diff --git "a/wikipedia_16.txt" "b/wikipedia_16.txt" new file mode 100644--- /dev/null +++ "b/wikipedia_16.txt" @@ -0,0 +1,10000 @@ + +Not only is the Quran the first work of any significant length written in the language, but it also has a far more complicated structure than the earlier literary works with its 114 suwar (chapters) which contain 6,236 ayat (verses). It contains injunctions, narratives, homilies, parables, direct addresses from God, instructions and even comments on how the Quran will be received and understood. It is also admired for its layers of metaphor as well as its clarity, a feature which is mentioned in An-Nahl, the 16th surah. + +Al-Jahiz (born 776, in Basra – December 868/January 869) was an Arab prose writer and author of works of literature, Mu'tazili theology, and politico-religious polemics. A leading scholar in the Abbasid Caliphate, his canon includes two hundred books on various subjects, including Arabic grammar, zoology, poetry, lexicography, and rhetoric. Of his writings, only thirty books survive. Al-Jāḥiẓ was also one of the first Arabian writers to suggest a complete overhaul of the language's grammatical system, though this would not be undertaken until his fellow linguist Ibn Maḍāʾ took up the matter two hundred years later. + +There is a small remnant of pre-Islamic poetry, but Arabic literature predominantly emerges in the Middle Ages, during the Golden Age of Islam. Imru' al-Qais was a king and poet in the 6th century, he was the last king of Kindite. He is among the finest Arabic poetry to date, as well sometimes considered the father of Arabic poetry. Kitab al-Aghani by Abul-Faraj was called by the 14th-century historian Ibn Khaldun the register of the Arabs. Literary Arabic is derived from Classical Arabic, based on the language of the Quran as it was analyzed by Arabic grammarians beginning in the 8th century. + +A large portion of Arabic literature before the 20th century is in the form of poetry, and even prose from this period is either filled with snippets of poetry or is in the form of saj or rhymed prose. The ghazal or love poem had a long history being at times tender and chaste and at other times rather explicit. In the Sufi tradition the love poem would take on a wider, mystical and religious importance. + +Arabic epic literature was much less common than poetry, and presumably originates in oral tradition, written down from the 14th century or so. Maqama or rhymed prose is intermediate between poetry and prose, and also between fiction and non-fiction. Maqama was an incredibly popular form of Arabic literature, being one of the few forms which continued to be written during the decline of Arabic in the 17th and 18th centuries. + +Arabic literature and culture declined significantly after the 13th century, to the benefit of Turkish and Persian. A modern revival took place beginning in the 19th century, alongside resistance against Ottoman rule. The literary revival is known as al-Nahda in Arabic, and was centered in Egypt and Lebanon. Two distinct trends can be found in the nahda period of revival. + +The first was a neo-classical movement which sought to rediscover the literary traditions of the past, and was influenced by traditional literary genres—such as the maqama—and works like One Thousand and One Nights. In contrast, a modernist movement began by translating Western modernist works—primarily novels—into Arabic. A tradition of modern Arabic poetry was established by writers such as Francis Marrash, Ahmad Shawqi and Hafiz Ibrahim. Iraqi poet Badr Shakir al-Sayyab is considered to be the originator of free verse in Arabic poetry. + +Cuisine + +Arab cuisine is largely divided into Khaleeji cuisine, Levantine cuisine and Maghrebi cuisine. Is characterized by a variety of herbs and spices, including cumin, coriander, cinnamon, sumac, za'atar, and cardamom, which add depth and complexity to dishes. + +In the Maghreb, is known for its use of Couscous, a type of semolina pasta that is served with stews or tagines made with meat, vegetables, and aromatic spices such as cumin, coriander, and saffron. In the Levant, its cuisine is known for its mezze, a variety of small dishes that are served as appetizers or side dishes. Mezze dishes include Hummus, Baba ghanoush, Tabouleh and stuffed grape leaves, is also known for its Kebabs, Shawarma and Falafel. Gulf cuisine leans heavily on meat and rice and is heavily spiced, its use of rice, meat, and spices, such as saffron and cardamom. Mansaf, a traditional dish from Jordan made with lamb, rice, and a fermented yogurt sauce, is a popular dish in the Arabian Peninsula. Fertile Crescent cuisine is known for its use of herbs and spices, such as mint, dill, and cilantro. Tharid, a soup made with bread, lamb, and vegetables, is a traditional Iraqi dish, as well other popular Iraqi dishes include Dolma, a dish of stuffed vegetables, and kubba, a dish of stuffed meatballs. + +Arab cuisine is also known for its sweets and desserts, such as Knafeh, Baklava, Halva, and Qatayef. Arabic coffee, or qahwa, is a traditional drink that is served with dates. Arab cuisine has influenced other cuisines various cultures, including Ottoman, Persian, and Andalusian. Arab cuisine is rich in history and culture, and each region has its unique flavors and cooking styles that reflect its traditions and heritage. + +One will find the following items in most dishes; cinnamon, fish (in coastal areas), garlic, lamb (or veal), mild to hot sauces, mint, onion, rice, saffron, sesame, yogurt, spices due to heavy trading between the two regions. Tea, thyme (or oregano), turmeric, a variety of fruits (primarily citrus) and vegetables such as cucumbers, eggplants, lettuce, tomato, green pepper, green beans, zucchini and parsley. + +Art + +Arabic art has taken various forms, including, among other things, jewelry, textiles and architecture. Arabic script has also traditionally been heavily embellished with often colorful Arabic calligraphy, with one notable and widely used example being Kufic script. Arabic miniatures (Arabic: الْمُنَمْنَمَات الْعَرَبِيَّة, Al-Munamnamāt al-ʿArabīyah) are small paintings on paper, usually book or manuscript illustrations but also sometimes separate artworks that occupy entire pages. The earliest example dates from around 690 CE, with a flourishing of the art from between 1000 and 1200 CE in the Abbasid caliphate. The art form went through several stages of evolution while witnessing the fall and rise of several Arab caliphates. + +Arab miniaturists got totally assimilated and subsequently disappeared due to the Ottoman occupation of the Arab world. Nearly all forms of Islamic miniatures (Persian miniatures, Ottoman miniatures and Mughal miniatures) owe their existences to Arabic miniatures, as Arab patrons were the first to demand the production of illuminated manuscripts in the Caliphate, it was not until the 14th century that the artistic skill reached the non-Arab regions of the Caliphate. + +Despite the considerable changes in Arabic miniature style and technique, even during their last decades, the early Umayyad Arab influence could still be noticed. Arabic miniature artists include Ismail al-Jazari, who illustrated his own Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices, and the Abbasid artist, Yahya Al-Wasiti, who probably lived in Baghdad in the late Abbasid era (12th to 13th-centuries), was one of the pre-eminent exponents of the Baghdad school. + +In 1236-1237, he is known to have transcribed and illustrated the book, Maqamat (also known as the Assemblies or the Sessions), a series of anecdotes of social satire written by Al-Hariri of Basra. The narrative concerns the travels of a middle-aged man as he uses his charm and eloquence to swindle his way across the Arabic world. + +With most surviving Arabic manuscripts in western museums, Arabic miniatures occupy very little space in modern Arab culture. Arabesque is a form of artistic decoration consisting of "surface decorations based on rhythmic linear patterns of scrolling and interlacing foliage, tendrils" or plain lines, often combined with other elements. Another definition is "Foliate ornament, typically using leaves, derived from stylised half-palmettes, which were combined with spiralling stems". It usually consists of a single design which can be 'tiled' or seamlessly repeated as many times as desired. + +Architecture + +Arabic Architecture has a deep diverse history as well Arab world is home to the greatest number of UNESCO World Heritage Sites (List of World Heritage Sites in the Arab states), it dates to the dawn of the history in pre-Islamic Arabia and includes various styles from the Nabataean architecture developed in the ancient kingdom of the Nabataeans, who were a nomadic Arab tribe that controlled a significant portion of the Middle East from the 4th century BCE to the 2nd century CE. The Nabataeans were known for their skill in carving out elaborate buildings, tombs, and other structures from the sandstone cliffs of the region. One of the most famous examples of Nabataean architecture is the city of Petra, which is located in modern-day Jordan, was the capital of the Nabataean kingdom and is renowned for its impressive rock-cut architecture. + +Prior to the start of the Arab conquests, Arab tribal client states, the Lakhmids and Ghassanids, played a significant role in transmitting and adapting the architectural traditions of the Byzantine and Sasanian empires to the later Arab Islamic dynasties, which lasted from the 7th to the 13th century, was characterized by a fusion of various architectural styles and techniques. + +The Arab empire expanded rapidly, and with it, came a diverse range of architectural influences. One of the most notable architectural achievements of the Arab Empire is the Great Mosque of Damascus in Syria, which was built in the early 8th century, was constructed on the site of a Christian basilica and incorporated elements of Byzantine and Roman architecture, such as arches, columns, and intricate mosaics. Another important architectural is the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, which was built in the late 7th century. The mosque features an impressive dome and a large prayer hall, as well as intricate geometric patterns and calligraphy on the walls. + +During the Umayyad and Abbasid periods of the Arab Empire, many new architectural forms were developed, including the horseshoe arch, the pointed arch, and the muqarnas, a type of vaulting used to create intricate, three-dimensional geometric patterns. These Arab client states were located on the borders of the two empires, and as such, they were exposed to the cultural and architectural influences of both. + +In Sicily, Arab-Norman architecture combined Occidental features, such as the Classical pillars and friezes, with typical Arabic decorations and calligraphy. The principal Islamic architectural types are: the Mosque, the Tomb, the Palace and the Fort. From these four types, the vocabulary of Islamic architecture is derived and used for other buildings such as public baths, fountains and domestic architecture. + +Music + +Arabic music, while independent and flourishing in the 2010s, has a long history of interaction with many other regional musical styles and genres. It is an amalgam of the music of the Arab people in the Arabian Peninsula and the music of all the peoples that make up the Arab world today. Pre-Islamic Arab music was similar to that of Ancient Middle Eastern music. Most historians agree that there existed distinct forms of music in the Arabian peninsula in the pre-Islamic period between the 5th and 7th century CE. Arab poets of that "Jahili poets", meaning "the poets of the period of ignorance"—used to recite poems with a high notes. It was believed that Jinns revealed poems to poets and music to musicians. By the 11th century, Islamic Iberia had become a center for the manufacture of instruments. These goods spread gradually throughout France, influencing French troubadours, and eventually reaching the rest of Europe. The English words lute, rebec, and naker are derived from Arabic oud, rabab, and naqareh. + +A number of musical instruments used in classical music are believed to have been derived from Arabic musical instruments: the lute was derived from the Oud, the rebec (ancestor of violin) from the Maghreb rebab, the guitar from qitara, which in turn was derived from the Persian Tar, naker from naqareh, adufe from al-duff, alboka from al-buq, anafil from al-nafir, exabeba from al-shabbaba (flute), atabal (bass drum) from al-tabl, atambal from al-tinbal, the balaban, the castanet from kasatan, sonajas de azófar from sunuj al-sufr, the conical bore wind instruments, the xelami from the sulami or fistula (flute or musical pipe), the shawm and dulzaina from the reed instruments zamr and al-zurna, the gaita from the ghaita, rackett from iraqya or iraqiyya, geige (violin) from ghichak, and the theorbo from the tarab. + +During the 1950s and the 1960s, Arabic music began to take on a more Western tone – artists Umm Kulthum, Abdel Halim Hafez, and Shadia along with composers Mohamed Abd al-Wahab and Baligh Hamdi pioneered the use of western instruments in Egyptian music. By the 1970s several other singers had followed suit and a strand of Arabic pop was born. Arabic pop usually consists of Western styled songs with Arabic instruments and lyrics. Melodies are often a mix between Eastern and Western. Beginning in the mid-1980s, Lydia Canaan, musical pioneer widely regarded as the first rock star of the Middle East + +Spirituality + +Arab polytheism was the dominant religion in pre-Islamic Arabia. Gods and goddesses, including Hubal and the goddesses al-Lāt, Al-'Uzzá and Manāt, were worshipped at local shrines, such as the Kaaba in Mecca, whilst Arabs in the south, in what is today's Yemen, worshipped various gods, some of which represented the Sun or Moon. Different theories have been proposed regarding the role of Allah in Meccan religion. Many of the physical descriptions of the pre-Islamic gods are traced to idols, especially near the Kaaba, which is said to have contained up to 360 of them. Until about the fourth century, almost all Arabs practised polytheistic religions. Although significant Jewish and Christian minorities developed, polytheism remained the dominant belief system in pre-Islamic Arabia. + +The religious beliefs and practices of the nomadic bedouin were distinct from those of the settled tribes of towns such as Mecca. Nomadic religious belief systems and practices are believed to have included fetishism, totemism and veneration of the dead but were connected principally with immediate concerns and problems and did not consider larger philosophical questions such as the afterlife. Settled urban Arabs, on the other hand, are thought to have believed in a more complex pantheon of deities. While the Meccans and the other settled inhabitants of the Hejaz worshipped their gods at permanent shrines in towns and oases, the bedouin practised their religion on the move. + +Most notable Arab gods and goddesses: 'Amm, A'ra, Abgal, Allah, Al-Lat, Al-Qaum, Almaqah, Anbay, ʿAṯtar, Basamum, Dhu l-Khalasa, Dushara, Haukim, Hubal, Isāf and Nā'ila, Manaf, Manāt, Nasr, Nuha, Quzah, Ruda, Sa'd, Shams, Samas, Syn, Suwa', Ta'lab, Theandrios, al-‘Uzzá, Wadd, Ya'uq, Yaghūth, Yatha, Aglibol, Astarte, Atargatis, Baalshamin, Bēl, Bes, Ēl, Ilāh, Inanna/Ishtar, Malakbel, Nabū, Nebo, Nergal, Yarhibol. + +Philosophy + +The philosophical thought in the Arab world is heavily influenced by Arabic Philosophy. Schools of Arabic/Islamic thought include Avicennism and Averroism. The first great Arab thinker in the Islamic tradition is widely regarded to be al-Kindi (801–873 A.D.), a Neo-Platonic philosopher, mathematician and scientist who lived in Kufa and Baghdad (modern day Iraq). After being appointed by the Abbasid Caliphs to translate Greek scientific and philosophical texts into Arabic, he wrote a number of original treatises of his own on a range of subjects, from metaphysics and ethics to mathematics and pharmacology. + +Much of his philosophical output focuses on theological subjects such as the nature of God, the soul and prophetic knowledge. Doctrines of the Arabic philosophers of the 9th–12th century who influenced medieval Scholasticism in Europe. The Arabic tradition combines Aristotelianism and Neoplatonism with other ideas introduced through Islam. Influential thinkers include the non-Arabs al-Farabi and Avicenna. The Arabic philosophic literature was translated into Hebrew and Latin, this contributed to the development of modern European philosophy. The Arabic tradition was developed by Moses Maimonides and Ibn Khaldun. + +Science + +Arabic science underwent considerable development during the Middle Ages (8th to 13th centuries CE), a source of knowledge that later spread throughout Medieval Europe and greatly influenced both medical practice and education. The language of recorded science was Arabic. Scientific treatises were composed by thinkers originating from across the Muslim world. These accomplishments occurred after Muhammad united the Arab tribes and the spread of Islam beyond the Arabian peninsula. + +Within a century after Muhammed's death (632 CE), an empire ruled by Arabs was established. It encompassed a large part of the planet, stretching from southern Europe to North Africa to Central Asia and on to India. In 711 CE, Arab Muslims invaded southern Spain; al-Andalus was a center of Arabic scientific accomplishment. Soon after, Sicily too joined the greater Islamic world. Another center emerged in Baghdad from the Abbasids, who ruled part of the Islamic world during a historic period later characterized as the "Golden Age" (~750 to 1258 CE). + +This era can be identified as the years between 692 and 945, and ended when the caliphate was marginalized by local Muslim rulers in Baghdad – its traditional seat of power. From 945 onward until the sacking of Baghdad by the Mongols in 1258, the Caliph continued on as a figurehead, with power devolving more to local subordinates. The pious scholars of Islam, men and women collectively known as the ulama, were the most influential element of society in the fields of Sharia law, speculative thought and theology. Arabic scientific achievement is not as yet fully understood, but is very large. These achievements encompass a wide range of subject areas, especially mathematics, astronomy, and medicine. Other subjects of scientific inquiry included physics, alchemy and chemistry, cosmology, ophthalmology, geography and cartography, sociology, and psychology. + +Al-Battani was an astronomer, astrologer and mathematician of the Islamic Golden Age. His work is considered instrumental in the development of science and astronomy. One of Al-Battani's best-known achievements in astronomy was the determination of the solar year as being 365 days, 5 hours, 46 minutes and 24 seconds which is only 2 minutes and 22 seconds off. In mathematics, al-Battānī produced a number of trigonometrical relationships. Al-Zahrawi, regarded by many as the greatest surgeon of the middle ages. His surgical treatise "De chirurgia" is the first illustrated surgical guide ever written. It remained the primary source for surgical procedures and instruments in Europe for the next 500 years. The book helped lay the foundation to establish surgery as a scientific discipline independent from medicine, earning al-Zahrawi his name as one of the founders of this field. + +Other notable Arabic contributions include among other things: the pioneering of organic chemistry by Jābir ibn Hayyān, establishing the science of cryptology and cryptanalysis by al-Kindi, the development of analytic geometry by Ibn al-Haytham, who has been described as the "world's first true scientist", the discovery of the pulmonary circulation by Ibn al-Nafis, the discovery of the itch mite parasite by Ibn Zuhr, the first use of irrational numbers as an algebraic objects by Abū Kāmil, the first use of the positional decimal fractions by al-Uqlidisi, the development of the Arabic numerals and an early algebraic symbolism in the Maghreb, the Thabit number and Thābit theorem by Thābit ibn Qurra, the discovery of several new trigonometric identities by Ibn Yunus and al-Battani, the mathematical proof for Ceva's theorem by Ibn Hűd, the first accurate lunar model by Ibn al-Shatir, the invention of the torquetum by Jabir ibn Aflah, the invention of the universal astrolabe and the equatorium by al-Zarqali, the first description of the crankshaft by al-Jazari, the anticipation of the inertia concept by Averroes, the discovery of the physical reaction by Avempace, the identification of more than 200 new plants by Ibn al-Baitar the Arab Agricultural Revolution, and the Tabula Rogeriana, which was the most accurate world map in pre-modern times by al-Idrisi. + +The birth of the University institution can be traced to this development, as several universities and educational institutions of the Arab world such as the University of Al Quaraouiyine, Al Azhar University, and Al Zaytuna University are considered to be the oldest in the world. Founded by Fatima al Fihri in 859 as a mosque, the University of Al Quaraouiyine in Fez is the oldest existing, continually operating and the first degree awarding educational institution in the world according to UNESCO and Guinness World Records and is sometimes referred to as the oldest university. + +There are many scientific Arabic loanwords in Western European languages, including English, mostly via Old French. This includes traditional star names such as Aldebaran, scientific terms like alchemy (whence also chemistry), algebra, algorithm, alcohol, alkali, cipher, zenith, etc. + +Under Ottoman rule, cultural life and science in the Arab world declined. In the 20th and 21st centuries, Arabs who have won important science prizes include Ahmed Zewail and Elias Corey (Nobel Prize), Michael DeBakey and Alim Benabid (Lasker Award), Omar M. Yaghi (Wolf Prize), Huda Zoghbi (Shaw Prize), Zaha Hadid (Pritzker Prize), and Michael Atiyah (both Fields Medal and Abel Prize). Rachid Yazami was one of the co-inventors of the lithium-ion battery, and Tony Fadell was important in the development of the iPod and the iPhone. + +Theatre + +Arab theatre is a rich and diverse cultural form that encompasses a wide range of styles, genres, and historical influences. Its roots in the pre-Islamic era, when poetry, storytelling, and musical performances were the main forms of artistic expressionIt refers to theatrical performances that are created by Arab playwrights, actors, and directors. The roots of Arab theatre can be traced back to ancient Arabic poetry and storytelling, which often incorporated music and dance. In the early Arabic period, storytelling evolved into a more formalized art form that was performed in public gatherings and festivals. + +During the Islamic Golden Age in the 8th and 9th centuries, the city of Baghdad emerged as a hub of intellectual and artistic activity, including theatre. The court of the Abbasid Caliphate was home to many influential playwrights and performers, who helped to develop and popularize theatre throughout the Islamic world. Arab theatre has a long tradition of incorporating comedy and satire into its performances, often using humor to address social and political issues. + +Arab theatre encompasses a wide range of dramatic genres, including tragedy, melodrama, and historical plays. Many Arab playwrights have used drama to address contemporary issues, the role of women in Arab society, and the challenges facing young people in the modern world. In recent decades, many Arab theatre artists have pushed the boundaries of the form, experimenting with new styles and techniques. This has led to the emergence of a vibrant contemporary theatre scene in many Arab countries, with innovative productions and performances that challenge traditional notions of Arab identity and culture. + +Fashion + +Arab fashion and design have a rich history and cultural significance that spans centuries, each with its unique fashion and design traditions. One of the most notable aspects of Arab fashion is the use of luxurious fabrics and intricate embroidery. Traditional garments, such as the Abaya and Thobe, are often made from high-quality fabrics like silk, satin, brocade, and are embellished with intricate embroidery and beading. In recent years, Arab fashion has gained global recognition, with designers like Elie Saab, Zuhair Murad, and Reem Acra showcasing their designs on international runways. + +These designers incorporate traditional Arab design elements into their collections, such as ornate patterns, luxurious fabrics, and intricate embellishments. In addition to fashion, Arab design is also characterized by its intricate geometric patterns, calligraphy, and use of vibrant colors. Arabic art and architecture, with their intricate geometric patterns and motifs, have influenced Arab design for centuries. Arab designers also incorporate traditional motifs, such as the paisley and the arabesque, into their work. Overall, Arab fashion elements are rooted in the rich cultural heritage of the Arab world and continue to inspire designers today. + +Wedding and marriage + +Arabic weddings have changed greatly in the past 100 years. Original traditional Arabic weddings are supposed to be very similar to modern-day Bedouin weddings and rural weddings, and they are in some cases unique from one region to another, even within the same country. The practice of marrying of relatives is a common feature of Arab culture. + +In the Arab world today between 40% and 50% of all marriages are consanguineous or between close family members, though these figures may vary among Arab nations. In Egypt, around 40% of the population marry a cousin. A 1992 survey in Jordan found that 32% were married to a first cousin; a further 17.3% were married to more distant relatives. 67% of marriages in Saudi Arabia are between close relatives as are 54% of all marriages in Kuwait, whereas 18% of all Lebanese were between blood relatives. Due to the actions of Muhammad and the Rightly Guided Caliphs, marriage between cousins is explicitly allowed in Islam and the Quran itself does not discourage or forbid the practice. Nevertheless, opinions vary on whether the phenomenon should be seen as exclusively based on Islamic practices as a 1992 study among Arabs in Jordan did not show significant differences between Christian Arabs or Muslim Arabs when comparing the occurrence of consanguinity. + +Genetics +Arabs are diverse genetically as a result of their intermarriage and mixing with indigenous people of the pre-Islamic Middle East and North Africa following the Islamic expansion. Genetic ancestry components related to the Arabian peninsula display an increasing frequency pattern from west to east over North African, a similar frequency pattern exist across northeastern Africa with decreasing genetic affinities to groups of the Arabian peninsula along the Nile river valley across Sudan and South Sudan the more they go south. This genetic cline of admixture is dated to the time of Arab expansion and immigration to north and northeast Africa. + +In the Levant, the introduction of Islam to the region and the conversion of the region’s population to it caused major rearrangements in populations' relations and affinities through admixture with "culturally similar but geographically remote populations" with whom they enjoyed a shared Islamic culture and Arabic culture and language, which led to "genetic similarities between remarkably distant populations like Jordanians, Moroccans, and Yemenis". + +A 2018 study of Arabs found that peninsular Arabs genetically showed two distinct clusters and that Arabs in general can be genetically stratified into four groups; the first consisting of Maghrebis along with the first Arabian peninsula cluster, which consists of Saudis, Kuwaitis and Yemenis, the second consisting of levantine Arabs (Palestinians, Lebanese, Syrians and Jordanians) along with Egyptians and Iraqis, the third compromising Sudanis and Comorians, and the fourth compromising the second Arabian peninsula cluster consisting of Omanis, Emiratis, and Bahrainis. The study confirmed the high genetic heterogeneity among Arabs, especially those of the Arabian peninsula. + +See also + Arab Union + Arab world + List of Arabs + Lists of Arab companies + North African Arabs + +References + +Notes + +Citations + +Sources + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + (2 volumes) + + + + + + + Touma, Habib Hassan. The Music of the Arabs. Portland, Oregon: Amadeus P, 1996. . + + Lipinski, Edward. Semitic Languages: Outlines of a Comparative Grammar, 2nd ed., Orientalia Lovanensia Analecta: Leuven 2001 + Kees Versteegh, The Arabic Language, Edinburgh University Press (1997) + The Catholic Encyclopedia, Robert Appleton Company, 1907, Online Edition, K. Night 2003: article Arabia + History of Arabic language(1894), Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd. + The Arabic language, National Institute for Technology and Liberal Education web page (2006) + + Hooker, Richard. "Pre-Islamic Arabic Culture." WSU Web Site. 6 June 1999. Washington State University. + Owen, Roger. "State Power and Politics in the Making of the Modern Middle East 3rd Ed" Page 57 + +Further reading + Price-Jones, David. The Closed Circle: an Interpretation of the Arabs. Pbk. ed., with a new preface by the author. Chicago: I. R. Dee, 2002. xiv, 464 p. + Ankerl, Guy. Coexisting Contemporary Civilizations: Arabo-Muslim, Bharati, Chinese, and Western. INU PRESS, Geneva, 2000. . + +External links + + www.LasPortal.org + ArabCultureFund AFAC (archived 2 December 2016) + + + +Semitic-speaking peoples +Ancient peoples of the Near East +Ethnic groups in Africa +Ethnic groups in North Africa +Ethnic groups in the Arab world +Ethnic groups in the Middle East +Muslim communities in Africa +Muslim communities in Asia +Armadillos (meaning "little armored ones" in Spanish) are New World placental mammals in the order Cingulata. The Chlamyphoridae and Dasypodidae are the only surviving families in the order, which is part of the superorder Xenarthra, along with the anteaters and sloths. Nine extinct genera and 21 extant species of armadillo have been described, some of which are distinguished by the number of bands on their armor. All species are native to the Americas, where they inhabit a variety of different environments. + +Armadillos are characterized by a leathery armor shell and long, sharp claws for digging. They have short legs, but can move quite quickly. The average length of an armadillo is about , including its tail. The giant armadillo grows up to and weighs up to , while the pink fairy armadillo has a length of only . When threatened by a predator, Tolypeutes species frequently roll up into a ball; they are the only species of armadillo capable of this. + +Etymology +The word armadillo means "little armored one" in Spanish; it is derived from "armadura" (armor), with the diminutive suffix "-illo" attached. While the phrase "little armored one" would translate to "armadito" normally, the suffix "-illo" can be used in place of "-ito" when the diminutive is used in an approximative tense. The Aztecs called them āyōtōchtli , Nahuatl for "turtle-rabbit": āyōtl (turtle) and tōchtli (rabbit). The Portuguese word for "armadillo" is tatu which is derived from the Tupi language ta "bark, armor" and tu "dense"; and used in Argentina, Bolivia, Brasil, Paraguay and Uruguay; similar names are also found in other, especially European, languages. + +Other various vernacular names given are: + + quirquincho (from ) in Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia and Peru; + cuzuco (from Nahuatl) in Costa Rica, El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua; + mulita in Argentina and Uruguay; + peludo in Argentina, Chile, Colombia and Uruguay; + piche in Argentina, Brasil, Chile, Colombia and Paraguay; + cachicamo in Colombia and Venezuela + gurre in Tolima, Caldas and Antioquia, Colombia; + jerre-jerre in Caribbean Colombia; + jueche in southeast Mexico; + toche in the state of Veracruz, Mexico; + carachupa in Perú. + +ClassificationFamily Dasypodidae Subfamily Dasypodinae + Genus Dasypus +Nine-banded armadillo or long-nosed armadillo, Dasypus novemcinctus +Seven-banded armadillo, Dasypus septemcinctus +Southern long-nosed armadillo, Dasypus hybridus +Llanos long-nosed armadillo, Dasypus sabanicola +Greater long-nosed armadillo, Dasypus kappleri +Hairy long-nosed armadillo, Dasypus pilosus +Yepes's mulita, Dasypus yepesi +†Beautiful armadillo, Dasypus bellus +†Dasypus neogaeus + Genus †StegotheriumFamily Chlamyphoridae''' + Subfamily Chlamyphorinae + Genus Calyptophractus Greater fairy armadillo, Calyptophractus retusus Genus ChlamyphorusPink fairy armadillo, Chlamyphorus truncatus Subfamily Euphractinae + Genus Chaetophractus +Screaming hairy armadillo, Chaetophractus vellerosusBig hairy armadillo, Chaetophractus villosusAndean hairy armadillo, Chaetophractus nationiGenus †MacroeuphractusGenus †PaleuphractusGenus †ProeuphractusGenus †DoellotatusGenus †Peltephilus †Horned armadillo, Peltephilus ferox Genus EuphractusSix-banded armadillo, Euphractus sexcinctus Genus ZaedyusPichi, Zaedyus pichiy Subfamily Tolypeutinae + Genus †Kuntinaru Genus Cabassous +Northern naked-tailed armadillo, Cabassous centralisChacoan naked-tailed armadillo, Cabassous chacoensisSouthern naked-tailed armadillo, Cabassous unicinctusGreater naked-tailed armadillo, Cabassous tatouay Genus PriodontesGiant armadillo, Priodontes maximus Genus TolypeutesSouthern three-banded armadillo, Tolypeutes matacusBrazilian three-banded armadillo, Tolypeutes tricinctus† indicates extinct taxon + +Phylogeny +Below is a recent simplified phylogeny of the xenarthran families, which includes armadillos, based on Slater et al. (2016) and Delsuc et al. (2016). The dagger symbol, "†", denotes extinct groups. + }} + +Evolution +Recent genetic research suggests that an extinct group of giant armored mammals, the glyptodonts, should be included within the lineage of armadillos, having diverged some 35 million years ago, more recently than previously assumed. + +Distribution +Like all of the Xenarthra lineages, armadillos originated in South America. Due to the continent's former isolation, they were confined there for most of the Cenozoic. The recent formation of the Isthmus of Panama allowed a few members of the family to migrate northward into southern North America by the early Pleistocene, as part of the Great American Interchange. (Some of their much larger cingulate relatives, the pampatheres and chlamyphorid glyptodonts, made the same journey.) + +Today, all extant armadillo species are still present in South America. They are particularly diverse in Paraguay (where 11 species exist) and surrounding areas. Many species are endangered. Some, including four species of Dasypus, are widely distributed over the Americas, whereas others, such as Yepes's mulita, are restricted to small ranges. Two species, the northern naked-tailed armadillo and nine-banded armadillo, are found in Central America; the latter has also reached the United States, primarily in the south-central states (notably Texas), but with a range that extends as far east as North Carolina and Florida, and as far north as southern Nebraska and southern Indiana. Their range has consistently expanded in North America over the last century due to a lack of natural predators. Armadillos are increasingly documented in southern Illinois and are tracking northwards due to climate change. + +Characteristics +Size +The smallest species of armadillo, the pink fairy armadillo, weighs around and is in total length. The largest species, the giant armadillo, can weigh up to , and can be long. + +Diet and predation +The diets of different armadillo species vary, but consist mainly of insects, grubs, and other invertebrates. Some species, however, feed almost entirely on ants and termites. + +They are prolific diggers. Many species use their sharp claws to dig for food, such as grubs, and to dig dens. The nine-banded armadillo prefers to build burrows in moist soil near the creeks, streams, and arroyos around which it lives and feeds. + +Armadillos have very poor eyesight, and use their keen sense of smell to hunt for food. They use their claws for digging and finding food, as well as for making their homes in burrows. They dig their burrows with their claws, making only a single corridor the width of the animal's body. They have five clawed toes on their hind feet, and three to five toes with heavy digging claws on their fore feet. Armadillos have numerous cheek teeth which are not divided into premolars and molars, but usually have no incisors or canines. The dentition of the nine-banded armadillo is P 7/7, M 1/1 = 32. + +Body temperature +In common with other xenarthrans, armadillos, in general, have low body temperatures of and low basal metabolic rates (40–60% of that expected in placental mammals of their mass). This is particularly true of types that specialize in using termites as their primary food source (for example, Priodontes and Tolypeutes). + +Skin +The armor is formed by plates of dermal bone covered in relatively small overlapping epidermal scales called "scutes" which are composed of keratin. The skin of an armadillo can glow under ultraviolet light. +Most species have rigid shields over the shoulders and hips, with a number of bands separated by flexible skin covering the back and flanks. Additional armor covers the top of the head, the upper parts of the limbs, and the tail. The underside of the animal is never armored and is simply covered with soft skin and fur. This armor-like skin appears to be an important defense for many armadillos, although most escape predators by fleeing (often into thorny patches, from which their armor protects them) or digging to safety. Only the South American three-banded armadillos (Tolypeutes) rely heavily on their armor for protection. + +Defensive behavior +When threatened by a predator, Tolypeutes species frequently roll up into a ball. Other armadillo species cannot roll up because they have too many plates. The North American nine-banded armadillo tends to jump straight in the air when surprised, so consequently often collides with the undercarriage or fenders of passing vehicles to its demise. + +Movement +Armadillos have short legs, but can move quite quickly. The nine-banded armadillo is noted for its movement through water which is accomplished via two different methods: it can walk underwater for short distances, holding its breath for as long as six minutes; also, to cross larger bodies of water, it is capable of increasing its buoyancy by swallowing air, inflating its stomach and intestines. + +Reproduction +Gestation lasts from 60 to 120 days, depending on species, although the nine-banded armadillo also exhibits delayed implantation, so the young are not typically born for eight months after mating. Most members of the genus Dasypus give birth to four monozygotic young (that is, identical quadruplets), but other species may have typical litter sizes that range from one to eight. The young are born with soft, leathery skin which hardens within a few weeks. They reach sexual maturity in three to twelve months, depending on the species. Armadillos are solitary animals that do not share their burrows with other adults. + +Armadillos and humans + + Science and education +Armadillos are often used in the study of leprosy, since they, along with mangabey monkeys, rabbits, and mice (on their footpads), are among the few known species that can contract the disease systemically. They are particularly susceptible due to their unusually low body temperature, which is hospitable to the leprosy bacterium, Mycobacterium leprae. (The leprosy bacterium is difficult to culture and armadillos have a body temperature of , similar to human skin.) Humans can acquire a leprosy infection from armadillos by handling them or consuming armadillo meat. Armadillos are a presumed vector and natural reservoir for the disease in Texas, Louisiana and Florida. Prior to the arrival of Europeans in the late 15th century, leprosy was unknown in the New World. Given that armadillos are native to the New World, at some point they must have acquired the disease from old-world humans. + +The armadillo is also a natural reservoir for Chagas disease. + +The nine-banded armadillo also serves science through its unusual reproductive system, in which four genetically identical offspring are born, the result of one original egg. Because they are always genetically identical, the group of four young provides a good subject for scientific, behavioral, or medical tests that need consistent biological and genetic makeup in the test subjects. This is the only reliable manifestation of polyembryony in the class Mammalia, and exists only within the genus Dasypus and not in all armadillos, as is commonly believed. Other species that display this trait include parasitoid wasps, certain flatworms, and various aquatic invertebrates. + +Even though they have a leathery, tough shell, Armadillos, (mainly Dasypus) are common roadkill due to their habit of jumping 3–4 ft vertically when startled, which puts them into collision with the underside of vehicles. Wildlife enthusiasts are using the northward march of the armadillo as an opportunity to educate others about the animals, which can be a burrowing nuisance to property owners and managers. + + Culture + +Armadillo shells have traditionally been used to make the back of the charango, an Andean lute instrument. + +In certain parts of Central and South America, armadillo meat is eaten; it is a popular ingredient in Oaxaca, Mexico. During the Great Depression, Americans were known to eat armadillo, known begrudgingly as "Hoover hogs", a nod to the belief that President Herbert Hoover was responsible for the economic despair facing the nation at that time. + +A whimsical account of The Beginning of the Armadillos is one of the chapters of Rudyard Kipling's Just So Stories 1902 children's book. The vocal and piano duo Flanders and Swann recorded a humorous song called "The Armadillo". + +Shel Silverstein wrote a two-line poem called "Instructions" on how to bathe an armadillo in his collection A Light in the Attic''. The reference was "use one bar of soap, a whole lot of hope, and 27 pads of Brillo." + +See also + Armadillo shoe + Echidnas, a type of monotreme with a defensive keratin body covering + Hedgehogs, another mammal group with defensive keratin body coverings + Pangolins, another mammal group with defensive keratin body coverings + Porcupines, another mammal group with defensive keratin body coverings + +References + +Further reading + +External links + + + "Armadillo online" website hosted by zoologist Dr. Joshua Nixon + Photographs of armadillo rolling into a ball + +Armadillos +Cingulates +Extant Thanetian first appearances +Mammal common names +Rolling animals +Antisemitism (prejudice against and hatred of Jews) has increased greatly in the Arab world since the beginning of the 20th century, for several reasons: the dissolution and breakdown of the Ottoman Empire and traditional Islamic society; European influence, brought about by Western imperialism and Arab Christians; Nazi propaganda and relations between Nazi Germany and the Arab world; resentment over Jewish nationalism; the rise of Arab nationalism; and the widespread proliferation of anti-Jewish and anti-Zionist conspiracy theories. + +Traditionally, Jews in the Muslim world were considered to be People of the Book and were subjected to dhimmi status. They were afforded relative security against persecution, provided they did not contest the varying inferior social and legal status imposed on them under Islamic rule. + +While there were antisemitic incidents before the 20th century, during this time antisemitism in the Arab world increased greatly. During the 1930s and the 1940s several Jewish communities in the Arab world suffered from pogroms. The status of Jews in Arab countries deteriorated further at the onset of the Arab–Israeli conflict. After the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, the Palestinian exodus, the creation of the State of Israel and Israeli victories during the wars of 1956 and 1967 were a severe humiliation to Israel's opponents—primarily Egypt, Syria, and Iraq. However, by the mid-1970s the vast majority of Jews had left Arab and Muslim countries, moving primarily to Israel, France, and the United States. The reasons for the exodus are varied and disputed. + +By the 1980s, according to historian Bernard Lewis, the volume of antisemitic literature published in the Arab world, and the authority of its sponsors, seemed to suggest that classical antisemitism had become an essential part of Arab intellectual life, considerably more than in late 19th- and early 20th-century France and to a degree that has been compared to Nazi Germany. The rise of political Islam during the 1980s and afterwards provided a new mutation of Islamic antisemitism, giving the hatred of Jews a religious component. + +In their 2008 report on contemporary Arab-Muslim antisemitism, the Israeli Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center dates the beginning of this phenomenon to the spread of classic European Christian antisemitism into the Arab world starting in the late 19th century. In 2014, the Anti-Defamation League published a global survey of worldwide antisemitic attitudes, reporting that in the Middle East, 74% of adults agreed with a majority of the survey's eleven antisemitic propositions, including that "Jews have too much power in international financial markets" and that "Jews are responsible for most of the world's wars." + +Medieval times + +Jews, along with Christians, Sabians, and Zoroastrians living under early and medieval Muslim rule were known as "People of the Book" to Muslims and subjected to the status of dhimmi ("protected" minority) in the lands conquered by Muslim Arabs, a status generally applied to Non-Muslim minorities that was later also extended to other Non-Muslims like Sikhs, Hindus, Jains, and Buddhists. Jews were generally seen as a religious group (not a separate race), thus being a part of the "Arab family". + +Dhimmi were subjected to a number of restrictions, the application and severity of which varied with time and place. Restrictions included residency in segregated quarters, obligation to wear distinctive clothing such as the Yellow badge, public subservience to Muslims, prohibitions against proselytizing and against marrying Muslim women, and limited access to the legal system (the testimony of a Jew did not count if contradicted by that of a Muslim). Dhimmi had to pay a special poll tax (the jizya), which exempted them from military service, and also from payment of the zakat alms tax required of Muslims. In return, dhimmi were granted limited rights, including a degree of tolerance, community autonomy in personal matters, and protection from being killed outright. Jewish communities, like Christian ones, were typically constituted as semi-autonomous entities managed by their own laws and leadership, who carried the responsibility for the community towards the Muslim rulers. + +The situation of Jews was comparatively better than their European counterparts, though they still suffered persecution. Between the years of death of Idris I of Morocco in 793 and beginning of Almohad rule in 1130, Jews mostly led a peaceful existence in North Africa. The Almohads started forcing Jews and Christians to convert to Islam or be killed after conquering the region. There were also numerous massacres at other times in Morocco, Libya, and Algeria where they were eventually forced to live in ghettos. + +The situation where Jews both enjoyed cultural and economic prosperity at times, but were widely persecuted at other times, was summarised by G. E. Von Grunebaum: + +It would not be difficult to put together the names of a very sizable number of Jewish subjects or citizens of the Islamic area who have attained to high rank, to power, to great financial influence, to significant and recognized intellectual attainment; and the same could be done for Christians. But it would again not be difficult to compile a lengthy list of persecutions, arbitrary confiscations, attempted forced conversions, or pogroms. + +Views in modernity +Some scholars hold that Arab antisemitism in the modern world arose in the nineteenth century, against the backdrop of conflicting Jewish and Arab nationalism, and was imported into the Arab world primarily by nationalistically minded Christian Arabs (and only subsequently was it "Islamized"), Mark Cohen states. According to Bernard Lewis: + +19th century +The Damascus affair was an accusation of ritual murder and a blood libel against Jews in Damascus in 1840. On February 5, 1840, Franciscan Capuchin friar Father Thomas and his Greek servant were reported missing, never to be seen again. The Turkish governor and the French consul Ratti-Menton believed accusations of ritual murder and blood libel, as the alleged murder occurred before the Jewish Passover. An investigation was staged, and Solomon Negrin, a Jewish barber, confessed under torture and accused other Jews. Two other Jews died under torture, and one (Moses Abulafia) converted to Islam to escape torture. More arrests and atrocities followed, culminating in 63 Jewish children being held hostage and mob attacks on Jewish communities throughout the Middle East. International outrage led to Ibrahim Pasha in Egypt ordering an investigation. Negotiations in Alexandria eventually secured the unconditional release and recognition of innocence of the nine prisoners still remaining alive (out of thirteen). Later in Constantinople, Moses Montefiore (leader of the British Jewish community) persuaded Sultan Abdülmecid I to issue a firman (edict) intended to halt the spread of blood libel accusations in the Ottoman Empire: + +... and for the love we bear to our subjects, we cannot permit the Jewish nation, whose innocence for the crime alleged against them is evident, to be worried and tormented as a consequence of accusations which have not the least foundation in truth.... + +Nevertheless, the blood libel spread through the Middle East and North Africa: Aleppo (1810, 1850, 1875), Damascus (1840, 1848, 1890), Beirut (1862, 1874), Dayr al-Qamar (1847), Jerusalem (1847), Cairo (1844, 1890, 1901–02), Mansura (1877), Alexandria (1870, 1882, 1901–02), Port Said (1903, 1908), and Damanhur (1871, 1873, 1877, 1892). + +The Dreyfus affair of the late 19th century had consequences in the Arab world. Passionate outbursts of antisemitism in France were echoed in areas of French influence, especially Maronite Lebanon. The Muslim Arab press, however, was sympathetic to the falsely accused Captain Dreyfus, and criticized the persecution of Jews in France. + +20th century + +Pre-state antisemitism +While Arab antisemitism has increased in the wake of the Arab–Israeli conflict, there were pogroms against Jews prior to the establishment of the State of Israel in May 1948, including Nazi-inspired pogroms in Algeria in the 1930s, and attacks on the Jews of Iraq and Libya in the 1940s. In 1941, 180 Jews were murdered and 700 were injured in the anti-Jewish riots known as "the Farhud". Four hundred Jews were injured in violent demonstrations in Egypt in 1945 and Jewish property was vandalized and looted. In Libya, 130 Jews were killed and 266 injured. In December 1947, 13 Jews were killed in Damascus, including 8 children, and 26 were injured. In Aleppo, rioting resulted in dozens of Jewish casualties, damage to 150 Jewish homes, and the torching of 5 schools and 10 synagogues. In Yemen, 97 Jews were murdered and 120 injured. + +Speculated causes +Antisemitism in the Arab world increased in the 20th century, as resentment against Jewish immigration and Zionist activities in Palestine Mandate grew. Around this time, the fabricated antisemitic text The Protocols of the Elders of Zion started to become available in Palestine. A translation of the text in Arabic was done by an Arab Christian in Cairo in 1927 or 1928, this time as a published book. In March 1921, Musa Khazem El Husseini, Mayor of Jerusalem, told Winston Churchill "The Jews have been amongst the most active advocates of destruction in many lands. ... It is well known that the disintegration of Russia was wholly or in great part brought about by the Jews, and a large proportion of the defeat of Germany and Austria must also be put at their door." + +Matthias Küntzel has suggested that the decisive transfer of Jewish conspiracy theory took place between 1937 and 1945 under the impact of Nazi propaganda targeted at the Arab world. According to Kuntzel, the Nazi Arabic radio service had a staff of 80 and broadcast every day in Arabic, stressing the similarities between Islam and Nazism and supported by the activities of the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, Amin al-Husseini (who broadcast pro-Nazi propaganda from Berlin). Alongside al-Husseini's collaboration with the Nazis, cooperative political and military relationships between the Arab world and the Axis powers (Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy) were founded on shared antisemitic scorn and hostilities toward common enemies: the United Kingdom, France, and Zionism. The Nazi regime also provided funding to the Egyptian Moslem Brotherhood, which began calling for boycotts of Jewish businesses in 1936. +Bernard Lewis also describes Nazi influence in the Arab world, including its impact on Michel Aflaq, the principal founder of Ba'athist thought (which later dominated Syria and Iraq). After the promulgation of the Nuremberg Laws, Hitler received telegrams of congratulation from all over the Arab and Muslim world, especially from Morocco and Palestine, where the Nazi propaganda had been most active.... Before long political parties of the Nazi and Fascist type began to appear, complete with paramilitary youth organizations, colored shirts, strict discipline and more or less charismatic leaders. + +George Gruen attributes the increased animosity towards Jews in the Arab world to the defeat and breakdown of the Ottoman Empire and traditional Islamic society; domination by Western colonial powers under which Jews gained a disproportionately large role in the commercial, professional, and administrative life of the region; the rise of Arab nationalism, whose proponents sought the wealth and positions of local Jews through government channels; resentment over Jewish nationalism and the Zionist movement; and the readiness of unpopular Arab regimes to scapegoat local Jews for political purposes. + +After the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, the Palestinian exodus, the creation of the state of Israel, and the independence of Arab countries from European control, conditions for Jews in the Arab world deteriorated. Over the next few decades, almost all would flee the Arab world, some willingly, and some under threat (see Jewish exodus from Arab and Muslim countries). In 1945 there were between 758,000 and 866,000 Jews (see table below) living in communities throughout the Arab world. Today, there are fewer than 8,000. In some Arab states, such as Libya (which was once around 3% Jewish), the Jewish community no longer exists; in other Arab countries, only a few hundred Jews remain. + +Harvard University Professor Ruth R. Wisse claims that "anti-Semitism / Zionism has been the cornerstone of pan-Arab politics since the Second World War" and that it is the "strongest actual and potential source of unity" in the Arab world. This is because Jews and Israel function as substitutes for Western values that challenge the hegemony of religious and political power in the Middle East. Antisemitism is also malleable enough that it can unite right-wing and left-wing groups within the Arab world. + +Robert Bernstein, founder of Human Rights Watch, says that antisemitism is "deeply ingrained and institutionalized" in "Arab nations in modern times". + +Contemporary attitudes + +Israeli Arabs + +In 2003, Israeli-Arab Raed Salah, the leader of the northern branch of the Islamic Movement in Israel published the following poem in the Islamic Movement's periodical: +You Jews are criminal bombers of mosques, +Slaughterers of pregnant women and babies. +Robbers and germs in all times, +The Creator sentenced you to be loser monkeys, +Victory belongs to Muslims, from the Nile to the Euphrates. + +During a speech in 2007, Salah accused Jews of using children's blood to bake bread. "We have never allowed ourselves to knead [the dough for] the bread that breaks the fast in the holy month of Ramadan with children's blood," he said. "Whoever wants a more thorough explanation, let him ask what used to happen to some children in Europe, whose blood was mixed in with the dough of the [Jewish] holy bread.". + +Kamal Khatib, deputy leader of the northern branch of the Islamic movement, referred in one of his speeches to the Jews as "fleas". + +Of all groups surveyed, a 2010 Pew Research global poll found that Israeli Arabs have the lowest rate of anti-Jewish attitudes in the Middle East. + +Egypt + +Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohammed Mahdi Akef has denounced what he called "the myth of the Holocaust" in defending Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's denial of it. + +The Egyptian government-run newspaper, Al Akhbar, on April 29, 2002, published an editorial denying the Holocaust as a fraud. The next paragraph decries the failure of the Holocaust to eliminate all of the Jews: + +With regard to the fraud of the Holocaust. ... Many French studies have proven that this is no more than a fabrication, a lie, and a fraud!! That is, it is a 'scenario' the plot of which was carefully tailored, using several faked photos completely unconnected to the truth. Yes, it is a film, no more and no less. Hitler himself, whom they accuse of Nazism, is in my eyes no more than a modest 'pupil' in the world of murder and bloodshed. He is completely innocent of the charge of frying them in the hell of his false Holocaust!! + +The entire matter, as many French and British scientists and researchers have proven, is nothing more than a huge Israeli plot aimed at extorting the German government in particular and the European countries in general. But I, personally and in light of this imaginary tale, complain to Hitler, even saying to him from the bottom of my heart, 'If only you had done it, brother, if only it had really happened, so that the world could sigh in relief [without] their evil and sin.' + +In an article in October 2000 columnist Adel Hammoda alleged in the state-owned Egyptian newspaper al-Ahram that Jews made Matza from the blood of (non-Jewish) children. Mohammed Salmawy, editor of Al-Ahram Hebdo, "defended the use of old European myths like the blood libel" in his newspapers. + +In August 2010, Saudi columnist Iman Al-Quwaifli sharply criticized the "phenomenon of sympathy for Adolf Hitler and for Nazism in the Arab world", specifically citing the words of Hussam Fawzi Jabar, an Islamic cleric who justified Hitler's actions against the Jews in an Egyptian talk show one month earlier. + +In an October 2012 sermon broadcast on Egyptian Channel 1 (which was attended by Egyptian President Muhammad Morsi) Futouh Abd Al-Nabi Mansour, the Head of Religious Endowment of the Matrouh Governorate, prayed (as translated by MEMRI): + +Jordan + +Jordan does not allow entry to Jews with visible signs of Judaism or even with personal religious items in their possession. The Jordanian ambassador to Israel replied to a complaint by a religious Jew denied entry that security concerns required that travelers entering the Hashemite Kingdom not do so with prayer shawls (Tallit) and phylacteries (Tefillin). Jordanian authorities state that the policy is in order to ensure the Jewish tourists' safety. + +In July 2009, six Breslov Hasidim were deported after attempting entry into Jordan in order to visit the tomb of Aaron / Sheikh Harun on Mount Hor, near Petra, because of an alert from the Ministry of Tourism. The group had taken a ferry from Sinai, Egypt because they understood that Jordanian authorities were making it hard for visible Jews to enter from Israel. The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs is aware of the issue. + +Saudi Arabia + +Hostility toward Jews is common in Saudi Arabian media, religious sermons, school curriculum, and official government policy. + +Indoctrination against Jews is a part of school curriculum in Saudi Arabia. Children are advised not to befriend Jews, are given false information about them (such as the claim that Jews worship the Devil), and are encouraged to engage in jihad against Jews. + +Conspiracy theories about Jews are widely disseminated in Saudi Arabian state-controlled media. + +According to the U.S. State Department, religious freedom "does not exist" in Saudi Arabia, and therefore, Jews may not freely practice their religion. + +Syria + +On March 2, 1974, the bodies of four Syrian Jewish women were discovered by border police in a cave in the Zabdani Mountains northwest of Damascus. Fara Zeibak 24, her sisters Lulu Zeibak 23, Mazal Zeibak 22 and their cousin Eva Saad 18, had contracted with a band of smugglers to flee Syria to Lebanon and eventually to Israel. The girls' bodies were found raped, murdered and mutilated. The police also found the remains of two Jewish boys, Natan Shaya 18 and Kassem Abadi 20, victims of an earlier massacre. Syrian authorities deposited the bodies of all six in sacks before the homes of their parents in the Jewish ghetto in Damascus. + +In 1984 Syrian Defense Minister Mustafa Tlass published a book called The Matzah of Zion, which claimed that Jews had killed Christian children in Damascus to make Matzas (see Damascus affair). His book inspired the Egyptian TV series Horseman Without a Horse (see below) and a spinoff, The Diaspora, which led to Hezbollah's al-Manar being banned in Europe for broadcasting it. + +Former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke visited Syria in November 2005 and made a speech that was broadcast live on Syrian television. + +Tunisia +For a personal account of the discrimination and physical attacks experienced by Jews in Tunisia the Jewish-Arab anti-colonialist writer Albert Memmi wrote: + +At each crisis, with every incident of the slightest importance, the mob would go wild, setting fire to Jewish shops. This even happened during the Yom Kippur War. Tunisia's President, Habib Bourguiba, has in all probability never been hostile to the Jews, but there was always that notorious "delay", which meant that the police arrived on the scene only after the shops had been pillaged and burnt. Is it any wonder that the exodus to France and Israel continued and even increased? + +On November 30, 2012, prominent Tunisian imam Sheikh Ahmad Al-Suhayli of Radès, told his followers during a live broadcast on Hannibal TV that "God wants to destroy this [Tunisian] sprinkling of Jews and is sterilizing the wombs of Jewish women." This was the fourth time incitement against Jews has been reported in the public sphere since the overthrow of Tunisian President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in 2011, thus prompting Jewish community leaders to demand security protection from the Tunisian government. Al-Suhayli subsequently posted a video on the Internet in which he claimed that his statements had been misinterpreted. + +On January 18, 2021, Tunisian president Kais Saied was caught on video telling a crowd that "We know very well who the people are who are controlling the country today. It is the Jews who are doing the stealing, and we need to put an end to it." Saied's office responded that the president's words had been misheard and that he meant to say something else instead of Jews. Two days later, Saied publicly apologized for his statements, holding a phone call with Djerba's chief rabbi, Haim Bitan in which he expressed regret for his statements. + +The history of the Jews in Tunisia goes back to Roman times. Before 1948, the Jewish population of Tunisia reached a peak of 110,000. Today it has a Jewish community of less than 2,000 people. + +The El Ghriba Synagogue in Djerba has twice been the target of terrorist atrocities: in 2002 an al-Qaeda suicide bomber killed 20 and injured dozens more, while in 2023 a lone gunman killed two worshippers and two police and injured several others. + +Palestinian territories + +The Hamas, an offshoot of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood, has a foundational statement of principles, or "covenant" that claims that the French revolution, the Russian revolution, colonialism and both world wars were created by the Zionists. It also claims the Freemasons and Rotary clubs are Zionist fronts and refers to the Protocols of the Elders of Zion. +Claims that Jews and Freemasons were behind the French Revolution originated in Germany in the mid-19th century. + +Mahmoud Abbas, leader of the PLO, published a Ph.D. thesis (at Moscow University) in 1982, called The Secret Connection between the Nazis and the Leaders of the Zionist Movement. +His doctoral thesis later became a book, The Other Side: the Secret Relationship Between Nazism and Zionism, which, following his appointment as Palestinian Prime Minister in 2003, was heavily criticized as an example of Holocaust denial. In his book, Abbas wrote: +It seems that the interest of the Zionist movement, however, is to inflate this figure [of Holocaust deaths] so that their gains will be greater. This led them to emphasize this figure [six million] in order to gain the solidarity of international public opinion with Zionism. Many scholars have debated the figure of six million and reached stunning conclusions—fixing the number of Jewish victims at only a few hundred thousand.Gross, Tom. Abu Mazen and the Holocaust + +Lebanon +Hezbollah's Al-Manar TV channel has often been accused of airing antisemitic broadcasts, blaming the Jews for a Zionist conspiracy against the Arab world, and often airing excerpts from the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, which the Encyclopædia Britannica describes as a "fraudulent document that served as a pretext and rationale for anti-Semitism in the early 20th century". + +Al-Manar recently aired a drama series, called The Diaspora, which is based on historical antisemitic allegations. BBC reporters who watched the series said that: Correspondents who have viewed The Diaspora note that it quotes extensively from the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, a notorious 19th-century publication used by the Nazis among others to fuel race hatred. + +In another incident, an Al-Manar commentator recently referred to "Zionist attempts to transmit AIDS to Arab countries". Al-Manar officials deny broadcasting antisemitic incitement and state that their position is anti-Israeli, not antisemitic. However, Hezbollah has directed strong rhetoric both against Israel and Jews, and it has cooperated in publishing and distributing outright antisemitic literature. The government of Lebanon has not criticized continued broadcast of antisemitic material on television. + +Due to protests by the CRIF umbrella group of French Jews regarding allegations of antisemitic content, French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin called for a ban on Al-Manar broadcasting in France on December 2, 2004, just two weeks after al-Manar was authorised to continue broadcasting in Europe by France's media watchdog agency. On December 13, 2004, France's highest administrative court banned Hizbullah's Al-Manar TV station on the grounds that it consistently incites racial hatred and antisemitism. + +Yemen + +The 1940s and the establishment of Israel saw rapid emigration of Jews out of Yemen, in the wake of anti-Jewish riots and massacres. By the late 1990s, only several hundred remained, mainly in a northwestern mountainous region named Sa'ada and town of Raida. Houthi members put up notes on the Jews' doors, accusing them of corrupting Muslim morals. Eventually, the Houthi leaders sent threatening messages to the Jewish community: "We warn you to leave the area immediately.... We give you a period of 10 days, or you will regret it." + +On 28 March 2021, 13 Jews were forced by the Houthis to leave Yemen, leaving four elderly Jews the only Jews still in Yemen. + +Horseman Without a Horse +In 2001–2002, Arab Radio and Television produced a 30-part television miniseries entitled Horseman Without a Horse, starring prominent Egyptian actor Mohamed Sobhi, which contains dramatizations of The Protocols of the Elders of Zion. The United States and Israel criticized Egypt for airing the program, which includes racist falsehoods that have a history of being used "as a pretext for persecuting Jews". + +Opinion polling +In 2008 a Pew Research Center survey found that negative views concerning Jews were most common in the three predominantly Arab nations polled, with 97% of Lebanese having unfavorable opinion of Jews, 95% in Egypt and 96% in Jordan. + +See also + Contemporary imprints of The Protocols of the Elders of Zion + Covenant of Umar I + Dhimmi + Islam and antisemitism + Jewish exodus from Arab and Muslim lands + Jizya + Mellah + Pact of Umar II + Qutbism + Racism in the Arab world + +Notes + +References + +Bibliography + + Lewis, Bernard (1984). The Jews of Islam. Princeton: Princeton University Press. + Lewis, Bernard (1999). Semites and anti-Semites. + Gerber, Jane S. (1986). "Anti-Semitism and the Muslim World". In History and Hate: The Dimensions of Anti-Semitism, ed. David Berger. Jewish Publications Society. + Bostom, Andrew G. The Legacy of Islamic Antisemitism: From Sacred texts to Solemn History. Prometheus Books. 2008. + + Laqueur, Walter. The Changing Face of Antisemitism: From Ancient Times To The Present Day. Oxford University Press. 2006. + Poliakov, Leon (1997). "Anti-Semitism". Encyclopaedia Judaica (CD-ROM Edition Version 1.0). Ed. Cecil Roth. Keter Publishing House. + Segev, Tom. One Palestine, Complete: Jews and Arabs Under the British Mandate. Trans. Haim Watzman. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 2001. + + + Wistrich, Robert S. Hitler's Apocalypse: Jews and the Nazi Legacy. Weidenfeld & Nicolson. 1985. + Wistrich, Robert S. A Lethal Obsession: Anti-Semitism from Antiquity to the Global Jihad. Random House. 2010. + +External links + + Arab Anti-Semitism in 1998/99 – summary of Arab antisemitism, by the University of Tel Aviv + S.RES.366 Urging the Government of Egypt and other Arab governments not to allow their government-controlled television stations to broadcast any program that lends legitimacy to the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, and for other purposes. (Passed/agreed to in Senate on November 20, 2002). + MEMRI Organization that monitors Middle-Eastern media for antisemitism. See MEMRI. + + +Arab world +Discrimination in the Arab world +Arab world + + +Events + +Pre-1600 +3114 BC – The Mesoamerican Long Count calendar, used by several pre-Columbian Mesoamerican civilizations, notably the Maya, begins. +2492 BC – Traditional date of the defeat of Bel by Hayk, progenitor and founder of the Armenian nation. +106 – The south-western part of Dacia (modern Romania) becomes a Roman province: Roman Dacia. + 355 – Claudius Silvanus, accused of treason, proclaims himself Roman Emperor against Constantius II. + 490 – Battle of Adda: The Goths under Theodoric the Great and his ally Alaric II defeat the forces of Odoacer on the Adda River, near Milan. + 923 – The Qarmatians of Bahrayn capture and pillage the city of Basra. +1315 – The Great Famine of Europe becomes so dire that even the king of England has difficulties buying bread for himself and his entourage. +1332 – Wars of Scottish Independence: Battle of Dupplin Moor: Scots under Domhnall II, Earl of Mar are routed by Edward Balliol. +1473 – The Battle of Otlukbeli: Mehmed the Conqueror of the Ottoman Empire decisively defeats Uzun Hassan of Aq Qoyunlu. +1492 – Rodrigo de Borja is elected as Head of the Catholic Church, taking the name Pope Alexander VI. + +1601–1900 +1675 – Franco-Dutch War: Forces of the Holy Roman Empire defeat the French in the Battle of Konzer Brücke. +1786 – Captain Francis Light establishes the British colony of Penang in Malaysia. +1804 – Francis II assumes the title of first Emperor of Austria. +1812 – Peninsular War: French troops engage British-Portuguese forces in the Battle of Majadahonda. +1813 – In Colombia, Juan del Corral declares the independence of Antioquia. +1858 – The Eiger in the Bernese Alps is ascended for the first time by Charles Barrington accompanied by Christian Almer and Peter Bohren. +1871 – An explosion of guncotton occurs in Stowmarket, England, killing 28. +1898 – Spanish–American War: American troops enter the city of Mayagüez, Puerto Rico. + +1901–present +1918 – World War I: The Battle of Amiens ends. +1919 – Germany's Weimar Constitution is signed into law. +1920 – The 1920 Cork hunger strike begins which eventually results in the deaths of three Irish Republicans including the Lord Mayor of Cork Terence MacSwiney. + 1920 – The Latvian–Soviet Peace Treaty, which relinquished Russia's authority and pretenses to Latvia, is signed, ending the Latvian War of Independence. +1929 – Babe Ruth becomes the first baseball player to hit 500 home runs in his career with a home run at League Park in Cleveland, Ohio. +1934 – The first civilian prisoners arrive at the Federal prison on Alcatraz Island. +1942 – Actress Hedy Lamarr and composer George Antheil receive a patent for a Frequency-hopping spread spectrum communication system that later became the basis for modern technologies in wireless telephones, two-way radio communications, and Wi-Fi. +1945 – Poles in Kraków engage in a pogrom against Jews in the city, killing one and wounding five. +1952 – Hussein bin Talal is proclaimed King of Jordan. +1959 – Sheremetyevo International Airport, the second-largest airport in Russia, opens. +1960 – Chad declares independence from France. +1961 – The former Portuguese territories in India of Dadra and Nagar Haveli are merged to create the Union Territory Dadra and Nagar Haveli. +1962 – Vostok 3 launches from the Baikonur Cosmodrome and cosmonaut Andrian Nikolayev becomes the first person to float in microgravity. +1965 – Race riots (the Watts Riots) begin in the Watts area of Los Angeles, California. +1969 – The Apollo 11 astronauts are released from a three-week quarantine following their liftoff from the Moon. +1972 – Vietnam War: The last United States ground combat unit leaves South Vietnam. +1975 – East Timor: Governor Mário Lemos Pires of Portuguese Timor abandons the capital Dili, following a coup by the Timorese Democratic Union (UDT) and the outbreak of civil war between UDT and Fretilin. +1979 – Two Aeroflot Tupolev Tu-134s collide over the Ukrainian city of Dniprodzerzhynsk and crash, killing all 178 aboard both airliners. +1982 – A bomb explodes on Pan Am Flight 830, en route from Tokyo, Japan to Honolulu, Hawaii, killing one passenger and injuring 15 others. +1984 – "We begin bombing in five minutes": United States President Ronald Reagan, while running for re-election, jokes while preparing to make his weekly Saturday address on National Public Radio. +1988 – A meeting between Sayyed Imam Al-Sharif, Osama bin Laden, Abdullah Yusuf Azzam, and leaders of Egyptian Islamic Jihad in Afghanistan culminates in the formation of Al-Qaeda. +1992 – The Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota opens. At the time the largest shopping mall in the United States. +2000 – An air rage incident occurs on board Southwest Airlines Flight 1763 when 19-year-old Jonathan Burton attempts to storm the cockpit, but he is subdued by other passengers and dies from his injuries. +2003 – NATO takes over command of the peacekeeping force in Afghanistan, marking its first major operation outside Europe in its 54-year-history. + 2003 – Jemaah Islamiyah leader Riduan Isamuddin, better known as Hambali, is arrested in Bangkok, Thailand. +2006 – The oil tanker MT Solar 1 sinks off the coast of Guimaras and Negros Islands in the Philippines, causing the country's worst oil spill. +2012 – At least 306 people are killed and 3,000 others injured in a pair of earthquakes near Tabriz, Iran. +2017 – At least 41 people are killed and another 179 injured after two passenger trains collide in Alexandria, Egypt. +2023 – Luna 25 launches from the Vostochny Cosmodrome. + +Births + +Pre-1600 +1086 – Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor (d. 1125) +1384 – Yolande of Aragon (d. 1442) +1472 – Nikolaus von Schönberg, Catholic cardinal (d. 1537) +1510 – Margaret Paleologa, Sovereign Marchioness of Montferrat (d. 1566) + +1601–1900 +1673 – Richard Mead, English physician and astrologer (d. 1754) +1718 – Frederick Haldimand, Swiss-English general and politician, 22nd Governor of Quebec (d. 1791) +1722 – Richard Brocklesby, English physician (d. 1797) +1748 – Joseph Schuster, German composer (d. 1812) +1778 – Friedrich Ludwig Jahn, Prussian gymnast, educator, and politician (d. 1852) +1794 – James B. Longacre, American engraver (d. 1869) +1807 – David Rice Atchison, American general, lawyer, and politician (d. 1886) +1808 – William W. Chapman, American lawyer and politician (d. 1892) +1816 – Frederick Innes, Scottish-Australian politician, 9th Premier of Tasmania (d. 1882) +1833 – Robert G. Ingersoll, American soldier, lawyer, and politician (d. 1899) + 1833 – Kido Takayoshi, Japanese samurai and politician (d. 1877) +1836 – Warren Brown, American historian and politician (d. 1919) +1837 – Marie François Sadi Carnot, French engineer and politician, 4th President of the French Republic (d. 1894) +1855 – John Hodges, Australian cricketer (d. 1933) +1858 – Christiaan Eijkman, Dutch physician and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1930) +1860 – Ottó Bláthy, Hungarian engineer and chess player (d. 1939) +1870 – Tom Richardson, English cricketer (d. 1912) +1874 – Princess Louise Charlotte of Saxe-Altenburg (d. 1953) +1877 – Adolph M. Christianson, American lawyer and judge (d. 1954) +1878 – Oliver W. F. Lodge, English poet and author (d. 1955) +1881 – Aleksander Aberg, Estonian wrestler (d. 1920) +1884 – Hermann Wlach, Austrian-Swiss actor (d. 1962) +1885 – Stephen Butterworth, English physicist and engineer (d. 1958) +1891 – Stancho Belkovski, Bulgarian architect and educator (d. 1962) + 1891 – Edgar Zilsel, Austrian historian and philosopher of science, linked to the Vienna Circle (d. 1944) +1892 – Hugh MacDiarmid, Scottish poet and linguist (d. 1978) + 1892 – Eiji Yoshikawa, Japanese author (d. 1962) +1897 – Enid Blyton, English author, poet, and educator (d. 1968) + 1897 – Louise Bogan, American poet and critic (d. 1970) +1898 – Peter Mohr Dam, Faroese educator and politician, 3rd Prime Minister of the Faroe Islands (d. 1968) +1900 – Charley Paddock, American sprinter (d. 1943) + 1900 – Philip Phillips, American archaeologist and scholar (d. 1994) + +1901–present +1902 – Alfredo Binda, Italian cyclist (d. 1986) + 1902 – Lloyd Nolan, American actor (d. 1985) + 1902 – Christian de Castries, French general (d. 1991) +1905 – Erwin Chargaff, Austrian-American biochemist and academic (d. 2002) + 1905 – Ernst Jaakson, Estonian diplomat (d. 1998) +1907 – Ted a'Beckett, Australian cricketer and lawyer (d. 1989) +1908 – Don Freeman, American author and illustrator (d. 1978) + 1908 – Torgny T:son Segerstedt, Swedish sociologist and philosopher (d. 1999) +1909 – Yūji Koseki, Japanese composer (d. 1989) + 1909 – Uku Masing, Estonian philosopher and theologian (d. 1985) +1911 – Thanom Kittikachorn, Thai field marshal and politician, 10th Prime Minister of Thailand (d. 2004) +1912 – Eva Ahnert-Rohlfs, German astronomer and academic (d. 1954) + 1912 – Raphael Blau, American screenwriter and producer (d. 1996) +1913 – Paul Dupuis, Canadian actor (d. 1976) + 1913 – Bob Scheffing, American baseball player and manager (d. 1985) + 1913 – Angus Wilson, English author and academic (d. 1991) +1915 – Morris Weiss, American author and illustrator (d. 2014) +1916 – Johnny Claes, English-Belgian race car driver and trumpet player (d. 1956) +1919 – Luis Olmo, Puerto Rican-American baseball player and manager (d. 2017) +1920 – Mike Douglas, American singer and talk show host (d. 2006) + 1920 – Chuck Rayner, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 2002) +1921 – Alex Haley, American historian and author (d. 1992) +1922 – John "Mule" Miles, American baseball player (d. 2013) +1923 – Stan Chambers, American journalist and actor (d. 2015) +1925 – Floyd Curry, Canadian ice hockey player and manager (d. 2006) + 1925 – Arlene Dahl, American actress, businesswoman and writer (d. 2021) +1926 – Aaron Klug, Lithuanian-English chemist and biophysicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2018) +1927 – Raymond Leppard, English harpsichord player and conductor (d. 2019) + 1927 – Stuart Rosenberg, American director and producer (d. 2007) +1932 – Fernando Arrabal, Spanish actor, director, and playwright + 1932 – Izzy Asper, Canadian lawyer, businessman, and politician, founded Canwest (d. 2003) + 1932 – Geoffrey Cass, English businessman + 1932 – Peter Eisenman, American architect, designed the City of Culture of Galicia + 1932 – John Gorrie, English director and screenwriter +1933 – Jerry Falwell, American minister and television host (d. 2007) + 1933 – Jerzy Grotowski, Polish director and producer (d. 1999) + 1933 – Tamás Vásáry, Hungarian pianist and conductor +1934 – Bob Hepple, South African lawyer and academic (d. 2015) +1936 – Andre Dubus, American short story writer, essayist, and memoirist (d. 1999) + 1936 – Bill Monbouquette, American baseball player and coach (d. 2015) + 1936 – Jonathan Spence, English-American historian and academic (d. 2021) +1937 – Anna Massey, English actress (d. 2011) + 1937 – Patrick Joseph McGovern, American businessman, founded International Data Group (d. 2014) +1939 – James Mancham, first President of Seychelles (d. 2017) + 1939 – Ronnie Dawson, American singer and guitarist (d. 2003) +1940 – Glenys Page, New Zealand cricketer (d. 2012) +1941 – John Ellison, American-Canadian musician and songwriter +1942 – Mike Hugg, English drummer and keyboard player + 1942 – Otis Taylor, American football player (d. 2023) +1943 – Jim Kale, Canadian bass player + 1943 – Pervez Musharraf, Pakistani general and politician, 10th President of Pakistan (d. 2023) + 1943 – Denis Payton, English saxophonist (d. 2006) +1944 – Martin Linton, Swedish-English journalist and politician + 1944 – Frederick W. Smith, American businessman, founded FedEx + 1944 – Ian McDiarmid, Scottish actor +1946 – John Conlee, American singer-songwriter + 1946 – Marilyn vos Savant, American journalist and author +1947 – Theo de Jong, Dutch footballer, coach, and manager + 1947 – Georgios Karatzaferis, Greek journalist and politician + 1947 – Wilma van den Berg, Dutch sprinter +1948 – Don Boyd, Scottish director, producer, and screenwriter +1949 – Eric Carmen, American singer-songwriter and guitarist + 1949 – Tim Hutchinson, American lawyer and politician + 1949 – Ian Charleson, Scottish-English actor and singer (d. 1990) +1950 – Erik Brann, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2003) + 1950 – Gennadiy Nikonov, Russian engineer, designed the AN-94 rifle (d. 2003) + 1950 – Steve Wozniak, American computer scientist and programmer, co-founded Apple Inc. +1952 – Reid Blackburn, American photographer (d. 1980) + 1952 – Bob Mothersbaugh, American singer, guitarist, and producer +1953 – Hulk Hogan, American wrestler + 1953 – Wijda Mazereeuw, Dutch swimmer +1954 – Bryan Bassett, American guitarist + 1954 – Vance Heafner, American golfer and coach (d. 2012) + 1954 – Joe Jackson, English singer-songwriter and musician + 1954 – Tarmo Rüütli, Estonian footballer, coach, and manager + 1954 – Yashpal Sharma, Indian cricketer and umpire (d. 2021) +1955 – Marc Bureau, Canadian politician, 16th Mayor of Gatineau + 1955 – Sylvia Hermon, Northern Irish academic and politician +1956 – Pierre-Louis Lions, French mathematician and academic +1957 – Ian Stuart Donaldson, English singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1993) +1957 – Masayoshi Son, Japanese technology entrepreneur and investor +1958 – Steven Pokere, New Zealand rugby player + 1958 – Jah Wobble, English singer-songwriter and bass player +1959 – Gustavo Cerati, Argentinian singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (d. 2014) + 1959 – Yoshiaki Murakami, Japanese businessman + 1959 – Taraki Sivaram, Sri Lankan journalist and author (d. 2005) + 1959 – Richard Scudamore, English businessman + 1959 – László Szlávics, Jr., Hungarian sculptor +1961 – David Brooks, American journalist and author + 1961 – Craig Ehlo, American basketball player and coach +1962 – Brian Azzarello, American author + 1962 – Charles Cecil, English video game designer and co-founded Revolution Software + 1962 – John Micklethwait, English journalist and author + 1962 – Rob Minkoff, American director and producer +1963 – Hiromi Makihara, Japanese baseball player +1964 – Jim Lee, South Korean-American author and illustrator + 1964 – Grant Waite, New Zealand golfer +1965 – Marc Bergevin, Canadian ice hockey player and manager + 1965 – Embeth Davidtz, American actress + 1965 – Viola Davis, American actress +1966 – Nigel Martyn, English footballer and coach + 1966 – Juan María Solare, Argentinian pianist and composer +1967 – Massimiliano Allegri, Italian footballer and manager + 1967 – Enrique Bunbury, Spanish singer-songwriter and guitarist + 1967 – Joe Rogan, American actor, comedian, and television host + 1967 – Petter Wettre, Norwegian saxophonist and composer +1968 – Anna Gunn, American actress + 1968 – Sophie Okonedo, British actress + 1968 – Charlie Sexton, American singer-songwriter and guitarist +1970 – Dirk Hannemann, German footballer and manager + 1970 – Gianluca Pessotto, Italian footballer +1971 – Alejandra Barros, Mexican actress and screenwriter + 1971 – Tommy Mooney, English footballer +1973 – Kristin Armstrong, American cyclist +1974 – Marie-France Dubreuil, Canadian figure skater + 1974 – Hadiqa Kiani, Pakistani singer, songwriter and philanthropist + 1974 – Audrey Mestre, French biologist and diver (d. 2002) + 1974 – Carolyn Murphy, American model and actress +1975 – Chris Cummings, Canadian singer-songwriter +1976 – Iván Córdoba, Colombian footballer and manager + 1976 – Bubba Crosby, American baseball player + 1976 – Will Friedle, American actor and screenwriter + 1976 – Ben Gibbard, American singer-songwriter and guitarist + 1976 – Ľubomír Višňovský, Slovak ice hockey player +1977 – Gemma Hayes, Irish singer-songwriter + 1977 – Dênio Martins, Brazilian footballer +1978 – Spyros Gogolos, Greek footballer + 1978 – Charlotte Leslie, British politician + 1978 – Lillian Nakate, Ugandan politician + 1978 – Isy Suttie, English comedian, musician, actress, and writer +1979 – Walter Ayoví, Ecuadorian footballer +1980 – Daniel Lloyd, English cyclist and sportscaster + 1980 – Lee Suggs, American football player +1981 – Daniel Poohl, Swedish journalist +1982 – Andy Lee, American football player +1983 – Chris Hemsworth, Australian actor + 1983 – Luke Lewis, Australian rugby league player + 1983 – Pavel 183, Russian painter (d. 2013) +1984 – Mojtaba Abedini, Iranian Olympic fencer + 1984 – Melky Cabrera, Dominican baseball player + 1984 – Lucas di Grassi, Brazilian race car driver +1985 – Jacqueline Fernandez, Bahraini–Sri Lankan actress + 1985 – Asher Roth, American rapper +1986 – Mokhtar Benmoussa, Algerian footballer + 1986 – Pablo Sandoval, Venezuelan baseball player +1987 – Dany N'Guessan, French footballer + 1987 – Drew Storen, American baseball player +1988 – Rabeh Al-Hussaini, Filipino basketball player + 1988 – Patty Mills, Australian basketball player + 1988 – Mustafa Pektemek, Turkish footballer +1989 – Junior Heffernan, Irish cyclist and triathlete (d. 2013) + 1989 – Sebastian Huke, German footballer +1990 – Lenka Juríková, Slovak tennis player +1991 – Cristian Tello, Spanish footballer +1992 – Tomi Lahren, American conservative political commentator +1993 – Alyson Stoner, American actor, singer, and dancer +1994 – Storm Sanders, Australian tennis player + 1994 – Anton Cooper, New Zealand cross-country cyclist + 1994 – Joseph Barbato, French footballer + 1994 – Song I-han, South Korean singer +1997 – Sarah Clelland, Scottish footballer +2001 – Moyuka Uchijima, Japanese tennis player + +Deaths + +Pre-1600 + 223 – Jia Xu, Chinese politician and strategist (b. 147) + 353 – Magnentius, Roman usurper (b. 303) + 449 – Archbishop Flavian of Constantinople + 632 – Rusticula, abbess of Arles + 919 – Dhuka al-Rumi, Abbasid governor of Egypt + 979 – Gero, Count of Alsleben + 991 – Byrhtnoth, English soldier (b. 956) +1044 – Sokkate, king of the Pagan dynasty of Burma (b. 1001) +1204 – Guttorm of Norway (b. 1199) +1253 – Clare of Assisi, Italian follower of Francis of Assisi (b. 1194) +1259 – Möngke Khan, Mongolian emperor (b. 1208) +1268 – Agnes of Faucigny, Dame ruler of Faucigny, Countess consort of Savoy +1332 – Domhnall II, Earl of Mar + 1332 – Robert II Keith, Marischal of Scotland + 1332 – Thomas Randolph, 2nd Earl of Moray + 1332 – Murdoch III, Earl of Menteith + 1332 – Robert Bruce, Lord of Liddesdale +1456 – John Hunyadi, Hungarian general and politician (b. 1387) +1464 – Nicholas of Cusa, German cardinal and mystic (b. 1401) +1465 – Kettil Karlsson, regent of Sweden and Bishop of Linköping (b. 1433) +1486 – William Waynflete, English Lord Chancellor and bishop of Winchester (b. c. 1398) +1494 – Hans Memling, German-Belgian painter (b. 1430) +1519 – Johann Tetzel, German preacher (b. 1465) +1556 – John Bell, English bishop +1563 – Bartolomé de Escobedo, Spanish composer and educator (b. 1500) +1578 – Pedro Nunes, Portuguese mathematician and academic (b. 1502) +1596 – Hamnet Shakespeare, son of William Shakespeare (b. 1585) + +1601–1900 +1614 – Lavinia Fontana, Italian painter (b. 1552) +1656 – Ottavio Piccolomini, Austrian-Italian field marshal (b. 1599) +1725 – Prince Vittorio Amedeo Theodore of Savoy (b. 1723) +1774 – Charles-François Tiphaigne de la Roche, French physician and author (b. 1722) +1813 – Henry James Pye, English poet and politician (b. 1745) +1851 – Lorenz Oken, German botanist, biologist, and ornithologist (b. 1779) +1854 – Macedonio Melloni, Italian physicist and academic (b. 1798) +1868 – Halfdan Kjerulf, Norwegian pianist and composer (b. 1815) +1886 – Lydia Koidula, Estonian poet and playwright (b. 1843) +1890 – John Henry Newman, English cardinal and theologian (b. 1801) +1892 – Enrico Betti, Italian mathematician and academic (b. 1813) + +1901–present +1903 – Eugenio María de Hostos, Puerto Rican-American sociologist, philosopher, and lawyer (b. 1839) +1908 – Khudiram Bose, Indian Bengali revolutionary (b. 1889) +1919 – Andrew Carnegie, Scottish-American businessman and philanthropist, founded the Carnegie Steel Company and Carnegie Hall (b. 1835) +1921 – Mary Sumner, English philanthropist, founded the Mothers' Union (b. 1828) +1936 – Blas Infante, Spanish historian and politician (b. 1885) +1937 – Edith Wharton, American novelist and short story writer (b. 1862) +1939 – Jean Bugatti, German-Italian engineer (b. 1909) + 1939 – Siegfried Flesch, Austrian fencer (b. 1872) +1945 – Stefan Jaracz, Polish actor and theater producer (b. 1883) +1953 – Tazio Nuvolari, Italian race car driver and motorcycle racer (b. 1892) +1956 – Jackson Pollock, American painter (b. 1912) +1961 – Antanas Škėma, Lithuanian-American author, playwright, actor, and director (b. 1910) +1963 – Otto Wahle, Austrian-American swimmer and coach (b. 1879) +1965 – Bill Woodfull, Australian cricketer and educator (b. 1897) +1969 – Miriam Licette, English soprano and educator (b. 1885) +1972 – Max Theiler, South African-American virologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1899) +1974 – Vicente Emilio Sojo, Venezuelan conductor and composer (b. 1887) +1977 – Frederic Calland Williams, British co-inventor of the Williams-Kilborn tube, used for memory in early computer systems (b. 1911) +1978 – Berta Ruck, Indian-born Welsh romance novelist (b. 1878) +1979 – J. G. Farrell, English author (b. 1935) +1980 – Paul Robert, French lexicographer and publisher (b. 1910) +1982 – Tom Drake, American actor and singer (b. 1918) +1984 – Alfred A. Knopf Sr., American publisher, founded Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. (b. 1892) + 1984 – Paul Felix Schmidt, Estonian–American chemist and chess player (b. 1916) +1986 – János Drapál, Hungarian motorcycle racer (b. 1948) +1988 – Anne Ramsey, American actress (b. 1929) +1989 – John Meillon, Australian actor (b. 1934) +1991 – J. D. McDuffie, American race car driver (b. 1938) +1994 – Peter Cushing, English actor (b. 1913) +1995 – Phil Harris, American singer-songwriter and actor (b. 1904) +1996 – Rafael Kubelík, Czech conductor and composer (b. 1914) + 1996 – Ambrosio Padilla, Filipino basketball player and politician (b. 1910) +2000 – Jean Papineau-Couture, Canadian composer and academic (b. 1916) +2001 – Percy Stallard, English cyclist and coach (b. 1909) +2002 – Galen Rowell, American photographer and mountaineer (b. 1940) +2003 – Armand Borel, Swiss-American mathematician and academic (b. 1923) + 2003 – Herb Brooks, American ice hockey player and coach (b. 1937) +2006 – Mike Douglas, American singer and talk show host (b. 1920) +2008 – George Furth, American actor and playwright (b. 1932) + 2008 – Dursun Karataş, founding leader of the Revolutionary People's Liberation Party–Front (DHKP-C) in Turkey (b. 1952) +2009 – Eunice Kennedy Shriver, American activist, founded the Special Olympics (b. 1921) +2010 – James Mourilyan Tanner, British paediatric endocrinologist (b. 1920) +2012 – Red Bastien, American wrestler, trainer, and promoter (b. 1931) + 2012 – Michael Dokes, American boxer (b. 1958) + 2012 – Lucy Gallardo, Argentinian-Mexican actress and screenwriter (b. 1929) +2013 – Raymond Delisle, French cyclist (b. 1943) + 2013 – Zafar Futehally, Indian ornithologist and author (b. 1919) + 2013 – David Howard, English ballet dancer and educator (b. 1937) +2014 – Vladimir Beara, Croatian footballer and manager (b. 1928) + 2014 – Raymond Gravel, Canadian priest and politician (b. 1952) + 2014 – Kika Szaszkiewiczowa, Polish author and blogger (b. 1917) + 2014 – Robin Williams, American actor and comedian (b. 1951) +2015 – Serge Collot, French viola player and educator (b. 1923) + 2015 – Harald Nielsen, Danish footballer and manager (b. 1941) + 2015 – Richard Oriani, Salvadoran-American metallurgist and engineer (b. 1920) +2017 – Yisrael Kristal, Polish-Israeli supercentenarian; oldest living Holocaust survivor and one of the ten oldest men ever (b. 1903) + 2017 – Segun Bucknor, Nigerian musician and journalist (b. 1946) +2018 – V S Naipaul, British writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1932) +2019 – Sergio Obeso Rivera, Mexican Roman Catholic cardinal (b. 1931) +2020 – Trini Lopez, American singer and guitarist (b. 1937) + 2020 – Sumner Redstone, American billionaire businessman (b. 1923) +2022 – Anne Heche, American actress (b. 1969) + 2022 – Hanae Mori, Japanese fashion designer (b. 1926) +2023 – Mike Ahern, Australian politician, 32nd Premier of Queensland (b. 1942) + +Holidays and observances + Christian Feast Day: + Athracht + Clare of Assisi + Gaugericus + John Henry Newman (Church of England) + Philomena + Susanna + Taurinus of Évreux + Tiburtius and Chromatius + August 11 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics) + Flag Day (Pakistan) + Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Chad from France in 1960. + Mountain Day (Japan) + +References + +External links + + + + + +Days of the year +August +Arcology, a portmanteau of "architecture" and "ecology", is a field of creating architectural design principles for very densely populated and ecologically low-impact human habitats. + +The term was coined in 1969 by architect Paolo Soleri, who believed that a completed arcology would provide space for a variety of residential, commercial, and agricultural facilities while minimizing individual human environmental impact. These structures have been largely hypothetical, as no large-scale arcology has yet been built. + +The concept has been popularized by various science fiction writers. Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle provided a detailed description of an arcology in their 1981 novel Oath of Fealty. William Gibson mainstreamed the term in his seminal 1984 cyberpunk novel Neuromancer, where each corporation has its own self-contained city known as arcologies. More recently, authors such as Peter Hamilton in Neutronium Alchemist and Paolo Bacigalupi in The Water Knife explicitly used arcologies as part of their scenarios. They are often portrayed as self-contained or economically self-sufficient. + +Development + +An arcology is distinguished from a merely large building in that it is designed to lessen the impact of human habitation on any given ecosystem. It could be self-sustainable, employing all or most of its own available resources for a comfortable life: power, climate control, food production, air and water conservation and purification, sewage treatment, etc. An arcology is designed to make it possible to supply those items for a large population. An arcology would supply and maintain its own municipal or urban infrastructures in order to operate and connect with other urban environments apart from its own. + +Arcologies were proposed in order to reduce human impact on natural resources. Arcology designs might apply conventional building and civil engineering techniques in very large, but practical projects in order to achieve pedestrian economies of scale that have proven, post-automobile, to be difficult to achieve in other ways. + +Frank Lloyd Wright proposed an early version called Broadacre City although, in contrast to an arcology, his idea is comparatively two-dimensional and depends on a road network. Wright's plan described transportation, agriculture, and commerce systems that would support an economy. Critics said that Wright's solution failed to account for population growth, and assumed a more rigid democracy than the US actually has. + +Buckminster Fuller proposed the Old Man River's City project, a domed city with a capacity of 125,000, as a solution to the housing problems in East St. Louis, Illinois. + +Paolo Soleri proposed later solutions, and coined the term "arcology". Soleri describes ways of compacting city structures in three dimensions to combat two-dimensional urban sprawl, to economize on transportation and other energy uses. Like Wright, Soleri proposed changes in transportation, agriculture, and commerce. Soleri explored reductions in resource consumption and duplication, land reclamation; he also proposed to eliminate most private transportation. He advocated for greater "frugality" and favored greater use of shared social resources, including public transit (and public libraries). + +Similar real-world projects + +Arcosanti is an experimental "arcology prototype", a demonstration project under construction in central Arizona since 1970. Designed by Paolo Soleri, its primary purpose is to demonstrate Soleri's personal designs, his application of principles of arcology to create a pedestrian-friendly urban form. + +Many cities in the world have proposed projects adhering to the design principles of the arcology concept, like Tokyo, and Dongtan near Shanghai. The Dongtan project may have collapsed, and it failed to open for the Shanghai World Expo in 2010. + +McMurdo Station of the United States Antarctic Program and other scientific research stations on Antarctica resemble the popular conception of an arcology as a technologically advanced, relatively self-sufficient human community. The Antarctic research base provides living and entertainment amenities for roughly 3,000 staff who visit each year. Its remoteness and the measures needed to protect its population from the harsh environment give it an insular character. The station is not self-sufficientthe U.S. military delivers 30,000 cubic metres (8,000,000 US gal) of fuel and of supplies and equipment yearly through its Operation Deep Freeze resupply effortbut it is isolated from conventional support networks. Under international treaty, it must avoid damage to the surrounding ecosystem. + +Begich Towers operates like a small-scale arcology encompassing nearly all of the population of Whittier, Alaska. The building contains residential housing as well as a police station, grocery, and municipal offices. +Whittier once boasted a second structure known as the Buckner Building. The Buckner Building still stands but was deemed unfit for habitation after the 1969 earthquake. + +The Line is a long and wide linear smart city under construction in Saudi Arabia in Neom, Tabuk Province, which is designed to have no cars, streets or carbon emissions. The Line is planned to be the first development in Neom, a $500 billion project. The city's plans anticipate a population of 9 million. Excavation work had started along the entire length of the project by October 2022. + +In popular culture +Most proposals to build real arcologies have failed due to financial, structural or conceptual shortcomings. Arcologies are therefore found primarily in fictional works. + + In Robert Silverberg's The World Inside, most of the global population of 75 billion live inside giant skyscrapers, called "urbmons", each of which contains hundreds of thousands of people. The urbmons are arranged in "constellations". Each urbmon is divided into "neighborhoods" of 40 or so floors. All the needs of the inhabitants are provided inside the building – food is grown outside and brought into the building – so the idea of going outside is heretical and can be a sign of madness. The book examines human life when the population density is extremely high. + Another significant example is the 1981 novel Oath of Fealty by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle, in which a segment of the population of Los Angeles has moved into an arcology. The plot examines the social changes that result, both inside and outside the arcology. Thus the arcology is not just a plot device but a subject of critique. + In the city-building video game SimCity 2000, self-contained arcologies can be built, reducing the infrastructure needs of the city. + +See also + +References +Notes + +Further reading + Soleri, Paolo. Arcology: The City in the Image of Man. 1969: Cambridge, Massachusetts, MIT Press. + +External links + + Arcology: The City in the Image of Man by Paolo Soleri (full text online) + Arcology.com – useful links + The Night Land by William Hope Hodgson (full text online) + Victory City + A discussion of arcology concepts + What is an Arcology? + +Usage of "arcology" vs. "hyperstructure" + Arcology.com ("An arcology in southern China" on front page) + Arcology ("An arcology is a self-contained environment...") + SculptorsWiki: Arcology ("The only arcology yet on Earth...") + Review of Shadowrun: Renraku Arcology ("What's an arcology? A self-contained, largely self-sufficient living, working, recreational structure...") + +Megastructures +Exploratory engineering +Environmental design +Human habitats +Planned communities +Urban studies and planning terminology +Emerging technologies +Cyberpunk themes +Architecture related to utopias + + +Events + +Pre-1600 + 823 – Lothair I is crowned King of Italy by Pope Paschal I. + 919 – The second Fatimid invasion of Egypt begins, when the Fatimid heir-apparent, al-Qa'im bi-Amr Allah, sets out from Raqqada at the head of his army. +1242 – During the Battle on the Ice of Lake Peipus, Russian forces, led by Alexander Nevsky, rebuff an invasion attempt by the Teutonic Knights. +1536 – Charles V makes a Royal Entry into Rome, demolishing a swath of the city to re-enact a Roman triumph. +1566 – Two hundred Dutch noblemen, led by Hendrick van Brederode, force themselves into the presence of Margaret of Parma and present the Petition of Compromise, denouncing the Spanish Inquisition in the Seventeen Provinces. + +1601–1900 +1614 – In Virginia, Native American Pocahontas marries English colonist John Rolfe. +1621 – The Mayflower sets sail from Plymouth, Massachusetts on a return trip to England. +1792 – United States President George Washington exercises his authority to veto a bill, the first time this power is used in the United States. +1795 – Peace of Basel between France and Prussia is made. +1818 – In the Battle of Maipú, Chile's independence movement, led by Bernardo O'Higgins and José de San Martín, win a decisive victory over Spain, leaving 2,000 Spaniards and 1,000 Chilean patriots dead. +1862 – American Civil War: The Battle of Yorktown begins. +1879 – Bolivia declares war on Chile, and Chile declares war on Peru, starting the War of the Pacific. + +1901–present +1902 – A stand box collapses at Ibrox Park (now Ibrox Stadium) in Glasgow, Scotland, which led to the deaths of 25 and injuries to more than 500 supporters during an international association football match between Scotland and England. +1910 – The Transandine Railway connecting Chile and Argentina is inaugurated. +1922 – The American Birth Control League, forerunner of Planned Parenthood, is incorporated. +1932 – Dominion of Newfoundland: Ten thousand rioters seize the Colonial Building leading to the end of self-government. +1933 – U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs two executive orders: 6101 to establish the Civilian Conservation Corps, and 6102 "forbidding the Hoarding of Gold Coin, Gold Bullion, and Gold Certificates" by U.S. citizens. + 1933 – Andorran Revolution: The Young Andorrans occupy the Casa de la Vall and force the government to hold democratic elections with universal male suffrage. +1936 – Tupelo–Gainesville tornado outbreak: An F5 tornado kills 233 in Tupelo, Mississippi. +1942 – World War II: Adolf Hitler issues Fuhrer Directive No. 41 summarizing Case Blue, including the German Sixth Army's planned assault on Stalingrad. + 1942 – World War II: The Imperial Japanese Navy launches a carrier-based air attack on Colombo, Ceylon during the Indian Ocean raid. Port and civilian facilities are damaged and the Royal Navy cruisers and are sunk southwest of the island. +1943 – World War II: United States Army Air Forces bomber aircraft accidentally cause more than 900 civilian deaths, including 209 children, and 1,300 wounded among the civilian population of the Belgian town of Mortsel. Their target was the Erla factory one kilometer from the residential area hit. +1945 – Cold War: Yugoslav leader Josip Broz Tito signs an agreement with the Soviet Union to allow "temporary entry of Soviet troops into Yugoslav territory". +1946 – Soviet troops end their year-long occupation of the Danish island of Bornholm. + 1946 – A Fleet Air Arm Vickers Wellington crashes into a residential area in Rabat, Malta during a training exercise, killing all 4 crew members and 16 civilians on the ground. +1949 – A fire in a hospital in Effingham, Illinois, kills 77 people and leads to nationwide fire code improvements in the United States. +1951 – Cold War: Ethel and Julius Rosenberg are sentenced to death for spying for the Soviet Union. +1956 – Cuban Revolution: Fidel Castro declares himself at war with Cuban President Fulgencio Batista. +1958 – Ripple Rock, an underwater threat to navigation in the Seymour Narrows in Canada is destroyed in one of the largest non-nuclear controlled explosions of the time. +1966 – During the Buddhist Uprising, South Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyễn Cao Kỳ personally attempts to lead the capture of the restive city of Đà Nẵng before backing down. +1969 – Vietnam War: Massive antiwar demonstrations occur in many U.S. cities. +1971 – In Sri Lanka, Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna launches a revolt against the United Front government of Sirimavo Bandaranaike. +1976 – In China, the April Fifth Movement leads to the Tiananmen Incident. +1977 – The US Supreme Court rules that congressional legislation that diminished the size of the Sioux people's reservation thereby destroyed the tribe's jurisdictional authority over the area in Rosebud Sioux Tribe v. Kneip. +1991 – An ASA EMB 120 crashes in Brunswick, Georgia, killing all 23 aboard including Sen. John Tower and astronaut Sonny Carter. +1992 – Alberto Fujimori, president of Peru, dissolves the Peruvian congress by military force. + 1992 – Peace protesters Suada Dilberovic and Olga Sučić are killed on the Vrbanja Bridge in Sarajevo, becoming the first casualties of the Bosnian War. +1998 – In Japan, the Akashi Kaikyō Bridge opens to traffic, becoming the longest bridge span in the world. +1999 – Two Libyans suspected of bringing down Pan Am Flight 103 in 1988 are handed over for eventual trial in the Netherlands. +2007 – The cruise ship MS Sea Diamond strikes a volcanic reef near Nea Kameni and sinks the next day. Two passengers were never recovered and are presumed dead. +2009 – North Korea launches its controversial Kwangmyŏngsŏng-2 rocket. The satellite passed over mainland Japan, which prompted an immediate reaction from the United Nations Security Council, as well as participating states of Six-party talks. +2010 – Twenty-nine coal miners are killed in an explosion at the Upper Big Branch Mine in West Virginia. +2018 – Agents with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raid a slaughterhouse in Tennessee, detaining nearly 100 undocumented Hispanic workers in one of the largest workplace raids in the history of the United States. +2021 – Nguyễn Xuân Phúc took office as President of Vietnam after dismissing the title of Prime Minister. + +Births + +Pre-1600 +1170 – Isabella of Hainault (d. 1190) +1219 – Wonjong of Goryeo, 24th ruler of Goryeo (d. 1274) +1279 – Al-Nuwayri, Egyptian Muslim historian (d. 1333) +1288 – Emperor Go-Fushimi of Japan (d. 1336) +1315 – James III of Majorca (d. 1349) +1365 – William II, Duke of Bavaria (d. 1417) +1472 – Bianca Maria Sforza, Italian wife of Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor (d. 1510) +1521 – Francesco Laparelli, Italian architect (d. 1570) +1523 – Blaise de Vigenère, French cryptographer and diplomat (d. 1596) +1533 – Giulio della Rovere, Italian Catholic Cardinal (d. 1578) +1539 – George Frederick, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach (d. 1603) +1549 – Princess Elizabeth of Sweden (d. 1597) +1568 – Pope Urban VIII (d. 1644) +1588 – Thomas Hobbes, English philosopher (d. 1679) +1591 – Frederick Ulrich, Duke of Brunswick-Luneburg (d. 1634) +1595 – John Wilson, English composer and educator (d. 1674) + +1601–1900 +1604 – Charles IV, Duke of Lorraine (d. 1675) +1616 – Frederick, Count Palatine of Zweibrücken (d. 1661) +1622 – Vincenzo Viviani, Italian mathematician, astronomer, and physicist (d. 1703) +1649 – Elihu Yale, American-English merchant and philanthropist (d. 1721) +1656 – Nikita Demidov, Russian industrialist (d. 1725) +1664 – Élisabeth Thérèse de Lorraine, French noblewoman and Princess of Epinoy (d. 1748) +1674 – Margravine Elisabeth Sophie of Brandenburg, (d. 1748) +1691 – Louis VIII, Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt (d. 1768) +1692 – Adrienne Lecouvreur, French actress (d. 1730) +1719 – Axel von Fersen the Elder, Swedish field marshal and politician, Lord Marshal of Sweden (d. 1794) +1726 – Benjamin Harrison V, American politician, planter and merchant (d. 1791) +1727 – Pasquale Anfossi, Italian violinist and composer (d. 1797) +1729 – Frederick Charles Ferdinand, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg (d. 1809) +1730 – Jean Baptiste Seroux d'Agincourt, French archaeologist and historian (d. 1814) +1732 – Jean-Honoré Fragonard, French painter and etcher (d. 1806) +1735 – Franziskus Herzan von Harras, Czech Roman Catholic cardinal (d. 1804) +1739 – Philemon Dickinson, American lawyer and politician (d. 1809) +1752 – Sébastien Érard, French instrument maker (d. 1831) +1761 – Sybil Ludington, American figure of the American Revolutionary War (d. 1839) +1769 – Sir Thomas Hardy, 1st Baronet, English admiral (d. 1839) +1773 – José María Coppinger, governor of Spanish East Florida (d. 1844) +1773 – Duchess Therese of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, (d. 1839) +1777 – Marie Jules César Savigny, French zoologist (d. 1851) +1782 – Wincenty Krasiński, Polish nobleman (d. 1858) +1784 – Louis Spohr, German violinist, composer, and conductor (d. 1859) +1788 – Franz Pforr, German painter (d. 1812) +1793 – Casimir Delavigne, French poet and dramatist (d. 1843) + 1793 – Felix de Muelenaere, Belgian politician (d. 1862) +1795 – Henry Havelock, British general (d. 1857) +1799 – Jacques Denys Choisy, Swiss clergyman and botanist (d. 1859) +1801 – Félix Dujardin, French biologist (d. 1860) + 1801 – Vincenzo Gioberti, Italian philosopher, publicist and politician (d. 1852) +1804 – Matthias Jakob Schleiden, German botanist (d. 1881) +1809 – Karl Felix Halm, German scholar and critic (d. 1882) +1810 – Sir Henry Rawlinson, British East India Company army officer and politician (d. 1895) +1811 – Jules Dupré, French painter (d. 1889) +1814 – Felix Lichnowsky, Czech soldier and politician (d. 1848) +1822 – Émile Louis Victor de Laveleye, Belgian economist (d. 1892) +1827 – Joseph Lister, English surgeon and academic (d. 1912) +1832 – Jules Ferry, French lawyer and politician, 44th Prime Minister of France (d. 1893) +1834 – Prentice Mulford, American humorist and author (d. 1891) + 1834 – Wilhelm Olbers Focke, German medical doctor and botanist (d. 1922) + 1834 – Frank R. Stockton, American writer and humorist (d. 1902) +1835 – Vítězslav Hálek, Czech poet, writer, journalist, dramatist and theatre critic. (d. 1874) +1837 – Algernon Charles Swinburne, English poet, playwright, novelist, and critic (d. 1909) +1839 – Robert Smalls, African-American ship's pilot, sea captain, and politician (d. 1915) +1840 – Ghazaros Aghayan, Armenian historian and linguist (d. 1911) +1842 – Hans Hildebrand, Swedish archaeologist (d. 1913) +1845 – Friedrich Sigmund Merkel, German anatomist and histopathologist (d. 1919) + 1845 – Jules Cambon, French diplomat (d. 1935) +1846 – Sigmund Exner, Austrian physiologist (d. 1926) + 1846 – Henry Wellesley, British peer and politician (d. 1900) +1848 – Thure de Thulstrup, American illustrator (d. 1930) + 1848 – Ulrich Wille, Swiss army general (d. 1925) +1850 – Enrico Mazzanti, Italian engineer and cartoonist (d. 1910) +1852 – Émile Billard, French sailor (d. 1930) + 1852 – Walter W. Winans, American marksman and sculptor (d. 1920) + 1852 – Franz Eckert, German composer and musician (d. 1916) +1856 – Booker T. Washington, African-American educator, essayist and historian (d. 1915) +1857 – Alexander of Battenberg (d. 1893) +1858 – Washington Atlee Burpee, Canadian businessman, founded Burpee Seeds (d. 1915) +1859 – Reinhold Seeberg, German theologian (d. 1935) +1860 – Harry S. Barlow, British tennis player (d. 1917) +1862 – Louis Ganne, French conductor (d. 1923) + 1862 – Leo Stern, English cellist (d. 1904) +1863 – Princess Victoria of Hesse and by Rhine (d. 1950) +1867 – Ernest Lewis, British tennis player (d. 1930) +1869 – Sergey Chaplygin, Russian physicist, mathematician, and engineer (d. 1942) + 1869 – Albert Roussel, French composer (d. 1937) +1870 – Motobu Chōki, Japanese karateka (d. 1944) +1871 – Stanisław Grabski, Polish economist and politician (d. 1949) +1872 – Samuel Cate Prescott, American microbiologist and chemist (d. 1962) +1873 – Joseph Rheden, Austrian astronomer (d. 1946) +1874 – Emmanuel Célestin Suhard, French Cardinal of the Catholic Church (d. 1949) + 1874 – Manuel María Ponce Brousset, President of Peru (d. 1966) +1878 – Albert Champion, French cyclist (d. 1927) + 1878 – Georg Misch, German philosopher (d. 1965) + 1878 – Paul Weinstein, German high jumper (d. 1964) +1879 – Arthur Berriedale Keith, Scottish lawyer (d. 1944) + 1879 – Nikolaus zu Dohna-Schlodien, German naval officer and author (d. 1956) +1880 – Eric Carlberg, Swedish Army officer, diplomat, shooter, fencer and modern pentathlete (d. 1963) + 1880 – Vilhelm Carlberg, Swedish Army officer and shooter (d. 1970) +1882 – Song Jiaoren, Chinese revolutionary (d. 1913) + 1882 – Natalia Sedova, 2nd wife of Leon Trotsky (d. 1962) +1883 – Walter Huston, Canadian-American actor and singer (d. 1950) +1884 – Ion Inculeț, Bessarabian academic and politician, President of Moldova (d. 1940) +1885 – Dimitrie Cuclin, Romanian composer (d. 1978) +1886 – Gotthelf Bergsträsser, German linguist (d. 1933) + 1886 – Frederick Lindemann, British physicist (d. 1957) + 1886 – Gustavo Jiménez, Peruvian colonel and politician, 73rd President of Peru (d. 1933) +1887 – William Cowhig, British gymnast (d. 1964) +1889 – Vicente Ferreira Pastinha, Brazilian martial artist (d. 1981) +1890 – Karl Kirk, Danish gymnast (d. 1955) + 1890 – William Moore, British track and field athlete (d. 1956) +1891 – Arnold Jackson, English runner, soldier, and lawyer (d. 1972) + 1891 – Laura Vicuña, Chilean nun (d. 1904) +1892 – Raymond Bonney, American ice hockey player (d. 1964) +1893 – Frithjof Andersen, Norwegian wrestler (d. 1975) + 1893 – Clas Thunberg, Finnish speed skater (d. 1973) +1894 – Lawrence Dale Bell, American industrialist and founder of Bell Aircraft Corporation (d. 1956) + 1894 – Hans Hüttig, German SS officer (d. 1980) + 1894 – Carl Rudolf Florin, Swedish botanist (d. 1965) +1895 – Mike O'Dowd, American boxer (d. 1957) +1896 – Einar Lundborg, Swedish aviator (d. 1931) +1897 – Hans Schuberth, German politician (d. 1976) +1898 – Solange d'Ayen, French noblewoman, Duchess of Ayen and journalist (d. 1976) +1899 – Alfred Blalock, American surgeon and academic (d. 1964) +1900 – Herbert Bayer, Austrian-American graphic designer, painter, and photographer (d. 1985) + 1900 – Roman Steinberg, Estonian wrestler (d. 1939) + 1900 – Spencer Tracy, American actor (d. 1967) + +1901–present +1901 – Curt Bois, German actor (d. 1991) + 1901 – Chester Bowles, American diplomat and ambassador (d. 1986) + 1901 – Melvyn Douglas, American actor (d. 1981) + 1901 – Doggie Julian, American football, basketball, and baseball player and coach (d. 1967) +1902 – Menachem Mendel Schneerson, Russian-American rabbi (d. 1994) +1903 – Marion Aye, American actress (d. 1951) +1904 – Richard Eberhart, American poet and academic (d. 2005) +1906 – Albert Charles Smith, American botanist (d. 1999) + 1906 – Fernando Germani, Italian organist (d. 1998) + 1906 – Ted Morgan, New Zealand boxer (d. 1952) +1907 – Sanya Dharmasakti, Thai jurist (d. 2002) +1908 – Bette Davis, American actress (d. 1989) + 1908 – Kurt Neumann, German director (d. 1958) + 1908 – Jagjivan Ram, Indian politician, 4th Deputy Prime Minister of India (d. 1986) + 1908 – Herbert von Karajan, Austrian conductor and manager (d. 1989) +1909 – Albert R. Broccoli, American film producer, co-founded Eon Productions (d. 1996) + 1909 – Giacomo Gentilomo, Italian film director and painter (d. 2001) + 1909 – Károly Sós, Hungarian footballer and manager (d. 1991) + 1909 – Erwin Wegner, German hurdler (d. 1945) +1910 – Sven Andersson, Swedish politician (d. 1987) + 1910 – Oronzo Pugliese, Italian football manager (d. 1990) +1911 – Hedi Amara Nouira, Tunisian politician (d. 1993) + 1911 – Johnny Revolta, American golfer (d. 1991) +1912 – Jehan Buhan, French fencer (d. 1999) + 1912 – Habib Elghanian, Iranian businessman (d. 1979) + 1912 – Antonio Ferri, Italian scientist (d. 1975) + 1912 – Carlos Guastavino, Argentine composer (d. 2000) + 1912 – Makar Honcharenko, Ukrainian footballer and manager (d. 1997) + 1912 – John Le Mesurier, English actor (d. 1983) + 1912 – István Örkény, Hungarian author and playwright (d. 1979) + 1912 – Bill Roberts, English sprinter and soldier (d. 2001) +1913 – Antoni Clavé, Catalan artist (d. 2005) + 1913 – Nicolas Grunitzky, 2nd President of Togo (d. 1969) + 1913 – Ruth Smith, Faroese artist (d. 1958) +1914 – Felice Borel, Italian footballer (d. 1993) +1916 – Gregory Peck, American actor, political activist, and producer (d. 2003) +1917 – Robert Bloch, American author (d. 1994) + 1917 – Frans Gommers, Belgian footballer (d. 1996) +1919 – Lester James Peries, Sri Lankan director, screenwriter, and producer (d. 2018) +1920 – Barend Biesheuvel, Dutch politician, Prime Minister of the Netherlands (d. 2001) + 1920 – Arthur Hailey, English-Canadian soldier and author (d. 2004) + 1920 – Alfonso Thiele, Turkish-Italian race car driver (d. 1986) + 1920 – John Willem Gran, Swedish bishop (d. 2008) +1921 – Christopher Hewett, English actor and theatre director (d. 2001) +1922 – Tom Finney, English footballer (d. 2014) + 1922 – Harry Freedman, Polish-Canadian horn player, composer, and educator (d. 2005) + 1922 – Andy Linden, American race car driver (d. 1987) + 1922 – Gale Storm, American actress and singer (d. 2009) +1923 – Ernest Mandel, German-born Belgian Marxist economist, Trotskyist activist and theorist (d. 1995) + 1923 – Michael V. Gazzo, American actor (d. 1995) + 1923 – Nguyễn Văn Thiệu, Vietnamese general and politician, 5th President of South Vietnam (d. 2001) +1924 – Igor Borisov, Soviet rower (d. before 2005) +1925 – Janet Rowley, American human geneticist (d. 2013) + 1925 – Pierre Nihant, Belgian cyclist (d. 1993) +1926 – Roger Corman, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter + 1926 – Liang Yusheng, Chinese writer (d. 2009) +1927 – Thanin Kraivichien, Thai lawyer and politician + 1927 – Arne Hoel, Norwegian ski jumper (d. 2006) +1928 – Enzo Cannavale, Italian actor (d. 2011) + 1928 – Tony Williams, American singer (d. 1992) +1929 – Hugo Claus, Belgian author, poet, and painter (d. 2008) + 1929 – Ivar Giaever, Norwegian-American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate + 1929 – Nigel Hawthorne, English actor and producer (d. 2001) + 1929 – Joe Meek, English songwriter and producer (d. 1967) + 1929 – Mahmoud Mollaghasemi, Iranian wrestler +1930 – Mary Costa, American singer and actress + 1930 – Pierre Lhomme, French director of photography (d. 2019) +1931 – Jack Clement, American singer-songwriter and producer (d. 2013) + 1931 – Héctor Olivera, Argentine director, producer and screenwriter +1933 – Feridun Buğeker, Turkish footballer (d. 2014) + 1933 – Frank Gorshin, American actor (d. 2005) + 1933 – Barbara Holland, American author (d. 2010) + 1933 – K. Kailasapathy, Sri Lankan journalist and academic (d. 1982) +1934 – John Carey, English author and critic + 1934 – Roman Herzog, German lawyer and politician, 7th President of Germany (d. 2017) + 1934 – Moise Safra, Brazilian businessman and philanthropist, co-founded Banco Safra (d. 2014) + 1934 – Stanley Turrentine, American saxophonist and composer (d. 2000) +1935 – Giovanni Cianfriglia, Italian actor + 1935 – Peter Grant, English talent manager (d. 1995) + 1935 – Donald Lynden-Bell, English astrophysicist and astronomer (d. 2018) + 1935 – Frank Schepke, German rower (d. 2017) +1936 – Ronnie Bucknum, American race car driver (d. 1992) + 1936 – Glenn Jordan, American director and producer + 1936 – Dragoljub Minić, Yugoslavian chess Grandmaster (d. 2005) +1937 – Joseph Lelyveld, American journalist and author + 1937 – Colin Powell, American general and politician, 65th United States Secretary of State (d. 2021) + 1937 – Andrzej Schinzel, Polish mathematician (d. 2021) + 1937 – Arie Selinger, Israeli volleyball player and manager + 1937 – Juan Vicente Lezcano, Paraguayan footballer (d. 2012) +1938 – Colin Bland, Zimbabwean-South African cricketer (d. 2018) + 1938 – Mal Colston, Australian educator and politician (d. 2003) + 1938 – Nancy Holt, American sculptor and painter (d. 2014) + 1938 – Natalya Kustinskaya, Soviet actress (d. 2012) + 1938 – Giorgos Sideris, Greek footballer +1939 – Leka I, Crown Prince of Albania (d. 2011) + 1939 – Crispian St. Peters, English singer-songwriter (d. 2010) + 1939 – Haidar Abu Bakr al-Attas, Prime Minister of Yemen + 1939 – Ronald White, American singer-songwriter (d. 1995) + 1939 – David Winters, English-American actor, choreographer and producer (d. 2019) +1940 – Tommy Cash, American singer-songwriter and guitarist + 1940 – Gilles Proulx, Canadian journalist, historian, and radio host +1941 – Michael Moriarty, American-Canadian actor + 1941 – Dave Swarbrick, English singer-songwriter and fiddler (d. 2016) +1942 – Allan Clarke, English singer-songwriter + 1942 – Pascal Couchepin, Swiss politician + 1942 – Juan Gisbert Sr., Spanish tennis player + 1942 – Peter Greenaway, Welsh director and screenwriter +1943 – Dean Brown, Australian politician, 41st Premier of South Australia + 1943 – Max Gail, American actor and director + 1943 – Fighting Harada, Japanese boxer + 1943 – Miet Smet, Belgian politician + 1943 – Jean-Louis Tauran, French cardinal (d. 2018) +1944 – Willeke van Ammelrooy, Dutch actress and director + 1944 – János Martonyi, Hungarian politician + 1944 – Evan Parker, British musician + 1944 – Douangchay Phichit, Laotian politician (d. 2014) + 1944 – Willy Planckaert, Belgian cyclist + 1944 – Pedro Rosselló, Puerto Rican physician and politician, 7th Governor of Puerto Rico + 1944 – Peter T. King, American soldier, lawyer, and politician +1945 – Ove Bengtson, Swedish tennis player + 1945 – Steve Carver, American director and producer (d. 2021) + 1945 – Cem Karaca, Turkish musician (d. 2004) + 1945 – Tommy Smith, English footballer (d. 2019) +1946 – Jane Asher, English actress + 1946 – Julio Ángel Fernández, Uruguayan astronomer + 1946 – Björn Granath, Swedish actor (d. 2017) + 1946 – Georgi Markov, Bulgarian Greco-Roman wrestler +1947 – Đurđica Bjedov, Yugoslav swimmer + 1947 – Willy Chirino, Cuban-American musician + 1947 – Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, Filipino academic and politician, 14th President of the Philippines + 1947 – Ramón Mifflin, Peruvian footballer + 1947 – Virendra Sharma, Indian-English lawyer and politician +1948 – Pierre-Albert Chapuisat, Swiss footballer + 1948 – Dave Holland, English drummer (d. 2018) + 1948 – Roy McFarland, English footballer and manager +1949 – Stanley Dziedzic, American wrestler + 1949 – Larry Franco, American film producer + 1949 – Judith Resnik, American engineer and astronaut (d. 1986) +1950 – Ann C. Crispin, American writer (d. 2013) + 1950 – Franklin Chang Díaz, Costa Rican-Chinese American astronaut and physicist + 1950 – Agnetha Fältskog, Swedish singer-songwriter and producer + 1950 – Toshiko Fujita, Japanese actress, singer and narrator (d. 2018) + 1950 – Miki Manojlović, Serbian actor +1951 – Les Binks, Irish drummer and songwriter + 1951 – Yevgeniy Gavrilenko, Belarusian hurdler + 1951 – Nedim Gürsel, Turkish writer + 1951 – Dean Kamen, American inventor and businessman, founded Segway Inc. + 1951 – Dave McArtney, New Zealand singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2013) + 1951 – Ubol Ratana, Thai Princess +1952 – Alfie Conn, Scottish international footballer + 1952 – John C. Dvorak, American author and editor + 1952 – Sandy Mayer, American tennis player + 1952 – Dennis Mortimer, English footballer + 1952 – Mitch Pileggi, American actor +1953 – Frank Gaffney, American journalist and radio host + 1953 – Keiko Han, Japanese actress + 1953 – Tae Jin-ah, South Korean singer + 1953 – Raleb Majadele, Israeli politician + 1953 – Ian Swales, English accountant and politician +1954 – Guy Bertrand, Canadian linguist and radio host + 1954 – Peter Case, American singer-songwriter and guitarist + 1954 – Mohamed Ben Mouza, Tunisian footballer + 1954 – Stan Ridgway, American singer-songwriter and guitarist + 1954 – Yoshiichi Watanabe, Japanese footballer +1955 – Charlotte de Turckheim, French actress, producer, and screenwriter + 1955 – Ricardo Ferrero, Argentine footballer (d. 2015) + 1955 – Christian Gourcuff, French footballer and manager + 1955 – Anthony Horowitz, English author and screenwriter + 1955 – Bernard Longley, English prelate + 1955 – Akira Toriyama, Japanese illustrator + 1955 – Takayoshi Yamano, Japanese footballer +1956 – Diamond Dallas Page, American wrestler and actor + 1956 – Leonid Fedun, Russian businessman + 1956 – Reid Ribble, American politician +1957 – Sebastian Adayanthrath, Indian bishop + 1957 – Karin Roßley, German hurdler +1958 – Kevin Dann, Australian rugby league player (d. 2021) + 1958 – Henrik Dettmann, Finnish basketball coach + 1958 – Ryoichi Kawakatsu, Japanese footballer + 1958 – Johan Kriek, South African-American tennis player + 1958 – Daniel Schneidermann, French journalist + 1958 – Lasantha Wickrematunge, Sri Lankan lawyer and journalist (d. 2009) +1959 – Paul Chung, Hong Kong actor and host (d. 1989) +1960 – Asteris Koutoulas, Romanian-German record producer, manager, and author + 1960 – Larry McCray, American singer-songwriter and guitarist + 1960 – Ian Redford, Scottish footballer and manager (d. 2014) + 1960 – Hiromi Taniguchi, Japanese long-distance runner + 1960 – Adnan Terzić, Bosnian politician +1961 – Andrea Arnold, English filmmaker and actress + 1961 – Anna Caterina Antonacci, Italian soprano + 1961 – Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, Bahraini-Danish human rights activist + 1961 – Lisa Zane, American actress and singer +1962 – Lana Clarkson, American actress and model (d. 2003) + 1962 – Sara Danius, Swedish scholar of literature and aesthetics (d. 2019) + 1962 – Richard Gough, Swedish born Scottish international footballer + 1962 – Arild Monsen, Norwegian cross-country skier + 1962 – Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, Russian businessman and politician, 1st President of Kalmykia +1963 – Arthur Adams, American comic book artist and writer +1964 – Neil Eckersley, British judoka + 1964 – Vakhtang Iagorashvili, Soviet modern pentathlete + 1964 – Levon Julfalakyan, Soviet Armenian Greco-Roman wrestler + 1964 – Marius Lăcătuș, Romanian footballer and coach +1965 – Aykut Kocaman, Turkish footballer and manager + 1965 – Lang Tzu-yun, Taiwanese actress + 1965 – Elizabeth McIntyre, American freestyle skier + 1965 – Svetlana Paramygina, Belarusian biathlete +1966 – Yoon Hyun, South Korean judoka + 1966 – Mike McCready, American guitarist and songwriter + 1966 – Peter Overton, English-Australian journalist and television host +1967 – Troy Gentry, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2017) + 1967 – Franck Silvestre, French footballer + 1967 – Erland Johnsen, Norwegian footballer + 1967 – Laima Zilporytė, Soviet cyclist +1968 – Paula Cole, American singer-songwriter and pianist +1969 – Dinos Angelidis, Greek basketball player + 1969 – Viatcheslav Djavanian, Russian cyclist + 1969 – Pontus Kåmark, Swedish footballer + 1969 – Pavlo Khnykin, Ukrainian swimmer + 1969 – Tomislav Piplica, Bosnian footballer and manager + 1969 – Ravindra Prabhat, Indian writer and journalist +1970 – Soheil Ayari, French race car driver + 1970 – Valérie Bonneton, French actress + 1970 – Diamond D, American hip hop producer + 1970 – Petar Genov, Bulgarian chess grandmaster + 1970 – Thea Gill, Canadian actress + 1970 – Miho Hatori, Japanese singer-songwriter + 1970 – Irina Timofeyeva, Russian long-distance runner +1971 – Dong Abay, Filipino singer-songwriter and guitarist + 1971 – Krista Allen, American actress + 1971 – Austin Berry, Costa Rican footballer + 1971 – Simona Cavallari, Italian actress + 1971 – Victoria Hamilton, English actress + 1971 – Nelson Parraguez, Chilean footballer + 1971 – Kim Soo-nyung, South Korean archer +1972 – Nima Arkani-Hamed, American-Canadian theoretical physicist + 1972 – Tom Coronel, Dutch race car driver + 1972 – Paul Okon, Australian footballer and manager + 1972 – Duncan Spencer, English cricketer + 1972 – Yasuhiro Takemoto, Japanese animator and director (d. 2019) + 1972 – Junko Takeuchi, Japanese actress +1973 – Élodie Bouchez, French-American actress + 1973 – Brendan Cannon, Australian rugby player + 1973 – Lidia Trettel, Italian snowboarder + 1973 – Pharrell Williams, American singer, songwriter and rapper +1974 – Sandra Bagarić, Croatian opera singer and actress + 1974 – Julien Boutter, French tennis player + 1974 – Katja Holanti, Finnish biathlete + 1974 – Oleg Khodkov, Russian handball player + 1974 – Ariel López, Argentine footballer + 1974 – Lukas Ridgeston, Slovak actor and director + 1974 – Vyacheslav Voronin, Russian high jumper +1975 – Sarah Baldock, English organist and conductor + 1975 – John Hartson, Welsh footballer and coach + 1975 – Juicy J, American rapper and producer + 1975 – Serhiy Klymentiev, Ukrainian ice hockey player + 1975 – Caitlin Moran, English journalist, author, and critic + 1975 – Marcos Vales, Spanish footballer + 1975 – Shammond Williams, American basketball player and coach +1976 – Luis de Agustini, Uruguayan footballer + 1976 – Péter Biros, Hungarian water polo player + 1976 – Sterling K. Brown, American actor + 1976 – Aleksei Budõlin, Estonian judoka + 1976 – Simone Inzaghi, Italian footballer + 1976 – Fernando Morientes, Spanish footballer and coach + 1976 – Natascha Ragosina, Russian boxer + 1976 – Henrik Stenson, Swedish golfer + 1976 – Valeria Straneo, Italian long-distance runner + 1976 – Indrek Tobreluts, Estonian biathlete + 1976 – Anouska van der Zee, Dutch cyclist +1977 – Jonathan Erlich, Israeli tennis player + 1977 – Trevor Letowski, Canadian ice hockey player and coach + 1977 – Daniel Majstorović, Swedish footballer +1978 – Dwain Chambers, British track sprinter + 1978 – Marcone Amaral Costa, Qatari footballer + 1978 – Tarek El-Said, Egyptian footballer + 1978 – Jairo Patiño, Colombian footballer + 1978 – Sohyang, South Korean singer + 1978 – Stephen Jackson, American basketball player + 1978 – Arnaud Tournant, French cyclist + 1978 – Franziska van Almsick, German swimmer + 1978 – Günther Weidlinger, Austrian long-distance runner +1979 – Vlada Avramov, Serbian footballer + 1979 – Josh Boone, American screenwriter and director + 1979 – Song Dae-nam, South Korean judoka + 1979 – Timo Hildebrand, German footballer + 1979 – Imany, French singer + 1979 – Barel Mouko, Congolese footballer + 1979 – Cesare Natali, Italian footballer + 1979 – Mitsuo Ogasawara, Japanese footballer + 1979 – Alexander Resch, German luger + 1979 – Andrius Velička, Lithuanian footballer + 1979 – Dante Wesley, American football player + 1979 – Chen Yanqing, Chinese weightlifter +1980 – Matt Bonner, American basketball player + 1980 – Alberta Brianti, Italian tennis player + 1980 – Rafael Cavalcante, Brazilian mixed martial artist + 1980 – David Chocarro, Argentinian baseball player and actor + 1980 – Mike Glumac, Canadian ice hockey player + 1980 – Mario Kasun, Croatian basketball player + 1980 – Lee Jae-won, South Korean DJ and singer + 1980 – Joris Mathijsen, Dutch footballer + 1980 – Rasmus Quist Hansen, Danish rower + 1980 – Odlanier Solís, Cuban boxer +1981 – Matthew Emmons, American rifle shooter + 1981 – Michael A. Monsoor, American sailor, Medal of Honor recipient (d. 2006) + 1981 – Mariqueen Maandig, Filipino-American musician and singer-songwriter + 1981 – Daba Modibo Keïta, Malian taekwondo athlete + 1981 – Marissa Nadler, American musician + 1981 – Tom Riley, English actor and producer + 1981 – Mompati Thuma, Botswana footballer + 1981 – Pieter Weening, Dutch cyclist +1982 – Hayley Atwell, English-American actress + 1982 – Matheus Coradini Vivian, Brazilian footballer + 1982 – Thomas Hitzlsperger, German footballer + 1982 – Kelly Pavlik, American boxer + 1982 – Matt Pickens, American soccer player + 1982 – Alexandre Prémat, French race car driver + 1982 – Danylo Sapunov, Ukrainian-Kazakhstani triathlete + 1982 – Hubert Schwab, Swiss cyclist + 1982 – Marcel Seip, Dutch former footballer +1983 – Jaime Castrillón, Colombian footballer + 1983 – Jorge Andrés Martínez, Uruguayan footballer + 1983 – Brock Radunske, Canadian-South Korean ice hockey player + 1983 – Yohann Sangaré, French basketball player + 1983 – Cécile Storti, French cross-country skier + 1983 – Shikha Uberoi, Indian-American tennis player +1984 – Marshall Allman, American actor + 1984 – Aram Mp3, Armenian singer and comedian + 1984 – Rune Brattsveen, Norwegian biathlete + 1984 – Alexei Glukhov, Russian ice hockey player + 1984 – Maartje Goderie, Dutch field hockey player + 1984 – Darija Jurak, Croatian tennis player + 1984 – Dejan Kelhar, Slovenian footballer + 1984 – Dmitry Kozonchuk, Russian cyclist + 1984 – Shin Min-a, South Korean actress + 1984 – Jess Sum, Hong Kong actress + 1984 – Peter Penz, Austrian luger + 1984 – Samuele Preisig, Swiss footballer + 1984 – Cristian Săpunaru, Romanian footballer + 1984 – Fabio Vitaioli, San Marinese footballer + 1984 – Kisho Yano, Japanese footballer + 1984 – Saba Qamar, Pakistani actress-model +1985 – Daniel Congré, French footballer + 1985 – Erwin l'Ami, Dutch chess player + 1985 – Jolanda Keizer, Dutch heptathlete + 1985 – Sergey Khachatryan, Armenian violinist + 1985 – Linas Pilibaitis, Lithuanian footballer + 1985 – Jan Smeets, Dutch chess grandmaster + 1985 – Kristof Vandewalle, Belgian cyclist +1986 – Anna Sophia Berglund, American model and actress + 1986 – Anzor Boltukayev, Chechen wrestler + 1986 – Diego Chará, Colombian footballer + 1986 – Charlotte Flair, American wrestler, author and actress + 1986 – Róbert Kasza, Hungarian Modern pentathlete + 1986 – Eetu Muinonen, Finnish footballer + 1986 – Manuel Ruz, Spanish footballer + 1986 – Albert Selimov, Azerbaijani boxer +1987 – Max Grün, German footballer + 1987 – Balázs Hárai, Hungarian water polo player + 1987 – Anton Kokorin, Russian sprint athlete + 1987 – Fyodor Kudryashov, Russian footballer + 1987 – Etiënne Reijnen, Dutch footballer +1988 – Gerson Acevedo, Chilean footballer + 1988 – Teresa Almeida, Angolan handball player + 1988 – Quade Cooper, New Zealand-Australian rugby player and boxer + 1988 – Jonathan Davies, Welsh rugby union player + 1988 – Gevorg Ghazaryan, Armenian footballer + 1988 – Alisha Glass, American ex-indoor volleyball player + 1988 – Vurğun Hüseynov, Azerbaijani footballer + 1988 – Matthias Jaissle, German footballer and manager + 1988 – Christopher Papamichalopoulos, Cypriot skier + 1988 – Zack Smith, Canadian ice hockey player + 1988 – Pape Sy, French basketball player + 1988 – Alexey Volkov, Russian biathlete +1989 – Kader Amadou, Nigerien footballer + 1989 – Yémi Apithy, Beninese fencer + 1989 – Liemarvin Bonevacia, Dutch sprinter + 1989 – Freddie Fox, English actor + 1989 – Emre Güral, Turkish footballer + 1989 – Justin Holiday, American basketball player + 1989 – Rachel Homan, Canadian curler + 1989 – Lily James, English actress + 1989 – Trevor Marsicano, American speed skater + 1989 – Jonathan Rossini, Swiss footballer + 1989 – Kiki Sukezane, Japanese actress + 1989 – Sosuke Takatani, Japanese wrestler +1990 – Amer Said Al-Shatri, Omani footballer + 1990 – Alex Cuthbert, Welsh rugby player + 1990 – Patrick Dangerfield, Australian footballer + 1990 – Fredy Hinestroza, Colombian footballer + 1990 – Chen Huijia, Chinese swimmer + 1990 – Haruma Miura, Japanese actor and singer (d. 2020) + 1990 – Ismaeel Mohammad, Qatari footballer + 1990 – Iryna Pamialova, Belarusian canoeist + 1990 – Jakub Sedláček, Czech ice hockey player + 1990 – Sercan Yıldırım, Turkish footballer + 1990 – Género Zeefuik, Dutch footballer +1991 – Yassine Bounou, Moroccan footballer + 1991 – Nathaniel Clyne, English footballer + 1991 – Adriano Grimaldi, Italian-German footballer + 1991 – Joël Mall, Swiss footballer + 1991 – Guilherme dos Santos Torres, Brazilian footballer +1992 – Emmalyn Estrada, Canadian singer-songwriter and dancer + 1992 – Shintaro Kurumaya, Japanese footballer + 1992 – Kaveh Rezaei, Iranian footballer + 1992 – Dmytro Ryzhuk, Ukrainian footballer +1993 – Andreas Bouchalakis, Greek footballer + 1993 – Maya DiRado, American swimmer + 1993 – Laura Feiersinger, Austrian footballer + 1993 – Benjamin Garcia, French rugby league player + 1993 – Scottie Wilbekin, American-Turkish basketball player +1994 – Mateusz Bieniek, Polish volleyball player + 1994 – Edem Rjaïbi, Tunisian footballer + 1994 – Richard Sánchez, Mexican footballer +1995 – Viliame Kikau, Fijian rugby league player + 1995 – Sei Muroya, Japanese footballer + 1995 – Gleb Rassadkin, Belarusian footballer + 1995 – Sebastian Starke Hedlund, Swedish footballer +1996 – Nicolas Beer, Danish race car driver + 1996 – Raouf Benguit, Algerian footballer +1997 – Borja Mayoral, Spanish footballer + 1997 – Dominik Mysterio, American wrestler + 1999 – Bobby Miller, American baseball player +2000 – Ayush Mahesh Khedekar, Indian actor +2001 – Johnny Beecher, American ice hockey player +2001 – Thylane Blondeau, French model and actress + +Deaths + +Pre-1600 + 517 – Timothy I of Constantinople, Byzantine patriarch + 582 – Eutychius of Constantinople, Byzantine patriarch + 584 – Ruadán of Lorrha, Irish abbot + 902 – Al-Mu'tadid, Abbasid caliph +1168 – Robert de Beaumont, 2nd Earl of Leicester, English politician (b. 1104) +1183 – Ramon Berenguer III, Spanish count of Cerdanya and Provence +1205 – Isabella I of Jerusalem, queen regnant of Jerusalem (b. 1172) +1258 – Juliana of Liège, Belgian canoness and saint +1308 – Ivan Kőszegi, Hungarian baron and oligarch +1325 – Ralph de Monthermer, 1st Baron of Monthermer and Earl of Gloucester (b. c.1270) +1419 – Vincent Ferrer, Spanish missionary and saint (b. 1350) +1431 – Bernard I, margrave of Baden-Baden (b. 1364) +1512 – Lazzaro Bastiani, Italian painter (b. 1429) +1534 – Jan Matthys, Dutch anabaptist reformer +1594 – Catherine of Palma, Spanish nun (b. 1533) + +1601–1900 +1612 – Diana Scultori, Italian engraver +1617 – Alonso Lobo, Spanish composer (b. 1555) +1626 – Anna Koltovskaya, Russian tsarina +1673 – François Caron, Belgian-French explorer and politician, 8th Governor of Formosa (b. 1600) +1679 – Anne Geneviève de Bourbon, French princess (b. 1619) +1684 – William Brouncker, English mathematician (b. 1620) + 1684 – Karl Eusebius, prince of Liechtenstein (b. 1611) +1693 – Anne Marie Louise d'Orléans, French noblewoman (b. 1627) + 1693 – Philip William August, German nobleman (b. 1668) +1695 – George Savile, English politician, Lord President of the Council (b. 1633) +1697 – Charles XI, king of Sweden (b. 1655) +1704 – Christian Ulrich I, German nobleman and Duke of Württemberg-Oels (b. 1652) +1708 – Christian Heinrich, German prince and member of the House of Hohenzollern (b. 1661) +1709 – Roger de Piles, French painter, engraver, art critic and diplomat (b. 1635) +1712 – Jan Luyken, Dutch poet, illustrator and engraver (b. 1649) +1717 – Jean Jouvenet, French painter (b. 1647) +1723 – Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach, Austrian architect, sculptor and historian (b. 1656) +1735 – William Derham, English minister and philosopher (b. 1657) +1751 – Frederick I, prince consort and king of Sweden (b. 1676) +1765 – Edward Young, English poet and author (b. 1683) +1767 – Princess Charlotte Wilhelmine of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, German princess of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld (b. 1685) +1768 – Egidio Forcellini, Italian philologist (b. 1688) +1769 – Marc-Antoine Laugier, Jesuit priest (b. 1713) +1794 – Georges Danton, French lawyer and politician, French Minister of Justice (b. 1759) + 1794 – François Chabot, French politician (b. 1756) + 1794 – Camille Desmoulins, French journalist, lawyer, and politician (b. 1760) + 1794 – Fabre d'Églantine, French actor, dramatist, poet and politician (b. 1750) + 1794 – Marie-Jean Hérault de Séchelles, French judge and politician (b. 1759) + 1794 – Pierre Philippeaux, French lawyer (b. 1754) + 1794 – François Joseph Westermann, French general (b. 1751) +1799 – Johann Christoph Gatterer, German historian (b. 1727) +1804 – Jean-Charles Pichegru, French general (b. 1761) +1808 – Johann Georg Wille, German engraver (b. 1715) +1830 – Richard Chenevix, Irish chemist and playwright (b. 1774) +1831 – Pierre Léonard Vander Linden, Belgian entomologist (b. 1797) +1842 – Shah Shujah Durrani, 5th Emir of Afghanistan (b. 1785) +1852 – Prince Felix of Schwarzenberg, (b. 1800) +1861 – Ferdinand Joachimsthal, German mathematician (b. 1818) +1862 – Barend Cornelis Koekkoek, Dutch artist (b. 1803) +1865 – Manfredo Fanti, Italian general (b. 1806) +1866 – Thomas Hodgkin, British physician (b. 1798) +1868 – Karel Purkyně, Czech painter (b. 1834) +1871 – Paolo Savi, Italian geologist and ornithologist (b. 1798) +1872 – Paul-Auguste-Ernest Laugier, French astronomer (b. 1812) +1873 – Milivoje Blaznavac, Serbian soldier and politician (b. 1824) +1882 – Pierre Guillaume Frédéric le Play, (b. 1806) +1888 – Vsevolod Garshin, Russian author (b. 1855) +1891 – Johann Hermann Bauer, (b. 1861) +1900 – Joseph Bertrand, French mathematician, economist, and academic (b. 1822) + 1900 – Osman Nuri Pasha, Ottoman field marshal and the hero of the Siege of Plevna in 1877 (b. 1832) + +1901–present +1901 – Angelo Messedaglia, Italian social scientist and statistician (b. 1820) +1902 – Hans Ernst August Buchner, German bacteriologist (b. 1850) +1904 – Ernst Leopold, 4th Prince of Leiningen (b. 1830) + 1904 – Frances Power Cobbe, Irish writer (b. 1822) +1906 – Eastman Johnson, American painter (b. 1824) +1914 – Bernard Borggreve, German forestry scientist (b. 1836) +1916 – Maksim Kovalevsky, Russian sociologist (b. 1851) +1918 – George Tupou II, King of Tonga (b. 1874) + 1918 – Paul Vidal de La Blache, French geographer (b. 1845) +1920 – Laurent Marqueste, French sculptor (b. 1848) +1921 – Alphons Diepenbrock, Dutch composer (b. 1862) + 1921 – Sophie Elkan, Swedish writer and translator (b. 1853) +1923 – George Herbert, 5th Earl of Carnarvon, English archaeologist and businessman (b. 1866) +1924 – Victor Hensen, German zoologist (b. 1835) +1928 – Roy Kilner, English cricketer and soldier (b. 1890) + 1928 – Viktor Oliva, Czech painter and illustrator (b. 1861) +1929 – Francis Aidan Gasquet, English Benedictine monk (b. 1846) + 1929 – Ludwig von Sybel, German archeologist (b. 1846) +1932 – María Blanchard, Spanish painter (b. 1881) +1933 – Earl Derr Biggers, American novelist and playwright (b. 1884) + 1933 – Hjalmar Mellin, Finnish mathematician and functional theorist (b. 1854) +1934 – Salvatore Di Giacomo, Italian poet, playwright, songwriter and fascist intellectual (b. 1860) + 1934 – Jiro Sato, Japanese tennis player (b. 1908) +1935 – Achille Locatelli, Roman Catholic cardinal (b. 1856) + 1935 – Emil Młynarski, Polish conductor, violinist, composer, and pedagogue (b. 1870) + 1935 – Franz von Vecsey, Hungarian violinist and composer (b. 1893) +1936 – Chandler Egan, American golfer and architect (b. 1884) +1937 – Gustav Adolf Deissmann, (b. 1866) + 1937 – José Benlliure y Gil, Spanish painter (b. 1858) +1938 – Helena Westermarck, Finnish artist and writer (b. 1857) + 1938 – Verner Lehtimäki, Finnish revolutionary (b. 1890) +1940 – Charles Freer Andrews, English-Indian priest, missionary, and educator (b. 1871) + 1940 – Robert Maillart, Swiss civil engineer (b. 1872) + 1940 – Jay O'Brien, American bobsledder (b. 1883) + 1940 – Song Zheyuan, Chinese general (b. 1885) +1941 – Parvin E'tesami, Persian poet (b. 1907) + 1941 – Nigel Gresley, Scottish-English engineer (b. 1876) + 1941 – Franciszek Kleeberg, Polish general (b. 1888) +1945 – Heinrich Borgmann, German officer (b. 1912) + 1945 – Karl-Otto Koch, German SS officer (b. 1897) +1946 – Vincent Youmans, American composer and producer (b. 1898) +1947 – Bernhard Pankok, German painter, artist and architect (b. 1872) + 1947 – Elis Strömgren, Swedish-Danish astronomer (b. 1870) +1948 – Abby Aldrich Rockefeller, American socialite and philanthropist (b. 1874) +1949 – Erich Zeigner, Prime Minister of Saxony (b. 1886) +1950 – Hiroshi Yoshida, Japanese painter (b. 1876) +1952 – Agnes Morton, British tennis player (b. +1954 – Princess Märtha of Sweden, (b. 1901) + 1954 – Claude Delvincourt, French pianist and composer (b. 1888) +1955 – Tibor Szele, Hungarian mathematician (b. 1918) +1956 – William Titt, British gymnast (b. 1881) +1958 – Prince Ferdinand of Bavaria, (b. 1884) + 1958 – Ásgrímur Jónsson, Icelandic painter (b. 1876) + 1958 – Isidora Sekulić, Serbian writer (b. 1877) +1961 – Nikolai Kryukov, Russian composer (b. 1908) +1962 – Boo Kullberg, Swedish gymnast (b. 1889) +1963 – Jacobus Oud, Dutch architect (b. 1890) +1964 – James Chapin, American ornithologist (b. 1889) + 1964 – Aloïse Corbaz, Swiss artist (b. 1886) + 1964 – Douglas MacArthur, American general (b. 1880) +1965 – Pedro Sernagiotto, Italian-Brazilian footballer (b. 1908) + 1965 – Sándor Szalay, Hungarian figure skater (b. 1893) +1967 – Mischa Elman, Ukrainian-American violinist (b. 1891) + 1967 – Johan Falkberget, Norwegian author (b. 1879) + 1967 – Hermann Joseph Muller, American geneticist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1890) + 1967 – Herbert Johnston, British runner (b. 1902) +1968 – Félix Couchoro, Togolese writer (b. 1900) + 1968 – Lajos Csordás, Hungarian footballer + 1968 – Giuseppe Paris, Italian gymnast (b. 1895) +1969 – Alberto Bonucci, Italian actor and director (b. 1918) + 1969 – Rómulo Gallegos, Venezuelan novelist and politician (b. 1917) + 1969 – Ain-Ervin Mere, Estonian SS officer (b. 1903) +1970 – Louisa Bolus, South African botanist and taxonomist (b. 1877) + 1970 – Alfred Sturtevant, American geneticist and academic (b. 1891) + 1970 – Karl von Spreti, German diplomat (b. 1907) +1971 – José Cubiles, Spanish pianist and conductor (b. 1894) +1973 – David Murray, British race car driver (b. 1909) + 1973 – Isabel Jewell, American actress and singer (b. 1907) + 1973 – Alla Tarasova, Russian ballerina (b. 1898) +1974 – Bino Bini, Italian fencer (b. 1900) + 1974 – A. Y. Jackson, Canadian painter (b. 1882) +1975 – Tell Berna, American middle and long-distance runner (b. 1891) + 1975 – Victor Marijnen, Dutch politician (b. 1917) + 1975 – Chiang Kai-shek, Chinese general and politician, 1st President of the Republic of China (b. 1887) + 1975 – Harold Osborn, American track and fielder (b. 1899) +1976 – Howard Hughes, American pilot, engineer, and director (b. 1905) + 1976 – Wilder Penfield, American-Canadian surgeon and academic (b. 1891) + 1976 – Harry Wyld, British cyclist (b. 1900) +1977 – Carlos Prío Socarrás, President of Cuba, (b. 1903) + 1977 – Yuri Zavadsky, Russian actor and director (b. 1894) +1981 – Émile Hanse, Belgian footballer (b. 1892) + 1981 – Bob Hite, American singer-songwriter (b. 1945) + 1981 – Pinchus Kremegne, French artist (b. 1890) +1982 – Abe Fortas, American lawyer and jurist (b. 1910) +1983 – Abd al-Quddus al-Ansari, Saudi Arabian historian, journalist and writer. (b. 1907) +1984 – Hans Lunding, Danish military officer (b. 1899) + 1984 – Giuseppe Tucci, Italian scholar of oriental cultures (b. 1894) +1986 – Manly Wade Wellman, American writer (b. 1903) +1987 – Leabua Jonathan, 2nd Prime Minister of Lesotho (b. 1914) +1988 – Alf Kjellin, Swedish actor and director (b. 1920) +1989 – Frank Foss, American pole vaulter (b. 1895) + 1989 – Karel Zeman, Czech director, artist, production designer and animator (b. 1910) +1991 – Sonny Carter, American soccer player, physician, and astronaut (b. 1947) + 1991 – Jay Miller, American basketball player (b. 1943) + 1991 – Jiří Mucha, Czech journalist, writer and screenwriter (b. 1915) + 1991 – William Sidney, 1st Viscount De L'Isle (b. 1909) + 1991 – John Tower, American soldier, academic, and politician (b. 1925) +1992 – Takeshi Inoue, Japanese footballer (b. 1928) + 1992 – Molly Picon, American actress (b. 1898) + 1992 – Sam Walton, American businessman, founded Walmart and Sam's Club (b. 1918) +1993 – Divya Bharti, Indian actress (b. 1974) +1994 – Kurt Cobain, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1967) +1995 – Nicolaas Cortlever, Dutch chess player (b. 1915) + 1995 – Emilio Greco, Italian sculptor and engraver (b. 1913) + 1995 – Christian Pineau, French Resistance fighter (b. 1904) +1996 – Charlene Holt, American actress (b. 1928) +1997 – Allen Ginsberg, American poet (b. 1926) +1998 – Frederick Charles Frank, British theoretical physicist (b. 1911) + 1998 – Cozy Powell, English drummer (b. 1947) +1999 – Giulio Einaudi, Italian book publisher (b. 1912) +2000 – Heinrich Müller, Austrian footballer (b. 1909) + 2000 – Lee Petty, American race car driver (b. 1914) +2001 – Aldo Olivieri, Italian footballer (b. 1910) +2002 – Layne Staley, American singer-songwriter (b. 1967) + 2002 – Kim Won-gyun, North Korean composer and politician (b. 1917) +2003 – Keizo Morishita, Japanese painter (b. 1944) +2004 – Fernand Goyvaerts, Belgian footballer (b. 1938) + 2004 – Sławomir Rawicz, Polish lieutenant (b. 1915) + 2004 – Heiner Zieschang, German mathematician and academic (b. 1936) +2005 – Saul Bellow, Canadian-American novelist, essayist and short story writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1915) + 2005 – Robert Borg, American military officer and equestrian (b. 1913) + 2005 – Chung Nam-sik, South Korean footballer (b. 1917) +2006 – Allan Kaprow, American painter and educator (b. 1927) + 2006 – Gene Pitney, American singer-songwriter (b. 1940) + 2006 – Yevgeny Seredin, Russian swimmer (b. 1958) + 2006 – Pasquale Macchi, Roman Catholic archbishop (b. 1923) +2007 – Maria Gripe, Swedish journalist and author (b. 1923) + 2007 – Leela Majumdar, Indian author and academic (b. 1908) + 2007 – Werner Maser, German historian and journalist (b. 1922) + 2007 – Mark St. John, American guitarist (b. 1956) + 2007 – Thomas Stoltz Harvey, American pathologist (b. 1912) +2008 – Charlton Heston, American actor, director, and political activist (b. 1923) +2009 – I. J. Good, British mathematician (b. 1916) +2010 – Vitaly Sevastyanov, Soviet cosmonaut and engineer (b. 1935) +2011 – Baruch Samuel Blumberg, American physician and geneticist (b. 1925) + 2011 – Ange-Félix Patassé, Central African politician (b. 1937) +2012 – Ferdinand Alexander Porsche, German designer (b. 1935) + 2012 – Pedro Bartolomé Benoit, Dominican Republican politician military officer + 2012 – Jim Marshall, English businessman, founded Marshall Amplification (b. 1923) + 2012 – Barney McKenna, Irish musician (b. 1939) + 2012 – Bingu wa Mutharika, Malawian economist and politician, 3rd President of Malawi (b. 1934) +2013 – Regina Bianchi, Italian actress (b. 1921) + 2013 – Piero de Palma, Italian tenor and actor (b. 1924) + 2013 – Nikolaos Pappas, Greek Navy admiral (b. 1930) +2014 – Alan Davie, Scottish saxophonist and painter (b. 1920) + 2014 – Mariano Díaz, Spanish cyclist (b. 1939) + 2014 – Peter Matthiessen, American novelist, short story writer, editor, co-founded The Paris Review (b. 1927) + 2014 – John Pinette, American comedian (b. 1964) + 2014 – José Wilker, Brazilian actor, director, and producer (b. 1947) +2015 – Fredric Brandt, American dermatologist and author (b. 1949) + 2015 – Juan Carlos Cáceres, Argentinian singer and pianist (b. 1936) +2016 – Koço Kasapoğlu, Turkish footballer (b. 1936) +2017 – Attilio Benfatto, Italian cyclist (b. 1943) + 2017 – Arthur Bisguier, American chess Grandmaster (b. 1929) + 2017 – Paul G. Comba, Italian-American computer scientist and astronomer (b. 1926) + 2017 – Makoto Ōoka, Japanese poet and literary critic (b. 1931) + 2017 – Paul O'Neill, American rock composer and producer (b. 1956) + 2017 – Tim Parnell, British race car driver (b. 1932) + 2017 – Memè Perlini, Italian actor and director (b. 1947) + 2017 – Atanase Sciotnic, Romanian sprint canoeist (b. 1942) + 2017 – Ilkka Sinisalo, Finnish ice hockey player (b. 1958) +2018 – Isao Takahata, Japanese director (b. 1935) +2019 – Sydney Brenner, South African biologist (b. 1927) +2021 – Paul Ritter, English actor (b. 1966) +2022 – Nehemiah Persoff, Israeli-American actor (b. 1919) + 2022 – Jimmy Wang Yu, Taiwanese actor (b. 1943) + +Holidays and observances +Christian feast day: +Albert of Montecorvino +Derfel Gadarn +Æthelburh of Kent +Gerald of Sauve-Majeure +Juliana of Liège +Maria Crescentia Höss +Blessed Mariano de la Mata +Pandita Mary Ramabai (Episcopal Church (USA)) +Ruadhán of Lorrha +Vincent Ferrer +April 5 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics) +Cold Food Festival, held on April 4 if it is a leap year (China); and its related observances: +Earliest day on which Sham el-Nessim can fall, while May 9 is the latest; celebrated on Monday after the Orthodox Easter (Egypt) +Children's Day (Palestinian territories) +First Contact Day (International observance) +Sikmogil (South Korea) +National Maritime Day is observed in India, in commemoration of the first voyage of SS Loyalty of the Scindia Steam Navigation Company Ltd. in 1919. + International Day of Conscience + +Other + April the Fifth (1929–1954), British Thoroughbred racehorse + (ends 5 April) + +References + +External links + + BBC: On This Day + + Historical Events on April 5 + +Days of the year +April + + +Events + +Pre-1600 +1303 – The Sapienza University of Rome is instituted by a bull of Pope Boniface VIII. + +1601–1900 +1653 – Oliver Cromwell dissolves England's Rump Parliament. +1657 – English Admiral Robert Blake destroys a Spanish silver fleet, under heavy fire from the shore, at the Battle of Santa Cruz de Tenerife. + 1657 – Freedom of religion is granted to the Jews of New Amsterdam (later New York City). +1752 – Start of Konbaung–Hanthawaddy War, a new phase in the Burmese Civil War (1740–57). +1770 – The Georgian king, Erekle II, abandoned by his Russian ally Count Totleben, wins a victory over Ottoman forces at Aspindza. +1775 – American Revolutionary War: The Siege of Boston begins, following the battles at Lexington and Concord. +1789 – George Washington arrives at Grays Ferry, Philadelphia, while en route to Manhattan for his inauguration. +1792 – France declares war against the "King of Hungary and Bohemia", the beginning of the French Revolutionary Wars. +1800 – The Septinsular Republic is established. +1809 – Two Austrian army corps in Bavaria are defeated by a First French Empire army led by Napoleon at the Battle of Abensberg on the second day of a four-day campaign that ended in a French victory. +1828 – René Caillié becomes the second non-Muslim to enter Timbuktu, following Major Gordon Laing. He would also be the first to return alive. +1836 – U.S. Congress passes an act creating the Wisconsin Territory. +1861 – American Civil War: Robert E. Lee resigns his commission in the United States Army in order to command the forces of the state of Virginia. + 1861 – Thaddeus S. C. Lowe, attempting to display the value of balloons, makes record journey, flying 900 miles from Cincinnati to South Carolina. +1862 – Louis Pasteur and Claude Bernard complete the experiment disproving the theory of spontaneous generation. +1865 – Astronomer Angelo Secchi demonstrates the Secchi disk, which measures water clarity, aboard Pope Pius IX's yacht, the L'Immaculata Concezion. +1876 – The April Uprising begins. Its suppression shocks European opinion, and Bulgarian independence becomes a condition for ending the Russo-Turkish War. +1884 – Pope Leo XIII publishes the encyclical Humanum genus, condemning Freemasonry. +1898 – U.S. President William McKinley signs a joint resolution to Congress for declaration of war against Spain, beginning the Spanish–American War. + +1901–present +1902 – Pierre and Marie Curie refine radium chloride. +1908 – Opening day of competition in the New South Wales Rugby League. +1914 – Nineteen men, women, and children participating in a strike are killed in the Ludlow Massacre during the Colorado Coalfield War. +1918 – Manfred von Richthofen, a.k.a. The Red Baron, shoots down his 79th and 80th victims, his final victories before his death the following day. +1922 – The Soviet government creates South Ossetian Autonomous Oblast within Georgian SSR. +1945 – World War II: U.S. troops capture Leipzig, Germany, only to later cede the city to the Soviet Union. + 1945 – World War II: Führerbunker: On his 56th birthday Adolf Hitler makes his last trip to the surface to award Iron Crosses to boy soldiers of the Hitler Youth. + 1945 – Twenty Jewish children used in medical experiments at Neuengamme are killed in the basement of the Bullenhuser Damm school. +1946 – The League of Nations officially dissolves, giving most of its power to the United Nations. +1961 – Cold War: Failure of the Bay of Pigs Invasion of US-backed Cuban exiles against Cuba. +1968 – English politician Enoch Powell makes his controversial "Rivers of Blood" speech. + 1968 – South African Airways Flight 228 crashes near the Hosea Kutako International Airport in South West Africa (now Namibia), killing 123 people. +1972 – Apollo program: Apollo 16 lunar module, commanded by John Young and piloted by Charles Duke, lands on the moon. +1998 – Air France Flight 422 crashes after taking off from El Dorado International Airport in Bogotá, Colombia, killing all 53 people on board. +1999 – Columbine High School massacre: Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold kill 13 people and injure 24 others before committing suicide at Columbine High School in Columbine, Colorado. +2007 – Johnson Space Center shooting: William Phillips barricades himself with a handgun in NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas before killing a male hostage and himself. +2008 – Danica Patrick wins the Indy Japan 300 becoming the first female driver in history to win an Indy car race. +2010 – The Deepwater Horizon drilling rig explodes in the Gulf of Mexico, killing eleven workers and beginning an oil spill that would last six months. +2012 – One hundred twenty-seven people are killed when a plane crashes in a residential area near the Benazir Bhutto International Airport near Islamabad, Pakistan. +2013 – A 6.6-magnitude earthquake strikes Lushan County, Ya'an, in China's Sichuan province, killing more than 150 people and injuring thousands. +2015 – Ten people are killed in a bomb attack on a convoy carrying food supplies to a United Nations compound in Garowe in the Somali region of Puntland. +2020 – For the first time in history, oil prices drop below zero, an effect of the 2020 Russia-Saudi Arabia oil price war. +2021 – State of Minnesota v. Derek Michael Chauvin: Derek Chauvin is found guilty of all charges in the murder of George Floyd by the Fourth Judicial District Court of Minnesota. +2023 – SpaceX's Starship rocket, the largest and most powerful rocket ever built, launches for the first time. It explodes 4 minutes into flight. + +Births + +Pre-1600 +1494 – Johannes Agricola, German theologian and reformer (d. 1566) +1544 – Renata of Lorraine, Duchess consort of Bavaria (d. 1602) +1586 – Rose of Lima, Peruvian mystic and saint (d. 1617) + +1601–1900 +1633 – Emperor Go-Kōmyō of Japan (d. 1654) +1646 – Charles Plumier, French botanist and author (d. 1704) +1650 – William Bedloe, English spy (d. 1680) +1718 – David Brainerd, American missionary (d. 1747) +1723 – Cornelius Harnett, American merchant, farmer, and politician (d. 1781) +1727 – Florimond Claude, Comte de Mercy-Argenteau, Belgian-Austrian minister and diplomat (d. 1794) +1745 – Philippe Pinel, French physician and psychiatrist (d. 1826) +1748 – Georg Michael Telemann, German composer and theologian (d. 1831) +1808 – Napoleon III, French politician, 1st President of France (d. 1873) +1816 – Bogoslav Šulek, Croatian philologist, historian, and lexicographer (d. 1895) +1818 – Heinrich Göbel, German-American mechanic and engineer (d. 1893) +1826 – Dinah Craik, English author and poet (d. 1887) +1836 – Eli Whitney Blake, Jr., American scientist and academic (d. 1895) +1839 – Carol I of Romania, King of Romania (d. 1914) +1840 – Odilon Redon, French painter and illustrator (d. 1916) +1850 – Daniel Chester French, American sculptor, designed the Lincoln statue (d. 1931) +1851 – Alexander Dianin, Russian chemist (d. 1918) + 1851 – Siegmund Lubin, Polish-American businessman, founded the Lubin Manufacturing Company (d. 1923) +1860 – Justinien de Clary, French target shooter (d. 1933) +1871 – Sydney Chapman, English economist and civil servant (d. 1951) +1873 – James Harcourt, English character actor (d. 1951) +1875 – Vladimir Vidrić, Croatian poet and lawyer (d. 1909) +1879 – Paul Poiret, French fashion designer (d. 1944) +1882 – Holland Smith, American general (d. 1967) +1884 – Princess Beatrice of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (d. 1966) + 1884 – Oliver Kirk, American boxer (d. 1960) + 1884 – Daniel Varoujan, Armenian poet and educator (d. 1915) +1889 – Albert Jean Amateau, Turkish rabbi, lawyer, and activist (d. 1996) + 1889 – Prince Erik, Duke of Västmanland (d. 1918) + 1889 – Marie-Antoinette de Geuser, French mystic (d. 1918) + 1889 – Adolf Hitler, Austrian-born German politician, Führer of Nazi Germany (d. 1945) + 1889 – Tonny Kessler, Dutch footballer (d. 1960) +1890 – Maurice Duplessis, Canadian lawyer and politician, 16th Premier of Quebec (d. 1959) + 1890 – Adolf Schärf, Austrian soldier and politician, 6th President of Austria (d. 1965) +1891 – Dave Bancroft, American baseball player and manager (d. 1972) +1893 – Harold Lloyd, American actor, comedian, and producer (d. 1971) + 1893 – Joan Miró, Spanish painter and sculptor (d. 1983) +1895 – Emile Christian, American trombonist and composer (d. 1973) + 1895 – Henry de Montherlant, French essayist, novelist, and dramatist (d. 1972) +1896 – Wop May, Canadian captain and pilot (d. 1952) +1899 – Alan Arnett McLeod, Canadian lieutenant, Victoria Cross recipient (d. 1918) + +1901–present +1904 – Bruce Cabot, American actor (d. 1972) +1907 – Miran Bakhsh, Pakistani cricketer (d. 1991) + 1907 – Augoustinos Kantiotes, Greek bishop (d. 2010) +1908 – Lionel Hampton, American vibraphone player, pianist, bandleader, and actor (d. 2002) +1910 – Fatin Rüştü Zorlu, Turkish diplomat and politician (d. 1961) +1913 – Mimis Fotopoulos, Greek actor and poet (d. 1986) + 1913 – Willi Hennig, German biologist and entomologist (d. 1976) +1914 – Betty Lou Gerson, American actress (d. 1999) +1915 – Joseph Wolpe, South African psychotherapist and physician (d. 1997) +1916 – Nasiba Zeynalova, Azerbaijani actress (d. 2004) +1918 – Kai Siegbahn, Swedish physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2007) +1919 – Richard Hillary, Australian lieutenant and pilot (d. 1943) +1920 – Frances Ames, South African neurologist, psychiatrist, and human rights activist (d. 2002) + 1920 – Clement Isong, Nigerian banker and politician, Governor of Cross River State (d. 2000) + 1920 – John Paul Stevens, American lawyer and jurist, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States (d. 2019) +1921 – Katarína Kolníková, Slovak actress (d. 2006) +1923 – Mother Angelica, American nun and broadcaster, founded Eternal Word Television Network (d. 2016) + 1923 – Irene Lieblich, Polish-American painter and illustrator (d. 2008) + 1923 – Tito Puente, American drummer and producer (d. 2000) +1924 – Nina Foch, Dutch-American actress (d. 2008) + 1924 – Leslie Phillips, English actor and producer (d. 2022) + 1924 – Guy Rocher, Canadian sociologist and academic +1925 – Ernie Stautner, German-American football player and coach (d. 2006) + 1925 – Elena Verdugo, American actress (d. 2017) +1927 – Bud Cullen, Canadian judge and politician, 1st Canadian Minister of Employment and Immigration (d. 2005) + 1927 – Phil Hill, American race car driver (d. 2008) + 1927 – K. Alex Müller, Swiss physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2023) +1928 – Robert Byrne, American chess player and author (d. 2013) + 1928 – Johnny Gavin, Irish international footballer (d. 2007) +1929 – Harry Agganis, American baseball and football player (d. 1955) + 1929 – Bobby Hollander, American film director, actor, and magazine publisher (d. 2002) +1930 – Dwight Gustafson, American composer and conductor (d. 2014) + 1930 – Antony Jay, English director and screenwriter (d. 2016) +1931 – Michael Allenby, 3rd Viscount Allenby, English lieutenant and politician (d. 2014) + 1931 – John Eccles, 2nd Viscount Eccles, English businessman and politician +1932 – Myriam Bru, French actress +1936 – Lisa Davis, English-American actress + 1936 – Pauli Ellefsen, Faroese technician, surveyor, and politician, 6th Prime Minister of the Faroe Islands (d. 2012) + 1936 – Pat Roberts, American captain, journalist, and politician +1937 – Jiří Dienstbier, Czech journalist and politician, Czech Minister of Foreign Affairs (d. 2011) + 1937 – Harvey Quaytman, American painter and educator (d. 2002) + 1937 – George Takei, American actor +1938 – Betty Cuthbert, Australian sprinter (d. 2017) + 1938 – Manfred Kinder, German runner + 1938 – Eszter Tamási, Hungarian actress (d. 1991) +1939 – Peter S. Beagle, American author and screenwriter + 1939 – Gro Harlem Brundtland, Norwegian physician and politician, 22nd Prime Minister of Norway + 1939 – Johnny Tillotson, American singer-songwriter +1940 – James Gammon, American actor (d. 2010) +1941 – Ryan O'Neal, American actor +1943 – Alan Beith, English academic and politician + 1943 – John Eliot Gardiner, English conductor and director +1944 – Toivo Aare, Estonian journalist and author (d. 1999) +1945 – Michael Brandon, American actor and director + 1945 – Olga Karlatos, Greek actress and Bermudian lawyer + 1945 – Thein Sein, Burmese general and politician, 8th President of Burma + 1945 – Naftali Temu, Kenyan runner (d. 2003) + 1945 – Steve Spurrier, American football player and coach + 1945 – Mike, American Wyandotte chicken, lived 18 months following decapitation (d. 1947) +1946 – Sandro Chia, Italian painter and sculptor +1947 – Rita Dionne-Marsolais, Canadian economist and politician + 1947 – Viktor Suvorov, Russian intelligence officer, historian, and author +1948 – Matthias Kuhle, German geographer and academic (d. 2015) +1949 – Veronica Cartwright, English-American actress + 1949 – Toller Cranston, Canadian-Mexican figure skater and painter (d. 2015) + 1949 – Massimo D'Alema, Italian journalist and politician, 76th Prime Minister of Italy + 1949 – Jessica Lange, American actress +1950 – Alexander Lebed, Russian general and politician (d. 2002) + 1950 – N. Chandrababu Naidu, Indian politician, 13th Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh +1951 – Luther Vandross, American singer-songwriter and producer (d. 2005) +1952 – Louka Katseli, Greek economist and politician +1953 – Sebastian Faulks, English journalist and author +1955 – Donald Pettit, American engineer and astronaut + 1955 – Svante Pääbo, Swedish geneticist and Nobel Laureate +1956 – Beatrice Ask, Swedish politician, Swedish Minister for Justice + 1956 – Peter Chelsom, English film director, writer, and actor + 1956 – Kakha Bendukidze, Georgian economist and politician (d. 2014) +1958 – Viacheslav Fetisov, Russian ice hockey player and coach +1960 – Debbie Flintoff-King, Australian hurdler and coach +1961 – Don Mattingly, American baseball player, coach, and manager + 1961 – Konstantin Lavronenko, Russian actor +1963 – Rachel Whiteread, English sculptor +1964 – John Carney, American football player + 1964 – Crispin Glover, American actor and filmmaker + 1964 – Andy Serkis, English actor and director + 1964 – Rosalynn Sumners, American figure skater +1965 – Kostis Chatzidakis, Greek politician, Ministry of Economy, Infrastructure, Shipping and Tourism + 1965 – Léa Fazer, Swiss film director, screenwriter and actress +1966 – David Chalmers, Australian philosopher and academic + 1966 – David Filo, American businessman, co-founded Yahoo! +1967 – Mike Portnoy, American drummer and songwriter +1968 – Julia Morris, Australian entertainer +1969 – Felix Baumgartner, Austrian daredevil + 1969 – Will Hodgman, Australian politician, 45th Premier of Tasmania +1970 – Shemar Moore, American actor +1971 – Allan Houston, American basketball player +1972 – Carmen Electra, American model and actress + 1972 – Stephen Marley, Jamaican-American musician +1973 – Julie Powell, American food writer and memoirist (d. 2022) +1975 – Killer Mike, American rapper +1978 – Carl Greenidge, English cricketer +1980 – Emma Husar, Australian politician +1983 – Miranda Kerr, Australian model +1988 – Brandon Belt, American baseball player +1990 – Jason Behrendorff, Australian cricketer +1991 – Luke Kuechly, American football player +1997 – Alexander Zverev, German tennis player + +Deaths + +Pre-1600 + 689 – Cædwalla, king of Wessex (b. 659) +888 – Xi Zong, Chinese emperor (b. 862) +1099 – Peter Bartholomew (b. 1061) +1164 – Antipope Victor IV +1176 – Richard de Clare, 2nd Earl of Pembroke, English-Irish politician, Lord Chief Justice of Ireland (b. 1130) +1248 – Güyük Khan, Mongol ruler, 3rd Great Khan of the Mongol Empire (b. 1206) +1284 – Hōjō Tokimune, regent of Japan (b. 1251) +1314 – Pope Clement V (b. 1264) +1322 – Simon Rinalducci, Italian Augustinian friar +1502 – Mary of Looz-Heinsberg, Dutch noble (b. 1424) +1521 – Zhengde, Chinese emperor (b. 1491) +1534 – Elizabeth Barton, English nun and martyr (b. 1506) +1558 – Johannes Bugenhagen, German priest and theologian (b. 1485) + +1601–1900 +1643 – Christoph Demantius, German composer and poet (b. 1567) +1703 – Lancelot Addison, English clergyman and educator (b. 1632) +1769 – Chief Pontiac, American tribal leader (b. 1720) +1831 – John Abernethy, English surgeon and anatomist (b. 1764) +1873 – William Tite, English architect, designed the Royal Exchange (b. 1798) +1874 – Alexander H. Bailey, American lawyer, judge, and politician (b. 1817) +1881 – William Burges, English architect and designer (b. 1827) +1886 – Charles-François-Frédéric, marquis de Montholon-Sémonville, French general and diplomat, French ambassador to the United States (b. 1814) +1887 – Muhammad Sharif Pasha, Greek-Egyptian politician, 2nd Prime Minister of Egypt (b. 1826) +1899 – Joseph Wolf, German ornithologist and illustrator (b. 1820) + +1901–present +1902 – Joaquim de Sousa Andrade, Brazilian poet and educator (b. 1833) +1912 – Bram Stoker, Anglo-Irish novelist and critic, created Count Dracula (b. 1847) +1918 – Karl Ferdinand Braun, German-American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1850) +1927 – Enrique Simonet, Spanish painter and educator (b. 1866) +1929 – Prince Henry of Prussia (b. 1862) +1931 – Sir Cosmo Duff-Gordon, 5th Baronet, Scottish-English fencer and businessman (b. 1862) +1932 – Giuseppe Peano, Italian mathematician and philosopher (b. 1858) +1935 – John Cameron, Scottish footballer and manager (b. 1872) + 1935 – Lucy, Lady Duff-Gordon, English fashion designer (b. 1863) +1942 – Jüri Jaakson, Estonian businessman and politician, 6th State Elder of Estonia (b. 1870) +1944 – Elmer Gedeon, American baseball player and pilot (b. 1917) +1945 – Erwin Bumke, Polish-German jurist and politician (b. 1874) +1946 – Mae Busch, Australian actress (b. 1891) +1947 – Christian X of Denmark (b. 1870) +1951 – Ivanoe Bonomi, Italian politician, 25th Prime Minister of Italy (b. 1873) +1961 – Ado Vabbe, Estonian painter (b. 1892) +1967 – Léo-Paul Desrosiers, Canadian journalist and author (b. 1896) +1968 – Rudolph Dirks, German-American illustrator (b. 1877) +1969 – Vjekoslav Luburić, Croatian Ustaše official and concentration camp administrator (b. 1914) +1980 – M. Canagaratnam, Sri Lankan politician (b. 1924) +1982 – Archibald MacLeish, American poet, playwright, and lawyer (b. 1892) +1986 – Sibte Hassan, Pakistani journalist, scholar, and activist (b. 1916) +1991 – Steve Marriott, English singer-songwriter and producer (b. 1947) + 1991 – Don Siegel, American director and producer (b. 1912) +1992 – Marjorie Gestring, American springboard diver (b. 1922) + 1992 – Benny Hill, English comedian, actor, and screenwriter (b. 1924) +1993 – Cantinflas, Mexican actor, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1911) +1995 – Milovan Đilas, Yugoslav communist, politician, theorist and author (b. 1911) +1996 – Trần Văn Trà, Vietnamese general and politician (b. 1918) +1999 – Rick Rude, American professional wrestler (b. 1958) +2001 – Giuseppe Sinopoli, Italian conductor and composer (b. 1946) +2002 – Alan Dale, American singer (b. 1925) +2003 – Bernard Katz, German-English biophysicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1911) +2004 – Lizzy Mercier Descloux, French musician, singer-songwriter, composer, actress, writer and painter (b. 1956) +2005 – Fumio Niwa, Japanese journalist and author (b. 1904) +2007 – Andrew Hill, American pianist, composer, and bandleader (b. 1931) + 2007 – Michael Fu Tieshan, Chinese bishop (b. 1931) +2008 – Monica Lovinescu, Romanian journalist and author (b. 1923) +2010 – Dorothy Height, American educator and activist (b. 1912) +2011 – Tim Hetherington, English photographer and journalist (b. 1970) +2012 – Bert Weedon, English guitarist and songwriter (b. 1920) +2014 – Neville Wran, Australian politician, 35th Premier of New South Wales (b. 1926) +2016 – Victoria Wood, British comedian, actress and writer (b. 1953) +2018 – Avicii, Swedish DJ and musician (b. 1989) +2021 – Idriss Déby, Chadian politician and military officer (b. 1952) + 2021 – Monte Hellman, American film director (b.1929) + 2021 – Les McKeown, Scottish pop singer (b. 1955) +2022 – Gavin Millar, Scottish film director (b. 1938) + +Holidays and observances + Christian feast day: +Agnes of Montepulciano +Beuno +Johannes Bugenhagen (Lutheran) +Theotimos +April 20 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics) + 420 (cannabis culture) +UN Chinese Language Day (United Nations) + +References + +External links + + BBC: On This Day + + Historical Events on April 20 + +Days of the year +April + + +Events + +Pre-1600 +AD 65 – The freedman Milichus betrays Piso's plot to kill the Emperor Nero and all of the conspirators are arrested. + 531 – Battle of Callinicum: A Byzantine army under Belisarius is defeated by the Persians at Raqqa (northern Syria). +1506 – The Lisbon Massacre begins, in which accused Jews are slaughtered by Portuguese Catholics. +1529 – Beginning of the Protestant Reformation: After the Second Diet of Speyer bans Lutheranism, a group of rulers (German: Fürst) and independent cities protests the reinstatement of the Edict of Worms. +1539 – The Treaty of Frankfurt between Protestants and the Holy Roman Emperor is signed. + +1601–1900 +1608 – In Ireland, O'Doherty's Rebellion is launched by the Burning of Derry. +1677 – The French army captures the town of Cambrai held by Spanish troops. +1713 – With no living male heirs, Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor, issues the Pragmatic Sanction of 1713 to ensure that Habsburg lands and the Austrian throne would be inheritable by a female; his daughter and successor, Maria Theresa, was not born until 1717. +1770 – Captain James Cook, still holding the rank of lieutenant, sights the eastern coast of what is now Australia. + 1770 – Marie Antoinette marries Louis XVI of France in a proxy wedding. +1775 – American Revolutionary War: The war begins with an American victory in Concord during the battles of Lexington and Concord. +1782 – John Adams secures Dutch recognition of the United States as an independent government. The house which he had purchased in The Hague becomes the first American embassy. +1809 – An Austrian corps is defeated by the forces of the Duchy of Warsaw in the Battle of Raszyn, part of the struggles of the Fifth Coalition. On the same day the Austrian main army is defeated by a First French Empire Corps led by Louis-Nicolas Davout at the Battle of Teugen-Hausen in Bavaria, part of a four-day campaign that ended in a French victory. +1810 – Venezuela achieves home rule: Vicente Emparán, Governor of the Captaincy General is removed by the people of Caracas and a junta is installed. +1818 – French physicist Augustin Fresnel signs his preliminary "Note on the Theory of Diffraction" (deposited on the following day). The document ends with what we now call the Fresnel integrals. +1839 – The Treaty of London establishes Belgium as a kingdom and guarantees its neutrality. +1861 – American Civil War: Baltimore riot of 1861: A pro-Secession mob in Baltimore attacks United States Army troops marching through the city. + +1901–present +1903 – The Kishinev pogrom in Kishinev (Bessarabia) begins, forcing tens of thousands of Jews to later seek refuge in Palestine and the Western world. +1927 – Mae West is sentenced to ten days in jail for obscenity for her play Sex. +1942 – World War II: In German-occupied Poland, the Majdan-Tatarski ghetto is established, situated between the Lublin Ghetto and a Majdanek subcamp. +1943 – World War II: In German-occupied Poland, the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising begins, after German troops enter the Warsaw Ghetto to round up the remaining Jews. + 1943 – Albert Hofmann deliberately doses himself with LSD for the first time, three days after having discovered its effects on April 16, an event commonly known and celebrated as Bicycle Day. +1956 – Actress Grace Kelly marries Prince Rainier of Monaco. +1960 – Students in South Korea hold a nationwide pro-democracy protest against president Syngman Rhee, eventually forcing him to resign. +1971 – Sierra Leone becomes a republic, and Siaka Stevens the president. + 1971 – Launch of Salyut 1, the first space station. + 1971 – Charles Manson is sentenced to death (later commuted to life imprisonment) for conspiracy in the Tate–LaBianca murders. +1973 – The Portuguese Socialist Party is founded in the German town of Bad Münstereifel. +1975 – India's first satellite Aryabhata launched in orbit from Kapustin Yar, Russia. + 1975 – South Vietnamese forces withdrew from the town of Xuan Loc in the last major battle of the Vietnam War. +1976 – A violent F5 tornado strikes around Brownwood, Texas, injuring 11 people. Two people were thrown at least by the tornado and survived uninjured. +1984 – Advance Australia Fair is proclaimed as Australia's national anthem, and green and gold as the national colours. +1985 – Two hundred ATF and FBI agents lay siege to the compound of the white supremacist survivalist group The Covenant, the Sword, and the Arm of the Lord in Arkansas; the CSA surrenders two days later. +1987 – The Simpsons first appear as a series of shorts on The Tracey Ullman Show, first starting with "Good Night". +1989 – A gun turret explodes on the , killing 47 sailors. +1993 – The 51-day FBI siege of the Branch Davidian building in Waco, Texas, USA, ends when a fire breaks out. Seventy-six Davidians, including 18 children under age 10, died in the fire. +1995 – Oklahoma City bombing: The Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, USA, is bombed, killing 168 people including 19 children under the age of six. +1999 – The German Bundestag returns to Berlin. +2000 – Air Philippines Flight 541 crashes in Samal, Davao del Norte, killing all 131 people on board. +2005 – Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger is elected to the papacy and becomes Pope Benedict XVI. +2011 – Fidel Castro resigns as First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba after holding the title since July 1961. +2013 – Boston Marathon bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev is killed in a shootout with police. His brother Dzhokhar is later captured hiding in a boat inside a backyard in the suburb of Watertown. +2020 – A killing spree in Nova Scotia, Canada, leaves 22 people and the perpetrator dead, making it the deadliest rampage in the country's history. +2021 – The Ingenuity helicopter becomes the first aircraft to achieve flight on another planet. + +Births + +Pre-1600 +1452 – Frederick IV, King of Naples (d. 1504) +1593 – Sir John Hobart, 2nd Baronet, English politician (d. 1647) + +1601–1900 +1603 – Michel Le Tellier, French politician, French Minister of Defence (d. 1685) +1613 – Christoph Bach, German musician (d. 1661) +1633 – Willem Drost, Dutch painter (d. 1659) +1655 – George St Lo(e), Royal Navy officer and administrator (d. 1718) +1658 – Johann Wilhelm, Elector Palatine, German husband of Archduchess Maria Anna Josepha of Austria (d. 1716) +1665 – Jacques Lelong, French author (d. 1721) +1686 – Vasily Tatishchev, Russian ethnographer and politician (d. 1750) +1715 – James Nares, English organist and composer (d. 1783) +1721 – Roger Sherman, American lawyer and politician (d. 1793) +1734 – Karl von Ordóñez, Austrian violinist and composer (d. 1786) +1757 – Edward Pellew, 1st Viscount Exmouth, English admiral and politician (d. 1833) +1758 – William Carnegie, 7th Earl of Northesk, Scottish admiral (d. 1831) +1785 – Alexandre Pierre François Boëly, French pianist and composer (d. 1858) +1787 – Deaf Smith, American soldier (d. 1837) +1793 – Ferdinand I of Austria (d. 1875) +1806 – Sarah Bagley, American labor organizer (d. 1889) +1814 – Louis Amédée Achard, French journalist and author (d. 1875) +1831 – Mary Louise Booth, American writer, editor and translator (d. 1889) +1832 – José Echegaray, Spanish poet and playwright, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1916) +1835 – Julius Krohn, Finnish poet and journalist (d. 1888) +1863 – Hemmo Kallio, Finnish actor (d. 1940) +1872 – Alice Salomon, German social reformer (d. 1948) +1873 – Sydney Barnes, English cricketer (d. 1967) +1874 – Ernst Rüdin, Swiss psychiatrist, geneticist, and eugenicist (d. 1952) +1877 – Ole Evinrude, Norwegian-American engineer, invented the outboard motor (d. 1934) +1879 – Arthur Robertson, Scottish runner (d. 1957) +1882 – Getúlio Vargas, Brazilian lawyer and politician, 14th President of Brazil (d. 1954) +1883 – Henry Jameson, American soccer player (d. 1938) + 1883 – Richard von Mises, Austrian-American mathematician and physicist (d. 1953) +1885 – Karl Tarvas, Estonian architect (d. 1975) +1889 – Otto Georg Thierack, German jurist and politician (d. 1946) +1891 – Françoise Rosay, French actress (d. 1974) +1892 – Germaine Tailleferre, French composer and educator (d. 1983) +1894 – Elizabeth Dilling, American author and activist (d. 1966) +1897 – Peter de Noronha, Indian businessman and philanthropist (d. 1970) + 1897 – Jiroemon Kimura, Japanese super-centenarian, oldest verified man ever (d. 2013) +1898 – Constance Talmadge, American actress and producer (d. 1973) +1899 – George O'Brien, American actor (d. 1985) + 1899 – Cemal Tollu, Turkish lieutenant and painter (d. 1968) +1900 – Iracema de Alencar, Brazilian film actress (d. 1978) + 1900 – Richard Hughes, English author, poet, and playwright (d. 1976) + 1900 – Roland Michener, Canadian lawyer and politician, 20th Governor General of Canada (d. 1991) + 1900 – Rhea Silberta, American Yiddish songwriter and singing teacher (d. 1959) + +1901–present +1902 – Veniamin Kaverin, Russian author and screenwriter (d. 1989) +1903 – Eliot Ness, American law enforcement agent (d. 1957) +1908 – Irena Eichlerówna, Polish actress (d. 1990) +1912 – Glenn T. Seaborg, American chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1999) +1913 – Ken Carpenter, American discus thrower and coach (d. 1984) +1917 – Sven Hassel, Danish-German soldier and author (d. 2012) +1919 – Sol Kaplan, American pianist and composer (d. 1990) +1920 – Marvin Mandel, American lawyer and politician, 56th Governor of Maryland (d. 2015) + 1920 – Julien Ries, Belgian cardinal (d. 2013) +1921 – Anna Lee Aldred, American jockey (d. 2006) + 1921 – Leon Henkin, American logician (d. 2006) + 1921 – Roberto Tucci, Italian Jesuit leader, cardinal, and theologian (d. 2015) +1922 – Erich Hartmann, German colonel and pilot (d. 1993) +1922 – David Smith, politician in Rhodesia and Zimbabwe (d. 1996) +1925 – John Kraaijkamp, Sr., Dutch actor (d. 2011) + 1925 – Hugh O'Brian, American actor (d. 2016) +1926 – Rawya Ateya, Egyptian captain and politician (d. 1997) +1928 – John Horlock, English engineer and academic (d. 2015) + 1928 – Azlan Shah of Perak, Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia (d. 2014) +1931 – Walter Stewart, Canadian journalist and author (d. 2004) +1932 – Fernando Botero, Colombian painter and sculptor (d. 2023) +1933 – Jayne Mansfield, American model and actress (d. 1967) +1934 – Dickie Goodman, American singer-songwriter and producer (d. 1989) +1935 – Dudley Moore, English actor, comedian, and pianist (d. 2002) + 1935 – Justin Francis Rigali, American cardinal +1936 – Wilfried Martens, Belgian politician, 60th Prime Minister of Belgium (d. 2013) + 1936 – Jack Pardee, American football player and coach (d. 2013) +1937 – Antonio Carluccio, Italian-English chef and author (d. 2017) + 1937 – Elinor Donahue, American actress + 1937 – Joseph Estrada, Filipino politician, 13th President of the Philippines +1938 – Stanley Fish, American theorist, author, and scholar +1939 – E. Clay Shaw, Jr., American accountant, judge, and politician (d. 2013) +1941 – Michel Roux, French-English chef and author (d. 2020) + 1941 – Bobby Russell, American singer-songwriter (d. 1992) +1942 – Alan Price, English keyboard player, singer, and composer +1943 – Margo MacDonald, Scottish journalist and politician (d. 2014) +1944 – James Heckman, American economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate + 1944 – Bernie Worrell, American keyboard player and songwriter (d. 2016) +1946 – Tim Curry, English actor and singer +1951 – Jóannes Eidesgaard, Faroese educator and politician, Prime Minister of the Faroe Islands +1952 – Simon Cowell, English conservationist and author +1954 – Trevor Francis, English footballer and manager (d. 2023) +1956 – Anne Glover, Scottish biologist and academic +1957 – Mukesh Ambani, Indian businessman, chairman of Reliance Industries +1960 – Ara Gevorgyan, Armenian pianist, composer, and producer + 1960 – Frank Viola, American baseball player and coach +1964 – Kim Weaver, American astrophysicist, astronomer, and academic +1965 – Suge Knight, American record executive +1966 – Véronique Gens, French soprano and actress +1968 – Ashley Judd, American actress + 1968 – Mswati III, King (Ngwenyama) of Eswatini (Swaziland) +1970 – Kelly Holmes, English athlete and double Olympic champion +1972 – Rivaldo Vitor Borba Ferreira, Brazilian footballer +1978 – James Franco, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter + 1978 – Amanda Sage, American-Austrian painter and educator +1979 – Kate Hudson, American actress +1981 – Hayden Christensen, Canadian actor + 1981 – Troy Polamalu, American football player +1982 – Samuel C. Morrison, Jr., Liberian-American journalist, producer, and screenwriter + 1982 – Ali Wong, American comedian and actress +1983 – Joe Mauer, American baseball player +1986 – Candace Parker, American basketball player +1987 – Joe Hart, English footballer + 1987 – Maria Sharapova, Russian tennis player +1989 – Simu Liu, Canadian actor +1990 – Jackie Bradley Jr., American baseball player + 1990 – Kim Chiu, Filipino actress, singer, and dancer +2002 – Loren Gray, American singer and internet personality + +Deaths + +Pre-1600 + 843 – Judith of Bavaria, Frankish empress +1012 – Ælfheah of Canterbury, English archbishop and saint (b. 954) +1013 – Hisham II, Umayyad caliph of Córdoba (b. 966) +1044 – Gothelo I, duke of Lorraine +1054 – Leo IX, pope of the Catholic Church (b. 1002) +1321 – Gerasimus I, patriarch of Constantinople +1390 – Robert II, king of Scotland (b. 1316) +1405 – Thomas West, 1st Baron West, English nobleman (b. 1335) +1431 – Adolph III, count of Waldeck (b. 1362) +1560 – Philip Melanchthon, German theologian and reformer (b. 1497) +1567 – Michael Stifel, German monk and mathematician (b. 1487) +1578 – Uesugi Kenshin, Japanese samurai and warlord (b. 1530) +1588 – Paolo Veronese, Italian painter (b. 1528) + +1601–1900 +1608 – Thomas Sackville, 1st Earl of Dorset, English poet, playwright, and politician, Lord High Treasurer (b. 1536) +1618 – Thomas Bastard, English priest and author (b. 1566) +1619 – Jagat Gosain, Mughal empress (b. 1573) +1629 – Sigismondo d'India, Italian composer (b. 1582) +1686 – Antonio de Solís y Ribadeneyra, Spanish historian and playwright (b. 1610) +1689 – Christina, queen of Sweden (b. 1626) +1733 – Elizabeth Hamilton, countess of Orkney (b. 1657) +1739 – Nicholas Saunderson, English mathematician and academic (b. 1682) +1768 – Canaletto, Italian painter and etcher (b. 1697) +1776 – Jacob Emden, German rabbi and author (b. 1697) +1791 – Richard Price, Welsh-English preacher and philosopher (b. 1723) +1813 – Benjamin Rush, American physician and educator (b. 1745) +1824 – Lord Byron, English-Scottish poet and playwright (b. 1788) +1831 – Johann Gottlieb Friedrich von Bohnenberger, German astronomer and mathematician (b. 1765) +1833 – James Gambier, 1st Baron Gambier, Bahamian-English admiral and politician, 36th Commodore Governor of Newfoundland (b. 1756) +1840 – Jean-Jacques Lartigue, Canadian bishop (b. 1777) +1854 – Robert Jameson, Scottish mineralogist and academic (b. 1774) +1881 – Benjamin Disraeli, English journalist and politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1804) +1882 – Charles Darwin, English biologist and theorist (b. 1809) +1893 – Martin Körber, Estonian-German pastor, composer, and conductor (b. 1817) + +1901–present +1901 – Alfred Horatio Belo, American publisher, founded The Dallas Morning News (b. 1839) +1903 – Oliver Mowat, Canadian politician, third Premier of Ontario, eighth Lieutenant Governor of Ontario (b. 1820) +1906 – Pierre Curie, French physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1859) + 1906 – Spencer Gore, English tennis player and cricketer (b. 1850) +1909 – Signe Rink, Greenland-born Danish writer and ethnologist (b. 1836) +1914 – Charles Sanders Peirce, American mathematician and philosopher (b. 1839) +1915 – Thomas Playford II, English-Australian politician, 17th Premier of South Australia (b. 1837) +1916 – Ephraim Shay, American engineer, designed the Shay locomotive (b. 1839) +1926 – Alexander Alexandrovich Chuprov, Russian-Swiss statistician and theorist (b. 1874) +1930 – Georges-Casimir Dessaulles, Canadian businessman and politician (b. 1827) +1937 – Martin Conway, 1st Baron Conway of Allington, English cartographer and politician (b. 1856) + 1937 – William Morton Wheeler, American entomologist and zoologist (b. 1865) +1940 – Jack McNeela, Irish Republican died on hunger strike +1941 – Johanna Müller-Hermann, Austrian composer (b. 1878) +1949 – Ulrich Salchow, Danish-Swedish figure skater (b. 1877) +1950 – Ernst Robert Curtius, French-German philologist and scholar (b. 1886) +1952 – Steve Conway, British singer (b. 1921) +1955 – Jim Corbett, British-Indian colonel, hunter, and author (b. 1875) +1960 – Beardsley Ruml, American economist and statistician (b. 1894) +1961 – Max Hainle, German swimmer (b. 1882) +1966 – Väinö Tanner, Finnish politician of Social Democratic Party of Finland; the Prime Minister of Finland (b. 1881) +1967 – Konrad Adenauer, German politician, 1st Chancellor of Germany (b. 1876) +1971 – Luigi Piotti, Italian race car driver (b. 1913) +1975 – Percy Lavon Julian, American chemist and academic (b. 1899) +1988 – Kwon Ki-ok, Korean pilot (b. 1901) +1989 – Daphne du Maurier, English novelist and playwright (b. 1907) +1991 – Stanley Hawes, English-Australian director and producer (b. 1905) +1992 – Frankie Howerd, English actor and screenwriter (b. 1917) +1993 – David Koresh, American religious leader (b. 1959) + 1993 – George S. Mickelson, American captain, lawyer, and politician, 28th Governor of South Dakota (b. 1941) +1998 – Octavio Paz, Mexican poet, philosopher, and academic Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1914) +1999 – Hermine Braunsteiner, Austrian-German SS officer (b. 1919) +2000 – Louis Applebaum, Canadian composer and conductor (b. 1918) +2002 – Reginald Rose, American writer (b. 1920) +2004 – Norris McWhirter, English author and activist co-founded the Guinness World Records (b. 1925) + 2004 – John Maynard Smith, English biologist and geneticist (b. 1920) + 2004 – Jenny Pike, Canadian WWII servicewoman and photographer (b. 1922) +2006 – Albert Scott Crossfield, American engineer, pilot, and astronaut (b. 1921) +2007 – Jean-Pierre Cassel, French actor (b. 1932) +2009 – J. G. Ballard, English novelist, short story writer, and essayist (b. 1930) +2011 – Elisabeth Sladen, English actress (b. 1946) +2012 – Levon Helm, American musician and actor (b. 1940) +2013 – François Jacob, French biologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1920) + 2013 – Al Neuharth, American journalist, author, and publisher, founded USA Today (b. 1924) +2015 – Raymond Carr, English historian and academic (b. 1919) + 2015 – Roy Mason, English miner and politician, Secretary of State for Defence (b. 1924) +2016 – Patricio Aylwin, Chilean politician (b. 1918) +2017 – Lu Chao-Hsuan, Taiwanese guitarist, performer and educator. (b. 1929) +2021 – Walter Mondale, American politician, 42nd Vice President of the United States (b. 1928) + 2021 – Jim Steinman, American composer, lyricist (b. 1947) +2022 – Kane Tanaka, Japanese supercentenarian (b. 1903) +2023 – Moonbin, South Korean singer and actor (b. 1998) + +Holidays and observances + Christian feast day: + Ælfheah of Canterbury (Anglican, Catholic) + Conrad of Ascoli + Emma of Lesum + Expeditus + George of Antioch + Olaus and Laurentius Petri (Lutheran) + Pope Leo IX + Ursmar + April 19 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics) + +References + +External links + + BBC: On This Day + + Historical Events on April 19 + +Days of the year +April +The Amstrad CPC (short for Colour Personal Computer) is a series of 8-bit home computers produced by Amstrad between 1984 and 1990. It was designed to compete in the mid-1980s home computer market dominated by the Commodore 64 and the ZX Spectrum, where it successfully established itself primarily in the United Kingdom, France, Spain, and the German-speaking parts of Europe. + +The series spawned a total of six distinct models: The CPC 464, CPC 664, and CPC 6128 were highly successful competitors in the European home computer market. The later 464plus and 6128plus, intended to prolong the system's lifecycle with hardware updates, were considerably less successful, as was the attempt to repackage the plus hardware into a game console as the GX4000. + +The CPC models' hardware is based on the Zilog Z80A CPU, complemented with either 64 or 128 KB of RAM. Their computer-in-a-keyboard design prominently features an integrated storage device, either a compact cassette deck or 3-inch floppy disk drive. The main units were only sold bundled with either a colour, green-screen or monochrome monitor that doubles as the main unit's power supply. Additionally, a wide range of first and third-party hardware extensions such as external disk drives, printers, and memory extensions, was available. + +The CPC series was pitched against other home computers primarily used to play video games and enjoyed a strong supply of game software. The comparatively low price for a complete computer system with dedicated monitor, its high-resolution monochrome text and graphic capabilities and the possibility to run CP/M software also rendered the system attractive for business users, which was reflected by a wide selection of application software. + +During its lifetime, the CPC series sold approximately three million units. + +Models + +The original range +The philosophy behind the CPC series was twofold, firstly the concept was of an "all-in-one", where the computer, keyboard and its data storage device were combined in a single unit and sold with its own dedicated display monitor. Most home computers at that time such as ZX Spectrum series, Commodore 64, and BBC Micro relied on the use of the domestic television set and a separately connected tape recorder or disk drive. In itself, the all-in-one concept was not new, having been seen before on business-oriented machines and the Commodore PET. + +Secondly, Amstrad founder Alan Sugar wanted the machine to resemble a "real computer, similar to what someone would see being used to check them in at the airport for their holidays", and for the machine to not look like "a pregnant calculator" – in reference presumably to the ZX81 and ZX Spectrum with their low cost, membrane-type keyboards. + +CPC 464 + +The CPC 464 was one of the most successful computers in Europe and sold more than two million units. + +The CPC 464 featured 64 KB RAM and an internal cassette deck. It was introduced in June 1984 in the UK. Initial suggested retail prices for the CPC 464 were £249.00/DM899.00 with a green screen and £359.00/DM1398.00 with a colour monitor. Following the introduction of the CPC 6128 in late 1985, suggested retail prices for the CPC 464 were cut by £50.00/DM100.00. + +In 1990, the 464plus replaced the CPC 464 in the model line-up, and production of the CPC 464 was discontinued. + +CPC 664 + +The CPC 664 features 64 KB RAM and an internal 3-inch floppy disk drive. It was introduced on 25 April 1985 in the UK. Initial suggested retail prices for the CPC 664 were £339.00/DM1198.00 with a green screen and £449.00/DM1998.00 with a colour monitor. + +After the successful release of the CPC 464, consumers were constantly asking for two improvements: more memory and an internal disk drive. For Amstrad, the latter was easier to realise. At the deliberately low-key introduction of the CPC 664, the machine was positioned not only as the lowest-cost disk system but even the lowest-cost CP/M 2.2 machine. In the Amstrad CPC product range the CPC 664 complemented the CPC 464 which was neither discontinued nor reduced in price. + +Compared to the CPC 464, the CPC 664's main unit has been significantly redesigned, not only to accommodate the floppy disk drive but also with a redesigned keyboard area. Touted as "ergonomic" by Amstrad's promotional material, the keyboard is noticeably tilted to the front with MSX-style cursor keys above the numeric keypad. Compared to the CPC 464's multicoloured keyboard, the CPC 664's keys are kept in a much quieter grey and pale blue colour scheme. + +The back of the CPC 664 main unit features the same connectors as the CPC 464, with the exception of an additional 12V power lead. Unlike the CPC 464's cassette tape drive that could be powered off the main unit's 5V voltage, the CPC 664's floppy disk drive requires an additional 12V voltage. This voltage had to be separately supplied by an updated version of the bundled green screen/colour monitor (GT-65 and CTM-644 respectively). + +The CPC 664 was only produced for approximately six months. In late 1985, when the CPC 6128 was introduced in Europe, Amstrad decided not to keep three models in the line-up, and production of the CPC 664 was discontinued. + +CPC 6128 + +The CPC 6128 features 128 KB RAM and an internal 3-inch floppy disk drive. Aside from various hardware and firmware improvements, one of the CPC 6128's most prominent features is the compatibility with the CP/M+ operating system that rendered it attractive for business uses. + +The CPC 6128 was released on 13 June 1985 and initially only sold in the US. Imported and distributed by Indescomp, Inc. of Chicago, it was the first Amstrad product to be sold in the United States, a market that at the time was traditionally hostile towards European computer manufacturers. Two months later, on 15 August 1985, it arrived in Europe and replaced the CPC 664 in the CPC model line-up. Initial suggested retail prices for the CPC 6128 were US$699.00/£299.00/DM1598.00 with a green screen and US$799.00/£399.00/DM2098.00 with a colour monitor. + +In 1990, the 6128plus replaced the CPC 6128 in the model line-up, and production of the CPC 6128 was discontinued. + +The plus range +In 1990, confronted with a changing home computer market, Amstrad decided to refresh the CPC model range by introducing a new range variantly labelled plus or PLUS, 1990, or CPC+ range. The main goals were numerous enhancements to the existing CPC hardware platform, to restyle the casework to provide a contemporary appearance, and to add native support of cartridge media. The new model palette includes three variants, the 464plus and 6128plus computers and the GX4000 video game console. The "CPC" abbreviation was dropped from the model names. + +The redesign significantly enhanced the CPC hardware, mainly to rectify its previous shortcomings as a gaming platform. The redesigned video hardware allows for hardware sprites and soft scrolling, with a colour palette extended from a maximum of 16 colours (plus separately definable border) at one time from a choice of 27, increased to a maximum of 31 (16 for background and 15 for hardware sprites) out of 4096. The enhanced sound hardware offers automatic DMA transfer, allowing more complex sound effects with a significantly reduced processor overhead. Other hardware enhancements include the support of analogue joysticks, 8-bit printers, and ROM cartridges up to 4 Mbits. + +The new range of models was intended to be completely backwards compatible with the original CPC models. Its enhanced features are only available after a deliberately obscure unlocking mechanism has been triggered, thus preventing existing CPC software from accidentally invoking them. + +Despite the significant hardware enhancements, many viewed it as outdated, being based on an 8-bit CPU, and it failed to attract both customers and software producers who were moving towards systems such as the Commodore Amiga and Sega Mega Drive which was launched a few short months after the plus range. The plus range was a commercial failure, and production was discontinued shortly after its introduction in 1990. + +464plus, 6128plus + +The 464plus and 6128plus models were intended as "more sophisticated and stylish" replacements of the CPC 464 and CPC 6128. Based on the redesigned plus hardware platform, they share the same base characteristics as their predecessors: The 464plus is equipped with 64 KB RAM and a cassette tape drive, the 6128plus features 128 KB RAM and a 3" floppy disk drive. Both models share a common case layout with a keyboard taken over from the CPC 6128 model, and the respective mass storage drive inserted in a case breakout. + +In order to simplify the EMC screening process, the edge connectors of the previous models have been replaced with micro-ribbon connectors as previously used on the German Schneider CPC 6128. As a result, a wide range of extensions for the original CPC range are connector-incompatible with the 464plus and 6128plus. In addition, the 6128plus does not have a tape socket for an external tape drive. + +The plus range is not equipped with an on-board ROM, and thus the 464plus and the 6128plus do not contain a firmware. Instead, Amstrad provided the firmware for both models via the ROM extension facility, contained on the included Burnin' Rubber and Locomotive BASIC cartridge. This resulted in reduced hardware localization cost (only some select key caps and case labels had to be localized) with the added benefit of a rudimentary copy protection mechanism (without a firmware present, the machine itself could not copy a game cartridge's content). As the enhanced V4 firmware's structural differences causes problems with some CPC software directly calling firmware functions by their memory addresses, Amstrad separately sold a cartridge containing the original CPC 6128's V3 firmware. + +Both the 464plus and the 6128plus were introduced to the public in September 1990. Initial suggested retail prices were / with a monochrome monitor and / with a colour monitor for the 464plus, and / with a monochrome monitor and / with a colour monitor for the 6128plus. + +GX4000 + +Developed as part of the plus range, the GX4000 was Amstrad's short-lived attempt to enter the video game consoles market. Sharing the plus range's enhanced hardware characteristics, it represents the bare minimum variant of the range without a keyboard or support for mass storage devices. It came bundled with 2 paddle controllers and the racing game Burnin' Rubber. + +Special models and clones + +CPC 472 + +During the August holidays of 1985, Spain briefly introduced an import tax of 15 000 pesetas () on computers containing 64 KB or less of RAM (Royal Decree 1215/1985 and 1558/1985), and a new law (Royal Decree 1250/1985) mandated that all computers sold in Spain must have a Spanish keyboard. To circumvent this, Amstrad's Spanish distributor Indescomp (later to become Amstrad Spain) created and distributed the CPC 472, a modified version of the CPC 464. Its main differences are a small additional daughter board containing a CPC 664 ROM chip and an 8 KB memory chip, and a keyboard with a ñ key (although some of them were temporarily manufactured without the ñ key). The sole purpose of the 8 KB memory chip (which is not electrically connected to the machine, so consequently rendered unusable) is to increase the machine's total memory specs to 72 KB in order to circumvent the import tax. Some months later, Spain joined the European Communities by the Treaty of Accession 1985 and the import tax was suppressed, so Amstrad added the ñ key for the 464 and production of the CPC472 was discontinued. + +KC compact + +The ("" - which means "small computer" - being a rather literal German translation of the English "microcomputer") is an unauthorized and unofficial clone of the Amstrad CPC built by East Germany's , part of , in October 1989. Although the machine included various substitutes and emulations of an Amstrad CPC's hardware, the machine is largely compatible with Amstrad CPC software. It is equipped with 64 KB of memory and a CPC 6128's firmware customized to the modified hardware, including a copy of Locomotive BASIC 1.1 modified in the startup banner only. The expansion port is a K 1520 bus slot. The KC compact is the last 8-bit computer introduced in East Germany. Due to the German reunification happening at the time of the release only a very small number of systems were sold. The KC compact can be emulated by free software JKCEMU. + +Aleste 520EX +In 1993, Omsk, Russia based company Patisonic released the Aleste 520EX, a computer highly compatible with the Amstrad CPC 6128. It could also be switched into an MSX mode. An expansion board named Magic Sound allowed to play Scream Tracker files. + +Reception +A BYTE columnist in January 1985 called the CPC 464 "the closest yet to filling" his criteria for a useful home computer, including good keyboard, 80-column text, inexpensive disk drive, and support for a mainstream operating system like CP/M. + +Hardware + +Processor +The entire CPC series is based on the Zilog Z80; a processor, clocked at 4 MHz. + +In order to avoid the CPU and the video logic simultaneously accessing the shared main memory and causing video corruption ("snowing"), CPU memory access is constrained to occur on microsecond boundaries. This effectively pads every machine cycle to four clock cycles, causing a minor loss of processing power and resulting in what Amstrad estimated to be an "effective clock rate" of "approximately 3.3 MHz". + +Memory +Amstrad CPCs are equipped with either 64 (CPC 464, CPC 664, 464plus, GX4000) or 128 (CPC 6128, 6128plus) KB of RAM. This base memory can be extended by up to 512 KB using memory expansions sold by third-party manufacturers, and by up to 4096 KB using experimental methods developed by hardware enthusiasts. Because the Z80 processor is only able to directly address 64 KB of memory, additional memory from the 128 KB models and memory expansions is made available using bank switching. + +Video + +Underlying a CPC's video output is the unusual pairing of a CRTC (Motorola 6845 or compatible) with a custom-designed gate array to generate a pixel display output. CPC 6128s later in production as well as the models from the plus range integrate both the CRTC and the gate array's functions with the system's ASIC. + +Three built-in display resolutions are available: 160×200 pixels with 16 colours ("Mode 0", 20 text columns), 320×200 pixels with 4 colours ("Mode 1", 40 text columns), and 640×200 pixels with 2 colours ("Mode 2", 80 text columns). Increased screen size can be achieved by reprogramming the CRTC. + +The original CPC video hardware supports a colour palette of 27 colours, generated from RGB colour space with each colour component assigned as either off, half on, or on (3 level RGB palette). The plus range extended the palette to 4096 colours, also generated from RGB with 4 bits each for red, green and blue (12-bit RGB). + +With the exception of the GX4000, all CPC models lack an RF television or composite video output and instead shipped with a 6-pin RGB DIN connector, also used by Acorn computers, to connect the supplied Amstrad monitor. This connector delivers a 1v p-p analogue RGB with a 50 Hz composite sync signal that, if wired correctly, can drive a 50 Hz SCART television. External adapters for RF television were available as a first-party hardware accessory. + +Audio +The CPC uses the General Instrument AY-3-8912 sound chip, providing three channels, each configurable to generate square waves, white noise or both. A small array of hardware volume envelopes are available. + +Output is provided in mono by a small (4 cm) built-in loudspeaker with volume control, driven by an internal amplifier. Stereo output is provided through a headphones jack. + +It is possible to play back digital sound samples at a resolution of approximately 5-bit by sending a stream of values to the sound chip. This technique is very processor-intensive and hard to combine with any other processing. Examples are the title screens or other non-playable scenes of games like Chase H.Q., Meltdown, and RoboCop. The later Plus models incorporated a DMA engine in order to offload this processing. + +Floppy disk drive + +Amstrad uses Matsushita's 3" floppy disk drive [ref: CPCWiki], which was compatible with Hitachi's existing 3" floppy disk format. The chosen drive (built-in for later models) is a single-sided 40-track unit that requires the user to remove and flip the disk to access the other side. Each side has its own independent write-protect switch. The sides are termed "A" and "B", with each one commonly formatted to 180 KB (in AMSDOS format, comprising 2 KB directory and 178 KB storage) for a total of 360 KB per disk. + +The interface with the drives is an NEC 765 FDC, used for the same purpose in the IBM PC/XT, PC/AT and PS/2 machines. Its features are not fully used in order to cut costs, namely DMA transfers and support for single density disks; they were formatted as double density using modified frequency modulation. + +Discs were shipped in a paper sleeve or a hard plastic case resembling a compact disc "jewel" case. The casing is thicker and more rigid than that of 3.5 inch diskettes, and designed to be mailed without any additional packaging. A sliding metal cover to protect the media surface is internal to the casing and latched, unlike the simple external sliding cover of Sony's version. They were significantly more expensive than both 5.25 inch and 3.5 inch alternatives. This, combined with their low nominal capacities and their essentially proprietary nature, led to the format being discontinued shortly after the CPC itself was discontinued. + +Apart from Amstrad's other 3-inch machines (the PCW and the ZX Spectrum +3), the few other computer systems to use them included the Sega SF-7000 and CP/M systems such as the Tatung Einstein and Osborne machines. They also found use on embedded systems. + +The Shugart-standard interface means that Amstrad CPC machines are able to use standard 3", 3½" or 5¼" drives as their second drive. Programs such as ROMDOS and ParaDOS extend the standard AMSDOS system to provide support for double-sided, 80-track formats, enabling up to 800 KB to be stored on a single disk. + +The 3-inch disks themselves are usually known as "discs" on the CPC, following the spelling on the machine's plastic casing and conventional British English spelling. + +Expansion + +The hardware and firmware was designed to be able to access software provided on external ROMs. Each ROM has to be a 16 KB block and is switched in and out of the memory space shared with the video RAM. The Amstrad firmware is deliberately designed so that new software could be easily accessed from these ROMs. Popular applications were marketed on ROM, particularly word processing and programming utility software (examples are Protext and Brunword of the former, and the MAXAM assembler of the latter type). + +Such extra ROM chips do not plug directly into the CPC itself, but into extra plug-in "rom boxes" which contain sockets for the ROM chips and a minimal amount of decoding circuitry for the main machine to be able to switch between them. These boxes were either marketed commercially or could be built by competent hobbyists and they attached to the main expansion port at the back of the machine. Software on ROM loads much faster than from disc or tape and the machine's boot-up sequence was designed to evaluate ROMs it found and optionally hand over control of the machine to them. This allows significant customisation of the functionality of the machine, something that enthusiasts exploited for various purposes. However, the typical users would probably not be aware of this added ROM functionality unless they read the CPC press, as it is not described in the user manual and was hardly ever mentioned in marketing literature. It is, however, documented in the official Amstrad firmware manual. + +The machines also feature a 9-pin Atari joystick port that will either directly take one joystick, or two joysticks by use of a splitter cable. + +Peripherals + +RS232 serial adapters +Amstrad issued two RS-232-C D25 serial interfaces, attached to the expansion connector on the rear of the machine, with a through-connector for the CPC 464 disk drive or other peripherals. + +The original interface came with a Book of Spells for facilitating data transfer between other systems using a proprietary protocol in the device's own ROM, as well as terminal software to connect to British Telecom's Prestel service. A separate version of the ROM was created for the U.S. market due to the use of the commands "|SUCK" and "|BLOW", which were considered unacceptable there. + +Software and hardware limitations in this interface led to its replacement with an Amstrad-branded version of a compatible alternative by Pace. Serial interfaces were also available from third-party vendors such as KDS Electronics and Cirkit. + +Software + +BASIC and operating system + +Like most home computers at the time, the CPC has its OS and a BASIC interpreter built in as ROM. It uses Locomotive BASIC - an improved version of Locomotive Software's Z80 BASIC for the BBC Micro co-processor board. It is particularly notable for providing easy access to the machine's video and audio resources in contrast to the POKE commands required on generic Microsoft implementations. Other unusual features include timed event handling with the AFTER and EVERY commands, and text-based windowing. + +CP/M +Digital Research's CP/M operating system was supplied with the 664 and 6128 disk-based systems, and the DDI-1 disk expansion unit for the 464. 64k machines shipped with CP/M 2.2 alone, while the 128k machines also include CP/M 3.1. The compact CP/M 2.2 implementation is largely stored on the boot sectors of a 3" disk in what was called "System format"; typing |CPM from Locomotive BASIC would load code from these sectors, making it a popular choice for custom game loading routines. The CP/M 3.1 implementation is largely in a separate file which is in turn loaded from the boot sector. +Much public domain CP/M software was made available for the CPC, from word-processors such as VDE to complete bulletin board systems such as ROS. + +Other languages +Although it was possible to obtain compilers for Locomotive BASIC, C and Pascal, the majority of the CPC's software was written in native Z80 assembly language. Popular assemblers were Hisoft's Devpac, Arnor's Maxam, and (in France) DAMS. Disk-based CPC (not Plus) systems shipped with an interpreter for the educational language LOGO, booted from CP/M 2.2 but largely CPC-specific with much code resident in the AMSDOS ROM; 6128 machines also include a CP/M 3.1, non-ROM version. A C compiler was also written and made available for the European market through Tandy Europe, by Micro Business products. + +Roland + +In an attempt to give the CPC a recognisable mascot, a number of games by Amstrad's in-house software publisher Amsoft have been tagged with the Roland name. However, as the games had not been designed around the Roland character and only had the branding added later, the character design varies immensely, from a spiky-haired blonde teenager (Roland Goes Digging) to a white cube with legs (Roland Goes Square Bashing) or a mutant flea (Roland in the Caves). The only two games with similar gameplay and main character design are Roland in Time and its sequel Roland in Space. The Roland character was named after Roland Perry, one of the lead designers of the original CPC range. + +Schneider Computer Division + +In order to market its computers in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland where Amstrad did not have any distribution structures, Amstrad entered a partnership with Schneider Rundfunkwerke AG, a German company that - very much like Amstrad itself - was previously only known for value-priced audio products. In 1984, Schneider's Schneider Computer Division daughter company was created specifically for the task, and the complete Amstrad CPC line-up was branded and sold as Schneider CPC. + +Although they are based on the same hardware, the Schneider CPC models differ from the Amstrad CPC models in several details. Most prominently, the Schneider CPC 464 and CPC 664 keyboards featured grey instead of coloured keys, but still in the original British keyboard layout. To achieve a German "QWERTZ" keyboard layout, Schneider marketed a small software program to reassign the keys as well as sticker labels for the keys. In order to conform with stricter German EMC regulations, the complete Schneider CPC line-up is equipped with an internal metal shielding. For the same reason, the Schneider CPC 6128 features micro ribbon type connectors instead of edge connectors. Both the greyscale keyboard and the micro ribbon connectors found their way up into the design of later Amstrad CPC models. + +In 1988, after Schneider refused to market Amstrad's AT-compatible computer line, the cooperation ended. Schneider went on to sell the remaining stock of Schneider CPC models and used their now well-established market position to introduce its own PC designs. With the formation of its German daughter company Amstrad GmbH to distribute its product lines including the CPC 464 and CPC 6128, Amstrad attempted but ultimately failed to establish their own brand in the German-speaking parts of Europe. + +Community +The Amstrad CPC enjoyed a strong and long lifetime, mainly due to the machines use for businesses as well as gaming. Dedicated programmers continued working on the CPC range, even producing graphical user interface (GUI) operating systems such as SymbOS. Internet sites devoted to the CPC have appeared from around the world featuring forums, news, hardware, software, programming and games. CPC Magazines appeared during the 1980s including publications in countries such as Britain, France, Spain, Germany, Denmark, Australia, and Greece. Titles included the official Amstrad Computer User publication, as well as independent titles like Amstrad Action, Amtix!, Computing with the Amstrad CPC, CPC Attack, Australia's The Amstrad User, France's Amstrad Cent Pour Cent and Amstar. Following the CPC's end of production, Amstrad gave permission for the CPC ROMs to be distributed freely as long as the copyright message is not changed and that it is acknowledged that Amstrad still holds copyright, giving emulator authors the possibility to ship the CPC firmware with their programs. + +Influence on other Amstrad machines +Amstrad followed their success with the CPC 464 by launching the Amstrad PCW word-processor range, another Z80-based machine with a 3" disk drive and software by Locomotive Software. The PCW was originally developed to be partly compatible with an improved version of the CPC (ANT, or Arnold Number Two - the CPC's development codename was Arnold). However, Amstrad decided to focus on the PCW, and the ANT project never came to market. + +On 7 April 1986, Amstrad announced it had bought from Sinclair Research "...the worldwide rights to sell and manufacture all existing and future Sinclair computers and computer products, together with the Sinclair brand name and those intellectual property rights where they relate to computers and computer-related products." which included the ZX Spectrum, for £5 million. This included Sinclair's unsold stock of Sinclair QLs and Spectrums. Amstrad made more than £5 million on selling these surplus machines alone. Amstrad launched two new variants of the Spectrum: the ZX Spectrum +2, based on the ZX Spectrum 128, with a built-in tape drive (like the CPC 464) and, the following year, the ZX Spectrum +3, with a built-in floppy disk drive (similar to the CPC 664 and 6128), taking the 3" discs that Amstrad CPC machines used. + +Production Timeline + +See also + Amstrad CPC character set + Amstrad CP/M Plus character set + List of Amstrad CPC emulators + List of Amstrad CPC games + GX4000 + SymbOS (multitasking operating system) + +Notes and references + +External links + + CPC-Wiki (CPC specific Wiki containing further information) + Unofficial Amstrad WWW Resource + + New OS for the CPC + + +Computer-related introductions in 1984 +CPC +Z80-based home computers +Computers designed in the United Kingdom +Abdulaziz al-Omari (, , also transliterated as Alomari or al-Umari; 28 May 1979 – 11 September 2001) was a Saudi terrorist hijacker who was one of five hijackers of American Airlines Flight 11 as part of the 11 September attacks in 2001. Prior to the terrorist attack, al-Omari was an airport security guard and imam. + +Al-Omari arrived in the United States in June 2001, on a tourist visa, obtained through the Visa Express program. On 11 September 2001, al-Omari boarded American Airlines Flight 11 and assisted in the hijacking of the plane, which was crashed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center, as part of the coordinated attacks. + +Early life and education + +Little is known about al-Omari's life, and it is unclear whether some information refers to Omari or another person by that name. He had used the birth date 28 May 1979. + +It is alleged al-Omari graduated with honors from high school, attained a degree from Imam Muhammad ibn Saud Islamic University, was married and had a daughter briefly before the attacks. + +Career +Al-Omari is alleged to have often served as an imam at his mosque in Saudi Arabia and is believed by American authorities to have been a student of Saudi cleric Sulaiman Al-Alwan, whose mosque is located in Al-Qassim Province. + +According to Walid bin Attash, al-Omari was one of a group of future hijackers who provided security at Kandahar airport after their basic training at an al-Qaeda camp. During the 2000 Al Qaeda Summit in Kuala Lumpur, American authorities state that immigration records show that a person named Abdulaziz al-Omari was visiting the country, although they say they are not sure that this was the same person. + +In the autumn of 2001, after the 11 September attacks, al Jazeera television broadcast a tape they claim was made by al-Omari. The speaker made a farewell suicide video. In it he read, "I am writing this with my full conscience and I am writing this in expectation of the end, which is near. . . God praise everybody who trained and helped me, namely the leader Sheikh Osama bin Laden." + +According to FBI director Robert Mueller and the 9/11 Commission, al-Omari entered the United States through a Dubai flight on 29 June 2001, with Salem al-Hazmi, landing in New York. He had used the controversial Visa Express program to gain entry. He apparently stayed with several other hijackers in Paterson, New Jersey, before moving to his own place at 4032 57th Terrace, Vero Beach, Florida. On his rental agreement form for that house, al-Omari gave two license-plates authorized to park in his space, one of which was registered to Atta. + +Al-Omari obtained a fake United States ID card from All Services Plus in Passaic County, New Jersey, which was in the business of selling fake documents, including another to Khalid al-Mihdhar. He was married and had a daughter. + +September 11 attacks + +On 10 September 2001, Mohamed Atta picked up al-Omari from the Milner Hotel in Boston, Massachusetts, and the two drove their rented Nissan car to a Comfort Inn in South Portland, Maine, where they spent the night in room 232. It was initially reported that Adnan and Ameer Bukhari were the two hijackers who had rented and driven the car. + +In the early hours of 11 September, they boarded a commuter flight back to Boston to connect to American Airlines Flight 11. American 11 was hijacked 15 minutes after the flight departed by al-Omari and four other hijackers, which allowed trained pilot Mohamed Atta to crash the Boeing 767 into the North Tower of the World Trade Center as part of an attack that killed thousands of people. + +Mistaken identity allegations +Controversy over the identity of al-Omari erupted shortly after the attacks. At first, the FBI had named Abdul Rahman al-Omari, a pilot for Saudi Arabian Airlines, as the pilot of Flight 11. It was quickly shown that this person was still alive, and the FBI issued an apology. It was also quickly determined that Mohamed Atta was the pilot among the hijackers. The FBI then named Abdulaziz al-Omari as a hijacker. + +A man with the same name as those given by the FBI turned up alive in Saudi Arabia, saying that he had studied at the University of Denver and his passport was stolen there in 1995. The name, origin, birth date, and occupation were released by the FBI, but the picture was not of him. "I couldn't believe it when the FBI put me on their list", he said. "They gave my name and my date of birth, but I am not a suicide bomber. I am here. I am alive. I have no idea how to fly a plane. I had nothing to do with this." + +See also + PENTTBOM + Hijackers in the 11 September attacks + +References + +External links + The Final 9/11 Commission Report + portal.telegraph.co.uk (Article which reports that the Saudi Arabian Airlines pilot named Omari was not involved with the terrorist attacks) + +1979 births +2001 deaths +American Airlines Flight 11 +Participants in the September 11 attacks +People from Al-Bahah Province +Saudi Arabian al-Qaeda members +Saudi Arabian mass murderers +Aage Niels Bohr (; 19 June 1922 – 8 September 2009) was a Danish nuclear physicist who shared the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1975 with Ben Roy Mottelson and James Rainwater "for the discovery of the connection between collective motion and particle motion in atomic nuclei and the development of the theory of the structure of the atomic nucleus based on this connection". His father was Niels Bohr. + +Starting from Rainwater's concept of an irregular-shaped liquid drop model of the nucleus, Bohr and Mottelson developed a detailed theory that was in close agreement with experiments. + +Since his father, Niels Bohr, had won the prize in 1922, he and his father are one of the six pairs of fathers and sons who have both won the Nobel Prize and one of the four pairs who have both won the Nobel Prize in Physics. + +Early life and education +Bohr was born in Copenhagen on 19 June 1922, the fourth of six sons of the physicist Niels Bohr and his wife Margrethe Bohr (née Nørlund). His oldest brother, Christian, died in a boating accident in 1934, and his youngest, Harald, was severely disabled and placed away from the home in Copenhagen at the age of four. He would later die from childhood meningitis. Of the others, Hans became a physician; Erik, a chemical engineer; and Ernest, a lawyer and Olympic athlete who played field hockey for Denmark at the 1948 Summer Olympics in London. The family lived at the Institute of Theoretical Physics at the University of Copenhagen, now known as the Niels Bohr Institute, where he grew up surrounded by physicists who were working with his father, such as Hans Kramers, Oskar Klein, Yoshio Nishina, Wolfgang Pauli and Werner Heisenberg. In 1932, the family moved to the Carlsberg Æresbolig, a mansion donated by Carl Jacobsen, the heir to Carlsberg breweries, to be used as an honorary residence by the Dane who had made the most prominent contribution to science, literature, or the arts. + +Bohr went to high school at Sortedam Gymnasium in Copenhagen. In 1940, shortly after the German occupation of Denmark in April, he entered the University of Copenhagen, where he studied physics. He assisted his father, helping draft correspondence and articles related to epistemology and physics. In September 1943, word reached his family that the Nazis considered them to be Jewish, because Bohr's grandmother, Ellen Adler Bohr, had been Jewish, and that they therefore were in danger of being arrested. The Danish resistance helped the family escape by sea to Sweden. Bohr arrived there in October 1943, and then flew to Britain on a de Havilland Mosquito operated by British Overseas Airways Corporation. The Mosquitoes were unarmed high-speed bomber aircraft that had been converted to carry small, valuable cargoes or important passengers. By flying at high speed and high altitude, they could cross German-occupied Norway, and yet avoid German fighters. Bohr, equipped with parachute, flying suit and oxygen mask, spent the three-hour flight lying on a mattress in the aircraft's bomb bay. + +On arrival in London, Bohr rejoined his father, who had flown to Britain the week before. He officially became a junior researcher at the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, but actually served as personal assistant and secretary to his father. The two worked on Tube Alloys, the British atomic bomb project. On 30 December 1943, they made the first of a number of visits to the United States, where his father was a consultant to the Manhattan Project. Due to his father's fame, they were given false names; Bohr became James Baker, and his father, Nicholas Baker. In 1945, the director of the Los Alamos Laboratory, J. Robert Oppenheimer, asked them to review the design of the modulated neutron initiator. They reported that it would work. That they had reached this conclusion put Enrico Fermi's concerns about the viability of the design to rest. The initiators performed flawlessly in the bombs used in the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945. + +Career +In August 1945, with the war ended, Bohr returned to Denmark, where he resumed his university education, graduating with a master's degree in 1946, with a thesis concerned with some aspects of atomic stopping power problems. In early 1948, Bohr became a member of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey. While paying a visit to Columbia University, he met Isidor Isaac Rabi, who sparked in him an interest in recent discoveries related to the hyperfine structure of deuterium. This led to Bohr becoming a visiting fellow at Columbia from January 1949 to August 1950. While in the United States, Bohr married Marietta Soffer on 11 March 1950. They had three children: Vilhelm, Tomas and Margrethe. + +By the late 1940s it was known that the properties of atomic nuclei could not be explained by then-current models such as the liquid drop model developed by Niels Bohr amongst others. The shell model, developed in 1949 by Maria Goeppert Mayer and others, allowed some additional features to be explained, in particular the so-called magic numbers. However, there were also properties that could not be explained, including the non-spherical distribution of charge in certain nuclei. In a 1950 paper, James Rainwater of Columbia University suggested a variant of the drop model of the nucleus that could explain a non-spherical charge distribution. Rainwater's model postulated a nucleus like a balloon with balls inside that distort the surface as they move about. He discussed the idea with Bohr, who was visiting Columbia at the time, and had independently conceived the same idea, and had, about a month after Rainwater's submission, submitted for publication a paper that discussed the same problem, but along more general lines. Bohr imagined a rotating, irregular-shaped nucleus with a form of surface tension. Bohr developed the idea further, in 1951 publishing a paper that comprehensively treated the relationship between oscillations of the surface of the nucleus and the movement of the individual nucleons. + +Upon his return to Copenhagen in 1950, Bohr began working with Ben Roy Mottelson to compare the theoretical work with experimental data. In three papers, that were published in 1952 and 1953, Bohr and Mottelson demonstrated close agreement between theory and experiment; for example, showing that the energy levels of certain nuclei could be described by a rotation spectrum. They were thereby able to reconcile the shell model with Rainwater's concept. This work stimulated many new theoretical and experimental studies. Bohr, Mottelson and Rainwater were jointly awarded the 1975 Nobel Prize in Physics "for the discovery of the connection between collective motion and particle motion in atomic nuclei and the development of the theory of the structure of the atomic nucleus based on this connection". Because his father had been awarded the prize in 1922, Bohr became one of only four pairs of fathers and sons to win the Nobel Prize in Physics. + +Only after doing his Nobel Prize-winning research did Bohr receive his doctorate from the University of Copenhagen, in 1954, writing his thesis on "Rotational States of Atomic Nuclei". Bohr became a professor at the University of Copenhagen in 1956, and, following his father's death in 1962, succeeded him as director of the Niels Bohr Institute, a position he held until 1970. He remained active there until he retired in 1992. He was also a member of the board of the Nordic Institute for Theoretical Physics from its inception in 1957, and was its director from 1975 to 1981. In addition to the Nobel Prize, he won the Dannie Heineman Prize for Mathematical Physics in 1960, the Atoms for Peace Award in 1969, H. C. Ørsted Medal in 1970, Rutherford Medal and Prize in 1972, John Price Wetherill Medal in 1974, and the Ole Rømer medal in 1976. Bohr and Mottelson continued to work together, publishing a two-volume monograph, Nuclear Structure. The first volume, Single-Particle Motion, appeared in 1969; the second, Nuclear Deformations, in 1975. + +In 1972 Bohr was awarded an honorary degree, doctor philos. honoris causa, at the Norwegian Institute of Technology, later part of Norwegian University of Science and Technology. He was a member of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters from 1980. Bohr was also an elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Philosophical Society, and the United States National Academy of Sciences. + +In 1981, Bohr became a founding member of the World Cultural Council. + +Bohr's wife Marietta died on 2 October 1978. In 1981, he married Bente Scharff Meyer (1926–2011). His son, Tomas Bohr, is a professor of physics at the Technical University of Denmark, working in the area of fluid dynamics. Aage Bohr died in Copenhagen on 9 September 2009. He was survived by his second wife and children. + +Bohr's Nobel Prize medal was sold at auction in November 2011. It was subsequently sold at auction in April 2019 for $90,000. + +Notes + +References + +External links + + including the Nobel Lecture, 11 December 1975 Rotational Motion in Nuclei + Oral History interview transcript with Aage Bohr 23 & 30 January 1963, American Institute of Physics, Niels Bohr Library and Archives + +1922 births +2009 deaths +Atoms for Peace Award recipients +Danish Nobel laureates +Danish nuclear physicists +Danish people of Jewish descent +20th-century Danish physicists +Founding members of the World Cultural Council +Members of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences +Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences +Members of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters +Foreign associates of the National Academy of Sciences +Institute for Advanced Study visiting scholars +Columbia University faculty +Aage +Nobel laureates in Physics +Scientists from Copenhagen +University of Copenhagen alumni +Manhattan Project people +Aage +Danish expatriates in the United States +Burials at Mariebjerg Cemetery +Members of the American Philosophical Society +In mathematics, analytic geometry, also known as coordinate geometry or Cartesian geometry, is the study of geometry using a coordinate system. This contrasts with synthetic geometry. + +Analytic geometry is used in physics and engineering, and also in aviation, rocketry, space science, and spaceflight. It is the foundation of most modern fields of geometry, including algebraic, differential, discrete and computational geometry. + +Usually the Cartesian coordinate system is applied to manipulate equations for planes, straight lines, and circles, often in two and sometimes three dimensions. Geometrically, one studies the Euclidean plane (two dimensions) and Euclidean space. As taught in school books, analytic geometry can be explained more simply: it is concerned with defining and representing geometric shapes in a numerical way and extracting numerical information from shapes' numerical definitions and representations. That the algebra of the real numbers can be employed to yield results about the linear continuum of geometry relies on the Cantor–Dedekind axiom. + +History + +Ancient Greece +The Greek mathematician Menaechmus solved problems and proved theorems by using a method that had a strong resemblance to the use of coordinates and it has sometimes been maintained that he had introduced analytic geometry. + +Apollonius of Perga, in On Determinate Section, dealt with problems in a manner that may be called an analytic geometry of one dimension; with the question of finding points on a line that were in a ratio to the others. Apollonius in the Conics further developed a method that is so similar to analytic geometry that his work is sometimes thought to have anticipated the work of Descartes by some 1800 years. His application of reference lines, a diameter and a tangent is essentially no different from our modern use of a coordinate frame, where the distances measured along the diameter from the point of tangency are the abscissas, and the segments parallel to the tangent and intercepted between the axis and the curve are the ordinates. He further developed relations between the abscissas and the corresponding ordinates that are equivalent to rhetorical equations (expressed in words) of curves. However, although Apollonius came close to developing analytic geometry, he did not manage to do so since he did not take into account negative magnitudes and in every case the coordinate system was superimposed upon a given curve a posteriori instead of a priori. That is, equations were determined by curves, but curves were not determined by equations. Coordinates, variables, and equations were subsidiary notions applied to a specific geometric situation. + +Persia +The 11th-century Persian mathematician Omar Khayyam saw a strong relationship between geometry and algebra and was moving in the right direction when he helped close the gap between numerical and geometric algebra with his geometric solution of the general cubic equations, but the decisive step came later with Descartes. Omar Khayyam is credited with identifying the foundations of algebraic geometry, and his book Treatise on Demonstrations of Problems of Algebra (1070), which laid down the principles of analytic geometry, is part of the body of Persian mathematics that was eventually transmitted to Europe. Because of his thoroughgoing geometrical approach to algebraic equations, Khayyam can be considered a precursor to Descartes in the invention of analytic geometry. + +Western Europe + +Analytic geometry was independently invented by René Descartes and Pierre de Fermat, although Descartes is sometimes given sole credit. Cartesian geometry, the alternative term used for analytic geometry, is named after Descartes. + +Descartes made significant progress with the methods in an essay titled La Géométrie (Geometry), one of the three accompanying essays (appendices) published in 1637 together with his Discourse on the Method for Rightly Directing One's Reason and Searching for Truth in the Sciences, commonly referred to as Discourse on Method. + +La Geometrie, written in his native French tongue, and its philosophical principles, provided a foundation for calculus in Europe. Initially the work was not well received, due, in part, to the many gaps in arguments and complicated equations. Only after the translation into Latin and the addition of commentary by van Schooten in 1649 (and further work thereafter) did Descartes's masterpiece receive due recognition. + +Pierre de Fermat also pioneered the development of analytic geometry. Although not published in his lifetime, a manuscript form of Ad locos planos et solidos isagoge (Introduction to Plane and Solid Loci) was circulating in Paris in 1637, just prior to the publication of Descartes' Discourse. Clearly written and well received, the Introduction also laid the groundwork for analytical geometry. The key difference between Fermat's and Descartes' treatments is a matter of viewpoint: Fermat always started with an algebraic equation and then described the geometric curve that satisfied it, whereas Descartes started with geometric curves and produced their equations as one of several properties of the curves. As a consequence of this approach, Descartes had to deal with more complicated equations and he had to develop the methods to work with polynomial equations of higher degree. It was Leonhard Euler who first applied the coordinate method in a systematic study of space curves and surfaces. + +Coordinates + +In analytic geometry, the plane is given a coordinate system, by which every point has a pair of real number coordinates. Similarly, Euclidean space is given coordinates where every point has three coordinates. The value of the coordinates depends on the choice of the initial point of origin. There are a variety of coordinate systems used, but the most common are the following: + +Cartesian coordinates (in a plane or space) + +The most common coordinate system to use is the Cartesian coordinate system, where each point has an x-coordinate representing its horizontal position, and a y-coordinate representing its vertical position. These are typically written as an ordered pair (x, y). This system can also be used for three-dimensional geometry, where every point in Euclidean space is represented by an ordered triple of coordinates (x, y, z). + +Polar coordinates (in a plane) + +In polar coordinates, every point of the plane is represented by its distance r from the origin and its angle θ, with θ normally measured counterclockwise from the positive x-axis. Using this notation, points are typically written as an ordered pair (r, θ). One may transform back and forth between two-dimensional Cartesian and polar coordinates by using these formulae: This system may be generalized to three-dimensional space through the use of cylindrical or spherical coordinates. + +Cylindrical coordinates (in a space) + +In cylindrical coordinates, every point of space is represented by its height z, its radius r from the z-axis and the angle θ its projection on the xy-plane makes with respect to the horizontal axis. + +Spherical coordinates (in a space) + +In spherical coordinates, every point in space is represented by its distance ρ from the origin, the angle θ its projection on the xy-plane makes with respect to the horizontal axis, and the angle φ that it makes with respect to the z-axis. The names of the angles are often reversed in physics. + +Equations and curves + +In analytic geometry, any equation involving the coordinates specifies a subset of the plane, namely the solution set for the equation, or locus. For example, the equation y = x corresponds to the set of all the points on the plane whose x-coordinate and y-coordinate are equal. These points form a line, and y = x is said to be the equation for this line. In general, linear equations involving x and y specify lines, quadratic equations specify conic sections, and more complicated equations describe more complicated figures. + +Usually, a single equation corresponds to a curve on the plane. This is not always the case: the trivial equation x = x specifies the entire plane, and the equation x2 + y2 = 0 specifies only the single point (0, 0). In three dimensions, a single equation usually gives a surface, and a curve must be specified as the intersection of two surfaces (see below), or as a system of parametric equations. The equation x2 + y2 = r2 is the equation for any circle centered at the origin (0, 0) with a radius of r. + +Lines and planes + +Lines in a Cartesian plane, or more generally, in affine coordinates, can be described algebraically by linear equations. In two dimensions, the equation for non-vertical lines is often given in the slope-intercept form: + +where: + m is the slope or gradient of the line. + b is the y-intercept of the line. + x is the independent variable of the function y = f(x). + +In a manner analogous to the way lines in a two-dimensional space are described using a point-slope form for their equations, planes in a three dimensional space have a natural description using a point in the plane and a vector orthogonal to it (the normal vector) to indicate its "inclination". + +Specifically, let be the position vector of some point , and let be a nonzero vector. The plane determined by this point and vector consists of those points , with position vector , such that the vector drawn from to is perpendicular to . Recalling that two vectors are perpendicular if and only if their dot product is zero, it follows that the desired plane can be described as the set of all points such that + +(The dot here means a dot product, not scalar multiplication.) +Expanded this becomes + + This is just a linear equation: + +Conversely, it is easily shown that if a, b, c and d are constants and a, b, and c are not all zero, then the graph of the equation + + This familiar equation for a plane is called the general form of the equation of the plane. + +In three dimensions, lines can not be described by a single linear equation, so they are frequently described by parametric equations: + +where: + x, y, and z are all functions of the independent variable t which ranges over the real numbers. + (x0, y0, z0) is any point on the line. + a, b, and c are related to the slope of the line, such that the vector (a, b, c) is parallel to the line. + +Conic sections + +In the Cartesian coordinate system, the graph of a quadratic equation in two variables is always a conic section – though it may be degenerate, and all conic sections arise in this way. The equation will be of the form + +As scaling all six constants yields the same locus of zeros, one can consider conics as points in the five-dimensional projective space + +The conic sections described by this equation can be classified using the discriminant + +If the conic is non-degenerate, then: + if , the equation represents an ellipse; + if and , the equation represents a circle, which is a special case of an ellipse; + if , the equation represents a parabola; + if , the equation represents a hyperbola; + if we also have , the equation represents a rectangular hyperbola. + +Quadric surfaces + +A quadric, or quadric surface, is a 2-dimensional surface in 3-dimensional space defined as the locus of zeros of a quadratic polynomial. In coordinates , the general quadric is defined by the algebraic equation + +Quadric surfaces include ellipsoids (including the sphere), paraboloids, hyperboloids, cylinders, cones, and planes. + +Distance and angle + +In analytic geometry, geometric notions such as distance and angle measure are defined using formulas. These definitions are designed to be consistent with the underlying Euclidean geometry. For example, using Cartesian coordinates on the plane, the distance between two points (x1, y1) and (x2, y2) is defined by the formula + +which can be viewed as a version of the Pythagorean theorem. Similarly, the angle that a line makes with the horizontal can be defined by the formula + +where m is the slope of the line. + +In three dimensions, distance is given by the generalization of the Pythagorean theorem: + +while the angle between two vectors is given by the dot product. The dot product of two Euclidean vectors A and B is defined by + +where θ is the angle between A and B. + +Transformations + +Transformations are applied to a parent function to turn it into a new function with similar characteristics. + +The graph of is changed by standard transformations as follows: + Changing to moves the graph to the right units. + Changing to moves the graph up units. + Changing to stretches the graph horizontally by a factor of . (think of the as being dilated) + Changing to stretches the graph vertically. + Changing to and changing to rotates the graph by an angle . + +There are other standard transformation not typically studied in elementary analytic geometry because the transformations change the shape of objects in ways not usually considered. Skewing is an example of a transformation not usually considered. +For more information, consult the Wikipedia article on affine transformations. + +For example, the parent function has a horizontal and a vertical asymptote, and occupies the first and third quadrant, and all of its transformed forms have one horizontal and vertical asymptote, and occupies either the 1st and 3rd or 2nd and 4th quadrant. In general, if , then it can be transformed into . In the new transformed function, is the factor that vertically stretches the function if it is greater than 1 or vertically compresses the function if it is less than 1, and for negative values, the function is reflected in the -axis. The value compresses the graph of the function horizontally if greater than 1 and stretches the function horizontally if less than 1, and like , reflects the function in the -axis when it is negative. The and values introduce translations, , vertical, and horizontal. Positive and values mean the function is translated to the positive end of its axis and negative meaning translation towards the negative end. + +Transformations can be applied to any geometric equation whether or not the equation represents a function. +Transformations can be considered as individual transactions or in combinations. + +Suppose that is a relation in the plane. For example, + +is the relation that describes the unit circle. + +Finding intersections of geometric objects + +For two geometric objects P and Q represented by the relations and the intersection is the collection of all points which are in both relations. + +For example, might be the circle with radius 1 and center : and might be the circle with radius 1 and center . The intersection of these two circles is the collection of points which make both equations true. Does the point make both equations true? Using for , the equation for becomes or which is true, so is in the relation . On the other hand, still using for the equation for becomes or which is false. is not in so it is not in the intersection. + +The intersection of and can be found by solving the simultaneous equations: + +Traditional methods for finding intersections include substitution and elimination. + +Substitution: Solve the first equation for in terms of and then substitute the expression for into the second equation: + +We then substitute this value for into the other equation and proceed to solve for : + +Next, we place this value of in either of the original equations and solve for : + +So our intersection has two points: + +Elimination: Add (or subtract) a multiple of one equation to the other equation so that one of the variables is eliminated. For our current example, if we subtract the first equation from the second we get . The in the first equation is subtracted from the in the second equation leaving no term. The variable has been eliminated. We then solve the remaining equation for , in the same way as in the substitution method: + +We then place this value of in either of the original equations and solve for : + +So our intersection has two points: + +For conic sections, as many as 4 points might be in the intersection. + +Finding intercepts + +One type of intersection which is widely studied is the intersection of a geometric object with the and coordinate axes. + +The intersection of a geometric object and the -axis is called the -intercept of the object. +The intersection of a geometric object and the -axis is called the -intercept of the object. + +For the line , the parameter specifies the point where the line crosses the axis. Depending on the context, either or the point is called the -intercept. + +Geometric axis + +Axis in geometry is the perpendicular line to any line, object or a surface. + +Also for this may be used the common language use as a: normal (prependicular) line, otherwise in engineering as axial line. + +In geometry, a normal is an object such as a line or vector that is perpendicular to a given object. For example, in the two-dimensional case, the normal line to a curve at a given point is the line perpendicular to the tangent line to the curve at the point. + +In the three-dimensional case a surface normal, or simply normal, to a surface at a point P is a vector that is perpendicular to the tangent plane to that surface at P. The word "normal" is also used as an adjective: a line normal to a plane, the normal component of a force, the normal vector, etc. The concept of normality generalizes to orthogonality. + +Spherical and nonlinear planes and their tangents +Tangent is the linear approximation of a spherical or other curved or twisted line of a function. + +Tangent lines and planes + +In geometry, the tangent line (or simply tangent) to a plane curve at a given point is the straight line that "just touches" the curve at that point. Informally, it is a line through a pair of infinitely close points on the curve. More precisely, a straight line is said to be a tangent of a curve at a point on the curve if the line passes through the point on the curve and has slope where f is the derivative of f. A similar definition applies to space curves and curves in n-dimensional Euclidean space. + +As it passes through the point where the tangent line and the curve meet, called the point of tangency, the tangent line is "going in the same direction" as the curve, and is thus the best straight-line approximation to the curve at that point. + +Similarly, the tangent plane to a surface at a given point is the plane that "just touches" the surface at that point. The concept of a tangent is one of the most fundamental notions in differential geometry and has been extensively generalized; see Tangent space. + +See also + Applied geometry + Cross product + Rotation of axes + Translation of axes + Vector space + +Notes + +References + +Books + + + John Casey (1885) Analytic Geometry of the Point, Line, Circle, and Conic Sections, link from Internet Archive. + + Mikhail Postnikov (1982) Lectures in Geometry Semester I Analytic Geometry via Internet Archive + +Articles + +External links + Coordinate Geometry topics with interactive animations +The Arabic alphabet (, or , ), or Arabic abjad, is the Arabic script as specifically codified for writing the Arabic language. It is written from right-to-left in a cursive style, and includes 28 letters, of which most have contextual letterforms. The Arabic alphabet is considered an abjad, with only consonants required to be written; due to its optional use of diacritics to notate vowels, it is considered an impure abjad. + +Consonants +The basic Arabic alphabet contains 28 letters. Forms using the Arabic script to write other languages added and removed letters: for example Persian, Ottoman Turkish, Kurdish, Urdu, Sindhi, Azerbaijani, Malay, Pashto, Punjabi, Uyghur, Arwi and Arabi Malayalam all have additional letters in their alphabets. There are no distinct upper and lower case letterforms. + +Many letters look similar but are distinguished from one another by dots () above or below their central part (). These dots are an integral part of a letter, since they distinguish between letters that represent different sounds. For example, the Arabic letters , , and have the same basic shape, but with one dot added below, two dots added above, and three dots added above respectively. The letter also has the same form in initial and medial forms, with one dot added above, though it is somewhat different in its isolated and final forms. + +Both printed and written Arabic are cursive, with most letters within a word directly joined to adjacent letters. + +Alphabetical order +There are two main collating sequences ('alphabetical orderings') for the Arabic alphabet: , and . + +The original order derives from that used by the Phoenician alphabet, and is therefore reminiscent of the orderings of other alphabets, such as those in Hebrew and Greek. With this ordering, letters are also used as numbers known as abjad numerals, possessing the same numerological codes as in Hebrew gematria and Greek isopsephy. + +The or order is used when sorting lists of words and names, such as in phonebooks, classroom lists, and dictionaries. The ordering groups letters by the graphical similarity of the glyphs' shapes. + +Abjadi +The order is not a simple correspondence with the earlier north Semitic alphabetic order, as it has a position corresponding to the Aramaic letter samek , which has no cognate letter in the Arabic alphabet historically. + +The loss of was compensated for by: +In the Mashriqi abjad sequence, the letter shin was split into two Arabic letters, and , the latter of which took the place of . +In the Maghrebi abjad sequence, the letter was split into two independent Arabic letters, and , with the latter taking the place of . + +The six other letters that do not correspond to any north Semitic letter are placed at the end. + +This is commonly vocalized as follows: + . +Another vocalization is: + + +This can be vocalized as: + +Modern dictionaries and other reference books do not use the order to sort alphabetically; instead, the newer order is used wherein letters are partially grouped together by similarity of shape. The order is never used as numerals. + +In the order (replaced recently by the Mashriqi order, (though still used in many Quranic schools in Algeria) the sequence is: + +In Abu Muhammad al-Hasan al-Hamdani's encyclopedia , the letter sequence is: + +Letter forms + +The Arabic alphabet is always cursive and letters vary in shape depending on their position within a word. Letters can exhibit up to four distinct forms corresponding to an initial, medial (middle), final, or isolated position (IMFI). While some letters show considerable variations, others remain almost identical across all four positions. Generally, letters in the same word are linked together on both sides by short horizontal lines, but six letters () can only be linked to their preceding letter. For example, (Ararat) has only isolated forms because each letter cannot be connected to its following one. In addition, some letter combinations are written as ligatures (special shapes), notably , which is the only mandatory ligature (the un-ligated combination is considered difficult to read). + +Table of basic letters + +Notes + + See the article Romanization of Arabic for details on various transliteration schemes. Arabic language speakers may usually not follow a standardized scheme when transcribing words or names. Some Arabic letters which do not have an equivalent in English (such as ق) are often spelled as numbers when Romanized. Also names are regularly transcribed as pronounced locally, not as pronounced in Literary Arabic (if they were of Arabic origin). + Regarding pronunciation, the phonemic values given are those of Modern Standard Arabic, which is taught in schools and universities. In practice, pronunciation may vary considerably from region to region. For more details concerning the pronunciation of Arabic, consult the articles Arabic phonology and varieties of Arabic. + The names of the Arabic letters can be thought of as abstractions of an older version where they were meaningful words in the Proto-Semitic language. Names of Arabic letters may have quite different names popularly. + Six letters () do not have a distinct medial form and have to be written with their final form without being connected to the next letter. Their initial form matches the isolated form. The following letter is written in its initial form, or isolated form if it is the final letter in the word. + The letter originated in the Phoenician alphabet as a consonant-sign indicating a glottal stop. Today it has lost its function as a consonant, and, together with and , is a mater lectionis, a consonant sign standing in for a long vowel (see below), or as support for certain diacritics ( and ). + Arabic currently uses a diacritic sign, , called , to denote the glottal stop , written alone or with a carrier: + alone: + with a carrier: (above or under an ), (above a ), (above a dotless or ). + +In academic work, the () is transliterated with the modifier letter right half ring (ʾ), while the modifier letter left half ring (ʿ) transliterates the letter (), which represents a different sound, not found in English. + +The has a single form, since it is never linked to a preceding or following letter. However, it is sometimes combined with a , , or , and in that case the carrier behaves like an ordinary , , or . + +Variations + +Alif + +Modified letters +The following are not individual letters, but rather different contextual variants of some of the Arabic letters. + +Ligatures + +The use of ligature in Arabic is common. There is one compulsory ligature, that for ل + ا, which exists in two forms. All other ligatures, of which there are many, are optional. + +A more complex ligature that combines as many as seven distinct components is commonly used to represent the word . + +The only ligature within the primary range of Arabic script in Unicode (U+06xx) is + . This is the only one compulsory for fonts and word-processing. Other ranges are for compatibility to older standards and contain other ligatures, which are optional. + + + +Note: Unicode also has in its Presentation Form B FExx range a code for this ligature. If your browser and font are configured correctly for Arabic, the ligature displayed above should be identical to this one, U+FEFB ARABIC LIGATURE LAM WITH ALEF ISOLATED FORM: + + + U+0640 ARABIC TATWEEL + + + +Note: Unicode also has in its Presentation Form B U+FExx range a code for this ligature. If your browser and font are configured correctly for Arabic, the ligature displayed above should be identical to this one: + U+FEFC ARABIC LIGATURE LAM WITH ALEF FINAL FORM + + +Another ligature in the Unicode Presentation Form A range U+FB50 to U+FDxx is the special code for glyph for the ligature ("God"), U+FDF2 ARABIC LIGATURE ALLAH ISOLATED FORM: + + +This is a work-around for the shortcomings of most text processors, which are incapable of displaying the correct vowel marks for the word in Koran. Because Arabic script is used to write other texts rather than Koran only, rendering + + as the previous ligature is considered faulty. + +If one of a number of the fonts (Noto Naskh Arabic, mry_KacstQurn, KacstOne, Nadeem, DejaVu Sans, Harmattan, Scheherazade, Lateef, Iranian Sans, Baghdad, DecoType Naskh) is installed on a computer (Iranian Sans is supported by Wikimedia web-fonts), the word will appear without diacritics. + + + = LILLĀH (meaning "to Allāh [only to God]") +   or   لله + + + + = ALLĀH (the Arabic word for "god") +   or   الله + + + + U+0651 ARABIC SHADDA + U+0670 ARABIC LETTER SUPERSCRIPT ALEF + + اللّٰه   (DejaVu Sans and KacstOne don't show the added superscript Alef) + +An attempt to show them on the faulty fonts without automatically adding the gemination mark and the superscript alif, although may not display as desired on all browsers, is by adding the U+200d (Zero width joiner) after the first or second + ( +) + + U+200d ZERO WIDTH JOINER + +   ‎ + +Gemination + +Gemination is the doubling of a consonant. Instead of writing the letter twice, Arabic places a W-shaped sign called , above it. Note that if a vowel occurs between the two consonants the letter will simply be written twice. The diacritic only appears where the consonant at the end of one syllable is identical to the initial consonant of the following syllable. (The generic term for such diacritical signs is ). + +Nunation + +Nunation ( ) is the addition of a final   to a noun or adjective. The vowel before it indicates grammatical case. In written Arabic nunation is indicated by doubling the vowel diacritic at the end of the word. + +Vowels +Users of Arabic usually write long vowels but omit short ones, so readers must utilize their knowledge of the language in order to supply the missing vowels. However, in the education system and particularly in classes on Arabic grammar these vowels are used since they are crucial to the grammar. An Arabic sentence can have a completely different meaning by a subtle change of the vowels. This is why in an important text such as the the three basic vowel signs (see below) are mandated, like the ḥarakāt and all the other diacritics or other types of marks, for example the cantillation signs. + +Short vowels + +In the Arabic handwriting of everyday use, in general publications, and on street signs, short vowels are typically not written. On the other hand, copies of the cannot be endorsed by the religious institutes that review them unless the diacritics are included. Children's books, elementary school texts, and Arabic-language grammars in general will include diacritics to some degree. These are known as "vocalized" texts. + +Short vowels may be written with diacritics placed above or below the consonant that precedes them in the syllable, called . All Arabic vowels, long and short, follow a consonant; in Arabic, words like "Ali" or "alif", for example, start with a consonant: , . + +Long vowels +In the fully vocalized Arabic text found in texts such as Quran, a long following a consonant other than a is written with a short sign () on the consonant plus an after it; long is written as a sign for short () plus a ; and long as a sign for short () plus a . Briefly, = ; = ; and = . Long following a may be represented by an or by a free followed by an (two consecutive s are never allowed in Arabic). + +The table below shows vowels placed above or below a dotted circle replacing a primary consonant letter or a sign. For clarity in the table, the primary letters on the left used to mark these long vowels are shown only in their isolated form. Most consonants do connect to the left with , and written then with their medial or final form. Additionally, the letter in the last row may connect to the letter on its left, and then will use a medial or initial form. Use the table of primary letters to look at their actual glyph and joining types. + +In unvocalized text (one in which the short vowels are not marked), the long vowels are represented by the vowel in question: , , or . Long vowels written in the middle of a word of unvocalized text are treated like consonants with a (see below) in a text that has full diacritics. Here also, the table shows long vowel letters only in isolated form for clarity. + +Combinations and are always pronounced and respectively. The exception is the suffix in verb endings where is silent, resulting in or . + +In addition, when transliterating names and loanwords, Arabic language speakers write out most or all the vowels as long ( with , and with , and and with ), meaning it approaches a true alphabet. + +Diphthongs +The diphthongs and are represented in vocalized text as follows: + +Vowel omission +An Arabic syllable can be open (ending with a vowel) or closed (ending with a consonant): + open: CV [consonant-vowel] (long or short vowel) + closed: CVC (short vowel only) + +A normal text is composed only of a series of consonants plus vowel-lengthening letters; thus, the word qalb, "heart", is written qlb, and the word qalaba "he turned around", is also written qlb. + +To write qalaba without this ambiguity, we could indicate that the l is followed by a short a by writing a fatḥah above it. + +To write qalb, we would instead indicate that the l is followed by no vowel by marking it with a diacritic called sukūn (), like this: . + +This is one step down from full vocalization, where the vowel after the q would also be indicated by a fatḥah: . + +The Qurʾān is traditionally written in full vocalization. + +The long i sound in some editions of the Qur’ān is written with a kasrah followed by a diacritic-less y, and long u by a ḍammah followed by a bare w. In others, these y and w carry a sukūn. Outside of the Qur’ān, the latter convention is extremely rare, to the point that y with sukūn will be unambiguously read as the diphthong , and w with sukūn will be read . + +For example, the letters can be read like English meel or mail, or (theoretically) also like mayyal or mayil. But if a sukūn is added on the y then the m cannot have a sukūn (because two letters in a row cannot be sukūnated), cannot have a ḍammah (because there is never an uy sound in Arabic unless there is another vowel after the y), and cannot have a kasrah (because kasrah before sukūnated y is never found outside the Qur’ān), so it must have a fatḥah and the only possible pronunciation is (meaning mile, or even e-mail). By the same token, m-y-t with a sukūn over the y can be mayt but not mayyit or meet, and m-w-t with a sukūn on the w can only be mawt, not moot (iw is impossible when the w closes the syllable). + +Vowel marks are always written as if the i‘rāb vowels were in fact pronounced, even when they must be skipped in actual pronunciation. So, when writing the name Aḥmad, it is optional to place a sukūn on the ḥ, but a sukūn is forbidden on the d, because it would carry a ḍammah if any other word followed, as in Aḥmadu zawjī "Ahmad is my husband". + +Another example: the sentence that in correct literary Arabic must be pronounced Aḥmadu zawjun shirrīr "Ahmad is a wicked husband", is usually mispronounced (due to influence from vernacular Arabic varieties) as Aḥmad zawj shirrīr. Yet, for the purposes of Arabic grammar and orthography, is treated as if it were not mispronounced and as if yet another word followed it, i.e., if adding any vowel marks, they must be added as if the pronunciation were Aḥmadu zawjun sharrīrun with a tanwīn 'un' at the end. So, it is correct to add an un tanwīn sign on the final r, but actually pronouncing it would be a hypercorrection. Also, it is never correct to write a sukūn on that r, even though in actual pronunciation it is (and in correct Arabic MUST be) sukūned. + +Of course, if the correct i‘rāb is a sukūn, it may be optionally written. + +ٰٰ +The sukūn is also used for transliterating words into the Arabic script. The Persian word (mâsk, from the English word "mask"), for example, might be written with a sukūn above the to signify that there is no vowel sound between that letter and the . + +Additional letters + +Regional variations +Some letters take a traditionally different form in specific regions: + +Non-native letters to Standard Arabic +Some modified letters are used to represent non-native sounds of Modern Standard Arabic. These letters are used in transliterated names, loanwords and dialectal words. + + is considered a native phoneme/allophone in some dialects, e.g. Kuwaiti and Iraqi dialects. + is considered a native phoneme (instead of ) in a number of Levantine and North African dialects and as an allophone in others. + is considered a native phoneme/allophone in most modern Arabic dialects. + +Used in languages other than Arabic + +Numerals + +There are two main kinds of numerals used along with Arabic text; Western Arabic numerals and Eastern Arabic numerals. In most of present-day North Africa, the usual Western Arabic numerals are used. Like Western Arabic numerals, in Eastern Arabic numerals, the units are always right-most, and the highest value left-most. Eastern Arabic numbers are written from left to right. + +Letters as numerals + +In addition, the Arabic alphabet can be used to represent numbers (Abjad numerals). This usage is based on the order of the alphabet. is 1, is 2, is 3, and so on until = 10, = 20, = 30, ..., = 200, ..., = 1000. This is sometimes used to produce chronograms. + +History + +The Arabic alphabet can be traced back to the Nabataean script used to write Nabataean Aramaic. The first known text in the Arabic alphabet is a late fourth-century inscription from 50 km east of in Jordan, but the first dated one is a trilingual inscription at Zebed in Syria from 512. However, the epigraphic record is extremely sparse, with only five certainly pre-Islamic Arabic inscriptions surviving, though some others may be pre-Islamic. Later, dots were added above and below the letters to differentiate them. (The Aramaic language had fewer phonemes than the Arabic, and some originally distinct Aramaic letters had become indistinguishable in shape, so that in the early writings 15 distinct letter-shapes had to do duty for 29 sounds; cf. the similarly ambiguous Book Pahlavi.) + +The first surviving document that definitely uses these dots is also the first surviving Arabic papyrus (PERF 558), dated April 643, although they did not become obligatory until much later. Important texts were and still are frequently memorized, especially in Qurʾan memorization. + +Later still, vowel marks and the hamzah were introduced, beginning some time in the latter half of the 7th century, preceding the first invention of Syriac and Tiberian vocalizations. Initially, this was done by a system of red dots, said to have been commissioned in the Umayyad era by Abu al-Aswad al-Du'ali, a dot above = , a dot below = , a dot on the line = , and doubled dots indicated nunation. However, this was cumbersome and easily confusable with the letter-distinguishing dots, so about 100 years later, the modern system was adopted. The system was finalized around 786 by al-Khalil ibn Ahmad al-Farahidi. + +Arabic printing +Medieval Arabic blockprinting flourished from the 10th century until the 14th. It was devoted only to very small texts, usually for use in amulets. + +In 1514, following Johannes Gutenberg's invention of the printing press in 1450, Gregorio de Gregorii, a Venetian, published an entire prayer-book in Arabic script; it was entitled Kitab Salat al-Sawa'i and was intended for eastern Christian communities. + +Between 1580 and 1586, type designer Robert Granjon designed Arabic typefaces for Cardinal Ferdinando de' Medici, and the Medici Oriental Press published many Christian prayer and scholarly Arabic texts in the late 16th century. + +Maronite monks at Maar Quzhay Monastery on Mount Lebanon published the first Arabic books to use movable type in the Middle East. The monks transliterated the Arabic language using Syriac script. + +Although Napoleon generally receives credit for introducing the printing press to Egypt during his invasion of that country in 1798, and though he did indeed bring printing presses and Arabic presses to print the French occupation's official newspaper Al-Tanbiyyah "The Courier", printing in the Arabic language started several centuries earlier. + +A goldsmith (like Gutenberg) designed and implemented an Arabic-script movable-type printing-press in the Middle East. The Lebanese Melkite monk Abdallah Zakher set up an Arabic printing press using movable type at the monastery of Saint John at the town of Dhour El Shuwayr in Mount Lebanon, the first homemade press in Lebanon using Arabic script. He personally cut the type molds and did the founding of the typeface. The first book came off his press in 1734; this press continued in use until 1899. + +Computers +The Arabic alphabet can be encoded using several character sets, including ISO-8859-6, Windows-1256 and Unicode (see links in Infobox above), latter thanks to the "Arabic segment", entries U+0600 to U+06FF. However, none of the sets indicates the form that each character should take in context. It is left to the rendering engine to select the proper glyph to display for each character. + +Each letter has a position-independent encoding in Unicode, and the rendering software can infer the correct glyph form (initial, medial, final or isolated) from its joining context. That is the current recommendation. However, for compatibility with previous standards, the initial, medial, final and isolated forms can also be encoded separately. + +Unicode + +As of Unicode , the Arabic script is contained in the following blocks: + Arabic (0600–06FF, 256 characters) + Arabic Supplement (0750–077F, 48 characters) + Arabic Extended-A (08A0–08FF, 96 characters) + Arabic Extended-B (0870–089F, 41 characters) + Arabic Extended-C (10EC0–10EFF, 3 characters) + Arabic Presentation Forms-A (FB50–FDFF, 631 characters) + Arabic Presentation Forms-B (FE70–FEFF, 141 characters) + Rumi Numeral Symbols (10E60–10E7F, 31 characters) + Indic Siyaq Numbers (1EC70–1ECBF, 68 characters) + Ottoman Siyaq Numbers (1ED00–1ED4F, 61 characters) + Arabic Mathematical Alphabetic Symbols (1EE00—1EEFF, 143 characters) + +The basic Arabic range encodes the standard letters and diacritics but does not encode contextual forms (U+0621-U+0652 being directly based on ISO 8859-6). It also includes the most common diacritics and Arabic-Indic digits. U+06D6 to U+06ED encode Qur'anic annotation signs such as "end of ayah" ۝ۖ and "start of rub el hizb" ۞. The Arabic supplement range encodes letter variants mostly used for writing African (non-Arabic) languages. The Arabic Extended-A range encodes additional Qur'anic annotations and letter variants used for various non-Arabic languages. + +The Arabic Presentation Forms-A range encodes contextual forms and ligatures of letter variants needed for Persian, Urdu, Sindhi and Central Asian languages. The Arabic Presentation Forms-B range encodes spacing forms of Arabic diacritics, and more contextual letter forms. The Arabic Mathematical Alphabetical Symbols block encodes characters used in Arabic mathematical expressions. + +See also the notes of the section on modified letters. + +Keyboards + +Keyboards designed for different nations have different layouts, so proficiency in one style of keyboard, such as Iraq's, does not transfer to proficiency in another, such as Saudi Arabia's. Differences can include the location of non-alphabetic characters. + +All Arabic keyboards allow typing Roman characters, e.g., for the URL in a web browser. Thus, each Arabic keyboard has both Arabic and Roman characters marked on the keys. Usually, the Roman characters of an Arabic keyboard conform to the QWERTY layout, but in North Africa, where French is the most common language typed using the Roman characters, the Arabic keyboards are AZERTY. + +To encode a particular written form of a character, there are extra code points provided in Unicode which can be used to express the exact written form desired. The range Arabic presentation forms A (U+FB50 to U+FDFF) contain ligatures while the range Arabic presentation forms B (U+FE70 to U+FEFF) contains the positional variants. These effects are better achieved in Unicode by using the zero-width joiner and zero-width non-joiner, as these presentation forms are deprecated in Unicode and should generally only be used within the internals of text-rendering software; when using Unicode as an intermediate form for conversion between character encodings; or for backwards compatibility with implementations that rely on the hard-coding of glyph forms. + +Finally, the Unicode encoding of Arabic is in logical order, that is, the characters are entered, and stored in computer memory, in the order that they are written and pronounced without worrying about the direction in which they will be displayed on paper or on the screen. Again, it is left to the rendering engine to present the characters in the correct direction, using Unicode's bi-directional text features. In this regard, if the Arabic words on this page are written left to right, it is an indication that the Unicode rendering engine used to display them is out of date. + +There are competing online tools, e.g. Yamli editor, which allow entry of Arabic letters without having Arabic support installed on a PC, and without knowledge of the layout of the Arabic keyboard. + +Handwriting recognition +The first software program of its kind in the world that identifies Arabic handwriting in real time was developed by researchers at Ben-Gurion University (BGU). + +The prototype enables the user to write Arabic words by hand on an electronic screen, which then analyzes the text and translates it into printed Arabic letters in a thousandth of a second. The error rate is less than three percent, according to Dr. Jihad El-Sana, from BGU's department of computer sciences, who developed the system along with master's degree student Fadi Biadsy. + +See also + + Abjad numerals + Ancient South Arabian script + Algerian braille + Arabic braille + Arabic calligraphy + Arabic chat alphabet + Arabic diacritics + Arabic letter frequency + Arabic Mathematical Alphabetic Symbols + Arabic numerals + Arabic phonology + Arabic script – about other languages written in Arabic script + ArabTeX – provides Arabic support for TeX and LaTeX + History of the Arabic alphabet + Kufic + Modern Arabic mathematical notation + Perso-Arabic script + Rasm + Romanization of Arabic + +References + +Sources + +External links + + + + +Arabic orthography +Angels have appeared in works of art since early Christian art, and they have been a popular subject for Byzantine and European paintings and sculpture. + +Normally given wings in art, angels are usually intended, in both Christian and Islamic art, to be beautiful, though several depictions go for more awe-inspiring or frightening attributes, notably in the depiction of the living creatures (which have bestial characteristics), ophanim (which are wheels) and cherubim (which have mosaic features); As a matter of theology, they are spiritual beings who do not eat or excrete and are genderless. Many historical depictions of angels may appear to the modern eye to be gendered as either male or female by their dress or actions, but until the 19th century, even the most female looking will normally lack breasts, and the figures should normally be considered as genderless. In 19th-century art, especially funerary art, this traditional convention is sometimes abandoned. + +Christian art + +In the Early Church +Specific ideas regarding how to portray angels began to develop in the early Church. Since angels are defined as pure spirits, the lack of a defined form has allowed artists wide latitude for creativity. Daniel 8:15 describes Gabriel as appearing in the "likeness of man" and in Daniel 9:21 he is referred to as "the man Gabriel." Such anthropomorphic descriptions of an angel are consistent with previous descriptions of angels, as in Genesis 19:5. They were usually depicted in the form of young men. + +The earliest known Christian image of an angel, in the Cubicolo dell'Annunziazione in the Catacomb of Priscilla, which is dated to the middle of the third century, is a depiction of the Annunciation in which Gabriel is portrayed without wings. Representations of angels on sarcophagi and on objects such as lamps and reliquaries of that period also show them without wings, as for example the angel in the Sacrifice of Isaac scene in the Sarcophagus of Junius Bassus. + +In a third-century fresco of the Hebrew children in the furnace, in the cemetery of St. Priscilla, a dove takes the place of the angel, while a fourth-century representation of the same subject, in the coemeterium majus, substitutes the Hand of God for the heavenly messenger. + +The earliest known representation of angels with wings is on what is called the Prince's Sarcophagus, discovered at Sarigüzel, near Istanbul, in the 1930s, and attributed to the time of Theodosius I (379-395). Flying winged angels, very often in pairs flanking a central figure or subject, are derivations in visual terms from pairs of winged Victories in classical art. + +In this same period, Saint John Chrysostom explained the significance of angels' wings: "They manifest a nature's sublimity. That is why Gabriel is represented with wings. Not that angels have wings, but that you may know that they leave the heights and the most elevated dwelling to approach human nature. Accordingly, the wings attributed to these powers have no other meaning than to indicate the sublimity of their nature." + +From then on Christian art generally represented angels with wings, as in the cycle of mosaics in the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore (432–440). Multi-winged angels, often with only their face and wings showing, drawn from the higher grades of angels, especially cherubim and seraphim, are derived from Persian art, and are usually shown only in heavenly contexts, as opposed to performing tasks on Earth. They often appear in the pendentives of domes or semi-domes of churches. + +Byzantine art + +Angels appear in Byzantine art in mosaics and icons. Artists found some of their inspiration from winged Greek figures such as "Victory". They also drew from imperial iconography. Court eunuchs could rise to positions of authority in the Empire. They performed ceremonial functions and served as trusted messengers. Amelia R. Brown points out that legislation under Justinian indicates that many of them came from the Caucasus, having light eyes, hair, and skin, as well as the "comely features and fine bodies" desired by slave traders. Those "castrated in childhood developed a distinctive skeletal structure, lacked full masculine musculature, body hair and beards,...." As officials, they would wear a white tunic decorated with gold. Brown suggests that "Byzantine artists drew, consciously or not, on this iconography of the court eunuch". + +Daniel 10: 5–6 describes an angel as clothed in linen and girt with gold. Angels, especially the archangel Michael, who were depicted as military-style agents of God, came to be shown wearing Late Antique military uniform. This could be either the normal military dress, with a tunic to about the knees, armour breastplate and pteruges, but also often the specific dress of the bodyguard of the Byzantine Emperor, with a long tunic and the loros, a long gold and jewelled pallium restricted to the Imperial family and their closest guards, and in icons to archangels. The basic military dress it is still worn in pictures into the Baroque period and beyond in the West, and up to the present day in Eastern Orthodox icons. Other angels came to be conventionally depicted in long robes. + +Medieval art +Medieval depictions of angels borrow from the Byzantine. In the French Hours of Anne of Brittany, Gabriel wears a dalmatic. In the later Middle Ages they often wear the vestments of a deacon, a cope over a dalmatic, especially Gabriel in Annunciation scenes - for example The Annunciation by Jan van Eyck. This indicated that, for all their powers, they could not perform the Eucharist, and were in this respect outranked by every priest, reinforcing the prestige of the clergy. In Early Christian art white robes were almost invariably adopted, sometimes bound with the "golden girdle" of Revelation. During the mediæval period senior angels were often clad in every brilliant colour, while junior ranks wore white. Early Renaissance painters such as Jan van Eyck and Fra Angelico painted angels with multi-colored wings. Depictions of angels came to combine medieval notions of beauty with feminine ideals of grace and beauty, as in da Panicale's 1435 Baptism of Christ. + +Renaissance art + +The classical erotes or putto re-appeared in art during the Italian Renaissance in both religious and mythological art, and is often known in English as a cherub, the singular of cherubim, actually one of the higher ranks in the Christian angelic hierarchy. They normally appear in groups and are generally given wings in religious art, and are sometimes represented as just a winged head. They generally are just in attendance, except that they may be amusing Christ or John the Baptist as infants in scenes of the Holy Family. + +Victorian art +In the late 19th century artists' model Jane Burden Morris came to embody an ideal of beauty for Pre-Raphaelite painters. With the use of her long dark hair and features made somewhat more androgynous, they created a prototype Victorian angel which would appear in paintings and stained glass windows. Roger Homan notes that Edward Burne-Jones and others used her image often and in different ways, creating a new type of angel. + +Islamic art + Angels in Islamic art often appear in illustrated manuscripts of Muhammad's life. Other common depictions of angels in Islamic art include angels with Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden, angels discerning the saved from the damned on the Day of Judgement, and angels as a repeating motif in borders or textiles. Islamic depictions of angels resemble winged Christian angels, although Islamic angels are typically shown with multicolored wings. Angels, such as the archangel Gabriel, are typically depicted as masculine, which is consistent with God's rejection of feminine depictions of angels in several verses of Quran. Nevertheless, later depictions of angels in Islamic art are more feminine and androgynous. + +Angels in manuscripts +The 13th century book Ajā'ib al-makhlūqāt wa gharā'ib al-mawjūdāt (The Wonders of Creation) by Zakariya al-Qazwini describes Islamic angelology, and is often illustrated with many images of angels. The angels are typically depicted with bright, vivid colors, giving them unusual liveliness and other-worldly translucence. While some angels are referred to as "Guardians of the Kingdom of God," others are associated with hell. An undated manuscript of The Wonders of Creation from the Bavarian State Library in Munich includes depictions of angels both alone and alongside humans and animals. Angels are also illustrated in Timurid and Ottoman manuscripts, such as The Timurid Book of the Prophet Muhammad’s Ascension () and the Siyer-i Nebi. + +Angels in heaven and hell + +The Qur’an makes multiple references to angels. These angels take on both active and passive roles in Quranic stories. In the story of the creation of Adam, God announces to the angels that he intends to create man. The angels act as witnesses to this announcement and subsequent creation of Adam. Although there are many versions of the story, Islamic sources relate that God used the creation of Adam as a punishment or test for the angels. Therefore, the role of angels is often described as in opposition to man. + +Another angel-like creature mentioned in the Qu’ran (4:97, 32:11) is the zabāniya. A zabāniya is a black angel of hell that brings souls of sinners down to hell to punish them and can be seen in illustrations of The Timurid Book of the Prophet Muhammad’s Ascension (c. 1436 A.D.). There are nineteen zabāniya, led by Mālik, an angel considered to be the master of fire or the gatekeeper of hell. Mālik's and zabāniya's categorizations as angels are debated as some believe they are better described as spirits or demons. Actually, portrayal of Zabaniyya shares many traits characteristical for demons in Islamic arts. As seen in The Timurid Book of the Prophet Muhammad’s Ascension, Muhammad is greeted by Mālik and later witnesses the torture of sinners carried out by the zabāniya. + +Similar, the fallen angel Iblis is shown during his moment of refusal to prostrate himself before the newly created Adam, leading to his banishment to the bottom of hell. He is depict as black skinned monstrous creature with horns and flaming eyes, in contrast to the presentation of the noble angels. Only his wings remain as a sign of his former angelic status, however with burned edges. + +Angels associated with Muhammad +Although depictions of Muhammad are often forbidden, the few that exist often include images of angels. Specifically, the Archangel Gabriel is frequently shown alongside Muhammad. For example, in The Timurid Book of the Prophet Muhammad’s Ascension, the Archangel Gabriel appears to Muhammad in Mecca to announce his ascension. Kneeling before Muhammad, Gabriel is shown with colorful wings and a crown. Later in The Timurid Book, Muhammad is shown with Gabriel meeting a group of angels in heaven. In the Jami' al-tawarikh, a Persian history from the 14th century, Muhammad is depicted beside al-Buraq, whose tail is transformed into an angel, while two other angels approach. A 16th-century Ottoman manuscript of Siyer-i Nebi, a Turkish epic about the life of Muhammad, also includes many depictions of Muhammad alongside angels. + +Gallery of angels in Christian art + +Gallery of angels in Islamic art + +See also + + Archangel Michael in Christian art + Michael (archangel) + Gabriel + Angels in Islam + Angelus + Fleur de lys + List of films about angels + List of names referring to El + Seraph + +Notes + +References + + +Christian art +Islamic art +The Arctic fox (Vulpes lagopus), also known as the white fox, polar fox, or snow fox, is a small fox that belongs to the family of Canidae, native to the Arctic regions of the Northern Hemisphere and common throughout the Arctic tundra biome. It is well adapted to living in cold environments, and is best known for its thick, warm fur that is also used as camouflage. It has a large and very fluffy tail. In the wild, most individuals do not live past their first year but some exceptional ones survive up to 11 years. Its body length ranges from , with a generally rounded body shape to minimize the escape of body heat. + +The Arctic fox preys on many small creatures such as lemmings, voles, ringed seal pups, fish, waterfowl, and seabirds. It also eats carrion, berries, seaweed, and insects and other small invertebrates. Arctic foxes form monogamous pairs during the breeding season and they stay together to raise their young in complex underground dens. Occasionally, other family members may assist in raising their young. Natural predators of the Arctic fox are golden eagles, Arctic wolves, polar bears, wolverines, red foxes, and grizzly bears. + +Behavior + +Arctic foxes must endure a temperature difference of up to between the external environment and their internal core temperature. To prevent heat loss, the Arctic fox curls up tightly tucking its legs and head under its body and behind its furry tail. This position gives the fox the smallest surface area to volume ratio and protects the least insulated areas. Arctic foxes also stay warm by getting out of the wind and residing in their dens. Although the Arctic foxes are active year-round and do not hibernate, they attempt to preserve fat by reducing their locomotor activity. They build up their fat reserves in the autumn, sometimes increasing their body weight by more than 50%. This provides greater insulation during the winter and a source of energy when food is scarce. + +Reproduction +In the spring, the Arctic fox's attention switches to reproduction and a home for their potential offspring. They live in large dens in frost-free, slightly raised ground. These are complex systems of tunnels covering as much as and are often in eskers, long ridges of sedimentary material deposited in formerly glaciated regions. These dens may be in existence for many decades and are used by many generations of foxes. + +Arctic foxes tend to select dens that are easily accessible with many entrances, and that are clear from snow and ice making it easier to burrow in. The Arctic fox builds and chooses dens that face southward towards the sun, which makes the den warmer. Arctic foxes prefer large, maze-like dens for predator evasion and a quick escape especially when red foxes are in the area. Natal dens are typically found in rugged terrain, which may provide more protection for the pups. But, the parents will also relocate litters to nearby dens to avoid predators. When red foxes are not in the region, Arctic foxes will use dens that the red fox previously occupied. Shelter quality is more important to the Arctic fox than the proximity of spring prey to a den. + +The main prey in the tundra are lemmings, which is why the white fox is often called the "lemming fox". The white fox's reproduction rates reflect the lemming population density, which cyclically fluctuates every 3–5 years. When lemmings are abundant, the white fox can give birth to 18 pups, but they often do not reproduce when food is scarce. The "coastal fox" or blue fox lives in an environment where food availability is relatively consistent, and they will have up to 5 pups every year. + +Breeding usually takes place in April and May, and the gestation period is about 52 days. Litters may contain as many as 25 (the largest litter size in the order Carnivora). The young emerge from the den when 3 to 4 weeks old and are weaned by 9 weeks of age. + +Arctic foxes are primarily monogamous and both parents will care for the offspring. When predators and prey are abundant, Arctic foxes are more likely to be promiscuous (exhibited in both males and females) and display more complex social structures. Larger packs of foxes consisting of breeding or non-breeding males or females can guard a single territory more proficiently to increase pup survival. When resources are scarce, competition increases and the number of foxes in a territory decreases. On the coasts of Svalbard, the frequency of complex social structures is larger than inland foxes that remain monogamous due to food availability. In Scandinavia, there are more complex social structures compared to other populations due to the presence of the red fox. Also, conservationists are supplying the declining population with supplemental food. One unique case, however, is Iceland where monogamy is the most prevalent. The older offspring (1-year-olds) often remain within their parent's territory even though predators are absent and there are fewer resources, which may indicate kin selection in the fox. + +Diet + +Arctic foxes generally eat any small animal they can find, including lemmings, voles, other rodents, hares, birds, eggs, fish, and carrion. They scavenge on carcasses left by larger predators such as wolves and polar bears, and in times of scarcity also eat their feces. In areas where they are present, lemmings are their most common prey, and a family of foxes can eat dozens of lemmings each day. In some locations in northern Canada, a high seasonal abundance of migrating birds that breed in the area may provide an important food source. On the coast of Iceland and other islands, their diet consists predominantly of birds. During April and May, the Arctic fox also preys on ringed seal pups when the young animals are confined to a snow den and are relatively helpless. They also consume berries and seaweed, so they may be considered omnivores. This fox is a significant bird-egg predator, consuming eggs of all except the largest tundra bird species. + +Arctic foxes survive harsh winters and food scarcity by either hoarding food or storing body fat subcutaneously and viscerally. At the beginning of winter, one Arctic fox has approximately 14740 kJ of energy storage from fat alone. Using the lowest BMR value measured in Arctic foxes, an average sized fox of would need 471 kJ/day during the winter to survive. In Canada, Arctic foxes acquire from snow goose eggs at a rate of 2.7–7.3 eggs/h and store 80–97% of them. Scats provide evidence that they eat the eggs during the winter after caching. Isotope analysis shows that eggs can still be eaten after a year, and the metabolizable energy of a stored goose egg only decreases by 11% after 60 days; a fresh egg has about 816 kJ. Eggs stored in the summer are accessed the following spring prior to reproduction. + +Adaptations +The Arctic fox lives in some of the most frigid extremes on the planet, but they do not start to shiver until the temperature drops to . Among its adaptations for survival in the cold is its dense, multilayered pelage, which provides excellent insulation. Additionally, the Arctic fox is the only canid whose foot pads are covered in fur. There are two genetically distinct coat color morphs: white and blue. The white morph has seasonal camouflage, white in winter and brown along the back with light grey around the abdomen in summer. The blue morph is often a dark blue, brown, or grey color year-round. Although the blue allele is dominant over the white allele, 99% of the Arctic fox population is the white morph. Two similar mutations to MC1R cause the blue color and the lack of seasonal color change. The fur of the Arctic fox provides the best insulation of any mammal. + +The fox has a low surface area to volume ratio, as evidenced by its generally compact body shape, short muzzle and legs, and short, thick ears. Since less of its surface area is exposed to the Arctic cold, less heat escapes from its body. + +Sensory modalities +The Arctic fox has a functional hearing range between 125 Hz–16 kHz with a sensitivity that is ≤ 60 dB in air, and an average peak sensitivity of 24 dB at 4 kHz. Overall, the Arctic foxes hearing is less sensitive than the dog and the kit fox. The Arctic fox and the kit fox have a low upper-frequency limit compared to the domestic dog and other carnivores. The Arctic fox can easily hear lemmings burrowing under 4-5 inches of snow. When it has located its prey, it pounces and punches through the snow to catch its prey. + +The Arctic fox also has a keen sense of smell. They can smell carcasses that are often left by polar bears anywhere from . It is possible that they use their sense of smell to also track down polar bears. Additionally, Arctic foxes can smell and find frozen lemmings under of snow, and can detect a subnivean seal lair under of snow. + +Physiology + +The Arctic fox contains advantageous genes to overcome extreme cold and starvation periods. Transcriptome sequencing has identified two genes that are under positive selection: Glycolipid transfer protein domain containing 1 (GLTPD1) and V-akt murine thymoma viral oncogene homolog 2 (AKT2). GLTPD1 is involved in the fatty acid metabolism, while AKT2 pertains to the glucose metabolism and insulin signaling. + +The average mass specific BMR and total BMR are 37% and 27% lower in the winter than the summer. The Arctic fox decreases its BMR via metabolic depression in the winter to conserve fat storage and minimize energy requirements. According to the most recent data, the lower critical temperature of the Arctic fox is at in the winter and in the summer. It was commonly believed that the Arctic fox had a lower critical temperature below . However, some scientists have concluded that this statistic is not accurate since it was never tested using the proper equipment. + +About 22% of the total body surface area of the Arctic fox dissipates heat readily compared to red foxes at 33%. The regions that have the greatest heat loss are the nose, ears, legs, and feet, which is useful in the summer for thermal heat regulation. Also, the Arctic fox has a beneficial mechanism in their nose for evaporative cooling like dogs, which keeps the brain cool during the summer and exercise. The thermal conductivity of Arctic fox fur in the summer and winter is the same; however, the thermal conductance of the Arctic fox in the winter is lower than the summer since fur thickness increases by 140%. In the summer, the thermal conductance of the Arctic foxes body is 114% higher than the winter, but their body core temperature is constant year-round. + +One way that Arctic foxes regulate their body temperature is by utilizing a countercurrent heat exchange in the blood of their legs. Arctic foxes can constantly keep their feet above the tissue freezing point () when standing on cold substrates without losing mobility or feeling pain. They do this by increasing vasodilation and blood flow to a capillary rete in the pad surface, which is in direct contact with the snow rather than the entire foot. They selectively vasoconstrict blood vessels in the center of the foot pad, which conserves energy and minimizes heat loss. Arctic foxes maintain the temperature in their paws independently from the core temperature. If the core temperature drops, the pad of the foot will remain constantly above the tissue freezing point. + +Size +The average head-and-body length of the male is , with a range of , while the female averages with a range of . In some regions, no difference in size is seen between males and females. The tail is about long in both sexes. The height at the shoulder is . On average males weigh , with a range of , while females average , with a range of . + +Taxonomy +Vulpes lagopus is a 'true fox' belonging to the genus Vulpes of the fox tribe Vulpini, which consists of 12 extant species. It is classified under the subfamily Caninae of the canid family Canidae. Although it has previously been assigned to its own monotypic genus Alopex, recent genetic evidence now places it in the genus Vulpes along with the majority of other foxes. + +It was originally described by Carl Linnaeus in the 10th edition of Systema Naturae in 1758 as Canis lagopus. The type specimen was recovered from Lapland, Sweden. The generic name vulpes is Latin for "fox". The specific name lagopus is derived from Ancient Greek λαγώς (lagōs, "hare") and πούς (pous, "foot"), referring to the hair on its feet similar to those found in cold-climate species of hares. + +Looking at the most recent phylogeny, the Arctic fox and the red fox (Vulpes vulpes) diverged approximately 3.17MYA. Additionally, the Arctic fox diverged from its sister group, the kit fox (Vulpes macrotis), at about 0.9MYA. + +Origins +The origins of the Arctic fox have been described by the "out of Tibet" hypothesis. On the Tibetan Plateau, fossils of the extinct ancestral Arctic fox (Vulpes qiuzhudingi) from the early Pliocene (5.08–3.6 MYA) were found along with many other precursors of modern mammals that evolved during the Pliocene (5.3–2.6 MYA). It is believed that this ancient fox is the ancestor of the modern Arctic fox. Globally, the Pliocene was about 2–3 °C warmer than today, and the Arctic during the summer in the mid-Pliocene was 8 °C warmer. By using stable carbon and oxygen isotope analysis of fossils, researchers claim that the Tibetan Plateau experienced tundra-like conditions during the Pliocene and harbored cold-adapted mammals that later spread to North America and Eurasia during the Pleistocene Epoch (2.6 million-11,700 years ago). + +Subspecies + +Besides the nominate subspecies, the common Arctic fox, V. l. lagopus, four other subspecies of this fox have been described: + Bering Islands Arctic fox, V. l. beringensis + Greenland Arctic fox, V. l. foragoapusis + Iceland Arctic fox, V. l. fuliginosus + Pribilof Islands Arctic fox, V. l. pribilofensis + +Distribution and habitat + +The Arctic fox has a circumpolar distribution and occurs in Arctic tundra habitats in northern Europe, northern Asia, and North America. Its range includes Greenland, Iceland, Fennoscandia, Svalbard, Jan Mayen (where it was hunted to extinction) and other islands in the Barents Sea, northern Russia, islands in the Bering Sea, Alaska, and Canada as far south as Hudson Bay. In the late 19th century, it was introduced into the Aleutian Islands southwest of Alaska. However, the population on the Aleutian Islands is currently being eradicated in conservation efforts to preserve the local bird population. It mostly inhabits tundra and pack ice, but is also present in Canadian boreal forests (northeastern Alberta, northern Saskatchewan, northern Manitoba, Northern Ontario, Northern Quebec, and Newfoundland and Labrador) and the Kenai Peninsula in Alaska. They are found at elevations up to above sea level and have been seen on sea ice close to the North Pole. + +The Arctic fox is the only land mammal native to Iceland. It came to the isolated North Atlantic island at the end of the last ice age, walking over the frozen sea. The Arctic Fox Center in Súðavík contains an exhibition on the Arctic fox and conducts studies on the influence of tourism on the population. Its range during the last ice age was much more extensive than it is now, and fossil remains of the Arctic fox have been found over much of northern Europe and Siberia. + +The color of the fox's coat also determines where they are most likely to be found. The white morph mainly lives inland and blends in with the snowy tundra, while the blue morph occupies the coasts because its dark color blends in with the cliffs and rocks. + +Migrations and travel +During the winter, 95.5% of Arctic foxes utilize commuting trips, which remain within the fox's home range. Commuting trips in Arctic foxes last less than 3 days and occur between 0–2.9 times a month. Nomadism is found in 3.4% of the foxes, and loop migrations (where the fox travels to a new range, then returns to its home range) are the least common at 1.1%. Arctic foxes in Canada that undergo nomadism and migrations voyage from the Canadian archipelago to Greenland and northwestern Canada. The duration and distance traveled between males and females is not significantly different. + +Arctic foxes closer to goose colonies (located at the coasts) are less likely to migrate. Meanwhile, foxes experiencing low-density lemming populations are more likely to make sea ice trips. Residency is common in the Arctic fox population so that they can maintain their territories. Migratory foxes have a mortality rate >3 times higher than resident foxes. Nomadic behavior becomes more common as the foxes age. + +In July 2019, the Norwegian Polar Institute reported the story of a yearling female which was fitted with a GPS tracking device and then released by their researchers on the east coast of Spitsbergen in the Svalbard group of islands. The young fox crossed the polar ice from the islands to Greenland in 21 days, a distance of . She then moved on to Ellesmere Island in northern Canada, covering a total recorded distance of in 76 days, before her GPS tracker stopped working. She averaged just over a day, and managed as much as in a single day. + +Conservation status + +The Arctic fox has been assessed as least concern on the IUCN Red List since 2004. However, the Scandinavian mainland population is acutely endangered, despite being legally protected from hunting and persecution for several decades. The estimate of the adult population in all of Norway, Sweden, and Finland is fewer than 200 individuals. Of these, especially in Finland, the Arctic fox is even classified as critically endangered, because even though the animal was pacified in Finland since 1940, the population has not recovered despite that. As a result, the populations of Arctic fox have been carefully studied and inventoried in places such as the Vindelfjällens Nature Reserve (Sweden), which has the Arctic fox as its symbol. + +The abundance of the Arctic fox tends to fluctuate in a cycle along with the population of lemmings and voles (a 3- to 4-year cycle). The populations are especially vulnerable during the years when the prey population crashes, and uncontrolled trapping has almost eradicated two subpopulations. + +The pelts of Arctic foxes with a slate-blue coloration were especially valuable. They were transported to various previously fox-free Aleutian Islands during the 1920s. The program was successful in terms of increasing the population of blue foxes, but their predation of Aleutian Canada geese conflicted with the goal of preserving that species. + +The Arctic fox is losing ground to the larger red fox. This has been attributed to climate change—the camouflage value of its lighter coat decreases with less snow cover. Red foxes dominate where their ranges begin to overlap by killing Arctic foxes and their kits. An alternative explanation of the red fox's gains involves the gray wolf. Historically, it has kept red fox numbers down, but as the wolf has been hunted to near extinction in much of its former range, the red fox population has grown larger, and it has taken over the niche of top predator. In areas of northern Europe, programs are in place that allow the hunting of red foxes in the Arctic fox's previous range. + +As with many other game species, the best sources of historical and large-scale population data are hunting bag records and questionnaires. Several potential sources of error occur in such data collections. In addition, numbers vary widely between years due to the large population fluctuations. However, the total population of the Arctic fox must be in the order of several hundred thousand animals. + +The world population of Arctic foxes is thus not endangered, but two Arctic fox subpopulations are. One is on Medny Island (Commander Islands, Russia), which was reduced by some 85–90%, to around 90 animals, as a result of mange caused by an ear tick introduced by dogs in the 1970s. The population is currently under treatment with antiparasitic drugs, but the result is still uncertain. + +The other threatened population is the one in Fennoscandia (Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Kola Peninsula). This population decreased drastically around the start of the 20th century as a result of extreme fur prices, which caused severe hunting also during population lows. The population has remained at a low density for more than 90 years, with additional reductions during the last decade. The total population estimate for 1997 is around 60 adults in Sweden, 11 adults in Finland, and 50 in Norway. From Kola, there are indications of a similar situation, suggesting a population of around 20 adults. The Fennoscandian population thus numbers around 140 breeding adults. Even after local lemming peaks, the Arctic fox population tends to collapse back to levels dangerously close to nonviability. + +The Arctic fox is classed as a "prohibited new organism" under New Zealand's Hazardous Substances and New Organisms Act 1996, preventing it from being imported into the country. + +See also + Arctic rabies virus + +References + +Further reading + Nowak, Ronald M. (2005). Walker's Carnivores of the World. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press. . + +External links + + State of the Environment Norway: Arctic fox + Smithsonian Institution – North American Mammals: Vulpes lagopus + + Photo Gallery by islandsmyndir.is + +https://www.britannica.com/animal/Arctic-fox + +Fox, arctic +Holarctic fauna +Mammals described in 1758 +Mammals of Europe +Mammals of Asia +Mammals of Greenland +Mammals of Iceland +Mammals of North America +Mammals of Russia +Mammals of Canada +Mammals of the United States +Mammals of the Arctic +Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus +Vulpes +Habitats Directive Species +Anglo-Saxons were Germanic tribes that settled in Britain and founded England. + +Anglo-Saxon may also refer to: + + Anglo-Saxon (anthropology) or Nordic race, outdated racial concept + Anglo-Saxon England, the history of Anglo-Saxons + Anglo-Saxon model, modern macroeconomic term + Anglo-Saxon world, modern societies based on or influenced by English customs + Old English or Anglo-Saxon, the earliest historical form of the English language + , one of several ships + White Anglo-Saxon Protestant, sociological term in the U.S. + Anglo-Saxons (slur), a derogatory term for English-speaking countries used in Russian propaganda + CSS Anglo-Saxon, a Confederate warship + +See also + + Anglo (disambiguation), a prefix + Saxon (disambiguation) +American folklore encompasses the folklores that have evolved in the present-day United States since Europeans arrived in the 16th century. While it contains much in the way of Native American tradition, it is not wholly identical to the tribal beliefs of any community of native people. + +Folklore consists of legends, music, oral history, proverbs, jokes, popular beliefs, fairy tales, stories, tall tales, and customs that are the traditions of a culture, subculture, or group. It is also the set of practices through which those expressive genres are shared. + +Native American folklore +Native American cultures are rich in myths and legends that explain natural phenomena and the relationship between humans and the spirit world. According to Barre Toelken, feathers, beadwork, dance steps and music, the events in a story, the shape of a dwelling, or items of traditional food can be viewed as icons of cultural meaning. + +Native American cultures are numerous and diverse. Though some neighboring cultures hold similar beliefs, others can be quite different from one another. The most common myths are the creation myths, which tell a story to explain how the earth was formed, and where humans and other beings came from. Others may include explanations about the Sun, Moon, constellations, specific animals, seasons, and weather. This is one of the ways that many tribes have kept, and continue to keep, their cultures alive; these stories are told as a way of preserving and transmitting the nation, tribe, or band's particular beliefs, history, customs, spirituality, and traditional way of life. According to Barre Toelken, "Stories not only entertain but also embody Native behavioral and ethical values." + +Although individual tribes have their own sacred beliefs and myths, many stories have much in common. Myths about floods are almost universal amongst Plains tribes, stories of a flooded earth being restored. There are many "hero stories" immortalising the adventures of heroes with supernatural powers, who right wrongs and defeat evils. Animal tales are common, some explaining how features of certain animals occurred, some using animal characters for narration, and others using animals symbolically. There are also myths where supernatural beings appear in the form of animals, with the bear, elk, eagle, owl, and snake frequently referred to. + +Founding myths +The founding of the United States is often surrounded by legends and tall tales. Many stories have developed since the founding long ago to become a part of America's folklore and cultural awareness, and non-Native American folklore especially includes any narrative which has contributed to the shaping of American culture and belief systems. These narratives have varying levels of historical accuracy; the veracity of the stories is not a determining factor. + +Christopher Columbus +Christopher Columbus, as a hero and symbol to the then-immigrants, is an important figure in the body of American myth. His status, not unlike most American icons, is representative not of his own accomplishments, but the self-perception of the society which chose him as a hero. Having effected a separation from England and its cultural icons, the United States was left without history—or heroes on which to base a shared sense of their social selves. Washington Irving was instrumental in popularizing Columbus. His version of Columbus' life, published in 1829, was more a romance than a biography. The book was very popular, and contributed to an image of the discoverer as a solitary individual who challenged the unknown sea, as triumphant Americans contemplated the dangers and promise of their own wilderness frontier. As a consequence of his vision and audacity, there was now a land free from kings, a vast continent for new beginnings. In the years following the Revolution the poetic device "Columbia" was used as a symbol of both Columbus and America. King's College of New York changed its name in 1792 to Columbia, and the new capital in Washington was subtitled District of Columbia. + +Jamestown + +In May 1607, the Susan Constant, the Discovery, and the Godspeed sailed through Chesapeake Bay and thirty miles up the James River settlers built Jamestown, Virginia, England's first permanent colony. Too late in the season to plant crops, many were not accustomed to manual labor. Within a few months, some settlers died of famine and disease. Only thirty-eight made it through their first year in the New World. Captain John Smith, a pirate turned gentleman turned the settlers into foragers and successful traders with the Native Americans, who taught the English how to plant corn and other crops. Smith led expeditions to explore the regions surrounding Jamestown, and it was during one of these that the chief of the Powhatan Native Americans captured Smith. According to an account Smith published in 1624, he was going to be put to death until the chief's daughter, Pocahontas, saved him. From this the legend of Pocahontas sprang forth, becoming part of American folklore, children's books, and movies. + +Pilgrims + +Plymouth Rock is the traditional site of disembarkation of William Bradford and the Mayflower Pilgrims who founded Plymouth Colony in 1620, and an important symbol in American history. There are no contemporary references to the Pilgrims' landing on a rock at Plymouth. The first written reference to the Pilgrims landing on a rock is found 121 years after they landed. The Rock, or one traditionally identified as it, has long been memorialized on the shore of Plymouth Harbor in Plymouth, Massachusetts. The holiday of Thanksgiving is said to have begun with the Pilgrims in 1621. They had come to America to escape religious persecution, but then nearly starved to death. Some friendly Native Americans, including Squanto, helped the Pilgrims survive through the first winter. The perseverance of the Pilgrims is celebrated during the annual Thanksgiving festival. + +Revolutionary War figures + +George Washington +George Washington (February 22, 1732 – December 14, 1799), the country's first president, is the most preeminent of American historical and folkloric figures, as he holds the place of "Pater Patriae". Apocryphal stories about Washington's childhood include a claim that he skipped a silver dollar across the Rappahannock River at Ferry Farm. Another tale claims that as a young child, Washington chopped down his father's cherry tree. His angry father confronted the young Washington, who proclaimed "I cannot tell a lie" and admitted to the transgression, thus illuminating his honesty. Parson Mason Locke Weems mentions the first citation of this legend in his 1806 book, The Life of George Washington: With Curious Anecdotes, Equally Honorable to Himself and Exemplary to His Young Countrymen. This anecdote cannot be independently verified. Samuel Clemens, also known as Mark Twain, is also known to have spread the story while lecturing, personalizing it by adding "I have a higher and greater standard of principle. Washington could not lie. I can lie but I won't." + +Patrick Henry +Patrick Henry (May 29, 1736 – June 6, 1799) was an attorney, planter and politician who became known as an orator during the movement for independence in Virginia in the 1770s. Patrick Henry is best known for the speech he made in the House of Burgesses on March 23, 1775, in Saint John's Church in Richmond, Virginia. With the House undecided on whether to mobilize for military action against the encroaching British military force, Henry argued in favor of mobilization. Forty-two years later, Henry's first biographer, William Wirt, working from oral histories, tried to reconstruct what Henry said. According to Wirt, Henry ended his speech with words that have since become immortalized: "I know not what course others may take; but as for me, Give me Liberty, or give me Death!" The crowd, by Wirt's account, jumped up and shouted "To Arms! To Arms!". For 160 years Wirt's account was taken at face value. In the 1970s, historians began to question the authenticity of Wirt's reconstruction. + +Betsy Ross +Betsy Ross (January 1, 1752 – January 30, 1836) is widely credited with making the first American flag. There is, however, no credible historical evidence that the story is true. Research conducted by the National Museum of American History notes that the story of Betsy Ross making the first American flag for General George Washington entered into American consciousness about the time of the 1876 centennial celebrations. In the 2008 book The Star-Spangled Banner: The Making of an American Icon, Smithsonian experts point out that accounts of the event appealed to Americans eager for stories about the revolution and its heroes and heroines. Betsy Ross was promoted as a patriotic role model for young girls and a symbol of women's contributions to American history. + +Other Revolutionary War heroes who became figures of American folklore include: Benedict Arnold, Benjamin Franklin, Nathan Hale, John Hancock, John Paul Jones and Francis Marion. + +Tall tales +The tall tale is a fundamental element of American folk literature. The tall tale's origins are seen in the bragging contests that often occurred when men of the American frontier gathered. A tall tale is a story with unbelievable elements, relayed as if it were true and factual. Some such stories are exaggerations of actual events; others are completely fictional tales set in a familiar setting, such as the American Old West, or the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. They are usually humorous or good-natured. The line between myth and tall tale is distinguished primarily by age; many myths exaggerate the exploits of their heroes, but in tall tales, the exaggeration looms large, to the extent of becoming the whole of the story. + +Based on historical figures + John Chapman (September 26, 1774 – March 18, 1845), widely known as Johnny Appleseed, was an American pioneer nurseryman who introduced apple trees to large parts of Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois. He became an American legend while still alive, largely because of his kind and generous ways, and the symbolic importance he attributed to apples. Johnny Appleseed is remembered in American popular culture by his traveling song or Swedenborgian hymn ("The Lord is good to me..."). + Daniel Boone (November 2, 1734 [O.S. October 22] – September 26, 1820) was an American pioneer, explorer, and frontiersman whose frontier exploits made him one of the first folk heroes of the United States. + Davy Crockett (August 17, 1786 – March 6, 1836) was a 19th-century American folk hero, frontiersman, soldier and politician. He is commonly referred to in popular culture by the epithet, "King of the Wild Frontier". He represented Tennessee in the U.S. House of Representatives, served in the Texas Revolution, and died at the Battle of the Alamo. + Mike Fink (c. 1770/1780 – c. 1823) called "king of the keelboaters", was a semi-legendary brawler and river boatman who exemplified the tough and hard-drinking men who ran keelboats up and down the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers. + Martha Jane Canary (May 1, 1852 – August 1, 1903), better known as Calamity Jane, was an American frontierswoman, and professional scout best known for her claim of being an acquaintance of Wild Bill Hickok. She is said to have also exhibited kindness and compassion, especially to the sick and needy. It was from her that Bret Harte took his famous character of Cherokee Sal in The Luck of Roaring Camp. + Jigger Johnson (1871–1935), was a lumberjack and log driver from northern New England who is known for his numerous off-the-job exploits, such as catching bobcats alive with his bare hands, and drunken brawls. + John Henry was an African-American railroad worker who is said to have worked as a "steel-driving man"—a man tasked with hammering a steel drill into rock to make holes for explosives to blast the rock away in constructing a railroad tunnel. According to legend, John Henry's prowess as a steel-driver was measured in a race against a steam-powered hammer, which he won, only to die in victory with his hammer in his hand and his heart giving out from stress. The "Ballad of John Henry" is a musical rendition of his story. + Molly Pitcher was a nickname given to a woman said to have fought in the American Battle of Monmouth, who is generally believed to have been Mary Hays. Since various Molly Pitcher tales grew in the telling, many historians regard Molly Pitcher as folklore rather than history, or suggest that Molly Pitcher may be a composite image inspired by the actions of a number of real women. The name itself may have originated as a nickname given to women who carried water to men on the battlefield during the war. + +Other historical figures include Titanic survivor Molly Brown, Wild West showman Buffalo Bill Cody, and sharpshooter Annie Oakley. + +Fictional characters + Paul Bunyan is a lumberjack figure in North American folklore and tradition. One of the most famous and popular North American folklore heroes, he is usually described as a giant as well as a lumberjack of unusual skill, and is often accompanied in stories by his animal companion, Babe the Blue Ox. The character originated in folktales circulated among lumberjacks in the Northeastern United States and eastern Canada, first appearing in print in a story published by Northern Michigan journalist James MacGillivray in 1906. + Cordwood Pete is said to be the younger brother of legendary lumberjack Paul Bunyan. + The Lone Ranger is a fictional hero of the west who fought raiders and robbers in the Texas area. The sole survivor of a group of six rangers, he set out to bring the criminals who killed his brother to justice. The Lone Ranger is said to have been based on Bass Reeves by Historian Art Burton but that is in dispute. + Johnny Kaw is a mythical Kansas settler whose exploits created elements of the Kansas landscape and helped establish wheat and sunflowers as major crops. The character dates to the 1955 centennial of Kansas and has been explored in numerous books. + John the Conqueror also known as High John the Conqueror, and many other folk variants, is a folk hero from African-American folklore. John the Conqueror was an African prince who was sold as a slave in the Americas. Despite his enslavement, his spirit was never broken and he survived in folklore as a sort of a trickster figure, because of the tricks he played to evade his masters. Joel Chandler Harris's 'Br'er Rabbit' of the Uncle Remus stories is said to be patterned after High John the Conqueror. + Pecos Bill is an American cowboy, apocryphally immortalized in numerous tall tales of the Old West during American westward expansion into the Southwest of Texas, New Mexico, Southern California, and Arizona + + Captain Stormalong was an American folk hero and the subject of numerous nautical-themed tall tales originating in Massachusetts. Stormalong was said to be a sailor and a giant, some 30 feet tall; he was the master of a huge clipper ship known in various sources as either the Courser or the Tuscarora, a ship so tall that it had hinged masts to avoid catching on the moon. + +Legendary and folkloric creatures +Bigfoot, also known as "Sasquatch", is the name given to an ape-like creature that some believe inhabit mostly forests in the Pacific Northwest region of, and throughout the entirety of, North America. Bigfoot is usually described as a large, hairy, bipedal humanoid, although descriptions vary depending on location. The height range is about 6 to 10 feet tall with black, dark brown, or dark reddish hair. One of the most famous accounts of Bigfoot is the Patterson-Gimlin film, where a supposedly female Bigfoot marches across the screen with giant strides, turns to face the camera, then marches off up a steep hill and into the forest. There are more than 100 sightings reported yearly. Among these reporters are veterans, campers, hikers, explorers, hunters, and more. There are several websites, podcasts and organizations related to Bigfoot. + Champ is the name given to a reputed lake monster living in Lake Champlain, a natural freshwater lake in North America. The lake crosses the Canada–United States border, located partially in the Canadian province of Quebec and partially in the U.S. states of Vermont and New York. There is no scientific evidence for Champ's existence, though there have been over 300 reported sightings. +Punxsutawney Phil is a semi-mythical groundhog central to the most well-known Groundhog Day ceremony, a Pennsylvania Dutch superstition that claims to predict the arrival of spring. According to tradition, the same groundhog has made predictions ever since the 1800s. + The Jersey Devil is a legendary creature said to inhabit the New Jersey Pine Barrens of Southern New Jersey in the United States. The creature is often described as a flying biped with hooves, but there are many different variations. The most common description is that of a kangaroo-like creature with the face of a horse, the head of a dog, leathery bat-like wings, horns, small arms with clawed hands, red eyes, cloven hooves and a forked tail. It has been reported to move quickly, as to avoid human contact, and often is described as emitting a "blood-curdling scream". The legend goes as such: a woman named Mother Leeds gave birth to her 13th child on a dark, stormy night. Mother Leed is said to be a witch and her 13th child was born the Devil. It soon grew wings and hooves, killed the midwife, and took off into the night. + The White Lady is a type of female ghost reportedly seen in rural areas and associated with some local legend of tragedy. Common to many of them is the theme of losing or being betrayed by a husband or fiancé. They are often associated with an individual family line or said to be a harbinger of death, similar to a banshee. + Mothman is a mythical creature from Point Pleasant, West Virginia described as a large humanoid with glowing red eyes on its face and large bird-like wings with fur covering its body. Mothman has been blamed for the collapse of the Silver Bridge. + The Hodag is a mythical beast that is said to inhabit the forests of Northern Wisconsin, particularly around the city of Rhinelander. The Hodag has a reptilian body with the horns of a bull and is said to have a penchant for mischief. +Old Black Eyes is a spectral hound said to frequent an area known as the Baker Rocks, located near the top of the Black Mountains of North Carolina. Old Black Eyes is said to be the spirit of Jim Baker, who lived at the rocks and was regarded as a witch with supernatural powers by the local mountain people. According to legend, Jim Baker performed some sort of ritual at an old Indian cemetery, near the Black Mountains, where he proceeded to sell his soul to the Devil. The Devil proceeded to turn Baker's pupils "unnaturally black" as a sign of their deal and hell's claim on his soul. Upon his death, Baker was said to take the spirit of a "devil dog", identifiable by the large black pupils of its eyes, that people feared to approach, believing it was surrounded in black magic. It was said the only way to get rid of Old Black Eyes was to draw its picture, pin it to a tree, and then shoot it with a gun. +In North American folklore, Fearsome critters were tall tale animals jokingly said to inhabit the wilderness in or around logging camps, especially in the Great Lakes region. Today, the term may also be applied to similar fabulous beasts. + +Other folkloric creatures include the Chupacabra, Jackalope, the Nain Rouge of Detroit, Michigan, Wendigo of Minnesota and Chessie, a legendary sea monster said to live in Chesapeake Bay. + +Literature +Santa Claus, also known as Saint Nicholas, Father Christmas, or simply "Santa", is a figure with legendary, mythical, historical and folkloric origins. The modern figure of Santa Claus was derived from the Dutch figure, Sinterklaas, which may, in turn, have its origins in the hagiographical tales concerning the Christian Saint Nicholas. "A Visit from St. Nicholas", also known as "The Night Before Christmas" is a poem first published anonymously in 1823 and generally attributed to Clement Clarke Moore. The poem, which has been called "arguably the best-known verses ever written by an American", is largely responsible for the conception of Santa Claus from the mid-nineteenth century to today, including his physical appearance, the night of his visit, his mode of transportation, the number and names of his reindeer, as well as the tradition that he brings toys to children. The poem has influenced ideas about St. Nicholas and Santa Claus from the United States to the rest of the English-speaking world and beyond. Is There a Santa Claus? was the title of an editorial appearing in the September 21, 1897, edition of The (New York) Sun. The editorial, which included the famous reply "Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus", has become a part of popular Christmas folklore in the United States and Canada. + +The Headless Horseman is a fictional character from the short story "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" by American author Washington Irving. The story, from Irving's collection of short stories, entitled The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, has worked itself into known American folklore/legend through literature and film. + +"Rip Van Winkle" is a short story by the American author Washington Irving, first published in 1819. It follows a Dutch-American villager in colonial America named Rip Van Winkle who meets mysterious Dutchmen, imbibes their liquor and falls asleep in the Catskill Mountains. He awakes 20 years later to a very changed world, having missed the American Revolution. + +Inspired by a conversation on nostalgia with his American expatriate brother-in-law, Irving wrote the story while temporarily living in Birmingham, England. It was published in his collection, The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. While the story is set in New York's Catskill Mountains near where Irving later took up residence, he admitted, "When I wrote the story, I had never been on the Catskills." + +Folk music + +Native Americans were the earliest inhabitants of the land that is today known as the United States and played its first music. Beginning in the 17th century, immigrants from the United Kingdom, Ireland, Spain, Germany and France began arriving in large numbers, bringing with them new styles and instruments. African slaves brought musical traditions, and each subsequent wave of immigrants contributes to a melting pot. Folk music includes both traditional music and the genre that evolved from it during the 20th-century folk revival. The term originated in the 19th century but is often applied to music that is older than that. + +The earliest American scholars were with The American Folklore Society (AFS), which emerged in the late 1800s. Their studies expanded to include Native American music but still treated folk music as a historical item preserved in isolated societies. In North America, during the 1930s and 1940s, the Library of Congress worked through the offices of traditional music collectors Robert Winslow Gordon, Alan Lomax and others to capture as much North American field material as possible. Lomax was the first prominent scholar to study distinctly American folk music such as that of cowboys and southern blacks. His first major published work was in 1911, Cowboy Songs and Other Frontier Ballads, and was arguably the most prominent US folk music scholar of his time, notably during the beginnings of the folk music revival in the 1930s and early 1940s. + +The American folk music revival was a phenomenon in the United States that began during the 1940s and peaked in popularity in the mid-1960s. Its roots went earlier, and performers like Burl Ives, Woody Guthrie, Lead Belly, and Oscar Brand had enjoyed a limited general popularity in the 1930s and 1940s. The revival brought forward musical styles that had, in earlier times, contributed to the development of country & western, jazz, and rock and roll music. + +African-American music +Slavery was introduced to the Thirteen Colonies beginning in the early 17th century in Virginia. The ancestors of today's African-American population were brought from hundreds of tribes across West Africa and brought with them certain traits of West African music. This included call and response vocals, complex rhythmic music, syncopated beats, shifting accents, incorporation of hums and moans, which are sounds with no distinct meaning, and a combination of sound and body movements. The African musical focus on rhythmic singing and dancing was brought to the New World, where it became part of a distinct folk culture that helped Africans "retain continuity with their past through music." Along with retaining many African elements, there was also a continuation of instruments. Enslaved Africans would either take with them African instruments or reconstructed them once in the New World. The first slaves in the United States sang work songs and field hollers. However, slave music was used for a variety of reasons. Music was included in religious ceremonies and celebrations, used to coordinate work, and to conceal hidden messages, like when they were commenting on slave owners. African American slave songs can be divided into three groups: religious, work, and recreational songs. + +Spirituals +Protestant hymns written mostly by New England preachers became a feature of camp meetings held among devout Christians across the South. Most slaves were typically animists or were a part of some other form of African Religion. To destroy any remnants of African culture or make more people disciples, slaves would be encouraged and taken to church. They became attracted to the grace and freedom that was preached within the church, which was very different from the lives they were living. Slaves would learn the same hymns that their masters sang, and when they came together they developed and sang adapted versions of these hymns, they were called Negro spirituals. It was from these roots, of spiritual songs, work songs, and field hollers, that blues, jazz, and gospel developed. Negro spirituals were primarily expressions of religious faith. These songs provided them a voice for their longing for freedom and to experience it. Around the 1840s, slaves knew that in the northern states, slavery was illegal, and some northerners wanted the complete abolishment of slavery. So when they sang about heaven, it was also about possibly escaping north. In the early 19th century the Underground Railroad was developed, containing a network of secret routes and safe houses, and it greatly impacted slaves' religious music. When there was any mention of trains, stations, etc. in spirituals they were directly referencing the Underground Railroad, such as the song "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot". These songs were designed so that slave owners thought that slaves were only singing about heaven. + +Work songs + +Work Songs at least had two functions: one to benefit the slaves and another to benefit overseers. When a group of slaves had to work together on a hard task, like carrying a heavy load, singing would provide a rhythm that allowed them to coordinate their movements. When picking crops, music was not necessary, but when there was silence it would be uncomfortable for the overseers. Even though there was a presence of melancholy in songs, Southern slave owners would interpret that their slaves were happy and content, possibly because of their singing. + +Recreational songs + +Even if slave owners attempted to forbid things like drums or remnants of African culture, they did not seem to mind them learning European instruments and music. In some cases, black string players would be invited to play to entertain white audiences. Between the week of Christmas and New Years’, owners would give their slaves a holiday. This provided a chance for slave families who had different masters to come together, otherwise, they would not go anywhere. Some slaves would craft items, but masters detested industrious slaves. So most slaves would spend their recreational time doing other things, like dancing and singing. Masters approved of such activities, but they may not have listened carefully to the songs that were performed. + +Folk songs +The original Thirteen Colonies of the United States were all former British possessions, and Anglo culture became a major foundation for American folk and popular music. Many American folk songs are identical to British songs in arrangements, but with new lyrics, often as parodies of the original material. Anglo-American traditional music also includes a variety of broadside ballads, humorous stories and tall tales, and disaster songs regarding mining, shipwrecks and murder. +Folk songs may be classified by subject matter, such as: drinking songs, sporting songs, train songs, work songs, war songs, and ballads. + The Star-Spangled Banner's tune was adapted from an old English drinking song by John Stafford Smith called "To Anacreon in Heaven." + "The Ballad of Casey Jones" is a traditional song about railroad engineer Casey Jones and his death at the controls of the train he was driving. It tells of how Jones and his fireman Sim Webb raced their locomotive to make up for lost time, but discovered another train ahead of them on the line, and how Jones remained on board to try to stop the train as Webb jumped to safety. + "When Johnny Comes Marching Home" (sometimes "When Johnny Comes Marching Home Again") is a popular song of the American Civil War that expressed people's longing for the return of their friends and relatives who were fighting in the war. The Irish anti-war song "Johnny I Hardly Knew Ye" and "When Johnny Comes Marching Home" share the same melodic material. Based on internal textual references, "Johnny I Hardly Knew Ye" apparently dates from the early 1820s, while When Johnny Comes Marching Home was first published in 1863. "Johnny I Hardly Knew Ye" is a popular traditional Irish anti-war and anti-recruiting song. It is generally dated to the early 19th century, when soldiers from Athy, County Kildare served the British East India Company. + "Oh My Darling, Clementine" (1884) is an American western folk ballad believed to have been based on another song called Down by the River Liv'd a Maiden (1863). The words are those of a bereaved lover singing about his darling, the daughter of a miner in the 1849 California Gold Rush. He loses her in a drowning accident. The song plays during the opening credits for the highly acclaimed John Ford movie "My Darling Clementine". It also runs as a background score all through the movie. + The Yellow Rose of Texas is a traditional folk song. The original love song has become associated with the legend that Emily D. West, a biracial indentured servant, "helped win the Battle of San Jacinto, the decisive battle in the Texas Revolution". + "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" is a 1908 Tin Pan Alley song by Jack Norworth and Albert Von Tilzer which has become the unofficial anthem of baseball, although neither of its authors had attended a game prior to writing the song. The song is traditionally sung during the seventh-inning stretch of a baseball game. Fans are generally encouraged to sing along. + +Other American folksongs include: "She'll Be Coming 'Round the Mountain", "Skewball", "Big Bad John", "Stagger Lee", "Camptown Races" and "The Battle Hymn of the Republic". + +Sea shanties + +Work songs sung by sailors between the 18th and 20th centuries are known as sea shanties. The shanty was a distinct type of work song, developed especially in American-style merchant vessels that had come to prominence in decades prior to the American Civil War. These songs were typically performed while adjusting the rigging, raising anchor, and other tasks where men would need to pull in rhythm. These songs usually have a very punctuated rhythm precisely for this reason, along with a call-and-answer format. Well before the 19th century, sea songs were common on rowing vessels. Such songs were also very rhythmic in order to keep the rowers together. + +They were notably influenced by songs of African Americans, such as those sung whilst manually loading vessels with cotton in ports of the southern United States. The work contexts in which African-Americans sang songs comparable to shanties included: boat-rowing on rivers of the southeastern U.S. and Caribbean; the work of stokers or "firemen", who cast wood into the furnaces of steamboats plying great American rivers;and stevedoring on the U.S. eastern seaboard, the Gulf Coast, and the Caribbean—including "cotton-screwing": the loading of ships with cotton in ports of the American South. During the first half of the 19th century, some of the songs African Americans sang also began to appear in use for shipboard tasks, i.e. as shanties. + +Shanty repertoire borrowed from the contemporary popular music enjoyed by sailors, including minstrel music, popular marches, and land-based folk songs, which were adapted to suit musical forms matching the various labor tasks required to operate a sailing ship. Such tasks, which usually required a coordinated group effort in either a pulling or pushing action, included weighing anchor and setting sail. + "Poor Paddy Works on the Railway" is a popular Irish and American folk song. Historically, it was often sung as a sea chanty. The song portrays an Irish worker working on a railroad. There are numerous titles of the song including, "Pat Works on the Railway" and "Paddy on the Railway". "Paddy Works on the Erie" is another version of the song. "Paddy on the Railway" is attested as a chanty in the earliest known published work to use the word "chanty", G. E. Clark's Seven Years of a Sailor's Life (1867). Clark recounted experiences fishing on the Grand Banks of Newfoundland, in a vessel out of Provincetown, Mass. c. 1865–66. At one point, the crew is getting up the anchor in a storm, by means of a pump-style windlass. One of the chanties the men sing while performing this task is mentioned by title, "Paddy on the Railway." + +Shaker music + +The Shakers is a religious sect founded in 18th-century England upon the teachings of Ann Lee. Shakers today are most known for their cultural contributions, especially style of music and furniture. The Shakers composed thousands of songs, and also created many dances; both were an important part of the Shaker worship services. In Shaker society, a spiritual "gift" could also be a musical revelation, and they considered it important to record musical inspirations as they occurred. "Simple Gifts" was composed by Elder Joseph Brackett and originated in the Alfred Shaker community in Maine in 1848. Aaron Copland's iconic 1944 ballet score Appalachian Spring, uses the now famous Shaker tune "Simple Gifts" as the basis of its finale. + +Folk dancing +Folk dances of British origin include the square dance, descended from the quadrille, combined with the American innovation of a caller instructing the dancers. The religious communal society known as the Shakers emigrated from England during the 18th century and developed their own folk dance style. + +Locations and landmarks + the "Lost Colony" of Roanoke Island: In 1587, Sir Walter Raleigh recruited over 100 men, women and children to journey from England to Roanoke Island on North Carolina's coast and establish the first English settlement in America under the direction of John White as governor. Virginia Dare (born August 18, 1587) was the first child born in the Americas to English parents, Ananias and Eleanor White Dare in the short-lived Roanoke Colony. The fact of her birth is known because the governor of the settlement, Virginia Dare's grandfather, John White, returned to England in 1587 to seek fresh supplies. When White eventually returned three years later, Virginia and the other colonists were gone. During the past four hundred years, Virginia Dare has become a prominent figure in American myth and folklore, symbolizing different things to different groups of people. She is the subject of a poem (Peregrine White and Virginia Dare) by Rosemary and Stephen Vincent Benét, and the North Carolina Legend of the White Doe. While often cited as an indigenous legend, the white doe seems to have its roots in English folklore. White deer are common in English legends and often used as symbols of Christian virtue. A similar story of a young girl transformed into a white deer can be found in Yorkshire, where it formed the basis for Wordsworth's poem The White Doe of Rylstone. In the four centuries since their disappearance, the Roanoke colonists have been the subject of a mystery that still challenges historians and archaeologists as one of America's oldest. + Bennington Triangle is an area of southwestern Vermont within which a number of people went missing between 1945 and 1950. The area shares characteristics with the Bridgewater Triangle in Southeastern Massachusetts. + The Bridgewater Triangle is an area of about 200 square miles (520 km2) within southeastern Massachusetts in the United States, claimed to be a site of alleged paranormal phenomena, ranging from UFOs to poltergeists, orbs, balls of fire and other spectral phenomena, various bigfoot-like sightings, giant snakes and thunderbirds. The term was coined by New England based cryptozoologist Loren Coleman. + Times Square is a major commercial intersection in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, at the junction of Broadway and Seventh Avenue and stretching from West 42nd to West 47th Streets. Times Square – iconified as "The Crossroads of the World" is the brightly illuminated hub of the Broadway Theater District. Formerly Longacre Square, Times Square was renamed in April 1904 after The New York Times moved its headquarters to the newly erected Times Building site of the annual ball drop on New Year's Eve. The northern triangle of Times Square is technically Duffy Square, dedicated in 1937 to Chaplain Francis P. Duffy of New York City's "Fighting 69th" Infantry Regiment; a memorial to Duffy is located there, along with a statue of George M. Cohan. The Duffy Statue and the square were listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2001. + + Empire State Building is a 102-story skyscraper located in New York City at the intersection of Fifth Avenue and West 34th Street. Its name is derived from the nickname for New York, the Empire State. It stood as the world's tallest building for 40 years, from its completion in 1931. The Empire State Building is generally thought of as an American cultural icon. The project involved 3,400 workers, mostly immigrants from Europe, along with hundreds of Mohawk ironworkers, many from the Kahnawake reserve near Montreal. Perhaps the most famous popular culture representation of the building is in the 1933 film King Kong, in which the title character, a giant ape, climbs to the top to escape his captors but falls to his death after being attacked by airplanes. The 1957 romantic drama film An Affair to Remember involves a couple who plan to meet atop the Empire State Building, a rendezvous that is averted by an automobile accident. The 1993 film Sleepless in Seattle, a romantic comedy partially inspired by An Affair to Remember, climaxes with a scene at the Empire State observatory. + +Other locations and landmarks that have become part of American folklore include: Independence Hall, Monument Valley, Ellis Island, Hoover Dam, Pearl Harbor, the Vietnam War Memorial, and the Grand Canyon. + +Cultural icons + The Liberty Bell is an iconic symbol of American independence, located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The bell was commissioned from the London firm of Lester and Pack in 1752, and was cast with the lettering (part of Leviticus 25:10) "Proclaim LIBERTY throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof." In the 1830s, the bell was adopted as a symbol by abolitionist societies, who dubbed it the "Liberty Bell". It acquired its distinctive large crack sometime in the early 19th century—a widespread story claims it cracked while ringing after the death of Chief Justice John Marshall in 1835. + The Statue of Liberty a colossal neoclassical sculpture on Liberty Island in New York Harbor, designed by Frédéric Bartholdi and dedicated on October 28, 1886. The statue, a gift to the United States from the people of France, is of a robed female figure representing Libertas, the Roman goddess of freedom, who bears a torch and a tablet upon which is inscribed the date of the American Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776. The statue is an icon of freedom and of the United States: a welcoming signal to immigrants arriving from abroad. + Uncle Sam (initials U.S.) is a common national personification of the American government and came into use during the War of 1812. According to legend, Samuel Wilson, a meatpacker in New York, supplied rations for the soldiers and stamped the letters U.S. on the boxes, which stood for United States but was jokingly said to be the initials of Uncle Sam. An Uncle Sam is mentioned as early as 1775, in the original "Yankee Doodle" lyrics of the Revolutionary War . "Columbia", who first appeared in 1738 and sometimes was associated with liberty, is the personification of the American nation, while Uncle Sam is a personification of the government; they are some times shown working together or disputing with one another over political issues, especially in the political cartoons of Puck. With the American Revolutionary War came Brother Jonathan as a personification of the American Everyman; but it wasn't until after the War of 1812 Uncle Sam appeared. Brother Jonathan saw full literary development into the personification of American national character through the 1825 novel Brother Jonathan by John Neal. + Shark Mouth nose art on military aircraft: Although originally from Austria this stylistic design was applied to the American Volunteer Group in Asia known more commonly as "The Flying Tigers". This design was painted on the units' P-40 fighters around the large air intake near the front of the plane. This image has since been placed on various aircraft such as American UH-1 and AH-1 helicopters during the Vietnam War as well as the modern-day A-10 Thunderbolt II, A-29 Supertucano and AT-6 Wolverine, and other vehicles both military and civilian alike. + +Other cultural icons include Rosie the Riveter, the United States Constitution, the Colt Single Action Army, Smokey Bear, the Boeing B-52 Stratofortress, and apple pie. + +History +Historical events that form a part of American folklore include: the Boston Massacre, the Boston Tea Party, Paul Revere's Ride, the Battle of the Alamo, the Salem witch trials, the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, the California Gold Rush, the Battle of the Little Bighorn, the Battle of Gettysburg, the Attack on Pearl Harbor, and the September 11th attacks. + +See also + Black Heritage Trail + John C. Campbell Folk School + Seeing the elephant + +References + +Further reading + Coffin, Tristram P.; Cohen, Hennig, (editors), Folklore in America; tales, songs, superstitions, proverbs, riddles, games, folk drama and folk festivals, Garden City, N.Y. : Doubleday, 1966. Selections from the Journal of American folklore. + —the evolution of the Elephant Riddle that entered U.S. folklore in California in 1963 + Cox, William T. with Latin Classifications by George B. Sudworth. Fearsome Creatures of the Lumberwoods. (Washington, D.C.: Judd & Detweiler Inc., 1910) + +External links + American Folklore Society + American Myth Today: O Brother, Where Art Thou? American Studies at the University of Virginia + + +United States +Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri is a 4X video game, considered a spiritual sequel to the Civilization series. Set in a science fiction depiction of the 22nd century, the game begins as seven competing ideological factions land on the planet Chiron ("Planet") in the Alpha Centauri star system. As the game progresses, Planet's growing sentience becomes a formidable obstacle to the human colonists. + +Sid Meier, designer of Civilization, and Brian Reynolds, designer of Civilization II, developed Alpha Centauri after they left MicroProse to join with Jeff Briggs in creating a new video game developer: Firaxis Games. Electronic Arts released both Alpha Centauri and its expansion, Sid Meier's Alien Crossfire, in 1999. The following year, Aspyr Media ported both titles to Classic Mac OS while Loki Software ported them to Linux. + +Alpha Centauri features improvements on Civilization IIs game engine, including simultaneous multiplay, social engineering, climate, customizable units, alien native life, additional diplomatic and spy options, additional ways to win, and greater mod-ability. Alien Crossfire introduces five new human and two non-human factions, as well as additional technologies, facilities, secret projects, native life, unit abilities, and a victory condition. + +The game received wide critical acclaim, being compared favorably to Civilization II. Critics praised its science fiction storyline (comparing the plot to works by Stanley Kubrick, Frank Herbert, Arthur C. Clarke, and Isaac Asimov), the in-game writing, the voice acting, the user-created custom units, and the depth of the technology tree. Alpha Centauri also won several awards for best game of the year and best strategy game of the year. + +Synopsis + +Setting +Space-race victories in the Civilization series conclude with a journey to Alpha Centauri. Beginning with that premise the Alpha Centauri narrative starts in the 22nd century, after the United Nations sends "Unity", a colonization mission, to Alpha Centauri's planet Chiron ("Planet"). Unbeknownst to humans, advanced extraterrestrials ("Progenitors") had been conducting experiments in vast distributed nervous systems, culminating in a planetary biosphere-sized presentient nervous system ("Manifold") on Chiron, leaving behind monoliths and artifacts on Planet to guide and examine the system's growth. Immediately prior to the start of the game, a reactor malfunction on the Unity spacecraft wakes the crew and colonists early and irreparably severs communications with Earth. After the captain is assassinated, the most powerful leaders on board build ideological factions with dedicated followers, conflicting agendas for the future of mankind, and "desperately serious" commitments. As the ship breaks up, seven escape pods, each containing a faction, are scattered across Planet. + +In the Alien Crossfire expansion pack, players learn that alien experiments led to disastrous consequences at Tau Ceti, creating a hundred-million-year evolutionary cycle that ended with the eradication of most complex animal life in several neighboring inhabited star systems. After the disaster (referred to by Progenitors as "Tau Ceti Flowering"), the Progenitors split into two factions: Manifold Caretakers, opposed to further experimentation and dedicated to preventing another Flowering; and Manifold Usurpers, favoring further experimentation and intending to induce a controlled Flowering in Alpha Centauris Planet. In Alien Crossfire, these factions compete along with the human factions for control over the destiny of Planet. + +Characters and factions +The game focuses on the leaders of seven factions, chosen by the player from the 14 possible leaders in Alpha Centauri and Alien Crossfire, and Planet (voiced by Alena Kanka). The characters are developed from the faction leaders' portraits, the spoken monologues accompanying scientific discoveries and the "photographs in the corner of a commlink – home towns, first steps, first loves, family, graduation, spacewalk." The leaders in Alpha Centauri comprise: Lady Deirdre Skye, a Scottish activist (voiced by Carolyn Dahl), of Gaia's Stepdaughters; Chairman Sheng-Ji Yang, a Chinese Legalist official (voiced by Lu Yu), of the Human Hive; Academician Prokhor Zakharov, a Russian academic (voiced by Yuri Nesteroff) of the University of Planet; CEO Nwabudike Morgan, a Namibian businessman (voiced by Regi Davis), of Morgan Industries; Colonel Corazon Santiago, an American militiawoman (voiced by Wanda Niño) of the Spartan Federation; Sister Miriam Godwinson, an American minister and social psychologist (voiced by Gretchen Weigel), of the Lord's Believers; and Commissioner Pravin Lal, an Indian surgeon and diplomat (voiced by Hesh Gordon), of the Peacekeeping Forces. + +The player controls one of the leaders and competes against the others to colonize and conquer Planet. The Datalinks (voiced by Robert Levy and Katherine Ferguson) are minor characters who provide information to the player. Each faction excels at one or two important aspects of the game and follows a distinct philosophical belief, such as technological utopianism, Conclave Christianity, "free-market" capitalism, militarist survivalism, Chinese Legalism, U.N. Charter humanitarianism, or Environmentalist Gaia philosophy. The game takes place on Planet, with its "rolling red ochre plains" and "bands of lonely terraformed green". + +The seven additional faction leaders in Alien Crossfire are Prime Function Aki Zeta-Five, a Norwegian research assistant-turned-cyborg (voiced by Allie Rivenbark), of The Cybernetic Consciousness; Captain Ulrik Svensgaard, an American fisherman and naval officer (voiced by James Liebman), of The Nautilus Pirates; Foreman Domai, an Australian labor leader (voiced by Frederick Serafin), of The Free Drones; Datajack Sinder Roze, a Trinidadian hacker (voiced by Christine Melton), of The Data Angels; Prophet Cha Dawn, a human born on Planet (voiced by Stacy Spenser) of The Cult of Planet; Guardian Lular H'minee, a Progenitor leader (voiced by Jeff Gordon), of The Manifold Caretakers; and Conqueror Judaa Maar, a Progenitor leader (voiced by Jeff Gordon), of The Manifold Usurpers. + +Plot +The story unfolds via the introduction video, explanations of new technologies, videos obtained for completing secret projects, interludes, and cut-scenes. The native life consists primarily of simple wormlike alien parasites and a type of red fungus that spreads rapidly via spores. The fungus is difficult to traverse, provides invisibility for the enemy, provides few resources, and spawns "mindworms" that attack population centres and military units by neurally parasitising them. Mindworms can eventually be captured and bred in captivity and used as terroristic bioweapons, and the player eventually discovers that the fungus and mindworms can think collectively. + +A voice intrudes into the player's dreams and soon waking moments, threatening more attacks if the industrial pollution and terraforming by the colonists is not reversed. The player discovers that Planet is a dormant semi-sentient hive organism that will soon experience a metamorphosis which will destroy all human life. To counter this threat, the player or a computer faction builds "The Voice of Alpha Centauri" secret project, which artificially links Planet's distributed nervous system into the human Datalinks, delaying Planet's metamorphosis into full self-awareness but incidentally increasing its ultimate intelligence substantially by giving it access to all of humanity's accumulated knowledge. Finally, the player or a computer faction embraces the "Ascent to Transcendence" in which humans too join their brains with the hive organism in its metamorphosis to godhood. Thus, Alpha Centauri closes "with a swell of hope and wonder in place of the expected triumphalism", reassuring "that the events of the game weren't the entirety of mankind's future, but just another step." + +Gameplay + +Alpha Centauri, a turn-based strategy game with a science fiction setting, is played from an isometric perspective. Many game features from Civilization II are present, but renamed or slightly tweaked: players establish bases (Civilization II's cities), build facilities (buildings) and secret projects (Wonders of the World), explore territory, research technology, and conquer other factions (civilizations). In addition to conquering all non-allied factions, players may also win by obtaining votes from three quarters of the total population (similar to Civilization IVs Diplomatic victory), "cornering the Global Energy Market", completing the Ascent to Transcendence secret project, or for alien factions, constructing six Subspace Generators. + +The main map (the upper two thirds of the screen) is divided into squares, on which players can establish bases, move units and engage in combat. Through terraforming, players may modify the effects of the individual map squares on movement, combat and resources. Resources are used to feed the population, construct units and facilities, and supply energy. Players can allocate energy between research into new technology and energy reserves. Unlike Civilization II, new technology grants access to additional unit components rather than pre-designed units, allowing players to design and re-design units as their factions' priorities shift. Energy reserves allow the player to upgrade units, maintain facilities, and attempt to win by the Global Energy Market scenario. Bases are military strongpoints and objectives that are vital for all winning strategies. They produce military units, house the population, collect energy, and build secret projects and Subspace Generators. Facilities and secret projects improve the performance of individual bases and of the entire faction. + +In addition to terraforming, optimizing individual base performance and building secret projects, players may also benefit their factions through social engineering, probe teams, and diplomacy. Social engineering modifies the ideologically based bonuses and penalties forced by the player's choice of faction. Probe teams can sabotage and steal information, units, technology, and energy from enemy bases, while diplomacy lets the player create coalitions with other factions. It also allows the trade or transfer of units, bases, technology and energy. The Planetary Council, similar to the United Nations Security Council, takes Planet-wide actions and determines population victories. + +In addition to futuristic technological advances and secret projects, the game includes alien life, structures and machines. "Xenofungus" and "sea fungus" provide movement, combat, and resource penalties, as well as concealment for "mind worms" and "spore launchers". Immobile "fungal towers" spawn native life. Native life, including the seaborne "Isles of the Deep" and "Sealurks" and airborne "Locusts of Chiron", use psionic combat, an alternate form of combat which ignores weapons and armor. Monoliths repair units and provide resources; artifacts yield new technology and hasten secret projects; landmarks provide resource bonuses; and random events add danger and opportunity. Excessive development leads to terraforming-destroying fungus blooms and new native life. + +Alpha Centauri provides a single player mode and supports customization and multiplayer. Players may customize the game by choosing options at the beginning of the game, using the built-in scenario and map editors, and modifying Alpha Centauris game files. In addition to a choice of seven (or 14 in Alien Crossfire) factions, pre-game options include scenario game, customized random map, difficulty level, and game rules that include victory conditions, research control, and initial map knowledge. The scenario and map editors allow players to create customized scenarios and maps. The game's basic rules, diplomatic dialog, and the factions' starting abilities are in text files, which "the designers have done their best to make it reasonably easy to modify..., even for non-programmers." Alpha Centauri supports play by email ("PBEM") and TCP/IP mode featuring simultaneous movement, and introduces direct player-to-player negotiation, allowing the unconstrained trade of technology, energy, maps, and other elements. + +Development + +Inspirations +In 1996, MicroProse released the lauded Civilization II, designed by Brian Reynolds. Spectrum Holobyte who owned MicroProse at the time, opted to consolidate their business under the MicroProse name, moving the company from Maryland to California by the time the game shipped, and laying off several MicroProse employees. Disagreements between the new management and its employees prompted Reynolds, Jeff Briggs, and Sid Meier (designer of the original Civilization) to leave MicroProse and found Firaxis. Although unable to use the same intellectual property as Civilization II, the new company felt that players wanted "a new sweeping epic of a turn-based game". Having just completed a game of human history up to the present, they wanted a fresh topic and chose science fiction. + +With no previous experience in science fiction games, the developers believed future history was a fitting first foray. For the elements of exploring and terraforming an alien world, they chose a plausible near future situation of a human mission to colonize the solar system's nearest neighbour and human factions. Reynolds researched science fiction for the game's writing. His inspiration included "classic works of science fiction", including Frank Herbert's The Jesus Incident and Hellstrom's Hive, A Fire Upon the Deep by Vernor Vinge, and The Mote in God's Eye by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle for alien races; Kim Stanley Robinson's Red Mars, Slant by Greg Bear, and Stephen R. Donaldson's The Real Story for future technology and science; and Dune by Herbert and Bear's Anvil of Stars for negative interactions between humans. + +Alpha Centauri set out to capture the whole sweep of humanity's future, including technology, futuristic warfare, social and economic development, the future of the human condition, spirituality, and philosophy. Reynolds also said that "getting philosophy into the game" was one of the attractions of the game. Believing good science fiction thrives on constraint, the developers began with near-future technologies. As they proceeded into the future, they tried to present a coherent, logical, and detailed picture of future developments in physics, biology, information technology, economics, society, government, and philosophy. Alien ecologies and mysterious intelligences were incorporated into Alpha Centauri as external "natural forces" intended to serve as flywheels for the backstory and a catalyst for many player intelligences. Chris Pine, creator of the in-game map of Planet, strove to make Planet look like a real planet, which resulted in evidence of tectonic action. Another concern was that Planet matched the story, which resulted in the fungus being connected across continents, as it is supposed to be a gigantic neural network. + +Terraforming is a natural outgrowth of colonizing an alien world. The first playable prototype was just a map generator that tested climate changes during the game. This required the designers to create a world builder program and climatic model far more powerful than anything they'd done before. Temperature, wind, and rainfall patterns were modeled in ways that allow players to make changes: for example, creating a ridge-line and then watching the effects. In addition to raising terrain, the player can also divert rivers, dig huge boreholes into the planet's mantle, and melt ice caps. + +In addition to scientific advances, the designers speculated on the future development of human society. The designers allow the player to decide on a whole series of value choices and choose a "ruthless", "moderate", or "idealistic" stance. Reynolds said the designers don't promote a single "right" answer, instead giving each value choice positive and negative consequences. This design was intended to force the player to "think" and make the game "addictive". He also commented that Alpha Centauris fictional nature allowed them to draw their characters "a lot more sharply and distinctly than the natural blurring and greyness of history". +Chiron, the name of the planet, is the name of the only non-barbaric centaur in Greek mythology and an important loregiver and teacher for humanity. The name also pays homage to James P. Hogan's 1982 space opera novel Voyage from Yesteryear, in which a human colony is artificially planted by an automatic probe on a planet later named by colonists as Chiron. In the game, Chiron has two moons, named after the centaurs Nessus and Pholus, with the combined tidal force of Earth's Moon, and is the second planet out from Alpha Centauri A, the innermost planet being the Mercury-like planet named after the centaur Eurytion. Alpha Centauri B is also dubbed Hercules, a reference to him killing several centaurs in mythology, and the second star preventing the formation of larger planets. The arrival on Chiron is referred to as "Planetfall", which is a term used in many science fiction novels, including Robert A. Heinlein's Future History series, and Infocom's celebrated comic interactive fiction adventure Planetfall. Vernor Vinge's concept of technological singularity is the origin of the Transcendence concept. The game's cutscenes use montages of live-action video, CGI, or both; most of the former is from the 1992 experimental documentary Baraka. + +Alpha Centauri +In July 1996, Firaxis began work on Alpha Centauri, with Reynolds heading the project. Meier and Reynolds wrote playable prototype code and Jason Coleman wrote the first lines of the development libraries. Because the development of Gettysburg took up most of Firaxis' time, the designers spent the first year prototyping the basic ideas. By late 1996, the developers were playing games on the prototype, and by the middle of the next year, they were working on a multiplayer engine. Although Firaxis intended to include multiplayer support in its games, an important goal was to create games with depth and longevity in single-player mode because they believed that the majority of players spend most of their time playing this way. Reynolds felt that smart computer opponents are an integral part of a classic computer game, and considered it a challenge to make them so. Reynolds' previous games omitted internet support because he believed that complex turn-based games with many player options and opportunities for player input are difficult to facilitate online. + +Reynolds said that the most important principle of game design is for the designer to play the game as it is developed; Reynolds claimed that this was how a good artificial intelligence (AI) was built. To this end, he would track the decisions he made and why he made them as he played the game. The designer also watched what the computer players did, noting "dumb" actions and trying to discover why the computer made them. Reynolds then taught the computer his reasoning process so the AI could find the right choice when presented several attractive possibilities. He said the AI for diplomatic personalities was the best he had done up to that point. + +Doug Kaufman, a co-designer of Civilization II, was invited to join development as a game balancer. Reynolds cited the Alpha Centauris balance for the greater sense of urgency and the more pressing pacing than in his earlier game, Sid Meier's Colonization. According to producer Timothy Train, in designing the strengths and weaknesses of the factions, the goal was to suggest, without requiring, certain strategies and give the player interesting and fun things to do without unbalancing the game. He didn't want a faction to be dependent on its strength or a faction's power to be dominant over the rest. Train felt that fun meant the factions always have something fun to do with their attributes. + +Around the summer of 1997, the staff began research on the scientific realities involved in interstellar travel. In late 1997, Bing Gordon—then Chief Creative Officer of Electronic Arts—joined the team, and was responsible for the Planetary Council, extensive diplomacy, and landmarks. A few months before the 1998 Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), the team incorporated the Explore/Discover/Build/Conquer marketing campaign into the game. The game was announced in May 1998 at E3. + +In the latter half of 1998, the team produced a polished and integrated interface, wrote the game manual and foreign language translations, painted the faction leader portraits and terrain, built the 3D vehicles and vehicle parts, and created the music. Michael Ely directed the Secret Project movies and cast the faction leaders. 25 volunteers participated in Firaxis' first public beta test. The beta testers suggested the Diplomatic and Economic victories and the Random Events. + +The design team started with a very simple playable game. They strengthened the "fun" aspects and fixed or removed the unenjoyable ones, a process Sid Meier called "surrounding the fun". After the revision, they played it again, repeating the cycle of revision and play. Playing the game repeatedly and in-depth was a rule at Firaxis. In the single-player mode, the team tried extreme strategies to find any sure-fire paths to victory and to see how often a particular computer faction ends up at the bottom. The goal was a product of unprecedented depth, scope, longevity, and addictiveness, where the player is always challenged by the game to come up with new strategies with no all-powerful factions or unstoppable tactics. According to Reynolds, the process has been around since Sid Meier's early days at Microprose. At Firaxis, as iterations continue, they expand the group giving feedback, bringing in outside gamers with fresh perspectives. Alpha Centauri was the first Firaxis game with public beta testers. + +Finally, Brian Reynolds discussed the use of the demo in the development process. Originally a marketing tool released prior to the game, they started getting feedback. They were able to incorporate many suggestions into the retail version. According to Brian Reynolds, they made improvement in the game's interface, added a couple of new features and fixed a few glitches. They also improved some rules, fine-tuned the game balance and improved the AI. Finally, he adds that they continued to add patches to enhance the game after the game was released. +In the months leading to the release of Alpha Centauri, multimedia producer Michael Ely wrote the 35 weekly episodes of Journey to Centauri detailing the splintering of the U.N. mission to Alpha Centauri. + +Alien Crossfire +A month after Alpha Centauris February 1999 release, the Firaxis team began work on the expansion pack, Sid Meier's Alien Crossfire. Alien Crossfire features seven new factions (two that are non-human), new technologies, new facilities, new secret projects, new alien life forms, new unit special abilities, new victory conditions (including the new "Progenitor Victory") and several additional concepts and strategies. The development team included Train as producer and designer, Chris Pine as programmer, Jerome Atherholt and Greg Foertsch as artists, and Doug Kaufman as co-designer and game balancer. + +The team considered several ideas, including a return to a post-apocalyptic earth and the conquest of another planet in the Alpha Centauri system, before deciding to keep the new title on Planet. The premise allowed them to mix and match old and new characters and delve into the mysteries of the monoliths and alien artifacts. The backstory evolved quickly, and the main conflict centered on the return of the original alien inhabitants. The idea of humans inadvertently caught up in an off-world civil war focused the story. + +Train wanted to improve the "build" aspects, feeling that the god-game genre had always been heavily slanted towards the "Conquer" end of the spectrum. He wanted to provide "builders" with the tools to construct an empire in the face of heated competition. The internet community provided "invaluable" feedback. The first "call for features" was posted around April 1999 and produced the Fletchette Defense System, Algorithmic Enhancement, and The Nethack Terminus. + +The team had several goals: factions should not be "locked-in" to certain strategies; players should have interesting things to do without unbalancing the game, and the factions must be fun to play. The team believed the "coolness" of the Progenitor aliens would determine the success or failure of Alien Crossfire. They strove to make them feel significantly different to play, but still compatible with the existing game mechanics. The developers eventually provided the aliens with Battle Ogres, a Planetary survey, non-blind research, and other powers to produce "a nasty and potent race that would take the combined might of humanity to bring them down". Chris Pine modified the AI to account for the additions. The team also used artwork, sound effects, music, and diplomatic text to set the aliens apart. Other than the aliens, the Pirates proved to be the toughest faction to balance because their ocean start gave them huge advantages. + +Upon completion, the team felt that Alien Crossfire was somewhere between an expansion and a full-blown sequel. In the months leading to the release of Alien Crossfire, multimedia producer Michael Ely wrote the 9 episodes of Centauri: Arrival, introducing the Alien Crossfire factions. The game initially had a single production run. Electronic Arts bundled Alpha Centauri and Alien Crossfire in the Alpha Centauri Planetary Pack in 2000 and included both games in The Laptop Collection in 2003. In 2000, both Alpha Centauri and Alien Crossfire were ported to Classic Mac OS by Aspyr Media and to Linux by Loki Software. + +Reception +Alpha Centauri received wide critical acclaim upon its release, with reviewers voicing respect for the game's pedigree, especially that of Reynolds and Meier. The video game review aggregator websites GameRankings and Metacritic, which collect data from numerous review websites, listed scores of 92% and 89%, respectively. The game was favorably compared to Reynold's previous title, Civilization II, and Rawn Shah of IT World Canada praised the expansion for a "believable" plot. However, despite its critical reception, it sold the fewest copies of all the games in the Civilization series. It sold more than 100,000 copies in its first two months of release. This was followed by 50,000 copies in April, May and June. In the United States, Alpha Centauri was the tenth-best-selling computer game of 1999's first half. Its sales in that country alone reached 224,939 copies by the end of 1999, and rose to 281,115 units by September 2000. + +Critical reaction + +The game showed well at the 1998 Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3). Walter Morbeck of GameSpot said that Alpha Centauri was "more than hi-tech physics and new ways to blow each other up", and that the game would feature realistic aliens. Terry Coleman of Computer Gaming World predicted that Alpha Centauri would be "another huge hit". OGR awarded it "Most Promising Strategy Game" and one of the top 25 games of E3 '98. In a vote of 27 journalists from 22 gaming magazine, Alpha Centauri won "Best Turn Based Strategy" of E3 Show Award. Aaron John Loeb, the Awards Committee Chairman, said "for those that understand the intricacies, the wonder, the glory of turn based 'culture building,' this is the game worth skipping class for." + +Alpha Centauri's science fiction storyline received high praise; IGN considered the game an exception to PC sci-fi cliches, and GamePro compared the plot to the works of writers Stanley Kubrick and Isaac Asimov. J.C. Herz of The New York Times suggested that the game was a marriage of SimCity and Frank Herbert's Dune. GamePros Dan Morris said "As the single-player campaign builds to its final showdown, the ramifications of the final theoretical discoveries elevate Alpha Centauri from great strategy game to science-fiction epic." Game Revolution said, "The well crafted story, admirable science-fiction world, fully realized scenario, and quality core gameplay are sure to please." Edge praised the uniqueness of expression saying it was "the same kind of old-fashioned, consensual storytelling that once drew universes out of ASCII." The in-game writing and faction leaders were also well-received for their believability, especially the voice acting. GameSpot reviewer Denny Atkin called the factions and their abilities Alpha Centauris "most impressive aspect". Greg Tito of The Escapist said, "the genius of the game is how it flawlessly blends its great writing with strategy elements." + +Alpha Centauri's turn-based gameplay, including the technology trees and factional warfare, was commonly compared to Civilization and Civilization II. The Adrenaline Vault's Pete Hines said, "While Alpha Centauri is the evolutionary off-spring to [Civilization] and [Civilization II], it is not [Civilization II] in space. Although the comparison is inevitable because of the lineage, it is still short-sighted." Edge in 2006 praised "Alpha Centauri's greater sophistications as a strategy game." IGN said "Alpha Centauri is a better game than Civilization II; it's deep, rich, rewarding, thought-provoking in almost every way." Game Revolution's reviewer was less magnanimous, saying "Alpha Centauri is at least as good a game as Civilization 2. But it is its great similarity that also does it the most detriment. Alpha Centauri simply does not do enough that is new; it just doesn't innovate enough to earn a higher grade." The ability to create custom units was praised, as was the depth of the tech tree. The artificial intelligence of computer-controlled factions, which featured adaptability and behavioral subtlety, was given mixed comments; some reviewers thought it was efficient and logical, while others found it confusing or erratic. Edge was disappointed in the game's diplomacy, finding "no more and no less than is expected from the genre" and unhappy with "the inability to sound out any real sense of relationship or rational discourse." + +The game's graphics were widely acknowledged to be above average at the time of its release, but not revolutionary. Its maps and interface were +considered detailed and in accordance with a space theme, but the game was released with a limited color palette. The in-game cutscenes, particularly the full motion video that accompanied technological advances, were praised for their quality and innovation. Alpha Centauri's sound and music received similar comments; FiringSquad said "[The sound effect quality] sort of follows the same line as the unit graphics – not too splashy but enough to get the job done." + +Next Generation reviewed the PC version of the game, rating it five stars out of five, and stated that "Sid Meier creates yet another masterpiece in this game that, at a glance, looks all too familiar." + +Alpha Centauri has won several Game of the Year awards, including those from the Denver Post and the Toronto Sun. It won the "Turn-based Strategy Game of the Year" award from GameSpot as well. The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences awarded Alpha Centauri for "PC Strategy Game of the Year" at the 2nd Annual Interactive Achievement Awards; it also received nominations for "Game of the Year", "Computer Entertainment Title of the Year", and "Outstanding Achievement in Interactive Design". In 2000, Alpha Centauri won the Origins Award for Best Strategy Computer Game of 1999. The editors of PC Gamer US named Alpha Centauri their "Best Turn-Based Strategy Game" of 1999, and wrote that it "set a new standard for this venerable genre." Alpha Centauri has the distinction of receiving gaming magazine PC Gamers highest score to date as of 2019 (98%), alongside Half-Life 2 and Crysis, surpassing Civilization IIs score (97%). Alien Crossfire was a runner-up for Computer Games Strategy Pluss 1999 "Add-on of the Year" award, which ultimately went to Heroes of Might and Magic III: Armageddon's Blade. + +Legacy +There have been no direct sequels beyond Alien Crossfire, something that writer Greg Tito attributed to Reynolds leaving Firaxis in 2000 to form Big Huge Games. Alien Crossfire producer and lead designer Timothy Train also left Firaxis with Reynolds. However, a spiritual sequel, Civilization: Beyond Earth, was announced by Firaxis in April 2014 and released on October 24, 2014; several of those that worked on Alpha Centauri helped to develop the new title. A review in Polygon noted however that while the new game has better graphics, its story fails to rival the original, a sentiment echoed by another review in PC Gamer. Another in Engadget noted "as a spiritual successor to Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri, however, it's a cut-rate disappointment". + +Many of the features introduced in Alpha Centauri were carried over into subsequent Civilization titles; upon its release, Civilization III was compared negatively to Alpha Centauri, whose Civilization characteristics were reminiscent of faction bonuses and penalties. The government system in Civilization IV closely resembles Alpha Centauris, and Civilization V includes a new victory condition: the completion of the 'Utopia project', which is reminiscent of the Ascent to Transcendence secret project. + +According to Edge magazine, Alpha Centauri remained "highly regarded" in 2006. A decade after its release, Sold-Out Software and GOG.com re-released the game for online-download sales. Escapist Magazine reviewed the game in 2014, noting that "Alpha Centauri is still playable. It still has a unique flavor that is unlike anything else". + +After the release of the expansion, multimedia producer Michael Ely wrote a trilogy of novels based on the game. Writer Steve Darnall and illustrator Rafael Kayanan also made a graphic novel entitled Alpha Centauri: Power of the Mindworms. Steve Jackson Games published GURPS Alpha Centauri, a sourcebook for the GURPS role-playing game set in the Alpha Centauri universe. + +See also + +Alpha Centauri in fiction +Group mind (science fiction) +Survivalism in fiction +Sid Meier's Civilization: Beyond Earth + +Notes + +References + +Further reading + + – covers the early years of colonization of the planet Chiron and describes the siege of United Nations HQ by the Spartans, the loss of Peacekeeper sovereignty and the consequent flight by the United Nations survivors into Gaian territory. + – occurs years after the events of Centauri Dawn and describes the Gaia's Stepdaughters' use of "mindworms" to rebuff an attack by the technologically superior Morgan Industries. + – follows the tension between the University of Planet and the Lord's Believers and describes the use of singularity bombs to destroy Morgan Industries and the Spartan Federation and the native life uprising which destroys humanity. + +External links + + + Official website mirrored by alphacentauri2.info. + Unofficial patches + +1999 video games +4X video games +Alpha Centauri in fiction +Aspyr games +City-building games +Civilization (series) +Firaxis Games games +Interstellar travel in fiction +Linux games +Loki Entertainment games +Classic Mac OS games +MacOS games +Multiplayer and single-player video games +Origins Award winners +Religion in science fiction +Science fiction video games +Alpha Centauri +Turn-based strategy video games +Video games about extraterrestrial life +Video games adapted into comics +Video games developed in the United States +Video games scored by Jeff Briggs +Video games set on fictional planets +Video games with expansion packs +Video games with isometric graphics +Video games with voxel graphics +Windows games +Multiplayer hotseat games +Xenoarchaeology in fiction +Abu Sayyaf (; ; , ASG), officially known by the Islamic State as the Islamic State – East Asia Province, is a Jihadist militant and pirate group that follows the Wahhabi doctrine of Sunni Islam. It is based in and around Jolo and Basilan islands in the southwestern part of the Philippines, where for more than four decades, Moro groups have been engaged in an insurgency seeking to make Moro Province independent. The group is considered violent and was responsible for the Philippines' worst terrorist attack, the bombing of MV Superferry 14 in 2004, which killed 116 people. The name of the group is derived from the Arabic (; "father of"), and (; "swordsmith"). , the group is estimated to have about 20 members, down from 1,250 in 2000. They use mostly improvised explosive devices, mortars and automatic rifles. + +Since its inception in 1989, the group has carried out bombings, kidnappings, assassinations and extortion. They have been involved in criminal activities, including rape, child sexual assault, forced marriage, drive-by shootings and drug trafficking. The goals of the group "appear to have alternated over time between criminal objectives and a more ideological intent". + +The group has been designated as a terrorist group by Australia, Canada, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, the Philippines, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom and the United States. From January 15, 2002, to February 24, 2015, fighting Abu Sayyaf became a mission of the American military's Operation Enduring Freedom and part of the Global War on Terrorism. Several hundred United States soldiers were stationed in the area to mainly train local forces in counter-terror and counterguerrilla operations, but, following a status of forces agreement and under Philippine law, they were not allowed to engage in direct combat. + +The group was founded by Abdurajak Abubakar Janjalani, and led after his death in 1998 by his younger brother Khadaffy Janjalani until his death in 2006. On July 23, 2014, Isnilon Hapilon, one of the group's leaders, swore an oath of loyalty to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of the Islamic State (IS). In September 2014, the group began kidnapping people for ransom, in the name of the IS. + +Background and history +In the early 1970s, the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) was the main Muslim rebel group fighting in Basilan and Mindanao. Abdurajak Abubakar Janjalani, the older brother of Khadaffy Janjalani, had been a teacher from Basilan, who studied Islamic theology and Arabic in Libya, Syria and Saudi Arabia during the 1980s. Abdurajak went to Afghanistan to fight against the Soviet Union and the Afghan government during the Soviet–Afghan War. During that period, he was alleged to have met Osama bin Laden and been given $6 million to establish a more Islamic group drawn from the MNLF. Both Abdurajak Abubakar and Khadaffy were natives of Isabela City, one of the poorest cities of the Philippines and capital of Basilan. + +Abdurajak Abubakar Janjalani leadership (1989–1998) +In the early 1990s, the MNLF moderated into governing the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, becoming the ruling government in majority Muslim areas of Mindanao in 1996. When Abdurajak returned to Basilan in 1990, he gathered radical members of the old MNLF who wanted to resume armed struggle and in 1991 established the Abu Sayyaf. Janjalani was funded by a Saudi Islamist, Mohammed Jamal Khalifa, who came to the Philippines in 1987 or 1988 and was head of the Philippine branch of the International Islamic Relief Organization foundation. A defector from Abu Sayyaf told Filipino authorities, "The IIRO was behind the construction of Mosques, school buildings, and other livelihood projects" but only "in areas penetrated, highly influenced and controlled by the Abu Sayyaf". According to the defector, "Only 10 to 30% of the foreign funding goes to the legitimate relief and livelihood projects and the rest go to terrorist operations". Khalifa married a local woman, Alice "Jameelah" Yabo. + +By 1995, Abu Sayyaf was active in large-scale bombings and attacks. The first attack was the assault on the town of Ipil, Zamboanga del Sur in April 1995. This year marked the escape of 20-year-old Khadaffy Janjalani from Camp Crame in Manila along with another member named Jovenal Bruno. On December 18, 1998, Abdurajak was killed in a gun battle with the Philippine National Police in Basilan. He was thought to have been about 39. + +The death of Aburajak marked a turning point in Abu Sayyaf operations. The group shifted to kidnappings, murders, and robberies, under his younger brother Khadaffy. The Sulu Archipelago experienced some of the fiercest fights between government troops and Abu Sayyaf through the early 1990s. It was reported that Abu Sayyaf began expanding into neighboring Malaysia and Indonesia by that time. + +Khadaffy Janjalani leadership (1999–2007) + +Until his death in a gun battle on September 4, 2006, Khaddafy Janjalani was considered the nominal leader of the group by the Armed Forces of the Philippines. Then 23-year-old Khadaffy took leadership of one of the Abu Sayyaf's factions in an internecine struggle. He then worked to consolidate his leadership, causing the group to appear inactive for a period. After his leadership was secured, Abu Sayyaf began a new strategy, taking hostages. The group's motive for kidnapping became more financial than religious during this period, according to locals. Hostage money probably provides the group's financing. + +Abu Sayyaf expanded its operations to Malaysia in 2000, when it abducted foreigners from two resorts. This action was condemned by most Islamic leaders. It was responsible for the kidnapping and murder of more than 30 foreigners and Christian clerics and workers, including Martin and Gracia Burnham. An influential commander named Abu Sabaya was killed at sea in June 2002 while trying to evade local forces. His death was considered a crucial turning point for the group, as the number of operatives working for Abu Sayyaf sharply decreased from 1,100 in 2001 to 450 in late 2002, and had since been stagnant for the next ten years. + +Ghalib Andang, alias Commander Robot, one of the group's leaders, was captured in Sulu in December 2003. On 14 March 2005, inmates from the Abu Sayyaf Group rioted inside Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig in an apparent escape attempt and barricaded the second floor of the building, leading to a standoff which ended the next day when government forces stormed the prison. 24 Abu Sayyaf members, including Commanders Robot, Kosovo (Alhamser Limbong) and Global (Nadjmi Sabdullah), were killed, along with three prison guards and a police officer. + +An explosion at a military base in Jolo, on February 18, 2006, was blamed on the group by Brig. General Alexander Aleo. Khadaffy was indicted in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia for his alleged involvement in terrorist attacks, including hostage-taking and murder, against United States nationals and other foreign nationals. Consequently, on February 24, 2006, Khadaffy was among six fugitives in the second and most recent group of indicted fugitives to be added to the FBI Most Wanted Terrorists list along with two fellow members, Isnilon Totoni Hapilon and Jainal Antel Sali Jr. + +On December 13, 2006, it was reported that Abu Sayyaf members may have been planning attacks during the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit in the Philippines. The group was reported to have trained alongside Jemaah Islamiyah militants. The plot was reported to have involved detonating a car bomb in Cebu City where the summit was to take place. On December 27, the Philippine military reported that Khaddafi's remains had been recovered near Patikul, in Jolo and that DNA tests had been ordered to confirm the discovery. He was allegedly shot in the neck in an encounter with government troops in September on Luba Hills in Patikul, Sulu. + +2010–present +In a video published in the summer of 2014, senior Abu Sayyaf leader Isnilon Hapilon and other masked men swore their allegiance or "bay'ah" to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the "Islamic State" (IS) caliph. "We pledge to obey him on anything which our hearts desire or not and to value him more than anyone else. We will not take any emir (leader) other than him unless we see in him any obvious act of disbelief that could be questioned by Allah in the hereafter." For many years prior to this, Islamic State's competitor, al-Qaeda, had the support of Abu Sayyaf "through various connections". Observers were skeptical about whether the pledge would lead to Abu Sayyaf becoming an ISIS outpost in Southeast Asia, or was simply a way for the group to take advantage of the newer group's international publicity. + +In May 2017, Hapilon and other members of Abu Sayyaf joined the Islamic extremist Maute Group based in Lanao del Sur during their attempt to seize control of Marawi City and establish an IS caliphate in Mindanao, sparking the Battle of Marawi which destroyed much of the city and ended with his killing, along with that of Maute leader Omar Maute by government forces in October. + +In August 2020, MNLF chairman Nur Misuari turned in Abu Sayyaf sub-commander Anduljihad "Idang" Susukan to the Philippine National Police four months after Susukan surrendered to Misuari in Davao City. + +By 2022, the Islamic State's East Asia Province had absorbed pro-IS groups in Indonesia and a few militants in Thailand. In the latter country, alleged IS members have become involved in the South Thailand insurgency, claiming their first attack in Pattani on April 15, 2022. + +In 2023, the government declared that Sulu province was free of Abu Sayyaf militants. + +Supporters and funding +Abdurajak Abubakar Janjalani's first recruits were soldiers of MNLF and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). However, both MNLF and MILF deny links with Abu Sayyaf. Both officially distance themselves because of its attacks on civilians and its supposed profiteering. The Philippine military, however, has claimed that elements of both groups provide support to Abu Sayyaf. The group was originally not thought to receive funding from outside sources, but intelligence reports from the United States, Indonesia and Australia found intermittent ties to the Indonesian Jemaah Islamiyah terrorist group, and the Philippine government considers the Abu Sayyaf to be part of Jemaah Islamiyah. The government noted that initial funding for ASG came from al-Qaeda through the brother-in-law of Osama bin Laden, Mohammed Jamal Khalifa. + +Al-Qaeda-affiliated terrorist Ramzi Yousef operated in the Philippines in the mid-1990s and trained Abu Sayyaf soldiers. The 2002 edition of the United States Department's Patterns of Global Terrorism mention links to Al-Qaeda. Continuing ties to Islamist groups in the Middle East indicate that al-Qaeda may be continuing support. As of mid-2005, Jemaah Islamiyah personnel reportedly had trained about 60 Abu Sayyaf cadres in bomb assembling and detonations. + +Funding +The group obtains most of its financing through kidnap ransom and extortion. One report estimated its revenues from ransom payments in 2000 were between $10 and $25 million. According to the State Department, it may receive funding from radical Islamic benefactors in the Middle East and South Asia. It was reported that Libya facilitated ransom payments to Abu Sayyaf. It was also suggested that Libyan money could possibly be channeled to Abu Sayyaf. Russian intelligence agencies connected with Victor Bout's planes reportedly provided Abu Sayyaf with arms. In 2014 and since, kidnapping for ransom has been the primary means of funding. + +The chart below collects events that Abu Sayyaf received ransoms or payments that are euphemistically called "board and lodgings". The more detailed information can be seen in the Timeline of Abu Sayyaf attacks. + +Motivation, beliefs, targets +Filipino Islamist guerrillas such as Abu Sayyaf have been described as "rooted in a distinct class made up of closely-knit networks built through the marriage of important families through socioeconomic backgrounds and family structures", according to Michael Buehler. This tight-knit, familial structure provides resilience but also limits their growth. Commander of the Western Mindanao Command Lieutenant General Rustico Guerrero, describes Abu Sayyaf as "a local group with a local agenda". Two kidnapping victims, (Martin and Gracia Burnham) who were kept in captivity by ASG for over a year, "gently engaged their captors in theological discussion" and found Abu Sayyaf fighters to be unfamiliar with the Qur'an. They had only "a sketchy" notion of Islam, which they saw as "a set of behavioural rules, to be violated when it suited them", according to author Mark Bowden. As "holy warriors, they were justified in kidnapping, killing and stealing. Having sex with women captives was justified by their claiming them as "wives". + +Unlike MILF and MNLF, the group is not recognised by the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, and according to author Robert East, was seen as "nothing more than a criminal operation" at least prior to 2001. A Center for Strategic and International Studies report by Jack Fellman notes the political rather than religious motivation of ASG. He quotes Khadaffy's statement that his brother was right to split from MNLF because "up to now, nothing came out" of attempts to gain more autonomy for Moro Muslims. This suggests, Fellman believes, that ASG "is merely the latest, albeit most violent, iteration of Moro political dissatisfaction that has existed for the last several decades". + +Some Abu Sayyaf members are also "shabu" (methamphetamine) users as described by surviving hostages who saw Abu Sayyaf members taking shabu as well from military findings who found drug packets in many of the abandoned Abu Sayyaf nests that justified their motivation as extreme criminals and terrorists as their state of mind were under the influence of drugs rather than being consciously fighting for the betterment of their region as well rights to living under their minority religion without any discrimination from the majority Filipinos. Its spokesman known as Abu Rami ( 2017) appeared to lack knowledge of the activities of other members, as the group had apparently separated into many small groups with their own leaders. + +Targets +Most Abu Sayyaf victims have been Filipinos; however, in recent years (especially from 2011 onwards), Australian, British, Canadian, Chinese, Dutch, French, German, Indonesian, Japanese, Korean, Malaysian, Norwegian, Swiss and Vietnamese nationals have been kidnapped or attacked. + +Previously, Americans were particularly targeted. An unnamed ASG spokesman allegedly stated, "We have been trying hard to get an American because they may think we are afraid of them". He added, "We want to fight the American people." + +In 1993, Abu Sayyaf kidnapped an American Bible translator. In 2000, Abu Sayyaf captured an American Muslim and demanded that the United States release Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman and Ramzi Yousef, who were jailed for their involvement in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing in New York City. + +Between March 2016 – July 2017, the majority of Abu Sayyaf kidnap for ransom operations shifted to the high seas. Seventeen ships were boarded and some sixty-five hostages from six countries were taken. In total, thirty hostages have been released (usually after a ransom was paid), seven escaped, three were rescued by Philippine security forces, and four were executed. Two others were killed during the attacks while eight seamen escaped during the shipjackings. An additional forty seamen were not taken hostage. + +Crimes and terrorism + +Abu Sayyaf has carried out numerous bombings, kidnappings, assassinations, and extortion activities. These include the 2000 Sipadan kidnappings, the 2001 Dos Palmas kidnappings and the 2004 SuperFerry 14 bombing. + +Kidnappings +Although the group has engaged in kidnapping hostages to be exchanged for ransom for many years, this means of funding grew dramatically beginning in 2014, providing funds for the group's rapid growth. + +In the Philippines + +Journalists abducted since 2000 +ABS-CBN's Newsbreak reported that Abu Sayyaf abducted at least 20 journalists from 2000 to 2008 (mostly foreign journalists). All of them were eventually released upon payment of ransom. + +GMA-7 television reporter Susan Enriquez (April 2000, Basilan, a few days); + 10 Foreign journalists (7 German, 1 French, 1 Australian and 1 Danish, in May 2000, Jolo, for 10 hours); + German Andreas Lorenz of the magazine Der Spiegel (July 2000, Jolo, for 25 days; he was also kidnapped in May); + French television reporter Maryse Burgot and cameraman Jean-Jacques Le Garrec and sound technician Roland Madura (July 2000, Jolo, for 2 months); + ABS-CBN television reporter Maan Macapagal and cameraman Val Cuenca (July 2000, Jolo, for 4 days); +Philippine Daily Inquirer contributor and Net 25 television reporter Arlyn de la Cruz (January 2002, Zamboanga, for 3 months) + GMA-7 television reporter Carlo Lorenzo and cameraman Gilbert Ordiales (September 2002, Jolo, for 6 days). + Filipino Ces Drilon and news cameramen Jimmy Encarnacion and Angelo Valderrama released unharmed after ransom paid (June 2008 Maimbung, Sulu for 9 days; See 2008 Maimbung kidnappings). + Jordanian TV journalist Baker Atyani and his two Filipino crews were kidnapped in June 2012 by the Abu Sayyaf militants they had sought to interview in the jungles of Sulu province. The two crew were freed in February 2013. Al Arabiya News Channel stated that their correspondent, Atyani, was handed over to the local governor's office on December 4, 2013. However, police and military officials could not ascertain whether Atyani had escaped from his captors or was freed. + +Jeffrey Schilling +On August 31, 2000, American citizen and Muslim convert Jeffrey Schilling from Oakland, California, was captured on Jolo while visiting a terrorist camp with his new wife, Ivy Osani (a cousin of Abu Sabaya, one of the rebel leaders), whom he had met online. ASG demanded a $10 million ransom. Rebels also sarcastically threatened to behead him in 2001 as a "birthday present" to then Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, who responded by declaring "all-out war" on them. The beheading threat was withdrawn after Schilling's mother, Carol, flew to the Philippines and appealed for mercy on local radio. On April 12, 2001, Philippine soldiers raided a rebel camp and rescued the American. The United States praised the Philippine government for freeing Schilling. + +Many commentators have been critical of Schilling, who claims to have walked willingly into the camp after he was invited by his wife's cousin, a member of Abu Sayyaf. + +Schilling was one of more than 40 hostages taken by Abu Sayyaf in 2000, including 21 tourists and workers seized in a raid on Sipadan diving resort in neighboring Malaysia. Many of the hostages were released after Libya paid millions of dollars. A Libyan official stated that Schilling had visited the Jolo camp often before his capture. Philippine intelligence sources say he was interested in selling military equipment to the rebels, while the bandits accused him of being a CIA agent. Abu Sayyaf threatened several times to kill Schilling. At one stage, Schilling reportedly went on a hunger strike to win his freedom. + +Martin and Gracia Burnham + +On May 27, 2001, an Abu Sayyaf raid kidnapped about 20 people from Dos Palmas, an expensive resort in Honda Bay, taking them to the north of Puerto Princesa City on the island of Palawan, which had been "considered completely safe". The most "valuable" hostages were three North Americans, Martin and Gracia Burnham, a missionary couple, and Guillermo Sobero, a Peruvian-American tourist who was later beheaded, following a $1 million ransom demand. The hostages and hostage-takers then returned to Abu Sayyaf territories in Mindanao. According to Bowden, the leader of the raid was Abu Sabaya. According to Gracia Burnham, she told her husband "to identify his kidnappers" to authorities "as 'the Osama bin Laden Group,' but Burnham was unfamiliar with that name and stuck with" Abu Sayyaf. After returning to Mindanao, Abu Sayyaf conducted numerous raids, including one that culminated in the Siege of Lamitan and "one at a coconut plantation called Golden Harvest; they took about 15 people captive there and later used bolo knives to hack the heads off two men. The number of hostages waxed and waned as some were ransomed and released, new ones were taken and others were killed." + +On June 7, 2002, about a year after the raid, Philippine army troops conducted a rescue operation in which Martin Burnham and Filipino nurse Ediborah Yap were killed. The remaining hostage was wounded and the hostage takers escaped. In July 2004, Gracia Burnham testified at a trial of eight Abu Sayyaf members and identified six of the suspects as her captors, including Alhamzer Limbong, Abdul Azan Diamla, Abu Khari Moctar, Bas Ishmael, Alzen Jandul, and Dazid Baize. "The eight suspects sat silently during her three-hour testimony, separated from her by a wooden grill. They face the death sentence if found guilty of kidnapping for ransom. The trial began this year and is not expected to end for several months." Alhamzer Limbong was later killed in a prison uprising. Burnham claimed that Philippine military officials were colluding with her captors, saying that the Armed Forces of the Philippines "didn't pursue us ... As time went on, we noticed that they never pursued us". + +2007 Father Bossi kidnapping +On June 10, 2007, Italian priest Reverend Giancarlo Bossi was kidnapped near Pagadian, capital of Zamboanga del Sur Province in the southern Philippines. Pope Benedict XVI made an appeal to free him. Bossi was released on July 19, 2007, at Karumatan, a Muslim town in Lanao del Norte Province, allegedly after the payment of ransom. Father Bossi died in Italy on September 23, 2012. + +In December 2020, Samad Awang, alias Ahmad Jamal, of the Abdussalam kidnap-for-ransom group was killed in a firefight with government troops in Zamboanga City. Awang was reportedly involved in the kidnapping of Italian missionary Fr. Giancarlo Bossi in 2007, businessman Joel Endino in 2011, and teacher Kathy Kasipong in 2013. + +2009 Red Cross kidnapping +On January 15, 2009, Abu Sayyaf kidnapped International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) delegates in Patikul, Sulu Province, Philippines. Three ICRC workers had finished conducting fieldwork in Sulu province, located in the southwest of the country when they were abducted by an unknown group, later confirmed as Albader Parad's group. All three were eventually released. According to a CNN story, Parad was reportedly killed, along with five other militants, in an assault by Philippine marines in Sulu province on Sunday, February 21, 2010. + +2009 Irish priest kidnapping +On October 11, 2009, Irish Catholic missionary Michael Sinnott, aged 79, from Barntown County Wexford was kidnapped from a gated compound in Pagadian, the capital of Zamboanga del Sur province, suspected to be part of ASG and some renegade members of MILF. Six kidnappers forced the priest into a mini-van and drove towards Sta. Lucia (district), where they transferred to a boat. Sinnott had a heart condition and was without medication when abducted. In early November, a demand for $US2 million ransom was made. On November 11, 2009, Father Sinnott was released in Zamboanga City. The Department of Foreign Affairs (Ireland) claimed that no ransom was paid by the Irish Government. + +2010 Japanese treasure hunter +On July 16, 2010, Japanese national Toshio Ito was kidnapped from Pangutaran, Sulu. At one point, the Philippine police believed the "treasure hunter", a Muslim convert also known by his Muslim name Mamaito Katayama, was acting as a cook for Abu Sayyaf; however, this was disputed by other nations, including the United States, which included him on its list of kidnap victims. A classified document obtained by Rappler lists Ito first, saying he was held captive by Abu Sayyaf's most senior leader, Radullan Sahiron, in Langpas, Indanan, Sulu early in 2013. + +2011 Malaysian gecko trader +On May 8, 2011, Malaysian gecko trader Mohammad Nasauddin Bin Saidin was kidnapped while hunting for gecko (tuko) in Indanan, Sulu. Saidin was freed on May 12, 2012. + +2011 Indian national kidnapping +On June 22, 2011, Indian national Biju Kolara Veetil was captured by four armed men while visiting his wife's relatives on the island of Jolo. A$10 million ransom was demanded. Veetil later denied that he was released in August 2012 because he had converted to Islam during captivity. + +Warren Rodwell + +Warren Richard Rodwell, a former Australian Army soldier and university English teacher, was shot through the right hand when seized from his home at Ipil, Zamboanga Sibugay on the island of Mindanao in the southern Philippines on December 5, 2011 by ASG militants. Rodwell later had to have a finger amputated. ASG threatened to behead Rodwell if their $US2 million ransom demand was not met. Both the Australian and Philippine governments had strict policies against paying ransoms. Australia formed a multi-agency task force to liaise with Rodwell's family and assist Philippine authorities. A news blackout was imposed. Filipino politicians helped negotiate the release. After the payment of $AUD94,000 for "board and lodging" expenses by his siblings, Rodwell was released on March 23, 2013. + +Arrests and killings +On June 16, 2014, suspects Jimmy Nurilla (alias Doc) and Bakrin Haris were arrested. Both reportedly worked under Basilan-based Abu Sayyaf leader Khair Mundos and Furuji Indama. Authorities believed Nurilla and Haris took part in the Rodwell kidnapping, as well as the separate abduction of US citizen Gerfa Yeatts Lunsman and her son Kevin in 2012. In January 2015, Mindanao Examiner newspaper reported the arrest of Barahama Ali kidnap gang sub-leaders linked to the kidnapping of Rodwell, who was seized by at least 5 gunmen (disguised as policemen), and eventually handed over or sold by the kidnappers to the Abu Sayyaf in Basilan province. + +In May 2015, ex-Philippine National Police (PNP) officer Jun A. Malban, alias Michael Zoo, was arrested in Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia, for the crime of "Kidnapping for Ransom" after Rodwell identified him as the negotiator/spokesperson. Further PNP investigation revealed that Malban is the cousin of Abu Sayyaf leaders Khair and Borhan Mundos (both of whom were arrested in 2014). The director of the Anti-Kidnapping Group (AKG) stated that Malban's arrest resulted from close co-ordination by the PNP, National Bureau of Investigation (Philippines) and Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission with the Malaysian counterparts and through Interpol. In January 2018, Rodwell attended a court hearing for Malban and others in Ipil, Zamboanga Sibugay, pursuant to a Supreme Court petition to transfer his case for security reasons to a court in either Manila or Zamboanga City. + +In August 2015, Edeliza Sumbahon Ulep, alias Gina Perez, was arrested at Trento, Agusan del Sur during a joint manhunt operation by police and military units. Ulep was tagged as the ransom courier in the kidnapping. In August 2016, The Manila Times reported the arrest of the kidnap-for-ransom group of Barahama Alih sub-leader, Hasim Calon alias Husien (also a notorious drug dealer), in his hideout in Tenan village in Ipil town. Hasim Calon was involved in Rodwell's abduction. Earlier in 2016, police forces killed Waning Abdulsalam, a former MILF leader, in the village of Singkilon. Abdulsalam was one of the most wanted criminals in the southern Philippines and connected to ASG. He was linked to the kidnappings of Rodwell in 2011, Irish missionary Michael Sinnott in 2009 in Pagadian City, and Italian Catholic priest Giancarlo Bossi in Zamboanga del Sur's Payao town in 2007. In March 2019, combined security forces of the 44th Infantry Battalion, Philippine National Police, Philippine Drugs Enforcement Agency, National Bureau of Investigation and Philippine Coast Guard arrested five members (Benhazer Anduhol, Solaiman Calonof, Nicanel Maningo, Jay-ar Abba Quartocruz and Hashim Lucas Samdani) of Barahama Alih criminal gang during drug operations with warrants in Barangay Tenan of Ipil town, Zamboanga Sibugay. Military sources allege Barahama Alih Group was responsible for a number of kidnapping incidents in previous years including the abduction of Australian national Warren Rodwell, Italian priest Giancarlo Bossi, and some local Filipinos. + +In February 2018, Abu Sayyaf sub-commander Nurhassan Jamiri was reported by Malaysia regional intelligence sources as one of three gunmen killed in a gunfight with police in Sabah. Jamiri was atop the Philippines' most wanted list and implicated in dozens of ransom kidnappings including Rodwell. In March 2018, Jamiri turned up alive when he and thirteen followers surrendered to authorities in Basilan. Over the preceding two years, many Abu Sayyaf bandits had surrendered to authorities in Basilan, Sulu, and Tawi-Tawi. More were expected to yield because of the regional government's Program Against Violence and Extremism (PAVE), designed to provide opportunities and interventions, including psychosocial sessions, medical check-ups, introduction to farming systems, and expository tours outside the island provinces to facilitate the reintegration of former combatants into society. In April 2018, Rodwell lauded the surrenders and reintegration program, but said he would not interfere with the legal processing of any charges already filed against anyone involved with his own kidnapping. + +In June 2020, Inquirer newspaper reported the killing of Mamay Aburi by government troops in Titay, Zamboanga Sibugay after authorities attended to serve a warrant of arrest. Aburi was allegedly a subleader of a kidnap-for-ransom group and had been linked with the Abu Sayyaf Group based in Sulu. The provincial director of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) said Aburi was involved in the 2011 kidnapping of Australian national Warren Rodwell and the 2019 abduction of the Hyrons couple in Tukuran, Zamboanga del Sur. In February 2021, The Manila Times reported that Abu Sayyaf subleader Arrasid Halissam was shot dead when he opened fire on police serving a warrant on him in the village of Santa Maria, Zamboanga City. Halissam was linked to numerous kidnappings such as Australian adventurer Warren Rodwell, Americans Gerfa Lunsmann and son Kevin, Chinese Yuan Lin Kai and Jian Luo, South Korean Nwi Seong Hong, and almost a dozen Filipinos. Halissam was also allegedly involved in the 2015 bombing in Zamboanga that killed two people and injured over fifty others. + +2012 European bird watchers +On February 1, 2012, two European bird watchers were seized on Tawi Tawi island. Swiss Lorenzo Vinciguerra escaped in December 2014 as government troops attacked the jungle camp where he was captive on the island of Jolo. Vinciguerra was shot by rebels as he escaped; however, his injuries were non-life-threatening. Dutch captive Ewold Horn was reportedly unable to escape. The whereabouts of Horn remained unknown. On May 31, 2019, Western Mindanao Command confirmed that Horn was shot dead during a clash with military in Patikul, Sulu. Additionally, the military advised that the wife of ASG leader Radulan Sahiron and five other ASG members were also killed. + +2012 Mayor Jeffrey Lim Kidnapping +On April 2, 2012, Mayor Jeffrey Lim of Salug, Zamboanga del Norte was kidnapped by ten armed men disguised as policemen. Lim was reportedly handed over to Abu Sayyaf. On November 6, he was freed near Zamboanga City after payment of P1.3M ($US25,000) ransom. On August 9, 2013, a Mindanao Pagadian Frontline report named a "Sehar Muloc" aka "Red Eye" as a suspect in the 2012 kidnapping of Mayor Jeffrey Lim. Abner Gumandol, alias Sehar Muloc and Red Eye, was said to be the leader of a criminal syndicate called the Muloc Group. Gumandol was arrested on June 12, 2016. + +2014 Kabasalan ZSP kidnapping +On September 11, 2014, Chinese national Li Pei Zhei was abducted by four gunmen in Kabasalan, Zamboanga Sibugay and taken to Basilan. He was released in Sitio Lugay-Lugay, Barangay Naga-Naga, Alicia, Zamboanga Sibugay on November 5, 2014. Police subsequently charged Ibni Basaludin, Yug Enriquez, Brahama Ali, and Ging-Ging Calon, all residents of Barangay Tenan, Ipil, Zamboanga Sibugay with kidnapping with serious illegal detention. + +2015 Roseller Lim ZSP kidnapping +On January 24, 2015, Korean national Nwi Seong Hong was abducted by armed men in Roseller Lim, Zamboanga Sibugay Province. The victim's son, Abby, escaped after he fought off the kidnappers. According to intelligence information from the JTG-SULU, the captors of were Algabsy Misaya, Idang Susukan, Alden Bagade and Mohammad Salud alias Ama Maas, Indanan-based members led by sub-leaders Isang Susukan and Anga Adji. On October 31, 2015, the body of 74-year-old Nwi Seong Hong was found in Barangay Bangkal, Patikul, Sulu. Investigators said the victim died due to severe illness. + +2015 Samal Island kidnappings + +On September 21, 2015, Canadians Robert Hall and John Ridsdel, as well as Norwegian Kjartan Sekkingstad, and (Hall's girlfriend) Marites Flor; a Filipino woman, were abducted on Samal Island near Davao. Ridsdel was beheaded by Abu Sayyaf on April 25, 2016, following a ransom deadline. ASG reportedly demanded more than $8.1 million for Ridsdel and the others. + +On May 3, 2016, a video of the Ridsdel execution was released, along with new demands for the remaining hostages. A masked captor said, "Note to the Philippine government and to the Canadian government: The lesson is clear. John Ridsdel has been beheaded. Now there are three remaining captives here. If you procrastinate once again the negotiations, we will behead this all anytime". + +On May 15, Hall appeared in a new video, announcing that he and Norwegian Kjartan Sekkingstad would be decapitated at 3 pm on Monday June 13 absent a ransom of $16 million. Both hostages wore orange coveralls, similar to hostages in videos produced by IS, to which Abu Sayyaf had previously pledged allegiance. The deadline passed. Hall was beheaded. + +On June 24, Abu Sayyaf released Filipina Marites Flor. She was subsequently flown to Davao to meet President-elect Rodrigo Duterte. Duterte said he directed negotiations with the Abu Sayyaf. He did not elaborate. + +On September 17, 2016, remaining hostage Norwegian Kjartan Sekkingstad was released on Jolo island. Abu Rami, an ASG spokesman, claimed $638,000 was paid as ransom. + +2015 Dipolog kidnapping +On October 7, 2015, Italian national and pizza restaurant owner Rolando del Torchio was kidnapped in Dipolog, the capital of Zamboanga del Norte. On April 8, 2016, Del Torchio was released and found at Jolo port aboard MV KC Beatrice bound for Zamboanga City after his family paid P29 million ($US650,000) in ransom. + +2019 Tukuran kidnapping +On October 4, 2019, armed men abducted British national Allan Hyrons and his Filipino wife Wilma from their beach resort in Tukuran town, Zamboanga del Sur province on the southern island of Mindanao. After a brief exchange of gunfire in November between Abu Sayyaf and Philippine troops on the island of Jolo, the couple was abandoned and rescued. No ransom was reportedly paid. + +In Malaysia + +2000 Sipadan kidnappings + +On May 3, 2000, Abu Sayyaf guerrillas occupied the Malaysian dive resort island Sipadan and took 21 hostages, including 10 tourists and 11 resort workers – 19 foreign nationals in total. The hostages were taken to an Abu Sayyaf base in Jolo. Two Muslim Malaysians were released soon after. Abu Sayyaf made various demands for the release of several prisoners, including 1993 World Trade Center bomber Ramzi Yousef and $2.4 million. In July, a Filipino television evangelist and 12 of members of the Jesus Miracle Crusade Church offered their help and went as mediators for the relief of other hostages. They, three French television crew members and a German journalist, all visiting Abu Sayyaf on Jolo, were also taken hostage. Most hostages were released in August and September 2000, partly due to mediation by Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and an offer of $25 million in "development aid". + +Abu Sayyaf conducted a second raid on the island of Pandanan near Sipadan on September 10 and seized three more Malaysians. The Philippine army launched a major offensive on September 16, 2000, rescuing all remaining hostages, except Filipino dive instructor Roland Ullah. He was freed in 2003. Abu Sayyaf coordinated with the Chinese 14K Triad gang in carrying out the kidnappings. The 14K Triad has militarily supported Abu Sayyaf. + +2013 Pom Pom kidnappings +On November 15, 2013, Abu Sayyaf militants raided a resort on the Malaysian island of Pom Pom. During the ambush, Taiwanese citizen Chang An-wei was kidnapped and her husband, Hsu Li-min, was killed. Chang was taken to the Sulu Archipelago. Chang was freed in Sulu Province and returned to Taiwan on December 21. + +2014 Singamata, Baik Island and Kampung Air Sapang kidnappings +On April 2, 2014, a kidnap gang believed to originate from Abu Sayyaf militants raided Singamata Reef Resort off Semporna. Chinese tourist Gao Huayun from Shanghai and Filipino resort worker Marcy Dayawan were abducted and taken to the Sulu Archipelago. The two hostages were later rescued after a collaboration between Malaysian and Philippines security forces. + +On May 6, five Abu Sayyaf gunmen raided a Malaysian fish farm on Baik Island Sabah, kidnapped the fish farm manager and took him to Jolo island. He was freed in July with the help of Malaysian negotiators. + +On June 16, two gunmen believed to be from Abu Sayyaf kidnapped a Chinese fish farm manager and one Filipino worker in Kampung Air Sapang. The worker managed to escape and disappeared. Meanwhile, the fish farm manager was taken to Jolo. He was released on December 10. + +Malaysian authorities identified five Filipinos, the "Muktadil brothers", as responsible for these cases. They sold their hostages to the Abu Sayyaf group. Of the five Muktadil brothers: Mindas Muktadil was killed by Philippine police in May 2015, Kadafi Muktadil was arrested in late 2015, Nixon Muktadil and Brown Muktadil were killed by the Philippine military on September 27, 2016, after they resisted arrest, while Badong Muktadil succumbed to his injuries while fleeing after he was shot when his brothers was killed. His body was discovered in a pump boat in Mususiasi. + +2015 Ocean King Restaurant kidnappings +On May 15, 2015, four armed Abu Sayyaf members kidnapped two Malaysian nationals from Ocean King Restaurant in an upscale resort in Sandakan, Sabah and took them to Parang, Sulu. Police identified the leaders of the group behind the abduction as Alhabsy Misaya, Alden Bagade and Angah Adji. On November 8, Thien Nyuk Fun, the seafood restaurant owner, was released after payment of 30 million pesos ($US675,000) ransom. The initial agreement of 30 million pesos was reportedly for both hostages; however, a faction within the Abu Sayyaf Group demanded more after Thien Nyuk Fun was released. Further negotiations broke down and the other hostage, electrical engineer Bernard Then, was beheaded on Jolo Island on November 17. + +Philippines and Malaysia waters + +2014 German sailors kidnapping +In April 2014, Germans Dr. Stefan Viktor Okonek and Henrike Dielen were captured on their yacht on the high seas near Borneo. Abu Sayyaf threatened to behead one of them. After payment of $US5.6 million in October 2014, the pair were released in Patikul, Sulu. + +2016 Local and foreign sailors kidnappings +On March 26, 2016, ten Indonesian seafarers were held hostage by ASG operating in Sulu Archipelago. They were abducted from the Brahma 12 tugboat and the Anand 12 barge near Tawi-Tawi province. The Indonesian vessels were freighting coal from South Borneo heading for Batangas port when hijacked. In April, the Indonesian government announced that the company that owned tugboat Brahma 12 had agreed to pay the 50-million-peso ($1 million) ransom. On May 2, they were released. + +On April 1, four Malaysian sailors aboard a tugboat from Manila were kidnapped when they arrived near the shore of Ligitan Island. Their companions, three Myanmar nationals and two Indonesians, were unharmed. On June 8, they were released. + +On April 15, four Indonesian sailors were kidnapped when two Indonesian tugboats from Cebu, Henry and Cristi, were attacked by Abu Sayyaf militants. While five of the passengers were safe, one was shot before he was rescued. They were released on May 11. A group of concerned Filipinos in Sabah urged Philippine president-elect Rodrigo Duterte to intervene for the release of four Malaysians held hostage by Abu Sayyaf. The issue strained the relationship between the Philippines and Malaysia. + +On June 21, seven Indonesian sailors were kidnapped while aboard a tugboat passing through the Sulu Archipelago. + +On July 9, three Indonesian fishermen were kidnapped near the coast of Lahad Datu, Sabah, Malaysia and released on September 17. + +On July 18, five Malaysian sailors were abducted near the coast of Lahad Datu. + +On August 3, an Indonesian sailor was kidnapped in the waters of Malaysia leaving two other crew members unharmed. This incident was reported by victims on August 5. Two of the hostages managed to escape after receiving persistent threats of beheading. + +On September 10, three Filipino fishermen were kidnapped on the shores of Pom Pom Island. + +On September 22, another Indonesian hostage was released. + +On September 27, one Malaysian boat-skipper was kidnapped from his trawler by seven armed militants before the group attacked another Indonesian trawler; however, no kidnappings were committed in the second incident. The hostage was released on October 1, with no ransom demand, along with three Indonesians hostages who were released the same day. + +On October 21, approximately ten Abu Sayyaf militants attacked a South Korean-bound vessel named MV Dongbang Gian and abducted a South Korean skipper and a Filipino crewman off Bongao, Tawi-Tawi. + +On November 5, German sailor Sabine Merz was shot dead while her husband Jürgen Kantner was abducted from their yacht off Tanjong Luuk Pisuk in Sabah. On or before February 27, 2017, Kantner was beheaded after a ransom of 30 million pesos ($US600,000) was not paid. + +On November 11, Vietnamese vessel MV Royale 16 with nineteen sailors on board was attacked by Abu Sayyaf near Basilan, abducting six sailors and injuring one. The remaining thirteen sailors were released. + +On November 20, two Indonesian fishermen were kidnapped by five gunmen off Lahad Datu. + +Due to the increase of attacks against foreign vessels by Abu Sayyaf, the governments of Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines agreed to jointly patrol their waters on May 5, 2016. The three countries formed another agreement on joint air patrols. + +During the first six months of 2016, Abu Sayyaf made $7.3 million, equivalent to Php 353 million, from ransom payoffs. + +Beheadings + +As part of its kidnap-for-ransom operations, the Abu Sayyaf has executed some of their male hostages if ransom demands were not met. The group had previously beheaded Christian civilians and others they consider kafir without demanding ransoms for their release, due to their religious affiliation. + +Bombings + +2004 Superferry 14 Bombing + +Superferry 14 was a large ferry destroyed by a bomb on February 27, 2004, killing 116 people in the Philippines' worst terrorist attack and the world's deadliest terrorist attack at sea. On that day, the 10,192 ton ferry sailed out of Manila with about 900 passengers and crew on board. A television set filled with 8 lb. (4 kilograms) of TNT had been placed on board. 90 minutes out of port, the bomb exploded. 63 people were killed instantly and 53 were missing and presumed dead. Despite claims from terrorist groups, the blast was initially thought to have been an accident caused by a gas explosion. However, after divers righted the ferry five months after it had sunk, they found evidence of a bomb blast. A man called Redendo Cain Dellosa admitted to planting the bomb for Abu Sayyaf. Six suspects were arrested in connection with the bombing while the masterminds, Khadaffy Janjalani and Abu Sulaiman, were killed. + +2016 Davao City bombing + +On September 2, 2016, an explosion occurred at a night market in Davao City, Philippines killing at least 15 and injuring 70. Shortly before the bombing, Abu Sayyaf made a threat following the intensified military operation against them. Abu Sayyaf spokesperson Abu Rami was reported to claim responsibility. He later denied the report and any involvement, saying a group allied to them; the Daulat Ul-Islamiya were responsible. Although the Abu Sayyaf spokesman denied involvement, the Philippine government blame the group. + +2019 Jolo Cathedral bombings + +On January 27, 2019, two bombs detonated at the Roman Catholic Cathedral of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Jolo town which is the center of Abu Sayyaf stronghold. The bombings resulting to eighteen people were killed while 82 others were injured, mostly from Philippine Army's 35th Battalion and civilians inside the church. The Philippine military said the Abu Sayyaf under the faction of Ajang-Ajang are responsible which is also echoed by peace advocate with evidence from military intelligence operatives that they have intercepted plans of the latter to bomb the other parts of downtown Jolo months before. The bombings took place a week after a referendum for the creation of Bangsamoro Autonomous Region with the attacks is described as the opposition by the Abu Sayyaf group for their areas inclusion under the Bangsamoro authorities since the whole Sulu province itself is already known to be against the referendum with 163,526 oppose votes (54.3%). + +Criticism of attacks against civilians +Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi in Qatar denounced the kidnappings and killings committed by Abu Sayyaf, asserting that they are not part of the dispute between the Abu Sayyaf and the Philippine government. He stated that it is shameful to commit such acts in the name of the Islamic faith, saying that such acts produce backlash against Islam and Muslims. During the 2000 Sipadan kidnappings, the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) condemned the kidnapping and offered to help secure their release. OIC Secretary General Azeddine Laraki, told the Philippine government he was prepared to send an envoy to help save the hostages and issued a statement condemning the rebels. "The Secretary General has pointed out that this operation and the like are rejected by divine laws and that they are neither the appropriate nor correct means to resolve conflicts", the statement said. + +The terrorism against civilians committed were condemned by MNLF and MILF, who said that Abu Sayyaf strayed from their real paths of struggle, with MILF labeling Abu Sayyaf as "anti-Islam" soon after Ridsdel's beheading in 2016. MNLF described the group as "causing chaos to their community". Both Christian and Muslim groups in the Philippines condemned Abu Sayyaf beheadings. + +The kidnappings were criticized by Indonesia. On July 14, 2016, a group of Indonesian protesters gathered in front of the Philippine Embassy in Jakarta, holding banners that read "Go to hell Philippines and Abu Sayyaf" and "Destroy the Philippines and Abu Sayyaf" due to what was seen as the lack of action from the Philippine government. The group demanded a large scale military operation to destroy the Abu Sayyaf, with the Indonesian military proposing to send its forces to the Philippines prior to the protest, only to be rejected by the Philippine government on constitutional grounds. + +Military operations + +The Philippine military has engaged Abu Sayyaf since the 1990s. Under President Duterte, the Philippine government sought a peace agreement with the MNLF and MILF, but not the "bunch of criminals" in Abu Sayyaf. The Philippine military intensified operations in 2003, following the arrest of a Filipino-American who was alleged to have sold illegal weapons to the group. The suspect was tagged by US authorities as "one of the United States' most wanted fugitives". He was then deported by the Philippine government to face legal action in the United States. + +On July 29, 2016, the military gained control of an Abu Sayyaf stronghold in Tipo-Tipo. The Philippine military pledged to eliminate Abu Sayyaf. On August 25, President Duterte ordered the group to be "destroyed" after it beheaded a teenager. Following the incident, the Philippine military sent thousands of troops to fight and destroy Abu Sayyaf. Filipino Army Major Filemon Tan said, "The order of the president is to search and destroy the Abu Sayyaf so that's what we are doing". Both MNLF and MILF began helping to suppress extremism in Mindanao, which helps the peace process for both groups. + +Philippine security forces collaborated with Malaysia and Indonesia to maintain security in the Sulu Sea. The Indonesian government proposed to station army units in Mindanao to launch a major offensive against Abu Sayyaf. The Indonesian government called on the Malaysian and Philippine armies to launch combined land attacks together on Mindanao, while at the same time urging the Philippine government to allow Indonesia and Malaysia military forces to enter Philippine territory. The Vietnamese military started to hold military exercises against Abu Sayyaf (known locally as "pirates" by the Vietnamese) following the repeat kidnappings of Malaysian and Indonesian sailors. The Philippine military provided one battalion to go against each subgroup. On September 9, following the meeting between President Duterte and Indonesian President Joko Widodo, an agreement was reached to pursue the Abu Sayyaf. The Philippine President said in a statement: + +However, the government of Indonesia decided to not launch a military operation in the southern Philippines, stating that there is enough Philippine military personnel had been deployed. Indonesia's view was seconded by Malaysia. Philippine military chief Ricardo Visaya warned the Abu Sayyaf that they would continue with further major military operations. The military chief gave notice to Abu Sayyaf members to surrender or be "neutralised", (killed or apprehended). + +Some 20 Abu Sayyaf surrendered in Sumisip on September 22. The day before, Philippine armed forces confiscated 200 speedboats used by the Abu Sayyaf in Basilan, Sulu, Tawi-Tawi and Zamboanga. President Duterte rejected a proposal by Nur Misuari, the leader of MNLF to include Abu Sayyaf in peace talks. On September 27, another attempt to smuggle weapons to Abu Sayyaf was prevented by the Philippine National Police in San Juan City. Four people were arrested. By October 14, the Philippine military had launched 579 military operations, 426 of which were focused to "neutralise" group members. 54 engagements resulted in 56 Abu Sayyaf members killed, 21 surrendered and 17 arrested. + +Abu Sayyaf fatalities then increased to 102, with seven more apprehended. Notable Abu Sayyaf leaders were killed, including Nelson Muktadil, Braun Muktadil, their sub-leader Mohammad Said, Jamiri Jawhari, Musanna Jamiri, the group spokesman Abu Rami and Alhabsy Misaya. In addition, another 165 fast boats used for transport and kidnapping activities were confiscated. By April 13, 2017, 50 more ASG members had surrendered. In the same month, Philippine authorities discovered the presence of militants from Indonesia and Malaysia killed during the ongoing operations (notable foreigners such as Sanusi, Zulkifli Abdhir, Ibrahim Ali, Mohd Najib Husen and Mohisen were among the dead) as well the presence of a "traitor" among their security members when a top policewoman was caught for her ties with the group. Indonesia admitted the presence of its citizens who came from North Sulawesi and said they could not prevent them from joining, given the lack of security on their borders. Malaysia discovered that militants were using Sabah as a transit point. The two pledged to prevent cross-border terrorism and curb the activities of militants + +Early on November 26, 2016, Duterte stated that he would open peace talks with Abu Sayyaf group (as he did with the MNLF and MILF by offering federalism as a possible solution) while continuing to fight against the Maute group, a move criticized by Philippine analysts as it would be used by extreme rebels to claim for legitimacy as a group. In a statement, the President said: + +His statements were criticized by national media as leading to confusion about whether he wanted peace talks. Another IS-linked group, the Maute emerged in 2016. On December 7, Duterte told the Indonesian and Malaysian leaders that "they can bomb the Abu Sayyaf along with the hostages if the Abu Sayyaf continue to present persistent threats and the hostages should already know that there is repeated warnings to not go there". In early 2019, Duterte emphatically stated that he would never initiate or agree to any peace talks with Abu Sayyaf due to his detestation for the group's record of atrocities and its treatment of innocent people as young as 8 years old. + +In the aftermath of the 2019 Jolo Cathedral bombings, President Duterte ordered an "All-Out-War" directive against the Abu Sayyaf Group, which led to heavy ground operations, massive airstrikes, artillery bombardment in surrounding areas, the evacuation of civilian in other areas, and the creation of the 11th Infantry Division of the Philippine Army. + +See also + Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters +Siege of Marawi + +Notes + +References + +External links + + Most Wanted Terrorists, Federal Bureau of Investigation, US Department of Justice + Council on Foreign Relations: Abu Sayyaf Group (Philippines, Islamist separatists) + Reward For Information (on five ASG members), Rewards for Justice Program, US Department of State + Looking for al-Qaeda in the Philippines + Balik-Terrorism: The Return of Abu Sayyaf (PDF), Strategic Studies Institute, US Army War College + The bloodstained trail of the Abu Sayyaf, Agence France-Presse + + +Jihadist groups +Organizations based in Asia designated as terrorist +Organized crime groups in the Philippines +Organisations designated as terrorist by Australia +Organisations designated as terrorist by Japan +Salafi jihadists +Organizations designated as terrorist by Canada +Armenian ( (reformed), (classical), , ) is an Indo-European language and the sole member of an independent branch of that language family. It is the native language of the Armenian people and the official language of Armenia. Historically spoken in the Armenian highlands, today Armenian is widely spoken throughout the Armenian diaspora. Armenian is written in its own writing system, the Armenian alphabet, introduced in 405 AD by the canonized saint Mesrop Mashtots. The estimated number of Armenian speakers worldwide is between five and seven million. + +History + +Classification and origins + +Armenian is an independent branch of the Indo-European languages. It is of interest to linguists for its distinctive phonological changes within that family. Armenian exhibits more satemization than centumization, although it is not classified as belonging to either of these subgroups. Some linguists tentatively conclude that Armenian, Greek (and Phrygian) and Indo-Iranian were dialectally close to each other; within this hypothetical dialect group, Proto-Armenian was situated between Proto-Greek (centum subgroup) and Proto-Indo-Iranian (satem subgroup). Ronald I. Kim has noted unique morphological developments connecting Armenian to Balto-Slavic languages. + +The Armenian language has a long literary history, with a 5th-century Bible translation as its oldest surviving text. Its vocabulary has historically been influenced by Western Middle Iranian languages, particularly Parthian; its derivational morphology and syntax were also affected by language contact with Parthian, but to a lesser extent. Contact with Greek, Persian, and Syriac also resulted in a number of loanwords. There are two standardized modern literary forms, Eastern Armenian (spoken mainly in Armenia) and Western Armenian (spoken originally mainly in modern-day Turkey and, since the Armenian genocide, mostly in the diaspora). The differences between them are considerable but they are mutually intelligible after significant exposure. Some subdialects such as Homshetsi are not mutually intelligible with other varieties. + +Although Armenians were known to history much earlier (for example, they were mentioned in the 6th-century BC Behistun Inscription and in Xenophon's 4th century BC history, The Anabasis), the oldest surviving Armenian-language writing is etched in stone on Armenian temples and is called Mehenagir. The Armenian alphabet was created by Mesrop Mashtots in 405, at which time it had 36 letters. He is also credited by some with the creation of the Georgian alphabet and the Caucasian Albanian alphabet. + +While Armenian constitutes the sole member of the Armenian branch of the Indo-European family, Aram Kossian has suggested that the hypothetical Mushki language may have been a (now extinct) Armenic language. + +Early contacts +W. M. Austin (1942) concluded that there was early contact between Armenian and Anatolian languages, based on what he considered common archaisms, such as the lack of a feminine gender and the absence of inherited long vowels. Unlike shared innovations (or synapomorphies), the common retention of archaisms (or symplesiomorphy) is not considered conclusive evidence of a period of common isolated development. There are words used in Armenian that are generally believed to have been borrowed from Anatolian languages, particularly from Luwian, although some researchers have identified possible Hittite loanwords as well. One notable loanword from Anatolian is Armenian xalam, "skull", cognate to Hittite ḫalanta, "head". + +In 1985, the Soviet linguist Igor M. Diakonoff noted the presence in Classical Armenian of what he calls a "Caucasian substratum" identified by earlier scholars, consisting of loans from the Kartvelian and Northeast Caucasian languages. Noting that Hurro-Urartian-speaking peoples inhabited the Armenian homeland in the second millennium BC, Diakonoff identifies in Armenian a Hurro-Urartian substratum of social, cultural, and animal and plant terms such as ałaxin "slave girl" ( ← Hurr. al(l)a(e)ḫḫenne), cov "sea" ( ← Urart. ṣûǝ "(inland) sea"), ułt "camel" ( ← Hurr. uḷtu), and xnjor "apple (tree)" ( ← Hurr. ḫinzuri). Some of the terms he gives admittedly have an Akkadian or Sumerian provenance, but he suggests they were borrowed through Hurrian or Urartian. Given that these borrowings do not undergo sound changes characteristic of the development of Armenian from Proto-Indo-European, he dates their borrowing to a time before the written record but after the Proto-Armenian language stage. + +Contemporary linguists, such as Hrach Martirosyan, have rejected many of the Hurro-Urartian and Northeast Caucasian origins for these words and instead suggest native Armenian etymologies, leaving the possibility that these words may have been loaned into Hurro-Urartian and Caucasian languages from Armenian, and not vice versa. A notable example is arciv, meaning "eagle", believed to have been the origin of Urartian Arṣibi and Northeast Caucasian arzu. This word is derived from Proto-Indo-European *h₂r̥ǵipyós, with cognates in Sanskrit (ऋजिप्य, ṛjipyá), Avestan (ərəzifiia), and Greek (αἰγίπιος, aigípios). Hrach Martirosyan and Armen Petrosyan propose additional borrowed words of Armenian origin loaned into Urartian and vice versa, including grammatical words and parts of speech, such as Urartian eue ("and"), attested in the earliest Urartian texts and likely a loan from Armenian (compare to Armenian , ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₁epi). Other loans from Armenian into Urartian includes personal names, toponyms, and names of deities. + +Loan words from Iranian languages, along with the other ancient accounts such as that of Xenophon above, initially led linguists to erroneously classify Armenian as an Iranian language. Scholars such as Paul de Lagarde and F. Müller believed that the similarities between the two languages meant that Armenian belonged to the Iranian language family. The distinctness of Armenian was recognized when philologist Heinrich Hübschmann (1875) used the comparative method to distinguish two layers of Iranian words from the older Armenian vocabulary. He showed that Armenian often had two morphemes for one concept, that the non-Iranian components yielded a consistent Proto-Indo-European pattern distinct from Iranian, and that the inflectional morphology was different from that of Iranian languages. + +Graeco-Armenian hypothesis + +The hypothesis that Greek is Armenian's closest living relative originates with Holger Pedersen (1924), who noted that the number of Greek-Armenian lexical cognates is greater than that of agreements between Armenian and any other Indo-European language. Antoine Meillet (1925, 1927) further investigated morphological and phonological agreement and postulated that the parent languages of Greek and Armenian were dialects in immediate geographical proximity during the Proto-Indo-European period. Meillet's hypothesis became popular in the wake of his book Esquisse d'une histoire de la langue latine (1936). Georg Renatus Solta (1960) does not go as far as postulating a Proto-Graeco-Armenian stage, but he concludes that considering both the lexicon and morphology, Greek is clearly the dialect to be most closely related to Armenian. Eric P. Hamp (1976, 91) supports the Graeco-Armenian thesis and even anticipates a time "when we should speak of Helleno-Armenian" (meaning the postulate of a Graeco-Armenian proto-language). Armenian shares the augment and a negator derived from the set phrase in the Proto-Indo-European language ("never anything" or "always nothing"), the representation of word-initial laryngeals by prothetic vowels, and other phonological and morphological peculiarities with Greek. Nevertheless, as Fortson (2004) comments, "by the time we reach our earliest Armenian records in the 5th century AD, the evidence of any such early kinship has been reduced to a few tantalizing pieces". + +Greco-Armeno-Aryan hypothesis + +Graeco-(Armeno)-Aryan is a hypothetical clade within the Indo-European family, ancestral to the Greek language, the Armenian language, and the Indo-Iranian languages. Graeco-Aryan unity would have become divided into Proto-Greek and Proto-Indo-Iranian by the mid-3rd millennium BC. Conceivably, Proto-Armenian would have been located between Proto-Greek and Proto-Indo-Iranian, consistent with the fact that Armenian shares certain features only with Indo-Iranian (the satem change) but others only with Greek (s > h). + +Graeco-Aryan has comparatively wide support among Indo-Europeanists who believe the Indo-European homeland to be located in the Armenian Highlands, the "Armenian hypothesis". Early and strong evidence was given by Euler's 1979 examination on shared features in Greek and Sanskrit nominal flection. + +Used in tandem with the Graeco-Armenian hypothesis, the Armenian language would also be included under the label Aryano-Greco-Armenic, splitting into Proto-Greek/Phrygian and "Armeno-Aryan" (ancestor of Armenian and Indo-Iranian). + +Evolution +Classical Armenian (Arm: grabar), attested from the 5th century to the 19th century as the literary standard (up to the 11th century also as a spoken language with different varieties), was partially superseded by Middle Armenian, attested from the 12th century to the 18th century. Specialized literature prefers "Old Armenian" for grabar as a whole, and designates as "Classical" the language used in the 5th century literature, "Post-Classical" from the late 5th to 8th centuries, and "Late Grabar" that of the period covering the 8th to 11th centuries. Later, it was used mainly in religious and specialized literature, with the exception of a revival during the early modern period, when attempts were made to establish it as the language of a literary renaissance, with neoclassical inclinations, through the creation and dissemination of literature in varied genres, especially by the Mekhitarists. The first Armenian periodical, Azdarar, was published in grabar in 1794. + +The classical form borrowed numerous words from Middle Iranian languages, primarily Parthian, and contains smaller inventories of loanwords from Greek, Syriac, Aramaic, Arabic, Mongol, Persian, and indigenous languages such as Urartian. An effort to modernize the language in Bagratid Armenia and the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia (11–14th centuries) resulted in the addition of two more characters to the alphabet ("" and ""), bringing the total number to 38. + +The Book of Lamentations by Gregory of Narek (951–1003) is an example of the development of a literature and writing style of Old Armenian by the 10th century. In addition to elevating the literary style and vocabulary of the Armenian language by adding well above a thousand new words, through his other hymns and poems Gregory paved the way for his successors to include secular themes and vernacular language in their writings. The thematic shift from mainly religious texts to writings with secular outlooks further enhanced and enriched the vocabulary. "A Word of Wisdom", a poem by Hovhannes Sargavak devoted to a starling, legitimizes poetry devoted to nature, love, or female beauty. Gradually, the interests of the population at large were reflected in other literary works as well. Konsdantin Yerzinkatsi and several others took the unusual step of criticizing the ecclesiastic establishment and addressing the social issues of the Armenian homeland. These changes represented the nature of the literary style and syntax, but they did not constitute immense changes to the fundamentals of the grammar or the morphology of the language. Often, when writers codify a spoken dialect, other language users are then encouraged to imitate that structure through the literary device known as parallelism. + +In the 19th century, the traditional Armenian homeland was once again divided. This time Eastern Armenia was conquered from Qajar Iran by the Russian Empire, while Western Armenia, containing two thirds of historical Armenia, remained under Ottoman control. The antagonistic relationship between the Russian and Ottoman empires led to creation of two separate and different environments under which Armenians lived. Halfway through the 19th century, two important concentrations of Armenian communities were further consolidated. Because of persecutions or the search for better economic opportunities, many Armenians living under Ottoman rule gradually moved to Istanbul, whereas Tbilisi became the center of Armenians living under Russian rule. These two cosmopolitan cities very soon became the primary poles of Armenian intellectual and cultural life. + +The introduction of new literary forms and styles, as well as many new ideas sweeping Europe, reached Armenians living in both regions. This created an ever-growing need to elevate the vernacular, Ashkharhabar, to the dignity of a modern literary language, in contrast to the now-anachronistic Grabar. Numerous dialects existed in the traditional Armenian regions, which, different as they were, had certain morphological and phonetic features in common. On the basis of these features two major standards emerged: + + Western standard: The influx of immigrants from different parts of the traditional Armenian homeland to Istanbul crystallized the common elements of the regional dialects, paving the way for a style of writing that required a shorter and more flexible learning curve than Grabar. + Eastern standard: The Yerevan dialect provided the primary elements of Eastern Armenian, centered in Tbilisi, Georgia. Similar to the Western Armenian variant, the Modern Eastern was in many ways more practical and accessible to the masses than Grabar. + +Both centers vigorously pursued the promotion of Ashkharhabar. The proliferation of newspapers in both versions (Eastern & Western) and the development of a network of schools where modern Armenian was taught, dramatically increased the rate of literacy (in spite of the obstacles by the colonial administrators), even in remote rural areas. The emergence of literary works entirely written in the modern versions increasingly legitimized the language's existence. By the turn of the 20th century both varieties of the one modern Armenian language prevailed over Grabar and opened the path to a new and simplified grammatical structure of the language in the two different cultural spheres. Apart from several morphological, phonetic, and grammatical differences, the largely common vocabulary and generally analogous rules of grammatical fundamentals allows users of one variant to understand the other as long as they are fluent in one of the literary standards. + +After World War I, the existence of the two modern versions of the same language was sanctioned even more clearly. The Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic (1920–1990) used Eastern Armenian as its official language, whereas the diaspora created after the Armenian genocide preserved the Western Armenian dialect. + +The two modern literary dialects, Western (originally associated with writers in the Ottoman Empire) and Eastern (originally associated with writers in the Russian Empire), removed almost all of their Turkish lexical influences in the 20th century, primarily following the Armenian genocide. + +Geographic distribution +In addition to Armenia and Turkey, where it is indigenous, Armenian is spoken among the diaspora. According to Ethnologue, globally there are million Western Armenian speakers and million Eastern Armenian speakers, totalling million Armenian speakers. + +In Georgia, Armenian speakers are concentrated in Ninotsminda and Akhalkalaki districts where they represent over 90% of the population. + +Status and usage +The short-lived First Republic of Armenia declared Armenian its official language. Eastern Armenian was then dominating in institutions and among the population. When Armenia was incorporated into the USSR, the Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic made Eastern Armenian the language of the courts, government institutions and schools. Armenia was also russified. The current Republic of Armenia upholds the official status of the Armenian language. Eastern Armenian is the official variant used, making it the prestige variety while other variants have been excluded from national institutions. Indeed, Western Armenian is perceived by some as a mere dialect. Armenian is also official in the Republic of Artsakh. It is recognized as an official language of the Eurasian Economic Union although Russian is the working language. + +Armenian (without reference to a specific variety) is officially recognized as a minority language in Cyprus, Hungary, Iraq, Poland, Romania, and Ukraine. It is recognized as a minority language and protected in Turkey by the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne. + +Western Armenian is the language of the diaspora, it is the medium of instruction in the majority of Armenian-language schools outside Armenia. In particular, in the Samtskhe-Javakheti region of Georgia, although Armenian has no legal status, there were 144 state-funded schools in the area as of 2010 where Armenian is the main language of instruction. The Lebanese curriculum allows Armenian schools to teach the Armenian language as a basic language. In California, home to a large Armenian American community, various state government agencies provide Armenian translations of their documents: the California Department of Social Services, California Department of Motor Vehicles, California superior courts. In the city of Glendale, there are street signs in Armenian. + +In Iran, article 15 of the constitution allows the use of "regional and tribal languages" in the mass media as well as within the schools. However, these languages do not receive formal status and are not officially regulated by the authorities. Iranian Armenians are de facto the only non-Persian ethnic group in Iran enjoying this right. They have their own private schools, where Armenian is the medium of instruction. + +Phonology + +Proto-Indo-European voiceless stop consonants are aspirated in the Proto-Armenian language, one of the circumstances that is often linked to the glottalic theory, a version of which postulated that some voiceless occlusives of Proto-Indo-European were aspirated. + +Stress +In Armenian, the stress falls on the last syllable unless the last syllable contains the definite article or , and the possessive articles and , in which case it falls on the penultimate one. For instance, , , but and . Exceptions to this rule are some words with the final letter ( in the reformed orthography) () and sometimes the ordinal numerals (, etc.), as well as , and a small number of other words. + +Vowels +Modern Armenian has six monophthongs. Each vowel phoneme in the table is represented by three symbols. The first is the sounds transcription in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). After that appears the corresponding letter of the Armenian alphabet. The last symbol is its Latin transliteration. + + Western and other dialects may also have /, /. + +Consonants +The following table lists the Eastern Armenian consonantal system. The occlusives and affricates have an aspirated series, commonly transcribed with a reversed apostrophe after the letter. Each phoneme in the table is represented by IPA, Armenian script and romanization. + +The major phonetic difference between dialects is in the reflexes of Classical Armenian voice-onset time. The seven dialect types have the following correspondences, illustrated with the t–d series: +{| class="wikitable" style=text-align:center +|+Correspondence in initial position +!Armenian Letter +|Թ +|Տ +|Դ +|- +!Indo-European +|* +|* +|* +|- +!Karin, Sebastia +| rowspan="7" | +| +| +|- +!Istanbul +|colspan=2| +|- +!Kharberd, Middle Armenian +| rowspan="2" | +| +|- +!Malatya, SWA +| +|- +!Classical Armenian, Agulis, SEA, Yerevan +| +| +|- +!Van, Artsakh +|colspan=2| +|} + +Morphology + +Armenian corresponds with other Indo-European languages in its structure, but it shares distinctive sounds and features of its grammar with neighboring languages of the Caucasus region. The Armenian orthography is rich in combinations of consonants, but in pronunciation, this is broken up with schwas. Both classical Armenian and the modern spoken and literary dialects have a complicated system of noun declension, with six or seven noun cases but no gender. In modern Armenian, the use of auxiliary verbs to show tense (comparable to will in "he will go") has generally supplanted the inflected verbs of Classical Armenian. Negative verbs are conjugated differently from positive ones (as in English "he goes" and "he does not go") in many tenses, otherwise adding only the negative to the positive conjugation. Grammatically, early forms of Armenian had much in common with classical Greek and Latin, but the modern language, like modern Greek, has undergone many transformations, adding some analytic features. + +Noun +Armenian has no grammatical gender, not even in the pronoun, but there is a feminine suffix ( "-uhi"). For example, (usucʻičʻ, "teacher") becomes (usucʻčʻuhi, female teacher). This suffix does not have a grammatical effect on the sentence. The nominal inflection reserves several types of inherited stem classes. Historically, nouns were declined for one of seven cases: nominative (ուղղական uġġakan), accusative (հայցական haycʻakan), locative (ներգոյական nergoyakan), genitive (սեռական seṙakan), dative (տրական trakan), ablative (բացառական bacʻaṙakan), or instrumental (գործիական gorciakan), but in the modern language, the nominative and accusative cases, as well as the dative and genitive cases, have merged. + +Examples of noun declension in Eastern Armenian + +Which case the direct object takes is split based on animacy (a phenomenon more generally known as differential object marking). Inanimate nouns take the nominative, while animate nouns take the dative. Additionally, animate nouns can never take the locative case. + +Examples of noun declension in Western Armenian + +Verb + +Verbs in Armenian have an expansive system of conjugation with two main verb types in Eastern Armenian and three in Western Armenian changing form based on tense, mood and aspect. + +Dialects + +Armenian is a pluricentric language, having two modern standardized forms: Eastern Armenian and Western Armenian. The most distinctive feature of Western Armenian is that it has undergone several phonetic mergers; these may be due to proximity to Arabic- and Turkish-speaking communities. + +Classical Armenian (Grabar), which remained the standard until the 18th century, was quite homogeneous across the different regions that works in it were written; it may have been a cross-regional standard. The Middle Armenian variety used in the court of Cilician Armenia (1080–1375) provides a window into the development of Western Armenian, which came to be based on what became the dialect of Istanbul, while the standard for Eastern Armenian was based on the dialect around Mount Ararat and Yerevan. Although the Armenian language is often divided into "east" and "west", the two standards are actually relatively close to each other in light of wealth of the diversity present among regional non-standard Armenian dialects. The different dialects have experienced different degrees of language contact effects, often with Turkic and Caucasian languages; for some, the result has been significant phonological and syntactic changes. Fortson notes that the modern standard as well has now attained a subordinate clausal structure that greatly resembles a Turkic language. + +Eastern Armenian speakers pronounce () as [tʰ], () as [d], and () as a tenuis occlusive [t˭]. Western Armenian has simplified the occlusive system into a simple division between voiced occlusives and aspirated ones; the first series corresponds to the tenuis series of Eastern Armenian, and the second corresponds to the Eastern voiced and aspirated series. Thus, the Western dialect pronounces both () and () as [tʰ], and the () letter as [d]. + +There is no precise linguistic border between one dialect and another because there is nearly always a dialect transition zone of some size between pairs of geographically identified dialects. + +Armenian can be divided into two major dialectal blocks and those blocks into individual dialects, though many of the Western Armenian dialects have become extinct due to the effects of the Armenian genocide. In addition, neither dialect is completely homogeneous: any dialect can be subdivided into several subdialects. Although Western and Eastern Armenian are often described as different dialects of the same language, many subdialects are not readily mutually intelligible. Nevertheless, a fluent speaker of one of two greatly varying dialects who is also literate in one of the standards, when exposed to the other dialect for a period of time will be able to understand the other with relative ease. + +Distinct Western Armenian varieties currently in use include Homshetsi, spoken by the Hemshin peoples; the dialects of Armenians of Kessab (Քեսապի բարբառ), Latakia and Jisr al-Shughur (Syria), Anjar, Lebanon, and Vakıflı, Samandağ (Turkey), part of the "Sueidia" dialect (Սուէտիայի բարբառ). + +Forms of the Karin dialect of Western Armenian are spoken by several hundred thousand people in Northern Armenia, mostly in Gyumri, Artik, Akhuryan, and around 130 villages in Shirak Province, and by Armenians in Samtskhe–Javakheti province of Georgia (Akhalkalaki, Akhaltsikhe). + +Nakhichevan-on-Don Armenians speak another Western Armenian variety based on the dialect of Armenians in Crimea, where they came from in order to establish the town and surrounding villages in 1779 (Նոր Նախիջևանի բարբառ). + +Western Armenian dialects are currently spoken also in Gavar (formerly Nor Bayazet and Kamo, on the western shore of Lake Sevan), Aparan, and Talin in Armenia (Mush dialect), and by the large Armenian population residing in Abkhazia, where they are considered to be the first or second ethnic minority, or even equal in number to the local Abkhaz population + +Orthography + +The Armenian alphabet ( or ) is a graphically unique alphabetical writing system that is used to write the Armenian language. It was introduced around AD 405 by Mesrop Mashtots, an Armenian linguist and ecclesiastical leader, and originally contained 36 letters. Two more letters, օ (ō) and ֆ (f), were added in the Middle Ages. + +During the 1920s orthography reform in Soviet Armenia, a new letter և (capital ԵՎ) was added, which was a ligature before ե+ւ, whereas the letter Ւ ւ was discarded and reintroduced as part of a new letter ՈՒ ու (which was a digraph before). This alphabet and associated orthography is used by most Armenian speakers of Armenia and the countries of the former Soviet Union. Neither the alphabet nor the orthography has been adopted by Diaspora Armenians, including Eastern Armenian speakers of Iran and all Western Armenian speakers, who keep using the traditional alphabet and spelling. + +Vocabulary + +Indo-European cognates +Armenian is an Indo-European language, so many of its Proto-Indo-European-descended words are cognates of words in other Indo-European languages such as English, Latin, Greek, and Sanskrit. + +Due to extensive loaning, only around 1,500 words (G. Jahukyan) are known to have been inherited from Indo-European by the Classical Armenian stage; the rest were lost, a fact that presents a major challenge to endeavors to better understand Proto-Armenian and its place within the family, especially as many of the sound changes along the way from Indo-European to Armenian remain quite difficult to analyze. + +This table lists some of the more recognizable cognates that Armenian shares with English words descended from Old English. + +See also + + Armenian PowerSpell, electronic text corrector + Armenian Sign Language + Auguste Carrière + Languages of Armenia + Language families and languages + List of Indo-European languages + Classical Armenian orthography + +Notes + +Footnotes + +References + +Further reading + + Adjarian, Hrachya H. (1909) Classification des dialectes arméniens, par H. Adjarian. Paris: Honoré Champion. + Clackson, James. 1994. The Linguistic Relationship Between Armenian and Greek. London: Publications of the Philological Society, No 30. (and Oxford: Blackwell Publishing) + Holst, Jan Henrik (2009) Armenische Studien. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz. + Mallory, J. P. (1989) In Search of the Indo-Europeans: Language, Archaeology and Myth. London: Thames & Hudson. + + Vaux, Bert. 1998. The Phonology of Armenian. Oxford: Clarendon Press. + Vaux, Bert. 2002. "The Armenian dialect of Jerusalem". In Armenians in the Holy Land. Louvain: Peters. + +External links + Armenian Lessons () (free online through the Linguistics Research Center at UT Austin) + Armenian Swadesh list of basic vocabulary words (from Wiktionary's Swadesh list appendix) + ARMENIA AND IRAN iv. History, discussion, and the presentation of Iranian influences in Armenian Language over the millennia + Nayiri.com (Library of Armenian dictionaries) + dictionaries.arnet.am Collection of Armenian XDXF and Stardict dictionaries + Grabar (Brief introduction to Classical Armenian also known as Grabar) + բառարան.հայ – Armenian dictionary + + + +Articles containing video clips +Indo-European languages +Languages attested from the 5th century +Languages of Armenia +Languages of Azerbaijan +Languages of Cyprus +Languages of Georgia (country) +Languages of Iran +Languages of Kazakhstan +Languages of Kurdistan +Languages of Lebanon +Languages of Russia +Languages of the Caucasus +Languages of Turkey +Subject–object–verb languages +Additive synthesis is a sound synthesis technique that creates timbre by adding sine waves together. + +The timbre of musical instruments can be considered in the light of Fourier theory to consist of multiple harmonic or inharmonic partials or overtones. Each partial is a sine wave of different frequency and amplitude that swells and decays over time due to modulation from an ADSR envelope or low frequency oscillator. + +Additive synthesis most directly generates sound by adding the output of multiple sine wave generators. Alternative implementations may use pre-computed wavetables or the inverse fast Fourier transform. + +Explanation +The sounds that are heard in everyday life are not characterized by a single frequency. Instead, they consist of a sum of pure sine frequencies, each one at a different amplitude. When humans hear these frequencies simultaneously, we can recognize the sound. This is true for both "non-musical" sounds (e.g. water splashing, leaves rustling, etc.) and for "musical sounds" (e.g. a piano note, a bird's tweet, etc.). This set of parameters (frequencies, their relative amplitudes, and how the relative amplitudes change over time) are encapsulated by the timbre of the sound. Fourier analysis is the technique that is used to determine these exact timbre parameters from an overall sound signal; conversely, the resulting set of frequencies and amplitudes is called the Fourier series of the original sound signal. + +In the case of a musical note, the lowest frequency of its timbre is designated as the sound's fundamental frequency. For simplicity, we often say that the note is playing at that fundamental frequency (e.g. "middle C is 261.6 Hz"), even though the sound of that note consists of many other frequencies as well. The set of the remaining frequencies is called the overtones (or the harmonics, if their frequencies are integer multiples of the fundamental frequency) of the sound. In other words, the fundamental frequency alone is responsible for the pitch of the note, while the overtones define the timbre of the sound. The overtones of a piano playing middle C will be quite different from the overtones of a violin playing the same note; that's what allows us to differentiate the sounds of the two instruments. There are even subtle differences in timbre between different versions of the same instrument (for example, an upright piano vs. a grand piano). + +Additive synthesis aims to exploit this property of sound in order to construct timbre from the ground up. By adding together pure frequencies (sine waves) of varying frequencies and amplitudes, we can precisely define the timbre of the sound that we want to create. + +Definitions + +Harmonic additive synthesis is closely related to the concept of a Fourier series which is a way of expressing a periodic function as the sum of sinusoidal functions with frequencies equal to integer multiples of a common fundamental frequency. These sinusoids are called harmonics, overtones, or generally, partials. In general, a Fourier series contains an infinite number of sinusoidal components, with no upper limit to the frequency of the sinusoidal functions and includes a DC component (one with frequency of 0 Hz). Frequencies outside of the human audible range can be omitted in additive synthesis. As a result, only a finite number of sinusoidal terms with frequencies that lie within the audible range are modeled in additive synthesis. + +A waveform or function is said to be periodic if + + + +for all and for some period . + +The Fourier series of a periodic function is mathematically expressed as: + + + +where + + is the fundamental frequency of the waveform and is equal to the reciprocal of the period, + + + is the amplitude of the th harmonic, + is the phase offset of the th harmonic. atan2 is the four-quadrant arctangent function, + +Being inaudible, the DC component, , and all components with frequencies higher than some finite limit, , are omitted in the following expressions of additive synthesis. + +Harmonic form +The simplest harmonic additive synthesis can be mathematically expressed as: + +where is the synthesis output, , , and are the amplitude, frequency, and the phase offset, respectively, of the th harmonic partial of a total of harmonic partials, and is the fundamental frequency of the waveform and the frequency of the musical note. + +Time-dependent amplitudes + +More generally, the amplitude of each harmonic can be prescribed as a function of time, , in which case the synthesis output is + +Each envelope should vary slowly relative to the frequency spacing between adjacent sinusoids. The bandwidth of should be significantly less than . + +Inharmonic form +Additive synthesis can also produce inharmonic sounds (which are aperiodic waveforms) in which the individual overtones need not have frequencies that are integer multiples of some common fundamental frequency. While many conventional musical instruments have harmonic partials (e.g. an oboe), some have inharmonic partials (e.g. bells). Inharmonic additive synthesis can be described as + + + +where is the constant frequency of th partial. + +Time-dependent frequencies +In the general case, the instantaneous frequency of a sinusoid is the derivative (with respect to time) of the argument of the sine or cosine function. If this frequency is represented in hertz, rather than in angular frequency form, then this derivative is divided by . This is the case whether the partial is harmonic or inharmonic and whether its frequency is constant or time-varying. + +In the most general form, the frequency of each non-harmonic partial is a non-negative function of time, , yielding + +Broader definitions +Additive synthesis more broadly may mean sound synthesis techniques that sum simple elements to create more complex timbres, even when the elements are not sine waves. For example, F. Richard Moore listed additive synthesis as one of the "four basic categories" of sound synthesis alongside subtractive synthesis, nonlinear synthesis, and physical modeling. In this broad sense, pipe organs, which also have pipes producing non-sinusoidal waveforms, can be considered as a variant form of additive synthesizers. Summation of principal components and Walsh functions have also been classified as additive synthesis. + +Implementation methods + +Modern-day implementations of additive synthesis are mainly digital. (See section Discrete-time equations for the underlying discrete-time theory) + +Oscillator bank synthesis + +Additive synthesis can be implemented using a bank of sinusoidal oscillators, one for each partial. + +Wavetable synthesis + +In the case of harmonic, quasi-periodic musical tones, wavetable synthesis can be as general as time-varying additive synthesis, but requires less computation during synthesis. As a result, an efficient implementation of time-varying additive synthesis of harmonic tones can be accomplished by use of wavetable synthesis. + +Group additive synthesis +Group additive synthesis is a method to group partials into harmonic groups (having different fundamental frequencies) and synthesize each group separately with wavetable synthesis before mixing the results. + +Inverse FFT synthesis + +An inverse fast Fourier transform can be used to efficiently synthesize frequencies that evenly divide the transform period or "frame". By careful consideration of the DFT frequency-domain representation it is also possible to efficiently synthesize sinusoids of arbitrary frequencies using a series of overlapping frames and the inverse fast Fourier transform. + +Additive analysis/resynthesis + +It is possible to analyze the frequency components of a recorded sound giving a "sum of sinusoids" representation. This representation can be re-synthesized using additive synthesis. One method of decomposing a sound into time varying sinusoidal partials is short-time Fourier transform (STFT)-based McAulay-Quatieri Analysis. + +By modifying the sum of sinusoids representation, timbral alterations can be made prior to resynthesis. For example, a harmonic sound could be restructured to sound inharmonic, and vice versa. Sound hybridisation or "morphing" has been implemented by additive resynthesis. + +Additive analysis/resynthesis has been employed in a number of techniques including Sinusoidal Modelling, Spectral Modelling Synthesis (SMS), and the Reassigned Bandwidth-Enhanced Additive Sound Model. Software that implements additive analysis/resynthesis includes: SPEAR, LEMUR, LORIS, SMSTools, ARSS. + +Products + +New England Digital Synclavier had a resynthesis feature where samples could be analyzed and converted into "timbre frames" which were part of its additive synthesis engine. Technos acxel, launched in 1987, utilized the additive analysis/resynthesis model, in an FFT implementation. + +Also a vocal synthesizer, Vocaloid have been implemented on the basis of additive analysis/resynthesis: its spectral voice model called Excitation plus Resonances (EpR) model is extended based on Spectral Modeling Synthesis (SMS), +and its diphone concatenative synthesis is processed using +spectral peak processing (SPP) technique similar to modified phase-locked vocoder (an improved phase vocoder for formant processing). Using these techniques, spectral components (formants) consisting of purely harmonic partials can be appropriately transformed into desired form for sound modeling, and sequence of short samples (diphones or phonemes) constituting desired phrase, can be smoothly connected by interpolating matched partials and formant peaks, respectively, in the inserted transition region between different samples. (See also Dynamic timbres) + +Applications + +Musical instruments + +Additive synthesis is used in electronic musical instruments. It is the principal sound generation technique used by Eminent organs. + +Speech synthesis + +In linguistics research, harmonic additive synthesis was used in 1950s to play back modified and synthetic speech spectrograms. + +Later, in early 1980s, listening tests were carried out on synthetic speech stripped of acoustic cues to assess their significance. Time-varying formant frequencies and amplitudes derived by linear predictive coding were synthesized additively as pure tone whistles. This method is called sinewave synthesis. Also the composite sinusoidal modeling (CSM) used on a singing speech synthesis feature on Yamaha CX5M (1984), is known to use a similar approach which was independently developed during 1966–1979. These methods are characterized by extraction and recomposition of a set of significant spectral peaks corresponding to the several resonance modes occurred in the oral cavity and nasal cavity, in a viewpoint of acoustics. This principle was also utilized on a physical modeling synthesis method, called modal synthesis. + +History + +Harmonic analysis was discovered by Joseph Fourier, who published an extensive treatise of his research in the context of heat transfer in 1822. The theory found an early application in prediction of tides. Around 1876, William Thomson (later ennobled as Lord Kelvin) constructed a mechanical tide predictor. It consisted of a harmonic analyzer and a harmonic synthesizer, as they were called already in the 19th century. The analysis of tide measurements was done using James Thomson's integrating machine. The resulting Fourier coefficients were input into the synthesizer, which then used a system of cords and pulleys to generate and sum harmonic sinusoidal partials for prediction of future tides. In 1910, a similar machine was built for the analysis of periodic waveforms of sound. The synthesizer drew a graph of the combination waveform, which was used chiefly for visual validation of the analysis. + +Georg Ohm applied Fourier's theory to sound in 1843. The line of work was greatly advanced by Hermann von Helmholtz, who published his eight years worth of research in 1863. Helmholtz believed that the psychological perception of tone color is subject to learning, while hearing in the sensory sense is purely physiological. He supported the idea that perception of sound derives from signals from nerve cells of the basilar membrane and that the elastic appendages of these cells are sympathetically vibrated by pure sinusoidal tones of appropriate frequencies. Helmholtz agreed with the finding of Ernst Chladni from 1787 that certain sound sources have inharmonic vibration modes. + +In Helmholtz's time, electronic amplification was unavailable. For synthesis of tones with harmonic partials, Helmholtz built an electrically excited array of tuning forks and acoustic resonance chambers that allowed adjustment of the amplitudes of the partials. Built at least as early as in 1862, these were in turn refined by Rudolph Koenig, who demonstrated his own setup in 1872. For harmonic synthesis, Koenig also built a large apparatus based on his wave siren. It was pneumatic and utilized cut-out tonewheels, and was criticized for low purity of its partial tones. Also tibia pipes of pipe organs have nearly sinusoidal waveforms and can be combined in the manner of additive synthesis. + +In 1938, with significant new supporting evidence, it was reported on the pages of Popular Science Monthly that the human vocal cords function like a fire siren to produce a harmonic-rich tone, which is then filtered by the vocal tract to produce different vowel tones. By the time, the additive Hammond organ was already on market. Most early electronic organ makers thought it too expensive to manufacture the plurality of oscillators required by additive organs, and began instead to build subtractive ones. In a 1940 Institute of Radio Engineers meeting, the head field engineer of Hammond elaborated on the company's new Novachord as having a "subtractive system" in contrast to the original Hammond organ in which "the final tones were built up by combining sound waves". Alan Douglas used the qualifiers additive and subtractive to describe different types of electronic organs in a 1948 paper presented to the Royal Musical Association. The contemporary wording additive synthesis and subtractive synthesis can be found in his 1957 book The electrical production of music, in which he categorically lists three methods of forming of musical tone-colours, in sections titled Additive synthesis, Subtractive synthesis, and Other forms of combinations. + +A typical modern additive synthesizer produces its output as an electrical, analog signal, or as digital audio, such as in the case of software synthesizers, which became popular around year 2000. + +Timeline + +The following is a timeline of historically and technologically notable analog and digital synthesizers and devices implementing additive synthesis. + +Discrete-time equations +In digital implementations of additive synthesis, discrete-time equations are used in place of the continuous-time synthesis equations. A notational convention for discrete-time signals uses brackets i.e. and the argument can only be integer values. If the continuous-time synthesis output is expected to be sufficiently bandlimited; below half the sampling rate or , it suffices to directly sample the continuous-time expression to get the discrete synthesis equation. The continuous synthesis output can later be reconstructed from the samples using a digital-to-analog converter. The sampling period is . + +Beginning with (), + + + +and sampling at discrete times results in + +where + + is the discrete-time varying amplitude envelope + is the discrete-time backward difference instantaneous frequency. + +This is equivalent to + + + +where + + for all +and + +See also + Frequency modulation synthesis + Subtractive synthesis + Speech synthesis + Harmonic series (music) + +References + +External links + Digital Keyboards Synergy + +Sound synthesis types +An aircraft carrier is a warship that serves as a seagoing airbase, equipped with a full-length flight deck and facilities for carrying, arming, deploying, and recovering aircraft. Typically, it is the capital ship of a fleet, as it allows a naval force to project air power worldwide without depending on local bases for staging aircraft operations. Carriers have evolved since their inception in the early twentieth century from wooden vessels used to deploy balloons to nuclear-powered warships that carry numerous fighters, strike aircraft, helicopters, and other types of aircraft. While heavier aircraft such as fixed-wing gunships and bombers have been launched from aircraft carriers, these aircraft have not landed on a carrier. By its diplomatic and tactical power, its mobility, its autonomy and the variety of its means, the aircraft carrier is often the centerpiece of modern combat fleets. Tactically or even strategically, it replaced the battleship in the role of flagship of a fleet. One of its great advantages is that, by sailing in international waters, it does not interfere with any territorial sovereignty and thus obviates the need for overflight authorizations from third-party countries, reduces the times and transit distances of aircraft and therefore significantly increases the time of availability on the combat zone. + +There is no single definition of an "aircraft carrier", and modern navies use several variants of the type. These variants are sometimes categorized as sub-types of aircraft carriers, and sometimes as distinct types of naval aviation-capable ships. Aircraft carriers may be classified according to the type of aircraft they carry and their operational assignments. Admiral Sir Mark Stanhope, RN, former First Sea Lord (head) of the Royal Navy, has said, "To put it simply, countries that aspire to strategic international influence have aircraft carriers." Henry Kissinger, while United States Secretary of State, also said: "An aircraft carrier is 100,000 tons of diplomacy." + +As of , there are 47 active aircraft carriers in the world operated by fourteen navies. The United States Navy has 11 large nuclear-powered fleet carriers—carrying around 80 fighters each—the largest carriers in the world; the total combined deck space is over twice that of all other nations combined. As well as the aircraft carrier fleet, the US Navy has nine amphibious assault ships used primarily for helicopters, although these also each carry up to 20 vertical or short take-off and landing (V/STOL) fighter jets and are similar in size to medium-sized fleet carriers. The United Kingdom, India and China each operate two aircraft carriers. France and Russia each operate a single aircraft carrier with a capacity of 30 to 60 fighters. Italy operates two light V/STOL carriers and Spain operates one V/STOL aircraft-carrying assault ship. Helicopter carriers are operated by Japan (4, two of which are being converted to operate V/STOL fighters), France (3), Australia (2), Egypt (2), South Korea (2), China (3), Thailand (1) and Brazil (1). Future aircraft carriers are under construction or in planning by China, France, India, Russia, South Korea, Turkey, and the US. + +Types of carriers + +General features + Speed is a crucial attribute for aircraft carriers, as they need to be able to be deployed quickly anywhere in the world and have to be fast enough to evade detection and targeting from enemy forces. A high speed also increases the "wind over the deck", boosting the lift available for fixed-wing aircraft to carry fuel and ammunition. In order to evade nuclear submarines, the carriers should have a speed of more than 30 knots. + Aircraft carriers are among the largest types of warships due to their need for ample deck space. + An aircraft carrier must be able to perform increasingly diverse mission sets. Diplomacy, power projection, quick crisis response force, land attack from the sea, sea base for helicopter and amphibious assault forces, anti-surface warfare (ASUW), Defensive Counter Air (DCA), and humanitarian aid disaster relief (HADR) are some of the missions the aircraft carrier is expected to accomplish. Traditionally an aircraft carrier is supposed to be one ship that can perform at least power projection and sea control missions. + An aircraft carrier must be able to efficiently operate an air combat group. This means it should handle fixed-wing jets as well as helicopters. This includes ships designed to support operations of short-takeoff/vertical-landing (STOVL) jets. + +Basic types + Aircraft cruiser + Amphibious assault ship and sub-types + Anti-submarine warfare carrier + Balloon carrier and balloon tenders + Escort carrier + Fleet carrier + Flight deck cruiser + Helicopter carrier + Light aircraft carrier + Sea Control Ship + Seaplane tender and seaplane carriers + Utility carrier: This type was mainly used in the US Navy, in the decade after World War 2 to ferry aircraft. + +Some of the types listed here are not strictly defined as aircraft carriers by some sources. + +By role + +A fleet carrier is intended to operate with the main fleet and usually provides an offensive capability. These are the largest carriers capable of fast speeds. By comparison, escort carriers were developed to provide defense for convoys of ships. They were smaller and slower with lower numbers of aircraft carried. Most were built from mercantile hulls or, in the case of merchant aircraft carriers, were bulk cargo ships with a flight deck added on top. Light aircraft carriers were fast enough to operate with the main fleet but of smaller size with reduced aircraft capacity. + +The Soviet aircraft carrier Admiral Kusnetsov was termed a "heavy aircraft-carrying cruiser". This was primarily a legal construct to avoid the limitations of the Montreux Convention preventing 'aircraft carriers' transiting the Turkish Straits between the Soviet Black Sea bases and the Mediterranean Sea. These ships, while sized in the range of large fleet carriers, were designed to deploy alone or with escorts. In addition to supporting fighter aircraft and helicopters, they provide both strong defensive weaponry and heavy offensive missiles equivalent to a guided-missile cruiser. + +By configuration + +Aircraft carriers today are usually divided into the following four categories based on the way that aircraft take off and land: +Catapult-assisted take-off barrier-arrested recovery (CATOBAR): these carriers generally carry the largest, heaviest, and most heavily armed aircraft, although smaller CATOBAR carriers may have other limitations (weight capacity of aircraft elevator, etc.). All CATOBAR carriers in service today are nuclear powered. Twelve are in service: ten Nimitz and one fleet carriers in the United States; and the Charles de Gaulle in France. + Short take-off barrier-arrested recovery (STOBAR): these carriers are generally limited to carrying lighter fixed-wing aircraft with more limited payloads. STOBAR carrier air wings, such as the Sukhoi Su-33 and future Mikoyan MiG-29K wings of are often geared primarily towards air superiority and fleet defense roles rather than strike/power projection tasks, which require heavier payloads (bombs and air-to-ground missiles). Five are in service: two in China; two in India and one in Russia. + Short take-off vertical-landing (STOVL): limited to carrying STOVL aircraft. STOVL aircraft, such as the Harrier family and Yakovlev Yak-38 generally have limited payloads, lower performance, and high fuel consumption when compared with conventional fixed-wing aircraft; however, a new generation of STOVL aircraft, currently consisting of the Lockheed Martin F-35B Lightning II, has much improved performance. Fourteen are in service; nine STOVL amphibious assault ships in the US; two carriers each in Italy and the UK; and one STOVL amphibious assault ship in Spain. + Helicopter carrier: Helicopter carriers have a similar appearance to other aircraft carriers but operate only helicopters – those that mainly operate helicopters but can also operate fixed-wing aircraft are known as STOVL carriers (see above). Seventeen are in service: four in Japan; three in France; two each in Australia, China, Egypt and South Korea; and one each in Brazil and Thailand. In the past, some conventional carriers were converted and these were called "commando carriers" by the Royal Navy. Some helicopter carriers, but not all, are classified as amphibious assault ships, tasked with landing and supporting ground forces on enemy territory. + +By size + Fleet carrier + Light aircraft carrier + Escort carrier + +Supercarrier + +The appellation "supercarrier" is not an official designation with any national navy, but a term used predominantly by the media and typically when reporting on larger and more advanced carrier types. It is also used when comparing carriers of various sizes and capabilities, both current and past. It was first used by The New York Times in 1938, in an article about the Royal Navy's , that had a length of , a displacement of 22,000 ton and was designed to carry 72 aircraft. Since then, aircraft carriers have consistently grown in size, both in length and displacement, as well as improved capabilities; in defense, sensors, electronic warfare, propulsion, range, launch and recovery systems, number and types of aircraft carried and number of sorties flown per day. + +China, Russia, and the United Kingdom all have carriers in service or under construction with displacements ranging from 65,000 to 85,000 tons and lengths from which have been described as "supercarriers". The largest "supercarriers" in service as of 2022, however, are with the US Navy, with displacements exceeding 100,000 tons, lengths of over , and capabilities that match or exceed that of any other class. + +Hull type identification symbols +Several systems of identification symbol for aircraft carriers and related types of ship have been used. These include the pennant numbers used by the Royal Navy, Commonwealth countries, and Europe, along with the hull classification symbols used by the US and Canada. + +History + +Origins + +The 1903 advent of the heavier-than-air fixed-wing airplane with the Wright brothers' first flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, was closely followed on 14 November 1910, by Eugene Burton Ely's first experimental take-off of a Curtiss Pusher airplane from the deck of a United States Navy ship, the cruiser anchored off Norfolk Navy Base in Virginia. Two months later, on 18 January 1911, Ely landed his Curtiss Pusher airplane on a platform on the armored cruiser anchored in San Francisco Bay. On 9 May 1912, the first take off of an airplane from a ship while underway was made by Commander Charles Samson flying a Short Improved S.27 biplane "S.38" of the Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) from the deck of the Royal Navy's pre-dreadnought battleship , thus providing the first practical demonstration of the aircraft carrier for naval operations at sea. Seaplane tender support ships came next, with the French of 1911. + +Early in World War I, the Imperial Japanese Navy ship conducted the world's first successful ship-launched air raid: on 6 September 1914, a Farman aircraft launched by Wakamiya attacked the Austro-Hungarian cruiser and the Imperial German gunboat Jaguar in Jiaozhou Bay off Qingdao; neither was hit. The first attack using an air-launched torpedo occurred on 2 August, when a torpedo was fired by Flight Commander Charles H. K. Edmonds from a Short Type 184 seaplane, launched from the seaplane carrier . + +The first carrier-launched airstrike was the Tondern raid in July 1918. Seven Sopwith Camels were launched from the battlecruiser which had been completed as a carrier by replacing her planned forward turret with a flight deck and hangar prior to commissioning. The Camels attacked and damaged the German airbase at Tondern, Germany (modern day Tønder, Denmark) and destroyed two zeppelin airships. + +The first landing of an airplane on a moving ship was by Squadron Commander Edwin Harris Dunning, when he landed his Sopwith Pup on HMS Furious in Scapa Flow, Orkney on 2 August 1917. Landing on the forward flight deck required the pilot to approach round the ship's superstructure, a difficult and dangerous manoeuver and Dunning was later killed when his airplane was thrown overboard while attempting another landing on Furious. HMS Furious was modified again when her rear turret was removed and another flight deck added over a second hangar for landing aircraft over the stern. Her funnel and superstructure remained intact however and turbulence from the funnel and superstructure was severe enough that only three landing attempts were successful before further attempts were forbidden. This experience prompted the development of vessels with a flush deck and produced the first large fleet ships. In 1918, became the world's first carrier capable of launching and recovering naval aircraft. + +As a result of the Washington Naval Treaty of 1922, which limited the construction of new heavy surface combat ships, most early aircraft carriers were conversions of ships that were laid down (or had served) as different ship types: cargo ships, cruisers, battlecruisers, or battleships. These conversions gave rise to the US s (1927), Japanese and , and British . Specialist carrier evolution was well underway, with several navies ordering and building warships that were purposefully designed to function as aircraft carriers by the mid-1920s. This resulted in the commissioning of ships such as the Japanese (1922), (1924, although laid down in 1918 before Hōshō), and (1927). During World War II, these ships would become known as fleet carriers. + +World War II + +The aircraft carrier dramatically changed naval warfare in World War II, because air power was becoming a significant factor in warfare. The advent of aircraft as focal weapons was driven by the superior range, flexibility, and effectiveness of carrier-launched aircraft. They had greater range and precision than naval guns, making them highly effective. The versatility of the carrier was demonstrated in November 1940, when launched a long-range strike on the Italian fleet at their base in Taranto, signalling the beginning of the effective and highly mobile aircraft strikes. This operation in the shallow water harbor incapacitated three of the six anchored battleships at a cost of two torpedo bombers. + +World War II in the Pacific Ocean involved clashes between aircraft carrier fleets. The Japanese surprise attack on the American Pacific fleet at Pearl Harbor naval and air bases on Sunday, 7 December 1941, was a clear illustration of the power projection capability afforded by a large force of modern carriers. Concentrating six carriers in a single unit turned naval history about, as no other nation had fielded anything comparable. Further versatility was demonstrated during the "Doolittle Raid", on 18 April 1942, when US Navy carrier sailed to within of Japan and launched 16 B-25 bombers from her deck in a retaliatory strike on the mainland, including the capital, Tokyo. However, the vulnerability of carriers compared to traditional battleships when forced into a gun-range encounter was quickly illustrated by the sinking of by German battleships during the Norwegian campaign in 1940. + +This new-found importance of naval aviation forced nations to create a number of carriers, in efforts to provide air superiority cover for every major fleet in order to ward off enemy aircraft. This extensive usage led to the development and construction of 'light' carriers. Escort aircraft carriers, such as , were sometimes purpose-built but most were converted from merchant ships as a stop-gap measure to provide anti-submarine air support for convoys and amphibious invasions. Following this concept, light aircraft carriers built by the US, such as , represented a larger, more "militarized" version of the escort carrier. Although with similar complement to escort carriers, they had the advantage of speed from their converted cruiser hulls. The UK 1942 Design Light Fleet Carrier was designed for building quickly by civilian shipyards and with an expected service life of about 3 years. They served the Royal Navy during the war, and the hull design was chosen for nearly all aircraft carrier equipped navies after the war, until the 1980s. Emergencies also spurred the creation or conversion of highly unconventional aircraft carriers. CAM ships were cargo-carrying merchant ships that could launch (but not retrieve) a single fighter aircraft from a catapult to defend the convoy from long range land-based German aircraft. + +Postwar era + +Before World War II, international naval treaties of 1922, 1930, and 1936 limited the size of capital ships including carriers. Since World War II, aircraft carrier designs have increased in size to accommodate a steady increase in aircraft size. The large, modern of US Navy carriers has a displacement nearly four times that of the World War II–era , yet its complement of aircraft is roughly the same—a consequence of the steadily increasing size and weight of individual military aircraft over the years. Today's aircraft carriers are so expensive that some nations which operate them risk significant economic and military impact if a carrier is lost. + +Some changes were made after 1945 in carriers: + The angled flight deck was invented by Royal Navy Captain (later Rear Admiral) Dennis Cambell, as naval aviation jets higher speeds required carriers be modified to "fit" their needs. Additionally, the angled flight deck allows for simultaneous launch and recovery. + Jet blast deflectors became necessary to protect aircraft and handlers from jet blast. The first US Navy carriers to be fitted with them were the wooden-decked s which were adapted to operate jets in the late 1940s. Later versions had to be water-cooled because of increasing engine power. + Optical landing systems were developed to facilitate the very precise landing angles required by jet aircraft, which have a faster landing speed giving the pilot little time to correct misalignments, or mistakes. The first system was fitted to in 1952. + Aircraft carrier designs have increased in size to accommodate continuous increase in aircraft size. The 1950s saw US Navy's commission of "supercarriers", designed to operate naval jets, which offered better performance at the expense of bigger size and demanded more ordnance to be carried on-board (fuel, spare parts, electronics, etc.). + The combination of increased carrier size, speed requirements above 30 knots, and a requirement to operate at sea for long periods mean that modern large aircraft carriers often use nuclear reactors to create power for propulsion, electricity, catapulting airplanes from aircraft carriers, and a few more minor uses. + +Modern navies that operate such aircraft carriers treat them as capital ships of fleets, a role previously held by the galleons, ships-of-the-line and battleships. This change took place during World War II in response to air power becoming a significant factor in warfare, driven by the superior range, flexibility and effectiveness of carrier-launched aircraft. Following the war, carrier operations continued to increase in size and importance, and along with, carrier designs also increased in size and ability. Some of these larger carriers, dubbed by the media as "supercarriers", displacing 75,000 tons or greater, have become the pinnacle of carrier development. Some are powered by nuclear reactors and form the core of a fleet designed to operate far from home. Amphibious assault ships, such as the and classes, serve the purpose of carrying and landing Marines, and operate a large contingent of helicopters for that purpose. Also known as "commando carriers" or "helicopter carriers", many have the capability to operate VSTOL aircraft. + +The threatening role of aircraft carriers has a place in modern asymmetric warfare, like the gunboat diplomacy of the past. Carriers also facilitate quick and precise projections of overwhelming military power into such local and regional conflicts. + +Lacking the firepower of other warships, carriers by themselves are considered vulnerable to attack by other ships, aircraft, submarines, or missiles. Therefore, an aircraft carrier is generally accompanied by a number of other ships to provide protection for the relatively unwieldy carrier, to carry supplies, re-supply (Many carriers are self-sufficient and will supply their escorts) and perform other support services, and to provide additional offensive capabilities. The resulting group of ships is often termed a carrier strike group, battle group, carrier group, or carrier battle group. + +There is a view among some military pundits that modern anti-ship weapons systems, such as torpedoes and missiles, or even ballistic missiles with nuclear warheads have made aircraft carriers and carrier groups too vulnerable for modern combat. + + like the German U24 of the conventional 206 class which in 2001 "fired" at the Enterprise during the exercise JTFEX 01-2 in the Caribbean Sea by firing flares and taking a photograph through its periscope or the Swedish Gotland which managed the same feat in 2006 during JTFEX 06-2 by penetrating the defensive measures of Carrier Strike Group 7 which was protecting . + +Description + +Structure +Carriers are large and long ships, although there is a high degree of variation depending on their intended role and aircraft complement. The size of the carrier has varied over history and among navies, to cater to the various roles that global climates have demanded from naval aviation. + +Regardless of size, the ship itself must house their complement of aircraft, with space for launching, storing, and maintaining them. Space is also required for the large crew, supplies (food, munitions, fuel, engineering parts), and propulsion. US aircraft carriers are notable for having nuclear reactors powering their systems and propulsion. + +The top of the carrier is the flight deck, where aircraft are launched and recovered. On the starboard side of this is the island, where the funnel, air-traffic control and the bridge are located. + +The constraints of constructing a flight deck affect the role of a given carrier strongly, as they influence the weight, type, and configuration of the aircraft that may be launched. For example, assisted launch mechanisms are used primarily for heavy aircraft, especially those loaded with air-to-ground weapons. CATOBAR is most commonly used on US Navy fleet carriers as it allows the deployment of heavy jets with full load-outs, especially on ground-attack missions. STOVL is used by other navies because it is cheaper to operate and still provides good deployment capability for fighter aircraft. + +Due to the busy nature of the flight deck, only 20 or so aircraft may be on it at any one time. A hangar storage several decks below the flight deck is where most aircraft are kept, and aircraft are taken from the lower storage decks to the flight deck through the use of an elevator. The hangar is usually quite large and can take up several decks of vertical space. + +Munitions are commonly stored on the lower decks because they are highly explosive. Usually this is below the waterline so that the area can be flooded in case of emergency. + +Flight deck + +As "runways at sea", aircraft carriers have a flat-top flight deck, which launches and recovers aircraft. Aircraft launch forward, into the wind, and are recovered from astern. The flight deck is where the most notable differences between a carrier and a land runway are found. Creating such a surface at sea poses constraints on the carrier. For example, the size of the vessel is a fundamental limitation on runway length. This affects take-off procedure, as a shorter runway length of the deck requires that aircraft accelerate more quickly to gain lift. This either requires a thrust boost, a vertical component to its velocity, or a reduced take-off load (to lower mass). The differing types of deck configuration, as above, influence the structure of the flight deck. The form of launch assistance a carrier provides is strongly related to the types of aircraft embarked and the design of the carrier itself. + +There are two main philosophies in order to keep the deck short: add thrust to the aircraft, such as using a Catapult Assisted Take-Off (CATO-); and changing the direction of the airplanes' thrust, as in Vertical and/or Short Take-Off (V/STO-). Each method has advantages and disadvantages of its own: + Catapult assisted take-off but arrested recovery (CATOBAR): A steam- or electric-powered catapult is connected to the aircraft, and is used to accelerate conventional aircraft to a safe flying speed. By the end of the catapult stroke, the aircraft is airborne and further propulsion is provided by its own engines. This is the most expensive method as it requires complex machinery to be installed under the flight deck, but allows for even heavily loaded aircraft to take off. + Short take-off but arrested recovery (STOBAR) depends on increasing the net lift on the aircraft. Aircraft do not require catapult assistance for take off; instead on nearly all ships of this type an upwards vector is provided by a ski-jump at the forward end of the flight deck, often combined with thrust vectoring by the aircraft. Alternatively, by reducing the fuel and weapon load, an aircraft is able to reach faster speeds and generate more upwards lift and launch without a ski-jump or catapult. + Short take-off vertical-landing (STOVL): On aircraft carriers, non-catapult-assisted, fixed-wing short takeoffs are accomplished with the use of thrust vectoring, which may also be used in conjunction with a runway "ski-jump". Use of STOVL tends to allow aircraft to carry a larger payload as compared to during VTOL use, while still only requiring a short runway. The most famous examples are the Hawker Siddeley Harrier and the BAe Sea Harrier. Although technically VTOL aircraft, they are operationally STOVL aircraft due to the extra weight carried at take-off for fuel and armaments. The same is true of the Lockheed F-35B Lightning II, which demonstrated VTOL capability in test flights but is operationally STOVL or in the case of UK uses "shipborne rolling vertical landing" + Vertical take-off and landing (VTOL): Certain aircraft are specifically designed for the purpose of using very high degrees of thrust vectoring (e.g. if the thrust to weight-force ratio is greater than 1, it can take off vertically), but are usually slower than conventionally propelled aircraft due to the additional weight from associated systems. + +On the recovery side of the flight deck, the adaptation to the aircraft load-out is mirrored. Non-VTOL or conventional aircraft cannot decelerate on their own, and almost all carriers using them must have arrested-recovery systems (-BAR, e.g. CATOBAR or STOBAR) to recover their aircraft. Aircraft that are landing extend a tailhook that catches on arrestor wires stretched across the deck to bring themselves to a stop in a short distance. Post-World War II Royal Navy research on safer CATOBAR recovery eventually led to universal adoption of a landing area angled off axis to allow aircraft who missed the arresting wires to "bolt" and safely return to flight for another landing attempt rather than crashing into aircraft on the forward deck. + +If the aircraft are VTOL-capable or helicopters, they do not need to decelerate and hence there is no such need. The arrested-recovery system has used an angled deck since the 1950s because, in case the aircraft does not catch the arresting wire, the short deck allows easier take off by reducing the number of objects between the aircraft and the end of the runway. It also has the advantage of separating the recovery operation area from the launch area. Helicopters and aircraft capable of vertical or short take-off and landing (V/STOL) usually recover by coming abreast of the carrier on the port side and then using their hover capability to move over the flight deck and land vertically without the need for arresting gear. + +Staff and deck operations + +Carriers steam at speed, up to into the wind during flight deck operations to increase wind speed over the deck to a safe minimum. This increase in effective wind speed provides a higher launch airspeed for aircraft at the end of the catapult stroke or ski-jump, as well as making recovery safer by reducing the difference between the relative speeds of the aircraft and ship. + +Since the early 1950s on conventional carriers it has been the practice to recover aircraft at an angle to port of the axial line of the ship. The primary function of this angled deck is to allow aircraft that miss the arresting wires, referred to as a bolter, to become airborne again without the risk of hitting aircraft parked forward. The angled deck allows the installation of one or two "waist" catapults in addition to the two bow cats. An angled deck also improves launch and recovery cycle flexibility with the option of simultaneous launching and recovery of aircraft. + +Conventional ("tailhook") aircraft rely upon a landing signal officer (LSO, radio call sign 'paddles') to monitor the aircraft's approach, visually gauge glideslope, attitude, and airspeed, and transmit that data to the pilot. Before the angled deck emerged in the 1950s, LSOs used colored paddles to signal corrections to the pilot (hence the nickname). From the late 1950s onward, visual landing aids such as the optical landing system have provided information on proper glide slope, but LSOs still transmit voice calls to approaching pilots by radio. + +Key personnel involved in the flight deck include the shooters, the handler, and the air boss. Shooters are naval aviators or naval flight officers and are responsible for launching aircraft. The handler works just inside the island from the flight deck and is responsible for the movement of aircraft before launching and after recovery. The "air boss" (usually a commander) occupies the top bridge (Primary Flight Control, also called primary or the tower) and has the overall responsibility for controlling launch, recovery and "those aircraft in the air near the ship, and the movement of planes on the flight deck, which itself resembles a well-choreographed ballet". The captain of the ship spends most of his time one level below primary on the Navigation Bridge. Below this is the Flag Bridge, designated for the embarked admiral and his staff. + +To facilitate working on the flight deck of a US aircraft carrier, the sailors wear colored shirts that designate their responsibilities. There are at least seven different colors worn by flight deck personnel for modern United States Navy carrier air operations. Carrier operations of other nations use similar color schemes. + +Deck structures + +The superstructure of a carrier (such as the bridge, flight control tower) are concentrated in a relatively small area called an island, a feature pioneered on in 1923. While the island is usually built on the starboard side of the flight deck, the Japanese aircraft carriers and had their islands built on the port side. Very few carriers have been designed or built without an island. The flush deck configuration proved to have significant drawbacks, primary of which was management of the exhaust from the power plant. Fumes coming across the deck were a major issue in . In addition, lack of an island meant difficulties managing the flight deck, performing air traffic control, a lack of radar housing placements and problems with navigating and controlling the ship itself. + +Another deck structure that can be seen is a ski-jump ramp at the forward end of the flight deck. This was first developed to help launch short take off vertical landing (STOVL) aircraft take off at far higher weights than is possible with a vertical or rolling takeoff on flat decks. Originally developed by the Royal Navy, it since has been adopted by many navies for smaller carriers. A ski-jump ramp works by converting some of the forward rolling movement of the aircraft into vertical velocity and is sometimes combined with the aiming of jet thrust partly downwards. This allows heavily loaded and fueled aircraft a few more precious seconds to attain sufficient air velocity and lift to sustain normal flight. Without a ski-jump, launching fully-loaded and fueled aircraft such as the Harrier would not be possible on a smaller flat deck ship before either stalling out or crashing directly into the sea. + +Although STOVL aircraft are capable of taking off vertically from a spot on the deck, using the ramp and a running start is far more fuel efficient and permits a heavier launch weight. As catapults are unnecessary, carriers with this arrangement reduce weight, complexity, and space needed for complex steam or electromagnetic launching equipment. Vertical landing aircraft also remove the need for arresting cables and related hardware. Russian, Chinese, and Indian carriers include a ski-jump ramp for launching lightly loaded conventional fighter aircraft but recover using traditional carrier arresting cables and a tailhook on their aircraft. + +The disadvantage of the ski-jump is the penalty it exacts on aircraft size, payload, and fuel load (and thus range); heavily laden aircraft cannot launch using a ski-jump because their high loaded weight requires either a longer takeoff roll than is possible on a carrier deck, or assistance from a catapult or JATO rocket. For example, the Russian Sukhoi Su-33 is only able to launch from the carrier with a minimal armament and fuel load. Another disadvantage is on mixed flight deck operations where helicopters are also present, such as on a US landing helicopter dock or landing helicopter assault amphibious assault ship. A ski jump is not included as this would eliminate one or more helicopter landing areas; this flat deck limits the loading of Harriers but is somewhat mitigated by the longer rolling start provided by a long flight deck compared to many STOVL carriers. + +National fleets + +The US Navy has the largest fleet of carriers in the world, with eleven supercarriers currently in service. China and India each have two STOBAR carriers in service. The UK has two STOVL carriers in service. The navies of France and Russia each operate a single medium-sized carrier. The US also has nine similarly sized Amphibious Warfare Ships. There are five small light carriers in use capable of operating both fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters; Japan and Italy each operate two, and Spain one. + +Additionally there are eighteen small carriers which only operate helicopters serving the navies of Australia (2), Brazil (1), China (2), Egypt (2), France (3), Japan (4), South Korea (2), Thailand (1) and Turkey (1). + +Algeria +Current + +Kalaat Béni Abbès (L-474) is an amphibious transport dock of the Algerian National Navy with two deck-landing spots for helicopters. + +Australia + +Current +The Royal Australian Navy operates two s. The two-ship class, based on the Spanish vessel and built by Navantia and BAE Systems Australia, represents the largest ships ever built for the Royal Australian Navy. + + underwent sea trials in late 2013 and was commissioned in 2014. Her sister ship, , was commissioned in December 2015. The Australian ships retain the ski-ramp from the Juan Carlos I design, although the RAN has not acquired carrier-based fixed-wing aircraft. + +Brazil +Current +In December 2017, the Brazilian Navy confirmed the purchase of for (GBP) £84.6 million (equivalent to R$359.5M and US$113.2M) and renamed her . The ship was decommissioned from Royal Navy service in March 2018. The Brazilian Navy commissioned the carrier on 29 June 2018 in the United Kingdom. After undertaking a period of maintenance in the UK, the ship travelled to its new home port, Arsenal de Marinha do Rio de Janeiro (AMRJ) in order to be fully operational by 2020. The ship displaces 21,578 tonnes, is long and has a range of . + +Before leaving HMNB Devonport for her new homeport in Rio's AMRJ, Atlântico underwent operational sea training under the Royal Navy's Flag Officer Sea Training (FOST) program. + +On 12 November 2020, Atlântico was redesignated "NAM", for "multipurpose aircraft carrier" (), from "PHM", for "multipurpose helicopter carrier" (), to reflect the ship's capability to operate with fixed-wing medium-altitude long-endurance unmanned aerial vehicles as well as crewed tiltrotor VTOL aircraft. + +China + +Current +2 STOBAR carriers: + (60,900 tons) was originally built as the Soviet carrier Varyag and was later purchased as a hulk in 1998 on the pretext of use as a floating casino, then towed to China for rebuild and completion. Liaoning was commissioned on 25 September 2012 and began service for testing and training. In November 2012, Liaoning launched and recovered Shenyang J-15 naval fighter aircraft for the first time. After a refit in January 2019, she was assigned to the North Sea Fleet, a change from her previous role as a training carrier. + (60,000–70,000 tons) was launched on 26 April 2017. She is the first to be built domestically, to an improved Kuznetsov-class design. Shandong started sea trials on 23 April 2018, and entered service in December 2019. +1 CATOBAR carrier: + (80,000 tons) is a CATOBAR carrier which was under construction between 2015 and 2016 before being completed in June 2022. She is being fitted out as of 2022 and will commence service in 2023–2024. +3 Landing helicopter docks +A Type 075 LHD, was commissioned on 23 April 2021 at the naval base in Sanya. A second ship, Guangxi, was commissioned on 26 December 2021 and a third ship, Anhui, was commissioned in October 2022. + +Future +China has had a long-term plan to operate six large aircraft carriers with two carriers per fleet. + +China is planning a class of eight landing helicopter dock vessels, the Type 075 (NATO reporting name Yushen-class landing helicopter assault). This is a class of amphibious assault ship under construction by the Hudong–Zhonghua Shipbuilding company. The first ship was commissioned in April 2021. China is also planning a modified class of the same concept, the Type 076 landing helicopter dock, that will also be equipped with an electromagnetic catapult launch system. + +Egypt +Current +Egypt signed a contract with French shipbuilder DCNS to buy two helicopter carriers for approximately 950 million euros. The two ships were originally to be sold to Russia, but the deal was cancelled by France due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. + +On 2 June 2016, Egypt received the first of two helicopter carriers acquired in October 2015, the landing helicopter dock . The flag transfer ceremony took place in the presence of Egyptian and French Navies' chiefs of staff, chairman and chief executive officers of both DCNS and STX France, and senior Egyptian and French officials. On 16 September 2016, DCNS delivered the second of two helicopter carriers, the landing helicopter dock which also participated in a joint military exercise with the French Navy before arriving at her home port of Alexandria. + +Egypt is so far the only country in Africa or the Middle East to possess a helicopter carrier. + +France + +Current +The French Navy operates the 42,000-tonne nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, . Commissioned in 2001, she is the flagship of the French Navy. The ship carries a complement of Dassault Rafale M and E-2C Hawkeye aircraft, EC725 Caracal and AS532 Cougar helicopters for combat search and rescue, as well as modern electronics and Aster missiles. She is a CATOBAR-type carrier that uses two 75 m C13-3 steam catapults of a shorter version of the catapult system installed on the US carriers, one catapult at the bow and one across the front of the landing area. In addition, the French Navy operates three s. + +Future +In October 2018, the French Ministry of Defence began an 18-month study for €40 million for the eventual future replacement of the beyond 2030. In December 2020, President Macron announced that construction of the next generation carrier would begin in around 2025 with sea trials to start in about 2036. The carrier is planned to have a displacement of around 75,000 tons and to carry about 32 next-generation fighters, two to three E-2D Advanced Hawkeyes and a yet-to-be-determined number of unmanned carrier air vehicles. + +India + +Current +2 STOBAR carriers: + +, 45,400 tonnes, modified Kiev class. The carrier was purchased by India on 20 January 2004 after years of negotiations at a final price of $2.35 billion (). The ship successfully completed her sea trials in July 2013 and aviation trials in September 2013. She was formally commissioned on 16 November 2013 at a ceremony held at Severodvinsk, Russia. + +, also known as Indigenous Aircraft Carrier 1 (IAC-1) a 45,000-tonne, aircraft carrier whose keel was laid in 2009. The new carrier will operate MiG-29K and naval HAL Tejas aircraft. The ship is powered by gas-turbines and has a range of and deploys 10 helicopters and 30 aircraft. The ship was launched in 2013, sea-trials began in August 2021 and was commissioned on 02 September 2022. + +Future +India has plans for a third carrier, , also known as Indigenous Aircraft Carrier 2 (IAC-2) with a displacement of over 65,000 tonnes and is planned with a CATOBAR system to launch and recover heavier aircraft. + +India has also issued a request for information (RFI) to procure four Landing helicopter dock displacing 30,000-40,000 tons with a capacity to operate 12 medium lift special ops and two heavy lift helicopters and troops for amphibious operations. + +Italy + +Current +2 STOVL carriers: + : 14,000-tonne Italian STOVL carrier, commissioned in 1985. + : 30000-tonne Italian STOVL carrier designed and built with secondary amphibious assault facilities, commissioned in 2008. + +Future +Italy plans to replace ageing aircraft carrier Giuseppe Garibaldi, as well as one of the landing helicopter docks, with a new amphibious assault ship, to be named . The ship will be significantly larger than her predecessors with a displacement of 38,000 tonnes at full load. Trieste is to carry the F-35B Joint Strike Fighter. Meanwhile, Giuseppe Garibaldi will be transferred to Italian Space Operation Command for use as a satellite launch platform. + +Japan + +Current + 2 s – , 19,500-tonne (27,000 tonnes full load) STOVL carrier Izumo was launched August 2013 and commissioned March 2015. Izumos sister ship, Kaga, was commissioned in 2017. +In December 2018, the Japanese Cabinet gave approval to convert both Izumo-class destroyers into aircraft carriers for F-35B STOVL operations. The conversion of Izumo was underway as of mid-2020. The modification of maritime escort vessels is to "increase operational flexibility" and enhance Pacific air defense, the Japanese defense ministry's position is "We are not creating carrier air wings or carrier air squadrons" similar to the US Navy. The Japanese STOVL F-35s, when delivered, will be operated by the Japan Air Self Defense Force from land bases; according to the 2020 Japanese Defense Ministry white paper the STOVL model was chosen for the JASDF due the lack of appropriately long runways to support air superiority capability across all of Japanese airspace. Japan has requested that the USMC deploy STOVL F-35s and crews aboard the Izumo-class ships "for cooperation and advice on how to operate the fighter on the deck of the modified ships". +On 3 October 2021, two USMC F-35Bs performed the first vertical landings and horizontal take-offs from JS Izumo, marking 75 years since fixed-wing aircraft operated from a Japanese carrier. + + 2 s – 19,000-tonne (full load) anti-submarine warfare carriers with enhanced command-and-control capabilities allowing them to serve as fleet flagships. + +Russia + +Current +1 STOBAR carrier: Admiral Flota Sovetskogo Soyuza Kuznetsov: 55,000-tonne STOBAR aircraft carrier. Launched in 1985 as Tbilisi, renamed and operational from 1995. Without catapults she can launch and recover lightly fueled naval fighters for air defense or anti-ship missions but not heavy conventional bombing strikes. Officially designated an aircraft carrying cruiser, she is unique in carrying a heavy cruiser's complement of defensive weapons and large P-700 Granit offensive missiles. The P-700 systems will be removed in the coming refit to enlarge her below decks aviation facilities as well as upgrading her defensive systems. + +Future +The Russian Government has been considering the potential replacement of Admiral Kuznetsov for some time and has considered the Shtorm-class aircraft carrier as a possible option. This carrier will be a hybrid of CATOBAR and STOBAR, given the fact that she utilizes both systems of launching aircraft. The carrier is expected to cost As of 2020, the project had not yet been approved and, given the financial costs, it was unclear whether it would be made a priority over other elements of Russian naval modernization. + +A class of 2 LHD, Project 23900 is planned and an official keel laying ceremony for the project happened on 20 July 2020. + +South Korea + +Current +Two 18,860-tonne full deck amphibious assault ships with hospital and well deck and facilities to serve as fleet flagships. + +Future +South Korea has set tentative plans for procuring two light aircraft carriers by 2033, which would help make the ROKN a blue water navy. In December 2020, details of South Korea's planned carrier program (CVX) were finalized. A vessel of about 40,000 tons is envisaged carrying about 20 F-35B fighters as well as future maritime attack helicopters. Service entry had been anticipated in the early 2030s. The program has encountered opposition in the National Assembly. In November 2021, the National Defense Committee of the National Assembly reduced the program's requested budget of 7.2 billion KRW and to just 500 million KRW (about $400K USD), effectively putting the project on hold, at least temporarily. However, on 3 December 2021 the full budget of 7.2 billion won was passed by the National Assembly. Basic design work is to begin in earnest starting 2022. + +Spain + +Current +: 27,000-tonne, specially designed multipurpose strategic projection ship which can operate as an amphibious assault ship and aircraft carrier. Juan Carlos I has full facilities for both functions including a ski jump for STOVL operations, is equipped with the AV-8B Harrier II attack aircraft. Also, well deck, and vehicle storage area which can be used as additional hangar space, launched in 2008, commissioned 30 September 2010. + +Thailand + +Current +1 offshore helicopter support ship: helicopter carrier: 11,400-tonne STOVL carrier based on Spanish design. Commissioned in 1997. The AV-8S Matador/Harrier STOVL fighter wing, mostly inoperable by 1999, was retired from service without replacement in 2006. As of 2010, the ship is used for helicopter operations and for disaster relief. + +Turkey + +Current + is a 27,079-tonne amphibious assault ship (LHD) of the Turkish Navy that can be configured as a 24,660-tonne V/STOL aircraft carrier. Construction began on 30 April 2016 by Sedef Shipbuilding Inc. at their Istanbul shipyard. TCG Anadolu was commissioned with a ceremony on April 10, 2023. + +The construction of a sister ship, to be named TCG Trakya, is currently being planned by the Turkish Navy. + +The Baykar Kızılelma, a newly designed, jet-engined UCAV developed for the Turkish Navy and Turkish Air Force as part of Project MIUS, will operate from TCG Anadolu. Its maiden flight was successfully completed on December 14, 2022. The runway tests of TAI Anka-3, another jet-engined UCAV of Project MIUS (with a flying wing design and stealth technology), began in April 2023. Its maiden flight is scheduled for May 2023. + +United Kingdom + +Current +Two 65,000-tonne Queen Elizabeth-class STOVL carriers which operate the F-35 Lightning II. was commissioned in December 2017 and in December 2019. + +Queen Elizabeth undertook her first operational deployment in 2021. Each Queen Elizabeth-class ship is able to operate around 40 aircraft during peacetime operations and is thought to be able to carry up to 72 at maximum capacity. As of the end of April 2020, 18 F-35B aircraft had been delivered to the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. "Full operating capability" for the UK's carrier strike capability had been planned for 2023 (2 squadrons or 24 jets operating from one carrier). The longer-term aim remains for the ability to conduct a wide range of air operations and support amphibious operations worldwide from both carriers by 2026. They form the central part of the UK Carrier Strike Group. + +Future +The Queen Elizabeth-class ships are expected to have service lives of 50 years. + +United States + +Current +11 CATOBAR carriers, all nuclear-powered: +: ten 101,000-tonne, fleet carriers, the first of which was commissioned in 1975. A Nimitz-class carrier is powered by two nuclear reactors providing steam to four steam turbines. +, one 100,000-tonne, fleet carrier. The lead of the class came into service in 2017, with another nine planned to replace the aging Nimitz-class ships. + +Nine amphibious assault ships carrying vehicles, Marine fighters, attack and transport helicopters, and landing craft with STOVL fighters for CAS and CAP: + : a class of 45,000-tonne amphibious assault ships, although the first two ships in this class, (Flight 0) do not have a well decks, all subsequent ships (Flight I) will have well decks. Two ships are currently in service out of a planned 11 ships. Ships of this class can have a secondary mission as a light aircraft carrier with 20 AV-8B Harrier II, and in the future the F-35B Lightning II aircraft after unloading their Marine expeditionary unit. + : a class of 41,000-tonne amphibious assault ships, members of this class have been used in wartime in their secondary mission as light carriers with 20 to 25 AV-8Bs after unloading their Marine expeditionary unit. Seven ship currently in service of an original eight, with one lost to fire. +Future +The current US fleet of Nimitz-class carriers will be followed into service (and in some cases replaced) by the . It is expected that the ships will be more automated in an effort to reduce the amount of funding required to maintain and operate the vessels. The main new features are implementation of Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System (EMALS) (which replaces the old steam catapults) and unmanned aerial vehicles. In terms of future carrier developments, Congress has discussed the possibility of accelerating the phasing-out of one or more Nimitz-class carriers, postponing or canceling the procurement of CVN-81 and CVN-82, or modifying the purchase contract. + +Following the deactivation of in December 2012, the US fleet comprised 10 fleet carriers, but that number increased back to 11 with the commissioning of Gerald R. Ford in July 2017. The House Armed Services Seapower subcommittee on 24 July 2007, recommended seven or eight new carriers (one every four years). However, the debate has deepened over budgeting for the $12–14.5 billion (plus $12 billion for development and research) for the 100,000-tonne Gerald R. Ford-class carrier (estimated service 2017) compared to the smaller $2 billion 45,000-tonne s, which are able to deploy squadrons of F-35Bs. The first of this class, , is now in active service with another, , and 9 more are planned. + +In a report to Congress in February 2018, the Navy stated it intends to maintain a "12 CVN force" as part of its 30-year acquisition plan. + +Aircraft carriers in preservation + +Current museum carriers +A few aircraft carriers have been preserved as museum ships. They are: + in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina + in New York City + in Alameda, California + in Corpus Christi, Texas + in San Diego, California + in Tianjin, China + in Nantong, China + +Former museum carriers + was moored as a museum in Mumbai from 2001 to 2012, but was never able to find an industrial partner and was closed that year. She was scrapped in 2014. + was acquired for preservation and moored in New Orleans from 1990 to 2002, but due to an embezzlement scandal, funding for the museum never materialized and the ship was scrapped in 2002. + +Future museum carriers + has a preservation campaign to bring her to the West Coast of the United States as the world's first amphibious assault ship museum. + +See also + Airborne aircraft carrier + Aviation-capable naval vessels + Carrier-based aircraft + Lily and Clover + Merchant aircraft carrier + Mobile offshore base + Project Habakkuk + Seadrome + Submarine aircraft carrier + Unsinkable aircraft carrier + +Related lists + + List of aircraft carriers + List of aircraft carriers in service + List of aircraft carriers by configuration + List of aircraft carriers of the Second World War + List of sunken aircraft carriers + List of amphibious warfare ships + List of carrier-based aircraft + List of Canadian Navy aircraft carriers + List of aircraft carriers of the People's Liberation Army Navy (China) + List of current French Navy aircraft carriers + List of German aircraft carriers + List of aircraft carriers of the Indian Navy + List of Italian Navy aircraft carriers + List of aircraft carriers of the Japanese Navy + List of aircraft carriers of Russia and the Soviet Union + List of active Spanish aircraft carriers + List of aircraft carriers of the Royal Navy + List of escort carriers of the Royal Navy + List of seaplane carriers of the Royal Navy + List of aircraft carriers of the United States Navy + List of aircraft carrier classes of the United States Navy + List of escort aircraft carriers of the United States Navy + +References + +Bibliography + +Further reading + + Ader, Clement. Military Aviation, 1909, Edited and translated by Lee Kennett, Air University Press, Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama, 2003, . + Chesneau, Roger. Aircraft Carriers of the World, 1914 to the Present: An Illustrated Encyclopedia. Naval Institute Press, 1984. + Francillon, René J, Tonkin Gulf Yacht Club US Carrier Operations off Vietnam, 1988, . + + + Melhorn, Charles M. Two-Block Fox: The Rise of the Aircraft Carrier, 1911–1929. Naval Institute Press, 1974. + Nordeen, Lon, Air Warfare in the Missile Age, 1985, . + Polmar, Norman. Aircraft Carriers: A History of Carrier Aviation and its Influence on World Events, 1901���2006. (two vols.) Potomac Books, 2006. + + Wadle, Ryan David. United States navy fleet problems and the development of carrier aviation, 1929–1933. PhD dissertation Texas A&M University, 2005. online. + +External links + + - technical training film from the Royal Navy + + +Ship types +Articles containing video clips +The Apicomplexa (also called Apicomplexia) are a large phylum of mainly parasitic alveolates. Most of them possess a unique form of organelle that comprises a type of non-photosynthetic plastid called an apicoplast, and an apical complex structure. The organelle is an adaptation that the apicomplexan applies in penetration of a host cell. + +The Apicomplexa are unicellular and spore-forming. Most are obligate endoparasites of animals, except Nephromyces, a symbiont in marine animals, originally classified as a chytrid fungus, and the Chromerida, some of which are photosynthetic partners of corals. Motile structures such as flagella or pseudopods are present only in certain gamete stages. + +The Apicomplexa are a diverse group that includes organisms such as the coccidia, gregarines, piroplasms, haemogregarines, and plasmodia. +Diseases caused by Apicomplexa include: + Babesiosis (Babesia) + Malaria (Plasmodium) + Cryptosporidiosis (Cryptosporidium parvum) + Cyclosporiasis (Cyclospora cayetanensis) + Cystoisosporiasis (Cystoisospora belli) + Toxoplasmosis (Toxoplasma gondii) + +The name Apicomplexa derives from two Latin words—apex (top) and complexus (infolds)—for the set of organelles in the sporozoite. The Apicomplexa comprise the bulk of what used to be called the Sporozoa, a group of parasitic protozoans, in general without flagella, cilia, or pseudopods. Most of the Apicomplexa are motile, however, with a gliding mechanism that uses adhesions and small static myosin motors. The other main lines were the Ascetosporea (a group of Rhizaria), the Myxozoa (highly derived cnidarian animals), and the Microsporidia (derived from fungi). Sometimes, the name Sporozoa is taken as a synonym for the Apicomplexa, or occasionally as a subset. + +Description + +The phylum Apicomplexa contains all eukaryotes with a group of structures and organelles collectively termed the apical complex. This complex consists of structural components and secretory organelles required for invasion of host cells during the parasitic stages of the Apicomplexan life cycle. Apicomplexa have complex life cycles, involving several stages and typically undergoing both asexual and sexual replication. All Apicomplexa are obligate parasites for some portion of their life cycle, with some parasitizing two separate hosts for their asexual and sexual stages. + +Besides the conserved apical complex, Apicomplexa are morphologically diverse. Different organisms within Apicomplexa, as well as different life stages for a given apicomplexan, can vary substantially in size, shape, and subcellular structure. Like other eukaryotes, Apicomplexa have a nucleus, endoplasmic reticulum and Golgi complex. Apicomplexa generally have a single mitochondrion, as well as another endosymbiont-derived organelle called the apicoplast which maintains a separate 35 kilobase circular genome (with the exception of Cryptosporidium species and Gregarina niphandrodes which lack an apicoplast). + +All members of this phylum have an infectious stage—the sporozoite—which possesses three distinct structures in an apical complex. The apical complex consists of a set of spirally arranged microtubules (the conoid), a secretory body (the rhoptry) and one or more polar rings. Additional slender electron-dense secretory bodies (micronemes) surrounded by one or two polar rings may also be present. This structure gives the phylum its name. A further group of spherical organelles is distributed throughout the cell rather than being localized at the apical complex and are known as the dense granules. These typically have a mean diameter around 0.7 μm. Secretion of the dense-granule content takes place after parasite invasion and localization within the parasitophorous vacuole and persists for several minutes. + Flagella are found only in the motile gamete. These are posteriorly directed and vary in number (usually one to three). + Basal bodies are present. Although hemosporidians and piroplasmids have normal triplets of microtubules in their basal bodies, coccidians and gregarines have nine singlets. + The mitochondria have tubular cristae. + Centrioles, chloroplasts, ejectile organelles, and inclusions are absent. + The cell is surrounded by a pellicle of three membrane layers (the alveolar structure) penetrated by micropores. + +Replication: + Mitosis is usually closed, with an intranuclear spindle; in some species, it is open at the poles. + Cell division is usually by schizogony. + Meiosis occurs in the zygote. + +Mobility: + +Apicomplexans have a unique gliding capability which enables them to cross through tissues and enter and leave their host cells. This gliding ability is made possible by the use of adhesions and small static myosin motors. + +Other features common to this phylum are a lack of cilia, sexual reproduction, use of micropores for feeding, and the production of oocysts containing sporozoites as the infective form. + +Transposons appear to be rare in this phylum, but have been identified in the genera Ascogregarina and Eimeria. + +Life cycle + +Most members have a complex lifecycle, involving both asexual and sexual reproduction. Typically, a host is infected via an active invasion by the parasites (similar to entosis), which divide to produce sporozoites that enter its cells. Eventually, the cells burst, releasing merozoites, which infect new cells. This may occur several times, until gamonts are produced, forming gametes that fuse to create new cysts. Many variations occur on this basic pattern, however, and many Apicomplexa have more than one host. + +The apical complex includes vesicles called rhoptries and micronemes, which open at the anterior of the cell. These secrete enzymes that allow the parasite to enter other cells. The tip is surrounded by a band of microtubules, called the polar ring, and among the Conoidasida is also a funnel of tubulin proteins called the conoid. Over the rest of the cell, except for a diminished mouth called the micropore, the membrane is supported by vesicles called alveoli, forming a semirigid pellicle. + +The presence of alveoli and other traits place the Apicomplexa among a group called the alveolates. Several related flagellates, such as Perkinsus and Colpodella, have structures similar to the polar ring and were formerly included here, but most appear to be closer relatives of the dinoflagellates. They are probably similar to the common ancestor of the two groups. + +Another similarity is that many apicomplexan cells contain a single plastid, called the apicoplast, surrounded by either three or four membranes. Its functions are thought to include tasks such as lipid and heme biosynthesis, and it appears to be necessary for survival. In general, plastids are considered to have a common origin with the chloroplasts of dinoflagellates, and evidence points to an origin from red algae rather than green. + +Subgroups +Within this phylum are four groups — coccidians, gregarines, haemosporidians (or haematozoans, including in addition piroplasms), and marosporidians. The coccidians and haematozoans appear to be relatively closely related. + +Perkinsus , while once considered a member of the Apicomplexa, has been moved to a new phylum — Perkinsozoa. + +Gregarines + +The gregarines are generally parasites of annelids, arthropods, and molluscs. They are often found in the guts of their hosts, but may invade the other tissues. In the typical gregarine lifecycle, a trophozoite develops within a host cell into a schizont. This then divides into a number of merozoites by schizogony. The merozoites are released by lysing the host cell, which in turn invade other cells. At some point in the apicomplexan lifecycle, gametocytes are formed. These are released by lysis of the host cells, which group together. Each gametocyte forms multiple gametes. The gametes fuse with another to form oocysts. The oocysts leave the host to be taken up by a new host. + +Coccidians + +In general, coccidians are parasites of vertebrates. Like gregarines, they are commonly parasites of the epithelial cells of the gut, but may infect other tissues. + +The coccidian lifecycle involves merogony, gametogony, and sporogony. While similar to that of the gregarines it differs in zygote formation. Some trophozoites enlarge and become macrogamete, whereas others divide repeatedly to form microgametes (anisogamy). The microgametes are motile and must reach the macrogamete to fertilize it. The fertilized macrogamete forms a zygote that in its turn forms an oocyst that is normally released from the body. Syzygy, when it occurs, involves markedly anisogamous gametes. The lifecycle is typically haploid, with the only diploid stage occurring in the zygote, which is normally short-lived. + +The main difference between the coccidians and the gregarines is in the gamonts. In the coccidia, these are small, intracellular, and without epimerites or mucrons. In the gregarines, these are large, extracellular, and possess epimerites or mucrons. A second difference between the coccidia and the gregarines also lies in the gamonts. In the coccidians, a single gamont becomes a macrogametocyte, whereas in the gregarines, the gamonts give rise to multiple gametocytes. + +Haemosporidia + +The Haemosporidia have more complex lifecycles that alternate between an arthropod and a vertebrate host. The trophozoite parasitises erythrocytes or other tissues in the vertebrate host. Microgametes and macrogametes are always found in the blood. The gametes are taken up by the insect vector during a blood meal. The microgametes migrate within the gut of the insect vector and fuse with the macrogametes. The fertilized macrogamete now becomes an ookinete, which penetrates the body of the vector. The ookinete then transforms into an oocyst and divides initially by meiosis and then by mitosis (haplontic lifecycle) to give rise to the sporozoites. The sporozoites escape from the oocyst and migrate within the body of the vector to the salivary glands where they are injected into the new vertebrate host when the insect vector feeds again. + +Marosporida +The class Marosporida Mathur, Kristmundsson, Gestal, Freeman, and Keeling 2020 is a newly recognized lineage of apicomplexans that is sister to the Coccidia and Hematozoa. It is defined as a phylogenetic clade containing Aggregata octopiana Frenzel 1885, Merocystis kathae Dakin, 1911 (both Aggregatidae, originally coccidians), Rhytidocystis sp. 1 and Rhytidocystis sp. 2 Janouškovec et al. 2019 (Rhytidocystidae Levine, 1979, originally coccidians, Agamococcidiorida), and Margolisiella islandica Kristmundsson et al. 2011 (closely related to Rhytidocystidae). Marosporida infect marine invertebrates. Members of this clade retain plastid genomes and the canonical apicomplexan plastid metabolism. However, marosporidians have the most reduced apicoplast genomes sequenced to date, lack canonical plastidial RNA polymerase and so provide new insights into reductive organelle evolution. + +Ecology and distribution + +Many of the apicomplexan parasites are important pathogens of humans and domestic animals. In contrast to bacterial pathogens, these apicomplexan parasites are eukaryotic and share many metabolic pathways with their animal hosts. This makes therapeutic target development extremely difficult – a drug that harms an apicomplexan parasite is also likely to harm its human host. At present, no effective vaccines are available for most diseases caused by these parasites. Biomedical research on these parasites is challenging because it is often difficult, if not impossible, to maintain live parasite cultures in the laboratory and to genetically manipulate these organisms. In recent years, several of the apicomplexan species have been selected for genome sequencing. The availability of genome sequences provides a new opportunity for scientists to learn more about the evolution and biochemical capacity of these parasites. The predominant source of this genomic information is the EuPathDB family of websites, which currently provides specialised services for Plasmodium species (PlasmoDB), coccidians (ToxoDB), piroplasms (PiroplasmaDB), and Cryptosporidium species (CryptoDB). One possible target for drugs is the plastid, and in fact existing drugs such as tetracyclines, which are effective against apicomplexans, seem to operate against the plastid. + +Many Coccidiomorpha have an intermediate host, as well as a primary host, and the evolution of hosts proceeded in different ways and at different times in these groups. For some coccidiomorphs, the original host has become the intermediate host, whereas in others it has become the definitive host. In the genera Aggregata, Atoxoplasma, Cystoisospora, Schellackia, and Toxoplasma, the original is now definitive, whereas in Akiba, Babesiosoma, Babesia, Haemogregarina, Haemoproteus, Hepatozoon, Karyolysus, Leucocytozoon, Plasmodium, Sarcocystis, and Theileria, the original hosts are now intermediate. + +Similar strategies to increase the likelihood of transmission have evolved in multiple genera. Polyenergid oocysts and tissue cysts are found in representatives of the orders Protococcidiorida and Eimeriida. Hypnozoites are found in Karyolysus lacerate and most species of Plasmodium; transovarial transmission of parasites occurs in lifecycles of Karyolysus and Babesia. + +Horizontal gene transfer appears to have occurred early on in this phylum's evolution with the transfer of a histone H4 lysine 20 (H4K20) modifier, KMT5A (Set8), from an animal host to the ancestor of apicomplexans. A second gene—H3K36 methyltransferase (Ashr3 in plants)—may have also been horizontally transferred. + +Blood-borne genera + +Within the Apicomplexa are three suborders of parasites: + suborder Adeleorina—eight genera + suborder Laveraniina (formerly Haemosporina)—all genera in this suborder + suborder Eimeriorina—two genera (Lankesterella and Schellackia) + +Within the Adelorina are species that infect invertebrates and others that infect vertebrates. The Eimeriorina—the largest suborder in this phylum—the lifecycle involves both sexual and asexual stages. The asexual stages reproduce by schizogony. The male gametocyte produces a large number of gametes and the zygote gives rise to an oocyst, which is the infective stage. The majority are monoxenous (infect one host only), but a few are heteroxenous (lifecycle involves two or more hosts). + +The number of families in this later suborder is debated, with the number of families being between one and 20 depending on the authority and the number of genera being between 19 and 25. + +Taxonomy + +History +The first Apicomplexa protozoan was seen by Antonie van Leeuwenhoek, who in 1674 saw probably oocysts of Eimeria stiedae in the gall bladder of a rabbit. The first species of the phylum to be described, Gregarina ovata in earwigs intestines, was named by Dufour in 1828. He thought that they were a peculiar group related to the trematodes, at that time included in Vermes. Since then, many more have been identified and named. During 1826–1850, 41 species and six genera of Apicomplexa were named. In 1951–1975, 1873 new species and 83 new genera were added. + +The older taxon Sporozoa, included in Protozoa, was created by Leuckart in 1879 and adopted by Bütschli in 1880. Through history, it grouped with the current Apicomplexa many unrelated groups. For example, Kudo (1954) included in the Sporozoa species of the Ascetosporea (Rhizaria), Microsporidia (Fungi), Myxozoa (Animalia), and Helicosporidium (Chlorophyta), while Zierdt (1978) included the genus Blastocystis (Stramenopiles). Dermocystidium was also thought to be sporozoan. Not all of these groups had spores, but all were parasitic. However, other parasitic or symbiotic unicellular organisms were included too in protozoan groups outside Sporozoa (Flagellata, Ciliophora and Sarcodina), if they had flagella (e.g., many Kinetoplastida, Retortamonadida, Diplomonadida, Trichomonadida, Hypermastigida), cilia (e.g., Balantidium) or pseudopods (e.g., Entamoeba, Acanthamoeba, Naegleria). If they had cell walls, they also could be included in plant kingdom between bacteria or yeasts. + +Sporozoa is no longer regarded as biologically valid and its use is discouraged, although some authors still use it as a synonym for the Apicomplexa. More recently, other groups were excluded from Apicomplexa, e.g., Perkinsus and Colpodella (now in Protalveolata). + +The field of classifying Apicomplexa is in flux and classification has changed throughout the years since it was formally named in 1970. + +By 1987, a comprehensive survey of the phylum was completed: in all, 4516 species and 339 genera had been named. They consisted of: + Class Conoidasida + Subclass Gregarinasina p.p. + Order Eugregarinorida, with 1624 named species and 231 named genera + Subclass Coccidiasina p.p + Order Eucoccidiorida p.p + Suborder Adeleorina p.p + Group Hemogregarines, with 399 species and four genera + Suborder Eimeriorina, with 1771 species and 43 genera + Class Aconoidasida + Order Haemospororida, with 444 species and nine genera + Order Piroplasmorida, with 173 species and 20 genera + Other minor groups omitted above, with 105 species and 32 genera + +Although considerable revision of this phylum has been done (the order Haemosporidia now has 17 genera rather than 9), these numbers are probably still approximately correct. + +Jacques Euzéby (1988) +Jacques Euzéby in 1988 created a new class Haemosporidiasina by merging subclass Piroplasmasina and suborder Haemospororina. + Subclass Gregarinasina (the gregarines) + Subclass Coccidiasina + Suborder Adeleorina (the adeleorins) + Suborder Eimeriorina (the eimeriorins) + Subclass Haemosporidiasina + Order Achromatorida + Order Chromatorida + +The division into Achromatorida and Chromatorida, although proposed on morphological grounds, may have a biological basis, as the ability to store haemozoin appears to have evolved only once. + +Roberts and Janovy (1996) +Roberts and Janovy in 1996 divided the phylum into the following subclasses and suborders (omitting classes and orders): + Subclass Gregarinasina (the gregarines) + Subclass Coccidiasina + Suborder Adeleorina (the adeleorins) + Suborder Eimeriorina (the eimeriorins) + Suborder Haemospororina (the haemospororins) + Subclass Piroplasmasina (the piroplasms) +These form the following five taxonomic groups: + The gregarines are, in general, one-host parasites of invertebrates. + The adeleorins are one-host parasites of invertebrates or vertebrates, or two-host parasites that alternately infect haematophagous (blood-feeding) invertebrates and the blood of vertebrates. + The eimeriorins are a diverse group that includes one host species of invertebrates, two-host species of invertebrates, one-host species of vertebrates and two-host species of vertebrates. The eimeriorins are frequently called the coccidia. This term is often used to include the adeleorins. + Haemospororins, often known as the malaria parasites, are two-host Apicomplexa that parasitize blood-feeding dipteran flies and the blood of various tetrapod vertebrates. + Piroplasms where all the species included are two-host parasites infecting ticks and vertebrates. + +Perkins (2000) + +Perkins et al. proposed the following scheme. It is outdated as the Perkinsidae have since been recognised as a sister group to the dinoflagellates rather that the Apicomplexia: + + Class Aconoidasida + Conoid present only in the ookinete of some species +Order Haemospororida +Macrogamete and microgamete develop separately. Syzygy does not occur. Ookinete has a conoid. Sporozoites have three walls. Heteroxenous: alternates between vertebrate host (in which merogony occurs) and invertebrate host (in which sporogony occurs). Usually blood parasites, transmitted by blood-sucking insects. +Order Piroplasmorida + Class Conoidasida + Subclass Gregarinasina + Order Archigregarinorida + Order Eugregarinorida + Suborder Adeleorina + Suborder Eimeriorina + Order Neogregarinorida + Subclass Coccidiasina + Order Agamococcidiorida + Order Eucoccidiorida + Order Ixorheorida + Order Protococcidiorida + Class Perkinsasida +Order Perkinsorida +Family Perkinsidae + +The name Protospiromonadida has been proposed for the common ancestor of the Gregarinomorpha and Coccidiomorpha. + +Another group of organisms that belong in this taxon are the corallicolids. These are found in coral reef gastric cavities. Their relationship to the others in this phylum has yet to be established. + +Another genus has been identified - Nephromyces - which appears to be a sister taxon to the Hematozoa. This genus is found in the renal sac of molgulid ascidian tunicates. + +Evolution + +Members of this phylum, except for the photosynthetic chromerids, are parasitic and evolved from a free-living ancestor. This lifestyle is presumed to have evolved at the time of the divergence of dinoflagellates and apicomplexans. Further evolution of this phylum has been estimated to have occurred about . The oldest extant clade is thought to be the archigregarines. + +These phylogenetic relations have rarely been studied at the subclass level. The Haemosporidia are related to the gregarines, and the piroplasms and coccidians are sister groups. The Haemosporidia and the Piroplasma appear to be sister clades, and are more closely related to the coccidians than to the gregarines. Marosporida is a sister group to Coccidiomorphea. + +Janouškovec et al 2015 presents a somewhat different phylogeny, supporting the work of others showing multiple events of plastids losing photosynthesis. More importantly this work provides the first phylogenetic evidence that there have also been multiple events of plastids becoming genome-free. + +See also +Centrocone + +References + +External links + + + + +SAR supergroup phyla +Endoparasites +Argentine cuisine is described as a blending of cultures, from the Indigenous peoples of Argentina who focused on ingredients such as humita, potatoes, cassava, peppers, tomatoes, beans, and yerba mate, to Mediterranean influences brought by the Spanish during the colonial period. This led to cultural blending of criollos (gauchos and early Spanish settlers), Indigenous, and sub-Saharan African (due to slave trading) in the cuisine. Later, this was complemented by the significant influx of Italian and Spanish immigrants to Argentina during the 19th and 20th centuries, who incorporated plenty of their food customs and dishes such as pizzas, pasta and Spanish tortillas. + +Beef is a main part of the Argentine diet due to its vast production in the country's plains. In fact, Argentine annual consumption of beef has averaged per capita, approaching per capita during the 19th century; consumption averaged in 2007. + +Beyond asado (the Argentine barbecue), no other dish more genuinely matches the national identity. Nevertheless, the country's vast area, and its cultural diversity, have led to a local cuisine of various dishes. + +The great immigratory waves consequently imprinted a large influence in the Argentine cuisine, after all Argentina was the second country in the world with the most immigrants with 6.6 million, only second to the United States with 27 million, and ahead of other immigratory receptor countries such as Canada, Brazil, Australia, etc. + +Argentine people have a reputation for their love of eating. Social gatherings are commonly centred on sharing a meal. Invitations to have dinner at home are generally viewed as a symbol of friendship, warmth, and integration. Sunday family lunch is considered the most significant meal of the week, whose highlights often include asado or pasta. + +Another feature of Argentine cuisine is the preparation of homemade food such as French fries, patties, and pasta to celebrate a special occasion, to meet friends, or to honour someone. Homemade food is also seen as a way to show affection. + +Argentine restaurants include a great variety of cuisines, prices, and flavours. Large cities tend to host everything from high-end international cuisine to bodegones (inexpensive traditional hidden taverns), less stylish restaurants, and bars and canteens offering a range of dishes at affordable prices. + +History + +Amerindians lived in Argentina thousands of years before European explorers arrived. They mostly lived off of agriculture, as well as hunting, gathering, and fishing. Generally, the most common crops at this time were maize, potatoes, common beans, quinoa, and squash. + +The Argentinian native people could be divided in three groups based on their main modality of acquiring food: + + Hunters and gatherers who inhabited the Patagonia, Pampa, and Chaco regions. + Farmers in the northwestern, Cuyo, and Cordoba's mountain regions who mostly grew squash, melons, and sweet potatoes. These groups had great influence from Andean-Incan tradition. + Farmers in the Mesopotamia plains who belonged to the guaraní culture. + +Spanish settlers came to Argentina in 1536 and began building chacras where Amerindians would work to harvest the food. The arrival of Europeans brought Argentina into the Columbian Exchange, with ingredients from the Old World such as wheat, grapevine, figs, and several kinds of fruits being introduced to the country for the first time. It was also during the Spanish colonial period that cattle, goat, and pig farming were first introduced to Argentina, forming the foundation of the large Argentine beef industry. + +Between 1853 and 1955, 6.6 million immigrants came to live in Argentina from Europe (especially from Italy, Wales, Germany and Switzerland), the Near and Middle East, Russia and Japan. They contributed to the development of Argentine cuisine by encouraging the production of a wider variety of foods. They also bought lands where they built chacras and encouraged the growth of farming. By this point, Argentina was the country with most immigrants only second to the United States. + +During the XIX century, social standing was not associated with access to food. The price of beef, fish, and bird meats was cheap and accessible. However, grains and wheat was scarce so bread was very expensive. Some of the most common dishes during this time were soups with pork chunks, cooked partridge with legumes, spinach bread, beef slices, and lamb stew. The most prominent spices were garlic, parsley, and pepper. + +By the turn of the century, Argentine Cuisine was on a constant decline due to shortage of several ingredients. However, eating habits began to shift with further immigration which facilitated a gastronomic revolution. Most immigrants in the 1900s came from Italy and Spain. The Italians introduced pizza, as well as a variety of pasta dishes, including spaghetti and lasagna. British, German, Jewish, and other immigrants also settled in Argentina, all bringing their styles of cooking and favorite foods with them. The British brought tea, starting the tradition of teatime. All of these cultures influenced the dishes of Argentina. + +At this time, Italian cuisine began to really become a part of the cuisine. The neighborhood of La Boca, Buenos Aires, was the first big Italian hub, and from here plenty of traditionally Italian ingredients and eating habits expanded across the country. Different kinds of pastas such as long noodles or tallarines, gnocchi, ravioli, and cannelloni filled with ricotta cheese became popular along with pizza, fainá (Argentinian version of the traditional Italian Farinata), and milanesas. Different ways of preparing dishes were also adopted from Italian immigrants. These included the preparation of ice cream, fish, and shellfish. Spanish immigrants also left their mark, popularizing eating dry nuts, tomato sauce, pesto, olives, and olive oil. Additionally, deli stores started to incorporate traditional Iberian hams and sausages and great varieties of cheeses yet these were more limited. They were also mainly responsible for the massive diffusion of wine consumption, amongst some other habits. This occurred at the same time that other global products began arriving to Argentina such as saffron, cod, different varieties of beans, chickpeas, additional spices, chocolates, and tea. + +Typical foods + +Most regions of Argentina are known for their beef-oriented diet. Grilled meat from the asado (barbecue) is a staple, with steak and beef ribs especially common. The term asado itself refers to long strips of flank-cut beef ribs. + +Popular items such as chorizo (pork sausage), morcilla (blood sausage), chinchulines (chitterlings), mollejas (sweetbread), and other parts of the animal are also enjoyed. + +In Patagonia, however, lamb and chivito (goat) are eaten more frequently than beef. Whole lambs and goats are traditionally cooked over an open fire in a technique known as asado a la estaca. + +The most common condiment for asado is chimichurri, a sauce of herbs, garlic and vinegar. Unlike other preparations, Argentines do not include chilli in their version of chimichurri, but it does include a still-spicy, but milder form of red pepper, ají molido. + +Breaded and fried meats (milanesas) are used as snacks, in sandwiches, or eaten warm with mashed potatoes, purée. +Empanadas, small pastries of meat, cheese, sweet corn, and many other fillings, are a common sight at parties and picnics, or as starters to a meal. They also vary in their looks, since they are folded with a traditional decorative edging called repulgue. The repulgue is not just aesthetic, but also serves as a way to identify the flavor of each empanada since they are traditionally ordered in dozens where people mix and match flavors. Empanadas are one of the most important staples of this country due to the wide array of varieties. + +The empanadas seen in Argentina today originate from a Spanish dish from the fifteenth century where travelers used easy-to-carry bread and filled it with a variety of ingredients. Eventually it evolved into a popular gastronomic item and spread across the world. Variations of empanadas both inside and outside of Argentina include the empanada gallega (Galician empanada), a large round meat pie made most commonly with tuna and mackerel (caballa in Spanish). + +Vegetables and salads are also eaten by Argentines; tomatoes, onions, lettuce, eggplants, squashes, and zucchini are common side dishes. + +Italian staples, such as pizza and pasta, are eaten as commonly as beef. Fideos (noodles), tallarines (fettuccine and tagliatelle), ñoquis (gnocchi) are traditionally served on the 29th day of the month, ravioles, and canelones (cannelloni) can be bought freshly made in many establishments in the larger cities. Italian-style ice cream is served in large parlours and even drive-through businesses. Other Italian staples are polenta, tarta pascualina, and pastafrola. + +In Chubut, the Welsh community is known for its teahouses, offering scones and torta galesa, which is rather like torta negra. + +Sandwiches de miga are delicate sandwiches made with crustless buttered English bread, very thinly sliced cured meat, cheese, and lettuce. They are often purchased from entrepreneurial home cooks and may be eaten for a light evening meal. + +A sweet paste, dulce de leche is another treasured national food, used to fill cakes and pancakes, spread over toasted bread for breakfast, or served with ice cream. In terms of sweets, Alfajores are another key staple. These are shortbread cookies sandwiched together with chocolate and dulce de leche or a fruit paste. The "policeman's" or "truck driver's" sweet is cheese with quince paste or dulce de membrillo. Dulce de batata is made of sweet potato/yam: this with cheese is the Martín Fierros sweet. Additionally, ice cream shops or heladerias are a big boom especially in the city of Buenos Aires. Argentinian ice cream comes in plenty of flavors (from fruits to cheesecake and even duce de leche flavors) and has a special smoothness as it follows a recipe very similar to that of Italian gelato. + +Apples, pears, peaches, kiwifruits, avocados, and plums are major exports. + +A traditional drink of Argentina is an infusion called mate (in Spanish, mate, with the accent on the first syllable [MAH-teh]). The name comes from the hollow gourd from which it is traditionally drunk. + +The mate (gourd) or other small cup is filled about three-quarters full with yerba mate, the dried leaves and twigs of the Ilex paraguariensis. The drink, which is rather bitter, is sipped through a metal or cane straw called a bombilla. Mate can be sweetened with sugar, or flavoured with aromatic herbs or dried orange peel. + +Hot but not boiling water is poured into the gourd, drunk, then the mate is refilled. The mate is nearly full of leaves, so each refill only makes a small drink, but many refills are possible before the yerba is spent. In small gatherings it is traditional for one mate to be passed from person to person, filled by whoever has the kettle. It is customary not to thank the refiller routinely; a final gracias (thank you) implies that the drinker has had enough. + +Drinking mate together is an important social ritual. Mate cocido is the same leaf, which rather than brewed is boiled and served, like tea, with milk and sugar to taste. + +Other typical drinks include wine (sometimes with soda water added); tea and coffee are equally important. Quilmes is the national brand of pale lager, named after the town of Quilmes, Buenos Aires, where it was first produced. + +Ingredients +Argentine cuisine uses locally-grown cereals, grains, oil seeds, fruits and vegetables, as well as meat. + +Meat products have been dominant in the country since the 16th century. The country is regarded as a major beef, pork and poultry producing and consuming country. Certain areas such as those located in the south are usually engaged in activities involving sheep and lamb breeding, and shellfish, crustaceans, molluscs and salmonides fishing. + +The vast breeding activity involving any type of cattle has given rise to a highly developed dairy industry that includes products like cow, sheep and camelide, dulce de leche and yogurts. Some of the cheeses from Argentina are reggianito, sardo, provoleta and cremoso. Argentina can also be conceived as a great industry engaged in the production of dried fruits, olives, all types of oils and spices. + +In the Mesopotamia region, river fish such as silverside, surubi, dorado or boga are common. + + Regional differences +Argentine cuisine is heavily influenced by its European roots and has regional variations. Asado, dulce de leche, empanadas, and yerba mate are found throughout Argentina. In many parts of the country, food is prepared differently and different kinds of foods are made; this includes to a smaller degree food from pre-Columbian times, as in the Northwest. + + Central region and la Pampa + +This region is composed of the city of Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires Province, Córdoba, La Pampa, Santa Fe, and Entre Ríos. + +This region, especially within the larger urban areas of Buenos Aires, Rosario, and Córdoba welcomed European immigrants. These were especially of Italian and Spanish descent. Nevertheless, there was also a migratory flow of German, Swiss, and Middle Eastern immigrants arriving in Argentina. As a result, dishes such as pasta, pizza, pucheros (stews), croquetas (fritters), sauces, embutidos (sausages), and chicken and meat courses brought a wider scope of options to daily menus. The bread-making, dessert, pastry, and dairy industries have achieved considerable development in this region. + +The above-mentioned dishes have developed a distinctively Argentine nuance. That is why, for example, Argentine pasta includes a wide variety of dishes ranging from spaghetti, fusiles (fusilli), ñoquis (gnocchi), ravioli, cintas (pasta ribbons), and lasagne to the Argentine-made sorrentinos, agnolottis (agnolotti), canelones (cannelloni), and fetuchines (fettuccine). + +Pizza—made with very thin, and sometimes thick, high-rising doughs, with or without cheese, cooked in the oven or a la piedra (on a stone oven), and stuffed with numerous ingredients—is a dish which can be found in nearly every corner of the country. Buenos Aires, Rosario, and Córdoba also serve it with fainá, which is a chick pea-flour dough placed over the piece of pizza. People say that what makes Argentine pizza unique is the blending of Italian and Spanish cultures. At the turn of the 19th century, immigrants from Naples and Genoa opened the first pizza bars, though Spanish residents subsequently owned most of the pizza businesses. + +Bread products are consumed all around the country. The deeply rooted bread, pastry, and dessert-making tradition derive from blending the above nationalities' products. Bakeries sell not only a wide scope of bread, cookies, and cakes, but also pastries. The latter resembles a sort of roll pastry whose main dough ingredient is either butter or fat and which may be simple or stuffed with dulce de leche, milk, jam, crema pastel, or quince or apple jelly, among other fillings. The most popular type of pastry is said to be that of medialunas (singular: medialuna, literally half-moon, that is to say, crescent), based upon French croissants. Sandwiches de miga are another type of bread products; they are made only with thin layers of white bread (generally referred to as crustless bread) and stuffed with food items ranging from ham and cheese to other more sophisticated combinations such as raw ham, tomatoes, olives, hard-boiled eggs, tuna, lettuce, red pepper, and the like. + +Desserts and sweets are usually stuffed or covered with dulce de leche. The latter can be eaten alone or on top of cakes, alfajores, panqueques (crepes), and pastries, or as a topping spread over flan de leche. Chantilly cream is widely consumed and used in preparing sweets and desserts. Additionally, cakes, sponge cakes, and puddings are very popular dishes. Italian ice creams in this region also achieved a significant degree of development by adding local flavours that somehow preserved the local spirit involved in their preparation. + +Although asado is eaten all over the country, its origin may be traced back to the Pampas. It entails many types of meat, which are generally eaten as follows: achuras (offal), morcilla (blood sausage), and sometimes also a provoleta (a piece of provolone cheese cooked on the grill with oregano) are eaten first. Then comes the choripán (a kind of spiced sausage made with pork or lamb and placed between two slices of bread), and finally meat such as asado de tira, vacío (flank steak), lomo (tenderloin), colita de cuadril (rump), matambre (rolled stuffed steak cut into slices and served cold), entraña (hanger steak); the list is never-ending. Cabrito al asador (roast kid or goat) is frequently eaten in the province of Córdoba. + + Northwest and Cuyo + +This region includes the provinces of Jujuy, Salta, Catamarca, Tucumán, Santiago del Estero, La Rioja, San Juan, Mendoza, and San Luis. It is also regarded as the one most influenced by Native Americans, and its foods are closely linked to the Andean-Incan tradition. When preparing regional dishes, potatoes and corn or wheat are almost always used, including quinoa (a cereal typically used in Incan cuisine), peppers, squashes, tomatoes and in some provinces beans. The most celebrated dishes are humita and tamal, in which the corn husk is stuffed with the corn filling itself, seasonings or meat. + +This region is the most suitable to taste empanadas, particularly those stuffed with meat and offering different types of tempting varieties such as the meat empanada, salteña also filled with potatoes, or the empanada tucumana, which is stuffed with matambre and cut with a knife, or empanadas made with cheese. Empanadas are individual-sized and closed savoury pastries which may be fried or baked in the oven and are generally eaten with the hands. + +Stews such as locro, carbonada, pollo al disco, and cazuelas (casseroles) are also typical dishes characterizing this region, which also include pumpkin or potato pudding stuffed with meat. + +There are also some local holidays in this region related to food. For example, in Salta they hold a festival dedicated to a locally grown bean similar to Edamame. During this holiday, the traditional foods of corn and beans are celebrated. Meals of all kinds are eaten, always with these two ingredients as a side dish, and even competitions of who can eat a set number of beans in the shortest period of time are held. + + Mesopotamia + +The humid and verdant area of north-east Argentina known as Mesopotamia, comprising the provinces of Chaco, Corrientes, Misiones and Formosa is another area heavily influenced by Native Americans, particularly by the Guaraní tribe. Abounding in rivers and shores, it offers a wide diversity of fish species, such as dorado, pacú, surubi, boga and silverside. + +Widely grown in this area, cassava is typically included in the region's dishes, as are other components of meals, such as the chipá (cassava and cheese bread). However, in this area Cassava is cooked alone too, boiled or fried, often as a side dish for Asado and empanadas. As well, mbeyú, chipá avatí, sopa paraguaya, sopa correntina, chipa solo or chipá con carne, el quibebé, el borí borí, chipá guasú o pastel de choclo, mbaipy, chipá mbocá o chipá caburé and some other similar meals that have as basis:manioc, corn, cheese and, sometimes, some meat.. Chipá from Cassava is often eaten during breakfast with yerba mate, prepared with hot water, or with café con leche. Sopa Paraguaya and pastel/Carta de Choclo are eaten for lunch or dinner. As regards products made with sugar, Papaya (mamón in Argentine Spanish) jam is typical of the north of this region. + +The principal product of this region is certainly yerba mate. Consumed countrywide, this product features a peculiarity of its own in this area: it is not only prepared with hot water but, driven by the region's high temperatures, it is common to see it prepared with cold water as well, in which case the beverage is known as tereré. + + Patagonia +The large southern region of Patagonia is made up of the provinces Neuquén, Río Negro, Chubut, Santa Cruz and Tierra del Fuego. This area also includes the Antarctica and Islas del Atlántico Sur. (or southern atlantic islands). Their most typical food ingredients include fish and seafood from the sea and rivers and the products of the sheep that are widely farmed there. + +Marine species such as salmon, spider crabs, squid and other shellfish and molluscs may be caught in the Atlantic Ocean. There are trout in the rivers. + +The many berries grown in the area include cherries, bilberries, strawberries, rosa mosqueta and elders, which are made into jams. + +The Northern and Central European settlements in this region have built up large-scale production of chocolate and its by-products. Viennese and German cuisine and pastries are also typically associated with this region. + +Mutton and lamb, together with wild boar and venison tend to make up the region's meat-based dishes. Also typical of the southern region are smoked products, including salmon, stag, wild boar, and pheasant. + +Patagonia has been profoundly influenced by the tribes living there since long before Europeans arrived, in particular, the Mapuches and the Araucanos. A typical dish prepared by the latter is the curanto (a term meaning "hot stone"). Its preparation involves making a fire in a hole about 150 cm deep in the ground, and heating stones in it. A bed of nalca or maqui leaves is arranged on top of the stones, and ingredients are added in turn on top. Ingredients vary, but may include beef, lamb, pork, chicken, Argentine chorizos (pork sausages), potatoes, sweet potatoes, apples and holed squashes filled with cheese, cream and peas. The food is covered with leaves and damp pieces of cloth to keep the heat in, and covered with plenty of soil. + + Alcoholic beverages + +Though wine (vino) has traditionally been the most popular alcoholic beverage in Argentina, beer (cerveza; the Italian birra is frequently used) in recent decades has competed with wine in popularity. Breweries appeared in Argentina at the end of the 1860s, started by Alsatian colonists. The first were nearly all in the downtown of Buenos Aires (el égido de la Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), and soon Polish brewers began industrial production of beer: San Carlos in the province of Santa Fe, Río Segundo and Córdoba in the province of Córdoba, Quilmes and Llavallol on the outskirts of La Plata (in Buenos Aires Province), San Miguel de Tucumán in the province of Tucumán and on the outskirts of the cities of Mendoza and Salta. + +The local consumption of beer has risen dramatically in the last generation: Argentines consumed 233 million litres in 1980 and 1.57 billion in 2007 (40 litres per capita). Outpacing that of wine since 2001, the growing production and consumption of beer have supported the existence of related events, for example, beer festivals called Oktoberfests or "Fiestas de la Cerveza" in locations that have a significant German population (Villa General Belgrano in Córdoba, San Carlos and Esperanza in the province of Santa Fe, etc.). Such celebrations copy, in an Argentine manner, Munich's Oktoberfest, and similarly are tourist attractions. However, the presence of a vigorous population of Celtic lineage, principally of Irish origin, has supported the creation of other celebrations of beer, often for marketing purposes, such as Saint Patrick's Day (Día de San Patricio), patron of Ireland, which is celebrated with abundant libations. + +The consumption of alcoholic beverages in Argentina is similar to that of the United States and somewhat lower than the Western European average. Argentines enjoy a variety of alcoholic beverages and Argentina can boast a varied array of elaboraciones, whether industrial or artisanal. Besides beer and wine, Argentines frequently drink cider (here again, the heritage comes from Spain and Italy, more precisely from Asturias and Campania). Cider is the most popular beverage of the middle and lowers economic classes at Christmas and New Year (the upper classes proverbially preferring to celebrate with locally produced champagne, although real old-line "creole" aristocrats will still drink cider, which is much more traditional). + +Other widely consumed spirits are aguardiente (firewater) made from sugar cane, known as caña quemada ("burnt cane") or, simply, 'caña'''' ("cane"). A folkloric note about caña quemada: until 21 June it is traditional to drink caña quemada with ruda macho (a variant of common rue), it is supposed that this mixture prevents the flu and other illnesses. Caña competes, mainly in rural areas, with gin ("ginebra"—as in the Dutch kind of gin.) + +The bitter spirit Fernet, and particularly the Italian brand Fernet-Branca, is highly popular in Argentina. (A study in 2017 found that Argentines consume more than 75% of all fernet produced globally.) Fernet is most commonly enjoyed as a mixed drink with Coca-Cola. Given Fernet's qualities as a digestive aid, it is a common choice for an after-dinner digestif. + +There are many artisanally produced liqueurs (distilled, flavoured alcoholic beverages) in Argentina, for example, those flavoured with orange, egg, anise, coffee, cherry and, inevitably, dulce de leche. The Hesperidina is a type of liqueur made from orange peels, invented in Argentina around 1890. One may also encounter chitronchelo or (in Italian) citronella, based on lemon. This beverage arrived with immigrants from the Mezzogiorno and is produced both artisanally and industrially (for example, at Mar del Plata). + + Non-alcoholic specialties + +Argentines enjoy a wide variety of non-alcoholic infusions (although now and then both "families" are mixed; the for example, is mate mixed with caña or gin). Among these, mate has long been the most widely enjoyed; in 2006, over 700,000 metric tons were harvested in Argentina, mostly for domestic consumption. Mate is also one of the top exports from Argentina, as it is valued all over the world. + +The fact that mate is so prevalent in the Southern Cone, however, should not necessarily make visitors think that other infusions are rare in the region; in Argentina especially, given the strong European cultural imprint, the consumption of coffee is very common (141 cups per capita, annually). Chocolate infusions are also popular (the eating of chocolate is a Spanish influence, although the plant originated in Mesoamerica). This consumption grows during autumn and winter, or in the cold regions of the country; there are two dates where consumption of chocolate infusions is traditional in the primary educational centres: 25 May and 9 July, that is, the two national dates of Argentina. + +English cultural influence (reinforced at the end of the 19th century and the beginnings of the 20th by British contacts with the Far East) has also made the consumption of tea very common. + +Medicinal herbs are common in the whole country; among the most popular are: chamomile, lanceleaf, boldo, poleo, peperina, carqueja, thyme, canchalagua, rue (macho and hembra, that is, "male" and "female"), mallow, rosemary, passion flower, bira bira, palán palán, muña muña, to mention only the main ones. Many of these herbs are also used in apéritifs and bitters, whether alcoholic or not. + + Popular short-order dishes + +Common restoranes or restaurantes and (grill restaurants) nearly anywhere in Argentina today serve (into the small hours) quickly prepared meals that in the course of the 20th century came to be known as minutas, "short-order dishes". Some of the dishes included in the category of minutas are milanesas, churrascos, bifes (beefsteaks), escalopes, tallarines, ravioles (ravioli), ñoquis (gnocchi), although some are very typical of locations that sell food: "bifes" and "milanesas" are served "a caballo" ("on horseback", with fried egg on top), "milanesa completa" (a milanesa with two fried eggs and French fries), "revuelto Gramajo", "colchón de arvejas" (an omelette made with peas), "suprema de pollo" (chicken supreme, usually breaded as a milanesa), matambres, "lengua a la vinagreta" (pickled tongue), and "sandwiches" (sandwiches de miga) are made with sliced white bread, rather than, say, rolls. + +The most common sandwiches are those made of milanesa, baked ham and cheese, pan de miga, toast, pebetes, panchos (hot dogs), choripanes, morcipanes, etc.; from Montevideo comes a different species of sandwich called the chivito, even though it contains no goat meat.Picadas, which are consumed at home or in bars, cafés, "cafetines" and "bodegones" are also popular; they consist of an ensemble of plates containing cubes of cheese (typically from Mar del Plata or Chubut), pieces of salame, olives in brine, french fries, maníes (peanuts), etc.; picadas are eaten accompanied by an alcoholic beverage ("fernet", beer, wine with soda, to give some common examples). + +The people of Argentina greatly enjoy helado'' (ice creams of Italian lineage or sorbets Spanish lineage). In Spanish colonial times a type of sorbet was made from hail or snow. + +Eating habits +Breakfast typically is small and consists of coffee (or mate) and pastry. In most parts of Argentina, lunch is the largest meal of the day. Excluding the largest cities, such as Buenos Aires, Rosario or Cordoba, most towns close for lunchtime. This is when most people return home to enjoy a large meal and siesta. Traditional lunches in Argentina are long and well developed. Argentines often have a light evening snack (called a "merienda" – typically a coffee or mate and a pastry) and it is common to not eat dinner until 9 at night, or even later on weekends. + +See also + + Argentine pizza + Cheese in Argentina + Italian cuisine + Spanish cuisine + Uruguayan cuisine + +References + +External links + + SaltShaker – Blog on Buenos Aires "food, drink, and life". + Pick Up the Fork – Guide to Buenos Aires' food, restaurant and bar scene + Argentina on two steaks a day + + +South American cuisine +Latin American cuisine + + +Events + +Pre-1600 + 217 – Roman emperor Caracalla is assassinated and is succeeded by his Praetorian Guard prefect, Marcus Opellius Macrinus. + 876 – The Battle of Dayr al-'Aqul saves Baghdad from the Saffarids. +1139 – Roger II of Sicily is excommunicated by Innocent II for supporting Anacletus II as pope for seven years, even though Roger had already publicly recognized Innocent's claim to the papacy. +1232 – Mongol–Jin War: The Mongols begin their siege on Kaifeng, the capital of the Jin dynasty. +1250 – Seventh Crusade: Ayyubids of Egypt capture King Louis IX of France in the Battle of Fariskur. +1271 – In Syria, sultan Baibars conquers the Krak des Chevaliers. + +1601–1900 +1605 – The city of Oulu, Finland, is founded by Charles IX of Sweden. +1730 – Shearith Israel, the first synagogue in continental North America, is dedicated. +1812 – Czar Alexander I, the Russian Emperor and the Grand Duke of Finland, officially announces the transfer of the status of the Finnish capital from Turku to Helsinki. +1820 – The Venus de Milo is discovered on the Aegean island of Milos. +1832 – Black Hawk War: Around 300 United States 6th Infantry troops leave St. Louis, Missouri to fight the Sauk Native Americans. +1866 – Austro-Prussian War: Italy and Prussia sign a secret alliance against the Austrian Empire. +1886 – William Ewart Gladstone introduces the first Irish Home Rule Bill into the British House of Commons. +1895 – In Pollock v. Farmers' Loan & Trust Co. the Supreme Court of the United States declares unapportioned income tax to be unconstitutional. + +1901–present +1904 – The French Third Republic and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland sign the Entente cordiale. +1906 – Auguste Deter, the first person to be diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, dies. +1908 – Harvard University votes to establish the Harvard Business School. +1911 – Dutch physicist Heike Kamerlingh Onnes discovers superconductivity. +1913 – The 17th Amendment to the United States Constitution, requiring direct election of Senators, becomes law. +1918 – World War I: Actors Douglas Fairbanks and Charlie Chaplin sell war bonds on the streets of New York City's financial district. +1924 – Sharia courts are abolished in Turkey, as part of Atatürk's Reforms. +1929 – Indian independence movement: At the Delhi Central Assembly, Bhagat Singh and Batukeshwar Dutt throw handouts and bombs to court arrest. +1935 – The Works Progress Administration is formed when the Emergency Relief Appropriation Act of 1935 becomes law. +1940 – The Central Committee of the Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party elects Yumjaagiin Tsedenbal as General Secretary, marking the beginning of his 44-year-long tenure as de facto leader of Mongolia. +1942 – World War II: The Japanese take Bataan in the Philippines. +1943 – U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, in an attempt to check inflation, freezes wages and prices, prohibits workers from changing jobs unless the war effort would be aided thereby, and bars rate increases by common carriers and public utilities. +1943 – Otto and Elise Hampel are executed in Berlin for their anti-Nazi activities. +1945 – World War II: After an air raid accidentally destroys a train carrying about 4,000 Nazi concentration camp internees in Prussian Hanover, the survivors are massacred by Nazis. +1946 – Électricité de France, the world's largest utility company, is formed as a result of the nationalisation of a number of electricity producers, transporters and distributors. +1950 – India and Pakistan sign the Liaquat–Nehru Pact. +1952 – U.S. President Harry Truman calls for the seizure of all domestic steel mills in an attempt to prevent the 1952 steel strike. +1953 – Mau Mau leader Jomo Kenyatta is convicted by British Kenya's rulers. +1954 – A Royal Canadian Air Force Canadair Harvard collides with a Trans-Canada Airlines Canadair North Star over Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, killing 37 people. + 1954 – South African Airways Flight 201 A de Havilland DH.106 Comet 1 crashes into the sea during night killing 21 people. +1959 – A team of computer manufacturers, users, and university people led by Grace Hopper meets to discuss the creation of a new programming language that would be called COBOL. + 1959 – The Organization of American States drafts an agreement to create the Inter-American Development Bank. +1960 – The Netherlands and West Germany sign an agreement to negotiate the return of German land annexed by the Dutch in return for 280 million German marks as Wiedergutmachung. +1968 – BOAC Flight 712 catches fire shortly after takeoff. As a result of her actions in the accident, Barbara Jane Harrison is awarded a posthumous George Cross, the only GC awarded to a woman in peacetime. +1970 – Bahr El-Baqar primary school bombing: Israeli bombers accidentally strike an Egyptian school. Forty-six children are killed. +1975 – Frank Robinson manages the Cleveland Indians in his first game as major league baseball's first African American manager. +1987 – Los Angeles Dodgers executive Al Campanis resigns amid controversy over racist remarks he had made while on Nightline. +1992 – Retired tennis great Arthur Ashe announces that he has AIDS, acquired from blood transfusions during one of his two heart surgeries. + +1993 – The Republic of North Macedonia joins the United Nations. + 1993 – The Space Shuttle Discovery is launched on mission STS-56. +2004 – War in Darfur: The Humanitarian Ceasefire Agreement is signed by the Sudanese government, the Justice and Equality Movement, and the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army. +2005 – A solar eclipse occurs, visible over areas of the Pacific Ocean and Latin American countries such as Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia and Venezuela. +2006 – Shedden massacre: The bodies of eight men, all shot to death, are found in a field in Shedden, Elgin County, Ontario. The murders are soon linked to the Bandidos Motorcycle Club. +2008 – The construction of the world's first skyscraper to integrate wind turbines is completed in Bahrain. +2010 – U.S. President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev sign the New START Treaty. +2013 – The Islamic State of Iraq enters the Syrian Civil War and begins by declaring a merger with the Al-Nusra Front under the name Islamic State of Iraq and ash-Sham. +2014 – Windows XP reaches its standard End Of Life and is no longer supported. +2020 – Bernie Sanders ends his presidential campaign, leaving Joe Biden as the Democratic Party's nominee. + +Births + +Pre-1600 +1320 – Peter I of Portugal (d. 1367) +1408 – Jadwiga of Lithuania, Polish princess (d. 1431) +1435 – John Clifford, 9th Baron de Clifford, English noble (d. 1461) +1533 – Claudio Merulo, Italian organist and composer (d. 1604) +1536 – Barbara of Hesse (d. 1597) +1541 – Michele Mercati, Italian physician and archaeologist (d. 1593) +1580 – William Herbert, 3rd Earl of Pembroke, English noble, courtier and patron of the arts (d. 1630) +1596 – Juan van der Hamen, Spanish artist (d. 1631) + +1601–1900 +1605 – Philip IV of Spain (d. 1665) + 1605 – Mary Stuart, English-Scottish princess (d. 1607) +1641 – Henry Sydney, 1st Earl of Romney, English general and politician, Secretary of State for the Northern Department (d. 1704) +1692 – Giuseppe Tartini, Italian violinist and composer (d. 1770) +1726 – Lewis Morris, American judge and politician (d. 1798) +1732 – David Rittenhouse, American astronomer and mathematician (d. 1796) +1761 – William Joseph Chaminade, French priest, founded the Society of Mary (d. 1850) +1770 – John Thomas Campbell, Irish-Australian banker and politician (d. 1830) +1798 – Dionysios Solomos, Greek poet and author (d. 1857) +1818 – Christian IX of Denmark (d. 1906) + 1818 – August Wilhelm von Hofmann, German chemist and academic (d. 1892) +1826 – Pancha Carrasco, Costa Rican soldier (d. 1890) +1827 – Ramón Emeterio Betances, Puerto Rican ophthalmologist, journalist, and politician (d. 1898) +1842 – Elizabeth Bacon Custer, American author and educator (d. 1933) +1859 – Edmund Husserl, German Jewish-Austrian mathematician and philosopher (d. 1938) +1864 – Carlos Deltour, French rower and rugby player (d. 1920) +1867 – Allen Butler Talcott, American painter and educator (d. 1908) +1869 – Harvey Cushing, American surgeon and academic (d. 1939) +1871 – Clarence Hudson White, American photographer and educator (d. 1925) +1874 – Manuel Díaz, Cuban fencer (d. 1929) + 1874 – Stanisław Taczak, Polish general (d. 1960) +1875 – Albert I of Belgium (d. 1934) +1882 (O.S. 27 March) – Dmytro Doroshenko, Lithuanian-Ukrainian historian and politician, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine and Prime Minister of Ukraine (d. 1951) +1883 – R. P. Keigwin, English cricketer and academic (d. 1972) + 1883 – Julius Seljamaa, Estonian journalist and politician, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Estonia (d. 1936) +1885 – Dimitrios Levidis, Greek-French soldier, composer, and educator (d. 1951) +1886 – Margaret Ayer Barnes, American author and playwright (d. 1967) +1888 – Dennis Chávez, American journalist and politician (d. 1962) +1889 – Adrian Boult, English conductor (d. 1983) +1892 – Richard Neutra, Austrian-American architect, designer of the Los Angeles County Hall of Records (d. 1970) + 1892 – Mary Pickford, Canadian-American actress, producer, screenwriter and co-founder of United Artists (d. 1979) +1896 – Yip Harburg, American composer (d. 1981) +1900 – Marie Byles, Australian solicitor (d. 1979) + +1901–present +1902 – Andrew Irvine, English mountaineer and explorer (d. 1924) + 1902 – Maria Maksakova Sr., Russian soprano (d. 1974) +1904 – John Hicks, English economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1989) + 1904 – Hirsch Jacobs, American horse trainer (d. 1970) +1905 – Joachim Büchner, German sprinter and graphic designer (d. 1978) + 1905 – Helen Joseph, English-South African activist (d. 1992) + 1905 – Erwin Keller, German field hockey player (d. 1971) +1906 – Raoul Jobin, Canadian tenor and educator (d. 1974) +1908 – Hugo Fregonese, Argentinian director and screenwriter (d. 1987) +1909 – John Fante, American author and screenwriter (d. 1983) +1910 – George Musso, American football player and police officer (d. 2000) +1911 – Melvin Calvin, American chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1997) + 1911 – Emil Cioran, Romanian-French philosopher and academic (d. 1995) +1912 – Alois Brunner, Austrian-German SS officer (d. 2001 or 2010) + 1912 – Sonja Henie, Norwegian-American figure skater and actress (d. 1969) +1914 – María Félix, Yaqui/Basque-Mexican actress (d. 2002) +1915 – Ivan Supek, Croatian physicist, philosopher and writer (d. 2007) +1917 – Winifred Asprey, American mathematician and computer scientist (d. 2007) + 1917 – Lloyd Bott, Australian public servant (d. 2004) + 1917 – Hubertus Ernst, Dutch bishop (d. 2017) + 1917 – Grigori Kuzmin, Russian-Estonian astronomer (d. 1988) +1918 – Betty Ford, American wife of Gerald Ford, 40th First Lady of the United States (d. 2011) + 1918 – Glendon Swarthout, American author and academic (d. 1992) +1919 – Ian Smith, Zimbabwean lieutenant and politician, 1st Prime Minister of Rhodesia (d. 2007) +1921 – Franco Corelli, Italian tenor and actor (d. 2003) +1920 – Carmen McRae, American singer-songwriter, pianist, and actress (d. 1994) + 1921 – Jan Novák, Czech composer (d. 1984) + 1921 – Herman van Raalte, Dutch footballer (d. 2013) +1923 – George Fisher, American cartoonist (d. 2003) + 1923 – Edward Mulhare, Irish-American actor (d. 1997) +1924 – Frédéric Back, German-Canadian animator, director, and screenwriter (d. 2013) + 1924 – Anthony Farrar-Hockley, English general and historian (d. 2006) + 1924 – Kumar Gandharva, Hindustani classical singer (d. 1992) + 1924 – Sara Northrup Hollister, American occultist (d. 1997) +1926 – Henry N. Cobb, American architect and academic, co-founded Pei Cobb Freed & Partners (d. 2020) + 1926 – Shecky Greene, American comedian + 1926 – Jürgen Moltmann, German theologian and academic +1927 – Tilly Armstrong, English author (d. 2010) + 1927 – Ollie Mitchell, American trumpet player and bandleader (d. 2013) +1928 – Fred Ebb, American lyricist (d. 2004) +1929 – Jacques Brel, Belgian singer-songwriter and actor (d. 1978) + 1929 – Renzo De Felice, Italian historian and author (d. 1996) +1930 – Carlos Hugo, Duke of Parma (d. 2010) +1931 – John Gavin, American actor and diplomat, United States Ambassador to Mexico (d. 2018) +1932 – Iskandar of Johor (d. 2010) + 1933 – James Lockhart, American scholar of colonial Latin America, especially Nahua peoples (d. 2014) +1934 – Kisho Kurokawa, Japanese architect, designed the Nakagin Capsule Tower and Singapore Flyer (d. 2007) +1935 – Oscar Zeta Acosta, American lawyer and politician (d. 1974) + 1935 – Albert Bustamante, American soldier, educator, and politician +1937 – Tony Barton, English footballer and manager (d. 1993) + 1937 – Seymour Hersh, American journalist and author + 1937 – Momo Kapor, Serbian author and painter (d. 2010) +1938 – Kofi Annan, Ghanaian economist and diplomat, 7th Secretary-General of the United Nations (d. 2018) + 1938 – John Hamm, Canadian physician and politician, 25th Premier of Nova Scotia + 1938 – Mary W. Gray, American mathematician, statistician, and lawyer +1939 – Manolis Angelopoulos, Greek singer, composer and songwriter (d. 1989) + 1939 – John Arbuthnott, Scottish microbiologist and academic + 1939 – Trina Schart Hyman, American author and illustrator (d. 2004) + 1939 – Martin J. Schreiber, American politician, 39th Governor of Wisconsin +1940 – John Havlicek, American basketball player (d. 2019) +1941 – Vivienne Westwood, English fashion designer (d. 2022) +1942 – Tony Banks, Baron Stratford, Northern Irish politician, Minister for Sport and the Olympics (d. 2006) + 1942 – Roger Chapman, English singer-songwriter and guitarist + 1942 – Douglas Trumbull, American director, producer, and special effects artist (d. 2022) +1943 – Michael Bennett, American dancer, choreographer, and director (d. 1987) + 1943 – Miller Farr, American football player + 1943 – James Herbert, English author and illustrator (d. 2013) + 1943 – Chris Orr, English painter and illustrator +1944 – Hywel Bennett, Welsh actor (d. 2017) + 1944 – Odd Nerdrum, Swedish-Norwegian painter and illustrator +1945 – Derrick Walker, Scottish businessman + 1945 – Jang Yong, South Korean actor +1946 – Catfish Hunter, American baseball player (d. 1999) + 1946 – Tim Thomerson, American actor and producer +1947 – Tom DeLay, American lawyer and politician + 1947 – Steve Howe, English guitarist, songwriter, and producer + 1947 – Robert Kiyosaki, American businessman, co-founded Cashflow Technologies + 1947 – Pascal Lamy, French businessman and politician, European Commissioner for Trade + 1947 – Larry Norman, American singer-songwriter, and producer (d. 2008) +1948 – Barbara Young, Baroness Young of Old Scone, Scottish academic and politician +1949 – K. C. Kamalasabayson, Sri Lankan lawyer and politician, 39th Attorney General of Sri Lanka (d. 2007) + 1949 – John Madden, English director and producer + 1949 – Brenda Russell, African-American-Canadian singer-songwriter and keyboard player + 1949 – John Scott, English sociologist and academic +1950 – Grzegorz Lato, Polish footballer and coach +1951 – Gerd Andres, German politician + 1951 – Geir Haarde, Icelandic economist, journalist, and politician, 23rd Prime Minister of Iceland + 1951 – Mel Schacher, American bass player + 1951 – Joan Sebastian, Mexican singer-songwriter and actor (d. 2015) + 1951 – Phil Schaap, American jazz disc jockey and historian (d. 2021) +1952 – Ahmet Piriştina, Turkish politician (d. 2004) +1954 – Gary Carter, American baseball player and coach (d. 2012) + 1954 – Princess Lalla Amina of Morocco (d. 2012) + 1954 – G.V. Loganathan, Indian-American engineer and academic (d. 2007) +1955 – Gerrie Coetzee, South African boxer (d. 2023) + 1955 – Ron Johnson, American businessman and politician + 1955 – Barbara Kingsolver, American novelist, essayist and poet + 1955 – David Wu, Taiwanese-American lawyer and politician +1956 – Michael Benton, Scottish-English paleontologist and academic + 1956 – Christine Boisson, French actress + 1956 – Roman Dragoun, Czech singer-songwriter and keyboard player +1958 – Detlef Bruckhoff, German footballer + 1958 – Tom Petranoff, American javelin thrower and coach +1959 – Alain Bondue, French cyclist +1960 – John Schneider, American actor and country singer +1961 – Richard Hatch, American reality contestant + 1961 – Brian McDermott, English footballer and manager +1962 – Paddy Lowe, English engineer + 1962 – Izzy Stradlin, American guitarist and songwriter +1963 – Tine Asmundsen, Norwegian bassist + 1963 – Julian Lennon, English singer-songwriter + 1963 – Dean Norris, American actor + 1963 – Terry Porter, American basketball player and coach + 1963 – Donita Sparks, American singer-songwriter and guitarist + 1963 – Alec Stewart, English cricketer + 1963 – Seth Tobias, American businessman (d. 2007) +1964 – Biz Markie, American rapper, producer, and actor (d. 2021) + 1964 – John McGinlay, Scottish footballer and manager +1965 – Steven Blaney, Canadian businessman and politician, 5th Canadian Minister of Public Safety + 1965 – Michael Jones, New Zealand rugby player and coach +1966 – Iveta Bartošová, Czech singer and actress (d. 2014) + 1966 – Mark Blundell, English race car driver + 1966 – Andy Currier, English rugby league player + 1966 – Charlotte Dawson, New Zealand-Australian television host (d. 2014) + 1966 – Dalton Grant, English high jumper + 1966 – Mazinho, Brazilian footballer, coach, and manager + 1966 – Harri Rovanperä, Finnish race car driver + 1966 – Evripidis Stylianidis, Greek lawyer and politician, Greek Minister for the Interior + 1966 – Robin Wright, American actress, director, producer +1967 – Kenny Benjamin, Antiguan cricketer +1968 – Patricia Arquette, American actress and director + 1968 – Patricia Girard, French runner and hurdler + 1968 – Tracy Grammer, American singer-songwriter and guitarist +1971 – Darren Jessee, American singer-songwriter and drummer +1972 – Paul Gray, American bass player and songwriter (d. 2010) + 1972 – Sergei Magnitsky, Russian lawyer and accountant (d. 2009) +1973 – Khaled Badra, Tunisian footballer + 1973 – Emma Caulfield, American actress +1974 – Toutai Kefu, Tongan-Australian rugby player + 1974 – Chris Kyle, American sniper and memoirist (d. 2013) + 1974 – Nnedi Okorafor, Nigerian-American author and educator +1975 – Anouk, Dutch singer + 1975 – Francesco Flachi, Italian footballer + 1975 – Timo Pérez, Dominican-American baseball player + 1975 – Funda Arar, Turkish singer +1977 – Ana de la Reguera, Mexican actress + 1977 – Mehran Ghassemi, Iranian journalist and author (d. 2008) + 1977 – Mark Spencer, American computer programmer and engineer +1978 – Daigo, Japanese singer-songwriter, actor, and voice actor + 1978 – Bernt Haas, Austrian-Swiss footballer + 1978 – Rachel Roberts, Canadian model and actress + 1978 – Jocelyn Robichaud, Canadian tennis player and coach + 1978 – Evans Rutto, Kenyan runner +1979 – Alexi Laiho, Finnish singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2020) + 1979 – Amit Trivedi, Indian singer-songwriter +1980 – Manuel Ortega, Austrian singer + 1980 – Katee Sackhoff, American actress + 1980 – Mariko Seyama, Japanese announcer, photographer, and model +1981 – Frédérick Bousquet, French swimmer + 1981 – Taylor Kitsch, Canadian actor and model + 1981 – Ofer Shechter, Israeli model, actor, and screenwriter +1982 – Gennady Golovkin, Kazakhstani boxer + 1982 – Brett White, Australian rugby league player +1983 – Tatyana Petrova Arkhipova, Russian runner +1984 – Michelle Donelan, British politician + 1984 – Ezra Koenig, American singer-songwriter and guitarist + 1984 – Pablo Portillo, Mexican singer and actor + 1984 – Taran Noah Smith, American actor +1985 – Patrick Schliwa, German rugby player + 1985 – Yemane Tsegay, Ethiopian runner +1986 – Igor Akinfeev, Russian footballer + 1986 – Félix Hernández, Venezuelan baseball player + 1986 – Carlos Santana, Dominican baseball player +1987 – Royston Drenthe, Dutch footballer + 1987 – Jeremy Hellickson, American baseball player + 1987 – Elton John, Trinidadian footballer + 1987 – Sam Rapira, New Zealand rugby league player +1988 – Jenni Asserholt, Swedish ice hockey player +1990 – Kim Jong-hyun, South Korean singer (d. 2017) +1992 – Jeff McNeil, American baseball player +1993 – Viktor Arvidsson, Swedish ice hockey player +1994 – Josh Chudleigh, Australian rugby league player +1995 – Cedi Osman, Turkish professional basketball player +1996 – Anna Korakaki, Greek Olympic shooter +1997 – Kim Woo-jin, South Korean singer + 1997 – Saygrace, Australian singer and songwriter + 1997 – Roquan Smith, American football player + 1997 – Arno Verschueren, Belgian footballer + 1998 – Lavinia Valbonesi, Ecuadorian nutritionist, businesswoman and First Lady-designate of Ecuador +1999 – CeeDee Lamb, American football player +2002 – Viktória Forster, Slovak track and field athlete +2002 – Skai Jackson, American actress + +Deaths + +Pre-1600 + 217 – Caracalla, Roman emperor (b. 188) + 622 – Shōtoku, Japanese prince (b. 572) + 632 – Charibert II, Frankish king (b. 607) + 894 – Adalelm, Frankish nobleman + 944 – Wang Yanxi, Chinese emperor + 956 – Gilbert, Frankish nobleman + 967 – Mu'izz al-Dawla, Buyid emir (b. 915) +1143 – John II Komnenos, Byzantine emperor (b. 1087) +1150 – Gertrude of Babenberg, duchess of Bohemia (b. 1118) +1321 – Thomas of Tolentino, Italian-Franciscan missionary (b. c. 1255) +1338 – Stephen Gravesend, bishop of London +1364 – John II, French king (b. 1319) +1450 – Sejong the Great, Korean king (b. 1397) +1461 – Georg von Peuerbach, German mathematician and astronomer (b. 1423) +1492 – Lorenzo de' Medici, Italian ruler (b. 1449) +1551 – Oda Nobuhide, Japanese warlord (b. 1510) +1586 – Martin Chemnitz, Lutheran theologian and reformer (b. 1522) + +1601–1900 +1608 – Magdalen Dacre, English noble (b. 1538) +1612 – Anne Catherine of Brandenburg (b. 1575) +1691 – Carlo Rainaldi, Italian architect, designed the Santa Maria dei Miracoli and Santa Maria in Montesanto (b. 1611) +1697 – Niels Juel, Norwegian-Danish admiral (b. 1629) +1704 – Hiob Ludolf, German orientalist and philologist (b. 1624) + 1704 – Henry Sydney, 1st Earl of Romney, English colonel and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (b. 1641) +1709 – Wolfgang Dietrich of Castell-Remlingen, German nobleman (b. 1641) +1725 – John Wise, American minister (b. 1652) +1735 – Francis II Rákóczi, Hungarian prince (b. 1676) +1848 – Gaetano Donizetti, Italian composer (b. 1797) +1860 – István Széchenyi, Hungarian statesman and reformer (b.1791) +1861 – Elisha Otis, American businessman, founded the Otis Elevator Company (b. 1811) +1870 – Charles Auguste de Bériot, Belgian violinist and composer (b. 1802) +1877 – Bernardino António Gomes, Portuguese physician and naturalist (b. 1806) +1894 – Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay, Indian journalist, author, and poet (b. 1838) + +1901–present +1906 – Auguste Deter, German woman, first person diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease (b. 1850) +1919 – Loránd Eötvös, Hungarian physicist, academic, and politician, Hungarian Minister of Education (b. 1848) +1920 – Charles Griffes, American pianist and composer (b. 1884) +1931 – Erik Axel Karlfeldt, Swedish poet Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1864) +1936 – Róbert Bárány, Austrian physician and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1876) + 1936 – Božena Benešová, Czech poet and novelist (b. 1873) +1941 – Marcel Prévost, French novelist and playwright (b. 1862) +1942 – Kostas Skarvelis, Greek guitarist and composer (b. 1880) +1947 – Olaf Frydenlund, Norwegian target shooter (b. 1862) +1950 – Vaslav Nijinsky, Polish dancer and choreographer (b. 1890) +1959 – Marios Makrionitis, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Athens (b. 1913) +1961 – Joseph Carrodus, Australian public servant (b. 1885) +1962 – Juan Belmonte, Spanish bullfighter (b. 1892) +1965 – Lars Hanson, Swedish actor (b. 1886) +1969 – Zinaida Aksentyeva, Ukrainian astronomer (b. 1900) +1973 – Pablo Picasso, Spanish painter and sculptor (b. 1881) +1974 – James Charles McGuigan, Canadian cardinal (b. 1894) +1979 – Breece D'J Pancake, American short story writer (b. 1952) +1981 – Omar Bradley, American general (b. 1893) +1983 – Isamu Kosugi, Japanese actor and director (b. 1904) +1984 – Pyotr Kapitsa, Russian physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1894) +1985 – John Frederick Coots, American pianist and composer (b. 1897) +1990 – Ryan White, American activist, inspired the Ryan White Care Act (b. 1971) +1991 – Per Ohlin, Swedish musician (b. 1969) +1992 – Daniel Bovet, Swiss-Italian pharmacologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1907) +1993 – Marian Anderson, American operatic singer (b. 1897) +1994 – François Rozet, French-Canadian actor (b. 1899) +1996 – Ben Johnson, American actor and stuntman (b. 1918) + 1996 – León Klimovsky, Argentinian-Spanish actor, director, and screenwriter (b. 1906) + 1996 – Mick Young, Australian politician (b. 1936) +1997 – Laura Nyro, American singer-songwriter and pianist (b. 1947) +2000 – František Šťastný, Czech motorcycle racer (b. 1927) + 2000 – Claire Trevor, American actress (b. 1910) +2002 – María Félix, Mexican actress (b. 1914) + 2002 – Harvey Quaytman, American painter (b. 1937) +2004 – Werner Schumacher, German actor (b. 1921) +2005 – Onna White, Canadian choreographer and dancer (b. 1922) +2006 – Gerard Reve, Dutch author and poet (b. 1923) +2007 – Sol LeWitt, American painter and sculptor (b. 1928) +2008 – Kazuo Shiraga, Japanese painter (b. 1924) +2009 – Richard de Mille, American Scientologist, author, investigative journalist, and psychologist (b. 1922) + 2009 – Piotr Morawski, Polish mountaineer (b. 1976) +2010 – Malcolm McLaren, English singer-songwriter (b. 1946) + 2010 – Teddy Scholten, Dutch singer (b. 1926) +2011 – Hedda Sterne, Romanian-American painter and photographer (b. 1910) +2012 – Blair Kiel, American football player and coach (b. 1961) + 2012 – Jack Tramiel, Polish-American businessman, founded Commodore International (b. 1928) + 2012 – Janusz K. Zawodny, Polish-American soldier, historian, and political scientist (b. 1921) +2013 – Mikhail Beketov, Russian journalist (b. 1958) + 2013 – Annette Funicello, American actress and singer (b. 1942) + 2013 – Sara Montiel, Spanish-Mexican actress and singer (b. 1928) + 2013 – José Luis Sampedro, Spanish economist and author (b. 1917) + 2013 – Margaret Thatcher, English politician, first female Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1925) +2014 – Emmanuel III Delly, Iraqi patriarch (b. 1927) + 2014 – Karlheinz Deschner, German author and activist (b. 1924) + 2014 – Ivan Mercep, New Zealand architect, designed the Te Papa Tongarewa Museum (b. 1930) +2015 – Jayakanthan, Indian journalist and author (b. 1934) + 2015 – Rayson Huang, Hong Kong chemist and academic (b. 1920) + 2015 – Sergei Lashchenko, Ukrainian kick-boxer (b. 1987) + 2015 – David Laventhol, American journalist and publisher (b. 1933) + 2015 – Jean-Claude Turcotte, Canadian cardinal (b. 1936) +2019 – Josine Ianco-Starrels, Romanian-born American art curator (b. 1926) +2020 – Rick May, American-Canadian voice actor (b. 1940) + 2020 – Abdul Momin Imambari, Bangladeshi Islamic scholar (b. 1930) +2022 – Mimi Reinhardt, Austrian Jewish secretary (b. 1915) + +Holidays and observances + Buddha's Birthday, also known as Hana Matsuri, "Flower Festival" (Japan) + Christian feast day: + Anne Ayres (Episcopal Church (USA)) + Constantina + Julie Billiart of Namur + Perpetuus + Walter of Pontoise + William Augustus Muhlenberg (Episcopal Church (USA)) + April 8 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics) + Earliest day on which Fast and Prayer Day can fall, while April 14 is the latest; celebrated on the second Friday in April (Liberia) + International Romani Day + +References + +External links + + BBC: On This Day + + Historical Events on April 8 + +Days of the year +April +, short for argumentum ad hominem, is a term that refers to several types of arguments, most of which are fallacious. Typically this term refers to a rhetorical strategy where the speaker attacks the character, motive, or some other attribute of the person making an argument rather than attacking the substance of the argument itself. This avoids genuine debate by creating a diversion to some irrelevant but often highly charged issue. The most common form of this fallacy is "A makes a claim x, B asserts that A holds a property that is unwelcome, and hence B concludes that argument x is wrong". + +The valid types of ad hominem arguments are generally only encountered in specialized philosophical usage. These typically refer to the dialectical strategy of using the target's own beliefs and arguments against them, while not agreeing with the validity of those beliefs and arguments. Ad hominem arguments were first studied in ancient Greece; John Locke revived the examination of ad hominem arguments in the 17th century. Many contemporary politicians routinely use ad hominem attacks, which can be encapsulated to a derogatory nickname for a political opponent. + +History + +The various types of ad hominem arguments have been known in the West since at least the ancient Greeks. Aristotle, in his work Sophistical Refutations, detailed the fallaciousness of putting the questioner but not the argument under scrutiny. His description was somewhat different from the modern understanding, referring to a class of sophistry that applies an ambiguously worded question about people to a specific person. The proper refutation, he wrote, is not to debate the attributes of the person (solutio ad hominem) but to address the original ambiguity. Many examples of ancient non-fallacious ad hominem arguments are preserved in the works of the Pyrrhonist philosopher Sextus Empiricus. In these arguments, the concepts and assumptions of the opponents are used as part of a dialectical strategy against them to demonstrate the unsoundness of their own arguments and assumptions. In this way, the arguments are to the person (ad hominem), but without attacking the properties of the individuals making the arguments. This kind of argument is also known as "argument from commitment". + +Italian polymath Galileo Galilei and British philosopher John Locke also examined the argument from commitment, a form of the ad hominem argument, meaning examining an argument on the basis of whether it stands true to the principles of the person carrying the argument. In the mid-19th century, the modern understanding of the term ad hominem started to take shape, with the broad definition given by English logician Richard Whately. According to Whately, ad hominem arguments were "addressed to the peculiar circumstances, character, avowed opinions, or past conduct of the individual". + +Over time, the term acquired a different meaning; by the beginning of the 20th century, it was linked to a logical fallacy, in which a debater, instead of disproving an argument, attacked their opponent. This approach was also popularized in philosophical textbooks of the mid-20th century, and it was challenged by Australian philosopher Charles Leonard Hamblin in the second half of the 20th century. In a detailed work, he suggested that the inclusion of a statement against a person in an argument does not necessarily make it a fallacious argument since that particular phrase is not a premise that leads to a conclusion. While Hablin's criticism was not widely accepted, Canadian philosopher Douglas N. Walton examined the fallaciousness of the ad hominem argument even further. Nowadays, except within specialized philosophical usages, the usage of the term ad hominem signifies a straight attack at the character and ethos of a person, in an attempt to refute their argument. + +Terminology +The Latin phase argumentum ad hominem stands for "argument against the person". "Ad" corresponds to "against" but it could also mean "to" or "towards". + +The terms ad mulierem and ad feminam have been used specifically when the person receiving the criticism is female. + +Types of ad hominem arguments + +Fallacious ad hominem reasoning is categorized among informal fallacies, more precisely as a genetic fallacy, a subcategory of fallacies of irrelevance. + +Ad hominem fallacies can be separated into various types, such as tu quoque, circumstantial ad hominem, guilt by association, and abusive ad hominem. All of them are similar to the general scheme of ad hominem argument, that is instead of dealing with the essence of someone's argument or trying to refute it, the interlocutor is attacking the character of the proponent of the argument and concluding that it is a sufficient reason to drop the initial argument. + +Tu quoque + +Ad hominem tu quoque (literally: "You also") is a response to a personal attack (or ad hominem argument) that itself is a personal attack. + +Tu quoque appears as: + + A makes a claim a. + B attacks the character of A by saying they hold a property x, which is bad. + A defends themself by attacking B, saying they also hold the same property x. + +Here is an example given by philosophy professor George Wrisley to illustrate the above: A businessman and politician is giving a lecture at a University about how good his company is and how nicely the system works. A student asks him "Is it true that you and your company are selling weapons to third world rulers who use those arms against their own people?" and the businessman replies "Is it true that your university gets funding by the same company that you are claiming is selling guns to those countries? You are not a white dove either". The ad hominem accusation of the student is relevant to the narrative the businessman tries to project thus not fallacious. On the other hand, the attack on the student (that is, the student being inconsistent) is irrelevant to the opening narrative. So the businessman's tu quoque response is fallacious. + +Canadian philosopher Christopher Tindale approaches somewhat different the tu quoque fallacy. According to Tindale, a tu quoque fallacy appears when a response to an argument is made on the history of the arguer. This argument is also invalid because it does not disprove the premise; if the premise is true, then source A may be a hypocrite or even changed their mind, but this does not make the statement less credible from a logical perspective. A common example, given by Tindale, is when a doctor advises a patient to lose weight, but the patient argues that there is no need for him to go on a diet because the doctor is also overweight. + +Circumstantial + +Circumstantial ad hominem points out that someone is in circumstances (for instance, their job, wealth, property, or relations) such that they are disposed to take a particular position. It constitutes an attack on the bias of a source. As with other types of ad hominem attack, circumstantial attack could be fallacious or not. It could be fallacious because a disposition to make a certain argument does not make the argument invalid; this overlaps with the genetic fallacy (an argument that a claim is incorrect due to its source). But it also may be a sound argument, if the premises are correct and the bias is relevant to the argument. + +A simple example is: a father may tell his daughter not to start smoking because she will damage her health, and she may point out that he is or was a smoker. This does not alter the fact that smoking might cause various diseases. Her father's inconsistency is not a proper reason to reject his claim. + +Philosopher and pundit on informal fallacies Douglas N. Walton argues that a circumstantial ad hominem argument can be non-fallacious. This could be the case when someone (A) attacks the personality of another person (B), making an argument (a) while the personality of B is relevant to argument a, i.e. B talks as an authority figure. To illustrate this reasoning, Walton gives the example of a witness at a trial: if he had been caught lying and cheating in his own life, should the jury take his word for granted? No, according to Walton. + +Guilt by association + +Guilt by association, that is accusing an arguer because of his alleged connection with a discredited person or group, can sometimes also be a type of ad hominem fallacy when the argument attacks a source because of the similarity between the views of someone making an argument and other proponents of the argument. + +This form of the argument is as follows: + + Individual S makes claim C. + Individual S is also associated with Group G, who has an unfavorable reputation + Therefore, individual S and his views are questionable. + +Academic Leigh Kolb gives as an example that the 2008 US vice‐presidential candidate Sarah Palin attacked Barack Obama for having worked with Bill Ayers, who had been a leader in the Weather Underground terrorist group in the 1960s. Despite Obama denouncing every act of terrorism, he was still associated by his opponents with terrorism. + +Guilt by association is frequently found in social and political debates. It also appears after major events (such as scandals and terrorism) linked to a specific group. An example, given also by Leigh Kolb, is the peak of attacks against Muslims in the US after the September 11 attacks. + +Abusive ad hominem + +Abusive ad hominem argument (or direct ad hominem) is associated with an attack to the character of the person carrying an argument. This kind of argument, besides usually being fallacious, is also counterproductive, as a proper dialogue is hard to achieve after such an attack. + +Key issues in examining an argument to determine whether it is an ad hominem fallacy or not are whether the accusation against the person stands true or not, and whether the accusation is relevant to the argument. An example is a dialogue at the court, where the attorney cross-examines an eyewitness, bringing to light the fact that the witness was convicted in the past for lying. If the attorney's conclusion is that the witness is lying, that would be wrong. But if his argument would be that the witness should not be trusted, that would not be a fallacy. + +Argument from commitment +An ad hominem argument from commitment is a type of valid argument that employs, as a dialectical strategy, the exclusive utilization of the beliefs, convictions, and assumptions of those holding the position being argued against, i.e., arguments constructed on the basis of what other people hold to be true. This usage is generally only encountered in specialist philosophical usage or in pre-20th century usages. This type of argument is also known as the ex concessis argument (Latin for "from what has been conceded already"). + +Usage in debates +Ad hominem fallacies are considered to be uncivil and do not help creating a constructive atmosphere for dialogue to flourish. An ad hominem attack is an attack on the character of the target who tends to feel the necessity to defend himself or herself from the accusation of being hypocritical. Walton has noted that it is so powerful of an argument that it is employed in many political debates. Since it is associated with negativity and dirty tricks, it has gained a bad fame, of being always fallacious. + +Author Eithan Orkibi, having studied Israeli politics prior to elections, described two other forms of ad hominem attacks that are common during election periods. They both depend on the collective memory shared by both proponents and the audience. The first is the precedent ad hominem, according to which the previous history of someone means that they do not fit for the office. It goes like this: "My opponent was (allegedly) wrong in the past, therefore he is wrong now". The second one is a behavioral ad hominem: "my opponent was not decent in his arguments in the past, so he is not now either". These kinds of attacks are based on the inability of the audience to have a clear view of the amount of false statements by both parts of the debate. + +Criticism as a fallacy +Walton has argued that ad hominem reasoning is not always fallacious, and that in some instances, questions of personal conduct, character, motives, etc., are legitimate and relevant to the issue, as when it directly involves hypocrisy, or actions contradicting the subject's words. + +The philosopher Charles Taylor has argued that ad hominem reasoning (discussing facts about the speaker or author relative to the value of his statements) is essential to understanding certain moral issues due to the connection between individual persons and morality (or moral claims), and contrasts this sort of reasoning with the apodictic reasoning (involving facts beyond dispute or clearly established) of philosophical naturalism. + +See also + + "And you are lynching Negroes" + Appeal to authority + Appeal to emotion + Appeal to motive + The Art of Being Right + Character assassination + Ergo decedo + Fair game (Scientology) + Fake news + Fundamental attribution error + Gaslighting + Hostile witness + Negative campaigning + Poisoning the well + Presumption of guilt + Race card + Red herring + Reputation + Shooting the messenger + Smear campaign + Straw man + Tone policing + Whataboutism + +References + +Sources + +External links + + + Argumentum Ad Hominem + +Genetic fallacies +Informal fallacies +Latin logical phrases +Latin words and phrases +Propaganda techniques +Rhetoric +In computer science, the analysis of algorithms is the process of finding the computational complexity of algorithms—the amount of time, storage, or other resources needed to execute them. Usually, this involves determining a function that relates the size of an algorithm's input to the number of steps it takes (its time complexity) or the number of storage locations it uses (its space complexity). An algorithm is said to be efficient when this function's values are small, or grow slowly compared to a growth in the size of the input. Different inputs of the same size may cause the algorithm to have different behavior, so best, worst and average case descriptions might all be of practical interest. When not otherwise specified, the function describing the performance of an algorithm is usually an upper bound, determined from the worst case inputs to the algorithm. + +The term "analysis of algorithms" was coined by Donald Knuth. Algorithm analysis is an important part of a broader computational complexity theory, which provides theoretical estimates for the resources needed by any algorithm which solves a given computational problem. These estimates provide an insight into reasonable directions of search for efficient algorithms. + +In theoretical analysis of algorithms it is common to estimate their complexity in the asymptotic sense, i.e., to estimate the complexity function for arbitrarily large input. Big O notation, Big-omega notation and Big-theta notation are used to this end. For instance, binary search is said to run in a number of steps proportional to the logarithm of the size of the sorted list being searched, or in , colloquially "in logarithmic time". Usually asymptotic estimates are used because different implementations of the same algorithm may differ in efficiency. However the efficiencies of any two "reasonable" implementations of a given algorithm are related by a constant multiplicative factor called a hidden constant. + +Exact (not asymptotic) measures of efficiency can sometimes be computed but they usually require certain assumptions concerning the particular implementation of the algorithm, called model of computation. A model of computation may be defined in terms of an abstract computer, e.g. Turing machine, and/or by postulating that certain operations are executed in unit time. +For example, if the sorted list to which we apply binary search has elements, and we can guarantee that each lookup of an element in the list can be done in unit time, then at most time units are needed to return an answer. + +Cost models +Time efficiency estimates depend on what we define to be a step. For the analysis to correspond usefully to the actual run-time, the time required to perform a step must be guaranteed to be bounded above by a constant. One must be careful here; for instance, some analyses count an addition of two numbers as one step. This assumption may not be warranted in certain contexts. For example, if the numbers involved in a computation may be arbitrarily large, the time required by a single addition can no longer be assumed to be constant. + +Two cost models are generally used: + the uniform cost model, also called unit-cost model (and similar variations), assigns a constant cost to every machine operation, regardless of the size of the numbers involved + the logarithmic cost model, also called logarithmic-cost measurement (and similar variations), assigns a cost to every machine operation proportional to the number of bits involved + +The latter is more cumbersome to use, so it's only employed when necessary, for example in the analysis of arbitrary-precision arithmetic algorithms, like those used in cryptography. + +A key point which is often overlooked is that published lower bounds for problems are often given for a model of computation that is more restricted than the set of operations that you could use in practice and therefore there are algorithms that are faster than what would naively be thought possible. + +Run-time analysis +Run-time analysis is a theoretical classification that estimates and anticipates the increase in running time (or run-time or execution time) of an algorithm as its input size (usually denoted as ) increases. Run-time efficiency is a topic of great interest in computer science: A program can take seconds, hours, or even years to finish executing, depending on which algorithm it implements. While software profiling techniques can be used to measure an algorithm's run-time in practice, they cannot provide timing data for all infinitely many possible inputs; the latter can only be achieved by the theoretical methods of run-time analysis. + +Shortcomings of empirical metrics + +Since algorithms are platform-independent (i.e. a given algorithm can be implemented in an arbitrary programming language on an arbitrary computer running an arbitrary operating system), there are additional significant drawbacks to using an empirical approach to gauge the comparative performance of a given set of algorithms. + +Take as an example a program that looks up a specific entry in a sorted list of size n. Suppose this program were implemented on Computer A, a state-of-the-art machine, using a linear search algorithm, and on Computer B, a much slower machine, using a binary search algorithm. Benchmark testing on the two computers running their respective programs might look something like the following: + +Based on these metrics, it would be easy to jump to the conclusion that Computer A is running an algorithm that is far superior in efficiency to that of Computer B. However, if the size of the input-list is increased to a sufficient number, that conclusion is dramatically demonstrated to be in error: + +Computer A, running the linear search program, exhibits a linear growth rate. The program's run-time is directly proportional to its input size. Doubling the input size doubles the run-time, quadrupling the input size quadruples the run-time, and so forth. On the other hand, Computer B, running the binary search program, exhibits a logarithmic growth rate. Quadrupling the input size only increases the run-time by a constant amount (in this example, 50,000 ns). Even though Computer A is ostensibly a faster machine, Computer B will inevitably surpass Computer A in run-time because it's running an algorithm with a much slower growth rate. + +Orders of growth + +Informally, an algorithm can be said to exhibit a growth rate on the order of a mathematical function if beyond a certain input size , the function times a positive constant provides an upper bound or limit for the run-time of that algorithm. In other words, for a given input size greater than some 0 and a constant , the run-time of that algorithm will never be larger than . This concept is frequently expressed using Big O notation. For example, since the run-time of insertion sort grows quadratically as its input size increases, insertion sort can be said to be of order . + +Big O notation is a convenient way to express the worst-case scenario for a given algorithm, although it can also be used to express the average-case — for example, the worst-case scenario for quicksort is , but the average-case run-time is . + +Empirical orders of growth +Assuming the run-time follows power rule, , the coefficient can be found by taking empirical measurements of run-time } at some problem-size points }, and calculating so that . In other words, this measures the slope of the empirical line on the log–log plot of run-time vs. input size, at some size point. If the order of growth indeed follows the power rule (and so the line on the log–log plot is indeed a straight line), the empirical value of will stay constant at different ranges, and if not, it will change (and the line is a curved line)—but still could serve for comparison of any two given algorithms as to their empirical local orders of growth behaviour. Applied to the above table: + +It is clearly seen that the first algorithm exhibits a linear order of growth indeed following the power rule. The empirical values for the second one are diminishing rapidly, suggesting it follows another rule of growth and in any case has much lower local orders of growth (and improving further still), empirically, than the first one. + +Evaluating run-time complexity +The run-time complexity for the worst-case scenario of a given algorithm can sometimes be evaluated by examining the structure of the algorithm and making some simplifying assumptions. Consider the following pseudocode: + + 1 get a positive integer n from input + 2 if n > 10 + 3 print "This might take a while..." + 4 for i = 1 to n + 5 for j = 1 to i + 6 print i * j + 7 print "Done!" + +A given computer will take a discrete amount of time to execute each of the instructions involved with carrying out this algorithm. Say that the actions carried out in step 1 are considered to consume time at most T1, step 2 uses time at most T2, and so forth. + +In the algorithm above, steps 1, 2 and 7 will only be run once. For a worst-case evaluation, it should be assumed that step 3 will be run as well. Thus the total amount of time to run steps 1-3 and step 7 is: + +The loops in steps 4, 5 and 6 are trickier to evaluate. The outer loop test in step 4 will execute ( n + 1 ) +times, which will consume T4( n + 1 ) time. The inner loop, on the other hand, is governed by the value of j, which iterates from 1 to i. On the first pass through the outer loop, j iterates from 1 to 1: The inner loop makes one pass, so running the inner loop body (step 6) consumes T6 time, and the inner loop test (step 5) consumes 2T5 time. During the next pass through the outer loop, j iterates from 1 to 2: the inner loop makes two passes, so running the inner loop body (step 6) consumes 2T6 time, and the inner loop test (step 5) consumes 3T5 time. + +Altogether, the total time required to run the inner loop body can be expressed as an arithmetic progression: + +which can be factored as + +The total time required to run the inner loop test can be evaluated similarly: + +which can be factored as + +Therefore, the total run-time for this algorithm is: + +which reduces to + +As a rule-of-thumb, one can assume that the highest-order term in any given function dominates its rate of growth and thus defines its run-time order. In this example, n2 is the highest-order term, so one can conclude that . Formally this can be proven as follows: + +A more elegant approach to analyzing this algorithm would be to declare that [T1..T7] are all equal to one unit of time, in a system of units chosen so that one unit is greater than or equal to the actual times for these steps. This would mean that the algorithm's run-time breaks down as follows: + +Growth rate analysis of other resources +The methodology of run-time analysis can also be utilized for predicting other growth rates, such as consumption of memory space. As an example, consider the following pseudocode which manages and reallocates memory usage by a program based on the size of a file which that program manages: + + while file is still open: + let n = size of file + for every 100,000 kilobytes of increase in file size + double the amount of memory reserved + +In this instance, as the file size n increases, memory will be consumed at an exponential growth rate, which is order . This is an extremely rapid and most likely unmanageable growth rate for consumption of memory resources. + +Relevance +Algorithm analysis is important in practice because the accidental or unintentional use of an inefficient algorithm can significantly impact system performance. In time-sensitive applications, an algorithm taking too long to run can render its results outdated or useless. An inefficient algorithm can also end up requiring an uneconomical amount of computing power or storage in order to run, again rendering it practically useless. + +Constant factors +Analysis of algorithms typically focuses on the asymptotic performance, particularly at the elementary level, but in practical applications constant factors are important, and real-world data is in practice always limited in size. The limit is typically the size of addressable memory, so on 32-bit machines 232 = 4 GiB (greater if segmented memory is used) and on 64-bit machines 264 = 16 EiB. Thus given a limited size, an order of growth (time or space) can be replaced by a constant factor, and in this sense all practical algorithms are for a large enough constant, or for small enough data. + +This interpretation is primarily useful for functions that grow extremely slowly: (binary) iterated logarithm (log*) is less than 5 for all practical data (265536 bits); (binary) log-log (log log n) is less than 6 for virtually all practical data (264 bits); and binary log (log n) is less than 64 for virtually all practical data (264 bits). An algorithm with non-constant complexity may nonetheless be more efficient than an algorithm with constant complexity on practical data if the overhead of the constant time algorithm results in a larger constant factor, e.g., one may have so long as and . + +For large data linear or quadratic factors cannot be ignored, but for small data an asymptotically inefficient algorithm may be more efficient. This is particularly used in hybrid algorithms, like Timsort, which use an asymptotically efficient algorithm (here merge sort, with time complexity ), but switch to an asymptotically inefficient algorithm (here insertion sort, with time complexity ) for small data, as the simpler algorithm is faster on small data. + +See also + Amortized analysis + Analysis of parallel algorithms + Asymptotic computational complexity + Best, worst and average case + Big O notation + Computational complexity theory + Master theorem (analysis of algorithms) + NP-Complete + Numerical analysis + Polynomial time + Program optimization + Profiling (computer programming) + Scalability + Smoothed analysis + Termination analysis — the subproblem of checking whether a program will terminate at all + Time complexity — includes table of orders of growth for common algorithms + Information-based complexity + +Notes + +References + +External links + + +Computational complexity theory +Ælle (also Aelle or Ella) is recorded in early sources as the first king of the South Saxons, reigning in what is now called Sussex, England, from 477 to perhaps as late as 514. + +According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, Ælle and three of his sons are said to have landed at a place called Cymensora and fought against the local Britons. The chronicle goes on to report a victory in 491, at present day Pevensey, where the battle ended with the Saxons slaughtering their opponents to the last man. + +Ælle was the first king recorded by the 8th century chronicler Bede to have held "imperium", or overlordship, over other Anglo-Saxon kingdoms. In the late 9th-century Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (around four hundred years after his time) Ælle is recorded as being the first bretwalda, or "Britain-ruler", though there is no evidence that this was a contemporary title. Ælle's death is not recorded and although he may have been the founder of a South Saxon dynasty, there is no firm evidence linking him with later South Saxon rulers. The 12th-century chronicler Henry of Huntingdon produced an enhanced version of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle that included 514 as the date of Ælle's death, but this is not secure. + +Historical context + +Historians are divided on the detail of Ælle's life and existence as it was during the least-documented period in English history of the last two millennia. + +By the early 5th century, Britain had been Roman for over three hundred and fifty years. Amongst the enemies of Roman Britain were the Picts of central and northern Scotland, and the Gaels known as Scoti, who were raiders from Ireland. Also vexatious were the Saxons, the name Roman writers gave to the peoples who lived in the northern part of what is now Germany and the southern part of the Jutland peninsula. Saxon raids on the southern and eastern shores of England had been sufficiently alarming by the late 3rd century for the Romans to build the Saxon Shore forts, and subsequently to establish the role of the Count of the Saxon Shore to command the defence against these incursions. Roman control of Britain finally ended in the early part of the 5th century; the date usually given as marking the end of Roman Britain is 410, when the Emperor Honorius sent letters to the British, urging them to look to their own defence. Britain had been repeatedly stripped of troops to support usurpers' claims to the Roman empire, and after 410 the Roman armies never returned. + +Sources for events after this date are extremely scarce, but a tradition, reported as early as the mid-6th century by a British priest named Gildas, records that the British sent for help against the barbarians to Aetius, a Roman consul, probably in the late 440s. No help came. Subsequently, a British leader named Vortigern is supposed to have invited continental mercenaries to help fight the Picts who were attacking from the north. The leaders, whose names are recorded as Hengest and Horsa, rebelled, and a long period of warfare ensued. The invaders—Angles, Saxons, Jutes, and Frisians—gained control of parts of England, but lost a major battle at Mons Badonicus (the location of which is not known). Some authors have speculated that Ælle may have led the Saxon forces at this battle, while others reject the idea out of hand. + +The British thus gained a respite, and peace lasted at least until the time Gildas was writing: that is, for perhaps forty or fifty years, from around the end of the 5th century until midway through the sixth. Shortly after Gildas's time, the Anglo-Saxon advance was resumed, and by the late 6th century nearly all of southern England was under the control of the continental invaders. + +Early sources +There are two early sources that mention Ælle by name. The earliest is The Ecclesiastical History of the English People, a history of the English church written in 731 by Bede, a Northumbrian monk. Bede mentions Ælle as one of the Anglo-Saxon kings who exercised what he calls "imperium" over "all the provinces south of the river Humber"; "imperium" is usually translated as "overlordship". Bede gives a list of seven kings who held "imperium", and Ælle is the first of them. The other information Bede gives is that Ælle was not a Christian—Bede mentions a later king as "the first to enter the kingdom of heaven". + +The second source is the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, a collection of annals assembled in the Kingdom of Wessex in c. 890, during the reign of Alfred the Great. The Chronicle has three entries for Ælle, from 477 to 491, as follows: + +477: Ælle and his 3 sons, Cymen and Wlencing and Cissa, came to the land of Britain with 3 ships at the place which is named Cymen's shore, and there killed many Welsh and drove some to flight into the wood called Andredes leag. +485: Here Ælle fought against the Welsh near the margin of Mearcred's Burn. +491: Here Ælle and Cissa besieged Andredes cester, and killed all who lived in there; there was not even one Briton left there. + +The Chronicle was put together about four hundred years after these events. It is known that the annalists used material from earlier chronicles, as well as from oral sources such as sagas, but there is no way to tell where these lines came from. The terms 'British' and 'Welsh' were used interchangeably, as 'Welsh' is the Saxon word meaning 'foreigner', and was applied to all the native Romano-British of the era. + +Three of the places named may be identified: +"Cymen's shore" ("Cymenes ora" in the original) is believed to be located at what is now a series of rocks and ledges, in the English Channel off Selsey Bill, on the south coast, known as the Owers. It has been suggested that Ower is derived from the word ora that is found only in placenames where Jutish and West Saxon dialects were in operation (mainly in southern England). It is possible that the stretch of low ground along the coast from Southampton to Bognor was called Ora, "the shore", and that district names were used by the various coastal settlements, Cymens ora being one of them. +The wood called "Andredes leag" is the Weald, which at that time was a forest extending from north-west Hampshire all through northern Sussex. +"Andredes cester" is thought to be Anderitum, the Saxon Shore fort built by the Roman rebel Carausius in the late 3rd century at Pevensey Castle, just outside the town. Some believe Andredes cester may have been an imperial stronghold somewhere else as Henry of Huntingdon described the place as a fortified city and gave a very full account of the siege which is inconsistent with the geography of ancient Pevensey and little archaeological evidence of sustained settlement there. Also, in his "Britannia", William Camden suggests that it could be Newenden, Kent. + +The Chronicle mentions Ælle once more under the year 827, where he is listed as the first of the eight "bretwaldas", or "Britain-rulers". The list consists of Bede's original seven, plus Egbert of Wessex. There has been much scholarly debate over just what it meant to be a "bretwalda", and the extent of Ælle's actual power in southern England is an open question. It is also noteworthy that there is a long gap between Ælle and the second king on Bede's list, Ceawlin of Wessex, whose reign began in the late 6th century; this may indicate a period in which Anglo-Saxon dominance was interrupted in some way. + +Earlier sources than Bede exist which mention the South Saxons, though they do not name Ælle. The earliest reference is still quite late, however, at about 692: a charter of King Nothhelm's, which styles him "King of the South Saxons". Charters are documents which granted land to followers or to churchmen, and which would be witnessed by the kings who had power to grant the land. They are one of the key documentary sources for Anglo-Saxon history, but no original charters survive from earlier than 679. + +There are other early writers whose works can shed light on Ælle's time, though they do not mention either him or his kingdom. Gildas's description of the state of Britain in his time is useful for understanding the ebb and flow of the Anglo-Saxon incursions. Procopius, a Byzantine historian, writing not long after Gildas, adds to the meagre sources on population movement by including a chapter on England in one of his works. He records that the peoples of Britain—he names the English, the British, and the Frisians—were so numerous that they were migrating to the kingdom of the Franks in great numbers every year, although this is probably a reference to Britons emigrating to Armorica to escape the Anglo-Saxons. They subsequently gave their name to the area they settled as Brittany, or la petite Bretagne (lit., "little Britain"). + +Evidence from place names in Sussex +The early dates given in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle for the colonization of Sussex are supported by an analysis of the place names of the region. The strongest evidence comes from place names that end in "-ing", such as Worthing and Angmering. These are known to derive from an earlier form ending in "-ingas". "Hastings" for example, derives from "Hæstingas" which may mean "the followers or dependents of a person named Hæsta", although others suggest the heavily Romanised region may have had names of Gallo-Roman origin derived from "-ienses". From west of Selsey Bill to east of Pevensey can be found the densest concentration of these names anywhere in Britain. There are a total of about forty-five place names in Sussex of this form, but personal names either were not associated with these places or fell out of use. + +The preservation of Ælle's sons in Old English place names is unusual. The names of the founders, in other origin legends, seem to have British and/ or Latin roots not Old English. It is likely that the foundation stories were actually known before the 9th century, but the annalists manipulated them to provide a common origin for the new regime. The origin stories purported that the British were defeated and replaced by invading Anglo-Saxons arriving in small ships. These stories were largely believed right up to the 19th century, but are now regarded as myths. + +Reign +If the dates given by the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle are accurate to within half a century, then Ælle's reign lies in the middle of the Anglo-Saxon expansion, and prior to the final conquest of the Britons. It also seems consistent with the dates given to assume that Ælle's battles predate Mons Badonicus.This in turn would explain the long gap, of fifty or more years, in the succession of the "bretwaldas": if the peace gained by the Britons did indeed hold till the second half of the 6th century, it is not to be expected that an Anglo-Saxon leader should have anything resembling overlordship of England during that time. The idea of a pause in the Anglo-Saxon advance is also supported by the account in Procopius of 6th century migration from Britain to the kingdom of the Franks. Procopius's account is consistent with what is known to be a contemporary colonization of Armorica (now Brittany, in France); the settlers appear to have been at least partly from Dumnonia (modern Cornwall), and the area acquired regions known as Dumnonée and Cornouaille. It seems likely that something at that time was interrupting the general flow of the Anglo-Saxons from the continent to Britain. + +The dates for Ælle's battles are also reasonably consistent with what is known of events in the kingdom of the Franks at that time. Clovis I united the Franks into a single kingdom during the 480s and afterwards, and the Franks' ability to exercise power along the southern coast of the English channel may have diverted Saxon adventurers to England rather than the continent. + +It is possible, therefore, that a historical king named Ælle existed, who arrived from the continent in the late 5th century, and who conquered much of what is now Sussex. He may have been a prominent war chief with a leadership role in a federation of Anglo-Saxon groups fighting for territory in Britain at that time. This may be the origin of the reputation that led Bede to list him as holding overlordship over southern Britain. The battles listed in the Chronicle are compatible with a conquest of Sussex from west to east, against British resistance stiff enough to last fourteen years. His area of military control may have extended as far as Hampshire and north to the upper Thames valley, but it certainly did not extend across all of England south of the Humber, as Bede asserts. + +The historian Guy Halsall argues that as Ælle immediately preceded the late sixth-century King Ceawlin as Bretwalda, it is far more likely that Ælle dates to the mid sixth century, and that the Chronicle has moved his dates back a century in order to provide a foundation myth for Sussex which puts it chronologically and geographically between the origins of the kingdoms of Kent and Wessex. + +Death and burial +Ælle's death is not recorded by the Chronicle, which gives no information about him, or his sons, or the South Saxons until 675, when the South Saxon king Æthelwalh was baptized. + +It has been conjectured that, as Saxon war leader, Ælle may have met his death in the disastrous battle of Mount Badon when the Britons halted Saxon expansion. If Ælle died within the borders of his own kingdom then it may well have been that he was buried on Highdown Hill with his weapons and ornaments in the usual mode of burial among the South Saxons. Highdown Hill is the traditional burial-place of the kings of Sussex. + +See also +Timeline of conflict in Anglo-Saxon Britain + +Notes + +References + +Primary sources + +Secondary sources + +External links + + +510s deaths +6th-century English monarchs +5th-century English monarchs +Anglo-Saxon warriors +Founding monarchs +People whose existence is disputed +South Saxon monarchs +Year of birth unknown +Atari () is a brand name that has been owned by several entities since its inception in 1972. It is currently owned by French company Atari SA (formerly Infogrames) through a subsidiary named Atari Interactive. The original Atari, Inc., founded in Sunnyvale, California, USA in 1972 by Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney, was a pioneer in arcade games, home video game consoles, and home computers. The company's products, such as Pong and the Atari 2600, helped define the electronic entertainment industry from the 1970s to the mid-1980s. + +In 1984, as a result of the video game crash of 1983, the home console and computer divisions of the original Atari Inc. were sold off to Jack Tramiel's Tramel Technology Ltd., which then renamed itself to Atari Corporation. Atari, Inc. was renamed Atari Games Inc. Atari Games received the rights to use the logo and brand name with appended text "Games" on arcade games. The rights to Atari, Inc.'s game properties were shared between the two companies, with Atari Corporation receiving the trademarks and the home rights. In 1996, Atari Corporation reverse-merged with disk-drive manufacturer JT Storage (JTS), becoming a division within the company. In 1998, Hasbro Interactive acquired all Atari Corporation–related properties from JTS, creating a new subsidiary, Atari Interactive. + +Infogrames Entertainment (IESA) bought Hasbro Interactive in 2001 and renamed it Infogrames Interactive, which intermittently published Atari-branded titles. In 2003, it renamed the division Atari Interactive. Another IESA division, Infogrames Inc., changed its name to Atari, Inc. the same year, licensing the Atari name and logo from its fellow subsidiary. In 2008, IESA completed its acquisition of Atari, Inc.'s outstanding stock, making it a wholly owned subsidiary. IESA renamed itself Atari SA in 2009. It sought bankruptcy protection under French law in January 2013. + +As of 2023, the current Atari's focus is on "video games, consumer hardware, licensing and blockchain". + +History + +Logotype +The name comes from the Japanese term atari, used while playing the ancient board game Go. The word atari means "to hit a target" in Japanese and is associated with good fortune; in Go, it indicates a situation where a player will be able to capture one or more stones of the opponent in the next move. + +The Atari logo was designed by George Opperman, who was Atari's first in-house graphic designer and drawn by Evelyn Seto. The design is known as "Fuji" for its resemblance to the Japanese mountain, although the logo's origins are unrelated to it. Opperman designed the logo intending for the silhouette to look like the letter A as in Atari and for its three "prongs" to resemble players and the midline of the "court" in the company's first hit game, Pong. + +Atari Inc. (1972–1984) + +In 1971, Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney founded a small engineering company, Syzygy Engineering, that designed Computer Space, the world's first commercially available arcade video game, for Nutting Associates. On June 27, 1972, the two incorporated Atari, Inc. and soon hired Al Alcorn as their first design engineer. Bushnell asked Alcorn to produce an arcade version of the Magnavox Odyssey's Tennis game, which would be named Pong. While Bushnell incorporated Atari in June 1972, Syzygy Company was never formally incorporated. Before Atari's incorporation, Bushnell considered various terms from the game Go, eventually choosing atari, referencing a position in the game when a group of stones is imminently in danger of being taken by one's opponent. Atari was incorporated in the state of California on June 27, 1972. + +In 1973, Atari secretly spawned a competitor called Kee Games, headed by Nolan's next-door neighbor Joe Keenan, to circumvent pinball distributors' insistence on exclusive distribution deals; both Atari and Kee could market nearly the same game to different distributors, each getting an "exclusive" deal. Joe Keenan's management of the subsidiary led to his appointment as president of Atari when Kee was absorbed into the company in 1974. + +In 1975, Atari's Grass Valley, California subsidiary Cyan Engineering started the development of a flexible console that was capable of playing the four existing Atari games. The result was the Atari Video Computer System, or VCS (later renamed 2600 when the 5200 was released). The introductory price of $199 () included a console, two joysticks, a pair of paddles, and the Combat game cartridge. Bushnell knew he had another potential hit on his hands but bringing the machine to market would be extremely expensive. Looking for outside investors, Bushnell sold Atari to Warner Communications in 1976 for $28 million. Nolan continued to have disagreements with Warner Management over the direction of the company, the discontinuation of the pinball division, and most importantly, the notion of discontinuing the 2600. In 1978, Kee Games was disbanded. In December of that year, Bushnell was fired following an argument with Manny Gerard. "[W]e started fighting like cats and dogs. And then the wheels came off that fall. Warner claimed they fired me", recalled Bushnell. "I say I quit. It was a mutual separation." + +The development of a successor to the 2600 started as soon as it shipped. The original team estimated the 2600 had a lifespan of about three years; it then set forth to build the most powerful machine possible within that time frame. Mid-way into their effort the home computer revolution took off, leading to the addition of a keyboard and features to produce the Atari 800 and its smaller sibling, the 400. The new machines had some success when they finally became available in quantity in 1980. From this platform Atari released their next-generation game console in 1982, the Atari 5200. It was unsuccessful due to incompatibility with the 2600 game library, a small quantity of dedicated games, and notoriously unreliable controllers. Porting arcade games to home systems with inferior hardware was difficult. The ported version of Pac-Man for Atari 2600 omitted many of the visual features of the original to compensate for the lack of ROM space and the hardware struggled when multiple ghosts appeared on the screen creating a flickering effect. + +Under Warner and Atari's chairman and CEO, Raymond Kassar, the company achieved its greatest success, selling millions of 2600s and computers. At its peak, Atari accounted for a third of Warner's annual income and was the fastest-growing company in US history at the time. It ran into problems in the early 1980s. Faced with fierce competition and price wars in the game console and home computer markets, Atari was never able to duplicate the success of the 2600. + +These problems were followed by the video game crash of 1983, with losses that totaled more than $500 million. Warner's stock price slid from $60 to $20, and the company began searching for a buyer for its troubled division. In 1983, Ray Kassar resigned. Financial problems continued to mount and Kassar's successor, James J. Morgan, had less than a year in which to tackle the company's problems. He began a massive restructuring of the company and worked with Warner Communications in May 1984 to create "NATCO" (an acronym for New Atari Company). NATCO further streamlined the company's facilities, personnel, and spending. Unknown to James Morgan and the senior management of Atari, Warner had been in talks with Tramel Technology to buy Atari's consumer electronics and home computer divisions. Negotiating until close to midnight on July 1, 1984, Jack Tramiel purchased the home computing and game console divisions of Atari for $240 million in promissory notes and stocks. Warner gained a 20% stake in Tramel Technologies, which was renamed Atari Corporation. Warner retained the arcade division, continuing it under the name Atari Games, but sold it to Namco in 1985. Warner also sold the Ataritel division to Mitsubishi. + +Atari Corporation (1984–1996) + +Under Tramiel's ownership, Atari Corp. used the remaining stock of game console inventory to keep the company afloat while they finished development on a 16/32-bit computer system, the Atari ST. ("ST" stands for "sixteen/thirty-two", referring to the machines' 16-bit bus and 32-bit processor core.) In April 1985, they released an update to the 8-bit computer line, the Atari 65XE, the first in the Atari XE series. June 1985 saw the release of the Atari 130XE; Atari User Groups received early sneak-preview samples of the new Atari 520ST's, and major retailer shipments hit store shelves in September 1985 of Atari's new 32-bit Atari ST computers. In 1986, Atari launched two consoles designed under Warner — the Atari 2600jr and the Atari 7800 console (which saw limited release in 1984). Atari rebounded, earning a $25 million profit that year. + +In 1987, Atari acquired the Federated Group for $67.3 million, securing shelf space in over 60 stores in California, Arizona, Texas and Kansas at a time when major American electronics outlets were reluctant to carry Atari-branded computers, and two-thirds of Atari's PC production was sold in Europe. The Federated Group (not related to Federated Department Stores) was sold to Silo in 1989. + +In 1988, the company unveiled the 1040STF and the Mega ST with a bit image manipulator chip, and launched its first parallel computer. The ATW-800 Transputer was based on the Inmos T800 CPU, which had a 32/64-bit architecture, ran at 15 million instructions per second (MIPS) and housed a Charity videochip that supported 16 million colors. The company continued to experiment with parallel computing aiming at B2B customers and graphic designers, but the transputer line failed to achieve commercial success. + +In 1989, Atari released the Atari Lynx, a handheld console with color graphics, to much fanfare. A shortage of parts kept the system from being released nationwide for the 1989 Christmas season, and the Lynx lost market share to Nintendo's Game Boy, which, despite only having a black and white display, was cheaper, had better battery life and had much higher availability. Tramiel emphasized computers over game consoles but Atari's proprietary computer architecture and operating system fell victim to the success of the Wintel platform while the game market revived. In 1989, Atari Corp. sued Nintendo for $250 million, alleging it had an illegal monopoly. Atari eventually lost the case when it was rejected by a US district court in 1992. + +In 1991, Atari released its PCs ABC386SXII and ABC386DXII based on Intel's i386 chip. + +In 1993, Atari positioned its Jaguar as the only 64-bit interactive media entertainment system available, but it sold poorly. It would be the last home console to be produced by Atari and the last to be produced by an American manufacturer until Microsoft's introduction of the Xbox in 2001. + +By 1996, a series of successful lawsuits had left Atari with millions of dollars in the bank, but the failure of the Lynx and Jaguar left Atari without a product to sell. Tramiel and his family also wanted out of the business. The result was a rapid succession of changes in ownership. In July 1996, Atari merged with JTS Inc., a short-lived maker of hard disk drives, to form JTS Corp. Atari's role in the new company largely became that of holder for the Atari properties and minor support, and consequently the name largely disappeared from the market. + +Atari Games (1984–1999) + +After the sale of the consumer electronics and computer divisions to Jack Tramiel, Atari was renamed Atari Games Corporation. Atari Games retained most of the same employees and managers from the coin-operated games division and continued many of the divisions projects from before the transition. In 1985, a controlling interest in the coin-operated games division was sold to Namco, which also took the Atari Games name. Warner renamed Atari Games to Atari Holdings, which continued as a non-operating subsidiary until 1992. Meanwhile, Namco later lost interest in operating Atari Games. In 1987, Namco sold 33% of its shares to a group of employees led by then-president Hideyuki Nakajima. He had been the president of Atari Games since 1985. Atari Ireland was a subsidiary of Atari Games that manufactured their games for the European market; while under Namco, Atari Ireland also manufactured Sega's Hang-On (1985) for the European market. + +Atari Games continued to manufacture arcade games and units, and starting in 1988, also sold cartridges for the Nintendo Entertainment System under the Tengen brand name, including a version of Tetris. The companies exchanged a number of lawsuits in the late 1980s related to disputes over the rights to Tetris and Tengen's circumvention of Nintendo's lockout chip, which prevented third parties from creating unauthorized games. The suit finally reached a settlement in 1994, with Atari Games paying Nintendo cash damages and use of several patent licenses. + +In April 1996, after an unsuccessful bid by Atari co-founder Nolan Bushnell, the company was sold to WMS Industries, owners of the Williams, Bally and Midway arcade brands, which restored the use of the Atari Games name. On November 19, 1999, Atari Games Corporation was renamed Midway Games West Inc., resulting in the Atari Games name no longer being used. + +Hasbro Interactive (1998–2000) + +On March 13, 1998, JTS sold the Atari name and assets to Hasbro Interactive for $5 million, less than a fifth of what Warner Communications had paid 22 years earlier. This transaction primarily involved the brand and intellectual property, which now fell under the Atari Interactive division of Hasbro Interactive. The brand name changed hands again in December 2000 when French software publisher Infogrames took over Hasbro Interactive. + +Atari SA (2001–present) + +In October 2001, Infogrames Entertainment SA (IESA, now Atari SA) announced that it was "reinventing" the Atari brand with the launch of three new games featuring a prominent Atari branding on their boxarts: Splashdown, MX Rider and TransWorld Surf. Infogrames used Atari as a brand name for games aimed at 18–34 year olds. Other Infogrames games under the Atari name included V-Rally 3, Neverwinter Nights, Stuntman and Enter the Matrix. + +On May 8, 2003, IESA had its majority-owned, but discrete US subsidiary Infogrames, Inc. officially renamed Atari, Inc., renamed its European operations to Atari Europe but kept the original name of the main company Infogrames Entertainment. The original Atari holdings division purchased from Hasbro, Hasbro Interactive, was also made a separate corporate entity renamed as Atari Interactive. + +Between 2004 and 2011, Atari produced and marketed Atari Flashback retro consoles, reminiscent of the Atari 2600 design. Since 2011, these consoles have been produced by AtGames under the license from Atari. Atari Flashback Portable is a handheld game console sold since 2016. In April 2011, Atari re-released their back catalogue of arcade and Atari 2600 games to be played on mobile devices. + +On March 6, 2008, IESA made an offer to Atari, Inc. to buy out all remaining public shares for a value of $1.68 per share, or $11 million total. The offer would make IESA sole owner of Atari, Inc., thus making it a privately held company. On April 30, 2008, Atari, Inc. announced its intentions to accept Infogrames' buyout offer and to merge with Infogrames. On October 8, 2008, IESA completed its acquisition of Atari, Inc., making it a wholly owned subsidiary. + +On December 9, 2008, Atari announced that it had acquired Cryptic Studios, a MMORPG developer. + +Namco Bandai purchased a 34% stake in Atari Europe on May 14, 2009, paving the way for its acquisition from IESA. Atari had significant financial issues for several years prior, with losses in the tens of millions since 2005. + +In May 2009, Infogrames Entertainment SA, the parent company of Atari, and Atari Interactive, announced it would change its name to Atari SA. + +In April 2010, Atari SA board member and former CEO David Gardner resigned. Original Atari co-founder Nolan Bushnell joined the board as a representative for Blubay holdings. + +As of March 31, 2011, the board of directors consisted of Frank Dangeard, Jim Wilson, Tom Virden, Gene Davis and Alexandra Fichelson. + +On January 21, 2013, the four related companies Atari, Atari Interactive, Humongous, and California US Holdings filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York. All three Ataris emerged from bankruptcy one year later and the entering of the social casino gaming industry with Atari Casino. Frederic Chesnais, who now heads all three companies, stated that their entire operations consist of a staff of 10 people. + +On June 22, 2014, Atari announced a new corporate strategy that would include a focus on "new audiences", specifically "LGBT, social casinos, real-money gambling, and YouTube". + +On June 8, 2017, a short teaser video was released, promoting a new product; and the following week Chesnais confirmed the company was developing a new game console – the hardware was stated to be based on PC technology, and still under development. In mid July 2017 an Atari press release confirmed the existence of the aforementioned new hardware, referred to as the "Ataribox". The box design was derived from early Atari designs (e.g. 2600) with a ribbed top surface, and a rise at the back of the console; two versions were announced: one with a traditional wood veneer front, and the other with a glass front. Connectivity options were revealed, including HDMI, USB (x4), and SD card – the console was said to support both classic and current games. Also, according to an official company statement of June 22, 2017, the product was to be initially launched via a crowdfunding campaign in order to minimize any financial risk to the parent company. + +On September 26, 2017, Atari sent out a press release about the new "Atari VCS", which confirmed more details about the console. It will run a Linux operating system, with full access to the underlying OS, but it will have a custom interface designed for the TV. + +On January 27, 2020, Atari announced a deal with GSD Group to build Atari Hotels, with the first breaking ground in Phoenix in mid-2020. Additional hotels were also planned in Las Vegas, Denver, Chicago, Austin, Seattle, San Francisco, and San Jose. The company plans to make the hotel experience immersive and accessible to all ages. Hotels are planned to include virtual and augmented reality technologies. + +On December 16, 2020, Atari shipped the first units of the Atari VCS exclusive to backers of the systems crowdfunding campaign. Atari urged the backers to give feedback on the system so that the company could make changes to improve the product on its official launch. + +In 2020, Atari launched its decentralized cryptocurrency Atari Token in equal partnership with the ICICB Group. Atari Group announced in March 2020 that it granted ICICB a non-exclusive license to run a cryptocurrency online casino on Atari's website, based on the Atari Token. + +The group partnering with Atari opened a new company in Gibraltar called Atari Chain LTD. + +In March 2021, Atari extended its partnership with ICICB Group for the development of Atari branded hotels, and the first hotels will be constructed at selected locations outside the United States, with Dubai, Gibraltar and Spain. + +On 18 April 2022, Atari announced the termination of all license agreements with ICICB Group and its subsidiaries ("ICICB"). The license agreements between Atari and ICICB, including the Atari Chain Limited license (the "Joint Venture") and the related licenses including hotel and casino licenses, have been terminated effective 18 April 2022. ICICB is not authorized to represent Atari or its brands in any manner. + +See also + + Golden age of arcade video games + History of video games + +References + +External links + + Atari official site + Former Atari brand's official global site + The Atari History Museum – Atari historical archive site + The biggest Atari Archive – Atari softwares archive site + Atari Times , supporting all Atari consoles + Atari On Film – List of Atari products in films + The Dot Eaters: classic video game history – Comprehensive history of video games, extensive info on Atari offerings and history + + +MTV Video Music Award winners +1972 establishments in California +American brands +French brands +Video game publishing brands +Afghans (; Persian/) or Afghan people are nationals or citizens of Afghanistan, or people with ancestry from there. Afghanistan is made up of various ethnicities, of which Pashtuns, Tajiks, Hazaras and Uzbeks are the largest. The two main languages spoken by Afghans are Pashto and Dari (the Afghan dialect of the Persian language), and many Afghans are bilingual in speaking fluent Pashto and Dari. + +Background +The earliest mention of the name Afghan (Abgân) is by Shapur I of the Sassanid Empire during the 3rd century CE, In the 4th century the word "Afghans/Afghana" (αβγανανο) as reference to a particular people is mentioned in the Bactrian documents found in Northern Afghanistan. The word 'Afghan' is of Persian origin to refer to the Pashtun people. In the past, several scholars sought a connection with "horse", Skt.aśva-, Av.aspa-, i.e.the Aśvaka or Aśvakayana the name of the Aśvakan or Assakan, ancient inhabitants of the Hindu Kush region, however according to some linguists, it would be extremely difficult to reconcile either Aśvaka or Aśvakayana with the world Afghan. + +As an adjective, the word Afghan also means "of or relating to Afghanistan or its people, language or culture". According to the 1964 Constitution of Afghanistan, all Afghans citizens are equal in rights and obligations before the law. The fourth article of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan which was valid until 2021 states that citizens of Afghanistan consist of Pashtun, Tajik, Hazara, Uzbek, Turkmen, Baloch, Pashayi, Nuristani, Aimaq, Arab, Kyrgyz, Qizilbash, Gurjar, Brahui, and members of other ethnicities. There are political disputes regarding this: there are members of the non-Pashtun ethnicities of Afghanistan that reject the term Afghan being applied to them, and there are Pashtuns in Pakistan that wish to have the term Afghan applied to them. + +the pre-nation state, historical ethnonym Afghan was used to refer to a member of the Pashtun ethnic group. Due to the changing political nature of the state, such as the British-drawn border with Pakistan (then British India) the meaning has changed, and term has shifted to be the national identity of people from Afghanistan from all ethnicities. + +Afghanistani and Afghanese +Less commonly Afghanistani (افغانستانی) is an alternative identity marker for citizens of the country Afghanistan. The term "Afghanistani" refers to someone who possesses the nationality of Afghanistan, regardless of what race, ethnic, religious background. In multiethnic Afghanistan, the term "Afghan" has always been associated with Pashtun people. Some non-Pashtun citizens such as Tajiks, Hazaras, and Uzbeks have viewed it as a part of Pashtun hegemony that devised to erase their ethnic identity. The term Afghanistani has been used among some refugees and diasporas, particularly among non-Pashtuns. + +History +Afghanistan has never been or dawlat-e milli. \ The local groups and communities across Afghanistan have rather strong local and regional identification as a tribes or ethnic groups (Pashtun, Tajik, Hazara, Uzbek or others). For the past two centuries, Afghanistan rulers have tried to create a state that represents Pashtuns. Early efforts were made to create a strong centralized government based on a national identity of "Afghan," which privileged Pashtuns beyond their ethnic boundaries at state level as a whole. Non-Pashtun ethnic groups were not yet ready to accept a centralized state system let alone accepting a new national identity. They did not have overall or even wider identification with Afghanistan as a whole, not to mention national identity or citizenship that was not given to them by the central government. + +Etymology + +From a more limited, ethnological point of view, "Afḡhān" is the term by which the Persian-speakers of Afghanistan (and the non-Pashtō-speaking ethnic groups generally) designate the Pashtūn. The equation Afghans = Pashtūn has been propagated all the more, both in and beyond Afghanistan, because the Pashtūn tribal confederation has maintained its hegemony in the country, numerically and politically. + +National Identity +Afghanistan's early efforts to create a sort of national identity began in 1919, after receiving its independence from the British Empire. This was the time when Afghanistan completely regain control over its sovereignty. Especially, the Hazara people who are still considered second-class citizens. After the fall of monarchy in 1973, Mohammed Daoud Khan, a staunch partisan of Pashtunistan, who saw the country not as Afghanistan but a Pashtunistan, a land uniting Pashtuns from NWFP and FATA with Afghanistan. Despite implementing some social and educational progress, he failed to create a national identity. After the Saur Revolution, the central governments tried to advocate for a broader Afghan identity through the use of modern education, but their efforts met with limited success. One of the most common hurdles for fostering a common national identity was the fact they ethnic groups such as Hazara, Uzbeks, or Tajiks could not identify with elements of an identity that had strong base in Pashtun ethnicity that ruled the country. + +Other identifiers: Afghani and Afghanese +The term Afghani refers to the unit of Afghan currency. The term is also often used in the English language (and appears in some dictionaries) for a person or thing related to Afghanistan, although some have expressed the opinion that this usage is incorrect. A reason for this usage can be because the term "Afghani" (افغانی) is in fact a valid demonym for Afghans in the overall Persian language and in Hindustani, whereas "Afghan" is derived from Pashto. Thus "Afghan" is the anglicized term of "Afghani" when translating from Dari or Hindi-Urdu, but not Pashto. Another variant is Afghanese, which has been seldom used in place of Afghan. + +Ethnicities + +Afghans come from various ethnic backgrounds. Pashtuns form a plurality of the population, while Tajiks, Hazaras and Uzbeks are the next largest and altogether the four form almost 95% of the population. They are of diverse origins including of Iranian, Turkic and Mongol ethnolinguistic roots. + +Religions + +The Afghan people of all ethnicities are predominantly and traditionally followers of Islam, of whom most are of the Sunni branch. Other religious minorities include the Afghan Hindus, Afghan Sikhs, Afghan Zoroastrians, Afghan Jews and Afghan Christians. + +Culture +Afghan culture has existed for over three millennia, dating back to the time of the Achaemenid Empire in 500 BCE. Afghans have both common cultural features and those that differ between regions with each of the 34 provinces having its own unique distinctive cultures partly as a result of geographic obstacles that divide the country. Afghanistan's culture is historically linked to nearby Persia, including both countries following the Islamic religion, the Solar Hijri calendar and speaking similar languages, this is due to Iran and Afghanistan being culturally close to each other for thousands of years. + +See also + + Demographics of Afghanistan + Afghan (ethnonym) + Name of Afghanistan + Afghan diaspora + Pashtuns + Durand Line + +References + +Further reading + +External links + + Afghan News + +Exonyms +Acadia University is a public, predominantly undergraduate university located in Wolfville, Nova Scotia, Canada, with some graduate programs at the master's level and one at the doctoral level. The enabling legislation consists of the Acadia University Act and the Amended Acadia University Act 2000. + +The Wolfville Campus houses Acadia University Archives and the Acadia University Art Gallery. Acadia offers over 200 degree combinations in the faculties of arts, pure and applied science, professional studies, and theology. The student-faculty ratio is 15:1 and the average class size is 28. Open Acadia offers correspondence and distance education courses. + +, Jeffrey J. Hennessy is Acadia's 17th President and Vice Chancellor. + +History + Acadia began as an extension of Horton Academy in 1828, which was founded in Horton, Nova Scotia, by Baptists from Nova Scotia and Queen's College in 1838, who will be gathered into the Canadian Baptists of Atlantic Canada (Canadian Baptist Ministries). It was designed to prepare men for the ministry and to supply education for lay members. + +In 1838, the Nova Scotia Baptist Education Society founded Queen's College (named for Queen Victoria). The college began with 21 students in January 1839. The name "Queen's College" was denied to the Baptist school, so it was renamed "Acadia College" in 1841, in reference to the history of the area as an Acadian settlement. Acadia College awarded its first degrees in 1843 and became Acadia University in 1891, established by the Acadia University Act. + +The Granville Street Baptist Church (now First Baptist Church Halifax) was an instrumental and determining factor in the founding of the university. It has played a supporting role throughout its history, and shares much of the credit for its survival and development. Many individuals who have made significant contributions to Acadia University, including the first president John Pryor, were members of the First Baptist Church Halifax congregation. Similarly, the adjacent Wolfville United Baptist Church plays a significant role in the life of the university. + +This was unique at the time, and a direct result of Baptists being denied entry into other schools that required religious tests of their students and staff. + +In 1851, the power of appointing governors was transferred from the Nova Scotia Baptist Education Society to the Baptist Convention of the Maritime Provinces. + +Charles Osborne Wickenden, an architect, and J.C. Dumaresq designed the Central Building, Acadia College, 1878–79. + +Clara Belle Marshall, from Mount Hanley, Nova Scotia, became the first woman to graduate from Acadia University in 1879. + +In 1891, there were changes in the Act of Incorporation. + +Andrew R. Cobb designed several campus buildings including: Raynor Hall Residence, 1916; and Horton House, designed by Cobb in the Georgian style, and built by James Reid of Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, which was opened in 1915 as Horton Academy. Today, Horton Hall is the home of the Department of Psychology and Research and Graduate Studies. Emmerson Hall, built in 1913, is particularly interesting for the variety of building stones used. In 1967 Emmerson Hall was converted to classrooms and offices for the School of Education. It is a registered Heritage Property. + +Unveiled on 16 August 1963, a wooden and metal organ in Manning Chapel, Acadia University, is dedicated to Acadia University's war dead of the First and Second World Wars and the Korean War. A book of remembrance in Manning Chapel, Acadia University was unveiled on 1 March 1998 through the efforts of the Wolfville Historical Society. + +In 1966, it terminated its affiliation with the Canadian Baptists of Atlantic Canada (Canadian Baptist Ministries). The denomination maintains nine seats on the university's Board of Governors. + +Acadia is a laureate of Washington's Smithsonian Institution and a part of the permanent research collection of the National Museum of American History. Acadia is also the only Canadian university selected for inclusion in the Education and Academia category of the Computerworld Smithsonian Award. + +Faculty strikes + +Acadia University's Board of Governors and members of the Acadia University Faculty Association (AUFA) have ratified a new collective agreement covering the period 1 July 2010 to 30 June 2014. The faculty of Acadia University have been on strike three times in the history of the institution. The first was 24 February to 12 March 2004. The second was 15 October to 5 November 2007. The second strike was resolved after the province's labour minister, Mark Parent, appointed a mediator, on 1 November, to facilitate an agreement. The third strike began on 1 February 2022 and ended 1 March 2022 with both sides agreeing to binding arbitration. + +Academics + +Rankings +In Maclean's 2023 Guide to Canadian Universities, Acadia was ranked fifth in the publication's "primarily undergraduate" Canadian university category, tied with Bishop's University. In the same year, the publication ranked Acadia 33rd, in Maclean's reputation survey. + +Faculties +Acadia is organized into four faculties: Arts, Pure & Applied Science, Professional Studies and Theology. Each faculty is further divided into departments and schools specialized in areas of teaching and research. + +Research +Acadia has over 15 research centres and 6 research chairs. Undergraduate students have the opportunity to participate in many research opportunities in a small university setting. + +The Division of Research & Graduate Studies is separate from the faculties and oversees graduate students as well as Acadia's research programs. + +Acadia's research programs explore coastal environments, ethno-cultural diversity, social justice, environmental monitoring and climate change, organizational relationships, data mining, the impact of digital technologies, and lifestyle choices contributing to health and wellness. Acadia's research centres include the Tidal Energy Institute, the Acadia Institute for Data Analytics, and the Beaubassin Field Station. Applied research opportunities include research with local wineries and grape growers, alternative insect control techniques and technologies. + +Innovation + +The Acadia Advantage + +In 1996, Acadia University pioneered the use of mobile computing technology in a post-secondary educational environment. + +This academic initiative, named the Acadia Advantage, integrated the use of notebook computers into the undergraduate curriculum and featured innovations in teaching. By 2000, all full-time, undergraduate Acadia students were taking part in the initiative. The initiative went beyond leasing notebook computers to students during the academic year, and included training, user support and the use of course-specific applications at Acadia that arguably revolutionized learning at the Wolfville, N.S. campus and beyond. + +Because of its pioneering efforts, Acadia is a laureate of Washington's Smithsonian Institution and a part of the permanent research collection of the National Museum of American History. It is the only Canadian university selected for inclusion in the Education and Academia category of the Computerworld Smithsonian Award. + +In addition, Acadia University received the Pioneer Award for Ubiquitous Computing. In 2001, it achieved high rankings in the annual Maclean's University Rankings, including Best Overall for Primarily Undergraduate University in their opinion survey, and it received the Canadian Information Productivity Award in 1997 as the first university in Canada to fully utilize information technology in the undergraduate curriculum. + +In October 2006, Dinter-Gottlieb established a commission to review the Acadia Advantage learning environment 10 years after inception. The mandate of the commission was to determine how well the current Advantage program meets the needs of students, faculty, and staff and to examine how the role of technology in the postsecondary environment has changed at Acadia, and elsewhere. The commission was asked to recommend changes and enhancements to the Acadia Advantage that would benefit the entire university community and ensure its sustainability. + +Some of the recommendations coming from the Acadia Advantage Renewal Report included developing a choice of model specifications and moving from Acadia-issued, student-leased notebook computers to a student-owned computer model. + +The university was also advised to unbundle its tuition structure so that the cost of an Acadia education is more detailed and students can understand how their investment in the future of the school is allotted. In September 2008, Acadia moved to a student-owned notebook computer version of the Acadia Advantage, now named Acadia Advantage 2.0. + +In 2017, Acadia announced the Huestis Innovation Pavilion as part of its $22.25 million Science Complex renewal project. Named in honour of lead donors, Faye and David Huestis of Saint John, New Brunswick, the Pavilion is a connection between Elliott and Huggins Halls, providing research and commercialization space. + +The new Agri-Technology Access Centre in the Innovation Pavilion provides companies and industry organizations with access to specialized technology, lab space, subject-matter expertise and commercialization support services. It also enables Acadia to advance its applied research strength in a priority sector – agriculture – and expand its technology transfer and commercialization activities. The Science Complex renewal project was supported by an investment of $15.98 million by the Federal and Provincial governments. + +Athletics +Acadia's sports teams are called the Axemen and Axewomen. They participate in the Atlantic University Sports conference of U Sports. + +School spirit abounds with men's and women's varsity teams that have delivered more conference and national championships than any other institution in Atlantic University Sport. Routinely, more than one-third of Acadia's varsity athletes also achieve Academic All-Canadian designation through Canadian Interuniversity Sport by maintaining a minimum average of 80 per cent. + +Expansion and modernization of Raymond Field was completed in the fall of 2007 and features the installation of an eight-lane all-weather running track and a move to the same premium artificial turf used by the New England Patriots of the National Football League for its main playing field. The Raymond Field modernization was a gift to the university by friends, alumni, and the province. War Memorial Gymnasium also saw the installation of a new playing floor to benefit its basketball and volleyball teams. + +In September 2006, Acadia University announced its partnership with the Wolfville Tritons Swim Club and the Acadia Masters Swim Club to form the Acadia Swim Club and return competitive swimming to the university after a 14-year hiatus. On 26 September 2008, the university announced its intention to return swimming to a varsity status in September 2009. + +Fight song +Notable among a number of songs commonly played and sung at various events such as commencement, convocation, and athletic games are: Stand Up and Cheer, the Acadia University fight song. According to 'Songs of Acadia College' (Wolfville, NS 1902–3, 1907), the songs include: 'Acadia Centennial Song' (1938); 'The Acadia Clan Song'; 'Alma Mater - Acadia;' 'Alma Mater Acadia' (1938) and 'Alma Mater Song.' + +Symbols +In 1974, Acadia was granted a coat of arms designed by the College of Arms in London, England. The coat of arms is two-tone, with the school's official colours, garnet and blue, on the shield. The axes represent the school's origins in a rural setting, and the determination of its founders who cleared the land and built the school on donated items and labour. The open books represent the intellectual pursuits of a university, and the wolves heads are a whimsical representation of the university's location in Wolfville. "In pulvere vinces" (In dust you conquer) is the motto. + +The university seal depicts the Greek goddess of wisdom Athena in front of the first college hall. + +The university also uses a stylized "A" as a logo for its sports teams. + +Notable among a number of fight songs commonly played and sung at various events such as commencement, convocation, and athletic games are: the Acadia University alma mater set to the tune of "Annie Lisle". The lyrics are: + +Far above the dykes of Fundy +And its basin blue +Stands our noble alma mater +Glorious to view + +Lift the chorus +Speed it onward +Sing it loud and free +Hail to thee our alma mater +Acadia, hail to thee + +Far above the busy highway +And the sleepy town +Raised against the arch of heaven +Looks she proudly down + +Historic buildings at Acadia University +Seminary House, also known as just "Sem", is a Second Empire style-building constructed in 1878 as a home for women attending the university. It was designated a National Historic Site of Canada in 1997 as Canada's oldest facility associated with the higher education of women. The building now serves as a co-ed residence, and Whitman House on campus now serves as the women's only residence. + +Carnegie Hall, built in 1909, is a large, two-storey, Neo-classical brick building. It was designated under the provincial Heritage Property Act in 1989 as its construction in 1909 signified Acadia's evolution from classical college to liberal university. + +The War Memorial House (more generally known as Barrax), which is a residence, and War Memorial Gymnasium are landmark buildings on the campus of Acadia University. The Memorial Hall and Gymnasium honours students who had enlisted and died in the First World War, and in the Second World War. Two granite shafts, which are part of the War Memorial Gymnasium complex at Acadia University, are dedicated to the university's war dead. The War Memorial House is dedicated to the war dead from Acadia University during the Second World War. + +Student life + +At Acadia University, students have access to the Student Union Building which serves as a hub for students and houses many Student Union organizations. The building houses The Axe Lounge, a convenience store, an information desk, two food outlets, and the Sexual Health Resource Centre. The university press, The Athenaeum is a member of CUP. There is a student-ran radio, available at https://www.axeradio.net/. + +Student government + +All students are represented by the Acadia Students' Union. + +Residences + +Approximately 1500 students live on-campus in 11 residences: + Chase Court + Chipman House + Christofor Hall + Crowell Tower (13 Story High-rise) + Cutten House + Dennis House - First floor houses student health services + Eaton House + Roy Jodrey Hall + Seminary House - Also houses the School of Education in lower level + War Memorial (Barrax) House + Whitman House (Tully) - All female residence + Willett House (former residence) + +People + +List of presidents and vice chancellors + + John Pryor, 1846–1850 + John Cramp, 1851–1853 (and 1856–1869) + Edmund Crawley, 1853–1856 + John Cramp, 1856–1869 + Artemas Wyman Sawyer, 1869–1896 + Thomas Trotter, 1897–1906 + W.B. Hutchinson, 1907–1909 + George Barton Cutten, 1910–1922 + Frederic Patterson, 1923–1948 + Watson Kirkconnell, 1948–1964 + James Beveridge, 1964–1978 + Allan Sinclair, 1978–1981 + James Perkin, 1981–1993 + Kelvin Ogilvie, 1993–2004 + Gail Dinter-Gottlieb, 2004–2008 + Tom Herman (Acting President), 2008–2009 + Ray Ivany, 2009 – 2017 + Peter J Ricketts, 2017 - 2023 + Jeffrey J Hennessy, 2023 + +List of chancellors + +Alex Colville, 1981–1991 +William Feindel, 1991–1996 +Arthur Irving, 1996–2010 +Libby Burnham, 2011–2018 +Bruce Galloway, 2018–present + +Notable alumni + Edgar Archibald, scientist and politician + Norman Atkins, Canadian senator +Solomon Adeniyi Babalola - Veteran Nigerian Baptist Missionary/Evangelist, Church Pastor, Church Administrator, Denominational Leader, and Theological Educator + Ron Barkhouse, MLA for Lunenburg East (Horton Academy) + Gordon Lockhart Bennett, Lieutenant-Governor of Prince Edward Island + Arthur Bourns, President of McMaster University + Libby Burnham, lawyer, Chancellor of Acadia University + Bob Cameron, football player + Dalton Camp, journalist, politician and political strategist + M. Elizabeth Cannon, University of Calgary's President & Vice-Chancellor + Lillian Chase, physician + Paul Corkum, physicist and F.R.S. + John Wallace de Beque Farris, Canadian senator + Mark Day, actor + Michael Dick, CBC-TV Journalist + Charles Aubrey Eaton (1868–1953), clergyman and politician + William Feindel, neurosurgeon + Dale Frail, astronomer + Rob Ramsay, actor + Alexandra Fuller, writer + Gary Graham, musician, choral conductor +Matthew Green, Member of Parliament + Milton Fowler Gregg, VC laureate, politician + Robbie Harrison, Nova Scotian politician and educator + Richard Hatfield, Premier of New Brunswick + Charles Brenton Huggins, Nobel Laureate + Kenneth Colin Irving, industrialist + Robert Irving, industrialist + Ron James, Canadian comedian + Lorie Kane, LPGA golfer + Gerald Keddy, Member of Parliament + Joanne Kelly, Actress + Kenneth Komoski, Educator + David H. Levy, astronomer + Peter MacKay, lawyer, Canadian Minister of National Defense + Henry Poole MacKeen, Lieutenant-Governor of Nova Scotia + Paul Masotti, football player + Harrison McCain, industrialist + Donald Oliver, Canadian senator + Henry Nicholas Paint (1830–1921), member of Parliament, merchant, landowner, + Freeman Patterson, photographer, writer + Robert Pope, Visual artist author, + Keith R. Porter, Cell Biologist + Heather Rankin, singer-songwriter, member of The Rankin Family + Perry F. Rockwood, radio evangelist + Erin Roger, scientist + Jacob Gould Schurman, President of Cornell University + Roger Tomlinson (1933–2014), geographer and "The Father of GIS" + Rev. William A. White, noted black minister and missionary + Rev. William Pearly Oliver, noted black minister and educator + Lance Woolaver, playwright + +Honorary graduates + Jean Béliveau, professional hockey player and executive + Rt. Hon. Kim Campbell, former Prime Minister of Canada + Alex Colville, painter and former University Chancellor + Rt. Hon. John Diefenbaker, former Prime Minister of Canada + Rick Hansen, activist and Paralympic athlete + Grace Hopper, computer scientist and United States Navy rear admiral + Kyle Lowry, professional basketball player for the Miami Heat + Alexa McDonough, politician and first woman to lead a major, recognized political party in Canada + William Twaits, chairman and CEO of Imperial Oil Limited + Rev. William A. White, noted black minister and missionary + +See also +Acadia Divinity College +Canadian government scientific research organizations +Canadian industrial research and development organizations +Canadian Interuniversity Sport +Canadian university scientific research organizations +Higher education in Nova Scotia +List of universities in Nova Scotia +List of National Historic Sites of Canada in Nova Scotia +Shad (Summer Program) + +References + +Further reading +Longley, R. S. Acadia University, 1838–1938. Wolfville, N.S.: Acadia University, 1939. + +External links + +Campaign for Acadia + + +Education in Kings County, Nova Scotia +Universities in Nova Scotia +Educational institutions established in 1838 +Buildings and structures in Kings County, Nova Scotia +1838 establishments in Nova Scotia +Maple League +The steel-string acoustic guitar is a modern form of guitar that descends from the gut-strung Romantic guitar, but is strung with steel strings for a brighter, louder sound. Like the modern classical guitar, it is often referred to simply as an acoustic guitar, or sometimes as a folk guitar. + +The most common type is often called a flat top guitar, to distinguish it from the more specialized archtop guitar and other variations. + +The standard tuning for an acoustic guitar is E-A-D-G-B-E (low to high), although many players, particularly fingerpickers, use alternate tunings (scordatura), such as open G (D-G-D-G-B-D), open D (D-A-D-F-A-D), drop D (D-A-D-G-B-E), or D-A-D-G-A-D (particularly in Irish traditional music). + +Construction +Steel-string guitars vary in construction and materials. Different woods and approach to bracing affect the instrument's timbre or tone. While there is little scientific evidence, many players and luthiers believe a well-made guitar's tone improves over time. They theorize that a decrease in the content of hemicellulose, crystallization of cellulose, and changes to lignin over time all result in its wood gaining better resonating properties. + +Types +Steel-string acoustic guitars are commonly constructed in several body types, varying in size, depth, and proportion. In general, the guitar's soundbox can be thought of as composed of two mating chambers: the upper bouts (a bout being the rounded corner of an instrument body) on the neck end of the body, and lower bouts (on the bridge end). These meet at the waist, or the narrowest part of the body face near the soundhole. The proportion and overall size of these two parts helps determine the overall tonal balance and "native sound" of a particular body style – the larger the body, the louder the volume. + + The parlor, 00, double-O, or grand concert body type is the major body style most directly derived from the classical guitar. It has the thinnest soundbox and the smallest overall size, making it very comfortable to play but lacking in volume projection relative to the larger types. Its smaller size makes it suitable for younger or smaller-framed players. It is well-suited to smaller rooms. Martin's 00-xxx series and Taylor's x12 series are common examples. + The grand auditorium guitar, sometimes called the 000 or the triple-O is very similar in design to the grand concert, but slightly wider and deeper. Many 000-style guitars also have a convex back to increase the physical volume of the soundbox without making it deeper at the edges, which would affect comfort and playability. The result is a very balanced tone, comparable to the 00 but with greater volume and dynamic range and slightly more low-end response, making this body style very popular. Eric Clapton's signature Martin, for example, is of this style. Martin's 000-xxx series and Taylor's x14 series are well-known examples of the grand auditorium style. + The dreadnought is a large-bodied guitar which incorporates a deeper soundbox, but a smaller and less-pronounced upper bout than most styles. Its size and power gave rise to its name, taken from the most formidable class of warship at the time of its creation in the early 20th century. The style was designed by Martin Guitars to produce a deeper sound than "classic"-style guitars, with very resonant bass. Its body's combination of compact profile with a deep sound has since been copied by virtually every major steel-string luthier, making it the most popular body type. Martin's "D" series guitars, such as the highly prized D-28, are classic examples of the dreadnought. + The jumbo body type is bigger again than a grand auditorium but similarly proportioned, and is generally designed to provide a deep tone similar to a dreadnought's. It was designed by Gibson to compete with the dreadnought, but with maximum resonant space for greater volume and sustain. These come at the expense of being oversized, with a very deep sounding box, and thus somewhat more difficult to play. The foremost example of the style is the Gibson J-200, but like the dreadnought, most guitar manufacturers have at least one jumbo model. + +Any of these body type can incorporate a cutaway, where a section of the upper bout below the neck is scalloped out. This allows for easier access to the frets located atop the soundbox, at the expense of reduced soundbox volume and altered bracing, which can affect the resonant qualities and resulting tone of the instrument. + +All of these relatively traditional looking and constructed instruments are commonly referred to as flattop guitars. All are commonly used in popular music genres, including rock, blues, country, and folk. + +Other styles of guitar which enjoy moderate popularity, generally in more specific genres, include: + The archtop, which incorporates an arched, violin-like top either carved out of solid wood or heat-pressed using laminations. It usually has violin style f-holes rather than a single round sound hole. It is most commonly used by swing and jazz players and often incorporates an electric pickup. + The Selmer-Maccaferri guitar is usually played by those who follow the style of Django Reinhardt. It is an unusual-looking instrument, distinguished by a fairly large body with squarish bouts, and either a D-shaped or longitudinal oval soundhole. The strings are gathered at the tail like an archtop guitar, but the top is flatter. It also has a wide fingerboard and slotted head like a nylon-string guitar. The loud volume and penetrating tone make it suitable for single-note soloing, and it is frequently employed as a lead instrument in gypsy swing. + The resonator guitar, also called the Dobro after its most prominent manufacturer, amplifies its sound through one or more metal cone-shaped resonators. It was designed to overcome the problem of conventional acoustic guitars being overwhelmed by horns and percussion instruments in dance orchestras. It became prized for its distinctive sound, however, and gained a place in several musical styles (most notably blues and bluegrass), and retains a niche well after the proliferation of electric amplification. +The 12-string guitar replaces each string with a course of two strings. The lower pairs are tuned an octave apart. Its unique sound was made famous by artists such as Lead Belly, Pete Seeger and Leo Kottke. + +Tonewoods +Traditionally, steel-string guitars have been made of a combination of various tonewoods, or woods considered to have pleasing resonant qualities when used in instrument-making. The term is ill-defined and the wood species that are considered tonewoods have evolved throughout history. Foremost for making steel-string guitar tops are Sitka spruce, the most common, and Alpine and Adirondack spruce. The back and sides of a particular guitar are typically made of the same wood; Brazilian rosewood, East Indian rosewood, and Honduras mahogany are traditional choices, however, maple has been prized for the figuring that can be seen when it is cut in a certain way (such as flame and quilt patterns). A common non-traditional wood gaining popularity is sapele, which is tonally similar to mahogany but slightly lighter in color and possessing a deep grain structure that is visually appealing. + +Due to decreasing availability and rising prices of premium-quality traditional tonewoods, many manufacturers have begun experimenting with alternative species of woods or more commonly available variations on the standard species. For example, some makers have begun producing models with red cedar or mahogany tops, or with spruce variants other than Sitka. Cedar is also common in the back and sides, as is basswood. Entry-level models, especially those made in East Asia, often use nato wood, which is again tonally similar to mahogany but is cheap to acquire. Some have also begun using non-wood materials, such as plastic or graphite. Carbon-fiber and phenolic composite materials have become desirable for building necks, and some high-end luthiers produce all-carbon-fiber guitars. + +Assembly + +The steel-string acoustic guitar evolved from the gut-string Romantic guitar, and because steel strings have higher tension, heavier construction is required overall. One innovation is a metal bar called a truss rod, which is incorporated into the neck to strengthen it and provide adjustable counter-tension to the stress of the strings. Typically, a steel-string acoustic guitar is built with a larger soundbox than a standard classical guitar. A critical structural and tonal component of an acoustic guitar is the bracing, a systems of struts glued to the inside of the back and top. Steel-string guitars use different bracing systems from classical guitars, typically using X-bracing instead of fan bracing. (Another simpler system, called ladder bracing, where the braces are all placed across the width of the instrument, is used on all types of flat-top guitars on the back.) Innovations in bracing design have emerged, notably the A-brace developed by British luthier Roger Bucknall of Fylde Guitars. + +Most luthiers and experienced players agree that a good solid top (as opposed to laminated or plywood) is the most important factor in the tone of the guitar. Solid backs and sides can also contribute to a pleasant sound, although laminated sides and backs are acceptable alternatives, commonly found in mid-level guitars (in the range of US$300–$1000). + +From the 1960s through the 1980s, "by far the most significant developments in the design and construction of acoustic guitars" were made by the Ovation Guitar Company. It introduced a composite roundback bowl, which replaced the square back and sides of traditional guitars; because of its engineering design, Ovation guitars could be amplified without producing the obnoxious feedback that had plagued acoustic guitars before. Ovation also pioneered with electronics, such as pickup systems and electronic tuners. + +Amplification +A steel-string guitar can be using any of three techniques: + a microphone, possibly clipped to the guitar body; + a detachable pickup, often straddling the soundhole and using the same magnetic principle as a traditional electric guitar; or + a transducer built into the body. + +The last type of guitar is commonly called an acoustic-electric guitar as it can be played either "unplugged" as an acoustic, or plugged in as an electric. The most common type is a piezoelectric pickup, which is composed of a thin sandwich of quartz crystal. When compressed, the crystal produces a small electric current, so when placed under the bridge saddle, the vibrations of the strings through the saddle, and of the body of the instrument, are converted to a weak electrical signal. This signal is often sent to a pre-amplifier, which increases the signal strength and normally incorporates an equalizer. The output of the preamplifier then goes to a separate amplifier system similar to that for an electric guitar. + +Several manufacturers produce specialised acoustic guitar amplifiers, which are designed to give undistorted and full-range reproduction. + +Music and players +Until the 1960s, the predominant forms of music played on the flat-top, steel-string guitar remained relatively stable and included acoustic blues, country, bluegrass, folk, and several genres of rock. The concept of playing solo steel-string guitar in a concert setting was introduced in the early 1960s by such performers as Davey Graham and John Fahey, who used country blues fingerpicking techniques to compose original compositions with structures somewhat like European classical music. Fahey contemporary Robbie Basho added elements of Indian classical music and Leo Kottke used a Faheyesque approach to make the first solo steel-string guitar "hit" record. + +Steel-string guitars are also important in the world of flatpicking, as utilized by such artists as Clarence White, Tony Rice, Bryan Sutton, Doc Watson and David Grier. Luthiers have been experimenting with redesigning the acoustic guitar for these players. These flat-top, steel-string guitars are constructed and voiced more for classical-like fingerpicking and less for chordal accompaniment (strumming). Some luthiers have increasingly focused their attention on the needs of fingerstylists and have developed unique guitars for this style of playing. + +Many other luthiers attempt to recreate the guitars of the "Golden Era" of C.F. Martin & Co. This was started by Roy Noble, who built the guitar played by Clarence White from 1968 to 1972, and was followed by Bill Collings, Marty Lanham, Dana Bourgeois, Randy Lucas, Lynn Dudenbostel and Wayne Henderson, a few of the luthiers building guitars today inspired by vintage Martins, the pre–World War II models in particular. As prices for vintage Martins continue to rise exponentially, upscale guitar enthusiasts have demanded faithful recreations and luthiers are working to fill that demand. + +See also + Guitar + List of guitar manufacturers + Dingulator + Strumming + +References + +Acoustic guitars +American musical instruments +Rhythm section +Baldassarre Cossa ( 1370 – 22 December 1419) was Pisan antipope John XXIII (1410–1415) during the Western Schism. The Catholic Church regards him as an antipope, as he opposed Pope Gregory XII whom the Catholic Church now recognizes as the rightful successor of Saint Peter. He was also an opponent of Antipope Benedict XIII, who was recognized by the French clergy and monarchy as the legitimate Pontiff. + +Cossa was born in the Kingdom of Naples. In 1403, he served as a papal legate in Romagna. He participated in the Council of Pisa in 1408, which sought to end the Western Schism with the election of a third alternative pope. In 1410, he succeeded Antipope Alexander V, taking the name John XXIII. At the instigation of Sigismund, King of the Romans, Pope John called the Council of Constance of 1413, which deposed John XXIII and Benedict XIII, accepted Gregory XII's resignation, and elected Pope Martin V to replace them, thus ending the schism. John XXIII was tried for various crimes, though later accounts question the veracity of those accusations. Towards the end of his life Cossa restored his relationship with the Church and was made Cardinal Bishop of Frascati by Pope Martin V. + +Early life +Baldassarre Cossa was born on the island of Procida in the Kingdom of Naples, the son of Giovanni Cossa, lord of Procida. Initially he followed a military career, taking part in the Angevin-Neapolitan war. His two brothers were sentenced to death for piracy by Ladislaus of Naples. + +He studied law at the University of Bologna and obtained doctorates in both civil and canon law. Probably at the prompting of his family, in 1392 he entered the service of Pope Boniface IX, first working in Bologna and then in Rome. (The Western Schism had begun in 1378, and there were two competing popes at the time, one in Avignon supported by France and Spain, and one in Rome, supported by most of Italy, Germany and England.) In 1386 he is listed as canon of the cathedral of Bologna. In 1396, he became archdeacon in Bologna. He became Cardinal deacon of Saint Eustachius in 1402 and Papal legate in Romagna in 1403. Johann Peter Kirsch describes Cossa as "utterly worldly-minded, ambitious, crafty, unscrupulous, and immoral, a good soldier but no churchman". At this time Cossa also had some links with local robber bands, which were often used to intimidate his rivals and attack carriages. These connections added to his influence and power in the region. + +Role in the Western Schism + +Council of Pisa +Cardinal Cossa was one of the seven cardinals who, in May 1408, withdrew their allegiance from Pope Gregory XII, stating that he had broken his solemn oath not to create new cardinals without consulting them in advance. In company with those cardinals who had been following Antipope Benedict XIII of Avignon, they convened the Council of Pisa, of which Cossa became a leading figure. The aim of the council was to end the schism; to this end they deposed both Gregory XII and Benedict XIII and elected a new pope Alexander V in 1409. Gregory and Benedict ignored this decision, however, so that there were now three simultaneous claimants to the papacy. + +Election to the papacy +Alexander V died soon after, and on 25 May 1410 Cossa was consecrated a pope, taking the name John XXIII. He had become an ordained bishop only one day earlier. John XXIII was acknowledged as pope by France, England, Bohemia, Portugal, parts of the Holy Roman Empire, and numerous Northern Italian city states, including Florence and Venice and the Patriarchate of Aquileia; and in the beginning and in 1411-1413 by Hungary and Poland. However, the Avignon Pope Benedict XIII was regarded as pope by the Kingdoms of Aragon, Castile, Sicily and Scotland. Gregory XII was still favored by Ladislaus of Naples, Carlo I Malatesta, the princes of Bavaria, Louis III, Elector Palatine, and parts of Germany and Poland. John XXIII made the Medici Bank the bank of the papacy, contributing considerably to the family's wealth and prestige. + +The main enemy of John was Ladislaus of Naples, who protected Gregory XII in Rome. Following his election as pope, John spent a year in Bologna and then joined forces with Louis II of Anjou to march against Ladislaus. An initial victory proved short-lived and Ladislaus retook Rome in May 1413, forcing John to flee to Florence. In Florence he met Sigismund, King of the Romans. Sigismund wanted to end the schism and urged John to call a general council. John did so with hesitation, at first trying to have the council held in Italy (rather than in a German Imperial City, as Sigismund wanted). The Council of Constance was convened on 30 October 1414. During the third session, rival Pope Gregory XII authorized the council as well. The council resolved that all three popes should abdicate and a new pope be elected. + +Flight from the Council of Constance +In March, John escaped from Constance disguised as a postman. According to the Klingenberger Chronicle, written by a noble client of Frederick IV, Duke of Austria, John XXIII travelled down the Rhine to Schaffhausen in a boat, while Frederick accompanied him with a small band of men on horseback. There was a huge outcry in Constance when it was discovered that John had fled, and Sigismund was furious about this setback to his plans for ending the Schism. The King of the Romans issued orders to all the powers on the Upper Rhine and in Swabia stating that he had declared Frederick to be an outlaw and that his lands and possessions were forfeit. In due course this led to a great deal of political upheaval and many Austrian losses in the region, notably in Aargau to the Swiss Confederation. + +In the meantime, Antipope John XXIII and Frederick fled further downriver along the Rhine to the town of Freiburg im Breisgau, which recognised the duke of Austria as its lord. There Sigismund's lieutenant Ludwig III, Elector Palatine caught up with them. He convinced Frederick that he stood to lose too much by harbouring the fugitive pope, and the Austrian duke agreed to give himself and John up and return to Constance. + +Deposition +During his absence, John was deposed by the council, and upon his return he was tried for heresy, simony, schism and immorality, and found guilty on all counts. The 18th century historian Edward Gibbon wrote, "The more scandalous charges were suppressed; the vicar of Christ was accused only of piracy, rape, sodomy, murder and incest." John was given over to Ludwig III, Elector Palatine, who imprisoned him for several months in Heidelberg and Mannheim. + +The last remaining claimant in Avignon, Benedict XIII, refused to resign and was excommunicated. Martin V was elected as new pope in 1417. + +Death and burial + +Cossa was freed in 1418 after a heavy ransom was paid by the Medici. He went to Florence, where he submitted to Martin V, who made him Cardinal Bishop of Frascati. Cossa died only a few months later. + +The Medici oversaw the construction of his magnificent tomb by Donatello and Michelozzo in the Battistero di San Giovanni in Florence. Pope Martin V protested in vain against the inscription on the sarcophagus: "John the former pope". + +J.P. Kirsch remarks that "Undeniably secular and ambitious, his moral life was not above reproach, and his unscrupulous methods in no wise accorded with the requirements of his high office ... the heinous crimes of which his opponents in the council accused him were certainly gravely exaggerated." One historian concluded that John was "a great man in temporal things, but a complete failure and worthless in spiritual things". + +Fictional depictions +John is portrayed by Steven Waddington in the 2016 television series Medici: Masters of Florence. +John is also a main character in A Trembling Upon Rome by Richard Condon. + +The 1932 thriller Safe Custody by Dornford Yates, references John. Listing the members of an objectionable family, a character in the story says: + +"Then we come to his nephew—a promising lad of fifteen. He lies, steals, smells, assaults the servants and abuses any animal which he is satisfied will not retaliate. If Gibbon may be believed, Pope John the Twenty-third as a stripling must have resembled him". + +Russian writer Dmitry Balashov wrote the novel Baltazar Kossa (Бальтазар Косса) about Antipope John XXIII. + +Numbering issues + +He should not be confused with Pope John XXIII of the twentieth century. When Angelo Roncalli was elected pope in 1958, there was some confusion as to whether he would be John XXIII or John XXIV; he then declared that he was John XXIII to put this question to rest. There was no John XX, since that number was skipped due to an error by Medieval Pope John XXI; this is why Gibbon refers to the antipope John as John XXII. + +See also + + Papal selection before 1059 + Papal conclave (since 1274) + +References + +Sources + +Further reading +In 1983 political satirist/novelist Richard Condon (The Manchurian Candidate) wrote A Trembling Upon Rome, a novel of historical fiction about the life of Baldassare Cossa. + +1370s births +1419 deaths +Popes who abdicated +People from the Province of Naples +Antipopes +Cardinal-bishops of Frascati +Cardinal-nephews +Deans of the College of Cardinals +15th-century antipopes +14th-century Italian Roman Catholic bishops +Antonio Salieri (18 August 17507 May 1825) was an Italian composer and teacher of the classical period. He was born in Legnago, south of Verona, in the Republic of Venice, and spent his adult life and career as a subject of the Habsburg monarchy. + +Salieri was a pivotal figure in the development of late 18th-century opera. As a student of Florian Leopold Gassmann, and a protégé of Christoph Willibald Gluck, Salieri was a cosmopolitan composer who wrote operas in three languages. Salieri helped to develop and shape many of the features of operatic compositional vocabulary, and his music was a powerful influence on contemporary composers. + +Appointed the director of the Italian opera by the Habsburg court, a post he held from 1774 until 1792, Salieri dominated Italian-language opera in Vienna. During his career, he also spent time writing works for opera houses in Paris, Rome, and Venice, and his dramatic works were widely performed throughout Europe during his lifetime. As the Austrian imperial Kapellmeister from 1788 to 1824, he was responsible for music at the court chapel and attached school. Even as his works dropped from performance, and he wrote no new operas after 1804, he still remained one of the most important and sought-after teachers of his generation, and his influence was felt in every aspect of Vienna's musical life. Franz Liszt, Franz Schubert, Ludwig van Beethoven, Anton Eberl, Johann Nepomuk Hummel and Franz Xaver Wolfgang Mozart were among the most famous of his pupils. + +Salieri's music slowly disappeared from the repertoire between 1800 and 1868 and was rarely heard after that period until the revival of his fame in the late 20th century. This revival was due to the fictionalized depiction of Salieri in Peter Shaffer's play Amadeus (1979) and its 1984 film version. The death of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in 1791 at the age of 35 was followed by rumors that he and Salieri had been bitter rivals, and that Salieri had poisoned the younger composer; however, this has been proven untrue because the symptoms displayed by Mozart's illness did not indicate poisoning and it is likely that they were, at least, mutually respectful peers. Despite denying the allegation, Salieri was greatly affected by the accusations and widespread public belief that he had contributed to Mozart's death, which contributed to his nervous breakdowns in later life. + +Life and career + +Early life (1750–1770) +Antonio Salieri was born on August 18, 1750, to Antonio Salieri and his wife, Anna Maria. Salieri started his musical studies in his native town of Legnago; he was first taught at home by his older brother Francesco Salieri (a former student of the violinist and composer Giuseppe Tartini), and he received further lessons from the organist of the Legnago Cathedral, Giuseppe Simoni, a pupil of Padre Giovanni Battista Martini. Salieri remembered little from his childhood in later years except for passions for sugar, reading, and music. He twice ran away from home without permission to hear his elder brother play violin concertos in neighboring churches on festival days and he recounted being chastised by his father after failing to greet a local priest with proper respect. Salieri responded to the reprimand by saying the priest's organ playing displeased him because it was in an inappropriately theatrical style. Sometime between 1763 and 1764, both of Salieri's parents died, and he was briefly taken in by an anonymous brother, a monk in Padua, and then for unknown reasons in 1765 or 1766, he became the ward of a Venetian nobleman named Giovanni Mocenigo (which Giovanni is at this time unknown), a member of the powerful and well connected Mocenigo family. It is possible that Salieri's father and Mocenigo were friends or business associates, but this is obscure. While living in Venice, Salieri continued his musical studies with the organist and opera composer Giovanni Battista Pescetti, then following Pescetti's sudden death he studied with the opera singer Ferdinando Pacini (or Pasini). It was through Pacini that Salieri gained the attention of the composer Florian Leopold Gassmann, who, impressed with his protege's talents and concerned for the boy's future, took the young orphan to Vienna, where he personally directed and paid for the remainder of Salieri's musical education. + +Salieri and Gassmann arrived in Vienna on 15 June 1766. Gassmann's first act was to take Salieri to the Italian Church to consecrate his teaching and service to God, an event that left a deep impression on Salieri for the rest of his life. Salieri's education included instruction in Latin and Italian poetry by Fr. Don Pietro Tommasi, instruction in the German language, and European literature. His music studies revolved around vocal composition and thoroughbass. His musical theory training in harmony and counterpoint was rooted in Johann Fux's Gradus ad Parnassum, which Salieri translated during each Latin lesson. As a result, Salieri continued to live with Gassmann even after Gassmann's marriage, an arrangement that lasted until the year of Gassmann's death and Salieri's own marriage in 1774. Few of Salieri's compositions have survived from this early period. In his old age Salieri hinted that these works were either purposely destroyed or had been lost, with the exception of a few works for the church. Among these sacred works there survives a Mass in C major written without a "Gloria" and in the antique a cappella style (presumably for one of the church's penitential seasons) and dated 2 August 1767. A complete opera composed in 1769 (presumably as a culminating study) La vestal (The Vestal Virgin) has also been lost. + +Beginning in 1766 Gassmann introduced Salieri to the daily chamber music performances held during Emperor Joseph II's evening meal. Salieri quickly impressed the Emperor, and Gassmann was instructed to bring his pupil as often as he wished. This was the beginning of a relationship between monarch and musician that lasted until Joseph's death in 1790. Salieri met Pietro Antonio Domenico Trapassi, better known as Metastasio, and Christoph Willibald Gluck during this period at the Sunday morning salons held at the home of the Martinez family. Metastasio had an apartment there and participated in the weekly gatherings. Over the next several years Metastasio gave Salieri informal instruction in prosody and the declamation of Italian poetry, and Gluck became an informal advisor, friend, and confidante. It was toward the end of this extended period of study that Gassmann was called away on a new opera commission and a gap in the theater's program allowed for Salieri to make his debut as a composer of a completely original opera buffa. Salieri's first full opera was composed during the winter and carnival season of 1770; Le Donne letterate and was based on Molière's Les Femmes Savantes (The Learned Ladies) with a libretto by , a dancer in the court ballet and a brother of the composer Luigi Boccherini. The modest success of this opera launched Salieri's 34-year operatic career as a composer of over 35 original dramas. + +Early Viennese period and operas (1770–1778) +Following the modest success of Le Donne literate Salieri received new commissions for writing two additional operas in 1770, both with libretti by Giovanni Boccherini. The first, a pastoral opera, L'amore innocente (Innocent Love), was a light-hearted comedy set in the Austrian mountains. The second was based on an episode from Miguel de Cervantes' Don Quixote – Don Chisciotte alle Nozze di Gamace (Don Quixote at the marriage of Camacho). In these first works, drawn mostly from the traditions of mid-century opera buffa, Salieri showed a penchant for experimentation and for mixing the established characteristics of specific operatic genres. Don Chisciotte was a mix of ballet and opera buffa, and the lead female roles in L'amore innocence were designed to contrast and highlight the different traditions of operatic writing for soprano, even borrowing stylistic flourishes from opera seria in the use of coloratura in what was a short pastoral comedy more in keeping with a Roman Intermezzo. The mixing and pushing against the boundaries of established operatic genres was a continuing hallmark of Salieri's own personal style, and in his choice of material for the plot (as in his first opera), he manifested a lifelong interest in subjects drawn from classic drama and literature. + +Salieri's first great success was in the realm of serious opera. Commissioned for an unknown occasion, Salieri's Armida was based on Torquato Tasso's epic poem La Gerusalemme liberata (Jerusalem Delivered); it premiered on 2 June 1771. Armida is a tale of love and duty in conflict and is saturated in magic. The opera is set during the First Crusade and features a dramatic mix of ballet, aria, ensemble, and choral writing, combining theatricality, scenic splendor, and high emotionalism. The work clearly followed in Gluck's footsteps and embraced his reform of serious opera beginning with Orfeo ed Euridice and Alceste. The libretto to Armida was by Marco Coltellini, the house poet for the imperial theaters. While Salieri followed the precepts set forth by Gluck and his librettist Ranieri de' Calzabigi in the preface to Alceste, Salieri also drew on some musical ideas from the more traditional opera seria and even opera buffa, creating a new synthesis in the process. Armida was translated into German and widely performed, especially in the northern German states, where it helped to establish Salieri's reputation as an important and innovative modern composer. It was also the first opera to receive a serious preparation in a piano and vocal reduction by in 1783. + +Armida was soon followed by Salieri's first truly popular success, a commedia per musica in the style of Carlo Goldoni La Fiera di Venezia (The Fair of Venice). La Fiera was written for Carnival in 1772 and premiered on 29 January. Here Salieri returned to his collaboration with the young Giovanni Boccherini, who crafted an original plot. La Fiera featured characters singing in three languages, a bustling portrayal of the Ascension-tide Fair and Carnival in Venice, and large and lengthy ensembles and choruses. It also included an innovative scene that combined a series of on-stage dances with singing from both solo protagonists and the chorus. This was a pattern imitated by later composers, most famously and successfully by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in Don Giovanni. Salieri also wrote several bravura arias for a soprano playing the part of a middle-class character that combined coloratura and concertante woodwind solos, another innovation for comic opera that was widely imitated. + +Salieri's next two operas were not particular or lasting successes. La Vecchia rapita (The Stolen Bucket) is a parody of the high flown and emotive arias found in Metastasian opera seria. It also contains innovative orchestrations, including the first known use of three tympani. Again a classic of Renaissance literature was the basis of the libretto by Boccherini, in this case, a comic mock-epic by Tassoni, in which a war between Modena and Bologna follows the theft of a bucket. This uneven work was followed by a popular comedic success (The Mistress of the Inn), an adaptation of the classic and popular spoken stage comedy La locandiera by Carlo Goldoni, with the libretto prepared by Domenico Poggi. + +The majority of Salieri's modest number of instrumental works also date from this time. Salieri's instrumental works have been judged by various critics and scholars to lack the inspiration and innovation found in his writing for the stage. These orchestral works are mainly in the Galant style, and although they show some development toward the late classical, they reflect a general weakness in comparison to his operatic works of the same and later periods. These works were written for mostly unknown occasions and artists. They include two concertos for pianoforte, one in C major and one in B flat major (both 1773); a concerto for organ in C Major in two movements (the middle movement is missing from the autograph score, or perhaps, it was an improvised organ solo) (also 1773); and two concertante works: a concerto for oboe, violin and cello in D major (1770), and a flute and oboe concerto in C major (1774). These works are among the most frequently recorded of Salieri's compositions. + +Upon Gassmann's death on 21 January, most likely due to complications from an accident with a carriage some years earlier, Salieri succeeded him as assistant director of the Italian opera in early 1774. On 10 October 1775 Salieri married Therese Helferstorfer, the daughter of a recently deceased financier and official of the court treasury. Sacred music was not a high priority for the composer during this stage of his career, but he did compose an Alleluia for chorus and orchestra in 1774. + +During the next three years, Salieri was primarily concerned with rehearsing and conducting the Italian opera company in Vienna and with teaching. His three complete operas written during this time show the development of his compositional skills, but included no great success, either commercially or artistically. His most important compositions during this period were a symphony in D major, performed in the summer of 1776, and the oratorio La Passione di Gesù Cristo with a text by Metastasio, performed during Advent of 1776. + +After the financial collapse of the Italian opera company in 1777 due to financial mismanagement, Joseph II decided to end the performance of Italian opera, French-spoken drama, and ballet. Instead, the two court-owned theaters would be reopened under new management, and partly subsidized by the Imperial Court, as a new National Theater. The re-launched theaters would promote German-language plays and musical productions that reflected Austrian (or as Joseph II would have said) German values, traditions, and outlook. The Italian opera buffa company was therefore replaced by a German-language Singspiel troupe. Joseph and his supporters of Imperial reform wanted to encourage pan-national pride that would unite his multi-lingual and ethnic subjects under one common language and hoped to save a considerable amount of money in the process. Beginning in 1778 the Emperor wished to have new works, in German, composed by his own subjects and brought on the stage with clear Imperial support. This in effect left Salieri's role as assistant court composer in a much-reduced position. Salieri also had never truly mastered the German language, and he now felt no longer competent to continue as an assistant opera director. A further blow to his career was when the spoken drama and musical Singspiel were placed on an equal footing. For the young composer, there would be few, if any, new compositional commissions to receive from the court. Salieri was left with few financial options and he began casting about for new opportunities. + +Italian tour (1778–1780) +In 1778 Gluck turned down an offer to compose the inaugural opera for La Scala in Milan. Upon the suggestion of Joseph II and with the approval of Gluck, Salieri was offered the commission, which he gratefully accepted. Joseph II granted Salieri permission to take a year-long leave of absence (later extended), enabling him to write for La Scala and to undertake a tour of Italy. Salieri's Italian tour of 1778–80 began with the production of Europa riconosciuta (Europa Recognized) for La Scala (revived in 2004 for the same opera house's re-opening following extensive renovations). From Milan, Salieri included stops in Venice and Rome before returning to Milan. During this tour, he wrote three new comic operas and he collaborated with Giacomo Rust on one opera, (The Talisman). Of his Italian works one, La Scuola de' gelosi (The School for Jealousy), a witty study of amorous intrigue and emotion, proved a popular and lasting international success. + +Middle Viennese period and Parisian operas (1780–1788) +Upon his return at imperial behest to Vienna in 1780, Salieri wrote one German Singspiel, Der Rauchfangkehrer (The Chimney Sweep), which premiered in 1781. Salieri's Chimney Sweep and Mozart's work for the same company in 1782, Die Entführung aus dem Serail (The Abduction from the Seraglio), were the only two major successes to emerge from the German Singspiel experiment, and only Mozart's opera survived on the stage beyond the close of the 18th century. In 1783 the Italian opera company was revived with singers partly chosen and vetted by Salieri during his Italian tour; the new season opened with a slightly re-worked version of Salieri's recent success La Scuola de' Pelosi. Salieri then returned to his rounds of rehearsing, composition, and teaching. However, his time at home in Vienna quickly ended when an opportunity to write an opera for Paris arose, again through the patronage of Gluck. Salieri traveled abroad to fulfill an important commission. + +The opera Les Danaïdes (The Danaids) is a five-act tragédie lyrique. The plot was based on an ancient Greek legend that had been the basis for the first play in a trilogy by Aeschylus, entitled The Suppliants. The original commission that reached Salieri in 1783–84 was to assist Gluck in finishing a work for Paris that had been all but completed; in reality, Gluck had failed to notate any of the scores for the new opera and gave the entire project over to his young friend. Gluck feared that the Parisian critics would denounce the opera by a young composer known mostly for comic pieces and so the opera was originally billed in the press as being a new work by Gluck with some assistance from Salieri, then shortly before the premiere of the opera the Parisian press reported that the work was to be partly by Gluck and partly by Salieri, and finally, after popular and critical success on stage, the opera was acknowledged in a letter to the public by Gluck as being wholly by the young Salieri. Les Danaïdes was received with great acclaim and its popularity with audiences and critics alike produced several further requests for new works for Paris audiences by Salieri. Les Danaïdes followed in the tradition of reform that Gluck had begun in the 1760s and that Salieri had emulated in his earlier opera Armida. Salieri's first French opera contained scenes of great solemnity and festivity, but overshadowing it all was darkness and revenge. The opera depicted politically motivated murder, filial duty and love in conflict, tyrannicide, and finally eternal damnation. The opera, with its dark overture, lavish choral writing, many ballet scenes, and electrifying finale depicting a glimpse of hellish torture, kept the opera on the stage in Paris for over forty years. A young Hector Berlioz recorded the deep impression this work made on him in his Mémoires. + +Upon returning to Vienna following his success in Paris, Salieri met and befriended Lorenzo Da Ponte and had his first professional encounters with Mozart. Da Ponte wrote his first opera libretto for Salieri, Il ricco d'un giorno (A rich man for a day) in 1784, which was not a success. Salieri next turned to Giambattista Casti as a librettist; a more successful set of collaborations flowed from this pairing. In the meantime, Da Ponte began working with Mozart on Le Nozze di Figaro (The Marriage of Figaro). In 1785 Salieri produced one of his greatest works with the text by Casti, La grotta di Trofonio (The cave of Trophonius), the first opera buffa published in full score by Artaria. Shortly after this success, Joseph II had Mozart and Salieri each contribute a one-act opera and/or Singspiel for production at a banquet in 1786. Salieri collaborated with Casti to produce a parody of the relationship between poet and composer in Prima la musica e poi le parole (First the music and then the words). This short work also highlighted the typical backstage antics of two high-flown sopranos. Salieri then returned to Paris for the premiere of his tragédie Lyrique Les Horaces (The Horatii), which proved a failure, which was more than made up for with his next Parisian opera Tarare, with a libretto by Beaumarchais. This was intended to be the of reform opera, a completely new synthesis of poetry and music that was an 18th-century anticipation of the ideals of Richard Wagner. Salieri also created a sacred cantata Le Judgment dernier (The Last Judgement). The success of his opera Tarare was such that it was soon translated into Italian at Joseph II's behest by Lorenzo Da Ponte as Axur, re d'Ormus (Axur, king of Hormuz) and staged at the royal wedding of Franz II in 1788. + +Late Viennese operas (1788–1804) +In 1788 Salieri returned to Vienna, where he remained for the rest of his life. In that year he became Kapellmeister of the Imperial Chapel upon the death of Giuseppe Bonno; as Kapellmeister he conducted the music and musical school connected with the chapel until shortly before his death, being officially retired from the post in 1824. + +His Italian adaptation of Tarare, Axur proved to be his greatest international success. Axur was widely produced throughout Europe and it even reached South America with the exiled royal house of Portugal in 1824. Axur and his other new compositions completed by 1792 marked the height of Salieri's popularity and his influence. Just as his apogee of fame was being reached abroad, his influence in Vienna began to diminish with the death of Joseph II in 1790. Joseph's death deprived Salieri of his greatest patron and protector. During this period of imperial change in Vienna and revolutionary ferment in France, Salieri composed two additional extremely innovative musical dramas to libretti by Giovanni Casti. Due, however, to their satiric and overtly liberal political inclinations, both operas were seen as unsuitable for public performance in the politically reactive cultures of Leopold II and later Francis II. This resulted in two of his most original operas being consigned to his desk drawer, namely Cublai, gran kan de' Tartari (Kublai Grand Kahn of Tartary) a satire on the autocracy and court intrigues at the court of the Russian Tsarina, Catherine the Great, and Catilina a semi-comic/semi-tragic account of the Catiline conspiracy that attempted to overthrow the Roman republic during the consulship of Cicero. These operas were composed in 1787 and 1792 respectively. Two other operas of little success and long-term importance were composed in 1789, and one great popular success La cifra (The Cipher). + +As Salieri's political position became insecure he retired as director of the Italian opera in 1792. He continued to write new operas per imperial contract until 1804 when he voluntarily withdrew from the stage. Of his late works for the stage only two works gained wide popular esteem during his life, Palmira, Regina di Persia (Palmira, queen of Persia) 1795 and (Caesar on Pharmacusa), both drawing on the heroic and exotic success established with Axur. His late opera based on William Shakespeare's The Merry Wives of Windsor, Falstaff ossia Le tre burle (Falstaff, or the three tricks) (1799) has found a wider audience in modern times than its original reception promised. His last opera was a German-language Singspiel (The negroes), a melodrama set in colonial Virginia with a text by Georg Friedrich Treitschke (the author of the libretto for Beethoven's Fidelio); it was performed in 1804 and was a complete failure. + +Life after opera (1804–1825) +When Salieri retired from the stage, he recognized that artistic styles had changed and he felt that he no longer had the creative capacity to adapt or the emotional desire to continue. Also as Salieri aged, he moved slowly away from his more liberal political stances as he saw the enlightened reform of Joseph II's reign, and the hoped-for reforms of the French revolution, replaced with more radical revolutionary ideas. As the political situation threatened and eventually overwhelmed Austria, which was repeatedly crushed by French political forces, Salieri's first and most important biographer Ignaz von Mosel described the emotional effect that this political, social, and cultural upheaval had on the composer. Mosel noted that these radical changes, especially the invasion and defeat of Austria, and the occupation of Vienna intertwined with the personal losses that struck Salieri in the same period and led to his withdrawal from operatic work. Related to this Mosel quotes the aged composer concerning the radical changes in musical taste that were underway in the age of Beethoven, "From that period [circa 1800] I realized that musical taste was gradually changing in a manner completely contrary to that of my own times. Eccentricity and confusion of genres replaced reasoned and masterful simplicity." + +As his teaching and work with the imperial chapel continued, his duties required the composition of a large number of sacred works, and in his last years, it was almost exclusively in religious works and teaching that Salieri occupied himself. Among his compositions written for the chapel were two complete sets of vespers, many graduals, offertories, and four orchestral masses. During this period he lost his only son in 1805 and his wife in 1807. + +Salieri continued to conduct publicly, including the performance on 18 March 1808 of Haydn's The Creation during which Haydn collapsed, and several premieres by Beethoven including the 1st and 2nd Piano Concertos and Wellington's Victory. He also continued to help administer several charities and organize their musical events. + +His remaining secular works in this late period fall into three categories: first, large-scale cantatas and one oratorio Habsburg written on patriotic themes or in response to the international political situation, pedagogical works written to aid his students in voice, and finally simple songs, rounds or canons written for home entertainment; many with original poetry by the composer. He also composed one large-scale instrumental work in 1815 intended as a study in late classical orchestration: Twenty-Six Variations for the Orchestra on a Theme called La Folia di Spagna. The theme is likely folk-derived and is known as La Folía. This simple melodic and harmonic progression had served as an inspiration for many baroque composers and would be used by later romantic and post-romantic composers. Salieri's setting is a brooding work in the minor key, which rarely moves far from the original melodic material, its main interest lies in the deft and varied handling of orchestral colors. La Folia was the most monumental set of orchestral variations before Brahms' Variations on a Theme by Haydn. + +His teaching of budding young musicians continued, and among his pupils in composition (usually vocal) were Ludwig van Beethoven, Antonio Casimir Cartellieri, Franz Liszt and Franz Schubert. He also instructed many prominent singers throughout his career, including Caterina Canzi. All but the wealthiest of his pupils received their lessons for free, a tribute to the kindness Gassmann had shown Salieri as a penniless orphan. + +In November 1823 Salieri attempted suicide. He was committed to medical care and suffered dementia for the last year and a half of his life. He died in Vienna on 7 May 1825, aged 74 and was buried in the Matzleinsdorfer Friedhof on 10 May. At his memorial service on 22 June 1825, his own Requiem in C minor – composed in 1804 – was performed for the first time. His remains were later transferred to the Zentralfriedhof. His monument is adorned by a poem written by Joseph Weigl, one of his pupils: +Ruh sanft! Vom Staub entblößt, +Wird Dir die Ewigkeit erblühen. +Ruh sanft! In ew'gen Harmonien +Ist nun Dein Geist gelöst. +Er sprach sich aus in zaubervollen Tönen, +Jetzt schwebt er hin zum unvergänglich Schönen. +Rest in peace! Uncovered by dust +Eternity shall bloom for you. +Rest in peace! In eternal harmonies +Your spirit now is set free. +He expressed himself in enchanting notes, +Now he is floating to everlasting beauty. + +Works + +Opera +During his time in Vienna, Salieri acquired great prestige as a composer and conductor, particularly of opera, but also of chamber and sacred music. Among the most successful of his 37 operas staged during his lifetime were Armida (1771), La fiera di Venezia (1772), La scuola de' gelosi (1778), Der Rauchfangkehrer (1781), Les Danaïdes (1784), which was first presented as a work of Gluck's, La grotta di Trofonio (1785), Tarare (1787) (Tarare was reworked and revised several times as was Les Danaïdes ), Axur, re d'Ormus (1788), La cifra (1789), Palmira, regina di Persia (1795), Il mondo alla rovescia (1795), Falstaff (1799), and Cesare in Farmacusa (1800). + +Sacred works +Salieri's earliest surviving work is a Mass in C major. He would write four major orchestral masses, a requiem, and many offertories, graduals, vesper settings, and sacred cantatas and oratorios. Much of his sacred music dates from after his appointment as Hofkapellmeister in 1788. + +Instrumental works +His small instrumental output includes two piano concerti, a concerto for organ written in 1773, a concerto for flute, oboe and orchestra (1774), a triple concerto for oboe, violin and cello, and a set of twenty-six variations on "La folia di Spagna" (1815). + +Relationship with Mozart +In the 1780s, while Mozart lived and worked in Vienna, he and his father Leopold wrote in their letters that several "cabals" of Italians led by Salieri were actively putting obstacles in the way of Mozart's obtaining certain posts or staging his operas. For example, Mozart wrote in December 1781 to his father that "the only one who counts in [the Emperor's] eyes is Salieri". Their letters suggest that both Mozart and his father, being Austrians who resented the special place that Italian composers had in the courts of the Austrian nobility, blamed the Italians in general and Salieri in particular for all of Mozart's difficulties in establishing himself in Vienna. Mozart wrote to his father in May 1783 about Salieri and Lorenzo Da Ponte, the court poet: "You know those Italian gentlemen; they are very nice to your face! Enough, we all know about them. And if [Da Ponte] is in league with Salieri, I'll never get a text from him, and I would love to show him what I can really do with an Italian opera." In July 1783, he again wrote to his father of "a trick of Salieri's", one of several letters in which Mozart accused Salieri of trickery. + +Decades after Mozart's death, a rumor began to circulate that Mozart had been poisoned by Salieri. This rumor has been attributed by some to a rivalry between the German and the Italian schools of music. Carl Maria von Weber, a relative of Mozart by marriage whom Wagner has characterized as the most German of German composers, is said to have refused to join the Ludlamshöhle (Ludlam's cave), a social club of which Salieri was a member, and avoided having anything to do with him. These rumors then made their way into popular culture. Albert Lortzing's Singspiel Szenen aus Mozarts Leben LoWV28 (1832) and the popular 1984 film Amadeus uses the cliché of the jealous Salieri trying to hinder Mozart's career. + +Ironically, Salieri's music was much more in the tradition of Gluck and Gassmann than of the Italians like Paisiello or Cimarosa. In 1772, Empress Maria Theresa commented on her preference for Italian composers over Germans like Gassmann, Salieri, or Gluck. While Italian by birth, Salieri had lived in imperial Vienna for almost 60 years and was regarded by such people as the music critic Friedrich Rochlitz as a German composer. + +The biographer Alexander Wheelock Thayer believes that Mozart's rivalry with Salieri could have originated with an incident in 1781, when Mozart applied to be the music teacher of Princess Elisabeth of Württemberg, and Salieri was selected instead because of his reputation as a singing teacher. The following year Mozart once again failed to be selected as the princess's piano teacher. "Salieri and his tribe will move heaven and earth to put it down", Leopold Mozart wrote to his daughter Nannerl. But at the time of the premiere of Figaro, Salieri was busy with his new French opera Les Horaces. In addition, when Lorenzo Da Ponte was in Prague preparing the production of Mozart's setting of his Don Giovanni, the poet was ordered back to Vienna for a royal wedding for which Salieri's Axur, re d'Ormus would be performed. Obviously, Mozart was not pleased by this. + +The rivalry between Salieri and Mozart became publicly visible as well as audible during the opera composition competition held by Emperor Joseph II in 1786 in the Orangery at Schönbrunn. Mozart was considered the loser of this competition. Mozart's 1791 opera The Magic Flute echoes that competition because the Papageno–Papagena duet is similar to the Cucuzza cavatina in Salieri's Prima la musica e poi le parole. The Magic Flute also echoes Salieri's music in that Papageno's whistle is based on a motif borrowed from Salieri's Concerto for Clavicembalo in B-flat major. + +However, there is also evidence attesting to Mozart and Salieri sometimes appearing to support each other's work. For example, when Salieri was appointed Kapellmeister in 1788, he chose to revive Figaro instead of introducing a new opera of his own, and when he attended the coronation festivities for Leopold II in 1790, Salieri had no fewer than three Mozart masses in his luggage. Salieri and Mozart even jointly composed a cantata for voice and piano, Per la ricuperata salute di Ofelia, which celebrated the return to the stage of the singer Nancy Storace. This work, although it had been printed by Artaria in 1785, was considered lost until 10 January 2016, when the Schwäbische Zeitung reported on the discovery by musicologist and composer Timo Jouko Herrmann of a copy of its text and music while doing research on Antonio Salieri in the collections of the Czech Museum of Music. Mozart's Davide penitente (1785), his Piano Concerto KV 482 (1785), the Clarinet Quintet (1789) and the 40th Symphony (1788) had been premiered on the suggestion of Salieri, who supposedly conducted a performance of it in 1791. In his last surviving letter from 14 October 1791, Mozart told his wife that he had picked up Salieri and Caterina Cavalieri in his carriage and driven them both to the opera; about Salieri's attendance at his opera The Magic Flute, speaking enthusiastically: "He heard and saw with all his attention, and from the overture, to the last choir there was not a piece that didn't elicit a 'Bravo!' or 'Bello!' out of him [...]." + +Salieri, along with Mozart's protégé J. N. Hummel, educated Mozart's younger son Franz Xaver Mozart, who was born about four months before his father's death. + +Legacy +Salieri and his music were largely forgotten from the 19th century until the late 20th century. This revival was due to the dramatic and highly fictionalized depiction of Salieri in Peter Shaffer's play Amadeus (1979), which was given its greatest exposure in its 1984 film version, directed by Miloš Forman. His music today has regained some modest popularity via recordings. It is also the subject of increasing academic study, and a small number of his operas have returned to the stage. In addition, there is now a Salieri Opera Festival sponsored by the Fondazione Culturale Antonio Salieri and dedicated to rediscovering his work and those of his contemporaries. It is developing as an annual autumn event in his native town of Legnago, where a theatre has been renamed in his honor. + +Modern performances of Salieri's work +In 2003, mezzo-soprano Cecilia Bartoli released The Salieri Album, a CD with 13 arias from Salieri's operas, most of which had never been recorded before. Patrice Michaels sang a number of his arias on the CD Divas of Mozart's Day. In 2008, another female opera star, Diana Damrau, released a CD with seven Salieri coloratura arias. Since 2000, there have also been complete recordings issued or re-issued of the operas Axur Re d'Ormus, Falstaff, Les Danaïdes, La Locandiera, La grotta di Trofonio, Prima la musica e poi le parole and . Salieri has yet to fully re-enter the general repertory, but performances of his works are progressively becoming more regular. + +His operas Falstaff (1995 production from the Schwetzingen Festival) and Tarare (1987 production, also from the Schwetzingen Festival) has been released on DVD. In 2004, the opera Europa riconosciuta was staged in Milan for the reopening of La Scala in Milan, with soprano Diana Damrau in the title role. This production was also broadcast on television. + +In November 2009, Il mondo alla rovescia was given its first staging in modern times at the Teatro Salieri in Legnago in a co-production between the Fondazione Culturale Antonio Salieri and the Fondazione Arena di Verona for the Salieri Opera Festival. +From 2009 to 2011 Antonio Giarola directed the Festival. From 2009 to 2012 Antonio Giarola also directed the Varietas Delectat, a contemporary dance show inspired by the music of Antonio Salieri. + +On 14 November 2011 in Graz, Austria, the hometown of the librettist Leopold Auenbrugger, Salieri's Der Rauchfangkehrer was given its first modern production. In July 2014 there was another modern production of this Salieri opera. This time it was the Pinchgut Opera of Sydney, Australia, performing it as The Chimneysweep. The Sydney Morning Herald referred to it as the discovery of "a long-forgotten treasure". + +Use of music by Salieri in films +Salieri has even begun to attract some attention from Hollywood. In 2001, his triple concerto was used in the soundtrack of The Last Castle, featuring Robert Redford and James Gandolfini. It is a story that builds on the rivalry between a meticulous but untested officer (Gandolfini) serving as the warden of a military prison and an imprisoned but much admired and highly decorated general (Redford). The Salieri piece is used as the warden's theme music, seemingly to invoke the image of jealousy of the inferior for his superior. In 2006, the movie Copying Beethoven referred to Salieri in a more positive light. In this movie, a young female music student hired by Beethoven to copy out his Ninth Symphony is staying at a monastery. The abbess tries to discourage her from working with the irreverent Beethoven. She notes that she too once had dreams, having come to Vienna to study opera singing with Salieri. The 2008 film Iron Man used the Larghetto movement from Salieri's Piano Concerto in C major. The scene where Obadiah Stane, the archrival of Tony Stark, the wealthy industrialist turned Iron Man, tells Tony that he is being ousted from his company by the board, Obadiah plays the opening few bars of the Salieri concerto on a piano in Stark's suite. + +Fictional treatments +Salieri's life, and especially his relationship with Mozart, has been the subject of many stories, in a variety of media. +Within a few years of Salieri's death in 1825, Alexander Pushkin wrote his "little tragedy" Mozart and Salieri (1831), as a dramatic study of the sin of envy. +In 1898, Russian composer Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov adapted Pushkin's play, Mozart and Salieri (1831), as an opera of the same name. +A hugely popular yet heavily fictionalized perpetuation of the story came in Peter Shaffer's play Amadeus (1979) and its Oscar-winning 1984 film adaptation directed by Miloš Forman. Salieri was portrayed in the award-winning play at London's National Theatre by Paul Scofield, on Broadway by Ian McKellen, and in the film by F. Murray Abraham (who won the Academy Award for Best Actor for the part). Abraham depicts Salieri as a Machiavellian, Iago-esque character, who uses his connections to keep Mozart as the underdog and slowly destroy Mozart's career. +Salieri's supposed hatred for Mozart is also alluded to in a spoof opera titled A Little Nightmare Music (1982), by P. D. Q. Bach. In the opera, Salieri attempts to poison an anachronistic Shaffer but is bumped by a "clumsy oaf", which causes him to inadvertently poison Mozart instead and spill wine on his favorite coat. +Patrick Stewart played Salieri in the 1985 production The Mozart Inquest. +Florent Mothe portrays Salieri in the French musical Mozart, l'opéra rock (2009). + C. Ian Kyer's first work of fiction is the historical novel Damaging Winds: Rumours that Salieri Murdered Mozart Swirl in the Vienna of Beethoven and Schubert (2013). Kyer was the co-author, with Bruce Salvatore, of the singspiel Setting the Record Straight: Mozart and Salieri Redux, first performed by the Adler Fellows of the San Francisco Opera Center in April 2016 under the direction of Erin Neff. +The HBO period drama telemovie, Virtuoso (2015), directed by Alan Ball, is largely centred around the early life of Salieri. +Antonio Salieri, alongside Mozart, appears as a playable Avenger-class servant in the mobile game Fate/Grand Order. + +Notes, references, sources +Notes + +References + +Cited sources + +Further reading + Rudolph Angermüller, Antonio Salieri 3 Vol. (München 1971–74) + Rudolph Angermüller, Antonio Salieri. Fatti e Documenti (Legnago 1985) + A. Della Corte, Un italiano all'estero: Antonio Salieri (Torino 1936) + V. Della Croce/F. Blanchetti, Il caso Salieri (Torino 1994) + , Catalogo tematico delle opere teatrali di Antonio Salieri, Lim, Lucca 2005, (Gli strumenti della ricerca musicale, collana della Società Italiana di Musicologia), p. CLVIII, 957. . +Biggi Parodi, Elena, "Preliminary observations on the «Ballo primo» of «Europa riconosciuta» by Antonio Salieri: Milan, The Scala Theatre, 1778, «Recercare», XVI 2004 (giugno 2005), pp. 263–303. . +Biggi Parodi, Elena, "Mozart und Salieri – ein unvermeidlicher Konflikt," in Mozart, Experiment Aufklärung, in Wien des Ausgehenden 18. Jahrhunderts, ed. Herbert Lachmayer, essays for Mozart exhibition, pp. 495–501. (Da Ponte Institut Wien, Katje Cantz Verlag, Ostfildern, 2006). . + Biggi Parodi, Elena, "Il Fastaff, o sia le tre burle di Salieri: osservazioni preliminari" in Quaderni di musicologia dell'Università degli studi Verona, Francesco Bissoli and Elisa Grossato, editors. vol. 2, II, pp. 119–138 (Verona, 2008). + + Herrmann, Timo Jouko, Antonio Salieri und seine deutschsprachigen Werke für das Musiktheater (Leipzig 2015) . + Kyer, C. Ian, "Salieri as Portrayed in the Arts", (2012) 24 Intellectual Property Journal, 179–194. + I. F. Edler v. Mosel, Über das Leben und die Werke des Anton Salieri (Vienna 1827) + Salieri, Antonio. La Passione di Gesù Cristo, critical edition by Elena Biggi Parodi, Suvini Zerboni, Milano 2000, XLIV, 222 pages. + +External links + + + + Teatro Salieri, Legnago, Italy + Podcast interview about Salieri, National Arts Centre, Ottawa + Second podcast interview about Salieri, National Arts Centre, Ottawa + Kyer, C. Ian, Damaging Winds, 2013 novel about Salieri, 279 pp., incl. historical notes, further reading list, suggested listening list + +Antonio Salieri +1750 births +1825 deaths +18th-century classical composers +18th-century Italian composers +18th-century male musicians +19th-century classical composers +19th-century Italian male musicians +Burials at the Vienna Central Cemetery +Classical composers of church music +Catholic liturgical composers +Composers from Vienna +Italian Classical-period composers +Italian emigrants to Austria +Italian male classical composers +Italian opera composers +Italian Roman Catholics +Italian Romantic composers +Male opera composers +People from Legnago +Pupils of Christoph Willibald Gluck +The Cobble Hill Tunnel (also known as the Atlantic Avenue Tunnel) is an abandoned Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) tunnel beneath Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn, New York City, running through the neighborhoods of Downtown Brooklyn and Cobble Hill. When open, it ran for about between Columbia Street and Boerum Place. It is the oldest railway tunnel beneath a city street in North America that was fully devoted to rail. It is also deemed the oldest subway tunnel in the world by the Guinness Book of World Records. + +Construction and operation +Originally built as an open cut, construction began in May 1844, and opened for use on December 3, 1844, but was not completely finished until mid-1845. It was built mainly to satisfy public demand for creation of a grade-separated right of way for the Brooklyn and Jamaica Railroad (later Long Island Rail Road) on its way to the South Ferry at the foot of Atlantic Street (later Atlantic Avenue), where passengers could catch ferries to Manhattan. The construction of the cut also lowered the LIRR's grade through Cobble Hill. Around five years after opening the cut was roofed over, converting it into a tunnel. As originally built, the cut was wide and long. Once roofed over, the interior height of the newly created tunnel was . + +In exchange for building the cut, the City of Brooklyn granted the B&J permission to operate its steam locomotives on Atlantic Street west of Fifth Avenue (then Parmentier's Garden/Gowanus Lane), all the way to Brooklyn's South Ferry (the present location of Brooklyn's Pier 7). Prior to the cut being built, the LIRR's western terminus was Atlantic Street at Clinton Street. Train cars were hauled by teams of horses along Atlantic Street from Clinton Street to Parmentier's Garden, where steam locomotives were attached. While the cut was being built, the railroad operated to a temporary terminal at Pacific Street and Henry Street. + +The Cobble Hill Tunnel was part of the first rail link between New York City and Boston, Massachusetts. The railroad connected Lower Manhattan via the South Ferry to Greenport on the North Fork of Long Island, where a ferry connected to Stonington, Connecticut, where a rail link continued to Boston. This avoided some difficult construction of bridges over the rivers of southern Connecticut. In 1848, the New York and New Haven Railroad Line was completed through Connecticut, providing a direct, faster rail connection from New York City to Boston. The Cobble Hill Tunnel and the Long Island Railroad remained the primary means of access to most of central Long Island from Manhattan and New York City. + +The ends of the tunnel were sealed in the fall of 1861. The similar Murray Hill Tunnel on the New York and Harlem Railroad was built as an open cut around 1836, roofed over around the 1850s, and is now in use for automobile traffic. + +Closure controversy +In 1861, the New York State Legislature voted to ban railroad locomotives from within the limits of the City of Brooklyn. A tax assessment was ordered on all property owners along Atlantic Street (today Atlantic Avenue), to defray the costs of the closure. It was undisclosed at the time that New York State Governor John A. King was a major shareholder in the Brooklyn and Jamaica Railroad (later the Long Island Rail Road) and therefore had a conflict of interest and stood to benefit by the compensation payments to the railroad from the tax assessment. + +Dormancy +Walt Whitman wrote of the tunnel: +The old tunnel, that used to lie there under ground, a passage of Acheron-like solemnity and darkness, now all closed and filled up, and soon to be utterly forgotten, with all its reminiscences; however, there will, for a few years yet be many dear ones, to not a few Brooklynites, New Yorkers, and promiscuous crowds besides. For it was here you started to go down the island, in summer. For years, it was confidently counted on that this spot, and the railroad of which it was the terminus, were going to prove the permanent seat of business and wealth that belong to such enterprises. But its glory, after enduring in great splendor for a season, has now vanished—at least its Long Island Railroad glory has. The tunnel: dark as the grave, cold, damp, and silent. How beautiful look earth and heaven again, as we emerge from the gloom! It might not be unprofitable, now and then, to send us mortals—the dissatisfied ones, at least, and that's a large proportion—into some tunnel of several days' journey. We'd perhaps grumble less, afterward, at God's handiwork. + +In March 1916, the Bureau of Investigation suspected German terrorists were making bombs in the tunnel, and broke through the roof of the tunnel with jackhammers. They found nothing, installed an electric light, and resealed it. In the 1920s, it was rumored to be used for both mushroom growing and bootleg whiskey stills, even though there was no access into the main portion of the tunnel. It became an object of local folklore and legend. In 1936, the New York City Police Department unsuccessfully attempted to enter the tunnel, in order to look for the body of a hoodlum supposedly buried there. In 1941, it was rumored to have been inspected by the federal Works Progress Administration to determine its structural strength, but there is no evidence of this. A few years later, it was once again rumored to have been opened, this time by the FBI, in an unsuccessful search for spies; however, there is no evidence of this. During the late 1950s, it was sought by two rail historians, George Horn and Martin Schachne, but they did not gain access to the tunnel itself. + +Rediscovery +Having fallen from public notice, the tunnel was rediscovered in 1980 by then 20-year-old Robert Diamond, who entered from a manhole he located at Atlantic Avenue and Court Street, crawled a distance of underground through a filled-in section of tunnel less than two feet high, and located the bulkhead wall that sealed off the main portion of the tunnel. With the assistance of a Brooklyn Union Gas Co. (now National Grid) engineering crew, he then broke through the massive concrete bulkhead wall, which is several feet thick. Diamond thereby opened access to the main portion of the tunnel, and began to popularize the tunnel as an antiquity. He led tours of its interior from 1982 until December 17, 2010, when the Department of Transportation terminated his contract, citing safety concerns. The tunnel has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1989. + +The History Channel series Cities of the Underworld ran a segment ("New York's Secret Societies") on the tunnel in Fall 2008. + +See also + + Beach Pneumatic Transit + Brooklyn Historic Railway Association + Park Avenue main line, another railroad line in New York City that may have contained the oldest rail tunnels in the U.S. + Track 61 (New York City) + National Register of Historic Places listings in Kings County, New York + +References +Notes + +Citations + +Further reading + + + + + + + + + + + The Atlantic Avenue Tunnel (Arrt's Arrchives) + +Transportation buildings and structures in Brooklyn +Long Island Rail Road +Railway tunnels on the National Register of Historic Places +Railroad tunnels in New York City +History of transportation in New York City +National Register of Historic Places in New York City +Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in New York (state) +Tunnels completed in 1844 +Cobble Hill, Brooklyn +National Register of Historic Places in Brooklyn +Proposed buildings and structures in New York City +Railway buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places in New York City +1844 establishments in New York (state) +The Annapolis Valley is a valley and region in the province of Nova Scotia, Canada. It is located in the western part of the Nova Scotia peninsula, formed by a trough between two parallel mountain ranges along the shore of the Bay of Fundy. Statistics Canada defines the Annapolis Valley as an economic region, composed of Annapolis County, Kings County, and Hants County. + +Geography + +The valley measures approximately in length from Digby and the Annapolis Basin in the west to Wolfville and the Minas Basin in the east, spanning the counties of Digby, Annapolis and Kings. + +Some also include the western part of Hants County, including the towns of Hantsport and Windsor even further to the east, but geographically speaking they are part of the Avon River valley. + +The steep face of basaltic North Mountain shelters the valley from the adjacent Bay of Fundy and rises over in elevation near Lawrencetown. The granitic South Mountain rises to a somewhat higher elevation and shelters the valley from the climate of the Atlantic Ocean approximately 100 kilometres further south on the province's South Shore. + +The shelter provided by these two mountainous ridges has produced a microclimate which provides relatively mild temperatures for the region and, coupled with the fertile glacial sedimentary soils on the valley floor, the region is conducive to growing vegetable and fruit crops. Particularly famous for its apple crop, the valley hosts in excess of 1,000 farms of various types, the majority being relatively small family-owned operations. + +Within the valley itself are two major rivers, the Annapolis River which flows west from Caribou Bog in the central part of the valley into Annapolis Basin, and the Cornwallis River which flows east from Caribou Bog into Minas Basin. The North Mountain ridge forms the north side of the Annapolis Valley. Also flowing east, in two smaller valleys north of the Cornwallis River, are the Canard River and the Habitant River, both of which also flow into the Minas Basin. + +History +Long settled by the Mi'kmaq nation, the valley experienced French settlement at the Habitation at Port-Royal, near modern-day Annapolis Royal in the western part of the valley, beginning in 1605. From there, the Acadians spread throughout the Valley, in various communities, building dykes to claim the tidal lands along the Annapolis and Cornwallis Rivers. They continued throughout the Annapolis Valley until the British-ordered expulsion of Acadians in 1755 which is memorialized at Grand-Pré in the eastern part of the valley. New England Planters moved in to occupy the abandoned Acadian farming areas and the region also saw subsequent settlement by Loyalist refugees of the American Revolutionary War, as well as foreign Protestants. These were followed by significant numbers of freed Africans in the War of 1812, Irish immigrants in the mid-19th century and Dutch immigrants after World War II. Agriculture in the Annapolis valley boomed in the late 19th century with the arrival of the Windsor and Annapolis Railway, later the Dominion Atlantic Railway, which developed large export markets for Annapolis Valley apples. + +The Annapolis Valley Regional Library was established in 1949. It was the first regional library system in Nova Scotia. + +Economy + +The Valley has traditionally been built on a diversified agricultural industry, with a wide range of output ranging from livestock to fruit trees and berries. The last quarter-century has also seen the development of a wine industry, with such notable wineries as Gaspereau Vineyards winning national and international awards for their produce. + +Today, the Valley is still largely dominated by agriculture but also has a growing diversity in its economies, partly aided by the importance of post-secondary education centres provided by Acadia University in Wolfville, and the Nova Scotia Community College campuses located in Kentville, Middleton, Lawrencetown, and Digby. + +Michelin has an important truck tire manufacturing plant in Waterville and the Department of National Defence has its largest air force base in Atlantic Canada located at CFB Greenwood along with an important training facility at Camp Aldershot, near Kentville. + +Tourism is also an important industry and the Annapolis Valley is known for its scenic farmland, although today some is threatened with suburban development in the eastern end, and a great deal has been abandoned. The valley also struggles with pollution from farm runoffs and residential sewers in its two major rivers, the Annapolis River and the Cornwallis River. The Annapolis Valley additionally has become home to the majority of Nova Scotia wineries, located in either the Gaspereau Valley or in the Canning, Grand Pré, or Bear River areas. + +The Valley is home to the annual Apple Blossom Festival, held in late spring. In July is the annual Steer Bar-B-Que in Kingston, and Heart of the Valley Festival in Middleton. August sees Mud Creek Days in Wolfville and the Annapolis Valley Exhibition in Lawrencetown. Bridgetown's Cider Festival comes in mid-September. The Canadian Deep Roots Music Festival is held each year at the end of September in Wolfville, a community-based festival, supported by both the Town of Wolfville and Acadia University and built by over 100 volunteers, and on in-kind and financial support from virtually all sectors of the Valley community. Late October sees Wolfville and Kings County play host to Devour! The Food Film Fest, an annual international film festival celebrating all things culinary. Farmers markets in Annapolis Royal, Bridgetown, Middleton, Kentville, Kingsport, Berwick and Wolfville bring a produce and other goods to the public every week. In the fall, there is the Pumpkin People in Kentville. + +Communities +Communities in the Valley from west to east include: + +Digby +Cornwallis +Annapolis Royal +Bridgetown +Lawrencetown +Middleton +Greenwood +Kingston +Auburn +Aylesford +Berwick +Waterville +Cambridge +Coldbrook +Kentville +New Minas +Canning +Wolfville +Grand-Pré +Glooscap +Hantsport +Mount Denson +Falmouth +Windsor + +References + +External links + +Annapolis Valley Tourism + + +Valleys of Nova Scotia +Wine regions of Canada +Geographic regions of Nova Scotia +Cuisine of Nova Scotia +Alcohol in Nova Scotia +An analgesic drug, also called simply an analgesic, pain reliever, or painkiller, is any member of the group of drugs used to achieve relief from pain (that is, analgesia or pain management). Analgesics are conceptually distinct from anesthetics, which temporarily reduce, and in some instances eliminate, sensation, although analgesia and anesthesia are neurophysiologically overlapping and thus various drugs have both analgesic and anesthetic effects. + +Analgesic choice is also determined by the type of pain: For neuropathic pain, recent research has suggested that classes of drugs that are not normally considered analgesics, such as tricyclic antidepressants and anticonvulsants may be considered as an alternative. + +Various analgesics, such as many NSAIDs, are available over the counter in most countries, whereas various others are prescription drugs owing to the substantial risks and high chances of overdose, misuse, and addiction in the absence of medical supervision. + +Etymology + +The word analgesic derives from Greek an- (, "without"), álgos (, "pain"), and -ikos (, forming adjectives). Such drugs were usually known as "anodynes" before the 20th century. + +Classification +Analgesics are typically classified based on their mechanism of action. + +Paracetamol (acetaminophen) + +Paracetamol, also known as acetaminophen or APAP, is a medication used to treat pain and fever. It is typically used for mild to moderate pain. In combination with opioid pain medication, paracetamol is now used for more severe pain such as cancer pain and after surgery. It is typically used either by mouth or rectally but is also available intravenously. Effects last between two and four hours. Paracetamol is classified as a mild analgesic. Paracetamol is generally safe at recommended doses. + +NSAIDs + +Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (usually abbreviated to NSAIDs), are a drug class that groups together drugs that decrease pain and lower fever, and, in higher doses, decrease inflammation. The most prominent members of this group of drugs, aspirin, ibuprofen and naproxen, are all available over the counter in most countries. + +COX-2 inhibitors + +These drugs have been derived from NSAIDs. The cyclooxygenase enzyme inhibited by NSAIDs was discovered to have at least two different versions: COX1 and COX2. Research suggested most of the adverse effects of NSAIDs to be mediated by blocking the COX1 (constitutive) enzyme, with the analgesic effects being mediated by the COX2 (inducible) enzyme. Thus, the COX2 inhibitors were developed to inhibit only the COX2 enzyme (traditional NSAIDs block both versions in general). These drugs (such as rofecoxib, celecoxib, and etoricoxib) are equally effective analgesics when compared with NSAIDs, but cause less gastrointestinal hemorrhage in particular. + +After widespread adoption of the COX-2 inhibitors, it was discovered that most of the drugs in this class increase the risk of cardiovascular events by 40% on average. This led to the withdrawal of rofecoxib and valdecoxib, and warnings on others. Etoricoxib seems relatively safe, with the risk of thrombotic events similar to that of non-coxib NSAID diclofenac. + +Opioids + +Morphine, the archetypal opioid, and other opioids (e.g., codeine, oxycodone, hydrocodone, dihydromorphine, pethidine) all exert a similar influence on the cerebral opioid receptor system. Buprenorphine is a partial agonist of the μ-opioid receptor, and tramadol is a serotonin norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor (SNRI) with weak μ-opioid receptor agonist properties. Tramadol is structurally closer to venlafaxine than to codeine and delivers analgesia by not only delivering "opioid-like" effects (through mild agonism of the mu receptor) but also by acting as a weak but fast-acting serotonin releasing agent and norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor. Tapentadol, with some structural similarities to tramadol, presents what is believed to be a novel drug working through two (and possibly three) different modes of action in the fashion of both a traditional opioid and as an SNRI. The effects of serotonin and norepinephrine on pain, while not completely understood, have had causal links established and drugs in the SNRI class are commonly used in conjunction with opioids (especially tapentadol and tramadol) with greater success in pain relief. + +Dosing of all opioids may be limited by opioid toxicity (confusion, respiratory depression, myoclonic jerks and pinpoint pupils), seizures (tramadol), but opioid-tolerant individuals usually have higher dose ceilings than patients without tolerance. +Opioids, while very effective analgesics, may have some unpleasant side-effects. Patients starting morphine may experience nausea and vomiting (generally relieved by a short course of antiemetics such as phenergan). Pruritus (itching) may require switching to a different opioid. Constipation occurs in almost all patients on opioids, and laxatives (lactulose, macrogol-containing or co-danthramer) are typically co-prescribed. + +When used appropriately, opioids and other central analgesics are safe and effective; however, risks such as addiction and the body's becoming used to the drug (tolerance) can occur. The effect of tolerance means that frequent use of the drug may result in its diminished effect. When safe to do so, the dosage may need to be increased to maintain effectiveness against tolerance, which may be of particular concern regarding patients with chronic pain and requiring an analgesic over long periods. Opioid tolerance is often addressed with opioid rotation therapy in which a patient is routinely switched between two or more non-cross-tolerant opioid medications in order to prevent exceeding safe dosages in the attempt to achieve an adequate analgesic effect. + +Opioid tolerance should not be confused with opioid-induced hyperalgesia. The symptoms of these two conditions can appear very similar but the mechanism of action is different. Opioid-induced hyperalgesia is when exposure to opioids increases the sensation of pain (hyperalgesia) and can even make non-painful stimuli painful (allodynia). + +Alcohol + +Alcohol has biological, mental, and social effects which influence the consequences of using alcohol for pain. Moderate use of alcohol can lessen certain types of pain in certain circumstances. + +The majority of its analgesic effects come from antagonizing NMDA receptors, similarly to ketamine, thus decreasing the activity of the primary excitatory (signal boosting) neurotransmitter, glutamate. It also functions as an analgesic to a lesser degree by increasing the activity of the primary inhibitory (signal reducing) neurotransmitter, GABA. + +Attempting to use alcohol to treat pain has also been observed to lead to negative outcomes including excessive drinking and alcohol use disorder. + +Cannabis + +Medical cannabis, or medical marijuana, refers to cannabis or its cannabinoids used to treat disease or improve symptoms. There is evidence suggesting that cannabis can be used to treat chronic pain and muscle spasms, with some trials indicating improved relief of neuropathic pain over opioids. + +Combinations + +Analgesics are frequently used in combination, such as the paracetamol and codeine preparations found in many non-prescription pain relievers. They can also be found in combination with vasoconstrictor drugs such as pseudoephedrine for sinus-related preparations, or with antihistamine drugs for people with allergies. + +While the use of paracetamol, aspirin, ibuprofen, naproxen, and other NSAIDS concurrently with weak to mid-range opiates (up to about the hydrocodone level) has been said to show beneficial synergistic effects by combating pain at multiple sites of action, several combination analgesic products have been shown to have few efficacy benefits when compared to similar doses of their individual components. Moreover, these combination analgesics can often result in significant adverse events, including accidental overdoses, most often due to confusion that arises from the multiple (and often non-acting) components of these combinations. + +Alternative medicine +There is some evidence that some treatments using alternative medicine can relieve some types of pain more effectively than placebo. The available research concludes that more research would be necessary to better understand the use of alternative medicine. + +Other drugs +Nefopam—a monoamine reuptake inhibitor, and calcium and sodium channel modulator—is also approved for the treatment of moderate to severe pain in some countries. + +Flupirtine is a centrally acting K+ channel opener with weak NMDA antagonist properties. It was used in Europe for moderate to strong pain, as well as its migraine-treating and muscle-relaxant properties. It has no significant anticholinergic properties, and is believed to be devoid of any activity on dopamine, serotonin, or histamine receptors. It is not addictive, and tolerance usually does not develop. However, tolerance may develop in some cases. + +Ziconotide, a blocker of potent N‐type voltage‐gated calcium channels, is administered intrathecally for the relief of severe, usually cancer-related pain. + +Adjuvants + +Certain drugs that have been introduced for uses other than analgesics are also used in pain management. Both first-generation (such as amitriptyline) and newer antidepressants (such as duloxetine) are used alongside NSAIDs and opioids for pain involving nerve damage and similar problems. Other agents directly potentiate the effects of analgesics, such as using hydroxyzine, promethazine, carisoprodol, or tripelennamine to increase the pain-killing ability of a given dose of opioid analgesic. + +Adjuvant analgesics, also called atypical analgesics, include orphenadrine, mexiletine, pregabalin, gabapentin, cyclobenzaprine, hyoscine (scopolamine), and other drugs possessing anticonvulsant, anticholinergic, and/or antispasmodic properties, as well as many other drugs with CNS actions. These drugs are used along with analgesics to modulate and/or modify the action of opioids when used against pain, especially of neuropathic origin. + +Dextromethorphan has been noted to slow the development of and reverse tolerance to opioids, as well as to exert additional analgesia by acting upon NMDA receptors, as does ketamine. Some analgesics such as methadone and ketobemidone and perhaps piritramide have intrinsic NMDA action. + +High-alcohol liquor, two forms of which were found in the US Pharmacopoeia up until 1916 and in common use by physicians well into the 1930s, has been used in the past as an agent for dulling pain, due to the CNS depressant effects of ethyl alcohol, a notable example being the American Civil War. However, the ability of alcohol to relieve severe pain is likely inferior to many analgesics used today (e.g., morphine, codeine). As such, in general, the idea of alcohol for analgesia is considered a primitive practice in virtually all industrialized countries today. + +The anticonvulsant carbamazepine is used to treat neuropathic pain. Similarly, the gabapentinoids gabapentin and pregabalin are prescribed for neuropathic pain, and phenibut is available without prescription. Gabapentinoids work as α2δ-subunit blockers of voltage-gated calcium channels, and tend to have other mechanisms of action as well. Gabapentinoids are all anticonvulsants, which are most commonly used for neuropathic pain, as their mechanism of action tends to inhibit pain sensation originating from the nervous system. + +Other uses + +Topical analgesia is generally recommended to avoid systemic side-effects. Painful joints, for example, may be treated with an ibuprofen- or diclofenac-containing gel (The labeling for topical diclofenac has been updated to warn about drug-induced hepatotoxicity.); capsaicin also is used topically. Lidocaine, an anesthetic, and steroids may be injected into joints for longer-term pain relief. Lidocaine is also used for painful mouth sores and to numb areas for dental work and minor medical procedures. In February 2007 the FDA notified consumers and healthcare professionals of the potential hazards of topical anesthetics entering the bloodstream when applied in large doses to the skin without medical supervision. These topical anesthetics contain anesthetic drugs such as lidocaine, tetracaine, benzocaine, and prilocaine in a cream, ointment, or gel. + +Uses +Topical nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs provide pain relief in common conditions such as muscle sprains and overuse injuries. Since the side effects are also lesser, topical preparations could be preferred over oral medications in these conditions. + +List of drugs with comparison + +Research +Some novel and investigational analgesics include subtype-selective voltage-gated sodium channel blockers such as funapide and raxatrigine, as well as multimodal agents such as ralfinamide. + +See also + Audioanalgesia + Electroanalgesia + Pain management + Patient-controlled analgesia + Pain in babies + Congenital analgesia (insensitivity to pain) + +References + +Citations + +Sources + + . + . + + +Pain +Opioids +Agnosia +Abiotic stress is the negative impact of non-living factors on the living organisms in a specific environment. The non-living variable must influence the environment beyond its normal range of variation to adversely affect the population performance or individual physiology of the organism in a significant way. + +Whereas a biotic stress would include living disturbances such as fungi or harmful insects, abiotic stress factors, or stressors, are naturally occurring, often intangible and inanimate factors such as intense sunlight, temperature or wind that may cause harm to the plants and animals in the area affected. Abiotic stress is essentially unavoidable. Abiotic stress affects animals, but plants are especially dependent, if not solely dependent, on environmental factors, so it is particularly constraining. Abiotic stress is the most harmful factor concerning the growth and productivity of crops worldwide. Research has also shown that abiotic stressors are at their most harmful when they occur together, in combinations of abiotic stress factors. + +Examples +Abiotic stress comes in many forms. The most common of the stressors are the easiest for people to identify, but there are many other, less recognizable abiotic stress factors which affect environments constantly. + +The most basic stressors include: + High winds + Extreme temperatures + Drought + Flood + Other natural disasters, such as tornadoes and wildfires. + Cold + Heat + Nutrient deficiency + +Lesser-known stressors generally occur on a smaller scale. They include: poor edaphic conditions like rock content and pH levels, high radiation, compaction, contamination, and other, highly specific conditions like rapid rehydration during seed germination. + +Effects +Abiotic stress, as a natural part of every ecosystem, will affect organisms in a variety of ways. Although these effects may be either beneficial or detrimental, the location of the area is crucial in determining the extent of the impact that abiotic stress will have. The higher the latitude of the area affected, the greater the impact of abiotic stress will be on that area. So, a taiga or boreal forest is at the mercy of whatever abiotic stress factors may come along, while tropical zones are much less susceptible to such stressors. + +Benefits +One example of a situation where abiotic stress plays a constructive role in an ecosystem is in natural wildfires. While they can be a human safety hazard, it is productive for these ecosystems to burn out every once in a while so that new organisms can begin to grow and thrive. Even though it is healthy for an ecosystem, a wildfire can still be considered an abiotic stressor, because it puts an obvious stress on individual organisms within the area. Every tree that is scorched and each bird nest that is devoured is a sign of the abiotic stress. On the larger scale, though, natural wildfires are positive manifestations of abiotic stress. + +What also needs to be taken into account when looking for benefits of abiotic stress, is that one phenomenon may not affect an entire ecosystem in the same way. While a flood will kill most plants living low on the ground in a certain area, if there is rice there, it will thrive in the wet conditions. Another example of this is in phytoplankton and zooplankton. The same types of conditions are usually considered stressful for these two types of organisms. They act very similarly when exposed to ultraviolet light and most toxins, but at elevated temperatures the phytoplankton reacts negatively, while the thermophilic zooplankton reacts positively to the increase in temperature. The two may be living in the same environment, but an increase in temperature of the area would prove stressful only for one of the organisms. + +Lastly, abiotic stress has enabled species to grow, develop, and evolve, furthering natural selection as it picks out the weakest of a group of organisms. Both plants and animals have evolved mechanisms allowing them to survive extremes. + +Detriments +The most obvious detriment concerning abiotic stress involves farming. It has been claimed by one study that abiotic stress causes the most crop loss of any other factor and that most major crops are reduced in their yield by more than 50% from their potential yield. + +Because abiotic stress is widely considered a detrimental effect, the research on this branch of the issue is extensive. For more information on the harmful effects of abiotic stress, see the sections below on plants and animals. + +In plants +A plant's first line of defense against abiotic stress is in its roots. If the soil holding the plant is healthy and biologically diverse, the plant will have a higher chance of surviving stressful conditions. + +The plant responses to stress are dependent on the tissue or organ affected by the stress. For example, transcriptional responses to stress are tissue or cell specific in roots and are quite different depending on the stress involved. + +One of the primary responses to abiotic stress such as high salinity is the disruption of the Na+/K+ ratio in the cytoplasm of the plant cell. High concentrations of Na+, for example, can decrease the capacity for the plant to take up water and also alter enzyme and transporter functions. Evolved adaptations to efficiently restore cellular ion homeostasis have led to a wide variety of stress tolerant plants. + +Facilitation, or the positive interactions between different species of plants, is an intricate web of association in a natural environment. It is how plants work together. In areas of high stress, the level of facilitation is especially high as well. This could possibly be because the plants need a stronger network to survive in a harsher environment, so their interactions between species, such as cross-pollination or mutualistic actions, become more common to cope with the severity of their habitat. + +Plants also adapt very differently from one another, even from a plant living in the same area. When a group of different plant species was prompted by a variety of different stress signals, such as drought or cold, each plant responded uniquely. Hardly any of the responses were similar, even though the plants had become accustomed to exactly the same home environment. + +Serpentine soils (media with low concentrations of nutrients and high concentrations of heavy metals) can be a source of abiotic stress. Initially, the absorption of toxic metal ions is limited by cell membrane exclusion. Ions that are absorbed into tissues are sequestered in cell vacuoles. This sequestration mechanism is facilitated by proteins on the vacuole membrane. An example of plants that adapt to serpentine soil are Metallophytes, or hyperaccumulators, as they are known for their ability to absorbed heavy metals using the root-to-shoot translocation (which it will absorb into shoots rather than the plant itself). They're also extinguished for their ability to absorb toxic substances from heavy metals. + +Chemical priming has been proposed to increase tolerance to abiotic stresses in crop plants. In this method, which is analogous to vaccination, stress-inducing chemical agents are introduced to the plant in brief doses so that the plant begins preparing defense mechanisms. Thus, when the abiotic stress occurs, the plant has already prepared defense mechanisms that can be activated faster and increase tolerance. Prior exposure to tolerable doses of biotic stresses such as phloem-feeding insect infestation have also been shown to increase tolerance to abiotic stresses in plant + +Impact on food production + +Abiotic stress mostly affects plants used in agriculture. Some examples of adverse conditions (which may be caused by climate change) are high or low temperatures, drought, salinity, and toxins. + + Rice (Oryza sativa) is a classic example. Rice is a staple food throughout the world, especially in China and India. Rice plants can undergo different types of abiotic stresses, like drought and high salinity. These stress conditions adversely affect rice production. Genetic diversity has been studied among several rice varieties with different genotypes, using molecular markers. + Chickpea production is affected by drought. Chickpeas are one of the most important foods in the world. + Wheat is another major crop that is affected by drought: lack of water affects the plant development, and can wither the leaves. + Maize crops can be affected by high temperature and drought, leading to the loss of maize crops due to poor plant development. + Soybean is a major source of protein, and its production is also affected by drought. + +Salt stress in plants +Soil salinization, the accumulation of water-soluble salts to levels that negatively impact plant production, is a global phenomenon affecting approximately 831 million hectares of land. More specifically, the phenomenon threatens 19.5% of the world's irrigated agricultural land and 2.1% of the world's non-irrigated (dry-land) agricultural lands. High soil salinity content can be harmful to plants because water-soluble salts can alter osmotic potential gradients and consequently inhibit many cellular functions. For example, high soil salinity content can inhibit the process of photosynthesis by limiting a plant's water uptake; high levels of water-soluble salts in the soil can decrease the osmotic potential of the soil and consequently decrease the difference in water potential between the soil and the plant's roots, thereby limiting electron flow from H2O to P680 in Photosystem II's reaction center. + +Over generations, many plants have mutated and built different mechanisms to counter salinity effects. A good combatant of salinity in plants is the hormone ethylene. Ethylene is known for regulating plant growth and development and dealing with stress conditions. Many central membrane proteins in plants, such as ETO2, ERS1 and EIN2, are used for ethylene signaling in many plant growth processes. Mutations in these proteins can lead to heightened salt sensitivity and can limit plant growth. The effects of salinity has been studied on Arabidopsis plants that have mutated ERS1, ERS2, ETR1, ETR2 and EIN4 proteins. These proteins are used for ethylene signaling against certain stress conditions, such as salt and the ethylene precursor ACC is used to suppress any sensitivity to the salt stress. + +Phosphate starvation in plants + +Phosphorus (P) is an essential macronutrient required for plant growth and development, but it is present only in limited quantities in most of the world's soil. Plants use P mainly in the form of soluble inorganic phosphates (PO4−−−) but are subject to abiotic stress when there is not enough soluble PO4−−− in the soil. Phosphorus forms insoluble complexes with Ca and Mg in alkaline soils and with Al and Fe in acidic soils that make the phosphorus unavailable for plant roots. When there is limited bioavailable P in the soil, plants show extensive symptoms of abiotic stress, such as short primary roots and more lateral roots and root hairs to make more surface available for phosphate absorption, exudation of organic acids and phosphatase to release phosphates from complex P–containing molecules and make it available for growing plants' organs. It has been shown that PHR1, a MYB-related transcription factor, is a master regulator of P-starvation response in plants. PHR1 also has been shown to regulate extensive remodeling of lipids and metabolites during phosphorus limitation stress + +Drought stress +Drought stress, defined as naturally occurring water deficit, is a main cause of crop losses in agriculture. This is because water is essential for many fundamental processes in plant growth. It has become especially important in recent years to find a way to combat drought stress. A decrease in precipitation and consequent increase in drought are extremely likely in the future due to an increase in global warming. Plants have come up with many mechanisms and adaptations to try and deal with drought stress. One of the leading ways that plants combat drought stress is by closing their stomata. A key hormone regulating stomatal opening and closing is abscisic acid (ABA). Synthesis of ABA causes the ABA to bind to receptors. This binding then affects the opening of ion channels, thereby decreasing turgor pressure in the stomata and causing them to close. Recent studies, by Gonzalez-Villagra, et al., have showed how ABA levels increased in drought-stressed plants (2018). They showed that when plants were placed in a stressful situation they produced more ABA to try to conserve any water they had in their leaves. Another extremely important factor in dealing with drought stress and regulating the uptake and export of water is aquaporins (AQPs). AQPs are integral membrane proteins that make up channels. These channels' main job is the transport of water and other essential solutes. AQPs are both transcriptionally and post-transcriptionally regulated by many different factors such as ABA, GA3, pH and Ca2+; and the specific levels of AQPs in certain parts of the plant, such as roots or leaves, helps to draw as much water into the plant as possible. By understanding the mechanisms of both AQPs and the hormone ABA, scientists will be better able to produce drought-resistant plants in the future. + +It is interesting that plants that are consistently exposed to drought have been found to form a sort of "memory". A study by Tombesi et al., found that plants which had previously been exposed to drought were able to come up with a sort of strategy to minimize water loss and decrease water use. They found that plants which were exposed to drought conditions actually changed the way they regulated their stomata and what they called "hydraulic safety margin" so as to decrease the vulnerability of the plant. By changing the regulation of stomata and subsequently the transpiration, plants were able to function better when less water was available. + +In animals +For animals, the most stressful of all the abiotic stressors is heat. This is because many species are unable to regulate their internal body temperature. Even in the species that are able to regulate their own temperature, it is not always a completely accurate system. Temperature determines metabolic rates, heart rates, and other very important factors within the bodies of animals, so an extreme temperature change can easily distress the animal's body. Animals can respond to extreme heat, for example, through natural heat acclimation or by burrowing into the ground to find a cooler space. + +It is also possible to see in animals that a high genetic diversity is beneficial in providing resiliency against harsh abiotic stressors. This acts as a sort of stock room when a species is plagued by the perils of natural selection. A variety of galling insects are among the most specialized and diverse herbivores on the planet, and their extensive protections against abiotic stress factors have helped the insect in gaining that position of honor. + +In endangered species +Biodiversity is determined by many things, and one of them is abiotic stress. If an environment is highly stressful, biodiversity tends to be low. If abiotic stress does not have a strong presence in an area, the biodiversity will be much higher. + +This idea leads into the understanding of how abiotic stress and endangered species are related. It has been observed through a variety of environments that as the level of abiotic stress increases, the number of species decreases. This means that species are more likely to become population threatened, endangered, and even extinct, when and where abiotic stress is especially harsh. + +See also +Ecophysiology + +References + +Stress (biological and psychological) +Biodiversity +Habitat +Agriculture +Botany +The accusative case (abbreviated ) of a noun is the grammatical case used to receive the direct object of a transitive verb. + +In the English language, the only words that occur in the accusative case are pronouns: "me", "him", "her", "us", "whom", and "them". For example, the pronoun she, as the subject of a clause, is in the nominative case ("She wrote a book"); but if the pronoun is instead the object of the verb, it is in the accusative case and she becomes her ("Fred greeted her"). For compound direct objects, it would be, e.g., "Fred invited her and me to the party". + +The accusative case is used in many languages for the objects of (some or all) prepositions. It is usually combined with the nominative case (for example in Latin). + +The English term, "accusative", derives from the Latin , which, in turn, is a translation of the Greek . The word can also mean "causative", and that might have derived from the Greeks, but the sense of the Roman translation has endured and is used in some other modern languages as the grammatical term for this case, for example in Russian (). + +The accusative case is typical of early Indo-European languages and still exists in some of them (including Albanian, Armenian, Latin, Sanskrit, Greek, German, Nepali, Polish, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, and Ukrainian), in the Finno-Ugric languages (such as Finnish and Hungarian), in all Turkic languages, in Dravidian languages like Malayalam, and in Semitic languages (such as Arabic). Some Balto-Finnic languages, such as Finnish, have two cases for objects, the accusative and the partitive case. In morphosyntactic alignment terms, both do the accusative function, but the accusative object is telic, while the partitive is not. + +Modern English almost entirely lacks declension in its nouns; pronouns, however, have an understood case usage, as in them, her, him and whom, which merges the accusative and dative functions, and originates in old Germanic dative forms (see Declension in English). + +Example +In the sentence The man sees the dog, the dog is the direct object of the verb "to see". In English, which has mostly lost grammatical cases, the definite article and noun – "the dog" – remain the same noun form without number agreement in the noun either as subject or object, though an artifact of it is in the verb and has number agreement, which changes to "sees". One can also correctly use "the dog" as the subject of a sentence: "The dog sees the cat." + +In a declined language, the morphology of the article or noun changes with gender agreement. For example, in German, "the dog" is . This is the form in the nominative case, used for the subject of a sentence. If this article/noun pair is used as the object of a verb, it (usually) changes to the accusative case, which entails an article shift in German – (The man sees the dog). In German, masculine nouns change their definite article from to in the accusative case. +In Nepali, "Rama sees Shyama." Would be translated as "Rama-le Shyama-lai dekhchha." or "रामले श्यामलाई देख्छ।". The same in Sanskrit would be "Rama: pashyati Shyamam." or "रामः पश्यति श्यामम्।". + +Latin +The accusative case in Latin has minor differences from the accusative case in Proto-Indo-European. +Nouns in the accusative case () can be used: + as a direct object; + to qualify duration of time, e.g., , "for many years"; , "for 200 years"; this is known as the accusative of duration of time, + to qualify direction towards which e.g., , "homewards"; , "to Rome" with no preposition needed; this is known as the accusative of place to which, and is equivalent to the lative case found in some other languages. + as the subject of an indirect statement with the verb in the subjunctive mood, (e.g. , "He said that I had been cruel"; in later Latin works, such as the Vulgate, such a phrasing is replaced by and a regularly ordered sentence, having the subject in the nominative and the verb in the indicative mood, e.g., ). + with case-specific prepositions such as (through), (to/toward), and (across); + in exclamations, such as , "wretched me" (spoken by Circe to Ulysses in Ovid's ); +to qualify purpose, e.g., , "for the purpose of departing"; , "for the purpose of weakening [or, effeminating] the spirit". + +For the accusative endings, see Latin declensions. + +German +The accusative case is used for the direct object in a sentence. The masculine forms for German articles, e.g., "the", "a/an", "my", etc., change in the accusative case: they always end in -en. The feminine, neutral and plural forms do not change. + +For example, (dog) is a masculine () word, so the article changes when used in the accusative case: +. (lit., I have a dog.) In the sentence, "a dog" is in the accusative case as it is the second idea (the object) of the sentence. + +Some German pronouns also change in the accusative case. + +The accusative case is also used after particular German prepositions. These include , , , , , , after which the accusative case is always used, and , , , , , , , , which can govern either the accusative or the dative. The latter prepositions take the accusative when motion or action is specified (being done into/onto the space), but take the dative when location is specified (being done in/on that space). These prepositions are also used in conjunction with certain verbs, in which case it is the verb in question which governs whether the accusative or dative should be used. + +Adjective endings also change in the accusative case. Another factor that determines the endings of adjectives is whether the adjective is being used after a definite article (the), after an indefinite article (a/an) or without any article before the adjective (many green apples). + +In German, the accusative case is also used for some adverbial expressions, mostly temporal ones, as in (This evening I'm staying at home), where is marked as accusative, although not a direct object. + +Russian +In Russian, accusative is used not only to display the direct object of an action, but also to indicate the destination or goal of motion. It is also used with some prepositions. The prepositions and can both take accusative in situations where they are indicating the goal of a motion. + +In the masculine, Russian also distinguishes between animate and inanimate nouns with regard to the accusative; only the animates carry a marker in this case. + +The PIE accusative case has nearly eroded in Russian, merging with the genitive or the nominative in most declensions. Only singular first-declension nouns (ending in '', '', or '') have a distinct accusative ('', '', or ''). + +Finnish +Traditional Finnish grammars say the accusative is the case of a total object, while the case of a partial object is the partitive. The accusative is identical either to the nominative or the genitive, except for personal pronouns and the personal interrogative pronoun /, which have a special accusative form ending in . + +The major new Finnish grammar, , breaks with the traditional classification to limit the accusative case to the special case of the personal pronouns and /. The new grammar considers other total objects as being in the nominative or genitive case. + +Hungarian +The accusative case is assigned to the direct object in a sentence in Hungarian. The accusative marker is always -t, often preceded by a linking vowel to facilitate pronunciation. + +(lángos – lángost [lángos], hal – halat [fish], program – programot [programme], tej – tejet [milk], cölöp – cölöpöt [stilt]). + +Every personal pronoun has an accusative form. + +For the 1st and 2nd person singular Accusative forms, the pronoun can often be dropped if it is clear from the context who the speaker is referring to. + +Semitic languages +Accusative case marking existed in Proto-Semitic, Akkadian, and Ugaritic. It is preserved today in many Semitic languages as Modern Standard Arabic, Hebrew and Ge'ez. + +Accusative in Akkadian + +Nominative: (a/the man) +Accusative: (I trust a/the man) + +Accusative in Arabic + +Nominative: (a man) +Accusative: (I ask a man) (I ask the man) + +The accusative case is called in Arabic () and it has many other uses in addition to marking the object of a verb. + +Accusative in Hebrew + +Nominative: (an apple) (kh=ח/خ/כ/Voiceless uvular fricative) +Accusative: (I ate the apple) + +In Hebrew, if the object of the sentence is a pronoun (e.g., I, you, s/he) and the transitive verb requires a direct object, the word ET is combined with the pronoun into an object pronoun. +The combined words are: +Me = / +you (singular) = / (M) or / (F) +him = / +her = / +we = / +you (plural) = / (M) or / (F) +them = / (M) or / (F) + +Japanese + +In Japanese, cases are marked by placing particles after nouns. The accusative case is marked with (, pronounced ). + +Turkish +In Turkish, cases are marked with suffixes. The accusative case is marked with the suffixes , depending on vowel harmony. If a word ends in a vowel, is added before the suffix as a buffer consonant. + +The accusative is only used if the direct object of a sentence is definite. If it is indefinite, the nominative case is used. For example: +{| +|- +| Araba || "car" || (nominative case) +|- +| Araba gördüm. || "I saw a car" || (nominative case, indefinite direct object) +|- +| Arabayı gördüm. || "I saw the car" || (accusative case, definite direct object) +|} + +Malayalam +In Malayalam, the accusative inflection is achieved using the suffix /-e/. Example: /raman/ → /ramane/. The sandhi also play a role here depending on the ending of the noun. Example: /maram/ → /maratte/ where /tt/ replaces /m/ when /e/ is suffixed. + +See also +Morphosyntactic alignment +Nota accusativi + +References + +Further reading + + + +Grammatical cases +Apostolic succession is the method whereby the ministry of the Christian Church is considered by some Christian denominations to be derived from the apostles by a continuous succession, which has usually been associated with a claim that the succession is through a series of bishops. Those of the Anglican, Church of the East, Eastern Orthodox, Hussite, Moravian, Old Catholic, Oriental Orthodox, Catholic and Scandinavian Lutheran traditions maintain that "a bishop cannot have regular or valid orders unless he has been consecrated in this apostolic succession". These traditions do not always consider the episcopal consecrations of all of the other traditions as valid. + +This series was seen originally as that of the bishops of a particular see founded by one or more of the apostles. According to historian Justo L. González, apostolic succession is generally understood today as meaning a series of bishops, regardless of see, each consecrated by other bishops, themselves consecrated similarly in a succession going back to the apostles. According to the Joint International Commission for Theological Dialogue Between the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church, "apostolic succession" means more than a mere transmission of powers. It is succession in a church which witnesses to the apostolic faith, in communion with the other churches, witnesses of the same apostolic faith. The "see (cathedra) plays an important role in inserting the bishop into the heart of ecclesial apostolicity", but once ordained, the bishop becomes in his church the guarantor of apostolicity and becomes a successor of the apostles. + +Those who hold for the importance of apostolic succession via episcopal laying on of hands appeal to the New Testament which, they say, implies a personal apostolic succession (from Paul to Timothy and Titus, for example). They appeal as well to other documents of the early Church, especially the Epistle of Clement. In this context, Clement explicitly states that the apostles appointed bishops as successors and directed that these bishops should in turn appoint their own successors; given this, such leaders of the Church were not to be removed without cause and not in this way. Further, proponents of the necessity of the personal apostolic succession of bishops within the Church point to the universal practice of the undivided early Church (up to AD 431), before it was divided into the Church of the East, Oriental Orthodoxy, the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church. + +Some Christians, including certain nonconformist Protestants, deny the need for this type of continuity, and the historical claims involved have been severely questioned by them; Anglican academic Eric G. Jay comments that the account given of the emergence of the episcopate in Chapter III of the dogmatic constitution Lumen gentium (1964) "is very sketchy, and many ambiguities in the early history of the Christian ministry are passed over". + +Various meanings +Michael Ramsey, an English Anglican bishop and the Archbishop of Canterbury (1961–1974), described three meanings of "apostolic succession": + One bishop succeeding another in the same see meant that there was a continuity of teaching: "while the Church as a whole is the vessel into which the truth is poured, the Bishops are an important organ in carrying out this task". + The bishops were also successors of the apostles in that "the they performed of preaching, governing and ordaining were the same as the Apostles had performed". + It is also used to signify that "grace is transmitted from the Apostles by each generation of bishops through the imposition of hands". +He adds that this last has been controversial in that it has been claimed that this aspect of the doctrine is not found before the time of Augustine of Hippo, while others allege that it is implicit in the Church of the second and third centuries. + +In its 1982 statement on Baptism, Eucharist and Ministry, the Faith and Order Commission of the World Council of Churches stated that "the primary manifestation of apostolic succession is to be found in the apostolic tradition of the Church as a whole. ... Under the particular historical circumstances of the growing Church in the early centuries, the succession of bishops became one of the ways, together with the transmission of the Gospel and the life of the community, in which the apostolic tradition of the Church was expressed." It spoke of episcopal succession as something that churches that do not have bishops can see "as a sign, though not a guarantee, of the continuity and unity of the Church" and that all churches can see "as a sign of the apostolicity of the life of the whole church". + +The Porvoo Common Statement (1996), agreed to by the Anglican churches of the British Isles and most of the Lutheran churches of Scandinavia and the Baltic, echoed the Munich (1982) and Finland (1988) statements of the Joint International Commission for Theological Dialogue between the Roman Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church by stating that "the continuity signified in the consecration of a bishop to episcopal ministry cannot be divorced from the continuity of life and witness of the diocese to which he is called". + +Some Anglicans, in addition to other Protestants, held that apostolic succession "may also be understood as a continuity in doctrinal teaching from the time of the apostles to the present". For example, the British Methodist Conference locates the "true continuity" with the Church of past ages in "the continuity of Christian experience, the fellowship in the gift of the one Spirit; in the continuity in the allegiance to one Lord, the continued proclamation of the message; the continued acceptance of the mission". + +The teaching of the Second Vatican Council on apostolic succession has been summed up as follows: + +In the early Fathers +According to International Theological Commission (ITC), conflicts could not always be avoided between individuals among the New Testament communities; Paul appealed to his apostolic authority when there was a disagreement about the Gospel or principles of Christian life. How the development of apostolic government proceeded is difficult to say accurately because of the paucity of relevant documents. ITC says that the apostles or their closest assistants or their successors directed the local colleges of episkopoi and presbyteroi by the end of the first century; while by the beginning of the second century the figure of a single bishop, as the head of the communities, appears explicitly in the letters of Ignatius of Antioch ( 35-107). In the Epistle to the Smyrnaeans, Ignatius wrote about three degrees ministry: + +Ramsey says that the doctrine was formulated in the second century in the first of the three senses given by him, originally as a response to Gnostic claims of having received secret teaching from Christ or the apostles; it emphasised the public manner in which the apostles had passed on authentic teaching to those whom they entrusted with the care of the churches they founded and that these in turn had passed it on to their successors. Ramsey argues that only later was it given a different meaning, a process in which Augustine (Bishop of Hippo Regis, 395–430) played a part by emphasising the idea of "the link from consecrator to consecrated whereby the grace of order was handed on". + +Writing in about AD 94, Clement of Rome states that the apostles appointed successors to continue their work where they had planted churches and for these in their turn to do the same because they foresaw the risk of discord: "Our Apostles, too, by the instruction of our Lord Jesus Christ, knew that strife would arise concerning the dignity of a bishop; and on this account, having received perfect foreknowledge, they appointed the above-mentioned as bishops and deacons: and then gave a rule of succession, in order that, when they had fallen asleep, other men, who had been approved, might succeed to their ministry." According to Anglican Eric G. Jay, the interpretation of his writing is disputed, but it is clear that he supports some sort of approved continuation of the ministry exercised by the apostles which in its turn was derived from Christ. + +Hegesippus (180?) and Irenaeus (180) introduce explicitly the idea of the bishop's succession in office as a guarantee of the truth of what he preached in that it could be traced back to the apostles, and they produced succession lists to back this up. That this succession depended on the fact of ordination to a vacant see and the status of those who administered the ordination is seldom commented on. Woollcombe also states that no one questioned the apostolicity of the See of Alexandria despite the fact that its popes were consecrated by the college of presbyters up till the time of the Council of Nicaea in 325. On the contrary, other sources clearly state that Mark the Evangelist is the first bishop of Alexandria (Pope of Alexandria); then he ordained Annianus as his successor bishop (2nd Pope) as told by Eusebius. + +James F. Puglisi, director of Centro Pro Unione, made a conclusion about Irenaeus' writings: "the terms episkopos and presbyteros are interchangeable, but the term episkopos [bishop] is applied to the person who is established in every Church by the apostles and their successors". According to Eric G. Jay, Irenaeus also refers to a succession of presbyters who preserve the tradition "which originates from the apostles" and later goes on to speak of their having "an infallible gift of truth" [charisma veritatis certum]. Jay comments that this is sometimes seen as an early reference to the idea of the transmission of grace through the apostolic succession which in later centuries was understood as being specifically transmitted through the laying on of hands by a bishop within the apostolic succession (the "pipeline theory"). He warns that this is open to the grave objection that it makes grace a (quasi)material commodity and represents an almost mechanical method of imparting what is by definition a free gift. He adds that the idea cannot be squeezed out of Irenaeus' words. + +Writing a little later, Tertullian makes the same main point but adds expressly that recently founded churches (such as his own in Carthage) could be considered apostolic if they had "derived the tradition of faith and the seeds of doctrine" from an apostolic church. His disciple, Cyprian (Bishop of Carthage 248–58) appeals to the same fundamental principle of election to a vacant see in the aftermath of the Decian Persecution when denying the legitimacy of his rigorist rival in Carthage and that of the anti-pope Novatian in Rome. The emphasis is now on legitimating Cyprian's episcopal ministry as a whole and specifically his exclusive right to administer discipline to the lapsed rather than on the content of what is taught. Cyprian also laid great emphasis on the fact that any minister who broke with the Church lost ipso facto the gift of the Spirit which had validated his orders. This meant that the minister would have no power or authority to celebrate an efficacious sacrament. + +As transmission of grace +For the adherents of this understanding of apostolic succession, grace is transmitted during episcopal consecrations (the ordination of bishops) by the laying on of hands of bishops previously consecrated within the apostolic succession. They hold that this lineage of ordination derives from the Twelve Apostles, thus making the Church the continuation of the early Apostolic Christian community. They see it as one of four elements that define the true Church of Jesus Christ, and legitimize the ministry of its clergy, since only a bishop within the succession can perform valid ordinations and only bishops and presbyters (priests) ordained by bishops in the apostolic succession can validly celebrate (or "confect") several of the other sacraments, including the Eucharist, reconciliation of penitents, confirmation and anointing of the sick. Everett Ferguson argued that Hippolytus, in Apostolic Tradition 9, is the first known source to state that only bishops have the authority to ordain; and normally at least three bishops were required to ordain another bishop. Cyprian also asserts that "if any one is not with the bishop, he is not in the church". + +This position was stated by John Henry Newman, before his conversion from Anglicanism to Roman Catholicism, in Tracts for the Times: +We [priests of the Church of England] have been born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. The Lord Jesus Christ gave His Spirit to His Apostles; they in turn laid their hands on those who should succeed them; and these again on others; and so the sacred gift has been handed down to our present bishops, who have appointed us as their assistants, and in some sense representatives. ... we must necessarily consider none to be ordained who have not been ordained. + +Ferguson, in Encyclopedia of Early Christianity, says that example of James and the elders (presbyters) of the Jerusalem Church (Acts 21:18) may have provided a model for the development of 'monepiscopacy', in which James' position has figured conspicuously in modern theories about the rise of the monepiscopacy. Raymond E. Brown says that in the earlier stage (before the third century and perhaps earlier) there were plural bishops or overseers ("presbyter-bishops") in an individual community; in the later stage changed to only one bishop per community. Little is known about how the early bishops were formally chosen or appointed; afterwards the Church developed a regularized pattern of selection and ordination of bishops, and from the third century on that was universally applied. Brown asserts that the ministry was not ordained by the Church to act on its own authority, but as an important part to continue the ministry of Jesus Christ and helps to make the Church what it is. + +Raymond E. Brown also states that by the early second century, as written in the letters of Ignatius of Antioch, in the threefold structure of the single bishop, plural presbyters, and plural deacons, the celebration of the Eucharist is assigned to the bishop alone; the bishop may delegate others when he goes away. At the Last Supper, Jesus says to those present, who were or included the Twelve Apostles, "Do this in remembrance of me," Brown presumes that the Twelve were remembered as presiding at the Eucharist. But they could scarcely have been present at all the Eucharists of the first century, and no information in New Testament whether a person was regularly assigned to do this task and, if so, who that person was. After all the Church regulated and regularized the celebration of the Eucharist, as that was an inevitable establishment if communities were to be provided regularly with the 'bread of life', since it could not rely on gratuitous provision. + +Objections to the transmission of grace theory +According to William Griffith Thomas, some Protestants have objected that this theory is not explicitly found in Scripture, and the New Testament uses 'bishop' and 'presbyter' as alternative names for the same office. Michael Ramsey argued it is not clearly found in the writings of the Fathers before Augustine in the fourth century and there were attempts to read it back as implicit in earlier writers. + +For example, C. K. Barrett points out that the Pastoral Epistles are concerned that ministers of the generation of Timothy and Titus should pass on the doctrine they had received to the third generation. According to Barrett, teaching and preaching are "the main, almost the only, activities of ministry". He argues that in Clement of Rome ministerial activity is liturgical: the undifferentiated 'presbyter-bishops' are to "make offerings to the Lord at the right time and in the right places" something which is simply not defined by the evangelists. He also mentions the change in the use of sacrificial language as a more significant still: for Paul the Eucharist is a receiving of gifts from God, the Christian sacrifice is the offering of one's body. Moving on to Ignatius of Antioch, Barrett states that a sharp distinction is found between 'presbyter' and 'bishop': the latter now stands out as "an isolated figure" who is to be obeyed and without whom it is not lawful to baptise or hold a love-feast. He also points out that when Ignatius writes to the Romans, there is no mention of a bishop of the Roman Church, "which we may suppose had not yet adopted the monarchical episcopate". Jalland comes to a similar conclusion and locates the change from the "polyepiscopacy" of the house church model in Rome, to monepiscopacy as occurring before the middle of the second century. + +Similar objections are voiced by Harvey who comments that there is a "strong and ancient tradition" that the presence of an ordained man is necessary for the celebration of the Eucharist. But, according to him, there is "certainly no evidence for this view in the New Testament" and in the case of Clement of Rome and Ignatius of Antioch the implication is not that it be celebrated by anyone else, but that it not. Harvey says in the third century this "concern for propriety" begins to be displaced by the concept of 'power' to do so which means that in the absence of such a man it is "literally impossible" for a Eucharist to be celebrated. + +Apostolicity as doctrinal and related continuity +Some Protestant denominations, not including Scandinavian Lutherans, Anglicans and Moravians, deny the need of maintaining episcopal continuity with the early Church, holding that the role of the apostles was that, having been chosen directly by Jesus as witnesses of his resurrection, they were to be the "special instruments of the Holy Spirit in founding and building up the Church". Anglican theologian E. A. Litton argues that the Church is "built upon 'the foundation of the Prophets and Apostles', but a foundation does not repeat itself"; therefore he says that when the apostles died, they were replaced by their writings. To share with the apostles the same faith, to believe their word as found in the Scriptures, to receive the same Holy Spirit, is to many Protestants the only meaningful "continuity". The most meaningful apostolic succession for them, then, is a "faithful succession" of apostolic teaching. + +Max Thurian, before his conversion to Roman Catholicism in 1988, described the classic Reformed/Presbyterian concept of apostolic succession in the following terms. "The Christian ministry is not derived from the people but from the pastors; a scriptural ordinance provides for this ministry being renewed by the ordination of a presbyter by presbyters; this ordinance originates with the apostles, who were themselves presbyters, and through them it goes back to Christ as its source.". Then he continued: +"it does not guarantee the continuity and faithfulness of the Church. A purely historical or mechanical succession of ministers, bishops or pastors would not mean ipso facto true apostolic succession in the church, Reformed tradition, following authentic Catholic tradition, distinguishes four realities which make up the true apostolic succession, symbolized, but not absolutely guaranteed, by ministerial succession." At the same time Thurian argued that the realities form a "composite faithfulness" and are (i) "perseverance in the apostolic doctrine"; (ii) "the will to proclaim God's word"; (iii) "communion in the fundamental continuity of the Church, the Body of Christ, the faithful celebration of Baptism and the Eucharist"; (iv) "succession in the laying on of hands, the sign of ministerial continuity". + +According to Walter Kasper, the Reformed-Catholic dialogue came to belief that there is an apostolic succession which is important to the life of the Church, though both sides distinguish the meaning of that succession. Besides, the dialogue states that apostolic succession "consists at least in continuity of apostolic doctrine, but this is not in opposition to succession through continuity of ordained ministry". While the Lutheran-Catholic dialogue distinguished between apostolic succession in faith (in substantive meaning) and apostolic succession as ministerial succession of bishops, it agreed that "succession in the sense of the succession of ministers must be seen within the succession of the whole church in the apostolic faith". + +The Joint International Commission for Theological Dialogue Between the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church asserts that apostolic succession means something more than just a transmission of authorities; it witnesses to the apostolic faith from the same apostolic faith, and in communion with other churches (attached to the apostolic communion). Apostolic tradition deals with the community, not only an ordained bishop as an isolated person. Since the bishop, once ordained, becomes the guarantor of apostolicity and successor of the apostles; he joins all the bishops, thus maintaining episkope of the local churches derived from the college of the apostles. + +Churches claiming apostolic succession + +Churches that claim some form of episcopal apostolic succession, dating back to the apostles or to leaders from the apostolic era, include: + the Roman Catholic Church + the Eastern Orthodox Church + the Oriental Orthodox Churches + the Church of the East + the Moravian Church + the Anglican Communion + many Lutheran churches + Old Catholics and other Independent Catholics (those incorporating the term "Catholic") + some churches in the Convergence Movement + +The Anglican Communion and those Lutheran churches which claim apostolic succession do not specifically teach this but exclusively practice episcopal ordination. While some Anglicans claim it for their communion, their views are often nuanced and there is widespread reluctance to 'unchurch' Christian bodies which lack it. + +Roman Catholics recognize the validity of the apostolic successions of the bishops, and therefore the rest of the clergy, of the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Church of the East, and Polish National Catholic Church. The Orthodox generally recognize Roman Catholic clerical orders as being of apostolic lineage, but have a different concept of the apostolic succession as it exists outside the canonical borders of the Eastern Orthodox Church, extending the term only to bishops who have maintained communion, received ordination from a line of apostolic bishops, and preserved the catholic faith once delivered through the apostles and handed down as holy tradition. The lack of apostolic succession through bishops is the primary basis on which Protestant denominations (barring some like Anglicans and Old Catholics) are not called churches, in the proper sense, by the Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches, the latter referring to them as "ecclesial communities" in the official documents of the Second Vatican Council. + +The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints also claims apostolic succession. According to Latter-day Saint tradition, in 1829, Joseph Smith received the priesthood from a visit from heaven of Jesus' disciples Peter, James, and John. After its establishment, each subsequent prophet and leader of the church have received the authority passed down by the laying on of hands, or through apostolic succession. Orthodox, Roman Catholic, and Protestant Christians reject the claim that Smith possessed direct or indirect apostolic authority. + +Apostolic founders + +An early understanding of apostolic succession is represented by the traditional beliefs of various churches, as organised around important episcopal sees, to have been founded by specific apostles. On the basis of these traditions, the churches hold they have inherited specific authority, doctrines or practices on the authority of their founding apostle(s), which is understood to be continued by the bishops of the apostolic throne of the church that each founded and whose original leader he was. Thus: + The See of Rome, the head see of the Catholic Church, states that it was founded by Simon Peter (traditionally called "Prince of the Apostles" and "Chief of the Apostles") and Paul the Apostle. Although Peter also founded the See of Antioch, the See of Rome claims the full authority of Peter (who, according to Catholic doctrine, was the visible head of the church and the sole chief of the Apostles) exclusively for itself, because Peter died as the Bishop of Rome, and not of another see. + The Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, the primary patriarchate of the Eastern Orthodox Church, states that Apostle Andrew (elder brother of Simon Peter) was its founder. + Each Patriarchate of Alexandria (the Greek Orthodox Church of Alexandria, the Coptic Catholic Church, and the Coptic Orthodox Church) states that it was founded by Mark the Evangelist. + Each Patriarchate of Antioch (the Greek Orthodox Church of Antioch, the Syriac Orthodox Church, the Maronite Church, the Melkite Greek Catholic Church, and the Syriac Catholic Church) states that it was founded by Simon Peter. + The Eastern Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem states that it was founded by James the Just. + Each Armenian Church (the Armenian Apostolic Church, based at Etchmiadzin, and the Armenian Catholic Church, whose patriarchal see is Cilicia but is based at Beirut) states that it was founded by the Apostles Bartholomew and Jude Thaddeus. + The following bodies state they were founded by the Apostle Thomas: the Assyrian Church of the East, the Ancient Church of the East and the Chaldean Catholic Church, originating in or around Mesopotamia, and churches based in Kerala, India having Syriac roots and generically known as the Saint Thomas Christians: the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church, the Syro-Malankara Catholic Church, the Jacobite Syrian Christian Church, the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church, and the Mar Thoma Syrian Church. + The Orthodox Tewahedo churches (the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church and the Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church) state that they were founded by Philip the Evangelist and Mark the Evangelist. + The Orthodox Church of Georgia states that the Apostles Andrew and Simon the Zealot were its founders. + The Orthodox Church of Cyprus, based at Nova Justiniana (Erdek), states that it was founded by the Apostles Paul and Barnabas. +The Bulgarian Orthodox Church states that it has a connection with Andrew the Apostle. + The Russian Orthodox Church states that it has a connection with the Apostle Andrew, who is said to have visited the area where the city of Kyiv later arose. + +Teachings +Teachings on the nature of apostolic succession vary depending on the ecclesiastic body, especially within various Protestant denominations. Christians of the Church of the East, Oriental Orthodox, Eastern Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church teach apostolic succession. Among the previously mentioned churches opinions vary as to the validity of succession within Old Catholic, Anglican, Moravian, and Lutheran communities. + +Roman Catholic Church + +In Catholic theology, the doctrine of apostolic succession is that the apostolic tradition – including apostolic teaching, preaching, and authority – is handed down from the college of apostles to the college of bishops through the laying on of hands, as a permanent office in the Church. Historically, this has been understood as a succession in office, a succession of valid ordinations, or a succession of the entire college. It is understood as a sign and guarantee that the Church, both local and universal, is in diachronic continuity with the apostles; a necessary but insufficient guarantor thereof. + +Papal primacy is different though related to apostolic succession as described here. The Roman Catholic Church has traditionally claimed a unique leadership role for the Apostle Peter, believed to have been named by Jesus as head of the Apostles and as a focus of their unity, who became the first Bishop of Rome, and whose successors inherited the role and accordingly became the leaders of the worldwide Church as well. Even so, Roman Catholicism acknowledges the papacy is built on apostolic succession, not the other way around. As such, apostolic succession is a foundational doctrine of authority in the Catholic Church. Peter was succeeded by Linus, Linus by Clement, Clement by Anacletus, Anacletus by Evaristus..." The Roman Catholic position is summarised this way: "The Lord says to Peter: 'I say to you,' he says, 'that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of hell will not overcome it ....' On him [Peter] he builds the Church, and to him he gives the command to feed the sheep, and although he assigns a like power to all the apostles, yet he founded a single chair [cathedra], and he established by his own authority a source and an intrinsic reason for that unity.... If someone [today] does not hold fast to this unity of Peter, can he imagine that he still holds the faith? If he [should] desert the chair of Peter upon whom the Church was built, can he still be confident that he is in the Church?" + +Roman Catholicism holds that Christ entrusted the Apostles with the leadership of the community of believers, and the obligation to transmit and preserve the "deposit of faith" (the experience of Christ and his teachings contained in the doctrinal "tradition" handed down from the time of the apostles and the written portion, which is Scripture). The apostles then passed on this office and authority by ordaining bishops to follow after them. + +Roman Catholic theology holds that the apostolic succession effects the power and authority to administer the sacraments except for baptism and matrimony. (Baptism may be administered by anyone and matrimony by the couple to each other.) Authority to so administer such sacraments is passed on only through the sacrament of Holy Orders, a rite by which a priest is ordained (ordination can be conferred only by bishop). The bishop, of course, must be from an unbroken line of bishops stemming from the original apostles selected by Jesus Christ. Thus, apostolic succession is necessary for the valid celebration of the sacraments. + +Views concerning other churches + +In the Roman Catholic Church, Pope Leo XIII stated in his 1896 bull Apostolicae curae that the Catholic Church believes specifically that Anglican orders were to be considered "absolutely null and utterly void". + +His argument was as follows. First, the ordination rite of Edward VI had removed the language of a sacrificial priesthood. Ordinations using this new rite occurred for over a century and, because the restoration of the language of "priesthood" a century later in the ordination rite "was introduced too late, as a century had already elapsed since the adoption of the Edwardine Ordinal ... the Hierarchy had become extinct, there remained no power of ordaining." With this extinction of validly ordained bishops in England, "the true Sacrament of Order as instituted by Christ lapsed, and with it the hierarchical succession." As a result, the pope's final judgment was that Anglican ordinations going forward were to be considered "absolutely null and utterly void". Anglican clergy were from then on to be ordained as Roman Catholic priests upon entry into the Catholic Church. + +A reply from the Archbishops of Canterbury and York (1896) was issued to counter Pope Leo's arguments: Saepius officio: Answer of the Archbishops of Canterbury and York to the Bull Apostolicae Curae of H. H. Leo XIII. They argued that if the Anglican orders were invalid, then the Roman orders were as well since the Pope based his case on the fact that the Anglican ordinals used did not contain certain essential elements but these were not found in the early Roman rites either. Catholics argue, this argument does not consider the sacramental intention involved in validating Holy Orders. In other words, Roman Catholics believe that the ordination rites were reworded so as to invalidate the ordinations because the intention behind the alterations in the rite was a fundamental change in Anglican understanding of the priesthood. + +It is Roman Catholic doctrine that the teaching of Apostolicae curae is a truth to be "held definitively, but are not able to be declared as divinely revealed", as stated in a commentary by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Cardinal Basil Hume explained the conditional character of his ordination of Graham Leonard, former Anglican bishop of the Diocese of London, to the priesthood in the following way: "While firmly restating the judgement of Apostolicae Curae that Anglican ordination is invalid, the Roman Catholic Church takes account of the involvement, in some Anglican episcopal ordinations, of bishops of the Old Catholic Church of the Union of Utrecht who are validly ordained. In particular and probably rare cases the authorities in Rome may judge that there is a 'prudent doubt' concerning the invalidity of priestly ordination received by an individual Anglican minister ordained in this line of succession." At the same time, he stated: "Since the church must be in no doubt of the validity of the sacraments celebrated for the Roman Catholic community, it must ask all who are chosen to exercise the priesthood in the Catholic Church to accept sacramental ordination in order to fulfill their ministry and be integrated into the apostolic succession." Since Apostolicae curae was issued many Anglican jurisdictions have revised their ordinals, bringing them more in line with ordinals of the early Church. + +Timothy Dufort, writing in The Tablet in 1982, attempted to present an ecumenical solution to the problem of how the Roman Catholic Church might accept Anglican orders without needing to formally repudiate Apostolicae curae at all. Dufort argued that by 1969 all Anglican bishops had acquired apostolic succession fully recognized by Rome, since from the 1930s Old Catholic bishops (the validity of whose orders the Vatican has never questioned) have acted as co-consecrators in the ordination of Anglican bishops. This view has not yet been considered formally by the Holy See, but after Anglican Bishop Graham Leonard converted to Roman Catholicism, he was only reordained in 1994 because of the presence of Old Catholic bishops at his ordination. + +The question of the validity of Anglican orders has been further complicated by the Anglican ordination of women. In a document it published in July 1998, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith stated that the Catholic Church's declaration on the invalidity of Anglican ordinations is a teaching that the church has definitively propounded and that therefore every Roman Catholic is required to give "firm and definitive assent" to this matter. This being said, in May 2017, Cardinal Francesco Coccopalmerio, President of the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts, has asked whether the current Roman Catholic position on invalidity could be revised in the future. + +Eastern Orthodox + +While Eastern Orthodox sources often refer to the bishops as "successors of the apostles" under the influence of Scholastic theology, strict Orthodox ecclesiology and theology hold that all legitimate bishops are properly successors of Peter. This also means that presbyters (or "priests") are successors of the apostles. As a result, Eastern Orthodox theology makes a distinction between a geographical or historical succession and proper ontological or ecclesiological succession. Hence, the bishops of Rome and Antioch can be considered successors of Peter in a historical sense on account of Peter's presence in the early community. This does not imply that these bishops are more successors of Peter than all others in an ontological sense. + +The Eastern Orthodox have often permitted non-Eastern Orthodox clergy to be rapidly ordained within Orthodoxy as a matter of pastoral necessity and economia. Priests entering Eastern Orthodoxy from Oriental Orthodoxy and Roman Catholicism have usually been received by "vesting" and have been allowed to function immediately within Eastern Orthodoxy as priests. Recognition of Roman Catholic orders by the Russian Orthodox Church was stipulated in 1667 by the Synod of Moscow, but this position is not universal within the Eastern Orthodox communion. For example, Fr. John Morris of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America, states that "Apostolic Succession is not merely a historical pedigree, but also requires Apostolic Faith. This is because Apostolic Succession is not the private possession of a bishop, but is the attribute of a local Church. A bishop who goes in schism or is cast out of office due to heresy does not take his Apostolic Succession with him as a private possession." The validity of a priest's ordination is decided by each autocephalous Eastern Orthodox church. + +In 1922 the Eastern Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople recognised Anglican orders as valid, holding that they carry "the same validity as the Roman, Old Catholic and Armenian churches possess". In the encyclical "From the Oecumenical Patriarch to the Presidents of the Particular Eastern Orthodox churches", Meletius IV of Constantinople, the Oecumenical Patriarch, wrote: "That the Orthodox theologians who have scientifically examined the question have almost unanimously come to the same conclusions and have declared themselves as accepting the validity of Anglican Orders." Following this declaration, in 1923, the Eastern Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem, as well as the Eastern Orthodox Church of Cyprus agreed by "provisionally acceding that Anglican priests should not be re-ordained if they became Orthodox"; in 1936, the Romanian Orthodox Church "endorsed Anglican Orders". + +Succeeding judgements have been more conflicting. The Eastern Orthodox churches require a totality of common teaching to recognise orders and in this broader view find ambiguities in Anglican teaching and practice problematic. Accordingly, in some parts of the Eastern Orthodox Church, Anglican clergy who convert to Orthodoxy are reordained, rather than vested. + +Oriental Orthodox Churches +The Armenian Apostolic Church, which is one of the Oriental Orthodox churches, recognises Roman Catholic episcopal consecrations without qualification. + +Anglican Communion + +The Anglican Communion "has never officially endorsed any one particular theory of the origin of the historic episcopate, its exact relation to the apostolate, and the sense in which it should be thought of as God given, and in fact tolerates a wide variety of views on these points". Its claim to apostolic succession is rooted in the Church of England's evolution as part of the Western Church. Apostolic succession is viewed not so much as conveyed mechanically through an unbroken chain of the laying-on of hands, but as expressing continuity with the unbroken chain of commitment, beliefs and mission starting with the first apostles; and as hence emphasising the enduring yet evolving nature of the Church. + +When Henry VIII broke away from the jurisdiction of Rome in 1533/4, the English Church () claimed the episcopal polity and apostolic succession inherent in its Roman Catholic past. Reformed theology gained a certain foothold, and under his successor, Edward VI what had been an administrative schism – as the Church under Henry was separated from Rome but remained essentially Roman Catholic in its theology and practice – became a reformation under the guiding hand of Thomas Cranmer. Although care was taken to maintain the unbroken sequence of episcopal consecrations – particularly in the case of Matthew Parker, who was consecrated Archbishop of Canterbury in 1559 by two bishops who had been ordained in the 1530s with the Roman Pontifical and two ordained with the Edwardine Ordinal of 1550 – apostolic succession was not seen as a major concern that a true ministry could not exist without episcopal consecrations: English Reformers such as Richard Hooker rejected the Roman position that Apostolic Succession is divinely commanded or necessary for true Christian ministry. American Episcopal theologian Richard A. Norris argues that the "foreign Reformed [Presbyterian] churches" were genuine ones despite the lack of apostolic succession because they had been abandoned by their bishops at the Reformation. In very different ways both James II and William III of England made it plain that the Church of England could no longer count on the 'godly prince' to maintain its identity and traditions and the 'High Church' clergy of the time began to look to the idea of apostolic succession as a basis for the church's life. For William Beveridge (Bishop of St Asaph, 1704–8) the importance of this lay in the fact that Christ himself is "continually present at such imposition of hands; thereby transferring the same Spirit, which He had first breathed into His Apostles, upon others successively after them", but the doctrine did not really come to the fore until the time of the Tractarians. + +In 1833, before his conversion to Roman Catholicism, Newman wrote about the apostolic succession: "We must necessarily consider none to be ordained who has not been ordained". After quoting this, Michael Ramsey continues: "With romantic enthusiasm, the Tractarians propagated this doctrine. In doing so they involved themselves in some misunderstandings of history and in some confusion of theology". He goes on to explain that they ascribed to early Anglican authors a far more exclusive version of the doctrine than was the case, they blurred the distinction between succession in office (Irenaeus) and succession in consecration (Augustine); they spoke of apostolic succession as the channel of grace in a way that failed to do justice to His gracious activity within all the dispensations of the New Covenant. J. B. Lightfoot argued that monarchial episcopacy evolved upwards from a college of presbyters by the elevation of one of their number to be the episcopal president and A.C. Headlam laid great stress on Irenaeus' understanding of succession which had been lost from sight behind the Augustinian 'pipe-line theory'. + +Lutheran churches + +Variation exists within Lutheranism on this issue. There are two primary camps: episcopal succession, and succession of presbyters. All Lutherans believe in some form of apostolic succession, per the Lutheran Confessions. The Lutheran churches in Scandinavia, the Caribbean, and elsewhere practice episcopal succession in which the bishop whose holy orders can be traced back for centuries performs ordinations. German Lutheran churches and their subsequent offspring in the United States practice succession of presbyters in which another priest is the one who confers the priesthood onto another. This low view results from the Prussian state-ordered union with Reformed (Calvinist) churches in 1817. + +Lutheran claims to apostolic succession + +In Scandinavia and the Baltic region, Lutheran churches participating in the Porvoo Communion (those of Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Estonia, and Lithuania), as well as non-Porvoo membership Lutheran churches in the region (including those of Latvia, and Russia), and the confessional Communion of Nordic Lutheran Dioceses, believe that they ordain their bishops in apostolic succession in lines stemming from the original apostles. The New Westminster Dictionary of Church History states that "In Sweden the apostolic succession was preserved because the Catholic bishops were allowed to stay in office, but they had to approve changes in the ceremonies." + +The Lutheran Church of Finland was at that time one with the Church of Sweden and so holds the same view regarding the see of Åbo/Turku. + +In 2001, Francis Aloysius Sullivan wrote: "To my knowledge, the Catholic Church has never officially expressed its judgement on the validity of orders as they have been handed down by episcopal succession in these two national Lutheran churches." In 2007, the Holy See declared: "Christian Communities born out of the Reformation of the sixteenth century [...] do not enjoy apostolic succession in the sacrament of Orders, and are, therefore, deprived of a constitutive element of the Church." This statement speaks of the Protestant movement as a whole, not specifically of the Lutheran churches in Sweden and Finland. The 2010 report from the Roman Catholic – Lutheran Dialogue Group for Sweden and Finland, Justification in the Life of the Church, states: "The Evangelical-Lutheran churches in Sweden and Finland [...] believe that they are part of an unbroken apostolic chain of succession. The Catholic Church does however question how the ecclesiastical break in the 16th century has affected the apostolicity of the churches of the Reformation and thus the apostolicity of their ministry." Emil Anton interprets this report as saying that the Roman Catholic Church does not deny or approve the apostolic succession directly, but will continue with further inquiries about the matter. + +Negotiated at Järvenpää, Finland, and inaugurated with a celebration of the Eucharist at Porvoo Cathedral in 1992, the Porvoo Communion agreement of unity includes the mutual recognition of the traditional apostolic succession among the following churches: + Lutheran churches: Evangelical Lutheran Church of Iceland, Church of Norway, Church of Sweden, Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland, Estonian Evangelical Lutheran Church, Evangelical Lutheran Church of Lithuania, Church of Denmark, The Lutheran Church in Great Britain observer: Evangelical Lutheran Church of Latvia. + Anglican Communion: Church of Ireland, Scottish Episcopal Church, Church of England, the Church in Wales, the Lusitanian Catholic Apostolic Evangelical Church, and the Spanish Reformed Episcopal Church. + +At least one of the Scandinavian Lutheran churches in the Porvoo Communion of churches, the Church of Denmark has bishops, but strictly speaking they were not in the historic apostolic succession prior to their entry into the Porvoo Communion, since their episcopate and holy orders derived from Johannes Bugenhagen, who was a pastor, not a bishop. In 2010, the Church of Denmark joined the Porvoo Communion of churches, after a process of mutual consecrations of bishops had led to the introduction of historic apostolic succession. The Lutheran Church in Great Britain also joined the Porvoo Agreement, in 2014. + +In Scandinavia, where High Church Lutheranism and Pietist Lutheranism has been highly influential, the Evangelical Lutheran Mission Diocese of Finland, Mission Province of the Church of Sweden, and the Evangelical Lutheran Diocese of Norway entered into schism with their national churches due to "the secularization of the national/state churches in their respective countries involving matters of both Christian doctrine and ethics"; these have altar and pulpit fellowship through the Communion of Nordic Lutheran Dioceses and are members of the confessional International Lutheran Council with their bishops having lines of apostolic succession from other traditional Lutheran Churches, such as the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Kenya. + +Similarly, in the High Church Lutheranism of Germany, some religious brotherhoods such as Hochkirchliche St. Johannes-Bruderschaft and Hochkirchlicher Apostolat St. Ansgar have managed to arrange for their own bishop to be re-ordained in apostolic succession. The members of these brotherhoods do not form into separate ecclesia. + +The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, North America's largest Lutheran body, gained apostolic succession through Lutheran bishops in the historic episcopate; this allowed for full communion with the Episcopal Church in 2000, upon the signing of Called to Common Mission. By this document the full communion between the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and the Episcopal Church was established. As such, "all episcopal installations in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America take place with the participation of bishops in the apostolic succession." The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America is headed by a presiding bishop who is elected by the churchwide assembly for a six-year term. + +The Evangelical Catholic Church, a Lutheran denomination of Evangelical Catholic churchmanship based in North America, taught: + +In recent years a number of Lutheran churches of the Evangelical Catholic and High Church Lutheran churchmanship in the United States of America have accepted the doctrine of apostolic succession and have successfully recovered it, generally from Independent Catholic churches. At present, most of these church bodies have memberships numbering in the hundreds. + The Lutheran Evangelical Protestant Church (LEPC) were some of the earliest Lutherans in America. They have autonomous and congregationally oriented ministries and consecrate male and female deacons, priests and bishops in apostolic succession with the laying on of hands during celebration of Word and Sacrament. + The Anglo-Lutheran Catholic Church recovered the apostolic succession from Old Catholic and Independent Catholic churches, and adopted a strict episcopal polity. All of its clergy have been ordained (or re-ordained) into the historic apostolic succession. This Church was formed in 1997, with its headquarters in Kansas City, Missouri. + The Lutheran Orthodox Church, founded in 2004 traces its historic lineage of apostolic succession through Anglican, Lutheran, and Old Catholic lines. + The Lutheran Church - International is another North American Lutheran church which reports that it has recovered the historic apostolic succession. + +Indifference to the issue +Many German Lutherans appear to demur on this issue, which may be sourced in the church governance views of Martin Luther. Luther's reform movement usually did not abrogate the ecclesiastic office of bishop. + +An important historical context to explicate the wide differences among German Lutheran churches is the Prussian Union of 1817, whereby the secular government directed the Lutheran churches in Prussia to merge with non-Lutheran Reformed churches in Prussia. The Reformed churches generally oppose on principle the traditional doctrine of ecclesiastic Apostolic Succession, e.g., not usually even recognising the church office of bishop. Later in the 19th century, other Lutheran and Reformed congregations merged to form united church bodies in some of the other 39 states of the German Confederation, e.g., in Anhalt, Baden, Bremen, Hesse and Nassau, Hesse-Kassel and Waldeck, and the Palatinate. Yet the partial nature of this list also serves to show that in Germany there remained many Lutherans who never united with the Reformed. + +Other Lutheran churches are indifferent as a matter of doctrine regarding this particular issue of ecclesiastical governance. In America, the conservative Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod (LCMS) places its church authority in the congregation rather than in the bishop, and ordinations are typically performed by another pastor, although its founder, C. F. W. Walther, while establishing congregational polity for the LCMS, considered polity (a church's form of government) to be a matter of adiaphora (something indifferent). + +Methodist churches + +In the beginnings of the Methodist movement, adherents were instructed to receive the sacraments within the Anglican Church since the Methodists were still a movement and not as yet a separate church in England until 1805. The American Methodists soon petitioned to receive the sacraments from the local preachers who conducted worship services and revivals. The Bishop of London refused to ordain Methodist priests and deacons in the British American colonies. John Wesley, the founder of the movement, was reluctant to allow unordained preachers to administer the sacraments: + +Some scholars argue that in 1763, Greek Orthodox bishop Erasmus of the Diocese of Arcadia, who was visiting London at the time, consecrated John Wesley a bishop, and ordained several Methodist lay preachers as priests, including John Jones. According to these arguments, Wesley could not openly announce his episcopal consecration without incurring the penalty of the Præmunire Act. In light of Wesley's alleged episcopal consecration, the Methodist Church could lay claim on apostolic succession, as understood in the traditional sense. Since John Wesley "ordained and sent forth every Methodist preacher in his day, who preached and baptized and ordained, and since every Methodist preacher who has ever been ordained as a Methodist was ordained in this direct 'succession' from Wesley, then the Methodist Church teaches that it has all the direct merits coming from apostolic succession, if any such there be." + +Most Methodists view apostolic succession outside its high church sense. This is because Wesley believed that the offices of bishop and presbyter constituted one order, citing an ancient opinion from the Church of Alexandria; Jerome, a Church Father, wrote: "For even at Alexandria from the time of Mark the Evangelist until the episcopates of Heraclas and Dionysius the presbyters always named as bishop one of their own number chosen by themselves and set in a more exalted position, just as an army elects a general, or as deacons appoint one of themselves whom they know to be diligent and call him archdeacon. For what function, excepting ordination, belongs to a bishop that does not also belong to a presbyter?" (Letter CXLVI). John Wesley thus argued that for two centuries the succession of bishops in the Church of Alexandria, which was founded by Mark the Evangelist, was preserved through ordination by presbyters alone and was considered valid by that ancient Church. + +Since the Bishop of London refused to ordain ministers in the British American colonies, this constituted an emergency and as a result, on 2 September 1784, Wesley, along with a priest from the Anglican Church and two other elders, operating under the ancient Alexandrian habitude, ordained Thomas Coke a superintendent, although Coke embraced the title bishop. + +Today, the United Methodist Church follows this ancient Alexandrian practice as bishops are elected from the presbyterate: the Discipline of the Methodist Church, in ¶303, affirms that "ordination to this ministry is a gift from God to the Church. In ordination, the Church affirms and continues the apostolic ministry through persons empowered by the Holy Spirit." It also uses sacred scripture in support of this practice, namely, 1 Timothy 4:14, which states: +The Methodist Church also buttresses this argument with the leg of sacred tradition of the Wesleyan Quadrilateral by citing the Church Fathers, many of whom concur with this view. + +In addition to the aforementioned arguments – or perhaps instead of them – in 1937 the annual Conference of the British Methodist Church located the "true continuity" with the Church of past ages in "the continuity of Christian experience, the fellowship in the gift of the one Spirit; in the continuity in the allegiance to one Lord, the continued proclamation of the message; the continued acceptance of the mission;..." [through a long chain which goes back to] "the first disciples in the company of the Lord Himself ... This is our doctrine of apostolic succession" [which neither depends on, nor is secured by,] "an official succession of ministers, whether bishops or presbyters, from apostolic times, but rather by fidelity to apostolic truth". + +The Church of North India, Church of Pakistan and Church of South India are members of the World Methodist Council and the clergy of these three united Protestant churches possess lines of apostolic succession, according to the Anglican understanding of this doctrine, through the Church of India, Burma and Ceylon (CIBC), which finished merging with these three in the 1970s. + +In June 2014, the Church of Ireland, a province of the Anglican Communion, extended its lines of apostolic succession into the Methodist Church in Ireland, as "the Archbishop of Dublin and Bishop of Down and Dromore took part in the installation of the new President of the Methodist Church of Ireland, the Rev. Peter Murray." In May 2014, the "Church of Ireland's General Synod approved an agreement signed with the Methodist Church that provided for the interchangeability of clergy, allowing an ordained minister of either church to come under the discipline and oversight of the other." + +Hussite Church and Moravian Church +The Moravian Church, as with the Hussite Church, teaches the doctrine of apostolic succession. The Moravian Church claims apostolic succession as a legacy of the old Unity of the Brethren. In order to preserve the succession, three Bohemian Brethren were consecrated bishops by Bishop Stephen of Austria, a Waldensian bishop who had been ordained by a Roman Catholic bishop in 1434. These three consecrated bishops returned to Litice in Bohemia and then ordained other brothers, thereby preserving the historic episcopate. + +Presbyterian/Reformed churches +Jus Divinum Regiminis Ecclesiastici (English translation: The Divine Right of Church Government), which was promulgated by Presbyterian clergy in 1646, holds that historic ministerial succession is necessary for legitimate ministerial authority. It states that ministerial succession is conferred by elders through the laying on of hands, in accordance with Timothy 4:14. The Westminster Assembly held that "There is one general church visible" and that "every minister of the word is to be ordained by imposition of hands, and prayer, with fasting, by those preaching presbyters to whom it doth belong". + +The Church of North India, Church of Pakistan and Church of South India are members of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches and the clergy of these three united Protestant churches possess lines of apostolic succession, according to the Anglican understanding of this doctrine, through the Church of India, Burma and Ceylon (CIBC), which finished merging with these three in the 1970s. + +Pentecostal churches +On 6 February 2003, Rt. the Rev. Dr. K. J. Samuel, the Moderator Bishop of the Church of South India (a United Protestant denomination that holds membership worldwide Anglican Communion in addition to the World Communion of Reformed Churches), along with the Rt. Rev. P.M. Dhotekar, Bishop of Nagpur of the Church of North India, and the Rt. Rev. Bancha Nidhi Nayak, Bishop of Phulbani of the Church of North India, consecrated Pentecostal minister K. P. Yohannan as a bishop in Anglican lines of apostolic succession; the Rt. Rev. K.P. Yohannan thereafter became the first Metropolitan of the Believers Eastern Church, a Pentecostal denomination which acquired an episcopal polity of ecclesiastical governance. + +Many other Pentecostal Christians teach that "the sole guarantor of apostolic faith, which includes apostolic life, is the Holy Spirit." In addressing the Church of God General Assembly, Ambrose Jessup Tomlinson stated that "Although we do not claim a line of succession from the holy apostles, we do believe we are following in their example." + +Latter Day Saint movement + +Denominations within the Latter Day Saint movement preach the necessity of apostolic succession and claim it through the process of restoration. According to their teaching, a period of universal apostasy followed the death of the Twelve Apostles. Without apostles or prophets left on the earth with the legitimate Priesthood Authority, many of the true teachings and practices of Christianity were lost. Eventually these were restored to the prophet Joseph Smith and various others in a series of divine conferrals and ordinations by angelic men who had held this authority during their lifetimes (see this partial list of restoration events). As it relates to apostolic succession, Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery said that the apostles Peter, James, and John appeared to them in 1829 and conferred upon them the Melchizedek Priesthood and with it "the keys of the kingdom, and of the dispensation of the fullness of times". + +For the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), the largest denomination in the Latter-day Saint movement, Apostolic Succession involves the leadership of the church being established through the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. Each time the President of the Church dies, the most senior apostle, who is designated as the President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, is set apart as the new church president. + +Denominations that reject apostolic succession +Some Nonconformist Protestants, particularly those in the Calvinist tradition, deny the doctrine of apostolic succession, believing that it is neither taught in Scripture nor necessary for Christian teaching, life, and practice. Accordingly, these Protestants strip the notion of apostolic succession from the definition of "apostolic" or "apostolicity". For them, to be apostolic is simply to be in submission to the teachings of the original twelve apostles as recorded in Scripture. This doctrinal stance reflects the Protestant view of authority, embodied in the doctrine known as Sola Scriptura. + +Among the first who rejected the doctrine of apostolic succession were John Calvin, and Martin Luther. They both said that the episcopacy was inadequate to address corruption, doctrinal or otherwise, and that this inadequacy justified the intervention of the church of common people. In part this position was also necessary, as otherwise there would have been no means to elicit or initiate reform of the church. + +In the 20th century, there has been more contact between Protestants and Christians from Eastern traditions which claim apostolic succession for their ministry. Like the Roman Catholic Church, these ancient Eastern churches may use the doctrine of apostolic succession in ministry in their apologetics against some forms of Protestantism. Some Protestants feel that such claims of apostolic succession are proven false by the differences in traditions and doctrines between these churches: Roman Catholics and Eastern Orthodox consider both the Church of the East and the Oriental Orthodox churches to be heretical, having been anathematized in the early ecumenical councils of Ephesus (431) and Chalcedon (451) respectively. Churches that claim apostolic succession in ministry distinguish this from doctrinal orthodoxy, holding that "it is possible to have valid orders coming down from the apostles, and yet not to have a continuous spiritual history coming down from the apostles". + +All Christians who have a genuine relationship with God through and in Christ are part of the "true Church", according to exemplary statements of evangelical Protestant theology, notwithstanding condemnation of the Catholic Church by some Protestants. According to these statements, claims that one or more denominations might be the "true Church" are nothing more than propaganda which has evolved over centuries to support authoritarian claims – based on tradition or based on scripture – of merely human institutions. Such claims can be found among the worldwide community of Christians. Yet all appear to treasure the truth that liberates, and Jesus taught his followers to love one another. + +See also + Baptist successionism + Episcopi vagantes + List of bishops + New Apostolic Church + Pope Linus + Valid but illicit + +References + +Further reading + +External links + Against Heresies, Online-text, Irenaeus, Against Heresies + Apostolicity in the Catholic Encyclopedia + Discussion of the Papacy by Scott Hahn + "Was Wesley Ordained By Bishop Erasmus?" The Methodist Quarterly Review (1878) + Methodist/Anglican Thoughts On Apostolic Succession by The Reverend Dr. Gregory S. Neal + +Christian terminology +Ecclesiology +Episcopacy in Anglicanism +Episcopacy in the Catholic Church +Episcopacy in Eastern Orthodoxy +Succession +Ascorbic acid is an organic compound with formula , originally called hexuronic acid. It is a white solid, but impure samples can appear yellowish. It dissolves well in water to give mildly acidic solutions. It is a mild reducing agent. + +Ascorbic acid exists as two enantiomers (mirror-image isomers), commonly denoted "" (for "levo") and "" (for "dextro"). The isomer is the one most often encountered: it occurs naturally in many foods, and is one form ("vitamer") of vitamin C, an essential nutrient for humans and many animals. Deficiency of vitamin C causes scurvy, formerly a major disease of sailors in long sea voyages. It is used as a food additive and a dietary supplement for its antioxidant properties. The "" form can be made via chemical synthesis but has no significant biological role. + +History + +The antiscorbutic properties of certain foods were demonstrated in the 18th century by James Lind. In 1907, Axel Holst and Theodor Frølich discovered that the antiscorbutic factor was a water-soluble chemical substance, distinct from the one that prevented beriberi. Between 1928 and 1932, Albert Szent-Györgyi isolated a candidate for this substance, which he called it "hexuronic acid", first from plants and later from animal adrenal glands. In 1932 Charles Glen King confirmed that it was indeed the antiscorbutic factor. + +In 1933, sugar chemist Walter Norman Haworth, working with samples of "hexuronic acid" that Szent-Györgyi had isolated from paprika and sent him in the previous year, deduced the correct structure and optical-isomeric nature of the compound, and in 1934 reported its first synthesis. In reference to the compound's antiscorbutic properties, Haworth and Szent-Györgyi proposed to rename it "a-scorbic acid" for the compound, and later specifically -ascorbic acid. Because of their work, in 1937 two Nobel Prizes: in Chemistry and in Physiology or Medicine were awarded to Haworth and Szent-Györgyi, respectively. + +Independently, ascorbic acid was synthetized in 1933 by Tadeusz Reichstein (the Nobel Prize laureate in Physiology or Medicine in 1950). + +Chemical properties + +Acidity +Ascorbic acid is a furan-based lactone of 2-ketogluconic acid. It contains an adjacent enediol adjacent to the carbonyl. This −C(OH)=C(OH)−C(=O)− structural pattern is characteristic of reductones, and increases the acidity of one of the enol hydroxyl groups. The deprotonated conjugate base is the ascorbate anion, which is stabilized by electron delocalization that results from resonance between two forms: + + + +For this reason, ascorbic acid is much more acidic than would be expected if the compound contained only isolated hydroxyl groups. + +Salts +The ascorbate anion forms salts, such as sodium ascorbate, calcium ascorbate, and potassium ascorbate. + +Esters +Ascorbic acid can also react with organic acids as an alcohol forming esters such as ascorbyl palmitate and ascorbyl stearate. + +Nucleophilic attack +Nucleophilic attack of ascorbic acid on a proton results in a 1,3-diketone: + +Oxidation + +The ascorbate ion is the predominant species at typical biological pH values. It is a mild reducing agent and antioxidant. It is oxidized with loss of one electron to form a radical cation and then with loss of a second electron to form dehydroascorbic acid. It typically reacts with oxidants of the reactive oxygen species, such as the hydroxyl radical. + +Ascorbic acid is special because it can transfer a single electron, owing to the resonance-stabilized nature of its own radical ion, called semidehydroascorbate. The net reaction is: + +RO• + → RO− + C6H7O → ROH + C6H6O6 + +On exposure to oxygen, ascorbic acid will undergo further oxidative decomposition to various products including diketogulonic acid, xylonic acid, threonic acid and oxalic acid. + +Reactive oxygen species are damaging to animals and plants at the molecular level due to their possible interaction with nucleic acids, proteins, and lipids. Sometimes these radicals initiate chain reactions. Ascorbate can terminate these chain radical reactions by electron transfer. The oxidized forms of ascorbate are relatively unreactive and do not cause cellular damage. + +However, being a good electron donor, excess ascorbate in the presence of free metal ions can not only promote but also initiate free radical reactions, thus making it a potentially dangerous pro-oxidative compound in certain metabolic contexts. + +Ascorbic acid and its sodium, potassium, and calcium salts are commonly used as antioxidant food additives. These compounds are water-soluble and, thus, cannot protect fats from oxidation: For this purpose, the fat-soluble esters of ascorbic acid with long-chain fatty acids (ascorbyl palmitate or ascorbyl stearate) can be used as food antioxidants. + +Other reactions +It creates volatile compounds when mixed with glucose and amino acids in 90 °C. + +It is a cofactor in tyrosine oxidation. + +Uses + +Food additive +The main use of -ascorbic acid and its salts is as food additives, mostly to combat oxidation. It is approved for this purpose in the EU with E number E300, USA, Australia, and New Zealand. + +Dietary supplement +Another major use of -ascorbic acid is as dietary supplement. + +Niche, non-food uses + + Ascorbic acid is easily oxidized and so is used as a reductant in photographic developer solutions (among others) and as a preservative. + In fluorescence microscopy and related fluorescence-based techniques, ascorbic acid can be used as an antioxidant to increase fluorescent signal and chemically retard dye photobleaching. + It is also commonly used to remove dissolved metal stains, such as iron, from fiberglass swimming pool surfaces. + In plastic manufacturing, ascorbic acid can be used to assemble molecular chains more quickly and with less waste than traditional synthesis methods. + Heroin users are known to use ascorbic acid as a means to convert heroin base to a water-soluble salt so that it can be injected. + As justified by its reaction with iodine, it is used to negate the effects of iodine tablets in water purification. It reacts with the sterilized water, removing the taste, color, and smell of the iodine. This is why it is often sold as a second set of tablets in most sporting goods stores as Potable Aqua-Neutralizing Tablets, along with the potassium iodide tablets. +Intravenous high-dose ascorbate is being used as a chemotherapeutic and biological response modifying agent. Currently it is still under clinical trials. + It is sometimes used as a urinary acidifier to enhance the antiseptic effect of methenamine. + +Synthesis +Natural biosynthesis of vitamin C occurs in many plants, and animals, by a variety of processes. + +Industrial preparation + +Eighty percent of the world's supply of ascorbic acid is produced in China. Ascorbic acid is prepared in industry from glucose in a method based on the historical Reichstein process. In the first of a five-step process, glucose is catalytically hydrogenated to sorbitol, which is then oxidized by the microorganism Acetobacter suboxydans to sorbose. Only one of the six hydroxy groups is oxidized by this enzymatic reaction. From this point, two routes are available. Treatment of the product with acetone in the presence of an acid catalyst converts four of the remaining hydroxyl groups to acetals. The unprotected hydroxyl group is oxidized to the carboxylic acid by reaction with the catalytic oxidant TEMPO (regenerated by sodium hypochlorite bleaching solution). Historically, industrial preparation via the Reichstein process used potassium permanganate as the bleaching solution. Acid-catalyzed hydrolysis of this product performs the dual function of removing the two acetal groups and ring-closing lactonization. This step yields ascorbic acid. Each of the five steps has a yield larger than 90%. + +A more biotechnological process, first developed in China in the 1960s, but further developed in the 1990s, bypasses the use of acetone-protecting groups. A second genetically modified microbe species, such as mutant Erwinia, among others, oxidises sorbose into 2-ketogluconic acid (2-KGA), which can then undergo ring-closing lactonization via dehydration. This method is used in the predominant process used by the ascorbic acid industry in China, which supplies 80% of world's ascorbic acid. American and Chinese researchers are competing to engineer a mutant that can carry out a one-pot fermentation directly from glucose to 2-KGA, bypassing both the need for a second fermentation and the need to reduce glucose to sorbitol. + +There exists a -ascorbic acid, which does not occur in nature but can be synthesized artificially. To be specific, -ascorbate is known to participate in many specific enzyme reactions that require the correct enantiomer (-ascorbate and not -ascorbate). -Ascorbic acid has a specific rotation of [α] = +23°. + +Determination +The traditional way to analyze the ascorbic acid content is the process of titration with an oxidizing agent, and several procedures have been developed. + +The popular iodometry approach uses iodine in the presence of a starch indicator. Iodine is reduced by ascorbic acid, and, when all the ascorbic acid has reacted, the iodine is then in excess, forming a blue-black complex with the starch indicator. This indicates the end-point of the titration. + +As an alternative, ascorbic acid can be treated with iodine in excess, followed by back titration with sodium thiosulfate using starch as an indicator. + +This iodometric method has been revised to exploit reaction of ascorbic acid with iodate and iodide in acid solution. Electrolyzing the solution of potassium iodide produces iodine, which reacts with ascorbic acid. The end of process is determined by potentiometric titration in a manner similar to Karl Fischer titration. The amount of ascorbic acid can be calculated by Faraday's law. + +Another alternative uses N-bromosuccinimide (NBS) as the oxidizing agent, in the presence of potassium iodide and starch. The NBS first oxidizes the ascorbic acid; when the latter is exhausted, the NBS liberates the iodine from the potassium iodide, which then forms the blue-black complex with starch. + +See also + Colour retention agent + Erythorbic acid: a diastereomer of ascorbic acid. + Mineral ascorbates: salts of ascorbic acid + Acids in wine + +References + +Further reading + +External links + +IPCS Poisons Information Monograph (PIM) 046 +Interactive 3D-structure of vitamin C with details on the x-ray structure + +Organic acids +Antioxidants +Dietary antioxidants +Coenzymes +Corrosion inhibitors +Furanones +Vitamers +Vitamin C +Biomolecules +3-Hydroxypropenals +Amsterdamsche Football Club Ajax (), also known as AFC Ajax, Ajax Amsterdam, or simply Ajax, is a Dutch professional football club based in Amsterdam, that plays in the , the top tier in Dutch football. Historically, Ajax (named after the legendary Greek hero) is the most successful club in the Netherlands, with 36 and 20 KNVB Cups. It has continuously played in the , since the league's inception in 1956 and, along with and , it is one of the country's "big three" clubs that have dominated that competition. + +Ajax was one of the most successful clubs in the world in the 20th century. According to the International Federation of Football History & Statistics, Ajax was the seventh-most successful European club of the 20th century and The World's Club Team of the Year in 1992. According to German magazine Kicker, Ajax was the second-most successful European club of the 20th century. The club is one of five teams that have earned the right to keep the European Cup and to wear a multiple-winner badge. In 1972, they completed the continental treble by winning the , KNVB Cup, and the European Cup. They also won the first (albeit unofficial) European Super Cup against Rangers in January 1973. Ajax's most recent international trophies are the 1995 Intercontinental Cup, 1995 UEFA Super Cup and the 1995 Champions League, where they defeated Milan in the final; they lost the 1996 Champions League final on penalties to Juventus. In 1995, Ajax was crowned as World Team of the Year by World Soccer magazine. + +Ajax is also one of four teams to win the continental treble and the Intercontinental Cup or Club World Cup in the same season/calendar year; this was achieved in the 1971–72 season. Ajax is one of five clubs to have won all three major UEFA club competitions. They have also won the Intercontinental Cup twice, the 1991–92 UEFA Cup, as well as the Karl Rappan Cup, a predecessor of the UEFA Intertoto Cup in 1962. Ajax plays at the Johan Cruyff Arena, which opened as the Amsterdam ArenA in 1996 and was renamed in 2018. They previously played at and the Amsterdam Olympic Stadium (for international matches). Throughout their history, Ajax have cultivated a reputation for scouting, spotting and developing young talent, and have remained focused on developing a youth system. + +History + +Ajax was founded in Amsterdam on 18 March 1900. The club achieved promotion to the highest level of Dutch football in 1911 and had its first major success in 1917, winning the KNVB Beker, the Netherlands' national cup. The following season, Ajax became national champion for the first time. The club defended its title in 1918–19, becoming the only team to achieve an unbeaten season in the Netherlands Football League Championship. + +Throughout the 1920s, Ajax was a strong regional power, winning the Eerste Klasse West division in 1921, 1927 and 1928, but could not maintain its success at the national level. This changed in the 1930s, with the club winning five national championships (1931, 1932, 1934, 1937, 1939), making it the most successful Dutch team of the decade. Ajax won its second KNVB Cup in 1942–43, and an eighth Dutch title in 1946–47, the last season the club was managed by Englishman Jack Reynolds, who, up to this point, had overseen all of its national championship successes as well as its 1917 KNVB Cup win. + +In 1956, the first season of the Netherlands' new professional league, the , was played with Ajax participating as a founding member. The Amsterdam club became the first national champions under the new format and made its debut in the European Champion Clubs' Cup the following year, losing to Hungarian champions 6–2 on aggregate at the quarter-final stage. The team was again champions in 1960 and won a third KNVB Cup in 1961. + +In 1965, Rinus Michels, who had played for the club between 1946 and 1958, was appointed manager of Ajax, implementing his philosophy of Total Football which was to become synonymous with both Ajax and the Netherlands national team. A year earlier, Johan Cruyff, who would go on to become widely regarded as the greatest Dutch footballer of all-time, made his debut. Between them, Michels and Cruyff led Ajax through the most successful period in its history, winning seven titles, four KNVB Cups and three European Cups. + +Ajax won the Dutch championship in 1966, 1967 and 1968, and reached the 1969 European Cup final, losing to Milan. During the 1966–67 season, Ajax scored a record 122 goals in an season and also won the KNVB Cup to achieve its first league and cup double. In 1969–70, Ajax won a fourth Dutch league championship and second league and cup double in five seasons, winning 27 out of 34 league matches and scoring 100 goals. + +The 1970–71 season saw Ajax retain the KNVB Cup and reach the 1971 European Cup final, where they defeated 2–0 with goals from Dick van Dijk and Arie Haan to become continental champions for the first time, with Cruyff being named European Footballer of the Year. After this success, Michels departed to become manager of Barcelona and was replaced by the Romanian Ștefan Kovács. In Kovács' first season, Ajax completed a treble of the European Cup, the and a third consecutive KNVB Cup. The following season, the team beat Argentine to win the 1972 Intercontinental Cup and retained their and European Cup titles, becoming the first club to win three consecutive European Cups since Real Madrid in the 1950s. + +In 1973, Michels' Barcelona broke the world transfer record to bring Cruyff to Catalonia. Kovács also departed to become manager of the France national team, signalling the end of this period of international success. + +In 1976–77, Ajax won its first domestic championship in four seasons and recorded a double of the and KNVB Cup two years later. + +The early 1980s saw the return of Cruyff to the club, as well as the emergence of young players Marco van Basten and Frank Rijkaard. The team won back-to-back titles in 1982 and 1983, with all three playing a significant role in the latter. After Cruyff's sale to rivals in 1983, van Basten became Ajax's key player, top scoring in the for four seasons between 1983–84 and 1986–87. + +In 1985, Cruyff returned to Ajax as manager and the team ended his first season in charge with 120 goals from 34 matches. However, Ajax still finished as runner-up to PSV by eight points. The following season, Ajax again lost out on the title to PSV, but won the European Cup Winners' Cup, its first continental trophy in 14 years. After this, Cruyff left the club to become manager of Barcelona and Rijkaard and van Basten were sold to Sporting CP and Milan respectively. Despite these losses, Ajax reached a second consecutive Cup Winners' Cup final in 1988, where they lost to Belgian club . + +The 1988–89 season saw Dennis Bergkamp, a young forward who had first appeared under Cruyff in 1986, establish himself as a regular goalscorer for Ajax. Bergkamp helped Ajax to the title and was the top scorer in the division in 1990–91, 1991–92 and 1992–93. Under the management of Louis van Gaal, Ajax won the UEFA Cup in 1992 to become the second club, after , to have won all three major European club competitions. + +After the sale of Bergkamp to in 1993, van Gaal re-signed the experienced Rijkaard to complement his young Ajax team featuring academy graduates Frank and Ronald de Boer, Edwin van der Sar, Clarence Seedorf, Edgar Davids, Michael Reiziger and Winston Bogarde, as well as mercurial foreign talents Finidi George, Nwankwo Kanu and Jari Litmanen, and veteran captain Danny Blind. The team regained the Dutch championship in 1993–94, and won it again in 1994–95 and 1995–96 to become the first Ajax side to win three back-to-back championships since 1968. The height of van Gaal's success came in 1994–95, where Ajax became the first, and to date only, team to complete an entire season unbeaten. The team also won its first European Cup since its 1970s era, defeating Milan in the 1995 UEFA Champions League final 1–0, with the winning goal scored by 18-year-old Patrick Kluivert. Ajax again reached the final one year later, and was defeated on penalties by . + +Ajax's return as a European force was short-lived, as van Gaal and several members of the squad soon departed to some of the continent's biggest clubs. The 2000s was a lean decade for the club, with only two championships won. However, Ajax's academy continued to produce star players such as Wesley Sneijder and Rafael van der Vaart. + +In 2010, Frank de Boer was appointed manager of Ajax and led the club to its first league title in seven years, and record 30th title overall, in the 2010–11 season. This was followed by back-to-back wins in 2011–12 and 2012–13 to match his three consecutive titles as a player in the 1990s. In 2013–14, Ajax was again champions, winning four consecutive league titles for the first time in club history. After finishing as runner-up to PSV in both 2014–15 and 2015–16, de Boer resigned as Ajax head coach in May 2016. + +Peter Bosz took over the club and led them to the 2017 UEFA Europa League final, their first European final in 21 years. They lost to Manchester United with a lineup that was the youngest ever in a European final, averaging an age of 22 years and 282 days. For the third consecutive season, they finished runner-up in the , this time to . + +The 2018–19 season for Ajax involved a remarkable run in the UEFA Champions League. Due to their runner-up finish in the 2017–18 Eredivisie, Ajax entered the tournament in the second qualifying round. After successive victories against Sturm Graz, and , they qualified for the group stage. Ajax was drawn in a group with German champions Bayern Munich, Portuguese side Benfica and Greek champions AEK Athens. Ajax finished runner-up in this group, qualifying for the knockout stages, where it was drawn against three-time defending champions Real Madrid. After losing 1–2 in the first leg, they defeated Real Madrid 4–1 in the away match, stunning the defending champions in their own stadium, the Santiago Bernabéu, with an aggregate score of 5–3. Dušan Tadić was awarded a perfect score of 10 by following the match. + +Thus, Ajax progressed to the quarter-finals and was drawn with Italian champions . In the first leg in the Johan Cruyff Arena, they drew 1–1. In the second leg at the Juventus Stadium, Ajax came from behind to win 2–1 and 3–2 on aggregate. Matthijs de Ligt scored the winning goal for Ajax to help the team advance to its first Champions League semi-final since 1997. There, they would face English side Tottenham Hotspur. + +In the first leg of the semi-final, Ajax beat Tottenham 1–0 away from home. In the second leg, Ajax scored twice in the first half to generate a 3–0 lead on aggregate. However, in the second half, Lucas Moura scored three times, including in the 6th minute of added time, resulting in Ajax losing via the away goals rule. + +Ajax was in first place on goal difference when the was declared void, preventing them being Dutch champions for the 35th time, but still qualified for the 2020–21 UEFA Champions League. + +UEFA ranking + +Academies (Youth/Coaching) + +The club is also particularly famous for its renowned youth programme that has produced many Dutch talents over the years – Johan Cruyff, Edwin van der Sar, Gerald Vanenburg, Frank Rijkaard, Dennis Bergkamp, Rafael van der Vaart, Patrick Kluivert, Marco van Basten, Wesley Sneijder, Maarten Stekelenburg, Nigel de Jong, Frenkie de Jong, and Matthijs de Ligt have come through the ranks and are just some of the talents who have played for Ajax. Ajax also regularly supplies the Dutch national youth teams with local talent. + +Due to mutual agreements with foreign clubs, the youth academy has also signed foreign players as teenagers before making first team debuts, such as Belgian defensive trio Jan Vertonghen, Toby Alderweireld and Thomas Vermaelen along with winger Tom De Mul, all of whom are full internationals, as well as Dutch international Vurnon Anita and Javier Martina, representing Curaçao. + +Ajax has also expanded its talent searching programme to South Africa with Ajax Cape Town. Ajax Cape Town was set up with the help of Rob Moore. Ajax has also had a satellite club in the United States under the name Ajax America, until it filed for bankruptcy. There are some youth players from Ajax Cape Town that have been drafted into the squad, such as South African internationals Steven Pienaar and Thulani Serero and Cameroonian international Eyong Enoh. + +In 1995, the year Ajax won the UEFA Champions League, the Netherlands national team was almost entirely composed of Ajax players, with van der Sar in goal; players such as Michael Reiziger, Frank de Boer and Danny Blind in defence; Ronald de Boer, Edgar Davids and Clarence Seedorf in midfield; and Patrick Kluivert and Marc Overmars in attack. + +In 2011, Ajax opened its first youth academies outside the Netherlands when the club partnered up with George Kazianis and All Star Consultancy in Greece to open the Ajax Hellas Youth Academy. The offices are based in Nea Smyrni, Attica, with the main training facility located on the island of Corfu, hosting a total of 15 football youth academies throughout Greece and Cyprus. Eddie van Schaik heads the organization as coach and consultant, introducing the Ajax football philosophy at the various Greek football training camps. + +In 2016, Ajax launched the ACA (Ajax Coaching Academy) with the intention of sharing knowledge, and setting up a variety of camps and clinics for both players and coaches. + +Stadiums + +Ajax's first stadium was built in 1911 out of wood and was called Het Houten Stadion (English: The Wooden Stadium). Ajax later played in the Olympic Stadium built for the 1928 Summer Olympics hosted in Amsterdam. This stadium, designed by Jan Wils, is known in Dutch as . In 1934, Ajax moved to De Meer Stadion in east Amsterdam, close to the location of Het Houten Stadion. It was designed by architect and Ajax-member Daan Roodenburgh, who had also designed the club's first stadium. It could accommodate 29,500 spectators and Ajax continued to play there until 1996. For big European and national fixtures, the club would often play at the Olympic Stadium, which could accommodate about twice the number of spectators. + +In 1996, Ajax moved to a new home ground in the southeast of the city known as the Amsterdam Arena, since 2018 known as the Johan Cruyff Arena. This stadium was built by the Amsterdam city authority at a cost of $134 million. The stadium is capable of holding 55,865 spectators. The Arena has a retractable roof and set a trend for other modern stadiums built in Europe in the following years. In the Netherlands, the Arena earned a reputation for a terrible grass pitch caused by the removable roof that, even when open, takes away too much sunlight and fresh air. During the 2008–09 season, ground staff introduced an artificial lighting system that finally reduced this problem considerably. + +The much-loved De Meer Stadion was torn down and the land was sold to the city council. A residential neighbourhood now occupies the area. The only thing left of the old stadium are the letters "AJAX", which nowadays is in place on the façade of the youth training grounds De Toekomst, near the Johan Cruyff Arena. + +Crest and colours + +Crest +In 1900, when the club was founded, the emblem of Ajax was just a picture of an Ajax player. The crest was slightly altered following the club's promotion to the top division in 1911 to match the club's new outfits. In 1928, the club logo was introduced with the head of the Greek hero Ajax. The logo was once again changed in 1990 into an abstract version of the previous one. The new logo still sports the portrait of Ajax, but drawn with just 11 lines, symbolizing the 11 players of a football team. + +Colours + +Ajax originally played in an all-black uniform with a red sash tied around the players' waists, but that uniform was soon replaced by a red/white striped shirt and black shorts. Red, black and white are the three colours of the flag of Amsterdam. Under manager Jack Kirwan, however, the club earned promotion to the top flight of Dutch football for the first time in 1911 (then the Eerste Klasse or 'First Class', later named the ), Ajax was forced to change its colours because Sparta Rotterdam already had exactly the same outfit. Special kits for away fixtures did not exist at the time and according to football association regulations the newcomers had to change their colours if two teams in the same league had identical uniforms. Ajax opted for white shorts and white shirt with a broad, vertical red stripe over chest and back, which still is Ajax's outfit. + +Financial + +AFC Ajax N.V. + +AFC Ajax is the only Dutch club with an initial public offering (IPO). The club is registered as a Naamloze vennootschap (N.V.) listed on the stock exchange Euronext Amsterdam, since 17 May 1998. With a launch price of ƒ25,- (Guilders) the club managed to a bring its total revenue up to €54 million (converted) in its first year on the market. After short-lived success, however, the rate dropped, at one point as low as €3.50. Criticism was brought forth that the legal grid for a naamloze vennootschap would not be suitable for a Football club, and that the sports related ambitions would suffer from the new commercial interests of the now listed Ajax. Shares of the company in the year 2008 were valued at approximately €5.90 per share. + +In 2008, a Commission under guidance of honorary member Uri Coronel concluded that the IPO was of no value to the club, and that measures should be taken to exit the stock exchange by purchasing back all public shares. Ajax remain on the stock exchange. + +Sponsorship + +Ajax's shirts have been sponsored by TDK from 1982 to 1991, and by ABN AMRO from 1991 to 2008. AEGON then replaced ABN AMRO as the new head sponsor for a period of seven years. On 1 April 2007, Ajax wore a different sponsor for the match against Heracles Almelo, Florius. Florius is a banking programme launched by ABN AMRO who wanted it to be the shirt sponsor for one match. + +The shirts have been manufactured by Le Coq Sportif (1973–1977), Puma (1977–1979), Cor du Buy (1979-1980), Le Coq Sportif (1980–1984), Kappa (1985–1989) and Umbro (1989–2000) in the past, and by Adidas since 2000 (until at least 2025). + +At the conclusion of the 2013–14 season, Ajax won the Football shirt of the Year award for its black and rose colored away shirt by Adidas. The annual award was presented by Subside Sports, which had previously given the award to Internazionale, Juventus and the Belgium national team. It was Ajax's first time winning the award. + +On 7 November 2014, it was announced that Ajax had agreed to a four-and-a-half-year contract worth €8 million annually with Dutch cable operating company Ziggo as the new shirt sponsor for the club. Having extended its contract with AEGON for half a season until December, the club featured Fonds Gehandicaptensport, a charitable fund for handicapped sports on its away shirts for a six-month period before transitioning to Ziggo in 2015. + +Kit suppliers and shirt sponsors + +Kit deals + +Other teams + +Reserves team + +Jong Ajax (formerly more commonly known as Ajax 2) is the reserve team of AFC Ajax. The team is composed mostly of professional footballers, who are often recent graduates from the highest youth level (Ajax A1) serving their first professional contract as a reserve, or players who are otherwise unable to play in the first team. + +Since 1992, Jong Ajax competed in the Beloften Eredivisie, competing against other reserve teams such as Jong PSV, Jong FC Groningen or Jong AZ. They have won the Beloften title a record eight times, as well as the KNVB Reserve Cup three times, making them the most successful reserve squad in the Netherlands. By winning the Beloften Eredivisie title, Jong Ajax was able to qualify for the actual KNVB Cup, even advancing to the semi-finals on three occasions. Its best result in the Dutch Cup was under manager Jan Olde Riekerink in 2001–02, when a semi-final loss to Utrecht in a Penalty shoot-out after extra time, which saw Utrecht advance, and thus preventing an Ajax–Jong Ajax Dutch Cup final. + +The 2013–14 season marked the Jupiler League debut of the Ajax reserves' squad, Jong Ajax. Previously playing in the Beloften Eredivisie (a separate league for reserve teams, not included in the Dutch professional or amateur league structure), players were allowed to move around freely between the reserve team and the first team during the season. This is no longer the case as Jong Ajax now registers and fields a separate squad from that of Ajax first team for the Eerste Divisie, the second tier of professional football in the Netherlands. Its home matches are played at Sportpark De Toekomst, except for the occasional match in the Johan Cruyff Arena. Now regarded a semi-professional team in its own respect, the only period in which players are able to move between squads are during the transfer windows, unless the player has made less than 15 appearances for the first team, then he is still eligible to appear in both first team and second team matches during the season. Furthermore, the team is not eligible for promotion to the or to participate in the KNVB Cup. Jong Ajax was joined in the Eerste Divisie by Jong Twente and Jong PSV, reserve teams who have also moved from the Beloften to the Eerste Divisie, in place of VV Katwijk, SC Veendam and AGOVV Apeldoorn, increasing the total number of teams in the Jupiler League from 18 to 20. + +Ajax reserve squad Jong Ajax left the Beloften Eredivisie in 2013, having held a 21-year tenure in the reserves league, having also won the league title a record eight times (1994, 1996, 1998, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2009). + +Women's team + +AFC Ajax Vrouwen (English: AFC Ajax Women) is the women's team of AFC Ajax, competing in the women's eredivisie, the highest level of women's football in the Netherlands. Founded on 18 May 2012, the women's team saw Ajax attracting many of the Netherlands top talents, with International players such as Anouk Hoogendijk, Daphne Koster and Petra Hogewoning joining the Amsterdam club in its maiden season in women's professional football. The team won its first piece of silverware when they defeated PSV/FC Eindhoven 2–1 in the final of the KNVB Women's Cup. + +Amateur team + +AFC Ajax Amateurs, better known as Ajax Zaterdag, is a Dutch amateur football club founded 18 March 1900. It is the amateur team of the professional club AFC Ajax, playing its home matches at the Sportpark De Toekomst training grounds to a capacity of 5,000. The team was promoted from the Eerste Klasse to the Hoofdklasse ahead of the 2011–12 season, the league in which it is currently competing. The team has won the Eerste Klasse title twice, as well as the *KNVB District Cup West I on two occasions as well. + +Furthermore, Ajax Zaterdag has also managed to qualify for the KNVB Cup on its own accord on three occasions, namely in 2004, 2005, 2008 and 2021. Even advancing to the second round before bowing out to Vitesse on 24 September 2008. + +Other sports + +Baseball + +Ajax HVA (1922–1972) was the baseball team of AFC Ajax founded in 1922, and competed as founding members of the Honkbal Hoofdklasse, the top flight of professional baseball in the Netherlands. Ajax won the national baseball title a total of four times (1924, 1928, 1942, 1948) before the club opted to no longer field a baseball team, and to focus solely on football in 1972. Ajax spent a total of 50 years at the top flight of Baseball in the Netherlands from 1922 to 1972. The dissolution of Ajax baseball club resulted in the players finding a new sponsor in a mustard manufacturing company called Luycks, while merging with the Diemen Giants to become the Luycks Giants, thus replacing both former clubs. + +Esports + +In 2016, Ajax launched an esports team, with Koen Weijland as the club's first signing, making its debut on the Global stage of professional gaming. They have since signed the likes of Dani Hagebeuk, Lev Vinken, Joey Calabro and Bob van Uden, the latter spent his first season on loan to the esports team of Japanese club Sagan Tosu. + +Affiliated clubs + +The following clubs are currently affiliated with AFC Ajax: + Almere City (2005–present) + Barcelona (2007–present) + Cruzeiro (2007–present) + Beijing Guoan (2007–present) + Palmeiras (2010–present) + AS Trenčín (2012–present) + Guangzhou R&F (2017–present) + Sagan Tosu (2018–present) + Sharjah FC (2020–present) + Sydney FC (2018–present) + Sparta Rotterdam (2019–present) + Various HETT-clubs (See main article) +The following clubs were affiliated with AFC Ajax in the past: + Germinal Beerschot (1999–2003) + Ashanti Goldfields (1999–2003) + Ajax Orlando Prospects (2003–2007) + HFC Haarlem (2006–2010) + Volendam (2007–2010) + Ajax Cape Town (1999–2020) + +Rivalries +As one of the traditional big three clubs in the Netherlands, Ajax have amassed a number of intense rivalries over the years. Listed below are the most significant of the rivalries involving Ajax. + +Rivalry with Feyenoord + +Feyenoord from Rotterdam is Ajax's archrival. Every year both clubs play the De Klassieker ("The Classic"), a match between the teams from the two largest cities of the Netherlands. Till the 1973/74-season, Ajax and Feyenoord were the only two clubs in the Netherlands who were able to clinch national titles, as well as achieve continental and even global success. From the 1974/75-season on, PSV (Eindhoven) and AZ (Alkmaar) too, competed with Ajax and Feyenoord. A meeting between the two clubs became the measure for who was truly the best club in the Netherlands. The Klassieker is the most famous of all the rivalries in the Netherlands and the matches are always sold out. The fixture is seen in the public eye as "the graceful and elegant football of Ajax, against the indomitable fighting spirit of Feyenoord"; the confidence of the capital city versus the blue collar mentality of Rotterdam. Matches are known for their tension and violence, both on and off the pitch. Over the years, several violent incidents have taken place involving rival supporters, leading to the current prohibition of away supporters in both stadiums. The lowest point was reached on 23 March 1997, when supporters of both clubs met on a field near Beverwijk, where Ajax-supporter Carlo Picornie was fatally injured, the incident is commonly referred to as the "Battle of Beverwijk". + +Rivalry with PSV + +PSV is also a rival of Ajax, but in terms of tension and rivalry, these matches are not as loaded as the duels with Feyenoord. The rivalry has existed for some time with PSV and stems from various causes, such as the different interpretations of whether current national and international successes of both clubs correlates and the supposed opposition between the Randstad and the province. The matches between these two teams is commonly referred to as "De Topper" ("The Topper"), and involves the two most trophy-laden sides in Dutch football and is essentially a clash of two competing schools of thought in Dutch football. Historically, PSV compete with a workmanlike ethic, preferring a more robust 4–3–1–2 or 4–2–3–1, typically shunning the frivolous 4–3–3 approach favoured in Amsterdam. While Rinus Michels and Johan Cruyff helped to innovate Total Football in the sixties and seventies, a different philosophy was honed in Eindhoven by Kees Rijvers and Guus Hiddink in the late 1970s and '80s. This in turn has created one of the more philosophical rivalries in football, an ideological battleground, which is gradually becoming as heated and intense as the matches Ajax and Feyenoord partake in. + +Rivalries with other clubs + +Aside from Feyenoord and PSV, Ajax have several other rivalries, although in most cases the sentiment is mostly felt by the opposition and is more directed towards Ajax, with one of them being Utrecht. Although the rivalry is more felt on the Utrecht side then with Ajax, matchups between the two sides are often quite intense. Both teams have fanatic supporters, and clashes off the pitch are more often the rule than the exception. The same goes for ADO Den Haag, with both supporter groups often getting in conflicts, when ADO-Hooligans set fire to the supporters home of Ajax, and Ajax hooligans subsequently broke into the Supporters home of ADO tensions between the two clubs rose. In 2006, supporters from both clubs were banned from attending away matches for five years due to frequent violent outbreaks and clashes. + +Further teams who share a rivalry with Ajax include Twente, Vitesse Arnhem, Groningen and AZ, although the latter is often regarded by Ajax supporters as the club's "little brother". With AZ being from nearby Alkmaar and therefore situated in the same province as Ajax, match-ups between the two sides are commonly known as the "De Noord-Hollandse Derby" ("North Holland Derby") and are often very competitive, intense and loaded fixtures. + +Past rivalries include local Amsterdam derbies between Ajax and clubs such as Blauw-Wit, DWS and De Volewijckers (which later merged to become FC Amsterdam in 1972). However, the tension between the local sides lessened as the division of the clubs through playing in different leagues over time became greater. Years of not competing in the same league resulted in less frequent match-ups, until tensions finally settled between the Amsterdam clubs. The last Amsterdam derby to take place in an official league match was when Ajax defeated FC Amsterdam 5–1 on 19 March 1978. + +Supporters + +Ajax is known for having fanatic core supporter-groups, of which F-Side and VAK410 are the most famous. The F-Side was founded on 3 October 1976, and is situated right behind the goal in the Johan Cruyff Arena, on the southern end of the stadium in rows 125–129. Its name is derived from the group's former location on the F-side of the old De Meer Stadion. The F-side supporters are responsible for a big part of the atmosphere in the stadium, and are also known for rioting during and after matches. If in any match Ajax should win the coin toss, the second half of the match Ajax always play towards the south-end of the stadium. VAK410 (English: Row 410) was founded in 2001 and is situated in the Zuidhoek (South corner) of the stadium on the upper ring in rows 424–425. The group was originally situated on the North-West side of the stadium in row 410, from where it derives its name, until relocating to their current place in the stands in 2008. Members of VAK410 are known to perform various stunts, which include massive banners, to enhance the atmosphere in the stadium. Neither F-Side or VAK410 have seats in their sections of the stadium, and both groups stand for the duration of the match. + +Through the official Football Top 20 of Dutch sports research group SPORT+MARKT, it was revealed in 2010 that Ajax had approximately 7.1 million supporters throughout Europe. This is significantly more than rivals Feyenoord and PSV (each 1.6 and 1.3 million, respectively), which puts Ajax as the club with the 15th-most supporters across Europe. The study also revealed that approximately 39% of the Netherlands were Ajax supporters. Not only does Ajax have many supporters, but several fans attend their matches in European competition, with an average attendance of 48,677 spectators for every international match Ajax played, putting the team at 12th place in Europe for highest attendance, ahead of high-profile clubs such as Milan and Chelsea. It is noteworthy that not all stadiums share the capacity of the Johan Cruyff Arena. + +Supporters clubs + +The Supporters Club Ajax () is officially the largest supporters club in the Netherlands with 94,000 members. Founded on 7 May 1992, the supporters club organize big monthly events throughout the Netherlands, and particularly around the official Ajax Open Training Day, which attracts thousands of supporters each year. Furthermore, the supporters group is responsible for the Ajax Life website, as well as the fanzine which is issued 20 times a year. + +In 2006, the AFCA Supportersclub was introduced as the club's second official supporters' association, through the merger of the Onafhankelijke Fanclub Ajax (OFA) and the Ajax Supporters Delegatie (ASD). The AFCA Supportersclub has a reported 42,000 members, as well as a former member on the Board of Administration of Ajax, in Ronald Pieloor. + +The third official supporters club is the Ajax Business Associates (ABA). Founded in 1991 the ABA is the Business club of Ajax. Members occupy the skyboxes in the Stadium and can make use of the clubs' amenities and luxury suites including the ABA club and lounge. The ABA is also responsible for hosting the annual Ajax Business Golf Trophy, an amateur golf tournament where several active and former Ajax players, as well as prominent people and members of the ABA, participate. + +Average attendance +This graph displays the average attendance for home matches of Ajax from 1988 to 2018, whereby the difference in capacity of the De Meer Stadion and the Johan Cruyff Arena (est. 1996) is clearly visible. + +Mascot + Lucky Lynx, is the official team mascot. (2000–present) + +Jewish connection + +Historically, Ajax was popularly seen as having "Jewish roots". While it had fewer Jewish players than WV-HEDW, Ajax has had a Jewish image since the 1930s when the home stadium was located next to a Jewish neighbourhood of Amsterdam-Oost and opponents saw many supporters walking through the Nieuwmarkt/Waterloopleinbuurt (de Jodenhoek—the "Jews' corner") to get to the stadium. The city of Amsterdam was historically referred to as a Mokum city, Mokum (מקום) being the Yiddish word for "place" or "safe haven", and as anti-Semitic chants and name calling developed and intensified at the old De Meer Stadion from frustrated supporters of opposing clubs, Ajax fans (few of whom are actually Jewish) responded by embracing Ajax's "Jewish" identity: calling themselves "super Jews", chanting "Jews, Jews" ("Joden, Joden") at games, and adopting Jewish symbols such as the Star of David and the Israeli flag. + +This Jewish imagery eventually became a central part of Ajax fans' culture. At one point, ringtones of "Hava Nagila", a Hebrew folk song, could be downloaded from the club's official website. Beginning in the 1980s, fans of Ajax's rivals escalated their anti-Semitic rhetoric, chanting slogans like "Hamas, Hamas/Jews to the gas" ("Hamas, hamas, joden aan het gas"), hissing to imitate the flow of gas, giving Nazi salutes, and other things. The eventual result was that many genuinely Jewish Ajax fans stopped going to games. + +In the 2000s, the club began trying to persuade fans to drop its Jewish image. In 2013, a documentary titled Superjews was released by NTR and Viewpoint Productions which premiered at the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA). The film was directed by Nirit Peled, an Israeli living in Amsterdam, and an independent film maker who offers a very personal view into the game, the lore of Ajax and its relation to Judaism from both the supporters as well as from a Jewish perspective. + +Players + +Current squad + +Players out on loan + +Retired numbers + +14 – Johan Cruyff (Forward, 1964–73, 1981–83). Number retired on 25 April 2007 at Cruyff's 60th birthday celebration match. + +Notes: + +Youth/reserves squad +For the reserve squad of Ajax see: Jong Ajax. + +Notable former players + +Board and staff + +Current board +Executive Board +Chairman: Frank Eijken +Board members: 3 – ( Wendy Nagel, Marc Stuut, Sander Mallie) + +Board of Directors +Chief executive officer: Jan van Halst (interim) +Chief financial officer: Susan Lenderink +Chief commercial officer: Menno Geelen +Chief sports officer: Maurits Hendriks +Director of football: Vacant + +Supervisory Board +Chairman: Pier Eringa +Board members: 4 – ( Annette Mosman, Jan van Halst, Cees van Oevelen, Georgette Schlick) + +Current staff +Coaching staff +Head coach: John van 't Schip (interim) +Assistant coaches: Hedwiges Maduro Said Bakkati +First-team coach: Richard Witschge +Goalkeeping coach: Anton Scheutjens +Performance coach: Alessandro Schoenmaker + +Medical staff +Team doctor: Bas Peijs +Team doctor: Don de Winter +Physiotherapist: Ralph van der Horst +Physiotherapist: Pim van Dord +Physiotherapist: Frank van Deursen +Fitness coach / Recovery trainer: Björn Rekelhof + +Accompanying staff +Team manager: Jan Siemerink +Players supervisor: Herman Pinkster +Loan coach: Michel Kreek +Press officer: Miel Brinkhuis + +List of Ajax chairmen + + Floris Stempel (1900–08) + Chris Holst (1908–10) + Han Dade (1910–12) + Chris Holst (1912–13) + Willem Egeman (1913–25) + Frans Schoevaart (1925–32) + Marius Koolhaas (1932–56) + Wim Volkers (1956–58) + Jan Melchers (1958–64) + Jaap van Praag (1964–78) + Ton Harmsen (1978–88) + Michael van Praag (1989–2003) + John Jaakke (2003–08) + Uri Coronel (2008–11) + Hennie Henrichs (2011–20) + Frank Eijken (2020–present) + +List of Ajax coaches + + Jack Kirwan (1910–15) + Jack Reynolds (1915–25) + Harold Rose (1925–26) + Stanley Castle (1926–28) + Jack Reynolds (1928–40) + Vilmos Halpern (1940–41) + Wim Volkers (1941–42) + Dolf van Kol (1942–45) + Jack Reynolds (1945–47) + Robert Smith (1947–48) + Walter Crook (1948–50) + Robert Thomson (1950–52) + Karel Kaufman (1952–53) + Walter Crook (1953–54) + Karl Humenberger (1954–59) + Vic Buckingham (1959–61) + Keith Spurgeon (1961–62) + Joseph Gruber (1962–63) + Jack Rowley (1963–64) + Vic Buckingham (1964–65) + Rinus Michels (1965–71) + Ștefan Kovács (1971–73) + George Knobel (1973–74) + Bobby Haarms (1974, interim) + Hans Kraay (1974–75) + Jan van Daal (1975, interim) + Rinus Michels (1975–76) + Tomislav Ivić (1976–78) + Cor Brom (1978–79) + Leo Beenhakker (1979–81) + Aad de Mos (1981, interim) + Kurt Linder (1981–82) + Aad de Mos (1982–85) + Antoine Kohn, Tonny Bruins Slot and Cor van der Hart (1985, interim) + Johan Cruyff (1985–88) + Kurt Linder (1988) + Antoine Kohn, Bobby Haarms and Barry Hulshoff (1988–89, interim) + Leo Beenhakker (1989–91) + Louis van Gaal (1991–97) + Morten Olsen (1997–99) + Jan Wouters (1999–2000) + Hans Westerhof (2000, interim) + Co Adriaanse (2000–01) + Ronald Koeman (2001–05) + Ruud Krol (2005, interim) + Danny Blind (2005–06) + Henk ten Cate (2006–07) + Adrie Koster (2007–08, interim) + Marco van Basten (2008–09) + John van 't Schip (2009, interim) + Martin Jol (2009–10) + Frank de Boer (2010–16) + Peter Bosz (2016–17) + Marcel Keizer (2017) + Erik ten Hag (2017–2022) + Alfred Schreuder (2022–2023) + John Heitinga (2023) + Maurice Steijn (2023) + Hedwiges Maduro (2023, interim) + John van 't Schip (2023–2024, interim) + +Honours + +Official trophies (recognized by UEFA and FIFA) + +National +Netherlands Football League Championship / Eredivisie (36; record): + 1917–18, 1918–19, 1930–31, 1931–32, 1933–34, 1936–37, 1938–39, 1946–47, 1956–57, 1959–60, 1965–66, 1966–67, 1967–68, 1969–70, 1971–72, 1972–73, 1976–77, 1978–79, 1979–80, 1981–82, 1982–83, 1984–85, 1989–90, 1993–94, 1994–95, 1995–96, 1997–98, 2001–02, 2003–04, 2010–11, 2011–12, 2012–13, 2013–14, 2018–19, 2020–21, 2021–22 +KNVB Cup (20; record): + 1916–17, 1942–43, 1960–61, 1966–67, 1969–70, 1970–71, 1971–72, 1978–79, 1982–83, 1985–86, 1986–87, 1992–93, 1997–98, 1998–99, 2001–02, 2005–06, 2006–07, 2009–10, 2018–19, 2020–21 +Johan Cruyff Shield (9): + 1993, 1994, 1995, 2002, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2013, 2019 + +European + +European Cup / UEFA Champions League (4; Dutch record): + 1970–71, 1971–72, 1972–73, 1994–95 +European Cup Winners' Cup (1; Dutch record): + 1986–87 +UEFA Cup (1): + 1991–92 +Super Competition / UEFA Super Cup (2; Dutch record): + 1973, 1995 Ajax also won in 1972, however UEFA only sanctioned the UEFA Super Cup for the first time in 1973 so the 1972 edition was an unofficial one. Played against Rangers, winners of the 1971–72 European Cup Winners' Cup, it actually went ahead as 'a celebration of the Centenary of Rangers F.C.' (see below) because Rangers was serving a one-year ban at the time, imposed by UEFA for the misbehaviour of its fans. That victory meant Ajax had won every tournament (5 in total) they entered that year, a feat Celtic achieved in 1967 (with 6 trophies), Barcelona in 2009 (6 trophies), and Bayern in 2020 (also 6 trophies). + +Worldwide +Intercontinental Cup (2; Dutch record): + 1972, 1995 + +Other trophies +Ajax have won numerous friendly tournaments, unsanctioned by UEFA or FIFA, including the Amsterdam Tournament, Bruges Matins Trophy, Trofeo Santiago Bernabéu, Eusébio Cup, Ted Bates Trophy, Jalkapalloturnaus and Chippie Polar Cup. (For a complete list, see the list of AFC Ajax honours) + +Club Awards +World Soccer World Team of the Year : 1 + 1995 +France Football European Team of the Year : 4 + 1969, 1971, 1972, 1973 +Dutch Sports Team of the Year : 5 + 1968, 1969, 1972, 1987, 1995 +Sports Team of the Year : 1 + 1990 +Dick van Rijn Trophy : 1 + 1995 +Amsterdam Sportsteam of the year: 3 + 2011, 2013, 2014 +ING Fair Play Award : 2 + 2013, 2014 +Fair Play Cup : 1 + 1995 +FIFA Club of the Century : shared 5th place + 20th Century +kicker Sportmagazin Club of the Century: 2nd place + 20th Century +Best Dutch club after 50 years of professional football : 1 + 2004 +Football shirt of the Year : Ajax away shirt by adidas + 2013–14 +The Four-Four-Two Greatest Club Side Ever : Ajax (1965–1973) + 2013 +VVCS Best Pitch of the Year : 1 + 2012 + +Honorary club members +Ajax have a total of 45 honorary club members, from people who have been invested within the club's administrative engagements, to committed players who have excelled in the athletic department. Of those 45 members 40 have since died. Five members still remain, having been reduced from eight members after Piet Keizer renounced his membership, seven after the passing of Johan Cruyff and six after the passing of Uri Coronel. + + Hennie Henrichs + Arie van Os + Michael van Praag + Rob Been + Sjaak Swart + +The remaining 40 honorary members who have since died: + + Floris Stempel + Han Dade + Chris Holst + L.W. van Fliet + K.W.F. van der Lee + Henk Alofs + Frans Schoevaart + Jan Grootmeijer + J. Oudheusden + Willem Egeman + Jan Schoevaart + Marius Koolhaas + Jordanus Roodenburgh + Theo Brokmann + F.H.W. de Bruijn + Jan de Boer + Frans Couton + A.L. Desmit + Wim Anderiesen + Wim Volkers + Jan Elzenga + Roef Vunderink + Kick Geudeker + G. de Jongh + Jack Reynolds + Ferry Dukker + Arie de Wit + W.F.C. Bruijnesteijn + Jan Westrik + Jaap van Praag + Henk Hordijk + M.J.W. Middendorp + Rinus Michels + Henk Timman + Jan Potharst + Bobby Haarms + André Kraan + Willem Schoevaart + Johan Cruyff + Uri Coronel + +Results + +Domestic results +Below is a table with Ajax's domestic results since the introduction of the in 1956. + +Continental results + +Team records + + Most match appearances: 463 – Sjaak Swart + Most goals scored: 273 – Piet van Reenen + Most goals scored in a season: 41 – Henk Groot + First Ajax player to receive an International cap: Gerard Fortgens for the Netherlands in 1911 + First Ajax player to score a goal for the national team: Theo Brokmann for the Netherlands in 1919 + +Club van 100 + +The Club van 100 is the official list of Football players who have appeared in one hundred or more official matches for AFC Ajax. The club currently has a total of over 150 members. The record for league appearances is held by Mr. Ajax himself Sjaak Swart, who appeared in 463 league matches for Ajax. There is a beneficiary team called Lucky Ajax, which was initiated by Sjaak Swart. Lucky Ajax participate in at least one match a year, usually in the name of charity, and commonly at football ceremonies to bid farewell to retiring players. One of the prerequisites for playing on Lucky Ajax, which is invitational only, is that you are a member of the Club van 100, having made at least 100 official match appearances for Ajax in the first team of the club. + +Lucky Ajax +Lucky Ajax is a beneficiary team that was initiated by Sjaak Swart in the seventies, competing in at least one match a year, usually in the name of charity and/or to bid farewell to retiring former Ajax players. The team is made up of various members of the Club van 100 of Ajax who will come out of retirement for this match to face the Ajax squad that is current of that year. Past participants have included Barry Hulshoff, Sonny Silooy, Simon Tahamata, Ronald Koeman, Tscheu La Ling, Gerrie Mühren, John van 't Schip, Brian Roy, Stanley Menzo, Peter van Vossen and Fred Grim. The name Lucky Ajax is derived from the famous "Lucky Ajax" nickname from how people used to refer to the club when Ajax would either win a match by chance, by a decision of a referee, or by coincidence such as was said to be the case during the infamous Mistwedstrijd ("Fog Match"). + +Number 14 shirt + +As of the 2007–08 season, no player could wear the number 14 shirt at Ajax after the club decided to retire the shirt out of respect for Johan Cruyff, "the legendary number fourteen". Cruyff himself laughed off the tribute, saying the club had to let its best player play with number 14. Spanish midfielder Roger was the last player to wear the number. Marvin Zeegelaar wore the shirt number In preparation for the 2011–12 season in one preseason match, while Aras Özbiliz wore the number 14 shirt in one pre-season match ahead of the 2011–12 season as well. The club stated that this was, in fact, not done in error. + +Below is a list of all players to wear the number 14 shirt since Johan Cruyff's departure. + +Former captains + +Team tournaments + +Amsterdam Tournament + +Established in 1975 as the Amsterdam 700 Tournament to celebrate 700 years of history in the city. The tournament was hosted annually each summer by Ajax until 1992, when the last edition of the original tournament was played. It returned in 1999 with the backing of the International Event Partnership (IEP). Four teams participated in the competition, played in a league format since 1986. Since its return, the tournament used an unusual point scoring system. As with most league competitions, three points were awarded for a win, one for a draw, and none for a loss. An additional point, however, was awarded for each goal scored. The system was designed to reward teams that adopted a more attacking style of play. Each entrant played two matches, with the winner being the club that finished at the top of the table. The original competition was held at Het Olympisch Stadion where Ajax played the bigget games until 1996. The Amsterdam Arena (now Johan Cruyff Arena) played host to the event since its return until the last edition was played in 2009. Ajax is the most successful team of the tournament, having won it a record ten times, while Benfica from Portugal was the last team to win the tournament, in 2009. + +Copa Amsterdam + +Established in 2005, the Copa Amsterdam is an international friendly football tournament for Under-19 youth teams, that is organized by Ajax and the Amsterdam city council, which takes place at the Olympic Stadium as part of the annual Amsterdam Sports Weekend, a citywide sponsored initiative to promote 'sports and recreation' within the city of Amsterdam. Each Summer the city of Amsterdam and Ajax invite U-19 teams from various top clubs from around the World to participate in the tournament. Seven teams are invited and play in the competition every year. Over the years, clubs such as Barcelona, Juventus, Chelsea and Real Madrid have had their senior youth teams participate in the tournament. Cruzeiro from Brazil is the most successful club in the history of the tournament, having won it three times in total. + +Future Cup + +Established in 2010, the AEGON Future Cup is an international friendly tournament for Under-17 youth teams, which is organized by AFC Ajax and their main sponsor, the insurance company AEGON. The tournament is held each year at the Johan Cruyff Arena and at the Sportpark De Toekomst, the team's training ground, which also inspired the name of the competition, since De Toekomst in Dutch means The Future. Every year during the Easter weekend, six U-17 teams are invited to participate in the competition, while the seventh place for the contesters is reserved for the winners of the "Craques Mongeral AEGON Future Cup" in Brazil, the sister competition of the tournament in South America. Youth teams from top clubs such as Manchester United, Bayern Munich, Milan and many more have participated in the competition over the years. Ajax is the most successful club of the tournament, having won the trophy a total of five times. + +See also + + List of football clubs in the Netherlands + +Bibliography + David Endt, De godenzonen van Ajax, Rap, Amsterdam, 1993, + Jan Baltus Kok, Naar Ajax. Mobiliteitspatronen van bezoekers bij vier thuiswedstrijden van Ajax, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, 1992, +Simon Kuper, Ajax, The Dutch, The War. Football in Europe during the Second World War, Orion Books, London (Translation of: Ajax, de Joden en Nederland ("Ajax, the Jews, The Netherlands)", 2003, + Evert Vermeer, 95 jaar Ajax. 1900–1995, Luitingh-Sijthoff, Amsterdam, 1996, + +External links + +AFC Ajax at weltfussballarchiv +AFC Ajax at soccerway + +References + + +Football clubs in Amsterdam +Football clubs in the Netherlands +1900 establishments in the Netherlands +Association football clubs established in 1900 +G-14 clubs +Aj +Aj +Aj +Aj +A +Sir Arthur Stanley Eddington (28 December 1882 – 22 November 1944) was an English astronomer, physicist, and mathematician. He was also a philosopher of science and a populariser of science. The Eddington limit, the natural limit to the luminosity of stars, or the radiation generated by accretion onto a compact object, is named in his honour. + +Around 1920, he foreshadowed the discovery and mechanism of nuclear fusion processes in stars, in his paper "The Internal Constitution of the Stars". At that time, the source of stellar energy was a complete mystery; Eddington was the first to correctly speculate that the source was fusion of hydrogen into helium. + +Eddington wrote a number of articles that announced and explained Einstein's theory of general relativity to the English-speaking world. World War I had severed many lines of scientific communication, and new developments in German science were not well known in England. He also conducted an expedition to observe the solar eclipse of 29 May 1919 on the Island of Principe that provided one of the earliest confirmations of general relativity, and he became known for his popular expositions and interpretations of the theory. + +Early years +Eddington was born 28 December 1882 in Kendal, Westmorland (now Cumbria), England, the son of Quaker parents, Arthur Henry Eddington, headmaster of the Quaker School, and Sarah Ann Shout. + +His father taught at a Quaker training college in Lancashire before moving to Kendal to become headmaster of Stramongate School. He died in the typhoid epidemic which swept England in 1884. His mother was left to bring up her two children with relatively little income. The family moved to Weston-super-Mare where at first Stanley (as his mother and sister always called Eddington) was educated at home before spending three years at a preparatory school. The family lived at a house called Varzin, 42 Walliscote Road, Weston-super-Mare. There is a commemorative plaque on the building explaining Sir Arthur's contribution to science. + +In 1893 Eddington entered Brynmelyn School. He proved to be a most capable scholar, particularly in mathematics and English literature. His performance earned him a scholarship to Owens College, Manchester (what was later to become the University of Manchester), in 1898, which he was able to attend, having turned 16 that year. He spent the first year in a general course, but he turned to physics for the next three years. Eddington was greatly influenced by his physics and mathematics teachers, Arthur Schuster and Horace Lamb. At Manchester, Eddington lived at Dalton Hall, where he came under the lasting influence of the Quaker mathematician J. W. Graham. His progress was rapid, winning him several scholarships and he graduated with a BSc in physics with First Class Honours in 1902. + +Based on his performance at Owens College, he was awarded a scholarship to Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1902. His tutor at Cambridge was Robert Alfred Herman and in 1904 Eddington became the first ever second-year student to be placed as Senior Wrangler. After receiving his M.A. in 1905, he began research on thermionic emission in the Cavendish Laboratory. This did not go well, and meanwhile he spent time teaching mathematics to first year engineering students. This hiatus was brief. Through a recommendation by E. T. Whittaker, his senior colleague at Trinity College, he secured a position at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, where he was to embark on his career in astronomy, a career whose seeds had been sown even as a young child when he would often "try to count the stars". + +Astronomy + +In January 1906, Eddington was nominated to the post of chief assistant to the Astronomer Royal at the Royal Greenwich Observatory. He left Cambridge for Greenwich the following month. He was put to work on a detailed analysis of the parallax of 433 Eros on photographic plates that had started in 1900. He developed a new statistical method based on the apparent drift of two background stars, winning him the Smith's Prize in 1907. The prize won him a fellowship of Trinity College, Cambridge. In December 1912, George Darwin, son of Charles Darwin, died suddenly, and Eddington was promoted to his chair as the Plumian Professor of Astronomy and Experimental Philosophy in early 1913. Later that year, Robert Ball, holder of the theoretical Lowndean chair, also died, and Eddington was named the director of the entire Cambridge Observatory the next year. In May 1914, he was elected a fellow of the Royal Society: he was awarded the Royal Medal in 1928 and delivered the Bakerian Lecture in 1926. + +Eddington also investigated the interior of stars through theory, and developed the first true understanding of stellar processes. He began this in 1916 with investigations of possible physical explanations for Cepheid variable stars. He began by extending Karl Schwarzschild's earlier work on radiation pressure in Emden polytropic models. These models treated a star as a sphere of gas held up against gravity by internal thermal pressure, and one of Eddington's chief additions was to show that radiation pressure was necessary to prevent collapse of the sphere. He developed his model despite knowingly lacking firm foundations for understanding opacity and energy generation in the stellar interior. However, his results allowed for calculation of temperature, density and pressure at all points inside a star (thermodynamic anisotropy), and Eddington argued that his theory was so useful for further astrophysical investigation that it should be retained despite not being based on completely accepted physics. James Jeans contributed the important suggestion that stellar matter would certainly be ionized, but that was the end of any collaboration between the pair, who became famous for their lively debates. + +Eddington defended his method by pointing to the utility of his results, particularly his important mass–luminosity relation. This had the unexpected result of showing that virtually all stars, including giants and dwarfs, behaved as ideal gases. In the process of developing his stellar models, he sought to overturn current thinking about the sources of stellar energy. Jeans and others defended the Kelvin–Helmholtz mechanism, which was based on classical mechanics, while Eddington speculated broadly about the qualitative and quantitative consequences of possible proton–electron annihilation and nuclear fusion processes. + +Around 1920, he anticipated the discovery and mechanism of nuclear fusion processes in stars, in his paper "The Internal Constitution of the Stars". At that time, the source of stellar energy was a complete mystery; Eddington correctly speculated that the source was fusion of hydrogen into helium, liberating enormous energy according to Einstein's equation . This was a particularly remarkable development since at that time fusion and thermonuclear energy, and even the fact that stars are largely composed of hydrogen (see metallicity), had not yet been discovered. Eddington's paper, based on knowledge at the time, reasoned that: + + The leading theory of stellar energy, the contraction hypothesis (cf. the Kelvin–Helmholtz mechanism), should cause stars' rotation to visibly speed up due to conservation of angular momentum. But observations of Cepheid variable stars showed this was not happening. + The only other known plausible source of energy was conversion of matter to energy; Einstein had shown some years earlier that a small amount of matter was equivalent to a large amount of energy. + Francis Aston had also recently shown that the mass of a helium atom was about 0.8% less than the mass of the four hydrogen atoms which would, combined, form a helium atom, suggesting that if such a combination could happen, it would release considerable energy as a byproduct. + If a star contained just 5% of fusible hydrogen, it would suffice to explain how stars got their energy. (We now know that most "ordinary" stars contain far more than 5% hydrogen.) + Further elements might also be fused, and other scientists had speculated that stars were the "crucible" in which light elements combined to create heavy elements, but without more accurate measurements of their atomic masses nothing more could be said at the time. + +All of these speculations were proven correct in the following decades. + +With these assumptions, he demonstrated that the interior temperature of stars must be millions of degrees. In 1924, he discovered the mass–luminosity relation for stars (see Lecchini in ). Despite some disagreement, Eddington's models were eventually accepted as a powerful tool for further investigation, particularly in issues of stellar evolution. The confirmation of his estimated stellar diameters by Michelson in 1920 proved crucial in convincing astronomers unused to Eddington's intuitive, exploratory style. Eddington's theory appeared in mature form in 1926 as The Internal Constitution of the Stars, which became an important text for training an entire generation of astrophysicists. + +Eddington's work in astrophysics in the late 1920s and the 1930s continued his work in stellar structure, and precipitated further clashes with Jeans and Edward Arthur Milne. An important topic was the extension of his models to take advantage of developments in quantum physics, including the use of degeneracy physics in describing dwarf stars. + +Dispute with Chandrasekhar on the mass limit of stars + +The topic of extension of his models precipitated his dispute with Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, who was then a student at Cambridge. Chandrasekhar's work presaged the discovery of black holes, which at the time seemed so absurdly non-physical that Eddington refused to believe that Chandrasekhar's purely mathematical derivation had consequences for the real world. Eddington was wrong and his motivation is controversial. Chandrasekhar's narrative of this incident, in which his work is harshly rejected, portrays Eddington as rather cruel and dogmatic. Chandra benefited from his friendship with Eddington. It was Eddington and Milne who put up Chandra's name for the fellowship for the Royal Society which Chandra obtained. An FRS meant he was at the Cambridge high-table with all the luminaries and a very comfortable endowment for research. Eddington's criticism seems to have been based partly on a suspicion that a purely mathematical derivation from relativity theory was not enough to explain the seemingly daunting physical paradoxes that were inherent to degenerate stars, but to have "raised irrelevant objections" in addition, as Thanu Padmanabhan puts it. + +Relativity + +During World War I, Eddington was secretary of the Royal Astronomical Society, which meant he was the first to receive a series of letters and papers from Willem de Sitter regarding Einstein's theory of general relativity. Eddington was fortunate in being not only one of the few astronomers with the mathematical skills to understand general relativity, but owing to his internationalist and pacifist views inspired by his Quaker religious beliefs, one of the few at the time who was still interested in pursuing a theory developed by a German physicist. He quickly became the chief supporter and expositor of relativity in Britain. He and Astronomer Royal Frank Watson Dyson organized two expeditions to observe a solar eclipse in 1919 to make the first empirical test of Einstein's theory: the measurement of the deflection of light by the Sun's gravitational field. In fact, Dyson's argument for the indispensability of Eddington's expertise in this test was what prevented Eddington from eventually having to enter military service. + +When conscription was introduced in Britain on 2 March 1916, Eddington intended to apply for an exemption as a conscientious objector. Cambridge University authorities instead requested and were granted an exemption on the ground of Eddington's work being of national interest. In 1918, this was appealed against by the Ministry of National Service. Before the appeal tribunal in June, Eddington claimed conscientious objector status, which was not recognized and would have ended his exemption in August 1918. A further two hearings took place in June and July, respectively. Eddington's personal statement at the June hearing about his objection to war based on religious grounds is on record. The Astronomer Royal, Sir Frank Dyson, supported Eddington at the July hearing with a written statement, emphasising Eddington's essential role in the solar eclipse expedition to Príncipe in May 1919. Eddington made clear his willingness to serve in the Friends' Ambulance Unit, under the jurisdiction of the British Red Cross, or as a harvest labourer. However, the tribunal's decision to grant a further twelve months' exemption from military service was on condition of Eddington continuing his astronomy work, in particular in preparation for the Príncipe expedition. The war ended before the end of his exemption. + +After the war, Eddington travelled to the island of Príncipe off the west coast of Africa to watch the solar eclipse of 29 May 1919. During the eclipse, he took pictures of the stars (several stars in the Hyades cluster, including Kappa Tauri of the constellation Taurus) whose line of sight from the Earth happened to be near the Sun's location in the sky at that time of year. This effect is noticeable only during a total solar eclipse when the sky is dark enough to see stars which are normally obscured by the Sun's brightness. According to the theory of general relativity, stars with light rays that passed near the Sun would appear to have been slightly shifted because their light had been curved by its gravitational field. Eddington showed that Newtonian gravitation could be interpreted to predict half the shift predicted by Einstein. + +Eddington's observations published the next year allegedly confirmed Einstein's theory, and were hailed at the time as evidence of general relativity over the Newtonian model. The news was reported in newspapers all over the world as a major story. Afterward, Eddington embarked on a campaign to popularize relativity and the expedition as landmarks both in scientific development and international scientific relations. + +It has been claimed that Eddington's observations were of poor quality, and he had unjustly discounted simultaneous observations at Sobral, Brazil, which appeared closer to the Newtonian model, but a 1979 re-analysis with modern measuring equipment and contemporary software validated Eddington's results and conclusions. The quality of the 1919 results was indeed poor compared to later observations, but was sufficient to persuade contemporary astronomers. The rejection of the results from the expedition to Brazil was due to a defect in the telescopes used which, again, was completely accepted and well understood by contemporary astronomers. + +Throughout this period, Eddington lectured on relativity, and was particularly well known for his ability to explain the concepts in lay terms as well as scientific. He collected many of these into the Mathematical Theory of Relativity in 1923, which Albert Einstein suggested was "the finest presentation of the subject in any language." He was an early advocate of Einstein's general relativity, and an interesting anecdote well illustrates his humour and personal intellectual investment: Ludwik Silberstein, a physicist who thought of himself as an expert on relativity, approached Eddington at the Royal Society's (6 November) 1919 meeting where he had defended Einstein's relativity with his Brazil-Príncipe solar eclipse calculations with some degree of scepticism, and ruefully charged Arthur as one who claimed to be one of three men who actually understood the theory (Silberstein, of course, was including himself and Einstein as the other). When Eddington refrained from replying, he insisted Arthur not be "so shy", whereupon Eddington replied, "Oh, no! I was wondering who the third one might be!" + +Cosmology +Eddington was also heavily involved with the development of the first generation of general relativistic cosmological models. He had been investigating the instability of the Einstein universe when he learned of both Lemaître's 1927 paper postulating an expanding or contracting universe and Hubble's work on the recession of the spiral nebulae. He felt the cosmological constant must have played the crucial role in the universe's evolution from an Einsteinian steady state to its current expanding state, and most of his cosmological investigations focused on the constant's significance and characteristics. In The Mathematical Theory of Relativity, Eddington interpreted the cosmological constant to mean that the universe is "self-gauging". + +Fundamental theory and the Eddington number + +During the 1920s until his death, Eddington increasingly concentrated on what he called "fundamental theory" which was intended to be a unification of quantum theory, relativity, cosmology, and gravitation. At first he progressed along "traditional" lines, but turned increasingly to an almost numerological analysis of the dimensionless ratios of fundamental constants. + +His basic approach was to combine several fundamental constants in order to produce a dimensionless number. In many cases these would result in numbers close to 1040, its square, or its square root. He was convinced that the mass of the proton and the charge of the electron were a "natural and complete specification for constructing a Universe" and that their values were not accidental. One of the discoverers of quantum mechanics, Paul Dirac, also pursued this line of investigation, which has become known as the Dirac large numbers hypothesis. +A somewhat damaging statement in his defence of these concepts involved the fine-structure constant, α. At the time it was measured to be very close to 1/136, and he argued that the value should in fact be exactly 1/136 for epistemological reasons. Later measurements placed the value much closer to 1/137, at which point he switched his line of reasoning to argue that one more should be added to the degrees of freedom, so that the value should in fact be exactly 1/137, the Eddington number. Wags at the time started calling him "Arthur Adding-one". This change of stance detracted from Eddington's credibility in the physics community. The current CODATA value is 1/ + +Eddington believed he had identified an algebraic basis for fundamental physics, which he termed "E-numbers" (representing a certain group – a Clifford algebra). These in effect incorporated spacetime into a higher-dimensional structure. While his theory has long been neglected by the general physics community, similar algebraic notions underlie many modern attempts at a grand unified theory. Moreover, Eddington's emphasis on the values of the fundamental constants, and specifically upon dimensionless numbers derived from them, is nowadays a central concern of physics. In particular, he predicted a number of hydrogen atoms in the Universe 136 × 2256 ≈ 1.57 1079, or equivalently the half of the total number of particles protons + electrons. He did not complete this line of research before his death in 1944; his book Fundamental Theory was published posthumously in 1948. + +Eddington number for cycling +Eddington is credited with devising a measure of a cyclist's long-distance riding achievements. The Eddington number in the context of cycling is defined as the maximum number E such that the cyclist has cycled at least E miles on at least E days. + +For example, an Eddington number of 70 would imply that the cyclist has cycled at least 70 miles in a day on at least 70 occasions. Achieving a high Eddington number is difficult, since moving from, say, 70 to 75 will (probably) require more than five new long-distance rides, since any rides shorter than 75 miles will no longer be included in the reckoning. Eddington's own life-time E-number was 84. + +The Eddington number for cycling is analogous to the h-index that quantifies both the actual scientific productivity and the apparent scientific impact of a scientist. + +Philosophy + +Idealism + +Eddington wrote in his book The Nature of the Physical World that "The stuff of the world is mind-stuff." + +The idealist conclusion was not integral to his epistemology but was based on two main arguments. + +The first derives directly from current physical theory. Briefly, mechanical theories of the ether and of the behaviour of fundamental particles have been discarded in both relativity and quantum physics. From this, Eddington inferred that a materialistic metaphysics was outmoded and that, in consequence, since the disjunction of materialism or idealism are assumed to be exhaustive, an idealistic metaphysics is required. The second, and more interesting argument, was based on Eddington's epistemology, and may be regarded as consisting of two parts. First, all we know of the objective world is its structure, and the structure of the objective world is precisely mirrored in our own consciousness. We therefore have no reason to doubt that the objective world too is "mind-stuff". Dualistic metaphysics, then, cannot be evidentially supported. + +But, second, not only can we not know that the objective world is nonmentalistic, we also cannot intelligibly suppose that it could be material. To conceive of a dualism entails attributing material properties to the objective world. However, this presupposes that we could observe that the objective world has material properties. But this is absurd, for whatever is observed must ultimately be the content of our own consciousness, and consequently, nonmaterial. + +Eddington believed that physics cannot explain consciousness - "light waves are propagated from the table to the eye; chemical changes occur in the retina; propagation of some kind occurs in the optic nerves; atomic changes follow in the brain. Just where the final leap into consciousness occurs is not clear. We do not know the last stage of the message in the physical world before it became a sensation in consciousness". + +Ian Barbour, in his book Issues in Science and Religion (1966), p. 133, cites Eddington's The Nature of the Physical World (1928) for a text that argues the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principles provides a scientific basis for "the defense of the idea of human freedom" and his Science and the Unseen World (1929) for support of philosophical idealism "the thesis that reality is basically mental". + +Charles De Koninck points out that Eddington believed in objective reality existing apart from our minds, but was using the phrase "mind-stuff" to highlight the inherent intelligibility of the world: that our minds and the physical world are made of the same "stuff" and that our minds are the inescapable connection to the world. As De Koninck quotes Eddington, + +Indeterminism + +Against Albert Einstein and others who advocated determinism, indeterminism—championed by Eddington—says that a physical object has an ontologically undetermined component that is not due to the epistemological limitations of physicists' understanding. The uncertainty principle in quantum mechanics, then, would not necessarily be due to hidden variables but to an indeterminism in nature itself. Eddington proclaimed "It is a consequence of the advent of the quantum theory that physics is no longer pledged to a scheme of deterministic law". + +Popular and philosophical writings + +Eddington wrote a parody of The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, recounting his 1919 solar eclipse experiment. It contained the following quatrain: + +During the 1920s and 30s, Eddington gave numerous lectures, interviews, and radio broadcasts on relativity, in addition to his textbook The Mathematical Theory of Relativity, and later, quantum mechanics. Many of these were gathered into books, including The Nature of the Physical World and New Pathways in Science. His use of literary allusions and humour helped make these difficult subjects more accessible. + +Eddington's books and lectures were immensely popular with the public, not only because of his clear exposition, but also for his willingness to discuss the philosophical and religious implications of the new physics. He argued for a deeply rooted philosophical harmony between scientific investigation and religious mysticism, and also that the positivist nature of relativity and quantum physics provided new room for personal religious experience and free will. Unlike many other spiritual scientists, he rejected the idea that science could provide proof of religious propositions. + +His popular writings made him a household name in Great Britain between the world wars. + +Death +Eddington died of cancer in the Evelyn Nursing Home, Cambridge, on 22 November 1944. He was unmarried. His body was cremated at Cambridge Crematorium (Cambridgeshire) on 27 November 1944; the cremated remains were buried in the grave of his mother in the Ascension Parish Burial Ground in Cambridge. + +Cambridge University's North West Cambridge development has been named Eddington in his honour. + +Eddington was played by David Tennant in the television film Einstein and Eddington, with Einstein played by Andy Serkis. The film was notable for its groundbreaking portrayal of Eddington as a somewhat repressed gay man. It was first broadcast in 2008. + +The actor Paul Eddington was a relative, mentioning in his autobiography (in light of his own weakness in mathematics) "what I then felt to be the misfortune" of being related to "one of the foremost physicists in the world". + +Obituaries + Obituary 1 by Henry Norris Russell, Astrophysical Journal 101 (1943–46) 133 + Obituary 2 by A. Vibert Douglas, Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada, 39 (1943–46) 1 + Obituary 3 by Harold Spencer Jones and E. T. Whittaker, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 105 (1943–46) 68 + Obituary 4 by Herbert Dingle, The Observatory 66 (1943–46) 1 + The Times, Thursday, 23 November 1944; pg. 7; Issue 49998; col D: Obituary (unsigned) – Image of cutting available at + +Honours + +Awards and honors + Smith's Prize (1907) + International Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1922) + Bruce Medal of Astronomical Society of the Pacific (1924) + Henry Draper Medal of the National Academy of Sciences (1924) + Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society (1924) + International Member of the United States National Academy of Sciences (1925) + Foreign membership of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (1926) + Prix Jules Janssen of the Société astronomique de France (French Astronomical Society) (1928) + Royal Medal of the Royal Society (1928) + Knighthood (1930) + International Member of the American Philosophical Society (1931) + Order of Merit (1938) + Honorary member of the Norwegian Astronomical Society (1939) + Hon. Freeman of Kendal, 1930 + +Named after him + Lunar crater Eddington + asteroid 2761 Eddington + Royal Astronomical Society's Eddington Medal + Eddington mission, now cancelled + Eddington Tower, halls of residence at the University of Essex + Eddington Astronomical Society, an amateur society based in his hometown of Kendal + Eddington, a house (group of students, used for in-school sports matches) of Kirkbie Kendal School + Eddington, new suburb of North West Cambridge, opened in 2017 + +Service + Gave the Swarthmore Lecture in 1929 + Chairman of the National Peace Council 1941–1943 + President of the International Astronomical Union; of the Physical Society, 1930–32; of the Royal Astronomical Society, 1921–23 + Romanes Lecturer, 1922 + Gifford Lecturer, 1927 + +In popular culture + Eddington is a central figure in the short story "The Mathematician's Nightmare: The Vision of Professor Squarepunt" by Bertrand Russell, a work featured in The Mathematical Magpie by Clifton Fadiman. + He was portrayed by David Tennant in the television film Einstein and Eddington, a co-production of the BBC and HBO, broadcast in the United Kingdom on Saturday, 22 November 2008, on BBC2. + His thoughts on humour and religious experience were quoted in the adventure game The Witness, a production of the Thelka, Inc., released on 26 January 2016. + Time placed him on the cover on 16 April 1934. + +Publications + 1914. Stellar Movements and the Structure of the Universe. London: Macmillan. + 1918. Report on the relativity theory of gravitation. London, Fleetway Press, Ltd. + 1920. Space, Time and Gravitation: An Outline of the General Relativity Theory. Cambridge University Press. + 1922. The theory of relativity and its influence on scientific thought + 1923. 1952. The Mathematical Theory of Relativity. Cambridge University Press. + 1925. The Domain of Physical Science. 2005 reprint: + 1926. Stars and Atoms. Oxford: British Association. + 1926. The Internal Constitution of Stars. Cambridge University Press. + 1928. The Nature of the Physical World. MacMillan. 1935 replica edition: , University of Michigan 1981 edition: (1926–27 Gifford lectures) + 1929. Science and the Unseen World. US Macmillan, UK Allen & Unwin. 1980 Reprint Arden Library . 2004 US reprint – Whitefish, Montana : Kessinger Publications: . 2007 UK reprint London, Allen & Unwin (Swarthmore Lecture), with a new foreword by George Ellis. + 1930. Why I Believe in God: Science and Religion, as a Scientist Sees It. Arrow/scrollable preview. + 1933. The Expanding Universe: Astronomy's 'Great Debate', 1900–1931. Cambridge University Press. + 1935. New Pathways in Science. Cambridge University Press. + 1936. Relativity Theory of Protons and Electrons. Cambridge Univ. Press. + 1939. Philosophy of Physical Science. Cambridge University Press. (1938 Tarner lectures at Cambridge) + 1946. Fundamental Theory. Cambridge University Press. + +See also + +Astronomy + Chandrasekhar limit + Eddington luminosity (also called the Eddington limit) + Gravitational lens + Outline of astronomy + Stellar nucleosynthesis + Timeline of stellar astronomy + List of astronomers + +Science + Arrow of time + Classical unified field theories + Degenerate matter + Dimensionless physical constant + Dirac large numbers hypothesis (also called the Eddington–Dirac number) + Eddington number + Introduction to quantum mechanics + Luminiferous aether + Parameterized post-Newtonian formalism + Special relativity + Theory of everything (also called "final theory" or "ultimate theory") + Timeline of gravitational physics and relativity + List of experiments + +People + List of science and religion scholars + +Other + Infinite monkey theorem + Numerology + Ontic structural realism + +References + +Further reading + Durham, Ian T., "Eddington & Uncertainty". Physics in Perspective (September – December). Arxiv, History of Physics + + Lecchini, Stefano, "How Dwarfs Became Giants. The Discovery of the Mass–Luminosity Relation" Bern Studies in the History and Philosophy of Science, pp. 224. (2007) + + Stanley, Matthew. "An Expedition to Heal the Wounds of War: The 1919 Eclipse Expedition and Eddington as Quaker Adventurer." Isis 94 (2003): 57–89. + Stanley, Matthew. "So Simple a Thing as a Star: Jeans, Eddington, and the Growth of Astrophysical Phenomenology" in British Journal for the History of Science, 2007, 40: 53–82. + +External links + + + + + + Trinity College Chapel + Arthur Stanley Eddington (1882–1944) . University of St Andrews, Scotland. + Quotations by Arthur Eddington + Arthur Stanley Eddington The Bruce Medalists. + Russell, Henry Norris, "Review of The Internal Constitution of the Stars by A.S. Eddington". Ap.J. 67, 83 (1928). + Experiments of Sobral and Príncipe repeated in the space project in proceeding in fórum astronomical. + + Biography and bibliography of Bruce medalists: Arthur Stanley Eddington + Eddington books: The Nature of the Physical World, The Philosophy of Physical Science, Relativity Theory of Protons and Electrons, and Fundamental Theory + +1882 births +1944 deaths +Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge +Alumni of the Victoria University of Manchester +British anti–World War I activists +British astrophysicists +British conscientious objectors +British Christian pacifists +Corresponding Members of the Russian Academy of Sciences (1917–1925) +Corresponding Members of the USSR Academy of Sciences +British cosmologists +British Quakers +20th-century British astronomers +Fellows of Trinity College, Cambridge +Fellows of the Royal Astronomical Society +Fellows of the Royal Society +Foreign associates of the National Academy of Sciences +Knights Bachelor +Members of the Order of Merit +Members of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences +People from Kendal +Presidents of the Physical Society +Presidents of the Royal Astronomical Society +Recipients of the Bruce Medal +Recipients of the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society +British relativity theorists +Royal Medal winners +Senior Wranglers +20th-century British physicists +Plumian Professors of Astronomy and Experimental Philosophy +Presidents of the International Astronomical Union +Members of the American Philosophical Society +The Apple II (stylized as ) is an 8-bit home computer and one of the world's first highly successful mass-produced microcomputer products. It was designed primarily by Steve Wozniak; Jerry Manock developed the design of Apple II's foam-molded plastic case, Rod Holt developed the switching power supply, while Steve Jobs's role in the design of the computer was limited to overseeing Jerry Manock's work on the plastic case. It was introduced by Jobs and Wozniak at the 1977 West Coast Computer Faire, and marks Apple's first launch of a personal computer aimed at a consumer market—branded toward American households rather than businessmen or computer hobbyists. + +Byte magazine referred to the Apple II, Commodore PET 2001, and TRS-80 as the "1977 Trinity". As the Apple II had the defining feature of being able to display color graphics, the Apple logo was redesigned to have a spectrum of colors. + +The Apple II is the first model in the Apple II series, followed by Apple II+, Apple IIe, Apple IIc, Apple IIc Plus, and the 16-bit Apple IIGS—all of which remained compatible. Production of the last available model, Apple IIe, ceased in November 1993. + +History +By 1976, Steve Jobs had convinced product designer Jerry Manock (who had formerly worked at Hewlett Packard designing calculators) to create the "shell" for the Apple II—a smooth case inspired by kitchen appliances that concealed the internal mechanics. The earliest Apple II computers were assembled in Silicon Valley and later in Texas; printed circuit boards were manufactured in Ireland and Singapore. The first computers went on sale on June 10, 1977 with an MOS Technology 6502 microprocessor running at 1.023 MHz ( of the NTSC color subcarrier), two game paddles (bundled until 1980, when they were found to violate FCC regulations), 4 KiB of RAM, an audio cassette interface for loading programs and storing data, and the Integer BASIC programming language built into ROMs. The video controller displayed 24 lines by 40 columns of monochrome, uppercase-only text on the screen (the original character set matches ASCII characters 20h to 5Fh), with NTSC composite video output suitable for display on a TV monitor or on a regular TV set (by way of a separate RF modulator). + +The original retail price of the computer with 4 KiB of RAM was and with the maximum 48 KiB of RAM it was To reflect the computer's color graphics capability, the Apple logo on the casing has rainbow stripes, which remained a part of Apple's corporate logo until early 1998. Perhaps most significantly, the Apple II was a catalyst for personal computers across many industries; it opened the doors to software marketed at consumers. + +Certain aspects of the system's design were influenced by Atari's arcade video game Breakout (1976), which was designed by Wozniak, who said: "A lot of features of the Apple II went in because I had designed Breakout for Atari. I had designed it in hardware. I wanted to write it in software now". This included his design of color graphics circuitry, the addition of game paddle support and sound, and graphics commands in Integer BASIC, with which he wrote Brick Out, a software clone of his own hardware game. Wozniak said in 1984: "Basically, all the game features were put in just so I could show off the game I was familiar with—Breakout—at the Homebrew Computer Club. It was the most satisfying day of my life [when] I demonstrated Breakout—totally written in BASIC. It seemed like a huge step to me. After designing hardware arcade games, I knew that being able to program them in BASIC was going to change the world." + +Overview +In the May 1977 issue of Byte, Steve Wozniak published a detailed description of his design; the article began, "To me, a personal computer should be small, reliable, convenient to use, and inexpensive." + +The Apple II used peculiar engineering shortcuts to save hardware and reduce costs, such as: + Taking advantage of the way the 6502 processor accesses memory: it occurs only on alternate phases of the clock cycle; video generation circuitry memory access on the otherwise unused phase avoids memory contention issues and interruptions of the video stream; + This arrangement simultaneously eliminated the need for a separate refresh circuit for DRAM chips, as video transfer accessed each row of dynamic memory within the timeout period. In addition, it did not require separate RAM chips for video RAM, while the PET and TRS-80 had SRAM chips for video; + Apart from the 6502 CPU and a few support chips, the vast majority of the semiconductors used were 74LS low-power Schottky chips; + Rather than use a complex analog-to-digital circuit to read the outputs of the game controller, Wozniak used a simple timer circuit, built around a quad 555 timer IC called a 558, whose period is proportional to the resistance of the game controller, and he used a software loop to measure the timers; + A single 14.31818 MHz master oscillator (fM) was divided by various ratios to produce all other required frequencies, including microprocessor clock signals (fM/14), video transfer counters, and color-burst samples (fM/4). A solderable jumper on the main board allowed to switch between European 50 Hz and USA 60 Hz video. + +The text and graphics screens have a complex arrangement. For instance, the scanlines were not stored in sequential areas of memory. This complexity was reportedly due to Wozniak's realization that the method would allow for the refresh of dynamic RAM as a side effect (as described above). This method had no cost overhead to have software calculate or look up the address of the required scanline and avoided the need for significant extra hardware. Similarly, in high-resolution graphics mode, color is determined by pixel position and thus can be implemented in software, saving Wozniak the chips needed to convert bit patterns to colors. This also allowed to draw text with subpixel rendering, since orange and blue pixels appear half a pixel-width farther to the right on the screen than green and purple pixels. + +The Apple II at first used data cassette storage, like most other microcomputers of the time. In 1978, the company introduced an external -inch floppy disk drive, called Disk II (stylized as Disk ][), attached through a controller card that plugs into one of the computer's expansion slots (usually slot 6). The Disk II interface, created by Wozniak, is regarded as an engineering masterpiece for its economy of electronic components. + +The approach taken in the Disk II controller is typical of Wozniak's designs. With a few small-scale logic chips and a cheap PROM (programmable read-only memory), he created a functional floppy disk interface at a fraction of the component cost of standard circuit configurations. + +Case design + +The first production Apple II computers had hand-molded cases; these had visible bubbles and other lumps in them from the imperfect plastic molding process, which was soon switched to machine molding. In addition, the initial case design had no vent openings, causing high heat buildup from the PCB and resulting in the plastic softening and sagging. Apple added vent holes to the case within three months of production; customers with the original case could have them replaced at no charge. + +PCB revisions +The Apple II's printed circuit board (PCB) underwent several revisions, as Steve Wozniak made modifications to it. The earliest version was known as Revision 0, and the first 6,000 units shipped used it. Later revisions added a color killer circuit to prevent color fringing when the computer was in text mode, as well as modifications to improve the reliability of cassette I/O. Revision 0 Apple IIs powered up in an undefined mode and had garbage on-screen, requiring the user to press Reset. This was eliminated in later board revisions. Revision 0 Apple IIs could display only four colors in hi-res mode, but Wozniak was able to increase this to six hi-res colors on later board revisions. + +The PCB had three RAM banks for a total of 24 RAM chips. Original Apple IIs had jumper switches to adjust RAM size, and RAM configurations could be 4, 8, 12, 16, 20, 24, 32, 36, or 48 KiB. The three smallest memory configurations used 4kx1 DRAMs, with larger ones using 16kx1 DRAMs, or mix of 4-kilobyte and 16-kilobyte banks (the chips in any one bank have to be the same size). The early Apple II+ models retained this feature, but after a drop in DRAM prices, Apple redesigned the circuit boards without the jumpers, so that only 16kx1 chips were supported. A few months later, they started shipping all machines with a full 48 KiB complement of DRAM. + +Unlike most machines, all integrated circuits on the Apple II PCB were socketed; although this cost more to manufacture and created the possibility of loose chips causing a system malfunction, it was considered preferable to make servicing and replacement of bad chips easier. + +The Apple II PCB lacks any means of generating an interrupt request, although expansion cards may generate one. Program code had to stop everything to perform any I/O task; like many of the computer's other idiosyncrasies, this was due to cost reasons and Steve Wozniak assuming interrupts were not needed for gaming or using the computer as a teaching tool. + +Display and graphics + +Color on the Apple II series uses a quirk of the NTSC television signal standard, which made color display relatively easy and inexpensive to implement. The original NTSC television signal specification was black and white. Color was added later by adding a 3.58-megahertz subcarrier signal that was partially ignored by black-and-white TV sets. Color is encoded based on the phase of this signal in relation to a reference color burst signal. The result is that the position, size, and intensity of a series of pulses define color information. These pulses can translate into pixels on the computer screen, with the possibility of exploiting composite artifact colors. + +The Apple II display provides two pixels per subcarrier cycle. When the color burst reference signal is turned on and the computer attached to a color display, it can display green by showing one alternating pattern of pixels, magenta with an opposite pattern of alternating pixels, and white by placing two pixels next to each other. Blue and orange are available by tweaking the pixel offset by half a pixel-width in relation to the color-burst signal. The high-resolution display offers more colors by compressing more (and narrower) pixels into each subcarrier cycle. + +The coarse, low-resolution graphics display mode works differently, as it can output a pattern of dots per pixel to offer more color options. These patterns are stored in the character generator ROM, and replace the text character bit patterns when the computer is switched to low-res graphics mode. The text mode and low-res graphics mode use the same memory region and the same circuitry is used for both. + +A single HGR page occupied 8 KiB of RAM; in practice this meant that the user had to have at least 12 KiB of total RAM to use HGR mode and 20 KiB to use two pages. Early Apple II games from the 1977–79 period often ran only in text or low-resolution mode in order to support users with small memory configurations; HGR not being near universally supported by games until 1980. + +Sound +Rather than a dedicated sound-synthesis chip, the Apple II has a toggle circuit that can only emit a click through a built-in speaker or a line-out jack; all other sounds (including two-, three- and, eventually, four-voice music and playback of audio samples and speech synthesis) are generated entirely by software that clicked the speaker at just the right times. Similar techniques are used for cassette storage: cassette output works the same as the speaker, and input is a simple zero-crossing detector that serves as a relatively crude (1-bit) audio digitizer. Routines in machine ROM encode and decode data in frequency-shift keying for the cassette. + +Programming languages + +Initially, the Apple II was shipped with Integer BASIC encoded in the motherboard ROM chips. Written by Wozniak, the interpreter enabled users to write software applications without needing to purchase additional development utilities. Written with game programmers and hobbyists in mind, the language only supported the encoding of numbers in 16-bit integer format. Since it only supported integers between -32768 and +32767 (signed 16-bit integer), it was less suitable to business software, and Apple soon received complaints from customers. Because Steve Wozniak was busy developing the Disk II hardware, he did not have time to modify Integer BASIC for floating point support. Apple instead licensed Microsoft's 6502 BASIC to create Applesoft BASIC. + +Disk users normally purchased a so-called Language Card, which had Applesoft in ROM, and was sat below the Integer BASIC ROM in system memory. The user could switch between either BASIC by typing FP or INT in BASIC prompt. Apple also offered a different version of Applesoft for cassette users, which occupied low memory, and was started by using the LOAD command in Integer BASIC. + +As shipped, Apple II incorporated a machine code monitor with commands for displaying and altering the computer's RAM, either one byte at a time, or in blocks of 256 bytes at once. This enabled programmers to write and debug machine code programs without further development software. The computer powers on into the monitor ROM, displaying a * prompt. From there, Ctrl+B enters BASIC, or a machine language program can be loaded from cassette. Disk software can be booted with Ctrl+P followed by 6, referring to Slot 6 which normally contained the Disk II controller. + +A 6502 assembler was soon offered on disk, and later the UCSD compiler and operating system for the Pascal language were made available. The Pascal system requires a 16 KiB RAM card to be installed in the language card position (expansion slot 0) in addition to the full 48 KiB of motherboard memory. + +Manual +The first 1,000 or so Apple IIs shipped in 1977 with a 68-page mimeographed "Apple II Mini Manual", hand-bound with brass paper fasteners. This was the basis for the Apple II Reference Manual, which became known as the Red Book for its red cover, published in January 1978. All existing customers who sent in their warranty cards were sent free copies of the Red Book. The Apple II Reference Manual contained the complete schematic of the entire computer's circuitry, and a complete source listing of the "Monitor" ROM firmware that served as the machine's BIOS. + +An Apple II manual signed by Steve Jobs in 1980 with the inscription "Julian, your generation is the first to grow up with computers. Go change the world." sold at auction for $787,484 in 2021. + +Operating system +The original Apple II provided an operating system in ROM along with a BASIC variant called Integer BASIC. The only form of storage available was cassette tape which was inefficiently slow and, worse, unreliable. In 1977 when Apple decided against the popular but clunky CP/M operating system for Wozniak's innovative disk controller design, it contracted Shepardson Microsystems for $13,000 to write an Apple DOS for the Apple II series. At Shepardson, Paul Laughton developed the crucial disk drive software in just 35 days, a remarkably short deadline by any standard. Apple's Disk II -inch floppy disk drive was released in 1978. The final and most popular version of this software was Apple DOS 3.3. + +Apple DOS was superseded by ProDOS, which supported a hierarchical filesystem and larger storage devices. With an optional third-party Z80-based expansion card, the Apple II could boot into the CP/M operating system and run WordStar, dBase II, and other CP/M software. With the release of MousePaint in 1984 and the Apple IIGS in 1986, the platform took on the look of the Macintosh user interface, including a mouse. + +Apple released Applesoft BASIC in 1977, a more advanced variant of the language which users could run instead of Integer BASIC for more capabilities. + +Some commercial Apple II software booted directly and did not use standard DOS disk formats. This discouraged the copying or modifying of the software on the disks, and improved loading speed. + +Third-party devices and applications +When the Apple II initially shipped in June 1977, no expansion cards were available for the slots. This meant that the user did not have any way of connecting a modem or a printer. One popular hack involved connecting a teletype machine to the cassette output. + +Wozniak's open-architecture design and Apple II's multiple expansion slots permitted a wide variety of third-party devices, including peripheral cards, such as serial controllers, display controllers, memory boards, hard disks, networking components, and real-time clocks. There were plug-in expansion cards—such as the Z-80 SoftCard—that permitted Apple II to use the Z80 processor and run programs for the CP/M operating system, including the dBase II database and the WordStar word processor. The Z80 card also allowed the connection to a modem, and thereby to any networks that a user might have access to. In the early days, such networks were scarce. But they expanded significantly with the development of bulletin board systems in later years. There was also a third-party 6809 card that allowed OS-9 Level One to be run. Third-party sound cards greatly improved audio capabilities, allowing simple music synthesis and text-to-speech functions. Apple II accelerator cards doubled or quadrupled the computer's speed. + +Early Apple IIs were often sold with a Sup'R'Mod, which allowed the composite video signal to be viewed in a television. + +The Soviet Union radio-electronics industry designed Apple II-compatible computer Agat. Roughly 12,000 Agat 7 and 9 models were produced and they were widely used in Soviet schools. Agat 9 computers could run "Apple II" compatibility and native modes. "Apple II" mode allowed to run wider variety of (presumably pirated) Apple II software, but at the expense of less RAM. Because of that Soviet developers preferred native mode over "Apple II" compatibility mode. + +Reception + +Jesse Adams Stein wrote, "As the first company to release a 'consumer appliance' micro-computer, Apple Computer offers us a clear view of this shift from a machine to an appliance." But the company also had "to negotiate the attitudes of its potential buyers, bearing in mind social anxieties about the uptake of new technologies in multiple contexts. The office, the home and the 'office-in-the-home' were implicated in these changing spheres of gender stereotypes and technological development." After seeing a crude, wire-wrapped prototype demonstrated by Wozniak and Steve Jobs in November 1976, Byte predicted in April 1977, that the Apple II "may be the first product to fully qualify as the 'appliance computer' ... a completed system which is purchased off the retail shelf, taken home, plugged in and used". The computer's color graphics capability especially impressed the magazine. The magazine published a favorable review of the computer in March 1978, concluding: "For the user that wants color graphics, the Apple II is the only practical choice available in the 'appliance' computer class." + +Personal Computer World in August 1978 also cited the color capability as a strength, stating that "the prime reason that anyone buys an Apple II must surely be for the colour graphics". While mentioning the "oddity" of the artifact colors that produced output "that is not always what one wishes to do", it noted that "no-one has colour graphics like this at this sort of price". The magazine praised the sophisticated monitor software, user expandability, and comprehensive documentation. The author concluded that "the Apple II is a very promising machine" which "would be even more of a temptation were its price slightly lower ... for the moment, colour is an Apple II". + +Although it sold well from the launch, the initial market was to hobbyists and computer enthusiasts. Sales expanded exponentially into the business and professional market, when the spreadsheet program VisiCalc was launched in mid-1979. VisiCalc is credited as the defining killer app in the microcomputer industry. + +By the end of 1977 Apple had sales of for the fiscal year, which included sales of the Apple I. This puts Apple clearly behind the others of the "holy trinity" of the TRS-80 and Commodore PET, even though the TRS-80 was launched last of the three. However, during the first five years of operations, revenues doubled about every four months. Between September 1977 and September 1980, annual sales grew from to . During this period the sole products of the company were the Apple II and its peripherals, accessories, and software. + +References + +External links + + Additional documentation in Bitsavers PDF Document archive + Apple II on Old-computers.com + Online Apple II Resource + Apple2History.org + How the Apple ][ Works! – on YouTube by the 8-Bit Guy + +Apple II computers +Computer-related introductions in 1977 +6502-based home computers +8-bit computers +Products and services discontinued in 1979 + +ca:Apple II + + +Events + +Pre-1600 + 686 – Maya king Yuknoom Yich'aak K'ahk' assumes the crown of Calakmul. +1043 – Edward the Confessor is crowned King of England. +1077 – The Patriarchate of Friûl, the first Friulian state, is created. +1559 – The second of two treaties making up the Peace of Cateau-Cambrésis is signed, ending the Italian Wars. + +1601–1900 +1721 – Robert Walpole becomes, in effect, the first Prime Minister of Great Britain, though he himself denied that title. +1851 – Rama IV is crowned King of Thailand after the death of his half-brother, Rama III. +1860 – The first successful United States Pony Express run from St. Joseph, Missouri, to Sacramento, California, begins. +1865 – American Civil War: Union forces capture Richmond, Virginia, the capital of the Confederate States of America. +1882 – American Old West: Robert Ford kills Jesse James. +1885 – Gottlieb Daimler is granted a German patent for a light, high-speed, four-stroke engine, which he uses seven months later to create the world's first motorcycle, the Daimler Reitwagen. +1888 – Jack the Ripper: The first of 11 unsolved brutal murders of women committed in or near the impoverished Whitechapel district in the East End of London, occurs. +1895 – The trial in the libel case brought by Oscar Wilde begins, eventually resulting in his imprisonment on charges of homosexuality. + +1901–present +1920 – Attempts are made to carry out the failed assassination attempt on General Mannerheim, led by Aleksander Weckman by order of Eino Rahja, during the White Guard parade in Tampere, Finland. +1922 – Joseph Stalin becomes the first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. +1933 – First flight over Mount Everest, the British Houston-Mount Everest Flight Expedition, led by the Marquis of Clydesdale and funded by Lucy, Lady Houston. +1936 – Bruno Richard Hauptmann is executed for the kidnapping and death of Charles Augustus Lindbergh, Jr., the infant son of pilot Charles Lindbergh. +1942 – World War II: Japanese forces begin an assault on the United States and Filipino troops on the Bataan Peninsula. +1946 – Japanese Lt. General Masaharu Homma is executed in the Philippines for leading the Bataan Death March. +1948 – Cold War: U.S. President Harry S. Truman signs the Marshall Plan, authorizing $5 billion in aid for 16 countries. + 1948 – In Jeju Province, South Korea, a civil-war-like period of violence and human rights abuses known as the Jeju uprising begins. +1955 – The American Civil Liberties Union announces it will defend Allen Ginsberg's book Howl against obscenity charges. +1956 – Hudsonville–Standale tornado: The western half of the Lower Peninsula of Michigan is struck by a deadly F5 tornado. +1968 – Martin Luther King Jr. delivers his "I've Been to the Mountaintop" speech; he was assassinated the next day. +1969 – Vietnam War: United States Secretary of Defense Melvin Laird announces that the United States will start to "Vietnamize" the war effort. +1973 – Martin Cooper of Motorola makes the first handheld mobile phone call to Joel S. Engel of Bell Labs. +1974 – The 1974 Super Outbreak occurs, the second largest tornado outbreak in recorded history (after the 2011 Super Outbreak). The death toll is 315, with nearly 5,500 injured. +1975 – Vietnam War: Operation Babylift, a mass evacuation of children in the closing stages of the war begins. + 1975 – Bobby Fischer refuses to play in a chess match against Anatoly Karpov, giving Karpov the title of World Champion by default. +1980 – US Congress restores a federal trust relationship with the 501 members of the Shivwits, Kanosh, Koosharem, and the Indian Peaks and Cedar City bands of the Paiute people of Utah. +1981 – The Osborne 1, the first successful portable computer, is unveiled at the West Coast Computer Faire in San Francisco. +1989 – The US Supreme Court upholds the jurisdictional rights of tribal courts under the Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978 in Mississippi Choctaw Band v. Holyfield. +1993 – The outcome of the Grand National horse race is declared void for the first (and only) time +1996 – Suspected "Unabomber" Theodore Kaczynski is captured at his Montana cabin in the United States. + 1996 – A United States Air Force Boeing T-43 crashes near Dubrovnik Airport in Croatia, killing 35, including Secretary of Commerce Ron Brown. +1997 – The Thalit massacre begins in Algeria; all but one of the 53 inhabitants of Thalit are killed by guerrillas. +2000 – United States v. Microsoft Corp.: Microsoft is ruled to have violated United States antitrust law by keeping "an oppressive thumb" on its competitors. +2004 – Islamic terrorists involved in the 2004 Madrid train bombings are trapped by the police in their apartment and kill themselves. +2007 – Conventional-Train World Speed Record: A French TGV train on the LGV Est high speed line sets an official new world speed record. +2008 – ATA Airlines, once one of the ten largest U.S. passenger airlines and largest charter airline, files for bankruptcy for the second time in five years and ceases all operations. + 2008 – Texas law enforcement cordons off the FLDS's YFZ Ranch. Eventually 533 women and children will be taken into state custody. +2009 – Jiverly Antares Wong opens fire at the American Civic Association immigration center in Binghamton, New York, killing thirteen and wounding four before committing suicide. +2010 – Apple Inc. released the first generation iPad, a tablet computer. +2013 – More than 50 people die in floods resulting from record-breaking rainfall in La Plata and Buenos Aires, Argentina. +2016 – The Panama Papers, a leak of legal documents, reveals information on 214,488 offshore companies. +2017 – A bomb explodes in the St Petersburg metro system, killing 14 and injuring several more people. +2018 – YouTube headquarters shooting: A 38-year-old gunwoman opens fire at YouTube Headquarters in San Bruno, California, injuring three people before committing suicide. + +Births + +Pre-1600 +1016 – Xing Zong, Chinese emperor (d. 1055) +1151 – Igor Svyatoslavich, Russian prince (d. 1202) +1395 – George of Trebizond, Greek philosopher, scholar and humanist (d. 1486) +1438 – John III of Egmont, Dutch nobleman (d. 1516) +1529 – Michael Neander, German mathematician and astronomer (d. 1581) +1540 – Maria de' Medici, Italian noblewoman, the eldest daughter of Cosimo I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany and Eleonora di Toledo. (d. 1557) +1593 – George Herbert, English poet (d. 1633) + +1601–1900 +1643 – Charles V, duke of Lorraine (d. 1690) +1682 – Valentin Rathgeber, German organist and composer (d. 1750) +1693 – George Edwards, English ornithologist and entomologist (d. 1773) +1715 – William Watson, English physician, physicist, and botanist (d. 1787) +1764 – John Abernethy, English surgeon and anatomist (d. 1831) +1769 – Christian Günther von Bernstorff, Danish-Prussian politician and diplomat (d. 1835) +1770 – Theodoros Kolokotronis, Greek general (d. 1843) +1778 – Pierre Bretonneau, French doctor who performed the first successful tracheotomy (d. 1862) +1781 – Swaminarayan, Indian religious leader (d. 1830) +1782 – Alexander Macomb, American general (d. 1841) +1783 – Washington Irving, American short story writer, essayist, biographer, historian (d. 1859) +1791 – Anne Lister, English diarist, mountaineer, and traveller (d.1840) +1798 – Charles Wilkes, American admiral, geographer, and explorer (d.1877) +1807 – Mary Carpenter, English educational and social reformer (d. 1877) +1814 – Lorenzo Snow, American religious leader, 5th President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (d. 1901) +1822 – Edward Everett Hale, American minister, historian, and author (d. 1909) +1823 – George Derby, American lieutenant and journalist (d. 1861) + 1823 – William M. Tweed, American politician (d. 1878) +1826 – Cyrus K. Holliday, American businessman (d. 1900) +1837 – John Burroughs, American botanist and author (d. 1921) +1842 – Ulric Dahlgren, American colonel (d. 1864) +1848 – Arturo Prat, Chilean lawyer and captain (d. 1879) +1852 – Talbot Baines Reed, English author (d. 1893) +1858 – Jacob Gaudaur, Canadian rower (d. 1937) +1860 – Frederik van Eeden, Dutch psychiatrist and author (d. 1932) +1864 – Emil Kellenberger, Swiss target shooter (d. 1943) +1875 – Mistinguett, French actress and singer (d. 1956) +1876 – Margaret Anglin, Canadian actress, director, and producer (d. 1958) + 1876 – Tomáš Baťa, Czech businessman, founded Bata Shoes (d. 1932) +1880 – Otto Weininger, Jewish-Austrian philosopher and author (d. 1903) +1881 – Alcide De Gasperi, Italian journalist and politician, 30th Prime Minister of Italy (d. 1954) +1882 – Philippe Desranleau, Canadian archbishop (d. 1952) +1883 – Ikki Kita, Japanese philosopher and author (d. 1937) +1885 – Allan Dwan, Canadian-American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1981) + 1885 – Bud Fisher, American cartoonist (d. 1954) + 1885 – Marie-Victorin Kirouac, Canadian botanist and academic (d. 1944) + 1885 – St John Philby, English colonial and explorer (d. 1960) +1886 – Dooley Wilson, American actor and singer (d. 1953) +1887 – Ōtori Tanigorō, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 24th Yokozuna (d. 1956) + 1887 – Nishizō Tsukahara, Japanese admiral (d. 1966) +1888 – Thomas C. Kinkaid, American admiral (d. 1972) +1889 – Grigoraș Dinicu, Romanian violinist and composer (d. 1949) +1893 – Leslie Howard, English actor (d. 1943) +1895 – Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco, Italian-American composer and educator (d. 1968) + 1895 – Zez Confrey, American pianist and composer (d. 1971) +1897 – Joe Kirkwood Sr., Australian golfer (d. 1970) + 1897 – Thrasyvoulos Tsakalotos, Greek general (d. 1989) +1898 – David Jack, English footballer and manager (d. 1958) + 1898 – George Jessel, American actor, singer, and producer (d. 1981) + 1898 – Henry Luce, American publisher, co-founded Time magazine (d. 1967) +1900 – Camille Chamoun, Lebanese lawyer and politician, 7th President of Lebanon (d. 1987) + 1900 – Albert Walsh, Canadian lawyer and politician, 1st Lieutenant Governor of Newfoundland (d. 1958) + +1901–present + 1903 – Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay, Indian social reformer and freedom fighter (d. 1988) +1904 – Iron Eyes Cody, American actor and stuntman (d. 1999) + 1904 – Sally Rand, American dancer (d. 1979) + 1904 – Russel Wright, American furniture designer (d. 1976) +1905 – Robert Sink, American general (d. 1965) +1909 – Stanislaw Ulam, Polish-American mathematician and academic (d. 1984) +1910 – Ted Hook, Australian public servant (d. 1990) +1911 – Nanette Bordeaux, Canadian-American actress (d. 1956) + 1911 – Michael Woodruff, English-Scottish surgeon and academic (d. 2001) + 1911 – Stanisława Walasiewicz, Polish-American runner (d. 1980) +1912 – Dorothy Eden, New Zealand-English author (d. 1982) + 1912 – Grigoris Lambrakis, Greek physician and politician (d. 1963) +1913 – Per Borten, Norwegian politician, 18th Prime Minister of Norway (d. 2005) +1914 – Ray Getliffe, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 2008) + 1914 – Sam Manekshaw, Indian field marshal (d. 2008) +1915 – Piet de Jong, Dutch politician and naval officer, Prime Minister of the Netherlands (d. 2016) + 1915 – İhsan Doğramacı, Turkish physician and academic (d. 2010) +1916 – Herb Caen, American journalist and author (d. 1997) + 1916 – Cliff Gladwin, English cricketer (d. 1988) + 1916 – Louis Guglielmi, Catalan composer (d. 1991) +1918 – Mary Anderson, American actress (d. 2014) + 1918 – Louis Applebaum, Canadian composer and conductor (d. 2000) +1919 – Ervin Drake, American songwriter and composer (d. 2015) + 1919 – Clairette Oddera, French-Canadian actress and singer (d. 2008) +1920 – Stan Freeman, American composer and conductor (d. 2001) + 1920 – Yoshibayama Junnosuke, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 43rd Yokozuna (d. 1977) +1921 – Robert Karvelas, American actor (d. 1991) + 1921 – Jan Sterling, American actress (d. 2004) +1922 – Yevhen Bulanchyk, Ukrainian hurdler (d. 1996) + 1922 – Doris Day, American singer and actress (d. 2019) +1923 – Daniel Hoffman, American poet and academic (d. 2013) +1924 – Marlon Brando, American actor and director (d. 2004) + 1924 – Roza Shanina, Russian sergeant and sniper (d. 1945) +1925 – Tony Benn, English pilot and politician, Secretary of State for Industry (d. 2014) +1926 – Alex Grammas, American baseball player, manager, and coach (d. 2019) + 1926 – Gus Grissom, American colonel, pilot, and astronaut (d. 1967) + 1927 – Wesley A. Brown, American general and engineer (d. 2012) +1928 – Don Gibson, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2003) + 1928 – Emmett Johns, Canadian priest, founded Dans la Rue (d. 2018) + 1928 – Earl Lloyd, American basketball player and coach (d. 2015) + 1928 – Jennifer Paterson, English chef and television personality (d. 1999) +1929 – Fazlur Rahman Khan, Bangladeshi engineer and architect, co-designed the Willis Tower and John Hancock Center (d. 1982) + 1929 – Poul Schlüter, Danish lawyer and politician, 37th Prime Minister of Denmark (d. 2021) +1930 – Lawton Chiles, American soldier, lawyer, and politician, 41st Governor of Florida (d. 1998) + 1930 – Helmut Kohl, German politician, Chancellor of Germany (d. 2017) + 1930 – Mario Benjamín Menéndez, Argentinian general and politician (d. 2015) + 1930 – Wally Moon, American baseball player and coach (d. 2018) +1931 – William Bast, American screenwriter and author (d. 2015) +1933 – Bob Dornan, American politician + 1933 – Rod Funseth, American golfer (d. 1985) +1934 – Pamela Allen, New Zealand children's writer and illustrator + 1934 – Jane Goodall, English primatologist and anthropologist + 1934 – Jim Parker, American football player (d. 2005) +1935 – Harold Kushner, American rabbi and author (d. 2023) +1936 – Jimmy McGriff, American organist and bandleader (d. 2008) + 1936 – Harold Vick, American saxophonist and flute player (d. 1987) +1938 – Jeff Barry, American singer-songwriter, and producer + 1938 – Phil Rodgers, American golfer (d. 2018) +1939 – François de Roubaix, French composer (d. 1975) + 1939 – Hawk Taylor, American baseball player and coach (d. 2012) + 1939 – Paul Craig Roberts, American economist and politician +1941 – Jan Berry, American singer-songwriter (d. 2004) + 1941 – Philippé Wynne, American soul singer (d. 1984) +1942 – Marsha Mason, American actress + 1942 – Wayne Newton, American singer + 1942 – Billy Joe Royal, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2015) +1943 – Mario Lavista, Mexican composer + 1943 – Jonathan Lynn, English actor, director, and screenwriter + 1943 – Richard Manuel, Canadian singer-songwriter and pianist (d. 1986) + 1943 – Hikaru Saeki, Japanese admiral, the first female star officer of the Japan Self-Defense Forces +1944 – Peter Colman, Australian biologist and academic + 1944 – Tony Orlando, American singer +1945 – Doon Arbus, American author and journalist + 1945 – Bernie Parent, Canadian ice hockey player and coach + 1945 – Catherine Spaak, French actress (d. 2022) +1946 – Nicholas Jones, English actor + 1946 – Dee Murray, English bass player (d. 1992) + 1946 – Hanna Suchocka, Polish politician, Prime Minister of Poland +1947 – Anders Eliasson, Swedish composer (d. 2013) +1948 – Arlette Cousture, Canadian author and screenwriter + 1948 – Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, Dutch academic, politician, and diplomat, 11th Secretary General of NATO + 1948 – Hans-Georg Schwarzenbeck, German footballer + 1948 – Carlos Salinas de Gortari, Mexican economist and politician, 53rd President of Mexico +1949 – Lyle Alzado, American football player and actor (d. 1992) + 1949 – A. C. Grayling, English philosopher and academic + 1949 – Richard Thompson, English singer-songwriter and guitarist +1950 – Indrajit Coomaraswamy, Sri Lankan cricketer and economist +1951 – Brendan Barber, English trade union leader + 1951 – Annette Dolphin, British academician and educator + 1951 – Mitch Woods, American singer-songwriter and pianist +1952 – Mike Moore, American lawyer and politician +1953 – Sandra Boynton, American author and illustrator + 1953 – Wakanohana Kanji II, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 56th Yokozuna + 1953 – James Smith, American boxer +1954 – Elisabetta Brusa, Italian composer + 1954 – K. Krishnasamy, Indian physician and politician +1956 – Kalle Kulbok, Estonian politician + 1956 – Boris Miljković, Serbian director and producer + 1956 – Miguel Bosé, Spanish musician and actor + 1956 – Ray Combs, American game show host (d. 1996) +1958 – Alec Baldwin, American actor, comedian, producer and television host + 1958 – Adam Gussow, American scholar, musician, and memoirist + 1958 – Francesca Woodman, American photographer (d. 1981) +1959 – David Hyde Pierce, American actor and activist +1960 – Arjen Anthony Lucassen, Dutch singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer +1961 – Tim Crews, American baseball player (d. 1993) + 1961 – Eddie Murphy, American actor and comedian +1962 – Dave Miley, American baseball player and manager + 1962 – Mike Ness, American singer-songwriter and guitarist + 1962 – Jaya Prada, Indian actress and politician +1963 – Les Davidson, Australian rugby league player + 1963 – Ricky Nixon, Australian footballer and manager + 1963 – Criss Oliva, American guitarist and songwriter (d. 1993) +1964 – Marco Ballotta, Italian footballer and manager + 1964 – Nigel Farage, English politician + 1964 – Claire Perry, English banker and politician + 1964 – Bjarne Riis, Danish cyclist and manager + 1964 – Andy Robinson, English rugby player and coach + 1964 – Jay Weatherill, Australian politician, 45th Premier of South Australia +1965 – Nazia Hassan, Pakistani pop singer-songwriter, lawyer and social activist (d. 2000) +1966 – John de Vries, Australian race car driver +1967 – Cat Cora, American chef and author + 1967 – Pervis Ellison, American basketball player + 1967 – Brent Gilchrist, Canadian ice hockey player + 1967 – Cristi Puiu, Romanian director and screenwriter + 1967 – Mark Skaife, Australian race car driver and sportscaster +1968 – Sebastian Bach, Bahamian-Canadian singer-songwriter and actor + 1968 – Charlotte Coleman, English actress (d. 2001) + 1968 – Jamie Hewlett, English director and performer + 1968 – Tomoaki Kanemoto, Japanese baseball player +1969 – Rodney Hampton, American football player + 1969 – Peter Matera, Australian footballer and coach + 1969 – Ben Mendelsohn, Australian actor + 1969 – Lance Storm, Canadian wrestler and trainer +1971 – Vitālijs Astafjevs, Latvian footballer and manager + 1971 – Emmanuel Collard, French race car driver + 1971 – Picabo Street, American skier +1972 – Jennie Garth, American actress and director + 1972 – Catherine McCormack, English actress + 1972 – Sandrine Testud, French tennis player +1973 – Nilesh Kulkarni, Indian cricketer + 1973 – Adam Scott, American actor +1974 – Marcus Brown, American basketball player + 1974 – Drew Shirley, American guitarist and songwriter + 1974 – Lee Williams, Welsh model and actor +1975 – Shawn Bates, American ice hockey player + 1975 – Michael Olowokandi, Nigerian-American basketball player + 1975 – Aries Spears, American comedian and actor + 1975 – Yoshinobu Takahashi, Japanese baseball player + 1975 – Koji Uehara, Japanese baseball player +1976 – Nicolas Escudé, French tennis player +1978 – Matthew Goode, English actor + 1978 – Tommy Haas, German-American tennis player + 1978 – John Smit, South African rugby player +1979 – Simon Black, Australian footballer and coach +1980 – Andrei Lodis, Belarusian footballer + 1980 – Megan Rohrer, American pastor and transgender activist +1981 – Aaron Bertram, American trumpet player + 1981 – DeShawn Stevenson, American basketball player +1982 – Jared Allen, American football player + 1982 – Iain Fyfe, Australian footballer + 1982 – Cobie Smulders, Canadian actress +1983 – Ben Foster, English footballer + 1983 – Stephen Weiss, Canadian ice hockey player +1984 – Jonathan Blondel, Belgian footballer + 1984 – Maxi López, Argentinian footballer +1985 – Jari-Matti Latvala, Finnish race car driver + 1985 – Leona Lewis, English singer-songwriter and producer +1986 – Amanda Bynes, American actress + 1986 – Stephanie Cox, American soccer player + 1986 – Annalisa Cucinotta, Italian cyclist + 1986 – Sergio Sánchez Ortega, Spanish footballer +1987 – Rachel Bloom, American actress, writer, and producer + 1987 – Jay Bruce, American baseball player + 1987 – Yileen Gordon, Australian rugby league player + 1987 – Jason Kipnis, American baseball player + 1987 – Martyn Rooney, English sprinter + 1987 – Julie Sokolow, American singer-songwriter and guitarist + 1987 – Yuval Spungin, Israeli footballer +1988 – Kam Chancellor, American football player + 1988 – Brandon Graham, American football player + 1988 – Peter Hartley, English footballer + 1988 – Tim Krul, Dutch footballer +1989 – Romain Alessandrini, French footballer + 1989 – Israel Folau, Australian rugby player and footballer + 1989 – Joel Romelo, Australian rugby league player + 1989 – Thisara Perera, Sri Lankan cricketer +1990 – Karim Ansarifard, Iranian footballer + 1990 – Madison Brengle, American tennis player + 1990 – Sotiris Ninis, Greek footballer + 1990 – Natasha Negovanlis, Canadian actress and singer +1991 – Hayley Kiyoko, American actress and singer +1992 – Simone Benedetti, Italian footballer + 1992 – Yuliya Yefimova, Russian swimmer +1993 – Pape Moussa Konaté, Senegalese footballer +1994 – Kodi Nikorima, New Zealand rugby league player + 1994 – Dylann Roof, American mass murderer +1996 – Mayo Hibi, Japanese tennis player +1997 – Gabriel Jesus, Brazilian footballer +1998 – Paris Jackson, American actress, model and singer +1999 – Chanel Harris-Tavita, New Zealand-Samoan rugby league player + +Deaths + +Pre-1600 + 963 – William III, Duke of Aquitaine (b. 915) +1153 – al-Adil ibn al-Sallar, vizier of the Fatimid Caliphate +1171 – Philip of Milly, seventh Grand Master of the Knights Templar (b. ) +1203 – Arthur I, Duke of Brittany (b. 1187) +1253 – Saint Richard of Chichester +1287 – Pope Honorius IV (b. 1210) +1325 – Nizamuddin Auliya, Sufi saint (b. 1238) +1350 – Odo IV, Duke of Burgundy (b. 1295) +1538 – Elizabeth Boleyn, Countess of Wiltshire (b. 1480) +1545 – Antonio de Guevara, Spanish chronicler and moralist (b. 1481) + +1601–1900 +1606 – Charles Blount, 8th Baron Mountjoy, English general and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (b. 1563) +1630 – Christopher Villiers, 1st Earl of Anglesey, English noble (b. c.  1593) +1637 – Joseph Yuspa Nördlinger Hahn, German rabbi +1680 – Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj , Indian emperor, founded the Maratha Empire (b. 1630) +1682 – Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, Spanish painter and educator (b. 1618) +1691 – Jean Petitot, French-Swiss painter (b. 1608) +1695 – Melchior d'Hondecoeter, Dutch painter (b. 1636) +1717 – Jacques Ozanam, French mathematician and academic (b. 1640) +1728 – James Anderson, Scottish lawyer and historian (b. 1662) +1792 – George Pocock, English admiral (b. 1706) +1804 – Jędrzej Kitowicz, Polish priest, historian, and author (b. 1727) +1826 – Reginald Heber, English priest (b. 1783) +1827 – Ernst Chladni, German physicist and academic (b. 1756) +1838 – François Carlo Antommarchi, French physician and author (b. 1780) +1844 – Edward Bigge, English cleric, 1st Archdeacon of Lindisfarne (b. 1807) +1846 – William Braine, English soldier and explorer (b. 1814) +1849 – Juliusz Słowacki, Polish-French poet and playwright (b. 1809) +1868 – Franz Berwald, Swedish composer and surgeon (b. 1796) +1880 – Felicita Vestvali, German actress and opera singer (b. 1831) +1882 – Jesse James, American criminal and outlaw (b. 1847) +1897 – Johannes Brahms, German pianist and composer (b. 1833) + +1901–present +1901 – Richard D'Oyly Carte, English composer and talent agent (b. 1844) +1902 – Esther Hobart Morris, American lawyer and judge (b. 1814) +1930 – Emma Albani, Canadian-English operatic soprano (b. 1847) +1936 – Richard Hauptmann, German-American murderer (b. 1899) +1941 – Tachiyama Mineemon, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 22nd Yokozuna (b. 1877) + 1941 – Pál Teleki, Hungarian academic and politician, 22nd Prime Minister of Hungary (b. 1879) +1943 – Conrad Veidt, German actor, director, and producer (b. 1893) +1946 – Masaharu Homma, Japanese general (b. 1887) +1950 – Kurt Weill, German-American composer and pianist (b. 1900) + 1950 – Carter G. Woodson, American historian, author, and journalist, founded Black History Month (b. 1875) +1951 – Henrik Visnapuu, Estonian poet and playwright (b. 1890) +1952 – Miina Sillanpää, Finnish minister and politician (b. 1866) +1957 – Ned Sparks, Canadian-American actor (b. 1883) +1958 – Jaan Kärner, Estonian poet and author (b. 1891) +1962 – Manolis Kalomiris, Greek composer and educator (b. 1883) +1970 – Avigdor Hameiri, Israeli author (b. 1890) +1971 – Joseph Valachi, American gangster (b. 1904) +1972 – Ferde Grofé, American pianist and composer (b. 1892) +1975 – Mary Ure, Scottish-English actress (b. 1933) +1976 – David M. Dennison, American physicist and academic (b. 1900) + 1976 – Claude-Henri Grignon, Canadian journalist and politician (b. 1894) +1978 – Ray Noble, English bandleader, composer, and actor (b. 1903) + 1978 – Winston Sharples, American composer (b. 1909) +1981 – Juan Trippe, American businessman, founded Pan American World Airways (b. 1899) +1982 – Warren Oates, American actor (b. 1928) +1983 – Jimmy Bloomfield, English footballer and manager (b. 1934) +1986 – Peter Pears, English tenor and educator (b. 1910) +1987 – Tom Sestak, American football player (b. 1936) +1988 – Milton Caniff, American cartoonist (b. 1907) +1990 – Sarah Vaughan, American singer (b. 1924) +1991 – Charles Goren, American bridge player and author (b. 1901) + 1991 – Graham Greene, English novelist, playwright, and critic (b. 1904) +1993 – Pinky Lee, American television host (b. 1907) +1994 – Frank Wells, American businessman (b. 1932) +1995 – Alfred J. Billes, Canadian businessman, co-founded Canadian Tire (b. 1902) +1996 – Ron Brown, American captain and politician, 30th United States Secretary of Commerce (b. 1941) +1998 – Mary Cartwright, English mathematician and academic (b. 1900) +1999 – Lionel Bart, English composer (b. 1930) + 1999 – Geoffrey Walsh, Canadian general (b. 1909) +2000 – Terence McKenna, American botanist and philosopher (b. 1946) + 2000 – Dina Abramowicz, Librarian and YIVO and Yiddish language expert (b. 1909) +2005 – François Gérin, Canadian lawyer and politician (b. 1944) +2007 – Nina Wang, Chinese businesswoman (b. 1937) +2008 – Hrvoje Ćustić, Croatian footballer (b. 1983) +2012 – Mingote, Spanish cartoonist and journalist (b. 1919) + 2012 – Richard Descoings, French civil servant (b. 1958) + 2012 – Govind Narain, Indian politician, 8th Governor of Karnataka (b. 1917) + 2012 – Chief Jay Strongbow, American wrestler (b. 1928) + 2012 – José María Zárraga, Spanish footballer and manager (b. 1930) +2013 – Mariví Bilbao, Spanish actress (b. 1930) + 2013 – Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, German-American author and screenwriter (b. 1927) +2014 – Régine Deforges, French author, playwright, and director (b. 1935) + 2014 – Fred Kida, American illustrator (b. 1920) + 2014 – Prince Michael of Prussia (b. 1940) + 2014 – Jovan Pavlović, Serbian metropolitan (b. 1936) + 2014 – Arthur "Guitar Boogie" Smith, American guitarist, fiddler, and composer (b. 1921) +2015 – Sarah Brady, American activist and author (b. 1942) + 2015 – Bob Burns, American drummer and songwriter (b. 1950) + 2015 – Shmuel Wosner, Austrian-Israeli rabbi and author (b. 1913) +2016 – Cesare Maldini, Italian footballer and manager (b. 1932) + 2016 – Joe Medicine Crow, American anthropologist, historian, and author (b. 1913) + 2016 – Koji Wada, Japanese singer and songwriter (b. 1974) +2017 – Kishori Amonkar, Indian classical vocalist (b. 1931) +2021 – Stan Stephens, Canadian-American politician, 20th Governor of Montana (b. 1929) +2022 – June Brown, English actress (b. 1927) + +Holidays and observances + Christian feast day: + Agape, Chionia, and Irene + Burgundofara + Luigi Scrosoppi + Richard of Chichester + April 3 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics) + +References + +External links + + BBC: On This Day + + Historical Events on April 3 + +Days of the year +April +Alexis Andrew Nicholas Koerner (19 April 1928 – 1 January 1984), known professionally as Alexis Korner, was a British blues musician and radio broadcaster, who has sometimes been referred to as "a founding father of British blues". A major influence on the sound of the British music scene in the 1960s, he was instrumental in the formation of several notable British bands including The Rolling Stones and Free. + +Early career +Alexis Andrew Nicholas Koerner was born on 19 April 1928 in Paris, France, to an Austrian Jewish father and a mother of Greek, Turkish and Austrian descent. He spent his childhood in France, Switzerland and North Africa, and arrived in London in 1940 after the start of the Second World War. One memory of his youth was listening to a record by black pianist Jimmy Yancey during a German air raid. Korner said, "From then on all I wanted to do was play the blues." + +After the war, Korner played piano and guitar (his first guitar was built by friend and author Sydney Hopkins, who wrote Mister God, This Is Anna) and in 1949 joined Chris Barber's Jazz Band where he met blues harmonica player Cyril Davies. They started playing together as a duo, started the influential London Blues and Barrelhouse Club in 1955 and made their first record together in 1957. + +Korner made his first official record on Decca Records DFE 6286 in the company of Ken Colyer's Skiffle Group. His talent extended to playing mandolin on one of the tracks of this British EP, recorded in London on 28 July 1955. Korner encouraged many American blues artists, previously virtually unknown in Britain, to perform at the London Blues and Barrelhouse Club, which he established with Davies at the Round House pub in Soho. + +The 1960s + +In 1961, Korner and Davies formed Blues Incorporated, initially a loose-knit group of musicians with a shared love of electric blues and R&B music. The group included, at various times, Charlie Watts, Jack Bruce, Ginger Baker, Long John Baldry, Graham Bond, Danny Thompson and Dick Heckstall-Smith. It also attracted a wider crowd of mostly younger fans, some of whom occasionally performed with the group, including Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Brian Jones, Geoff Bradford, Rod Stewart, John Mayall, and Jimmy Page. + +Although Cyril Davies left the group in late 1962, Blues Incorporated continued to record, with Korner at the helm, until 1966. However, by that time its originally stellar line-up (and crowd of followers) had mostly left to start their own bands. While his one-time acolytes, the Rolling Stones and Cream, made the front pages of music magazines all over the world, Korner was relegated to the role of 'elder statesman'. + +In 1966, Korner formed the trio Free At Last with Hughie Flint and Binky McKenzie. Flint later recalled “I played with Alexis, right after leaving The Bluesbreakers, in a trio, which Alexis named Free At Last, a sort of mini and slightly restricted version of Blues Incorporated. Playing with Alexis was very loose. We would play anything from Percy Mayfield’s ‘River’s Invitation’ to Charles Mingus' ‘Better Get It In Your Soul’ – with lots of freaky guitar and bass solos. Alexis, like John Mayall had the most eclectic taste in music, very knowledgeable, and generous, and I am indebted to both of them for my wide approach to music”. + +Although Free At Last was short-lived, Korner ensured its name lived on in part by christening another young group of aspiring musicians, Free. Korner was instrumental in the formation of the band in April 1968, and continued to mentor them until they secured a deal with Island Records. + +Although he himself was a blues purist, Korner criticised better-known British blues musicians during the blues boom of the late 1960s for their blind adherence to Chicago blues, as if the music came in no other form. He liked to surround himself with jazz musicians and often performed with a horn section drawn from a pool that included, among others, saxophone players Art Themen, Mel Collins, Dick Heckstall-Smith, and Lol Coxhill. + +While touring Scandinavia he formed the band New Church with guitarist and singer Peter Thorup. They subsequently were one of the support bands at the Rolling Stones Free Concert in Hyde Park, London, on 5 July 1969. Jimmy Page reportedly found out about a new singer, Robert Plant, who had been jamming with Korner, who wondered why Plant had not yet been discovered. Plant and Korner were recording an album with Plant on vocals until Page had asked him to join "the New Yardbirds", a.k.a. Led Zeppelin. Only two songs are in circulation from these recordings: "Steal Away" and "Operator". Korner gave one of his last radio interviews to BBC Midlands on the Record Collectors Show with Mike Adams and Chris Savory. + +Broadcasting +In the 1960s Korner began a media career, working initially as a showbusiness interviewer and then on ITV's Five O'Clock Club, a children's TV show. Korner also wrote about blues for the music papers, and continued to maintain his own career as a blues artist, especially in Europe. Korner's main career in the 1970s was in broadcasting. In 1973, he presented a six-part documentary on BBC Radio 1, The Rolling Stones Story, and in 1977 he established a Sunday-night show on Radio 1, Alexis Korner's Blues and Soul Show, which ran until 1981. He also used his gravelly voice to great effect as an advertising voice-over artist. + +1970s + +CSS period + +In 1970, Korner and Thorup formed a big-band ensemble, CCS – short for "The Collective Consciousness Society" – which had several hit singles produced by Mickie Most, including a version of Led Zeppelin's "Whole Lotta Love", which was used as the theme for BBC's Top of the Pops between 1970 and 1981. Another instrumental called "Brother" was used as the theme to the BBC Radio 1 Top 20/40 when Tom Browne/Simon Bates presented the programme in the 1970s. It was also used in the 1990s on Radio Luxembourg for the Top 20 Singles chart. This was the period of Korner's greatest commercial success in the UK. In 1973, he provided a voice part for the Hot Chocolate single release Brother Louie. + +1970s to 1984 + +In 1973, he and Peter Thorup formed another group, Snape, with Boz Burrell, Mel Collins, and Ian Wallace, who were previously together in King Crimson. Korner also played on B.B. King's In London album, and cut his own, similar "supersession" album; Get Off My Cloud, with Keith Richards, Steve Marriott, Peter Frampton, Nicky Hopkins and members of Joe Cocker's Grease Band. In the mid-1970s, while touring Germany, Korner established an intensive working relationship with bassist Colin Hodgkinson who played for the support act Back Door. They would continue to collaborate right up until Korner's death. + +In 1978, for Korner's 50th birthday, an all-star concert was held featuring many of his above-mentioned friends, as well as Eric Clapton, Paul Jones, Chris Farlowe, Zoot Money and others, which was later released as The Party Album, and as a video. + +In 1981, Korner joined another "supergroup", Rocket 88, a project led by Ian Stewart based on boogie-woogie keyboard players, which featured a rhythm section comprising Jack Bruce and Charlie Watts, among others, as well as a horn section. They toured Europe and released an album on Atlantic Records. He played in Italy with Paul Jones and the Blues Society of Italian bluesman Guido Toffoletti. + +Family life and death +In 1950, Korner married Roberta Melville (died 2021), daughter of art critic Robert Melville. He had a daughter, singer Sappho Gillett Korner (died 2006), and two sons, guitarist Nicholas 'Nico' Korner (died 1989) and sound engineer Damian Korner (died 2008). + +Alexis Korner died in London from lung cancer on 1 January 1984, at the age of 55. + +Album discography (selected UK and other releases) + Blues from the Roundhouse 10-inch (1957) – Alexis Korner's Breakdown Group + R&B from the Marquee (1962) – Alexis Korner's Blues Incorporated + Red Hot from Alex (1964) – Alexis Korner's Blues Incorporated + At the Cavern (1964) – Alexis Korner's Blues Incorporated + Alexis Korner's Blues Incorporated (1965) – Alexis Korner's Blues Incorporated + Sky High (1966) – Alexis Korner Blues Incorporated + I Wonder Who (1967) + Alexis Korner's Blues Incorporated (re-issue of Sky High) – Alexis Korner's Blues Incorporated + A New Generation of Blues (1968) + Both Sides (1970) – New Church + CCS 1st (1970) – CCS + Alexis Korner (1971) + Bootleg Him! (1972) + CCS 2nd (1972) – CCS + Accidentally Borne in New Orleans (1972) – with Peter Thorup; Snape + Live on Tour in Germany (1973) – with Peter Thorup; Snape + The Best Band in the Land (1973) – CCS + Alexis Korner (1974) + Get Off My Cloud (1975) + The Lost Album (1977) + Just Easy (1978) + The Party Album (1979) – Alexis Korner and Friends + Me (1980) + Rocket 88 (1981) – Rocket 88 + Juvenile Delinquent (1984) + Testament (1985) – with Colin Hodgkinson + Live in Paris (1988) – with Colin Hodgkinson + +Bibliography + Bob Brunning (1986), Blues: The British Connection, London: Helter Skelter, 2002. + Bob Brunning, The Fleetwood Mac Story: Rumours and Lies, Omnibus Press, 2004; foreword by B.B. King + Dick Heckstall-Smith (2004), The Safest Place in the World: A Personal History of British Rhythm and blues, Clear Books. . First Edition: Blowing the Blues – Fifty Years Playing the British Blues + Christopher Hjort, Strange Brew: Eric Clapton and the British Blues Boom, 1965–1970, foreword by John Mayall, Jawbone, 2007. + Harry Shapiro, Alexis Korner: The Biography, London: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC, 1997; Discography by Mark Troster. + +References + +External links + + [ Biography] at AllMusic + Biography at British Music Experience + Alexis Korner page at Radio Rewind + BBC Radio 2 radio documentary about Alexis Korner on Vimeo + + + +1928 births +1984 deaths +20th-century British guitarists +20th-century British male singers +BBC Radio 1 presenters +Blues Incorporated members +Blues revival musicians +British DJs +British blues guitarists +British blues singers +British male guitarists +British male singer-songwriters +British radio presenters +British rhythm and blues boom musicians +CCS (band) members +Charisma Records artists +Columbia Records artists +Deaths from lung cancer in England +Decca Records artists +English people of Austrian-Jewish descent +English people of Greek descent +English people of Turkish descent +Fontana Records artists +Liberty Records artists +Musicians from London +Polydor Records artists +Transatlantic Records artists +Warner Records artists +An assault gun (from , , meaning "assault gun") is a type of self-propelled artillery which uses an infantry support gun mounted on a motorized chassis, normally an armored fighting vehicle, which are designed to provide direct fire support for infantry attacks, especially against other infantry or fortified positions. Assault guns were pioneered by the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany during the 1930s, initially being self-propelled guns with direct fire in mind (such as the Soviet SU-5-1), with Germany introducing the first purpose-built (and purpose-named) assault gun, the , in 1940. + +Historically, the concept of assault guns was very similar to that of the infantry tank, as both were combat vehicles intended to accompany infantry formations into battle. However, during World War II assault guns were more mobile than tanks and could be utilized as both direct and indirect fire artillery. Although they could approximate the firepower of a tank, assault guns mostly fired high explosive shells at relatively low velocities, which were well suited for their role of knocking out hard points such as fortified positions and buildings. They were not intended to be deployed as tank substitutes or dedicated tank destroyers. Nevertheless, as the conflict progressed, the increasing proliferation of tanks on the battlefield forced many assault gun units to engage armor in defense of the infantry, and led to armies becoming more dependent on multipurpose designs which combined the traditionally separate roles of an assault gun and a tank destroyer. + +German and Soviet assault guns introduced during World War II usually carried their main armament in a fully enclosed casemate rather than a gun turret. Although this limited the field of fire and traverse of the armament, it also had the advantage of a reduced silhouette and simplified the manufacturing process. The United States never developed a purpose-built assault gun during the war, although it did modify preexisting armored fighting vehicles for that role, including the M4 Sherman (as the M4(105)), the M5 Stuart (as the M8 Scott), and the M3 half-track (as the T19 Howitzer Motor Carriage). The classic assault gun concept was largely abandoned during the postwar era in favor of tanks or multipurpose tank destroyers attached to infantry formations, which were also capable of providing direct fire support as needed. In the United States and most Western countries, the assault gun ceased to be recognized as a unique niche, with individual examples being classified either as a self-propelled howitzer or a tank, one exception being Sweden, which continued to develop casemate assault guns post-war, such as the Infanterikanonvagn 72, all the way into the 1960s before settling on a turreted design in 1968, becoming the Infanterikanonvagn 91. The Soviet Union continued funding development of new assault guns as late as 1967, although few of its postwar designs were adopted in large numbers. In Soviet and Eastern European armies, the traditional assault gun was primarily superseded by tank destroyers, such as the SU-100, which is capable of supporting either infantry or armor. Since the 1980s, the multi-purpose assault gun concept has seen a resurgence, mainly in the form of turreted wheeled designs, such as the South African Rooikat and Italian Centauro. Today, modern assault guns include the Japanese Type 16 maneuver combat vehicle and the American M1128 Stryker and M10 Booker. + +History + +World War II + +Assault guns were primarily developed during World War II by the forces of Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union. Early in the war, the Germans began to create makeshift assault guns by mounting their infantry support weapons on the bed of a truck or on obsolete tanks with the turret removed. Later in the war, both the Germans and the Soviets introduced fully armoured purpose-built assault guns into their arsenals. + +Early on, the Soviets built the KV-2, a variant of the KV-1 heavy tank with a short-barreled 152 mm howitzer mounted in an oversized turret. This was not a success in battle, and was replaced with a very successful series of turretless assault guns: the SU-76, SU-122, and the heavy SU-152, which were followed by the ISU-122 and ISU-152 on the new IS heavy tank chassis. + +The primary German assault gun was the (StuG III). At about the same time (March 1942) as the howitzer-like KwK 37 gun was dropped from the Panzer IV's use, its Sturmkanone equivalent in the StuG III up to that time, was likewise replaced with a longer-barreled, high-velocity dual-purpose 75 mm gun that had also been derived from the successful PaK 40 anti-tank towed artillery piece. The Germans also built a number of other fully armoured turretless assault guns, including the StuG IV, StuIG 33B, and . The latter two were very heavy vehicles, and were built only in small quantities. + +Battalions of assault guns, usually StuG IIIs, commonly replaced the intended panzer battalion in the German divisions due to the chronic shortage of tanks, and were sometimes used as makeshifts even in the panzer divisions. Independent battalions were also deployed as "stiffeners" for infantry divisions, and the StuG III's anti-tank capabilities bolstered dwindling tank numbers on the Eastern and Western fronts. + +US and UK forces also deployed vehicles designed for a close support role, but these were conventional tanks whose only significant modification was the replacement of the main gun with a howitzer. Two versions of the American Sherman tank were armed with the M4 105 mm howitzer, the M4(105) and the M4A3(105); these were designated assault guns in US usage of the term. The M8 Scott, based on the chassis of the M5 Stuart light tank, was also an assault cannon and carried a 75 mm short howitzer. The Churchill, Centaur and Cromwell tanks were all produced in versions armed with 95 mm howitzers: the Churchill Mark V and Mark VIII, the Centaur Mark IV and the Cromwell Mark VI. Earlier British tanks, such as the Crusader cruiser tank and the Matilda II Infantry tank were produced in versions armed with the 3-inch howitzer; the first versions of the Churchill tank also had this gun in a hull mounting. American tank destroyer units were often used in the assault gun role for infantry support. + +The AVRE version of the Churchill tank was armed with a spigot mortar that fired a HE-filled projectile (nicknamed the Flying Dustbin) . Its task was to attack fortified positions such as bunkers at close range (see Hobart's Funnies). + +Since World War II + +In the post-World War II era, most vehicles fitting into an "assault gun" category were developed as a light-weight, air-deployable, direct fire combat vehicles for use with airborne troops. Those weapons were either based on jeeps or small tracked vehicles and the airborne troops thus always fought at a distinct disadvantage in terms of heavy weapons. The Soviet Union and the United States were the most attracted to the idea of providing this capability to traditionally light airborne forces. Their answers to the problem were similar, with the United States developing the M56 Scorpion and the Soviet Union developing the ASU-57, both essentially airdroppable light anti-tank guns. + +The Soviets went on to develop an improved airdroppable assault gun, the ASU-85, which served through the 1980s, while their SU-100 remained in service with Communist countries, including Vietnam and Cuba, years after World War II. The US M56 and another armoured vehicle, the M50 Ontos, were to be the last of the more traditional assault guns in US service. Improvised arrangements such as M113 personnel carriers with recoilless rifles were quickly replaced by missile carrier vehicles in the anti-tank role. + +The only vehicle with the qualities of an assault gun to be fielded after the removal of the M50 and M56 from service within the US military was the M551 Sheridan. The Sheridan's gun was a low-velocity weapon suitable in the assault role, but with the addition of the Shillelagh missile could double in the anti-tank role as well. The Sheridan, however, was not developed as an assault gun but as a light reconnaissance vehicle. + +Currently, there appears to be a move toward wheeled vehicles fitting a "tank destroyer" or "assault gun" role, such as the M1128 Mobile Gun System of the US Army, the Centauro wheeled tank destroyer of the Italian and Spanish Armies, the Chinese anti-tank gun PTL-02 and ZBL08 assault gun, and the French AMX-10 RC heavy armoured car. While these vehicles might be useful in a direct fire role, none were developed with this specifically in mind, reminiscent of the use of tank destroyers by the US military in the assault gun role during World War II. + +Assault guns per nation + +Germany + +Sturmgeschütz + +Sturmpanzer + +Sweden + +See also + Armoured warfare + + + + List of infantry support guns + +References +A tank destroyer, tank hunter or tank killer is a type of armoured fighting vehicle, predominantly intended for anti-tank duties. They are typically armed with a direct fire artillery gun, also known as a self-propelled anti-tank gun, or missile launcher, also called an anti-tank missile carrier. The vehicles are designed specifically to engage and destroy enemy tanks, often with limited operational capacities. + +While tanks are designed for front-line combat, combining operational mobility and tactical offensive and defensive capabilities and performing all primary tasks of the armoured troops, the tank destroyer is specifically designed to take on enemy tanks and other armoured fighting vehicles. Many are based on a tracked tank chassis, while others are wheeled. + +Since World War II, gun-armed powerful tank destroyers have fallen out of favor as armies have favored multirole main battle tanks. However, lightly armoured anti-tank guided missile (ATGM) carriers are commonly used for supplementary long-range anti-tank work. The resurgence of expeditionary warfare in the first two decades of the 21st century has seen the emergence of gun-armed wheeled vehicles, sometimes called "protected gun systems", which may bear a superficial resemblance to tank destroyers, but are employed as direct fire support units typically providing support in low-intensity operations, as was done in wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. + +World War II +Dedicated anti-tank vehicles made their first major appearance in the Second World War as combatants developed effective armoured vehicles and tactics. Some were little more than stopgap solutions, mounting an anti-tank gun on a tracked vehicle to give mobility, while others were more sophisticated designs. An example of the development of tank destroyer technology throughout the war are the Marder III and Jagdpanzer 38 vehicle, that were very different in spite of being based on the same chassis: Marder was straightforwardly an anti-tank gun on tracks whereas the Jagdpanzer 38 traded some firepower (its 7.5 cm Pak 39, designed to operate within the confines of a fully armoured fighting compartment, fires the same projectiles from a reduced propellant charge compared to Marder's 7.5 cm Pak 40) for better armour protection and ease of concealment on the battlefield. + +Except for most American designs, all tank destroyers were turretless vehicles with fixed or casemate superstructures. When a tank destroyer was used against enemy tanks from a defensive position such as by ambush, the lack of a rotating turret was not particularly critical, while the lower silhouette was highly desirable. The turretless design allowed accommodation of a more powerful gun, typically a dedicated anti-tank gun (in lieu of a regular tank's general-purpose main gun that fired both anti-tank and high explosive ammunition) that had a longer barrel than could be mounted in a turreted tank on the same chassis. The lack of a turret increased the vehicle's internal volume, allowing for increased ammunition stowage and crew comfort. Eliminating the turret let the vehicle carry thicker armour, and also let this armour be concentrated in the hull. Sometimes there was no armoured roof (only a weather cover) to keep the overall weight down to the limit that the chassis could bear. The absence of a turret meant that tank destroyers could be manufactured significantly cheaper, faster, and more easily than the tanks on which they were based, and they found particular favor when production resources were lacking. + +Germany + +The first German tank destroyers were the Panzerjäger ("Tank Hunters"), which mounted an existing anti-tank gun on a convenient chassis for mobility, usually with just a three-sided gun shield for crew protection. For instance, 202 obsolete Panzer I light tanks were modified by removing the turret and were rebuilt as the Panzerjäger I self-propelled 4.7 cm PaK(t). Similarly, Panzer II tanks were used on the eastern front. Captured Soviet anti-tank guns were mounted on modified Panzer II chassis, producing the Marder II self-propelled anti-tank gun. The most common mounting was a German anti-tank gun on the Czech Panzer 38(t) chassis as the Marder III. The Panzer 38(t) chassis was also used to make the Jagdpanzer 38 casemate style tank destroyer. The Panzerjäger series continued up to the equipped Nashorn. + +German tank destroyers based on the Panzer III medium tank and later German tanks had more armour than their tank counterparts. One of the more successful German tank destroyers was designed as a self-propelled artillery gun, the Sturmgeschütz III. Based on the Panzer III tank chassis, the Sturmgeschütz III was originally fitted with a short barreled low-velocity howitzer-like gun, and was assigned to the artillery arm for infantry fire support as an assault gun. Later, after encountering Soviet tanks, it was refitted with a comparatively short-barreled high-velocity anti-tank gun, usually with a muzzle brake, enabling it to function as a tank destroyer. The Sturmgeschütz III from its 1938 origin used a new casemate-style superstructure with an integrated design, similar to the later Jagdpanzer vehicle designs' superstructure, to completely enclose the crew. It was employed in infantry support and offensive armoured operations as well as in the defensive anti-tank role. The StuG III assault gun was Germany's most-produced fully tracked armoured fighting vehicle during World War II, and second-most produced German armoured combat vehicle of any type after the Sd.Kfz. 251 half-track. + +Although the early German Panzerjäger carried more effective weapons than the tanks on which they were based, they were generally lacking in protection for the crew, having thinly armoured open-topped superstructures. The "open-topped" design format of the Panzerjäger vehicles was succeeded by the Jagdpanzer ("hunting tanks"), which mounted the gun in true casemate-style superstructures, completely enclosing the crew compartment in armor that was usually integral to the hull. The first of these Jagdpanzers was the 70-ton Ferdinand (later renamed Elefant), based on the chassis, hulls, and drive systems of ninety-one Porsche VK4501 (P) heavy tanks, mounting a long-barreled 88 mm cannon in an added casemate, more like the earlier Panzerjägers had with their added-on armour shielding for the gun crew, but in the Ferdinand completely enclosing the gun and firing crew in the added casemate, as the later purpose-built Jagdpanzers would. However, the Ferdinand was mechanically unreliable and difficult to maneuver, and once all ninety-one unturreted "Porsche Tiger" hulls/drive systems were converted, no more were built. The German Army had more success with the Jagdpanther. Introduced in mid-1944, the Jagdpanther, of which some 415 examples were produced, was considered the best of the casemate-design Jagdpanzer designs. It featured the same powerful PaK 43 88 mm cannon used on the unwieldy Elefant, now fitted to the chassis of the medium Panther tank, providing greatly improved armour-penetrating capability in a medium-weight vehicle. + +Facing an increasingly defensive war, the German Army turned to larger and more powerfully armed Jagdpanzer designs, and in July 1944 the first Jagdtiger rolled off the production line; it was the heaviest German armoured fighting vehicle to go into active service. The Jagdtiger was based on the Tiger II heavy tank featured a very large 128 mm PaK 44 cannon and heavy armour protection. Only 88 Jagdtiger vehicles were produced, barely matching the total number of the earlier Ferdinand / Elefant vehicles. They were first deployed to combat units in September 1944. + +The decision of German armoured vehicle designers to use a casemate-style superstructure for all tank destroyers had the advantage of a reduced silhouette, allowing the crew to more frequently fire from defilade ambush positions. Such designs were also easier and faster to manufacture and offered good crew protection from artillery fire and shell splinters. However, the lack of a rotating turret limited the gun's traverse to a few degrees. This meant that the driver normally had to turn the entire tank onto its target, a much slower process than simply rotating a powered turret. If the vehicle became immobilized due to engine failure or track damage, it could not rotate its gun to counter opposing tanks, making it highly vulnerable to counterfire. This vulnerability was later exploited by opposing tank forces. Even the largest and most powerful of German tank destroyers were found abandoned on the field after a battle, having been immobilized by one or more hits by high explosive (HE) or armour-piercing (AP) shells to the track or front drive sprocket. + +Italy + +The most famous Italian tank destroyer of the Second World War was a self-propelled gun. The Semovente da 75/18, based on the M13/40 frame, was developed to support front-line infantry, and therefore had fixed armament: a 75 mm gun in casemate. However, thanks to its low height (185 cm) and the caliber of its gun the 75/18 also had good results in anti-tank combat, fighting against British and American (but not Soviet) units. After the Armistice of 1943, the 75/18 remained in use by German forces. + +Built on the same frame, the Semovente da 105/25 was equipped with a 105 mm gun and known as "bassotto" (Italian for dachshund) due to its lower height. As manufacturing began in 1943, the 105/25 was used by German forces. A further development was the Semovente da 75/46, which had a longer gun than the 75/18 and inclined armour 100 mm thick, making it similar to Sturmgeschütz III. Only 11 of these were manufactured. Before the Semovente da 75/18, the L40, built on an L6/40 light tank chassis, saw action in Africa and in Russia, but with disappointing results. + +Japan + +The Type 1 Ho-Ni I was the first self-propelled gun design of the Imperial Japanese Army. They were meant to be self-propelled artillery and tank destroyers for armoured divisions. The plan was for the Type 1 Ho-Ni I gun tank to form part of a fire support company in each of the tank regiments. The Type 1 Ho-Ni I was developed by using the existing Type 97 Chi-Ha medium tank chassis and engine, and replacing the gun turret with a Type 90 75 mm field gun mounted in an open casemate with frontal and side armour only. They entered service in 1942 and were first deployed in combat at the Battle of Luzon in the Philippines in 1945. Some were used in static entrenched positions. + +A variant, known as the Type 1 Ho-Ni II mounted a Type 91 105 mm howitzer and had a slightly changed superstructure as far as the side armor with re-positioned observation visors. Production began in 1943, with only 54 completed. + +The other variant produced was the Type 3 Ho-Ni III, which mounted a Type 3 75 mm tank gun in a completely enclosed armored casemate to address the issue of crew protection in close combat. The welded superstructure had sloped armour and the gun mount had additional stamped armour plate. The total number produced of all three types in the Ho-Ni series were 111 units. Most of the Ho-Ni units were retained within the Japanese home islands to form part of the defenses against the projected American invasion, and did not see combat before the surrender of Japan. + +The Type 2 Ho-I Gun tank used the Type 1 Chi-He medium tank chassis. It was designed as a self-propelled howitzer, mounting a short barreled Type 99 75 mm gun to provide close-in fire support. For deployment, the gun tank was intended to be used in a fire support company for each of the tank regiments. No Type 2 Ho-I gun tanks are known to have engaged in combat prior to Japan's surrender. The prototype was built in 1942 and 31 units were produced in 1944. + +The Type 4 Ho-Ro self-propelled artillery used a modified Type 97 chassis. On to this platform, a Type 38 150 mm howitzer was mounted. The main gun could fire Type 88 APHE rounds and HEAT rounds. Given its breech loader, the maximum rate of fire was only 5 rounds per minute. The gun's elevation was restricted to 30 degrees by the construction of the chassis. Other design issues included the fact that although the gun crew was protected by a gun shield with armour thickness of 25 mm at the front, the shield only extended a very short distance on the sides; leaving the rest of the sides and back exposed. They were rushed into service, deployed and saw combat during the Philippines Campaign in the last year of World War II. Remaining units were deployed to Okinawa in ones and twos for island defense during the Battle of Okinawa, but were severely outnumbered by American artillery. + +Soviet Union + +As with the Germans of 1943, most of the Soviet designs mounted anti-tank guns, with limited traverse in casemate-style turretless hulls, in a general design format looking much like the Germans' own Jagdpanzer vehicles. The results were smaller, lighter, and simpler to build weapons that could carry larger guns than any contemporary tank, including the King Tiger. The Soviets produced high numbers of the SU-85 and SU-100 self-propelled guns based on the same chassis as the T-34 medium tank; the heavier-duty powertrain and hull of the IS-2 heavy tank were instead used to produce the heavier-hitting -armed ISU-122 and -armed ISU-152, both of which had impressive anti-tank capabilities earning each of them the Russian nickname Zveroboy ("beast killer") for their ability to destroy German Tigers, Panthers and Elefants. The predecessor of the ISU 152 was the SU-152, built on the KV-1s chassis and shared many similarities (including its gun) with the ISU-152. The ISU-152 built as a heavy assault gun, relied on the weight of the shell fired from its M-1937/43 howitzer to defeat tanks. In 1943, the Soviets also shifted all production of light tanks like the T-70 to much simpler and better-armed SU-76 self-propelled guns, which used the same drive train. The SU-76 was originally designed as an anti-tank vehicle, but was soon relegated to the infantry-support role. + +United States + +U.S. Army and counterpart British designs were very different in conception. U.S. doctrine was based, in light of the fall of France, on the perceived need to defeat German blitzkrieg tactics, and U.S. units expected to face large numbers of German tanks, attacking on relatively narrow fronts. These were expected to break through a thin screen of anti-tank guns, hence the decision that the main anti-tank units—the Tank Destroyer (TD) battalions—should be concentrated and very mobile. In practice, such German attacks rarely happened. Throughout the war, only one battalion ever fought in an engagement like that originally envisaged (the 601st, at the Battle of El Guettar). The Tank Destroyer Command eventually numbered over 100,000 men and 80 battalions each equipped with 36 self-propelled tank destroyers or towed guns. + +Only a few shots were expected to be fired from any firing position. Strong reconnaissance elements were provided so that TDs could use pre-arranged firing positions to best advantage. Flanking fire by TDs was emphasized, both to penetrate thinner enemy side armour, and to reduce the likelihood of accurate enemy return fire. + +All American tank destroyers were officially known by exactly the same collective term used for American self-propelled artillery ordnance, "gun motor carriage". The designs were intended to be very mobile and heavily armed. Most of the tank-hull based designs used special open-topped turrets of a differing design from the original tank it was based on, which was meant to both save weight and to accommodate a larger gun. The earliest expedient design was mounting an 75 mm M1897 field gun in a limited-traverse mount on a M3 Half-track which was designated 75 mm Gun Motor Carriage M3. Another, considerably less successful, early design was the M6 Gun Motor Carriage which mounted the US 37-mm anti-tank gun facing to the rear on the bed of a Dodge 3/4-ton light truck. + +The M3 was first used against the Japanese in the Philippines and then in the Tunisian campaign of the war in North Africa. Some were supplied to British units who used them within armoured car reconnaissance regiments for fire support. +The M6 GMC was unarmoured and the 37mm gun was infective against most enemy tanks by the time it entered service. + +By far the most common US design, and the first that was fully tracked and turreted (which became the American hallmark of World War II "tank destroyer" design) was the 3in Gun Motor Carriage M10, later supplemented by the 90 mm Gun Motor Carriage M36—both based on the M4 Sherman hull and powertrain—and the 76 mm Gun Motor Carriage M18 (Hellcat), based on a unique hull and powertrain design, with a slight visual resemblance to what was used for the later M24 Chaffee light tank. The M18 came closest to the US ideal; the vehicle was very fast, small, and mounted a gun in a roofless open turret. The M36 Jackson GMC possessed the only American-origin operational gun that could rival the German 8.8 cm Pak 43 anti-tank gun and its tank mounted variant, the 90 mm M3 gun, and the M36 remained in service well after World War II. The only dedicated American casemate hull design fighting vehicle of any type built during the war, that resembled the German and Soviet tank destroyers in hull and general gun mounting design, was the experimental T28 Super Heavy Tank, which mounted a 105 mm T5E1 long-barrel cannon. This gun had a maximum firing range of 12 miles (20 km), and the vehicle was originally designed as a very heavily armoured self-propelled assault gun to breach Germany's Siegfried Line defenses. + +Of these tank destroyers, only the gun of the M36 proved effective against the frontal armour of Germans' larger armored vehicles at long range. The open top and light armour made these tank destroyers vulnerable to anything greater than small-arms fire. As the number of German tanks encountered by American forces steadily decreased throughout the war, most battalions were split up and assigned to infantry units as supporting arms, fighting as assault guns or being used essentially as tanks. In this sense they were an alternative to the Independent tank battalions that were attached to various Infantry Divisions. + +The expectation that German tanks would be engaged in mass formation was a failed assumption. In reality, German attacks effectively used combined arms on the ground, fighting cohesively. American tank destroyer battalions comprised three tank destroyer companies supported by nine security sections. The single-purpose tactics of the tank destroyer battalion failed to account for non-tank threats. + +In the 1950s the goal of providing airborne forces with a parachute-capable self-propelled anti-tank weapon led to the deployment of the M56 Scorpion and M50 Ontos. The concept later led to the M551 Sheridan light tank of the mid-1960s. + +United Kingdom + +British tanks in the early years of the war, both infantry tanks and cruiser tanks, were (with the exception of the pre-war Matilda I design) equipped with a gun capable of use against contemporary enemy tanks—the 40 mm Ordnance QF 2 pounder. This was replaced with the 57 mm Ordnance QF 6 pounder when that became available. There was extra impetus given to the development of anti-tank weaponry, which culminated in the 76mm Ordnance QF 17 pounder, widely considered one of the best anti-tank guns of the war. + +Towed anti-tank guns were the domain of the Royal Artillery and vehicles adapted to mount artillery, including anti-tank self-propelled guns such as the Deacon (6pdr on an armoured wheeled truck chassis) and Archer (17pdr on tracked chassis) and US-supplied vehicles, were their preserve rather than the Royal Armoured Corps. + +The self-propelled guns that were built in the "tank destroyer" mould came about through the desire to field the QF 17 pounder anti-tank gun and simultaneous lack of suitable standard tanks to carry it. As a result, they were of a somewhat extemporized nature. Mounting the gun on the Valentine tank chassis in a fixed superstructure gave the Archer, looking somewhat like the light-chassis German Marder III in appearance. The 17 pounder was also used to re-equip the US-supplied M10 Tank Destroyer, replacing the American 3-inch gun to produce the 17pdr SP Achilles. + +In 1942 the General Staff agreed on investigating self-propelled mountings of the 6-pounder, 17-pounder, 3-inch 20cwt guns and the 25-pounder field gun/howitzer on the Matilda II, Valentine, Crusader and Cavalier (Cruiser Mark VII) tank chassis. In October 1942 it was decided to progress using the Valentine chassis with a 17-pdr (which would become Archer) and 25-pdr (which entered service as Bishop). + +While there was a general move to a general purpose gun that was usable against both tanks and in supporting infantry, there was a need to put the 17 pdr into a tank for use against the enemy's heavy tanks. The Cruiser Mk VIII Challenger was a project to bring a 17 pdr tank into use to support the Cromwell cruiser tank. Delays led to it being outnumbered in use by the Sherman Firefly—but a derivative of Challenger was the more or less open-topped variant Avenger, which was delayed until post war before entering service. A cut-down 17 pdr, the 77mmHV was used to equip the Comet tank in the last year of the war. + +The closest the British came to developing an armoured tank destroyer in the vein of the German Jagdpanzers or Soviet ISU series was the Churchill 3-inch Gun Carrier—a Churchill tank chassis with a boxy superstructure in place of the turret and mounting a 3-inch anti-aircraft gun. Although a number were ordered and fifty delivered in 1942, they were not put into service as the immediate threat passed. The design was rejected in favor of developing a 17 pounder armed Cromwell tank variant, ultimately leading to the Comet tank. The Tortoise "heavy assault tank", intended for use in breaking through fixed defensive lines, was well armoured and had a very powerful 32-pounder (94 mm) gun, but did not reach service use. + +By 1944, a number of the Shermans in British use were being converted to Sherman Fireflies by adding the QF 17 pounder gun. Initially this gave each troop (platoon) of Shermans one powerfully armed tank. By war's end—through the production of more Fireflies and the replacement of Shermans by British tanks—about 50% of Shermans in British service were Fireflies. The Sherman Firefly, however, is not considered a tank destroyer since it could still perform the other duties of the regular M4 Sherman, albeit the Firefly was less capable due to the late development of a HE round for the QF 17 pounder. + +Romania + +Until 1942, the Romanian tank force was equipped exclusively with obsolete R-1, R-2 and R35 tanks. Having faced big problems against Soviet T-34 and KV-1 tanks on the Eastern Front, the Romanian Army leadership sought for ways to improve its anti-tank capabilities. The initial plan was the creation of a tank comparable in characteristics to the T-34; instead, Romania went for a number of tank destroyers, since they were more adequate for its industry. + +The Mareșal is probably the best known Romanian AFV from the war; historians Steven Zaloga and Mark Axworthy state that it inspired the design of the later German Hetzer. Standing at only around 1.5 m tall, which would have made it very difficult to hit for its enemies, the Mareșal was a lightly armored, but highly mobile vehicle. It was armed with the Romanian 75 mm Reșița M1943 anti-tank gun, which proved to be among the best of its class during World War II, according to Mark Axworthy. During tests, the Mareșal proved to be superior in many aspects to the StuG III G, against which it competed. Those facts suggest that the Mareșal would have been an effective tank destroyer, had it been deployed into combat. There were, however, also critics of the vehicle, especially among high-ranking Romanian officials. It never saw action because the invading Soviet army had stopped its production. + +Other Romanian tank destroyers include the TACAM R-2 and TACAM T-60, which were converted from R-2 and T-60 light tanks respectively. Both of them saw action. One TACAM R-2 survives today and is displayed at the National Military Museum in Bucharest. Another conversion was the VDC R-35, Romania's only turreted tank destroyer. Two other proposed tank destroyers existed: the TACAM R-1 and TACAM T-38. + +Poland +Variants of the Polish TKS and TK-3 tankettes up-armed with 20 mm gun (23–26 vehicles) were operationally deployed in the invasion of Poland. They were used as an anti-tank component of the reconnaissance units. There were also 37 mm armed TKS-D (2 experimental vehicles) and 47 mm armed TKD (4 experimental vehicles). It is not certain whether they were used operationally at all. + +France +Due to the quick defeat of France, few French vehicles were built. The Laffly W15 TCC (Chasseur de chars) was an attempt to quickly build a light tank destroyer by mounting a 47 mm SA37 anti-tank gun onto a lightly armoured Laffly W15T artillery tractor. Other French tank destroyers were being developed, including the SOMUA SAu-40, ARL V39 and various ad hoc conversions of the Lorraine 37L. + +Subsequent developments + +Missile-based tank destroyers + +In the face of the Warsaw Pact, a general need for extra firepower was identified. In the late 1960s, West Germany developed the Kanonenjagdpanzer, essentially a modernized World War II Jagdpanzer mounting a gun. As Soviet designs became more heavily armoured, the gun became ineffective and the Kanonenjagdpanzers were retrofitted for different roles or retired. Some provisions were made for the fitting of a 105 mm cannon, and many of the vehicles were modified to fire HOT or TOW missiles in place of a main gun. These upgraded variants remained in service into the 1990s. + +With the development of flexible anti-tank missiles, which were capable of installation on almost any vehicle in the 1960s, the concept of the tank destroyer has morphed into light vehicles with missiles. With the weight of main battle tanks growing to the forty to seventy-tonne range, airborne forces were unable to deploy reasonable anti-tank forces. The result was a number of attempts to make a light vehicle, including the conventional ASU-85, M56 Scorpion, the recoilless rifle-armed Ontos, and missile-armed Humber Hornet armoured truck and Sheridan light assault vehicle. The recent entries into that category are the 2S25 Sprut-SD, armed with a current-issue 125 mm tank gun that is also capable of launching missiles like the 9M119 Svir, and Israeli-modified Pandur IIs, which is to enter service with the Philippine Army by 2022 armed with an Elbit Turret and a 105 mm gun. + +Many forces' infantry fighting vehicles (IFVs) carry anti-tank missiles in every infantry platoon, and attack helicopters have also added anti-tank capability to the modern battlefield. But there are still dedicated anti-tank vehicles with very heavy long-range missiles, and ones intended for airborne use. + +There have also been dedicated anti-tank vehicles built on ordinary armoured personnel carrier or armored car chassis. Examples include the U.S. M901 ITV (Improved TOW Vehicle) and the Norwegian NM142, both on an M113 chassis, several Soviet ATGM launchers based on the BRDM reconnaissance car, the British FV438 Swingfire and FV102 Striker and the German Raketenjagdpanzer series built on the chassis of the HS 30 and Marder IFV. India fielded NAMIS (Nag Missile System) equipped with Nag Missiles. + +A US Army combined arms battalion has two infantry companies with TOW missile-armed Bradley IFVs and can bring a large concentration of accurate and lethal fire to bear on an attacking enemy unit that uses AFVs. They can be complemented by mobile units of AH-64 Apache helicopters armed with Hellfire antitank missiles. + +Missile carrying vehicles are often referred to as anti-tank missile carriers instead of tank destroyers. + +Postwar gun-based tank destroyers + +Despite the proliferation of ATGMs, some gun-armed tank destroyers remain in use. China has developed the tracked PTZ89 and the wheeled PTL02 tank destroyers. The PTZ89 is armed with a smoothbore cannon while the PTL02, developed by NORINCO for the PLA's new light (rapid reaction) mechanized infantry divisions, carries a one (a version armed with a 105 mm rifled gun is available for export). The PTL02 is built on the 6×6 wheeled chassis of the WZ551 APC. + +Italy and Spain use the Italian-built Centauro, a wheeled tank destroyer with a cannon. + +Russia, meanwhile, uses the Russian-built 2S25 Sprut-SD, operating as an amphibious light tank/tank destroyer armed with a cannon. + +The Sabrah Pandur II is a Wheeled tank destroyer variant of the Sabrah Light Tank developed by the Elbit Systems of Israel for the Philippine Army's future combat systems. + +The U.S. Army utilized the wheeled M1128 Mobile Gun System until 2022. + +See also + Armoured warfare + Self-propelled anti-aircraft weapon + Self-propelled artillery + +Notes + +References + + + + Harry Yeide, (2005) The Tank Killers: A History of America's World War II Tank Destroyer Force. Havertown, PA: Casemate. + + + . + +External links + Tankdestroyer.net + Popular Science, April 1940, Tanks Can Be Destroyed article on early US Army concepts for tank destroyers + Tank Destroyer List + + +Anti-tank weapons + +ms:Pemusnah kereta kebal +A military armored (also spelled armoured) car is a lightweight wheeled armored fighting vehicle, historically employed for reconnaissance, internal security, armed escort, and other subordinate battlefield tasks. With the gradual decline of mounted cavalry, armored cars were developed for carrying out duties formerly assigned to light cavalry. Following the invention of the tank, the armored car remained popular due to its faster speed, comparatively simple maintenance and low production cost. It also found favor with several colonial armies as a cheaper weapon for use in underdeveloped regions. During World War II, most armored cars were engineered for reconnaissance and passive observation, while others were devoted to communications tasks. Some equipped with heavier armament could even substitute for tracked combat vehicles in favorable conditions—such as pursuit or flanking maneuvers during the North African Campaign. + +Since World War II the traditional functions of the armored car have been occasionally combined with that of the armored personnel carrier, resulting in such multipurpose designs as the BTR-40 or the Cadillac Gage Commando. Postwar advances in recoil control technology have also made it possible for a few armored cars, including the B1 Centauro, the Panhard AML, the AMX-10 RC and EE-9 Cascavel, to carry a large cannon capable of threatening many tanks. + +History + +Precursors +During the Middle Ages, war wagons covered with steel plate, and crewed by men armed with primitive hand cannon, flails and muskets, were used by the Hussite rebels in Bohemia. These were deployed in formations where the horses and oxen were at the centre, and the surrounding wagons were chained together as protection from enemy cavalry. +With the invention of the steam engine, Victorian inventors designed prototype self-propelled armored vehicles for use in sieges, although none were deployed in combat. H. G. Wells' short story "The Land Ironclads" provides a fictionalized account of their use. + +Armed car + +The Motor Scout was designed and built by British inventor F.R. Simms in 1898. It was the first armed petrol engine-powered vehicle ever built. The vehicle was a De Dion-Bouton quadricycle with a mounted Maxim machine gun on the front bar. An iron shield in front of the car protected the driver. + +Another early armed car was invented by Royal Page Davidson at Northwestern Military and Naval Academy in 1898 with the Davidson-Duryea gun carriage and the later Davidson Automobile Battery armored car. + +However, these were not "armored cars" as the term is understood today, as they provided little protection for their crews from enemy fire. + +First armored cars +At the beginning of the 20th century, the first military armored vehicles were manufactured, by adding armor and weapons to existing vehicles. + +The first armored car was the Simms' Motor War Car, designed by F.R. Simms and built by Vickers, Sons & Maxim of Barrow on a special Coventry-built Daimler chassis with a German-built Daimler motor in 1899. and a single prototype was ordered in April 1899 The prototype was finished in 1902, too late to be used during the Boer War. + +The vehicle had Vickers armor, thick, and was powered by a four-cylinder Cannstatt Daimler engine, giving it a maximum speed of around . The armament, consisting of two Maxim guns, was carried in two turrets with 360° traverse. It had a crew of four. Simms' Motor War Car was presented at the Crystal Palace, London, in April 1902. + +Another early armored car of the period was the French Charron, Girardot et Voigt 1902, presented at the Salon de l'Automobile et du cycle in Brussels, on 8 March 1902. The vehicle was equipped with a Hotchkiss machine gun, and with armour for the gunner. + +One of the first operational armored cars with four wheel (4x4) drive and partly enclosed rotating turret, was the Austro-Daimler Panzerwagen built by Austro-Daimler in 1904. It was armored with thick curved plates over the body (drive space and engine) and had a thick dome-shaped rotating turret that housed one or two machine-guns. It had a four-cylinder engine giving it average cross country performance. Both the driver and co-driver had adjustable seats enabling them to raise them to see out of the roof of the drive compartment as needed. + +The Spanish Schneider-Brillié was the first armored vehicle to be used in combat, being first used in the Kert Campaign. The vehicle was equipped with two machineguns and built from a bus chassis. + +An armored car known as the ''Death Special'' was built at the CFI plant in Pueblo and used by the Badlwin-Felts detective agency during the Colorado Coalfield War + +A great variety of armored cars appeared on both sides during World War I and these were used in various ways. + +World War I +Generally, armored cars were used by more or less independent car commanders. However, sometimes they were used in larger units up to squadron size. The cars were primarily armed with light machine guns, but larger units usually employed a few cars with heavier guns. As air power became a factor, armored cars offered a mobile platform for antiaircraft guns. + +The first effective use of an armored vehicle in combat was achieved by the Belgian Army in August–September 1914. They had placed Cockerill armour plating and a Hotchkiss machine gun on Minerva touring cars, creating the Minerva Armored Car. Their successes in the early days of the war convinced the Belgian GHQ to create a Corps of Armoured Cars, who would be sent to fight on the Eastern front once the western front immobilized after the Battle of the Yser. + +The British Royal Naval Air Service dispatched aircraft to Dunkirk to defend the UK from Zeppelins. The officers' cars followed them and these began to be used to rescue downed reconnaissance pilots in the battle areas. They mounted machine guns on them and as these excursions became increasingly dangerous, they improvised boiler plate armoring on the vehicles provided by a local shipbuilder. In London Murray Sueter ordered "fighting cars" based on Rolls-Royce, Talbot and Wolseley chassis. By the time Rolls-Royce Armoured Cars arrived in December 1914, the mobile period on the Western Front was already over. They had a fascinating birth and long and interesting service. + +More tactically important was the development of formed units of armored cars, such as the Canadian Automobile Machine Gun Brigade, which was the first fully mechanized unit in the history of the British Army. The brigade was established on September 2, 1914, in Ottawa, as Automobile Machine Gun Brigade No. 1 by Brigadier-General Raymond Brutinel. The brigade was originally equipped with eight Armoured Autocars mounting two machine guns. By 1918 Brutinel's force consisted of two motor machine gun brigades (each of five gun batteries containing eight weapons apiece). The brigade, and its armored cars, provided yeoman service in many battles, notably at Amiens. + +The Rolls-Royce Armoured Car was famously proposed, developed, and utilized by the 2nd Duke of Westminster. He took a squadron of these cars to France in time to make a noted contribution to the Second Battle of Ypres, and thereafter the cars with their master were sent to the Middle East to play a part in the British campaign in Palestine and elsewhere. These cars appear in the memoirs of numerous officers of the BEF during the earlier stages of the Great War - their ducal master often being described in an almost piratical style. + +Armored cars also saw action on the Eastern Front. From 18 February - 26 March 1915, the German army under General Max von Gallwitz attempted to break through the Russian lines in and around the town of Przasnysz, Poland, (about 110 km / 68 miles north of Warsaw) during the Battle of Przasnysz (Polish: Bitwa przasnyska). Near the end of the battle, the Russians used four Russo-Balt armored cars and a armored car to break through the Germans' lines and force the Germans to retreat. + +World War II + +The British Royal Air Force (RAF) in the Middle East was equipped with Rolls-Royce Armoured Cars and Morris tenders. Some of these vehicles were among the last of a consignment of ex-Royal Navy armored cars that had been serving in the Middle East since 1915. In September 1940 a section of the No. 2 Squadron RAF Regiment Company was detached to General Wavell's ground forces during the first offensive against the Italians in Egypt. It is said that these armored cars became 'the eyes and ears of Wavell'. During the actions in the October of that year the company was employed on convoy escort tasks, airfield defense, fighting reconnaissance patrols and screening operations. + +During the 1941 Anglo-Iraqi War, some of the units located in the British Mandate of Palestine were sent to Iraq and drove Fordson armored cars. "Fordson" armored cars were Rolls-Royce armored cars which received new chassis from a Fordson truck in Egypt. + +By the start of the new war, the German army possessed some highly effective reconnaissance vehicles, such as the Schwerer Panzerspähwagen. The Soviet BA-64 was influenced by a captured Leichter Panzerspähwagen before it was first tested in January 1942. + +In the second half of the war, the American M8 Greyhound and the British Daimler Armoured Cars featured turrets mounting light guns (40 mm or less). As with other wartime armored cars, their reconnaissance roles emphasized greater speed and stealth than a tracked vehicle could provide, so their limited armor, armament and off-road capabilities were seen as acceptable compromises. + +Military use + +A military armored car is a type of armored fighting vehicle having wheels (from four to ten large, off-road wheels) instead of tracks, and usually light armor. Armored cars are typically less expensive and on roads have better speed and range than tracked military vehicles. They do however have less mobility as they have less off-road capabilities because of the higher ground pressure. They also have less obstacle climbing capabilities than tracked vehicles. Wheels are more vulnerable to enemy fire than tracks, they have a higher signature and in most cases less armor than comparable tracked vehicles. As a result, they are not intended for heavy fighting; their normal use is for reconnaissance, command, control, and communications, or for use against lightly armed insurgents or rioters. Only some are intended to enter close combat, often accompanying convoys to protect soft-skinned vehicles. + +Light armored cars, such as the British Ferret are armed with just a machine gun. Heavier vehicles are armed with autocannon or a large caliber gun. The heaviest armored cars, such as the German, World War II era Sd.Kfz. 234 or the modern, US M1128 Mobile Gun System, mount the same guns that arm medium tanks. + +Armored cars are popular for peacekeeping or internal security duties. Their appearance is less confrontational and threatening than tanks, and their size and maneuverability is said to be more compatible with tight urban spaces designed for wheeled vehicles. However, they do have a larger turning radius compared to tracked vehicles which can turn on the spot and their tires are vulnerable and are less capable in climbing and crushing obstacles. Further, when there is true combat they are easily outgunned and lightly armored. The threatening appearance of a tank is often enough to keep an opponent from attacking, whereas a less threatening vehicle such as an armored car is more likely to be attacked. + +Many modern forces now have their dedicated armored car designs, to exploit the advantages noted above. Examples would be the M1117 Armored Security Vehicle of the USA or Alvis Saladin of the post-World War II era in the United Kingdom. + +Alternatively, civilian vehicles may be modified into improvised armored cars in ad hoc fashion. Many militias and irregular forces adapt civilian vehicles into AFVs (armored fighting vehicles) and troop carriers, and in some regional conflicts these "technicals" are the only combat vehicles present. On occasion, even the soldiers of national militaries are forced to adapt their civilian-type vehicles for combat use, often using improvised armor and scrounged weapons. + +Scout cars + +In the 1930s, a new sub-class of armored car emerged in the United States, known as the scout car. This was a compact light armored car which was either unarmed or armed only with machine guns for self-defense. Scout cars were designed as purpose-built reconnaissance vehicles for passive observation and intelligence gathering. Armored cars which carried large caliber, turreted weapons systems were not considered scout cars. The concept gained popularity worldwide during World War II and was especially favored in nations where reconnaissance theory emphasized passive observation over combat. + +Examples of armored cars also classified as scout cars include the Soviet BRDM series, the British Ferret, the Brazilian EE-3 Jararaca, the Hungarian D-442 FÚG, and the American Cadillac Gage Commando Scout. + +See also + +Armored bus +Armored personnel carrier +Armored car (valuables) +Armored car (VIP) +Armoring: +Aramid +Bulletproof glass +Twaron +Vehicle armor +Gun truck +SWAT vehicle +Tankette +Technical (vehicle) + +Notes + +References +Crow, Duncan, and Icks, Robert J., Encyclopedia of Armored Cars, Chatwell Books, Secaucus, NJ, 1976. . + + +Armoured fighting vehicles by type +Internal security vehicles +Paramilitary vehicles +An anti-aircraft vehicle, also known as a self-propelled anti-aircraft gun (SPAAG) or self-propelled air defense system (SPAD), is a mobile vehicle with a dedicated anti-aircraft capability. + +Specific weapon systems used include machine guns, autocannons, larger guns, or missiles, and some mount both guns and longer-ranged missiles (e.g. the Pantsir-S1). Platforms used include both trucks and heavier combat vehicles such as armored personnel carriers and tanks, which add protection from aircraft, artillery, and small arms fire for front line deployment. + +Anti-aircraft guns are usually mounted in a quickly-traversing turret with a high rate of elevation, for tracking fast-moving aircraft. They are often in dual or quadruple mounts, allowing a high rate of fire. In addition, most anti-aircraft guns can be used in a direct-fire role against surface targets to great effect. Today, missiles (generally mounted on similar turrets) have largely supplanted anti-aircraft guns, but they may return as a cheap way to counter unmanned aerial systems (drones). + +History + +World War I + +Anti-aircraft machine guns have long been mounted on trucks, and these were quite common during World War I. A predecessor of the WWII German "88" anti-aircraft gun, the WWI German 77 mm anti-aircraft gun, was truck-mounted and used to great effect against British tanks. + +The British QF 3 inch 20 cwt was mounted on trucks for use on the Western Front. The British also had a first dedicated anti aircraft weapon, the QF 1-pounder pom-pom. Mounted on a armoured truck titled the Pierce-Arrow armoured AA lorry, which was produced in limited numbers and only seeing service throughout 1915. Towards the end of the war Germany produced three prototype SPAAGs with AA guns mounted on A7V chassis known as the A7V Flakpanzer. + +Inter-war period +Between the two World Wars, the United Kingdom developed the Birch gun, a general-purpose artillery piece on an armoured tracked chassis capable of maintaining formation with their current tanks over terrain. The gun could be elevated for anti-aircraft use. + +The first tracked SPAAG-design to be manufactured in series was most likely the British/Siamese Vickers Armstrong "Type 76" (per Buddhist year 2476 = 1933 CE), as named by the Royal Siamese Army, a SPAAG based on the chassis of the Dragon, Medium, Mark IV artillery tractor (Vickers Mk.E 6-ton light tank derivative), mounting a revolving Vickers 40 mm QF 2 pounder pom-pom autocannon in an open fighting compartment. About 26 were sold to Siam in 1932 and saw action as infantry support guns and AA guns during the Franco-Thai war (1940-1941) along with 30 Vickers Mk.E Type B 6-ton tanks. Despite being the first tracked SPAAG en masse, the open-top design of the Vickers Type 76 made it outdated even by the early 1930s. + +The first modern SPAAG to be produced was most likely the Swedish Landsverk L-62 Anti in 1936, featuring a tracked armoured body with a revolving turret, a so-called anti-aircraft tank. It was based on a widened chassis of the Landsverk L-60 light tank and was armed with a Bofors 40 mm Automatic Gun L/60 in an open-top revolving turret. The design was bought by Hungary just prior to the war and Finland ordered a refined model in 1941, known as the Anti II. + +By the late 1930s, the British had developed a version of the Mk.VI Light Tank armed with four machine guns that were known as Light Tank AA Mk.I, and also a twin 15 mm version based on the Light Tank Mk.V was built. Among early pre-war pioneers of self-propelled AA guns were the Germans. By the time of the war, they fielded the Sd.Kfz. 10/4 and Sd.Kfz. 6/2, cargo half-tracks mounting single 20 mm or 37 mm AA guns (respectively). Later in the war similar German half-tracks mounted quadruple 20 mm weapons. + +World War II + +Larger guns followed on larger trucks, but these mountings generally required off-truck setup in order to unlimber the stabilizing legs these guns needed. One exception to this rule was the Italian Cannone da 90/53 which was highly effective when mounted on trucks, a fit known as the "autocannoni da 90/53". The 90/53 was a feared weapon, notably in the anti-tank role, but only a few hundred had been produced by the time of the armistice in 1943. + +Other nations tended to work on truck chassis. Starting in 1941, the British developed the "en portee" method of mounting an anti-tank gun (initially a 2 pounder) on a truck. This was to prevent the weapon from being damaged by long-distance towing across rough, stony deserts, and it was intended only to be a carrying method, with the gun unloaded for firing. However, crews tended to fire their weapons from their vehicles for the mobility this method provided, with consequent casualties. This undoubtedly inspired their Morris C9/B (officially the "Carrier, SP, 4x4, 40 mm AA"), a Bofors 40 mm AA gun mounted on a chassis derived from the Morris "Quad" Field Artillery Tractor truck. Similar types, based on 3-ton lorries, were produced in Britain, Canada and Australia, and together formed the most numerous self-propelled AA guns in British service. + +The U.S. Army brought truck-towed Bofors 40 mm AA guns along with truck-mounted units fitted with mechanized turrets when they sailed, first for Great Britain and then onto France. The turrets carried four .50 inch (12.7 mm) machine guns, which were designed to be adjusted to converge at the single point where enemy aircraft were expected to appear at low altitude in conduction of strafing runs directed at large infantry and field artillery units. + +Interest in mobile AA turned to heavier vehicles with the mass and stability needed to easily train weapons of all sizes. Probably the desire, particularly in German service, for anti-aircraft vehicles to be armoured for their own protection also assisted this trend. + +The concept of using armored SPAAG (anti-aircraft tanks) en masse was pioneered by Hungary during World War II with the production of the 40M Nimrod, a license-produced version of the previously mentioned late 1930s Landsverk L-62 Anti I SPAAG. Germany followed later with their "Flakpanzer" series. German World War II SPAAGs include the Möbelwagen, Wirbelwind, Ostwind and Kugelblitz. Other forces followed with designs of their own, notably the American M16 created by mounting quadruple M2HB Browning machine guns on a M3 Half-track. + +The British developed their own SPAAGs throughout the war mounting multiple machine guns and light cannon on various tank and armoured car chassis and by 1943, the Crusader AA tanks, which mounted the Bofors 40 mm gun or two-three Oerlikon 20 mm cannon. Although used during the Normandy landings, by that point German aircraft were contained by the Allies own air forces and they were largely unneeded. + +Cold War and later + +The introduction of jet engines and the subsequent rough doubling of aircraft speeds greatly reduced the effectiveness of the SPAAG against attack aircraft. A typical SPAAG round might have a muzzle velocity on the order of and might take as long as two to three seconds to reach a target at its maximum range. An aircraft flying at is moving at a rate of about . This means the aircraft will have moved hundreds of meters during the flight time of the shells, greatly complicating the aiming problem to the point where close passes were essentially impossible to aim using manual gunsights. This speed also allowed the aircraft to rapidly fly out of range of the guns; even if the aircraft passes directly over the SPAAG, it would be within its firing radius for under 30 seconds. + +SPAAG development continued through the early 1950s with ever-larger guns, improving the range and allowing the engagement to take place at longer distances where the crossing angle was smaller and aiming was easier. Examples including the 40 mm U.S. M42 Duster and the 57 mm Soviet ZSU-57-2. However, both were essentially obsolete before they entered service, and found employment solely in the ground-support role. The M42 was introduced to the Vietnam War to counter an expected North Vietnamese air offensive, but when this failed to materialize it was used as an effective direct-fire weapon. The ZSU-57 found similar use in the Yugoslav Wars, where its high-angle fire was useful in the mountainous terrain. + +By the late 1950s, the US Army had given up on the SPAAG concept, considering all gun-based weapons to be useless against modern aircraft. This belief was generally held by many forces, and the anti-aircraft role turned almost exclusively to missile systems. The Soviet Union remained an outlier, beginning the development of a new SPAAG in 1957, which emerged as the ZSU-23-4 in 1965. This system included search-and-track radars, fire control, and automatic gun-laying, greatly increasing its effectiveness against modern targets. The ZSU-23 proved very effective when used in concert with SAMs; the presence of SAMs forced aircraft to fly low to avoid their radars, placing them within range of the ZSUs. + +The success of the ZSU-23 led to a resurgence of SPAAG development. This was also prompted by the introduction of attack helicopters in the 1970s, which could hide behind terrain and then "pop up" for an attack lasting only a few tens of seconds; missiles were ineffective at low altitudes, while the helicopters would often be within range of the guns for a rapid counterattack. Notable among these later systems is the German Gepard, the first western SPAAG to offer performance equal to or better than the ZSU. This system was widely copied in various NATO forces. + +SPAAG development continues, with many modern examples often combining both guns and short-range missiles. Examples include the Soviet/Russian Tunguska-M1, which supplanted the ZSU-23 in service, the newer versions of the Gepard, the Chinese Type 95 SPAAA, and the British Marksman turret, which can be used on a wide variety of platforms. Some forces, like the US Army and USMC have mostly forgone self-propelled guns in favor of systems with short-range infrared-guided surface-to-air missiles in the AN/TWQ-1 Avenger and M6 Linebacker, which do not require radar to be accurate and are generally more reliable and cost-effective to field, though their ability to provide ground support is more limited. The U.S. Army did use the M163 VADS and developed the prototype design of the M247 Sergeant York. + +Present day + +Modern SPAAGs usually have short-range missiles for longer range engagement. The Pantsir system from Russia is primarily a missile battery, although it does have twin cannons as secondary armament. + +Some examples of modern SPAAGs: + + Stryker M-SHORAD, US/Canada, 30 mm + Skyranger 30, 30 mm + Skyranger 35, Swiss/German, 35 mm + Flakpanzer Gepard, Germany, 35 mm + PGZ-09, China, 35 mm + KORKUT, Turkey, 35 mm + Luftvärnskanonvagn (lvkv) 9040, Sweden, 40 mm + PASARS-16, Serbia, 40 mm + K30 Biho, South Korea, 30 mm + +See also + 4M (artillery) + Assault gun + Flakpanzer, a collective term for German anti-aircraft tanks, particularly those used in World War II. + List of anti-aircraft guns + Man-portable air-defense system + Self-propelled artillery + Tank destroyer + +References + +Landsverk +Self-propelled anti-aircraft weapons +Armoured fighting vehicles by type +Alkmaar Zaanstreek (), better known internationally as AZ Alkmaar, or simply and most commonly as AZ () in the Netherlands, is a Dutch professional football club from Alkmaar and the Zaan district. The club plays in the Eredivisie, the highest professional football league in the Netherlands. + +AZ won the Eredivisie in 1980–81 and 2008–09. In the same season as their first league title, they also reached the UEFA Cup Final, which they lost to Ipswich Town. The team has won the KNVB Cup on four occasions, and one Johan Cruyff Shield. + +History + +1910–1972: foundation and first years +AZ was founded on 10 May 1967 as AZ '67, the result of a merger of Alkmaar '54 and FC Zaanstreek. Alkmaar '54 was founded as a professional team in April 1954 to play in the 10-team NBVB league, created because the Royal Dutch Football Association (KNVB) refused to organize a professional league (the KNVB took over in 1955). Alkmaar '54, and by extension AZ, played the very first professional match in the Netherlands: on 14 August 1954, they won 3–0 at home against Venlo '54, with Klaas Smit scoring the first and third goal. After winning the in 1960–61, it played one year in the Eredivisie. + +FC Zaanstreek had been playing since 1910 as the Kooger Football Club (KFC). KFC had nearly become national champion in 1934 through a narrow loss to Ajax in the finals. The team became professional in 1955. In 1964 the professional part of KFC was renamed FC Zaanstreek, while the amateurs played on as KFC. + +Also in 1964, the brothers Cees and Klaas Molenaar, former players and trainers for KFC and owners of a growing appliance store chain, sought to create a powerful football team in Zaanstreek by merging the two local professional teams: KFC and Zaanlandsche Football Club. After the ZFC leadership thwarted this attempt, the Molenaars successfully merged FC Zaanstreek with Alkmaar '54 in 1967. FC Zaanstreek had finished 7th and Alkmaar '54 12th in 1966–67 Eerste Divisie. The team would be based in Alkmaar, though the second team originally trained and played in Koog aan de Zaan. + +1972–1985: the Molenaar years +Partially through the hiring of expensive foreign players, the new club soon acquired large debts. In 1972, the Molenaar brothers bailed it out and invested heavily in the club, to the point that AZ '67 were successful in the late 1970s and early '80s, regularly playing European football from 1977 to 1982 while also winning three KNVB Cups over that period. + +After four close league campaigns, AZ finally became Dutch champions in 1981, becoming the only team other than the "big three" of Ajax, and PSV to do so in a 44-year period spanning from 1965 to 2009 (when AZ once again won the league title). They won the title with overwhelming power, winning 27 of 34 matches and only losing once, while scoring a club record 101 goals and conceding just 30. That same season, AZ reached the final of the UEFA Cup, losing 5–4 on aggregate to Ipswich Town. The next year, in the European Cup, they lost in the second round 3–2 on aggregate to Liverpool. + +Georg Keßler was AZ's manager over most of these years (1978–82), while star players included: Kees Kist, the club's highest ever goalscorer with 212 goals and the first ever Dutchman to win the European Golden Boot in 1979 when he scored 34 goals in a season; Jan Peters, who played 120 matches for AZ during this period scoring 30 goals from midfield; and Hugo Hovenkamp, who played 239 matches in defence for AZ from 1975 to 1983, as well as receiving 31 caps for the Netherlands national team from 1977 to 1983 and playing each match in UEFA Euro 1980 while an AZ player. Additional stars included John Metgod, who spent six years at AZ playing 195 matches as a defender, scoring 26 goals including a goal against Ipswich Town in the final of the UEFA Cup. Like Hovenkamp, Metgod was also included in the Dutch squad for Euro 1980. Meanwhile, Danish forward Kristen Nygaard spent ten years at AZ, scoring 104 goals in 363 matches between 1972 and 1982. + +1985–1993: the interim years + +Co-owner Cees Molenaar died in 1979. AZ's fortunes deteriorated after his brother, Klaas Molenaar, left the club in 1985. After several mid-table finishes in previous seasons, AZ was relegated in 1988 from the Eredivisie, ending the season on 28 points from 34 matches and falling to the due to the superior goal difference of Roda JC. This relegation was significant since it occurred just seven years after the club's historic domestic double and marked the end of AZ's first period of success in Dutch football. Following this, AZ spent much of the next decade in the second tier, struggling to find a return to the top flight. + +1993–2009: the Scheringa years +The involvement of businessman Dirk Scheringa in the mid-1990s marked the revival of the club as AZ returned to the Eredivisie, winning the 1997-98 Eerste Divisie title. The club achieved consecutive finishes around the middle positions in the league until ending up in third place in the 2004-05 Eredivisie season, AZ's highest position for 23 years. In the summer of 2006, the club moved to a new 17,000 capacity stadium, AZ Stadion. + +Despite playing strongly for the majority of the 2006–07 season, AZ's season ended in disappointment. First, entering the last matchday of the 2006–07 Eredivisie season, AZ led PSV and Ajax on goal difference at the top of the league table, but ended up third after losing their last match against 16th placed team Excelsior, AZ played with ten men for 80 minutes. Additionally, AZ then lost the KNVB Cup final to Ajax 8–7 after a penalty shoot-out, while also falling to Ajax over two play-off matches for participation in the Champions League. After the season, key players like Tim de Cler, Danny Koevermans and Shota Arveladze left the team. + +A remarkable run ended in the 2007–08 season: after AZ lost a group stage match against Everton (3–2) in the UEFA Cup, the club's unbeaten run of 32 home matches in European competitions – lasting from 1977 to 2007 – ended. AZ had a poor season, suffering elimination in the first round of the KNVB Cup and the group stage of the UEFA Cup, as well as finishing the 2007–08 Eredivisie in a disappointing 11th place. Towards the latter stages of the season, in March 2008, AZ manager Louis van Gaal had initially tendered his resignation, but after protests the players and directors, he rescinded his resignation. + +The 2008–09 season had an unpromising start after two opening defeats against NAC Breda and ADO Den Haag. However, starting with a 1–0 victory over defending league champions PSV, AZ did not lose a match in its next 28 matches, including a run of 11-straight matches where AZ did not concede an opposition goal. Three weeks before the end of the season, AZ became Eredivisie champions, edging nearest title rivals Twente and Ajax comfortably. This was a historic achievement for the club as this was the first title-winning season for 28 years, and it also meant a return to the UEFA Champions League. + +Being league champions, AZ qualified for the Champions League for only the second time. It was drawn into a group alongside Arsenal FC, Standard Liège and Olympiacos but only took four points from six matches and finished bottom of their group. + +2009–2014: Advocaat–Verbeek years +For the 2009–10 season, Ronald Koeman succeeded Louis van Gaal, who had departed to manage Bayern Munich after leading AZ to the championship. Koeman was officially hired on 17 May 2009, but on 5 December, AZ announced he was no longer in charge of the club after losing 7 of his first 16 matches. Former Rangers and Zenit Saint Petersburg manager Dick Advocaat took over for the remainder of the season. Under Advocaat, AZ achieved solid results and secured European football for the next season. + +For the 2010–11 season, AZ appointed Gertjan Verbeek as its new manager. They finished the 2010–11 Eredivisie in fourth place, thus securing Europa League football for the next season, while in the KNVB Cup, AZ reached the last eight, where they were beaten by rivals Ajax by a 1–0 scoreline. AZ also finished third in their Europa League group, thus failing to qualifying for the competition's knockout round. + +In the 2011–12 season, AZ finished fourth in the Eredivisie, though performed significantly better in cup competitions, reaching the semi-finals in the KNVB Cup (losing to Heracles after extra time) and the quarter-finals in the Europa League. In the latter, the club ultimately lost to Valencia after having defeated Udinese, Anderlecht, Malmö FF, Austria Wien, Metalist Kharkiv, Aalesund and Baumit Jablonec to reach that stage. + +On 21 December 2011, during the quarter-finals of the 2011–12 KNVB Cup, a 19-year-old Ajax fan invaded the Amsterdam Arena pitch in the 36th minute with Ajax winning 1–0, attacking AZ goalkeeper Esteban Alvarado. The fan slipped and Alvarado kicked the fan twice, prompting the referee to issue the goalkeeper a red card. Following this, AZ manager Gertjan Verbeek ordered his players to leave the pitch for the dressing room in protest. The match was later played on 19 January 2012, with Alvarado's red card rescinded; AZ won 3–2. + +The 2012–13 season started in the Europa League with a qualifying play-off round against Guus Hiddink's Anzhi Makhachkala. AZ was hammered 6–0 on aggregate. Disappointingly, AZ finished tenth in the 2012–13 Eredivisie, although the club won the 2012–13 KNVB Cup after defeating PSV 2–1 in the final. As cup winners, AZ automatically qualified for the 2013–14 Europa League. + +In September 2013, just one day after emphatically beating PSV, at the time the league leaders, Verbeek was dismissed as first team manager by the club due to "a lack of chemistry" between management and players. He was replaced by Dick Advocaat for the remainder of the season until a permanent replacement could be found. Advocaat took AZ to the semi-finals of the KNVB Cup, the quarter-finals of the Europa League and eighth in the league, ultimately losing to Groningen in the Europa League play-off final round (their 58th match of the season, a club record). + +2014–2019: Van den Brom years +The 2014–15 season began with a new manager, former Heerenveen manager and Ajax great Marco van Basten. However, after just three matches into the season, Van Basten resigned as manager to become assistant manager under Alex Pastoor, citing heavy stress as the main reason. Pastoor was the interim manager during two matches under Van Basten's absence and received the official title on 16 September, but contract negotiations failed and he left the club just two days later. A week later, John van den Brom was appointed manager. Under Van den Brom, AZ quickly rose up to the sub-top, eventually finished the season in third place, surpassing Feyenoord on the final season's matchday and qualifying for the 2015–16 Europa League. + +The 2015–16 Eredivisie started with AZ selling most of its first-team players from the previous season during the summer transfer period. As a response, AZ bought players from other Dutch clubs, notably Vincent Janssen from Almere City, Alireza Jahanbakhsh from NEC and Ben Rienstra from PEC Zwolle. In December, it was announced free agent Ron Vlaar signed a contract until the end of the season after training with the club for a few weeks prior. Vlaar quickly became team captain and helped lift AZ from tenth place to a fourth-place finish in the league. Along this rise, new signing Vincent Janssen scored 27 goals for the club, earning him the Eredivisie top goalscorer title. In the 2015–16 KNVB Cup, AZ made it to the semi-finals, losing 3–1 to Feyenoord. AZ won the first two qualification rounds to qualify for the 2015–16 Europa League group stage, but finished last in their group. + +At the start of the 2016–17 Eredivisie, AZ sold last season's performer Vincent Janssen to Tottenham Hotspur and long-time midfielder Markus Henriksen to Hull City. In the 2016–17 Europa League, AZ finished second in Group D, surviving the group stage for the third time in five seasons. + +Since 2019: Slot–Jansen years +After an excellent 2019/20 season in which AZ beat league leaders Ajax home and away, aided by consistent performances from youth academy talents such as Teun Koopmeiners, Myron Boadu, Calvin Stengs and Owen Wijndal, the season was forced to end early due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Joint on points with Ajax at the top of the table, AZ were given second place on goal difference, and subsequently earned Qualification to the Champions League second qualifying round. + +A poor start to their 2020/21 Eredivisie campaign saw AZ draw five games in a row, before eventually picking up a victory against RKC Waalwijk on the 1st of November 2020. + +AZ also struggled in European competitions this season. Despite a strong start, with a 3–1 extra time come back against Viktoria Plzen in the Champions League qualifiers, the club lost 2–0 to Dynamo Kiev several weeks later, seeing them fall back into the Europa League. After victory against Napoli and Rijeka early in the pool stages, AZ was on track to advance, though lost to Real Sociedad away, obtained a 0–0 draw in the reverse fixture, and also drew 1–1 with Napoli. Following these results, AZ needed to defeat Rijeka away to advance. However, the departure the week before the game of manager Arne Slot saw an unorganised team lose 2–1 to Rijeka, ending their European dream. + +In 2022-2023, AZ stepped up their performance in Europa Conference League play, winning five out of six Group E matches against SC Dnipro-1, Apollon Limassol and Vaduz, then beating Lazio 4-2 on aggregate. However, their run was ended by defeats to West Ham United, with AZ's home leg marred by supporter violence. + +Coaching staff + +Players + +Current squad + +Out on loan + +Jong AZ + +Participating in the Eerste Divisie, the reserve squad of AZ trains and plays their home games in Zaanstad. + +Stadium and sponsor + +Stadium + +AZ play its home matches at the AFAS Stadion, located in the southern part of the city of Alkmaar. The stadium, which is directly owned by the club, was opened in 2006 and replaced the old Alkmaarderhout venue as the DSB Stadion. The stadium currently has a capacity of 17,023. During its design stages, the name Victorie Stadion was frequently used, referring to the Dutch War of Independence, the phrase "In Alkmaar begint de victorie" (Victory begins in Alkmaar) in particular. Until now, this name has not been officially in use, the board instead opting for sponsorship deals because of financial motives. However, to this day, the name maintains a good share of support among the fans. + +To further increase revenue, AZ's board of directors decided to expand the capacity of the new stadium to at least 30,000 somewhere in the future. The extension will be realised by constructing a second tier to three of the four stands. The main stand with all technical areas, VIP and sponsor and media facilities will remain in place. These plans, however, were put on hold after the DSB bankruptcy and there are no current plans to increase the capacity. + +In October 2009, sponsor DSB Bank was declared bankrupt. The stadium name temporarily changed from DSB Stadion to AZ Stadion, as it was considered undesirable that the stadium was linked with a non-existent bank. In February 2010, a new main sponsor was found in construction works service provider BUKO, based in Beverwijk. + +A year later, in the 2010–11 season, took over as official stadium sponsor. The current external name of the ground is the AFAS Stadion. + +On 10 August 2019, the roof of the stadium partially collapsed. No people were injured during the incident. As the result AZ spent the rest of the year playing home matches at the Cars Jeans Stadion in The Hague whilst the damaged roof was being removed, before returning to the stadium on 15 December 2019, beating Ajax 1–0 in their first match back. AZ played the rest of the 2019/20 season, until the COVID-19 pandemic cut it short, without a roof. During the 2020/21 season, a new roof was installed, held up by 20 crane-like arms on three sides and a so-called mega truss on the main stand. The renewed stadium, which also included a capacity upgrade of nearly 2,500 seats for a new total capacity of 19,500, was officially opened on September 11, 2021, before the home game against PSV. + +Kit suppliers and shirt sponsors + +Honours + +Domestic + + Eredivisie +Winners (2): 1980–81, 2008–09 +Runners-up (3): 1979–80, 2005–06, 2019–20 + Eerste Divisie +Winners (3): 1959–601, 1995–96, 1997–98 +Runners-up (3): 1956–571, 1967–68, 1971–72 + Tweede Divisie +Winners (1): 1955–562 +Runners-up (1): 1963–641 + KNVB Cup +Winners (4): 1977–78, 1980–81, 1981–82, 2012–13 +Runners-up (3): 2006–07, 2016–17, 2017–18 + Johan Cruyff Shield +Winners (1): 2009 +Runners-up (1): 2013 + +International + UEFA Cup/UEFA Europa League +Runners-up (1): 1980–81 +Semi-finalists: 2004–05 +Quarter-finalists: 2006–07, 2011–12, 2013–14 + UEFA Europa Conference League +Semi-finalists: 2022–23 +1 As Alkmaar '542 As KFC in the Eerste Klasse C, precursor of the Tweede Klasse in the first year of professional football in the Netherlands. + +European record + +Matches + +UEFA coefficient ranking + +Domestic results +Below is a table with AZ's domestic results since the introduction of professional football in 1956. + +Coaches + +Alkmaar '54 + (1954–1956) + Kick Smit (1956–1958) + (1 July 1958 – 30 June 1960) + Piet de Wolf (1960–1961) + (1961–1962) + (1962–1963) + (1 July 1963 – 30 June 1965) + Barry Hughes (1 July 1965 – 30 June 1967) + +KFC / FC Zaanstreek + Bob Kelly (1955–1956) + (1956–1958) + (1958–1960) + (1960–1963) + (1963–1964) + Piet de Wolf (1964–1965) + (1965–1966) + +AZ '67 + Lesley Talbot (1 July 1967 – 30 June 1968) + (1968–1969) + Robert Heinz (1969–1971) + Cor van der Hart (1 July 1971 – 30 June 1973) + Joop Brand (1 July 1973 – 30 June 1976) + Hans Kraay Sr. (1 July 1976 – 30 June 1977) + Jan Notermans (1977) + Cor van der Hart (1 July 1977 – 30 June 1978) + Georg Keßler (1 July 1978 – 30 June 1982) + Hans Eijkenbroek (1 July 1982 – 30 June 1983) + Piet de Visser (1 July 1983 – 30 June 1985) + Joop Brand (1 July 1985 – 30 June 1986) + Han Berger (1 July 1986 – 31 December 1986) + +AZ + Hans Eijkenbroek (1987 – 30 June 1989) + Hans van Doorneveld (1 July 1989 – 30 June 1990) + Henk Wullems (1 July 1990 – 30 June 1993) + Piet Schrijvers (1 July 1993 – 30 June 1994) + Theo Vonk (1 July 1994 – 28 February 1997) + Hans de Koning (interim) (28 February 1997 – 30 June 1997) + Willem van Hanegem (1 July 1997 – 30 June 1999) + Gerard van der Lem (1 July 1999 – 30 March 2000) + Henk van Stee (31 March 2000 – 30 October 2002) + Co Adriaanse (30 October 2002 – 30 June 2005) + Louis van Gaal (1 July 2005 – 30 June 2009) + Ronald Koeman (1 July 2009 – 5 December 2009) + Martin Haar (interim) (5 December 2009 – 10 December 2009) + Dick Advocaat (10 December 2009 – 30 June 2010) + Gertjan Verbeek (1 July 2010 – 29 September 2013) + Martin Haar (interim) (29 September 2013 – 15 October 2013) + Dick Advocaat (15 October 2013 – 30 June 2014) + Marco van Basten (30 June 2014 – 16 September 2014) + John van den Brom (29 September 2014 – 30 June 2019) + Arne Slot (1 July 2019  – 5 December 2020) + Pascal Jansen (5 December 2020 – present ) + +Notes + +References + +External links + + + + +1967 establishments in the Netherlands +Association football clubs established in 1967 +Football clubs in the Netherlands +Football clubs in Alkmaar +The adrenal glands (also known as suprarenal glands) are endocrine glands that produce a variety of hormones including adrenaline and the steroids aldosterone and cortisol. They are found above the kidneys. Each gland has an outer cortex which produces steroid hormones and an inner medulla. The adrenal cortex itself is divided into three main zones: the zona glomerulosa, the zona fasciculata and the zona reticularis. + +The adrenal cortex produces three main types of steroid hormones: mineralocorticoids, glucocorticoids, and androgens. Mineralocorticoids (such as aldosterone) produced in the zona glomerulosa help in the regulation of blood pressure and electrolyte balance. The glucocorticoids cortisol and cortisone are synthesized in the zona fasciculata; their functions include the regulation of metabolism and immune system suppression. The innermost layer of the cortex, the zona reticularis, produces androgens that are converted to fully functional sex hormones in the gonads and other target organs. The production of steroid hormones is called steroidogenesis, and involves a number of reactions and processes that take place in cortical cells. The medulla produces the catecholamines, which function to produce a rapid response throughout the body in stress situations. + +A number of endocrine diseases involve dysfunctions of the adrenal gland. Overproduction of cortisol leads to Cushing's syndrome, whereas insufficient production is associated with Addison's disease. Congenital adrenal hyperplasia is a genetic disease produced by dysregulation of endocrine control mechanisms. A variety of tumors can arise from adrenal tissue and are commonly found in medical imaging when searching for other diseases. + +Structure + +The adrenal glands are located on both sides of the body in the retroperitoneum, above and slightly medial to the kidneys. In humans, the right adrenal gland is pyramidal in shape, whereas the left is semilunar or crescent shaped and somewhat larger. The adrenal glands measure approximately 5 cm in length, 3 cm in width, and up to 1 cm in thickness. Their combined weight in an adult human ranges from 7 to 10 grams. The glands are yellowish in colour. + +The adrenal glands are surrounded by a fatty capsule and lie within the renal fascia, which also surrounds the kidneys. A weak septum (wall) of connective tissue separates the glands from the kidneys. The adrenal glands are directly below the diaphragm, and are attached to the crura of the diaphragm by the renal fascia. + +Each adrenal gland has two distinct parts, each with a unique function, the outer adrenal cortex and the inner medulla, both of which produce hormones. + +Adrenal cortex + +The adrenal cortex is the outer region and also the largest part of an adrenal gland. It is divided into three separate zones: zona glomerulosa, zona fasciculata and zona reticularis. Each zone is responsible for producing specific hormones. +The adrenal cortex is the outermost layer of the adrenal gland. Within the cortex are three layers, called "zones". When viewed under a microscope each layer has a distinct appearance, and each has a different function. The adrenal cortex is devoted to production of hormones, namely aldosterone, cortisol, and androgens. + +Zona glomerulosa +The outermost zone of the adrenal cortex is the zona glomerulosa. It lies immediately under the fibrous capsule of the gland. Cells in this layer form oval groups, separated by thin strands of connective tissue from the fibrous capsule of the gland and carry wide capillaries. + +This layer is the main site for production of aldosterone, a mineralocorticoid, by the action of the enzyme aldosterone synthase. Aldosterone plays an important role in the long-term regulation of blood pressure. + +Zona fasciculata +The zona fasciculata is situated between the zona glomerulosa and zona reticularis. Cells in this layer are responsible for producing glucocorticoids such as cortisol. It is the largest of the three layers, accounting for nearly 80% of the volume of the cortex. In the zona fasciculata, cells are arranged in columns radially oriented towards the medulla. Cells contain numerous lipid droplets, abundant mitochondria and a complex smooth endoplasmic reticulum. + +Zona reticularis +The innermost cortical layer, the zona reticularis, lies directly adjacent to the medulla. It produces androgens, mainly dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), DHEA sulfate (DHEA-S), and androstenedione (the precursor to testosterone) in humans. Its small cells form irregular cords and clusters, separated by capillaries and connective tissue. The cells contain relatively small quantities of cytoplasm and lipid droplets, and sometimes display brown lipofuscin pigment. + +Medulla + +The adrenal medulla is at the centre of each adrenal gland, and is surrounded by the adrenal cortex. The chromaffin cells of the medulla are the body's main source of the catecholamines, such as adrenaline and noradrenaline, released by the medulla. Approximately 20% noradrenaline (norepinephrine) and 80% adrenaline (epinephrine) are secreted here. + +The adrenal medulla is driven by the sympathetic nervous system via preganglionic fibers originating in the thoracic spinal cord, from vertebrae T5–T11. Because it is innervated by preganglionic nerve fibers, the adrenal medulla can be considered as a specialized sympathetic ganglion. Unlike other sympathetic ganglia, however, the adrenal medulla lacks distinct synapses and releases its secretions directly into the blood. + +Blood supply +The adrenal glands have one of the greatest blood supply rates per gram of tissue of any organ: up to 60 small arteries may enter each gland. Three arteries usually supply each adrenal gland: + The superior suprarenal artery, a branch of the inferior phrenic artery + The middle suprarenal artery, a direct branch of the abdominal aorta + The inferior suprarenal artery, a branch of the renal artery +These blood vessels supply a network of small arteries within the capsule of the adrenal glands. Thin strands of the capsule enter the glands, carrying blood to them. + +Venous blood is drained from the glands by the suprarenal veins, usually one for each gland: + The right suprarenal vein drains into the inferior vena cava. + The left suprarenal vein drains into the left renal vein or the left inferior phrenic vein. + +The central adrenomedullary vein, in the adrenal medulla, is an unusual type of blood vessel. Its structure is different from the other veins in that the smooth muscle in its tunica media (the middle layer of the vessel) is arranged in conspicuous, longitudinally oriented bundles. + +Variability +The adrenal glands may not develop at all, or may be fused in the midline behind the aorta. These are associated with other congenital abnormalities, such as failure of the kidneys to develop, or fused kidneys. The gland may develop with a partial or complete absence of the cortex, or may develop in an unusual location. + +Function + +The adrenal gland secretes a number of different hormones which are metabolised by enzymes either within the gland or in other parts of the body. These hormones are involved in a number of essential biological functions. + +Corticosteroids +Corticosteroids are a group of steroid hormones produced from the cortex of the adrenal gland, from which they are named. + Mineralocorticoids such as aldosterone regulate salt ("mineral") balance and blood pressure + Glucocorticoids such as cortisol influence metabolism rates of proteins, fats and sugars ("glucose"). + Androgens such as dehydroepiandrosterone. + +Mineralocorticoids +The adrenal gland produces aldosterone, a mineralocorticoid, which is important in the regulation of salt ("mineral") balance and blood volume. In the kidneys, aldosterone acts on the distal convoluted tubules and the collecting ducts by increasing the reabsorption of sodium and the excretion of both potassium and hydrogen ions. Aldosterone is responsible for the reabsorption of about 2% of filtered glomerular filtrate. Sodium retention is also a response of the distal colon and sweat glands to aldosterone receptor stimulation. Angiotensin II and extracellular potassium are the two main regulators of aldosterone production. The amount of sodium present in the body affects the extracellular volume, which in turn influences blood pressure. Therefore, the effects of aldosterone in sodium retention are important for the regulation of blood pressure. + +Glucocorticoids +Cortisol is the main glucocorticoid in humans. In species that do not create cortisol, this role is played by corticosterone instead. Glucocorticoids have many effects on metabolism. As their name suggests, they increase the circulating level of glucose. This is the result of an increase in the mobilization of amino acids from protein and the stimulation of synthesis of glucose from these amino acids in the liver. In addition, they increase the levels of free fatty acids, which cells can use as an alternative to glucose to obtain energy. Glucocorticoids also have effects unrelated to the regulation of blood sugar levels, including the suppression of the immune system and a potent anti-inflammatory effect. Cortisol reduces the capacity of osteoblasts to produce new bone tissue and decreases the absorption of calcium in the gastrointestinal tract. + +The adrenal gland secretes a basal level of cortisol but can also produce bursts of the hormone in response to adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) from the anterior pituitary. Cortisol is not evenly released during the day – its concentrations in the blood are highest in the early morning and lowest in the evening as a result of the circadian rhythm of ACTH secretion. Cortisone is an inactive product of the action of the enzyme 11β-HSD on cortisol. The reaction catalyzed by 11β-HSD is reversible, which means that it can turn administered cortisone into cortisol, the biologically active hormone. + +Formation + +All corticosteroid hormones share cholesterol as a common precursor. Therefore, the first step in steroidogenesis is cholesterol uptake or synthesis. Cells that produce steroid hormones can acquire cholesterol through two paths. The main source is through dietary cholesterol transported via the blood as cholesterol esters within low density lipoproteins (LDL). LDL enters the cells through receptor-mediated endocytosis. The other source of cholesterol is synthesis in the cell's endoplasmic reticulum. Synthesis can compensate when LDL levels are abnormally low. In the lysosome, cholesterol esters are converted to free cholesterol, which is then used for steroidogenesis or stored in the cell. + +The initial part of conversion of cholesterol into steroid hormones involves a number of enzymes of the cytochrome P450 family that are located in the inner membrane of mitochondria. Transport of cholesterol from the outer to the inner membrane is facilitated by steroidogenic acute regulatory protein and is the rate-limiting step of steroid synthesis. + +The layers of the adrenal gland differ by function, with each layer having distinct enzymes that produce different hormones from a common precursor. The first enzymatic step in the production of all steroid hormones is cleavage of the cholesterol side chain, a reaction that forms pregnenolone as a product and is catalyzed by the enzyme P450scc, also known as cholesterol desmolase. After the production of pregnenolone, specific enzymes of each cortical layer further modify it. Enzymes involved in this process include both mitochondrial and microsomal P450s and hydroxysteroid dehydrogenases. Usually a number of intermediate steps in which pregnenolone is modified several times are required to form the functional hormones. Enzymes that catalyze reactions in these metabolic pathways are involved in a number of endocrine diseases. For example, the most common form of congenital adrenal hyperplasia develops as a result of deficiency of 21-hydroxylase, an enzyme involved in an intermediate step of cortisol production. + +Regulation + +Glucocorticoids are under the regulatory influence of the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis (HPA) axis. Glucocorticoid synthesis is stimulated by adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH), a hormone released into the bloodstream by the anterior pituitary. In turn, production of ACTH is stimulated by the presence of corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH), which is released by neurons of the hypothalamus. ACTH acts on the adrenal cells first by increasing the levels of StAR within the cells, and then of all steroidogenic P450 enzymes. The HPA axis is an example of a negative feedback system, in which cortisol itself acts as a direct inhibitor of both CRH and ACTH synthesis. The HPA axis also interacts with the immune system through increased secretion of ACTH at the presence of certain molecules of the inflammatory response. + +Mineralocorticoid secretion is regulated mainly by the renin–angiotensin–aldosterone system (RAAS), the concentration of potassium, and to a lesser extent the concentration of ACTH. Sensors of blood pressure in the juxtaglomerular apparatus of the kidneys release the enzyme renin into the blood, which starts a cascade of reactions that lead to formation of angiotensin II. Angiotensin receptors in cells of the zona glomerulosa recognize the substance, and upon binding they stimulate the release of aldosterone. + +Androgens +Cells in zona reticularis of the adrenal glands produce male sex hormones, or androgens, the most important of which is DHEA. In general, these hormones do not have an overall effect in the male body, and are converted to more potent androgens such as testosterone and DHT or to estrogens (female sex hormones) in the gonads, acting in this way as a metabolic intermediate. + +Catecholamines +Primarily referred to in the United States as epinephrine and norepinephrine, adrenaline and noradrenaline are catecholamines, water-soluble compounds that have a structure made of a catechol group and an amine group. The adrenal glands are responsible for most of the adrenaline that circulates in the body, but only for a small amount of circulating noradrenaline. These hormones are released by the adrenal medulla, which contains a dense network of blood vessels. Adrenaline and noradrenaline act by interacting with adrenoreceptors throughout the body, with effects that include an increase in blood pressure and heart rate. Actions of adrenaline and noradrenaline are responsible for the fight or flight response, characterised by a quickening of breathing and heart rate, an increase in blood pressure, and constriction of blood vessels in many parts of the body. + +Formation +Catecholamines are produced in chromaffin cells in the medulla of the adrenal gland, from tyrosine, a non-essential amino acid derived from food or produced from phenylalanine in the liver. The enzyme tyrosine hydroxylase converts tyrosine to L-DOPA in the first step of catecholamine synthesis. L-DOPA is then converted to dopamine before it can be turned into noradrenaline. In the cytosol, noradrenaline is converted to epinephrine by the enzyme phenylethanolamine N-methyltransferase (PNMT) and stored in granules. Glucocorticoids produced in the adrenal cortex stimulate the synthesis of catecholamines by increasing the levels of tyrosine hydroxylase and PNMT. + +Catecholamine release is stimulated by the activation of the sympathetic nervous system. Splanchnic nerves of the sympathetic nervous system innervate the medulla of the adrenal gland. When activated, it evokes the release of catecholamines from the storage granules by stimulating the opening of calcium channels in the cell membrane. + +Gene and protein expression + +The human genome includes approximately 20,000 protein coding genes and 70% of these genes are expressed in the normal adult adrenal glands. Only some 250 genes are more specifically expressed in the adrenal glands compared to other organs and tissues. The adrenal-gland-specific genes with the highest level of expression include members of the cytochrome P450 superfamily of enzymes. Corresponding proteins are expressed in the different compartments of the adrenal gland, such as CYP11A1, HSD3B2 and FDX1 involved in steroid hormone synthesis and expressed in cortical cell layers, and PNMT and DBH involved in noradrenaline and adrenaline synthesis and expressed in the medulla. + +Development +The adrenal glands are composed of two heterogenous types of tissue. In the center is the adrenal medulla, which produces adrenaline and noradrenaline and releases them into the bloodstream, as part of the sympathetic nervous system. Surrounding the medulla is the cortex, which produces a variety of steroid hormones. These tissues come from different embryological precursors and have distinct prenatal development paths. The cortex of the adrenal gland is derived from mesoderm, whereas the medulla is derived from the neural crest, which is of ectodermal origin. + +The adrenal glands in a newborn baby are much larger as a proportion of the body size than in an adult. For example, at age three months the glands are four times the size of the kidneys. The size of the glands decreases relatively after birth, mainly because of shrinkage of the cortex. The cortex, which almost completely disappears by age 1, develops again from age 4–5. The glands weigh about at birth and develop to an adult weight of about each. In a fetus the glands are first detectable after the sixth week of development. + +Cortex +Adrenal cortex tissue is derived from the intermediate mesoderm. It first appears 33 days after fertilisation, shows steroid hormone production capabilities by the eighth week and undergoes rapid growth during the first trimester of pregnancy. The fetal adrenal cortex is different from its adult counterpart, as it is composed of two distinct zones: the inner "fetal" zone, which carries most of the hormone-producing activity, and the outer "definitive" zone, which is in a proliferative phase. The fetal zone produces large amounts of adrenal androgens (male sex hormones) that are used by the placenta for estrogen biosynthesis. Cortical development of the adrenal gland is regulated mostly by ACTH, a hormone produced by the pituitary gland that stimulates cortisol synthesis. During midgestation, the fetal zone occupies most of the cortical volume and produces 100–200 mg/day of DHEA-S, an androgen and precursor of both androgens and estrogens (female sex hormones). Adrenal hormones, especially glucocorticoids such as cortisol, are essential for prenatal development of organs, particularly for the maturation of the lungs. The adrenal gland decreases in size after birth because of the rapid disappearance of the fetal zone, with a corresponding decrease in androgen secretion. + +Adrenarche + +During early childhood androgen synthesis and secretion remain low, but several years before puberty (from 6–8 years of age) changes occur in both anatomical and functional aspects of cortical androgen production that lead to increased secretion of the steroids DHEA and DHEA-S. These changes are part of a process called adrenarche, which has only been described in humans and some other primates. Adrenarche is independent of ACTH or gonadotropins and correlates with a progressive thickening of the zona reticularis layer of the cortex. Functionally, adrenarche provides a source of androgens for the development of axillary and pubic hair before the beginning of puberty. + +Medulla +The adrenal medulla is derived from neural crest cells, which come from the ectoderm layer of the embryo. These cells migrate from their initial position and aggregate in the vicinity of the dorsal aorta, a primitive blood vessel, which activates the differentiation of these cells through the release of proteins known as BMPs. These cells then undergo a second migration from the dorsal aorta to form the adrenal medulla and other organs of the sympathetic nervous system. Cells of the adrenal medulla are called chromaffin cells because they contain granules that stain with chromium salts, a characteristic not present in all sympathetic organs. Glucocorticoids produced in the adrenal cortex were once thought to be responsible for the differentiation of chromaffin cells. More recent research suggests that BMP-4 secreted in adrenal tissue is the main responsible for this, and that glucocorticoids only play a role in the subsequent development of the cells. + +Clinical significance + +The normal function of the adrenal gland may be impaired by conditions such as infections, tumors, genetic disorders and autoimmune diseases, or as a side effect of medical therapy. These disorders affect the gland either directly (as with infections or autoimmune diseases) or as a result of the dysregulation of hormone production (as in some types of Cushing's syndrome) leading to an excess or insufficiency of adrenal hormones and the related symptoms. + +Corticosteroid overproduction + +Cushing's syndrome +Cushing's syndrome is the manifestation of glucocorticoid excess. It can be the result of a prolonged treatment with glucocorticoids or be caused by an underlying disease which produces alterations in the HPA axis or the production of cortisol. Causes can be further classified into ACTH-dependent or ACTH-independent. The most common cause of endogenous Cushing's syndrome is a pituitary adenoma which causes an excessive production of ACTH. The disease produces a wide variety of signs and symptoms which include obesity, diabetes, increased blood pressure, excessive body hair (hirsutism), osteoporosis, depression, and most distinctively, stretch marks in the skin, caused by its progressive thinning. + +Primary aldosteronism +When the zona glomerulosa produces excess aldosterone, the result is primary aldosteronism. Causes for this condition are bilateral hyperplasia (excessive tissue growth) of the glands, or aldosterone-producing adenomas (a condition called Conn's syndrome). Primary aldosteronism produces hypertension and electrolyte imbalance, increasing potassium depletion sodium retention. + +Adrenal insufficiency +Adrenal insufficiency (the deficiency of glucocorticoids) occurs in about 5 in 10,000 in the general population. Diseases classified as primary adrenal insufficiency (including Addison's disease and genetic causes) directly affect the adrenal cortex. If a problem that affects the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis arises outside the gland, it is a secondary adrenal insufficiency. + +Addison's disease + +Addison's disease refers to primary hypoadrenalism, which is a deficiency in glucocorticoid and mineralocorticoid production by the adrenal gland. In the Western world, Addison's disease is most commonly an autoimmune condition, in which the body produces antibodies against cells of the adrenal cortex. Worldwide, the disease is more frequently caused by infection, especially from tuberculosis. A distinctive feature of Addison's disease is hyperpigmentation of the skin, which presents with other nonspecific symptoms such as fatigue. + +A complication seen in untreated Addison's disease and other types of primary adrenal insufficiency is the adrenal crisis, a medical emergency in which low glucocorticoid and mineralocorticoid levels result in hypovolemic shock and symptoms such as vomiting and fever. An adrenal crisis can progressively lead to stupor and coma. The management of adrenal crises includes the application of hydrocortisone injections. + +Secondary adrenal insufficiency +In secondary adrenal insufficiency, a dysfunction of the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis leads to decreased stimulation of the adrenal cortex. Apart from suppression of the axis by glucocorticoid therapy, the most common cause of secondary adrenal insufficiency are tumors that affect the production of adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) by the pituitary gland. This type of adrenal insufficiency usually does not affect the production of mineralocorticoids, which are under regulation of the renin–angiotensin system instead. + +Congenital adrenal hyperplasia +Congenital adrenal hyperplasia is a family of congenital diseases in which mutations of enzymes that produce steroid hormones result in a glucocorticoid deficiency and malfunction of the negative feedback loop of the HPA axis. In the HPA axis, cortisol (a glucocorticoid) inhibits the release of CRH and ACTH, hormones that in turn stimulate corticosteroid synthesis. As cortisol cannot be synthesized, these hormones are released in high quantities and stimulate production of other adrenal steroids instead. The most common form of congenital adrenal hyperplasia is due to 21-hydroxylase deficiency. 21-hydroxylase is necessary for production of both mineralocorticoids and glucocorticoids, but not androgens. Therefore, ACTH stimulation of the adrenal cortex induces the release of excessive amounts of adrenal androgens, which can lead to the development of ambiguous genitalia and secondary sex characteristics. + +Adrenal tumors + +Adrenal tumors are commonly found as incidentalomas, unexpected asymptomatic tumors found during medical imaging. They are seen in around 3.4% of CT scans, and in most cases they are benign adenomas. Adrenal carcinomas are very rare, with an incidence of 1 case per million per year. + +Pheochromocytomas are tumors of the adrenal medulla that arise from chromaffin cells. They can produce a variety of nonspecific symptoms, which include headaches, sweating, anxiety and palpitations. Common signs include hypertension and tachycardia. Surgery, especially adrenal laparoscopy, is the most common treatment for small pheochromocytomas. + +History +Bartolomeo Eustachi, an Italian anatomist, is credited with the first description of the adrenal glands in 1563–4. However, these publications were part of the papal library and did not receive public attention, which was first received with Caspar Bartholin the Elder's illustrations in 1611. + +The adrenal glands are named for their location relative to the kidneys. The term "adrenal" comes from Latin ad, "near", and ren, "kidney". Similarly, "suprarenal", as termed by Jean Riolan the Younger in 1629, is derived from the Latin supra, "above", and ren, "kidney", as well. The suprarenal nature of the glands was not truly accepted until the 19th century, as anatomists clarified the ductless nature of the glands and their likely secretory role – prior to this, there was some debate as to whether the glands were indeed suprarenal or part of the kidney. + +One of the most recognized works on the adrenal glands came in 1855 with the publication of On the Constitutional and Local Effects of Disease of the Suprarenal Capsule, by the English physician Thomas Addison. In his monography, Addison described what the French physician George Trousseau would later name Addison's disease, an eponym still used today for a condition of adrenal insufficiency and its related clinical manifestations. In 1894, English physiologists George Oliver and Edward Schafer studied the action of adrenal extracts and observed their pressor effects. In the following decades several physicians experimented with extracts from the adrenal cortex to treat Addison's disease. Edward Calvin Kendall, Philip Hench and Tadeusz Reichstein were then awarded the 1950 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their discoveries on the structure and effects of the adrenal hormones. + +See also + Adrenopause + Adrenochrome + List of distinct cell types in the adult human body + +References + +External links + + Adrenal gland at the Human Protein Atlas + + Adrenal gland histology + – "Adrenal Gland" + + – "Posterior Abdominal Wall: The Retroperitoneal Fat and Suprarenal Glands" + Adrenal Gland, from Colorado State University + + + +Adrenaline +A360 Media, LLC (branded a360media), formerly American Media, Inc. (AMI), is an American publisher of magazines, supermarket tabloids, and books based in New York City. Originally affiliated with only the National Enquirer, the media company's holdings expanded considerably in the 1990s and 2000s. In November 2010, American Media filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection due to debts of nearly $1 billion, but has continued to buy and sell magazine brands since then. + +AMI has been in the news affiliated with accusations of catch and kill operations. On December 12, 2018, the U.S. Attorney's Office reported that AMI admitted to paying $150,000 to Karen McDougal in concert with a candidate's presidential campaign for the sole purpose of preventing damaging allegations prior to the 2016 US presidential election. + +According to its September 2018 non-prosecution agreement with Southern District of New York federal prosecutors, AMI "shall commit no crimes whatsoever" for three years, otherwise "A.M.I. shall thereafter be subject to prosecution for any federal criminal violation of which this office has knowledge." + +On April 10, 2019, Chatham Asset Management, which controls 80 percent of AMI's stock, forced AMI to sell the National Enquirer. This came after Chatham owner Anthony Melchiorre, who AMI has also relied on for survival, expressed dismay over the tabloid magazine's recent scandals involving hush money assistance to U.S. president Donald Trump's 2016 campaign and blackmail of Jeff Bezos. On April 18, 2019, AMI agreed to sell not only the National Enquirer, but two of its other publications, Globe and National Examiner, to Hudson News Distributors. + +In August 2020, Chatham Asset Management, AMI's owning holding company, announced it would merge AMI with Accelerate 360, a wholesale distribution company it also owned. As part of the merger, AMI was officially renamed A360 on October 1. + +In February 2023, A360media agreed to sell the National Enquirer to VVIP Ventures, a joint venture of the digital media company Vinco Ventures and a new company set up for the purchase, Icon Publishing. + +History +The modern American Media came into being after Generoso Pope Jr., longtime owner of the National Enquirer, died in 1988, and his tabloids came under new ownership. American tabloids began consolidating in 1990, when American Media bought Star from Rupert Murdoch. The purchase of Globe Communications (owner of the Globe and the National Examiner) followed nine years later. Roger Altman, through Evercore Partners, bought a controlling stake in American Media in 1999. + +American Media is not to be confused with American Media Distribution, the international news coverage firm. American Media's former corporate headquarters in Boca Raton, Florida, figured prominently in news headlines in late 2001, after an anthrax attack was perpetrated on the company and other media outlets. Since then the corporate headquarters have moved to New York City at 1 Park Avenue in Manhattan, before moving to the Financial District to the former JP Morgan Chase headquarters at 4 New York Plaza. That building was severely damaged by Hurricane Sandy but reopened in February 2013. + +AMI continued to expand after it bought Joe Weider's Weider Publications in 2002. Joe Weider continued to manage control of his magazines under AMI's Weider Publications subsidiary until his death in March 2013. + +American Media also owns Distribution Services, an in-store magazine merchandising company. In fall 2002, it launched the book-publishing imprint, AMI Books. + +2010s: Bankruptcy and continued acquisitions +In 2009, American Media was taken over by its bondholders to keep it out of bankruptcy. + +In November 2010, American Media filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection due to nearly $1 billion in debt, and assets of less than $50,000. Its subsidiary, American Media Operations Inc., listed assets of $100 to $500 million and debt of over $1 billion. It exited in December. + +In May 2014, American Media announced a decision to shift the headquarters of the National Enquirer from Florida, where it had been located since 1971, back to New York City, where it originally began as The New York Enquirer in 1926. In August 2014, American Media was acquired by Chatham Asset Management and Omega Charitable Partnership. + +In 2015, American Media sold Shape, Natural Health, and Fit Pregnancy to Meredith. + +In 2016, Pecker revealed to the Toronto Star that AMI now relied on support from Chatham Asset Management and its owner Anthony Melchiorre. The $4 billion hedge fund owns 80 percent of AMI's stock. + +In March 2017, American Media acquired Us Weekly from Wenner Media for a reported $100 million. Three months later, in June 2017, American Media also acquired Men's Journal from Wenner Media. + +In June 2018, American Media acquired 13 brands from Bauer Media Group including In Touch Weekly, Life & Style and Closer to add to their celebrity portfolio. They also acquired Bauer Media's kids group including J-14 and Girl's World. + +In February 2019, American Media acquired TEN's adventure sports properties. + +In April 2019, the National Enquirer was reported to be up for sale and likely to be sold within days. The company stated that it had shifted its emphasis away from tabloids to its "glossy" magazines such as Us Weekly and Men's Journal. This came following pressure from Chatham owner Anthony Melchiorre, who expressed disapproval of the Enquirer's style of journalism. On April 18, 2019, AMI accepted an offer from Hudson News Distributors head James Cohen and agreed to sell not only the National Enquirer, but also Globe and The Examiner to Hudson News Distributors for $100 million. At the time the sales were announced, AMI was approximately $355 million in debt. + +In 2022, A360 acquired single issue magazine publisher Centennial Media. Also in 2022, A360 sold Men's Journal and the Adventure Sports Network properties to The Arena Group. + +"Catch-and-kill" scandals related to Donald Trump +In late 2015, AMI paid $30,000 to Dino Sajudin, a doorman at Trump Tower, to obtain the rights to his story in which he alleged Donald Trump had an affair in the 1980s that resulted in the birth of a child. Sajudin in April 2018 identified the woman as Trump's former housekeeper. AMI reporters were given the names of the woman and the alleged child, while Sajudin passed a lie detector test when testifying that he had heard the story from others. Shortly after the payment was made, Pecker ordered the reporters to drop the story. In April 2018, AMI chief content officer Dylan Howard denied the story was "spiked" in a so-called "catch and kill" operation, insisting that AMI did not run the story because Sajudin's story lacked credibility. On August 24, 2018, after AMI had released Sajudin from the contract, CNN obtained a copy of it and published excerpts. The contract instructed Sajudin to provide "information regarding Donald Trump's illegitimate child," but did not contain further specifics of Sajudin's story. + +Karen McDougal + +In 2016, AMI paid Playboy model Karen McDougal $150,000 for exclusive rights to her allegations of a ten-month affair with Donald Trump—which she claimed happened in 2006–2007, when he was already married to Melania—but AMI never published the story. AMI publicly acknowledged having made the payment after The Wall Street Journal revealed it days before the 2016 presidential election, but AMI denied that its purpose had been to "kill damaging stories about" Trump; instead, AMI claimed it had paid only for "exclusive life rights to any relationship [McDougal] has had with a then-married man" and "two years' worth of her fitness columns and magazine covers." In March 2018, McDougal filed a lawsuit to invalidate the non-disclosure agreement she had with AMI. A month later, AMI settled with McDougal, allowing her to speak about the alleged affair. In August 2018, it was reported that AMI CEO/Chairman David Pecker and AMI chief content officer Dylan Howard were granted witness immunity in exchange for their testimony regarding hush money payments made by Donald Trump's then-personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, in an attempt to influence the 2016 presidential election. + +On December 12, 2018, the U.S. Attorney's Office announced its agreement with AMI. "AMI admitted that it made the $150,000 payment in concert with a candidate's presidential campaign," the press release said, so that Karen McDougal wouldn't "publicize damaging allegations about the candidate before the 2016 presidential election. AMI further admitted that its principal purpose in making the payment was to suppress the woman's story so as to prevent it from influencing the election." As a result of this agreement, AMI would not face prosecution and agreed to provide extensive assistance to prosecutors about the involvement of Trump and other politicians with the company. The same press release also revealed that Michael Cohen had been sentenced to three years in prison for various crimes, including the $150,000 campaign finance violation—the facilitation of the payment to McDougal—to which he pled guilty on August 21, 2018. AMI agreed to pay the Federal Election Commission a $187,500 fine in June 2021. + +Jeff Bezos blackmail + +In January 2019, the National Enquirer broke a story about the extramarital affair of Amazon founder and Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos with Lauren Sánchez. Bezos began investigating how and why the information had been leaked to the National Enquirer. President Trump has long expressed displeasure with Bezos, and Trump's irritation may have increased due to the Washington Post's critical coverage of the murder (and the subsequent cover-up) of one of its reporters, Jamal Khashoggi. This, Bezos suspects, may have been the political motivation for someone to leak his affair to the tabloid. + +On February 7, 2019, Bezos shared emails that he had received the previous day in which AMI sought a public statement from him and his lawyer "affirming that they have no knowledge or basis for suggesting that AM's coverage [of the sexual affair] was politically motivated or influenced by political forces, and an agreement that they will cease referring to such a possibility." AMI chief content officer Dylan Howard and his lawyer Jon Fine threatened Bezos, saying that if Bezos did not promptly meet their demands, AMI would publish selfies and sexts sent between Bezos and his girlfriend. Bezos wrote that he would refuse to make this "specific lie" or to otherwise participate in this blackmail bargain that "no real journalists [would] ever propose." "Of course I don't want personal photos published," Bezos added, but he said he chooses to "stand up, roll this log over, and see what crawls out." + +That same day, The Washington Post published an article on the matter, quoting a former federal prosecutor who speculated that this news could undermine AMI's recent deal with the government. If prosecutors decide they must file new criminal charges against AMI, the government may not be able "to continue to use them [AMI] to assist other ongoing investigations," said Robert Mintz. + +Lauren Sanchez's brother, Michael Sanchez, an ardent Trump supporter, stated he was told by multiple AMI employees that the Enquirer set out to do "a takedown to make Trump happy" and The Daily Beast reported seeing documents showing that Sanchez believed the Bezos story was run with "President Trump's knowledge and appreciation." + +Publications + +Current + Animal Tales + Closer + First for Women + Girls' World + In Touch + J-14 + Life & Style + Muscle & Fitness + Muscle & Fitness Hers + OK! (US) + Puzzle Fun + Quizfest + RadarOnline.com + Soap Opera Digest + Soaps in Depth + Star + Us Weekly + Woman's World + +Former + Autoworld Weekly + Bike + Country Music + Fit Pregnancy + Flex + Globe + Men's Fitness + Men's Journal + Nash Country Weekly + National Enquirer + National Examiner + Natural Health + Pixie + Powder + Shape + Snowboarder Magazine + Soap Opera Weekly + Stallone + Sun + Surfer + Teen Boss + Transworld Skateboarding + Weekly World News + +Divisions + AMI Books + AMI Entertainment Group + Distribution Services, Inc. + Dew Tour + +See also +2017–18 United States political sexual scandals +Stormy Daniels–Donald Trump scandal +Death of Robert Stevens + +References + +External links