ended in 1959 by the London and Zürich Agreements, which resulted in Cyprus being granted independence in 1960. The UK retained the military bases of Akrotiri and Dhekelia as sovereign base areas. The Mediterranean colony of Malta was amicably granted independence from the UK in 1964 and became the country of Malta, though the idea had been raised in 1955 of integration with Britain.
Most of the UK's Caribbean territories achieved independence after the departure in 1961 and 1962 of Jamaica and Trinidad from the West Indies Federation, established in 1958 in an attempt to unite the British Caribbean colonies under one government, but which collapsed following the loss of its two largest members. Jamaica attained independence in 1962, as did Trinidad and Tobago. Barbados achieved independence in 1966 and the remainder of the eastern Caribbean islands, including the Bahamas, in the 1970s and 1980s, but Anguilla and the Turks and Caicos Islands opted to revert to British rule after they had already started on the path to independence. The British Virgin Islands, The Cayman Islands and Montserrat opted to retain ties with Britain, while Guyana achieved independence in 1966. Britain's last colony on the American mainland, British Honduras, became a self-governing colony in 1964 and was renamed Belize in 1973, achieving full independence in 1981. A dispute with Guatemala over claims to Belize was left unresolved.
British Overseas Territories in the Pacific acquired independence in the 1970s beginning with Fiji in 1970 and ending with Vanuatu in 1980. Vanuatu's independence was delayed because of political conflict between English and French-speaking communities, as the islands had been jointly administered as a condominium with France. Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Tuvalu became Commonwealth realms.
End of empire<!-- This is a turn of phrase, please do not change to say "the" empire or add quotation marks around it to suggest it is a specific quote from a specific source-->
By 1981, aside from a scattering of islands and outposts, the process of decolonisation that had begun after the Second World War was largely complete. In 1982, Britain's resolve in defending its remaining overseas territories was tested when Argentina invaded the Falkland Islands, acting on a long-standing claim that dated back to the Spanish Empire. Britain's successful military response to retake the Falkland Islands during the ensuing Falklands War contributed to reversing the downward trend in Britain's status as a world power.
The 1980s saw Canada, Australia, and New Zealand sever their final constitutional links with Britain. Although granted legislative independence by the Statute of Westminster 1931, vestigial constitutional links had remained in place. The British Parliament retained the power to amend key Canadian constitutional statutes, meaning that an act of the British Parliament was required to make certain changes to the Canadian Constitution. The British Parliament had the power to pass laws extending to Canada at Canadian request. Although no longer able to pass any laws that would apply to Australian Commonwealth law, the British Parliament retained the power to legislate for the individual Australian states. With regard to New Zealand, the British Parliament retained the power to pass legislation applying to New Zealand with the New Zealand Parliament's consent. In 1982, the last legal link between Canada and Britain was severed by the Canada Act 1982, which was passed by the British parliament, formally patriating the Canadian Constitution. The act ended the need for British involvement in changes to the Canadian constitution. Similarly, the Australia Act 1986 (effective 3 March 1986) severed the constitutional link between Britain and the Australian states, while New Zealand's Constitution Act 1986 (effective 1 January 1987) reformed the constitution of New Zealand to sever its constitutional link with Britain.
On 1 January 1984, Brunei, Britain's last remaining Asian protectorate, was granted full independence. Independence had been delayed due to the opposition of the Sultan, who had preferred British protection.
In September 1982 the Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, travelled to Beijing to negotiate with the Chinese Communist government, on the future of Britain's last major and most populous overseas territory, Hong Kong. Under the terms of the 1842 Treaty of Nanking and 1860 Convention of Peking, Hong Kong Island and Kowloon Peninsula had been respectively ceded to Britain in perpetuity, but the majority of the colony consisted of the New Territories, which had been acquired under a 99-year lease in 1898, due to expire in 1997. Thatcher, seeing parallels with the Falkland Islands, initially wished to hold Hong Kong and proposed British administration with Chinese sovereignty, though this was rejected by China. A deal was reached in 1984—under the terms of the Sino-British Joint Declaration, Hong Kong would become a special administrative region of the People's Republic of China. The handover ceremony in 1997 marked for many, including King Charles III, then Prince of Wales, who was in attendance, "the end of Empire", though many British territories that are remnants of the empire still remain. Governance
Economy
Legacy
]]
Britain retains sovereignty over 14 territories outside the British Isles. In 1983, the British Nationality Act 1981 renamed the existing Crown Colonies as "British Dependent Territories", and in 2002 they were renamed the British Overseas Territories. Most former British colonies and protectorates are members of the Commonwealth of Nations, a voluntary association of equal members, comprising a population of around 2.2 billion people. The United Kingdom and 14 other countries, all collectively known as the Commonwealth realms, voluntarily continue to share the same person— King Charles III—as their respective head of state. These 15 nations are distinct and equal legal entities: the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas, Belize, Grenada, Jamaica, Papua New Guinea, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Solomon Islands and Tuvalu.
During the colonial era, emphasis was given to study of the classical Greco-Roman heritage and their experience with empire, aiming to parse how that heritage could be applied to improve the future of the colonies. American hegemony, which throughout its early rise had challenged British claims of being the "New Rome", became the successor to British dominance in the mid-20th century; the two countries' historical ties and wartime collaboration supported a peaceful handoff of power after World War II. As for the United Kingdom itself, British views of the former Empire are more positive than is the case with other post-imperial nations; discourse around the former Empire has continued to impact the nation's present-day understanding of itself, as seen in the debate leading up to its decision to leave the European Union in 2016.
Decades, and in some cases centuries, of British rule and emigration have left their mark on the independent nations that rose from the British Empire. The empire established the use of the English language in regions around the world. Today it is the primary language of up to 460 million people and is spoken by about 1.5 billion as a first, second or foreign language. It has also significantly influenced other languages. Individual and team sports developed in Britain, particularly football, cricket, lawn tennis, and golf were exported. Some sports were also invented or standardised in the former colonies, such as badminton, polo, and snooker in India. British missionaries who travelled around the globe often in advance of soldiers and civil servants spread Protestantism (including Anglicanism) to all continents. The British Empire provided refuge for religiously persecuted continental Europeans for hundreds of years. British educational institutions also remain popular in the present day, in part due to the importance of the English language and similarity of British curriculums to those in the former colonies.
being played in South Asia, where it is popular. Sports developed in Britain or the former empire continue to be viewed and played.]]
Political boundaries drawn by the British did not always reflect homogeneous ethnicities or religions, contributing to conflicts in formerly colonised areas. The British Empire was responsible for large migrations of peoples (see also: Commonwealth diaspora). Millions left the British Isles, with the founding settler colonist populations of the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand coming mainly from Britain and Ireland. Millions of people moved between British colonies, with large numbers of South Asian people emigrating to other parts of the empire, such as Malaysia and Fiji, and Overseas Chinese people to Malaysia, Singapore and the Caribbean; about half of all modern immigration to the Commonwealth nations continues to occur between them. The demographics of the United Kingdom changed after the Second World War owing to immigration to Britain from its former colonies.
In the 19th century, innovation in Britain led to revolutionary changes in manufacturing, the development of factory systems, and the growth of transportation by railway and steamship. Debate has also occurred as to what extent the Industrial Revolution, originating from the United Kingdom, was facilitated by or dependent on imperialism. British colonial architecture, such as in churches, railway stations and government buildings, can be seen in many cities that were once part of the British Empire; Western technologies and architecture had been globalised in part due to the Empire's military and administrative requirements. Integration of former colonies into the global economy was also a major legacy. The British choice of system of measurement, the imperial system, continues to be used in some countries in various ways. The convention of driving on the left-hand side of the road has been retained in much of the former empire.
The Westminster system of parliamentary democracy has served as the template for the governments of many former colonies, and English common law for legal systems. It has been observed that almost every former colony that emerged as an independent democratic state is a former British colony, though this correlation greatly declines in strength after 30 years of an ex-colony's independence. International commercial contracts are often based on English common law. The British Judicial Committee of the Privy Council still serves as the highest court of appeal for twelve former colonies.
Interpretations of Empire
Historians' approaches to understanding the British Empire are diverse and evolving. Two key sites of debate over recent decades have been the impact of post-colonial studies, which seek to critically re-evaluate the history of imperialism, and the continued relevance of historians Ronald Robinson and John Gallagher, whose work greatly influenced imperial historiography during the 1950s and 1960s. In addition, differing assessments of the empire's legacy remain relevant to debates over recent history and politics, such as the Anglo-American invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as Britain's role and identity in the contemporary world.
Historians such as Caroline Elkins have argued against perceptions of the British Empire as a primarily liberalising and modernising enterprise, criticising its widespread use of violence and emergency laws to maintain power. Common criticisms of the empire include the use of detention camps in its colonies, massacres of indigenous peoples, and famine-response policies. Some scholars, including Amartya Sen, assert that British policies worsened the famines in India that killed millions during British rule. Conversely, historians such as Niall Ferguson say that the economic and institutional development the British Empire brought resulted in a net benefit to its colonies. Other historians treat its legacy as varied and ambiguous.<ref name":2" /> See also
* List of British Empire–related topics
* Historiography of the British Empire
* Demographics of the British Empire
* Economy of the British Empire
* Territorial evolution of the British Empire
* History of the foreign relations of the United Kingdom
* Historical flags of the British Empire and the overseas territories
* List of countries that have gained independence from the United Kingdom
* British overseas cities
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* [https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/education/resources/british-empire British Empire] from the National Archives
* [https://exchange.umma.umich.edu/resources/23653 Collection: "British Empire"] from the University of Michigan Museum of Art
* [https://www.metmuseum.org/exhibitions/listings/2020/british-galleries/exhibition-gallery The New British Galleries] from the Metropolitan Museum of Art
* [https://exhibitions.bristolmuseums.org.uk/empire-through-the-lens "Empire through the Lens"] from the Bristol City Museum and Art Gallery
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Batman (1989 film)
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''Batman '89'' (comic book)}}
| screenplay =
| story = Sam Hamm
| based_on =
*
| runtime = 126 minutes
| country
| language = English
| budget $48 million
}}
Batman is a 1989 superhero film based on the DC Comics character of the same name, created by Bob Kane and Bill Finger. Directed by Tim Burton, it is the first installment of Warner Bros.' initial Batman film series. The film was produced by Jon Peters and Peter Guber and stars Jack Nicholson, Michael Keaton, Kim Basinger, Robert Wuhl, Pat Hingle, Billy Dee Williams, Michael Gough, and Jack Palance. The film takes place early in the war on crime of the title character (Keaton) and depicts his conflict with his archenemy the Joker (Nicholson).
After Burton was hired as director in 1986, Steve Englehart and Julie Hickson wrote film treatments before Sam Hamm wrote the first screenplay. Batman was not greenlit until after the success of Burton's Beetlejuice (1988). The tone and themes of the film were partly influenced by Alan Moore and Brian Bolland's The Killing Joke and Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns. The film primarily adapts and then diverges from the "Red Hood" origin story for the Joker, having Batman inadvertently cause gangster Jack Napier to fall into Axis Chemical acid, triggering his transformation into the psychotic Joker. Additionally, Batman co-creator Bob Kane worked as a consultant for the film.
Numerous leading men were considered for the role of Batman before Keaton was cast. Keaton's casting was controversial since, by 1988, he had become typecast as a comedic actor and many observers doubted he could portray a serious role.}}
In the late 1970s, Batman's popularity was waning. Richard Maibaum was approached to write a script with Guy Hamilton to direct, but the two turned down the offer. Uslan was unsuccessful with pitching Batman to various movie studios because they wanted the film to be similar to the campy 1960s television series. Columbia Pictures and United Artists were among those to turn down the film.
A disappointed Uslan then wrote a script titled Return of the Batman to give the film industry a better idea of his vision for the film. Uslan later compared its dark tone to that of the successful four-part comic book The Dark Knight Returns, which his script predated by six years. Melniker and Uslan became executive producers. The four felt it was best to pattern the film's development after that of Superman (1978). Uslan, Melniker and Guber pitched Batman to Universal Pictures, but the studio turned it down. Though no movie studios were yet involved, the project was publicly announced with a budget of $15 million in July 1980 at the Comic Art Convention in New York. Warner Bros., the studio behind the successful Superman film franchise, decided to also accept and produce Batman.
Tom Mankiewicz completed a script titled The Batman in June 1983, focusing on Batman and Dick Grayson's origins, with the Joker and Rupert Thorne as villains and Silver St. Cloud as the romantic interest. Mankiewicz took inspiration from the limited series Batman: Strange Apparitions, written by Steve Englehart. Comic book artist Marshall Rogers, who worked with Englehart on Strange Apparitions, was hired for concept art.
After the financial success of ''Pee-wee's Big Adventure (1985), Warner Bros. hired Tim Burton to direct Batman. Burton had then-girlfriend Julie Hickson write a new 30-page film treatment, feeling the previous script by Mankiewicz was campy. The success of The Dark Knight Returns and the graphic novel Batman: The Killing Joke'' rekindled Warner Bros.' interest in a film adaptation. Burton was initially not a comic book fan, but he was impressed by the dark and serious tone found in both The Dark Knight Returns and The Killing Joke. Like Mankiewicz's script, it was based on his own Strange Apparitions and included Silver St. Cloud, Dick Grayson, the Joker, and Rupert Thorne, as well as a cameo appearance by the Penguin. Warner Bros. was impressed, but Englehart felt there were too many characters. He removed the Penguin and Dick Grayson in his second treatment, finishing in May 1986. Hamm replaced Silver St. Cloud with Vicki Vale and Rupert Thorne with his own creation, Carl Grissom. He completed his script in October 1986, which demoted Dick Grayson to a cameo rather than a supporting character.
Warner Bros. was less willing to move forward on development, despite their enthusiasm for Hamm's script, which Kane greeted with positive feedback. Hamm explained, "They hear Tim Burton's name and they think of ''Pee-wee's Big Adventure''. They hear Keaton's name, and they think of any number of Michael Keaton comedies. You think of the 1960s version of Batman, and it was the complete opposite of our film. We tried to market it with a typical dark and serious tone, but the fans didn't believe us."Casting
as Batman and Jack Nicholson as the Joker in the film's climactic confrontation]]
Parallel to the Superman casting, a variety of Hollywood A-listers were considered for the role of Batman, including Mel Gibson, Kevin Costner, Charlie Sheen, Tom Selleck, Bill Murray, Burton was pressured by Warner Bros. to cast an obvious action movie star, Burton was originally interested in casting an unknown actor, Producer Jon Peters suggested Michael Keaton, arguing he had the right "edgy, tormented quality" after having seen his dramatic performance in Clean and Sober. Having directed Keaton in Beetlejuice, Burton agreed. Kane, Hamm, and Uslan also heavily questioned the casting. Keaton studied The Dark Knight Returns for inspiration.
Tim Curry, David Bowie, John Lithgow, Brad Dourif, Ray Liotta, and James Woods were all considered for the Joker. Lithgow, during his audition, attempted to talk Burton out of casting him, a decision he would later publicly regret, stating, "I didn't realize it was such a big deal." Burton wanted to cast John Glover, but the studio insisted on using a movie star. Robin Williams lobbied hard for the part. Nicholson demanded that all of his scenes be shot in a three-week block, but the schedule lapsed into 106 days.—biographer Marc Eliot reports that Nicholson may have received as much as $90 million. He also demanded top billing on promotional materials.
Sean Young was originally cast as Vicki Vale, but was injured in a horse-riding accident prior to commencement of filming. Young's departure necessitated an urgent search for an actress who, besides being right for the part, could commit to the film at very short notice. Peters suggested Kim Basinger: she was able to join the production immediately and was cast. Reporter Alexander Knox was portrayed by Robert Wuhl. In the original script, Knox was killed by the Joker's poison gas during the climax, but the filmmakers "liked [my] character so much," Wuhl said, "that they decided to let me live." Burton chose Billy Dee Williams as Harvey Dent because he wanted to include the villain Two-Face in a future film using the concept of an African-American Two-Face for the black and white concept, but Tommy Lee Jones was later cast in the role for Batman Forever, which disappointed Williams. Irish child actor Ricky Addison Reed was cast as Dick Grayson before the character was removed by Warren Skarren for the revised shooting script. The rest of the cast included Pat Hingle as Commissioner Gordon, Jerry Hall as Alicia, Lee Wallace as Mayor Borg, William Hootkins as Lt. Eckhardt, and Jack Palance as crime boss Carl Grissom.
Design
Burton had been impressed with the design of Neil Jordan's The Company of Wolves (1984), but was unable to hire its production designer Anton Furst for Beetlejuice Furst continued, "[W]e imagined what New York City might have become without a planning commission. A city run by crime, with a riot of architectural styles. An essay in ugliness. As if hell erupted through the pavement and kept on going". The 1985 film Brazil by Terry Gilliam was also a notable influence upon the film's production design, as both Burton and Furst studied it as a reference. adding two Browning machine guns. On designing the Batmobile, Furst explained, "We looked at jet aircraft components, we looked at war machines, we looked at all sorts of things. In the end, we went into pure expressionism, taking the Salt Flat Racers of the 30s and the Sting Ray macho machines of the 50s". The car was built upon a Chevrolet Impala when previous development with a Jaguar and Ford Mustang failed.
Costume designer Bob Ringwood turned down the chance to work on Licence to Kill in favor of Batman. Ringwood found it difficult designing the Batsuit because "the image of Batman in the comics is this huge, big six-foot-four hunk with a dimpled chin. Michael Keaton is a guy with average build", he stated. "The problem was to make somebody who was average-sized and ordinary-looking into this bigger-than-life creature." Burton commented, "Michael is a bit claustrophobic, which made it worse for him. The costume put him in a dark, Batman-like mood though, so he was able to use it to his advantage". Ringwood studied over 200 comic book issues for inspiration. 28 sculpted latex designs were created; 25 different cape looks and 6 different heads were made, accumulating a total cost of $250,000. Comic book fans initially expressed negative feedback against the Batsuit.
Filming
The filmmakers considered filming Batman entirely on the Warner Bros. backlot in Burbank, California, but media interest in the film made them change the location. It was shot at Pinewood Studios in England from October 10, 1988, to February 14, 1989, with 80 days of main shooting and 86 days of second unit shooting. 18 sound stages were used, with seven stages occupied, including the 51 acre backlot for the Gotham City set, one of the biggest ever built at the studio. The original production budget escalated from $30 million to $48 million. With various problems during filming, Burton called it "Torture. The worst period of my life!" Only Skaaren received screenplay credit with Hamm. Hamm criticized the rewrites, but blamed the changes on Warner Bros.
Originally in the climax, the Joker was meant to kill Vicki Vale, sending Batman into a vengeful fury. Jon Peters reworked the climax without telling Burton and commissioned production designer Anton Furst to create a model of the cathedral.
Music
Burton hired Danny Elfman of Oingo Boingo, his collaborator on ''Pee-wee's Big Adventure and Beetlejuice, to compose the music score. For inspiration, Elfman was given The Dark Knight Returns. Elfman was worried, as he had never worked on a production this large in budget and scale. In addition, producer Jon Peters was skeptical of hiring Elfman, but was later convinced when he heard the opening number.
Burton protested the ideas, citing "my movies aren't commercial like Top Gun." Elfman was later displeased with the audio mixing of his film score. "Batman was done in England by technicians who didn't care, and the non-caring showed," he stated. "I'm not putting down England because they've done gorgeous dubs there, but this particular crew elected not to." Batman was one of the first films to spawn two soundtracks. One of them featured songs written by Prince while the other showcased Elfman's score. Both were successful, and compilations of Elfman's opening credits were used in the title sequence theme for Batman: The Animated Series, also composed by Shirley Walker.
Burton saw Bruce Wayne as the bearer of a double identity, exposing one while hiding the reality from the world. Kim Newman theorized that "Burton and the writers saw Batman and the Joker as a dramatic antithesis, and the film deals with their intertwined origins and fates to an even greater extent".
Batman conveys trademarks found in 1930s pulp magazines, notably the design of Gotham City stylized with Art Deco design. Richard Corliss, writing for Time, observed that Gotham's design was a reference to films such as The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920) and Metropolis (1927). "Gotham City, despite being shot on a studio backlot", he continued, "is literally another character in the script. It has the demeaning presence of German Expressionism and fascist architecture, staring down at the citizens." Hanke further addressed the notions of Batman being a period piece, in that "The citizens, cops, people and the black-and-white television looks like it takes place in 1939"; but later said: "Had the filmmakers made Vicki Vale a femme fatale rather than a damsel in distress, this could have made Batman as a homage and tribute to classic film noir." The logo is also an ambiguous image, which can be read either as Batman's symbol or as a gaping mouth. Earlier designs "had the word 'Batman' spelled in RoboCop or Conan the Barbarian-type font". DC Comics allowed screenwriter Sam Hamm to write his own comic book miniseries. Hamm's stories were collected in the graphic novel Batman: Blind Justice (). Denys Cowan and Dick Giordano illustrated the artwork. Hachette Book Group USA published a novelization, Batman, written by Craig Shaw Gardner. It remained on The New York Times Best Seller list throughout June 1989. Burton admitted he was annoyed by the publicity. David Handelman of The New York Observer categorized Batman as a high concept film. He believed "it is less movie than a corporate behemoth".
Reception
Box office
Batman grossed $2.2 million in late night previews on June 22, 1989, on 1,215 screens and grossed $40.49 million in 2,194 theaters during its opening weekend. This broke the opening weekend records held by Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (which had a 4-day Memorial Day weekend gross of $37.0 million the previous month) and Ghostbusters II (which had a $29.4 million 3-day weekend the previous weekend). Upon opening, the film would go on to reach the number one spot above Honey, I Shrunk the Kids. Additionally, it had the largest opening weekend for a Jack Nicholson film for 14 years until it was dethroned by Anger Management in 2003. Batman also set a record for a second weekend gross with $30 million (also the second biggest 3-day weekend of all time) The film closed on December 14, 1989, with a final gross of $251.4 million in North America and $160.2 million internationally, totaling $411.6 million. The film would hold the record for being the highest-grossing Warner Bros. film until 1996 when Twister surpassed it. It was the highest-grossing film based on a DC comic book until 2008's The Dark Knight. Furthermore, Batman held the record for being the highest-grossing superhero film of all time until it was taken by Spider-Man in 2002. The film's gross is the 143rd highest ever in North American ranks. Although Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade made the most money worldwide in 1989, Batman was able to beat The Last Crusade in North America, and made a further $150 million in home video sales. Box Office Mojo estimates that the film sold more than 60 million tickets in the US.
Despite the film's box office – over $400 million against a budget of no more than $48 million – Warner Bros. claimed it ended up losing $35.8 million and "not likely to ever show a profit," which has been attributed to a case of Hollywood accounting.
Critical response
Batman was criticized by some for being too dark, but nonetheless received a generally positive response from critics. On Metacritic, the film received a weighted average score of 69 based on 21 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale.
Many observed that Burton was more interested in the Joker and the art and set production design than Batman or anything else in terms of characterization and screentime.
The songs written by Prince were criticized for being "too out of place". James Berardinelli called the film entertaining, with the highlight being the production design. However, he concluded, "the best thing that can be said about Batman is that it led to Batman Returns, which was a far superior effort." Variety felt "Jack Nicholson stole every scene" but still greeted the film with positive feedback. Roger Ebert was highly impressed with the production design, but claimed "Batman is a triumph of design over story, style over substance, a great-looking movie with a plot you can't care much about." He also called the film "a depressing experience". On the syndicated television series Siskel & Ebert, his reviewing partner Gene Siskel disagreed, describing the film as having a "refreshingly adult" approach with performances, direction and set design that "draws you into a psychological world".
Legacy
Anton Furst and Peter Young won the Academy Award for Best Art Direction, while Nicholson was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor (Musical or Comedy). The British Academy of Film and Television Arts nominated Batman in six categories (Production Design, Visual Effects, Costume Design, Makeup, Sound and Actor in a Supporting Role for Nicholson), but it won none of the categories. Nicholson, Basinger, the makeup department, and costume designer Bob Ringwood all received nominations at the Saturn Awards. The film was also nominated for the Saturn Award for Best Fantasy Film and the Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation.
The success of Batman prompted Warner Bros. Animation to create the acclaimed Batman: The Animated Series, as a result beginning the long-running DC Animated Universe and helped establish the modern day superhero film genre. Series co-creator Bruce Timm stated the television show's Art Deco design was inspired from the film. Timm commented, "our show would never have gotten made if it hadn't been for that first Batman movie." Burton joked, "ever since I did Batman, it was like the first dark comic book movie. Now everyone wants to do a dark and serious superhero movie. I guess I'm the one responsible for that trend."
Batman initiated the original Batman film series and spawned three sequels: Batman Returns (1992), Batman Forever (1995), and Batman & Robin (1997), the latter two of which were directed by Joel Schumacher instead of Burton and replaced Keaton as Batman with Val Kilmer and George Clooney, respectively.
Executive producers Benjamin Melniker and Michael E. Uslan filed a breach of contract lawsuit in Los Angeles County Superior Court on March 26, 1992. Melniker and Uslan claimed to be "the victims of a sinister campaign of fraud and coercion that has cheated them out of continuing involvement in the production of Batman and its sequels. We were denied proper credits, and deprived of any financial rewards for our indispensable creative contribution to the success of Batman."
Reflecting on the twentieth anniversary of its release in a retrospective article on Salon.com, film commentator Scott Mendelson noted the continuing impact that Batman has had on the motion film industry, including the increasing importance of opening weekend box office receipts; the narrowing window between a film's debut and its video release that caused the demise of second-run movie theaters; the accelerated acquisition of pre-existing, pre-sold properties for film adaptations that can be readily leveraged for merchandizing tie-ins; the primacy of the MPAA PG-13 as the target rating for film producers; and more off-beat, non-traditional casting opportunities for genre films. The film was responsible for the British Board of Film Classification introducing its "12" age rating, as its content fell between what was expected for a "PG" or "15" certificate.
The American Film Institute anointed Batman the 46th greatest movie hero and the Joker the 45th greatest movie villain on ''AFI's 100 Years...100 Heroes and Villains''.
;American Film Institute lists
* AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies – Nominated
* AFI's 100 Years...100 Thrills – Nominated
* AFI's 100 Years...100 Heroes and Villains:
** The Joker – #45 Villain
** Batman – #46 Hero
* AFI's 100 Years...100 Movie Quotes:
** "Have you ever danced with the Devil in the pale moonlight?" – Nominated
* AFI's 100 Years of Film Scores – Nominated
* AFI's 10 Top 10 – Nominated Fantasy Film
Robert Wuhl reprises his role as Alexander Knox in The CW's Arrowverse crossover, Crisis on Infinite Earths. The event also retroactively established that the world of the film and its sequel, Batman Returns, takes place on Earth-89; which is one of the worlds destroyed by the Anti-Monitor (LaMonica Garrett) during the Crisis. Michael Keaton reprises his role as Batman in The Flash set in the DC Extended Universe.
Video games
Several video games based on the film were released: By Ocean Software in 1989, by Sunsoft in 1989 and 1990, and by Atari Games in 1991. Konami was also in talks of releasing an arcade game around the same time as Atari.
Comic book continuations
In March 2016, artist Joe Quinones revealed several art designs he and Kate Leth had created to pitch a comic book continuation set in the Batman '89 universe to DC Comics. The pitch, which was rejected, would have included the story of Billy Dee Williams' Harvey Dent turning into Two-Face as well as the inclusion of characters such as Batgirl in a story that took place following the events of Batman Returns. In 2021, DC announced it would be releasing a comic book continuation of the ''Batman '89'' film. The series would be written by Sam Hamm and illustrated by Joe Quinones. The comic's synopsis revealed that it would include the return of Selina Kyle/Catwoman, an introduction of a new Robin, and the transformation of Williams' Harvey Dent into Two-Face.
A followup series was later announced by DC Comics on August 17, 2023. The first issue of the new series was released on November 28, 2023. It was written again by Sam Hamm, with art by Joe Quinones. In the series, Batman has mysteriously disappeared after Dent's death, leading Gotham citizens to take to the streets to fight in his place, including Barbara Gordon, who becomes Batgirl. Scarecrow and Harley Quinn will be featured as the main antagonists, seemingly referencing the unproduced fifth film in the Burton and Schumacher series, Batman Unchained.Direct sequel novels
On April 11, 2024, it was announced that a new novel would be released which would tie-in to the film. Announced with the title Batman: Resurrection, the novel was written by author John Jackson Miller, and acts as a direct sequel to the film, being set between the events of Batman and its sequel Batman Returns, with Batman focusing on dismantling the remnants of Joker's organization, while contemplating on the idea that Joker might not actually be dead. The novel also includes certain characters introduced in the sequel, with one example being Max Shreck. It was released on October 15, 2024, by Penguin Random House; a sequel, titled Batman: Revolution, was later revealed by Miller and is scheduled for release in fall 2025.
Home media
Batman has been released on various formats, including VHS, LaserDisc, DVD and Blu-ray. In an unprecedented move at the time, it was made available to buy on VHS in the United States on November 15, less than six months after its theatrical release, at a suggested retail price of only $24.95 although most sellers sold it for less. It was first released on DVD on March 25, 1997, as a double sided disc containing both Widescreen (1.85:1) and Full Screen (1.33:1) versions of the film. The 2005 Batman: The Motion Picture Anthology 1989–1997 included 2-disc special edition DVDs of the film and all three of its sequels. The anthology was also released as a 4-disc Blu-ray set in 2009, with each film and its previous extras contained on a single disc. Other Blu-ray reissues include a "30th Anniversary" Digibook with 50-page booklet, and a steelcase edition; both also include a Digital Copy. Most recently the "25th Anniversary" Diamond Luxe reissue contained the same disc as before and on a second disc, a new 25-minute featurette: "Batman: The Birth of the Modern Blockbuster".
The film was also included in The Tim Burton Collection DVD and Blu-ray set in 2012, alongside its first sequel, Batman Returns.
Batman was released on Ultra HD Blu-ray on June 4, 2019.
Notes
References
Further reading
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External links
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* Batman (1989) Official website at Warner Bros.
* Batman (1989) Official website at DC Comics
Category:1989 action films
Category:1980s American films
Category:1980s British films
Category:1980s English-language films
Category:1980s superhero films
Category:1989 films
Category:American action films
Category:American films about revenge
Category:American superhero films
Category:Films set in art museums and galleries
Category:Batman (1989 film series)
Category:British action films
Category:British films about revenge
Category:British superhero films
Category:Casting controversies in film
Category:Films adapted into comics
Category:Films directed by Tim Burton
Category:Films produced by Jon Peters
Category:Films produced by Peter Guber
Category:Films scored by Danny Elfman
Category:Films shot at Pinewood Studios
Category:Films shot in Bedfordshire
Category:Films shot in Hertfordshire
Category:Films shot in London
Category:Films whose art director won the Best Art Direction Academy Award
Category:Films with screenplays by Sam Hamm
Category:Films with screenplays by Warren Skaaren
Category:Joker (character) in other media
Category:PolyGram Filmed Entertainment films
Category:Saturn Award–winning films
Category:Warner Bros. films
Category:English-language action films
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Batman (1966 film)
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| starring =
| narrator | music Nelson Riddle
| cinematography = Howard Schwartz
| editing = Harry Gerstad
| production_companies = Greenlawn Productions
| distributor = 20th Century-Fox
| released =
| runtime 104 minutes<!--Theatrical runtime: 104:44-->
| country = United States
| language = English
| budget
| gross (rentals)
Production
Development
William Dozier wanted to make a big-screen film to generate interest in his proposed Batman television series by having the feature in theaters while the first season of the series was rolling before the cameras. The studio, 20th Century-Fox, refused because it would have to cover the entire cost of a movie, while it would only have to share the cost of a TV series (a much less risky proposition).
The studio acquiesced after a 1965 screening of Columbia Pictures' 1943 The Batman serial in New York City renewed interest in the character and after the television series became phenomenally successful. The project was announced in a March 26, 1966, issue of Variety magazine.
The film features many characters from the show. It was written by series writer Lorenzo Semple Jr. and directed by Leslie H. Martinson, who had directed a pair of the television series season one episodes: "The Penguin Goes Straight" and "Not Yet, He Ain't". Semple Jr. completed the screenplay in 10 days. Principal photography began on April 28, 1966, and concluded within 28 days, with a further three days to complete second-unit photography. and was replaced by Lee Meriwether in the film. According to the Biography special Catwoman: Her Many Lives aired on July 20, 2004, Newmar was unable to reprise her role because of a back injury. Catwoman was nonetheless played by Newmar once again in the following eleven episodes of season two of the series; Eartha Kitt would then play Catwoman in three episodes of season three.
Jack LaLanne has a cameo as a man on a rooftop with bikini-clad women.Tone and themesEven though it is often described (like many contemporary shows) as a parody of a popular comic-book character, some commentators believe that its comedy is not so tightly confined. They felt the film's depiction of the Caped Crusader "captured the feel of the contemporary comics perfectly". The film was made at a time when "the Batman of the Golden Age comics was already essentially neutered".
Certain elements verge into direct parody of the history of Batman. The movie, like the TV series, is strongly influenced by the comparatively obscure 1940s serials of Batman, such as the escapes done almost out of luck.
Furthermore, the movie represented Batman's first major foray into Cold War issues, paying heavy attention to Polaris Missiles, war surplus submarines and taking a poke at the Pentagon. The inclusion of a glory-hunting presidential character and the unfavorable portrayal of Security Council Members marked Batman's first attempts to poke fun at domestic and international politics.
Vehicles
Besides the Batmobile, other vehicles used by The Dynamic Duo include:
* Batcycle with side car
* Batboat, provided by Glastron
* Batcopter
Of the three new Batvehicles which first appeared in the Batman film, only the Batcycle properly crossed over into the TV series as the budgetary limits of the TV series precluded the full use of the others. While the Batcopter and Batboat from the movie appeared briefly in episodes (including a use of the Batboat in the conclusion of the first post-film two-parter: "Walk the Straight and Narrow"), they primarily did so in the form of stock-footage scenes from the film intercut into the series.
Music
Nelson Riddle's original score to Batman the Movie was released in 2010 by La-La Land Records and Fox Music. The album contains the entire score as heard in the film in chronological order as well as an unreleased cue. This limited edition includes a lavishly illustrated color booklet which features exclusive liner notes by Brian Baterwhite. This Limited Edition was of 2000 units.
It was newly re-issued in 2016. While the program and master of this release is identical to the 2010 release, this reissue features all-new exclusive liner notes by John Takis and art design by Jim Titus. This new Limited Edition is of 2500 units.
Release
Theatrical
Batman premiered at the Paramount Theatre in Austin, Texas, on July 30, 1966 (between the first and second seasons of the TV series); it was moderately successful at the box office. The Batboat featured in the film was created by Austin-based company Glastron, whose payment was in having the film premiere in their hometown. In conjunction with the premiere, Jean Boone of Austin CBS affiliate station KTBC interviewed the film's cast, including Lee Meriwether, Cesar Romero, and Adam West.TelevisionABC, the network which previously aired the Batman television series, first broadcast the film on the July 4, 1971, edition of The ABC Sunday Night Movie; the film was quickly rebroadcast on ABC September 4 of that year.Home mediaThe film debuted on home video via formats VHS and Betamax release in 1985 by Playhouse Video, then apparently re-released (after a Blockbuster Video executive asked why it ''wouldn't be repackaged on the heels of the successful Batman'' film of 1989) in 1989 by CBS/Fox Video, and in 1994 by Fox Video.
The film was released on DVD in 2001, and re-released July 1, 2008, on DVD and on Blu-ray by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment.ReceptionBox officeAccording to Fox records, the film needed to earn $3.2 million in rentals to break even and made $3.9 million (equivalent to $ million in ).
Critical response
Batman holds an 81% rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on thirty-six reviews. The site's consensus states: "Batman: The Movie elevates camp to an art form -- and has a blast doing it, every gloriously tongue-in-cheek inch of the way."
Bill Gibron of Filmcritic.com gave the film 3 out of 5 stars: "Unlike other attempts at bringing these characters to life...the TV cast really captures the inherent insanity of the roles". Variety stated in their review that "the intense innocent enthusiasm of Cesar Romero, Burgess Meredith and Frank Gorshin as the three criminals is balanced against the innocent calm of Adam West and Burt Ward, Batman and Robin respectively".Sequels
West and Ward reprised their roles in Batman animated movies for the show's 50th anniversary along with Julie Newmar returning.
Batman: Return of the Caped Crusaders was released on Digital HD and digital media on October 11, 2016, and on DVD and Blu-ray November 1.
A sequel to Batman: Return of the Caped Crusaders called Batman vs. Two-Face was released on October 10, 2017. The film starred William Shatner voicing Two-Face as the main antagonist. Adam West completed his voiceover work, but died of leukemia in June 2017, before it was released.
See also
* List of American films of 1966
References
External links
*
*
*
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20061004153401/http://www.batmanytb.com/movies/60/index.php Batman The Movie] at BYTB: Batman Yesterday, Today and Beyond (archived 2006)
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20101220084913/http://kiddiematinee.com/b-batman.html BATMAN (1966, U.S.)] at kiddiematinee.com (archived 2010)
* [https://texasarchive.org/2008_00062 Jean Boone – Interview with the cast of Batman: The Movie (1966)] (archived 2008)
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Batman Returns
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| screenplay = Daniel Waters
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Batman & Robin (film)
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*
}}
| starring = <!-- per poster billing block -->
| music = Elliot Goldenthal
| cinematography = Stephen Goldblatt
| editing =
| studio = Warner Bros.<!-- Do not add DC Comics or PolyGram. Neither was a production company on this film. -->
| distributor = Warner Bros.
| released =
| runtime 125 minutes<!-- Theatrical runtime: 124:43 -->
| country = United States
| language = English
| budget $125–160 million
| gross $238 million}} hoping to heal his terminally ill wife, Nora. After a lab accident, Fries was rendered unable to live at average temperatures and forced to wear a cryogenic suit powered by diamonds for survival.
At a Wayne Enterprises lab in Brazil, botanist Doctor Pamela Isley is working under the deranged Doctor Jason Woodrue, who has turned her research on plants into the supersoldier drug Venom. After witnessing Woodrue use the formula to turn serial killer Antonio Diego into the hulking Bane, she threatens to expose Woodrue's experiments. Woodrue attempts to kill her by overturning a shelf of various toxins; instead, Isley is mutated by the toxins into Poison Ivy, who kills Woodrue with a poisonous kiss, destroys the lab and escapes to Gotham City with Bane, concocting a plot to use Wayne's money to support her research. Meanwhile, Alfred Pennyworth's niece, Barbara Wilson, makes a surprise visit and is invited by Bruce to stay at Wayne Manor until she goes back to school.
Wayne Enterprises presents a new telescope for Gotham Observatory at a press conference interrupted by Ivy. She proposes a project that could help the environment, but Bruce declines her offer, knowing it could result in genocide. Batman and Robin decide to lure Freeze out using the Wayne Family diamonds and present them at a Wayne Enterprises charity event. Ivy attends the event and decides to use her abilities to seduce Batman and Robin. Freeze crashes the party but is defeated and incarcerated at Arkham Asylum. Ivy takes an interest in Freeze and helps him escape. Dick discovers that Barbara has been participating in drag races to raise money for Alfred, who is dying of MacGregor's syndrome; a fact he kept from Bruce and Dick, but his niece is secretly aware of his situation and is trying to find treatment for him.
Batman, Robin, and the police arrive at Freeze's lair in response to his escape, discovering Nora preserved in a cryogenic chamber and that Freeze has developed a cure for the early stages of MacGregor's syndrome. The villains soon secretly arrive to recover Freeze's diamonds and Nora. Wanting Freeze for herself, Ivy cuts off the power to Nora's chamber, steals the diamonds, and seduces Robin, escalating tensions between him and Batman. At her hideout, Ivy convinces Freeze that Batman was responsible for her attempt at Nora's life and he then resolves to make humanity suffer for revenge, with Ivy plotting to repopulate Earth using her mutant plants afterward. Freeze and Bane commandeer Gotham Observatory and convert the new telescope into a giant freeze ray, while Ivy uses the Bat-Signal to contact Robin. Robin attempts to go after Ivy alone, but Batman convinces him not to fall for Ivy's seduction. Barbara discovers the Batcave, where an artificial intelligence version of Alfred reveals he has made a suit for Barbara. Barbara dons the suit and becomes Batgirl, arriving at Ivy's lair in time to help Batman and Robin subdue her.
Freeze begins to freeze Gotham over whilst Batman, Robin, and Batgirl head to Gotham Observatory together to stop him. Batman defeats Freeze in combat, while Batgirl and Robin incapacitate Bane and thaw the city. Freeze accuses Batman of taking Nora's life, only to be shown a recording of Ivy admitting to the crime. Batman reveals that Nora survived and offers Freeze the chance to continue his research on MacGregor's syndrome in exchange for his cure. Freeze accepts and returns to Arkham, where he is imprisoned in the same cell as Ivy, upon whom he plans to take revenge. Alfred is cured and Bruce and Dick agree to let Barbara join them in fighting crime.
Cast
* Arnold Schwarzenegger as Dr. Victor Fries / Mr. Freeze:<br />A molecular biologist who suffers an accident while trying to cryogenically preserve his terminally ill wife. As a result, he is forced to live in a sub-zero suit powered by diamonds.
* George Clooney as Bruce Wayne / Batman:<br />A billionaire businessman who fights crime as Batman, Gotham City's vigilante protector.
** Eric Lloyd as Young Bruce Wayne.
* Chris O'Donnell as Dick Grayson / Robin:<br />The crime-fighting partner to Batman and legal ward to Bruce Wayne. He has begun to chafe against Batman's authority, which is amplified even further by Poison Ivy's influence.
* Uma Thurman as Dr. Pamela Isley / Poison Ivy:<br />A botanist-turned-ecoterrorist as a result of being pushed into vials of chemicals, poisons, and toxins. She uses pheromone dust to make men fall for her and venom-laced lips to kill her victims with a kiss.
* Alicia Silverstone as Barbara Wilson / Batgirl:<br />The niece of Alfred Pennyworth who, after losing her parents, joins the superhero duo.
* Michael Gough as Alfred Pennyworth:<br />The trusted butler for Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson.
** Jon Simmons as Young Alfred Pennyworth.
* Pat Hingle as Commissioner James Gordon:<br />The police commissioner of Gotham City. He is close to Batman and informs him of numerous crimes.
* Elle Macpherson as Julie Madison:<br />Bruce Wayne's girlfriend. She proposes to Bruce, but he does not respond, fearing for her safety.
John Glover portrays Dr. Jason Woodrue, a deranged scientist with a desire for world domination via his Venom-powered "supersoldiers", of whom Bane, portrayed by Robert Swenson, becomes Poison Ivy's bodyguard and muscle. Michael Reid MacKay plays Bane before he is injected with Venom. Vivica A. Fox and Vendela Kirsebom play Mr. Freeze's assistant and Nora Fries, Freeze's cryogenically frozen wife, respectively. Elizabeth Sanders appears as Gossip Gerty, Gotham's top gossip columnist. Michael Paul Chan and Kimberly Scott both appear as telescope scientists. Jesse Ventura and Ralf Moeller appear as Arkham Asylum guards. Coolio makes a cameo appearance, later stating that he was to reprise his role as Scarecrow in the ultimately cancelled sequel Batman Unchained.ProductionDevelopmentWith the box office success of Batman Forever in June 1995, Warner Bros. immediately commissioned a sequel. and decided it was best to fast-track production for a June 1997 target release date, which is a break from the usual three-year gap between films. Schumacher wanted to pay homage to the work of the classic Batman comic books of his childhood. The storyline of Batman & Robin was conceived by Schumacher and Goldsman during pre-production on A Time to Kill. Portions of Mr. Freeze's backstory were based on the Batman: The Animated Series episode "Heart of Ice", written by Paul Dini. Goldsman, however, expressed concerns about the script during pre-production discussions with Schumacher. Mr. Freeze's blaster was specifically designed by toy manufacturers. Batman creator Bob Kane acted as an official consultant and was heavily involved in the production; he gave input on the film's script as well as on set. Schumacher would later go on to say that Kilmer wanted to work on The Island of Dr. Moreau because Marlon Brando was cast in the film. David Duchovny stated he was considered for the role of Batman, joking that the reason why he was not chosen was because his nose was too big. George Clooney's casting as Batman was suggested by Warner Bros. executive Bob Daly. Schumacher originally had interest in casting William Baldwin in Kilmer's place, but chose Clooney after seeing his performance in From Dusk till Dawn. Schumacher felt that Clooney "brought a real humanity and humor to the piece, an accessibility that I don't think anybody else has been able to offer" and that he strongly resembled the character from the comic books. Schumacher also believed that Clooney could provide a lighter interpretation of the character than Kilmer and Michael Keaton. As a consequence of time constraints, the costume department repurposed the costume worn by Val Kilmer in Batman Forever for the third act of the film. before the script was rewritten to accommodate Arnold Schwarzenegger's casting. Schumacher later denied that Stewart was ever considered. The extensive time spent on Schwarzenegger's costume significantly restricted his shooting time as his contract was limited to 12 work hours a day. Beside Uma Thurman, Demi Moore, Sharon Stone, and Julia Roberts were considered for the role of Poison Ivy. Silverstone would later recount the body shaming she encountered during promotion of the film.Filming and visual effectsPrincipal photography was set to commence in August 1996, Batman & Robin finished filming in late January 1997, two weeks ahead of the shooting schedule. High public interest in the film caused security issues on set; according to producer Peter MacGregor-Scott, paparazzi regularly disrupted the set, and photographs of Schwarzenegger taken during filming sold for $10,000. According to John Glover, who played Dr. Jason Woodrue, "Joel [Schumacher] would sit on a crane with a megaphone and yell before each take, 'Remember, everyone, this is a cartoon'. It was hard to act because that kind of set the tone for the film." Production designer Barbara Ling stated that her influences for the design of Gotham City came from "neon-ridden Tokyo and the Machine Age. Gotham is like a World's fair on ecstasy." Although miniatures and computer-generated elements were used for some scenes, large full-scale sets were constructed, including Gotham City covered in ice. For scenes featuring people frozen by Mr. Freeze's ice-ray, life-sized mannequins covered in fake ice were created. Several different materials were tested for the faux ice before settling on a combination of fiber resin. According to Ling, the ice effects alone took half a year to create. Batman & Robin featured 450 individual visual effects shots, 150 more than Batman Forever. Motion capture was used to animate digital stunt doubles; for a scene featuring skysurfing, the department recorded the motion of a skyboarder in a wind tunnel at a military base in North Carolina.Music
Elliot Goldenthal returned to score Batman & Robin after collaborating with Schumacher on Batman Forever. The soundtrack features a variety of genres by various bands and performers, showcasing alternative rock on the lead single "The End Is the Beginning Is the End" by The Smashing Pumpkins, and with the songs "Lazy Eye" by Goo Goo Dolls and R.E.M.'s "Revolution". R&B singer R. Kelly wrote "Gotham City" for the soundtrack, which was featured in the end credits and was chosen as one of the singles, reaching the top 10 in the United States and the United Kingdom. Eric Benét and Meshell Ndegeocello also contributed R&B songs. Also included was the single, "Look into My Eyes" by the hip hop group Bone Thugs-n-Harmony, which reached the top 5. Other songs featured included electronic dance elements, including those by Moloko and Arkarna. The soundtrack was released on May 27, 1997, two weeks and three days ahead of the film's premiere in the United States. The orchestral score for the film was never commercially released.
Lisa Schwarzbaum of Entertainment Weekly gave the soundtrack a "C" and called it "as incoherent as the Batman films themselves". Retrospectively, Nicole Drum of ComicBook.com described the soundtrack as a "colorful sampling of popular music at the time that feels messy, complicated, and comforting all at the same time". Filmtracks.com deemed the orchestral score an improvement over that of its predecessor Batman Forever, noting that, while borrowing several themes from the previous film, Goldenthal successfully "expands upon the statements of his title theme and action material so that they are fleshed out into more accessibly enjoyable music". Nevertheless, the website compared Goldenthal's work negatively to Danny Elfman's scores for Batman and Batman Returns. "The End Is the Beginning Is the End" by The Smashing Pumpkins won a Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock Performance at the 40th Annual Grammy Awards.
Release
Batman & Robin had its premiere on June 12, 1997, in Westwood, Los Angeles. The film marked the United Kingdom's then-"biggest and most expensive" movie premiere. The event was held at Battersea Power Station in London, with the building decorated to look like Gotham City and Wayne Manor. Expected to be among the tent poles of the summer movie season, the film opened in the United States on June 20, 1997, in 2,934 theaters, where it remained for an average of approximately 6.2 weeks. The film was released on DVD four months later on October 22, 1997. A special edition DVD was released in 2005 that included a documentary series about the production of the film series, Shadows of the Bat: The Cinematic Saga of the Dark Knight.MarketingThe theatrical trailer for Batman & Robin debuted on the February 19, 1997, episode of Entertainment Tonight. Warner Bros. spent $125 million to market and promote the film, in addition to its $160 million production budget. Themed trading cards produced by Fleer and SkyBox International were also sold, some signed by Clooney, Schwarzenegger, Thurman, Silverstone, O'Donnell, and Schumacher. An eponymous tie-in video game developed by Probe Entertainment was released for the PlayStation on August 5, 1998, to mixed reviews.
Reception
Box office
Batman & Robin was released on June 20, 1997, in the United States and Canada, grossing $42,872,605 in its opening weekend. That made it the third-highest opening weekend gross of 1997, behind Men in Black and The Lost World: Jurassic Park, and the seventh-highest non-holiday opening weekend of all time as of its release. The film would hold the record for having the highest opening weekend for an Arnold Schwarzenegger film until 2003 when it was surpassed by Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines. Its opening weekend gross also remained George Clooney's highest until the release of Gravity in 2013. It reached the number one spot at the box office during its opening weekend, beating out ''My Best Friend's Wedding and Speed 2: Cruise Control''. This would become Schwarzenegger's most recent film to achieve this feat for five years until Collateral Damage opened in 2002. Batman & Robin declined by 63% in its second week, which was credited to poor word of mouth and early competition with Face/Off, Hercules, and Men in Black. In the UK, it had the second-highest opening ever behind Independence Day with a gross of £4,940,566 ($8.2 million) for the weekend.
The film went on to gross $107.4 million in the United States and Canada and $130.9 million internationally, coming to a worldwide total of $238.3 million. and finished outside of the top ten films of 1997. With a production budget of $125–160 million, Schumacher criticized "prejudicial prerelease buzz" online and false news reports as a cause for the film's poor commercial performance. Warner Bros. acknowledged Batman & Robins shortcomings in the domestic market but pointed out its success in other markets.Critical response Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "C+" on an A+ to F scale.
Jay Boyar of Orlando Sentinel believed Batman & Robin to be the least distinctive chapter in the series, calling it a "bat-smorgasbord of action, camp, pathos, spectacle and whatever" and blaming its blandness on the studio's increased involvement in its production. In his "thumbs down" review, Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times found the film to be "wonderful to look at" although it had "nothing authentic at its core", criticizing its toyetic approach. Writing for the Chicago Tribune, Gene Siskel, who gave positive reviews to the previous Batman films, also gave Batman & Robin a "thumbs down" rating, calling it a "sniggering, exhausting, overproduced extravaganza". While commending the film's visuals, Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times called the film "indifferently acted" and "far too slick for even a toehold's worth of connection", believing that it "killed" the Batman film series. Desson Howe of The Washington Post disapproved of Schumacher's direction and Akiva Goldsman's script, calling it an "emptily flashy, meandering fashion show of a summer flick" and also believing that it should mark the end to the series. Andrew Johnston, writing in Time Out, remarked, "It's hard to tell who B&R is intended for. Anyone who knows the character from the comics or the superb animated show on Fox will be alienated. And though Schumacher treats the Adam West version as gospel, that show's campy humor is completely incompatible with these production values." James Berardinelli questioned the "random amount of rubber nipples and camera angle close-ups of the Dynamic Duo's butts and Bat-crotches".
In his review for the San Francisco Chronicle, Mick LaSalle said that the film failed to "convincingly inhabit the grandeur of its art direction and special effects", criticizing George Clooney as "the big zero of the film", who "should go down in history as the George Lazenby of the series". While deeming Clooney "the most ideal Batman to date" in a physical sense, Todd McCarthy of Variety found the character uninteresting and Clooney "unable to compensate onscreen for the lack of dimension on paper". Conversely, he described Thurman and Schwarzenegger's performances as the villainous duo as the "highlights of the film", pointing out Thurman's "comic wit conspicuously lacking elsewhere in the picture". Writing for Star Tribune, Jeff Strickler criticized its "almost embarrassingly mundane" dialogue and called Schwarzenegger "wasted" in the role of Mr. Freeze and his character "drably written". Janet Maslin of The New York Times gave a more positive review and praised Thurman's performance as "perfect", comparing it to Mae West's "[mix of] true femininity with the winking womanliness of a drag queen", but criticizing Silverstone and Clooney's performances. Steven Rea of The Philadelphia Inquirer found Thurman at times "amusing" and similarly described her performance as "Mae West with moss".LegacyBatman & Robin is considered to be one of the worst superhero films In 2009, Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige said that Batman & Robin may be the most important comic book film ever made in that it was "so bad that it demanded a new way of doing things" and created the opportunity to make X-Men (2000) and Spider-Man (2002) in a way that respected the source material to a higher degree. In an interview with Vice 20 years after its release, director Joel Schumacher apologized for the film while taking full responsibility for its poor reputation, stating, "I want to apologize to every fan that was disappointed because I think I owe them that. A lot of it was my choice. No one is responsible for my mistakes but me." He added, "I was scum. It was like I had murdered a baby", recounting his initial reaction to the overwhelmingly negative public response. Screenwriter Akiva Goldsman also apologized, saying, "we didn't mean for it to be bad. I swear, nobody was like, 'This will be bad.'" and elaborating that the film was initially intended to be darker in tone.
ing as the film's depiction of Mr. Freeze.]]
Retrospectively, George Clooney has spoken critically of and apologized for his involvement in the film, saying in 2005, "I think we might have killed the franchise", and calling it "a waste of money". Furthermore, when asked during a 2015 interview on The Graham Norton Show about whether he had ever had to apologize for Batman & Robin, Clooney responded, "I always apologize for Batman & Robin". In late 2020, he told Howard Stern that it was "physically" painful to watch his work in the role: "The truth of the matter is, I was bad in it. Akiva Goldsman — who's won the Oscar for writing since then — he wrote the screenplay. And it's a terrible screenplay, he'll tell you. I'm terrible in it, I'll tell you. Joel Schumacher, who just passed away, directed it, and he'd say, 'Yeah, it didn't work.' We all whiffed on that one." In 2021, Clooney said he refuses let his wife to watch the film. In April 2023, Clooney was asked about what his biggest regret, he responded "I regret doing fucking Batman". Conversely, in an interview with Empire in 2012, Arnold Schwarzenegger stated that, despite its poor reception, he did not regret making the film, commenting about his role as Mr. Freeze and his involvement with the studio, "I felt that the character was interesting and two movies before that one Joel Schumacher was at his height. So the decision-making process was not off. At the same time I was doing Eraser over there and Warner Bros. begged me to do the movie." Similarly, 25 years after its theatrical release, Uma Thurman described her work on the film as a "fantastic experience".
The nipples seen on the character's costumes, first appearing in Batman Forever and accentuated for Batman & Robin at Schumacher's request, remain among the most defining aspects of the film. Recounting his involvement with the film, costume designer Jose Fernandez stated that he was opposed to "sharpening" the nipples, calling them "ridiculous". In 2022, Tim Burton commented about Warner Bros.' decision to replace him as director with Schumacher after Batman Returns, "You complain about me, I'm too weird, I'm too dark, and then you put nipples on the costume? Go fuck yourself." George Clooney's screen-worn suit was put up for auction by Heritage Auctions in 2022 with a starting bid of $40,000. A previous owner had estimated it to be worth $100,000 in 2006 when Clooney was at the height of his career. The suit would go on to sell for $57,500.
In the 2009 film Watchmen, director Zack Snyder and comic book artist Dave Gibbons chose to parody the molded muscle and nipple Batsuit design from Batman & Robin for the Ozymandias costume. The film is referenced in the Batman: The Brave and the Bold episode "Legends of the Dark Mite!", when Bat-Mite briefly uses his powers to transform Batman's costume into the same suit shown in Schumacher's Batman films, before declaring it "too icky". 26 years after the release of Batman & Robin, Clooney made a cameo appearance as Bruce Wayne in the 2023 DC Extended Universe superhero film The Flash. Clooney was asked to reprise the role when the film was already in post-production, agreeing to join after seeing a cut of the film; filming took place in secret six months before release and lasted half a day.Accolades
{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders sortable"
|-
! scope="col"| Award
! scope="col"| Category
! scope="col"| Recipient
! scope="col"| Result
! scope="col"| Ref
|-
|rowspan=11| Golden Raspberry Awards
| Worst Picture
|rowspan=3| Batman & Robin
|
|rowspan11|
|-
| Worst Remake or Sequel
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| Worst Reckless Disregard for Human Life and Public Property
|
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| Worst Director
| Joel Schumacher
|
|-
| Worst Screenplay
| Akiva Goldsman
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|-
| Worst Supporting Actor
| Chris O'Donnell
|
|-
| Worst Supporting Actor
| Arnold Schwarzenegger
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|-
| Worst Supporting Actress
| Alicia Silverstone
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|-
| Worst Supporting Actress
| Uma Thurman
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| Worst Screen Couple
| George Clooney and Chris O'Donnell
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| Worst Song for "The End Is the Beginning Is the End"
| Billy Corgan
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|-
| Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards
| Favorite Movie
| Batman & Robin
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|-
|rowspan=5| Stinkers Bad Movie Awards
| Worst Picture
|rowspan=3| Batman & Robin
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|rowspan5|
|-
| Worst Sequel
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|-
| Worst Screenplay for a Film Grossing More Than $100M Worldwide Using Hollywood Math
|
|-
| Worst Director
| Joel Schumacher
|
|-
| Worst Supporting Actress
| Alicia Silverstone
|
|-
|}
Canceled sequel
During the filming of Batman & Robin, Warner Bros. was impressed with the dailies, prompting them to immediately hire Joel Schumacher to return as director for a fifth film. However, writer Akiva Goldsman turned down an offer to write the script. Los Angeles Times described their film as "continuing in the same vein with multiple villains and more silliness". Titled Batman Unchained, Protosevich's script featured the Scarecrow as the main villain, who, through the use of his fear toxin, resurrects the Joker as a hallucination in Batman's mind. Harley Quinn would appear as a supporting character, written as the Joker's daughter. Schumacher approached Nicolas Cage to portray the Scarecrow while he was filming Face/Off and Courtney Love was considered for Harley Quinn. Schumacher said he begged the studio for him to do The Dark Knight Returns story for the "fifth film", but they wanted to keep the "family friendly, toyethic thing".
Clooney, O'Donnell, Silverstone, and Coolio were set to reprise the roles of Batman, Robin, Batgirl, and Scarecrow. It was hoped that the villains from previous films would make cameo appearances in the hallucinations caused by Scarecrow, culminating with Jack Nicholson reprising the role of the Joker. Following the poor critical and financial reception of Batman & Robin, Clooney vowed never to reprise his role, and Warner Bros. cancelled any future Batman films, including Schumacher's planned Batman Unchained.
In a 2012 interview with Access Hollywood, Chris O'Donnell claimed that a spin-off centered around the character of Robin was planned, but eventually scrapped due to Batman & Robins poor commercial performance.See also
* Homosexuality in the Batman franchise
* List of films featuring powered exoskeletons
* List of films considered the worst
Notes
References
External links
* (Warner Bros.)
* (DC Comics)
*
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Category:1997 films
Category:1990s English-language films
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Category:1997 action films
Category:Batman (1989 film series)
Category:Robin (character) films
Category:American superhero films
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Category:Films set in psychiatric hospitals
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Category:Films shot in Montreal
Category:Films shot in Ottawa
Category:Films shot in Vermont
Category:Golden Raspberry Award–winning films
Category:Films about suspended animation
Category:Eco-terrorism in fiction
Category:American films about revenge
Category:Films directed by Joel Schumacher
Category:Films about human experimentation
Category:Films adapted into comics
Category:Films with screenplays by Akiva Goldsman
Category:Films scored by Elliot Goldenthal
Category:Films set in Brazil
Category:Patrick Leahy
Category:Poison Ivy (character) in other media
Category:PolyGram Filmed Entertainment films
Category:Warner Bros. films
Category:American mad scientist films
Category:Films produced by Peter MacGregor-Scott
Category:1990s American films
Category:English-language action films
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batman_&_Robin_(film)
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2025-04-05T18:26:56.985986
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4730
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Batman Forever
|
| screenplay =
| story =
| based_on =
*
}}
| starring =
| music = Elliot Goldenthal
| cinematography = Stephen Goldblatt
| editing = Dennis Virkler
| studio =
| runtime 122 minutes
| country = United States
| language = English
| budget $100 million}} It is the third installment of Warner Bros.' initial Batman film series and a sequel to Batman Returns (1992). Directed by Joel Schumacher and produced by Tim Burton and Peter MacGregor-Scott, it stars Val Kilmer as Bruce Wayne / Batman, replacing Michael Keaton, alongside Tommy Lee Jones, Jim Carrey, Nicole Kidman, and Chris O'Donnell. The film follows Batman as he attempts to prevent Two-Face (Jones) and the Riddler (Carrey) from uncovering his secret identity and extracting information from the minds of Gotham City's residents, while at the same time navigating his feelings for psychologist Dr. Chase Meridian (Kidman) and adopting orphaned acrobat Dick Grayson (O'Donnell)—who becomes his partner and best friend, Robin.
Schumacher mostly eschewed the dark, dystopian atmosphere of Burton's films by drawing inspiration from the Batman comic books of the Dick Sprang era, as well as the 1960s television series. After Keaton chose not to reprise his role, William Baldwin and Ethan Hawke were considered as a replacement, before Val Kilmer joined the cast.
Batman Forever was released on June 16, 1995, to mixed reviews from critics, who praised the visuals, action sequences, soundtrack, but criticized the screenplay and tonal departure from previous two films. The film was a box office success, grossing over $336 million worldwide and becoming the sixth-highest-grossing film of 1995. It was followed by Batman & Robin in 1997, with Schumacher returning as the director, O'Donnell returning as Robin, and George Clooney replacing Kilmer as Batman.
Plot
<!-- Per WP:FILMPLOT, plot summary should be between 400 and 700 words. -->
In Gotham City, Batman defuses a hostage situation orchestrated by the criminal Two-Face, formerly district attorney Harvey Dent, who escapes. Flashbacks reveal that Batman failed to prevent Dent's disfigurement with acid by mobster Sal Maroni, causing Dent to develop a split personality, make decisions based on the flip of a coin, and swear vengeance against Batman.
Edward Nygma, an eccentric and egotistical researcher at Wayne Enterprises, approaches his employer, Bruce Wayne. Nygma presents an invention that can beam television signals directly into the brain, demanding immediate approval directly from Bruce. Bruce rejects the device, as he is irritated by Nygma and is concerned that the technology could manipulate minds. After killing his abusive supervisor and staging it as a suicide, Nygma resigns and plots revenge against Bruce, sending him riddles. Criminal psychologist Chase Meridian diagnoses Nygma as psychotic.
Bruce attends a circus with Chase. Two-Face hijacks the event and threatens to detonate a bomb unless Batman reveals his identity. The youngest member of the Flying Graysons and acrobat Dick Grayson manages to throw the bomb into a river, but Two-Face kills his family in the process. Bruce invites the now-orphaned Dick to live at Wayne Manor as his ward, where he discovers that Bruce is Batman. Seeking to avenge the death of his family, Dick demands to join Batman in crime-fighting, hoping to kill Two-Face, but Bruce declines in order to help Dick move on instead, as he is considering to retire.
Nygma becomes the Riddler and teams up with Two-Face. They commit a series of robberies to finance Nygma's new company and mass-produce his brainwave device dubbed the Box, which steals information from minds and transfers it to Nygma's, increasing his intelligence but also slowly causing him to lose his grip on reality. At a party hosted by Nygma, Batman pursues Two-Face and is almost killed until Dick saves him.
Batman visits Chase, who explains that she has fallen in love with Bruce and reveals his secret identity to her. Having discovered Bruce's secret through the Box, on Halloween night, Two-Face and the Riddler, destroy the Batcave, shoot Bruce and abduct Chase. As Bruce recovers, he and his butler, Alfred Pennyworth, deduce that Nygma is the Riddler. Bruce finally accepts Dick as his best friend and partner, Robin.
At the Riddler's lair, Robin defeats Two-Face but chooses to spare him, allowing Two-Face to capture Robin at gunpoint. The Riddler reveals his final riddle; Chase and Robin, representing the two sides of Batman's personality, are trapped in tubes above a deadly drop, and he only has the time to save one. Batman distracts the Riddler with a riddle himself, before destroying the Riddler's brainwave receiver with a Batarang, damaging the Riddler's mind and enabling Batman to rescue both when he sees the floor is an optical illusion. Two-Face corners them and flips his coin to decide their fate, but Batman throws a handful of identical coins in the air, causing Two-Face to fall to his death.
Committed to Arkham Asylum, Nygma exclaims that he is Batman, having become completely delusional due to his scrambled memories. Bruce resumes his crusade as Batman, with Robin as his partner.
Cast
* Val Kilmer as Bruce Wayne / Batman: A wealthy industrialist who duly works as Gotham City's vigilante protector but now struggles with his dual identity, becoming romantically involved with Dr. Chase Meridian and questioning his act of vengeance. Kilmer replaces Michael Keaton from the first two films.
* Tommy Lee Jones as Harvey Dent / Two-Face: The district attorney of Gotham City, who becomes a criminal bent on killing Batman for failing to save him when a crime boss throws acid at him during a trial, scarring half his face and damaging his brain. Billy Dee Williams, who played the role in the first film, was supposed to reprise the role, but Schumacher wanted to work with Jones again after working with him on The Client.
* Jim Carrey as Edward Nygma / The Riddler: An Wayne Enterprises employee who becomes a criminal leaving riddles and puzzles at crime scenes after his newest invention is personally rejected by Bruce.
* Nicole Kidman as Dr. Chase Meridian: A psychologist and love interest of Bruce.
* Chris O'Donnell as Richard "Dick" Grayson / Robin: A circus acrobat taken in by Bruce after Two-Face murders his parents, who becomes Batman's sidekick Robin upon discovering the Batcave and learning Bruce's secret identity.
* Michael Gough as Alfred Pennyworth: The Wayne family's faithful butler and Bruce's confidant.
* Pat Hingle as James Gordon: The police commissioner of Gotham City.
* George Wallace as The Mayor: The unnamed mayor of Gotham City and the successor of Roscoe Jenkins.
* Drew Barrymore as Sugar: Two-Face's "good" angel-esque assistant.
* Debi Mazar as Spice: Two-Face's "bad" goth assistant.
* Ed Begley Jr. as Fred Stickley: Edward Nygma's ill-tempered supervisor at Wayne Enterprises, whom Nygma kills after Stickley discovers the true nature of Nygma's invention. Begley was uncredited for this role.
* Ofer Samra as Harvey's Thug
* Elizabeth Sanders as Gossip Gerty: Gotham's top gossip columnist.
* René Auberjonois as Dr. Burton: Head Doctor of Arkham Asylum.
* Larry A. Lee as John Grayson: Dick Grayson's father and leader of the Flying Graysons
* Glory Fioramonti as Mary Grayson: Dick Grayson's mother
* En Vogue as girls on the corner who are hoping to see Batman.
* Joe Grifasi as Hawkins: A bank guard and Two-Face's hostage during the opening scene.
* Michael Paul Chan as Assistant #1
* Jon Favreau as Assistant #2
Additionally, United States Senator and Batman fan Patrick Leahy makes an uncredited appearance as himself.
Production
Development
Batman Returns was released in 1992 with financial success and generally favorable reviews from critics, but Warner Bros. was disappointed with its box office run, having made $150 million less than the first film. After Batman Returns was deemed too dark and inappropriate for children, with McDonald's even recalling their Happy Meal tie-in, Warner Bros. decided that this was the primary cause of the film's financial results. After the film's release, Warner Bros. was not interested in Tim Burton's return as director. Burton noted he was unsure about returning to direct, writing: "I don't think Warner Bros. wanted me to direct a third Batman. I even said that to them." Burton and Warner Bros. mutually agreed to part ways, though Burton would stay on as producer. John McTiernan turned down an offer to direct. In June 1993, Joel Schumacher was selected by Warner Bros. while he was filming The Client, and with Burton's approval.
Lee and Janet Scott-Batchler, a husband-and-wife screenwriting team, were hired to write the script. Warner Bros. had lost a bidding war for their spec script titled Smoke and Mirrors to Disney's Hollywood Pictures. The project ultimately fell through, and Warner Bros. offered the Batchlers several of their film properties to write. Being familiar with the Batman comics from their childhood, the Batchlers chose to work on the next Batman film as their next project. In a meeting with Burton, they agreed that "the key element to Batman is his duality. And it's not just that Batman is Bruce Wayne."
|alignright|width=25em
}}
Their original script introduced a psychotic Riddler, real name Lyle Heckendorf, with a pet rat accompanying him. A scene cut from the final film included Heckendorf obtaining his costume from a fortune-telling leprechaun at the circus. Instead of NygmaTech, the company would have been named HeckTech. The story elements and much of the dialogue still remained in the finished film, though Schumacher felt it could be "lighte[ne]d down". Keaton initially approved the selection of Schumacher as director and planned on reprising his role as Batman from the first two films. Schumacher claims he originally had in mind an adaptation of Frank Miller's Batman: Year One and Keaton claimed that he was enthusiastic about the idea. Keaton also wanted to pursue "more interesting roles", turning down $15 million. A decision was made to go with a younger actor for Bruce Wayne, and an offer was made to Ethan Hawke, who turned it down, but eventually regretted the decision; he would eventually voice the character in the preschool animated series Batwheels in 2022. Schumacher had seen Val Kilmer in Tombstone, but was also interested in William Baldwin, Ralph Fiennes (who would later voice Alfred Pennyworth in The Lego Batman Movie in 2017), and Daniel Day-Lewis. While Burton pushed for Johnny Depp to get the role, Kurt Russell was also considered. Kilmer, who as a child visited the studios where the 1960s series was recorded, and shortly before had visited a bat cave in Africa, was contacted by his agent for the role. Kilmer signed on without reading the script or knowing who the director was.
With Kilmer's casting, Warner Bros. dropped Russo, considering her too old to be paired with Kilmer. Kidman later revealed she took the role because she "wanted to kiss Batman." Billy Dee Williams took the role of Harvey Dent in Batman on the possibility of portraying Two-Face in a sequel, but Schumacher cast Tommy Lee Jones in the role, although Al Pacino, Clint Eastwood, Martin Sheen and Robert De Niro were considered, after working with him on The Client. Jones was reluctant to accept the role, but did so at his son's insistence.
Robin Williams was in discussions to be the Riddler at one point, and was reportedly in competition for the role with John Malkovich. In June 1994, the role was given to Jim Carrey after Williams had reportedly turned it down. Brad Dourif (who was Burton's original choice to portray the Joker and Scarecrow after), Kelsey Grammer, Micky Dolenz, Matthew Broderick, Phil Hartman and Steve Martin were said to have been considered.
Robin had appeared in the shooting script for Batman Returns but was deleted due to having too many characters. Marlon Wayans had been cast in the role and signed on for a potential sequel, but when Schumacher took over, he decided to open up casting to other actors. Leonardo DiCaprio was considered, but decided not to pursue the role after a meeting with Schumacher. Among others, Matt Damon, Corey Haim, Corey Feldman, Mark Wahlberg, Michael Worth, Toby Stephens, Ewan McGregor, Jude Law, Alan Cumming and Scott Speedman<!--Please do not add more actors without further sources, the casting list is a wide net and for fairness only those with ticks are included.--> were considered. Chris O'Donnell was cast and Mitch Gaylord served as his stunt double, and also portrayed Mitch Grayson, Dick's older brother, created for the film.FilmingPrincipal photography began on September 24, 1994, and wrapped on March 5, 1995. Schumacher also mentioned Tommy Lee Jones as a source of trouble: "Jim Carrey was a gentleman, and Tommy Lee was threatened by him. I'm tired of defending overpaid, overprivileged actors. I pray I don't work with them again." In a 2014 interview, Carrey acknowledged that Jones was not friendly to him, and recounted an incident wherein Jones told him: "I hate you. I really don't like you ... I cannot sanction your buffoonery."Design and visual effectsRick Baker designed the prosthetic makeup. John Dykstra, Andrew Adamson and Jim Rygiel served as visual effects supervisors, with Rhythm & Hues Studios (R&H) and Pacific Data Images also contributing to visual effects work. R&H and PDI provided a CGI Batman for complicated stunts. For the costume design, producer Peter MacGregor-Scott claimed that 146 workers were at one point working together. Batman's costume was redesigned along the lines of a more "MTV organic, and edgier feel" to the suit. Sound design and mixing was created and supervised by Bruce Stambler and John Levesque, which included trips to caves to record bat sounds. A new Batmobile was designed for Batman Forever, with two cars being constructed, one for stunt purposes and one for close-ups. Chris O'Donnell had the area around his eyes painted black and then the Robin mask glued on him. Swiss surrealist painter H. R. Giger provided his version for the Batmobile but it was considered too sinister for the film. Nygma's brainwave device and lair resemble rejected concept artwork of Columbus Lighthouse by Russian avant-garde architect Konstantin Melnikov from 1929.
The film used some motion capture for certain visual effects. Warner Bros. had acquired motion capture technology from arcade video game company Acclaim Entertainment for use in the film's production.Music
Elliot Goldenthal was hired by Schumacher to compose the film score before the screenplay was written. In discussions with Schumacher, the director wanted Goldenthal to avoid taking inspiration from Danny Elfman, and requested an original composition. The film's promotional teaser trailer however used the main title theme from Elfman's score of 1989's Batman.
The soundtrack was commercially successful, selling almost as many copies as Prince's soundtrack to the 1989 Batman film. Only five of the songs on the soundtrack are actually featured in the movie. Hit singles from the soundtrack include "Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me" by U2 and "Kiss from a Rose" by Seal, both of which were nominated for MTV Movie Awards. "Kiss from a Rose" (whose music video was also directed by Joel Schumacher) reached No. 1 in the U.S. charts as well. The soundtrack itself, featuring additional songs by The Flaming Lips, Brandy (both songs also included in the film), Method Man, Nick Cave, Michael Hutchence (of INXS), PJ Harvey and Massive Attack, was an attempt to (in producer Peter MacGregor-Scott's words) make the film more "pop".
Release
Marketing
In addition to a large line of toys, video games and action figures from Kenner, the McDonald's food chain released several collectibles and mugs to coincide with the release of the film. Peter David and Alan Grant wrote separate novelizations of the film. Dennis O'Neil authored a comic book adaptation, with art by Michal Dutkiewicz.
Six Flags Great Adventure theme park re-themed their "Axis Chemical" arena, home of the Batman stunt show, to resemble Batman Forever, and the new show featured props from the film. Six Flags Over Texas featured a one-time fireworks show to promote the movie, and replica busts of Batman, Robin, Two-Face, and the Riddler could be found in the Justice League store in the Looney Tunes U.S.A. section until they were removed in 2023. Batman: The Ride opened at Six Flags St. Louis to promote the movie. At Six Flags Over Georgia, The Mind Bender roller coaster was redesigned to look as though it were the creation of The Riddler and some images and props were used in the design of the roller coaster and its queue.
Video games
Video games based on the film were released. A video game of the same name, was released in 1995 for Super Nintendo Entertainment System, Game Boy, Sega Genesis, Game Gear, R-Zone and MS-DOS, it was followed by Batman & Robin for the PlayStation, to promote the release of the film. Two arcade versions, Batman Forever: The Arcade Game, was released in 1996 and was ported to the three consoles, and a pinball machine based on the film was released in 1995 by Sega Pinball.
Home media
Batman Forever was released on VHS and LaserDisc on October 31, 1995. Over 3 million VHS copies were sold during the first week of release. The film was then released on DVD on May 20, 1997. This release was a double sided disc containing both widescreen (1.85:1) and full screen (1.33:1) versions of the film. Batman Forever made its Blu-ray debut on April 20, 2010. This was followed by an Ultra HD Blu-ray release on June 4, 2019.
Deleted scenes
Batman Forever went through a few major edits before its release. Originally darker than the final product, the film's original length was closer to two hours and forty minutes, according to Schumacher. There was talk of an extended cut being released to DVD for the film's tenth anniversary in 2005. While all four previous Batman films were given special-edition DVD releases on the same day as the Batman Begins DVD release, none of them were given extended cuts, although some scenes were in a deleted scenes section in the special features.ReceptionBox officeBatman Forever opened in a record 2,842 theaters and 4,300 screens in the United States and Canada on June 16, 1995, grossing $52.8 million in its opening weekend, For six years, it had the largest opening weekend for a Warner Bros. film until 2001, when it was surpassed by ''Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. The film also achieved the highest June opening weekend, holding that record until it was beaten by Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me in 1999, which would then be overtaken by Hulk'' in 2003. It was the first film to gross $20 million in one day, on its opening day on Friday. The film also beat out Congo to reach the number one spot.
Additionally, the film held the record for having the highest opening weekend for a superhero film until it was taken by X-Men in 2000. That year, How the Grinch Stole Christmas broke Batman Forevers record for scoring the biggest opening weekend for any film starring Jim Carrey. While the film was overtaken by Pocahontas during its second weekend, it still made $29.2 million. It then became the first film of 1995 to reach $100 million domestically. The film started its international roll out in Japan on June 17, 1995, and grossed $2.2 million in 5 days from 167 screens, which was only 80% of the gross of its predecessor Batman Returns.
The film went on to gross $184 million in the United States and Canada, and $152.5 million in other countries, totaling $336.53 million. The film grossed more than Batman Returns, and is the second-highest-grossing film from 1995 in the United States, behind Toy Story, as well as the sixth-highest-grossing film of that year worldwide.Critical response
On Rotten Tomatoes, Batman Forever has an approval rating of based on reviews, with an average rating of 5.1/10. The site's critical consensus reads: "Loud, excessively busy, and often boring, Batman Forever nonetheless has the charisma of Jim Carrey and Tommy Lee Jones to offer mild relief." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 51 out of 100, based on 23 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale.
Peter Travers of Rolling Stone wrote: "Batman Forever still gets in its licks. There's no fun machine this summer that packs more surprises." Travers criticized the film's excessive commercialism and felt that "the script misses the pain Tim Burton caught in a man tormented by the long-ago murder of his parents", but praised Kilmer's performance as having a "deftly understated [...] comic edge". James Berardinelli of ReelViews enjoyed the film, writing: "It's lighter, brighter, funnier, faster-paced, and a whole lot more colorful than before."
On the television program Siskel & Ebert, Gene Siskel of the Chicago Tribune and Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times both gave the film mixed reviews, but with the former giving it a thumbs up and the latter a thumbs down. In his written review, Ebert wrote: "Is the movie better entertainment? Well, it's great bubblegum for the eyes. Younger children will be able to process it more easily; some kids were led bawling from Batman Returns where the PG-13 rating was a joke."
Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle had a mixed reaction, concluding: "a shot of Kilmer's rubber buns at one point is guaranteed to bring squeals from the audience." Brian Lowry of Variety believed: "One does have to question the logic behind adding nipples to the hard-rubber batsuit. Whose idea was that supposed to be anyway, Alfred's? Some of the computer-generated Gotham cityscapes appear too obviously fake. Elliot Goldenthal's score, while serviceable, also isn't as stirring as Danny Elfman's work in the first two films."
Some observers thought Schumacher, a gay man, added possible homoerotic innuendo in the storyline. Regarding the costume design, Schumacher stated: "I had no idea that putting nipples on the Batsuit and Robin suit were going to spark international headlines. The bodies of the suits come from Ancient Greek statues, which display perfect bodies. They are anatomically correct."
"Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me" by U2 was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song (lost to "Colors of the Wind" from Pocahontas), but was also nominated for the Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Original Song (lost to "Walk into the Wind" from Showgirls).
At the 22nd Saturn Awards, the film was nominated for Best Fantasy Film (lost to Babe), Make-up (lost to Seven), Special Effects (lost to Jumanji) and Costume Design (lost to 12 Monkeys).
Composer Elliot Goldenthal was given a Grammy Award nomination.
Batman Forever received six nominations at the 1996 MTV Movie Awards, four of which were divided between two categories (Carrey and Lee Jones for Best Villain; and Seal's "Kiss from a Rose" and U2's "Hold Me" in Best Song from a Movie). However, it won in just one category: Best Song from a Movie for Seal's "Kiss from a Rose".
Legacy
Potential director's cut
Cuts were made to the film based on audience reactions during test screenings, like the rest of the Batman films. Photographs from these scenes have always been available since the film's release, shown in magazines such as Starlog. Some excerpts from these scenes appear in the music video for Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me. In 2005, Batman Forever was the only film in the franchise to include a dedicated deleted scenes selection among its bonus content on the special edition DVD. Batman Forever screenwriter Akiva Goldsman revealed in a YouTube interview in April 2021 that he had recently seen the original cut of the film (dubbed "Preview Cut: One") and that he expects a rebirth coming up, suggesting all the footage needed to make the Schumacher cut still exists and that the release of a director's cut might be possible.
In July 2023, following a private screening of a workprint version by director Kevin Smith, Goldsman confirmed that the original cut does exist and even though Warner Bros. currently has no plans to release it, he said he was hopeful for a possible distribution in the future. Some of the aforementioned deleted scenes make up a portion of this footage.
In July 2024, Goldsman reaffirmed the existence of the director's cut, while also declaring that work to restore it has been put on stall following Warner Bros. recent internal turmoils.
''Batman '89
An alternate six-issue comic book continuation of Batman Returns titled Batman '89, which ignores the events of Batman Forever and Batman & Robin'' and brings back Keaton's Batman along with Burton's dark setting seen in his first two Batman films, along with elements of his failed third Batman film (particularly, the return of Billy Dee Williams' Harvey Dent and transformation into Two-Face, the introductions of new versions of Robin and Barbara Gordon, and the return of Catwoman), was launched on August 10, 2021, with its issues releasing monthly before ending in January 2022.
In response to a question as to whether Schumacher's Batman films are canon to the world of ''Batman '89'', the first two films' screenwriter Sam Hamm, who also serves as the comics' writer, confirmed that the latter two films take place in a diverging timeline and they are not building toward that fate.NotesReferencesBibliography* External links
* (Warner Bros.)
* (DC Comics)
*
*
}}
Category:1995 films
Category:1995 action films
Category:1990s superhero films
<!--Primary grouping categories-->
Category:Batman (1989 film series)
<!--Nationality/language categories-->
Category:American action films
<!--Genre categories-->
Category:American sequel films
Category:American superhero films
<!--Company categories-->
Category:PolyGram Filmed Entertainment films
Category:Warner Bros. films
<!--Additional categories-->
Category:American films about Halloween
Category:American films about revenge
Category:Casting controversies in film
Category:Films produced by Tim Burton
Category:Films directed by Joel Schumacher
Category:Films set in psychiatric hospitals
Category:Films about stalking
Category:Films adapted into comics
Category:Films shot in Los Angeles
Category:Films shot in New York City
Category:Films shot in Oregon
Category:Films shot in San Francisco
Category:Films with screenplays by Akiva Goldsman
Category:Films scored by Elliot Goldenthal
Category:Joker (character) in other media
Category:American mad scientist films
Category:Films produced by Peter MacGregor-Scott
Category:Patrick Leahy
Category:Robin (character) films
Category:1990s English-language films
Category:1990s American films
Category:English-language action films
Category:Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Award–winning films
Category:Fictional duos
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batman_Forever
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Batman: Year One
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Batman: Year One (film)}}
| writers = Frank Miller
| artists = David Mazzucchelli
| inkers | pencillers
| letterers = Todd Klein
| editors = Dennis O'Neil
| colorists = Richmond Lewis
| TPB = Trade Paperback
| ISBN = 0930289331
| TPB1 = Hardcover
| ISBN1 = 0930289323
| TPB2 = Trade Paperback (Warner Books)
| ISBN2 = 0446389234
| TPB3 = Trade Paperback (Titan Books)
| ISBN3 = 1852860774
| TPB4 = 2005 Deluxe Edition (Hardcover)
| ISBN4 = 1401206905
| TPB5 = 2005 Deluxe Edition (Trade Paperback)
| ISBN5 = 1401207529
| TPB6 = 2012 Deluxe Edition
| ISBN6 = 1401233422
| TPB7 = Book with Blu-ray & DVD set
| ISBN7 = 1401260047
| TPB8 = Absolute Edition
| ISBN8 = 1401243797
| TPB9 = 2017 Deluxe Edition
| ISBN9 = 1401272940
| TPB10 = Artist's Edition
| ISBN10 = 9798887240039
| sort = Batman: Year One
}}
Batman: Year One is an American comic book story arc written by Frank Miller and illustrated by David Mazzucchelli. Year One was originally published by DC Comics in Batman #404–407 monthly issues format in 1987. The story recounts Batman's first year as a crime-fighter as well as exploring the life of recently transferred Gotham police detective Jim Gordon, building towards their first encounter and their eventual alliance against Gotham's criminal underworld.
Publication history
Development
In an effort to resolve continuity errors in the DC Universe, Marv Wolfman and George Pérez produced the 12-issue limited series Crisis on Infinite Earths. Wolfman's plans for the DC Universe after Crisis on Infinite Earths included relaunching every DC comic with a new first issue.
During the production of Crisis on Infinite Earths, Frank Miller was the writer of Marvel Comics' Daredevil where he finished his long run with the character in issue #191. He went on to work for DC and produced the influential four-issue limited series Batman: The Dark Knight Returns (1986), but was put on hold due to unsuccessfully developing ideas for the story. In 1985, Miller returned to Marvel to resume his role as the writer of Daredevil starting with issue #219. At some point, he fully committed himself into developing The Dark Knight Returns as ideas came to fruition. By the time the Daredevil series reached to issue #226 in 1986, Miller and artist David Mazzucchelli eventually collaborated for the first time and then they collaborated again on the critically acclaimed seven issues #227-233 which eventually titled as Daredevil: Born Again in the collected edition. Both Miller and Mazzucchelli soon left Marvel afterwards. In 1986, editor Dennis O'Neil moved on from Marvel to work for DC again where he helped Miller to edit The Dark Knight Returns.
The contract Miller signed to produce Dark Knight Returns also required him to write a revamped Batman origin story. Miller's past projects for Daredevil overwhelmed him since he had to handle both writing and illustration duties simultaneously. For Year One, he once again relied on a comic book artist for illustrations while he simply wrote the story and the script. Mazzucchelli signed on to illustrate the artwork after accepting Miller's offering to do Batman. The team also consisted of Mazzucchelli's wife Richmond Lewis who was in charge of coloring, Todd Klein as the story's letterer, and O'Neil editing the overall story. According to O'Neil, the contract Miller and Mazzucchelli signed to produce Year One in the ongoing Batman series guaranteed publication within 6 months. Miller was initially reluctant; he felt this would be hard because he had to ensure the story stayed canonical to the DC Universe, something he did not have to worry about when writing Batman: The Dark Knight Returns. In addition, Miller's pacing would have to be altered because of ongoing series' relatively small page counts. O'Neil reasoned that Crisis on Infinite Earths had completely remade the DC Universe, so Miller would be able to have the same creative freedom that Dark Knight Returns provided. In writing the story, Miller looked for parts of Batman's origin that were never explored. He left the core elements, such as the murder of Bruce's parents, intact, but reduced them to brief flashbacks. Bruce's globe-trotting adventures were removed, as Miller found them uninteresting. Rather than portraying Batman as a larger-than-life icon as he had in The Dark Knight Returns, Miller chose to characterize Batman in Year One as an average, inexperienced man trying to make a change in society because Miller believed a superhero is least interesting when most effective. Examples of this include Batman underestimating his opponents, getting shot by police, and his costume being too big. The story's violence was kept street-level and gritty, emphasizing noir and realism.
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Title
! Issue
! Cover date
|-
| "Chapter One: Who I Am – How I Come to Be"
| Batman #404
| February 1987
|-
| "Chapter Two: War Is Declared"
| Batman #405
| March 1987
|-
| "Chapter Three: Black Dawn"
| Batman #406
| April 1987
|-
| "Chapter Four: Friend in Need"
| Batman #407
| May 1987
|}
Collected editions
Following the completion of the monthly issues run, Year One received several reprints over the years: collected edition in hardcover and trade paperbacks, several deluxe editions in hardcover and paperback format, an Absolute Edition, and an Artist's Edition externally published by IDW Publishing.
In 1988, Year One was published as collected edition in trade paperback () and hardcover (). Both Warner Books () and Titan Books () also published trade paperbacks in 1988 for other regions across the world.
In 1989, Longmeadow Press published The Complete Frank Miller Batman (), collecting Year One, Wanted: Santa Claus - Dead or Alive!, and The Dark Knight Returns.
In April 2005, DC released the "Deluxe Edition" of Year One in hardcover () and trade paperback () to coincide with the release of Batman Begins. This edition reuses the printing paper from the 1988 collected edition with Mazzucchelli supplying the promotional and unseen Batman art, Lewis' color samples, some of the original penciled artwork, and some pages of the original script as bonus materials. The cover was designed by Mazzucchelli and graphic designer Chip Kidd.
The hardcover deluxe edition () was re-released in 2012.}}
In November 2014, to celebrate Batman's 75th anniversary, DC released a sample of Year One as a part of its DC Comics Essentials line of promotional comics.
In 2015, DC released a hardcover () of Year One which included its 2011 animated film adaptation on both DVD and Blu-ray.
In November 2016, DC released a 288-page Absolute Edition of Year One (). This edition comes in a slipcase with two hardcover books. Book One features a whole new scanning from the original artworks by Mazzucchelli and remastered coloring by Lewis, while Book Two features scanning pages directly from the physical copies of the Year One monthly issues. Over 60 pages of bonus materials are also included, including Miller's complete scripts in Book Two.
In 2017, the hardcover deluxe edition () was re-released again, this time with the same printing paper and coloring as Book One of the 2016 Absolute Edition.
In March 2022, to coincide with the release of The Batman, DC released The Batman Box Set (), collecting trade paperbacks of Year One, The Long Halloween, and Ego and Other Tails in a slipcase with art by Jim Lee. Director Matt Reeves cited the three graphic novels as the major influences for the film.
In August 2024, IDW Publishing published the Artist's Edition () of Year One in a 144-page hardcover. Mazzucchelli personally supplied the artworks for scanning with Chip Kidd serving as the designer of the book. [https://bleedingcool.com/comics/batman-year-one-neal-adams-classic-dc-get-idw-artists-editions/] The 250 copies limited edition () [https://firewireblog.com/2024/07/29/david-mazzucchellis-batman-year-one-artists-edition-signed-and-numbered-idw-exclusive-edition/] was exclusively available only for pre-ordering on the IDW's official website; this version includes a slipcase, a variant design of the front cover, and Mazzucchelli's personal signature printed in an interior page.
Plot
Billionaire Bruce Wayne returns home to Gotham City after twelve years abroad, training for his eventual one-man war against crime. James "Jim" Gordon moves to Gotham with his wife, Barbara, after a transfer from Chicago. Both are swiftly acquainted with the corrupt and violent atmosphere of the city. Gordon tries to focus on purging corruption from the Gotham City Police Department after witnessing his partner, Detective Arnold Flass, abuse his power as a cop. Unfortunately, several officers led by Flass beat him on orders from his superior, Commissioner Gillian Loeb. In revenge, Gordon tracks Flass down, beats him, and leaves him naked and handcuffed in the snow.
Bruce believes he is still unprepared to fight against crime despite having the skills he learned abroad. He goes in disguise on a surveillance mission in Gotham's red-light district, but is reluctantly drawn into a brawl with several prostitutes, including Holly Robinson and Selina Kyle. Two police officers shoot Bruce on sight and take him away in their patrol car. Bruce breaks free, flees from the scene, and returns to Wayne Manor barely alive. He sits before his father's bust, requesting guidance in his war against crime. A bat suddenly crashes through a window and settles on the bust, inspiring him to save Gotham as Batman.
With Bruce striking as Batman for weeks, crime significantly declines. He even goes after Flass, who is in the middle of accepting a bribe from Jefferson Skeevers, a drug dealer of Carmine Falcone. Loeb experiences Batman's threats the night when he's attending a dinner party held at the mansion of Gotham's mayor, he orders Gordon and GCPD Sergeant Sarah Essen to arrest the vigilante. The two cops and Batman eventually cross paths as Batman saves an old lady from a runaway truck that nearly hits her. Batman then flees into an abandoned building which Loeb orders a bomb dropped on. He also sends in a SWAT team led by a trigger-happy commander, Branden, to kill any survivors left in the building. The intensity of the hunt increased, alerting dozens of neighbors nearby who were witnessing the situation. Batman uses a signal device to attract a swarm of bats from the Batcave as his only route to escape. After witnessing Batman in action, Selina is inspired to don a costume of her own and begin a life of crime, becoming Catwoman.
Gordon and Essen have a brief affair and spend two months dating. Essen, however, chooses to leave Gotham upon learning he is going to be the father of Barbara's child. Gordon is left alone to investigate Bruce's connection to Batman. He travels to Wayne Manor with Barbara to interrogate Bruce, who uses his playboy charms to divert suspicion. While leaving the manor, Gordon confesses his affair with Essen to Barbara. Skeevers gets bailed with the help of a hired lawyer but is attacked by Batman shortly after, who convinces him to testify against Flass. Skeevers is drugged with rat poison as an attempt of assassination so that he remains silent about the ties between Loeb and the mafia, although Skeevers ultimately survives.
Bruce sneaks into Falcone's manor as Batman and overhears the private conversation between Falcone and his nephew, Johnny Viti. He surmises their intent to target Gordon's family, so he disguises himself as a motorcyclist to help Gordon. Gordon leaves home on Loeb's orders but becomes suspicious and turns back, only to discover Viti and his men already holding his family hostage. Viti flees the scene with Gordon's infant son. Gordon chases after him on Bruce's motorcycle. The two men end up fighting on a bridge until the baby falls. Bruce catches up in time and leaps over the bridge's railing to save the baby. Gordon thanks Bruce for saving his infant son's life and lets him go. Flass supplies Assistant District Attorney Harvey Dent with the evidence and testimony needed to implicate Loeb, who resigns in disgrace. Gordon is promoted to captain and prepares to meet with Batman to investigate a potential plot orchestrated by a criminal calling himself the Joker.
Reception
Popularity
DC's post-Crisis on Infinite Earths revamp was a major success, raising sales 22% in the first year, and DC beat Marvel in direct market sales for the first time in August and September 1987. The four "Year One" issues were no exception to this. Two years before the relaunch, Batman had all-time low sales of 75,000 copies per month; "Year One" sold an average of 193,000 copies an issue, numbers not seen since the early 1970s. Despite this, it did not outsell other books like Uncanny X-Men, and the collected edition sold well but never matched the sales of The Dark Knight Returns.
Critical response
Year One's characterization of Batman and Gordon has been praised. Hilary Goldstein (IGN) compared their journey to friendship to the plot of the film Serpico; they found that the two characters' respective story arcs—with Gordon's "illustrat[ing] the corruption in Gotham" and Batman's detailing "the transformation from man to myth"—offered an exploration of Batman's world like no other. Glenn Matchett (ComicsVerse) wrote that, unlike The Dark Knight Returns, Batman in Year One is more vulnerable and inexperienced, which made the story more memorable. Nick Roberts (Geek Syndicate) thought the characters seemed believable, and comics historian Matthew K. Manning called the characterization realistic and grounded. Jason Serafino (Complex) wrote that by ignoring many of Batman's trademark gadgets and villains and focusing in the core essentials of the titular character, Miller managed to present Batman in a relatable and thrilling way, which felt both fresh, unique and reinvigorating, while still being faithful to the spirit of the character. Goldstein found every moment memorable, writing "Miller does not waste a single panel" in presenting a gritty and dark story. Following The New 52 reboot, Batman: Zero Year replaced Year One as the official origin for Batman and Year One was relegated to the continuity of the other Frank Miller storylines. However, following the DC Rebirth initiative, elements of "Year One" were gradually returned to the mainstream DC continuity.
After Crisis on Infinite Earths, DC rebooted many of its titles. Year One was followed by Batman: Year Two, but the 1994 Zero Hour: Crisis in Time crossover erased Year Two from continuity. In another continuity re-arrangement, Catwoman: Year One (Catwoman Annual #2, 1995) posited that Selina Kyle had not actually been a prostitute, but, rather, a thief posing as one in order to commit crimes.
Launched in 1989, following the success of the film Batman, the title Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight examines crime-fighting exploits primarily, not exclusively, from the first four to five years of Batman's career. This title rotated in creative teams and time placement, but several stories directly relate to the events of Year One, especially the first arc "Batman: Shaman". In 1996 and 1999, Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale created Batman: The Long Halloween and Batman: Dark Victory, two 13-issue maxiseries that recount Batman's early years as a crime-fighter following the events of Miller's original story and retold the origins of Two-Face and Dick Grayson. The Year One story was continued in the 2005 graphic novel Batman: The Man Who Laughs, following up on Gordon informing Batman about the Joker, and thus recounting their first official encounter. Two other stories, Batman and the Monster Men and Batman and the Mad Monk tie into the same time period of Batman's career, filling in the gap between Year One and the Man Who Laughs. The comics Robin: Year One and Batgirl: Year One describe his sidekicks' origin stories.
Sequels
Two sequels, titled Batman: Year Two and Batman: Year Three, were released in 1987 and 1989.
Adaptations
Joel Schumacher's Batman Forever, although set during another timespan, adopts some elements directly from the graphic novel. Schumacher claims he originally had in mind an adaptation of Frank Miller's Batman: Year One. The studio rejected the idea as they wanted a sequel, not a prequel, though Schumacher was able to include very brief events in Batman's past.
The DC Animated Universe film, Batman: Mask of the Phantasm, adopted elements of the storyline, depicting flashbacks of how Bruce Wayne became Batman and also combines it with elements of Batman: Year Two and shows Batman's personal connection with original character Phantasm inspired by the Reaper, another character in the comics with a connection to Batman.
After the critical failure of Batman & Robin, several attempts were made to reboot the Batman film franchise with an adaptation of Year One. Joss Whedon and Joel Schumacher both pitched their own takes. The script, however, was a loose adaptation, as it kept most of the themes and elements from the graphic novel but shunned other conventions that were otherwise integral to the character. It was shelved by the studio in 2001, after an individual who claimed to have read Miller's script published a negative review on ''Ain't It Cool News''.
In 2005, Christopher Nolan began his series with the reboot film Batman Begins, which draws inspiration from "Year One" and other stories. The film's end scene, with Gordon revealing the Joker's arrival in Gotham, mirrors the end of Year One.
In 2011, an animated adaptation was released as a DC Universe Animated Original Movie. It was produced by Bruce Timm, co-directed by Lauren Montgomery and Sam Liu. It features the voices of Benjamin McKenzie as Bruce Wayne/Batman, Bryan Cranston as James "Jim" Gordon, Eliza Dushku as Selina Kyle/Catwoman, Katee Sackhoff as Sarah Essen, Jon Polito as Commissioner Loeb, and Alex Rocco as Carmine 'The Roman' Falcone. The movie premiered at Comic-Con, with a Catwoman short shown in October.
While not a direct adaptation, the video game Batman: Arkham Origins takes some inspiration from Batman: Year One and features a younger, less-experienced Batman in his second year of crimefighting. Set eight years before Batman: Arkham Asylum, the prequel follows Batman encountering eight of the world's greatest assassins as they attempt to claim Black Mask's $50-million bounty on his head, all while being hunted by the Gotham City Police Department for his vigilantism.
The second half of the fourth season of the Batman-based television series Gotham is inspired by Batman: Year One.
Director Matt Reeves cited Year One as one of the inspirations for The Batman, with Robert Pattinson portraying a younger Bruce Wayne who is in his second year as a crime-fighter.References
External links
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20161002170940/http://www.warnerbros.com/batman-year-one Batman: Year One movie official site]
* [http://worldsfinestonline.com/WF/dcuam/batmanyearone/ Batman: Year One @ The World's Finest]
* [http://www.dccomics.com/graphic_novels/?gn1287 Current edition at DC Comics]
* [http://www.dccomics.com/graphic_novels/?gn2712 Deluxe Hardcover edition at DC Comics]
Category:Batman storylines
Category:Neo-noir comics
Category:Prequel comics
Category:Fiction about adultery
Category:Gotham City Police Department
Category:Fiction set in 1938
Category:Fiction set in 1956
Category:Comics by Frank Miller (comics)
Category:DC Comics adapted into films
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Bidirectional text
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A bidirectional text contains two text directionalities, right-to-left (RTL) and left-to-right (LTR). It generally involves text containing different types of alphabets, but may also refer to boustrophedon, which is changing text direction in each row.
An example is the RTL Hebrew name Sarah: , spelled sin (ש) on the right, resh (ר) in the middle, and heh (ה) on the left. Many computer program failed to display this correctly, because they were designed to display text in one direction only.
Some so-called right-to-left scripts such as the Persian script and Arabic are mostly, but not exclusively, right-to-left—mathematical expressions, numeric dates and numbers bearing units are embedded from left to right. That also happens if text from a left-to-right language such as English is embedded in them; or vice versa, if Arabic is embedded in a left-to-right script such as English.
Bidirectional script support
Bidirectional script support is the capability of a computer system to correctly display bidirectional text. The term is often shortened to "BiDi" or "bidi".
Early computer installations were designed only to support a single writing system, typically for left-to-right scripts based on the Latin alphabet only. Adding new character sets and character encodings enabled a number of other left-to-right scripts to be supported, but did not easily support right-to-left scripts such as Arabic or Hebrew, and mixing the two was not practical. Right-to-left scripts were introduced through encodings like ISO/IEC 8859-6 and ISO/IEC 8859-8, storing the letters (usually) in writing and reading order. It is possible to simply flip the left-to-right display order to a right-to-left display order, but doing this sacrifices the ability to correctly display left-to-right scripts. With bidirectional script support, it is possible to mix characters from different scripts on the same page, regardless of writing direction.
In particular, the Unicode standard provides foundations for complete BiDi support, with detailed rules as to how mixtures of left-to-right and right-to-left scripts are to be encoded and displayed.
Unicode bidi support
The Unicode standard calls for characters to be ordered 'logically', i.e. in the sequence they are intended to be interpreted, as opposed to 'visually', the sequence they appear. This distinction is relevant for bidi support because at any bidi transition, the visual presentation ceases to be the 'logical' one. Thus, in order to offer bidi support, Unicode prescribes an algorithm for how to convert the logical sequence of characters into the correct visual presentation. For this purpose, the Unicode encoding standard divides all its characters into one of four types: 'strong', 'weak', 'neutral', and 'explicit formatting'.
Strong characters
Strong characters are those with a definite direction. Examples of this type of character include most alphabetic characters, syllabic characters, Han ideographs, non-European or non-Arabic digits, and punctuation characters that are specific to only those scripts.
Weak characters
Weak characters are those with vague direction. Examples of this type of character include European digits, Eastern Arabic-Indic digits, arithmetic symbols, and currency symbols.
Neutral characters
Neutral characters have direction indeterminable without context. Examples include paragraph separators, tabs, and most other whitespace characters. Punctuation symbols that are common to many scripts, such as the colon, comma, full-stop, and the no-break-space also fall within this category.
Explicit formatting
Explicit formatting characters, also referred to as "directional formatting characters", are special Unicode sequences that direct the algorithm to modify its default behavior. These characters are subdivided into "marks", "embeddings", "isolates", and "overrides". Their effects continue until the occurrence of either a paragraph separator, or a "pop" character.
Marks
If a "weak" character is followed by another "weak" character, the algorithm will look at the first neighbouring "strong" character. Sometimes this leads to unintentional display errors. These errors are corrected or prevented with "pseudo-strong" characters. Such Unicode control characters are called marks. The mark ( or ) is to be inserted into a location to make an enclosed weak character inherit its writing direction.
For example, to correctly display the for an English name brand (LTR) in an Arabic (RTL) passage, an LRM mark is inserted after the trademark symbol if the symbol is not followed by LTR text (e.g. ""). If the LRM mark is not added, the weak character ™ will be neighbored by a strong LTR character and a strong RTL character. Hence, in an RTL context, it will be considered to be RTL, and displayed in an incorrect order (e.g. "").
Embeddings
The "embedding" directional formatting characters are the classical Unicode method of explicit formatting, and as of Unicode 6.3, are being discouraged in favor of "isolates". An "embedding" signals that a piece of text is to be treated as directionally distinct. The text within the scope of the embedding formatting characters is not independent of the surrounding text. Also, characters within an embedding can affect the ordering of characters outside. Unicode 6.3 recognized that directional embeddings usually have too strong an effect on their surroundings and are thus unnecessarily difficult to use.
Isolates
The "isolate" directional formatting characters signal that a piece of text is to be treated as directionally isolated from its surroundings. As of Unicode 6.3, these are the formatting characters that are being encouraged in new documents – once target platforms are known to support them. These formatting characters were introduced after it became apparent that directional embeddings usually have too strong an effect on their surroundings and are thus unnecessarily difficult to use. Unlike the legacy 'embedding' directional formatting characters, 'isolate' characters have no effect on the ordering of the text outside their scope. Isolates can be nested, and may be placed within embeddings and overrides.
Overrides
The "override" directional formatting characters allow for special cases, such as for part numbers (e.g. to force a part number made of mixed English, digits and Hebrew letters to be written from right to left), and are recommended to be avoided wherever possible. As is true of the other directional formatting characters, "overrides" can be nested one inside another, and in embeddings and isolates.
Using Unicode to override
Using will switch the text direction from left-to-right to right-to-left. Similarly, using will switch the text direction from right-to-left to left-to-right. Refer to the Unicode Bidirectional Algorithm.
Pops
The "pop" directional formatting character, encoded at , terminates the scope of the most recent "embedding", "override", or "isolate".
Runs
In the algorithm, each sequence of concatenated strong characters is called a "run". A "weak" character that is located between two "strong" characters with the same orientation will inherit their orientation. A "weak" character that is located between two "strong" characters with a different writing direction will inherit the main context's writing direction (in an LTR document the character will become LTR, in an RTL document, it will become RTL).
Table of possible BiDi character types
Security
Unicode bidirectional characters are used in the Trojan Source vulnerability.
Visual Studio Code highlights BiDi control characters since version 1.62 released in October 2021.
Visual Studio highlights BiDi control characters since version 17.0.3 released on December 14, 2021.
Scripts using bidirectional text
Egyptian hieroglyphs
Egyptian hieroglyphs were written bidirectionally, where the signs that had a distinct "head" or "tail" faced the beginning of the line.
Chinese characters and other CJK scripts
Chinese characters can be written in either direction as well as vertically (top to bottom then right to left), especially in signs (such as plaques), but the orientation of the individual characters does not change. This can often be seen on tour buses in China, where the company name customarily runs from the front of the vehicle to its rear — that is, from right to left on the right side of the bus, and from left to right on the left side of the bus. English texts on the right side of the vehicle are also quite commonly written in reverse order. (See pictures of tour bus and post vehicle below.)
Likewise, other CJK scripts made up of the same square characters, such as the Japanese writing system and Korean writing system, can also be written in any direction, although horizontally left-to-right, top-to-bottom and vertically top-to-bottom right-to-left are the two most common forms.
Image:Yangzhou-tour-bus--right-side-3182.jpg|The right side (text runs from right to left, including the English text)
Image:Yangzhou-tour-bus--leftt-side-3184.jpg|The left side (text runs from left to right)
Image:Hainan Airlines - Boeing 737-86N.jpg| On the right side of this Hainan Airlines aircraft, the text runs from right to left ().
Image:Hainan Airlines.JPG|The left side of this Hainan Airlines aircraft, however, shows the text running from left to right ().
File:VM 5485 China Post Office car at Zhengzhou Train Station.jpg|A photo that shows text on both sides of a China Post vehicle. On the right door, appears as .
Boustrophedon
Boustrophedon is a writing style found in ancient Greek inscriptions, in Old Sabaic (an Old South Arabian language) and in Hungarian runes. This method of writing alternates direction, and usually reverses the individual characters, on each successive line.
Moon type
Moon type is an embossed adaptation of the Latin alphabet invented as a tactile alphabet for the blind.
Initially the text changed direction (but not character orientation) at the end of the lines.
Special embossed lines connected the end of a line and the beginning of the next.
Around 1990, it changed to a left-to-right orientation.
See also
Internationalization and localization
Horizontal and vertical writing in East Asian scripts
Cyrillic numerals
Right-to-left mark
Transformation of text
Boustrophedon
References
External links
Unicode Standards Annex #9 The Bidirectional Algorithm
W3C guidelines on authoring techniques for bi-directional text - includes examples and good explanations
ICU International Components for Unicode contains an implementation of the bi-directional algorithm — along with other internationalization services
Category:Character encoding
Category:Unicode algorithms
Category:Internationalization and localization
Category:Writing direction
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Bernoulli's inequality
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s of <math>y (1+x)^r</math> and <math>y 1+rx</math> shown in red and blue respectively. Here, <math>r=3.</math>]]
In mathematics, '''Bernoulli's inequality' (named after Jacob Bernoulli) is an inequality that approximates exponentiations of <math>1+x</math>. It is often employed in real analysis. It has several useful variants:
Integer exponent
* Case 1: <math>(1 + x)^r \geq 1 + rx</math> for every integer <math>r\geq 1</math> and real number <math>x\geq-1</math>. The inequality is strict if <math>x\neq 0</math> and <math>r\geq 2</math>.
* Case 2: <math>(1 + x)^r \geq 1 + rx</math> for every integer <math>r\geq 0</math> and every real number <math>x\geq -2</math>.
* Case 3: <math>(1 + x)^r \geq 1 + rx</math> for every even integer <math>r\geq 0</math> and every real number <math>x</math>.
Real exponent
* <math>(1 + x)^r \geq 1 + rx</math> for every real number <math>r\geq 1</math> and <math>x\geq -1</math>. The inequality is strict if <math>x\neq 0</math> and <math>r\neq 1</math>.
* <math>(1 + x)^r \leq 1 + rx</math> for every real number <math>0\leq r\leq 1</math> and <math>x\geq -1</math>.
History
Jacob Bernoulli first published the inequality in his treatise "Positiones Arithmeticae de Seriebus Infinitis" (Basel, 1689), where he used the inequality often.
According to Joseph E. Hofmann, Über die Exercitatio Geometrica des M. A. Ricci (1963), p. 177, the inequality is actually due to Sluse in his Mesolabum (1668 edition), Chapter IV "De maximis & minimis". Related inequalities
The following inequality estimates the <math>r</math>-th power of <math>1+x</math> from the other side. For any real numbers <math>x</math> and <math>r</math> with <math>r >0</math>, one has
:<math>(1 + x)^r \le e^{rx},</math>
where <math>e =</math> 2.718.... This may be proved using the inequality
:<math> \left(1 + \frac{1}{k}\right)^k < e.</math>
Alternative form
An alternative form of Bernoulli's inequality for <math> t\geq 1 </math> and <math> 0\le x\le 1 </math> is:
:<math>(1-x)^t \ge 1-xt.</math>
This can be proved (for any integer <math>t</math>) by using the formula for geometric series: (using <math>y=1-x</math>)
:<math>t1+1+\dots+1 \ge 1+y+y^2+\ldots+y^{t-1} \frac{1-y^t}{1-y},</math>
or equivalently <math>xt \ge 1-(1-x)^t.</math>
Alternative proofs
Arithmetic and geometric means
An elementary proof for <math>0\le r\le 1</math> and <math>x \ge -1</math> can be given using weighted AM-GM.
Let <math>\lambda_1, \lambda_2</math> be two non-negative real constants. By weighted AM-GM on <math>1,1+x</math> with weights <math>\lambda_1, \lambda_2</math> respectively, we get
:<math>\dfrac{\lambda_1\cdot 1 + \lambda_2\cdot (1+x)}{\lambda_1+\lambda_2}\ge \sqrt[\lambda_1+\lambda_2]{(1+x)^{\lambda_2}}.</math>
Note that
:<math>\dfrac{\lambda_1\cdot 1 + \lambda_2\cdot (1+x)}{\lambda_1+\lambda_2}\dfrac{\lambda_1+\lambda_2+\lambda_2x}{\lambda_1+\lambda_2}1+\dfrac{\lambda_2}{\lambda_1+\lambda_2}x</math>
and
:<math>\sqrt[\lambda_1+\lambda_2]{(1+x)^{\lambda_2}} = (1+x)^{\frac{\lambda_2}{\lambda_1+\lambda_2}},</math>
so our inequality is equivalent to
:<math>1 + \dfrac{\lambda_2}{\lambda_1+\lambda_2}x \ge (1+x)^{\frac{\lambda_2}{\lambda_1+\lambda_2}}.</math>
After substituting <math>r = \dfrac{\lambda_2}{\lambda_1+\lambda_2}</math> (bearing in mind that this implies <math>0\le r\le 1</math>) our inequality turns into
:<math>1+rx \ge (1+x)^r</math>
which is Bernoulli's inequality.
Geometric series
Bernoulli's inequality
is equivalent to
and by the formula for geometric series (using y = 1 + x) we get
{{NumBlk|:|<math> (1+x)^r - 1 y^r-1 \left(\sum^{r-1}_{k0}y^k\right) \cdot (y-1) \left(\sum^{r-1}_{k=0}(1+x)^k\right)\cdot x</math>|3}}
which leads to
{{NumBlk|:|<math>(1+x)^r - 1-rx \left(\left(\sum^{r-1}_{k0}(1+x)^k\right) - r\right)\cdot x \left(\sum^{r-1}_{k0}\left((1+x)^k-1\right)\right)\cdot x \ge 0.</math>|}}
Now if <math>x \ge 0</math> then by monotony of the powers each summand <math>(1+x)^k - 1 = (1+x)^k - 1^k \ge 0</math>, and therefore their sum is greater <math>0</math> and hence the product on the LHS of ().
If <math> 0 \ge x\ge -2 </math> then by the same arguments <math>1\ge(1+x)^k</math> and thus
all addends <math>(1+x)^k-1</math> are non-positive and hence so is their sum. Since the product of two non-positive numbers is non-negative, we get again
().
Binomial theorem
One can prove Bernoulli's inequality for x ≥ 0 using the binomial theorem. It is true trivially for r 0, so suppose r is a positive integer. Then <math>(1+x)^r 1 + rx + \tbinom r2 x^2 + ... + \tbinom rr x^r.</math> Clearly <math>\tbinom r2 x^2 + ... + \tbinom rr x^r \ge 0,</math> and hence <math>(1+x)^r \ge 1+rx</math> as required.
Using convexity
For <math>0\neq x\ge -1</math> the function <math>h(\alpha)=(1+x)^\alpha</math> is strictly convex. Therefore, for <math>0<\alpha<1</math> holds
<math>(1+x)^\alphah(\alpha)h((1-\alpha)\cdot 0+\alpha\cdot 1)<(1-\alpha) h(0)+\alpha h(1)=1+\alpha x</math>
and the reversed inequality is valid for <math>\alpha<0</math> and <math>\alpha>1</math>.
Another way of using convexity is to re-cast the desired inequality to <math>\log (1 + x) \geq \frac{1}{r}\log( 1 + rx)</math> for real <math>r\geq 1</math> and real <math>x > -1/r</math>. This inequality can be proved using the fact that the <math>\log</math> function is concave, and then using Jensen's inequality in the form <math> \log( p \, a + (1-p)b ) \geq p\log(a) + (1-p)\log(b) </math> to give:
<math>\log(1+x) = \log(\frac{1}{r}(1+rx)+\frac{r-1}{r}) \geq
\frac{1}{r} \log (1+rx)+\frac{r-1}{r}\log 1 = \frac{1}{r} \log (1+rx)
</math>
which is the desired inequality.
Notes
References
*
*
*
* External links *
* [https://demonstrations.wolfram.com/BernoulliInequality/ Bernoulli Inequality] by Chris Boucher, Wolfram Demonstrations Project.
*
Category:Inequalities
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernoulli's_inequality
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4735
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Benjamin Franklin-class submarine
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{|
}}
|Class before=
|Class after=
|Subclasses|Cost
|Built range1963–1967
|Total ships building|Total ships planned
|Total ships completed=12
|Total ships cancelled|Total ships active
|Total ships laid up|Total ships lost
|Total ships retired=12
|Total ships preserved=
}}
Submerged:
|Ship length
The sail of George Bancroft is preserved at the Naval Submarine Base King's Bay, Georgia. James K. Polks sail is on display at the National Museum of Nuclear Science & History in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Mariano G. Vallejos sail is preserved at Mare Island, California, where she was built. The sail of Lewis and Clark is on display at the Patriot's Point Maritime Museum in Charleston, South Carolina.
Boats in class
Submarines of the Benjamin Franklin class:<ref name="Conways p612"/>
(Submarines marked with * indicate Trident C-4 ballistic missile conversions.)
{| class="wikitable"
! Name
! Hull no.
! Builder
! Laid down
! Launched
! Commissioned
! Decommissioned
! Fate
|-
| *
|SSBN-640
|General Dynamics Electric Boat
|25 May 1963
|5 December 1964
|22 October 1965
|23 November 1993
|Disposed of through Ship-Submarine Recycling Program, 1995
|-
| *
|SSBN-641
|Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Co.
|17 April 1963
|22 August 1964
|29 October 1965
|8 February 1995
|Disposed of through Ship-Submarine Recycling Program, 1995
|-
|
|SSBN-642
|Mare Island Naval Shipyard
|2 May 1963
|16 January 1965
|10 December 1965
|2 April 2002
|Disposed of through Ship-Submarine Recycling Program, 2003
|-
| *
|SSBN-643
|General Dynamics Electric Boat
|24 August 1963
|20 March 1965
|22 January 1966
|21 September 1993
|Disposed of through Ship-Submarine Recycling Program, 1998
|-
|
|SSBN-644
|Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Co.
|29 July 1963
|21 November 1964
|22 December 1965
|27 June 1992
|Disposed of through Ship-Submarine Recycling Program, 1996
|-
|
|SSBN-645
|General Dynamics Electric Boat
|23 November 1963
|22 May 1965
|16 April 1966
|8 July 1999
|Disposed of through Ship-Submarine Recycling Program, 2000
|-
|
|SSBN-654
|Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Co.
|2 March 1964
|21 May 1965
|29 April 1966
|24 September 1992
|Disposed of through Ship-Submarine Recycling Program, 1994
|-
| *
|SSBN-655
|General Dynamics Electric Boat
|4 April 1964
|13 November 1965
|20 August 1966
|5 May 1993
|Disposed of through Ship-Submarine Recycling Program, 1994
|-
|
|SSBN-656
|Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Co.
|24 August 1964
|14 August 1965
|15 June 1966
|18 March 1993
|Disposed of through Ship-Submarine Recycling Program, 1994
|-
| *
|SSBN-657
|General Dynamics Electric Boat
|5 December 1964
|23 April 1966
|3 December 1966
|2 September 1993
|Disposed of through Ship-Submarine Recycling Program, 1995
|-
| *
|SSBN-658
|Mare Island Naval Shipyard
|7 July 1964
|23 October 1965
|16 December 1966
|9 March 1995
|Disposed of through Ship-Submarine Recycling Program, 1995
|-
|
|SSBN-659
|General Dynamics Electric Boat
|20 March 1965
|21 July 1966
|1 April 1967
|12 April 1993
|Disposed of through Ship-Submarine Recycling Program, 1994
|}
See also
* List of submarines of the United States Navy
* List of submarine classes of the United States Navy
References
Citations
Sources
*Gardiner, Robert and Chumbley, Stephen (editors). ''Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1947–1995. Annapolis, USA: Naval Institute Press, 1995. .
*Polmar, Norman. The Ships and Aircraft of the U.S. Fleet: Twelfth Edition. London:Arms and Armour Press, 1981. .
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20140822091054/http://www.nvr.navy.mil/nvrships/s_SSBN.htm US Naval Vessel Register - List of SSBN BALLISTIC MISSILE SUBMARINE (NUCLEAR-POWERED) Class vessels]
*
External links
* [http://www.navsource.org/archives/08/06idx.htm NavSource.org SSBN photo gallery index]
Category:Submarine classes
Benjamin Franklin class
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Franklin-class_submarine
|
2025-04-05T18:26:57.091350
|
4736
|
Bastard Operator From Hell
|
The Bastard Operator From Hell (BOFH) is a fictional rogue computer operator created by Simon Travaglia, who takes out his anger on users (who are "lusers" to him) and others who pester him with their computer problems, uses his expertise against his enemies and manipulates his employer. Since 2000 they have been published regularly in The Register (UK). Several collections of the stories have been published as books.
By extension, the term is also used to refer to any system administrator who displays the qualities of the original.
The early accounts of the BOFH took place in a university; later the scenes were set in an office workplace. In 2000 (BOFH 2k), the BOFH and his pimply-faced youth (PFY) assistant moved to a new company.
Other characters
The PFY (Pimply-Faced Youth, the assistant to the BOFH. Real name is Stephen) Possesses a temperament similar to the BOFH, and often either teams up with or plots against him.
The Boss (often portrayed as having no IT knowledge but believing otherwise; identity changes as successive bosses are sacked, leave, are committed, or have nasty "accidents")
CEO of the company – The PFY's uncle Brian from 1996 until 2000, when the BOFH and PFY moved to a new company.
The help desk operators, referred to as the "Helldesk" and often scolded for giving out the BOFH's personal number.
The Boss's secretary, Sharon.
The security department
George, the cleaner (an invaluable source of information to the BOFH and PFY)
Books
Influence
The protagonist in Charles Stross's The Laundry Files series of novels named himself Bob Oliver Francis Howard in reference to the BOFH. As Bob Howard is a self-chosen pseudonym, and Bob is a network manager when not working as a computational demonologist, the name is all too appropriate. In the novella Pimpf, he acquires a pimply-faced young assistant by the name of Peter-Fred Young.
BOFH is a text adventure game written by Howard A. Sherman, which took part in the 2002 Interactive Fiction Competition and was placed 26th out of 38.
Simon Travaglia
Simon Travaglia (born 1964) graduated from the University of Waikato, New Zealand in 1985. He worked as the IT infrastructure manager (2004–2008) and computer operator (1985–1992) at the University of Waikato and the infrastructure manager at the Waikato Innovation Park, Hamilton, New Zealand (since 2008). Since 1999 he is a freelance writer for The Register. He lives in Hautapu, New Zealand.
References
Further reading
External links
Category:Computer humour
Category:Internet culture
Category:Internet slang
Category:System administration
Category:Fictional characters introduced in 1992
Category:Fictional people in information technology
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bastard_Operator_From_Hell
|
2025-04-05T18:26:57.097365
|
4737
|
Brownie McGhee
|
| birth_place = Knoxville, Tennessee, U.S.
| death_date =
| death_place = Oakland, California, U.S.
| origin | instrument
| genre =
| occupation = Musician
| years_active = 1930s–1995
| label =
}}
Walter Brown "Brownie" McGhee (November 30, 1915 – February 16, 1996) was an American folk and Piedmont blues singer and guitarist, best known for his collaboration with the harmonica player Sonny Terry.Life and careerMcGhee was born in Knoxville, Tennessee, and grew up in Kingsport, Tennessee. At about the age of four he contracted polio, which incapacitated his right leg. His brother Granville "Stick" McGhee, who also later became a musician and composed the song "Drinkin' Wine Spo-Dee-O-Dee", was nicknamed for pushing young Brownie around in a cart. Their father, George McGhee, was a factory worker, known around University Avenue for playing guitar and singing. Brownie's uncle made him a guitar from a tin marshmallow box and a piece of board.
McGhee spent much of his youth immersed in music, singing with a local harmony group, the Golden Voices Gospel Quartet, and teaching himself to play guitar. He also played the five-string banjo and ukulele and studied piano.
At the age of 22, McGhee became a traveling musician, working in the Rabbit Foot Minstrels and befriending Blind Boy Fuller, whose guitar playing influenced him greatly. After Fuller's death in 1941, J. B. Long of Columbia Records promoted McGhee as "Blind Boy Fuller No. 2". By that time, McGhee was recording for Columbia's subsidiary Okeh Records in Chicago, but his real success came after he moved to New York in 1942, when he teamed up with Sonny Terry, whom he had known since 1939, when Terry was Fuller's harmonica player.
Despite their later fame as "pure" folk artists playing for white audiences, in the 1940s Terry and McGhee had attempted to be successful recording artists, fronting a jump blues combo with honking saxophone and rolling piano, variously calling themselves "Brownie McGhee and his Jook House Rockers" or "Sonny Terry and his Buckshot Five", often with Champion Jack Dupree and Big Chief Ellis. They also appeared in the original Broadway productions of ''Finian's Rainbow and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.
During the blues revival of the 1960s, Terry and McGhee were popular on the concert and music festival circuits, occasionally adding new material but usually remaining faithful to their roots and playing to the tastes of their audiences. McGhee appeared in the television series Family Ties, in a 1988 episode entitled "The Blues, Brother", in which he played the fictional blues musician Eddie Dupre. He also appeared in the television series Matlock, in a 1989 episode entitled "The Blues Singer", playing a friend of an old blues musician (Joe Seneca) who is accused of murder. In the episode, McGhee, Seneca and star Andy Griffith perform a duet of "The Midnight Special".
Happy Traum, a former guitar student of McGhee's, edited a blues guitar instruction guide and songbook, Guitar Styles of Brownie McGhee, published in 1971, in which McGhee, between lessons, talked about his life and the blues. The autobiographical section features McGhee talking about growing up, his musical beginnings, and a history of the blues from the 1930s onward.
McGhee and Terry were both recipients of a 1982 National Heritage Fellowship awarded by the National Endowment for the Arts, which is the United States government's highest honor in the folk and traditional arts. That year's fellowships were the first bestowed by the NEA.
One of McGhee's last concert appearances was at the 1995 Chicago Blues Festival.
McGhee was portrayed by Joshua Henry in the 2024 film A Complete Unknown.
Discography
Solo albums
* Traditional Blues, Vol. 1 (Folkways Records, 1951)
* Brownie McGhee Blues (Folkways, 1955)
* Brownie McGhee Sings the Blues (Folkways, 1959)
* Traditional Blues, Vol. 2 (Folkways, 1960)
* ''Brownie's Blues (Bluesville, 1962)
* Blues Is Truth (Blues Alliance, 1976)
* Facts of Life'' (Blues Rock'It, 1985) with the Ford Blues Band
Compilation
* The Folkways Years, 1945–1959 (Smithsonian Folkways, 1991)
With Sonny Terry
* Brownie McGhee Blues (Folkways, 1955)
* Washboard Band: Country Dance Music (Folkways, 1956)
* Folk Songs of Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee (Roulette, 1958)
* Blues with Big Bill Broonzy, Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee (Folkways, 1959)
* Down South Summit Meetin' (World Pacific, 1960), with Lightnin' Hopkins and Big Joe Williams
* Down Home Blues (Bluesville, 1960)
* Blues Hoot (Horizon, 1961 [1963]), with Lightnin' Hopkins and Big Joe Williams
* Brownie McGhee & Sonny Terry at the 2nd Fret (Prestige, 1962)
* Sonny Is King (Bluesville, 1963)
* A Long Way from Home (BluesWay, 1969)
* ''I Couldn't Believe My Eyes (BluesWay, 1969 [1973])
* Sonny & Brownie (A&M Records, 1973)
* Brownie McGhee and Sonny Terry Sing (Smithsonian Folkways, 1990)
* Back Country Blues (Southern Routes, 2016)
Other
* Songs for Victory: Music for Political Action'', with the Union Boys (1944)
See also
*American folk music
*Woody Guthrie
*List of blues musicians
*List of folk musicians
*List of people from Tennessee
*Union Boys
References
External links
*[http://www.sc.edu/csam/csamaudioarchive_brownie_mcghee.htm Center for Southern African American Music - Brownie McGhee] — McGhee bio and audio samples
*
*
* [https://archive.org/details/caolaam_000051 Series of taped interviews with Brownie McGhee]
Category:1915 births
Category:1996 deaths
Category:20th-century African-American male singers
Category:20th-century American male singers
Category:20th-century American singers
Category:20th-century American guitarists
Category:20th-century American pianists
Category:A&M Records artists
Category:African-American guitarists
Category:African-American pianists
Category:American blues guitarists
Category:American blues pianists
Category:American blues singers
Category:American folk singers
Category:American male guitarists
Category:American male pianists
Category:Blues revival musicians
Category:Country blues musicians
Category:Deaths from stomach cancer in California
Category:East Coast blues musicians
Category:Folkways Records artists
Category:Guitarists from Tennessee
Category:National Heritage Fellowship winners
Category:People from Kingsport, Tennessee
Category:Musicians from Knoxville, Tennessee
Category:Piedmont blues musicians
Category:Prestige Records artists
Category:Roulette Records artists
Category:Singers from Tennessee
Category:Southland Records artists
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brownie_McGhee
|
2025-04-05T18:26:57.104321
|
4739
|
International Bureau of Weights and Measures
|
| extinction | type Intergovernmental
| status | purpose
| headquarters | location Pavillon de Breteuil, Saint-Cloud, France
| coordinates
| region_served = Worldwide
| membership = 64 member states<br>37 associate states (see the list)
| language = French and English
| leader_title = Director
| leader_name = Martin Milton
| main_organ | parent_organization
| affiliations | num_staff
| num_volunteers | budget
| website =
| remarks =
}}
signatories]]
The International Bureau of Weights and Measures (, BIPM) is an intergovernmental organisation, through which its 64 member-states act on measurement standards in areas including chemistry, ionising radiation, physical metrology, as well as the International System of Units (SI) and Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). It is based in Saint-Cloud, near Paris, France. The organisation has been referred to as IBWM (from its name in English) in older literature.
Structure
The BIPM is overseen by the International Committee for Weights and Measures (), a committee of eighteen members that meet normally in two sessions per year, which is in turn overseen by the General Conference on Weights and Measures () that meets in Paris usually once every four years, consisting of delegates of the governments of the Member States and observers from the Associates of the CGPM. These organs are also commonly referred to by their French initialisms.
History
The creation of the International Bureau of Weights and Measures followed the Metre Convention of 1875, after the Franco-Prussian War (1870–1871), at the initiative of the International Geodetic Association. This process began with the 1855 Paris Exposition, shortly after the Great Exhibition, when the need for international standardization of wheights and measures became apparent.
The American Revolution prompted the foundation of the Survey of the Coast in 1807 and the creation of the Office of Standard Weights and Measures in 1830. During the mid-19th century, the metre was adopted in Khedivate of Egypt an autonomous tributary state of the Ottoman Empire for the cadastre work. In continental Europe, metrication and a better standardisation of units of measurement marked the Technological Revolution, a period in which German Empire would challenge Britain as the foremost industrial nation in Europe. This was accompanied by development in cartography which was a prerequisite for both military operations and the creation of the infrastructures needed for industrial development such as railways. During the process of unification of Germany, geodesists called for the establishment of an International Bureau of Weights and Measures in Europe.
When the metre was choosen as the international unit of length, it was well know that it no longer corresponded to its historical definition. Carlos Ibáñez e Ibáñez de Ibero, first president of both the International Geodetic Association and the International Committee for Weigths and Measures, took part to the remeasurement and extention of the arc measurement of Delambre and Méchain. At that time, mathematicians like Legendre and Gauss had developed new methods for processing data, including the least squares method which allowed to compare experimental data tainted with observational errors to a mathematical model. Moreover the International Bureau of Weights and Measures would have a central role for international geodetic measurements as Charles Édouard Guillaume's discovery of invar minimized the impact of measurement inaccuracies due to temperature systematic errors.
The comparison of the new prototypes of the metre with each other involved the development of special measuring equipment and the definition of a reproducible temperature scale. The BIPM's thermometry work led to the discovery of special alloys of iron–nickel, in particular invar, whose practically negligible coefficient of expansion made it possible to develop simpler baseline measurement methods, and for which its director, the Swiss physicist Charles Édouard Guillaume, was granted the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1920. Guillaume's Nobel Prize marked the end of an era in which metrology was leaving the field of geodesy to become an autonomous scientific discipline capable of redefining the metre through technological applications of physics. On the other hand, the fondation of the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey by Ferdinand Rudolph Hassler paved the way to the actual definition of the metre, with Charles Sanders Peirce being the first to experimentally link the metre to the wave length of a spectral line. Albert Abraham Michelson soon took up the idea and improved it.
Function
The BIPM has the mandate to provide the basis for a single, coherent system of measurements throughout the world, traceable to the International System of Units (SI). This task takes many forms, from direct dissemination of units to coordination through international comparisons of national measurement standards (as in electricity and ionising radiation).
Following consultation, a draft version of the BIPM Work Programme is presented at each meeting of the General Conference for consideration with the BIPM budget. The final programme of work is determined by the CIPM in accordance with the budget agreed to by the CGPM.
Currently, the BIPM's main work includes:
* Making brochures that define the International System of Units.
* Scientific and technical activities carried out in its four departments: chemistry, ionising radiation, physical metrology, and time
* Liaison and coordination work, including providing the secretariat for the CIPM Consultative Committees and some of their Working Groups and for the CIPM MRA, and providing institutional liaison with the other bodies supporting the international quality infrastructure and other international bodies
* Capacity building and knowledge transfer programs to increase the effectiveness within the worldwide metrology community of those Member State and Associates with emerging metrology systems
* A resource centre providing a database and publications for international metrology
The BIPM is one of the twelve member organisations of the International Network on Quality Infrastructure (INetQI), which promotes and implements QI activities in metrology, accreditation, standardisation and conformity assessment.
The BIPM has an important role in maintaining accurate worldwide time of day. It combines, analyses, and averages the official atomic time standards of member nations around the world to create a single, official Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). Directors
in Saint-Cloud, France]]
Since its establishment, the directors of the BIPM have been:
{| class"wikitable" border"5" style="text-align:center"
! Name !! Country !! Mandate !! Notes
|-
| Gilbert Govi || Italy || 1875–1877 ||
|-
| J. Pernet || Switzerland || 1877–1879 || Acting director
|-
| Ole Jacob Broch || Norway || 1879–1889 ||
|-
| J.-René Benoît|| France || 1889–1915 ||
|-
| Charles Édouard Guillaume || Switzerland || 1915–1936 ||
|-
| Albert Pérard || France || 1936–1951 ||
|-
| Charles Volet || Switzerland || 1951–1961 ||
|-
| Jean Terrien || France || 1962–1977 ||
|-
| Pierre Giacomo || France || 1978–1988 ||
|-
| Terry J. Quinn || United Kingdom || 1988–2003 || Honorary director
|-
| Andrew J. Wallard || United Kingdom || 2004–2010 || Honorary director
|-
| Michael Kühne || Germany || 2011–2012 ||
|-
| Martin J. T. Milton || United Kingdom || 2013–present ||
|-
|}
See also
* History of the metre
* Institute for Reference Materials and Measurements
* International Organization for Standardization
* Metrologia
* National Institute of Standards and Technology
* Seconds pendulum
* World Metrology Day
* Versailles project on advanced materials and standards
Notes
References External links
*
*
Category:Intergovernmental organizations established by treaty
Category:Metric system
Category:Metrology organizations
Category:Organizations based in Paris
Category:Organizations established in 1875
Category:Standards organizations in France
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Bureau_of_Weights_and_Measures
|
2025-04-05T18:26:57.117329
|
4741
|
Bayonne
|
|commune status = Subprefecture and commune
|image coat of arms = Blason Bayonne.svg
|image = Bayonne-Centre historique-20130811.jpg
|caption = View of the historic centre
|arrondissement = Bayonne
|canton = Bayonne-1, 2 and 3
|INSEE = 64102
|postal code = 64100
|mayor Jean-René Etchegaray
|term = 2020–2026
|party = UDI
|intercommunality = CA Pays Basque
|coordinates
|elevation m = 4
|elevation min m = 0
|elevation max m = 55
|area km2 = 21.68
|population =
|population date =
|population footnotes =
|image flag=Bayonne flag.svg}}
Bayonne () is a city in southwestern France near the Spanish border. It is a commune and one of two subprefectures in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department, in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region.
Bayonne is located at the confluence of the Nive and Adour Rivers, in the northern part of the cultural region of the Basque Country. It is the seat of the Communauté d'agglomération du Pays Basque which roughly encompasses the western half of Pyrénées-Atlantiques, including the coastal city of Biarritz. The area also constitutes the southern part of Gascony, where the Aquitaine Basin joins the beginning of the Pre-Pyrenees.
Together with nearby Anglet, Biarritz, Saint-Jean-de-Luz and several smaller communes, Bayonne forms an urban area with 273,137 inhabitants in the 2018 census, 51,411 of whom lived in the commune of Bayonne proper. It is also a part of Basque Eurocity Bayonne-San Sebastián.
The site on the left bank of the Nive and the Adour was probably occupied before ancient times; a fortified enclosure was attested to in the 1st century, while the Tarbelli occupied the territory. Archaeological studies have confirmed the presence of a Roman castrum, a stronghold in Novempopulania at the end of the 4th century, before the city was populated by the Vascones.
In 1023, Bayonne was the capital of Labourd. In the 12th century, it extended to the confluence of the Nive River and beyond. During that time, its first bridge spanning the Adour was built. The city came under English control in 1152 through the marriage of Eleanor of Aquitaine; it became important commercially and, to a lesser degree, militarily thanks to maritime trade. In 1177, Richard the Lion Heart of England took control of the city, separating it from the Viscount of Labourd.
In 1451, the city was taken by the Crown of France after the Hundred Years' War. The loss of trade with the English was followed by the river gradually filling with silt and becoming impassable to ships. As the city developed to the north, its position was weakened compared to earlier times. The district of Saint-Esprit developed initially from settlement by Sephardic Jewish refugees fleeing the Spanish expulsions dictated by the Alhambra Decree. This community brought skill in chocolate making, and Bayonne gained a reputation for chocolate.
The course of the Adour was changed in 1578 by dredging under the direction of Louis de Foix, and the river returned to its former mouth. Bayonne flourished after regaining the maritime trade that it had lost for more than a hundred years. In the 17th century, the city was fortified by Vauban, whose works were followed as models of defense for 100 years. In 1814, Bayonne and its surroundings were the scene of fighting between the Napoleonic troops and the Spanish-Anglo-Portuguese coalition led by the Duke of Wellington. It was the last time the city was under siege.
In 1951, the Lacq gas field was discovered in the region; most of its extracted oil and sulphur are shipped from the port of Bayonne. During the second half of the 20th century, many housing estates were built, forming new districts on the periphery. The city developed to form a conurbation with Anglet and Biarritz; the agglomeration became the heart of a vast Basque-Landes urban area.
In 2014, Bayonne was a commune with more than 45,000 inhabitants, the heart of the urban area of Bayonne and of the Agglomeration Côte Basque-Adour. This includes Anglet and Biarritz. It is an important part of the Basque Bayonne-San Sebastián Eurocity and it plays the role of economic capital of the Adour basin. Modern industries—metallurgy and chemicals—have been established to take advantage of procurement opportunities and sea shipments through the harbour. Business services today represent the largest source of employment. Bayonne is also a cultural capital, a city with strong Basque and Gascon influences, and a rich historical past. Its heritage is expressed in its architecture, the diversity of collections in museums, its gastronomic specialties, and traditional events such as the noted Fêtes de Bayonne.
The inhabitants of the commune are known as Bayonnais or Bayonnaises.
Toponymy
Etymology
While the modern Basque spelling is Baiona and the same in Gascon Occitan, "the name Bayonne poses a number of problems both historical and linguistic which have still not been clarified". There are different interpretations of its meaning.
The termination -onne in Bayonne can come from many in hydronyms -onne or toponyms derived from that. In certain cases the element -onne follows an Indo-European theme: *ud-r/n (Greek húdōr giving hydro, Gothic watt meaning "water") hence *udnā meaning "water" giving unna then onno in the glossary of Vienne. Unna therefore would refer to the Adour. This toponymic type evoking a river traversing a locality is common. The appellative unna seems to be found in the name of the Garonne (Garunna 1st century; Garonna 4th century). However, it is possible to see a pre-Celtic suffix -ona in the name of the Charente (Karantona in 875) or the Charentonne (Carentona in 1050).
It could also be an augmentative Gascon from the original Latin radical Baia- with the suffix -ona in the sense of "vast expanse of water" or a name derived from the Basque bai meaning "river" and ona meaning "good", hence "good river".
The proposal by Eugene Goyheneche repeated by Manex Goyhenetche and supported by Jean-Baptiste Orpustan is bai una, "the place of the river" or bai ona "hill by the river"—Ibai means "river" in Basque and muinoa means "hill".
"It has perhaps been lost from sight that many urban place names in France, from north to south, came from the element Bay- or Bayon- such as: Bayons, Bayonville, Bayonvillers and pose the unusual problem of whether they are Basque or Gascon" adds Pierre Hourmat. However, the most ancient form of Bayonne: Baiona, clearly indicates a feminine or a theme of -a whereas this is not the case for Béon or Bayon. In addition, the Bayon- in Bayonville or Bayonvillers in northern France is clearly the personal Germanic name Baio.Old attestationsThe names of the Basque province of Labourd and the locality of Bayonne have been attested from an early period with the place name Bayonne appearing in the Latin form Lapurdum after a period during which the two names could in turn designate a Viscounty or Bishopric.
Labourd and Bayonne were synonymous and used interchangeably until the 12th century before being differentiated: Labord for the province and Bayonne for the city.
The following table details the origins of Labord, Bayonne, and other names in the commune.
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Name !! Spelling !! Date !! Source !! Page !! Origin !! Description
|-
| Bayonne || Tribunus cohortis Novempopulanoe: Lapurdo || || Raymond |||| Notary of Provinces || City
|-
| || In provincia Novempopulana tribunus cohortis Novempopulanæ in Lapurdo || fifth century || Goyheneche |||| ||
|-
| || Lapurdum || sixth century || Raymond |||| Gregory of Tours ||
|-
| || Episcopatus Lasburdensis || 983 || Raymond |||| Chapter ||
|-
| || Sancta Maria Lasburdensis || 983 || Raymond |||| Chapter ||
|-
| || Sancta Maria Baionensis || 1105 || Raymond |||| Cartulary ||
|-
| || civitas de Baiona || 1140 || Raymond |||| Cartulary ||
|-
| || Baione || 13th century || Raymond |||| Duchesne ||
|-
| || Bayona || 1248 || Raymond |||| Camara ||
|-
| || Bayone || 1253 || Raymond |||| Camara ||
|-
| || Baionne || 14th century || Guiart || || ||
|-
| || Bayonne || 1750 || Cassini 1750 || || ||
|-
| || Bayonne || 1790 || Cassini 1790 || || ||
|-
| || Baiona || 19th century || Lhande || || ||
|-
| || || || || || ||
|-
| Balichon || Molendinum de la Mufala, Balaisson || 1198 || Raymond |||| Cartulary || Old mill
|-
| || Balaichon || 1259 || Raymond |||| Cartulary ||
|-
| || Molin de le Muhale || 1259 || Raymond |||| Cartulary ||
|-
| || Molin de la Muffale || 1259 || Raymond |||| Cartulary ||
|-
| || lo pont de Belaischon || 1259 || Raymond |||| Cartulary ||
|-
| || Baleyson || 1331 || Raymond |||| Gascon roles ||
|-
| || Baleychoun || 1334 || Raymond |||| Gascon roles ||
|-
| || || || || || ||
|-
| Bénac || Bénac || 1863 || Raymond |||| || Farm
|-
| || || || || || ||
|-
| Bouroutchourry || Bouroutchourry || 1863 || Raymond |||| || Farm
|-
| || || || || || ||
|-
| Glain || Fons de Coquoanhea || 1387 || Raymond |||| Chapter || Farm
|-
| || Camps || 17th century || Raymond |||| Archives of Bayonne ||
|-
| || || || || || ||
|-
| '''Jean-d'Amou''' || Jean-d'Amou || 1863 || Raymond |||| || Hamlet
|-
| || || || || || ||
|-
| Lachepaillet || Lo portau de Lachepailhet || 1516 || Raymond |||| Chapter || District; it was once the name of one of the city gates which was previously called the Portail de Tarride.
|-
| || || || || || ||
|-
| Largenté || Largenté || 1863 || Raymond |||| || Farm
|-
| || || || || || ||
|-
| Les Lauriers || Les Lauriers || 1863 || Raymond |||| || Hamlet
|-
| || || || || || ||
|-
| Lesperon || L'Esperon || 1246 || Raymond |||| Cartulary || Farm at Saint-Esprit
|-
| || || || || || ||
|-
| Les Murailles || Les Murailles || 1863 || Raymond |||| || Farm
|-
| || || || || || ||
|-
| Panecau || Port de Bertaco || 13th century || Raymond |||| Cartulary || Bridge
|-
| || || || || || ||
|-
| Pé-de-Navarre || Pé-de-Navarre || 1863 || Raymond |||| || Farm
|-
| || || || || || ||
|-
| Château Weymann || Château Weymann || 1863 || Raymond |||| || Château
|-
| || || || || || ||
|}
Sources:
*Raymond: [https://books.google.com/books?id2TCHmbiipFIC Topographic Dictionary of the Department of Basses-Pyrenees], 1863, on the page numbers indicated in the table.
*Goyheneche: according to the Notitia Dignitatum Imperii dating from 340 to 420
*Guiart: Guillaume Guiart, around 1864
*Lhande: Basque-French Dictionary by Pierre Lhande, 1926.
*Cassini 1750: 1750 Cassini Map
*Cartulary: Cartulary of Bayonne or ''Livre d'Or (Book of Gold)
*Camara: Chapters of the Camara de Comptos.HistoryPrehistoryIn the absence of accurate objective data there is some credence to the probable existence of a fishing village on the site in a period prior to ancient times. Numerous traces of human occupation have been found in the Bayonne region from the Middle Paleolithic especially in the discoveries at Saint-Pierre-d'Irube, a neighbouring locality. On the other hand, the presence of a mound about high has been detected in the current Cathedral Quarter overlooking the Nive, which formed a natural protection and a usable port on the left bank of the Nive. At the time, the mound was surrounded north and west by the Adour swamps. At its foot lies the famous "Bayonne Sea"—the junction of the two rivers—which may have been about wide between Saint-Esprit and the Grand Bayonne and totally covered the current location of Bourg-Neuf (in the district of Petit Bayonne). To the south, the last bend of the Nive widens near the Saint-Léon hills. Despite this, the narrowing of the Adour valley allows easier crossing than anywhere else along the entire length of the estuary.
In conclusion, the strategic importance of this height was so obvious it must be presumed that it has always been inhabited.
The archaeological discoveries of October and November 1995 provided a shred of evidence to support this projection. In the four layers of sub-soil along the foundation of the Gothic cathedral (in the "apse of the cathedral" area), a 2-metre depth was found of old objects from the end of the 1st century—in particular sigillated Gallic ceramics from Montans imitating Italian styles, thin-walled bowls, and fragments of amphorae. In the "southern sector" near the cloister door, there were objects from the second half of the 1st century as well as coins from the first half of the 3rd century.
A very high probability of human presence, not solely military, seems to provisionally confirm the occupation of the site at least around the third century.
A Roman castrum dating to the end of the 4th century has been proven as a fortified place of Novempopulania. Named Lapurdum, the name became the name of the province of Labourd. According to Eugene Goyheneche, the name Baiona designated the city, the port, and the cathedral while that of Lapurdum was only a territorial designation. This Roman settlement was strategic as it allowed the monitoring of the trans-Pyrenean roads and of local people rebellious to the Roman power. The construction covered 6 to 10 hectares according to several authors.Middle AgesThe geographical location of the locality at the crossroads of a river system oriented from east to west and the road network connecting Europe to the Iberian Peninsula from north to south, predisposed the site to the double role of fortress and port. The city, after being Roman, alternated between the Vascones and the English for three centuries from the 12th to the 15th century.
The Romans left the city in the 4th century and the Basques, who had always been present, dominated the former Novempopulania province between the Garonne, the Ocean, and the Pyrénées. Novempopulania was renamed Vasconia and then Gascony after a Germanic deformation (resulting from the Visigoth and Frankish invasions). Basquisation of the plains region was too weak against the advance of romanization. From the mixture between the Basque and Latin language Gascon was created.
Documentation on Bayonne for the period from the High Middle Ages are virtually nonexistent, with the exception of two Norman intrusions: one questionable in 844 and a second attested in 892.
When Labourd was created in 1023, Bayonne was the capital and the Viscount resided there. The history of Bayonne proper started in 1056 when Raymond II the Younger, Bishop of Bazas, had the mission to build the Church of Bayonne
In 1130, the King of Aragon Alfonso the Battler besieged the city without success. Bayonne became an Angevin possession when Eleanor of Aquitaine married Henry Plantagenet, the future king of England, in 1152. This alliance gave Bayonne many commercial privileges. The Bayonnaises became carriers of Bordeaux wines and other south-western products like resin, ham, and woad to England. Bayonne was then an important military base. In 1177, King Richard separated the Viscounty of Labourd whose capital then became Ustaritz. Like many cities at the time, in 1215 Bayonne obtained the award of a municipal charter and was emancipated from feudal powers.
The official publication, in 1273, of a Coutume unique to the city, remained in force for five centuries until the separation of Bayonne from Labourd.
Bayonnaise industry at that time was dominated by shipbuilding: wood (oak, beech, chestnut from the Pyrenees, and pine from Landes) being overabundant. There was also maritime activity in providing crews for whaling, commercial marine or, and it was often so at a time when it was easy to turn any merchant ship into a warship, the English Royal Navy.Renaissance and modern times
on the Redoubt, restored in 2005]]
Jean de Dunois – a former companion at arms of Joan of Arc—captured the city on 20 August 1451 and annexed it to the Crown "without making too many victims", but at the cost of a war indemnity of 40,000 gold Écus payable in a year,—thanks to the opportunism of the bishop who claimed to have seen "a large white cross surmounted by a crown which turns into a fleur-de-lis in the sky" to dissuade Bayonne from fighting against the royal troops.
The city continued to be fortified by the kings of France to protect it from danger from the Spanish border. In 1454, Charles VII created a separate judicial district: the Seneschal of Lannes a "single subdivision of Guyenne during the English period" which had jurisdiction over a wide area including Bayonne, Dax and Saint-Sever and which exercised civil justice, criminal jurisdiction within the competence of the district councilors. Over time, the "Seneschal of the Sword", which was at Dax, lost any role other than protocol, and Bayonne, along with Dax and Saint-Sever, became the de facto seat of a separate Seneschal under the authority of a "lieutenant-general of the Seneschal".
In May 1462, King Louis XI authorized the holding of two annual fairs by letters patent after signing the Treaty of Bayonne after which it was confirmed by the coutoumes of the inhabitants in July 1472 following the death of Charles de Valois, Duke de Berry, the king's brother.
At the time the Spanish Inquisition raged in the Iberian Peninsula, Spanish and Portuguese Jews fled Spain and also later, Portugal, then settled in Southern France, including in Saint-Esprit (Pyrénées-Atlantiques), a northern district of Bayonne located along the northern bank of the Adour river. They brought with them chocolate and the recipe for its preparation. In 1750, the Jewish population in Saint-Esprit (Pyrénées-Atlantiques) is estimated to have reached about 3,500 people.
The golden age of the city ended in the 15th century with the loss of trade with England and the silting of the port of Bayonne created by the movement of the course of the Adour to the north.
At the beginning of the 16th century Labourd suffered the emergence of the plague. Its path can be tracked by reading the Registers. In July 1515, the city of Bayonne was "prohibited to welcome people from plague-stricken places" and on 21 October, "we inhibit and prohibit all peasants and residents of this city [...] to go Parish Bidart [...] because of the contagion of the plague". On 11 April 1518, the plague raged in Saint-Jean-de-Luz and the city of Bayonne "inhibited and prohibited for all peasants and city inhabitants and other foreigners to maintain relationships at the location and Parish of Saint-Jean-de-Luz where people have died of the plague". On 11 November 1518, the plague was present in Bayonne to the point that in 1519 the city council moved to the district of Brindos (Berindos at the time) in Anglet.
In 1523, Marshal Odet of Foix, Viscount of Lautrec resisted the Spaniards under Philibert of Chalon in the service of Charles V and lifted the siege of Bayonne. It was at Château-Vieux that the ransom demand for the release of Francis I, taken prisoner after his defeat at the Battle of Pavia, was gathered.
The meeting in 1565 between Catherine de Medici and the envoy of Philip II: the Duke of Alba, is known as the Interview of Bayonne. At the time that Catholics and Protestants tore each other apart in parts of the kingdom of France, Bayonne seemed relatively untouched by these troubles. An iron fist from the city leaders did not appear to be unknown. In fact, they never hesitated to use violence and criminal sanctions for keeping order in the name of the "public good". Two brothers, Saubat and Johannes Sorhaindo who were both lieutenants of the mayor of Bayonne in the second half of the 16th century, perfectly embody this period. They often wavered between Catholicism and Protestantism but always wanted to ensure the unity and prestige of the city.
In the 16th century, the king's engineers, under the direction of Louis de Foix, were dispatched to rearrange the course of the Adour by creating an estuary to maintain the river bed. The river discharged in the right place to the Ocean on 28 October 1578. The port of Bayonne then attained a greater level of activity. Fishing for cod and whale ensured the wealth of fishermen and shipowners.
From 1611 to 1612, the college Principal of Bayonne was a man of 26 years old with a future: Cornelius Jansen known as Jansénius, the future Bishop of Ypres. Bayonne became the birthplace of Jansenism, an austere science which strongly disrupted the monarchy of Louis XIV.
During the sporadic conflicts that troubled the French countryside from the mid 17th century, Bayonne peasants wewhalesre short of powder and projectiles. They attached the long hunting knives in the barrels of their muskets and that way they fashioned makeshift spears later called bayonets. In that same century, Vauban was charged by Louis XIV to fortify the city. He added a citadel built on a hill overlooking the district of San Espirit Cap deou do Punt.French Revolution and EmpireActivity in Bayonne peaked in the 18th century. The Chamber of Commerce was founded in 1726. Trade with Spain, the Netherlands, the Antilles, the cod fishery off the shores of Newfoundland, and construction sites maintained a high level of activity in the port.
In 1792, the district of Saint-Esprit (that revolutionaries renamed Port-de-la-Montagne) located on the right bank of the Adour, was separated from the city and renamed Jean-Jacques Rousseau. It was reunited with Bayonne on 1 June 1857. For 65 years, the autonomous commune was part of the department of Landes.
In 1808, at the Château of Marracq, the act of abdication of the Spanish king Charles IV in favour of Napoleon was signed under the "friendly pressure" of the Emperor. In the process, the Bayonne Statute was initialed as the first Spanish constitution.
Also in 1808, the French Empire imposed on the Duchy of Warsaw the Convention of Bayonne to buy from France the debts owed to it by Prussia. The debt, amounting to more than 43 million francs in gold, was bought at a discounted rate of 21 million francs. The Siege of Bayonne marked the end of the period with the surrender of the Napoleonic troops of Marshal Jean-de-Dieu Soult who were defeated by the coalition led by Wellington on 5 May 1814.
19th and 20th centuries
In 1854, the railway arrived from Paris bringing many tourists eager to enjoy the beaches of Biarritz. Bayonne turned instead to the steel industry with the forges of the Adour. The Port took on an industrial look but its slow decline seemed inexorable in the 19th century. The discovery of the Lacq gas field restored a certain dynamism.
The Treaty of Bayonne was concluded on 2 December 1856. It overcame the disputes in fixing the Franco-Spanish border in the area extending from the mouth of the Bidassoa to the border between Navarre and Aragon.The city built three light railway lines to connect to Biarritz at the beginning of the 20th century. The most direct line, that of the Tramway Bayonne-Lycée–Biarritz was operated from 1888 to 1948. In addition, a line further north served Anglet, operated by the Chemin de fer Bayonne-Anglet-Biarritz company from 1877 to 1953. Finally, a line following the Adour to its mouth and to the Atlantic Ocean by the bar in Anglet, was operated by VFDM réseau basque from 1919 to 1948.
, photographed here in the 1930s]]
On the morning of 23 December 1933, sub-prefect Anthelme received Gustave Tissier, the director of the Crédit Municipal de Bayonne. He responded well, with some astonishment, to his persistent interview. It did not surprise him to see the man unpacking what became the scam of the century.
"Tissier, director of the Crédit Municipal, was arrested and imprisoned under suspicion of forgery and misappropriation of public funds. He had issued thousands of false bonds in the name of Crédit Municipal [...]"
This was the beginning of the Stavisky Affair which, together with other scandals and political crises, led to the Paris riots of 6 February 1934.
The World Wars
The 249th Infantry Regiment, created from the 49th Infantry Regiment, was engaged in operations in the First World War, including action at Chemin des Dames, especially on the plateau of Craonne. 700 Bayonnaises perished in the conflict. A centre for engagement of foreign volunteers was established in August 1914, in Bayonne. Many nationalities were represented, particularly the Spanish, the Portuguese, the Czechs, and the Poles.
During the Second World War, Bayonne was occupied by the 3rd SS Panzer Division Totenkopf from 27 June 1940 to 23 August 1944.
On 5 April 1942, the Allies made a landing attempt in Bayonne but after a barge penetrated the Adour with great difficulty, the operation was cancelled.
On 21 August 1944, after blowing up twenty ships in port, German troops withdrew. On the 22nd, a final convoy of five vehicles passed through the city. It transported Gestapo Customs agents and some elements of the Feldgendarmerie. One or more Germans opened fire with machine guns killing three people. On the 23rd, there was an informal and immediate installation of a "special municipal delegation" by the young deputy prefect Guy Lamassoure representing the Provisional Government of the French Republic which had been established in Algiers since 27 June.Policy and administrationList of mayors under the Ancient RégimeThe Gramont family provided captains and governors in Bayonne from 1472 to 1789 as well as mayors, a post which became hereditary from 28 January 1590 by concession of Henry IV to Antoine II of Gramont. From the 15th century, they resided in the Château Neuf then in the Château-Vieux from the end of the 16th century:
*Roger de Gramont, (1444–1519), Lord of Gramont, Baron of Haux, Seneschal of Guyenne, hereditary mayor of Bayonne. He was an advisor and chamberlain of Louis XI in 1472 and then Charles VIII in 1483. He was Ambassador for Louis XII in Rome in 1502. He became governor of Bayonne and its castles on 26 February 1487. He died of the plague in 1519.
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! From !! To !! Name
|-
| 1725 || || Matthieu de Bruix
|-
| 1726 || || Jean de Moracin
|-
| 1728 || || François de Poheyt
|-
| 1730 || || Léon Dubrocq
|-
| 1732 || || Pierre Commarieu
|-
| 1736 || || Jean Desbiey
|-
| 1738 || || Jean-Louis Rol Montpellier
|-
| 1740 || || Joseph Dulivier
|-
| 1745 || || Léon Brethous
|-
| 1749 || || Joseph Dantes
|-
| 1750 || || Dominique Behic
|-
| 1752 || || François Casaubon Maisonneuve
|-
| 1754 || || Jean Baptiste Picot
|-
| 1756 || || Martin Bretous
|-
| 1758 || || Jean Desbiey
|-
| 1760 || || Jean François Dubrocq
|-
| 1762 || || Jean Rol de Montpellier
|-
| 1764 || || Martin Antoine Bretous
|-
| 1766 || || Jacques Pastoureau
|-
| 1768 || || Joseph de Sorhainde
|-
| 1770 || || Martin Castera
|-
| 1772 || || Pierre Larue
|-
| 1774 || || Dominique Duhagon
|-
| 1775 || || Jean-Pierre de Nogué
|-
| 1776 || || Lasserre
|-
| 1778 || || Pierre Anselme Monho
|-
| 1780 || || Joachim Dubrocq
|-
| 1782 || || Etienne Lalanne
|-
| 1785 || || Joseph Verdier
|-
| 1788 || || Jacques Poydenot
|-
| 1790 || || Dominique Dubrocq
|-
| 1791 || || Charles Lasserre
|-
| 1791 || || Paul Faurie
|-
| 1792 || || Jean-Pierre Joseph de Basterrèche
|-
| 1793 || || Leclerc
|-
| 1794 || || Johaneau
|-
| 1795 || || Dufourcq
|-
| 1798 || || Barthélémy Poydenot
|-
| 1798 || || Sauvine
|-
| 1800 || || Paum Lacroix Ravignan
|-
| 1803 || 1806 || Joseph Laborde Noguez
|-
| 1806 || || Chrysostome Dechegaray
|-
| 1815 || || Martin Charles Chégaray
|-
| 1816 || || Arnaud Fourcade
|-
| 1818 || || Alexandre Betbeder
|-
| 1824 || || Antoine Robert d'Hirairt
|-
| 1829 || || Joachim Alexandre Dubrocq
|-
| 1830 || 1832 || Bernard Lanne
|-
| 1832 || 1833 || Joseph Arnaud Eugène de Basterreche
|-
| 1833 || 1848 || François Balasque
|-
| 1848 || 1849 || Eugène Boutouey
|-
| 1849 || 1850 || Joachim Alexandre Dubrocq
|-
| 1852 || 1869 || Jules Labat
|-
| 1871 || 1876 || Jules Séraphin Chateauneuf
|-
| 1876 || 1881 || Jacques Théodore Plantié
|-
| 1881 || 1884 || Edouard Séraphin Haulon
|-
| 1884 || 1885 || Jacques Léon Portes
|-
| 1885 || 1888 || Joseph Edouard Viard
|-
| 1888 || 1908 || Gabriel Léo Pouzac
|-
| 1908 || 1919 || Joseph Garat
|-
| 1919 || 1925 || Jules Prosper Castagnet
|-
| 1925 || 1934 || Joseph Garat
|-
| 1934 || 1935 || Jules Lafourcade
|-
| 1935 || 1941 || Pierre Simonet
|}
;Mayors from 1941
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! From !! To !! Name !! Party !! Position
|-
| 1941 || 1944 || Marcel Ribeton || ||
|-
| 1944 || 1945 || Jean Labourdique || ||
|-
| 1945 || 1947 || Jean Pierre Brana || ||
|-
| 1947 || 1958 || Maurice Delay || || Surgeon
|-
| 1958 || 1959 || Georges Forsans || ||
|-
| 1959 || 1995 || Henri Grenet || UDF || Surgeon
|-
| 1995 || 2014 || Jean Grenet || UDI || MP, Chairman of the Adour-Basque Coast agglomeration 2008–2014
|-
| 2014 || 2026 || Jean René Etchegaray || UDI || President of the Adour-Basque Coast agglomeration
|}
Cantons of Bayonne
As per the Decree of 22 December 1789, Bayonne was part of two cantons: Bayonne-North-east, which includes part of Bayonne commune plus Boucau, Saint-Pierre-d'Irube, Lahonce, Mouguerre, and Urcuit; and Bayonne Northwest which consisted of the rest of Bayonne commune plus Anglet, Arcangues, and Bassussarry.
In a first revision of cantons in 1973, three cantons were created from the same total; geographic area: Bayonne North, Bayonne East, and Bayonne West. A further reconfiguration, in 1982, focused primarily on Bayonne and, apart from Bayonne North Canton, which also includes Boucau, the cantons of Bayonne East and Bayonne West did not change.
Starting from the 2015 French departmental elections which took place on 22 and 29 March, a new division took effect following the decree of 25 February 2014 Once again three cantons centred on Bayonne are defined: Bayonne-1—with part of Anglet; Bayonne-2—which includes Boucau; and Bayonne-3 now define the cantonal territorial division of the area.Judicial and administrative proceedingsBayonne is the seat of many courts for the region. It falls under the jurisdiction of the ''Tribunal d'instance (District court) of Bayonne, the Tribunal de grande instance (High Court) of Bayonne, the Cour d'appel (Court of Appeal) of Pau, the Tribunal pour enfants (Juvenile court) of Bayonne, the Conseil de prud'hommes (Labour Court) of Bayonne, the Tribunal de commerce (Commercial Court) of Bayonne, the Tribunal administratif (Administrative tribunal) of Pau, and the Cour administrative d'appel'' (Administrative Court of Appeal) of Bordeaux.
The commune has a police station, a Departmental Gendarmerie, an Autonomous Territorial Brigade of the district Gendarmerie, squadron 24/2 of Mobile Gendarmerie and a Tax collection office.
Intercommunality
The commune is part of twelve inter-communal structures of which eleven are based in the commune:
* the Communauté d'agglomération du Pays Basque;
* the transport association of Côte basque-Adour Agglomeration (STACBA);
* the intercommunal association for the management of the Txakurrak centre;
* the intercommunal association for the support of Basque culture;
* the Bil Ta Garbi joint association;
* the joint association for maritime Nive;
* the joint association for the Basque Museum and the History of Bayonne;
* the joint association for the development and monitoring of SCOT in the agglomeration of Bayonne and south Landes;
* the Kosta Garbia joint association;
* the joint association for the development of the European freight centre of Bayonne-Mouguerre-Lahonce;
* the joint association for operating the regional Maurice Ravel Conservatory.
* the Energy association of Pyrénées-Atlantiques;
The city of Bayonne is part of the ''Communauté d'agglomération du Pays Basque'' which also includes Anglet, Biarritz, Bidart, Boucau, Hendaye and Saint-Jean-de-Luz. The statutory powers of the structure extend to economic development—including higher education and research—housing and urban planning, public transport—through Transdev—alternative and the collection and recovery waste collection and management of rain and coastal waters, the sustainable development, interregional cooperation and finally 106.
In addition, Bayonne is part of the Basque Bayonne-San Sebastián Eurocity which is a European economic interest grouping (EEIG) established in 1993 based in San Sebastián.Twin towns – Sister cities
Bayonne has twinning associations with:
{| class="wikitable"
|- valign="top"
|
* Veliko Tarnovo, Bulgaria since 2004
* Satu Mare, Romania since 2008
* Pamplona, Spain since 1970
* Nyíregyháza, Hungary since 2008
* L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, since 2008
* Kajaani, Finland since 2008
||
* Hydra, Greece since 2008
* Faro, Portugal since 2008
* Daytona Beach, Florida, United States since 1970
* Bayonne, New Jersey, United States since 1970
* Ascoli Piceno, Italy since 2008
|}
Geography
Bayonne is located in the south-west of France on the western border between Basque Country and Gascony. It developed at the confluence of the Adour and tributary on the left bank, the Nive, 6 km from the Atlantic coast. The commune was part of the Basque province of Labourd.
of a sometimes tumultuous course, two tributaries join the Adour in Bayonne commune: the Ruisseau de Portou and the Ruisseau du Moulin Esbouc. Tributaries of the Nive are the Ruisseau de Hillans and the ''Ruisseau d'Urdaintz'' which both rise in the commune.
|Sunshine=1920
|Rain=1450
|Snow=2.2
|Storm=35.5
|Fog=28.5
}}
, 1981–2010)</small>
| metric first = yes
| single line = yes
| Jan record high C = 23.4
| Feb record high C = 28.9
| Mar record high C = 29.7
| Apr record high C = 32.1
| May record high C = 34.8
| Jun record high C = 39.2
| Jul record high C = 39.8
| Aug record high C = 40.6
| Sep record high C = 37.0
| Oct record high C = 32.2
| Nov record high C = 27.8
| Dec record high C = 25.1
| year record high C = 40.6
| Jan high C = 12.0
| Feb high C = 12.8
| Mar high C = 15.0
| Apr high C = 16.2
| May high C = 19.6
| Jun high C = 22.1
| Jul high C = 24.1
| Aug high C = 24.7
| Sep high C = 23.2
| Oct high C = 20.0
| Nov high C = 15.1
| Dec high C = 12.5
| year high C = 18.1
| Jan mean C = 8.4
| Feb mean C = 8.9
| Mar mean C = 11.0
| Apr mean C = 12.4
| May mean C = 15.6
| Jun mean C = 18.3
| Jul mean C = 20.4
| Aug mean C = 20.8
| Sep mean C = 18.8
| Oct mean C = 16.0
| Nov mean C = 11.4
| Dec mean C = 9.0
| year mean C = 14.3
| Jan low C = 4.8
| Feb low C = 5.0
| Mar low C = 7.0
| Apr low C = 8.5
| May low C = 11.6
| Jun low C = 14.6
| Jul low C = 16.7
| Aug low C = 17.0
| Sep low C = 14.5
| Oct low C = 11.9
| Nov low C = 7.7
| Dec low C = 5.5
| year low C = 10.4
| Jan record low C = -12.7
| Feb record low C = -11.5
| Mar record low C = -7.2
| Apr record low C = -1.3
| May record low C = 3.3
| Jun record low C = 5.3
| Jul record low C = 9.2
| Aug record low C = 8.6
| Sep record low C = 5.3
| Oct record low C = -0.6
| Nov record low C = -5.7
| Dec record low C = -8.9
| year record low C = -12.7
| precipitation colour = green
| Jan precipitation mm = 128.8
| Feb precipitation mm = 111.5
| Mar precipitation mm = 103.5
| Apr precipitation mm = 129.7
| May precipitation mm = 113.9
| Jun precipitation mm = 87.8
| Jul precipitation mm = 69.3
| Aug precipitation mm = 98.4
| Sep precipitation mm = 119.6
| Oct precipitation mm = 152.1
| Nov precipitation mm = 185.9
| Dec precipitation mm = 150.4
| year precipitation mm = 1450.9
| Jan precipitation days = 13.4
| Feb precipitation days = 12.0
| Mar precipitation days = 11.9
| Apr precipitation days = 13.6
| May precipitation days = 12.9
| Jun precipitation days = 10.4
| Jul precipitation days = 8.8
| Aug precipitation days = 9.6
| Sep precipitation days = 9.7
| Oct precipitation days = 12.5
| Nov precipitation days = 13.0
| Dec precipitation days = 12.6
| year precipitation days = 140.5
| unit precipitation days = 1 mm
| Jan snow days = 0.8
| Feb snow days = 1.0
| Mar snow days = 0.3
| Apr snow days = 0.1
| May snow days = 0.0
| Jun snow days = 0.0
| Jul snow days = 0.0
| Aug snow days = 0.0
| Sep snow days = 0.0
| Oct snow days = 0.0
| Nov snow days = 0.3
| Dec snow days = 0.5
| year snow days = 3.0
| Jan humidity = 77
| Feb humidity = 75
| Mar humidity = 73
| Apr humidity = 77
| May humidity = 78
| Jun humidity = 81
| Jul humidity = 80
| Aug humidity = 81
| Sep humidity = 80
| Oct humidity = 78
| Nov humidity = 79
| Dec humidity = 78
| year humidity = 78.1
| Jan sun = 100.2
| Feb sun = 114.1
| Mar sun = 164.4
| Apr sun = 169.4
| May sun = 193.7
| Jun sun = 203.3
| Jul sun = 209.0
| Aug sun = 206.8
| Sep sun = 192.8
| Oct sun = 141.7
| Nov sun = 103.8
| Dec sun = 88.3
| year sun = 1887.3
| source 1 Météo France
| source 2 Infoclimat.fr (humidity and snowy days, 1961–1990)
| date = December 2011
}}
Transport
Road
Bayonne is located at the intersection of the A63 autoroute (Bordeaux-Spain) and the D1 extension of the A64 autoroute (towards Toulouse). The city is served by three interchanges—two of them on the A63: exit (Bayonne Nord) serves the northern districts of Bayonne but also allows quick access to the centre while exit (Bayonne Sud) provides access to the south and also serves Anglet. The third exit is the D1 / A64 via the Mousserolles interchange (exit Bayonne Mousserolles) which links the district of the same name and also serves the neighbouring communes of Mouguerre and Saint-Pierre-d'Irube.
Bayonne was traversed by Route nationale 10 connecting Paris to Hendaye but this is now downgraded to a departmental road D810. Route nationale 117, linking Bayonne to Toulouse has been downgraded to departmental road D817.
Bridges
]]
There are several bridges over both the Nive and the Adour, linking the various districts.
Coming from upstream on the Adour, there is the A63 bridge, then the Saint-Frédéric bridge which carries the D 810, then the railway bridge that replaced the old Eiffel iron bridge, the Saint-Esprit bridge, and finally the Grenet bridge. The Saint-Esprit bridge connects the Saint-Esprit district to the Amiral-Bergeret dock just upstream of the confluence with the river Nive. In 1845, the old bridge, originally made of wood, was rebuilt in masonry with seven arches supporting a deck wide. It was then called the Nemours Bridge in honour of Louis of Orleans, sixth Duke of Nemours, who laid the first stone. The bridge was finally called Saint-Esprit. Until 1868, the bridge had a moving span near the left bank. It was expanded in 1912 to facilitate the movement of horse-drawn carriages and motor vehicles. railway bridge, and then D810 bridge, the Génie bridge (or Pont Millitaire), the Pannecau bridge, the Marengo bridge leading to the covered markets, and the Mayou Bridge. The Pannecau bridge was long named Bertaco bridge and was rebuilt in masonry under Napoleon III. According to François Lafitte Houssat, "[...] a municipal ordinance of 1327 provided for the imprisonment of any quarrellsome woman of bad character in an iron cage dropped into the waters of the Nive River from the bridge. The practice lasted until 1780 [...]"Cycling networkThe commune is traversed by the Vélodyssée. Bicycle paths are located along the left bank of the Adour, a large part of the left bank of the Nive, and along various axes of the city where there are some bicycle lanes. The city offers free bicycles on loan.Public transportUrban networkMost of the lines of the Chronoplus bus network operated by the Transdev agglomeration of Bayonne'' link Bayonne to other communes in the urban transport perimeter: Anglet, Biarritz, Bidart, Boucau, Saint-Pierre-d'Irube and Tarnos The Bayonne free shuttle Bayonne serves the city centre (Grand and Petit Bayonne) by connecting several parking stations; other free shuttles perform other short trips within the commune.
Interurban networks
Bayonne is connected to many cities in the western half of the department such as Saint-Jean-de-Luz and Saint-Palais by the Pyrenees-Atlantiques long-distance coach network of Transport 64 managed by the General Council. Since the network restructuring in the summer of 2013, the lines converge on Bayonne. Bayonne is also served by services from the Landes departmental network, ''XL'R.
Rail transport
The Gare de Bayonne is located in the Saint-Esprit district and is an important station on the Bordeaux-Irun railway. It is also the terminus of lines leading from Toulouse to Bayonne and from Bayonne to Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port. It is served by TGV, Intercités, Intercités de nuit, and TER Nouvelle-Aquitaine trains (to Hendaye, Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port, Dax, Bordeaux, Pau, and Tarbes).
Air transport
Bayonne is served by the Biarritz – Anglet – Bayonne Airport (IATA code: BIQ • ICAO code: LFBZ), located on the communal territories of Anglet and Biarritz. The airport was returned to service in 1954 after repair of damage from bombing during the Second World War.Demographics
In 2017, the commune had 51,228 inhabitants.
Education
Bayonne commune is attached to the Academy of Bordeaux. It has an information and guidance center (CIO).
As of 14 December 2015, Bayonne had 10 kindergartens, 22 elementary or primary schools (12 public and 10 private primary schools including two ikastolas). 2 public colleges (Albert Camus and Marracq colleges), 5 private colleges (La Salle Saint-Bernard, Saint Joseph, Saint-Amand, Notre-Dame and Largenté) which meet the criteria of the first cycle of second degree studies. For the second cycle,Bayonne has 3 public high schools (René-Cassin school (general education), the Louis de Foix school (general, technological and vocational education), and the Paul Bert vocational school), 4 private high schools (Saint-Louis Villa Pia (general education), Largenté, Bernat Etxepare (general and technological), and Le Guichot vocational school).
There are also the Maurice Ravel Conservatory of Music, Dance, and Dramatic Art and the art school of the urban community of Bayonne-Anglet-Biarritz.
Culture
Cultural festivities and events
For 550 years, every holy Thursday, Friday and Saturday the Foire au Jambon (Ham festival) is held to mark the beginning of the season.
An annual summer festival has been held in the commune since 1932 for five days, organized around parades, bulls races, fireworks, and music in the Basque and Gascon tradition. These festivals have become the most important festive events in France in terms of attendance.
Bayonne has the oldest French bullfighting tradition. A bylaw regulating the encierro is dated 1283: cows, oxen and bulls are released each year in the streets of Petit Bayonne during the summer festivals. The current arena, opened in 1893, is the largest in South-west France with more than 10,000 seats. A dozen bullfights are held each year, attracting the biggest names in bullfighting. Throughout summer several novilladas also take place. The city is a member of the Union of French bullfighting cities.
Health
Bayonne is the focus of much of the hospital services for the agglomeration of Bayonne and the southern Landes. In this area, all inhabitants are less than 35 km from a hospital offering medical, obstetrical, surgical, or psychiatric care. The hospitals for all the Basque Coast are mainly established in Bayonne (the main site of Saint-Léon and Cam-de-Prats) and also in Saint-Jean-de-Luz which has several clinics. The pro rugby and football club are the most famous sections of the club. The Bayonne Olympic Club, created in 1972, is located in the district of Hauts de Sainte-Croix. The club offers a wide range of sports including pelote, gymnastics, combat sports, and a pool section. The club had nearly 400 members in 2007.
*Basque Pelota Bayonne is an important place for Basque pelota. The French Federation of Basque Pelota is headquartered at Trinquet moderne near the Bullring. Many titles were won by pelota players from the city. The World Championships took place in Bayonne in 1978 in association with Biarritz.
*Rugby appeared in Basque Country at the end of the 19th century with the arrival, in 1897 at Bayonne High School, of a 20-year-old person from Landes who converts his comrades to football-rugby which he had discovered in Bordeaux. Practicing in the fields near the Spanish Gate, they communicated their enthusiasm to other colleges in Bayonne and Biarritz leading to the creation of the Biarritz Sporting Club and Biarritz Stadium which merged in 1913 to become Biarritz Olympique. Bayonne has two rugby clubs: The Bayonne Athletic Association (ASB) plays in Fédérale 3 while the Aviron Bayonnais rugby pro in the 2014–2015 season played in Top 14, where they have played without interruption since the 2004–2005 season. Aviron Bayonnais has won three league titles in France (1913, 1934 and 1943). It was the first club from a small town to become champion of France. Its stadium is the Stade Jean Dauger. There is also a women's team in the ASB, playing in the National Division 1B. This team won the 2014 Armelle Auclair challenge.ReligionChristian worship
Bayonne is in the Diocese of Bayonne, Lescar and Oloron, with a suffragan bishop since 2002 under the Archdiocese of Bordeaux. Monseigneur Marc Aillet has been the bishop of this diocese since 15 October 2008. The diocese is located in Bayonne in the Place Monseigneur-Vansteenberghe.
Besides Bayonne Cathedral in Grand Bayonne, Bayonne has Saint-Esprit, Saint Andrew (Rue des Lisses), Arènes (Avenue of the Czech Legion), Saint-Étienne, and Saint-Amand (Avenue Marechal Soult) churches.
The Carmel of Bayonne, located in the Marracq district, has had a community of Carmelite nuns since 1858.
The Way of Baztan (also ruta del Baztan or camino Baztanés) is a way on the pilgrimage of Camino de Santiago which crosses the Pyrenees further west by the lowest pass (by the Col de Belate, 847 m). It is the ancient road used by pilgrims descending to Bayonne then either along the coast on the Way of Soulac or because they landed there from England, for example, to join the French Way as soon as possible in Pamplona. The Way of Bayonne joins the French Way further downstream at Burgos.
The Protestant church is located at the corner of Rue Albert-I st and Rue du Temple. A gospel church is located in the Saint-Esprit district where there is also a church belonging to the Gypsy Evangelical Church of the Protestant Federation of France.
Jewish worship
The synagogue was built in 1837 in the Saint-Esprit district north of the town. The Jewish community of Bayonne is old—it consists of different groups of fugitives from Navarre and Portugal who established at Saint-Esprit-lès-Bayonne after the expulsion of Jews from Spain in 1492 and Portugal in 1496. In 1846, the Central Consistory moved to Saint-Esprit which was integrated with Bayonne in 1857.
The Jewish Cemetery of Bayonne was established in 1689 in the Saint-Étienne neighborhood in the northern quarter of the city. It was remodeled and enlarged in the 18th and 19th century and covers and area of two hectares.Economy
]]
]]
Population and income tax
In 2011, the median household income tax was €22,605, placing Bayonne 28,406th place among the 31,886 communes with more than 49 households in metropolitan France.
In 2011, 47.8% of households were not taxable.EmploymentIn 2011, the population aged from 15 to 64 years was 29,007 persons of which 70.8% were employable, 60.3% in employment and 10.5% unemployed. While there were 30,012 jobs in the employment area, against 29,220 in 2006, and the number of employed workers residing in the employment area was 17,667, the indicator of job concentration is 169.9% which means that the employment area offers nearly two jobs for every available worker.Businesses and shopsBayonne is the economic capital of the agglomeration of Bayonne and southern Landes. The table below details the number of companies located in Bayonne according to their industry:
{| class"wikitable centre" style"text-align:center;"
|+ Structure of the economy in Bayonne as at 1 January 2013
|-
! scope"col" style"background: #DDFFDD; color:black;" |
! scope"col" style"background: #DDFFDD; color:black;" | No. of establishments
|-
! scope"row" style"background: #EDEDED; color:black;" | Total
| style="background: #EDEDED; color:black;" |
|-
! scope"row" style"background: #FFFFFF; color:black;" | Industry
| style="background: #FFFFFF; color:black;" | 270
|-
! scope"row" style"background: #FFFFFF; color:black;" | Construction
|style="background: #FFFFFF; color:black;" | 375
|-
! scope"row" style"background: #FFFFFF; color:black;" | Trade, transport and services
| style="background: #FFFFFF; color:black;" |
|-
! scope"row" style"background: #FFFFFF; color:black;" | Public administration, education, health, and social services
| style="background: #FFFFFF; color:black;" | 874
|-
| colspan"7" style"text-align:center;font-size:90%;"|Scope: Commercial activities excluding agriculture
|}
The table below shows employees by business establishments in terms of numbers:
{| class"wikitable centre" style"text-align:center;"
|+ Active establishments by sector of activity on 31 December 2011
|-
! scope"col" style"background: #DDFFDD; color:black;" |
! scope"col" style"background: #DDFFDD; color:black;" | Total
! scope"col" style"background: #DDFFDD; color:black;" | %
! scope"col" style"background: #DDFFDD; color:black;" | 0 <br />staff
! scope"col" style"background: #DDFFDD; color:black;" | 1 to 9 <br />staff
! scope"col" style"background: #DDFFDD; color:black;" | 10 to 19 <br />staff
! scope"col" style"background: #DDFFDD; color:black;" | 20 to 49 <br />staff
! scope"col" style"background: #DDFFDD; color:black;" | 50 staff <br />or more
|-
! scoperow style"background: #EDEDED; text-align:left; color:black;" | Ensemble
| style="background: #EDEDED; color:black;" |
| style="background: #EDEDED; color:black;" | 100.0
| style="background: #EDEDED; color:black;" |
| style="background: #EDEDED; color:black;" |
| style="background: #EDEDED; color:black;" | 213
| style="background: #EDEDED; color:black;" | 155
| style="background: #EDEDED; color:black;" | 73
|-
! scope"row" style"background: #FFFFFF; color:black;" | Agriculture, sylviculture and fishing
| style="background: #FFFFFF; color:black;" |46
| style="background: #FFFFFF; color:black;" |0.8
| style="background: #FFFFFF; color:black;" |38
| style="background: #FFFFFF; color:black;" |6
| style="background: #FFFFFF; color:black;" |0
| style="background: #FFFFFF; color:black;" |2
| style="background: #FFFFFF; color:black;" |0
|-
! scope"row" style"background: #FFFFFF; color:black;" | Industry
| style="background: #FFFFFF; color:black;" |292
| style="background: #FFFFFF; color:black;" |4.9
| style="background: #FFFFFF; color:black;" |150
| style="background: #FFFFFF; color:black;" |101
| style="background: #FFFFFF; color:black;" |23
| style="background: #FFFFFF; color:black;" |15
| style="background: #FFFFFF; color:black;" |3
|-
! scope"row" style"background: #FFFFFF; color:black;" | Construction
| style="background: #FFFFFF; color:black;" |428
| style="background: #FFFFFF; color:black;" |7.2
| style="background: #FFFFFF; color:black;" |299
| style="background: #FFFFFF; color:black;" |84
| style="background: #FFFFFF; color:black;" |26
| style="background: #FFFFFF; color:black;" |15
| style="background: #FFFFFF; color:black;" |4
|-
! scope"row" style"background: #FFFFFF; color:black;" | Trade, transport, services
| style="background: #FFFFFF; color:black;" |
| style="background: #FFFFFF; color:black;" |66.5
| style="background: #FFFFFF; color:black;" |
| style="background: #FFFFFF; color:black;" |
| style="background: #FFFFFF; color:black;" |117
| style="background: #FFFFFF; color:black;" |73
| style="background: #FFFFFF; color:black;" |27
|-
! scope"row" style"background: #FFFFFF; color:black;" style="text-align:right;" | <small>including trade and car repair</small>
| style="background: #FFFFFF; color:black;" |
| style="background: #FFFFFF; color:black;" |18,8
| style="background: #FFFFFF; color:black;" |579
| style="background: #FFFFFF; color:black;" |457
| style="background: #FFFFFF; color:black;" |38
| style="background: #FFFFFF; color:black;" |32
| style="background: #FFFFFF; color:black;" |>9
|-
! scope"row" style"background: #FFFFFF; color:black;" | Public administration, education, health, social services
| style="background: #FFFFFF; color:black;" |
| style="background: #FFFFFF; color:black;" |20.6
| style="background: #FFFFFF; color:black;" |920
| style="background: #FFFFFF; color:black;" |171
| style="background: #FFFFFF; color:black;" |47
| style="background: #FFFFFF; color:black;" |50
| style="background: #FFFFFF; color:black;" |39
|-
| colspan"8" style"text-align:center;font-size:90%;"|Scope: All activities
|}
The following comments apply to the two previous tables:
*the bulk of economic activity is provided by companies in the tertiary sector;
*Agriculture is almost non-existent Note 54;
*less than 5% of the activity is from the industrial sector which remains focused on establishments of less than 50 employees, as also are construction-related activities;
*public administration, education, health and social services are activities of over 20% of establishments, confirming the importance of Bayonne as an administrative centre.
In 2013, 549 new establishments were created in Bayonne including 406 sole proprietorships.
Workshops and Industry
Bayonne has few of such industries, as indicated in the previous tables. There is Plastitube specializing in plastic packaging (190 employees). BUT (240 staff), Carrefour (150 staff), E.Leclerc (150 staff), Leroy Merlin (130 staff), and Galeries Lafayette (120 employees). Banks, cleaning companies (Onet, 170 employees), and security (Brink's, 100 employees) are also major employers in the commune, as is urban transport which employs nearly 200 staff. Five health clinics, providing a total of more than 500 beds, each employ 120 to 170 staff. It benefits greatly from the natural gas field of Lacq to which it is connected by pipeline. This is the ninth largest French port for trade with an annual traffic of about 4.2 million tonnes of which 2.8 is export. It is also the largest French port for export of maize. Metallurgical products movement are more than one million tons per year and maize exports to Spain vary between 800,000 and 1 million tons. The port also receives refined oil products from the TotalEnergies oil refinery at Donges (800,000 tons per year). Fertilizers are a traffic of 500,000 tons per year and sulphur from Lacq, albeit in sharp decline, is 400,000 tons.
The port also receives Ford and General Motors vehicles from Spain and Portugal and wood both tropical and from Landes.
On 31 December 2012, there were 15 hotels in the city offering more than 800 rooms to visitors, but there were no camp sites. The tourist infrastructure in the surrounding urban area of Bayonne complements the local supply with around 5800 rooms spread over nearly 200 hotels and 86 campsites offering over 14,000 beds.
The Information site of the Bayonne Tourist Office, VisitBayonne.com is featured
on the Global Visit List
Sights
]]
The Nive divides Bayonne into Grand Bayonne and Petit Bayonne with five bridges between the two, both quarters still being backed by Vauban's walls. The houses lining the Nive are examples of Basque architecture, with half-timbering and shutters in the national colours of red and green. The much wider Adour is to the north. The Pont Saint-Esprit connects Petit Bayonne with the Quartier Saint-Esprit across the Adour, where the massive Citadelle and the railway station are located. Grand Bayonne is the commercial and civic hub, with small pedestrianised streets packed with shops, plus the cathedral and the Hôtel de Ville.
The Cathédrale Sainte-Marie is a Gothic-style building constructed between the 13th and 15th centuries. The tower spires were not added until the 19th century, during a substantial restoration project. The cathedral houses the shrine of Saint-Léon de Carentan, 9th-century Bishop of Bayonne, and is a recognized UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Nearby is the Château Vieux, some of which dates back to the 12th century, where the governors of the city were based, including the English Black Prince.
The Musée Basque is an ethnographic museum of the entire Basque Country. Opened in February 1924, the museum has special exhibitions on Basque agriculture and history, seafaring, pelota, and handicrafts.
The Musée Bonnat began with a large collection bequeathed by the local-born painter Léon Bonnat. The museum is one of the best galleries in south west France and has paintings by Edgar Degas, El Greco, Sandro Botticelli, and Francisco Goya, among others.
At the back of Petit Bayonne is the Château Neuf, among the ramparts. Now an exhibition space, it was started by the newly arrived French in 1460 to control the city. The walls nearby have been opened to visitors. They are important for plant life now and Bayonne's botanic gardens adjoin the walls on both sides of the Nive.
The area across the Adour is largely residential and industrial, with much demolished to make way for the railway. The Saint-Esprit church was part of a bigger complex built by Louis XI to care for pilgrims to Santiago de Compostela. It is home to a wooden Flight into Egypt sculpture.
Overlooking the quarter is Vauban's 1680 Citadelle. The soldiers of Wellington's army who died besieging the citadelle in 1813 are buried in the nearby English Cemetery, visited by Queen Victoria and other British dignitaries when staying in Biarritz.
The distillery of the famous local liqueur Izarra is located on the northern bank of the Adour and is open to visitors.
Notable people
1200s
* Edmund Crouchback or Edmond Plantagenet, Earl of Lancaster, born in 1245 at London and died in 1296 at Bayonne, was an English prince. Second surviving son of King Henry III and Eleanor of Provence, he was the 1st Earl of Lancaster and the founder of the House of Lancaster
1500s
* Jean du Vergier de Hauranne, (1581–1643), theologian, who introduced Jansenism into France
1700s
* Guillaume du Tillot (1711–1774), politician
* Marguerite Brunet, called Mademoiselle Montansier, born in 1730 at Bayonne and died in 1820 at Paris, was an actress and director of theatre. The house where she was born still exists in Rue des Faures, at Bayonne.
* Dominique Joseph Garat (1749–1833), writer and politician
* François Cabarrus (1752–1810), French adventurer and Spanish financier
* Armand Joseph Dubernad (1741–1799), financial trader, consul general of the Holy Roman Empire
* Bertrand Pelletier (1761–1797), chemist and pharmacologist
* Jacques Laffitte (1767–1844), banker and politician
1800s
* Frédéric Bastiat (1801–1850), classical-liberal author and political economist
* Hélène Feillet (1812–1889), painter and lithographer, images of the Basque Country
* Charles Lavigerie born at Bayonne in 1825 and died in 1892 at Algiers (Algérie), was a 19th-century Cardinal. He was the founder of the Society of Missionaries of Africa which is better known under the name White Fathers.
* Achille Zo (1826–1901), painter
* Léon Bonnat (1833–1922), painter
* Ramón Altarriba y Villanueva (1841–1906), Spanish Carlist politician
* Leandro Ramón Garrido (1868–1909), English–Spanish painter born in Bayonne, France
* René Cassin (1887–1976), lawyer and judge; recipient of the 1968 Nobel Peace Prize
* François Duhourcau (1883–1951), writer and historian
1900s
* René Lasserre (1912–2006), restaurateur
* Loleh Bellon (1925–1999), actress and playwright
* Michel Camdessus (born 1933), managing director of the International Monetary Fund from 1997 to 2000
* Maurice André (1933–2012), virtuoso classical trumpet player
* Itxaro Borda (born 1959), Basque language writer
* Didier Deschamps (born 1968), World-Cup-winning footballer, manager of the France national team since 2012
* Sylvain Luc (1965–2024), jazz guitarist
* Anthony Dupuis (born 1973), professional tennis player
* Xavier de le Rue (born 1979), snowboarder
* Imanol Harinordoquy (born 1980), French international rugby union player
* Stéphane Ruffier (born 1986) France national football team goalkeeper
* Xavier Ouellet (born 1993), ice hockey player for the Laval Rocket
* Aymeric Laporte (born 1994), footballer, raised in the city
* Jessika Ponchet (born 1996), tennis player
In popular culture
* In Wyndham Lewis's novel The Wild Body (1927) the protagonist, Ker-Orr, in the first story, "A Soldier of Humour", takes the train from Paris and stays in Bayonne before going to Spain.
* In Ernest Hemingway's novel The Sun Also Rises, three of the characters visit Bayonne en route to Pamplona, Spain.
* In Kim Stanley Robinson's novel The Years of Rice and Salt (2002), Bayonne is the first city recolonized by the Muslims after the total depopulation of Europe by the Black Death. Named "Baraka", its earliest colonizers were later driven out by rivals from Al-Andalus and flee to the Loire Valley, where they found the city of Nsara.
* In Trevanian's novel Shibumi, Hannah was called "a whore from Bayonne" by elderly Basque women in a village of the Northern Basque Country.
* The seventh track of Joe Bonamassa's album Dust Bowl is entitled The Last Matador of Bayonne.
* In the summer of 2008, Manu Chao's live album Baionarena was recorded in the Arena of Bayonne.
* The album Life is Elsewhere, by English band Little Comets, features a song titled Bayonne.
* The eighth track of La Nef's album La Traverse Miraculeuse is entitled "Le Navire de Bayonne".
Notes and references
Notes
}}
Insee
* [http://www.insee.fr/fr/themes/dossier_complet.asp?codgeo=COM-64102 Dossier 2013 relative to the commune],
* National Database
Bibliographic sources
* Leon H. Histoire des Juifs de Bayonne, Paris, Armand Durlacher, 1893. in-4 : xvj, 436 pp. ; illustré de 4 planches hors-texte.
*Pierre Dubourg-Noves Bayonne, Ouest-France, 1986, . Noted "DN" in the text.
*Eugène Goyheneche, Basque Country: Soule, Labourd, Lower-Navarre, Société nouvelle d’éditions régionales et de diffusion, Pau, 1979, BnF FRBNF34647711 . Noted "EG" in the text.
*Pierre Hourmat, History of Bayonne from its origins to the French Revolution of 1789, Société des Sciences Lettres & Arts de Bayonne, 1986 . Noted "PH" in the text.
*Pierre Hourmat Visiting Bayonne, Sud Ouest, 1989 . Noted "PiH" in the text.
*Bayonne of the Nive and Adour, François Lafitte Houssat, Alan Sutton, Joué-lès-Tours, 2001, . Noted as "FL" in the text.
*[http://www.bayonne.fr/ The Bayonne official website]. Noted as "M" in the text.
External links
* [http://www.ville-bayonne.fr/ City council website]
Category:Communes of Pyrénées-Atlantiques
Category:Subprefectures in France
Category:Labourd
Category:Port cities and towns on the French Atlantic coast
Category:Vauban fortifications in France
Category:Cities in Nouvelle-Aquitaine
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bayonne
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2025-04-05T18:26:57.193329
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4742
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Bubblegum Crisis
|
<!-- Note: Use and cite reliable sources to identify genre/s, not personal interpretation. Please don't include more than three genres (per MOS:A&M). -->
| creator = Toshimichi Suzuki
}}
|Yasunori Ide |Kenichi Yatagai |Hiroki Hayashi |Masami Ōbari |Fumihiko Takayama |Hiroaki Gōda }}
|producer = Junji Fujita<br>Toru Miura
|writer = Toshimichi Suzuki
|music = Kōji Makaino
|studio = Artmic & AIC
|licensee =
|first = February 25, 1987
|last = January 30, 1991
|runtime |28 minutes |26 minutes |38 minutes |43 minutes |49 minutes |52 minutes }}
|episodes = 8
|episode_list = #Episodes
}}
is a 1987 to 1991 cyberpunk original video animation (OVA) series produced by Youmex and animated by AIC and Artmic.
The series involves the adventures of the Knight Sabers, an all-female group of mercenaries who don powered exoskeletons and fight numerous problems, most frequently rogue robots. The success of the series spawned several sequel series.
Plot
The series begins in late 2032, seven years after the Second Great Kanto earthquake has split Tokyo geographically and culturally in two and it also forced the United States of America to annex Japan in the legitimate name of keeping the peace and from it descending into anarchy. During the first episode, disparities in wealth are shown to be more pronounced than in previous periods in post-war Japan. The main adversary is Genom, a megacorporation with immense power and global influence. Its main product are boomers—artificial cybernetic life forms that are usually in the form of humans, with most of their bodies being machine; also known as "cyberoids". While Boomers are intended to serve mankind, they become deadly instruments in the hands of ruthless individuals. The AD Police (Advanced Police) are tasked to deal with Boomer-related crimes. One of the series' themes is the inability of the department to deal with threats due to political infighting, red tape, and an insufficient budget.
Setting
The setting displays strong influences from the movies Blade Runner and Streets of Fire. The opening sequence of episode 1 is even modeled on that of the latter film. The humanoid robots known as "boomers" in the series were inspired by several movies, including Replicants from the aforementioned Blade Runner, the titular cyborgs of the Terminator film franchise, and the Beast from the film Krull.
Production
The series started with Toshimichi Suzuki's intention to remake the 1982 film Techno Police 21C. In 1985, he met Junji Fujita and the two discussed ideas, and decided to collaborate on what later became Bubblegum Crisis.
A common misunderstanding that has developed, dating back as far as at least the mid-2000s, is that the series was planned and written to be 13 episodes, and that either legal or financial issues resulted in the series having only eight episodes. The prevalence of this belief has resulted in it appearing in discussions of the series, even in Anime News Network articles and encyclopedia, and an Otaku USA feature from 2011.
However, commentaries and interviews with production staff contradict this. Production designer Hideki Kakinuma said in commentary notes that appeared with the 2018 Animeigo release of the OVA series, "At the time there was no plan to make it into a series, each film was going to be made one at a time." Further the staff don't discuss or mention the existence of these issues hampering the project in these interviews and commentaries, which included directors, voice actresses, character designers, even AIC president Tōru Miura. Akiyama recalled the experience of working on the production as "fun".
!English|altdate10|altdateTEnglish first release dates|episodes
|AltDate = August 30, 1991
|ShortSummary = The Knight Sabers are hired to rescue a little girl from a group of kidnappers, but the girl is far more than she seems...
}}
|AltDate = September 27, 1991
|ShortSummary = A friend of Linna's threatens to expose Genom secrets that led to the death of her fiancé, but Genom plans to silence her, first.
}}
|AltDate = October 10, 1991
|ShortSummary = The Knight Sabers attack Genom Tower to put an end to the machinations of Genom executive Brian J. Mason.
}}
|AltDate = December 19, 1991
|ShortSummary = A racer modifies his car into a weapon of vengeance against the biker gangs of Megatokyo, but the car soon develops a mind of its own.
}}
|AltDate = January 23, 1992
|ShortSummary = A killer is draining victims of their blood, but this is no vampire. And what do a pair of escaped love-doll androids, Priss's new friend Sylvie and the D.D. super-weapon have to do with it?
}}
|AltDate = February 27, 1992
|ShortSummary = A group of fake Knight Sabers are ruining the group's reputation, leading to a fight against a returning foe.
}}
|AltDate = March 19, 1992
|ShortSummary = A singer with a vendetta comes to Megatokyo, and brings some heavy firepower with her.
}}
|AltDate = April 2, 1992
|ShortSummary = An ambitious technical scientist and an aspiring reporter both plan to make their names at the expense of the Knight Sabers, and of all people, Nene is caught right in the middle.
}}
}}
Release
In North America, AnimEigo first released Bubblegum Crisis to VHS and Laserdisc in 1991 in Japanese with English subtitles. The series is notable in that it was one of the few early anime series that were brought over from Japan unedited and subtitled in English. While anime has become much more popular in the years since, in 1991, it was still mostly unknown as a storytelling medium in North America. Bubblegum Crisis was aired in the US when it first aired on PBS affiliate Superstation KTEH in the 1990s, and STARZ!'s Action Channel in 2000.
An English dub of the series was produced beginning in 1994 by AnimEigo through Southwynde Studios in Wilmington, NC, and released to VHS and Laserdisc beginning that year. A digitally-remastered compilation, featuring bilingual audio tracks and production extras, was released on DVD in 2004 by AnimEigo. The company later successfully crowdfunded a collector's edition Blu-ray release through Kickstarter in November 2013. The series was released on a regular edition Blu-ray on September 25, 2018. The series is currently available for streaming on Night Flight Plus.
Soundtracks
There are eight soundtrack releases (one per OVA), as well as numerous "vocal" albums which feature songs "inspired by" the series as well as many drawn directly from it.
Reception
Critical reception of Bubblegum Crisis has been generally positive. Raphael See of THEM Anime Reviews gave the series a rating of 4 out of 5 stars, praising the quality of the animation, the soundtrack, and the series' sense of humor. However, he suggested it was held back by a low quality dub, a lack of character development, and an inconsistent plot, saying that while some episodes were "really solid", others would leave out many major details, forcing the viewer to make their own assumptions: "Overall, not a bad watch. In fact, at times, Bubblegum Crisis can be really good. Unfortunately, oversights and carelessness here and there keep this series from being all it can be."
Tim Henderson of Anime News Network gave the series an A− rating, praising the animation, soundtrack, story, and characters. He states that the series gets better with every passing episode, and that the final two episodes are the best of the series.
Legacy
Masaki Kajishima and Hiroki Hayashi, who both worked on the Bubblegum Crisis OVAs, cite the show as being the inspiration for their harem series Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-Ohki. In an interview with AIC, Hayashi described Bubblegum Crisis as "a pretty gloomy anime. Serious fighting, complicated human relationships, and dark Mega Tokyo." They thought it would be fun to create some comedy episodes with ideas like the girls going to the hot springs, but it was rejected by the sponsors. He also said that there was a trend to have a bunch of characters of one gender and a single one of the other gender, and asked what if Mackey (Sylia's brother) was a main character, reversing the Bubblegum scenario. This idea then became the basis for Tenchi. Hayashi said that Mackey is "sort of" the original model for Tenchi.
Kevin Siembieda's becoming aware of "Boomers" being already in use in this caused him to change his planned name for the Rifts RPG which he had named after the "Boom Gun"–wielding power armor which was also renamed to Glitter Boy.Other entries
* AD Police Files is a three-part original video animation prequel produced by Youmex and animated by Artmic and AIC, released in 1990. It takes place in the original Bubblegum Crisis universe, and is a prequel to the original OVA series.
* Bubblegum Crash is a sequel to Bubblegum Crisis, released in 1991. It takes place one year after the events of Crisis and follows a dissolved Knight Sabers as they try to figure out their paths in life before being forced to join forces one more time to take down a powerful enemy.
* Bubblegum Crisis Tokyo 2040 is a 26-episode anime television series broadcast in 1998–1999. It is a reboot of the original series.
* A.D. Police: To Protect and Serve is 12-episode anime television series released in 1999. It is a prequel to Bubblegum Crisis Tokyo 2040.
* Parasite Dolls is a three-part original video animation series by AIC, released in 2003. It is set in the original Bubblegum Crisis universe, taking place after the events of the original OVA series.
Crossover appearances
In 1993, it appeared on Scramble Wars, a crossover event between Bubblegum Crisis, Gall Force, Genesis Survivor Gaiarth, AD Police and Riding Bean. In 2023, the theme song "Konya Wa Hurricane" appeared in the series Scott Pilgrim Takes Off.Other mediaRPGs* Bubblegum Crisis role-playing game produced by R. Talsorian Games. It introduces an alternate setting named "Bubblegum Crossfire", basing on a premise that data units with hardsuit blueprints have been sent to more individuals than just Sylia Stingray, resulting in that by 2033 there are numerous Knight Saber-like groups spread all over the globe. RTG's license to produce this game has expired and at present all copies of back stock have been sold.
** "Bubblegum Crisis: Before and After" (covering material from A.D. Police Files and Bubblegum Crash!)
** "Bubblegum Crisis EX" which includes completely new materials (also incorporating early design concepts for BGC mecha and hardsuits as new variants)
Novels
The series' creator Toshimichi Suzuki wrote two novels:
* Bubblegum Crisis Vol. 1: Silent Fanfare, Fujimi Shobo
* Bubblegum Crisis Vol. 2: Break Down-48, Fujimi Shobo
* A third novel titled Bubblegum Crisis Hard Metal Guardians was also later written by Hajime Shima and released in 2012
Comic book
In Japan, a number of comic books were produced that featured characters and storylines based in the same universe. Some were very much thematically linked to the OVA series, while others were "one-shots" or comedy features. A number of artists participated in the creation of these comics, including Kenichi Sonoda, who had produced the original Knight Saber character designs. A North American comic based in the Bubblegum Crisis universe was published in English by Dark Horse Comics.
* Go! Go! Sabers!, a comic by Tokio Kazuka.
* AD. Police: 25:00, a comic by Tony Takezaki
* Soldier Blue, a comic by Toshimichi Suzuki. It serves as a prequel to Bubblegum Crash! It was also made as an audio drama. It was translated into English language in 1997 by R.Talsorian Games. [http://www.jhedge.com/sldrblue/index.htm A copy of the translated dialogue can be found here].
* Bubblegum Crisis: Grand Mal produced by Adam Warren via Dark Horse Comics.Video games* Crime Wave: a game for PC-88, set in Megatokyo and featuring Knight Sabers as the main characters.
* Bubblegum Crash: a game for TurboGrafx-16.
Live-action movie
In May 2009 it was announced that a live-action movie of "Bubblegum Crisis" was in the early stages of production. A production agreement was signed at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival. The film was expected to be released in late 2012 with a budget of 30 million. However, no further developments have been announced.
References
External links
* [http://www.animeigo.com/products/anime/bubblegum-crisis AnimEigo's Bubblegum Crisis website]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20080924051328/http://www.anime-int.com/works/bubblegum/crisis/ Bubblegum Crisis] – AIC's official Bubblegum Crisis page
*
*
* [https://ravensgarage.com Ravens Garage: The Technology of BGC]
Category:1987 anime OVAs
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Category:Action anime and manga
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bubblegum_Crisis
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Black people
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Black is a racialized classification of people, usually a political and skin color-based category for specific populations with a mid- to dark brown complexion. Not all people considered "black" have dark skin; in certain countries, often in socially based systems of racial classification in the Western world, the term "black" is used to describe persons who are perceived as dark-skinned compared to other populations. It is most commonly used for people of sub-Saharan African ancestry, Indigenous Australians and Melanesians, though it has been applied in many contexts to other groups, and is no indicator of any close ancestral relationship whatsoever. Indigenous African societies do not use the term black as a racial identity outside of influences brought by Western cultures.
Contemporary anthropologists and other scientists, while recognizing the reality of biological variation between different human populations, regard the concept of a unified, distinguishable "Black race" as socially constructed. Different societies apply different criteria regarding who is classified "black", and these social constructs have changed over time. In a number of countries, societal variables affect classification as much as skin color, and the social criteria for "blackness" vary. Some perceive the term 'black' as a derogatory, outdated, reductive or otherwise unrepresentative label, and as a result neither use nor define it, especially in African countries with little to no history of colonial racial segregation.
In the anglosphere the term can carry a variety of meanings depending on the country. In the United Kingdom, "black" was historically equivalent with "person of color", a general term for non-European peoples. While the term "person of color" is commonly used and accepted in the United States, the near-sounding term "colored person" is considered highly offensive, except in South Africa, where it is a descriptor for a person of mixed race. In other regions such as Australasia, settlers applied the adjective "black" to the indigenous population. It was universally regarded as highly offensive in Australia until the 1960s and 70s. "Black" was generally not used as a noun, but rather as an adjective qualifying some other descriptor (e.g. "black ****"). As desegregation progressed after the 1967 referendum, some Aboriginals adopted the term, following the American fashion, but it remains problematic.
Several American style guides, including the AP Stylebook, changed their guides to capitalize the 'b' in 'black', following the 2020 murder of George Floyd, an African American.
Africa
<!-- Organized alphabetically and geographically. On the concept per region, which varies widely both between and within global societies and depends significantly on context. In many places around the world, the concept has no currency at all. -->
Northern Africa
and Northern Africa during the Middle Ages]]
Numerous communities of dark-skinned peoples are present in North Africa, some dating from prehistoric communities. Others descend from migrants via the historical trans-Saharan trade or, after the Arab invasions of North Africa in the 7th century, from slaves from the trans-Saharan slave trade in North Africa. women, a community of recent Sub-Saharan African origin residing in the Maghreb (Northwest Africa)]]
In the 18th century, the Moroccan Sultan Moulay Ismail "the Warrior King" (1672–1727) raised a corps of 150,000 black soldiers, called his Black Guard.
According to Carlos Moore, resident scholar at Brazil's University of the State of Bahia, in the 21st century Afro-multiracials in the Arab world, including Arabs in North Africa, self-identify in ways that resemble multi-racials in Latin America. He claims that darker-toned Arabs, much like darker-toned Latin Americans, consider themselves white because they have some distant white ancestry.
Egyptian President Anwar Sadat had a mother who was a dark-skinned Nubian Sudanese (Sudanese Arab) woman and a father who was a lighter-skinned Egyptian. In response to an advertisement for an acting position, as a young man he said, "I am not white but I am not exactly black either. My blackness is tending to reddish".
Due to the patriarchal nature of Arab society, Arab men, including during the slave trade in North Africa, enslaved more African women than men. The female slaves were often put to work in domestic service and agriculture. The men interpreted the Quran to permit sexual relations between a male master and his enslaved females outside of marriage (see Ma malakat aymanukum and sex), leading to many mixed-race children. When an enslaved woman became pregnant with her Arab master's child, she was considered as umm walad or "mother of a child", a status that granted her privileged rights. The child was given rights of inheritance to the father's property, so mixed-race children could share in any wealth of the father.
In early 1991, non-Arabs of the Zaghawa people of Sudan attested that they were victims of an intensifying Arab apartheid campaign, segregating Arabs and non-Arabs (specifically, people of Nilotic ancestry). Sudanese Arabs, who controlled the government, were widely referred to as practicing apartheid against Sudan's non-Arab citizens. The government was accused of "deftly manipulating Arab solidarity" to carry out policies of apartheid and ethnic cleansing.
Sudanese Arabs are also black people in that they are culturally and linguistically Arabized indigenous peoples of Sudan of mostly Nilo-Saharan, Nubian, and Cushitic ancestry; their skin tone and appearance resembles that of other black people.
American University economist George Ayittey accused the Arab government of Sudan of practicing acts of racism against black citizens. According to Ayittey, "In Sudan... the Arabs monopolized power and excluded blacks – Arab apartheid." Many African commentators joined Ayittey in accusing Sudan of practicing Arab apartheid.
Sahara
(Bella) woman]]
In the Sahara, the native Tuareg Berber populations kept "negro" slaves. Most of these captives were of Nilo-Saharan extraction, and were either purchased by the Tuareg nobles from slave markets in the Western Sudan or taken during raids. Their origin is denoted via the Ahaggar Berber word Ibenheren (sing. Ébenher), which alludes to slaves that only spoke a Nilo-Saharan language. These slaves were also sometimes known by the borrowed Songhay term Bella.
Similarly, the Sahrawi indigenous peoples of the Western Sahara observed a class system consisting of high castes and low castes. Outside of these traditional tribal boundaries were "Negro" slaves, who were drawn from the surrounding areas.
North-Eastern Africa
In Ethiopia and Somalia, the slave classes mainly consisted of captured peoples from the Sudanese-Ethiopian and Kenyan-Somali international borders or other surrounding areas of Nilotic and Bantu peoples who were collectively known as Shanqella and Adone (both analogues to "negro" in an English-speaking context). Some of these slaves were captured during territorial conflicts in the Horn of Africa and then sold off to slave merchants. The earliest representation of this tradition dates from a seventh or eighth century BC inscription belonging to the Kingdom of Damat.
These captives and others of analogous morphology were distinguished as tsalim barya (dark-skinned slave) in contrast with the Afroasiatic-speaking nobles or saba qayh ("red men") or light-skinned slave; while on the other hand, western racial category standards do not differentiate between saba qayh ("red men"—light-skinned) or saba tiqur ("black men"—dark-skinned) Horn Africans (of either Afroasiatic-speaking, Nilotic-speaking or Bantu origin) thus considering all of them as "black people" (and in some case "negro") according to Western society's notion of race.Southern Africa
In South Africa, the period of colonisation resulted in many unions and marriages between European and Africans (Bantu peoples of South Africa and Khoisans) from various tribes, resulting in mixed-race children. As the European colonialists acquired control of territory, they generally pushed the mixed-race and African populations into second-class status. During the first half of the 20th century, the white-dominated government classified the population according to four main racial groups: Black, White, Asian (mostly Indian), and Coloured.<!--These terms are capitalized to denote their legal definitions in South African law.--> The Coloured group included people of mixed Bantu, Khoisan, and European ancestry (with some Malay ancestry, especially in the Western Cape). The Coloured definition occupied an intermediary political position between the Black and White definitions in South Africa. It imposed a system of legal racial segregation, a complex of laws known as apartheid.
The apartheid bureaucracy devised complex (and often arbitrary) criteria in the Population Registration Act of 1945 to determine who belonged in which group. Minor officials administered tests to enforce the classifications. When it was unclear from a person's physical appearance whether the individual should be considered Coloured or Black, the "pencil test" was used. A pencil was inserted into a person's hair to determine if the hair was kinky enough to hold the pencil, rather than having it pass through, as it would with smoother hair. If so, the person was classified as Black. Such classifications sometimes divided families.
Sandra Laing is a South African woman who was classified as Coloured by authorities during the apartheid era, due to her skin colour and hair texture, although her parents could prove at least three generations of European ancestors. At age 10, she was expelled from her all-white school. The officials' decisions based on her anomalous appearance disrupted her family and adult life. She was the subject of the 2008 biographical dramatic film Skin, which won numerous awards. During the apartheid era, those classed as "Coloured" were oppressed and discriminated against. But, they had limited rights and overall had slightly better socioeconomic conditions than those classed as "Black". The government required that Blacks and Coloureds live in areas separate from Whites, creating large townships located away from the cities as areas for Blacks.
In the post-apartheid era, the Constitution of South Africa has declared the country to be a "Non-racial democracy". In an effort to redress past injustices, the ANC government has introduced laws in support of affirmative action policies for Blacks; under these they define "Black" people to include "Africans", "Coloureds" and "Asians". Some affirmative action policies favor "Africans" over "Coloureds" in terms of qualifying for certain benefits. Some South Africans categorized as "African Black" say that "Coloureds" did not suffer as much as they did during apartheid. "Coloured" South Africans are known to discuss their dilemma by saying, "we were not white enough under apartheid, and we are not black enough under the ANC (African National Congress)".
In 2008, the High Court in South Africa ruled that Chinese South Africans who were residents during the apartheid era (and their descendants) are to be reclassified as "Black people", solely for the purposes of accessing affirmative action benefits, because they were also "disadvantaged" by racial discrimination. Chinese people who arrived in the country after the end of apartheid do not qualify for such benefits.
Other than by appearance, "Coloureds" can usually be distinguished from "Blacks" by language. Most speak Afrikaans or English as a first language, as opposed to Bantu languages such as Zulu or Xhosa. They also tend to have more European-sounding names than Bantu names.<!-- Expand – why the differences in languages and names? -->
Asia
Afro-Asians
"Afro-Asians" or "African-Asians" are persons of mixed sub-Saharan African and Asian ancestry. In the United States, they are also called "black Asians" or "Blasians". Historically, Afro-Asian populations have been marginalized as a result of human migration and social conflict.
Western Asia
Arab world
(pictured atop the Kaaba, Mecca) was a former Ethiopian slave and the first muezzin, .]]
In the medieval Arab world, the ethnic designation of "Black" encompassed not only Zanj, or Africans, but also communities like Zutt, Sindis and Indians from the Indian subcontinent. Historians estimate that between the advent of Islam in 650 CE and the abolition of slavery in the Arabian Peninsula in the mid-20th century, 10 to 18 million black Africans (known as the Zanj) were enslaved by east African slave traders and transported to the Arabian Peninsula and neighboring countries. This number far exceeded the number of slaves who were taken to the Americas. Slavery in Saudi Arabia and slavery in Yemen was abolished in 1962, slavery in Dubai in 1963, and slavery in Oman in 1970.
Several factors affected the visibility of descendants of this diaspora in 21st-century Arab societies: The traders shipped more female slaves than males, as there was a demand for them to serve as concubines in harems in the Arabian Peninsula and neighboring countries. Male slaves were castrated in order to serve as harem guards. The death toll of black African slaves from forced labor was high. The mixed-race children of female slaves and Arab owners were assimilated into the Arab owners' families under the patrilineal kinship system. As a result, few distinctive Afro-Arab communities have survived in the Arabian Peninsula and neighboring countries.
Distinctive and self-identified black communities have been reported in countries such as Iraq, with a reported 1.2 million black people (Afro-Iraqis), and they attest to a history of discrimination. These descendants of the Zanj have sought minority status from the government, which would reserve some seats in Parliament for representatives of their population. According to Alamin M. Mazrui et al., generally in the Arabian Peninsula and neighboring countries, most of these communities identify as both black and Arab.
Iran
Afro-Iranians are people of black African ancestry residing in Iran. During the Qajar dynasty, many wealthy households imported black African women and children as slaves to perform domestic work. This slave labor was drawn exclusively from the Zanj, who were Bantu-speaking peoples that lived along the African Great Lakes, in an area roughly comprising modern-day Tanzania, Mozambique and Malawi.
Israel
child in Dimona|279x279px]]
(Beta Israel Ethiopian Jew) Israeli Border Policeman |left|278x278px]]
About 150,000 East African and black people live in Israel, amounting to just over 2% of the nation's population. The vast majority of these, some 120,000, are Beta Israel, most of whom are recent immigrants who came during the 1980s and 1990s from Ethiopia. In addition, Israel is home to more than 5,000 members of the African Hebrew Israelites of Jerusalem movement that are ancestry of African Americans who emigrated to Israel in the 20th century, and who reside mainly in a distinct neighborhood in the Negev town of Dimona. Unknown numbers of black converts to Judaism reside in Israel, most of them converts from the United Kingdom, Canada, and the United States.
Additionally, there are around 60,000 non-Jewish African immigrants in Israel, some of whom have sought asylum. Most of the migrants are from communities in Sudan and Eritrea, particularly the Niger-Congo-speaking Nuba groups of the southern Nuba Mountains; some are illegal immigrants.
Turkey
of the Ottoman Empire, painting by Jean-Léon Gérôme, 1869|280x280px]]
Beginning several centuries ago, during the period of the Ottoman Empire, tens of thousands of Zanj captives were brought by slave traders to plantations and agricultural areas situated between Antalya and Istanbul, which gave rise to the Afro-Turk population in present-day Turkey. Some of their ancestry remained in situ, and many migrated to larger cities and towns. Other black slaves were transported to Crete, from where they or their descendants later reached the İzmir area through the population exchange between Greece and Turkey in 1923, or indirectly from Ayvalık in pursuit of work.
Apart from the historical Afro-Turk presence Turkey also hosts a sizeable immigrant black population since the end of the 1990s. The community is composed mostly of modern immigrants from Ghana, Ethiopia, DRC, Sudan, Nigeria, Kenya, Eritrea, Somalia and Senegal. According to official figures 1.5 million Africans live in Turkey and around 25% of them are located in Istanbul. Other studies state the majority of Africans in Turkey lives in Istanbul and report Tarlabaşı, Dolapdere, Kumkapı, Yenikapı and Kurtuluş as having a strong African presence.
Most of the African immigrants in Turkey come to Turkey to further migrate to Europe. Immigrants from Eastern Africa are usually refugees, meanwhile Western and Central African immigration is reported to be economically driven.Southern Asia
in Uttara Karnataka district, Karnataka, India]]
The Siddi are an ethnic group inhabiting India and Pakistan. Members are descended from the Bantu peoples of Southeast Africa. Some were merchants, sailors, indentured servants, slaves or mercenaries. The Siddi population is currently estimated at 270,000–350,000 individuals, living mostly in Karnataka, Gujarat, and Hyderabad in India and Makran and Karachi in Pakistan. In the Makran strip of the Sindh and Balochistan provinces in southwestern Pakistan, these Bantu descendants are known as the Makrani. There was a brief "Black Power" movement in Sindh in the 1960s and many Siddi are proud of and celebrate their African ancestry.
Southeastern Asia
woman, Philippinesthe Negritos are an indigenous people of Southeast Asia.]]
Negritos, are a collection of various, often unrelated peoples, who were once considered a single distinct population of closely related groups, but genetic studies showed that they descended from the same ancient East Eurasian meta-population which gave rise to modern East Asian peoples, and consist of several separate groups, as well as displaying genetic heterogeneity. They inhabit isolated parts of Southeast Asia, and are now confined primarily to Southern Thailand, the Malay Peninsula, and the Andaman Islands of India.
Negrito means "little black people" in Spanish (negrito is the Spanish diminutive of negro, i.e., "little black person"); it is what the Spaniards called the aborigines that they encountered in the Philippines. The term Negrito itself has come under criticism in countries like Malaysia, where it is now interchangeable with the more acceptable Semang, although this term actually refers to a specific group.
They have dark skin, often curly-hair and Asiatic facial characteristics, and are stockily built.
Negritos in the Philippines frequently face discrimination. Because of their traditional hunter-gatherer lifestyle, they are marginalized and live in poverty, unable to find employment.EuropeWestern EuropeFrance
, c. 1697]]
While census collection of ethnic background is illegal in France, it is estimated that there are about 2.5 – 5 million black people residing there.
Germany
As of 2020, there are approximately one million black people living in Germany.Netherlands
Afro-Dutch are residents of the Netherlands who are of Black African or Afro-Caribbean ancestry. They tend to be from the former and present Dutch overseas territories of Aruba, Bonaire, Curaçao, Sint Maarten and Suriname. The Netherlands also has sizable Cape Verdean and other African communities.
Portugal
As of 2021, there were at least 232,000 people of recent Black-African immigrant background living in Portugal. They mainly live in the regions of Lisbon, Porto, Coimbra. As Portugal doesn't collect information dealing with ethnicity, the estimate includes only people that, as of 2021, hold the citizenship of a Sub Saharan African country or people who have acquired Portuguese citizenship from 2008 to 2021, thus excluding descendants, people of more distant African ancestry or people who have settled in Portugal generations ago and are now Portuguese citizens.
Spain
's Book of chess, dice and boards. African Muslims playing chess. The book also has pictures of white and Arab Muslims playing chess in al-Andalusia. Europeans loosely called the invading Muslims Moors, blending the name for both people of Arab and Berber ancestry. ]]
The term "Moors" has been used in Europe in a broader, somewhat derogatory sense to refer to Muslims, especially those of Arab or Berber ancestry, whether living in North Africa or Iberia. Medieval and early modern Europeans applied the name to Muslim Arabs, Berbers, Sub-Saharan Africans and Europeans alike.
Afro-Spaniards are Spanish nationals of West/Central African ancestry. Today, they mainly come from Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Ghana, Gambia, Mali, Nigeria and Senegal. Additionally, many Afro-Spaniards born in Spain are from the former Spanish colony Equatorial Guinea. Today, there are an estimated 683,000 Afro-Spaniards in Spain.
United Kingdom
According to the Office for National Statistics, at the 2001 census there were more than a million black people in the United Kingdom; 1% of the total population described themselves as "Black Caribbean", 0.8% as "Black African", and 0.2% as "Black other". Britain encouraged the immigration of workers from the Caribbean after World War II; the first symbolic movement was of those who came on the ship the Empire Windrush and, hence, those who migrated between 1948 and 1970 are known as the Windrush generation. The preferred official umbrella term is "black, Asian and minority ethnic" (BAME), but sometimes the term "black" is used on its own, to express unified opposition to racism, as in the Southall Black Sisters, which started with a mainly British Asian constituency, and the National Black Police Association, which has a membership of "African, African-Caribbean and Asian origin".Eastern Europe
, who was the great-grandfather of Alexander Pushkin]]
As African states became independent in the 1960s, the Soviet Union offered many of their citizens the chance to study in Russia. Over a period of 40 years, about 400,000 African students from various countries moved to Russia to pursue higher studies, including many black Africans. This extended beyond the Soviet Union to many countries of the Eastern bloc.BalkansDue to the slave trade in the Ottoman Empire that had flourished in the Balkans, the coastal town of Ulcinj in Montenegro had its own black community. In 1878, that community consisted of about 100 people.
Oceania
Indigenous Australians
woman in 1911]]
Indigenous Australians have been referred to as "black people" in Australia since the early days of European settlement. While originally related to skin colour, the term is used today to indicate Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander ancestry in general and can refer to people of any skin pigmentation.
Being identified as either "black" or "white" in Australia during the 19th and early 20th centuries was critical in one's employment and social prospects. Various state-based Aboriginal Protection Boards were established which had virtually complete control over the lives of Indigenous Australians – where they lived, their employment, marriage, education and included the power to separate children from their parents. Aborigines were not allowed to vote and were often confined to reserves and forced into low paid or effectively slave labour. The social position of mixed-race or "half-caste" individuals varied over time. A 1913 report by Baldwin Spencer states that:
After the First World War, however, it became apparent that the number of mixed-race people was growing at a faster rate than the white population, and, by 1930, fear of the "half-caste menace" undermining the White Australia ideal from within was being taken as a serious concern. Cecil Cook, the Northern Territory Protector of Natives, noted that:
The official policy became one of biological and cultural assimilation: "Eliminate the full-blood and permit the white admixture to half-castes and eventually the race will become white". This led to different treatment for "black" and "half-caste" individuals, with lighter-skinned individuals targeted for removal from their families to be raised as "white" people and prohibited from speaking their native language and practicing traditional customs, a process now known as the Stolen Generation.
activist Sam Watson addressing Invasion Day Rally 2007 in an "Australia has a Black History" T-shirt]]
The second half of the 20th century to the present has seen a gradual shift towards improved human rights for Aboriginal people. In a 1967 referendum, more than 90% of the Australian population voted to end constitutional discrimination and to include Aborigines in the national census. During this period, many Aboriginal activists began to embrace the term "black" and use their ancestry as a source of pride. Activist Bob Maza said:
In 1978, Aboriginal writer Kevin Gilbert received the National Book Council award for his book Living Black: Blacks Talk to Kevin Gilbert, a collection of Aboriginal people's stories, and in 1998 was awarded (but refused to accept) the Human Rights Award for Literature for Inside Black Australia, a poetry anthology and exhibition of Aboriginal photography. In contrast to previous definitions based solely on the degree of Aboriginal ancestry, the Government changed the legal definition of Aboriginal in 1990 to include any:
This nationwide acceptance and recognition of Aboriginal people led to a significant increase in the number of people self-identifying as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander. The reappropriation of the term "black" with a positive and more inclusive meaning has resulted in its widespread use in mainstream Australian culture, including public media outlets, government agencies, and private companies. In 2012, a number of high-profile cases highlighted the legal and community attitude that identifying as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander is not dependent on skin color, with a well-known boxer Anthony Mundine being widely criticized for questioning the "blackness" of another boxer and journalist Andrew Bolt being successfully sued for publishing discriminatory comments about Aboriginals with light skin.Melanesians
The region of Melanesia is named from Greek , black, and , island, etymologically meaning "islands of black [people]", in reference to the dark skin of the indigenous peoples. Early European settlers, such as Spanish explorer Yñigo Ortiz de Retez, noted the resemblance of the people to those in Africa.
warrior, 1870s]]
Melanesians, along with other Pacific Islanders, were frequently deceived or coerced during the 19th and 20th centuries into forced labour for sugarcane, cotton, and coffee planters in countries distant to their native lands in a practice known as blackbirding. In Queensland, some 55,000 to 62,500 were brought from the New Hebrides, the Solomon Islands, and New Guinea to work in sugarcane fields. Under the Pacific Island Labourers Act 1901, most islanders working in Queensland were repatriated back to their homelands.
Those who remained in Australia, commonly called South Sea Islanders, often faced discrimination similarly to Indigenous Australians by white-dominated society. Many indigenous rights activists have South Sea Islander ancestry, including Faith Bandler, Evelyn Scott and Bonita Mabo.
Many Melanesians have taken up the term 'Melanesia' as a way to empower themselves as a collective people. Stephanie Lawson writes that the term "moved from a term of denigration to one of affirmation, providing a positive basis for contemporary subregional identity as well as a formal organisation". For instance, the term is used in the Melanesian Spearhead Group, which seeks to promote economic growth among Melanesian countries.Other
John Caesar, nicknamed "Black Caesar", a convict and bushranger with parents born in an unknown area in Africa, was one of the first people of recent black African ancestry to arrive in Australia.
At the 2006 Census, 248,605 residents declared that they were born in Africa. This figure pertains to all immigrants to Australia who were born in nations in Africa regardless of race, and includes white Africans.
North America
Canada
"Black Canadians" is a designation used for people of black African ancestry who are citizens or permanent residents of Canada. The majority of black Canadians are of Caribbean origin, though the population also consists of African American immigrants and their descendants (including black Nova Scotians), as well as many African immigrants.
Black Canadians often draw a distinction between those of Afro-Caribbean ancestry and those of other African roots. The term African Canadian is occasionally used by some black Canadians who trace their heritage to the first slaves brought by British and French colonists to the North American mainland. and instead identify as Caribbean Canadian.United States
]]
There were eight principal areas used by Europeans to buy and ship slaves to the Western Hemisphere. The number of enslaved people sold to the New World varied throughout the slave trade. As for the distribution of slaves from regions of activity, certain areas produced far more enslaved people than others. Between 1650 and 1900, 10.24 million enslaved West Africans arrived in the Americas from the following regions in the following proportions:
* Senegambia (Senegal and The Gambia): 4.8%
* Upper Guinea (Guinea-Bissau, Guinea and Sierra Leone): 4.1%
* Windward Coast (Liberia and Ivory Coast): 1.8%
* Gold Coast (Ghana and east of Ivory Coast): 10.4%
* Bight of Benin (Togo, Benin and Nigeria west of the Niger Delta): 20.2%
* Bight of Biafra (Nigeria east of the Niger Delta, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea and Gabon): 14.6%
* West Central Africa (Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Angola): 39.4%
* Southeastern Africa (Mozambique and Madagascar): 4.7%
]]
By the early 1900s, nigger had become a pejorative word in the United States. In its stead, the term colored became the mainstream alternative to negro and its derived terms. After the American Civil Rights Movement, the terms colored and negro gave way to "black". Negro had superseded colored as the most polite word for African Americans at a time when black was considered more offensive. This term was accepted as normal, including by people classified as Negroes, until the later Civil Rights movement in the late 1960s. One well-known example is the use by Dr. Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. of "Negro" in his famous speech of 1963, I Have a Dream. During the American civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s, some African-American leaders in the United States, notably Malcolm X, objected to the word Negro because they associated it with the long history of slavery, segregation, and discrimination that treated African Americans as second-class citizens, or worse. Malcolm X preferred Black to Negro, but later gradually abandoned that as well for Afro-American after leaving the Nation of Islam.
Since the late 1960s, various other terms for African Americans have been more widespread in popular usage. Aside from black American, these include Afro-American (in use from the late 1960s to 1990) and African American (used in the United States to refer to Black Americans, people often referred to in the past as American Negroes).
In the first 200 years that black people were in the United States, they primarily identified themselves by their specific ethnic group (closely allied to language) and not by skin color. Individuals identified themselves, for example, as Ashanti, Igbo, Bakongo, or Wolof. However, when the first captives were brought to the Americas, they were often combined with other groups from West Africa, and individual ethnic affiliations were not generally acknowledged by English colonists. In areas of the Upper South, different ethnic groups were brought together. This is significant as the captives came from a vast geographic region: the West African coastline stretching from Senegal to Angola and in some cases from the south-east coast such as Mozambique. A new African-American identity and culture was born that incorporated elements of the various ethnic groups and of European cultural heritage, resulting in fusions such as the Black church and African-American English. This new identity was based on provenance and slave status rather than membership in any one ethnic group.
By contrast, slave records from Louisiana show that the French and Spanish colonists recorded more complete identities of the West Africans, including ethnicities and given tribal names.
The U.S. racial or ethnic classification "black" refers to people with all possible kinds of skin pigmentation, from the darkest through to the very lightest skin colors, including albinos, if they are believed by others to have African ancestry (in any discernible percentage). There are also certain cultural traits associated with being "African American", a term used effectively as a synonym for "black person" within the United States.
In March 1807, Great Britain, which largely controlled the Atlantic, declared the transatlantic slave trade illegal, as did the United States. (The latter prohibition took effect 1 January 1808, the earliest date on which Congress had the power to do so after protecting the slave trade under Article I, Section 9 of the United States Constitution.)
By that time, the majority of black people in the United States were native-born, so the use of the term "African" became problematic. Though initially a source of pride, many blacks feared that the use of African as an identity would be a hindrance to their fight for full citizenship in the United States. They also felt that it would give ammunition to those who were advocating repatriating black people back to Africa. In 1835, black leaders called upon Black Americans to remove the title of "African" from their institutions and replace it with "Negro" or "Colored American". A few institutions chose to keep their historic names, such as the African Methodist Episcopal Church. African Americans popularly used the terms "Negro" or "colored" for themselves until the late 1960s.
The term black was used throughout but not frequently since it carried a certain stigma. In his 1963 "I Have a Dream" speech, Martin Luther King Jr. uses the terms negro fifteen times and black four times. Each time that he uses black, it is in parallel construction with white; for example, "black men and white men".
With the successes of the American Civil Rights Movement, a new term was needed to break from the past and help shed the reminders of legalized discrimination. In place of Negro, activists promoted the use of black as standing for racial pride, militancy, and power. Some of the turning points included the use of the term "Black Power" by Kwame Ture (Stokely Carmichael) and the popular singer James Brown's song "Say It Loud – I'm Black and I'm Proud".
In 1988, the civil rights leader Jesse Jackson urged Americans to use instead the term "African American" because it had a historical cultural base and was a construction similar to terms used by European descendants, such as German American, Italian American, etc. Since then, African American and black have often had parallel status. However, controversy continues over which, if any, of the two terms is more appropriate. Maulana Karenga argues that the term African-American is more appropriate because it accurately articulates their geographical and historical origin. Others have argued that "black" is a better term because "African" suggests foreignness, although black Americans helped found the United States. Still others believe that the term "black" is inaccurate because African Americans have a variety of skin tones. Some surveys suggest that the majority of Black Americans have no preference for "African American" or "black", although they have a slight preference for "black" in personal settings and "African American" in more formal settings.
In the U.S. census race definitions, black and African Americans are citizens and residents of the United States with origins in the black racial groups of Africa. According to the Office of Management and Budget, the grouping includes individuals who self-identify as African American, as well as persons who emigrated from nations in the Caribbean and sub-Saharan Africa. The grouping is thus based on geography, and may contradict or misrepresent an individual's self-identification, since not all immigrants from sub-Saharan Africa are "black".
According to U.S. Census Bureau data, African immigrants generally do not self-identify as African American. The overwhelming majority of African immigrants identify instead with their own respective ethnicities (~95%). Immigrants from some Caribbean, Central American and South American nations and their descendants may or may not also self-identify with the term.
Recent surveys of African Americans using a genetic testing service have found varied ancestries that show different tendencies by region and sex of ancestors. These studies found that on average, African Americans have 73.2–80.9% West African, 18–24% European, and 0.8–0.9% Native American genetic heritage, with large variation between individuals.
According to studies in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, U.S. residents consistently overestimate the size, physical strength, and formidability of young black men.New Great Migration
The New Great Migration is not evenly distributed throughout the South. As with the earlier Great Migration, the New Great Migration is primarily directed toward cities and large urban areas, such as Atlanta, Charlotte, Houston, Dallas, Raleigh, Washington, D.C., Tampa, Virginia Beach, San Antonio, Memphis, Orlando, Nashville, Jacksonville, and so forth. North Carolina's Charlotte metro area in particular, is a hot spot for African American migrants in the US. Between 1975 and 1980, Charlotte saw a net gain of 2,725 African Americans in the area. This number continued to rise as between 1985 and 1990 as the area had a net gain of 7,497 African Americans, and from 1995 to 2000 the net gain was 23,313 African Americans.
This rise in net gain points to Atlanta, Charlotte, Dallas, and Houston being a growing hot spots for the migrants of The New Great Migration. The percentage of Black Americans who live in the South has been increasing since 1990, and the biggest gains have been in the region's large urban areas, according to census data. The Black population of metro Atlanta more than doubled between 1990 and 2020, surpassing 2 million in the most recent census. The Black population also more than doubled in metro Charlotte while Greater Houston and Dallas-Fort Worth both saw their Black populations surpass 1 million for the first time. Several smaller metro areas also saw sizable gains, including San Antonio; Raleigh and Greensboro, N.C.; and Orlando. Primary destinations are states that have the most job opportunities, especially Georgia, North Carolina, Maryland, Virginia, Tennessee, Florida and Texas. Other southern states, including Mississippi, Louisiana, South Carolina, Alabama and Arkansas, have seen little net growth in the African American population from return migration.One-drop rule
]]
From the late 19th century, the South used a colloquial term, the one-drop rule, to classify as black a person of any known African ancestry. This practice of hypodescent was not put into law until the early 20th century. Legally, the definition varied from state to state. Racial definition was more flexible in the 18th and 19th centuries before the American Civil War. For instance, President Thomas Jefferson held in slavery persons who were legally white (less than 25% black) according to Virginia law at the time, but, because they were born to slave mothers, they were born into slavery, according to the principle of partus sequitur ventrem, which Virginia adopted into law in 1662.
Outside of the United States, some other countries have adopted the one-drop rule, but the definition of who is black and the extent to which the one-drop "rule" applies varies greatly from country to country.
The one-drop rule may have originated as a means of increasing the number of black slaves and was maintained as an attempt to keep the white race "pure". One of the results of the one-drop rule was the uniting of the African-American community.—was throughout his campaign criticized as being either "too black" or "not black enough".]]
The concept of blackness in the United States has been described as the degree to which one associates themselves with mainstream African-American culture, politics, and values. To a certain extent, this concept is not so much about race but more about political orientation, and possibly, from the perspective of a significant number of black youth, academic achievement.
Due to the often political because, as she put it, he displayed "almost every trope of blackness". Clinton welcomed the label.
The question of blackness also arose in the Democrat Barack Obama's 2008 presidential campaign. Commentators questioned whether Obama, who was elected the first president with black ancestry, was "black enough", contending that his background is not typical because his mother was a white American and his father was a black student visitor from Kenya.Mexico
Society and black people in the Spanish Colonial Americas}}
The 2015 preliminary survey to the 2020 census allowed Afro-Mexicans to self-identify for the first time in Mexico and recorded a total of 1.4 million (1.2% of the total Mexican population). The majority of Afro-Mexicans live in the Costa Chica of Guerrero region.Caribbean
Society and black people in the Spanish Colonial Americas}}
Dominican Republic
The first Afro-Dominican slaves were shipped to the Dominican Republic by Spanish conquistadors during the Transatlantic slave trade.
Puerto Rico
Spanish conquistadors shipped slaves from West Africa to Puerto Rico. Afro-Puerto Ricans in part trace ancestry to this colonization of the island.
South America
Society and black people in the Spanish Colonial Americas}}
, an Afro-Brazilian martial art]]
Approximately 12 million people were shipped from Africa to the Americas during the Atlantic slave trade from 1492 to 1888. Of these, 11.5 million of those shipped to South America and the Caribbean. Brazil was the largest importer in the Americas, with 5.5 million African slaves imported, followed by the British Caribbean with 2.76 million, the Spanish Caribbean and Spanish Mainland with 1.59 million Africans, and the French Caribbean with 1.32 million. Today their descendants number approximately 150 million in South America and the Caribbean. In addition to skin color, other physical characteristics such as facial features and hair texture are often variously used in classifying peoples as black in South America and the Caribbean. In South America and the Caribbean, classification as black is also closely tied to social status and socioeconomic variables, especially in light of social conceptions of "blanqueamiento" (racial whitening) and related concepts.
Brazil
The concept of race in Brazil is complex. A Brazilian child was never automatically identified with the racial type of one or both of their parents, nor were there only two categories to choose from. Between an individual of unmixed West African ancestry and a very light mulatto individual, more than a dozen racial categories were acknowledged, based on various combinations of hair color, hair texture, eye color, and skin color. These types grade into each other like the colors of the spectrum, and no one category stands significantly isolated from the rest. In Brazil, people are classified by appearance, not heredity.
Scholars disagree over the effects of social status on racial classifications in Brazil. It is generally believed that achieving upward mobility and education results in individuals being classified as a category of lighter skin. The popular claim is that in Brazil, poor whites are considered black and wealthy blacks are considered white. Some scholars disagree, arguing that "whitening" of one's social status may be open to people of mixed race, a large part of the population known as pardo, but a person perceived as preto (black) will continue to be classified as black regardless of wealth or social status.
Statistics
{| classwikitable aligncenter
!colspan11|Brazilian Population, by Race, from 1872 to 1991 (Census Data)
|-
!Ethnic group||White||Black||Brown||Yellow (East Asian)||Undeclared||Total
|-align="right"
|1872||3,787,289||1,954,452||4,188,737||–||–||9,930,478
|-align="right"
|1940||26,171,778||6,035,869||8,744,365||242,320||41,983||41,236,315
|-align=right
|1991||75,704,927||7,335,136||62,316,064||630,656||534,878||146,521,661
|-align="right"
|}
{| classwikitable style"float: right; margin: 0 0 0.5em 1em;"
|+Demographics of Brazil
|-
!Year!! White!!Pardo!!Black
|-
|1835
|24.4%||18.2%||51.4%
|-
|2000
|53.7%||38.5%||6.2%
|-
|2010
|48.4%||42.4%||6.7%
|}
From the years 1500 to 1850, an estimated 3.5 million captives were forcibly shipped from West/Central Africa to Brazil. The territory received the highest number of slaves of any country in the Americas. Scholars estimate that more than half of the Brazilian population is at least in part descended from these individuals. Brazil has the largest population of Afro-ancestry outside Africa. In contrast to the US, during the slavery period and after, the Portuguese colonial government in Brazil and the later Brazilian government did not pass formal anti-miscegenation or segregation laws. As in other Latin American countries, intermarriage was prevalent during the colonial period and continued afterward. In addition, people of mixed race (pardo) often tended to marry white spouses, and their descendants became accepted as white. As a result, some of the European descended population also has West African or Amerindian blood. According to the last census of the 20th century, in which Brazilians could choose from five color/ethnic categories with which they identified, 54% of individuals identified as white, 6.2% identified as black, and 39.5% identified as pardo (brown)—a broad multi-racial category, including tri-racial persons.
In the 19th century, a philosophy of racial whitening emerged in Brazil, related to the assimilation of mixed-race people into the white population through intermarriage. Until recently the government did not keep data on race. However, statisticians estimate that in 1835, roughly 50% of the population was preto (black; most were enslaved), a further 20% was pardo (brown), and 25% white, with the remainder Amerindian. Some classified as pardo were tri-racial.
By the 2000 census, demographic changes including the end to slavery, immigration from Europe and Asia, assimilation of multiracial persons, and other factors resulted in a population in which 6.2% of the population identified as black, 40% as pardo, and 55% as white. Essentially most of the black population was absorbed into the multi-racial category by intermixing.Race relations in Brazil
ceremony]]
According to the 2022 census, 10.2% of Brazilians said they were black, compared with 7.6% in 2010, and 45.3% said they were racially mixed, up from 43.1%, while the proportion of self-declared white Brazilians has fallen from 47.7% to 43.5%. Activists from Brazil's Black movement attribute the racial shift in the population to a growing sense of pride among African-descended Brazilians in recognising and celebrating their ancestry.
The philosophy of the racial democracy in Brazil has drawn some criticism, based on economic issues. Brazil has one of the largest gaps in income distribution in the world. The richest 10% of the population earn 28 times the average income of the bottom 40%. The richest 10 percent is almost exclusively white or predominantly European in ancestry. One-third of the population lives under the poverty line, with blacks and other people of color accounting for 70 percent of the poor.
, c. 1820]]
In 2015 United States, African Americans, including multiracial people, earned 76.8% as much as white people. By contrast, black and mixed race Brazilians earned on average 58% as much as whites in 2014. The gap in income between blacks and other non-whites is relatively small compared to the large gap between whites and all people of color. Other social factors, such as illiteracy and education levels, show the same patterns of disadvantage for people of color.
Some commentators observe that the United States practice of segregation and white supremacy in the South, and discrimination in many areas outside that region, forced many African Americans to unite in the civil rights struggle, whereas the fluid nature of race in Brazil has divided individuals of African ancestry between those with more or less ancestry and helped sustain an image of the country as an example of post-colonial harmony. This has hindered the development of a common identity among black Brazilians. of the population, few blacks have been elected as politicians. The city of Salvador, Bahia, for instance, is 80% people of color, but voters have not elected a mayor of color.
Patterns of discrimination against non-whites have led some academic and other activists to advocate for use of the Portuguese term negro to encompass all African-descended people, in order to stimulate a "black" consciousness and identity.Colombia
Afro-Colombians are the third-largest African diaspora population in Latin America after Afro-Brazilians and Afro-Haitians.
Venezuela
Most black Venezuelans descend from people brought as slaves to Venezuela directly from Africa during colonization; others have been descendants of immigrants from the Antilles and Colombia. Many blacks were part of the independence movement, and several managed to be heroes. There is a deep-rooted heritage of African culture in Venezuelan culture, as demonstrated in many traditional Venezuelan music and dances, such as the Tambor, a musical genre inherited from black members of the colony, or the Llanera music or the Gaita zuliana that both are a fusion of all the three major peoples that contribute to the cultural heritage. Also, black inheritance is present in the country's gastronomy.
There are entire communities of blacks in the Barlovento zone, as well as part of the Bolívar state and in other small towns; they also live peaceably among the general population in the rest of Venezuela. Currently, blacks represent a plurality of the Venezuelan population, although many are actually mixed people.
See also
* African diaspora
* Afrophobia
* Black elite
* Black supremacy
* Black women
* Lists of black people
* Mulatto
* Negrito
* San Basilio de Palenque – the first free African town in the Americas
* Scientific racism
* Zambo
References
External links
*
*
Category:Indigenous peoples of Oceania
Category:Latin American caste system
Category:People of African descent
Category:Person of color
Category:Ethnonyms of African Americans
Category:Ethnonyms of dark-skinned Africans
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_people
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Plague (disease)
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Plague}}
Lymphatics ultimately drain into the bloodstream, so the plague bacteria may enter the blood and travel to almost any part of the body. In septicemic plague, bacterial endotoxins cause disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC), causing tiny clots throughout the body and possibly ischemic necrosis (tissue death due to lack of circulation/perfusion to that tissue) from the clots. DIC results in depletion of the body's clotting resources so that it can no longer control bleeding. Consequently, there is bleeding into the skin and other organs, which can cause red and/or black patchy rash and hemoptysis/hematemesis (coughing up/ vomiting of blood). There are bumps on the skin that look somewhat like insect bites; these are usually red, and sometimes white in the centre. Untreated, the septicemic plague is usually fatal. Early treatment with antibiotics reduces the mortality rate to between 4 and 15 per cent.Pneumonic plague
The pneumonic form of plague arises from infection of the lungs. It causes coughing and thereby produces airborne droplets that contain bacterial cells and are likely to infect anyone inhaling them. The incubation period for pneumonic plague is short, usually two to four days, but sometimes just a few hours. The initial signs are indistinguishable from several other respiratory illnesses; they include headache, weakness, and spitting or vomiting of blood. The course of the disease is rapid; unless diagnosed and treated soon enough, typically within a few hours, death may follow in one to six days; in untreated cases, mortality is nearly 100%.
Cause
(Xenopsylla cheopis) engorged with blood after a blood meal. This species of flea is the primary vector for the transmission of Yersinia pestis, the organism responsible for bubonic plague in most plague epidemics in Asia, Africa, and South America. Both male and female fleas feed on blood and can transmit the infection.]]
with the bacterium Yersinia pestis. Y. pestis, a member of the family Yersiniaceae, has caused the bite to become ulcerated.]]
Transmission of Y. pestis to an uninfected individual is possible by any of the following means:
* droplet contact – coughing or sneezing on another person
* direct physical contact – touching an infected person, including sexual contact
* indirect contact – usually by touching soil contamination or a contaminated surface
* airborne transmission – if the microorganism can remain in the air for long periods
* fecal-oral transmission – usually from contaminated food or water sources
* vector borne transmission – carried by insects or other animals.
Yersinia pestis circulates in animal reservoirs, particularly in rodents, in the natural foci of infection found on all continents except Australia. The natural foci of plague are situated in a broad belt in the tropical and sub-tropical latitudes and the warmer parts of the temperate latitudes around the globe, between the parallels 55° N and 40° S.
A 21st-century study of a 1665 outbreak of plague in the village of Eyam in England's Derbyshire Dales – which isolated itself during the outbreak, facilitating modern study – found that three-quarters of cases are likely to have been due to human-to-human transmission, especially within families, a much larger proportion than previously thought. Diagnosis Symptoms of plague are usually non-specific and to definitively diagnose plague, laboratory testing is required.
Prevention
Vaccination
Bacteriologist Waldemar Haffkine developed the first plague vaccine in 1897. He conducted a massive inoculation program in British India, and it is estimated that 26 million doses of Haffkine's anti-plague vaccine were sent out from Bombay between 1897 and 1925, reducing the plague mortality by 50–85%.
Since human plague is rare in most parts of the world as of 2023, routine vaccination is not needed other than for those at particularly high risk of exposure, nor for people living in areas with enzootic plague, meaning it occurs at regular, predictable rates in populations and specific areas, such as the western United States. It is not even indicated for most travellers to countries with known recent reported cases, particularly if their travel is limited to urban areas with modern hotels. The United States CDC thus only recommends vaccination for (1) all laboratory and field personnel who are working with Y. pestis organisms resistant to antimicrobials: (2) people engaged in aerosol experiments with Y. pestis; and (3) people engaged in field operations in areas with enzootic plague where preventing exposure is not possible (such as some disaster areas). A systematic review by the Cochrane Collaboration found no studies of sufficient quality to make any statement on the efficacy of the vaccine. Early diagnosis Diagnosing plague early leads to a decrease in transmission or spread of the disease. Prophylaxis Pre-exposure prophylaxis for first responders and health care providers who will care for patients with pneumonic plague is not considered necessary as long as standard and droplet precautions can be maintained. Guidelines on treatment and prophylaxis of plague were published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 2021. Further outbreaks in Madagascar were reported in November 2014 and October 2017.Epidemiology
Globally about 600 cases are reported a year.
Biological weapon
The plague has a long history as a biological weapon. Historical accounts from ancient China and medieval Europe details the use of infected animal carcasses, such as cows or horses, and human carcasses, by the Xiongnu/Huns, Mongols, Turks and other groups, to contaminate enemy water supplies. Han dynasty general Huo Qubing is recorded to have died of such contamination while engaging in warfare against the Xiongnu. Plague victims were also reported to have been tossed by catapult into cities under siege.
In 1347, the Genoese possession of Caffa, a great trade emporium on the Crimean peninsula, came under siege by an army of Mongol warriors of the Golden Horde under the command of Jani Beg. After a protracted siege during which the Mongol army was reportedly withering from the disease, they decided to use the infected corpses as a biological weapon. The corpses were catapulted over the city walls, infecting the inhabitants. This event might have led to the transfer of the Black Death via their ships into the south of Europe, possibly explaining its rapid spread.
During World War II, the Japanese Army developed weaponized plague, based on the breeding and release of large numbers of fleas. During the Japanese occupation of Manchuria, Unit 731 deliberately infected Chinese, Korean and Manchurian civilians and prisoners of war with the plague bacterium. These subjects, termed "maruta" or "logs", were then studied by dissection, others by vivisection while still conscious. Members of the unit such as Shirō Ishii were exonerated from the Tokyo tribunal by Douglas MacArthur but 12 of them were prosecuted in the Khabarovsk War Crime Trials in 1949 during which some admitted having spread bubonic plague within a radius around the city of Changde.
Ishii innovated bombs containing live mice and fleas, with very small explosive loads, to deliver the weaponized microbes, overcoming the problem of the explosive killing the infected animal and insect by the use of a ceramic, rather than metal, casing for the warhead. While no records survive of the actual usage of the ceramic shells, prototypes exist and are believed to have been used in experiments during WWII.
After World War II, both the United States and the Soviet Union developed means of weaponising pneumonic plague. Experiments included various delivery methods, vacuum drying, sizing the bacterium, developing strains resistant to antibiotics, combining the bacterium with other diseases (such as diphtheria), and genetic engineering. Scientists who worked in USSR bio-weapons programs have stated that the Soviet effort was formidable and that large stocks of weaponised plague bacteria were produced. Information on many of the Soviet and US projects is largely unavailable. Aerosolized pneumonic plague remains the most significant threat.
The plague can be easily treated with antibiotics. Some countries, such as the United States, have large supplies on hand if such an attack should occur, making the threat less severe.
See also
* Timeline of plague
References
Further reading
* External links
* [https://www.who.int/topics/plague/en/ WHO Health topic]
* [https://www.cdc.gov/plague CDC Plague] map world distribution, publications, information on bioterrorism preparedness and response regarding plague
* [http://www.emedicine.com/EMERG/topic428.htm Symptoms, causes, pictures of bubonic plague]
|ICD10 =
|ICD9 =
|ICDO |OMIM
|MedlinePlus = 000596
|eMedicineSubj = med
|eMedicineTopic = 3381
|DiseasesDB=14226
|MeSH=D010930
|Orphanet=707
}}
Category:Airborne diseases
Category:Bacterium-related cutaneous conditions
Category:Biological agents
Category:Epidemics
Category:Insect-borne diseases
Category:Rodent-carried diseases
Category:Zoonoses
Category:Zoonotic bacterial diseases
Category:Cat diseases
Category:Wikipedia medicine articles ready to translate
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plague_(disease)
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Baudot code
|
The Baudot code () is an early character encoding for telegraphy invented by Émile Baudot in the 1870s. It was the predecessor to the International Telegraph Alphabet No. 2 (ITA2), the most common teleprinter code in use before ASCII. Each character in the alphabet is represented by a series of five bits, sent over a communication channel such as a telegraph wire or a radio signal by asynchronous serial communication. The symbol rate measurement is known as baud, and is derived from the same name.HistoryBaudot code (ITA1)
and ∗ (Erasure)
| prev = Morse code
| next = ITA2
| status = Replaced by ITA2 (not mutually compatible).
| classification 5-bit stateful basic Latin encoding
}}
In the below table, Columns I, II, III, IV, and V show the code; the Let. and Fig. columns show the letters and numbers for the Continental and UK versions; and the sort keys present the table in the order: alphabetical, Gray and UK
{|class"wikitable collapsible sortable" style"border:none"
|+Baudot code (Continental and UK versions).
|-
!scope"col" colspan"7" | Europe
!scope"col" colspan"2" |sort keys
!scope"col" colspan"8" | UK
!scope="col" | sort keys
|-
! scope"col" class"unsortable"| V
! scope"col" width"10" class="unsortable"| IV
! scope"col" width"25" colspan2 class"unsortable"|
! scope"col" width"10" class="unsortable"| I
! scope"col" width"10" class="unsortable"| II
! scope"col" width"10" class="unsortable"| III
! scope"col" width"15" | Con­ti­nen­tal
! scope"col" width"15" | Gray
! scope"col" width"15" class="unsortable"| Let.
! scope"col" width"15" class="unsortable" | Fig.
! scope"col" width"15" class="unsortable" | V
! scope"col" width"15" class="unsortable" | IV
! scope"col" width"0" class="unsortable" |
! scope"col" width"15" class="unsortable" | I
! scope"col" width"15" class="unsortable" | II
! scope"col" width"15" class="unsortable" | III
! scope"col" width"15" | UK
|-
| || || || || || || || data-sort-value"32" | - || data-sort-value"000"|- || || || || |||| || || ||data-sort-value="08"|-
|-
| || || A || 1 || ● || || || data-sort-value"01" | || data-sort-value"001"| || A || 1 || || |||| ● || || ||data-sort-value="01"|
|-
| || || É || & || ● || ● || || data-sort-value"06" | || data-sort-value"002"| || / || <sup>1</sup>/|| || |||| ● || ● || ||data-sort-value="04"|
|-
| || || E || 2 || || ● || || data-sort-value"05" | || data-sort-value"003"| || E || 2 || || |||| || ● || ||data-sort-value="02"|
|-
| || || I || || || ● || ● || data-sort-value"10" | || data-sort-value"004"| || I || <sup>3</sup>/|| || |||| || ● || ● ||data-sort-value="05"|
|-
| || || O || 5 || ● || ● || ● || data-sort-value"16" | || data-sort-value"005"| || O || 5 || || |||| ● || ● || ● ||data-sort-value="07"|
|-
| || || U || 4 || ● || || ● || data-sort-value"22" | || data-sort-value"006"| || U || 4 || || |||| ● || || ● ||data-sort-value="06"|
|-
| || || Y || 3 || || || ● || data-sort-value"26" | || data-sort-value"007"| || Y || 3 || || |||| || || ● ||data-sort-value="03"|
|-
| || ● || B || 8 || || || ● || data-sort-value"02" | || data-sort-value"010"| || B || 8 || || ● |||| || || ● ||data-sort-value="11"|
|-
| || ● || C || 9 || ● || || ● || data-sort-value"03" | || data-sort-value"011"| || C || 9 || || ● |||| ● || || ● ||data-sort-value="14"|
|-
| || ● || D || 0 || ● || ● || ● || data-sort-value"04" | || data-sort-value"012"| || D || 0 || || ● |||| ● || ● || ● ||data-sort-value="15"|
|-
| || ● || F || || || ● || ● || data-sort-value"07"| || data-sort-value"013"| || F || <sup>5</sup>/|| || ● |||| || ● || ● ||data-sort-value="13"|
|-collapsed
| || ● || G || 7 || || ● || || data-sort-value"08" | || data-sort-value"014"| || G || 7 || || ● |||| || ● || ||data-sort-value="10"|
|-
| || ● || H || || ● || ● || || data-sort-value"09" | || data-sort-value"015" | || H || ¹ || || ● |||| ● || ● || ||data-sort-value="12"|
|-
| || ● || J || 6 || ● || || || data-sort-value"11" | || data-sort-value"016 " | || J || 6 || || ● |||| ● || || ||data-sort-value="09"|
|-
| || ● || Figure || Blank || || || ||data-sort-value"30" | || data-sort-value"017" | || Fig. || Bl. || || ● |||| || || ||data-sort-value="16"|
|-
| ● || ● || Erasure || Erasure || || || ||data-sort-value"29" | || data-sort-value"020" | || * || * || ● || ● |||| || || ||data-sort-value="32"|
|-
| ● || ● || K || ( || ● || || || data-sort-value"12" | || data-sort-value"021" | || K || ( || ● || ● |||| ● || || ||data-sort-value="25"|
|-
| ● || ● || L || || ● || ● || || data-sort-value"13" | || data-sort-value"022" | || L || || ● || ● |||| ● || ● || ||data-sort-value="28"|
|-
| ● || ● || M || ) || || ● || || data-sort-value"14" | || data-sort-value"023" | || M || ) || ● || ● |||| || ● || ||data-sort-value="26"|
|-
| ● || ● || N || N°|| || ● || ● || data-sort-value"15" | || data-sort-value"024" | || N || £ || ● || ● |||| || ● || ● ||data-sort-value="29 "|
|-
| ● || ● || P || % || ● || ● || ● || data-sort-value"17" | || data-sort-value"025" | || P || + || ● || ● |||| ● || ● || ● ||data-sort-value="31"|
|-
| ● || ● || Q || / || ● || || ● || data-sort-value"18" | || data-sort-value"026" | || Q || / || ● || ● |||| ● || || ● ||data-sort-value="30"|
|-
| ● || ● || R || – || || || ● || data-sort-value"19" | || data-sort-value"027" | || R || – || ● || ● |||| || || ● ||data-sort-value="27"|
|-
| ● || || S || ; || || || ● || data-sort-value"20" | || data-sort-value"030" | || S || <sup>7</sup>/|| ● || |||| || || ● ||data-sort-value="19"|
|-
| ● || || T || ! || ● || || ● || data-sort-value"21" | || data-sort-value"031" | || T || ² || ● || |||| ● || || ● ||data-sort-value="22"|
|-
| ● || || V || ' || ● || ● || ● || data-sort-value"23" | || data-sort-value"032" | || V || ¹ || ● || |||| ● || ● || ● ||data-sort-value="23"|
|-
| ● || || W || ? || || ● || ● || data-sort-value"24" | || data-sort-value"033" | || W || ? || ● || |||| || ● || ● ||data-sort-value="21"|
|-
| ● || || X ||, || || ● || || data-sort-value"25" | || data-sort-value"034" | || X || <sup>9</sup>/|| ● || |||| || ● || ||data-sort-value="18"|
|-
| ● || || Z || : || ● || ● || || data-sort-value"27" | || data-sort-value"035" | || Z || : || ● || |||| ● || ● || ||data-sort-value="20"|
|-
| ● || || || . || ● || || || data-sort-value"28" | || data-sort-value"036" | || – || . || ● || |||| ● || || ||data-sort-value="17"|
|-
| ● || || Blank ||Letter || || || ||data-sort-value"31" | || data-sort-value"037" | || Bl.|| Let. || ● || |||| || || ||data-sort-value="24"|
|}
Baudot developed his first multiplexed telegraph in 1872 and patented it in 1874. In 1876, he changed from a six-bit code to a five-bit code,
with equal on and off intervals, which allowed for transmission of the Roman alphabet, and included punctuation and control signals. The code itself was not patented (only the machine) because French patent law does not allow concepts to be patented.
Baudot's 5-bit code was adapted to be sent from a manual keyboard, and no teleprinter equipment was ever constructed that used it in its original form. The code was entered on a keyboard which had just five piano-type keys and was operated using two fingers of the left hand and three fingers of the right hand. Once the keys had been pressed, they were locked down until mechanical contacts in a distributor unit passed over the sector connected to that particular keyboard, at which time the keyboard was unlocked ready for the next character to be entered, with an audible click (known as the "cadence signal") to warn the operator. Operators had to maintain a steady rhythm, and the usual speed of operation was 30 words per minute.
The table "shows the allocation of the Baudot code which was employed in the British Post Office for continental and inland services. A number of characters in the continental code are replaced by fractionals in the inland code. Code elements 1, 2 and 3 are transmitted by keys 1, 2 and 3, and these are operated by the first three fingers of the right hand. Code elements 4 and 5 are transmitted by keys 4 and 5, and these are operated by the first two fingers of the left hand."
Baudot's code became known as the International Telegraph Alphabet No. 1 (ITA1). It is no longer used.
Murray code
In 1901, Baudot's code was modified by Donald Murray (1865–1945), prompted by his development of a typewriter-like keyboard. The Murray system employed an intermediate step: an operator used a keyboard perforator to punch a paper tape and then a transmitter to send the message from the punched tape. At the receiving end of the line, a printing mechanism would print on a paper tape, and/or a reperforator would make a perforated copy of the message.
Because there was no longer a connection between the operator's hand movement and the bits transmitted, there was no concern about arranging the code to minimize operator fatigue. Instead, Murray designed the code to minimize wear on the machinery by assigning the code combinations with the fewest punched holes to the most frequently used characters. For example, the one-hole letters are E and T. The ten two-hole letters are AOINSHRDLZ, very similar to the "Etaoin shrdlu" order used in Linotype machines. Ten more letters, BCGFJMPUWY, have three holes each, and the four-hole letters are VXKQ.
The Murray code also introduced what became known as "format affectors" or "control characters" the CR (Carriage Return) and LF (Line Feed) codes. A few of Baudot's codes moved to the positions where they have stayed ever since: the NULL or BLANK and the DEL code. NULL/BLANK was used as an idle code for when no messages were being sent, but the same code was used to encode the space separation between words. Sequences of DEL codes (fully punched columns) were used at start or end of messages or between them which made it easier to separate distinct messages. (BELL codes could be inserted in those sequences to signal to the remote operator that a new message was coming or that transmission of a message was terminated).
Early British Creed machines also used the Murray system.
Western Union
using the Baudot code (US variant), with FIGS and LTRS shift keys]]
Murray's code was adopted by Western Union which used it until the 1950s, with a few changes that consisted of omitting some characters and adding more control codes. An explicit SPC (space) character was introduced, in place of the BLANK/NULL, and a new BEL code rang a bell or otherwise produced an audible signal at the receiver. Additionally, the WRU or "Who aRe yoU?" code was introduced, which caused a receiving machine to send an identification stream back to the sender.
ITA2
basic Latin encoding
}}
Russian Cyrillic encoding
}}
In 1932, the CCITT introduced the International Telegraph Alphabet No. 2 (ITA2) code as an international standard, which was based on the Western Union code with some minor changes. The US standardized on a version of ITA2 called the American Teletypewriter code (US TTY) which was the basis for 5-bit teletypewriter codes until the debut of 7-bit ASCII in 1963.
Some code points (marked blue in the table) were reserved for national-specific usage.
{|class"wikitable sortable collapsible" style"border:none"
|+International telegraphy alphabet No. 2 (Baudot–Murray code)
|-
!scope"col" colspan"3"| Impulse patterns<br/> (1mark, 0space)
!scope"col" colspan"2"| Letter shift
!scope"col" colspan"3"| Figure shift
|-
!scope"col" width"6em"| LSB on<br /> right;<br />code elements:<br /> 543·21
!scope"col" width"6em"| LSB on<br /> left;<br /> code elements:<br /> 12·345
!scope"col" width"2em"| Count of punched marks
!scope"col" width"4em"| ITA2<br /> standard
!scope"col" width"4em"| Russian<br />MTK-2<br /> variant
!scope"col" width"4em"| Russian<br />MTK-2<br /> variant
!scope"col" width"4em"| ITA2<br /> standard
!scope"col" width"4em"| US TTY<br /> variant
|-
| 000·00 || 00·000 || 0 ||colspan"2" style"background:#CCF"| Null || style"background:#FCC" | Shift to Cyrillic Letters ||colspan"2" style="background:#CCF"| Null
|-
| 010·00 || 00·010 || 1 ||style"background:#FCC" colspan"5"| Carriage return
|-
| 000·10 || 01·000 || 1 ||style"background:#FCC" colspan"5"| Line feed
|-
| 001·00 || 00·100 || 1 ||colspan="5"| Space
|-
| 101·11 || 11·101 || 4 || Q || Я ||colspan="3"| 1
|-
| 100·11 || 11·001 || 3 || W || В ||colspan="3"| 2
|-
| 000·01 || 10·000 || 1 || E || Е ||colspan="3"| 3
|-
| 010·10 || 01·010 || 2 || R || Р ||colspan="3"| 4
|-
| 100·00 || 00·001 || 1 || T || Т ||colspan="3"| 5
|-
| 101·01 || 10·101 || 3 || Y || Ы ||colspan="3"| 6
|-
| 001·11 || 11·100 || 3 || U || У ||colspan="3"| 7
|-
| 001·10 || 01·100 || 2 || I || И ||colspan="3"| 8
|-
| 110·00 || 00·011 || 2 || O || О ||colspan="3"| 9
|-
| 101·10 || 01·101 || 3 || P || П ||colspan="3"| 0
|-
| 000·11 || 11·000 || 2 || A || А ||colspan="3"| –
|-
| 001·01 || 10·100 || 2 || S || С ||colspan"2"| ' ||style"background:#FCC"| Bell
|-
| 010·01 || 10·010 || 2 || D || Д ||colspan"2"| <abbr title"Who are you?">WRU?</abbr> || $
|-
| 011·01 || 10·110 || 3 || F || Ф || style"background:#CCF"|Э || style"background:#CCF" colspan="2"| !
|-
| 110·10 || 01·011 || 3 || G || Г || style"background:#CCF"|Ш || style"background:#CCF" colspan="2"| &
|-
| 101·00 || 00·101 || 2 || H || Х || style"background:#CCF"|Щ || style"background:#CCF"|£ || style="background:#CCF"|#
|-
| 010·11 || 11·010 || 3 || J || Й || Ю ||style="background:#FCC"| Bell || '
|-
| 011·11 || 11·110 || 4 || K || К ||colspan="3"| (
|-
| 100·10 || 01·001 || 2 || L || Л ||colspan="3"| )
|-
| 100·01 || 10·001 || 2 || Z || З ||colspan="2"| + || "
|-
| 111·01 || 10·111 || 4 || X || Ь ||colspan="3"| /
|-
| 011·10 || 01·110 || 3 || C || Ц ||colspan="3"| :
|-
| 111·10 || 01·111 || 4 || V || Ж ||colspan"2"| || ;
|-
| 110·01 || 10·011 || 3 || B || Б ||colspan="3"| ?
|-
| 011·00 || 00·110 || 2 || N || Н ||colspan="3"| ,
|-
| 111·00 || 00·111 || 3 || M || М ||colspan="3"| .
|-
| 110·11 || 11·011 || 4 ||style"background:#FCC" colspan"2"| Shift to Figures (FS) ||style"background:#CCC" colspan"3"| Reserved for<br/> figures extension
|-
| 111·11 || 11·111 || 5 ||style"background:#CCC" colspan"2"| Reserved for<br/> lettercase extension ||style"background:#FCC" colspan"3"| Shift to Letters (LS)<br /> / Erasure / Delete
|}
The code position assigned to Null was in fact used only for the idle state of teleprinters. During long periods of idle time, the impulse rate was not synchronized between both devices (which could even be powered off or not permanently interconnected on commuted phone lines). To start a message it was first necessary to calibrate the impulse rate, a sequence of regularly timed "mark" pulses (1), by a group of five pulses, which could also be detected by simple passive electronic devices to turn on the teleprinter. This sequence of pulses generated a series of Erasure/Delete characters while also initializing the state of the receiver to the Letters shift mode. However, the first pulse could be lost, so this power on procedure could then be terminated by a single Null immediately followed by an Erasure/Delete character. To preserve the synchronization between devices, the Null code could not be used arbitrarily in the middle of messages (this was an improvement to the initial Baudot system where spaces were not explicitly differentiated, so it was difficult to maintain the pulse counters for repeating spaces on teleprinters). But it was then possible to resynchronize devices at any time by sending a Null in the middle of a message (immediately followed by an Erasure/Delete/LS control if followed by a letter, or by a FS control if followed by a figure). Sending Null controls also did not cause the paper band to advance to the next row (as nothing was punched), so this saved precious lengths of punchable paper band. On the other hand, the Erasure/Delete/LS control code was always punched and always shifted to the (initial) letters mode. According to some sources, the Null code point was reserved for country-internal usage only. The cell marked as "Reserved" is also usable (using the FS code from the figures shift page) to switch the page of figures (which normally contains digits and national lowercase letters or symbols) to a fourth page (where national letters are uppercase and other symbols may be encoded).
ITA2 is still used in telecommunications devices for the deaf (TDD), Telex, and some amateur radio applications, such as radioteletype ("RTTY"). ITA2 is also used in Enhanced Broadcast Solution, an early 21st-century financial protocol specified by Deutsche Börse, to reduce the character encoding footprint.
Nomenclature
Nearly all 20th-century teleprinter equipment used Western Union's code, ITA2, or variants thereof. Radio amateurs casually call ITA2 and variants "Baudot" incorrectly, and even the American Radio Relay League's Amateur Radio Handbook does so, though in more recent editions the tables of codes correctly identifies it as ITA2.Character setThe values shown in each cell are the Unicode codepoints, given for comparison.Original Baudot variantsOriginal Baudot, domestic UK{|}}
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Baudot–Murray variants
<!-- Western Union, for example, would also go here -->
Murray Code
{|
Explanatory notes
References
Further reading
*
*
* [http://www.sensi.org/~alec/locale/other/mtk-2.html MTK-2 code table]
* [http://www.quadibloc.com/crypto/tele03.htm Baudot, Murray, ITA2, ITA5, etc.]
*
External links
*
Category:Amateur radio
Category:Character encoding
Category:Character sets
Category:Telegraphy
Category:1870s introductions
Category:French inventions
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baudot_code
|
2025-04-05T18:26:57.465855
|
4749
|
Blu Tack
|
Blu Tack is a reusable putty-like pressure-sensitive adhesive produced by Bostik, commonly used to attach lightweight objects (such as posters or sheets of paper) to walls, doors or other dry surfaces. Traditionally blue, it is also available in other colours. Generic versions of the product are also available from other manufacturers. The spelling now used is without a hyphen.
As of 2015, Bostik was manufacturing around 100 tonnes of Blu Tack weekly at its Leicester factory. History While the inventor of the commercial Bostik product is unknown, a precursor was created around 1970 as an accidental by-product of an attempt to develop a sealant based on chalk powder, rubber and oil. Blu Tack was originally white, but following fears that children could mistake it for chewing gum, a blue colouring was added. with 10 pence from each pack going to the charity. The formulation was slightly altered to retain complete consistency with its blue counterpart. Since then, many coloured variations have been made, including red-and-white, yellow, and a green Halloween pack. Composition
]]
Blu Tack is described as a synthetic rubber compound without hazardous properties under normal conditions. It can be swallowed without harm and is not carcinogenic. It is non-soluble and is denser than water. The material is not flammable, but emits carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide when exposed to fire or high temperatures.
Similar products
Similar products of various colours are made by many manufacturers, including Faber-Castell's "Tack-it", Henkel's "Fun-Tak", UHU's "Poster Putty" and "Sticky Tack", UFO's "Dough Tack", "Gummy Sticker" Pritt's "Sticky Stuff", Bostik's "Prestik" and Elmer's "Poster Tack". Plasti-Tak by Brooks Manufacturing Company appears to pre-date Blu Tack, with a trademark registration in 1964.
Versions of the product are also sold under the generic names "adhesive putty" and "mounting putty". The generic trademark or common name for mounting putty varies by region. It is known as "Patafix" in France, Italy, Portugal, Austria and Turkey, in Iceland and lærertyggis in Norway (both meaning "teacher's chewing gum"), ("attachment paste") or in Sweden, and in South Africa (an Afrikaans word, literally translated as "wonder glue").
Alternative uses
Like all poster putties, Blu Tack provides an alternative to the artist's traditional kneaded eraser.
Blu Tack was often used with the Sinclair ZX81 microcomputer to help mitigate crashes caused by wobbly external RAM modules. This was such a widespread problem that Sinclair Research's technical support department officially recommended the use of Blu Tack to resolve this issue.
In 2007 the artist Elizabeth Thompson created a sculpture of a house spider using Blu Tack over a wire frame. It was exhibited at London Zoo.
Blu Tack can be used as a damping agent for sound and vibration applications, due to its low amplitude response properties. A 2013 study concluded that the substance is a comfortable alternative to over-the-counter ear plugs for the attenuation of everyday sound.
The New Zealand Government Earthquake Commission recommends that products such as Blu Tack should be used to prevent ornaments and small household items from falling or moving in the event of an earthquake.
Blu Tack is sometimes used by electronic hobbyists to hold through-hole electronic components in position for soldering onto PC-boards.
See also
* Glue stick
References
External links
* [https://blu-tack.co.uk/ Official Blu-Tack site, UK]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20171123134758/http://www.blutack.com/ Official Blu Tack site, Australia]
* Letter regarding development of a similar precursor product, from sealant developer Alan Holloway to James Ward, author of Adventures in Stationery, on discussion page
Category:Adhesives
Category:TotalEnergies
Category:Brand name materials
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blu_Tack
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2025-04-05T18:26:57.471684
|
4751
|
Bacillus
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Species
Species orphaned and assigned to other genera:
* B. Symun
* B. acidicola
* B. acidiproducens
* B. acidocaldarius
* B. acidoterrestris
* B. aeolius
* B. agaradhaerens
* B. agri
* B. aidingensis
* B. akibai
* B. albus
* B. alcalophlus
* B. algicola
* B. alginolyticus
* B. alkalidiazotrophicus
* B. alkalinitrilicus
* B. alkalisediminis
* B. alkalitelluris
* B. alveayuensis
* B. alvei
* B. aminovorans
* B. amylolyticus
* B. andreesenii
* B. aneurinilyticus
* B. anthracis
* B. aquimaris
* B. arenosi
* B. arseniciselenatis
* B. arsenicus
* B. aurantiacus
* B. arvi
* B. aryabhattai
* B. asahii
* B. axarquiensis
* B. azotofixans
* B. azotoformans
* B. badius
* B. barbaricus
* B. bataviensis
* B. beijingensis
* B. benzoevorans
* B. beringensis
* B. berkeleyi
* B. beveridgei
* B. bogoriensis
* B. boroniphilus
* B. borstelensis
* B. brevis
* B. butanolivorans
* B. canaveralius
* B. carboniphilus
* B. cecembensis
* B. cellulosilyticus
* B. centrosporus
* B. cereus
* B. chagannorensis
* B. chitinolyticus
* B. chondroitinus
* B. choshinensis
* B. chungangensis
* B. cibi
* B. circulans
* B. clarkii
* B. clausii
* B. coagulans
* B. coahuilensis
* B. cohnii
* B. composti
* B. curdlanolyticus
* B. cycloheptanicus
* B. cytotoxicus
* B. daliensis
* B. decisifrondis
* B. decolorationis
* B. deserti
* B. dipsosauri
* B. drentensis
* B. edaphicus
* B. ehimensis
* B. eiseniae
* B. enclensis
* B. endophyticus
* B. endoradicis
* B. farraginis
* B. fastidiosus
* B. fengqiuensis
* B. filobacterium rodentuim
* B. firmus
* B. flexus
* B. foraminis
* B. fordii
* B. formosus
* B. fortis
* B. fumarioli
* B. funiculus
* B. fusiformis
* B. gaemokensis
* B. galactophilus
* B. galactosidilyticus
* B. galliciensis
* B. gelatini
* B. gibsonii
* B. ginsengi
* B. ginsengihumi
* B. ginsengisoli
* B. glucanolyticus
* B. gordonae
* B. gottheilii
* B. graminis
* B. halmapalus
* B. haloalkaliphilus
* B. halochares
* B. halodenitrificans
* B. halodurans
* B. halophilus
* B. halosaccharovorans
* B. hemicellulosilyticus
* B. hemicentroti
* B. herbersteinensis
* B. horikoshii
* B. horneckiae
* B. horti
* B. huizhouensis
* B. humi
* B. hwajinpoensis
* B. idriensis
* B. indicus
* B. infantis
* B. infernus
* B. insolitus
* B. invictae
* B. iranensis
* B. isabeliae
* B. isronensis
* B. jeotgali
* B. kaustophilus
* B. kobensis
* B. kochii
* B. kokeshiiformis
* B. koreensis
* B. korlensis
* B. kribbensis
* B. krulwichiae
* B. laevolacticus
* B. larvae
* B. laterosporus
* B. lautus
* B. lehensis
* B. lentus
* B. ligniniphilus
* B. litoralis
* B. locisalis
* B. luciferensis
* B. luteolus
* B. luteus
* B. macauensis
* B. macerans
* B. macquariensis
* B. macyae
* B. malacitensis
* B. mannanilyticus
* B. marisflavi
* B. marismortui
* B. marmarensis
* B. massiliensis
* B. megaterium
* "B. mesentericus"
* B. mesonae
* B. methanolicus
* B. methylotrophicus
* B. migulanus
* B. mucilaginosus
* B. muralis
* B. murimartini
* B. mycoides
* B. naganoensis
* B. nanhaiensis
* B. nanhaiisediminis
* B. nealsonii
* B. neidei
* B. neizhouensis
* B. niabensis
* B. niacini
* B. novalis
* B. oceanisediminis
* B. odysseyi
* B. okhensis
* B. okuhidensis
* B. oleronius
* B. oryzaecorticis
* B. oshimensis
* B. pabuli
* B. pakistanensis
* B. pallidus
* B. pallidus
* B. panacisoli
* B. panaciterrae
* B. pantothenticus
* B. parabrevis
* B. paraflexus
* B. pasteurii
* B. patagoniensis
* B. peoriae
* B. persepolensis
* B. persicus
* B. pervagus
* B. plakortidis
* B. pocheonensis
* B. polygoni
* B. polymyxa
* B. popilliae
* B. pseudalcalophilus
* B. pseudofirmus
* B. pseudomycoides
* B. psychrodurans
* B. psychrophilus
* B. psychrosaccharolyticus
* B. psychrotolerans
* B. pulvifaciens
* B. purgationiresistens
* B. pycnus
* B. qingdaonensis
* B. qingshengii
* B. reuszeri
* B. rhizosphaerae
* B. rigui
* B. ruris
* B. salarius
* B. salexigens
* B. saliphilus
* B. schlegelii
* B. sediminis
* B. selenatarsenatis
* B. selenitireducens
* B. seohaeanensis
* B. shacheensis
* B. shackletonii
* B. silvestris
* B. simplex
* B. siralis
* B. smithii
* B. soli
* B. solimangrovi
* B. solisalsi
* B. songklensis
* B. sphaericus
* B. sporothermodurans
* B. stearothermophilus
* B. stratosphericus
* B. subterraneus
* B. taeanensis
* B. thermantarcticus
* B. thermoaerophilus
* B. thermoamylovorans
* B. thermocatenulatus
* B. thermocloacae
* B. thermocopriae
* B. thermodenitrificans
* B. thermoglucosidasius
* B. thermolactis
* B. thermoleovorans
* B. thermophilus
* B. thermoproteolyticus
* B. thermoruber
* B. thermosphaericus
* B. thiaminolyticus
* B. thioparans
* B. thuringiensis
* B. tianshenii
* B. toyonensis
* B. trypoxylicola
* B. tusciae
* B. validus
* B. vedderi
* B. vietnamensis
* B. vireti
* B. vulcani
* B. wakoensis
* B. xiaoxiensis
* B. zanthoxyli
* B. zhanjiangensis
Ecological and clinical significance
Bacillus species are ubiquitous in nature, e.g. in soil. They can occur in extreme environments such as high pH (B. alcalophilus), high temperature (B. thermophilus), and high salt concentrations (B. halodurans). They also are very commonly found as endophytes in plants where they can play a critical role in their immune system, nutrient absorption and nitrogen fixing capabilities. B. thuringiensis produces a toxin that can kill insects and thus has been used as insecticide. B. siamensis has antimicrobial compounds that inhibit plant pathogens, such as the fungi Rhizoctonia solani and Botrytis cinerea, and they promote plant growth by volatile emissions. Some species of Bacillus are naturally competent for DNA uptake by transformation.
* Two Bacillus species are medically significant: B. anthracis, which causes anthrax; and B. cereus, which causes food poisoning, with symptoms similar to that caused by Staphylococcus.
** B. cereus produces toxins which cause two different set of symptoms:
*** emetic toxin which can cause vomiting and nausea
*** diarrhea
* B. thuringiensis is an important insect pathogen, and is sometimes used to control insect pests.
* B. subtilis is an important model organism. It is also a notable food spoiler, causing ropiness in bread and related food.
** B. subtilis can also produce and secrete antibiotics.
* Some environmental and commercial strains of B. coagulans may play a role in food spoilage of highly acidic, tomato-based products.
Industrial significance
Many Bacillus species are able to secrete large quantities of enzymes. Bacillus amyloliquefaciens is the source of a natural antibiotic protein barnase (a ribonuclease), alpha amylase used in starch hydrolysis, the protease subtilisin used with detergents, and the BamH1 restriction enzyme used in DNA research.
A portion of the Bacillus thuringiensis genome was incorporated into corn and cotton crops. The resulting plants are resistant to some insect pests.
Bacillus subtilis (natto) is the key microbial participant in the ongoing production of the soya-based traditional natto fermentation, and some Bacillus'' species are on the Food and Drug Administration's GRAS (generally regarded as safe) list.
The capacity of selected Bacillus strains to produce and secrete large quantities (20–25 g/L) of extracellular enzymes has placed them among the most important industrial enzyme producers. The ability of different species to ferment in the acid, neutral, and alkaline pH ranges, combined with the presence of thermophiles in the genus, has led to the development of a variety of new commercial enzyme products with the desired temperature, pH activity, and stability properties to address a variety of specific applications. Classical mutation and (or) selection techniques, together with advanced cloning and protein engineering strategies, have been exploited to develop these products.
Efforts to produce and secrete high yields of foreign recombinant proteins in Bacillus hosts initially appeared to be hampered by the degradation of the products by the host proteases. Recent studies have revealed that the slow folding of heterologous proteins at the membrane-cell wall interface of Gram-positive bacteria renders them vulnerable to attack by wall-associated proteases. In addition, the presence of thiol-disulphide oxidoreductases in B. subtilis may be beneficial in the secretion of disulphide-bond-containing proteins. Such developments from our understanding of the complex protein translocation machinery of Gram-positive bacteria should allow the resolution of current secretion challenges and make Bacillus species preeminent hosts for heterologous protein production.
Bacillus strains have also been developed and engineered as industrial producers of nucleotides, the vitamin riboflavin, the flavor agent ribose, and the supplement poly-gamma-glutamic acid. With the recent characterization of the genome of B. subtilis 168 and of some related strains, Bacillus species are poised to become the preferred hosts for the production of many new and improved products as we move through the genomic and proteomic era.Use as model organism
on an agar plate]]
Bacillus subtilis is one of the best understood prokaryotes, in terms of molecular and cellular biology. Its superb genetic amenability and relatively large size have provided the powerful tools required to investigate a bacterium from all possible aspects. Recent improvements in fluorescent microscopy techniques have provided novel insight into the dynamic structure of a single cell organism. Research on B. subtilis has been at the forefront of bacterial molecular biology and cytology, and the organism is a model for differentiation, gene/protein regulation, and cell cycle events in bacteria.
See also
* List of Bacteria genera
* List of bacterial orders
* Paenibacillus and Virgibacillus, genera of bacteria formerly included in Bacillus''. References External links
* [https://patricbrc.org/view/Taxonomy/1386#view_tab=overview Bacillus] genomes and related information at [http://patricbrc.org/ PATRIC], a Bioinformatics Resource Center funded by [https://www.niaid.nih.gov/ NIAID]
Category:Bacteria genera
Category:Gram-positive bacteria
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bacillus
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Brasília
|
| image_flag | image_seal
| nicknames = Capital Federal, BSB, Capital da Esperança
| motto = "Venturis ventis"(Latin)<br />"To the coming winds"
| image_map }}
| map_caption = Location in the Federal District
| pushpin_map = Brazil#South America
| pushpin_relief = 1
| pushpin_map_caption = Location in Brazil
| coordinates
| subdivision_type = Country
| subdivision_name =
| subdivision_type1 = Region
| subdivision_type2 = District
| subdivision_name1 = Central-West
| subdivision_name2 = Federal District
| established_title = Founded
| established_date
| leader_title = Governor
| leader_name | area_total_km2 5802
| area_total_sq_mi = 2240.164
| elevation_m = 1172
| population_total 2,817,381 (3rd)
| population_urban | population_metro 3,548,438 ) is the federal capital of Brazil and the seat of government of the Federal District. Located in the Brazilian highlands in the country's Central-West region, it was founded by President Juscelino Kubitschek on 21 April 1960, to replace Rio de Janeiro as the national capital. Brasília is Brazil's third-most populous city after São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, with a population of 2.8 million.
Brasília is a planned city developed by Lúcio Costa, Oscar Niemeyer and Joaquim Cardozo in 1956 in a scheme to move the capital from Rio de Janeiro to a more central location. The landscape architect was Roberto Burle Marx. The city's design divides it into numbered blocks as well as sectors for specified activities, such as the Hotel Sector, the Banking Sector, and the Embassy Sector. Brasília was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987 due to its modernist architecture and uniquely artistic urban planning. It was named "City of Design" by UNESCO in October 2017 and has been part of the Creative Cities Network since then.
It is notable for its white-colored, modern architecture, designed by Oscar Niemeyer. All three branches of Brazil's federal government are located in the city: executive, legislative and judiciary. Brasília also hosts 124 foreign embassies. The city's international airport connects it to all other major Brazilian cities and some international destinations, and it is the third-busiest airport in Brazil. It was one of the main host cities of the 2014 FIFA World Cup and hosted some of the football matches during the 2016 Summer Olympics; it also hosted the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup.
Laid out in the shape of an airplane, its "fuselage" is the Monumental Axis, a pair of wide avenues flanking a large park. In the "cockpit" is Praça dos Três Poderes, named for the 3 branches of government surrounding it. Brasília has a unique legal status, as it is an administrative region rather than a municipality like other cities in Brazil. The name "Brasília" is often used as a synonym for the Federal District as a whole, which is divided into 35 administrative regions, one of which (Plano Piloto) includes the area of the originally planned city and its federal government buildings. The entire Federal District is considered by IBGE to make up Brasília's city area,
Etymology
The term Brasília comes from the Latin translation of Brazil, which was suggested as a name for the country's capital in 1821 by José Bonifácio de Andrada e Silva.History Background
]]
Brazil's first capital was Salvador; in 1763 Rio de Janeiro became Brazil's capital and remained so until 1960. During this period, resources tended to be centered in Brazil's southeastern region, and most of the country's population was concentrated near its Atlantic coast. Brasilia's geographically central location fostered a more regionally neutral federal capital. An article of the country's first republican constitution, dated 1891, states that the capital should be moved from Rio de Janeiro to a place close to the country's center.
The idea of relocating Brazil's capital city was conceived in 1827 by José Bonifácio, an advisor to Emperor Pedro I. He presented a plan to the General Assembly of Brazil for a new city called Brasília, with the idea of moving the capital westward from the heavily populated southeastern corridor. The bill was not enacted because Pedro I dissolved the Assembly.
According to a legend, Italian saint Don Bosco in 1883 had a dream in which he described a futuristic city that roughly fitted Brasília's location. In Brasília today, many references to Bosco, who founded the Salesian order, are found throughout the city and one church parish in the city bears his name.
Costa plan
was the winner of the competition for the construction project of Brasília and played a key role in the city's landmarking.]]
Juscelino Kubitschek was elected President of Brazil in 1955. Upon taking office in January 1956, in fulfilment of his campaign pledge, he initiated the planning and construction of the new capital. The following year an international jury selected Lúcio Costa's plan to guide the construction of Brazil's new capital, Brasília. Costa was a student of the famous modernist architect Le Corbusier, and some of modernism's architecture features can be found in his plan. Costa's plan was not as detailed as some of the plans presented by other architects and city planners. It did not include land use schedules, models, population charts or mechanical drawings; however, it was chosen by five out of six jurors because it had the features required to align the growth of a capital city. Even though the initial plan was transformed over time, it oriented much of the construction and most of its features survived.
Brasília's accession as the new capital and its designation for the development of an extensive interior region inspired the symbolism of the plan. Costa used a cross-axial design indicating the possession and conquest of this new place with a cross, often likened to a dragonfly, an airplane or a bird. Visually, the blocks were intended to appear absorbed by the landscape because they were isolated by a belt of tall trees and lower vegetation. Costa attempted to introduce a Brazil that was more equitable, he also designed housing for the working classes that was separated from the upper- and middle-class housing and was visually different, with the intention of avoiding slums (favelas) in the urban periphery. The has been accused of being a space where individuals are oppressed and alienated to a form of spatial segregation.
One of the main objectives of the plan was to allow the free flow of automobile traffic, the plan included lanes of traffic in a north–south direction (seven for each direction) for the Monumental Axis and three arterials (the W3, the Eixo and the L2) for the residential Axis;
An interesting analysis can be made of Brasília within the context of Cold War politics and the association of Lúcio Costa's plan to the symbolism of aviation. From an architectural perspective, the airplane-shaped plan was certainly an homage to Le Corbusier and his enchantment with the aircraft as an architectural masterpiece. However, Brasília was constructed soon after the end of World War II. Despite Brazil's minor participation in the conflict, the airplane shape of the city was key in envisioning the country as part of the newly globalized world, together with the victorious Allies. Furthermore, Brasília is a unique example of modernism both as a guideline for architectural design but also as a principle for organizing society. Modernism in Brasília is explored in James Holston's book, The Modernist City. Construction Juscelino Kubitschek, president of Brazil from 1956 to 1961, ordered Brasília's construction, fulfilling the promise of the Constitution and his own political campaign promise. Building Brasília was part of Juscelino's "fifty years of prosperity in five" plan. Already in 1892, the astronomer Louis Cruls, in the service of the Brazilian government, had investigated the site for the future capital. Lúcio Costa won a contest and was the main urban planner in 1957, with 5550 people competing. Oscar Niemeyer was the chief architect of most public buildings, Joaquim Cardozo was the structural engineer, and Roberto Burle Marx was the landscape designer. Brasília was built in 41 months, from 1956 to 21 April 1960, when it was officially inaugurated.
Geography
satellite]]
The city sits at an elevation of and more, high on the Brazilian Highlands in the country's center-western region. Paranoá Lake, a large artificial lake, was built to increase the amount of water available and to maintain the region's humidity. It has a marina, and hosts wakeboarders and windsurfers. Diving can also be practiced and one of the main attractions is Vila Amaury, an old village submerged in the lake. This is where the first construction workers of Brasília used to live.
Climate
Brasília has a tropical savanna climate (Aw, according to the Köppen climate classification), milder due to the elevation and with two distinct seasons: the rainy season, from October to April, and the dry season, from May to September. The average temperature is .
According to the Brazilian National Institute of Meteorology (INMET), the record low temperature was on 18 July 1975, and the record high was on 18 October 2015 and 8 October 2020. The highest accumulated rainfall in 24 hours was on 15 November 1963.
Demographics
]]
Ethnic groups
}}
According to the 2022 IBGE Census, 2,817,381 people resided in Brasília and its metropolitan area, of whom 1,370,836 were Mixed (48.7%), 1,126,334 White (40%), 301,765 Black (10.7%), 12,810 Asian (0.5%), and 5,536 Amerindian (0.1%).
In 2010, Brasília was ranked the fourth-most populous city in Brazil after São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, and Salvador. In 2010, the city had 474,871 opposite-sex couples and 1,241 same-sex couples. The population of Brasília was 52.2% female and 47.8% male.
In the 1960 census there were almost 140,000 residents in the new Federal district. By 1970 this figure had grown to 537,000. By 2010 the population of the Federal District had surpassed 2.5 million. The city of Brasília proper, the plano piloto was planned for about 500,000 inhabitants, a figure the plano piloto never surpassed, with a current population of only 214,529, but its metropolitan area within the Federal District has grown past this figure.
From the beginning, the growth of Brasília was greater than original estimates. According to the original plans, Brasília would be a city for government authorities and staff. However, during its construction, Brazilians from all over the country migrated to the satellite cities of Brasília, seeking public and private employment.
At the close of the 20th century, Brasília was the largest city in the world which had not existed at the beginning of the century. Brasília has one of the highest population growth rates in Brazil, with annual growth of 2.82%, mostly due to internal migration.
Brasília's inhabitants include a foreign population of mostly embassy workers as well as large numbers of Brazilian internal migrants. Today, the city has important communities of immigrants and refugees. The city's Human Development Index was 0.936 in 2000 (developed level), and the city's literacy rate was around 95.65%.
Religion
]]
Christianity is by far the most prevalent religion in Brasília, with Roman Catholicism being the largest denomination.
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! style="background:#87CEFA; color:white" | Religion
! style="background:#87CEFA; color:white" | Percentage
! style="background:#87CEFA; color:white" | Number
|- style="text-align:center;"
|Catholic
|56.62%
|1,455,134
|- style="text-align:center;"
|Protestant
|26.88%
|690,982
|- style="text-align:center;"
|No religion
|9.20%
|236,528
|- style="text-align:center;"
|Other
|3.72%
|95,605
|- style="text-align:center;"
|Spiritist
|3.50%
|89,836
|- style="text-align:center;"
|Jewish
|0.04%
|1,103
|- style="text-align:center;"
|Muslim
|0.04%
|972
|- style="text-align:center;"
|Total
|100.00%
|2,570,160
|}
Source: IBGE 2010.
Government
of the Federal District]]
Brasília does not have a mayor or councillors, because article 32 of the Constitution of Brazil expressly prohibits the Federal District being divided into municipalities.
The Federal District is a legal entity of internal public law, which is part of the political-administrative structure of Brazil of a sui generis nature, because it is neither a state nor a municipality, but rather a special entity that incorporates the legislative powers reserved to the states and municipalities, as provided in Article 32, § 1º of the Constitution, which gives it a hybrid nature, both state and municipal.
The executive power of the Federal District was represented by the mayor of the Federal District until 1969, when the position was transformed into governor of the Federal District.
The legislative power of the Federal District is represented by the Legislative Chamber of the Federal District, whose nomenclature includes a mixture of legislative assembly (legislative power of the other units of the federation) and of municipal chamber (legislative of the municipalities). The Legislative Chamber is made up of 24 district deputies.
building]]
The judicial power which serves the Federal District also serves federal territories as it is constituted, but Brazil does not have any territories. Therefore, the Court of Justice of the Federal District and of the Territories only serves the Federal District.
Part of the budget of the Federal District Government comes from the Constitutional Fund of the Federal District. In 2012, the fund totaled 9.6 billion reais. By 2015, the forecast is 12.4 billion reais, of which more than half (6.4 billion) is spent on public security spending.
International relations
;Twin towns and sister cities
Brasília is twinned with:
* Abuja, Nigeria
* Luxor, Egypt
* '''Xi'an', China<small> (since 1997)''</small>
*Brasília Declaration on Child Labour (2013), issued by the Third Global Conference on Child Labour – hosted in Brasília by the Brazilian Government
*Brasília Declaration of Judges on Water Justice (2018), adopted in 2018 during the Conference of Judges and Prosecutors on Water Justice at the 8th World Water Forum, described as "a landmark in [the] development of water justice jurisprudence"
*The 15th Conference of Defense Ministers of the Americas, meeting in Brasília in 2022, issued a Declaration condemning Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Economy
The major roles of construction and of services (government, communications, banking and finance, food production, entertainment, and legal services) in Brasília's economy reflect the city's status as a governmental rather than an industrial center. Industries connected with construction, food processing, and furnishings are important, as are those associated with publishing, printing, and computer software. The gross domestic product (GDP) is divided in Public Administration 54.8%, Services 28.7%, Industry 10.2%, Commerce 6.1%, Agrobusiness 0.2%.
Besides being the political center, Brasília is an important economic center. In 2018, it has the third highest GDP of cities in Brazil, R$254 billion reais, representing 3.6% of the total Brazilian GDP. Most economic activity in the federal capital results from its administrative function. Its industrial planning is studied carefully by the Government of the Federal District. Being a city registered by UNESCO, the government in Brasília has opted to encourage the development of non-polluting industries such as software, film, video, and gemology among others, with emphasis on environmental preservation and maintaining ecological balance, preserving the city property.
According to Mercer's city rankings of cost of living for expatriate employees, Brasília ranks 45th among the most expensive cities in the world in 2012, up from the 70th position in 2010, ranking behind São Paulo (12th) and Rio de Janeiro (13th).
Industries
Industries in the city include construction (Paulo Octavio, Via Construções, and Irmãos Gravia among others); food processing (Perdigão, Sadia); furniture making; recycling (Novo Rio, Rexam, Latasa and others); pharmaceuticals (União Química); and graphic industries. The main agricultural products produced in the city are coffee, guavas, strawberries, oranges, lemons, papayas, soybeans, and mangoes. It has over 110,000 cows and it exports wood products worldwide.
The Federal District, where Brasília is located, has a GDP of R$133,4 billion (about US$64.1 billion), about the same as Belarus according to The Economist. Its share of the total Brazilian GDP is about 3.8%. The Federal District has the largest GDP per capita income of Brazil US$25,062, slightly higher than Belarus.
The city also hosts a varied assortment of art works from artists like Bruno Giorgi, Alfredo Ceschiatti, Athos Bulcão, Marianne Peretti, Alfredo Volpi, Di Cavalcanti, Dyllan Taxman, Victor Brecheret and Burle Marx, whose works have been integrated into the city's architecture, making it a unique landscape. The cuisine in the city is very diverse. Many of the best restaurants in the city can be found in the Asa Sul district.
The city is the birthplace of Brazilian rock and place of origin of bands like: Legião Urbana, Capital Inicial, Aborto Elétrico, Plebe Rude and Raimundos. Brasília has the Rock Basement Festival which brings new bands to the national scene. The festival is held in the parking of the Brasília National Stadium Mané Garrincha.
]]
Since 1965, the annual Brasília Festival of Brazilian Cinema is one of the most traditional cinema festivals in Brazil, being compared only to the Brazilian Cinema Festival of Gramado, in Rio Grande do Sul. The difference between both is that the festival in Brasília still preserves the tradition to only submit and reward Brazilian movies.
The International Dance Seminar in Brasília has brought top-notch dance to the Federal Capital since 1991. International teachers, shows with choreographers and guest groups and scholarships abroad are some of the hallmarks of the event. The Seminar is the central axis of the DANCE BRAZIL program and is promoted by the DF State Department of Culture in partnership with the Cultural Association Claudio Santoro.
Brasília has also been the focus of modern-day literature. Published in 2008, ''The World In Grey: Dom Bosco's Prophecy'', by author Ryan J. Lucero, tells an apocalyptical story based on the famous prophecy from the late 19th century by the Italian saint Don Bosco. According to Don Bosco's prophecy: "Between parallels 15 and 20, around a lake which shall be formed; A great civilization will thrive, and that will be the Promised Land". Brasília lies between the parallels 15° S and 20° S, where an artificial lake (Paranoá Lake) was formed. Don Bosco is Brasília's patron saint.
American Flagg!, the First Comics comic book series created by Howard Chaykin, portrays Brasília as a cosmopolitan world capital of culture and exotic romance. In the series, it is a top vacation and party destination. The 2015 Rede Globo series Felizes para Sempre? was set in Brasília.
Architecture and urbanism
and the National Congress in spring]]
At the Square of Three Powers, Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer and Brazilian structural engineer Joaquim Cardozo made buildings in the style of modern Brazilian architecture. The Congress also occupies various other surrounding buildings, some connected by tunnels.
The National Congress building is located in the middle of the Eixo Monumental, the city's main avenue. In front lies a large lawn and reflecting pool. The building faces the Praça dos Três Poderes where the Palácio do Planalto and the Supreme Federal Court are located. The Brazilian landscape architect Roberto Burle Marx designed landmark modernist gardens for some of the principal buildings. In residential areas, buildings were built that were inspired in French modernist and bauhaus design.
Although not fully accomplished, the "Brasília utopia" has produced a city of relatively high quality of life, in which the citizens live in forested areas with sporting and leisure structure (the ) surrounded by small commercial areas, bookstores and cafés; the city is famous for its cuisine and efficiency of transit. Even these positive features have sparked controversy, expressed in the nickname "ilha da fantasia" ("fantasy island"), indicating the sharp contrast between the city and surrounding regions, marked by poverty and disorganization in the cities of the states of Goiás and Minas Gerais, around Brasília. an open area in downtown Brasília. The rectangular lawn is surrounded by two eight-lane avenues where many government buildings, monuments and memorials are located. On Sundays and holidays, the Eixo Monumental is closed to cars so that locals may use it as a place to walk, bike, and have picnics under the trees.
Praça dos Três Poderes (Portuguese for Square of the Three Powers) is a plaza in Brasília. The name is derived from the encounter of the three federal branches around the plaza: the Executive, represented by the Palácio do Planalto (presidential office); the Legislative, represented by the National Congress (Congresso Nacional); and the Judiciary branch, represented by the Supreme Federal Court (Supremo Tribunal Federal). It is a tourist attraction in Brasília, designed by Lúcio Costa and Oscar Niemeyer as a place where the three branches would meet harmoniously.
(Three Powers Plaza)]]
]]
The Palácio da Alvorada is the official residence of the president of Brazil. The palace was designed, along with the rest of the city of Brasília, by Oscar Niemeyer and inaugurated in 1958. One of the first structures built in the republic's new capital city, the "Alvorada" lies on a peninsula at the shore of Lake Paranoá.
The principles of simplicity and modernity that in the past characterized the great works of architecture motivated Niemeyer. The viewer has an impression of looking at a glass box, softly landing on the ground with the support of thin external columns. The building has an area of 7,000 m<sup>2</sup> with three floors consisting of the basement, landing, and second floor.
The auditorium, kitchen, laundry, medical center, and administration offices are at basement level. The rooms used by the presidency for official receptions are on the landing. The second floor has four suites, two apartments, and various private rooms which make up the residential part of the palace. The building also has a library, a heated Olympic-sized swimming pool, a music room, two dining rooms and various meeting rooms. A chapel and heliport are in adjacent buildings.
The Palácio do Planalto is the official workplace of the president of Brazil. It is located at the Praça dos Três Poderes in Brasília. As the seat of government, the term "Planalto" is often used as a metonym for the executive branch of government. The main working office of the President of the Republic is in the Palácio do Planalto.
The President and his or her family do not live in it, rather in the official residence, the Palácio da Alvorada. Besides the President, senior advisors also have offices in the "Planalto", including the Vice-President of Brazil and the Chief of Staff. The other Ministries are along the Esplanada dos Ministérios. The architect of the Palácio do Planalto was Oscar Niemeyer, creator of most of the important buildings in Brasília. The idea was to project an image of simplicity and modernity using fine lines and waves to compose the columns and exterior structures. The Palace is four stories high, and has an area of 36,000 m<sup>2</sup>. Four other adjacent buildings are also part of the complex.
Education
]]
The education factor of Brasília's Human Development Index in 2020 reached the mark of 0.804 - a considerably high level, in line with the standards of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) - while the literacy rate of the population over the age of ten indicated by the last demographic census was 96.7%, above the national average (91%).
The city has seven international schools: the American School of Brasília, the Brasília International School, the Escola das Nações, the Swiss International School, the Lycée Français François Mitterrand, the Maple Bear Canadian School, and the British School of Brasília. Brasília has two universities, three university centers, and many private colleges.
The main tertiary educational institutions are: Universidade de Brasília – University of Brasília (UnB) (public); Universidade Católica de Brasília – Catholic University of Brasília; Centro Universitário de Brasília (UniCEUB); Centro Universitário Euroamaricano (Unieuro); ; ; and Instituto de Educação Superior de Brasília.
There is an extreme concentration of higher education institutions in the Plano Piloto. In 2006, a new campus of the University of Brasilia was set up in Planaltina. There are also UnB campuses in the administrative regions of Ceilândia and Gama. The number of libraries is not proportional to the size of the population in the central area. The main public libraries in the Federal District are located in the city center, such as the University of Brasilia Library, the House and Senate Library, the Brasilia Demonstration Library and the Leonel de Moura Brizola National Library, also known as the Brasilia National Library, which opened in 2006.
Transportation
The average commute time on public transit in Brasília, for example to and from work, on a weekday is 96 min. 31% of public transit riders, ride for more than 2 hours every day. The average amount of time people wait at a stop or station for public transit is 28 min, while 61% of riders wait for over 20 minutes on average every day. The average distance people usually ride in a single trip with public transit is , while 50% travel for over in a single direction.Airport
(BSB)]]
Brasília–Presidente Juscelino Kubitschek International Airport serves the metropolitan area with major domestic and international flights. It is the third busiest Brazilian airport based on passengers and aircraft movements. The main building's third floor, with 12 thousand square meters, has a panoramic deck, a food court, shops, four movie theaters with total capacity of 500 people, and space for exhibitions. Brasília Airport has 136 vendor spaces. The airport is located about from the central area of Brasília, outside the metro system. The area outside the airport's main gate is lined with taxis as well as several bus line services that connect the airport to Brasília's central district. The parking lot accommodates 1,200 cars.
The airport is serviced by domestic and regional airlines (TAM, GOL, Azul, WebJET, Trip and Avianca), in addition to a number of international carriers. In 2012, Brasília's International Airport was won by the InfraAmerica consortium, formed by the Brazilian engineering company ENGEVIX and the Argentine Corporacion America holding company, with a 50% stake each. During the 25-year concession, the airport may be expanded to up to 40 million passengers a year.
In 2014 the airport received 15 new boarding bridges, totaling 28 in all. This was the main requirement made by the federal government, which transferred the operation of the terminal to the Inframerica Group after an auction. The group invested R$750 million in the project. In the same year, the number of parking spaces doubled, reaching three thousand. The airport's entrance has a new rooftop cover and a new access road. Furthermore, a VIP room was created on Terminal 1's third floor. The investments increased the airport's capacity from approximately 15 million passengers per year to 21 million by 2014. Brasília Air Force Base - ALA1, one of their most important bases of the Brazilian Air Force, is located in Brasília.
Road transport
]]
Like most Brazilian cities, Brasília has a good network of taxi companies. Taxis from the airport are available outside the terminal, but at times there can be quite a queue of people. Although the airport is not far from the downtown area, taxi prices do seem to be higher than in other Brazilian cities. Booking in advance can be advantageous, particularly if time is limited, and local companies should be able to assist airport transfer or transport requirements.
The Juscelino Kubitschek bridge, also known as the 'President JK Bridge' or the 'JK Bridge', crosses Lake Paranoá in Brasília. It is named after Juscelino Kubitschek, former president of Brazil. It was designed by architect Alexandre Chan and structural engineer Mário Vila Verde. Chan won the Gustav Lindenthal Medal for this project at the 2003 International Bridge Conference in Pittsburgh due to "...outstanding achievement demonstrating harmony with the environment, aesthetic merit and successful community participation". It consists of three tall asymmetrical steel arches that crisscross diagonally. With a length of 1,200 m (0.75 miles), it was completed in 2002 at a cost of US$56.8 million. The bridge has a pedestrian walkway and is accessible to bicyclists and skaters.
The main bus hub in Brasília is the Central Bus Station, located in the crossing of the Eixo Monumental and the Eixão, about from the Three Powers Plaza. The original plan was to have a bus station as near as possible to every corner of Brasília. Today, the bus station is the hub of urban buses only, some running within Brasília and others connecting Brasília to the satellite cities. In the original city plan, the interstate buses would also stop at the Central Station. Because of the growth of Brasília (and corresponding growth in the bus fleet), today the interstate buses leave from the older interstate station (called Rodoferroviária) located at the western end of the Eixo Monumental. The Central Bus Station also contains a main metro station. A new bus station was opened in July 2010. It is on Saída Sul (South Exit) near Parkshopping Mall with its metro station, and is also an inter-state bus station, used only to leave the Federal District.Metro
]]
There is no passenger rail service in Brasília, but the Expresso Pequi rail line is planned to link Brasília and Goiânia (see below). A 22 km light rail line is also planned, estimated to cost between 1 billion reais (US$258 million) and 1.5 billion reais with capacity to transport around 200,000 passengers per day.
The Federal District Metro is Federal District's underground metro system. The system has 24 stations on two lines, the Orange and Green lines, along a total network of , covering some of the Federal District. Both lines begin at the Central Station and run parallel until the Águas Claras Station. The Federal District Metro is not comprehensive so buses may provide better access to the center. The metro leaves the Rodoviária (bus station) and goes south, avoiding most of the political and tourist areas. The main purpose of the metro is to serve cities, such as Samambaia, Taguatinga and Ceilândia, as well as Guará and Águas Claras. The satellite cities served are more populated in total than the Plano Piloto itself (the census of 2000 indicated that Ceilândia had 344,039 inhabitants, Taguatinga had 243,575, and the Plano Piloto had approximately 400,000 inhabitants), and most residents of the satellite cities depend on public transportation.
The Expresso Pequi high-speed railway was planned between Brasília and Goiânia, the capital of the state of Goias, but it will probably be turned into a regional service linking the capital cities and cities in between, including Anápolis and Alexânia.Sport
and Nilson Nelson Gymnasium (background)]]
]]
The main stadiums are Estadio Nacional Mané Garrincha (re-inaugurated on 18 May 2013), the Serejão Stadium (home for Brasiliense) and the Bezerrão Stadium (home for Gama).
There are a couple of professional clubs playing in Brasília, like Brasiliense, Gama, Brasília FC, and Real Brasília, but none are currently in the top two levels of Brazilian football. Clubs from Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo remain the most supported throughout the city.
Brasília was one of the host cities of the 2014 FIFA World Cup and 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup. Brasília hosted the opening of the Confederations Cup and hosted 7 World Cup games. Brasília also hosted the football tournaments during the 2016 Summer Olympics held in Rio de Janeiro.
Brasília is known as a departing point for the practice of unpowered air sports, sports that may be practiced with hang gliding or paragliding wings. Practitioners of such sports reveal that, because of the city's dry weather, the city offers strong thermal winds and great "cloud-streets", which is also the name for a maneuver quite appreciated by practitioners. In 2003, Brasília hosted the 14th Hang Gliding World Championship, one of the categories of free flying. In August 2005, the city hosted the second stage of the Brazilian Hang Gliding Championship.
Brasília is the site of the Autódromo Internacional Nelson Piquet which hosted the Grande Prêmio Presidente Emílio Médici, a non-championship round of the 1974 Formula One Grand Prix season, which was won by Emerson Fittipaldi. An IndyCar race was cancelled at the last minute in 2015 due to financial concerns. The track, which has been closed since 2015, is being renovated for the end of 2023 after a deal was struck with Banco de Brasília and Terracap.
The city is also home to one of Brazil's top basketball clubs, the three-time NBB champion Uniceub BRB. The club hosts some of its games at the 16,000 all-seat Nilson Nelson Gymnasium. Brasília attempted to host the 2000 Summer Olympics, but withdrew its application. In tennis, Brasília is host to the Aberto da República, and formerly hosted the Aberto de Brasília. See also
* List of purpose-built national capitals
Purpose-built Brazilian state capitals
* Aracaju
* Belo Horizonte
* Boa Vista
* Palmas
* Teresina
Explanatory notes
ReferencesExternal links
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20140607024959/http://www.brasilia.df.gov.br/ Regional Administration of Brasília website]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20140625040004/http://df.gov.br/ Government of the Federal District website]
*
* [https://artsandculture.google.com/story/brasilia/VALybi8YVtNuLQ Explore Brasília in the UNESCO collection on Google Arts & Culture]
*
}}
Category:1960 establishments in Brazil
Category:Capitals in South America
Category:Modernist heritage districts
Category:Planned capitals
Category:Planned communities in Brazil
Category:Populated places established in 1960
Category:Urban design
Category:World Heritage Sites in Brazil
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brasília
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4754
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Blue Streak (missile)
|
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| status = Retired since 1971
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| first = 5 June 1964
| last = 5 November 1971
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}}
The de Havilland Propellers Blue Streak was a British Intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM), and later the first stage of the Europa satellite launch vehicle. Blue Streak was cancelled without entering full production.
The project was intended to maintain an independent British nuclear deterrent, replacing the V bomber fleet which would become obsolete by 1965. The operational requirement for the missile was issued in 1955 and the design was complete by 1957. During development, it became clear that the missile system was too expensive and too vulnerable to a surprise attack. The missile project was cancelled in 1960, with US-led Skybolt the preferred replacement.
Partly to avoid political embarrassment from the cancellation, the UK government proposed that the rocket be used as the first stage of a civilian satellite launcher called Black Prince. As the cost was thought to be too great for the UK alone, international collaboration was sought. This led to the formation of the European Launcher Development Organisation (ELDO), with Blue Streak used as the first stage of a carrier rocket named Europa.
Europa was tested at Woomera Test Range, Australia and later at Kourou in French Guiana. Following launch failures, the ELDO project was cancelled in 1972 and Blue Streak with it.
Background
Post-war Britain's nuclear weapons armament was initially based on free-fall bombs delivered by the V bomber force. It soon became clear that if Britain wanted to have a credible nuclear deterrent threat, a ballistic missile was essential. There was a political need for an independent deterrent, so that Britain could remain a major world power. Britain was unable to purchase American weapons wholesale due to the restrictions of the Atomic Energy Act of 1946.
In April 1954 the Americans proposed a joint development programme for ballistic missiles. The United States would develop an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) of range (SM-65 Atlas), while the United Kingdom with United States support would develop an Intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) of range. The proposal was accepted as part of the Wilson-Sandys Agreement of August 1954, which provided for collaboration, exchange of information, and mutual planning of development programmes. The decision to develop was influenced by what could be learnt about missile design and development in the US. Initial requirements for the booster were made by the Royal Aircraft Establishment at Farnborough with input on the rocket engine design from the Rocket Propulsion Establishment at Westcott. Operational Requirement 1139 demanded a rocket of at least range and the initially proposed rocket would have just reached that threshold.
Development
The de Havilland Propellers company won the contract to build the missile, which was to be powered by an uprated liquid-fuelled Rocketdyne S-3D engine, developed by Rolls-Royce, called RZ.2. Two variants of this engine were developed: the first provided a static thrust of and the second (intended for the three-stage satellite launch vehicle) . The engines could be vectored by seven degrees in flight and were used to guide the missile. This configuration, however, put considerable pressure on the autopilot which had to cope with the problem of a vehicle whose weight was diminishing rapidly and that was steered by large engines whose thrust remained more or less constant. Vibration was also a problem, particularly at engine cut-off, and the later development of the autopilot for the satellite launcher was, in itself, a considerable achievement.
Subcontractors included the Sperry Gyroscope Company who produced the missile guidance system whilst the nuclear warhead was designed by the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment at Aldermaston.
The missiles used liquid oxygen and kerosene propellants. Whilst the vehicle could be left fully laden with over 20 tonnes of kerosene, the 60 tonnes of liquid oxygen had to be loaded immediately before launch or icing became a problem. Due to this, fuelling the rocket took 4.5 minutes, which would have made it useless as a rapid response to an attack. The missile was vulnerable to a pre-emptive nuclear strike, launched without warning or in the absence of any heightening of tension sufficient to warrant readying the missile. To negate this problem de Havilland created a stand-by feature. A missile could be held at 30 seconds' notice to launch for ten hours. As the missiles were to be deployed in pairs and it took ten hours for one missile to be prepared for stand-by, one of the two missiles could always be ready for rapid launch.
To protect the missiles against a pre-emptive strike while being fuelled, the idea of sitting the missiles in underground launchers was developed. These would have been designed to withstand a one megaton blast at a distance of and were a British innovation, subsequently exported to the United States. Finding sites for these silos proved extremely difficult. RAF Spadeadam in Cumberland (now Cumbria) was the only site where construction was started on a full scale underground launcher, although test borings were undertaken at a number of other locations. The remains of this test silo, known as U1, were rediscovered by tree felling at Spadeadam in 2004. This was also the site where the RZ.2 rocket engines and also the complete Blue Streak missile were tested. The best sites for silo construction were the more stable rock strata in parts of southern and north-east England and eastern Scotland, but the construction of many underground silos in the countryside carried enormous economic, social, and political costs. Development of the underground launchers presented a major technical challenge. 1/60- and 1/6-scale models based on a U-shaped design were constructed and tested at RPE Westcott. Three alternative designs were drawn up with one chosen as the prototype, designated K11. RAF Upavon would appear to have been the preferred location for the prototype operational launcher with the former RNAS at Crail as the likely first operational site.
In 1955–1956, the rocket motors were test-fired at High Down Rocket Test Site on the Isle of Wight. As no site in Britain provided enough space for test flights, a test site was established at Woomera, South Australia.
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|+Blue Streak launches from Woomera
|-
! Flight No.
! Launch date
! Result
|-
| F1
| 5 June 1964
| uncontrollable oscillations during final phase of burn due to fuel sloshing in tanks
|-
| F2
| 21 October 1964
| Successful flight
|-
| F3
| 23 March 1965
| Successful flight
|}
Cancellation as a military project
Doubts arose as the cost escalated from the first tentative figure of £50 million submitted to the Treasury in early 1955, to £300 million in late 1959. Its detractors in the civil service claimed that the programme was crawling along when compared with the speed of development in the US and the Soviet Union.
Estimates within the Civil Service for completion of the project ranged from a total spend of £550 million to £1.3 billion, as different ministers were set on either abandoning or continuing the project.
The project was unexpectedly cancelled in April 1960. Whitehall opposition grew, and it was cancelled on the ostensible grounds that it would be too vulnerable to a first-strike attack. Admiral of the Fleet Lord Mountbatten had spent considerable effort arguing that the project should be cancelled at once in favour of the Navy being armed with nuclear weapons, capable of pre-emptive strike.
Some considered the cancellation of Blue Streak to be not only a blow to British military-industrial efforts, but also to Commonwealth ally Australia, which had its own vested interest in the project.
The British military transferred its hopes for a strategic nuclear delivery system to the Anglo-American Skybolt missile, before the project's cancellation by the United States as its ICBM programme reached maturity. The British instead purchased the Polaris system from the Americans, carried in British-built submarines.
Civilian programmes - Black Prince and ELDO
After the cancellation as a military project, there was reluctance to cancel the project because of the huge cost incurred. Blue Streak would have become the first stage of a projected all British satellite launcher known as "Black Prince": the second stage was derived from the Black Knight test vehicle, and the orbital injection stage was a small hydrogen peroxide/kerosene motor.
Black Prince proved too expensive for the UK, and the European Launcher Development Organisation (ELDO) was set up. This used Blue Streak as the first stage, with French and German second and third stages. The Blue Streak first stage was successfully tested three times at the Woomera test range in Australia as part of the ELDO programme.
Black Prince
In 1959, a year before the cancellation of the Blue Streak as a missile, the government requested that the RAE and Saunders-Roe design a carrier rocket based on Blue Streak and Black Knight. This design used Blue Streak as a first stage and a second stage based on the Black Knight. Several different third stages would be available, depending on the required payload and orbit.
The cost of developing Black Prince was estimated to be £35 million.
It was planned that Black Prince would be a Commonwealth project. As the government of John Diefenbaker in Canada was already spending more money than publicly acknowledged on Alouette and Australia was not interested in the project, these two countries were unwilling to contribute. South Africa was no longer a member of the Commonwealth. New Zealand was only likely to make "modest" contributions.
European Launcher Development Organisation
The UK instead proposed a collaboration with other European countries to build a three-stage launcher capable of placing a one-ton payload into low Earth orbit.
The European Launcher Development Organisation consisted of Belgium, Britain, France, West Germany, Italy and the Netherlands, with Australia as an associate member.
Preliminary work began in 1962 and ELDO was formally signed into existence in 1964.
With Blue Streak, the UK became the first stage of the European launch vehicle with France providing the Coralie second stage and Germany the third. Italy worked on the satellite project, the Netherlands and Belgium concentrated on tracking and telemetry systems and Australia supplied the launch site.
The combined launcher was named Europa.
After ten test launches, the Woomera launch site was not suitable for putting satellites into geosynchronous orbit, and in 1966 it was decided to move to the French site of Kourou in South America. F11 was fired from here in November 1971, but the failure of the autopilot caused the vehicle to break up. The launch of F12 was postponed whilst a project review was carried out, which led to the decision to abandon the Europa design.
ELDO was merged with the European Space Research Organisation to form the European Space Agency.
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|+List of Blue Streak launches as part of ELDO but none of these were ever built in full and today only exist in design.
De Havilland/British Interplanetary Society proposal
In 1959 de Havilland suggested solving the problem of the Blue Streak/Black Knight geometry by compressing the 10 by 1 metre (30 by 3-foot) Black Knight into a sphere. Although this seemed logical, the development costs proved to be too high for the limited budget of the programme.Westland Helicopters Black Arrow
Following its merger with Saunders Roe, Westland Helicopters developed the three-stage Black Arrow satellite carrier rocket, derived from the Black Knight test vehicle. The first stage of Black Arrow was given the same diameter as the French Coralie (the second stage of Europa) to make it compatible with Blue Streak. Using Blue Streak as an additional stage would have increased Black Arrow's payload capacity. To maintain this compatibility, the first stage diameter was given in metres, although the rest of the rocket was defined in imperial units.
Black Arrow carried out four test launches (without an additional Blue Streak stage) from Woomera between 1969 and 1971, with the final launch carrying the satellite Prospero X-3 into orbit. The United Kingdom remains the only country to have developed and then abandoned a satellite launch capability.
Hawker Siddeley Dynamics proposal
In 1972, Hawker Siddeley Dynamics ltd produced a brochure for a design using Blue Streak as the first stage of a two-stage to orbit rocket, with an American Centaur upper stage. The Centaur second stage would have either been built in the UK under licence or imported directly from the USA. Both the Centaur and Blue Streak had proved to be very reliable up to this point, and since they were both already designed development costs would have been low. Furthermore, it had a payload of 870–920 kg to a geosynchronous orbit with, and 650–700 kg without the use of additional booster rockets.Blue Streak today
Following the cancellation of the Blue Streak project some of the remaining rockets were preserved at:
* Europa F13, at the National Museum of Flight in East Fortune, Scotland.
* Europa F14, at the Deutsches Museum, Munich.
* Europa F15, at the Euro Space Center in Redu, Belgium.
* Europa F16, at the National Space Centre in Leicester, England.
* Mid-section outer shell and launch sites, at the RAF Spadeadam near Brampton, England.
A section of the propulsion bay, engines and equipment can be found at the Solway Aviation Museum, Carlisle Lake District Airport. Only a few miles from the Spadeadam testing site, the museum carries many exhibits, photographs and models of the Blue Streak programme, having inherited the original Spadeadam collection that used to be displayed on site.
RZ.2 engines are on display at National Space Centre – a pair on cradles alongside the Blue Streak rocket – and at the Armagh Planetarium in Northern Ireland and The Euro Space Center in Redu, Belgium.
Blue Streak enthusiast Robin Joseph from the United Kingdom has a collection of parts including start systems and combustion chambers amongst other things. He can often be seen displaying his collection at space days in the West Midlands.
A part of the Blue Streak F1 rocket launched on 5 June 1964 from Woomera, Australia, found 50 km SE of Giles in 1980 (c.1000 km) is on display at Giles Weather Station. The titanium structure of a German third stage was, for some time, sited on the edge of a gravel pit in Gloucestershire.
Remains of Blue Streak F4, launched on 24 May 1965, are on display at Woomera.
Footage from the Blue Streak launch was briefly incorporated into The Prisoners final episode, "Fall Out". It was also used in the Doctor Who serial "The Tenth Planet", treated within the story as the launch of the Zeus IV spacecraft. Images of the Blue Streak 1 are incorporated in the 1997 film Contact.<gallery mode="packed">
File:Blue Streak rocket remains.jpg|Blue Streak F1 rocket remains
File:Bluestreak in WoomeraPark.jpg|Blue Streak F4 rocket remains
File:Blue Streak at Scottish Museum of Flight - side rear view.jpg|Europa F13, at the National Museum of Flight in East Fortune, Scotland.
File:Blue Streak rocket engines.jpg|Europa F14, at the Deutsches Museum, Munich.
File:Lanceur Europa (1).jpg|Europa F15, at the Euro Space Center in Redu, Belgium.
File:Rocket in Leicester.JPG|Europa F16, at the National Space Centre in Leicester, England.
File:Booster stage of a Blue Streak rocket, RAF Spadeadam.jpg|Mid-section outer shell, at the RAF Spadeadam near Brampton, England.
</gallery>
See also
*List of missiles
*Nuclear weapons and the United Kingdom
*Rainbow Codes
*
*
*
*
*
*Len Beadell
*Beatrice Shilling
*Roy Dommett
Notes
References
*
*Boyes, J. (2013). The Blue Streak Underground Launchers. Airfield Review No 140. Airfield Research Group.
*Boyes, J. (2014). The Blue Streak Underground Launchers. Royal Air Force Historical Society Journal No. 58.
External links
*
*https://web.archive.org/web/20050404101923/http://www.skomer.u-net.com/projects/bluestreak.htm
*https://web.archive.org/web/20010409071059/http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/Launchpad/6133/bluestreak.html
*[http://www.makingthemodernworld.org.uk/stories/defiant_modernism/05.ST.07/?scene=5 Blue Streak including newsreel footage]
*[http://www.raf.mod.uk/rafspadeadam/aboutus/history.cfm RAF Spadeadam]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20060926174958/http://www.nms.ac.uk/flight/collections/rockets.asp?m5&s12 National Museum of Scotland description of the Museum of Flight exhibit]
*[http://www.nielspapermodels.com/bluestreak.htm Free papermodel of a Blue Streak missile]
*[http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/films/1951to1964/filmpage_rocket.htm British Public information film on the Blue Streak at the National Archives (15 minutes QuickTime and Windows Media formats)]
*BBC Radio 4 – [http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/archivehour/pip/d97r6/ ''"The Archive Hour – Britain's Space Race"'']. 11 August 2007.
*[http://www.flightglobal.com/airspace/photos/missilespacesystemscutaways/de-havilland-dh-blue-streak-cutaway-9672.aspx] A cutaway drawing of the Blue Streak.
*U1 underground launcher Spadeadam.
*The Register [https://www.theregister.co.uk/2019/11/27/spadeadam_rocket_establishment/ 'Talking a Blue Streak: The ambitious, quiet waste of the Spadeadam Rocket Establishment']
Category:Abandoned military projects of the United Kingdom
Category:Cold War missiles of the United Kingdom
Category:Collection of National Museums Scotland
Category:Nuclear weapons of the United Kingdom
Category:De Havilland
Category:Intermediate-range ballistic missiles
Category:Space launch vehicles of the United Kingdom
Category:History of science and technology in the United Kingdom
Category:Rainbow code
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Streak_(missile)
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4756
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Bakassi
|
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| subdivision_name1 = South West Region
| subdivision_type2 | subdivision_name2
| subdivision_type3 | subdivision_name3
| government_footnotes | government_type
| leader_title = Local Government Chairman
| leader_name | established_title
| established_date | area_magnitude
| unit_pref = Imperial
| area_footnotes | area_total_km2 665
| area_land_km2 | population_as_of
| population_footnotes | population_note
| population_total = 150,000 - 300,000
| population_density_km2 | timezone WAT
| utc_offset = +1
| timezone_DST | utc_offset_DST
| coordinates | module }}
| elevation_footnotes | elevation_m
| elevation_ft | postal_code_type
| postal_code | area_code
| blank_name | blank_info
| website | footnotes
}}
-Cameroon border region on the coast from a 1963 map, with Bakassi peninsula in the middle]]
Bakassi is a peninsula on the Gulf of Guinea. It lies between the Cross River estuary, near the city of Calabar and the Rio del Ray estuary on the east. It is governed by Cameroon, following the transfer of sovereignty from neighbouring Nigeria as a result of a judgment by the International Court of Justice. On 22 November 2007, the Nigerian Senate rejected the transfer, since the Greentree Agreement ceding the area to Cameroon was contrary to Section 12(1) of the 1999 Constitution. Regardless, the territory was completely ceded to Cameroon on 14 August 2008, exactly two years after the first part of it was transferred.
Geography and economy
The peninsula lies between latitudes 4°25′ and 5°10′N and longitudes 8°20′ and 9°08′E . It consists of a number of low-lying, largely mangrove covered islands covering an area of around . The population of Bakassi is the subject of some dispute, but is generally put at between 150,000 and 300,000 people.
Bakassi is situated at the extreme eastern end of the Gulf of Guinea, where the warm east-flowing Guinea Current (called Aya Efiat in Efik) meets the cold north-flowing Benguela Current (called Aya Ubenekang in Efik). These two ocean currents interact, creating huge foamy breakers which constantly advance towards the shore. This builds up shoals rich in fish, shrimps, and a wide variety of other marine life forms, thus making the area a very fertile fishing ground, from which most of the population make their living.
The peninsula is commonly described as "oil-rich", though in fact no commercially viable deposits of oil have been discovered. However, the area has aroused considerable interest from oil companies in the light of the discovery of rich reserves of high grade crude oil in Nigeria. At least eight multinational oil companies have participated in the exploration of the peninsula and its offshore waters. In October 2012, China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation announced it had discovered new oil and gas resources in the Bakassi region.
History
During the Scramble for Africa, Queen Victoria signed a Treaty of Protection with the King and Chiefs of Akwa Akpa, known to Europeans as Old Calabar, on 10 September 1884. This enabled the British Empire to exercise control over the entire territory around Calabar, including Bakassi. The territory subsequently became de facto part of Nigeria, although the border was never permanently delineated. However, documents released by the Cameroonians, in parity with that of the British and Germans, clearly places Bakassi under Cameroonian Territory as a consequence of colonial era Anglo-German agreements. After Southern Cameroons voted in 1961 to leave Nigeria and became a part of Cameroon, Bakassi remained under Calabar administration in Nigeria until ICJ judgement of 2002.
Population
Bakassi inhabitants are mainly the Oron people, the people of Cross River State and Akwa Ibom State of Nigeria.
Territorial dispute
Nigeria and Cameroon have disputed the possession of Bakassi for some years, leading to considerable tension between the two countries. In 1981 the two countries went to the brink of war over Bakassi and another area around Lake Chad, at the other end of the two countries' common border. More armed clashes broke out in the early 1990s. In response, Cameroon took the matter to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on 29 March 1994.
The case was extremely complex, requiring the court to review diplomatic exchanges dating back over 100 years. Nigeria relied largely on Anglo-German correspondence dating from 1885 as well as treaties between the colonial powers and the indigenous rulers in the area, particularly the 1884 Treaty of Protection. Cameroon pointed to the Anglo-German treaty of 1913, which defined sphere of control in the region, as well as two agreements signed in the 1970s between Cameroon and Nigeria. These were the Yaoundé II Declaration of 4 April 1971 and the Maroua Declaration of 1 June 1975, which were devised to outline maritime boundaries between the two countries following their independence. The line was drawn through the Cross River estuary to the west of the peninsula, thereby implying Cameroonian ownership over Bakassi. However, Nigeria never ratified the agreement, while Cameroon regarded it as being in force.
ICJ verdict
The ICJ delivered its judgment on 10 October 2002, finding (based principally on the Anglo-German agreements) that sovereignty over Bakassi did indeed rest with Cameroon. It instructed Nigeria to transfer possession of the peninsula, but did not require the inhabitants to move or to change their nationality. Cameroon was thus given a substantial Nigerian population and was required to protect their rights, infrastructure and welfare.
The verdict caused consternation in Nigeria. It aroused vitriolic comments from Nigerian officials and the Nigerian media alike. Chief Richard Akinjide, a former Nigerian Attorney-General and Minister of Justice who had been a leading member of Nigeria's legal team, described the decision as "50% international law and 50% international politics", "blatantly biased and unfair", "a total disaster", and a "complete fraud". The Nigerian newspaper The Guardian went further, declaring that the judgment was "a rape and unforeseen potential international conspiracy against Nigerian territorial integrity and sovereignty" and "part of a Western ploy to foment and perpetuate trouble in Africa". The outcome of the controversy was a de facto Nigerian refusal to withdraw its troops from Bakassi and transfer sovereignty. The Nigerian government did not, however, openly reject the judgment but instead called for an agreement that would provide "peace with honour, with the interest and welfare of our people".
The ICJ judgement was backed up by the United Nations, whose charter potentially allowed sanctions or even the use of force to enforce the court's ruling. Secretary-General Kofi Annan stepped in as a mediator and chaired a tripartite summit with the two countries' presidents on 15 November 2002, which established a commission to facilitate the peaceful implementation of the ICJ's judgement. A further summit was held on 31 January 2004. This made significant progress, but the process was complicated by the opposition of Bakassi's inhabitants to being transferred to Cameroon.
Bakassian leaders threatened to seek independence if Nigeria renounced sovereignty. This secession was announced on 9 July 2006, as the "Democratic Republic of Bakassi". The decision was reportedly made at a meeting on 2 July 2006 and The Vanguard newspaper of Nigeria reported the decision to secede. The decision was reportedly made by groups of militants including Southern Cameroons under the aegis of Southern Cameroons Peoples Organisation (SCAPO), Bakassi Movement for Self-Determination (BAMOSD), and the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND).
The Biafra separatist group, Biafra Nations League (BNL), initially known as Biafra Nations Youth League, led by Princewill Chimezie Richard (known as Prince Obuka) and Ebuta Akor Takon (not the former Deputy, Ebuta Ogar Takon) moved their operational base to the peninsula, after series of warnings to the Nigeria government over the plight of the internally displaced natives and the reported killing of remnants in the peninsula by Cameroon forces. This came amid clashes between Nigerian troops and the Bakassi Strike Force, a militant group that focused on attacking Nigerian and Cameroon forces. BNL Leaders were later apprehended in the Ikang-Cameroon border area on 9 November 2016 by Nigerian troops according to the Nigeria nation newspaper; reports linked the Biafra group to the militant groups.
BNL demanded that oil companies authorized to drill for oil by Nigeria and Cameroon leave the maritime boundary area of Bakassi Peninsula. The group also threatened to attack Cameroon Forces.
Resolution
On 13 June 2006, President Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria and President Paul Biya of Cameroon resolved the dispute in talks led by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan in New York City. Obasanjo agreed to withdraw Nigerian troops within 60 days and to leave the territory completely in Cameroonian control within the next two years. Annan said, "With today's agreement on the Bakassi peninsula, a comprehensive resolution of the dispute is within our grasp. The momentum achieved must be sustained."
Nigerian withdrawal and low-level insurgency
Nigeria began to withdraw its forces, comprising some 3,000 troops, beginning 1 August 2006, and a ceremony on 14 August marked the formal handover of the northern part of the peninsula. The remainder stayed under Nigerian civil authority for two more years.
On 22 November 2007, the Nigerian Senate passed a resolution declaring that the withdrawal from the Bakassi Peninsula was illegal. The government took no action, and handed the final parts of Bakassi over to Cameroon on 14 August 2008 as planned, but a Federal High Court had stated this should be delayed until all accommodations for resettled Bakassians had been settled; the government did not seem to plan to heed this court order, and set the necessary mechanisms into motion to override it. Fishermen displaced from Bakassi were first settled in a landlocked area called New Bakassi, which they claimed was already inhabited and not suitable for fishermen like them but only for farmers. The displaced people were then moved to Akpabuyo, and eventually established a new community of Dayspring.
Despite the formal handover of Bakassi by Nigeria to Cameroon in 2006, the territory of Bakassi is still mentioned as part of the 774 local governments in Nigeria as embodied in the First Schedule, Part I of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999. After the Nigerian 2015 general elections, Nigeria's 8th National Assembly still accommodates the Calabar-South/Akpabuyo/Bakassi Federal Constituency represented by Hon. Essien Ekpeyong Ayi of the People's Democratic Party.
In the 2010s and 2020s, Biafran separatists, most importantly Biafra Nations League, still continue a low-level militant resistance against Cameroon in regards to Bakassi.See also*Bakassi conflictReferencesExternal links*[http://www.icj-cij.org/docket/index.php?pr294&codecn&p13&p23&p36&case94&k74 International Court of Justice, press release on decision]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20090813010408/http://www.thisdayonline.com/archive/2002/10/24/20021024rec01.html Nigerian Government official statement in response to the ruling][Adey]
*[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/5255246.stm BBC News report on handover, 8 August 2006]
*[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7559895.stm BBC News report on handover, 14 August 2008]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20081227230659/http://www.crossriverforum.org/bakassi.html Archive of Articles on the Bakassi conundrum]
Category:Oron people
Category:Peninsulas of Cameroon
Category:Places in Oron Nation
Category:Landforms of Nigeria
Category:Territorial disputes of Cameroon
Category:Territorial disputes of Nigeria
Category:Cameroon–Nigeria border
Category:Proposed countries
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Bestiary
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and Bear. Bodleian Library, MS. Ashmole 1511, The Ashmole Bestiary, Folio 21r, England (Peterborough?), Early 13th century.]]
" from the 13th-century bestiary known as the "Rochester Bestiary"]]
]]
A bestiary () is a compendium of beasts. Originating in the ancient world, bestiaries were made popular in the Middle Ages in illustrated volumes that described various animals and even rocks. The natural history and illustration of each beast was usually accompanied by a moral lesson. This reflected the belief that the world itself was the Word of God and that every living thing had its own special meaning. For example, the pelican, which was believed to tear open its breast to bring its young to life with its own blood, was a living representation of Jesus. Thus the bestiary is also a reference to the symbolic language of animals in Western Christian art and literature.
History
The bestiary — the medieval book of beasts — was among the most popular illuminated texts in northern Europe during the Middle Ages (about 500–1500). Medieval Christians understood every element of the world as a manifestation of God, and bestiaries largely focused on each animal's religious meaning. Much of what is in the bestiary came from the ancient Greeks and their philosophers. The earliest bestiary in the form in which it was later popularized was an anonymous 2nd-century Greek volume called the Physiologus, which itself summarized ancient knowledge and wisdom about animals in the writings of classical authors such as Aristotle's Historia Animalium and various works by Herodotus, Pliny the Elder, Solinus, Aelian and other naturalists.
Following the Physiologus, Saint Isidore of Seville (Book XII of the Etymologiae) and Saint Ambrose expanded the religious message with reference to passages from the Bible and the Septuagint. They and other authors freely expanded or modified pre-existing models, constantly refining the moral content without interest in or access to much more detail regarding the factual content. Nevertheless, the often fanciful accounts of these beasts were widely read and generally believed to be true. A few observations found in bestiaries, such as the migration of birds, were discounted by the natural philosophers of later centuries, only to be rediscovered in the modern scientific era.
Medieval bestiaries are remarkably similar in sequence of the animals of which they treat. Bestiaries were particularly popular in England and France around the 12th century and were mainly compilations of earlier texts. The Aberdeen Bestiary is one of the best known of over 50 manuscript bestiaries surviving today.
Much influence comes from the Renaissance era and the general Middle Ages, as well as modern times. The Renaissance has been said to have started around the 14th century in Italy. Bestiaries influenced early heraldry in the Middle Ages, giving ideas for charges and also for the artistic form. Bestiaries continue to give inspiration to coats of arms created in our time.
Two illuminated Psalters, the Queen Mary Psalter (British Library Ms. Royal 2B, vii) and the Isabella Psalter (State Library, Munich), contain full Bestiary cycles. The bestiary in the Queen Mary Psalter is found in the "marginal" decorations that occupy about the bottom quarter of the page, and are unusually extensive and coherent in this work. In fact the bestiary has been expanded beyond the source in the Norman bestiary of Guillaume le Clerc to ninety animals. Some are placed in the text to make correspondences with the psalm they are illustrating.
Many decide to make their own bestiary with their own observations including knowledge from previous ones. These observations can be made in text form, as well as illustrated out. The Italian artist Leonardo da Vinci also made his own bestiary.
A volucrary is a similar collection of the symbols of birds that is sometimes found in conjunction with bestiaries. The most widely known volucrary in the Renaissance was Johannes de Cuba's Gart der Gesundheit which describes 122 birds and which was printed in 1485.
Bestiary content
The contents of medieval bestiaries were often obtained and created from combining older textual sources and accounts of animals, such as the Physiologus.
Medieval bestiaries contained detailed descriptions and illustrations of species native to Western Europe, exotic animals and what in modern times are considered to be imaginary animals. Descriptions of the animals included the physical characteristics associated with the creature, although these were often physiologically incorrect, along with the Christian morals that the animal represented. The description was then often accompanied by an artistic illustration of the animal as described in the bestiary. For example, in one bestiary the eagle is depicted in an illustration and is said to be the “king of birds.”
Bestiaries were organized in different ways based upon the sources they drew upon. The descriptions could be organized by animal groupings, such as terrestrial and marine creatures, or presented in an alphabetical manner. However, the texts gave no distinction between existing and imaginary animals. Descriptions of creatures such as dragons, unicorns, basilisk, griffin and caladrius were common in such works and found intermingled amongst accounts of bears, boars, deer, lions, and elephants. In one source, the author explains how fables and bestiaries are closely linked to one another as “each chapter of a bestiary, each fable in a collection, has a text and has a meaning.
This lack of separation has often been associated with the assumption that people during this time believed in what the modern period classifies as nonexistent or "imaginary creatures". However, this assumption is currently under debate, with various explanations being offered. Some scholars, such as Pamela Gravestock, have written on the theory that medieval people did not actually think such creatures existed but instead focused on the belief in the importance of the Christian morals these creatures represented, and that the importance of the moral did not change regardless if the animal existed or not. The historian of science David C. Lindberg pointed out that medieval bestiaries were rich in symbolism and allegory, so as to teach moral lessons and entertain, rather than to convey knowledge of the natural world.
Religious significance
naming the animals, in a detail from the 12th century Aberdeen Bestiary]]
The significance shown between animals and religion started much before bestiaries came into play. In many ancient civilizations there are references to animals and their meaning within that specific religion or mythology that we know of today. These civilizations included Egypt and their gods with the faces of animals or Greece which had symbolic animals for their godly beings, an example being Zeus and the eagle. With animals being a part of religion before bestiaries and their lessons came out, they were influenced by past observations of meaning as well as older civilizations and their interpretations.
As most of the students who read these bestiaries were monks and clerics, it is not impossible to say that there is a major religious significance within them. The bestiary was used to educate young men on the correct morals they should display. All of the animals presented in the bestiaries show some sort of lesson or meaning when presented. Much of the symbolism shown of animals. Much of what is proposed by the bestiaries mentions much of paganism because of the religious significance and time period of the medieval ages.
One of the main 'animals' mentioned in some of the bestiaries is dragons, which hold much significance in terms of religion and meaning. The unnatural part of dragon's history shows how important the church can be during this time. Much of what is covered in the article talks about how the dragon that is mentioned in some of the bestiaries shows a glimpse of the religious significance in many of these tales. (Pocol Press, 2009) borrows from the medieval bestiary tradition to impart moral lessons about the environment. Caspar Henderson's The Book of Barely Imagined Beings (Granta 2012, University of Chicago Press 2013), subtitled "A 21st Century Bestiary", explores how humans imagine animals in a time of rapid environmental change. In July 2014, Jonathan Scott wrote The Blessed Book of Beasts, Eastern Christian Publications, featuring 101 animals from the various translations of the Bible, in keeping with the tradition of the bestiary found in the writings of the Saints, including Saint John Chrysostom. In today's world there is a discipline called cryptozoology which is the study of unknown species. This discipline can be linked to medieval bestiaries because in many cases the unknown animals can be the same, as well as having meaning or significance behind them.
The lists of monsters to be found in video games (such as NetHack, Dragon Quest, and Monster Hunter), as well as some tabletop role-playing games such as Pathfinder, are often termed bestiaries.
See also
* Allegory in the Middle Ages
* List of medieval bestiaries
* Marine counterparts of land creatures
* Animal representation in Western medieval art
References
*“Animal Symbolism (Illustrated).” OpenSIUC, https://opensiuc.lib.siu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article2505&contextocj. Accessed 5 March 2022.
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*Morrison, Elizabeth, and Larisa Grollemond. “An Introduction to the Bestiary, Book of Beasts in the Medieval World (article).” Khan Academy, https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/medieval-world/beginners-guide-to-medieval-europe/manuscripts/a/an-introduction-to-the-bestiary-book-of-beasts-in-the-medieval-world. Accessed 2 March 2022.
*Morrison, Elizabeth. “Beastly tales from the medieval bestiary.” The British Library, https://www.bl.uk/medieval-english-french-manuscripts/articles/beastly-tales-from-the-medieval-bestiary . Accessed 2 March 2022.
*“The Renaissance | Boundless World History.” Lumen Learning, LumenCandela, https://courses.lumenlearning.com/boundless-worldhistory/chapter/the-renaissance/. Accessed 5 March 2022.
* "[http://penelope.uchicago.edu/~grout/encyclopaedia_romana/britannia/anglo-saxon/flowers/bestiary.html The Medieval Bestiary]", by James Grout, part of the Encyclopædia Romana.
* McCulloch, Florence. (1962) Medieval Latin and French Bestiaries.
* Clark, Willene B. and Meradith T. McMunn. eds. (1989) Beasts and Birds of the Middle Ages. The Bestiary and its Legacy.
* Payne, Ann. (1990) Mediaeval Beasts.
* George, Wilma and Brunsdon Yapp. (1991) The Naming of the Beasts: Natural History in the Medieval Bestiary.
* Benton, Janetta Rebold. (1992) The Medieval Menagerie: Animals in the Art of the Middle Ages.
* Lindberg, David C. (1992) The Beginnings of Western Science. The European Tradition in Philosophhical, Religious and Institutional Context, 600 B. C. to A. D. 1450
* Flores, Nona C. (1993) "The Mirror of Nature Distorted: The Medieval Artist's Dilemma in Depicting Animals".
* Hassig, Debra (1995) Medieval Bestiaries: Text, Image, Ideology.
* Gravestock, Pamela. (1999) "Did Imaginary Animals Exist?"
* Hassig, Debra, ed. (1999) The Mark of the Beast: The Medieval Bestiary in Art, Life, and Literature.
Notes
External links
* [http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/HistSciTech.Bestiary The Bestiary: The Book of Beasts], T.H. White's translation of a medieval bestiary in the Cambridge University library; digitized by the University of Wisconsin–Madison libraries.
* [http://bestiary.ca/ The Medieval Bestiary] online, edited by David Badke.
* [http://www.kb.dk/elib/mss/gks3466/index.htm The Bestiaire of Philippe de Thaon] at the National Library of Denmark.
* [http://www.kb.dk/elib/mss/gks1633/index.htm The Bestiary of Anne Walshe] at the National Library of Denmark.
* [http://www.abdn.ac.uk/bestiary/bestiary.hti The Aberdeen Bestiary] at the University of Aberdeen.
* [http://expositions.bnf.fr/bestiaire/expo/index.htm Exhibition (in English, but French version is fuller) at the Bibliothèque nationale de France]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20150913011011/http://www.christiansymbols.net/index.php Christian Symbology] Animals and their meanings in Christian texts.
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20051125101448/http://www.theoi.com/Bestiary.html Bestiairy - Monsters & Fabulous Creatures of Greek Myth & Legend with pictures]
Category:Types of illuminated manuscript
Category:Medieval European legendary creatures
Category:Medieval literature
Category:Zoology
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The Ballad of the Green Berets
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| length = 2:27
| label = RCA Victor
| writer =
| producer Andy Wiswell
| prev_title | prev_year
| next_title = The A Team
| next_year = 1966
}}
"The Ballad of the Green Berets" is a 1966 patriotic song in the ballad style about the United States Army Special Forces. Written and performed by Staff Sergeant Barry Sadler, it was one of the few popular songs of the Vietnam War years to cast the military in a positive light. Sadler's version became a major hit in January 1966, reaching No. 1 for five weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 and four weeks on Cashbox. It was also a crossover hit, reaching No. 1 on Billboard Easy Listening chart and No. 2 on Billboard Country survey.
Sadler began writing the song when he was training to be a Special Forces medic. The author Robin Moore, who wrote the book The Green Berets, helped him write the lyrics and later sign a recording contract with RCA Records. The demo of the song was produced in a rudimentary recording studio at Fort Bragg, North Carolina with the help of Gerry Gitell and LTG William P. Yarborough.
The lyrics were written, in part, in honor of U.S. Army Specialist 5 James Gabriel Jr., a Special Forces operator and the first native Hawaiian to die in Vietnam. Gabriel was killed by Viet Cong gunfire while on a training mission with the South Vietnamese Army on April 8, 1962. One verse mentioned Gabriel by name, but it was not used in the recorded version.
Sadler recorded the song and eleven other tunes with Sid Bass at RCA's 24th Street Studios in New York City on December 18, 1965. The song and album, Ballads of the Green Berets, were released in January 1966. He performed the song on television on January 30, 1966, on The Ed Sullivan Show, and on other TV shows including The Hollywood Palace and The Jimmy Dean Show.
Popularity
In the United States, "The Ballad of the Green Berets" topped the Billboard Hot 100 in March 1966, staying at No. 1 for five weeks. When Billboard later revised its year-end rankings for 1966, the song was re-ranked at No. 1; since then, Billboard has recognized "The Ballad of the Green Berets" as the top Hot 100 song of that year. On Cash Box 1966 year-end chart, "The Ballad of the Green Berets" tied for first with "California Dreamin'" by the Mamas and the Papas. It was also the No. 21 song of the 1960s as ranked by Joel Whitburn. The single sold more than nine million copies; the album, more than two million.
"The Ballad of the Green Berets" has been one of the four primary marching tunes of the Fightin' Texas Aggie Band since at least the 1980s.
In film
The song is heard in a choral rendition by Ken Darby in the 1968 John Wayne film The Green Berets, based on Robin Moore's book. The film's score was not released as an album until Film Score Monthly released it in 2005. A movie tie-in featuring artwork from the film and a cover version by Ennio Morricone was released in Europe, though the album's other tracks were from A Fistful of Dollars and For a Few Dollars More. In The Many Saints of Newark, while Dickie Moltisanti is driving over in his car to meet Harold McBrayer for the first time, "The Ballad of the Green Berets" is playing on the radio.
The cast of the 2018 movie 12 Strong sing the tune as their Chinook helicopter takes off.
This song is featured in the 1979 film More American Graffiti, during the first sequence of Terry the Toad's New Year's Eve in 1965 Vietnam.
The song is featured prominently as a prop (with French lyrics unrelated to the American lyrics), in the opening scene of the French-produced Netflix biopic miniseries about Bernard Tapie eponymously titled Tapie. Other versions derivatives
Many other American recording artists did their own versions of the song ranging from Kate Smith and Duane Eddy to unknown artists singing on various drugstore records.
Many versions in other languages are rewritten to reference local units; these include:
* A German version (Hundert Mann und ein Befehl), sung by Freddy Quinn and later again by Heidi Brühl had considerable success in Germany. The German version is a song against the war. Freddy Quinn sings the song from the point of view of a reluctant but forced soldier, Heidi Brühl from the point of view of the crying girlfriend of the soldier. Freddy Quinn's version was later recorded by Welle: Erdball and also by Cryptic Wintermoon.
* The Royal Netherlands Army's Korps Commandotroepen (KCT) use the original lyrics with a couple changes referencing the Netherlands. This version is sung to recruits who have successfully completed the harsh Basic Commando Training (ECO), and who receive their Green Beret.
* The Residents recorded a cover of the song for the album ''The Third Reich 'n Roll as a part of "Hitler was a Vegetarian"
* Rhodesian singer-songwriter John Edmond recorded the "Ballad of the Green Berets" with reference to the soldiers of the Rhodesian Light Infantry (RLI), commando-style fireforce units of Rhodesian Security Forces who wore berets of green color, with a slight difference in the chorus, saying "These are men, of The Fatherland’s Best." & "Make him one of The Fatherlands best''" A "Ballad of the Red Beret" was sung by the Rhodesian Ministry of Internal Affairs at their battlecamp in Chikurubi. In South Africa, the "Ballad of the Green Berets" was recorded as the "Ballad of the Maroon Berets". The Maroon beret is a symbol of the South African Special Forces Brigade and the South African 44 Parachute Regiment. Also this song was re-recorded by South African opera singer Leonore Veenemans as "My Land Suid-Afrika".
* The Swedish version "Balladen om den blå baskern" is a salute to the Swedish soldiers serving in the United Nations' peace-keeping forces (the Blue Berets). It was sung by Anita Lindblom.
* The Italian version is called La Ballata del Soldato, sung by Quartetto Cetra.
* Since 2004, the Infantry Officer's School of the Swiss Armed Forces uses a quadrlingual (German, French, Italian and Rumansch) version of the song, Die Infanterieballade (The Infantry Ballad), as their anthem. The lyrics were written by cadets from all linguistical regions of Switzerland. It is sung everyday onwards to the morning roll call, before the National Anthem.
* In 1966, Bernard Tapy (real name Bernard Tapie, businessman and politician), recorded an adaptation in French as "Passeport pour le soleil"
* The official song of the Portuguese Paratroopers a.k.a. "Boinas Verdes" ("Green Berets") uses the melody with Português-language lyrics
* The Ukrainian version 2015 100 Soldiers. Lyrics by Oleksa Nehrebets'kyi.
* The Finnish version titled "Balladi punaisista bareteista" was released in 1966 by Kivikasvot.
* The Norwegian version "Balladen om den grønne beret" (both Norwegian and English lyrics) is about the Garrison of Sør-Varanger (GSV). They monitor the border between Norway and Russia 24/7. Their motto is "VOGT OG VERN" (GUARD AND PROTECT).
Parodies or humorous use
}}
* In 1968, The Beach Bums, an ad hoc group featuring a young Bob Seger, recorded "The Ballad of the Yellow Beret", chronicling the adventures of a draft dodger. The record was withdrawn after a cease and desist letter from Sadler.
* The Residents parodied the song on their Third Reich & Roll album.
Charts
{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders"
|+Chart performance for "The Ballad of the Green Berets"
! scope="col"| Chart (1966)
! scope="col"| Peak<br />position
|-
!scope"row"|Germany (Official German Charts)
|style="text-align:center"|4
|-
|-
!scope"row"|South Africa (Springbok Radio SA Top 20)
|style="text-align:center"|1
|-
|-
|-
|-
|}
Certifications
References Further reading * Collins, Ace (2003). ''Songs Sung, Red, White, and Blue: The Stories Behind America's Best-Loved Patriotic Songs. HarperResource. . External links
* [http://marcleepson.com/sadler/index.html Ballad of the Green Berets: The Life and Wars of Army Staff Sergeant Barry Sadler] by Marc Leepson (Stackpole Books, 2017)
* [ Ballads of the Green Berets''] at AllMusic
* [http://joangushin.net/pass.html "Soon This Will Pass"] sung by Joan Gibbs at Barbara Joan Gushin
Category:Songs of the Vietnam War
Category:American patriotic songs
Category:Pop ballads
Category:Barry Sadler songs
Category:Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles
Category:Cashbox number-one singles
Category:Number-one singles in South Africa
Category:Songs about the military
Category:1966 singles
Category:1966 songs
Category:Anita Lindblom songs
Category:RCA Victor singles
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Baroque dance
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thumb|right|250px|Final plate of the minuet from Kellom Tomlinson's dancing manual The Art of Dancing Explained (London, 1735)
Baroque dance is dance of the Baroque era (roughly 1600–1750), closely linked with Baroque music, theatre, and opera.
English country dance
The majority of surviving choreographies from the period are English country dances, such as those in the many editions of Playford's The Dancing Master. Playford only gives the floor patterns of the dances, with no indication of the steps. However, other sources of the period, such as the writings of the French dancing-masters Feuillet and Lorin, indicate that steps more complicated than simple walking were used at least some of the time.
English country dance survived well beyond the Baroque era and eventually spread in various forms across Europe and its colonies, and to all levels of society.
The French Noble style
thumb|200px|right|A costume design for Louis XIV as The Rising Sun, from the final entrée of Le Ballet de la Nuit (1653)
The great innovations in dance in the 17th century originated at the French court under Louis XIV, and it is here that we see the first clear stylistic ancestor of classical ballet. The same basic technique was used both at social events, and as theatrical dance in court ballets and at public theaters. The style of dance is commonly known to modern scholars as the French noble style or belle danse (French, literally "beautiful dance"), however it is often referred to casually as baroque dance in spite of the existence of other theatrical and social dance styles during the baroque era.
Primary sources include more than three hundred choreographies in Beauchamp–Feuillet notation, as well as manuals by Raoul Auger Feuillet and Pierre Rameau in France, Kellom Tomlinson, P. Siris, and John Weaver in England, and Gottfried Taubert in Germany (i.e. Leipzig, Saxony). This wealth of evidence has allowed modern scholars and dancers to recreate the style, although areas of controversy still exist. The standard modern introduction is Hilton.
French dance types include:
Allemande (Descendant of a traditional German dances)
Bourrée
Canarie (Canary) (Of Spanish origin)
Chaconne (Actually of Spanish origin)
(French) Courante
Entrée grave
Forlane (Forlana)
Gavotte
Gigue
Loure (slow gigue)
Menuet (minuet)
Musette
Passacaille or Pasacalle (passacaglia) (Of Spanish origin, traditionally a guitar piece)
Passepied
Polonaise (Of Polish origin)
Rigaudon
Sarabande (Of Spanish origin)
Tambourin
The English, working in the French style, added their own hornpipe to this list.
Many of these dance types are familiar from baroque music, perhaps most spectacularly in the stylized suites of J. S. Bach. Note, however, that the allemandes, that occur in these suites do not correspond to a French dance from the same period.
Theatrical dance
The French noble style was danced both at social events and by professional dancers in theatrical productions such as opera-ballets and court entertainments. However, 18th-century theatrical dance had at least two other styles: comic or grotesque, and semi-serious.
Other social dance styles
Other dance styles, such as the Italian and Spanish dances of the period, are much less well studied than either English country dance or the French style. The general picture seems to be that during most of the 17th century, a style of late Renaissance dance was widespread, but as time progressed, French ballroom dances such as the minuet were widely adopted at fashionable courts. Beyond this, the evolution and cross-fertilisation of dance styles is an area of ongoing research.
Modern reconstructions
thumb|Young ladies enjoying a Time Travelers' Ball – dances from the 15th to early 20th century including Baroque
The revival of baroque music in the 1960s and '70s sparked renewed interest in 17th and 18th century dance styles. While some 300 of these dances had been preserved in Beauchamp–Feuillet notation, it wasn't until the mid-20th century that serious scholarship commenced in deciphering the notation and reconstructing the dances.
Perhaps best known among these pioneers was Britain's Melusine Wood, who published several books on historical dancing in the 1950s. Wood passed her research on to her student Belinda Quirey, and also to Pavlova Company ballerina and choreographer Mary Skeaping (1902–1984). The latter became well known for her reconstructions of baroque ballets for London's "Ballet for All" company in the 1960s.
The leading figures of the second generation of historical dance research include Shirley Wynne and her Baroque Dance Ensemble which was founded at Ohio State University in the early 1970s and Wendy Hilton (1931–2002), a student of Belinda Quirey who supplemented the work of Melusine Wood with her own research into original sources.
A native of Britain, Hilton arrived in the U.S. in 1969 joining the faculty of the Juilliard School in 1972 and establishing her own baroque dance workshop at Stanford University in 1974 which endured for more than 25 years.
Catherine Turocy (b. circa 1950) began her studies in Baroque dance in 1971 as a student of dance historian Shirley Wynne. She founded The New York Baroque Dance Company in 1976 with Ann Jacoby, and the company has since toured internationally. In 1982/83 as part of the French national celebration of Jean Philippe Rameau's 300th birthday, Turocy choreographed the first production of Jean-Philippe Rameau's Les Boréades - it was never performed during the composer's lifetime. This French supported production with John Eliot Gardiner, conductor, and his orchestra was directed by Jean Louis Martinoty. Turocy has been decorated as Chevalier in the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French government.
In 1973, French dance historian Francine Lancelot (1929–2003) began her formal studies in ethnomusicology which later led her to research French traditional dance forms and eventually Renaissance and Baroque dances. In 1980, at the invitation of the French Minister of Culture, she founded the baroque dance company "Ris et Danceries". Her work in choreographing the landmark 1986 production of Lully's 1676 tragedie-lyrique Atys was part of the national celebration of the 300th anniversary of Lully's death. This production propelled the career of William Christie and his ensemble Les Arts Florissants. Since the Ris et Danseries company was disbanded circa 1993, choreographers from the company have continued with their own work. Béatrice Massin with her "Compagnie Fetes Galantes", along with Marie-Geneviève Massé and her company "L'Eventail" are among the most prominent. In 1995 Francine Lancelot's catalogue raisonné of baroque dance, entitled La Belle Dance, was published.
References
External links
BaroqueDance.info - background information, period dancing manuals, and a large collection of links
The Calendar of Early Dance - information about upcoming baroque events, choreographies and photo galleries
Dance
Category:European court festivities
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baroque_dance
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Borzoi
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}}
|country = Russia
|weight }}
|maleweight |femaleweight
|height |maleheight }}
|femaleheight }}
|coat = medium length, silky and wavy, short length
|colour = any colour
|litter_size up to 11
|life_span |fcistd https://www.fci.be/nomenclature/Standards/193g10-en.pdf
}}
The Borzoi or Russian Hunting Sighthound is a Russian breed of hunting dog of sighthound type. It was formerly used for wolf hunting; until 1936, the breed was known as the Russian Wolfhound. Etymology The system by which Russians over the ages named their sighthounds was a series of descriptive terms rather than actual names. is the masculine singular form of an archaic Russian adjective that means 'fast'. ('fast dog') is the basic term for sighthounds used by Russians, though is usually dropped. The name derived from the word , which means 'wavy, silky coat', just as (as in hortaya borzaya) means shorthaired. In modern Russian, the breed commonly called the Borzoi is officially known as . Other Russian sighthound breeds are (from the steppe), called ; and (from the Crimea), called . History The Borzoi originated in the sixteenth century Russia by crossing Saluki and European sighthounds with thick-coated Russian breeds.
The Borzoi was popular with the Tsars before the 1917 revolution. For centuries, Borzois could not be purchased but only given as gifts from the Tsar. Grand Duke Nicholas Nicolaievich of Russia bred countless Borzoi at Perchino, his private estate.
The Russkaya Psovaya Borzaya was definitively accepted by the Fédération Cynologique Internationale in 1956.
<gallery mode"packed" heights"170px" style="text-align:left; font-size:93%">
File:1879 Borzoi Flock.jpg|Borzoi owned by Max Hartenstein, Berlin, Germany, 1879
Borzo by a Chair-George Hare.jpg|Borzo by a Chair (St George Hare, 19th century)
File:Tikhmenev (1904) Wolf hunt with borzois.jpg|Wolf hunting with borzois (1904), Efim A. Tikhmenev
File:Sarah Bernhardt Clairin Henderson.jpg|Sarah Bernhardt, portrait by Georges Clairin
</gallery>
Description
Appearance
Borzois are large Russian sighthounds that resemble some central Asian breeds such as the Afghan hound, Saluki, and the Kyrgyz Taigan. Borzois come in a variety of colours. The Borzoi coat is silky and flat, often wavy or slightly curly. The long top-coat is quite flat, with varying degrees of waviness or curling. The soft undercoat thickens during winter or in cold climates, but is shed in hot weather to prevent overheating. In its texture and distribution over the body, the Borzoi coat is unique. There should be a frill on its neck, as well as feathering on its hindquarters and tail. Temperament The Borzoi is an affectionate and athletic breed of dog with a calm temperament.
In terms of obedience, Borzois are selective learners who quickly become bored with repetitive activity, and they can be difficult to motivate. Nevertheless, Borzois are definitely capable of enjoying and performing well in competitive obedience and agility trials with the right kind of training.Coat gallery
<gallery caption"Coat colours" modepacked heights125px style "text-align:left; font-size:93%">
File:Medalowy borgoj.jpg|Red
File:Borzoi black female.png|Black
File:Three Borzoi.jpg|White and yellow-and-white
File:Borzoi red & white.jpg|Red and white
File:Black and white borzoi.jpg|Black and white
File:Borzoi 600.jpg|White and brown
File:Kidai.jpg|White and grey
File:Borzoi portrait Flickr.jpg|White and sandy
</gallery>
Health
A 2024 UK study found an average life expectancy of 12 years for Borzois, with a sample size of 43, compared to 12.7 for purebreds and 12 for mongrels.
An American study looking at echocardiographs of clinically healthy Borzoi found 53.8% to have heart murmurs, 30.2% to have trace or mild mitral regurgitation, 36.1% to have mild tricuspid regurgitation, and 14.4% to have cardiac disease.
Notes
borzói, meaning 'swift' in Russian; English plural either 'Borzoi' or 'Borzois'}}
}}
}}
References
Further reading
* Including a translation of The Perchino Hunt by His Excellency Dmitri Walzoff (1912).
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Category:FCI breeds
Category:Sighthounds
Category:Wolf hunting
Category:Rare dog breeds
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borzoi
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Basenji
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|country = Democratic Republic of the Congo
<!-----Traits----->
|weight |maleweight
|femaleweight
|height |maleheight
|femaleheight
|coat = short and fine
|colour |litter_size
|life_span = 14–16 years
<!-----Classification and standards----->
| fcistd = http://www.fci.be/Nomenclature/Standards/043g05-en.pdf
}}<!-- End infobox -->
The Basenji () is a breed of hunting dog created from stock that originated in Central Africa, including in the Republic of the Congo and other adjacent tropical African countries. The Fédération Cynologique Internationale places the Basenji in the Spitz and "primitive types" categories, while the American Kennel Club classifies it as a hound. The breed does not bark in the traditional manner of most dogs, rather vocalising in an unusual, yodel-like "talking" sound, due to its unusually-shaped larynx. This trait earns the Basenji its nickname of "barkless" dog, a similar feature seen and heard in the New Guinea singing dog.
Basenjis are athletic small dogs that can run up to , and share many distinctive traits with the pye or pariah dog types of the Indian subcontinent. In addition to their uniquely similar vocalisations, the Basenji, the Australian dingo and the aforementioned New Guinea singing dog all only come-into estrus once per year, as does the Tibetan Mastiff; other dog breeds may have two or more breeding seasons each year. Basenjis lack a distinctive odor, or "dog smell".NameIn Swahili, translates to "savage dog". Another local name is ''m'bwa m'kube, 'mbwa wa mwitu'' "wild dog", or "dog that jumps up and down", a reference to their tendency to jump straight up to spot their quarry.
The dogs are also known to the Azande of South Sudan as .LineageThe Basenji has been identified as a basal breed that predates the emergence of the modern breeds in the 19th century. where it has been identified with Egyptian depictions of dogs with curled tails and erect ears, a breed called Tesem which is found in murals as old as 4,500 years.
Europeans first described the breed which became the Basenji in 1895 in the Congo. These dogs were prized by locals for their intelligence, courage, speed, and silence.
Several attempts were made to introduce the breed into England, but the earliest imports succumbed to disease. In 1923 six Basenjis were taken from Sudan, but all six died from distemper shots received in quarantine. It was not until the 1930s that foundation stock was successfully established in England, and then in the United States by animal importer Henry Trefflich. It is likely that nearly all the Basenjis in the Western world are descended from these few original imports. The breed was officially accepted into the AKC in 1943. In 1990, the AKC stud book was reopened to 14 new imports at the request of the Basenji Club of America. The stud book was reopened again to selected imported dogs from 1 January 2009 to 31 December 2013. An American-led expedition collected breeding stock in villages in the Basankusu area of the Democratic Republic of Congo, in 2010. Basenjis are also registered with the United Kennel Club.
The popularity of the Basenji in the United States, according to the American Kennel Club, has declined over the past decade, with the breed ranked 71st in 1999, decreasing to 84th in 2006, and to 93rd in 2011.CharacteristicsAppearance
Basenjis are small, short-haired dogs with erect ears, tightly curled tails and graceful necks. A Basenji's forehead is wrinkled, even more so when it is young or extremely excited. A Basenji's eyes are typically almond-shaped. Basenjis typically weigh about and stand at the shoulder. They are a square breed, which means they are as long as they are tall with males usually larger than females. Basenjis are athletic dogs, and deceptively powerful for their size.
The FCI standard states that when moving their legs should be: 'carried straight forward with a swift, long, tireless, swinging stride.' Basenjis come in a few different colorations: red, black, tricolor, and brindle, and they all have white feet, chests and tail tips.
Temperament and behavior
The Basenji is alert, energetic, curious and reserved with strangers. The Basenji tends to become emotionally attached to a single human. Basenjis may not get along with non-canine pets. Basenjis dislike wet weather, much like cats, and will often refuse to go outside in any sort of damp conditions. They like to climb, and can easily scale chain wire/link fences.
Basenjis often stand on their hind legs, somewhat like a meerkat, by themselves or leaning on something; this behavior is often observed when the dog is curious about something. Basenjis have a strong prey drive. According to the book The Intelligence of Dogs, they are the second least trainable dog, when required to do human commands (behind only the Afghan Hound). Their real intelligence manifests when they are required to actually solve problems for the sake of the dogs' own goals (such as food, or freedom).
Basenjis are highly prey driven and will go after cats and other small animals.
Health
There is only one completed health survey of dog breeds, including the Basenji, that was conducted by the UK Kennel Club in 2004. The survey indicated the prevalence of diseases in Basenjis with dermatitis (9% of responses), incontinence and bladder infection (5%), hypothyroidism (4%), pyometra and infertility (4%).LongevityBasenjis in the 2004 UK Kennel Club survey had a median lifespan of 13.6 years (sample size of 46 deceased dogs), is unusually common in Basenjis. Symptoms include excessive drinking, excessive urination, and glucose in the urine, which may lead to a misdiagnosis of diabetes. Fanconi syndrome usually presents between 4 and 8 years of age, but sometimes as early as 3 years or as late as 10 years. Fanconi syndrome is treatable and organ damage is reduced if treatment begins early. Basenji owners are advised to test their dog's urine for glucose once a month beginning at the age of 3 years. Glucose testing strips designed for human diabetics are inexpensive and available at most pharmacies. A Fanconi disease management protocol has been developed that can be used by veterinarians to treat Fanconi-afflicted dogs.
Other Basenji health issues
Basenjis sometimes carry a simple recessive gene that, when homozygous for the defect, causes genetic hemolytic anemia. Most 21st-century Basenjis are descended from ancestors that have tested clean. When lineage from a fully tested line (set of ancestors) cannot be completely verified, the dog should be tested before breeding. As this is a non-invasive DNA test, a Basenji can be tested for HA at any time.
Basenjis sometimes suffer from hip dysplasia, resulting in loss of mobility and arthritis-like symptoms. All dogs should be tested by either OFA or PennHIP prior to breeding.
Malabsorption, or immunoproliferative enteropathy, is an autoimmune intestinal disease that leads to anorexia, chronic diarrhea, and even death. A special diet can improve the quality of life for afflicted dogs.
The breed can also fall victim to progressive retinal atrophy (a degeneration of the retina causing blindness) and several less serious hereditary eye problems such as coloboma (a hole in the eye structure), and persistent pupillary membrane (tiny threads across the pupil).
<gallery widths"200" heights"200" perrow"5" caption"Basenji">
File:Trindle basenji.jpg|Trindle Basenji
File:Basenjis Charly e Bravo a sette mesi.jpg|A pair of red Basenjis
File:Billy Basenji.jpg|A black and white Basenji
</gallery>
In popular culture
* In Nyanga mythology, Rukuba was a talking Basenji and the pet of the fire god Nyamuriri. A man named either Nkhango or Mikhango convinced Rukuba to help him steal fire for his people. Angered by this, Nyamuriri sent his dog away. In some versions, he also takes the dog's ability to speak. In most versions, Rukuba is still able to speak when he goes to live with the Nyanga, but refuses to do so anymore once Nkhango tries to make him a messenger for the village.
* The title character of the 1954 novel Good-bye, My Lady, by James H. Street, is a Basenji (female). The book was made into a film of the same name in 1956, with a cast that included Brandon deWilde, Walter Brennan, and Sidney Poitier. Several Basenjis were used in the lead role, the main "star" being "My Lady of the Congo" a six-month-old Basenji bred by Veronica Tudor-Williams of Molesey, England. She was followed by four other young Basenjis to act as doubles including her sibling, "My Lord of the Congo", and "Flageolet of the Congo", (who would become an International Champion). "My Lady" did most of the scenes.
* The true story of a Basenji was featured in the episode "The Cat Came Back" on the radio program This American Life.
* Basenjis are featured in the fourth episode ("Tyler Tucker, I Presume?") of the third season of the animated television series The Wild Thornberrys. Nigel Thornberry encounters a group of tribesmen along with their Congolese hunting dogs. The series's director, Mark Risley, owns several Basenjis, and his dogs provided the recorded voices for their animated counterparts.
* An episode of Pound Puppies, "The Pups Who Loved Me", revolves around a Basenji secret agent character by the name of Bondo. The dog is drawn with an appropriate likeness, but appears to bark, which is uncharacteristic of the breed.
* Basenjis are featured in the first part of The Apu Trilogy (India).
* A Basenji dog is one of the main protagonists of the novel August Magic by Veronica Anne Starbuck.
* Anubis, the barkless dog, is a Basenji dog featured in the horror movies Soulmate and Tales of Halloween.
* Yodels, Wails and Basenji Tails – the 1998 book that features a compilation of Basenji stories.
* The Story of Tongdaeng by His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand features one of his pets Tongdaeng, the Basenji like, Thai street dog.
* So Quiet on the Canine Front and Trader Hound, movie shorts of the Dogville Comedies series, contain trained dogs as actors, two of which are Basenjis.
See also
* Dogs portal
* List of dog breeds
* African village dog
* Indian pariah dog
* Pariah dog
* New Guinea singing dog
References
External links
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Category:Dog breeds originating in Africa
Category:Dog breeds originating in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
Category:FCI breeds
Category:Rare dog breeds
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basenji
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Brit milah
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The brit milah (}}, , ; "covenant of circumcision") or bris (}}, ) is the ceremony of circumcision in Judaism and Samaritanism, during which the foreskin is surgically removed. According to the Book of Genesis, God commanded the biblical patriarch Abraham to be circumcised, an act to be followed by his male descendants on the eighth day of life, symbolizing the covenant between God and the Jewish people. in Jewish theology, the extinction of the soul and denial of a share in the world to come. Brit is understood by Jews to signify acceptance into the covenant between God and the Jewish people, "In Jewish history, the banning of circumcision (brit milah) has historically been a first step toward more extreme and violent forms of persecution". Circumcision rates are near-universal among Jews.
Brit Milah also has immense importance in other religions. The Gospel of Luke records that Mary and Joseph, the parents of Jesus, had him undergo circumcision.
Origins (unknown to 515 BCE)
The origin of circumcision is not known with certainty; however, artistic and literary evidence from ancient Egypt suggests it was practiced in the ancient Near East from at least the Sixth Dynasty (–2181 BCE). According to some scholars, it appears that it only appeared as a sign of the covenant during the Babylonian Exile. Scholars who posit the existence of a hypothetical J source (likely composed during the seventh century BCE) of the Pentateuch in Genesis 15 hold that it would not have mentioned a covenant that involves the practice of circumcision. Only in the P source (likely composed during the sixth century BCE) of Genesis 17 does the notion of circumcision become linked to a covenant.
Some scholars have argued that it originated as a replacement for child sacrifice.
Biblical references
According to the Hebrew Bible, Adonai commanded the biblical patriarch Abraham to be circumcised, an act to be followed by his descendants:
Leviticus 12:3 says: "And in the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised."
According to the Hebrew Bible, it was "a reproach" for an Israelite to be uncircumcised. The plural term ("uncircumcised") is used opprobriously, denoting the Philistines and other non-Israelites and used in conjunction with (unpure) for heathen. The word ("uncircumcised" [singular]) is also employed for "impermeable"; it is also applied to the first three years' fruit of a tree, which is forbidden.
However, the Israelites born in the wilderness after the Exodus from Egypt were not circumcised. Joshua 5:2–9, explains, "all the people that came out" of Egypt were circumcised, but those "born in the wilderness" were not. Therefore, Joshua, before the celebration of the Passover, had them circumcised at Gilgal specifically before they entered Canaan. Abraham, too, was circumcised when he moved into Canaan.
The prophetic tradition emphasizes that God expects people to be good as well as pious, and that non-Jews will be judged based on their ethical behavior, see Noahide Law. Thus, Jeremiah 9:25–26 says that circumcised and uncircumcised will be punished alike by the Lord; for "all the nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel are uncircumcised in heart".
The penalty of willful non-observance is kareth (making oneself liable to extirpation or excommunication), as noted in Genesis 17:1-14. Conversion to Judaism for non-Israelites in Biblical times necessitated circumcision, otherwise one could not partake in the Passover offering. Today, as in the time of Abraham, it is required of converts in Orthodox, Conservative and Reform Judaism.
As found in Genesis 17:1–14, brit milah is considered to be so important that should the eighth day fall on the Sabbath, actions that would normally be forbidden because of the sanctity of the day are permitted in order to fulfill the requirement to circumcise. The Talmud, when discussing the importance of Milah, compares it to being equal to all other mitzvot (commandments) based on the gematria for brit of 612.
Covenants in biblical times were often sealed by severing an animal, with the implication that the party who breaks the covenant will suffer a similar fate. In Hebrew, the verb meaning "to seal a covenant" translates literally as "to cut". It is presumed by Jewish scholars that the removal of the foreskin symbolically represents such a sealing of the covenant.
Speculated reasons for biblical circumcision include to show off "patrilineal descent, sexual fertility, male initiation, cleansing of birth impurity, and dedication to God".
Ceremony
]]
Mohalim
Mohalim are Jews trained in the practice of brit milah, the "covenant of circumcision". According to traditional Jewish law, in the absence of a grown free Jewish male expert, anyone who has the required skills is also authorized to perform the circumcision, if they are Jewish. Yet, most streams of non-Orthodox Judaism allow women to be (}}, plural of }} , feminine of ), without restriction. In 1984, Deborah Cohen became the first certified Reform ; she was certified by the Berit Mila program of Reform Judaism.
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Time and place
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It is customary for the brit to be held in a synagogue, but it can also be held at home or any other suitable location. The brit is performed on the eighth day from the baby's birth, taking into consideration that according to the Jewish calendar, the day begins at the sunset of the day before. If the baby is born on Sunday before sunset, the brit will be held the following Sunday. However, if the baby is born on Sunday night after sunset, the brit is on the following Monday. The brit takes place on the eighth day following birth even if that day is Shabbat or a holiday; however, if the baby is born on Friday night between sunset and nightfall, the Berit is delayed until the following Sunday. Furthermore, the brit is performed on the Sabbath only if it is a natural birth; if the birth is a Caesarean section, the berit is delayed until Sunday. A brit is traditionally performed in the morning, but it may be performed any time during daylight hours.
Postponement for health reasons
The Talmud explicitly instructs that a boy must not be circumcised if he had two brothers who died due to complications arising from their circumcisions, and Maimonides says that this excluded paternal half-brothers. This may be due to a concern about hemophilia.
If the child is born prematurely or has other serious medical problems, the brit milah will be postponed until the doctors and mohel deem the child strong enough for his foreskin to be surgically removed.
Adult circumcision
In recent years, the circumcision of adult Jews who were not circumcised as infants has become more common than previously thought. In such cases, the brit milah will be done at the earliest date that can be arranged. The actual circumcision will be private, and other elements of the ceremony (e.g., the celebratory meal) may be modified to accommodate the desires of the one being circumcised.
Circumcision for the dead
According to Halacha, a baby who dies before they had time to circumcise him must be circumcised before burial. Several reasons were given for this commandment. Some have written that there is no need for this circumcision.
Anesthetic
Most prominent acharonim rule that the mitzvah of brit milah lies in the pain it causes, and anesthetic, sedation, or ointment should generally not be used. However, it is traditionally common to feed the infant a drop of wine or other sweet liquid to soothe him.
Eliezer Waldenberg, Yechiel Yaakov Weinberg, Shmuel Wosner, Moshe Feinstein and others agree that the child should not be sedated, although pain relieving ointment may be used under certain conditions; Shmuel Wosner particularly asserts that the act ought to be painful, per Psalm 44:23. However, lidocaine should not be used because it has been linked to several pediatric near-death episodes.
Kvatter
The title of kvater () among Ashkenazi Jews is for the person who carries the baby from the mother to the father, who in turn carries him to the mohel. This honor is usually given to a couple without children, as a merit or segula (efficacious remedy) that they should have children of their own. The origin of the term is Middle High German gevater/gevatere ("godfather").
Seudat mitzvah
After the ceremony, a celebratory meal takes place. At the birkat hamazon, according to the Eastern Asheknazic rite, additional introductory lines, known as Nodeh Leshimcha, are added. These lines praise God and request the permission of God, the Torah, Kohanim and distinguished people present to proceed with the grace. When the four main blessings are concluded, special ha-Rachaman prayers are recited. They request various blessings by God that include:
# the parents of the baby, to help them raise him wisely;
# the sandek (companion of child);
# the baby boy to have strength and grow up to trust in God and perceive Him three times a year;
# the mohel for unhesitatingly performing the ritual;
# to send the Messiah in Judaism speedily in the merit of this mitzvah;
# to send Elijah the prophet, known as "The Righteous Kohen", so that God's covenant can be fulfilled with the re-establishment of the throne of King David.
According to the Western Ashkenazic rite, Nodeh Leshimcha is not recited. Elohim tzivita li-yedidcha bechiracha is recited during the second blessing, and a set of ha-Rachaman prayers, different from the ones in the Eastern Ashkenazic rite, are recited. Ritual components Uncovering, priah
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At the neonatal stage, the inner preputial epithelium is still linked with the surface of the glans.
The mitzvah is executed only when this epithelium is either removed, or permanently peeled back to uncover the glans.
On medical circumcisions performed by surgeons, the epithelium is removed along with the foreskin, to prevent post operative penile adhesion and its complications.
However, on ritual circumcisions performed by a mohel, the epithelium is most commonly peeled off only after the foreskin has been amputated. This procedure is called priah (), which means 'uncovering'. The main goal of "priah" (also known as "bris periah"), is to remove as much of the inner layer of the foreskin as possible and prevent the movement of the shaft skin, what creates the look and function of what is known as a "low and tight" circumcision.
According to Rabbinic interpretation of traditional Jewish sources, the 'priah' has been performed as part of the Jewish circumcision since the Israelites first inhabited the Land of Israel.
The Oxford Dictionary of the Jewish Religion states that many Hellenistic Jews attempted to restore their foreskins, and that similar action was taken during the Hadrianic persecution, a period in which a prohibition against circumcision was issued. The writers of the dictionary hypothesize that the more severe method practiced today was probably begun in order to prevent the possibility of restoring the foreskin after circumcision, and therefore the rabbis added the requirement of cutting the foreskin in periah.
According to Shaye J. D. Cohen, the Torah only commands milah. David Gollaher has written that the rabbis added the procedure of priah to discourage men from trying to restore their foreskins: "Once established, priah was deemed essential to circumcision; if the mohel failed to cut away enough tissue, the operation was deemed insufficient to comply with God's covenant", and "Depending on the strictness of individual rabbis, boys (or men thought to have been inadequately cut) were subjected to additional operations."
:note: alternate spellings Metzizah are also used to refer to this.
In the Metzitzah (), the guard is slid over the foreskin as close to the glans as possible to allow for maximum removal of the former without any injury to the latter. A scalpel is used to detach the foreskin. A tube is used for metzitzah
In addition to (the initial cut amputating the akroposthion) and and subsequent circumcision, mentioned above, the Talmud (Mishnah Shabbat 19:2) mentions a third step, , translated as suction, as one of the steps involved in the circumcision rite. The Talmud writes that a "Mohel (Circumciser) who does not suck creates a danger, and should be dismissed from practice". Rashi on that Talmudic passage explains that this step is in order to draw some blood from deep inside the wound to prevent danger to the baby. Kabbalists, Rabbi Shalom Sharabi and Rabbi Isaac Luria, have written that he that performs metzitzah ought to cognizantly endeavor to draw away the 'evil inclination' that lay within the blood that is extracted.
There are other modern antiseptic and antibiotic techniques—all used as part of the brit milah today—which many say accomplish the intended purpose of metzitzah, however, since metzitzah is one of the four steps to fulfill the mitzvah, it continues to be practiced by Orthodox jews.
'' (oral suction)
The traditional method of performing metzitzah b'peh'' (, abbreviated as MBP)—or oral suction—has become controversial. The process has the mohel place his mouth directly on the infant's genital wound to draw blood away from the cut. Many circumcision ceremonies no longer use metzitzah b'peh, but Haredi Jews continue to perform it, while traditional Karaites and Beta Israel never practiced it. The practice poses a serious risk of spreading herpes to the infant. Proponents maintain that there is no conclusive evidence that links herpes to Metzitza, and that attempts to limit this practice infringe on religious freedom.
The practice has become a controversy in both secular and Jewish medical ethics. The ritual of metzitzah is found in Mishnah Shabbat 19:2, which lists it as one of the four steps involved in the circumcision rite. Rabbi Moses Sofer, also known as the Chatam Sofer (1762–1839), observed that the Talmud states that the rationale for this part of the ritual was hygienic—i.e., to protect the health of the child. As such, the Chatam Sofer issued a ruling to perform metzitzah with a sponge instead of oral suction in order to safeguard the child from potential risks. He also cited a passage in Nedarim 32a as a warrant for the position that metzitzah b’peh was not an obligatory part of the circumcision ceremony. It relates the story that a mohel (who was suspected of transmitting herpes via metzizah to infants) was checked several times and never found to have signs of the disease and that a ban was requested because of the "possibility of future infections". Moshe Schick (1807–1879), a student of Moses Sofer, states in his book of Responsa, She’eilos u’teshuvos Maharam Schick (Orach Chaim 152,) that Moses Sofer gave the ruling in that specific instance only because the mohel refused to step down and had secular government connections that prevented his removal in favor of another mohel, and the Heter may not be applied elsewhere. He also states (Yoreh Deah 244) that the practice is possibly a Sinaitic tradition, i.e., Halacha l'Moshe m'Sinai. Other sources contradict this claim, with copies of Moses Sofer's responsa making no mention of the legal case or of his ruling applying in only one situation. Rather, that responsa makes quite clear that "metzizah" was a health measure and should never be employed where there is a health risk to the infant.
Chaim Hezekiah Medini, after corresponding with the greatest Jewish sages of the generation, concluded the practice to be Halacha l'Moshe m'Sinai and elaborates on what prompted Moses Sofer to give the above ruling. He tells the story that a student of Moses Sofer, Lazar Horowitz, Chief Rabbi of Vienna at the time and author of the responsa Yad Elazer, needed the ruling because of a governmental attempt to ban circumcision completely if it included ''metztitzah b'peh. He therefore asked Sofer to give him permission to do brit milah without metzitzah b'peh. When he presented the defense in secular court, his testimony was erroneously recorded to mean that Sofer stated it as a general ruling. The Rabbinical Council of America (RCA), which claims to be the largest American organization of Orthodox rabbis, published an article by mohel Yehudi Pesach Shields in its summer 1972 issue of Tradition'' magazine, calling for the abandonment of Metzitzah b'peh. Since then the RCA has issued an opinion that advocates methods that do not involve contact between the mohel's mouth and the infant's genitals, such as the use of a sterile syringe, thereby eliminating the risk of infection. and the Edah HaChareidis ''metzitzah b'peh should still be performed.
The practice of metzitzah b'peh posed a serious risk in the transfer of herpes from mohelim to eight Israeli infants, one of whom suffered brain damage. When three New York City infants contracted herpes after metzizah b'peh by one mohel and one of them died, New York authorities took out a restraining order against the mohel'' requiring use of a sterile glass tube, or pipette. The mohel's attorney argued that the New York Department of Health had not supplied conclusive medical evidence linking his client with the disease. In September 2005, the city withdrew the restraining order and turned the matter over to a rabbinical court. Thomas Frieden, the Health Commissioner of New York City, wrote, "There exists no reasonable doubt that 'metzitzah b'peh' can and has caused neonatal herpes infection....The Health Department recommends that infants being circumcised not undergo metzitzah b'peh." In May 2006, the Department of Health for New York State issued a protocol for the performance of metzitzah b'peh. Antonia Novello, Commissioner of Health for New York State, together with a board of rabbis and doctors, worked, she said, to "allow the practice of metzizah b'peh to continue while still meeting the Department of Health's responsibility to protect the public health". Later in New York City in 2012 a 2-week-old baby died of herpes because of metzitzah b'peh.
In three medical papers done in Israel, Canada, and the US, oral suction following circumcision was suggested as a cause in 11 cases of neonatal herpes. Researchers noted that prior to 1997, neonatal herpes reports in Israel were rare, and that the late instances were correlated with the mothers carrying the virus themselves. Barriers
Because of the risk of infection, some rabbinical authorities have ruled that the traditional practice of direct contact should be replaced by using a sterile tube between the wound and the mohel's mouth, so there is no direct oral contact. The Rabbinical Council of America, the largest group of Modern Orthodox rabbis, endorses this method. The RCA paper states: "Rabbi Schachter even reports that Rav Yosef Dov Soloveitchik reports that his father, Rav Moshe Soloveitchik, would not permit a mohel to perform metzitza be’peh with direct oral contact, and that his grandfather, Rav Chaim Soloveitchik, instructed mohelim in Brisk not to do metzitza be’peh with direct oral contact. However, although Rav Yosef Dov Soloveitchik also generally prohibited metzitza be’peh with direct oral contact, he did not ban it by those who insisted upon it." The sefer Mitzvas Hametzitzah by Rabbi Sinai Schiffer of Baden, Germany, states that he is in possession of letters from 36 major Russian (Lithuanian) rabbis that categorically prohibit Metzitzah with a sponge and require it to be done orally. Among them is Rabbi Chaim Halevi Soloveitchik of Brisk.
In September 2012, the New York Department of Health unanimously ruled that the practice of metztizah b'peh should require informed consent from the parent or guardian of the child undergoing the ritual. Prior to the ruling, several hundred rabbis, including Rabbi David Niederman, the executive director of the United Jewish Organization of Williamsburg, signed a declaration stating that they would not inform parents of the potential dangers that came with metzitzah b'peh, even if informed consent became law.
In a motion for preliminary injunction with intent to sue, filed against New York City Department of Health & Mental Hygiene, affidavits by Awi Federgruen, Brenda Breuer, and Daniel S. Berman argued that the study on which the department passed its conclusions is flawed.
The "informed consent" regulation was challenged in court. In January 2013 the U.S. District court ruled that the law did not specifically target religion and therefore must not pass strict scrutiny. The ruling was appealed to the Court of Appeals.
On August 15, 2014, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the decision by the lower court, and ruled that the regulation does have to be reviewed under strict scrutiny to determine whether it infringes on Orthodox Jews' freedom of religion.
On September 9, 2015, after coming to an agreement with the community the New York City Board of Health voted to repeal the informed consent regulation.
Hatafat dam brit
A brit milah is more than circumcision; it is a sacred ritual in Judaism, as distinguished from its non-ritual requirement in Islam. One ramification is that the brit is not considered complete unless a drop of blood is actually drawn. The standard medical methods of circumcision through constriction do not meet the requirements of the halakhah for brit milah, because they are done with hemostasis, i.e., they stop the flow of blood. Moreover, circumcision alone, in the absence of the brit milah ceremony, does not fulfill the requirements of the mitzvah. Therefore, in cases involving a Jew who was circumcised outside of a brit milah, an already-circumcised convert, or an aposthetic (born without a foreskin) individual, the mohel draws a symbolic drop of blood (, ) from the penis at the point where the foreskin would have been or was attached.
''Milah L'shem Giur
city museum]]
A milah l'shem giur is a "circumcision for the purpose of conversion". In Orthodox Judaism, this procedure is usually done by adoptive parents for adopted boys who are being converted as part of the adoption or by families with young children converting together. It is also required for adult converts who were not previously circumcised, e.g., those born in countries where circumcision at birth is not common. The conversion of a minor is valid in both Orthodox and Conservative Judaism until a child reaches the age of majority (13 for a boy, 12 for a girl); at that time the child has the option of renouncing his conversion and Judaism, and the conversion will then be considered retroactively invalid. He must be informed of his right to renounce his conversion if he wishes. If he does not make such a statement, it is accepted that the boy is halakhically Jewish. Orthodox rabbis will generally not convert a non-Jewish child raised by a mother who has not converted to Judaism.
The laws of conversion and conversion-related circumcision in Orthodox Judaism have numerous complications, and authorities recommend that a rabbi be consulted well in advance.
In Conservative Judaism, the milah l'shem giur procedure is also performed for a boy whose mother has not converted, but with the intention that the child be raised Jewish. This conversion of a child to Judaism without the conversion of the mother is allowed by Conservative interpretations of halakha. Conservative Rabbis will authorize it only under the condition that the child be raised as a Jew in a single-faith household. Should the mother convert, and if the boy has not yet reached his third birthday, the child may be immersed in the mikveh with the mother, after the mother has already immersed, to become Jewish. If the mother does not convert, the child may be immersed in a mikveh, or body of natural waters, to complete the child's conversion to Judaism. This can be done before the child is even one year old. If the child did not immerse in the mikveh, or the boy was too old, then the child may choose of their own accord to become Jewish at age 13 as a Bar Mitzvah, and complete the conversion then.
* The ceremony, when performed l'shem giur, does not have to be performed on a particular day, and does not override Shabbat and Jewish Holidays.
* In Orthodox Judaism, there is a split of authorities on whether the child receives a Hebrew name at the Brit ceremony or upon immersion in the Mikvah. According to Zichron Brit LeRishonim, naming occurs at the Brit with a different formula than the standard Brit Milah. The more common practice among Ashkenazic Jews follows Rabbi Moshe Feinstein, with naming occurring at immersion.
Where the procedure was performed but not followed by immersion or other requirements of the conversion procedure (e.g., in Conservative Judaism, where the mother has not converted), if the boy chooses to complete the conversion at Bar Mitzvah, a ''milah l'shem giur performed when the boy was an infant removes the obligation to undergo either a full brit milah or hatafat dam brit''.
Visible symbol of a covenant
Rabbi Saadia Gaon considers something to be "complete" if it lacks nothing, but also has nothing that is unneeded. He regards the foreskin as an unneeded organ that God created in man, and so by amputating it, the man is completed. The author of Sefer ha-Chinuch provides three reasons for the practice of circumcision:
# To complete the form of man, by removing what he claims to be a redundant organ;
# To mark the chosen people, so that their bodies will be different as their souls are. The organ chosen for the mark is the one responsible for the sustenance of the species;
# The completion effected by circumcision is not congenital, but left to the man. This implies that as he completes the form of his body, so can he complete the form of his soul.
Talmud professor Daniel Boyarin offered two explanations for circumcision. One is that it is a literal inscription on the Jewish body of the name of God in the form of the letter "yud" (from "yesod"). The second is that the act of bleeding represents a feminization of Jewish men, significant in the sense that the covenant represents a marriage between Jews and (a symbolically male) God.
Other reasons
In Of the Special Laws, Book 1, the Jewish philosopher Philo additionally gave other reasons for the practice of circumcision.
He attributes four of the reasons to "men of divine spirit and wisdom". These include the idea that circumcision:
# Protects against disease,
# Secures cleanliness "in a way that is suited to the people consecrated to God",
# Causes the circumcised portion of the penis to resemble a heart, thereby representing a physical connection between the "breath contained within the heart [that] is generative of thoughts, and the generative organ itself [that] is productive of living beings", and
# Promotes prolificness by removing impediments to the flow of semen.<li value"5">"Is a symbol of a man's knowing himself".</li> Judaism, Christianity, and the Early Church (4 BCE – 150 CE)
The 1st-century Jewish author Philo Judaeus defended Jewish circumcision on several grounds. He thought that circumcision should be done as early as possible as it would not be as likely to be done by someone's own free will. He claimed that the foreskin prevented semen from reaching the vagina and so should be done as a way to increase the nation's population. He also noted that circumcision should be performed as an effective means to reduce sexual pleasure.
There was also division in Pharisaic Judaism between Hillel the Elder and Shammai on the issue of circumcision of proselytes.
According to the Gospel of Luke, Jesus was circumcised on the 8th day.
According to saying 53 of the Gospel of Thomas,
The foreskin was considered a symbol of beauty, civility, and masculinity throughout the Greco-Roman world; it was customary to spend an hour or so a day exercising nude in the gymnasium and in Roman baths; many Jewish men did not want to be seen in public deprived of their foreskins, where matters of business and politics were discussed. To expose one's glans in public was seen as indecent, vulgar, and a sign of sexual arousal and desire. By the period of the Maccabees, many Jewish men attempted to hide their circumcisions through the process of epispasm due to the circumstances of the period, although Jewish religious writers denounced these practices as abrogating the covenant of Abraham in 1 Maccabees and the Talmud. The notion of milah being linked to a biblical covenant is generally believed to have originated in the 6th century BCE as a product of the Babylonian captivity; the practice likely lacked this significance among Jews before the period. By 1871, Reform rabbinic leadership in Germany reasserted "the supreme importance of circumcision in Judaism", while affirming the traditional viewpoint that non-circumcised Jews are Jews nonetheless. Although the issue of circumcision of converts continues to be debated, the necessity of Brit Milah for Jewish infant boys has been stressed in every subsequent Reform rabbis manual or guide. While the Reform movement does not require the circumcision of adult male converts, it is increasingly acknowledged and practiced by many Reform communities as an important part of the conversion process. Since 1984 Reform Judaism has trained and certified over 300 of their own practicing mohalim in this ritual. By 2001, the Central Conference of American Rabbis began to recommend that male converts who are already circumcised undergo hatafat dam brit.
In Samaritanism
Samaritan brit milah occurs on the eighth day following the child's birth at the father's home. In addition to special prayers and readings from the Torah pertaining to the ritual, an old hymn that invokes blessings for parents and children is sung.
According to 19th century British explorer Conder, in their circumcision hymn, Samaritans express their gratitude for a certain Roman soldier by the name of Germon, who was sent by an unknown Roman Emperor as a sentinel over the home of the Samaritan High Priest for his kindness in allowing the process of circumcision to take place. They tried to give him money, but he refused, just requesting to be included in their future prayers instead.<ref name":17" /> See also
* Circumcision of Jesus
* Khitan (circumcision)
* History of male circumcision
Notes and references
External links
* [https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/144122/jewish/brit-milah-circumcision.htm Chabad.org's Brit Milah: The Covenant of Circumcision]
* [https://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/4391-circumcision/ Jewish Encyclopedia's entry for Circumcision]
* [https://circcentral.bobmeyer99.com/ CircCentral, an online museum of Brit Milah instruments]
Category:Circumcision
Category:Jewish life cycle
Category:Jewish medical ethics
Category:Judaism and children
Category:Judaism-related controversies
Category:Lech-Lecha
Category:Positive Mitzvoth
Category:Childhood rites of passage
Category:Hebrew words and phrases in Jewish law
Category:Talmud concepts and terminology
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Business ethics
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Business ethics (also known as corporate ethics) is a form of applied ethics or professional ethics, that examines ethical principles and moral or ethical problems that can arise in a business environment. It applies to all aspects of business conduct and is relevant to the conduct of individuals and entire organizations. These ethics originate from individuals, organizational statements or the legal system. These norms, values, ethical, and unethical practices are the principles that guide a business.
Business ethics refers to contemporary organizational standards, principles, sets of values and norms that govern the actions and behavior of an individual in the business organization. Business ethics have two dimensions, normative business ethics or descriptive business ethics. As a corporate practice and a career specialization, the field is primarily normative. Academics attempting to understand business behavior employ descriptive methods. The range and quantity of business ethical issues reflect the interaction of profit-maximizing behavior with non-economic concerns.
Interest in business ethics accelerated dramatically during the 1980s and 1990s, both within major corporations and within academia. For example, most major corporations today promote their commitment to non-economic values under headings such as ethics codes and social responsibility charters.
Adam Smith said in 1776, "People of the same trade seldom meet together, even for merriment and diversion, but the conversation ends in a conspiracy against the public, or in some contrivance to raise prices." Governments use laws and regulations to point business behavior in what they perceive to be beneficial directions. Ethics implicitly regulates areas and details of behavior that lie beyond governmental control. The emergence of large corporations with limited relationships and sensitivity to the communities in which they operate accelerated the development of formal ethics regimes.
Maintaining an ethical status is the responsibility of the manager of the business. According to a 1990 article in the Journal of Business Ethics, "Managing ethical behavior is one of the most pervasive and complex problems facing business organizations today."
This policy is based on common sense, but should not be a replacement for it.
History
Business ethics reflect the norms of each historical period. As time passes, norms evolve, causing accepted behaviors to become objectionable. Business ethics and the resulting behavior evolved as well. Business was involved in slavery, colonialism, and the Cold War.
The term 'business ethics' came into common use in the United States in the early 1970s. By the mid-1980s at least 500 courses in business ethics reached 40,000 students, using some twenty textbooks and at least ten casebooks supported by professional societies, centers and journals of business ethics. The Society for Business Ethics was founded in 1980. European business schools adopted business ethics after 1987 commencing with the European Business Ethics Network. In 1982 the first single-authored books in the field appeared.
Firms began highlighting their ethical stature in the late 1980s and early 1990s, possibly in an attempt to distance themselves from the business scandals of the day, such as the savings and loan crisis. The concept of business ethics caught the attention of academics, media and business firms by the end of the Cold War. However, criticism of business practices was attacked for infringing the freedom of entrepreneurs and critics were accused of supporting communists. This scuttled the discourse of business ethics both in media and academia. The Defense Industry Initiative on Business Ethics and Conduct (DII) was created to support corporate ethical conduct. This era began the belief and support of self-regulation and free trade, which lifted tariffs and barriers and allowed businesses to merge and divest in an increasing global atmosphere.
Religious and philosophical origins
One of the earliest written treatments of business ethics is found in the Tirukkuṛaḷ, a Tamil book dated variously from 300 BCE to the 7th century CE and attributed to Thiruvalluvar. Many verses discuss business ethics, in particular, verse 113, adapting to a changing environment in verses 474, 426, and 140, learning the intricacies of different tasks in verses 462 and 677.
Overview
Business ethics reflects the philosophy of business, of which one aim is to determine the fundamental purposes of a company. Business purpose expresses the company's reason for existing. Modern discussion on the purpose of business has been freshened by views from thinkers such as Richard R. Ellesworth, Peter Drucker, and Nikos Mourkogiannis: Earlier views such as Milton Friedman's held that the purpose of a business organization is to make a profit for shareholders. Nevertheless, the purpose of maximizing shareholder's wealth often "fails to energize employees". In practice, many non-shareholders also benefit from a firm's economic activity, among them employees through contractual compensation and its broader impact, consumers by the tangible or non-tangible value derived from their purchase choices; society as a whole through taxation and/or the company's involvement in social action when it occurs. Friedman also said, "the only entities who can have responsibilities are individuals ... A business cannot have responsibilities. So the question is, do corporate executives, provided they stay within the law, have responsibilities in their business activities other than to make as much money for their stockholders as possible? And my answer to that is, no, they do not." This view is known as the Friedman doctrine. A multi-country 2011 survey found support for this view among the "informed public" ranging from 30 to 80%. Ronald Duska and Jacques Cory have described Friedman's argument as consequentialist or utilitarian rather than pragmatic: Friedman's argument implies that unrestrained corporate freedom would benefit the most people in the long term. Duska argued that Friedman failed to differentiate two very different aspects of business: (1) the motive of individuals, who are generally motivated by profit to participate in business, and (2) the socially sanctioned purpose of business, or the reason why people allow businesses to exist, which is to provide goods and services to people. So Friedman was wrong that making a profit is the only concern of business, Duska argued. However, Drucker in another instance said that the ultimate responsibility of company directors is not to harm—primum non nocere.
Philosopher and author Ayn Rand has put forth her idea of rational egoism, which also applies to business ethics. She stresses that the position of the entrepreneur, who has to be responsible for his own happiness and the business is a means to said happiness, where the entrepreneur is not required to serve the interest of anyone else and no one is entitled to his/her work.
Another view of business is that it must exhibit corporate social responsibility (CSR): an umbrella term indicating that an ethical business must act as a responsible citizen of the communities in which it operates even at the cost of profits or other goals. In the US and most other nations, corporate entities are legally treated as persons in some respects. For example, they can hold title to property, sue and be sued and are subject to taxation, although their free speech rights are limited. This can be interpreted to imply that they have independent ethical responsibilities. Duska argued that stakeholders expect a business to be ethical and that violating that expectation must be counterproductive for the business.
According to research published by the Institute of Business Ethics and Ipsos MORI in late 2012, the three major areas of public concern regarding business ethics in Britain are executive pay, corporate tax avoidance and bribery and corruption.
The ethical standards of an entire organization can be damaged if a corporate psychopath is in charge. This will affect not only the company and its outcome but the employees who work under a corporate psychopath. The way a corporate psychopath can rise in a company is by their manipulation, scheming, and bullying. They do this in a way that can hide their true character and intentions within a company.
Functional business areas
Finance
Fundamentally, finance is a social science discipline. The discipline borders behavioral economics, sociology, economics, accounting and management. It concerns technical issues such as the mix of debt and equity, dividend policy, the evaluation of alternative investment projects, options, futures, swaps, and other derivatives, portfolio diversification and many others. Finance is often mistaken by people to be a discipline free from ethical burdens. Finance ethics is overlooked for another reason—issues in finance are often addressed as matters of law rather than ethics.Finance paradigm
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Aristotle said, "the end and purpose of the polis is the good life". Adam Smith characterized the good life in terms of material goods and intellectual and moral excellences of character. Smith in his The Wealth of Nations commented, "All for ourselves, and nothing for other people, seems, in every age of the world, to have been the vile maxim of the masters of mankind." However, a section of economists influenced by the ideology of neoliberalism, interpreted the objective of economics to be maximization of economic growth through accelerated consumption and production of goods and services. Neoliberal ideology promoted finance from its position as a component of economics to its core. Proponents of the ideology hold that unrestricted financial flows, if redeemed from the shackles of "financial repressions", best help impoverished nations to grow. The theory holds that open financial systems accelerate economic growth by encouraging foreign capital inflows, thereby enabling higher levels of savings, investment, employment, productivity and "welfare", along with containing corruption. Neoliberals recommended that governments open their financial systems to the global market with minimal regulation over capital flows. The recommendations however, met with criticisms from various schools of ethical philosophy. Some pragmatic ethicists, found these claims to be unfalsifiable and a priori, although neither of these makes the recommendations false or unethical per se. Raising economic growth to the highest value necessarily means that welfare is subordinate, although advocates dispute this saying that economic growth provides more welfare than known alternatives. Since history shows that neither regulated nor unregulated firms always behave ethically, neither regime offers an ethical panacea.
Neoliberal recommendations to developing countries to unconditionally open up their economies to transnational finance corporations were fiercely contested by some ethicists. The claim that deregulation and the opening up of economies would reduce corruption was also contested.
Dobson observes, "a rational agent is simply one who pursues personal material advantage ad infinitum. In essence, to be rational in finance is to be individualistic, materialistic, and competitive. Business is a game played by individuals, as with all games the object is to win, and winning is measured in terms solely of material wealth. Within the discipline, this rationality concept is never questioned, and has indeed become the theory-of-the-firm's sine qua non". Financial ethics is in this view a mathematical function of shareholder wealth. Such simplifying assumptions were once necessary for the construction of mathematically robust models. However, signalling theory and agency theory extended the paradigm to greater realism.
Other issues
Fairness in trading practices, trading conditions, financial contracting, sales practices, consultancy services, tax payments, internal audit, external audit and executive compensation also, fall under the umbrella of finance and accounting. Particular corporate ethical/legal abuses include: creative accounting, earnings management, misleading financial analysis, insider trading, securities fraud, bribery/kickbacks and facilitation payments. Outside of corporations, bucket shops and forex scams are criminal manipulations of financial markets. Cases include accounting scandals, Enron, WorldCom and Satyam.
Human resource management
Human resource management occupies the sphere of activity of recruitment selection, orientation, performance appraisal, training and development, industrial relations and health and safety issues. Business Ethicists differ in their orientation towards labor ethics. Some assess human resource policies according to whether they support an egalitarian workplace and the dignity of labor.
Issues including employment itself, privacy, compensation in accord with comparable worth, collective bargaining (and/or its opposite) can be seen either as inalienable rights or as negotiable.
Discrimination by age (preferring the young or the old), gender/sexual harassment, race, religion, disability, weight and attractiveness. A common approach to remedying discrimination is affirmative action.
Once hired, employees have the right to the occasional cost of living increases, as well as raises based on merit. Promotions, however, are not a right, and there are often fewer openings than qualified applicants. It may seem unfair if an employee who has been with a company longer is passed over for a promotion, but it is not unethical. It is only unethical if the employer did not give the employee proper consideration or used improper criteria for the promotion. Each employer should know the distinction between what is unethical and what is illegal. If an action is illegal it is breaking the law but if an action seems morally incorrect that is unethical. In the workplace what is unethical does not mean illegal and should follow the guidelines put in place by OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration), EEOC (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission), and other law-binding entities.
Potential employees have ethical obligations to employers, involving intellectual property protection and whistle-blowing.
Employers must consider workplace safety, which may involve modifying the workplace, or providing appropriate training or hazard disclosure. This differentiates on the location and type of work that is taking place and can need to comply with the standards to protect employees and non-employees under workplace safety.
Larger economic issues such as immigration, trade policy, globalization and trade unionism affect workplaces and have an ethical dimension, but are often beyond the purview of individual companies.
Trade unions
Trade unions, for example, may push employers to establish due process for workers, but may also cause job loss by demanding unsustainable compensation and work rules.
Unionized workplaces may confront union busting and strike breaking and face the ethical implications of work rules that advantage some workers over others.Management strategyAmong the many people management strategies that companies employ are a "soft" approach that regards employees as a source of creative energy and participants in workplace decision-making, a "hard" version explicitly focused on control and Theory Z that emphasizes philosophy, culture and consensus. None ensure ethical behavior. Some studies claim that sustainable success requires a humanely treated and satisfied workforce.Sales and marketing
Marketing ethics came of age only as late as the 1990s. Marketing ethics was approached from ethical perspectives of virtue or virtue ethics, deontology, consequentialism, pragmatism and relativism.
Ethics in marketing deals with the principles, values and/or ideas by which marketers (and marketing institutions) ought to act. Marketing ethics is also contested terrain, beyond the previously described issue of potential conflicts between profitability and other concerns. Ethical marketing issues include marketing redundant or dangerous products/services, transparency about environmental risks, transparency about product ingredients such as genetically modified organisms possible health risks, financial risks, security risks, etc., respect for consumer privacy and autonomy, advertising truthfulness and fairness in pricing & distribution.
According to Borgerson, and Schroeder (2008), marketing can influence individuals' perceptions of and interactions with other people, implying an ethical responsibility to avoid distorting those perceptions and interactions.
Marketing ethics involves pricing practices, including illegal actions such as price fixing and legal actions including price discrimination and price skimming. Certain promotional activities have drawn fire, including greenwashing, bait and switch, shilling, viral marketing, spam (electronic), pyramid schemes and multi-level marketing. Advertising has raised objections about attack ads, subliminal messages, sex in advertising and marketing in schools.
Inter-organizational relationships
Scholars in business and management have paid much attention to the ethical issues in the different forms of relationships between organizations such as buyer-supplier relationships, networks, alliances, or joint ventures. Drawing in particular on transaction cost theory and agency theory, they note the risk of opportunistic and unethical practices between partners through, for instance, shirking, poaching, and other deceitful behaviors. In turn, research on inter-organizational relationships has observed the role of formal and informal mechanisms to both prevent unethical practices and mitigate their consequences. It especially discusses the importance of formal contracts and relational norms between partners to manage ethical issues.Emerging issuesBeing the most important element of a business, stakeholders' main concern is to determine whether or not the business is behaving ethically or unethically. The business's actions and decisions should be primarily ethical before it happens to become an ethical or even legal issue. "In the case of the government, community, and society what was merely an ethical issue can become a legal debate and eventually law."
Some emerging ethical issues are:
* Corporate environmental responsibility: Businesses impacts on eco-systemic environments can no longer be neglected and ecosystems' impacts on business activities are becoming more imminent.
* Fairness: The three aspects that motivate people to be fair is; equality, optimization, and reciprocity. Fairness is the quality of being just, equitable, and impartial.
* Misuse of company's time and resources: This particular topic may not seem to be a very common one, but it is very important, as it costs a company billions of dollars on a yearly basis. This misuse is from late arrivals, leaving early, long lunch breaks, inappropriate sick days etc. This has been observed as a major form of misconduct in businesses today. One of the greatest ways employees participate in the misuse of company's time and resources is by using the company computer for personal use.
* Consumer fraud: There are many different types of fraud, namely; friendly fraud, return fraud, wardrobing, price arbitrage, returning stolen goods. Fraud is a major unethical practice within businesses that should be paid special attention. Consumer fraud is when consumers attempt to deceive businesses for their very own benefit.
Production
This area of business ethics usually deals with the duties of a company to ensure that products and production processes do not needlessly cause harm. Since few goods and services can be produced and consumed with zero risks, determining the ethical course can be difficult. In some case, consumers demand products that harm them, such as tobacco products. Production may have environmental impacts, including pollution, habitat destruction and urban sprawl. The downstream effects of technologies nuclear power, genetically modified food and mobile phones may not be well understood. While the precautionary principle may prohibit introducing new technology whose consequences are not fully understood, that principle would have prohibited the newest technology introduced since the Industrial Revolution. Product testing protocols have been attacked for violating the rights of both humans and animals. There are sources that provide information on companies that are environmentally responsible or do not test on animals.Property
The etymological root of property is the Latin , which refers to 'nature', 'quality', 'one's own', 'special characteristic', 'proper', 'intrinsic', 'inherent', 'regular', 'normal', 'genuine', 'thorough, complete, perfect' etc. The word property is value loaded and associated with the personal qualities of propriety and respectability, also implies questions relating to ownership. A 'proper' person owns and is true to herself or himself, and is thus genuine, perfect and pure.
Modern history of property rights
Modern discourse on property emerged by the turn of the 17th century within theological discussions of that time. For instance, John Locke justified property rights saying that God had made "the earth, and all inferior creatures, [in] common to all men".
In 1802 utilitarian Jeremy Bentham stated, "property and law are born together and die together".
One argument for property ownership is that it enhances individual liberty by extending the line of non-interference by the state or others around the person. Seen from this perspective, property right is absolute and property has a special and distinctive character that precedes its legal protection. Blackstone conceptualized property as the "sole and despotic dominion which one man claims and exercises over the external things of the world, in total exclusion of the right of any other individual in the universe".Slaves as property
During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, slavery spread to European colonies including America, where colonial legislatures defined the legal status of slaves as a form of property.
Combined with theological justification, the property was taken to be essentially natural ordained by God. Property, which later gained meaning as ownership and appeared natural to Locke, Jefferson and to many of the 18th and 19th century intellectuals as land, labor or idea, and property right over slaves had the same theological and essentialized justification It was even held that the property in slaves was a sacred right. Wiecek says, "Yet slavery was more clearly and explicitly established under the Constitution than it had been under the Articles". In an 1857 judgment, US Supreme Court Chief Justice Roger B. Taney said, "The right of property in a slave is distinctly and expressly affirmed in the Constitution."
Natural right vs social construct
Neoliberals hold that private property rights are a non-negotiable natural right. Davies counters with "property is no different from other legal categories in that it is simply a consequence of the significance attached by law to the relationships between legal persons." Singer claims, "Property is a form of power, and the distribution of power is a political problem of the highest order". Rose finds, Property' is only an effect, a construction, of relationships between people, meaning that its objective character is contestable. Persons and things, are 'constituted' or 'fabricated' by legal and other normative techniques." Singer observes, "A private property regime is not, after all, a Hobbesian state of nature; it requires a working legal system that can define, allocate, and enforce property rights." Davis claims that common law theory generally favors the view that "property is not essentially a 'right to a thing', but rather a separable bundle of rights subsisting between persons which may vary according to the context and the object which is at stake". including occupancy, use and enjoyment, and the right to sell, devise, give, or lease all or part of these rights. Custodians of property have obligations as well as rights.<!-- refs don't obviously support this point.--> Michelman writes, "A property regime thus depends on a great deal of cooperation, trustworthiness, and self-restraint among the people who enjoy it."<!-- isn't this true of all "rights"? what right is secure if society doesn't accept/trust it? Isn't a better criterion the existence of a well-established rule of law that includes property protections?-->
Menon claims that the autonomous individual, responsible for his/her own existence is a cultural construct moulded by Western culture rather than the truth about the human condition. Penner views property as an "illusion"—a "normative phantasm" without substance.
In the neoliberal literature, the property is part of the private side of a public/private dichotomy and acts a counterweight to state power.<!-- need a cite from that literature--> Davies counters that "any space may be subject to plural meanings or appropriations which do not necessarily come into conflict".
Private property has never been a universal doctrine, although since the end of the Cold War is it has become nearly so. Some societies, e.g., Native American bands, held land, if not all property, in common. When groups came into conflict, the victor often appropriated the loser's property. The rights paradigm tended to stabilize the distribution of property holdings on the presumption that title had been lawfully acquired.
Property does not exist in isolation, and so property rights too. Bryan claimed that property rights describe relations among people and not just relations between people and things Singer holds that the idea that owners have no legal obligations to others wrongly supposes that property rights hardly ever conflict with other legally protected interests.<!-- the existence/importance of the "no obligation" claim needs a ref.--> Singer continues implying that legal realists "did not take the character and structure of social relations as an important independent factor in choosing the rules that govern market life". Ethics of property rights begins with recognizing the vacuous nature of the notion of property.
Intellectual property
Intellectual property (IP) encompasses expressions of ideas, thoughts, codes, and information. "Intellectual property rights" (IPR) treat IP as a kind of real property, subject to analogous protections, rather than as a reproducible good or service. Boldrin and Levine argue that "government does not ordinarily enforce monopolies for producers of other goods. This is because it is widely recognized that monopoly creates many social costs. Intellectual monopoly is no different in this respect. The question we address is whether it also creates social benefits commensurate with these social costs."
International standards relating to intellectual property rights are enforced through Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights. In the US, IP other than copyrights is regulated by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
The US Constitution included the power to protect intellectual property, empowering the Federal government "to promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries". Boldrin and Levine see no value in such state-enforced monopolies stating, "we ordinarily think of innovative monopoly as an oxymoron. Further, they comment, 'intellectual property' "is not like ordinary property at all, but constitutes a government grant of a costly and dangerous private monopoly over ideas. We show through theory and example that intellectual monopoly is not necessary for innovation and as a practical matter is damaging to growth, prosperity, and liberty". The court cases by 39 pharmaceutical companies against South Africa's 1997 Medicines and Related Substances Control Amendment Act, which intended to provide affordable HIV medicines has been cited as a harmful effect of patents.<!-- Isn't the ethical issue not the existence of patents, but the misuse of them in the above circumstance? -->
One attack on IPR is moral rather than utilitarian, claiming that inventions are mostly a collective, cumulative, path dependent, social creation and therefore, no one person or firm should be able to monopolize them even for a limited period. The opposing argument is that the benefits of innovation arrive sooner when patents encourage innovators and their investors to increase their commitments.
Roderick T. Long, a libertarian philosopher, argued:
Machlup concluded that patents do not have the intended effect of enhancing innovation. Self-declared anarchist Proudhon, in his 1847 seminal work noted, "Monopoly is the natural opposite of competition," and continued, "Competition is the vital force which animates the collective being: to destroy it, if such a supposition were possible, would be to kill society."
Mindeli and Pipiya argued that the knowledge economy is an economy of abundance because it relies on the "infinite potential" of knowledge and ideas rather than on the limited resources of natural resources, labor and capital. Allison envisioned an egalitarian distribution of knowledge. Kinsella claimed that IPR create artificial scarcity and reduce equality. Bouckaert wrote, "Natural scarcity is that which follows from the relationship between man and nature. Scarcity is natural when it is possible to conceive of it before any human, institutional, contractual arrangement. Artificial scarcity, on the other hand, is the outcome of such arrangements. Artificial scarcity can hardly serve as a justification for the legal framework that causes that scarcity. Such an argument would be completely circular. On the contrary, artificial scarcity itself needs a justification" Corporations fund much IP creation and can acquire IP they do not create, to which Menon and others have objected. Andersen claims that IPR has increasingly become an instrument in eroding public domain.
Ethical and legal issues include patent infringement, copyright infringement, trademark infringement, patent and copyright misuse, submarine patents, biological patents, patent, copyright and trademark trolling, employee raiding and monopolizing talent, bioprospecting, biopiracy and industrial espionage, digital rights management.
Notable IP copyright cases include A&M Records, Inc. v. Napster, Inc., Eldred v. Ashcroft, and Disney's lawsuit against the Air Pirates.
International issues
While business ethics emerged as a field in the 1970s, international business ethics did not emerge until the late 1990s, looking back on the international developments of that decade. Many new practical issues arose out of the international context of business. Theoretical issues such as cultural relativity of ethical values receive more emphasis in this field. Other, older issues can be grouped here as well. Issues and subfields include:
*The search for universal values as a basis for international commercial behavior
*Comparison of business ethical traditions in different countries and on the basis of their respective GDP and corruption rankings
*Comparison of business ethical traditions from various religious perspectives
*Ethical issues arising out of international business transactions—e.g., bioprospecting and biopiracy in the pharmaceutical industry; the fair trade movement; transfer pricing.
*Issues such as globalization and cultural imperialism
*Varying global standards—e.g., the use of child labor
*The way in which multinationals take advantage of international differences, such as outsourcing production (e.g. clothes) and services (e.g. call centers) to low-wage countries
*The permissibility of international commerce with pariah states
Foreign countries often use dumping as a competitive threat, selling products at prices lower than their normal value. This can lead to problems in domestic markets. It becomes difficult for these markets to compete with the pricing set by foreign markets. In 2009, the International Trade Commission has been researching anti-dumping laws. Dumping is often seen as an ethical issue, as larger companies are taking advantage of other less economically advanced companies.
Issues
Ethical issues often arise in business settings, whether through business transactions or forming new business relationships. It also has a huge focus in the auditing field whereby the type of verification can be directly dictated by ethical theory. An ethical issue in a business atmosphere may refer to any situation that requires business associates as individuals, or as a group (for example, a department or firm) to evaluate the morality of specific actions, and subsequently, make a decision amongst the choices. Some ethical issues of particular concern in today's evolving business market include such topics as: honesty, integrity, professional behaviors, environmental issues, harassment, and fraud to name a few. From a 2009 National Business Ethics survey, it was found that types of employee-observed ethical misconduct included abusive behavior (at a rate of 22 percent), discrimination (at a rate of 14 percent), improper hiring practices (at a rate of 10 percent), and company resource abuse (at a rate of percent).
The ethical issues associated with honesty are widespread and vary greatly in business, from the misuse of company time or resources to lying with malicious intent, engaging in bribery, or creating conflicts of interest within an organization. Honesty encompasses wholly the truthful speech and actions of an individual. Some cultures and belief systems even consider honesty to be an essential pillar of life, such as Confucianism and Buddhism (referred to as sacca, part of the Four Noble Truths). Many employees lie in order to reach goals, avoid assignments or negative issues; however, sacrificing honesty in order to gain status or reap rewards poses potential problems for the overall ethical culture organization, and jeopardizes organizational goals in the long run. Using company time or resources for personal use is also, commonly viewed as unethical because it boils down to stealing from the company. The misuse of resources costs companies billions of dollars each year, averaging about 4.25 hours per week of stolen time alone, and employees' abuse of Internet services is another main concern. Bribery, on the other hand, is not only considered unethical is business practices, but it is also illegal. In accordance with this, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act was established in 1977 to deter international businesses from giving or receiving unwarranted payments and gifts that were intended to influence the decisions of executives and political officials. Although, small payments known as facilitation payments will not be considered unlawful under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act if they are used towards regular public governance activities, such as permits or licenses. John Rawls and Robert Nozick are both notable contributors. For example, Rawls has been interpreted as offering a critique of offshore outsourcing on social contract grounds.Law and regulation
Laws are the written statutes, codes, and opinions of government organizations by which citizens, businesses, and persons present within a jurisdiction are expected to govern themselves or face legal sanction. Sanctions for violating the law can include (a) civil penalties, such as fines, pecuniary damages, and loss of licenses, property, rights, or privileges; (b) criminal penalties, such as fines, probation, imprisonment, or a combination thereof; or (c) both civil and criminal penalties.
Very often it is held that business is not bound by any ethics other than abiding by the law. Milton Friedman is the pioneer of the view. He held that corporations have the obligation to make a profit within the framework of the legal system, nothing more. Friedman made it explicit that the duty of the business leaders is, "to make as much money as possible while conforming to the basic rules of the society, both those embodied in the law and those embodied in ethical custom". Ethics for Friedman is nothing more than abiding by customs and laws. The reduction of ethics to abidance to laws and customs, however, have drawn serious criticisms.
Counter to Friedman's logic it is observed that legal procedures are technocratic, bureaucratic, rigid and obligatory whereas ethical act is conscientious, voluntary choice beyond normativity. Law is retroactive. Crime precedes law. Law against crime, to be passed, the crime must have happened. Laws are blind to the crimes undefined in it. Further, as per law, "conduct is not criminal unless forbidden by law which gives advance warning that such conduct is criminal". Also, the law presumes the accused is innocent until proven guilty and that the state must establish the guilt of the accused beyond reasonable doubt. As per liberal laws followed in most of the democracies, until the government prosecutor proves the firm guilty with the limited resources available to her, the accused is considered to be innocent. Though the liberal premises of law is necessary to protect individuals from being persecuted by Government, it is not a sufficient mechanism to make firms morally accountable.ImplementationCorporate policies
As part of more comprehensive compliance and ethics programs, many companies have formulated internal policies pertaining to the ethical conduct of employees. These policies can be simple exhortations in broad, highly generalized language (typically called a corporate ethics statement), or they can be more detailed policies, containing specific behavioral requirements (typically called corporate ethics codes). They are generally meant to identify the company's expectations of workers and to offer guidance on handling some of the more common ethical problems that might arise in the course of doing business. It is hoped that having such a policy will lead to greater ethical awareness, consistency in application, and the avoidance of ethical disasters.
An increasing number of companies also require employees to attend seminars regarding business conduct, which often include discussion of the company's policies, specific case studies, and legal requirements. Some companies even require their employees to sign agreements stating that they will abide by the company's rules of conduct.
Many companies are assessing the environmental factors that can lead employees to engage in unethical conduct. A competitive business environment may call for unethical behavior. Lying has become expected in fields such as trading. An example of this are the issues surrounding the unethical actions of the Salomon Brothers.
Not everyone supports corporate policies that govern ethical conduct. Some claim that ethical problems are better dealt with by depending upon employees to use their own judgment.
Others believe that corporate ethics policies are primarily rooted in utilitarian concerns and that they are mainly to limit the company's legal liability or to curry public favor by giving the appearance of being a good corporate citizen. Ideally, the company will avoid a lawsuit because its employees will follow the rules. Should a lawsuit occur, the company can claim that the problem would not have arisen if the employee had only followed the code properly.
Some corporations have tried to burnish their ethical image by creating whistle-blower protections, such as anonymity. In the case of Citi, they call this the Ethics Hotline. Though it is unclear whether firms such as Citi take offences reported to these hotlines seriously or not. Sometimes there is a disconnection between the company's code of ethics and the company's actual practices. Thus, whether or not such conduct is explicitly sanctioned by management, at worst, this makes the policy duplicitous, and, at best, it is merely a marketing tool.
Jones and Parker wrote, "Most of what we read under the name business ethics is either sentimental common sense or a set of excuses for being unpleasant." Many manuals are procedural form filling exercises unconcerned about the real ethical dilemmas. For instance, the US Department of Commerce ethics program treats business ethics as a set of instructions and procedures to be followed by 'ethics officers'., Business ethicists may trivialize the subject, offering standard answers that do not reflect the situation's complexity.}}
Ethics codes often state a company's view on DEI (diversity, equity, inclusivity). In 2025, some companies began changing their ethics policies to reduce the focus on DEI, and some companies have decided to complete eliminate DEI from their policies.
Ethics officers
Following a series of fraud, corruption, and abuse scandals that affected the United States defense industry in the mid-1980s, the Defense Industry Initiative (DII) was created to promote ethical business practices and ethics management in multiple industries. Subsequent to these scandals, many organizations began appointing ethics officers (also referred to as "compliance" officers). In 1991, the Ethics & Compliance Officer Association —originally the Ethics Officer Association (EOA)—was founded at the Center for Business Ethics at Bentley University as a professional association for ethics and compliance officers.
The 1991 passing of the Federal Sentencing Guidelines for Organizations in 1991 was another factor in many companies appointing ethics/compliance officers. These guidelines, intended to assist judges with sentencing, set standards organizations must follow to obtain a reduction in sentence if they should be convicted of a federal offense.
Following the high-profile corporate scandals of companies like Enron, WorldCom and Tyco between 2001 and 2004, and following the passage of the Sarbanes–Oxley Act, many small and mid-sized companies also began to appoint ethics officers.
Often reporting to the chief executive officer, ethics officers focus on uncovering or preventing unethical and illegal actions. This is accomplished by assessing the ethical implications of the company's activities, making recommendations on ethical policies, and disseminating information to employees.
The effectiveness of ethics officers is not clear. The establishment of an ethics officer position is likely to be insufficient in driving ethical business practices without a corporate culture that values ethical behavior. These values and behaviors should be consistently and systemically supported by those at the top of the organization. Employees with strong community involvement, loyalty to employers, superiors or owners, smart work practices, trust among the team members do inculcate a corporate culture.
Sustainability initiatives
Many corporate and business strategies now include sustainability. In addition to the traditional environmental 'green' sustainability concerns, business ethics practices have expanded to include social sustainability. Social sustainability focuses on issues related to human capital in the business supply chain, such as worker's rights, working conditions, child labor, and human trafficking. Incorporation of these considerations is increasing, as consumers and procurement officials demand documentation of a business's compliance with national and international initiatives, guidelines, and standards. Many industries have organizations dedicated to verifying ethical delivery of products from start to finish, such as the Kimberly Process, which aims to stop the flow of conflict diamonds into international markets, or the Fair Wear Foundation, dedicated to sustainability and fairness in the garment industry.
Initiatives in sustainability encompass "green" topics, as well as social sustainability. Tao et al. refer to a variety of "green" business practices including green strategy, green design, green production and green operation. There are however many different ways in which sustainability initiatives can be implemented by a company.
Improving operations
An organization can implement sustainability initiatives by improving its operations and manufacturing process so as to make it more aligned with environment, social, and governance issues. Johnson & Johnson incorporates policies from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, applying these principles not only for members of its supply chain but also internal operations. Walmart has made commitments to doubling its truck fleet efficiency by 2015 by replacing 2/3rds of its fleet with more fuel-efficient trucks, including hybrids. Dell has integrated alternative, recycled, and recyclable materials in its products and packaging design, improving energy efficiency and design for end-of-life and recyclability. Dell plans to reduce the energy intensity of its product portfolio by 80% by 2020.
Board leadership
The board of a company can decide to lower executive compensation by a given percentage, and give the percentage of compensation to a specific cause. This is an effort which can only be implemented from the top, as it will affect the compensation of all executives in the company. In Alcoa, an aluminum company based in the US, "1/5th of executive cash compensation is tied to safety, diversity, and environmental stewardship, which includes greenhouse gas emission reductions and energy efficiency" (Best Practices). This is not usually the case for most companies, where we see the board take a uniform step towards the environment, social, and governance issues. This is only the case for companies that are directly linked to utilities, energy, or material industries, something which Alcoa as an aluminum company, falls in line with. Instead, formal committees focused on the environment, social, and governance issues are more usually seen in governance committees and audit committees, rather than the board of directors. "According to research analysis done by Pearl Meyer in support of the NACD 2017 Director Compensation Report shows that among 1,400 public companies reviewed, only slightly more than five percent of boards have a designated committee to address ESG issues." (How compensation can). Journal of Business Ethics Education publishes articles specifically about education in business ethics.
The International Business Development Institute is a global non-profit organization that represents 217 nations and all 50 United States. It offers a Charter in Business Development that focuses on ethical business practices and standards. The Charter is directed by Harvard University, MIT, and Fulbright Scholars, and it includes graduate-level coursework in economics, politics, marketing, management, technology, and legal aspects of business development as it pertains to business ethics. IBDI also oversees the International Business Development Institute of Asia which provides individuals living in 20 Asian nations the opportunity to earn the Charter.
Religious views
In Sharia law, followed by many Muslims, banking specifically prohibits charging interest on loans. Traditional Confucian thought discourages profit-seeking. Christianity offers the Golden Rule command, "Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets."
According to the article "Theory of the real economy", there is a more narrow point of view from the Christianity faith towards the relationship between ethics and religious traditions. This article stresses how Christianity is capable of establishing reliable boundaries for financial institutions. One criticism comes from Pope Benedict by describing the "damaging effects of the real economy of badly managed and largely speculative financial dealing." It is mentioned that Christianity has the potential to transform the nature of finance and investment but only if theologians and ethicist provide more evidence of what is real in the economic life. Business ethics receives an extensive treatment in Jewish thought and Rabbinic literature, both from an ethical (Mussar) and a legal (Halakha) perspective; see article Jewish business ethics for further discussion.
According to the article "Indian Philosophy and Business Ethics: A Review", by Chandrani Chattopadyay, Hindus follow "Dharma" as Business Ethics and unethical business practices are termed "Adharma". Businessmen are supposed to maintain steady-mindedness, self-purification, non-violence, concentration, clarity and control over senses. Books like Bhagavat Gita and Arthashastra contribute a lot towards conduct of ethical business.Related disciplinesBusiness ethics is related to philosophy of economics, the branch of philosophy that deals with the philosophical, political, and ethical underpinnings of business and economics. Business ethics operates on the premise, for example, that the ethical operation of a private business is possible—those who dispute that premise, such as libertarian socialists (who contend that "business ethics" is an oxymoron) do so by definition outside of the domain of business ethics proper.
The philosophy of economics also deals with questions such as what, if any, are the social responsibilities of a business; business management theory; theories of individualism vs. collectivism; free will among participants in the marketplace; the role of self interest; invisible hand theories; the requirements of social justice; and natural rights, especially property rights, in relation to the business enterprise.
Business ethics is also related to political economy, which is economic analysis from political and historical perspectives. Political economy deals with the distributive consequences of economic actions.
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Category:Applied ethics
Category:Industrial and organizational psychology
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BBS
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BBS may refer to:
Ammunition
BBs, BB gun metal bullets
BBs, airsoft gun plastic pellets
Shows
Bacons Battle Show, 2023 Youtube Show
Computing and gaming
Bulletin board system, a computer server users dial into via dial-up or telnet; precursor to the Internet forum
BIOS Boot Specification, a firmware specification for the boot process
Blum Blum Shub, a pseudorandom number generator
Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep, a Disney-based video game for the PlayStation Portable
Organisations
United Kingdom
Birmingham Business School (University of Birmingham), a faculty
British Blind Sport, a parasports charity
British Boy Scouts, a national youth association
British Bryological Society, a botanists' learned society
United States
BBS Productions, a film company of early 1970s New Hollywood
Badger Boys State, a youth camp held in Wisconsin
Elsewhere
BBS Kraftfahrzeugtechnik, a German wheel manufacturer
Bahrain Bayan School
Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics
Baton Broadcast System, Canada
Bhutan Broadcasting Service, Bhutan
Bodu Bala Sena, Sri Lanka
Bologna Business School, Italy
Budapest Business School, Hungary
Burma Broadcasting Service, Burma
Science
Bardet–Biedl syndrome, a genetic disorder
Behavioral and Brain Sciences, a peer-reviewed journal
Behavior-based safety, the risk reduction subfield of behavioural engineering
Berg Balance Scale, a medical function test
Bogart–Bacall syndrome, a vocal misuse disorder
Borate buffered saline, in biochemistry
Breeding bird survey, to monitor avian populations
Titles
Bachelor of Business Studies, an academic degree
Bronze Bauhinia Star, in the Hong Kong honors system
Train stations
Bhubaneswar railway station, Odisha, India (by Indian Railways code)
Bordesley railway station, Birmingham, England (by National Rail code)
Bras Basah MRT station, Singapore (by MRT abbreviation)
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BBS
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British Standards
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right|120px|thumb|BSI Kitemark certification symbol
British Standards (BS) are the standards produced by the BSI Group which is incorporated under a royal charter and which is formally designated as the national standards body (NSB) for the UK.
History
BSI Group began in 1901 as the Engineering Standards Committee, led by James Mansergh, to standardize the number and type of steel sections, in order to make British manufacturers more efficient and competitive. Over time the standards developed to cover many aspects of tangible engineering, and then engineering methodologies including quality systems, safety and security.
Creation
The BSI Group as a whole does not produce British Standards, as standards work within the BSI is decentralized. The governing board of BSI establishes a Standards Board. The Standards Board does little apart from setting up sector boards (a sector in BSI parlance being a field of standardization such as ICT, quality, agriculture, manufacturing, or fire). Each sector board, in turn, constitutes several technical committees. It is the technical committees that, formally, approve a British Standard, which is then presented to the secretary of the supervisory sector board for endorsement of the fact that the technical committee has indeed completed a task for which it was constituted.
Confirmed - the standard has been reviewed and confirmed as being current.
Current - the document is the current, most recently published one available.
Draft for public comment/DPC - a national stage in the development of a standard, where wider consultation is sought within the UK.
Obsolescent - indicating by amendment that the standard is not recommended for use for new equipment, but needs to be retained to provide for the servicing of equipment that is expected to have a long working life, or due to legislative issues.
Partially replaced - the standard has been partially replaced by one or more other standards.
Proposed for confirmation - the standard is being reviewed and it has been proposed that it is confirmed as the current standard.
Proposed for obsolescence - the standard is being reviewed and it has been proposed that it is made obsolescent.
Proposed for withdrawal - the standard is being reviewed and it has been proposed that it is withdrawn.
Revised - the standard has been revised.
Superseded - the standard has been replaced by one or more other standards.
Under review - the standard is under review.
Withdrawn - the document is no longer current and has been withdrawn.
Work in hand - there is work being undertaken on the standard and there may be a related draft for public comment available.
Examples
250px|right|thumb|BSI Group headquarters in Chiswick, London.
BS 0 A standard for standards specifies development, structure and drafting of standards.
BS 1 Lists of rolled sections for structural purposes
BS 2 Specification and sections of tramway rails and fishplates
BS 3 Report on influence of gauge length and section of test bar on the percentage of elongation
BS 4 Specification for structural steel sections
BS 5 Report on locomotives for Indian railways
BS 7 Dimensions of copper conductors insulated annealled, for electric power and light
BS 9 Specifications for bullhead railway rails
BS 11 Specifications and sections of Flat Bottom railway rails
BS 12 Specification for Portland Cement
BS 15 Specification for structural steel for bridges, etc., and general building construction
BS 16 Specification for telegraph material (insulators, pole fittings, et cetera)
BS 17 Interim report on electrical machinery
BS 22 Report on effect of temperature on insulating materials
BS 24 Specifications for material used in the construction of standards for railway rolling stock
BS 26 Second report on locomotives for Indian Railways (Superseding No 5)
BS 27 Report on standard systems of limit gauges for running fits
BS 28 Report on nuts, bolt heads and spanners
BS 31 Specification for steel conduits for electrical wiring
BS 32 Specification for steel bars for use in automatic machines
BS 33 Carbon filament electric lamps
BS 34 Tables of BS Whitworth, BS Fine and BS Pipe Threads
BS 35 Specification for Copper Alloy Bars for use in Automatic Machines
BS 36 Report on British Standards for Electrical Machinery
BS 37 Specification for Electricity Meters
BS 38 Report on British Standards Systems for Limit Gauges for Screw Threads
BS 42 Report on reciprocating steam engines for electrical purposes
BS 43 Specification for charcoal iron lip-welded boiler tubes
BS 45 Report on Dimensions for Sparking Plugs (for Internal Combustion Engines)
BS 47 Steel Fishplates for Bullhead and Flat Bottom Railway Rails, Specification and Sections of
BS 49 Specification for Ammetres and Voltmetres
BS 50 Third Report on Locomotives for Indian Railways (Superseding No. 5 and 26)
BS 53 Specification for Cold Drawn Weldless Steel Boiler Tubes for Locomotive Boilers
BS 54 Report on Screw Threads, Nuts and Bolt Heads for use in Automobile Construction
BS 56 Definitions of Yield Point and Elastic Limit
BS 57 Report on heads for Small Screws
BS 70 Report on Pneumatic Tyre Rims for automobiles, motorcycles and bicycles
BS 72 British Standardisation Rules for Electrical Machinery,
BS 73 Specification for Two-Pin Wall Plugs and Sockets (Five-, Fifteen- and Thirty-Ampere)
BS 76 Report of and Specifications for Tar and Pitch for Road Purposes
BS 77 Specification. Voltages for a.c. transmission and distribution systems
BS 80 Magnetos for automobile purposes
BS 81 Specification for Instrument Transformers
BS 82 Specification for Starters for Electric Motors
BS 84 Report on Screw Threads (British Standard Fine), and their Tolerances (Superseding parts of Reports Nos. 20 and 33)
BS 86 Report on Dimensions of Magnetos for Aircraft Purposes
BS 153 Specification for Steel Girder Bridges
BS 308 a now deleted standard for engineering drawing conventions, having been absorbed into BS 8888.
BS 317 for Hand-Shield and Side Entry Pattern Three-Pin Wall Plugs and Sockets (Two Pin and Earth Type)
BS 336 for fire hose couplings and ancillary equipment
BS 372 for Side-entry wall plugs and sockets for domestic purposes (Part 1 superseded BS 73 and Part 2 superseded BS 317)
BS 381 for colours used in identification, coding and other special purposes
BS 476 for fire resistance of building materials/elements
BS 499 Welding terms and symbols.
BS 546 for Two-pole and earthing-pin plugs, socket-outlets and socket-outlet adaptors for AC (50–60 Hz) circuits up to 250V
BS 857 for safety glass for land transport
BS 970 Specification for wrought steels for mechanical and allied engineering purposes
BS 987C Camouflage Colours
BS 1011 Recommendation for welding of metallic materials
BS 1088 for marine plywood
BS 1192 for Construction Drawing Practice. Part 5 (BS1192-5:1998) concerns Guide for structuring and exchange of CAD data.
BS 1361 for cartridge fuses for a.c. circuits in domestic and similar premises
BS 1362 for cartridge fuses for BS 1363 power plugs
BS 1363 for mains power plugs and sockets
BS 1377 Methods of test for soils for civil engineering.
BS 1380 Speed and Exposure Index of Photographic Negative Materials.
BS 1572 Colours for Flat Finishes for Wall Decoration
BS 1881 Testing Concrete
BS 1852 Specification for marking codes for resistors and capacitors
BS 2979 Transliteration of Cyrillic and Greek characters
BS 3621 Thief resistant lock assembly. Key egress.
BS 3943 Specification for plastics waste traps
BS 4142 Methods for rating and assessing industrial and commercial sound
BS 4293 for residual current-operated circuit-breakers
BS 4343 for industrial electrical power connectors
BS 4573 Specification for 2-pin reversible plugs and shaver socket-outlets
BS 4960 for weighing instruments for domestic cookery
BS 5252 for colour-coordination in building construction
BS 5400 for steel, concrete and composite bridges.
BS 5499 for graphical symbols and signs in building construction; including shape, colour and layout
BS 5544 for anti-bandit glazing (glazing resistant to manual attack)
BS 5750 for quality management, the ancestor of ISO 9000
BS 5837 for protection of trees during construction work
BS 5839 for fire detection and alarm systems for buildings
BS 5930 for site investigations
BS 5950 for structural steel
BS 5993 for Cricket balls
BS 6008 for preparation of a liquor of tea for use in sensory tests
BS 6312 for telephone plugs and sockets
BS 6651 code of practice for protection of structures against lightning; replaced by BS EN 62305 (IEC 62305) series.
BS 6879 for British geocodes, a superset of ISO 3166-2:GB
BS 7430 code of practice for earthing
BS 7671 Requirements for Electrical Installations, The IEE Wiring Regulations, produced by the IET.
BS 7799 for information security, the ancestor of the ISO/IEC 27000 family of standards, including 27002 (formerly 17799)
BS 7901 for recovery vehicles and vehicle recovery equipment
BS 7909 Code of practice for temporary electrical systems for entertainment and related purposes
BS 7919 Electric cables. Flexible cables rated up to 450/750 V, for use with appliances and equipment intended for industrial and similar environments
BS 7910 guide to methods for assessing the acceptability of flaws in metallic structures
BS 7925 Software testing
BS 7971 Protective clothing and equipment for use in violent situations and in training
BS 8110 for structural concrete
BS 8233 Guidance on sound insulation and noise reduction in buildings
BS 8484 for the provision of lone worker device services
BS 8485 for the characterization and remediation from ground gas in affected developments
BS 8494 for detecting and measuring carbon dioxide in ambient air or extraction systems
BS 8546 Travel adaptors compatible with UK plug and socket system.
BS 8888 for engineering drawing and technical product specification
BS 9251 for safety guidelines on fire sprinkler systems in residential buildings
BS 15000 for IT Service Management, (ITIL), now ISO/IEC 20000
BS 3G 101 for general requirements for mechanical and electromechanical aircraft indicators
BS EN 12195 Load restraining on road vehicles.
BS EN 60204 Safety of machinery
BS EN ISO 4210 - Cycles. Safety Requirements for Bicycles
PAS documents
BSI also publishes a series of Publicly Available Specification (PAS) documents.
PAS documents are a flexible and rapid standards development model open to all organizations. A PAS is a sponsored piece of work allowing organizations flexibility in the rapid creation of a standard while also allowing for a greater degree of control over the document's development. A typical development time frame for a PAS is around six to nine months. Once published by BSI, a PAS has all the functionality of a British Standard for the purposes of creating schemes such as management systems and product benchmarks as well as codes of practice. A PAS is a living document and after two years the document will be reviewed and a decision made with the client as to whether or not this should be taken forward to become a formal standard. The term PAS was originally an abbreviation for "product approval specification", a name which was subsequently changed to "publicly available specification". However, according to BSI, not all PAS documents are structured as specifications and the term is now sufficiently well established not to require any further amplification.
Examples
PAS 78: Guide to good practice in commissioning accessible websites
PAS 440: Responsible Innovation – Guide
PAS 9017: Plastics – Biodegradation of polyolefins in an open-air terrestrial environment – Specification
PAS 1881: Assuring safety for automated vehicle trials and testing – Specification
PAS 1201: Guide for describing graphene material
PAS 4444: Hydrogen fired gas appliances – Guide
Availability
Copies of British Standards are sold at the BSI Online Shop or can be accessed via subscription to British Standards Online (BSOL). They can also be ordered via the publishing units of many other national standards bodies (ANSI, DIN, etc.) and from several specialized suppliers of technical specifications.
British Standards, including European and international adoptions, are available in many university and public libraries that subscribe to the BSOL platform. Librarians and lecturers at UK-based subscribing universities have full access rights to the collection while students can copy/paste and print but not download a standard. Up to 10% of the content of a standard can be copy/pasted for personal or internal use and up to 5% of the collection made available as a paper or electronic reference collection at the subscribing university. Because of their reference material status standards are not available for interlibrary loan. Public library users in the UK may have access to BSOL on a view-only basis if their library service subscribes to the BSOL platform. Users may also be able to access the collection remotely if they have a valid library card and the library offers secure access to its resources.
The BSI Knowledge Centre in Chiswick, London can be contacted directly about viewing standards in their Members' Reading Room.
See also
Institute for Reference Materials and Measurements (EU)
References
External links
Category:1901 establishments in the United Kingdom
Category:International Electrotechnical Commission
Category:Certification marks
Category:Organizations established in 1901
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Standards
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2025-04-05T18:26:57.869375
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