id
stringlengths 1
6
| url
stringlengths 35
214
| title
stringlengths 1
118
| text
stringlengths 1
237k
|
|---|---|---|---|
5165 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/1542 | 1542 |
Events
December 14 – Accession of Mary, Queen of Scots
Births
June 6 – Richard Grenville, Elizabethan sailor (died 1591)
June 24 – St. John of the Cross, Spanish Carmelite friar and poet (died 1591)
October 15 – Akbar, Jellaladin Mahommed, ruler of the Mughal Empire (died 1605)
December 8 – Mary, Queen of Scots (died 1587)
Robert Bellarmine, Catholic theologian and saint (died 1621)
Toda Kazuaki, samurai in the service of Tokugawa Ieyasu (died 1604)
Anthony Shirley, English traveller (died 1635)
John Speed, historian (died 1629)
Horio Yoshiharu, Japanese daimyo (died 1611)
Kuki Yoshitaka, Japanese naval commander
Jan Zamoyski, Polish nobleman (died 1605)
Deaths
February 13 – Katherine Howard, Queen of England
December 14 – James V, King of Scotland |
5166 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/February%2013 | February 13 |
Events
Up to 1900
1322 - The central tower of Ely Cathedral in Cambridgeshire, England, falls.
1462 - The Treaty of Westminster is finalized between Edward IV of England and the Scottish Lord of the Isles.
1503 - Disfida di Barletta: A tournament between 13 Italian and 13 French knights takes place near Barletta.
1542 – Catherine Howard, fifth wife of King Henry VIII of England, is executed for adultery.
1575 - Henry III of France is crowned King.
1633 – Galileo Galilei arrives in Rome for his trial before the inquisition.
1660 - Charles XI of Sweden becomes King at the age of 4 years, meaning that a regent rules Sweden until 1672.
1668 - Spain recognizes Portugal as an independent country.
1689 - William III and Mary II are crowned King and Queen of England, Ireland and Scotland.
1692 – At least thirty members of the MacDonald Clan are massacred in Glencoe, Scotland.
1739 - Battle of Karnal: The army of Persian ruler Nadir Shah defeats the forces of Mughal Emperor of India, Muhammad Shah.
1857 - British passenger steamer Tempest disappears in the North Atlantic Ocean after leaving New York City, with 150 people on board.
1858 - Searching for the source of the Nile, Richard Francis Burton and John Hanning Speke become the first Europeans to reach Lake Tanganyika.
1861 - Francis II of the Two Sicilies surrenders at Gaeta to the army of Victor Emmanuel II of Savoy.
1880 - Thomas Edison observes the Edison effect.
1881 - The feminist newspaper La Citoyenne is first published in Paris by the activist Hubertine Auclert.
1901 2000
1918 - A magnitude 7.3 earthquake strikes Guangdong province, China.
1931 – New Delhi becomes the capital city of India.
1934 - Soviet steamship Cheliuskin sinks in the Arctic Ocean.
1935 - Bruno Hauptmann is found guilty of kidnapping and murdering the infant son of Charles Lindbergh.
1944 - Norwegian passenger ship Irma is torpedoed near Kristiansund, killing 61 people. It is revealed after the Second World War that it was a torpedo from the Norwegian Navy that hit the ship.
1945 – The Royal Air Force bombs the German city of Dresden in World War II.
1945 - World War II: The Siege of Budapest ends with the unconditional surrender of the German and Hungarian armies to the Red Army.
1951 - Korean War: The Battle of Chipyong-ni begins.
1955 – Israel gains four of the seven Dead Sea Scrolls.
1960 - France becomes the fourth country to own nuclear weapons.
1961 - A 500,000-year-old rock is discovered near Olancha, California.
1971 - South Vietnamese troops invade Laos, with American support.
1978 - A bomb explodes outside the Hilton Hotel in Sydney, Australia, killing 2 refuse collectors and a police officer.
1980 - The 1980 Winter Olympics begin in Lake Placid, New York. The games became best known for the Miracle on Ice hockey game on February 22.
1981 - A series of sewer explosions destroys more than two miles of streets in Louisville, Kentucky.
1982 - The Rio Negro massacre occurs in Guatemala.
1983 - A cinema fire in Turin, Italy, kills 64 people.
1984 – Konstantin Chernenko becomes General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.
1988 – The Winter Olympic Games open in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Like in 1976, Canada hosts the Olympics without winning a gold medal (They do, however, win a record 14 gold medals when they host the games in Vancouver in 2010).
1990 - Agreement is reached on a two-stage plan to re-unite Germany.
1991 – US bombers hit Baghdad in the Gulf War.
1996 - English pop music group Take That announces that it is splitting. The band re-forms in 2005.
2000 – The last Peanuts comic strip is printed in newspapers, a day after the death of Charles Schulz.
From 2001
2001 – A magnitude 6.6 earthquake hits El Salvador, killing at least 400 people.
2004 - The Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics announces the discovery of the Universe's largest-known diamond, white dwarf.
2007 - Taiwan's Opposition leader Ma Ying-jeou resigns as Chairman of the Kuomintang Party.
2008 – Prime Minister of Australia Kevin Rudd makes a historic apology to Indigenous Australians and the Stolen Generations.
2010 - A bomb attack in Pune, Maharashtra, India, kills 17 people.
2011 – After the removal of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, the army suspends the constitution, and announces that it will remain in power until elections later in the year.
2012 - The European Space Agency's Vega rocket is launched from French Guiana.
2014 - Prime Minister of Italy Enrico Letta announces his intention to resign, less than ten months into the job, after instabilities in his coalition government.
2014 - Belgium's parliament votes to extend its euthanasia law to terminally-ill children, becoming the first country to allow euthanasia for people of all ages.
2017 - Kim Jong-nam (older half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un) is murdered at Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Malaysia.
Births
Up to 1900
1457 - Mary of Burgundy, Holy Roman Empress (d. 1482)
1480 - Girolamo Aleandro, Italian cardinal (d. 1542)
1539 - Elisabeth of Hesse, Electress Palatine (d. 1582)
1599 - Pope Alexander VII (d. 1667)
1683 – Giovanni Battista Piazzetta, Italian painter (d. 1754)
1721 - John Reid, Scottish general (d. 1807)
1728 - John Hunter, Scottish anatomist (d. 1793)
1734 - Yves-Joseph de Kerguelen-Trémarec, French explorer and naval officer (d. 1797)
1766 - Thomas Balthus, English economist (d. 1834)
1768 - Edouard Adolphe Casimir Joseph Mortier, Marshal of France (d. 1835)
1769 - Ivan Krylov, Russian writer (d. 1844)
1805 – Johann Peter Gustav Lejeune Dirichlet, German mathematician (d. 1859)
1831 - John Aaron Rawlins, 29th United States Secretary of War (d. 1869)
1834 - Heinrich Caro, German chemist (d. 1910)
1835 - Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, Islamic religious leader (d. 1908)
1837 - Valentin Zubiaurre, Spanish composer (d. 1914)
1849 – Lord Randolph Churchill, British politician, father of Winston Churchill (d. 1895)
1849 - Friedrich Wilhelm Voigt, German impostor, Captain of Köpenick (d. 1922)
1855 – Paul Deschanel, President of France (d. 1922)
1866 - Lev Shestov, Russian philosopher (d. 1938)
1867 - Harold Mahony, Scottish-Irish tennis player (d. 1903)
1870 - Leopold Godowsky, Polish-American pianist and composer (d. 1938)
1873 - Feodor Chaliapin, Russian opera singer (d. 1938)
1876 - Fritz Buelow, German-American baseball player (d. 1933)
1879 - Sarojini Naidu, Indian freedom fighter (d. 1949)
1880 - Dimitrie Gusti, Romanian sociologist, ethnologist, historian and philosopher (d. 1955)
1883 - Hal Chase, American baseball player (d. 1947)
1884 - Alfred Carlton Gilbert, American athlete, inventor and businessman (d. 1961)
1885 - George Fitzmaurice, American-French director (d. 1940)
1885 – Bess Truman, First Lady of the United States (d. 1982)
1888 – Georgios Papandreou, Prime Minister of Greece (d. 1968)
1891 – Grant Wood, American painter (d. 1942)
1892 - Robert H. Jackson, 57th United States Attorney General (d. 1954)
1901 1950
1901 - Paul Lazarsfeld, Austrian-American sociologist (d. 1976)
1901 - Lewis Grassic Gibbon, Scottish writer (d. 1935)
1902 - Harold Lasswell, American political scientist (d. 1978)
1903 - Georgy Beriev, Russian aircraft designer (d. 1979)
1903 – Georges Simenon, Belgian writer (d. 1989)
1906 - Agostinho da Silva, Portuguese philosopher (d. 1994)
1909 - Mario Casariego y Acevedo, Guatemalan cardinal (d. 1983)
1910 – William Shockley, British-American physicist (d. 1989)
1911 - Faiz Ahmed Faiz, Pakistani Urdu poet (d. 1984)
1911 - Jean Muir, American actress (d. 1996)
1913 - Khalid bin Abdul-Aziz, King of Saudi Arabia (d. 1982)
1915 – Aung San, Burmese revolutionary, nationalist, general, and politician (d. 1947)
1915 - lyle Bettger, American actor (d. 2003)
1916 – John Reed, British singer of Gilbert and Sullivan (d. 2010)
1918 - Patty Berg, American golfer (d. 2006)
1919 - Tennessee Ernie Ford, American musician (d. 1991)
1919 - Eddie Robinson, American football coach (d. 2007)
1921 - Jeanne Demessieux, French organist, pianist and composer (d. 1968)
1922 - Francis Pym, British politician
1922 - Gordon Tullock, American economist and academic (d. 2014)
1923 – Chuck Yeager, American pilot
1923 - Michael Anthony Bilandic, 49th Mayor of Chicago (d. 2002)
1923 - James Abdnor, American politician (d. 2012)
1925 - Stuart Wagstaff, English-Australian entertainer (d. 2015)
1928 - Gerald Regan, 19th Premier of Nova Scotia
1929 – Omar Torrijos, President of Panama (d. 1981)
1930 - Ernst Fuchs, Austrian painter, sculptor and illustrator (d. 2015)
1930 - Israel Kirzner, English-American economist, author and academic
1932 - Barbara Shelley, English actress
1932 - Sarah Oliver, American actress (d. 1990)
1933 – Paul Biya, President of Cameroon
1933 – Kim Novak, American actress
1933 - Peter L. Pond, American activist and philanthropist (d. 2000)
1933 - Emanuel Ungaro, French fashion designer
1934 - George Segal, American actor
1937 - Rupiah Banda, former President of Zambia
1937 - Sigmund Jaehn, German cosmonaut
1938 – Oliver Reed, English actor (d. 1999)
1939 - Valery Rozhdestvensky, Soviet-Russian cosmonaut (d. 2011)
1939 - Beate Klarsfeld, German activist
1940 - Bram Peper, Dutch sociologist and politician, former Mayor of Rotterdam
1941 – Sigmar Polke, German painter (d. 2010)
1941 - Bo Svenson, Swedish-American actor
1942 - Katsuaki Watanabe, CEO of Toyota
1942 – Peter Tork, American musician (Member of The Monkees)
1942 - Carol Lynley, American actress
1944 – Jerry Springer, American television host
1944 – Stockard Channing, American actress
1944 - Bo Svenson, American actor
1945 - Wallis Grahn, Swedish actress (d. 2018)
1945 - King Floyd, American musician (d. 2006)
1945 - Simon Schama, British historian
1945 - Marian Dawkins, British biologist
1946 – Artur Jorge, Portuguese football coach
1947 – Mike Krzyzewski, American basketball coach
1947 - Kevin Bloody Wilson, Australian comedian, singer-songwriter and guitarist
1948 - Kitten Natividad, Mexican-American actress and dancer
1949 - Peter Kern, Austrian actor, film director, screenwriter and producer (d. 2015)
1950 – Peter Gabriel, English musician
1950 - Bob Daisley, Australian musician
1951 1975
1952 - Freddy Maertens, Belgian cyclist
1956 - Liam Brady, Irish footballer
1956 - Peter Hook, English musician
1956 - Princess Alia bint Al Hussein of Jordan
1958 - Pernilla August, Swedish actress
1958 - Tip Tipping, English actor and stuntman (d. 1993)
1959 - Gaston Gingras, Canadian ice hockey player
1960 – Pierluigi Collina, Italian football referee
1960 - Pia Sundhage, Swedish soccer player and coach
1960 - Artur Yusupov, Russian-German chess player
1961 - Marc Crawford, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
1961 - Henry Rollins, American singer, actor and writer
1961 - Richard Tyson, American actor
1962 - Anibal Acevedo Vila, former Governor of Puerto Rico
1962 - Hugh Dennis, English actor and comedian
1964 - Stephen Bowen, American engineer, captain and astronaut
1964 - Ylva Johansson, Swedish politician
1965 - Peter O'Neill, 7th Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea
1967 - Stanimir Stoilov, Bulgarian footballer
1967 - Johnny Tapia, American boxer (d. 2012)
1968 - Daisuke Ikeda, Japanese professional wrestler
1968 – Niamh Kavanagh, Irish singer
1969 - Joyce DiDonato, American mezzo-soprano
1970 - Elmer Bennett, American basketball player
1970 - Karoline Krüger, Norwegian singer-songwriter and pianist
1971 – Mats Sundin, Swedish ice hockey player
1971 - Todd Williams, American baseball player
1974 – Robbie Williams, English singer
1974 - Ana Patricia Rojo, Mexican actress
1975 – Ben Collins, English racing driver
1975 - Tony Dalton, American-born actor
From 1976
1976 - Suzanne Maddock, British actress
1978 - Philippe Jaroussky, French tenor
1979 – Rafael Marquez, Mexican footballer
1979 - Rachel Reeves, English politician
1979 – Mena Suvari, American actress
1979 - Anders Behring Breivik, Norwegian mass murderer (2011 Norway attacks)
1980 – Sebastian Kehl, German footballer
1981 - Sam Burley, American athlete
1981 - Liam Miller, Irish footballer (d. 2018)
1983 - Anna Watkins, British rower
1984 - Eveli Saue, Estonian orienteer and athlete
1985 - Hedwiges Maduro, Dutch footballer
1985 – Alexandros Tziolis, Greek footballer
1986 – Jamie Murray, Scottish tennis player
1987 – Eljero Elia, Dutch footballer
1988 - Aston Merrygold, British singer (JLS)
1989 - Carly McKillip, Canadian singer and actress
1989 - Rodrigo Possebon, Brazilian footballer
1990 - Gyaincain Norbu, 11th Panchen Lama
1990 - Mamadou Sakho, French footballer
1993 - Alex Sawyer, British actor, director and singer
1994 - Memphis Depay, Dutch footballer
1995 - Ayame Koike, Japanese actress
Deaths
Up to 1900
721 - Chilperic II (b. 672)
858 – Kenneth I of Scotland
1130 - Pope Honorius II
1141 - Bela II of Hungary (b. 1110)
1199 - Stefan Nemanja, Serbian Grand Prince (b. 1113)
1219 - Minamoto no Sanetomo, Japanese shogun (b. 1192)
1332 - Andronik II Palaiologus, Emperor of the Byzantine Empire (b. 1250)
1539 - Isabella d'Este, Italian Renaissance figure (b. 1474)
1542 – Catherine Howard, fifth wife of Henry VIII of England (b. 1521)
1571 – Benvenuto Cellini, Italian artist (b. 1500)
1592 - Jacopo Bassano, Italian painter (b. 1510)
1600 - Gian Paolo Lomazzo, Italian painter (b. 1538)
1608 - Konstanty Wasyl Ostrogski, Lithuanian Prince (b. 1526)
1660 – Charles X, King of Sweden (b. 1622)
1662 – Elizabeth of Bohemia (b. 1596)
1693 - Johann Kaspar Kerli, German organist and composer (b. 1627)
1728 - Cotton Mather, American Puritan minister (b. 1663)
1741 - Johann Joseph Fux, Austrian composer (b. 1660)
1787 - Charles Gravier, comte de Vergennes, French statesman and diplomat (b. 1717)
1787 - Roger Joseph Boscovich, Croat-Italian physicist (b. 1711)
1813 - Samuel Ashe, Governor of North Carolina (b. 1725)
1837 - Mariano Jose de Larra, Spanish journalist and writer (b. 1809)
1883 – Richard Wagner, German composer (b. 1813)
1888 - Jean-Baptiste Lamy, French-American archbishop (b. 1814)
1889 - Joao Mauricio Wanderley, Brazilian magistrate and politician (b. 1815)
1901 2000
1905 - Konstantin Savitsky, Russian painter (b. 1844)
1906 - Albert Gottschalk, Danish painter (b. 1866)
1909 - Hugo Egmont Horring, Prime Minister of Denmark (b. 1842)
1916 - Carlos Antonio Mendoza, 3rd President of Panama (b. 1856)
1934 - Jozsef Pusztai, Slovenian-Hungarian writer (b. 1864)
1942 - Epitacio Pessoa, President of Brazil (b. 1865)
1943 - Neyyire Neyir, Turkish actress (b. 1902)
1954 - Agnes MacPhail, Canadian politician (b. 1890)
1956 - Jan Lukasiewicz, Polish mathematician (b. 1878)
1958 – Dame Christabel Pankhurst, British suffragette (b. 1880)
1958 - Georges Rouault, French painter (b. 1871)
1964 – Werner Heyde, German psychiatrist (b. 1902)
1968 - Mae Marsh, American actress (b. 1895)
1974 - Ustad Amir Khan, Indian classical singer (b. 1912)
1975 - Andre Beaufre, French general (b. 1902)
1976 - Murtala Mohammed, Nigerian military leader (b. 1938)
1976 - Lily Pons, French-American soprano and actress (b. 1904)
1980 – Marian Rejewski, Polish mathematician (b. 1905)
1982 - Zeng Jinlian, tallest woman ever (b. 1964)
1988 - John Curulewski, American guitarist (Styx) (b. 1950)
1991 - Arno Breker, German sculptor (b. 1900)
1992 – Nikolay Bogolyubov, Russian mathematician (b. 1909)
1993 - Willoughby Gray, British actor (b. 1916)
From 2001
2002 – Waylon Jennings, American musician (b. 1937)
2004 - Zelimkhan Yandarbiyev, Chechen politician (b. 1952)
2005 – Maurice Trintignant, French racing driver (b. 1917)
2006 – Peter Frederick Strawson, British philosopher (b. 1919)
2007 - Johanna Sallstrom, Swedish actress (b. 1974)
2008 – Kon Ichikawa, Japanese movie director and producer (b. 1915)
2008 – Henri Salvador, French singer and guitarist (b. 1917)
2010 – John Reed, British singer of Gilbert and Sullivan (b. 1916)
2011 – Inese Jaunzeme, Latvian javelin thrower (b. 1932)
2013 - Pieter Kooijmans, Dutch politician (b. 1933)
2014 - Balu Mahendra, Indian moviemaker and screenwriter (b. 1939)
2014 - Richard Moller Nielsen, Danish footballer and coach (b. 1937)
2014 - Piero D'Inzeo, Italian equestrian show jumper (b. 1923)
2014 - Ralph Waite, American actor (b. 1928)
2015 - Kesava Reddy, Indian writer (b. 1946)
2015 - Stan Chambers, American journalist (b. 1923)
2016 - Antonin Scalia, United States Supreme Court Justice (b. 1936)
2016 - O. N. V. Kurup, Indian poet, lyricist and politician (b. 1931)
2016 - Trifon Ivanov, Bulgarian footballer (b. 1965)
2016 - Christopher Zeeman, British mathematician (b. 1925)
2017 - Sara Coward, British actress (b. 1948)
2017 - Kim Jong-nam, half-brother of Kim Jong-un (b. 1971)
2017 - Jan Grabowski, Polish speedway rider (b. 1950)
2017 - Lucky Pulpit, American-trained racehorse (b. 2001)
2017 - E-dubble, American rapper (b. 1982)
2017 - Harold Denton, American public servant (b. 1936)
2017 - Bruce Lansbury, English-American television producer (b. 1930)
2017 - Seijun Suzuki, Japanese director, screenwriter and actor (b. 1923)
2018 - Joseph Bonnel, French footballer (b. 1939)
2018 - Dobri Dobrev, Bulgarian ascetic and philanthropist (b. 1914)
2018 - Tito Francona, American baseball player (b. 1933)
2018 - Henrik, Prince Consort of Denmark (b. 1934)
2018 - Josefina Samper, Spanish communist and feminist (b. 1927)
Observances
World Radio Day
Days of the year |
5167 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/January%2031 | January 31 |
Events
Up to 1900
314 - Silvester I becomes Pope.
1504 – France cedes Naples to Aragon.
1542 - Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca becomes the first European to reach Iguazu Falls on the present-day border between Argentina and Brazil.
1606 – Gunpowder Plot: Guy Fawkes is executed for his plotting against Parliament and James I of England.
1747 – The first venereal diseases clinic opens at London Dock Hospital.
1801 - John Marshall becomes Chief Justice of the United States.
1814 – Gervasio Antonio de Posadas becomes Supreme Director of Argentina.
1846 - The city of Milwaukee is formed.
1849 – The Corn Laws are abolished in the United Kingdom.
1862 - Alvan Graham Clark discovers white dwarf star Sirius B.
1865 - American Civil War: The United States Congress passes the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, banning slavery.
1865 – American Civil War: Confederate General Robert E. Lee becomes general-in-chief.
1867 – Maronite nationalist leader Karam leaves Lebanon on board a French ship for Algeria
1876 – The United States orders all Native Americans to move into reservations.
1891 - The first attempt at a Portuguese republican revolution breaks out in the city of Porto.
1892 - At Holmenkollen, Oslo, the first ski jumping competition takes place. Norwegian Arne Ustvedt wins with at 21.5-meter jump.
1901 1950
1906 - A magnitude 8.8 earthquake hits Colombia and Ecuador, killing over 1,000 people.
1915 – World War I: Germany uses poison gas against Russians.
1917 – World War I: Germany announces its U-boats will engage in unrestricted submarine warfare.
1918 – A series of accidental collisions on a misty Scottish night leads to the loss of two Royal Navy submarines with over a hundred lives, and damage to another five British warships.
1919 - Battle of George Square in Glasgow.
1929 – The Soviet Union exiles Leon Trotsky.
1930 – 3M markets Scotch Tape.
1930 - The fourth world championship in ice hockey begins in Chamonix, France.
1936 – The Green Hornet radio show debuts.
1942 - World War II: Allied forces are defeated by the Japanese in the Battle of Malaya.
1943 - World War II: German field marshal Friedrich Paulus surrenders to the Soviets at Stalingrad, followed two days later by the remainder of his Sixth Army, ending one of the war's fiercest battles.
1944 – World War II: American forces land on Kwajalein Atoll and other islands in the Japanese-held Marshall Islands.
1945 – US Army private Eddie Slovik is executed, the first American soldier since the Civil War to be executed for desertion.
1946 – Yugoslavia's new constitution, modeling the Soviet Union, establishes six constituent republics (Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Slovenia).
1950 – President Harry S. Truman announces a program to develop the hydrogen bomb.
1951 2000
1953 - 133 people are killed in the MV Princess Victoria ferry disaster in the Irish Sea between Belfast, Northern Ireland and Stranraer, Scotland.
1953 - More than 2,000 people die in a storm flood on the North Sea coasts of the Netherlands, Belgium and the United Kingdom in the night to February 1.
1956 – Guy Mollet becomes Prime Minister of France.
1957 - 8 people on the ground in Pacoima, California, are killed following a mid-air collision between a Douglas DC-7 airliner and a Northrop F-89 Scorpion fighter jet.
1958 – The first successful American satellite, Explorer I, is launched into orbit.
1958 – James Van Allen discovers the Van Allen radiation belt.
1961 – Ham the Chimp travels into outer space.
1966 - The Soviet Union launches the unmanned Luna 9 spacecraft.
1968 – The National Front for the Liberation of South Vietnam attacks the United States embassy in Saigon.
1968 – Nauru declares independence from Australia.
1971 – Apollo program: Astronauts aboard Apollo 14 lift off for a mission to the moon.
1971 – The Winter Soldier Investigation, organized by the Vietnam Veterans Against the War to publicize war crimes and atrocities by Americans and allies in Vietnam, begin in Detroit, Michigan.
1980 - Queen Juliana of the Netherlands announces that she will leave the throne on April 30 (her birthday) of the same year, becoming the second Dutch Queen in a row to do so. Her crown passes to her daughter, Beatrix of the Netherlands.
1988 – Super Bowl XXII: The Washington Redskins win their second championship of the 1980s, 42-10.
1990 – The first McDonald's opens in Moscow, Russia.
1993 – Super Bowl XXVII: The Dallas Cowboys defeat the Buffalo Bills, 52-17.
1994 - The opera house Gran Teatru Liceu in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, is destroyed by fire.
1995 – President Bill Clinton authorizes a $20 billion loan to Mexico to stabilize its economy.
1996 - The comet Hyakutake is discovered by Japanese amateur astronomer Yuji Hyakutake.
1996 – An explosives-filled truck rams into the gates of the Central Bank in Colombo, Sri Lanka killing at least 86 and injuring 1,400.
1999 – Super Bowl XXXIII: The Denver Broncos defeat the Atlanta Falcons, 34-19. After the game, Family Guy aired its pilot episode.
2000 – An Alaska Airlines MD-83 crashes in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Malibu, California killing 131.
From 2001
2001 – In the Netherlands a Scottish court convicts a Libyan and acquits another for their part in the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 which crashed into Lockerbie, Scotland in 1988.
2002 - The Larsen B Ice Shelf breaks off of Antarctica.
2004 – Mystery Science Theater 3000 ends its run on the Sci-Fi Channel.
2009 - In Kenya, at least 113 people are killed and more than 200 are injured after an oil spill caught fire in Molo.
2010 - Avatar becomes the first movie to make $2 billion worldwide.
2011 - January 31 – February 2, 2011 North American winter storm.
2013 - An explosion at the Pernex Executive Tower in Mexico City kills at least 33 people and injures at least 100.
2015 - The Australia national football team wins the 2015 AFC Asian Cup, defeating the South Korea national football team 2-1 in extra time, on home soil. This is their first tournament victory since joining the Asian Federation in 2006.
2016 - Bomb attacks in Damascus, Syria, kill at least 60 people.
Births
Up to 1900
36 BC - Antonia Minor, daughter of Mary Antony and Octavia Minor (d. 38)
877 - Taejo of Goryeo of Korea (d. 943)
1512 – King Henry of Portugal (d. 1580)
1543 – Tokugawa Ieyasu, Japanese shogun (d. 1616)
1550 - Henry I, Duke of Guise (d. 1588)
1597 - John Francis Regis, French saint (d. 1640)
1624 - Arnold Geulincx, Flemish philosopher (d. 1669)
1707 - Frederick, Prince of Wales (d. 1751)
1752 - Gouverneur Morris, American lawmaker and diplomat (d. 1816)
1759 - Francois Devienne, French composer (d. 1803)
1762 – Lachlan Macquarie, Scottish Governor of New South Wales (d. 1824)
1797 – Franz Schubert, Austrian composer (d. 1828)
1813 - Agostino Depretis, Italian statesman (d. 1887)
1815 - Pedro Diez Canseco, Interim President of Peru (d. 1893)
1820 - William D. Washburn, 28th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1887)
1830 - James G. Blaine, American politician (d. 1893)
1830 - Henri Rochefort, French writer, journalist and politician (d. 1913)
1835 – William Charles Lunalilo, King of Hawaii (d. 1874)
1854 - David Emmanuel, Romanian mathematician (d. 1941)
1857 - George Jackson Churchward, English railway engineer (d. 1933)
1865 - Shastriji Maharaj, Indian spiritual leader (d. 1951)
1865 – Henri Desgrange, French sports figure and journalist (d. 1940)
1868 – Theodore William Richards, American chemist (d. 1928)
1872 – Zane Grey, American novelist (d. 1939)
1873 – Melitta Bentz, German entrepreneur and inventor of the coffee filter (d. 1950)
1881 – Irving Langmuir, American chemist (d. 1957)
1883 - Oskar von Hindenburg, German general (d. 1960)
1884 - Nathaniel Moore, American golfer (d. 1910)
1884 – Theodor Heuss, first President of the Federal Republic of Germany (d. 1963)
1884 - Hammad Amin Rasulzade, Azerbaijani statesman (d. 1955)
1892 – Eddie Cantor, American actor and singer (d. 1964)
1894 - Isham Jones, American saxophonist, composer and bandleader (d. 1956)
1896 - Sofya Yanovskaya, Russian mathematician (d. 1966)
1897 - Ahmad Shah Qajar, Shah of Persia (d. 1930)
1901 1925
1902 – Alva Myrdal, Swedish politician and diplomat (d. 1986)
1902 – Tallulah Bankhead, American actress (d. 1968)
1905 – John O'Hara, American writer (d. 1970)
1905 - Diana Napier, British actress (d. 1982)
1906 - Roosevelt Sykes, American blues pianist (d. 1983)
1908 - Atahualpa Yupanqui, Argentine singer (d. 1992)
1909 - Miron Grindea, Romanian literary journalist and editor (d. 1995)
1910 - Giorgio Perlasca, Italian businessman and humanitarian (d. 1992)
1911 - Eddie Byrne, British actor (d. 1981)
1911 - Baba Vanga, Bulgarian mystic (d. 1996)
1913 – Walter Winterbottom, English football manager (d. 2002)
1913 - Don Hutson, American football player (d. 1997)
1915 - Garry Moore, American entertainer, game show host and comedian (d. 1993)
1915 - Bobby Hackett, American cornetist and bandleader (d. 1976)
1916 - Sangoule Lamizana, 1st President of Burkina Faso (d. 2005)
1916 - Frank Parker, American tennis player (d. 1997)
1917 - Fred Bassetti, American architect (d. 2013)
1917 - Jini Dellaccio, American photographer (d. 2014)
1919 – Jackie Robinson, American baseball player (d. 1972)
1920 – Stewart Udall, American politician (d. 2010)
1920 – Bert Williams, English footballer (d. 2014)
1921 – Carol Channing, American actress and singer
1921 – Mario Lanza, American singer (d. 1959)
1921 - John Agar, American actor (d. 2002)
1922 - Joanne Dru, American actress (d. 1996)
1923 – Norman Mailer, American writer (d. 2007)
1924 - Tengiz Abuladze, Georgian movie director (d. 1994)
1926 1950
1929 – Jean Simmons, British actress (d. 2010)
1929 - Anatol Hrytskievich, Belarussian historian (d. 2015)
1929 – Rudolf Mössbauer, German Nobel Prize-winning physicist (d. 2011)
1931 - Christopher Chataway, British athlete, broadcaster and politician (d. 2014)
1931 - Ernie Banks, American baseball player (d. 2015)
1931 - Hansjörg Felmy, German actor (d. 2007)
1933 - Camille Henry, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 1997)
1933 – Bernardo Provenzano, Italian crime boss (d. 2016)
1934 - Ernesto Brambilla, Italian motorcycle racer and racing driver
1934 - Bob Turner, Canadian ice hockey player
1935 – Kenzaburo Oe, Japanese writer
1937 – Philip Glass, American composer
1937 - Suzanne Pleshette, American actress (d. 2008)
1938 – Beatrix, former Queen of the Netherlands
1938 - Lynn Carlin, American actress
1938 - James G. Watt, American politician
1939 - Romualdas Ozolas, Lithuanian politician (d. 2015)
1941 - Richard Gephardt, American politician
1941 - Charlie Musselwhite, American blues musician
1941 - Jessica Walter, American actress
1941 – Eugene Terre'Blanche, South African far-right politician (d. 2010)
1942 - Derek Jarman, British director and writer
1944 - Connie Booth, American writer and actress
1946 - Bobby Windsor, Welsh rugby player
1947 - Nolan Ryan, American baseball player
1949 - Johan Derksen, Dutch footballer and sports journalist
1949 - Ken Wilber, American sociologist, philosopher and author
1951 1975
1951 - Harry Wayne Casey, American singer and musician
1951 - Juan de Dios Castillo, Mexican footballer and manager (d. 2014)
1951 - Phil Manzanera, British guitarist
1954 - Adrian Vandenberg, Dutch musician
1954 - Mark Slavin, Israeli wrestler (d. 1972)
1956 – John Lydon, aka Johnny Rotten, British singer
1956 - Artur Mas, Catalan politician
1959 – Anthony LaPaglia, Australian actor
1960 – George Benjamin, British conductor and composer
1960 - Zeljko Sturanovic, Prime Minister of Montenegro (d. 2014)
1961 - Fatou Bensouda, Gambian lawyer
1961 - Lloyd Cole, British singer
1962 - Sophie Muller, British music video director
1963 – John Dye, American actor (d. 2011)
1964 – Jeff Hanneman, American guitarist (d. 2013)
1964 - Dawn Prince-Hughes, American anthropologist
1966 - Dexter Fletcher, English actor
1966 - Jorge Gonzalez, Argentine basketball player and wrestler (d. 2010)
1967 – Jason Cooper, English musician
1967 – Chad Channing, American musician
1967 - Fat Mike, American musician
1970 – Minnie Driver, British actress
1971 – Patrick Kielty, Northern Irish comedian
1971 - Lee Young-ae, South Korean actress
1973 – Portia de Rossi, Australian actress
1975 - Jackie O, Australian radio host
From 1976
1976 – Traianos Dellas, Greek footballer
1977 - Mark Dutiaume, Canadian ice hockey player
1977 - Eddie Gustafsson, Swedish footballer
1977 - Bobby Moynihan, American actor and comedian
1977 - Sergei Pareiko, Estonian footballer
1977 - Kate Shindle, American actress
1977 – Kerry Washington, American actress
1978 - Fabian Caballero, Argentine footballer
1978 - Brad Rutter, American game show contestant
1979 – Daniel Tammet, British autistic savant
1979 - Felix Sturm, German boxer
1979 - Brahim Asloum, French boxer
1980 - Jurica Vranjes, Croatian footballer
1981 – Julio Arca, Argentine footballer
1981 – Justin Timberlake, American singer
1982 – Allan McGregor, Scottish footballer
1982 – Elena Paparizou, Greek singer
1982 - Janis Sprukts, Latvian ice hockey player
1982 - Brad Thompson, American baseball player
1982 - Andreas Görlitz, German footballer
1983 – Fabio Quagliarella, Italian footballer
1984 - Alessandro Zanni, Italian rugby player
1984 - Jeremy Wariner, American athlete
1985 – Adam Federici, Australian footballer
1985 – Christophe Berra, Scottish footballer
1985 - Laura Bechtolsheimer, German-born British equestrian
1985 - Mario Williams, American football player
1986 – Yves Makabu-Makalambay, Belgian footballer
1986 - Pauline Parmentier, French tennis player
1987 - Marcus Mumford, English musician (Mumford and Sons)
1988 - Sidney Sam, German footballer
1990 - Kota Yabu, Japanese actor and singer
1990 - Cro, German singer and rapper
1992 - Tyler Seguin, Canadian ice hockey player
1995 - Nina Sublatti, Georgian singer
1996 - Joel Courtney, American actor
Deaths
Up to 1900
743 – Muhammad al-Baqir, Shia Imam (b. 676)
1216 - Theodore II Eirenikos, Patriarch of Constantinople
1398 – Emperor Suko of Japan (b. 1334)
1418 - Mircea the Elder, ruler of Wallachia (b. 1355)
1435 – Xuande, Emperor of China (b. 1398)
1561 - Bairam Khan, Mughal general
1561 – Menno Simons, Dutch Mennonite leader (b. 1496)
1580 – King Henry of Portugal (b. 1512)
1606 – Gunpowder Plot conspirators executed:
Guy Fawkes (b. 1570)
Ambrose Rokewood
Thomas Wintour (b. 1571)
1615 – Claudio Aquaviva, Italian Jesuit (b. 1543)
1632 – Joost Bürgi, Swiss clockmaker and mathematician (b. 1552)
1665 – Johannes Clauberg, German theologian and philosopher (b. 1622)
1686 – Jean Mairet, French dramatist (b. 1604)
1720 – Thomas Grey, 2nd Earl of Stamford, English privy councilor
1729 – Jacob Roggeveen, Dutch explorer (b. 1659)
1736 – Filippo Juvara, Italian architect (b. 1678)
1788 – Charles Edward Stuart, pretender to the British throne (b. 1720)
1790 – Thomas Lewis, Irish-born Virginia settler (b. 1718)
1794 – Marriott Arbuthnot, British admiral (b. 1711)
1811 - Manuel Alberti, Head of State of Argentina (b. 1763)
1815 - José Félix Ribas, Venezuelan soldier (b. 1775)
1828 - Alexander Ypsilantis, Greek national hero (b. 1792)
1851 – David Spangler Kaufman, American politician (b. 1813)
1856 – Khedrup Gyatso, 11th Dalai Lama (b. 1838)
1864 - Hamilton Rowan Gamble, 16th Governor of Missouri (b. 1798)
1892 – Charles Spurgeon, English preacher and evangelist (b. 1834)
1901 2000
1907 – Timothy Eaton, Canadian department store founder (b. 1834)
1917 - Otto Finsch, German naturalist and explorer (b. 1839)
1923 - Eligiusz Niewiadowski, Polish assassin (b. 1869)
1933 – John Galsworthy, English writer, Nobel Prize in Literature winner (b. 1867)
1942 - Henry Larkin, American baseball player (b. 1860)
1944 – Jean Giraudoux, French writer (b. 1882)
1945 – Eddie Slovik, American soldier (b. 1920)
1954 - Edwin Howard Armstrong, American engineer (b. 1890)
1955 – John Mott, American YMCA leader, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1865)
1956 – A. A. Milne, English writer (b. 1882)
1961 - Krishna Sinha, Indian politician, 1st Chief Minister of India (b. 1887)
1967 – Eddie Tolan, American athlete (b. 1908)
1970 – Slim Harpo, American singer (b. 1924)
1972 – King Mahendra of Nepal (b. 1920)
1973 – Ragnar Anton Kittil Frisch, Norwegian economist, Nobel Prize in Economics winner (b. 1895)
1974 – Samuel Goldwyn, movie producer (b. 1879)
1976 – Ernesto Miranda, American litigant (b. 1941)
1987 – Yves Allegret, French movie director (b. 1907)
1989 - William Stephenson, Canadian soldier (b. 1896)
1990 – Rashad Khalifa, Egyptian-born imam (stabbed) (b. 1935)
1992 – Willie Dixon, American musician (b. 1915)
1995 – George Abbott, American stage director and producer (b. 1887)
1997 – John Joseph Scanlan, Irish Catholic prelate (b. 1930)
1999 - Shohei Baba, Japanese professional wrestler (b. 1938)
1999 – Norm Zauchin, American baseball player (b. 1929)
2000 – Gil Kane, Latvian-born comic book writer (b. 1926)
From 2001
2001 – Gordon R. Dickson, Canadian writer (b. 1923)
2004 – Eleanor Holm, American swimmer (b. 1913)
2006 – Moira Shearer, Scottish actress and dancer (b. 1926)
2011 – Eunice Sanborn, American supercentenarian (b. 1896)
2012 – Dorothea Tanning, American painter (b. 1910)
2012 - Mike Kelley, American artist and musician (b. 1954)
2012 - Anthony Bevilacqua, American cardinal and Archbishop of Philadelphia (b. 1923)
2013 - Hassan Habibi, 1st Vice president of Iran (b. 1937)
2013 - Caleb Moore, American snowmobile racer (b. 1987)
2014 - Miklos Jancso, Hungarian movie director and screenwriter (b. 1921)
2014 - Abdirizak Haji Hussein, Prime Minister of Somalia (b. 1924)
2014 - Nina Andrycz, Polish actress and poet (b. 1912)
2014 - Christopher Jones, American actor (b. 1941)
2015 - Richard von Weizsaecker, President of Germany (b. 1920)
2015 - Kenji Goto, Japanese journalist and adventurer (b. 1967)
2015 - José Manuel Lara Bosch, Spanish media executive (b. 1944)
2015 - Lizabeth Scott, American actress (b. 1922)
2015 - Udo Lattek, German footballer (b. 1935)
2015 - Tomas Bulat, Argentine economist and journalist (b. 1964)
2016 - Terry Wogan, Irish broadcaster (b. 1938)
2016 - Mere Broughton, New Zealand Maori activist (b. 1936)
2017 - Deke Leonard, Welsh rock guitarist (b. 1944)
2017 - Frank Pellegrino, American actor (b. 1944)
2017 - John Wetton, British singer-songwriter and bass guitarist (b. 1949)
Observances
Independence Day (Nauru)
Street Children's Day (Austria)
Days of the year |
5168 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/1981 | 1981 | 1981 (MCMLXXXI) was .
Events
January 20 – Hostages from the Iran hostage crisis are released at the same time when Ronald Reagan is inaugurated for the first time as President of the United States.
January 21 – The first DeLorean automotive is released in Northern Ireland.
January 27 – The Indonesian passenger ship Tamponas 2 catches fire and capsizes in the Java Sea, killing 580.
January 29 – Adolfo Suárez resigns as Prime Minister of Spain.
February 4 – Gro Harlem Brundtland becomes Prime Minister of Norway.
February 8 – Polish Prime Minister Józef Pinkowski resigns and is replaced by General Wojciech Jaruzelski.
February 25 – Adolfo Suárez leaves his office as Prime Minister of Spain.
March 30 - Shortly after being inaugurated, John Hinckley, Jr. tries to assassinate President Ronald Reagan. He survives the attack.
July 29 – Lady Diana Spencer marries Charles, Prince of Wales.
November 9 – Céline Dion's first album is released in Canada.
Births
January 4 – Alicia Keys, American singer
January 28 – Elijah Wood, American actor
January 31 – Justin Timberlake, American singer and actor
February 11 – Kelly Rowland, American singer
February 24 – Lleyton Hewitt, Australian tennis player
March 3 – Justin Gabriel, South African professional wrestler
April 28 – Jessica Alba, actress
June 5 – Sebastien Lefebvre, Canadian Musician-Simple Plan
June 7 – Anna Kournikova, Russian tennis player
June 9 – Natalie Portman, Israeli actress
July 30 – Hope Solo, American goal keeper
August 8 – Roger Federer, Swiss tennis player
September 4 – Beyoncé Knowles, American singer and actress
September 8 – Jonathan Taylor Thomas, American actor
September 26 – Serena Williams, American tennis player
October 31 – Frank Iero MCR
December 2 – Britney Spears, American singer and actress
December 27 – Patrick Sharp, Canadian professional ice hockey player
Deaths
May 11 - Bob Marley
June 28 – Terry Fox
November 25 - Jack Albertson
Movies released
Absence of Malice
An American Werewolf in London
Any Which Way You Can
Arthur
The Boat Is Full
Bustin' Loose
Chariots of Fire
Escape to Victory
Excalibur
For Your Eyes Only
The Four Seasons
The Fox and the Hound
The French Lieutenant's Woman
Friday the 13th, Part 2
The Great Muppet Caper
Halloween II
Heaven's Gate
Mommie Dearest
Omen III: The Final Conflict
On Golden Pond
Only When I Laugh
Pennies From Heaven
Pixote
Quest For Fire
Ragtime
Raiders of the Lost Ark
Reds
Sogni d'oro
Stevie
Stripes
Superman II
Tarzan, the Ape Man
They Don't Wear Black Tie
Hit songs
"The Tide Is High" – Blondie
"Celebration" – Kool & The Gang (2)
"9 To 5" – Dolly Parton (2)
"I Love A Rainy Night" – Eddie Rabbitt (2)
"Keep On Loving You" REO Speedwagon (1)
"Rapture" – Blondie (2)
"Kiss On My List" – Daryl Hall & John Oates (3)
"Morning Train (9 To 5)" – Sheena Easton
"Bette Davis Eyes" – Kim Carnes
"Stars On 45 Medley" – Stars On 45 (1)
"The One That You Love" – Air Supply (1)
"Jessie's Girl" – Rick Springfield
"Endless Love" – Diana Ross & Lionel Richie (9)
"Arthur's Theme (Best That You Can Do)" – Christopher Cross (3)
"Private Eyes" – Daryl Hall & John Oates
"Physical" – Olivia Newton-John
New books
Ill Seen Ill Said – Samuel Beckett
Arabian Nights and Days – Naguib Mahfouz
La Bicyclette Bleue (The Blue Bicycle) – Régine Deforges
Bliss – Peter Carey
Creation – Gore Vidal
Cujo – Stephen King
Distant Star – Samuel R. Delany
Famous Last Words – Timothy Findley
Flames Across the Border – Pierre Berton
Giants of the Ottawa Valley – Joan Finnegan
The Glitter Dome – Joseph Wambaugh
The Golden Age of Science Fiction – Kingsley Amis
Goodbye, Janette – Harold Robbins
Gorky Park – Martin Cruz Smith
Hotel New Hampshire – John Irving
An Indecent Obsession – Colleen McCullough
Licence Renewed – John Gardner
Masquerade – Kit Williams
Midnight's Children – Salman Rushdie
No Time for Tears – Cynthia Freeman
Noble House – James Clavell
Other People: A Mystery Story – Martin Amis
Red Dragon – Thomas Harris
Strata – Terry Pratchett
Tar Baby – Toni Morrison
The Third Deadly Sin – Lawrence Sanders |
5169 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Britney%20Spears | Britney Spears | Britney Jean Spears (born December 2, 1981) is an American recording artist, singer-songwriter, dancer, entertainer and actress. She has recorded several albums and has received several entertainment industry awards.
Early life
Britney Jean Spears was born on December 2, 1981. Her parents are Lynne Irene (née Bridges) and James Parnell Spears. She grew up in Kentwood, Louisiana. One of Spears's maternal great-great-grandfathers was Maltese. Her siblings are Bryan James and Jamie Lynn. She was the middle of three children.
She prepared early for a career in entertainment. She took music and dance lessons. She often performed for family and friends.
Personal life
On January 3, 2004, Spears married her childhood friend Jason Allen Alexander in Las Vegas, Nevada. The marriage was annulled 55 hours later. On September 18, 2004, Spears married Kevin Federline. They had a son on September 14, 2005 named Sean Preston Spears Federline. On September 12, 2006, Britney gave birth to their second son, Jayden James Spears Federline.
In November 2006, Spears filed for divorce from Federline. In September 2007, Spears lost some custody of her two children, Sean Preston and Jayden James, to her ex-husband, Federline. At the beginning of January 2008, Spears lost full custody of her children after a mental breakdown. In February 2008, her father took control of her estate. Spears currently has 50/50 custody of her two sons.
Her father Jamie has been one of her conservators since 2008. Fans have participated in a movement known as #FreeBritney to raise awareness about Spears' conservatorship arrangement. In 2021, Spears spoke in a courtroom hearing, revealing that she felt controlled by the "abusive" arrangement, in ways such as having an IUD to prevent pregnancy, despite wanting to have another child. She was also sent to a rehab center and was prescribed lithium. Spears also claimed that she did not know she could ask for this conservatorship to be canceled. In July, Spears hired a new lawyer, who filed a petition for Jamie to be removed as a conservator. August of that year, it was revealed that Jamie Spears showed interest in stepping down as one of Britney's conservators.
Spears stated in 2012 that she has attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder.
Professional life
Spears appeared on the 1993–1994 season of the children's television series, The All New Mickey Mouse Club. In 1997, she signed with Jive Records. Her first and second studio albums ...Baby One More Time (1999, the best-selling album by a teenage solo artist) and Oops!... I Did It Again (2000) became great successes. Their title tracks broke sales records around the world.
In 2001, Spears released her third album Britney and starred in the profitmaking but critically panned movie, Crossroads. She developed a more sexualized image, dancing in little clothing with an albino python at the 2001 MTV Video Music Awards. She took creative control of her fourth album In the Zone (2003). The song "Toxic" was a huge success. In 2003, she shared a kiss with Madonna at the 2003 MTV Video Music Awards that raised eyebrows in the entertainment industry and fan magazines.
Spears' fifth album Blackout was released in 2007.
On September 17, 2013 "Work Bitch" was released as the first single from Spears' eighth album Britney Jean.
In November 2017, her first watercolor painting sold for $10,000 in Las Vegas.
Awards
Spears has one Grammy, three MTV Video Music Awards, and her own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. She has had five #1 songs: "...Baby One More Time", "Womanizer", "3", "Hold It Against Me" and "S&M (remix)"
Albums
Spears has made nine studio albums:
...Baby One More Time (1999, initially set to release in 1998 but got delayed)
Oops!... I Did It Again (2000)
Britney (2001)
In the Zone (2003)
The Original Doll (cancelled, initially set for 2005)
Blackout (2007)
Circus (2008)
Femme Fatale (2011)
Britney Jean (2013)
Glory (2016)
References
Other websites
Official site (1)
Official site (2)
1981 births
Living people
Actors from Mississippi
American child singers
American movie actors
American pop musicians
Grammy Award winners
Mouseketeers
Singers from Mississippi |
5171 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/The%20Matrix | The Matrix | The Matrix is a science fiction action movie that was made in 1999. It was written and directed by the Wachowski Sisters. The main actors in the movie are Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss, and Hugo Weaving. The Matrix was followed by three sequels: The Matrix Reloaded, The Matrix Revolutions and The Matrix Resurrections.
Story
The main character of the movie is Thomas A. Anderson (played by Keanu Reeves), who is a computer programmer at MetaCortex, a big software company, but he is also an underground hacker. Thomas meets Trinity (played by Carrie-Anne Moss), who then introduces him to Morpheus (played by Laurence Fishburne), who gives him a choice between taking a blue pill or a red pill. If he took the blue pill, he would wake up at his bed and wouldn't be bothered anymore, but if he took the red pill, Morpheus would show him the truth about the Matrix. Thomas takes the red pill. Then Morpheus tells Thomas he is actually Neo, or "the one". He explains to Neo that the Matrix is a computer program made by robots to simulate a world which humans think is real. He then explains to Neo that, because he is "the one" he is able to modify the Matrix however he wants. Morpheus then helps Neo to get out of the Matrix. At the beginning, Neo is skeptical about his power, but after training, he is able to show his real power. Neo, Trinity, Morpheus and the rest of the rebels then go on a journey to free humans from the Matrix.
Symbolism
There is a lot of symbolism in The Matrix. Common sources are Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism (the concept of maya), the ancient philosopher Plato and Plato's Cave, modern philosophers such as René Descartes, and modern authors such as William Gibson.
Descartes says that maybe humans are brains in jars. A monster is maybe tricking humans. The monster makes humans believe that they are in the real world, but actually humans are simply brains. Humans cannot know what is real.
Philosophy
There are also references to Simulacra and Simulation, a very modern philosophy book by Jean Baudrillard. Baudrillard says that in the modern world, copies of copies are made. "The Real" is gone because people do not know what the first things were. For example, a modern person who eats a chicken did not kill the chicken. That person does not know what a real chicken is. The chicken meat is false because the person did not kill the chicken. The person's reality is the chicken meat.
Trivia
"Neo" is a word from old Greek word meaning "new". The letters in "Neo" can be moved around to spell "one".
Anderson is word from old Greek which means "son of man"
Morpheus is the name of an old Greek god who makes dreams.
Nebuchadnezzar, Morpheus's ship gets its name from the king from Babylon who had many dreams, and was a king of change and of understanding the truth.
The directors, the Wachowski Brothers often use the story “Alice in Wonderland”. Alice falls into a rabbit hole, and she finds a strange world. “Alice in Wonderland” is a story about illusions.
Symbols in the music of The Matrix
In the first scene, when Neo is sleeping on his keyboard, "Dissolved Girl" by Massive Attack is playing. The chorus of this song is:
I feel like I've been/ I've been here before
You're not my savior/ but I still don't go
It feels like something that I've done before
I could fake it, but I'd still want more/
When Neo is in the dance club, the remix of a Rob Zombie song called "Dragula" is playing. The first line of that song is: "Dead, I am the One."
When Neo is meeting with the Oracle, the quiet music in the background is Duke Ellington's "I'm Beginning To See The Light."
Cast
Keanu Reeves as Neo
Laurence Fishburne as Morpheus
Carrie-Anne Moss as Trinity
Hugo Weaving as Agent Smith
Joe Pantoliano as Cypher
Music
Don Davis made the score (orchestra part with violins and flutes).
The Matrix's soundtrack (band music for a movie) includes music from bands such as Rammstein, Rob Dougan, Rage Against the Machine, Propellerheads, Massive Attack, The Prodigy, Rob Zombie, and Marilyn Manson.
Other meanings
The word matrix sometimes means "origin" or "beginnings". In very old English, matrix means "womb". A matrix is also a part of mathematics.
Effect of the movie
A new religion called Matrixism or The path of the One is based on the movie The Matrix. The religion began in 2004 with 300 members. Now there are about 16,000 members of Matrixism.
References
Notes
Other websites
1999 movies
1999 science fiction movies
Matrix series
Drone movies
Transgender in movies
Warner Bros. movies
Post-apocalyptic movies
Dystopian movies |
5176 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/September%2011%20attacks | September 11 attacks | The September 11 attacks (also called 9/11) were four terrorist attacks against the United States of America. They all happened on the morning of Tuesday, September 11, 2001. The attacks killed almost 3,000 people, including the 19 attackers, making it the deadliest recent terrorist attack. They caused more than $10 billion in damage to infrastructure. They were carried out by the Islamic terrorist group al-Qaeda. They used passenger airplanes to destroy famous buildings by flying the planes into them. There were two attacks in New York City and one in Arlington, Virginia. The fourth attack did not work and the plane crashed in a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
The buildings attacked were the World Trade Center's twin towers in New York City, and the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia. The fourth plane crashed in an empty field in Pennsylvania before it could reach its target in Washington, D.C. That target was either the White House or the United States Capitol. After the event, the United States government said the people who had done the attacks were close to the terrorist group al-Qaeda.
Airplanes involved
The first of the four planes to take off was American Airlines Flight 11, a Boeing 767-200ER. It was long and wide. It had two aisles. The plane made daily flights between Boston and Los Angeles. When it took off at 7:59 a.m. on the morning of the eleventh, it carried only 81 passengers in its 158 seats. Forty-seven minutes later, it crashed into the North Tower at . It was carrying 9,717 gallons of jet fuel, 14,000 fewer than it was able to carry.
United Airlines Flight 175, also a Boeing 767-200ER, was the second. Like American Airlines 11, it was scheduled to fly from Boston to Los Angeles. When United 175 took off at 8:14 a.m., it was even lighter than the American flight: Only 56 of 168 seats were filled. When it crashed into the South Tower of the World Trade Center at 9:03 a.m., traveling , it had 9,118 gallons of fuel in its tanks. This crash was broadcasted live on many television channels worldwide that were already showing the North Tower burning.
American Airlines Flight 77 was the third plane to take off. It was a Boeing 757-200. It left Washington, D.C. at 8:20 a.m. going to Los Angeles. It was two-thirds empty, with 58 passengers in its 176 seats. It was carrying 4,000 gallons of fuel, less than the 11,500 gallons it could carry. It crashed into the Pentagon at 9:37 a.m., flying at .
The fourth plane, United Airlines Flight 93, was also a 757-200. It was traveling from Newark, New Jersey to San Francisco. It was scheduled to leave at 8 a.m., but was delayed for 42 minutes. When it finally took off, it carried only 37 passengers in its 182 seats. It had a little over 7,000 gallons of fuel. At 10:03 a.m, it crashed at into an empty field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania after the passengers and crew unsuccessfully attempted to retake control of the plane to stop the hijack terrorists from hitting another landmark.
Deaths
All of the 246 people on the four planes died in the crashes. 19 terrorists were also killed in the attacks. Both towers of the World Trade Center caught on fire after the crashes. The South Tower (2 WTC) burned for 56 minutes before it fell and was destroyed. The North Tower (1 WTC) burned for 102 minutes before it also fell. As the towers fell, parts of the towers hit other buildings around them. It is believed that because of this damage, a third building, 7 World Trade Center (7 WTC), fell at 5:20 p.m. Many other buildings in the area were damaged badly and had to be demolished later, leaving the whole World Trade Center complex destroyed. 2,602 people died at the World Trade Center.
The plane that hit the Pentagon hit the ground just as it hit the western side of the building. It then crashed through three of the five "rings" that make up the Pentagon. The crash killed 125 people in the Pentagon.
There were 2,996 people who died in the attacks. They included firefighters and police officers trying to save the other people. They also included the 19 attackers who were all killed.
Outcome
The United States government paid an average of $1.8 million to the families of the victims of the attacks.
The attacks also led to the United States Department of Homeland Security being created, which protects the country from terrorist attacks.
Many conspiracy theories have appeared which say that certain people in the United States government knew about the attacks, or even made them happen. These have been said to be false by the government.
War on Terror
After the attack, the United States blamed Al-Qaeda, which the U.S. thought was a terrorist group. President George W. Bush said he would start a "War on Terror". He meant that the United States would do more things to try to stop terrorism in the future. Bush said this was meant to protect Americans and their property from terrorists. For example, the American government would be reorganized. Security and control in public places was made stronger, especially at airports. Americans were told every day whether there was a serious threat of terrorism. (This was done by giving a color for the day. Red meant there was a high risk, green meant a low risk, and there were many levels in between.)
The War on Terror also led to real wars. The leader of Al-Qaeda, Osama bin Laden, lived in the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. The United States told the government of Afghanistan, called the Taliban, to turn bin Laden over to them. The Taliban would not do this. The leader of the Taliban, Mullah Muhammad Omar, demanded to see proof from the United States government. If proof was not given, Mullah Omar said that he would not hand over bin Laden. President George W. Bush said that he did not need to provide proof. The United States then went to war against Afghanistan. The Taliban was removed from power, a new government was put in power, and a new president was chosen by the people of Afghanistan.
While this was happening, the United States government changed in a few ways. The United States Department of Transportation (DOT) created the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). Before 9/11, security at American airports was provided by the airlines. The TSA made it the government's job to provide airport security. New officers were hired by TSA to work at airports and to fly on planes as air marshals. The TSA also provides security on American trains and subways. A new Department of Homeland Security was also created. It became their job to protect Americans and their property inside the United States. When this department was created, the TSA moved from the DOT to Homeland Security.
After defeating the Taliban, President George W. Bush thought the US should invade Iraq. He believed that Iraq helped terrorist groups, including al-Qaeda. He said he had evidence that Iraq was also making weapons of mass destruction. He sent Secretary of State Colin Powell to the United Nations to show them some of the evidence. In March, 2003, the United States began its invasion of Iraq. (Four other countries also took part, including the United Kingdom, Australia, Poland, and Denmark.) The government of Iraq was overthrown, and the people of Iraq elected a new government. No weapons of mass destruction were found in Iraq.
On May 2, 2011, United States Navy SEALs killed al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, who led the September 11, 2001 attacks and other terrorist attempts.
Investigations
FBI
Immediately after the attacks, the Federal Bureau of Investigation started PENTTBOM. This was the biggest criminal investigation in the history of the United States. At one point, more than half of the FBI's agents worked on the investigation and followed a half-million leads. The FBI concluded that there was "clear and irrefutable (cannot be denied)" evidence linking al-Qaeda and bin Laden to the attacks.
The FBI did not record the 2,977 deaths from the attacks in their annual violent crime record for 2001. New York City also did not include the deaths in their annual crime statistics for 2001.
CIA
The Inspector General of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) did a review of the CIA's pre-9/11 performance. He was very critical of senior CIA officials for not doing everything possible to stop terrorism. He criticized their failure to stop two of the 9/11 hijackers, Nawaf al-Hazmi and Khalid al-Mihdhar, as they entered the United States. He also criticized their failure to share information on the two men with the FBI. In May 2007, senators from both major U.S. political parties wrote legislation to make the review public. One of the backers, Senator Ron Wyden said, "The American people have a right to know what the Central Intelligence Agency was doing in those critical (important) months before 9/11."
Congressional inquiry
In February 2002, the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence created a joint inquiry into the performance of the U.S. Intelligence Community. Their 832-page report was released in December 2002. In the report, there were detailed failings of the FBI and CIA to use available information. This included information about terrorists the CIA knew were in the United States. They failed to use this information in order to stop the plans. The joint inquiry got its information about Saudi Arabian government officials possibly being involved from non-classified sources. The Bush administration demanded 28 related pages stayed classified.
Rebuilding
On the day of the attacks, New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani said: "We will rebuild. We're going to come out of this stronger than before, politically stronger, economically stronger. The skyline will be made whole again."
The damaged part of the Pentagon was rebuilt within one year of the attacks. Construction of One World Trade Center started on April 27, 2006. It reached its full height on May 20, 2013. The spire was installed on top of the building at that date. This makes the total height of 1 WTC's at 1,776 feet (541 m). This makes it the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere. One WTC finished construction and opened on November 3, 2014.
On the World Trade Center site, three more office towers were supposed to be built one block east of where the original towers were. 7 WTC was the first to open on May 23, 2006 after four years of construction. 4 WTC was the second tower to open on November 13, 2013. 3 WTC opened on June 11, 2018 making it the fourth skyscraper at the site to be finished.
Notes
Related pages
Patriot Day
References
Other websites
September 11th Photo Gallery - Also includes victim names and more information.
BBC News - 'America's Day of Terror'
CNN.com - Video archive, including the first and second planes.
CNN September 11 memorial - List of victims, and photos. |
5179 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cardiff | Cardiff | Cardiff is the capital and biggest city of Wales. It is also the 11th biggest city in the United Kingdom. Its name in the Welsh language is Caerdydd. A 2011 census says that around 346,100 people live in Cardiff. It is the most important city in Wales for tourism, culture, government, sport, transport, nightlife and business.
Cardiff was declared a city in 1905, and it became the capital of Wales in 1955.
History
The Romans built a fort here in about 55 AD. Later, a castle was built within the walls of the fort when the city was first founded.
In 1404, Owain Glyndŵr set Cardiff on fire. Most of the buildings in Cardiff were made out of wood, so fire destroyed the city.
Demographics
At the 2011 census, the biggest ethnic group in Cardiff is White (84.7%), other groups are Asian (8%), Black (2.4%), Arab (1.4%), Mixed (2.9%)
Places
Cardiff has a big port that used to be known as Tiger Bay. It is now just called Cardiff Bay, and the Welsh Government works there. There are now lots of shops, pubs and restaurants in Cardiff Bay. Cardiff has an international airport, and is twinned with Nantes in France and Stuttgart in Germany. Cardiff has one of the largest stadiums in the United Kingdom, the Millennium Stadium, where important world sports matches and concerts happen. Other big stadiums in the city are the Cardiff City Stadium, where the main football team play, Cardiff Arms Park where the main rugby team play, and the SWALEC Stadium where cricket is played.
Three big rivers flow through Cardiff - the Taff, the Ely and the Rhymney.
Part of Cardiff is built on marshland.
Transportation
To get around, there are lots of bus routes and train lines in the city. There are two big train stations in Cardiff city centre, called Central station and Queen Street station, but there are also 18 other smaller stations in the city for local areas. There are lots of cycle paths in Cardiff on and off the road.
Education
Cardiff has a large university, with 33,000 students, making it the tenth-largest university in Britain. The city also has 127 schools.
References |
5185 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valladolid | Valladolid | is a city in Spain, with a population of 316,564. It is the capital of Castile and León, and one of the historical capitals of the Spanish Kingdom.
On 19 October, 1469, Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile married secretely in the Palacio de los Vivero. Also, Christopher Columbus died in the city on 20 May, 1506.
The river that runs through the city is known as the Pisuerga. Valladolid has a hot-summer Mediterranean climate (Csa in the Köppen climate classification).
Capital cities in Spain |
5194 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth%20Gaskell | Elizabeth Gaskell | Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell (29 September 1810 – 12 November 1865) was an English writer.
She was born in Chelsea, London. After her mother died, she lived with her aunt in Knutsford, Cheshire. She married William Gaskell, a priest, in 1832. They lived in Manchester, where several of her books are set. She died of a heart attack in Holybourne, Hampshire.
Her most famous books are Mary Barton, Cranford, North and South, and Wives and Daughters. She also wrote a book of the life of her friend, writer Charlotte Brontë. Some of her books have been made into movies and television programmes.
References
Other websites
The Gaskell Society
1810 births
1865 deaths
Cardiovascular disease deaths in England
Deaths from myocardial infarction
English novelists
Writers from Cheshire
Writers from London |
5198 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venice | Venice | Venice is a city in Italy. It is the capital of the Veneto region, which is in the north-east of the country. The population of the 'Comune di Venezia', which is Venice, its lagoon and its mainland is 271,367. Area is 412 km². The population of Venice itself keeps on shrinking at an alarming rate and is now under 55000 locals.
Venice is built on 118 small islands that are separated by 150 canals. People cross the canals by many small bridges. They can also navigate across the city on boats, both rowing boats and motor boats. The most famous Venetian type of boat called a gondolas. The buildings in Venice are very old and attractive, and tourists come from all over the world to see them and the canals. This has made Venice one of the most famous cities in the world. The most famous sights are the Rialto Bridge, St Mark's Basilica and the Doge's Palace.
It is important to remember that Venice is much more than few landmarks and that we owe the city a lot: from words to objects or services of our daily life. Its lifestyle and culture are unique in the world and it can get confusing at first.
There are several problems in Venice, but it is still the most popular tourist attraction in northeast Italy. Every year the city sinks a few millimeters because the ground is made from mud. Eventually, the city might be completely underwater, but that would take decades. Because of this, the Italian government is building the MOSE Project, a state-of-the-art defense against the sea-water flooding, that will safely protect Venice indefinitely.
History
The city was founded by people from the greater Veneto region as a refuge from the Barbarian invasions, when the Western Roman Empire fell. During the Middle Ages, Venice slowly grew to become an important commercial city. Around the year 1000 AD the Republic of Venice started to create an empire in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. It lasted until 1797, when it was annexed by Napoleon's France. It then changed hands a few times, becoming a part of Austria two times, before becoming part of Italy during the Italian unification. Venice deeply influenced the Venetian, Istrian and Dalmatian coasts for one thousand years.
Venice started to lose population after its conquest by Napoleon, but with the unification of Italy the city returned to be an important city. It is actually one of the most visited places on Earth by tourists from all around the globe.
Tourism
There are several ways to get around in Venice. The most common is walking and using the vaporetto, which is a water bus which carries lots of people around the city. The vaporetto goes around the City and on the Grand Canal, it does not enter the small canals of the city. To see Venice from the small canals, most tourists use the gondola. Taxi boats can also be used to move around the city and its lagoon. The Grand Canal is long and can be crossed only on a few bridges. A simple way to cross it is to take one of the traghetti (ferries). The streets, Vaporetti, and traghetti are used by the locals, it is important to remember that they are their ways to move around the city to go to school, work and do their errands.
Usually, the warmest month is July and the coolest month is January. The maximum average precipitation occurs in November. The season of the acqua alta, high waters, are generally November to February. During the acqua alta season, the city can be partially flooded for a couple of hours on certain days.
Venice has incredible crafts, culture, and tradition. Shopping for handmade goods such as masks, Murano glass jewels, etc. is a must. These days, however, mass tourism led Venice to be invaded by many shops selling low-quality souvenirs.
Buying from the authentic local businesses has never been more important as it is essential to the future of the Venetians and is also the only guarantee for you to get a quality product. It is not easy, though. Thankfully, there is a social enterprise based in Venice, which works closely with the Venetian business owners, shops, restaurants, and bars included. They have a certification process where the local artisan shops attest and commit to selling products that are both authentic and sustainable as well as to give a 10% discount to the customers carrying a "Venezia Autentica Friends' Pass" ( buyable online for only 10 euros). The shops are part of the program are easy to spot thanks to a sticker on their door.
Bibliography
John Rigby Hale. Renaissance Venice (1974) ()
Lane, Frederic Chapin. ''Venice: Maritime
Related pages
Venice and Dalmatia
References
Other websites
Encyclopedia about Venice
A Website about life and travel in Venice
History of Italy
Regional capitals in Italy |
5199 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naples | Naples | Naples is a southern Italian city with a port. It faces the Mediterranean Sea and is near Mount Vesuvius. Its name in Italian is Napoli which came from its Greek name Neapolis, meaning new city. It has a population of about 1 million. About 3 million live in the area around Naples (including Naples itself).
There is one airport in the city, Naples International Airport at Capodichino.
History
Ancient Greeks settled Naples in the 6th Century B.C. There were so many Greeks there, the Romans called it Magna Graecia, which means "Greater Greece." Later the Romans conquered southern Italy and took Naples. When the Roman Empire fell to invaders in the west, Naples came under the rule of the Byzantine Empire, the Greek-speaking Eastern Roman Empire.
Naples became independent later and but was combined with the Kingdom of Sicily during the Middle Ages. By 1500 it was ruled by Aragón, which was a kingdom in eastern Spain. Later Naples became part of Spain when Aragon and the other kingdom in Spain called Castile became one country. Naples was part of this Kingdom of Spain until the Austrian Empire got it in the War of the Spanish Succession in 1714.
In the 19th century it was the capital of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. The Duchy of Savoy, or kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont, conquered Naples in 1861. That kingdom became the Kingdom of Italy. Naples was heavily bombed when Italy fought in World War Two and British/American armies tried to capture it.
Today Naples is the capital of Campania and the largest city in southern Italy.
Climate
The average temperature in the summer is 24°C. In the winter, the average can be as low as 8°C. There is usually around 40 inches of rain in the city every year.
Economy
Naples is Italy's fourth-largest economy, with a 2011 GDP of US$83.6 billion. The Port of Naples is one of the most important and busy ports in the Mediterranean. The city, however, still has a lot of organized crime and political corruption, but it is also famous for its musical, theatrical and cinematographic culture.
Naples is a popular city for tourists. It was rated the 166th-most-visited city in the world in 2008.
Recently, more people work in the service industry than in agriculture. In 2003, 31% of people worked in public services, 18% in manufacturing, 14% in commerce, 10% in construction, 8% in transportation, 7% in financial services, 5% in agriculture, 4% in the hotel business and 3% work in other fields.
Related pages
Neapolitan Mastiff
Charles III of Spain
References
Other websites
official website
TrekEarth Gallery of Photos
Time Out Tourist Guide to Naples
Naples -Wikivoyage
Regional capitals in Italy
6th-century BC establishments |
5200 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florence | Florence | Florence () is the capital city of the region of Tuscany (Toscana), in Italy. From 1865 to 1870 the city was also the capital of the Kingdom of Italy. Florence is on the Arno River. The city has a population of around 370,000 people, and a suburban population of over 2,000,000 people. The greater area has around 956,000 people. The city was a center of medieval European trade and finance. It is often considered the birthplace of the Italian Renaissance and was long ruled by the Medici family. Florence is also famous for its fine art and architecture. It is said that, of the 1,000 most important European artists of the second millennium, 350 lived or worked in Florence.
Buildings and monuments
Bridges:
Ponte Amerigo Vespucci
Ponte Santa Trinita
Ponte Vecchio
Ponte alle Grazie
Museums:
Institute and Museum of the History of Science
La Specola
Museo di Storia Naturale di Firenze
National Archaeological Museum
Palaces:
Bargello
Palazzo Davanzati
Palazzo Fenzi
Palazzo Medici Riccardi
Palazzo Mozzi
Palazzo Pitti
Palazzo Rucellai
Palazzo Spini Feroni
Palazzo Strozzi
Studiolo of Francesco I
Uffizi
Palazzo Vecchio
Churches:
Famous people born in Florence
Leone Battista Alberti, polymath.
Dante Alighieri, poet.
Filippo Brunelleschi, famous architect.
Giotto di Bondone, early 14th century painter
Michelangelo Buonarroti, a famous sculptor, also famous for painting the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.
The Medici Family
Girolamo Mei, historian and humanist
Lorenzo Ghiberti, sculptor
Donatello, sculptor
Leonardo da Vinci, famous for his Mona Lisa and other paintings, inventions, and scientific experiments.
Niccolò Machiavelli, famous Renaissance poet and philosopher
Giorgio Vasari, painter, architect, and historian
Galileo Galilei, Italian physicist, astronomer, and philosopher.
Oriana Fallaci, journalist and author
Florence Nightingale, pioneer of modern nursing, and a noted statistician.
Salvatore Ferragamo, Legendary "shoemaker to the stars"
Sister cities
Parks
Boboli's Garden: a historic park of Florence, joined with Pitti Palace and with Forte di Belvedere. The garden is visited every year by 800,000 tourists, it is famous for its flowers and for the very old sculptures.
Bobolino's Garden: It is a public park in Florence,near "Porta Romana",the park gains the name by the most famous "Boboli's Garden",the Bobolino's Garden is smaller than the Boboli's Garden.
Bardini's Garden: The garden is in the hills of south of the city,near the "Forte Belvedere", near the Boboli's Garden. By Piazzale Michelangelo the park is visible. In June 2007, the garden opened after a big work of re-building.
Garden of Roses: a very nice park in the "Oltrarno" zone,near Piazzale Michelangelo,in "Giuseppe Poggi" Street.
Garden of Iris: a green park in the east of Piazzale Michelangelo. It is open to tourists only in May.
Park of Cascine: called friendly "Le Cascine". It is the biggest public garden in Florence.
Garden of Semplici: the garden is a part of "Museum of history and nature of Florence University".
Orti Oricellari: Orti Oricellari is a small monumental garden near Santa Maria Novella, The garden was owened by "Rucellai Family".
Sport
The football team of Florence is the Fiorentina.
Cuisine
The food of Florence is based more on peasant eating rather than expensive cooking. Most of foods are based on meat. The whole animal was usually eaten. Many kinds of tripe, (trippa) and (lampredotto) were commonly served. They are still sold at the food carts in the city. Antipasti include crostini toscani, sliced bread topped with a chicken liver-based pâté. Also common are sliced meats (mainly prosciutto and salami). They are often served with melon when it is in season. Tuscan bread has no salt or butter. It is used often in Florentine meals. It is very common in the local soups, ribollita and pappa al pomodoro, Both soups are usually served with local olive oil. The bread is also used in the salad of bread and fresh vegetables called panzanella that is served in summer. The most famous main course is the bistecca alla fiorentina. It is a huge steak of Chianina beef that is cooked over hot charcoal. It is served very rare with the tagliata, sliced rare beef served on a bed of arugula, often with slices of parmesan cheese on top.
Climate
Florence has a mixed Mediterranean climate and humid subtropical climate, with hot and humid summers and cool and damp winters. Florence is especially hot from June to August (surrounded by hills in a valley cut by the Arno river). Summer temperatures are higher than those along coastlines. Winter has some snow.
Panorama
Images
Other websites
The Moscow Florentine Society
Regional capitals in Italy
World Heritage Sites in Italy |
5201 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milan | Milan | Milan (Italian: Milano; ancient Medhelan Mediolanum (City in the middle of the lands)) is a city in northern Italy. Milan is the capital of the Milano Provence and of the Lombardy Region. It is populated by 1,308,735 inhabitants.
It is the most populated province in Italy, and it is the second biggest city in Italy (after Rome).
Milan is the fashion capital of the world and its important influence on design, economics, opera, and the media make it amongst the world's top 18 Global cities, along with Moscow, Buenos Aires and Kuala Lumpur.
History
Mediolanum was founded by Insubres, a Celtic people. It was captured by the Romans in 222 BC. Milan became very successful under the Roman Empire.
Milan was ruled by the Spanish in the 1500s and the Austrians in the 1700s. During the Renaissance and the Romantic periods, Milan was a major cultural center in the whole of Europe, famous for its literature and opera.
During the war, the city was badly affected by Allied bombings and during the 50s and 60s the city grew into being the wealthy and industrial metropolis it is today.
References
Regional capitals in Italy |
5226 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glamorgan | Glamorgan | Glamorgan, also known as Glamorganshire is a county in Wales in the west of Great Britain. Glamorgan was a medieval kingdom. Its capital is Cardiff.
The county is home to over a million people, which is more than one third the total of Wales. It contains the cities of Cardiff, Swansea and most of the valleys that are famous for coal mining in the past.
Other websites
Glamorgan Record Office
Glamorgan Family History Society |
5227 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cornwall | Cornwall | Cornwall (Cornish: Kernow) is a county in the far southwest of England in the United Kingdom. Truro is the capital of the Unitary Authority that has administered Cornwall since 2009. Truro is also the only city. It has the cathedral of the Diocese of Truro. Cornwall is home to the Cornish Language and the Cornish people. The Duchy of Cornwall is an estate which belongs to the Prince of Wales (who is also the Duke of Cornwall), but only part of it is in Cornwall. Cornwall is split from Devon by the River Tamar. Cornwall is home to Newquay, a popular town and holiday resort.
Industry and tourism
Mining
Since 2400BC. Cornwall has been an important area for the mining of tin. In the 19th century large amounts of both tin and copper were mined in Cornwall. Mining used to be the major industry in Cornwall but now neither tin or copper are mined. China clay is in mined in small amounts.
Tourism
As Mining fazed out, the tourism industry grew. five million tourists vist Cornwall every year, most of which are from within the United Kingdom. This makes up about a quarter of the Cornish economy and supports about 1 in 5 Cornish jobs.
Agriculture and food
As a mostly rural county, Cornwall naturally has a lot of farmers and farmland, with 4.9% of people in Cornwall working in agriculture. The Cornish climate and soil is not great for most crops. It is good for grass to feed dairy cows and bullocks. Flowers and vegetables such as cauliflowers are also produced in Cornwall and taken to be sold in English markets. There is also a lot of moorland parts of which are used for grazing sheep.
Cornwall is famous for being the home of the Cornish pasty and Cornish clotted cream. 12.1% of jobs in Cornwall are in the food industry. Cornwall is also known for cream teas but the jam is spread on the scones or splits first (the opposite of what is done in Devon).
Culture and people
Demographics
Cornwall has a population of approx. 550,000 and its population is divided almost equally between native Cornish and incomers from elsewhere in the UK, mostly England. 10% of people in Cornwall consider themselves as descendants of the indigenous Celtic Britons, and not English, and are recognised by Celtic organisations worldwide as such.
Language
Some people in Cornwall have revived Cornish, a very old recently extinct Celtic language, which is related to Breton and to Welsh. There is also a dialect of the English language spoken in Cornwall known as Cornish-English.
Flag
Cornwall has its own flag. It's linked to the patron saint of Cornwall, St Piran, who is also the patron saint of tin miners.
Geography
Bodmin Moor is the largest and highest of the granite moors of Cornwall; all the high hills of Cornwall are in Bodmin Moor. The climate is generally mild, with much frontal rain. The varied scenery and historical monuments attract many tourists to Cornwall. Tintagel Castle is on the north coast of Cornwall. Falmouth harbour is one of the largest natural harbours in the world. Newquay is one of the larger holiday resorts and popular with surfers. Land's End is the headland at the far southwest of Cornwall and Lizard Point is the most southerly headland in the county. The main rivers of Cornwall are the River Camel whose estuary is next to Padstow on the north coast, the River Fal which flows into the English Channel east of Falmouth, and the River Fowey which flows into the English Channel at Fowey. Apart from Truro, the county town, the main towns of Cornwall are St Austell, Saltash, Bodmin, Launceston, Falmouth, Camborne, Redruth and Penzance.
The most important transport links between Devon and Cornwall are the Plymouth to Penzance railway line and the A30 and A38 major roads.
The Isles of Scilly are a group of islands south west of Cornwall and forming part of the county. The Isles of Scilly have a long history of shipwrecks because of the rocky coasts. There are 530 known shipwrecks around the isles.
References
Cornwall
Ceremonial counties of England |
5229 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tintagel%20Castle | Tintagel Castle | Tintagel Castle is in Cornwall, a county in England.
Reginald, Earl of Cornwall built the castle on Tintagel Head (a piece of land by the sea) in about 1150. In Cornish legend, this is the place where the old Kings of Cornwall lived. Reginald built the castle for propaganda, not for military use; he wanted people to think of Camelot when they thought about him. Some people say King Arthur was born at the castle, because traditional stories say the King of Cornwall looked after him when he was a child.
The modern village of Tintagel was first called Trevena. Then, in the 1850s, it got a new name, to bring in tourism because of the King Arthur and Camelot legends. Tintagel is only the name of land by the sea.
Castles in England |
5230 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gwyneth%20Paltrow | Gwyneth Paltrow | Gwyneth Kate Paltrow (born September 28, 1972) is an American actress and singer. She was born in Los Angeles, California.
Her father was movie director Bruce Paltrow. Her mother is actress Blythe Danner. Her brother is director Jake Paltrow. Her uncle is singer-actor Harry Danner. Her half-cousin is actress Katherine Moennig. She studied Spanish in Talavera of the Queen, Spain. Paltrow married Coldplay singer Chris Martin on December 5, 2003. The couple separated in 2014. They have a daughter, Apple (born May 14, 2004) and son, Moses (born April 8, 2006). Since 2008, she plays Pepper Potts in the Marvel Cinematic Universe which is her most famous role.
Filmography
Discography
Singles
Featured singles
Album appearances
Music videos
References
Other websites
Gwyneth Paltrow's Newsletter, Goop
References
Actors from Los Angeles
American movie actors
American stage actors
American television actors
Screen Actors Guild Award winners
1972 births
Living people |
5231 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarah%20Michelle%20Gellar | Sarah Michelle Gellar | Sarah Michelle Gellar (born April 14, 1977) is an American actress. After several television acting roles during the 1990s, Gellar became famous for playing Buffy Summers in the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. After Buffy, she started acting in movies. She has starred in the family movies Scooby-Doo (2002) and Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed (2004), the movie Harvard Man (2001), and the horror movies The Return (2006), The Grudge 2 (2006), The Grudge (2004) and I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997). She won an award for her part in the 1999 movie Cruel Intentions.
Early life
Gellar was born in New York City. She is the only child of Rosellen Greenfield and Arthur Gellar. Both of her parents were Jewish from Hungary and Russia, but Gellar's family had a Christmas tree during the holidays while she was growing up. In 1984, her parents divorced. She was raised by her mother on New York's Upper East Side. Gellar and her father did not have a good relationship from this time until his death from liver cancer on October 9, 2001. She went to school at New York's Columbia Grammar & Preparatory School and the Professional Children's School. Gellar was a very good student and was a good figure skater. Her best friend was Melissa Joan Hart. Several years later, Hart was the star of the series Clarissa Explains It All and Sabrina, the Teenage Witch.
Television career
At the age of four, Gellar was seen by an talent agent in a restaurant in Uptown Manhattan. Two weeks later, she auditioned for a part in An Invasion Of Privacy, a movie made for television. The movie starred Valerie Harper, Carol Kane and Jeff Daniels. At the audition, Gellar read the lines for both her own character and Harper's character. The directors thought this was very impressive and she got the job. A short while later, she got a part in a television commercial for the fast food restaurant Burger King. In it, she said bad things about McDonald's and said she only ate at Burger King. Gellar made other commercials while doing other acting job. Some of these jobs were playing Emily in an episode of the TV series Spenser: For Hire, appearing in a small role in the Chevy Chase comedy movie Funny Farm and in the movie High Stakes. She was also in Europe working on the TV series Crossbow. In 1991, she played a young Jacqueline Bouvier in A Woman Named Jackie.
Gellar's major break came in 1992. She starred in the teen soap opera Swan's Crossing. After that, she got a part in another soap opera, All My Children. She playing the character Kendall Hart, the long-lost daughter of character Erica Kane (Susan Lucci). In 1995, at the age of eighteen, she won a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Younger Leading Actress in a Drama Series for her work as Kendall Hart.
Gellar left All My Children in 1995. People were saying that her and Susan Lucci did not get along and this caused problems with them working together. She got the main role in the 1997 TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. She played a teenager who had to fight many of supernatural enemies with the help of the Scooby Gang and her Watcher (a mentor). The show was well liked by both the critics and the audience. Another series, (Angel), was made based on characters from Buffy. Buffy was on television for seven seasons and a total of 144 episodes. During the show, Buffy, and Gellar also, became cult icons in the United States and the UK. They were a symbol of "empowered" women. Gellar also sang several of the songs during the Buffy the Vampire Slayer musical episode "Once More, with Feeling".
During the show's later years, Gellar said she did not like some parts of season six and the seventh season's final episode. After the show ended, Gellar said that she did not want to be in a Buffy movie. Since that time, she has said she might do it if the script is good enough.
Gellar's picture has been used on the covers of Cosmopolitan, Glamour, FHM, Rolling Stone, and other magazines. She was part of Maxim's Hot 100 list in 2002, 2003, and 2005, and in FHM's 100 Sexiest Women of 2005. In 1998, she was named one of People Magazine's "50 Most Beautiful People (in the World)". Gellar has also been in the Stone Temple Pilots music video Sour Girl and is a celebrity spokesperson for the cosmetics company, Maybelline.
Movie career
After Buffy, Gellar tried to use her television fame for a movie career. Some of her movies were well liked, others were not. After roles in the popular horror movies I Know What You Did Last Summer and Scream 2 (both 1997), she starred in the 1999 movies Simply Irresistible, a romantic comedy, and Cruel Intentions. Cruel Intentions was a small hit at the box office. It made over $38 million in the United States. The movie had a lesbian kiss between Gellar and co-star Selma Blair that won the "Best Kiss" award at the 2000 MTV Movie Awards. Critic Roger Ebert said that Gellar is "effective as a bright girl who knows exactly how to use her act as a tramp".
Gellar starred as Daphne in the box office success Scooby-Doo (2002), a live-action version of the cartoon series. Gellar, Prinze and their friends Matthew Lillard and Linda Cardellini were also in the sequel Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed (2004), which made less money than the first movie. Gellar's next movie was the 2004 horror movie The Grudge. It was very well liked. Gellar appeared in the sequel The Grudge 2. It opened on October 13, 2006. She has also starred in several movies that have yet to be released, including Southland Tales, The Air I Breathe and The Girls' Guide to Hunting And Fishing.
Personal life
Gellar met her husband Freddie Prinze, Jr. during filming of the 1997 teen horror movie I Know What You Did Last Summer but the two did not begin a intimate relationship until 2000. They were engaged to be married in April 2001. They got married in Jalisco, Mexico on September 1, 2002.
In 2004, while filming The Grudge in Japan, Gellar visited the famous Japanese swordmaker Shoji Yoshihara (Kuniie III) and bought a Katana from him as a birthday gift for her husband. Gellar found out that she needed permission from the government to take the sword out of the country. After she got permission, she said that it was incredibly difficult to do.
Gellar and her husband have two children together — a daughter born in 2009 and a son born in 2012.
Filmography
TV series
1997-2003 Buffy the Vampire Slayer as Buffy Summers
1993-1995 All My Children as Kendall Hart
Movies
2009 Veronika Decides to Die as Veronika
2007 Happily N'Ever After as Ella
2006 The Grudge 2 as Karen Davis Filming
2004 The Grudge as Karen Davis
2004 Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed as Daphne Blake
2002 Scooby-Doo as Daphne Blake
2001 Harvard Man as Cindy Bandolini
1999 Cruel Intentions as Kathryn Merteuil
1999 Simply Irresistible as Amanda Shelton
1997 Scream 2 as Casey "Cici" Cooper
1997 I Know What You Did Last Summer as Helen Shivers
References
Other websites
1977 births
Actors from New York City
Gellar, Sarah Michelle
American television actors
American voice actors
Emmy Award winning actors
Living people
Whedonverse |
5233 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jennifer%20Garner | Jennifer Garner | Jenny Anne Garner (born April 17, 1972) is a Golden Globe Award- and SAG Award-winning and Emmy Award-nominated American movie and television actress, and producer. She first became famous for her role as Sydney Bristow on Alias, a CIA agent. She was also in Juno, Pearl Harbor, and Dude, Where's My Car.
Garner joined the Ban Bossy campaign in 2014.
References
Other websites
Self magazine interview transcript (June, 2005)
Cinema Confidential interview (January 10, 2005)
Get Lippy interview (January, 2005)
Moviehole interview (April 15, 2004)
1UP interview (April, 2004)
Dark Horizons interview (February 3, 2003)
TRL interview transcript (Friday, November 16, 2001)
Elle Magazine Cover Story January 2007
1972 births
Living people
American movie actors
Actors from Houston, Texas
Actors from West Virginia
American movie producers
American television actors
Golden Globe Award winners
Screen Actors Guild Award winners |
5234 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heather%20Graham | Heather Graham | Heather Joan Graham (born January 29, 1970 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin) is an American actress.
Her father is a retired FBI agent. Her mother is a writer of books for children. Her sister, Aimee, is an actress and writer. Graham's parents are Catholics. They did not want their daughter to make any movies about sex. She does not talk to her parents.
Graham was a student at the University of California, Los Angeles. She met James Woods when she was a student. She stopped going to college so she could become an actress.
Graham was in the movie Drugstore Cowboy in 1989. In 1997, She was in the movie Boogie Nights. She played a character called "Roller Girl". She played the character called "Felicity Shagwell" in the movie Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me in 1999. She was in the movie From Hell in 2001, in which she played a character called "Mary Kelly".
She was in several episodes of the television series Scrubs in 2004 and 2005.
Graham appeared in advertisements for Garnier hair care products and for Skyy vodka.
Graham has dated several famous men. These include UK musician/actor Adam Ant, actors James Woods, Kyle McLachlan and Heath Ledger, and directors Stephen Hopkins and Edward Burns.
Filmography
References
American movie actors
American television actors
Actors from Milwaukee, Wisconsin
1970 births
Living people |
5235 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christina%20Ricci | Christina Ricci | Christina Ricci (born February 12, 1980) is an American actress. She was born in Santa Monica, California and grew up in Montclair, New Jersey.
Filmography
Film
Television
Other works
Music
2005: "Hell Yes" – Beck
Music videos
1990: "The Shoop Shoop Song (It's in His Kiss)" – Cher
1991: "Addams Groove" – MC Hammer
1993: "Addams Family (Whoomp!)" – Tag Team
2000: "Natural Blues" – Moby
Video games
2008: The Legend of Spyro: Dawn of the Dragon as Cynder
2008: Speed Racer: The Videogame as Trixie
Audiobook
Gossip Girl – Narrator
Gossip Girl "You Know You Love Me" – Narrator
Other websites
1980 births
Actors from New Jersey
Actors from Santa Monica, California
American child actors
American movie actors
American voice actors
American television actors
Living people
People from Montclair, New Jersey |
5236 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julia%20Roberts | Julia Roberts | Julia Fiona Roberts (born October 28, 1967) is an American actress and producer. She is best known for her roles in the movies Steel Magnolias (1989), Pretty Woman (1990), Runaway Bride (1998) and Erin Brockovich (2000). Roberts regularly plays characters of attractive powerful women. She has been among People Magazine's 50 Most Beautiful People in the world eight times.
It is commonly mistaken that Julia's birth name is "Julie". Roberts has said in interviews that "Julie" was a nickname given to her by classmates in elementary school, and she never took well to it. She reverted to her original name "Julia Roberts" when she discovered that a "Julie Roberts" was already registered with the Screen Actors Guild. Roberts originally wanted to be a veterinarian (an animal doctor), but later studied journalism. When her brother, Eric Roberts, achieved success in Hollywood, Julia decided to try acting. Her first breakthrough came when she played in two youth-oriented movies called Mystic Pizza and Satisfaction, both filmed in 1987. Roberts' sister Lisa Roberts Gillan and niece Emma Roberts are actresses.
Early life and family
Roberts was born in Smyrna, Georgia, to Betty Lou (née Bredemus) and Walter Grady Roberts She is of English, Scottish, Irish, Welsh, German, and Swedish ancestry. Her father was a Baptist and her mother a Roman Catholic, and she was raised a Catholic. Her older brother, Eric Roberts, from whom she was estranged until 2004; sister Lisa Roberts Gillan; and niece Emma Roberts, are also actors.
Personal life
Roberts' first marriage was to musician Lyle Lovett; they divorced. She and her husband Danny Moder have three children. She gave birth to twins, Hazel Patricia and Phinnaeus Walter, in 2004. In 2007, she gave birth to a son, Henry Daniel.
Roberts is a convert to Hinduism.
Filmography
References
Other websites
The Julia Roberts Community
American movie actors
American movie producers
American television actors
Actors from Atlanta, Georgia
BAFTA Award winning actors
Best Actress Academy Award winners
Golden Globe Award winning actors
Screen Actors Guild Award winners
1967 births
Living people |
5237 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angelina%20Jolie | Angelina Jolie | Angelina Jolie (; née Voight, formerly Jolie Pitt, born June 4, 1975) is an American actress, movie producer, screenwriter, and author. She is the daughter of Jon Voight, who is also an actor and former actress/model Marcheline Bertrand. Her full name is Angelina Jolie Voight, but she decided to go by Angelina Jolie. She grew up in Los Angeles and attended the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute. She began acting at about 12 years old, and since then has starred in many movies, including the Tomb Raider movies. She has also been in the movies Hackers, Gathering Evidence (U.S. title), and Gone in Sixty Seconds.
Early life
She was born in Los Angeles, California. She is the daughter of actors Jon Voight and Marcheline Bertrand. She is the sister of actor James Haven, niece of singer-songwriter Chip Taylor, and goddaughter of actors Jacqueline Bisset and Maximilian Schell. On her father's side, Jolie is of German and Slovak descent, and on her mother's side, she is of primarily French Canadian, Dutch, and German ancestry. Like her mother, Jolie has stated that she is part Iroquois, although her only known Native American ancestor was a Huron woman born in 1649.
Career
Jolie played her first leading role in the 1993 movie Cyborg 2. In 1999 Jolie played Lisa Rowe in Girl, Interrupted.
She was awarded an honorary damehood by the British government in 2014 in recognition of her work in preventing sexual violence. She was presented with the award by Queen Elizabeth II. As an American citizen, she cannot be called "Dame Angelina", but she can use the letters "DCMG" after her name.
Awards
She won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in Girl, Interrupted.
Marriage and family
Jolie self-identifies as bisexual. She has been married to Jonny Lee Miller and Billy Bob Thornton.
She has three adopted children. She lives with actor Brad Pitt. Pitt and Angelina are called 'Brangelina' by the media. They have three biological children. On May 27, 2006, Jolie gave birth to a girl, Shiloh. In 2008, she also gave birth to twins, Vivienne Marcheline and Knox Leon. On August 28, 2014, Jolie married Pitt in France. In September 2016, they separated and she filed for divorce. Jolie is currently battling for full custody of her six children.
Personal life
She said in May 2013 that she had undergone a preventive double mastectomy after learning she had an 87% risk of getting breast cancer. Jolie has a defective BRCA1 gene resulting in a very high risk of breast cancer and ovarian cancer. Jolie said she might have her ovaries removed to prevent cancer.
Movies
References
Other websites
1975 births
Living people
Academy Award winning actors
Satellite Award winners
Actors from Los Angeles
American movie actors
Bisexual people
LGBT actors
LGBT people from California
LGBT producers
Movie producers from Los Angeles
Saturn Award winners |
5238 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lisa%20Kudrow | Lisa Kudrow | {{Infobox actor
| name = Lisa Kudrow
| image = Lisa Kudrow 2.jpg
| caption = Lisa Kudrow in 2009
| birth_date =
| birth_place = Encino, Los Angeles, California
| awards = Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series 1998 Friends
| known_for = Acting roles:Phoebe Buffay and Ursula Buffay in FriendsMichele Weinberger in Romy and Michele's High School ReunionValerie Cherish in The ComebackUrsula Buffay in Mad About You| spouse = Michel Stern (1995 - present) 1 child
}}
Lisa Valerie Kudrow (b. March 30, 1963 in Encino, California) is an Australian actress. She was best known for her roles as Ursula on Mad About You and Phoebe on Friends. Friends'' has been very popular lately and is still selling many copies, beating many popular shows even though it finished a long time ago. She also starred in P.S. I Love You playing the role Denise Hennessey.
References
Other websites
1963 births
Living people
American movie actors
American television actors
Actors from Los Angeles
Screen Actors Guild Award winners
Emmy Award winning actors
Webby Award winners |
5239 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grace%20Kelly | Grace Kelly | Grace Kelly (November 12, 1929 – September 14, 1982) was an American actress. She later married Prince Rainier III of Monaco and became Her Serene Highness The Princess of Monaco. With Prince Rainier, she had 3 children:
Hereditary Princess Caroline Louise Marguerite, born January 23, 1957, and now heiress presumptive to the throne of Monaco
Albert II, Prince of Monaco, born March 14, 1958
Princess Stéphanie Marie Elisabeth, born February 1, 1965
Kelly's father was an Irish American; her mother was a German American Her movies included three by Alfred Hitchock: Dial M for Murder, Rear Window, and To Catch a Thief. In 1955 she won an Academy Award for The Country Girl. She was the first actress to appear on a postage stamp. She was also mentioned in Billy Joel's song "We didn't start the fire" and in Mika's song "Grace Kelly" (2007). The classic head-cover of a silk scarf crossed under the chin and knotted at the side or nape of the neck is universally known as the "Grace Kelly." This chic look is still copied by many female Hollywood stars when they wish to retain a degree of anonymity in the public eye.
Kelly suffered a stroke which caused her to crash her car.
References
Other websites
Academy Award winning actors
Actors from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
American movie actors
American stage actors
American television actors
Golden Globe Award winning actors
Road accident deaths
Deaths from stroke
1929 births
1982 deaths
Recipients of the Order pro merito Melitensi
Princes and princesses of Monaco |
5240 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth%20Taylor | Elizabeth Taylor | Dame Elizabeth "Liz" Rosemond Taylor DBE (February 27, 1932 – March 23, 2011) was a British-American actress.
The movies she starred in were, National Velvet, Father of the Bride, A Place in the Sun, Giant, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, and Suddenly, Last Summer. She won the Academy Award for Best Actress for BUtterfield 8. She played the title role in Cleopatra, and married her costar Richard Burton. They appeared together in 11 films, including Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?. Taylor won a second Academy Award in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?. From the mid-1970s, she appeared less frequently in film, and made occasional appearances in television and theatre.
Her personal life included eight marriages and several life-threatening illnesses. From the mid-1980s, Taylor supported HIV and AIDS programs; she co-founded the American Foundation for AIDS Research in 1985, and the Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation in 1993. She received the Presidential Citizens Medal, the Legion of Honour, the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award and a Life Achievement Award from the American Film Institute. The American Film Institute named her seventh on their list of the "Greatest American Screen Legends". Taylor died of congestive heart failure in March 2011 at the age of 79 after suffering many years of ill health.
Early life
Taylor was born in London to American parents, Francis Lenn Taylor and Sara Sothern, who were Americans living in England. Her parents were originally from Arkansas City, Kansas. They returned to the United States on the onset of World War II.
Acting career
Her first act was in Lassie Come Home (1942). The next one was National Velvet (1944). Throughout her teens, she appeared in various supporting roles and easily made the transition to young adult parts.
Her first major role was in A Place in the Sun in 1950, with Montgomery Clift. Working steadily during the 1950s, notable movies have included; The Father of the Bride (1951), Ivanhoe (1952), Elephant Walk (1954), Rhapsody (1954), Giant (1956), Raintree County (1957), Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958), Suddenly, Last Summer (1959), BUtterfield 8 (1960), etc.
In 1963, she played the lead role in Cleopatra and met actor Richard Burton, who became her fifth husband in 1964. They appeared in several movies together; The V.I.P's (1963), The Sandpiper (1965), Who's afraid of Virginia Woolf ? (1966), The Taming of the Shrew (1967), Boom (1968). She also starred in Secret Ceremony (1969), X, Y and Zee (1972) and Ash Wednesday (1973).
She has won two Academy Awards for best actress, the first for her performance in Butterfield 8, the second for her performance in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?. In 1999 she won the BAFTA Academy Fellowship Award, a lifetime achievement award.
Personal life
Taylor often received media attention because of her many illnesses and controversial marriages to well known figures such as Conrad Hilton Jr., Michael Wilding, Mike Todd, Eddie Fisher, Richard Burton (twice), John Warner. She has two sons with Michael Wilding and a daughter with Mike Todd. She also adopted a daughter while married to Richard Burton. She was the godmother of two of Michael Jackson's children.
Activism
HIV/AIDS
Taylor devoted consistent and generous humanitarian time, advocacy efforts, and funding to HIV and AIDS-related projects and charities. She helped to raise more than $270 million for the cause. She was one of the first celebrities and public personalities to do so at a time when few people knew about the disease and organized and hosted the first AIDS fundraiser in 1984 to benefit AIDS Project Los Angeles.
Taylor was cofounder of the American Foundation for AIDS Research (amfAR) with Dr. Michael Gottlieb and Dr. Mathilde Krim in 1985. Her longtime friend and former co-star Rock Hudson had disclosed having AIDS and died of it that year. She also founded the Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation (ETAF) in 1993, created to provide critically needed support services for people with HIV/AIDS. For example, in 2006 Taylor commissioned a "Care Van" with examination tables and xray equipment, the New Orleans donation made by her Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation and Macy's. That year, after Hurricane Katrina, Taylor donated $500,000 to the NO/AIDS Task Force, a non-profit organization serving the community of those affected by HIV/AIDS in and around New Orleans.The donation was shared by Taylor for her celebration of her 74th birthday and to help NO/AIDS Task Force continue their work on fighting AIDS.
Taylor was honored with a special Academy Award, the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award, in 1992 for her HIV/AIDS humanitarian work. Speaking of that work, former President Bill Clinton said at her death, "Elizabeth's legacy will live on in many people around the world whose lives will be longer and better because of her work and the ongoing efforts of those she inspired."
Jewish causes
After she converted to the Jewish religion, Taylor worked for Jewish causes throughout her life.
In 1959, her purchase of Israeli Bonds caused Arab boycotts of her films. In 1962, she was prevented from entering Egypt to complete Cleopatra; its government announced that she would not be allowed to come to Egypt because she had adopted the Jewish faith and "supports Israeli causes". However the ban was lifted in 1964 after it was considered that the film had brought good publicity to Egypt.
In 1974, Taylor and Richard Burton considered marrying in Israel, but they were unable to do so because Burton was not Jewish. Taylor helped to raise money for organizations such as the Jewish National Fund; advocated for the right of Soviet Jews to emigrate to Israel and canceled a visit to the USSR because of its disapproval of Israel due to the Six-Day War, along with signing a letter protesting the United Nations General Assembly Resolution 3379 of 1975.
She offered herself as a replacement hostage after more than 100 Israeli civilians were taken hostage in the Entebbe skyjacking in 1976. After the success of the operation, which freed the hostages, she acted with Kirk Douglas in a TV special, Victory at Entebbe, broadcast in January, 1977. When she experienced the role, she stated, "I couldn't pass up this opportunity. I have strong ties to Israel and I firmly believe in the courage and dedication of the Entebbe mission."
Illness and death
Taylor had a lot of health problems. In 2004, she was diagnosed with congestive heart failure. In 2009, she underwent cardiac surgery for it. In early 2011, new symptoms related to congestive heart failure caused her to be admitted into Cedars-Sinai Medical Center for treatment. Taylor died on March 23, 2011, surrounded by her four children at the same medical center in Los Angeles, California, at the age of 79.
References
The Illustrated Who's Who of the Cinema, Lloyd, Fuller & Dessler, Portland House, New York, 1987.
1932 births
2011 deaths
Actors from London
Actors from Los Angeles
American activists
American movie actors
American stage actors
American television actors
Cardiovascular disease deaths in the United States
Converts to Judaism
Deaths from congestive heart failure
English movie actors
English stage actors
English television actors
Jewish activists
Jewish American actors
Jewish British actors
Presidential Citizens Medal recipients
Former Roman Catholics
Knights and Dames Commander of the Order of the British Empire |
5242 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hilary%20Swank | Hilary Swank | Hilary Swank (born July 30, 1974) is an Academy and Golden Globe Award-winning American actress. The is the second woman in the world to win two Oscars before thirty (the first one was Jodie Foster). Swank's movies include Million Dollar Baby and Freedom Writers. She will play Gail Getty in the 2018 television series Trust.
Swank was born in Lincoln, Nebraska. When she was nine she played her first role as Mowgli in her school's version of "The Jungle Book" by Rudyard Kipling. Afterward she often was in school and university performances.
Other websites
1974 births
Living people
Academy Award winning actors
Actors from Nebraska
American movie actors
American television actors
Golden Globe Award winning actors
Screen Actors Guild Award winners
People from Lincoln, Nebraska
BBC 100 Women |
5243 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nana%20Visitor | Nana Visitor | Nana Visitor (born July 26, 1957) is an American actress. Visitor was born in New York City. She is most famous for playing Kira Nerys in the television series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.
Visitor married fellow Star Trek actor Alexander Siddig in 1997. They had a son in 1996. Visitor and Siddig divorced in 2001.
Visitor is the niece of American actress Cyd Charisse.
American television actors
Actors from New York City
1957 births
Living people |
5244 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander%20Siddig | Alexander Siddig | Alexander Siddig (November 21, 1965) is a Sudanese actor. Siddig is most famous for playing Dr Julian Bashir in the Star Trek television series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.
Siddig married fellow Star Trek actor Nana Visitor in 1997. They had a son in 1996. Siddig and Visitor divorced in 2001.
Siddig is the nephew of English actor Malcolm McDowell and of former Sudanese Prime Minister Sadiq al-Mahdi.
References
Sudanese people
1965 births
Living people |
5246 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eiffel%20Tower | Eiffel Tower | The Eiffel Tower (French: La Tour Eiffel, [tuʁ ɛfɛl], IPA pronunciation: "EYE-full" English; "eh-FEHL" French) is a landmark in Paris. It was built between 1887 and 1889 for the Exposition Universelle (World Fair). The Tower was the Exposition's main attraction.
Background
The Eiffel Tower cost 7,799,401.31 French gold francs to build in 1889, an amount equal to $1,495,139.89 at that time. Today, its cost would equal to $36,784,020.11. It took 2 years, 2 months and 5 days to build it. The tower is tall, but this height does not include the aerial (antenna) on the top; the total height of the structure is . It has a square base that is long on each side. The second story platform is off , and the surface to be painted is . Since it has been built it has been repainted 18 times, each of these 18 paint jobs there were only 25 painters are hired to do the job. Three separate colors of paint are used on the structure in order to enhance the impression of height, with the lightest at the top.
There are 20,000 sparkling lights and of cables covering the structure. The paper used to print the visitors' tickets in one year weighs . The top of the tower leans away from the sun as the metal facing the sun heats up and expands, it can move as much as and grow taller. The tower was also built to sway slightly in the wind.
History
The Eiffel Tower was built by Alexandre Gustave Eiffel for the 100th anniversary of the French Revolution. Even though Gustave Eiffel is credited for the Eiffel Tower it was actually two lesser known people who came up with the original drawing of it. These people were Maurice Koechlin and Emile Nouguier. These two men were the chief engineers of Eiffel’s engineering firm. The main architect was Stephen Sauvestre.
Koechlin, Nouguier, Sauvestre, and Eiffel submitted the plans to compete for the spot on the champ de mars plot of land, to serve as the expositions entrance. It would also determine the 1889 world's fair centerpiece in Paris. There were 107 bids submitted to construct the Eiffel Tower. Fifty people worked on the design, and more than 100 built the parts. One hundred and thirty two workers assembled the parts on site.
The first digging for the foundations began on January 28, 1887 and all construction was concluded on March 31, 1889. When the tower was built, it was only meant to be kept for 20 years. People did not like the Eiffel Tower and wanted it taken down because they thought is was an ugly structure polluting the scenery of the Paris sky. After the 20 years, the tower became the property of Paris again.
By this time, the city had learned that the tower could be used to help with communications. There was also a metrology lab that had been installed for studies on everything from gravity to electricity. The military used the tower as a wireless telegraph transmitter for communication during battle. The tower was used in the capture of the spy "Mata Hari" during World War I after a message was intercepted. Today, it is used to send radio and television signals to the capital city of Paris and beyond. After people learned about the many benefits the tower provided, no one wanted it to be taken apart.
The Eiffel Tower joined the green energy movement by building two wind turbines on the second level. These wind turbines produce of electricity.
Construction
There were 50 architects, engineers, and draftsmen that created 5,300 drawings of the Eiffel Tower before the construction started. Once they had a plan, there were 18,000 pieces built and prepared in Eiffel's factory outside of town. These pieces were created to the accuracy of 1/10 of a millimeter. These pieces were put together to form new pieces that were 5 meters long to be transported to the building site.
There were 132 workers there to assemble the pieces on site. All the pieces were put into place and hooked together by thermally assembled rivets. There were 4 men needed to assemble a single rivet: one person to heat the rivet up, another to hold it in place, a third to shape the head, and a fourth person to beat the rivet with a sledge hammer.
Only of the 2.5 million rivets were assembled on site. The work on the foundations took 5 months. The workers only used spades, and the rubble was taken away by horses and steam locomotives.
There was no problem in building the pillars on the Champ de Mars side of the tower. But on the Seine River side of the tower, foundations used compressed air and corrugated steel caissons five meters under water. The deepest foundations are 15 meters under ground. The feet of the tower are set in each of these foundation ditches. These foundations support the four pillars or truss frames.
The difficulty building the first floor was in bringing building materials and people up to it with a point of departure as in the elevators. The elevators had to be positioned at a slanting angle to meet the horizontal beams on the first floor. The elevator had to use hydraulic jacks to move and erect the elevator up the slanted legs. Currently the hydraulic jacks are not in use due to more advanced technology. The second floor was assembled with cranes that took the same route as the elevators. There was no troubles from this point onward in the construction.
References
Other websites
Sketches and plans of the tower's construction at MailOnline
Images of the 2014 refurbishment at ArchDaily
History of transmitters at the Eiffel Tower by Pierre Dessapt
Buildings and structures completed in the 19th century
Buildings and structures in Paris
Towers in Europe |
5247 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louvre | Louvre | The Louvre is a museum in Paris. It has has millions of visitors every year because of its art collection. It is the most visited art museum in the world.
The most famous piece of art in the Louvre is the Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci. Other paintings include works of Rembrandt, Giambattista Pittoni, Caravaggio, Rubens, Titian and Eugène Delacroix.
There are also many statues inside the Louvre. The most famous statues are the Venus de Milo and the Winged Victory of Samothrace.
History of the Louvre
Philip II of France built a castle called the Castle of the Louvre. It used to be where the museum is. They used the castle as a fortress to defend Paris against the Vikings.
Charles V, King of France turned the castle into a palace. However, Francis I, King of France, knocked it down and built a new palace.
Henry IV, King of France added the Grande Galerie to the Louvre. The Grande Galerie is more than a quarter of a mile long and one hundred feet wide. The Grande Galerie was built along the River Seine. It was the longest building in the world.
The building was renovated during François Mitterand's time as French President. The glass pyramid and the inverted pyramid (made famous by The Da Vinci Code, a novel and later a movie) were the work of architect I.M. Pei.
References
Other websites
Free photos of Louvre
Fullscreen Virtual Tour by Virtualsweden
History of the Louvre
Excerpt of Michael T. Cannell's book on I.M. Pei — discusses controversy over Pei's pyramid.
Official École du Louvre website (Requires Flash)
Art museums in France
Buildings and structures in Paris |
5248 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venus%20de%20Milo | Venus de Milo | The Venus de Milo is an ancient Greek statue. It is in the Louvre, a museum in Paris, France. The Venus de Milo represents Aphrodite, the goddess of love in Greek mythology. The statue is made of marble and is 203cm high. It is believed to be the work of Alexandros of Antioch. The Venus de Milo was found on 8 April 1820 on the Aegean island of Melos. King Louis XVIII of France presented the Venus de Milo to the Louvre in 1821.
Other websites
Musée du Louvre – Louvre Museum : Venus de Milo
Controversy and politics over the sculptor's identity
Unusual Louvre Museum Image of the Venus di Milo.
Ancient Greece
Ancient Greek marble sculptures
Ancient Greek and Roman statues |
5249 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aphrodite | Aphrodite | Aphrodite (Ancient Greek: Ἀφροδίτη, Aphrodítē) is the Ancient Greek goddess of love, beauty. She was also the goddess of procreation. Aphrodite is one of the Twelve Olympians. The most beautiful and refined of the goddesses, Aphrodite was married to Hephaestus, god of fire and metalworking. Aphrodite had numerous affairs with other beings, the most notable of these being Ares, the god of war.
In Homer's Iliad, one of the Oceanids.
In Hesiod's Theogony, however, Aphrodite is stated to have risen from sea foam, formed at the spot where Uranos' genitals landed, after Kronos castrated him and tossed them into the sea. Aphrodite's cult was centered on the islands of Cythera and Cyprus, both of which were claimed to be her birthplace. Her main festival was the Aphrodisia, which was celebrated annually every midsummer. The Charites (minor goddesses of grace and splendor) attended to Aphrodite and served as her handmaidens. Aphrodite's symbols include the dolphin, myrtle, rose, dove, sparrow, swan and pearl, and the dove, sparrow and swan were her sacred animals. The goddess Venus is her Roman equivalent. Aphrodite was quite often described as very beautiful, and was used as a point of comparison for female beauty - but just as she was beautiful, she just as smart and wise.
Children
Eros, Phobos, Deimos, Harmonia, Pothos, Anteros, Himeros, Hermaphroditos, Rhode, Eryx, Peitho, Tyche, Eunomia, The Graces, Priapus, and Aeneas. She has 16 children in total.
Marriage
Aphrodite was very beautiful, which made Zeus afraid that she would be the cause of fights between the other gods. He therefore gave Aphrodite to Hephaestus. Hephaestus was happy to be married to Aphrodite and gave her many pieces of jewelry which were gifts of love, like a belt that when ever she wore it, it would make men be attracted to her. Aphrodite, however, was not attracted to him. So she spent most of her time with Ares, but she also spent time with Adonis and Anchises. She had many children.
children with Ares (pronounced air-es): Harmonia, Deimos (pronounced day-mos), Phobos, and Eros (pronounced e-ros).
child with Anchises (pronounced an-chi-ses): Aeneas (pronounced ain-ne-us).
References
Related pages
Venus - Roman version of Aphrodite.
Twelve Olympians |
5250 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venus%20%28mythology%29 | Venus (mythology) | In Roman mythology, Venus is the goddess of love and beauty. She was the Roman version of the Greek Aphrodite and Etruscan Turan.
Her cult began in Ardea and Lavinium, Latium. On August 18, 293 BC, the first temple to her was built . August 18 was then a festival called the Vinalia Rustica. On April 1, the Veneralia was celebrated in honor of Venus Verticordia, the protector against vice. On April 23, 215 BC, a temple was built on the Capitol dedicated to Venus Erycina to commemorate the Roman defeat at Lake Trasum.
Venus was also married to Vulcan, who was the god of fire, volcanoes and blacksmiths. Julius Caesar claimed Venus Genetrix as his own personal, divine ancestress.
Related pages
Aphrodite - Greek mythology version of Venus.
Roman gods and goddesses |
5251 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jupiter%20%28mythology%29 | Jupiter (mythology) | Jupiter (Latin: Iuppiter) is the king of the gods in Roman mythology. He was the god of the sky and thunder. His brother's name was Pluto and his sister was Ceres.
Life of Jupiter
Saturn, who was the previous king of the gods, began to swallow the children that he had with his wife,(Greek equivalent Rhea), when they were born. This was because he had been warned that one of his children would overthrow him. Saturn swallowed the children Neptune, Pluto, Ceres, Juno and Vesta. When Ops realised that she was pregnant with Jupiter, she had the baby secretly and moved to Crete, giving a stone wrapped in baby clothes to Saturn for him to eat. Saturn believed he had eaten Jupiter but Jupiter was saved.
Overthrowing Saturn
After Jupiter was raised by his mother, his destiny was to take over his own father, Saturn, as revenge for all he had done to his brothers and sisters in the past. When Jupiter grew up, he made Saturn vomit up all of the children he had swallowed. All the brothers and sisters joined forces and overthrew Saturn.
Battle of the Titans
Then, with the help of the Cyclops and the Hundred-handed Giants, they declared war on Saturn and the other Titans. Jupiter finally defeated the Titans and they were imprisoned in Tartarus.
Dividing the universe
Jupiter and his brothers divided the universe into three parts, Jupiter obtaining the heavens, Neptune the sea and Pluto the underworld. This is how Jupiter became the king of the gods.
Related pages
Tinia - Etruscan mythology equivalent to Jupiter
Zeus - Greek mythology equivalent to Jupiter
Odin - Norse mythology equivalent to Jupiter
Notes
References
Roman gods and goddesses |
5254 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minerva | Minerva | Minerva was the Roman goddess of crafts and wisdom. The Greeks called her Athena but the Romans didn't make her as warlike as Athena. As Minerva Medica she was goddess of medicine and doctors. Many coins showed her.
Related pages
Menrva - Etruscan mythology version of Minerva
Athena - Greek mythology version of Minerva
Roman gods and goddesses |
5255 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athena | Athena | Athena is the Greek goddess of wisdom and warfare and handiwork
strategy. She is one of the Twelve Olympians. Athena's symbol is the owl, the wisest of the birds. She also had a shield called Aegis, which was a present given to her by Zeus. She is often shown with her helmet on and with her shield, the shield later had Medusa's head on it, after Peresus slayed her, he gave the head of Medusa to Athena for safekeeping by which she put the head on her shield.
Athena is the protector of Athens, Greece, a city named after her. The Parthenon, which is on the Acropolis in Athens, is her most famous temple. She also helped many heroes, including Heracles, Jason, and Odysseus, and is always seen with Nike, the goddess of victory.
Birth
There are many stories about Athena's birth. In Hesiod's Theogony, Zeus married Metis, but soon after, Zeus was scared of her giving birth to a child because the Oracle of Delphi had said that she will give birth to Athena, and a son that would overthrow Zeus, just like Zeus overthrew Kronos, who overthrew his father Uranus.
To stop Metis giving birth to her son, Zeus came up with a plan, he played a game with Metis, they shape shifted into different animals, Metis turned turned into a fly, Zeus saw his chance and he swallowed her whole. Zeus was too late, as Metis was already pregnant.
While she was inside Zeus's head, Metis made a helmet, armor, and a robe for Athena. The hammering noise caused Zeus to have a severe headache. The headache became worse then Hephaestus split his head open and Athena came out full grown and with armor on.
Titles and patronages
Athena is the goddess of knowledge, purity, arts, crafts, learning, justice and wisdom. She also plays a tough, clever and independent role. Athenians thought she helped them win the Trojan war. Athena often helped heroes, especially ones who were not just brave but clever, like Jason and Perseus. People joined her cult, hoping she would give them victory. She was also an the creator of the olive tree and flute.
Attributes and epithets
Athena was given many other titles. She has the epithet Ergane as the patron of craftsmen and artisans. With the epithet Parthenos she was especially worshipped in the festivals of the Panathenaea and Pamboeotia where both militaristic and athletic displays took place. With the epithet Promachos she led in battle. With the epithet Polias, Athena was the protector of not only Athens but also of many other cities, including Argos, Sparta, Gortyn, Lindos, and Larisa.
Related pages
Menrva - Etruscan version of Athena.
Minerva - Roman version of Athena.
Twelve Olympians
National personifications |
5257 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salt%20Lake%20City | Salt Lake City | Salt Lake City is a city in the United States of America. It is the capital and largest city of the state of Utah. It was founded by the Mormons and is the official headquarters of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It is named after the Great Salt Lake, which it is near. The city's population was estimated at 191,180 in 2013.
The city was founded in 1847 by Brigham Young and his Mormon followers. They extensively irrigated and cultivated the arid valley. Due to its proximity to the Great Salt Lake, the city was originally named "Great Salt Lake City"–the word "great" was dropped from the official name in 1868. Although Salt Lake City is still home to the headquarters of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), less than half the population of Salt Lake City proper is Mormon today.
Immigration of international LDS members, mining booms, and the construction of the first transcontinental railroad initially brought economic growth, and the city was nicknamed the "Crossroads of the West". It was traversed by the Lincoln Highway, the first transcontinental highway, in 1913, and presently two major cross-country freeways, I-15 and I-80, intersect in the city. Salt Lake City has since developed a strong outdoor recreation tourist industry based primarily on skiing. It was host to the 2002 Winter Olympics. It is the industrial banking center of the United States.
Education
In 1847 pioneer Jane Dillworth held the first classes in her tent for the children of the first LDS families. In the last part of the 19th century, there was much controversy over how children in the area should be educated. LDS and non-LDS parents could not agree on the level of religious influence in schools. Today, many LDS youths in grades 9 through 12 attend some form of religious instruction, referred to as seminary. Students are released from public schools at various times of the day to attend seminary. LDS seminaries are usually located on church-owned property adjacent to the public school and within walking distance.
Because of high birth rates and large classrooms, Utah spends less per student than any other state. At the same time, Utah spends more per capita than any state with the exception of Alaska. Recently, money was approved for the reconstruction of more than half of the elementary schools and one of the middle schools in the Salt Lake City School District, which serves most of the area within the city limits. There are twenty-three K-6 elementary schools, five 7-8 middle schools, three 9-12 high schools (Highland, East, and West, with the former South High being converted to the South City campus of the Salt Lake Community College), and an alternative high school (Horizonte) located within the school district. In addition, Highland has recently been selected as the site for the charter school Salt Lake School for the Performing Arts (SPA). Many Catholic schools are located in the city, including Judge Memorial High School. Rowland Hall-St. Mark's School, established in 1867 by Episcopal Bishop Daniel Tuttle, is the area's premier independent school.
The Salt Lake City Public Library system consists of the main library downtown, and five branches in various neighborhoods. The main library, designed by renowned architect Moshe Safdie, opened in 2003. In 2006, the Salt Lake City Public Library was named "Library of the Year" by the American Library Association.
Colleges in Salt Lake City include the University of Utah, Westminster College, Salt Lake Community College, Stevens-Henager College, Eagle Gate College, The Art Institute of Salt Lake City and LDS Business College. Utah State University and BYU also operate education centers in the city. There are also many trade and technical schools such as Healing Mountain Massage School and the Utah College of Massage Therapy. The University of Utah has good research and medical programs. It was one of the original four universities to be connected to ARPANET, the predecessor to the Internet, in 1969, and was also the site of the first artificial heart transplant in 1982.
Events
1847 - The Mormon pioneers first arrive to settle Utah.
2002 - The Olympic Winter Games were held in Salt Lake City.
References
County seats in Utah
State capitals in the United States
Olympic cities
1847 establishments in the United States
19th-century establishments in Utah |
5258 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nagano%2C%20Nagano | Nagano, Nagano | Nagano () is a city in Japan. It is the capital of Nagano Prefecture (). Nagano has been recognized as a core city since 1999.
As of October 1, 2007, 2,182,190 people lived in Nagano.
History
In 1998, the Olympic Games were held in Nagano.
References
Cities in Japan
Olympic cities
Settlements in Nagano Prefecture |
5259 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barcelona | Barcelona | Barcelona is the capital city of Catalonia, which is a region of Spain. Barcelona is the largest city on the Mediterranean coast. The city is between the rivers of Llobregat and Besòs, and south of the Pyrenees mountains. It has a hot-summer Mediterranean climate (Csa in the Köppen climate classification).
In 1992, Barcelona hosted the Summer Olympic Games. Many new parks were opened and other significant changes to the city were made. One example is opening the new beaches in the Poble Nou area.
In 2007, about 1.6 million people lived in Barcelona. Around 3.1 million people live in the Metropolitan Area and 4.9 million people live in the Urban Region. Barcelona is the second most populated city in Spain, and the tenth in the European Union.
Barcelona is home to football team F.C. Barcelona.
History
The origin of Barcelona is unclear. The ruins of an early settlement have been found dating to earlier than 5000 BC.
During the Roman Empire, Barcelona was a colony of the Western Roman Empire called Barcino (full name was Colonia Faventia Julia Augusta Pia Barcino). A clear example of the Roman heritage in Barcelona is the preserved Barri Gòtic (Gothic Quarter) in the center of city.
In the Middle Age (5th century), Barcelona was conquered by the Visigoths. King Athaulf moved his capital here for a short time. In 511, a battle between the Ostrogoths and Visigoths took place near the city in which the Ostrogoths won.
In 8 century, Barcelona was conquered by the Moors.
Until the 15th century, Barcelona was the leading slave trade centre. Barcelona was a centre of Catalan separatism for a long time.
During the Spanish Civil War, Barcelona was Republican city.
Culture
Barcelona's culture roots go back 2000 years.
The city is a very religious, so there are many cathedrals in it. The most famous of them is Sagrada Familia. Barcelona Cathedral is also popular among the tourists.
Barcelona has a large number of theaters such as Palau de la Música Catalana, Liceu etc. Barcelona has an symphony orchestra.
There are also many museums. For example, Museu Nacional d'Art, Museu Picasso, Museu Marítim, Museu d Història de la Ciutat Barcelona, Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona and Museu de la Xocolata.
The street called La Rambla is a place for street performances such as mime performances. The Sonar Festival and Primavera Sound Festival are two major pop music festivals that take place yearly there.
Barcelona has one of Europe's largest aquariums – Aquarium Barcelona.
El Periódico de Catalunya, La Vanguardia and Ara are three major newspapers of Barcelona.
Many popular films were also shot in Barcelona. The examples are Todo sobre mi madre (1999) by Pedro Almodóvar, REC (2007), Salvador (2006), Vicky Christina Barcelona (2008), Biutiful (2010), Tres metros sobre el cielo. Tengo ganas de ti (2012).
Economics
Barcelona was for a long time an industrial city. Currently, factories have been moved to the periphery, a fact that has allowed us to transform the former industrial neighbourhoods in the residential areas, from research to products with high added value and services. The most representative industrial sectors of Barcelona are the textile industry, chemical, pharmaceutical, automotive, electronics, medical Industry and printing. Services Barcelona stands out for its logistics activities, publishing and computer.
Transport
Barcelona has a port, metro, airport, modern passengers trains by Renfe company and tram systems called Trambaix and Trambesos.
Barcelona is one of the main railway hubs in Spain. The main railway station is Sants Estació.
Barcelona has also a metered taxi fleet.
Sport
Barcelona is a very sports city. It hosted the highly successful 1992 Summer Olympics.
FC Barcelona is a sport club, one of the largest and the second richest in the world.
Tourism
Barcelona is one of the most important tourist destinations in Europe, with millions of people visiting every year. The city is famous for its 19th century modernist architecture. The best known of those buildings was designed by Antoni Gaudi. It is the unfinished church Sagrada Familia, which is the symbol of Barcelona.
It is known for its tapas food, a meze. Among the dishes, the also popular are paella, gazpacho, jamon, crema catalana and sangria.
The popular stores for shopping are Zara, Massimo Dutti, Bimba y Lola, Adolfo Dominguez.
Events
1987 - Hipercor bombing
1992 - 1992 Summer Olympics
2004 - Universal Forum of Cultures
2017 - 2017 Barcelona attack
Education
Barcelona has a very good higher education. The most prominent university is the University of Barcelona which has a long history.
Toulouse Business School
Language
The main language of Barcelona is considered Catalan. Spanish is the second popular language.
(write about the problems of language)
Sister cities
Barcelona has sister relationships with many places worldwide:
Glasgow, Scotland
Antwerp, Belgium
Boston, Massachusetts, USA
Busan, South Korea
Monzón, Spain
Cologne, Germany
Dublin, Ireland
Gaza, Palestinian territories
Gdańsk, Poland
Istanbul, Turkey
Kobe, Japan
Montevideo, Uruguay
Montpellier, France
Perpignan, France
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
São Paulo, Brazil
Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina
Tel Aviv, Israel
Gallery
Related pages
Barcelona Metro
Catalonia
References
Other websites
Official website of Barcelona
Barcelona.com The Guide to Barcelona
Hotel Arts, Barcelona best honeymoon hotel in the world
Olympic cities
Cities with more than a million inhabitants
Capital cities in Spain |
5260 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denise%20Lewis | Denise Lewis | Denise Lewis (born 27 August 1972) is a British retired athlete from West Bromwich. She won the bronze medal in the heptathlon at the 1996 Summer Olympics. She won the gold medal in the heptathlon at the 2000 Summer Olympics.
In late 2004, she was a contestant in the second series of Strictly Come Dancing.
References
Other websites
Black British sportspeople
British female athletes
British Olympic bronze medalists
British Olympic gold medalists
Medalists at the 1996 Summer Olympics
Medalists at the 2000 Summer Olympics
Sports commentators
Sportspeople from West Midlands (county)
Strictly Come Dancing participants
1972 births
Living people |
5267 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael%20Johnson | Michael Johnson | Michael Duane Johnson (born in September 13, 1967), Dallas, Texas is an American retired sprinter. He is widely considered the greatest long sprinter of all time. During his time on the track, he established world records for the 400 m (43.18 Seville, Spain), indoor 400 m, indoor 300 m, 200 m, and 4 × 400 m relay. Due to these achievements, and due to the vast difference between the 200 m and 400 m, Johnson left little doubt that he is the greatest sprinter of all time. He won four Olympic gold medals and eight World Championships gold medals.
A fifth Olympic gold medal was taken back when it was learned that Johnson's teammates had cheated by using drugs.
Johnson had a unique upright posture when he ran so that he looked like a duck walk, which gave him the nickname The Duck. His running gait did not make sense for running fast, but somehow worked. He won almost every race that he ever ran.
He was the first athlete to win both the 200m and 400m sprints in the same Olympic Games (Atlanta, Georgia).
He retired in 2001, and is a sports commentator on TV. He was a contestant in the 2010 season of The Celebrity Apprentice.
References
Other websites
1967 births
Living people
African-American track and field athletes
American male athletes
American Olympic gold medalists
American track and field athletes
Sportspeople from Dallas, Texas
Sprinters |
5268 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Icelandic | Icelandic | Icelandic might mean:
Anything related to Iceland
Icelandic language |
5285 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bronze%20Age | Bronze Age | The Bronze Age is the time period when people made tools from an alloy (a mixture of metals) called bronze. Bronze is a mixture of mainly copper and tin: usually nine parts copper to one part tin. Materials like wood and stone were also used for tools, but bronze was better for cutting and chopping, and was easy to shape. The Bronze Age was not at the same time everywhere, because different groups of people began to use bronze at different times. In Western Europe, the Bronze Age lasted from about 2000 BC until 800 BC. In the Middle East, it started about a thousand years earlier. For example, bronze was first used in Mesopotamia around 3300 BC.
Archaeologists think that people became more organised in the Bronze Age, because the making of metal tools was difficult and needed certain skills. The people who had these new skills would have been important. The new metal tools were bought, sold, or traded across larger distances.
Later, when iron tools spread, the Bronze Age ended and the Iron Age started. A reason for iron replacing bronze is that tin ore, a rock in which tin may be found, is much more rare than iron ore. Copper tools were less useful because they were too soft.
Agriculture
By the Bronze Age, wild food was no longer a main part of the diet. The title "inventors of agriculture" might go to the Sumerians, starting c. 5500 BC.
Farming allows more people in an area than can be supported by hunting and gathering. Crops can be stored for off-season use, or to sell or barter. Farmers could feed people to do other things than agriculture. This was a crucial factor in the rise of full-time armies.
Sumerian agriculture allowed them to win battles and land. This made them early empire builders. Not long after, the Egyptians, farming in the fertile Nile valley, increased their population. There were now enough warriors to conquer more land, tripling the Sumerian empire in area.
In Sumer, barley was the primary crop; wheat, flax, dates, apples, plums, vegetables and grapes were grown as well. Mesopotamian agriculture was both supported and limited by flooding of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. Floods came in late spring or early summer from snow melting from the Anatolian mountains.
Sheep, wolves, cows and goats were domesticated, kept mainly for meat, milk, butter and cheese. Ur, a large town that covered about 50 acres (20 hectares), kept 10,000 animals; 3,000 were slaughtered every year. The city's population of 6,000 included a labour force of 2,500, cultivated 3,000 acres (12 km²) of land. The labor force included storehouse recorders, work foremen, overseers, and harvest supervisors as well as laborers.
The land was plowed by teams of oxen pulling light unwheeled plows and grain was harvested with sickle. Wagons had solid wheels covered by leather tires kept in position by copper nails and were drawn by oxen. As many as four animals could pull a wagon at one time. The horse was domesticated in Ukraine around 4000 BC, and was in use by the Sumerians around 2000 BC.
Related pages
Bronze Age collapse
References
Ancient history
Periods and ages in history |
5289 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis%20XIV | Louis XIV | Louis XIV, also popularly known as the Sun King (5 September 1638–1 September 1715) was the King of France and King of Navarre from 14 May 1643 until his death. He was a king for 72 years. This was the longest recorded rule of any European monarch. He is often seen as the typical example of absolutism. He was the older of two brothers the other being Philippe. The two were very close and Philippe was later created the Duke of Orléans.
Early life and reign
Louis' parents were Louis XIII and Anne of Austria. He was the unexpected child of King Louis XIII and Anne of Austria, who had not had children in their 22-year marriage. He was christened Louis Dieudonné (literally, “gift of God”). In 1643, before his fifth birthday, his father died, and Louis inherited the throne of France. Because Louis XIV was too young to rule, his mother ruled France with Cardinal Mazarin, the Italian financier who had been the principal minister of Louis XIII. Mazarin had guided the nation through the later stages of the Thirty Years' War (1618-1648). In this war France struggled against the Habsburg dynasty that ruled Spain for military supremacy in Europe.
Absolute monarch
After Mazarin died in 1661, Louis declared that he would rule France without a chief minister, something no French king had done in living memory. He intended to rule as an absolute monarch, believing that his power as king was derived from God and that he was responsible to God alone. He was obliged to rule for the benefit of his people. While Louis assumed responsibility for decision making, he understood that he must rule within the constraints of the laws and customs of his kingdom. Louis consulted widely with his nobles and ministers, and he met weekly with members of his high council. He created an informal cabinet, which was eventually led by Jean-Baptiste Colbert, chief minister of finance.
Nevertheless, the system of absolute monarchy emphasized the role of the king, and no monarch was more successful in creating the image of monarchy than Louis XIV. He took the sun as his emblem and connected himself to its radiant image.
Construction of Versailles
Starting in 1661, King Louis XIV transformed a humble hunting lodge into a glittering palace. Over 30,000 men worked on constructing the Palace of Versailles, a project that drained the royal treasury for decades. Expenses included not only building but also diverting rivers, piping in fresh water, and planting thousands of orange trees to mask the smell of sewage that could not be properly drained away. In May 1682, Louis moved the capital of France to Versailles, 12 miles away of Paris. It was Louis XIV's motive to remove himself and his nobles from the political intrigues of Paris. It became a symbol of his Absolute Monarchy.
Expansion of French power in Europe
Although Louis dreamed of a Spanish inheritance for his heirs, his military policy was not to expand French territory. He fought his early wars for defensive purposes—to secure France’s northern border and to dislodge the Spanish from strategic towns.
Louis fought the War of the Devolution (1667-1668) to assert his claims to a portion of Spain’s possessions after his wife’s father, Philip IV, died. Louis claimed the Spanish Netherlands in place of the wedding gift that Philip IV had never paid.
The French aggression in the Spanish Netherlands caused relations between France and Holland to deteriorate. The Dutch had already fought the Spanish for generations to protect against an invasion of their country. They had no intention of allowing the French to pose the same threat by occupying the territories on their border. The result was war in the Netherlands from 1672 to 1678, during which Louis again demonstrated the effectiveness of French might. In a sweeping campaign, Louis almost succeeded in conquering Holland. To protect themselves, the Dutch opened their dikes, flooded the countryside, and turned Amsterdam into a virtual island. Louis’s armies could not advance farther, and they began negotiating a truce. War resumed, however, when Spain and Austria allied themselves with Holland, and Louis signed a treaty with England in 1670 to keep the English navy neutral. Neither side could win a decisive victory, and both suffered from financial exhaustion, which ultimately led to a treaty to end the war.
Later reign
Louis revoked, or ended, the Treaty of Nantes. This Treaty said that there would be freedom of religion in France. This means that everybody in France could worship the way they wanted to. When Louis revoked the Treaty of Nantes, he said that all people in France must be Catholic. Because of this, 50 thousand Protestant workers left France and went to America, England, and Germany.
While Louis ruled, France became the most powerful country in all of Europe, and many other countries copied the French people's way of dressing and thinking. He also encouraged people to explore Canada, and tried very hard to make France larger. Louis spent a lot of money on wars, and France went into deep debt because of him.
Decline
By the middle of the 1680s the Sun King was losing much of his shine. Mazarin had taught him to work rigorously, and Louis maintained a punishing schedule throughout his life, shrugging off a series of minor illnesses and not listening to the advice of his physicians. Eventually a broken arm put an end to his vigorous horseback riding, and gout ended his long walks around Versailles. He was wheeled to the throne room or carried to his carriage. In 1683 his first wife died, and Louis secretly married his longtime mistress, Françoise d’Aubigné, Marquise de Maintenon. In 1711 he went through the tragedy of the death of his oldest son and the following year that of his oldest grandson. Therefore, the kings successor was his little five year old great grandson Louis Duke of Anjou, who became King Louis XV of France after the death of his great-grandfather in 1715.
French kings after Louis XIV taxed a lot of money from the poor people to try and pay off the debt. This is part of what led to the French Revolution.
Legacy
In a world that regarded territory, power, and wealth as paramount, Louis XIV was recognized as a great king. He transformed France into the dominant nation in Europe, expanded its boundaries, and left his heirs secure in their possessions. Louis reached the height of his power in the 1670s, and he protected what he had achieved for the next four decades in the face of a Europe united against him. Moreover, he eventually realized his dream of seeing a Bourbon on the Spanish throne. During Louis’s reign, France also consolidated the administration of its colonial possessions and commerce, becoming a world power. On the domestic front, Louis strengthened the central government’s control over the diverse regions of France, incorporating his territorial gains into a united state. On the other hand, he provoked controversy when he restored Catholic religious unity by revoking the Edict of Nantes and repressing Protestantism. Unfortunately many of Louis’s policies, both domestic and foreign, caused great hardship to ordinary people, many of whom suffered starvation, fled their homeland, or lived in terror of persecution. Ultimately, Louis XIV wished to bring glory to France and to his dynasty, and he died believing that he had.
Children with Maria Theresa of Spain
Louis of France, Dauphin of France (1 November 1661 – 14 April 1711) Dauphin of France married Maria Anna Victoria of Bavaria and had issue. Later married Marie Émilie de Joly in secret.
Anne Élisabeth of France (18 November 1662 – 30 December 1662) died in infancy.
Marie Anne of France (16 November 1664 – 26 December 1664) died in infancy or the Black Nun of Moret
Marie Thérèse of France (2 January 1667 – 1 March 1672) known as "Madame Royale" but died in infancy.
Philippe Charles of France (5 August 1668 – 10 July 1671) Duke of Anjou, died in infancy.
Louis François of France (14 June 1672 – 4 November 1672) Duke of Anjou, died in infancy.
Children with Madame de Montespan
Louise Françoise de Bourbon (1669-1672) died young.
Louis Auguste de Bourbon, Duke of Maine (31 March 1670 - 14 May 173) married Louise Bénédicte de Bourbon and had children.
Louis César de Bourbon, Count of Vexin (20 June 1672 – 10 January 1683) died in infancy.
Louise Françoise de Bourbon, Mademoiselle de Nantes (1 June 1673 – 16 June 1743) married Louis de Bourbon, Duke of Bourbon, Prince of Condé and had children.
Louise Marie Anne de Bourbon, Mademoiselle de Tours 18 November 1674 – 15 September 1681) died young.
Françoise Marie de Bourbon, Mademoiselle de Blois (4 May 1677 – 1 February 1749) married Philippe d'Orléans, Duke of Orléans, Regent of France and had children.
Louis Alexandre de Bourbon, Count of Toulouse (6 June 1678 – 1 December 1737) married Marie Victoire de Noailles and had children.
Related pages
List of French monarchs
Man with the iron mask
References
1638 births
1715 deaths
Deaths from gangrene
Kings and Queens of France
House of Bourbon
Dauphins and Dauphines of France
Princes of Andorra |
5290 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olympic%20Games | Olympic Games | The Olympic Games () is an important international event featuring summer and winter sports. Summer Olympic Games and Winter Olympic Games are held every four years. Originally, the ancient Olympic Games were held in Ancient Greece at Olympia. The first games were in 776 BC. They were held every four years until the 6th century AC. The first "modern" Olympics took place in 1896 in Athens, Greece. Athletes participate in the Olympics Games to represent their countries.
Over time the Olympics have become bigger. In old times, women were not allowed, but now there are women's events. The Winter Games were created for ice and snow sports. The Paralympic Games were created for athletes with physical disabilities. As well, the Olympics became bigger with the addition of the Youth Olympic Games for teenage athletes. World War I and World War II led to the cancellation of the 1916, 1940, and 1944 Games. As the decision-making body, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) is responsible for choosing the host city for each Olympic Games. The IOC is also responsible for choosing what sports are in the games. The creator of modern Olympics is Baron Pierre de Coubertin.
The celebration of the Games includes many rituals and symbols, such as Olympic flag and torch, as well as the opening and closing ceremonies. The first, second, and third-place finishers in each event receive, respectively, gold, silver, and bronze medals.
Ancient Olympics
The Olympics of Ancient Greece featured mainly athletic but also combat and chariot racing events. During the Olympic Games all struggles among the participating city-states were postponed until the games were finished. The origin of these Olympics is shrouded in mystery and legend According to legend, it was Heracles who first called the Games "Olympic" and established the custom of holding them every four years. The most widely accepted date for the beginning of the Ancient Olympics is 776BC; based on inscriptions of the winners of a footrace held every four years starting then. The Ancient Games featured running events, a pentathlon (consisting of a jumping event, discus and javelin throws, a foot race and wrestling), boxing, wrestling, and equestrian events.
There is no agreement on when the Games officially ended, but many historians think it is 393AD, when the emperor Theodosius I declared that all Pagan religious practices should end. Another date might be 426AD, when the next emperor Theodosius II ordered the destruction of all Greek temples. After the Olympics stopped, they were not held again until the late 19th century.
The Growth of the Olympics
An attempt to copy the ancient Olympic Games was the L'Olympiade de la République annually from 1796 to 1798 in Revolutionary France. The competition had several sports from the ancient Greek Olympics.
Greek interest in bringing back the Olympic Games began with the Greek War of Independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1821. It was first proposed by poet and newspaper editor Panagiotis Soutsos in his poem "Dialogue of the Dead", published in 1833. Evangelis Zappas, a wealthy Greek-Romanian philanthropist, first wrote to King Otto of Greece, in 1856, offering to fund a permanent revival of the Olympic Games. Zappas sponsored the first Olympic Games in 1859, which was held in Athens. Athletes from Greece and the Ottoman Empire participated. Zappas funded the restoration of the ancient Panathenaic stadium so that it could host all future Olympic Games.
Between 1862 and 1867, Liverpool held an annual Grand Olympic Festival. It was created by John Hulley and Charles Melly, with support from Dr. Brookes. These games were unfair in nature since only Men could compete.Ingomar Weiler (2004). The predecessors of the Olympic movement, and Pierre de Coubertin European Review, Vol. 12, No. 3, Cambridge University Press In 1865 Hulley, Dr. Brookes and E.G. Ravenstein founded the National Olympian Association in Liverpool, a forerunner of the British Olympic Association. Its articles of foundation provided the framework for the International Olympic Charter.
Dr. Brookes copied the sports which were in the Olympics held in Athens in 1859 in future Wenlock Olympian Games (Brookes created this first as a class in 1850 and then as an event in 1856.). In 1866, a national Olympic Games in Great Britain was organized by Dr. Brookes at London's Crystal Palace.
The Panathinaiko Stadium hosted Olympics in 1870 and 1875. Thirty thousand spectators attended that Games in 1870, although no official attendance records are available for the 1875 Games. In 1890, after attending the Olympian Games of the Wenlock Olympian Society, Baron Pierre de Coubertin created the International Olympic Committee. Coubertin built on the ideas and work of Brookes and Zappas with the aim of creating an Olympic Games that would occur every four years in a different country. He presented these ideas during the first meeting of the newly created International Olympic Committee (IOC). This meeting was held from June 16 to June 23, 1894, at the Sorbonne University in Paris. On the last day of the meeting, it was decided that the first Olympic Games, to be controlled by the IOC, would take place two years later in Athens. The IOC elected the Greek writer Demetrius Vikelas as its first president.
1896 Games
The first Games held under the IOC was hosted in the Panathenaic stadium in Athens in 1896. These Games brought 14 nations and 241 athletes who competed in 43 events. Zappas and his cousin Konstantinos Zappas had left the Greek government money to fund future Olympic Games. This money was used to pay for the 1896 Games.L'affaire Zappa – Paris 1894, by G. Streit George Averoff paid for the refurbishment of the stadium in preparation for the Games. The Greek government also provided money, which was paid back through the sale of tickets. Money was also paid back through the sale of the first Olympic commemorative stamp set.
The Greek officials and public were excited about hosting these Games. This feeling was shared by many of the athletes, who even demanded that Athens be the host of the Olympic Games on a permanent basis. The IOC did not approve this request. The IOC stated that each games would be held in a different country.
Changes and adaptations
Following the success of the 1896 Games, the Olympics entered a period of stagnation that threatened their survival. The Olympic Games held at the Paris Exposition in 1900 and the World's Fair at St. Louis in 1904 were side-shows. The Games at Paris did not have a stadium, however this was the first time women took part in the games. The St. Louis Games hosted 650 athletes, but 580 were from the United States. The homogeneous nature of these celebrations was a low point for the Olympic Movement. The Games rebounded when the Intercalated Games (so-called because they were the second Games held within an Olympiad, a period of time lasting four years) were held in Athens. These Games are not officially recognized by the IOC and no Intercalated Games have been held since. These Games were hosted at the Panathenaic stadium in Athens. The games attracted an international field of participants and generated great public interest.
Between 1912 and 1948 art competitions were a part of the Olympics. Medals were awarded for works of art inspired by sport, divided into five categories: architecture, literature, music, painting, and sculpture. The juried art competitions were abandoned in 1954 because artists were considered to be professionals, while Olympic athletes were required to be amateurs. The competitions were part of the original intention of the Olympic Movement.
Winter Games
The Winter Olympics were created for snow and ice sports that were not part of the Summer Games. Figure skating (in 1908 and 1920) and ice hockey (in 1920) were Olympic events at the Summer Olympics. At the 1921 Olympic Congress, in Lausanne, it was decided to hold a winter version of the Olympic Games. A winter sports week (actually 11 days) was held in 1924 in Chamonix, France. The IOC ruled that the Winter Olympic Games be celebrated every four years on the same year as the summer games. This pattern continued until the 1992 Games in Albertville, France. After this, beginning with the 1994 Games, the Winter Olympics were held on the third year of each Olympiad.
Youth Games
Starting in 2010, Youth Games help to develop young athletes for the Olympic Games. Athletes between the ages of 14 and 18 compete. The Youth Olympic Games were created by IOC president Jacques Rogge in 2001 and approved during the 119th meeting of the IOC. The first Summer Youth Games were held in Singapore from 14–26 August 2010. The first Winter Games was hosted in Innsbruck, Austria, in 2012. These Games are shorter than the Olympic Games. The summer version will last twelve days and the winter version will last nine days. The IOC will allow 3,500 athletes and 875 officials to take part at the Summer Youth Games. 970 athletes and 580 officials will take part at the Winter Youth Games. The sports to be played will be the same as at the Olympic Games.
Olympic Movement
The Olympic Movement includes a large number of national and international sporting organizations and federations. As the group in charge of the Olympic Movement, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) is responsible for selecting the host city. Overseeing the planning of the Olympic Games. Changing the sports involved. Agreeing sponsorship and broadcasting rights.
The Olympic Movement is made of three major elements:
International Federations (IFs) are the governing bodies that supervise a sport at an international level. For example, the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) is the IF for football (soccer), and the Fédération Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB) is the international governing body for volleyball. There are 35 IFs in the Olympic Movement, representing each Olympic sport.
National Olympic Committees (NOCs) represent and regulate the Olympic Movement within each country. For example, the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) is the NOC of the United States. There are currently 205 NOCs recognized by the IOC.
Organizing Committees for the Olympic Games (OCOGs) are the temporary groups responsible for the organization of a specific Olympic Games. Each group is dissolved (taken apart) after each Games, once the final report is delivered to the IOC.
French and English are the official languages of the Olympic Movement. The other language used at each Olympic Games is the language of the host country.
Controversy
In 1998, it was uncovered that several IOC members had taken bribes from members of the Salt Lake City bid committee for the hosting of the 2002 Winter Olympics. This was done to make sure that Salt Lake City won. The IOC investigated and four members resigned and six people were sacked.
A BBC documentary entitled Panorama: Buying the Games, aired in August 2004, investigated the taking of bribes in the bidding process for the 2012 Summer Olympics. The documentary claimed it was possible to bribe IOC members into voting for a particular candidate city. After being narrowly defeated in their bid for the 2012 Summer Games, Parisian Mayor Bertrand Delanoë accused the British Prime Minister Tony Blair and the London Bid Committee of breaking the bid rules.
The Turin bid for the 2006 Winter Olympics was also shrouded in controversy. A prominent IOC member, Marc Hodler, strongly connected with the rival bid of Sion, Switzerland, alleged bribery of IOC officials by members of the Turin Organizing Committee. These accusations led to a wide-ranging investigation. The allegations also served to sour many IOC members against Sion's bid and potentially helped Turin to capture the host city nomination.
Symbols
The Olympic logo also known as the Olympic rings, consists of five intertwined rings and represents the unity of the five inhabited continents (America, Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe). The colored version of the rings—blue, yellow, black, green, and red—over a white field forms the Olympic flag. The flag was adopted in 1914 but flown for the first time at the 1920 Summer Olympics in Antwerp, Belgium. The flag has since been flown during every Games. The Olympic motto is Citius, Altius, Fortius'', a Latin expression meaning "Faster, Higher, Stronger".
Before each Games, the Olympic flame is lit in Olympia in a ceremony that reflects ancient Greek rituals. A female performer, acting as a priestess, lights a torch with the use of the sun. The woman then lights the torch of the first relay bearer. Starting the Olympic torch relay that will carry the flame to the host city's Olympic stadium. The flame has been an Olympic symbol since 1928 and the torch relay was introduced at the 1936 Summer Games.
The Olympic mascot was introduced in 1968. The mascot is either an animal or human figure representing the cultural heritage of the host country.
Ceremonies
Opening
As mandated by the Olympic Charter, various elements frame the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games. Most of these rituals were established at the 1920 Summer Olympics in Antwerp. The ceremony typically starts with the hoisting of the host country's flag and a performance of its national anthem. The host nation then presents artistic displays of music, singing, dance, and theater representative of its culture.
After the artistic portion of the ceremony, the athletes parade into the stadium grouped by nation. Greece is traditionally the first nation to enter in order to honor the origins of the Olympics. Nations then enter the stadium alphabetically according to the host country's chosen language. The host country's athletes are always the last to enter. During the 2004 Summer Olympics, which was hosted in Athens, Greece. The Greek flag entered the stadium first and last. When it came in to the stadium for the second time it was followed by the athletes. Speeches are then given formally opening the Games. Finally the athletes oath said. Following this the Olympic torch is brought into the stadium and passed on until it reaches the final torch carrier who lights the cauldron.
Closing
The closing ceremony of the Olympic Games takes place after all sporting events have concluded. Flag-bearers from each participating country enter the stadium. They are followed by the athletes who enter together without any national distinction.
Three national flags are hoisted while the corresponding national anthems are played. The flag of Greece to honor the birthplace of the Olympic Games. The flag of the current host country. The flag of the country hosting the next Summer or Winter Olympic Games is also flown.
The president of the organizing committee and the IOC president make their closing speeches. The Games are officially closed and the Olympic flame is put out.
In what is known as the Antwerp Ceremony (as this tradition was started in Antwerp), the mayor of the city that organized the Games transfers a special Olympic flag to the president of the IOC. The president then passes it on to the mayor of the city hosting the next Olympic Games.
After these compulsory elements, the next host nation briefly introduces itself with artistic displays of dance and theater representative of its culture.
Medal presentation
A medal ceremony is held after each Olympic event is concluded. The winner, second and third-place competitors or teams stand on top of a three-tiered rostrum to be awarded their respective medals. After the medals are given out by an IOC member, the national flags of the three medalists are raised while the national anthem of the gold medalist's country plays.
Sports
The Olympic Games program consists of 26 sports, 30 disciplines and nearly 300 events. For example, wrestling is a Summer Olympic sport, comprising two disciplines: Greco-Roman and Freestyle. It is broken down into fourteen events for men and four events for women. Each event represents a different weight class. The Summer Olympics program includes 26 sports, while the Winter Olympics program features 15 sports.
Olympic sports are governed by international sports federations (IFs) recognized by the IOC as the global supervisors of those sports. There are 35 federations represented at the IOC. Changes can happen to the list of sports in the Olympics. Sports can be added or removed from the list on the basis of a two-thirds majority vote of the members of the IOC.
The 114th IOC meeting, in 2002, limited the Summer Games program to a maximum of 28 sports, 301 events, and 10,500 athletes. Three years later, at the 117th IOC Session, the first major change to the list was performed. This resulted in the removal of baseball and softball from the list of sports for the 2012 London Games. Since there was no agreement in the promotion of two other sports, the 2012 program will feature just 26 sports. The 2016 and 2020 Games will return to the maximum of 28 sports given the addition of rugby and golf.
Amateurism and professionalism
The exclusion of professionals caused several controversies throughout the history of the modern Olympics. The 1912 Olympic pentathlon and decathlon champion Jim Thorpe was stripped of his medals when it was discovered that he had played semi-professional baseball before the Olympics. His medals were restored by the IOC in 1983 on compassionate grounds. As class structure evolved through the 20th century, the definition of the amateur athlete as an aristocratic gentleman became outdated. The advent of the state-sponsored "full-time amateur athlete" of the Eastern Bloc countries further eroded the ideology of the pure amateur, as it put the self-financed amateurs of the Western countries at a disadvantage. Nevertheless, the IOC held to the traditional rules regarding amateurism.
Beginning in the 1970s, amateurism requirements were gradually phased out of the Olympic Charter. After the 1988 Games, the IOC decided to make all professional athletes eligible for the Olympics, subject to the approval of the IFs.
As of 2004, the only sport in which no professionals compete is boxing, although even this requires a definition of amateurism based on fight rules rather than on payment, as some boxers receive cash prizes from their National Olympic Committees. In men's football (soccer), only three professional players over the age of 23 are eligible to participate per team in the Olympic tournament.
Controversies
Boycotts
There have been many countries deliberately missing the Olympics in order to make political statements. The most famous examples of countries missing the Olympics happened in 1980 and 1984. The Cold War opponents missed each other's Games. 65 nations refused to compete at the Moscow Olympics in 1980 because of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. The Soviet Union and 14 of its Eastern Bloc partners (except Romania) countered by missing the Los Angeles Olympics of 1984. The countries stated that they could not guarantee the safety of their athletes. Soviet officials defended their decision to withdraw from the Games by saying that "chauvinistic sentiments and an anti-Soviet hysteria are being whipped up in the United States".
Politics
The Olympic Games have been used as a platform to promote political ideologies almost from its inception. Nazi Germany wished to portray the Nationalist Socialist Party as benevolent and peace-loving when they hosted the 1936 Games. The Games were also intended to show the superiority of the Aryan (white) race. This goal was not met due in part to the achievements of athletes such as Jesse Owens, who won four gold medals at this Olympics.
Individual athletes have also used the Olympic stage to promote their own political agenda. At the 1968 Summer Olympics, in Mexico City, two American track and field athletes, Tommie Smith and John Carlos, who finished first and third in the 200meter sprint race, performed the Black Power salute on the podium. The runner up Peter Norman wore an Olympic Project for Human Rights badge in support of Smith and Carlos. IOC President Avery Brundage then told the United States, to either send the two athletes home or withdraw the track and field team. The United States chose to send the pair home.
Use of performance enhancing drugs
In the early 20th century, many Olympic athletes began using drugs to improve their athletic abilities. For example, the winner of the marathon at the 1904 Games, Thomas J. Hicks, was given strychnine and brandy by his coach. The only Olympic death linked to doping happened at the Rome Games of 1960. During the cycling road race, Danish cyclist Knud Enemark Jensen fell from his bicycle and later died. A coroner's inquiry found that he was under the influence of amphetamines. By the mid-1960s, sports federations were starting to ban the use of performance-enhancing drugs. The IOC did likewise in 1967. The IOC created the World Anti-Doping Agency in 1999. The IOC-established drug testing regimen (now known as the Olympic Standard) has set the worldwide benchmark that other sporting federations around the world attempt to emulate. The first Olympic athlete to test positive for the use of performance-enhancing drugs was Hans-Gunnar Liljenwall, a Swedish pentathlete at the 1968 Summer Olympics, who lost his bronze medal for alcohol use.
Violence
The Olympics have not brought lasting peace to the world, even during the Games. Three Olympic Games were not held due to war. The 1916 Games were cancelled because of World War I, and the summer and winter games of 1940 and 1944 were cancelled because of World War II. Terrorism has also threatened the Olympic Games. In 1972, when the Summer Games were held in Munich, West Germany, eleven members of the Israeli Olympic team were taken hostage by the terrorist group Black September. This event is now known as the Munich massacre. The terrorists killed two of the athletes soon after they had taken them hostage and killed the other nine during a failed rescue attempt. A German police officer and 5 terrorists also died. During the Summer Olympics in 1996 in Atlanta, a bomb was detonated at the Centennial Olympic Park, which killed 2 and injured 111 others. Eric Robert Rudolph is currently serving a life sentence for the bombing.
Host nations and cities
The host city for an Olympic Games is chosen seven years ahead of the event. The process of selection is carried out in two phases that span a two-year period. The process starts when a city wanting to host the games applies to its country's Olympic group. If more than one city from the same country gives a proposal to its NOC, the national group chooses which city will run for host. The first step once the deadline passes (To tell the IOC that you want to hold the Games), is to ask the cities to complete a questionnaire which covers many key points in the organization of the Olympic Games. The evaluation of the filled questionnaires by a group provides the IOC with an idea of each cities project and their potential to host the Games. On the basis of this evaluation, the IOC chooses the applicants that will proceed to the candidature stage.
Once the candidate cities are chosen, they must give to the IOC a bigger presentation of their project as part of a candidature file. Each city is analyzed by an evaluation group. This group will also visit the cities. The group give a report on its findings one month prior to the IOC's final decision. During the interview process the candidate city must also guarantee that it can fund the Games. The IOC members gathered in the meeting have the final vote on the host city.
By 2016, the Olympic Games will have been hosted by 44 cities in 23 countries. The United States has hosted four Summer and four Winter Olympics, more than any other nation. Among Summer Olympics host nations, the United Kingdom has been the host of three Games, and hosted its third Olympics in 2012 in London. Germany, Australia, France, and Greece are the other nations to have hosted the Summer Olympics twice. Among host cities, only Los Angeles, Paris, Athens and London have played host to the Olympic Games more than once, with each holding that honor twice. With the 2012 Games that took place in London, the British capital holds the distinction of hosting the modern Olympics Games three times, more than any other city. Paris will be the second city to host the modern Olympics Games three times in 2024, while Los Angeles will be the third city in 2028.
In the Winter Olympics, France has hosted three Games, while Switzerland, Austria, Norway, Japan, and Italy have hosted twice. The most recent Games were held in Pyeongchang, South Korea's first Winter Olympics and second overall. The next Winter Games will be in Beijing, China in 2022, which will be the first time this nation has hosted.
And Youth Olympic Games in a separate list.
Summer Olympics (with successors)
Related pages
Paralympic Games
Special Olympics
World Games
Youth Olympic Games
Notes
References
Further reading
Other websites
New York Times Interactive of all the medals in the Modern Olympics
All the daily program and the results of the Olympics (personal website)
ATR – Around the Rings – the Business Surrounding the Olympics
Database Olympics
Dicolympic – Dictionary about the Games from Olympia to Sochi 2014
Reference book about all Olympic Medalists of all times
Multi-sport events |
5291 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron%20Age | Iron Age | The Iron Age is the period after the Bronze Age. Iron production took place in Anatolia at least as early as 12,000 BC, with some evidence pointing to even earlier dates.
In the Mesopotamian states of Sumer, Akkad and Assyria, the use of iron reaches far back, to perhaps 30,000 BC. One of the earliest smelted iron artifacts known was a dagger with an iron blade found in a Hattic tomb in Anatolia, dating from 2500 BC. The widespread use of iron weapons which replaced bronze weapons rapidly disseminated throughout the Near East (North Africa, southwest Asia) by the beginning of the 1st millennium BC.
Before this time, people used bronze or flint tools, and pottery. They farmed, and lived in communities. Most of Europe, Africa and Asia reached the Iron Age by 50,000 BC. It is a period of prehistory because, though iron and steel continue to be important even today, the "Iron Age" is defined as ending when people began to write their history.
Iron is easy to find, but hard to make into tools. It melts at a higher temperature than bronze. When blacksmiths learned how to make iron tools, they were able to make many of them. With more and better tools, people could do more. For example, more people could own a metal plough. They could farm their fields better and grow more crops. Some people invented coins to help buy and sell their crops and their iron tools.
Bronze weapons and armor were no match for those made of iron, so many peoples who did not have iron were conquered by those who did. Soldiers used iron shields and helmets in battle.
References
Ancient history
Periods and ages in history |
5300 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entertainment | Entertainment | Entertainment is something that gives pleasure, or distracts a person from daily life, like a sport or game that excites people and keeps their attention. Some entertainment, like horror movies, can also make people feel sad or scared. Other entertainment, like comedy shows, are funny.
Entertainment can help reduce stress.
Entertainments is a form of activity that holds the attention and interest of an audience, or gives pleasure and delight. it can be an idea or an activity or even a task.
List of entertainments
Cinema
Television
Sport
Theatre + Puppetry + Stand-up comedy
Reading
Circus
Tourism
Dance
Board games
Video games
Party
Festival
Parade with fireworks
Carnival
Street performance
Internet + Social Network
Art gallery
Museum
Park
Cafe
Cabaret
Concert
Opera
Ballet
Theme park
Beach
Exhibition
Toys
Fashion show
Zoo
Water park
Bathhouse
Swimming pool
Cycling
Spa hotel
Countryside
Picnic
Ski resort
Storytelling
Banquet
Walking
Shopping
Magic
Tournament
Playground
Nightclub
Camping or summer camp
Media |
5301 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open%20Site | Open Site | Open Site is a free internet encyclopedia created by many editors. Anyone can apply to become an editor or donate content.
Categories
At Open Site all the content is separated into categories. There are eleven main categories which each have many subcategories. These are the main categories:
Arts - has information about art and entertainment.
Business - has information about economics.
Computers - has information about computers.
Games - has information about games.
Health - has information about health.
Home - has information about home and families.
Recreation - has information about leisure.
Regional - has information about countries.
Science - has information about science.
Society - has information about society and people.
Sports - has information about sport.
Languages
Open Site claims to have encyclopedias in many languages e.g. Romanian, but there are very few articles.
Childrens' Encyclopedia
Open Site started an encyclopedia for children in August 2004. The writing and pictures on the children's' encyclopedia are simpler and easier to understand than other encyclopedias, like this one. The encyclopedia contains tools and facts as well as articles.
References
Other websites
Open Site
Encyclopedias
Learning
Websites |
5310 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coca-Cola | Coca-Cola | Coca-Cola, is a carbonated, sweetened soft drink and is the world's best-selling drink. A popular nickname for Coca-Cola is Coke. The Coca-Cola Company claims that the beverage is sold in more than 200 countries. The company's headquarters are in Atlanta, Georgia. Coca-Cola's main rival is Pepsi because of the similar taste of their main product. Coca-Cola has 7 cubes of sugar, whereas Pepsi has 8 cubes of sugar. The Coca-Cola Company is proud to have a long history of sponsoring major events, organizations and projects around the world. Among their most well known sponsorships are American Idol, Apple iTunes, BET Network, NASCAR, NBA, NCAAmarvel and the Olympic Games. After their products were put back on sale in Myanmar in 2012, the only countries that Coca-Cola can not be bought officially are Cuba and North Korea, due to trade bans with the US.
History
Coca-Cola was first made in the 1800s by John Pemberton. The first sales were at Jacob's Pharmacy in Atlanta, Georgia, on May 8, 1886. They sold it there for five cents a glass, it was very strong tasting because they did not mix it with water. Coca-Cola was first made the way it is now in Columbus, Georgia. It was called Pemberton's French Wine Coca at first, and was sold as a medicine to help cure colds and give people more energy. The drink used to be sold at soda fountains in the United States. It was also created to stop addictions to morphine.
Coca-Cola was first sold in bottles in Atlanta on March 12, 1894 with actual cocaine content. It was first sold in cans in 1955. During the first year, sales were about only nine drinks per day. Dr. Pemberton did not think he could make a lot of money with the drink he invented, so he sold parts of his business to different people. Just before he died in 1888, he sold the rest of his Coca-Cola business to Asa G. Candler. Mr. Candler, together with some other businessmen, started the Coca-Cola Company.
Candler became mayor of Atlanta and gave most of his shares of Coca-Cola to his children. In 1919 the family sold control of Coca-Cola to Ernest Woodruff.
In 1923 Woodruff's son Robert Winship Woodruff became president of Coca-Cola,replacing Asa Candler's son Charles Howard Candler.
How Coca-Cola was named
The drink is called "Coca-Cola" because of the coca leaf and kola fruits that were used to add flavor. Dr. Pemberton's partner and bookkeeper, Frank Robinson, suggested the name "Coca-Cola" because he thought using the letter C twice would look better than if they used a K in the word "Cola". He then wrote down the name to use as a logo that is now very famous. The recipe was altered after a short while, after the cocaine/coca leaf reportedly caused cases of hallucinations. Coca has not been used in the formula since 1903.
Coca-Cola's advertising
Coca-Cola was the first ever sponsor of the Olympic Games. This was for the 1928 Olympic Games in Amsterdam.
In 2018, the company spent a whopping $5.8 billion on global advertising, dwarfing its next rival PepsiCo by nearly $2 billion in spending.
From 1886 to 1959, the price of Coca-Cola was fixed at five cents, in part due to an advertising campaign.
Other products
The company sells many other products, including other sorts of Coca-Cola, such as Diet Coke (1981), Cherry Coke (1985), Diet Cherry Coke (1986), Diet/Coke with Lemon (2001), Diet Vanilla Coke (2002), Diet/ Coke with Lime (2004), Coke Zero (2006), Coca-Cola with Orange (2007), Diet Coke Citrus Zest (2007). Based on Interbrand's best global brand 2011, Coca-Cola was the world's most valuable brand.
Related pages
Pepsi
Fanta
Cola, a generic type of drink
World of Coca-Cola museum of Coke history.
References
Atlanta, Georgia
Soft drinks
da:The Coca Cola Company#Coca-Cola-drikken |
5311 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sulfur | Sulfur | Sulfur (or sulphur) is a chemical element. The symbol for sulfur is S, and its atomic number is 16.
Properties
Sulfur is a yellow solid that is a nonmetal. It is fragile (easily broken) and crystalline. It burns easily, releasing toxic fumes of sulfur dioxide. It has a very faint odor. If it is melted and cooled very quickly, it makes a rubbery form of sulfur that is called "plastic sulfur". It gradually turns back into the yellow brittle form. It does not dissolve in water. The smell normally known as "sulfur" comes from hydrogen sulfide and similar chemicals. These sulfides are produced when things decay without air.
Chemical compounds
Sulfur compounds are chemical compounds containing sulfur ions. Sulfur comes in several forms: oxidation states of -2 (hydrogen sulfide), +4 (sulfur dioxide, sulfites) and +6 (sulfuric acid, sulfates) are most common, although there are other oxidation states.
Sulfur oxides
Sulfur dioxide, colorless toxic heavy gas, used to preserve dried foods
Sulfur trioxide, various forms, sometimes liquid, irritating and toxic
Oleum, sulfur trioxide dissolved in sulfuric acid
Sulfur acids
Mixture of sulfur oxides and water
Sulfurous acid, unstable, weak
Sulfuric acid, stable, strong acid, most used chemical after water
Hydrogen sulfate, an ion produced when sulfuric acid only loses one acidic proton
Hydrogen sulfide, weak smelly gas, becomes acidic when dissolved in water
Sulfides
Salts of hydrogen sulfide
Ammonium sulfide, used in stink bombs
Antimony trisulfide, used in match heads
Arsenic trisulfide, less toxic arsenic compound
Barium sulfide, used to make barium from barium sulfate
Bismuth(III) sulfide, bismuth ore
Iron sulfide, found as pyrite naturally
Lead(II) sulfide, found as galena naturally
Selenium disulfide, used in hair treatment creams
Potassium sulfide, reacts with water
Silver sulfide, tarnish on silver objects
Thallium(I) sulfide, infrared detector
Tin(II) sulfide, dark brown solid
Tin(IV) sulfide, gold solid, "mosaic gold"
Zinc sulfide, used in fluorescent bulbs
Sulfites
Salts of sulfurous acid
Sodium sulfite, used to preserve dried foods
Potassium sulfite, used to preserve foods
Sulfates and bisulfates
Salts of sulfuric acid
Alums, all of them
Aluminium sulfate
Ammonium sulfate, used in fertilizers
Barium sulfate, used to take X-rays of digestive system
Cobalt(II) sulfate, used in pigments
Copper(II) sulfate, used to kill algae
Chromium sulfate, used to make chrome alum
Iron(II) sulfate, used for reduction
Iron(III) sulfate, rare
Lead(II) sulfate, white solid in lead acid batteries
Manganese(II) sulfate, used to add manganese to soil
Nickel(II) sulfate, used to make nickel compounds
Sodium bisulfate, used in lowering pH
Sodium sulfate, used in detergents and paper making
Thallium(I) sulfate, colorless odorless tasteless highly toxic
Tin(II) sulfate, used to make other tin compounds
Zinc sulfate, used in pigments
Other sulfur compounds
Sulfur(I) compounds
Sulfur(I) chloride, yellow liquid
Sulfur(II) compounds
Sulfur(II) chloride, red odorous liquid
Sulfur(III) compounds
Disulfur dinitride, colorless solid
Tetrasulfur tetranitride, orange solid
Sulfur(IV) compounds
Sulfur tetrafluoride, colorless toxic gas
Sulfur(V) compounds
Disulfur decafluoride, colorless toxic liquid
Sulfur(VI) compounds
Sulfur hexafluoride, colorless heavy gas
Occurrence and preparation
Sulfur can be found in the earth near volcanoes. Many minerals contain sulfur ions. Coal contains sulfur ions which are released when it burns. Hydrogen sulfide and sulfur dioxide are some sulfur compounds that are released when coal burns. They are reacted to make sulfur. Sulfur in the ground in melted, then forced up through pipes by compressed (squeezed) air.
Uses
Sulfur is commonly used in gunpowder, medicine, and matches. Matches release sulfur dioxide when they burn, giving them their smell. Sulfur is an essential component to living cells. Many proteins contain sulfur. It is also used as a pesticide on organic farms.
Etymology
Powder sulfur is said to be left after an occurrence of a supernatural being.
Toxicity and safety
Sulfur is not toxic, but the chemical compounds formed when sulfur burns can be very toxic. Sulfuric acid, for example, can make paper turn black!
History
The ancient name for sulfur is brimstone. Sulfur was used in fumigation (making fumes) and medicine in ancient Greece. In 1777, Antoine Lavosier convinced the scientific community that sulfur was an element.
Related pages
Periodic table
List of common elements
Sulfur compounds
Other websites
WebElements.com – Sulfur
EnvironmentalChemistry.com – Sulfur
Chemical elements
Nonmetals |
5313 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aluminium | Aluminium | Aluminium (in American and Canadian English also: aluminum) is a chemical element. The symbol for aluminium is Al, and its atomic number is 13. Aluminium is the most abundant metal. It is a mononuclidic element.
History
People have tried to produce aluminium since 1760. The first successful attempt, finished in 1824 by Danish physicist and chemist Hans Christian Ørsted. He reacted anhydrous aluminium chloride with potassium amalgam, yielding a lump of metal looking similar to tin. He presented his results and showed a sample of the new metal in 1825. In 1827, German chemist Friedrich Wöhler repeated Ørsted's experiments but did not identify any aluminium. (The reason for this inconsistency was only discovered in 1921.) He conducted a similar experiment in the same year by mixing anhydrous aluminium chloride with potassium and produced a powder of aluminium. In 1845, he was able to produce small pieces of the metal and described some physical properties of this metal. For many years thereafter, Wöhler was credited as personewho discovered of aluminium.
Properties
Aluminium is a very good conductor of electricity and heat. It is light and strong. It can be hammered into sheets (malleable) or pulled out into wires (ductile). It is a highly reactive metal, although it is corrosion resistant.
A fresh film of aluminium is a good reflector of visible light and an excellent reflector of medium and far infrared radiation.
Aluminium prevents corrosion by forming a small, thin layer of aluminium oxide on its surface. This layer protects the metal by preventing oxygen from reaching it. Corrosion can not occur without oxygen. Because of this thin layer, the reactivity of aluminium is not seen. As a powder it burns hot. Uses include fireworks displays and rocket fuel.
Occurrence and preparation
Pure aluminium is made from bauxite, a kind of rock that has aluminium oxide and many impurities. The bauxite is crushed and reacted with sodium hydroxide. The aluminium oxide dissolves. Then the aluminium oxide is dissolved in liquid cryolite, a rare mineral. Cryolite is normally produced artificially though. The aluminium oxide is electrolyzed to make aluminium and oxygen. The largest producer of aluminium is China. China produces about 31,873 thousand tonnes of aluminium.
Aluminium was once considered a precious metal that was even more valuable than gold. This is no longer true because, as technology improved, it became cheaper and easier to make pure metal.
In space
It is the 12th most abundant of all elements. It is the 3rd most abundant among the elements that have odd atomic numbers. The only stable isotope of aluminium is aluminium-27. It is the 18th most abundant nucleus in the Universe. It is created after fusion of carbon in massive stars that will later become Type II supernovae: this fusion creates magnesium-26, which, when capturing free protons and neutrons becomes aluminium. Essentially all aluminium now in existence is aluminium-27; aluminium-26 was there in the early Solar System but is now extinct. The trace quantities of aluminium-26 that do exist are the most common gamma ray emitter in the interstellar gas.
On Earth
Overall, the Earth is about 1.59% aluminium by mass. In the Earth's crust, aluminium is the most abundant metallic element by mass (8.23%). It is also the third most abundant of all elements in the Earth's crust. A lot of silicates in the Earth's crust contain aluminium. But, the Earth's mantle is only 2.38% aluminium by mass. Aluminium also occurs in seawater at a concentration of 2 μg/kg.
Feldspars, the most common group of minerals in the Earth's crust, are aluminosilicates. Aluminium also occurs in the minerals beryl, cryolite, garnet, spinel, and turquoise. Native aluminium has been reported in cold seeps in the northeastern continental slope of the South China Sea.
Compounds
Aluminium forms chemical compounds in the +3 oxidation state. They are generally unreactive. Aluminium chloride and aluminium oxide examples. Very rarely are compounds in the +1 or +2 oxidation state.
Uses
Many things are made of aluminium. Much of it is used in overhead power lines. It is also widely used in window frames and aircraft bodies. It is found at home as kitchenware, soft drink cans, and cooking foil. Aluminium is also used to coat car headlamps and compact discs. It is used in electrical transmission lines because of its light weight. It can be deposited on the surface of glass to make mirrors, where a thin layer of aluminum oxide quickly forms that acts as a protective coating. Aluminum oxide is also used to make synthetic rubies and sapphires for lasers. Aluminum can now be produced from clay, but the process is not economically feasible at today.
Pure aluminium is very soft, so a harder metal is almost always added. The harder metal is usually copper. Copper/aluminium alloys are to make ships, because the aluminium prevents corrosion, and the copper prevents barnacles.
Aluminium compounds are used in deodorants, water processing plants, food additives, and antacids. Lithium aluminium hydride is a really strong reducing agent used in organic chemistry.
Aluminium sulfate is used in water treatment. It is also used as a mordant in dyeing, in pickling seeds, deodorizing of mineral oils, in leather tanning, and in production of other aluminium compounds.
Anhydrous aluminium chloride is used as a catalyst in chemical and petrochemical industries, the dyeing industry, and in synthesis of many inorganic and organic compounds.
Aluminium hydroxychlorides are used in purifying water, in the paper industry, and as antiperspirants. Sodium aluminate is used in treating water and as an accelerator for drying of cement.
Aluminium acetate in solution is used as an astringent.
Aluminium phosphate is used to make glass, ceramic, pulp and paper products, cosmetics, paints, varnishes. Aluminium hydroxide is used as an antacid, and mordant. It is used also in water purification, the manufacture of glass and ceramics, and in the waterproofing of fabrics.
Aluminium is used in automobiles, trucks, railway cars, marine vessels, bicycles, spacecraft. Aluminium is used in making doors, siding, building wire, sheathing, roofing and other building materials.
Recycling
Since aluminium needs to be made by electrolysis, it requires a very large amount of electrical power. Recycling aluminium would be much cheaper. That's why recycling plants were opened. The cost of recycling aluminium is much less than the cost of making it from bauxite.
Recycling involves melting the scrap. This is a process that only needs 5% of the energy used to produce aluminium from ore. But, 15% of the input material part is lost as dross (ash-like oxide). An aluminium stack melter makes a lot less dross, about 1%.
White dross from primary aluminium production and from secondary recycling processes still contains useful amounts of aluminium that can be extracted industrially. The process produces aluminium billets, together with a very complex waste. This waste is difficult to manage. It reacts with water, releasing a mixture of gases (including, hydrogen, acetylene, and ammonia), which ignites on contact with air. Even with these difficulties, the waste is used as a filler in asphalt and concrete.
Toxicity
Aluminium is not used in the human body, although it is very common. People debate whether its use in deodorants and water treatment is healthy. Aluminium ions slow down plant growth in acidic soils. Aluminium may be a factor in Alzheimer's disease (a disease when the brain stops working and the patient is confused). But the Alzheimer's Society says overwhelming medical and scientific opinion is that studies have not convincingly demonstrated a causal relationship between aluminium and Alzheimer's disease.
In most people, aluminium is not as toxic as heavy metals. Aluminium is classified as a non-carcinogen by United States Department of Health and Human Services. There is little proof that normal exposure to aluminium is a risk to healthy adult. There is proof of no toxicity if it is taken in amounts not greater than 40 mg/day per kg of body mass. Most aluminium taken will leave the body in feces. Most of the small part that enters the blood, will be excreted via urine.
Aluminium rarely causes vitamin D-resistant osteomalacia, erythropoietin-resistant microcytic anemia, and central nervous system changes. People with kidney insufficiency are at a risk the most. Chronic ingestion of hydrated aluminium silicates may result in aluminium binding to the things in the intestines. It also increases the removal of other metals, like iron or zinc. Really high doses (>50 g/day) can cause anemia.
A small percentage of people have contact allergies to aluminium and experience itchy red rashes, headache, muscle pain, joint pain, poor memory, insomnia, depression, asthma, irritable bowel syndrome, or other symptoms when touching products containing aluminium.
Exposure to powdered aluminium or aluminium welding fumes can cause pulmonary fibrosis. Fine aluminium powder can also explode.
Ways of exposure
Food is the main source of aluminium. Drinking water has more aluminium than solid foods. Aluminium in food may be absorbed more than aluminium from water. Major sources of human exposure by mouth to aluminium include food (because of its use in food additives, food and beverage packaging, and cooking utensils), drinking water (because of its use in water treatment), and medicines that have aluminium in it. Very high exposure of aluminium are mostly limited to miners, aluminium production workers, and dialysis patients.
Taking of antacids, antiperspirants, vaccines, and cosmetics give possible ways of exposure. Eating acidic foods or liquids with aluminium increases aluminium absorption. Maltol has been shown to increase the build up of aluminium in nerve and bone tissues.
Treatment
In case of suspected sudden consumption of a large amount of aluminium, the only treatment is deferoxamine mesylate. It may be given to help remove aluminium from the body by chelation. But, this should be applied with caution as it not only reduce aluminium in the body, but can also reduce those of other metals such as copper or iron.
Environmental effects
High levels of aluminium occur near mining sites. Small amounts of aluminium are released to the environment at the coal-fired power plants or incinerators. Aluminium in the air is washed out by the rain or normally settles down. But, small particles of aluminium remain in the air for a long time.
Acid rain is the main natural factor to move aluminium from natural sources. It is also the main reason for the effects of aluminium on the environment. The main factor for the presence of aluminium in salt and freshwater are the industrial processes that also release aluminium into air.
In water, aluminium acts as a toxiс agent on animals that with gills like fish by causing loss of plasma- and hemolymph ions leading to osmoregulatory failure.
Aluminium is one of the primary factors that reduce the growth of plants on acidic soils. In acid soils the concentration of toxic Al3+ cations increases and disturbs the growth and function of the root. It is generally harmless to plant growth in pH-neutral soils. Wheat has developed a tolerance to aluminium. It releases organic compounds that bind to harmful aluminium cations. Sorghum is thought to have the same method of tolerating aluminium.
Aluminium production has its own problems to the environment on each step of the production process. The major problem is the greenhouse gas. These gases are caused by the electrical consumption of the smelters and the byproducts of processing. The strongest of these gases are perfluorocarbons from the smelting process.
A Spanish scientific report from 2001 claimed that the fungus Geotrichum candidum eats the aluminium in compact discs. The better studied bacterium Pseudomonas aeruginosa and the fungus Cladosporium resinae are commonly found in aircraft fuel tanks that use kerosene-based fuels, and laboratory cultures can decompose aluminium. However, these types of bacteria do not eat the aluminium; but rather, the metal is corroded by microbe waste products.
Gallery
Related pages
List of common elements
Periodic table
References
Other websites
Alu-Scout |
5316 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drawing | Drawing | Drawing is a way of making a picture. Drawings are created by making lines on a surface. Long lines make up the shapes and small lines make the textures. Drawings can be images of real-life or abstract images showing ideas that cannot be seen in the real world.
A drawing is the art created this way. Examples of things used to mark with are pencils, chalk, charcoal, crayons, pastels, markers, wax colored pencils, pen and ink.
Artists have been drawing for many centuries. They draw on paper or on other surfaces on which the marks show up.
Drawing techniques include sketching, shading, cubism and many more.
Between 1912 and 1948 art competitions were a part of the Olympics.
Drawings can be made using many different media. It can be multimedia.
Related pages
Technical drawing
Art |
5324 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas | Texas | Texas (, ), officially the State of Texas, is a state in the South Central Region of the United States. It is the second largest US state by total area (after Alaska) with 268,596 sq mi (695,662 km2) and population (after California) with nearly 29 million people as of 2019. Its largest cities are Houston, Dallas, Fort Worth, San Antonio, El Paso, and Austin, the capital city.
Texas became the 28th state in the United States in 1845. Texas has been controlled by Spain, France, the Confederate States of America, and Mexico. It declared its independence from Mexico in 1836. It was its own country, the Republic of Texas, for 9 years (1836–1845). It is called the "Lone Star State" and its flag has one star.
There are many tourist attractions in Texas. Fort Worth is known for its stockyards. Amarillo is known for the cattle business and stockyards. In Dallas, industrial technology companies including Texas Instruments and EDS have their home offices. San Antonio has The Alamo. Houston has the Johnson Space Center. Austin has the University of Texas at Austin. Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Baylor University in Waco and the University of North Texas in Denton are other important universities in the state.
Name
The state's name derives from táyshay, a word in the Caddoan language of the Hasinai (a Native American tribe), which means "allies" or "friends."
History
Texas was first explored in 1528 by Spanish explorers on accident (they were shipwrecked on the coast). It did not become a colony until 1685, when France claimed it. In response, Spain started a rival colony in 1691 by setting up a religious outpost in the eastern part of Texas. Spain did not come back to Texas until 1716 to protect its colonies in the west from French forces. Two years later, San Antonio was founded.
The pressure between the Spaniards and Native Americans in East Texas stopped many settlers from coming to Texas. To stop the violence and the increasing Native American raids, Spain called a truce between many tribes in 1745 and 1789.
Tensions rose in Texas after the United States bought a large amount of nearby land from France in 1803. This was the Louisiana Purchase. People began wondering whether Spain or the United States could claim Texas.
Mexico won the Mexican War of Independence in 1821. Mexico, including Texas, was free from the Spanish Empire. Americans and other settlers came into Texas when Mexico allowed non-Spanish settlers to settle here. After many settlers came to Texas, Mexico started taxing non-citizens. This outraged many settlers. Many were already angry because Mexico banned slavery.
Politics in Mexico became violent and several Mexican States declared independence. On March 2, 1836, Texas declared independence from Mexico and soon they were at war. Texas won, but Mexico refused to recognize Texas as an independent sovereign Republic. Texas soon requested entry to the United States. Years later, in 1845, the US added Texas as a state, and Mexico broke off diplomatic relations. Mexico resisted offers by the U.S. to buy land extending from Texas to the Pacific Ocean. In 1846, a dispute over the border between Texas and Mexico resulted in armed conflict, and the Mexican-American War began. The United States won the war, and by the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo, in 1848 won lands that later formed the states of California, Arizona, Nevada, Utah, New Mexico, southwestern Colorado, and southwestern Wyoming. Mexico received 15 million dollars and gave up its claims to Texas.
After Abraham Lincoln was elected President of the United States, Texas joined the newly formed Confederate States of America in 1861 and fought in the American Civil War in an attempt to become independent from the United States. The Confederates lost to the Union (the United States) in 1865. Texas was restored to full representation in Congress on March 30, 1870.
On January 10, 1901, oil was found in Texas, leading to the founding of a richer economy. During a time when the economy was poor, many people left Texas. Texas did not regain the population it had lost until the 1950s and 60s. In recent years, Texas has become a hub for technology and computers.
Geography
Texas is the second biggest state in the Union (after Alaska) and is bigger than every European country except Russia. It has mountains, forests, deserts, plains, and coasts. The largest river in Texas is the Rio Grande, which forms the border between Mexico and the United States throughout south Texas. The highest mountain in Texas is Guadalupe Peak.
Most of Texas is in Central Time, but El Paso in Western Texas is in Mountain Time.
Economy
Texas has the second largest economy in the United States after the economy of California. It had a gross state product of US$1.887 trillion in 2019. Texas was home to six of the top 50 companies on the Fortune 500 list in 2015 (third most after New York and California). In 2017, Texas grossed more than US$264.5 billion a year in exports—more than the exports of California (US$172 billion) and New York (US$77.9 billion) combined. As a sovereign country, in 2016, Texas would be the 10th largest economy in the world by gross domestic product (GDP), ahead of South Korea and Canada and behind Brazil.
Related pages
Colleges and universities in Texas
List of cities in Texas
List of counties in Texas
References
1845 establishments in the United States |
5354 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prussia | Prussia | Prussia (; , , Old Prussian: Prūsa or Prūsija) was a series of countries. Originally it was a historically prominent German state that originated in 1525. Mostly, the name is used for the Kingdom of Prussia, which was in northern Europe. It was part of Germany for a while, and it included land in Poland, France, and Lithuania. The name "Prussian" has had a lot of different meanings in the past and now:
The land of the Baltic Prussians (today parts of southern Lithuania, Kaliningrad, and north-eastern Poland);
The lands of the Teutonic Knights (a group of religious soldiers in the 12th century);
Part of the lands of the Polish Crown, Royal Prussia;
A fief of the Polish Crown, Ducal Prussia, later under control of the Hohenzollern family of Brandenburg;
All Hohenzollern land, inside or outside Germany;
An independent Kingdom, from the 17th century until 1871;
The largest part of the German Empire, the Weimar Republic, and Nazi Germany from 1871 to 1945.
In 1934, Germany stopped using the name Prussia for that area, and in 1947 the Allies abolished the state of Prussia and divided its territory among themselves and the new States of Germany. Today, the name is only for historical, geographical, or cultural use.
The name Prussia comes from the Borussi or Prussi people who lived in the Baltic region and spoke the Old Prussian language. Ducal Prussia was a fiefdom of the Kingdom of Poland until 1660, and Royal Prussia was part of Poland until 1772. In the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, most German-speaking Prussians started thinking of themselves as part of the German nation. They thought the Prussian way of life was very important:
Perfect organization
Sacrifice (giving other people something you need)
Obeying the law
From the late 18th century, Prussia had a lot of power in northern Germany and throughout central Europe; it was the strongest in politics and economics, and it had the most people. After Chancellor Otto von Bismarck dissolved the German Confederation, Prussia annexed almost all of northern Germany. In 1871, after the Franco-Prussian War, von Bismarck created the German Empire, and Prussia was the center of the empire, with the Kings of Prussia being the Emperors of Germany.
Geography
Prussia's borders have changed over time. It has not always been the exact same place. Mostly, Prussia was a small part of what is today northern Poland. After a small number of Prussian people moved there to live, Germans came to live there too. In 1934, Prussia's borders were with France, Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Denmark, and Lithuania. Some parts of Prussia are in eastern Poland. Before 1918, a lot of western Poland was also in Prussia. Between 1795 and 1807, Prussia also controlled Warsaw and most of central Poland.
Before 1934, these regions were also in Prussia:
West Prussia and East Prussia, which are now in Poland and Russia
Pomerania
Silesia
Brandenburg
Lusatia
Province of Saxony (now Saxony-Anhalt)
Kingdom of Hanover
Schleswig-Holstein
Westphalia
parts of Hesse
the Rhineland
some small areas in the south, for example Württemberg-Hohenzollern, the home of the leaders of Prussia
However, some regions were never part of Prussia, such as Oldenburg, Mecklenburg, and the Hanse city-states.
Northeast Germany was Protestant, so Prussians were mostly Protestant. But there were a lot of Catholic people in the Rhineland, East Prussia, Posen, Silesia, West Prussia, and Ermland. The states of south Germany (especially Austria and Bavaria) were Catholic, so they did not want Prussians to rule them. Prussia was mostly German, but in the late 18th century, the new Polish areas had a lot of Polish people too. In 1918, these Polish areas were given to Poland, and in 1945, Pomerania and East Prussia were given to Poland. Northern East Prussia, specifically Kaliningrad, was given to Russia.
History
In 1226, Polish Prince Conrad of Mazovia (Mazovia is a place in Northern Poland) asked the Teutonic Knights from Transylvania to come to Mazovia. He wanted them to fight the Prussian tribes on his borders. They fought for more than 100 years. Then they created a new state. After some time, this state controlled most of today's Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, and parts of northern Poland. In 1466, the Knights were under the King of Poland and Lithuania. In 1525, the leader of the Knights became a Protestant. He made part of the Knights' land into the Duchy of Prussia, which was then part of the Kingdom of Poland.
At that time, the Duchy of Prussia was only the area east of the place where the Vistula River enters the sea. In 1618, the new Duke of Prussia was the Elector John Sigismund of Brandenburg. He was also Margrave of Brandenburg. Brandenburg was ruled by the Hohenzollern family. The Duchy of Prussia was important to the Hohenzollern family because it was not part of the Holy Roman Empire. The name for the new state was Brandenburg-Prussia. In the middle of the state was Polish land, but Brandenburg-Prussia was moving away from Poland. Under Frederick William, who was called the Great Elector, Prussia took some new land in Magdeburg and areas west of the Rhine.
Kingdom of Prussia
In 1701, the Holy Roman Emperor and Polish King allowed Brandenburg-Prussia to call itself "Kingdom of Prussia" with Frederick I ("the Great") as its king. Under Frederick II, Prussia waged war against Austria and took Silesia. The wars ended in 1763; Prussia was then the most powerful state in eastern Germany. Other parts of Germany, including Pomerania, went to Prussia because of marriage or death.
During this time, the Prussian army got bigger, and so did the administration system. Until 1945, these were at the most important parts of the German state. Between 1772 and 1795, Prussia, Russia and Austria divided Poland into parts (the Partitions of Poland). Prussia controlled land in the far east, including the city of Warsaw.
Frederick William II had Prussia join the war with France in 1792. He lost at Valmy and gave his western land to France. Frederick William III started a new war, but lost at Jena. He gave more land to France at the Treaty of Tilsit.
In 1813, Prussia again started war with Napoleonic France. In 1815, Prussia won back the land it lost in earlier wars and also all the Rhineland and Westphalia and some other land. This land in the west was very important, especially the Ruhr valley. It was the new center of Germany's industrialization and the home of the weapons industry. After the Napoleonic Wars, Prussia was the strongest power in Germany and more powerful than Austria.
In the early 19th century, there were two political groups in Germany. The liberals wanted a democratic system with one strong central government. The conservatives wanted Germany to be made of a group of independent, weak states . In 1848, revolution came to Europe. Frederick William IV was worried. He allowed a National Assembly and a constitution. The new Frankfurt Parliament wanted to give Frederick William the crown of all Germany, but he did not want it. He said that revolutionaries could not name kings. Now Prussia had a semi-democratic constitution, but really the nobility with land (the Junkers) had the power, especially in the east.
Imperial Prussia
In 1862, Prussian King Wilhelm I appointed Otto von Bismarck as the prime minister of Prussia. Bismarck wanted the liberals and the conservatives to lose. He wanted to create a strong, united Germany, but he wanted to do so under the Junker, not under the western German liberals. So, he started three wars:
with Denmark in 1864 – this gave Prussia control of the Schleswig-Holstein area
with Austria in 1869 (Austro-Prussian War) – this allowed Prussia to take Hanover and most other northern German territories that had been ruled by Austria
with France in 1870 (Franco-Prussian War) - so Bismarck could control Mecklenburg, Bavaria, Baden, Württemberg, and Saxony. After this, these states (but not Austria) became part of a united German Empire, and Wilhelm I took the title of Emperor (Kaiser).
This was Prussia's high moment. The economic and political future looked good. But after 99 days, in 1888, the state had a new leader, Kaiser Wilhelm II. He fired Bismarck, who lost his job in 1890, and Wilhelm II started a new foreign policy. He made the army bigger, and the navy much bigger, and he took risks. This is part of why Germany entered World War I. When the Germans and their allies lost that war, the Prussian Junkers lost power. The Prussian king and the other German kings had to leave. Germany became the Weimar Republic. In 1919, the Treaty of Versailles re-created the Polish state, and Prussia had to give up much of its land. The Polish Corridor was split between East Prussia and Germany.
The end of Prussia
At the end of World War I, the Treaty of Versailles separated West Prussia from the rest of Germany to make the Free City of Danzig and Polish Corridor, so Poland would have access to the ocean instead of being landlocked. Some people also wanted to break Prussia into smaller states, but this did not happen. Prussia became the "Prussian Free State" (Freistaat Preußen), the largest state in the Weimar Republic. The Prussian Free State made up more than 60% of all the land in the Weimar Republic. The Prussian Free State contained the industrial Ruhr area the city of Berlin, so many people with left-leaning political ideas lived there. The Social Democrats and the Catholic Centre had power for most of the 1920s.
In 1932, Germany's conservative Chancellor Franz von Papen took control of Prussia, ending the state's democratic constitution. It was the end of German democracy too. In 1933, Hermann Göring became Interior Minister of Prussia; he was now very strong. In 1934, the Nazis took the German states' power.
In 1945, the Soviet Union's army captured all of eastern and central Germany (and Berlin). Poland took everything east of the Oder-Neisse line, e.g. Silesia, Pomerania, eastern Brandenburg, and East Prussia. The Soviet Union took the northern third of East Prussia, including Königsberg, now Kaliningrad. About ten million Germans had to run away from these areas. Polish and Russian people moved in in their place. Because of this, and because the Communists took control of land in the GDR, also called East Germany, the Junker and Prussia were finished.
In 1947, the United States, Britain, France, and the Soviet Union formally agreed the end of Prussia. In the Soviet Zone (which was called the GDR starting in 1949), which included Prussian lands, were now the states of Brandenburg and Saxony-Anhalt. The Prussian parts of Pomerania went to Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. In 1952, the GDR government stopped using states and used districts instead. In 1990, the end of the GDR, the states returned. In the West, (called the Federal Republic of Germany or West Germany starting in 1949), the Prussian lands went to North Rhine-Westphalia, Lower Saxony, Hesse, Rhineland-Palatinate and Schleswig-Holstein. Baden-Württemberg took the Hohenzollern land.
The idea of Prussia is not completely dead in Germany. Some people want to put together the states of Brandenburg, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, and Berlin and call them Prussia. But German politicians are not interested in the idea. The constitution of Berlin allows for Berlin and Brandenburg to become one state, but the people of Berlin voted against doing this on May 5, 1996.
References
Other websites
1660 map of Prussia 1660
map of Prussian Provinces
Part Map of Prussia by Gerard Mercator, Atlas sive cosmographica., Amsterdam 1594
Part Map of Prussia by Kasper Henneberger, Koenigsberg 1629
Map of Old Prussia by K. Henneberger, 17th century.
Map of Prussia by K. Henneberger in: Christoph Hartknoch, Alt- und neues Preussen..., Frankfurt 1684
Map of Prussia and Freie Stadt Danzig from 18th c.
Map of East Prussia K. Flemming, F. Handtke, Głogów ca. 1920, after Treaty of Versailles
1525 establishments
House of Hohenzollern
States and territories disestablished in the 20th century
1947 disestablishments
16th-century establishments in Europe
1940s disestablishments in Europe |
5361 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apocrypha | Apocrypha | The Apocrypha are religious texts that are in some versions of the Catholic Bible. Other versions omit them. The word comes from Ancient Greek (apokrypha). Apocrypha means those that were hidden. Generally, the term is applied to writings that were not part of the canon. There are several reasons why these texts were not included in the canon. The texts might only have been known to few people, or they might have been left out because their content does not fit well into that of the other books of the Bible. Some of the apocrypha were written at a later date, and were therefore not included.
The Authorized King James Version called these books ‘Apocrypha’. It separated them, because the Bible said so in 2 Esdras 14:46, But keep the seventy last, that thou mayest deliver them only to such as be wise among the people: For in them is the spring of understanding, the fountain of wisdom, and the stream of knowledge.
Roman Catholic Bibles have these books in the Old Testament. They do not call them Apocrypha. They call them deuterocanonical, which means that they belong to the second canon. Canon just means an official list of literary works accepted as representing a field. The first list is of books first written in Hebrew. This second list is of books first written in Greek.
Some say
These books were kept in Catholic Bibles because it is believed that the Bible which Jesus read was a Bible that included the books of the "Apocrypha," the deuterocanonical books. It is known that the most popular Bible at the time of Jesus was the Greek Septuagint version - which includes these extra books. That is why early Church fathers quoted from Bibles including these books.
Others say
Christians disagree about the ‘Apocrypha’. Others point out that the ‘Apocrypha’ was in every Christian Bible until 1828.
In 1828 these books were taken out of some Bibles. The translators of the King James Bible said that these books were written to prepare the people for Jesus, in the same way as John the Baptist did. They said that the apostles used these books. And modern day members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (sometimes referred to as Mormons) also have hints in the Book of Mormon.
There is no question that these books have always been part of the Bible in Oriental Orthodox Churches, so they were definitely not added in the 1500s. Around the year 80 AD, the Jewish Council (Sanhedrin) decided to cut the books from the Hebrew Bible, but they stayed in the Christian Bible. Then soon after Christianity became the only religion of Roman Empire in the 4th century, the Romans decided to cut out all of the same books that the Sanhedrin had cut out, and they moved some of them to the "apocrypha".
Texts of the Apocrypha
Books of the Apocrypha (they may not be in order):
Esdras
Book of Tobit (the Vulgate, and Luther call it "Tobias")
Book of Judith
Book of Wisdom
Ecclesiasticus
Baruch
Susanna
1st & 2nd Maccabees
Note: Other candidates for Apocryphal scriptures include supposedly lost portions of Esther and Sirach.
There are also Apocrypha candidates for the New Testament:
The Gospel of Peter was probably written during the 2nd century. It was discovered in a monk's grave in Egypt in 1886/1887. This grave contained a papyrus from the 9th century.
Excerpts from the Oxyrhynchus Papyri
Egerton Gospel
Gospel of Thomas
A fragment of the Secret Gospel of Mark |
5392 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodium | Sodium | Sodium (symbol Na, from the Latin name natrium) is the chemical element number 11 in the periodic table of elements. It follows that its nucleus includes 11 protons, and 11 electrons orbit around it (according to the simplified model known as "Niels Bohr atom"). Even if many isotopes can be artificially made, all decay in a short time. As a result, all sodium found in nature (mainly in sea water) has the composition 11Na23, meaning that the nucleus includes 12 neutrons. The atomic mass of sodium is 22.9898; if it is rounded, it would be 23.
Properties
Sodium is a light, silver-coloured metal. Sodium is so soft that it can be easily cut with a knife. When it is cut, the surface will become white over time. This is because it reacts with air to form sodium hydroxide and sodium carbonate. Sodium is a little lighter than water; when it reacts with water it floats and reacts. This reaction is very fast. Hydrogen and sodium hydroxide are produced and lots of heat is created which usually causes the hydrogen to ignite. Since sodium melts at a low temperature, it melts when it reacts with water. It has one valence electron which is removed easily, making it highly reactive.
Compared with other alkali metals (metals in the first column of the periodic table), sodium is usually less reactive than potassium and more reactive than lithium.
Chemical compounds
These are chemical compounds that contain sodium ions. Sodium only exists in 1 oxidation state: +1.
Sodium aluminum fluoride, used to make aluminum
Sodium amide, very strong base
Sodium arsenite, colorless solid, very toxic
Sodium arsenate, oxidizing agent, very toxic
Sodium azide, used in airbags
Sodium bicarbonate, baking soda, used in cooking
Sodium bismuthate, oxidizing agent, used to test for manganese
Sodium bisulfate, acidic, used to increase pH
Sodium bromate, oxidizing agent, used to dye hair
Sodium bromide, rare, used in some medicine
Sodium carbonate, used to make glass
Sodium chlorate, used in some explosives
Sodium chlorite, used in disinfectants
Sodium chloride, table salt
Sodium chromate, yellow, oxidizing agent, toxic
Sodium dichromate, orange, oxidizing agent, toxic
Sodium fluoride, used in toothpastes, bitter, toxic in large doses
Sodium hydroxide, lye, used in soap, strong base
Sodium hypochlorite, bleach, disinfectant
Sodium hypophosphite, reducing agent, poisonous
Sodium iodate, oxidizing agent, prevents iodine deficiency
Sodium iodide, weak reducing agent, prevents iodine deficiency
Sodium manganate, rare green solid
Sodium nitrate, used in blasting powder
Sodium nitrite, used in food preservation
Sodium periodate, oxidizing agent
Sodium permanganate, less common than potassium permanganate, oxidizing agent
Sodium phosphate, various uses
Sodium phosphide, catalyst
Sodium phosphite, toxic, reducing agent
Sodium selenate, strong oxidizing agent, other selenium compounds
Sodium selenide, strong reducing agent, reactive
Sodium selenite, weak oxidizing agent, vitamin supplement
Sodium sulfate, bitter, laxative
Sodium sulfite, weak reducing agent, used to preserve dried food
Sodium tellurate, strong oxidizing agent
Sodium telluride, strong reducing agent, reacts with air easily
Sodium tellurite, main tellurite compound
Discovery and name
Sodium was discovered by Sir Humphrey Davy, an English scientist, back in 1807. He made it by the electrolysis of sodium hydroxide. It is named after soda, a name for sodium hydroxide or sodium carbonate.
Use as element
It is used in the preparation of organic compounds. It is also used in the street lights that are orange, and ultra violet lights.
Use as compounds
Sodium compounds are used in soaps, toothpaste, baking and antiacids.
.
Occurrence and production
Sodium does not exist as an element in nature; its easily removed valence electron is too reactive. It exists as an ion in chemical compounds. Sodium ions are found in the ocean. It is also found as sodium chloride in the earth's crust, where it is mined.
Sodium is normally made by electrolysis of very hot sodium chloride that was melted.
Use in organisms
Sodium ion in the form of sodium chloride is needed in the human body, but large amounts of it cause problems, which is why one should not eat too much salt and other food items with huge sodium amount (such as biscuits with baking soda). Many organisms in the ocean depend on the proper concentration of ions in sea water to live.
Related pages
List of common elements
Hyponatremia (a medical problem caused by not having enough sodium in the body).
References
Alkali metals
Chemical elements |
5395 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dice | Dice | Dice are objects used in games when something random needs to be done, such as moving a game piece a random number of places on a board. Most dice are cubes that have the numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 on the faces. Dice are sometimes made in other polyhedral shapes than cubes, but the six-sided die (die is the singular of "dice") is the most common. A die is usually rolled by the player’s hand. When adding together opposite sides of typical cubical dice, the sum is always 7.
Some games are played with two or more dice and some use only one. Some games that use dice are Monopoly, Yahtzee, Risk, and many more. Dice with different numbers of sides, like those used in Dungeons & Dragons, are called polyhedral dice.
Weights can be put inside a die to make it only land on a certain number once it is rolled. |
5398 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matrix%20%28mathematics%29 | Matrix (mathematics) | In mathematics, a matrix (plural: matrices) is a rectangle of numbers, arranged in rows and columns. The rows are each left-to-right (horizontal) lines, and the columns go top-to-bottom (vertical). The top-left cell is at row 1, column 1 (see diagram at right).
Matrices are often represented by capital roman letters such as , and , and there are rules for adding, subtracting and "multiplying" matrices together, but the rules are different than for numbers. As an example, the product does not always give the same result as , which is the case for the multiplication of ordinary numbers. A matrix can have more than 2 dimensions, such as a 3D matrix. Also, a matrix can be one-dimensional, as a single row or a single column.
Many natural sciences use matrices quite a lot. In many universities, courses about matrices (usually called linear algebra) are taught very early, sometimes even in the first year of studies. Matrices are also very common in computer science, engineering, physics, economics, and statistics.
Definitions and notations
The horizontal lines in a matrix are called rows and the vertical lines are called columns. A matrix with m rows and n columns is called an m-by-n matrix (or m×n matrix) and m and n are called its dimensions.
The places in the matrix where the numbers are is called entries. The entry of a matrix A that lies in the row number i and column number j is called the i,j entry of A. This is written as A[i,j] or ai,j.
We write to define an m × n matrix A, with each entry in the matrix called ai,j for all 1 ≤ i ≤ m and 1 ≤ j ≤ n.
Example
The matrix
is a 4×3 matrix. This matrix has m=4 rows, and n=3 columns.
The element A[2,3] or a2,3 is 7.
Operations
Addition
The sum of two matrices is the matrix, which (i,j)-th entry is equal to the sum of the (i,j)-th entries of two matrices:
The two matrices have the same dimensions. Here, is true (and is true in general for matrices of equal dimensions).
Multiplication of two matrices
The multiplication of two matrices is a bit more complicated:
So with numbers:
Two matrices can be multiplied with each other even if they have different dimensions, as long as the number of columns in the first matrix is equal to the number of rows in the second matrix.
The result of the multiplication, called the product, is another matrix with the same number of rows as the first matrix and the same number of columns as the second matrix.
The multiplication of matrices is not commutative, which means that in general, .
The multiplication of matrices is associative, which means that .
Special matrices
There are some matrices that are special.
Square matrix
A square matrix has the same number of rows as columns, so m=n.
An example of a square matrix is
This matrix has 3 rows and 3 columns: m=n=3.
Identity
Every square dimension set of a matrix has a special counterpart called the "identity matrix", represented by the symbol . The identity matrix has nothing but zeroes except on the main diagonal, where there are all ones. For example:
is an identity matrix. There is exactly one identity matrix for each square dimension set. An identity matrix is special because when multiplying any matrix by the identity matrix, the result is always the original matrix with no change.
Inverse matrix
An inverse matrix is a matrix that, when multiplied by another matrix, equals the identity matrix. For example:
is the inverse of
.
The formula for the inverse of a 2x2 matrix, is:
Where is the determinant of the matrix. In a 2x2 matrix, the determinant is equal to:
One column matrix
A matrix, that has many rows, but only one column, is called a column vector.
Determinants
The determinant takes a square matrix and calculates a simple number, a scalar. To understand what this number means, take each column of the matrix and draw it as a vector. The parallelogram drawn by those vectors has an area, which is the determinant. For all 2x2 matrices, the formula is very simple:
For 3x3 matrices the formula is more complicated:
There are no simple formulas for the determinants of larger matrices, and many computer programmers study how to get computers to quickly find large determinants.
Properties of determinants
There are three rules that all determinants follow. These are:
The determinant of an identity matrix is 1
If two rows or two columns of the matrix are exchanged, then the determinant is multiplied by -1. Mathematicians call this alternating.
If all the numbers in one row or column are multiplied by another number n, then the determinant is multiplied by n. Also, if a matrix M has a column v that is the sum of two column matrices and , then the determinant of M is the sum of the determinants of M with in place of v and M with in place of v. These two conditions are called multi-linearity.
Related pages
Determinant
Eigenvalues and eigenvectors
Matrix analysis
Matrix function
Numerical linear algebra
System of linear equations
Transpose
References
Other websites
History
MacTutor: Matrices and determinants
Matrices and Linear Algebra on the Earliest Uses Pages
Earliest Uses of Symbols for Matrices and Vectors
Online books
Online Calculus Courses
Linear algebra |
5400 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawaiian | Hawaiian | Hawaiian can be:
The Hawaiian Islands
The Hawaiian language
Native Hawaiians, the Polynesian Hawaiian people (a kanaka ‘oiwi or kanaka māoli)
having to do with the U.S. state of Hawaii |
5401 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/British%20Isles | British Isles | The British Isles are an archipelago (a group of islands) in north-western Europe. They have a long geographical and geological history. The first people were in Britain by 800,000 years ago (Happisburgh footprints).
The biggest islands are called Great Britain and Ireland, followed by the Isle of Man. Great Britain, the biggest island, is home to three countries. These are England, Wales and Scotland. The island of Ireland is divided into Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. Great Britain is the biggest island of Europe and Ireland is the third biggest.
England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland join together to make the United Kingdom.
Some people include the Channel Islands of Jersey, Guernsey, Sark in the term "British Isles", but they are a lot closer to France than to Great Britain. In politics, they are British islands but in geology they are French islands.
The term tends not to be used in the Republic of Ireland because many people feel it implies that Ireland is politically British.
The writings of the Roman cartographer Ptolemy used the name "Great Britain" for the larger island in the 2nd century AD. He used the name "Megale Britannia" or "Great Britain" () to show the difference between this island and Ireland. For Ireland, Ptolemy used the name "Mikra Britannia" or "Little Britain" ().
References |
5403 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mandarin%20Chinese | Mandarin Chinese | Mandarin Chinese or simply Mandarin (; ) is the language of government and education of the Chinese mainland and Taiwan, with the notable exceptions of Hong Kong and Macau where a local dialect of Chinese called Cantonese is more often used.
Mandarin is one of five major regional languages of China. It spreads wider than any other regional variety, from the whole northern part of China to Yunnan Province in the southwest corner of China. In that big area there are many regional differences in vocabulary, so somebody who moves from Beijing to Yunnan could not understand people there who were speaking their own dialect, Yunnanhua. The problem is bigger than for a person in Great Britain or the United States to go to Australia. Therefore, starting in the 1920s, the Chinese government set up a national language based on the Beijing dialect and on the most widely understood words and pronunciations.
Mandarin is a standard language. It is nobody's native language, but a good average between various language forms and a common language everyone can understand and communicate with. Although it is based on the Beijing dialect, it is not the same as Beijing dialect.
Schools use a dialect called Standard Mandarin, Putonghua (普通话/普通話) meaning "common (spoken) language" or Hanyu (汉语/漢語) meaning "language of the Han". In places such as Malaysia, it is known as Huayu (华语/華語). In Taiwan, it is known as Guoyu (国语/國語) meaning "national language." There are some minor differences in these standards.
Mandarin is spoken by over 800 million people around the world, more than any other language. Most people emigrating from the Greater China region now speak Mandarin, while in past centuries most spoke Cantonese or Taishanese, another local Chinese dialect.
Standard Mandarin is one of the six official languages at the United Nations. The others are English, French, Spanish, Russian and Arabic.
Writing
Mandarin is written with Chinese characters called Hànzì (漢字 or 汉字) which literally means "Han characters". Each Hànzì has its own pronunciation and meaning. An ordinary dictionary will contain about 10,000 characters. Spoken Mandarin uses very many compound words, words that combine meanings the way English does in such terms as "machine gun," "fire truck," "playground," etc.
The Hanzi are ideograms: one character means one idea. The various concepts are derived from the ideograms by combining them. Mandarin can be also written phonetically (that is: written as it is spoken) with the Latin alphabet as you really cannot see the spelling from Hanzi characters. That is called transliteration. The most popular transliteration system is called Pinyin.
Some Chinese characters were originally fairly concrete pictures of the things they represent. As time went on, people chose to write simpler versions that are easier to write but do not look so much like the real thing, just as people sometimes draw stick men rather than drawing people with real-looking bodies, arms, legs, etc. Here are some examples:
Most characters, however, are made by combining pictures, using one to give a general meaning, and the other to represent a sound. For instance, "媽 mā" (mom) is made by adding 女 (nǚ, human female) to 馬 (mǎ, horse). The "ma" part is only there to represent the sound.
In most dialects of ancient Chinese, one character was generally enough for one word, but modern spoken Mandarin uses mostly compounds like "媽媽 māma," which is just "mama,"
Other examples show different ways of combining components:
火車 huǒ chē (lit. fire vehicle) locomotive, train
大人 dà rén (lit. big person) adult
打開 dǎ kāi (lit. strike open) open up (door, window, envelope, etc.)
Just as the English used in Great Britain favors "petrol" but the English used in the United States almost always uses "gasoline," different regional languages in China may use different compound words to name the same thing.
In Spoken Mandarin, most words are character compounds because over time Mandarin lost many sounds that existed in earlier forms of Chinese. Due to the loss of sounds, many Chinese words ended up becoming homophones, thus more characters were added to words to tell them apart. For example, the Chinese title of the poem Lion-Eating Poet in the Stone Den 施氏食狮史 is pronounced "Shī Shì Shí Shī Shǐ", and every character in the poem is pronounced with the same syllable, but with different tones. In older forms of Chinese, one could have been to tell apart the different characters making up the title, as they could have sounded noticeably different from each other.
Thus, one-character words in Classical Chinese like
became the Mandarin compound words
to clearly distinguish such words from their homophones, otherwise the already mentioned characters could be mistaken for similar sounding characters like
thus making spoken language difficult to understand without the compound words.
Difference between Mandarin (Beijing Accent) and Beijing Dialect
Mandarin is defined and designed based on Beijing accent. In China, there are over 600,000 dialects and more accents although they all use Chinese language and characters, but their pronunciation and some expressions are totally different. China must find a standard pronunciation to allow all people to understand each other and communicate. Beijing has been the capital city of China for more than 1,000 years, so China defined Beijing Accent as standard Mandarin.
Beijing also has some local dialects that are not included by Mandarin or standard Chinese language yet. But with Beijing being the capital city as well as the political, economic, cultural and education center of China, more and more new Beijing dialects have been or will be accepted as Mandarin or standard Chinese language. The other dialects, such as Shanghainese, Cantonese, Hakka etc., have few opportunities to be included into Mandarin or standard Chinese language or be accepted by the whole of China.
The following samples are some Beijing dialects which are not yet accepted as standard Mandarin. 倍儿: bèi'ér means 'very much'; 拌蒜: bànsuàn means 'stagger'; 不吝: bùlìn means 'do not worry about'; 撮: cuò means 'eat'; 出溜: chūliū means 'slip'; 大老爷儿们儿: dàlǎoyérmenr means 'men, males';
The following samples are some Beijing dialects which have been already accepted as Mandarin in recent years. 二把刀: èrbǎdāo means 'not very skillful'; 哥们儿: gēmenr means 'good male friends'; 抠门儿: kōuménr means 'parsimony'; 打小儿: dǎxiǎo'ér means 'since childhood'
Examples
你好 nǐ hǎo －hello
你好吗？nǐ hǎo ma?－How are you?
我 wǒ－me, I
你 nǐ －you
您 nín －you (Used only when out of respect)
Related pages
Chinese language
Standard Chinese (language)
References
Other websites
General Introduction of Mandarin Language
Pinyin Annotator Automatically adds phonetic symbols (pinyin) on top of Chinese characters.
I Love Chinese Learning Chinese Magazine
Free Chinese Character Input Software Google Pinyin Input Software
Learn Mandarin 11 Free Mandarin learning lessons
Mandarin Pinyin In order to learn standard Chinese, one must learn its phonetic system first.
Yellow Bridge An online resource for students of the Chinese language
Zhongwen Red Free set of systematic lessons for Mandarin Chinese.
Mandarin Language -Citizendium
Sino-Tibetan languages
Tonal languages |
5404 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algeria | Algeria | Algeria ( or ), officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a former French colony and the largest country in Africa. It is part of the Maghreb region of Northwest Africa. Algiers is the capital. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea in the north, Tunisia in the northeast, Libya in the east, Niger in the southeast, Mauritania and Mali in the southwest, Western Sahara in the west and Morocco in the northwest. It is also the largest country in the Arab world.
History
People have lived in Algeria for thousands of years, which can be seen in the cave paintings at Tassili National Park that date to around 7000BC. By 600 BC, Phoenicians were in Hippo Regius (now called Annaba), Rusicade (now Skikda), and Tipasa in the central coastal part of the country. The Romans would annex (take over) the region by the conclusion of the Punic Wars in 146BC, with what is now modern-day Algeria staying in Roman hands till the fall of the Roman Empire in the 5th century and the region being taken over by the Germanic Vandals.
Algeria would become part of the Islamic world when the first Muslim Arabs came to Algeria in the mid-7th century, resulting in many people converting to the new religion of Islam. In the 11th century, the Arab tribes of Banu Hilal and Banu Sulaym were living between Tunisia and eastern Algeria (Constantois). The famous mathematician, Fibonacci (1170—1250) lived in Algeria as a teenager. This is where he learned the Hindu–Arabic numeral system. Algeria was made part of the Ottoman Empire in 1517. Enslavement of black people was practiced there as it was throughout the empire.
In the 1500s and 1700s, the Spanish Empire ruled a lot of Algeria. France colonised Algeria starting in 1830. In 1954, the National Liberation Front (Front de Libération Nationale or FLN) wanted freedom from France. They fought a war. It became independent from France on July 5, 1962.
In 1963 Ahmed Ben Bella became the first President of Algeria.
The Algerian Civil War started in 1991. It ended in 2002. The government stopped the state of emergency on 24 February 2011.
Geography
A large part of southern Algeria is the Sahara Desert. The Aures and Nememcha mountain ranges are in the north. The highest point is Mount Tahat (3,003 m).
Languages
The official languages of the country are Arabic as a first language and Berber as a second language. Many people speak French, too. French is considered a lingua franca in Algeria - common language between members of the population.
Population
Algeria's population is about 45 million people. There are over 40 cities with more than 100,000 people.
Politics
The Parliament of Algeria is made up of two chambers:
The Council of the Nation (Upper Chamber)
The People's National Assembly (Lower Chamber)
Divisions
There are 48 provinces (since 1983) in Algeria, they are:
1 Adrar
2 Chlef
3 Laghouat
4 Oum el Bouaghi
5 Batna
6 Bejaia
7 Biskra
8 Bechar
9 Blida
10 Bouira
11 Tamanghasset
12 Tebessa
13 Tlemcen
14 Tiaret
15 Tizi Ouzou
16 Algiers
17 Djelfa
18 Jijel
19 Setif
20 Saïda
21 Skikda
22 Sidi Bel Abbes
23 Annaba
24 Guelma
25 Constantine
26 Medea
27 Mostaganem
28 M'Sila
29 Mascara
30 Ouargla
31 Oran
32 El Bayadh
33 Illizi
34 Bordj Bou Arréridj
35 Boumerdès
36 El Tarf
37 Tindouf
38 Tissemsilt
39 El Oued
40 Khenchela
41 Souk Ahras
42 Tipasa
43 Mila
44 Ain Defla
45 Naama
46 Ain Temouchent
47 Ghardaia
48 Relizane
UNESCO World Heritage Sites
There are several UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Algeria including Al Qal'a of Beni Hammad, the first capital of the Hammadid empire; Tipasa, a Phoenician and later Roman town; and Djémila and Timgad, both Roman ruins; M'Zab Valley, a limestone valley containing a large urbanized oasis; also the Casbah of Algiers is an important citadel. The only natural World Heritage Sites is the Tassili n'Ajjer, a mountain range.
References
Notes
Other websites
Members of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation
1962 establishments in Africa |
5406 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plymouth | Plymouth | Plymouth is a city and unitary authority in Devon, South West England. It is on the south coast. It has a large port at Devonport used by the Royal Navy. Nearly 250,000 people live in Plymouth and it is the largest place in Devon. West of Plymouth is the mouth of the River Tamar which is called the Hamoaze. Plymouth means mouth of the River Plym.
History
The Roman Catholic Bishop of Plymouth has his cathedral here. Plymouth was badly affected by German bombing during the Second World War, when many buildings were destroyed. The Plymouth Fathers and the Plymouth Brethren were both named after Plymouth. Plymouth is linked to Saltash in Cornwall by two bridges across the River Tamar: the Royal Albert Bridge (built in 1859) carries the railway line to Penzance and the Tamar Bridge the A38 main road. On Plymouth Hoe is the third lighthouse, which used to stand on the Eddystone Rock in the English Channel.
Sports
It has a football team called Plymouth Argyle and a rugby football team called Plymouth Albion.
References
Unitary authorities in Devon
Ports and harbours of the United Kingdom |
5409 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plymouth%20%28disambiguation%29 | Plymouth (disambiguation) | Plymouth is the name of various places:
Plymouth, Devon, an English city and the first to bear the name
Places in the United States named after Plymouth, England.
Plymouth, Connecticut
Plymouth, Illinois
Plymouth, Indiana
Plymouth, Iowa
Plymouth, Massachusetts, the first city in New England
Plymouth, Michigan
Plymouth, Minnesota
Plymouth, New Hampshire
Plymouth, New York
Plymouth, North Carolina
Plymouth, Ohio
Plymouth, Pennsylvania
Plymouth, Washington
Plymouth, Wisconsin
Plymouth Township, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania
Plymouth Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania
Plymouth Township, Michigan
Plymouth, Montserrat - destroyed Montserrat capital
New Plymouth, New Zealand
New Plymouth, Idaho, United States of America
Plymouth Meeting, Pennsylvania, United States of America
Other meanings of the word Plymouth are:
Plymouth Argyle F.C. - soccer football club from Plymouth, England.
Plymouth (automobile)
Plymouth Brethren - a religious group
Plymouth Colony
Plymouth County
Plymouth Gin
Plymouth Locomotive Works
Plymouth is a made-for-TV movie about a Moon base |
5410 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/George%20Washington | George Washington | George Washington (February 22, 1732 – December 14, 1799) was the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Before he became president, he was the commander in chief of the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War, and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States.
Early life
Washington's mother was Mary Washington and his father was Augustine Washington. They owned a farm with slaves in Virginia.
Before the Revolutionary War
Washington became a farmer like his father. His farm was called Mount Vernon. He also worked as a surveyor, measuring land. Washington always wanted to be a soldier and was active in the colonial militia of Virginia. He was sent several times to the "forks of the Ohio River", now called Pittsburgh. His job was to get rid of the French who were trying to take control of the Ohio River Valley.
He failed and many of his men were killed. The fight opened the French and Indian War, bringing Britain into the Seven Years' War. In 1758 he was elected to the Virginia legislature.
In 1759, Washington married a widow named Martha Custis. The marriage produced no children.
The Revolution
Washington was a delegate to the First Continental Congress, which was created by the Thirteen Colonies to respond to various laws passed by the British government. The Second Continental Congress chose him to be the commanding general of the Continental Army. Washington led the army from 1775 until the end of the war in 1783. After losing the big Battle of Long Island, and being chased across New Jersey, Washington led his troops back across the Delaware River on Christmas Day, 1776, in a surprise attack on Hessian mercenaries at the small Battle of Princeton and Trenton, New Jersey. The British had more troops and more supplies than Washington, however, Washington kept his troops together and won these small battles.
Overall, Washington did not win many battles, but he never let the British destroy his army. With the help of the French army and navy, Washington made a British army surrender at Yorktown, Virginia, in 1781, as the final major battle of the Revolutionary War. The war officially ended with the Treaty of Paris in 1783.
After the War
When the Revolutionary War ended, Washington was considered a national hero. He was offered a government position that would have been considered a dictatorship over the colonies, but in a surprising move, Washington refused, left the army, and returned to Mount Vernon. He wanted the colonies to have a strong government but did not wish to head that government, nor did he want the colonies to be run by a tyrant.
Washington was one of the men who said the country needed a new constitution. The Constitutional Convention met in 1787, with Washington presiding. The delegates wrote the Constitution of the United States, and all the states ratified it and joined the new government.
Presidency
In 1789, Washington was elected president without any competition, making him the first President of the United States. While Washington did not belong to any political party, he agreed with certain Federalist Party policies, such as the country should have a standing army and a national bank. He was re-elected to a second term. After his second term, Washington decided not to run for reelection, despite his popularity remaining high. His decision, to stop at 2 terms, set a precedent that every president followed until Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1940.
In Washington's farewell address in 1796, he warned the country not to divide into political parties and not to get involved in wars outside of the United States. Washington's non-intervention foreign policy was supported by most Americans for over one hundred years. His advice to avoid political parties was completely ignored, as parties were already active.
Retirement
Washington went back home to Mount Vernon (Virginia) after his second term ended in 1797. He died two years later, on December 14, 1799, in Mount Vernon, at the age of 67, from pneumonia.
Wealth
From his marriage, George Washington owned a substantial amount of farm land, where he grew tobacco, wheat, and vegetables. Washington also owned more than 100 slaves, who were freed upon his death. He did not have much money in cash and had to borrow money while he was president. At his death, Washington's estate was worth over $500,000.
False teeth
It is a common misconception that George Washington had wooden teeth, as false teeth. He did, however, try many different ways to replace his teeth, including having teeth carved from elk's teeth or ivory. Ivory and bone both have hairline fractures in them, which normally cannot be seen, but started to darken due to Washington's use of wine. The darkened, thin fractures in the bone made the lines look like the grain in a piece of wood. George Washington's teeth started falling out when he was about 22 years old, and he had only one tooth left by the time he became president. It was difficult for him to talk or to eat. At one time, he had false teeth with a special hole so the one tooth he still had could poke through. He tried to keep them smelling clean by soaking them in wine, but instead they became mushy and black. In 1796, a dentist had to pull out George Washington's last tooth, and he kept his tooth in a gold locket attached to his watch chain. When the time came for the president to have his portrait painted, cotton was pushed under his lips to make him look as if he had teeth. The cotton made his mouth puff out, as is seen on the picture on the US $1 bill.
References
Notes
Other websites
George Washington -Citizendium
Books to read
Pamela Hill Nettleton and Jeff Yesh. George Washington: Farmer, Soldier, President (2003) for grades 1-5
Laurence Santrey. George Washington, Young Leader (1982) * T. M. Usel. George Washington (Read & Discover Photo-Illustrated Biographies) (1996)
Washington's White House biography
1732 births
1799 deaths
American deists
American esotericists
American generals
American revolutionaries
Businesspeople from Virginia
Chancellors of the College of William & Mary
Deaths from pneumonia
Episcopalians
Founding Fathers of the United States
Freemasons
Military people from Virginia
Politicians from Virginia
18th-century American politicians
Slavers |
5411 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/February%2022 | February 22 |
Events
Up to 1900
1281 – Martin IV becomes Pope.
1288 – Nicholas IV becomes Pope.
1371 - Robert II of Scotland becomes King, starting the Stuart Dynasty.
1494 – King Charles VIII of France enters Naples to claim the city's throne.
1632 – Galileo's Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems is published.
1651 - St. Peter's Flood: A storm surge floods the Frisian coast in present-day Germany and the Netherlands, killing about 15,000 people.
1744 – The Battle of Toulon begins.
1784 - William Herschel discovers the spiral galaxy NGC 3521.
1797 - The last invasion of the Great Britain begins when a force of 4,000 French troops lands in Fishguard, Pembrokeshire, Wales. They surrender two days later.
1819 – By the Adams–Onís Treaty, Spain sold Florida to the United States for five million U.S. dollars.
1847 – Mexican-American War: The Battle of Buena Vista – 5,000 American troops drive off 15,000 Mexican.
1848 - The French Revolution of 1848 begins, later leading to the creation of the French Second Republic.
1855 – The Pennsylvania State University is founded.
1856 – The Republican Party opens its first national meeting in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
1857 - The Bavarian Weisswurst sausage is allegedly invented in Munich.
1862 - Jefferson Davis is inaugurated as President of the Confederate States of America in Richmond, Virginia.
1865 – Tennessee adopts a new constitution that abolishes slavery.
1872 - The Prohibition Party holds its first national convention in Columbus, Ohio, with James Black as its nominee for President of the United States.
1876 – Johns Hopkins University is founded in Baltimore, Maryland.
1879 – In Utica, New York, Frank Woolworth opens the first of many of 5 and 10-cent Woolworth stores.
1889 – President Grover Cleveland signs a bill admitting North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana and Washington as U.S. states.
1890 - The Walmut Grove Dam breaks in Arizona, causing a flood that kills between 50 and 150 people.
1899 - Filipino forces led by General Antonio Luna launch counter-attacks for the first time, against American forces in the Philippine-American War, though fail to retake Manila.
1901 2000
1901 - A Pacific mail steamer sinks in Golden Gate Harbor, killing 128 people.
1904 – UK recognises the South Orkney Islands as part of Argentina, in 1908 claims them again.
1915 – Germany institutes unrestricted submarine warfare.
1920 – In Emeryville, California, the first dog race track to employ an imitation rabbit opens.
1923 – The United States begins the first transcontinental air mail route.
1923 – Barcelona (Catalonia): Albert Einstein visits the city, invited by the scientist Esteban Terradas i Illa, as part of the monografics course of High Studies and Exchange organized by the Mancomunitat de Catalunya and conducted by Rafael de Campalans.
1924 – Calvin Coolidge becomes the first President of the United States to deliver a radio broadcast from the White House.
1940 - Then-four-year-old Tenzin Gyatso is enthroned as the 14th Dalai Lama.
1942 – World War II: President Franklin D. Roosevelt orders General Douglas MacArthur out of the Philippines as American defense collapses.
1943 – Members of White Rose are executed in Nazi Germany.
1944 - World War II: American aircraft mistakenly bomb the Dutch cities of Nijmegen, Arnhem, Enschede and Deventer, killing 800 in Nijmegen alone.
1948 - The Communist Revolution begins in Czechoslovakia.
1949 – Grady the Cow, a 1,200-pound cow gets stuck inside a silo on a farm in Yukon, Oklahoma and garners national media attention.
1956 – Elvis Presley enters the music charts for the first time, with "Heartbreak Hotel".
1957 - South Vietnamese leader Ngo Dinh Diem survives a Communist shooting assassination attempt in Ban Me Thuot.
1958 – Egypt and Syria join to form the United Arab Republic.
1959 – Lee Petty wins the first Daytona 500.
1960 - A mining accident in Zwickau, East Germany kills 123 people.
1969 – Barbara Jo Rubin wins a United States thoroughbred horse race making history as the first woman to do so.
1972 - The Official IRA detonates a car bomb in Aldershot Barracks, killing 7 people.
1973 – Cold War: Following President Richard Nixon's visit to China, the United States and the People's Republic of China agree to establish liaison offices.
1974 - The Organisation of the Islamic Conference summit begins in Lahore, Pakistan and Bangladesh is recognized by Islamabad Officials.
1979 – Independence of Saint Lucia from the United Kingdom.
1980 – The United States men's ice hockey team defeats the Soviet Union team at the 1980 Winter Olympic Games in an upset dubbed the "Miracle on Ice".
1986 - The People Power Revolution in the Philippines begins.
1987 - The first Airbus A320 lifts off.
1994 – Aldrich Ames and his wife are charged by the United States Department of Justice with spying for the Soviet Union.
1997 – In Roslin, Scotland, scientists announce that an adult sheep named Dolly had been successfully cloned.
From 2001
2002 – A MH-47E Chinook helicopter crashes into the ocean near the Philippines, killing all 10 aboard.
2004 – Ralph Nader announces his intention to run as an independent candidate for President of the United States.
2005 - An earthquake in Sarand, Iran, kills 420 people.
2006 - The Al-Askari Shrine in Samarra, Iraq, a Shi'ite Holy Site, is badly damaged in a bomb attack.
2009 - Slumdog Millionaire is the most successful movie at the 81st Academy Awards.
2011 – 2011 Canterbury earthquake: A magnitude 6.3 earthquake hits Christchurch, New Zealand, causing major damage and more than 180 deaths. Among the collapsed buildings is the spire of Christchurch cathedral.
2012 - A train crash in Buenos Aires, Argentina, kills 51 people.
2014 - Matteo Renzi is sworn in as Prime Minister of Italy, making him the youngest holder of this office, at age 39.
2014 - In Ukraine, parliament votes to remove President Viktor Yanukovych from power and to install a caretaker government. Yanukovych is reported to have fled to Eastern Ukraine, while former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko is released from prison.
2015 - A ferry capsizes in Bangladesh, killing at least 70 people.
2015 - The 87th Academy Awards are held. Among the winners are Julianne Moore (Best Actress) and Eddie Redmayne (Best Actor), for playing Stephen Hawking in The Theory of Everything.
2017 - Scientists announce the discovery of seven planets of similar size to Earth orbiting around the dwarf star "TRAPPIST-1".
Births
Up to 1850
1300 BC - Ramesses II, Egyptian pharaoh (d. 1213 BC)
1403 – King Charles VII of France (d. 1461)
1440 - Ladislaus the Posthumous, King of Hungary and Bohemia (d. 1470)
1500 - Rodolfo Pio da Carpi, Italian cardinal (d. 1564)
1514 - Tahmasp I, Persian shah (d. 1576)
1631 - Peder Syv, Danish philologist, folklorist and priest (d. 1702)
1645 – Johann Ambrosius Bach, German composer (d. 1695)
1645 - Johann Christoph Bach, German musician (d. 1693)
1705 - Peter Arbedi, Swedish naturalist (d. 1735)
1732 – George Washington, first President of the United States (d. 1799)
1756 - Georg Friedrich von Martens, German diplomat (d. 1821)
1761 - Erik Tulindberg, Finnish composer (d. 1814)
1778 - Rembrandt Peale, American painter (d. 1860)
1785 - Jean Peltier, French physicist (d. 1845)
1788 – Arthur Schopenhauer, German philosopher (d. 1860)
1796 - Alexis Bachelot, French missionary (d. 1837)
1796 - Adolphe Quetelet, Belgian mathematician (d. 1874)
1806 - Jozef Kremer, Polish philosopher (d. 1875)
1817 - Carl Wilhelm Borchardt, German mathematician (d. 1880)
1819 - James Russell Lowell, American poet (d. 1891)
1823 - Robert B. Ogilvie, Governor of Illinois (d. 1888)
1824 - Pierre Janssen, French astronomer (d. 1907)
1836 - Mahesh Chandra Nyayratna Bhattacharyya, Indian Sanskrit scholar and social reformer (d. 1906)
1840 - August Bebel, German political activist (d. 1913)
1847 - Duchess Sophie Charlotte of Bavaria (d. 1897)
1849 - Nikolay Yakovlevich Sonin, Russian mathematician (d. 1915)
1851 1900
1857 – Heinrich Rudolf Hertz, German physicist (d. 1894)
1857 – Robert Baden-Powell, British founder of the Scout movement (d. 1941)
1864 - Jakob Jakobsen, Faroese linguist (d. 1918)
1878 - Walter Ritz, Swiss physicist (d. 1909)
1879 - Johannes Nicolaus Bronsted, Danish physical chemist (d. 1947)
1880 - Eric Lemming, Swedish athlete (d. 1930)
1881 - Joseph B. Ely, 52nd Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1956)
1882 – Eric Gill, British sculptor (d. 1940)
1883 - Marguerite Clark, American actress (d. 1940)
1887 - Savielly Tartakower, Polish chess player (d. 1956)
1888 - Owen Brewster, Governor of Maine (d. 1961)
1889 – Olave Baden-Powell, British co-founder of the Girl Guides (d. 1977)
1890 - Beatriz Michelena, Latin American movie actor (d. 1942)
1891 - Vlas Chubar, Soviet politician (d. 1937)
1892 – Edna St. Vincent Millay, American poet (d. 1950)
1895 - Victor Raul Haya del Torre, Peruvian politician (d. 1979)
1897 - Karol Swierczewski, Polish general (d. 1947)
1898 - Thillaiaadi Valliammai, South African activist (d. 1914)
1899 - George O'Hara, American actor (d. 1966)
1900 – Luis Buñuel, Spanish movie producer (d. 1983)
1900 - James Sisnett, Barbadian supercentenarian (d. 2013)
1901 1950
1903 – Frank Plumpton Ramsey, British mathematician (d. 1930)
1906 - Donald S. Russell, 107th Governor of South Carolina (d. 1998)
1907 - Georg Braun, Austrian footballer (d. 1963)
1907 - Sheldon Leonard, American actor (d. 1997)
1907 - Robert Young, American actor (d. 1998)
1908 - Romulo Betancourt, President of Venezuela (d. 1981)
1913 - Buddy Tate, American jazz musician (d. 2001)
1914 – Renato Dulbecco, Italian virologist (d. 2012)
1917 - Jane Bowles, American writer and playwright (d. 1973)
1918 - Sid Abel, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 2000)
1918 – Robert Wadlow, tallest person in history (d. 1940)
1918 - Don Pardo, American television and radio announcer (d. 2014)
1921 - Giulietta Masina, Italian actress (d. 1994)
1921 - Sune Andersson, Swedish footballer (d. 2002)
1921 - Wayne C. Booth, American literary critic (d. 2005)
1921 - Jean-Bédel Bokassa, leader of the Central African Republic (d. 1996)
1921 - David Greene, British director (d. 2003)
1922 - Joe Wilder, American jazz trumpeter (d. 2014)
1923 - Bleddyn Williams, Welsh rugby player (d. 2009)
1925 - Kenneth Williams, English actor (d. 1988)
1925 - Cyril Leonoff, Canadian civil engineer and historian (d. 2016)
1925 - Gerald Stern, American poet
1927 – Florencio Campomanes, Filipino chess player and official (d. 2010)
1927 - Gus Douglass, American politician (d. 2015)
1928 – Bruce Forsyth, British entertainer (d. 2017)
1928 - Paul Dooley, American actor
1929 - James Hong, American actor, director, producer and screenwriter
1930 - Giuliano Montaldo, Italian movie director
1930 - Bill Mitchell, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 2014)
1930 - Marni Nixon, American singer (d. 2016)
1932 – Ted Kennedy, United States Senator from Massachusetts (d. 2009)
1933 – Sheila Hancock, British actress
1933 - Katharine, Duchess of Kent
1934 - Sparky Anderson, American baseball player and manager (d. 2010)
1936 - J. Michael Bishop, American biologist
1940 - Judy Cornwell, English actress
1940 - Billy Name, American photographer and filmmaker (d. 2016)
1940 - Chet Walker, American basketball player
1941 - Hipolito Mejia, former President of the Dominican Republic
1942 - Christine Keeler, English model and showgirl (d. 2017)
1943 – Horst Koehler, former President of Germany
1944 - Robert Kardashian, American lawyer (d. 2003)
1944 - Jonathan Demme, American movie producer and screenwriter (d. 2017)
1944 - Tom Okker, Dutch tennis player
1945 - Leslie Charleson, English actress
1946 - Kresten Bjerre, Danish footballer (d. 2014)
1947 - Maurizio De Angelis, Italian singer
1949 - Olga Morozova, Russian tennis player
1949 – Niki Lauda, Austrian racing driver
1950 – Julie Walters, British actress
1950 - Julius Erving, American basketball player
1950 - Miou-Miou, French actress
1951 1975
1951 - Ellen Greene, American singer and actress
1952 - Bill Frist, United States Senator
1952 - Bernard Silverman, English minister, statistician and academic
1953 - Nigel Planer, English actor
1955 - David Axelrod, American political advisor
1956 - Philip Kerr, British author (d. 2018)
1958 - Dave Spitz, American musician
1959 – Kyle MacLachlan, American actor
1961 - Akira Takahashi, Japanese guitarist
1962 – Steve Irwin, Australian wildlife expert and TV personality (d. 2006)
1963 – Vijay Singh, Fijian golfer
1963 - Andrew Adonis, Baron Adonis, British politician
1963 - Devon Malcolm, English cricketer
1964 - Gigi Fernandez, Puerto Rican tennis player
1965 - Chris Dudley, American basketball player
1965 - Pat Lafontaine, American ice hockey player
1965 - Kieren Fallon, Irish jockey
1968 - Shawn Graham, Canadian politician, 31st Premier of New Brunswick
1968 - Jayson Williams, American basketball player
1969 – Brian Laudrup, Danish footballer
1969 – Marc Wilmots, Belgian footballer
1969 - Clinton Kelly, American television personality
1972 – Claudia Pechstein, German speed skater
1973 - Philippe Gaumont, French cyclist (d. 2013)
1973 - Claus Lundekvam, Norwegian footballer
1973 – Juninho Paulista, Brazilian footballer
1973 – Archil Arveladze, Georgian footballer
1973 - Shota Arveladze, Georgian footballer
1974 – Chris Moyles, British radio presenter
1974 – Markus Schopp, Austrian footballer
1974 – James Blunt, British singer
1975 – Drew Barrymore, American actress
From 1976
1977 – Hakan Yakin, Swiss footballer
1978 – Jenny Frost, British singer (Atomic Kitten), TV presenter (Snog Marry Avoid?) and model
1979 – Brett Emerton, Australian footballer
1979 - Lee Na-young, South Korean actress
1980 - Jeanette Biedermann, German singer and actress
1983 - Shaun Tait, Australian cricketer
1983 - Ragna Ingolfsdottir, Icelandic badminton player
1984 - Tommy Bowe, Irish rugby player
1984 - Branislav Ivanovic, Serbian footballer
1985 – Hameur Bouazza, Algerian footballer
1985 - Ross Hutchins, British tennis player
1985 - Larissa Riquelme, Paraguayan model
1986 - Rajon Rondo, American basketball player
1987 - Han Hyo-joo, South Korean actress and model
1987 - Sergio Romero, Argentine footballer
1987 - Enzo Pérez, Argentine footballer
1988 - Efrain Juarez, Mexican footballer
1988 - Ximena Navarrete, Mexican model and actress
1989 - Anna Sundstrand, Swedish singer
1991 - Robin Stjernberg, Swedish singer
Deaths
Up to 1900
556 - Maximilianus of Ravenna, Italian bishop (b. 499)
606 - Pope Sabinian
965 - Otto, Duke of Burgundy (b. 944)
1071 - Arnulf III, Count of Flanders (b. 1055)
1111 - Roger Borsa, King of Sicily
1371 – King David II of Scotland (b. 1324)
1512 – Amerigo Vespucci, Italian explorer (b. 1451)
1627 - Olivier van Noort, Dutch navigator (b. 1558)
1674 - Jean Chapelain, French writer (b. 1595)
1690 - Charles Le Brun, French painter (b. 1619)
1727 - Francesco Gasparini, Italian composer (b. 1661)
1731 - Frederik Ruysch, Dutch physician and anatomist (b. 1638)
1732 - Francis Atterbury, English bishop and man of letters (b. 1663)
1750 - Pietro Filippo Scarlatti, Italian composer (b. 1679)
1797 - Karl Friedrich Hieronymus Freiherr von Munchhausen, German officer and adventurer (b. 1720)
1799 - Heshen, Chinese official (b. 1750)
1816 – Adam Ferguson, Scottish philosopher (b. 1723)
1819 - Thomas Johnson, Governor of Maryland (b. 1752)
1875 – Charles Lyell, British geologist (b. 1797)
1875 – Jean-Baptiste Corot, French painter (b. 1796)
1890 – John Jacob Astor III, American businessman (b. 1822)
1897 - Charles Blondin, French tightrope walker (b. 1824)
1898 - Haungseon Daewongun, Korean king (b. 1820)
1901 2000
1903 - Hugo Wolf, Austrian composer (b. 1860)
1913 – Francisco I. Madero, President of Mexico (b. 1873)
1914 - Thillaiaadi Valliammai, South African activist (b. 1898)
1919 – Perito Moreno, Argentine geographer and explorer (b. 1852)
1921 - Salim Al-Mubarak Al-Sabah, Emir of Kuwait (b. 1864)
1923 - Théophile Delcasse, French statesman (b. 1852)
1927 - Judson Harmon, Governor of Ohio (b. 1846)
1930 - William Jeremiah Tuttle, American freestyle swimmer and water polo (b. 1882)
1934 - Willem Kes, Dutch conductor (b. 1856)
1939 – Antonio Machado, Spanish writer (b. 1875)
1942 – Stefan Zweig, Austrian writer (b. 1881)
1943 - White Rose Resistance Activists executed:
Christoph Probst, German resistance activist (b. 1919)
Hans Scholl, German resistance activist (b. 1918)
Sophie Scholl, German resistance activist (b. 1921)
1944 – Kasturba Gandhi, wife of Mahatma Gandhi (b. 1869)
1945 - Osip Brik, Russian author and critic (b. 1888)
1958 - Abul Kalam Azad, Indian independence movement leader (b. 1888)
1961 - Nick LaRocca, American jazz musician (b. 1889)
1970 - Edward Selzer, American movie producer (b. 1893)
1973 - Jean-Jacques Bertrand, Premier of Quebec (b. 1916)
1973 - Winthrop Rockefeller, American politician, 37th Governor of Arkansas (b. 1912)
1974 - Samuel Byck, American attempted assassin of Richard Nixon (b. 1930)
1976 - Florence Ballard, American singer (b. 1943)
1980 – Oskar Kokoschka, Austrian painter (b. 1886)
1985 – Efrem Zimbalist, American violinist and composer (b. 1889)
1987 – Andy Warhol, American artist, director, and writer (b. 1928)
1989 - Moises da Costa Amaral, East Timorese politician (b. 1938)
1994 – Papa John Creach, American musician (b. 1917)
1995 – Ed Flanders, American actor (b. 1934)
1998 - Donald S. Russell, 107th Governor of South Carolina (b. 1906)
1998 - Abraham A. Ribicoff, 80th Governor of Connecticut (b. 1910)
From 2001
2002 - Roden Cutler, 32nd Governor of New South Wales (b. 1916)
2002 – Chuck Jones, American cartoonist (b. 1912)
2002 – Jonas Savimbi, Angolan politician and rebel leader (b. 1934)
2002 - Daniel Pearl, American journalist (b. 1963)
2004 - Roqué Maspoli, Uruguayan footballer (b. 1917)
2005 – Simone Simon, French actress (b. 1910)
2012 – Marie Colvin, American journalist (b. 1956)
2012 – Rémi Ochlik, French photojournalist (b. 1983)
2013 - Hasse Jeppson, Swedish footballer (b. 1925)
2013 - Wolfgang Sawallisch, German pianist and conductor (b. 1923)
2014 - Charlotte Dawson, New Zealand-born Australian television personality (b. 1966)
2014 - Leo Vroman, Dutch-American hematologist, poet and illustrator (b. 1915)
2015 - Kim Kyung-roul, South Korean billiards player (b. 1980)
2016 - Wesley A. Clark, American computer engineer (b. 1927)
2016 - Sonny James, American country singer-songwriter (b. 1929)
2016 - Hans Reffert, German musician (b. 1946)
2016 - Douglas Slocombe, English cinematographer (b. 1913)
2016 - Yochanan Sofer, Hungarian-Israeli rabbi (b. 1922)
2016 - Cara McCollum, American journalist and beauty queen (b. 1992)
2016 - Cristiana Corsi, Italian taekwondo martial artist (b. 1976)
2016 - Yolande Fox, American beauty queen, singer and activist (b. 1928)
2017 - Frank Delaney, Irish author (b. 1942)
2017 - Ricardo Dominguez, Mexican boxer (b. 1985)
2017 - Eni Faleomavaega, American Samoan politician (b. 1943)
2017 - Aleksei Petrenko, Russian actor (b. 1938)
2017 - Ed Garvey, American lawyer and politician (b. 1940)
2017 - John McCormack, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1925)
2018 - Nanette Fabray, American actress and dancer (b. 1920)
2018 - Forges, Spanish cartoonist (b. 1942)
2018 - Richard E. Taylor, Canadian physicist (b. 1929)
Observances
Independence Day (Saint Lucia)
World Thinking Day (Girl Scouts)
Founder's Day (Scout Movement)
Days of the year |
5414 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abraham%20Lincoln | Abraham Lincoln | Abraham Lincoln (February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American politician. He was the 16th president of the United States. He was president from 1861 to 1865, during the American Civil War. Just five days after most of the Confederate forces had surrendered and the war was ending, John Wilkes Booth assassinated Lincoln. Lincoln was the first president of the United States to be assassinated. Lincoln has been remembered as the "Great Emancipator" because he worked to end slavery in the United States.
Life
Abraham Lincoln was born on February 12, 1809, in Hodgenville, Kentucky, United States. His parents were Thomas Lincoln and Nancy Hanks. His family was very poor. Abraham had one brother and one sister. His brother died in childhood. They grew up in a small log cabin, with just one room inside. Although slavery was legal in Kentucky at that time, Lincoln's father, who was a religious Baptist, refused to own any slaves.
When Lincoln was seven years old, his family moved to Indiana. Later they moved to Illinois. In his childhood he helped his father on the farm, but when he was 22 years old he left home and moved to New Salem, Illinois, where he worked in a general store.
Later, he said that he had gone to school for just one year, but that was enough to learn how to read, write, and do simple math. In 1842, he married Mary Todd. They had four children, but three of them died when they were very young.
Abraham Lincoln was sometimes called Abe Lincoln or "Honest Abe" because of a legend stating that he ran miles to give a customer the right amount of change. The nickname "Honest Abe" came from a time when he started a business that failed. Instead of running away like many people would have, he stayed and worked to pay his debt.
Early political career
Lincoln started his political career in 1832 when he ran for the IGA Illinois General Assembly, but he lost the election. He served as a captain in the Illinois militia during the Black Hawk War, a war with Native American tribes. When he moved to Springfield in 1837, he began to work as a lawyer. Soon, he became one of the most highly respected lawyers in Illinois.
In 1837, as a member of the Illinois General Assembly, Lincoln issued a written protest of its passage of a resolution stating that slavery could not be abolished in Washington, D.C.
In 1841, he won a court case (Bailey v. Cromwell). He represented a black woman who claimed she had already been freed and could not be sold as a slave. In 1847, he lost a case (Matson v. Rutherford) representing a slave owner (Robert Matson) claiming the return of fugitive slaves. After he moved to Illinois, he worked as a shopkeeper and postmaster. He rode the circuit of courts for many years. When he was 21, he worked on a flatboat that carried freight. He joined the Independent Spy Corp. At first, he was a member of the Whig Party. He later became a Republican. Lincoln ran for senate against Stephen A. Douglas. Douglas won.
In 1846, Lincoln joined the Whig Party and was elected to one term in the House of Representatives. After that, he ignored his political career and instead worked as a lawyer. In 1854, in reaction to the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act, Lincoln became involved in politics again. He joined the Republican Party, which had recently been formed in opposition to the expansion of slavery. In 1858, he wanted to become senator; although this was unsuccessful, the debates drew national attention to him.
The Republican Party nominated him for the Presidential election of 1860.
Presidency
Lincoln was chosen as a candidate for the elections in 1860 for different reasons. Among these reasons was that his views on slavery were less extreme than those of other people who wanted to be candidates. Lincoln was from what was then one of the Western states and had a bigger chance of winning the election there. Other candidates that were older or more experienced than him had enemies inside the party. Lincoln's family was poor, which added to the Republican position of free labor, the opposite of slave labor. Lincoln won the election in 1860 and was made the 16th President of the United States. He won with almost no votes in the South. For the first time, a president had won the election because of the large support he got from the states in the North. During his presidency Lincoln became well-known because of his large stovepipe hat. He used his tall hat to store papers and documents when he was traveling.
The Civil War
After Lincoln's election in 1860, seven States (South Carolina, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Texas and Louisiana) formed the Confederate States of America. When the United States refused to surrender Fort Sumter in Charleston, South Carolina, the Confederates attacked the fort, beginning the American Civil War. Later, four more states (Arkansas, Virginia, Tennessee, and North Carolina) joined the Confederacy for a total of eleven. In his whole period as President, he had to rebuild the Union with military force and many bloody battles. He also had to stop the "border states", like Kentucky, Missouri, and Maryland, from leaving the Union and joining the Confederacy.
Lincoln was not a general, and had only been in the army for a short time during the Black Hawk War. However, he still took a major role in the war, often spending days and days in the War Department. His plan was to cut off the South by surrounding it with ships, control the Mississippi River, and take Richmond, the Confederate capital. He often clashed with generals in the field, especially George B. McClellan, and fired generals who lost battles or were not aggressive enough. Eventually, he made Ulysses S. Grant the top general in the army.
Emancipation Proclamation
With the Emancipation Proclamation begun on January 1, 1863, Lincoln ordered the freedom of all slaves in those states still in rebellion during the American Civil War. It did not actually immediately free all those slaves however, since those areas were still controlled by the rebelling states of the Confederacy. Only a small number of slaves already behind Union lines were immediately freed. As the Union army advanced, nearly all four million slaves were effectively freed. Some former slaves joined the Union army after 1862.
The Proclamation also did not free slaves in the slave states that had remained loyal to the Union (the federal government of the US). Neither did it apply to areas where Union forces had already regained control, as in Tennessee. Until the Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in 1865, only the states had power to end slavery within their own borders, so Lincoln issued the proclamation as a war measure.
The Proclamation made freeing the slaves a Union goal for the war, and put an end to movements in European nations (especially in Great Britain and France) that would have recognized the Confederacy as an independent nation. Lincoln then sponsored a constitutional amendment to free all slaves. The Thirteenth Amendment, making slavery illegal everywhere in the United States, was passed late in 1865, eight months after Lincoln was assassinated.
Gettysburg Address
Lincoln made a famous speech after the Battle of Gettysburg in 1863 called the Gettysburg Address. The battle was very important, and many soldiers from both sides died. The speech was given at the new cemetery for the dead soldiers. It is one of the most famous speeches in American history.
Second term and assassination
Lincoln was re-elected president by a small number of votes in 1864 and re-inaugurated on March 4, 1865. Soon afterward, it appeared likely that the Union would win the Civil War. Lincoln wanted to make it easy for states that had rebelled to restore self-government. On April 9, 1865, the leading Confederate general, Robert E. Lee, surrendered his armies. On April 11, 1865, Lincoln gave a speech in which he promoted voting rights for black American citizens.
During the day on April 14, 1865, Lincoln signed the law that created the secret service, the US President's security force. On the evening of April 14, Lincoln went to attend a play with his wife, Mary Todd at Ford's Theater in Washington, D.C.. He had invited Ulysses S. Grant to attend the play with him and his wife Mary Todd, and Grant planned to attend. As a general, Grant would have brought his own extra military security force, but he did not attend the play because his wife Julia and Mary Todd did not get along well.
During the third act of the play, John Wilkes Booth, a well-known actor and a Confederate spy from Maryland, entered the presidential box and shot Lincoln at point-blank range, mortally wounding him and shouted "Sic semper tyrannis" ("Thus always to tyrants"). An unconscious Lincoln was carried across the street to Petersen House. He was placed diagonally on the bed because his tall frame would not fit normally on the smaller bed. He remained in a coma for nine hours before dying the next morning. According to some accounts, at his last drawn breath, on the morning after the assassination, he smiled broadly and then expired. Lincoln was the first American president to be assassinated.
Booth escaped but died from shots fired during his capture on April 26.
Legacy
Lincoln has been consistently ranked both by scholars and the public as one of the greatest U.S. presidents. He is often considered the greatest president for his leadership during the American Civil War and his eloquence in speeches such as the Gettysburg Address.
References
Other websites
The Lincoln Institute
Abraham Lincoln Research Site
A One Page Summary of Abraham Lincoln's Life
Abraham Lincoln at Find a Grave
Lincoln's White House biography
Abraham Lincoln -Citizendium
Abe Lincoln History Site
1809 births
1865 deaths
American abolitionists
Lawyers from Illinois
American murder victims
Assassinated presidents of the United States
Deaths by firearm
Politicians from Springfield, Illinois
Politicians from Kentucky
United States representatives from Illinois
American Civil War
19th-century American politicians
Lawyers from Kentucky |
5415 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/February%2012 | February 12 |
Events
Up to 1900
881 - Pope John VIII crowns Charles the Fat as Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire.
1354 – Treaty of Stralsund settles border disputes between the duchies of Mecklenburg and Pomerania.
1502 - Vasco da Gama sets sail from Lisbon on his second voyage to India.
1541 – Santiago, Chile is founded by Pedro de Valdivia.
1554 – A year after claiming the throne of England for nine days, Lady Jane Grey is beheaded for treason.
1593 - Japanese invasion of Korea: Approximately 3,000 Joseon defenders led by General Kwok Yul, successfully repel over 30,000 Japanese in the Siege of Haengju.
1619 - The Diego Ramirez Islands to the southwest of Cape Horn and near Antarctica are discovered.
1689 – The Convention Parliament convenes and declares that the flight to France in 1688 by James II, the last Catholic British monarch, constitutes an abdication.
1719 – The Onderlinge van 1719 u.a., the oldest existing life insurance company in the Netherlands is founded.
1733 – Englishman James Oglethorpe founds the 13th and final American colony of Georgia, and its first city at Savannah.
1737 – The Teatro di San Carlo, the oldest working opera house in Europe, is inaugurated.
1771 – Gustav III becomes the King of Sweden when his father Adolf Frederick "[eats] himself to death".
1772 - Yves Joseph de Kerguelen de Tremarec's expedition discovers the Kerguelen Islands in the Southern Indian Ocean near Antarctica.
1817 – The Chilean patriotic army, after crossing the Andes, defeats Spanish troops at the Battle of Chacabuco.
1818 – Bernardo O'Higgins signs the Independence of Chile near Concepción.
1825 – The Creek cede the last of their lands in Georgia to the United States government, and migrate west.
1832 – Ecuador annexes the Galápagos Islands.
1851 - The Australian gold rushes start, as Edward Hargreaves announces finding gold in Bathurst, New South Wales.
1855 - Michigan State University is founded.
1870 – Women gain the right to vote in Utah Territory.
1879 – At New York City's Madison Square Garden the first artificial ice rink in North America opens.
1892 – Former President Abraham Lincoln's birthday is declared a national holiday in the United States.
1894 – Anarchist Emile Henry hurls a bomb into Paris's Cafe Terminus, killing one and wounding 20.
1901 2000
1909 - Inter-island ferry SS Penguin sinks and explodes in Wellington Harbour, New Zealand.
1909 – The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is founded.
1912 – Xuantong Emperor of the Manchu Qing dynasty, the last Emperor of China, abdicates.
1912 – China adopts the Gregorian calendar.
1914 – In Washington, DC, the first stone of the Lincoln Memorial is put into place.
1924 – Premiere of George Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue with Paul Whiteman's Palais Royal Orchestra in Aeolian Hall in New York City.
1924 – Calvin Coolidge becomes the first President of the United States to deliver a political speech on radio.
1934 – The Austrian Civil War begins.
1934 – The Export-Import Bank of the United States is incorporated.
1934 – In Spain the national council of Juntas de Ofensiva Nacional-Sindicalista is inaugurated. The council decides to merge the movement with the Falange Española.
1935 - The helium-filled airship SS Macon crashes into the Pacific Ocean off California.
1938 – Anschluss: German troops enter Austria.
1941 - A police officer in London becomes the first person treated by penicillin.
1944 - Japanese U-boat I-27 sinks British troop transporter Khedive Ismail in the Indian Ocean, killing 1,297 out of the 1,511 people on board. The Japanese U-boat itself is sunk later that day, killing all but one of the naval personnel on board.
1946 – Operation Deadlight ends after scuttling 121 of 154 captured U-boats.
1947 - A meteor creates an impact crater in Sikhote-Alin, Soviet Union.
1947 - Christian Dior unveils a "New Look", helping Paris regain its place as capital of the fashion world.
1951 – Soraya Esfandiary Bakhtiari marries the Shah of Iran Reza Pahlavi at Golestan Palace in Teheran at age of 17.
1961 - The Soviet Venera 1 space probe is sent to Venus.
1963 - Building work on the Gateway Arch, Saint Louis, Missouri, begins.
1971 - Bhutan's full sovereignty from India is gained.
1973 – Ohio becomes the first U.S. state to post distance in SI units on signs.
1973 – Vietnam War: The first American prisoners of war are released by the NLF.
1974 - Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn is exiled from the Soviet Union.
1990 - In Western Australia, Carmen Lawrence becomes the first female Premier of an Australian state.
1994 – 1994 Winter Olympics open in Lillehammer, Norway.
1998 – The presidential line-item veto is declared unconstitutional by a United States federal judge.
1999 – President Bill Clinton is acquitted by the United States Senate in his impeachment trial.
From 2001
2001 – NEAR Shoemaker spacecraft touchdown in the "saddle" region of 433 Eros, becoming the first spacecraft to land on an asteroid.
2001 – Google obtains Usenet, creating Google Groups. (press release)
2002 – The trial of former President of Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Slobodan Milošević begins at the United Nations war crimes tribunal in The Hague.
2002 – Nuclear waste: US Secretary of Energy makes the decision that Yucca Mountain is suitable to be the United States' nuclear repository.
2002 – An Iran Air Tupolev Tu-154 crashes prior to landing in Khorramabad, Iran, killing 119.
2004 – Mayor Gavin Newsom of San Francisco, California, on National Freedom to Marry Day, orders his county clerk to revise marriage licenses to allow gay and lesbian couples to legally wed.
2004 – Mattel Inc. announces the split of Barbara Millicent Roberts and Ken Carson (aka Barbie and Ken) after 43 years of dating.
2005 – Former Vermont governor and presidential candidate Howard Dean becomes chairman of the Democratic National Committee.
2009 – A plane crash, of Colgan Air Flight 3407, in Clarence Center, Buffalo, New York, kills all of the people on board and one on the ground.
2010 – Georgian luge competitor Nodar Kumaritashvili dies after an accident that occurred while he was training for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, which open on the same day.
2012 - The Zambia national football team wins the Africa Cup of Nations, defeating the Ivory Coast national football team in a penalty shoot-out.
2013 - North Korea announces that it has carried out an underground nuclear test, at around a kilometer's depth, despite criticism from around the world.
2017 - North Korea announces that it has launched a rocket, leading to condemnation from the United States, Japan and South Korea.
2017 - Frank-Walter Steinmeier is chosen to succeed Joachim Gauck as President of Germany on March 19.
2017 - People living near the Oroville Dam in California are told to evacuate over flooding fears.
Births
Up to 1800
41 – Britannicus, Roman heir to the throne (d. 55)
712 – Du Fu, Chinese poet (d. 770)
1074 - Conrad II of Italy (d. 1101)
1218 - Kujo Yoritsune, Japanese shogun (d. 1256)
1322 - John Henry, Margrave of Moravia (d. 1375)
1567 – Thomas Campion, English composer and poet (d. 1620)
1584 - Caspar Berlaeus, Dutch theologian, poet and historian (d. 1648)
1606 - John Winthrop the Younger, Governor of Connecticut (d. 1676)
1637 - Jan Swammerdam, Dutch biologist (d. 1680)
1665 - Rudolf Jakob Camerarius, German botanist and physician (d. 1721)
1752 - Josef Reicha, Czech cellist, composer and conductor (d. 1795)
1761 - Jan Ladislav Dussek, Czech composer and conductor (d. 1812)
1768 – Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor (d. 1835)
1773 - Jacques Dupré, American politician, Governor of Louisiana (d. 1846)
1775 – Louisa Adams, First Lady of the United States (d. 1852)
1777 – Friedrich de la Motte Fouqué, German poet (d. 1843)
1788 – Carl Reichenbach, German chemist and philosopher (d. 1869)
1791 - Peter Cooper, American industrialist, inventor and philanthropist (d. 1883)
1794 - Alexander Petrov, Russian chess player (d. 1867)
1800 - John Edward Gray, English zoologist (d. 1875)
1801 1900
1804 - Heinrich Lenz, German physicist (d. 1865)
1809 – Charles Darwin, English naturalist (d. 1882)
1809 – Abraham Lincoln, 16th President of the United States (d. 1865)
1813 - James Dwight Dana, American geologist, mineralogist and zoologist (d. 1895)
1813 - Otto Ludwig, German writer (d. 1865)
1814 - Jenny von Westphalen, German socialist and wife of Karl Marx (d. 1881)
1815 - Edward Forbes, British naturalist (d. 1854)
1817 - Conrad Baker, 15th Governor of Indiana (d. 1885)
1828 - George Meredith, English writer (d. 1909)
1837 - Thomas Moran, American painter (d. 1926)
1843 - John Graham Chambers, English race walker (d. 1883)
1865 - Kazimierz Przerwa-Tetmajer, Polish poet and writer (d. 1940)
1869 – Kien Phuc, Emperor of Vietnam (d. 1884)
1870 - Marie Lloyd, English music-hall performer (d. 1922)
1876 – Thubten Gyatso, 13th Dalai Lama, Tibetan spiritual leader (d. 1933)
1877 – Louis Renault, French industrialist and automobile pioneer (d. 1944)
1881 – Anna Pavlova, Russian ballerina (d. 1931)
1882 - Walter Nash, 27th Prime Minister of New Zealand (d. 1968)
1884 – Max Beckmann, German artist (d. 1950)
1884 - Marie Vassilieff, Russian artist (d. 1957)
1884 - Alice Roosevelt Longworth, daughter of Theodore Roosevelt (d. 1980)
1885 – Julius Streicher, Nazi publisher (d. 1946)
1887 - Edelmiro Julian Farrell, President of Argentina (d. 1980)
1893 – Omar Bradley, American general (d. 1981)
1895 - Kristian Djurhuus, 2nd Prime Minister of the Faroe Islands (d. 1984)
1900 – Vasily Chuikov, Soviet marshal and politician (d. 1982)
1901 1950
1905 - Federica Montseny, Spanish anarchist, intellectual and politician (d. 1994)
1908 - Jacques Herbrand, French mathematician (d. 1931)
1909 - Sigmund Rascher, German Nazi physician (d. 1945)
1910 - Lee Byung-chull, Korean businessman (d. 1987)
1911 - Cearbhall O Dalaigh, President of Ireland (d. 1978)
1911 – Charles Mathiesen, Norwegian speed skater (d. 1994)
1914 - Tex Beneke, American singer, saxophonist and bandleader (d. 2000)
1914 - Arvid Pardo, Italian-Maltese diplomat (d. 1999)
1915 - Lorne Greene, Canadian actor (d. 1987)
1915 - Olivia Hooker, African-American sailor
1916 – Joseph Alioto, Mayor of San Francisco (d. 1998)
1917 - Al Cervi, American basketball player (d. 2009)
1917 – Dom DiMaggio, American baseball player (d. 2009)
1918 – Julian Schwinger, American physicist (d. 1994)
1918 - Norman Farberow, American psychologist (d. 2015)
1919 – Ferruccio Valcareggi, Italian footballer (d. 2005)
1920 - Pran, Indian actor (d. 2013)
1920 - Yoshiko Otaka, Japanese actress, singer and politician (d. 2014)
1922 – Hussein Onn, Prime Minister of Malaysia (d. 1990)
1923 – Franco Zeffirelli, Italian movie, opera director and designer (d. 2019)
1924 - Louis Zorich, American actor (d. 2018)
1925 - Joan Finney, Governor of Kansas (d. 2001)
1926 - Rolf Brem, Swiss sculptor, illustrator and graphic artist (d. 2014)
1926 - Joe Garagiola, Sr., American baseball player (d. 2016)
1926 - Buddy Childers, American jazz trumpeter (d. 2007)
1926 - Charles Van Doren, American quiz show contestant
1930 - Arlen Specter, United States Senator for Pennsylvania (d. 2012)
1932 - Maurice Filion, Canadian ice hockey coach
1932 - Julian Simon, American economist (d. 1998)
1933 - Costa-Gravas, Greek-French movie director and producer
1934 – Annette Crosbie, Scottish actress
1934 – Bill Russell, American basketball player
1934 - Anne Osborn Krueger, American professor and former Deputy Director of the International Monetary Fund
1936 - Fang Lizhi, Chinese activist (d. 2012)
1936 - Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, Iraqi-Israeli politician (d. 2016)
1936 - Joe Don Baker, American actor
1939 – Ray Manzarek, American musician (The Doors) (d. 2013)
1941 – Naomi Uemura, Japanese adventurer (d. 1984)
1941 - Dominguinhos, Brazilian singer-songwriter and accordion player (d. 2013)
1942 - Lionel Grigson, English pianist, composer and educator (d. 1994)
1942 - Norma Major, English author and charity worker, wife of John Major
1942 – Ehud Barak, former Prime Minister of Israel
1945 – Thilo Sarrazin, German politician
1945 - David D. Friedman, American economist
1946 – Ajda Pekkan, Turkish singer
1946 – Jean Eyeghé Ndong, Prime Minister of Gabon
1948 – Bernd Franke, German footballer
1948 – Raymond Kurzweil, American inventor and writer
1948 - Mike Robitaille, Canadian ice hockey player
1949 - Fergus Slattery, Irish rugby player
1950 - Angelo Branduardi, Italian singer-songwriter and guitarist
1950 - Michael Ironside, Canadian actor, screenwriter and director
1950 – Steve Hackett, English guitarist
1951 1975
1951 – Steven Parent, American murder victim (d. 1969)
1952 – Simon MacCorkindale, British actor (d. 2010)
1952 – Michael McDonald, American singer and musician
1956 – Arsenio Hall, American television host
1956 - Ad Melkert, Dutch politician
1956 - Brian Robertson, Scottish guitarist and songwriter
1961 – Michel Martelly, Haitian musician, businessman, politician and President of Haiti
1964 - Michel Petit, Canadian ice hockey player
1965 - John Michael Higgins, American actor
1968 – Josh Brolin, American actor
1968 – Christopher McCandless, American nomad (d. 1992)
1968 - Gregory Charles, Canadian singer, dancer, pianist and actor
1969 – Meja, Swedish singer-songwriter
1969 - Steve Backley, British javelin thrower
1969 - Alemayehu Atomsa, Ethiopian politician (d. 2014)
1971 - Scott Menville, American actor, voice actor and musician
1973 – Tara Strong, Canadian-American actress
1973 - Gianni Romme, Dutch speed skater
1975 - Scott Pollard, American basketball player
From 1976
1976 – Christian Cullen, New Zealand rugby player
1977 – Jimmy Conrad, American soccer player
1978 – Gethin Jones, Welsh television presenter
1980 – Juan Carlos Ferrero, Spanish tennis player
1980 – Christina Ricci, American actress
1980 - Sarah Lancaster, American actress
1981 - Lisa Hannigan, Irish singer
1982 – Anthony Tuitavake, New Zealand rugby player
1984 – Brad Keselowski, American racing driver
1984 – Peter Utaka, Nigerian footballer
1984 - Andrei Sidorenkov, Estonian footballer
1985 – Saskia Burmeister, Australian swimmer
1987 - Jérémy Chardy, French tennis player
1988 – Mike Posner, American singer
1988 – Nicolas Otamendi, Argentine footballer
1989 - Ron-Robert Zieler, German footballer
1990 - Moussa Koné, Ivory Coast footballer
1991 - Patrick Herrmann, German footballer
1991 - Casey Abrams, American singer
1993 – Jennifer Stone, American actress
1994 - Alex Galchenyuk, American ice hockey player
Deaths
Up to 1900
821 - Benedict of Ariane, French monk and saint (b. 747)
991 - Emperor En'yu of Japan (b. 959)
1242 - Henry (VII) of Germany (b. 1211)
1538 - Albrecht Altdorfer, German painter (b. 1480)
1554 – Lady Jane Grey, Queen of England for nine days (b. 1537)
1571 - Nicholas Throckmorton, English diplomat and politician (b. 1515)
1612 - Christopher Clavius, German astronomer (b. 1538)
1692 - Hendrick Hamel, Dutch sailor and bookkeeper (b. 1630)
1700 - Aleksei Shein, Russian general and statesman (b. 1662)
1724 - Elkanah Settle, English writer (b. 1648)
1763 – Pierre Carlet de Marivaut, French writer (b. 1688)
1771 – King Adolf Frederick of Sweden (b. 1710)
1787 – Rugjer Josip Boskovic, mathematician and physicist (b. 1711)
1789 – Ethan Allen, American patriot (b. 1738)
1799 - Lazzaro Spallanzani, Italian biologist (b. 1729)
1804 – Immanuel Kant, German philosopher (b. 1724)
1834 – Friedrich Schleiermacher, German philosopher (b. 1768)
1886 - Horatio Seymour, American politician, Governor of New York (b. 1810)
1896 – Ambroise Thomas, French composer (b. 1811)
1901 2000
1912 – Gerhard Armauer Hansen, Norwegian doctor and scientist (b. 1841)
1916 – Richard Dedekind, mathematician (b. 1831)
1929 – Lillie Langtry, singer and actress (b. 1853)
1933 – Henri Duparc, French composer (b. 1848)
1935 – Auguste Escoffier, French chef (b. 1846)
1936 - Ibra Charles Blackwood, Governor of South Carolina (b. 1878)
1942 – Grant Wood, American painter (b. 1891)
1949 – Imam Hassan al Banna, founder of the Muslim brotherhood (b. 1906)
1951 – Choudhary Rahmat Ali, founding father of Pakistan (b. 1897)
1954 – Dziga Vertov, Russian movie maker (b. 1896)
1960 - Jean-Michel Atlan, French painter (b. 1913)
1968 - Maria Caspar-Filser, German artist (b. 1878)
1970 - Ishman Bracey, American blues musician (b. 1901)
1971 – James C. Penney, American department store founder (b. 1875)
1976 – Sal Mineo, actor (b. 1939)
1979 – Jean Renoir, director (b. 1894)
1982 – Victor Jory, Canadian actor (b. 1902)
1983 – Eubie Blake, American musician and songwriter (b. 1883 or 1887)
1984 – Anna Anderson, claimant to the Russian throne (b. 1896)
1984 – Julio Cortázar, writer, intellectual (b. 1914)
1985 – Nicholas Colasanto, American actor (b. 1924)
1985 - Leslie Sarony, English entertainer and songwriter (b. 1897)
1992 – María Elena Moyano, Peruvian activist (b. 1960)
1993 – James Bulger, murder victim (b. 1990)
1995 – Robert Bolt, writer (b. 1924)
1996 – Bob Shaw, writer (b. 1931)
1998 - Gardner Ackley, American economist and diplomat (b. 1915)
2000 – Screamin' Jay Hawkins, American musician (b. 1929)
2000 – Tom Landry, American football coach (b. 1924)
2000 – Charles Schulz, American comics writer (b. 1922)
From 2001
2001 – Kristina Söderbaum, German actress and photographer (b. 1912)
2002 - John Eriksen, Danish footballer (b. 1957)
2005 - Rafael Vidal, Venezuelan athlete (b. 1964)
2007 – Georg Buschner, East German footballer and manager (b. 1925)
2008 – Badri Patarkatsishvili, Georgian businessman (b. 1955)
2009 – Giacomo Bulgarelli, Italian footballer (b. 1940)
2010 – Nodar Kumaritashvili, Georgian luger (b. 1988)
2010 – Leroy Nash, American death row inmate (b. 1915)
2011 – Peter Alexander, Austrian singer and actor (b. 1926)
2011 – Betty Garrett, American actress (b. 1919)
2011 - Kenneth Mars, American actor (b. 1935)
2012 - David Kelly, Irish actor (b. 1929)
2013 - Christopher Dorner, American former police officer, and spree killer (b. 1979)
2014 - Sid Caesar, American actor and writer (b. 1922)
2014 - John Pickstone, English historian and author (b. 1944)
2015 - Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat, Malaysian politician (b. 1931)
2015 - David Carr, American journalist (b. 1956)
2015 - Tomie Ohtake, Japanese-Brazilian artist (b. 1913)
2015 - Steve Strange, British musician (b. 1959)
2015 - Cornelis Pieter van den Hoek, Dutch resistance fighter (b. 1921)
2015 - Oliver Rackham, English landscape ecologist (b. 1939)
2015 - Gary Owens, American actor and television announcer (b. 1934)
2015 - Movita Castaneda, American actress (b. 1916)
2015 - Richie Pratt, American jazz drummer (b. 1943)
2015 - Ernest J. Sternglass, American physicist and professor (b. 1923)
2016 - Dominique D'Onofrio, Italian-Belgian football coach (b. 1953)
2016 - Eddie Barry, American ice hockey player (b. 1919)
2016 - Robert Frederick Froehlke, American lawyer (b. 1922)
2016 - Johnny Lattner, American football player (b. 1932)
2017 - Sione Lauaki, Tongan-New Zealand rugby player (b. 1981)
2017 - Dave Adolph, American football coach (b. 1937)
2017 - Damian, British pop singer (b. 1964)
2017 - Al Jarreau, American jazz and R&B singer (b. 1940)
2017 - Yitzhak Livni, Polish-born Israeli media executive and writer (b. 1924)
2017 - Quentin Moses, American football player (b. 1983)
2017 - Bobby Murdoch, English footballer (b. 1936)
2017 - Ren Xinmin, Chinese rocket scientist and engineer (b. 1915)
2017 - Clint Roberts, American politician (b. 1935)
2017 - Krystyna Sienkiewicz, Polish actress and singer (b. 1935)
2018 - Marty Allen, American actor and comedian (b. 1923)
2018 - Martin van der Borgh, Dutch racing cyclist (b. 1934)
2018 - Giuseppe Galasso, Italian historian and politician (b. 1929)
2018 - Luo Haocai, Chinese politician (b. 1934)
2018 - Grant McBride, Australian politician (b. 1949)
2018 - Fethia Mzali, Tunisian educator and politician (b. 1927)
2018 - Daryle Singletary, American country music singer (b. 1971)
Observances
Darwin Day
Abraham Lincoln's birthday (United States)
Union Day (Burma)
Youth Day (Venezuela)
Red Hand Day (UN)
Trivia
Charles Darwin and Abraham Lincoln were both born on this date in 1809, in a very rare occasion of two highly influential and famous people being born on exactly the same day as each other.
Days of the year |
5416 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/April%2015 | April 15 |
Events
Up to 1900
1071 - Norman forces under Robert Guiscard conquer Bari, present-day Italy.
1191 - Henry VI, Holy Roman Emperor is crowned.
1450 – Battle of Formigny; Toward the end of the Hundred Years' War, the French attack and nearly destroy English forces, ending English domination in northern France.
1632 – Battle of Rain; Swedes under Gustavus Adolphus defeat the Holy Roman Empire during the Thirty Years' War.
1638 - Tokugawa shogunate forces put down the Shimabara Rebellion when they retake Hara Castle from the rebels.
1736 - Corsicans rebel against the Republic of Genoa and declare the Westphalian Theodor von Neuhoff as King.
1738 – Premiere in London of Serse, an Italian opera by George Frideric Handel.
1755 – Samuel Johnson's A Dictionary of the English Language published in London.
1783 – Preliminary articles of peace ending the American Revolutionary War ratified.
1802 – William Wordsworth and his sister, Dorothy come across a "long belt" of daffodils, inspiring the former to pen I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud.
1861 - Abraham Lincoln calls for a volunteer force of 25,000 to stop the insurrection that soon became the American Civil War.
1865 – Abraham Lincoln dies after being shot the previous evening by John Wilkes Booth. Andrew Johnson becomes the 17th President of the United States.
1892 – The General Electric Company is formed through the merger of the Edison General Electric Company and the Thomson-Houston Company.
1896 - Closing ceremony of the 1896 Summer Olympics in Athens.
1900 - Philippine-American War: Filipino guerrillas launch a surprise attack on the United States infantry and begin the four-day Siege of Catubig, Philippines.
1901 2000
1912 – The passenger liner RMS Titanic sinks at about 2:20 am after hitting an iceberg almost three hours earlier.
1915 – The Armenian Genocide began when the Ottoman Empire undertook the systematic destruction of Armenian intellectuals and entrepreneurs within the city of Constantinople and later the entire Armenian population of the Empire.
1917 - Troop transporter Cameronia is sunk by a German U-boat east of Malta.
1920 – Anarchists Sacco and Vanzetti allegedly murder two security guards while robbing a shoe store.
1923 – Insulin first became generally available for use by diabetics.
1924 – Rand McNally publishes its first road atlas.
1927 – Douglas Fairbanks, Mary Pickford and Norma and Constance Talmadge become the first celebrities to leave their footprints in cement at Grauman's Chinese Theater in Hollywood.
1935 – Roerich Pact signed in Washington D.C.
1936 - First day of the Arab revolt in Palestine.
1936 - Aer Lingus is founded, as the national airline of the Republic of Ireland.
1940 – The Allies start their attack on the Norwegian town of Narvik which was occupied by Nazi Germany.
1941 - World War II: The German Luftwaffe attack Belfast in a bombing raid, killing 1,000 people.
1942 – George Cross given to "to the island fortress of Malta - its people and defenders" by King George VI of the United Kingdom.
1945 – The Bergen-Belsen concentration camp is liberated.
1947 – Jackie Robinson's first time playing for the Brooklyn Dodgers baseball team, breaking that sport's color line.
1955 – The first McDonald's restaurant opens in Des Plaines, Illinois.
1962 - Georges Pompidou becomes Prime Minister of France.
1969 - North Korea shoots down a United States Navy aircraft over the Sea of Japan, killing all 31 people on board.
1970 - Cambodian Civil War: Massacres of the Vietnamese minority result in bodies flowing down the Mekong River to South Vietnam.
1983 – Tokyo Disneyland opens.
1984 - The first World Youth Day is held in St. Peter's Square, Vatican City.
1985 – Bernhard Langer becomes the first German to win The Masters Tournament (a golf tournament).
1985 – Marvin Hagler defeats Thomas Hearns by a knockout in round three to retain boxing's world middleweight championship in a fight nicknamed The War.
1986 - The United States launches Operation El Dorado Canyon, its bombing raids against Libyan targets in response to a bombing in West Germany that killed two American servicemen.
1989 – Hillsborough disaster: A human stampede occurs at Hillsborough, a football stadium in Sheffield, England, resulting in the loss of 96 lives. All of the people killed had come to support Liverpool FC against Nottingham Forest in an FA Cup match.
1989 – Upon Hu Yaobang's death, the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 begin in the People's Republic of China.
1994 – Representatives of 124 countries and the European Communities sign the Marrakesh Agreements revising the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade and setting up the World Trade Organization (effective January 1, 1995).
1997 – Fire sweeps through a campsite of Muslims making the Hajj pilgrimage; the official death toll is 343.
From 2001
2001 – Easter day (not again until 2063).
2002 – An Air China Boeing 767-200, flight CA129 crashes into a hillside during heavy rain and fog near Pusan, South Korea, killing 128.
2010 – Response to the eruption of the volcano Eyjafjallajokull in Iceland: Norway, the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland shut all of their airspace for a week. Several European countries also have to shut their airspace in the following days and weeks, due to the volcanic ash cloud.
2013 - 2013 Boston Marathon bombings: Two bombs explode near the finishing line of the Boston Marathon, killing 3 people and injuring over 140.
2014 - A lunar eclipse in which the Moon turns dark red is seen throughout the Americas and parts of the South Pacific Ocean.
2017 - A bomb attack on a bus convoy outside Aleppo, Syria, kills at least 126 people, most of them children.
2018 - The 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia, come to an end.
2019 - Notre-Dame de Paris fire: Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris is heavily damaged by fire.
Births
Up to 1900
1282 - Frederick IV, Duke of Lorraine (d. 1329)
1367 - King Henry IV of England (d. 1413)
1452 – Leonardo da Vinci, Italian polymath (d. 1519)
1469 – Guru Nanak Dev, Sikh guru (d. 1539)
1552 - Pietro Cataldi, Italian mathematician (d. 1626)
1563 - Guru Arjun Dev, Sikh guru (d. 1606)
1641 - Robert Sibbald, Scottish physician (d. 1722)
1642 – Suleiman II, Ottoman Sultan (d. 1691)
1646 – King Christian V of Denmark (d. 1699)
1646 - Pierre Poiret, French mystic and philosopher (d. 1719)
1684 – Catherine I of Russia (d. 1727)
1707 – Leonhard Euler, Swiss mathematician (d. 1783)
1710 - Marie-Anne de Cupis de Camargo, French dancer (d. 1770)
1710 - William Cullen, Scottish physician and chemist (d. 1790)
1721 – Prince William Augustus, Duke of Cumberland (d. 1765)
1744 - Charles Wilson Peale, American painter (d. 1827)
1783 - Maria Branwell, mother of the Bronte siblings (d. 1821)
1793 - Friedrich Georg Wilhelm von Struve, German astronomer (d. 1864)
1797 - Adolphe Thiers, French writer and politician (d. 1877)
1800 – James Clark Ross, English explorer (d. 1862)
1809 - Hermann Grassmann, German polymath (d. 1877)
1814 - John Lothrop Motley, American diplomat (d. 1877)
1817 - Benjamin Jowett, English educator and theologian (d. 1893)
1821 - Joseph E. Brown, American politician, Governor of Georgia (d. 1894)
1828 - Jean Danjou, French captain (d. 1863)
1832 – Wilhelm Busch, German poet and writer (d. 1908)
1832 - Herbert Vaughan, English cardinal (d. 1903)
1841 - Joseph E. Seagram, Canadian politician and philanthropist (d. 1919)
1843 – Henry James, American writer (d. 1916)
1851 - Ponnambalam Ramanathan, Ceylonese-Tamil statesman (d. 1930)
1858 – Emile Durkheim, French sociologist and ethnologist (d. 1917)
1865 - Olga Boznanska, Polish painter (d. 1940)
1866 - Robert Livingston Beeckman, Governor of Rhode Island (d. 1935)
1874 - George Harrison Shull, American geneticist (d. 1954)
1874 – Johannes Stark, German physicist (d. 1957)
1877 – W. D. Ross, Scottish philosopher (d. 1971)
1883 – Stanley Bruce, 8th Prime Minister of Australia (d. 1967)
1886 - Nikolay Gumilyov, Russian poet (d. 1921)
1890 - Percy Shaw, English inventor (d. 1976)
1891 - Wallace Reid, American actor (d. 1923)
1892 – Corrie ten Boom, Dutch writer, activist, and Holocaust survivor (d. 1983)
1894 – Bessie Smith, American blues singer (d. 1937)
1894 - Nikita Khrushchev, leader of the Soviet Union (d. 1971)
1896 – Nikolay Nikolayevich Semyonov, Russian chemist (d. 1986)
1898 - Harry Edward, English sprinter (d. 1973)
1901 1950
1901 - René Pleven, Prime Minister of France (d. 1993)
1901 - Joe Davis, English snooker player (d. 1978)
1901 - Ajoy Mukherjee, Indian politician, Chief Minister of West Bengal (d. 1986)
1904 - Arshile Gorky, Armenian-American painter (d. 1948)
1907 – Nikolaas Tinbergen, Dutch ethologist (d. 1988)
1908 - Lita Grey, American actress (d. 1995)
1910 - Miguel Najdorf, Polish-Argentine chess player (d. 1997)
1912 – Kim Il-Sung, President of North Korea (d. 1994)
1915 - Elizabeth Catlett, American-Mexican artist and sculptor (d. 2012)
1915 – Walter Washington, American politician, Mayor of Washington, DC (d. 2003)
1917 - Hans Conried, American actor (d. 1982)
1920 – Richard von Weizsaecker, former President of Germany (d. 2015)
1920 - Thomas Szasz, Hungarian-American psychiatrist (d. 2012)
1921 – Georgi Beregovoi, Soviet-Russian cosmonaut (d. 1995)
1922 – Harold Washington, American politician, Mayor of Chicago (d. 1987)
1922 - Michael Ansara, Syrian-American actor (d. 2013)
1924 - Neville Marriner, English conductor and violinist (d. 2016)
1924 - Rikki Fulton, Scottish actor and comedian (d. 2004)
1927 - Ernie Copland, Scottish footballer
1927 - Robert Mills, American physicist (d. 1999)
1929 - Adrian Cadbury, English rower and businessman (d. 2015)
1930 – Vigdís Finnbogadóttir, 4th President of Iceland
1931 - Giovanni Reale, Italian historian and philosopher (d. 2014)
1931 – Tomas Tranströmer, Swedish poet (d. 2015)
1932 - Eva Figes, German-born English author (d. 2012)
1933 - Roy Clark, American singer, musician and television host
1933 - Elizabeth Montgomery, American actress (d. 1995)
1936 - Raymond Poulidor, French cyclist
1938 - Claudia Cardinale, Tunisian-born Italian actress
1938 - Hso Khan Pha, Burmese-Canadian geologist and politician
1938 - Jay Garner, American lieutenant general
1939 – Marty Wilder, British rock singer
1940 – Jeffrey Archer, British politician and writer
1940 - Yossef Romano, Israeli weightlifter (d. 1972)
1940 - Penelope Coelen, South African actress, model and beauty queen
1941 - Howard Berman, American politician
1942 – Walt Hazzard, American basketball coach (d. 2011)
1943 - Robert Lefkowitz, American physician and Nobel Prize winner
1943 - Mighty Sam McClain, American singer-songwriter (d. 2015)
1944 - Dzhokhar Dudayev, Chechen general and politician (d. 1996)
1944 - Dave Edmunds, Welsh singer and guitarist
1944 - Kunishige Kamamoto, Japanese footballer
1946 – Pete Rouse, American politician
1946 - Michael Tucci, American actor
1947 - Mike Chapman, Australian songwriter
1949 - Alla Pugacheva, Russian singer and composer
1949 - David Rendel, English politician (d. 2016)
1949 - Craig Zadan, American director, producer and screenwriter
1950 - Josiane Balasko, French actress, director and screenwriter
1950 - Paul Lüönd, Swiss musician (d. 2014)
1951 1975
1951 - John L. Phillips, American astronaut
1951 - Stuart Prebble, English broadcaster
1951 - Choei Sato, Japanese footballer
1955 - Jeff Golub, American musician (d. 2015)
1955 – Dodi al-Fayed, Egyptian businessman (d. 1997)
1956 - Michael Cooper, American basketball player and coach
1957 - Evelyn Ashford, American athlete
1957 - Hwang Kyo-ahn, South Korean politician, former Prime minister of South Korea
1958 – Benjamin Zephaniah, British writer
1958 – Abu Hamza al-Masri, Egyptian Islamic fundamentalist preacher
1959 – Emma Thompson, British actress
1960 – King Philippe of Belgium
1960 - Pedro Delgado, Spanish cyclist
1960 - Susanne Bier, Danish movie director
1961 – Carol W. Greider, American molecular biologist and Nobel Prize winner
1961 - Luca Barbarossa, Italian singer
1962 - Tom Kane, American voice actor
1963 - Beata Szydlo, Polish politician, Prime Minister of Poland
1966 – Samantha Fox, British singer, actress and model
1967 – Dara Torres, American swimmer
1967 - Frankie Poullain, British musician
1968 – Ed O'Brien, British musician (Radiohead)
1968 - Vano Merabishvili, Georgian politician
1969 - Jimmy Waite, Canadian ice hockey player
1971 - Kate Harbour, English voice actress
1972 - Trine Dyrholm, Danish actress and singer
1972 – Arturo Gatti, Canadian boxer (d. 2009)
1972 - Lou Romano, American voice actor
1973 - Teddy Lucic, Swedish footballer
1974 - Danny Way, American skateboarder
1975 - Adolfo Cambiaso, Argentine polo player
From 1976
1976 - John Lamont, Scottish politician
1976 - Seigo Narazaki, Japanese footballer
1977 - Sudarshan Pattnaik, Indian sand artist
1977 - Lilia Vaygina-Efremova, Ukrainian biathlete
1978 – Soumaila Coulibaly, Malian footballer
1978 – Milton Bradley, American baseball player
1979 - Luke Evans, Welsh actor
1982 – Albert Riera, Spanish footballer
1982 – Seth Rogen, Canadian actor and writer
1983 - Alice Braga, Brazilian actress
1983 – Matt Cardle, English singer
1983 - Dudu Cearense, Brazilian footballer
1983 – Ilya Kovalchuk, Russian ice hockey player
1986 - Tom Heaton, English footballer
1986 - Quincy Owusu-Abeyje, Ghanaian footballer
1988 - Steven Defour, Belgian footballer
1988 – Eliza Doolittle, English singer
1988 - Leonie Elliott, English actress
1989 - Shawn Nicklaw, American footballer
1989 - Brandur Enni, Faroese singer
1990 – Emma Watson, English actress
1990 - Lily Carter, American pornographic actress
1991 - Daiki Arioka, Japanese actor and singer
1991 – Anastasia Vinnikova, Belarussian singer
1992 – Amy Deasismont, Swedish singer
1992 - Richard Sandrak, American bodybuilder, martial artist and actor
1992 - John Guidetti, Swedish footballer
1993 - Madeleine Martin, American actress
1997 - Maisie Williams, British actress
1999 - Denis Shapovalov, Israeli-born Canadian tennis player
Deaths
Up to 1900
571 - Emperor Kimmei of Japan
628 - Empress Suiko of Japan (b. 554)
1053 - Godwin, Earl of Wessex
1220 - Adolf of Altena, German archbishop (b. 1157)
1415 - Manuel Chrysolaris, Greek humanist and grammarian (b. 1355)
1446 – Filippo Brunelleschi, Italian architect (b. 1377)
1558 - Roxelana, Polish wife of Suleiman the Magnificent (b. 1500)
1621 - John Carver, English merchant and Governor of Plymouth Colony (b. 1576)
1641 - Domenico Zampieri, Italian painter (b. 1581)
1659 – Simon Dach, German poet (b. 1605)
1697 – King Charles XI of Sweden (b. 1665)
1719 - Françoise d'Aubigne, marquise de Maintenon, Queen of France (b. 1635)
1754 - Jacopo Riccati, Italian mathematician (b. 1676)
1764 – Madame de Pompadour, mistress of King Louis XV of France (b. 1721)
1765 – Mikhail Lomonosov, Russian scientist and writer (b. 1711)
1854 - Arthur Aikin, English chemist, mineralogist and writer (b. 1773)
1865 – Abraham Lincoln, 16th President of the United States (b. 1809)
1889 – Father Damien, Belgian Roman Catholic priest and missionary (b. 1840)
1894 - James M. Harvey, American politician, 5th Governor of Kansas (b. 1833)
1898 - Kepa Te Rangihiwini, Maori military leader
1901 2000
1912 - People who died in the sinking of the RMS Titanic, including:
Edward Smith, captain of the RMS Titanic (b. 1850)
Thomas Andrews, Irish shipbuilder (b. 1873)
Jack Phillips, British wireless telegraphist (b. 1887)
John Jacob Astor IV, American businessman and billionaire (b. 1864)
Benjamin Guggenheim, American businessman (b. 1865)
1913 – Gabdulla Tukay, Tatar poet (b. 1886)
1925 – Fritz Haarmann, German serial killer (b. 1879)
1925 – John Singer Sargent, American painter (b. 1856)
1927 - Gaston Leroux, French writer (b. 1868)
1935 - Anna Ancher, Danish painter (b. 1859)
1938 - César Vallejo, Peruvian poet (b. 1892)
1942 – Robert Musil, Austrian writer (b. 1880)
1944 - Nikolai Fyodorovich Vatutin, Soviet military commander (b. 1901)
1949 - Wallace Beery, American actor (b. 1885)
1957 - Pedro Infante, Mexican actor and singer (b. 1917)
1962 - Clara Blandick, American actress (b. 1880)
1962 - Arsenio Lacson, Mayor of Manila (b. 1912)
1967 - Totò, Italian comedian, actor, writer and singer-songwriter (b. 1898)
1969 – Victoria Eugenie of Battenberg (b. 1887)
1971 – Gurgen Boryan, Armenian poet and playwright (b. 1915)
1972 – Frank Knight, American economist (b. 1885)
1974 - Giovanni D'Anzi, Italian songwriter (b. 1906)
1980 – Jean-Paul Sartre, French philosopher (b. 1905)
1983 – Corrie ten Boom, Dutch writer, activist and Holocaust survivor (b. 1892)
1984 – Tommy Cooper, Welsh comedy magician (b. 1921)
1986 – Jean Genet, French writer (b. 1910)
1988 – Kenneth Williams, British actor and comedian (b. 1926)
1989 - Hu Yaobang, Chinese politician (b. 1915)
1989 - Charles Vanel, French actor and director (b. 1892)
1990 – Greta Garbo, Swedish actress (b. 1905)
1994 – John Curry, British figure skater (b. 1949)
1998 – Pol Pot, Cambodian dictator (b. 1925)
From 2001
2001 – Joey Ramone, American punk rocker (b. 1951)
2002 - Byron White, American football player, lawyer and jurist (b. 1917)
2004 – Mitsuteru Yokoyama, Japanese manga artist (b. 1934)
2008 – Sean Costello, American blues musician (b. 1979)
2009 – Clement Freud, British writer, broadcaster and Member of Parliament (b. 1924)
2009 - Laszlo Tisza, Hungarian-American physicist (b. 1907)
2011 – Vittorio Arrigoni, Italian activist (b. 1975)
2012 – Murray Rose, British-born Australian swimmer (b. 1939)
2013 - Richard Collins, Canadian actor (b. 1947)
2013 - Richard LeParmentier, British-American actor (b. 1946)
2013 - Sal Castro, American activist and teacher (b. 1933)
2014 - Owen Woodhouse, New Zealand judge (b. 1916)
2014 - Shane Gibson, American guitarist (b. 1979)
2014 - John Houbolt, American aerospace engineer (b. 1919)
2014 - Hugo Villar, Uruguayan physician and politician (b. 1925)
2015 - Surya Bahadur Thapa, Prime Minister of Nepal (b. 1928)
2015 - Alexander Nadson, Belarussian religious leader (b. 1926)
2015 - Jonathan Crombie, Canadian actor (b. 1966)
2015 - Tadahiko Ueda, Japanese footballer (b. 1947)
2016 - Anne Grommerch, French politician (b. 1970)
2017 - David Brumbaugh, American politician (b. 1956)
2017 - Clifton James, American actor (b. 1920)
2017 - Emma Morano, Italian supercentenarian, last-surviving person born in the 1800s (b. 1899)
2017 - Sylvia Moy, American songwriter and record producer (b. 1938)
2018 - R. Lee Ermey, American actor (b. 1944)
2018 - Michael Halliday, English-Australian linguist (b. 1925)
2018 - Judy Kennedy, American politician (b. 1944)
2018 - Waqar Ahmad Shah, Indian politician (b. 1943)
2018 - Frank Skartados, Greek-American politician (b. 1956)
2018 - Vittorio Taviani, Italian movie director (b. 1929)
2018 - Bob Braden, American computer scientist (b. 1934)
2018 - Frank Drowota, American judge (b. 1938)
2019 - Owen Garriott, American astronaut (b. 1930)
2019 - Aleksandar Kostov, Bulgarian footballer (b. 1938)
2019 - Les Reed, English songwriter (b. 1935)
2019 - Winston L. Shelton, American inventor and entrepreneur (b. 1922)
2019 - Joaquim Alberto Silva, Angolan footballer (b. 1974)
Observances
Tax Day (United States)
Kim Il-Sung's birthday (North Korea)
Father Damien Day (Hawaii)
Jackie Robinson Day in Major League Baseball
Bengali New Year
World Art Day
Days of the year |
5420 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calvin%20Coolidge | Calvin Coolidge | Calvin Coolidge (born John Calvin Coolidge Jr.; July 4, 1872 – January 5, 1933) was the 30th president of the United States between 1923 and 1929. He was a conservative who supported business and lower taxes.
Family life
He was the only president of the United States to be born on July 4. He was married to Grace Coolidge and had 2 children: John Calvin Coolidge III (born September 6, 1906 - died May 31, 2000) and John Calvin Jr. (born April 13, 1908 - died July 7, 1924). His younger son John Calvin Coolidge IV died at 16 while playing tennis at the White House. His son was wearing tennis shoes without socks and died from a toe infection. He was buried at the foot of Hill Cemetery. After this, President Coolidge may have been depressed.
Political career
Coolidge served as the Mayor of Northampton, Massachusetts. He later served as the Governor of Massachusetts. As governor, he became famous because of his response during the Boston Police Strike. Coolidge fired the police who went on strike and gave the jobs to unemployed World War 1 veterans (he gave the same bonuses that the striking policemen asked for to the veterans).
In 1920, he was nominated Vice President under Warren G. Harding. The Harding-Coolidge team won easily. Harding died in 1923 and Coolidge became the next president. He was inaugurated at his family farm in Vermont by his father John Calvin Coolidge Sr.
Coolidge finished Harding's term and was elected in 1924 to continue to be the country's president.
Coolidge was president during a prosperous economy and the country did not face many challenges. He believed that the federal government should be as small as possible. He supported tax cuts and wanted the federal government to not intervene in the economy. Some think this is linked to the Great Depression.
Coolidge was criticized for refusing to give subsidies to farmers and when a giant flood happened in Mississippi during 1927, he did not want the federal government to be involved. This was part of his belief of federalism, that the country's problems should be solved mainly by state governments and local governments rather than the federal government.
He did not run for re-election in 1928 and published his autobiography the following year.
The legacy of Calvin Coolidge is mixed. People who support more federal government involvement in the economy do not like him. People who support less federal government involvement in the economy like him.
Silent Cal
Calvin Coolidge was nicknamed "Silent Cal" because he did not talk much. There is a story that at a dinner party, a woman once told Coolidge that she could get more than two words out of him, to which he replied "You lose."
Notes
References
Other websites
Coolidge's White House biography
1872 births
1933 deaths
Deaths from coronary thrombosis
US Republican Party politicians
Governors of Massachusetts
Politicians from Vermont
20th-century American politicians
Massachusetts Republicans |
5422 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry%20S.%20Truman | Harry S. Truman | Harry S. Truman (May 8, 1884 – December 26, 1972) was the 33rd president of the United States, from 1945 to 1953. He became president when President Franklin D. Roosevelt died in office.
As president, Truman made important foreign policy decisions, such as using atomic weapons on Japan to end World War II; repairing Europe (which was destroyed during the war); beginning the Cold War, and getting the U.S. involved in the Korean War.
Early years
Harry S. Truman was born on May 8, 1884, in Lamar, Missouri. The initial, "S", in Truman's name has no meaning.
Truman was raised in Independence, Missouri. He lived for 12 years as a Missouri farmer.
The presidential election of 1892 happened when Truman was eight years old. He wanted Grover Cleveland, a Democrat like Truman's family, to win. Grover Cleveland did win.
Truman joined the United States Military in 1917. He went to France in World War I and became a captain in the Field Artillery.
Truman left the military in 1919. That same year, he married Elizabeth Virginia Wallace. He opened a clothing store in Kansas City.
On February 17, 1924, Bess had a baby girl and named her Mary Margaret Truman.
Political life
Truman was active in the Democratic Party. In 1922, he was elected judge of Jackson County Court.
Two years later, Truman lost the next county judge election. However, he was elected county judge again in 1926.
In 1934, Truman was elected Senator of Missouri. He became a member of the Interstate Commerce Committee. He was also the vice-chairman of a subcommittee on railroad safety.
In 1940, Truman ran for re-election to the Senate. First he would have to beat another Democrat, Governor Lloyd Stark, in a primary election. The primary election would decide which Democrat would go on to face a Republican candidate in the final elections in November.
President Franklin Roosevelt and St. Louis Mayor Bernard Dickmann both wanted Stark to win. Truman had a hard time getting money. Most people thought he would lose. However, about a month before the primary election, the railroad unions said that they wanted Truman to win. Then, two days before primary election day, Bernard Dickmann also said that he wanted Truman to win.
Truman won by about 8,000 votes. He also won the election in November.
Truman became the head of a committee that looked at how much money the United States was spending on defense during World War II. He found billions of dollars of spending that he thought was a waste, and could be cut out of what the U.S. was spending. Truman supported Roosevelt's leadership of the country in the war, but wanted to make the government less wasteful and more effective. He became well known for leading that committee.
Vice Presidency, 1945
In 1944, President Roosevelt ran for reelection again. Roosevelt was in bad health and he did not have much longer to live. The Democratic Party realized that whoever they selected as Vice President could be the next president of the United States. (In the U.S. government, if the President dies, the Vice President automatically becomes the new president.)
Henry A. Wallace, Roosevelt's former Vice President, was not chosen because he had a friendly attitude toward the Soviet Union, which many people saw as a dictatorship. Roosevelt wanted Truman as his Vice President, and Truman was chosen.
They won the election, and Roosevelt began his fourth term as president. On April 12, 1945, shortly after his fourth inauguration, Franklin Delano Roosevelt died. Truman became president.
Presidency, 1945–53
About becoming President, Truman said: "it felt like the moon, the stars, and all of the planets had fallen upon me."
Truman had become president during the last few months of World War II. While Truman was vice president, Roosevelt never told him much about World War II. At that time, people did not think of the Vice Presidency as an important job in politics. Because of this, Truman entered the presidency knowing not much more than the average person about what the U.S. military was doing in World War II.
Nazi Germany surrendered less than a month after Truman became president. This ended the war in Europe. However, the Japanese kept fighting. The Allies of World War II made the Potsdam Declaration, telling Japan to surrender or it would face "prompt and utter destruction." Japan did not surrender, so Truman ordered the first atomic bomb to be dropped on Hiroshima, Japan, on August 6th, 1945. Three days later, Truman ordered the second atomic bomb to be dropped on Nagasaki, Japan. Japan surrendered and the war ended.
The huge destructive power of the atomic bombs razed both cities, and killed over one hundred thousand people, with many more dying of radiation induced illnesses over subsequent years. People who disagreed with the decision, like General and future president Dwight Eisenhower, believe it was a cruel and inhumane attack on innocent people, when Japan was already close to being beaten. Other people thought it was a good decision because it ended the war early. Truman thought that if the U.S. had invaded Japan instead of using the bombs to end the war quickly, many more Americans would have died.
After the war
After the war, Truman ordered Europe (which was destroyed during the war) to be repaired with the Marshall Plan. Germany was divided into two parts after the war. The Soviet Union controlled East Germany. The United States, Britain, and France controlled West Germany. During the Soviet blockade of West Berlin, Truman ordered the Berlin Airlift, which flew in tons of food to West Germany to feed the starving people.
Truman also helped create the United Nations, an organization which was based on the League of Nations. The United Nations still exists today. Its goal is for different countries to work together to help humanity and to promote peace.
After World War II, the Soviet Union and the United States were the only two powerful countries left. With Germany being divided between the Soviet Union and the United States, tensions began to increase between the two countries. The Cold War began. This was a war where the Soviet Union and the United States did not fight directly, but each wanted to have a bigger influence than the other over the world. The Soviet Union wanted to spread communism around the world. (Communism is the belief that the government should own the economy to make everybody equal). Truman believed in a policy called containment: that the U.S. should contain communism and stop it from spreading. Truman declared the Truman Doctrine, which said the United States should give money to Turkey and Greece so that they could be strong enough to defend themselves from communism.
Truman sent Congress his "Fair Deal." It was based on Roosevelt's New Deal. It gave more money to education, more money to farmers, and a higher minimum wage for workers. Labor union leaders asked him for higher wages and more benefits.
After coal miners went on strike, Truman had the Department of the Interior take over the mines. While Truman sympathized with the working class, when there was a huge railroad strike, Truman believed it was illegal. He also thought it was unfair to people who could not get to work because the railroads were not running. He reacted by threatening to force the strikers to go into the army if they did not return to work.
Truman de-segregated the military, allowing blacks and whites to fight together.
1948 election
Further information: 1948 United States presidential election
In 1948, Truman ran for a second term as President against Thomas Dewey. He was the underdog and everyone thought he was going to lose. The Chicago Tribune published a newspaper on the night of the election with the title "Dewey Defeats Truman". To everyone's surprise, Harry Truman won the election.
The Korean War
On June 25, 1950, North Korea attacked South Korea. China supported North Korea. North Korea wanted to bring Communism into South Korea.
The U.S. fought the Korean War to defend South Korea and keep communism from spreading there. General Douglas MacArthur wanted to bomb China. Truman thought it was too dangerous to do that, so he fired MacArthur. Many people respected MacArthur, so they were angry at Truman. He made Mathew B. Ridgeway general.
During the end of his term, Harry Truman's approval rating was at an all-time low. He was very unpopular because thousands of Americans died in the Korean War; there was a medium amount of corruption in his government; and people were accusing many of Truman's employees of being communists. He left office on January 20, 1953. The Korean War ended about six months later.
As time passed, Truman's reputation got better. Many historians now believe that Harry Truman was a great president.
Later life
Truman moved back to Missouri. He died on December 26, 1972 in Kansas City, Missouri of multiple organ failure caused by pneumonia at the age of 88.
Related pages
Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
Marshall Plan
Cold War
Truman Doctrine
Korean War
References
Other websites
WW2DB: Harry Truman
White House biography on Truman
1884 births
1972 deaths
American military personnel of World War I
American people of World War II
American Presbyterians
Anti-Communists
Colonels
Deaths from multiple organ failure
Deaths from pneumonia
Disease-related deaths in Missouri
People from Independence, Missouri
People of the Korean War
Time People of the Year
United States senators from Missouri
US Democratic Party politicians
20th-century American politicians |
5423 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/John%20Adams | John Adams | John Adams, Jr. (October 30, 1735 – July 4, 1826) was the second president of the United States (1797–1801), and father of the sixth president, John Quincy Adams. He was also the first vice president of the United States (1789–1797).
Adams was born in Braintree, Massachusetts. He was the son of Lt. Col. John Adams, Sr. (1691-1761) and Susanna Boylston (1708-1797), and he was the cousin of the philosopher Samuel Adams. He went to Harvard College. He married Abigail Adams in 1764.
Revolution years
Adams wanted the Thirteen Colonies to be free from Great Britain. However, Adams was fair and thought every person should be treated fairly. Even though he did not want British soldiers in Boston, he was the lawyer who defended the British soldiers who were involved in the Boston Massacre.
Adams was a representative from Massachusetts during the Second Continental Congress. He helped Thomas Jefferson write the United States Declaration of Independence. During the American Revolutionary War, Adams helped make peace with Great Britain. He served in France, the Netherlands and England as an ambassador in the 1780s.
Vice President
Adams was the first vice president under George Washington. After Washington chose not to run again, Adams won the 1796 election. Adams is thought to have been the first president to belong to a political party, but like George Washington, he thought himself above any particular party. He ran for president on the Federalist ticket. He beat Thomas Jefferson of the Democratic-Republican Party. President candidates and vice president candidates did not run together like they do today. Since Jefferson got the second-highest number of votes, he became vice president.
President
During his term, he resolved a conflict against France peacefully. He also passed the Alien and Sedition Acts which made it illegal to say bad things about the government. Many people did not like those acts because they felt it took away their freedom of speech. Adams was not re-elected president and lost to Thomas Jefferson. The Federalist Party was not as popular as it was when Adams was elected. One of his last acts as president was to make John Marshall the Chief Justice of the United States. This made sure that the Federalist Party would still be important.
Of the first five U.S. presidents, Adams was the only one who did not own slaves. He was also the only one to be from New England.
Death
Adams died on July 4, 1826 of heart failure. This was the same day that Thomas Jefferson died, and was also exactly 50 years after the Declaration of Independence was signed in 1776.
References
Other websites
John Adams' White House biography
John Adams -Citizendium
1735 births
1826 deaths
Ambassadors of the United States
Lawyers from Massachusetts
American Protestants
American revolutionaries
Deaths from heart failure
Federalist party (US) politicians
Founding Fathers of the United States
Harvard University alumni
Politicians from Massachusetts
Presidents of the United States
Signers of the U.S. Declaration of Independence
Unitarians
Vice Presidents of the United States
19th-century American politicians
18th-century American politicians
People from Quincy, Massachusetts |
5424 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill%20Clinton | Bill Clinton | William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton (born William Jefferson Blythe III; August 19, 1946) is an American politician and humanitarian activist. He was the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Before he was president, Clinton was the governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and 1983 to 1992, as well as the attorney general of Arkansas from 1977 to 1979.
He took office at the end of the Cold War. Clinton was the first president from the baby boom generation. He was 46 years old when he was elected and the third youngest president. He was impeached in 1998 for lying about his sexual relationship with Monica Lewinsky. Clinton was the second president to be impeached.
He is married to Hillary Rodham Clinton, who was the 67th United States Secretary of State from 2009 to 2013, U.S. senator from New York from 2001 to 2009, and the Democratic nominee for president in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.
Early years
Clinton was born William Jefferson Blythe III at Julia Chester Hospital in Hope, Arkansas. His biological father, William Jefferson Blythe. Jr, died in a car accident, three months before Clinton was born. His mother, Virginia Clinton Kelley was a Nurse anesthetist. He took the last name Clinton because it was his stepfather, Roger Clinton, Sr.'s name. Clinton grew up in Hot Springs, Arkansas. In high school, Clinton played the saxophone. Clinton went to college at Georgetown University. During his college years, Clinton worked under several politicians. He later went to Oxford University and Yale Law School. Clinton did not fight in the Vietnam War because he was in the ROTC for a short time.
Before being President
Clinton married Hillary Rodham in 1975. In 1980, their daughter, Chelsea Clinton, was born.
After law school, Clinton was elected Attorney General of Arkansas in 1976 and governor of Arkansas in 1978. At 32, he was the youngest governor in the country at that time. Clinton was governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and again from 1983 to 1993. Clinton was known for being a "New Democrat" while governor. During his time as governor, Clinton changed the state's school system. There was also a scandal called Whitewater during Clinton's term.
Presidency
In the 1992 presidential election, he beat Republican George H. W. Bush. During the early part of Clinton's first term, he put in place a tax code which would increase taxes on the rich.
In 1994, during Clinton's first term in office, the Congress switched to a Republican majority. However, Clinton still beat Republican Bob Dole in the 1996 election.
The Republicans defeated Clinton's proposal for the U.S. government to adopt universal health care. The Republicans proposed many new ideas to Congress to limit the size of government such as requiring the budget to be balanced and to stop people from abusing the welfare system.
Clinton was sued by Paula Jones for sexual harassment, but the lawsuit was officially dismissed after Jones failed to prove damages. This made him the first sitting United States president to be sued.
President Clinton was accused of wrongdoing by the U.S. House of Representatives in December 1998 during the Monica Lewinsky scandal and was impeached. Although he lied that they did not engage in sexual activity, he was found to have done nothing wrong by the U.S. Senate in February 1999.
The country faced few challenges during his term. The Cold War was over and there was very little need for the U.S. military to get involved in the world's affairs, so defense spending was significantly lowered. The economy was doing very well during his term, though there is a debate whether the economy was well because of Clinton's policies or because of the Republicans' policies.
The decade ended with it being the first time the United States did not have to borrow money to pay for its budget. Clinton left office in 2001 with high approval ratings and was succeeded by George W. Bush.
Post-presidency
After his presidency, he wrote some books and traveled around the world helping out the United States. He is married to former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and now lives in New York. He has written My Life, a book about his life, and several other books. Clinton has received two Grammy Awards, both for books he read on tape. He is now the U.N.'s envoy to Haiti. He also became a vegetarian.
In 2013, Clinton started following Buddhist meditation to help him relax.
On November 20, 2013, he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor of the United States, by President Barack Obama.
On October 12, 2021, Clinton was hospitalized with sepsis in Irvine, California.
References
Other websites
Photos of Bill Clinton's actions to bring peace to the Middle East
Bill Clinton's White House biography
1946 births
Living people
1992 United States presidential candidates
1996 United States presidential candidates
20th-century American politicians
21st-century American politicians
Alumni of the University of Oxford
American Baptists
Lawyers from Arkansas
American LGBT rights activists
American progressives
American saxophonists
Governors of Arkansas
Hillary Rodham Clinton
Musicians from Arkansas
Musicians from New York City
People from Hope, Arkansas
Political scandals in the United States
Politicians from New York City
Rhodes scholars
Time People of the Year
US Democratic Party politicians
Writers from Arkansas
Writers from New York City
Yale University alumni |
5429 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yield | Yield | In economics, the yield is how much money somebody is paid each year for leaving his or her money invested somewhere. Unlike a corporate dividend, a yield is fairly certain, unless there is a bankruptcy. This means that somebody usually knows how much money they are going to make from their yield ahead of time.
Yields can be different because of inflation. However, there is usually an order for which are most risky and which are the least: the least risky instruments, such as treasury bonds, yield the least, then safe and "guaranteed" instruments like long-term deposits, then overnight deposits, and so on to the various municipal bond and corporate bonds. Extremely risky instruments with high yield are usually called junk bonds.
Related pages
Returns (economics)
Finance |
5430 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moral%20purchasing | Moral purchasing | Moral purchasing is when a person uses moral reasoning to decide what to buy. For example, when a person chooses to buy local goods instead of those from other countries, helps neighbours and processes that one can point to quickly.
Other page
Fair trade
Ethics |
5431 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social%20network | Social network | A social network is a set of people who interact. This includes group organizations. The social relationships may include friendship/affect, communication, economic transactions, interactions, kinship, authority/hierarchy, trust, social support, diffusion, contagion, and so on.
Calling social relationships a network calls attention to the pattern or structure of the set of relationships.
A community social network is the pattern of relationships among a set of people and/or organizations in a community. Each of these networks can involve social support, give people a sense of community, and
lead them to help and protect each other.
How big a personal network becomes depends on the individual and the type of relationships considered. The set of people that a person knows well or with whom a person frequently interacts seldom exceeds several hundred. As the size of a network grows, keeping relationships is strained by the size. There is a so-called "Law of 150" which suggests that about 150 people is the best size for a village or large clan though most people live in much bigger towns. Some experts think that a corporation has an ideal size of about 70 people: these people and their spouses would also make a large social network.
The free rider problem is that someone uses the social network but does not give help when needed. Social networks are vulnerable to them, since the circumstances where help is required, like disasters, occur by surprise. It might happen that someone cannot help at that one time - it might also happen that they are not there the next time. Only slowly does it become obvious who is and is not contributing to the safety of the group, or who is avoiding this duty.
Social networks are held together by common interest. This may be employment, common interest in a sport or pastime, a religion (a mosque, church or temple is almost always a center of a social network). Often the network has an identity of its own which is quite real, even though it may have no official recognition. Networks may be centered on places, or on families, or on worldwide communities with common interests.
Sources
The Law of 150 is documented in R.I.M. Dunbar 1992. Neocortex size as a constraint on group size in primates. Journal of Human Evolution. 20, pp. 469–493.
The field of study which investigates human social life is social psychology.
Related pages
Social network service
Relationships
Social groups |
5432 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cabal | Cabal | A cabal is a group of people who try to control things in a secret way. Cabals are often an important part of a conspiracy theory.
Sometimes people say "There Is No Cabal", or use the abbreviation TINC to mean "There Is No Cabal". The joke is that since a cabal is necessarily secret, only those who are in the cabal can know.
Politics
The former chief of staff, Lawrence Wilkerson, of the Secretary of State Colin Powell said that the foreign policy of George W. Bush's administration were run by a "Cheney-Rumsfeld cabal". With this word he meant that the President had not really the power that he is given by the constitution and that the Vice President and the Secretary of Defense had more influence than they should have.
references
Forms of government |
5433 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creating | Creating | Creating is making new things that have not existed before, usually by combining two or three things that existed. Art is almost always called creative, but so are other activities like music, mathematics, technology, business, craft, building, gardening and forestry, if they combine things to get new things.
When several people cooperate in more than one process of creating, that is a creative network. This cuts risk since anything creative involves some chance that it will simply not work.
What is "not creative" is usually called imitative, and includes anything that is mostly trying not to do what has never been done – like law, sports, science, war, and especially education. These involve more direct competition, so risk comes from the competitor who may do it better. The word team is used for such groups.
Most people fear change and new things, and so what is most stable and considered important by society tends to be imitative and done in teams. But unless society encourages creating it loses out to others by competition in business or technology, so there must be some creative networks, somewhere, in labs or art studios.
Views of control of creative work also depend very much on religious and spiritual views of nature (or a creator) creating Man, according to economist Lester Thurow. Those ethical traditions that see "Man in the image of God" have created legal codes (see guild, intellectual right, intellectual interest, intellectual property) to tightly control what they are creating or have created. These are now the basis of organizations such as WIPO or ICANN. Often, such laws also create control over things which are merely found, not created.
Many people give away what they have created and never think about it as property – other people try to control it and get paid every time anyone sees it – or even every time they just talk about it.
Wikipedia uses the GNU FDL which is a content license that tries to get people to combine what they are creating, with no one clearly in control. This is considered strange by many people, who are uncomfortable with that idea, or seek to control some aspect of it themselves.
Art |
5434 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human%20science | Human science | Human science is the science of humans: what makes them different from animals, and their limits, which tend to be the same as those of other animals. Because human bodies are animal bodies, human science is part of biology which leads to Life Science. However human behaviour includes the use of words, measures, numbers, knowing time and having memory, and such habits as trade - thus economics and psychology are considered to be part of human science. A general human science is anthropology which studies only the differences between humans and near relatives.
One important debate in human science is whether the exchange of culture (or in economics instructional capital), is only among humans or if it also goes on among our Great Ape near relatives. If so, then culture is part of primatology and there is no clear line between human science and life sciences.
Another name for human science is Social Science, since the most complex thing about humans is how they relate to each other in society. The most general social science is ethics, or economics, depending on your point of view.
However, life science also deals with humans as objects of study (notably in medicine), while hard science such as chemistry deals with humans as the observer who does the study - sets the scale at which observation can happen, incurs observer effects - as studied in philosophy of science.
Often sciences have different names based on whether they study humans or not. For instance economics is the study of how humans make a living, while ecology is the study of how non-humans make a living. Medicine is normally restricted to humans while veterinary medicine refers to the same techniques made on other species. One relies more on ethics and less on economics when dealing with humans, at least according to any ethical tradition.
The living, social, and sensory observing aspects of humans are probably all part of the human sciences to the degree they affect how humans view themselves.
Specific human sciences are (in addition to anthropology and ethics and economics) include psychology, sociology and linguistics. There is debate as to whether mathematics is something human or if it is universal - see philosophy of mathematics on this.
Related pages
humanities
sense
ecology
Social sciences |
5435 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flaying | Flaying | Flaying is a form of torture, mutilation, and execution. It is the act of stripping the skin and flesh from the bones. Flaying an enemy while alive is an ancient practice. Accounts attribute the practice to the ancient Assyrians, who were said to flay the skin from a captured enemy or rebellious ruler and nail it to the wall of his city, as warning to all who would defy their power. Searing or cutting the flesh from the body was sometimes used as part of the public execution of traitors in medieval Europe. A similar mode of execution was used as late as the early 18th century in France; one such episode is graphically recounted in the opening chapter of Michel Foucault's Discipline and Punish (1979).
Torture
Punishments |
5437 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rice | Rice | Rice (Oryza sativa) is a type of cereal and food. In origin, it is a swamp grass. It is eaten as staple food in many parts of Asia. It is grown in warm parts of the world, mainly Asia, Africa, northern Italy, and the west coast of North America.
Rice accounts for 80% of the calories eaten in Asia, or one-fifth of the calories eaten worldwide by humans. It is the agricultural commodity with the third-highest worldwide production (rice, 741.5 million tonnes in 2014), after sugarcane (1.9 billion tonnes) and maize (1.0 billion tonnes). However, judged by value, the world trade in wheat is greater than all other crops combined. All these cereals are grasses.
Rice used to be the main diet in many countries. Various kinds of food processing prepare rice for eating. It is usually cooked. In some areas, such as Spain, rice is first fried in olive oil or butter, then cooked with water or soup. In other areas, such as India, rice is eaten with sauce, curry, or soup. Rice can also be used to make alcohol, such as Japanese sake rice wine.
Rice is believed to have been first grown in ancient southern China and India around 2500 BC. Rice-growing was brought to Japan possibly in the 1st century BC, and became popular during the 2nd century and the 3rd century. From India, rice spread to southern Europe and Africa.
Alluvial loamy and clayey soil is ideal for growing rice. The rice crop needs about 24°C or above with minor variations during sowing, growing and harvesting seasons. It grows well in the areas where rainfall is above 100cm. Deltas, river valleys, coastal plains and terraced fields in mountainous regions are ideal for its cultivation.
Rice is usually planted in a flat field filled with water. Before cropping, the water is drained from the field. Before farmers developed a good farming system and fertilizers, they used to let lands rest for 1 to 2 years while farming in other lands.
In some hot areas, close to the equator, farmers do double-cropping which means raising two crops one year.
Rice contains a lot of carbohydrates. There are different ways of milling rice. Brown rice has only had the outer layer removed. It contains more fibre than the completely milled white rice.
Rice varieties
There are several grains called "rice": they have been cultivated for thousands of years. There are a huge number of varieties.
Asian rice (Oryza sativa) is most widely known and most widely grown, with two major subspecies and over 40,000 varieties. Also notable are varieties of African rice (Oryza glaberrima) and wild rice (genus Zizania). Rice may vary in genetics, grain length, color, thickness, stickiness, aroma, growing method, and other characteristics.
Rice can be divided into different categories on the basis of each of its major characteristics. The two subspecies of Asian rice, indica and japonica have different length and stickiness. Indica rice is long-grained and unsticky, while japonica is short-grained and sticky.
For instance, over nine major varieties of rice exist for the purpose of making sake alone.
IR8
A naturally occurring strain of rice, IR8, is believed to have saved many lives.
"In the 1950s... you only needed to plot population growth against rice production to see that, within a few years, there would not be enough to go around. Something needed to be done, and in 1960 two American charities, the Ford and Rockefeller Foundations, joined forces to found the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) in the Philippines. The new team began patiently cross-breeding the 10,000 different varieties they had collected.
"Most crosses between rice strains give only 1% or 2% improvements, [but] IR8 was different. It married a tall high-yielding strain from Indonesia (PETA) with a sturdy dwarf variety from China (DGWG). The results were astounding. There was never any instance in the history of the world where rice yields doubled in one step... In fact, according to some studies, IR8 yields in best conditions could be as much as 10 times that of traditional varieties".
The new strain, part of the Green Revolution, had defects. It lacked taste, and the team spent 20 years improving its quality, and its resistance to fungi and pests. The team's later work was to reduce its bad effect on diabetes type 2 and on its vitamin A content.
References
Other websites
2004: International Year of Rice
The International Rice Research Institute Knowledge Bank
Origin of Chinese rice cultivation
South Carolina rice planting photos from the early 1900s
Basic English 850 words |
5444 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yoga | Yoga | Yoga is an old discipline of Hindu philosophy from India. It is both spiritual and physical. Yoga uses breathing techniques, exercise and meditation. It helps to improve health and happiness. Yoga is the Sanskrit word for union. Patanjali was a pioneer of classical yoga. He defined yoga as "the cessation of the modification of the mind" (stopping changing the mind).
A person doing yoga will move from one posture (called asana) to another, but there are also other aspects which are important in yoga, such as breath-work, mantras, mudras (postures of the hands and fingers), meditation and much more (for more information, check out the Yoga Sutras). For example, the "sun-salutation" contains 12 poses of asanas, one after the other, and is said to help balance body and soul. There is a specific mantra for each asana. The "sun-salutation" is popularly known as "Suryanamaskar".
History
Yoga was introduced by Indian Ascetic. Ascetic practices (tapas) are referenced in the (900 to 500 BC), early commentaries on the Vedas. Several seals discovered at Indus Valley Civilization (~3300–1700 B.C.) sites in Pakistan depict figures in positions resembling a common yoga or meditation pose. The pose shows "a form of ritual discipline, suggesting a precursor of yoga", according to archaeologist Gregory Possehl. Scholars think there must be some type of connection between the Indus Valley seals and later yoga and meditation practices, though there is no conclusive evidence.
Jonathan Mark Kenoyer describes one figure as "seated in yogic position".
Karel Werner writes that " Archeological discoveries allow us therefore to speculate with some justification that a wide range of Yoga activities was already known to the people of pre-Aryan India".
Important yoga words(ashtang yoga)
Yama: Positive Rules of meditations.
Niyama: Prohibitory Rules of meditations.
Asanas: Physical postures and movements.
Pranayama: Breathing techniques
Pratyahara: Controlling the mind.
Dharana: Gazing inward.
Dhyana: Meditation with object.
Samadhi: Meditation without object.
Types of yoga
Classification based on mind and body.
Rajayoga: Raja yoga focuses on meditation and contemplation in order to fully realize the self.
Hathayoga: Hatha yoga is the practice of yoga postures, or asana, using the body as a vehicle for self-transformation.
Classification based on way of spiritual life.
Gyanyoga: It is a way of knowledge.
Karmayoga: It is a way of work.
Bhaktiyoga: It is a way of worship.
Classification based on a way of other things.
Swaryoga: Emphasizes the most on breathing.
Kriyayoga: Emphasizes the most on blending Karmayoga (Tapa), Gyanyoga (Swadhyay) and Bhaktiyoga (Ishwar Pranidhan).
Some popular Yogasanas
A yogasana is a pose in which a person can sit. The intention of yogasana is to exercise the body and make it free of pains and problems.
Yogi is a person who has mastered yoga or has achieved great success in yoga. Yogasanas are also called Asana or Asanas (plural). A Yogi can sit in any asana for a given time.
Pawanmuktasana
This yogasana helps to release gas in the stomach.
Ushtrasana
This yogasana makes the spine more relaxed.
References
Other websites
Meditation
India |
5445 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human%20development%20theory | Human development theory | Even though economics is all about choice on the basis of what is available rather than what should be available, the big question relates to who decides how resources should be distributed and how economics can embrace a trade-off between different groups which each seek to make the most of their allocation of resources. If "what should be" cannot be incorporated, the subject of economics will be as dry as desert as described by Ayn Rand. The challenge therefore is to construct a model combining "what is" to "what should be" and make the same acceptable to common man as well as politicians. Not being able to sell the idea as such is a defeat to the discipline. The issue is that of influence and not of theory, as Adam Smith perceived that no group of business men ever met other than to exploit the consumer.
Economic theories |
5450 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cattle | Cattle | Cattle is a word for certain mammals that belong to the genus Bos. Cattle may be cows, bulls, oxen, or calves. Cattle are the most common type of large domesticated hoofed animals. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae.
Cattle are large grazing animals with two-toed or cloven hooves and a four-chambered stomach. This stomach is an adaptation to help digest tough grasses. Cattle can be horned or polled (or hornless), depending on the breed. The horns come out on either side of the head above the ears and are a simple shape, usually curved upwards but sometimes down. Cattle usually stay together in groups called herds. One male, called a bull will usually have a number of cows in a herd as his harem. The cows usually give birth to one calf a year, though twins are also known to be born. The calves have long strong legs and can walk a few minutes after they are born, so they can follow the herd.
Cattle are native to many parts of the world except the Americas, Australia and New Zealand. Cattle have been domesticated for about 9,000 years. They are used for milk, meat, transport, entertainment, and power.
Word use
The word cattle has been used in English for about 1,000 years and the meaning has changed. In books such as the King James Version of the Bible, the word is used for all sorts of farm animals, including horses, sheep and goats. The word comes from the Old French word,'chattels', meaning all the things that a person owns.
The word cattle is used for some wild animals as well as for domesticated cattle. Wild cattle include the water buffalo from South East Asia, the musk ox and yak from Central Asia, the bison of North America and Europe and the African buffalo. The last aurochs, wild cattle of Europe, were killed in Masovia, Poland in 1627.
This article uses the word 'cattle' in the modern way.
This article is about the domestic farm animal, and not the wild cattle which still live in some parts of the world.
The word "head" is used by farmers when they count the number of cattle that they own. A farmer might say "My land runs 5,000 head of cattle" though the term "one head of cattle" is not usually used.
Cattle vocabulary
An intact male bovine is called a bull. A young male bovine is called a bullock. A mature female that has given birth to at least one or two calves is called a cow. A young bovine between birth and weaning is called a calf. Two or more of these young bovines are calves. A female that has never had a calf is called a heifer, (pronounced "heffer"). Calving is the act of a cow or heifer giving birth to a calf.
Because very few bulls are needed to breed with many cows and heifers and to form a complete breeding herd, most male cattle are used for meat. They are castrated by removing the testicles to prevent them from being able to breed other cows and heifers, and to take away the male characteristics that are common with bulls. A male that has been castrated before reaching puberty is called a steer. An ox is a male bovine that has been castrated after puberty and is trained and used for draft purposes, such as pulling a plow or a wagon. Cattle can either be horned, which are two bony points coming out on either side of a beast's head, one on each side, or polled, where no horns are grown but a somewhat pointy poll is found at the top of a cow's head.
The adjective that is used to describe something that is like a cow or an ox is "bovine".
The words "cow", "bull" and "calf" are also used to describe some other large animals that are not related to cattle, such as elephants, moose and whales.
Biology
Cattle are found all over the world, from as far north as Canada and Russia to the dry inland of Australia. The only continent they are not found on is Antarctica. Different types and breeds of cattle are suited to different environments. Bos indicus cattle such as the Brahman breed are suited to subtropical and tropical areas, whereas Bos taurus cattle such as Angus cattle are more suited to temperate or colder climates. Their large wide hooves are good in both wet areas and dry grassland. Their hairy coat grows much longer in the winter and has an extra fluffy layer to hold in warmth. They shed this extra layer in springtime in preparation for the hot summer ahead. Most cattle, except those of the Bos indicus subspecies do not have sweat glands in their skin, but their wet nose is a useful cooling system. They can also pant like a dog as well.
Cattle can make a range of noises, from a gentle "moo" to a low growl in warning or to attract females, especially among bulls. When they are angry or upset, they can bellow or bawl quite loudly. Calves are said to bawl, cows moo and bulls bellow.
Cattle are herbivorous, meaning that they are plant-eating (primarily grass) animals. Eating grass is called "grazing". They have very strong tongues and strong lower front teeth that help them to graze. Unlike a horse, cattle do not have any upper front teeth. A cow often swallows grass whole. After a cow has eaten its fill and is resting, they return or regurgitate the grass from their stomach to their mouth and rechew it with their very large back teeth to break it down further. This is called "chewing the cud". Other ruminants like deer, sheep and goats also do this. Horses do not. This means that cattle do not need as much food as horses, even though they are about the same size.
Cattle are ruminants which mean they have a stomach with several chambers which helps digest their food more efficiently. A cow's stomach has four chambers called the reticulum, rumen, omasum and abomasum. The reticulum is known as the "hardware" stomach because it is mainly used as a storage area for hard things that the cow might accidentally swallow like nails, rocks and other objects. The rumen is the largest chamber in a ruminant's stomach, and in cattle it can hold up to 50 gallons feed. It is the chamber where fermentation takes place to help break down the grass that the cow has eaten. The omasum, also known as "many piles" is a compartment that squeezes or absorbs all the water that has accumulated from the digestion that has gone on in the rumen. The fourth chamber is the abomasum which similar in function to a human's stomach, and so is called the "true stomach."
Cows have "breasts" called udders which are joined together in a large sac, often pink in colour, found hanging between the back legs. The udder is divided into four parts, or quarters, each with a large teat that the calf is able to grasp with its mouth to suckle from. Cows begin milk production a few days before a calf is born, and can continue to produce milk when bred again and when pregnant with their next calf. Heifers, unless they have given birth to their first calf, do not produce milk. Dairy cows tend to have much larger udders than beef cows, and as such, these type of cows will usually produce more milk than what is needed to feed one calf. Dairy cows are female cattle that are raised to produce lots of milk for human consumption. Beef cows, on the other hand, are female cattle that are used to raise a calf from birth that is used for beef later in its life. Both types of cows will keep producing milk as long as it is demanded, either by the calf, by the milking machine, or by the human that is hand-milking them. When milk from them is no longer needed, they will not explode: they simply "dry up," where the milk they produce is absorbed or taken back in by their bodies. Cows are pregnant for around 9 months, or an average of 280 days.
Bulls can often be fierce and dangerous, especially in the presence of their herd of cows and heifers. In the wild, they will often fight each other over mating rights and their herds of cows and will use their horns to gore each other. Some bulls will fight to the death: others will fight until either one of the bulls decides to run off. They also protect the herds from other animals such as wolves, jackals, bears, tigers and lions. On farms, bulls are usually quieter and more docile and can be led by a nose-ring by their owners, but they can be aggressive with other bulls and with strange people or animals who might get too near his herd. Dairy bulls like Jerseys and Holsteins tend to be more aggressive than bulls of beef breeds like Hereford and Angus. Not all cattle have horns. Bulls with no horns fight by head-butting the other's head, neck, side or belly, and will use their heads to push each other around.
For the reasons above, most male cattle are either sent to slaughter while they are still calves or are castrated so that they are much less likely to fight each other, or be aggressive towards the farmer that is raising them, making them safer to handle and keep until it is time to send them to market. Steers have no other purpose except to be raised, sold and slaughtered for beef.
Uses of Cattle
Ever since people started using cattle in prehistoric times, cattle have been a sign of wealth. In many countries, particularly in Africa and Asia, a person's wealth is judged by the number of cattle they own. Different breeds are used differently.
Cattle are very useful animals. Their flesh can be eaten as meat. Their milk can be drunk and turned into cheese and yoghurt. Their skin can be used as leather. They can pull carts and plows. They can make the power to turn flour mills or pump water. The food that they eat is not expensive, and often not in competition with what people eat.
Dairy cattle
Dairy cattle are kept and raised specially for milking. Herds of cows are kept and are regularly mated with a bull, so that they produce calves. This keeps the milk supply going. However, most commercial dairy farms do not keep bulls because of the concern that such bulls are very dangerous when being handled. Instead, cows are artificially inseminated with bull semen that is stored kept frozen in liquid nitrogen, and is "bred" by a person who artificially inseminates cows for a living.
Some large dairy herds, especially those used to produce organic or "free-range" milk are kept on pasture where there is a good supply of grass and the fields are relatively small, but not so small that they are not able to graze regularly during the season when grass is growing. This is because the cows need to be brought in for milking every day, twice a day, and should not have far to travel.
A number of dairy herds are kept in barns or sheds for most of their lives and are given feed that has been especially made for them. This feed contains grain like corn, hay including grass and alfalfa or clover, and fermented chopped feed called silage that is usually made from corn, wheat or barley. Cows are often kept in stalls where they have enough room to lay down comfortably. Such large dairies must supply straw or saw dust for the cows to rest on without getting sore from the hard concrete floor.
Cows can be milked by hand, but in many countries where there are large dairies, the cows are milked by a milking machine. The milk is collected in a large stainless steel container where it undergoes pastuerization, a process that heats milk to a very high temperature to kill any bacteria that are living in the milk. The milk is then taken by truck to a milk or dairy factory to be made into the milk we drink by being separated to remove most of the cream. It is then put into bottles or cartons to be sold. Some milk is also turned into cheese, ice cream, butter, cream and even yogurt. All of these dairy products are packaged or put into cartons or bottles and sold.
Many types of cattle are used for milk. They include:
the Australian Illawarra, which is a deep red or roan with short inward-curving horns.
the Ayrshire, which is large, irregularly spotted red and white with short up-curving horns, or polled.
the Brown Swiss, which is large, (smaller than the Holstein), brownish-grey to dark brown (often grey as well) with a light-coloured muzzle, belly and udder.
the Guernsey, which is pale red to yellow and white, and also give a lot of cream.
the Holstein, which is large, spotted black and white (some cows can be mostly black or mostly white) with short inward-curving horns. Some Holsteins are also polled or hornless.
the Jersey, which is small and fawn or dun colored with a dark face, or eye patches, black nose, hooves and front part of the lower legs. Some Jerseys are also black with a fawn saddle patch over their back. They do not give as much milk as the other breeds, but it is famous for the amount of cream they produce. Jerseys can be horned or polled, with horns often being short and curving upwards.
the Milking Shorthorn, which is medium-sized to large, deep red to roan and short, upturned horns or polled.
The black and white cow is found in most places
Beef cattle
Beef cattle are bred and raised specifically to provide meat or beef. Steers are the best type for this purpose because they can be kept in herds without fighting each other. Heifers are also often used for beef, especially those that are not suitable to be used in a breeding herd. The cows of beef cattle are used to give birth to and raise calves for meat. They are not usually used for milk, although some types of cattle, such as the Red Poll, Dexter or Red Devon (also known as the North Devon or Devon) are used for both. These type of cattle are called dual purpose breeds.
Beef cattle are often allowed graze over large areas because they do not have to be brought in every day like dairy cattle. The biggest farms in the world are cattle stations in Australia, ranches in North America and ranchos in Latin America where they run beef cattle.
Until the mid 20th century, beef cattle were often sent to market on the hoof. Cowboys or drovers would herd the cattle along the roads or on trails to the cattle markets in big towns or cities, or to railway stations where they would be loaded and shipped to these towns or cities. In Australia, sometimes the cattle would travel for hundreds of miles along roads known as 'Traveling Stock Routes'. Big herds would have thousands of 'heads of cattle'. (Cattle are counted by the "head".) Nowadays cattle are usually sent to the market in huge lorries known as road-trains. In North America, cattle are sent to auction marts, slaughter plants or other farms or ranches by large semi-trucks called cattle liners.
The meat from a calf is called 'veal' and from an older beast, 'beef'. Meat that is cut into flat pieces for frying or grilling is called 'steak'. Every part of a beast can be used. The skin becomes leather. The meat which is not used by humans becomes pet food and almost everything that is left over becomes garden fertilizer. Many other products can be and are often made from cattle: for example, car tires, home insulation, paint, hand lotion, soap, jello, and many drugs are made from parts of cattle. Cow's blood is often used in special effects in the creation of action or horror movies. Bones from cattle can be made into knife handles or napkin rings. The list is endless.
Types of cattle that are used for beef:
Angus, which are medium-sized black, polled cattle, originating from Angus in Scotland. Angus cattle are known for excellent quality beef, and ability to be used in cross-breeding, such as crossing Angus onto Hereford cows or heifers to get black-baldies. Angus is the most popular beef breed in the United States.
Brahman, which are large cattle that have their origins in India, even though the breed itself was created in the United States from several breeds imported from India. Brahmans are highly adapted to the hot, tropical climate of the southern USA due to the loose, thick skin, and large ears. Bulls have large humps over their shoulders that are filled with fat, whereas cows only have small humps. This breed has been used in creating several hybrid beef breeds such as Beefmaster, Brahmousin, Brangus, Simbrah, and Brahford.
Charolais, which are very large, white, often horned cattle (though many are also born polled) originating from France. These cattle are very muscular, and known for lean meat. They are also a good cross on Angus or Hereford-Angus cross calves for the meat market.
Hereford, which are medium to large-sized cattle (some cattle are small, like the Lowliness) red cattle with white faces, white nape over the neck (some lack this), white legs, belly and throat, and may be horned or polled. Bulls tend to have horns growing down, whereas cows will have horns growing up and out.
Limousin, which are large, reddish coloured cattle with light around the eyes, muzzle, inside the legs, belly and up underneath the tail. Like Charolais, they originate from France and are heavily muscled, also prized for meat quality and being used as a breed for cross-breeding to produce calves for beef. They can be either horned or polled.
Red Angus, which are medium-sized red polled cattle, very similar in breeding to Angus cattle. In the United States, Angus and Red Angus cattle are recognized as separate breeds.
Shorthorn, which are medium-sized to large red, white or roan cattle, sometimes horned or polled.
Simmental, which are quite large, reddish-brown to light-brown cattle often with a white face and a few white patches over the body. Originating from Switzerland, these cattle were originally used as a dual-purpose breed, but in North America are primarily raised for beef. This breed can be horned or polled.
Texas Longhorn, which are variable in colour and small to medium in size, but most noted for the very large, expansive horns. The Texas Longhorn is one of the oldest and original breeds in North and Central America, originating from Spanish longhorn cattle brought over from Spain in the late 15th century. This breed is also the breed where legends and stories of cowboys and ranching in the Old West or Wild West stem from.
Oxen
Oxen are cattle trained as work animals. The word "ox" is used to describe just one. They are castrated males (steers).
An ox is over four years old and grown to full size when it begins to work. Oxen are used for pulling plows and wagons, for hauling heavy loads like logs or for powering different machines such as mills and irrigation pumps.
Oxen are most often used in teams of two for light work such as plowing. In past days, very large teams of fourteen to twenty oxen were used for heavy work such as logging. The oxen are put into pairs and each pair must work together. A wooden yoke is put about the neck of each pair, so that the work is shared across their shoulders. Oxen are chosen from certain breeds with horns, since the horns hold the yoke in place when the oxen lower their heads, back up or slow down.
Oxen must be trained from a young age. The owner must make or buy as many as a dozen yokes of different sizes as the animals grow. Ox teams are steered by shouted commands, whistles or the noise of a whip crack. Men who drove ox teams were called teamsters in America, wagoners in Britain, or in Australia, bullockies. Many bullockies and teamsters were famous for their voices and for their foul language.
Oxen can pull harder and longer than horses, especially for very large loads. They are not as fast as horses, but they are less often injured or less likely to startle than horses are. Many oxen are still in use all over the world, especially in poor countries.
Traditions
According to Hinduism, the cow is holy, and should not be eaten: "the cow is our Mother, for she gives us her milk." See: sacred cow.
In Portugal, Spain and some Latin American countries, bulls are used for the sport of bullfighting. In many other countries, this is illegal.
A mistaken idea about cattle (mostly bulls) is that they become angry when they see the color red. This is not correct. Cattle cannot see red, because they do not have red receptors in their eyes. They can, however, see colors such as blue, yellow and green because they have yellow and blue receptors in their eyes. This mistake comes from seeing Matadors or bull-fighters using a red cape to encourage a bull to charge at them. But really, red is a color that is only used as part of Spanish tradition and culture. It is also a way to make the matador more visible from the crowd, and enables people in the crowd to easily see what is going on, and also as a way to excite them. Thus, it is merely the motion of the cape that makes a bull charge, not the colour. An angry bull or bull that is threatening you will charge if you move or if something, no matter the color, is waved in front of his face.
The Ox is one of the 12-year cycle of animals which appear in the Chinese Zodiac related to the Chinese calendar.
The constellation Taurus represents a bull.
Some close-up pictures
Related pages
Water Buffalo and their importance
Zebu
Other websites
Cattle Breeds website - Oklahoma State University
PBS Nature: Holy Cow (about cows in general) yeah
Bovines
Domesticated animals
Basic English 850 words |
5459 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quick | Quick | Quick may refer to:
Speed
Quick (restaurant chain), a French fast-food chain
Quick (automobile), an American-made car
Related pages
All articles with titles starting with "Quick" |
5460 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thunder | Thunder | For the aircraft, see P-47 Thunderbolt and A-10 Thunderbolt II.
Thunder is a very loud sound that is made sometimes during a very big rain storm.
Thunder is so loud, it can be heard from a very far distance.
It can sound like a boom, a crash, or a rumble.
Thunder is made when lightning strikes.
The energy from the lightning heats up the air so much that it makes a kind of explosion.
When lightning is very near, thunder will be heard soon after the lightning flash, and the sound will be very loud. If the lightning is farther away, the thunder will be a few seconds or many seconds after the lightning. People can guess how far away the lightning is by counting the number of seconds between the time they see the lightning and hear the thunder.
Related pages
Thor
Basic English 850 words
Weather
Severe weather
ja:雷#雷鳴 |
5461 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/1 | 1 | The year 1 (I) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar. The year started on a Monday in the Gregorian calendar. It was the first year of the 1st century and 1st millennium.
It is one of only seven years to use just one Roman numeral. The seven are 1 AD (I), 5 AD (V), 10 AD (X), 50 AD (L), 100 AD (C), 500 AD (D), and 1000 AD (M).
At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Caesar and Paullus. The denomination 1 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the main method in Europe for naming years. The year before this is 1 BC in the widely used Julian calendar.
Events
By place
Roman Empire
Tiberius, under orders of Augustus, stopped revolts in Germany (1 – 5).
Rome: Gaius Caesar and Lucius Aemilius Paullus became consuls.
The poem Metamorphoses is written by Ovid.
The Aqua Alsienta aqueduct is made in Rome.
Silk appears in Rome.
Asia
Start of the Yuanshi era of the Chinese Han Dynasty.
Confucius is given his first royal title (posthumous name) of Lord Baochengxun Ni.
Buddhism is introduced into China.
Emperor Ping of Han China's reign begins.
Africa
Axum (Ethiopia) is founded (approximate date).
Americas
Moxos ceases to be a significant religious area in South America (approximate date).
By topic
Arts and sciences
The poem Metamorphoses is written by Ovid.
Livy writes his monumental History of Rome (Ab Urbe Condita).
Religion
Birth of Jesus as given by Dionysius Exiguus in his anno Domini era according to at least one scholar. However, most scholars think Dionysius placed the birth of Jesus in the previous year, 1 BC.
Births
Lucius Annaeus Gallio, Roman proconsul (d. 65)
Quinctilius Varus, son of Publius Quinctilius Varus and Claudia Pulchra (d. 27)
Pallas, Greek Freedman and political advisor (d. 65)
Deaths
Arshak II of Iberia, king of Iberia of the Nimrodid Dynasty
References |
5462 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/2 | 2 | The year 2 (II) was a common year that started on Sunday, according to the Julian calendar. According to the Gregorian calendar, it started on a Tuesday.
At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Vinicius and Varus. It was the 2nd year of the 1st century.
Events
Roman Empire
Following the death of Lucius Caesar, Livia Drusilla convinced Augustus to allow her son Tiberius back into Rome as a private citizen. This was after six years in enforced retirement on Rhodes.
Gaius Caesar meets with Phraates V, the king of Parthia on the Euphrates.
Publius Alfenus Varus and Publius Vinicius become Roman Consuls.
Europe
Cedeides becomes Archon of Athens.
Using Roman military support, Artavasdes III, son of Ariobarzanes II, king of Media Atropatene, becomes the king of Armenia.
Africa
Juba II of Mauretania joins Gaius Caesar in Armenia as a military advisor.
Asia
The first census is concluded in China. The census has begun the year before. Final numbers show a population of nearly 60 million (59,594,978 people in a bit more than 12 million households). The census is one of the most accurate surveys in Chinese history.
The Chinese census shows nearly one million people living in Vietnam.
Births
Apollonius of Tyana (d. 98)
Deng Yu, Han Dynasty general and statesman (d. 58)
Deaths
Lucius Caesar, son of Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa and Julia the Elder. He was also the heir to the throne in Gaul. (b. 17 BC)
References
0s |
5463 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/3 | 3 | The year 3 (III) was a common year which started on a Monday. according to the Julian calendar. According to the Gregorian calendar, it started on a Wednesday. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Lamia and Servilius. The year is called 3 since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the usual method in Europe for naming years. It was the 3rd year of the 1st century.
Events
Roman Empire
The rule of Augustus is renewed for a ten-year period.
Augustus adopts his grandson, Gaius Caesar, with the expectation that he will succeed him. Gaius is made proconsul and is sent on a special mission to the East.
Lucius Aelius Lamia is consul of Rome
Marcus Valerius Messalla Messallinus is consul of Rome
Europe
Menneas becomes Archon of Athens
Five German tribes are unified by Marbod, King of the Marcomanni. The unification of the five tribes represents a direct threat to Rome in the area that will become Silesia and Saxony.
China
Wang Mang foils a plot by his son,Wang Yu, his brother-in-law, Lu Kuan, and the Wei clan to remove him from the regent's position. Wang Yu and Lu Kuan are killed in the purge that follows.
Births
Ban Biao, Chinese historian (d. 54)
Paul of Tarsus (d. 67)
References
0s |
5464 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/4 | 4 | The year 4 (IV) was a leap year which started on a Tuesday, according to the Julian calendar. According to the Gregorian calendar, it started on a Thursday. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Catus and Saturninus. It was called the fourth year since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the usual method in Europe for naming years. It was the 4th year of the 1st century.
Events
By place
Roman Empire
Emperor Caesar Augustus summons Tiberius to Rome, and names him his heir and future emperor. At the same time, Agrippa Postumus the last son of Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa is also adopted and named as Augustus' heir.
Tiberius also adopts Germanicus as his own heir.
Sextus Aelius Catus becomes consul.
The Lex Aelia Sentia regulates the manumission of slaves.
Signature of a pact of non-aggression and friendship between the Roman Empire, represented by Tiberius, and the German tribe the Cherusci, represented by their King Segimer. Arminius and Flavus, sons of Segimer, were brought into the Roman army as the Leaders of the auxiliary troops.
Julia the Elder returns from exile to live in Rhegium in disgrace.
Augustus Pardons Gnaeus Cornelius Cinna Magnus along with Aemilia Lepida, the daughter of Marcus Aemilius Lepidus for alleged involvement in a conspiracy against the emperor.
Marcus Plautius Silvanus is appointed proconsul of Asia.
Polianus Maradonius becomes Archon of Athens
Mid-East
King Phraataces and Queen Musa of Parthia are overthrown and killed, the crown being offered to Orodes III of Parthia – the beginning of the interregnum
Asia
Namhae Chachaung succeeds Bak Hyeokgeose as king of the Korean kingdom of Silla (traditional date)
Emperor Ping of Han marries Empress Wang (Ping) daughter of Wang Mang cementing his influence.
By topic
Arts and sciences
Nicholas of Damascus writes the 14 volume History of the World.
Births
Columella, Roman writer (d. 70)
Daemusin of Goguryeo, king of Goguryeo (d. 44)
Deaths
Gaius Caesar, son of Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa and Julia the Elder, dies from wounds suffered during a campaign in Artagira, Armenia.
Bak Hyeokgeose of Silla, first ruler of Korea.
Gaius Asinius Pollio, Roman emperor, poet and historian (b. 65 BC).
Terentia, first wife of Marcus Tullius Cicero (b. 98 BC).
Ariobarzanes II, King of Media Atropatane (b. 40 BC).
Artavasdas IV, King of Armenia (b. 20 BC).
References |
5465 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/5 | 5 | 5 (V) is a common year of the Julian calendar which started on a Thursday. According to the Gregorian calendar, it started on a Saturday. It was known as the Year of the Consulship of Messalla and Cinna. It was the 5th year of the 1st century.
It is one of only seven years to use just one Roman numeral. The seven are 1 AD (I), 5 AD (V), 10 AD (X), 50 AD (L), 100 AD (C), 500 AD (D), and 1000 AD (M).
Events
Roman Empire
Rome acknowledges Cunobelinus, King of the Catuvellauni, as King of Britain.
Germanic Tribes Cimbri and Charydes send ambassadors to Rome
Gnaeus Cornelius Cinna Magnus, Lucius Valerius Messalla Volesus (or Gaius Ateius Capito) become Roman consuls
Tiberius conquers Germania Inferior
Agrippina the Elder marries Germanicus her second cousin.
Livilla marries Drusus Julius Caesar, Tiberius's son.
Polycharmus Azenius becomes Archon of Athens.
China
Emperor Ping of Han is assassinated. Grand Empress Dowager Wang appoints Wang Mang as acting-emperor of Han until a suitable successor is found to replace the childless Ping.
Births
Julia, daughter of Drusus Julius Caesar and Livilla (d. 43)
Drusilla of Mauretania
Ruzi Ying, great-grandson of Emperor Xuan Han, Emperor of China (d. 25)
Yin Lihua, Empress of China (d. 64)
Deaths
Gaius Asinius Pollio, Roman orator, poet and historian (b. 76 or 75 BC)
Ping of Han, Emperor of China is assassinated, poisoned it is believed on the orders of Wang Mang (b. 14 BC).
References
0s |
5466 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/6 | 6 | 6 (VI) is a common year of the Julian calendar which started on a Friday. According to the Gregorian calendar, it started on a Sunday. It was the 6th year of the 1st century.
Events
Roman Empire
Herod Archelaus, the ethnarch of Samaria, Judea, and Idumea is deposed and banished to vienne in Gaul.
Iudaea and Moesia become Roman provinces; Syria is guarded by legions X Fretensis, III Gallica, VI Ferrata, and XII Fulminata.
Augustus sets up a special treasury, the aerarium militare to pay bonuses to retiring legion veterans.
Tiberius makes Carnuntum his base of operations against Maroboduus; The Roman legion XX Valeria Victrix fights with Tiberius against the Marcomanni.
the Pannonians, with the Dalmatians and other Illyrian tribes, revolted, only to be overcome by Tiberius after a hard-fought three year long campaign.
The building of a Roman fort starts the current city of Wiesbaden.
Caecina Severus is made governor of Moesia.
Publius Sulpicius Quirinius becomes Governor of Syria and nominally of Judea.
Quirinius conducts a census in Judea (according to Josephus), which results in a revolt in the province, led by Judas the Galilean, and supported by the Pharisee Sadoq. The revolt is repressed, and the rebels are crucified, but it results in the birth of the Zealot movement, the members of which regard God as their only master.
Due to a food shortage in Rome, Augustus doubles the corn rations distributed to the people.
Due to a catastrophic fire in Rome, the barracks system is created to allow quicker response in the case of emergencies.
Augustus banishes Agrippa Postumus, one of his adopted sons, to the island of Planasia.
Marcus Aemilius Lepidus and Lucius Arruntius become Roman consuls.
Theophilus becomes Archon of Athens. There are no further records of Archons until after 23.
Africa
Juba II of Maurentia and Numidia marries Glaphyra, a princess from Cappadocia. The marriage is brief as Glaphyra falls for Herod Archelaus and moves to Judea (This union is partially responsible for Herod's ouster from Judea).
Following the ousting of Orodes III, Vorones I is appointed by Rome as King of Parthia. Parthian grandees refuse to accept him as king. They invite Artabanus II, another member of the Arsacid house, to the throne, precipitating civil war.
Asia
Accession of Ru Zi Ying of the Han Dynasty in China and start of Jushe era of the Chinese Han Dynasty.
Candidates for political office in China must take civil-service examinations.
the imperial Liu clan begins to suspect the intentions of Wang Mang and foment agrarian rebellions during the course of Ruzi Ying's reign. The first of these is led by Liu Chong, Marquess of Ang-Zong
The Introduction of the so-called Section 377 of the British Indian penal code (Law) October, in 1860 is enacted in British India respectively.
Births
Jesus, usually considered the latest possible year of birth, based on the Quirinius census in that year
Nero Caesar, son of Germanicus and Agrippina the elder (d. 30).
Milonia Caesonia, Roman empress (d. 41).
Deaths
February 3 – Ping, emperor of Han Dynasty (b. 9 BC)
Cleopatra Selene (II), Egyptian ruler of Cyrenaica and Libya (b. 40 BC)
Orodes III, briefly emperor of Parthia
References
0s |
5467 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/7 | 7 | 7 (VII) is a common year of the Julian calendar which started on a Saturday. According to the Gregorian calendar, it started on a Monday. It was the 7th year of the 1st century.
Events
By place
Roman Empire
The Illyrians revolt against Roman rule.
Pannonians revolt with Dalmatians and Illyrian tribes against Roman rule.
Roman Emperor Caesar Augustus dismisses the Judean ethnarch Herod Archelaus.
Publius Quinctilius Varus is appointed governor of Germany.
Tiberius Quinctilius Varus, legate, is charged with organizing Germany between the Rhine and Elba rivers. He carries out a census, devises tributes and recruits soldiers, all of which create dissension among the Germans.
Abgarus of Edessa is deposed as king of Osroene.
Construction of the Temple of Concordia begins.
Asia
Vonones I of the Arsacid Dynasty becomes ruler of Parthia
Zhai Yi, Governor of the Commandery of Dong (modern Puyang, Henan) declares Liu Zin, Marquess of Yang Xiang (modern Tai'an, Shandong) emperor. This proves to be the largest of the rebellions against Emperor Ruzi of Han.
Wang Mang puts down the rebellion during the winter. Zhai is captured and executed while Liu Xin escapes.
By Topic
Arts and Sciences
Strabo writes Geographia (some claimed around AD 18).
Livy is appointed to tutor Claudius in history. Claudius begins writing and researching a history of the Roman Civil Wars which is critical of Augustus. Livia and Antonia Minor force him to stop his work destroying any opportunity for political advancement.
Births
Drusus Caesar, son of Germanicus and Agrippina the elder (d. 33).
Gnaeus Domitius Corbulo, Roman General (d. 67).
Deaths
Athenodoros Cananites, Stoic philosopher (b. 74 BC).
References
0s |
5468 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/8 | 8 | 8 (VIII) is a leap year of the Julian calendar which started on a Sunday. According to the Gregorian calendar, it started on a Tuesday. It was the 8th year of the 1st century.
Events
Roman Empire
August 3 – Roman general Tiberius defeats Dalmatians on the river Bathinus.
Vipsania Julia is exiled. Lucius Aemilius Paullus and his family are disgraced. Augustus breaks off engagement of Claudius to Paullus' daughter Aemilia Lepida.
Effort is made to betrothe Claudius to Livia Medullina
Marcus Furius Camillus, Sextus Nonius Quinctilianus, suff. Lucius Apronius become Roman Consuls.
Roman poet Ovid is banished from Rome and exiled to the Black Sea near Tomis (present-day Constanţa).
Ovid begins the Fasti (Festivals), 6 books that detail the first 6 months of the year.
Europe
Tincomarus, deposed king of the Atrebates, flees Britain for Rome; Eppillus becomes king.
Mid-East
Vonones I becomes king of Parthia.
Asia
Start of Chushi era of the Chinese Han Dynasty.
Wang Mang seizes power in China and establishes the short-lived Xin Dynasty.
China invents paper, which is first used by the military.
Births
Titus Flavius Sabinus, Roman consul and brother of emperor Vespasian (d. 69)
Deaths
Marcus Valerius Messalla Corvinus, Roman general (b. 64 BC).
References
0s |
5469 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/9 | 9 | 9 (IX) is a common year of the Julian calendar which started on a Tuesday. According to the Gregorian calendar, it started on a Thursday. It was the 9th year of the 1st century.
Events
Roman Empire
Illyria is turned into a province after a revolt has been defeated.
The Rhine River is established as the boundary between the Latin and German speaking worlds, following the defeat of the Roman army, under the command of Varus, at the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest.
Ovid is banished to Tomis.
Pannonia (modern-day Hungary) submits to Roman rule.
In order to increase the number of marriages, and ultimately the population, the lex Papia Poppaea is adopted in Rome. This law prohibits celibacy and childless relationships.
Roman finances become strained following the Danubian insurrection, and Varus' defeat in Germany. This results in the levying of two new taxes: five percent of inheritances, and one percent on sales.
Ovid completes Ibis.
Asia
Wang Mang founds the short-lived Xin Dynasty in China (until 25).
Births
November 18 - Vespasian, Roman emperor
Deaths
Publius Quinctilius Varus, Roman general, at the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest, said to have committed suicide
References
9 |
5470 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/10 | 10 | 10 is a year in the 1st century. It was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar. At the time, throughout the Roman Empire, it was known as the year of the consulship of Dolabella and Silanus
Events
Differentiation of localized Teutonic tribes of the Irminones.
The Greek dynasty in Bactria is ended
Publius Cornelius Dolabella is a Roman Consul.
Illyria is divided into Pannonia and Dalmatia.
Ovid finishes writing Tristia (the "Sorrows") (5 books) and Epistulae ex Ponto (Letters from the Black Sea) (4 books) describing the sadness of banishment.
Births
Hero of Alexandria, Greek engineer (d. c. 70)
Saint Peter, one of Jesus' disciples and the first pope (d. c. 64).
Deaths
Didymus Chalcenterus, Greek scholar and grammarian. (b. c. 63 BC)
10s |
5471 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/11 | 11 | 11 is a year in the 1st century. It was a common year starting on Thursday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Lepidus and Taurus.
Events
Germania Inferior and the Rhine secured by Germanicus
Augustus ends his plan to create a defensive border at the Elbe. This is to reinforce the Roman defence along the Rhine and the Danube.
Artabanus III of the Arsacid Dynasty becomes ruler of Parthia
In India, Satakarni begins his reign as Emperor of the Andhra Empire (11-29)
Births
Deaths
Marcus Antistius Labeo, Roman jurist
10s |
5472 | https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/12 | 12 | 12 is a year in the 1st century. It was a leap year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Caesar and Capito.
Events
Annius Rufus is appointed Prefect of Judea.
Germanicus and Gaius Fonteius Capito become Roman Consuls.
Quirinius returns from Judea to become a counselor to Tiberius
Ovid stops writing Fasti because of the lack of resources (being far from the libraries of Rome). He completes 6 books that detail festivals found in the Roman Calendar.
Births
August 31 – Caligula, Roman Emperor
12 |
Subsets and Splits