diff --git "a/wikipedia_33.txt" "b/wikipedia_33.txt" new file mode 100644--- /dev/null +++ "b/wikipedia_33.txt" @@ -0,0 +1,10000 @@ + +and so forth. The expressions on the right (with no parentheses whatsoever) are allowed to be written unambiguously because of the equalities on the left. Note that the associative property does not hold for expressions that include nonlinear operators, such as the antilinear time reversal operator in physics. + +Hermitian conjugation +Bra–ket notation makes it particularly easy to compute the Hermitian conjugate (also called dagger, and denoted ) of expressions. The formal rules are: + The Hermitian conjugate of a bra is the corresponding ket, and vice versa. + The Hermitian conjugate of a complex number is its complex conjugate. + The Hermitian conjugate of the Hermitian conjugate of anything (linear operators, bras, kets, numbers) is itself—i.e., + Given any combination of complex numbers, bras, kets, inner products, outer products, and/or linear operators, written in bra–ket notation, its Hermitian conjugate can be computed by reversing the order of the components, and taking the Hermitian conjugate of each. + +These rules are sufficient to formally write the Hermitian conjugate of any such expression; some examples are as follows: + Kets: + Inner products: Note that is a scalar, so the Hermitian conjugate is just the complex conjugate, i.e., + Matrix elements: + Outer products: + +Composite bras and kets +Two Hilbert spaces and may form a third space by a tensor product. In quantum mechanics, this is used for describing composite systems. If a system is composed of two subsystems described in and respectively, then the Hilbert space of the entire system is the tensor product of the two spaces. (The exception to this is if the subsystems are actually identical particles. In that case, the situation is a little more complicated.) + +If is a ket in and is a ket in , the tensor product of the two kets is a ket in . This is written in various notations: + +See quantum entanglement and the EPR paradox for applications of this product. + +The unit operator +Consider a complete orthonormal system (basis), + +for a Hilbert space , with respect to the norm from an inner product . + +From basic functional analysis, it is known that any ket can also be written as + +with the inner product on the Hilbert space. + +From the commutativity of kets with (complex) scalars, it follows that + +must be the identity operator, which sends each vector to itself. + +This, then, can be inserted in any expression without affecting its value; for example + +where, in the last line, the Einstein summation convention has been used to avoid clutter. + +In quantum mechanics, it often occurs that little or no information about the inner product of two arbitrary (state) kets is present, while it is still possible to say something about the expansion coefficients and of those vectors with respect to a specific (orthonormalized) basis. In this case, it is particularly useful to insert the unit operator into the bracket one time or more. + +For more information, see Resolution of the identity, + where + +Since , plane waves follow, + +In his book (1958), Ch. III.20, Dirac defines the standard ket which, up to a normalization, is the translationally invariant momentum eigenstate in the momentum representation, i.e., . Consequently, the corresponding wavefunction is a constant, , and + as well as + +Typically, when all matrix elements of an operator such as are available, this resolution serves to reconstitute the full operator, + +Notation used by mathematicians + +The object physicists are considering when using bra–ket notation is a Hilbert space (a complete inner product space). + +Let be a Hilbert space and a vector in . What physicists would denote by is the vector itself. That is, + +Let be the dual space of . This is the space of linear functionals on . The embedding is defined by , where for every the linear functional satisfies for every the functional equation . +Notational confusion arises when identifying and with and respectively. This is because of literal symbolic substitutions. Let and let . This gives + +One ignores the parentheses and removes the double bars. + +Moreover, mathematicians usually write the dual entity not at the first place, as the physicists do, but at the second one, and they usually use not an asterisk but an overline (which the physicists reserve for averages and the Dirac spinor adjoint) to denote complex conjugate numbers; i.e., for scalar products mathematicians usually write + +whereas physicists would write for the same quantity + +See also + + Angular momentum diagrams (quantum mechanics) + -slit interferometric equation + Quantum state + Inner product space + +Notes + +References + . Also see his standard text, The Principles of Quantum Mechanics, IV edition, Clarendon Press (1958), + +External links +Richard Fitzpatrick, "Quantum Mechanics: A graduate level course", The University of Texas at Austin. Includes: + 1. Ket space + 2. Bra space + 3. Operators + 4. The outer product + 5. Eigenvalues and eigenvectors +Robert Littlejohn, Lecture notes on "The Mathematical Formalism of Quantum mechanics", including bra–ket notation. University of California, Berkeley. + +Information theory +Quantum information science +Linear algebra +Mathematical notation +Paul Dirac +Linear functionals +Blue is one of the three primary colours in the RYB colour model (traditional colour theory), as well as in the RGB (additive) colour model. It lies between violet and cyan on the spectrum of visible light. The term blue generally describes colors perceived by humans observing light with a dominant wavelength between approximately 450 and 495 nanometres. Most blues contain a slight mixture of other colours; azure contains some green, while ultramarine contains some violet. The clear daytime sky and the deep sea appear blue because of an optical effect known as Rayleigh scattering. An optical effect called the Tyndall effect explains blue eyes. Distant objects appear more blue because of another optical effect called aerial perspective. + +Blue has been an important colour in art and decoration since ancient times. The semi-precious stone lapis lazuli was used in ancient Egypt for jewellery and ornament and later, in the Renaissance, to make the pigment ultramarine, the most expensive of all pigments. In the eighth century Chinese artists used cobalt blue to colour fine blue and white porcelain. In the Middle Ages, European artists used it in the windows of cathedrals. Europeans wore clothing coloured with the vegetable dye woad until it was replaced by the finer indigo from America. In the 19th century, synthetic blue dyes and pigments gradually replaced organic dyes and mineral pigments. Dark blue became a common colour for military uniforms and later, in the late 20th century, for business suits. Because blue has commonly been associated with harmony, it was chosen as the colour of the flags of the United Nations and the European Union. + +In the United States and Europe, blue is the colour that both men and women are most likely to choose as their favourite, with at least one recent survey showing the same across several other countries, including China, Malaysia, and Indonesia. Past surveys in the US and Europe have found that blue is the colour most commonly associated with harmony, confidence, masculinity, knowledge, intelligence, calm, distance, infinity, the imagination, cold, and sadness. + +Etymology and linguistics +The modern English word blue comes from Middle English or , from the Old French , a word of Germanic origin, related to the Old High German word (meaning 'shimmering, lustrous'). In heraldry, the word azure is used for blue. + +In Russian, Spanish and some other languages, there is no single word for blue, but rather different words for light blue (, ; ) and dark blue (, ; ). See Colour term. + +Several languages, including Japanese and Lakota Sioux, use the same word to describe blue and green. For example, in Vietnamese, the colour of both tree leaves and the sky is . In Japanese, the word for blue (, ) is often used for colours that English speakers would refer to as green, such as the colour of a traffic signal meaning "go". In Lakota, the word is used for both blue and green, the two colours not being distinguished in older Lakota. (For more on this subject, see Blue–green distinction in language.) + +Linguistic research indicates that languages do not begin by having a word for the colour blue. Colour names often developed individually in natural languages, typically beginning with black and white (or dark and light), and then adding red, and only much later – usually as the last main category of colour accepted in a language – adding the colour blue, probably when blue pigments could be manufactured reliably in the culture using that language. + +Optics and colour theory + +The term blue generally describes colors perceived by humans observing light with a dominant wavelength between approximately 450 and 495 nanometres. Blues with a higher frequency and thus a shorter wavelength gradually look more violet, while those with a lower frequency and a longer wavelength gradually appear more green. Purer blues are in the middle of this range, e.g., around 470 nanometres. + +Isaac Newton included blue as one of the seven colours in his first description of the visible spectrum. He chose seven colours because that was the number of notes in the musical scale, which he believed was related to the optical spectrum. He included indigo, the hue between blue and violet, as one of the separate colours, though today it is usually considered a hue of blue. + +In painting and traditional colour theory, blue is one of the three primary colours of pigments (red, yellow, blue), which can be mixed to form a wide gamut of colours. Red and blue mixed together form violet, blue and yellow together form green. Mixing all three primary colours together produces a dark brown. From the Renaissance onward, painters used this system to create their colours. (See RYB colour model.) + +The RYB model was used for colour printing by Jacob Christoph Le Blon as early as 1725. Later, printers discovered that more accurate colours could be created by using combinations of cyan, magenta, yellow, and black ink, put onto separate inked plates and then overlaid one at a time onto paper. This method could produce almost all the colours in the spectrum with reasonable accuracy. + +On the HSV colour wheel, the complement of blue is yellow; that is, a colour corresponding to an equal mixture of red and green light. On a colour wheel based on traditional colour theory (RYB) where blue was considered a primary colour, its complementary colour is considered to be orange (based on the Munsell colour wheel). + +LED + +In 1993, high-brightness blue LEDs were demonstrated by Shuji Nakamura of Nichia Corporation. In parallel, Isamu Akasaki and Hiroshi Amano of Nagoya University were working on a new development which revolutionized LED lighting. + +Nakamura was awarded the 2006 Millennium Technology Prize for his invention. +Nakamura, Hiroshi Amano and Isamu Akasaki were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2014 for the invention of an efficient blue LED. + +Lasers + +Lasers emitting in the blue region of the spectrum became widely available to the public in 2010 with the release of inexpensive high-powered 445–447 nm laser diode technology. Previously the blue wavelengths were accessible only through DPSS which are comparatively expensive and inefficient, but still widely used by scientists for applications including optogenetics, Raman spectroscopy, and particle image velocimetry, due to their superior beam quality. Blue gas lasers are also still commonly used for holography, DNA sequencing, optical pumping, among other scientific and medical applications. + +Shades and variations + +Blue is the colour of light between violet and cyan on the visible spectrum. Hues of blue include indigo and ultramarine, closer to violet; pure blue, without any mixture of other colours; Azure, which is a lighter shade of blue, similar to the colour of the sky; Cyan, which is midway in the spectrum between blue and green, and the other blue-greens such as turquoise, teal, and aquamarine. + +Blue also varies in shade or tint; darker shades of blue contain black or grey, while lighter tints contain white. Darker shades of blue include ultramarine, cobalt blue, navy blue, and Prussian blue; while lighter tints include sky blue, azure, and Egyptian blue. (For a more complete list see the List of colours). + +As a structural colour + +In nature, many blue phenomena arise from structural colouration, the result of interference between reflections from two or more surfaces of thin films, combined with refraction as light enters and exits such films. The geometry then determines that at certain angles, the light reflected from both surfaces interferes constructively, while at other angles, the light interferes destructively. Diverse colours therefore appear despite the absence of colourants. + +Colourants + +Artificial blues +Egyptian blue, the first artificial pigment, was produced in the third millennium BC in Ancient Egypt. It is produced by heating pulverized sand, copper, and natron. It was used in tomb paintings and funereal objects to protect the dead in their afterlife. Prior to the 1700s, blue colourants for artwork were mainly based on lapis lazuli and the related mineral ultramarine. A breakthrough occurred in 1709 when German druggist and pigment maker Johann Jacob Diesbach discovered Prussian blue. The new blue arose from experiments involving heating dried blood with iron sulphides and was initially called Berliner Blau. By 1710 it was being used by the French painter Antoine Watteau, and later his successor Nicolas Lancret. It became immensely popular for the manufacture of wallpaper, and in the 19th century was widely used by French impressionist painters. Beginning in the 1820s, Prussian blue was imported into Japan through the port of Nagasaki. It was called bero-ai, or Berlin blue, and it became popular because it did not fade like traditional Japanese blue pigment, ai-gami, made from the dayflower. Prussian blue was used by both Hokusai, in his wave paintings, and Hiroshige. + +In 1799 a French chemist, Louis Jacques Thénard, made a synthetic cobalt blue pigment which became immensely popular with painters. + +In 1824 the Societé pour l'Encouragement d'Industrie in France offered a prize for the invention of an artificial ultramarine which could rival the natural colour made from lapis lazuli. The prize was won in 1826 by a chemist named Jean Baptiste Guimet, but he refused to reveal the formula of his colour. In 1828, another scientist, Christian Gmelin then a professor of chemistry in Tübingen, found the process and published his formula. This was the beginning of new industry to manufacture artificial ultramarine, which eventually almost completely replaced the natural product. + +In 1878 German chemists synthesized indigo. This product rapidly replaced natural indigo, wiping out vast farms growing indigo. It is now the blue of blue jeans. As the pace of organic chemistry accelerated, a succession of synthetic blue dyes were discovered including Indanthrone blue, which had even greater resistance to fading during washing or in the sun, and copper phthalocyanine. + +Dyes for textiles and food + +Blue dyes are organic compounds, both synthetic and natural. Woad and true indigo were once used but since the early 1900s, all indigo is synthetic. Produced on an industrial scale, indigo is the blue of blue jeans. + +For food, the triarylmethane dye Brilliant blue FCF is used for candies. The search continues for stable, natural blue dyes suitable for the food industry. + +Pigments for painting and glass + +Blue pigments were once produced from minerals, especially lapis lazuli and its close relative ultramarine. These minerals were crushed, ground into powder, and then mixed with a quick-drying binding agent, such as egg yolk (tempera painting); or with a slow-drying oil, such as linseed oil, for oil painting. Two inorganic but synthetic blue pigments are cerulean blue (primarily cobalt(II) stanate: ) and Prussian blue (milori blue: primarily ). The chromophore in blue glass and glazes is cobalt(II). Diverse cobalt(II) salts such as cobalt carbonate or cobalt(II) aluminate are mixed with the silica prior to firing. The cobalt occupies sites otherwise filled with silicon. + +Inks +Methyl blue is the dominant blue pigment in inks used in pens. Blueprinting involves the production of Prussian blue in situ. + +Inorganic compounds + +Certain metal ions characteristically form blue solutions or blue salts. Of some practical importance, cobalt is used to make the deep blue glazes and glasses. It substitutes for silicon or aluminum ions in these materials. Cobalt is the blue chromophore in stained glass windows, such as those in Gothic cathedrals and in Chinese porcelain beginning in the T'ang Dynasty. Copper(II) (Cu2+) also produces many blue compounds, including the commercial algicide copper(II) sulfate (CuSO4.5H2O). Similarly, vanadyl salts and solutions are often blue, e.g. vanadyl sulfate. + +In nature + +Sky and sea + +When sunlight passes through the atmosphere, the blue wavelengths are scattered more widely by the oxygen and nitrogen molecules, and more blue comes to our eyes. This effect is called Rayleigh scattering, after Lord Rayleigh and confirmed by Albert Einstein in 1911. + +The sea is seen as blue for largely the same reason: the water absorbs the longer wavelengths of red and reflects and scatters the blue, which comes to the eye of the viewer. The deeper the observer goes, the darker the blue becomes. In the open sea, only about one per cent of light penetrates to a depth of 200 metres. (See underwater and euphotic depth) + +The colour of the sea is also affected by the colour of the sky, reflected by particles in the water; and by algae and plant life in the water, which can make it look green; or by sediment, which can make it look brown. + +The farther away an object is, the more blue it often appears to the eye. For example, mountains in the distance often appear blue. This is the effect of atmospheric perspective; the farther an object is away from the viewer, the less contrast there is between the object and its background colour, which is usually blue. In a painting where different parts of the composition are blue, green and red, the blue will appear to be more distant, and the red closer to the viewer. The cooler a colour is, the more distant it seems. Blue light is scattered more than other wavelengths by the gases in the atmosphere, hence our "blue planet". + +Minerals + +Some of the most desirable gems are blue, including sapphire and tanzanite. Compounds of copper(II) are characteristically blue and so are many copper-containing minerals. +Azurite (, with a deep blue colour, was once employed in medieval years, but it is unstable pigment, losing its colour especially under dry conditions. Lapis lazuli, mined in Afghanistan for more than three thousand years, was used for jewelry and ornaments, and later was crushed and powdered and used as a pigment. The more it was ground, the lighter the blue colour became. Natural ultramarine, made by grinding lapis lazuli into a fine powder, was the finest available blue pigment in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. It was extremely expensive, and in Italian Renaissance art, it was often reserved for the robes of the Virgin Mary. + +Plants and fungi + +Intense efforts have focused on blue flowers and the possibility that natural blue colourants could be used as food dyes. Commonly, blue colours in plants are anthocyanins: "the largest group of water-soluble pigments found widespread in the plant kingdom." In the few plants that exploit structural colouration, brilliant colours are produced by structures within cells. The most brilliant blue colouration known in any living tissue is found in the marble berries of Pollia condensata, where a spiral structure of cellulose fibrils scattering blue light. The fruit of quandong (Santalum acuminatum) can appear blue owing to the same effect. + +Animals + +Blue-pigmented animals are relatively rare. Examples of which include butterflies of the genus Nessaea, where blue is created by pterobilin. Other blue pigments of animal origin include phorcabilin, used by other butterflies in Graphium and Papilio (specifically P. phorcas and P. weiskei), and sarpedobilin, which is used by Graphium sarpedon. Blue-pigmented organelles, known as "cyanosomes", exist in the chromatophores of at least two fish species, the mandarin fish and the picturesque dragonet. More commonly, blueness in animals is a structural colouration; an optical interference effect induced by organized nanometer-sized scales or fibres. Examples include the plumage of several birds like the blue jay and indigo bunting, the scales of butterflies like the morpho butterfly, collagen fibres in the skin of some species of monkey and opossum, and the iridophore cells in some fish and frogs. + +Eyes + +Blue eyes do not actually contain any blue pigment. Eye colour is determined by two factors: the pigmentation of the eye's iris and the scattering of light by the turbid medium in the stroma of the iris. In humans, the pigmentation of the iris varies from light brown to black. The appearance of blue, green, and hazel eyes results from the Tyndall scattering of light in the stroma, an optical effect similar to what accounts for the blueness of the sky. The irises of the eyes of people with blue eyes contain less dark melanin than those of people with brown eyes, which means that they absorb less short-wavelength blue light, which is instead reflected out to the viewer. Eye colour also varies depending on the lighting conditions, especially for lighter-coloured eyes. + +Blue eyes are most common in Ireland, the Baltic Sea area and Northern Europe, and are also found in Eastern, Central, and Southern Europe. Blue eyes are also found in parts of Western Asia, most notably in Afghanistan, Syria, Iraq, and Iran. In Estonia, 99% of people have blue eyes. In Denmark in 1978, only 8% of the population had brown eyes, though through immigration, today that number is about 11%. In Germany, about 75% have blue eyes. + +In the United States, as of 2006, one out of every six people, or 16.6% of the total population, and 22.3% of the white population, have blue eyes, compared with about half of Americans born in 1900, and a third of Americans born in 1950. Blue eyes are becoming less common among American children. In the US, boys are 3–5 per cent more likely to have blue eyes than girls. + +History + +In the ancient world + +As early as the 7th millennium BC, lapis lazuli was mined in the Sar-i Sang mines, in Shortugai, and in other mines in Badakhshan province in northeast Afghanistan. + +Lapis lazuli artifacts, dated to 7570 BC, have been found at Bhirrana, which is the oldest site of Indus Valley civilisation. Lapis was highly valued by the Indus Valley Civilisation (7570–1900 BC). Lapis beads have been found at Neolithic burials in Mehrgarh, the Caucasus, and as far away as Mauritania. It was used in the funeral mask of Tutankhamun (1341–1323 BC). + +A term for Blue was relatively rare in many forms of ancient art and decoration, and even in ancient literature. The Ancient Greek poets described the sea as green, brown or "the colour of wine". The colour is mentioned several times in the Hebrew Bible as 'tekhelet'. Reds, blacks, browns, and ochres are found in cave paintings from the Upper Paleolithic period, but not blue. Blue was also not used for dyeing fabric until long after red, ochre, pink, and purple. This is probably due to the perennial difficulty of making blue dyes and pigments. On the other hand, the rarity of blue pigment made it even more valuable. + +The earliest known blue dyes were made from plants – woad in Europe, indigo in Asia and Africa, while blue pigments were made from minerals, usually either lapis lazuli or azurite, and required more. Blue glazes posed still another challenge since the early blue dyes and pigments were not thermally robust. In , the blue glaze Egyptian blue was introduced for ceramics, as well as many other objects. The Greeks imported indigo dye from India, calling it indikon, and they painted with Egyptian blue. Blue was not one of the four primary colours for Greek painting described by Pliny the Elder (red, yellow, black, and white). For the Romans, blue was the colour of mourning, as well as the colour of barbarians. The Celts and Germans reportedly dyed their faces blue to frighten their enemies, and tinted their hair blue when they grew old. The Romans made extensive use of indigo and Egyptian blue pigment, as evidenced, in part, by frescos in Pompeii. +The Romans had many words for varieties of blue, including , , , , , , , and , but two words, both of foreign origin, became the most enduring; , from the Germanic word blau, which eventually became bleu or blue; and , from the Arabic word , which became azure. + +Blue was widely used in the decoration of churches in the Byzantine Empire. By contrast, in the Islamic world, blue was of secondary to green, believed to be the favourite colour of the Prophet Mohammed. At certain times in Moorish Spain and other parts of the Islamic world, blue was the colour worn by Christians and Jews, because only Muslims were allowed to wear white and green. + +In the Middle Ages + +In the art and life of Europe during the early Middle Ages, blue played a minor role. This changed dramatically between 1130 and 1140 in Paris, when the Abbe Suger rebuilt the Saint Denis Basilica. Suger considered that light was the visible manifestation of the Holy Spirit. He installed stained glass windows coloured with cobalt, which, combined with the light from the red glass, filled the church with a bluish violet light. The church became the marvel of the Christian world, and the colour became known as the . In the years that followed even more elegant blue stained glass windows were installed in other churches, including at Chartres Cathedral and Sainte-Chapelle in Paris. + +In the 12th century the Roman Catholic Church dictated that painters in Italy (and the rest of Europe consequently) to paint the Virgin Mary with blue, which became associated with holiness, humility and virtue. In medieval paintings, blue was used to attract the attention of the viewer to the Virgin Mary. Paintings of the mythical King Arthur began to show him dressed in blue. The coat of arms of the kings of France became an azure or light blue shield, sprinkled with golden fleur-de-lis or lilies. Blue had come from obscurity to become the royal colour. + +Renaissance through 18th century + +Blue came into wider use beginning in the Renaissance, when artists began to paint the world with perspective, depth, shadows, and light from a single source. In Renaissance paintings, artists tried to create harmonies between blue and red, lightening the blue with lead white paint and adding shadows and highlights. Raphael was a master of this technique, carefully balancing the reds and the blues so no one colour dominated the picture. + +Ultramarine was the most prestigious blue of the Renaissance, being more expensive than gold. Wealthy art patrons commissioned works with the most expensive blues possible. In 1616 Richard Sackville commissioned a portrait of himself by Isaac Oliver with three different blues, including ultramarine pigment for his stockings. + +An industry for the manufacture of fine blue and white pottery began in the 14th century in Jingdezhen, China, using white Chinese porcelain decorated with patterns of cobalt blue, imported from Persia. It was first made for the family of the Emperor of China, then was exported around the world, with designs for export adapted to European subjects and tastes. The Chinese blue style was also adapted by Dutch craftsmen in Delft and English craftsmen in Staffordshire in the 17th-18th centuries. in the 18th century, blue and white porcelains were produced by Josiah Wedgwood and other British craftsmen. + +19th-20th century + +The early 19th century saw the ancestor of the modern blue business suit, created by Beau Brummel (1776-1840), who set fashion at the London Court. It also saw the invention of blue jeans, a highly popular form of workers's costume, invented in 1853 by Jacob W. Davis who used metal rivets to strengthen blue denim work clothing in the California gold fields. The invention was funded by San Francisco entrepreneur Levi Strauss, and spread around the world. + +Recognizing the emotional power of blue, many artists made it the central element of paintings in the 19th and 20th centuries. They included Pablo Picasso, Pavel Kuznetsov and the Blue Rose art group, and Kandinsky and Der Blaue Reiter (The Blue Rider) school. Henri Matisse expressed deep emotions with blue:, "A certain blue penetrates your soul." In the second half of the 20th century, painters of the abstract expressionist movement use blues to inspire ideas and emotions. Painter Mark Rothko observed that colour was "only an instrument;" his interest was "in expressing human emotions tragedy, ecstasy, doom, and so on." + +In society and culture + +Uniforms + +In the 17th century. The Prince-Elector of Brandenburg, Frederick William I of Prussia, chose Prussian blue as the new colour of Prussian military uniforms, because it was made with Woad, a local crop, rather than Indigo, which was produced by the colonies of Brandenburg's rival, England. It was worn by the German army until World War I, with the exception of the soldiers of Bavaria, who wore sky-blue. + +In 1748, the Royal Navy adopted a dark shade of blue for the uniform of officers. It was first known as marine blue, now known as navy blue. The militia organized by George Washington selected blue and buff, the colours of the British Whig Party. Blue continued to be the colour of the field uniform of the US Army until 1902, and is still the colour of the dress uniform. + +In the 19th century, police in the United Kingdom, including the Metropolitan Police and the City of London Police also adopted a navy blue uniform. Similar traditions were embraced in France and Austria. It was also adopted at about the same time for the uniforms of the officers of the New York City Police Department. + +Religion + + Blue in Judaism: In the Torah, the Israelites were commanded to put fringes, tzitzit, on the corners of their garments, and to weave within these fringes a "twisted thread of blue (tekhelet)". In ancient days, this blue thread was made from a dye extracted from a Mediterranean snail called the hilazon. Maimonides claimed that this blue was the colour of "the clear noonday sky"; Rashi, the colour of the evening sky. According to several rabbinic sages, blue is the colour of God's Glory. Staring at this colour aids in mediation, bringing us a glimpse of the "pavement of sapphire, like the very sky for purity", which is a likeness of the Throne of God. (The Hebrew word for glory.) Many items in the Mishkan, the portable sanctuary in the wilderness, such as the menorah, many of the vessels, and the Ark of the Covenant, were covered with blue cloth when transported from place to place. + Blue in Christianity: Blue is particularly associated with the Virgin Mary. This was the result of a decree of Pope Gregory I (540-601) who ordered that all religious paintings should tell a story which was clearly comprehensible to all viewers, and that figures should be easily recognizable, especially that of the figure of Mary. If she was alone in the image, her costume was usually painted with the finest blue, ultramarine. If she was with Christ, her costume was usually painted with a less expensive pigment, to avoid outshining him. + + Blue in Hinduism: Many of the gods are depicted as having blue-coloured skin, particularly those associated with Vishnu, who is said to be the preserver of the world, and thus intimately connected to water. Krishna and Rama, Vishnu's avatars, are usually depicted with blue skin. Shiva, the destroyer deity, is also depicted in a light-blue hue, and is called neela kantha, or blue-throated, for having swallowed poison to save the universe during the Samudra Manthana, the churning of the ocean of milk. Blue is used to symbolically represent the fifth, and the throat, chakra (Vishuddha). + Blue in Sikhism: The Akali Nihangs warriors wear all-blue attire. Guru Gobind Singh also has a blue roan horse. The Sikh Rehat Maryada states that the Nishan Sahib hoisted outside every Gurudwara should be xanthic (Basanti in Punjabi) or greyish blue (modern day navy blue) (Surmaaee in Punjabi) colour. +Blue in Paganism: Blue is associated with peace, truth, wisdom, protection, and patience. It helps with healing, psychic ability, harmony, and understanding. + +Sports + +In sports, blue is widely represented in uniforms in part because the majority of national teams wear the colours of their national flag. For example, the national men's football team of France are known as Les Bleus (the Blues). Similarly, Argentina, Italy, and Uruguay wear blue shirts. The Asian Football Confederation and the Oceania Football Confederation use blue text on their logos. Blue is well represented in baseball (Blue Jays), basketball, and American football, and Ice hockey. The Indian national cricket team wears blue uniform during One day international matches, as such the team is also referred to as "Men in Blue". + +Politics + +Unlike red or green, blue was not strongly associated with any particular country, religion or political movement. As the colour of harmony, it was chosen as the colour for the flags of the United Nations, the European Union, and NATO. In politics, blue is often used as the colour of conservative parties, contrasting with the red associated with left-wing parties. It is the colour of the Conservative Party in the United Kingdom. In the United States, the colours are reversed. To avoid associations of the Democrats with socialism or the far left, U.S. states which voted Democratic in four consecutive presidential elections are termed "blue states", while those which voted for Republicans are termed "red states". States which voted for different parties in two of the last four presidential elections are called "swing states", and are usually coloured purple, a mix of red and blue, or sometimes pink or light blue. + +See also + Engineer's blue + Lists of colours + Non-photo blue + Blue pigments + +References + +Works cited + (page numbers refer to the French translation) + +Further reading + +External links + + + "Friday essay: from the Great Wave to Starry Night, how a blue pigment changed the world", By Hugh Davies, theconversation.com + +Primary colors +Secondary colors +Optical spectrum +Rainbow colors + +Web colors +Blind Willie McTell (born William Samuel McTier; May 5, 1898 – August 19, 1959) was a Piedmont blues and ragtime singer and guitarist. He played with a fluid, syncopated fingerstyle guitar technique, common among many exponents of Piedmont blues. Unlike his contemporaries, he came to use twelve-string guitars exclusively. McTell was also an adept slide guitarist, unusual among ragtime bluesmen. His vocal style, a smooth and often laid-back tenor, differed greatly from many of the harsher voices of Delta bluesmen such as Charley Patton. McTell performed in various musical styles, including blues, ragtime, religious music and hokum. + +McTell was born in Thomson, Georgia. He learned to play the guitar in his early teens. He soon became a street performer in several Georgia cities, including Atlanta and Augusta, and first recorded in 1927 for Victor Records. He never produced a major hit record, but he had a prolific recording career with different labels and under different names in the 1920s and 1930s. In 1940, he was recorded by the folklorist John A. Lomax and Ruby Terrill Lomax for the folk song archive of the Library of Congress. He was active in the 1940s and 1950s, playing on the streets of Atlanta, often with his longtime associate Curley Weaver. Twice more he recorded professionally. His last recordings originated during an impromptu session recorded by an Atlanta record store owner in 1956. McTell died three years later, having lived for years with diabetes and alcoholism. Despite his lack of commercial success, he was one of the few blues musicians of his generation who continued to actively play and record during the 1940s and 1950s. He did not live to see the American folk music revival, in which many other bluesmen were "rediscovered". + +McTell's influence extended over a wide variety of artists, including the Allman Brothers Band, who covered his "Statesboro Blues", and Bob Dylan, who paid tribute to him in his 1983 song "Blind Willie McTell", the refrain of which is "And I know no one can sing the blues like Blind Willie McTell". Other artists influenced by McTell include Taj Mahal, Alvin Youngblood Hart, Ralph McTell, Chris Smither, Jack White, and the White Stripes. + +Biography +He was born William Samuel McTier in the Happy Valley community outside Thomson, Georgia. Most sources give the date of his birth as 1898, but researchers Bob Eagle and Eric LeBlanc suggest 1903, on the basis of his entry in the 1910 census. McTell was born blind in one eye and lost his remaining vision by late childhood. He attended schools for the blind in Georgia, New York and Michigan and showed proficiency in music from an early age, first playing the harmonica and accordion, learning to read and write music in Braille, and turning to the six-string guitar in his early teens. His family background was rich in music; both of his parents and an uncle played the guitar. He was related to the bluesman and gospel pioneer Thomas A. Dorsey. McTell's father left the family when Willie was young. After his mother died, in the 1920s, he left his hometown and became an itinerant musician, or "songster". He began his recording career in 1927 for Victor Records in Atlanta. + +McTell married Ruth Kate Williams, now better known as Kate McTell, in 1934. She accompanied him on stage and on several recordings before becoming a nurse in 1939. For most of their marriage, from 1942 until his death, they lived apart, she in Fort Gordon, near Augusta, and he working around Atlanta. + +In the years before World War II, McTell traveled and performed widely, recording for several labels under different names: Blind Willie McTell (for Victor and Decca), Blind Sammie (for Columbia), Georgia Bill (for Okeh), Hot Shot Willie (for Victor), Blind Willie (for Vocalion and Bluebird), Barrelhouse Sammie (for Atlantic), and Pig & Whistle Red (for Regal). The appellation "Pig & Whistle" was a reference to a chain of barbecue restaurants in Atlanta; McTell often played for tips in the parking lot of a Pig 'n Whistle restaurant. He also played behind a nearby building that later became Ray Lee's Blue Lantern Lounge. Like Lead Belly, another songster who began his career as a street artist, McTell favored the somewhat unwieldy and unusual twelve-string guitar, whose greater volume made it suitable for outdoor playing. + +In 1940 John A. Lomax and his wife, Ruby Terrill Lomax, a professor of classics at the University of Texas at Austin, interviewed and recorded McTell for the Archive of American Folk Song of the Library of Congress in a two-hour session held in their hotel room in Atlanta. These recordings document McTell's distinctive musical style, which bridges the gap between the raw country blues of the early part of the 20th century and the more conventionally melodious, ragtime-influenced East Coast Piedmont blues sound. The Lomaxes also elicited from the singer traditional songs (such as "The Boll Weevil" and "John Henry") and spirituals (such as "Amazing Grace"), which were not part of his usual commercial repertoire. In the interview, John A. Lomax is heard asking if McTell knows any "complaining" songs (an earlier term for protest songs), to which the singer replies somewhat uncomfortably and evasively that he does not. The Library of Congress paid McTell $10, the equivalent of $154.56 in 2011, for this two-hour session. The material from this 1940 session was issued in 1960 as an LP and later as a CD, under the somewhat misleading title The Complete Library of Congress Recordings, notwithstanding the fact that it was truncated, in that it omitted some of John A. Lomax's interactions with the singer and entirely omitted the contributions of Ruby Terrill Lomax. + +Ahmet Ertegun visited Atlanta in 1949 in search of blues artists for this new Atlantic Records label and after finding McTell playing on the street, arranged a recording session. Some of the songs were released on 78 rpm discs, but sold poorly. The complete session was released in 1972 as Atlanta Twelve-String. McTell recorded for Regal Records in 1949, but these recordings also met with less commercial success than his previous works. He continued to perform around Atlanta, but his career was cut short by ill health, mostly due to diabetes and alcoholism. In 1956, an Atlanta record store manager, Edward Rhodes, discovered McTell playing in the street for quarters and enticed him with a bottle of corn liquor into his store, where he captured a few final performances on a tape recorder. These recordings were released posthumously by Prestige/Bluesville Records as Last Session. Beginning in 1957, McTell was a preacher at Mt. Zion Baptist Church in Atlanta. + +McTell died of a stroke in Milledgeville, Georgia, in 1959. He was buried at Jones Grove Church, near Thomson, Georgia, his birthplace. Author David Fulmer, who in 1992 was working on a documentary about McTell, paid to have a gravestone erected on his resting place. The name given on his gravestone is Willie Samuel McTier. He was inducted into the Blues Foundation's Blues Hall of Fame in 1981 and the Georgia Music Hall of Fame in 1990. + +In his recordings of "Lay Some Flowers on My Grave", "Lord, Send Me an Angel" and "Statesboro Blues", he pronounces his surname MacTell, with the stress on the first syllable. + +Influence + +McTell's most famous song, "Statesboro Blues", was first adapted by Taj Mahal with Jesse Ed Davis on slide guitar, then covered on an LP and frequently performed by the Allman Brothers Band; it also contributes to Canned Heat's "Goin' Up the Country". A short list of some of the artists who have performed the song includes Taj Mahal, David Bromberg, Dave Van Ronk, The Devil Makes Three and Ralph McTell, who changed his name on account of liking the song. Ry Cooder covered McTell's "Married Man's a Fool" on his 1973 album, Paradise and Lunch. Jack White, of the White Stripes considers McTell an influence; the White Stripes album De Stijl (2000) is dedicated to him and features a cover of his song "Southern Can Is Mine". The White Stripes also covered McTell's "Lord, Send Me an Angel", releasing it as a single in 2000. In 2013, Jack White's Third Man Records teamed up with Document Records to issue The Complete Recorded Works in Chronological Order of Charley Patton, Blind Willie McTell and the Mississippi Sheiks. + +Bob Dylan paid tribute to McTell on at least four occasions. In his 1965 song "Highway 61 Revisited", the second verse begins, "Georgia Sam he had a bloody nose", a reference to one of McTell's many recording names. (Note: There is no evidence of use of this moniker on any recordings) Dylan's song "Blind Willie McTell" was recorded in 1983 and released in 1991 on The Bootleg Series Volumes 1-3. Dylan also recorded covers of McTell's "Broke Down Engine" and "Delia" on his 1993 album, World Gone Wrong; Dylan's song "Po' Boy", on the album Love and Theft (2001), contains the lyric "had to go to Florida dodging them Georgia laws", which comes from McTell's "Kill It Kid". + +The Bath-based band Kill It Kid is named after the song of the same title. + +A billiards bar and concert in venue was named after McTell in the 1990s. The venue is now closed, but remains a fond memory for Georgia Southern University students at the time. + +Blind Willie's is a bar in the Virginia-Highlands neighborhood of Atlanta named after McTell that features blues musicians and bands. The Blind Willie McTell Blues Festival is held annually in Thomson, Georgia. + +Discography + +Singles + +As an accompanist + +Long-plays + +Selected compilations +Blind Willie McTell 1927–1933: The Early Years, Yazoo L-1005 (1968) +Blind Willie McTell 1949: Trying to Get Home, Biograph BLP-12008 (1969) +King of the Georgia Blues Singers (1929–1935), Roots RL-324 (1969) +Atlanta Twelve String, Atlantic SD-7224 (1972) +Death Cell Blues, Biograph BLP-C-14 (1973) +Blind Willie McTell: 1927–1935, Yazoo L-1037 (1974) +Blind Willie McTell: 1927–1949, The Remaining Titles, Wolf WSE 102 (1982) +Blues in the Dark, MCA 1368 (1983) +Complete Recorded Works in Chronological Order, vol. 1, Document DOCD-5006 (1990) +Complete Recorded Works in Chronological Order, vol. 2, Document DOCD-5007 (1990) +Complete Recorded Works in Chronological Order, vol. 3, Document DOCD-5008 (1990) +These three albums were issued together as the box set Statesboro Blues, Document DOCD-5677 (1990) +Complete Library of Congress Recordings in Chronological Order, RST Blues Documents BDCD-6001 (1990) +Pig 'n Whistle Red, Biograph BCD 126 (1993) +The Definitive Blind Willie McTell, Legacy C2K-53234 (1994) +The Classic Years 1927–1940, JSP JSP7711 (2003) +King of the Georgia Blues, Snapper SBLUECD504X (2007) + +Selected compilations with other artists +Blind Willie McTell/Memphis Minnie: Love Changin' Blues, Biograph BLP-12035 (1971) +Atlanta Blues 1933, JEMF 106 (1979) +Blind Willie McTell and Curley Weaver: The Post-War Years, RST Blues Documents BDCD 6014 (1990) +Classic Blues Artwork from the 1920s, vol. 5, Blues Images – BIM-105 (2007) + +Footnotes + +Notes + +Citations + +Works cited + +General references +Bastin, Bruce. Red River Blues: The Blues Tradition in the Southeast. Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1986, 1995. , . +Charters, Samuel, ed. Sweet as the Showers of Rain. Oak Publications, 1977, pp, 120–131. + +External links + New Georgia Encyclopedia – Blind Willie McTell article + Illustrated Blind Willie McTell discography + + "Statesboro Blues" MP3 file on the Internet Archive + David Fulmer, producer "Blind Willie's Blues" Documentary film, 1996 + "The Dying Crapshooter's Blues" Novel by David Fulmer featuring McTell as a character + John May interviews biographer Michael Gray + Review of Hand Me My Travelin' Shoes: In Search of Blind Willie McTell by Michael Gray + +1898 births +1959 deaths +Year of birth uncertain +African-American male singer-songwriters +American acoustic guitarists +American blues guitarists +American blues harmonica players +American blues singer-songwriters +American male guitarists +American street performers +Blind musicians +Blind singers +Bluebird Records artists +Columbia Records artists +Country blues musicians +East Coast blues musicians +People from Thomson, Georgia +Piedmont blues musicians +Ragtime composers +Songster musicians +20th-century American guitarists +Guitarists from Georgia (U.S. state) +Prestige Records artists +Transatlantic Records artists +Third Man Records artists +African-American guitarists +20th-century African-American male singers +Singer-songwriters from Georgia (U.S. state) +American blind people +American musicians with disabilities +BDSM is a variety of often erotic practices or roleplaying involving bondage, discipline, dominance and submission, sadomasochism, and other related interpersonal dynamics. Given the wide range of practices, some of which may be engaged in by people who do not consider themselves to be practising BDSM, inclusion in the BDSM community or subculture often is said to depend on self-identification and shared experience. + +The initialism BDSM is first recorded in a Usenet post from 1991, and is interpreted as a combination of the abbreviations B/D (Bondage and Discipline), D/s (Dominance and submission), and S/M (Sadism and Masochism). BDSM is now used as a catch-all phrase covering a wide range of activities, forms of interpersonal relationships, and distinct subcultures. BDSM communities generally welcome anyone with a non-normative streak who identifies with the community; this may include cross-dressers, body modification enthusiasts, animal roleplayers, rubber fetishists, and others. + +Activities and relationships in BDSM are often characterized by the participants' taking on roles that are complementary and involve inequality of power; thus, the idea of informed consent of both the partners is essential. The terms submissive and dominant are often used to distinguish these roles: the dominant partner ("dom") takes psychological control over the submissive ("sub"). The terms top and bottom are also used; the top is the instigator of an action while the bottom is the receiver of the action. The two sets of terms are subtly different: for example, someone may choose to act as bottom to another person, for example, by being whipped, purely recreationally, without any implication of being psychologically dominated, and submissives may be ordered to massage their dominant partners. Although the bottom carries out the action and the top receives it, they have not necessarily switched roles. + +The abbreviations sub and dom are frequently used instead of submissive and dominant. Sometimes the female-specific terms mistress, domme, and dominatrix are used to describe a dominant woman, instead of the sometimes gender-neutral term dom. Individuals who change between top/dominant and bottom/submissive roles—whether from relationship to relationship or within a given relationship—are called switches. The precise definition of roles and self-identification is a common subject of debate among BDSM participants. + +Fundamentals + +BDSM is an umbrella term for certain kinds of erotic behaviour between consenting adults, encompassing various subcultures. Terms for roles vary widely among the subcultures. Top and dominant are widely used for those partner(s) in the relationship or activity who are, respectively, the physically active or controlling participants. Bottom and submissive are widely used for those partner(s) in the relationship or activity who are, respectively, the physically receptive or controlled participants. The interaction between tops and bottoms—where physical or mental control of the bottom is surrendered to the top—is sometimes known as "power exchange", whether in the context of an encounter or a relationship. + +BDSM actions can often take place during a specific period of time agreed to by both parties, referred to as "play", a "scene", or a "session". Participants usually derive pleasure from this, even though many of the practices—such as inflicting pain or humiliation or being restrained—would be unpleasant under other circumstances. Explicit sexual activity, such as sexual penetration, may occur within a session, but is not essential. For legal reasons, such explicit sexual interaction is seen only rarely in public play spaces and is sometimes banned by the rules of a party or playspace. Whether it is a public "playspace"—ranging from a party at an established community dungeon to a hosted play "zone" at a nightclub or social event—the parameters of allowance can vary. Some have a policy of panties/nipple sticker for women (underwear for men) and some allow full nudity with explicit sexual acts. + +The fundamental principles for the exercise of BDSM require that it be performed with the informed consent of all parties. Since the 1980s, many practitioners and organizations have adopted the motto (originally from the statement of purpose of GMSMA—a gay SM activist organization) safe, sane and consensual (SSC), which means that everything is based on safe activities, that all participants are of sufficiently sound mind to consent, and that all participants do consent. Mutual consent makes a clear legal and ethical distinction between BDSM and such crimes as sexual assault and domestic violence. + +Some BDSM practitioners prefer a code of behaviour that differs from SSC. Described as "risk-aware consensual kink" (RACK), this code shows a preference for a style in which the individual responsibility of the involved parties is emphasized more strongly, with each participant being responsible for their own well-being. Advocates of RACK argue that SSC can hamper discussion of risk because no activity is truly "safe", and that discussion of even low-risk possibilities is necessary for truly informed consent. They further argue that setting a discrete line between "safe" and "not-safe" activities ideologically denies consenting adults the right to evaluate risks versus rewards for themselves; that some adults will be drawn to certain activities regardless of the risk; and that BDSM play—particularly higher-risk play or edgeplay—should be treated with the same regard as extreme sports, with both respect and the demand that practitioners educate themselves and practice the higher-risk activities to decrease risk. RACK may be seen as focusing primarily upon awareness and informed consent, rather than accepted safe practices. + +Consent is the most important criterion. The consent and compliance for a sadomasochistic situation can be granted only by people who can judge the potential results. For their consent, they must have relevant information (the extent to which the scene will go, potential risks, if a safeword will be used, what that is, and so on) at hand and the necessary mental capacity to judge. The resulting consent and understanding is occasionally summarized in a written "contract", which is an agreement of what can and cannot take place. + +BDSM play is usually structured such that it is possible for the consenting partner to withdraw their consent at any point during a scene; for example, by using a safeword that was agreed on in advance. Use of the agreed safeword (or occasionally a "safe symbol" such as dropping a ball or ringing a bell, especially when speech is restricted) is seen by some as an explicit withdrawal of consent. Failure to honor a safeword is considered serious misconduct and could constitute a crime, depending on the relevant law, since the bottom or top has explicitly revoked their consent to any actions that follow the use of the safeword. For other scenes, particularly in established relationships, a safeword may be agreed to signify a warning ("this is getting too intense") rather than explicit withdrawal of consent; and a few choose not to use a safeword at all. + +Terminology and subtypes + +The initialism BDSM stands for: + Bondage and discipline (B&D) + Dominance and submission (D&s) + Sadomasochism (or S&M) +These terms replaced sadomasochism, as they more broadly cover BDSM activities and focus on the submissive roles instead of psychological pain. The model is only an attempt at phenomenological differentiation. Individual tastes and preferences in the area of human sexuality may overlap among these areas. + +Under the initialism BDSM, these psychological and physiological facets are also included: +Male dominance +Male submission +Female dominance +Female submission + +The term bondage describes the practice of physical restraint. Bondage is usually, but not always, a sexual practice. While bondage is a very popular variation within the larger field of BDSM, it is nevertheless sometimes differentiated from the rest of this field. A 2015 study of over 1,000 Canadians showed that about half of all men held fantasies of bondage, and almost half of all women did as well. In a strict sense, bondage means binding the partner by tying their appendages together; for example, by the use of handcuffs or ropes, or by lashing their arms to an object. Bondage can also be achieved by spreading the appendages and fastening them with chains or ropes to a St. Andrew's cross or spreader bars. + +The term discipline describes psychological restraining, with the use of rules and punishment to control overt behaviour. Punishment can be pain caused physically (such as caning), humiliation caused psychologically (such as a public flagellation) or loss of freedom caused physically (for example, chaining the submissive partner to the foot of a bed). Another aspect is the structured training of the bottom. + +Dominance and submission (also known as D&s, Ds or D/s) is a set of behaviours, customs and rituals relating to the giving and accepting of control of one individual over another in an erotic or lifestyle context. It explores the more mental aspect of BDSM. This is also the case in many relationships not considering themselves as sadomasochistic; it is considered to be a part of BDSM if it is practiced purposefully. The range of its individual characteristics is thereby wide. + +Often, BDSM contracts are set out in writing to record the formal consent of the parties to the power exchange, stating their common vision of the relationship dynamic. The purpose of this kind of agreement is primarily to encourage discussion and negotiation in advance and then to document that understanding for the benefit of all parties. Such documents have not been recognized as being legally binding, nor are they intended to be. These agreements are binding in the sense that the parties have the expectation that the negotiated rules will be followed. Often other friends and community members may witness the signing of such a document in a ceremony, and so parties violating their agreement can result in loss of face, respect or status with their friends in the community. + +In general, as compared to conventional relationships, BDSM participants go to greater lengths to negotiate the important aspects of their relationships in advance, and to contribute significant effort toward learning about and following safe practices. + +In D/s, the dominant is the top and the submissive is the bottom. In S/M, the sadist is usually the top and the masochist the bottom, but these roles are frequently more complicated or jumbled (as in the case of being dominant, masochists who may arrange for their submissive to carry out S/M activities on them). As in B/D, the declaration of the top/bottom may be required, though sadomasochists may also play without any power exchange at all, with both partners equally in control of the play. + +Etymology +The term sadomasochism is derived from the words sadism and masochism. These terms differ somewhat from the same terms used in psychology since those require that the sadism or masochism cause significant distress or involve non-consenting partners. Sadomasochism refers to the aspects of BDSM surrounding the exchange of physical or emotional pain. Sadism describes sexual pleasure derived by inflicting pain, degradation, humiliation on another person or causing another person to suffer. On the other hand, the masochist enjoys being hurt, humiliated, or suffering within the consensual scenario. Sadomasochistic scenes sometimes reach a level that appears more extreme or cruel than other forms of BDSM—for example, when a masochist is brought to tears or is severely bruised—and is occasionally unwelcome at BDSM events or parties. Sadomasochism does not imply enjoyment through causing or receiving pain in other situations (for example, accidental injury, medical procedures). + +The terms sadism and masochism are derived from the names of the Marquis de Sade and Leopold von Sacher-Masoch, based on the content of the authors' works. Although the names of de Sade and Sacher-Masoch are attached to the terms sadism and masochism respectively, the scenes described in de Sade's works do not meet modern BDSM standards of informed consent. BDSM is solely based on consensual activities, and based on its system and laws. The concepts presented by de Sade are not in accordance with the BDSM culture, even though they are sadistic in nature. In 1843, the Ruthenian physician Heinrich Kaan published (Psychopathy of Sex), a writing in which he converts the sin conceptions of Christianity into medical diagnoses. With his work, the originally theological terms perversion, aberration and deviation became part of the scientific terminology for the first time. The German psychiatrist Richard von Krafft-Ebing introduced the terms sadism and masochism to the medical community in his work (New research in the area of Psychopathy of Sex) in 1890. + +In 1905, Sigmund Freud described sadism and masochism in his Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality as diseases developing from an incorrect development of the child psyche and laid the groundwork for the scientific perspective on the subject in the following decades. This led to the first time use of the compound term sado-masochism (German ) by the Viennese psychoanalytic Isidor Isaak Sadger in their work, "" ("Regarding the sadomasochistic complex") in 1913. + +In the later 20th century, BDSM activists have protested against these conceptual models, as they were derived from the philosophies of two singular historical figures. Both Freud and Krafft-Ebing were psychiatrists; their observations on sadism and masochism were dependent on psychiatric patients, and their models were built on the assumption of psychopathology. BDSM activists argue that it is illogical to attribute human behavioural phenomena as complex as sadism and masochism to the "inventions" of two historic individuals. Advocates of BDSM have sought to distinguish themselves from widely held notions of antiquated psychiatric theory by the adoption of the term BDSM as a distinction from the now common usage of those psychological terms, abbreviated as S&M. + +Behavioural and physiological aspects + +BDSM is commonly mistaken as being "all about pain". Freud was confounded by the complexity and counterintuitiveness of practitioners' doing things that are self-destructive and painful. Rather than pain, BDSM practitioners are primarily concerned with power, humiliation, and pleasure. The aspects of D/s and B/D may not include physical suffering at all, but include the sensations experienced by different emotions of the mind. + +Of the three categories of BDSM, only sadomasochism specifically requires pain, but this is typically a means to an end, as a vehicle for feelings of humiliation, dominance, etc. In psychology, this aspect becomes a deviant behaviour once the act of inflicting or experiencing pain becomes a substitute for or the main source of sexual pleasure. In its most extreme, the preoccupation on this kind of pleasure can lead participants to view humans as insensate means of sexual gratification. + +Dominance and submission of power are an entirely different experience, and are not always psychologically associated with physical pain. Many BDSM activities involve no pain or humiliation, but just the exchange of power and control. During the activities, the participants may feel endorphin effects comparable to "runner's high" and to the afterglow of orgasm. The corresponding trance-like mental state is also called subspace, for the submissive, and domspace, for the dominant. Some use body stress to describe this physiological sensation. The experience of algolagnia is important, but is not the only motivation for many BDSM practitioners. The philosopher Edmund Burke called the sensation of pleasure derived from pain "sublime". Couples engaging in consensual BDSM tend to show hormonal changes that indicate decreases in stress and increases in emotional bonding. + +There is an array of BDSM practitioners who take part in sessions in which they do not receive any personal gratification. They enter such situations solely with the intention to allow their partners to indulge their own needs or fetishes. Professional dominants do this in exchange for money, but non-professionals do it for the sake of their partners. + +In some BDSM sessions, the top exposes the bottom to a range of sensual experiences, such as pinching; biting; scratching with fingernails; erotic spanking; erotic electrostimulation; and the use of crops, whips, liquid wax, ice cubes, and Wartenberg wheels. Fixation by handcuffs, ropes, or chains may occur. The repertoire of possible "toys" is limited only by the imagination of both partners. To some extent, everyday items, such as clothespins, wooden spoons, and plastic wrap, are used in sex play. It is commonly considered that a pleasurable BDSM experience during a session depends strongly on the top's competence and experience and the bottom's physical and mental state. Trust and sexual arousal help the partners enter a shared mindset. + +Types of play + +Following are some of the types of BDSM play: + + Animal roleplay + Bondage (BDSM) + Breast torture + Cock and ball torture + Diaper play + Edgeplay + Erotic electrostimulation + Erotic sexual denial + Spanking + Flogging + Human furniture + Japanese bondage + Medical play + Omorashi and bathroom use control + Paraphilic infantilism + Play piercing + Predicament bondage + Pussy torture + Salirophilia + Sexual roleplay + Suspension + Tickle torture + Urolagnia + Wax play + +Safety + +Besides safe sex, BDSM sessions often require a wider array of safety precautions than vanilla sex (sexual behaviour without BDSM elements). To ensure consent related to BDSM activity, pre-play negotiations are commonplace, especially among partners who do not know each other very well. In practice, pick-up scenes at clubs or parties may sometimes be low in negotiation (much as pick-up sex from singles bars may not involve much negotiation or disclosure). These negotiations concern the interests and fantasies of each partner and establish a framework of both acceptable and unacceptable activities. This kind of discussion is a typical "unique selling proposition" of BDSM sessions and quite commonplace. Additionally, safewords are often arranged to provide for an immediate stop of any activity if any participant should so desire. + +Safewords are words or phrases that are called out when things are either not going as planned or have crossed a threshold one cannot handle. They are something both parties can remember and recognize and are, by definition, not words commonly used playfully during any kind of scene. Words such as no, stop, and don't, are often inappropriate as a safeword if the roleplaying aspect includes the illusion of non-consent. + +The traffic light system (TLS) is the most commonly used set of safewords. + Red – meaning: stop immediately and check the status of your partner + Yellow – meaning: slow down, be careful + Green – meaning: I'm all good, we can start. If used it's normally uttered by everyone involved before the scene can start. + +At most clubs and group-organized BDSM parties and events, dungeon monitors (DMs) provide an additional safety net for the people playing there, ensuring that house rules are followed and safewords respected. + +BDSM participants are expected to understand practical safety aspects, such as the potential for harm to body parts. Contusion or scarring of the skin can be a concern. Using crops, whips, or floggers, the top's fine motor skills and anatomical knowledge can make the difference between a satisfying session for the bottom and a highly unpleasant experience that may even entail severe physical harm. The very broad range of BDSM "toys" and physical and psychological control techniques often requires a far-reaching knowledge of details related to the requirements of the individual session, such as anatomy, physics, and psychology. Despite these risks, BDSM activities usually result in far less severe injuries than sports like boxing and football, and BDSM practitioners do not visit emergency rooms any more often than the general population. + +It is necessary to be able to identify each person's psychological "squicks" or triggers in advance to avoid them. Such losses of emotional balance due to sensory or emotional overload are a fairly commonly discussed issue. It is important to follow participants' reactions empathetically and continue or stop accordingly. For some players, sparking "freakouts" or deliberately using triggers may be the desired outcome. Safewords are one way for BDSM practices to protect both parties. However, partners should be aware of each other's psychological states and behaviours to prevent instances where the "freakouts" prevent the use of safewords. + +After any BDSM activities, it is important that the participants go through sexual aftercare, to process and calm down from the activity. After the sessions, participants can need aftercare because their bodies have experienced trauma and they need to mentally come out of the role play. + +Social aspects + +Roles +Top and bottom + +At one end of the spectrum are those who are indifferent to, or even reject physical stimulation. At the other end of the spectrum are bottoms who enjoy discipline and erotic humiliation but are not willing to be subordinate to the person who applies it. The bottom is frequently the partner who specifies the basic conditions of the session and gives instructions, directly or indirectly, in the negotiation, while the top often respects this guidance. Other bottoms, often called "brats", try to incur punishment from their tops by provoking them or "misbehaving". Nevertheless, a purist "school" exists within the BDSM community, which regards such "topping from the bottom" as rude or even incompatible with the standards of BDSM relations. + +Types of relationships +Play +BDSM practitioners sometimes regard the practice of BDSM in their sex life as roleplaying and so often use the terms play and playing to describe activities where in their roles. Play of this sort for a specified period of time is often called a session, and the contents and the circumstances of play are often referred to as the scene. It is also common in personal relationships to use the term kink play for BDSM activities, or more specific terms for the type of activity. The relationships can be of varied types. + +Long term +Early writings on BDSM both by the academic and BDSM community spoke little of long-term relationships with some in the gay leather community suggesting short-term play relationships to be the only feasible relationship models, and recommending people to get married and "play" with BDSM outside of marriage. In recent times though writers of BDSM and sites for BDSM have been more focused on long-term relationships. + +A 2003 study, the first to look at these relationships, fully demonstrated that "quality long-term functioning relationships" exist among practitioners of BDSM, with either sex being the top or bottom (the study was based on 17 heterosexual couples). Respondents in the study expressed their BDSM orientation to be built into who they are, but considered exploring their BDSM interests an ongoing task, and showed flexibility and adaptability in order to match their interests with their partners. The "perfect match" where both in the relationship shared the same tastes and desires was rare, and most relationships required both partners to take up or put away some of their desires. The BDSM activities that the couples partook in varied in sexual to nonsexual significance for the partners who reported doing certain BDSM activities for "couple bonding, stress release, and spiritual quests". The most reported issue amongst respondents was not finding enough time to be in role with most adopting a lifestyle wherein both partners maintain their dominant or submissive role throughout the day. + +Amongst the respondents, it was typically the bottoms who wanted to play harder, and be more restricted into their roles when there was a difference in desire to play in the relationship. The author of the study, Bert Cutler, speculated that tops may be less often in the mood to play due to the increased demand for responsibility on their part: being aware of the safety of the situation and prepared to remove the bottom from a dangerous scenario, being conscious of the desires and limits of the bottom, and so on. The author of the study stressed that successful long-term BDSM relationships came after "early and thorough disclosure" from both parties of their BDSM interests. + +Many of those engaged in long-term BDSM relationships learned their skills from larger BDSM organizations and communities. There was a lot of discussion by the respondents on the amount of control the top possessed in the relationships but "no discussion of being better, or smarter, or of more value" than the bottom. Couples were generally of the same mind of whether or not they were in an ongoing relationship, but in such cases, the bottom was not locked up constantly, but that their role in the context of the relationship was always present, even when the top was doing non-dominant activities such as household chores, or the bottom being in a more dominant position. In its conclusion the study states: + +The study further goes on to list three aspects that made the successful relationships work: early disclosure of interests and continued transparency, a commitment to personal growth, and the use of the dominant/submissive roles as a tool to maintain the relationship. In closing remarks, the author of the study theorizes that due to the serious potential for harm, couples in BDSM relationships develop increased communication that may be higher than in mainstream relationships. + +Professional services +A professional dominatrix or professional dominant, often referred to within the culture as a pro-dom(me), offers services encompassing the range of bondage, discipline, and dominance in exchange for money. The term dominatrix is little-used within the non-professional BDSM scene. A non-professional dominant woman is more commonly referred to simply as a domme, dominant, or femdom (short for female dominance). Professional submissives ("pro-subs"), although far more rare, do exist. A professional submissive consents to their client's dominant behaviour within negotiated limits, and often works within a professional dungeon. Most of the people who work as subs normally have tendencies towards such activities, especially when sadomasochism is involved. Males also work as professional "tops" in BDSM, and are called masters or doms. However, it is much rarer to find a male in this profession. + +Scenes +In BDSM, a "scene" is the stage or setting where BDSM activity takes place, as well as the activity itself. The physical place where a BDSM activity takes place is usually called a dungeon, though some prefer less dramatic terms, including playspace or club. A BDSM activity can, but need not, involve sexual activity or sexual roleplay. A characteristic of many BDSM relationships is the power exchange from the bottom to the dominant partner, and bondage features prominently in BDSM scenes and sexual roleplay. + +"The Scene" (including use of the definite article the) is also used in the BDSM community to refer to the BDSM community as a whole. Thus someone who is on "the Scene", and prepared to play in public, might take part in "a scene" at a public play party. + +A scene can take place in private between two or more people and can involve a domestic arrangement, such as servitude or a casual or committed lifestyle master/slave relationship. BDSM elements may involve settings of slave training or punishment for breaches of instructions. + +A scene can also take place in a club, where the play can be viewed by others. When a scene takes place in a public setting, it may be because the participants enjoy being watched by others, or because of the equipment available, or because having third parties present adds safety for play partners who have only recently met. + +Etiquette +Most standard social etiquette rules still apply when at a BDSM event, such as not intimately touching someone you do not know, not touching someone else's belongings (including toys), and abiding by dress codes. Many events open to the public also have rules addressing alcohol consumption, recreational drugs, cell phones, and photography. + +A specific scene takes place within the general conventions and etiquette of BDSM, such as requirements for mutual consent and agreement as to the limits of any BDSM activity. This agreement can be incorporated into a formal contract. In addition, most clubs have additional rules which regulate how onlookers may interact with the actual participants in a scene. As is common in BDSM, these are founded on the catchphrase "safe, sane, and consensual". + +Parties and clubs +BDSM play parties are events in which BDSM practitioners and other similarly interested people meet in order to communicate, share experiences and knowledge, and to "play" in an erotic atmosphere. BDSM parties show similarities to ones in the dark culture, being based on a more or less strictly enforced dress code; often clothing made of latex, leather or vinyl/PVC, lycra and so on, emphasizing the body's shape and the primary and secondary sexual characteristics. The requirement for such dress codes differ. While some events have none, others have a policy in order to create a more coherent atmosphere and to prevent outsiders from taking part. + +At these parties, BDSM can be publicly performed on a stage, or more privately in separate "dungeons". A reason for the relatively fast spread of this kind of event is the opportunity to use a wide range of "playing equipment", which in most apartments or houses is unavailable. Slings, St. Andrew's crosses (or similar restraining constructs), spanking benches, and punishing supports or cages are often made available. The problem of noise disturbance is also lessened at these events, while in the home setting many BDSM activities can be limited by this factor. In addition, such parties offer both exhibitionists and voyeurs a forum to indulge their inclinations without social criticism. Sexual intercourse is not permitted within most public BDSM play spaces or not often seen in others, because it is not the emphasis of this kind of play. In order to ensure the maximum safety and comfort for the participants, certain standards of behaviour have evolved; these include aspects of courtesy, privacy, respect and safewords. Today BDSM parties are taking place in most of the larger cities in the Western world. + +This scene appears particularly on the Internet, in publications, and in meetings such as at fetish clubs (like Torture Garden), SM parties, gatherings called munches, and erotic fairs like Venus Berlin. The annual Folsom Street Fair held in San Francisco is the world's largest BDSM event. It has its roots in the gay leather movement. The weekend-long festivities include a wide range of sadomasochistic erotica in a public clothing optional space between 8th and 13th streets with nightly parties associated with the organization. + +There are also conventions such as Living in Leather and Black Rose. + +Psychology +Research indicates that there is no evidence that a preference for BDSM is a consequence of childhood abuse. Some reports suggest that people abused as children may have more BDSM injuries and have difficulty with safe words being recognized as meaning stop the previously consensual behaviour; thus, it is possible that people choosing BDSM as part of their lifestyle, who also were previously abused, may have had more police or hospital reports of injuries. There is also a link between transgender individuals who have been abused and violence occurring in BDSM activities. + +Joseph Merlino, author and psychiatry adviser to the New York Daily News, said in an interview that a sadomasochistic relationship, as long as it is consensual, is not a psychological problem: + +Some psychologists agree that experiences during early sexual development can have a profound effect on the character of sexuality later in life. Sadomasochistic desires, however, seem to form at a variety of ages. Some individuals report having had them before puberty, while others do not discover them until well into adulthood. According to one study, the majority of male sadomasochists (53%) developed their interest before the age of 15, while the majority of females (78%) developed their interest afterward (Breslow, Evans, and Langley 1985). The prevalence of sadomasochism within the general population is unknown. Despite female sadists being less visible than males, some surveys have resulted in comparable amounts of sadistic fantasies between females and males. The results of such studies demonstrate that one's sex does not determine preference for sadism. + +Following a phenomenological study of nine individuals involved in sexual masochistic sessions who regarded pain as central to their experience, sexual masochism was described as an addiction-like tendency, with several features resembling that of drug addiction: craving, intoxication, tolerance and withdrawal. It was also demonstrated how the first masochistic experience is placed on a pedestal, with subsequent use aiming at retrieving this lost sensation, much as described in the descriptive literature on addiction. + +Prevalence + +BDSM occurs among people of all genders and sexual orientations, and in varied occurrences and intensities. The spectrum ranges from couples with no connections to the subculture outside of their bedrooms or homes, without any awareness of the concept of BDSM, playing "tie-me-up-games", to public scenes on St. Andrew's crosses at large events such as the Folsom Street Fair in San Francisco. Estimation on the overall percentage of BDSM-related sexual behaviour varies. + +Alfred Kinsey stated in his 1953 nonfiction book Sexual Behavior in the Human Female that 12% of females and 22% of males reported having an erotic response to a sadomasochistic story. In that book erotic responses to being bitten were given as: + +A non-representative survey on the sexual behaviour of American students published in 1997 and based on questionnaires had a response rate of about 8–9%. Its results showed 15% of homosexual and bisexual males, 21% of lesbian and female bisexual students, 11% of heterosexual males and 9% of female heterosexual students committed to BDSM related fantasies. In all groups the level of practical BDSM experiences were around 6%. Within the group of openly lesbian and bisexual females, the quote was significantly higher, at 21%. Independent of their sexual orientation, about 12% of all questioned students, 16% of lesbians and female bisexuals and 8% of heterosexual males articulated an interest in spanking. Experience with this sexual behaviour was indicated by 30% of male heterosexuals, 33% of female bisexuals and lesbians, and 24% of the male gay and bisexual men and female heterosexual women. Even though this study was not considered representative, other surveys indicate similar dimensions in differing target groups. + +A representative study done from 2001 to 2002 in Australia found that 1.8% of sexually active people (2.2% men, 1.3% women but no significant sex difference) had engaged in BDSM activity in the previous year. Of the entire sample, 1.8% of men and 1.3% of women had been involved in BDSM. BDSM activity was significantly more likely among bisexuals and homosexuals of both sexes. But among men in general, there was no relationship effect of age, education, language spoken at home or relationship status. Among women, in this study, activity was most common for those between 16 and 19 years of age and least likely for females over 50 years. Activity was also significantly more likely for women who had a regular partner they did not live with, but was not significantly related with speaking a language other than English or education. + +Another representative study, published in 1999 by the German Institut für rationale Psychologie, found that about 2/3 of the interviewed women stated a desire to be at the mercy of their sexual partners from time to time. 69% admitted to fantasies dealing with sexual submissiveness, 42% stated interest in explicit BDSM techniques, 25% in bondage. A 1976 study in the general US population suggests three per cent have had positive experiences with Bondage or master-slave roleplaying. Overall 12% of the interviewed females and 18% of the males were willing to try it. A 1990 Kinsey Institute report stated that 5% to 10% of Americans occasionally engage in sexual activities related to BDSM, 11% of men and 17% of women reported trying bondage. Some elements of BDSM have been popularized through increased media coverage since the middle 1990s. Thus both black leather clothing, sexual jewelry such as chains and dominance roleplay appear increasingly outside of BDSM contexts. + +According to yet another survey of 317,000 people in 41 countries, about 20% of the surveyed have at least used masks, blindfolds or other bondage utilities once, and 5% explicitly connected themselves with BDSM. In 2004, 19% mentioned spanking as one of their practices and 22% confirmed the use of blindfolds or handcuffs. + +A 1985 study found 52 out of 182 female respondents (28%) were involved in sadomasochistic activities. + +Recent surveys +A 2009 study on two separate samples of male undergraduate students in Canada found that 62 to 65%, depending on the sample, had entertained sadistic fantasies, and 22 to 39% engaged in sadistic behaviours during sex. The figures were 62 and 52% for bondage fantasies, and 14 to 23% for bondage behaviours. A 2014 study involving a mixed sample of Canadian college students and online volunteers, both male and female, reported that 19% of male samples and 10% of female samples rated the sadistic scenarios described in a questionnaire as being at least "slightly arousing" on a scale that ranged from "very repulsive" to "very arousing"; the difference was statistically significant. The corresponding figures for the masochistic scenarios were 15% for male students and 17% for female students, a non-significant difference. In a 2011 study on 367 middle-aged and elderly men recruited from the broader community in Berlin, 21.8% of the men self-reported sadistic fantasies and 15.5% sadistic behaviors; 24.8% self-reported any such fantasy and/or behavior. The corresponding figures for self-reported masochism were 15.8% for fantasy, 12.3% for behaviour, and 18.5% for fantasy and/or behaviour. In a 2008 study on gay men in Puerto Rico, 14.8% of the over 425 community volunteers reported any sadistic fantasy, desire or behaviour in their lifetime; the corresponding figure for masochism was 15.7%. A 2017 cross-sectional representative survey among the general Belgian population demonstrated a substantial prevalence of BDSM fantasies and activities; 12.5% of the population performed one of more BDSM-practices on a regular basis. + +Medical categorization + +Reflecting changes in social norms, modern medical opinion is now moving away from regarding BDSM activities as medical disorders, unless they are nonconsensual or involve significant distress or harm. + +DSM +In the past, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), the American Psychiatric Association's manual, defined some BDSM activities as sexual disorders. Following campaigns from advocacy organizations including the National Coalition for Sexual Freedom, the current version of the DSM, DSM-5, excludes consensual BDSM from diagnosis when the sexual interests cause no harm or distress. + +ICD +The World Health Organization's International Classification of Diseases (ICD) has made similar moves in recent years. + +Section F65 of the current revision, ICD-10, indicates that "mild degrees of sadomasochistic stimulation are commonly used to enhance otherwise normal sexual activity". The diagnostic guidelines for the ICD-10 state that this class of diagnosis should only be made "if sadomasochistic activity is the most important source of stimulation or necessary for sexual gratification". + +In Europe, an organization called ReviseF65 has worked to remove sadomasochism from the ICD. In 1995, Denmark became the first European Union country to have completely removed sadomasochism from its national classification of diseases. This was followed by Sweden in 2009, Norway in 2010 and Finland 2011. Recent surveys on the spread of BDSM fantasies and practices show strong variations in the range of their results. Nonetheless, researchers assume that 5 to 25 per cent of the population practices sexual behaviour related to pain or dominance and submission. The population with related fantasies is believed to be even larger. + +The ICD is in the process of revision, and recent drafts have reflected these changes in social norms. , the final advance preview of the ICD-11 has de-pathologised most things listed in ICD-10 section F65, characterizing as pathological only those activities which are either coercive, or involving significant risk of injury or death, or distressing to the individual committing them, and specifically excluding consensual sexual sadism and masochism from being regarded as pathological. The ICD-11 classification consider sadomasochism as a variant in sexual arousal and private behaviour without appreciable public health impact and for which treatment is neither indicated nor sought." + +According to the WHO ICD-11 Working Group on Sexual Disorders and Sexual Health, stigmatization and discrimination of fetish- and BDSM individuals are inconsistent with human rights principles endorsed by the United Nations and the World Health Organization. + +The final advance text is to be officially presented to the members of the WHO in 2019, ready to come into effect in 2022. + +Coming out + +Some people who are interested in or curious about BDSM decide to come out of the closet, although many sadomasochists remain closeted. Depending upon a survey's participants, about 5 to 25 per cent of the US population show affinity to the subject. Other than a few artists and writers, practically no celebrities are publicly known as sadomasochists. + +Public knowledge of one's BDSM lifestyle can have detrimental vocational and social effects for sadomasochists. Many face severe professional consequences or social rejection if they are exposed, either voluntarily or involuntarily, as sadomasochists. + +Within feminist circles, the discussion is split roughly into two camps: some who see BDSM as an aspect or reflection of oppression (for example, Alice Schwarzer) and, on the other side, pro-BDSM feminists, often grouped under the banner of sex-positive feminism (see Samois); both of them can be traced back to the 1970s. Some feminists have criticized BDSM for eroticizing power and violence and reinforcing misogyny. They argue that women who engage in BDSM are making a choice that is ultimately bad for women. Feminist defenders of BDSM argue that consensual BDSM activities are enjoyed by many women and validate the sexual inclinations of these women. They argue that there is no connection between consensual kinky activities and sex crimes, and that feminists should not attack other women's sexual desires as being "anti-feminist". They also state that the main point of feminism is to give an individual woman free choices in her life; which includes her sexual desire. While some feminists suggest connections between consensual BDSM scenes and non-consensual rape and sexual assault, other sex-positive ones find the notion insulting to women. + +Roles are not fixed to gender, but personal preferences. The dominant partner in a heterosexual relationship may be the woman rather than the man, or BDSM may be part of male/male or female/female sexual relationships. Finally, some people switch, taking either a dominant or submissive role on different occasions. Several studies investigating the possibility of a correlation between BDSM pornography and the violence against women also indicate a lack of correlation. In 1991, a lateral survey came to the conclusion that between 1964 and 1984, despite the increase in amount and availability of sadomasochistic pornography in the U.S., Germany, Denmark and Sweden, there is no correlation with the national number of rapes to be found. + +Operation Spanner in the U.K. proves that BDSM practitioners still run the risk of being stigmatized as criminals. In 2003, the media coverage of Jack McGeorge showed that simply participating and working in BDSM support groups poses risks to one's job, even in countries where no law restricts it. Here a clear difference can be seen to the situation of homosexuality. The psychological strain appearing in some individual cases is normally neither articulated nor acknowledged in public. Nevertheless, it leads to a difficult psychological situation in which the person concerned can be exposed to high levels of emotional stress. + +In the stages of "self-awareness", he or she realizes their desires related to BDSM scenarios or decides to be open for such. Some authors call this internal coming-out. Two separate surveys on this topic independently came to the conclusion that 58 per cent and 67 per cent of the sample respectively, had realized their disposition before their 19th birthday. Other surveys on this topic show comparable results. Independent of age, coming-out can potentially result in a difficult life crisis, sometimes leading to thoughts or acts of suicide. While homosexuals have created support networks in the last decades, sadomasochistic support networks are just starting to develop in most countries. In German-speaking countries they are only moderately more developed. The Internet is the prime contact point for support groups today, allowing for local and international networking. In the U.S., Kink Aware Professionals (KAP) a privately funded, non-profit service provides the community with referrals to psychotherapeutic, medical, and legal professionals who are knowledgeable about and sensitive to the BDSM, fetish, and leather community. In the U.S. and the U.K., the Woodhull Freedom Foundation & Federation, National Coalition for Sexual Freedom (NCSF) and Sexual Freedom Coalition (SFC) have emerged to represent the interests of sadomasochists. The German Bundesvereinigung Sadomasochismus is committed to the same aim of providing information and driving press relations. In 1996, the website and mailing list Datenschlag went online in German and English providing the largest bibliography, as well as one of the most extensive historical collections of sources related to BDSM. + +Social (non-medical) research +Richters et al. (2008) found that people who engaged in BDSM were more likely to have experienced a wider range of sexual practices (e.g., oral or anal sex, more than one partner, group sex, phone sex, viewed pornography, used a sex toy, fisting, rimming, etc.). They were, however, not any more likely to have been coerced, unhappy, anxious, or experiencing sexual difficulties. On the contrary, men who had engaged in BDSM scored lower on a psychological distress scale than men who did not. + +There have been few studies on the psychological aspects of BDSM using modern scientific standards. Psychotherapist Charles Moser has said there is no evidence for the theory that BDSM has common symptoms or any common psychopathology, emphasizing that there is no evidence that BDSM practitioners have any special psychiatric other problems based on their sexual preferences. + +Problems sometimes occur with self-classification. During the phase of the "coming-out", self-questioning related to one's own "normality" is common. According to Moser, the discovery of BDSM preferences can result in fear of the current non-BDSM relationship's destruction. This, combined with the fear of discrimination in everyday life, leads in some cases to a double life which can be highly burdensome. At the same time, the denial of BDSM preferences can induce stress and dissatisfaction with one's own "vanilla"-lifestyle, feeding the apprehension of finding no partner. Moser states that BDSM practitioners having problems finding BDSM partners would probably have problems in finding a non-BDSM partner as well. The wish to remove BDSM preferences is another possible reason for psychological problems since it is not possible in most cases. Finally, the scientist states that BDSM practitioners seldom commit violent crimes. From his point of view, crimes of BDSM practitioners usually have no connection with the BDSM components existing in their life. Moser's study comes to the conclusion that there is no scientific evidence, which could give reason to refuse members of this group work- or safety certificates, adoption possibilities, custody or other social rights or privileges. The Swiss psychoanalyst Fritz Morgenthaler shares a similar perspective in his book, Homosexuality, Heterosexuality, Perversion (1988). He states that possible problems result not necessarily from the non-normative behavior, but in most cases primarily from the real or feared reactions of the social environment towards their own preferences. In 1940 psychoanalyst Theodor Reik reached implicitly the same conclusion in his standard work Aus Leiden Freuden. Masochismus und Gesellschaft. + +Moser's results are further supported by a 2008 Australian study by Richters et al. on the demographic and psychosocial features of BDSM participants. The study found that BDSM practitioners were no more likely to have experienced sexual assault than the control group, and were not more likely to feel unhappy or anxious. The BDSM males reported higher levels of psychological well-being than the controls. It was concluded that "BDSM is simply a sexual interest or subculture attractive to a minority, not a pathological symptom of past abuse or difficulty with 'normal' sex." + +Gender differences in research + +Several recent studies have been conducted on the gender differences and personality traits of BDSM practitioners. Wismeijer and van Assen (2013) found that "the association of BDSM role and gender was strong and significant" with only 8% of women in the study being dominant compared to 75% being submissive.; Hébert and Weaver (2014) found that 9% of women in their study were dominant compared to 88% submissive; Weierstall1 and Giebel (2017) likewise found a significant difference, with 19% of women in the study as dominant compared to 74% as submissive, and a study from Andrea Duarte Silva (2015) indicated that 61.7% of females who are active in BDSM expressed a preference for a submissive role, 25.7% consider themselves a switch, while 12.6% prefer the dominant role. In contrast, 46.6% of men prefer the submissive role, 24% consider themselves to be switches and 29.5% prefer the dominant role. They concluded that "men more often display an engagement in dominant practices, whereas females take on the submissive part. This result is inline with a recent study about mate preferences that has shown that women have a generally higher preference for a dominant partner than men do (Giebel, Moran, Schawohl, & Weierstall, 2015). Women also prefer dominant men, and even men who are aggressive, for a short-term relationship and for the purpose of sexual intercourse (Giebel, Weierstall, Schauer, & Elbert, 2013)". Similarly, studies on sexual fantasy differences between men and women show the latter prefer submissive and passive fantasies over dominant and active ones, with rape and force being common. + +Gender differences in masochistic scripts + +One common belief of BDSM and kink is that women are more likely to take on masochistic roles than men. Roy Baumeister (2010) actually had more male masochists in his study than female, and fewer male dominants than female. The lack of statistical significance in these gender differences suggests that no assumptions should be made regarding gender and masochistic roles in BDSM. One explanation why we might think otherwise lies in our social and cultural ideals about femininity; masochism may emphasize certain stereotypically feminine elements through activities like feminization of men and ultra-feminine clothing for women. But such tendencies of the submissive masochistic role should not be interpreted as a connection between it and the stereotypical female role—many masochistic scripts do not include any of these tendencies. + +Baumeister found that masochistic males experienced greater: severity of pain, frequency of humiliation (status-loss, degrading, oral), partner infidelity, active participation by other persons, and cross-dressing. Trends also suggested that male masochism included more bondage and oral sex than female (though the data was not significant). Female masochists, on the other hand, experienced greater: frequency in pain, pain as punishment for 'misdeeds' in the relationship context, display humiliation, genital intercourse, and presence of non-participating audiences. The exclusiveness of dominant males in a heterosexual relationship happens because, historically, men in power preferred multiple partners. Finally, Baumeister observes a contrast between the 'intense sensation' focus of male masochism to a more 'meaning and emotion' centred female masochistic script. + +Prior argues that although some of these women may appear to be engaging in traditional subordinate or submissive roles, BDSM allows women in both dominant and submissive roles to express and experience personal power through their sexual identities. In a study that she conducted in 2013, she found that the majority of the women she interviewed identified as bottom, submissive, captive, or slave/sex slave. In turn, Prior was able to answer whether or not these women found an incongruity between their sexual identities and feminist identity. Her research found that these women saw little to no incongruity, and in fact felt that their feminist identity supported identities of submissive and slave. For them, these are sexually and emotionally fulfilling roles and identities that, in some cases, feed other aspects of their lives. Prior contends that third wave feminism provides a space for women in BDSM communities to express their sexual identities fully, even when those identities seem counter-intuitive to the ideals of feminism. Furthermore, women who do identify as submissive, sexually or otherwise, find a space within BDSM where they can fully express themselves as integrated, well-balanced, and powerful women. + +Women in S/M culture +Levitt, Moser, and Jamison's 1994 study provides a general, if outdated, description of characteristics of women in the sadomasochistic (S/M) subculture. They state that women in S/M tend to have higher education, become more aware of their desires as young adults, are less likely to be married than the general population. The researchers found the majority of females identified as heterosexual and submissive, a substantial minority were versatile—able to switch between dominant and submissive roles—and a smaller minority identified with the dominant role exclusively. Oral sex, bondage and master-slave script were among the most popular activities, while feces/watersports were the least popular. + +Orientation observances in research +BDSM is considered by some of its practitioners to be a sexual orientation. The BDSM and kink scene is more often seen as a diverse pansexual community. Often this is a non-judgmental community where gender, sexuality, orientation, preferences are accepted as is or worked at to become something a person can be happy with. In research, studies have focused on bisexuality and its parallels with BDSM, as well as gay-straight differences between practitioners. + +Comparison between gay and straight men in S/M +Demographically, Nordling et al.'s (2006) study found no differences in age, but 43% of gay male respondents compared to 29% of straight males had university-level education. The gay men also had higher incomes than the general population and tended to work in white-collar jobs while straight men tended toward blue-collar ones. Because there were not enough female respondents (22), no conclusions could be drawn from them. + +Sexually speaking, the same 2006 study by Nordling et al. found that gay males were aware of their S/M preferences and took part in them at an earlier age, preferring leather, anal sex, rimming, dildos and special equipment or uniform scenes. In contrast, straight men preferred verbal humiliation, mask and blindfolds, gags, rubber/latex outfits, caning, vaginal sex, straitjackets, and cross-dressing among other activities. From the questionnaire, researchers were able to identify four separate sexual themes: hyper-masculinity, giving and receiving pain, physical restriction (i.e. bondage), and psychological humiliation. Gay men preferred activities that tended towards hyper-masculinity while straight men showed greater preference for humiliation, significantly higher master/madame-slave role play at ≈84%. Though there were not enough female respondents to draw a similar conclusion with, the fact that there is a difference in gay and straight men suggests strongly that S/M (and BDSM in general) can not be considered a homogenous phenomenon. As Nordling et al. (2006) puts it, "People who identify as sadomasochists mean different things by these identifications." (54) + +Bisexuality +In Steve Lenius' original 2001 paper, he explored the acceptance of bisexuality in a supposedly pansexual BDSM community. The reasoning behind this is that 'coming-out' had become primarily the territory of the gay and lesbian, with bisexuals feeling the push to be one or the other (and being right only half the time either way). What he found in 2001, was that people in BDSM were open to discussion about the topic of bisexuality and pansexuality and all controversies they bring to the table, but personal biases and issues stood in the way of actively using such labels. A decade later, Lenius (2011) looks back on his study and considers if anything has changed. He concluded that the standing of bisexuals in the BDSM and kink community was unchanged, and believed that positive shifts in attitude were moderated by society's changing views towards different sexualities and orientations. But Lenius (2011) does emphasize that the pansexual promoting BDSM community helped advance greater acceptance of alternative sexualities. + +Brandy Lin Simula (2012), on the other hand, argues that BDSM actively resists gender-conforming and identified three different types of BDSM bisexuality: gender-switching, gender-based styles (taking on a different gendered style depending on the gender of partner when playing), and rejection of gender (resisting the idea that gender matters in their play partners). Simula (2012) explains that practitioners of BDSM routinely challenge our concepts of sexuality by pushing the limits on pre-existing ideas of sexual orientation and gender norms. For some, BDSM and kink provides a platform in creating identities that are fluid, ever-changing. + +History of psychotherapy and current recommendations +Psychiatry has an insensitive history in the area of BDSM. There have been many involvements by institutions of political power to marginalize subgroups and sexual minorities. Mental health professionals have a long history of holding negative assumptions and stereotypes about the BDSM community. Beginning with the DSM-II, Sexual Sadism and Sexual Masochism have been listed as sexually deviant behaviours. Sadism and masochism were also found in the personality disorder section. This negative assumption has not changed significantly which is evident in the continued inclusion of Sexual Sadism and Sexual Masochism as paraphilias in the DSM-IV-TR. The DSM-V, however, has depathologized the language around paraphilias in a way that signifies "the APA's intent to not demand treatment for healthy consenting adult sexual expression". These biases and misinformation can result in pathologizing and unintentional harm to clients who identify as sadists and/or masochists and medical professionals who have been trained under older editions of the DSM can be slow to change in their ways of clinical practice. + +According to Kolmes et al. (2006), major themes of biased and inadequate care to BDSM clients are: + Considering BDSM to be unhealthy + Requiring a client to give up BDSM activities in order to continue in treatment + Confusing BDSM with abuse + Having to educate the therapist about BDSM + Assuming that BDSM interests are indicative of past family/spousal abuse + Therapists misrepresenting their expertise by stating that they are BDSM-positive when they are not actually knowledgeable about BDSM practices + +These same researchers suggested that therapists should be open to learning more about BDSM, to show comfort in talking about BDSM issues, and to understand and promote "safe, sane, consensual" BDSM. + +There has also been research which suggests BDSM can be a beneficial way for victims of sexual assault to deal with their trauma, most notably by Corie Hammers, but this work is limited in scope and to date, has not undergone empirical testing as a treatment. + +Clinical issues +Nichols (2006) compiled some common clinical issues: countertransference, non-disclosure, coming out, partner/families, and bleed-through. + +Countertransference is a common problem in clinical settings. Despite having no evidence, therapists may find themselves believing that their client's pathology is "self-evident". Therapists may feel intense disgust and aversive reactions. Feelings of countertransference can interfere with therapy. Another common problem is when clients conceal their sexual preferences from their therapists. This can compromise any therapy. To avoid non-disclosure, therapists are encouraged to communicate their openness in indirect ways with literature and artworks in the waiting room. Therapists can also deliberately bring up BDSM topics during the course of therapy. With less informed therapists, sometimes they over-focus on clients' sexuality which detracts from original issues such as family relationships, depression, etc. A special subgroup that needs counselling is the "newbie". Individuals just coming out might have internalized shame, fear, and self-hatred about their sexual preferences. Therapists need to provide acceptance, care, and model positive attitude; providing reassurance, psychoeducation, and bibliotherapy for these clients is crucial. The average age when BDSM individuals realize their sexual preference is around 26 years. Many people hide their sexuality until they can no longer contain their desires. However, they may have married or had children by this point. + +History + +Origins + +Practices of BDSM survive from some of the oldest textual records in the world, associated with rituals to the goddess Inanna (Ishtar in Akkadian). Cuneiform texts dedicated to Inanna which incorporate domination rituals. In particular, she points to ancient writings such as Inanna and Ebih (in which the goddess dominates Ebih), and Hymn to Inanna describing cross-dressing transformations and rituals "imbued with pain and ecstasy, bringing about initation and journeys of altered states of consciousness; punishment, moaning, ecstasy, lament and song, participants exhausting themselves in weeping and grief." + +During the 9th century BC, ritual flagellations were performed in Artemis Orthia, one of the most important religious areas of ancient Sparta, where the Cult of Orthia, a pre-Olympic religion, was practiced. Here, ritual flagellation called diamastigosis took place, in which young adolescent men were whipped in a ceremony overseen by the priestess. These are referred to by a number of ancient authors, including Pausanius (III, 16: 10–11). + +One of the oldest graphical proofs of sadomasochistic activities is found in the Etruscan Tomb of the Whipping near Tarquinia, which dates to the 5th century BC. Inside the tomb, there is a fresco which portrays two men who flagellate a woman with a cane and a hand during an erotic situation. Another reference related to flagellation is to be found in the sixth book of the Satires of the ancient Roman Poet Juvenal (1st–2nd century A.D.), further reference can be found in Petronius's Satyricon where a delinquent is whipped for sexual arousal. Anecdotal narratives related to humans who have had themselves voluntary bound, flagellated or whipped as a substitute for sex or as part of foreplay reach back to the 3rd and 4th century BC. + +In Pompeii, a whip-mistress figure with wings is depicted on the wall of the Villa of Mysteries, as part of an initiation of a young woman into the Mysteries. The whip-mistress role drove the sacred initiation of ceremonial death and rebirth. The archaic Greek Aphrodite may too once have been armed with an implement, with archaeological evidence of armed Aphrodites known from a number of locations in Cythera, Acrocorinth and Sparta, and which may have been a whip. + +The Kama Sutra of India describes four different kinds of hitting during lovemaking, the allowed regions of the human body to target and different kinds of joyful "cries of pain" practiced by bottoms. The collection of historic texts related to sensuous experiences explicitly emphasizes that impact play, biting and pinching during sexual activities should only be performed consensually since only some women consider such behavior to be joyful. From this perspective, the Kama Sutra can be considered one of the first written resources dealing with sadomasochistic activities and safety rules. Further texts with sadomasochistic connotation appear worldwide during the following centuries on a regular basis. + +There are anecdotal reports of people willingly being bound or whipped, as a prelude to or substitute for sex, during the 14th century. The medieval phenomenon of courtly love in all of its slavish devotion and ambivalence has been suggested by some writers to be a precursor of BDSM. Some sources claim that BDSM as a distinct form of sexual behavior originated at the beginning of the 18th century when Western civilization began medically and legally categorizing sexual behavior (see Etymology). + +Flagellation practiced within an erotic setting has been recorded from at least the 1590s evidenced by a John Davies epigram, and references to "flogging schools" in Thomas Shadwell's The Virtuoso (1676) and Tim Tell-Troth's Knavery of Astrology (1680). Visual evidence such as mezzotints and print media is also identified revealing scenes of flagellation, such as "The Cully Flaug'd" from the British Museum collection. + +John Cleland's novel Fanny Hill, published in 1749, incorporates a flagellation scene between the character's protagonist Fanny Hill and Mr Barville. A large number of flagellation publications followed, including Fashionable Lectures: Composed and Delivered with Birch Discipline (), promoting the names of women offering the service in a lecture room with rods and cat o' nine tails. + +Other sources give a broader definition, citing BDSM-like behavior in earlier times and other cultures, such as the medieval flagellates and the physical ordeal rituals of some Native American societies. + +BDSM ideas and imagery have existed on the fringes of Western culture throughout the 20th century. Robert Bienvenu attributes the origins of modern BDSM to three sources, which he names as "European Fetish" (from 1928), "American Fetish" (from 1934), and "Gay Leather" (from 1950). Another source are the sexual games played in brothels, which go back to the 19th century, if not earlier. Charles Guyette was the first American to produce and distribute fetish related material (costumes, footwear, photography, props and accessories) in the U.S. His successor, Irving Klaw, produced commercial sexploitation film and photography with a BDSM theme (most notably with Bettie Page) and issued fetish comics (known then as "chapter serials") by the now-iconic artists John Willie, Gene Bilbrew, and Eric Stanton. + +Stanton's model Bettie Page became at the same time one of the first successful models in the area of fetish photography and one of the most famous pin-up girls of American mainstream culture. Italian author and designer Guido Crepax was deeply influenced by him, coining the style and development of European adult comics in the second half of the 20th century. The artists Helmut Newton and Robert Mapplethorpe are the most prominent examples of the increasing use of BDSM-related motives in modern photography and the public discussions still resulting from this. + +Alfred Binet first coined the term erotic fetishism in his 1887 book, Du fétichisme dans l'amour Richard von Krafft-Ebing saw BDSM interests as the end of a continuum. + +Leather movement + +Leather has been a predominantly gay male term to refer to one fetish, but it can stand for many more. Members of the gay male leather community may wear leathers such as motorcycle leathers, or may be attracted to men wearing leather. Leather and BDSM are seen as two parts of one whole. Much of the BDSM culture can be traced back to the gay male leather culture, which formalized itself out of the group of men who were soldiers returning home after World War II (1939–1945). World War II was the setting where countless homosexual men and women tasted the life among homosexual peers. Post-war, homosexual individuals congregated in larger cities such as New York, Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. They formed leather clubs and bike clubs; some were fraternal services. The establishment of Mr. Leather Contest and Mr. Drummer Contest were made around this time. This was the genesis of the gay male leather community. Many of the members were attracted to extreme forms of sexuality, for which peak expression was in the pre-AIDS 1970s. This subculture is epitomized by the Leatherman's Handbook by Larry Townsend, published in 1972, which describes in detail the practices and culture of gay male sadomasochists in the late 1960s and early 1970s. +In the early 1980s, lesbians also joined the leathermen as a recognizable element of the gay leather community. They also formed leather clubs, but there were some gender differences, such as the absence of leatherwomen's bars. In 1981, the publication of Coming to Power by lesbian-feminist group Samois led to a greater knowledge and acceptance of BDSM in the lesbian community. By the 1990s, the gay men's and women's leather communities were no longer underground and played an important role in the kink community. + +Today, the leather movement is generally seen as a part of the BDSM-culture instead of as a development deriving from gay subculture, even if a huge part of the BDSM-subculture was gay in the past. In the 1990s, the so-called New Guard leather subculture evolved. This new orientation started to integrate psychological aspects into their play. + +The San Francisco South of Market Leather History Alley consists of four works of art along Ringold Alley honoring leather culture; it opened in 2017. One of the works of art is metal bootprints along the curb which honor 28 people (including Steve McEachern, owner of the Catacombs, a gay and lesbian S/M fisting club, and Cynthia Slater, a founder of the Society of Janus, the second oldest BDSM organization in the United States) who were an important part of the leather communities of San Francisco. + +Internet +In the late 1980s, the Internet provided a way of finding people with specialized interests around the world as well as on a local level, and communicating with them anonymously. This brought about an explosion of interest and knowledge of BDSM, particularly on the usenet group alt.sex.bondage. When that group became too cluttered with spam, the focus moved to soc.subculture.bondage-bdsm. With an increased focus on forms of social media, FetLife was formed, which advertises itself as "a social network for the BDSM and fetish community". It operates similarly to other social media sites, with the ability to make friends with other users, events, and pages of shared interests. + +In addition to traditional sex shops, which sell sex paraphernalia, there has also been an explosive growth of online adult toy companies that specialize in leather/latex gear and BDSM toys. Once a very niche market, there are now very few sex toy companies that do not offer some sort of BDSM or fetish gear in their catalog. Kinky elements seem to have worked their way into "vanilla" markets. The former niche expanded to an important pillar of the business with adult accessories. Today practically all suppliers of sex toys do offer items which originally found usage in the BDSM subculture. Padded handcuffs, latex and leather garments, as well as more exotic items like soft whips for fondling and TENS for erotic electro stimulation, can be found in catalogs aiming at classical vanilla target groups, indicating that former boundaries increasingly seem to shift. + +During the last years, the Internet also provides a central platform for networking among individuals who are interested in the subject. Besides countless private and commercial choices, there is an increasing number of local networks and support groups emerging. These groups often offer comprehensive background and health-related information for people who have been unwillingly outed as well as contact lists with information on psychologists, physicians and lawyers who are familiar with BDSM related topics. + +University clubs + +Increasingly, American universities are witnessing BDSM and kink education by providing student clubs, such as Columbia University's Conversio Virium and Iowa State University's Cuffs. University BDSM clubs are also found in the U.K., Canada, Belgium, and Taiwan. + +Some American universities—such as Indiana University and Michigan State University—have professors who research and teach classes on BDSM. + +Legal status + +Austria + +Section 90 of the Austrian criminal code declares bodily injury (Sections 83–84) or the endangerment of physical security (Section 89) to not be subject to penalty in cases in which the victim has consented and the injury or endangerment does not offend moral sensibilities. Case law from the Austrian Supreme Court has consistently shown that bodily injury is only offensive to moral sensibilities, thus it is only punishable when a "serious injury" (damage to health or an employment disability lasting more than 24 days) or the death of the "victim" results. A light injury is generally considered permissible when the "victim" has consented to it. In cases of threats to bodily well being the standard depends on the probability that an injury will actually occur. If serious injury or even death would be a likely result of a threat being carried out, then even the threat itself is considered punishable. + +Canada +In 2004, a judge in Canada ruled that videos seized by the police featuring BDSM activities were not obscene and did not constitute violence, but a "normal and acceptable" sexual activity between two consenting adults. + +In 2011, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled in R. v. J.A. that a person must have an active mind during the specific sexual activity in order to legally consent. The Court ruled that it is a criminal offence to perform a sexual act on an unconscious person—whether or not that person consented in advance. + +Germany + +According to Section 194 of the German criminal code, the charge of insult (slander) can only be prosecuted if the defamed person chooses to press charges. False imprisonment can be charged if the victim—when applying an objective view—can be considered to be impaired in their rights of free movement. According to Section 228, a person inflicting a bodily injury on another person with that person's permission violates the law only in cases where the act can be considered to have violated good morals in spite of permission having been given. On 26 May 2004, the Criminal Panel No. 2 of the Bundesgerichtshof (German Federal Court) ruled that sado-masochistically motivated physical injuries are not per se indecent and thus subject to Section 228. + +Following cases in which sado-masochistic practices had been repeatedly used as pressure tactics against former partners in custody cases, the Appeals Court of Hamm ruled in February 2006 that sexual inclinations toward sado-masochism are no indication of a lack of capabilities for successful child-raising. + +Italy +In Italian law, BDSM is right on the border between crime and legality, and everything lies in the interpretation of the legal code by the judge. This concept is that anyone willingly causing "injury" to another person is to be punished. In this context, though, "injury" is legally defined as "anything causing a condition of illness", and "illness" is ill-defined itself in two different legal ways. The first is "any anatomical or functional alteration of the organism" (thus technically including little scratches and bruises too); the second is "a significant worsening of a previous condition relevant to organic and relational processes, requiring any kind of therapy". This could make it somewhat risky to play with someone, as later the "victim" may call foul play citing even an insignificant mark as evidence against the partner. Also, any injury requiring over 20 days of medical care must be denounced by the professional medic who discovers it, leading to automatic indictment of the person who caused it. + +Nordic countries +In September 2010, a Swedish court acquitted a 32-year-old man of assault for engaging in consensual BDSM play with a 16-year-old girl (the age of consent in Sweden is 15). Norway's legal system has likewise taken a similar position, that safe and consensual BDSM play should not be subject to criminal prosecution. This parallels the stance of the mental health professions in the Nordic countries which have removed sadomasochism from their respective lists of psychiatric illnesses. + +Switzerland +The age of consent in Switzerland is 16 years, which also applies to BDSM play. Minors (i.e., those under 16) are not subject to punishment for BDSM play as long as the age difference between them is less than three years. Certain practices, however, require granting consent for light injuries, with only those over 18 permitted to give consent. On 1 April 2002, Articles 135 and 197 of the Swiss Criminal Code were tightened to make ownership of "objects or demonstrations [...] which depict sexual acts with violent content" a punishable offense. This law amounts to a general criminalization of sado-masochism since nearly every sado-masochist will have some kind of media that fulfills this criterion. Critics also object to the wording of the law which puts sado-masochists in the same category as pedophiles and pederasts. + +United Kingdom +In British law, consent is an absolute defense to common assault, but not necessarily to actual bodily harm, where courts may decide that consent is not valid, as occurred in the case of R v Brown. Accordingly, consensual activities in the U.K. may not constitute "assault occasioning actual or grievous bodily harm" in law. The Spanner Trust states that this is defined as activities which have caused injury "of a lasting nature" but that only a slight duration or injury might be considered "lasting" in law. The decision contrasts with the later case of R v Wilson in which conviction for non-sexual consensual branding within a marriage was overturned, the appeal court ruling that R v Brown was not an authority in all cases of consensual injury and criticizing the decision to prosecute. + +Following Operation Spanner, the European Court of Human Rights ruled in January 1999 in Laskey, Jaggard and Brown v. United Kingdom that no violation of Article 8 occurred because the amount of physical or psychological harm that the law allows between any two people, even consenting adults, is to be determined by the jurisdiction the individuals live in, as it is the State's responsibility to balance the concerns of public health and well-being with the amount of control a State should be allowed to exercise over its citizens. In the Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill 2007, the British Government cited the Spanner case as justification for criminalizing images of consensual acts, as part of its proposed criminalization of possession of "extreme pornography". Another contrasting case was that of Stephen Lock in 2013, who was cleared of actual bodily harm on the grounds that the woman consented. In this case, the act was deemed to be sexual. + +United States + +The United States Federal law does not list a specific criminal determination for consensual BDSM acts. Many BDSM practitioners cite the legal decision of People v. Jovanovic, 95 N.Y.2d 846 (2000), or the "Cybersex Torture Case", which was the first U.S. appellate decision to hold (in effect) that one does not commit assault if the victim consents. However, many individual states do criminalize specific BDSM actions within their state borders. Some states specifically address the idea of "consent to BDSM acts" within their assault laws, such as the state of New Jersey, which defines "simple assault" to be "a disorderly persons offense unless committed in a fight or scuffle entered into by mutual consent, in which case it is a petty disorderly persons offense". + +Oregon Ballot Measure 9 was a ballot measure in the U.S. state of Oregon in 1992, concerning sadism, masochism, gay rights, pedophilia, and public education, that drew widespread national attention. It would have added the following text to the Oregon Constitution: + +It was defeated in the 3 November 1992 general election with 638,527 votes in favor, 828,290 votes against. + +The National Coalition for Sexual Freedom collects reports about punishment for sexual activities engaged in by consenting adults, and about its use in child custody cases. + +Cultural aspects + +Today, the BDSM culture exists in most Western countries. This offers BDSM practitioners the opportunity to discuss BDSM relevant topics and problems with like-minded people. This culture is often viewed as a subculture, mainly because BDSM is often still regarded as "unusual" by some of the public. Many people hide their leaning from society since they are afraid of the incomprehension and of social exclusion. + +In contrast to frameworks seeking to explain sadomasochism through psychological, psychoanalytic, medical or forensic approaches, which seek to categorize behaviour and desires and find a root "cause", Romana Byrne suggests that such practices can be seen as examples of "aesthetic sexuality", in which a founding physiological or psychological impulse is irrelevant. Rather, sadism and masochism may be practiced through choice and deliberation, driven by certain aesthetic goals tied to style, pleasure, and identity. These practices, in certain circumstances and contexts, can be compared with the creation of art. + +Symbols + +One of the most commonly used symbols of the BDSM community is a derivation of a triskelion shape within a circle. Various forms of triskele have had many uses and many meanings in many cultures; its BDSM usage derives from the Ring of O in the classic book Story of O. The BDSM Emblem Project claims copyright over one particular specified form of the triskelion symbol; other variants of the triskelion are free from such copyright claims. + +The leather pride flag is a symbol for the leather subculture and also widely used within BDSM. In continental Europe, the Ring of O is widespread among BDSM practitioners. + +The triskelion as a BDSM symbol can easily be perceived as the three separate parts of the acronym BDSM; which are BD, DS, and SM (Bondage & Discipline, Dominance & Submission, Sadism & Masochism). They are three separate items, that are normally associated together. + +The BDSM rights flag, shown to the right, is intended to represent the belief that people whose sexuality or relationship preferences include BDSM practises deserve the same human rights as everyone else, and should not be discriminated against for pursuing BDSM with consenting adults. + +The flag is inspired by the leather pride flag and BDSM emblem but is specifically intended to represent the concept of BDSM rights and to be without the other symbols' restrictions against commercial use. It is designed to be recognizable by people familiar with either the leather pride flag or BDSM triskelion (or triskele) as "something to do with BDSM"; and to be distinctive whether reproduced in full colour, or in black and white (or another pair of colours). + +BDSM and fetish items and styles have been spread widely in Western societies' everyday life by different factors, such as avant-garde fashion, heavy metal, goth subculture, and science fiction TV series, and are often not consciously connected with their BDSM roots by many people. While it was mainly confined to the punk and BDSM subcultures in the 1990s, it has since spread into wider parts of Western societies. + +Film and music + In music: the Romanian singer-songwriter Navi featured BDSM and Shibari scenes in her music video "Picture Perfect" (2014). The video was banned in Romania for its explicit content. In 2010, Rihanna's song "S&M" and Christina Aguilera's single "Not Myself Tonight" appeared, both full of BDSM imagery. + In movies: While BDSM activity appeared initially in subtle form, in the 1960s famous works of literature like Story of O and Venus in Furs were filmed explicitly. With the release of the 1986 film 9½ Weeks, the topic of BDSM was transferred to mainstream cinema. From the 1990s, cinematic representation of alternative sexualities, including BDSM, increased dramatically, as seen in documentary productions such as Graphic Sexual Horror (a 2009 film based on the website Insex), Kink (a 2013 film based on the website Kink.com), and movies such as Fifty Shades of Grey (2015) and its two sequels Fifty Shades Darker (2017) and Fifty Shades Freed (2018). + However, mistakenly considered in mainstream society as having BDSM activities that are, rather, abusive are the movies Fifty Shades of Grey (2015) and its two sequels Fifty Shades Darker (2017) and Fifty Shades Freed (2018). "A lot of what happens in the main relationship of Fifty Shades of Grey is domestic abuse, both physical and emotional, and for people whose entire understanding of BDSM now comes from jiggle balls and rooms of pain this is a dangerous misconception to foster." + +Theater +Although it would be possible to establish certain elements related to BDSM in classical theater, not until the emergence of contemporary theater would some plays have BDSM as the main theme. Exemplifying this are two works: one Austrian, one German, in which BDSM is not only incorporated but integral to the storyline of the play. + Worauf sich Körper kaprizieren, Austria. Peter Kern directed and wrote the script for this comedy which is a present-day adaption of Jean Genet's 1950 film, . It is about a marriage in which the wife (film veteran Miriam Goldschmidt) submits her husband (Heinrich Herkie) and the butler (Günter Bubbnik) to her sadistic treatment until two new characters take their places. + Ach, Hilde (Oh, Hilda), Germany. This play by Anna Schwemmer premiered in Berlin. A young Hilde becomes pregnant, and after being abandoned by her boyfriend she decides to become a professional dominatrix to earn money. The play carefully crafts a playful and frivolous picture of the field of professional dominatrices. + +Literature + +Although examples of literature catering to BDSM and fetishistic tastes were created in earlier periods, BDSM literature as it exists today cannot be found much earlier than World War II. + +The word sadism originates from the works of Donatien Alphonse François, Marquis de Sade, and the word masochism originates from Leopold von Sacher-Masoch, the author of Venus in Furs. However, it is worth noting that the Marquis de Sade describes non-consensual abuse in his works, such as in Justine. Venus in Furs describes a consensual dom-sub relationship. + +A central work in modern BDSM literature is undoubtedly Story of O (1954) by Anne Desclos under the pseudonym Pauline Réage. + +Other notable works include 9½ Weeks (1978) by Elizabeth McNeill, some works of the writer Anne Rice (Exit to Eden, and her Claiming of Sleeping Beauty series of books), Jeanne de Berg (L'Image (1956) dedicated to Pauline Réage), the Gor series by John Norman, and naturally all the works of Patrick Califia, Gloria Brame, the group Samois and many of the writer Georges Bataille (Histoire de l'oeil-Story of the Eye, Madame Edwarda, 1937), as well as those of Bob Flanagan (Slave Sonnets (1986), Fuck Journal (1987), A Taste of Honey (1990)). A common part of many of the poems of Pablo Neruda is a reflection on feelings and sensations arising from the relations of EPE or erotic exchange of power. The Fifty Shades trilogy is a series of very popular erotic romance novels by E. L. James which involves BDSM; however, the novels have been criticized for their inaccurate and harmful depiction of BDSM. + +In the 21st century, a number of prestigious university presses, such as Duke University, Indiana University and University of Chicago, have published books on BDSM written by professors, thereby lending academic legitimacy to this once taboo topic. + +Art + + In photography: Eric Kroll and Irving Klaw (with Bettie Page, the first well-known bondage model), and Japanese photographer Araki Nobuyoshi, whose works are exhibited in several major art museums, galleries and private collections, such as the Baroness Marion Lambert, the world's largest holder of contemporary photographic art. Also Robert Mapplethorpe, whose most controversial work is that of the underground BDSM scene in the late 1960s and early 1970s of New York. The homoeroticism of this work fuelled a national debate over the public funding of controversial artwork. + Comic book drawings: Guido Crepax with Histoire d'O (1975), Justine (1979) and Venere in Pelliccia (1984); inspired by the work of Pauline Réage, the Marquis de Sade and Leopold von Sacher-Masoch. John Willie and The Adventures of Sweet Gwendoline (1984) which was the basis for the film The Perils of Gwendoline in the Land of the Yik-Yak. The Sunstone/Mercy (2011-ongoing) books by Stjepan Sejic have become very popular and are found in many conventional bookstores around the world. + In graphic design: Eric Stanton and his work on dominance and female bondage, as well as Hajime Sorayama and Robert Bishop. + In art deco sculpture: Bruno Zach produced perhaps his best known sculpture—called "The Riding Crop" ()—which features a scantily clad dominatrix wielding a riding crop. + +See also + + Autosadism + Dominance hierarchy + Index of BDSM articles + Glossary of BDSM + List of BDSM equipment + List of BDSM organizations + List of bondage positions + Leather subculture + Outline of BDSM + Vulnerability and care theory of love + +References + +Further reading + + + Baldwin, Guy. Ties That Bind: SM/Leather/Fetish Erotic Style: Issues, Communication, and Advice, Daedalus Publishing, 1993. . + + Brame, Gloria G., Brame, William D., and Jacobs, Jon. Different Loving: An Exploration of the World of Sexual Dominance and Submission Villard Books, New York, 1993. + Brame, Gloria. Come Hither: A Commonsense Guide to Kinky Sex, Fireside, 2000. . + Califia, Pat. Sensuous Magic. New York, Masquerade Books, 1993. + + + Dollie Llama. Diary of an S&M Romance., PEEP! Press (California), 2006, + Henkin, Wiliiam A., Sybil Holiday. Consensual Sadomasochism: How to Talk About It and How to Do It Safely, Daedalus Publishing, 1996. . + Janus, Samuel S., and Janus, Cynthia L. The Janus Report on Sexual Behavior, John Wiley & Sons, 1994. + Masters, Peter. This Curious Human Phenomenon: An Exploration of Some Uncommonly Explored Aspects of BDSM. The Nazca Plains Corporation, 2008. + Phillips, Anita. A Defence of Masochism, Faber and Faber, new edition 1999. + Newmahr, Staci (2011). Playing on the Edge: Sadomasochism, Risk and Intimacy. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. . + Nomis, Anne O. (2013) The History & Arts of the Dominatrix Mary Egan Publishing & Anna Nomis Ltd, U.K. + Rinella, Jack. The Complete Slave: Creating and Living an Erotic Dominant/submissive Lifestyle, Daedalus Publishing, 2002. . + Saez, Fernando y Viñuales, Olga, Armarios de Cuero, Ed. Bellaterra, 2007. + Larry Townsend. Leatherman's Handbook, first edition 1972 (this was the first book to publicize BDSM to the general public—it was a paperback book widely available on newsstands and at bookstores throughout the United States) + Wiseman, Jay. SM 101: A Realistic Introduction (1st ed., 1992); 2nd ed. Greenery Press, 2000. + Byrne, Romana (2013) Aesthetic Sexuality: A Literary History of Sadomasochism , New York: Bloomsbury. + Dominari, Rajan (2019). Welcome to the Darkside: A BDSM Primer. AKO Publishing Company. . + +External links + + "Pain and the erotic" by Lesley Hall (archived 17 December 2008) + + + +Spoken articles +Control (social and political) +Sexual acts +Bash is a Unix shell and command language written by Brian Fox for the GNU Project as a free software replacement for the Bourne shell. First released in 1989, it has been used as the default login shell for most Linux distributions. Bash was one of the first programs Linus Torvalds ported to Linux, alongside GCC. A version is also available for Windows 10 and Windows 11 via the Windows Subsystem for Linux. It is also the default user shell in Solaris 11. Bash was also the default shell in versions of Apple macOS from 10.3 (originally, the default shell was tcsh) to 10.15 (macOS Catalina), which changed the default shell to zsh, although Bash remains available as an alternative shell. + +Bash is a command processor that typically runs in a text window where the user types commands that cause actions. Bash can also read and execute commands from a file, called a shell script. Like most Unix shells, it supports filename globbing (wildcard matching), piping, here documents, command substitution, variables, and control structures for condition-testing and iteration. The keywords, syntax, dynamically scoped variables and other basic features of the language are all copied from sh. Other features, e.g., history, are copied from csh and ksh. Bash is a POSIX-compliant shell, but with a number of extensions. + +The shell's name is an acronym for Bourne Again Shell, a pun on the name of the Bourne shell that it replaces and the notion of being "born again". + +A security hole in Bash dating from version 1.03 (August 1989), dubbed Shellshock, was discovered in early September 2014 and quickly led to a range of attacks across the Internet. Patches to fix the bugs were made available soon after the bugs were identified. + +History +Brian Fox began coding Bash on January 10, 1988, after Richard Stallman became dissatisfied with the lack of progress being made by a prior developer. Stallman and the Free Software Foundation (FSF) considered a free shell that could run existing shell scripts so strategic to a completely free system built from BSD and GNU code that this was one of the few projects they funded themselves, with Fox undertaking the work as an employee of FSF. Fox released Bash as a beta, version .99, on June 8, 1989, and remained the primary maintainer until sometime between mid-1992 and mid-1994, when he was laid off from FSF and his responsibility was transitioned to another early contributor, Chet Ramey. + +Since then, Bash has become by far the most popular shell among users of Linux, becoming the default interactive shell on that operating system's various distributions (although Almquist shell may be the default scripting shell) and on Apple's macOS releases before Catalina in October 2019. Bash has also been ported to Microsoft Windows and distributed with Cygwin and MinGW, to DOS by the DJGPP project, to Novell NetWare, to OpenVMS by the GNV project, to ArcaOS, and to Android via various terminal emulation applications. + +In September 2014, Stéphane Chazelas, a Unix/Linux specialist, discovered a security bug in the program. The bug, first disclosed on September 24, was named Shellshock and assigned the numbers . The bug was regarded as severe, since CGI scripts using Bash could be vulnerable, enabling arbitrary code execution. The bug was related to how Bash passes function definitions to subshells through environment variables. + +Features +The Bash command syntax is a superset of the Bourne shell command syntax. Bash supports brace expansion, command line completion (Programmable Completion), basic debugging and signal handling (using trap) since bash 2.05a among other features. Bash can execute the vast majority of Bourne shell scripts without modification, with the exception of Bourne shell scripts stumbling into fringe syntax behavior interpreted differently in Bash or attempting to run a system command matching a newer Bash builtin, etc. Bash command syntax includes ideas drawn from the KornShell (ksh) and the C shell (csh) such as command line editing, command history (history command), the directory stack, the $RANDOM and $PPID variables, and POSIX command substitution syntax $(…). + +When a user presses the tab key within an interactive command-shell, Bash automatically uses command line completion, since beta version 2.04, to match partly typed program names, filenames and variable names. The Bash command-line completion system is very flexible and customizable, and is often packaged with functions that complete arguments and filenames for specific programs and tasks. + +Bash's syntax has many extensions lacking in the Bourne shell. Bash can perform integer calculations ("arithmetic evaluation") without spawning external processes. It uses the ((…)) command and the $((…)) variable syntax for this purpose. Its syntax simplifies I/O redirection. For example, it can redirect standard output (stdout) and standard error (stderr) at the same time using the &> operator. This is simpler to type than the Bourne shell equivalent 'command > file 2>&1'. Bash supports process substitution using the <(command) and >(command)syntax, which substitutes the output of (or input to) a command where a filename is normally used. (This is implemented through /proc/fd/ unnamed pipes on systems that support that, or via temporary named pipes where necessary). + +When using the 'function' keyword, Bash function declarations are not compatible with Bourne/Korn/POSIX scripts (the KornShell has the same problem when using 'function'), but Bash accepts the same function declaration syntax as the Bourne and Korn shells, and is POSIX-conformant. Because of these and other differences, Bash shell scripts are rarely runnable under the Bourne or Korn shell interpreters unless deliberately written with that compatibility in mind, which is becoming less common as Linux becomes more widespread. But in POSIX mode, Bash conforms with POSIX more closely. + +Bash supports here documents. Since version 2.05b Bash can redirect standard input (stdin) from a "here string" using the <<< operator. + +Bash 3.0 supports in-process regular expression matching using a syntax reminiscent of Perl. + +In February 2009, Bash 4.0 introduced support for associative arrays. +Associative array indices are strings, in a manner similar to AWK or Tcl. They can be used to emulate multidimensional arrays. Bash 4 also switches its license to GPL-3.0-or-later; some users suspect this licensing change is why MacOS continues to use older versions. Apple finally stopped using Bash in its operating systems as default shell with the release of MacOS Catalina in 2019. + +Brace expansion +Brace expansion, also called alternation, is a feature copied from the C shell. It generates a set of alternative combinations. Generated results need not exist as files. The results of each expanded string are not sorted and left to right order is preserved: + +$ echo a{p,c,d,b}e +ape ace ade abe +$ echo {a,b,c}{d,e,f} +ad ae af bd be bf cd ce cf +Users should not use brace expansions in portable shell scripts, because the Bourne shell does not produce the same output. + +$ # bash shell +$/bin/bash -c 'echo a{p,c,d,b}e' +ape ace ade abe +$ # A traditional shell does not produce the same output +$ /bin/sh -c 'echo a{p,c,d,b}e' +a{p,c,d,b}e + +When brace expansion is combined with wildcards, the braces are expanded first, and then the resulting wildcards are substituted normally. Hence, a listing of JPEG and PNG images in the current directory could be obtained using: + +ls *.{jpg,jpeg,png} # expands to *.jpg *.jpeg *.png - after which, + # the wildcards are processed +echo *.{png,jp{e,}g} # echo just shows the expansions - + # and braces in braces are possible. + +In addition to alternation, brace expansion can be used for sequential ranges between two integers or characters separated by double dots. Newer versions of Bash allow a third integer to specify the increment. + +$ echo {1..10} +1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 +$ echo {01..10} +01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 +$ echo file{1..4}.txt +file1.txt file2.txt file3.txt file4.txt +$ echo {a..e} +a b c d e +$ echo {1..10..3} +1 4 7 10 +$ echo {a..j..3} +a d g j + +When brace expansion is combined with variable expansion (A.K.A. parameter expansion and parameter substitution) the variable expansion is performed after the brace expansion, which in some cases may necessitate the use of the eval built-in, thus: + +$ start=1; end=10 +$ echo {$start..$end} # fails to expand due to the evaluation order +{1..10} +$ eval echo {$start..$end} # variable expansion occurs then resulting string is evaluated +1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 + +Startup scripts + +When Bash starts, it executes the commands in a variety of dot files. Unlike Bash shell scripts, dot files do not typically have execute permission enabled nor an interpreter directive like #!/bin/bash. + +Legacy-compatible Bash startup example +The skeleton ~/.bash_profile below is compatible with the Bourne shell and gives semantics similar to csh for the ~/.bashrc and ~/.bash_login. The [ -r filename ] && cmd is a short-circuit evaluation that tests if filename exists and is readable, skipping the part after the && if it is not. + +[ -r ~/.profile ] && . ~/.profile # set up environment, once, Bourne-sh syntax only +if [ -n "$PS1" ] ; then # are we interactive? + [ -r ~/.bashrc ] && . ~/.bashrc # tty/prompt/function setup for interactive shells + [ -r ~/.bash_login ] && . ~/.bash_login # any at-login tasks for login shell only +fi # End of "if" block + +Operating system issues in Bash startup +Some versions of Unix and Linux contain Bash system startup scripts, generally under the /etc directories. Bash calls these as part of its standard initialization, but other startup files can read them in a different order than the documented Bash startup sequence. The default content of the root user's files may also have issues, as well as the skeleton files the system provides to new user accounts upon setup. The startup scripts that launch the X window system may also do surprising things with the user's Bash startup scripts in an attempt to set up user-environment variables before launching the window manager. These issues can often be addressed using a ~/.xsession or ~/.xprofile file to read the ~/.profile — which provides the environment variables that Bash shell windows spawned from the window manager need, such as xterm or Gnome Terminal. + +Portability +Invoking Bash with the --posix option or stating set -o posix in a script causes Bash to conform very closely to the POSIX 1003.2 standard. Bash shell scripts intended for portability should take into account at least the POSIX shell standard. Some bash features not found in POSIX are: + + Certain extended invocation options + Brace expansion + Arrays and associative arrays + The double bracket extended test construct and its regex matching + The double-parentheses arithmetic-evaluation construct (only ; is POSIX) + Certain string-manipulation operations in parameter expansion + for scoped variables + Process substitution + Bash-specific builtins + Coprocesses + $EPOCHSECONDS and $EPOCHREALTIME variables + +If a piece of code uses such a feature, it is called a "bashism" – a problem for portable use. Debian's and Vidar Holen's can be used to make sure that a script does not contain these parts. The list varies depending on the actual target shell: Debian's policy allows some extensions in their scripts (as they are in the dash shell), while a script intending to support pre-POSIX Bourne shells, like autoconf's , are even more limited in the features they can use. + +Keyboard shortcuts + +Bash uses GNU Readline to provide keyboard shortcuts for command line editing using the default (Emacs) key bindings. Vi-bindings can be enabled by running set -o vi. + +Process management +The Bash shell has two modes of execution for commands: batch, and concurrent mode. + +To execute commands in batch (i.e., in sequence) they must be separated by the character ";", or on separate lines: + +command1; command2 + +in this example, when command1 is finished, command2 is executed. + +A background execution of command1 can occur using (symbol &) at the end of an execution command, and process will be executed in background returning immediately control to the shell and allowing continued execution of commands. +command1 & + +Or to have a concurrent execution of two command1 and command2, they must be executed in the Bash shell in the following way: + +command1 & command2 + +In this case command1 is executed in the background & symbol, returning immediately control to the shell that executes command2 in the foreground. + +A process can be stopped and control returned to bash by typing while the process is running in the foreground. + +A list of all processes, both in the background and stopped, can be achieved by running jobs: +$ jobs +[1]- Running command1 & +[2]+ Stopped command2 + +In the output, the number in brackets refers to the job id. The plus sign signifies the default process for bg and fg. The text "Running" and "Stopped" refer to the process state. The last string is the command that started the process. + +The state of a process can be changed using various commands. The fg command brings a process to the foreground, while bg sets a stopped process running in the background. bg and fg can take a job id as their first argument, to specify the process to act on. Without one, they use the default process, identified by a plus sign in the output of jobs. The kill command can be used to end a process prematurely, by sending it a signal. The job id must be specified after a percent sign: + +kill %1 + +Conditional execution +Bash supplies "conditional execution" command separators that make execution of a command contingent on the exit code set by a precedent command. For example: + +cd "$SOMEWHERE" && ./do_something || echo "An error occurred" >&2 + +Where ./do_something is only executed if the cd (change directory) command was "successful" (returned an exit status of zero) and the echo command would only be executed if either the cd or the ./do_something command return an "error" (non-zero exit status). + +For all commands the exit status is stored in the special variable $?. Bash also supports and forms of conditional command evaluation. + +Bug reporting + +An external command called bashbug reports Bash shell bugs. When the command is invoked, it brings up the user's default editor with a form to fill in. The form is mailed to the Bash maintainers (or optionally to other email addresses). + +Programmable completion +Bash supports programmable completion via built-in complete, , and compgen commands. The feature has been available since the beta version of 2.04 released in 2000. These commands enable complex and intelligent completion specification for commands (i.e. installed programs), functions, variables, and filenames. + +The complete and two commands specify how arguments of some available commands or options are going to be listed in the readline input. As of version 5.1 completion of the command or the option is usually activated by the keystroke after typing its name. + +Release history + +See also + + Comparison of command shells + +References + +External links + + + (interview with GNU Bash's maintainer, Chet Ramey) + +1989 software +Cross-platform free software +Domain-specific programming languages +Dynamically scoped programming languages +Free software programmed in C +GNU Project software +Scripting languages +Text-oriented programming languages +Unix shells +A blizzard is a severe snowstorm characterized by strong sustained winds and low visibility, lasting for a prolonged period of time—typically at least three or four hours. A ground blizzard is a weather condition where snow is not falling but loose snow on the ground is lifted and blown by strong winds. Blizzards can have an immense size and usually stretch to hundreds or thousands of kilometres. + +Definition and etymology +In the United States, the National Weather Service defines a blizzard as a severe snow storm characterized by strong winds causing blowing snow that results in low visibilities. The difference between a blizzard and a snowstorm is the strength of the wind, not the amount of snow. To be a blizzard, a snow storm must have sustained winds or frequent gusts that are greater than or equal to with blowing or drifting snow which reduces visibility to or less and must last for a prolonged period of time—typically three hours or more. + +Environment Canada defines a blizzard as a storm with wind speeds exceeding accompanied by visibility of or less, resulting from snowfall, blowing snow, or a combination of the two. These conditions must persist for a period of at least four hours for the storm to be classified as a blizzard, except north of the arctic tree line, where that threshold is raised to six hours. +The Australia Bureau of Meteorology describes a blizzard as, "Violent and very cold wind which is laden with snow, some part, at least, of which has been raised from snow covered ground." + +While severe cold and large amounts of drifting snow may accompany blizzards, they are not required. Blizzards can bring whiteout conditions, and can paralyze regions for days at a time, particularly where snowfall is unusual or rare. + +A severe blizzard has winds over , near zero visibility, and temperatures of or lower. In Antarctica, blizzards are associated with winds spilling over the edge of the ice plateau at an average velocity of . + +Ground blizzard refers to a weather condition where loose snow or ice on the ground is lifted and blown by strong winds. The primary difference between a ground blizzard as opposed to a regular blizzard is that in a ground blizzard no precipitation is produced at the time, but rather all the precipitation is already present in the form of snow or ice at the surface. + +The Oxford English Dictionary concludes the term blizzard is likely onomatopoeic, derived from the same sense as blow, blast, blister, and bluster; the first recorded use of it for weather dates to 1829, when it was defined as a "violent blow". It achieved its modern definition by 1859, when it was in use in the western United States. The term became common in the press during the harsh winter of 1880–81. + +United States storm systems + +In the United States, storm systems powerful enough to cause blizzards usually form when the jet stream dips far to the south, allowing cold, dry polar air from the north to clash with warm, humid air moving up from the south. + +When cold, moist air from the Pacific Ocean moves eastward to the Rocky Mountains and the Great Plains, and warmer, moist air moves north from the Gulf of Mexico, all that is needed is a movement of cold polar air moving south to form potential blizzard conditions that may extend from the Texas Panhandle to the Great Lakes and Midwest. A blizzard also may be formed when a cold front and warm front mix together and a blizzard forms at the border line. + +Another storm system occurs when a cold core low over the Hudson Bay area in Canada is displaced southward over southeastern Canada, the Great Lakes, and New England. When the rapidly moving cold front collides with warmer air coming north from the Gulf of Mexico, strong surface winds, significant cold air advection, and extensive wintry precipitation occur. + +Low pressure systems moving out of the Rocky Mountains onto the Great Plains, a broad expanse of flat land, much of it covered in prairie, steppe and grassland, can cause thunderstorms and rain to the south and heavy snows and strong winds to the north. With few trees or other obstructions to reduce wind and blowing, this part of the country is particularly vulnerable to blizzards with very low temperatures and whiteout conditions. In a true whiteout, there is no visible horizon. People can become lost in their own front yards, when the door is only away, and they would have to feel their way back. Motorists have to stop their cars where they are, as the road is impossible to see. + +Nor'easter blizzards + +A nor'easter is a macro-scale storm that occurs off the New England and Atlantic Canada coastlines. It gets its name from the direction the wind is coming from. The usage of the term in North America comes from the wind associated with many different types of storms, some of which can form in the North Atlantic Ocean and some of which form as far south as the Gulf of Mexico. The term is most often used in the coastal areas of New England and Atlantic Canada. This type of storm has characteristics similar to a hurricane. More specifically, it describes a low-pressure area whose center of rotation is just off the coast and whose leading winds in the left-forward quadrant rotate onto land from the northeast. High storm waves may sink ships at sea and cause coastal flooding and beach erosion. Notable nor'easters include The Great Blizzard of 1888, one of the worst blizzards in U.S. history. It dropped of snow and had sustained winds of more than that produced snowdrifts in excess of . Railroads were shut down and people were confined to their houses for up to a week. It killed 400 people, mostly in New York. + +Historic events + +1972 Iran blizzard +The 1972 Iran blizzard, which caused 4,000 reported deaths, was the deadliest blizzard in recorded history. Dropping as much as of snow, it completely covered 200 villages. After a snowfall lasting nearly a week, an area the size of Wisconsin was entirely buried in snow. + +2008 Afghanistan blizzard +The 2008 Afghanistan blizzard, was a fierce blizzard that struck Afghanistan on the 10th of January 2008. Temperatures fell to a low of , with up to of snow in the more mountainous regions, killing at least 926 people. It was the third deadliest blizzard in history. The weather also claimed more than 100,000 sheep and goats, and nearly 315,000 cattle died. + +The Snow Winter of 1880–1881 + +The winter of 1880–1881 is widely considered the most severe winter ever known in many parts of the United States. + +The initial blizzard in October of 1880 brought snowfalls so deep that two-story homes experienced accumulations, as opposed to drifts, up to their second floor windows. No one was prepared for deep snow so early in the winter. Farmers from North Dakota to Virginia were caught flat with fields unharvested, what grain that had been harvested unmilled, and their suddenly all-important winter stocks of wood fuel only partially collected. By January train service was almost entirely suspended from the region. Railroads hired scores of men to dig out the tracks but as soon as they had finished shoveling a stretch of line a new storm arrived, burying it again. + + +There were no winter thaws and on February 2, 1881, a second massive blizzard struck that lasted for nine days. In towns the streets were filled with solid drifts to the tops of the buildings and tunneling was necessary to move about. Homes and barns were completely covered, compelling farmers to construct fragile tunnels in order to feed their stock. + +When the snow finally melted in late spring of 1881 huge sections of the plains experienced flooding. Massive ice jams clogged the Missouri River and when they broke the downstream areas were inundated. Most of the town of Yankton, in what is now South Dakota, was washed away when the river overflowed its banks after the thaw. + +Novelization +Many children—and their parents—learned of "The Snow Winter" through the children's book The Long Winter by Laura Ingalls Wilder, in which the author tells of her family's efforts to survive. The snow arrived in October 1880 and blizzard followed blizzard throughout the winter and into March 1881, leaving many areas snowbound throughout the entire winter. Accurate details in Wilder's novel include the blizzards' frequency and the deep cold, the Chicago and North Western Railway stopping trains until the spring thaw because the snow made the tracks impassable, the near-starvation of the townspeople, and the courage of her future husband Almanzo and another man, Cap Garland, who ventured out on the open prairie in search of a cache of wheat that no one was even sure existed. + +The Storm of the Century + +The Storm of the Century, also known as the Great Blizzard of 1993, was a large cyclonic storm that formed over the Gulf of Mexico on March 12, 1993, and dissipated in the North Atlantic Ocean on March 15. It is unique for its intensity, massive size and wide-reaching effect. At its height, the storm stretched from Canada towards Central America, but its main impact was on the United States and Cuba. The cyclone moved through the Gulf of Mexico, and then through the Eastern United States before moving into Canada. Areas as far south as northern Alabama and Georgia received a dusting of snow and areas such as Birmingham, Alabama, received up to with hurricane-force wind gusts and record low barometric pressures. Between Louisiana and Cuba, hurricane-force winds produced high storm surges across northwestern Florida, which along with scattered tornadoes killed dozens of people. In the United States, the storm was responsible for the loss of electric power to over 10 million customers. It is purported to have been directly experienced by nearly 40 percent of the country's population at that time. A total of 310 people, including 10 from Cuba, perished during this storm. The storm cost $6 to $10 billion in damages. + +List of blizzards + +North America + +1700 to 1799 +The Great Snow 1717 series of four snowstorms between February 27 and March 7, 1717. There were reports of about five feet of snow already on the ground when the first of the storms hit. By the end, there were about ten feet of snow and some drifts reaching , burying houses entirely. In the colonial era, this storm made travel impossible until the snow simply melted. + Blizzard of 1765. March 24, 1765. Affected area from Philadelphia to Massachusetts. High winds and over of snowfall recorded in some areas. + Blizzard of 1772. "The Washington and Jefferson Snowstorm of 1772". January 26–29, 1772. One of largest D.C. and Virginia area snowstorms ever recorded. Snow accumulations of recorded. + The "Hessian Storm of 1778". December 26, 1778. Severe blizzard with high winds, heavy snows and bitter cold extending from Pennsylvania to New England. Snow drifts reported to be high in Rhode Island. Storm named for stranded Hessian troops in deep snows stationed in Rhode Island during the Revolutionary War. + The Great Snow of 1786. December 4–10, 1786. Blizzard conditions and a succession of three harsh snowstorms produced snow depths of to from Pennsylvania to New England. Reportedly of similar magnitude of 1717 snowstorms. + The Long Storm of 1798. November 19–21, 1798. Heavy snowstorm produced snow from Maryland to Maine. + +1800 to 1850 + Blizzard of 1805. January 26–28, 1805. Cyclone brought heavy snowstorm to New York City and New England. Snow fell continuously for two days where over of snow accumulated. + New York City Blizzard of 1811. December 23–24, 1811. Severe blizzard conditions reported on Long Island, in New York City, and southern New England. Strong winds and tides caused damage to shipping in harbor. + Luminous Blizzard of 1817. January 17, 1817. In Massachusetts and Vermont, a severe snowstorm was accompanied by frequent lightning and heavy thunder. St. Elmo's fire reportedly lit up trees, fence posts, house roofs, and even people. John Farrar professor at Harvard, recorded the event in his memoir in 1821. + Great Snowstorm of 1821. January 5–7, 1821. Extensive snowstorm and blizzard spread from Virginia to New England. + Winter of Deep Snow in 1830. December 29, 1830. Blizzard storm dumped in Kansas City and in Illinois. Areas experienced repeated storms thru mid-February 1831. + "The Great Snowstorm of 1831" January 14–16, 1831. Produced snowfall over widest geographic area that was only rivaled, or exceeded by, the 1993 Blizzard. Blizzard raged from Georgia, to Ohio Valley, all the way to Maine. + "The Big Snow of 1836" January 8–10, 1836. Produced to of snowfall in interior New York, northern Pennsylvania, and western New England. Philadelphia got a reported and New York City of snow. + +1851 to 1900 + Plains Blizzard of 1856. December 3–5, 1856. Severe blizzard-like storm raged for three days in Kansas and Iowa. Early pioneers suffered. + "The Cold Storm of 1857" January 18–19, 1857. Produced severe blizzard conditions from North Carolina to Maine. Heavy snowfalls reported in east coast cities. + Midwest Blizzard of 1864. January 1, 1864. Gale-force winds, driving snow, and low temperatures all struck simultaneously around Chicago, Wisconsin and Minnesota. + Plains Blizzard of 1873. January 7, 1873. Severe blizzard struck the Great Plains. Many pioneers from the east were unprepared for the storm and perished in Minnesota and Iowa. + Great Plains Easter Blizzard of 1873. April 13, 1873 + Seattle Blizzard of 1880. January 6, 1880. Seattle area's greatest snowstorm to date. An estimated fell around the town. Many barns collapsed and all transportation halted. + The Hard Winter of 1880-81. October 15, 1880. A blizzard in eastern South Dakota marked the beginning of this historically difficult season. Laura Ingalls Wilder's book The Long Winter details the effects of this season on early settlers. + In the three year winter period from December 1885 to March 1888, the Great Plains and Eastern United States suffered a series of the worst blizzards in this nation's history ending with the Schoolhouse Blizzard and the Great Blizzard of 1888. The massive explosion of the volcano Krakatoa in the South Pacific late in August 1883 is a suspected cause of these huge blizzards during these several years. The clouds of ash it emitted continued to circulate around the world for many years. Weather patterns continued to be chaotic for years, and temperatures did not return to normal until 1888. Record rainfall was experienced in Southern California during July 1883 to June 1884. The Krakatoa eruption injected an unusually large amount of sulfur dioxide (SO2) gas high into the stratosphere which reflects sunlight and helped cool the planet over the next few years until the suspended atmospheric sulfur fell to ground. + Plains Blizzard of late 1885. In Kansas, heavy snows of late 1885 had piled drifts high. + Kansas Blizzard of 1886. First week of January 1886. Reported that 80 percent of the cattle were frozen to death in that state alone from the cold and snow. + January 1886 Blizzard. January 9, 1886. Same system as Kansas 1886 Blizzard that traveled eastward. + Great Plains Blizzards of late 1886. On November 13, 1886, it reportedly began to snow and did not stop for a month in the Great Plains region. + Great Plains Blizzard of 1887. January 9–11, 1887. Reported 72-hour blizzard that covered parts of the Great Plains in more than of snow. Winds whipped and temperatures dropped to around . So many cows that were not killed by the cold soon died from starvation. When spring arrived, millions of the animals were dead, with around 90 percent of the open range's cattle rotting where they fell. Those present reported carcasses as far as the eye could see. Dead cattle clogged up rivers and spoiled drinking water. Many ranchers went bankrupt and others simply called it quits and moved back east. The "Great Die-Up" from the blizzard effectively concluded the romantic period of the great Plains cattle drives. +Schoolhouse Blizzard of 1888 North American Great Plains. January 12–13, 1888. What made the storm so deadly was the timing (during work and school hours), the suddenness, and the brief spell of warmer weather that preceded it. In addition, the very strong wind fields behind the cold front and the powdery nature of the snow reduced visibilities on the open plains to zero. People ventured from the safety of their homes to do chores, go to town, attend school, or simply enjoy the relative warmth of the day. As a result, thousands of people—including many schoolchildren—got caught in the blizzard. +Great Blizzard of March 1888 March 11–14, 1888. One of the most severe recorded blizzards in the history of the United States. On March 12, an unexpected northeaster hit New England and the mid-Atlantic, dropping up to of snow in the space of three days. New York City experienced its heaviest snowfall recorded to date at that time, all street railcars were stranded, and the storm led to the creation of the NYC subway system. Snowdrifts reached up to the second story of some buildings. Some 400 people died from this blizzard, including many sailors aboard vessels that were beset by gale-force winds and turbulent seas. +Great Blizzard of 1899 February 11–14, 1899. An extremely unusual blizzard in that it reached into the far southern states of the US. It hit in February, and the area around Washington, D.C., experienced 51 hours straight of snowfall. The port of New Orleans was totally iced over; revelers participating in the New Orleans Mardi Gras had to wait for the parade routes to be shoveled free of snow. Concurrent with this blizzard was the extremely cold arctic air. Many city and state record low temperatures date back to this event, including all-time records for locations in the Midwest and South. State record lows: Nebraska reached , Ohio experienced , Louisiana bottomed out at , and Florida dipped below zero to . + +1901 to 1939 +Great Lakes Storm of 1913 November 7–10, 1913. "The White Hurricane" of 1913 was the deadliest and most destructive natural disaster ever to hit the Great Lakes Basin in the Midwestern United States and the Canadian province of Ontario. It produced wind gusts, waves over high, and whiteout snowsqualls. It killed more than 250 people, destroyed 19 ships, and stranded 19 others. + Blizzard of 1918. January 11, 1918. Vast blizzard-like storm moved through Great Lakes and Ohio Valley. +1920 North Dakota blizzard March 15–18, 1920 +Knickerbocker Storm January 27–28, 1922 + +1940 to 1949 +Armistice Day Blizzard of 1940 November 10–12, 1940. Took place in the Midwest region of the United States on Armistice Day. This "Panhandle hook" winter storm cut a through the middle of the country from Kansas to Michigan. The morning of the storm was unseasonably warm but by mid afternoon conditions quickly deteriorated into a raging blizzard that would last into the next day. A total of 145 deaths were blamed on the storm, almost a third of them duck hunters who had taken time off to take advantage of the ideal hunting conditions. Weather forecasters had not predicted the severity of the oncoming storm, and as a result the hunters were not dressed for cold weather. When the storm began many hunters took shelter on small islands in the Mississippi River, and the winds and waves overcame their encampments. Some became stranded on the islands and then froze to death in the single-digit temperatures that moved in over night. Others tried to make it to shore and drowned. +North American blizzard of 1947 December 25–26, 1947. Was a record-breaking snowfall that began on Christmas Day and brought the Northeast United States to a standstill. Central Park in New York City got of snowfall in 24 hours with deeper snows in suburbs. It was not accompanied by high winds, but the snow fell steadily with drifts reaching . Seventy-seven deaths were attributed to the blizzard. + The Blizzard of 1949 - The first blizzard started on Sunday, January 2, 1949; it lasted for three days. It was followed by two more months of blizzard after blizzard with high winds and bitter cold. Deep drifts isolated southeast Wyoming, northern Colorado, western South Dakota and western Nebraska, for weeks. Railroad tracks and roads were all drifted in with drifts of and more. Hundreds of people that had been traveling on trains were stranded. Motorists that had set out on January 2 found their way to private farm homes in rural areas and hotels and other buildings in towns; some dwellings were so crowded that there wasn't enough room for all to sleep at once. It would be weeks before they were plowed out. The Federal government quickly responded with aid, airlifting food and hay for livestock. The total rescue effort involved numerous volunteers and local agencies plus at least ten major state and federal agencies from the U.S. Army to the National Park Service. Private businesses, including railroad and oil companies, also lent manpower and heavy equipment to the work of plowing out. The official death toll was 76 people and one million livestock. Youtube video Storm of the Century - the Blizzard of '49 Storm of the Century - the Blizzard of '49 + +1950 to 1959 +Great Appalachian Storm of November 1950 November 24–30, 1950 +March 1958 Nor'easter blizzard March 18–21, 1958. + The Mount Shasta California Snowstorm of 1959 – The storm dumped of snow on Mount Shasta. The bulk of the snow fell on unpopulated mountainous areas, barely disrupting the residents of the Mount Shasta area. The amount of snow recorded is the largest snowfall from a single storm in North America. + +1960 to 1969 +March 1960 Nor'easter blizzard March 2–5, 1960 +December 1960 Nor'easter blizzard December 12–14, 1960. Wind gusts up to . +March 1962 Nor'easter Great March Storm of 1962 – Ash Wednesday. North Carolina and Virginia blizzards. Struck during Spring high tide season and remained mostly stationary for almost 5 days causing significant damage along eastern coast, Assateague island was under water, and dumped of snow in Virginia. +North American blizzard of 1966 January 27–31, 1966 +Chicago Blizzard of 1967 January 26–27, 1967 +February 1969 nor'easter February 8–10, 1969 +March 1969 Nor'easter blizzard March 9, 1969 +December 1969 Nor'easter blizzard December 25–28, 1969. + +1970 to 1979 +The Great Storm of 1975 known as the "Super Bowl Blizzard" or "Minnesota's Storm of the Century". January 9–12, 1975. Wind chills of to recorded, deep snowfalls. +Groundhog Day gale of 1976 February 2, 1976 +Buffalo Blizzard of 1977 January 28 – February 1, 1977. There were several feet of packed snow already on the ground, and the blizzard brought with it enough snow to reach Buffalo's record for the most snow in one season – . +Great Blizzard of 1978 also called the "Cleveland Superbomb". January 25–27, 1978. Was one of the worst snowstorms the Midwest has ever seen. Wind gusts approached , causing snowdrifts to reach heights of in some areas, making roadways impassable. Storm reached maximum intensity over southern Ontario Canada. +Northeastern United States Blizzard of 1978 – February 6–7, 1978. Just one week following the Cleveland Superbomb blizzard, New England was hit with its most severe blizzard in 90 years since 1888. +Chicago Blizzard of 1979 January 13–14, 1979 + +1980 to 1989 +February 1987 Nor'easter blizzard February 22–24, 1987 + +1990 to 1999 +1991 Halloween blizzard Upper Mid-West US, October 31 – November 3, 1991 +December 1992 Nor'easter blizzard December 10–12, 1992 +1993 Storm of the Century March 12–15, 1993. While the southern and eastern U.S. and Cuba received the brunt of this massive blizzard, the Storm of the Century impacted a wider area than any in recorded history. +February 1995 Nor'easter blizzard February 3–6, 1995 +Blizzard of 1996 January 6–10, 1996 +April Fool's Day Blizzard March 31 – April 1, 1997. US East Coast +1997 Western Plains winter storms October 24–26, 1997 +Mid West Blizzard of 1999 January 2–4, 1999 + +2000 to 2009 +January 25, 2000 Southeastern United States winter storm January 25, 2000. North Carolina and Virginia +December 2000 Nor'easter blizzard December 27–31, 2000 +North American blizzard of 2003 February 14–19, 2003 (Presidents' Day Storm II) +December 2003 Nor'easter blizzard December 6–7, 2003 +North American blizzard of 2005 January 20–23, 2005 +North American blizzard of 2006 February 11–13, 2006 +Early winter 2006 North American storm complex Late November 2006 +Colorado Holiday Blizzards (2006–07) December 20–29, 2006 Colorado +February 2007 North America blizzard February 12–20, 2007 +January 2008 North American storm complex January, 2008 West Coast US +North American blizzard of 2008 March 6–10, 2008 +2009 Midwest Blizzard 6–8 December 2009, a bomb cyclogenesis event that also affected parts of Canada +North American blizzard of 2009 December 16–20, 2009 +2009 North American Christmas blizzard December 22–28, 2009 + +2010 to 2019 +February 5–6, 2010 North American blizzard February 5–6, 2010 Referred to at the time as Snowmageddon was a Category 3 ("major") nor'easter and severe weather event. +February 9–10, 2010 North American blizzard February 9–10, 2010 +February 25–27, 2010 North American blizzard February 25–27, 2010 +October 2010 North American storm complex October 23–28, 2010 +December 2010 North American blizzard December 26–29, 2010 +January 31 – February 2, 2011 North American blizzard January 31 – February 2, 2011. Groundhog Day Blizzard of 2011 +2011 Halloween nor'easter October 28 – Nov 1, 2011 +Hurricane Sandy October 29–31, 2012. West Virginia, western North Carolina, and southwest Pennsylvania received heavy snowfall and blizzard conditions from this hurricane +November 2012 nor'easter November 7–10, 2012 +December 17–22, 2012 North American blizzard December 17–22, 2012 +Late December 2012 North American storm complex December 25–28, 2012 +February 2013 nor'easter February 7–20, 2013 +February 2013 Great Plains blizzard February 19 – March 6, 2013 +March 2013 nor'easter March 6, 2013 +October 2013 North American storm complex October 3–5, 2013 + Buffalo, NY blizzard of 2014. Buffalo got over of snow during November 18–20, 2014. +January 2015 North American blizzard January 26–27, 2015 +Late December 2015 North American storm complex December 26–27, 2015 Was one of the most notorious blizzards in the state of New Mexico and West Texas ever reported. It had sustained winds of over and continuous snow precipitation that lasted over 30 hours. Dozens of vehicles were stranded in small county roads in the areas of Hobbs, Roswell, and Carlsbad New Mexico. Strong sustained winds destroyed various mobile homes. +January 2016 United States blizzard January 20–23, 2016 +February 2016 North American storm complex February 1–8, 2016 +February 2017 North American blizzard February 6–11, 2017 +March 2017 North American blizzard March 9–16, 2017 +Early January 2018 nor’easter January 3–6, 2018 +March 2019 North American blizzard March 8–16, 2019 +April 2019 North American blizzard April 10–14, 2019 + +2020 to present +December 5–6, 2020 nor'easter December 5–6, 2020 +January 31 – February 3, 2021 nor'easter January 31 – February 3, 2021 +February 13–17, 2021 North American winter storm February 13–17, 2021 +March 2021 North American blizzard March 11–14, 2021 +January 2022 North American blizzard January 27–30, 2022 +Late December 2022 North American winter storm December 21–26, 2022 + +Canada + The Eastern Canadian Blizzard of 1971 – Dumped a foot and a half (45.7 cm) of snow on Montreal and more than elsewhere in the region. The blizzard caused the cancellation of a Montreal Canadiens hockey game for the first time since 1918. +Saskatchewan blizzard of 2007 – January 10, 2007 Canada + +United Kingdom +Great Frost of 1709 +Blizzard of January 1881 +Winter of 1894–95 in the United Kingdom +Winter of 1946–1947 in the United Kingdom +Winter of 1962–1963 in the United Kingdom +January 1987 Southeast England snowfall +Winter of 1990–91 in Western Europe +February 2009 Great Britain and Ireland snowfall +Winter of 2009–10 in Great Britain and Ireland +Winter of 2010–11 in Great Britain and Ireland +Early 2012 European cold wave + +Other locations +1954 Romanian blizzard +1972 Iran blizzard +Winter of 1990–1991 in Western Europe +2008 Afghanistan blizzard +2008 Chinese winter storms +Winter storms of 2009–2010 in East Asia + +See also + Cold wave + Lake-effect snow + Nor'easter + European windstorm + Whiteout (weather) + Blowing snow advisory + Ground blizzard + Severe weather terminology (Canada) + Snowsquall + Blowing snow + List of blizzards + +References + +External links + +Digital Snow Museum Photos of historic blizzards and snowstorms. +Farmers Almanac List of Worst Blizzards in the United States +United States Search and Rescue Task Force: About Blizzards +A Historical Review On The Origin and Definition of the Word Blizzard Dr Richard Wild + + +Snow or ice weather phenomena +Storm +Weather hazards +Hazards of outdoor recreation +A bikini is a two-piece swimsuit primarily worn by girls and women that features one piece on top that covers the breasts, and a second piece on the bottom: the front covering the pelvis but usually exposing the navel, and the back generally covering the intergluteal cleft and a little, some, or all of the buttocks. The size of the top and bottom can vary, from bikinis that offer full coverage of the breasts, pelvis, and buttocks, to more revealing designs with a thong or G-string bottom that covers only the mons pubis, but exposes the buttocks, and a top that covers only the areolae. Bikini bottoms covering about half the buttocks may be described as "Brazilian-cut", while those covering about three-quarters of the buttocks may be described as "cheeky" or "cheeky-cut". +In May 1946, Parisian fashion designer Jacques Heim released a two-piece swimsuit design that he named the ('Atom') and advertised as "the smallest swimsuit in the world". Like swimsuits of the era, it covered the wearer's belly button, and it failed to attract much attention. Clothing designer Louis Réard introduced his new, smaller design in July. He named the swimsuit after the Bikini Atoll, where the first public test of a nuclear bomb had taken place four days before. His skimpy design was risqué, exposing the wearer's navel and much of her buttocks. No runway model would wear it, so he hired a nude dancer from the Casino de Paris named Micheline Bernardini to model it at a review of swimsuit fashions. + +Due to its revealing design, the bikini was once considered controversial, facing opposition from a number of groups and being accepted only very slowly by the general public. In many countries, the design was banned from beaches and other public places: in 1949, France banned the bikini from being worn on its coastlines; Germany banned the bikini from public swimming pools until the 1970s, and some communist groups condemned the bikini as a "capitalist decadence". The bikini also faced criticism from some feminists, who reviled it as a garment designed to suit men's tastes, and not those of women. Despite this backlash, however, the bikini still sold well throughout the mid to later 20th century. + +The bikini gained increased exposure and acceptance as film stars like Brigitte Bardot, Raquel Welch, and Ursula Andress wore them and were photographed on public beaches and seen in film. The minimalist bikini design became common in most Western countries by the mid-1960s as both swimwear and underwear. By the late 20th century, it was widely used as sportswear in beach volleyball and bodybuilding. There are a number of modern stylistic variations of the design used for marketing purposes and as industry classifications, including monokini, microkini, tankini, trikini, pubikini, skirtini, thong, and g-string. A man's single piece brief swimsuit may also be called a bikini or "bikini brief", particularly if it has slimmer sides. Similarly, a variety of men's and women's underwear types are described as bikini underwear. The bikini has gradually gained wide acceptance in Western society. By the early 2000s, bikinis had become a US$811 million business annually, and boosted spin off services such as bikini waxing and sun tanning. + +Etymology and terminology +While the two-piece swimsuit as a design existed in classical antiquity, the modern design first attracted public notice in Paris on July 5, 1946. French automotive engineer Louis Réard introduced a design he named the "bikini", adopting the name from the Bikini Atoll in the Pacific Ocean, which was the colonial name the Germans gave to the atoll, borrowed from the Marshallese name for the island, . Four days earlier, the United States had initiated its first peacetime nuclear weapons test at Bikini Atoll as part of Operation Crossroads. Réard hoped his swimsuit's revealing style would create an "explosive commercial and cultural reaction" similar to the explosion at Bikini Atoll. + +By making an analogy with words like bilingual and bilateral containing the Latin prefix "bi-" (meaning "two" in Latin), the word bikini was first back-derived as consisting of two parts, [bi + kini] by Rudi Gernreich, who introduced the monokini in 1964. Later swimsuit designs like the tankini and trikini further cemented this derivation. Over time the "–kini family" (as dubbed by author William Safire), including the "–ini sisters" (as dubbed by designer Anne Cole), expanded into a variety of swimwear including the monokini (also known as a numokini or unikini), seekini, tankini, camikini, (also hipkini), minikini, face-kini, burkini, and microkini. The Language Report, compiled by lexicographer Susie Dent and published by the Oxford University Press (OUP) in 2003, considers lexicographic inventions like bandeaukini and camkini, two variants of the tankini, important to observe. Although "bikini" was originally a registered trademark of Réard, it has since become genericized. + +Variations of the term are used to describe stylistic variations for promotional purposes and industry classifications, including monokini, microkini, tankini, trikini, pubikini, bandeaukini and skirtini. A man's brief swimsuit may also be referred to as a bikini. Similarly, a variety of men's and women's underwear types are described as bikini underwear. + +History + +In antiquity + +According to archaeologist James Mellaart, a mural from the Chalcolithic era (around 5600 BC) in Çatalhöyük, Anatolia depicts a mother goddess astride two leopards wearing a costume somewhat like a bikini. The two-piece swimsuit can be traced back to the Greco-Roman world, where bikini-like garments worn by women athletes are depicted on urns and paintings dating back to 1400 BC. + +In Coronation of the Winner, a mosaic in the floor of a Roman villa in Sicily that dates from the Diocletian period (286–305 AD), young women participate in weightlifting, discus throwing, and running ball games dressed in bikini-like garments (technically bandeaukinis in modern lexicon). The mosaic, found in the Sicilian Villa Romana del Casale, features ten maidens who have been anachronistically dubbed the "Bikini Girls". Other Roman archaeological finds depict the goddess Venus in a similar garment. In Pompeii, depictions of Venus wearing a bikini were discovered in the Casa della Venere, in the tablinum of the House of Julia Felix, and in an atrium garden of Via Dell'Abbondanza. + +Precursors in the West + +Swimming or bathing outdoors was discouraged in the Christian West, so there was little demand or need for swimming or bathing costumes until the 18th century. The bathing gown of the 18th century was a loose ankle-length full-sleeve chemise-type gown made of wool or flannel that retained coverage and modesty. + +In 1907, Australian swimmer and performer Annette Kellermann was arrested on a Boston beach for wearing form-fitting sleeveless one-piece knitted swimming tights that covered her from neck to toe, a costume she adopted from England, although it became accepted swimsuit attire for women in parts of Europe by 1910. In 1913, designer Carl Jantzen made the first functional two-piece swimwear. Inspired by the introduction of females into Olympic swimming he designed a close-fitting costume with shorts for the bottom and short sleeves for the top. + +During the 1920s and 1930s, people began to shift from "taking in the water" to "taking in the sun", at bathhouses and spas, and swimsuit designs shifted from functional considerations to incorporate more decorative features. Rayon was used in the 1920s in the manufacture of tight-fitting swimsuits, but durability issues, especially when wet, proved problematic. Jersey and silk were also sometimes used. By the 1930s, manufacturers had lowered necklines in the back, removed sleeves, and tightened the sides. With the development of new clothing materials, particularly latex and nylon, swimsuits gradually began hugging the body through the 1930s, with shoulder straps that could be lowered for tanning. + +Women's swimwear of the 1930s and 1940s incorporated increasing degrees of midriff exposure. The 1932 Hollywood film Three on a Match featured a midriff-baring two-piece bathing suit. Actress Dolores del Río was the first major star to wear a two-piece women's bathing suit onscreen in Flying Down to Rio (1933). + +Teen magazines of late 1940s and 1950s featured similar designs of midriff-baring suits and tops. However, midriff fashion was stated as only for beaches and informal events and considered indecent to be worn in public. Hollywood endorsed the new glamor in films like 1949's Neptune's Daughter in which Esther Williams wore provocatively named costumes such as "Double Entendre" and "Honey Child". + +Wartime production during World War II required vast amounts of cotton, silk, nylon, wool, leather, and rubber. In 1942, the United States War Production Board issued Regulation L-85, cutting the use of natural fibers in clothing and mandating a 10% reduction in the amount of fabric in women's beachwear. To comply with the regulations, swimsuit manufacturers removed skirt panels and other attachments, while increasing production of the two-piece swimsuit with bare midriffs. At the same time, demand for all swimwear declined as there was not much interest in going to the beach, especially in Europe. + +Modern bikini + +In the summer of 1946, Western Europeans enjoyed their first war-free summer in many years. French designers sought to deliver fashions that matched the liberated mood of the people. Fabric was still in short supply, and in an endeavor to resurrect swimwear sales, two French designers – Jacques Heim and Louis Réard – almost simultaneously launched new two-piece swimsuit designs in 1946. Heim launched a two-piece swimsuit design in Paris that he called the atome, after the smallest known particle of matter. He announced that it was the "world's smallest bathing suit." Although briefer than the two-piece swimsuits of the 1930s, the bottom of Heim's new two-piece beach costume still covered the wearer's navel. + +Soon after, Louis Réard created a competing two-piece swimsuit design, which he called the bikini. He noticed that women at the beach rolled up the edges of their swimsuit bottoms and tops to improve their tan. On 5 July, Réard introduced his design at a swimsuit review held at a popular Paris public pool, Piscine Molitor, four days after the first test of a US nuclear weapon at the Bikini Atoll. The newspapers were full of news about it and Réard hoped for the same with his design. Réard's bikini undercut Heim's atome in its brevity. His design consisted of two side-by-side triangles of fabric forming a bra, and two front-and-back triangular pieces of fabric covering the mons pubis and the buttocks, respectively, connected by string. When he was unable to find a fashion model willing to showcase his revealing design, Réard hired Micheline Bernardini, an 18-year old nude dancer from the Casino de Paris. He announced that his swimsuit, was "smaller than the world's smallest bathing suit". Réard said that "like the [atom] bomb, the bikini is small and devastating". Fashion writer Diana Vreeland described the bikini as the "atom bomb of fashion". Bernardini received 50,000 fan letters, many of them from men. + +Photographs of Bernardini and articles about the event were widely carried by the press. The International Herald Tribune alone ran nine stories on the event. French newspaper Le Figaro wrote, "People were craving the simple pleasures of the sea and the sun. For women, wearing a bikini signaled a kind of second liberation. There was really nothing sexual about this. It was instead a celebration of freedom and a return to the joys in life." + +Heim's atome was more in keeping with the sense of propriety of the 1940s, but Réard's design won the public's attention. Although Heim's design was the first worn on the beach and initially sold more swimsuits, it was Réard's description of the two-piece swimsuit as a bikini that stuck. As competing designs emerged, he declared in advertisements that a swimsuit could not be a genuine bikini "unless it could be pulled through a wedding ring." Modern bikinis were first made of cotton and jersey. + +Social resistance + +Despite the garment's initial success in France, women worldwide continued to wear traditional one-piece swimsuits. When his sales stalled, Réard went back to designing and selling orthodox knickers. In 1950, American swimsuit mogul Fred Cole, owner of mass market swimwear firm Cole of California, told Time that he had "little but scorn for France's famed Bikinis." Réard himself would later describe it as a "two-piece bathing suit which reveals everything about a girl except for her mother's maiden name." Fashion magazine Modern Girl Magazine in 1957 stated that "it is hardly necessary to waste words over the so-called bikini since it is inconceivable that any girl with tact and decency would ever wear such a thing". + +In 1951, Eric Morley organized the Festival Bikini Contest, a beauty contest and swimwear advertising opportunity at that year's Festival of Britain. The press, welcoming the spectacle, referred to it as Miss World, a name Morley registered as a trademark. The winner was Kiki Håkansson of Sweden, who was crowned in a bikini. After the crowning, Håkansson was condemned by Pope Pius XII, while Spain and Ireland threatened to withdraw from the pageant. In 1952, bikinis were banned from the pageant and replaced by evening gowns. As a result of the controversy, the bikini was explicitly banned from many other beauty pageants worldwide. Although some regarded the bikini and beauty contests as bringing freedom to women, they were opposed by some feminists as well as religious and cultural groups who objected to the degree of exposure of the female body. + +Paula Stafford was an Australian fashion designer credited with introducing the bikini to Australia; in a famous incident in 1952, model Ann Ferguson was asked to leave a beach in Surfers Paradise because her Paula Stafford bikini was too revealing. The bikini was banned in Australia, on the French Atlantic coastline, in Spain, in Italy, and in Portugal, and was prohibited or discouraged in a number of US states. The United States Motion Picture Production Code, also known as the Hays Code, enforced from 1934, allowed two-piece gowns but prohibited the display of navels in Hollywood films. The National Legion of Decency, a Roman Catholic body overseeing American media content, also pressured Hollywood and foreign film producers to keep bikinis from being featured in Hollywood movies. As late as 1959 one of the United States' largest swimsuit designers, Anne Cole of the Anne Cole brand, said, "It's nothing more than a G-string. It's at the razor's edge of decency." The Hays Code was abandoned by the mid-1960s, and with it the prohibition of female navel exposure, as well as other restrictions. The influence of the National Legion of Decency also waned by the 1960s. + +Rise to popularity + +Increasingly common glamour shots of popular actresses and models on either side of the Atlantic played a large part in bringing the bikini into the mainstream. During the 1950s, Hollywood stars such as Ava Gardner, Rita Hayworth, Lana Turner, Elizabeth Taylor, Tina Louise, Marilyn Monroe, Esther Williams, and Betty Grable took advantage of the risqué publicity associated with the bikini by posing for photographs wearing them—pin-ups of Hayworth and Williams in costume were especially widely distributed in the United States. In 1950, Elvira Pagã walked at the Rio Carnival, Brazil in a golden bikini, starting the bikini tradition of the carnival. + +In Europe, 17-year-old Brigitte Bardot wore scanty bikinis (by contemporary standards) in the French film Manina, la fille sans voiles ("Manina, the girl unveiled"). The promotion for the film, released in France in March 1953, drew more attention to Bardot's bikinis than to the film itself. By the time the film was released in the United States in 1958, it was re-titled Manina, the Girl in the Bikini. Bardot was also photographed wearing a bikini on the beach during the 1957 Cannes Film Festival. Working with her husband and agent Roger Vadim, she garnered significant attention with photographs of her wearing a bikini on every beach in the south of France. + +Similar photographs were taken of Anita Ekberg and Sophia Loren, among others. According to The Guardian, Bardot's photographs in particular turned Saint-Tropez into the beachwear capital of the world, with Bardot identified as the original Cannes bathing beauty. Bardot's photography helped to enhance the public profile of the festival, and Cannes in turn played a crucial role in her career. + +Brian Hyland's novelty-song hit "Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini" became a Billboard No. 1 hit during the summer of 1960: the song tells a story about a young girl who is too shy to wear her new bikini on the beach, thinking it too risqué. Playboy first featured a bikini on its cover in 1962; the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue debut two years later featured Babette March in a white bikini on the cover. + +Ursula Andress, appearing as Honey Ryder in the 1962 British James Bond film, Dr. No, wore a white bikini, which became known as the "Dr. No bikini". It became one of the most famous bikinis of all time and an iconic moment in cinematic and fashion history. Andress said that she owed her career to that white bikini, remarking, "This bikini made me into a success. As a result of starring in Dr. No as the first Bond girl, I was given the freedom to take my pick of future roles and to become financially independent." + +The bikini finally caught on, and by 1963, the movie Beach Party, starring Annette Funicello and Frankie Avalon, led a wave of films that made the bikini a pop-culture symbol, though Funicello was barred from wearing Réard's bikini unlike the other young females in the films. In 1965, a woman told Time that it was "almost square" not to wear a bikini; the magazine wrote two years later that "65% of the young set had already gone over". + +Raquel Welch's fur bikini in One Million Years B.C. (1966) gave the world the most iconic bikini shot of all time and the poster image became an iconic moment in cinema history. Her deer skin bikini in One Million Years B.C., advertised as "mankind's first bikini", (1966) was later described as a "definitive look of the 1960s". Her role wearing the leather bikini made Welch a fashion icon and the photo of her in the bikini became a best-selling pinup poster. + +Stretch nylon bikini briefs and bras complemented the adolescent boutique fashions of the 1960s, allowing those to be minimal. DuPont introduced lycra (DuPont's name for spandex) in the same decade. Spandex expanded the range of novelty fabrics available to designers which meant suits could be made to fit like a second skin without heavy linings. "The advent of Lycra allowed more women to wear a bikini," wrote Kelly Killoren Bensimon, a former model and author of The Bikini Book, "It didn't sag, it didn't bag, and it concealed and revealed. It wasn't so much like lingerie anymore." Increased reliance on stretch fabric led to simplified construction. This fabric allowed designers to create the string bikini, and allowed Rudi Gernreich to create the topless monokini. Alternative swimwear fabrics such as velvet, leather, and crocheted squares surfaced in the early '70s. + +Mass acceptance + +Réard's company folded in 1988, four years after his death. Meanwhile, the bikini had become the most popular beachwear around the globe. According to French fashion historian Olivier Saillard, this was due to "the power of women, and not the power of fashion". By 1988 the bikini made up nearly 20% of swimsuit sales, more than any other model in the US, though one-piece suits made a comeback during the 1980s and early 1990s. In 1997, Miss Maryland Jamie Fox became the first contestant in 50 years to compete in a two-piece swimsuit at the Miss America Pageant. Actresses in action films like Blue Crush (2002) and Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle (2003) made the two-piece "the millennial equivalent of the power suit", according to Gina Bellafonte of The New York Times, + +According to Beth Dincuff Charleston, research associate at the Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, "The bikini represents a social leap involving body consciousness, moral concerns, and sexual attitudes." By the early 2000s, bikinis had become a $811 million business annually, according to the NPD Group, a consumer and retail information company, and had boosted spin-off services like bikini waxing and the sun tanning industries. The first bikini museum in the world is being built in Bad Rappenau in Germany. The development of swimwear from 1880 to the present is presented on 2,000 square metres of exhibition space. + +By 2017, the global swimwear market was valued at US$18,5 billion with a compound annual growth rate of 6.2%. Part of the increased consumption of bikinis and swimwears can be attributed to influencers who promote and endorse various brands around the year. Soccer player and best selling author Mo Isom describes it as, "We're flooded with Instagram bikini pics." It was estimated in 2016 that in 2019 the USA would be the largest swimwear market (US$10 billion), followed by Europe (US$5 billion), Asia-Pacific (US$4 billion) and Middle East and Africa (about 1 billion). + +Outside the Western world + +The 1967 Bollywood film An Evening in Paris is mostly remembered because it featured actress Sharmila Tagore as the first Indian actress to wear a bikini on film. She also posed in a bikini for the glossy Filmfare magazine. The costume shocked a conservative Indian audience, but it also set in motion a trend carried forward by Zeenat Aman in Heera Panna (1973) and Qurbani (1980), Dimple Kapadia in Bobby (1973), and Parveen Babi in Yeh Nazdeekiyan (1982). Indonesian actress Nurnaningsih's bikini clad photos were widely distributed in early 1950s, though she was banned in Kalimantan. + +Indian women generally wear bikinis when they vacation abroad or in Goa without the family. But, despite the conservative ideas prevalent in India, bikinis also become more popular in summer when women, from Bollywood stars to the middle class, take up swimming, often in a public space. A lot of tankinis, shorts and single-piece swimsuits are sold in the summer, along with real bikinis and bandeaukinis. The maximum sales for bikinis happen in the winter, the honeymoon season. For more coverage, designers Shivan Bhatiya and Narresh Kukreja invented the bikini-saree popularised by TV anchor Mandira Bedi. + +By the end of the first decade of the 21st century, the Chinese bikini industry became a serious international threat for the Brazilian bikini industry. Huludao, Liaoning, China set the world record for the largest bikini parade in 2012, with 1,085 participants and a photo shoot involving 3,090 women. "Beijing Bikini" refers to the Chinese urban practice of men rolling up their shirts to expose their midriff to cool off in public in the summer. In Japan, wearing a bikini is common on the beach and at baths or pools. But, according to a 2013 study, 94% women are not body confident enough to wear a bikini in public without resorting to sarongs, zip-up sweatshirts, T-shirts, or shorts. Japanese women also often wear a "facekini" to protect their face from sunburns. + +In most parts of the Middle East, bikinis are either banned or are highly controversial. On March 18, 1973, when Lebanese magazine Ash-Shabaka printed a bikini-clad woman on the cover, they had to make a second version with only the face of the model. In 2011, when Huda Naccache (Miss Earth 2011) posed for the cover of Lilac (based in Israel), she became the first bikini-clad Arab model on the cover of an Arabic magazine. Lebanese-Australian fashion designer Aheda Zanetti created the "burkini" as a modest option to the bikini, which has become very popular among Muslims. Rehab Shaaban, an Egyptian designer, tried an even more abaya-like design, but her design was banned due to safety reasons. + +Variants + +While the name "bikini" was at first applied only to beachwear that revealed the wearer's navel, today the fashion industry considers any two-piece swimsuit a bikini. Modern bikini fashions are characterized by a simple, brief design: two triangles of fabric that form a bra and cover the woman's breasts and a third that forms a panty cut below the navel that covers the groin and the intergluteal cleft. + +Bikinis can and have been made out of almost every possible clothing material, and the fabrics and other materials used to make bikinis are an essential element of their design. Modern bikinis were first made of cotton and jersey, but in the 1960s, Lycra became the common material. Alternative swimwear fabrics such as velvet, leather, and crocheted squares surfaced in the early 1970s. + +In a single fashion show in 1985, there were two-piece suits with cropped tank tops instead of the usual skimpy bandeaux, suits that resembled bikinis from the front and one-pieces from the back, suspender straps, ruffles, and deep navel-baring cutouts. Metal and stone jewelry pieces are now often used to dress up look and style according to tastes. To meet the fast pace of demands, some manufacturers now offer made-to-order bikinis ready in as few as seven minutes. The world's most expensive bikini was designed in February 2006 by Susan Rosen; containing of diamond, it was valued at £20 million. + +Major styles +There is a range of distinct bikini styles available — string bikinis, monokinis (topless or top and bottom connected), trikinis (three pieces instead of two), tankinis (tank top, bikini bottom), camikinis (camisole top, bikini bottom), bandeaukini (bandeau top, bikini bottom), skirtini (bikini top, skirt bottom), "granny bikini" (bikini top, boy shorts bottom), (also ), seekinis (transparent), minikinis, microkinis, miniminis, slingshots (or suspender bikinis), thong bottoms, tie-sides (a variety of string bikini) and teardrops. + +{| class="wikitable" +|- style="background:#ccc; text-align:center;" +! Variant !! Image !! Year !! Description +|- +| Bandeaukini || || || A bandeaukini (alternatively called a bandini) is a bandeau top (no straps going over the shoulders) worn with any bikini bottom. It is the oldest form of bikini, with one of the earliest examples found in Sicilian Villa Romana del Casale (dubbed the "Bikini Girls"), dating back to the 4th century AD. Reintroduced, its appeal grew fast among young women, with bandeau tops edging into the sales of the classic tankini. +|- +| Microkini || || 1995 || A microkini, also known as a micro bikini, is an exceptionally meager bikini. The designs for both women and men typically use only enough fabric to cover the genitals and, for women, the nipples. Any additional straps are merely to keep the garment attached to the wearer's body. Some variations of the microkini use adhesive or wire to hold the fabric in place over the genitals. Microkinis keep the wearer just within legal limits of decency and fill a niche between nudism and conservative swimwear, though they are often accepted in Europe and are becoming more normalized in Western cultures. +|- +| Monokini || || 1964 || A monokini (also called topless swimsuit, unikini or numokini) is a women's one-piece garment equivalent to the lower half of a bikini. Originally a specific design conceived by Rudi Gernreich in 1964, the term is now used to describe any topless swimsuit, particularly a bikini bottom worn without a top. An extreme version of the monokini, the thong-style pubikini (which exposed the pubic region), was also designed by Rudi Gernreich in 1985. Today, monokinis usually refer to swimsuits in which the top and bottom are connected but provide coverage of the breasts as to be accepted in most western cultures. +|- +| Skirtini || || || The skirtini, which features a bikini top and a small, skirted bottom, is also an innovation for bikini-style clothes with more coverage. Two-piece swimsuits with skirt panels were popular in the US before the government ordered a 10% reduction in fabric used in woman's swimwear in 1943 as wartime rationing. In 2011, The Daily Telegraph identified the skirted bikini as one of the top 10 swimwear designs of that season. +|- +| Sling bikini || || || The sling bikini (also known as sling-kini, onepiecekini or sling swimsuit) is an unbroken suit, technically one-piece, which resembles a bikini bottom with the side straps extending upwards to cover the breasts and go over the shoulders, or encircling the neck while a second set of straps pass around the midriff (also known as pretzel bikini or pretzel swimsuit). Sling swimsuits emerged in the early 1990s, and were introduced into the mainstream in 1994. When designed for or worn by a man, it is called a mankini, popularized by Sacha Baron Cohen in the film Borat. +|- +| String bikini || || 1974 || A string bikini (or a tie-side) gets its name from its design that consists of two triangular shaped pieces connected at the groin but not at the sides, where a thin "string" wraps around the waist tied together to connect the two parts. The structure of the side tie bottom leaves the hips bare and just tie the knots on the sides with spaghetti ties or with the sash ties. The first formal presentation of string bikini was done by Glen Tororich, a public relations agent, and his wife Brandi Perret-DuJon, a fashion model, for the opening of Le Petite Centre, a shopping area in the French Quarter of the New Orleans, Louisiana in 1974. String bikinis are one of the most popular variations of bikini. +|- +| Tankini || || 1998 || The tankini is a swimsuit combining a tank top and a bikini bottom. Tankinis can be made of spandex-and-cotton or Lycra-and-nylon. Designer Anne Cole, the US swimwear mogul, was the originator of this style in 1998. A variation is named camkini, with spaghetti straps instead of tank-shaped straps over a bikini bottom. +|- +| Trikini || || 1967 || The trikini appeared briefly in 1967, defined as "a handkerchief and two small saucers." It reappeared in the 1990s as a bikini bottom with a stringed halter of two triangular pieces covering the breasts, and in the 2000s as a costume of three separate pieces. The trikini top comes essentially in two separate parts. The name of this woman's bathing suit is formed from the word "bikini", replacing "bi-", meaning "two", with "tri-", meaning "three". In a variation the three pieces are sold as part of one continuous garment. +|} + +In sport +Bikinis have become a major component of marketing various women's sports. It is an official uniform for beach volleyball and is widely worn in athletics and other sports. Sports bikinis have gained popularity since the 1990s. However, the trend has raised some criticism as an attempt to sell sex. Female swimmers do not normally wear bikinis in competitive swimming. The International Swimming Federation (FINA) voted to prohibit female swimmers from racing in bikinis in its meeting at Rome in 1960. + +Beach volleyball + +In 1994, the bikini became the official uniform of women's Olympic beach volleyball. In 1999, the International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) standardized beach volleyball uniforms, with the bikini becoming the required uniform for women. That regulation bottom is called a "bun-hugger", and players names are often written on the back of the bottom. + +The uniform made its Olympic debut at Bondi Beach, Sydney during the 2000 Summer Olympics amid some criticism. It was the fifth largest television audience of all the sports at the 2000 Games. Much of the interest was because of the sex appeal of bikini-clad players along with their athletic ability. Bikini-clad dancers and cheerleaders entertain the audience during match breaks in many beach volleyball tournaments, including the Olympics. Even indoor volleyball costumes followed suit to become smaller and tighter. + +However, the FIVB's mandating of the bikini ran into problems. Some sports officials consider it exploitative and impractical in colder weather. It also drew the ire of some athletes. At the 2006 Asian Games at Doha, Qatar, only one Muslim country – Iraq – fielded a team in the beach volleyball competition because of concerns that the uniform was inappropriate. They refused to wear bikinis. The weather during the evening games in 2012 London Olympics was so cold that the players sometimes had to wear shirts and leggings. Earlier in 2012, FIVB had announced it would allow shorts (maximum length above the knee) and sleeved tops at the games. Richard Baker, the federation spokesperson, said that "many of these countries have religious and cultural requirements so the uniform needed to be more flexible". + +The bikini remains preferred by most players and corporate sponsors. US women's team has cited several advantages of bikini uniforms, such as comfort while playing on sand during hot weather. Competitors Natalie Cook and Holly McPeak support the bikini as a practical uniform for a sport played on sand during the heat of summer. Olympic gold medal winner Kerry Walsh said, "I love our uniforms." According to fellow gold medalist Misty May-Treanor and Walsh it does not restrict movement. + +One feminist viewpoint sees the bikini uniform as objectification of women athletes. US beach volleyball player Gabrielle Reece described the bikini bottoms as uncomfortable with constant "yanking and fiddling." Many female beach volleyball players have sustained injuries by over-training the abdominal muscles while many others have gone through augmentation mammoplasty to look appealing in their uniforms. Australian competitor Nicole Sanderson said about match break entertainment that "it's kind of disrespectful to the female players. I'm sure the male spectators love it, but I find it a little bit offensive." + +Sports journalism expert Kimberly Bissell conducted a study on the camera angles used during the 2004 Summer Olympics beach volleyball games. Bissell found that 20% of the camera angles were focused on the women's chests, and 17% on their buttocks. Bissell theorized that the appearance of the players draws fans attention more than their actual athleticism. +Sports commentator Jeanne Moos commented, "Beach volleyball has now joined go-go girl dancing as perhaps the only two professions where a bikini is the required uniform." British Olympian Denise Johns argues that the regulation uniform is intended to be "sexy" and to attract attention. Rubén Acosta, president of the FIVB, says that it makes the game more appealing to spectators. + +Bodybuilding + +From the 1950s to mid-1970s, men's bodybuilding contest formats were often supplemented with women's beauty contests or bikini shows. The winners earned titles like Miss Body Beautiful, Miss Physical Fitness and Miss Americana, and also presented trophies to the winners of the men's contest. In the 1980s, the Ms Olympia competition started in the US and in the UK the NABBA (National Amateur Body Building Association) renamed Miss Bikini International to Ms Universe. In 1986, the Ms Universe competition was divided into two sections – "physique" (for a more muscular physique) and "figure" (traditional feminine presentation in high heels). In November 2010 the IFBBF (International Federation of BodyBuilding & Fitness) introduced a women's bikini contest for women who do not wish to build their muscles to figure competition levels. + +Costumes are regulation "posing trunks" (bikini briefs) for both men and women. Female bodybuilders in America are prohibited from wearing thongs or T-back swimsuits in contests filmed for television, though they are allowed to do so by certain fitness organizations in closed events. For men, the dress code specifies "swim trunks only (no shorts, cut-off pants, or Speedos)." + +Other sports +Women in athletics often wear bikinis of similar size as those worn in beach volleyball. Amy Acuff, a US high-jumper, wore a black leather bikini instead of a track suit at the 2000 Summer Olympics. Runner Florence Griffith-Joyner mixed bikini bottoms with one-legged tights at the 1988 Summer Olympics, earning her more attention than her record-breaking performance in the women's 200 meters event. In the 2007 South Pacific Games, the rules were adjusted to allow players to wear less revealing shorts and cropped sports tops instead of bikinis. At the 2006 Asian Games, organizers banned bikini-bottoms for female athletes and asked them to wear long shorts. + +String bikinis and other revealing clothes are common in surfing, though most surfing bikinis are more robust with more coverage than sunning bikinis. Surfing Magazine printed a pictorial of Kymberly Herrin, Playboy Playmate March 1981, surfing in a revealing bikini, and eventually started an annual bikini issue. The Association of Surfing Professionals often pairs female surf meets with bikini contests, an issue that divides the female pro-surfing community into two parts. It has often been more profitable to win the bikini contest than the female surfing event. + +Body ideals + +In 1950, American swimsuit mogul Fred Cole, owner of Cole of California, told Time that bikinis were designed for "diminutive Gallic women", as because "French girls have short legs... swimsuits have to be hiked up at the sides to make their legs look longer." In 1961, The New York Times reported the opinion that the bikini is permissible for people who are not "too fat or too thin". In the 1960s etiquette writer Emily Post decreed that "[A bikini] is for perfect figures only, and for the very young." In The Bikini Book by Kelly Killoren Bensimon, swimwear designer Norma Kamali says, "Anyone with a tummy" should not wear a bikini. Since then, a number of bikini designers including Malia Mills have encouraged women of all ages and body types to take up the style. The 1970s saw the rise of the lean ideal of female body and figures like Cheryl Tiegs. Her figure remained in vogue in the 21st century. + +The fitness boom of the 1980s led to one of the biggest leaps in the evolution of the bikini. According to Mills, "The leg line became superhigh, the front was superlow, and the straps were superthin." Women's magazines used terms like "Bikini Belly", and workout programs were launched to develop a "bikini-worthy body". The tiny "fitness-bikinis" made of lycra were launched to cater to this hardbodied ideal. Movies like Blue Crush and TV reality shows like Surf Girls merged the concepts of bikini models and athletes together, further accentuating the toned body ideal. Motivated by yearly Spring Break festivities that mark the start of the bikini season in North America, many women diet in an attempt to achieve the ideal bikini body; some take this to extremes including self-starvation, leading to eating disorders. + +In 1993, Suzy Menkes, then Fashion Editor of the International Herald Tribune, suggested that women had begun to "revolt" against the "body ideal" and bikini "exposure." She wrote, "Significantly, on the beaches as on the streets, some of the youngest and prettiest women (who were once the only ones who dared to bare) seem to have decided that exposure is over." Nevertheless, professional beach volleyball player Gabrielle Reece, who competes in a bikini, claims that "confidence" alone can make a bikini sexy. One survey commissioned by Diet Chef, a UK home delivery service, reported by The Today Show and ridiculed by More magazine, showed that women should stop wearing bikinis by the age of 47. + +Bikini underwear + +Certain types of underwear are described as bikini underwear and are designed for men and women. For women, bikini or bikini-style underwear is underwear that is similar in size and form to a regular bikini. It can refer to virtually any undergarment that provides less coverage to the midriff than lingerie, panties or knickers, especially suited to clothing such as crop tops. For men, bikini briefs are underpants that resemble women's bikini bottoms, being smaller and more revealing than men's classic briefs. Men's bikini briefs can be low- or high-side that are usually lower than the true waist, often at hips, and usually have no access pouch or flap, nor leg bands at tops of thighs. String bikini briefs have front and rear sections that meet in the crotch but not at the waistband, with no fabric on the side of the legs. + +Swimwear and underwear have similar design considerations, both being form-fitting garments. The main difference is that, unlike underwear, swimwear is open to public view. The swimsuit was, and is, following underwear styles, and at about the same time that attitudes towards the bikini began to change, underwear underwent a redesign towards a minimal, unboned design that emphasized comfort first. + +History + +As the swimsuit was evolving, underwear also started to change. Between 1900 and 1940, swimsuit lengths followed the changes in underwear designs. In the 1920s women started discarding the corset, while the Cadole company of Paris started developing something they called the "breast girdle". During the Great Depression, panties and bras became softly constructed and were made of various elasticized yarns making underwear fit like a second skin. By the 1930s underwear styles for both women and men were influenced by the new brief models of swimwear from Europe. Although the waistband was still above the navel, the leg openings of the panty brief were cut in an arc to rise from the crotch to the hip joint. The brief served as a template for most variations of panties for the rest of the century. Warner standardized the concept of Cup size in 1935. The first underwire bra was developed in 1938. Beginning in the late thirties, , a type of men's briefs, were introduced, featuring very high-cut leg openings and a lower rise to the waistband. Howard Hughes designed a push-up bra to be worn by Jane Russell in The Outlaw in 1943, although Russell stated in interviews that she never wore the 'contraption'. In 1950 Maidenform introduced the first official bust enhancing bra. + +By the 1960s, the bikini swimsuit influenced panty styles and coincided with the cut of the new lower rise jeans and pants. In the seventies, with the emergence of skintight jeans, thong versions of the panty became mainstream, since the open, stringed back eliminated any tell-tale panty lines across the rear and hips. By the 1980s the design of the French-cut panty pushed the waistband back up to the natural waistline and the rise of the leg openings was nearly as high (French Cut panties come up to the waist, has a high cut leg, and usually are full in the rear). As with the bra and other type of lingerie, manufacturers of the last quarter of the century marketed panty styles that were designed primarily for their sexual allure. From this decade sexualization and eroticization of the male body was on the rise. The male body was celebrated through advertising campaigns for brands such as Calvin Klein, particularly by photographers Bruce Weber and Herb Ritts. Male bodies and men's undergarments were commodified and packaged for mass consumption, and swimwear and sportswear were influenced by sports photography and fitness. Over time, swimwear evolved from weighty wool to high-tech skin-tight garments, eventually cross-breeding with sportswear, underwear and exercise wear, resulting in the interchangeable fashions of the 1990s. + +Men's bikini + +The term men's bikini is sometimes used to describe swim briefs. Men's bikinis can have high or low side panels, and string sides or tie sides. Most lack a button or flap front. Unlike swim briefs, bikinis are not designed for drag reduction and generally lack a visible waistband. Suits less than 1.5 inches wide at the hips are less common for sporting purposes and are most often worn for recreation, fashion, and sun tanning. The posing brief standard to bodybuilding competitions is an example of this style. Male punk rock musicians have performed on the stage wearing bikini briefs. The 2000 Bollywood film Hera Pheri shows men sunbathing in bikinis, who were mistakenly believed to be women from a distance. + +Male bikini tops also exist and are often used as visual gags. A mankini is a type of sling swimsuit worn by men. The term is inspired by the word bikini. It was popularized by English comedian Sacha Baron Cohen when he donned one for comic effect in the film Borat. + +Bikini waxing + +Bikini waxing is the epilation of pubic hair beyond the bikini line by use of waxing. The bikini line delineates the part of a woman's pubic area to be covered by the bottom part of a bikini, which means any pubic hair visible beyond the boundaries of a swimsuit. Visible pubic hair is widely culturally disapproved, considered to be embarrassing, and often removed. + +As popularity of bikinis grew, the acceptability of pubic hair diminished. But, with certain styles of women's swimwear, pubic hair may become visible around the crotch area of a swimsuit. With the reduction in the size of swimsuits, especially since the advent of the bikini after 1945, the practice of bikini waxing has also become popular. The Brazilian style which became popular with the rise of thong bottoms. + +Depending on the style of bikini-bottom and the amount of skin visible outside the bikini, pubic hair may be styled into several styles: American waxing (removal of pubic hair from the sides, top of the thighs, and under the navel), French waxing (leaving only a vertical strip in front), or Brazilian waxing (removal of all hair in the pelvic area, particularly suitable for thong bottoms). + +Bikini tan + +The tan lines created by the wearing of a bikini while tanning are known as a bikini tan. These tan lines separate pale breasts, crotch, and buttocks from otherwise tanned skin. Prominent bikini tan lines were popular in the 1990s, and a spa in Brazil started offering perfect bikini tan lines using masking tapes in 2016. + +As bikinis leave most of the body exposed to potentially dangerous UV radiation, overexposure can cause sunburn, skin cancer, as well as other acute and chronic health effects on the skin, eyes, and immune system. As a result, medical organizations recommend that bikini wearers protect themselves from UV radiation by using broad-spectrum sunscreen, which has been shown to protect against sunburn, skin cancer, wrinkling and sagging skin. + +A 1969 innovation of tan-through swimwear uses fabric which is perforated with thousands of micro holes that are nearly invisible to the naked eye, but which let enough sunlight through to produce a line-free tan. + +See also + + Women's beachwear fashion + Cultural views on the navel +Bikini in popular culture + +References + +External links + + Metropolitan Museum of Art exhibition—The Bikini + The California Swimsuit + Two-Piece Be With You: LIFE Celebrates the Bikini + + +1940s fashion +1990s fashion +2000s fashion +2010s fashion +1946 clothing +Bikini Atoll +Women's clothing +Babur (; ; 14 February 148326 December 1530), born Zahīr ud-Dīn Muhammad, was the founder of the Mughal Empire in the Indian subcontinent. He was a descendant of Timur and Genghis Khan through his father and mother respectively. He was also given the posthumous name of Firdaws Makani ('Dwelling in Paradise'). + +Born in Andijan in the Fergana Valley (in present-day Uzbekistan), Babur was the eldest son of Umar Sheikh Mirza (1456–1494, governor of Fergana from 1469 to 1494) and a great-great-great grandson of Timur (1336–1405). Babur ascended the throne of Fergana in its capital Akhsikent in 1494 at the age of twelve and faced rebellion. He conquered Samarkand two years later, only to lose Fergana soon after. In his attempt to reconquer Fergana, he lost control of Samarkand. In 1501, his attempt to recapture both the regions failed when Muhammad Shaybani Khan defeated him. In 1504 he conquered Kabul, which was under the putative rule of Abdur Razaq Mirza, the infant heir of Ulugh Beg II. Babur formed a partnership with the Safavid ruler Ismail I and reconquered parts of Turkistan, including Samarkand, only to again lose it and the other newly conquered lands to the Sheybanids. + +After losing Samarkand for the third time, Babur turned his attention to India and employed aid from the neighbouring Safavid and Ottoman empires. He defeated Ibrahim Lodi, Sultan of Delhi, at the First Battle of Panipat in 1526 CE and founded the Mughal Empire. At the time, the sultanate at Delhi was a spent force that was long crumbling. The Mewar kingdom, under the able rule of Rana Sanga, had turned into one of the strongest powers of northern India. Sanga unified several Rajput clans for the first time after Prithviraj Chauhan and advanced on Babur with a grand coalition of 100,000 Rajputs. However, Sanga suffered a major defeat in the Battle of Khanwa due to Babur's skillful positioning of troops and modern tactics and firepower. The Battle of Khanua was one of the most decisive battles in Indian history, more so than the First Battle of Panipat, as the defeat of Rana Sanga was a watershed event in the Mughal conquest of northern India. + +Religiously, he started his life as a staunch Muslim, but he underwent significant evolution. As he conquered new territories and grew older, Babur became more tolerant, allowing other religions to peacefully coexist in his Empire and at his court. He also displayed a certain attraction to theology, poetry, geography, history, and biology—disciplines he promoted at his court—earning him a frequent association with representatives of the Timurid Renaissance. His religious and philosophical stances are characterized as humanistic. + +Babur married several times. Notable among his sons are Humayun, Kamran Mirza and Hindal Mirza. Babur died in 1530 in Agra and Humayun succeeded him. Babur was first buried in Agra but, as per his wishes, his remains were moved to Kabul and reburied. He ranks as a national hero in Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan. Many of his poems have become popular folk songs. He wrote the Baburnama in Chaghatai Turkic; it was translated into Persian during the reign (1556–1605) of his grandson, the Emperor Akbar. + +Name +Ẓahīr-ud-Dīn is Arabic for "Defender of the Faith" (of Islam), and Muhammad honours the Islamic prophet. The name was chosen for Babur by the Sufi saint Khwaja Ahrar, who was the spiritual master of his father. The difficulty of pronouncing the name for his Central Asian Turco-Mongol army may have been responsible for the greater popularity of his nickname Babur, also variously spelled Baber, Babar, and Bābor. The name is generally taken in reference to the Persian word babur (), meaning "tiger" or "panther". The word repeatedly appears in Ferdowsi's Shahnameh and was borrowed into the Turkic languages of Central Asia. + +Background + +Babur's memoirs form the main source for details of his life. They are known as the Baburnama and were written in Chaghatai Turkic, his mother-tongue, though, according to Dale, "his Turkic prose is highly Persianized in its sentence structure, morphology or word formation and vocabulary." Baburnama was translated into Persian during the rule of Babur's grandson Akbar. + +Babur was born on 14 February 1483 in the city of Andijan, Fergana Valley, contemporary Uzbekistan. He was the eldest son of Umar Sheikh Mirza, ruler of the Fergana Valley, the son of Abū Saʿīd Mirza (and grandson of Miran Shah, who was himself son of Timur) and his wife Qutlugh Nigar Khanum, daughter of Yunus Khan, the ruler of Moghulistan (a descendant of Genghis Khan). + +Babur hailed from the Barlas tribe, which was of Mongol origin and had embraced Turkic and Persian culture. They had also converted to Islam centuries earlier and resided in Turkestan and Khorasan. Aside from the Chaghatai language, Babur was equally fluent in Persian, the lingua franca of the Timurid elite. Some of Babur's relatives, such as his uncle Mahmud Khan (Moghul Khan) and Ahmad Khan, continued to identify as Mongols, who loaned their nephews with Mongol troops to help him recover his fortunes in the turbulent years that followed. + +Hence, Babur, though nominally a Mongol (or Moghul in Persian language), drew much of his support from the local Turkic and Iranian people of Central Asia, and his army was diverse in its ethnic makeup. It included Sarts, Tajiks, ethnic Afghans, Arabs, as well as Barlas and Chaghatayid Turko-Mongols from Central Asia. + +Ruler of Central Asia + +As ruler of Fergana +In 1494, eleven-year-old Babur became the ruler of Fergana, in present-day Uzbekistan, after Umar Sheikh Mirza died "while tending pigeons in an ill-constructed dovecote that toppled into the ravine below the palace". During this time, two of his uncles from the neighbouring kingdoms, who were hostile to his father, and a group of nobles who wanted his younger brother Jahangir to be the ruler, threatened his succession to the throne. His uncles were relentless in their attempts to dislodge him from this position as well as from many of his other territorial possessions to come. Babur was able to secure his throne mainly because of help from his maternal grandmother, Aisan Daulat Begum, although there was also some luck involved. + +Most territories around his kingdom were ruled by his relatives, who were descendants of either Timur or Genghis Khan, and were constantly in conflict. At that time, rival princes were fighting over the city of Samarkand to the west, which was ruled by his paternal cousin. Babur had a great ambition to capture the city. In 1497, he besieged Samarkand for seven months before eventually gaining control over it. He was fifteen years old and for him the campaign was a huge achievement. Babur was able to hold the city despite desertions in his army, but he later fell seriously ill. Meanwhile, a rebellion back home, approximately away, amongst nobles who favoured his brother, robbed him of Fergana. As he was marching to recover it, he lost Samarkand to a rival prince, leaving him with neither. He had held Samarkand for 100 days, and he considered this defeat as his biggest loss, obsessing over it even later in his life after his conquests in India. + +For three years, Babur concentrated on building a strong army, recruiting widely amongst the Tajiks of Badakhshan in particular. In 1500–1501, he again laid siege to Samarkand, and indeed he took the city briefly, but he was in turn besieged by his most formidable rival, Muhammad Shaybani, Khan of the Uzbeks. The situation became such that Babar was compelled to give his sister, Khanzada, to Shaybani in marriage as part of the peace settlement. Only after this were Babur and his troops allowed to depart the city in safety. Samarkand, his lifelong obsession, was thus lost again. He then tried to reclaim Fergana, but lost the battle there also and, escaping with a small band of followers, he wandered the mountains of central Asia and took refuge with hill tribes. By 1502, he had resigned all hopes of recovering Fergana; he was left with nothing and was forced to try his luck elsewhere. He finally went to Tashkent, which was ruled by his maternal uncle, but he found himself less than welcome there. Babur wrote, "During my stay in Tashkent, I endured much poverty and humiliation. No country, or hope of one!" Thus, during the ten years since becoming the ruler of Fergana, Babur suffered many short-lived victories and was without shelter and in exile, aided by friends and peasants. + +At Kabul + +Kabul was ruled by Babur's paternal uncle Ulugh Beg II, who died leaving only an infant as heir. The city was then claimed by Mukin Begh, who was considered to be a usurper and was opposed by the local populace. In 1504, Babur was able to cross the snowy Hindu Kush mountains and capture Kabul from the remaining Arghunids, who were forced to retreat to Kandahar. With this move, he gained a new kingdom, re-established his fortunes and would remain its ruler until 1526. In 1505, because of the low revenue generated by his new mountain kingdom, Babur began his first expedition to India; in his memoirs, he wrote, "My desire for Hindustan had been constant. It was in the month of Shaban, the Sun being in Aquarius, that we rode out of Kabul for Hindustan". It was a brief raid across the Khyber Pass. + +In the same year, Babur united with Sultan Husayn Mirza Bayqarah of Herat, a fellow Timurid and distant relative, against their common enemy, the Uzbek Shaybani. However, this venture did not take place because Husayn Mirza died in 1506 and his two sons were reluctant to go to war. Babur instead stayed at Herat after being invited by the two Mirza brothers. It was then the cultural capital of the eastern Muslim world. Though he was disgusted by the vices and luxuries of the city, he marvelled at the intellectual abundance there, which he stated was "filled with learned and matched men". He became acquainted with the work of the Chagatai poet Mir Ali Shir Nava'i, who encouraged the use of Chagatai as a literary language. Nava'i's proficiency with the language, which he is credited with founding, may have influenced Babur in his decision to use it for his memoirs. He spent two months there before being forced to leave because of diminishing resources; it later was overrun by Shaybani and the Mirzas fled. +Babur became the only reigning ruler of the Timurid dynasty after the loss of Herat, and many princes sought refuge with him at Kabul because of Shaybani's invasion in the west. He thus assumed the title of Padshah (emperor) among the Timurids—though this title was insignificant since most of his ancestral lands were taken, Kabul itself was in danger and Shaybani continued to be a threat. Babur prevailed during a potential rebellion in Kabul, but two years later a revolt among some of his leading generals drove him out of Kabul. Escaping with very few companions, Babur soon returned to the city, capturing Kabul again and regaining the allegiance of the rebels. Meanwhile, Shaybani was defeated and killed by Ismail I, Shah of Shia Safavid Persia, in 1510. + +Babur and the remaining Timurids used this opportunity to reconquer their ancestral territories. Over the following few years, Babur and Shah Ismail formed a partnership in an attempt to take over parts of Central Asia. In return for Ismail's assistance, Babur permitted the Safavids to act as a suzerain over him and his followers. Thus, in 1513, after leaving his brother Nasir Mirza to rule Kabul, he managed to take Samarkand for the third time; he also took Bokhara but lost both again to the Uzbeks. Shah Ismail reunited Babur with his sister Khānzāda, who had been imprisoned by and forced to marry the recently deceased Shaybani. Babur returned to Kabul after three years in 1514. The following 11 years of his rule mainly involved dealing with relatively insignificant rebellions from Afghan tribes, his nobles and relatives, in addition to conducting raids across the eastern mountains. Babur began to modernise and train his army despite it being, for him, relatively peaceful times. + +Foreign relations + +Determined to conquer the Uzbeks and recapture his ancestral homeland, Babur was wary of their allies the Ottomans, and made no attempt to establish formal diplomatic relations with them. He did, however, employ the matchlock commander Mustafa Rumi and several other Ottomans. From them, he adopted the tactic of using matchlocks and cannons in the field (rather than only in sieges), which gave him an important advantage in India. + +Formation of the Mughal Empire + +Babur still wanted to escape from the Uzbeks, and he chose India as a refuge instead of Badakhshan, which was to the north of Kabul. He wrote, "In the presence of such power and potency, we had to think of some place for ourselves and, at this crisis and in the crack of time there was, put a wider space between us and the strong foeman." After his third loss of Samarkand, Babur gave full attention to the conquest of North India, launching a campaign; he reached the Chenab River, now in Pakistan, in 1519. Until 1524, his aim was to only expand his rule to Punjab, mainly to fulfill the legacy of his ancestor Timur, since it used to be part of his empire. At the time parts of North India were part of the Delhi Sultanate, ruled by Ibrahim Lodi of the Lodi dynasty, but the sultanate was crumbling and there were many defectors. Babur received invitations from Daulat Khan Lodi, Governor of Punjab and Ala-ud-Din, uncle of Ibrahim. He sent an ambassador to Ibrahim, claiming himself the rightful heir to the throne, but the ambassador was detained at Lahore, Punjab, and released months later. + +Babur started for Lahore in 1524 but found that Daulat Khan Lodi had been driven out by forces sent by Ibrahim Lodi. When Babur arrived at Lahore, the Lodi army marched out and his army was routed. In response, Babur burned Lahore for two days, then marched to Dibalpur, placing Alam Khan, another rebel uncle of Lodi, as governor. Alam Khan was quickly overthrown and fled to Kabul. In response, Babur supplied Alam Khan with troops who later joined up with Daulat Khan Lodi, and together with about 30,000 troops, they besieged Ibrahim Lodi at Delhi. The sultan easily defeated and drove off Alam's army, and Babur realised that he would not allow him to occupy the Punjab. + +First battle of Panipat + +In November 1525 Babur got news at Peshawar that Daulat Khan Lodi had switched sides, and Babur drove out Ala-ud-Din. Babur then marched onto Lahore to confront Daulat Khan Lodi, only to see Daulat's army melt away at their approach. Daulat surrendered and was pardoned. Thus within three weeks of crossing the Indus River Babur had become the master of Punjab. + +Babur marched on to Delhi via Sirhind. He reached Panipat on 20 April 1526 and there met Ibrahim Lodi's numerically superior army of about 100,000 soldiers and 100 elephants. In the battle that began on the following day, Babur used the tactic of Tulugma, encircling Ibrahim Lodi's army and forcing it to face artillery fire directly, as well as frightening its war elephants. Ibrahim Lodi died during the battle, thus ending the Lodi dynasty. + +Babur wrote in his memoirs about his victory: + +After the battle, Babur occupied Delhi and Agra, took the throne of Lodi, and laid the foundation for the eventual rise of Mughal rule in India. However, before he became North India's ruler, he had to fend off challengers, such as Rana Sanga. + +Many of Babur's men allegedly wanted to leave India due to its warm climate, but Babur motivated them to stay and expand his empire. + +Battle of Khanwa + +The Battle of Khanwa was fought between Babur and the Rajput ruler of Mewar, Rana Sanga on 16 March 1527. Rana Sanga wanted to overthrow Babur, whom he considered to be a foreigner ruling in India, and also to extend the Rajput territories by annexing Delhi and Agra. He was supported by Afghan chiefs who felt Babur had been deceptive by refusing to fulfil promises made to them. Upon receiving news of Rana Sangha's advance towards Agra, Babur took a defensive position at Khanwa (currently in the Indian state of Rajasthan), from where he hoped to launch a counterattack later. According to K.V. Krishna Rao, Babur won the battle because of his "superior generalship" and modern tactics; the battle was one of the first in India that featured cannons and muskets. Rao also notes that Rana Sanga faced "treachery" when the Hindu chief Silhadi joined Babur's army with a garrison of 6,000 soldiers. + +Babur recognised Sanga's skill in leadership, calling him one of the two greatest non-Muslim Indian kings of the time, the other being Krishnadevaraya of Vijayanagara. + +Battle of Chanderi +The Battle of Chanderi took place the year after the Battle of Khanwa. On receiving news that Rana Sanga had made preparations to renew the conflict with him, Babur decided to isolate the Rana by defeating one of his staunchest allies, Medini Rai, who was the ruler of Malwa. + +Upon reaching Chanderi, on 20 January 1528, Babur offered Shamsabad to Medini Rao in exchange for Chanderi as a peace overture, but the offer was rejected. The outer fortress of Chanderi was taken by Babur's army at night, and the next morning the upper fort was captured. Babur himself expressed surprise that the upper fort had fallen within an hour of the final assault. Seeing no hope of victory, Medini Rai organized a jauhar, during which women and children within the fortress immolated themselves. A small number of soldiers also collected in Medini Rao's house and killed each other in collective suicide. This sacrifice does not seem to have impressed Babur, who did not express a word of admiration for the enemy in his autobiography. + +Religious policy +Babur defeated and killed Ibrahim Lodi, the last Sultan of the Lodi dynasty, in 1526. Babur ruled for 4 years and was succeeded by his son Humayun whose reign was temporarily usurped by the Suri dynasty. During their 30-year rule, religious violence continued in India. Records of the violence and trauma, from Sikh-Muslim perspective, include those recorded in Sikh literature of the 16th century. The violence of Babur in the 1520s was witnessed by Guru Nanak, who commented upon it in four hymns. Historians suggest the early Mughal period of religious violence contributed to introspection and then the transformation in Sikhism from pacifism to militancy for self-defense. According to Babur's autobiography, Baburnama, his campaign in northwest India targeted Hindus and Sikhs as well as apostates (non-Sunni sects of Islam), and an immense number were killed, with Muslim camps building "towers of skulls of the infidels" on hillocks. + +Personal life and relationships +There are no descriptions about Babur's physical appearance, except from the paintings in the translation of the Baburnama prepared during the reign of Akbar. In his autobiography, Babur claimed to be strong and physically fit, and that he had swum across every major river he encountered, including twice across the Ganges River in North India. + +Babur did not initially know old Hindustani; however, his Turkic poetry indicates that he picked up some of its vocabulary later in life. + +Unlike his father, he had ascetic tendencies and did not have any great interest in women. In his first marriage, he was "bashful" towards Aisha Sultan Begum, later losing his affection for her. Babur showed similar shyness in his interactions with Baburi, a boy in his camp with whom he had an infatuation around this time, recounting that: +However, Babur acquired several more wives and concubines over the years, and as required for a prince, he was able to ensure the continuity of his line. + +Babur's first wife, Aisha Sultan Begum, was his paternal cousin, the daughter of Sultan Ahmad Mirza, his father's brother. She was an infant when betrothed to Babur, who was himself five years old. They married eleven years later, . The couple had one daughter, Fakhr-un-Nissa, who died within a year in 1500. Three years later, after Babur's first defeat at Fergana, Aisha left him and returned to her father's household. In 1504, Babur married Zaynab Sultan Begum, who died childless within two years. In the period 1506–08, Babur married four women, Maham Begum (in 1506), Masuma Sultan Begum, Gulrukh Begum and Dildar Begum. Babur had four children by Maham Begum, of whom only one survived infancy. This was his eldest son and heir, Humayun. Masuma Sultan Begum died during childbirth; the year of her death is disputed (either 1508 or 1519). Gulrukh bore Babur two sons, Kamran and Askari, and Dildar Begum was the mother of Babur's youngest son, Hindal. Babur later married Mubaraka Yusufzai, a Pashtun woman of the Yusufzai tribe. Gulnar Aghacha and Nargul Aghacha were two Circassian slaves given to Babur as gifts by Tahmasp Shah Safavi, the Shah of Persia. They became "recognized ladies of the royal household." + +During his rule in Kabul, when there was a time of relative peace, Babur pursued his interests in literature, art, music and gardening. Previously, he never drank alcohol and avoided it when he was in Herat. In Kabul, he first tasted it at the age of thirty. He then began to drink regularly, host wine parties and consume preparations made from opium. Though religion had a central place in his life, Babur also approvingly quoted a line of poetry by one of his contemporaries: "I am drunk, officer. Punish me when I am sober". He quit drinking for health reasons before the Battle of Khanwa, just two years before his death, and demanded that his court do the same. But he did not stop chewing narcotic preparations, and did not lose his sense of irony. He wrote, "Everyone regrets drinking and swears an oath (of abstinence); I swore the oath and regret that." + +Babur was opposed to the blind obedience towards the Chinggisid laws and customs that were influential in Turco-Mongol society:"Previously our ancestors had shown unusual respect for the Chingizid code (). They did not violate this code sitting and rising at councils and court, at feasts and dinners. [However] Chingez Khan’s code is not a nass qati (categorical text) that a person must follow. Whenever one leaves a good custom, it should be followed. If ancestors leave a bad custom, however it is necessary to substitute a good one."Making clear that to him, the categorical text (i.e. the Quran) had displaced Genghis Khan's Yassa in moral and legal matters. + +Poetry + +Babur was an acclaimed writer, who had a profound love for literature. His library was one of his most beloved possessions that he always carried around with him, and books were one of the treasures he searched for in new conquered lands. In his memoirs, when he listed sovereigns and nobles of a conquered land, he also mentioned poets, musicians and other educated people. + +During his 47-year life, Babur left a rich literary and scientific heritage. He authored his famous memoir the Bāburnāma, as well as beautiful lyrical works or ghazals, treatises on Muslim jurisprudence (Mubayyin), poetics (Aruz risolasi), music, and a special calligraphy, known as khatt-i Baburi. + +Babur's Bāburnāma is a collection of memoirs, written in the Chagatai language and later translated into Persian, the usual literary language of the Mughal court, during the rule of emperor Akbar. However, Babur's Turkic prose in Bāburnāma is already highly Persianized in its sentence structure, vocabulary, and morphology, and also consists of several phrases and minor poems in Persian. + +Babur wrote most of his poems in Chagatai Turkic, known to him as Türki, but he also composed in Persian. However, he was mostly praised for his literary works written in Turkic, which drew comparison with the poetry of Ali-Shir Nava'i. + +The following ruba'i is an example of Babur's poetry written in Turkic, composed in the aftermath of his famous victory in North India to celebrate his ghazi status. + +I am become a desert wanderer for Islam, +Having joined battle with infidels and Hindus +I readied myself to become a martyr, +God be thanked I am become a ghazi. + +Family + +Consorts +Aisha Sultan Begum ( 1499; 1503), daughter of Sultan Ahmed Mirza — First wife of Babur +Zainab Sultan Begum ( 1504; 1506–07), daughter of Sultan Mahmud Mirza +Maham Begum ( 1506) — Babur's chief and favourite consort +Masuma Sultan Begum ( 1507; 1509), daughter of Sultan Ahmed Mirza and half-sister of Aisha Sultan Begum +Bibi Mubarika ( 1519), Pashtun of the Yusufzai tribe +Gulrukh Begum (not to be confused with Babur's daughter Gulrukh Begum, who was also known as Gulbarg Begum) +Dildar Begum +Gulnar Aghacha, Circassian concubine +Nargul Aghacha, Circassian concubine + +The identity of the mother of one of Babur's daughters, Gulrukh Begum is disputed. Gulrukh's mother may have been the daughter of Sultan Mahmud Mirza by his wife Pasha Begum who is referred to as Saliha Sultan Begum in certain secondary sources, however this name is not mentioned in the Baburnama or the works of Gulbadan Begum, which casts doubt on her existence. This woman may never have existed at all or she may even be the same woman as Dildar Begum. + +Issue +The sons of Babur were: + +Humayun ( 1508; 1556) — with Maham Begum — succeeded Babur as the second Mughal Emperor +Kamran Mirza ( 1512; 1557) — with Gulrukh Begum +Askari Mirza ( 1518; 1557) — with Gulrukh Begum +Hindal Mirza ( 1519; 1551) — with Dildar Begum +Ahmad Mirza ( young) — with Gulrukh Begum +Shahrukh Mirza ( young) — with Gulrukh Begum +Barbul Mirza ( infancy) — with Maham Begum +Alwar Mirza ( young) — with Dildar Begum +Faruq Mirza ( infancy) — with Maham Begum + +The daughters of Babur were: +Fakhr-un-Nissa Begum ( & 1501) — with Aisha Sultan Begum +Aisan Daulat Begum ( infancy) — with Maham Begum +Mehr Jahan Begum ( infancy) — with Maham Begum +Masuma Sultan Begum ( 1508) — with Masuma Sultan Begum — Married to Muhammad Zaman Mirza. +Gulzar Begum ( infancy) — with Gulrukh Begum +Gulrukh Begum (Gulbarg Begum) — Identity of mother is disputed, may have been Dildar Begum or Saliha Sultan Begum — Married to Nuruddin Muhammad Mirza, son of Khwaja Hasan Naqshbandi, with whom she had Salima Sultan Begum, wife of Bairam Khan and later the Mughal Emperor Akbar. +Gulbadan Begum ( – 1603) — with Dildar Begum — Married Khizr Khwaja Khan, son of her father's cousin Aiman Khwajah Sultan of Moghulistan, son of Ahmad Alaq of Moghulistan, the maternal uncle of Emperor Babur. +Gulchehra Begum ( – 1557) — with Dildar Begum — Married firstly in 1530 to Sultan Tukhta Bugha Khan, son of Ahmad Alaq of Moghulistan, the maternal uncle of Emperor Babur. Married secondly to Abbas Sultan Uzbeg. +Gulrang Begum — with Dildar Begum — Married in 1530 to Isan Timur Sultan, ninth son of Ahmad Alaq of Moghulistan, the maternal uncle of Emperor Babur. + +Death and legacy + +Babur died in Agra at the age of 47 on and was succeeded by his eldest son, Humayun. He was first buried in Agra but, as per his wishes, his mortal remains were moved to Kabul and reburied in Bagh-e Babur in Kabul sometime between 1539 and 1544. + +It is generally agreed that, as a Timurid, Babur was not only significantly influenced by the Persian culture, but also that his empire gave rise to the expansion of the Persianate ethos in the Indian subcontinent. He emerged in his own telling as a Timurid Renaissance inheritor, leaving signs of Islamic, artistic literary, and social aspects in India. + +For example, F. Lehmann states in the Encyclopædia Iranica: +Although all applications of modern Central Asian ethnicities to people of Babur's time are anachronistic, Soviet and Uzbek sources regard Babur as an ethnic Uzbek. At the same time, during the Soviet Union Uzbek scholars were censored for idealising and praising Babur and other historical figures such as Ali-Shir Nava'i. + +Babur is considered a national hero in Uzbekistan. On 14 February 2008, stamps in his name were issued in the country to commemorate his 525th birth anniversary. Many of Babur's poems have become popular Uzbek folk songs, especially by Sherali Jo'rayev. Some sources claim that Babur is a national hero in Kyrgyzstan too. In October 2005, Pakistan developed the Babur Cruise Missile, named in his honour. + +Shahenshah Babar, an Indian film about the emperor directed by Wajahat Mirza was released in 1944. The 1960 Indian biographical film Babar by Hemen Gupta covered the emperor's life with Gajanan Jagirdar in the lead role. + +One of the enduring features of Babur's life was that he left behind the lively and well-written autobiography known as Baburnama. Quoting Henry Beveridge, Stanley Lane-Poole writes: + +In his own words, "The cream of my testimony is this, do nothing against your brothers even though they may deserve it." Also, "The new year, the spring, the wine and the beloved are joyful. Babur make merry, for the world will not be there for you a second time." + +Babri Masjid +The Babri Masjid ("Babur's Mosque") in Ayodhya is said to have been constructed on the orders of Mir Baqi, one of the commanders of his army. In 2003 the Allahabad High Court ordered the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) to conduct a more in-depth study and an excavation to ascertain the type of structure beneath the mosque. The excavation was conducted from 12 March 2003 to 7 August 2003, resulting in 1360 discoveries. + +The summary of the ASI report indicated the presence of a 10th-century temple under the mosque. The ASI team said that, human activity at the site dates back to the 13th century BCE. The next few layers date back to the Shunga period (second-first century BCE) and the Kushan period. During the early medieval period (11–12th century CE), a huge but short-lived structure of nearly 50 metres north–south orientation was constructed. On the remains of this structure, another massive structure was constructed: this structure had at least three structural phases and three successive floors attached with it. The report concluded that it was over the top of this construction that the disputed structure was constructed during the early 16th century. Archaeologist KK Muhammed, the only Muslim member in the team of people surveying the excavation, also confirmed individually that there existed a temple like structure before the Babri Masjid was constructed over it. The Supreme Court judgement of 2019 granted the entire disputed land to the Hindus for construction of a temple, stating that hindus continues to worship at the site and continued to hold the land outside the yard. It also held that there is nothing to prove that the structure, which was present before the construction of the mosque, was demolished for the purpose of building mosque or was already in ruins. + +Citations + +References + +Books + + Thackston Jr., W.M., The Baburnama, (New York) 2010. + + Gascoigne, Bamber The Great Moghuls (London) 1971. (Last revised 1987) + Gommans, Jos Mughal Warfare (London) 2002 + Gordon, Stewart. When Asia was the World: Traveling Merchants, Scholars, Warriors, and Monks who created the "Riches of the East" Da Capo Press, Perseus Books, 2008. . + + Irvine, William The Army of the Indian Moghuls. (London) 1902. (Last revised 1985) + Jackson, Peter The Delhi Sultanate. A Political and Military History (Cambridge) 1999 + Richards, John F. The Mughal Empire (Cambridge) 1993 + +External links + + + + + +1483 births +1530 deaths +People from Andijan +1530 in India +Timurid dynasty +16th-century Indian monarchs +15th-century Indian monarchs +Indian Sunni Muslims +Muslim monarchs +Mughal emperors +16th-century Indian Muslims +Turkic culture +Founding monarchs +15th-century Asian people +16th-century rulers +Bernard of Clairvaux, O. Cist. (; 109020 August 1153), venerated as Saint Bernard, was an abbot, mystic, co-founder of the Knights Templar, and a major leader in the reformation of the Benedictine Order through the nascent Cistercian Order. + +He was sent to found Clairvaux Abbey at an isolated clearing in a glen known as the Val d'Absinthe, about southeast of Bar-sur-Aube. In the year 1128, Bernard attended the Council of Troyes, at which he traced the outlines of the Rule of the Knights Templar, which soon became an ideal of Christian nobility. + +On the death of Pope Honorius II in 1130, a schism arose in the church. Bernard was a major proponent of Pope Innocent II, arguing effectively for his legitimacy over the Antipope Anacletus II. + +Bernard advocated crusades in general and convinced many to participate in the unsuccessful Second Crusade, notably through a famous sermon at Vézelay (1146). + +Bernard was canonized just 21 years after his death by Pope Alexander III. In 1830 Pope Pius VIII declared him a Doctor of the Church. + +Early life (1090–1113) +Bernard's parents were Tescelin de Fontaine, lord of Fontaine-lès-Dijon, and , both members of the highest nobility of Burgundy. Bernard was the third of seven children, six of whom were sons. Aged nine, he was sent to a school at Châtillon-sur-Seine run by the secular canons of Saint-Vorles. Bernard had an interest in literature and rhetoric. He had a special devotion to the Virgin Mary, and he later wrote several works about the Queen of Heaven. + +Bernard emphasized the value of a personally held faith, with the life of Christ as a model and new emphasis on the Virgin Mary. In opposition to the rational approach to divine understanding used by the scholastics, Bernard preached an immediate faith, in which the intercessor was the Virgin Mary. + +Bernard was nineteen years old when his mother died. During his youth, he did not escape trying temptations and around this time he thought of living a life of solitude and prayer. + +In 1098, a group led by Robert of Molesme had founded Cîteaux Abbey, near Dijon, with the purpose of living literally according to the Rule of St Benedict and thereby effectively creating a new order, known, after the abbey, as the Order of Cistercians. After his mother died, Bernard decided to go to Cîteaux. In 1113 he and thirty other young noblemen of Burgundy sought admission into the new monastery. Bernard's example was so convincing that scores followed him into the monastic life. + +Abbot of Clairvaux (1115–28) + +The little community of reformed Benedictines at Cîteaux grew rapidly. Three years after entering, Bernard was sent with a group of twelve monks to found a new house at Vallée d'Absinthe, in the Diocese of Langres. This Bernard named Claire Vallée, or Clairvaux, on 25 June 1115, and the names of Bernard and Clairvaux soon became inseparable. During the absence of the Bishop of Langres, Bernard was blessed as abbot by William of Champeaux, Bishop of Châlons-sur-Marne. From then on a strong friendship grew between the abbot and the bishop, who was professor of theology at Notre Dame of Paris and the founder of St. Victor Abbey in Paris. + +The beginnings of Clairvaux Abbey were austere; Bernard soon became ill. Nonetheless, candidates for the monastic life flocked to it in great numbers. Even his father and all his brothers entered Cîteaux, leaving only Humbeline, his sister, in the secular world. She, with the consent of her husband, later took the veil in the Benedictine nunnery of Jully-les-Nonnains. Gerard of Clairvaux, Bernard's older brother, became the cellarer of Cîteaux. Clairvaux soon started founding new communities. In 1118 Trois-Fontaines Abbey was founded in the diocese of Châlons; in 1119 Fontenay Abbey in the Diocese of Autun; and in 1121 Foigny Abbey near Vervins. + +In addition to successes, Bernard also had his trials. During an absence from Clairvaux, the Grand Prior of the Abbey of Cluny went to Clairvaux and enticed away Bernard's cousin, Robert of Châtillon. This was the occasion of the longest and most emotional of Bernard's letters. + +The monks of the powerful Benedictine abbey of Cluny were unhappy to see Cîteaux take the lead role among the monastic orders. They criticized the Cistercian way of life. At the solicitation of William of St.-Thierry, Bernard defended the Cistercians with his Apology. Peter the Venerable, abbot of Cluny, answered Bernard and assured him of his admiration and friendship. In the meantime, Cluny launched a reform and Abbot Suger, the minister of Louis VI of France, was converted by Bernard's Apology. + +Doctor of the Church + +In 1128, Bernard participated in the Council of Troyes, which had been convoked by Pope Honorius II, and was presided over by Cardinal Matthew of Albano. The purpose of this council was to settle certain disputes of the bishops of Paris, and regulate other matters of the Church of France. The bishops made Bernard secretary of the council, and charged him with drawing up the synodal statutes. After the council, the bishop of Verdun was deposed. It was at this council that Bernard composed a rule for the Knights Templar; it soon became an ideal of Christian nobility. Around this time, he praised them in his . + +Schism +Bernard's influence was soon felt in provincial affairs. He defended the rights of the Church against the encroachments of kings and princes, and recalled to their duty Henri Sanglier, archbishop of Sens and Stephen of Senlis, bishop of Paris. When Honorius II died in 1130, a schism broke out in the Church by the election of two popes, Pope Innocent II and Antipope Anacletus II. Innocent, having been banished from Rome by Anacletus, took refuge in France. King Louis VI convened a national council of the French bishops at Étampes and Bernard, summoned there by the bishops, was chosen to judge between the rival popes. He decided in favour of Innocent. + +Bernard travelled on to Italy and reconciled Pisa with Genoa, and Milan with the pope. The same year Bernard was again at the Council of Reims at the side of Innocent II. He then went to Aquitaine where he succeeded for the time in detaching William X, Duke of Aquitaine, from the cause of Anacletus. + +Germany had decided to support Innocent through Norbert of Xanten, who was a friend of Bernard's. However, Innocent insisted on Bernard's company when he met with Lothair II, Holy Roman Emperor. Lothair II became Innocent's strongest ally among the nobility. Although the councils of Étampes, Würzburg, Clermont, and Rheims all supported Innocent, large portions of the Christian world still supported Anacletus. + +In a letter by Bernard to German Emperor Lothair regarding Antipope Anacletus, Bernard wrote, "It is a disgrace for Christ that a Jew sits on the throne of St. Peter's" and "Anacletus has not even a good reputation with his friends, while Innocent is illustrious beyond all doubt." + +Bernard wrote to Gerard of Angoulême (a letter known as Letter 126), which questioned Gerard's reasons for supporting Anacletus. Bernard later commented that Gerard was his most formidable opponent during the whole schism. After persuading Gerard, Bernard traveled to visit William X, Duke of Aquitaine. He was the hardest for Bernard to convince. He did not pledge allegiance to Innocent until 1135. After that, Bernard spent most of his time in Italy persuading the Italians to pledge allegiance to Innocent. The conflict ended when Anacletus died in 1138. + +In 1132, Bernard accompanied Innocent II into Italy, and at Cluny the pope abolished the dues which Clairvaux used to pay to that abbey. This action gave rise to a quarrel between the White Monks and the Black Monks which lasted 20 years. In May of that year, the pope, supported by the army of Lothair III, entered Rome, but Lothair III, feeling himself too weak to resist the partisans of Anacletus, retired beyond the Alps, and Innocent sought refuge in Pisa in September 1133. Bernard had returned to France in June and was continuing the work of peacemaking which he had commenced in 1130. Towards the end of 1134, he made a second journey into Aquitaine, where William X had relapsed into schism. Bernard invited William to the Mass which he celebrated in the Church of La Couldre. At the Eucharist, he "admonished the Duke not to despise God as he did His servants". William yielded and the schism ended. Bernard went again to Italy, where Roger II of Sicily was endeavouring to withdraw the Pisans from their allegiance to Innocent. He recalled the city of Milan to obedience to the pope as they had followed the deposed Anselm V, Archbishop of Milan. For this, he was offered, and he refused, the see of Milan. He then returned to Clairvaux. Believing himself at last secure in his cloister, Bernard devoted himself to the composition of the works which won for him the title of "Doctor of the Church". He wrote at this time his sermons on the Song of Songs. In 1137, he was again forced to leave the abbey by order of the pope to put an end to the quarrel between Lothair and Roger of Sicily. At the conference held at Palermo, Bernard succeeded in convincing Roger of the rights of Innocent II. He also silenced the final supporters who sustained the schism. Anacletus died of "grief and disappointment" in 1138, and with him the schism ended. + +In 1139, Bernard assisted at the Second Council of the Lateran, in which the surviving adherents of the schism were definitively condemned. About the same time, Bernard was visited at Clairvaux by Malachy, Primate of All Ireland, and a very close friendship formed between them. Malachy wanted to become a Cistercian, but the pope would not give his permission. Malachy died at Clairvaux in 1148. + +Conflict with Abelard +Towards the close of the 11th century, a spirit of independence flourished within schools of philosophy and theology. The movement found an ardent and powerful advocate in Peter Abelard. Abelard's treatise on the Trinity had been condemned as heretical in 1121, and he was compelled to throw his own book into a fire. However, Abelard continued to develop his controversial teachings. Bernard is said to have held a meeting with Abelard intending to persuade him to amend his writings, during which Abelard repented and promised to do so. But once out of Bernard's presence, he reneged. Bernard then denounced Abelard to the pope and cardinals of the Curia. Abelard sought a debate with Bernard, but Bernard initially declined, saying he did not feel matters of such importance should be settled by logical analyses. Bernard's letters to William of St-Thierry also express his apprehension about confronting the preeminent logician. Abelard continued to press for a public debate, and made his challenge widely known, making it hard for Bernard to decline. In 1141, at the urgings of Abelard, the archbishop of Sens called a council of bishops, where Abelard and Bernard were to put their respective cases so Abelard would have a chance to clear his name. Bernard lobbied the prelates on the evening before the debate, swaying many of them to his view. The next day, after Bernard made his opening statement, Abelard decided to retire without attempting to answer. The council found in favour of Bernard and their judgment was confirmed by the pope. Abelard submitted without resistance, and he retired to Cluny to live under the protection of Peter the Venerable, where he died two years later. + +Cistercian Order and heresy +Bernard had occupied himself in sending bands of monks from his overcrowded monastery into Germany, Sweden, England, Ireland, Portugal, Switzerland, and Italy. Some of these, at the command of Innocent II, took possession of Tre Fontane Abbey, from which Eugene III was chosen in 1145. Pope Innocent II died in the year 1143. His two successors, Pope Celestine II and Pope Lucius II, reigned only a short time, and then Bernard saw one of his disciples, Bernard of Pisa, and known thereafter as Eugene III, raised to the Chair of Saint Peter. Bernard sent him, at the pope's own request, various instructions which comprise the Book of Considerations, the predominating idea of which is that the reformation of the Church ought to commence with the sanctity of the pope. Temporal matters are merely accessories; the principles according to Bernard's work were that piety and meditation were to precede action. + +Having previously helped end the schism within the Church, Bernard was now called upon to combat heresy. Henry of Lausanne, a former Cluniac monk, had adopted the teachings of the Petrobrusians, followers of Peter of Bruys and spread them in a modified form after Peter's death. Henry of Lausanne's followers became known as Henricians. In June 1145, at the invitation of Cardinal Alberic of Ostia, Bernard traveled in southern France. His preaching, aided by his ascetic looks and simple attire, helped doom the new sects. Both the Henrician and the Petrobrusian faiths began to die out by the end of that year. Soon afterwards, Henry of Lausanne was arrested, brought before the bishop of Toulouse, and probably imprisoned for life. In a letter to the people of Toulouse, undoubtedly written at the end of 1146, Bernard calls upon them to extirpate the last remnants of the heresy. He also preached against Catharism. + +Crusade preaching + +Second Crusade (1146–49) + +News came at this time from the Holy Land that alarmed Christendom. Christians had been defeated at the Siege of Edessa and most of the county had fallen into the hands of the Seljuk Turks. The Kingdom of Jerusalem and the other Crusader states were threatened with similar disaster. Deputations of the bishops of Armenia solicited aid from the pope, and the King of France also sent ambassadors. In 1144 Eugene III commissioned Bernard to preach the Second Crusade and granted the same indulgences for it which Pope Urban II had accorded to the First Crusade. + +There was at first virtually no popular enthusiasm for the crusade as there had been in 1095. Bernard found it expedient to dwell upon taking the cross as a potent means of gaining absolution for sin and attaining grace. On 31 March, with King Louis VII of France present, he preached to an enormous crowd in a field at Vézelay, making "the speech of his life". The full text has not survived, but a contemporary account says that "his voice rang out across the meadow like a celestial organ" + +James Meeker Ludlow describes the scene romantically in his book The Age of the Crusades: + +When Bernard was finished the crowd enlisted en masse; they supposedly ran out of cloth to make crosses. Bernard is said to have flung off his own robe and began tearing it into strips to make more. Others followed his example and he and his helpers were supposedly still producing crosses as night fell. + +Unlike the First Crusade, the new venture attracted royalty, such as Eleanor of Aquitaine, Queen of France; Thierry of Alsace, Count of Flanders; Henry, the future Count of Champagne; Louis's brother Robert I of Dreux; Alphonse I of Toulouse; William II of Nevers; William de Warenne, 3rd Earl of Surrey; Hugh VII of Lusignan, Yves II, Count of Soissons; and numerous other nobles and bishops. But an even greater show of support came from the common people. Bernard wrote to the pope a few days afterwards, "Cities and castles are now empty. There is not left one man to seven women, and everywhere there are widows to still-living husbands." + +Bernard then passed into Germany, and the reported miracles which multiplied almost at his every step undoubtedly contributed to the success of his mission. Conrad III of Germany and his nephew Frederick Barbarossa, received the cross from the hand of Bernard. Pope Eugenius came in person to France to encourage the enterprise. As in the First Crusade, the preaching led to attacks on Jews; a fanatical French monk named Radulphe was apparently inspiring massacres of Jews in the Rhineland, Cologne, Mainz, Worms, and Speyer, with Radulphe claiming Jews were not contributing financially to the rescue of the Holy Land. The archbishop of Cologne and the archbishop of Mainz were vehemently opposed to these attacks and asked Bernard to denounce them. This he did, but when the campaign continued, Bernard traveled from Flanders to Germany to deal with the problems in person. He then found Radulphe in Mainz and was able to silence him, returning him to his monastery. + +The last years of Bernard's life were saddened by the failure of the Second Crusade he had preached, the entire responsibility for which was thrown upon him. Bernard considered it his duty to send an apology to the Pope and it is inserted in the second part of his "Book of Considerations". There he explains how the sins of the crusaders were the cause of their misfortune and failures. + +Wendish Crusade (1147) +Bernard preached the Wendish Crusade against Western Slavs, setting a goal to the crusade of battling them "until such a time as, by God's help, they shall either be converted or deleted". + +Final years (1149–53) + +The death of his contemporaries served as a warning to Bernard of his own approaching end. The first to die was Suger in 1152, of whom Bernard wrote to Eugene III, "If there is any precious vase adorning the palace of the King of Kings it is the soul of the venerable Suger". Conrad III and his son Henry died the same year. Bernard died at age sixty-three on 20 August 1153, after forty years of monastic life. He was buried at Clairvaux Abbey, and after its dissolution in 1792 by the French revolutionary government his remains were transferred to Troyes Cathedral. + +Theology + +Bernard was named a Doctor of the Church in 1830. At the 800th anniversary of his death, Pope Pius XII issued an encyclical about him, titled Doctor Mellifluus, in which he labeled him "The Last of the Fathers". The central elements of Bernard's Mariology are how he explained the virginity of Mary, the "Star of the Sea", and her role as Mediatrix. + +The first abbot of Clairvaux developed a rich theology of sacred space and music, writing extensively on both. + +John Calvin and Martin Luther quoted Bernard several times in support of the doctrine of Sola Fide. Calvin also quotes him in setting forth his doctrine of a forensic alien righteousness, or as it is commonly called imputed righteousness. + +Spirituality + +Bernard was instrumental in re-emphasizing the importance of lectio divina and contemplation for monks. Bernard had observed that when lectio divina was neglected, monasticism suffered. Bernard "noted centuries ago: the people who are their own spiritual directors have fools for disciples." + +Legacy +Bernard's theology and Mariology continue to be of major importance, particularly within the Cistercian and Trappist Orders. Bernard helped found 163 monasteries in different parts of Europe. His influence led Alexander III to launch reforms that led to the establishment of canon law. He was canonized by Alexander III 18 January 1174. He is labeled the "Mellifluous Doctor" for his eloquence. Cistercians honour him as one of the greatest early Cistercians. + +His feast day (observed in several denominations) is 20 August. + +Bernard is Dante Alighieri's last guide, in Divine Comedy, as he travels through the Empyrean. Dante's choice appears to be based on Bernard's contemplative mysticism, his devotion to Mary, and his reputation for eloquence. + +The Couvent et Basilique Saint-Bernard, a collection of buildings dating from the 12th, 17th and 19th centuries, is dedicated to Bernard and stands in his birthplace of Fontaine-lès-Dijon. + +Hymns +Bernard of Clairvaux is the attributed author of poems often translated in English hymnals as: + "O Sacred Head, Now Wounded" + "Jesus the Very Thought of Thee" + "Jesus, Thou Joy of Loving Hearts" + +Works + +The modern critical edition is (1957–1977), edited by Jean Leclercq. + +Bernard's works include: + + Written in the defence of the Cistercians against the claims of the monks of Cluny. + +. + + Addressed to Pope Eugene III. + + A letter to Henri Sanglier, Archbishop of Sens on the duties of bishops. + +His sermons are also numerous: + + Most famous are his (Sermons on the Song of Songs). Although it has at times been suggested that the sermon form is a rhetorical device in a set of works which were only ever designed to be read, since such finely polished and lengthy literary pieces could not accurately have been recorded by a monk while Bernard was preaching, recent scholarship has tended toward the theory that, although what exists in these texts was certainly the product of Bernard's writing, they likely found their origins in sermons preached to the monks of Clairvaux. Bernard began to write these in 1135 but died without completing the series, with 86 sermons complete. These sermons contain an autobiographical passage, sermon 26, mourning the death of his brother, Gerard. After Bernard died, the English Cistercian Gilbert of Hoyland continued Bernard's incomplete series of 86 sermons on the biblical Song of Songs. Gilbert wrote 47 sermons before he died in 1172, taking the series up to Chapter 5 of the Song of Songs. Another English Cistercian abbot, John of Ford, wrote another 120 sermons on the Song of Songs, so completing the Cistercian sermon-commentary on the book. + There are 125 surviving (Sermons on the Liturgical Year). + There are also the (Sermons on Different Topics). + 547 letters survive. + +Many letters, treatises, and other works, falsely attributed to him survive, and are now referred to as works by pseudo-Bernard. These include: + + This was probably written at some point in the thirteenth century. It circulated extensively in the Middle Ages under Bernard's name and was one of the most popular religious works of the later Middle Ages. Its theme is self-knowledge as the beginning of wisdom; it begins with the phrase "Many know much, but do not know themselves". + +Translations + On consideration, trans by George Lewis, (Oxford, 1908) https://books.google.com/books?id=kkoJAQAAIAAJ + Select treatises of S. Bernard of Clairvaux: De diligendo Deo & De gradibus humilitatis et superbiae, (Cambridge: CUP, 1926) + On loving God, and selections from sermons, edited by Hugh Martin, (London: SCM Press, 1959) [reprinted as (Westport, CO: Greenwood Press, 1981)] + Cistercians and Cluniacs: St. Bernard's Apologia to Abbot William, trans M Casey. Cistercian Fathers series no. 1, (Kalamazoo: Cistercian Publications, 1970) + The works of Bernard of Clairvaux. Vol.1, Treatises, 1, edited by M. Basil Pennington. Cistercian Fathers Series, no. 1. (Spencer, Mass.: Cistercian Publications, 1970) [contains the treatises Apologia to Abbot William and On Precept and Dispensation, and two shorter liturgical treatises] + Bernard of Clairvaux, On the Song of Songs, 4 vols, Cistercian Fathers series nos 4, 7, 31, 40, (Spencer, MA: Cistercian Publications, 1971–80) + Letter of Saint Bernard of Clairvaux on revision of Cistercian chant = Epistola S[ancti] Bernardi de revisione cantus Cisterciensis, edited and translated by Francis J. Guentner, (American Institute of Musicology, 1974) + Treatises II : The steps of humility and pride on loving God, Cistercian Fathers series no. 13, (Washington: Cistercian Publications, 1984) + Five books on consideration: advice to a Pope, translated by John D. Anderson & Elizabeth T. Kennan. Cistercian Fathers Series no. 37. (Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian Publications, 1976) + The Works of Bernard of Clairvaux. Volume Seven, Treatises III: On Grace and free choice. In praise of the new knighthood, translated by Conrad Greenia. Cistercian Fathers Series no. 19, (Kalamazoo, Michigan: Cistercian Publications Inc., 1977) + The life and death of Saint Malachy, the Irishman translated and annotated by Robert T. Meyer, (Kalamazoo, Mich: Cistercian Publications, 1978) + Bernard of Clairvaux, Homiliae in laudibus Virginis Matris, in Magnificat: homilies in praise of the Blessed Virgin Mary translated by Marie-Bernard Saïd and Grace Perigo, Cistercian Fathers Series no. 18, (Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian Publications, 1979) + Sermons on Conversion: on conversion, a sermon to clerics and Lenten sermons on the psalm "He Who Dwells"., Cistercian Fathers Series no. 25, (Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian Publications, 1981) + Bernard of Clairvaux, Song of Solomon, translated by Samuel J. Eales, (Minneapolis, MN: Klock & Klock, 1984) + St. Bernard's sermons on the Blessed Virgin Mary, translated from the original Latin by a priest of Mount Melleray, (Chumleigh: Augustine, 1984) + Bernard of Clairvaux, The twelve steps of humility and pride; and, On loving God, edited by Halcyon C. Backhouse, (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1985) + St. Bernard's sermons on the Nativity, translated from the original Latin by a priest of Mount Melleray, (Devon: Augustine, 1985) + Bernard of Clairvaux : selected works, translation and foreword by G.R. Evans; introduction by Jean Leclercq; preface by Ewert H. Cousins, (New York: Paulist Press, 1987) [Contains the treatises On conversion, On the steps of humility and pride, On consideration, and On loving God; extracts from Sermons on The song of songs, and a selection of letters] + Conrad Rudolph, The 'Things of Greater Importance': Bernard of Clairvaux's Apologia and the Medieval Attitude Toward Art, (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1990) [Includes the Apologia in both Leclercq's Latin text and English translation] + Love without measure: extracts from the writings of St Bernard of Clairvaux, introduced and arranged by Paul Diemer, Cistercian studies series no. 127, (Kalamazoo, Mich. : Cistercian Publications, 1990) + Sermons for the summer season: liturgical sermons from Rogationtide and Pentecost, translated by Beverly Mayne Kienzle; additional translations by James Jarzembowski, (Kalamazoo, Mich: Cistercian Publications, 1991) + Bernard of Clairvaux, On loving God, Cistercian Fathers series no. 13B, (Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian Publications, 1995) + Bernard of Clairvaux, The parables & the sentences, edited by Maureen M. O'Brien. Cistercian Fathers Series no. 55, (Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian Publications, 2000) + Bernard of Clairvaux, On baptism and the office of bishops, on the conduct and office of bishops, on baptism and other questions: two letter-treatises, translated by Pauline Matarasso. Cistercian Fathers Series no. 67, (Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian Publications, 2004) + Bernard of Clairvaux, Sermons for Advent and the Christmas season translated by Irene Edmonds, Wendy Mary Beckett, Conrad Greenia; edited by John Leinenweber; introduction by Wim Verbaal. Cistercian Fathers Series no. 51, (Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian Publications, 2007) + Bernard of Clairvaux, Sermons for Lent and the Easter Season, edited by John Leinenweber and Mark Scott, OCSO. Cistercian Fathers Series no. 52, (Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian Publications, 2013) + +See also + + List of Catholic saints + List of Latin nicknames of the Middle Ages: Doctors in theology + Scholasticism + St. Bernard de Clairvaux Church + Prayer to the shoulder wound of Jesus + Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, patron saint archive + Pope Eugene III + +References + +Notes + +Citations + +Sources + + Pierre Aubé: Saint Bernard de Clairvaux, Paris, éd. Fayard, 2003, 812 pages. + + 6 tomes in 4 volumes. + + + + + + + + + + + + + Adapted from + +External links + + + + + "St. Bernard, Abbot", Butler's Lives of the Saints + Opera omnia Sancti Bernardi Claraevallensis his complete works, in Latin + Audio on the life of St. Bernard of Clairvaux from waysideaudio.com + Database with all known medieval representations of Bernard + Saint Bernard of Clairvaux at the Christian Iconography web site. + "Here Followeth the Life of St. Bernard, the Mellifluous Doctor" from the Caxton translation of the Golden Legend + "Two Accounts of the Early Career of St. Bernard" by William of Thierry and Arnold of Bonneval + Saint Bernard of Clairvaux Abbot, Doctor of the Church-1153 at EWTN Global Catholic Network + Colonnade Statue St Peter's Square + Lewis E 26 De consideratione (On Consideration) at OPenn + MS 484/11 Super cantica canticorum at OPenn + +1090 births +1153 deaths +12th-century Christian mystics +12th-century Christian saints +12th-century French Roman Catholic priests +12th-century Roman Catholic theologians +Christian ethicists +Christians of the Second Crusade +Cistercian saints +Doctors of the Church +French Christian theologians +French Cistercians +French male writers +French religious writers +French Roman Catholic saints +Knights Templar +Medieval French saints +Medieval French theologians +People from Fontaine-lès-Dijon +Pre-Reformation saints of the Lutheran liturgical calendar +Catholic Mariology +Roman Catholic mystics +Miracle workers +12th-century French writers +12th-century writers in Latin +Anglican saints +Monastic theologians +Characters in the Divine Comedy +Bishkek (, ; ), formerly Pishpek and Frunze, is the capital and largest city of Kyrgyzstan. Bishkek is also the administrative centre of the Chüy Region. The region surrounds the city, although the city itself is not part of the region but rather a region-level unit of Kyrgyzstan. Bishkek is situated near the Kazakhstan–Kyrgyzstan border with its population being 1,074,075 in 2021. + +In 1825, the Khanate of Kokand established the fortress of Pishpek to control local caravan routes and to collect tribute from Kyrgyz tribes. On 4 September 1860, with the approval of the Kyrgyz, Russian forces led by Colonel Apollon Zimmermann destroyed the fortress. In the present day, the fortress ruins can be found just north of Jibek jolu street, near the new main mosque. In 1868, a Russian settlement was established on the site of the fortress under its original name, Pishpek. It lay within the General Governorship of Russian Turkestan and its Semirechye Oblast. + +In 1925, the Kara-Kirghiz Autonomous Oblast was established in Russian Turkestan, promoting Pishpek to its capital. In 1926, the Communist Party of the Soviet Union renamed the city Frunze, after Bolshevik military leader Mikhail Frunze (1885–1925), who was born there. In 1936, Frunze became the capital of the Kirghiz Soviet Socialist Republic, during the final stages of national delimitation in the Soviet Union. In 1991, the Kyrgyz parliament changed the capital's name to Bishkek. + +Bishkek is situated at an altitude of about , just off the northern fringe of the Kyrgyz Ala-Too Range, an extension of the Tian Shan mountain range. These mountains rise to a height of . North of the city, a fertile and gently undulating steppe extends far north into neighbouring Kazakhstan. The river Chüy drains most of the area. Bishkek is connected to the Turkestan–Siberia Railway by a spur line. + +Bishkek is a city of wide boulevards and marble-faced public buildings combined with numerous Soviet-style apartment blocks surrounding interior courtyards. There are also thousands of smaller, privately built houses, mostly outside the city centre. Streets follow a grid pattern, with most flanked on both sides by narrow irrigation channels, which provide water to trees which provide shade during the hot summers. + +Etymology +Bishkek is supposedly named after the paddle used to churn the fermenting milk. + +The official website of the Bishkek's city hall provides the following etymological justification for the name of the city: the pregnant wife of a heo lost a paddle used to churn kumis. While looking for it, she suddenly gave birth to a boy, who she named Bishkek. Bishkek would grow up to be a noble figure and after his death, was buried on a mound near the banks of the Alamüdün. There, a tombstone was erected. The building was seen and described by travelers of the 17th and 18th centuries. + +History + +Based on DNA evidence, the area near Bishkek is considered one of the possible origins of the Black Death between AD 1346 and 1353. + +Kokhand rule +Originally a caravan rest stop, possibly founded by the Sogdians, on one of the branches of the Silk Road through the Tian Shan range, the location was fortified in 1825 by the khan of Kokand with a mud fort. In the last years of Kokhand rule, the Pishpek fortress was led by Atabek, the Datka. In 1844, the forces of Ormon Khan, the leader of the , briefly captured the fortress. + +Tsarist era +In 1860, Imperial Russia annexed the area, and the military forces of Colonel took and razed the fort. Colonel Zimmermann rebuilt the town over the destroyed fort and appointed field-Poruchik Titov as head of a new Russian garrison. The Imperial Russian government redeveloped the site from 1877 onward, encouraging the settlement of Russian peasants by giving them fertile land to develop. + +Soviet era + +In 1926, the city became the capital of the newly established Kirghiz ASSR and was renamed Frunze after Mikhail Frunze, Lenin's close associate who was born in Bishkek and played key roles during the revolutions of 1905 and 1917 and during the Russian Civil War of the early 1920s. + +Independence era +The early 1990s were a tumultuous time for Bishkek. In June 1990, a state of emergency was declared following severe ethnic riots in southern Kyrgyzstan that threatened to spread to the capital. The city was renamed Bishkek on 5 February 1991, and Kyrgyzstan achieved independence later that year during the breakup of the Soviet Union. Before independence, the majority of Bishkek's population were ethnic Russians. In 2004, Russians made up approximately 20% of the city's population, and about in 2011. + +Bishkek is Kyrgyzstan's financial centre, with all of the country's 21 commercial banks headquartered there. During the Soviet era, the city was home to many industrial plants, but most have been shut down since 1991 or now operate on a much-reduced scale. One of Bishkek's largest employment centres today is the Dordoy Bazaar open market, where many of the Chinese goods imported to CIS countries are sold. + +Geography + +Orientation +Although Bishkek itself is relatively young, its surrounding area has some sites of interest dating to prehistoric times. There are also sites from the Greco-Buddhist period, the period of Nestorian influence, the era of the Central Asian khanates, and the Soviet period. + +The central part of the city is laid out on a rectangular grid plan. The city's main street is the east-west Chüy Avenue (Chüy Prospekti), named after the region's main river. In the Soviet era, it was called Lenin Avenue. Along or near it are many important government buildings and universities. These include the Academy of Sciences compound. The westernmost section of the avenue is known as Deng Xiaoping Avenue. + +The main north–south street is Yusup Abdrakhmanov Street, still commonly referred to by its old name, Sovietskaya Street. Its northern and southern sections are called, respectively, Yelebesov and Baityk Batyr Streets. Several major shopping centres are located along with it, and in the north, it provides access to Dordoy Bazaar. + +Erkindik ("Freedom") Boulevard runs from north to south, from the main railroad station (Bishkek II) south of Chüy Avenue to the museum quarter and sculpture park just north of Chüy Avenue, and further north toward the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In the past, it was called Dzerzhinsky Boulevard, named after a Communist revolutionary, Felix Dzerzhinsky, and its northern continuation is still called Dzerzhinsky Street. + +An important east–west street is Jibek Jolu ('Silk Road'). It runs parallel to Chüy Avenue about north of it and is part of the main east–west road of Chüy Region. Both the eastern and western bus terminals are located along Jibek Jolu. + +There is a Roman Catholic church located at ul. Vasiljeva 197 (near Rynok Bayat). It is the only Catholic cathedral in Kyrgyzstan. + +A stadium named in honour of Dolon Omurzakov is located near the centre of Bishkek. This is the largest stadium in the Kyrgyz Republic. + +City centre + Kyrgyz State Historical Museum, located in Ala-Too Square, the main city square. + State Museum of Applied Arts, containing examples of traditional Kyrgyz handicrafts. + Frunze House Museum. + Statue of Ivan Panfilov in the park near the White House. + An equestrian statue of Mikhail Frunze stands in a large park (Boulevard Erkindik) across from the train station. + The train station was built in 1946 by German prisoners of war and has survived since then without further renovation or repairs; most of those who built it perished and were buried in unmarked pits near the station. + The main government building, the White House, is a large seven-story marble building and the former headquarters of the Communist Party of the Kirghiz SSR. + At Ala-Too Square there is an independence monument where the changing of the guards may be watched. +Osh Bazaar, west of the city centre, is a large, picturesque produce market. +Kyrgyz National Philharmonic, concert hall. + +Outer neighbourhoods +The Dordoy Bazaar, just inside the bypass highway on the north-eastern edge of the city, is a major retail and wholesale market. + +Outside the city +The Kyrgyz Ala-Too mountain range, some away, provides a spectacular backdrop to the city; the Ala Archa National Park is only a 30 to 45 minutes drive away. + +Distances +Bishkek is about 300 km away directly from the country's second largest city Osh. However, its nearest large city is Almaty of Kazakhstan, which is 190 km to the east. Furthermore, it is 470 km from Tashkent (Uzbekistan), 680 km from Dushanbe (Tajikistan), and about 1,000 km each from Astana (Kazakhstan), Ürümqi (China), Islamabad (Pakistan), and Kabul (Afghanistan). + +Climate +Bishkek has a Mediterranean-influenced humid continental climate (Köppen climate classification Dsa), as the average mean temperature in the winter is below . Average precipitation is around per year. Average daily high temperatures range from in January to about during July. The summer months are dominated by dry periods, punctuated by the occasional thunderstorm, which produces strong gusty winds and rare dust storms. The mountains to the south provide a natural boundary and protection from damaging weather, as does the smaller mountain chain that runs north-west to south-east. In the winter months, sparse snow storms and frequent heavy fog are the dominating features. There are sometimes temperature inversions, during which the fog can last for days at a time. + +Demographics +Bishkek is the most populated city in Kyrgyzstan. Its population, estimated in 2021, was 1,074,075. From the foundation of the city to the mid-1990s, ethnic Russians and other peoples of European descent (Ukrainians, Germans) comprised the majority of the city's population. According to the 1970 census, the ethnic Kyrgyz were only 12.3%, while Europeans comprised more than 80% of the Frunze population. Now Bishkek is a predominantly Kyrgyz city, with 75% of its residents Kyrgyz, while European peoples make up around 15% of the population. Despite this fact, Russian is the main language while Kyrgyz continues losing ground, especially among the younger generations. + +Ecology and environment + +Air quality +Emissions of air pollutants in Bishkek amounted to 14,400 tons in 2010. Among all cities in Kyrgyzstan, the level of air pollution in Bishkek is the highest, occasionally exceeding maximum allowable concentrations by several times, especially in the city centre. For example, concentrations of formaldehyde occasionally exceed maximum allowable limits by a factor of four. + +Responsibility for ambient air quality monitoring in Bishkek lies with the Kyrgyz State Agency of Hydrometeorology. There are seven air-quality monitoring stations in Bishkek, measuring levels of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, formaldehyde, and ammonia. + +Economy + +Bishkek uses the Kyrgyzstan currency, the som. The som's value fluctuates regularly but averaged around 85 som per U.S. dollar as of March 2023. The economy in Bishkek is primarily agricultural, and agricultural products are sometimes bartered in the outlying regions. The streets of Bishkek are regularly lined with produce vendors in a market-style venue. In most of the downtown area there is a more urban cityscape with banks, stores, markets, and malls. Sought-after goods include hand-crafted artisan pieces, such as statues, carvings, paintings, and many nature-based sculptures. + +Housing +As with many cities in post-Soviet states, housing in Bishkek has undergone extensive changes since the collapse of the Soviet Union. While housing was formerly distributed to citizens in the Soviet era, housing in Bishkek has since become privatised. + +Though single-family houses are slowly becoming more popular, the majority of the residents live in Soviet-era apartments. Despite the Kyrgyz economy experiencing growth, increases in available housing have been slow with very little new construction. As a result of this growing prosperity and the lack of new formal housing, prices have been rising significantly—doubling from 2001 to 2002. + +Those unable to afford the high housing price within Bishkek, notably internal migrants from rural villages and small provincial towns, often have to resort to informal squatter settlements on the city's outskirts. These settlements are estimated to house 400,000 people or about 30 percent of Bishkek's population. While many of the settlements have lacked basic necessities such as electricity and running water, recently, the local government has pushed to provide these services. + +Government +Local government is administered by the Bishkek Mayor's Office. Askarbek Salymbekov was mayor until his resignation in August 2005, after which his deputy, Arstanbek Nogoev, took over the mayorship. Nogoev was in turn removed from his position in October 2007 through a decree of President Kurmanbek Bakiyev and replaced by businessman and former first deputy prime minister Daniar Usenov. In July 2008 former head of the Kyrgyz Railways Nariman Tuleyev was appointed mayor, who was dismissed by the interim government after 7 April 2010. From April 2010 to February 2011 Isa Omurkulov, also a former head of the Kyrgyz Railways, was an interim mayor, and from 4 February 2011 to 14 December 2013 he was re-elected the mayor of Bishkek. Kubanychbek Kulmatov was nominated for election by parliamentary group of Social Democratic Party of Kyrgyzstan in city kenesh, and he was elected as a new mayor on 15 January 2014, and stepped down on 9 February 2016. +The next mayor, Albek Sabirbekovich Ibraimov, was also nominated for election by parliamentary group of Social Democratic Party of Kyrgyzstan in city kenesh, and Bishkek City Kenesh elected him on 27 February 2016. The current mayor is Emil Abdykadyrov, who was elected on 24 February 2022. + +Administrative divisions +Bishkek city covers and is administered separately and not part of any region. Besides the city proper, one urban-type settlement and one village are administered by the city: Chong-Aryk and Orto-Say. The city is divided into 4 districts: Birinchi May, Lenin, Oktyabr and Sverdlov. Chong-Aryk and Orto-Say are part of Lenin District. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, there has been discussion of replacing the Soviet era district names with ones that reflect Kyrgyz identity and history. Other former Soviet republics have widely replaced Soviet era place names; despite renaming the capital in 1991, Kyrgyzstan is the only nation in Central Asia to retain Soviet era names for districts in its capital. + +Culture +Bishkek is culturally the country's most important city. It is home to the National Library of the Kyrgyz Republic as well as a number of museums, e.g. the Kyrgyz State Historical Museum or the M. V. Frunze Museum. The national public broadcasting service KTRK or Kyrgyz Television is based in Bishkek. Newspapers in Bishkek include the English-language Bishkek Observer, the world's only dungan-language newspaper called Huimin bao and the russian-language Vecherniy Bishkek newspaper. + +Religion +The largest religion is Sunni Islam, but since many Russians live in Kyrgyzstan, there is also a large Russian Orthodox community. The Bishkek Central Mosque is one of the largest in Central Asia. Bishkek is home to the Roman Catholic Apostolic Administration of Kyrgyzstan. + +Sports +Bishkek is home to Dolen Omurzakov Stadium, the largest football stadium in Kyrgyzstan and the only one eligible to host international matches. Several Bishkek-based football teams play on this pitch, including six-time Kyrgyzstan League champions, Dordoi Bishkek. Others include Alga Bishkek, Ilbirs Bishkek, and RUOR-Guardia Bishkek. + +Bishkek hosted the 2014 IIHF Challenge Cup of Asia – Division I. + +Education +Educational institutions in Bishkek include: + APAP KR + American University of Central Asia + Arabaev Kyrgyz State University + Bishkek Humanities University + International Atatürk-Alatoo University + International University of Kyrgyzstan + Kyrgyz-Russian Slavic University + I.K. Akhunbaev Kyrgyz State Medical Academy + Kyrgyz State National University + Kyrgyz Technical University + Kyrgyz-Russian State University + Kyrgyz-Turkish Manas University + Kyrgyz Uzbek University + Plato University of Management and Design + University of Central Asia +In addition, the following international schools serve the expatriate community in Bishkek: + European School in Central Asia + Oxford International School Bishkek + Hope Academy of Bishkek + QSI International School of Bishkek + Silk Road International School + +Transportation + +Mass public transport +Public transportation includes buses, electric trolleybuses, and public vans (known in Russian as marshrutka). The first bus and trolley bus services in Bishkek were introduced in 1934 and 1951, respectively. + +Taxi cabs can be found throughout the city. + +The city is considering designing and building a light rail system. + +Commuter and long-distance buses +There are two main bus stations in Bishkek. The smaller old Eastern Bus Station is primarily the terminal for minibusses to various destinations within or just beyond the eastern suburbs, such as Kant, Tokmok, Kemin, Issyk Ata, or the Korday border crossing. + +Long-distance regular bus and minibus services to all parts of the country, as well as to Almaty (the largest city in neighbouring Kazakhstan) and Kashgar, China, run mostly from the newer grand Western Bus Station; only a smaller number run from the Eastern Station. + +The Dordoy Bazaar on the north-eastern outskirts of the city also contains makeshift terminals for frequent minibusses to suburban towns in all directions (from Sokuluk in the west to Tokmak in the east) and to some buses taking traders to Kazakhstan and Siberia. + +Rail +, the Bishkek-2 railway station sees only a few trains a day. It offers a popular three-day train service from Bishkek to Moscow. + +There are also long-distance trains that leave for Siberia (Novosibirsk and Novokuznetsk), via Almaty, over the TurkSib route, and to Yekaterinburg (Sverdlovsk) in the Urals, via Astana. These services are remarkably slow (over 48 hours to Yekaterinburg), due to long stops at the border and the indirect route (the trains first have to go west for more than a before they enter the main TurkSib line and can continue to the east or north). For example, as of the fall of 2008, train No. 305 Bishkek-Yekaterinburg was scheduled to take 11 hours to reach the Shu junction—a distance of some by rail, and less than half of that by road. + +Air +The city is served by Manas International Airport (IATA code FRU), located approximately north-west of the city centre. + +In 2002, the United States obtained the right to use Manas International Airport as an air base for its military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq. Russia subsequently (2003) established an airbase of its own (Kant Air Base) near Kant, some east of Bishkek. It is based at a facility that used to be home to a major Soviet military pilot training school; one of its students, Hosni Mubarak, later became president of Egypt. + +Notable people + Talant Dujshebaev (born 1968), handball coach and former handball player (voted 2nd IHF World Player of the Century) + Mikhail Frunze (1885–1925), after whom the city was named from 1926 to 1991 + Nasirdin Isanov (1943–1991), first prime minister of Kyrgyzstan + Denis Ivanov (born 1983), former Russian professional football player + Sergei B. Korolev (born 1962), First Deputy Director of the Federal Security Service + Alexander Mashkevitch (born 1954), Kazakh-Israeli billionaire businessman and investor + Orzubek Nazarov (born 1966), former WBA lightweight boxing champion + Roza Isakovna Otunbayeva (born 1950), third president of Kyrgyzstan + Vladimir Perlin (born 1942), cellist +Denis Petrashov (born 2000), swimmer, Youth Games and Maccabiah Games medalist + Salizhan Sharipov (born 1964), first cosmonaut of the independent Kyrgyz Republic + Antonina Shevchenko (born 1984), kickboxer + Valentina Shevchenko (born 1988), kickboxer and UFC champion + Tugelbay Sydykbekov (1912–1997), writer + Natalya Tsyganova (born 1971), 800m medallist at the World and European championships, representing Russia + +Twin towns – sister cities + +Bishkek is twinned with: + + Almaty, Kazakhstan (1994) + Ankara, Turkey (1992) + Ashgabat, Turkmenistan (2018) + Colorado Springs, United States (1994) + Doha, Qatar (2014) + Gumi, South Korea (1991) + İzmir, Turkey (1994) + Kyiv, Ukraine (1997) + Lianyungang, China (2015) + Astana, Kazakhstan (2011) + Qazvin, Iran (2003) + Samsun, Turkey + Shenzhen, China (2016) + Tashkent, Uzbekistan + Tehran, Iran (1994) + Trabzon, Turkey (2014) + Ufa, Russia (2017) + Ürümqi, China (1993) + Wuhan, China (2016) + Yinchuan, China (2000) + +See also + + List of monuments of Bishkek + Outline of Kyrgyzstan + +References + +Bibliography + +External links + + The Spektator – society, culture, and travel articles on Kyrgyzstan and Bishkek city guide (archived) + + +1825 establishments in Asia +Capitals in Asia +Cities in Central Asia +Populated places along the Silk Road +Populated places established in 1825 +Populated places in Kyrgyzstan +Regions of Kyrgyzstan +Semirechye Oblast +Braveheart is a 1995 American epic historical drama film directed by, produced by, and starring Mel Gibson. Gibson portrays Sir William Wallace, a late-13th century Scottish warrior who led the Scots in the First War of Scottish Independence against King Edward I of England. The film also stars Sophie Marceau, Patrick McGoohan and Catherine McCormack. The story is inspired by Blind Harry's 15th century epic poem The Actes and Deidis of the Illustre and Vallyeant Campioun Schir William Wallace and was adapted for the screen by Randall Wallace. + +Development on the film initially started at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) when producer Alan Ladd Jr. picked up the project from Wallace, but when MGM was going through new management, Ladd left the studio and took the project with him. Despite initially declining, Gibson eventually decided to direct the film, as well as star as Wallace. Braveheart was filmed in Scotland and Ireland from June to October 1994. The film, which was produced by Gibson's Icon Productions and The Ladd Company, was distributed by Paramount Pictures in North America and by 20th Century Fox internationally. + +Released on May 24, 1995, Braveheart was a critical and commercial success. The film received praise for its action, drama, and romance, though it was criticized for its historically inaccuracies. A legacy sequel, Robert the Bruce, was released on June 28, 2019, with Angus Macfadyen reprising his role. + +Plot +In 1280, King Edward "Longshanks" invades and conquers Scotland following the death of the Scots king Alexander III, who left no heir to the throne. Young William Wallace witnesses Longshanks's execution of several Scottish nobles, suffers the deaths of his father and brother fighting against the English, and is taken abroad on a pilgrimage throughout Europe by his paternal uncle Argyle, who has Wallace educated. + +Years later, Longshanks grants his noblemen land and privileges in Scotland, including ius primae noctis. Meanwhile, a grown Wallace returns to Scotland, rekindles the love with his childhood sweetheart Murron MacClannough, and the two marry in secret. Wallace rescues Murron from being raped by English soldiers, but as Wallace fights off the soldiers, Murron is captured and publicly executed. In retribution, Wallace leads his clan to fight the English garrison in his hometown and sends the surviving garrison back to England with a message of rebellion for Longshanks. + +Longshanks orders his son Prince Edward to stop Wallace by any means necessary while he visits the French King to secure England's alliance with France. Alongside his friend Hamish, Wallace rebels against the English, and as his legend spreads, hundreds of Scots from the surrounding clans join him. Wallace leads his army to victory at the Battle of Stirling Bridge, where he decapitates the English commander Cheltham, and sacks York after Prince Edward fails to send reinforcements there, killing Longshanks's nephew whose severed head is sent to the king. Wallace seeks the assistance of Robert the Bruce, the son of nobleman Robert the Elder, a contender for the Scottish crown. Robert is dominated by his leper father, who wishes to secure the Scottish throne for his son by submitting to the English. Worried by the threat of the rebellion, Longshanks sends his son's wife Isabella of France to try to negotiate with Wallace as a distraction for the landing of another invasion force in Scotland. + +After meeting him in person, Isabella becomes enamored with Wallace. She warns him of the coming invasion, and Wallace implores the Scottish nobility to take immediate action to counter the threat and take back their country, asking Robert the Bruce to lead. Leading the English army himself, Longshanks confronts the Scots at Falkirk. During the battle, Scottish noblemen Mornay and Lochlan, having been bribed by Longshanks, withdraw their men, resulting in Wallace's army being routed and the death of Hamish's father, Campbell. Wallace is further betrayed when he discovers Robert the Bruce was fighting alongside Longshanks; after the battle, seeing the damage he helped do to his countrymen, Robert reprimands his father and vows never to be on the wrong side again. + +Wallace kills Lochlan and Mornay for their betrayal and wages a guerrilla war against the English, assisted by Isabella, with whom he eventually has an affair. Robert sets up a meeting with Wallace in Edinburgh, but Robert's father conspires with other nobles to capture and hand over Wallace to the English. Learning of his treachery, Robert disowns and banishes his father. Isabella exacts revenge on the now terminally ill Longshanks, who can no longer speak, by telling him that his bloodline will be destroyed upon his death as she is pregnant with Wallace's child and will ensure that Prince Edward spends as short a time as possible on the throne before Wallace's child replaces him. + +In London, Wallace is brought before an English magistrate, tried for high treason, and condemned to public torture and beheading. Even whilst being disemboweled alive, Wallace refuses to submit to the king. The watching crowd, deeply moved by the Scotsman's valor, begin crying for mercy on Wallace's behalf. The magistrate offers him one final chance, asking him only to utter the word, "Mercy", and be granted a quick death. Wallace instead shouts, "Freedom!", and his cry rings through the square, the dying Longshanks hearing it at his final breath. Before being beheaded, Wallace sees a vision of Murron in the crowd, smiling at him. + +In 1314, Robert, now Scotland's king, leads a Scottish army before a ceremonial line of English troops on the fields of Bannockburn, where he is supposed to formally accept English rule. Instead, he invokes Wallace's memory, imploring his men to fight with him as they did with Wallace. Hamish throws Wallace's sword point-down in front of the English army, and he and the Scots chant Wallace's name as Robert leads them into battle against the English, winning the Scots their freedom. + +Cast + + Mel Gibson as William Wallace + James Robinson as young William Wallace + Sophie Marceau as Princess Isabella of France + Angus Macfadyen as Robert the Bruce + Patrick McGoohan as King Edward "Longshanks" + Catherine McCormack as Murron MacClannough + Mhairi Calvey as young Murron MacClannough + Brendan Gleeson as Hamish + Andrew Weir as young Hamish + Peter Hanly as Prince Edward + James Cosmo as Campbell + David O'Hara as Stephen of Ireland + Ian Bannen as Bruce's father + Seán McGinley as MacClannough + Brian Cox as Argyle Wallace + Sean Lawlor as Malcolm Wallace + Sandy Nelson as John Wallace + Stephen Billington as Phillip + John Kavanagh as Craig + Alun Armstrong as Mornay + John Murtagh as Lochlan + Tommy Flanagan as Morrison + Donal Gibson as Stewart + Jeanne Marine as Nicolette + Michael Byrne as Smythe + Malcolm Tierney as Magistrate + Bernard Horsfall as Balliol + Peter Mullan as Veteran + Gerard McSorley as Cheltham + Richard Leaf as Governor of York + Mark Lees as Old Crippled Scotsman + Tam White as MacGregor + Jimmy Chisholm as Faudron + David Gant as the Royal Magistrate + +Production +Producer Alan Ladd Jr. initially had the project at MGM-Pathé Communications when he picked up the script from Wallace. When MGM was going through new management in 1993, Ladd left the studio and took some of its top properties, including Braveheart. Gibson came across the script and even though he liked it, he initially passed on it. However, the thought of it kept coming back to him, and he ultimately decided to take on the project. Terry Gilliam was offered to direct the film, but he declined. Gibson was initially interested in directing only and considered Brad Pitt in the role of Sir William Wallace, but Gibson reluctantly agreed to play Wallace as well. Gibson also considered Jason Patric for William Wallace. Sean Connery was approached to play King Edward, but he declined due to other commitments. Gibson said that Connery's pronunciation of "Goulash" helped him for the scottish accent for the film. + +Gibson and his production company, Icon Productions, had difficulty raising enough money for the film. Warner Bros. was willing to fund the project on the condition that Gibson sign for another Lethal Weapon sequel, which he refused. Gibson eventually gained enough financing for the film, with Paramount Pictures financing a third of the budget in exchange for North American distribution rights to the film, and 20th Century Fox putting up two-thirds of the budget in exchange for international distribution rights. + +Principal photography on the film began on June 6, 1994. While the crew spent three weeks shooting on location in Scotland, the major battle scenes were shot in Ireland using members of the Irish Army Reserve as extras. To lower costs, Gibson had the same extras, up to 1,600 in some scenes, portray both armies. The reservists had been given permission to grow beards and swapped their military uniforms for medieval garb. Principal photography ended on October 28, 1994. The film was shot in the anamorphic format with Panavision C- and E-Series lenses. + +Gibson had to tone down the film's battle scenes to avoid an NC-17 rating from the MPAA; the final version was rated R for "brutal medieval warfare". Gibson and editor Steven Rosenblum initially had a film at 195 minutes, but Sherry Lansing, who was the head of Paramount at the time, requested Gibson and Rosenblum to cut the film down to 177 minutes. According to Gibson in a 2016 interview with Collider, there is a four-hour version of the film, and he would be interested in reassembling it if both Paramount and Fox are interested. + +Soundtrack + +The score was composed and conducted by James Horner and performed by the London Symphony Orchestra. It is Horner's second of three collaborations with Mel Gibson as director. The score has gone on to be one of the most commercially successful soundtracks of all time. It received considerable acclaim from film critics and audiences and was nominated for a number of awards, including the Academy Award, Saturn Award, BAFTA Award, and Golden Globe Award. + +Release and reception + +Braveheart premiered at the Seattle International Film Festival on May 18, 1995, and received its wide release in U.S. cinemas six days later. + +Box office +On its opening weekend, Braveheart grossed $9,938,276 in the United States and $75.6 million in its box office run in the U.S. and Canada. Worldwide, the film grossed $210,409,945 and was the thirteenth-highest-grossing film of 1995. + +Critical response +On Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 75% and an average score of 7.20/10 based on 125 reviews. The site's consensus states: "Distractingly violent and historically dodgy, Mel Gibson's Braveheart justifies its epic length by delivering enough sweeping action, drama, and romance to match its ambition." On Metacritic the film has a score of 68 out of 100 based on 20 critic reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade A- on scale of A to F. + +Caryn James of The New York Times praised the film, calling it "one of the most spectacular entertainments in years." Roger Ebert gave the film three and a half out of four stars, calling it "An action epic with the spirit of the Hollywood swordplay classics and the grungy ferocity of The Road Warrior." In a positive review, Gene Siskel wrote that "in addition to staging battle scenes well, Gibson also manages to recreate the filth and mood of 700 years ago." Peter Travers of Rolling Stone felt that "though the film dawdles a bit with the shimmery, dappled love stuff involving Wallace with a Scottish peasant and a French princess, the action will pin you to your seat." The depiction of the Battle of Stirling Bridge was listed by CNN as one of the best battles in cinema history. + +Not all reviews were positive, Richard Schickel of Time magazine argued that "everybody knows that a non-blubbering clause is standard in all movie stars' contracts. Too bad there isn't one banning self-indulgence when they direct." Peter Stack of San Francisco Chronicle felt "at times the film seems an obsessive ode to Mel Gibson machismo." In a 2005 poll by British film magazine Empire, Braveheart was No. 1 on their list of "The Top 10 Worst Pictures to Win Best Picture Oscar". Empire readers had previously voted Braveheart the best film of 1995. + +Effect on tourism +The European premiere was on September 3, 1995, in Stirling. + +In 1996, the year after the film was released, the annual three-day "Braveheart Conference" at Stirling Castle attracted fans of Braveheart, increasing the conference's attendance to 167,000 from 66,000 in the previous year. In the following year, research on visitors to the Stirling area indicated that 55% of the visitors had seen Braveheart. Of visitors from outside Scotland, 15% of those who saw Braveheart said it influenced their decision to visit the country. Of all visitors who saw Braveheart, 39% said the film influenced in part their decision to visit Stirling, and 19% said the film was one of the main reasons for their visit. In the same year, a tourism report said that the "Braveheart effect" earned Scotland £7 million to £15 million in tourist revenue, and the report led to various national organizations encouraging international film productions to take place in Scotland. + +The film generated huge interest in Scotland and in Scottish history, not only around the world, but also in Scotland itself. At a Braveheart Convention in 1997, held in Stirling the day after the Scottish Devolution vote and attended by 200 delegates from around the world, Braveheart author Randall Wallace, Seoras Wallace of the Wallace Clan, Scottish historian David Ross and Bláithín FitzGerald from Ireland gave lectures on various aspects of the film. Several of the actors also attended including James Robinson (Young William), Andrew Weir (Young Hamish), Julie Austin (the young bride) and Mhairi Calvey (Young Murron). + +Awards and honors +Braveheart was nominated for many awards during the 1995 awards season, though it was not viewed by many as a major contender such as Apollo 13, Il Postino: The Postman, Leaving Las Vegas, Sense and Sensibility, and The Usual Suspects. It wasn't until after the film won the Golden Globe Award for Best Director at the 53rd Golden Globe Awards that it was viewed as a serious Oscar contender. + +When the nominations were announced for the 68th Academy Awards, Braveheart received ten Academy Award nominations, and a month later, won five including Best Picture, Best Director for Gibson, Best Cinematography, Best Sound Effects Editing, and Best Makeup. Braveheart became the ninth film to win Best Picture with no acting nominations and is one of only four films to win Best Picture without being nominated for the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture, the others being The Shape of Water in 2017, Green Book in 2018, and Nomadland in 2020. + +The film also won the Writers Guild of America Award for Best Original Screenplay. In 2010, the Independent Film & Television Alliance selected the film as one of the 30 Most Significant Independent Films of the last 30 years + +American Film Institute lists + AFI's 100 Years ... 100 Movies – Nominated + AFI's 100 Years ... 100 Thrills – No. 91 + AFI's 100 Years...100 Heroes & Villains: + William Wallace – Nominated Hero + AFI's 100 Years ... 100 Movie Quotes: + "They may take away our lives, but they'll never take our freedom!" – Nominated + AFI's 100 Years of Film Scores – Nominated + AFI's 100 Years...100 Cheers – No. 62 + AFI's 100 Years ... 100 Movies (10th Anniversary Edition) – Nominated + AFI's 10 Top 10 – Nominated Epic Film + +Cultural effects and accusations of Anglophobia +Lin Anderson, author of Braveheart: From Hollywood To Holyrood, credits the film with playing a significant role in affecting the Scottish political landscape in the mid-to-late 1990s. Peter Jackson cited Braveheart as an influence in making the Lord of the Rings film trilogy. + +Sections of the English media accused the film of harbouring Anti-English sentiment. The Economist called it "xenophobic", and John Sutherland writing in The Guardian stated that: "Braveheart gave full rein to a toxic Anglophobia". In The Times, Colin McArthur said "the political effects are truly pernicious. It's a xenophobic film." Ian Burrell of The Independent has said, "The Braveheart phenomenon, a Hollywood-inspired rise in Scottish nationalism, has been linked to a rise in anti-English prejudice". + +Wallace Monument + +In 1997, a , sandstone statue depicting Mel Gibson as William Wallace in Braveheart was placed in the car park of the Wallace Monument near Stirling, Scotland. The statue, which was the work of Tom Church, a monumental mason from Brechin, included the word 'Braveheart' on Wallace's shield. The installation became the cause of much controversy; one local resident stated that it was wrong to "desecrate the main memorial to Wallace with a lump of crap". + +In 1998, someone wielding a hammer vandalized the statue's face. After repairs were made, the statue was encased in a cage every night to prevent further vandalism. This only incited more calls for the statue to be removed, as it then appeared that the Gibson/Wallace figure was imprisoned. The statue was described as "among the most loathed pieces of public art in Scotland". In 2008, the statue was returned to its sculptor to make room for a new visitor centre being built at the foot of the Wallace Monument. + +Historical inaccuracy +Randall Wallace, who wrote the screenplay, has acknowledged Blind Harry's 15th-century epic poem The Acts and Deeds of Sir William Wallace, Knight of Elderslie as a major inspiration for the film. In defending his script, Randall Wallace has said, "Is Blind Harry true? I don't know. I know that it spoke to my heart and that's what matters to me, that it spoke to my heart." Blind Harry's poem is not regarded as historically accurate, and although some incidents in the film that are not historically accurate are taken from Blind Harry (e.g. the hanging of Scottish nobles at the start), there are large parts that are based neither on history nor Blind Harry (e.g. Wallace's affair with Princess Isabella). + +Elizabeth Ewan describes Braveheart as a film that "almost totally sacrifices historical accuracy for epic adventure". It has been described as one of the most historically inaccurate modern films. +Sharon Krossa noted that the film contains numerous historical inaccuracies, beginning with the wearing of belted plaid by Wallace and his men. In that period "no Scots [...] wore belted plaids (let alone kilts of any kind)." Moreover, when Highlanders finally did begin wearing the belted plaid, it was not "in the rather bizarre style depicted in the film". She compares the inaccuracy to "a film about Colonial America showing the colonial men wearing 20th century business suits, but with the jackets worn back-to-front instead of the right way around." In a previous essay about the film, she wrote, "The events aren't accurate, the dates aren't accurate, the characters aren't accurate, the names aren't accurate, the clothes aren't accurate—in short, just about nothing is accurate." The belted plaid (feileadh mór léine) was not introduced until the 16th century. Peter Traquair has referred to Wallace's "farcical representation as a wild and hairy highlander painted with woad (1,000 years too late) running amok in a tartan kilt (500 years too early)." +Caroline White of The Times described the film as being made up of a "litany of fibs." +Irish historian Seán Duffy remarked that "the battle of Stirling Bridge could have done with a bridge." + +In 2009, the film was second on a list of "most historically inaccurate movies" in The Times. In the humorous non-fictional historiography An Utterly Impartial History of Britain (2007), author John O'Farrell claims that Braveheart could not have been more historically inaccurate, even if a Plasticine dog had been inserted in the film and the title changed to "William Wallace and Gromit". + +In the DVD audio commentary of Braveheart, Mel Gibson acknowledges the historical inaccuracies but defends his choices as director, noting that the way events were portrayed in the film was much more "cinematically compelling" than the historical fact or conventional mythos. + +Jus primae noctis +Edward Longshanks is shown invoking Jus primae noctis in the film, allowing the lord of a medieval estate to take the virginity of his serfs' maiden daughters on their wedding nights. Critical medieval scholarship regards this supposed right as a myth: "the simple reason why we are dealing with a myth here rests in the surprising fact that practically all writers who make any such claims have never been able or willing to cite any trustworthy source, if they have any." + +Occupation and independence +The film suggests Scotland had been under English occupation for some time, at least during Wallace's childhood, and in the run-up to the Battle of Falkirk Wallace says to the younger Bruce, "[W]e'll have what none of us have ever had before, a country of our own." In fact, Scotland had been invaded by England only the year before Wallace's rebellion; prior to the death of King Alexander III it had been a fully separate kingdom. + +Portrayal of William Wallace +As John Shelton Lawrence and Robert Jewett writes, "Because [William] Wallace is one of Scotland's most important national heroes and because he lived in the very distant past, much that is believed about him is probably the stuff of legend. But there is a factual strand that historians agree to", summarized from Scots scholar Matt Ewart: + +A. E. Christa Canitz writes about the historical William Wallace further: "[He] was a younger son of the Scottish gentry, usually accompanied by his own chaplain, well-educated, and eventually, having been appointed Guardian of the Kingdom of Scotland, engaged in diplomatic correspondence with the Hanseatic cities of Lübeck and Hamburg". She finds that in Braveheart, "any hint of his descent from the lowland gentry (i.e., the lesser nobility) is erased, and he is presented as an economically and politically marginalized Highlander and 'a farmer'—as one with the common peasant, and with a strong spiritual connection to the land which he is destined to liberate." + +Colin McArthur writes that Braveheart "constructs Wallace as a kind of modern, nationalist guerrilla leader in a period half a millennium before the appearance of nationalism on the historical stage as a concept under which disparate classes and interests might be mobilised within a nation state." Writing about Bravehearts "omissions of verified historical facts", McArthur notes that Wallace made "overtures to Edward I seeking less severe treatment after his defeat at Falkirk", as well as "the well-documented fact of Wallace's having resorted to conscription and his willingness to hang those who refused to serve." Canitz posits that depicting "such lack of class solidarity" as the conscriptions and related hangings "would contaminate the movie's image of Wallace as the morally irreproachable primus inter pares among his peasant fighters." + +Portrayal of Isabella of France +Isabella of France is shown having an affair with Wallace after the Battle of Falkirk. She later tells Edward I she is pregnant, implying that her son, Edward III, was a product of the affair. In reality, Isabella was around three years old and living in France at the time of the Battle of Falkirk, was not married to Edward II until he was already king, and Edward III was born seven years after Wallace died. The breakdown of the couple's relationship over his liaisons, and the menacing suggestion to a dying Longshanks that she would overthrow and destroy Edward II mirror and foreshadow actual facts; although not until 1326, over 20 years after Wallace's death, Isabella, her son Edward, and her lover Roger Mortimer would invade England to depose - and later allegedly murder - Edward II. + +Portrayal of Robert the Bruce +Robert the Bruce did change sides between the Scots loyalists and the English more than once in the earlier stages of the Wars of Scottish Independence, but he probably did not fight on the English side at the Battle of Falkirk (although this claim does appear in a few medieval sources). Later, the Battle of Bannockburn was not a spontaneous battle soon after Wallace's execution; he had already been fighting a guerrilla campaign against the English for eight years. His title before becoming king was Earl of Carrick, not Earl of Bruce. Bruce's father is portrayed as an infirm leper, although it was Bruce himself who allegedly suffered from leprosy in later life. The actual Bruce's machinations around Wallace, rather than the meek idealist in the film, suggests the father-son relationship represent different aspects of the historical Bruce's character. In the film, Bruce's father betrays Wallace to his son's disgust, acknowledging it as the price of his crown, although in real life Wallace was betrayed by the nobleman John de Menteith and delivered to the English. + +Portrayal of Longshanks and Prince Edward +The actual Edward I was ruthless and temperamental, but the film exaggerates his negative aspects for effect. Edward enjoyed poetry and harp music, was a devoted and loving husband to his wife Eleanor of Castile, and as a religious man, he gave generously to charity. The film's scene where he scoffs cynically at Isabella for distributing gold to the poor after Wallace refuses it as a bribe would have been unlikely. Furthermore, Edward died on campaign two years after Wallace's execution, not in bed at his home. + +The depiction of the future Edward II as an effeminate homosexual drew accusations of homophobia against Gibson. + +Gibson defended his depiction of Prince Edward as weak and ineffectual, saying: + +In response to Longshanks's murder of the Prince's male lover Phillip, Gibson replied: "The fact that King Edward throws this character out a window has nothing to do with him being gay ... He's terrible to his son, to everybody." +Gibson asserted that the reason Longshanks kills his son's lover is that the king is a "psychopath". + +Wallace's military campaign +"MacGregors from the next glen" joining Wallace shortly after the action at Lanark is dubious, since it is questionable whether Clan Gregor existed at that stage, and when they did emerge their traditional home was Glen Orchy, some distance from Lanark. + +Wallace did win an important victory at the Battle of Stirling Bridge, but the version in Braveheart is highly inaccurate, as it was filmed without a bridge (and without Andrew Moray, joint commander of the Scots army, who was fatally injured in the battle). Later, Wallace did carry out a large-scale raid into the north of England, but he did not get as far south as York, nor did he kill Longshanks's nephew. + +The "Irish conscripts" at the Battle of Falkirk are unhistorical; there were no Irish troops at Falkirk (although many of the English army were, in fact, Welsh). + +The two-handed long swords used by Gibson in the film were not in wide use in the period. A one-handed sword and shield would have been more accurate and more efficient, since in the enemy army there were a lot of archers. + +The depiction of English cavalry and infantry soldiers using uniform dress and armor is historically inaccurate. In the feudal armies of the late 13th and early 14th century, cavalry would have been made up of nobility and knights all in their self-purchased armour and displaying their coats of arms on surcoats and shields. The armour depicted in the film, small metal plates sewn on a fabric, did not exist and would have been ineffective since it could have been easily pierced by swords, spears, arrows etc. Indeed, a knight of that time period would have worn mail chausses to protect his legs, a mail hauberk over a patted gambeson to protect his upper body and arms, as well as a mail coif and a great helm to protect his head. Another layer of protection, the coat-of-plates, would have been worn over the hauberk, but under the surcoat. Infantry would have looked very diverse, using any kind of armor they could obtain and afford. + +The Scottish fighters would have been dressed and armed in the same way as their English opponents. Kilts appeared only in the 16th century, two centuries after the events in the film. Warpaint as seen in the film was used in Scotland, but only by Celtic tribes over a millennium before the events of the film, primarily the Picts. In the time period in which Braveheart is set, Scotland had already been Christianized many centuries before and most ancient Celtic pagan traditions had disappeared. Back scabbard swords were never used at any time in the Middle Ages, except by some Japanese Samurai and Chinese Soldiers, and in those rare cases the scabbards were always removed from the back before the swords were unsheathed. The only times scabbards were carried on the back were by Celtic tribes during antiquity, and they were short, lightweight swords. However, the cavalry charge depicted at the Battle of Stirling Bridge (which did not actually take place at this battle) is a rare correct cinematic depiction of knights charging their enemies with laid-in lances rather than drawn swords. + +Home media +Braveheart was released on DVD on August 29, 2000. It was released on Blu-ray as part of the Paramount Sapphire Series on September 1, 2009. It was released on 4K UHD Blu-ray as part of the 4K upgrade of the Paramount Sapphire Series on May 15, 2018. + +Sequel + +A sequel, titled Robert the Bruce, was released in 2019. The film continues directly on from Braveheart and follows the widow Moira, portrayed by Anna Hutchison, and her family (portrayed by Gabriel Bateman and Talitha Bateman), who save Robert the Bruce, with Angus Macfadyen reprising his role from Braveheart. + +The cast includes Jared Harris, Patrick Fugit, Zach McGowan, Emma Kenney, Diarmaid Murtagh, Seoras Wallace, Shane Coffey, Kevin McNally, and Melora Walters. Richard Gray directed the film, with Macfadyen and Eric Belgau writing the script. Helmer Gray, Macfadyen, Hutchison, Kim Barnard, Nick Farnell, Cameron Nuggent, and Andrew Curry produced the film. + +Filming took place in 2019 and was completed with a limited cinematic release the same year. + +See also +Outlaw King; although not a sequel, it depicts events that occurred immediately after the events in Braveheart +Rob Roy; a historical action drama film featuring Robert Roy MacGregor, an 18th-century Scottish clan chief, and released in the same year. + +References + +Notes + +External links + + + + + +1995 films +1995 drama films +1990s biographical drama films +1990s historical films +1990s war films +20th Century Fox films +American biographical drama films +American epic films +American historical films +American war drama films +Anti-English sentiment +BAFTA winners (films) +Best Picture Academy Award winners +Cultural depictions of William Wallace +1990s English-language films +English-language Scottish films +Biographical films about military leaders +Drama films based on actual events +Cultural depictions of Edward I of England +Cultural depictions of Edward II of England +Epic films based on actual events +Rating controversies in film +Films about nobility +Films directed by Mel Gibson +Films produced by Bruce Davey +Films produced by Mel Gibson +Films scored by James Horner +Films set in the 13th century +Films set in the 14th century +Films set in Edinburgh +Films set in London +Films set in Yorkshire +Films shot in County Kildare +Films shot in County Meath +Films shot in County Wicklow +Films shot in Fingal +Films shot in Highland (council area) +Films that won the Academy Award for Best Makeup +Films that won the Best Sound Editing Academy Award +Films whose cinematographer won the Best Cinematography Academy Award +Films whose director won the Best Directing Academy Award +Films whose director won the Best Director Golden Globe +Icon Productions films +The Ladd Company films +Paramount Pictures films +War epic films +War films based on actual events +Robert the Bruce +Films based on poems +1990s American films +American war epic films +Brian Wilson Aldiss (; 18 August 1925 – 19 August 2017) was an English writer, artist and anthology editor, best known for science fiction novels and short stories. His byline reads either Brian W. Aldiss or simply Brian Aldiss, except for occasional pseudonyms during the mid-1960s. + +Greatly influenced by science fiction pioneer H. G. Wells, Aldiss was a vice-president of the international group in Wells' honour. He was (with Harry Harrison) co-president of the Birmingham Science Fiction Group. Aldiss was named a Grand Master by the Science Fiction Writers of America in 1999 and inducted by the Science Fiction Hall of Fame in 2004. He received two Hugo Awards, one Nebula Award and one John W. Campbell Memorial Award. He wrote the short story "Supertoys Last All Summer Long" (1969), the basis for the Stanley Kubrick-developed Steven Spielberg film A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001). Aldiss was associated with the British New Wave of science fiction. + +Life and career + +Early life, education and military service +Brian Wilson Aldiss was born on 18 August 1925, above his paternal grandfather's draper's shop in Dereham, Norfolk. When Aldiss's grandfather died, his father, Bill (the younger of two sons), sold his share in the shop and the family left Dereham. Aldiss's mother, Dot, was the daughter of a builder. He had an older sister who was stillborn and a younger sister. As a three-year-old, Aldiss started to write stories which his mother would bind and put on a shelf. + +At the age of 6, Aldiss went to Framlingham College, but moved to Devon and was sent to board at West Buckland School in 1939 after the outbreak of World War II. As a child, he discovered the pulp magazine Astounding Science Fiction. He eventually read all the novels by H. G. Wells, Robert Heinlein, and Philip K. Dick. In 1943, he joined the Royal Signals and saw military action in Burma. + +Writing and publishing +His army experience inspired the novel Hothouse and the Horatio Stubbs second and third books, A Soldier Erect and A Rude Awakening, respectively. + +After the war, he worked as a bookseller in Oxford. He also wrote a number of short pieces for a booksellers' trade journal about life in a fictitious bookshop, which attracted the attention of Charles Monteith, an editor at the publisher Faber and Faber. As a result, Faber and Faber published Aldiss's first book, The Brightfount Diaries (1955), a 200-page novel in diary form about the life of a sales assistant in a bookshop. + +About this time he also began to write science fiction for various magazines. According to ISFDB, his first speculative fiction in print was the short story Criminal Record, published by John Carnell in the July 1954 issue of Science Fantasy. Several of his stories appeared in 1955, including three in monthly issues of New Worlds, also edited by Carnell. + +In 1954, The Observer newspaper ran a competition for a short story set in the year 2500. Aldiss's story Not For An Age was ranked third following a reader vote. + +The Brightfount Diaries had been a minor success, and Faber asked Aldiss if he had any more writing they could look at with a view to publishing. Aldiss confessed to being a science fiction author, to the delight of the publishers, who had a number of science fiction fans in high places, and so his first science fiction book was published, a collection of short stories entitled Space, Time and Nathaniel (Faber, 1957). By this time, his earnings from writing matched his wages in the bookshop, and he made the decision to become a full-time writer. + +Aldiss led the voting for Most Promising New Author of 1958 at the next year's Worldcon, but finished behind "no award". He was elected president of the British Science Fiction Association in 1960. He was the literary editor of the Oxford Mail newspaper from 1958 to 1969. Around 1964, he and long-time collaborator Harry Harrison started the first ever journal of science fiction criticism, Science Fiction Horizons, which during its brief span of two issues published articles and reviews by such authors as James Blish, and featured a discussion among Aldiss, C. S. Lewis, and Kingsley Amis in the first issue and an interview with William S. Burroughs in the second. In 1967 Algis Budrys listed Aldiss, J. G. Ballard, Roger Zelazny and Samuel R. Delany as "an earthshaking new kind of" writers, and leaders of the New Wave. Aldiss supported the New Wave movement, helping the magazine New Worlds to get financial backing from a 1967 Arts Council grant and publishing some of his more experimental work in the magazine. + +Besides his own writings, he edited a number of anthologies. For Faber he edited Introducing SF, a collection of stories typifying various themes of science fiction, and Best Fantasy Stories. In 1961, he edited an anthology of reprinted short science fiction for the British paperback publisher Penguin Books under the title Penguin Science Fiction. This was remarkably successful, went into numerous reprints, and was followed up by two further anthologies: More Penguin Science Fiction (1963) and Yet More Penguin Science Fiction (1964). The later anthologies enjoyed the same success as the first, and all three were eventually published together as The Penguin Science Fiction Omnibus (1973), which also went into a number of reprints. In the 1970s, he produced several large collections of classic grand-scale science fiction, under the titles Space Opera (1974), Space Odysseys (1975), Galactic Empires (1976), Evil Earths (1976) and Perilous Planets (1978). Around this time, he edited a large-format volume Science Fiction Art (1975), with selections of artwork from the magazines and pulps. + +In response to the results from the planetary probes of the 1960s and 1970s, which showed that Venus was completely unlike the hot, tropical jungle usually depicted in science fiction, Aldiss and Harrison edited an anthology Farewell, Fantastic Venus!, reprinting stories based on the pre-probe ideas of Venus. He also edited, with Harrison, a series of anthologies The Year's Best Science Fiction (Nos. 1–9, 1968–1976). + +Aldiss invented a form of extremely short story called the mini-saga. The Daily Telegraph hosted a competition for the best mini-saga for several years, and Aldiss was the judge. He edited several anthologies of the best mini-sagas. + +Aldiss travelled to Yugoslavia, where he met fans in Ljubljana, Slovenia and published a travel book about Yugoslavia entitled Cities and Stones (1966), his only work in the genre. He published an alternative-history fantasy story, "The Day of the Doomed King" (1968), about Serbian kings in the Middle Ages, and wrote a novel called The Malacia Tapestry, about an alternative Dalmatia. + +Art +In addition to a highly successful career as a writer, Aldiss was an accomplished artist. His first solo exhibition, The Other Hemisphere, was held in Oxford, August–September 2010, and the exhibition's centrepiece Metropolis (see figure) has since been released as a limited edition fine art print. (The exhibition title denotes the writer/artist's notion, "words streaming from one side of his brain inspiring images in what he calls 'the other hemisphere'".) + +Personal life +In 1948, Aldiss married Olive Fortescue, secretary to the owner of Sanders' bookseller's in Oxford, where he had worked since 1947. He had two children from his first marriage: Clive in 1955 and Caroline Wendy in 1959, but the marriage "finally collapsed" in 1959 and dissolved in 1965. + +In 1965, he married his second wife, Margaret Christie Manson (daughter of John Alexander Christie Manson, an aeronautical engineer), a Scot and secretary to the editor of the Oxford Mail; Aldiss was 40, and she 31. They lived in Oxford and had two children together, Tim and Charlotte. She died in 1997. + +Death +Aldiss died on 19 August 2017, the day after his 92nd birthday. + +Awards and honours + +He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1990. + +Aldiss was the "Permanent Special Guest" at the annual International Conference on the Fantastic in the Arts (ICFA) from 1989 through 2008. He was also the Guest of Honor at the conventions in 1986 and 1999. + +The Science Fiction Writers of America made him its 18th SFWA Grand Master in 1999 and the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame inducted him in 2004. + +He was awarded the title of Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for services to literature in the 2005 Birthday Honours list. + +In January 2007 he appeared on Desert Island Discs. His choice of record to 'save' was "Old Rivers" sung by Walter Brennan, his choice of book was John Heilpern's biography of John Osborne, and his luxury a banjo. The full selection of eight favourite records is on the BBC website. + +On 1 July 2008 he was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Liverpool in recognition of his contribution to literature. The Brian W Aldiss Archive at the university holds manuscripts from the period 1943–1995. + +In 2013, Aldiss was recipient of the World Fantasy Convention Award at the World Fantasy Convention in Brighton, England. + +Aldiss sat on the Council of the Society of Authors. + +He won two Hugo awards: in 1962 for the Hothouse series; and in 1987 for Trillion Year Spree. Aldiss also won a Nebula award in 1965 for "The Saliva Tree". + +Works +Aldiss was the author of over 80 books and 300 short stories, as well as several volumes of poetry. + +Novels + The Brightfount Diaries (1955, Faber) + Non-Stop (1958, Faber), (1959, Digit), (1976, Pan), (2000, Millennium), US title Starship (1960, Signet S1779), (1969, Avon V2321) + On a massive generation ship whose inhabitants have descended into primitivism over 23 generations, a member of a culturally primordial tribe investigates the dark, jungle-filled corridors of the ship and slowly uncovers the true nature of the universe he inhabits. + The Interpreter (1960, Digit R506), (1967, Four Square 1970), US title Bow Down to Nul Ace D-443 + A short novel about the huge, old galactic empire of Nuls, a giant, three-limbed, civilised alien race. Earth is just a lesser-than-third-class colony ruled by a Nul tyrant whose deceiving devices together with good willing but ineffective attempts of a Nul Signatory (roughly equivalent to Prime Minister) to clarify the abuses and with the disorganised earthling resistance reflect the complex relationship existing between imperialists and subject races which Aldiss himself had the chance of seeing at first hand when serving in India and Indonesia in the forties. + The Male Response (1959, Beacon 45), (1961, Four Square 1623) + The Primal Urge (1961, Ballantine F555), (1967, Sphere), (1976, Panther). A satire on sexual reserve, it explores the effects on society of a forehead-mounted "Emotion Register" that glows when the wearer experiences sexual attraction. The book was banned in Ireland. + Hothouse (1962, Faber), (1965, Four Square 1147), (1979, Panther), published in abridged form in the American market as The Long Afternoon of Earth (1962, Signet D2018). A fix-up novel based on short stories "Hothouse", "Nomansland", "Undergrowth", "Timberline" and "Evergreen". This assemblage of stories won the Hugo Award for short fiction in 1962. + Set in a far future Earth, where the earth has stopped rotating, the Sun has increased output, and plants are engaged in a constant frenzy of growth and decay, like a tropical forest enhanced a thousandfold; a few small groups of elvish humans still live on the edge of extinction, beneath the giant banyan tree that covers the day side of the earth. + Greybeard (1964, Harcourt, Brace & World), (1964, Faber), (1965, Signet P2689), (1968, Panther) + Set decades after the Earth's population has been sterilised as a result of nuclear bomb tests conducted in Earth's orbit, the book shows an emptying world, occupied by an aging, childless population. + The Dark Light Years (1964, Signet D2497), (1964, Faber), (1966, Four Square 1437), (1979, Panther) + The encounter of humans with the utods, gentle aliens whose physical and mental health requires wallowing in mud and filth, and who – though they achieved interstellar space flight – are not even recognised as intelligent by the humans. The critic Fredric Jameson described The Dark Light Years as, along with Ursula K. Le Guin's The Word for World Is Forest, "one of the major SF denunciations of the American genocide in Vietnam." + Earthworks (1965, Faber), (1966, Doubleday), (1967, Four Square), (1967, Signet P3116), (1979, Panther), (1980, Avon) + An Age (1967, Faber), (1969, Sphere), (1979, Panther), US title Cryptozoic! (1969, Avon), (1978, Panther), a dystopic time-travel novel + Report on Probability A (serialized 1967), (1968, Faber), (1969, Sphere). (1969, Doubleday), (1970, Lancer), (1980, Avon) + Barefoot in the Head (1969, Faber), (1970, Doubleday), (1972, Ace), (1974, Corgi), (1981, AVON), (1990, Gollancz VGSF Classics), a fix-up novel based on short stories: "Just Passing Through", "Multi-Value Motorway", "Still Trajectories", "The Serpent of Kundalini", "Drake-Man Route", and novelettes: "Auto-Ancestral Fracture", "Ouspenski's Astrabahn" + Perhaps Aldiss's most experimental work, this first appeared in several parts as the Acid Head War series in New Worlds. Set in a Europe some years after a flare-up in the Middle East led to Europe being attacked with bombs releasing huge quantities of long-lived hallucinogenic drugs. Into an England with a population barely maintaining a grip on reality comes a young Serb, who himself starts coming under the influence of the ambient aerosols, and finds himself leading a messianic crusade. The narration and dialogue reflects the shattering of language under the influence of the drugs, in mutating phrases and puns and allusions, in a deliberate echo of Finnegans Wake. + Horatio Stubbs series: + The Hand-Reared Boy (1970, Weidenfeld & Nicolson), (1971, Signet T4575), (1971, Corgi) + A Soldier Erect (1971, Weidenfeld & Nicolson), (1972, Corgi) + A Rude Awakening (1978, Weidenfeld & Nicolson), (1979, Corgi) + Omnibus edition, The Horatio Stubbs Saga (1985, Panther) + Frankenstein Unbound (1973, Jonathan Cape), (1974, Random House), (1975, Fawcett Crest), (1975, Pan) + A 21st century politician is transported to 19th century Switzerland where he encounters Victor Frankenstein, the Frankenstein Monster and Mary Shelley. + The Eighty Minute Hour, or The 80 minute Hour (1974, Jonathan Cape), (1974, Doubleday), (1975, Leisure), (1975, Pan) + A weird and ambitious "space opera" whose characters actually sing. The world is in chaos after nuclear war causes time slips and even those that believe they rule the world have trouble knowing where and when they are. + The Malacia Tapestry (1976, Jonathan Cape), (1977, Harper & Row), (1978, Panther), (1978, Ace), (1985, Berkley) + A picaresque novel with fantasy elements, set in a city not unlike Venice. However, it is a Venice without Christianity or monotheism, existing within an alternate version of Renaissance or Early Baroque Italy. + Brothers of the Head (1977, Pierrot), (1979, Panther) + A large-format book, illustrated by Ian Pollock, tells the strange story of the rock stars Tom and Barry Howe, Siamese twins with a third, dormant head that eventually starts to awaken. + Enemies of the System (1978, Jonathan Cape), (1978, Harper & Row), (1980, Panther), (1981, Avon) + Moreau's Other Island (1980, Jonathan Cape), (1982, Panther), or An Island Called Moreau (1981, Simon & Schuster), (1981, Timescape) + Squire Quartet series: + Life in the West (1980, Weidenfeld & Nicolson), (1982, Corgi) + Forgotten Life (1988, Gollancz), (1989, Atheneum / Macmillan), (1989, Mandarin) + Remembrance Day (1993, HarperCollins UK), (1993, St. Martin's Press), (1994, Flamingo) + Somewhere East of Life (1994, Carroll & Graf), (1994, Flamingo) + Helliconia Trilogy + Helliconia Spring (1982, Atheneum), (1982, Jonathan Cape), (1983, Berkley), (1983, Granada) + BSFA Award; Campbell Memorial Award; Nebula Award finalist + Helliconia Summer (1983, Atheneum), (1983, Jonathan Cape), (1984, Berkley), (1985, Granada) + BSFA finalist; Locus Award, fourth place + Helliconia Winter (1985, Atheneum), (1985, Jonathan Cape), (1986, Berkley), (1986, Granada) + BSFA; Nebula finalist; Locus, fifth place + Omnibus edition, Helliconia (2010, Gollancz SF Masterworks) + Ruins (1987), novella + The Year Before Yesterday, or Cracken at Critical (1987, Franklin Watts), (1987, Kerosina), (1988, St. Martin's), (1989, New English Library), a fix-up novel based on novelette "Equator" and novella "The Impossible Smile" + Dracula Unbound (1990, HarperCollins), (1991, Graftton) + White Mars or, the Mind Set Free (1999, Little, Brown UK), (2000, St. Martin's), with Roger Penrose + Super-State (2002, Orbit) + The Cretan Teat (2002) + Affairs at Hampden Ferrers (2004) + Sanity and the Lady (2005, PS Publishing) + Jocasta (2006, Rose Press) + A re-telling of Sophocles's Theban tragedies concerning Oedipus and Antigone. In Aldiss's novel, myth and magic are vibrantly real, experienced through an evolving human consciousness. Amidst various competing interpretations of reality, including the appearance of a time-travelling Sophocles, Aldiss provides an alternative explanation of the Sphinx's riddle. + HARM (2007, del Rey), (2007, Duckworth) + Campbell Award nominee + Walcot (2010, Goldmark) + Family saga spanning the 20th century + Finches of Mars (2012) + Comfort Zone (2013) + +Short stories +Collections: + Space, Time and Nathaniel (1957, Faber), (1966, Four Square 1496), (1979, Panther), collection of 14 short stories: + "T", "Our Kind of Knowledge", "Psyclops", "Conviction", "Not for an Age", "The Shubshub Race", "Criminal Record", "The Failed Men", "Supercity", "There Is a Tide", "Pogsmith", "Outside", "Panel Game", "Dumb Show" + The Canopy of Time (1959, Faber), (1963, Four Square 821), collection of 10 short stories and 1 novelette: + "Three's a Cloud", "All the World's Tears", "Who Can Replace a Man?", "Blighted Profile", "Judas Danced", "O, Ishrail!", "Incentive", "Gene-Hive", "Secret of a Mighty City", "They Shall Inherit", "Visiting Amoeba" (novelette) + The US title Galaxies Like Grains of Sand (1960, Signet S1815), (1979 Panther), was a different version, which Aldiss preferred. + No Time Like Tomorrow (1959, Signet S1683), collection of 11 short stories and 1 novelette: + "T", "Not for an Age", "Poor Little Warrior!", "The Failed Men", "Carrion Country", "Judas Danced", "Psyclops", "Outside", "Gesture of Farewell" (novelette), "The New Father Christmas", "Blighted Profile", "Our Kind of Knowledge" + Equator, or Equator and Segregation (1963), collection of 2 novellas/novelettes: + "Equator" (novella), "Segregation, AKA The Game of God" (novelette) + The Airs of Earth (1963, Faber), (1965, Four Square 1325), collection of 4 short stories and 4 novelettes: + "A Kind of Artistry" (novelette), "How to Be a Soldier", "Basis for Negotiation" (novelette), "Shards", "O Moon of My Delight!" (novelette), "The International Smile", "The Game of God" (novelette), "Old Hundredth" + Starswarm (1963, Signet D2411), collection of 4 short stories and 4 novelettes: + "Sector Vermilion: A Kind of Artistry" (novelette), "Sector Gray: Hearts and Engines", "Sector Violet: The Underprivileged", "Sector Diamond: The Game of God" (novelette), "Sector Green: Shards", "Sector Yellow: Legends of Smith's Burst" (novelette), "Sector Azure: O Moon of My Delight!" (novelette), "The Rift: Old Hundredth" + Best SF stories of Brian Aldiss (1965, Faber); US title Who Can Replace a Man? (1965, Harcourt, Brace & World), (1967, Signet P3311), collection of 11 short stories and 3 novelettes: + "Who Can Replace a Man?", "Not for an Age", "Psyclops", "Outside", "Dumb Show", "The New Father Christmas", "Ahead", "Poor Little Warrior!", "Man on Bridge", "The Impossible Star" (novelette), "Basis for Negotiation" (novelette), "Old Hundredth", "A Kind of Artistry" (novelette), "Man in His Time" + The Saliva Tree and Other Strange Growths (1966, Faber), (1968, Sphere), collection of 7 short stories and 3 novellas/novelettes: + "The Saliva Tree" (novella), "Danger: Religion!" (novella), "The Source", "The Lonely Habit", "A Pleasure Shared", "One Role with Relish", "Legends of Smith's Burst" (novelette), "The Day of the Doomed King", "Paternal Care", "Girl and Robot with Flowers" + Title story "The Saliva Tree" was written to mark the centenary of H. G. Wells's birth, and shared the Nebula Award for the best novella of 1964. While set in a Wellsian milieu, it contains two plot elements also found in the stories of H. P. Lovecraft: an object from space which causes crops and livestock to grow prolifically, but be unpalatable (The Colour out of Space); and a monster which is visible only when sprayed with an opaque powder (The Dunwich Horror). + Intangibles Inc. and Other Stories (1969, Faber), (1971, Corgi), collection of 5 novellas/novelettes: + "Neanderthal Planet" (novelette), "Randy's Syndrome" (novelette), "Send Her Victorious or the War Against the Victorians, 2000 A.D." (novelette), "Intangibles, Inc." (novelette), "Since the Assassination" (novella) + The Moment of Eclipse (1970, Faber), (1972, Doubleday), (1973, Panther), collection of 12 short stories and 2 novelettes: + "The Moment of Eclipse", "The Day We Embarked for Cythera...", "Orgy of the Living and the Dying" (novelette), Super-Toys Last All Summer Long", "The Village Swindler", "Down the Up Escalation", "That Uncomfortable Pause Between Life and Art", "Confluence", "Heresies of the Huge God", Clement Yale series (#1 "The Circulation of the Blood" (novelette), #2 "...And the Stagnation of the Heart"), "The Worm That Flies", "Working in the Spaceship Yards", "Swastika!" + British Science Fiction Association (BSFA) Award + Neanderthal Planet (1970, Avon), collection of 4 novellas/novelettes: + "Neanderthal Planet" (novelette), "Danger: Religion!" (novella), "Intangibles, Inc." (novelette), "Since the Assassination" (novelette) + Best Science Fiction Stories of Brian W. Aldiss (1971), collection of 14 short stories and 2 novelettes: + "Who Can Replace a Man?", "Not for an Age", "Outside", "Poor Little Warrior!", "Man on Bridge", "The Impossible Star" (novelette), "Old Hundredth", "Man in His Time", "Shards", "Girl and Robot with Flowers", "The Moment of Eclipse", "Swastika!", "Sober Noises of Morning in a Marginal Land" (novelette), "Judas Danced", "Still Trajectories", "Another Little Boy" + The Book of Brian Aldiss (1972, DAW 29), UK title The Comic Inferno (1973, New English Library), collection of 5 short stories and 4 novelettes: + "Comic Inferno" (novelette), "The Underprivileged", "Cardiac Arrest" (novelette), "In the Arena", "All the World's Tears", "Amen and Out", "The Soft Predicament" (novelette), "As for Our Fatal Continuity...", "Send Her Victorious" (novelette) + Last Orders and Other Stories (1977, Jonathan Cape), (1979, Panther), collection of 23 short stories and 1 novelette: + "Last Orders", "Creatures of Apogee", Enigma series, Three Deadly Enigmas: V: Year by Year the Evil Gains (#1 "Within the Black Circle", #2 "Killing Off the Big Animals", #3 "What Are You Doing? Why Are You Doing It?"), Enigma series, Diagrams For Three (Enigmatic) Stories (#1 "The Girl in the Tau-Dream", #2 "The Immobility Crew", #3 "A Cultural Side-Effect"), "Live? Our Computers Will Do That for Us", "The Monsters of Ingratitude IV", Enigma series, The Aperture Moment (#1 "Waiting for the Universe to Begin", #2 "But Without Orifices", #3 "Aimez-Vous Holman Hunt?"), "Backwater", Enigma series, Three Enigmas II: The Eternal Theme Of Exile (#1 "The Eternal Theme of Exile", #2 "All Those Enduring Old Charms", #3 "Nobody Spoke Or Waved Goodbye"), "The Expensive Delicate Ship", Enigma series, Three Enigmas IV: Three Coins in [Enigmatic|Clockwork] Fountain (#1 "Carefully Observed Women", #2 "The Daffodil Returns the Smile", #3 "The Year of the Quiet Computer"), "Appearance of Life", "Wired for Sound", "Journey to the Heartland" (novelette) + Galaxies Like Grains of Sand (1979, Panther), collection of 9 short stories: + "The War Millennia", "The Sterile Millennia", "The Robot Millennia", "The Mingled Millennia", "The Dark Millennia", "The Star Millennia", "The Mutant Millennia", "The Megalopolis Millennia", "The Ultimate Millennia" + Brothers of the Head and Where the Lines Converge (1979), collection of 1 novel, 1 novelette and 6 poems: + Brothers of the Head (novel), "Big Lover" (poem), "Love Is a Forest" (poem), "Bacterial Action" (poem), "Star-Time" (poem), "Just for a Moment" (poem), "I Was Never Deaf or Blind to Her Music" (poem), "Where The Lines Converge" (novelette) + New Arrivals, Old Encounters (1979, Jonathan Cape), (1980, Harper & Row), (1981, Avon), collection of 9 short stories and 3 novelettes: + "New Arrivals, Old Encounters", "The Small Stones of Tu Fu", "Three Ways" (novelette), "Amen and Out", "A Spot of Konfrontation", "The Soft Predicament" (novelette), "Non-Isotropic", "One Blink of the Moon", "Space for Reflection", "Song of the Silencer", "Indifference" (novelette), "The Impossible Puppet Show" + Foreign Bodies (1981), collection of 5 short stories and 1 novelette: + "A Romance of the Equator", "Boat Animals", "Foreign Bodies", "Frontiers", "The Skeleton", "Just Back From Java" (novelette) + Bestsellers Vol. 3 No. 9: Best of Aldiss (1983), collection of 10 short stories and 2 novelettes: + "Oh, For a Closer Brush with God", "Appearance of Life", "The Small Stones of Tu Fu", "The Game with the Big Heavy Ball", "A Romance of the Equator", Enigma series, Three Revolutionary Enigmas (#1 "The Fall of Species B", #2 "In the Halls of the Hereafter", #3 "The Ancestral Home of Thought"), "The Blue Background", "A Private Whale" (novelette), "Consolations of Age", "The Girl Who Sang" (novelette) + Seasons in Flight (1984, Jonathan Cape), (1986, Atheneum), (1986, Grafton), (1988, Ace), collection of 8 short stories (10 in 1986) and 1 novelette: + "The Gods in Flight", "A Romance of the Equator", "The Blue Background", "The Girl Who Sang" (novelette), "Igur and the Mountain", "The O in José", "The Other Side of the Lake", "The Plain, the Endless Plain", "Incident in a Far Country" + Added in 1986: "Consolations of Age", "Juniper" + Science Fiction Blues Programme Book (1987), collection of 3 short stories and 2 poems: + "Traveller, Traveller, Seek Your Wife in the Forests of This Life", "The Ascent of Humbelstein", "At the Caligula Hotel" (poem), "Rhine Locks are Closed in Battle Against Poison" (poem), "Those Shouting Nights" + The Magic of the Past (1987), collection of 2 short stories: + "North Scarning", "The Magic of the Past" + Best SF Stories of Brian W. Aldiss (1988), collection of 18 short stories and 3 novellas/novelettes: + "Outside", "All the World's Tears", "Poor Little Warrior!", "Who Can Replace a Man?", "Man on Bridge", "The Girl and the Robot with Flowers", "The Saliva Tree" (novella), "Man in His Time", "Heresies of the Huge God", "Confluence", "Working in the Spaceship Yards", The Supertoys Trilogy (#1 "Super-Toys Last All Summer Long"), "Sober Noises of Morning in a Marginal Land" (novelette), "The Dark Soul of the Night", "Appearance of Life", "Last Orders", "Door Slams in Fourth World", "The Gods in Flight", "My Country 'Tis Not Only of Thee" (novelette), "Infestation", "The Difficulties Involved in Photographing Nix Olympica" + Best SF Stories (1988), collection of 18 short stories and 3 novellas/novelettes: + "Outside", "The Failed Men", "Poor Little Warrior!", "Who Can Replace a Man?", "Man on Bridge", "Girl and Robot with Flowers", "The Saliva Tree" (novella), "Man in His Time", "Heresies of the Huge God", "Confluence", "Working in the Spaceship Yards", The Supertoys Trilogy (#1 "Super-Toys Last All Summer Long"), "Sober Noises of Morning in a Marginal Land" (novelette), "The Dark Soul of the Night", "Appearance of Life", "Last Orders", "Door Slams in Fourth World", "The Gods in Flight", "My Country 'Tis Not Only of Thee" (novelette), "Infestation", "The Difficulties Involved in Photographing Nix Olympica" + Man in His Time: The Best Science Fiction Stories of Brian W. Aldiss (1988, Atheneum) , (1990, Collier), collection of 19 short stories and 3 novellas/novelettes: + "Outside", "The Failed Men", "All the World's Tears", "Poor Little Warrior!", "Who Can Replace a Man?", "Man on Bridge", "The Girl and the Robot with Flowers", "The Saliva Tree" (novella), "Man in His Time", "Heresies of the Huge God", "Confluence", "Working in the Spaceship Yards", The Supertoys Trilogy (#1 "Super-Toys Last All Summer Long"), "Sober Noises of Morning in a Marginal Land" (novelette), "The Dark Soul of the Night", "Appearance of Life", "Last Orders", "Door Slams in Fourth World", "The Gods in Flight", "My Country 'Tis Not Only of Thee" (novelette), "Infestation", "The Difficulties Involved in Photographing Nix Olympica" + Science Fiction Blues (1988), collection of 3 short stories, 15 poems and 11 plays: + "Science Fiction Blues (play)" (play), "Super-Toys Last All Summer Long (play)" (play), "The Death of Art? (play)" (play), "The Expensive Delicate Ship (play)" (play), "Don't Go To Jupiter" (poem), "Star-Time" (poem), "The Cat Improvement Company" (poem), "Progression of the Species" (poem), "Juniper (play)" (play), "Conversation on Progress (play)" (play), "Drinks with the Spider King (play)" (play), "Three Serials (play)" (play), "Last Orders (play)" (play), "Bill Carter Takes Over (play)" (play), "Talking Heads (play)" (play), "Traveller, Traveller, Seek Your Wife in the Forests of This Life", "The Ascent of Humbelstein", "Those Shouting Nights", "The Lying Truth" (poem), "Destruction of the Fifth Planet" (poem), "The Expanding Universe" (poem), "Bacterial Action" (poem), "To a Triceratops Skull in the British Museum" (poem), "Femalien" (poem), "Space Burial" (poem), "Taking Leave of a Northern Institution" (poem), "Thomas Hardy Considers the Newly-Published Special Theory of Relativity" (poem), "Parting Late in Life" (poem), "Happiness and Suffering" (poem) + A romance of the Equator. Best Fantasy Stories (1989, Gollancz), (1990, Atheneum / Macmillan) , collection of 22 short stories and 4 novelettes: + "Old Hundredth", "Day of the Doomed King", "The Source", "The Village Swindler", "The Worm That Flies", "The Moment of Eclips", "So Far from Prague", "The Day We Embarked for Cythera", "Castle Scene with Penitents", "The Game with the Big Heavy Ball", "Creatures of Apogee", "The Small Stones of Tu Fu", "Just Back From Java" (novelette), "A Romance of the Equator", "Journey to the Goat Star" (novelette), "The Girl Who Sang" (novelette), "Consolations of Age", "The Blue Background", "The Plain, the Endless Plain", "You Never Asked My Name", "Lies!" (novelette), "North Scarning", "The Big Question", "The Ascent of Humbelstein", "How an Inner Door Opened to My Heart", "Bill Carter Takes Over" + Bodily Functions (1991), collection of 2 short stories, 2 novelettes, 2 poems and 1 essay: + "To Sam" (poem), "Three Degrees Over" (novelette), "A Tupolev Too Far" (novelette), "Going for a Pee", "Better Morphosis", "Letter on the subject of Bowel Movement" (essay), "Envoi" (poem) + A Tupolev Too Far and Other Stories (1993, HarperCollins UK), (1994, St. Martin's), collection of 6 short stories, 5 novelettes and 2 poems: + "Short Stories" (poem), "A Tupolev Too Far" (novelette), "Ratbird", "FOAM" (novelette), "Summertime Was Nearly Over", "Better Morphosis", "Three Degrees Over" (novelette), "A Life of Matter and Death" (novelette), "A Day in the Life of a Galactic Empire", "Confluence", "Confluence Revisited", "North of the Abyss" (novelette), "Alphabet of Ameliorating Hope" (poem) + The Secret of This Book (1995, HarperCollins UK), US title Common Clay: 20-Odd Stories (1996, St. Martin's), collection of 20 short stories and 3 novelettes: + "Common Clay", "The Mistakes, Miseries and Misfortunes of Mankind", "How the Gates Opened and Closed", "Headless", "Travelling Towards Humbris", "If Hamlet's Uncle Had Been a Nicer Guy", "Else the Isle with Calibans", "A Swedish Birthday Present", Enigma series, Three Moon Enigmas (#1 "His Seventieth Heaven", #2 "Rose in the Evening", #3 "On the Inland Sea"), "A Dream of Antigone", "The God Who Slept With Women" (novelette), "Evans in His Moment of Glory", "Horse Meat" (novelette), "An Unwritten Love Note", "Making My Father Read Revered Writings", "Sitting With Sick Wasps", "Becoming the Full Butterfly" (novelette), "Traveller, Traveller, Seek Your Wife in the Forests of This Life", Enigma series, Her Toes Were Beautiful on the [Hilltops|Mountains] (#1 "Another Way Than Death", #2 "That Particular Green of Obsequies"), Enigma series, Three Revolutionary Enigmas (#3 "The Ancestral Home of Thought") + Supertoys Last All Summer Long and Other Stories of Future Time (2001, Orbit), (2001, St. Martin's), collection of 18 short stories and 1 novelette: + The Supertoys Trilogy (#1 "Supertoys Last All Summer Long", #2 "Supertoys When Winter Comes", #3 "Supertoys in Other Seasons"), "Apogee Again", "III", "The Old Mythyology", "Headless", "Beef", "Nothing in Life Is Ever Enough", "A Matter of Mathematics", "The Pause Button", "Three Types of Solitude", "Steppenpferd", "Cognitive Ability and the Light Bulb", "Dark Society", "Galaxy Zee", "Marvells of Utopia", "Becoming the Full Butterfly" (novelette), "A Whiter Mars: A Socratic Dialogue of Times to Come" + Cultural Breaks (2005, Tachyon Publications), collection of 9 short stories and 3 novellas/novelettes: + "Tarzan of the Alps", "Tralee of Man Young", "The Eye Opener", "Aboard the Beatitude" (novelette), "The Man and a Man with His Mule", "Dusk Flight", "Commander Calex Killed, Fire and Fury at the Edge of World, Scones Perfect", "The Hibernators", "The National Heritage", "How the Gates Opened and Closed", "Total Environment" (novelette), "A Chinese Perspective" (novella) + A Prehistory of Mind (2008, Mayapple Press), collection of + 55 poems in three sections: + Far Away: "The Deceptive Truth", "Flight 063", "Breugel's Hunters in the Snow", "Tien Shan", "The Kremlin, Moscow, ca. 1950", "Of All the Places", "The Moment", "Winter", "Journeying", "Rapide des morts", "The Cynar, Istanbul", "Exmoor in September", "On Passing a Roadside Auction of Featherbeds", "April in East Coker", "Gaughin's Tahiti", "Monemvasia" + Affection: "The Heavy Cup", "Spinal Metaphors", "Comfort Me, Sweetheart", "Get Out of My Life", "Being a Little Well", "This Brown Leaf", "Leaving Our Common Bed", "Rest Your Weary Head Upon Your Pillow", "The Empty Boxes", "Greed", "The First of March 1998", "Margaret's Questions", "Song: In Bed She Like a Lily Lay", "Jocasta", "Lu Tai", "Rondeau After Leigh Hunt", "A Piece of Cleopatra", "Aral Seasons", "At the Caligula Hotel" + Observation: "The Prehistory of the Mind", "Volcano", "Perspectives", "The Cat Improvement Company", "Winter Bites Deep", "The Bonfire of Time", "Iceberg Music", "The Bellowings", "Jackie", "The Bare Facts", "Nocturne", "An Interval", "Fairy Tales", "The Foot Speaks", "The Women", "Bosom Friends", "Colour Contrasts", "Uzbecks in London", "Antigone's Song", "A. E. van Vogt" + 1 short story: "Mortistan" + The Invention of Happiness (2013), collection of 33 short stories: + "The Invention of Happiness", "Beyond Plato's Cave", "Old Mother", "Belief", "After the Party", "Our Moment of Appearance", "The Bone Show", "The Great Plains", "What Befell the Tadpole", "The Sand Castle", "The Village of Stillthorpe", "Peace and War", "The Vintage Cottage", "Moderns on Ancient Ancestors", "The Hungers of an Old Language", "How High is a Cathedral?", "A Middle Class Dinner", "Flying Singapore Airlines", "The Apology", "Camões", "The Question of Atmosphere", "Illusions of Reality", "Lady with Apple Trees", "Flying and Bombing", "Molly Smiles Forever", "Days Gone By", "The Last of the Hound-Folk", "Munch", "The Music of Sound", "The Silent Cosmos", "Writings on the Rock", "The Light Really", "The Mistake They Made" + The Brian Aldiss Collection: + The Complete Short Stories: The 1950s (2013), collection of 57 short stories and 8 novellas/novelettes: + "A Book in Time", "Criminal Record", "Breathing Space", "The Great Time Hiccup", "Not for an Age", "Our Kind of Knowledge", "Outside", "Panel Game", "Pogsmith", "Conviction", "Dumb Show", "The Failed Men", "Non-Stop" (novelette), "Psyclops", "T", "There Is a Tide", "Tradesman's Exit", "With Esmond in Mind", "The Flowers of the Forest", "Gesture of Farewell" (novelette), "The Ice Mass Cometh", "Let's Be Frank", "No Gimmick", "The War Millennia", "Out of Reach", "The Sterile Millennia", "All the World's Tears", "The Dark Millennia", "O Ishrail!", "The Ultimate Millennia", "Visiting Amoeba" (novelette), "The Shubshub Race", "Supercity", "Judas Danced", "Ten-Storey Jigsaw", "The Pit My Parish" (novelette), "Blighted Profile", "Who Can Replace a Man?", "The Carp That Once ...", "Carrion Country", "Equator" (novella), "Fourth Factor" (novelette), "The Megalopolis Millennia", "Secret of a Mighty City", "The Star Millennia", "Incentive", "The Mutant Millennia", "Gene-Hive", "The New Father Christmas", "Ninian's Experiences", "Poor Little Warrior!", "Sector Diamond", "Sight of a Silhouette", "They Shall Inherit", "Are You an Android?", "The Arm", "The Bomb-Proof Bomb", "Fortune's Fool", "Intangibles, Inc." (novelette), "Sector Yellow", "The Lieutenant", "The Other One" (novelette), "Safety Valve", "The Towers of San Ampa", "Three's a Cloud" + The Complete Short Stories: The 1960s (Part 1) (2015), collection of 11 short stories and 6 novellas/novelettes: + "Faceless Card", "Neanderthal Planet" (novelette), "Old Hundredth", "Original Sinner", "Sector Grey", "Stage-Struck!", "Under an English Heaven", "Hen's Eyes", "Sector Azure" (novelette), "A Pleasure Shared", "Basis for Negotiation" (novelette), "Conversation Piece", "Danger: Religion!" (novella), "The Green Leaves of Space", "Sector Green", "Sector Vermilion" (novelette), "Tyrants' Territory" (novelette) + The Complete Short Stories: The 1960s (Part 2) (2015), collection of 10 short stories and 6 novellas/novelettes: + "Comic Inferno" (novelette), "The Impossible Star" (novelette), "In the Arena", "The International Smile", "Sector Violet", "Skeleton Crew" (novella), "The Thing Under the Glacier", "Counter-Feat", "Jungle Substitute" (novelette), "Lazarus", "Man on Bridge", "Never Let Go of My Hand!", "No Moon To-night!" (novelette), "One-Way Strait", "Pink Plastic Gods", "Unauthorised Persons" (novelette) + The Complete Short Stories: The 1960s (Part 3) (2015), collection of 18 short stories, 3 novellas/novelettes and 1 essay: + "The Day of the Doomed King", "The Girl and the Robot with Flowers", "How are they All on Deneb IV?" (essay), "The Impossible Smile" (novelette), "Man in His Time", "Old Time's Sake", "The Saliva Tree" (novella), "Scarfe's World", "The Small Betraying Detail", "The Source", "Amen and Out", "Another Little Boy", "Burning Question", Clement Yale series (#1 "The Circulation of the Blood" (novelette)), "The Eyes of the Blind King", "Heresies of the Huge God", "Lambeth Blossom", "The Lonely Habit", "The O in José", "One Role with Relish", "Paternal Care", "The Plot Sickens" + The Complete Short Stories: The 1960s (Part 4) (2015), collection of 28 short stories, 7 novellas/novelettes and 1 essay: + "A Difficult Age", "A Taste for Dostoevsky", "Auto-Ancestral Fracture" (novelette), "Confluence", "The Dead Immortal", "Down the Up Escalation", "Full Sun", "Just Passing Through", "Multi-Value Motorway", "The Night That All Time Broke Out", "Randy's Syndrome" (novelette), "Still Trajectories", "Two Modern Myths: Reflection on Mars and Ultimate Construction", "Wonder Weapon", Clement Yale series (#2 "...And the Stagnation of the Heart"), "Drake-Man Route", "Dreamer, Schemer", "Dream of Distance" (essay), "Send Her Victorious" (novelette), "The Serpent of Kundalini", "The Tell-Tale Heart-Machine", "Total Environment" (novelette), "The Village Swindler", "When I Was Very Jung", "The Worm That Flies", Jerry Cornelius series ("The Firmament Theorem"), "Greeks Bringing Knee-High Gifts", "The Humming Heads", "The Moment of Eclipse", "Ouspenski's Astrabahn" (novelette), "Since the Assassination" (novella), "So Far from Prague", "The Soft Predicament" (novelette), The Supertoys Trilogy (#1 "Supertoys Last All Summer Long"), "That Uncomfortable Pause Between Life and Art", "Working in the Spaceship Yards" + The Complete Short Stories: The 1970s (Part 1) (2016) + The Complete Short Stories: The 1970s (Part 2) (2016) + The Complete Short Stories: The 1980s (Part 1) (2016) + The Complete Short Stories: The 1980s (Part 2) (2016) + The Complete Short Stories: The 1990s (2016) + +Uncollected short stories: + + "Index to Life" (1954) + "Ultimate Construction" (1967), as C. C. Shackleton + "The Hunter at His Ease" (1970) + "The Secret of Holman Hunt and the Crude Death Rate" (1970) + "The Weather on Demansky Island" (1970) + "The Day Equality Broke Out" (1971) + "Manuscript Found in a Police State" (1972) + "The Ergot Show" (1972) + "Strange in a Familiar Way" (1973) + "The Planet at the Bottom of the Garden" (1973) + "Serpent Burning on an Altar" (1973) + "The Young Soldier's Horoscope" (1973) + "Woman in Sunlight with Mandolin" (1973) + Enigma series: + Three Enigmas I: + "The Enigma of Her Voyage" (1973) + "I Ching, Who You?" (1973) + "The Great Chain of Being What?" (1973) + Three Enigmas II: The Eternal Theme Of Exile: + "The Eternal Theme of Exile" (1973) + "All Those Enduring Old Charms" (1973) + "Nobody Spoke Or Waved Goodbye" (1973) + Three Enigmas III: All in God's Mind: + "The Unbearableness of Other Lives" (1974) + "The Old Fleeing and Fleeting Images" (1974) + "Looking on the Sunny Side of an Eclipse" (1974) + Diagrams For Three (Enigmatic) Stories: + "The Girl in the Tau-Dream" (1974) + "The Immobility Crew" (1974) + "A Cultural Side-Effect" (1974) + Three Songs for Enigmatic Lovers: + "A One-Man Expedition Through Life" (1974) + "The Taste of Shrapnel" (1974) + "40 Million Miles from the Nearest Blonde" (1974) + Three Enigmas IV: Three Coins in [Enigmatic|Clockwork] Fountain: + "Carefully Observed Women" (1975) + "The Daffodil Returns the Smile" (1975) + "The Year of the Quiet Computer" (1975) + Three Deadly Enigmas: V: Year by Year the Evil Gains: + "Within the Black Circle" (1975) + "Killing Off the Big Animals" (1975) + "What Are You Doing? Why Are You Doing It?" (1975) + The Aperture Moment: + "Waiting for the Universe to Begin" (1975) + "But Without Orifices" (1975) + "Aimez-Vous Holman Hunt?" (1975) + Three Revolutionary Enigmas: + "The Fall of Species B" (1980) + "In the Halls of the Hereafter" (1980) + "The Ancestral Home of Thought" (1980) + Her Toes Were Beautiful on the [Hilltops|Mountains]: + "Another Way Than Death" (1992) + "That Particular Green of Obsequies" (1992) + Three Moon Enigmas: + "His Seventieth Heaven" (1995) + "Rose in the Evening" (1995) + "On the Inland Sea" (1995) + "I dreamed I was Jung last night" (1974) + "Melancholia has a Plastic Core" (1974) + "Always Somebody There" (1975) + "Excommunication" (1975) + "How Did the Dinosaurs Do It?" (1976) + "In the Mist of Life" (1977) + "The Bang-Bang" (1977), novelette + "My Lady of the Psychiatric Sorrows" (1977) + "Yin, Yang and Jung: Three Galactic Enigmas" (1978) + "Modernisation" (1980) + "End Game" (1981) + "Call Yourself a Christian" (1982) + "How the Boy Icarus Grew Up and, After a Legendary Disaster, Learnt New Things About Himself and the External World, Until He Was Able to Comprehend the Magic That Had Been His in His Earliest Years /or/ Second Flight" (1982) + "Parasites of Passion" (1982) + "The Captain's Analysis" (1982) + "An Admirer of Einstein" (1983) + "The Immortal Storm Strikes Again" (1983) + "Another Story on the Theme of the Last Man on Earth" (1985) + "Domestic Catastrophe" (1985) + "Operation Other Cheek" (1985) + "Possessed by Love" (1985) + "Silence After the Silence" (1985) + "The Greatest Saga of All Time" (1985), as C. C. Shackleton + "The Monster of Loch Awe" (1985) + "The Fatal Break" (1987) + "The Hero" (1987) + "The Merdeka Hotel" (1987) + "The Price of Cabbages" (1987) + "Thursday" (1987) + "Tourney" (1987) + "Conversation on Progress" (1988) + "Hess" (1988) + "Sex and the Black Machine" (1988) + "Wordsworth Halucinates" (1988) + "The Day the Earth Caught Fire" (1989) + "Adventures in the Fur Trade" (1990) + "People—Alone—Injury—Artwork" (1991) + "Kindred Blood in Kensington Gore" (1992) + "Softly – As in an Evening Sunrise" (1992) + "English Garden" (1993) + "Friendship Bridge" (1993), novelette + "The Servant Problem" (1994) + "The Monster of Everyday Life" (1994) + "The Madonna of Futurity" (1994), novella + "Into the Tunnel!" (1995) + "Compulsory Holidays For All" (1995) + "The Law Against Trivia" (1996) + "The Enigma of the Three Moons" (1997) + "Death, Shit, Love, Transfiguration" (1997) + "An Apollo Asteroid" (1999) + "The Rain Will Stop" (2000, The Pretentious Press), written in 1942 + "A Single-Minded Artist" (2001) + "Happiness in Reverse" (2001) + "Talking Cubes" (2001) + Supertoys series: + "Supertoys: Play Can Be So Deadly" (2001) + "Supertoys: What Fun to Be Reborn" (2001) + "A New (governmental) Father Christmas", or "A New (governmental) Father Christmas: A Moral Tale for All in Headington" (2002) + "Near Earth Object" (2002) + "Ten Billion of Them" (2005) + "Pipeline" (2005), novelette + "Building Sixteen" (2006) + "Tiger in the Night" (2006) + "Safe!" (2006) + "Life, Learning, Leipzig and a Librarian" (2007) + "Four Ladies of the Apocalypse" (2007) + "Peculiar Bone, Unimaginable Key" (2008) + "Fandom at the Palace" (2008) + "The First-Born" (2010) + "Hapless Humanity" (2010) + Doctor Who series: + "Umwelts for Hire" (2010), Doctor Who Brilliant Book 2011 (2010, BBC Books, ) + "Benkoelen" (2011) + "Less Than Kin, More Than Kind" (2011) + "The Mighty Mi Tok of Beijing" (2013) + "Abundances Above" (2016) + +Poems +Collections: + Farewell to a Child (1982), collection of 10 poems: + "Found", "Lost", "The Commitment", "When We Were Four", "With Vacant Possession", "The Child Departs: a dialogue", "The Eternal Child", "The Frozen Boy", "The Haunting", "The Malediction" + Home Life With Cats (1992), collection of 34 poems: + "Out of the Night", "The Cats' Heaven", "Kittens (Two)", "Slaves", "Where Have You Been?", "Yum-Yum", "Heatwave", "Cats' Nerves", "Foxie", "Jackson", "Town-Life", "Nickie", "The Two-Kitten Problem", "Macramé's Lament", "Travelling Cats", "The Cat Improvement Company", "On a Favourite Goldfish Drowned in a Bowl of Cats", "Portrait of a Cat with Lady", "An Evening at Home", "Tatty's Tie-Shop", "Snacks", "Who Owns the House?", "A Riddle", "How I Swam Out to Sea with My Cat", "A Lion for Tea", "The Cat in the Cathedral", "The Poor Man's Cat", "Mutual Regard", "First Birthday", "Rules", "Relating to the Pet", "The Cat Speaks", "Michael, the Cycling Cat", "The Lost Grave" + At the Caligula Hotel and Other Poems (1995), collection of 74 poems, grouped in four sections: + I. Imagery?: "At the Caligula Hotel", Chinese Exercises ("Lu Tai", "Nocturne", "Interval", "Indecision", "Journeying", "Poems from a Later Dynasty III: Who Hears My Voice?"), "Exit Aquascutum", "While Feeding Parrots", "Winter Bites Deep", "Breughel's Hunters in the Snow", "Anau: The Well", "The Cynar, Istanbul", "Dawn in Kuala Lumpur", "Gauguin's Tahiti" + II. Everyday?: "No, I was Never Deaf or Blind to Her Music", "Toledo: Three Ladies", "Government", "Moonglow: for Margaret", "Alfie Cogitates on Life", "Memories of Palic", "Boars Hill: the Sycamores and the Oaks", "All Things Transfigure", "Trapped in the Present", "The Path", "Suburban Sunday", "Nature Notes: Early September", "Willow Cottage", "Cold Snap", "Stoney Ground", "The Triumph of the Superficial", "The Twentieth Camp", "Good Fortune", "Communication", "A Summery Meditation on Money", "A Moment of Suspense", "Fragment of a Longer Poem" + III. Literary?: "Short Stories", "What Did the Policeman Say?", "Hamlet Folk", "The Poor", "On Reading Poetry in Berkhamsted", "Poem Inspired by Scott Meredith", Two Painters ("I: Francis Bacon", "II: Fernand Khnopff"), "Light of Ancient Days", "Mary Shelley, 1916", "Victor Frankenstein on the Mer de Glace", "The Shelleys – To a Lady who spoke of their 'Mystery", "The Created One Speaks", "Mary in Italy", "Looking It Up", "Rice Pudding", "Writer's Life" + IV. Scientific?: "Greenhouse Sex", "Lunar Anatomy", "Monemvasia", "Found", "Destruction of the Fifth Planet", "Femalien", "Thomas Hardy Considers the Newly-Published Special Theory of Relativity", "Rhine Locks are Closed in Battle Against Poison", "The Cat Improvement Company", "The Expanding Universe", "To a Triceratops Skull in the British Museum", "The Light", "Flight 063", Precarious Passions ("I: A Brain Pursues its Vanished Dream", "II: A Woman Marries the Southern Ocean", "III: Ascension Island Courts a Whale", "IV: A Refrigerator Proposes to a Musk Ox", "V: A Book Falls in Love with its Reader", "VI: A Lamp Standard Courts the Stars"), "Alphabet of Ameliorating Hope" + Songs from the Steppes of Central Asia: The Collected Poems of Makhtumkuli: Eighteenth Century Poet-Hero of Turkmenistan (1995) + A Plutonian Monologue on His Wife's Death (2000, The Frogmore Papers), collection of 7 poems + At a Bigger House (2002), collection of 48 poems: + "Hazards of the Trail", "Perspectives", "Presentiments of Dawn", "Now Showing: 'Killing Father", "The World of Lost Content", "Flight 063", "Railway Engine Pulling Slowly", "The Deceptive Truth", "Colour Contrasts", "Fairy Tales", "The Women", "They Who Waited", "The Bonfire of Time", "The Foot Speaks", "The Ghost Koi", "Rapide des Morts", "The Teeth of Time", "Elizabeth Jennings (Died October 2001)", "War and Peace': A Song for Mathilde Mauguiere", "Her Beautiful Thing", "The Hunters in the Snow", "Aral Seasons", "Uzbecks in London", "Poem from Life in the West", "Many Mansions", "The Horse Unburied", "The Red Pavilion", "Blythborough Church, A Hardyesque Dialogue", "Insomnia", "Awake at Three A.M.", "The Start of Something", "Retrospection: At the Temple of Aphaia, on the Island of Aegina, Greece", "Hors d'Oeuvres for my Lady", "The Barney", "Dawn in KL", "A Funeral Service: Kingsley Amis, 31st October 1995", "On Passing a Roadside Auction of Featherbeds, Lake District, 1845", "City Scene", "The Prehistory of the Mind", "April in East Coker", "Seeking Love", "The New Wing", "Xenophilia", "Name-Dripping", "Dora/Dinah", "Volcano", "Monemvasia", "The Moment" + The Dark Sun Rises (2002), collection of 50 poems: + "The Dark Sun Rises", "Venice and Istanbul", "Perspectives", "Monemvasia", "The Deceptive Truth", "The Moment", "On Passing a Roadside Auction of Featherbeds, Lake District, 1845", "Retrospection: At the Temple of Aphaia, on the Island of Aegina, Greece", "Rapide des Morts", "Flight 063", "Aral Seasons", "Uzbecks in London", "Poem from Life in the West", "Insomnia", "Meum Tuumque", "Partings from Oedipus on Mars", "The Barney", "Blythborough Church, A Hardyesque Dialogue", "Not Speaking of You", "The Silent Love", "War and Peace': A Song for Mathilde Mauguiere", "Her Beautiful Thing", "Rondeau after Leigh Hunt", "Jocasta", "Jane Eyre at Elsinore", "The Carnivores", "The Garden at Number Thirty-Nine", "The Horse Unburied", "The Garden", "In the RA Friends' Room June '95", "They Who Waited", "Colour Contrasts", "The Red Pavilion", "The Women", "Hazards of the Trail", "Many Mansions", "The Start of Something", "The Prehistory of the Mind", "The World of Lost Content", "Volcano", "Dendrochronology", "The Foot Speaks", "Fairy Tales", "Now Showing: 'Killing Father", "A Piece of Cleopatra", "Cliché Love", "Eatin' Regular Again': A Pop Song", "The Cat Improvement Company", "At the Caligula Hotel", "untitled (re: myth of Santa Claus)" + Mortal Morning (2011) + +Uncollected poems: + + "There Are No More Good Stories About Mars Because We Need No More Good Stories About Mars" (1963) + "Bridging Hours in Wesciv" (1969) + "Drama on the River Cherwell" (1974) + "Epitaph for a Writer" (1974) + "In Another Town: Bologna" (1974) + "Innovation in the Arts" (1974) + "Mon Frère" (1974) + "Taking Leave of a Cold Country" (1974) + "The Lady Literary Agent" (1974) + "Verse in a Country Garden" (1974) + "Summer: 1773" (1976) + "Pile: Petals from St. Klaed's Computer" (1979) + "Sleep" (1983) + "Tra La" (1994) + +Plays + + Patagonia's Delicious Filling Station: Three One-act Plays (1975), collection + Enigma series: + The Bones of Bertrand Russell: A Tryptich of Absurd Enigmatic Plays: + "Futurity Takes a Hand" (1976) + "Through a Galaxy Backwards" (1976) + "Where Walls Are Hung with Multi-Media Portraits" (1976) + Distant Encounters (1978) + +Not categorised fiction + Courageous New Planet (c. 1984) + +Non-fiction +Autobiographies + + ... And the Lurid Glare of the Comet (1986), articles and autobiography + Bury My Heart at W.H. Smith's: A Writing Life (1990) + The Twinkling of an Eye, or My Life as an Englishman (1998) + When the Feast is Finished (1999), with Margaret Aldiss + An Exile on Planet Earth: Articles and Reflections (2012), articles and autobiography + +Science fiction + The Shape of Further Things, or The Shape of Further Things: Speculation on Change (1970) + Billion Year Spree series: + Billion Year Spree: The History of Science Fiction (1973) + BSFA special award + Trillion Year Spree: The History of Science Fiction (1986), with David Wingrove, a revised and expanded version of Billion Year Spree + Winner of the 1987 Hugo Award for Best Non-Fiction Book. At the awards ceremony, Aldiss began his acceptance speech by holding the Hugo aloft and proclaiming, to general approbation, "It's been a long time since you've given me one of these, you bastards!" + SF Horizons (1975), with Harry Harrison + Science Fiction as Science Fiction (1978) + Science Fiction Quiz (1983) + The Pale Shadow of Science, or Pale Shadow of Science (1985), collected essays + The Detached Retina: Aspects of SF and Fantasy (1995) +Others + + Cities and Stones: A Traveller's Yugoslavia (1966) + Item Eighty-Three: Brian W. Aldiss – A Bibliography 1954–1972 (1972), with Margaret Aldiss, a bibliography of Aldiss's published works, this book being number 83 + Science Fiction Art (1975) + This World and Nearer Ones: Essays Exploring the Familiar (1979) + Art After Apogee (2000), with Rosemary Phipps, essays + Researches and Churches in Serbia (2002), collection of 9 articles + +Anthologies edited + + Penguin Science Fiction series: + Penguin Science Fiction (1961) + More Penguin Science Fiction (1963) + Yet More Penguin Science Fiction (1964) + Omnibus edition, The Penguin Science Fiction Omnibus (1973) + Best Fantasy Stories (1962) + Introducing SF (1964) + Nebula Award Stories Two (1967), with Harry Harrison + Farewell, Fantastic Venus (1968) + The Year's Best Science Fiction series, with Harry Harrison: + The Year's Best Science Fiction No. 1 (1968) + The Year's Best Science Fiction No. 2, or Best SF: 1968 (1969) + The Year's Best Science Fiction No. 3, or Best SF: 1969 (1970) + The Year's Best Science Fiction No. 4 (1971) + The Year's Best Science Fiction No. 5 (1972) + The Year's Best Science Fiction No. 6, or Best SF: 1972 (1973) + The Year's Best Science Fiction No. 7, or Best SF: 1973 (1974) + The Year's Best Science Fiction No. 8 (1976) + The Year's Best Science Fiction No. 9, or The Year's Best SF 9 (1976) + Space Opera (1974) + Space Odysseys (1975) + Hell's Cartographers: Some Personal Histories of Science Fiction Writers (1975), with Harry Harrison, a collection of short autobiographical pieces by a number of science fiction writers, including Aldiss. The title is a reference to Kingsley Amis's survey of science fiction, New Maps of Hell. + Decade series, with Harry Harrison: + Decade: the 1940s (1975) + Decade: the 1950s (1976) + Decade: the 1960s (1979) + Evil Earths (1976) + Galactic Empires series: + Galactic Empires. Volume One (1976) + Galactic Empires. Volume Two (1976) + Perilous Planets (1978) + Mini Sagas: From The Daily Telegraph Competition series: + Mini Sagas: From The Daily Telegraph Competition (1998) + Mini Sagas: From The Daily Telegraph Competition 2001 (2001) + A Science Fiction Omnibus (2007) + The Folio Science Fiction Anthology (2016) + +Adaptations + Frankenstein Unbound (1990), film directed by Roger Corman, based on novel Frankenstein Unbound + A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001), film directed by Steven Spielberg, based on short story "Supertoys Last All Summer Long" + Brothers of the Head (2005), film directed by Keith Fulton and Louis Pepe, based on novel Brothers of the Head + +See also + +References + +External links + + + + + Brian Aldiss at British Council: Literature + + + + Obituary in The Independent by Marcus Williamson + Guardian newspaper profile + Brian Aldiss's online fiction at Free Speculative Fiction Online + "Supertoys Last All Summer Long" story by Brian Aldiss (January 1997) + Brian Aldiss Collection at the University of South Florida + Brian Aldiss Papers at the Kenneth Spencer Research Library, University of Kansas + Works of Brian W. Aldiss at La Tercera Fundación + Works of Brian W. Aldiss at FantLab ru + +1925 births +2017 deaths +20th-century British dramatists and playwrights +20th-century British male artists +20th-century British novelists +20th-century British poets +20th-century British printmakers +20th-century English short story writers +20th-century English dramatists and playwrights +20th-century English male artists +20th-century English male writers +20th-century English non-fiction writers +20th-century English novelists +20th-century English painters +20th-century English poets +20th-century travel writers +21st-century British novelists +21st-century British painters +21st-century British poets +21st-century British printmakers +21st-century English short story writers +21st-century English male artists +21st-century English male writers +21st-century English non-fiction writers +21st-century English novelists +21st-century English painters +21st-century English poets +21st-century travel writers +Art writers +British Army personnel of World War II +British alternative history writers +British anthologists +British autobiographers +British contemporary artists +British literary critics +British literary historians +British male dramatists and playwrights +British male non-fiction writers +British male novelists +British male painters +British male poets +British male short story writers +British science fiction writers +British speculative fiction critics +British speculative fiction editors +English art critics +English art historians +English autobiographers +English contemporary artists +English literary critics +English literary historians +English male dramatists and playwrights +English male novelists +English male painters +English male poets +English male short story writers +English non-fiction writers +English science fiction writers +English travel writers +Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature +Hugo Award-winning writers +Modern artists +Modern printmakers +Nebula Award winners +Officers of the Order of the British Empire +People educated at Framlingham College +People educated at West Buckland School +People from Dereham +Royal Corps of Signals soldiers +Science Fiction Hall of Fame inductees +SFWA Grand Masters +Surrealist writers +Weird fiction writers +World Fantasy Award-winning writers +The Battle of Jutland (, the Battle of the Skagerrak) was a naval battle fought between Britain's Royal Navy Grand Fleet, under Admiral Sir John Jellicoe, and the Imperial German Navy's High Seas Fleet, under Vice-Admiral Reinhard Scheer, during the First World War. The battle unfolded in extensive manoeuvring and three main engagements (the battlecruiser action, the fleet action, and the night action), from 31 May to 1 June 1916, off the North Sea coast of Denmark's Jutland Peninsula. It was the largest naval battle and the only full-scale clash of battleships of the war. Jutland was the third fleet action between steel battleships, following the Battle of the Yellow Sea in 1904 and the Battle of Tsushima in 1905, during the Russo-Japanese War. Jutland was the last major battle in history fought primarily by battleships. + +Germany's High Seas Fleet intended to lure out, trap, and destroy a portion of the British Grand Fleet, as the German naval force was insufficient to openly engage the entire British fleet. This formed part of a larger strategy to break the British blockade of Germany and to allow German naval vessels access to the Atlantic. Meanwhile, Great Britain's Royal Navy pursued a strategy of engaging and destroying the High Seas Fleet, thereby keeping German naval forces contained and away from Britain and her shipping lanes. + +The Germans planned to use Vice-Admiral Franz Hipper's fast scouting group of five modern battlecruisers to lure Vice-Admiral Sir David Beatty's battlecruiser squadrons into the path of the main German fleet. They stationed submarines in advance across the likely routes of the British ships. However, the British learned from signal intercepts that a major fleet operation was likely, so on 30 May, Jellicoe sailed with the Grand Fleet to rendezvous with Beatty, passing over the locations of the German submarine picket lines while they were unprepared. The German plan had been delayed, causing further problems for their submarines, which had reached the limit of their endurance at sea. + +On the afternoon of 31 May, Beatty encountered Hipper's battlecruiser force long before the Germans had expected. In a running battle, Hipper successfully drew the British vanguard into the path of the High Seas Fleet. By the time Beatty sighted the larger force and turned back towards the British main fleet, he had lost two battlecruisers from a force of six battlecruisers and four powerful battleships—though he had sped ahead of his battleships of 5th Battle Squadron earlier in the day, effectively losing them as an integral component for much of this opening action against the five ships commanded by Hipper. Beatty's withdrawal at the sight of the High Seas Fleet, which the British had not known were in the open sea, would reverse the course of the battle by drawing the German fleet in pursuit towards the British Grand Fleet. Between 18:30, when the sun was lowering on the western horizon, back-lighting the German forces, and nightfall at about 20:30, the two fleets—totalling 250 ships between them—directly engaged twice. + +Fourteen British and eleven German ships sank, with a total of 9,823 casualties. After sunset, and throughout the night, Jellicoe manoeuvred to cut the Germans off from their base, hoping to continue the battle the next morning, but under the cover of darkness Scheer broke through the British light forces forming the rearguard of the Grand Fleet and returned to port. + +Both sides claimed victory. The British lost more ships and twice as many sailors but succeeded in containing the German fleet. The British press criticised the Grand Fleet's failure to force a decisive outcome, while Scheer's plan of destroying a substantial portion of the British fleet also failed. The British strategy of denying Germany access to both the United Kingdom and the Atlantic did succeed, which was the British long-term goal. The Germans' "fleet in being" continued to pose a threat, requiring the British to keep their battleships concentrated in the North Sea, but the battle reinforced the German policy of avoiding all fleet-to-fleet contact. At the end of 1916, after further unsuccessful attempts to reduce the Royal Navy's numerical advantage, the German Navy accepted that its surface ships had been successfully contained, subsequently turning its efforts and resources to unrestricted submarine warfare and the destruction of Allied and neutral shipping, which—along with the Zimmermann Telegram—by April 1917 triggered the United States of America's declaration of war on Germany. + +Subsequent reviews commissioned by the Royal Navy generated strong disagreement between supporters of Jellicoe and Beatty concerning the two admirals' performance in the battle. Debate over their performance and the significance of the battle continues to this day. + +Background and planning + +German planning +With 16 dreadnought-type battleships, compared with the Royal Navy's 28, the German High Seas Fleet stood little chance of winning a head-to-head clash. The Germans therefore adopted a divide-and-conquer strategy. They would stage raids into the North Sea and bombard the English coast, with the aim of luring out small British squadrons and pickets, which could then be destroyed by superior forces or submarines. + +In January 1916, Admiral von Pohl, commander of the German fleet, fell ill. He was replaced by Scheer, who believed that the fleet had been used too defensively, had better ships and men than the British, and ought to take the war to them. According to Scheer, the German naval strategy should be: + +On 25 April 1916, a decision was made by the German Imperial Admiralty to halt indiscriminate attacks by submarines on merchant shipping. This followed protests from neutral countries, notably the United States, that their nationals had been the victims of attacks. Germany agreed that future attacks would only take place in accord with internationally agreed prize rules, which required an attacker to give a warning and allow the crews of vessels time to escape, and not to attack neutral vessels at all. Scheer believed that it would not be possible to continue attacks on these terms, which took away the advantage of secret approach by submarines and left them vulnerable to even relatively small guns on the target ships. Instead, he set about deploying the submarine fleet against military vessels. + +It was hoped that, following a successful German submarine attack, fast British escorts, such as destroyers, would be tied down by anti-submarine operations. If the Germans could catch the British in the expected locations, good prospects were thought to exist of at least partially redressing the balance of forces between the fleets. "After the British sortied in response to the raiding attack force", the Royal Navy's centuries-old instincts for aggressive action could be exploited to draw its weakened units towards the main German fleet under Scheer. The hope was that Scheer would thus be able to ambush a section of the British fleet and destroy it. + +Submarine deployments +A plan was devised to station submarines offshore from British naval bases, and then stage some action that would draw out the British ships to the waiting submarines. The battlecruiser had been damaged in a previous engagement, but was due to be repaired by mid-May, so an operation was scheduled for 17 May 1916. At the start of May, difficulties with condensers were discovered on ships of the third battleship squadron, so the operation was put back to 23 May. Ten submarines—, , , , , , , , , and —were given orders first to patrol in the central North Sea between 17 and 22 May, and then to take up waiting positions. U-43 and U-44 were stationed in the Pentland Firth, which the Grand Fleet was likely to cross when leaving Scapa Flow, while the remainder proceeded to the Firth of Forth, awaiting battlecruisers departing Rosyth. Each boat had an allocated area, within which it could move around as necessary to avoid detection, but was instructed to keep within it. During the initial North Sea patrol the boats were instructed to sail only north–south so that any enemy who chanced to encounter one would believe it was departing or returning from operations on the west coast (which required them to pass around the north of Britain). Once at their final positions, the boats were under strict orders to avoid premature detection that might give away the operation. It was arranged that a coded signal would be transmitted to alert the submarines exactly when the operation commenced: "Take into account the enemy's forces may be putting to sea". + +Additionally, UB-27 was sent out on 20 May with instructions to work its way into the Firth of Forth past May Island. U-46 was ordered to patrol the coast of Sunderland, which had been chosen for the diversionary attack, but because of engine problems it was unable to leave port and U-47 was diverted to this task. On 13 May, U-72 was sent to lay mines in the Firth of Forth; on the 23rd, U-74 departed to lay mines in the Moray Firth; and on the 24th, U-75 was dispatched similarly west of the Orkney Islands. UB-21 and UB-22 were sent to patrol the Humber, where (incorrect) reports had suggested the presence of British warships. U-22, U-46 and U-67 were positioned north of Terschelling to protect against intervention by British light forces stationed at Harwich. + +On 22 May 1916, it was discovered that Seydlitz was still not watertight after repairs and would not now be ready until the 29th. The ambush submarines were now on station and experiencing difficulties of their own: visibility near the coast was frequently poor due to fog, and sea conditions were either so calm the slightest ripple, as from the periscope, could give away their position, or so rough as to make it very hard to keep the vessel at a steady depth. The British had become aware of unusual submarine activity, and had begun counter-patrols that forced the submarines out of position. UB-27 passed Bell Rock on the night of 23 May on its way into the Firth of Forth as planned, but was halted by engine trouble. After repairs it continued to approach, following behind merchant vessels, and reached Largo Bay on 25 May. There the boat became entangled in nets that fouled one of the propellers, forcing it to abandon the operation and return home. U-74 was detected by four armed trawlers on 27 May and sunk south-east of Peterhead. U-75 laid its mines off the Orkney Islands, which, although they played no part in the battle, were responsible later for sinking the cruiser carrying Lord Kitchener, the Secretary of State for War on 5 June, killing him and all but 12 of the crew. U-72 was forced to abandon its mission without laying any mines when an oil leak meant it was leaving a visible surface trail astern. + +Zeppelins + +The Germans maintained a fleet of Zeppelins that they used for aerial reconnaissance and occasional bombing raids. The planned raid on Sunderland intended to use Zeppelins to watch out for the British fleet approaching from the north, which might otherwise surprise the raiders. + +By 28 May, strong north-easterly winds meant that it would not be possible to send out the Zeppelins, so the raid again had to be postponed. The submarines could only stay on station until 1 June before their supplies would be exhausted and they had to return, so a decision had to be made quickly about the raid. + +It was decided to use an alternative plan, abandoning the attack on Sunderland but instead sending a patrol of battlecruisers to the Skagerrak, where it was likely they would encounter merchant ships carrying British cargo and British cruiser patrols. It was felt this could be done without air support, because the action would now be much closer to Germany, relying instead on cruiser and torpedo boat patrols for reconnaissance. + +Orders for the alternative plan were issued on 28 May, although it was still hoped that last-minute improvements in the weather would allow the original plan to go ahead. The German fleet assembled in the Jade River and at Wilhelmshaven and was instructed to raise steam and be ready for action from midnight on 28 May. + +By 14:00 on 30 May, the wind was still too strong and the final decision was made to use the alternative plan. The coded signal "31 May G.G.2490" was transmitted to the ships of the fleet to inform them the Skagerrak attack would start on 31 May. The pre-arranged signal to the waiting submarines was transmitted throughout the day from the E-Dienst radio station at Bruges, and the U-boat tender Arcona anchored at Emden. Only two of the waiting submarines, U-66 and U-32, received the order. + +British response +Unfortunately for the German plan, the British had obtained a copy of the main German codebook from the light cruiser , which had been boarded by the Russian Navy after the ship ran aground in Russian territorial waters in 1914. German naval radio communications could therefore often be quickly deciphered, and the British Admiralty usually knew about German activities. + +The British Admiralty's Room 40 maintained direction finding and interception of German naval signals. It had intercepted and decrypted a German signal on 28 May that provided "ample evidence that the German fleet was stirring in the North Sea". Further signals were intercepted, and although they were not decrypted it was clear that a major operation was likely. At 11:00 on 30 May, Jellicoe was warned that the German fleet seemed prepared to sail the following morning. By 17:00, the Admiralty had intercepted the signal from Scheer, "31 May G.G.2490", making it clear something significant was imminent. + +Not knowing the Germans' objective, Jellicoe and his staff decided to position the fleet to head off any attempt by the Germans to enter the North Atlantic or the Baltic through the Skagerrak, by taking up a position off Norway where they could potentially cut off any German raid into the shipping lanes of the Atlantic or prevent the Germans from heading into the Baltic. A position further west was unnecessary, as that area of the North Sea could be patrolled by air using aircraft. + +Consequently, Admiral Jellicoe led the sixteen dreadnought battleships of the 1st and 4th Battle Squadrons of the Grand Fleet and three battlecruisers of the 3rd Battlecruiser Squadron eastwards out of Scapa Flow at 22:30 on 30 May. He was to meet the 2nd Battle Squadron of eight dreadnought battleships commanded by Vice-Admiral Martyn Jerram coming from Cromarty. Beatty's force of six ships of the 1st and 2nd Battlecruiser Squadrons plus the 5th Battle Squadron of four fast battleships left the Firth of Forth at around the same time; Jellicoe intended to rendezvous with him west of the mouth of the Skagerrak off the coast of Jutland and wait for the Germans to appear or for their intentions to become clear. The planned position would give him the widest range of responses to likely German moves. Hipper's raiding force did not leave the Outer Jade Roads until 01:00 on 31 May, heading west of Heligoland Island following a cleared channel through the minefields, heading north at . The main German fleet of sixteen dreadnought battleships of 1st and 3rd Battle Squadrons left the Jade at 02:30, being joined off Heligoland at 04:00 by the six pre-dreadnoughts of the 2nd Battle Squadron coming from the Elbe River. + +Naval tactics in 1916 + +The principle of concentration of force was fundamental to the fleet tactics of this time. As outlined by Captain Reginald Hall in 1914, tactical doctrine called for a fleet approaching battle to be in a compact formation of parallel columns, allowing relatively easy manoeuvring, and giving shortened sight lines within the formation, which simplified the passing of the signals necessary for command and control. + +A fleet formed in several short columns could change its heading faster than one formed in a single long column. Since most command signals were made with flags or signal lamps between ships, the flagship was usually placed at the head of the centre column so that its signals might be more easily seen by the many ships of the formation. Wireless telegraphy was in use, though security (radio direction finding), encryption, and the limitation of the radio sets made their extensive use more problematic. Command and control of such huge fleets remained difficult. + +Thus, it might take a very long time for a signal from the flagship to be relayed to the entire formation. It was usually necessary for a signal to be confirmed by each ship before it could be relayed to other ships, and an order for a fleet movement would have to be received and acknowledged by every ship before it could be executed. In a large single-column formation, a signal could take 10 minutes or more to be passed from one end of the line to the other, whereas in a formation of parallel columns, visibility across the diagonals was often better (and always shorter) than in a single long column, and the diagonals gave signal "redundancy", increasing the probability that a message would be quickly seen and correctly interpreted. + +However, before battle was joined the heavy units of the fleet would, if possible, deploy into a single column. To form the battle line in the correct orientation relative to the enemy, the commanding admiral had to know the enemy fleet's distance, bearing, heading, and speed. It was the task of the scouting forces, consisting primarily of battlecruisers and cruisers, to find the enemy and report this information in sufficient time, and, if possible, to deny the enemy's scouting forces the opportunity of obtaining the equivalent information. + +Ideally, the battle line would cross the intended path of the enemy column so that the maximum number of guns could be brought to bear, while the enemy could fire only with the forward guns of the leading ships, a manoeuvre known as "crossing the T". Admiral Tōgō, commander of the Japanese battleship fleet, had achieved this against Admiral Zinovy Rozhestvensky's Russian battleships in 1905 at the Battle of Tsushima, with devastating results. Jellicoe achieved this twice in one hour against the High Seas Fleet at Jutland, but on both occasions, Scheer managed to turn away and disengage, thereby avoiding a decisive action. + +Ship design +Within the existing technological limits, a trade-off had to be made between the weight and size of guns, the weight of armour protecting the ship, and the maximum speed. Battleships sacrificed speed for armour and heavy naval guns ( or larger). British battlecruisers sacrificed weight of armour for greater speed, while their German counterparts were armed with lighter guns and heavier armour. These weight savings allowed them to escape danger or catch other ships. Generally, the larger guns mounted on British ships allowed an engagement at greater range. In theory, a lightly armoured ship could stay out of range of a slower opponent while still scoring hits. The fast pace of development in the pre-war years meant that every few years, a new generation of ships rendered its predecessors obsolete. Thus, fairly young ships could still be obsolete compared with the newest ships, and fare badly in an engagement against them. + +Admiral John Fisher, responsible for reconstruction of the British fleet in the pre-war period, favoured large guns, oil fuel, and speed. Admiral Tirpitz, responsible for the German fleet, favoured ship survivability and chose to sacrifice some gun size for improved armour. The German battlecruiser had belt armour equivalent in thickness—though not as comprehensive—to the British battleship , significantly better than on the British battlecruisers such as Tiger. German ships had better internal subdivision and had fewer doors and other weak points in their bulkheads, but with the disadvantage that space for crew was greatly reduced. As they were designed only for sorties in the North Sea they did not need to be as habitable as the British vessels and their crews could live in barracks ashore when in harbour. + +Order of battle + +Warships of the period were armed with guns firing projectiles of varying weights, bearing high explosive warheads. The sum total of weight of all the projectiles fired by all the ship's broadside guns is referred to as "weight of broadside". At Jutland, the total of the British ships' weight of broadside was , while the German fleet's total was . This does not take into consideration the ability of some ships and their crews to fire more or less rapidly than others, which would increase or decrease amount of fire that one combatant was able to bring to bear on their opponent for any length of time. + +Jellicoe's Grand Fleet was split into two sections. The dreadnought Battle Fleet, with which he sailed, formed the main force and was composed of 24 battleships and three battlecruisers. The battleships were formed into three squadrons of eight ships, further subdivided into divisions of four, each led by a flag officer. Accompanying them were eight armoured cruisers (classified by the Royal Navy since 1913 as "cruisers"), eight light cruisers, four scout cruisers, 51 destroyers, and one destroyer-minelayer. + +The Grand Fleet sailed without three of its battleships: in refit at Invergordon, dry-docked at Rosyth and in refit at Devonport. The brand new was left behind; with only three weeks in service, her untrained crew was judged unready for battle. had been sunk by a German mine on 27 October 1914. + +British reconnaissance was provided by the Battlecruiser Fleet under David Beatty: six battlecruisers, four fast s, 14 light cruisers and 27 destroyers. Air scouting was provided by the attachment of the seaplane tender , one of the first aircraft carriers in history to participate in a naval engagement. + +The German High Seas Fleet under Scheer was also split into a main force and a separate reconnaissance force. Scheer's main battle fleet was composed of 16 battleships and six pre-dreadnought battleships arranged in an identical manner to the British. With them were six light cruisers and 31 torpedo-boats, (the latter being roughly equivalent to a British destroyer). The only German battleship missing was . + +The German scouting force, commanded by Franz Hipper, consisted of five battlecruisers, five light cruisers and 30 torpedo-boats. The Germans had no equivalent to Engadine and no heavier-than-air aircraft to operate with the fleet but had the Imperial German Naval Airship Service's force of rigid airships available to patrol the North Sea. + +All of the battleships and battlecruisers on both sides carried torpedoes of various sizes, as did the lighter craft. The British battleships carried three or four underwater torpedo tubes. The battlecruisers carried from two to five. All were either 18-inch or 21-inch diameter. The German battleships carried five or six underwater torpedo tubes in three sizes from 18 to 21 inch and the battlecruisers carried four or five tubes. + +The German battle fleet was hampered by the slow speed and relatively poor armament of the six pre-dreadnoughts of II Squadron, which limited maximum fleet speed to , compared to maximum British fleet speed of . On the British side, the eight armoured cruisers were deficient in both speed and armour protection. Both of these obsolete squadrons were notably vulnerable to attacks by more modern enemy ships. + +Battlecruiser action +The route of the British battlecruiser fleet took it through the patrol sector allocated to U-32. After receiving the order to commence the operation, the U-boat moved to a position east of the Isle of May at dawn on 31 May. At 03:40, it sighted the cruisers and leaving the Forth at . It launched one torpedo at the leading cruiser at a range of , but its periscope jammed 'up', giving away the position of the submarine as it manoeuvred to fire a second. The lead cruiser turned away to dodge the torpedo, while the second turned towards the submarine, attempting to ram. U-32 crash dived, and on raising its periscope at 04:10 saw two battlecruisers (the 2nd Battlecruiser Squadron) heading south-east. They were too far away to attack, but Kapitänleutnant von Spiegel reported the sighting of two battleships and two cruisers to Germany. + +U-66 was also supposed to be patrolling off the Firth of Forth but had been forced north to a position off Peterhead by patrolling British vessels. This now brought it into contact with the 2nd Battle Squadron, coming from the Moray Firth. At 05:00, it had to crash dive when the cruiser appeared from the mist heading toward it. It was followed by another cruiser, , and eight battleships. U-66 got within of the battleships preparing to fire, but was forced to dive by an approaching destroyer and missed the opportunity. At 06:35, it reported eight battleships and cruisers heading north. + +The courses reported by both submarines were incorrect, because they reflected one leg of a zigzag being used by British ships to avoid submarines. Taken with a wireless intercept of more ships leaving Scapa Flow earlier in the night, they created the impression in the German High Command that the British fleet, whatever it was doing, was split into separate sections moving apart, which was precisely as the Germans wished to meet it. + +Jellicoe's ships proceeded to their rendezvous undamaged and undiscovered. However, he was now misled by an Admiralty intelligence report advising that the German main battle fleet was still in port. The Director of Operations Division, Rear Admiral Thomas Jackson, had asked the intelligence division, Room 40, for the current location of German call sign DK, used by Admiral Scheer. They had replied that it was currently transmitting from Wilhelmshaven. It was known to the intelligence staff that Scheer deliberately used a different call sign when at sea, but no one asked for this information or explained the reason behind the query—to locate the German fleet. + +The German battlecruisers cleared the minefields surrounding the Amrum swept channel by 09:00. They then proceeded north-west, passing west of the Horn's Reef lightship heading for the Little Fisher Bank at the mouth of the Skagerrak. The High Seas Fleet followed some behind. The battlecruisers were in line ahead, with the four cruisers of the II scouting group plus supporting torpedo boats ranged in an arc ahead and to either side. The IX torpedo boat flotilla formed close support immediately surrounding the battlecruisers. The High Seas Fleet similarly adopted a line-ahead formation, with close screening by torpedo boats to either side and a further screen of five cruisers surrounding the column away. The wind had finally moderated so that Zeppelins could be used, and by 11:30 five had been sent out: L14 to the Skagerrak, L23 east of Noss Head in the Pentland Firth, L21 off Peterhead, L9 off Sunderland, and L16 east of Flamborough Head. Visibility, however, was still bad, with clouds down to . + +Contact + +By around 14:00, Beatty's ships were proceeding eastward at roughly the same latitude as Hipper's squadron, which was heading north. Had the courses remained unchanged, Beatty would have passed between the two German fleets, south of the battlecruisers and north of the High Seas Fleet at around 16:30, possibly trapping his ships just as the German plan envisioned. His orders were to stop his scouting patrol when he reached a point east of Britain and then turn north to meet Jellicoe, which he did at this time. Beatty's ships were divided into three columns, with the two battlecruiser squadrons leading in parallel lines apart. The 5th Battle Squadron was stationed to the north-west, on the side furthest away from any expected enemy contact, while a screen of cruisers and destroyers was spread south-east of the battlecruisers. After the turn, the 5th Battle Squadron was now leading the British ships in the westernmost column, and Beatty's squadron was centre and rearmost, with the 2nd BCS to the west. + +At 14:20 on 31 May, despite heavy haze and scuds of fog giving poor visibility, scouts from Beatty's force reported enemy ships to the south-east; the British light units, investigating a neutral Danish steamer (N J Fjord), which was stopped between the two fleets, had found two German destroyers engaged on the same mission ( and ). The first shots of the battle were fired at 14:28 when Galatea and Phaeton of the British 1st Light Cruiser Squadron opened on the German torpedo boats, which withdrew toward their approaching light cruisers. At 14:36, the Germans scored the first hit of the battle when , of Rear-Admiral Friedrich Boedicker's Scouting Group II, hit her British counterpart Galatea at extreme range. + +Beatty began to move his battlecruisers and supporting forces south-eastwards and then east to cut the German ships off from their base and ordered Engadine to launch a seaplane to try to get more information about the size and location of the German forces. This was the first time in history that a carrier-based aeroplane was used for reconnaissance in naval combat. Engadines aircraft did locate and report some German light cruisers just before 15:30 and came under anti-aircraft gunfire but attempts to relay reports from the aeroplane failed. + +Unfortunately for Beatty, his initial course changes at 14:32 were not received by Sir Hugh Evan-Thomas's 5th Battle Squadron (the distance being too great to read his flags), because the battlecruiser —the last ship in his column—was no longer in a position where she could relay signals by searchlight to Evan-Thomas, as she had previously been ordered to do. Whereas before the north turn, Tiger had been the closest ship to Evan-Thomas, she was now further away than Beatty in Lion. Matters were aggravated because Evan-Thomas had not been briefed regarding standing orders within Beatty's squadron, as his squadron normally operated with the Grand Fleet. Fleet ships were expected to obey movement orders precisely and not deviate from them. Beatty's standing instructions expected his officers to use their initiative and keep station with the flagship. As a result, the four Queen Elizabeth-class battleships—which were the fastest and most heavily armed in the world at that time—remained on the previous course for several minutes, ending up behind rather than five. Beatty also had the opportunity during the previous hours to concentrate his forces, and no reason not to do so, whereas he steamed ahead at full speed, faster than the battleships could manage. Dividing the force had serious consequences for the British, costing them what would have been an overwhelming advantage in ships and firepower during the first half-hour of the coming battle. + +With visibility favouring the Germans, Hipper's battlecruisers at 15:22, steaming approximately north-west, sighted Beatty's squadron at a range of about , while Beatty's forces did not identify Hipper's battlecruisers until 15:30. (position 1 on map). At 15:45, Hipper turned south-east to lead Beatty toward Scheer, who was south-east with the main force of the High Seas Fleet. + +Run to the south +Beatty's conduct during the next 15 minutes has received a great deal of criticism, as his ships out-ranged and outnumbered the German squadron, yet he held his fire for over 10 minutes with the German ships in range. He also failed to use the time available to rearrange his battlecruisers into a fighting formation, with the result that they were still manoeuvring when the battle started. + +At 15:48, with the opposing forces roughly parallel at , with the British to the south-west of the Germans (i.e., on the right side), Hipper opened fire, followed by the British ships as their guns came to bear upon targets (position 2). Thus began the opening phase of the battlecruiser action, known as the Run to the South, in which the British chased the Germans, and Hipper intentionally led Beatty toward Scheer. During the first minutes of the ensuing battle, all the British ships except Princess Royal fired far over their German opponents, due to adverse visibility conditions, before finally getting the range. Only Lion and Princess Royal had settled into formation, so the other four ships were hampered in aiming by their own turning. Beatty was to windward of Hipper, and therefore funnel and gun smoke from his own ships tended to obscure his targets, while Hipper's smoke blew clear. Also, the eastern sky was overcast and the grey German ships were indistinct and difficult to range. + +Beatty had ordered his ships to engage in a line, one British ship engaging with one German and his flagship doubling on the German flagship . However, due to another mistake with signalling by flag, and possibly because Queen Mary and Tiger were unable to see the German lead ship because of smoke, the second German ship, Derfflinger, was left un-engaged and free to fire without disruption. drew fire from two of Beatty's battlecruisers, but still fired with great accuracy during this time, hitting Tiger 9 times in the first 12 minutes. The Germans drew first blood. Aided by superior visibility, Hipper's five battlecruisers quickly registered hits on three of the six British battlecruisers. Seven minutes passed before the British managed to score their first hit. + +The first near-kill of the Run to the South occurred at 16:00, when a shell from Lützow wrecked the "Q" turret amidships on Beatty's flagship Lion. Dozens of crewmen were instantly killed, but far larger destruction was averted when the mortally wounded turret commander—Major Francis Harvey of the Royal Marines—promptly ordered the magazine doors shut and the magazine flooded. This prevented a magazine explosion at 16:28, when a flash fire ignited ready cordite charges beneath the turret and killed everyone in the chambers outside "Q" magazine. Lion was saved. was not so lucky; at 16:02, just 14 minutes into the gunnery exchange, she was hit aft by three shells from , causing damage sufficient to knock her out of line and detonating "X" magazine aft. Soon after, despite the near-maximum range, Von der Tann put another shell on Indefatigables "A" turret forward. The plunging shells probably pierced the thin upper armour, and seconds later Indefatigable was ripped apart by another magazine explosion, sinking immediately and leaving only two survivors from her crew of 1,019 officers and men. (position 3). + +Hipper's position deteriorated somewhat by 16:15 as the 5th Battle Squadron finally came into range, so that he had to contend with gunfire from the four battleships astern as well as Beatty's five remaining battlecruisers to starboard. But he knew his baiting mission was close to completion, as his force was rapidly closing with Scheer's main body. At 16:08, the lead battleship of the 5th Battle Squadron, , caught up with Hipper and opened fire at extreme range, scoring a hit on Von der Tann within 60 seconds. Still, it was 16:15 before all the battleships of the 5th were able to fully engage at long range. + +At 16:25, the battlecruiser action intensified again when was hit by what may have been a combined salvo from Derfflinger and Seydlitz; she disintegrated when both forward magazines exploded, sinking with all but nine of her 1,275 man crew lost. (position 4). Commander von Hase, the first gunnery officer aboard Derfflinger, noted: + +During the Run to the South, from 15:48 to 16:54, the German battlecruisers made an estimated total of forty-two hits on the British battlecruisers (nine on Lion, six on Princess Royal, seven on Queen Mary, 14 on Tiger, one on New Zealand, five on Indefatigable), and two more on the battleship Barham, compared with only eleven hits by the British battlecruisers (four on Lützow, four on Seydlitz, two on Moltke, one on von der Tann), and six hits by the battleships (one on Seydlitz, four on Moltke, one on von der Tann). + +Shortly after 16:26, a salvo struck on or around , which was obscured by spray and smoke from shell bursts. A signalman promptly leapt on to the bridge of Lion and announced "Princess Royals blown up, Sir." Beatty famously turned to his flag captain, saying "Chatfield, there seems to be something wrong with our bloody ships today." (In popular legend, Beatty also immediately ordered his ships to "turn two points to port", i.e., two points nearer the enemy, but there is no official record of any such command or course change.) Princess Royal, as it turned out, was still afloat after the spray cleared. + +At 16:30, Scheer's leading battleships sighted the distant battlecruiser action; soon after, of Beatty's 2nd Light Cruiser Squadron led by Commodore William Goodenough sighted the main body of Scheer's High Seas Fleet, dodging numerous heavy-calibre salvos to report in detail the German strength: 16 dreadnoughts with six older battleships. This was the first news that Beatty and Jellicoe had that Scheer and his battle fleet were even at sea. Simultaneously, an all-out destroyer action raged in the space between the opposing battlecruiser forces, as British and German destroyers fought with each other and attempted to torpedo the larger enemy ships. Each side fired many torpedoes, but both battlecruiser forces turned away from the attacks and all escaped harm except Seydlitz, which was hit forward at 16:57 by a torpedo fired by the British destroyer . Though taking on water, Seydlitz maintained speed. The destroyer , under the command of Captain Barry Bingham, led the British attacks. The British disabled the German torpedo boat , which the Germans soon abandoned and sank, and Petard then torpedoed and sank , her second score of the day. and rescued the crews of their sunken sister ships. But Nestor and another British destroyer——were immobilised by shell hits, and were later sunk by Scheer's passing dreadnoughts. Bingham was rescued, and awarded the Victoria Cross for his leadership in the destroyer action. + +Run to the north +As soon as he himself sighted the vanguard of Scheer's distant battleship line away, at 16:40, Beatty turned his battlecruiser force 180°, heading north to draw the Germans toward Jellicoe. (position 5). Beatty's withdrawal toward Jellicoe is called the "Run to the North", in which the tables turned and the Germans chased the British. Because Beatty once again failed to signal his intentions adequately, the battleships of the 5th Battle Squadron—which were too far behind to read his flags—found themselves passing the battlecruisers on an opposing course and heading directly toward the approaching main body of the High Seas Fleet. At 16:48, at extreme range, Scheer's leading battleships opened fire. + +Meanwhile, at 16:47, having received Goodenough's signal and knowing that Beatty was now leading the German battle fleet north to him, Jellicoe signalled to his own forces that the fleet action they had waited so long for was finally imminent; at 16:51, by radio, he informed the Admiralty so in London. + +The difficulties of the 5th Battle Squadron were compounded when Beatty gave the order to Evan-Thomas to "turn in succession" (rather than "turn together") at 16:48 as the battleships passed him. Evan-Thomas acknowledged the signal, but Lieutenant-Commander Ralph Seymour, Beatty's flag lieutenant, aggravated the situation when he did not haul down the flags (to execute the signal) for some minutes. At 16:55, when the 5BS had moved within range of the enemy battleships, Evan-Thomas issued his own flag command warning his squadron to expect sudden manoeuvres and to follow his lead, before starting to turn on his own initiative. The order to turn in succession would have resulted in all four ships turning in the same patch of sea as they reached it one by one, giving the High Seas Fleet repeated opportunity with ample time to find the proper range. However, the captain of the trailing ship () turned early, mitigating the adverse results. + +For the next hour, the 5th Battle Squadron acted as Beatty's rearguard, drawing fire from all the German ships within range, while by 17:10 Beatty had deliberately eased his own squadron out of range of Hipper's now-superior battlecruiser force. Since visibility and firepower now favoured the Germans, there was no incentive for Beatty to risk further battlecruiser losses when his own gunnery could not be effective. Illustrating the imbalance, Beatty's battlecruisers did not score any hits on the Germans in this phase until 17:45, but they had rapidly received five more before he opened the range (four on Lion, of which three were by Lützow, and one on Tiger by Seydlitz). Now the only targets the Germans could reach, the ships of the 5th Battle Squadron, received simultaneous fire from Hipper's battlecruisers to the east (which HMS Barham and engaged) and Scheer's leading battleships to the south-east (which and Malaya engaged). Three took hits: Barham (four by Derfflinger), Warspite (two by Seydlitz), and Malaya (seven by the German battleships). Only Valiant was unscathed. + +The four battleships were far better suited to take this sort of pounding than the battlecruisers, and none were lost, though Malaya suffered heavy damage, an ammunition fire, and heavy crew casualties. At the same time, the fire of the four British ships was accurate and effective. As the two British squadrons headed north at top speed, eagerly chased by the entire German fleet, the 5th Battle Squadron scored 13 hits on the enemy battlecruisers (four on Lützow, three on Derfflinger, six on Seydlitz) and five on battleships (although only one, on , did any serious damage). (position 6). + +The fleets converge +Jellicoe was now aware that full fleet engagement was nearing, but had insufficient information on the position and course of the Germans. To assist Beatty, early in the battle at about 16:05, Jellicoe had ordered Rear-Admiral Horace Hood's 3rd Battlecruiser Squadron to speed ahead to find and support Beatty's force, and Hood was now racing SSE well in advance of Jellicoe's northern force. Rear-Admiral Arbuthnot's 1st Cruiser Squadron patrolled the van of Jellicoe's main battleship force as it advanced steadily to the south-east. + +At 17:33, the armoured cruiser of Arbuthnot's squadron, on the far southwest flank of Jellicoe's force, came within view of , which was about ahead of Beatty with the 3rd Light Cruiser Squadron, establishing the first visual link between the converging bodies of the Grand Fleet. At 17:38, the scout cruiser , screening Hood's oncoming battlecruisers, was intercepted by the van of the German scouting forces under Rear-Admiral Boedicker. + +Heavily outnumbered by Boedicker's four light cruisers, Chester was pounded before being relieved by Hood's heavy units, which swung westward for that purpose. Hood's flagship disabled the light cruiser shortly after 17:56. Wiesbaden became a sitting target for most of the British fleet during the next hour, but remained afloat and fired some torpedoes at the passing enemy battleships from long range. Meanwhile, Boedicker's other ships turned toward Hipper and Scheer in the mistaken belief that Hood was leading a larger force of British capital ships from the north and east. A chaotic destroyer action in mist and smoke ensued as German torpedo boats attempted to blunt the arrival of this new formation, but Hood's battlecruisers dodged all the torpedoes fired at them. In this action, after leading a torpedo counter-attack, the British destroyer was disabled, but continued to return fire at numerous passing enemy ships for the next hour. + +Fleet action + +Deployment + +In the meantime, Beatty and Evan-Thomas had resumed their engagement with Hipper's battlecruisers, this time with the visual conditions to their advantage. With several of his ships damaged, Hipper turned back toward Scheer at around 18:00, just as Beatty's flagship Lion was finally sighted from Jellicoe's flagship Iron Duke. Jellicoe twice demanded the latest position of the German battlefleet from Beatty, who could not see the German battleships and failed to respond to the question until 18:14. Meanwhile, Jellicoe received confused sighting reports of varying accuracy and limited usefulness from light cruisers and battleships on the starboard (southern) flank of his force. + +Jellicoe was in a worrying position. He needed to know the location of the German fleet to judge when and how to deploy his battleships from their cruising formation (six columns of four ships each) into a single battle line. The deployment could be on either the westernmost or the easternmost column, and had to be carried out before the Germans arrived; but early deployment could mean losing any chance of a decisive encounter. Deploying to the west would bring his fleet closer to Scheer, gaining valuable time as dusk approached, but the Germans might arrive before the manoeuvre was complete. Deploying to the east would take the force away from Scheer, but Jellicoe's ships might be able to cross the "T", and visibility would strongly favour British gunnery—Scheer's forces would be silhouetted against the setting sun to the west, while the Grand Fleet would be indistinct against the dark skies to the north and east, and would be hidden by reflection of the low sunlight off intervening haze and smoke. Deployment would take twenty irreplaceable minutes, and the fleets were closing at full speed. In one of the most critical and difficult tactical command decisions of the entire war, Jellicoe ordered deployment to the east at 18:15. + +Windy Corner +Meanwhile, Hipper had rejoined Scheer, and the combined High Seas Fleet was heading north, directly toward Jellicoe. Scheer had no indication that Jellicoe was at sea, let alone that he was bearing down from the north-west, and was distracted by the intervention of Hood's ships to his north and east. Beatty's four surviving battlecruisers were now crossing the van of the British dreadnoughts to join Hood's three battlecruisers; at this time, Arbuthnot's flagship, the armoured cruiser , and her squadron-mate both charged across Beatty's bows, and Lion narrowly avoided a collision with Warrior. Nearby, numerous British light cruisers and destroyers on the south-western flank of the deploying battleships were also crossing each other's courses in attempts to reach their proper stations, often barely escaping collisions, and under fire from some of the approaching German ships. This period of peril and heavy traffic attending the merger and deployment of the British forces later became known as "Windy Corner". + +Arbuthnot was attracted by the drifting hull of the crippled Wiesbaden. With Warrior, Defence closed in for the kill, only to blunder right into the gun sights of Hipper's and Scheer's oncoming capital ships. Defence was deluged by heavy-calibre gunfire from many German battleships, which detonated her magazines in a spectacular explosion viewed by most of the deploying Grand Fleet. She sank with all hands (903 officers and men). Warrior was also hit badly, but was spared destruction by a mishap to the nearby battleship Warspite. Warspite had her steering gear overheat and jam under heavy load at high speed as the 5th Battle Squadron made a turn to the north at 18:19. Steaming at top speed in wide circles, Warspite attracted the attention of German dreadnoughts and took 13 hits, inadvertently drawing fire away from the hapless Warrior. Warspite was brought back under control and survived the onslaught, but was badly damaged, had to reduce speed, and withdrew northward; later (at 21:07), she was ordered back to port by Evan-Thomas. Warspite went on to a long and illustrious career, serving also in World War II. Warrior, on the other hand, was abandoned and sank the next day after her crew was taken off at 08:25 on 1 June by Engadine, which towed the sinking armoured cruiser during the night. + +As Defence sank and Warspite circled, at about 18:19, Hipper moved within range of Hood's 3rd Battlecruiser Squadron, but was still also within range of Beatty's ships. At first, visibility favoured the British: hit Derfflinger three times and Seydlitz once, while Lützow quickly took 10 hits from Lion, and Invincible, including two below-waterline hits forward by Invincible that would ultimately doom Hipper's flagship. But at 18:30, Invincible abruptly appeared as a clear target before Lützow and Derfflinger. The two German ships then fired three salvoes each at Invincible, and sank her in 90 seconds. A shell from the third salvo struck Invincibles Q-turret amidships, detonating the magazines below and causing her to blow up and sink. All but six of her crew of 1,032 officers and men, including Rear-Admiral Hood, were killed. Of the remaining British battlecruisers, only Princess Royal received heavy-calibre hits at this time (two by the battleship Markgraf). Lützow, flooding forward and unable to communicate by radio, was now out of action and began to attempt to withdraw; therefore Hipper left his flagship and transferred to the torpedo boat , hoping to board one of the other battlecruisers later. + +Crossing the T +By 18:30, the main battle fleet action was joined for the first time, with Jellicoe effectively "crossing Scheer's T". The officers on the lead German battleships, and Scheer himself, were taken completely by surprise when they emerged from drifting clouds of smoky mist to suddenly find themselves facing the massed firepower of the entire Grand Fleet main battle line, which they did not know was even at sea. Jellicoe's flagship Iron Duke quickly scored seven hits on the lead German dreadnought, , but in this brief exchange, which lasted only minutes, as few as 10 of the Grand Fleet's 24 dreadnoughts actually opened fire. The Germans were hampered by poor visibility, in addition to being in an unfavourable tactical position, just as Jellicoe had intended. Realising he was heading into a death trap, Scheer ordered his fleet to turn and disengage at 18:33. Under a pall of smoke and mist, Scheer's forces succeeded in disengaging by an expertly executed 180° turn in unison ("battle about turn to starboard", German Gefechtskehrtwendung nach Steuerbord), which was a well-practised emergency manoeuvre of the High Seas Fleet. Scheer declared: + +Conscious of the risks to his capital ships posed by torpedoes, Jellicoe did not chase directly but headed south, determined to keep the High Seas Fleet west of him. Starting at 18:40, battleships at the rear of Jellicoe's line were in fact sighting and avoiding torpedoes, and at 18:54 was hit by a torpedo (probably from the disabled Wiesbaden), which reduced her speed to . Meanwhile, Scheer, knowing that it was not yet dark enough to escape and that his fleet would suffer terribly in a stern chase, doubled back to the east at 18:55. In his memoirs he wrote, "the manoeuvre would be bound to surprise the enemy, to upset his plans for the rest of the day, and if the blow fell heavily it would facilitate the breaking loose at night." But the turn to the east took his ships, again, directly towards Jellicoe's fully deployed battle line. + +Simultaneously, the disabled British destroyer HMS Shark fought desperately against a group of four German torpedo boats and disabled with gunfire, but was eventually torpedoed and sunk at 19:02 by the German destroyer . Sharks Captain Loftus Jones was awarded the Victoria Cross for his heroism in continuing to fight against all odds. + +Turn Of The Battle + +Commodore Goodenough's 2nd Light Cruiser Squadron dodged the fire of German battleships for a second time to re-establish contact with the High Seas Fleet shortly after 19:00. By 19:15, Jellicoe had crossed Scheer's "T" again. This time his arc of fire was tighter and deadlier, causing severe damage to the German battleships, particularly Rear-Admiral Behncke's leading 3rd Squadron (SMS König, , Markgraf, and all being hit, along with of the 1st Squadron), while on the British side, only the battleship was hit (twice, by Seydlitz but with little damage done). + +At 19:17, for the second time in less than an hour, Scheer turned his outnumbered and out-gunned fleet to the west using the "battle about turn" (German: Gefechtskehrtwendung), but this time it was executed only with difficulty, as the High Seas Fleet's lead squadrons began to lose formation under concentrated gunfire. To deter a British chase, Scheer ordered a major torpedo attack by his destroyers and a potentially sacrificial charge by Scouting Group I's four remaining battlecruisers. Hipper was still aboard the torpedo boat G39 and was unable to command his squadron for this attack. Therefore, Derfflinger, under Captain Hartog, led the already badly damaged German battlecruisers directly into "the greatest concentration of naval gunfire any fleet commander had ever faced", at ranges down to . + +In what became known as the "death ride", all the battlecruisers except Moltke were hit and further damaged, as 18 of the British battleships fired at them simultaneously. Derfflinger had two main gun turrets destroyed. The crews of Scouting Group I suffered heavy casualties, but survived the pounding and veered away with the other battlecruisers once Scheer was out of trouble and the German destroyers were moving in to attack. In this brief but intense portion of the engagement, from about 19:05 to about 19:30, the Germans sustained a total of 37 heavy hits while inflicting only two; Derfflinger alone received 14. + +While his battlecruisers drew the fire of the British fleet, Scheer slipped away, laying smoke screens. Meanwhile, from about 19:16 to about 19:40, the British battleships were also engaging Scheer's torpedo boats, which executed several waves of torpedo attacks to cover his withdrawal. Jellicoe's ships turned away from the attacks and successfully evaded all 31 of the torpedoes launched at them—though, in several cases, only barely—and sank the German destroyer S35, attributed to a salvo from Iron Duke. British light forces also sank V48, which had previously been disabled by HMS Shark. This action, and the turn away, cost the British critical time and range in the last hour of daylight—as Scheer intended, allowing him to get his heavy ships out of immediate danger. + +The last major exchanges between capital ships in this battle—and in the war—took place just after sunset, from about 20:19 to about 20:35, as the surviving British battlecruisers caught up with their German counterparts, which were briefly relieved by Rear-Admiral Mauve's obsolete pre-dreadnoughts (the German 2nd Squadron). The British received one heavy hit on Princess Royal but scored five more on Seydlitz and three on other German ships. As twilight faded to night, exchanged a few final shots with . + +Night action and German withdrawal + +At 21:00, Jellicoe, conscious of the Grand Fleet's deficiencies in night fighting, decided to try to avoid a major engagement until early dawn. He placed a screen of cruisers and destroyers behind his battle fleet to patrol the rear as he headed south to guard Scheer's expected escape route. In reality, Scheer opted to cross Jellicoe's wake and escape via Horns Reef. Luckily for Scheer, most of the light forces in Jellicoe's rearguard failed to report the seven separate encounters with the German fleet during the night; the very few radio reports that were sent to the British flagship were never received, possibly because the Germans were jamming British frequencies. Many of the destroyers failed to make the most of their opportunities to attack discovered ships, despite Jellicoe's expectations that the destroyer forces would, if necessary, be able to block the path of the German fleet. + +Jellicoe and his commanders did not understand that the furious gunfire and explosions to the north (seen and heard for hours by all the British battleships) indicated that the German heavy ships were breaking through the screen astern of the British fleet. Instead, it was believed that the fighting was the result of night attacks by German destroyers. The most powerful British ships of all (the 15-inch-guns of the 5th Battle Squadron) directly observed German battleships crossing astern of them in action with British light forces, at ranges of or less, and gunners on HMS Malaya made ready to fire, but her captain declined, deferring to the authority of Rear-Admiral Evan-Thomas—and neither commander reported the sightings to Jellicoe, assuming that he could see for himself and that revealing the fleet's position by radio signals or gunfire was unwise. + +While the nature of Scheer's escape, and Jellicoe's inaction, indicate the overall German superiority in night fighting, the results of the night action were no more clear-cut than were those of the battle as a whole. In the first of many surprise encounters by darkened ships at point-blank range, Southampton, Commodore Goodenough's flagship, which had scouted so proficiently, was heavily damaged in action with a German Scouting Group composed of light cruisers, but managed to torpedo , which went down at 22:23 with all but 9 hands (320 officers and men). + +From 23:20 to approximately 02:15, several British destroyer flotillas launched torpedo attacks on the German battle fleet in a series of violent and chaotic engagements at extremely short range (often under ). At the cost of five destroyers sunk and some others damaged, they managed to torpedo the light cruiser , which sank several hours later, and the pre-dreadnought , which blew up and sank with all hands (839 officers and men) at 03:10 during the last wave of attacks before dawn. Three of the British destroyers collided in the chaos, and the German battleship rammed the British destroyer , blowing away most of the British ship's superstructure merely with the muzzle blast of its big guns, which could not be aimed low enough to hit the ship. Nassau was left with an hole in her side, reducing her maximum speed to , while the removed plating was left lying on Spitfires deck. Spitfire survived and made it back to port. Another German cruiser, Elbing, was accidentally rammed by the dreadnought and abandoned, sinking early the next day. Of the British destroyers, , , , and were lost during the night fighting. + +Just after midnight on 1 June, and other German battleships sank Black Prince of the ill-fated 1st Cruiser Squadron, which had blundered into the German battle line. Deployed as part of a screening force several miles ahead of the main force of the Grand Fleet, Black Prince had lost contact in the darkness and took a position near what she thought was the British line. The Germans soon identified the new addition to their line and opened fire. Overwhelmed by point-blank gunfire, Black Prince blew up (all 857 officers and men were lost), as her squadron leader Defence had done hours earlier. Lost in the darkness, the battlecruisers Moltke and Seydlitz had similar point-blank encounters with the British battle line and were recognised, but were spared the fate of Black Prince when the captains of the British ships, again, declined to open fire, reluctant to reveal their fleet's position. + +At 01:45, the sinking battlecruiser Lützow – fatally damaged by Invincible during the main action – was torpedoed by the destroyer on orders of Lützows Captain Viktor von Harder after the surviving crew of 1,150 transferred to destroyers that came alongside. At 02:15, the German torpedo boat suddenly had its bow blown off; V2 and V6 came alongside and took off the remaining crew, and the V2 then sank the hulk. Since there was no enemy nearby, it was assumed that she had hit a mine or had been torpedoed by a submarine. + +At 02:15, five British ships of the 13th Destroyer Flotilla under Captain James Uchtred Farie regrouped and headed south. At 02:25, they sighted the rear of the German line. inquired of the leader as to whether he thought they were British or German ships. Answering that he thought they were German, Farie then veered off to the east and away from the German line. All but Moresby in the rear followed, as through the gloom she sighted what she thought were four pre-dreadnought battleships away. She hoisted a flag signal indicating that the enemy was to the west and then closed to firing range, letting off a torpedo set for high running at 02:37, then veering off to rejoin her flotilla. The four pre-dreadnought battleships were in fact two pre-dreadnoughts, Schleswig-Holstein and , and the battlecruisers Von der Tann and Derfflinger. Von der Tann sighted the torpedo and was forced to steer sharply to starboard to avoid it as it passed close to her bows. Moresby rejoined Champion convinced she had scored a hit. + +Finally, at 05:20, as Scheer's fleet was safely on its way home, the battleship struck a British mine on her starboard side, killing one man and wounding ten, but was able to make port. Seydlitz, critically damaged and very nearly sinking, barely survived the return voyage: after grounding and taking on even more water on the evening of 1 June, she had to be assisted stern first into port, where she dropped anchor at 07:30 on the morning of 2 June. + +The Germans were helped in their escape by the failure of the British Admiralty in London to pass on seven critical radio intercepts obtained by naval intelligence indicating the true position, course and intentions of the High Seas Fleet during the night. One message was transmitted to Jellicoe at 23:15 that accurately reported the German fleet's course and speed as of 21:14. However, the erroneous signal from earlier in the day that reported the German fleet still in port, and an intelligence signal received at 22:45 giving another unlikely position for the German fleet, had reduced his confidence in intelligence reports. Had the other messages been forwarded, which confirmed the information received at 23:15, or had British ships reported accurately sightings and engagements with German destroyers, cruisers and battleships, then Jellicoe could have altered course to intercept Scheer at the Horns Reef. The unsent intercepted messages had been duly filed by the junior officer left on duty that night, who failed to appreciate their significance. By the time Jellicoe finally learned of Scheer's whereabouts at 04:15, the German fleet was too far away to catch and it was clear that the battle could no longer be resumed. + +Outcome +As both the Grand Fleet and the High Seas Fleet could claim to have at least partially satisfied their objectives, both Britain and Germany have at various points claimed victory in the Battle of Jutland. There is no consensus over which nation was victorious, or if there was a victor at all. + +Reporting +At midday on 2 June, German authorities released a press statement claiming a victory, including the destruction of a battleship, two battlecruisers, two armoured cruisers, a light cruiser, a submarine and several destroyers, for the loss of Pommern and Wiesbaden. News that Lützow, Elbing and Rostock had been scuttled was withheld, on the grounds this information would not be known to the enemy. The victory of the Skagerrak was celebrated in the press, children were given a holiday and the nation celebrated. The Kaiser announced a new chapter in world history. Post-war, the official German history hailed the battle as a victory and it continued to be celebrated until after World War II. + +In Britain, the first official news came from German wireless broadcasts. Ships began to arrive in port, their crews sending messages to friends and relatives both of their survival and the loss of some 6,000 others. The authorities considered suppressing the news, but it had already spread widely. Some crews coming ashore found rumours had already reported them dead to relatives, while others were jeered for the defeat they had suffered. At 19:00 on 2 June, the Admiralty released a statement based on information from Jellicoe containing the bare news of losses on each side. The following day British newspapers reported a German victory. The Daily Mirror described the German Director of the Naval Department telling the Reichstag: "The result of the fighting is a significant success for our forces against a much stronger adversary". The British population was shocked that the long anticipated battle had been a victory for Germany. On 3 June, the Admiralty issued a further statement expanding on German losses, and another the following day with exaggerated claims. However, on 7 June the German admission of the losses of Lützow and Rostock started to redress the sense of the battle as a loss. International perception of the battle began to change towards a qualified British victory, the German attempt to change the balance of power in the North Sea having been repulsed. In July, bad news from the Somme campaign swept concern over Jutland from the British consciousness. + +Assessments + +At Jutland, the Germans, with a 99-strong fleet, sank of British ships, while a 151-strong British fleet sank of German ships. The British lost 6,094 seamen; the Germans 2,551. Several other ships were badly damaged, such as Lion and Seydlitz. + +As of the summer of 1916, the High Seas Fleet's strategy was to whittle away the numerical advantage of the Royal Navy by bringing its full strength to bear against isolated squadrons of enemy capital ships whilst declining to be drawn into a general fleet battle until it had achieved something resembling parity in heavy ships. In tactical terms, the High Seas Fleet had clearly inflicted significantly greater losses on the Grand Fleet than it had suffered itself at Jutland, and the Germans never had any intention of attempting to hold the site of the battle, so some historians support the German claim of victory at Jutland. The Germans declared a great victory immediately afterwards, while the British by contrast had only reported short and simple results. In response to public outrage, the First Lord of the Admiralty Arthur Balfour asked Winston Churchill to write a second report that was more positive and detailed. + +However, Scheer seems to have quickly realised that further battles with a similar rate of attrition would exhaust the High Seas Fleet long before they reduced the Grand Fleet. Further, after the 19 August advance was nearly intercepted by the Grand Fleet, he no longer believed that it would be possible to trap a single squadron of Royal Navy warships without having the Grand Fleet intervene before he could return to port. Therefore, the High Seas Fleet abandoned its forays into the North Sea and turned its attention to the Baltic for most of 1917 whilst Scheer switched tactics against Britain to unrestricted submarine warfare in the Atlantic. + +At a strategic level, the outcome has been the subject of a huge amount of literature with no clear consensus. The battle was widely viewed as indecisive in the immediate aftermath, and this view remains influential. + +Despite numerical superiority, the British had been disappointed in their hopes for a decisive battle comparable to Trafalgar and the objective of the influential strategic doctrines of Alfred Mahan. The High Seas Fleet survived as a fleet in being. Most of its losses were made good within a month—even Seydlitz, the most badly damaged ship to survive the battle, was repaired by October and officially back in service by November. However, the Germans had failed in their objective of destroying a substantial portion of the British Fleet, and no progress had been made towards the goal of allowing the High Seas Fleet to operate in the Atlantic Ocean. + +Subsequently, there has been considerable support for the view of Jutland as a strategic victory for the British. While the British had not destroyed the German fleet and had lost more ships and lives than their enemy, the Germans had retreated to harbour; at the end of the battle, the British were in command of the area. Britain enforced the blockade, reducing Germany's vital imports to 55%, affecting the ability of Germany to fight the war. + +The German fleet would only sortie into the North Sea thrice more, with a raid on 19 August, one in October 1916, and another in April 1918. All three were unopposed by capital ships and quickly aborted as neither side was prepared to take the risks of mines and submarines. + +Apart from these three abortive operations the High Seas Fleet—unwilling to risk another encounter with the British fleet—confined its activities to the Baltic Sea for the remainder of the war. Jellicoe issued an order prohibiting the Grand Fleet from steaming south of the line of Horns Reef owing to the threat of mines and U-boats. A German naval expert, writing publicly about Jutland in November 1918, commented, "Our Fleet losses were severe. On 1 June 1916, it was clear to every thinking person that this battle must, and would be, the last one". + +At the end of the battle, the British had maintained their numerical superiority and had 23 dreadnoughts ready and four battlecruisers still able to fight, while the Germans had only 10 dreadnoughts. One month after the battle, the Grand Fleet was stronger than it had been before sailing to Jutland. Warspite was dry-docked at Rosyth, returning to the fleet on 22 July, while Malaya was repaired in the floating dock at Invergordon, returning to duty on 11 July. Barham was docked for a month at Devonport before undergoing speed trials and returning to Scapa Flow on 8 July. Princess Royal stayed initially at Rosyth but transferred to dry dock at Portsmouth before returning to duty at Rosyth 21 July. Tiger was dry-docked at Rosyth and ready for service 2 July. Queen Elizabeth, Emperor of India and , which had been undergoing maintenance at the time of the battle, returned to the fleet immediately, followed shortly after by Resolution and Ramillies. Lion initially remained ready for sea duty despite the damaged turret, then underwent a month's repairs in July when Q turret was removed temporarily and replaced in September. + +A third view, presented in a number of recent evaluations, is that Jutland, the last major fleet action between battleships, illustrated the irrelevance of battleship fleets following the development of the submarine, mine and torpedo. In this view, the most important consequence of Jutland was the decision of the Germans to engage in unrestricted submarine warfare. Although large numbers of battleships were constructed in the decades between the wars, it has been argued that this outcome reflected the social dominance among naval decision-makers of battleship advocates who constrained technological choices to fit traditional paradigms of fleet action. Battleships played a relatively minor role in World War II, in which the submarine and aircraft carrier emerged as the dominant offensive weapons of naval warfare. + +British self-critique +The official British Admiralty examination of the Grand Fleet's performance recognised two main problems: + British armour-piercing shells exploded outside the German armour rather than penetrating and exploding within. As a result, some German ships with only -thick armour survived hits from projectiles. Had these shells penetrated the armour and then exploded, German losses would probably have been far greater. + Communication between ships and the British commander-in-chief was comparatively poor. For most of the battle, Jellicoe had no idea where the German ships were, even though British ships were in contact. They failed to report enemy positions, contrary to the Grand Fleet's Battle Plan. Some of the most important signalling was carried out solely by flag instead of wireless or using redundant methods to ensure communications—a questionable procedure, given the mixture of haze and smoke that obscured the battlefield, and a foreshadowing of similar failures by habit-bound and conservatively minded professional officers of rank to take advantage of new technology in World War II. + +Shell performance +German armour-piercing shells were far more effective than the British ones, which often failed to penetrate heavy armour. The issue particularly concerned shells striking at oblique angles, which became increasingly the case at long range. Germany had adopted trinitrotoluene (TNT) as the explosive filler for artillery shells in 1902, while the United Kingdom was still using a picric acid mixture (Lyddite). The shock of impact of a shell against armour often prematurely detonated Lyddite in advance of fuze function while TNT detonation could be delayed until after the shell had penetrated and the fuze had functioned in the vulnerable area behind the armour plate. Some 17 British shells hit the side armour of the German dreadnoughts or battlecruisers. Of these, four would not have penetrated under any circumstances. Of the remaining 13, one penetrated the armour and exploded inside. This showed a 7.5% chance of proper shell function on the British side, a result of overly brittle shells and Lyddite exploding too soon. + +The issue of poorly performing shells had been known to Jellicoe, who as Third Sea Lord from 1908 to 1910 had ordered new shells to be designed. However, the matter had not been followed through after his posting to sea and new shells had never been thoroughly tested. Beatty discovered the problem at a party aboard Lion a short time after the battle, when a Swedish Naval officer was present. He had recently visited Berlin, where the German navy had scoffed at how British shells had broken up on their ships' armour. The question of shell effectiveness had also been raised after the Battle of Dogger Bank, but no action had been taken. Hipper later commented, "It was nothing but the poor quality of their bursting charges which saved us from disaster." + +Admiral Dreyer, writing later about the battle, during which he had been captain of the British flagship Iron Duke, estimated that effective shells as later introduced would have led to the sinking of six more German capital ships, based upon the actual number of hits achieved in the battle. The system of testing shells, which remained in use up to 1944, meant that, statistically, a batch of shells of which 70% were faulty stood an even chance of being accepted. Indeed, even shells that failed this relatively mild test had still been issued to ships. Analysis of the test results afterwards by the Ordnance Board suggested the likelihood that 30–70% of shells would not have passed the standard penetration test specified by the Admiralty. + +Efforts to replace the shells were initially resisted by the Admiralty, and action was not taken until Jellicoe became First Sea Lord in December 1916. As an initial response, the worst of the existing shells were withdrawn from ships in early 1917 and replaced from reserve supplies. New shells were designed, but did not arrive until April 1918, and were never used in action. + +Battlecruiser losses +British battlecruisers were designed to chase and destroy enemy cruisers from out of the range of those ships. They were not designed to be ships of the line and exchange broadsides with the enemy. One German and three British battlecruisers were sunk—but none were destroyed by enemy shells penetrating the belt armour and detonating the magazines. Each of the British battlecruisers was penetrated through a turret roof and their magazines ignited by flash fires passing through the turret and shell-handling rooms. Lützow sustained 24 hits and her flooding could not be contained. She was eventually sunk by her escorts' torpedoes after most of her crew had been safely removed (though six trapped stokers died when the ship was scuttled). Derfflinger and Seydlitz sustained 22 hits each but reached port (although in Seydlitzs case only just). + +Jellicoe and Beatty, as well as other senior officers, gave an impression that the loss of the battlecruisers was caused by weak armour, despite reports by two committees and earlier statements by Jellicoe and other senior officers that Cordite and its management were to blame. This led to calls for armour to be increased, and an additional was placed over the relatively thin decks above magazines. To compensate for the increase in weight, ships had to carry correspondingly less fuel, water and other supplies. Whether or not thin deck armour was a potential weakness of British ships, the battle provided no evidence that it was the case. At least amongst the surviving ships, no enemy shell was found to have penetrated deck armour anywhere. The design of the new battlecruiser (which was being built at the time of the battle) was altered to give her of additional armour. + +Ammunition handling +British and German propellant charges differed in packaging, handling, and chemistry. The British propellant was of two types, MK1 and MD. The Mark 1 cordite had a formula of 37% nitrocellulose, 58% nitroglycerine, and 5% petroleum jelly. It was a good propellant but burned hot and caused an erosion problem in gun barrels. The petroleum jelly served as both a lubricant and a stabiliser. Cordite MD was developed to reduce barrel wear, its formula being 65% nitrocellulose, 30% nitroglycerine, and 5% petroleum jelly. While cordite MD solved the gun-barrel erosion issue, it did nothing to improve its storage properties, which were poor. Cordite was very sensitive to variations of temperature, and acid propagation/cordite deterioration would take place at a very rapid rate. Cordite MD also shed micro-dust particles of nitrocellulose and iron pyrite. While cordite propellant was manageable, it required a vigilant gunnery officer, strict cordite lot control, and frequent testing of the cordite lots in the ships' magazines. + +British cordite propellant (when uncased and exposed in the silk bag) tended to burn violently, causing uncontrollable "flash fires" when ignited by nearby shell hits. In 1945, a test was conducted by the U.S.N. Bureau of Ordnance (Bulletin of Ordnance Information, No. 245, pp. 54–60) testing the sensitivity of cordite to then-current U.S. Naval propellant powders against a measurable and repeatable flash source. It found that cordite would ignite at from the flash, the current U.S. powder at , and the U.S. flashless powder at . + +This meant that about 75 times the propellant would immediately ignite when exposed to flash, as compared to the U.S. powder. British ships had inadequate protection against these flash fires. German propellant (RP C/12, handled in brass cartridge cases and used in German artillery because their sliding wedge breeches were hard to obturate with smokeless powder, ) was less vulnerable and less volatile in composition. German propellants were not that different in composition from cordite—with one major exception: centralite. This was symmetrical diethyl diphenyl urea, which served as a stabiliser that was superior to the petroleum jelly used in British practice. It stored better and burned but did not explode. Stored and used in brass cases, it proved much less sensitive to flash. RP C/12 was composed of 64.13% nitrocellulose, 29.77% nitroglycerine, 5.75% centralite, 0.25% magnesium oxide and 0.10% graphite. + +The Royal Navy Battle Cruiser Fleet had also emphasised speed in ammunition handling over established safety protocol. In practice drills, cordite could not be supplied to the guns rapidly enough through the hoists and hatches. To bring up the propellant in good time to load for the next broadside, many safety doors were kept open that should have been shut to safeguard against flash fires. Bags of cordite were also stocked and kept locally, creating a total breakdown of safety design features. By staging charges in the chambers between the gun turret and magazine, the Royal Navy enhanced their rate of fire but left their ships vulnerable to chain reaction ammunition fires and magazine explosions.Campbell, pp. 371–372. This 'bad safety habit' carried over into real battle practices. Furthermore, the doctrine of a high rate of fire also led to the decision in 1913 to increase the supply of shells and cordite held on the British ships by 50%, for fear of running out of ammunition. When this exceeded the capacity of the ships' magazines, cordite was stored in insecure places. + +The British cordite charges were stored two silk bags to a metal cylindrical container, with a 16-oz gunpowder igniter charge, which was covered with a thick paper wad, four charges being used on each projectile. The gun crews were removing the charges from their containers and removing the paper covering over the gunpowder igniter charges. The effect of having eight loads at the ready was to have of exposed explosive, with each charge leaking small amounts of gunpowder from the igniter bags. In effect, the gun crews had laid an explosive train from the turret to the magazines, and one shell hit to a battlecruiser turret was enough to end a ship. + +A diving expedition during the summer of 2003 provided corroboration of this practice. It examined the wrecks of Invincible, Queen Mary, Defence, and Lützow to investigate the cause of the British ships' tendency to suffer from internal explosions. From this evidence, a major part of the blame may be laid on lax handling of the cordite propellant for the shells of the main guns. The wreck of the Queen Mary revealed cordite containers stacked in the working chamber of the X turret instead of the magazine. + +There was a further difference in the propellant itself. While the German RP C/12 burned when exposed to fire, it did not explode, as opposed to cordite. RP C/12 was extensively studied by the British and, after World War I, would form the basis of the later Cordite SC. + +The memoirs of Alexander Grant, Gunner on Lion, suggest that some British officers were aware of the dangers of careless handling of cordite: + +Grant had already introduced measures onboard Lion to limit the number of cartridges kept outside the magazine and to ensure doors were kept closed, probably contributing to her survival. + +On 5 June 1916, the First Lord of the Admiralty advised Cabinet Members that the three battlecruisers had been lost due to unsafe cordite management. + +After the battle, the B.C.F. Gunnery Committee issued a report (at the command of Admiral David Beatty) advocating immediate changes in flash protection and charge handling. It reported, among other things, that: + Some vent plates in magazines allowed flash into the magazines and should be retro-fitted to a new standard. + Bulkheads in HMS Lions magazine showed buckling from fire under pressure (overpressure)—despite being flooded and therefore supported by water pressure—and must be made stronger. + Doors opening inward to magazines were an extreme danger. + Current designs of turrets could not eliminate flash from shell bursts in the turret from reaching the handling rooms. + Ignition pads must not be attached to charges but instead be placed just before ramming. + Better methods must be found for safe storage of ready charges than the current method. + Some method for rapidly drowning charges already in the handling path must be devised. + Handling scuttles (special flash-proof fittings for moving propellant charges through ship's bulkheads), designed to handle overpressure, must be fitted. + +Gunnery +British gunnery control systems, based on Dreyer tables, were well in advance of the German ones, as demonstrated by the proportion of main calibre hits made on the German fleet. Because of its demonstrated advantages, it was installed on ships progressively as the war went on, had been fitted to a majority of British capital ships by May 1916, and had been installed on the main guns of all but two of the Grand Fleet's capital ships. The Royal Navy used centralised fire-control systems on their capital ships, directed from a point high up on the ship where the fall of shells could best be seen, utilising a director sight for both training and elevating the guns. In contrast, the German battlecruisers controlled the fire of turrets using a training-only director, which also did not fire the guns at once. The rest of the German capital ships were without even this innovation. German range-finding equipment was generally superior to the British FT24, as its operators were trained to a higher standard due to the complexity of the Zeiss range finders. Their stereoscopic design meant that in certain conditions they could range on a target enshrouded by smoke. The German equipment was not superior in range to the British Barr & Stroud rangefinder found in the newest British capital ships, and, unlike the British range finders, the German range takers had to be replaced as often as every thirty minutes, as their eyesight became impaired, affecting the ranges provided to their gunnery equipment. + +The results of the battle confirmed the value of firing guns by centralised director. The battle prompted the Royal Navy to install director firing systems in cruisers and destroyers, where it had not thus far been used, and for secondary armament on battleships. + +German ships were considered to have been quicker in determining the correct range to targets, thus obtaining an early advantage. The British used a 'bracket system', whereby a salvo was fired at the best-guess range and, depending where it landed, the range was progressively corrected up or down until successive shots were landing in front of and behind the enemy. The Germans used a 'ladder system', whereby an initial volley of three shots at different ranges was used, with the centre shot at the best-guess range. The ladder system allowed the gunners to get ranging information from the three shots more quickly than the bracket system, which required waiting between shots to see how the last had landed. British ships adopted the German system. + +It was determined that range finders of the sort issued to most British ships were not adequate at long range and did not perform as well as the range finders on some of the most modern ships. In 1917, range finders of base lengths of were introduced on the battleships to improve accuracy. + +Signalling +Throughout the battle, British ships experienced difficulties with communications, whereas the Germans did not suffer such problems. The British preferred signalling using ship-to-ship flag and lamp signals, avoiding wireless, whereas the Germans used wireless successfully. One conclusion drawn was that flag signals were not a satisfactory way to control the fleet. Experience using lamps, particularly at night when issuing challenges to other ships, demonstrated this was an excellent way to advertise your precise location to an enemy, inviting a reply by gunfire. Recognition signals by lamp, once seen, could also easily be copied in future engagements. + +British ships both failed to report engagements with the enemy but also, in the case of cruisers and destroyers, failed to actively seek out the enemy. A culture had arisen within the fleet of not acting without orders, which could prove fatal when any circumstances prevented orders being sent or received. Commanders failed to engage the enemy because they believed other, more senior officers must also be aware of the enemy nearby, and would have given orders to act if this was expected. Wireless, the most direct way to pass messages across the fleet (although it was being jammed by German ships), was avoided either for perceived reasons of not giving away the presence of ships or for fear of cluttering up the airwaves with unnecessary reports. + +Fleet Standing Orders +Naval operations were governed by standing orders issued to all the ships. These attempted to set out what ships should do in all circumstances, particularly in situations where ships would have to react without referring to higher authority, or when communications failed. A number of changes were introduced as a result of experience gained in the battle. + +A new signal was introduced instructing squadron commanders to act independently as they thought best while still supporting the main fleet, particularly for use when circumstances would make it difficult to send detailed orders. The description stressed that this was not intended to be the only time commanders might take independent action, but was intended to make plain times when they definitely should. Similarly, instructions on what to do if the fleet was instructed to take evasive action against torpedoes were amended. Commanders were given discretion that if their part of the fleet was not under immediate attack, they should continue engaging the enemy rather than turning away with the rest of the fleet. In this battle, when the fleet turned away from Scheer's destroyer attack covering his retreat, not all the British ships had been affected, and could have continued to engage the enemy. + +A number of opportunities to attack enemy ships by torpedo had presented themselves but had been missed. All ships, not just the destroyers armed principally with torpedoes but also battleships, were reminded that they carried torpedoes intended to be used whenever an opportunity arose. Destroyers were instructed to close the enemy fleet to fire torpedoes as soon as engagements between the main ships on either side would keep enemy guns busy directed at larger targets. Destroyers should also be ready to immediately engage enemy destroyers if they should launch an attack, endeavouring to disrupt their chances of launching torpedoes and keep them away from the main fleet. + +To add some flexibility when deploying for attack, a new signal was provided for deploying the fleet to the centre, rather than as previously only either to left or right of the standard closed-up formation for travelling. The fast and powerful 5th Battle Squadron was moved to the front of the cruising formation so it would have the option of deploying left or right depending upon the enemy position. In the event of engagements at night, although the fleet still preferred to avoid night fighting, a destroyer and cruiser squadron would be specifically detailed to seek out the enemy and launch destroyer attacks. + +Controversy +At the time, Jellicoe was criticised for his caution and for allowing Scheer to escape. Beatty, in particular, was convinced that Jellicoe had missed a tremendous opportunity to annihilate the High Seas Fleet and win what would amount to another Trafalgar. Jellicoe was promoted away from active command to become First Sea Lord, the professional head of the Royal Navy, while Beatty replaced him as commander of the Grand Fleet. + +The controversy raged within the navy and in public for about a decade after the war. Criticism focused on Jellicoe's decision at 19:15. Scheer had ordered his cruisers and destroyers forward in a torpedo attack to cover the turning away of his battleships. Jellicoe chose to turn to the south-east, and so keep out of range of the torpedoes. Supporters of Jellicoe, including the historian Cyril Falls, pointed to the folly of risking defeat in battle when one already has command of the sea. Jellicoe himself, in a letter to the Admiralty seventeen months before the battle, said that he intended to turn his fleet away from any mass torpedo attack (that being the universally accepted proper tactical response to such attacks, practised by all the major navies of the world). He said that, in the event of a fleet engagement in which the enemy turned away, he would assume they intended to draw him over mines or submarines, and he would decline to be so drawn. The Admiralty approved this plan and expressed full confidence in Jellicoe at the time (October 1914). + +The stakes were high, the pressure on Jellicoe immense, and his caution certainly understandable. His judgement might have been that even 90% odds in favour were not good enough to bet the British Empire. Churchill said of the battle that Jellicoe "was the only man on either side who could have lost the war in an afternoon." + +The criticism of Jellicoe also fails to sufficiently credit Scheer, who was determined to preserve his fleet by avoiding the full British battle line, and who showed great skill in effecting his escape. + +Beatty's actions +On the other hand, some of Jellicoe's supporters condemned the actions of Beatty for the British failure to achieve a complete victory. Although Beatty was undeniably brave, his mismanagement of the initial encounter with Hipper's squadron and the High Seas Fleet cost him a considerable advantage in the first hours of the battle. His most glaring failure was in not providing Jellicoe with periodic information on the position, course, and speed of the High Seas Fleet. Beatty, aboard the battlecruiser Lion, left behind the four fast battleships of the 5th Battle Squadron—the most powerful warships in the world at the time—engaging with six ships when better control would have given him 10 against Hipper's five. Though Beatty's larger guns out-ranged Hipper's guns by thousands of yards, Beatty held his fire for 10 minutes and closed the German squadron until within range of the Germans' superior gunnery, under lighting conditions that favoured the Germans. Most of the British losses in tonnage occurred in Beatty's force. + +Death toll + +The total loss of life on both sides was 9,823 personnel: the British losses numbered 6,784 and the German 3,039. Counted among the British losses were two members of the Royal Australian Navy and one member of the Royal Canadian Navy. Six Australian nationals serving in the Royal Navy were also killed. + +British +113,300 tons sunk: + Battlecruisers , , + Armoured cruisers , , + Flotilla leader + Destroyers , , , , , , + +German +62,300 tons sunk: + Battlecruiser + Pre-dreadnought + Light cruisers , , , + Destroyers (Heavy torpedo-boats) , , , , + +Selected honours + +The Victoria Cross is the highest military decoration awarded for valour "in the face of the enemy" to members of the British Empire armed forces. The Ordre pour le Mérite was the Kingdom of Prussia and consequently the German Empire's highest military order until the end of the First World War. + +Pour le Mérite + Franz Hipper () + Reinhard Scheer () + +Victoria Cross + The Hon. Edward Barry Stewart Bingham () + John Travers Cornwell () + Francis John William Harvey () + Loftus William Jones () + +Status of the survivors and wrecks + +In the years following the battle the wrecks were slowly discovered. Invincible was found by the Royal Navy minesweeper in 1919. After the Second World War some of the wrecks seem to have been commercially salvaged. For instance, the Hydrographic Office record for SMS Lützow (No. 32344) shows that salvage operations were taking place on the wreck in 1960. + +During 2000–2016 a series of diving and marine survey expeditions involving veteran shipwreck historian and archaeologist Innes McCartney located all of the wrecks sunk in the battle. It was discovered that over 60 per cent of them had suffered from metal theft. In 2003 McCartney led a detailed survey of the wrecks for the Channel 4 documentary "Clash of the Dreadnoughts". The film examined the last minutes of the lost ships and revealed for the first time how both 'P' and 'Q' turrets of Invincible had been blasted out of the ship and tossed into the sea before she broke in half. This was followed by the Channel 4 documentary "Jutland: WWI's Greatest Sea Battle", broadcast in May 2016, which showed how several of the major losses at Jutland had actually occurred and just how accurate the "Harper Record" actually was. + +On the 90th anniversary of the battle, in 2006, the UK Ministry of Defence belatedly announced that the 14 British vessels lost in the battle were being designated as protected places under the Protection of Military Remains Act 1986. This legislation only affects British ships and citizens and in practical terms offers no real protection from non-British salvors of the wreck sites. In May 2016 a number of British newspapers named the Dutch salvage company "Friendship Offshore" as one of the main salvors of the Jutland wrecks in recent years and depicted leaked photographs revealing the extent of their activities on the wreck of Queen Mary. + +The last surviving veteran of the battle, Henry Allingham, a British RAF (originally RNAS) airman, died on 18 July 2009, aged 113, by which time he was the oldest documented man in the world and one of the last surviving veterans of the whole war. Also among the combatants was the then 20-year-old Prince Albert, serving as a junior officer aboard . He was second in the line to the throne, but would become king as George VI following his brother Edward's abdication in 1936. + +One ship from the battle survives and is still (in 2023) afloat: the light cruiser . Decommissioned in 2011, she is docked at the Alexandra Graving Dock in Belfast, Northern Ireland and is a museum ship. + +Remembrance +The Battle of Jutland was annually celebrated as a great victory by the right wing in Weimar Germany. This victory was used to repress the memory of the German navy's initiation of the German Revolution of 1918–1919, as well as the memory of the defeat in World War I in general. (The celebrations of the Battle of Tannenberg played a similar role.) This is especially true for the city of Wilhelmshaven, where wreath-laying ceremonies and torch-lit parades were performed until the end of the 1960s. + +In 1916 Contreadmiral Friedrich von Kühlwetter (1865–1931) wrote a detailed analysis of the battle and published it in a book under the title Skagerrak (first anonymously published), which was reprinted in large numbers until after WWII and had a huge influence in keeping the battle in public memory amongst Germans as it was not tainted by the ideology of the Third Reich. Kühlwetter built the School for Naval Officers at Mürwik near Flensburg, where he is still remembered. + +In May 2016, the 100th-anniversary commemoration of the Battle of Jutland was held. On 29 May, a commemorative service was held at St Mary's Church, Wimbledon, where the ensign from HMS Inflexible is on permanent display. On 31 May, the main service was held at St Magnus Cathedral in Orkney, attended by the British prime minister, David Cameron, and the German president, Joachim Gauck, along with Princess Anne and Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence. A centennial exposition was held at the Deutsches Marinemuseum in Wilhemshaven from 29 May 2016 to 28 February 2017. + + Film + Wrath of the Seas (Die versunkene Flotte), 1926, director Manfred Noa + +See also + + List of the largest artificial non-nuclear explosions + Sea War Museum Jutland + Naval warfare of World War I + +Notes + +Citations + +Bibliography + + + Black, Jeremy. "Jutland's Place in History," Naval History (June 2016) 30#3, pp. 16–21. + + + + Corbett, Sir Julian. (2015) Maritime Operations In The Russo-Japanese War 1904–1905. Vol. 1, originally published Jan 1914. Naval Institute Press; + Corbett, Sir Julian. (2015) Maritime Operations In The Russo-Japanese War 1904–1905. Vol. 2, originally published Oct 1915. Naval Institute Press; + Costello, John (1976) Jutland 1916 with Terry Hughes + + + Friedman, Norman. (2013) Naval Firepower, Battleship Guns And Gunnery In The Dreadnaught Era. Seaforth Publishing; + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +Further reading + + + + + H.W. Fawcett & G.W.W. Hooper, RN (editors), The fighting at Jutland (abridged edition); the personal experiences of forty-five officers and men of the British Fleet London: MacMillan & Co, 1921 + + + + + + Lambert, Andrew. "Writing Writing the Battle: Jutland in Sir Julian Corbett's Naval Operations," Mariner's Mirror 103#2 (2017) 175–95, Historiography.. + + + + + +External links + + WW1 Centenary News – Battle of Jutland + Jutland Centenary Initiative + Jutland Commemoration Exhibition + Beatty's official report + Jellicoe's official despatch + Jellicoe, extract from The Grand Fleet, published 1919 + World War I Naval Combat – Despatches + Scheer, Germany's High Seas Fleet in the World War , published 1920 + Henry Allingham Last known survivor of the Battle of Jutland + Table of Jutland Casualties Listed by Ship + germannavalwarfare.info Some Original Documents from the British Admiralty, Room 40, regarding the Battle of Jutland: Photocopies from The National Archives, Kew, Richmond, UK. + Sailors, with biographies, plotted on the Jutland Interactive Map of the NMRN + Battle of Jutland Crew Lists Project + Battle of Jutland Crew Lists Project Wiki + Memorial park for the Battle of Jutland + Battle-of-Jutland.com The website owner has a package of original documents + Transcript of post-battle correspondence between the Grand Fleet and the Admiralty concerning the loss of the battlecruisers. + +Notable accounts + by Rudyard Kipling Retrieved 2009-10-31. + by Alexander Grant, a gunner aboard HMS Lion + A North Sea diary, 1914–1918, by Stephen King-Hall, a junior officer on the light cruiser + by Paul Berryman, a junior officer on + by Moritz von Egidy, captain of SMS Seydlitz + by Richard Foerster, gunnery officer on Seydlitz + by Georg von Hase, gunnery officer on Derfflinger + +(Note:' Due to the time difference, entries in some of the German accounts are one hour ahead of the times in this article.) + + +Conflicts in 1916 +1916 in Denmark +1916 in Germany +1916 in the United Kingdom +Naval battles of World War I involving Australia +Naval battles of World War I involving Germany +Naval battles of World War I involving the United Kingdom +North Sea operations of World War I +Protected Wrecks of the United Kingdom +Military history of the North Sea +May 1916 events +June 1916 events +Germany–United Kingdom military relations +Bambara, also known as Bamana (N'Ko script: ) or Bamanankan (N'Ko script: ; Arabic script: ), is a lingua franca and national language of Mali spoken by perhaps 15 million people, natively by 5 million Bambara people and about 10 million second-language users. It is estimated that about 80 percent of the population of Mali speak Bambara as a first or second language. It has a subject–object–verb clause structure and two lexical tones. + +Classification +Bambara is a variety of a group of closely related languages called Manding, whose native speakers trace their cultural history to the medieval Mali Empire. Varieties of Manding are generally considered (among native speakers) to be mutually intelligible – dependent on exposure or familiarity with dialects between speakers – and spoken by 30 to 40 million people in the countries Burkina Faso, Senegal, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Liberia, Ivory Coast and the Gambia. Manding is part of the larger Mandé family of languages. + +Geographical distribution +Bambara is spoken throughout Mali as a lingua franca. The language is most widely spoken in the areas east, south, and north of Bamako, where native speakers and/or those that identify as members of the Bambara ethnic group are most densely populated. These regions are also usually considered to be the historical geographical origin of Bambara people, particularly Ségou, after diverging from other Manding groups. + +Dialects +The main dialect is Standard Bamara, which has significant influence from Maninkakan. Bambara has many local dialects: Kaarta, Tambacounda (west); Beledugu, Bananba, Mesekele (north); Jitumu, Jamaladugu, Segu (center); Cakadugu, Keleyadugu, Jalakadougu, Kurulamini, Banimɔncɛ, Cɛmala, Cɛndugu, Baninkɔ, Shɛndugu, Ganadugu (south); Kala, Kuruma, Saro, dialects to the northeast of Mopti (especially Bɔrɛ); Zegedugu, Bɛndugu, Bakɔkan, Jɔnka (southeast)., + +Writing + +Since 1967, Bambara has mostly been written in the Latin script, using some additional phonetic characters. The vowels are a, e, ɛ (formerly è), i, o, ɔ (formerly ò), u; accents can be used to indicate tonality. The former digraph ny is now written ɲ when it designates a palatal nasal glide; the ny spelling is kept for the combination of a nasal vowel with a subsequent oral palatal glide. Following the 1966 Bamako spelling conventions, a nasal velar glide "ŋ" is written as "ŋ", although in early publications it was often transcribed as ng or nk. + +The N'Ko () alphabet is a script devised by Solomana Kante in 1949 as a writing system for the Manding languages of West Africa; N’Ko means 'I say' in all Manding languages. Kante created N’Ko in response to what he felt were beliefs that Africans were a "cultureless people" since prior to this time there had been no indigenous African writing system for his language. N'ko first gained a strong user base around the Maninka-speaking area of Kante's hometown of Kankan, Guinea and disseminated from there into other Manding-speaking parts of West Africa. N'ko and the Arabic script are still in use for Bambara, although only the Latin-based orthography is officially recognized in Mali. + +Additionally, a script known as Masaba or Ma-sa-ba was developed for the language beginning in 1930 by Woyo Couloubayi (-1982) of Assatiémala. Named for the first characters in Couloubayi's preferred collation order, Masaba is a syllabary which uses diacritics to indicate vowel qualities such as tone, length, and nasalization. Though not conclusively related to other writing systems, Masaba appears to draw on traditional Bambara iconography and shares some similarities with the Vai syllabary of Liberia and with Arabic-derived secret alphabets used in Hodh (now Hodh El Gharbi and Hodh Ech Chargui Regions of Mauritania). As of 1978, Masaba was in limited use in several communities in Nioro Cercle for accounting, personal correspondence, and the recording of Muslim prayers; the script's current status and prevalence is unknown. + +Latin orthography +It uses seven vowels a, e, ɛ, i, o, ɔ and u, each of which can be nasalized, pharyngealized and murmured, giving a total number of 21 vowels (the letters approximate their IPA equivalents). +Writing with the Latin alphabet began during the French colonization, and the first orthography was introduced in 1967. Literacy is limited, especially in rural areas. Although written literature is only slowly evolving (due to the predominance of French as the "language of the educated"), there exists a wealth of oral literature, which is often tales of kings and heroes. This oral literature is mainly passed on by the griots (Jeliw in Bambara) who are a mixture of storytellers, praise singers, and human history books who have studied the trade of singing and reciting for many years. Many of their songs are very old and are said to date back to the old empire of Mali. + +Alphabet + A – a – [a] + B – be – [b] + C – ce – [t͡ʃ] + D – de – [d] + E – e – [e] + Ɛ – ɛ – [ɛ] + F – ef – [f] + G – ge – [g] + H – ha – [h] + I – i – [i] + J – je – [d͡ʒ] + K – ka – [k] + L – ɛl – [l] + M – ɛm – [m] + N – ɛn – [n] + Ɲ – ɲe – [ɲ] + Ŋ – ɛŋ – [ŋ] + O – o – [o] + Ɔ – ɔ – [ɔ] + P – pe – [p] + R – ɛr – [r] + S – ɛs – [s] + T – te – [t] + U – u – [u] + W – wa – [w] + Y – ye – [j] + Z – ze – [z] + +Other letters + kh – [ɣ] (used for loanwords from other African languages) + -n – nasalises vowel + sh – she – [ʃ] (regional variant of s) + +N'ko orthography + +Vowels + ߊ – a – [a] + ߋ – e – [e] + ߌ – i – [i] + ߍ – ɛ – [ɛ] + ߎ – u – [u] + ߏ – o – [o] + ߐ – ɔ – [ɔ] + +Consonants + ߓ – ba – [b] + ߔ – pa – [p] + ߕ – ta – [t] + ߖ – ja – [d͡ʒ] + ߗ – ca – [t͡ʃ] + ߘ – da – [d] + ߚ/ߙ – ra – [r] + ߛ – sa – [s] + ߜ? – ga – [g/ʀ/ɣ] + ߜ – gba – [ɡ͡b] + ߝ – fa – [f] + ߞ – ka – [k] + ߟ – la – [l] + ߡ – ma – [m] + ߢ – nya or ɲa – [ɲ] + ߒ – nga or ŋa – [ŋ] + ߣ – na – [n] + ߥ – wa – [w] + ߦ – ya – [j] + ߤ – ha – [h] + ߲ – nasal vowel – [-̃] + +Tones + ߫ – short high + ߬ – short low + ߯ – long high + ߰ – long low + +Phonology + +Consonants + +Each consonant represents a single sound with some exceptions: + "W" is pronounced as in English (e.g. wait) except at the end of a word, when it is the plural mark and is pronounced as [u]. + "S" is pronounced most often as in the English word "see" but is sometimes pronounced as "sh" [ʃ] as in the word "shoe" or as [z]. + "G" is pronounced most often as in the English word "go" but in the middle of a word, it can be pronounced as in the Spanish word "abogado" ([ɣ]) and sometimes at the beginning of a word as [gw]. + +Vowels + +Grammar +Bambara is an agglutinative language, meaning that morphemes are glued together to form a word. + +The basic sentence structure is subject-object-verb (SOV). Take the phrase, n t'a lon (I don't know [it]). n is the subject (I), a is the object (it), and [ta] lon is the verb ([to] know). The t' is from the negative present tense marker té, bé being the affirmative present tense marker (n b'a don would mean "I know it"). Like many SOV languages, Bambara uses postpositions rather than prepositions - their role being similar to English prepositions but placed after the noun. + +The language has two (mid/standard and high) tones; e.g. sa 'die' vs. sá 'snake.' The typical argument structure of the language consists of a subject, followed by an aspectival auxiliary, followed by the direct object, and finally a transitive verb. + +Bambara does not inflect for gender. Gender for a noun can be specified by adding an adjective, -cɛ or -kɛ for male and -muso for female. The plural is formed by attaching a vocalic suffix -u, most often with a low tone (in the orthography, -w) to nouns or adjectives. + +Loan words +In urban areas, many Bamanankan conjunctions have been replaced in everyday use by French borrowings that often mark code-switches. The Bamako dialect makes use of sentences like: N taara Kita mais il n'y avait personne là-bas. : I went to Kita [Bamanankan ] but there was no one there [French]. The sentence in Bamanankan alone would be Ń taara Kita nka mɔkɔ si tun tɛ yen. The French proposition "est-ce que" is also used in Bamanankan ; however, it is pronounced more slowly and as three syllables, . + +Bamanankan uses many French loan words. For example, some people might say: I ka kurusi ye nere ye: "Your skirt is yellow" (using a derivation of jaune, the French word for yellow, they often use joni.) + +However, one could also say: I ka kulosi ye nɛrɛmukuman ye, also meaning "your skirt is yellow." The original Bamanankan word for yellow comes from "nɛrɛmuku," being flour (muku) made from néré (locust bean), a seed from a long seed pod. Nɛrɛmuku is often used in sauces in Southern Mali. + +Most French loan words are suffixed with the sound 'i'; this is particularly common when using French words which have a meaning not traditionally found in Mali. For example, the Bamanankan word for snow is niegei, based on the French word for snow neige. As there has never been snow in Mali, there was no unique word in Bamanankan to describe it. + +Examples + +Music +Malian artists such as Oumou Sangaré, Sidiki Diabaté, Fatoumata Diawara, Rokia Traoré, Ali Farka Touré, Habib Koité and the married duo Amadou & Mariam often sing in Bambara. Lyrics in Bambara occur on Stevie Wonder's Journey Through "The Secret Life of Plants". + +Additionally, in 2010, Spanish rock group Dover released its 7th studio album I Ka Kené with the majority of lyrics in the language. American rapper Nas also released a track titled "Sabali" in 2010, which featured Damian Marley. Sabali is a Bambara word that means patience. + +Legal status +Bambara was until 2023 one of several languages designated by Mali as a national language. + +In 2023, after a new constitution was approved by the majority of the voters, Bambara became co-official together with 12 other languages spoken in the country. French was dropped from official language and was kept only as working language. + +References + +Citation + +Sources + + Bailleul Ch. Dictionnaire Bambara-Français. 3e édition corrigée. Bamako : Donniya, 2007, 476 p. + Bird, Charles, Hutchison, John & Kanté, Mamadou (1976) An Ka Bamanankan Kalan: Beginning Bambara. Bloomington: Indiana Univ. Linguistics Club. + Bird, Charles & Kanté, Mamadou (1977) Bambara-English, English-Bambara student lexicon. Bloomington: Indiana Univ. Linguistics Club. + Dumestre Gérard. Grammaire fondamentale du bambara. Paris : Karthala, 2003. + Dumestre, Gérard. Dictionnaire bambara-français suivi d’un index abrégé français-bambara. Paris : Karthala, 2011. p. 1189 + Eidelberg, Joseph "Bambara (A PROTO-HEBREW LANGUAGE?)" + Kastenholz, Raimund (1998) Grundkurs Bambara (Manding) mit Texten (second revised edition) (Afrikawissenschaftliche Lehrbücher Vol. 1). Köln: Rüdiger Köppe. + Konaré, Demba (1998) Je parle bien bamanan. Bamako: Jamana. + Morales, José (2010) J'apprends le bambara. 61 conversations, (book + CD-ROM). Paris: Editions Karthala. + Touré, Mohamed & Leucht, Melanie (1996) Bambara Lesebuch: Originaltexte mit deutscher und französischer Übersetzung = Chrestomathie Bambara: textes originaux Bambara avec traductions allemandes et françaises (with illustrations by Melanie Leucht) (Afrikawissenschaftliche Lehrbücher Vol. 11) . Köln: Rüdiger Köppe. + +External links + +Descriptions + Mali – History – Language + +Dictionaries + Maliyiri.com is a website which provides English-Bambara-French translations and is a community-based project where users can add new words, comments, provide feedback and follow one another. + Corpus Bambara de Référence - Etiquetage online and downloadable Bambara-French Dictionary (about 11,500 entries by the end of 2014), with a French-Bambara index, linked with the Corpus Bambara de Référence + An ka taa's Mobile-friendly Bambara-English dictionary that includes French and Jula. + Bambara entries (>2300) in the French Wiktionary + Bambara-French-English dictionary online and downloadable lexicons for language learners + Bambara tree names (scientific name -> common name) + +Learning materials + Online Bambara Course from the Indiana University +   on peacecorps.gov + +Other + Corpus Bambara de Référence Corpus Bambara de Référence, an electronic corpus of Bambara texts (about 2,000,000 words end 2014) + Maliyiri.com's Android application, with thousands of daily users, provides English-Bambara-French translations and users can choose to get daily/weekly word notifications for continuous learning. + Bambara Electronic Library, AMALAN – LLACAN + An ka taa: a website with a dictionary, resources and media for learning Bambara and Manding more generally. + Bambara at French Wikibooks contains more material + Mandenkan Journal + PanAfriL10n page on Manding (includes information on Bambara) + Maneno in Bambara (a blogging platform with a full Bambara interface) + + +Languages of Burkina Faso +Languages of Ghana +Languages of Guinea +Languages of Ivory Coast +Languages of Mali +Languages of Senegal + languages of the Gambia + languages of Mauritania + languages of Niger +Manding languages +Subject–object–verb languages +Baku (, ; ) is the capital and largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and in the Caucasus region. Baku is below sea level, which makes it the lowest lying national capital in the world and also the largest city in the world below sea level. Baku lies on the southern shore of the Absheron Peninsula, on the Bay of Baku. Baku's urban population was estimated at two million people as of 2009. Baku is the primate city of Azerbaijan—it is the sole metropolis in the country, and about 25% of all inhabitants of the country live in Baku's metropolitan area. + +Baku is divided into twelve administrative raions and 48 townships. Among these are the townships on the islands of the Baku Archipelago, as well as the industrial settlement of Neft Daşları built on oil rigs away from Baku city in the Caspian Sea. The Old City, containing the Palace of the Shirvanshahs and the Maiden Tower, was designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2000. + +The city is the scientific, cultural, and industrial centre of Azerbaijan. Many sizeable Azerbaijani institutions have their headquarters there. In the 2010s, Baku became a venue for major international events. It hosted the 57th Eurovision Song Contest in 2012, the 2015 European Games, 4th Islamic Solidarity Games, the European Grand Prix in 2016, the Azerbaijan Grand Prix since 2017, the final of the 2018–19 UEFA Europa League, and was one of the host cities for UEFA Euro 2020. The Baku International Sea Trade Port is capable of handling two million tonnes of general and dry bulk cargoes per year. Baku is renowned for its harsh winds, reflected in its nickname, the "City of Winds". + +Etymology +Baku is long attested under the Perso-Arabic name باکو (Bākū). Early Arabic sources also refer to the city as Bākuh and Bākuya, all of which seem to come from a Persian name. The further etymology is unclear. + +A popular etymology in the 19th century considered it to be derived from Persian بادکوبه (Bâd-kube, meaning "wind-pounded city", a compound of bād, "wind", and kube, which is rooted in the verb کوبیدن kubidan, "to pound", thus referring to a place where wind would be strong and pounding, as is the case of Baku, which is known to experience fierce winter snow storms and harsh winds). This popular name (Badkubə in modern Azerbaijani script) gained currency as a nickname for the city by the 19th century (e.g., it is used in Akinchi, volume 1, issue 1, p. 1), and is also reflected in the city's modern nickname as the "City of Winds" (). Another and even less probable folk etymology explains the name as deriving from Baghkuy, meaning "God's town". Baga (now بغ bagh) and kuy are the Old Persian words for "god" and "town" respectively; the name Baghkuy may be compared with Baghdād ("God-given") in which dād is the Old Persian word for "give". + +During Soviet rule, the city was spelled in Cyrillic as "Бакы" in Azerbaijani (while the Russian spelling was and still is "Баку", ). The modern Azerbaijani spelling, which has been using the Latin alphabet since 1991, is ; the shift from the Perso-Arabic letter و (ū) to Cyrillic "ы" and, later, Latin "ı" may be compared to that in other Azerbaijani words (e.g. compare qāpū in old Perso-Arabic spelling with modern Azerbaijani , "door") or in suffixes, as و was often used to transcribe the vowel harmony in Azerbaijani (which was also the practice in Ottoman Turkish). (See also Azerbaijani alphabet.) + +History + +Antiquity + +Traces of human settlement in the region of present-day Baku date back to the Stone Age. Bronze-Age rock carvings have been discovered near Bayil, and a bronze figure of a small fish in the territory of the Old City. These have led some to suggest the existence of a Bronze-Age settlement within the city's territory. Near Nardaran, a place called Umid Gaya features a prehistoric observatory, where images of the sun and of various constellations are carved into rock together with a primitive astronomic table. Further archeological excavations have revealed various prehistoric settlements, native temples, statues and other artifacts within the territory of the modern city and around it. + +In the 1st century AD, the Romans organised two Caucasian campaigns and reached what is today Baku. Near the city, in what is today Gobustan, Roman inscriptions dating from AD 84 to 96 survive – some of the earliest written evidences for a city there. + +Rise of the Shirvanshahs and the Safavid era + +Baku was the realm of the Shirvanshahs during the 8th century AD. The city frequently came under assault from the Khazars and (starting from the 10th century) from the Rus'. Shirvanshah Akhsitan I built a navy in Baku and successfully repelled a Rus' assault in 1170. After a devastating earthquake struck Shamakhi, the capital of Shirvan, Shirvanshah's court moved to Baku in 1191. + +The Shirvan era greatly influenced Baku and the remainder of present-day Azerbaijan. Between the 12th and 14th centuries, massive fortifications were built in Baku and the surrounding towns. The Maiden Tower, the Ramana Tower, the Nardaran Fortress, the Shagan Castle, the Mardakan Castle, the Round Castle and also the famous Sabayil Castle on the island of the Bay of Baku date from this period. The city walls of Baku were also rebuilt and strengthened. + +By the early 16th century Baku's wealth and strategic position attracted the attention of its larger neighbours; in the previous two centuries, it was under the rule of the Iran-centred Kara Koyunlu and Ak Koyunlu. The fall of the Ak Koyunlu brought the city immediately into the sphere of the newly formed Iranian Safavid dynasty, led by king (shah) Ismail I (). Ismail I laid siege to Baku in 1501 and captured it; he allowed the Shirvanshahs to remain in power, under Safavid suzerainty. His successor, king Tahmasp I (), completely removed the Shirvanshahs from power and made Baku a part of the Shirvan province. Baku remained as an integral part of his empire and of successive Iranian dynasties for the next centuries, until ceded to the Russian Empire through the 1813 Treaty of Gulistan. The House of Shirvan, which had ruled Baku since the 9th century, was extinguished in the course of Safavid rule. + +At this time the city was enclosed within lines of strong walls, which were washed by the sea on one side and protected by a wide trench on land. The Ottomans briefly gained control over Baku as a result of the Ottoman-Safavid War of 1578–1590; by 1607, it came under Iranian control again. In 1604 Shah Abbas I () destroyed Baku fortress. + +Baku had a reputation as a focal point for traders from all across the world during the Early modern period; commerce was active and the area prospered. Notably, traders from the Indian subcontinent established themselves in the region. These Indian traders built the Ateshgah of Baku during 17th–18th centuries; the temple was used as a Hindu, Sikh, and Zoroastrian place of worship. + +Downfall of the Safavids and the Khanate of Baku +The Safavids temporarily lost power in Iran in 1722; Emperor Peter the Great of Russia took advantage of the situation and invaded. As a result of the Russo-Persian War of 1722–1723, the Safavids were forced to cede Baku to Russia. By 1730 the situation had deteriorated for the Russians; the successes of Nader Shah () led them to sign the Treaty of Ganja near Ganja on 10 March 1735, ceding the city and all other conquered territories in the Caucasus back to Iran. + +The eruption of instability following Nader Shah's death in 1747 gave rise to the various Caucasian khanates. The semi-autonomous Persian-ruled Baku Khanate (1747–1806) was one of these. Initially ruled by Mirza Muhammed Khan (), it soon became a dependency of the much stronger Quba Khanate. During this time, the population of Baku remained small (approximately 5,000), and the economy suffered as a result of constant warfare. + +Russo-Persian Wars and Iran's forced cession + +From the late 18th century, Imperial Russia switched to a more aggressive geopolitical stance towards its two neighbours and rivals to the south, namely Iran and the Ottoman Empire. In the spring of 1796, by Catherine II's order, General Valerian Zubov's troops started a large campaign against Qajar Persia. Zubov had sent 13,000 men to capture Baku, and it was overrun subsequently without any resistance. On 13 June 1796, a Russian flotilla entered Baku Bay, and a garrison of Russian troops was stationed inside the city. Later, however, Emperor Paul I of Russia ordered the cessation of the campaign and the withdrawal of Russian forces following the death of his predecessor, Catherine the Great. In March 1797 the tsarist troops left Baku and the city became part of Qajar Iran again. + +In 1813, following the Russo-Persian War of 1804–1813, Qajar Iran had to sign the Treaty of Gulistan with Russia this provided for the cession of Baku and of most of Iran's territories in the North Caucasus and South Caucasus to Russia. During the next and final bout of hostilities between the two, the Russo-Persian War of 1826–1828, the Iranians briefly recaptured Baku. However, the militarily superior Russians ended this war with a victory as well, and the resulting Treaty of Turkmenchay (1828) made Baku's inclusion in the Russian Empire definite. When Baku was occupied by the Russian troops during the war of 1804–13, nearly the entire population of some 8,000 people was ethnic Tat. Baku within Russia was the administrative center of the Baku Uyezd, Baku Governorate, and the Baku Gradonachalstvo. + +Discovery of oil + +The Russians built the first oil-distilling factory in Balaxani in 1837. The first person to drill oil in Baku was an ethnic Armenian Ivan Mirzoev, who is also known as a 'founding father of Baku's oil industry.' Digging for oil began in the 1840s, with the first oil well drilled in the Bibi-Heybat suburb of Baku in 1846. It was mechanically drilled, though a number of hand-dug wells pre-dated it. Large-scale oil exploration started in 1872 when Russian imperial authorities auctioned parcels of oil-rich land around Baku to private investors. The pioneer of oil extracting from the bottom of the sea was the Polish geologist Witold Zglenicki. Soon after, investors appeared in Baku, including the Nobel Brothers in 1873 and the Rothschilds in 1882. An industrial area of oil refineries, better known as Black Town (), developed near Baku by the early 1880s. + +Professor A. V. Williams Jackson of Columbia University wrote in his work From Constantinople to the Home of Omar Khayyam (1911): + +By the beginning of the 20th century, half of the oil sold in international markets was extracted in Baku. The oil boom contributed to the massive growth of Baku. Between 1856 and 1910 Baku's population grew at a faster rate than that of London, Paris or New York. + +Unrest at the time of the 1905 Revolution resulted in massacres among the population and the destruction of many oil facilities. + +World War I + +In 1917, after the October Revolution and amidst the turmoil of World War I and the breakup of the Russian Empire, Baku came under the control of the Baku Commune, led by the veteran Bolshevik Stepan Shahumyan. Seeking to capitalize on the existing ethnic conflicts, by spring 1918, Bolsheviks inspired and condoned civil war in and around Baku. During the famous March Days of 1918, Bolsheviks and Dashnaks, seeking to establish control over Baku streets, faced armed Azerbaijani groups. The Azerbaijanis suffered defeat from the united forces of the Baku Soviet and were massacred by Dashnak teams in what was called the March Days. An estimated 3,000–12,000 Azerbaijanis were killed in their own capital. After the massacre, on 28 May 1918, the Azerbaijani faction of the Transcaucasian Sejm proclaimed the independence of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic (ADR) in Ganja, thereby founding the first Muslim-majority democratic and secular republic. The newly independent Azerbaijani republic, being unable to defend the independence of the country on their own, asked the Ottoman Empire for military support in accordance with clause 4 of the treaty between the two countries. Shortly after, Azerbaijani forces, with support of the Ottoman Army of Islam led by Nuru Pasha, started their advance on Baku, eventually capturing the city from the loose coalition of Bolsheviks, SRs, Dashnaks, Mensheviks and British forces under the command of General Lionel Dunsterville on 15 September 1918. + +After the Battle of Baku of August–September 1918, the Azerbaijani irregular troops, with the tacit support of the Turkish command, conducted four days of pillaging and killing 10,000–30,000 Armenians of Baku. This pogrom became known as the "September Days". Shortly after this, Baku was proclaimed the new capital of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic. + +The Ottoman Empire, recognising defeat in World War I by October 1918, signed the Armistice of Mudros with the British (30 October 1918); this meant the evacuation of Turkish forces from Baku. Headed by General William Thomson, some 5,000 British troops, including parts of the former Dunsterforce, arrived in Baku on 17 November. Thomson declared himself military governor of Baku and implemented martial law in the city until "the civil power would be strong enough to release the forces from the responsibility to maintain the public order". British forces left before the end of 1919. + +Soviet period +The independence of the Azerbaijani republic was a significant but short-lived chapter in Baku's history. On 28 April 1920, the 11th Red Army invaded Baku and reinstalled the Bolsheviks, making Baku the capital of the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic. + +The city underwent many major changes. As a result, Baku played a great role in many branches of Soviet life. Baku was the major oil city of the Soviet Union. From about 1921 the city was headed by the Baku City Executive Committee, commonly known in Russian as Bakgorispolkom. Together with Baku Party Committee (known as the Baksovet), it developed the economic significance of the Caspian metropolis. From 1922 to 1930 Baku became the venue for one of the major trade fairs of the Soviet Union, serving as a commercial bridgehead to Iran and the Middle East. + +World War II + +The major powers continued to note Baku's growing importance as a major energy hub. During World War II (1939–1945) and particularly during the 1942 Nazi German invasion of the southwestern Soviet Union, Baku became of vital strategic importance to the Axis powers. In fact, capturing the oil fields of Baku was a primary goal of the Wehrmacht's Operation Edelweiss, carried out between May and November 1942. However, the German Army reached only a point some northwest of Baku in November 1942, falling far short of the city's capture before being driven back during the Soviet Operation Little Saturn in mid-December 1942. + +Fall of the Soviet Union and later +After the 1991 dissolution of the Soviet Union, Baku embarked on a process of restructuring on a scale unseen in its history. Thousands of buildings from the Soviet period were demolished to make way for a green belt on its shores; parks and gardens were built on the land reclaimed by filling up the beaches of the Baku Bay. Improvements were made in general cleaning, maintenance, and garbage collection to bring these services up to Western European standards. The city is growing dynamically and developing at full speed on an east–west axis along the shores of the Caspian Sea. Sustainability has become a key factor in future urban development. + +Geography + +Baku is situated on the western coast of Caspian Sea. In the vicinity of the city there are a number of mud volcanoes (Keyraki, Bogkh-bogkha, Lokbatan and others) and salt lakes (Boyukshor, Khodasan and so on). + +Climate +Baku has a cold semi-arid climate (Köppen climate classification: BSk) with hot and humid summers, cool and occasionally wet winters, and strong winds all year long. However, unlike many other cities with such climate features, Baku does not see extremely hot summers and substantial sunshine hours. This is largely because of its northerly latitude and the fact that it is located on a peninsula on the shore of the Caspian Sea. + +Baku, and the Absheron Peninsula on which it is situated, is the most arid part of Azerbaijan (precipitation here is around or less than a year). This is largely due to the rain shadow effect from the Caucasian Mountains, with corresponding latitudes on the Black Sea on average receiving or more. The majority of the light annual precipitation occurs in seasons other than summer, but none of these seasons is particularly wet. + +During Soviet times, Baku, with its long hours of sunshine and dry healthy climate, was a vacation destination where citizens could enjoy beaches or relax in now-dilapidated spa complexes overlooking the Caspian Sea. The city's past as a Soviet industrial centre left it one of the most polluted cities in the world, . + +At the same time Baku is noted as a very windy city throughout the year, hence the city's nickname the "City of Winds", and gale-force winds, the cold northern wind khazri and the warm southern wind gilavar are typical here in all seasons. Indeed, the city is renowned for its fierce winter snow storms and harsh winds. +The speed of the khazri sometimes reaches 144 km/h (89 mph), which can cause damage to crops, trees and roof tiles. + +The daily mean temperature in July and August averages , and there is very little rainfall during that season. During summer the khazri sweeps through, bringing desired coolness. Winter is cool and occasionally wet, with the daily mean temperature in January and February averaging . During winter the khazri sweeps through, driven by polar air masses; temperatures on the coast frequently drop below freezing and make it feel bitterly cold. Winter snow storms are occasional; snow usually melts within a few days after each snowfall. + +Administrative divisions +Baku is divided into 12 rayonlar (sub-rayons) (administrative districts) and 5 settlements of city type. + + Binagadi (Binəqədi) raion + Garadagh (Qaradağ) raion + Khatai (Xətai) raion + Khazar (Xəzər) raion + Narimanov (Nərimanov) raion + Nasimi (Nəsimi) raion + Nizami raion + Pirallahi (Pirallahı) raion + Sabail (Səbail) raion + Sabunchu (Sabunçu) raion + Surakhani (Suraxanı) raion + Yasamal raion + +Demographics +Until 1988, Baku had very large Russian, Armenian, and Jewish populations which contributed to cultural diversity and added in various ways (music, literature, architecture and progressive outlook) to Baku's history. With the onset of the First Nagorno-Karabakh War and the pogrom against Armenians starting in January 1990, the city's large Armenian population was expelled. +Under Communism, the Soviets took over the majority of Jewish property in Baku and Kuba. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Azerbaijani President Heydar Aliyev returned several synagogues and a Jewish college, nationalised by the Soviets, to the Jewish community; he encouraged the restoration of these buildings. Seven of the original 11 synagogues, including the Gilah synagogue, built in 1896, and the large Kruei Synagogue, were renovated. + +Ethnic groups + +Today, the vast majority of Baku's population is made up of ethnic Azerbaijanis, and the rest are Talysh, Russians, Lezgi and others. The intensive growth of the population started in the middle of the 19th century when Baku was a small town with a population of about 7,000 people. The population increased again from about 13,000 in the 1860s to 112,000 in 1897 and 215,000 in 1913, making Baku the largest city in the Caucasus region. + +Baku has been a cosmopolitan city at certain times during its history, meaning ethnic Azerbaijanis did not constitute the majority of population. It was only in the 1970s that ethnic Azerbaijanis achieved demographic dominance in Baku. In 2003 Baku additionally had 153,400 internally displaced persons and 93,400 refugees. + +Religion + +The religion with the largest community of followers is Islam. The majority of the Muslims are Shia Muslims, and the Republic of Azerbaijan has the second highest Shia population percentage in the world after Iran. The city's notable mosques include Juma Mosque, Bibi-Heybat Mosque, Muhammad Mosque and Taza Pir Mosque. + +There are some other faiths practised among the different ethnic groups within the country. By article 48 of its Constitution, Azerbaijan is a secular state and ensures religious freedom. Religious minorities include Russian Orthodox Christians, Catholic Levantines, Georgian Orthodox Christians, Albanian-Udi Apostolic Christians, Lutherans, Ashkenazi Jews, and Sufi Muslims. Baku is the seat of the Catholic Apostolic Prefecture of Azerbaijan. + +Zoroastrianism, although extinct in the city as well as in the rest of the country by the present time, had a long history in Azerbaijan and the Zoroastrian New Year (Nowruz) continues to be the main holiday in the city as well as in the rest of Azerbaijan. + +Economy + +Baku's largest industry is petroleum, and its petroleum exports make it a large contributor to Azerbaijan's balance of payments. The existence of petroleum has been known since the 8th century. In the 10th century, the Arabian traveler, Marudee, reported that both white and black oil were being extracted naturally from Baku. By the 15th century, oil for lamps was obtained from hand-dug surface wells. +Commercial exploitation began in 1872, and by the beginning of the 20th century the Baku oil fields were the largest in the world. Towards the end of the 20th century, much of the onshore petroleum had been exhausted, and drilling had extended into the sea offshore. By the end of the 19th century skilled workers and specialists flocked to Baku. By 1900 the city had more than 3,000 oil wells, of which 2,000 were producing oil at industrial levels. Baku ranked as one of the largest centres for the production of oil industry equipment before World War II. The World War II Battle of Stalingrad was fought to determine who would have control of Baku oil fields. Fifty years before the battle, Baku produced half of the world's oil supply. + +The oil economy of Baku is undergoing a resurgence, with the development of the massive Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli field (Shallow water Gunashli by SOCAR, deeper areas by a consortium led by BP), development of the Shah Deniz gas field, the expansion of the Sangachal Terminal and the construction of the BTC Pipeline. + +The Baku Stock Exchange is Azerbaijan's largest stock exchange, and largest in the Caucasian region by market capitalization. A relatively large number of transnational companies are headquartered in Baku. One of the more prominent institutions headquartered in Baku is the International Bank of Azerbaijan, which employs over 1,000 people. International banks with branches in Baku include HSBC, Société Générale and Credit Suisse. + +Tourism and shopping +Baku is one of the most important tourist destinations in the Caucasus, with hotels in the city earning 7 million euros in 2009. Many sizable world hotel chains have a presence in the city. Baku has many popular tourist and entertainment spots, such as the downtown Fountains Square, the One and Thousand Nights Beach, Shikhov Beach and Oil Rocks. Baku's vicinities feature Yanar Dag, an ever-blazing spot of natural gas. On 2 September 2010 with the inauguration of National Flag Square, Baku set the world record for tallest flagpole; on 24 May 2011, the city of Dushanbe in Tajikistan set a new record with a -higher flagpole. A few years later, the Flag Pole was dismantled and the National Flag Square was closed off with fences. + +Baku has several shopping malls; the most famous city centre malls are Port Baku, Park Bulvar, Ganjlik Mall, Metro Park, 28 MALL, Aygun city and AF MALL. The retail areas contain shops from chain stores up to high-end boutiques. + +The city is listed 48th in the 2011 list of the most expensive cities in the world conducted by the Mercer Human Resource Consulting. Its Nizami Street and also the Neftchilar Avenue are among the most expensive streets in the world. + +Culture +In 2007 the Heydar Aliyev Cultural Centre, designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Zaha Hadid, was opened. Baku also has many museums such as Baku Museum of Modern Art and Azerbaijan State Museum of History, most notably featuring historical artifacts and art. Many of the city's cultural sites were celebrated in 2009 when Baku was designated an Islamic Culture Capital. Baku was chosen to host the Eurovision Dance Contest 2010. It has also become the first city hosting the first European Games in 2015. + +Theatres + + Azerbaijan State Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre + Azerbaijan State Academic Drama Theatre + Azerbaijan State Russian Drama Theatre named after Samad Vurgun + Baku Puppet Theatre (formally Azerbaijan State Puppet Theatre named after Abdulla Shaig) + Azerbaijan State Theatre of Young Spectators + Azerbaijan State Theatre of Musical Comedy + Baku State Circus + "Oda" Theatre + Baku Marionette Theatre + Baku Municipal Theatre + Azerbaijan State Pantomime Theatre + Mugham Azerbaijan National Music Theatre + Azerbaijan State Theatre of Song named after Rashid Behbudov + "UNS" Theatre + "Yugh" Theatre + +Among Baku's cultural venues are Azerbaijan State Philharmonic Hall, Azerbaijan State Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre. The main movie theatre is Azerbaijan Cinema. Festivals include Baku International Film Festival, Baku International Jazz Festival, Novruz Festival, Gül Bayramı (Flower Festival) and the National Theater Festival. International and local exhibitions are presented at the Baku Expo Centre. + +, the city along with Ganja and Lankaran participates in Earth Hour movement. + +Museums + + The Museum Centre + Museum of Archaeology and Ethnography + Azerbaijan State Carpet Museum + Azerbaijan Museum of Geology + +Libraries + National Library of Azerbaijan + ANAS Central Library of Science + Presidential Library (former Library of the Armenian Philanthropic Society) + +Architecture + +Baku has wildly varying architecture, ranging from the Old City core to modern buildings and the spacious layout of Baku port. Many of the city's landmarks were built during the early 20th century, when architectural elements of the European styles were combined in eclectic style. Baku has an original and unique appearance, earning it a reputation as the 'Paris of the East'. Baku joined UNESCO's Network of Creative Cities as a Design City on 31 October 2019 on the occasion of World Cities' Day. + +Hamams + +There are a number of ancient hamams in Baku dating back to the 12th, 14th and 18th centuries. Hamams play a very important role in the architectural appearance of Baku. + +Teze Bey Hamam +Teze Bey is the most popular hamam (traditional bath) in Baku. It was built in 1886 in the centre of Baku and in 2003 it was fully restored and modernised. Along with its modern amenities, Teze Bey features a swimming pool and architectural details inspired by Oriental, Russian and Finnish baths. + +Gum Hamam +Gum Hamam was discovered during archaeological excavations underneath the sand; hence the name: Gum hamam (sand bath). It was built sometime during the 12th–14th centuries. + +Bairamali hamam +In ancient times Bairamali Hamam was called "Bey Hamam". The original structure was built sometime during the 12th–14th centuries and was reconstructed in 1881. + +Agha Mikayil Hamam +Agha Mikayil Hamam was constructed in the 18th century by Haji Agha Mikayil on Kichik Gala Street in the Old City (Icherisheher). It is still operating in its ancient setting. The Hamam is open to women on Mondays and Fridays and to men on the other days of the week. + +Modern architecture +Late modern and postmodern architecture began to appear in the early 2000s. With economic development, old buildings such as Atlant House were razed to make way for new ones. Buildings with all-glass shells have appeared around the city, the most prominent examples being the International Mugham Center, Azerbaijan Tower, Heydar Aliyev Cultural Centre, Flame Towers, Baku Crystal Hall, Baku White City, SOCAR Tower and DENIZ Mall. These projects also caught the attention of international media as notable programmes such as Discovery Channel's Extreme Engineering did pieces focusing in on changes to the city. + +The Old City of Baku, also known as the Walled City of Baku, refers to the ancient Baku settlement. Most of the walls and towers, strengthened after the Russian conquest in 1806, survived. This section is picturesque, with its maze of narrow alleys and ancient buildings: the cobbled streets past the Palace of the Shirvanshahs, two caravansaries, the baths and the Juma Mosque (which used to house the Azerbaijan National Carpet and Arts Museum but is now a mosque again). The old town core also has dozens of small mosques, often without any particular sign to distinguish them as such. + +In 2003, UNESCO placed the Inner City on the List of World Heritage in Danger, citing damage from a November 2000 earthquake, poor conservation as well as "dubious" restoration efforts. In 2009 the Inner City was removed from the List of World Heritage in Danger. + +Visual arts + +The three main institutions for exhibiting modern and contemporary art in Baku are: + Baku Museum of Modern Art + Heydar Aliyev Centre + Yarat Contemporary Art Space () + +Music and media + +The music scene in Baku can be traced back to ancient times and villages of Baku, generally revered as the fountainhead of meykhana and mugham in the Azerbaijan. + +In recent years, the success of Azerbaijani performers such as AySel, Farid Mammadov, Sabina Babayeva, Safura and Elnur Hüseynov in the Eurovision Song Contest has boosted the profile of Baku's music scene, prompting international attention. Following the victory of Azerbaijan's representative Eldar & Nigar at the Eurovision Song Contest 2011, Baku hosted the Eurovision Song Contest 2012. + +2005 was a landmark in the development of Azerbaijani jazz in the city. It has been home to legendary jazz musicians like Vagif Mustafazadeh, Aziza Mustafa Zadeh, Rafig Babayev and Rain Sultanov. Among Baku's prominent annual fairs and festivals is Baku International Jazz Festival, which features some of the world's most identifiable jazz names. + +Baku also has a thriving International Centre of Mugham, which is located in Baku Boulevard, Gulustan Palace and Buta Palace, one of the principal performing arts centres and music venues in the city. + +The majority of Azerbaijan's media companies (including television, newspaper and radio, such as, Azad Azerbaijan TV, Ictimai TV, Lider TV and Region TV) are headquartered in Baku. The films The World Is Not Enough and The Diamond Arm are set in the city, while Amphibian Man includes several scenes filmed in Old City. + +The city's radio stations include: Ictimai Radio, Radio Antenn, Burc FM, Avto FM, ASAN Radio and Lider FM Jazz + +Some of Baku's newspapers include the daily Azadliq, Zaman (The Time), Bakinskiy Rabochiy (Baku Worker), Echo and the English-language Baku Today. + +Baku is also featured in the video game Battlefield 4. + +Nightlife +Many clubs that are open until dawn can be found throughout the city. Clubs with an eastern flavour provide special treats from the cuisine of Azerbaijan along with local music. Western-style clubs target younger, more energetic crowds. Most of the public houses and bars are located near Fountains Square and are usually open until the early hours of the morning. + +Baku is home to restaurants catering to every cuisine and occasion. Restaurants range from luxurious and expensive to ordinary and affordable. + +Parks and gardens + +Baku has large sections of greenery either preserved by the National Government or designated as green zones. The city, however, continues to lack a green belt development as economic activity pours into the capital, resulting in massive housing projects along the suburbs. + +Baku Boulevard is a pedestrian promenade that runs parallel to Baku's seafront. The boulevard contains an amusement park, yacht club, musical fountain, statues and monuments. The park is popular with dog-walkers and joggers and is convenient for tourists. It is adjacent to the newly built International Centre of Mugham and the musical fountain. + +Other parks and gardens include Heydar Aliyev Park, Samad Vurgun Park, Narimanov Park, Alley of Honor and the Fountains Square. The Martyrs' Lane, formerly the Kirov Park, is dedicated to the memory of those who died during the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and also to the 137 people killed on Black January. + +Sports + + Baku hosts a Formula One race on the Baku City Circuit. The first was the 2016 European Grand Prix, with the track going around the old city. The track measures 6.003 km (3.735 mi), and it has been on the Formula One calendar since its 2016 debut. + +The city also hosted three group games and one quarter-final of the UEFA Euro 2020 European Football Championship. + +Since 2002, Baku has hosted 36 major sporting events and selected to host the 2015 European Games. Baku is also to host the fourth edition of the Islamic Solidarity Games in 2017. + +Baku is also one of world's leading chess centres, having produced famous grandmasters like Teimour Radjabov, Vugar Gashimov, Garry Kasparov, Shahriyar Mammadyarov and Rauf Mammadov, as well as the arbiter Faik Hasanov. The city also annually hosts the international tournaments such as Baku Chess Grand Prix, President's Cup, Baku Open and bidding to host 42nd Chess Olympiad in 2014. + +First class sporting facilities were built for the indoor games, including the Palace of Hand Games and Heydar Aliyev Sports and Exhibition Complex. It hosted many sporting events, including FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup, Rhythmic Gymnastics European Championships in 2007 and 2009, 2005 World Rhythmic Gymnastics Championships, 2007 FILA Wrestling World Championships and 2010 European Wrestling Championships, 2011 World Amateur Boxing Championships, 2009 Women's Challenge Cup and European Taekwondo Championships in 2007. Since 2011 the city annually hosts WTA tennis event called Baku Cup. + +The Synergy Baku Cycling Project participates in the Tour d'Azerbaïdjan a 2.2 multi-stage bicycle race on the UCI Europe Tour. + +Baku made a bid to host the 2016 Summer Olympics and 2020 Summer Olympics, but failed to become a Candidate City both times. + +The largest sports hub in the city is Baku Olympic Stadium with 69,870 seating capacity whose construction was completed in 2015. UEFA Europa League Final 2019 was played at the Olympic Stadium in Baku on 29 May 2019 between English sides Chelsea and Arsenal. The city's main football clubs is Neftçi Baku of who first has nine Premier League titles making Neftchi the most successful Azerbaijani football club. Baku also has several football clubs in the premier and regional leagues, including AZAL and Ravan in Premier League. The city's second largest stadium, Tofiq Bahramov Stadium hosts a number of domestic and international competitions and was the main sports centre of the city for a long period until the construction of Baku Olympic Stadium. + +In the Azerbaijan Women's Volleyball Super League, Baku is represented by Rabita Baku, Azerrail Baku, Lokomotiv Baku and Azeryol Baku. + +Transport + +Throughout history the transport system of Baku used the now-defunct horsecars, trams and narrow gauge railways. , 1,000 black cabs are ordered by Baku Taxi Company, and as part of a programme originally announced by the Transport Ministry of Azerbaijan, there is a plan to introduce London cabs into Baku. The move was part of £16 million agreement between Manganese Bronze subsidiary LTI Limited and Baku Taxi Company. + +Local rail transport includes the Baku Funicular and the Baku Metro, a rapid-transit system notable for its art, murals, mosaics and ornate chandeliers. Baku Metro was opened in November 1967 and includes 3 lines and 25 stations at present; 170 million people used Baku Metro over the past five years. In 2008, the Chief of Baku Metro, Taghi Ahmadov, announced plans to construct 41 new stations over the next 17 years. These will serve the new bus complex as well as the international airport. In 2019, the Baku suburban railway opened. + +BakuCard is a single Smart Card for payment on all types of city transport. The intercity buses and metro use this type of card-based fare-payment system. + +Baku Railway Station is the terminus for national and international rail links to the city. The Kars–Tbilisi–Baku railway, which directly connects Turkey, Georgia and Azerbaijan, began to be constructed in 2007 and opened in 2017. The completed branch will connect Baku with Tbilisi in Georgia, and from there trains will continue to Akhalkalaki, and Kars in Turkey. + +Sea transport is vital for Baku, as the city is practically surrounded by the Caspian Sea to the east. Shipping services operate regularly from Baku across the Caspian Sea to Turkmenbashi (formerly Krasnovodsk) in Turkmenistan and to Bandar Anzali and Bandar Nowshar in Iran. The commuter ferries, along with the high-speed catamaran Seabus (Deniz Avtobusu), also form the main connection between the city and the Absheron peninsula. + +Baku Port was founded in 1902 and claims to be the largest Caspian Sea port. It has six facilities: the main cargo terminal, the container terminal, the ferry terminal, the oil terminal, the passenger terminal and the port fleet terminal. The port's throughput capacity reaches 15 million tonnes of liquid bulk and up to 10 million tons of dry cargoes. In 2010, the Baku International Sea Trade Port began to be reconstructed. The construction was planned to take place in three stages and to be completed by 2016. The estimated costs were US$400 million. From April to November Baku Port is accessible to ships loading cargoes for direct voyages from Western European and Mediterranean ports. The State Road M-1 and the European route E60 are the two main motorway connections between Europe and Azerbaijan. The motorway network around Baku is well developed and is constantly being extended. +The Heydar Aliyev International Airport is the only commercial airport serving Baku. The new Baku Cargo Terminal was officially opened in March 2005. It was constructed to be a major cargo hub in the CIS countries and is actually now one of the biggest and most technically advanced in the region. There are also several smaller military airbases near Baku, such as Baku Kala Air Base, intended for private aircraft, helicopters and charters. + +Education + +Baku State University, the first established university in Azerbaijan was opened in 1919 by the government of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic. In the early years of the Soviet era, Baku already had Azerbaijan State Oil Academy, Azerbaijan Medical University and Azerbaijan State Economic University. In the post-WWII period, a few more universities were established such as Azerbaijan Technical University, Azerbaijan University of Languages and the Azerbaijan Architecture and Construction University. After 1991 when Azerbaijan gained independence from the Soviet Union, the fall of communism led to the development of a number of private institutions, including Qafqaz University and Khazar University which are considered the most prestigious academic institutions. Apart from the private universities, the government established the Academy of Public Administration, the Azerbaijan Diplomatic Academy and various military academies. The largest universities according to the student population are Baku State University and Azerbaijan State Economic University. In addition, there are the Baku Music Academy and the Azerbaijan National Conservatoire in Baku established in the early 1920s. Publicly run kindergartens and elementary schools (years 1 through 11) are operated by local wards or municipal offices. + +The Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences, the main state research organisation in Azerbaijan is locating in Baku as well. Moreover, Baku has numerous libraries, many of which contain vast collections of historic documents from the Roman, Byzantine, Ottoman and Soviet periods, as well as from other civilisations of the past. The most important libraries in terms of historic document collections include the Nizami Museum of Azerbaijan Literature, the National Library of Azerbaijan, the Mirza Alakbar Central Library, the Samad Vurgun Library and Baku Presidential Library. + +Secondary schools + Elite Gymnasium + +Health care +According to the Ministry of Healthcare, healthcare facilities in Baku are "highly developed compared with the regions and doctors are waiting to work there. The regions, meanwhile, lack both doctors and clinics providing specialized medical treatment." Resulting in citizens travelling for many hours to Baku to receive adequate medical treatment. + +Notable residents + +International relations + +Twin towns and sister cities +Baku is twinned with:[in chronological order] + +Partner cities + Mainz, Germany + Paris, France + Vienna, Austria + Tbilisi, Georgia + Astana, Kazakhstan + Minsk, Belarus + Moscow, Russia + Volgograd, Russia + Kizlyar, Russia + Tashkent, Uzbekistan + Chengdu, China + +See also + + Baku Gradonachalstvo + 1920 Baku Congress + Alexander III visit to Baku + Administrative divisions of Azerbaijan + List of cities in Azerbaijan + Mingachevir + Nakhchivan + Sumgait + +Notes + +References + +External links + + + Baku's profile at the Organization of World Heritage Cities website + UNESCO World Heritage Site listing Walled City of Baku + + + +Capitals in Asia +Cities and towns in Azerbaijan +Populated coastal places in Azerbaijan +Districts of Azerbaijan +Port cities in Azerbaijan +Port cities and towns of the Caspian Sea +World Heritage Sites in Azerbaijan +Weather extremes of Earth +Populated places along the Silk Road +The balalaika (, ) is a Russian stringed musical instrument with a characteristic triangular wooden, hollow body, fretted neck and three strings. Two strings are usually tuned to the same note and the third string is a perfect fourth higher. The higher-pitched balalaikas are used to play melodies and chords. The instrument generally has a short sustain, necessitating rapid strumming or plucking when it is used to play melodies. Balalaikas are often used for Russian folk music and dancing. + +The balalaika family of instruments includes instruments of various sizes, from the highest-pitched to the lowest: the piccolo balalaika, prima balalaika, secunda balalaika, alto balalaika, bass balalaika, and contrabass balalaika. There are balalaika orchestras which consist solely of different balalaikas; these ensembles typically play Classical music that has been arranged for balalaikas. The prima balalaika is the most common; the piccolo is rare. There have also been descant and tenor balalaikas, but these are considered obsolete. All have three-sided bodies; spruce, evergreen, or fir tops; and backs made of three to nine wooden sections (usually maple). + +The prima balalaika, secunda and alto are played either with the fingers or a plectrum (pick), depending on the music being played, and the bass and contrabass (equipped with extension legs that rest on the floor) are played with leather plectra. The rare piccolo instrument is usually played with a pick. + +Etymology + +The earliest mention of the term balalaika dates back to a 1688 Russian document. Another appearance of the word is registered in a document from the Verkhotursky district of Russia, dated October 1700. It is also mentioned in a document dated 1714 and signed by Peter the Great regarding the wedding celebrations of N.M. Zotov in Saint Petersburg. In the Ukrainian language the word was first documented in the 18th century as "balabaika"; this form is also present in South Russian dialects and the Belarusian language, as well as in Siberian Russia. It made its way into literature and first appeared in "Elysei", a 1771 poem by V. Maykov. "Balalaika" also appears in Nikolai Gogol's Dead Souls, written between 1837 and 1842. + +Types + +The most common solo instrument is the prima, which is tuned E4–E4–A4 (thus the two lower strings are tuned to the same pitch). Sometimes the balalaika is tuned "guitar style" by folk musicians to G3–B3–D4 (mimicking the three highest strings of the Russian guitar), whereby it is easier to play for Russian guitar players, although classically trained balalaika purists avoid this tuning. It can also be tuned to E4–A4–D5, like its cousin, the domra, to make it easier for those trained on the domra to play the instrument, and still have a balalaika sound. The folk (pre-Andreev) tunings D4–F4–A4 and C4–E4–G4 were very popular, as this makes it easier to play certain riffs. + +Balalaikas have been made in the following sizes: +{| class="wikitable" +! Name !! Length !! Common tuning +|- +| descant || || E5 E5 A5 +|- +| piccolo || || B4 E5 A5 +|- +| prima || || E4 E4 A4 +|- +| secunda || || A3 A3 D4 +|- +| alto || || E3 E3 A3 +|- +| tenor || || A2 A2 D3 +|- +| bass || || E2 A2 D3 +|- +| contrabass || || E1 A1 D2 +|} + +Factory-made six-string prima balalaikas with three sets of double courses are also common. These have three double courses similar to the stringing of the mandolin and often use a "guitar" tuning. + +Four-string alto balalaikas are also encountered and are used in the orchestra of the Piatnistky Folk Choir. + +The piccolo, prima, and secunda balalaikas were originally strung with gut with the thinnest melody string made of stainless steel. Today, nylon strings are commonly used in place of gut. + +Amateur and/or souvenir-style prima balalaikas usually have a total of 16 frets, while in professional orchestra-like ones that number raises to 24. + +Technique + +An important part of balalaika technique is the use of the left thumb to fret notes on the lower string, particularly on the prima, where it is used to form chords. Traditionally, the side of the index finger of the right hand is used to sound notes on the prima, while a plectrum is used on the larger sizes. + +Because of the large size of the contrabass's strings, it is not uncommon to see players using a plectrum made from a leather shoe or boot heel. Bass and contrabass balalaikas rest on the ground, on a wooden or metal pin that is drilled into one of its corners. + +History + +It is possible that the emergence and evolution of the balalaika was a product of interaction with Asian-Oriental cultures. In addition to European culture, early Russian states, also called Rus' or Rusi, were also influenced by Oriental-Asian cultures. Some theories say that the instrument is descended from the domra, an instrument from the East Slavs. In the Caucasus, similar instruments such as the Mongolian topshur, used in Kalmykia, and the Panduri used in Georgia are played. It is also similar to the Kazakh dombra, which has two strings. Variants of the dombra played by the Bashkirs often have 3 strings and may represent an instrument related to both the dombra and the balalaika. + +The pre-Andreyev period +Early representations of the balalaika show it with anywhere from two to six strings. Similarly, frets on earlier balalaikas were made of animal gut and tied to the neck so that they could be moved around by the player at will (as is the case with the modern saz, which allows for the playing distinctive to Turkish and Central Asian music). + +The first known document mentioning the instrument dates back to 1688. A guard's logbook from the Moscow Kremlin records that two commoners were stopped from playing the Balalaika whilst drunk. Further documents from 1700 and 1714 also mention the instrument. In the early 18th century the term appeared in Ukrainian documents, where it sounded like "Balabaika". Balalaika appeared in "Elysei", a 1771 poem by V. Maikov. In the 19th century, the balalaika evolved into a triangular instrument with a neck that was substantially shorter than that of its Asian counterparts. It was popular as a village instrument for centuries, particularly with the skomorokhs, sort of free-lance musical jesters whose tunes ridiculed the Tsar, the Russian Orthodox Church, and Russian society in general. + +The Andreyev period +In the 1880s, Vasily Vasilievich Andreyev, who was then a professional violinist in the music salons of St Petersburg, developed what became the standardized balalaika, with the assistance of violin maker V. Ivanov. The instrument began to be used in his concert performances. A few years later, St. Petersburg craftsman Paserbsky further refined the instruments by adding a fully chromatic set of frets and also a number of balalaikas in orchestral sizes with the tunings now found in modern instruments. One of the reasons why the instruments were not standardised, was because people in the outlying areas built their own instruments because there was so little communication for them. There were no roads and weather conditions were generally bad. Andreyev patented the design and arranged numerous traditional Russian folk melodies for the orchestra. He also composed a body of concert pieces for the instrument. + +Balalaika orchestra + +The end result of Andreyev's labours was the establishment of an orchestral folk tradition in Tsarist Russia, which later grew into a movement within the Soviet Union. The balalaika orchestra in its full form consists of balalaikas, domras, gusli, bayan, Vladimir Shepherd's Horns, garmoshkas and several types of percussion instruments. + +With the establishment of the Soviet system and the entrenchment of a proletarian cultural direction, the culture of the working classes (which included that of village labourers) was actively supported by the Soviet establishment. The concept of the balalaika orchestra was adopted wholeheartedly by the Soviet government as something distinctively proletarian (that is, from the working classes) and was also deemed progressive. Significant amounts of energy and time were devoted to support and foster the formal study of the balalaika, from which highly skilled ensemble groups such as the Osipov State Russian Folk Orchestra emerged. Balalaika virtuosi such as Boris Feoktistov and Pavel Necheporenko became stars both inside and outside the Soviet Union. The movement was so powerful that even the renowned Red Army Choir, which initially used a normal symphonic orchestra, changed its instrumentation, replacing violins, violas, and violoncellos with orchestral balalaikas and domras. + +Solo instrument +Often musicians perform solo on the balalaika. In particular, Alexey Arkhipovsky is well known for his solo performances. In particular, he was invited to play at the opening ceremony of the second semi final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2009 in Moscow because the organizers wanted to give a "more Russian appearance" to the contest. + +Notable players + +See Category: Russian balalaika players (English Wikipedia) and a larger one in Russian + +Vasily Andreyev +Alexey Arkhipovsky +Elina Karokhina + +In popular culture + +Through the 20th century, interest in Russian folk instruments grew outside of Russia, likely as a result of western tours by Andreyev and other balalaika virtuosi early in the century. Significant balalaika associations are found in Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, New York, Atlanta and Seattle. + Ian Anderson plays balalaika on two songs from the 1969 Jethro Tull album Stand Up: "Jeffrey Goes to Leicester Square" and "Fat Man". + Wes Anderson's 2014 film The Grand Budapest Hotel (winner of the 87th Academy Award for Best Original Score) employs many balalaikas in both Alexandre Desplat's original score and several sound-track recordings by the Osipov State Russian Folk Orchestra. + Oleg Bernov of the Russian-American rock band the Red Elvises played a red electrified contrabass balalaika during the band's North American tours. Dejah Sandoval currently tours with the Red Elvises and plays the bass balalaika. + Kate Bush featured the balalaika (played by her brother Paddy Bush) in two of her Top-40 singles, "Babooshka" and "Running Up That Hill". + Katzenjammer, the Norwegian all-girl pop band, uses two contrabass balalaikas, both of which have cat faces painted on the front. They are named Børge and Akerø. + David Lean's 1965 film Doctor Zhivago features balalaika prominently in the score and the plot. + VulgarGrad, an Australian band fronted by actor Jacek Koman, plays songs of the Russian criminal underground, and uses a contrabass balalaika. +RebbeSoul plays the balalaika on numerous songs on the RebbeSoul albums Fringe Of Blue, RebbeSoul-O, Change The World With A Sound, and From Another World. He also plays the balalaika on the Common Tongue album Step Into My Word and on the Shlomit & RebbeSoul album The Seal Of Solomon. +The instrument is featured in the episode "The Secret War" of the 2019 Netflix series Love, Death & Robots. +The instrument is used alongside a piano and a bayan (a type of Russian accordion) in the piece "A Journey" from the soundtrack of the 2013 Japanese animated film The Wind Rises. +Selo i Ludy, a Ukrainian folk band, utilises the balalaika. +The instrument makes a brief appearance in Charlie Chaplin's 1931 film City Lights. +The Beatles' song "Back in the U.S.S.R." includes the lyric "let me hear your balalaikas ringing out". +"Wind of Change" by Scorpions includes the lyric "let your balalaika sing what my guitar wants to say ". +The balalaika is played in "Boris the Blade Theme" from the 2000 comedy crime film Snatch directed by Guy Ritchie. +It is featured in the soundtrack of Furious (2017 film) + +See also + + Domra + Gibson Flying V + Timeline of Russian innovation + +References + + Блок В. Оркестр русских народных инструментов. Москва, 1986. + Имханицкий М. В. В. Андреев – Материалы и документы. Москва, 1986. + Имханицкий М. У истоков русской народной оркестровой культуры. Москва, 1987. + Имханицкий М. История исполнительства на русских народных инструментах. Москва, 2002. + Пересада А. Балалайка. Москва, 1990. + Попонов В. Оркестр хора имени Пятницкого. Москва, 1979. + Попонов В. Русская народная инструментальная музыка. Москва, 1984. + Вертков К. Русские народные музыкальные инструменты. Музыка, Ленинград, 1975. + +External links + + Balalaika Part Names And Setup – Balalaika Lesson 1 on ibalalaika.com + (en) "Balalaika"—article by Dmitry Belinskiy from the newspaper Krymskaya Pravda. Balalaika music, video + Russian site about balalaika. History of balalaika, by Georgy Nefyodov + Chord reference for Prima-Balalaika + (rus) balalaika.org.ru: music sheets, video, forum, etc. + + (de) russische-balalaika.de – informative Website +An example of a reconstructed pre-Andreyev balalaika with two strings on YouTube +An example of a Bessarabian tune on balalaika, Dieter and Ally Hauptmann on YouTube. + The magic of Alexey Arkhipovsky. Sharmanka ("Hurdy-gurdy"). YouTube. + +Necked bowl lutes +Russian inventions +Guitars +Russian musical instruments +String instruments +The Bank of China Tower (BOC Tower) is a skyscraper located in Central, Hong Kong. Located at 1 Garden Road on Hong Kong Island, the tower houses the headquarters of the Bank of China (Hong Kong) Limited. One of the most recognisable landmarks in Hong Kong, the building is notable for its distinct shape and design, consisting of triangular frameworks covered by glass curtain walls. + +The building was designed by Chinese-American architect I. M. Pei and L. C. Pei of I. M. Pei and Partners. At a height of , reaching high including a spire, the building is the fourth tallest skyscraper in Hong Kong, after International Commerce Centre, Two International Finance Centre and Central Plaza. It was the tallest building in Hong Kong and Asia from 1990 to 1992, and it was the first supertall skyscraper outside the United States, the first to break the 305 m (1,000 ft) mark. It was surpassed by Central Plaza on the same island in 1992. + +Construction began on 18 April 1985 on the former site of Murray House, and was completed five years later in 1990. Sporting a steel-column design, the building is accessible from the MTR's Central station. The building lies between Cotton Tree Drive and Garden Road. + +History + +Site +The site on which the building is constructed was formerly the location of Murray House. After its brick-by-brick relocation to Stanley, the site was sold by the Government for "only HK$1 billion" in August 1982 amidst growing concern over the future of Hong Kong in the run-up to the transfer of sovereignty. + +The building was initially built by the Hong Kong Branch of the Bank of China; its Garden Road entrance continues to display the name "Bank of China", rather than BOCHK. The top four and the bottom 19 stories are used by the Bank, while the other floors are leased out. Ownership has since been transferred to BOCHK, although the Bank of China has leased back several floors for use by its own operations in Hong Kong. + +Favouritism controversy +The Government had apparently given preferential treatment to Chinese companies, and was again criticised for the apparent preferential treatment to the BOCHK. + +The price paid was half the amount of the 6,250 m2 Admiralty II plot, for which the MTR Corporation paid HK$1.82 billion in cash. The BOC would make initial payment of $60 million, with the rest payable over 13 years at 6% interest. The announcement of the sale was also poorly handled, and a dive in business confidence ensued. The Hang Seng Index fell 80 points, and the HK$ lost 1.5% of its value the next day. + +Construction + +The tower was built by Japanese contractor Kumagai Gumi. Superstructure work began in May 1986. The tower is a steel-frame structure. + +The Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 interrupted publicity surrounding the building's design and construction. A press conference scheduled for 24 May 1989, two weeks before the incident, was intended to show off the building's "designer socialist furnishings", but was called off as the student demonstrations in Beijing escalated. The public relations firm that organised the conference explained to the South China Morning Post that "under the circumstances, it has been decided to stop any publicity to do with the Bank of China." + +Once developed, gross floor area was expected to be 100,000 m2. The original project was intended for completion on the auspicious date of 8 August 1988. However, owing to project delays, groundbreaking took place in March 1985, almost two years late. It was topped out in 1989, and occupied on 15 June 1990. + +Architecture + +Designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect I. M. Pei, the building is high with two masts reaching high. The 72-storey building is located near Central MTR station. This was the tallest building in Hong Kong and Asia from 1990 to 1992, the first building outside the United States to break the 305 m (1,000 ft) mark, and the first composite space frame high-rise building. That also means it was the tallest outside the United States from its completion year, 1990. It is now the fourth tallest skyscraper in Hong Kong, after International Commerce Centre, Two International Finance Centre and Central Plaza. + +A small observation deck on the 43rd floor of the building was once open to the public, but is now closed. + +The whole structure is supported by the four steel columns at the corners of the building, with the triangular frameworks transferring the weight of the structure onto these four columns. It is covered with glass curtain walls. Structural engineer Leslie E. Robertson, best known for his work on the Twin Towers of the original World Trade Center, provided the structural engineering design, while Jaros, Baum & Bolles was the mechanical, electrical and plumbing engineer. + +While its distinctive look makes it one of Hong Kong's most identifiable landmarks today, it was the source of some controversy at one time, as the bank is the only major building in Hong Kong to have bypassed the convention of consulting with feng shui masters on matters of design prior to construction. + +The building has been criticised by some practitioners of feng shui for its sharp edges and its negative symbolism by the numerous 'X' shapes in its original design, though Pei modified the design to some degree before construction following this feedback. The building's profile from some angles resembles that of a meat cleaver and it is sometimes referred to as a "vertical knife". This earned it the nickname () in Cantonese, literally meaning 'one knife'. + +Transport +The Bank of China Tower can be accessed by the Mass Transit Railway (MTR) by walking through Chater Garden from Central station Exit J2. + +In popular culture + In 1988 the film Police Story 2, the building was shown during its construction + In the 2012 film Battleship, the building is torn in half by a crashing alien spaceship and its spire falls into the streets of Hong Kong, killing many people. + In Star Trek: Voyager, the building is used as the exterior of Starfleet Communications Research Center. + The building is seen on the attraction It's a Small World at Hong Kong Disneyland. + The building was featured in the film Transformers: Age of Extinction, where Bumblebee and Dinobot Strafe makes their final stand against the Decepticon drone Stinger. + The building appears in Cardcaptor Sakura: The Movie for several scenes. + The building was featured in the city-building game SimCity 3000 as a placeable landmark. + The building was featured in the 2017 mobile game Theowtown as a vanilla landmark. + The building (renamed to Mortensen Electric) appears in the 2012 action-adventure video game Sleeping Dogs in the Central District. + In the 2021 movie Godzilla vs Kong, the building is featured prominently throughout the battle between Godzilla and Kong in Hong Kong. Despite being in close proximity to the battle, the tower is not destroyed and is still standing at the end of the battle. + +See also + Bank of China Building, the old headquarters of the Bank of China + List of tallest buildings in Hong Kong + List of buildings and structures in Hong Kong + List of tallest freestanding structures + +References + +External links + + About BOC Tower on Bank of China (Hong Kong) website + Great Buildings Online site on BOC Tower + Buildable paper model of the tower + Elevator Layout + Branch Details for Hong Kong Bank of China Tower + +1990 establishments in Hong Kong +Bank buildings in Hong Kong +Bank of China +Central, Hong Kong +I. M. Pei buildings +Landmarks in Hong Kong +Office buildings completed in 1990 +Skyscraper office buildings in Hong Kong +Lemon Henry "Blind Lemon" Jefferson (September 24, 1893 – December 19, 1929) was an American blues and gospel singer-songwriter and musician. He was one of the most popular blues singers of the 1920s and has been called the "Father of the Texas Blues". + +Due mainly to his high-pitched voice and the originality of his guitar playing, Jefferson's performances were distinctive. His recordings sold well, but he was not a strong influence on younger blues singers of his generation, who could not imitate him as easily as they could other commercially successful artists. Later blues and rock and roll musicians, however, did attempt to imitate both his songs and his musical style. + +Biography + +Early life +Jefferson was born blind, near Coutchman, Texas. He was the youngest of seven (or possibly eight) children born to Alex and Clarissa Jefferson, who were African-American sharecroppers. Disputes regarding the date of his birth derive from contradictory census records and draft registration records. By 1900, the family was farming southeast of Streetman, Texas. Jefferson's birth date was recorded as September 1893 in the 1900 census. The 1910 census, taken in May, before his birthday, confirms his year of birth as 1893 and indicated that the family was farming northwest of Wortham, near his birthplace. + +In his 1917 draft registration, Jefferson gave his birthday as October 26, 1894, stating that he lived in Dallas, Texas, and had been blind since birth. In the 1920 census, he is recorded as having returned to Freestone County and was living with his half-brother, Kit Banks, on a farm between Wortham and Streetman. + +Jefferson began playing the guitar in his early teens and soon after he began performing at picnics and parties. He became a street musician, playing in East Texas towns in front of barbershops and on street corners. According to his cousin Alec Jefferson, quoted in the notes for Blind Lemon Jefferson, Classic Sides: + +In the early 1910s, Jefferson began traveling frequently to Dallas, where he met and played with the blues musician Lead Belly. Jefferson was one of the earliest and most prominent figures in the blues movement developing in the Deep Ellum section of Dallas. It is probable that he moved to Deep Ellum on a more permanent basis by 1917, where he met Aaron Thibeaux Walker, also known as T-Bone Walker. Jefferson taught Walker the basics of playing blues guitar in exchange for Walker's occasional services as a guide. By the early 1920s, Jefferson was earning enough money for his musical performances to support a wife and, possibly, a child. However, firm evidence of his marriage and children has not been found. + +Beginning of recording career +Prior to Jefferson, few artists had recorded solo voice and blues guitar, the first of which were the vocalist Sara Martin and the guitarist Sylvester Weaver, who recorded "Longing for Daddy Blues", probably on October 24, 1923. The first self-accompanied solo performer of a self-composed blues song was Lee Morse, whose "Mail Man Blues" was recorded on October 7, 1924. Jefferson's music is uninhibited and represented the classic sounds of everyday life, from a honky-tonk to a country picnic, to street corner blues, to work in the burgeoning oil fields (a reflection of his interest in mechanical objects and processes). + +Jefferson did what few had ever done before him – he became a successful solo guitarist and male vocalist in the commercial recording world. Unlike many artists who were "discovered" and recorded in their normal venues, Jefferson was taken to Chicago in December 1925 or January 1926 to record his first tracks. Uncharacteristically, his first two recordings from this session were gospel songs ("I Want to Be Like Jesus in My Heart" and "All I Want Is That Pure Religion"), released under the name Deacon L. J. Bates. A second recording session was held in March 1926. His first releases under his own name, "Booster Blues" and "Dry Southern Blues", were hits. Their popularity led to the release of the other two songs from that session, "Got the Blues" and "Long Lonesome Blues", which became a runaway success, with sales in six figures. He recorded about 100 tracks between 1926 and 1929; 43 records were issued, all but one for Paramount Records. Paramount's studio techniques and quality were poor, and the recordings were released with poor sound quality. In May 1926, Paramount re-recorded Jefferson performing his hits "Got the Blues" and "Long Lonesome Blues" in the superior facilities at Marsh Laboratories, and subsequent releases used those versions. Both versions appear on compilation albums. + +Success with Paramount Records + +Largely because of the popularity of artists such as Jefferson and his contemporaries Blind Blake and Ma Rainey, Paramount became the leading recording company for the blues in the 1920s. Jefferson's earnings reputedly enabled him to buy a car and employ chauffeurs (this information has been disputed); he was given a Ford car "worth over $700" by Mayo Williams, Paramount's connection with the black community. This was a common compensation for recording rights in that market. Jefferson is known to have done an unusual amount of traveling for the time in the American South, which is reflected in the difficulty of placing his music in a single regional category. + +Jefferson's "old-fashioned" sound and confident musicianship made it easy to market him. His skillful guitar playing and impressive vocal range opened the door for a new generation of male solo blues performers, such as Furry Lewis, Charlie Patton, and Barbecue Bob. He stuck to no musical conventions, varying his riffs and rhythm and singing complex and expressive lyrics in a manner exceptional at the time for a "simple country blues singer." According to the North Carolina musician Walter Davis, Jefferson played on the streets in Johnson City, Tennessee, during the early 1920s, at which time Davis and the entertainer Clarence Greene learned the art of blues guitar. + +Jefferson was reputedly unhappy with his royalties (although Williams said that Jefferson had a bank account containing as much as $1500). In 1927, when Williams moved to Okeh Records, he took Jefferson with him, and Okeh quickly recorded and released Jefferson's "Matchbox Blues", backed with "Black Snake Moan". It was his only Okeh recording, probably because of contractual obligations with Paramount. Jefferson's two songs released on Okeh have considerably better sound quality than his Paramount records at the time. When he returned to Paramount a few months later, "Matchbox Blues" had already become such a hit that Paramount re-recorded and released two new versions, with the producer Arthur Laibly. In 1927, Jefferson recorded another of his classic songs, the haunting "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean" (again using the pseudonym Deacon L. J. Bates), and two other uncharacteristically spiritual songs, "He Arose from the Dead" and "Where Shall I Be". "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean" was so successful that it was re-recorded and re-released in 1928. + +Death and grave +Jefferson died in Chicago at 10:00 a.m. on December 19, 1929, of what his death certificate said was "probably acute myocarditis". For many years, rumors circulated that a jealous lover had poisoned his coffee, but a more likely explanation is that he died of a heart attack after becoming disoriented during a snowstorm. Some have said that he died of a heart attack after being attacked by a dog in the middle of the night. In his 1983 book Tolbert's Texas, Frank X. Tolbert claims that he was killed while being robbed of a large royalty payment by a guide escorting him to Chicago Union Station to catch a train home to Texas. Paramount Records paid for the return of his body to Texas by train, accompanied by the pianist William Ezell. + +Jefferson was buried at Wortham Negro Cemetery (later Wortham Black Cemetery) in Wortham, Freestone County, Texas. His grave was unmarked until 1967, when a Texas historical marker was erected in the general area of his plot; however, the precise location of the grave is still unknown. By 1996, the cemetery and marker were in poor condition, and a new granite headstone was erected in 1997. The inscription reads: "Lord, it's one kind favor I'll ask of you, see that my grave is kept clean." In 2007, the cemetery's name was changed to Blind Lemon Memorial Cemetery, and his gravesite is kept clean by a cemetery committee in Wortham. As of 2022, the entire cemetery was in an excellent state of maintenance. + +Discography and awards + +Jefferson had an intricate and fast style of guitar playing and a particularly high-pitched voice. He was a founder of the Texas blues sound and an important influence on other blues singers and guitarists, including Lead Belly and Lightnin' Hopkins. + +He was the author of many songs covered by later musicians, including the classic "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean". Another of his songs, "Matchbox Blues", was recorded more than 30 years later by the Beatles, in a rockabilly version credited to Carl Perkins, who did not credit Jefferson on his 1955 recording. Fellow blues artist B.B. King credited Jefferson as one of his biggest musical influences, next to Lonnie Johnson, Louis Jordan and T-Bone Walker. + +The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame selected Jefferson's 1927 recording of "Matchbox Blues" as one of the 500 songs that shaped rock and roll. Jefferson was among the inaugural class of blues musicians inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 1980. + +Cover versions +Canned Heat, "One Kind Favor," on "Living the Blues", released in 1968, (credited: "Arr. & Adpt. by L.T.Tatman III") +Bukka White, "Jack o' Diamonds", on 1963 Isn't 1962, released in the 1990s +Bob Dylan, "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean", on Bob Dylan +Grateful Dead, "One Kind Favor" (a version of "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean"), on Birth of the Dead +Merl Saunders, Jerry Garcia, John Kahn, Bil Vitt, "One Kind Favor", on Keystone Encores Volume I +John Hammond, "One Kind Favor", on John Hammond Live +B.B. King, "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean", on One Kind Favor +Peter, Paul & Mary, "One Kind Favor", on In Concert +Kelly Joe Phelps, "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean", on Roll Away the Stone +The Dream Syndicate, "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean", on Ghost Stories +Counting Crows, "Mean Jumper Blues". Counting Crows lead singer Adam Duritz accidentally claimed credit for "Mean Jumper Blues" in the liner notes of the deluxe edition reissue of the album August and Everything After. The cover was featured as part of a selection of early demo tracks. Immediately after the error was brought to his attention, Duritz apologized in his personal blog. +Laibach, "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean", on SPECTRE +Pat Donohue, "One Kind Favor", live on Garrison Keillor's radio program A Prairie Home Companion and later released on the CD Radio Blues +Corey Harris, "Jack o' Diamonds", on Fish Ain't Bitin''', released in 1997 +Diamanda Galás, "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean", on The Singer +Phish, "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean", live at Madison Square Garden, New York, August 4, 2017 +Scott H. Biram, "Jack of Diamonds" on Nothin' But Blood released in 2014 + Steve Suffet, "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean" on Now the Wheel Has Turned, released in 2005 + +In popular culture + In 2009, the Grammy-nominated R&B act Yarbrough and Peoples were featured in the off-Broadway play Blind Lemon Blues. + A tribute song, "My Buddy Blind Papa Lemon", was recorded for Paramount Records in 1932 by King Solomon Hill. The record was long considered lost, but a copy was located by John Tefteller in 2002. + Geoff Muldaur refers to Jefferson in the song "Got to Find Blind Lemon" on the album The Secret Handshake. + Art Evans portrayed Jefferson in the 1976 film Leadbelly, directed by Gordon Parks. + Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds recorded the song "Blind Lemon Jefferson" on the album The Firstborn Is Dead. + The 2010 video game Fallout: New Vegas, in one of its downloadable add-ons Old World Blues, features an AI jukebox named Blind Diode Jefferson. The AI claims to have been a blues musician before his music hard drives were stripped from him. The voicing of the AI can be characterized as a Southern drawl in homage to Jefferson. + In the 2003 movie Masked and Anonymous, Bobby Cupid (Luke Wilson) gives his friend Jack Fate (Bob Dylan) Jefferson's guitar, which he claims was used in recording "Matchbox Blues". + Cheech & Chong parodied Jefferson as "Blind Melon Chitlin'" on their self-titled 1971 album Cheech and Chong, on their 1985 album Get Out of My Room, and in a stage routine that can be seen in their 1983 film Still Smokin'. + Chet Atkins called Jefferson "one of my first finger-picking influences" in the song "Nine Pound Hammer", on the album The Atkins–Travis Traveling Show. + A practical joke played on Down Beat magazine editor Gene Lees in the late 1950s took on a life of its own and became a long-running hoax when one of his correspondents included a reference to the blues legend "Blind Orange Adams" in an article published in the magazine, an obvious parody of Jefferson's name. References to the nonexistent Adams appeared in subsequent articles in Down Beat over the next few years. + The American dramatic film Black Snake Moan was named after one of his only songs recorded for Okeh Records. + Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup took the title of his classic song "That's All Right," which launched the career of Elvis Presley, from a lyric in Jefferson's "Black Snake Moan". + According to some sources, the "Jefferson" in the name of the rock group Jefferson Airplane references Blind Lemon Jefferson: founding member and blues guitarist Jorma Kaukonen was nicknamed "Blind Lemon Jefferson Airplane" by a friend, and suggested the last part as the name of the band. However, other sources give other origins for the name, involving Blind Lemon Jefferson either more indirectly or not at all. +In June 2021, Jefferson's "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean" plays in the Season 6 finale of Fear the Walking Dead while survivalist character Victor Strand discovers an apartment of artwork and historical artifacts as he awaits his fate. + +See also + +List of nicknames of blues musicians + +References + +Sources +Govenar, Alan; Brakefield, Jay F. (1998). Deep Ellum and Central Track: Where the Black and White Worlds of Dallas Converged. Denton: University of North Texas Press. . + +Further reading + Evans, David (2000). "Musical Innovation in the Blues of Blind Lemon Jefferson". Black Music Research Journal. Vol. 20, no. 1, Blind Lemon Jefferson (Spring 2000). pp. 83–116. + Monge, Luigi (2000). "The Language of Blind Lemon Jefferson: The Covert Theme of Blindness". Black Music Research Journal. Vol. 20, no. 1, Blind Lemon Jefferson (Spring 2000). pp. 35–81. + Monge, Luigi; Evans, David (2003). "New Songs of Blind Lemon Jefferson". Journal of Texas Music History. Vol. 3, no. 2 (Fall 2003). + Pisigin, Valeriy (2013). The Coming of the Blues (Пришествие блюза). Vol. 4. Country Blues. Blind Lemon Jefferson. — M.: 2013. — C.320. . + Swinton, Paul. (1997) A Twist of Lemon. Blues & Rhythm, Issue No. 121, August 1997. + Uzzel, Robert L. (2002). Blind Lemon Jefferson: His Life, His Death, and His Legacy''. Austin, Texas: Eakin Press. . + +External links +Blues Foundation Hall of Fame induction + +Illustrated Blind Lemon Jefferson discography +The lyrics of his songs + +1893 births +1929 deaths +20th-century African-American male singers +20th-century American guitarists +African-American guitarists +African-American male singer-songwriters +American acoustic guitarists +American blues guitarists +American blues singer-songwriters +American folk musicians +American male guitarists +American street performers +Blind musicians +Gennett Records artists +Gospel blues musicians +Guitarists from Texas +Musicians from Dallas +Okeh Records artists +Paramount Records artists +People from Freestone County, Texas +Singer-songwriters from Texas +Texas blues musicians +American blind people +American musicians with disabilities +are Japanese supernatural beings that are said to devour nightmares. According to legend, they were created by the spare pieces that were left over when the gods finished creating all other animals. They have a long history in Japanese folklore and art, and more recently have appeared in manga and anime. + +The Japanese term baku has two current meanings, referring to both the traditional dream-devouring creature and to the Malayan tapir. In recent years, there have been changes in how the baku is depicted. + +History and description +The traditional Japanese nightmare-devouring baku originates in Chinese folklore about the mo 貘 (giant panda) and was familiar in Japan as early as the Muromachi period (14th–15th century). Hori Tadao has described the dream-eating abilities attributed to the traditional baku and relates them to other preventatives against nightmare such as amulets. Kaii-Yōkai Denshō Database, citing a 1957 paper, and Mizuki also describe the dream-devouring capacities of the traditional baku. + +An early 17th-century Japanese manuscript, the Sankai Ibutsu (), describes the baku as a shy, Chinese mythical chimera with the trunk and tusks of an elephant, the ears of a rhinoceros, the tail of a cow, the body of a bear and the paws of a tiger, which protected against pestilence and evil, although eating nightmares was not included among its abilities. However, in a 1791 Japanese wood-block illustration, a specifically dream-destroying baku is depicted with an elephant’s head, tusks, and trunk, with horns and tiger’s claws. The elephant’s head, trunk, and tusks are characteristic of baku portrayed in classical era (pre-Meiji) Japanese wood-block prints (see illustration) and in shrine, temple, and netsuke carvings. + +Writing in the Meiji period, Lafcadio Hearn (1902) described a baku with very similar attributes that was also able to devour nightmares. +Legend has it that a person who wakes up from a bad dream can call out to baku. A child having a nightmare in Japan will wake up and repeat three times, "Baku-san, come eat my dream." Legends say that the baku will come into the child's room and devour the bad dream, allowing the child to go back to sleep peacefully. However, calling to the baku must be done sparingly, because if he remains hungry after eating one's nightmare, he may also devour their hopes and desires as well, leaving them to live an empty life. The baku can also be summoned for protection from bad dreams prior to falling asleep at night. In the 1910s, it was common for Japanese children to keep a baku talisman at their bedside. + +Gallery + +See also + Dreamcatcher + +References + +Bibliography + Kaii-Yōkai Denshō Database. International Research Center for Japanese Studies. Retrieved on 2007-05-12. (Summary of excerpt from Warui Yume o Mita Toki (, When You've Had a Bad Dream?) by Keidō Matsushita, published in volume 5 of the journal Shōnai Minzoku (, Shōnai Folk Customs) on June 15, 1957). + +External links + + Baku – The Dream Eater at hyakumonogatari.com (English). + Netsuke: masterpieces from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, an exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art (fully available online as PDF), which contains many representations of Baku + +Chinese legendary creatures +Japanese legendary creatures +Legendary mammals +Mythological hybrids +Fictional tapirs +Sleep in mythology and folklore +Edward Teach (alternatively spelled Edward Thatch, – 22 November 1718), better known as Blackbeard, was an English pirate who operated around the West Indies and the eastern coast of Britain's North American colonies. Little is known about his early life, but he may have been a sailor on privateer ships during Queen Anne's War before he settled on the Bahamian island of New Providence, a base for Captain Benjamin Hornigold, whose crew Teach joined around 1716. Hornigold placed him in command of a sloop that he had captured, and the two engaged in numerous acts of piracy. Their numbers were boosted by the addition to their fleet of two more ships, one of which was commanded by Stede Bonnet, but Hornigold retired from piracy toward the end of 1717, taking two vessels with him. + +Teach captured a French slave ship known as , renamed her Queen Anne's Revenge, equipped her with 40 guns, and crewed her with over 300 men. He became a renowned pirate. His nickname derived from his thick black beard and fearsome appearance. He was reported to have tied lit fuses (slow matches) under his hat to frighten his enemies. He formed an alliance of pirates and blockaded the port of Charles Town, South Carolina, ransoming the port's inhabitants. He then ran Queen Anne's Revenge aground on a sandbar near Beaufort, North Carolina. He parted company with Stede Bonnet and settled in Bath, North Carolina, also known as Bath Town, where he accepted a royal pardon. However, he was soon back at sea, where he attracted the attention of Alexander Spotswood, the governor of Virginia. Spotswood arranged for a party of soldiers and sailors to capture him. On 22 November 1718, following a ferocious battle, Teach and several of his crew were killed by a small force of sailors led by Lieutenant Robert Maynard. + +Teach was a shrewd and calculating leader who spurned the use of violence, relying instead on his fearsome image to elicit the response that he desired from those whom he robbed. He was romanticized after his death and became the inspiration for an archetypal pirate in works of fiction across many genres. + +Early life +Little is known about Blackbeard's early life. It is commonly believed that at the time of his death he was between 35 and 40 years old and thus born in about 1680. In contemporary records his name is most often given as Blackbeard, Edward Thatch or Edward Teach. The latter is most often used. Several spellings of his surname exist: Thatch, Thach, Thache, Thack, Tack, Thatche, and Theach. One source claims that his surname was Drummond, but the lack of any supporting documentation makes this unlikely. Pirates habitually used fictitious surnames while engaged in piracy so as not to tarnish the family name, which makes it unlikely that Teach's real name will ever be known. + +The 17th-century rise of Britain's American colonies and the rapid 18th-century expansion of the Atlantic slave trade had made Bristol an important international sea port, and Teach was most likely raised in what was then the second-largest city in England. He could almost certainly read and write. He communicated with merchants and when killed had in his possession a letter addressed to him by the Chief Justice and Secretary of the Province of Carolina, Tobias Knight. Author Robert Lee speculated that Teach may therefore have been born into a respectable, wealthy family. He may have arrived in the Caribbean in the last years of the 17th century, on a merchant vessel (possibly a slave ship). The 18th-century author Charles Johnson claimed that Teach was for some time a sailor operating from Jamaica on privateer ships during the War of the Spanish Succession, and that "he had often distinguished himself for his uncommon boldness and personal courage." It is unknown at what point during the war Teach joined the fighting, as with the record of most of his life before he became a pirate. + +Life as a pirate + +New Providence + +With its history of colonialism, trade and piracy, the West Indies was the setting for many 17th- and 18th-century maritime incidents. The privateer-turned-pirate Henry Jennings and his followers decided, early in the 18th century, to use the uninhabited island of New Providence as a base for their operations since it was within easy reach of the Florida Strait and its busy shipping lanes, which were filled with European vessels crossing the Atlantic. New Providence's harbour could easily accommodate hundreds of ships but was too shallow for the Royal Navy's larger vessels. The author George Woodbury described New Providence as "no city of homes. It was a place of temporary sojourn and refreshment for a literally floating population," continuing, "The only permanent residents were the piratical camp followers, the traders, and the hangers-on. All others were transient." In New Providence, pirates found a welcome respite from the law. + +Teach was one of those who came to enjoy the island's benefits. Probably shortly after the signing of the Treaty of Utrecht, he moved there from Jamaica, and, along with most privateers once involved in the war, became involved in piracy. Possibly about 1716, he joined the crew of Captain Benjamin Hornigold, a renowned pirate who operated from New Providence's safe waters. In 1716, Hornigold placed Teach in charge of a sloop he had taken as a prize. In early 1717, Hornigold and Teach, each captaining a sloop, set out for the mainland. They captured a boat carrying 120 barrels of flour out of Havana, and shortly thereafter took 100 barrels of wine from a sloop out of Bermuda. A few days later they stopped a vessel sailing from Madeira to Charles Town, South Carolina. Teach and his quartermaster, William Howard, may at this time have struggled to control their crews. By then they had probably developed a taste for Madeira wine, and on 29 September near Cape Charles all they took from the Betty of Virginia was her cargo of Madeira, before they scuttled her with the remaining cargo. + +It was during this cruise with Hornigold that the earliest known report of Teach was made, in which he is recorded as a pirate in his own right, in command of a large crew. In a report made by a Captain Mathew Munthe on an anti-piracy patrol for North Carolina, "Thatch" was described as operating "a sloop 6 and about 70 men." In September, Teach and Hornigold encountered Stede Bonnet, a landowner and military officer from a wealthy family who had turned to piracy earlier that year. Bonnet's crew of about 70 were reportedly dissatisfied with his command, so with Bonnet's permission, Teach took control of his ship, Revenge. The pirates' flotilla now consisted of three ships: Teach on Revenge, Teach's old sloop, and Hornigold's Ranger. By October, another vessel had been captured and added to the small fleet. The sloops Robert of Philadelphia and Good Intent of Dublin were stopped on 22 October 1717 and their cargo holds emptied. + +As a former British privateer, Hornigold attacked only his old enemies, but for his crew, the sight of British vessels filled with valuable cargo passing by unharmed became too much, and at some point toward the end of 1717 he was demoted. Whether Teach had any involvement in this decision is unknown, but Hornigold quickly retired from piracy. He took Ranger and one of the sloops, leaving Teach with Revenge and the remaining sloop. The two never met again and, as did many other occupants of New Providence, Hornigold accepted the King's pardon. + +Blackbeard + +On 28 November 1717 Teach's two ships attacked a French merchant vessel off the coast of Saint Vincent. They each fired a broadside across its bulwarks, killing several of its crew, and forcing its captain to surrender. The ship was , a large French Guineaman registered in Saint-Malo and carrying a cargo of slaves. This ship had originally been the English merchantman Concord, captured in 1711 by a French squadron, and then changed hands several times by 1717. Teach and his crews sailed the vessel south along Saint Vincent and the Grenadines to Bequia, where they disembarked her crew and cargo, and converted the ship for their own use. The crew of were given the smaller of Teach's two sloops, which they renamed ("Bad Meeting"), and sailed for Martinique. Teach may have recruited some of their slaves, but the remainder were left on the island and were later recaptured by the returning crew of . + +Teach immediately renamed as Queen Anne's Revenge and equipped her with 40 guns. By this time Teach had placed his lieutenant Richards in command of Bonnet's Revenge. In late November, near Saint Vincent, he attacked the Great Allen. After a lengthy engagement, he forced the large and well-armed merchant ship to surrender. He ordered her to move closer to the shore, disembarked her crew and emptied her cargo holds, and then burned and sank the vessel. The incident was chronicled in the Boston News-Letter, which called Teach the commander of a "French ship of 32 Guns, a Briganteen of 10 guns and a Sloop of 12 guns." It is not known when or where Teach collected the ten-gun briganteen, but by that time he may have been in command of at least 150 men split among three vessels. + +On 5 December 1717 Teach stopped the merchant sloop Margaret off the coast of Crab Island, near Anguilla. Her captain, Henry Bostock, and crew, remained Teach's prisoners for about eight hours, and were forced to watch as their sloop was ransacked. Bostock, who had been held aboard Queen Anne's Revenge, was returned unharmed to Margaret and was allowed to leave with his crew. He returned to his base of operations on Saint Christopher Island and reported the matter to Governor Walter Hamilton, who requested that he sign an affidavit about the encounter. Bostock's deposition details Teach's command of two vessels: a sloop and a large French guineaman, Dutch-built, with 36 cannons and a crew of 300 men. The captain believed that the larger ship carried valuable gold dust, silver plate, and "a very fine cup" supposedly taken from the commander of Great Allen. Teach's crew had apparently informed Bostock that they had destroyed several other vessels, and that they intended to sail to Hispaniola and lie in wait for an expected Spanish armada, supposedly laden with money to pay the garrisons. Bostock also claimed that Teach had questioned him about the movements of local ships, but also that he had seemed unsurprised when Bostock told him of an expected royal pardon from London for all pirates. + +Bostock's deposition describes Teach as a "tall spare man with a very black beard which he wore very long". It is the first recorded account of Teach's appearance and is the source of his cognomen, Blackbeard. Later descriptions mention that his thick black beard was braided into pigtails, sometimes tied in with small coloured ribbons. Johnson (1724) described him as "such a figure that imagination cannot form an idea of a fury from hell to look more frightful." Whether Johnson's description was entirely truthful or embellished is unclear, but it seems likely that Teach understood the value of appearances; better to strike fear into the heart of one's enemies than rely on bluster alone. Teach was tall, with broad shoulders. He wore knee-length boots and dark clothing, topped with a wide hat and sometimes a long coat of brightly coloured silk or velvet. Johnson also described Teach in times of battle as wearing "a sling over his shoulders, with three brace of pistols, hanging in holsters like bandoliers; and stuck lighted slow matches under his hat", the latter apparently to emphasise the fearsome appearance he wished to present to his enemies. Despite his ferocious reputation, there are no verified accounts of his ever having murdered or harmed those he held captive. Teach may have used other aliases; on 30 November, the Monserrat Merchant encountered two ships and a sloop, commanded by a Captain Kentish and Captain Edwards (the latter a known alias of Stede Bonnet). + +Enlargement of Teach's fleet +Teach's movements between late 1717 and early 1718 are not known. He and Bonnet were probably responsible for an attack off Sint Eustatius in December 1717. Henry Bostock claimed to have heard the pirates say they would head toward the Spanish-controlled Samaná Bay in Hispaniola, but a cursory search revealed no pirate activity. Captain Hume of reported on 6 February that a "Pyrate Ship of 36 Guns and 250 men, and a Sloop of 10 Guns and 100 men were Said to be Cruizing amongst the Leeward Islands". Hume reinforced his crew with soldiers armed with muskets, and joined up with to track the two ships, to no avail, though they discovered that the two ships had sunk a French vessel off St Christopher Island, and reported also that they had last been seen "gone down the North side of Hispaniola". Although no confirmation exists that these two ships were controlled by Teach and Bonnet, author Angus Konstam believes it very likely they were. + +In March 1718, while taking on water at Turneffe Island east of Belize, both ships spotted the Jamaican logwood-cutting sloop Adventure making for the harbour. She was stopped and her captain, Harriot, invited to join the pirates. Harriot and his crew accepted the invitation, and Teach sent over a crew to sail Adventure making Israel Hands the captain. They sailed for the Bay of Honduras, where they added another ship and four sloops to their flotilla. On 9 April Teach's enlarged fleet of ships looted and burnt Protestant Caesar. His fleet then sailed to Grand Cayman where they captured a "small turtler". Teach probably sailed toward Havana, where he may have captured a small Spanish vessel that had left the Cuban port. They then sailed to the wrecks of the 1715 Spanish fleet, off the eastern coast of Florida. There Teach disembarked the crew of the captured Spanish sloop, before proceeding north to the port of Charles Town, South Carolina, attacking three vessels along the way. + +Blockade of Charles Town + +By May 1718, Teach had awarded himself the rank of Commodore and was at the height of his power. Late that month his flotilla blockaded the port of Charles Town in the Province of South Carolina. All vessels entering or leaving the port were stopped, and as the town had no guard ship, its pilot boat was the first to be captured. Over the next five or six days about nine vessels were stopped and ransacked as they attempted to sail past Charles Town Bar, where Teach's fleet was anchored. One such ship, headed for London with a group of prominent Charles Town citizens which included Samuel Wragg (a member of the Council of the Province of Carolina), was the Crowley. Her passengers were questioned about the vessels still in port and then locked below decks for about half a day. Teach informed the prisoners that his fleet required medical supplies from the colonial government of South Carolina, and that if none were forthcoming, all prisoners would be executed, their heads sent to the Governor and all captured ships burnt. + +Wragg agreed to Teach's demands, and a Mr. Marks and two pirates were given two days to collect the drugs. Teach moved his fleet, and the captured ships, to within about five or six leagues from land. Three days later a messenger, sent by Marks, returned to the fleet; Marks's boat had capsized and delayed their arrival in Charles Town. Teach granted a reprieve of two days, but still the party did not return. He then called a meeting of his fellow sailors and moved eight ships into the harbour, causing panic within the town. When Marks finally returned to the fleet, he explained what had happened. On his arrival he had presented the pirates' demands to the Governor and the drugs had been quickly gathered, but the two pirates sent to escort him had proved difficult to find; they had been busy drinking with friends and were finally discovered, drunk. + +Teach kept to his side of the bargain and released the captured ships and his prisoners—albeit relieved of their valuables, including the fine clothing some had worn. + +Beaufort Inlet +Whilst at Charles Town, Teach learned that Woodes Rogers had left England with several men-of-war, with orders to purge the West Indies of pirates. Teach's flotilla sailed northward along the Atlantic coast and into Topsail Inlet (commonly known as Beaufort Inlet), off the coast of North Carolina. There they intended to careen their ships to scrape their hulls, but on 10 June 1718 the Queen Anne's Revenge ran aground on a sandbar, cracking her main-mast and severely damaging many of her timbers. Teach ordered several sloops to throw ropes across the flagship in an attempt to free her. A sloop commanded by Israel Hands of Adventure also ran aground, and both vessels appeared to be damaged beyond repair, leaving only Revenge and the captured Spanish sloop. + +Pardon + +Teach had at some stage learnt of the offer of a royal pardon and probably confided in Bonnet his willingness to accept it. The pardon was open to all pirates who surrendered on or before 5 September 1718, but contained a caveat stipulating that immunity was offered only against crimes committed before 5 January. Although in theory this left Bonnet and Teach at risk of being hanged for their actions at Charles Town Bar, most authorities could waive such conditions. Teach thought that Governor Charles Eden was a man he could trust, but to make sure, he waited to see what would happen to another captain. Bonnet left immediately on a small sailing boat for Bath Town, where he surrendered to Governor Eden, and received his pardon. He then travelled back to Beaufort Inlet to collect the Revenge and the remainder of his crew, intending to sail to Saint Thomas Island to receive a commission. Unfortunately for him, Teach had stripped the vessel of its valuables and provisions, and had marooned its crew; Bonnet set out for revenge, but was unable to find him. He and his crew returned to piracy and were captured on 27 September 1718 at the mouth of the Cape Fear River. All but four were tried and hanged in Charles Town. + +The author Robert Lee surmised that Teach and Hands intentionally ran the ships aground to reduce the fleet's crew complement, increasing their share of the spoils. During the trial of Bonnet's crew, Revenges boatswain Ignatius Pell testified that "the ship was run ashore and lost, which Thatch [Teach] caused to be done." Lee considers it plausible that Teach let Bonnet in on his plan to accept a pardon from Governor Eden. He suggested that Bonnet do the same, and as war between the Quadruple Alliance of 1718 and Spain was threatening, to consider taking a privateer's commission from England. Lee suggests that Teach also offered Bonnet the return of his ship Revenge. Konstam (2007) proposes a similar idea, explaining that Teach began to see Queen Anne's Revenge as something of a liability; while a pirate fleet was anchored, news of this was sent to neighbouring towns and colonies, and any vessels nearby would delay sailing. It was prudent therefore for Teach not to linger for too long, although wrecking the ship was a somewhat extreme measure. + +Before sailing northward on his remaining sloop to Ocracoke Inlet, Teach marooned about 25 men on a small sandy island about a league from the mainland. He may have done this to stifle any protest they made, if they guessed their captain's plans. Bonnet rescued them two days later. Teach continued on to Bath, where in June 1718—only days after Bonnet had departed with his pardon—he and his much-reduced crew received their pardon from Governor Eden. + +He settled in Bath, on the eastern side of Bath Creek at Plum Point, near Eden's home. During July and August he travelled between his base in the town and his sloop off Ocracoke. Johnson's account states that he married the daughter of a local plantation owner, although there is no supporting evidence for this. Eden gave Teach permission to sail to St Thomas to seek a commission as a privateer (a useful way of removing bored and troublesome pirates from the small settlement), and Teach was given official title to his remaining sloop, which he renamed Adventure. By the end of August he had returned to piracy, and in the same month the governor of Pennsylvania issued a warrant for his arrest, but by then Teach was probably operating in Delaware Bay, some distance away. He took two French ships leaving the Caribbean, moved one crew across to the other, and sailed the remaining ship back to Ocracoke. In September he told Eden that he had found the French ship at sea, deserted. A Vice Admiralty Court was quickly convened, presided over by Tobias Knight and the Collector of Customs. The ship was judged as a derelict found at sea, and of its cargo twenty hogsheads of sugar were awarded to Knight and sixty to Eden; Teach and his crew were given what remained in the vessel's hold. + +Ocracoke Inlet was Teach's favourite anchorage. It was a perfect vantage point from which to view ships travelling between the various settlements of northeast Carolina, and it was from there that Teach first spotted the approaching ship of Charles Vane, another English pirate. Several months earlier Vane had rejected the pardon brought by Woodes Rogers and escaped the men-of-war the English captain brought with him to Nassau. He had also been pursued by Teach's old commander, Benjamin Hornigold, who was by then a pirate hunter. Teach and Vane spent several nights on the southern tip of Ocracoke Island, accompanied by such notorious figures as Israel Hands, Robert Deal and Calico Jack. + +Alexander Spotswood +As it spread throughout the neighbouring colonies, the news of Teach and Vane's impromptu party worried the governor of Pennsylvania enough to send out two sloops to capture the pirates. They were unsuccessful, but Governor of Virginia Alexander Spotswood was also concerned that the supposedly retired freebooter and his crew were living in nearby North Carolina. Some of Teach's former crew had already moved into several Virginian seaport towns, prompting Spotswood to issue a proclamation on 10 July, requiring all former pirates to make themselves known to the authorities, to give up their arms and to not travel in groups larger than three. As head of a Crown colony, Spotswood viewed the proprietary colony of North Carolina with contempt; he had little faith in the ability of the Carolinians to control the pirates, who he suspected would be back to their old ways, disrupting Virginian commerce, as soon as their money ran out. + +Spotswood learned that William Howard, the former quartermaster of Queen Anne's Revenge, was in the area, and believing that he might know of Teach's whereabouts had him and his two slaves arrested. Spotswood had no legal authority to have pirates tried, and as a result, Howard's attorney, John Holloway, brought charges against Captain Brand of , where Howard was imprisoned. He also sued on Howard's behalf for damages of £500, claiming wrongful arrest. + +Spotswood's council claimed that under a statute of William III the governor was entitled to try pirates without a jury in times of crisis and that Teach's presence was a crisis. The charges against Howard referred to several acts of piracy supposedly committed after the pardon's cut-off date, in "a sloop belonging to ye subjects of the King of Spain", but ignored the fact that they took place outside Spotswood's jurisdiction and in a vessel then legally owned. Another charge cited two attacks, one of which was the capture of a slave ship off Charles Town Bar, from which one of Howard's slaves was presumed to have come. Howard was sent to await trial before a Court of Vice-Admiralty, on the charge of piracy, but Brand and his colleague, Captain Gordon (of ) refused to serve with Holloway present. Incensed, Holloway had no option but to stand down, and was replaced by the Attorney General of Virginia, John Clayton, whom Spotswood described as "an honester man [than Holloway]". Howard was found guilty and sentenced to be hanged, but was saved by a commission from London, which directed Spotswood to pardon all acts of piracy committed by surrendering pirates before 18 August 1718. + +Spotswood had obtained from Howard valuable information on Teach's whereabouts, and he planned to send his forces across the border into North Carolina to capture him. He gained the support of two men keen to discredit North Carolina's governor—Edward Moseley and Colonel Maurice Moore. He also wrote to the Lords of Trade, suggesting that the Crown might benefit financially from Teach's capture. Spotswood personally financed the operation, possibly believing that Teach had fabulous treasures hidden away. He ordered Captains Gordon and Brand of HMS Pearl and HMS Lyme to travel overland to Bath. Lieutenant Robert Maynard of HMS Pearl was given command of two commandeered sloops, to approach the town from the sea. An extra incentive for Teach's capture was the offer of a reward from the Assembly of Virginia, over and above any that might be received from the Crown. + +Maynard took command of the two armed sloops on 17 November. He was given 57 men—33 from HMS Pearl and 24 from HMS Lyme. Maynard and the detachment from HMS Pearl took the larger of the two vessels and named her Jane; the rest took Ranger, commanded by one of Maynard's officers, a Mister Hyde. Some from the two ships' civilian crews remained aboard. They sailed from Kecoughtan, along the James River, on 17 November. The two sloops moved slowly, giving Brand's force time to reach Bath. Brand set out for North Carolina six days later, arriving within three miles of Bath on 23 November. Included in Brand's force were several North Carolinians, including Colonel Moore and Captain Jeremiah Vail, sent to counter any local objection to the presence of foreign soldiers. Moore went into the town to see if Teach was there, reporting back that he was not, but that he was expected at "every minute." Brand then went to Governor Eden's home and informed him of his purpose. The next day, Brand sent two canoes down Pamlico River to Ocracoke Inlet, to see if Teach could be seen. They returned two days later and reported on what eventually transpired. + +Last battle +Maynard found the pirates anchored on the inner side of Ocracoke Island, on the evening of 21 November. He had ascertained their position from ships he had stopped along his journey, but being unfamiliar with the local channels and shoals he decided to wait until the following morning to make his attack. He stopped all traffic from entering the inlet—preventing any warning of his presence—and posted a lookout on both sloops to ensure that Teach could not escape to sea. On the other side of the island, Teach was busy entertaining guests and had not set a lookout. With Israel Hands ashore in Bath with about 24 of Adventures sailors, he also had a much-reduced crew. Johnson (1724) reported Teach had "no more than twenty-five men on board" and that he "gave out to all the vessels that he spoke with that he had forty". "Thirteen white and six Negroes", was the number later reported by Brand to the Admiralty. + +At daybreak, preceded by a small boat taking soundings, Maynard's two sloops entered the channel. The small craft was quickly spotted by Adventure and fired at as soon as it was within range of her guns. While the boat made a quick retreat to the Jane, Teach cut the Adventures anchor cable. His crew hoisted the sails and the Adventure manoeuvred to point her starboard guns toward Maynard's sloops, which were slowly closing the gap. Hyde moved Ranger to the port side of Jane and the Union flag was unfurled on each ship. Adventure then turned toward the beach of Ocracoke Island, heading for a narrow channel. What happened next is uncertain. Johnson claimed that there was an exchange of small arms fire following which Adventure ran aground on a sandbar, and Maynard anchored and then lightened his ship to pass over the obstacle. Another version claimed that Jane and Ranger ran aground, although Maynard made no mention of this in his log. + +The Adventure eventually turned her guns on the two ships and fired. The broadside was devastating; in an instant, Maynard had lost as much as a third of his forces. About 20 on Jane were either wounded or killed and 9 on Ranger. Hyde was dead and his second and third officers either dead or seriously injured. His sloop was so badly damaged that it played no further role in the attack. Contemporary accounts of what happened next are confused, but small-arms fire from Jane may have cut Adventures jib sheet, causing her to lose control and run onto the sandbar. In the aftermath of Teach's overwhelming attack, Jane and Ranger may also have been grounded; the battle would have become a race to see who could float their ship first. + +Maynard had kept many of his men below deck, and in anticipation of being boarded told them to prepare for close fighting. Teach watched as the gap between the vessels closed, and ordered his men to be ready. The two vessels contacted one another as the Adventures grappling hooks hit their target and several grenades, made from powder and shot-filled bottles and ignited by fuses, broke across the sloop's deck. As the smoke cleared, Teach led his men aboard, buoyant at the sight of Maynard's apparently empty ship, his men firing at the small group of men with Maynard at the stern. + +The rest of Maynard's men then burst from the hold, shouting and firing. The plan to surprise Teach and his crew worked; the pirates were apparently taken aback at the assault. Teach rallied his men and the two groups fought across the deck, which was already slick with blood from those killed or injured by Teach's broadside. Maynard and Teach fired their flintlocks at each other. Maynard managed to hit Teach, while Teach missed. Both then threw their flintlocks away and drew their cutlasses. Teach broke Maynard's cutlass at the hilt. Against superior training and a slight advantage in numbers, the pirates were pushed back toward the bow, allowing the Janes crew to surround Maynard and Teach, who was by then completely isolated. Teach pressed onward and was about to deliver a killing blow, but was slashed across the neck by one of Maynard's men. This redirected Teach's cutlass to strike Maynard's knuckles instead of killing him. Badly wounded, Teach was then attacked and killed by several more of Maynard's crew. The remaining pirates quickly surrendered. Those left on the Adventure were captured by the Rangers crew, including one who planned to set fire to the powder room and blow up the ship. Varying accounts exist of the battle's list of casualties; Maynard reported that 8 of his men and 12 pirates were killed. Brand reported that 10 pirates and 11 of Maynard's men were killed. Spotswood claimed ten pirates and ten of the King's men dead. + +Maynard later examined Teach's body, noting that it had been shot five times and cut about twenty. He also found several items of correspondence, including a letter from Tobias Knight. Teach's corpse was thrown into the inlet and his head was suspended from the bowsprit of Maynard's sloop so that the reward could be collected. On their return to Virginia, Teach's head was placed on a pole at the entrance to the Chesapeake Bay as a warning to other pirates and a greeting to other ships, and it stood there for several years. + +Legacy +Lieutenant Maynard remained at Ocracoke for several more days, making repairs and burying the dead. Teach's loot—sugar, cocoa, indigo and cotton—found "in pirate sloops and ashore in a tent where the sloops lay", was sold at auction along with sugar and cotton found in Tobias Knight's barn, for £2,238. Governor Spotswood used a portion of this to pay for the entire operation. The prize money for capturing Teach was to have been about £400 (£ in ), but it was split between the crews of HMS Lyme and HMS Pearl. As Captain Brand and his troops had not been the ones fighting for their lives, Maynard thought this extremely unfair. He lost much of any support he may have had though when it was discovered that he and his crew had helped themselves to about £90 of Teach's booty. The two companies did not receive their prize money for another four years, and despite his bravery Maynard was not promoted, and faded into obscurity. + +The remainder of Teach's crew and former associates were found by Brand, in Bath, and were transported to Williamsburg, Virginia, where they were jailed on charges of piracy. Several were black, prompting Spotswood to ask his council what could be done about "the Circumstances of these Negroes to exempt them from undergoing the same Tryal as other pirates." Regardless, the men were tried with their comrades in Williamsburg's Capitol building, under admiralty law, on 12 March 1719. No records of the day's proceedings remain, but 14 of the 16 accused were found guilty. Of the remaining two, one proved that he had partaken of the fight out of necessity, having been on Teach's ship only as a guest at a drinking party the night before, and not as a pirate. The other, Israel Hands, was not present at the fight. He claimed that during a drinking session Teach had shot him in the knee, and that he was still covered by the royal pardon. The remaining pirates were hanged, then left to rot in gibbets along Williamsburg's Capitol Landing Road (known for some time after as "Gallows Road"). + +Governor Eden was certainly embarrassed by Spotswood's invasion of North Carolina, and Spotswood disavowed himself of any part of the seizure. He defended his actions, writing to Lord Carteret, a shareholder of the Province of Carolina, that he might benefit from the sale of the seized property and reminding the Earl of the number of Virginians who had died to protect his interests. He argued for the secrecy of the operation by suggesting that Eden "could contribute nothing to the Success of the Design", and told Eden that his authority to capture the pirates came from the king. Eden was heavily criticised for his involvement with Teach and was accused of being his accomplice. By criticising Eden, Spotswood intended to bolster the legitimacy of his invasion. Lee (1974) concludes that although Spotswood may have thought that the ends justified the means, he had no legal authority to invade North Carolina, to capture the pirates and to seize and auction their goods. Eden doubtless shared the same view. As Spotswood had also accused Tobias Knight of being in league with Teach, on 4 April 1719, Eden had Knight brought in for questioning. Israel Hands had, weeks earlier, testified that Knight had been on board the Adventure in August 1718, shortly after Teach had brought a French ship to North Carolina as a prize. Four pirates had testified that with Teach they had visited Knight's home to give him presents. This testimony and the letter found on Teach's body by Maynard appeared compelling, but Knight conducted his defence with competence. Despite being very sick and close to death, he questioned the reliability of Spotswood's witnesses. He claimed that Israel Hands had talked under duress, and that under North Carolinian law the other witness, an African, was unable to testify. The sugar, he argued, was stored at his house legally, and Teach had visited him only on business, in his official capacity. The board found Knight innocent of all charges. He died later that year. + +Eden was annoyed that the accusations against Knight arose during a trial in which he played no part. The goods which Brand seized were officially North Carolinian property and Eden considered him a thief. The argument raged back and forth between the colonies until Eden's death on 17 March 1722. His will named one of Spotswood's opponents, John Holloway, a beneficiary. In the same year, Spotswood, who for years had fought his enemies in the House of Burgesses and the Council, was replaced by Hugh Drysdale, once Robert Walpole was convinced to act. + +Modern view + +Official views on pirates were sometimes quite different from those held by contemporary authors, who often described their subjects as despicable rogues of the sea. Privateers who became pirates were generally considered by the English government to be reserve naval forces, and were sometimes given active encouragement; as far back as 1581 Francis Drake was knighted by Queen Elizabeth, when he returned to England from a round-the-world expedition with plunder worth an estimated £1,500,000. Royal pardons were regularly issued, usually when England was on the verge of war, and the public's opinion of pirates was often favourable, some considering them akin to patrons. Economist Peter Leeson believes that pirates were generally shrewd businessmen, far removed from the modern, romanticised view of them as barbarians. After Woodes Rogers' 1718 landing at New Providence and his ending of the pirate republic, piracy in the West Indies fell into terminal decline. With no easily accessible outlet to fence their stolen goods, pirates were reduced to a subsistence livelihood, and following almost a century of naval warfare between the British, French and Spanish—during which sailors could find easy employment—lone privateers found themselves outnumbered by the powerful ships employed by the British Empire to defend its merchant fleets. The popularity of the slave trade helped bring to an end the frontier condition of the West Indies, and in these circumstances, piracy was no longer able to flourish as it once did. + +Since the end of the Golden Age of Piracy, Teach and his exploits have become the stuff of lore, inspiring books, films and even amusement park rides. Much of what is known about him can be sourced to Charles Johnson's A General Historie of the Robberies and Murders of the Most Notorious Pyrates, published in Britain in 1724. A recognised authority on the pirates of his time, Johnson's descriptions of such figures as Anne Bonny and Mary Read were for years required reading for those interested in the subject. Readers were titillated by his stories and a second edition was quickly published, though author Angus Konstam suspects that Johnson's entry on Blackbeard was "coloured a little to make a more sensational story." A General Historie, though, is generally considered to be a reliable source. Johnson may have been an assumed alias. As Johnson's accounts have been corroborated in personal and official dispatches, Lee (1974) considers that whoever he was, he had some access to official correspondence. Konstam speculates further, suggesting that Johnson may have been the English playwright Charles Johnson, the British publisher Charles Rivington, or the writer Daniel Defoe. In his 1951 work The Great Days of Piracy, author George Woodbury wrote that Johnson is "obviously a pseudonym", continuing "one cannot help suspecting that he may have been a pirate himself." + +Despite his infamy, Teach was not the most successful of pirates. Henry Every retired a rich man, and Bartholomew Roberts took an estimated five times the amount Teach stole. Treasure hunters have long busied themselves searching for any trace of his rumoured hoard of gold and silver, but nothing found in the numerous sites explored along the east coast of the US has ever been connected to him. Some tales suggest that pirates often killed a prisoner on the spot where they buried their loot, and Teach is no exception in these stories, but that no finds have come to light is not exceptional; buried pirate treasure is often considered a modern myth for which almost no supporting evidence exists. The available records include nothing to suggest that the burial of treasure was a common practice, except in the imaginations of the writers of fictional accounts such as Treasure Island. Such hoards would necessitate a wealthy owner, and their supposed existence ignores the command structure of a pirate vessel, in which the crew served for a share of the profit. The only pirate ever known to bury treasure was William Kidd; the only treasure so far recovered from Teach's exploits is that taken from the wreckage of what is presumed to be the Queen Anne's Revenge, which was found in 1996. As of 2009 more than 250,000 artefacts had been recovered. A selection is on public display at the North Carolina Maritime Museum. + +Various superstitious tales exist of Teach's ghost. Unexplained lights at sea are often referred to as "Teach's light", and some recitals claim that the notorious pirate now roams the afterlife searching for his head, for fear that his friends, and the Devil, will not recognise him. A North Carolinian tale holds that Teach's skull was used as the basis for a silver drinking chalice; a local judge even claimed to have drunk from it one night in the 1930s. + +The name of Blackbeard has been attached to many local attractions, such as Charleston's Blackbeard's Cove. His name and persona have also featured heavily in literature. He is the main subject of Matilda Douglas's fictional 1835 work Blackbeard: A page from the colonial history of Philadelphia. + +Film renditions of his life include Blackbeard the Pirate (1952) starring West Country native Robert Newton whose exaggerated West Country accent is credited with popularising the stereotypical "pirate voice", Blackbeard's Ghost (1968), Blackbeard: Terror at Sea (2005) and the 2006 Hallmark Channel miniseries Blackbeard. Parallels have also been drawn between Johnson's Blackbeard and the character of Captain Jack Sparrow in the 2003 adventure film Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. Blackbeard is also portrayed as a central character in three TV series: by John Malkovich in Crossbones (2014), by Ray Stevenson in seasons three and four of Black Sails (2016–2017), and by Taika Waititi in Our Flag Means Death (2022). + +In 2013 and 2015, the state government of North Carolina uploaded Nautilus Productions videos of the wreck of the Queen Anne's Revenge to its website without permission. As a result Nautilus Productions, the company documenting the recovery since 1998, filed suit in federal court over copyright violations and the passage of "Blackbeard's Law" by the North Carolina General Assembly. Before posting the videos the General Assembly passed "Blackbeard's Law", N.C. Gen Stat §121-25(b), which stated, "All photographs, video recordings, or other documentary materials of a derelict vessel or shipwreck or its contents, relics, artifacts, or historic materials in the custody of any agency of North Carolina government or its subdivisions shall be a public record pursuant to Chapter 132 of the General Statutes." On 5 November 2019, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Allen v. Cooper. The Supreme Court subsequently ruled in the state's favor, and struck down the Copyright Remedy Clarification Act, which Congress passed in 1989 to attempt to curb such infringements of copyright by states. + +As a result of the ruling Nautilus filed a motion for reconsideration in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina. On August 18, 2021 Judge Terrence Boyle granted the motion for reconsideration which North Carolina promptly appealed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. The 4th Circuit denied the state's motion on October 14, 2022. Nautilus then filed their second amended complaint on February 8, 2023 alleging 5th and 14th Amendment violations of Nautilus' constitutional rights, additional copyright violations, and claiming that North Carolina's "Blackbeard's Law" represents a Bill of Attainder. Eight years after the passage of Blackbeard's Law, on June 30, 2023, North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper signed a bill repealing the law. + +References +Notes + +Citations + +Bibliography + + + + + + 2006 edition () + + 1974 edition () + +Further reading + +External links + + N.C Supreme Court revives lawsuit over Blackbeard’s ship and lost Spanish treasure ship, Fayetteville Observer + BBC Video about the potential discovery of Teach's ship + Images of artefacts recovered from the shipwreck thought to be the Queen Anne's Revenge + Out to Sea Elite Magazine + Blackbeard's Ship Confirmed off North Carolina National Geographic News + Blackbeard's Shipwreck National Geographic + Blackbeard's Lost Ship Documentary produced by the PBS Series Secrets of the Dead + Blackbeard: American Patriot? Military.com + + +1680s births +1718 deaths +18th-century English criminals +18th-century pirates +1716 crimes +1717 crimes +1718 crimes +People from Bristol +American folklore +English folklore +English privateers +English pirates +History of North Carolina +Pardoned pirates +Recipients of British royal pardons +Maritime folklore +People killed in action +Nicknames in crime +British military personnel of the War of the Spanish Succession +Bugzilla is a web-based general-purpose bug tracking system and testing tool originally developed and used by the Mozilla project, and licensed under the Mozilla Public License. + +Released as open-source software by Netscape Communications in 1998, it has been adopted by a variety of organizations for use as a bug tracking system for both free and open-source software and proprietary projects and products. Bugzilla is used, among others, by the Mozilla Foundation, WebKit, Linux kernel, FreeBSD, KDE, Apache, Eclipse and LibreOffice. Red Hat uses it, but is gradually migrating its product to use Jira. It is also self-hosting. + +History + +Bugzilla was originally devised by Terry Weissman in 1998 for the nascent Mozilla.org project, as an open source application to replace the in-house system then in use at Netscape Communications for tracking defects in the Netscape Communicator suite. Bugzilla was originally written in Tcl, but Weissman decided to port it to Perl before its release as part of Netscape's early open-source code drops, in the hope that more people would be able to contribute to it, given that Perl seemed to be a more popular language at the time. + +Bugzilla 2.0 was the result of that port to Perl, and the first version was released to the public via anonymous CVS. In April 2000, Weissman handed over control of the Bugzilla project to Tara Hernandez. Under her leadership, some of the regular contributors were coerced into taking more responsibility, and Bugzilla development became more community-driven. In July 2001, facing distraction from her other responsibilities in Netscape, Hernandez handed control to Dave Miller, who was still in charge . + +Bugzilla 3.0 was released on May 10, 2007 and brought a refreshed UI, an XML-RPC interface, custom fields and resolutions, mod_perl support, shared saved searches, and improved UTF-8 support, along with other changes. + +Bugzilla 4.0 was released on February 15, 2011 and Bugzilla 5.0 was released in July 2015. + +Timeline + +Bugzilla's release timeline: + +Requirements + +Bugzilla's system requirements include: + + A compatible database management system + A suitable release of Perl 5 + An assortment of Perl modules + A compatible web server + A suitable mail transfer agent, or any SMTP server + +Currently supported database systems are MySQL, PostgreSQL, Oracle, and SQLite. Bugzilla is usually installed on Linux using the Apache HTTP Server, but any web server that supports CGI such as Lighttpd, Hiawatha, Cherokee can be used. Bugzilla's installation process is command line driven and runs through a series of stages where system requirements and software capabilities are checked. + +Design + +While the potential exists in the code to turn Bugzilla into a technical support ticket system, task management tool, or project management tool, Bugzilla's developers have chosen to focus on the task of designing a system to track software defects. + +Zarro Boogs + +Bugzilla returns the string "zarro boogs found" instead of "0 bugs found" when a search for bugs returns no results. "Zarro Boogs" is intended as a 'buggy' statement itself (a misspelling of "zero bugs") and is thus a meta-statement about the nature of software debugging, implying that even when no bugs have been identified, some may exist. + +The following comment is provided in the Bugzilla source code to developers who may be confused by this behaviour: + +Zarro Boogs Found +This is just a goofy way of saying that there were no bugs found matching your query. When asked to explain this message, Terry Weissman (an early Bugzilla developer) had the following to say: + +I've been asked to explain this ... way back when, when Netscape released version 4.0 of its browser, we had a release party. Naturally, there had been a big push to try and fix every known bug before the release. Naturally, that hadn't actually happened. (This is not unique to Netscape or to 4.0; the same thing has happened with every software project I've ever seen.) Anyway, at the release party, T-shirts were handed out that said something like "Netscape 4.0: Zarro Boogs". Just like the software, the T-shirt had no known bugs. Uh-huh. So, when you query for a list of bugs, and it gets no results, you can think of this as a friendly reminder. Of *course* there are bugs matching your query, they just aren't in the bugsystem yet... +— Terry Weissman +From The Bugzilla Guide – 2.16.10 Release: Glossary + +WONTFIX + +WONTFIX is used as a label on issues in Bugzilla and other systems. It indicates that a verified issue will not be addressed for one of several possible reasons including fixing would be too expensive, complicated or risky. + +See also + + Comparison of issue-tracking systems + List of computing mascots + :Category:Computing mascots + +References + +External links + +Articles which contain graphical timelines +Bug and issue tracking software +Cross-platform free software +Free project management software +Free software programmed in Perl +Mozilla +Software using the Mozilla license +Bangor or City of Bangor may refer to: + +Places + +Australia + Bangor, New South Wales + Bangor, Tasmania + +Canada + Bangor, Nova Scotia + Bangor, Saskatchewan + Bangor, Prince Edward Island + +United Kingdom + +Northern Ireland + Bangor, County Down +Bangor railway station (Northern Ireland) + Bangor (Northern Ireland Parliament constituency), Bangor's former constituency in the Parliament of Northern Ireland + Bangor (Parliament of Ireland constituency), Bangor's former constituency in the Parliament of Ireland + Bangor (civil parish) + +Wales + Bangor, Gwynedd + Bangor railway station (Wales) + Bangor-on-Dee ( or ), Wrexham + Bangor Teifi, Ceredigion + Capel Bangor, Ceredigion + +United States + Bangor, Alabama + Bangor, California + Bangor, Iowa + Bangor, Maine + Bangor Air National Guard Base + Bangor International Airport + Bangor, Michigan + Bangor (Amtrak station) + Bangor Township, Van Buren County, Michigan + Bangor Township, Bay County, Michigan + Bangor, New York + Bangor, Pennsylvania + Bangor Base, Washington + Bangor, Wisconsin, a village + Bangor (town), Wisconsin + Bangor Township (disambiguation) + +Elsewhere + Bangor Erris, County Mayo, Ireland + Bangor, Morbihan, Britanny, France + +Arts, entertainment, and media + Bangor Daily News, Bangor, Maine, US + Bangor FM, County Down + +Sports + Bangor City F.C., a football club in Bangor, Gwynedd + Bangor 1876 F.C., a football club in Bangor, Gwynedd + Bangor F.C., a football club in Bangor, County Down + Bangor RFC, rugby union team of Bangor, Gwynedd, Wales + +Transportation + Bangor and Aroostook Railroad, Maine, US +Bangor International Airport, Maine, US +Bangor railway station (Northern Ireland) +Bangor railway station (Wales) +Bangor station (Michigan), US + , a Great Lakes shipwreck + City of Bangor, a US airline with the ICAO code XBG; see Airline codes-C + +Other uses + Bangor Cathedral, Bangor, Gwynedd, Wales + Bangor University, Bangor, Gwynedd, Wales + Bishop of Bangor, Bangor, Gwynedd, Wales + +See also + Bagnor, a hamlet in England + Banger (disambiguation) + Bangor City Council, Gwynedd, Wales + Bangor City Forest, Maine, US + Bangor Mall, Maine, US + Bangor Mountain, Gwynedd, Wales + The Bangor Aye, an independent online news service for Gwynedd, Wales + The Beatles in Bangor, the 1967 attendance by the band The Beatles at a transcendental meditation seminar in Bangor, Wales +A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads derive from the medieval French chanson balladée or ballade, which were originally "dance songs". Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and song of Britain and Ireland from the Late Middle Ages until the 19th century. They were widely used across Europe, and later in Australia, North Africa, North America and South America. + +While ballads have no prescribed structure and may vary in their number of lines and stanzas, many ballads employ quatrains with ABCB or ABAB rhyme schemes, the key being a rhymed second and fourth line. Contrary to a popular conception, it is rare if not unheard-of for a ballad to contain exactly 13 lines. Additionally, couplets rarely appear in ballads. + +Many ballads were written and sold as single-sheet broadsides. The form was often used by poets and composers from the 18th century onwards to produce lyrical ballads. In the later 19th century, the term took on the meaning of a slow form of popular love song and is often used for any love song, particularly the sentimental ballad of pop or rock music, although the term is also associated with the concept of a stylized storytelling song or poem, particularly when used as a title for other media such as a film. + +Origins +A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads derive from the medieval French chanson balladée or ballade, which were originally "dancing songs" (L: ballare, to dance), yet becoming "stylized forms of solo song" before being adopted in England. As a narrative song, their theme and function may originate from Scandinavian and Germanic traditions of storytelling that can be seen in poems such as Beowulf. Musically they were influenced by the Minnelieder of the Minnesang tradition. The earliest example of a recognizable ballad in form in England is "Judas" in a 13th-century manuscript. + +Ballad form + +Ballads were originally written to accompany dances, and so were composed in couplets with refrains in alternate lines. These refrains would have been sung by the dancers in time with the dance. Most northern and west European ballads are written in ballad stanzas or quatrains (four-line stanzas) of alternating lines of iambic (an unstressed followed by a stressed syllable) tetrameter (eight syllables) and iambic trimeter (six syllables), known as ballad meter. Usually, only the second and fourth line of a quatrain are rhymed (in the scheme a, b, c, b), which has been taken to suggest that, originally, ballads consisted of couplets (two lines) of rhymed verse, each of 14 syllables. This can be seen in this stanza from "Lord Thomas and Fair Annet": + +The horse | fair Ann | et rode | upon | +He amb | led like | the wind |, +With sil | ver he | was shod | before, +With burn | ing gold | behind |. + +There is considerable variation on this pattern in almost every respect, including length, number of lines and rhyming scheme, making the strict definition of a ballad extremely difficult. In southern and eastern Europe, and in countries that derive their tradition from them, ballad structure differs significantly, like Spanish romanceros, which are octosyllabic and use consonance rather than rhyme. + +Ballads usually are heavily influenced by the regions in which they originate and use the common dialect of the people. Scotland's ballads in particular, both in theme and language, are strongly characterised by their distinctive tradition, even exhibiting some pre-Christian influences in the inclusion of supernatural elements such as travel to the Fairy Kingdom in the Scots ballad "Tam Lin". The ballads do not have any known author or correct version; instead, having been passed down mainly by oral tradition since the Middle Ages, there are many variations of each. The ballads remained an oral tradition until the increased interest in folk songs in the 18th century led collectors such as Bishop Thomas Percy (1729–1811) to publish volumes of popular ballads. + +In all traditions most ballads are narrative in nature, with a self-contained story, often concise, and rely on imagery, rather than description, which can be tragic, historical, romantic or comic. Themes concerning rural labourers and their sexuality are common, and there are many ballads based on the Robin Hood legend. Another common feature of ballads is repetition, sometimes of fourth lines in succeeding stanzas, as a refrain, sometimes of third and fourth lines of a stanza and sometimes of entire stanzas. + +Composition +Scholars of ballads have been divided into "communalists", such as Johann Gottfried Herder (1744–1803) and the Brothers Grimm, who argue that ballads are originally communal compositions, and "individualists" such as Cecil Sharp, who assert that there was one single original author. Communalists tend to see more recent, particularly printed, broadside ballads of known authorship as a debased form of the genre, while individualists see variants as corruptions of an original text. More recently scholars have pointed to the interchange of oral and written forms of the ballad. + +Transmission + +The transmission of ballads comprises a key stage in their re-composition. In romantic terms this process is often dramatized as a narrative of degeneration away from the pure 'folk memory' or 'immemorial tradition'. In the introduction to Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border (1802) the romantic poet and historical novelist Walter Scott argued a need to 'remove obvious corruptions' in order to attempt to restore a supposed original. For Scott, the process of multiple recitations 'incurs the risk of impertinent interpolations from the conceit of one rehearser, unintelligible blunders from the stupidity of another, and omissions equally to be regretted, from the want of memory of a third.' Similarly, John Robert Moore noted 'a natural tendency to oblivescence'. + +Classification +European Ballads have been generally classified into three major groups: traditional, broadside and literary. In America a distinction is drawn between ballads that are versions of European, particularly British and Irish songs, and 'Native American ballads', developed without reference to earlier songs. A further development was the evolution of the blues ballad, which mixed the genre with Afro-American music. For the late 20th century the music publishing industry found a market for what are often termed sentimental ballads, and these are the origin of the modern use of the term 'ballad' to mean a slow love song. + +Traditional ballads + +The traditional, classical or popular (meaning of the people) ballad has been seen as beginning with the wandering minstrels of late medieval Europe. From the end of the 15th century there are printed ballads that suggest a rich tradition of popular music. A reference in William Langland's Piers Plowman indicates that ballads about Robin Hood were being sung from at least the late 14th century and the oldest detailed material is Wynkyn de Worde's collection of Robin Hood ballads printed about 1495. + +Early collections of English ballads were made by Samuel Pepys (1633–1703) and in the Roxburghe Ballads collected by Robert Harley, (1661–1724), which paralleled the work in Scotland by Walter Scott and Robert Burns. Inspired by his reading as a teenager of Reliques of Ancient English Poetry by Thomas Percy, Scott began collecting ballads while he attended Edinburgh University in the 1790s. He published his research from 1802 to 1803 in a three-volume work, Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border. Burns collaborated with James Johnson on the multi-volume Scots Musical Museum, a miscellany of folk songs and poetry with original work by Burns. Around the same time, he worked with George Thompson on A Select Collection of Original Scottish Airs for the Voice. + +Both Northern English and Southern Scots shared in the identified tradition of Border ballads, particularly evinced by the cross-border narrative in versions of "The Ballad of Chevy Chase" sometimes associated with the Lancashire-born sixteenth-century minstrel Richard Sheale. + +It has been suggested that the increasing interest in traditional popular ballads during the eighteenth century was prompted by social issues such as the enclosure movement as many of the ballads deal with themes concerning rural laborers. James Davey has suggested that the common themes of sailing and naval battles may also have prompted the use (at least in England) of popular ballads as naval recruitment tools. + +Key work on the traditional ballad was undertaken in the late 19th century in Denmark by Svend Grundtvig and for England and Scotland by the Harvard professor Francis James Child. They attempted to record and classify all the known ballads and variants in their chosen regions. Since Child died before writing a commentary on his work it is uncertain exactly how and why he differentiated the 305 ballads printed that would be published as The English and Scottish Popular Ballads. There have been many different and contradictory attempts to classify traditional ballads by theme, but commonly identified types are the religious, supernatural, tragic, love ballads, historic, legendary and humorous. The traditional form and content of the ballad were modified to form the basis for twenty-three bawdy pornographic ballads that appeared in the underground Victorian magazine The Pearl, which ran for eighteen issues between 1879 and 1880. Unlike the traditional ballad, these obscene ballads aggressively mocked sentimental nostalgia and local lore. + +Broadsides + +Broadside ballads (also known as 'broadsheet', 'stall', 'vulgar' or 'come all ye' ballads) were a product of the development of cheap print in the 16th century. They were generally printed on one side of a medium to large sheet of poor quality paper. In the first half of the 17th century, they were printed in black-letter or gothic type and included multiple, eye-catching illustrations, a popular tune title, as well as an alluring poem. By the 18th century, they were printed in white letter or roman type and often without much decoration (as well as tune title). These later sheets could include many individual songs, which would be cut apart and sold individually as "slip songs." Alternatively, they might be folded to make small cheap books or "chapbooks" which often drew on ballad stories. They were produced in huge numbers, with over 400,000 being sold in England annually by the 1660s. Tessa Watt estimates the number of copies sold may have been in the millions. Many were sold by travelling chapmen in city streets or at fairs. The subject matter varied from what has been defined as the traditional ballad, although many traditional ballads were printed as broadsides. Among the topics were love, marriage, religion, drinking-songs, legends, and early journalism, which included disasters, political events and signs, wonders and prodigies. + +Literary ballads +Literary or lyrical ballads grew out of an increasing interest in the ballad form among social elites and intellectuals, particularly in the Romantic movement from the later 18th century. Respected literary figures Robert Burns and Walter Scott in Scotland collected and wrote their own ballads. Similarly in England William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge produced a collection of Lyrical Ballads in 1798 that included Coleridge's The Rime of the Ancient Mariner. Wordsworth, Coleridge, and Keats were attracted to the simple and natural style of these folk ballads and tried to imitate it. At the same time in Germany Goethe cooperated with Schiller on a series of ballads, some of which were later set to music by Schubert. Later important examples of the poetic form included Rudyard Kipling's "Barrack-Room Ballads" (1892-6) and Oscar Wilde's The Ballad of Reading Gaol (1897). + +Ballad operas + +In the 18th century ballad operas developed as a form of English stage entertainment, partly in opposition to the Italian domination of the London operatic scene. It consisted of racy and often satirical spoken (English) dialogue, interspersed with songs that are deliberately kept very short to minimize disruptions to the flow of the story. Rather than the more aristocratic themes and music of the Italian opera, the ballad operas were set to the music of popular folk songs and dealt with lower-class characters. Subject matter involved the lower, often criminal, orders, and typically showed a suspension (or inversion) of the high moral values of the Italian opera of the period. + +The first, most important and successful was The Beggar's Opera of 1728, with a libretto by John Gay and music arranged by John Christopher Pepusch, both of whom probably influenced by Parisian vaudeville and the burlesques and musical plays of Thomas d'Urfey (1653–1723), a number of whose collected ballads they used in their work. Gay produced further works in this style, including a sequel under the title Polly. Henry Fielding, Colley Cibber, Arne, Dibdin, Arnold, Shield, Jackson of Exeter, Hook and many others produced ballad operas that enjoyed great popularity. Ballad opera was attempted in America and Prussia. Later it moved into a more pastoral form, like Isaac Bickerstaffe's Love in a Village (1763) and Shield's Rosina (1781), using more original music that imitated, rather than reproduced, existing ballads. Although the form declined in popularity towards the end of the 18th century its influence can be seen in light operas like that of Gilbert and Sullivan's early works like The Sorcerer as well as in the modern musical. + +In the 20th century, one of the most influential plays, Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht's (1928) The Threepenny Opera was a reworking of The Beggar's Opera, setting a similar story with the same characters, and containing much of the same satirical bite, but only using one tune from the original. The term ballad opera has also been used to describe musicals using folk music, such as The Martins and the Coys in 1944, and Peter Bellamy's The Transports in 1977. The satiric elements of ballad opera can be seen in some modern musicals such as Chicago and Cabaret. + +Beyond Europe + +American ballads + +Some 300 ballads sung in North America have been identified as having origins in Scottish traditional or broadside ballads. Examples include 'The Streets of Laredo', which was found in Britain and Ireland as 'The Unfortunate Rake'; however, a further 400 have been identified as originating in America, including among the best known, 'The Ballad of Davy Crockett' and 'Jesse James'. They became an increasing area of interest for scholars in the 19th century and most were recorded or catalogued by George Malcolm Laws, although some have since been found to have British origins and additional songs have since been collected. They are usually considered closest in form to British broadside ballads and in terms of style are largely indistinguishable, however, they demonstrate a particular concern with occupations, journalistic style and often lack the ribaldry of British broadside ballads. + +Blues ballads + +The blues ballad has been seen as a fusion of Anglo-American and Afro-American styles of music from the 19th century. Blues ballads tend to deal with active protagonists, often anti-heroes, resisting adversity and authority, but frequently lacking a strong narrative and emphasising character instead. They were often accompanied by banjo and guitar which followed the blues musical format. The most famous blues ballads include those about John Henry and Casey Jones. + +Bush ballads + +The ballad was taken to Australia by early settlers from Britain and Ireland and gained particular foothold in the rural outback. The rhyming songs, poems and tales written in the form of ballads often relate to the itinerant and rebellious spirit of Australia in The Bush, and the authors and performers are often referred to as bush bards. The 19th century was the golden age of bush ballads. Several collectors have catalogued the songs including John Meredith whose recording in the 1950s became the basis of the collection in the National Library of Australia. The songs tell personal stories of life in the wide open country of Australia. Typical subjects include mining, raising and droving cattle, sheep shearing, wanderings, war stories, the 1891 Australian shearers' strike, class conflicts between the landless working class and the squatters (landowners), and outlaws such as Ned Kelly, as well as love interests and more modern fare such as trucking. The most famous bush ballad is "Waltzing Matilda", which has been called "the unofficial national anthem of Australia". + +Sentimental ballads + +Sentimental ballads, sometimes called "tear-jerkers" or "drawing-room ballads" owing to their popularity with the middle classes, had their origins in the early "Tin Pan Alley" music industry of the later 19th century. They were generally sentimental, narrative, strophic songs published separately or as part of an opera (descendants perhaps of broadside ballads, but with printed music, and usually newly composed). Such songs include "Little Rosewood Casket" (1870), "After the Ball" (1892) and "Danny Boy". The association with sentimentality led to the term "ballad" being used for slow love songs from the 1950s onwards. Modern variations include "jazz ballads", "pop ballads", "rock ballads", "R&B ballads" and "power ballads". + +See also + +Notes + +References and further reading + Dugaw, Dianne. Deep Play: John Gay and the Invention of Modernity. Newark, Del.: University of Delaware Press, 2001. Print. + + Randel, Don (1986). The New Harvard Dictionary of Music. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. . + + Winton, Calhoun. John Gay and the London Theatre. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 1993. Print. + + Marcello Sorce Keller, "Sul castel di mirabel: Life of a Ballad in Oral Tradition and Choral Practice", Ethnomusicology, XXX(1986), no. 3, 449- 469. + +External links + + The British Literary Ballads Archive + The Bodleian Library Ballad Collection: view facsimiles of printed ballads + The English Broadside Ballad Archive: searchable database of ballad images, citations, and recordings + Welsh Ballads resource guide + The Traditional Ballad Index + Black-letter Broadside Ballads Of The years 1595-1639 From the Collection of Samuel Pepys + Smithsonian Global Sound: The Music of Poetry—audio samples of poems, hymns and songs in ballad meter. + The Oxford Book of Ballads, complete 1910 book by Arthur Quiller-Couch + English Broadside Ballad Archive—an archive of images and recordings of over 4,000 pre-1700 broadside ballads + + + +Folk music +Folk poetry +Poetic forms +Blue Öyster Cult ( ; sometimes abbreviated BÖC or BOC) is an American rock band formed on Long Island in Stony Brook, New York, in 1967. +The band has sold 25 million records worldwide, including 7 million in the United States. The band's fusion of hard rock with psychedelia, and penchant for occult, fantastical and tongue-in-cheek lyrics, had a major influence on heavy metal music. They developed a cult following and, while achieving mainstream hits like "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" (1976) and "Burnin' for You" (1981), rarely experienced commercial success. Both songs, and others such as "Godzilla" (1977), remain classic rock radio staples. The band were early adopters of the music video format, and their videos received heavy rotation on MTV in its early period. + +Blue Öyster Cult's longest-lasting and the most commercially successful lineup included Donald "Buck Dharma" Roeser (lead guitar, vocals), Eric Bloom (lead vocals, "stun guitar", keyboards, synthesizer), Allen Lanier (keyboards, rhythm guitar), Joe Bouchard (bass, vocals, keyboards), and Albert Bouchard (drums, percussion, vocals, miscellaneous instruments). The band's current lineup still includes Bloom and Roeser, in addition to Danny Miranda (bass, backing vocals), Richie Castellano (keyboards, rhythm guitar, backing vocals), and Jules Radino (drums, percussion). The duo of the band's manager Sandy Pearlman and rock critic Richard Meltzer, who also met at Stony Brook University, played a key role in writing many of the band’s lyrics. + +History + +Early years as Soft White Underbelly (1967–1971) +Blue Öyster Cult was formed in 1967 as Soft White Underbelly (a name the group would occasionally use in the 1970s and 1980s to play small club gigs around the United States and UK) in a communal house at Stony Brook University on Long Island when rock critic Sandy Pearlman overheard a jam session consisting of fellow Stony Brook classmate Donald Roeser and his friends. Pearlman offered to become the band's manager and creative partner, to which the band agreed. The band's original lineup consisted of guitarist Roeser, drummer Albert Bouchard, keyboardist Allen Lanier, singers Jeff Kagel (aka Krishna Das) and Les Braunstein and bassist Andrew Winters. + +In October 1967, the band made their debut performance as Steve Noonan's backing band at the Stony Brook University Gymnasium, a gig booked by Pearlman. The band's name came from Winston Churchill's description of Italy as "the soft underbelly of the Axis." + +Pearlman was important to the band – he was able to get them gigs and recording contracts with Elektra and Columbia, and he provided them with his poetry for use as lyrics for many of their songs, including "Astronomy." Writer Richard Meltzer, also a Stony Brook University student, provided the band with lyrics from their early days up through their most recent studio album. In 1968, the band moved in together at their first house in the Thomaston area of Great Neck, New York. The band recorded an album's worth of material for Elektra Records in 1968. + +Braunstein played his final show as Soft White Underbelly's lead singer in the spring of 1969. His departure led Elektra to shelve the album recorded with him on vocals. + +Eric Bloom was hired by the band as their acoustic engineer and eventually became lead singer, replacing Braunstein, through a series of three unlikely coincidences. One was that Lanier decided to join Bloom on a drive to an upstate gig, where he spent the night with Bloom's old college bandmates and got to hear old tapes of Bloom's talent as lead vocalist. Because of this, Bloom was offered the job of lead singer for Soft White Underbelly. + +However, a bad review of a 1969 Fillmore East show caused Pearlman to change the name of the band – first to Oaxaca, then to the Stalk-Forrest Group. Pearlman also gave stage names to each of the band members (Jesse Python for Eric Bloom, Andy Panda for Andy Winters, Prince Omega for Albert Bouchard, La Verne for Allen Lanier) but only Buck Dharma kept his. The band recorded yet another album's worth of material for Elektra, but only one single ("What Is Quicksand?" b/w "Arthur Comics") was released (and only in a promo edition of 300 copies) on Elektra Records (this album was eventually released, with additional outtakes, by Rhino Handmade Records as St. Cecilia: The Elektra Recordings in 2001). The album featured Bloom as their main lead singer, but Roeser also sang lead on a few songs, a pattern of sharing lead vocals that has continued throughout the band's career. With Bloom, Soft White Underbelly/Stalk-Forrest Group became one of Stony Brook University's "house bands," popular on campus. + +After a few more temporary band names, including the Santos Sisters, the band settled on Blue Öyster Cult in 1971 (see below for its origin). + +New York City producer/composer and jingle writer David Lucas saw the band perform and took them into his Warehouse Recording Studio and produced four demos, with which Pearlman was able to get the renamed band another audition with Columbia Records. Clive Davis liked what he heard, and signed the band to the label. The first album was subsequently produced and recorded by Lucas on eight-track at Lucas' studio. Winters would leave the band and be replaced by Bouchard's brother, Joe Bouchard. + +Black-and-white years (1971–1975) + +Their debut album Blue Öyster Cult was released in January 1972, with a black-and-white cover designed by artist Bill Gawlik. The album featured the songs "Cities on Flame with Rock and Roll", "Stairway to the Stars", and "Then Came the Last Days of May". By this time, the band's sound had become more oriented toward hard rock, but songs like "She's As Beautiful As a Foot" and "Redeemed" also showed a strong element of the band's psychedelic roots. Pearlman wanted the group to be the American answer to Black Sabbath. All of the band members except for Allen Lanier sang lead, a pattern that would continue on many subsequent albums, although lead singer Eric Bloom sang the majority of the songs. The album sold well, and Blue Öyster Cult toured with artists such as the Byrds, Mahavishnu Orchestra and Alice Cooper. During the touring process, the band's sound became heavier and more direct. + +Their next album Tyranny and Mutation, released in 1973, was written while the band was on tour for their first LP. It contained songs such as "The Red and the Black" (an ode to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and a rewrite of "I'm on the Lamb But I Ain't No Sheep" from their debut album, and also a reference to the novel of the same name by Stendhal), "Hot Rails to Hell" and "Baby Ice Dog", the first of the band's many collaborations with Patti Smith. It featured a harder-rocking approach than before, although the band's songs were also growing more complex. The album outsold its predecessor, a trend that would continue with their next few albums. + +The band's third album, Secret Treaties (1974) received positive reviews, featuring songs such as "Career of Evil" (co-written by Patti Smith), "Dominance and Submission" and "Astronomy". As a result of constant touring, the band was now capable of headlining shows. The album continued their upward sales trend, and would eventually go gold. + +As the three albums during this formative period all had black-and-white covers, the period of their career has been dubbed the 'black and white years' by fans and critics. + +Commercial success (1975–1981) + +The band's first live album On Your Feet or on Your Knees (1975) achieved greater success and went gold. Its success gave the band more time to work on a follow-up. The band members were able to purchase home recording equipment to record demos for their next album. + +Their next studio album, Agents of Fortune (1976), was their first to go platinum and was again produced by David Lucas. It contained the hit single "(Don't Fear) The Reaper", which reached number 12 on the Billboard charts and has become a classic of the hard rock genre. Other major songs on the album were "(This Ain't) The Summer of Love", "E.T.I. (Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence)" and "The Revenge of Vera Gemini". Having recorded demos of the songs at home before recording the album, the band's songwriting process had become more individual, with none of the songs featuring the collaborative writing between the band members that had been common on their earlier albums. Although the album still featured their trademark hard rock with sinister lyrics, the songs had become more conventional in structure, and the production was more polished. For the first and only time, the album featured lead vocals from all five band members, with Allen Lanier singing lead on the song "True Confessions." With Albert Bouchard singing lead on three songs and Joe Bouchard and Donald Roeser singing lead on one each, Eric Bloom ended up taking the lead on only four of the album's ten songs. + +For the tour, the band added lasers to their light show, for which they became known. They were among the first acts to use lasers in performance. + +Their next album, Spectres (1977), had the FM radio hit "Godzilla," and would become one of the band's better-selling albums, with other well-known songs like "I Love the Night" and "Goin' Through the Motions". However, its sales were not as strong as those for the previous album, going gold but not platinum, becoming their first album to sell less than its predecessor. It featured even more polished production, and continued the trend of the lead vocals extensively shared between members, although Allen Lanier did not sing lead. As with the previous album, Eric Bloom sang lead on fewer than half the songs. + +The band then released another live album, Some Enchanted Evening (1978). Although it was intended as another double-live album in the vein of On Your Feet or on Your Knees, Columbia insisted that it be edited down to single-album length. It was a resounding commercial success, becoming Blue Öyster Cult's most popular album and eventually selling over two million copies. It also revealed that while the band's studio work was becoming increasingly well-produced, they were still very much a hard rock band on stage. + +It was followed by the studio album Mirrors (1979). For Mirrors, instead of working with previous producers Sandy Pearlman (who instead went on to manage Black Sabbath) and Murray Krugman, Blue Öyster Cult chose Tom Werman, who had worked with acts such as Cheap Trick and Ted Nugent. It featured the band's glossiest production to date. It also gave Roeser, the lead vocalist on the band's biggest hits, bigger prominence as a vocalist, singing lead on four of the nine songs. However, the resulting album sales were disappointing. + +Pearlman's association with Black Sabbath led to Sabbath's Heaven and Hell producer Martin Birch being hired for the next Blue Öyster Cult record. The album found the band returning to their hard rock roots, and although both of the Bouchard brothers and guitarist Roeser all got lead vocal turns, Bloom would sing the majority of the tracks. The result was positive, with Cultösaurus Erectus (1980) receiving good reviews. The album went to number 12 in the United Kingdom, but did not do as well in the United States. The song "Black Blade", which was written by Bloom with lyrics by science fiction and fantasy author Michael Moorcock, is a kind of retelling of Moorcock's epic Elric of Melniboné saga. The band also did a co-headlining tour with Black Sabbath in support of the album, calling the tour "Black and Blue". + +Birch produced the band's next album as well, Fire of Unknown Origin (1981), which peaked at number 24 on the Billboard 200, becoming the band's highest-charting album. The biggest hit on this album was the Top 40 hit "Burnin' for You," a song Roeser had written with a Richard Meltzer lyric. He had intended to use it on his solo album, Flat Out (1982), but he was convinced to use it on the Blue Öyster Cult album instead. The revival of the band's heavier sound continued, albeit with fairly heavy use of synthesizers and some noticeable New Wave influence on a few tracks. It contained other fan favorites such as "Joan Crawford" (inspired by the book and film Mommie Dearest) and "Veteran of the Psychic Wars", another song co-written by Moorcock. Several of the songs had been written for the animated film Heavy Metal, but only "Veteran of the Psychic Wars" (which had not been written for Heavy Metal) was actually used in the movie. The album marked a strong commercial resurgence for the band and achieved gold status, their first studio album since Spectres to do so. + +During the tour for Fire of Unknown Origin, Albert Bouchard had a falling out with the others and left the band, and Rick Downey (formerly the band's lighting designer) replaced him on drums. This marked the end of the band's original and best-known lineup. + +1980s: Popular Decline + +After leaving the band, Albert Bouchard spent five years working on a solo album based on Sandy Pearlman's poem "Imaginos". Blue Öyster Cult also released a third live album Extraterrestrial Live. + +The band then went to the studio for the next album, The Revölution by Night (1983), with Bruce Fairbairn as producer. After two albums of a return to a harder rocking sound, the band adopted a more radio-friendly, AOR-oriented sound with Fairbairn providing a 1980s-style production. This approach met with some success, especially on its highest-charting single, Roeser's "Shooting Shark", co-written by Patti Smith and featuring Randy Jackson on bass, which reached number 83 on the charts. Bloom's "Take Me Away" achieved some FM radio play. However, the album didn't match sales of its predecessor, failed to achieve gold status, and marked the beginning of the band's second commercial decline. After touring for Revölution, Rick Downey left, leaving Blue Öyster Cult without a drummer. + +Blue Öyster Cult re-united with Albert Bouchard for a California tour in February 1985, infamously known as the 'Albert Returns' Tour. This arrangement was only temporary and caused more tensions between the band and Bouchard, since he had thought he would be staying on permanently, which was not the case. The band had intended to use him only as a fill-in until another drummer could come on board, which resulted in Bouchard's leaving after the tour. Allen Lanier also quit the band shortly thereafter, leaving them without a keyboardist and with only three remaining original members. This incarnation of the band would sometimes be referred to as '3ÖC' by fans, which is a pun on the number of original members left. + +Blue Öyster Cult hired drummer Jimmy Wilcox and keyboardist Tommy Zvoncheck to finish the album Club Ninja, which was poorly received, with only "Dancin' in the Ruins," one of several songs on the record written entirely by outside songwriters, enjoying minimal success on radio and MTV. The best-known original on the album is "Perfect Water" written by Dharma and Jim Carroll (noted author of The Basketball Diaries). While the band members have generally been disparaging about the album in retrospect, Joe Bouchard has stated that "Perfect Water" is "perfect genius". + +The band toured in Germany, after which bassist Bouchard left, leaving only two members of the classic lineup: Eric Bloom and Donald Roeser. Some people referred to the band as "Two Öyster Cult" during this period. Jon Rogers was hired to replace Joe and this version of the band finished out the 1986 tour. After it wound up that year, the band took a temporary break from recording and touring. When Blue Öyster Cult received an offer to tour in Greece in the early summer of 1987, the band reformed. Wilcox quit while Zvoncheck was fired for making excessive financial demands. Allen Lanier then was offered to rejoin and agreed, so the new line-up now featured three founding members, along with Jon Rogers returning on bass and Ron Riddle as their newest drummer. + +Columbia Records was not interested in releasing the Imaginos project as an Albert Bouchard solo album so it was arranged for the record to be released in 1988 by Columbia as a Blue Öyster Cult album, with some new lead vocal overdubs from Bloom and Roeser and lead guitar overdubs from Roeser. These replaced most of Albert Bouchard's lead vocals, as well as many lead guitar parts that had been recorded by session musicians. Joe Bouchard and Allen Lanier had earlier contributed some minor keyboard and backing vocal parts to the album, allowing all five original members to be credited. The album didn't sell well (despite a positive review in Rolling Stone magazine) and although the then-current Blue Öyster Cult lineup (minus both Bouchard brothers) toured to promote Imaginos, promotion by the label was virtually non-existent. When Columbia Records' parent company CBS Records was purchased by Sony and became Sony Music Entertainment, Blue Öyster Cult were dropped from the label. + +1990s and early 2000s + +The band spent the next 11 years touring without releasing an album of new material, although they did contribute two new songs to the Bad Channels movie soundtrack, released in 1992, and also released an album of re-recorded songs from the band's original lineup, called Cult Classic, in 1994. During these years, while the three original members remained constant, there were several changes in the band's rhythm section. Ron Riddle quit in 1991 and was followed by a series of other drummers including +Chuck Burgi (1991–1992, 1992–1995, 1996–1997), John Miceli (1992, 1995), John O'Reilly (1995–1996) and Bobby Rondinelli (1997–2004). As for the bass position, Rogers left in 1995, and was replaced by Danny Miranda. + +In the late 1990s, Blue Öyster Cult secured a recording contract with CMC Records (later purchased by Sanctuary Records), and continued to tour frequently. Two studio albums were released, Heaven Forbid (1998) and Curse of the Hidden Mirror (2001). Both albums featured songs co-written by cyberpunk/horror novelist John Shirley. The first mostly featured Miranda on bass and Burgi on drums, although a few tracks feature earlier bassist Jon Rogers and one track features Rondinelli on drums, who had joined the band near the end of the recording. Curse of the Hidden Mirror features Miranda and Rondinelli as the rhythm section, and the pair contributed to the songwriting as well. Neither album sold well. + +Another live record and DVD A Long Day's Night followed in 2002, both drawn from one concert in Chicago. This album also featured the Bloom, Roeser, Lanier, Miranda, Rondinelli lineup. + +Although the band's lineup had remained stable from 1997 to 2004, they began to experience personnel changes again in 2004. Rondinelli left in 2004, and was replaced by Jules Radino. Miranda left during the same year to become the bassist for Queen + Paul Rodgers in place of the retired John Deacon. He was replaced by Richie Castellano, who would also take occasional turns as a lead vocalist onstage. + +In 2001, Sony/Columbia's reissue arm, Legacy Records issued expanded versions of the first four Blue Öyster Cult studio albums, including some previously unreleased demos and outtakes from album sessions, live recordings (from the Live 72 EP), and post-St. Cecilia tunes from the Stalk-Forrest Group era. + +Late 2000s and 2010s + +Allen Lanier retired from live performances in 2007 after not appearing with the band since late 2006. Castellano switched to rhythm guitar and keyboards (Castellano also filled in on lead guitar and vocals for an ailing Buck Dharma in two shows in 2005), and the position of bassist was taken up by Rudy Sarzo (previously a member of Quiet Riot, Whitesnake, Ozzy Osbourne and Dio), with the band employing Danny Miranda and Jon Rogers as guest bassists to fill in when Sarzo was unavailable. Sarzo then joined as an official member of the band, although Rogers continued to occasionally fill in when Sarzo was busy. + +In February 2007, the Sony Legacy remaster series continued, releasing expanded versions of studio album Spectres and live album Some Enchanted Evening. + +In June 2012, the band announced that bassist Rudy Sarzo was leaving the band and was being replaced by former Utopia bassist Kasim Sulton. + +In August of the same year, it was announced that Sony Legacy would be releasing a 17-disc boxed set entitled The Complete Columbia Albums Collection on October 30, 2012. The set includes the first round of the remastered series plus the long-awaited remastered versions of On Your Feet or on Your Knees, Mirrors, Cultösaurus Erectus, Fire Of Unknown Origin, Extraterrestrial Live, The Revölution by Night, Club Ninja and Imaginos. Also exclusive to this set are two discs of rare and unreleased B-sides, demos and radio broadcasts. + +Also in 2012, celebrating the 40th anniversary of Blue Öyster Cult, the then-current incarnation of the band reunited for the first time in 25 years with other original members Joe and Albert Bouchard and Allen Lanier as guests for a special event in New York. + +Founding keyboardist/guitarist Allen Lanier died of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease on August 14, 2013. + +In 2016, Albert Bouchard played again as guest with the current line-up of the band, playing at shows in New York, Los Angeles, Dublin and London, where Blue Öyster Cult played the album Agents of Fortune in its entirety. The shows featured songs from Agents of Fortune that had either not been played live before ("True Confessions", "The Revenge of Vera Gemini", "Sinful Love", "Tenderloin", "Debbie Denise"), songs that had not been played since the album's debut tour ("Morning Final"), and songs that were no longer/never played frequently ("This Ain't the Summer of Love", "Tattoo Vampire"), as well as the fan favorite "Five Guitars", which had not been played since Albert initially left the band in 1981. Albert played in the following songs at the show: "The Revenge of Vera Gemini" (vocals, guitar), "Sinful Love" (vocals, guitar), "Tattoo Vampire" (guitar), "Morning Final" (guitar), "Tenderloin" (cymbals), "Debbie Denise" (vocals, acoustic guitar), "Cities on Flame with Rock and Roll" (vocals, drums), and "Five Guitars" (guitar). + +In a May 2017 appearance on Castellano's "Band Geek" podcast, Bloom confirmed that there were tentative plans to release a new album in 2018 and that the band was currently considering offers from multiple record labels. He also stated that former bassist Danny Miranda would be playing with the band for the remainder of the year due to Sulton's prior touring commitments with Todd Rundgren. During the same year, the band's official website started to list Miranda as an official member, stating that Miranda had "returned to BÖC" in early 2017. + +Buck Dharma stated in February 2019 that the band would be recording a new album to be released by fall. On July 10, 2019, it was announced that the band had signed to Frontiers Music, and would in fact be releasing the new album in 2020. "It's been a long time since BÖC's last studio album. Recording with Danny, Richie and Jules should be a great experience as we've been touring together for years, and Buck and I look forward to including them in the creative and recording process," said Bloom. "The current band is GREAT and has never been recorded other than live, so we feel now's the time for new songs to be written and recorded. About half of the songs for the new record exist and the rest will be finished during the process," added Buck Dharma. In February 2020, Richie Castellano posted a short video to Facebook featuring himself and Eric Bloom, stating that the band are working on the new Blue Oyster Cult record remotely by using ConnectionOpen online audio collaboration tool. + +The Symbol Remains (2020–present) +In August 2020, the band announced on their website that their fifteenth studio album The Symbol Remains would be released on October 9, 2020. The span of nineteen years between Curse of the Hidden Mirror and The Symbol Remains marks the longest gap between studio albums in Blue Öyster Cult's career. The album was released to a positive critical reception, with tracks such as "Box In My Head" and "The Alchemist" receiving high praise. + +In October 2022, during their European headlining tour, Blue Öyster Cult supported Deep Purple at five arena shows in the United Kingdom. + +Musical style +Blue Öyster Cult is usually described as a hard rock band, albeit one with their own tongue-in-cheek style. Their music has also been described as heavy metal, psychedelic rock, occult rock, biker boogie, acid rock, and progressive rock. They have also been recognized for helping pioneer genres such as stoner metal. The band has also experimented with additional genres on specific albums, such as on Mirrors. + +They have acknowledged the influence of artists such as Alice Cooper, Grateful Dead, The Doors, Jefferson Airplane, MC5, The Blues Project, Jimi Hendrix, and Black Sabbath. + +Lyrics +The band have frequently collaborated with outside lyricists, although all of the original members wrote lyrics at some point, most notably Donald Roeser. The principal lyricists in the early days were manager Sandy Pearlman and fellow rock critic Richard Meltzer. Key members of the New York punk scene Patti Smith, Helen "Wheels" Robbins and Jim Carroll - all friends of the band - contributed from the mid-1970s. Later in the decade frontman Eric Bloom, a science fiction fan, recruited English author Michael Moorcock to write for the band, and later did the same with Eric Van Lustbader and John Shirley. + +In order to add to their mystique the band would often use out-of-context fragments of Pearlman's unpublished sci-fi poetry cycle The Soft Doctrines of Imaginos as lyrics, rendering their meaning obscure. Additionally, they kept a folder of Pearlman's and Meltzer's word associations to insert into their songs. + +Band name and logo + +The name "Blue Öyster Cult" also came from Pearlman's Imaginos cycle, explored most extensively on the 1988 album of the same name. Pearlman had also come up with the band's earlier name, "Soft White Underbelly", from a phrase used by Winston Churchill in describing Italy during World War II. In Pearlman's poetry, the "Blue Oyster Cult" is a group of aliens who had assembled secretly to guide Earth's history. "Initially, the band was not happy with the name, but settled for it, and went to work preparing to record their first release..." + +In a 1976 interview published in the U.K. music magazine ZigZag, Pearlman claimed the origin of the band's name was as an anagram of "Cully Stout Beer". + +The addition of an umlaut was suggested by Allen Lanier, but Richard Meltzer claims to have suggested it just after Pearlman came up with the name, reportedly "because of the Wagnerian aspect of Metal". Other bands later copied the practice of using umlauts or diacritic marks in their own band names, such as Motörhead, Mötley Crüe, Queensrÿche and parodied by Spın̈al Tap. + +The hook-and-cross logo was designed by fellow Stony Brook student Bill Gawlik for his master's thesis in January 1972, and appears on all of the band's albums. In Greek mythology, "... the hook-and-cross symbol is that of Kronos (Cronus), the king of the Titans and father of Zeus ... and is the alchemical symbol for lead (a heavy metal), one of the heaviest of metals." Sandy Pearlman considered this, along with the "heavy" distorted guitar sound of the band, meant that the description "heavy metal" would be apt for the band's sound. The hook-and-cross symbol also resembled the astrological symbol for Saturn, the Roman god of agriculture, and the sickle, which is associated with both Kronos (Cronus) and Saturn (both the planet and the Roman god). The logo's "... metaphysical, alchemical and mythological connotations, combined with its similarity to some religious symbols gave it a flair of decadence and mystery ..." + +The band was billed, for the only time, as "The Blue Öyster Cult" on the cover and label of their second album, Tyranny and Mutation. + +Legacy and influence +Blue Öyster Cult have been influential to the realm of hard rock and heavy metal, leading them to being referred to as "the thinking man's heavy metal band" due to their often cryptic lyrics, literate songwriting, and links to famous authors. They have influenced many acts including Iron Maiden, Metallica, Fates Warning, Iced Earth, Cirith Ungol, Alice in Chains, Twisted Sister, Ratt, Steel Panther, Green River (and later Mudhoney), Body Count, Possessed, Candlemass, Saint Vitus, Trouble, Opeth, White Zombie, Kvelertak, HIM, Turbonegro, Radio Birdman, The Cult, The Minutemen, Firehose, Hoodoo Gurus, Widespread Panic, Queens of the Stone Age, Umphrey's McGee, Stabbing Westward, Royal Trux, and Moe. + +The band's influence has extended beyond the musical sphere. The lyrics of "Astronomy" have been named by author Shawn St. Jean as inspirational to the later chapters of his fantasy novel Clotho's Loom, wherein Sandy Pearlman's "Four Winds Bar" provides the setting for a portion of the action. Titles and lines from the band's songs provided structure and narrative for the third book in Robert Galbraith's (a pseudonym for J. K. Rowling), series of Cormoran Strike novels, Career of Evil. + +Their hit single "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" was featured in the famous Saturday Night Live sketch "More Cowbell". The original recording was produced at The Record Plant in New York by David Lucas, who sang background vocals with Roeser, and introduced the now-famous cowbell part, which may have been played by himself, Albert Bouchard, or Eric Bloom. + +"(Don't Fear) The Reaper" was also used in writer/director John Carpenter's horror film classic, Halloween (1978), the opening sequence of the miniseries adaptation of The Stand (1994) by Stephen King, and covered by The Mutton Birds for Peter Jackson's horror-comedy film The Frighteners (1996). "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" was also used throughout the comedy film The Stoned Age (1994) and plays a role in its storyline. In the film Gone Girl (2014), the song plays on the radio during a car driving scene with actor Ben Affleck. The song was also used as the opening theme and main story element in the 1996 FMV computer game "Ripper", by Take Two Interactive, and was also featured in the 2021 video game Returnal. The lyrics for "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" are featured in the introduction of Stephen King's book The Stand. The song was also used in Orange Is the New Black's season 2 finale. + +Members + +Current members + Buck Dharma – lead guitar, lead vocals and backing vocals (1967–present) + Eric Bloom – lead vocals and backing vocals, "stun guitar", keyboards, synthesizers (1969–present) + Danny Miranda – bass, backing vocals (1995–2004, 2017–present) + Richie Castellano��– keyboards, rhythm guitar, additional lead guitar, backing vocals, additional lead vocals (2007–present), bass (2004–2007) + Jules Radino – drums, percussion (2004–present) + +Discography + +Studio albums + Blue Öyster Cult (1972) + Tyranny and Mutation (1973) + Secret Treaties (1974) + Agents of Fortune (1976) + Spectres (1977) + Mirrors (1979) + Cultösaurus Erectus (1980) + Fire of Unknown Origin (1981) + The Revölution by Night (1983) + Club Ninja (1985) + Imaginos (1988) + Heaven Forbid (1998) + Curse of the Hidden Mirror (2001) + The Symbol Remains (2020) + +Bibliography +Blue Öyster Cult: Secrets Revealed!, by Martin Popoff, Metal Blade Records, 207 pages (US, 2004) +Blue Öyster Cult: La Carrière du Mal, by Mathieu Bollon and Aurélien Lemant, Camion Blanc, 722 pages (France, 2013) +Agents of Fortune: The Blue Öyster Cult Story, by Martin Popoff, Wymer Publishing, 245 pages (UK, 2016) +Blue Öyster Cult: Every Album, Every Song, by Jacob Holm-Lupo, Sonicbond Publishing, 158 pages (UK, 2019) +Flaming Telepaths: Imaginos Expanded and Specified, by Martin Popoff, Power Chord Press, 200 pages (Canada, 2021) + +References + +External links + + + + + + +1967 establishments in New York (state) +Articles which contain graphical timelines +Columbia Records artists +Hard rock musical groups from New York (state) +Heavy metal musical groups from New York (state) +Musical groups established in 1967 +Musical groups from Long Island +American musical quintets +Occult rock musical groups +Psychedelic rock music groups from New York (state) +Battery Park City is a mainly residential planned community and neighborhood on the west side of the southern tip of the island of Manhattan in New York City. It is bounded by the Hudson River on the west, the Hudson River shoreline on the north and south, and the West Side Highway on the east. The neighborhood is named for the Battery, formerly known as Battery Park, located directly to the south. + +More than one-third of the development is parkland. The land upon which it is built was created by land reclamation on the Hudson River using over of soil and rock excavated during the construction of the World Trade Center, the New York City Water Tunnel, and certain other construction projects, as well as from sand dredged from New York Harbor off Staten Island. The neighborhood includes Brookfield Place (formerly the World Financial Center), along with numerous buildings designed for housing, commercial, and retail. + +Battery Park City is part of Manhattan Community District 1. It is patrolled by the 1st Precinct of the New York City Police Department. + +Geography + +Battery Park City is bounded on the east by West Street, which separates the area from the Financial District of Lower Manhattan. To the west, north, and south, the area is surrounded by the Hudson River. + +The development consists of roughly five major sections. Traveling north to south, the first neighborhood has high-rise residential buildings, the Stuyvesant High School, a Regal Entertainment Group movie theater, and the Battery Park City branch of the New York Public Library. It is also the site of the 463-suite Conrad New York luxury hotel, which has a ballroom and a conference center. Other restaurants located in that hotel, as well as a DSW store and a New York Sports Club branch, were closed in 2009 after the takeover of the property by Goldman Sachs. Former undeveloped lots in the area have been developed into high-rise buildings; for example, Goldman Sachs built a new headquarters at 200 West Street. + +Nearby is Brookfield Place, a complex of several commercial buildings formerly known as the World Financial Center. + +Current residential neighborhoods of Battery Park City are divided into northern and southern sections, separated by Brookfield Place. The northern section consists entirely of large, 20–45-story buildings, all various shades of orange brick. The southern section, extending down from the Winter Garden, which is located in Brookfield Place, contains residential apartment buildings such as Gateway Plaza and the Rector Place apartment buildings. In this section lies the majority of Battery Park City's residential areas, in three sections: Gateway Plaza, a high-rise building complex; the "Rector Place Residential Neighborhood"; and the" Battery Place Residential Neighborhood". These subsections contain most of the area's residential buildings, along with park space, supermarkets, restaurants, and movie theaters. Construction of residential buildings began north of the World Financial Center in the late 1990s, and completion of the final lots took place in early 2011. Additionally, a park restoration was completed in 2013. + +History + +Site and formation + +Throughout the 19th century and early-20th century, the area adjoining today's Battery Park City was known as Little Syria with Lebanese, Greeks, Armenians, and other ethnic groups. In 1929, the land was the proposed site of a $50,000,000 residential development that would have served workers in the Wall Street area. The Battery Tower project was left unfinished after workers digging the foundation ran into forty feet of old bulkheads, sunken docks, and ships. Construction was halted and never restarted. + +By the late-1950s, the once-prosperous port area of downtown Manhattan was occupied by a number of dilapidated shipping piers, casualties of the rise of container shipping which drove sea traffic to Port Elizabeth, New Jersey. The initial proposal to reclaim this area through landfill was offered in the early-1960s by private firms and supported by the mayor, part of a long history of Lower Manhattan expansion. That plan became complicated when Governor Nelson Rockefeller announced his desire to redevelop a part of the area as a separate project. The various groups reached a compromise, and in 1966 the governor unveiled the proposal for what would become Battery Park City. The creation of architect Wallace K. Harrison, the proposal called for a 'comprehensive community' consisting of housing, social infrastructure and light industry. The landscaping of the park space and later the Winter Garden was designed by M. Paul Friedberg. + +In 1968, the New York State Legislature created the Battery Park City Authority (BPCA) to oversee development. Rockefeller named Charles J. Urstadt as the first chairman of the authority's board that year. He then served as the chief executive officer from 1973 to 1978. Urstadt later served as the authority's vice chair from 1996 to 2010. The New York State Urban Development Corporation and ten other public agencies were also involved in the development project. For the next several years, the BPCA made slow progress. In April 1969, it unveiled a master plan for the area, which was approved in October. In early-1972, the BPCA issued $200 million in bonds to fund construction efforts, with Harry B. Helmsley designated as the developer. That same year, the city approved plans to alter the number of apartments designated for lower, middle and upper income renters. Urstadt said the changes were needed to make the financing for the project viable. In addition to the change in the mix of units, the city approved adding nine acres, which extended the northern boundary from Reade Street to Duane Street. + +Landfill material from construction of the World Trade Center and other buildings in Lower Manhattan was used to add fill for the southern portion. Cellular cofferdams were constructed to retain the material. After removal of the piers, wooden piles and overburden of silt, the northern portion (north of, and including the marina) was filled with sand dredged from areas adjacent to Ambrose Channel in the Atlantic Ocean, as well as stone from the construction of Water Tunnel #3. By 1976, the landfill was completed. Seating stands for viewing the American Bicentennial "Operation Sail" flotilla parade were set up on the completed landfill in July 1976. Construction efforts ground to a halt in 1977, as a result of the city's fiscal crisis. That year, the presidential administration of Jimmy Carter approved mortgage insurance for 1,600 of the development's proposed units. In 1979, the title to the landfill was transferred from the city to the Battery Park City Authority, which financially restructured itself and created a new, more viable master plan, designed by Alex Cooper of Cooper, Robertson & Partners and Stanton Eckstut. By that time, only two of the proposed development's buildings had been built, and the $200 million bond issue was supposed to have been paid off the next year. + +The design of BPC to some degree reflects the values of vibrant city neighborhoods championed by Jane Jacobs. The Urban Land Institute (ULI) awarded the Battery Park City Master Plan its 2010 Heritage Award, for having "facilitated the private development of of commercial space, of residential space, and nearly of open space in lower Manhattan, becoming a model for successful large-scale planning efforts and marking a positive shift away from the urban renewal mindset of the time." + +Construction and early development +During the late-1970s and early-1980s, the site hosted Creative Time's landmark Art on the Beach sculpture exhibitions. On September 23, 1979, the landfill was the site of an anti-nuclear rally attended by 200,000 people. + +Construction began on the first residential building in June 1980. In April 1981, the New York State Urban Development Corporation (now the Empire State Development Corporation) issued a request for proposal, ultimately selecting six real-estate companies to develop over 1,800 residential units. The same year, the World Financial Center started construction; Olympia and York of Toronto was named as the developer for the World Financial Center, who then hired Cesar Pelli as the lead architect. By 1985, construction was completed and the World Financial Center (later renamed Brookfield Place New York) saw its first tenants. The newly completed development was lauded by The New York Times as "a triumph of urban design," with the World Financial Center being deemed "a symbol of change." + +During early construction, two acres of land in the southern section of the Battery Park landfill was used by artist Agnes Denes to plant wheat in an exhibition titled Wheatfield – A Confrontation. The project was a visual contradiction: a golden field of wheat set among the steel skyscrapers of downtown Manhattan. It was created during a six-month period in the spring, summer, and fall of 1982 when Denes, with the support of the Public Art Fund, planted the field of wheat on rubble-strewn land near Wall Street and the World Trade Center site. Denes stated that her "decision to plant a wheatfield in Manhattan, instead of designing just another public sculpture, grew out of a long-standing concern and need to call attention to our misplaced priorities and deteriorating human values." + +Throughout the 1980s, the BPCA oversaw a great deal of construction, including the entire Rector Place neighborhood and the river esplanade. It was during that period that Amanda Burden, later City Planning Department Director in the Bloomberg administration, worked on Battery Park City. During the 1980s, a total of 13 buildings were constructed. The Vietnam Veterans Plaza was established by Edward I. Koch in 1985. In the early-1990s, Battery Park City became the new home of the Stuyvesant High School. During the 1990s, an additional six buildings were added to the neighborhood. By the turn of the 21st century, Battery Park City was mostly completed, with the exception of some ongoing construction on West Street. + +Initially, in the 1980s, 23 buildings were built in the area. By the 1990s, 9 more buildings were built, followed by the construction of 11 buildings in the 2000s and 3 buildings in the 2010s. The Battery Park City Authority, wishing to attract more middle-class residents, started providing subsidies in 1998 to households whose annual incomes were $108,000 or less. By the end of the decade, nearly the entire landfill had been developed. + +Early 21st century + +The September 11 attacks in 2001 had a major impact on Battery Park City. The residents of Lower Manhattan and particularly of Battery Park City were displaced for an extended period of time. Parts of the community were an official crime scene and therefore residents were unable to return to live or even collect property. Many of the displaced residents were not allowed to return to the area for months and none were given government guidance of where to live temporarily on the already-crowded island of Manhattan. With most hotel rooms booked, residents, including young children and the elderly, were forced to fend for themselves. When they were finally allowed to return to Battery Park City, some found that their homes had been looted. + +Upon residents' return, the air in the area was still filled with toxic smoke from the World Trade Center fires that persisted until December 2001. More than half of the area's residents moved away permanently from the community after the adjacent World Trade Center towers collapsed and spread toxic dust, debris, and smoke. Gateway Plaza's 600 building, Hudson View East, and Parc Place (now Rector Square) were punctured by airplane parts. The Winter Garden and other portions of the World Financial Center were severely damaged. Environmental concerns regarding dust from the Trade Center are a continuing source of concern for many residents, scientists, and elected officials. Since the attacks, the damage has been repaired. Temporarily reduced rents and government subsidies helped restore residential occupancy in the years following the attacks. + +After September 11, 2001, residents of Battery Park City and Tribeca formed the TriBattery Pops Tom Goodkind Conductor in response to the events of the attacks. The “Pops” have been Grammy-nominated and are the first lower Manhattan all-volunteer community band in a century. + +Since then, real estate development in the area has continued robustly. Commercial development includes the 200 West Street, the Goldman Sachs global headquarters, which began construction in 2005 and opened for occupancy in October 2009. 200 West Street received in 2010 gold-level certification under the United States Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) program by incorporating various water and energy conservation features. As of 2018, there is no new construction planned. + +Ownership and maintenance + +Battery Park City is owned and managed by the Hugh L. Carey Battery Park City Authority (BPCA), a Class A New York State public-benefit corporation created by New York State in 1968 to redevelop outmoded and deteriorated piers, a project that has involved reclaiming the land, replanning the area and facilitating new construction of a mixed commercial and residential community. It has operated under the authority of the Urban Development Corporation. Its mission is "to plan, create, coordinate and sustain a balanced community of commercial, residential, retail, and park space within its designated 92-acre site on the lower west side of Manhattan". The authority's board is composed of seven uncompensated members who are appointed by the governor and who serve six-year terms. B. J. Jones is the president and chief executive officer. The BPCA is invested with substantial powers: it can acquire, hold and dispose of real property, enter into lease agreements, borrow money and issue debt, and manage the project. Like other public benefit corporations, the BPCA is exempt from property taxes and has the ability to issue tax exempt bonds. In 2021, the BPCA has operating expenses of $69.1 million as well as an outstanding debt of $875.09 million, and it employed 200 people. + +Under the 1989 agreement between the BPCA and the City of New York, $600 million was transferred by the BPCA to the city. Charles J. Urstadt, the first chairman and CEO of the BPCA, noted in an August 19, 2007, op-ed piece in the New York Post that the aggregate figure of funds transferred to the City of New York is above $1.4 billion, with the BPCA continuing to contribute $200 million a year. The Independent Budget Office of the City of New York also recommended the city take over Battery Park City in a report published in February 2020. The report echoed Urstadt's proposal as a way to increase revenue to the city. An article published by The Broadsheet Daily described the complex shared ownership structure of Battery Park City between the city and state that was set up by Urstadt. + +Excess revenue from the area was to be contributed to other housing efforts, typically low-income projects in the Bronx and Harlem. Much of this funding has historically been diverted to general city expenses, under section 3.d of the 1989 agreement. However, in July 2006, Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Governor George Pataki, and Comptroller William C. Thompson Jr. announced the final approval for the New York City Housing Trust Fund derived from $130 million in Battery Park City revenues. The fund aimed to preserve or create 4,300 units of low- and moderate-income housing by 2009. It also provided seed financing for the New York Acquisition Fund, a $230 million initiative that aims to serve as a catalyst for the construction and preservation of more than 30,000 units of affordable housing citywide by 2016. The Acquisition Fund has since established itself as a model for similar funds in cities and states across the country. + +By 2018, thirty residential buildings had been built in Battery Park City and no new construction was planned. The Battery Park City Authority's main focus turned to maintenance of existing infrastructure, security and conservancy of the public spaces. The authority was creating over 1,000 free activities per year. + +Condo owners in Battery Park City pay higher monthly charges than owners of comparable apartments elsewhere in New York City because residents pay their building's common charges in addition to PILOT (payments in lieu of taxes). The PILOT payments replace real estate taxes and the land lease. As a result, residential units have higher monthly costs compared to other neighborhoods. The cumulative effect is lower property values for homeowners. + +Because none of the properties in Battery Park City own the land they are built on, many banks have refused to write loans when those ground leases are periodically up for renewal. This has been a regular source of anger and frustration for owners in Battery Park City who are looking to sell. + +Demographics + +For census purposes, the New York City government classifies Battery Park City as part of a larger neighborhood tabulation area called Battery Park City-Lower Manhattan. Based on data from the 2010 United States Census, the population of Battery Park City-Lower Manhattan was 39,699, an increase of 19,611 (97.6%) from the 20,088 counted in 2000. Covering an area of , the neighborhood had a population density of . The racial makeup of the neighborhood was 65.4% (25,965) White, 3.2% (1,288) African American, 0.1% (35) Native American, 20.2% (8,016) Asian, 0.0% (17) Pacific Islander, 0.4% (153) from other races, and 3.0% (1,170) from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 7.7% (3,055) of the population. + +The entirety of Community District 1, which comprises Battery Park City and other Lower Manhattan neighborhoods, had 63,383 inhabitants as of NYC Health's 2018 Community Health Profile, with an average life expectancy of 85.8 years. This is higher than the median life expectancy of 81.2 for all New York City neighborhoods. Most inhabitants are young to middle-aged adults: half (50%) are between the ages of 25 and 44, while 14% are between 0 and 17, and 18% between 45 and 64. The ratio of college-aged and elderly residents was lower, at 11% and 7% respectively. + +As of 2017, the median household income in Community Districts 1 and 2 (including Greenwich Village and SoHo) was $144,878, though the median income in Battery Park City individually was $126,771. In 2018, an estimated 9% of Battery Park City and Lower Manhattan residents lived in poverty, compared to 14% in all of Manhattan and 20% in all of New York City. One in twenty-five residents (4%) were unemployed, compared to 7% in Manhattan and 9% in New York City. Rent burden, or the percentage of residents who have difficulty paying their rent, is 38% in Battery Park City and Lower Manhattan, compared to the boroughwide and citywide rates of 45% and 51% respectively. Based on this calculation, , Battery Park City and Lower Manhattan are considered high-income relative to the rest of the city and not gentrifying. + +, about 10,000 people live in Battery Park City, most of whom are upper middle class and upper class (54.0% of households have incomes over $100,000). When fully built out, the neighborhood is projected to have 14,000 residents. + +Census +Based on the 2020 census, the racial makeup of Northern Battery Park City (10282) was 66% White, 2% Black, 0% Native American, 16% Asian, 0% Islander, 0% from other races, and 5% from two or more races. Hispanic of Latino of any race were 11% of the population. The racial makeup of South Battery Park City (10280) was 69% White, 1% Black, 0% Native, 17% Asian, 0% Islander, 0% from other races, 3% from two or more races, and 11% Hispanic. + +As of 2020, the population of the area was 16,169. + +Cultural heritage + +A largely Arab-American neighborhood existed adjacent to what is today southeastern Battery Park City from the late 1880s to the 1940s. "Little Syria" encompassed Washington Street from Battery Park to Rector Street. It declined as a neighborhood as the inhabitants became successful and moved to other areas, especially Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn, and disappeared almost entirely when a great deal of lower Washington Street was demolished to make way for entrance ramps to the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel, which opened in 1950. The overwhelming majority of the residents were Arabic-speaking Christians, Melkite and Maronite immigrants from present-day Syria and Lebanon who settled in the area in the late 19th century, escaping religious persecution and poverty in their homelands – which were then under control of the Ottoman Empire – and answering the call of American missionaries to escape their difficulties by traveling to New York City. + +However, many other ethnic groups had lived in this diverse neighborhood, including Greeks, Turks, Armenians, Slovaks, Poles, Hungarians, Lithuanians, Ukrainians, Czechs, and Irish. + +A long-standing reminder of the ethnic past was the former St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church, which was destroyed in the September 11 attacks. An additional historic church, St. George's Syrian Catholic Church, still stands at 103 Washington Street. + +Buildings + +Residential +The first residential building in Battery Park City, Gateway Plaza, was completed in 1983. , the population of the area was 13,386. Some of the more prominent residential buildings include: + +Millennium Point, a , 38-story skyscraper built from 1999 to 2001. It occupies the street addresses 25–39 Battery Place. However, due to the September 11 attacks which hit the nearby World Trade Center, opening of Millennium Point was delayed until January 2002. The building won the 2001 Silver Emporis Skyscraper Award. The tower section contains 113 luxury condominiums. The wider, lower 12 floors are occupied by a 5-star hotel, The Wagner at the Battery (formerly the Ritz-Carlton Battery Park). The hotel has 298 rooms, including 44 suites, with the largest suite spanning in area. The Skyscraper Museum occupies a small space on the first floor of the building. A restaurant is located on the 14th floor. +The Solaire, the first green residential building in the United States, as well as the first residential high-rise building in New York City to be certified by the U.S. Green Building Council. It was designed by Pelli Clarke Pelli and completed in 2003. The Solaire is located at 20 River Terrace. The developer received funding from the State of New York, which was somewhat controversial as the developer was only required to agree to set aside 10% of the units as "affordable housing" or "moderate income", rather than the usual 80:20 agreement. When the building opened, rents ranged from roughly $2,500 to $9,001 depending on the size of the unit. The building has been rated LEED Platinum. The energy conserving building design is 35% more energy-efficient than code requires, resulting in a 67% lower electricity demand during peak hours, resulting in, among other benefits, lower electric bills for residents. Photovoltaic panels convert sunlight to electricity, supplemented by a computerized building management system and environmentally responsible operating and maintenance practices to further reduce the building's environmental impact. + +Other residential condominiums include: + +Battery Pointe, 300 Rector Place +Cove Club, 2 South End Avenue +Hudson Tower, 350 Albany Street +Hudson View East, 250 South End Avenue +Hudson View West, 300 Albany Street +Liberty Court, 200 Rector Place +Liberty Green, 300 North End Avenue +Liberty House, 377 Rector Place +Liberty Luxe, 200 North End Avenue +Liberty Terrace, 380 Rector Place +Liberty View, 99 Battery Place +Millennium Tower Residences, 30 West Street +The Regatta, 21 South End Avenue +Ritz Carlton Residence, 10 West Street +Riverhouse, One Rockefeller Park +The Soundings, 280 Rector Place +The Visionaire, 70 Little West Street +1 Rector Park, 333 Rector Place + +Other residential apartments include: + +212 Warren (formerly 22 River Terrace) +Gateway Plaza, 345-395 South End Avenue +The Hallmark, 455 North End Avenue +Rector Square, 225 Rector Place +River Watch, 70 Battery Place +The Solaire, 20 River Terrace +South Cove Plaza, 50 Battery Place +Tribeca Bridge Tower, 450 North End Avenue +Tribeca Green, 325 North End Avenue +Tribeca Park, 400 Chambers Street +Tribeca Pointe, River Terrace +The Verdesian, 211 North End Avenue + +Office + +Battery Park City, which is mainly residential, also has a few office buildings. The seven buildings including the Brookfield Place complex, as well as 200 West Street, are the neighborhood's only office buildings. + +Brookfield Place complex + +Located in the middle of Battery Park City and overlooking the Hudson River, Brookfield Place, designed by César Pelli and owned mostly by Toronto-based Brookfield Properties, has been home to offices of various major companies, including Merrill Lynch, RBC Capital Markets, Nomura Group, American Express and Brookfield Asset Management, among others. Brookfield Place also serves as the United States headquarters for Brookfield Properties, which has its headquarters located in 200 Vesey Street. Brookfield Place also has its own zip code, 10281. + +Brookfield Place's ground floor and portions of the second floor are occupied by a mall; its center point is a steel-and-glass atrium known as the Winter Garden. Outside of the Winter Garden lies a sizeable yacht harbor on the Hudson known as North Cove. + +The building's original developer was Olympia and York of Toronto, Ontario. It used to be named the World Financial Center, but in 2014, the complex was given its current name following the completion of extensive renovations. The World Financial Center complex was built by Olympia and York between 1982 and 1988; it was damaged in the September 11 attacks but later repaired. It has six constituent buildings – 200 Liberty Street, 225 Liberty Street, 200 Vesey Street, 250 Vesey Street, the Winter Garden Atrium, and One North End Avenue (a.k.a. the New York Mercantile Exchange building). + +200 West Street + +200 West Street is the location of the global headquarters of Goldman Sachs, an investment banking firm. A , 44-story building located on the west side of West Street between Vesey and Murray Streets, it is north of Brookfield Place and the Conrad Hotels, across the street from the Verizon Building, and diagonally opposite the World Trade Center. It is distinctive for being the only office building in the northern section of Battery Park City. It started construction in 2005 and opened in 2009. + +Police and crime +Battery Park City and Lower Manhattan are patrolled by the 1st Precinct of the NYPD, located at 16 Ericsson Place. The 1st Precinct ranked 63rd safest out of 69 patrol areas for per-capita crime in 2010. Though the number of crimes is low compared to other NYPD precincts, the residential population is also much lower. , with a non-fatal assault rate of 24 per 100,000 people, Battery Park City and Lower Manhattan's rate of violent crimes per capita is less than that of the city as a whole. The incarceration rate of 152 per 100,000 people is lower than that of the city as a whole. + +The 1st Precinct has a lower crime rate than in the 1990s, with crimes across all categories having decreased by 86.3% between 1990 and 2018. The 1st precinct reported 2 murders, 15 rapes, 135 robberies, 121 felony assaults, 191 burglaries, 848 grand larcenies, and 68 grand larcenies auto in 2021. + +Fire safety +Battery Park City is served by the New York City Fire Department (FDNY)'s Engine Co. 10/Ladder Co. 10 fire station, located at 124 Liberty Street. + +Health +, preterm births and births to teenage mothers are less common in Battery Park City and Lower Manhattan than in other places citywide. In Battery Park City and Lower Manhattan, there were 77 preterm births per 1,000 live births (compared to 87 per 1,000 citywide), and 2.2 teenage births per 1,000 live births (compared to 19.3 per 1,000 citywide), though the teenage birth rate is based on a small sample size. Battery Park City and Lower Manhattan have a low population of residents who are uninsured. In 2018, this population of uninsured residents was estimated to be 4%, less than the citywide rate of 12%, though this was based on a small sample size. + +The concentration of fine particulate matter, the deadliest type of air pollutant, in Battery Park City and Lower Manhattan is , more than the city average. Sixteen percent of Battery Park City and Lower Manhattan residents are smokers, which is more than the city average of 14% of residents being smokers. In Battery Park City and Lower Manhattan, 4% of residents are obese, 3% are diabetic, and 15% have high blood pressure, the lowest rates in the city—compared to the citywide averages of 24%, 11%, and 28% respectively. In addition, 5% of children are obese, the lowest rate in the city, compared to the citywide average of 20%. + +Ninety-six percent of residents eat some fruits and vegetables every day, which is more than the city's average of 87%. In 2018, 88% of residents described their health as "good," "very good," or "excellent," more than the city's average of 78%. For every supermarket in Battery Park City and Lower Manhattan, there are 6 bodegas. + +The nearest major hospital is NewYork-Presbyterian Lower Manhattan Hospital in the Civic Center area. + +Post office and ZIP Codes +Battery Park City is located within two ZIP Codes. The neighborhood north of Brookfield Place is covered by 10282, while much of the neighborhood south of Brookfield Place is covered by 10280. Brookfield Place is part of 10281, and the southernmost tip is part of 10004. The United States Postal Service does not operate any post offices in Battery Park City. The nearest post office is the Church Street Station at 90 Church Street in the Financial District. + +Education +Battery Park City and Lower Manhattan generally have a higher rate of college-educated residents than the rest of the city . The vast majority of residents age 25 and older (84%) have a college education or higher, while 4% have less than a high school education and 12% are high school graduates or have some college education. By contrast, 64% of Manhattan residents and 43% of city residents have a college education or higher. The percentage of Battery Park City and Lower Manhattan students excelling in math rose from 61% in 2000 to 80% in 2011, and reading achievement increased from 66% to 68% during the same time period. + +Battery Park City and Lower Manhattan's rate of elementary school student absenteeism is lower than the rest of New York City. In Battery Park City and Lower Manhattan, 6% of elementary school students missed twenty or more days per school year, less than the citywide average of 20%. Additionally, 96% of high school students in Battery Park City and Lower Manhattan graduate on time, more than the citywide average of 75%. + +Schools + +The New York City Department of Education operates the following public schools in Battery Park City: + +P.S. 89 +I.S. 289 +P.S./I.S. 276 Battery Park City School +Stuyvesant High School, which moved into a new waterfront building in Battery Park City in 1992 +P.S. M094 +P226M + +Library + +Battery Park City has a New York Public Library branch at 175 North End Avenue, designed by 1100 Architect and completed in 2010. A , two-story library on the street level of a high-rise residential building, it utilizes several sustainable design features, earning it LEED Gold certification. + +Sustainability was a driving factor in the design of the library including use of an energy-efficient lighting system, maximization of natural lighting, and use of recycled materials. 1100 Architect, in collaboration with Atelier Ten, an international team of environmental design consultants and building services engineers, designed the library's energy-efficient lighting system. The open plan layout and large use of glass allow for ample natural daylight year-round and low-energy LED light illuminates communal spaces. Recycled materials are incorporated into the design including carpet made from re-purposed truck tires, floors made from reclaimed window frame wood, and furniture made from FSC-certified plywood and recycled steel. Design features include a seemingly "floating" origami-style ceiling made up of triangular panels hung at varying angles and a padded reading nook fitted into the library's terrazzo-finished steel and concrete staircase. The interior uses an easy-to-navigate layout with its three distinct spatial areas of entry area, first floor space, and mezzanine visually unified through the ceiling. + +The building also won the Interior Design, Best of Year Merit Award in 2011, followed by The National Terrazzo and Mosaic Association, Port Morris Tile and Marble Corporation Craftsmanship Award in 2011 and the Contract, Public Space Interiors Award in 2012. + +Transportation + +Currently, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority provides bus service to the area. , the bus lines service parts of Battery Park City, with the nearby at Battery Park. Additionally, the Downtown Alliance provides a free bus service that runs along North End Avenue and South End Avenue, connecting the various residential complexes with subway stations on the other side of West Street. + +There is currently no New York City Subway access in Battery Park City proper; however, the West Street pedestrian bridges, as well as crosswalks across West Street, connect Battery Park City to subway stations and the PATH station in the nearby Financial District. The West Concourse, a tunnel from Brookfield Place passing under West Street, also provides access from Battery Park City to the World Trade Center PATH station, the WTC Cortlandt station, and the Fulton Street station (New York City Subway). + +The Battery Park City Ferry Terminal is at the foot of Vesey Street opposite the New York Mercantile Exchange and provides ferry transportation to various points in New Jersey via NY Waterway and Liberty Water Taxi routes. NYC Ferry's St. George route, to West Midtown Ferry Terminal and St. George Terminal, stops at Battery Park City Ferry Terminal. + +The West Thames Street Bridge, one of the West Street pedestrian bridges connecting Battery Park City to the Financial District, was completed in 2019, replacing the older Rector Street Bridge. On June 11, 2021, it was dedicated as the Robert F. Douglass Bridge. Its namesake, who died in 2016, was an early advocate for lower Manhattan as a senior advisor to Governor Nelson Rockefeller and later as a founding member and chairman of the Downtown Alliance and board member of the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation. + +Parks and open spaces + +More than one-third of the neighborhood is parkland. + +Some large open spaces and parks include: + Teardrop Park sits midblock, near the corner of Warren Street and River Terrace. Before construction, the site was empty and flat; part of the neighborhood's development plan, the park was designed in anticipation of four high residential towers on its west and east. Although a New York City public park, maintenance is overseen by the Battery Park City Parks Conservancy and the park was designed for the Battery Park City Authority. The park opened on September 30, 2004. There is also a southern extension to this park. + Washington Street Plaza, a pedestrian plaza on Washington Street between Carlisle and Albany Streets, opened on May 23, 2013. + +In addition, there are: +Community Ballfields, North End Avenue between Murray and Warren Streets +The Esplanade, along the Hudson River from Stuyvesant High School to Battery Park +Monsignor Kowsky Plaza, east of the Esplanade +Nelson A. Rockefeller State Park, north end of Battery Park City west of River Terrace +North Cove, on the river between Liberty Street and Vesey Street. +Oval Lawn, east of the Esplanade +Rector Park, South End Avenue at Rector Place +Robert F. Wagner, Jr. Park, north of Battery Park off Battery Place +South Cove, on the Esplanade, between First and Third Places +West Thames Park, West Street between Albany and West Thames Streets +World Financial Center Plaza, within Brookfield Place + +Museums and memorials + + Irish Hunger Memorial, located on a site at Vesey Street and North End Avenue. It is dedicated to raising awareness of the Great Irish Famine. Construction began in March 2001, and the memorial was completed and dedicated on July 16, 2002. + Museum of Jewish Heritage, a memorial to those who were murdered in the Holocaust + Skyscraper Museum, an architecture museum in Millennium Point +Hurricane Maria Memorial honors the victims of Hurricane Maria, which struck Puerto Rico on September 20, 2017. +Mother Cabrini Memorial, dedicated on October 12, 2020, honors the patroness of immigrants. +9/11 Memorial at South Cove, created and dedicated on September 9, 2015. +NYC Police Memorial is located at Liberty Street and South End Avenue, and was dedicated on October 20, 1997. + +Notable residents + +Notable residents include: +Tyra Banks (born 1973), TV personality +Leonardo DiCaprio, actor, resident of 1 Rockefeller Park +Sacha Baron Cohen, actor and comedian, former resident of 1 Rockefeller Park +Isla Fisher, actress, former resident of 1 Rockefeller Park +Dave Gahan, musician, resident of 1 Rockefeller Park +Kris Humphries, basketball player, resident of Liberty Luxe + +See also + Hudson River Park Trust + New York Convention Center Operating Corporation + Lower Manhattan Development Corporation + Municipal Assistance Corporation for the City of NY + Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation + United Nations Development Corporation + +References +Notes + +Further reading + Gordon, David L.A. (1997) Battery Park City: Politics and Planning on the New York Waterfront, Gordon and Breach Publishers +Urstadt, Charles J.; Gene Brown (2005). Battery Park City: The Early Years. Bloomington. + +External links + + (Hugh L. Carey Battery Park City Authority) + + +Neighborhoods in Manhattan +Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certified buildings +Redeveloped ports and waterfronts in the United States +New Urbanism communities +Bacterial vaginosis (BV) is an infection of the vagina caused by excessive growth of bacteria. Common symptoms include increased vaginal discharge that often smells like fish. The discharge is usually white or gray in color. Burning with urination may occur. Itching is uncommon. Occasionally, there may be no symptoms. Having BV approximately doubles the risk of infection by a number of sexually transmitted infections, including HIV/AIDS. It also increases the risk of early delivery among pregnant women. + +BV is caused by an imbalance of the naturally occurring bacteria in the vagina. There is a change in the most common type of bacteria and a hundred to thousand fold increase in total numbers of bacteria present. Typically, bacteria other than Lactobacilli become more common. Risk factors include douching, new or multiple sex partners, antibiotics, and using an intrauterine device, among others. However, it is not considered a sexually transmitted infection and, unlike gonorrhoea and chlamydia, sexual partners are not treated. Diagnosis is suspected based on the symptoms, and may be verified by testing the vaginal discharge and finding a higher than normal vaginal pH, and large numbers of bacteria. BV is often confused with a vaginal yeast infection or infection with Trichomonas. + +Usually treatment is with an antibiotic, such as clindamycin or metronidazole. These medications may also be used in the second or third trimesters of pregnancy. However, the condition often recurs following treatment. Probiotics may help prevent re-occurrence. It is unclear if the use of probiotics or antibiotics affects pregnancy outcomes. + +BV is the most common vaginal infection in women of reproductive age. The percentage of women affected at any given time varies between 5% and 70%. BV is most common in parts of Africa and least common in Asia and Europe. In the United States about 30% of women between the ages of 14 and 49 are affected. Rates vary considerably between ethnic groups within a country. While BV-like symptoms have been described for much of recorded history, the first clearly documented case occurred in 1894. + +Signs and symptoms +Although about 50% of women with BV are asymptomatic, common symptoms include increased vaginal discharge that usually smells like fish. The discharge is often white or gray in color. There may be burning with urination. Occasionally, there may be no symptoms. + +The discharge coats the walls of the vagina, and is usually without significant irritation, pain, or erythema (redness), although mild itching can sometimes occur. By contrast, the normal vaginal discharge will vary in consistency and amount throughout the menstrual cycle and is at its clearest at ovulation—about two weeks before the period starts. Some practitioners claim that BV can be asymptomatic in almost half of affected women, though others argue that this is often a misdiagnosis. + +Complications +Although previously considered a mere nuisance infection, untreated bacterial vaginosis may cause increased susceptibility to sexually transmitted infections, including HIV, and pregnancy complications. + +It has been shown that HIV-infected women with bacterial vaginosis (BV) are more likely to transmit HIV to their sexual partners than those without BV. +There is evidence of an association between BV and increased rates of sexually transmitted infections such as HIV/AIDS. BV is associated with up to a six-fold increase in HIV shedding. BV is a risk factor for viral shedding and herpes simplex virus type 2 infection. BV may increase the risk of infection with or reactivation of human papillomavirus (HPV). + +In addition, bacterial vaginosis as either pre-existing, or acquired, may increase the risk of pregnancy complications, most notably premature birth or miscarriage. +Pregnant women with BV have a higher risk of chorioamnionitis, miscarriage, preterm birth, premature rupture of membranes, and postpartum endometritis. Women with BV who are treated with in vitro fertilization have a lower implantation rate and higher rates of early pregnancy loss. + +Causes + +Healthy vaginal microbiota consists of species that neither cause symptoms or infections, nor negatively affect pregnancy. It is dominated mainly by Lactobacillus species. BV is defined by the disequilibrium in the vaginal microbiota, with decline in the number of lactobacilli. While the infection involves a number of bacteria, it is believed that most infections start with Gardnerella vaginalis creating a biofilm, which allows other opportunistic bacteria, such as Prevotella and Bacteroides, to thrive. + +One of the main risks for developing BV is douching, which alters the vaginal microbiota and predisposes women to developing BV. Douching is strongly discouraged by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and various medical authorities, for this and other reasons. + +BV is a risk factor for pelvic inflammatory disease, HIV, sexually transmitted infections (STIs), endometriosis, and reproductive and obstetric disorders or negative outcomes. Although BV can be associated with sexual activity, there is no clear evidence of sexual transmission. It is possible for sexually inactive persons to develop bacterial vaginosis. + +Also, subclinical iron deficiency may correlate with bacterial vaginosis in early pregnancy. A longitudinal study published in February 2006, in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, showed a link between psychosocial stress and bacterial vaginosis persisted even when other risk factors were taken into account. Exposure to the spermicide nonoxynol-9 does not affect the risk of developing bacterial vaginosis. + +Diagnosis + +To make a diagnosis of bacterial vaginosis, a swab from inside the vagina should be obtained. These swabs can be tested for: + Gram stain which shows the depletion of lactobacilli and overgrowth of Gardnerella vaginalis bacteria. Bacterial vaginosis is usually confirmed by a Gram stain of vaginal secretions. + A characteristic "fishy" odor on wet mount. This test, called the whiff test, is performed by adding a small amount of potassium hydroxide to a microscope slide containing the vaginal discharge. A characteristic fishy odor is considered a positive whiff test and is suggestive of bacterial vaginosis. + Loss of acidity. To control bacterial growth, the vagina is normally slightly acidic with a pH of 3.8–4.2. A swab of the discharge is put onto litmus paper to check its acidity. A pH greater than 4.5 is considered alkaline and is suggestive of bacterial vaginosis. + The presence of clue cells on wet mount. Similar to the whiff test, the test for clue cells is performed by placing a drop of sodium chloride solution on a slide containing vaginal discharge. If present, clue cells can be visualized under a microscope. They are so-named because they give a clue to the reason behind the discharge. These are epithelial cells that are coated with bacteria. + +Differential diagnosis for bacterial vaginosis includes the following: + Normal vaginal discharge. + Candidiasis (thrush, or a yeast infection). + Trichomoniasis, an infection caused by Trichomonas vaginalis. + Aerobic vaginitis + +The Center for Disease Control (CDC) defines STIs as "a variety of clinical syndromes and infections caused by pathogens that can be acquired and transmitted through sexual activity." But the CDC does not specifically identify BV as sexually transmitted infection. + +Amsel criteria +In clinical practice BV can be diagnosed using the Amsel criteria: + + Thin, white, yellow, homogeneous discharge + Clue cells on microscopy + pH of vaginal fluid >4.5 + Release of a fishy odor on adding alkali—10% potassium hydroxide (KOH) solution. + +At least three of the four criteria should be present for a confirmed diagnosis. +A modification of the Amsel criteria accepts the presence of two instead of three factors and is considered equally diagnostic. + +Gram stain + +An alternative is to use a Gram-stained vaginal smear, with the Hay/Ison criteria or the Nugent criteria. The Hay/Ison criteria are defined as follows: + Grade 1 (Normal): Lactobacillus morphotypes predominate. + Grade 2 (Intermediate): Some lactobacilli present, but Gardnerella or Mobiluncus morphotypes also present. + Grade 3 (Bacterial Vaginosis): Predominantly Gardnerella and/or Mobiluncus morphotypes. Few or absent lactobacilli. (Hay et al., 1994) +Gardnerella vaginalis is the main culprit in BV. Gardnerella vaginalis is a short, Gram-variable rod (coccobacillus). Hence, the presence of clue cells and gram variable coccobacilli are indicative or diagnostic of bacterial vaginosis. + +Nugent score +The Nugent score is now rarely used by physicians due to the time it takes to read the slides and requires the use of a trained microscopist. A score of 0-10 is generated from combining three other scores. The scores are as follows: + 0–3 is considered negative for BV + 4–6 is considered intermediate + 7+ is considered indicative of BV. +At least 10–20 high power (1000× oil immersion) fields are counted and an average determined. + +DNA hybridization testing with Affirm VPIII was compared to the Gram stain using the Nugent criteria. The Affirm VPIII test may be used for the rapid diagnosis of BV in symptomatic women but uses expensive proprietary equipment to read results, and does not detect other pathogens that cause BV, including Prevotella spp, Bacteroides spp, and Mobiluncus spp. The cervicovaginal microbiome measured using 16S rRNA sequencing has the capacity to increase throughput of the Nugent Score and has demonstrate to be directly comparable to clinical Nugent Score measurement. + +Screening +Screening during pregnancy is not recommended in the United States as of 2020 because " the US Preventive Services Task Force concludes that the current evidence is insufficient to assess the balance of benefits and harms of screening for bacterial vaginosis in pregnant persons at increased risk for preterm delivery". + +Prevention +Some steps suggested to lower the risk include: not douching, avoiding sex, or limiting the number of sex partners. + +One review concluded that probiotics may help prevent re-occurrence. Another review found that, while there is tentative evidence, it is not strong enough to recommend their use for this purpose. + +Early evidence suggested that antibiotic treatment of male partners could re-establish the normal microbiota of the male urogenital tract and prevent the recurrence of infection. However, a 2016 Cochrane review found high-quality evidence that treating the sexual partners of women with bacterial vaginosis had no effect on symptoms, clinical outcomes, or recurrence in the affected women. It also found that such treatment may lead treated sexual partners to report increased adverse events. + +Treatment + +Antibiotics +Treatment is typically with the antibiotics metronidazole or clindamycin. They can be either given by mouth or applied inside the vagina with similar efficacy. About 10% to 15% of people, however, do not improve with the first course of antibiotics and recurrence rates of up to 80% have been documented. Recurrence rates are increased with sexual activity with the same pre-/posttreatment partner and inconsistent condom use although estrogen-containing contraceptives decrease recurrence. When clindamycin is given to pregnant women symptomatic with BV before 22 weeks of gestation the risk of pre-term birth before 37 weeks of gestation is lower. + +Other antibiotics that may work include macrolides, lincosamides, nitroimidazoles, and penicillins. + +Bacterial vaginosis is not considered a sexually transmitted infection, and treatment of a male sexual partner of a woman with bacterial vaginosis is not recommended. + +Probiotics +A 2009 Cochrane review found tentative but insufficient evidence for probiotics as a treatment for BV. A 2014 review reached the same conclusion. A 2013 review found some evidence supporting the use of probiotics during pregnancy. The preferred probiotics for BV are those containing high doses of lactobacilli (around 109 ) given in the vagina. Intravaginal administration is preferred to taking them by mouth. Prolonged repetitive courses of treatment appear to be more promising than short courses. + +The lack of effectiveness of commercially available Lactobacillus probiotics may be because most do not actually contain vaginal lactobacilli strains. LACTIN-V is a live biopharmaceutical medication containing the vaginally important Lactobacillus crispatus which is under development for the treatment of bacterial vaginosis and recurrent urinary tract infections. It has shown initial effectiveness in considerably reducing recurrence of bacterial vaginosis following antibiotic treatment. LACTIN-V is not yet Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved or commercially available. + +Antiseptics +Topical antiseptics, for example dequalinium chloride, policresulen, hexetidine or povidone-iodine vaginal suppositories may be applied, if the risk of ascending infections is low (outside of pregnancy and in immunocompetent people without histories of upper genital tract infections). One study found that vaginal irrigations with hydrogen peroxide (3%) resulted in a slight improvement but this was much less than with the use of oral metronidazole. Intravaginal boric acid in conjunction with other medications may be helpful in the treatment of recurrent BV. TOL-463, a formulation of boric acid enhanced with ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA), is under development as an intravaginal medication for the treatment of BV and has shown preliminary effectiveness. + +Epidemiology +BV is the most common infection of the vagina in women of reproductive age. The percentage of women affected at any given time varies between 5% and 70%. BV is most common in parts of Africa, and least common in Asia and Europe. In the United States, about 30% of those between the ages of 14 and 49 are affected. Rates vary considerably between ethnic groups within a country. + +References + + +Inflammatory diseases of female pelvic organs +Mycoplasma +Probiotics +Sexually transmitted diseases and infections +Wikipedia medicine articles ready to translate +Allan Huber "Bud" Selig (; born July 30, 1934) is an American baseball executive who currently serves as the Commissioner Emeritus of Baseball. Previously, he served as the ninth Commissioner of Baseball from 1998 to 2015. He initially served as de facto acting commissioner beginning in 1992 in his capacity as chairman of the Major League Baseball Executive Committee before being named the official commissioner in 1998. Selig oversaw baseball through the 1994 strike, the introduction of the wild card, interleague play, and the de facto merging of the National and American Leagues under the Office of the Commissioner. He was instrumental in organizing the World Baseball Classic in 2006. Selig also introduced revenue sharing. He is credited for the financial turnaround of baseball during his tenure with a 400 percent increase in the revenue of MLB and annual record breaking attendance. + +During Selig's term of service, the use of steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs became a public issue. The Mitchell Report, commissioned by Selig, concluded that the MLB commissioners, club officials, the Players Association, and the players all share "to some extent in the responsibility for the steroid era." Following the release of the Mitchell Report, Congressman Cliff Stearns called publicly for Selig to step down as commissioner, citing his "glacial response" to the "growing stain on baseball." Selig has pledged on numerous occasions to rid baseball of performance-enhancing drugs, and has overseen and instituted many rule changes and penalties to that end. + +A Milwaukee native, Selig was previously the owner and team president of the Milwaukee Brewers. The franchise, originally known as the Seattle Pilots, was acquired by Selig in bankruptcy court in 1970, and renamed after the minor league team of the same name that he had watched in his youth and had existed until the arrival of the Braves in Milwaukee in 1953. Selig was credited with keeping baseball in Milwaukee. The Brewers went to the 1982 World Series (but were defeated in seven games by the St. Louis Cardinals), and Selig won seven Organization of the Year awards during his tenure. Selig remains a resident of Milwaukee. + +On January 17, 2008, Selig's contract was extended through 2012, after which he planned to retire, but he then decided to stay as commissioner until the end of the 2014 season, a move approved by the owners on January 12, 2012, which would take his leadership past his 80th birthday. Selig made $14.5 million in the 12-month period ending October 31, 2005. Selig announced on September 26, 2013, that he would retire in January 2015. On January 22, 2015, MLB announced that Selig would formally step down from the office when his current term expired on January 24, 2015. He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2017. + +Early life +Selig was born in Milwaukee, and grew up in a Jewish family. His father, Ben Selig, had come to the United States from Romania with his family when he was four years old. Selig graduated from the University of Wisconsin–Madison with a B.A. in American history and political science in 1956. He served two years in the U.S. Army before working with his father who owned a car leasing business in Milwaukee. Selig continues to be involved in the automotive industry, serving as president of the Selig Executive Lease Company. + +Selig's interest in baseball came from his mother. An immigrant from Ukraine, Marie Selig attended college, a rare accomplishment for a woman in the early 20th century, and became a school teacher. When Selig was only three, Marie began taking him and his older brother, Jerry, to Borchert Field, where the minor league Milwaukee Brewers played. When the Boston Braves relocated to Milwaukee in 1953, Selig switched allegiances, and eventually became the team's largest public stockholder. Selig was devastated when he learned that the Braves were going to leave Milwaukee in favor of Atlanta. In 1965, when the Braves left Milwaukee, he divested his stock in the team. As a youngster, Selig's favorite player was Hershel Martin. He developed a friendship with Hank Aaron, when the young player joined the Braves. The elder Selig's company provided loaner cars to Braves players, which gave the family access to the clubhouse and players. The pair later attended Green Bay Packers games together and sat together on the team plane. + +Milwaukee Brewers owner + +As a minority owner of the Milwaukee Braves, Selig founded the organization Teams, Inc., in an attempt to prevent the majority owners (based out of Chicago) from moving the club to a larger television market. This was challenged legally on the basis that no prior team relocations (in the modern era) left a city without a team. Prior movements had all originated in cities that were home to at least two teams. When his quest to keep the team in Milwaukee finally failed after the 1965 season, he changed the group's name to Milwaukee Brewers Baseball Club, Inc., after the minor league baseball team he grew up watching, and devoted himself to returning Major League Baseball to Milwaukee. + +Selig arranged for major league games to be played at Milwaukee County Stadium. The first, a pre-season match-up between the Chicago White Sox and Minnesota Twins, drew more than 51,000 spectators. Selig followed this up by hosting nine White Sox regular-season games in 1968 and eleven in 1969. One of the games played in Milwaukee that year was against the expansion Seattle Pilots, the team that would become the Brewers. Those Milwaukee "home" games were phenomenally successful, with the handful of games accounting for about one-third of total White Sox home attendance. + +To satisfy that fan base, Selig decided to purchase the White Sox (with the intention of moving them to Milwaukee) in 1969. He entered into an agreement to buy the club, but the American League vetoed the sale, preferring to keep an American League team in Chicago, which at the time was still America's second-largest city. Selig turned his attention to other franchises. + +In 1970, he purchased the bankrupt Seattle Pilots franchise, moving them to his hometown and officially renaming the team the Brewers. + +During Selig's tenure as club president, the Brewers participated in postseason play in 1981, when the team finished first in the American League East during the second half of the season, and in 1982, when the team made it to the World Series, under the leadership of future Hall of Famers Robin Yount and Paul Molitor. Under Selig's watch, the Brewers also won seven Organization of the Year awards. Selig was part of the owners' collusion in 1985–1987, resulting in the owners paying US$280 million in damages to the players. + +Upon his assumption of the commissioner's role, Selig transferred his ownership interest in the Brewers to his daughter Wendy Selig-Prieb in order to remove any technical conflicts of interest, though it was widely presumed he maintained some hand in team operations. Although the team was sold to Los Angeles investor Mark Attanasio in 2005, questions remain regarding Selig's past involvement. Selig's defenders point to the poor management of the team after Selig-Prieb took control as proof that Selig was not working behind the scenes. + +Selig was elected to the Wisconsin Athletic Hall of Fame in 2001. + +On August 24, 2010, a statue of Selig, the Selig Monument, commissioned by Brewers owner Mark Attanasio and designed by artist Brian Maughan, was unveiled outside Miller Park in Milwaukee. + +Acting Commissioner (1992–1998) +Selig became an increasingly vocal opponent of Commissioner Fay Vincent, and soon became the leader of a group of owners seeking his removal. Selig has never stated that the owners colluded, while Vincent has: + +Following an 18-9 no-confidence vote, Vincent resigned. Selig had by this time become chairman of the Executive Council of Major League Baseball, and as such became de facto acting commissioner. + +His first major act was to institute the Wild Card and divisional playoff play, which has created much controversy amongst baseball fans. Those against the Wild Card see it as diminishing the importance of the pennant race and the regular season, with the true race often being for second rather than first place, while those in favor of it view it as an opportunity for teams to have a shot at the playoffs even when they have no chance of a first-place finish in their division, thus maintaining fan interest later in the season. + +Selig suspended Cincinnati Reds owner Marge Schott for a year in 1993 for repeated racially insensitive and prejudicial remarks and actions. The same year, New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner was reinstated from a lifelong suspension that was instituted by Selig's predecessor Fay Vincent. Pete Rose has claimed that he applied for reinstatement over the years and received no such consideration. Rose, along with his close friend and former teammate Mike Schmidt (who is a strong supporter of Rose's reinstatement into baseball), met with Selig in 2002, where Rose privately admitted to Selig (two years before going public with his admission) about betting on baseball. Bud Selig was a close friend of the late Bart Giamatti, who was the commissioner when Rose was first banned from the sport in 1989. + +As acting commissioner, Selig represented MLB during the 1994 players strike and cancelled the World Series, marking the first time the annual event had not been staged since 1904. + +Commissioner (1998–2015) + +After a six-year search for a new commissioner, the owners voted to give Selig the title on a permanent basis midway through the 1998 season. + +During his tenure the game avoided a third work stoppage in 2002, and has seen the implementation of interleague play. + +Whereas in the past, the National and American leagues had separate administrative organizations (which, for example, allowed for the introduction of different rules such as the designated hitter), under Selig, Major League Baseball consolidated the administrative functions of both leagues into the Commissioner's Office in 2000. The last official presidents of the NL and AL were Leonard S. Coleman Jr. and Dr. Gene Budig respectively. + +Reaction after September 11, 2001 + +On September 11, 2001, Selig ordered all baseball games postponed for a week because of the terror attacks on New York and Washington. The games were postponed not only out of respect and mourning for the victims, but also out of concern for the safety and security of fans and players. + +2001 contraction attempt + +After the conclusion of the 2001 World Series, Selig held a vote on contracting two teams, reportedly the Minnesota Twins and Montreal Expos. This action led to Selig (along with former Expos owner Jeffrey Loria) being sued for racketeering and conspiring with Loria to deliberately defraud the Expos minority owners. If found liable, the league could have been ordered to pay as much as $500 million in total damages. The judge ruled that the Expos could not be moved or contracted until the case was over. The case eventually went to arbitration and was settled out of court for an undisclosed sum. + +A week after Selig's announcement, Hennepin County Judge Harry Seymour Crump issued a temporary restraining order that forced the Twins to honor their lease and play the 2002 season at the Metrodome. In August 2002, the effort to contract the Twins officially fizzled as players and owners reached a consensus on a new labor agreement which extended the team's Metrodome lease. + +Changes to the MLB All-Star Game + +The 2002 All-Star Game, played in Selig's hometown of Milwaukee, was tied 7–7 after nine innings, and remained tied after the bottom of the 11th inning. Due to the recent managerial trend of granting playing time to as many available players as possible within the regulation nine innings, both managers had used their entire roster. Concerned for the arms of the pitchers currently on the mound, Selig made the controversial decision to declare the game a tie, to the dissatisfaction of the Milwaukee fans. Selig later said that this call was "embarrassing" and that he was "tremendously saddened" by the outcome of the game. + +Selig subsequently tried to reinvigorate the All-Star Game by awarding the winning league home-field advantage in the World Series; that practice was initiated in 2003 and continued through 2016. The 2003 All-Star Game had the same U.S. viewership as 2002 (9.5 rating; 17 share) and the ratings declined in 2004 (8.8 rating; 15 share) and 2005 (8.1 rating; 14 share). The American television audience increased in 2006 (9.3 rating; 16 share). + +Disciplinary actions + +On July 1, 2005, Selig suspended Texas Rangers pitcher Kenny Rogers for 20 games and fined him US$50,000. The punishment stemmed from an incident on June 29, 2005 during a Rangers pre-game warmup session, where Rogers had shoved two local news reporters and knocked one camera to the ground. One of the reporters resumed filming after picking up said camera, which angered Rogers into shoving him again, after grabbing and throwing the camera to the ground, kicking it. He was then led away by a teammate and later sent home by the Club. While an appeal of his suspension was pending, Rogers appeared at the 2005 All-Star Game in Detroit, where fans loudly booed him. On July 22, 2005, Selig heard Rogers' appeal of his suspension. Selig decided to uphold the 20 games, however, an independent arbitrator ruled that Selig had exceeded his authority and reduced it to 13 games, but upheld the fine. + +Performance-enhancing drugs + +In 2005, Selig faced Congress on the issue of steroids. After the Congressional hearings in early 2005, and with the scrutiny of the sports and national media upon this issue, Selig put forth a proposal for a stricter performance-enhancing drug testing regime to replace the current system. This proposal also included the banning of amphetamines, a first for the major North American sports leagues. The MLB Players Association and MLB reached an agreement in November on the new policy. + +Selig's testimony on the subject has been contradictory. In 2005, Selig told reporters, "I never even heard about them [steroids] until 1998 or 1999. I ran a team and nobody was closer to their players and I never heard any comment from them. It wasn't until 1998 or '99 that I heard the discussion." But a year later, testifying to Congress in 2006, Selig claimed personal credit for spotting the problem early: "In 1994, before anybody was really talking about steroids in baseball, we proposed a program of testing for such substances to the MLBPA. As early as 1998, I began formulating a strategic plan to eliminate the use of performance-enhancing substances from the game." During the 1988 ALCS, Oakland's Jose Canseco had been repeatedly taunted by Boston fans with a chant of "ster-oids, ster-oids, ster-oids." Speaking at the 2013 All-Star Game, Selig complained, "People say, 'Well, you were slow to react.' We were not slow to react. In fact, I heard that this morning, and it aggravated me all over again." + +By early 2006, Selig was forced to deal with the issue of steroid use. On March 30, 2006, as a response to the controversy of the use of performance-enhancing drugs and the anticipated career home run record to be set by Barry Bonds, Selig asked former U.S. Senator George J. Mitchell to lead an independent investigation into the use of steroids in baseball's recent past. Joe Sheehan from Baseball Prospectus wrote that the commission has been focusing "blame for the era exclusively on uniformed personnel", and failing to investigate any role played by team ownership and management. + +Much controversy surrounded Selig and his involvement in Bonds' all-time home run record chase. For months, speculation surrounded Selig and the possibility that he and Henry Aaron would not attend Bonds' games as he closed in on the record. Selig announced in July 2007 when Bonds was near 755 home runs that he would attend the games. Selig was in attendance for Bonds' record-tying home run against the San Diego Padres, sitting in Padres owner John Moores' private suite. When Bonds hit his 755th home run, Selig refused to applaud Bonds' accomplishment, instead choosing to keep his hands in his pockets and have a look of disdain on his face. Bud Selig also did not attend the San Francisco Giants' game on August 7 when Barry Bonds hit his record-breaking 756th home run against the Washington Nationals; after the event, Selig released a statement congratulating Bonds. + +On December 13, 2007, former senator Mitchell released his report on the use of performance-enhancing substances by MLB players. The report names many current and former players who allegedly used performance-enhancing drugs during their careers. + +Selig has been widely criticized for not taking an active enough role to stem the tide of steroid use in baseball until it had blossomed into a debilitating problem for the industry. Chicago Sun-Times columnist Jay Mariotti called Selig the "Steroids Commissioner." Selig has been called to Congress several times to testify on performance-enhancing drug use. Congressman Cliff Stearns said in December 2007 that Selig should resign because of use of performance-enhancing drugs in baseball during his tenure. + +Post-season schedule +Selig's decision to extend the traditional post-season schedule into November in an attempt to increase Nielsen ratings was met with widespread disdain, both inside and outside the baseball community. Mike Scioscia, manager of the American League West Division Champion Los Angeles Angels, dismissed the decision as "Ridiculous. I don't know. Can I say it any clearer than that? We should have never had a day off last Wednesday. We should never have three days off after the season. You shouldn't even have two days off after the season." + +Controversies + +Related to the contraction controversy in 2001, Rob Dibble posted an open letter to Bud Selig, criticizing his actions for benefiting only the Milwaukee Brewers. Dibble cites that the contraction of the Twins would benefit the Brewers, as they would potentially claim the Twins' share of the upper Midwest market. + +Selig has made some decisions involving the Houston Astros that were unpopular with their supporters. He ordered the roof at Minute Maid Park to be opened for games three and four of the 2005 World Series, pre-empting the authority held by the Astros. The roof was closed for all prior playoff games and similar weather conditions. For Hurricane Ike in 2008, Selig mandated that the Astros play two home games against the Chicago Cubs in his hometown of Milwaukee despite proximity to the visiting Cubs; the home ballparks for the Texas Rangers and Atlanta Braves were both available to host the games. The Astros subsequently were victims of a no-hitter by Carlos Zambrano and recorded a single hit in the following game. In the midst of the playoff race, this decision and its impact deeply affected the playoff race and seedings with eight teams holding winning records at the moment. The Milwaukee Brewers benefited from these events by qualifying in the playoffs as a Wild Card team, only to lose in the NLDS to the Philadelphia Phillies, the eventual World Series winner. In 2011, Selig also demanded that the Astros move to the American League West as a condition of the sale of the franchise to businessman Jim Crane; the team switched leagues in 2013 in return for $70 million discount in the purchase price. + +United States bankruptcy judge Kevin Gross rendered a stern warning to Selig in regards to the 2011 Los Angeles Dodgers ownership dispute. Treating other teams differently in regards to their media contracts drew accusations that Selig did not act in good faith with respect to the Los Angeles Dodgers. Selig rejected the television deal that Frank McCourt negotiated that intended to bring the franchise out of bankruptcy, claiming McCourt violated the Baseball Agreement. In comparison, no action was taken against New York Mets owner Fred Wilpon despite being in a similar position. Gross stated, "Should the Commissioner falter in proving alleged wrongdoing, the Court may allow LAD (Los Angeles Dodgers) to take further, limited discovery." Some critics have used Selig's handling of the Dodgers to point out a double standard in treatment of MLB owners. More specifically in regards to the Mets, critics point out that with Selig's personal relationship with Wilpon has motivated him to stall any possible removal of Wilpon as that club's principal owner. Wilpon eventually sold the Mets to Steve Cohen in 2020, five years after Selig stepped down. + +Selig also notably failed to resolve a 6-year conflict between the San Francisco Giants and the Oakland Athletics regarding the Athletics' proposed move to San Jose. Selig established a blue-ribbon panel in 2009 to resolve the dispute; however, despite years to find a resolution, the blue-ribbon panel completely failed to make any progress toward resolving the issue, leading San Jose to sue MLB. The lawsuit, which is currently ongoing, questions the league's anti-trust exemption and its ability to enforce particular clubs' geographic territories. + +Term of service + +On December 1, 2006, Selig announced that he would be retiring as commissioner of baseball upon the expiration of his contract in 2009. Selig earned $14.5 million from MLB over the timespan October 31, 2005 to October 31, 2006. However, in January 2008, Selig agreed to a three-year contract extension, announcing he planned to retire after the 2012 season. He further decided against retirement, and after a two-year extension for the previous deal was agreed to on January 12, 2012, it was announced that Selig would remain commissioner until the end of the 2014 season. + +Post-Commissioner Activities +In 2021, Selig was appointed as "non-voting co-Chair" (with Jane Forbes Clark) for the December 2021 Early Baseball Era Committee meeting, to consider candidates for election to the Hall of Fame whose major contributions to the game took place prior to 1950. The committee elected Bud Fowler and Buck O'Neil. + +Notable changes to Major League Baseball +Bud Selig has overseen the following changes in Major League Baseball: + Realignment of teams into three divisions per league, and the introduction of playoff wild card teams (1994) + Interleague play (1997) + Retired Jackie Robinson's uniform number, 42, across all MLB teams (1997) + Two additional franchises: the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, now the Tampa Bay Rays (1998) + Transfer of the Milwaukee Brewers from the American League to the National League (1998) + Abolition of the American and National league offices and presidencies, and inclusion of all umpiring crews into a common pool for AL and NL games, instead of having separate pools per league (2000) + Unbalanced schedule (2001) + Home field advantage in the World Series granted to the winner of the All Star Game in the same season (2003) + Transfer of Montreal Expos franchise to Washington, D.C., becoming the Washington Nationals (2004) + Dedicating April 15 as Jackie Robinson Day (2004) + Stricter Major League Baseball performance-enhancing drug testing policy (2005) + World Baseball Classic (2006) + Introduction of instant replay in the event of a disputed home run call (2008) + Addition of a second wild-card playoff team in each league (2012) + Transfer of the Houston Astros from the National League to the American League (2013), as a condition of the sale of the team to Jim Crane, resulting in each league having the same number of teams (15) and interleague play throughout the season + Expanded instant replay (2014) and the institution of the manager challenge system + +During Selig's terms as executive council chairman (from 1992–1998) and commissioner, new stadiums opened in Arizona, Atlanta, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Colorado, Detroit, Houston, Miami, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, New York City (Flushing, Queens and the Bronx), Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, Arlington, St. Louis, and Washington, D.C. + +Israel Baseball League + +Selig and his family served a supportive role on the advisory board of the Israel Baseball League during its inaugural season in 2007. In response to issues with the league's financial management, after the season, the Selig family requested that their names be removed from the list of board members. + +Selig Experience +In May 2015, the Milwaukee Brewers honored Bud Selig with the unveiling of the Selig Experience exhibit at American Family Field (formerly Miller Park.) The Selig Experience is a fifteen-minute documentary showing Bud Selig's life and work for the Milwaukee Brewers. + +Personal life + +Selig has been married twice. He married his first wife, Donna Chaimson, in the 1950s, and they had two daughters: Sari (born 1957) and Wendy (born 1960). The couple divorced in 1976 after 19 years of marriage on the grounds that Selig had been "unduly absenting yourself from the home of the parties and isolating yourself ... in pursuit of your baseball interests to the detriment of your marriage." Chaimson later stated that +the marriage ended because her husband "divorced me and married baseball." Since 1977, Selig has been married to the former Suzanne Steinman, who has a daughter from a previous marriage. + +Teaching +In 2009, Selig began teaching as an adjunct professor of sports law and policy at Marquette University Law School. His classes have covered numerous topics, including "the history of collective bargaining and free agency, baseball's antitrust exemption, revenue sharing – as well as finer points of sports law like intellectual property rights, ambush marketing, and why baseball does not allow game footage on YouTube." + +In 2010, Selig endowed the Allan H. Selig Chair in the History of Sport and Society in the United States, as well as a Distinguished Lecture Series in Sport and Society at his alma mater, the University of Wisconsin–Madison. The inaugural lecture was given by Adrian Burgos and Prof. Sean Dinces has held the chair since 2013. + +In February 2016, Selig joined the Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law at Arizona State University. + +Honors + +Selig was awarded the U.S. Department of the Army Outstanding Civilian Service Award in April 2015 for supporting soldiers, veterans and their families through his work in Major League Baseball. On April 6, 2015, the Milwaukee Brewers retired uniform number 1 in his honor. + +In 2014, Selig was inducted onto the inaugural Milwaukee Brewers Wall of Honor. + +On December 4, 2016, it was announced Selig was elected into the National Baseball Hall of Fame Class of 2017. He was formally inducted on July 30, 2017. + +In 2016, Selig was honored with the "Lombardi Award of Excellence" from the Vince Lombardi Cancer Foundation. The award was created to honor Coach Lombardi's legacy, and is awarded annually to an individual who exemplifies the spirit of the Coach. + +Publications + Foreword to American Jews and America's Game: Voices of a Growing Legacy in Baseball by Larry Ruttman. Lincoln, Nebraska and London, England: University of Nebraska Press, 2013. + +See also + +Selig v. United States + +References + +Further reading + This chapter in Ruttman's history, based on a January 16, 2009 interview with Selig conducted for the book, discusses Selig's American, Jewish, baseball, and life experiences from youth to the present. + +External links + + Official website + MLB.com: Official info + Bud Selig Biography by Baseball Almanac + The Commissioner of Baseball Is on Deck www.nytimes.com + Video Of MLB Commissioner's Speech On The State Of Baseball, February 8, 2007 + "Bud Selig: A baseball hero. Really." – Nicholas Thompson, Slate.com, May 5, 2005 + + +1934 births +Living people +20th-century American Jews +20th-century American businesspeople +21st-century American Jews +21st-century American businesspeople +American people of Romanian-Jewish descent +American people of Ukrainian-Jewish descent +Businesspeople from Milwaukee +Jewish American baseball people +Major League Baseball commissioners +Major League Baseball executives +Major League Baseball owners +Major League Baseball people with retired numbers +Major League Baseball team presidents +Military personnel from Milwaukee +Milwaukee Braves owners +Milwaukee Brewers executives +Milwaukee Brewers owners +National Baseball Hall of Fame inductees +Sportspeople from Milwaukee +United States Army soldiers +University of Wisconsin–Madison College of Letters and Science alumni +A bison (: bison) is a large bovine in the genus Bison (Greek: "wild ox" (bison)) within the tribe Bovini. Two extant and numerous extinct species are recognised. + +Of the two surviving species, the American bison, B. bison, found only in North America, is the more numerous. Although colloquially referred to as a buffalo in the United States and Canada, it is only distantly related to the true buffalo. The North American species is composed of two subspecies, the Plains bison, B. b. bison, and the wood bison, B. b. athabascae, which is the namesake of Wood Buffalo National Park in Canada. A third subspecies, the eastern bison (B. b. pennsylvanicus) is no longer considered a valid taxon, being a junior synonym of B. b. bison. References to "woods bison" or "wood bison" from the eastern United States refer to this subspecies, not B. b. athabascae, which was not found in the region. The European bison, B. bonasus, or wisent, or zubr, or colloquially European buffalo, is found in Europe and the Caucasus, reintroduced after being extinct in the wild. + +While bison species have been traditionally classified in their own genus, modern genetics indicates that they are nested within the genus Bos, which includes, among others, cattle, yaks and gaur, being most closely related to yaks. Bison are sometimes bred with domestic cattle and produce offspring called beefalo, in North America, or żubroń, in Poland. + +Description + +The American bison and the European bison (wisent) are the largest surviving terrestrial animals in North America and Europe. They are typical artiodactyl (cloven hooved) ungulates, and are similar in appearance to other bovines such as cattle and true buffalo. They are broad and muscular with shaggy coats of long hair. Adults grow up to in height and in length for American bison and up to in height and in length for European bison. American bison can weigh from around and European bison can weigh from . European bison tend to be taller than American bison. + +Bison are nomadic grazers and travel in herds. The bulls leave the herds of females at two or three years of age, and join a herd of males, which usually are smaller than female herds. Mature bulls rarely travel alone. Towards the end of the summer, for the reproductive season, the sexes necessarily commingle. + +American bison are known for living in the Great Plains, but formerly had a much larger range, including much of the eastern United States and parts of Mexico. Both species were hunted close to extinction during the 19th and 20th centuries, but have since rebounded. The wisent in part owes its survival to the Chernobyl disaster, as the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone has become a kind of wildlife preserve for wisent and other rare megafauna such as the Przewalski's horse, though poaching has become a threat in recent years. The American Plains bison is no longer listed as endangered, but this does not mean the species is secure. Genetically pure B. b. bison currently number only about 20,000, separated into fragmented herds—all of which require active conservation measures. The wood bison is on the endangered species list in Canada and is listed as threatened in the United States, though numerous attempts have been made by beefalo ranchers to have it entirely removed from the Endangered Species List. + +Although superficially similar, physical and behavioural differences exist between the American and European bison. The American species has 15 ribs, while the European bison has 14. The American bison has four lumbar vertebrae, while the European has five. (The difference in this case is that what would be the first lumbar vertebra has ribs attached to it in American bison and is thus counted as the 15th thoracic vertebra, compared to 14 thoracic vertebrae in wisent.) Adult American bison are less slim in build and have shorter legs. American bison tend to graze more, and browse less than their European relatives. Their anatomies reflect this behavioural difference; the American bison's head hangs lower than the European's. The body of the American bison is typically hairier, though its tail has less hair than that of the European bison. The horns of the European bison point through the plane of their faces, making them more adept at fighting through the interlocking of horns in the same manner as domestic cattle, unlike the American bison, which favours butting. American bison are more easily tamed than their European cousins, and breed with domestic cattle more readily. + +Evolution and genetic history +The bovine tribe (Bovini) split about 5 to 10 million years ago into the buffalos (Bubalus and Syncerus) and a group leading to bison and taurine cattle. Genetic evidence from nuclear DNA indicates that the closest living relatives of bison are yaks, with bison being nested within the genus Bos, rendering Bos without including bison paraphyletic. While nuclear DNA indicates that both extant bison species are each other's closest living relatives, the mitochondrial DNA of European bison is more closely related to that of domestic cattle and aurochs (while the mitochondrial DNA of American bison is closely related to that of yaks). This discrepancy is either suggested to be the result of incomplete lineage sorting or ancient introgression. Bison are widely believed to have evolved from a lineage belonging to the extinct genus Leptobos during the Late Pliocene to Early Pleistocene in Asia. The earliest members of the bison lineage, known from the Late Pliocene to Early Pleistocene of the Indian Subcontinent (Bison sivalensis) and China (Bison palaeosinensis), approximately 3.4-2.6 million years ago (Ma) are placed in the subgenus Bison (Eobison). The oldest remains of Eobison in Europe are those Bison georgicus found in Dmanisi, Georgia, dated to around 1.76 Ma. More derived members of the genus are placed in the subgenus Bison (Bison), which first appeared towards the end of the Early Pleistocene, around 1.2 Ma, with early members of the subgenus including the widespread Bison schoetensacki. + +The steppe bison (Bison priscus) first appeared during the mid-Middle Pleistocene in eastern Eurasia, and subsequently became widely distributed across Eurasia. During the late Middle Pleistocene, around 195,000-135,000 years ago, the steppe bison migrated across the Bering land bridge into North America, becoming ancestral to modern American bison, as well as extinct forms such as the largest known bison, the long-horned Bison latifrons, and the smaller Bison antiquus, which became extinct at the end of the Late Pleistocene. Modern American bison are thought to have evolved from B. antiquus during the Late Pleistocene-Holocene transition via the intermediate form Bison occidentalis. The European bison, Bison bonasus, first appeared in Europe during the late Middle Pleistocene, where it existed in sympatry with the steppe bison. Its relationship with other extinct bison species is unclear, though it appears to be only distantly related to the steppe and American bisons, with possibly some interbreeding between the two lineages during the Middle Pleistocene. The steppe bison survived into the early-mid Holocene in Alaska-Yukon and eastern Siberia, before becoming extinct. + +During the population bottleneck caused by the great slaughter of American bison during the 19th century, the number of bison remaining alive in North America declined to as low as 541. During that period, a handful of ranchers gathered remnants of the existing herds to save the species from extinction. These ranchers bred some of the bison with cattle in an effort to produce "cattleo" (today called "beefalo"). Accidental crossings were also known to occur. Generally, male domestic bulls were crossed with bison cows, producing offspring of which only the females were fertile. The crossbred animals did not demonstrate any form of hybrid vigor, so the practice was abandoned. Wisent-American bison hybrids were briefly experimented with in Germany (and found to be fully fertile) and a herd of such animals is maintained in Russia. A herd of cattle-wisent crossbreeds (zubron) is maintained in Poland. First-generation crosses do not occur naturally, requiring caesarean delivery. First-generation males are infertile. The U.S. National Bison Association has adopted a code of ethics that prohibits its members from deliberately crossbreeding bison with any other species. In the United States, many ranchers are now using DNA testing to cull the residual cattle genetics from their bison herds. The proportion of cattle DNA that has been measured in introgressed individuals and bison herds today is typically quite low, ranging from 0.56 to 1.8%. + +There are also remnant purebred American bison herds on public lands in North America. Two subspecies of bison exist in North America: the plains bison and the wood bison. Herds of importance are found in Yellowstone National Park, Wind Cave National Park in South Dakota, Blue Mounds State Park in Minnesota, Elk Island National Park in Alberta, and Grasslands National Park in Saskatchewan. In 2015, a purebred herd of 350 individuals was identified on public lands in the Henry Mountains of southern Utah via genetic testing of mitochondrial and nuclear DNA. This study, published in 2015, also showed the Henry Mountains bison herd to be free of brucellosis, a bacterial disease that was imported with non-native domestic cattle to North America. + +In 2021, the American Society of Mammalogists considered Bison to be a subgenus, and placed both bison species back into Bos. + +Behavior + +Wallowing is a common behavior of bison. A bison wallow is a shallow depression in the soil, either wet or dry. Bison roll in these depressions, covering themselves with mud or dust. Possible explanations suggested for wallowing behavior include grooming behavior associated with moulting, male-male interaction (typically rutting behavior), social behavior for group cohesion, play behavior, relief from skin irritation due to biting insects, reduction of ectoparasite load (ticks and lice), and thermoregulation. In the process of wallowing, bison may become infected by the fatal disease anthrax, which may occur naturally in the soil. + +Bison temperament is often unpredictable. They usually appear peaceful, unconcerned, or even lazy, but they may attack without warning or apparent reason. They can move at speeds up to and cover long distances at a lumbering gallop. + +Their most obvious weapons are the horns borne by both males and females, but their massive heads can be used as battering rams, effectively using the momentum produced by what is a typical weight of moving at . The hind legs can also be used to kill or maim with devastating effect. In the words of early naturalists, they were dangerous, savage animals that feared no other animal and in prime condition could best any foe except for a brown bear or a pack of wolves. + +The rutting, or mating, season lasts from June through September, with peak activity in July and August. At this time, the older bulls rejoin the herd, and fights often take place between bulls. The herd exhibits much restlessness during breeding season. The animals are belligerent, unpredictable, and most dangerous. + +Habitat + +American bison live in river valleys and on prairies and plains. Typical habitat is open or semiopen grasslands, as well as sagebrush, semiarid lands, and scrublands. Some lightly wooded areas are also known historically to have supported bison. They also graze in hilly or mountainous areas where the slopes are not steep. Although not particularly known as high-altitude animals, bison in the Yellowstone Park bison herd are frequently found at elevations above . The Henry Mountains bison herd is found on the plains around the Henry Mountains, Utah, as well as in mountain valleys of the Henry Mountains to an altitude of . + +European bison most commonly live in lightly wooded to fully wooded areas as well as areas with increased shrubs and bushes. European bison can sometimes be found living on grasslands and plains as well. + +Restrictions +Throughout most of their historical range, landowners have sought restrictions on free-ranging bison. Herds on private land are required to be fenced in. + +In the state of Montana, free-ranging bison on public land are legally shot, due to transmission of disease to cattle and damage to public property. + +In 2013, Montana legislative measures concerning the bison were proposed and passed, but opposed by Native American tribes as they impinged on sovereign tribal rights. Three such bills were vetoed by Steve Bullock, the governor of Montana. The bison's circumstances remain an issue of contention between Native American tribes and private landowners. + +Diet + +Bison are ruminants, able to ferment cellulose in a specialized stomach prior to digestion. Bison were once thought to almost exclusively consume grasses and sedges, but are now known to consume a wide-variety of plants including woody plants and herbaceous eudicots. Over the course of the year, bison shift which plants they select in their diet based on which plants have the highest protein or energy concentrations at a given time and will reliably consume the same species of plants across years. Protein concentrations of the plants they eat tend to be highest in the spring and decline thereafter, reaching their lowest in the winter. In Yellowstone National Park, bison browsed willows and cottonwoods, not only in the winter when few other plants are available, but also in the summer. Bison are thought to migrate to optimize their diet, and will concentrate their feeding on recently burned areas due to the higher quality forage that regrows after the burn. Wisent tend to browse on shrubs and low-hanging trees more often than do the American bison, which prefer grass to shrubbery and trees. + +Reproduction +Female bison ("cows") typically reproduce after three years of age and can continue beyond 19 years of age. Cows produce calves annually as long as their nutrition is sufficient, but not after years when weight gain is low. Reproduction is dependent on a cow's mass and age. Heavier cows produce heavier calves (weighed in the fall at weaning), and weights of calves are lower for older cows (after age 8). + +Predators + +Owing to their size, bison have few predators. Five exceptions are humans, grey wolves, cougars, grizzly bears, and coyotes. Wolves generally take down a bison while in a pack, but cases of a single wolf killing bison have been reported. Grizzly bears also consume bison, often by driving off the pack and consuming the wolves' kill. Grizzly bears and coyotes also prey on bison calves. Historically and prehistorically, lions, cave lions, tigers, dire wolves, Smilodon, Homotherium, cave hyenas, and Neanderthals posed threats to bison. + +Infections and illness +For American bison, a main illness is malignant catarrhal fever, though brucellosis is a serious concern in the Yellowstone Park bison herd. Bison in the Antelope Island bison herd are regularly inoculated against brucellosis, parasites, Clostridium infection, infectious bovine rhinotracheitis, and bovine vibriosis. + +The major illnesses in European bison are foot-and-mouth disease and balanoposthitis. Inbreeding of a small population plays a role in a number of genetic defects and lowers immunity to disease; that poses greater risk to the population. + +Name +The name "buffalo" is considered to be a misnomer for this animal, only distantly related to two "true buffalo", the Asian water buffalo and the African buffalo. Samuel de Champlain applied the French term buffle to the bison in 1616 (published 1619), after seeing skins and a drawing shown to him by members of the Nipissing First Nation, who said they travelled 40 days (from east of Lake Huron) to trade with another nation who hunted the animals. Though "bison" might be considered more scientifically correct, "buffalo" is also considered correct as a result of standard usage in American English, and is listed in many dictionaries as an acceptable name for American buffalo or bison. "Buffalo" has a much longer history than "bison", which was first recorded in 1774. + +Human impact + +Bison was a significant resource for indigenous peoples of North America for food and raw materials until near extinction in the late 19th century. For the indigenous peoples of the Plains, it was their principal food source. Native Americans highly valued their relationship with the bison and saw them as sacred, treating them respectfully to ensure their abundance and longevity. In his biography, Lakota teacher and elder John Fire Lame Deer describes the relationship as such: + +European colonials were almost exclusively accountable for the near-extinction of the American bison in the 1800s. At the beginning of the century, tens of millions of bison roamed North America. Colonists slaughtered an estimated 50 million bison during the 19th century, although the causes of decline and the numbers killed are disputed and debated. Railroads were advertising "hunting by rail", where trains encountered large herds alongside or crossing the tracks. Men aboard fired from the train's roof or windows, leaving countless animals to rot where they died. This overhunting was in part motivated by the U.S. government's desire to limit the range and power of indigenous plains Indians whose diets and cultures depended on the buffalo herds. The overhunting of the bison reduced their population to hundreds. + +The American bison's nadir came in 1889, with an estimated population of only 1,091 animals (both wild and captive). Repopulation attempts via enforced protection of government herds and extensive ranching began in 1910 and have continued (with excellent success) to the present day, with some caveats. Extensive farming has increased the bison's population to nearly 150,000, and it is officially no longer considered an endangered species. However, from a genetic standpoint, most of these animals are actually hybrids with domestic cattle and only two populations in Yellowstone National Park, USA and Elk Island National Park, Canada remain as genetically pure bison. These genetically pure animals account for only ~5% of the currently extant American bison population, reflecting the loss of most of the species' genetic diversity. + +As of July 2015, an estimated 4,900 bison lived in Yellowstone National Park, the largest U.S. bison population on public land. During 1983–1985 visitors experienced 33 bison-related injuries (range = 10–13/year), so the park implemented education campaigns. After years of success, five injuries associated with bison encounters occurred in 2015, because visitors did not maintain the required distance of 75 ft (23 m) from bison while hiking or taking pictures. + +Nutrition +Bison is an excellent source of complete protein and a rich source (20% or more of the Daily Value, DV) of multiple vitamins, including riboflavin, niacin, vitamin B6, and vitamin B12, and is also a rich source of minerals, including iron, phosphorus, and zinc. Additionally, bison is a good source (10% or more of the DV) of thiamine. + +Livestock + +The earliest plausible accounts of captive bison are those of the zoo at Tenochtitlan, the Aztec capital, which held an animal the Spaniards called "the Mexican bull". In 1552, Francisco Lopez de Gomara described Plains Indians herding and leading bison like cattle in his controversial book, Historia general de las Indias. Gomara, having never visited the Americas himself, likely misinterpreted early ethnographic accounts as the more familiar pastoralist relationship of the Old World. Today, bison are increasingly raised for meat, hides, wool, and dairy products. The majority of bison in the world are raised for human consumption or fur clothing. Bison meat is generally considered to taste very similar to beef, but is lower in fat and cholesterol, yet higher in protein than beef, which has led to the development of beefalo, a fertile hybrid of bison and domestic cattle. A market even exists for kosher bison meat; these bison are slaughtered at one of the few kosher mammal slaughterhouses in the U.S. and Canada, and the meat is then distributed worldwide. + +In America, the commercial industry for bison has been slow to develop despite individuals, such as Ted Turner, who have long marketed bison meat. In the 1990s, Turner found limited success with restaurants for high-quality cuts of meat, which include bison steaks and tenderloin. Lower-quality cuts suitable for hamburger and hot dogs have been described as "almost nonexistent". This created a marketing problem for commercial farming because the majority of usable meat, about 400 pounds for each bison, is suitable for these products. In 2003, the United States Department of Agriculture purchased $10 million worth of frozen overstock to save the industry, which would later recover through better use of consumer marketing. Restaurants have played a role in popularizing bison meat, like Ted's Montana Grill, which added bison to their menus. Ruby Tuesday first offered bison on their menus in 2005. + +In Canada, commercial bison farming began in the mid-1980s, concerning an unknown number of animals then. The first census of the bison occurred in 1996, which recorded 45,235 bison on 745 farms, and grew to 195,728 bison on 1,898 farms for the 2006 census. + +Several pet food companies use bison as a red meat alternative in dog foods. The companies producing these formulas include Natural Balance Pet Foods, Freshpet, the Blue Buffalo Company, Solid Gold, Canidae, and Taste of the Wild (made by Diamond Pet Foods, Inc., owned by Schell and Kampeter, Inc.). + +See also + Bison hunting + Gaur + National Bison Day (1 November in the United States) + Regina, Saskatchewan: Pile of Bones was the original name for Regina, Saskatchewan in reference to bison bones found nearby. + Yellowstone Park bison herd + +References + +Bibliography + Boyd, Delaney P. (April 2003). Conservation of North American bison: status and recommendations (PDF) (Thesis). University of Calgary, Calgary, AB. – via Buffalo Field Campaign + Cunfer, Geoff and Bill Waiser. Bison and People on the North American Great Plains: A Deep Environmental History. College Station, TX: Texas A&M University Press, 2016. + +External links + + History of Bison Blend Cattle + + +Holarctic fauna +Mammal genera +Extant Gelasian first appearances +Taxa named by Charles Hamilton Smith +In particle physics, a baryon is a type of composite subatomic particle which contains an odd number of valence quarks (at least 3). Baryons belong to the hadron family of particles; hadrons are composed of quarks. Baryons are also classified as fermions because they have half-integer spin. + +The name "baryon", introduced by Abraham Pais, comes from the Greek word for "heavy" (βαρύς, barýs), because, at the time of their naming, most known elementary particles had lower masses than the baryons. Each baryon has a corresponding antiparticle (antibaryon) where their corresponding antiquarks replace quarks. For example, a proton is made of two up quarks and one down quark; and its corresponding antiparticle, the antiproton, is made of two up antiquarks and one down antiquark. + +Baryons participate in the residual strong force, which is mediated by particles known as mesons. The most familiar baryons are protons and neutrons, both of which contain three quarks, and for this reason they are sometimes called triquarks. These particles make up most of the mass of the visible matter in the universe and compose the nucleus of every atom (electrons, the other major component of the atom, are members of a different family of particles called leptons; leptons do not interact via the strong force). Exotic baryons containing five quarks, called pentaquarks, have also been discovered and studied. + +A census of the Universe's baryons indicates that 10% of them could be found inside galaxies, 50 to 60% in the circumgalactic medium, and the remaining 30 to 40% could be located in the warm–hot intergalactic medium (WHIM). + +Background +Baryons are strongly interacting fermions; that is, they are acted on by the strong nuclear force and are described by Fermi–Dirac statistics, which apply to all particles obeying the Pauli exclusion principle. This is in contrast to the bosons, which do not obey the exclusion principle. + +Baryons, along with mesons, are hadrons, particles composed of quarks. Quarks have baryon numbers of B =  and antiquarks have baryon numbers of B = −. The term "baryon" usually refers to triquarks—baryons made of three quarks (B =  +  +  = 1). + +Other exotic baryons have been proposed, such as pentaquarks—baryons made of four quarks and one antiquark (B =  +  +  +  −  = 1), but their existence is not generally accepted. The particle physics community as a whole did not view their existence as likely in 2006, and in 2008, considered evidence to be overwhelmingly against the existence of the reported pentaquarks. However, in July 2015, the LHCb experiment observed two resonances consistent with pentaquark states in the Λ → J/ψKp decay, with a combined statistical significance of 15σ. + +In theory, heptaquarks (5 quarks, 2 antiquarks), nonaquarks (6 quarks, 3 antiquarks), etc. could also exist. + +Baryonic matter +Nearly all matter that may be encountered or experienced in everyday life is baryonic matter, which includes atoms of any sort, and provides them with the property of mass. Non-baryonic matter, as implied by the name, is any sort of matter that is not composed primarily of baryons. This might include neutrinos and free electrons, dark matter, supersymmetric particles, axions, and black holes. + +The very existence of baryons is also a significant issue in cosmology because it is assumed that the Big Bang produced a state with equal amounts of baryons and antibaryons. The process by which baryons came to outnumber their antiparticles is called baryogenesis. + +Baryogenesis + +Experiments are consistent with the number of quarks in the universe being a constant and, to be more specific, the number of baryons being a constant (if antimatter is counted as negative); in technical language, the total baryon number appears to be conserved. Within the prevailing Standard Model of particle physics, the number of baryons may change in multiples of three due to the action of sphalerons, although this is rare and has not been observed under experiment. Some grand unified theories of particle physics also predict that a single proton can decay, changing the baryon number by one; however, this has not yet been observed under experiment. The excess of baryons over antibaryons in the present universe is thought to be due to non-conservation of baryon number in the very early universe, though this is not well understood. + +Properties + +Isospin and charge + +The concept of isospin was first proposed by Werner Heisenberg in 1932 to explain the similarities between protons and neutrons under the strong interaction. Although they had different electric charges, their masses were so similar that physicists believed they were the same particle. The different electric charges were explained as being the result of some unknown excitation similar to spin. This unknown excitation was later dubbed isospin by Eugene Wigner in 1937. + +This belief lasted until Murray Gell-Mann proposed the quark model in 1964 (containing originally only the u, d, and s quarks). The success of the isospin model is now understood to be the result of the similar masses of u and d quarks. Since u and d quarks have similar masses, particles made of the same number then also have similar masses. The exact specific u and d quark composition determines the charge, as u quarks carry charge + while d quarks carry charge −. For example, the four Deltas all have different charges ( (uuu), (uud), (udd), (ddd)), but have similar masses (~1,232 MeV/c2) as they are each made of a combination of three u or d quarks. Under the isospin model, they were considered to be a single particle in different charged states. + +The mathematics of isospin was modeled after that of spin. Isospin projections varied in increments of 1 just like those of spin, and to each projection was associated a "charged state". Since the "Delta particle" had four "charged states", it was said to be of isospin I = . Its "charged states" , , , and , corresponded to the isospin projections I3 = +, I3 = +, I3 = −, and I3 = −, respectively. Another example is the "nucleon particle". As there were two nucleon "charged states", it was said to be of isospin . The positive nucleon (proton) was identified with I3 = + and the neutral nucleon (neutron) with I3 = −. It was later noted that the isospin projections were related to the up and down quark content of particles by the relation: + +where the n'''s are the number of up and down quarks and antiquarks. + +In the "isospin picture", the four Deltas and the two nucleons were thought to be the different states of two particles. However, in the quark model, Deltas are different states of nucleons (the N++ or N− are forbidden by Pauli's exclusion principle). Isospin, although conveying an inaccurate picture of things, is still used to classify baryons, leading to unnatural and often confusing nomenclature. + + Flavour quantum numbers + +The strangeness flavour quantum number S (not to be confused with spin) was noticed to go up and down along with particle mass. The higher the mass, the lower the strangeness (the more s quarks). Particles could be described with isospin projections (related to charge) and strangeness (mass) (see the uds octet and decuplet figures on the right). As other quarks were discovered, new quantum numbers were made to have similar description of udc and udb octets and decuplets. Since only the u and d mass are similar, this description of particle mass and charge in terms of isospin and flavour quantum numbers works well only for octet and decuplet made of one u, one d, and one other quark, and breaks down for the other octets and decuplets (for example, ucb octet and decuplet). If the quarks all had the same mass, their behaviour would be called symmetric, as they would all behave in the same way to the strong interaction. Since quarks do not have the same mass, they do not interact in the same way (exactly like an electron placed in an electric field will accelerate more than a proton placed in the same field because of its lighter mass), and the symmetry is said to be broken. + +It was noted that charge (Q) was related to the isospin projection (I3), the baryon number (B) and flavour quantum numbers (S, C, B′, T) by the Gell-Mann–Nishijima formula: + +where S, C, B′, and T represent the strangeness, charm, bottomness and topness flavour quantum numbers, respectively. They are related to the number of strange, charm, bottom, and top quarks and antiquark according to the relations: + +meaning that the Gell-Mann–Nishijima formula is equivalent to the expression of charge in terms of quark content: + + Spin, orbital angular momentum, and total angular momentum + +Spin (quantum number S) is a vector quantity that represents the "intrinsic" angular momentum of a particle. It comes in increments of  ħ (pronounced "h-bar"). The ħ is often dropped because it is the "fundamental" unit of spin, and it is implied that "spin 1" means "spin 1 ħ". In some systems of natural units, ħ is chosen to be 1, and therefore does not appear anywhere. + +Quarks are fermionic particles of spin (S = ). Because spin projections vary in increments of 1 (that is 1 ħ), a single quark has a spin vector of length , and has two spin projections (Sz = + and Sz = −). Two quarks can have their spins aligned, in which case the two spin vectors add to make a vector of length S = 1 and three spin projections (Sz = +1, Sz = 0, and Sz = −1). If two quarks have unaligned spins, the spin vectors add up to make a vector of length S = 0 and has only one spin projection (Sz = 0), etc. Since baryons are made of three quarks, their spin vectors can add to make a vector of length S = , which has four spin projections (Sz = +, Sz = +, Sz = −, and Sz = −), or a vector of length S =  with two spin projections (Sz = +, and Sz = −). + +There is another quantity of angular momentum, called the orbital angular momentum (azimuthal quantum number L), that comes in increments of 1 ħ, which represent the angular moment due to quarks orbiting around each other. The total angular momentum (total angular momentum quantum number J) of a particle is therefore the combination of intrinsic angular momentum (spin) and orbital angular momentum. It can take any value from to , in increments of 1. + +Particle physicists are most interested in baryons with no orbital angular momentum (L = 0), as they correspond to ground states—states of minimal energy. Therefore, the two groups of baryons most studied are the S = ; L = 0 and S = ; L = 0, which corresponds to J = + and J = +, respectively, although they are not the only ones. It is also possible to obtain J = + particles from S =  and L = 2, as well as S =  and L = 2. This phenomenon of having multiple particles in the same total angular momentum configuration is called degeneracy. How to distinguish between these degenerate baryons is an active area of research in baryon spectroscopy.D.M. Manley (2005) + + Parity + +If the universe were reflected in a mirror, most of the laws of physics would be identical—things would behave the same way regardless of what we call "left" and what we call "right". This concept of mirror reflection is called "intrinsic parity" or simply "parity" (P). Gravity, the electromagnetic force, and the strong interaction all behave in the same way regardless of whether or not the universe is reflected in a mirror, and thus are said to conserve parity (P-symmetry). However, the weak interaction does distinguish "left" from "right", a phenomenon called parity violation (P-violation). + +Based on this, if the wavefunction for each particle (in more precise terms, the quantum field for each particle type) were simultaneously mirror-reversed, then the new set of wavefunctions would perfectly satisfy the laws of physics (apart from the weak interaction). It turns out that this is not quite true: for the equations to be satisfied, the wavefunctions of certain types of particles have to be multiplied by −1, in addition to being mirror-reversed. Such particle types are said to have negative or odd parity (P = −1, or alternatively P = –), while the other particles are said to have positive or even parity (P = +1, or alternatively P = +). + +For baryons, the parity is related to the orbital angular momentum by the relation: + +As a consequence, baryons with no orbital angular momentum (L = 0) all have even parity (P = +). + + Nomenclature +Baryons are classified into groups according to their isospin (I) values and quark (q) content. There are six groups of baryons: nucleon (), Delta (), Lambda (), Sigma (), Xi (), and Omega (). The rules for classification are defined by the Particle Data Group. These rules consider the up (), down () and strange () quarks to be light and the charm (), bottom (), and top () quarks to be heavy. The rules cover all the particles that can be made from three of each of the six quarks, even though baryons made of top quarks are not expected to exist because of the top quark's short lifetime. The rules do not cover pentaquarks. + Baryons with (any combination of) three and/or quarks are s (I = ) or baryons (I = ). + Baryons containing two and/or quarks are baryons (I = 0) or baryons (I = 1). If the third quark is heavy, its identity is given by a subscript. + Baryons containing one or quark are baryons (I = ). One or two subscripts are used if one or both of the remaining quarks are heavy. + Baryons containing no or quarks are baryons (I = 0), and subscripts indicate any heavy quark content. + Baryons that decay strongly have their masses as part of their names. For example, Σ0 does not decay strongly, but Δ++(1232) does. + +It is also a widespread (but not universal) practice to follow some additional rules when distinguishing between some states that would otherwise have the same symbol. + Baryons in total angular momentum J =  configuration that have the same symbols as their J =  counterparts are denoted by an asterisk ( * ). + Two baryons can be made of three different quarks in J =  configuration. In this case, a prime ( ′ ) is used to distinguish between them. + Exception: When two of the three quarks are one up and one down quark, one baryon is dubbed Λ while the other is dubbed Σ. + +Quarks carry a charge, so knowing the charge of a particle indirectly gives the quark content. For example, the rules above say that a contains a c quark and some combination of two u and/or d quarks. The c quark has a charge of (Q = +), therefore the other two must be a u quark (Q = +), and a d quark (Q = −) to have the correct total charge (Q'' = +1). + +See also + Eightfold way + List of baryons + Meson + Timeline of particle discoveries + +Citations + +General references + +External links + Particle Data Group—Review of Particle Physics (2018). + Georgia State University—HyperPhysics + Baryons made thinkable, an interactive visualisation allowing physical properties to be compared +A braille embosser is an impact printer that renders text as tactile braille cells. Using braille translation software, a document or digital text can be embossed with relative ease. This makes braille production efficient and cost-effective. Braille translation software may be free and open-sourced or paid. + +Blind users tend to call other printers "ink printers," to distinguish them from their braille counterparts. This is often the case regardless of the type of printer being discussed (e.g., thermal printers being called "ink printers" even though they use no ink). + +As with ink printers and presses, embossers range from those intended for consumers to those used by large publishers. The price of embossers increase with the volume of braille it produces . + +Types +The fastest industrial braille embosser is probably the $92,000 Belgian-made NV Interpoint 55, first produced in 1991, which uses a separate air compressor to drive the embossing head and can output up to 800 braille characters per second. Adoption was slow at first; in 2000 the National Federation of the Blind said there were only three of these in the US, one owned by the NFB itself and the other two by the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society. As of 2008, there are more than 60 in use across the world. + +Smaller desktop braille embossers are more common and can be found in libraries, universities, and specialist education centers, as well as being privately owned by blind individuals. It may be necessary to use an acoustic cabinet or hood to dampen the noise level. + +Braille embossers usually need special braille paper which is thicker and more expensive than normal paper. Some high-end embossers are capable of printing on normal paper. Embossers can be either one-sided or two-sided. Two-sided embossing requires lining up the dots so they do not overlap (called "interpoint" because the points on the other side are placed in between the points on the first side). Two-sided embossing uses less paper and reduces the size of the output. + +Once one copy of a document has been produced, printing further copies is often quicker by means of a device called a thermoform, which produces copies on soft plastic. However, the resulting braille is not as easily readable as braille that has been freshly embossed, in much the same way that a poor-quality photocopy is not as readable as the original. Hence large publishers do not generally use thermoforms. + +Some embossers can produce "dotty Moon", i.e., Moon type shapes formed by dots. + +See also + Braigo + Mountbatten Brailler + Book + E-book + Braille e-book + Braille translator + +References + +Embosser +Basic Role-Playing (BRP) is a tabletop role-playing game which originated in the RuneQuest fantasy role-playing game. Chaosium released the BRP standalone booklet in 1980 in the boxed set release of the second edition of RuneQuest. Greg Stafford and Lynn Willis are credited as the authors. Chaosium used the percentile skill-based system as the basis for most of their games, including Call of Cthulhu, Stormbringer, and Elfquest. + +History +The core rules were originally written by Steve Perrin as part of his game RuneQuest. It was Greg Stafford's idea to simplify the rules (eliminating such things as Strike Ranks and Hit Locations) and issue them in a 16-page booklet called Basic Role-Playing. Over the years several others, including Sandy Petersen, Lynn Willis, and Steve Henderson, contributed to the system. + +The BRP was notable for being the first role-playing game system to introduce a full skill system to characters regardless of their profession. This was developed in RuneQuest but was also later adopted by the more skill-oriented Call of Cthulhu. + +BRP was conceived of as a generic system for playing any sort of RPG. Specific rule systems to support differing genres can be added to the core rules in a modular design. In order to underscore this, in 1982 Chaosium released the Worlds of Wonder box set, which contained a revised main booklet and several booklets providing the additional rules for playing in specific genres. Superworld, a superhero-themed game, began as a portion of the Worlds of Wonder set. In 2002, a third edition of the core booklet, now titled Basic Roleplaying: The Chaosium System, was released in 2002. + +In 2004, Chaosium published the Basic Roleplaying monographs, a series of paperback booklets. The first four monographs (Players Book, Magic Book, Creatures Book, and Gamemaster Book) were essentially RuneQuest 3rd Edition, but with the RuneQuest name and other trademarks removed, as Chaosium had lost the rights to the name but retained copyright of the rules text. Additional monographs allowing for new mechanics, thereby extending the system to other genres, were released in the following years. Many of these monographs reproduced rules from other Chaosium-published BRP games that had gone out of print. + +In 2008, Jason Durall and Sam Johnson brought together all of the previous works and updated them to a new edition. This comprehensive book, Basic Roleplaying: The Chaosium System, was nicknamed the "Big Gold Book", and allowed game masters to essentially build their own game from the various subsystems included. A quickstart booklet for new players accompanied it. In 2011 it was then updated to a second edition. + +In 2020, Chaosium released Basic Roleplaying as a System Reference Document (SRD). + +Other games published over the years by Chaosium using the BRP ruleset include Ringworld, Hawkmoon, and Nephilim. + +Rules system +BRP is similar to other generic systems such as GURPS, Hero System, or Savage Worlds in that it uses a simple resolution method which can be broadly applied. BRP uses a core set of seven characteristics: Size, Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Power, and Appearance or Charisma. From those, a character derives scores in various skills, expressed as percentages. These skill scores are the basis of play. When attempting an action, the player rolls percentile dice trying to get a result equal to or lower than the character's current skill score. Each incarnation of the BRP rules has changed or added to the core ideas and mechanics, so that games are not identical. For example, in Call of Cthulhu, skills may never be over 100%, while in Stormbringer skills in excess of 100% are within reach for all characters. Scores can increase through experience checks, the mechanics of which vary in an individual game. + +BRP treats armor and defense as separate functions: the act of parrying is a defensive skill that reduces an opponent's chance to successfully land an attack, and the purpose of armor is to absorb damage. + +The last major element of many BRP games is that there is no difference between the player character race systems and that of the monster or opponents. By varying ability scores, the same system is used for a human hero as a troll villain. This approach allows for players to play a wide variety of non-human species. + +Licensed games +Chaosium was an early adopter of licensing out its BRP system to other companies, something that was unique at the time they began but commonplace now thanks to the d20 licenses. This places BRP in the notable position of being one of the first products to allow other game companies to develop games or game aids for their work. For example, Other Suns, published by Fantasy Games Unlimited (FGU), used them under license. BRP was also used as the base for the Swedish game Drakar och Demoner from Target Games. + +Reception +In the July 1981 edition of The Space Gamer (Issue No. 41), Ronald Pehr commented that "Basic Role-Playing is too little too late. RuneQuest is long established, does an adequate job of teaching role-playing, and there are now even more games to choose from. If you want to teach role-playing to a very young, but literate, child, Basic Role-Playing is excellent. Otherwise, for all its charm, it's not much use.". + +In the August 1981 edition of Dragon (Issue 52), John Sapienza noted that Basic Roleplaying was "not a fantasy role-playing game as such, but a handbook on how to role-play and a simple combat system to help the beginner get into the act." Despite this, Sapienza called it "one of the best introductions to the practical social interactions in gaming that I have read, and will give beginning gamers the kind of guidance they typically do not get in the full-scale games they will graduate to, since game writers usually spend their time on mechanics instead of on the proper relationships between player and player, player and referee, or player and character." He concluded, "Basic Role-Playing is a truly universal introduction to the hobby — highly recommended." + +Awards +The BRP itself has been the recipient, via its games, of many awards. Most notable was the 1981 Origins Award for Best Roleplaying Rules for Call of Cthulhu. Other editions of Call of Cthulhu have also won Origins Awards including the Hall of Fame award. The BRP Character Generation software has also won awards for its design. + +References + +External links + Chaosium's Basic Role-Playing Product Line Page + Basic Roleplaying Central - The community fansite for Basic Roleplaying game systems. + + +Chaosium games +Greg Stafford games +Role-playing games introduced in 1980 +Universal role-playing games +In cryptography, a block cipher is a deterministic algorithm that operates on fixed-length groups of bits, called blocks. Block ciphers are the elementary building blocks of many cryptographic protocols. They are ubiquitous in the storage and exchange of data, where such data is secured and authenticated via encryption. + +A block cipher uses blocks as an unvarying transformation. Even a secure block cipher is suitable for the encryption of only a single block of data at a time, using a fixed key. A multitude of modes of operation have been designed to allow their repeated use in a secure way to achieve the security goals of confidentiality and authenticity. However, block ciphers may also feature as building blocks in other cryptographic protocols, such as universal hash functions and pseudorandom number generators. + +Definition +A block cipher consists of two paired algorithms, one for encryption, , and the other for decryption, . Both algorithms accept two inputs: an input block of size bits and a key of size bits; and both yield an -bit output block. The decryption algorithm is defined to be the inverse function of encryption, i.e., . More formally, a block cipher is specified by an encryption function + +which takes as input a key , of bit length (called the key size), and a bit string , of length (called the block size), and returns a string of bits. is called the plaintext, and is termed the ciphertext. For each , the function () is required to be an invertible mapping on . The inverse for is defined as a function + +taking a key and a ciphertext to return a plaintext value , such that + +For example, a block cipher encryption algorithm might take a 128-bit block of plaintext as input, and output a corresponding 128-bit block of ciphertext. The exact transformation is controlled using a second input – the secret key. Decryption is similar: the decryption algorithm takes, in this example, a 128-bit block of ciphertext together with the secret key, and yields the original 128-bit block of plain text. + +For each key K, EK is a permutation (a bijective mapping) over the set of input blocks. Each key selects one permutation from the set of possible permutations. + +History +The modern design of block ciphers is based on the concept of an iterated product cipher. In his seminal 1949 publication, Communication Theory of Secrecy Systems, Claude Shannon analyzed product ciphers and suggested them as a means of effectively improving security by combining simple operations such as substitutions and permutations. Iterated product ciphers carry out encryption in multiple rounds, each of which uses a different subkey derived from the original key. One widespread implementation of such ciphers named a Feistel network after Horst Feistel is notably implemented in the DES cipher. Many other realizations of block ciphers, such as the AES, are classified as substitution–permutation networks. + +The root of all cryptographic block formats used within the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) and American National Standards Institute (ANSI) standards lies with the Atalla Key Block (AKB), which was a key innovation of the Atalla Box, the first hardware security module (HSM). It was developed in 1972 by Mohamed M. Atalla, founder of Atalla Corporation (now Utimaco Atalla), and released in 1973. The AKB was a key block, which is required to securely interchange symmetric keys or PINs with other actors in the banking industry. This secure interchange is performed using the AKB format. The Atalla Box protected over 90% of all ATM networks in operation as of 1998, and Atalla products still secure the majority of the world's ATM transactions as of 2014. + +The publication of the DES cipher by the United States National Bureau of Standards (subsequently the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology, NIST) in 1977 was fundamental in the public understanding of modern block cipher design. It also influenced the academic development of cryptanalytic attacks. Both differential and linear cryptanalysis arose out of studies on DES design. , there is a palette of attack techniques against which a block cipher must be secure, in addition to being robust against brute-force attacks. + +Design + +Iterated block ciphers +Most block cipher algorithms are classified as iterated block ciphers which means that they transform fixed-size blocks of plaintext into identically sized blocks of ciphertext, via the repeated application of an invertible transformation known as the round function, with each iteration referred to as a round. + +Usually, the round function R takes different round keys Ki as a second input, which is derived from the original key: + +where is the plaintext and the ciphertext, with r being the number of rounds. + +Frequently, key whitening is used in addition to this. At the beginning and the end, the data is modified with key material (often with XOR, but simple arithmetic operations like adding and subtracting are also used): + +Given one of the standard iterated block cipher design schemes, it is fairly easy to construct a block cipher that is cryptographically secure, simply by using a large number of rounds. However, this will make the cipher inefficient. Thus, efficiency is the most important additional design criterion for professional ciphers. Further, a good block cipher is designed to avoid side-channel attacks, such as branch prediction and input-dependent memory accesses that might leak secret data via the cache state or the execution time. In addition, the cipher should be concise, for small hardware and software implementations. Finally, the cipher should be easily crypt analyzable, such that it can be shown how many rounds the cipher needs to be reduced to so that the existing cryptographic attacks would work – and, conversely, that it can be shown that the number of actual rounds is large enough to protect against them. + +Substitution–permutation networks + +One important type of iterated block cipher known as a substitution–permutation network (SPN) takes a block of the plaintext and the key as inputs and applies several alternating rounds consisting of a substitution stage followed by a permutation stage—to produce each block of ciphertext output. The non-linear substitution stage mixes the key bits with those of the plaintext, creating Shannon's confusion. The linear permutation stage then dissipates redundancies, creating diffusion. + +A substitution box (S-box) substitutes a small block of input bits with another block of output bits. This substitution must be one-to-one, to ensure invertibility (hence decryption). A secure S-box will have the property that changing one input bit will change about half of the output bits on average, exhibiting what is known as the avalanche effect—i.e. it has the property that each output bit will depend on every input bit. + +A permutation box (P-box) is a permutation of all the bits: it takes the outputs of all the S-boxes of one round, permutes the bits, and feeds them into the S-boxes of the next round. A good P-box has the property that the output bits of any S-box are distributed to as many S-box inputs as possible. + +At each round, the round key (obtained from the key with some simple operations, for instance, using S-boxes and P-boxes) is combined using some group operation, typically XOR. + +Decryption is done by simply reversing the process (using the inverses of the S-boxes and P-boxes and applying the round keys in reversed order). + +Feistel ciphers + +In a Feistel cipher, the block of plain text to be encrypted is split into two equal-sized halves. The round function is applied to one half, using a subkey, and then the output is XORed with the other half. The two halves are then swapped. + +Let be the round function and let + be the sub-keys for the rounds respectively. + +Then the basic operation is as follows: + +Split the plaintext block into two equal pieces, (, ) + +For each round , compute + +. + +Then the ciphertext is . + +The decryption of a ciphertext is accomplished by computing for + +. + +Then is the plaintext again. + +One advantage of the Feistel model compared to a substitution–permutation network is that the round function does not have to be invertible. + +Lai–Massey ciphers + +The Lai–Massey scheme offers security properties similar to those of the Feistel structure. It also shares the advantage that the round function does not have to be invertible. Another similarity is that it also splits the input block into two equal pieces. However, the round function is applied to the difference between the two, and the result is then added to both half blocks. + +Let be the round function and a half-round function and let be the sub-keys for the rounds respectively. + +Then the basic operation is as follows: + +Split the plaintext block into two equal pieces, (, ) + +For each round , compute + +where and + +Then the ciphertext is . + +The decryption of a ciphertext is accomplished by computing for + +where and + +Then is the plaintext again. + +Operations + +ARX (add–rotate–XOR) +Many modern block ciphers and hashes are ARX algorithms—their round function involves only three operations: (A) modular addition, (R) rotation with fixed rotation amounts, and (X) XOR. Examples include ChaCha20, Speck, XXTEA, and BLAKE. Many authors draw an ARX network, a kind of data flow diagram, to illustrate such a round function. + +These ARX operations are popular because they are relatively fast and cheap in hardware and software, their implementation can be made extremely simple, and also because they run in constant time, and therefore are immune to timing attacks. The rotational cryptanalysis technique attempts to attack such round functions. + +Other operations +Other operations often used in block ciphers include data-dependent rotations as in RC5 and RC6, a substitution box implemented as a lookup table as in Data Encryption Standard and Advanced Encryption Standard, a permutation box, and multiplication as in IDEA. + +Modes of operation + +A block cipher by itself allows encryption only of a single data block of the cipher's block length. For a variable-length message, the data must first be partitioned into separate cipher blocks. In the simplest case, known as electronic codebook (ECB) mode, a message is first split into separate blocks of the cipher's block size (possibly extending the last block with padding bits), and then each block is encrypted and decrypted independently. However, such a naive method is generally insecure because equal plaintext blocks will always generate equal ciphertext blocks (for the same key), so patterns in the plaintext message become evident in the ciphertext output. + +To overcome this limitation, several so-called block cipher modes of operation have been designed and specified in national recommendations such as NIST 800-38A and BSI TR-02102 and international standards such as ISO/IEC 10116. The general concept is to use randomization of the plaintext data based on an additional input value, frequently called an initialization vector, to create what is termed probabilistic encryption. In the popular cipher block chaining (CBC) mode, for encryption to be secure the initialization vector passed along with the plaintext message must be a random or pseudo-random value, which is added in an exclusive-or manner to the first plaintext block before it is encrypted. The resultant ciphertext block is then used as the new initialization vector for the next plaintext block. In the cipher feedback (CFB) mode, which emulates a self-synchronizing stream cipher, the initialization vector is first encrypted and then added to the plaintext block. The output feedback (OFB) mode repeatedly encrypts the initialization vector to create a key stream for the emulation of a synchronous stream cipher. The newer counter (CTR) mode similarly creates a key stream, but has the advantage of only needing unique and not (pseudo-)random values as initialization vectors; the needed randomness is derived internally by using the initialization vector as a block counter and encrypting this counter for each block. + +From a security-theoretic point of view, modes of operation must provide what is known as semantic security. Informally, it means that given some ciphertext under an unknown key one cannot practically derive any information from the ciphertext (other than the length of the message) over what one would have known without seeing the ciphertext. It has been shown that all of the modes discussed above, with the exception of the ECB mode, provide this property under so-called chosen plaintext attacks. + +Padding + +Some modes such as the CBC mode only operate on complete plaintext blocks. Simply extending the last block of a message with zero bits is insufficient since it does not allow a receiver to easily distinguish messages that differ only in the number of padding bits. More importantly, such a simple solution gives rise to very efficient padding oracle attacks. A suitable padding scheme is therefore needed to extend the last plaintext block to the cipher's block size. While many popular schemes described in standards and in the literature have been shown to be vulnerable to padding oracle attacks, a solution that adds a one-bit and then extends the last block with zero-bits, standardized as "padding method 2" in ISO/IEC 9797-1, has been proven secure against these attacks. + +Cryptanalysis + +Brute-force attacks + This property results in the cipher's security degrading quadratically, and needs to be taken into account when selecting a block size. There is a trade-off though as large block sizes can result in the algorithm becoming inefficient to operate. Earlier block ciphers such as the DES have typically selected a 64-bit block size, while newer designs such as the AES support block sizes of 128 bits or more, with some ciphers supporting a range of different block sizes. + +Differential cryptanalysis + +Linear cryptanalysis + +A linear cryptanalysis is a form of cryptanalysis based on finding affine approximations to the action of a cipher. Linear cryptanalysis is one of the two most widely used attacks on block ciphers; the other being differential cryptanalysis. + +The discovery is attributed to Mitsuru Matsui, who first applied the technique to the FEAL cipher (Matsui and Yamagishi, 1992). + +Integral cryptanalysis + +Integral cryptanalysis is a cryptanalytic attack that is particularly applicable to block ciphers based on substitution–permutation networks. Unlike differential cryptanalysis, which uses pairs of chosen plaintexts with a fixed XOR difference, integral cryptanalysis uses sets or even multisets of chosen plaintexts of which part is held constant and another part varies through all possibilities. For example, an attack might use 256 chosen plaintexts that have all but 8 of their bits the same, but all differ in those 8 bits. Such a set necessarily has an XOR sum of 0, and the XOR sums of the corresponding sets of ciphertexts provide information about the cipher's operation. This contrast between the differences between pairs of texts and the sums of larger sets of texts inspired the name "integral cryptanalysis", borrowing the terminology of calculus. + +Other techniques + +In addition to linear and differential cryptanalysis, there is a growing catalog of attacks: truncated differential cryptanalysis, partial differential cryptanalysis, integral cryptanalysis, which encompasses square and integral attacks, slide attacks, boomerang attacks, the XSL attack, impossible differential cryptanalysis, and algebraic attacks. For a new block cipher design to have any credibility, it must demonstrate evidence of security against known attacks. + +Provable security +When a block cipher is used in a given mode of operation, the resulting algorithm should ideally be about as secure as the block cipher itself. ECB (discussed above) emphatically lacks this property: regardless of how secure the underlying block cipher is, ECB mode can easily be attacked. On the other hand, CBC mode can be proven to be secure under the assumption that the underlying block cipher is likewise secure. Note, however, that making statements like this requires formal mathematical definitions for what it means for an encryption algorithm or a block cipher to "be secure". This section describes two common notions for what properties a block cipher should have. Each corresponds to a mathematical model that can be used to prove properties of higher-level algorithms, such as CBC. + +This general approach to cryptography – proving higher-level algorithms (such as CBC) are secure under explicitly stated assumptions regarding their components (such as a block cipher) – is known as provable security. + +Standard model + +Informally, a block cipher is secure in the standard model if an attacker cannot tell the difference between the block cipher (equipped with a random key) and a random permutation. + +To be a bit more precise, let E be an n-bit block cipher. We imagine the following game: + The person running the game flips a coin. + If the coin lands on heads, he chooses a random key K and defines the function f = EK. + If the coin lands on tails, he chooses a random permutation on the set of n-bit strings and defines the function f = . + The attacker chooses an n-bit string X, and the person running the game tells him the value of f(X). + Step 2 is repeated a total of q times. (Each of these q interactions is a query.) + The attacker guesses how the coin landed. He wins if his guess is correct. + +The attacker, which we can model as an algorithm, is called an adversary. The function f (which the adversary was able to query) is called an oracle. + +Note that an adversary can trivially ensure a 50% chance of winning simply by guessing at random (or even by, for example, always guessing "heads"). Therefore, let PE(A) denote the probability that adversary A wins this game against E, and define the advantage of A as 2(PE(A) − 1/2). It follows that if A guesses randomly, its advantage will be 0; on the other hand, if A always wins, then its advantage is 1. The block cipher E is a pseudo-random permutation (PRP) if no adversary has an advantage significantly greater than 0, given specified restrictions on q and the adversary's running time. If in Step 2 above adversaries have the option of learning f−1(X) instead of f(X) (but still have only small advantages) then E is a strong PRP (SPRP). An adversary is non-adaptive if it chooses all q values for X before the game begins (that is, it does not use any information gleaned from previous queries to choose each X as it goes). + +These definitions have proven useful for analyzing various modes of operation. For example, one can define a similar game for measuring the security of a block cipher-based encryption algorithm, and then try to show (through a reduction argument) that the probability of an adversary winning this new game is not much more than PE(A) for some A. (The reduction typically provides limits on q and the running time of A.) Equivalently, if PE(A) is small for all relevant A, then no attacker has a significant probability of winning the new game. This formalizes the idea that the higher-level algorithm inherits the block cipher's security. + +Ideal cipher model + +Practical evaluation +Block ciphers may be evaluated according to multiple criteria in practice. Common factors include: + Key parameters, such as its key size and block size, both of which provide an upper bound on the security of the cipher. + The estimated security level, which is based on the confidence gained in the block cipher design after it has largely withstood major efforts in cryptanalysis over time, the design's mathematical soundness, and the existence of practical or certificational attacks. + The cipher's complexity and its suitability for implementation in hardware or software. Hardware implementations may measure the complexity in terms of gate count or energy consumption, which are important parameters for resource-constrained devices. + The cipher's performance in terms of processing throughput on various platforms, including its memory requirements. + The cost of the cipher refers to licensing requirements that may apply due to intellectual property rights. + The flexibility of the cipher includes its ability to support multiple key sizes and block lengths. + +Notable block ciphers + +Lucifer / DES + +Lucifer is generally considered to be the first civilian block cipher, developed at IBM in the 1970s based on work done by Horst Feistel. A revised version of the algorithm was adopted as a U.S. government Federal Information Processing Standard: FIPS PUB 46 Data Encryption Standard (DES). It was chosen by the U.S. National Bureau of Standards (NBS) after a public invitation for submissions and some internal changes by NBS (and, potentially, the NSA). DES was publicly released in 1976 and has been widely used. + +DES was designed to, among other things, resist a certain cryptanalytic attack known to the NSA and rediscovered by IBM, though unknown publicly until rediscovered again and published by Eli Biham and Adi Shamir in the late 1980s. The technique is called differential cryptanalysis and remains one of the few general attacks against block ciphers; linear cryptanalysis is another but may have been unknown even to the NSA, prior to its publication by Mitsuru Matsui. DES prompted a large amount of other work and publications in cryptography and cryptanalysis in the open community and it inspired many new cipher designs. + +DES has a block size of 64 bits and a key size of 56 bits. 64-bit blocks became common in block cipher designs after DES. Key length depended on several factors, including government regulation. Many observers in the 1970s commented that the 56-bit key length used for DES was too short. As time went on, its inadequacy became apparent, especially after a special-purpose machine designed to break DES was demonstrated in 1998 by the Electronic Frontier Foundation. An extension to DES, Triple DES, triple-encrypts each block with either two independent keys (112-bit key and 80-bit security) or three independent keys (168-bit key and 112-bit security). It was widely adopted as a replacement. As of 2011, the three-key version is still considered secure, though the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) standards no longer permit the use of the two-key version in new applications, due to its 80-bit security level. + +IDEA +The International Data Encryption Algorithm (IDEA) is a block cipher designed by James Massey of ETH Zurich and Xuejia Lai; it was first described in 1991, as an intended replacement for DES. + +IDEA operates on 64-bit blocks using a 128-bit key and consists of a series of eight identical transformations (a round) and an output transformation (the half-round). The processes for encryption and decryption are similar. IDEA derives much of its security by interleaving operations from different groups – modular addition and multiplication, and bitwise exclusive or (XOR) – which are algebraically "incompatible" in some sense. + +The designers analysed IDEA to measure its strength against differential cryptanalysis and concluded that it is immune under certain assumptions. No successful linear or algebraic weaknesses have been reported. , the best attack which applies to all keys can break a full 8.5-round IDEA using a narrow-bicliques attack about four times faster than brute force. + +RC5 + +RC5 is a block cipher designed by Ronald Rivest in 1994 which, unlike many other ciphers, has a variable block size (32, 64, or 128 bits), key size (0 to 2040 bits), and a number of rounds (0 to 255). The original suggested choice of parameters was a block size of 64 bits, a 128-bit key, and 12 rounds. + +A key feature of RC5 is the use of data-dependent rotations; one of the goals of RC5 was to prompt the study and evaluation of such operations as a cryptographic primitive. RC5 also consists of a number of modular additions and XORs. The general structure of the algorithm is a Feistel-like a network. The encryption and decryption routines can be specified in a few lines of code. The key schedule, however, is more complex, expanding the key using an essentially one-way function with the binary expansions of both e and the golden ratio as sources of "nothing up my sleeve numbers". The tantalizing simplicity of the algorithm together with the novelty of the data-dependent rotations has made RC5 an attractive object of study for cryptanalysts. + +12-round RC5 (with 64-bit blocks) is susceptible to a differential attack using 244 chosen plaintexts. 18–20 rounds are suggested as sufficient protection. + +Rijndael / AES + +The Rijndael cipher developed by Belgian cryptographers, Joan Daemen and Vincent Rijmen was one of the competing designs to replace DES. It won the 5-year public competition to become the AES, (Advanced Encryption Standard). + +Adopted by NIST in 2001, AES has a fixed block size of 128 bits and a key size of 128, 192, or 256 bits, whereas Rijndael can be specified with block and key sizes in any multiple of 32 bits, with a minimum of 128 bits. The block size has a maximum of 256 bits, but the key size has no theoretical maximum. AES operates on a 4×4 column-major order matrix of bytes, termed the state (versions of Rijndael with a larger block size have additional columns in the state). + +Blowfish + +Blowfish is a block cipher, designed in 1993 by Bruce Schneier and included in a large number of cipher suites and encryption products. Blowfish has a 64-bit block size and a variable key length from 1 bit up to 448 bits. It is a 16-round Feistel cipher and uses large key-dependent S-boxes. Notable features of the design include the key-dependent S-boxes and a highly complex key schedule. + +It was designed as a general-purpose algorithm, intended as an alternative to the aging DES and free of the problems and constraints associated with other algorithms. At the time Blowfish was released, many other designs were proprietary, encumbered by patents, or were commercial/government secrets. Schneier has stated that "Blowfish is unpatented, and will remain so in all countries. The algorithm is hereby placed in the public domain, and can be freely used by anyone." The same applies to Twofish, a successor algorithm from Schneier. + +Generalizations + +Tweakable block ciphers + +M. Liskov, R. Rivest, and D. Wagner have described a generalized version of block ciphers called "tweakable" block ciphers. A tweakable block cipher accepts a second input called the tweak along with its usual plaintext or ciphertext input. The tweak, along with the key, selects the permutation computed by the cipher. If changing tweaks is sufficiently lightweight (compared with a usually fairly expensive key setup operation), then some interesting new operation modes become possible. The disk encryption theory article describes some of these modes. + +Format-preserving encryption + +Block ciphers traditionally work over a binary alphabet. That is, both the input and the output are binary strings, consisting of n zeroes and ones. In some situations, however, one may wish to have a block cipher that works over some other alphabet; for example, encrypting 16-digit credit card numbers in such a way that the ciphertext is also a 16-digit number might facilitate adding an encryption layer to legacy software. This is an example of format-preserving encryption. More generally, format-preserving encryption requires a keyed permutation on some finite language. This makes format-preserving encryption schemes a natural generalization of (tweakable) block ciphers. In contrast, traditional encryption schemes, such as CBC, are not permutations because the same plaintext can encrypt multiple different ciphertexts, even when using a fixed key. + +Relation to other cryptographic primitives +Block ciphers can be used to build other cryptographic primitives, such as those below. For these other primitives to be cryptographically secure, care has to be taken to build them the right way. + + Stream ciphers can be built using block ciphers. OFB mode and CTR mode are block modes that turn a block cipher into a stream cipher. + Cryptographic hash functions can be built using block ciphers. See the one-way compression function for descriptions of several such methods. The methods resemble the block cipher modes of operation usually used for encryption. + Cryptographically secure pseudorandom number generators (CSPRNGs) can be built using block ciphers. + Secure pseudorandom permutations of arbitrarily sized finite sets can be constructed with block ciphers; see Format-Preserving Encryption. + A publicly known unpredictable permutation combined with key whitening is enough to construct a block cipher -- such as the single-key Even–Mansour cipher, perhaps the simplest possible provably secure block cipher. + Message authentication codes (MACs) are often built from block ciphers. CBC-MAC, OMAC, and PMAC are such MACs. + Authenticated encryption is also built from block ciphers. It means to both encrypt and MAC at the same time. That is to both provide confidentiality and authentication. CCM, EAX, GCM, and OCB are such authenticated encryption modes. + +Just as block ciphers can be used to build hash functions, like SHA-1 and SHA-2 are based on block ciphers which are also used independently as SHACAL, hash functions can be used to build block ciphers. Examples of such block ciphers are BEAR and LION. + +See also + Cipher security summary + Topics in cryptography + XOR cipher + +References + +Further reading + +External links + A list of many symmetric algorithms, the majority of which are block ciphers. + The block cipher lounge + What is a block cipher? from RSA FAQ + Block Cipher based on Gold Sequences and Chaotic Logistic Tent System + +Cryptographic primitives +Arab inventions +Egyptian inventions +Wireless broadband is a telecommunications technology that provides high-speed wireless Internet access or computer networking access over a wide area. The term encompasses both fixed and mobile broadband. + +The term broadband +Originally the word "broadband" had a technical meaning, but became a marketing term for any kind of relatively high-speed computer network or Internet access technology. +According to the 802.16-2004 standard, broadband means "having instantaneous bandwidths greater than 1 MHz and supporting data rates greater than about 1.5 Mbit/s." +The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) recently re-defined the definition to mean download speeds of at least 25 Mbit/s and upload speeds of at least 3 Mbit/s. + +Technology and speeds + +A wireless broadband network is an outdoor fixed and/or mobile wireless network providing point-to-multipoint or point-to-point terrestrial wireless links for broadband services. + +Wireless networks can feature data rates exceeding 1 Gbit/s. Many fixed wireless networks are exclusively half-duplex (HDX), however, some licensed and unlicensed systems can also operate at full-duplex (FDX) allowing communication in both directions simultaneously. + +Outdoor fixed wireless broadband networks commonly utilize a priority TDMA based protocol in order to divide communication into timeslots. This timeslot technique eliminates many of the issues common to 802.11 Wi-Fi protocol in outdoor networks such as the hidden node problem. + +Few wireless Internet service providers (WISPs) provide download speeds of over 100 Mbit/s; most broadband wireless access (BWA) services are estimated to have a range of from a tower. Technologies used include Local Multipoint Distribution Service (LMDS) and Multichannel Multipoint Distribution Service (MMDS), as well as heavy use of the industrial, scientific and medical (ISM) radio bands and one particular access technology was standardized by IEEE 802.16, with products known as WiMAX. + +WiMAX is highly popular in Europe but has not met full acceptance in the United States because cost of deployment does not meet return on investment figures. In 2005 the Federal Communications Commission adopted a Report and Order that revised the FCC's rules to open the 3650 MHz band for terrestrial wireless broadband operations. + +Another system that is popular with cable internet service providers uses point-to-multipoint wireless links that extend the existing wired network using a transparent radio connection. This allows the same DOCSIS modems to be used for both wired and wireless customers. + +Development of Wireless Broadband in the United States +On November 14, 2007 the Commission released Public Notice DA 07–4605 in which the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau announced the start date for licensing and registration process for the 3650–3700 MHz band. +In 2010 the FCC adopted the TV White Space Rules (TVWS) and allowed some of the better no line of sight frequency (700 MHz) into the FCC Part-15 Rules. The Wireless Internet Service Providers Association, a national association of WISPs, petitioned the FCC and won. + +Initially, WISPs were only found in rural areas not covered by cable or DSL. These early WISPs would employ a high-capacity T-carrier, such as a T1 or DS3 connection, and then broadcast the signal from a high elevation, such as at the top of a water tower. To receive this type of Internet connection, consumers mount a small dish to the roof of their home or office and point it to the transmitter. Line of sight is usually necessary for WISPs operating in the 2.4 and 5 GHz bands with 900 MHz offering better NLOS (non-line-of-sight) performance. + +Residential Wireless Internet +Providers of fixed wireless broadband services typically provide equipment to customers and install a small antenna or dish somewhere on the roof. This equipment is usually deployed as a service and maintained by the company providing that service. Fixed wireless services have become particularly popular in many rural areas where cable, DSL or other typical home internet services are not available. + +Business Wireless Internet +Many companies in the US and worldwide have started using wireless alternatives to incumbent and local providers for internet and voice service. These providers tend to offer competitive services and options in areas where there is a difficulty getting affordable Ethernet connections from terrestrial providers such as ATT, Comcast, Verizon and others. Also, companies looking for full diversity between carriers for critical uptime requirements may seek wireless alternatives to local options. + +Demand for spectrum + +To cope with increased demand for wireless broadband, increased spectrum would be needed. Studies began in 2009, and while some unused spectrum was available, it appeared broadcasters would have to give up at least some spectrum. This led to strong objections from the broadcasting community. In 2013, auctions were planned, and for now any action by broadcasters is voluntary. + +Mobile wireless broadband +Called mobile broadband, wireless broadband technologies include services from mobile phone service providers such as Verizon Wireless, Sprint Corporation, and AT&T Mobility, and T-Mobile which allow a more mobile version of Internet access. Consumers can purchase a PC card, laptop card, USB equipment, or mobile broadband modem, to connect their PC or laptop to the Internet via cell phone towers. This type of connection would be stable in almost any area that could also receive a strong cell phone connection. These connections can cost more for portable convenience as well as having speed limitations in all but urban environments. + +On June 2, 2010, after months of discussion, AT&T became the first wireless Internet provider in the US to announce plans to charge according to usage. As the only iPhone service in the United States, AT&T experienced the problem of heavy Internet use more than other providers. About 3 percent of AT&T smart phone customers account for 40 percent of the technology's use. 98 percent of the company's customers use less than 2 gigabytes (4000 page views, 10,000 emails or 200 minutes of streaming video), the limit under the $25 monthly plan, and 65 percent use less than 200 megabytes, the limit for the $15 plan. For each gigabyte in excess of the limit, customers would be charged $10 a month starting June 7, 2010, though existing customers would not be required to change from the $30 a month unlimited service plan. The new plan would become a requirement for those upgrading to the new iPhone technology later in the summer. + +Licensing +A wireless connection can be either licensed or unlicensed. In the US, licensed connections use a private spectrum the user has secured rights to from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). The unlicensed mobile wireless broadband, in US operates on CBRS Which has three tiers. Tier 1 – Incumbent Access, reserved for US Federals Government, Tier 2 – Priority Access, a paid access with priority on the spectrum, Tier 3 – General Authorized Access (GAA), a shared spectrum. In other countries, spectrum is licensed from the country's national radio communications authority (such as the ACMA in Australia or Nigerian Communications Commission in Nigeria (NCC)). Licensing is usually expensive and often reserved for large companies who wish to guarantee private access to spectrum for use in point to point communication. Because of this, most wireless ISP's use unlicensed spectrum which is publicly shared. + +See also + Clearwire + CorDECT + HIPERMAN + Skyriver, provider in California + WiBro, provider in South Korea + iBurst + 802.20 + Connect card + Policies promoting wireless broadband + +References + +External links + + + + Wireless Internet Service Provider Association + Wireless Internet Service Provider Ontario + +Wireless networking +Broadband +Björn Rune Borg (; born 6 June 1956) is a Swedish former world No. 1 tennis player. Between 1974 and 1981, he became the first man in the Open Era to win 11 Grand Slam singles titles with six at the French Open and five consecutively at Wimbledon. + +Borg won four consecutive French Open titles (1978–81) and is 6–0 in French Open finals. He was the first man since 1886 to contest six consecutive Wimbledon finals, a record surpassed by Roger Federer's seven consecutive finals (2003–09). He is the only man to achieve the Channel Slam three times. Borg contested the French Open, Wimbledon and US Open finals in the same year three times (1978, 1980–81). He won three major titles without dropping a set during those tournaments. However, he never won the US Open despite four runner-up finishes. + +Borg also won three year-end championships and 16 Grand Prix Super Series titles. Overall, he set numerous records that still stand. He was ATP Player of the Year from 1976 to 1980, and was the year-end world No. 1 in the ATP rankings in 1979 and 1980 and ITF World Champion from 1978 to 1980. Borg unexpectedly retired from tennis in 1981, at the age of 25. He made a brief and unsuccessful comeback in 1991. + +Borg is widely considered one of the all-time greats of the sport. He was ranked by Tennis magazine as the sixth-greatest male player of the Open Era. His rivalry with John McEnroe is considered one of the best in the sport's history, and their meeting in the 1980 Wimbledon final is considered one of the greatest matches ever played. A teenage sensation at the start of his career, Borg experienced unprecedented stardom and consistent success that helped propel the rising popularity of tennis during the 1970s. As a result, the professional tour became more lucrative, and in 1979, Borg became the first player to earn more than US$1 million in prize money in a single season. + +Early life + +Björn Borg was born in Stockholm, Sweden, on 6 June 1956, the only child of Rune (1932–2008), an electrician, and Margaretha Borg (b. 1934). He grew up in nearby Södertälje. As a child, Borg became fascinated with a golden tennis racket that his father won at a table-tennis tournament. His father gave him the racket, beginning his tennis career. + +A player of great athleticism and endurance, he had a distinctive style and appearance—bowlegged and very fast. His muscularity allowed him to put heavy topspin on both his forehand and two-handed backhand. He followed Jimmy Connors in using the two-handed backhand. By the time he was 13, he was beating the best of Sweden's under-18 players, and Davis Cup captain Lennart Bergelin (who served as Borg's primary coach throughout his professional career) cautioned against anyone trying to change Borg's rough-looking, jerky strokes. + +Career + +1972–73 – Davis Cup debut and first year on the tour +At the age of 15, Borg represented Sweden in the 1972 Davis Cup and won his debut singles rubber in five sets against veteran Onny Parun of New Zealand. Later that year, he won the Wimbledon junior singles title, recovering from a 5–2 deficit in the final set to overcome Britain's Buster Mottram. Then in December, he won the Orange Bowl Junior Championship for boys 18 and under after a straight-sets victory in the final over Vitas Gerulaitis. Borg joined the professional circuit in 1973, and reached his first singles final in April at the Monte Carlo Open, which he lost to Ilie Năstase. He was unseeded at his first French Open and reached the fourth round where he lost in four sets to eighth-seeded Adriano Panatta. Borg was seeded sixth at his first Wimbledon Championships, in large part due to a boycott by the ATP, and reached the quarterfinal, where he was defeated in a five-set match by Roger Taylor. In the second half of 1973, he was runner-up in San Francisco, Stockholm and Buenos Aires and finished the year ranked No. 18. + +1974 – First French Open title + +Borg made his only appearance at the Australian Open at the age of 17, and reached the third round, where he lost in straight sets to eventual finalist Phil Dent. In January, he won his first career singles title at the New Zealand Open, followed by titles in London and São Paulo in February and March respectively. Just before his 18th birthday in June 1974, Borg won his first top-level singles title at the Italian Open, defeating defending champion and top-seeded Ilie Năstase in the final and becoming its youngest winner. Two weeks later, he won the singles title at the French Open, his first Grand Slam tournament title, defeating Manuel Orantes in the final in five sets. Barely 18, Borg was the youngest-ever male French Open champion up to that point. + +1975 – Retained French Open title +In early 1975, Borg defeated Rod Laver, then 36 years old, in a semifinal of the World Championship Tennis (WCT) finals in Dallas, Texas, in five sets. Borg subsequently lost to Arthur Ashe in the final. +Borg retained his French Open title in 1975, beating Guillermo Vilas in the final in straight sets. Borg then reached the Wimbledon quarterfinals, where he lost to eventual champion Ashe. Borg did not lose another match at Wimbledon until 1981. Borg won two singles and one doubles rubber in the 1975 Davis Cup final, as Sweden beat Czechoslovakia 3–2. With these singles wins, Borg had won 19 consecutive Davis Cup singles rubbers since 1973. That was already a record at the time. However, Borg never lost another Davis Cup singles rubber, and, by the end of his career, he had stretched that winning streak to 33. + +1976 – First Wimbledon title + +In early 1976, Borg won the World Championship Tennis year-end WCT Finals in Dallas, Texas, with a four-set victory over Guillermo Vilas in the final. At the 1976 French Open, Borg lost to the Italian Adriano Panatta, who remains the only player to defeat Borg at this tournament. Panatta did it twice: in the fourth round in 1973, and in the 1976 quarterfinals. Borg won Wimbledon in 1976 without losing a set, defeating the favored Ilie Năstase in the final. Borg became the youngest male Wimbledon champion of the modern era at 20 years and 1 month (a record subsequently broken by Boris Becker, who won Wimbledon aged 17 in 1985). Năstase later said, "We're playing tennis, he's playing something else." Borg also reached the final of the 1976 U.S. Open, which was then being played on clay courts. Borg lost in four sets to world no. 1 Jimmy Connors. Borg was awarded the ATP Player of the Year award and ranked world No. 1 by Tennis Magazine (France). + +1977 – Second Wimbledon title and world No.1 ranking +In February 1977 World Championship Tennis (WCT) sued Borg and his management company IMG claiming that Borg had committed a breach of contract by electing to participate in the competing 1977 Grand Prix circuit instead of the WCT circuit. Borg eventually played, and won, a single WCT event, the Monte Carlo WCT. An out-of-court settlement was reached whereby Borg committed to play six or eight WCT events in 1978 which were then part of the Grand Prix circuit. + +Borg skipped the French Open in 1977 because he was under contract with WTT, but he repeated his Wimbledon triumph, although this time he was pushed much harder. He defeated his good friend Vitas Gerulaitis in a semifinal in five sets. In the 1977 final Borg was pushed to five sets for the third time in the tournament, this time by Connors. The win propelled Borg to the No. 1 ranking in the ATP point system, albeit for just one week in August. Prior to the 1977 US Open, Borg aggravated a shoulder injury while waterskiing with Vitas Gerulaitis. This injury ultimately forced him to retire from the Open during a Round of 16 match vs Dick Stockton. Borg was rated number one for 1977 by Tennis Magazine (France), Tennis Magazine (U.S.), Barry Lorge, Lance Tingay, Rino Tommasi, Judith Elian and Rod Laver. Borg was also named "ATP Player of the Year". Through 1977, he had never lost to a player younger than himself. + +1978 – French and Wimbledon titles +Borg was at the height of his career from 1978 through 1980, completing the French Open-Wimbledon double all three years. In 1978, Borg won the French Open with a win over Vilas in the final. Borg did not drop a set during the tournament, a feat only he, Năstase (in 1973), and Rafael Nadal (in 2008, 2010, 2017 and 2020) have accomplished at the French Open during the open era. Borg defeated Connors in straight sets in the 1978 Wimbledon final. At the 1978 US Open, now held on hard courts in Flushing Meadow, New York, he lost the final in straight sets to Connors. Borg was suffering from a bad blister on his thumb that required pre-match injections. That autumn, Borg faced John McEnroe for the first time in a semifinal of the Stockholm Open, and lost. Borg was named ATP Player of the Year and was the first ITF World Champion. + +1979 – French and Wimbledon titles and year-end No. 1 ranking + +Borg lost to McEnroe again in four sets in the final of the 1979 WCT Finals but was now overtaking Connors for the top ranking. Borg established himself firmly in the top spot with his fourth French Open singles title and fourth straight Wimbledon singles title, defeating Connors in a straight-set semifinal at the latter tournament. At the 1979 French Open, Borg defeated big-serving Víctor Pecci in a four-set final, and in the 1979 Wimbledon final Borg came from behind to overcome an even bigger server, Roscoe Tanner. Borg was upset by Tanner at the US Open, in a four-set quarterfinal played under the lights. At the season-ending Masters tournament in January 1980, Borg survived a close semifinal against McEnroe. He then beat Gerulaitis in straight sets, winning his first Masters and first title in New York. Borg finished the year at No. 1 in the ATP Point rankings and was considered the No. 1 player in the world by most authorities. + +1980 – French and fifth consecutive Wimbledon title +In June, Borg overcame Gerulaitis, again in straight sets, for his fifth French Open title. Again, he did not drop a set during the tournament. + +Borg then won his fifth consecutive Wimbledon singles title, defeating McEnroe in a five-set final, often cited as the best Wimbledon final ever played. Having lost the opening set to an all-out McEnroe assault, Borg took the next two and had two championship points at 5–4 in the fourth. However, McEnroe averted disaster and went on to level the match in Wimbledon's most memorable tiebreaker, which McEnroe won 18–16. In the fourth-set tiebreak, McEnroe saved five match points, and Borg six set points, before McEnroe won the set. Björn served first to begin the 5th set and fell behind 0–30. Borg then won 19 straight points on serve in the deciding set and prevailed after 3 hours, 53 minutes. Borg himself commented years later that this was the first time that he was afraid that he would lose, as well as feeling that it was the beginning of the end of his dominance. + +In September, 1980 Borg reached the final of the U.S. Open for the third time, losing to John McEnroe in five sets in a match that cemented what had become the greatest contemporary rivalry, albeit short-lived, in men's tennis. + +He defeated McEnroe in the final of the 1980 Stockholm Open, and faced him one more time that year, in the round-robin portion of the year-end Masters, actually played in January 1981. With 19,103 fans in attendance, Borg won a deciding third-set tie-break for the second year in a row. Borg then defeated Ivan Lendl for his second Masters title. Borg again finished the year at No. 1 in the ATP Point Rankings and was considered the No. 1 player in the world by most tennis authorities. + +1981 – Sixth and final French Open title +Borg won his last Grand Slam title at the French Open in 1981, defeating Lendl in a five-set final. Borg's six French Open Grand Slam titles was a record bettered only by Rafael Nadal in 2012. + +In reaching the Wimbledon final in 1981, Borg stretched his winning streak at the All England Club to a record 41 matches. In a semifinal, Borg was down to Connors by two sets to love, before coming back to win the match. However, Borg's streak was brought to an end by McEnroe, who defeated him in four sets. Years afterward, Borg remarked "And when I lost what shocked me was I wasn't even upset. That was not me: losing a Wimbledon final and not upset. I hate to lose." Borg around that time felt that his desire to play was gone, despite McEnroe's desperate efforts to persuade him not to retire and continue their rivalry. + +Borg went on to lose to McEnroe at the 1981 US Open. After that defeat, Borg walked off the court and out of the stadium before the ceremonies and press conference had begun, and headed straight for the airport. There are reports that Borg received threats after his semifinal win over Connors. In later years, Borg apologized to McEnroe. The 1981 US Open would be the Swede's last Grand Slam final. Major tournaments and tour organizers were enforcing a new rule; by 1982, that players had to play at least 10 official tournaments per year. However, Borg wanted to curtail his schedule after many years of winning so often. Although he felt in good condition physically, he recognized that the relentless drive to win and defy tour organizers had begun to fade. + +Borg failed to win the US Open in nine tries, losing four finals, 1976 (the surface was clay that year) and 1978 to Jimmy Connors, and 1980 and 1981 to John McEnroe. The surface was hard court from 1978 onward and Borg reached the final there on hard court on three occasions, in 1978, 1980 and 1981. He led 3–2 in the fifth set of the 1980 final, before losing. That match followed Borg's classic encounter with McEnroe at the 1980 Wimbledon. In 1978, 1979 and 1980, Borg was halfway to a Grand Slam after victories at the French and Wimbledon (the Australian Open being the last Grand Slam tournament of each year at the time) only to falter at Flushing Meadows, the left-handed Roscoe Tanner being his conqueror in 1979. + +1982–91 – Retirement + +In 1982, Borg played only two tournaments. He lost to Yannick Noah in the quarterfinals of Monte Carlo in April and in the same month he lost to Dick Stockton in the second round of qualifying at the Alan King Tennis Classic in Las Vegas. Nevertheless, Borg's announcement in January 1983 that he was retiring from the game at the age of 26 was a shock to the tennis world. McEnroe tried unsuccessfully to persuade Borg to continue. He did, however, play Monte Carlo again in March 1983, reaching the second round, and Stuttgart in July 1984. + +Upon retirement, Borg had three residences: a penthouse in Monte Carlo, not far from his pro shop; a mansion on Long Island, New York and a small island off the Swedish coast. + +Borg later bounced back as the owner of the Björn Borg fashion label. In Sweden, his label has become very successful, second only to Calvin Klein. + +Attempted comeback +In 1991–1993, Borg attempted a comeback on the men's professional tennis tour, coached by Welsh karate expert Ron Thatcher. Before his 1991 return, Borg grew his hair out as it had been during his previous professional tennis career and he returned to using a wooden racket; he had kept his hair cut and used modern graphite rackets in exhibitions he played during the late 1980s. Borg, however, failed to win a single match. He faced Jordi Arrese in his first match back, again at Monte Carlo but without practising or playing any exhibition matches and lost in two sets. In his first nine matches, played in 1991 and 1992, Borg failed to win a single set. He fared slightly better in 1993, taking a set off his opponent in each of the three matches he played. He came closest to getting a win in what turned out to be his final tour match, falling to second seed Alexander Volkov 6–4, 3–6, 6–7(7–9) at the 1993 Kremlin Cup in Moscow. + +In 1992 Borg, aged 35, using a graphite racket, defeated John Lloyd, 37, at the Inglewood Forum Tennis Challenge. Borg later joined the Champions tour, using modern rackets. + +Playing style + +Borg had one of the most distinctive playing styles in the Open Era. He played from the baseline, with powerful ground-strokes. His highly unorthodox backhand involved taking his racket back with both hands but actually generating his power with his dominant right hand, letting go of the grip with his left hand around point of contact, and following through with his swing as a one-hander. He hit the ball hard and high from the back of the court and brought it down with considerable topspin, which made his ground strokes very consistent. There had been other players, particularly Rod Laver and Arthur Ashe, who played with topspin on both the forehand and backhand, yet Laver and Ashe used topspin only as a way to mix up their shots to pass their opponents at the net easily. Borg was one of the first top players to use heavy topspin on his shots consistently. + +Complementing his consistent ground-strokes was his fitness. Both of these factors allowed Borg to be dominant at the French Open. + +One of the factors that made Borg unique was his dominance on the grass courts of Wimbledon, where, since World War II, baseliners did not usually succeed. Some experts attributed his dominance on this surface to his consistency, an underrated serve, equally underrated volleys, and his adaptation to grass courts. Against the best players, he almost always served-and-volleyed on his first serves, while he naturally played from the baseline after his second serves. + +Another trait usually associated with Borg was his grace under pressure. His calm court demeanor earned him the nickname of the "Ice Man" or "Ice-Borg". + +Borg's physical conditioning was unrivalled by contemporaries. He could outlast most of his opponents under the most grueling conditions. Contrary to popular belief, however, this was not due to his exceptionally low resting heart rate, often reported to be near 35 beats per minute. In his introduction to Borg's autobiography My Life and Game, Eugene Scott relates that this rumor arose from a medical exam the 18-year-old Borg once took for military service, where his pulse was recorded as 38. Scott goes on to reveal Borg's true pulse rate as "about 50 when he wakes up and around 60 in the afternoon". Borg is credited with helping to develop the style of play that has come to dominate the game today. + +Mental approach +Borg's first wife has said that he was "always very placid and calm, except if he lost a match – he wouldn't talk for at least three days. He couldn't stand losing." This mental approach changed by 1981, when he has said that when he lost the Wimbledon final "what shocked me was I wasn't even upset". + +Personal life + +Borg and Romanian tennis pro Mariana Simionescu began their relationship in 1976 and married in Bucharest on 24 July 1980. The marriage ended in divorce in 1984. He fathered a son named Robin in 1985 with the Swedish model Jannike Björling; Robin had a daughter in 2014. Borg was married to the Italian singer Loredana Bertè from 1989 to 1993. On 8 June 2002, he married his third wife, Patricia Östfeld. Together they have a son, Leo, born in 2003, who is also a professional tennis player. + +He narrowly avoided personal bankruptcy when business ventures failed. After selling his mansion Astaholm at Ingarö in the Stockholm archipelago in 2019, Björn moved to an apartment in Norrmalm, central Stockholm. + +Film +In 2017, Borg vs McEnroe, a biographical film focusing on the rivalry between Borg and McEnroe and the 1980 Wimbledon final, was released. In 2022, interviews about this friendship and rivalry were also featured in "McEnroe," a Showtime documentary. + +Memorabilia preserved +In March 2006, Bonhams Auction House in London announced that it would auction Borg's Wimbledon trophies and two of his winning rackets on 21 June 2006. Several players then called Borg in an attempt to make him reconsider, including Jimmy Connors and Andre Agassi, who volunteered to buy them to keep them together. According to – who had talked to Borg – McEnroe called Borg from New York and asked, "What's up? Have you gone mad?" and said "What the hell are you doing?" The conversation with McEnroe, paired with pleas from Connors and Agassi, eventually persuaded Borg to buy out the trophies from Bonhams for an undisclosed amount. + +Distinctions and honors + Borg was ranked by the ATP rankings world no. 1 in six stretches between 1977 and 1981, totaling 109 weeks. + During his career, he won a total of 77 (64 listed on the Association of Tennis Professionals website) top-level singles and four doubles titles. + Borg won the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Overseas Personality Award in 1979. + Borg was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1987. + On 10 December 2006, the British Broadcasting Corporation gave Borg a Lifetime Achievement Award, which was presented by Boris Becker. + In December 2014 he was elected Sweden's top sportsperson of all time by the newspaper . + +Recognition + +With 11 Grand Slam titles, Borg ranks sixth in the list of male tennis players who have won the most Grand Slam singles titles behind Novak Djokovic (24), Rafael Nadal (22), Roger Federer (20), Pete Sampras (14) and Roy Emerson (12). The French Open—Wimbledon double he achieved three times consecutively was described by Wimbledon officials as "the most difficult double in tennis". Only Nadal (in 2008 and 2010), Federer (in 2009), and Djokovic (in 2021) have managed to achieve this double since, and Agassi, Nadal, Federer and Djokovic are the only male players since Borg to have won the French Open and Wimbledon men's singles titles over their career. Ilie Năstase once said about Borg, "We're playing tennis, and he's playing something else". +Borg is widely considered to be one of the greatest players in the history of the sport. +In his 1979 autobiography, Jack Kramer, the long-time tennis promoter and great player himself, had already included Borg in his list of the 21 greatest players of all time. And in 2003, Bud Collins chose Borg as one of his top-five male players of all time. In 1983 Fred Perry listed his greatest male players of all time and listed them in two categories, before World War 2 and after. Perry's modern best behind Laver: "Borg, McEnroe, Connors, Hoad, Jack Kramer, John Newcombe, Ken Rosewall, Manuel Santana". In 1988, a panel consisting of Bud Collins, Cliff Drysdale, and Butch Buchholz ranked their top five male tennis players of all time. Buchholz and Drysdale both listed Borg number two on their lists, behind Rod Laver. Collins listed Borg number five behind Laver, McEnroe, Rosewall and Gonzales. + +In 2008, ESPN.com asked tennis analysts, writers, and former players to build the perfect open-era player. Borg was the only player mentioned in four categories: defense, footwork, intangibles, and mental toughness—with his mental game and footwork singled out as the best in open-era history. + +Borg never won the US Open, losing in the final four times. Borg also did not win the Australian Open, which he only played once in 1974 as a 17-year-old. The only players to defeat Borg in a Grand Slam final were fellow World No. 1 tennis players John McEnroe and Jimmy Connors. Even though it was then played on grass, a surface where he enjoyed much success, Borg chose to play the Australian Open only once, in 1974, where he lost in the third round. Phil Dent, a contemporary of Borg, has pointed out that skipping Grand Slam tournaments—especially the Australian Open—was not unusual then, before counting Grand Slam titles became the norm. Additionally, another contemporary Arthur Ashe told Sports Illustrated, "I think Bjorn could have won the US Open. I think he could have won the Grand Slam, but by the time he left, the historical challenge didn't mean anything. He was bigger than the game. He was like Elvis or Liz Taylor or somebody." + +Laver Cup +From 22 to 24 September 2017, Borg was the victorious captain of Team Europe in the first-ever edition of the Laver Cup, held in Prague, Czech Republic. Borg's Team Europe defeated a rest of the world team, known as Team World, who were coached by Borg's old rival, John McEnroe. Europe won the contest 15 points to 9, with Roger Federer achieving a narrow vital victory over Nick Kyrgios in the last match played. + +Borg returned as the coach of Team Europe for the second edition in Chicago, Illinois from 21 to 23 September 2018. McEnroe also returned as the coach for Team World. Borg again led Europe to victory as Alexander Zverev defeated Kevin Anderson to secure the title 13–8, after trailing Anderson in the match tiebreak until the last few points. + +In the tournament's third edition, held in Geneva, Switzerland, from 20 to 22 September 2019, Borg captained Team Europe to a third consecutive victory, defeating McEnroe's Team World 13 points to 11, with Zverev again winning the deciding match. + +The fourth edition was held in Boston from 24 to 26 September 2021, having had its original September 2020 date postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Borg once again returned as captain of Team Europe, which had a resounding win over Team World, defeating McEnroe's players 14 to 1. + +Career statistics + +Singles performance timeline + + The Australian Open was held twice in 1977, in January and December. Borg did not play in either. + The 1972 US Open had a special preliminary round before the main 128 player draw began. + +Records + + These records were attained in the entire period of tennis from 1877. + Records in bold indicate peer-less achievements. + ^ Denotes consecutive streak. + +All-time records + +Open Era records + + These records were attained in the Open Era period of tennis from 1968. + Records in bold indicate peer-less achievements. + ^ Denotes consecutive streak. + +Professional awards + ITF World Champion: 1978, 1979, 1980 + ATP Player of the Year: 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980 + +See also + + Borg–McEnroe rivalry + Borg–Connors rivalry + List of Grand Slam men's singles champions + List of Swedish sportspeople + World number one male tennis player rankings + Björn Borg (brand) + +Notes + +References + +Sources + + + John Barrett, editor, World of Tennis Yearbooks, London, from 1976 through 1983. + Michel Sutter, Vainqueurs Winners 1946–2003, Paris, 2003. Sutter has attempted to list all tournaments meeting his criteria for selection beginning with 1946 and ending in the fall of 1991. For each tournament, he has indicated the city, the date of the final, the winner, the runner-up, and the score of the final. A tournament is included in his list if: (1) the draw for the tournament included at least eight players (with a few exceptions, such as the Pepsi Grand Slam tournaments in the second half of the 1970s which included only players that had won a Grand Slam tournament); and (2) the level of the tournaments was at least equal to the present day challenger tournaments. Sutter's book is probably the most exhaustive source of tennis tournament information since World War II, even though some professional tournaments held before the start of the open era are missing. Later, Sutter issued a second edition of his book, with only the players, their wins, and years for the 1946 through 27 April 2003, period. + +Video + The Wimbledon Collection – Legends of Wimbledon – Björn Borg Standing Room Only, DVD Release Date: 21 September 2004, Run Time: 52 minutes, ASIN: B0002HODA4. + The Wimbledon Collection – The Classic Match – Borg vs. McEnroe 1981 Final Standing Room Only, DVD Release Date: 21 September 2004, Run Time: 210 minutes, ASIN: B0002HODAE. + The Wimbledon Collection – The Classic Match – Borg vs. McEnroe 1980 Final Standing Room Only, DVD Release Date: 21 September 2004, Run Time: 240 minutes; ASIN: B0002HOEK8. + Wimbledon Classic Match: Gerulaitis vs Borg Standing Room Only, DVD Release Date: 31 October 2006, Run Time: 180 minutes, ASIN: B000ICLR8O. + +External links + + + + + (archive) + BBC profile + Sunday Times article 5 July 2009 + + +French Open champions +International Tennis Hall of Fame inductees +Living people +People from Monte Carlo +Sportspeople from Södertälje +Tennis players from Stockholm +Swedish expatriate sportspeople in Monaco +Swedish male tennis players +Wimbledon champions +Wimbledon junior champions +1956 births +Grand Slam (tennis) champions in men's singles +Grand Slam (tennis) champions in boys' singles +Masters tennis players +ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis players +ITF World Champions +The Booch method is a method for object-oriented software development. It is composed of an object modeling language, an iterative object-oriented development process, and a set of recommended practices. + +The method was authored by Grady Booch when he was working for Rational Software (acquired by IBM), published in 1992 and revised in 1994. It was widely used in software engineering for object-oriented analysis and design and benefited from ample documentation and support tools. + +The notation aspect of the Booch methodology was superseded by the Unified Modeling Language (UML), which features graphical elements from the Booch method along with elements from the object-modeling technique (OMT) and object-oriented software engineering (OOSE). Methodological aspects of the Booch method have been incorporated into several methodologies and processes, the primary such methodology being the Rational Unified Process (RUP). + +Content of the method + +The Booch notation is characterized by cloud shapes to represent classes and distinguishes the following diagrams: + + +The process is organized around a macro and a micro process. + +The macro process identifies the following activities cycle: + Conceptualization : establish core requirements + Analysis : develop a model of the desired behavior + Design : create an architecture + Evolution: for the implementation + Maintenance : for evolution after the delivery + +The micro process is applied to new classes, structures or behaviors that emerge during the macro process. It is made of the following cycle: + Identification of classes and objects + Identification of their semantics + Identification of their relationships + Specification of their interfaces and implementation + +References + +External links +Class diagrams, Object diagrams, State Event diagrams and Module diagrams. + The Booch Method of Object-Oriented Analysis & Design + +Software design +Object-oriented programming +Programming principles + +de:Grady Booch#Booch-Notation +The Battle of the Nile (also known as the Battle of Aboukir Bay; ) was a major naval battle fought between the British Royal Navy and the Navy of the French Republic at Aboukir Bay on the Mediterranean coast off the Nile Delta of Egypt from the 1st to the 3rd of August 1798. The battle was the climax of a naval campaign that had raged across the Mediterranean during the previous three months, as a large French convoy sailed from Toulon to Alexandria carrying an expeditionary force under General Napoleon Bonaparte. The British fleet was led in the battle by Rear-Admiral Sir Horatio Nelson; they decisively defeated the French under Vice-Admiral François-Paul Brueys d'Aigalliers. + +Bonaparte sought to invade Egypt as the first step in a campaign against British India, as part of a greater effort to drive Britain out of the French Revolutionary Wars. As Bonaparte's fleet crossed the Mediterranean, it was pursued by a British force under Nelson who had been sent from the British fleet in the Tagus to learn the purpose of the French expedition and to defeat it. He chased the French for more than two months, on several occasions missing them only by a matter of hours. Bonaparte was aware of Nelson's pursuit and enforced absolute secrecy about his destination. He was able to capture Malta and then land in Egypt without interception by the British naval forces. + +With the French army ashore, the French fleet anchored in Aboukir Bay, northeast of Alexandria. Commander Vice-Admiral François-Paul Brueys d'Aigalliers believed that he had established a formidable defensive position. The British fleet arrived off Egypt on 1 August and discovered Brueys's dispositions, and Nelson ordered an immediate attack. His ships advanced on the French line and split into two divisions as they approached. One cut across the head of the line and passed between the anchored French and the shore, while the other engaged the seaward side of the French fleet. + +Trapped in a crossfire, the leading French warships were battered into surrender during a fierce three-hour battle, although the centre of the line held out for a while until more British ships were able to join the attack. At 22:00, the French flagship exploded which prompted the rear division of the French fleet to attempt to break out of the bay. With Brueys dead and his vanguard and centre defeated, only two ships of the line and two frigates escaped from a total of 17 ships engaged. + +The battle reversed the strategic situation between the two nations' forces in the Mediterranean and entrenched the Royal Navy in the dominant position that it retained for the rest of the Napoleonic Wars. It also encouraged other European countries to turn against France, and was a factor in the outbreak of the War of the Second Coalition. Bonaparte's army was trapped in Egypt, and Royal Navy dominance off the Syrian coast contributed significantly to the French defeat at the siege of Acre in 1799 which preceded Bonaparte's abandonment of Egypt and return to Europe. Nelson had been wounded in the battle, and he was proclaimed a hero across Europe and was subsequently made Baron Nelson—although he was privately dissatisfied with his rewards. His captains were also highly praised and went on to form the nucleus of the legendary Nelson's Band of Brothers. The legend of the battle has remained prominent in the popular consciousness, with perhaps the best-known representation being Felicia Hemans' 1826 poem Casabianca. + +Background +Napoleon Bonaparte's victories in northern Italy over the Austrian Empire helped secure victory for the French in the War of the First Coalition in 1797, and Great Britain remained the only major European power still at war with the French Republic. The French Directory investigated a number of strategic options to counter British opposition, including projected invasions of Ireland and Britain and the expansion of the French Navy to challenge the Royal Navy at sea. Despite significant efforts, British control of Northern European waters rendered these ambitions impractical in the short term, and the Royal Navy remained firmly in control of the Atlantic Ocean. However, the French navy was dominant in the Mediterranean, following the withdrawal of the British fleet after the outbreak of war between Britain and Spain in 1796. This allowed Bonaparte to propose an invasion of Egypt as an alternative to confronting Britain directly, believing that the British would be too distracted by an imminent Irish uprising to intervene in the Mediterranean. + +Bonaparte believed that, by establishing a permanent presence in Egypt (nominally part of the neutral Ottoman Empire), the French would obtain a staging point for future operations against British India, possibly by means of an alliance with the Tipu Sultan of Seringapatam, that might successfully drive the British out of the war. The campaign would sever the chain of communication that connected Britain with India, an essential part of the British Empire whose trade generated the wealth that Britain required to prosecute the war successfully. The French Directory agreed with Bonaparte's plans, although a major factor in their decision was a desire to see the politically ambitious Bonaparte and the fiercely loyal veterans of his Italian campaigns travel as far from France as possible. During the spring of 1798, Bonaparte assembled more than 35,000 soldiers in Mediterranean France and Italy and developed a powerful fleet at Toulon. He also formed the Commission des Sciences et des Arts, a body of scientists and engineers intended to establish a French colony in Egypt. Napoleon kept the destination of the expedition top secret—most of the army's officers did not know of its target, and Bonaparte did not publicly reveal his goal until the first stage of the expedition was complete. + +Mediterranean campaign + +Bonaparte's armada sailed from Toulon on 19 May, making rapid progress through the Ligurian Sea and collecting more ships at Genoa, before sailing southwards along the Sardinian coast and passing Sicily on 7 June. On 9 June, the fleet arrived off Malta, then under the ownership of the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem, ruled by Grand Master Ferdinand von Hompesch zu Bolheim. Bonaparte demanded that his fleet be permitted entry to the fortified harbour of Valletta. When the Knights refused, the French general responded by ordering a large scale invasion of the Maltese Islands, overrunning the defenders after 24 hours of skirmishing. The Knights formally surrendered on 12 June and, in exchange for substantial financial compensation, handed the islands and all of their resources over to Bonaparte, including the extensive property of the Roman Catholic Church on Malta. Within a week, Bonaparte had resupplied his ships, and on 19 June, his fleet departed for Alexandria in the direction of Crete, leaving 4,000 men at Valletta under General Claude-Henri Vaubois to ensure French control of the islands. + +While Bonaparte was sailing to Malta, the Royal Navy re-entered the Mediterranean for the first time in more than a year. Alarmed by reports of French preparations on the Mediterranean coast, Lord Spencer at the Admiralty sent a message to Vice-Admiral Earl St. Vincent, commander of the Mediterranean Fleet based in the Tagus, to despatch a squadron to investigate. This squadron, consisting of three ships of the line and three frigates, was entrusted to Rear-Admiral Sir Horatio Nelson. + +Nelson was a highly experienced officer who had been blinded in one eye during fighting in Corsica in 1794 and subsequently commended for his capture of two Spanish ships of the line at the Battle of Cape St. Vincent in February 1797. In July 1797, he lost an arm at the Battle of Santa Cruz de Tenerife and had been forced to return to Britain to recuperate. Returning to the fleet at the Tagus in late April 1798, he was ordered to collect the squadron stationed at Gibraltar and sail for the Ligurian Sea. On 21 May, as Nelson's squadron approached Toulon, it was struck by a fierce gale and Nelson's flagship, , lost its topmasts and was almost wrecked on the Corsican coast. The remainder of the squadron was scattered. The ships of the line sheltered at San Pietro Island off Sardinia; the frigates were blown to the west and failed to return. + +On 7 June, following hasty repairs to his flagship, a fleet consisting of ten ships of the line and a fourth-rate joined Nelson off Toulon. The fleet, under the command of Captain Thomas Troubridge, had been sent by Earl St. Vincent to reinforce Nelson, with orders that he was to pursue and intercept the Toulon convoy. Although he now had enough ships to challenge the French fleet, Nelson suffered two great disadvantages: He had no intelligence regarding the destination of the French, and no frigates to scout ahead of his force. Striking southwards in the hope of collecting information about French movements, Nelson's ships stopped at Elba and Naples, where the British ambassador, Sir William Hamilton, reported that the French fleet had passed Sicily headed in the direction of Malta. Despite pleas from Nelson and Hamilton, King Ferdinand of Naples refused to lend his frigates to the British fleet, fearing French reprisals. On 22 June, a brig sailing from Ragusa brought Nelson the news that the French had sailed eastwards from Malta on 16 June. After conferring with his captains, the admiral decided that the French target must be Egypt and set off in pursuit. Incorrectly believing the French to be five days ahead rather than two, Nelson insisted on a direct route to Alexandria without deviation. + +On the evening of 22 June, Nelson's fleet passed the French in the darkness, overtaking the slow invasion convoy without realising how close they were to their target. Making rapid time on a direct route, Nelson reached Alexandria on 28 June and discovered that the French were not there. After a meeting with the suspicious Ottoman commander, Sayyid Muhammad Kurayyim, Nelson ordered the British fleet northwards, reaching the coast of Anatolia on 4 July and turning westwards back towards Sicily. Nelson had missed the French by less than a day—the scouts of the French fleet arrived off Alexandria in the evening of 29 June. + +Concerned by his near encounter with Nelson, Bonaparte ordered an immediate invasion, his troops coming ashore in a poorly managed amphibious operation in which at least 20 drowned. Marching along the coast, the French army stormed Alexandria and captured the city, after which Bonaparte led the main force of his army inland. He instructed his naval commander, Vice-Admiral François-Paul Brueys D'Aigalliers, to anchor in Alexandria harbour, but naval surveyors reported that the channel into the harbour was too shallow and narrow for the larger ships of the French fleet. As a result, the French selected an alternative anchorage at Aboukir Bay, northeast of Alexandria. + +Nelson's fleet reached Syracuse in Sicily on 19 July and took on essential supplies. There the admiral wrote letters describing the events of the previous months: "It is an old saying, 'the Devil's children have the Devil's luck.' I cannot find, or at this moment learn, beyond vague conjecture where the French fleet are gone to. All my ill fortune, hitherto, has proceeded from want of frigates." Meanwhile, the French were securing Egypt by the Battle of the Pyramids. By 24 July, the British fleet was resupplied and, having determined that the French must be somewhere in the Eastern Mediterranean, Nelson sailed again in the direction of the Morea. On 28 July, at Coron, Nelson finally obtained intelligence describing the French attack on Egypt and turned south across the Mediterranean. His scouts, and , sighted the French transport fleet at Alexandria on the afternoon of 1 August. + +Aboukir Bay +When Alexandria harbour had proved inadequate for his fleet, Brueys had gathered his captains and discussed their options. Bonaparte had ordered the fleet to anchor in Aboukir Bay, a shallow and exposed anchorage, but had supplemented the orders with the suggestion that, if Aboukir Bay was too dangerous, Brueys could sail north to Corfu, leaving only the transports and a handful of lighter warships at Alexandria. Brueys refused, in the belief that his squadron could provide essential support to the French army on shore, and called his captains aboard his 120-gun flagship to discuss their response should Nelson discover the fleet in its anchorage. Despite vocal opposition from Contre-amiral Armand Blanquet, who insisted that the fleet would be best able to respond in open water, the rest of the captains agreed that anchoring in a line of battle inside the bay presented the strongest tactic for confronting Nelson. It is possible that Bonaparte envisaged Aboukir Bay as a temporary anchorage: on 27 July, he expressed the expectation that Brueys had already transferred his ships to Alexandria, and three days later, he issued orders for the fleet to make for Corfu in preparation for naval operations against the Ottoman territories in the Balkans, although Bedouin partisans intercepted and killed the courier carrying the instructions. + +Aboukir Bay is a coastal indentation across, stretching from the village of Abu Qir in the west to the town of Rosetta to the east, where one of the mouths of the River Nile empties into the Mediterranean. In 1798, the bay was protected at its western end by extensive rocky shoals which ran into the bay from a promontory guarded by Aboukir Castle. A small fort situated on an island among the rocks protected the shoals. The fort was garrisoned by French soldiers and armed with at least four cannon and two heavy mortars. Brueys had augmented the fort with his bomb vessels and gunboats, anchored among the rocks to the west of the island in a position to give support to the head of the French line. Further shoals ran unevenly to the south of the island and extended across the bay in a rough semicircle approximately from the shore. These shoals were too shallow to permit the passage of larger warships, and so Brueys ordered his thirteen ships of the line to form up in a line of battle following the northeastern edge of the shoals to the south of the island, a position that allowed the ships to disembark supplies from their port sides while covering the landings with their starboard batteries. Orders were issued for each ship to attach strong cables to the bow and stern of their neighbours, which would effectively turn the line into a long battery forming a theoretically impregnable barrier. Brueys positioned a second, inner line of four frigates approximately west of the main line, roughly halfway between the line and the shoal. The van of the French line was led by , positioned southeast of Aboukir Island and about from the edge of the shoals that surrounded the island. The line stretched southeast, with the centre bowed seawards away from the shoal. The French ships were spaced at intervals of and the whole line was long, with the flagship Orient at the centre and two large 80-gun ships anchored on either side. The rear division of the line was under the command of Contre-amiral Pierre-Charles Villeneuve in . + +In deploying his ships in this way, Brueys hoped that the British would be forced by the shoals to attack his strong centre and rear, allowing his van to use the prevailing northeasterly wind to counterattack the British once they were engaged. However, he had made a serious misjudgement: he had left enough room between Guerrier and the shoals for an enemy ship to cut across the head of the French line and proceed between the shoals and the French ships, allowing the unsupported vanguard to be caught in a crossfire by two divisions of enemy ships. Compounding this error, the French only prepared their ships for battle on their starboard (seaward) sides, from which they expected the attack would have to come; their landward port sides were unprepared. +The port side gun ports were closed, and the decks on that side were uncleared, with various stored items blocking access to the guns. Brueys' dispositions had a second significant flaw: The 160-yard gaps between ships were large enough for a British ship to push through and break the French line. Furthermore, not all of the French captains had followed Brueys' orders to attach cables to their neighbours' bow and stern, which would have prevented such a manoeuvre. The problem was exacerbated by orders to only anchor at the bow, which allowed the ships to swing with the wind and widened the gaps. It also created areas within the French line not covered by the broadside of any ship. British vessels could anchor in those spaces and engage the French without reply. In addition, the deployment of Brueys' fleet prevented the rear from effectively supporting the van due to the prevailing winds. + +A more pressing problem for Brueys was a lack of food and water for the fleet: Bonaparte had unloaded almost all of the provisions carried aboard and no supplies were reaching the ships from the shore. To remedy this, Brueys sent foraging parties of 25 men from each ship along the coast to requisition food, dig wells, and collect water. Constant attacks by Bedouin partisans, however, required escorts of heavily armed guards for each party. Hence, up to a third of the fleet's sailors were away from their ships at any one time. Brueys wrote a letter describing the situation to Minister of Marine Étienne Eustache Bruix, reporting that "Our crews are weak, both in number and quality. Our rigging, in general, out of repair, and I am sure it requires no little courage to undertake the management of a fleet furnished with such tools." + +Battle + +Nelson's arrival + +Although initially disappointed that the main French fleet was not at Alexandria, Nelson knew from the presence of the transports that they must be nearby. At 14:00 on 1 August, lookouts on reported the French anchored in Aboukir Bay, its signal lieutenant just beating the lieutenant on with the signal, but inaccurately describing 16 French ships of the line instead of 13. At the same time, French lookouts on , the ninth ship in the French line, sighted the British fleet approximately nine nautical miles off the mouth of Aboukir Bay. The French initially reported just 11 British ships – Swiftsure and Alexander were still returning from their scouting operations at Alexandria, and so were to the west of the main fleet, out of sight. Troubridge's ship, , was also some distance from the main body, towing a captured merchant ship. At the sight of the French, Troubridge abandoned the vessel and made strenuous efforts to rejoin Nelson. Due to the need for so many sailors to work onshore, Brueys had not deployed any of his lighter warships as scouts, which left him unable to react swiftly to the sudden appearance of the British. + +As his ships readied for action, Brueys ordered his captains to gather for a conference on Orient and hastily recalled his shore parties, although most had still not returned by the start of the battle. To replace them, large numbers of men were taken out of the frigates and distributed among the ships of the line. Brueys also hoped to lure the British fleet onto the shoals at Aboukir Island, sending the brigs and Railleur to act as decoys in the shallow waters. By 16:00, Alexander and Swiftsure were also in sight, although some distance from the main British fleet. Brueys gave orders to abandon the plan to remain at anchor and instead for his line to set sail. Blanquet protested the order on the grounds that there were not enough men aboard the French ships to both sail the ships and man the guns. Nelson gave orders for his leading ships to slow down, to allow the British fleet to approach in a more organised formation. This convinced Brueys that rather than risk an evening battle in confined waters, the British were planning to wait for the following day. He rescinded his earlier order to sail. Brueys may have been hoping that the delay would allow him to slip past the British during the night and thus follow Bonaparte's orders not to engage the British fleet directly if he could avoid it. + +Nelson ordered the fleet to slow down at 16:00 to allow his ships to rig "springs" on their anchor cables, a system of attaching the bow anchor that increased stability and allowed his ships to swing their broadsides to face an enemy while stationary. It also increased manoeuvrability and therefore reduced the risk of coming under raking fire. Nelson's plan, shaped through discussion with his senior captains during the return voyage to Alexandria, was to advance on the French and pass down the seaward side of the van and centre of the French line, so that each French ship would face two British ships and the massive Orient would be fighting against three. The direction of the wind meant that the French rear division would be unable to join the battle easily and would be cut off from the front portions of the line. To ensure that in the smoke and confusion of a night battle his ships would not accidentally open fire on one another, Nelson ordered that each ship prepare four horizontal lights at the head of their mizzen mast and hoist an illuminated White Ensign, which was different enough from the French tricolour that it would not be mistaken in poor visibility, reducing the risk that British ships might fire on one another in the darkness. As his ship was readied for battle, Nelson held a final dinner with Vanguards officers, announcing as he rose: "Before this time tomorrow I shall have gained a peerage or Westminster Abbey," in reference to the rewards of victory or the traditional burial place of British military heroes. + +Shortly after the French order to set sail was abandoned, the British fleet began rapidly approaching once more. Brueys, now expecting to come under attack that night, ordered each of his ships to place springs on their anchor cables and prepare for action. He sent the Alerte ahead, which passed close to the leading British ships and then steered sharply to the west over the shoal, in the hope that the ships of the line might follow and become grounded. None of Nelson's captains fell for the ruse and the British fleet continued undeterred. At 17:30, Nelson hailed one of his two leading ships, HMS Zealous under Captain Samuel Hood, which had been racing Goliath to be the first to fire on the French. The admiral ordered Hood to establish the safest course into the harbour. The British had no charts of the depth or shape of the bay, except a rough sketch map Swiftsure had obtained from a merchant captain, an inaccurate British atlas on Zealous, and a 35-year-old French map aboard Goliath. Hood replied that he would take careful soundings as he advanced to test the depth of the water, and that, "If you will allow the honour of leading you into battle, I will keep the lead going." Shortly afterwards, Nelson paused to speak with the brig , whose commander, Lieutenant Thomas Hardy, had seized some maritime pilots from a small Alexandrine vessel. As Vanguard came to a stop, the following ships slowed. This caused a gap to open up between Zealous and Goliath and the rest of the fleet. To counter this effect, Nelson ordered under Captain Ralph Miller to pass his flagship and join Zealous and Goliath in the vanguard. By 18:00, the British fleet was again under full sail, Vanguard sixth in the line of ten ships as Culloden trailed behind to the north and Alexander and Swiftsure hastened to catch up to the west. Following the rapid change from a loose formation to a rigid line of battle, both fleets raised their colours; each British ship hoisted additional Union Flags in its rigging in case its main flag was shot away. At 18:20, as Goliath and Zealous rapidly bore down on them, the leading French ships Guerrier and opened fire. + +Ten minutes after the French opened fire, Goliath, ignoring fire from the fort to starboard and from Guerrier to port, most of which was too high to trouble the ship, crossed the head of the French line. Captain Thomas Foley had noticed as he approached that there was an unexpected gap between Guerrier and the shallow water of the shoal. On his own initiative, Foley decided to exploit this tactical error and changed his angle of approach to sail through the gap. As the bow of Guerrier came within range, Goliath opened fire, inflicting severe damage with a double-shotted raking broadside as the British ship turned to port and passed down the unprepared port side of Guerrier. Foley's Royal Marines and a company of Austrian grenadiers joined the attack, firing their muskets. Foley had intended to anchor alongside the French ship and engage it closely, but his anchor took too long to descend and his ship passed Guerrier entirely. Goliath eventually stopped close to the bow of Conquérant, opening fire on the new opponent and using the unengaged starboard guns to exchange occasional shots with the frigate and bomb vessel Hercule, which were anchored inshore of the battle line. + +Foley's attack was followed by Hood in Zealous, who also crossed the French line and successfully anchored next to Guerrier in the space Foley had intended, engaging the lead ship's bow from close range. Within five minutes Guerriers foremast had fallen, to cheers from the crews of the approaching British ships. The speed of the British advance took the French captains by surprise; they were still aboard Orient in conference with the admiral when the firing started. Hastily launching their boats, they returned to their vessels. Captain Jean-François-Timothée Trullet of Guerrier shouted orders from his barge for his men to return fire on Zealous. + +The third British ship into action was under Captain Sir James Saumarez, which rounded the engagement at the head of the battle line and passed between the French main line and the frigates that lay closer inshore. As he did so, the frigate Sérieuse opened fire on Orion, wounding two men. The convention in naval warfare of the time was that ships of the line did not attack frigates when there were ships of equal size to engage, but in firing first French Captain Claude-Jean Martin had negated the rule. Saumarez waited until the frigate was at close range before replying. Orion needed just one broadside to reduce the frigate to a wreck, and Martin's disabled ship drifted away over the shoal. During the delay this detour caused, two other British ships joined the battle: Theseus, which had been disguised as a first-rate ship, followed Foley's track across Guerriers bow. Miller steered his ship through the middle of the melee between the anchored British and French ships until he encountered the third French ship, . Anchoring to port, Miller's ship opened fire at close range. under Captain Davidge Gould crossed the French line between Guerrier and Conquérant, anchoring between the ships and raking them both. Orion then rejoined the action further south than intended, firing on the fifth French ship, Peuple Souverain, and Admiral Blanquet's flagship, . + +The next three British ships, Vanguard in the lead followed by and , remained in line of battle formation and anchored on the starboard side of the French line at 18:40. Nelson focused his flagship's fire on Spartiate, while Captain Thomas Louis in Minotaur attacked the unengaged and Captain John Peyton in Defence joined the attack on Peuple Souverain. With the French vanguard now heavily outnumbered, the following British ships, and , passed by the melee and advanced on the so far unengaged French centre. Both ships were soon fighting enemies much more powerful than they and began to take severe damage. Captain Henry Darby on Bellerophon missed his intended anchor near Franklin and instead found his ship underneath the main battery of the French flagship. Captain George Blagdon Westcott on Majestic also missed his station and almost collided with Heureux, coming under heavy fire from . Unable to stop in time, Westcott's jib boom became entangled with Tonnants shroud. + +The French suffered too, Admiral Brueys on Orient was severely wounded in the face and hand by flying debris during the opening exchange of fire with Bellerophon. The final ship of the British line, Culloden under Troubridge, sailed too close to Aboukir Island in the growing darkness and became stuck fast on the shoal. Despite strenuous efforts from the Cullodens boats, the brig Mutine and the 50-gun under Captain Thomas Thompson, the ship of the line could not be moved, and the waves drove Culloden further onto the shoal, inflicting severe damage to the ship's hull. + +Surrender of the French vanguard +At 19:00 the identifying lights in the mizzenmasts of the British fleet were lit. By this time, Guerrier had been completely dismasted and heavily battered. Zealous by contrast was barely touched: Hood had situated Zealous outside the arc of most of the French ship's broadsides, and in any case Guerrier was not prepared for an engagement on both sides simultaneously, with its port guns blocked by stores. Although their ship was a wreck, the crew of Guerrier refused to surrender, continuing to fire the few functional guns whenever possible despite heavy answering fire from Zealous. In addition to his cannon fire, Hood called up his marines and ordered them to fire volleys of musket shot at the deck of the French ship, driving the crew out of sight but still failing to secure the surrender from Captain Trullet. It was not until 21:00, when Hood sent a small boat to Guerrier with a boarding party, that the French ship finally surrendered. Conquérant was defeated more rapidly, after heavy broadsides from passing British ships and the close attentions of Audacious and Goliath brought down all three masts before 19:00. With his ship immobile and badly damaged, the mortally wounded Captain Etienne Dalbarade struck his colours and a boarding party seized control. Unlike Zealous, these British ships suffered relatively severe damage in the engagement. Goliath lost most of its rigging, suffered damage to all three masts and suffered more than 60 casualties. With his opponents defeated, Captain Gould on Audacious used the spring on his cable to transfer fire to Spartiate, the next French ship in line. To the west of the battle the battered Sérieuse sank over the shoal. Her masts protruded from the water as survivors scrambled into boats and rowed for the shore. + +The transfer of Audaciouss broadside to Spartiate meant that Captain Maurice-Julien Emeriau now faced three opponents. Within minutes all three of his ship's masts had fallen, but the battle around Spartiate continued until 21:00, when the badly wounded Emeriau ordered his colours struck. Although Spartiate was outnumbered, it had been supported by the next in line, Aquilon, which was the only ship of the French van squadron fighting a single opponent, Minotaur. Captain Antoine René Thévenard used the spring on his anchor cable to angle his broadside into a raking position across the bow of Nelson's flagship, which consequently suffered more than 100 casualties, including the admiral. At approximately 20:30, an iron splinter fired in a langrage shot from Spartiate struck Nelson over his blinded right eye. The wound caused a flap of skin to fall across his face, rendering him temporarily completely blind. Nelson collapsed into the arms of Captain Edward Berry and was carried below. Certain that his wound was fatal, he cried out "I am killed, remember me to my wife", and called for his chaplain, Stephen Comyn. The wound was immediately inspected by Vanguards surgeon Michael Jefferson, who informed the admiral that it was a simple flesh wound and stitched the skin together. Nelson subsequently ignored Jefferson's instructions to remain inactive, returning to the quarterdeck shortly before the explosion on Orient to oversee the closing stages of the battle. Although Thévenard's manoeuvre was successful, it placed his own bow under Minotaurs guns and by 21:25 the French ship was dismasted and battered, Captain Thévenard killed and his junior officers forced to surrender. With his opponent defeated, Captain Thomas Louis then took Minotaur south to join the attack on Franklin. + +Defence and Orion attacked the fifth French ship, Peuple Souverain, from either side and the ship rapidly lost the fore and main masts. Aboard the Orion, a wooden block was smashed off one of the ship's masts, killing two men before wounding Captain Saumarez in the thigh. On Peuple Souverain, Captain Pierre-Paul Raccord was badly wounded and ordered his ship's anchor cable cut in an effort to escape the bombardment. Peuple Souverain drifted south towards the flagship Orient, which mistakenly opened fire on the darkened vessel. Orion and Defence were unable to immediately pursue. Defence had lost its fore topmast and an improvised fireship that drifted through the battle narrowly missed Orion. The origin of this vessel, an abandoned and burning ship's boat laden with highly flammable material, is uncertain, but it may have been launched from Guerrier as the battle began. Peuple Souverain anchored not far from Orient, but took no further part in the fighting. The wrecked ship surrendered during the night. Franklin remained in combat, but Blanquet had suffered a severe head wound and Captain Gillet had been carried below unconscious with severe wounds. Shortly afterwards, a fire broke out on the quarterdeck after an arms locker exploded, which was eventually extinguished with difficulty by the crew. + +To the south, HMS Bellerophon was in serious trouble as the huge broadside of Orient pounded the ship. At 19:50 the mizzenmast and main mast both collapsed and fires broke out simultaneously at several points. Although the blazes were extinguished, the ship had suffered more than 200 casualties. Captain Darby recognised that his position was untenable and ordered the anchor cables cut at 20:20. The battered ship drifted away from the battle under continued fire from Tonnant as the foremast collapsed as well. Orient had also suffered significant damage and Admiral Brueys had been struck in the midriff by a cannonball that almost cut him in half. He died fifteen minutes later, remaining on deck and refusing to be carried below. Orients captain, Luc-Julien-Joseph Casabianca, was also wounded, struck in the face by flying debris and knocked unconscious, while his twelve-year-old son had a leg torn off by a cannonball as he stood beside his father. The most southerly British ship, Majestic, had become briefly entangled with the 80-gun Tonnant, and in the resulting battle, suffered heavy casualties. Captain George Blagdon Westcott was among the dead, killed by French musket fire. Lieutenant Robert Cuthbert assumed command and successfully disentangled his ship, allowing the badly damaged Majestic to drift further southwards so that by 20:30 it was stationed between Tonnant and the next in line, Heureux, engaging both. To support the centre, Captain Thompson of Leander abandoned the futile efforts to drag the stranded Culloden off the shoal and sailed down the embattled French line, entering the gap created by the drifting Peuple Souverain and opening a fierce raking fire on Franklin and Orient. + +While the battle raged in the bay, the two straggling British ships made strenuous efforts to join the engagement, focusing on the flashes of gunfire in the darkness. Warned away from the Aboukir shoals by the grounded Culloden, Captain Benjamin Hallowell in Swiftsure passed the melee at the head of the line and aimed his ship at the French centre. Shortly after 20:00, a dismasted hulk was spotted drifting in front of Swiftsure and Hallowell initially ordered his men to fire before rescinding the order, concerned for the identity of the strange vessel. Hailing the battered ship, Hallowell received the reply "Bellerophon, going out of action disabled." Relieved that he had not accidentally attacked one of his own ships in the darkness, Hallowell pulled up between Orient and Franklin and opened fire on them both. Alexander, the final unengaged British ship, which had followed Swiftsure, pulled up close to Tonnant, which had begun to drift away from the embattled French flagship. Captain Alexander Ball then joined the attack on Orient. + +Destruction of Orient + +At 21:00, the British observed a fire on the lower decks of the Orient, the French flagship. Identifying the danger this posed to the Orient, Captain Hallowell directed his gun crews to fire their guns directly into the blaze. Sustained British gun fire spread the flames throughout the ship's stern and prevented all efforts to extinguish them. Within minutes the fire had ascended the rigging and set the vast sails alight. The nearest British ships, Swiftsure, Alexander, and Orion, all stopped firing, closed their gunports, and began edging away from the burning ship in anticipation of the detonation of the enormous ammunition supplies stored on board. In addition, they took crews away from the guns to form fire parties and to soak the sails and decks in seawater to help contain any resulting fires. Likewise the French ships Tonnant, Heureux, and all cut their anchor cables and drifted southwards away from the burning ship. At 22:00 the fire reached the magazines, and the Orient was destroyed by a massive explosion. The concussion of the blast was powerful enough to rip open the seams of the nearest ships, and flaming wreckage landed in a huge circle, much of it flying directly over the surrounding ships into the sea beyond. Falling wreckage started fires on Swiftsure, Alexander, and Franklin, although in each case teams of sailors with water buckets succeeded in extinguishing the flames, despite a secondary explosion on Franklin. + +It has never been firmly established how the fire on Orient broke out, but one common account is that jars of oil and paint had been left on the poop deck, instead of being properly stowed after painting of the ship's hull had been completed shortly before the battle. Burning wadding from one of the British ships is believed to have floated onto the poop deck and ignited the paint. The fire rapidly spread through the admiral's cabin and into a ready magazine that stored carcass ammunition, which was designed to burn more fiercely in water than in air. Alternatively, Fleet Captain Honoré Ganteaume later reported the cause as an explosion on the quarterdeck, preceded by a series of minor fires on the main deck among the ship's boats. Whatever its origin, the fire spread rapidly through the ship's rigging, unchecked by the fire pumps aboard, which had been smashed by British shot. A second blaze then began at the bow, trapping hundreds of sailors in the ship's waist. Subsequent archaeological investigation found debris scattered over of seabed and evidence that the ship was wracked by two explosions. Hundreds of men dived into the sea to escape the flames, but fewer than 100 survived the blast. British boats picked up approximately 70 survivors, including the wounded staff officer Léonard-Bernard Motard. A few others, including Ganteaume, managed to reach the shore on rafts. The remainder of the crew, numbering more than 1,000 men, were killed, including Captain Casabianca and his son, Giocante. + +For ten minutes after the explosion there was no firing; sailors from both sides were either too shocked by the blast or desperately extinguishing fires aboard their own ships to continue the fight. During the lull, Nelson gave orders that boats be sent to pull survivors from the water around the remains of Orient. At 22:10, Franklin restarted the engagement by firing on Swiftsure. Isolated and battered, Blanquet's ship was soon dismasted and the admiral, suffering a severe head wound, was forced to surrender by the combined firepower of Swiftsure and Defence. More than half of Franklins crew had been killed or wounded. + +By midnight only Tonnant remained engaged, as Commodore Aristide Aubert Du Petit Thouars continued his fight with Majestic and fired on Swiftsure when the British ship moved within range. By 03:00, after more than three hours of close quarter combat, Majestic had lost its main and mizzen masts while Tonnant was a dismasted hulk. Although Captain Du Petit Thouars had lost both legs and an arm he remained in command, insisting on having the tricolour nailed to the mast to prevent it from being struck and giving orders from his position propped up on deck in a bucket of wheat. Under his guidance, the battered Tonnant gradually drifted southwards away from the action to join the southern division under Villeneuve, who failed to bring these ships into effective action. Throughout the engagement the French rear had kept up an arbitrary fire on the battling ships ahead. The only noticeable effect was the smashing of s rudder by misdirected fire from the neighbouring . + +Morning + +As the sun rose at 04:00 on 2 August, firing broke out once again between the French southern division of Guillaume Tell, Tonnant, Généreux and Timoléon and the battered Alexander and Majestic. Although briefly outmatched, the British ships were soon joined by Goliath and Theseus. As Captain Miller manoeuvred his ship into position, Theseus briefly came under fire from the frigate . Miller turned his ship towards Artémise, but Captain Pierre-Jean Standelet struck his flag and ordered his men to abandon the frigate. Miller sent a boat under Lieutenant William Hoste to take possession of the empty vessel, but Standelet had set fire to his ship as he left and Artémise blew up shortly afterwards. The surviving French ships of the line, covering their retreat with gunfire, gradually pulled to the east away from the shore at 06:00. Zealous pursued, and was able to prevent the frigate from boarding Bellerophon, which was anchored at the southern point of the bay undergoing hasty repairs. + +Two other French ships still flew the tricolour, but neither was in a position to either retreat or fight. When Heureux and Mercure had cut their anchor cables to escape the exploding Orient, their crews had panicked and neither captain (both of whom were wounded) had managed to regain control of his ship. As a result, both vessels had drifted onto the shoal. Alexander, Goliath, Theseus and Leander attacked the stranded and defenceless ships, and both surrendered within minutes. The distractions provided by Heureux, Mercure and Justice allowed Villeneuve to bring most of the surviving French ships to the mouth of the bay at 11:00. On the dismasted Tonnant, Commodore Du Petit Thouars was now dead from his wounds and thrown overboard at his own request. As the ship was unable to make the required speed it was driven ashore by its crew. Timoléon was too far south to escape with Villeneuve and, in attempting to join the survivors, had also grounded on the shoal. The force of the impact dislodged the ship's foremast. The remaining French vessels: the ships of the line Guillaume Tell and Généreux and the frigates Justice and , formed up and stood out to sea, pursued by Zealous. Despite strenuous efforts, Captain Hood's isolated ship came under heavy fire and was unable to cut off the trailing Justice as the French survivors escaped seawards. Zealous was struck by a number of French shot and lost one man killed. + +For the remainder of 2 August Nelson's ships made improvised repairs and boarded and consolidated their prizes. Culloden especially required assistance. Troubridge, having finally dragged his ship off the shoal at 02:00, found that he had lost his rudder and was taking on more than of water an hour. Emergency repairs to the hull and fashioning a replacement rudder from a spare topmast took most of the next two days. On the morning of 3 August, Nelson sent Theseus and Leander to force the surrender of the grounded Tonnant and Timoléon. The Tonnant, its decks crowded with 1,600 survivors from other French vessels, surrendered as the British ships approached while Timoléon was set on fire by its remaining crew who then escaped to the shore in small boats. Timoléon exploded shortly after midday, the eleventh and final French ship of the line destroyed or captured during the battle. + +Aftermath + +British casualties in the battle were recorded with some accuracy in the immediate aftermath as 218 killed and approximately 677 wounded, although the number of wounded who subsequently died is not known. The ships that suffered most were Bellerophon with 201 casualties and Majestic with 193. Other than Culloden the lightest loss was on Zealous, which had one man killed and seven wounded. + +The casualty list included Captain Westcott, five lieutenants and ten junior officers among the dead, and Admiral Nelson, Captains Saumarez, Ball and Darby, and six lieutenants wounded. Other than Culloden, the only British ships seriously damaged in their hulls were Bellerophon, Majestic, and Vanguard. Bellerophon and Majestic were the only ships to lose masts: Majestic the main and mizzen and Bellerophon all three. + +French casualties are harder to calculate but were significantly higher. Estimates of French losses range from 2,000 to 5,000, with a suggested median point of 3,500, which includes more than 1,000 captured wounded and nearly 2,000 killed, half of whom died on Orient. In addition to Admiral Brueys killed and Admiral Blanquet wounded, four captains died and seven others were seriously wounded. The French ships suffered severe damage: Two ships of the line and two frigates were destroyed (as well as a bomb vessel scuttled by its crew), and three other captured ships were too battered ever to sail again. Of the remaining prizes, only three were ever sufficiently repaired for frontline service. For weeks after the battle, bodies washed up along the Egyptian coast, decaying slowly in the intense, dry heat. + +Nelson, who on surveying the bay on the morning of 2 August said, "Victory is not a name strong enough for such a scene", remained at anchor in Aboukir Bay for the next two weeks, preoccupied with recovering from his wound, writing dispatches, and assessing the military situation in Egypt using documents captured on board one of the prizes. Nelson's head wound was recorded as being "three inches long" with "the cranium exposed for one inch". He suffered pain from the injury for the rest of his life and was badly scarred, styling his hair to disguise it as much as possible. As their commander recovered, his men stripped the wrecks of useful supplies and made repairs to their ships and prizes. + +Throughout the week, Aboukir Bay was surrounded by bonfires lit by Bedouin tribesmen in celebration of the British victory. On 5 August, Leander was despatched to Cadiz with messages for Earl St. Vincent carried by Captain Edward Berry. Over the next few days the British landed all but 200 of the captured prisoners on shore under strict terms of parole, although Bonaparte later ordered them to be formed into an infantry unit and added to his army. The wounded officers taken prisoner were held on board Vanguard, where Nelson regularly entertained them at dinner. Historian Joseph Allen recounts that on one occasion Nelson, whose eyesight was still suffering following his wound, offered toothpicks to an officer who had lost his teeth and then passed a snuff-box to an officer whose nose had been torn off, causing much embarrassment. On 8 August the fleet's boats stormed Aboukir Island, which surrendered without a fight. The landing party removed four of the guns and destroyed the rest along with the fort they were mounted in, renaming the island "Nelson's Island". + +On 10 August, Nelson sent Lieutenant Thomas Duval from Zealous with messages to the government in India. Duval travelled across the Middle East overland via camel train to Aleppo and took the East India Company ship Fly from Basra to Bombay, acquainting Governor-General of India Viscount Wellesley with the situation in Egypt. On 12 August the frigates under Captain Thomas Moutray Waller and under Captain George Johnstone Hope, and the sloop under Captain Robert Retalick, arrived off Alexandria. Initially the British mistook the frigate squadron for French warships and Swiftsure chased them away. They returned the following day once the error had been realised. The same day as the frigates arrived, Nelson sent Mutine to Britain with dispatches, under the command of Lieutenant Thomas Bladen Capel, who had replaced Hardy after the latter's promotion to captain of Vanguard. On 14 August, Nelson sent Orion, Majestic, Bellerophon, Minotaur, Defence, Audacious, Theseus, Franklin, Tonnant, Aquilon, Conquérant, Peuple Souverain, and Spartiate to sea under the command of Saumarez. Many ships had only jury masts and it took a full day for the convoy to reach the mouth of the bay, finally sailing into open water on 15 August. On 16 August the British burned and destroyed the grounded prize Heureux as no longer fit for service and on 18 August also burned Guerrier and Mercure. On 19 August, Nelson sailed for Naples with Vanguard, Culloden, and Alexander, leaving Hood in command of Zealous, Goliath, Swiftsure, and the recently joined frigates to watch over French activities at Alexandria. + +The first message to reach Bonaparte regarding the disaster that had overtaken his fleet arrived on 14 August at his camp on the road between Salahieh and Cairo. The messenger was a staff officer sent by the Governor of Alexandria General Jean Baptiste Kléber, and the report had been hastily written by Admiral Ganteaume, who had subsequently rejoined Villeneuve's ships at sea. One account reports that when he was handed the message, Bonaparte read it without emotion before calling the messenger to him and demanding further details. When the messenger had finished, the French general reportedly announced "Nous n'avons plus de flotte: eh bien. Il faut rester en ces contrées, ou en sortir grands comme les anciens" ("We no longer have a fleet: well, we must either remain in this country or quit it as great as the ancients"). Another story, as told by the general's secretary, Bourienne, claims that Bonaparte was almost overcome by the news and exclaimed "Unfortunate Brueys, what have you done!" Bonaparte later placed much of the blame for the defeat on the wounded Admiral Blanquet, falsely accusing him of surrendering Franklin while his ship was undamaged. Protestations from Ganteaume and Minister Étienne Eustache Bruix later reduced the degree of criticism Blanquet faced, but he never again served in a command capacity. Bonaparte's most immediate concern however was with his own officers, who began to question the wisdom of the entire expedition. Inviting his most senior officers to dinner, Bonaparte asked them how they were. When they replied that they were "marvellous," Bonaparte responded that it was just as well, since he would have them shot if they continued "fostering mutinies and preaching revolt." To quell any uprising among the native inhabitants, Egyptians overheard discussing the battle were threatened with having their tongues cut out. + +Reaction +Nelson's first set of dispatches were captured when Leander was intercepted and defeated by Généreux in a fierce engagement off the western shore of Crete on 18 August 1798. As a result, reports of the battle did not reach Britain until Capel arrived in Mutine on 2 October, entering the Admiralty at 11:15 and personally delivering the news to Lord Spencer, who collapsed unconscious when he heard the report. Although Nelson had previously been castigated in the press for failing to intercept the French fleet, rumours of the battle had begun to arrive in Britain from the continent in late September and the news Capel brought was greeted with celebrations right across the country. Within four days Nelson had been elevated to Baron Nelson of the Nile and Burnham Thorpe, a title with which he was privately dissatisfied, believing his actions deserved better reward. King George III addressed the Houses of Parliament on 20 November with the words: + +Saumarez's convoy of prizes stopped first at Malta, where Saumarez provided assistance to a rebellion on the island among the Maltese population. It then sailed to Gibraltar, arriving on 18 October to the cheers of the garrison. Saumarez wrote that, "We can never do justice to the warmth of their applause, and the praises they all bestowed on our squadron." On 23 October, following the transfer of the wounded to the military hospital and provision of basic supplies, the convoy sailed on towards Lisbon, leaving Bellerophon and Majestic behind for more extensive repairs. Peuple Souverain also remained at Gibraltar: The ship was deemed too badly damaged for the Atlantic voyage to Britain and so was converted to a guardship under the name of HMS Guerrier. The remaining prizes underwent basic repairs and then sailed for Britain, spending some months at the Tagus and joining with the annual merchant convoy from Portugal in June 1799 under the escort of a squadron commanded by Admiral Sir Alan Gardner, before eventually arriving at Plymouth. Their age and battered state meant that neither Conquérant nor Aquilon were considered fit for active service in the Royal Navy and both were subsequently hulked, although they had been bought into the service for £20,000 (the equivalent of £ million as of ) each as HMS Conquerant and HMS Aboukir to provide a financial reward to the crews that had captured them. Similar sums were also paid out for Guerrier, Mercure, Heureux and Peuple Souverain, while the other captured ships were worth considerably more. Constructed of Adriatic oak, Tonnant had been built in 1792 and Franklin and Spartiate were less than a year old. Tonnant and Spartiate, both of which later fought at the Battle of Trafalgar, joined the Royal Navy under their old names while Franklin, considered to be "the finest two-decked ship in the world", was renamed HMS Canopus. The total value of the prizes captured at the Nile and subsequently bought into the Royal Navy was estimated at just over £130,000 (the equivalent of £ million as of ). + +Additional awards were presented to the British fleet: Nelson was awarded £2,000 (£ as of ) a year for life by the Parliament of Great Britain and £1,000 per annum by the Parliament of Ireland, although the latter was inadvertently discontinued after the Act of Union dissolved the Irish Parliament. Both parliaments gave unanimous votes of thanks, each captain who served in the battle was presented with a specially minted gold medal and the first lieutenant of every ship engaged in the battle was promoted to commander. Troubridge and his men, initially excluded, received equal shares in the awards after Nelson personally interceded for the crew of the stranded Culloden, even though they did not directly participate in the engagement. The Honourable East India Company presented Nelson with £10,000 (£ as of ) in recognition of the benefit his action had on their holdings and the cities of London, Liverpool and other municipal and corporate bodies made similar awards. Nelson's own captains presented him with a sword and a portrait as "proof of their esteem." Nelson publicly encouraged this close bond with his officers and on 29 September 1798 described them as "We few, we happy few, we band of brothers", echoing William Shakespeare's play Henry V. From this grew the notion of the Nelsonic Band of Brothers, a cadre of high-quality naval officers that served with Nelson for the remainder of his life. Nearly five decades later the battle was among the actions recognised by a clasp attached to the Naval General Service Medal, awarded upon application to all British participants still living in 1847. + +Other rewards were bestowed by foreign states, particularly the Ottoman Emperor Selim III, who made Nelson the first Knight Commander of the newly created Order of the Crescent, and presented him with a chelengk, a diamond studded rose, a sable fur and numerous other valuable presents. Tsar Paul I of Russia sent, among other rewards, a gold box studded with diamonds, and similar gifts in silver arrived from other European rulers. On his return to Naples, Nelson was greeted with a triumphal procession led by King Ferdinand IV and Sir William Hamilton and was introduced for only the third time to Sir William's wife Emma, Lady Hamilton, who fainted violently at the meeting, and apparently took several weeks to recover from her injuries. Lauded as a hero by the Neapolitan court, Nelson was later to dabble in Neapolitan politics and become the Duke of Bronté, actions for which he was criticised by his superiors and his reputation suffered. British general John Moore, who met Nelson in Naples at this time, described him as "covered with stars, medals and ribbons, more like a Prince of Opera than the Conqueror of the Nile." + +Rumours of a battle first appeared in the French press as early as 7 August, although credible reports did not arrive until 26 August, and even these claimed that Nelson was dead and Bonaparte a British prisoner. When the news became certain, the French press insisted that the defeat was the result both of an overwhelmingly large British force and unspecified "traitors." Among the anti-government journals in France, the defeat was blamed on the incompetence of the French Directory and on supposed lingering Royalist sentiments in the Navy. Villeneuve came under scathing attack on his return to France for his failure to support Brueys during the battle. In his defence, he pleaded that the wind had been against him and that Brueys had not issued orders for him to counterattack the British fleet. Writing many years later, Bonaparte commented that if the French Navy had adopted the same tactical principles as the British: + +By contrast, the British press were jubilant; many newspapers sought to portray the battle as a victory for Britain over anarchy, and the success was used to attack the supposedly pro-republican Whig politicians Charles James Fox and Richard Brinsley Sheridan. + +In the United States, the outcome of the battle led President John Adams to pursue diplomacy with France to end the Quasi-War, as the French naval defeat rendered the prospect of an invasion of the United States less likely. + +There has been extensive historiographical debate over the comparative strengths of the fleets, although they were ostensibly evenly matched in size, each containing 13 ships of the line. However, the loss of Culloden, the relative sizes of Orient and Leander and the participation in the action by two of the French frigates and several smaller vessels, as well as the theoretical strength of the French position, leads most historians to the conclusion that the French were marginally more powerful. This is accentuated by the weight of broadside of several of the French ships: Spartiate, Franklin, Orient, Tonnant and Guillaume Tell were each significantly larger than any individual British ship in the battle. However inadequate deployment, reduced crews, and the failure of the rear division under Villeneuve to meaningfully participate, all contributed to the French defeat. + +Effects +The Battle of the Nile has been called "arguably, the most decisive naval engagement of the great age of sail", and "the most splendid and glorious success which the British Navy gained." Historian and novelist C. S. Forester, writing in 1929, compared the Nile to the great naval actions in history and concluded that "it still only stands rivalled by Tsu-Shima as an example of the annihilation of one fleet by another of approximately equal material force". The effect on the strategic situation in the Mediterranean was immediate, reversing the balance of the conflict and giving the British control at sea that they maintained for the remainder of the war. The destruction of the French Mediterranean fleet allowed the Royal Navy to return to the sea in force, as British squadrons set up blockades off French and allied ports. In particular, British ships cut Malta off from France, aided by the rebellion among the native Maltese population that forced the French garrison to retreat to Valletta and shut the gates. The ensuing siege of Malta lasted for two years before the defenders were finally starved into surrender. In 1799, British ships harassed Bonaparte's army as it marched east and north through Palestine, and played a crucial part in Bonaparte's defeat at the siege of Acre, when the barges carrying the siege train were captured and the French storming parties were bombarded by British ships anchored offshore. It was during one of these latter engagements that Captain Miller of Theseus was killed in an ammunition explosion. The defeat at Acre forced Bonaparte to retreat to Egypt and effectively ended his efforts to carve an empire in the Middle East. The French general returned to France without his army late in the year, leaving Kléber in command of Egypt. + +The Ottoman Empire, with whom Bonaparte had hoped to conduct an alliance once his control of Egypt was complete, was encouraged by the Battle of the Nile to go to war against France. This led to a series of campaigns that slowly sapped the strength from the French army trapped in Egypt. The British victory also encouraged the Austrian Empire and the Russian Empire, both of whom were mustering armies as part of a Second Coalition, which declared war on France in 1799. With the Mediterranean undefended, an Imperial Russian Navy fleet entered the Ionian Sea, while Austrian armies recaptured much of the Italian territory lost to Bonaparte in the previous war. Without their best general and his veterans, the French suffered a series of defeats and it was not until Bonaparte returned to become First Consul that France once again held a position of strength on Continental Europe. In 1801 a British Expeditionary Force defeated the demoralised remains of the French army in Egypt. The Royal Navy used its dominance in the Mediterranean to invade Egypt without the fear of ambush while anchored off the Egyptian coast. + +In spite of the overwhelming British victory in the climactic battle, the campaign has sometimes been considered a strategic success for France. Historian Edward Ingram noted that if Nelson had successfully intercepted Bonaparte at sea as ordered, the ensuing battle could have annihilated both the French fleet and the transports. As it was, Bonaparte was free to continue the war in the Middle East and later to return to Europe personally unscathed. The potential of a successful engagement at sea to change the course of history is underscored by the list of French army officers carried aboard the convoy who later formed the core of the generals and marshals under Emperor Napoleon. In addition to Bonaparte himself, Louis-Alexandre Berthier, Auguste de Marmont, Jean Lannes, Joachim Murat, Louis Desaix, Jean Reynier, Antoine-François Andréossy, Jean-Andoche Junot, Louis-Nicolas Davout and Dumas were all passengers on the cramped Mediterranean crossing. + +Legacy +The Battle of the Nile remains one of the Royal Navy's most famous victories, and has remained prominent in the British popular imagination, sustained by its depiction in a large number of cartoons, paintings, poems, and plays. One of the best known poems about the battle is Casabianca, which was written by Felicia Dorothea Hemans in 1826 and describes a fictional account of the death of Captain Casabianca's son on Orient. + +Monuments were raised, including Cleopatra's Needle in London. Muhammad Ali of Egypt gave the monument in 1819 in recognition of the battle of 1798 and the campaign of 1801 but Great Britain did not erect it on the Victoria Embankment until 1878. Another memorial, the Nile Clumps near Amesbury, consists of stands of beech trees purportedly planted by Lord Queensbury at the behest of Lady Hamilton and Thomas Hardy after Nelson's death. The trees form a plan of the battle; each clump represents the position of a British or French ship. + +On the Hall Place estate, Burchetts Green, Berkshire (now Berkshire College of Agriculture), a double line of oak trees, each tree representing a ship of the opposing fleets, was planted by William East, Baronet, in celebration of the victory. He also constructed a scale-sized pyramid and a life-sized statue of Nelson on the highest point of the estate. + +The composer Joseph Haydn had just completed the Missa in Angustiis (mass for troubled times) after Napoleon Bonaparte had defeated the Austrian army in four major battles. The well received news of France's defeat at the Nile however resulted in the mass gradually acquiring the nickname Lord Nelson Mass. The title became indelible when, in 1800, Nelson himself visited the Palais Esterházy, accompanied by his mistress, Lady Hamilton, and may have heard the mass performed. + +The Royal Navy commemorated the battle with the ship names , and , and in 1998 commemorated the 200th anniversary of the battle with a visit to Aboukir Bay by the modern frigate , whose crew laid wreaths in memory of those who lost their lives in the battle. + +Archaeology +Although Nelson biographer Ernle Bradford assumed in 1977 that the remains of Orient "are almost certainly unrecoverable," the first archaeological investigation into the battle began in 1983, when a French survey team under Jacques Dumas discovered the wreck of the French flagship. Franck Goddio later took over the work, leading a major project to explore the bay in 1998. He found that material was scattered over an area in diameter. In addition to military and nautical equipment, Goddio recovered a large number of gold and silver coins from countries across the Mediterranean, some from the 17th century. It is likely that these were part of the treasure taken from Malta that was lost in the explosion aboard Orient. In 2000, Italian archaeologist Paolo Gallo led an excavation focusing on ancient ruins on Nelson's Island. It uncovered a number of graves that date from the battle, as well as others buried there during the 1801 invasion. These graves, which included a woman and three children, were relocated in 2005 to a cemetery at Shatby in Alexandria. The reburial was attended by sailors from the modern frigate and a band from the Egyptian Navy, as well as a descendant of the only identified burial, Commander James Russell. + +Notes + +References + +Bibliography + +External links + + + +1798 in Egypt +Nile +French campaign in Egypt and Syria +Egypt–United Kingdom military relations +France–United Kingdom military relations +Horatio Nelson +Mediterranean campaign of 1798 +Nile +Nile +Nile +Naval history of Egypt +Barnabas (; ; ), born Joseph () or Joses (), was according to tradition an early Christian, one of the prominent Christian disciples in Jerusalem. According to Acts 4:36, Barnabas was a Cypriot Jew. Named an apostle in Acts 14:14, he and Paul the Apostle undertook missionary journeys together and defended Gentile converts against the Judaizers. They traveled together making more converts (), and participated in the Council of Jerusalem (). Barnabas and Paul successfully evangelized among the "God-fearing" Gentiles who attended synagogues in various Hellenized cities of Anatolia. + +Barnabas' story appears in the Acts of the Apostles, and Paul mentions him in some of his epistles. Tertullian named him as the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews, but this and other attributions are conjecture. The Epistle of Barnabas was ascribed to him by Clement of Alexandria and others in the early church and the epistle is included under his name in Codex Sinaiticus, the earliest extant manuscript of the complete New Testament. A few modern scholars concur with this traditional attribution but it is presently a minority view. + +Although the date, place, and circumstances of his death are historically unverifiable, Christian tradition holds that Barnabas was martyred at Salamis, Cyprus. He is traditionally identified as the founder of the Cypriot Orthodox Church. The feast day of Barnabas is celebrated on June 11. + +Barnabas is usually identified as the cousin of Mark the Evangelist on the basis of the term used in Colossians 4, which carries the connotation of "cousin." Orthodox tradition holds that Aristobulus of Britannia, one of the Seventy Disciples, was the brother of Barnabas. + +Name and etymologies +His Hellenic Jewish parents called him Joseph (although the Byzantine text-type calls him , , 'Joses', a Greek variant of 'Joseph'), but when recounting the story of how he sold his land and gave the money to the apostles in Jerusalem, the Book of Acts says the apostles called him Barnabas. (The "s" at the end is the Greek nominative case ending, and it is not present in the Aramaic form.) The Greek text of Acts 4:36 explains the name as , , meaning "son of encouragement" or "son of consolation". One theory is that this is from the Aramaic , , meaning 'son (of) consolation'. Another is that it is related to the Hebrew word (, Aramaic ) meaning "prophet". In the Syriac Bible, the phrase "son of consolation" is translated . + +Biblical narrative + +Barnabas appears mainly in Acts, a history of the early Christian church. He also appears in several of Paul's epistles. + +Barnabas, a native of Cyprus and a Levite, is first mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles as a member of the early Christian community in Jerusalem, who sold the land that he owned and gave the proceeds to the community. When the future Paul the Apostle returned to Jerusalem after his conversion, Barnabas introduced him to the apostles. Easton, in his Bible Dictionary, supposes that they had been fellow students in the school of Gamaliel. + +The successful preaching of Christianity at Antioch to non-Jews led the church at Jerusalem to send Barnabas there to oversee the movement. He found the work so extensive and weighty that he went to Tarsus in search of Paul (still referred to as Saul), "an admirable colleague", to assist him. Paul returned with him to Antioch and labored with him for a whole year. At the end of this period, the two were sent up to Jerusalem (44 AD) with contributions from the church at Antioch for the relief of the poorer Christians in Judea. + +They returned to Antioch taking John Mark with them, the cousin or nephew of Barnabas. Later, they went to Cyprus and some of the principal cities of Pamphylia, Pisidia, and Lycaonia. After recounting what the governor of Cyprus Sergius Paulus believed, Acts 13:9 speaks of Barnabas's spiritual brother no longer as Saul, but as Paul, his Roman name, and generally refers to the two no longer as "Barnabas and Saul" as heretofore, but as "Paul and Barnabas". Only in Acts 14:14 and Acts 15:12–25 does Barnabas again occupy the first place, in the first passage with recollection of Acts 14:12, in the last 2, because Barnabas stood in closer relation to the Jerusalem church than Paul. Paul appears as the more eloquent missionary, whence the Lystrans regarded him as Hermes and Barnabas as Zeus. + +Acts 14:14 is also the unique biblical topic where Saint Barnabas is called with the Greek word for Apostle. + +Returning from this first missionary journey to Antioch, they were again sent up to Jerusalem to consult with the church there regarding the relation of Gentiles to the church. According to Galatians 2:9–10, Barnabas was included with Paul in the agreement made between them, on the one hand, and James, Peter, and John, on the other, that the two former should in the future preach to the pagans, not forgetting the poor at Jerusalem. This matter having been settled, they returned again to Antioch, bringing the agreement of the council that Gentiles were to be admitted into the church without having to adopt Jewish practices. + +After they had returned to Antioch from the Jerusalem council, they spent some time there. Peter came and associated freely there with the Gentiles, eating with them, until criticized for this by some disciples of James, as against Mosaic law. Upon their remonstrances, Peter yielded apparently through fear of displeasing them, and refused to eat any longer with the Gentiles. Barnabas followed his example. Paul considered that they "walked not uprightly according to the truth of the gospel" and upbraided them before the whole church. In Galatians 2:11–13, Paul says, "And when Kephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face because he clearly was wrong. For, until some people came from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles; but when they came, he began to draw back and separated himself, because he was afraid of the circumcised. And the rest of the Jews (also) acted hypocritically along with him, with the result that even Barnabas was carried away by their hypocrisy." + +Paul then asked Barnabas to accompany him on another journey. Barnabas wished to take John Mark along, but Paul did not, as he had left them on the earlier journey. The dispute ended by Paul and Barnabas taking separate routes. Paul took Silas as his companion, and journeyed through Syria and Cilicia; while Barnabas took John Mark to visit Cyprus. + +Little is known of the subsequent career of Barnabas. He was still living and labouring as an Apostle in 56 or 57, when Paul wrote 1 Corinthians (9:5–6), in which it is stated that he, too, like Paul, earned his own living. The reference indicates also that the friendship between the two was unimpaired. When Paul was a prisoner in Rome (61–63), John Mark was attached to him as a disciple, which is regarded as an indication that Barnabas was no longer living (Colossians 4:10). + +Barnabas and Antioch +Antioch, the third-most important city of the Roman Empire, then the capital city of Syria province, today Antakya, Turkey, was where Christians were first called thus. + +Some of those who had been scattered by the persecution that arose because of Stephen went to Antioch, which became the site of an early Christian community. A considerable minority of the Antioch church of Barnabas's time belonged to the merchant class, and they provided support to the poorer Jerusalem church. + +Martyrdom + +Church tradition developed outside of the canon of the New Testament describes the martyrdom of many saints, including the legend of the martyrdom of Barnabas. It relates that certain Jews coming to Syria and Salamis, where Barnabas was then preaching the gospel, being highly exasperated at his extraordinary success, fell upon him as he was disputing in the synagogue, dragged him out, and, after the most inhumane tortures, stoned him to death. His kinsman, John Mark, who was a spectator of this barbarous action, privately interred his body. + +Although it is believed he was martyred by being stoned, the apocryphal Acts of Barnabas states that he was bound with a rope by the neck, and then being dragged only to the site where he would be burned to death. + +According to the History of the Cyprus Church, in 478 Barnabas appeared in a dream to the Archbishop Anthemios of Cyprus and revealed to him the place of his sepulchre beneath a carob-tree. The following day Anthemios found the tomb and inside it the remains of Barnabas with a manuscript of Matthew's Gospel on his breast. Anthemios presented the Gospel to Emperor Zeno at Constantinople and received from him the privileges of the Greek Orthodox Church of Cyprus, that is, the purple cloak which the Greek Archbishop of Cyprus wears at festivals of the church, the imperial sceptre and the red ink with which he affixes his signature. + +Anthemios then placed the venerable remains of Barnabas in a church which he founded near the tomb. Excavations near the site of a present-day church and monastery, have revealed an early church with two empty tombs, believed to be that of St. Barnabas and Anthemios. + +St. Barnabas is venerated as the patron saint of Cyprus. He is also considered a patron saint in many other places in the world, highlighting +Milan in Italy. On the island of Tenerife (Spain), St. Barnabas was invoked in historical times as patron saint and protector of the island's fields against drought, together with St. Benedict of Nursia. + +Barnabas the Apostle is remembered in the Church of England with a festival on 11 June. + +Other sources +Although many assume that the biblical Mark the cousin of Barnabas is the same as John Mark and Mark the Evangelist, the traditionally believed author of the Gospel of Mark, they are listed as three distinct people in Pseudo-Hippolytus' On the Seventy Apostles of Christ, which includes Barnabas himself as one of the Seventy-Two Disciples. There are two people named Barnabas among Hippolytus' list of Seventy Disciples, One (#13) became the bishop of Milan, the other (#25) the bishop of Heraclea. Most likely one of these two is the biblical Barnabas; the first one is more likely, because the numbering by Hippolytus seems to indicate a level of significance, and Barnabas is traditionally credited with founding the apostolic see of Milan. Clement of Alexandria also makes Barnabas one of the Seventy Disciples that are mentioned in the Gospel of Luke. + +Other sources bring Barnabas to Rome and Alexandria. In the "Clementine Recognitions" (i, 7) he is depicted as preaching in Rome even during Christ's lifetime. + +Cypriots developed the tradition of his later activity and martyrdom no earlier than the 3rd century. The question whether Barnabas was an apostle was often discussed during the Middle Ages. + +Alleged writings +Tertullian and other Western writers regard Barnabas as the author of the Letter to the Hebrews. This may have been the Roman tradition—which Tertullian usually follows—and in Rome the epistle may have had its first readers. Modern biblical scholarship considers its authorship unknown, though Barnabas amongst others has been proposed as potential authors. + +"Photius of the ninth century, refers to some in his day who were uncertain whether the Acts was written by Clement of Rome, Barnabas, or Luke. Yet Photius is certain that the work must be ascribed to Luke." + +He is also traditionally associated with the Epistle of Barnabas, although some modern scholars think it more likely that the epistle was written in Alexandria in the 130s. John Dominic Crossan quotes Koester as stating that New Testament writings are used "neither explicitly nor tacitly" in the Epistle of Barnabas and that this "would argue for an early date, perhaps even before the end of the first century AD." Crossan continues (The Cross that Spoke, p. 121): +Richardson and Shukster have also argued for a first-century date. Among several arguments they point to the detail of "a little king, who shall subdue three of the kings under one" and "a little crescent horn, and that it subdued under one three of the great horns" in Barnabas 4:4–5. They propose a composition "date during or immediately after the reign of Nerva (96–8 AD.) . . . viewed as bringing to an end the glorious Flavian dynasty of Vespasian, Titus, and Domitian . . . when a powerful, distinguished, and successful dynasty was brought low, humiliated by an assassin's knife" (33, 40). +In 16:3–4, the Epistle of Barnabas says: "Furthermore he says again, 'Lo, they who destroyed this temple shall themselves build it.' That is happening now. For owing to the war it was destroyed by the enemy; at present even the servants of the enemy will build it up again." This clearly places Barnabas after the destruction of the temple in 70 AD. But it also places Barnabas before the Bar Kochba revolt in 132 AD, after which there could have been no hope that the Romans would help to rebuild the temple. This shows that the document comes from the period between these two revolts. +Jay Curry Treat states on the dating of Barnabas (The Anchor Bible Dictionary, v. 1, pp. 613–614): +Since Barnabas 16:3 refers to the destruction of the temple, Barnabas must be written after 70 C.E. It must be written before its first indisputable use in Clement of Alexandria, ca. 190. Since 16:4 expects the temple to be rebuilt, it was most likely written before Hadrian built a Roman temple on the site ca. 135. Attempts to use 4:4–5 and 16:1–5 to specify the time of origin more exactly have not won wide agreement. It is important to remember that traditions of varying ages have been incorporated into this work. +Treat comments on the provenance of the Epistle of Barnabas (op. cit., p. 613): +Barnabas does not give enough indications to permit confident identification of either the teacher's location or the location to which he writes. His thought, hermeneutical methods, and style have many parallels throughout the known Jewish and Christian worlds. Most scholars have located the work's origin in the area of Alexandria, on the grounds that it has many affinities with Alexandrian Jewish and Christian thought and because its first witnesses are Alexandrian. Recently, Prigent (Prigent and Kraft 1971: 20–24), Wengst (1971: 114–18), and Scorza Barcellona (1975: 62–65) have suggested other origins based on affinities in Palestine, Syria, and Asia Minor. The place of origin must remain an open question, although the Greek-speaking E. Mediterranean appears most probable. +Concerning the relationship between Barnabas and the New Testament, Treat writes (op. cit., p. 614): +Although Barnabas 4:14 appears to quote Matt 22:14, it must remain an open question whether the Barnabas circle knew written gospels. Based on Koester's analysis (1957: 125–27, 157), it appears more likely that Barnabas stood in the living oral tradition used by the written gospels. For example, the reference to gall and vinegar in Barnabas 7:3, 5 seems to preserve an early stage of tradition that influenced the formation of the passion narratives in the Gospel of Peter and the synoptic gospels. + +The 5th century Decretum Gelasianum includes a Gospel of Barnabas amongst works condemned as apocryphal; but no certain text or quotation from this work has been identified. + +Another book using that same title, the Gospel of Barnabas, survives in two post-medieval manuscripts in Italian and Spanish. Contrary to the canonical Christian Gospels, and in accordance with the Islamic view of Jesus, this later Gospel of Barnabas states that Jesus was not the son of God, but a prophet and messenger. + +The Barnabites +In 1538, the Catholic religious order officially known as "Clerics Regular of St. Paul" (Clerici Regulares Sancti Pauli), gained the grand old Monastery of Saint Barnabas by the city wall of Milan as their main seat. The Order was thenceforth known by the popular name of Barnabites. + +See also + Catholic Church in Cyprus + Lectionary 214 – apocryphal Apodemia of Barnabas + List of early Christian saints + Saint Barnabas, patron saint archive + +Notes + +References + + Attwater, Donald and Catherine Rachel John. "The Penguin Dictionary of Saints," 3rd edition, New York: Penguin Books, 1993. + + + +Attribution: + +Further reading + + Die Apostolischen Väter. Griechisch-deutsche Parallelausgabe. J.C.B. Mohr Tübingen 1992. + Der Barnabasbrief. Übersetzt und erklärt von Ferdinand R. Prostmeier. Series: Kommentar zu den Apostolischen Vätern (KAV, Vol. 8). Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht: Göttingen 1999. + +External links + The Epistle of Barnabas + St. Barnabas the Apostle + St Barnabas Monastery and Icon Museum, Famagusta, Cyprus + St. Barnabas at the Christian Iconography web site. + The Life of St. Barnabas the Apostle in Caxton's translation of the Golden Legend + + +1st-century Italian bishops +1st-century Christian martyrs +1st-century Christian theologians +1st-century writers +1st-century Jews +Anglican saints +Archbishops of Milan +Biblical apostles +Burials in Cyprus +Christian saints from the New Testament +Christian writers +Cypriot Jews +Cypriot saints +Early Jewish Christians +Eastern Catholic saints +Jewish writers +Jews and Judaism in Cyprus +People from Famagusta +People in the Pauline epistles +Prophets of the New Testament +Seventy disciples +Year of birth unknown +People in Acts of the Apostles +Levites +Birka (Birca in medieval sources), on the island of Björkö (lit. "Birch Island") in present-day Sweden, was an important Viking Age trading center which handled goods from Scandinavia as well as many parts of the European continent and the Orient. Björkö is located in Lake Mälaren, 30 kilometers west of contemporary Stockholm, in the municipality of Ekerö. + +Birka was founded around AD 750 and it flourished for more than 200 years. It was abandoned c. AD 975, around the same time Sigtuna was founded as a Christian town some 35 km to the northeast. It has been estimated that the population in Viking Age Birka was between 500 and 1000 people. + +The archaeological sites of Birka and Hovgården, on the neighbouring island of Adelsö, make up an archaeological complex which illustrates the elaborate trading networks of Viking Scandinavia and their influence on the subsequent history of Europe. Generally regarded as Sweden's oldest town, Birka (along with Hovgården) has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1993. Many burial sites have been uncovered at Birka, leading to the finding of many objects including jewelry and many textile fragments. In recent years, objects from Birka have been in the public eye due to ongoing academic research connection Birka to evidence of trade with the Middle East. + +History + +Birka was founded around 750 AD as a trading port by a king or merchants trying to control trade. It is one of the earliest urban settlements in Scandinavia. Birka was the Baltic link in the Dnieper Trade Route through Ladoga (Aldeigja) and Novgorod (Holmsgard) to the Byzantine Empire and the Abbasid Caliphate. Birka is the site of the first known Christian congregation in Sweden, founded in 831 by Saint Ansgar. + +As a trading center, Birka most likely offered furs, iron goods, and craft products, in exchange for various materials from much of Europe and Western Asia. Furs were obtained from the Sami people, the Finns, and people in Northwestern Russia, as well as from local trappers. Furs included bear, fox, marten, otter, beaver, and other species. Reindeer antlers and objects carved from reindeer antlers like combs were important items of trade. The trade of walrus teeth, amber, and honey is also documented. + +Foreign goods found from the graves of Birka include glass and metalware, pottery from the Rhineland, clothing and textiles including Chinese silk, Byzantine embroidery with extremely fine gold thread, brocades with gold passementerie, and plaited cords of high quality. From the ninth century onwards coins minted at Haithabu in Northern Germany and elsewhere in Scandinavia start to appear. However, the vast majority of the coins found at Birka are silver dirhams from the Middle East while English and Carolingian coins are rare. + +Rimbert and Adam of Bremen's account of Birka +Sources from Birka are mainly archaeological remains. No texts survive from this area, though the written text Vita Ansgari ("The Life of Ansgar") by Rimbert (c. 865) describes the missionary work of Ansgar around 830 at Birka, and Gesta Hammaburgensis Ecclesiae Pontificum (Deeds of Bishops of the Hamburg Church) by Adam of Bremen in 1075 describes the Archbishop Unni, who died at Birka in 936. Saint Ansgar's work was the first attempt to convert the people of Birka from the Norse religion to Christianity. It was unsuccessful. + +Both Rimbert and Adam were German clergymen writing in Latin. There are no known Norse sources mentioning the name of the settlement, or even the settlement itself, and the original Norse name of Birka is unknown. Birca is the Latinised form given in the written sources by Rimbert and Adam; and Birka is the contemporary, unhistorical Swedish form. The Latin name is probably derived from an Old Norse word "birk" which probably means a market place. Related to this was the Bjärköa law (bjärköarätt) which regulated the life of market places in Denmark, Norway and Sweden. Birka and similar spellings are very common in Scandinavian place names still today leading to speculation that all references to Birka, especially those by Adam of Bremen, were not about the same location. + +Both publications are silent on Birka's size, layout, and appearance. Based on Rimbert's account, Birka was significant because it had a port and it was the location of the regional ting. Adam only mentions the port, but otherwise, Birka seems to have been significant to him because it was the start of Ansgar's Christian mission and because Archbishop Unni was buried there. + +Vita Ansgari and Gesta are sometimes ambiguous, which has caused some controversy as to whether Birka and the Björkö settlement are the same location. Many other locations have been suggested through the years. However, Björkö is the only location that shows remains of a town of Birka's significance, which is why the vast majority of scholars regard Björkö as the location of Birka. + +Birka was abandoned during the latter half of the 10th century. Based on the dating of the coins, the city seems to have died out around 960. Roughly around the same time, the nearby settlement of Sigtuna supplanted Birka as the main trading center in the Mälaren area. The reasons for Birka's decline are disputed. A contributing factor may have been the post-glacial rebound, which lowered the water level of Mälaren changing it from an arm of the sea into a lake and cutting Birka off from the nearest (southern) access to the Baltic Sea. The Baltic island of Gotland was also in a better strategic position for Rus'-Byzantine trade and was gaining eminence as a mercantile stronghold. Historian Neil Kent has speculated that the area may have been the victim of an enemy assault. + +The Varangian trade stations in Russia suffered a serious decline at roughly the same date. + +Rimbert's description +In Vita Ansgari ("The life of Ansgar") monk and later archbishop of Hamburg-Bremen Rimbert gives the first known description of Birka. The town was the center of Catholic missionary activities in the 9th century Sweden. Rimbert's interests were in the Christian faith, not so much in the Swedish geopolicy, so his descriptions of Birka remain approximate at best. + +Bridgehead of Christian missionaries +This is how it all started in 829: + +Meanwhile it happened that Swedish ambassadors had come to the Emperor Louis the Pious, and, amongst other matters which they had been ordered to bring to the attention of the emperor, they informed him that there were many belonging to their nation who desired to embrace the Christian religion, and that their king so far favoured this suggestion that he would permit God's priests to reside there, provided that they might be deemed worthy of such a favour and that the emperor would send them suitable preachers. (Chapter IX) + +Ansgar then undertook the mission committed to him by the emperor, who desired that he should go to the Swedes and discover whether this people was prepared to accept the faith as their messengers had declared. (Chapter X) + +Ansgar was already experienced in the missionary work in Denmark, and set forth to Sweden. Rimbert describes the trip very generally: + +It may suffice for me to say that while they were in the midst of their journey they fell into the hands of pirates. The merchants with whom they were travelling, defended themselves vigorously and for a time successfully, but eventually they were conquered and overcome by the pirates, who took from them their ships and all that they possessed, whilst they themselves barely escaped on. foot to land. —With great difficulty they accomplished their long journey on foot, traversing also the intervening seas (maria), where it was possible, by ship, and eventually arrived at the Swedish port called Birka. (Chapters X and XI) + +Rimbert does not say where Ansgar sailed off or where he landed. Noteworthy is just his note about several "seas" that they had to cross to get to Birka from the place they had landed to. Since Rimbert mentions them to have crossed the seas by ship "where it was possible" they clearly had the alternative of going around them as well, meaning that the seas were probably the numerous lakes in southern Sweden. When Ansgar again travelled to Birka from Germany about 852, it went easier: + +Ansgar accomplished the journey on which he had set out, and after spending nearly twenty days in a ship, he arrived at Birka (Chapter XXVI) + +This might mean that he sailed off from Hamburg or Bremen instead of some port in Baltic Sea, since the later account by Adam of Bremen gives the distance of Scania and Birka to be only five days at sea. + +Kings +Several Swedish kings of the 9th century, Björn, Anund and Olof, are all mentioned in Vita to have spent time in Birka. None of them is however said to have had his residence there, as the Swedish king and his retinue periodically moved between the Husbys, parts of the network of royal estates called Uppsala öd. + +King Björn met Ansgar in Birka when he arrived there in 829 (Chapter XI). Later King Olof met him there as well during his last trip in 852 (Chapter XXVI). + +Church +Ansgar's missionary work resulted in first churches to be built in Sweden. Talking about Herigar, the prefect of Birka: + +A little later he built a church on his own ancestral property and served God with the utmost devotion. (Chapter XI) + +Herigar's church was not far from the place where tings were held: + +On one occasion he himself was sitting in an assembly of people, a stage having been arranged for a council on an open plain. He then summoned his servants and told them to carry him to his church. (Chapter XIX) + +Another church was also built in Sweden, however location is left open: + +This Gautbert, who at his consecration received the honoured name of the apostle Simeon, went to Sweden, and was honourably received by the king and the people; and he began, amidst general goodwill and approval, to build a church there (Chapter XIV) + +The exiled Swedish King Anund Uppsale confirms that either one of the churches was in Birka itself when he ponders if Birka should be plundered: + +"There are there," he said, "many great and powerful gods, and in former time a church was built there, and there are many Christians there who worship Christ" (Chapter XIX) + +Probable fortress + +Danes attacked Birka, accompanied with the deposed king Anund, which caused great distress in the town. + +Being in great difficulty they fled to a neighbouring city (ad civitatem, quæ iuxta erat, confugerunt) and began to promise and offer to their gods—But inasmuch as the city was not strong and there were few to offer resistance, they sent messengers to the Danes and asked for friendship and alliance. —Hergeir, the faithful servant of the Lord, was angry with them and said, "They will lead away your wives and sons as captives, they will burn our city (urbs) and town (vicus)" and will destroy you with the sword (Chapter XIX) + +As the neighbouring "city" is not mentioned in any other context than during the Danish attack as a place where people took refuge, it probably meant a nearby fortress. Eventually Danes left, sparing Birka from destruction. + +Ting assembly +When Ansgar asked if King Olof would permit him to establish the Christian religion in the kingdom during his second visit in 852, the king said to him: + +On this account I have not the power, nor do I dare, to approve the objects of your mission until I can consult our gods by the casting of lots and until I can enquire the will of the people in regard to this matter. Let your messenger attend with me the next assembly (Chapter XXVI) + +When the day for the assembly which was held in the town of Birka drew near, in accordance with their national custom the king caused a proclamation to be made to the people by the voice of a herald, in order that they might be informed concerning the object of their mission. —The king then rose up from amongst the assembly and forthwith directed one of his own messengers to accompany the bishop's messenger, and to tell him that the people were unanimously inclined to accept his proposal and at the same time to tell him that, whilst their action was entirely agreeable to him, he could not give his full consent until, in another assembly, which was to be held in another part of his kingdom, he could announce this resolution to the people who lived in that district. (Chapter XXVII) + +Tings were huge open-air events, which required plenty of space. The more important ting that king Olof talked about was probably the Ting of all Swedes, which was held at the end of February in Uppsala, during the Disting. The king was obliged to obey the common decisions made at this ting, and the most powerful man at this assembly was not the king, but the lawspeaker of Tiundaland. Locally important tings were the Westrogothic Ting of all Geats in Skara and the Ostrogothic Lionga ting in the vicinity of today's Linköping. + +Adam of Bremen's description +In Gesta Hammaburgensis ecclesiae pontificum (Deeds of Bishops of the Hamburg Church), Adam of Bremen mentions Birka many times, and the book is the main source of information on the city. After its initial release in 1075–6, Gesta was complemented with supplementary Scholias until the death of Adam in the 1080s. Birca is described as an existing city in the original version, but then as destroyed in Scholia 138. + +One of Adam's main sources had been the German bishop Adalvard the Younger of Sigtuna and later of Skara as hinted in Scholia 119. He was also very familiar with Rimbert's work. Adam himself never visited Birka. + +Location and port +Adam described Birka as a Geatish port town and had gathered many details about it. + +Birka is the main Geatish town (oppidum Gothorum), situated in the middle of Sweden (Suevoniae), not far (non longe) from the temple called Uppsala (Ubsola) which the Swedes (Sueones) held in the highest esteem when it comes to the worship of the gods; here forms an inlet of the Baltic or the Barbaric Sea a port facing north which welcomes all the wild peoples all around this sea but which is risky for those who are careless or ignorant of such places ... they have therefore blocked this inlet of the troubled sea with hidden masses of rocks along more than 100 stadions (18 km). On this anchorage, being the best sheltered within the maritime region of Sweden (Suevoniae), all the ships belonging to Danes (Danorum) known as Norwegians (Nortmannorum) as well as to Slavs (Sclavorum), Sembrians (Semborum) and other Scythian (Scithiae) peoples use to convene every year for sundry necessary commerce. (I 62) + +Turning from the northern parts to the mouth of the Baltic Sea we first meet the Norwegians (Nortmanni), then the Danish region of Skåne (Sconia) stands out, and beyond these live the Geats (Gothi) for a long stretch all the way to Birka. (IV 14) + +Having described Västergötland and Skara, Adam writes: + +Beyond it Östergötland (Ostrogothia) extends along the sea, that is called the Baltic Sea, all the way to Birka. (IV 23) + +Noteworthy in the following statement is the usage of the term "not far" (non longe) which was also used to describe the distance between Birka and the Uppsala temple: + +Furthermore we have been told that there are many more islands in that sea, one of which is called the Great Estland (Aestland) – And this island is told to be quite close to the Woman Land (terrae feminarum), which is not far (non longe) away from Birka of the Swedes. (IV 17) + +Adam also had travel instructions from Skåne to Sigtuna: + +From Skåne (Sconia) of the Danes one reaches Sigtuna (Sictonam) or Birka after five days at sea, for they are indeed alike. But by land from Skåne across the Geatish people (Gothorum populos) and cities Skara (Scaranem), Telgas and Birka, one reaches Sigtuna only after a full month. (IV 28) + +"Telgas" is not mentioned anywhere else, and it remains as speculative as Birka. The most popular identification among many telge names in Sweden is Södertälje. Scholia 121 of IV 20 tells also: + +For those who sail from Skåne (Sconia) of the Danes to Birka, the journey takes five days, from Birka to Russia (Ruzziam) likewise five days at sea. (Scholia 121) + +The following definition remains even more mysterious: + +In pity of their errors, our archbishop ordained as their diocesan capital Birka, which is in the middle of Sweden (Sueoniae) facing Jumne (Iumnem), the capital of the Slavs, and equally distant from all the coasts of the surrounding sea. (IV 20) + +Since it is physically impossible for any Swedish town to face Jumne, the latter being situated along River Oder, Adam's statement is probably a misunderstanding. No place having a similar name to Birka is known to have situated on the opposite shore of Oder, so it may be possible that something similar to Jumne was located opposite to Birka. + +Bishop +Archbishopric of Hamburg-Bremen that oversaw the missionary work in Scandinavia until 1103, had appointed bishops to Sweden at least from 1014 onwards, the first see being in Skara. Several bishops were appointed for Sweden in 1060s, one also for Birka. + +For Sweden, six were consecrated: Adalvard the Elder (Adalwardum) and Acilinum, also Adalvard the Younger (Adalwardum) and Tadicum, and furthermore Simeon (Symeonem) and the monk John (Iohannem). (III 70) + +Scholia 94 appends this as follows: + +Adalvard the Elder (Adalwardus senior) was to superintend both lands of the Geats (uterque praefectus est Gothiae), Adalvard the Younger Sigtuna (Sictunam) and Uppsala (Ubsalam), Simeon (Symon) the Sami people (Scritefingos), John (Iohannes) the islands of the Baltic Sea. (Scholia 94) + +Furthermore, the following was said about John's location after talking about Birka: + +For this city he ordained, as the first among our people, the abbot Hiltin, whom he wanted to call John. (IV 20) + +John seems to have been situated in Birka in order to prepare for the missionary work among the many heathen people that flooded to Birca from around the Baltic coasts. This was a logical continuation to Birka's position as the first missionary town in Sweden. Noteworthy here is that the biggest islands in the Baltic Sea, Öland and Gotland, were part of the diocese of Linköping in the Middle Ages, covering also Östergötland and eastern Småland. + +Location of Unni's tomb +Scholia 122 of IV 20 locates the tomb of Hamburg's archbishop Unni in Birka: + +There is the port of Saint Ansgar and the tomb of the holy Archbishop Unni, and a familiar haven, it is said, for the holy confessors of our diocese. (Scholia 122) + +According to Gesta, Unni had died in 936 (I 64). + +Destruction +After having consistently described Birka as an existing city, Scholia 138 of IV 29 describes Birka's sudden demise. Talking about Adalvard the Younger, the bishop of Sigtuna and later that of Skara, Adam or a later copyist has written: + +During his journey he seized the opportunity to make a detour to Birka, which is now reduced to loneliness so that one can hardly find vestiges of the city; therefore impossible to come upon the tomb of the holy Archbishop Unni. (Scholia 138) + +The remark does not make it clear if Adalvard found the city destroyed or if that had happened after his visit and the later remark was just to warn the future pilgrims not to go there anymore in vain. As Adalvard was back in Bremen already by 1069 and is mentioned as one of Adam's sources of information, it would have been expected that word about Birka's destruction had reached also Adam before he published his work half a decade later. + +Björkö Archaeological Site + +The exact location of Birka was also lost during the centuries, leading to speculation from Swedish historians. In 1450, the island of Björkö was first claimed to be Birka by the "Chronicle of Sweden" (Prosaiska krönikan). + +In search of Birka, National Antiquarian Johan Hadorph was the first to attempt excavations on Björkö in the late 17th century. + +In the late 19th century, Hjalmar Stolpe, an entomologist by education, arrived on Björkö to study fossilized insects found in amber on the island. Stolpe found very large amounts of amber, which is unusual since amber is not normally found in lake Mälaren. Stolpe speculated that the island may have been an important trading post, prompting him to conduct a series of archeological excavations between 1871 and 1895. The excavations soon indicated that a major settlement had been located on the island and eventually Stolpe spent two decades excavating the island. After Björkö came to be identified with ancient Birka, it has been assumed that the original name of Birka was simply Bierkø (sometimes spelled Bjärkö), an earlier form of Björkö. + +A significant collection of textiles fragments were retrieved during excavations, mostly from chamber graves. Agnes Geijer published the most detailed analysis of this collection in 1938, although her study was based upon only around 5% of the 4800 textile fragments preserved from the site. The collection represents a usual variety of different types of textiles showing high quality textiles manufactured by different techniques like tabby and twill. Mostly made from wool and flax, the quality of the textiles studied by Geijer ranged from very coarse to fine fabrics with high thread counts that required complicated techniques to create. The variety of materials and techniques to make the tablet woven textiles led Geijer to theorize that some of the textiles were imported. Geijer also found remains of the three-end twill textile that has not been found anywhere else in Northern Europe. Geijer theorized that some of the fragments came from the East, possibly China, due the use of gold and silver wire as well as silk. + +Ownership of Björkö is today mainly in private hands and is used for farming. The settlement site, however, is an archaeological site, and a museum has been built nearby for exhibition of finds (mostly replicas), models and reconstructions. It is a popular site to visit during the summer times. The complete collection of archaeological finds from the excavations on Björkö are held by The Swedish History Museum in Stockholm, and many of the artifacts are on display there. + +The archaeological remains are located in the north part of Björkö and span an area of about 7 hectares (17 acres). The remains are both burial-sites and buildings, and in the south part of this area, there is also a hill fort called "Borgen" ("The Fortress"). The construction technique of the buildings is still unknown, but the main material was wood. An adjacent island holds the remains of Hovgården, an estate that housed the King's retinue during visits. + +Approximately 700 people lived at Birka when it was at its largest, and about 3,000 graves have been found. Its administrative center was supposedly located outside of the settlement itself, on the nearby island of Adelsö. + +The most recent large excavation was undertaken between 1990 and 1995 in a region of dark earth, believed to be the site of the main settlement. + +Shipyard + +On 15 June 2022, it was announced that archaeologists from Stockholm University's Archaeological Research Laboratory had found a Viking Age shipyard in Lake Mälaren. It was the first time a site like the shipyard had been found. + +"The site found consisted of a stone-lined depression in the Viking Age shore zone with a wooden boat slip at the bottom. The finds at the site consist of large quantities of both unused and used boat rivets, whetstones made from slate and woodworking tools." + +Björkö Objects + +"Allah" Textile Controversy +In 2017, Annika Larsson, a textile researcher, claimed in a press release by Uppsala University to have discovered a textile among the finds from Birka that bore the Arabic words "Allah" and "Ali". She theorized that some of the Vikings could have been influenced by Islam, leading to widespread media coverage. Stephennie Mulder, a professor of Islamic art at the University of Texas at Austin, replied to Larsson's findings in a Twitter thread. Based on the epigraphy, Mulder argued that the textile bore a simple geometric pattern and not Arabic writing because the dating of the textile was from the 10th century and the style of writing Larsson claimed was on the textile, square Kufic, is not seen until the 15th century. Larsson had also proposed extensions to the tablet weaving that expanded beyond the original drawing by Agnes Geijer in 1938. Textile specialist Carolyn Priest-Dorman argued that the expansions are impossible because the fragment has finished edges called selvages and the band would have shown cut weft threads if the fragment had been narrowed at some point. Larsson's drawings were speculative and not based on evidence that an expansion existed. The backlash following these criticisms led the press release on the Uppsala University website to include a note that Larsson's research was preliminary and a comment regarding the criticisms. In 2020, Larsson published an article reiterating her claim that the textile bore Arabic writing, without addressing these criticisms. + +"Allah" Ring Controversy + +A ring was found during the archeological excavations at Birka between 1872 and 1895, when archeologist Hjalmar Stolpe discovered it in a 9th-century Viking woman's burial. It is made of high-quality silver alloy and is set with a pink-violet oval glass. The ring, preserved at the Swedish history museum, became known as the "Allah ring" because of the pseudo-Kufic inscription found on the ring's glass that resembles the word Allah (Arabic: الله). While other rings were found at the Birka excavations, the "Allah ring" was the only one that had this type of inscription. The Arabic historical linguist Marijn van Putten argued that the inscription on the ring was an example of pseudo-Kufic and that it has no meaning in Arabic. Nevertheless, other analysts extrapolated that the pseudo-Kufic engraving was indeed Arabic and that this was sufficient evidence to directly link Vikings to Islamic civilization. In her Twitter thread on the "Allah” textile, Stephennie Mulder drew on the work of van Putten to argue that like the textile, the ring had been similarly misunderstood. However, she acknowledged that the Arabic language—found on the ring and other objects from Birka—was appreciated by the Vikings as a sign of social status. The inscription could suggest that the ring's owner might have been one of the Viking elites who were in contact with the Islamic world via trade or travel. + +Dragonhead +The Birka dragonhead is a 45mm long decorative object made from a tin alloy. Sven Kalmring and Lena Holmquist maintain that the dragonhead was cast from a soapstone mold due to the presence of casting burs on the object and the fact that similar casting molds of dragons have been found in Birka. Stylistically similar dragonheads have been discovered around the Baltic, and scholars like Anne-Sofie Gräslund believe they likely functioned as dress pins. + +Wearable Accessories +10 small silver crosses were found in graves at Birka. Missionaries, brought by Rimbert and others, lead to some converts to Christianity. 27 graves contained small pendants of Thor's hammer from around the 10th century. Both traditional Viking religious beliefs and Christianity were present at Birka. + +Many Birka grave excavations produced a number of funerary findings unique to the deceased and the region of the grave. In the excavation of grave Bj 463, a small copper alloy brooch with animal motifs was found alongside the skeletal remains of a young girl from Birka, and similar ones appeared in other excavations around Birka. + +The brooch is understood to be typically related to female burials and also female jewelry of the Viking period. The surrounding fragments of textiles attached to these brooches, scattered around various graves across Sweden, also give an understanding of what the typical womenswear of the Viking age may have been in the 9th and 10th centuries. + +Dirham Coins +Dirham coins have been located all around Scandinavian countries and suggest strong trade relations existed between the medieval Middle East and Northern Europe. A dirham coin was found in the excavation of grave sites in Birka, with Arabic writing and an absence of imagery that would date the coin sometime after the 7th century. Other writing on the coin indicates the location of the mint as well as the names of a caliph and an Amir, which place the coin's origins in al-Shah, modern day Tashkent in Uzbekistan. The coin's inscription in Arabic translates into English:There is no deity but Allah alone he has no equal For God Muhammad is the messenger of God. + +Birka Burial Sites +Over 3,000 grave sites are located in Birka, including both cremations and inhumations in coffins or chamber graves. Skeletal analysis and the presence of gender-specific jewelry and objects in graves has shown that the majority of the deceased are female. Scholar Nancy L. Wicker suggests that the disproportionate number of female graves is due to the fact that female grave goods are easily identifiable, but male graves without objects are difficult to identify. + +Many graves contain objects such as coins, glass, and textiles that originated in foreign countries as far as the Middle East and Eastern Asia. According to Nancy L. Wicker, these objects were either imported to Birka as luxury trade goods, or they belonged to foreign individuals who were buried at Birka. + +Grave Bj 581: Female Warrior + +Grave Bj 463: Young Girl +Grave Bj 463 contained the skeleton of a girl from the mid-10th century. She was buried in a coffin with grave goods associated with high-status women, including a round brooch, glass beads, and a needle case. By the condition of her teeth, she was 5–6 years old at the time of her death, and further analysis determined that her diet was similar to that of male warriors instead of a typical child's diet. Scholar Marianne Hem Eriksen maintains that this girl is an unusual case of a high-status child burial, as children were seldom buried with identifiable grave goods. + +See also + List of runestones + Uppland Runic Inscription 6 on display in Birka's museum + +References + +External links + + Birka and Hovgården at the Swedish National Heritage Board + Birka and Hovgården – at UNESCO + Reconstructions of Bone Flutes like the ones from Birka + The Swedish History Museum + +Viking Age in Sweden +World Heritage Sites in Sweden +Mälaren +Archaeological sites in Sweden +Archaeology of Northern Europe +Former populated places in Sweden +Geography of Stockholm County +Uppland +Museums in Stockholm County +Archaeological museums in Sweden +Viking Age museums +Beta-lactamases (β-lactamases) are enzymes () produced by bacteria that provide multi-resistance to beta-lactam antibiotics such as penicillins, cephalosporins, cephamycins, monobactams and carbapenems (ertapenem), although carbapenems are relatively resistant to beta-lactamase. Beta-lactamase provides antibiotic resistance by breaking the antibiotics' structure. These antibiotics all have a common element in their molecular structure: a four-atom ring known as a beta-lactam (β-lactam) ring. Through hydrolysis, the enzyme lactamase breaks the β-lactam ring open, deactivating the molecule's antibacterial properties. + +Beta-lactam antibiotics are typically used to target a broad spectrum of gram-positive and gram-negative pathogenic bacteria. + +Beta-lactamases produced by gram-negative bacteria are usually secreted, especially when antibiotics are present in the environment. + +Structure + +The structure of a Streptomyces serine β-lactamase (SBLs) is given by . The alpha-beta fold () resembles that of a DD-transpeptidase, from which the enzyme is thought to have evolved. β-lactam antibiotics bind to DD-transpeptidases to inhibit bacterial cell wall biosynthesis. Serine β-lactamases are grouped by sequence similarity into types A, C, and D. + +The other type of beta-lactamase is of the metallo type ("type B"). Metallo-beta-lactamases (MBLs) need metal ion(s) (1 or 2 Zn2+ ions) on their active site for their catalytic activities. The structure of the New Delhi metallo-beta-lactamase 1 is given by . It resembles a RNase Z, from which it is thought to have evolved. + +Mechanism of action +The two types of beta-lactamases work on the basis of the two basic mechanisms of opening the β-lactam ring. + +The SBLs are similar in structure and mechanistically to the β-lactam target penicillin-binding proteins (PBPs) which are necessary for cell wall building and modifying. SBLs and PBPs both covalently change an active site Serine residue. The difference between the PBPs and SBLs is that the latter generates free enzyme and inactive antibiotic by the very quick hydrolysis of the acyl-enzyme intermediate. + +The MBLs use the Zn2+ ions to activate a binding site water molecule for the hydrolysis of the β-lactam ring. Zinc chelators have recently been investigated as metallo-β-lactamase inhibitors, as they are often able to restore carbapenem susceptibility. + +Penicillinase +Penicillinase is a specific type of β-lactamase, showing specificity for penicillins, again by hydrolysing the β-lactam ring. Molecular weights of the various penicillinases tend to cluster near 50 kiloDaltons. + +Penicillinase was the first β-lactamase to be identified. It was first isolated by Abraham and Chain in 1940 from Gram-negative E. coli even before penicillin entered clinical use, but penicillinase production quickly spread to bacteria that previously did not produce it or produced it only rarely. Penicillinase-resistant beta-lactams such as methicillin were developed, but there is now widespread resistance to even these. + +Resistance in Gram-negative bacteria + +Among Gram-negative bacteria, the emergence of resistance to extended-spectrum cephalosporins has been a major concern. It appeared initially in a limited number of bacterial species (E. cloacae, C. freundii, S. marcescens, and P. aeruginosa) that could mutate to hyperproduce their chromosomal class C β-lactamase. A few years later, resistance appeared in bacterial species not naturally producing AmpC enzymes (K. pneumoniae, Salmonella spp., P. mirabilis) due to the production of TEM- or SHV-type ESBLs (extended spectrum beta lactamases). Characteristically, such resistance has included oxyimino- (for example ceftizoxime, cefotaxime, ceftriaxone, and ceftazidime, as well as the oxyimino-monobactam aztreonam), but not 7-alpha-methoxy-cephalosporins (cephamycins; in other words, cefoxitin and cefotetan); has been blocked by inhibitors such as clavulanate, sulbactam or tazobactam and did not involve carbapenems and temocillin. Chromosomal-mediated AmpC β-lactamases represent a new threat, since they confer resistance to 7-alpha-methoxy-cephalosporins (cephamycins) such as cefoxitin or cefotetan but are not affected by commercially available β-lactamase inhibitors, and can, in strains with loss of outer membrane porins, provide resistance to carbapenems. + +Extended-spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL) +Members of this family commonly express β-lactamases (e.g., TEM-3, TEM-4, and SHV-2 ) which confer resistance to expanded-spectrum (extended-spectrum) cephalosporins. In the mid-1980s, this new group of enzymes, the extended-spectrum β-lactamases (ESBLs), was detected (first detected in 1979). The prevalence of ESBL-producing bacteria have been gradually increasing in acute care hospitals. The prevalence in the general population varies between countries, e.g. approximately 6% in Germany and France, 13% in Saudi Arabia, and 63% in Egypt. ESBLs are beta-lactamases that hydrolyze extended-spectrum cephalosporins with an oxyimino side chain. These cephalosporins include cefotaxime, ceftriaxone, and ceftazidime, as well as the oxyimino-monobactam aztreonam. Thus ESBLs confer multi-resistance to these antibiotics and related oxyimino-beta lactams. In typical circumstances, they derive from genes for TEM-1, TEM-2, or SHV-1 by mutations that alter the amino acid configuration around the active site of these β-lactamases. A broader set of β-lactam antibiotics are susceptible to hydrolysis by these enzymes. An increasing number of ESBLs not of TEM or SHV lineage have recently been described. The ESBLs are frequently plasmid encoded. Plasmids responsible for ESBL production frequently carry genes encoding resistance to other drug classes (for example, aminoglycosides). Therefore, antibiotic options in the treatment of ESBL-producing organisms are extremely limited. Carbapenems are the treatment of choice for serious infections due to ESBL-producing organisms, yet carbapenem-resistant (primarily ertapenem-resistant) isolates have recently been reported. ESBL-producing organisms may appear susceptible to some extended-spectrum cephalosporins. However, treatment with such antibiotics has been associated with high failure rates. + +Types + +TEM beta-lactamases (class A) +TEM-1 is the most commonly encountered beta-lactamase in Gram-negative bacteria. Up to 90% of ampicillin resistance in E. coli is due to the production of TEM-1. Also responsible for the ampicillin and penicillin resistance that is seen in H. influenzae and N. gonorrhoeae in increasing numbers. Although TEM-type beta-lactamases are most often found in E. coli and K. pneumoniae, they are also found in other species of Gram-negative bacteria with increasing frequency. The amino acid substitutions responsible for the extended-spectrum beta lactamase (ESBL) phenotype cluster around the active site of the enzyme and change its configuration, allowing access to oxyimino-beta-lactam substrates. Opening the active site to beta-lactam substrates also typically enhances the susceptibility of the enzyme to β-lactamase inhibitors, such as clavulanic acid. Single amino acid substitutions at positions 104, 164, 238, and 240 produce the ESBL phenotype, but ESBLs with the broadest spectrum usually have more than a single amino acid substitution. Based upon different combinations of changes, currently 140 TEM-type enzymes have been described. TEM-10, TEM-12, and TEM-26 are among the most common in the United States. The term TEM comes from the name of the Athenian patient (Temoniera) from which the isolate was recovered in 1963. + +SHV beta-lactamases (class A) +SHV-1 shares 68 percent of its amino acids with TEM-1 and has a similar overall structure. The SHV-1 beta-lactamase is most commonly found in K. pneumoniae and is responsible for up to 20% of the plasmid-mediated ampicillin resistance in this species. ESBLs in this family also have amino acid changes around the active site, most commonly at positions 238 or 238 and 240. More than 60 SHV varieties are known. SHV-5 and SHV-12 are among the most common. The initials stand for "sulfhydryl reagent variable". + +CTX-M beta-lactamases (class A) +These enzymes were named for their greater activity against cefotaxime than other oxyimino-beta-lactam substrates (e.g., ceftazidime, ceftriaxone, or cefepime). Rather than arising by mutation, they represent examples of plasmid acquisition of beta-lactamase genes normally found on the chromosome of Kluyvera species, a group of rarely pathogenic commensal organisms. These enzymes are not very closely related to TEM or SHV beta-lactamases in that they show only approximately 40% identity with these two commonly isolated beta-lactamases. More than 172 CTX-M enzymes are currently known. Despite their name, a few are more active on ceftazidime than cefotaxime. They have mainly been found in strains of Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium and E. coli, but have also been described in other species of Enterobacteriaceae and are the predominant ESBL type in parts of South America. (They are also seen in eastern Europe) CTX-M-14, CTX-M-3, and CTX-M-2 are the most widespread. CTX-M-15 is currently (2006) the most widespread type in E. coli the UK and is widely prevalent in the community. An example of beta-lactamase CTX-M-15, along with ISEcp1, has been found to have recently transposed onto the chromosome of Klebsiella pneumoniae ATCC BAA-2146. The initials stand for "Cefotaxime-Munich". + +OXA beta-lactamases (class D) +OXA beta-lactamases were long recognized as a less common but also plasmid-mediated beta-lactamase variety that could hydrolyze oxacillin and related anti-staphylococcal penicillins. These beta-lactamases differ from the TEM and SHV enzymes in that they belong to molecular class D and functional group 2d . The OXA-type beta-lactamases confer resistance to ampicillin and cephalothin and are characterized by their high hydrolytic activity against oxacillin and cloxacillin and the fact that they are poorly inhibited by clavulanic acid. Amino acid substitutions in OXA enzymes can also give the ESBL phenotype. While most ESBLs have been found in E. coli, K. pneumoniae, and other Enterobacteriaceae, the OXA-type ESBLs have been found mainly in P. aeruginosa. OXA-type ESBLs have been found mainly in Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolates from Turkey and France. The OXA beta-lactamase family was originally created as a phenotypic rather than a genotypic group for a few beta-lactamases that had a specific hydrolysis profile. Therefore, there is as little as 20% sequence homology among some of the members of this family. However, recent additions to this family show some degree of homology to one or more of the existing members of the OXA beta-lactamase family. Some confer resistance predominantly to ceftazidime, but OXA-17 confers greater resistance to cefotaxime and cefepime than it does resistance to ceftazidime. + +Others +Other plasmid-mediated ESBLs, such as PER, VEB, GES, and IBC beta-lactamases, have been described but are uncommon and have been found mainly in P. aeruginosa and at a limited number of geographic sites. PER-1 in isolates in Turkey, France, and Italy; VEB-1 and VEB-2 in strains from Southeast Asia; and GES-1, GES-2, and IBC-2 in isolates from South Africa, France, and Greece. PER-1 is also common in multiresistant acinetobacter species in Korea and Turkey. Some of these enzymes are found in Enterobacteriaceae as well, whereas other uncommon ESBLs (such as BES-1, IBC-1, SFO-1, and TLA-1) have been found only in Enterobacteriaceae. + +Treatment +While ESBL-producing organisms were previously associated with hospitals and institutional care, these organisms are now increasingly found in the community. CTX-M-15-positive E. coli are a cause of community-acquired urinary infections in the UK, and tend to be resistant to all oral β-lactam antibiotics, as well as quinolones and sulfonamides. Treatment options may include nitrofurantoin, fosfomycin, mecillinam and chloramphenicol. In desperation, once-daily ertapenem or gentamicin injections may also be used. + +Inhibitor-resistant β-lactamases +Although the inhibitor-resistant β-lactamases are not ESBLs, they are often discussed with ESBLs because they are also derivatives of the classical TEM- or SHV-type enzymes. These enzymes were at first given the designation IRT for inhibitor-resistant TEM β-lactamase; however, all have subsequently been renamed with numerical TEM designations. There are at least 19 distinct inhibitor-resistant TEM β-lactamases. Inhibitor-resistant TEM β-lactamases have been found mainly in clinical isolates of E. coli, but also some strains of K. pneumoniae, Klebsiella oxytoca, P. mirabilis, and Citrobacter freundii. Although the inhibitor-resistant TEM variants are resistant to inhibition by clavulanic acid and sulbactam, thereby showing clinical resistance to the beta-lactam—lactamase inhibitor combinations of amoxicillin-clavulanate (co-amoxiclav), ticarcillin-clavulanate (co-ticarclav), and ampicillin/sulbactam, they normally remain susceptible to inhibition by tazobactam and subsequently the combination of piperacillin/tazobactam, although resistance has been described. This is no longer a primarily European epidemiology, it is found in northern parts of America often and should be tested for with complex UTI's. + +AmpC-type β-lactamases (class C) +AmpC type β-lactamases are commonly isolated from extended-spectrum cephalosporin-resistant Gram-negative bacteria. AmpC β-lactamases (also termed class C or group 1) are typically encoded on the chromosome of many Gram-negative bacteria including Citrobacter, Serratia and Enterobacter species where its expression is usually inducible; it may also occur on Escherichia coli but is not usually inducible, although it can be hyperexpressed. AmpC type β-lactamases may also be carried on plasmids. AmpC β-lactamases, in contrast to ESBLs, hydrolyse broad and extended-spectrum cephalosporins (cephamycins as well as to oxyimino-β-lactams) but are not inhibited by β-lactamase inhibitors such as clavulanic acid. AmpC-type β-lactamase organisms are often clinically grouped through the acronym, "SPACE": Serratia, Pseudomonas or Proteus, Acinetobacter, Citrobacter, and Enterobacter. + +Carbapenemases +Carbapenems are famously stable to AmpC β-lactamases and extended-spectrum-β-lactamases. Carbapenemases are a diverse group of β-lactamases that are active not only against the oxyimino-cephalosporins and cephamycins but also against the carbapenems. Aztreonam is stable to the metallo-β-lactamases, +but many IMP and VIM producers are resistant, owing to other mechanisms. Carbapenemases were formerly believed to derive only from classes A, B, and D, but a class C carbapenemase has been described. + +IMP-type carbapenemases (metallo-β-lactamases) (class B) +Plasmid-mediated IMP-type carbapenemases (IMP stands for active-on-imipenem), 19 varieties of which are currently known, became established in Japan in the 1990s both in enteric Gram-negative organisms and in Pseudomonas and Acinetobacter species. IMP enzymes spread slowly to other countries in the Far East, were reported from Europe in 1997, and have been found in Canada and Brazil. + +VIM (Verona integron-encoded metallo-β-lactamase) (Class B) +A second growing family of carbapenemases, the VIM family, was reported from Italy in 1999 and now includes 10 members, which have a wide geographic distribution in Europe, South America, and the Far East and have been found in the United States. VIM-1 was discovered in P. aeruginosa in Italy in 1996; since then, VIM-2 - now the predominant variant - was found repeatedly in Europe and the Far East; VIM-3 and -4 are minor variants of VIM-2 and -1, respectively. + +Amino acid sequence diversity is up to 10% in the VIM family, 15% in the IMP family, and 70% between VIM and IMP. Enzymes of both the families, nevertheless, are similar. Both are integron-associated, sometimes within plasmids. Both hydrolyse all β-lactams except monobactams, and evade all β-lactam inhibitors. The VIM enzymes are among the most widely distributed MBLs, with >40 VIM variants having been reported. Biochemical and biophysical studies revealed that VIM variants have only small variations in their kinetic parameters but substantial differences in their thermal stabilities and inhibition profiles. + +OXA (oxacillinase) group of β-lactamases (class D) +The OXA group of β-lactamases occur mainly in Acinetobacter species and are divided into two clusters. OXA carbapenemases hydrolyse carbapenems very slowly in vitro, and the high MICs seen for some Acinetobacter hosts (>64 mg/L) may reflect secondary mechanisms. They are sometimes augmented in clinical isolates by additional resistance mechanisms, such as impermeability or efflux. OXA carbapenemases also tend to have a reduced hydrolytic efficiency towards penicillins and cephalosporins. + +KPC (K. pneumoniae carbapenemase) (class A) +A few class A enzymes, most noted the plasmid-mediated KPC enzymes, are effective carbapenemases as well. Ten variants, KPC-2 through KPC-11 are known, and they are distinguished by one or two amino acid substitutions (KPC-1 was re-sequenced in 2008 and found to be 100% homologous to published sequences of KPC-2). KPC-1 was found in North Carolina, KPC-2 in Baltimore and KPC-3 in New York. They have only 45% homology with SME and NMC/IMI enzymes and, unlike them, can be encoded by self-transmissible plasmids. + +, the class A Klebsiella pneumoniae carbapenemase (KPC) globally has been the most common carbapenemase, and was first detected in 1996 in North Carolina, USA. A 2010 publication indicated that KPC producing Enterobacteriaceae were becoming common in the United States. + +CMY (class C) +The first class C carbapenemase was described in 2006 and was isolated from a virulent strain of Enterobacter aerogenes. It is carried on a plasmid, pYMG-1, and is therefore transmissible to other bacterial strains. + +SME (Serratia marcescens enzymes), IMI (IMIpenem-hydrolysing β-lactamase), NMC and CcrA +In general, these are of little clinical significance. + +CcrA (CfiA). Its gene occurs in ca. 1–3% of B. fragilis isolates, but fewer produce the enzyme since expression demands appropriate migration of an insertion sequence. CcrA was known before imipenem was introduced, and producers have shown little subsequent increase. + +NDM-1 (New Delhi metallo-β-lactamase) (class B) + +Originally described from New Delhi in 2009, this gene is now widespread in Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae from India and Pakistan. As of mid-2010, NDM-1 carrying bacteria have been introduced to other countries (including the United States and UK), most probably due to the large number of tourists travelling the globe, who may have picked up the strain from the environment, as strains containing the NDM-1 gene have been found in environmental samples in India. NDM have several variants which share different properties. + +Treatment of ESBL/AmpC/carbapenemases + +General overview + +In general, an isolate is suspected to be an ESBL producer when it shows in vitro susceptibility to the cephamycins (cefoxitin, cefotetan) but resistance to the third-generation cephalosporins and to aztreonam. Moreover, one should suspect these strains when treatment with these agents for Gram-negative infections fails despite reported in vitro susceptibility. Once an ESBL-producing strain is detected, the laboratory should report it as "resistant" to all penicillins, cephalosporins, and aztreonam, even if it is tested (in vitro) as susceptible. Associated resistance to aminoglycosides and trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole, as well as high frequency of co-existence of fluoroquinolone resistance, creates problems. Beta-lactamase inhibitors such as clavulanate, sulbactam, and tazobactam in vitro inhibit most ESBLs, but the clinical effectiveness of beta-lactam/beta-lactamase inhibitor combinations cannot be relied on consistently for therapy. Cephamycins (cefoxitin and cefotetan) are not hydrolyzed by majority of ESBLs, but are hydrolyzed by associated AmpC-type β-lactamase. Also, β-lactam/β-lactamase inhibitor combinations may not be effective against organisms that produce AmpC-type β-lactamase. Sometimes these strains decrease the expression of outer membrane proteins, rendering them resistant to cephamycins. In vivo studies have yielded mixed results against ESBL-producing K. pneumoniae. (Cefepime, a fourth-generation cephalosporin, has demonstrated in vitro stability in the presence of many ESBL/AmpC strains.) Currently, carbapenems are, in general, regarded as the preferred agent for treatment of infections due to ESBL-producing organisms. Carbapenems are resistant to ESBL-mediated hydrolysis and exhibit excellent in vitro activity against strains of Enterobacteriaceae expressing ESBLs. + +According to genes + +ESBLs + +Strains producing only ESBLs are susceptible to cephamycins and carbapenems in vitro and show little if any inoculum effect with these agents. + +For organisms producing TEM and SHV type ESBLs, apparent in vitro sensitivity to cefepime and to piperacillin/tazobactam is common, but both drugs show an inoculum effect, with diminished susceptibility as the size of the inoculum is increased from 105 to 107 organisms. + +Strains with some CTX-M–type and OXA-type ESBLs are resistant to cefepime on testing, despite the use of a standard inoculum. + +Inhibitor-resistant β-lactamases + +Although the inhibitor-resistant TEM variants are resistant to inhibition by clavulanic acid and sulbactam, thereby showing clinical resistance to the beta-lactam—beta lactamase inhibitor combinations of amoxicillin-clavulanate (Co-amoxiclav), ticarcillin-clavulanate, and ampicillin/sulbactam, they remain susceptible to inhibition by tazobactam and subsequently the combination of piperacillin/tazobactam. + +AmpC + +AmpC-producing strains are typically resistant to oxyimino-beta lactams and to cephamycins and are susceptible to carbapenems; however, diminished porin expression can make such a strain carbapenem-resistant as well. + +Carbapenemases + +Strains with IMP-, VIM-, and OXA-type carbapenemases usually remain susceptible. Resistance to non-beta-lactam antibiotics is common in strains making any of these enzymes, such that alternative options for non-beta-lactam therapy need to be determined by direct susceptibility testing. Resistance to fluoroquinolones and aminoglycosides is especially high. + +According to species + +Escherichia coli or Klebsiella + +For infections caused by ESBL-producing Escherichia coli or Klebsiella species, treatment with imipenem or meropenem has been associated with the best outcomes in terms of survival and bacteriologic clearance. Cefepime and piperacillin/tazobactam have been less successful. Ceftriaxone, cefotaxime, and ceftazidime have failed even more often, despite the organism's susceptibility to the antibiotic in vitro. Several reports have documented failure of cephamycin therapy as a result of resistance due to porin loss. Some patients have responded to aminoglycoside or quinolone therapy, but, in a recent comparison of ciprofloxacin and imipenem for bacteremia involving an ESBL-producing K. pneumoniae, imipenem produced the better outcome + +Pseudomonas aeruginosa + +There have been few clinical studies to define the optimal therapy for infections caused by ESBL producing Pseudomonas aeruginosa strains. + +Use as a pharmaceutical +In 1957, amid concern about allergic reactions to penicillin-containing antibiotics, a beta-lactamase was sold as an antidote under the brand name neutrapen. It was theorized that the breakdown of penicillin by the enzyme would treat the allergic reaction. While it was not useful in acute anaphylactic shock, it showed positive results in cases of urticaria and joint pain suspected to be caused by penicillin allergy. Its use was proposed in pediatric cases where penicillin allergy was discovered upon administration of the polio vaccine, which used penicillin as a preservative. However, some patients developed allergies to neutrapen. The Albany Hospital removed it from its formulary in 1960, only two years after adding it, citing lack of use. Some researchers continued to use it in experiments on penicillin resistance as late as 1972. It was voluntarily withdrawn from the American market by 3M Pharmaceuticals in 1997. + +Detection + +Beta-lactamase enzymatic activity can be detected using nitrocefin, a chromogenic cephalosporin substrate which changes color from yellow to red upon beta-lactamase mediated hydrolysis. + +Evolution +Beta-lactamases are ancient bacterial enzymes. Metallo β-lactamases ("class B") are all structurally similar to RNase Z and may have evolved from it. Of the three subclasses B1, B2, and B3, B1 and B2 are theorized to have evolved about one billion years ago, while B3 seems to have arisen independently, possibly before the divergence of the Gram-positive and Gram-negative eubacteria about two billion years ago. PNGM-1 (Papua New Guinea Metallo-β-lactamase-1) has both metallo-β-lactamase (MBL) and tRNase Z activities, suggesting that PNGM-1 is thought to have evolved from a tRNase Z, and that the B3 MBL activity of PNGM-1 is a promiscuous activity and subclass B3 MBLs are thought to have evolved through PNGM-1 activity. Subclasses B1 and B3 has been further subdivided. + +Serine beta-lactamases (classes A, C, and D) appear to have evolved from DD-transpeptidases, which are penicillin-binding proteins involved in cell wall biosynthesis, and as such are one of the main targets of beta-lactam antibiotics. These three classes show undetectable sequence similarity with each other, but can still be compared using structural homology. Groups A and D are sister taxa and group C diverged before A and D. These serine-based enzymes, like the group B betalactamases, are of ancient origin and are theorized to have evolved about two billion years ago. + +The OXA group (in class D) in particular is theorized to have evolved on chromosomes and moved to plasmids on at least two separate occasions. + +Etymology +The "β" (beta) refers to the nitrogen's position on the second carbon in the ring. Lactam is a blend of lactone (from the Latin lactis, milk, since lactic acid was isolated from soured milk) and amide. The suffix -ase, indicating an enzyme, is derived from diastase (from the Greek diastasis, "separation"), the first enzyme discovered in 1833 by Payen and Persoz. + +See also + β-lactamase inhibitor + ESBL-producing E. coli + Nitrocefin + +References + +Further reading + +External links + Online ESBL genotyping tool (EGT) + Online Amino Acid Sequences for ESBL enzymes + + +Beta-lactam antibiotics +EC 3.5.2 +Enzymes of known structure +Burhānuddīn Rabbānī (Persian: ; 20 September 1940 – 20 September 2011) was an Afghan politician and teacher who served as President of Afghanistan from 1992 to 1996, and again from November to December 2001 (in exile from 1996 to 2001). + +Born in the Badakhshan Province, Rabbani studied at Kabul University and worked there as a professor of Islamic theology. He formed the Jamiat-e Islami (Islamic Society) at the university which attracted then-students Gulbuddin Hekmatyar and Ahmad Shah Massoud, both of whom would eventually become the two leading commanders of the Afghan mujahideen in the Soviet–Afghan War from 1979. Rabbani was chosen to be the President of Afghanistan after the end of the former communist regime in 1992. Rabbani and his Islamic State of Afghanistan government was later forced into exile by the Taliban, and he then served as the political head of the Northern Alliance, an alliance of various political groups who fought against the Taliban regime in Afghanistan. During his time in the office, there were a lot of internal clashes between different fighting groups. + +After the Taliban government was toppled during Operation Enduring Freedom, Rabbani returned to Kabul and served briefly as President from 13 November to 22 December 2001, when Hamid Karzai was chosen as his succeeding interim leader at the Bonn International Conference. In later years he became head of Afghanistan National Front (known in the media as United National Front), the largest political opposition to Karzai's government. + +On 20 September 2011, Rabbani was assassinated by a suicide bomber entering his home in Kabul. As suggested by the Afghan parliament, Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai gave him the title of "Martyr of Peace". His son Salahuddin Rabbani was chosen in April 2012 to lead efforts to forge peace in Afghanistan with the Taliban. + +Early life and education +Rabbani, son of Muhammed Yousuf, was born in the northern province of Badakhshan. He was a Persian-speaking ethnic Tajik. After finishing school in his native province, he went to Darul-uloom-e-Sharia (Abu-Hanifa), a religious school in Kabul. When he graduated from Abu-Hanifa, he attended Kabul University to study Islamic Law and Theology, graduating in 1963. + +Soon after his graduation in 1963, he was hired as a professor at Kabul University. In order to enhance himself, Rabbani went to Egypt in 1966, and he entered the Al-Azhar University in Cairo where he developed close ties to the Muslim Brotherhood leadership. In two years, he received his master's degree in Islamic Philosophy. He resumed his position at the university and became closely associated with his fellow professor, Gholam Mohammad Niazi, whom he served as secretary in 1969 and 1970. Rabbani was one of the first Afghans to translate the works of Sayyid Qutb into Persian. Later he returned to Egypt to complete his PhD in Islamic philosophy and his thesis was titled "The Philosophy and Teachings of Abd al-Rahman Muhammad Jami." In 2004 he received Afghanistan's highest academic and scientific title "Academician" from the Academy of Sciences of Afghanistan. + +Political career +Rabbani returned to Afghanistan in 1968, where the High Council of Jamiat-e Islami gave him the duty of organizing the University students. Due to his knowledge, reputation, and active support for the cause of Islam, in 1972, a 15-member council selected him as head of Jamiat-e Islami of Afghanistan; the founder of Jamiat-e Islami of Afghanistan, Gholam Mohammad Niazi was also present. Jamiat-e Islami was primarily composed of Tajiks. + +In the spring of 1974, the police came to Kabul University to arrest Rabbani for his pro-Islamic stance, but with the help of his students the police were unable to capture him, and he managed to escape to the countryside. In Pakistan, Rabbani gathered important people and established the party. Sayed Noorullah Emad, who was then a young Muslim in the University of Kabul, became the General Secretary of the party and, later, its deputy chief. Rabbani alongside Ahmad Shah Massoud and others planned to take action either against the Daoud government or people who they deemed communist in 1975, but failed. + +When the Soviets intervened in 1979, Rabbani helped lead Jamiat-e Islami in resistance to the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan regime. Rabbani's forces were the first Mujahideen elements to enter Kabul in 1992 when the PDPA government fell from power. He took over as President from 1992 in accordance to the Peshawar Accords. Rabbani was the third ethnic Tajik leader of modern Afghanistan after Habibullah Kalakani in 1929 and Abdul Qadir in 1978 (and possibly including Babrak Karmal, whose ethnicity was disputed). His rule was limited since the country was fractured by civil war between different sides. Rabbani was forced to flee following the Taliban's conquest of Kabul in 1996. Rabbani operated his government in exile, following the establishment of the Taliban rule of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. In this period between 1996 and 2001, the Rabbani government of the Islamic State of Afghanistan remained the internationally recognized government, despite only controlling about 10% of Afghan territory. For the next five years, he and the Northern Alliance, commanded by Ahmad Shah Massoud and others, were fighting the Taliban until the 2001 US-led Operation Enduring Freedom in which the Taliban government was toppled. Rabbani was head of Afghanistan's High Peace Council, which had been formed in 2010 to initiate peace talks with the Taliban and other groups in the insurgency, until his death. + +Assassination + +Rabbani was killed in a suicide bombing at his home in Kabul on 20 September 2011, his 71st birthday. Two men posing as Taliban representatives approached him to offer a hug and detonated their explosives. At least one of them had hidden the explosives in his turban. The suicide bomber claimed to be a Taliban commander, said he bore a "very important and positive message" from Taliban leaders in Pakistan, and said he wanted to "discuss peace" with Rabbani. Four other members of Afghanistan's High Peace Council were also killed in the blast. Rabbani was buried in the Wazir Akbar Khan cemetery. + +Afghan officials blamed the Quetta Shura, which is the leadership of the Afghan Taliban hiding in the affluent Satellite Town of Quetta in Pakistan. The Pakistani government confirmed that Rabbani's assassination was linked to Afghan refugees in Pakistan. A senior Pakistani official stated that over 90% of terrorist attacks in Pakistan are traced back to Afghan elements and that their presence in the country was "an important issue for Pakistan" and "a problem for Afghanistan". Pakistani foreign minister Hina Rabbani Khar said that "We are not responsible if Afghan refugees crossed the border and entered Kabul, stayed in a guest house and attacked Professor Rabbani". + +In 2011, just days before he died, Rabbani was trying to persuade Islamic scholars to issue a religious edict banning suicide bombings. The former president's 29-year-old daughter said in an interview that her father died shortly after he spoke at a conference on "Islamic Awakening" in Tehran. "Right before he was assassinated, he talked about the suicide bombing issue," Fatima Rabbani told Reuters. "He called on all Islamic scholars in the conference to release a fatwa" against the tactic. + +Government minister Nematullah Shahrani said Rabbani is irreplaceable because "he had relations with all these tribes." + +United States President Barack Obama and several NATO military leaders condemned the assassination. Japan also offered its condolences at the Sixty-sixth session of the United Nations General Assembly. Afghan President Hamid Karzai cut short his trip for the General debate of the sixty-sixth session of the United Nations General Assembly following his assassination. Rabbani's son Salahuddin then took over chairmanship of the High Peace Council from his father. + +Honors and awards + : Order of Ismoili Somoni – posthumously awarded on 2 September 2021 + +See also + + Gholam Mohammad Niazi + Badaber Uprising + Qadria Yazdanparast + Mullah Dadullah Front + +References + +External links + Burhanuddin Rabbani, President of the Islamic State of Afghanistan webcast at the United Nations Millennium Summit, 8 September 2000 + Biography at Afghan-web.com + Afghanistan's Powerbrokers: Burhanuddin Rabbani at BBC News, with link to November 2001 profile + + Hundreds mourn Rabbani RFI English + Who killed Burhanuddin Rabbani ... and why? RFI English + Bibi Mahru Hill & Burhanuddin Rabbani's grave - Kabul + +1940 births +2011 deaths +2011 murders in Afghanistan +20th-century heads of state of Afghanistan +21st-century heads of state of Afghanistan +Presidents of Afghanistan +Islamic State of Afghanistan +Members of the House of the People (Afghanistan) +Mujahideen members of the Soviet–Afghan War +Afghan Muslims +Afghan Sunni Muslims +Afghan anti-communists +Assassinated Afghan politicians +Afghan Muslim Brotherhood members +Afghan Tajik people +Burials in Afghanistan +Hanafi fiqh scholars +Deaths by explosive device +People killed by the Taliban +People murdered in Afghanistan +People from Badakhshan Province +Al-Azhar University alumni +Kabul University alumni +Jamiat-e Islami politicians +United National Front (Afghanistan) politicians +1990s in Afghanistan +Leaders ousted by a coup +2010s assassinated politicians +Assassinated presidents in Asia +Assassinated national legislators +The Boeing 747 is a large, long-range wide-body airliner designed and manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes in the United States between 1968 and 2023. + +After introducing the 707 in October 1958, Pan Am wanted a jet times its size, to reduce its seat cost by 30%. In 1965, Joe Sutter left the 737 development program to design the 747. In April 1966, Pan Am ordered 25 Boeing 747-100 aircraft, and in late 1966, Pratt & Whitney agreed to develop the JT9D engine, a high-bypass turbofan. On September 30, 1968, the first 747 was rolled out of the custom-built Everett Plant, the world's largest building by volume. The first flight took place on February 9, 1969, and the 747 was certified in December of that year. It entered service with Pan Am on January 22, 1970. The 747 was the first airplane called a "Jumbo Jet" as the first wide-body airliner. + +The 747 is a four-engined jet aircraft, initially powered by Pratt & Whitney JT9D turbofan engines, then General Electric CF6 and Rolls-Royce RB211 engines for the original variants. With a ten-abreast economy seating, it typically accommodates 366 passengers in three travel classes. It has a pronounced 37.5° wing sweep, allowing a cruise speed, and its heavy weight is supported by four main landing gear legs, each with a four-wheel bogie. The partial double-deck aircraft was designed with a raised cockpit so it could be converted to a freighter airplane by installing a front cargo door, as it was initially thought that it would eventually be superseded by supersonic transports. + +Boeing introduced the -200 in 1971, with more powerful engines for a heavier maximum takeoff weight (MTOW) of from the initial , increasing the maximum range from . It was shortened for the longer-range 747SP in 1976, and the 747-300 followed in 1983 with a stretched upper deck for up to 400 seats in three classes. The heavier 747-400 with improved RB211 and CF6 engines or the new PW4000 engine (the JT9D successor), and a two-crew glass cockpit, was introduced in 1989 and is the most common variant. After several studies, the stretched 747-8 was launched on November 14, 2005, with new General Electric GEnx engines, and was first delivered in October 2011. The 747 is the basis for several government and military variants, such as the VC-25 (Air Force One), E-4 Emergency Airborne Command Post, Shuttle Carrier Aircraft, and some experimental testbeds such as the YAL-1 and SOFIA airborne observatory. + +Initial competition came from the smaller trijet widebodies: the Lockheed L-1011 (introduced in 1972), McDonnell Douglas DC-10 (1971) and later MD-11 (1990). Airbus competed with later variants with the heaviest versions of the A340 until surpassing the 747 in size with the A380, delivered between 2007 and 2021. Freighter variants of the 747 remain popular with cargo airlines. The final 747 was delivered to Atlas Air in January 2023 after a 54-year production run, with 1,574 aircraft built. +, 64 Boeing 747s (%) have been lost in accidents and incidents, in which a total of 3,746 people have died. + +Development + +Background + +In 1963, the United States Air Force started a series of study projects on a very large strategic transport aircraft. Although the C-141 Starlifter was being introduced, officials believed that a much larger and more capable aircraft was needed, especially to carry cargo that would not fit in any existing aircraft. These studies led to initial requirements for the CX-Heavy Logistics System (CX-HLS) in March 1964 for an aircraft with a load capacity of and a speed of Mach 0.75 (), and an unrefueled range of with a payload of . The payload bay had to be wide by high and long with access through doors at the front and rear. + +The desire to keep the number of engines to four required new engine designs with greatly increased power and better fuel economy. In May 1964, airframe proposals arrived from Boeing, Douglas, General Dynamics, Lockheed, and Martin Marietta; engine proposals were submitted by General Electric, Curtiss-Wright, and Pratt & Whitney. Boeing, Douglas, and Lockheed were given additional study contracts for the airframe, along with General Electric and Pratt & Whitney for the engines. + +The airframe proposals shared several features. As the CX-HLS needed to be able to be loaded from the front, a door had to be included where the cockpit usually was. All of the companies solved this problem by moving the cockpit above the cargo area; Douglas had a small "pod" just forward and above the wing, Lockheed used a long "spine" running the length of the aircraft with the wing spar passing through it, while Boeing blended the two, with a longer pod that ran from just behind the nose to just behind the wing. In 1965, Lockheed's aircraft design and General Electric's engine design were selected for the new C-5 Galaxy transport, which was the largest military aircraft in the world at the time. Boeing carried the nose door and raised cockpit concepts over to the design of the 747. + +Airliner proposal +The 747 was conceived while air travel was increasing in the 1960s. The era of commercial jet transportation, led by the enormous popularity of the Boeing 707 and Douglas DC-8, had revolutionized long-distance travel. In this growing jet age, Juan Trippe, president of Pan Am, one of Boeing's most important airline customers, asked for a new jet airliner times size of the 707, with a 30% lower cost per unit of passenger-distance and the capability to offer mass air travel on international routes. Trippe also thought that airport congestion could be addressed by a larger new aircraft. + +In 1965, Joe Sutter was transferred from Boeing's 737 development team to manage the design studies for the new airliner, already assigned the model number 747. Sutter began a design study with Pan Am and other airlines to better understand their requirements. At the time, many thought that long-range subsonic airliners would eventually be superseded by supersonic transport aircraft. Boeing responded by designing the 747 so it could be adapted easily to carry freight and remain in production even if sales of the passenger version declined. + +In April 1966, Pan Am ordered 25 Boeing 747-100 aircraft for US$525 million (equivalent to $ billion in dollars). During the ceremonial 747 contract-signing banquet in Seattle on Boeing's 50th Anniversary, Juan Trippe predicted that the 747 would be "…a great weapon for peace, competing with intercontinental missiles for mankind's destiny". As launch customer, and because of its early involvement before placing a formal order, Pan Am was able to influence the design and development of the 747 to an extent unmatched by a single airline before or since. + +Design effort +Ultimately, the high-winged CX-HLS Boeing design was not used for the 747, although technologies developed for their bid had an influence. The original design included a full-length double-deck fuselage with eight-across seating and two aisles on the lower deck and seven-across seating and two aisles on the upper deck. However, concern over evacuation routes and limited cargo-carrying capability caused this idea to be scrapped in early 1966 in favor of a wider single deck design. The cockpit was therefore placed on a shortened upper deck so that a freight-loading door could be included in the nose cone; this design feature produced the 747's distinctive "hump". In early models, what to do with the small space in the pod behind the cockpit was not clear, and this was initially specified as a "lounge" area with no permanent seating. (A different configuration that had been considered to keep the flight deck out of the way for freight loading had the pilots below the passengers, and was dubbed the "anteater".) + +One of the principal technologies that enabled an aircraft as large as the 747 to be drawn up was the high-bypass turbofan engine. This engine technology was thought to be capable of delivering double the power of the earlier turbojets while consuming one-third less fuel. General Electric had pioneered the concept but was committed to developing the engine for the C-5 Galaxy and did not enter the commercial market until later. Pratt & Whitney was also working on the same principle and, by late 1966, Boeing, Pan Am and Pratt & Whitney agreed to develop a new engine, designated the JT9D to power the 747. + +The project was designed with a new methodology called fault tree analysis, which allowed the effects of a failure of a single part to be studied to determine its impact on other systems. To address concerns about safety and flyability, the 747's design included structural redundancy, redundant hydraulic systems, quadruple main landing gear and dual control surfaces. Additionally, some of the most advanced high-lift devices used in the industry were included in the new design, to allow it to operate from existing airports. These included Krueger flaps running almost the entire length of the wing's leading edge, as well as complex three-part slotted flaps along the trailing edge of the wing. The wing's complex three-part flaps increase wing area by 21% and lift by 90% when fully deployed compared to their non-deployed configuration. + +Boeing agreed to deliver the first 747 to Pan Am by the end of 1969. The delivery date left 28 months to design the aircraft, which was two-thirds of the normal time. The schedule was so fast-paced that the people who worked on it were given the nickname "The Incredibles". Developing the aircraft was such a technical and financial challenge that management was said to have "bet the company" when it started the project. Due to its massive size, Boeing subcontracted the assembly of subcomponents to other manufacturers, most notably Northrop and Grumman (later merged into Northrop Grumman in 1994) for fuselage parts and trailing edge flaps respectively, Fairchild for tailplane ailerons, and Ling-Temco-Vought (LTV) for the empennage. + +Production plant + +As Boeing did not have a plant large enough to assemble the giant airliner, they chose to build a new plant. The company considered locations in about 50 cities, and eventually decided to build the new plant some north of Seattle on a site adjoining a military base at Paine Field near Everett, Washington. It bought the site in June 1966. + +Developing the 747 had been a major challenge, and building its assembly plant was also a huge undertaking. Boeing president William M. Allen asked Malcolm T. Stamper, then head of the company's turbine division, to oversee construction of the Everett factory and to start production of the 747. To level the site, more than of earth had to be moved. Time was so short that the 747's full-scale mock-up was built before the factory roof above it was finished. The plant is the largest building by volume ever built, and has been substantially expanded several times to permit construction of other models of Boeing wide-body commercial jets. + +Flight testing + +Before the first 747 was fully assembled, testing began on many components and systems. One important test involved the evacuation of 560 volunteers from a cabin mock-up via the aircraft's emergency chutes. The first full-scale evacuation took two and a half minutes instead of the maximum of 90 seconds mandated by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), and several volunteers were injured. Subsequent test evacuations achieved the 90-second goal but caused more injuries. Most problematic was evacuation from the aircraft's upper deck; instead of using a conventional slide, volunteer passengers escaped by using a harness attached to a reel. Tests also involved taxiing such a large aircraft. Boeing built an unusual training device known as "Waddell's Wagon" (named for a 747 test pilot, Jack Waddell) that consisted of a mock-up cockpit mounted on the roof of a truck. While the first 747s were still being built, the device allowed pilots to practice taxi maneuvers from a high upper-deck position. + +In 1968, the program cost was US$1 billion (equivalent to $ billion in dollars). On September 30, 1968, the first 747 was rolled out of the Everett assembly building before the world's press and representatives of the 26 airlines that had ordered the airliner. Over the following months, preparations were made for the first flight, which took place on February 9, 1969, with test pilots Jack Waddell and Brien Wygle at the controls and Jess Wallick at the flight engineer's station. Despite a minor problem with one of the flaps, the flight confirmed that the 747 handled extremely well. The 747 was found to be largely immune to "Dutch roll", a phenomenon that had been a major hazard to the early swept-wing jets. + +Issues, delays and certification + +During later stages of the flight test program, flutter testing showed that the wings suffered oscillation under certain conditions. This difficulty was partly solved by reducing the stiffness of some wing components. However, a particularly severe high-speed flutter problem was solved only by inserting depleted uranium counterweights as ballast in the outboard engine nacelles of the early 747s. This measure caused anxiety when these aircraft crashed, for example El Al Flight 1862 at Amsterdam in 1992 with of uranium in the tailplane (horizontal stabilizer). + +The flight test program was hampered by problems with the 747's JT9D engines. Difficulties included engine stalls caused by rapid throttle movements and distortion of the turbine casings after a short period of service. The problems delayed 747 deliveries for several months; up to 20 aircraft at the Everett plant were stranded while awaiting engine installation. The program was further delayed when one of the five test aircraft suffered serious damage during a landing attempt at Renton Municipal Airport, the site of Boeing's Renton factory. The incident happened on December 13, 1969, when a test aircraft was flown to Renton to have test equipment removed and a cabin installed. Pilot Ralph C. Cokely undershot the airport's short runway and the 747's right, outer landing gear was torn off and two engine nacelles were damaged. However, these difficulties did not prevent Boeing from taking a test aircraft to the 28th Paris Air Show in mid-1969, where it was displayed to the public for the first time. Finally, in December 1969, the 747 received its FAA airworthiness certificate, clearing it for introduction into service. + +The huge cost of developing the 747 and building the Everett factory meant that Boeing had to borrow heavily from a banking syndicate. During the final months before delivery of the first aircraft, the company had to repeatedly request additional funding to complete the project. Had this been refused, Boeing's survival would have been threatened. The firm's debt exceeded $2 billion, with the $1.2 billion owed to the banks setting a record for all companies. Allen later said, "It was really too large a project for us." Ultimately, the gamble succeeded, and Boeing held a monopoly in very large passenger aircraft production for many years. + +Entry into service + +On January 15, 1970, First Lady of the United States Pat Nixon christened Pan Am's first 747 at Dulles International Airport (later Washington Dulles International Airport) in the presence of Pan Am chairman Najeeb Halaby. Instead of champagne, red, white, and blue water was sprayed on the aircraft. The 747 entered service on January 22, 1970, on Pan Am's New York–London route; the flight had been planned for the evening of January 21, but engine overheating made the original aircraft unusable. Finding a substitute delayed the flight by more than six hours to the following day when Clipper Victor was used. + +The 747 enjoyed a fairly smooth introduction into service, overcoming concerns that some airports would not be able to accommodate an aircraft that large. Although technical problems occurred, they were relatively minor and quickly solved. After the aircraft's introduction with Pan Am, other airlines that had bought the 747 to stay competitive began to put their own 747s into service. Boeing estimated that half of the early 747 sales were to airlines desiring the aircraft's long range rather than its payload capacity. While the 747 had the lowest potential operating cost per seat, this could only be achieved when the aircraft was fully loaded; costs per seat increased rapidly as occupancy declined. A moderately loaded 747, one with only 70 percent of its seats occupied, used more than 95 percent of the fuel needed by a fully occupied 747. Nonetheless, many flag-carriers purchased the 747 due to its prestige "even if it made no sense economically" to operate. During the 1970s and 1980s, over 30 regularly scheduled 747s could often be seen at John F. Kennedy International Airport. + +The recession of 1969–1970, despite having been characterized as relatively mild, greatly affected Boeing. For the year and a half after September 1970, it only sold two 747s in the world, both to Irish flag carrier Aer Lingus. +No 747s were sold to any American carrier for almost three years. When economic problems in the US and other countries after the 1973 oil crisis led to reduced passenger traffic, several airlines found they did not have enough passengers to fly the 747 economically, and they replaced them with the smaller and recently introduced McDonnell Douglas DC-10 and Lockheed L-1011 TriStar trijet wide bodies (and later the 767 and A300/A310 twinjets). Having tried replacing coach seats on its 747s with piano bars in an attempt to attract more customers, American Airlines eventually relegated its 747s to cargo service and in 1983 exchanged them with Pan Am for smaller aircraft; Delta Air Lines also removed its 747s from service after several years. Later, Delta acquired 747s again in 2008 as part of its merger with Northwest Airlines, although it retired the Boeing 747-400 fleet in December 2017. + +International flights bypassing traditional hub airports and landing at smaller cities became more common throughout the 1980s, thus eroding the 747's original market. Many international carriers continued to use the 747 on Pacific routes. In Japan, 747s on domestic routes were configured to carry nearly the maximum passenger capacity. + +Improved 747 versions + +After the initial , Boeing developed the , a higher maximum takeoff weight (MTOW) variant, and the (Short Range), with higher passenger capacity. Increased maximum takeoff weight allows aircraft to carry more fuel and have longer range. The model followed in 1971, featuring more powerful engines and a higher MTOW. Passenger, freighter and combination passenger-freighter versions of the were produced. The shortened 747SP (special performance) with a longer range was also developed, and entered service in 1976. + +The 747 line was further developed with the launch of the on June 11, 1980, followed by interest from Swissair a month later and the go-ahead for the project. The 300 series resulted from Boeing studies to increase the seating capacity of the 747, during which modifications such as fuselage plugs and extending the upper deck over the entire length of the fuselage were rejected. The first , completed in 1983, included a stretched upper deck, increased cruise speed, and increased seating capacity. The -300 variant was previously designated 747SUD for stretched upper deck, then 747-200 SUD, followed by 747EUD, before the 747-300 designation was used. Passenger, short range and combination freighter-passenger versions of the 300 series were produced. + +In 1985, development of the longer range 747-400 began. The variant had a new glass cockpit, which allowed for a cockpit crew of two instead of three, new engines, lighter construction materials, and a redesigned interior. Development costs soared, and production delays occurred as new technologies were incorporated at the request of airlines. Insufficient workforce experience and reliance on overtime contributed to early production problems on the . The -400 entered service in 1989. + +In 1991, a record-breaking 1,087 passengers were flown in a 747 during a covert operation to airlift Ethiopian Jews to Israel. Generally, the 747-400 held between 416 and 524 passengers. The 747 remained the heaviest commercial aircraft in regular service until the debut of the Antonov An-124 Ruslan in 1982; variants of the 747-400 surpassed the An-124's weight in 2000. The Antonov An-225 Mriya cargo transport, which debuted in 1988, remains the world's largest aircraft by several measures (including the most accepted measures of maximum takeoff weight and length); one aircraft has been completed and was in service until 2022. The Scaled Composites Stratolaunch is currently the largest aircraft by wingspan. + +Further developments + +After the arrival of the , several stretching schemes for the 747 were proposed. Boeing announced the larger 747-500X and preliminary designs in 1996. The new variants would have cost more than US$5 billion to develop, and interest was not sufficient to launch the program. In 2000, Boeing offered the more modest 747X and 747X stretch derivatives as alternatives to the Airbus A3XX. However, the 747X family was unable to attract enough interest to enter production. A year later, Boeing switched from the 747X studies to pursue the Sonic Cruiser, and after the Sonic Cruiser program was put on hold, the 787 Dreamliner. Some of the ideas developed for the 747X were used on the 747-400ER, a longer range variant of the . + +After several variants were proposed but later abandoned, some industry observers became skeptical of new aircraft proposals from Boeing. However, in early 2004, Boeing announced tentative plans for the 747 Advanced that were eventually adopted. Similar in nature to the 747-X, the stretched 747 Advanced used technology from the 787 to modernize the design and its systems. The 747 remained the largest passenger airliner in service until the Airbus A380 began airline service in 2007. + +On November 14, 2005, Boeing announced it was launching the 747 Advanced as the Boeing 747-8. The last 747-400s were completed in 2009. , most orders of the 747-8 were for the freighter variant. On February 8, 2010, the 747-8 Freighter made its maiden flight. The first delivery of the 747-8 went to Cargolux in 2011. The first 747-8 Intercontinental passenger variant was delivered to Lufthansa on May 5, 2012. The 1,500th Boeing 747 was delivered in June 2014 to Lufthansa. + +In January 2016, Boeing stated it was reducing 747-8 production to six a year beginning in September 2016, incurring a $569 million post-tax charge against its fourth-quarter 2015 profits. At the end of 2015, the company had 20 orders outstanding. On January 29, 2016, Boeing announced that it had begun the preliminary work on the modifications to a commercial 747-8 for the next Air Force One presidential aircraft, then expected to be operational by 2020. + +On July 12, 2016, Boeing announced that it had finalized an order from Volga-Dnepr Group for 20 747-8 freighters, valued at $7.58 billion (~$ in ) at list prices. Four aircraft were delivered beginning in 2012. Volga-Dnepr Group is the parent of three major Russian air-freight carriers – Volga-Dnepr Airlines, AirBridgeCargo Airlines and Atran Airlines. The new 747-8 freighters would replace AirBridgeCargo's current 747-400 aircraft and expand the airline's fleet and will be acquired through a mix of direct purchases and leasing over the next six years, Boeing said. + +End of production +On July 27, 2016, in its quarterly report to the Securities and Exchange Commission, Boeing discussed the potential termination of 747 production due to insufficient demand and market for the aircraft. With a firm order backlog of 21 aircraft and a production rate of six per year, program accounting had been reduced to 1,555 aircraft. In October 2016, UPS Airlines ordered 14 -8Fs to add capacity, along with 14 options, which it took in February 2018 to increase the total to 28 -8Fs on order. The backlog then stood at 25 aircraft, though several of these were orders from airlines that no longer intended to take delivery. + +On July 2, 2020, it was reported that Boeing planned to end 747 production in 2022 upon delivery of the remaining jets on order to UPS and the Volga-Dnepr Group due to low demand. On July 29, 2020, Boeing confirmed that the final 747 would be delivered in 2022 as a result of "current market dynamics and outlook" stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic, according to CEO David Calhoun. The last aircraft, a 747-8F for Atlas Air, rolled off the production line on December 6, 2022, and was delivered on January 31, 2023. Boeing hosted an event at the Everett factory for thousands of workers as well as industry executives to commemorate the delivery. + +Design + +The Boeing 747 is a large, wide-body (two-aisle) airliner with four wing-mounted engines. Its wings have a high sweep angle of 37.5° for a fast, efficient cruise speed of Mach 0.84 to 0.88, depending on the variant. The sweep also reduces the wingspan, allowing the 747 to use existing hangars. Its seating capacity is over 366 with a 3–4–3 seat arrangement (a cross section of three seats, an aisle, four seats, another aisle, and three seats) in economy class and a 2–3–2 layout in first class on the main deck. The upper deck has a 3–3 seat arrangement in economy class and a 2–2 layout in first class. + +Raised above the main deck, the cockpit creates a hump. This raised cockpit allows front loading of cargo on freight variants. The upper deck behind the cockpit provides space for a lounge and/or extra seating. The "stretched upper deck" became available as an alternative on the variant and later as standard beginning on the 747-300. The upper deck was stretched more on the 747-8. The 747 cockpit roof section also has an escape hatch from which crew can exit during the events of an emergency if they cannot do so through the cabin. + +The 747's maximum takeoff weight ranges from for the -100 to for the -8. Its range has increased from on the -100 to on the -8I. + +The 747 has redundant structures along with four redundant hydraulic systems and four main landing gears each with four wheels; these provide a good spread of support on the ground and safety in case of tire blow-outs. The main gear are redundant so that landing can be performed on two opposing landing gears if the others are not functioning properly. The 747 also has split control surfaces and was designed with sophisticated triple-slotted flaps that minimize landing speeds and allow the 747 to use standard-length runways. + +For transportation of spare engines, the 747 can accommodate a non-functioning fifth-pod engine under the aircraft's port wing between the inner functioning engine and the fuselage. The fifth engine mount point is also used by Virgin Orbit's LauncherOne program to carry an orbital-class rocket to cruise altitude where it is deployed. + +Variants +The 747-100 with a range of 4,620 nautical miles (8,556 km), was the original variant launched in 1966. The 747-200 soon followed, with its launch in 1968. The 747-300 was launched in 1980 and was followed by the in 1985. Ultimately, the 747-8 was announced in 2005. Several versions of each variant have been produced, and many of the early variants were in production simultaneously. The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) classifies variants using a shortened code formed by combining the model number and the variant designator (e.g. "B741" for all -100 models). + +747-100 + +The first 747-100s were built with six upper deck windows (three per side) to accommodate upstairs lounge areas. Later, as airlines began to use the upper deck for premium passenger seating instead of lounge space, Boeing offered an upper deck with ten windows on either side as an option. Some early -100s were retrofitted with the new configuration. The -100 was equipped with Pratt & Whitney JT9D-3A engines. No freighter version of this model was developed, but many 747-100s were converted into freighters as 747-100(SF). The first 747-100(SF) was delivered to Flying Tiger Line in 1974. A total of 168 747-100s were built; 167 were delivered to customers, while Boeing kept the prototype, City of Everett. In 1972, its unit cost was US$24M (M today). + +747SR +Responding to requests from Japanese airlines for a high-capacity aircraft to serve domestic routes between major cities, Boeing developed the 747SR as a short-range version of the with lower fuel capacity and greater payload capability. With increased economy class seating, up to 498 passengers could be carried in early versions and up to 550 in later models. The 747SR had an economic design life objective of 52,000 flights during 20 years of operation, compared to 24,600 flights in 20 years for the standard 747. The initial 747SR model, the -100SR, had a strengthened body structure and landing gear to accommodate the added stress accumulated from a greater number of takeoffs and landings. Extra structural support was built into the wings, fuselage, and the landing gear along with a 20% reduction in fuel capacity. + +The initial order for the -100SR – four aircraft for Japan Air Lines (JAL, later Japan Airlines) – was announced on October 30, 1972; rollout occurred on August 3, 1973, and the first flight took place on August 31, 1973. The type was certified by the FAA on September 26, 1973, with the first delivery on the same day. The -100SR entered service with JAL, the type's sole customer, on October 7, 1973, and typically operated flights within Japan. Seven -100SRs were built between 1973 and 1975, each with a MTOW and Pratt & Whitney JT9D-7A engines derated to of thrust. + +Following the -100SR, Boeing produced the -100BSR, a 747SR variant with increased takeoff weight capability. Debuting in 1978, the -100BSR also incorporated structural modifications for a high cycle-to-flying hour ratio; a related standard -100B model debuted in 1979. The -100BSR first flew on November 3, 1978, with first delivery to All Nippon Airways (ANA) on December 21, 1978. A total of 20 -100BSRs were produced for ANA and JAL. The -100BSR had a MTOW and was powered by the same JT9D-7A or General Electric CF6-45 engines used on the -100SR. ANA operated this variant on domestic Japanese routes with 455 or 456 seats until retiring its last aircraft in March 2006. + +In 1986, two -100BSR SUD models, featuring the stretched upper deck (SUD) of the -300, were produced for JAL. The type's maiden flight occurred on February 26, 1986, with FAA certification and first delivery on March 24, 1986. JAL operated the -100BSR SUD with 563 seats on domestic routes until their retirement in the third quarter of 2006. While only two -100BSR SUDs were produced, in theory, standard -100Bs can be modified to the SUD certification. Overall, 29 Boeing 747SRs were built. + +747-100B + +The 747-100B model was developed from the -100SR, using its stronger airframe and landing gear design. The type had an increased fuel capacity of , allowing for a range with a typical 452-passenger payload, and an increased MTOW of was offered. The first -100B order, one aircraft for Iran Air, was announced on June 1, 1978. This version first flew on June 20, 1979, received FAA certification on August 1, 1979, and was delivered the next day. Nine -100Bs were built, one for Iran Air and eight for Saudi Arabian Airlines. Unlike the original -100, the -100B was offered with Pratt & Whitney JT9D-7A, CF6-50, or Rolls-Royce RB211-524 engines. However, only RB211-524 (Saudia) and JT9D-7A (Iran Air) engines were ordered. The last 747-100B, EP-IAM was retired by Iran Air in 2014, the last commercial operator of the 747-100 and -100B. + +747SP + +The development of the 747SP stemmed from a joint request between Pan American World Airways and Iran Air, who were looking for a high-capacity airliner with enough range to cover Pan Am's New York–Middle Eastern routes and Iran Air's planned Tehran–New York route. The Tehran–New York route, when launched, was the longest non-stop commercial flight in the world. The 747SP is shorter than the . Fuselage sections were eliminated fore and aft of the wing, and the center section of the fuselage was redesigned to fit mating fuselage sections. The SP's flaps used a simplified single-slotted configuration. The 747SP, compared to earlier variants, had a tapering of the aft upper fuselage into the empennage, a double-hinged rudder, and longer vertical and horizontal stabilizers. Power was provided by Pratt & Whitney JT9D-7(A/F/J/FW) or Rolls-Royce RB211-524 engines. + +The 747SP was granted a type certificate on February 4, 1976, and entered service with launch customers Pan Am and Iran Air that same year. The aircraft was chosen by airlines wishing to serve major airports with short runways. A total of 45 747SPs were built, with the 44th 747SP delivered on August 30, 1982. In 1987, Boeing re-opened the 747SP production line after five years to build one last 747SP for an order by the United Arab Emirates government. In addition to airline use, one 747SP was modified for the NASA/German Aerospace Center SOFIA experiment. Iran Air is the last civil operator of the type; its final 747-SP (EP-IAC) was to be retired in June 2016. + +747-200 + +While the 747-100 powered by Pratt & Whitney JT9D-3A engines offered enough payload and range for medium-haul operations, it was marginal for long-haul route sectors. The demand for longer range aircraft with increased payload quickly led to the improved -200, which featured more powerful engines, increased MTOW, and greater range than the -100. A few early -200s retained the three-window configuration of the -100 on the upper deck, but most were built with a ten-window configuration on each side. The 747-200 was produced in passenger (-200B), freighter (-200F), convertible (-200C), and combi (-200M) versions. + +The 747-200B was the basic passenger version, with increased fuel capacity and more powerful engines; it entered service in February 1971. In its first three years of production, the -200 was equipped with Pratt & Whitney JT9D-7 engines (initially the only engine available). Range with a full passenger load started at over and increased to with later engines. Most -200Bs had an internally stretched upper deck, allowing for up to 16 passenger seats. The freighter model, the 747-200F, had a hinged nose cargo door and could be fitted with an optional side cargo door, and had a capacity of 105 tons (95.3 tonnes) and an MTOW of up to . It entered service in 1972 with Lufthansa. The convertible version, the 747-200C, could be converted between a passenger and a freighter or used in mixed configurations, and featured removable seats and a nose cargo door. The -200C could also be outfitted with an optional side cargo door on the main deck. + +The combi aircraft model, the 747-200M (originally designated 747-200BC), could carry freight in the rear section of the main deck via a side cargo door. A removable partition on the main deck separated the cargo area at the rear from the passengers at the front. The -200M could carry up to 238 passengers in a three-class configuration with cargo carried on the main deck. The model was also known as the 747-200 Combi. As on the -100, a stretched upper deck (SUD) modification was later offered. A total of 10 747-200s operated by KLM were converted. Union de Transports Aériens (UTA) also had two aircraft converted. + +After launching the -200 with Pratt & Whitney JT9D-7 engines, on August 1, 1972, Boeing announced that it had reached an agreement with General Electric to certify the 747 with CF6-50 series engines to increase the aircraft's market potential. Rolls-Royce followed 747 engine production with a launch order from British Airways for four aircraft. The option of RB211-524B engines was announced on June 17, 1975. The -200 was the first 747 to provide a choice of powerplant from the three major engine manufacturers. +In 1976, its unit cost was US$39M (M today). + +A total of 393 of the 747-200 versions had been built when production ended in 1991. Of these, 225 were -200B, 73 were -200F, 13 were -200C, 78 were -200M, and 4 were military. Iran Air retired the last passenger in May 2016, 36 years after it was delivered. , five 747-200s remain in service as freighters. + +747-300 + +The 747-300 features a upper deck than the -200. The stretched upper deck (SUD) has two emergency exit doors and is the most visible difference between the -300 and previous models. After being made standard on the 747-300, the SUD was offered as a retrofit, and as an option to earlier variants still in-production. An example for a retrofit were two UTA -200 Combis being converted in 1986, and an example for the option were two brand-new JAL -100 aircraft (designated -100BSR SUD), the first of which was delivered on March 24, 1986. + +The 747-300 introduced a new straight stairway to the upper deck, instead of a spiral staircase on earlier variants, which creates room above and below for more seats. Minor aerodynamic changes allowed the -300's cruise speed to reach Mach 0.85 compared with Mach 0.84 on the -200 and -100 models, while retaining the same takeoff weight. The -300 could be equipped with the same Pratt & Whitney and Rolls-Royce powerplants as on the -200, as well as updated General Electric CF6-80C2B1 engines. + +Swissair placed the first order for the on June 11, 1980. The variant revived the 747-300 designation, which had been previously used on a design study that did not reach production. The 747-300 first flew on October 5, 1982, and the type's first delivery went to Swissair on March 23, 1983. In 1982, its unit cost was US$83M (M today). Besides the passenger model, two other versions (-300M, -300SR) were produced. The 747-300M features cargo capacity on the rear portion of the main deck, similar to the -200M, but with the stretched upper deck it can carry more passengers. The 747-300SR, a short range, high-capacity domestic model, was produced for Japanese markets with a maximum seating for 584. No production freighter version of the 747-300 was built, but Boeing began modifications of used passenger -300 models into freighters in 2000. + +A total of 81 series aircraft were delivered, 56 for passenger use, 21 -300M and 4 -300SR versions. In 1985, just two years after the -300 entered service, the type was superseded by the announcement of the more advanced 747-400. The last 747-300 was delivered in September 1990 to Sabena. While some -300 customers continued operating the type, several large carriers replaced their 747-300s with 747-400s. Air France, Air India, Pakistan International Airlines, and Qantas were some of the last major carriers to operate the . On December 29, 2008, Qantas flew its last scheduled 747-300 service, operating from Melbourne to Los Angeles via Auckland. In July 2015, Pakistan International Airlines retired their final 747-300 after 30 years of service. , only two 747-300s remain in commercial service, with Mahan Air (1) and TransAVIAexport Airlines (1). + +747-400 + +The 747-400 is an improved model with increased range. It has wingtip extensions of and winglets of , which improve the type's fuel efficiency by four percent compared to previous 747 versions. The 747-400 introduced a new glass cockpit designed for a flight crew of two instead of three, with a reduction in the number of dials, gauges and knobs from 971 to 365 through the use of electronics. The type also features tail fuel tanks, revised engines, and a new interior. The longer range has been used by some airlines to bypass traditional fuel stops, such as Anchorage. A 747-400 loaded with 126,000 lb of fuel flying 3,500 statute miles consumes an average of five gallons per mile. Powerplants include the Pratt & Whitney PW4062, General Electric CF6-80C2, and Rolls-Royce RB211-524. As a result of the Boeing 767 development overlapping with the 747-400's development, both aircraft can use the same three powerplants and are even interchangeable between the two aircraft models. + +The was offered in passenger (-400), freighter (-400F), combi (-400M), domestic (-400D), extended range passenger (-400ER), and extended range freighter (-400ERF) versions. Passenger versions retain the same upper deck as the , while the freighter version does not have an extended upper deck. The 747-400D was built for short-range operations with maximum seating for 624. Winglets were not included, but they can be retrofitted. Cruising speed is up to Mach 0.855 on different versions of the . + +The passenger version first entered service in February 1989 with launch customer Northwest Airlines on the Minneapolis to Phoenix route. The combi version entered service in September 1989 with KLM, while the freighter version entered service in November 1993 with Cargolux. The 747-400ERF entered service with Air France in October 2002, while the 747-400ER entered service with Qantas, its sole customer, in November 2002. In January 2004, Boeing and Cathay Pacific launched the Boeing 747-400 Special Freighter program, later referred to as the Boeing Converted Freighter (BCF), to modify passenger 747-400s for cargo use. The first 747-400BCF was redelivered in December 2005. + +In March 2007, Boeing announced that it had no plans to produce further passenger versions of the -400. However, orders for 36 -400F and -400ERF freighters were already in place at the time of the announcement. The last passenger version of the 747-400 was delivered in April 2005 to China Airlines. Some of the last built 747-400s were delivered with Dreamliner livery along with the modern Signature interior from the Boeing 777. A total of 694 of the series aircraft were delivered. At various times, the largest 747-400 operator has included Singapore Airlines, Japan Airlines, and British Airways. , 331 Boeing 747-400s were in service; there were only 10 Boeing 747-400s in passenger service as of September 2021. + +747 LCF Dreamlifter + +The 747-400 Dreamlifter (originally called the 747 Large Cargo Freighter or LCF) is a Boeing-designed modification of existing 747-400s into a larger outsize cargo freighter configuration to ferry 787 Dreamliner sub-assemblies. Evergreen Aviation Technologies Corporation of Taiwan was contracted to complete modifications of 747-400s into Dreamlifters in Taoyuan. The aircraft flew for the first time on September 9, 2006, in a test flight. Modification of four aircraft was completed by February 2010. The Dreamlifters have been placed into service transporting sub-assemblies for the 787 program to the Boeing plant in Everett, Washington, for final assembly. The aircraft is certified to carry only essential crew with no passengers. + +747-8 + +Boeing announced a new 747 variant, the , on November 14, 2005. Referred to as the 747 Advanced prior to its launch, the 747-8 uses similar General Electric GEnx engines and cockpit technology to the 787. The variant is designed to be quieter, more economical, and more environmentally friendly. The 747-8's fuselage is lengthened from to , marking the first stretch variant of the aircraft. + +The 747-8 Freighter, or 747-8F, has 16% more payload capacity than its predecessor, allowing it to carry seven more standard air cargo containers, with a maximum payload capacity 154 tons (140 tonnes) of cargo. As on previous 747 freighters, the 747-8F features a flip up nose-door, a side-door on the main deck, and a side-door on the lower deck ("belly") to aid loading and unloading. The 747-8F made its maiden flight on February 8, 2010. The variant received its amended type certificate jointly from the FAA and the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) on August 19, 2011. The -8F was first delivered to Cargolux on October 12, 2011. + +The passenger version, named 747-8 Intercontinental or 747-8I, is designed to carry up to 467 passengers in a 3-class configuration and fly more than at Mach 0.855. As a derivative of the already common , the 747-8I has the economic benefit of similar training and interchangeable parts. The type's first test flight occurred on March 20, 2011. The 747-8 has surpassed the Airbus A340-600 as the world's longest airliner, a record it would hold until the 777X, which first flew in 2020. The first -8I was delivered in May 2012 to Lufthansa. The 747-8 has received 155 total orders, including 106 for the -8F and 47 for the -8I . The final 747-8F was delivered to Atlas Air on January 31, 2023. + +Government, military, and other variants + + VC-25 – This aircraft is the U.S. Air Force very important person (VIP) version of the 747-200B. The U.S. Air Force operates two of them in VIP configuration as the VC-25A. Tail numbers 28000 and 29000 are popularly known as Air Force One, which is technically the air-traffic call sign for any United States Air Force aircraft carrying the U.S. president. Partially completed aircraft from Everett, Washington, were flown to Wichita, Kansas, for final outfitting by Boeing Military Airplane Company. Two new aircraft, based around the , are being procured which will be designated as VC-25B. + E-4B – This is an airborne command post designed for use in nuclear war. Three E-4As, based on the 747-200B, with a fourth aircraft, with more powerful engines and upgraded systems delivered in 1979 as a E-4B, with the three E-4As upgraded to this standard. Formerly known as the National Emergency Airborne Command Post (referred to colloquially as "Kneecap"), this type is now referred to as the National Airborne Operations Center (NAOC). + YAL-1 – This was the experimental Airborne Laser, a planned component of the U.S. National Missile Defense. + Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (SCA) – Two 747s were modified to carry the Space Shuttle orbiter. The first was a 747-100 (N905NA), and the other was a 747-100SR (N911NA). The first SCA carried the prototype Enterprise during the Approach and Landing Tests in the late 1970s. The two SCA later carried all five operational Space Shuttle orbiters. + C-33 – This aircraft was a proposed U.S. military version of the 747-400F intended to augment the C-17 fleet. The plan was canceled in favor of additional C-17s. + KC-25/33 – A proposed 747-200F was also adapted as an aerial refueling tanker and was bid against the DC-10-30 during the 1970s Advanced Cargo Transport Aircraft (ACTA) program that produced the KC-10 Extender. Before the 1979 Iranian Revolution, Iran bought four 747-100 aircraft with air-refueling boom conversions to support its fleet of F-4 Phantoms. There is a report of the Iranians using a 747 Tanker in H-3 airstrike during Iran–Iraq War. It is unknown whether these aircraft remain usable as tankers. Since then there have been proposals to use a 747-400 for that role. + 747F Airlifter – Proposed US military transport version of the 747-200F intended as an alternative to further purchases of the C-5 Galaxy. This 747 would have had a special nose jack to lower the sill height for the nose door. System tested in 1980 on a Flying Tiger Line 747-200F. + 747 CMCA – This "Cruise Missile Carrier Aircraft" variant was considered by the U.S. Air Force during the development of the B-1 Lancer strategic bomber. It would have been equipped with 50 to 100 AGM-86 ALCM cruise missiles on rotary launchers. This plan was abandoned in favor of more conventional strategic bombers. + 747 AAC – A Boeing study under contract from the USAF for an "airborne aircraft carrier" for up to 10 Boeing Model 985-121 "microfighters" with the ability to launch, retrieve, re-arm, and refuel. Boeing believed that the scheme would be able to deliver a flexible and fast carrier platform with global reach, particularly where other bases were not available. Modified versions of the 747-200 and Lockheed C-5A were considered as the base aircraft. The concept, which included a complementary 747 AWACS version with two reconnaissance "microfighters", was considered technically feasible in 1973. + Evergreen 747 Supertanker – A Boeing 747-200 modified as an aerial application platform for fire fighting using of firefighting chemicals. + Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) – A former Pan Am Boeing 747SP modified to carry a large infrared-sensitive telescope, in a joint venture of NASA and DLR. High altitudes are needed for infrared astronomy, to rise above infrared-absorbing water vapor in the atmosphere. + A number of other governments also use the 747 as a VIP transport, including Bahrain, Brunei, India, Iran, Japan, Kuwait, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates. Several Boeing 747-8s have been ordered by Boeing Business Jet for conversion to VIP transports for several unidentified customers. + +Undeveloped variants +Boeing has studied a number of 747 variants that have not gone beyond the concept stage. + +747 trijet +During the late 1960s and early 1970s, Boeing studied the development of a shorter 747 with three engines, to compete with the smaller Lockheed L-1011 TriStar and McDonnell Douglas DC-10. The center engine would have been fitted in the tail with an S-duct intake similar to the L-1011's. Overall, the 747 trijet would have had more payload, range, and passenger capacity than both of them. However, engineering studies showed that a major redesign of the 747 wing would be necessary. Maintaining the same 747 handling characteristics would be important to minimize pilot retraining. Boeing decided instead to pursue a shortened four-engine 747, resulting in the 747SP. + +747-500 +In January 1986, Boeing outlined preliminary studies to build a larger, ultra-long haul version named the , which would enter service in the mid- to late-1990s. The aircraft derivative would use engines evolved from unducted fan (UDF) (propfan) technology by General Electric, but the engines would have shrouds, sport a bypass ratio of 15–20, and have a propfan diameter of . The aircraft would be stretched (including the upper deck section) to a capacity of 500 seats, have a new wing to reduce drag, cruise at a faster speed to reduce flight times, and have a range of at least , which would allow airlines to fly nonstop between London, England and Sydney, Australia. + +747 ASB +Boeing announced the 747 ASB (Advanced Short Body) in 1986 as a response to the Airbus A340 and the McDonnell Douglas MD-11. This aircraft design would have combined the advanced technology used on the 747-400 with the foreshortened 747SP fuselage. The aircraft was to carry 295 passengers over a range of . However, airlines were not interested in the project and it was canceled in 1988 in favor of the 777. + +747-500X, -600X, and -700X + +Boeing announced the 747-500X and -600X at the 1996 Farnborough Airshow. The proposed models would have combined the 747's fuselage with a new wing spanning derived from the 777. Other changes included adding more powerful engines and increasing the number of tires from two to four on the nose landing gear and from 16 to 20 on the main landing gear. + +The 747-500X concept featured a fuselage length increased by to , and the aircraft was to carry 462 passengers over a range up to , with a gross weight of over 1.0 Mlb (450 tonnes). The 747-600X concept featured a greater stretch to with seating for 548 passengers, a range of up to , and a gross weight of 1.2 Mlb (540 tonnes). A third study concept, the 747-700X, would have combined the wing of the 747-600X with a widened fuselage, allowing it to carry 650 passengers over the same range as a . The cost of the changes from previous 747 models, in particular the new wing for the 747-500X and -600X, was estimated to be more than US$5 billion. Boeing was not able to attract enough interest to launch the aircraft. + +747X and 747X Stretch +As Airbus progressed with its A3XX study, Boeing offered a 747 derivative as an alternative in 2000; a more modest proposal than the previous -500X and -600X that retained the 747's overall wing design and add a segment at the root, increasing the span to . Power would have been supplied by either the Engine Alliance GP7172 or the Rolls-Royce Trent 600, which were also proposed for the 767-400ERX. A new flight deck based on the 777's would be used. The 747X aircraft was to carry 430 passengers over ranges of up to . The 747X Stretch would be extended to long, allowing it to carry 500 passengers over ranges of up to . Both would feature an interior based on the 777. Freighter versions of the 747X and 747X Stretch were also studied. + +Like its predecessor, the 747X family was unable to garner enough interest to justify production, and it was shelved along with the 767-400ERX in March 2001, when Boeing announced the Sonic Cruiser concept. Though the 747X design was less costly than the 747-500X and -600X, it was criticized for not offering a sufficient advance from the existing . The 747X did not make it beyond the drawing board, but the 747-400X being developed concurrently moved into production to become the 747-400ER. + +747-400XQLR +After the end of the 747X program, Boeing continued to study improvements that could be made to the 747. The 747-400XQLR (Quiet Long Range) was meant to have an increased range of , with improvements to boost efficiency and reduce noise. Improvements studied included raked wingtips similar to those used on the 767-400ER and a sawtooth engine nacelle for noise reduction. Although the 747-400XQLR did not move to production, many of its features were used for the 747 Advanced, which was launched as the 747-8 in 2005. + +Operators + +In 1979, Qantas became the first airline in the world to operate an all Boeing 747 fleet, with seventeen aircraft. + +, there were 462 Boeing 747s in airline service, with Atlas Air and British Airways being the largest operators with 33 747-400s each. + +The last US passenger Boeing 747 was retired from Delta Air Lines in December 2017, after it flew for every American major carrier since its 1970 introduction. Delta flew three of its last four aircraft on a farewell tour, from Seattle to Atlanta on December 19 then to Los Angeles and Minneapolis/St Paul on December 20. + +As the IATA forecast an increase in air freight from 4% to 5% in 2018 fueled by booming trade for time-sensitive goods, from smartphones to fresh flowers, demand for freighters is strong while passenger 747s are phased out. +Of the 1,544 produced, 890 are retired; , a small subset of those which were intended to be parted-out got $3 million D-checks before flying again. +Young -400s were sold for 320 million yuan ($50 million) and Boeing stopped converting freighters, which used to cost nearly $30 million. +This comeback helped the airframer financing arm Boeing Capital to shrink its exposure to the 747-8 from $1.07 billion in 2017 to $481 million in 2018. + +In July 2020, British Airways announced that it was retiring its 747 fleet. The final British Airways 747 flights departed London Heathrow on October 8, 2020. + +Orders and deliveries + +Boeing 747 orders and deliveries (cumulative, by year): + +Orders and deliveries through to the end of February 2023. + +Model summary + +Accidents and incidents + +, the 747 has been involved in 173 aviation accidents and incidents, including 64 hull loss accidents causing fatalities. There have been several hijackings of Boeing 747s, such as Pan Am Flight 73, a 747-100 hijacked by four terrorists, causing 20 deaths. + +Few crashes have been attributed to 747 design flaws. The Tenerife airport disaster resulted from pilot error and communications failure, while the Japan Airlines Flight 123 and China Airlines Flight 611 crashes stemmed from improper aircraft repair. United Airlines Flight 811, which suffered an explosive decompression mid-flight on February 24, 1989, led the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) to issue a recommendation that the Boeing 747-100 and 747-200 cargo doors similar to those on the Flight 811 aircraft be modified to those featured on the Boeing . Korean Air Lines Flight 007 was shot down by a Soviet fighter aircraft in 1983 after it had strayed into Soviet territory, causing US President Ronald Reagan to authorize the then-strictly-military global positioning system (GPS) for civilian use. + +Accidents due to design deficiencies included TWA Flight 800, where a 747-100 exploded in mid-air on July 17, 1996, probably due to sparking electrical wires inside the fuel tank. This finding led the FAA to adopt a rule in July 2008 requiring installation of an inerting system in the center fuel tank of most large aircraft, after years of research into solutions. At the time, the new safety system was expected to cost US$100,000 to $450,000 per aircraft and weigh approximately . El Al Flight 1862 crashed after the fuse pins for an engine broke off shortly after take-off due to metal fatigue. Instead of simply dropping away from the wing, the engine knocked off the adjacent engine and damaged the wing. + +Aircraft on display + +As increasing numbers of "classic" 747-100 and series aircraft have been retired, some have been used for other uses such as museum displays. Some older 747-300s and 747-400s were later added to museum collections. + 20235/001 – 747-121 registration N7470 City of Everett, the first 747 and prototype, is at the Museum of Flight, Seattle, Washington. + 19651/025 – 747-121 registration N747GE at the Pima Air & Space Museum, Tucson, Arizona, US. + 19778/027 – 747-151 registration N601US nose at the National Air and Space Museum, Washington, D.C. + 19661/070 – 747-121(SF) registration N681UP preserved at a plaza on Jungong Road, Shanghai, China. + 19896/072 – 747-132(SF) registration N481EV at the Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum, McMinnville, Oregon, US. + 20107/086 – 747-123 registration N905NA, a NASA Shuttle Carrier Aircraft, at the Johnson Space Center, Houston, Texas. + 20269/150 – 747-136 registration G-AWNG nose at Hiller Aviation Museum, San Carlos, California. + 20239/160 – 747-244B registration ZS-SAN nicknamed Lebombo, at the South African Airways Museum Society, Rand Airport, Johannesburg, South Africa. + 20541/200 – 747-128 registration F-BPVJ at Musée de l'Air et de l'Espace, Paris, France. + 20770/213 – 747-2B5B registration HL7463 at Jeongseok Aviation Center, Jeju, South Korea. + 20713/219 - 747-212B(SF) registration N482EV at the Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum, McMinnville, Oregon, US. + 21134/288 – 747SP-44 registration ZS-SPC at the South African Airways Museum Society, Rand Airport, Johannesburg, South Africa. + 21549/336 – 747-206B registration PH-BUK at the Aviodrome, Lelystad, Netherlands. + 21588/342 – 747-230B(M) registration D-ABYM preserved at Technik Museum Speyer, Germany. + 21650/354 – 747-2R7F/SCD registration G-MKGA preserved at Cotswold Airport as an event space. + 22145/410 – 747-238B registration VH-EBQ at the Qantas Founders Outback Museum, Longreach, Queensland, Australia. + 22455/515 – 747-256BM registration EC-DLD Lope de Vega nose at the National Museum of Science and Technology, A Coruña, Spain. + 23223/606 – 747-338 registration VH-EBU at Melbourne Avalon Airport, Avalon, Victoria, Australia. VH-EBU is an ex-Qantas airframe formerly decorated in the Nalanji Dreaming livery, currently in use as a training aircraft and film set. + 23719/696 – 747-451 registration N661US at the Delta Flight Museum, Atlanta, Georgia, US. This particular plane was the first in service, as well as the prototype. + 24354/731 – 747-438 registration VH-OJA at Shellharbour Airport, Albion Park Rail, New South Wales, Australia. + 21441/306 - SOFIA - 747SP-21 registration N747NA at Pima Air and Space Museum in Tucson, Arizona. Former Pan Am and United Airlines 747SP bought by NASA and converted into a flying telescope, for astronomy purposes. Named Clipper Lindbergh. + +Other uses + +Upon its retirement from service, the 747 which was number two in the production line was dismantled and shipped to Hopyeong, Namyangju, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea where it was re-assembled, repainted in a livery similar to that of Air Force One and converted into a restaurant. Originally flown commercially by Pan Am as N747PA, Clipper Juan T. Trippe, and repaired for service following a tailstrike, it stayed with the airline until its bankruptcy. The restaurant closed by 2009, and the aircraft was scrapped in 2010. + +A former British Airways 747-200B, G-BDXJ, is parked at the Dunsfold Aerodrome in Surrey, England and has been used as a movie set for productions such as the 2006 James Bond film, Casino Royale. The airplane also appears frequently in the television series Top Gear, which is filmed at Dunsfold. + +The Jumbo Stay hostel, using a converted 747-200 formerly registered as 9V-SQE, opened at Arlanda Airport, Stockholm in January 2009. + +A former Pakistan International Airlines 747-300 was converted into a restaurant by Pakistan's Airports Security Force in 2017. It is located at Jinnah International Airport, Karachi. + +The wings of a 747 have been repurposed as roofs of a house in Malibu, California. + +In 2023, a 747-200B originally operated by Lufthansa as a combi aircraft bearing the registration D-ABYW and named Berlin, and later by Lufthansa Cargo and other airlines as a full freighter, was opened as a Coach outlet store at Freeport A'Famosa Outlet Mall in Malacca, Malaysia. + +Specifications + +Cultural impact + +Following its debut, the 747 rapidly achieved iconic status. The aircraft entered the cultural lexicon as the original Jumbo Jet, a term coined by the aviation media to describe its size, and was also nicknamed Queen of the Skies. Test pilot David P. Davies described it as "a most impressive aeroplane with a number of exceptionally fine qualities", and praised its flight control system as "truly outstanding" because of its redundancy. + +Appearing in over 300 film productions, the 747 is one of the most widely depicted civilian aircraft and is considered by many as one of the most iconic in film history. It has appeared in film productions such as the disaster films Airport 1975 and Airport '77, as well as Air Force One, Die Hard 2, and Executive Decision. + +See also + +References + +Notes + +Bibliography + + Bowers, Peter M. Boeing Aircraft Since 1916. London: Putnam Aeronautical Books, 1989. . + Davies, R.E.G. Delta: An Airline and Its Aircraft: The Illustrated History of a Major U.S. Airline and the People Who Made It. McLean, VA: Paladwr Press, 1990. . + Donald, David and Lake, Jon. Encyclopedia of World Military Aircraft. London: Aerospace Publishing, 1996. . + Haenggi, Michael. Boeing Widebodies. St. Paul, MN: MBI Publishing Co., 2003. . + Irving, Clive. Wide Body: The Making of the Boeing 747. Philadelphia: Coronet, 1994. . + Itabashi, M., K. Kawata and S. Kusaka. "Pre-fatigued 2219-T87 and 6061-T6 aluminium alloys." Structural Failure: Technical, Legal and Insurance Aspects. Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon.: Taylor & Francis, 1995. . + Jenkins, Dennis R. Boeing 747-100/200/300/SP (AirlinerTech Series, Vol. 6). North Branch, MN: Specialty Press, 2000. . + Kane, Robert M. Air Transportation: 1903–2003. Dubuque, IA: Kendall Hunt Publishing Co., 2004. . + Lawrence, Philip K. and David Weldon Thornton. Deep Stall: The Turbulent Story of Boeing Commercial Airplanes. Burlington, VT: Ashgate Publishing Co., 2005, . + Norris, Guy and Mark Wagner. Boeing 747: Design and Development Since 1969. St. Paul, MN: MBI Publishing Co., 1997. . + Norton, Bill. Lockheed Martin C-5 Galaxy. North Branch, MN: Specialty Press, 2003. . + Orlebar, Christopher. The Concorde Story. Oxford: Osprey Publishing, 5th ed., 2002. . + Seo, Hiroshi. Boeing 747. Worthing, West Sussex: Littlehampton Book Services Ltd., 1984. . + Sutter, Joe. 747: Creating the World's First Jumbo Jet and Other Adventures from a Life in Aviation. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Books, 2006. . + Taylor, John W. R. (editor). Jane's All the World's Aircraft 1988–89. Coulsdon, UK: Jane's Defence Data, 1988. . + Thisdell, Dan and Seymour, Chris. "World Airliner Census". Flight International, July 30 – August 5, 2019, Vol. 196, No. 5697. pp. 24–47. . + +Further reading + + Ingells, Douglas J. 747: Story of the Boeing Super Jet. Fallbrook, CA: Aero Publishers, 1970. . + The Great Gamble: The Boeing 747. The Boeing – Pan Am Project to Develop, Produce, and Introduce the 747. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 1973. . + Lucas, Jim. Boeing 747 – The First 20 Years. Browcom Pub. Ltd, 1988. . + Wright, Alan J. Boeing 747. Hersham, Surrey: Ian Allan, 1989. . + Minton, David H. The Boeing 747 (Aero Series 40). Fallbrook, CA: Aero Publishers, 1991. . + Shaw, Robbie. Boeing 747 (Osprey Civil Aircraft series). London: Osprey, 1994. . + Baum, Brian. Boeing 747-SP (Great Airliners, Vol. 3). Osceola, WI: Motorbooks International, 1997. . + Falconer, Jonathan. Boeing 747 in Color. Hersham, Surrey: Ian Allan, 1997. . + Gilchrist, Peter. Boeing 747-400 (Airliner Color History). Osceola, WI: Motorbooks International, 1998. . + Henderson, Scott. Boeing 747-100/200 In Camera. Minneapolis, MN: Scoval Publishing, 1999. . + Pealing, Norman, and Savage, Mike. Jumbo Jetliners: Boeing's 747 and the Widebodies (Osprey Color Classics). Osceola, WI: Motorbooks International, 1999. . + Shaw, Robbie. Boeing 747-400: The Mega-Top (Osprey Civil Aircraft series)/ London: Osprey, 1999. . + Wilson, Stewart. Boeing 747 (Aviation Notebook Series). Queanbeyan, NSW: Wilson Media Pty. Ltd, 1999. . + Wilson, Stewart. Airliners of the World. Fyshwick, Australia: Aerospace Publications Pty Ltd., 1999. . + Birtles, Philip. Boeing 747-400. Hersham, Surrey: Ian Allan, 2000. . + Bowman, Martin. Boeing 747 (Crowood Aviation Series). Marlborough, Wilts.: Crowood, 2000. + Dorr, Robert F. Boeing 747-400 (AirlinerTech Series, Vol. 10). North Branch, MN: Specialty Press, 2000. . + Gesar, Aram. Boeing 747: The Jumbo. New York: Pyramid Media Group, 2000. . + Gilchrist, Peter. Boeing 747 Classic (Airliner Color History). Osceola, WI: Motorbooks International, 2000. . + Graham, Ian. In Control: How to Fly a 747. Somerville, MA: Candlewick, 2000. . + Nicholls, Mark. The Airliner World Book of the Boeing 747. New York: Osprey Publishing, 2002. . + March, Peter. The Boeing 747 Story. Stroud, Glos.: The History Press, 2009. . + +External links + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +Boeing 747 +1960s United States airliners +Quadjets +Aircraft first flown in 1969 +Double-deck aircraft +The Battle of Agincourt ( ; ) was an English victory in the Hundred Years' War. It took place on 25 October 1415 (Saint Crispin's Day) near Azincourt, in northern France. The unexpected English victory against the numerically superior French army boosted English morale and prestige, crippled France, and started a new period of English dominance in the war that would last for 14 years until England was defeated by France in the Siege of Orléans in 1429. + +After several decades of relative peace, the English had resumed the war in 1415 amid the failure of negotiations with the French. In the ensuing campaign, many soldiers died from disease, and the English numbers dwindled; they tried to withdraw to English-held Calais but found their path blocked by a considerably larger French army. Despite the numerical disadvantage, the battle ended in an overwhelming victory for the English. + +King Henry V of England led his troops into battle and participated in hand-to-hand fighting. King Charles VI of France did not command the French army as he suffered from psychotic illnesses and associated mental incapacity. The French were commanded by Constable Charles d'Albret and various prominent French noblemen of the Armagnac party. This battle is notable for the use of the English longbow in very large numbers, with the English and Welsh archers comprising nearly 80 per cent of Henry's army. Henry's standard-bearer was William Harrington, he being an official Standard Bearer of England. + +The Battle of Agincourt is one of England's most celebrated victories and was one of the most important English triumphs in the Hundred Years' War, along with the Battle of Crécy (1346) and Battle of Poitiers (1356). Perhaps the most notable example of a last stand of a heavily outnumbered force resulting in an outright victory, it continues to fascinate scholars and the general public into the modern day. It forms the backdrop to notable works such as William Shakespeare's play Henry V, written in 1599. + +Contemporary accounts + +The Battle of Agincourt is well documented by at least seven contemporary accounts, three from eyewitnesses. The general location of the battle is not disputed and the site remains relatively unaltered after 600 years. A paucity of archeological evidence though, has led to a debate as to the exact location of the battlefield. + +Immediately after the battle, Henry summoned the heralds of the two armies who had watched the battle together with principal French herald Montjoie, and they settled on the name of the battle as Azincourt, after the nearest fortified place. Two of the most frequently cited accounts come from Burgundian sources, one from Jean Le Fèvre de Saint-Remy who was present at the battle, and the other from Enguerrand de Monstrelet. The English eyewitness account comes from the anonymous author of the Gesta Henrici Quinti, believed to have been written by a chaplain in the King's household who would have been in the baggage train at the battle. A recent re-appraisal of Henry's strategy of the Agincourt campaign incorporates these three accounts and argues that war was seen as a legal due process for solving the disagreement over claims to the French throne. + +Background + +Henry V invaded France following the failure of negotiations with the French. He claimed the title of King of France through his great-grandfather Edward III of England, although in practice the English kings were generally prepared to renounce this claim if the French would acknowledge the English claim on Aquitaine and other French lands (the terms of the Treaty of Brétigny). He initially called a Great Council in the spring of 1414 to discuss going to war with France, but the lords insisted that he should negotiate further and moderate his claims. In the ensuing negotiations Henry said that he would give up his claim to the French throne if the French would pay the 1.6 million crowns outstanding from the ransom of John II (who had been captured at the Battle of Poitiers in 1356), and concede English ownership of the lands of Anjou, Brittany, Flanders, Normandy, and Touraine, as well as Aquitaine. Henry would marry Catherine, Charles VI's young daughter, and receive a dowry of 2 million crowns. + +The French responded with what they considered the generous terms of marriage with Catherine, a dowry of 600,000 crowns, and an enlarged Aquitaine. In December 1414, the English parliament was persuaded to grant Henry a "double subsidy", a tax at twice the traditional rate, to recover his inheritance from the French. By 1415, negotiations had ground to a halt, with the English claiming that the French had mocked their claims and ridiculed Henry himself. On 19 April 1415, Henry again asked the Great Council to sanction war with France, and this time they agreed. + +Henry's army landed in northern France on 13 August 1415, carried by a vast fleet. It was often reported to comprise 1,500 ships, but was probably far smaller. Theodore Beck also suggests that among Henry's army was "the king's physician and a little band of surgeons". Thomas Morstede, Henry V's royal surgeon, had previously been contracted by the king to supply a team of surgeons and makers of surgical instruments to take part in the Agincourt campaign. The army of about 12,000 men and up to 20,000 horses besieged the port of Harfleur. The siege took longer than expected. The town surrendered on 22 September, and the English army did not leave until 8 October. The campaign season was coming to an end, and the English army had suffered many casualties through disease. Rather than retire directly to England for the winter, with his costly expedition resulting in the capture of only one town, Henry decided to march most of his army (roughly 9,000) through Normandy to the port of Calais, the English stronghold in northern France, to demonstrate by his presence in the territory at the head of an army that his right to rule in the duchy was more than a mere abstract legal and historical claim. He also intended the manoeuvre as a deliberate provocation to battle aimed at the dauphin, who had failed to respond to Henry's personal challenge to combat at Harfleur. + +During the siege, the French had raised an army which assembled around Rouen. This was not strictly a feudal army, but an army paid through a system similar to that of the English. The French hoped to raise 9,000 troops, but the army was not ready in time to relieve Harfleur. + +After Henry V marched to the north, the French moved to block them along the River Somme. They were successful for a time, forcing Henry to move south, away from Calais, to find a ford. The English finally crossed the Somme south of Péronne, at Béthencourt and Voyennes and resumed marching north. + +Without a river obstacle to defend, the French were hesitant to force a battle. They shadowed Henry's army while calling a semonce des nobles, calling on local nobles to join the army. By 24 October, both armies faced each other for battle, but the French declined, hoping for the arrival of more troops. The two armies spent the night of 24 October on open ground. The next day the French initiated negotiations as a delaying tactic, but Henry ordered his army to advance and to start a battle that, given the state of his army, he would have preferred to avoid, or to fight defensively: that was how Crécy and the other famous longbow victories had been won. The English had very little food, had marched in two and a half weeks, were suffering from sickness such as dysentery, and were greatly outnumbered by well-equipped French men-at-arms. The French army blocked Henry's way to the safety of Calais, and delaying battle would only further weaken his tired army and allow more French troops to arrive. + +Setting + +Battlefield +The precise location of the battle is not known. It may be in the narrow strip of open land formed between the woods of Tramecourt and Azincourt (close to the modern village of Azincourt). However, the lack of archaeological evidence at this traditional site has led to suggestions it was fought to the west of Azincourt. In 2019, the historian Michael Livingston also made the case for a site west of Azincourt, based on a review of sources and early maps. + +English deployment + +Early on the 25th, Henry deployed his army (approximately 1,500 men-at-arms and 7,000 longbowmen) across a part of the defile. The army was divided into three groups, with the right wing led by Edward, Duke of York, the centre led by the king himself, and the left wing under the old and experienced Baron Thomas Camoys. The archers were commanded by Sir Thomas Erpingham, another elderly veteran. It is likely that the English adopted their usual battle line of longbowmen on either flank, with men-at-arms and knights in the centre. They might also have deployed some archers in the centre of the line. The English men-at-arms in plate and mail were placed shoulder to shoulder four deep. The English and Welsh archers on the flanks drove pointed wooden stakes, or palings, into the ground at an angle to force cavalry to veer off. This use of stakes could have been inspired by the Battle of Nicopolis of 1396, where forces of the Ottoman Empire used the tactic against French cavalry. + +The English made their confessions before the battle, as was customary. Henry, worried about the enemy launching surprise raids, and wanting his troops to remain focused, ordered all his men to spend the night before the battle in silence, on pain of having an ear cut off. He told his men that he would rather die in the coming battle than be captured and ransomed. + +Henry made a speech emphasising the justness of his cause, and reminding his army of previous great defeats the kings of England had inflicted on the French. The Burgundian sources have him concluding the speech by telling his men that the French had boasted that they would cut off two fingers from the right hand of every archer, so that he could never draw a longbow again. Whether this was true is open to question and continues to be debated to this day; however, it seems likely that death was the normal fate of any soldier who could not be ransomed. + +French deployment +The French army had 10,000 men-at arms plus some 4,000–5,000 miscellaneous footmen () including archers, crossbowmen () and shield-bearers (), totaling 14,000–15,000 men. Probably each man-at-arms would be accompanied by a gros valet (or varlet), an armed servant, adding up to another 10,000 potential fighting men, though some historians omit them from the number of combatants. + +The French were organized into two main groups (or battles), a vanguard up front and a main battle behind, both composed principally of men-at-arms fighting on foot and flanked by more of the same in each wing. There was a special, elite cavalry force whose purpose was to break the formation of the English archers and thus clear the way for the infantry to advance. A second, smaller mounted force was to attack the rear of the English army, along with its baggage and servants. Many lords and gentlemen demanded – and got – places in the front lines, where they would have a higher chance to acquire glory and valuable ransoms; this resulted in the bulk of the men-at-arms being massed in the front lines and the other troops, for which there was no remaining space, to be placed behind. Although it had been planned for the archers and crossbowmen to be placed with the infantry wings, they were now regarded as unnecessary and placed behind them instead. On account of the lack of space, the French drew up a third battle, the rearguard, which was on horseback and mainly comprised the varlets mounted on the horses belonging to the men fighting on foot ahead. + +The French vanguard and main battle numbered respectively 4,800 and 3,000 men-at-arms. Both lines were arrayed in tight, dense formations of about 16 ranks each, and were positioned a bowshot length from each other. Albret, Boucicaut and almost all the leading noblemen were assigned stations in the vanguard. The dukes of Alençon and Bar led the main battle. A further 600 dismounted men-at-arms stood in each wing, with the left under the Count of Vendôme and the right under the Count of Richemont. To disperse the enemy archers, a cavalry force of 800–1,200 picked men-at-arms, led by Clignet de Bréban and Louis de Bosredon, was distributed evenly between both flanks of the vanguard (standing slightly forward, like horns). Some 200 mounted men-at-arms would attack the English rear. The French apparently had no clear plan for deploying the rest of the army. The rearguard, leaderless, would serve as a "dumping ground" for the surplus troops. + +Terrain +The field of battle was arguably the most significant factor in deciding the outcome. The recently ploughed land hemmed in by dense woodland favoured the English, both because of its narrowness, and because of the thick mud through which the French knights had to walk. + +Accounts of the battle describe the French engaging the English men-at-arms before being rushed from the sides by the longbowmen as the mêlée developed. The English account in the Gesta Henrici says: "For when some of them, killed when battle was first joined, fall at the front, so great was the undisciplined violence and pressure of the mass of men behind them that the living fell on top of the dead, and others falling on top of the living were killed as well." + +Although the French initially pushed the English back, they became so closely packed that they were described as having trouble using their weapons properly. The French monk of St. Denis says: "Their vanguard, composed of about 5,000 men, found itself at first so tightly packed that those who were in the third rank could scarcely use their swords," and the Burgundian sources have a similar passage. + +Recent heavy rain made the battle field very muddy, proving very tiring to walk through in full plate armour. The French monk of St. Denis describes the French troops as "marching through the middle of the mud where they sank up to their knees. So they were already overcome with fatigue even before they advanced against the enemy". The deep, soft mud particularly favoured the English force because, once knocked to the ground, the heavily armoured French knights had a hard time getting back up to fight in the mêlée. Barker states that some knights, encumbered by their armour, actually drowned in their helmets. + +Fighting + +Opening moves + +On the morning of 25 October, the French were still waiting for additional troops to arrive. The Duke of Brabant (about 2,000 men), the Duke of Anjou (about 600 men), and the Duke of Brittany (6,000 men, according to Monstrelet), were all marching to join the army. + +For three hours after sunrise there was no fighting. Military textbooks of the time stated: "Everywhere and on all occasions that foot soldiers march against their enemy face to face, those who march lose and those who remain standing still and holding firm win." On top of this, the French were expecting thousands of men to join them if they waited. They were blocking Henry's retreat, and were perfectly happy to wait for as long as it took. There had even been a suggestion that the English would run away rather than give battle when they saw that they would be fighting so many French princes. + +Henry's men were already very weary from hunger, illness and retreat. Apparently Henry believed his fleeing army would perform better on the defensive, but had to halt the retreat and somehow engage the French +before a defensive battle was possible. This entailed abandoning his chosen position and pulling out, advancing, and then re-installing the long sharpened wooden stakes pointed outwards toward the enemy, which helped protect the longbowmen from cavalry charges. (The use of stakes was an innovation for the English: during the Battle of Crécy, for example, the archers had been instead protected by pits and other obstacles.) + +The tightness of the terrain also seems to have restricted the planned deployment of the French forces. The French had originally drawn up a battle plan that had archers and crossbowmen in front of their men-at-arms, with a cavalry force at the rear specifically designed to "fall upon the archers, and use their force to break them," but in the event, the French archers and crossbowmen were deployed behind and to the sides of the men-at-arms (where they seem to have played almost no part, except possibly for an initial volley of arrows at the start of the battle). The cavalry force, which could have devastated the English line if it had attacked while they moved their stakes, charged only after the initial volley of arrows from the English. It is unclear whether the delay occurred because the French were hoping the English would launch a frontal assault (and were surprised when the English instead started shooting from their new defensive position), or whether the French mounted knights instead did not react quickly enough to the English advance. French chroniclers agree that when the mounted charge did come, it did not contain as many men as it should have; Gilles le Bouvier states that some had wandered off to warm themselves and others were walking or feeding their horses. + +French cavalry attack +The French cavalry, despite being disorganised and not at full numbers, charged towards the longbowmen. It was a disastrous attempt. The French knights were unable to outflank the longbowmen (because of the encroaching woodland) and unable to charge through the array of sharpened stakes that protected the archers. John Keegan argues that the longbows' main influence on the battle at this point was injuries to horses: armoured only on the head, many horses would have become dangerously out of control when struck in the back or flank from the high-elevation, long-range shots used as the charge started. The mounted charge and subsequent retreat churned up the already muddy terrain between the French and the English. Juliet Barker quotes a contemporary account by a monk from St. Denis who reports how the wounded and panicking horses galloped through the advancing infantry, scattering them and trampling them down in their headlong flight from the battlefield. + +Main French assault + +The plate armour of the French men-at-arms allowed them to close the 1,000 yards or so to the English lines while being under what the French monk of Saint Denis described as "a terrifying hail of arrow shot". A complete coat of plate was considered such good protection that shields were generally not used, although the Burgundian contemporary sources distinguish between Frenchmen who used shields and those who did not, and Rogers has suggested that the front elements of the French force used axes and shields. Modern historians are divided on how effective the longbows would have been against plate armour of the time. Modern test and contemporary accounts conclude that arrows could not penetrate the better quality steel armour, which became available to knights and men-at-arms of fairly modest means by the middle of the 14th century, but could penetrate the poorer quality wrought iron armour. Rogers suggested that the longbow could penetrate a wrought iron breastplate at short range and penetrate the thinner armour on the limbs even at . He considered a knight in the best-quality steel armour invulnerable to an arrow on the breastplate or top of the helmet, but vulnerable to shots hitting the limbs, particularly at close range. In any case, to protect themselves as much as possible from the arrows, the French had to lower their visors and bend their helmeted heads to avoid being shot in the face, as the eye- and air-holes in their helmets were among the weakest points in the armour. This head-lowered position restricted their breathing and their vision. Then they had to walk a few hundred yards (metres) through thick mud and a press of comrades while wearing armour weighing , gathering sticky clay all the way. Increasingly, they had to walk around or over fallen comrades. + +The surviving French men-at-arms reached the front of the English line and pushed it back, with the longbowmen on the flanks continuing to shoot at point-blank range. When the archers ran out of arrows, they dropped their bows and, using hatchets, swords, and the mallets they had used to drive their stakes in, attacked the now disordered, fatigued and wounded French men-at-arms massed in front of them. The French could not cope with the thousands of lightly armoured longbowmen assailants (who were much less hindered by the mud and weight of their armour) combined with the English men-at-arms. The impact of thousands of arrows, combined with the slog in heavy armour through the mud, the heat and difficulty breathing in plate armour with the visor down, and the crush of their numbers, meant the French men-at-arms could "scarcely lift their weapons" when they finally engaged the English line. The exhausted French men-at-arms were unable to get up after being knocked to the ground by the English. As the mêlée developed, the French second line also joined the attack, but they too were swallowed up, with the narrow terrain meaning the extra numbers could not be used effectively. Rogers suggested that the French at the back of their deep formation would have been attempting to literally add their weight to the advance, without realising that they were hindering the ability of those at the front to manoeuvre and fight by pushing them into the English formation of lancepoints. After the initial wave, the French would have had to fight over and on the bodies of those who had fallen before them. In such a "press" of thousands of men, Rogers suggested that many could have suffocated in their armour, as was described by several sources, and which was also known to have happened in other battles. + +The French men-at-arms were taken prisoner or killed in the thousands. The fighting lasted about three hours, but eventually the leaders of the second line were killed or captured, as those of the first line had been. The English Gesta Henrici described three great heaps of the slain around the three main English standards. +According to contemporary English accounts, Henry fought hand to hand. Upon hearing that his youngest brother Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester had been wounded in the groin, Henry took his household guard and stood over his brother, in the front rank of the fighting, until Humphrey could be dragged to safety. The king received an axe blow to the head, which knocked off a piece of the crown that formed part of his helmet. + +Attack on the English baggage train + +The only French success was an attack on the lightly protected English baggage train, with Ysembart d'Azincourt (leading a small number of men-at-arms and varlets plus about 600 peasants) seizing some of Henry's personal treasures, including a crown. Whether this was part of a deliberate French plan or an act of local brigandage is unclear from the sources. Certainly, d'Azincourt was a local knight but he might have been chosen to lead the attack because of his local knowledge and the lack of availability of a more senior soldier. In some accounts the attack happened towards the end of the battle, and led the English to think they were being attacked from the rear. Barker, following the Gesta Henrici, believed to have been written by an English chaplain who was actually in the baggage train, concluded that the attack happened at the start of the battle. + +Henry executes the French prisoners +Regardless of when the baggage assault happened, at some point after the initial English victory, Henry became alarmed that the French were regrouping for another attack. The Gesta Henrici places this after the English had overcome the onslaught of the French men-at-arms and the weary English troops were eyeing the French rearguard ("in incomparable number and still fresh"). Le Fèvre and Wavrin similarly say that it was signs of the French rearguard regrouping and "marching forward in battle order" which made the English think they were still in danger. A slaughter of the French prisoners ensued. It seems it was purely a decision of Henry, since the English knights found it contrary to chivalry, and contrary to their interests, to kill valuable hostages for whom it was commonplace to ask ransom. Henry threatened to hang whomever did not obey his orders. + +In any event, Henry ordered the slaughter of what were perhaps several thousand French prisoners, sparing only the highest ranked (presumably those most likely to fetch a large ransom under the chivalric system of warfare). According to most chroniclers, Henry's fear was that the prisoners (who, in an unusual turn of events, actually outnumbered their captors) would realise their advantage in numbers, rearm themselves with the weapons strewn about the field and overwhelm the exhausted English forces. Contemporary chroniclers did not criticise him for it. In his study of the battle John Keegan argued that the main aim was not to actually kill the French knights but rather to terrorise them into submission and quell any possibility they might resume the fight, which would probably have caused the uncommitted French reserve forces to join the fray, as well. Such an event would have posed a risk to the still-outnumbered English and could have easily turned a stunning victory into a mutually destructive defeat, as the English forces were now largely intermingled with the French and would have suffered grievously from the arrows of their own longbowmen had they needed to resume shooting. Keegan also speculated that due to the relatively low number of archers actually involved in killing the French knights (roughly 200 by his estimate), together with the refusal of the English knights to assist in a duty they saw as distastefully unchivalrous, and combined with the sheer difficulty of killing such a large number of prisoners in such a short space of time, the actual number of French prisoners put to death may not have been substantial before the French reserves fled the field and Henry rescinded the order. + +Aftermath +The French had suffered a catastrophic defeat. In all, around 6,000 of their fighting men lay dead on the ground. The list of casualties, one historian has noted, "read like a roll call of the military and political leaders of the past generation". Among them were 90–120 great lords and bannerets killed, including three dukes (Alençon, Bar and Brabant), nine counts (Blâmont, Dreux, Fauquembergue, Grandpré, Marle, Nevers, Roucy, Vaucourt, Vaudémont) and one viscount (Puisaye), also an archbishop. Of the great royal office holders, France lost its constable (Albret), an admiral (the lord of Dampierre), the Master of Crossbowmen (David de Rambures, dead along with three sons), Master of the Royal Household (Guichard Dauphin) and prévôt of the marshals. According to the heralds, 3,069 knights and squires were killed, while at least 2,600 more corpses were found without coats of arms to identify them. Entire noble families were wiped out in the male line, and in some regions an entire generation of landed nobility was annihilated. The bailiffs of nine major northern towns were killed, often along with their sons, relatives and supporters. In the words of Juliet Barker, the battle "cut a great swath through the natural leaders of French society in Artois, Ponthieu, Normandy, Picardy." + +Estimates of the number of prisoners vary between 700 and 2,200, amongst them the dukes of Orléans and Bourbon, the counts of Eu, Vendôme, Richemont (brother of the Duke of Brittany and stepbrother of Henry V) and Harcourt, and marshal Jean Le Maingre. + +While numerous English sources give the English casualties in double figures, record evidence identifies at least 112 Englishmen killed in the fighting, while Monstrelet reported 600 English dead. These included the Duke of York, the young Earl of Suffolk and the Welsh esquire Dafydd ("Davy") Gam. Jean de Wavrin, a knight on the French side wrote that English fatalities were 1,600 "men of all ranks". + +Although the victory had been militarily decisive, its impact was complex. It did not lead to further English conquests immediately as Henry's priority was to return to England, which he did on 16 November, to be received in triumph in London on the 23rd. Henry returned a conquering hero, seen as blessed by God in the eyes of his subjects and European powers outside France. It established the legitimacy of the Lancastrian monarchy and the future campaigns of Henry to pursue his "rights and privileges" in France. Other benefits to the English were longer term. Very quickly after the battle, the fragile truce between the Armagnac and Burgundian factions broke down. The brunt of the battle had fallen on the Armagnacs and it was they who suffered the majority of senior casualties and carried the blame for the defeat. The Burgundians seized on the opportunity and within 10 days of the battle had mustered their armies and marched on Paris. This lack of unity in France allowed Henry eighteen months to prepare militarily and politically for a renewed campaign. When that campaign took place, it was made easier by the damage done to the political and military structures of Normandy by the battle. + +Numbers at Agincourt +Most primary sources which describe the battle have English outnumbered by several times. By contrast, Anne Curry in her 2005 book Agincourt: A New History, argued, based on research into the surviving administrative records, that the French army was 12,000 strong, and the English army 9,000, proportions of four to three. While not necessarily agreeing with the exact numbers Curry uses, Bertrand Schnerb, a professor of medieval history at the University of Lille, states the French probably had 12,000–15,000 troops. Juliet Barker, Jonathan Sumption and Clifford J. Rogers criticized Curry's reliance on administrative records, arguing that they are incomplete and that several of the available primary sources already offer a credible assessment of the numbers involved. Ian Mortimer endorsed Curry's methodology, though applied it more liberally, noting how she "minimises French numbers (by limiting her figures to those in the basic army and a few specific additional companies) and maximises English numbers (by assuming the numbers sent home from Harfleur were no greater than sick lists)", and concluded that "the most extreme imbalance which is credible" is 15,000 French against 8,000–9,000 English. Barker opined that "if the differential really was as low as three to four then this makes a nonsense of the course of the battle as described by eyewitnesses and contemporaries". + +Barker, Sumption and Rogers all wrote that the English probably had 6,000 men, these being 5,000 archers and 900–1,000 men-at-arms. These numbers are based on the Gesta Henrici Quinti and the chronicle of Jean Le Fèvre, the only two eyewitness accounts on the English camp. Curry and Mortimer questioned the reliability of the Gesta, as there have been doubts as to how much it was written as propaganda for Henry V. Both note that the Gesta vastly overestimates the number of French in the battle; its proportions of English archers to men-at-arms at the battle are also different from those of the English army before the siege of Harfleur. Mortimer also considers that the Gesta vastly inflates the English casualties – 5,000 – at Harfleur, and that "despite the trials of the march, Henry had lost very few men to illness or death; and we have independent testimony that no more than 160 had been captured on the way". Rogers, on the other hand, finds the number 5,000 plausible, giving several analogous historical events to support his case, and Barker considers that the fragmentary pay records which Curry relies on actually support the lower estimates. + +Historians disagree less about the French numbers. Rogers, Mortimer and Sumption all give more or less 10,000 men-at-arms for the French, using as a source the herald of the Duke of Berry, an eyewitness. The number is supported by many other contemporary accounts. Curry, Rogers and Mortimer all agree the French had 4 to 5 thousand missile troops. Sumption, thus, concludes that the French had 14,000 men, basing himself on the monk of St. Denis; Mortimer gives 14 or 15 thousand fighting men. One particular cause of confusion may have been the number of servants on both sides, or whether they should at all be counted as combatants. Since the French had many more men-at-arms than the English, they would accordingly be accompanied by a far greater number of servants. Rogers says each of the 10,000 men-at-arms would be accompanied by a gros valet (an armed, armoured and mounted military servant) and a noncombatant page, counts the former as fighting men, and concludes thus that the French in fact numbered 24,000. Barker, who believes the English were outnumbered by at least four to one, says that the armed servants formed the rearguard in the battle. Mortimer notes the presence of noncombatant pages only, indicating that they would ride the spare horses during the battle and be mistakenly thought of as combatants by the English. + +Popular representations + +The battle remains an important symbol in popular culture. Some notable examples are listed below. + +Music +Soon after the victory at Agincourt, a number of popular folk songs were created about the battle, the most famous being the "Agincourt Carol", produced in the first half of the 15th century. Other ballads followed, including "King Henry Fifth's Conquest of France", raising the popular prominence of particular events mentioned only in passing by the original chroniclers, such as the gift of tennis balls before the campaign. + +Literature + +The most famous cultural depiction of the battle today is in Act IV of William Shakespeare's Henry V, written in 1599. The play focuses on the pressures of kingship, the tensions between how a king should appear – chivalric, honest, and just – and how a king must sometimes act – Machiavellian and ruthless. Shakespeare illustrates these tensions by depicting Henry's decision to kill some of the French prisoners, whilst attempting to justify it and distance himself from the event. This moment of the battle is portrayed both as a break with the traditions of chivalry and as a key example of the paradox of kingship. + +Shakespeare's depiction of the battle also plays on the theme of modernity. He contrasts the modern, English king and his army with the medieval, chivalric, older model of the French. + +Shakespeare's play presented Henry as leading a truly English force into battle, playing on the importance of the link between the monarch and the common soldiers in the fight. The original play does not, however, feature any scenes of the actual battle itself, leading critic Rose Zimbardo to characterise it as "full of warfare, yet empty of conflict." + +The play introduced the famous St Crispin's Day Speech, considered one of Shakespeare's most heroic speeches, which Henry delivers movingly to his soldiers just before the battle, urging his "band of brothers" to stand together in the forthcoming fight. Critic David Margolies describes how it "oozes honour, military glory, love of country and self-sacrifice", and forms one of the first instances of English literature linking solidarity and comradeship to success in battle. Partially as a result, the battle was used as a metaphor at the beginning of the First World War, when the British Expeditionary Force's attempts to stop the German advances were widely likened to it. + +Shakespeare's portrayal of the casualty loss is ahistorical in that the French are stated to have lost 10,000 and the English 'less than' thirty men, prompting Henry's remark, "O God, thy arm was here". + +In 2008, English-American author Bernard Cornwell released a retelling of both the events leading up the battle and the battle itself, titled Azincourt. The story is told predominantly through the eyes of an English longbowman named Nicholas Hook. + +Films +Shakespeare's version of the battle of Agincourt has been turned into several minor and two major films. The latter, each titled Henry V, star Laurence Olivier in 1944 and Kenneth Branagh in 1989. Made just prior to the invasion of Normandy, Olivier's rendition gives the battle what Sarah Hatchuel has termed an "exhilarating and heroic" tone, with an artificial, cinematic look to the battle scenes. Branagh's version gives a longer, more realist portrayal of the battle itself, drawing on both historical sources and images from the Vietnam and Falkland Wars. + +In his 2007 film adaptation, director Peter Babakitis uses digital effects to exaggerate realist features during the battle scenes, producing a more avant-garde interpretation of the fighting at Agincourt. The battle also forms a central component of the 2019 Netflix film The King, which stars Timothée Chalamet as Henry V and Robert Pattinson as the Dauphin of Viennois. The film takes inspiration from Shakespeare's Henriad plays. + +Mock trial +In March 2010, a mock trial of Henry V for the crimes associated with the slaughter of the prisoners was held in Washington, D.C., drawing from both the historical record and Shakespeare's play. Participating as judges were Justices Samuel Alito and Ruth Bader Ginsburg. The trial ranged widely over whether there was just cause for war and not simply the prisoner issue. Although an audience vote was "too close to call", Henry was unanimously found guilty by the court on the basis of "evolving standards of civil society". + +Agincourt today +There is a modern museum in Azincourt village dedicated to the battle. The museum lists the names of combatants of both sides who died in the battle. + +Notes + +References + +Citations + +General sources + +Further reading + + Beck, Steve (2005). The Battle of Agincourt, Military History Online + + Cooper, Stephen (2015). "Where was Agincourt fought?" , Agincourt 600 website + + Family Chronicle.com, The Agincourt Honor Roll, Family Chronicle, March/April 1997. + The Fitzwilliam Museum, University of Cambridge Macclesfield Psalter CD + + Grummitt, David. (Oxford University), A review of Agincourt 1415: Henry V, Sir Thomas Erpingham and the triumph of the English archers ed. Anne Curry, Pub: Tempus UK, 2000 . Accessed 15 April 2008. + Hansen, Mogens Herman (Copenhagen Polis Centre) The Little Grey Horse – Henry V's Speech at Agincourt and the Battle Exhortation in Ancient Historiography Histos volume 2 (March 1998), website of the Department of Classics and Ancient History, University of Durham + + + + + "Battle of Agincourt" in Military Heritage, October 2005, Volume 7, No. 2, pp. 36–43. . + +External links + + Battle of Agincourt memorial + The Agincourt Battlefield Archaeology Project, Tim Sutherland (Project Director) + Azincourt Museum + – Bragg, Melvyn (presenter), with Anne Curry, Michael Jones and John Watts, 16 September 2004. + Detailed list of French casualties + Contemporary account of battle by Enguerrand de Monstrelet (d.1453), governor of Cambrai and supporter of the French crown. + Battle of Agincourt on Medieval Archives Podcast + Battle of Agincourt animated map by David Crowther + Agincourt campaign animated map by David Crowther + [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GBJww-70sCU} Lt Col John Woodford and Excavations at Azincourt (17 September 2015, Agincourt600 conference) by Tim Sutherland + +1410s in France +1415 in England +Agincourt +Agincourt 1415 +Conflicts in 1415 +Henry V of England +History of archery +Military history of the Pas-de-Calais +Hundred Years' War, 1415–1453 +Burgundian can refer to any of the following: + +Someone or something from Burgundy. +Burgundians, an East Germanic tribe, who first appear in history in South East Europe. Later Burgundians colonised the area of Gaul that is now known as Burgundy (French Bourgogne) +The Old Burgundian language (Germanic), an East Germanic language spoken by the Burgundians +The Modern Burgundian language (Oïl), an Oïl language also known as spoken in the region of Burgundy, France. + Frainc-Comtou dialect, sometimes regarded as part of the Burgundian group of languages +Burgundian (party), a political faction in early 15th century during the Hundred Years' War + +See also + Burgundian War (disambiguation) + +Language and nationality disambiguation pages +The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second principal period of the three-age system proposed in 1836 by Christian Jürgensen Thomsen for classifying and studying ancient societies and history. It is also considered the second phase, of three, in the Metal Ages. + +An ancient civilization is deemed to be part of the Bronze Age because it either produced bronze by smelting its own copper and alloying it with tin, arsenic, or other metals, or traded other items for bronze from production areas elsewhere. Bronze is harder and more durable than the other metals available at the time, allowing Bronze Age civilizations to gain a technological advantage. + +While terrestrial iron is naturally abundant, the higher temperature required for smelting, , in addition to the greater difficulty of working with the metal, placed it out of reach of common use until the end of the second millennium BC. Tin's low melting point of and copper's relatively moderate melting point of placed them within the capabilities of the Neolithic pottery kilns, which date back to 6,000 BC and were able to produce temperatures greater than . Copper and tin ores are rare, since there were no tin bronzes in Western Asia before trading in bronze began in the 3rd millennium BC. Worldwide, the Bronze Age generally followed the Neolithic period, with the Chalcolithic serving as a transition. + +Bronze Age cultures differed in their development of writing. According to archaeological evidence, cultures in Mesopotamia (cuneiform script) and Egypt (hieroglyphs) developed the earliest practical writing systems. + +The Bronze Age is said to have ended with the +Late Bronze Age collapse, a time of widespread societal collapse during the 12th century BC, between and 1150. The collapse affected a large area of the Eastern Mediterranean (North Africa and Southeast Europe) and the Near East, in particular Egypt, eastern Libya, the Balkans, the Aegean, Anatolia, and the Caucasus. It was sudden, violent, and culturally disruptive for many Bronze Age civilizations, and it brought a sharp economic decline to regional powers, notably ushering in the Greek Dark Ages. + +Metal use + +The period is characterized by the widespread use of bronze, even if only by elites in its early years, though the introduction and development of bronze technology were not universally synchronous. Human-made tin bronze technology requires set production techniques. Tin must be mined (mainly as the tin ore cassiterite) and smelted separately, then added to hot copper to make bronze alloy. The Bronze Age was a time of extensive use of metals and of developing trade networks (See Tin sources and trade in ancient times). A 2013 report suggests that the earliest tin-alloy bronze was a foil dated to the mid-5th millennium BC from a Vinča culture site in Pločnik (Serbia), although this culture is not conventionally considered part of the Bronze Age. The dating of the foil has been disputed. + +Near East + +Western Asia and the Near East were the first regions to enter the Bronze Age, which began with the rise of the Mesopotamian civilization of Sumer in the mid-4th millennium BC. Cultures in the ancient Near East (often called one of "the cradles of civilization") practiced intensive year-round agriculture, developed writing systems, invented the potter's wheel, created centralized governments (usually in the form of hereditary monarchies), written law codes, city-states and nation-states and empires, embarked on advanced architectural projects, introduced social stratification, economic and civil administration, slavery, and practiced organized warfare, medicine and religion. Societies in the region laid the foundations for astronomy, mathematics and astrology. + +The following dates are approximate. For details, consult linked articles. + +Near East Bronze Age divisions +The Bronze Age in the Near East can be conveniently divided into Early, Middle and Late periods. The dates and phases below are applicable solely to the Near East, not universally. + +Early Bronze Age (EBA): 3300–2100 BC + 3300–3000: EBA I + 3000–2700: EBA II + 2700–2200: EBA III + 2200–2100: EBA IV +Middle Bronze Age (MBA) or Intermediate Bronze Age (IBA): 2100–1550 BC + 2100–2000: MBA I + 2000–1750: MBA II A + 1750–1650: MBA II B + 1650–1550: MBA II C +Late Bronze Age (LBA): 1550–1200 BC + 1550–1400: LBA I + 1400–1300: LBA II A + 1300–1200: LBA II B (Bronze Age collapse) + +Anatolia + +The Hittite Empire was established in Hattusa in northern Anatolia from the 18th century BC. In the 14th century BC the Hittite Kingdom was at its height, encompassing central Anatolia, southwestern Syria as far as Ugarit, and upper Mesopotamia. After 1180 BC, amid general turmoil in the Levant conjectured to have been associated with the sudden arrival of the Sea Peoples, the kingdom disintegrated into several independent "Neo-Hittite" city-states, some of which survived until as late as the 8th century BC. + +Arzawa in Western Anatolia during the second half of the second millennium BC likely extended along southern Anatolia in a belt that reaches from near the Turkish Lakes Region to the Aegean coast. Arzawa was the western neighbor—sometimes a rival and sometimes a vassal—of the Middle and New Hittite Kingdoms. + +The Assuwa league was a confederation of states in western Anatolia that was defeated by the Hittites under an earlier Tudhaliya I, around 1400 BC. Arzawa has been associated with the much more obscure Assuwa generally located to its north. It probably bordered it, and may even be an alternative term for it (at least during some periods). + +Egypt + +Early Bronze dynasties + +In Ancient Egypt, the Bronze Age begins in the Protodynastic period, 3150 BC. The archaic Early Bronze Age of Egypt, known as the Early Dynastic Period of Egypt, immediately follows the unification of Lower and Upper Egypt, 3100 BC. It is generally taken to include the First and Second Dynasties, lasting from the Protodynastic Period of Egypt until about 2686 BC, or the beginning of the Old Kingdom. With the First Dynasty, the capital moved from Abydos to Memphis with a unified Egypt ruled by an Egyptian god-king. Abydos remained the major holy land in the south. The hallmarks of ancient Egyptian civilization, such as art, architecture and many aspects of religion, took shape during the Early Dynastic Period. Memphis in the Early Bronze Age was the largest city of the time. The Old Kingdom of the regional Bronze Age is the name given to the period in the 3rd millennium BC when Egypt attained its first continuous peak of civilization in complexity and achievement—the first of three "Kingdom" periods, which mark the high points of civilization in the lower Nile Valley (the others being Middle Kingdom and the New Kingdom). + +The First Intermediate Period of Egypt, often described as a "dark period" in ancient Egyptian history, spanned about 100 years after the end of the Old Kingdom from about 2181 to 2055 BC. Very little monumental evidence survives from this period, especially from the early part of it. The First Intermediate Period was a dynamic time when the rule of Egypt was roughly divided between two competing for power bases: Heracleopolis in Lower Egypt and Thebes in Upper Egypt. These two kingdoms would eventually come into conflict, with the Theban kings conquering the north, resulting in the reunification of Egypt under a single ruler during the second part of the Eleventh Dynasty. + +Nubia +The Bronze Age in Nubia started as early as 2300 BC. Copper smelting was introduced by Egyptians to the Nubian city of Meroë, in modern-day Sudan, around 2600 BC. A furnace for bronze casting was found in Kerma that has been dated to 2300–1900 BC. + +Middle Bronze dynasties +The Middle Kingdom of Egypt lasted from 2055 to 1650 BC. During this period, the Osiris funerary cult rose to dominate Egyptian popular religion. The period comprises two phases: the 11th Dynasty, which ruled from Thebes and the 12th and 13th Dynasties centered on el-Lisht. The unified kingdom was previously considered to comprise the 11th and 12th Dynasties, but historians now at least partially consider the 13th Dynasty to belong to the Middle Kingdom. + +During the Second Intermediate Period, Ancient Egypt fell into disarray for a second time, between the end of the Middle Kingdom and the start of the New Kingdom. It is best known for the Hyksos, whose reign comprised the 15th and 16th dynasties. The Hyksos first appeared in Egypt during the 11th Dynasty, began their climb to power in the 13th Dynasty, and emerged from the Second Intermediate Period in control of Avaris and the Delta. By the 15th Dynasty, they ruled lower Egypt, and they were expelled at the end of the 17th Dynasty. + +Late Bronze dynasties +The New Kingdom of Egypt, also referred to as the Egyptian Empire, lasted from the 16th to the 11th century BC. The New Kingdom followed the Second Intermediate Period and was succeeded by the Third Intermediate Period. It was Egypt's most prosperous time and marked the peak of Egypt's power. The later New Kingdom, i.e. the 19th and 20th Dynasties (1292–1069 BC), is also known as the Ramesside period, after the eleven pharaohs that took the name of Ramesses. + +Iranian plateau + +Elam was a pre-Iranian ancient civilization located to the east of Mesopotamia. In the Old Elamite period (Middle Bronze Age), Elam consisted of kingdoms on the Iranian Plateau, centered in Anshan, and from the mid-2nd millennium BC, it was centered in Susa in the Khuzestan lowlands. Its culture played a crucial role in the Gutian Empire and especially during the Iranian Achaemenid dynasty that succeeded it. + +The Oxus civilization was a Bronze Age Central Asian culture dated to 2300–1700 BC and centered on the upper Amu Darya (Oxus). In the Early Bronze Age, the culture of the Kopet Dag oases and Altyndepe developed a proto-urban society. This corresponds to level IV at Namazga-Tepe. Altyndepe was a major center even then. Pottery was wheel-turned. Grapes were grown. The height of this urban development was reached in the Middle Bronze Age 2300 BC, corresponding to level V at Namazga-Depe. This Bronze Age culture is called the Bactria–Margiana Archaeological Complex (BMAC). + +The Kulli culture, similar to that of the Indus Valley civilisation, was located in southern Balochistan (Gedrosia) 2500–2000 BC. Agriculture was the economic base of these people. At several places, dams were found, providing evidence for a highly developed water management system. + +Konar Sandal is associated with the hypothesized "Jiroft culture", a 3rd-millennium-BC culture postulated based on a collection of artifacts confiscated in 2001. + +Levant + +In modern scholarship, the chronology of the Bronze Age Levant is divided into: +Early/Proto Syrian; corresponding to the Early Bronze. +Old Syrian; corresponding to the Middle Bronze. +Middle Syrian; corresponding to the Late Bronze. +The term Neo-Syria is used to designate the early Iron Age. + +The old Syrian period was dominated by the Eblaite first kingdom, Nagar and the Mariote second kingdom. The Akkadians conquered large areas of the Levant and were followed by the Amorite kingdoms, 2000–1600 BC, which arose in Mari, Yamhad, Qatna, Assyria. From the 15th century BC onward, the term Amurru is usually applied to the region extending north of Canaan as far as Kadesh on the Orontes River. + +The earliest-known contact of Ugarit with Egypt (and the first exact dating of Ugaritic civilization) comes from a carnelian bead identified with the Middle Kingdom pharaoh Senusret I, 1971–1926 BC. A stela and a statuette of the Egyptian pharaohs Senusret III and Amenemhet III have also been found. However, it is unclear when they got to Ugarit. In the Amarna letters, messages from Ugarit 1350 BC written by Ammittamru I, and Niqmaddu II and his queen, have been discovered. From the 16th to the 13th century BC, Ugarit remained in constant touch with Egypt and Cyprus (Alashiya). + +Mitanni was a loosely organized state in northern Syria and south-east Anatolia from 1500–1300 BC. Founded by an [[Indo-Aryan peoples[Indo-Aryan]] ruling class that governed a predominantly Hurrian population, Mitanni came to be a regional power after the Hittite destruction of Kassite Babylon created a power vacuum in Mesopotamia. At its beginning, Mitanni's major rival was Egypt under the Thutmosids. However, with the ascent of the Hittite empire, Mitanni and Egypt allied to protect their mutual interests from the threat of Hittite domination. At the height of its power, during the 14th century BC, it had outposts centered on its capital, Washukanni, which archaeologists have located on the headwaters of the Khabur River. Eventually, Mitanni succumbed to Hittite, and later Assyrian attacks, and was reduced to a province of the Middle Assyrian Empire. + +The Israelites were an ancient Semitic-speaking people of the Ancient Near East who inhabited part of Canaan during the tribal and monarchic periods (15th to 6th centuries BC), and lived in the region in smaller numbers after the fall of the monarchy. The name "Israel" first appears 1209 BC, at the end of the Late Bronze Age and the very beginning of the Iron Age, on the Merneptah Stele raised by the Egyptian pharaoh Merneptah. + +The Arameans were a Northwest Semitic semi-nomadic and pastoralist people who originated in what is now modern Syria (Biblical Aram) during the Late Bronze Age and the early Iron Age. Large groups migrated to Mesopotamia, where they intermingled with the native Akkadian (Assyrian and Babylonian) population. The Aramaeans never had a unified empire; they were divided into independent kingdoms all across the Near East. After the Bronze Age collapse, their political influence was confined to many Syro-Hittite states, which were entirely absorbed into the Neo-Assyrian Empire by the 8th century BC. + +Mesopotamia + +The Mesopotamian Bronze Age began about 3500 BC and ended with the Kassite period ( 1500 BC – 1155 BC). The usual tripartite division into an Early, Middle and Late Bronze Age is not used. Instead, a division primarily based on art-historical and historical characteristics is more common. + +The cities of the Ancient Near East housed several tens of thousands of people. Ur, Kish, Isin, Larsa and Nippur in the Middle Bronze Age and Babylon, Calah and Assur in the Late Bronze Age similarly had large populations. The Akkadian Empire (2335–2154 BC) became the dominant power in the region, and after its fall the Sumerians enjoyed a renaissance with the Neo-Sumerian Empire. Assyria became a regional power, under the Amorite king Shamshi-Adad I, with the Old Assyrian Empire ( 1800–1600 BC). The earliest mention of Babylon (then a small administrative town) appears on a tablet from the reign of Sargon of Akkad in the 23rd century BC. The Amorite dynasty established the city-state of Babylon in the 19th century BC. Over 100 years later, it briefly took over the other city-states and formed the short-lived First Babylonian Empire during what is also called the Old Babylonian Period. Akkad, Assyria, and Babylonia all used the written East Semitic Akkadian language for official use and as a spoken language. By that time, the Sumerian language was no longer spoken, but was still in religious use in Assyria and Babylonia, and would remain so until the 1st century AD. The Akkadian and Sumerian traditions played a major role in later Assyrian and Babylonian culture, even though Babylonia, unlike the more militarily powerful Assyria, itself was founded by non-native Amorites and often ruled by other non-indigenous peoples, such as Kassites, Aramaeans and Chaldeans, as well as its Assyrian neighbors. + +Asia + +Central Asia + +Agropastoralism +For many decades scholars made superficial reference to Central Asia as the "pastoral realm" or alternatively, the "nomadic world", in what researchers have come to call the "Central Asian void": a 5,000 year span that was neglected in studies of the origins of agriculture. Foothill regions and glacial melt streams supported Bronze Age agropastoralists who developed complex east–west trade routes between Central Asia and China that introduced wheat and barley to China and spread millet across Central Asia. + +Bactria–Margiana Archaeological Complex + +The Bactria–Margiana Archaeological Complex (BMAC), also known as the Oxus civilization, was a Bronze Age civilization in Central Asia, dated to c. 2400–1600 BC, located in present-day northern Afghanistan, eastern Turkmenistan, southern Uzbekistan and western Tajikistan, centred on the upper Amu Darya (Oxus River). Its sites were discovered and named by the Soviet archaeologist Viktor Sarianidi (1976). Bactria was the Greek name for the area of Bactra (modern Balkh), in what is now northern Afghanistan, and Margiana was the Greek name for the Persian satrapy of Marguš, the capital of which was Merv, in modern-day southeastern Turkmenistan. + +A wealth of information indicates that the BMAC had close international relations with the Indus Valley, the Iranian Plateau, and possibly even indirectly with Mesopotamia, and all civilizations were very familiar with lost wax casting. + +According to recent studies, the BMAC was not a primary contributor to later South-Asian genetics. + +Seima-Turbino phenomenon + +The Altai Mountains in what is now southern Russia and central Mongolia have been identified as the point of origin of a cultural enigma termed the Seima-Turbino Phenomenon. It is conjectured that changes in climate in this region around 2000 BC and the ensuing ecological, economic and political changes triggered a rapid and massive migration westward into northeast Europe, eastward into China and southward into Vietnam and Thailand + across a frontier of some 4,000 miles. This migration took place in just five to six generations and led to peoples from Finland in the west to Thailand in the east employing the same metalworking technology and, in some areas, horse breeding and riding. It is further conjectured that the same migrations spread the Uralic group of languages across Europe and Asia: some 39 languages of this group are still extant, including Hungarian, Finnish and Estonian. However, recent genetic testings of sites in south Siberia and Kazakhstan (Andronovo horizon) would rather support spreading of the bronze technology via Indo-European migrations eastwards, as this technology had been well known for quite a while in western regions. + +East Asia + +China + +In China, the earliest bronze artifacts have been found in the Majiayao culture site (between 3100 and 2700 BC). + +The term "Bronze Age" has been transferred to the archaeology of China from that of Western Eurasia, and there is no consensus or universally used convention delimiting the "Bronze Age" in the context of Chinese prehistory. "Early Bronze Age" in China is sometimes taken as equivalent to the "Shang dynasty" period (16th to 11th centuries BC), and the "Later Bronze Age" as equivalent to the "Zhou dynasty" period (11th to 3rd centuries BC, from the 5th century, also dubbed "Iron Age"), although there is an argument to be made that the "Bronze Age" proper never ended in China, as there is no recognizable transition to an "Iron Age". Significantly, together with the jade art that precedes it, bronze was seen as a "fine" material for ritual art when compared with iron or stone. + +Bronze metallurgy in China originated in what is referred to as the Erlitou () period, which some historians argue places it within the Shang dynasty. Others believe the Erlitou sites belong to the preceding Xia () dynasty. The U.S. National Gallery of Art defines the Chinese Bronze Age as the "period between about 2000 BC and 771 BC", a period that begins with the Erlitou culture and ends abruptly with the disintegration of Western Zhou rule. + +There is reason to believe that bronze work developed inside China apart from outside influence. However, the discovery of Europoid mummies in Xinjiang has caused some scholars such as Johan Gunnar Andersson, Jan Romgard, and to suggest a possible route of transmission from the West eastwards. According to An Zhimin, "It can be imagined that initially, bronze and iron technology took its rise in West Asia, first influenced the Xinjiang region, and then reached the Yellow River valley, providing external impetus for the rise of the Shang and Zhou civilizations." According to Jan Romgard, "bronze and iron tools seems to have traveled from west to east as well as the use of wheeled wagons and the domestication of the horse." There are also possible links to Seima-Turbino culture, "a transcultural complex across northern Eurasia," the Eurasian steppe, and the Urals. However, the oldest bronze objects found in China so far were discovered at the Majiayao site in Gansu rather than at Xinjiang. + +The Shang dynasty (also known as the Yin dynasty) of the Yellow River Valley rose to power after the Xia dynasty around 1600 BC. While some direct information about the Shang dynasty comes from Shang-era inscriptions on bronze artifacts, most comes from oracle bones—turtle shells, cattle scapulae, or other bones—which bear glyphs that form the first significant corpus of recorded Chinese characters. + +The production of Erlitou in Henan represents the earliest large-scale metallurgy industry in the Central Plains of China. The influence of the Saima-Turbino metalworking tradition from the north is supported by a series of recent discoveries in China of many unique perforated spearheads with downward hooks and small loops on the same or opposite side of the socket, which could be associated with the Seima-Turbino visual vocabulary of southern Siberia. The metallurgical centers of northwestern China, especially Qijia in Gansu and Kexingzhuang culture in Shaanxi, played an intermediary role in this process. + +Iron has been found from the Zhou dynasty, but its use was minimal. Chinese literature dating to the 6th century BC attests knowledge of iron smelting, yet bronze continues to occupy the seat of significance in the archaeological and historical record for some time after this. Historian W.C. White argues that iron did not supplant bronze "at any period before the end of the Zhou dynasty (256 BC)" and that bronze vessels make up the majority of metal vessels through the Later Han period, or to 221 BC. + +The Chinese bronze artifacts generally are either utilitarian, like spear points or adze heads, or "ritual bronzes", which are more elaborate versions in precious materials of everyday vessels, as well as tools and weapons. Examples are the numerous large sacrificial tripods known as dings in Chinese; there are many other distinct shapes. Surviving identified Chinese ritual bronzes tend to be highly decorated, often with the taotie motif, which involves highly stylized animal faces. These appear in three main motif types: those of demons, symbolic animals, and abstract symbols. Many large bronzes also bear cast inscriptions that are the great bulk of the surviving body of early Chinese writing and have helped historians and archaeologists piece together the history of China, especially during the Zhou dynasty (1046–256 BC). + +The bronzes of the Western Zhou dynasty document large portions of history not found in the extant texts that were often composed by persons of varying rank and possibly even social class. Further, the medium of cast bronze lends the record they preserve a permanence not enjoyed by manuscripts. These inscriptions can commonly be subdivided into four parts: a reference to the date and place, the naming of the event commemorated, the list of gifts given to the artisan in exchange for the bronze, and a dedication. The relative points of reference these vessels provide have enabled historians to place most of the vessels within a certain time frame of the Western Zhou period, allowing them to trace the evolution of the vessels and the events they record. + +Korea + +The beginning of the Bronze Age on the peninsula is around 1000–800 BC. Initially centered around Liaoning and southern Manchuria, Korean Bronze Age culture exhibits unique typology and styles, especially in ritual objects. + +The Mumun pottery period is named after the Korean name for undecorated or plain cooking and storage vessels that form a large part of the pottery assemblage over the entire length of the period, but especially 850–550 BC. The Mumun period is known for the origins of intensive agriculture and complex societies in both the Korean Peninsula and the Japanese Archipelago. + +The Middle Mumun pottery period culture of the southern Korean Peninsula gradually adopted bronze production ( 700–600? BC) after a period when Liaoning-style bronze daggers and other bronze artifacts were exchanged as far as the interior part of the Southern Peninsula ( 900–700 BC). The bronze daggers lent prestige and authority to the personages who wielded and were buried with them in high-status megalithic burials at south-coastal centers such as the Igeum-dong site. Bronze was an important element in ceremonies and for mortuary offerings until 100 BC. + +Japan + +The Japanese archipelago saw the introduction of bronze during the beginning of the Early Yayoi period (≈300 BC), which saw the introduction of metalworking and agricultural practices brought in by settlers arriving from the continent. Bronze and iron smelting techniques spread to the Japanese archipelago through contact with other ancient East Asian civilizations, particularly immigration and trade from the ancient Korean peninsula, and ancient mainland China. Iron was mainly used for agricultural and other tools, whereas ritual and ceremonial artifacts were mainly made of bronze. + +South Asia +(Dates are approximate, consult linked articles for details) + +Indus Valley + +The Bronze Age on the Indian subcontinent began around 3300 BC with the beginning of the Indus Valley Civilization. Inhabitants of the Indus Valley, the Harappans, developed new techniques in metallurgy and produced copper, bronze, lead and tin. The Late Harappan culture, which dates from 1900 to 1400 BC, overlapped the transition from the Bronze Age to the Iron Age; thus it is difficult to date this transition accurately. It has been claimed that a 6,000-year-old copper amulet manufactured in Mehrgarh in the shape of wheel spoke is the earliest example of lost-wax casting in the world. + +The civilization's cities were noted for their urban planning, baked brick houses, elaborate drainage systems, water supply systems, clusters of large non-residential buildings, and new techniques in handicraft (carnelian products, seal carving) and metallurgy (copper, bronze, lead, and tin). The large cities of Mohenjo-daro and Harappa very likely grew to contain between 30,000 and 60,000 individuals, and the civilization itself during its florescence may have contained between one and five million individuals. + +Southeast Asia +The Vilabouly Complex in Laos is a significant archaeological site for dating the origin of bronze metallurgy in Southeast Asia. + +Thailand +In Ban Chiang, Thailand, (Southeast Asia) bronze artifacts have been discovered dating to 2100 BC. However, according to the radiocarbon dating on the human and pig bones in Ban Chiang, some scholars propose that the initial Bronze Age in Ban Chiang was in the late 2nd millennium. In Nyaunggan, Burma, bronze tools have been excavated along with ceramics and stone artifacts. Dating is still currently broad (3500–500 BC). Ban Non Wat, excavated by Charles Higham, was a rich site with over 640 graves excavated that gleaned many complex bronze items that may have had social value connected to them. + +Ban Chiang, however, is the most thoroughly documented site and has the clearest evidence of metallurgy when it comes to Southeast Asia. With a rough date range of the late 3rd millennium BC to the first millennium AD, this site alone has various artifacts such as burial pottery (dating from 2100 to 1700 BC), fragments of bronze and copper-base bangles. This technology suggested on-site casting from the very beginning. The on-site casting supports the theory that bronze was when first introduced in Southeast Asia, and so bronze came from a different country. Some scholars believe that copper-based metallurgy was disseminated from northwest and central China south and southwest via areas such as Guangdong province and Yunnan province and finally into southeast Asia around 1000 BC. Archaeology also suggests that Bronze Age metallurgy may not have been as significant a catalyst in social stratification and warfare in Southeast Asia as in other regions, and that social distribution shifted away from chiefdom-states to a heterarchical network. Data analyses of sites such as Ban Lum Khao, Ban Na Di, Non-Nok Tha, Khok Phanom Di, and Nong Nor have consistently led researchers to conclude that there was no entrenched hierarchy. + +Vietnam + +Dating back to the Neolithic Age, the first bronze drums, called the Dong Son drums, were uncovered in and around the Red River Delta regions of Northern Vietnam and Southern China. These relate to the Dong Son culture of Vietnam. + +Archaeological research in Northern Vietnam indicates an increase in rates of infectious disease following the advent of metallurgy; skeletal fragments in sites dating to the early and mid-Bronze Age evidence a greater proportion of lesions than in sites of earlier periods. There are a few possible implications of this. One is the increased contact with bacterial and/or fungal pathogens due to increased population density and land clearing/cultivation. The other one is decreased levels of immunocompetence in the Metal age due to changes in diet caused by agriculture. The last is that there may have been an emergence of infectious disease that evolved into a more virulent form in the metal period. + +Myanmar + +Europe + +A few examples of named Bronze Age cultures in Europe in roughly relative order. +(Dates are approximate, consult linked articles for details) + +The chosen cultures overlapped in time and the indicated periods do not fully correspond to their estimated extents. + +Southeast Europe + +Radivojevic et al. (2013) reported the discovery of a tin bronze foil from the Pločnik archaeological site securely dated to c. 4650 BC as well as 14 other artifacts from Serbia and Bulgaria dated to before 4000 BC, showing that early tin bronze was more common than previously thought and developed independently in Europe 1500 years before the first tin bronze alloys in the Near East. The production of complex tin bronzes lasted for c. 500 years in the Balkans. The authors reported that evidence for the production of such complex bronzes disappears at the end of the 5th millennium, coinciding with the "collapse of large cultural complexes in north-eastern Bulgaria and Thrace in the late fifth millennium BC". Tin bronzes using cassiterite tin were reintroduced to the area some 1500 years later. + +The oldest golden artifacts in the world (4600 BC - 4200 BC) were found in the Necropolis of Varna. These artefacts are on display in the Varna Archaeological Museum + +The Dabene Treasure was unearthed from 2004 to 2007 near Karlovo, Plovdiv Province, central Bulgaria. The whole treasure consists of 20,000 gold jewelry items from 18 to 23 carats. The most important of them was a dagger made of gold and platinum with an unusual edge. The treasure was dated to the end of the 3rd millennium B.C. Scientists suggest that the Karlovo valley used to be a major crafts center that exported golden jewelry all over Europe. It is considered one of the largest prehistoric golden treasures in the world. + +Aegean + +The Aegean Bronze Age began around 3200 BC, when civilizations first established a far-ranging trade network. This network imported tin and charcoal to Cyprus, where copper was mined and alloyed with tin to produce bronze. Bronze objects were then exported far and wide and supported the trade. Isotopic analysis of tin in some Mediterranean bronze artifacts suggests that they may have originated from Great Britain. + +Knowledge of navigation was well-developed by this time and reached a peak of skill not exceeded (except perhaps by Polynesian sailors) until 1730 when the invention of the chronometer enabled the precise determination of longitude. + +The Minoan civilization based in Knossos on the island of Crete appears to have coordinated and defended its Bronze Age trade. Ancient empires valued luxury goods in contrast to staple foods, leading to famine. + +Aegean collapse + +Bronze Age collapse theories have described aspects of the end of the Bronze Age in this region. At the end of the Bronze Age in the Aegean region, the Mycenaean administration of the regional trade empire followed the decline of Minoan primacy. Several Minoan client states lost much of their population to famine and/or pestilence. This would indicate that the trade network may have failed, preventing the trade that would previously have relieved such famines and prevented illness caused by malnutrition. It is also known that in this era the breadbasket of the Minoan empire, the area north of the Black Sea, also suddenly lost much of its population, and thus probably some capacity to cultivate crops. Drought and famine in Anatolia may have also led to the Aegean collapse by disrupting trade networks, and therefore preventing the Aegean from accessing bronze and luxury goods. + +The Aegean collapse has been attributed to the exhaustion of the Cypriot forests causing the end of the bronze trade. These forests are known to have existed in later times, and experiments have shown that charcoal production on the scale necessary for the bronze production of the late Bronze Age would have exhausted them in less than fifty years. + +The Aegean collapse has also been attributed to the fact that as iron tools became more common, the main justification for the tin trade ended, and that trade network ceased to function as it did formerly. The colonies of the Minoan empire then suffered drought, famine, war, or some combination of the three, and had no access to the distant resources of an empire by which they could easily recover. + +The Thera eruption occurred 1600 BC, north of Crete. Speculation includes that a tsunami from Thera (more commonly known today as Santorini) destroyed Cretan cities. A tsunami may have destroyed the Cretan navy in its home harbor, which then lost crucial naval battles; so that in the LMIB/LMII event ( 1450 BC) the cities of Crete burned and the Mycenaean civilization took Knossos over. If the eruption occurred in the late 17th century BC (as most chronologists now think) then its immediate effects belong to the Middle to Late Bronze Age transition, and not to the end of the Late Bronze Age, but it could have triggered the instability that led to the collapse first of Knossos and then of Bronze Age society overall. One such theory highlights the role of Cretan expertise in administering the empire, post–Thera. If this expertise was concentrated in Crete, then the Mycenaeans may have made political and commercial mistakes in administering the Cretan empire. + +Archaeological findings, including some on the island of Thera, suggest that the center of the Minoan civilization at the time of the eruption was actually on Thera rather than on Crete. According to this theory, the catastrophic loss of the political, administrative and economic center due to the eruption, as well as the damage wrought by the tsunami to the coastal towns and villages of Crete precipitated the decline of the Minoans. A weakened political entity with a reduced economic and military capability and fabled riches would have then been more vulnerable to conquest. Indeed, the Santorini eruption is usually dated to 1630 BC, while the Mycenaean Greeks first enter the historical record a few decades later, 1600 BC. The later Mycenaean assaults on Crete ( 1450 BC) and Troy ( 1250 BC) would have been a continuation of the steady encroachment of the Greeks upon the weakened Minoan world. + +Central Europe + +In Central Europe, the early Bronze Age Unetice culture (2300–1600 BC) includes numerous smaller groups like the Straubing, Adlerberg and Hatvan cultures. Some very rich burials, such as the one located at Leubingen with grave gifts crafted from gold, point to an increase of social stratification already present in the Unetice culture. All in all, cemeteries of this period are small and rare. The Unetice culture was followed by the middle Bronze Age (1600–1200 BC) tumulus culture, characterised by inhumation burials in tumuli (barrows). In the eastern Hungarian Körös tributaries, the early Bronze Age first saw the introduction of the Mako culture, followed by the Otomani and Gyulavarsand cultures. + +The late Bronze Age Urnfield culture (1300–700 BC) was characterized by cremation burials. It included the Lusatian culture in eastern Germany and Poland (1300–500 BC) that continues into the Iron Age. The Central European Bronze Age was followed by the Iron Age Hallstatt culture (700–450 BC). + +Important sites include: + Biskupin (Poland) + Nebra (Germany) + Vráble (Slovakia) + Zug-Sumpf, Zug, Switzerland + +German prehistorian Paul Reinecke described Bronze A1 (Bz A1) period (2300–2000 BC: triangular daggers, flat axes, stone wrist-guards, flint arrowheads) and Bronze A2 (Bz A2) period (1950–1700 BC: daggers with metal hilt, flanged axes, halberds, pins with perforated spherical heads, solid bracelets) and phases Hallstatt A and B (Ha A and B). + +Southern Europe + +The Apennine culture (also called Italian Bronze Age) is a technology complex of central and southern Italy spanning the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age proper. The Camuni were an ancient people of uncertain origin (according to Pliny the Elder, they were Euganei; according to Strabo, they were Rhaetians) who lived in Val Camonica—in what is now northern Lombardy—during the Iron Age, although groups of hunters, shepherds, and farmers are known to have lived in the area since the Neolithic. + +Located in Sardinia and Corsica, the Nuragic civilization lasted from the early Bronze Age (18th century BC) to the 2nd century AD, when the islands were already Romanized. They take their name from the characteristic Nuragic towers, which evolved from the pre-existing megalithic culture, which built dolmens and menhirs. + +The towers are unanimously considered the best-preserved and largest megalithic remains in Europe. Their purpose is still debated: some scholars consider them monumental tombs, others as Houses of the Giants, other as fortresses, ovens for metal fusion, prisons, or, finally, temples for a solar cult. Around the end of the 3rd millennium BC, Sardinia exported to Sicily a culture that built small dolmens, trilithic or polygonal shaped, that served as tombs, as in the Sicilian dolmen of "Cava dei Servi". From this region, they reached Malta and other countries of Mediterranean basin. + +The Terramare was an early Indo-European civilization in the area of what is now Pianura Padana (in northern Italy) before the arrival of the Celts, and in other parts of Europe. They lived in square villages of wooden stilt houses. These villages were built on land, but generally near a stream, with roads that crossed each other at right angles. The whole complex was of the nature of a fortified settlement. The Terramare culture was widespread in the Pianura Padana, especially along the Panaro river, between Modena and Bologna, and in the rest of Europe. The civilization developed in the Middle and Late Bronze Age, between the 17th and the 13th centuries BC. + +The Castellieri culture developed in Istria during the Middle Bronze Age. It lasted for more than a millennium, from the 15th century BC until the Roman conquest in the 3rd century BC. It takes its name from the fortified boroughs (Castellieri, Friulian: cjastelir) that characterized the culture. + +The Canegrate culture developed from the mid-Bronze Age (13th century BC) until the Iron Age in the Pianura Padana, in what are now western Lombardy, eastern Piedmont, and Ticino. It takes its name from the township of Canegrate, where, in the 20th century, some fifty tombs with ceramics and metal objects were found. The Canegrate culture migrated from the northwest part of the Alps and descended to Pianura Padana from the Swiss Alps passes and the Ticino. + +The Golasecca culture developed starting from the late Bronze Age in the Po plain. It takes its name from Golasecca, a locality next to the Ticino, where, in the early 19th century, abbot excavated its first findings (some fifty tombs with ceramics and metal objects). Remains of the Golasecca culture span an area of c. 20,000 square kilometers south to the Alps, between the Po, Sesia, and Serio rivers, dating from the 9th to the 4th century BC. + +West Europe + +Great Britain + +In Great Britain, the Bronze Age is considered to have been the period from around 2100 to 750 BC. Migration brought new people to the islands from the continent. Recent tooth enamel isotope research on bodies found in early Bronze Age graves around Stonehenge indicates that at least some of the migrants came from the area of modern Switzerland. Another example site is Must Farm near Whittlesey, host to the most complete Bronze Age wheel ever to be found. The Beaker culture displayed different behaviors from earlier Neolithic people, and cultural change was significant. Integration is thought to have been peaceful, as many of the early henge sites were seemingly adopted by the newcomers. The rich Wessex culture developed in southern Britain at this time. Additionally, the climate was deteriorating; where once the weather was warm and dry it became much wetter as the Bronze Age continued, forcing the population away from easily defended sites in the hills and into the fertile valleys. Large livestock farms developed in the lowlands and appear to have contributed to economic growth and inspired increasing forest clearances. The Deverel-Rimbury culture began to emerge in the second half of the Middle Bronze Age ( 1400–1100 BC) to exploit these conditions. Devon and Cornwall were major sources of tin for much of western Europe and copper was extracted from sites such as the Great Orme mine in northern Wales. Social groups appear to have been tribal but with growing complexity and hierarchies becoming apparent. + +The burials, which until this period had usually been communal, became more individual. For example, whereas in the Neolithic a large chambered cairn or long barrow housed the dead, Early Bronze Age people buried their dead in individual barrows (commonly known and marked on modern British Ordnance Survey maps as tumuli), or sometimes in cists covered with cairns. + +The greatest quantities of bronze objects in England were discovered in East Cambridgeshire, with the most important finds recovered in Isleham (more than 6500 pieces). +Alloying of copper with zinc or tin to make brass or bronze was practiced soon after the discovery of copper itself. One copper mine at Great Orme in North Wales, reached a depth of 70 meters. At Alderley Edge in Cheshire, carbon dating has established mining at around 2280 to 1890 BC (95% probability). The earliest identified metalworking site (Sigwells, Somerset) came much later, dated by globular urn-style pottery to approximately the 12th century BC. The identifiable sherds from over 500 mould fragments included a perfect fit of the hilt of a sword in the Wilburton style held in Somerset County Museum. + +Atlantic Bronze Age + +The Atlantic Bronze Age is a cultural complex of the period of approximately 1300–700 BC that includes different cultures in Portugal, Andalusia, Galicia, Britain and Ireland. It is marked by economic and cultural exchange. Commercial contacts extend to Denmark and the Mediterranean. The Atlantic Bronze Age was defined by many distinct regional centers of metal production, unified by a regular maritime exchange of products. + +Ireland + +The Bronze Age in Ireland commenced around 2000 BC when copper was alloyed with tin and used to manufacture Ballybeg type flat axes and associated metalwork. The preceding period is known as the Copper Age and is characterised by the production of flat axes, daggers, halberds and awls in copper. The period is divided into three phases: Early Bronze Age (2000–1500 BC), Middle Bronze Age (1500–1200 BC), and Late Bronze Age (1200– 500 BC). Ireland is also known for a relatively large number of Early Bronze Age burials. + +One of the characteristic types of artifact of the Early Bronze Age in Ireland is the flat axe. There are five main types of flat axes: Lough Ravel crannog ( 2200 BC), Ballybeg ( 2000 BC), Killaha ( 2000 BC), Ballyvalley ( 2000–1600 BC), Derryniggin ( 1600 BC), and a number of metal ingots in the shape of axes. + +Northern Europe + +The Bronze Age in Northern Europe spans the entire 2nd millennium BC, (Unetice culture, Urnfield culture, Tumulus culture, Terramare culture and Lusatian culture) lasting until 600 BC. The Northern Bronze Age was both a period and a Bronze Age culture in Scandinavian pre-history, 1700–500 BC, with sites as far east as Estonia. Succeeding the Late Neolithic culture, its ethnic and linguistic affinities are unknown in the absence of written sources. It was followed by the Pre-Roman Iron Age. + +Even though Northern European Bronze Age cultures came relatively late, and came into existence via trade, sites present rich and well-preserved objects made of wool, wood and imported Central European bronze and gold. Many rock carvings depict ships, and the large stone burial monuments known as stone ships suggest that shipping played an important role. Thousands of rock carvings depict ships, most probably representing sewn plank-built canoes for warfare, fishing, and trade. These may have a history as far back as the neolithic period and continue into the Pre-Roman Iron Age, as shown by the Hjortspring boat. There are many mounds and rock carving sites from the period. Numerous artifacts of bronze and gold are found. No written language existed in the Nordic countries during the Bronze Age. The rock carvings have been dated through comparison with depicted artifacts. + +Eastern Europe + +The Yamnaya culture (c.3300–2600 BC) was a Late Copper Age/Early Bronze Age culture of the Pontic-Caspian steppe, and is associated with early Indo-Europeans. It was followed on the steppe by the Catacomb culture ( 2800–2200 BC) and the Poltavka culture (c.2800–2200 BC). The closely-related Corded Ware culture in the forest-steppe region to the north (c. 3000–2350 BC) spread eastwards with the Fatyanovo culture (c.2900–2050 BC), which subsequently developed into the Abashevo culture (c.2200–1850 BC) and the Sintashta culture (c. 2200–1750 BC). The earliest known chariots have been found in Sintashta burials and there is earlier evidence for chariot use in the Abashevo culture. The Sintashta culture expanded further eastwards into central Asia becoming the Andronovo culture, whilst the Srubnaya culture (c.1900–1200 BC) continued the use of chariots in eastern Europe. + +Caucasus +Arsenical bronze artifacts of the Maykop culture in the North Caucasus have been dated to around the 4th millennium BC. This innovation resulted in the circulation of arsenical bronze technology through southern and eastern Europe. + +Africa + +Sub-Saharan Africa + +Iron and copper smelting appeared around the same time in most parts of Africa. As such, most African civilizations outside of Egypt did not experience a distinct Bronze Age. Evidence for iron smelting appears earlier or at the same time as copper smelting in Nigeria –800 BC, Rwanda and Burundi –500 BC and Tanzania . + +There is a longstanding debate about whether both copper and iron metallurgy were independently developed in sub-Saharan Africa or introduced from the outside across the Sahara Desert from North Africa or the Indian Ocean. Evidence for theories of independent development and outside introduction are scarce and the subject of active scholarly debate. Scholars have suggested that both the relative dearth of archeological research in sub-Saharan Africa as well as long-standing prejudices have limited or biased our understanding of pre-historic metallurgy on the continent. One scholar characterized the state of historical knowledge: "To say that the history of metallurgy in sub-Saharan Africa is complicated is perhaps an understatement." + +West Africa +Copper smelting took place in West Africa prior to the appearance of iron smelting in the region. Evidence for copper smelting furnaces was found near Agadez, Niger that has been dated as early as 2200 BC. However, evidence for copper production in this region before 1000 BC is debated. Evidence of copper mining and smelting has been found at Akjoujt, Mauretania that suggests small scale production 800 to 400 BC. + +Americas + +The Moche civilization of South America independently discovered and developed bronze smelting. Bronze technology was developed further by the Incas and used widely both for utilitarian objects and sculpture. A later appearance of limited bronze smelting in West Mexico suggests either contact of that region with Andean cultures or separate discovery of the technology. The Calchaquí people of Northwest Argentina had bronze technology. + +Trade + +Trade and industry played a major role in the development of the ancient Bronze Age civilizations. With artifacts of the Indus Valley civilization found in ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt, it is clear that these civilizations were not only in touch with one other, but also trading. Early long-distance trade was limited almost exclusively to luxury goods like spices, textiles, and precious metals. Not only did this make cities with ample amounts of these products extremely rich, but it also led to an intermingling of cultures for the first time in history. + +Trade routes were also over water. The first and most extensive trade routes were along rivers such as the Nile, the Tigris, and the Euphrates, which led to the growth of cities on the banks of these rivers. The domestication of camels at a later time also helped encourage trade routes overland, linking the Indus Valley with the Mediterranean. This further led to towns sprouting up everywhere there was a pit-stop or caravan-to-ship port. + +See also + + Altyndepe + Dover Bronze Age Boat + Ferriby Boats + Hillfort + Human timeline + Langdon Bay hoard + Middle Bronze Age migrations (Ancient Near East) + Namazga + Oxhide ingot + Shropshire bulla + Tollense valley battlefield + +Notes + +References + + Eogan, George (1983). The hoards of the Irish later Bronze Age, Dublin: University College, 331 p., + Hall, David and Coles, John (1994). Fenland survey : an essay in landscape and persistence, Archaeological report 1, London : English Heritage, 170 p., + Pernicka, E., Eibner, C., Öztunah, Ö., Wagener, G.A. (2003). "Early Bronze Age Metallurgy in the Northeast Aegean", In: Wagner, G.A., Pernicka, E. and Uerpmann, H-P. (eds), Troia and the Troad: scientific approaches, Natural science in archaeology, Berlin; London : Springer, , pp. 143–172 + Piccolo, Salvatore (2013). Ancient Stones: The Prehistoric Dolmens of Sicily. Abingdon (GB): Brazen Head Publishing, , + Waddell, John (1998). The prehistoric archaeology of Ireland, Galway University Press, 433 p., + +Further reading + +External links + + + Links to the Bronze Age in Europe and beyond Commented web index, geographically structured (private website) + Bronze Age Experimental Archeology and Museum Reproductions + Umha Aois – Reconstructed Bronze Age metal casting + Umha Aois – ancient bronze casting videoclip + + Aegean and Balkan Prehistory articles, site-reports and bibliography database concerning the Aegean, Balkans and Western Anatolia + "The Transmission of Early Bronze Technology to Thailand: New Perspectives" + Human Timeline (Interactive) – Smithsonian, National Museum of Natural History (August 2016). + + Seafaring + Divers unearth Bronze Age hoard off the coast of Devon + + +Articles which contain graphical timelines +Historical eras +The BBC News channel is a British free-to-air public broadcast television news channel owned and operated by the BBC. The channel is based at and broadcasts from Broadcasting House in the West End of London from which it is anchored during British daytime, with overnight broadcasts anchored from Washington, D.C. and Singapore. It was launched as BBC News 24 on 9 November 1997 at 5:30 pm as part of the BBC's foray into digital domestic television channels, becoming the first competitor to Sky News, which had been running since 1989. + +On 22 February 2006, the channel was named News Channel of the Year at the Royal Television Society Television Journalism Awards for the first time in its history. The judges remarked that this was the year that the channel had "really come into its own." The channel won the accolade for a second time in 2017. From May 2007, viewers in the UK could watch the channel via the BBC News website. In April 2008, the channel was renamed BBC News as part of a £550,000 rebranding of the BBC's news output, complete with a new studio and presentation. + +The channel's international counterpart, formerly known as BBC World News, initially operated as a counterpart carrying international news, as well as selected programmes from the domestic service. Unlike BBC News in the UK, which is a free-to-air channel funded by the licence fee, the world feed is a pay television service distributed by BBC Studios and funded by advertising. Some of its programmes had been simulcast by the domestic BBC News channel, especially in the overnight hours. + +In 2022, the BBC announced that it would further consolidate the programming and talent of the BBC News and World News channels as a cost-cutting move; these changes took place on 3 April 2023, when BBC World News was renamed "BBC News". The UK feed occasionally opts out when it airs UK-specific content not deemed significant enough to warrant carriage globally. + +History + +Rolling news began in the UK on 5 February 1989 when Sky News was launched and on 16 January 1995, the BBC launched an international news channel BBC World. However it was meant for global audiences and wasn't available to viewers in the UK and in May 1996, the BBC announced that it was to launch a UK rolling news service as part of its move into digital broadcasting. + +BBC News 24 went on air on 9 November 1997, nearly a year before digital television was launched in the UK and due to a lack of space on satellite, the channel was only available on cable, with an overnight shop window on BBC One when that channel was not on air. However, Sky News had complained about the costs associated with running a channel that only a minority could view from the licence fee. Sky News claimed that a number of British cable operators had been incentivised to carry News 24 (which, as a licence-fee funded channel was made available to such operators for free) in preference to the commercial Sky News. However, in September 1999 the European Commission ruled against a complaint made by Sky News that the publicly funded channel was unfair and illegal under EU law. The Commission ruled that the licence fee should be considered state aid but that such aid was justified due to the public service remit of the BBC and that it did not exceed actual costs. + +The advent of digital television in the United Kingdom in autumn 1998 saw the channel launch on Sky's new digital satellite service and a month later it started to broadcast via digital terrestrial television. Initially it was difficult to obtain a digital satellite or terrestrial receiver without a subscription to Sky or ONdigital respectively, but following the demise of ITV Digital in 2002 and the subsequent launch of Freeview, the channel started to become much more widely available and the BBC Governors' annual report for 2005/2006 reported that average audience figures for fifteen-minute periods had reached 8.6% in multichannel homes. The 2004 report also claimed that the channel outperformed Sky News in both weekly and monthly reach in multichannel homes for the January 2004 period, and for the first time in two years moved ahead of Sky News in being perceived as the channel best for news. + +In 2005, the Head of television news Peter Horrocks outlined plans to provide more funding and resources for the channel and shift the corporation's emphasis regarding news away from the traditional BBC One bulletins and across to the rolling news channel. The introduction of simulcasts of the main bulletins on the channel was to allow the news bulletins to pool resources rather than work against each other at key times in the face of competition particularly from Sky News. + +2008 rebranding +On 21 April 2008, BBC News 24 was renamed BBC News on the channel itself, and referred to as the BBC News Channel on other BBC services. This was part of the creative futures plan, launched in 2006, to bring all BBC News output under the single brand name. + +The BBC News Channel moved from the Studio N8 set, which became home to BBC World News, to what was the home of the national news in Studio N6, allowing the channel to share its set with the BBC News at One and the BBC News at Ten – with other bulletins moving to Studio TC7. + +Move to Broadcasting House +The channel relocated, along with the remaining BBC News services at Television Centre, to the newly refurbished Broadcasting House on 18 March 2013 at 13:00 GMT. Presentation and on-screen graphics were refreshed, with new full HD studios and a live newsroom backdrop. Moving cameras in the newsroom form part of the top of the hour title sequence and are used at the start of weather bulletins. + +Consolidation with BBC World News +On 26 May 2022, as part of planned cuts and streamlining across the broadcaster, the BBC announced plans for consolidation of the domestic BBC News channel in the UK with BBC World News. The domestic and international versions would share content, while maintaining the ability to opt out from the shared feed for domestic coverage if warranted. The BBC promoted that the service would offer "new flagship programmes built around high-profile journalists, and programmes commissioned for multiple platforms". + +The BBC announced a new presenter lineup for the merged service in February 2023, led by Matthew Amroliwala, Christian Fraser, Yalda Hakim, Lucy Hockings, and Maryam Moshiri. On 3 April 2023, the BBC World News channel rebranded as BBC News, formally marking the implementation of the unified service with the UK feed opting out for UK-specific programming, such as BBC television newscasts and Newsnight, and coverage of UK-specific news not judged to be significant enough to warrant rolling coverage globally. Overall, the changes resulted in the layoffs of about 50 employees, including presenters David Eades, Joanna Gosling, and Tim Willcox. + +BBC News HD + +On 16 July 2013, the BBC announced that a high-definition (HD) simulcast of BBC News would be launched by early 2014. The channel broadcasts on the BBC's new HD multiplex on Freeview. HD output from BBC News has been simulcast on BBC One HD and BBC Two HD since the move to Broadcasting House in March 2013. The channel launched on 10 December 2013 (at an earlier date than originally planned) and rolled out nationwide over the next six months (as did BBC Four HD, CBBC HD and CBeebies HD). + +Programming + +Breaking news + +The BBC maintains guidelines for procedures to be taken for breaking news. With domestic news, the correspondent first recorded a "generic minute" summary (for use by all stations and channels) and then priority was to report on BBC Radio 5 Live, then on the BBC News channel and any other programmes that are on air. Since 5 Live's move to Manchester, this has been reversed. For foreign news, first a "generic minute" is recorded, then reports are to World Service radio, then the reporter talks to any other programmes that are on air. + +A key claim made by Lord Lambert in his report had been that the channel was slower to react to breaking news compared with its main rival Sky News. To counteract this, a new feature introduced with the 2003 relaunch was a "breaking news sting": a globe shown briefly onscreen to direct a viewer's attention to the breaking news. + +The graphics relaunch in January 2007 saw the globe sting replaced by a red strapline to highlight the breaking story immediately. + +To complement this, a permanent live news ticker had earlier been introduced in 2006: this had previously been in use only sporadically. News statements are shown as continuously scrolling upper-case text located at the bottom of the screen; some past ambiguities noted have included spelling the plural of MPs as "MPS", together with other occasional spelling and grammatical errors. The design of this ticker was slightly altered with the 2007 graphics redesign and from June turned red to indicate breaking news, as Newswatch reported viewers' confusion. The ticker was removed during trails and weather forecasts. + +A new set of graphics, including a change to font style, was officially launched in July 2019 although it was broadcast in error up to a couple of months before. The news ticker, which had been a long-running feature of the Channel, was replaced by a flipper as stories no longer scroll across the screen. The headlines now have a limited length and appear in full in turn. The word "BREAKING" may appear on screen and flash to indicate breaking news. Occasionally a breaking news sting may appear on the Channel to call attention to breaking news. This sting gained some notoriety in June 2017 when a technical error caused it to appear several times in a row, delaying the start of the BBC News at Ten. Usually the BBC News Channel crosses over to live events, such as press conferences, without using the sting and the presenter on air introduces what viewers are seeing. + +BBC World News simulcasts +The BBC began simulcasting the channel overnight on terrestrial channel BBC One with the launch of the channel, ending the tradition of a closedown but at the same time effectively making the service available to many more viewers. In the early 2000s, BBC Two also started simulcasting the channel, although the weekend morning show Weekend 24 had been simulcast on the channel in the early days. During major breaking news events, the BBC News Channel has been broadcast on BBC One; examples of special broadcasts include the 11 September 2001 attacks, 7 July 2005 London bombings, the capture of Saddam Hussein, the death of Osama bin Laden and the death and funerals of Prince Philip and Elizabeth II. In 2020, shared programming between BBC One and the News Channel often included the UK Government's Coronavirus Daily Update. This was usually broadcast during late afternoons when the Government made announcements. + +Coverage of major events has also been simulcast on BBC World News. Currently, overnight viewers receive 25-minute editions of BBC News every hour, and on weekdays 23:00–02:00 receive Newsday, live from Singapore and from London which also includes Asia Business Report and Sport Today between 00:30 and 01:00 and also between 01:30 and 02:00 +From 02:00–05:00 (00:00–06:00 on weekends) receive BBC World News. The Briefing airs between 05:00–06:00 on weekdays. + +These simulcasts were expanded as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The BBC introduced a streamlined schedule and the News Channel and BBC World News now share major parts of evening and weekend coverage. From August 2020 this was changed and made permanent to 10:00 to 12:00 and on weekdays 19:00 to 06:00, with opt-outs for BBC News at Ten and half an hour at 20:30, weekends 21:00 to 06:00, apart from the evening BBC One bulletin. + +BBC One, BBC Two and BBC World News simulcasts +BBC Breakfast has been simulcast since launch (in 2000) on BBC One and BBC News, replacing the individual breakfast shows that had run on both channels. Since May 2006 until 17 March 2020, the simulcast generally ran from 06:00 until 08:30 during the week. Breakfast on BBC One continued from MediaCityUK until 09:15 with entertainment and features, whilst BBC News usually went to Business Live until 09:00 and reverted to its traditional format from 09:00. Since 18 March 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic has caused changes to these arrangements. Business Live, which had become Worklife, is no longer on air. Weekdays, BBC Breakfast now runs until 09:00 on both BBC One and the BBC News Channel and there is then an hour of news, now called the BBC News at Nine, on both channels. This continues as the first half of two hours of programming on the BBC News Channel, the second hour usually taken by BBC Two presented by Victoria Derbyshire on Mondays to Wednesdays and generally by Annita McVeigh on the other two days of the week. + +BBC Two simulcasts the News Channel on weekday mornings from 09:00 until 12:15 or 13:00. Coverage switches to BBC One in the form of the simulcast BBC News at One. The BBC News at One may be broadcast on BBC One only however during periods of breaking news or major announcements in the House of Commons carried only on the News Channel, if it's an international story coverage will switch for the hour to simulcast with BBC World News. A similar arrangement applies for the BBC News at Six, generally simulcast on both BBC One and the News Channel but, as ever, subject to change for breaking news for the News Channel. + +The BBC News at Ten began simulcasting on the channel on 30 January 2006 as part of the Ten O'Clock Newshour, followed by extended sport and business news updates. The bulletin was joined in being simulcast on 10 April 2006 when the BBC News at One (with British Sign Language in-vision signing) and BBC News at Six bulletins were added to the schedule following a similar format to the News at Ten in terms of content on the channel once each simulcast ends. + +During the summer, the hour-long programme News 24 Sunday was broadcast both on BBC One and the BBC News Channel at 09:00, to replace The Andrew Marr Show, which is off air. It was presented by a news presenter, and came from the main News channel studio. The programme was made up mostly of interviews focusing on current affairs, and included a full paper review, a weather summary, and a news update at 09:00, 09:30 and 10:00. Sunday Morning Live and alternative programming now fill this slot. + +From 2013, a new programme was created for BBC Two for 11:00–12:00 weekdays, consisting of 30 minutes of domestic news and 30 minutes of BBC World News. On Wednesdays, when parliament is sitting the latter is replaced by the Daily Politics for coverage of Prime Minister's Questions (PMQ). In March 2016 the channel started showing Newsnight at 23:15. + +The coverage from 10:00 to 13:00 on BBC Two and the News Channel is part of three-hour block of BBC World News simulcast due to the Coronavirus Pandemic. However, by the end of 2021 the simulcast had been cut back to a single hour on weekdays, between 10:00 and 11:00 with all-morning simulcasts continuing at the weekend. BBC World News produces the three-hour BBC News / BBC World News simulcast between 19:00 to 22:00 and 23:00 to 06:00, including one edition of The Papers. From August 2020 this was changed and made permanent to 10:00 to 12:00 and on weekdays 19:00 to 06:00, with opt-outs for BBC News at Ten and half an hour at 20:30, weekends 21:00 to 06:00, these exclude BBC One bulletin. + +Exclusive programmes + + BBC News – The latest national and international news as they break from the BBC. + Asia Business Report – Live from Singapore, it is a look ahead to the news that will shape the business day. This is presented by whoever covered the Newsday shift. + The Context – The latest news from both sides of the Atlantic, presented by Christian Fraser in London (Monday to Thursday). + Newsday – Live international news from Singapore. Presented by Karishma Vaswani. Usually airs three 30-minute editions each hour from 23:00 between Sunday to Thursday. + Sportsday / Sport Today – All the latest sports news and results from around the globe. + Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg – Interviews and analysis of the weeks big news from the UK and around the world stories, including interviews with key politicians and personalities from all walks of life. + World Business Report – The latest business news. + BBC News Now – Reactive and fast-paced international breaking news, business and sport, covering several stories in an immersive format with as much detail as possible. Launched on 22 May 2023. + Verified Live – Forensic analysis and journalism from the BBC Verify team, using advanced editorial tools and techniques to investigate, source and verify information, video, and images. Launched on 22 May 2023. + The Daily Global – A deep-dive into some of the significant news stories of the day, using in-depth interviews combined with a unique global perspective. Launched on 22 May 2023. + +Other programmes + + BBC World News America – News and analysis with Laura Trevelyan. Broadcast from the BBC's Washington D.C. studio. This programme was broadcast during a few weeks of the year when daylight savings schedules of the UK and the USA ran out of sync. It is now broadcast occasionally when BBC News at Ten is running late due to programming on BBC One and sometimes shown live when broadcasting significant events are happening in the Americas. + Click – A guide to gadgets, websites, games and computer industry news. + Global Questions – The panels and contributing audiences discuss topical themes put to representatives from global politics, finance, business, the arts, media and other areas. + HARDtalk – Stephen Sackur talks to newsmakers and personalities from across the globe. + Our World – Features the BBC's news programmes on current issues around the world. The documentaries are intended to showcase BBC journalism at its best. + Panorama – Current affairs programme, featuring interviews and investigative reports on a wide variety of subjects. + Reporters – This programme, a showcase of reports from the BBC's global network of correspondents, occasionally airs on BBC News. +Talking Business – BBC business presenters, based in London, New York, Mumbai, Johannesburg and Singapore, discuss with the most important and influential people from the world of business and finance, the key issues of the day. + The Travel Show + Witness – A monthly round-up of BBC News stories of global events told by the people who were there. + +Previous programming + BBC News at Five – An hour of news live from Broadcasting House in London, usually presented by Huw Edwards or Jane Hill, covering the day's national and international news, sports events, and weather. On 13 March 2020, the last edition of the BBC News at Five was broadcast and was suspended until further notice in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. The UK Government's daily press conference on the pandemic was broadcast in place of BBC News at Five on BBC One and the BBC News Channel. The new schedule under the COVID-19 pandemic involves the BBC News at One presenter continuing on air until 16:00, replacing Afternoon Live. The programme did not return after the daily news briefings ended later in 2020. + BBC News at Nine – An in-depth look at the morning news and briefing on the day's events. This programme included News Briefing, involving a look at top stories on the BBC News website through smartphone access. + The Briefing – Sally Bundock with news, business, and sports from BBC News. It is currently airing unbranded as part of an hour block of BBC News. +Business Briefing – Sally Bundock with the latest business, economic and financial news, market updates and interviews with the key news-makers in the business world. It is currently airing unbranded as part of an hour block of BBC News. + Business Live – Sally Bundock and Ben Thompson or Tanya Beckett with the latest business news and a look ahead to the news that will shape the business day. With the latest news from end of trading in Asia, Europe, Middle East and Americas. + Dateline London – Foreign correspondents based in London give their views on the week's international news. The final episode was broadcast on 15 October 2022. +News Briefing - A summary of the latest headlines. It is currently airing unbranded as part of an hour block of BBC News. + Outside Source – Ros Atkins hosts live reports linking up with the BBC's global network of correspondents. This was occasionally simulcast at 18:00 weekdays during major stories. It was broadcast at 19:00 to 20:00 (Monday to Thursday). + The Papers – From 2013 until 2023, the channel broadcast The Papers which featured lively and informed conversation about the next day's or today's headlines as featured in the national newspapers. From around 2017 the nightly editions were usually to Clive Myrie and Martine Croxall, the latter having also generally covered some late weekday and weekend shifts. Other News Channel presenters filled in across the week. A Sunday-morning edition was usually presented by Ben Brown as part of his News Channel 09:00 to 14:00 shift. The Papers was axed in January 2023 ahead of the merger between the UK news channel with BBC World News. + STORYFix – A short-lived weekly programme which was broadcast in 2006 and 2007. It took a mildly satirical view of the week's events – although the satire was aimed more at the way the news was reported than at the news itself. The programme ended after just a year as it had been seen as being part of a video podcasting trial, and that the production team 'will be moving on to other projects'. + Victoria Derbyshire – From 2015 until 2020, Victoria Derbyshire was broadcast on weekday mornings. The programme had featured original stories, exclusive interviews, audience debate and breaking news. On 22 January 2020, it was announced that the programme would be axed later in 2020 as part of BBC cuts. However, due to priority put on coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic, the BBC suspended the programme earlier than initially planned with the final episode airing on 17 March 2020. Derbyshire has remained as a presenter in the same time slot, instead presenting a standardly structured BBC News newscast. + World News Today – This programme focused on the UK, Europe, Middle East and Africa and was presented by Kasia Madera, Nancy Kacungira, Lukwesa Burak and Lewis Vaughan Jones. It was broadcast at 19:00, 21:00 and 03:00. The 19:00 programme was simulcast on BBC Four, when Beyond 100 Days was not on air, and the 03:00 programme was simulcast on BBC One. Under COVID-19, the programme effectively ended when it became part of the news coverage simulcast with BBC World News during the weekends (including Friday mid-evening and the approximate half hour slot from 21:00 on Saturday and Sunday). +Your News – A user-generated news programme which was part of the channel's weekend schedule from November 2006 until December 2008. + +Other programmes previous broadcast on BBC News Channel included Head 2 Head, E24, The Record Europe, Politics Europe and News 24 Tonight, a weekday evening programme which ran from 2005 to 2008, providing a round up of the day's news. + +2015 schedule changes +As part of budget cuts, major changes to the channel were announced in late 2014 / early 2015. This included axing some bulletins and replacing them with Victoria Derbyshire and BBC Business Live with Sally Bundock and Ben Thompson in the morning. Outside Source with Ros Atkins – an "interactive" show already broadcast on BBC World News – aired Mondays-Thursday at (during major stories at 18:00) and 21:00 and a new edition of World News Today Friday-Sunday at 21:00 (during major stories at 19:00/20:00 Monday-Friday) adding to the 19:00 edition on BBC Four. HARDtalk was moved to 20:30 in May. The 00:00 edition was replaced on Sundays–Thursday with Newsday and on Friday-Saturday a standard edition of BBC World News. + +BBC World News shared programming +On 1 October 2007, BBC World News started broadcasting BBC World News America and World News Today at 00:00 and 03:00 GMT respectively. World News Today was simulcast on the BBC News channel at 03:00 GMT. BBC World News America used to be aired as a reduced length, time-delayed version at 00:30 GMT, with ABC World News Tonight with David Muir also being shown at 01:30 every Tuesday-Friday. + +From 13 June 2011, the weekday editions of BBC News at 01:00, 02:00, 03:00 and 04:00 were replaced with Newsday. The programme acts as a morning news bulletin for the Asia-Pacific region and is broadcast as a double-headed news bulletin with Rico Hizon in Singapore and Babita Sharma in London. Asia Business Report and Sport Today are aired at the back of the first three hours of Newsday. But Newsday changed to 23:00–02:00 on BBC News a year later meaning Mike Embley presents Tuesday-Friday BBC World News 23:00–02:00 with Kasia Madera on Saturdays and Daniela Ritorto 00:00–06:00 Sunday, 02:00–05:00 Friday/Monday. + +BBC World News and World Business Report air at 05:00. This was previously known as The World Today, However, since November 2017 this was rebranded as The Briefing and Business Briefing on both channels and in lieu of commercials seen on the international broadcasts, the presenters gave a brief update on UK news for domestic audiences. + +In June 2015, BBC News began simulcasting Outside Source with Ros Atkins on Mondays-Thursday at (during major stories 18:00) / at 21:00 and a new edition of World News Today Friday-Sunday at (during major stories Monday-Friday 19:00) 21:00. Since January 2017, they began simulcasting Beyond 100 Days (previously '100 Days and 100 Days +) Monday to Thursday at 19:00, presented from London and Washington. During August, Beyond 100 Days is replaced by another edition of World News Today. + +On 26 May 2022, as part of planned cuts and streamlining to create a "digital first" broadcaster, the BBC announced plans to consolidate the BBC News and BBC World News networks into a single service under the "BBC News" name. The merged service was slated to launch in April 2023, with the BBC stating that it would offer "new flagship programmes built around high-profile journalists, and programmes commissioned for multiple platforms". The international version of the BBC News channel remains an advertising-supported service distributed by the corporation's commercial arm, BBC Studios. The domestic channel may opt out from the shared schedule to provide coverage of UK-specific breaking news, and would continue to carry UK-specific programmes (such as simulcasts of BBC One bulletins and Newsnight) that are not cleared by the international channel. + +By the end of 2022, sharing had extended to 23:00–06:00 UK time, BBC News and BBC World News simulcast for the first 25 minutes of each hour with world news shown all through the simulcasts. In addition, the 10:00 hour on weekdays was simulcast and at the weekend, simulcasts run throughout the morning UK-time. The two channels also simulcast between 19:00 and 22:00. UK-specific rolling coverage had, by now, been restricted to daytime hours. + +Sports +Since 5 March 2012, sports bulletins come from the BBC Sport Centre in MediaCityUK in Salford Quays, where the sports network BBC Radio 5 Live is also based. + +Headlines are usually provided at 15 minutes past the hour with a full bulletin after the bottom-of-the-hour headlines. There are also extended sports bulletins per day, entitled Sportsday or Sport Today (when simulcasting with BBC World News) broadcast at 00:45, 01:45, 02:45, 03:45, 13:30, 18:30, 19:30 (weekends only), 22:30 (weekdays only). Each bulletin is read by a single sports presenter, with the exception of Saturday Sportsday, which is double headed. + +The channel's sports bulletins (internally known as Sport 24) have always had a separate, dedicated production gallery, which is also responsible for the graphics. + +Bulletins during BBC Breakfast are presented by Sally Nugent or Mike Bushell, with the latter also appearing on other sports bulletins on the channel. the main sports presenters on the channel are Olly Foster, Gavin Ramjaun, Katie Gornall, Chetan Pathak, Katherine Downes, Tulsen Tollett, Lizzie Greenwood-Hughes and John Watson. + +Until March 2012, bulletins came from the News Channel studio at the quarter to the hour. Presenters for bulletins on the channel have included: Reshmin Chowdhury, Amanda Davies, Sean Fletcher, Matt Gooderick, Celina Hinchcliffe, Rachael Hodges, Damian Johnson, Adnan Nawaz and Olympic gold medallist turned journalist Matthew Pinsent. + +Business +Before BBC News moved to Broadcasting House, an hourly business update was included during the weekday schedule from the BBC Business Unit. There were two shifts, from 08:30 to 14:00 and 14:00 to 23:00, presented by Penny Haslam, Maryam Moshiri, Ben Thompson, Adam Parsons, Susannah Streeter, Joe Lynam, Sara Coburn or Sally Eden. News Channel updates were usually broadcast at 40 minutes past the hour between 08:00 and 23:00. The 21:40 round-up was often earlier and the 22:40 bulletin is an extended round-up of the day's business news. Until May 2009, the business updates on the BBC News Channel were broadcast from one of the London Stock Exchange's studios in central London. From then until March 2013 the bulletins were provided from the channel's studio at BBC Television Centre. The business updates were axed in March 2013 as part of the BBC's Delivering Quality First plan. But after complaints returned in November 2013. + +Stock market updates now only appear during the quarter-to-the-hour headlines. Rachel Horne is the main presenter from 13:30 to 18:00, with Vishala Sri-Pathma, Alice Baxter, Jamie Robertson, Aaron Heslehurst and Sally Bundock. There is normally an extended bulletin at 16:45 when the main business stories of the day are discussed on Afternoon Live. Bundock and Thompson present Business Live on weekdays at 08:30. Declan Curry presented Your Money, a weekly round-up on a Saturday morning. + +Alice Baxter and Sally Bundock presented World Business Report. + +News presenters + +Presentation + +Graphics + +The channel was criticised at launch for its style of presentation, with accusations of it being less authoritative than the BBC One news bulletins, with presenters appearing on-screen without jackets. Jenny Abramsky had originally planned to have a television version of the informal news radio channel BBC Radio 5 Live, or a TV version of Radio 4 News FM both of which she had run. The bright design of the set was also blamed for this – one insider reportedly described it as a "car crash in a shower" – and was subject to the network relaunch on 25 October 1999. The channel swapped studios with sister channel BBC World, moving to studio N8 within the newsroom, where it remained until 2008. New music and title sequences accompanied this set change, following the look of newly relaunched BBC One bulletins. + +Graphics and titles were developed by the Lambie-Nairn design agency and were gradually rolled out across the whole of BBC News, including a similar design for regional news starting with Newsroom South East and the three 'BBC Nations' – Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The similarity of main BBC News output was intended to increase the credibility of the channel as well as aiding cross-channel promotion. + +A graphics relaunch in January 2007 saw the channel updated, with redesigned headline straplines, a redesigned 'digital on-screen graphic' and repositioned clock. The clock was originally placed to the left hand side of the channel name though following complaints that this could only be viewed in widescreen, it was moved to the right in February 2007. Bulletins on BBC World News and BBC One also introduced similar graphics and title sequences on the same day. + +In 2008, the graphics were again relaunched, using the style introduced in 2007 and a new colour scheme. The typeface of the on-screen text was changed from Helvetica to Gill Sans. + +In 2013 the graphics were changed again, to coincide with the move to New Broadcasting House. The typeface was changed back to Helvetica. + +These were updated again in July 2019 when the BBC redesigned its on-air look with the growth of television viewing on smartphones and tablets. These included again redesigned, larger headline straplines sharply contrasting with the background (drawing criticism for obscuring content) using the BBC Reith typeface with larger text. Despite this, the 2008 titles and music continue to be used for the updated local titles. + +The Lambert Report +The Lambert Report into the channel's performance in 2002 called upon News 24 to develop a better brand of its own, to allow viewers to differentiate between itself and similar channels such as Sky News. As a direct result of this, a brand new style across all presentation for the channel launched on 8 December 2003 at 09:00. Philip Hayton and Anna Jones were the first two presenters on the set, the relaunch of which had been put back a week due to previous power disruptions at Television Centre where the channel was based. The new designs also featured a dynamic set of titles for the channel; the globe would begin spinning from where the main story was taking place, while the headline scrolled around in a ribbon; this was occasionally replaced by the BBC News logo. The titles concluded with a red globe surrounded by a red stylised clamshell and BBC News ribbons forming above the BBC News logo. + +Bulletins on BBC One moved into a new set in January 2003 although retained the previous ivory Lambie-Nairn titles until February 2004. News 24 updated the title colours slightly to match those of BBC One bulletins in time for the 50th anniversary of BBC television news on 5 July 2004. + +Countdown sequence + +An important part of the channel's presentation since launch has been the top of the hour countdown sequence, since there is no presentation system with continuity announcers so the countdown provides a link to the beginning of the next hour. A similar musical device is used on BBC Radio 5 Live, and mirrors the pips on BBC Radio 4. + +Previous styles have included a series of fictional flags set to music between 1997 and 1999 before the major relaunch, incorporating the new contemporary music composed by David Lowe, and graphics developed by Lambie-Nairn. Various images, originally ivory numbers fully animated against a deep red background, were designed to fit the pace of the channel, and the music soon gained notoriety, and was often satirised and parodied in popular culture. Images of life around the UK were added in replacement later with the same music, together with footage of the newsroom and exterior of Television Centre. The 2003 relaunch saw a small change to this style with less of a metropolitan feel to the footage. + +A new sequence was introduced on 28 March 2005, designed and created by Red Bee Media and directed by Mark Chaudoir. The full version ran for 60 seconds, though only around 30 seconds were usually shown on air. The music was revised completely but the biggest change came in the footage used – reflecting the methods and nature of newsgathering, while a strong emphasis was placed on the BBC logo itself. Satellite dishes are shown transmitting and receiving red "data streams". In production of the countdown sequence, Clive Norman filmed images around the United Kingdom, Richard Jopson in the United States, while BBC News camerapeople filmed images from Iraq, Beijing (Tiananmen Square), Bund of Shanghai, Africa, as well as areas affected by the 2004 Asian tsunami and others. + +The sequence has since seen several remixes to the music and a change in visuals to focus more on the well-known journalists, with less footage of camera crews and production teams. Changes have also seen the channel logo included during the sequences and at the end, as well as the fonts used for the time. The conclusion of the countdown was altered in 2008 to feature the new presentation style, rather than a data stream moving in towards the camera. Also in 2008, the graphic for the countdown changed, resembling the BBC One Rhythm and Movement idents, due to the logo being in a red square in the bottom left corner. + +To coincide with the move of BBC News to Broadcasting House, on 18 March 2013 the countdown was updated again along with several other presentation elements. Three of the most striking features of the new countdown include music performed by the BBC Concert Orchestra, a redesign of the "data streams" and the ending of the sequence no longer fading to the BBC News globe and logo, but instead stopping with a time-lapse shot outside the corporation's headquarters. The countdown was also extended to 87 seconds, which was fully shown before the first hour from Broadcasting House. In 2019, the countdown started using the BBC's new Reith font but otherwise retained the same style. + +A full three-minute version of the countdown music was made available on BBC News Online and David Lowe's own website after a remix on 16 May 2006. + +An international version of the countdown was launched on BBC World News on 5 September 2005 featuring more international content and similar music. Various changes have been made to the music and visuals since then, with presentation following the style of BBC News. The visuals in the sequence were updated on 10 May 2010. In June 2011, further imagery was added relating to recent events, including the conflict in Libya and views of outside 10 Downing Street. In January 2013, as part of the relocation of BBC News to Broadcasting House in Central London, BBC World News received a new countdown in the same style as the BBC News Channel's updated countdown, with some minor differences. + +In April 2021, a new "sombre" version of the countdown was played, with no "data streams" and slower shots of places within the UK, or in the case of the international version, timelapse shots across the world. Both were introduced to run up to programmes immediately following the death of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, and were used again following the death of Queen Elizabeth II in 2022. + +To coincide with the integration of BBC World News into BBC News, the countdown sequence was slightly refreshed in April 2023 to follow the new "Chameleon" branding scheme used by BBC television since October 2021, with the countdown now centred between the BBC and "News" wordmarks at the top- and bottom-centre of the screen respectively. + +Viewing audience figures +The Daily Telegraph reported in November 2021, "BBC News reaches 370,000 for its best performing slots". + +See also + + List of television channels in the United Kingdom + List of news television channels + List of world news channels + +References + +Notes + +External links + + via BBC iPlayer (available to UK viewers only – TV Licence required) + +1997 establishments in the United Kingdom +24-hour television news channels in the United Kingdom +BBC News channels +BBC television channels in the United Kingdom +Lost BBC episodes +Television channels and stations established in 1997 +William Edgar Oddie (born 7 July 1941) is an English actor, artist, birder, comedian, conservationist, musician, songwriter, television presenter and writer. He was a member of comedy trio The Goodies. + +A birder since his childhood in Quinton, Birmingham, Oddie has established a reputation as a naturalist, conservationist, and television presenter on wildlife issues. Some of his books are illustrated with his own paintings and drawings. His wildlife programmes for the BBC include Springwatch and Autumnwatch, How to Watch Wildlife, Wild in Your Garden, Birding with Bill Oddie, Britain Goes Wild with Bill Oddie and Bill Oddie Goes Wild. + +Early life +Oddie was born on 7 July 1941 in Rochdale, Lancashire, but moved to Birmingham at a young age; his father was assistant chief accountant at the Midlands Electricity Board. His mother was diagnosed with schizophrenia and, during most of his youth, lived in a hospital. He was educated at Lapal Primary School, Halesowen Grammar School (now The Earls High School, Halesowen) and King Edward's School, Birmingham, an all-boys direct grant school, where he captained the school's rugby union team. He then studied English literature at Pembroke College, Cambridge. + +Career + +Comedy +While at Cambridge University Oddie appeared in several Footlights Club productions. One of these, a revue called A Clump of Plinths, was so successful at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe that it was renamed Cambridge Circus and transferred to the West End in London, then New Zealand and Broadway in September 1964. Meanwhile, still at Cambridge, Oddie wrote scripts for and appeared briefly in TV's That Was the Week That Was. + +He appeared in Bernard Braden's television series On The Braden Beat in 1964. Subsequently, he was a key member of the performers in the BBC radio series I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again, where many of his musical compositions were featured. Some were released on the album Distinctly Oddie (Polydor, 1967). He was one of the first performers to parody a rock song, arranging the traditional Yorkshire folk song "On Ilkla Moor Baht'at" in the style of Joe Cocker's hit rendition of the Beatles' "With a Little Help from My Friends" (released on John Peel's Dandelion Records in 1970 and featured in Peel's special box of most-treasured singles), and singing "Andy Pandy" in the style of a brassy soul number such as Wilson Pickett or Geno Washington might perform. In many shows he would do short impressions of Hughie Green. + +On television Oddie was co-writer and performer in the comedy series Twice a Fortnight with Graeme Garden, Terry Jones, Michael Palin and Jonathan Lynn. Later he was co-writer and performer in the comedy series Broaden Your Mind with Tim Brooke-Taylor and Graeme Garden, for which he became a cast member for the second series. + +Oddie, Brooke-Taylor and Garden then co-wrote and appeared in their television comedy series The Goodies (1970–1982). The Goodies also released records, including "Father Christmas Do Not Touch Me"/"The In-Betweenies", "The Funky Gibbon" (co-written by Oddie with Dave MacRae) and "Black Pudding Bertha", which were hit singles in 1974–75. They reformed, briefly, in 2005 for a successful 13-date tour of Australia. + +Oddie, Brooke-Taylor and Garden voiced characters on the 1983 animated children's programme Bananaman. + +In the Amnesty International show A Poke in the Eye (With a Sharp Stick), Oddie, Brooke-Taylor and Garden sang their hit song "Funky Gibbon". They also appeared on Top of the Pops with the song. Together with Garden (who is a qualified medical doctor), Oddie co-wrote many episodes of the television comedy series Doctor in the House, including most of the first season and all of the second season. He has occasionally appeared on the BBC Radio 4 panel game I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue, on which Garden is and Brooke-Taylor was a regular panellist. In 1982 Garden and Oddie wrote, but did not perform in, a six-part science-fiction sitcom called Astronauts for Central and ITV. The show was set in an international space station in the near future. + +Natural history +Oddie's first published work was an article about the birdlife of Birmingham's Bartley Reservoir in the West Midland Bird Club's 1962 Annual Report. (He is first credited in the 1956 report, in which reports of his bird observations are tagged with his initials "WEO".) He has since written a number of books about birds and birdwatching as well as articles for many specialist publications including British Birds, Birdwatching Magazine and Birdwatch. + +He discussed bird-song recordings with Derek Jones in an August 1973 BBC Radio 4 programme called Sounds Natural. + +In the autumn of 1976 Oddie was involved in the successful identification of Britain's first-ever record of Pallas's reed bunting on Fair Isle, Shetland. + +One of Oddie's first forays into the world of television natural history was as a guest on Animal Magic in December 1977. Another early natural-history radio appearance was in October, as the guest on Radio 4's Through My Window, discussing the birds of Hampstead Heath. + +On 30 July 1985 he was the subject of a 50-minute Nature Watch Special: Bill Oddie – Bird Watcher, in which he was interviewed by Julian Pettifer at places where he had spent time birding, including Bartley Reservoir, the Christopher Cadbury Wetland Reserve at Upton Warren, RSPB Titchwell Marsh and Blakeney Point. + +Oddie has since hosted a number of successful nature programmes for the BBC, many produced by Stephen Moss, including: + +The Great Bird Race (1983; Channel 4) +The Great Kenyan Bird Safari (BBC) +Favourite Walks: "A Bird Walk" (1985; BBC; filmed on Fair Isle) +Worldwise: "The Bird Business" (1985; Channel 4) +Oddie in Paradise (1985; BBC) +Wild Weekends (TV AM) +Flight to Eilat (Channel 4) +Bird in the Nest (two series, 1994 and 1995) +Birding with Bill Oddie (three series, 1997, 1998 and 2000) +Bill Oddie Goes Wild (three series, 2001, 2002 and 2003) +Wild in Your Garden (2003) +Britain Goes Wild (2004) +Bill Oddie in Tiger Country (2004) +Bill Oddie's How to Watch Wildlife (two series, 2005 and 2006; also on DVD) +Seven Natural Wonders (London edition) (2005) +The Truth About Killer Dinosaurs (2005; also on DVD) +Springwatch (2005–2008) +Autumnwatch (2006–2008) +Bill Oddie Back in the USA (2007) +Bill Oddie's Top Ten Birds (2007; BBC Four) +100 Years of Wildlife (2007) +Bill Oddie's Wild Side (2008) +Bill Oddie's Top 10 (2008) + +The first broadcast, in 2004, of Britain Goes Wild set a record for its timeslot of 8 pm on BBC Two of 3.4 million viewers, one million more than the Channel 4 programme showing at that time. Britain Goes Wild, renamed Springwatch the following year, became a wildlife broadcasting phenomenon, attracting over 4 million viewers. + +He became president of the West Midland Bird Club in 1999, having been vice-president since 1991, and is a former member of the council of the RSPB. Oddie is also a President of the League Against Cruel Sports and a vice-president of the British Trust for Conservation Volunteers. He practised as a bird ringer but allowed his licence to lapse. + +In 2003, Oddie set up a half-marathon to raise money for various wildlife charities in his birth town of Rochdale. Celebrities who have participated in the event include Ray Mears, Katherine Jenkins and Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall. + +In 2011, Oddie featured as an investigator in Snares Uncovered: killers in the countryside. The film was an exposé of snaring in Scotland and was commissioned by animal protection charity OneKind. During the investigation Oddie discovered more than 70 snares and several stink pits. + +Music +Oddie wrote original music at Cambridge University for the Footlights and later wrote comic songs for I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again. He also wrote a number of comic songs for The Goodies, most of which he also performed. + +In the 1960s and early 1970s Oddie released a number of singles and at least one album. One of the former, issued in 1970 on John Peel's Dandelion Records label (Catalogue No: 4786), was "On Ilkla Moor Baht 'at", performed in the style of Joe Cocker's "With a Little Help from my Friends". The B-side, "Harry Krishna", featured the Hare Krishna chant, substituting the names of contemporary famous people called Harry, including Harry Secombe, Harry Worth, Harry Lauder and Harry Corbett, as well as puns such as "Harry [Hurry] along now" and "Harrystotle [Aristotle]" and ending with "Harry-ly [I really] must go now". Both tracks appear on the compilation CD Life Too, Has Surface Noise: The Complete Dandelion Records Singles Collection 1969–1972 (2007). In 1966 he was credited as the vocalist with Spencer's Washboard Kings on "Five Feet Two" (Rayrick LCR1001a). The vocalist on the B-side of this 45rpm single, "If You Knew Susie", was Jean Hart, Oddie's future wife. + +He played the drums and saxophone and appeared as Cousin Kevin in a production of The Who's rock opera Tommy by London Symphonic Orchestra and English Chamber Choir at the Rainbow Theatre, Finsbury Park, London, on 13 and 14 December 1973. He has also contributed vocals to a Rick Wakeman album, Criminal Record. + +He recorded a single, "Superspike", with John Cleese and a group of UK athletes, billed the "Superspike Squad", to fund the latter's attendance at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal. He co-produced the record with Stephen Shane. + +Oddie took part in the English National Opera production of the Gilbert and Sullivan comic opera The Mikado, in which he appeared in the role of the Lord High Executioner, taking over the role from Eric Idle. During the early 1990s Oddie was a DJ for London-based jazz radio station 102.2 Jazz FM. + +In 2007, Oddie appeared on the BBC series Play It Again. In the episode he attempts to realise his dream of becoming a rock guitarist. Initially teacher Bridget Mermikides tries to teach him using traditional methods but he rebels: instead he turns to old friends Albert Lee, Dave Davies (of The Kinks) and Mark Knopfler for advice and strikes out on his own. He succeeds in the target of playing lead guitar for his daughter Rosie's band at her 21st birthday party and even manages to impress his erstwhile teacher. + +In November 2010 he agreed, along with fellow members of The Goodies, to rerelease their 1970s hit "The Funky Gibbon" to raise funds for the International Primate Protection League's Save the Gibbon appeal. + +Other television and voice work +Oddie appeared as the hapless window cleaner in the Eric Sykes' comedy story The Plank in 1967. He also presented the live children's Saturday morning entertainment show Saturday Banana (ITV/Southern Television) during the late 1970s. In the late 1980s he was a presenter of the BBC TV show Fax (a show about 'facts'). + +In 1981, he appeared as a Telethon celebrity in New Zealand, hosted by TV1. He voices Asterix in the UK dub of the 1989 animated film Asterix and the Big Fight (an animated adaptation of the books Asterix and the Big Fight and Asterix and the Soothsayer, novelized as Operation Getafix). + +In 1992, he was a guest star in the US comedy television series Married... with Children for a three-part episode set in England. + +He voiced the chimney sweep in the 1996 film The Willows in Winter. + +In 1997–98, he appeared on the Channel 4 archaeological programme Time Team, as the team excavated a Roman villa site in Turkdean, Gloucestershire. + +He was the compère of a daytime BBC gameshow History Hunt (in 2003); and has appeared in the Doctor Who audio drama Doctor Who and the Pirates. In 2004, he appeared on the first ever episode of the BBC series Who Do You Think You Are?, in which he looked into his ancestry: he was visibly moved by its revelations. In 2005, he took part in Rolf on Art – the big event at Trafalgar Square and in September that year was also a celebrity guest along with Lynda Bellingham on the ITV1 programme Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. He also gave opinions on 100 greatest cartoons on Channel 4 that year, talking about Tom and Jerry and cartoon incidents such as the "Asses of Fire skit" in South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut. + +In 2006, Oddie appeared in the BBC show Never Mind the Buzzcocks, and also appeared on the topical quiz show 8 out of 10 Cats. He was also the voice behind many B&Q adverts throughout 2006/2007. On 25 May 2007, Oddie made a cameo appearance on Ronni Ancona's new comedy sketch show, Ronni Ancona & Co. + +Also in 2007, three artists each painted a portrait of Oddie, as part of the BBC programme Star Portraits with Rolf Harris. One of the artists, Mark Roscoe, later revealed a dislike of Oddie, claiming to have included hidden insults in his work. + +He hosted the genealogy-based series My Famous Family, broadcast on UKTV History in 2007. In 2008, Oddie was a guest on Jamie Oliver's television special Jamie's Fowl Dinners, talking about free-range chickens. + +He also appeared on Would I Lie To You? in 2011, where he revealed that he was saved from drowning by Freddy from popular children's series Rainbow and Rod, Jane and Freddy while on holiday in the Seychelles. + +In February 2015, Oddie appeared in The Keith Lemon Sketch Show as the narrator of the sketch Ed Sheeran Watch. + +He appeared as a contestant on a celebrity edition of Fifteen to One in August 2015 and the following month he appeared on Through the Keyhole. + +He has appeared three times on the programme Pointless Celebrities, the most recent appearance being in 2016. + +In 2017, he appeared in three episodes of The Real Marigold Hotel. + +In 2018, he featured on the programme The Two Ronnies: In Their Own Words. In 2019, he appeared on the show The Inbetweeners: Fwends Reunited. + +In 2020, he appeared in the documentary Celebrity Britain by Barge: Then & Now. + +2013 Australian tour +Oddie undertook an Australian tour during June 2013 in all of the mainland states capital cities – Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth – in a series of one-off shows, An Oldie but a Goodie. A video message from Tim Brooke-Taylor and Graeme Garden was shown during the performances. Oddie made personal appearances on both The Project and Adam Hills Tonight TV shows during the tour; he also filmed a guest-programming spot for the ABC-TV's all-night music video show Rage. + +Personal life + +Family +In 1966 Oddie married Jeanne Hart, and from this marriage he has two daughters, one of whom is the actress Kate Hardie. The couple later divorced. + +In 1983 Oddie married Laura Beaumont-Giles. The couple have worked on a variety of projects for children, including film scripts, drama and comedy series, puppet shows and books. They have a daughter, Rosie, born in October 1985, and live in Hampstead, North London. Rosie Oddie is a musician, also using the name Rosie Bones. + +Mental health +Oddie has experienced depression for most of his life before being diagnosed with clinical depression in 2001. In March 2009 he was reportedly admitted to Capio Nightingale psychiatric hospital in Marylebone for treatment. His then agent, David Foster, said: "Bill gets these bouts every two or three years where he gets down for about two weeks and recovers. He sometimes goes into hospital or takes a break or has a change of scenery to recharge his batteries." In January 2010 Oddie spoke to the media, revealing that he had in fact had two separate stays in different hospitals, only being discharged "in time for Christmas". He said that he was dealing with depression and bipolar disorder, describing the period as "probably the worst 12 months of my life". Oddie stated that he was planning to meet BBC executives to discuss his return to television work. + +His illness meant that Oddie did not appear in the 2009 and 2010 series of Springwatch, although he made a guest appearance in the penultimate episode of the latter. He subsequently said he was dismissed from Springwatch and that this had caused the depressive illness. + +Oddie presented the BBC Radio 4 Appeal programme on 10 August 2014 on behalf of the charity Bipolar UK. He revealed that as a consequence of his bipolar disorder he had attempted suicide during one of his depressive episodes. On the UK TV programme Who Do You Think You Are? he attributed his depression and bipolar disorder as an adult to his minimal and painful relationship with his mother. + +Political views +Oddie supports the Green Party. In October 2014, on the BBC's Sunday Morning Live, he stated that he wanted a limit on the number of children that British families can have, saying that he was "very often ashamed" to be British, calling them "a terrible race". + +Honours +In 2002, Oddie became the third person to decline to appear on This Is Your Life but changed his mind a few hours later. On 16 October 2003 Oddie was made an OBE for his service to wildlife conservation in a ceremony at Buckingham Palace. He wore a camouflage shirt and crumpled jacket to receive his medal. In June 2004 Oddie and Johnny Morris were jointly profiled in the first of a three-part BBC Two series The Way We Went Wild, about television wildlife presenters. In May 2005 he received the British Naturalists' Association's Peter Scott Memorial Award, from BNA president David Bellamy, "in recognition of his great contribution to our understanding of natural history and conservation." He is a recipient of the RSPB Medal. + +On 30 June 2009 he was proposed for inclusion in the Birmingham Walk of Stars, with the public invited to vote. + +Bibliography +(incomplete list) +Bill Oddie Unplucked: Columns, Blogs and Musings (Bloomsbury, 2015) +Bill Oddie's Introduction to Birdwatching (Subbuteo Books, 2002) +Bill Oddie's Colouring Guide to Birds (Piccolo, 1991) +Bill Oddie's Little Black Bird Book +Bill Oddie's Little Black Bird Book (paperback with additional material) +Bill Oddie's Gone Birding +The Big Bird Race (with David Tomlinson; Collins, 1983) +Follow That Bird! +Gripping Yarns (Christopher Helm, 2000) +Bird in the Nest +Bill Oddie's How to Watch Wildlife +One Flew into the Cuckoos Egg (Autobiography) +Bill Oddie also co-wrote the Springwatch & Autumnwatch book with Kate Humble and Simon King. + +Co-written with the other members of The Goodies: +The Goodies File +The Goodies Book of Criminal Records +The Goodies Disaster Movie + +Co-written with Laura Beaumont: +The Toilet Book (or 11 & ½ minutes a day and how not to waste them) (Methuen, 1984, ) + +Contributions +Confessions of a Scilly Birdman, David Hunt; Croom Helm, 1985. (foreword and postscript) +Birds in the Yorkshire Museum, Michael Denton; North Yorkshire County Council, 1995. (foreword) +Bird Brain of Britain, Charles Gallimore & Tim Appleton; Christopher Helm, 2004. (foreword) +Blokes and Birds, Stephen Moss; New Holland Publishers. (foreword) +The New Birds of the West Midlands, Graham and Janet Harrison (West Midland Bird Club, 2005) (foreword) + +Discography + +Albums + +Singles + +In popular culture +In the fictional world of comedy character Alan Partridge, Oddie is an unseen presence in Alan's life, buying him dressing gowns for Christmas and being part of a radicalised RSPB. He has also been referenced, often humorously, by the hosts of Top Gear. + +References + +Sources + +External links + +Bill Oddie's family history at the BBC website for the programme Who Do You Think You Are? +Bill Oddie Goes Wild – on BBC's Science and Nature website +In-depth interview, The Telegraph, 28 April 2005 +Gigrin Farm chapter from Gripping Yarns +Oddie on UKTV + +1941 births +Living people +20th-century English comedians +20th-century English male actors +20th-century English male writers +20th-century English screenwriters +21st-century English comedians +21st-century English male actors +21st-century English male writers +21st-century English screenwriters +Alumni of Pembroke College, Cambridge +Audiobook narrators +Birdwatchers +British bird artists +British male television writers +British ornithologists +Comedians from Birmingham, West Midlands +English autobiographers +English comedy writers +English conservationists +English illustrators +English male comedians +English male composers +English male radio actors +English male screenwriters +English male television actors +English male voice actors +English nature writers +English naturalists +English radio writers +English television composers +English television presenters +English television writers +English tenors +Officers of the Order of the British Empire +People educated at King Edward's School, Birmingham +People from Rochdale +People with bipolar disorder +Royal Society for the Protection of Birds people +Writers from Birmingham, West Midlands +Writers who illustrated their own writing +Comedians from Lancashire +Broadway () is a road in the U.S. state of New York. Broadway runs from State Street at Bowling Green for through the borough of Manhattan and through the Bronx, exiting north from New York City to run an additional through the Westchester County municipalities of Yonkers, Hastings-On-Hudson, Dobbs Ferry, Irvington, and Tarrytown, and terminating north of Sleepy Hollow. + +It is the oldest north–south main thoroughfare in New York City, with much of the current street beginning as the Wickquasgeck trail before the arrival of Europeans. This then formed the basis for one of the primary thoroughfares of the Dutch New Amsterdam colony, which continued under British rule, although most of it did not bear its current name until the late 19th century. + +Broadway in Manhattan is known widely as the heart of the American commercial theatrical industry, and is used as a metonym for it, as well as in the names of alternative theatrical ventures such as Off-Broadway and Off-off-Broadway. + +History + +Colonial history + +Broadway was originally the Wickquasgeck trail, carved into the brush of Manhattan by its Native American inhabitants. This trail originally snaked through swamps and rocks along the length of Manhattan Island. + +Upon the arrival of the Dutch, the trail was widened and soon became the main road through the island from Nieuw Amsterdam at the southern tip. The Dutch explorer and entrepreneur David Pietersz. de Vries gives the first mention of it in his journal for the year 1642 ("the Wickquasgeck Road over which the Indians passed daily"). The Dutch called it the Heeren Wegh or Heeren Straat, meaning "Gentlemen's Way" or "Gentlemen's Street" – echoing the name of a similar street in Amsterdam – or "High Street" or "the Highway"; it was renamed "Broadway" after the British took over the city, because of its unusual width. Although currently the name of the street is simply "Broadway", in a 1776 map of New York City, it is labeled as "Broadway Street". + +18th century + +In the 18th century, Broadway ended at the town commons north of Wall Street. The part of Broadway in what is now Lower Manhattan was initially known as Great George Street. Traffic continued up the East Side of the island via Eastern Post Road and the West Side via Bloomingdale Road, which opened in 1703, continued up to 117th Street and contributed to the development of the modern Upper West Side into an upscale area with mansions. + +In her 1832 book Domestic Manners of the Americans, Fanny Trollope wrote of her impressions of New York City in general and of Broadway in particular: + +19th century +In 1868, Bloomingdale Road between 59th Street (at the Grand Circle, now Columbus Circle) and 155th Streets would be paved and widened, becoming an avenue with landscaped medians. It was called "Western Boulevard" or "The Boulevard". An 1897 official map of the city shows a segment of what is now Broadway as "Kingsbridge Road" in the vicinity of Washington Heights. + +On February 14, 1899, the name "Broadway" was extended to the entire Broadway / Bloomingdale / Boulevard / Kingsbridge complex. + +20th century + +In the 20th century, a 30-block stretch of Broadway, extending mainly between Times Square at 42nd Street and Sherman Square at 72nd Street, formed part of Manhattan's "Automobile Row". Before the first decade of the 20th century, the area was occupied mostly by equestrian industries and was "thoroughly lifeless", but by 1907, The New York Times characterized this section of Broadway as having "almost a solid line of motor vehicle signs all the way from Times Square to Sherman Square". In the late 1900s and early 1910s, several large automobile showrooms, stores, and garages were built on Broadway, including the U.S. Rubber Company Building at 58th Street, the B.F. Goodrich showroom at 1780 Broadway (between 58th and 57th Streets), the Fisk Building at 250 West 57th Street, and the Demarest and Peerless Buildings at 224 West 57th Street. + +Broadway once was a two-way street for its entire length. The present status, in which it runs one-way southbound south of Columbus Circle (59th Street), came about in several stages. On June 6, 1954, Seventh Avenue became southbound and Eighth Avenue became northbound south of Broadway. None of Broadway became one-way, but the increased southbound traffic between Columbus Circle (Eighth Avenue) and Times Square (Seventh Avenue) caused the city to re-stripe that section of Broadway for four southbound and two northbound lanes. Broadway became one-way from Columbus Circle south to Herald Square (34th Street) on March 10, 1957, in conjunction with Sixth Avenue becoming one-way from Herald Square north to 59th Street and Seventh Avenue becoming one-way from 59th Street south to Times Square (where it crosses Broadway). On June 3, 1962, Broadway became one-way south of Canal Street, with Trinity Place and Church Street carrying northbound traffic. + +Another change was made on November 10, 1963, when Broadway became one-way southbound from Herald Square to Madison Square (23rd Street) and Union Square (14th Street) to Canal Street, and two routes – Sixth Avenue south of Herald Square and Centre Street, Lafayette Street, and Fourth Avenue south of Union Square – became one-way northbound. Finally, at the same time as Madison Avenue became one-way northbound and Fifth Avenue became one-way southbound, Broadway was made one-way southbound between Madison Square (where Fifth Avenue crosses) and Union Square on January 14, 1966, completing its conversion south of Columbus Circle. + +21st century + +In 2001, a one-block section of Broadway between 72nd Street and 73rd Street at Verdi Square was reconfigured. Its easternmost lanes, which formerly hosted northbound traffic, were turned into a public park when a new subway entrance for the 72nd Street station was built in the exact location of these lanes. Northbound traffic on Broadway is now channeled onto Amsterdam Avenue to 73rd Street, makes a left turn on the three-lane 73rd Street, and then a right turn on Broadway shortly afterward. + +In August 2008, two traffic lanes from 42nd to 35th Streets were taken out of service and converted to public plazas. Bike lanes were added on Broadway from 42nd Street to Union Square. + +Since May 2009, the portions of Broadway through Duffy Square, Times Square, and Herald Square have been closed entirely to automobile traffic, except for cross traffic on the Streets and Avenues, as part of a traffic and pedestrianization experiment, with the pavement reserved exclusively for walkers, cyclists, and those lounging in temporary seating placed by the city. The city decided that the experiment was successful, and decided to make the change permanent in February 2010. Though the anticipated benefits to traffic flow were not as large as hoped, pedestrian injuries dropped dramatically and foot traffic increased in the designated areas; the project was popular with both residents and businesses. The current portions converted into pedestrian plazas are between West 47th and 42nd Streets within Times and Duffy Squares, and between West 35th and 33rd Streets in the Herald Square area. Additionally, portions of Broadway in Madison Square and Union Square have been dramatically narrowed, allowing ample pedestrian plazas to exist along the side of the road. + +2010s +A terrorist attempted to set off a bomb on Broadway in Times Square on May 1, 2010. The attempted bomber was sentenced to life in prison. + +In May 2013, the NYCDOT decided to redesign Broadway between 35th and 42nd Streets for the second time in five years, owing to poor connections between pedestrian plazas and decreased vehicular traffic. With the new redesign, the bike lane is now on the right side of the street; it was formerly on the left side adjacent to the pedestrian plazas, causing conflicts between pedestrian and bicycle traffic. + +In spring 2017, as part of a capital reconstruction of Worth Square, Broadway between 24th and 25th Streets was converted to a shared street, where through vehicles are banned and delivery vehicles are restricted to . Delivery vehicles go northbound from Fifth Avenue to 25th Street for that one block, reversing the direction of traffic and preventing vehicles from going south on Broadway south of 25th Street. The capital project expands on a 2008 initiative where part of the intersection of Broadway and Fifth Avenue was repurposed into a public plaza, simplifying that intersection. As part of the 2017 project, Worth Square was expanded, converting the adjoining block of Broadway into a "shared street". + +In September 2019, the pedestrian space in the Herald Square area was expanded between 33rd and 32nd Streets alongside Greeley Square. Five blocks of Broadway—from 50th to 48th, 39th to 39th, and 23rd to 21st Street—were converted into shared streets in late 2021. The block between 40th and 39th Streets, known as Golda Meir Square, was closed to vehicular traffic at that time. + +2020s +During 2020, the section from 31st to 25th Street was converted to a temporary pedestrian-only street called NoMad Piazza as part of the New York City Department of Transportation's Open Streets program. Following the success of the pedestrian-only street, the Flatiron/23rd Street Partnership BID closed the section between 25th and 27th Streets to vehicular traffic again during 2021 and 2022. + +City officials announced in March 2023 that the section of Broadway between 32nd and 21st Streets would be redesigned as part of a project called Broadway Vision. The section between 32nd and 25th Streets would receive a bidirectional bike lane and would be converted to a shared street. Cars would be banned permanently from 27th to 25th Street. + +Route + +Route description +Broadway runs the length of Manhattan Island, roughly parallel to the North River (the portion of the Hudson River bordering Manhattan), from Bowling Green at the south to Inwood at the northern tip of the island. South of Columbus Circle, it is a one-way southbound street. Since 2009, vehicular traffic has been banned at Times Square between 47th and 42nd Streets, and at Herald Square between 35th and 33rd Streets as part of a pilot program; the right-of-way is intact and reserved for cyclists and pedestrians. From the northern shore of Manhattan, Broadway crosses Spuyten Duyvil Creek via the Broadway Bridge and continues through Marble Hill (a discontiguous portion of the borough of Manhattan) and the Bronx into Westchester County. U.S. 9 continues to be known as Broadway until its junction with NY 117. + +Lower Manhattan + +The section of lower Broadway from its origin at Bowling Green to City Hall Park is the historical location for the city's ticker-tape parades, and is sometimes called the "Canyon of Heroes" during such events. West of Broadway, as far as Canal Street, was the city's fashionable residential area until ; landfill has more than tripled the area, and the Hudson River shore now lies far to the west, beyond Tribeca and Battery Park City. + +Broadway marks the boundary between Greenwich Village to the west and the East Village to the east, passing Astor Place. It is a short walk from there to New York University near Washington Square Park, which is at the foot of Fifth Avenue. A bend in front of Grace Church allegedly avoids an earlier tavern; from 10th Street it begins its long diagonal course across Manhattan, headed almost due north. + +Midtown Manhattan + +Because Broadway preceded the grid that the Commissioners' Plan of 1811 imposed on the island, Broadway crosses midtown Manhattan diagonally, intersecting with both the east–west streets and north–south avenues. Broadway's intersections with avenues, marked by "squares" (some merely triangular slivers of open space), have induced some interesting architecture, such as the Flatiron Building. + +At Union Square, Broadway crosses 14th Street, merges with Fourth Avenue, and continues its diagonal uptown course from the Square's northwest corner; Union Square is the only location wherein the physical section of Broadway is discontinuous in Manhattan (other portions of Broadway in Manhattan are pedestrian-only plazas). At Madison Square, the location of the Flatiron Building, Broadway crosses Fifth Avenue at 23rd Street, and is discontinuous to vehicles for a one-block stretch between 24th and 25th Streets. At Greeley Square (West 32nd Street), Broadway crosses Sixth Avenue (Avenue of the Americas), and is discontinuous to vehicles until West 35th Street. Macy's Herald Square department store, one block north of the vehicular discontinuity, is located on the northwest corner of Broadway and West 34th Street and southwest corner of Broadway and West 35th Street; it is one of the largest department stores in the world. + +One famous stretch near Times Square, where Broadway crosses Seventh Avenue in midtown Manhattan, is the home of many Broadway theatres, housing an ever-changing array of commercial, large-scale plays, particularly musicals. This area of Manhattan is often called the Theater District or the Great White Way, a nickname originating in the headline "Found on the Great White Way" in the February 3, 1902, edition of the New York Evening Telegram. The journalistic nickname was inspired by the millions of lights on theater marquees and billboard advertisements that illuminate the area. After becoming the city's de facto red-light district in the 1960s and 1970s (as can be seen in the films Taxi Driver and Midnight Cowboy), since the late 1980s Times Square has emerged as a family tourist center, in effect being Disneyfied following the company's purchase and renovation of the New Amsterdam Theatre on 42nd Street in 1993. + +The New York Times, from which the Square gets its name, was published at offices at 239 West 43rd Street; the paper stopped printing papers there on June 15, 2007. + +Upper West Side + +At the southwest corner of Central Park, Broadway crosses Eighth Avenue (called Central Park West north of 59th Street) at West 59th Street and Columbus Circle; on the site of the former New York Coliseum convention center is the new shopping center at the foot of the Time Warner Center, headquarters of Time Warner. From Columbus Circle northward, Broadway becomes a wide boulevard to 169th Street; it retains landscaped center islands that separate northbound from southbound traffic. The medians are a vestige of the central mall of "The Boulevard" that had become the spine of the Upper West Side, and many of these contain public seating. + +Broadway intersects with Columbus Avenue (known as Ninth Avenue south of West 59th Street) at West 65th and 66th Streets where the Juilliard School and Lincoln Center, both well-known performing arts landmarks, as well as the Manhattan New York Temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are located. + +Between West 70th and 73rd Streets, Broadway intersects with Amsterdam Avenue (known as 10th Avenue south of West 59th Street). The wide intersection of the two thoroughfares has historically been the site of numerous traffic accidents and pedestrian casualties, partly due to the long crosswalks. Two small triangular plots of land were created at points where Broadway slices through Amsterdam Avenue. One is a tiny fenced-in patch of shrubbery and plants at West 70th Street called Sherman Square (although it and the surrounding intersection have also been known collectively as Sherman Square), and the other triangle is a lush tree-filled garden bordering Amsterdam Avenue from just above West 72nd Street to West 73rd Street. Named Verdi Square in 1921 for its monument to Italian composer Giuseppe Verdi, which was erected in 1909, this triangular sliver of public space was designated a Scenic Landmark by the Landmarks Preservation Commission in 1974, one of nine city parks that have received the designation. In the 1960s and 1970s, the area surrounding both Verdi Square and Sherman Square was known by local drug users and dealers as "Needle Park", and was featured prominently in the gritty 1971 dramatic film The Panic in Needle Park, directed by Jerry Schatzberg and starring Al Pacino in his second onscreen role. + +The original brick and stone shelter leading to the entrance of the 72nd Street subway station, one of the first 28 subway stations in Manhattan, remains located on one of the wide islands in the center of Broadway, on the south side of West 72nd Street. For many years, all traffic on Broadway flowed on either side of this median and its subway entrance, and its uptown lanes went past it along the western edge of triangular Verdi Square. In 2001 and 2002, renovation of the historic 72nd Street station and the addition of a second subway control house and passenger shelter on an adjacent center median just north of 72nd Street, across from the original building, resulted in the creation of a public plaza with stone pavers and extensive seating, connecting the newer building with Verdi Square, and making it necessary to divert northbound traffic to Amsterdam Avenue for one block. While Broadway's southbound lanes at this intersection were unaffected by the new construction, its northbound lanes are no longer contiguous at this intersection. Drivers can either continue along Amsterdam Avenue to head uptown or turn left on West 73rd Street to resume traveling on Broadway. + +Several notable apartment buildings are in close proximity to this intersection, including The Ansonia, its ornate architecture dominating the cityscape here. After the Ansonia first opened as a hotel, live seals were kept in indoor fountains inside its lobby. Later, it was home to the infamous Plato's Retreat nightclub. Immediately north of Verdi Square is the formidable Apple Bank for Savings building, formerly the Central Savings Bank, which was built in 1926 and designed to resemble the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Broadway is also home to the Beacon Theatre at West 74th Street, designated a national landmark in 1979 and still in operation as a concert venue after its establishment in 1929 as a vaudeville and music hall, and "sister" venue to Radio City Music Hall. + +At its intersection with West 78th Street, Broadway shifts direction and continues directly uptown and aligned approximately with the Commissioners' grid. Past the bend are the historic Apthorp apartment building, built in 1908, and the First Baptist Church in the City of New York, incorporated in New York in 1762, its current building on Broadway erected in 1891. The road heads north and passes historically important apartment houses such as the Belnord, the Astor Court Building, and the Art Nouveau Cornwall. + +At Broadway and 95th Street is Symphony Space, established in 1978 as home to avant-garde and classical music and dance performances in the former Symphony Theatre, which was originally built in 1918 as a premier "music and motion-picture house". At 99th Street, Broadway passes between the controversial skyscrapers of the Ariel East and West. + +At 107th Street, Broadway merges with West End Avenue, with the intersection forming Straus Park with its Titanic Memorial by Augustus Lukeman. + +Northern Manhattan and the Bronx + +Broadway then passes the campus of Columbia University at 116th Street in Morningside Heights, in part on the tract that housed the Bloomingdale Insane Asylum from 1808 until it moved to Westchester County in 1894. Still in Morningside Heights, Broadway passes the park-like campus of Barnard College. Next, the Gothic quadrangle of Union Theological Seminary, and the brick buildings of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America with their landscaped interior courtyards, face one another across Broadway. On the next block is the Manhattan School of Music. + +Broadway then runs past the Manhattanville campus of Columbia University, and the main campus of CUNY–City College near 135th Street; the Gothic buildings of the original City College campus are out of sight, a block to the east. Also to the east are the brownstones of Hamilton Heights. Hamilton Place is a surviving section of Bloomingdale Road, and originally the address of Alexander Hamilton's house, The Grange, which has been moved. + +Broadway achieves a verdant, park-like effect, particularly in the spring, when it runs between the uptown Trinity Church Cemetery and the former Trinity Chapel, now the Church of the Intercession near 155th Street. + +NewYork–Presbyterian Hospital lies on Broadway near 166th, 167th, and 168th Streets in Washington Heights. The intersection with St. Nicholas Avenue at 167th Street forms Mitchell Square Park. At 178th Street, US 9 becomes concurrent with Broadway. + +Broadway crosses the Harlem River on the Broadway Bridge to Marble Hill. Afterward, it then enters the Bronx, where it is the eastern border of Riverdale and the western border of Van Cortlandt Park. At 253rd Street, NY 9A joins with US 9 and Broadway. (NY 9A splits off Broadway at Ashburton Avenue in Yonkers.) + +Westchester County + +The northwestern corner of the park marks the New York City limit and Broadway enters Westchester County in Yonkers, where it is now known as South Broadway. It trends ever westward, closer to the Hudson River, remaining a busy urban commercial street. In downtown Yonkers, it drops close to the river, becomes North Broadway and 9A leaves via Ashburton Avenue. Broadway climbs to the nearby ridgetop runs parallel to the river and the railroad, a few blocks east of both as it passes St. John's Riverside Hospital. The neighborhoods become more residential and the road gently undulates along the ridgetop. In Yonkers, Broadway passes the historic Philipse Manor house, which dates back to colonial times. + +It remains Broadway as it leaves Yonkers for Hastings-on-Hudson, where it splits into separate north and south routes for . The trees become taller and the houses, many separated from the road by stone fences, become larger. Another National Historic Landmark, the John William Draper House, was the site of the first astrophotograph of the Moon. + +In the next village, Dobbs Ferry, Broadway has various views of the Hudson River while passing through the residential section. Broadway passes by the Old Croton Aqueduct and nearby the shopping district of the village. After intersecting with Ashford Avenue, Broadway passes Mercy College, then turns left again at the center of town just past South Presbyterian Church, headed for equally comfortable Ardsley-on-Hudson and Irvington. Villa Lewaro, the home of Madam C. J. Walker, the first African-American millionaire, is along the highway here. At the north end of the village of Irvington, a memorial to writer Washington Irving, after whom the village was renamed, marks the turnoff to his home at Sunnyside. Entering into the southern portion of Tarrytown, Broadway passes by historic Lyndhurst mansion, a massive mansion built along the Hudson River built in the early 1800s. + +North of here, at the Kraft Foods technical center, the Tappan Zee Bridge becomes visible. After crossing under the Thruway and I-87 again, here concurrent with I-287, and then intersecting with the four-lane NY 119, where 119 splits off to the east, Broadway becomes the busy main street of Tarrytown. Christ Episcopal Church, where Irving worshiped, is along the street. Many high-quality restaurants and shops are along this main road. This downtown ends at the eastern terminus of NY 448, where Broadway slopes off to the left, downhill, and four signs indicate that Broadway turns left, passing the Old Dutch Church of Sleepy Hollow, another NHL. The road then enters Sleepy Hollow (formerly North Tarrytown), passing the visitors' center for Kykuit, the National Historic Landmark that was (and partially still is) the Rockefeller family's estate. Broadway then passes the historic Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, which includes the resting place of Washington Irving and the setting for "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow". + +Broadway expands to four lanes at the trumpet intersection with NY 117, where it finally ends and U.S. 9 becomes Albany Post Road (and Highland Avenue) at the northern border of Sleepy Hollow, New York. + +Nicknamed sections + +Canyon of Heroes + +Canyon of Heroes is occasionally used to refer to the section of lower Broadway in the Financial District that is the location of the city's ticker-tape parades. The traditional route of the parade is northward from Bowling Green to City Hall Park. Most of the route is lined with tall office buildings along both sides, affording a view of the parade for thousands of office workers who create the snowstorm-like jettison of shredded paper products that characterize the parade. + +While typical sports championship parades have been showered with some 50 tons of confetti and shredded paper, the V-J Day parade on August 14–15, 1945 – marking the end of World War II – was covered with 5,438 tons of paper, based on estimates provided by the New York City Department of Sanitation. + +More than 200 black granite strips embedded in the sidewalks along the Canyon of Heroes list honorees of past ticker-tape parades. + +Great White Way + +"The Great White Way" is a nickname for a section of Broadway in Midtown Manhattan, specifically the portion that encompasses the Theater District, between 42nd and 53rd Streets, and encompassing Times Square. + +In 1880, a stretch of Broadway between Union Square and Madison Square was illuminated by Brush arc lamps, making it among the first electrically lighted streets in the United States. By the 1890s, the portion from 23rd Street to 34th Street was so brightly illuminated by electrical advertising signs, that people began calling it "The Great White Way". When the theater district moved uptown, the name was transferred to the Times Square area. + +The phrase "Great White Way" has been attributed to Shep Friedman, columnist for the New York Morning Telegraph in 1901, who lifted the term from the title of a book about the Arctic by Albert Paine. The headline "Found on the Great White Way" appeared in the February 3, 1902, edition of the New York Evening Telegram. + +A portrait of Broadway in the early part of the 20th century and "The Great White Way" late at night appeared in "Artist In Manhattan" (1940) written by the artist-historian Jerome Myers: + +Transportation + +From south to north, Broadway at one point or another runs over or under various New York City Subway lines, including the IRT Lexington Avenue Line, the BMT Broadway Line, IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line, and IND Eighth Avenue Line (the IND Sixth Avenue Line is the only north–south trunk line in Manhattan that does not run along Broadway). + The IRT Lexington Avenue Line runs under Broadway from Bowling Green to Fulton Street (). + The BMT Broadway Line runs under it from City Hall to Times Square–42nd Street (). + The IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line runs under and over Broadway from Times Square to 168th Street (), and again from 218th Street to its terminal in the Bronx at Van Cortlandt Park–242nd Street (). + The northern portion of the IND Eighth Avenue Line runs under Broadway from Dyckman Street to Inwood–207th Street (). + +Early street railways on Broadway included the Broadway and Seventh Avenue Railroad's Broadway and University Place Line (1864?) between Union Square (14th Street) and Times Square (42nd Street), the Ninth Avenue Railroad's Ninth and Amsterdam Avenues Line (1884) between 65th Street and 71st Street, the Forty-second Street, Manhattanville and St. Nicholas Avenue Railway's Broadway Branch Line (1885?) between Times Square and 125th Street, and the Kingsbridge Railway's Kingsbridge Line north of 169th Street. The Broadway Surface Railroad's Broadway Line, a cable car line, opened on lower Broadway (below Times Square) in 1893, and soon became the core of the Metropolitan Street Railway, with two cable branches: the Broadway and Lexington Avenue Line and Broadway and Columbus Avenue Line. + +These streetcar lines were replaced with bus routes in the 1930s and 1940s. Before Broadway became one-way, the main bus routes along it were the New York City Omnibus Company's (NYCO) 6 (Broadway below Times Square), 7 (Broadway and Columbus Avenue), and 11 (Ninth and Amsterdam Avenues), and the Surface Transportation Corporation's M100 (Kingsbridge) and M104 (Broadway Branch). Additionally, the Fifth Avenue Coach Company's (FACCo) 4 and 5 used Broadway from 135th Street north to Washington Heights, and their 5 and 6 used Broadway between 57th Street and 72nd Street. With the implementation of one-way traffic, the northbound 6 and 7 were moved to Sixth Avenue. + +, Broadway is served by the M4 (ex-FACCo 4), M7 (ex-NYCO 7), M55, M100, and M104. Other routes that use part of Broadway include the M5 (ex-FACCo 5), M10, M20, M60 Select Bus Service, Bx7, Bx9, and Bx20. + +Bee-Line buses also serves Broadway within Riverdale and Westchester County. Routes 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 13, and several others run on a portion of Broadway. + +Notable buildings + +Broadway is lined with many famous and otherwise noted and historic buildings, such as: + 2 Broadway + 280 Broadway (also known as the Marble Palace, the A.T. Stewart Company Store, or The Sun Building) + Alexander Hamilton U.S. Custom House (1 Bowling Green, between the two legs of the southern end of Broadway) + American Surety Building (100 Broadway) + Ansonia Hotel (2109 Broadway) + Bowling Green Fence and Park (between 25 and 26 Broadway) + Bowling Green Offices Building (11 Broadway) + Brill Building (1619 Broadway) + Corbin Building (196 Broadway) + Cunard Building (25 Broadway) + Dyckman House (4881 Broadway) + Equitable Building (120 Broadway) + Flatiron Building (Fifth Avenue and Broadway at 23rd Street) + Gilsey House (1200 Broadway) + Gorham Manufacturing Company Building (889-91 Broadway) + Home Life Building (253, 256 Broadway) + International Mercantile Marine Company Building (1 Broadway) + Morgan Stanley Building (1585 Broadway) + One Times Square (1475 Broadway) + Paramount Building (1501 Broadway) + Standard Oil Building (26 Broadway) + Trinity Church (79 Broadway) + Union Theological Seminary (3041 Broadway) + United Palace (4140 Broadway) + United States Lines-Panama Pacific Lines Building (1 Broadway) + Winter Garden Theatre (1634 Broadway) + Woolworth Building (233 Broadway) + +Historic buildings on Broadway that are now demolished include: + Appleton Building + Alexander Macomb House + Barnum's American Museum + Equitable Life Building + Grand Central Hotel (673 Broadway) + Mechanics' Hall + Metropolitan Opera House, from 1883 to 1966, between 39th and 40th Streets + Singer Tower (Liberty Street and Broadway) + St. Nicholas Hotel + +References +Notes + +Citations + +Bibliography + +External links + + Great White Way; historical citations from etymologist Barry Popik + New York Songlines: Broadway; a virtual walking tour of the street + Green Light for Midtown; New York City Department of Transportation pilot program for Broadway traffic + Walking the length of Broadway + + + +Harlem +Inwood, Manhattan +Lower Manhattan +Midtown Manhattan +Morningside Heights, Manhattan +Riverdale, Bronx +Streets in Manhattan +Streets in the Bronx +U.S. Route 9 +Union Square, Manhattan +Upper West Side +Washington Heights, Manhattan +The bilinear transform (also known as Tustin's method, after Arnold Tustin) is used in digital signal processing and discrete-time control theory to transform continuous-time system representations to discrete-time and vice versa. + +The bilinear transform is a special case of a conformal mapping (namely, a Möbius transformation), often used to convert a transfer function of a linear, time-invariant (LTI) filter in the continuous-time domain (often called an analog filter) to a transfer function of a linear, shift-invariant filter in the discrete-time domain (often called a digital filter although there are analog filters constructed with switched capacitors that are discrete-time filters). It maps positions on the axis, , in the s-plane to the unit circle, , in the z-plane. Other bilinear transforms can be used to warp the frequency response of any discrete-time linear system (for example to approximate the non-linear frequency resolution of the human auditory system) and are implementable in the discrete domain by replacing a system's unit delays with first order all-pass filters. + +The transform preserves stability and maps every point of the frequency response of the continuous-time filter, to a corresponding point in the frequency response of the discrete-time filter, although to a somewhat different frequency, as shown in the Frequency warping section below. This means that for every feature that one sees in the frequency response of the analog filter, there is a corresponding feature, with identical gain and phase shift, in the frequency response of the digital filter but, perhaps, at a somewhat different frequency. This is barely noticeable at low frequencies but is quite evident at frequencies close to the Nyquist frequency. + +Discrete-time approximation +The bilinear transform is a first-order Padé approximant of the natural logarithm function that is an exact mapping of the z-plane to the s-plane. When the Laplace transform is performed on a discrete-time signal (with each element of the discrete-time sequence attached to a correspondingly delayed unit impulse), the result is precisely the Z transform of the discrete-time sequence with the substitution of + +where is the numerical integration step size of the trapezoidal rule used in the bilinear transform derivation; or, in other words, the sampling period. The above bilinear approximation can be solved for or a similar approximation for can be performed. + +The inverse of this mapping (and its first-order bilinear approximation) is + +The bilinear transform essentially uses this first order approximation and substitutes into the continuous-time transfer function, + +That is + +Stability and minimum-phase property preserved +A continuous-time causal filter is stable if the poles of its transfer function fall in the left half of the complex s-plane. A discrete-time causal filter is stable if the poles of its transfer function fall inside the unit circle in the complex z-plane. The bilinear transform maps the left half of the complex s-plane to the interior of the unit circle in the z-plane. Thus, filters designed in the continuous-time domain that are stable are converted to filters in the discrete-time domain that preserve that stability. + +Likewise, a continuous-time filter is minimum-phase if the zeros of its transfer function fall in the left half of the complex s-plane. A discrete-time filter is minimum-phase if the zeros of its transfer function fall inside the unit circle in the complex z-plane. Then the same mapping property assures that continuous-time filters that are minimum-phase are converted to discrete-time filters that preserve that property of being minimum-phase. + +Transformation of a General LTI System +A general LTI system has the transfer function + +The order of the transfer function is the greater of and (in practice this is most likely as the transfer function must be proper for the system to be stable). Applying the bilinear transform + +where is defined as either or otherwise if using frequency warping, gives + +Multiplying the numerator and denominator by the largest power of present, , gives + +It can be seen here that after the transformation, the degree of the numerator and denominator are both . + +Consider then the pole-zero form of the continuous-time transfer function + +The roots of the numerator and denominator polynomials, and , are the zeros and poles of the system. The bilinear transform is a one-to-one mapping, hence these can be transformed to the z-domain using + +yielding some of the discretized transfer function's zeros and poles and + +As described above, the degree of the numerator and denominator are now both , in other words there is now an equal number of zeros and poles. The multiplication by means the additional zeros or poles are + +Given the full set of zeros and poles, the z-domain transfer function is then + +Example +As an example take a simple low-pass RC filter. This continuous-time filter has a transfer function + +If we wish to implement this filter as a digital filter, we can apply the bilinear transform by substituting for the formula above; after some reworking, we get the following filter representation: + +{| +|- +| +| +|- +| +| +|- +| +| +|- +| +| +|} + +The coefficients of the denominator are the 'feed-backward' coefficients and the coefficients of the numerator are the 'feed-forward' coefficients used to implement a real-time digital filter. + +Transformation for a general first-order continuous-time filter +It is possible to relate the coefficients of a continuous-time, analog filter with those of a similar discrete-time digital filter created through the bilinear transform process. Transforming a general, first-order continuous-time filter with the given transfer function + +using the bilinear transform (without prewarping any frequency specification) requires the substitution of + +where + +. + +However, if the frequency warping compensation as described below is used in the bilinear transform, so that both analog and digital filter gain and phase agree at frequency , then + +. + +This results in a discrete-time digital filter with coefficients expressed in terms of the coefficients of the original continuous time filter: + +Normally the constant term in the denominator must be normalized to 1 before deriving the corresponding difference equation. This results in + +The difference equation (using the Direct form I) is + +General second-order biquad transformation +A similar process can be used for a general second-order filter with the given transfer function + +This results in a discrete-time digital biquad filter with coefficients expressed in terms of the coefficients of the original continuous time filter: + +Again, the constant term in the denominator is generally normalized to 1 before deriving the corresponding difference equation. This results in + +The difference equation (using the Direct form I) is + +Frequency warping +To determine the frequency response of a continuous-time filter, the transfer function is evaluated at which is on the axis. Likewise, to determine the frequency response of a discrete-time filter, the transfer function is evaluated at which is on the unit circle, . The bilinear transform maps the axis of the s-plane (of which is the domain of ) to the unit circle of the z-plane, (which is the domain of ), but it is not the same mapping which also maps the axis to the unit circle. When the actual frequency of is input to the discrete-time filter designed by use of the bilinear transform, then it is desired to know at what frequency, , for the continuous-time filter that this is mapped to. + +{| +|- +| +| +|- +| +| +|- +| +| +|- +| +| +|- +| +| +|- +| +| +|} + +This shows that every point on the unit circle in the discrete-time filter z-plane, is mapped to a point on the axis on the continuous-time filter s-plane, . That is, the discrete-time to continuous-time frequency mapping of the bilinear transform is + +and the inverse mapping is + +The discrete-time filter behaves at frequency the same way that the continuous-time filter behaves at frequency . Specifically, the gain and phase shift that the discrete-time filter has at frequency is the same gain and phase shift that the continuous-time filter has at frequency . This means that every feature, every "bump" that is visible in the frequency response of the continuous-time filter is also visible in the discrete-time filter, but at a different frequency. For low frequencies (that is, when or ), then the features are mapped to a slightly different frequency; . + +One can see that the entire continuous frequency range + + + +is mapped onto the fundamental frequency interval + + + +The continuous-time filter frequency corresponds to the discrete-time filter frequency and the continuous-time filter frequency correspond to the discrete-time filter frequency + +One can also see that there is a nonlinear relationship between and This effect of the bilinear transform is called frequency warping. The continuous-time filter can be designed to compensate for this frequency warping by setting for every frequency specification that the designer has control over (such as corner frequency or center frequency). This is called pre-warping the filter design. + +It is possible, however, to compensate for the frequency warping by pre-warping a frequency specification (usually a resonant frequency or the frequency of the most significant feature of the frequency response) of the continuous-time system. These pre-warped specifications may then be used in the bilinear transform to obtain the desired discrete-time system. When designing a digital filter as an approximation of a continuous time filter, the frequency response (both amplitude and phase) of the digital filter can be made to match the frequency response of the continuous filter at a specified frequency , as well as matching at DC, if the following transform is substituted into the continuous filter transfer function. This is a modified version of Tustin's transform shown above. + +However, note that this transform becomes the original transform + +as . + +The main advantage of the warping phenomenon is the absence of aliasing distortion of the frequency response characteristic, such as observed with Impulse invariance. + +See also + Impulse invariance + Matched Z-transform method + +References + +External links + MIT OpenCourseWare Signal Processing: Continuous to Discrete Filter Design + Lecture Notes on Discrete Equivalents + The Art of VA Filter Design + +Digital signal processing +Transforms +Control theory +Brian Anthony Boitano (born October 22, 1963) is an American figure skater from Sunnyvale, California. He is the 1988 Olympic champion, the 1986 and 1988 World Champion, and the 1985–1988 U.S. National Champion. + +He turned professional following the 1988 season. Under new rules by the ISU, he returned to competition in 1993 and competed at the 1994 Winter Olympics, where he placed sixth. In 1996, he was inducted into the World Figure Skating Hall of Fame and the United States Figure Skating Hall of Fame. + +Early life +Brian Boitano was born in 1963 and raised in Mountain View, California. Boitano is a graduate of Marian A. Peterson High School in Sunnyvale, California. He is of Italian American descent, with family from northern Italy. As an adult, he has lived in San Francisco. + +Figure skating career + +Early career +Beginning skating as a child, Brian Boitano first made his mark on the international scene when he won the bronze medal at the 1978 World Junior Figure Skating Championships, beating future rival Brian Orser for that medal. + +Early in his career, Boitano was known primarily for his jumping. He, along with several other skaters, helped push the technical envelope of men's skating. In 1982, Boitano became the first American to land a triple Axel. In 1987, he introduced his signature jump, the 'Boitano triple Lutz', in which the skater raises his left arm above his head. He attempted a quadruple jump throughout the 1986–87 season and at the 1988 World Figure Skating Championships, but did not cleanly land the jump; he double-footed the landing on two occasions. + +At the 1983 World Championships, he became the first skater to ever land all six triple jumps in competition. He would eventually include and successfully land eight triple jumps in his free skate program, the maximum number possible (see Zayak rule). He would jump two flip jumps and two triple Axels to compete with his rival, Brian Orser, who jumped one triple flip and one triple Axel. It was not until failing to defend his World title in 1987 that Boitano focused specifically on improving his artistry. Toward this end, he worked with renowned choreographer Sandra Bezic. + +Boitano placed second at the 1984 United States Figure Skating Championships, earning a place in the 1984 Winter Olympics. He placed 5th at the Olympics, setting the stage for his success over the next four years. + +World Champion +Following the 1984 Olympics, several skaters emerged as likely medal hopes following the retirement of Scott Hamilton. + +Boitano won the 1985 United States Figure Skating Championships, the first of his four titles. At the first World Championships of the post-Hamilton era in 1985, Alexander Fadeev won, with Brian Orser finishing 2nd and Boitano 3rd. He had injured tendons in his right ankle a few weeks before the 1986 U.S. Championships but went on to win his second national title. At the 1986 World Championships, Boitano took the title, while Fadeev had a disastrous free skate despite having been in an excellent position to win; Orser finished 2nd once again. + +During the 1986–87 season, Boitano had introduced three new elements to his programs: the 'Tano triple lutz and a quadruple toe loop, as well as wearing a blindfold, although he never succeeded in landing a clean quadruple jump in competition. The 1987 World Championships were held in Cincinnati, giving defending World champion Boitano a home-field advantage. The outcome of the event would set the tone for the 1988 Olympics. At Worlds, Boitano fell on his quadruple toe loop attempt and placed second. + +After losing the world title to Orser at home, Boitano and his coach Linda Leaver decided that some changes needed to be made if Boitano was to become the Olympic champion. Boitano had always been good at the technical requirements ("The first mark"), but he was weak on the artistic ("the second mark"). He was a self-described "jumping robot." In order to help his growth as an artist, he hired choreographer Sandra Bezic to choreograph his programs for the 1987–1988 Olympic season. + +Bezic choreographed two programs that featured clean lines and accentuated the skating abilities of the 5' 11" Boitano. The short program was based on Giacomo Meyerbeer's ballet Les Patineurs, in which Boitano plays a cocky young man showing off his tricks, using movements dating to the 19th century. In one famous moment, Boitano wipes ice shavings, also called snow, off his skate blade and tosses it over his shoulder after landing a triple Axel combination. The free skating program was based on the film score, Napoleon, detailing various phases of a soldier's life. + +Boitano debuted his new programs at 1987 Skate Canada, held in the Saddledome in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. This was the same venue in which he would compete against Brian Orser for the Olympic title three months later. Boitano's new programs were received with standing ovations by the audience. Although Orser won the competition, Boitano skated clean, landing seven triple jumps, including a footwork section into a jump. He did, however, pop his planned second triple Axel. Boitano, Leaver, and Bezic were so confident about the strength of Boitano's new programs that they omitted the quadruple toe loop, which if landed, could have put him a shoulder above Orser in technical merit. + +The short program at the 1988 United States Figure Skating Championships proved to be a highlight. Boitano received marks of 6.0 from eight of the nine judges for presentation, the second mark. His free skate was flawed. Due to delays, he did not skate until after midnight. Still, Boitano won the competition, and went into the Olympics as the national champion (U.S.), as did Orser (representing Canada). + +1988 Olympics: Battle of the Brians + +Going into the Olympics, Boitano and Brian Orser each had won a world title and each had an excellent, balanced repertoire. Boitano was known as the slightly better technician and Orser as the better artist. + + Adding to the rivalry, Boitano and Orser were both performing military-themed programs. Boitano's free skate was set to music from Napoleon and Josephine, the television miniseries. For his free skate, Boitano wore a blue stretch suit with red braids and epaulets, and used military gestures and postures as much as his music allowed. + +The Battle of the Brians at the 1988 Winter Olympics was the highlight of Boitano's amateur career. Boitano and Orser were effectively tied going into the free skating portion of the event and whoever won that portion would win the event. Alexander Fadeev had won the compulsory figures section of the competition, with Boitano second and Orser third. In the short program, Orser placed first and Boitano second. The free skating was, at the time, worth 50% of the score, and so Boitano's lead would not be enough to hold him in first place if he lost the free skate. + +Boitano skated a clean, technically excellent long program, with eight triple jumps, including two axels, and a triple flip-triple toe loop combination. Landing his second triple axel jump cleanly was probably a critical factor in the battle. Orser made one small mistake on a jump and omitted his planned second triple axel. Boitano won the battle in a 5–4 split. It was later discovered that the Canadian Figure Skating Association had engaged in "vote trading" with several countries on the judging panel, particularly East Germany and the USSR. This ultimately backfired, as the Soviet judge refused to follow this agreement and voting "with his conscience," placing Boitano first. Had he followed his federation's directive, Boitano would have lost the gold medal. The judge was promptly suspended by his federation. Experts questioned why the scores were so close between the two skaters because Boitano had 2 triple axels, 2 triple flips and a triple triple combination, elements that were not included in Orser's program. + +With his win, Boitano became the first Olympic champion to land the full complement of six types of triple jumps. Boitano won the gold medal, wearing skates with American flag appliqués. These are now part of the collections of the National Museum of American History at the Smithsonian Institution. + +Following the Olympics, both Orser and Boitano went to the World Championships, which Boitano won. Boitano turned professional soon after. + +Professional career and return to amateur standing +Following the Olympics, Boitano went on to dominate competitions in the professional ranks, winning 10 straight professional competitions, including 5 consecutive World Professional Championship titles and 4 consecutive wins at the Challenge of Champions. Boitano also appeared in Carmen on Ice, for which he won an Emmy. However, Boitano wanted to return to amateur competition and make another run at the Olympics. + +In June 1993, the International Skating Union (ISU) introduced a clause, commonly known as the "Boitano rule," which allowed professionals to reinstate as "amateur" or "eligible" skaters. Many others joined Boitano, including Ukrainian Viktor Petrenko, 1988 bronze medalist and 1992 gold medalist. The ISU decision was the result of Boitano's active involvement during the early 1990s, when the International Olympic Committee lifted the remaining limits on athletes' remuneration. Previously, the Committee had been accused of rejecting Western professionals, while allowing Eastern Bloc state-sponsored "amateurs" to compete. Boitano reinstated as an amateur to compete in the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway. + +Boitano competed at the 1994 United States Figure Skating Championships, led after the short program, but lost to Scott Davis in the long program in a 6–3 split decision. Boitano was named to the Olympic team. Going into the Olympics as a medal favorite in a strong field, Boitano missed his triple Axel combination during the short program for the first time in his career. This mistake proved extremely costly, and knocked Boitano out of medal contention. He skated a good long program and finished 6th. + +Boitano returned to the professional ranks afterward. In 1996 he was inducted into the World Figure Skating Hall of Fame and the United States Figure Skating Hall of Fame. + +Personal life +In December 2013, Boitano was named to the United States delegation to the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. In conjunction with that appointment, Boitano publicly came out as gay. + +The Sochi games and Russia were the targets of criticism and LGBT activism because of a Russian anti-gay "propaganda" law passed in June 2013. In January 2014, Boitano told the Associated Press that he had never wanted to come out until he was named to the delegation. + +Boitano's older brother, Mark Boitano, is a real estate agent and former politician. He served as a member of the New Mexico Senate from 1997 to 2013. + +Celebrity and popular culture career + +South Park song + +A caricature of Boitano as a superhero appears as a semi-recurring character in the cartoon series South Park. The film South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut (1999) features a musical number titled "What Would Brian Boitano Do?". He was also featured in Jesus vs. Santa. + +Food Network show +On August 23, 2009, Food Network debuted a new series entitled What Would Brian Boitano Make?, which borrows both its name and opening musical theme from the South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut song. The show features Boitano preparing meals for his friends. The series was picked up for a ten-episode second season. + +Other television and film appearances + Boitano starred, along with Katarina Witt and archrival Brian Orser, in the 1990 German dance film Carmen on Ice; Boitano played Don Jose. All three won an Emmy Award for "Outstanding performance in classical music/dance programming". + He was featured in the Super Bowl XXVI halftime show "Winter Magic", along with Gloria Estefan and Dorothy Hamill. + Boitano had a cameo in the 2007 film Blades of Glory as a world skating federation judge. + He and fellow figure skater Michelle Kwan had a cameo as themselves in the 2005 Disney film, Ice Princess, appearing as commentators during the Sectionals competition. + He appeared on Giada at Home for one episode. + He appeared as a guest judge on Top Chef Masters, Season 4 episode 3. The episode is titled "What would Brian Boitano Make?" + He appeared on Fox Business Network's Stossel, episode "Spontaneous Order" (February 10, 2011). + He appeared in an episode of Check, Please! Bay Area, a restaurant review program which airs on KQED-TV in San Francisco. +He hosted a series on HGTV, called The Brian Boitano Project, which premiered January 16, 2014, in which he purchased a near derelict ancestral home in Northern Italy, home to many Boitanos. During the series he gives the home in Favale di Malvaro a sympathetic restoration/renovation and shops flea markets with two nieces to find decor and furnishings. Local artisans, carpenters, masons and painters create a gem where he can live part-time and host Boitanos from afar. +Boitano appeared as a guest on Season 18 of the reality series Hell's Kitchen, where he along with Gordon Ramsay and Traci Des Jardins co-judged the team challenge in the episode "Hell Freezes Over". + +Programs + +Results + +References + +Further reading + + +Beisteiner, Johanna: Art music in figure skating, synchronized swimming and rhythmic gymnastics / Kunstmusik in Eiskunstlauf, Synchronschwimmen und rhythmischer Gymnastik. PhD thesis by Johanna Beisteiner, Vienna 2005, (German). The PhD thesis contains an extensive description and analysis of Carmen on Ice (Chapter II/2, pages 105–162). Article about the PhD thesis of Johanna Beisteiner in the catalogue of the Austrian Library Network. 2005. (German and English) + +Bibliography + +External links + + + + + Brian Boitano's Gold-Medal Skates at the National Museum of American History + +1963 births +American male single skaters +American male writers +American writers of Italian descent +Figure skaters at the 1984 Winter Olympics +Figure skaters at the 1988 Winter Olympics +Figure skaters at the 1994 Winter Olympics +Figure skating commentators +Food Network chefs +Gay sportsmen +LGBT figure skaters +LGBT people from the San Francisco Bay Area +American LGBT sportspeople +Living people +Olympic figure skaters for the United States +Olympic gold medalists for the United States in figure skating +Sportspeople from Mountain View, California +World Figure Skating Championships medalists +World Junior Figure Skating Championships medalists +Medalists at the 1988 Winter Olympics +21st-century American LGBT people +This is a list of political scandals in the United Kingdom in chronological order. Scandals implicating political figures or governments of the UK, often reported in the mass media, have long had repercussions for their popularity. Issues in political scandals have included alleged or proven financial and sexual matters, or various other allegations or actions taken by politicians that led to controversy. In British media and political discourse, such scandals have sometimes been referred to as political sleaze since the 1990s. Notable scandals include the Marconi scandal, Profumo affair and the 2009 expenses scandal. + +1890s +Liberator Building Society scandal, in which the Liberal Party MP Jabez Balfour was exposed as running several fraudulent companies to conceal financial losses. Balfour fled to Argentina, but was eventually arrested and imprisoned. + +1910s + Marconi scandal of insider trading by Liberal Party Ministers including: + Rufus Isaacs, 1st Marquess of Reading, the Attorney General + The Master of Elibank, Lord Murray, the Treasurer of the Liberal Party, + David Lloyd George, 1st Earl Lloyd-George of Dwyfor, the Chancellor of the Exchequer +Herbert Samuel, 1st Viscount Samuel, Postmaster General; was falsely implicated. (1912) +Shell Crisis of 1915, which led to the fall of H. H. Asquith's Liberal Party government during World War I. + +1920s +Lloyd George and the honours scandal. Honours sold for large campaign contributions (1922) + Zinoviev Letter (1924) + +1930s + Jimmy Thomas budget leak (1936) + +1940s + Hugh Dalton budget leak (1947) + John Belcher corruptly influenced – led to Lynskey Tribunal + +1950s + Crichel Down and the resignation of Thomas Dugdale (1954) + Suez Crisis (1956) + +1960s + Vassall affair (1963): civil servant John Vassall, working for Minister Tam Galbraith, was revealed to be a spy for the Soviet Union and was arrested. The affair was investigated in the Vassall tribunal. + Profumo affair (1963): Secretary of State for War John Profumo had an affair with Christine Keeler (to whom he had been introduced by artist Stephen Ward) who was having an affair with a Soviet spy at the same time. + The Robert Boothby (Tory), Tom Driberg (Labour), Kray brothers affair and consequent cover-up involving senior politicians of both parties. The Daily Mirror published some details of the matter and was falsely sued for libel. + +1970s + Corrupt architect John Poulson and links to Conservative Home Secretary Reginald Maudling, Labour council leader T. Dan Smith and others (1972–1974): Maudling resigned, Smith sentenced to imprisonment. + Earl Jellicoe and Lord Lambton sex scandal (1973): Conservatives, junior defence minister Lambton is arrested for using prostitutes and Cabinet minister Jellicoe also confesses. + Labour MP John Stonehouse's faked suicide (1974) + Harold Wilson's Prime Minister's Resignation Honours (known satirically as the "Lavender List") gives honours to a number of wealthy businessmen whose principles were considered antipathetic to those held by the Labour Party (May 1976) + Peter Jay's appointment as British Ambassador to the US by his father in law, the then Labour Prime Minister James Callaghan. At the time Jay was a journalist with little diplomatic experience. (1976) +"Rinkagate": the Thorpe affair. Liberal Party leader Jeremy Thorpe was arrested and tried for allegedly paying a hitman to murder his lover, model Norman Scott, while walking his dog on Exmoor; the hitman only shot the dog, Rinka. Thorpe was forced to resign due to his clandestine gay affairs, but was acquitted of conspiracy to murder. + +1980s + Joseph Kagan, Baron Kagan, earlier ennobled by the Labour Prime Minister Harold Wilson's notorious Lavender List (1976), was convicted of fraud (1980) + Cecil Parkinson affair with secretary Sara Keays resulting in their child, Flora Keays (1983) + Al Yamamah contract alleged to have been obtained by bribery (1985) + Westland affair (1986): The Defence Secretary, Michael Heseltine resigned from his Cabinet job in a disagreement with Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher over the Westland affair. Heseltine walked out of a meeting at Number 10 as his views on the future of the Westland helicopter company were being ignored at the time. + Jeffrey Archer and the prostitute allegations (1986), and his subsequent conviction for perjury (2001) +Westminster cemeteries scandal (1987) + Edwina Currie resigns as a junior Health minister after claiming that millions of British eggs were infected with salmonella, stating that "most of [British] egg production" was infected (1988) + "Homes for votes" gerrymandering scandal (1987–1989) + +1990s + Arms-to-Iraq and the closely connected Iraqi Supergun affair (1990) + David Mellor resignation after press disclosure of his affair with Antonia de Sancha and gratis holiday from a daughter of a PLO official (1992) + Michael Mates gift of a watch ("Don't let the bastards grind you down") to Asil Nadir (1993) + Monklandsgate dominated the 1994 Monklands East by-election. It mainly consisted of allegations of sectarian spending discrepancies between Protestant Airdrie and Catholic Coatbridge, fuelled by the fact that all 17 of the ruling Labour group were Roman Catholics. (1994) + Back to Basics, a government policy slogan portrayed by opponents and the press as a morality campaign to compare it with a contemporaneous succession of sex scandals in John Major's government which led to the resignation of Tim Yeo and the Earl of Caithness, among others (1994) + Cash-for-questions affair involving Neil Hamilton, Tim Smith and Mohamed Al-Fayed (1994) + Jonathan Aitken and the Paris Ritz Hotel bill allegations, and his subsequent conviction for perjury after his failed libel action against The Guardian, resulting in Aitken being only the third person to have to resign from the Privy Council in the 20th century. (1995) + Conservative MP Jerry Hayes was "outed" as a homosexual by the News of the World with the headline "TORY MP 2-TIMED WIFE WITH UNDER-AGE GAY LOVER". Hayes had met Young Conservative Paul Stone at the 1991 Conservative conference and that same evening, "committed a lewd act which was in breach of the law at the time". Stone had been 18 at the time, whilst the legal age for homosexual sex in 1991 was 21. He had previously supported Section 28 and other anti-gay legislation. (1997) + Bernie Ecclestone was involved in a political scandal when it transpired he had given the Labour Party a million pound donation – which raised eyebrows when the incoming Labour government changed its policy to allow Formula One to continue being sponsored by tobacco manufacturers. The Labour Party returned the donation when the scandal came to light. (1997) +Peter Mandelson, Trade and Industry Secretary, resigned after failing to disclose £373,000 loan from Paymaster General Geoffrey Robinson. (1998) + Ron Davies resigned from the cabinet after being robbed by a man he met at Clapham Common (a well-known gay cruising ground) and then lying about it (1998) + +2000s + Officegate (2001). Henry McLeish, Labour First Minister of Scotland, failed to refund the House of Commons for income he had received from the sub-let of his constituency office in Glenrothes while still a Westminster MP. + Keith Vaz, Peter Mandelson and the Hinduja brothers. Mandelson forced to resign for a second time due to misleading statements. (2001) + Jo Moore, within an hour of the September 11 attacks, sent an email to the press office of her department suggesting: "It's now a very good day to get out anything we want to bury. Councillors' expenses?" Although prior to the catastrophic collapse of the towers, the phrase "a good day to bury bad news" (not actually used by Moore) has since been used to refer to other instances of attempting to hide one item of news behind a more publicised issue. +Betsygate (2002), which revolved around the level of pay that Iain Duncan Smith's wife Elisabeth received as his diary secretary. + In 2002, Edwina Currie revealed that she had had an affair, beginning in 1984, with John Major before he became Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. This was criticised as Major had frequently pushed his Back To Basics agenda (see above), which was taken by the media as a form of moral absolutism. + The Burrell affair – allegations about the behaviour of the British royal family and their servants with possible constitutional implications. (2002) + Ron Davies stood down from the Welsh assembly following accusations of illicit gay sex. Davies had claimed he had been badger-watching in the area. (2003) + The apparent suicide of Dr. David Kelly and the Hutton Inquiry. On 17 July 2003, Kelly, an employee of the Ministry of Defence, apparently committed suicide after being misquoted by BBC journalist Andrew Gilligan as saying that Tony Blair's Labour government had knowingly "sexed up" the "September Dossier", a report into Iraq and weapons of mass destruction. The government was cleared of wrongdoing, while the BBC was strongly criticised by the subsequent inquiry, leading to the resignation of the BBC's chairman and director-general. +In April 2004, Beverly Hughes was forced to resign as minister for Immigration, Citizenship and Counter Terrorism when it was shown that she had been informed of procedural improprieties concerning the granting of visas to certain categories of workers from Eastern Europe. She had earlier told the House of Commons that if she had been aware of such facts she would have done something about it. +In 2005, David McLetchie, leader of the Scottish Conservatives, was forced to resign after claiming the highest taxi expenses of any MSP. These included personal journeys, journeys related solely with his second job as a solicitor, and Conservative Party business, for example travel to Conservative conferences. Conservative backbench MSP Brian Monteith had the whip withdrawn for briefing against his leader to the Scotland on Sunday newspaper. +Liberal Democrats Home Affairs spokesman Mark Oaten resigned after it was revealed by the News of the World that he paid rentboys to perform sexual acts on him. +David Mills financial allegations (2006). Tessa Jowell, Labour cabinet minister, was embroiled in a scandal about a property remortgage allegedly arranged to enable her husband, David Mills, to realise £350,000 from an off-shore hedge fund, money he allegedly received as a gift following testimony he had provided for Silvio Berlusconi in the 1990s. Nicknamed by the press as "Jowellgate". +Cash for Honours (2006). In March 2006 it emerged that the Labour Party had borrowed millions of pounds in 2005 to help fund their general election campaign. While not illegal, on 15 March the Treasurer of the party, Jack Dromey stated publicly that he had neither knowledge of nor involvement in these loans and had only become aware when he read about it in the newspapers. A story was running at the time that Dr Chai Patel and others had been recommended for life peerages after lending the Labour party money. He called on the Electoral Commission to investigate the issue of political parties taking out loans from non-commercial sources. + Following revelations about Dr Chai Patel and others who were recommended for peerages after lending the Labour party money, the Treasurer of the party, Jack Dromey said he had not been involved and did not know the party had secretly borrowed millions of pounds in 2005. He called on the Electoral Commission to investigate the issue of political parties taking out loans from non-commercial sources. + Angus McNeil (2007). The married SNP MP who made the initial police complaint over the cash for honours scandal was forced to make an apology after it was revealed that in 2005 he had a "heavy petting" session with two teenage girls aged 17 and 18 in a hotel room at the same time his wife was pregnant with their third child. +News of the World royal phone hacking scandal + In November 2007, it emerged that more than £400,000 had been accepted by the Labour Party from one person through a series of third parties, causing the Electoral Commission to seek an explanation. Peter Watt resigned as the General Secretary of the party the day after the story broke and was quoted as saying that he knew about the arrangement but had not appreciated that he had failed to comply with the reporting requirements. +On 24 January 2008, Peter Hain resigned his two cabinet posts (Secretary of State for Work and Pensions and Secretary of State for Wales) after the Electoral Commission referred donations to his Deputy Leadership campaign to the police. +Derek Conway (2008). The Conservative Party MP was found to have reclaimed salaries he had paid to his two sons who had in fact not carried out the work to the extent claimed. He was ordered to repay £16,918, suspended from the House of Commons for 10 days and removed from the party whip. +Cash for Influence (2009). Details of covertly recorded discussions with four Labour Party peers which their ability to influence legislation and the consultancy fees that they charged (including retainer payments of up to £120,000) were published by The Sunday Times. +United Kingdom parliamentary expenses scandal (2009). Widespread actual and alleged misuse of the permitted allowances and expenses claimed by Members of Parliament and attempts by MPs and peers to exempt themselves from Freedom of Information legislation. + +2010s + +2010 + The Iris Robinson scandal in which First Minister of Northern Ireland Peter Robinson stepped aside for six weeks in January 2010 following revelations of his wife's involvement in an extramarital affair, her attempted suicide, and allegations that he had failed to properly declare details of loans she had procured for her lover to develop a business venture. + Red Sky scandal, involving contracts given to company Red Sky by the Northern Ireland Housing Executive. + The 2010 cash for influence scandal, in which undercover reporters for the Dispatches television series posed as political lobbyists offering to pay Members of Parliament to influence policy. + On 29 May 2010 Chief Secretary to the Treasury David Laws resigned from the Cabinet and was referred to the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards after The Daily Telegraph newspaper published details of Laws claiming around £40,000 in expenses on a second home owned by a secret partner between 2004 and 2009, whilst House of Commons rules have prevented MPs from claiming second home expenses on properties owned by a partner since 2006. By resigning Laws became the shortest serving Minister in modern British political history with less than 18 days' service as a Cabinet Minister. + +2011 + On 14 October 2011 Secretary of State for Defence Liam Fox resigned from the Cabinet after he "mistakenly allowed the distinction between [his] personal interest and [his] government activities to become blurred" over his friendship with Adam Werritty. (He again served as a cabinet minister under Theresa May.) +News International phone hacking scandal + The Ed Balls document leak was exposed by the Daily Telegraph and showed that shadow chancellor Ed Balls was involved in a supposed plot known as 'Project Volvo' to oust Tony Blair as leader and replace him with Gordon Brown shortly after the 2005 election. + +2012 +Conservative Party 'cash for access' scandal involving Peter Cruddas and Sarah Southern, March 2012. +In February 2012 Liberal Democrat MP Chris Huhne resigned from the Cabinet when he was charged with perverting the course of justice over a 2003 speeding case. His wife Vicky Pryce had claimed that she was driving the car, and accepted the licence penalty points on his behalf so that he could avoid being banned from driving. Huhne pleaded guilty at his trial, resigned as a member of parliament, and he and Pryce were sentenced to eight months in prison for perverting the course of justice. + In April 2012, Conservative Party MP and Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt came under pressure to resign as a result of his closeness to Rupert Murdoch's media empire and alleged corruption in dealing with Murdoch's bid for News Corporation's takeover of BSkyB. + In October 2012, Andrew Mitchell resigned from his post as Chief Whip following allegations made about his conduct during an altercation with police at Downing Street on 19 September, the incident becoming known as "plebgate". + +2013 + In the 2013 Labour Party Falkirk candidate selection, which began following the announcement that the incumbent MP Eric Joyce was to step down at the 2015 general election, allegations were made on the significant infiltration of the selection process by the Unite trade union, the Labour Party's largest financial backer. + +2014 + In April 2014 Maria Miller, the Culture Secretary, resigned following pressure relating to the results of an investigation into her past expenses claims. + On 20 November 2014 Emily Thornberry resigned her shadow cabinet position shortly after polls closed in the Rochester and Strood by-election. Earlier in the day, she had received criticism after tweeting a photograph of a house in the constituency adorned with three flags of St. George and the owner's white van parked outside on the driveway, under the caption "Image from #Rochester", provoking accusations of snobbery. She was criticised by fellow Labour Party MPs, including leader Ed Miliband who said her tweet conveyed a "sense of disrespect". + Namagate, involving allegations that First Minister of Northern Ireland Peter Robinson may have financially benefitted from a deal with National Asset Management Agency (NAMA). + +2015 + In September 2015, Lord Ashcroft published a biography of David Cameron, which suggested that the then Prime Minister took drugs regularly and performed an "outrageous initiation ceremony" which involved inserting "a private part of his anatomy" into the mouth of a dead pig during his time in university. This became known as "piggate". It also led to questions about the Prime Minister's honesty with party donors' known tax statuses as Lord Ashcroft suggested he had openly discussed his non-domiciled status with him in 2009, earlier than previously thought. + +2017 + In 2017 the contaminated blood scandal, in which many haemophiliacs died from infected Factor medicine, hit the headlines and Parliament with allegations of an "industrial scale" criminal cover-up. MP Ken Clarke retracted remarks from his autobiography relating to the scandal and a public inquiry is now underway. + The Renewable Heat Incentive scandal in Northern Ireland, in which Arlene Foster set up a green energy scheme but failed to introduce cost controls, creating perverse incentives which eventually led to a £480m bill to the Northern Ireland budget. There were allegations that members of the Democratic Unionist Party attempted to postpone the closure of the scheme, which gave way to a spike in applications and causing the public purse millions of pounds. In January 2017, the scandal caused the resignation of the deputy First Minister, Martin McGuinness, after Foster refused to stand aside as First Minister pending an investigation, collapsing the Executive Office and triggering an early election of the Northern Ireland Assembly. The resulting political rifts meant the Assembly did not meet again until 2020. + +2018 + The 2018 Windrush scandal, involving members of the Windrush generation being wrongly detained, deported, or threatened with deportation which caused the resignation of then Home Secretary, Amber Rudd. + +2020s + +2020 + The Dominic Cummings scandal, where Dominic Cummings, chief strategist of Prime Minister Boris Johnson, broke COVID-19 pandemic restrictions during the UK's first nationwide lockdown while experiencing symptoms of the disease. Cummings and Johnson rejected calls for the former to resign. It was suggested that the scandal undermined the public's compliance with pandemic restrictions. + The Alex Salmond scandal concerned how the Scottish Government, led by incumbent First Minister of Scotland Nicola Sturgeon, breached its own guidelines in its investigation into the harassment claims against Sturgeon's predecessor as First Minister, Alex Salmond. The Scottish Government lost a judicial review into their actions and had to pay over £500,000 to Salmond for legal expenses. Salmond claimed that senior figures in Sturgeon's government and the ruling Scottish National Party (SNP) conspired against him for political reasons. Critics accused Sturgeon of breaking the Ministerial Code which resulted in calls for her resignation. Sturgeon disputed the allegations, arguing that while mistakes had been made, her government acted appropriately. + +2021 + The Greensill scandal, where former Prime Minister David Cameron approached a number of government ministers on behalf of Greensill Capital to lobby for the company to receive Covid Corporate Financing Facility loans. + The Sun published pictures and then video of leaked CCTV footage from inside the Department of Health of Health Secretary Matt Hancock and Gina Coladangelo kissing in a breach of COVID-19 social distancing guidance. Boris Johnson accepted Matt Hancock's apology and stated that he "considers the matter closed", however the Health Secretary resigned the following day. +In November 2021, Conservative MP Owen Paterson was found to have broken paid advocacy rules Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards but instead of approving his suspension, the government enforced a three-line whip on Conservative MPs to pass a motion that the investigation was "clearly flawed". After an outcry from opposition parties, the government made a U-turn and Paterson resigned. +Partygate involving social gatherings by Downing Street and Conservative Party staff during COVID-19 restrictions in late 2020. + +2022 + Neil Parish, Conservative MP for Tiverton and Honiton, was forced to resign in April after it was discovered that he had watched pornography in the House of Commons on at least two occasions. + Chris Pincher scandal. Chris Pincher, the Deputy Chief Whip of the Conservative Party, resigned on 30th June following allegations about him groping two men. Further allegations of harassment emerged against Pincher, along with claims that Prime Minister Boris Johnson had already been informed of his behaviour. The incremental effect of this and other recent controversies led to the resignation of 59 Conservative politicians, most notably Rishi Sunak as Chancellor and Sajid Javid as Health Secretary. This in turn, led to Boris Johnson committing to resign as leader of the Conservative Party, and thus as prime minister, when his replacement as leader had been chosen by his party. + +References + + +United Kingdom +United Kingdom politics-related lists +Political scandals +Bombardier Inc. () is a Canadian business jet manufacturer. Headquartered in Montreal, the company was founded in 1942 by Joseph-Armand Bombardier to market his snowmobiles and became one of the world's biggest producers of aircraft and trains. + +In the 1970s and 1980s, the company diversified into public transport vehicles and commercial jets and became a multinational corporation. It grew particularly fast at the end of the 1980s when the turnover multiplied sixfold within six years. At that time it was North America's most important producer of railway vehicles, Canada's most important aerospace producer and the worldwide leading snowmobile manufacturer. The growth came mainly from buying failing government-owned companies at a low price and orchestrating a turnaround. + +However, the launch of the CSeries aircraft sent the company into deep debt, pushing it to the brink of bankruptcy by 2015. As a result, the company sold nearly all of its operations except business jet manufacturing. + +Bombardier manufactures several series of corporate jets: Global 7500, Global Express, Challenger 650 and Challenger 3500. + +Divested lines of business + +Commercial aviation + +In 1986, Bombardier acquired Canadair for C$120 million from the Government of Canada after it recorded the largest corporate loss in Canadian history. + +In 1989, the company acquired Short Brothers. + +By 1990, the first product of the company, the Ski-Doo snowmobile, had become its weakest part gaging up deficits and high inventories. + +In 1990, it acquired Learjet. In 1992, the company acquired de Havilland Canada from Boeing. + +In 1995, the company founded Flexjet. In December 2013, the division was sold for $195 million. + +On June 29, 2016, Bombardier delivered the first CSeries CS100 aircraft (now called the Airbus A220) to Swiss International Air Lines. Air Canada placed an order for the aircraft one day earlier. + +In April 2016, Delta Air Lines placed an order for the aircraft. On September 26, 2017, after Boeing complained that Bombardier was selling the CS100 to Delta Air Lines below cost due to subsidies from the governments of Canada and Quebec, the United States Department of Commerce proposed a 219% tariff on the aircraft. Boeing's complaint stated that the CS100 planes were being sold at US$19.6 million each, below the US$33.2 million production cost. The governments of Canada and the United Kingdom threatened to stop ordering Boeing aircraft since the company was putting aerospace jobs at risk. On January 26, 2018, the United States International Trade Commission overturned the tariffs. Boeing did not appeal. + +In July 2018, Airbus acquired a 50.01% stake in the CSeries for one Canadian dollar, with an option to acquire the remaining interest by 2024. Airbus built a second CSeries assembly line at its A320 assembly facility in Mobile, Alabama. + +In November 2018, the company announced the sale of its turboprop passenger aircraft unit to an affiliate of Viking Air. It also announced 5,000 layoffs. + +In March 2019, the company sold its Business Aircraft Training business to CAE Inc. for $645 million. The business included flight simulators and training devices for the Bombardier Learjet, Challenger, and Global product lines. + +On 25 June 2019, Bombardier agreed with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries to sell the CRJ programme, a deal was expected to close in early 2020 subject to regulatory approval. Bombardier will retain the Mirabel assembly facility and produce the CRJ on behalf of Mitsubishi until the current order backlog is complete. + +In October 2019, Bombardier announced the sale agreement of its remaining aerostructure division to US company Spirit AeroSystems. The division at time of sale involved component manufacture for new and after-market Bombardier group and Airbus group aircraft models, and also operated in aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul. Due to how the 2020 pandemic affected the industry, the agreement was renegotiated with the sale to Spirit concluded finally in October 2020. Bombardier's former aerostructures division purchased by Spirit consisted at time of sale of operations in Belfast, UK; Casablanca, Morocco; and Dallas, USA. + +The 2019-20, aerostructures division sell-off was described at the time as supporting Bombardier's "strategic decision to reposition itself as a pure-play business aircraft company". + +In February 2020, Airbus acquired an additional 25% stake in the A220 for US$591 million. This transaction was the final step to get Bombardier Aviation out of the commercial jet industry. + +In December 2022, Bombardier broke ground on the new service center at the Abu Dhabi International Airport. This new facility in Abu Dhabi will be Bombardier’s first full-service facility in the United Arab Emirates. + +Bombardier Capital +From 1973, when it was based in Colchester, Vermont, Bombardier Capital offered financial services such as lending and leasing. + +In 1997, the company began transitioning some services to Jacksonville, Florida. + +In 2001, it ceased taking on new consumer loans. + +In 2005, Bombardier sold its inventory finance division to GE Commercial Finance. + +Military +The company acquired the rights to the Volkswagen Iltis in 1981. Production ceased in 1989. + +When UTDC was acquired by Bombardier in 1991 several military products were added: + +UTDC 24M32 - HLVW military trucks based on the Steyr 91 (Percheron) + MLVW military trucks based on the M35 2-1/2 ton cargo truck + +In 2003, the company sold its arms industry division in Canada. Military Aviation Services was sold to SPAR Aerospace. Land-based arms industry products made by Urban Transportation Development Corporation ceased operations. + +Public transport bus in Ireland + +In the late 1970s, in the Republic of Ireland, CIÉ (now Bus Éireann and Dublin Bus) commissioned a range of single and double-decker buses to be designed and produced. + +CIÉ looked for partners to build these buses in Ireland, eventually finding two: Bombardier, and the United States-based General Automotive Corporation (GAC) from Ann Arbor, Michigan. The two companies formed a new company Bombardier Ireland Limited, 51% owned by Bombardier and 49% owned by GAC. In August 1983, Bombardier sold its shares to GAC, with the company renamed GAC Ireland Limited. + +The prototypes were devised in Germany and production of 51 express coaches (KE type) and 366 double-decker buses (KD type) were assembled between 1980 and 1983 at a facility in Shannon, County Clare. They remained in service until 1997 and 2000, respectively. Some surviving examples are now exhibited at the National Transport Museum of Ireland at Howth Castle. + +Rail equipment + +The company diversified into rail transport after the 1970s energy crisis reduced demand for snowmobiles. + +In 1974, the company received its first order – to build MR-73 trains for Société de transport de Montréal for use on the Montreal Metro. +In 1975, the company acquired Montreal Locomotive Works. It was sold to General Electric in 1988. + +In 1982, the company won a contract from New York's Metropolitan Transportation Authority to build 825 R62A cars for the New York City Subway for $663 million. + +In 1985, the company ceased manufacturing locomotives and concentrated on producing passenger train rolling stock. It acquired a 45% stake in La Brugeoise et Nivelles (formerly BN Constructions Ferroviaires et Métalliques) based in Bruges in 1986, the assets of U.S. railcar manufacturers Budd Company and Pullman Company in 1987, and ANF Industrie based in Crespin, Nord, France in 1989. A series of acquisitions in the United Kingdom, Germany, Switzerland, Canada, and Mexico further increased operations. + +In 1996, the company was selected as the lead developer for the Acela Express trains, the fastest trains in North America, in a $710 million contract. Problems with the trains resulted in lawsuits between the company and Amtrak. + +In 2001, Bombardier acquired Adtranz (DaimlerChrysler Rail Systems), a manufacturer of trains which were widely used throughout Germany and Great Britain, becoming one of the largest manufacturers of railway rolling stock in the world. This division produced the Bombardier Turbostar. + +In 2005, it launched the Bombardier Zefiro high-speed rail, with speeds of 200–380 kilometres per hour, for the Ministry of Railways (China). + +On February 13, 2020, Alstom agreed to buy the Bombardier Transportation division for €7 billion. The acquisition deal was completed on January 29, 2021. + +Bombardier Recreational Products + +In January 1934, a blizzard prevented Joseph-Armand Bombardier from reaching the nearest hospital in time to save his two-year-old son, Yvon, who died from appendicitis complicated by peritonitis. + +Bombardier was a mechanic who dreamed of building a vehicle that could "float on snow". In 1935, in a repair shop in Valcourt, Quebec, he designed and produced the first snowmobile using a drive system he developed that revolutionized travel in snow and swampy conditions. + +In 1937, he patented and sold 12 of the 7-passenger "B7" snow coaches. They were used in rural Quebec to take children to school, carry freight, deliver mail, and as ambulances. In 1941, Bombardier opened a factory in Valcourt. + +In 1942, L'Auto-Neige Bombardier Limitée ("Bombardier Snow Car Limited") was founded in Valcourt. + +During World War II, the Government of Canada issued wartime rationing regulations. Bombardier customers had to prove that snowmobiles were essential to their livelihood in order to buy one. The company then shifted its focus to the arms industry. + +In 1947, during a blizzard in Saskatchewan, the company received positive press coverage when army snowmobiles resupplied isolated radio communication towers. + +In 1948, the Government of Quebec passed a law requiring all roads to be cleared of snow; Bombardier's sales fell by nearly half in one year. Armand Bombardier therefore decided to diversify his business, first by producing tracked snowplows sized specifically for use on municipal sidewalks, replacing horse-drawn vehicles, then by making all-terrain vehicles for the mining, petroleum, and forestry industries. + +The machines had removable front skis that could be replaced with front wheels for use on paved or hard surfaces, thus providing greater utility to his large snowmobiles. In 1951, the wooden bodies were replaced with sheet steel, and these vehicles were powered by Chrysler flathead six-cylinder engines and 3-speed manual transmissions. + +In the early 1950s, Bombardier focused on developing a snowmobile for 1 or 2 passengers. A breakthrough occurred in 1957 when Bombardier developed a one-piece molded rubber continuous track with enough durability to provide snow-gripping traction for lightweight vehicles. The vehicle was called the "Ski-Dog" because it was meant to replace the dog sled for hunters and trappers. However, in 1958, "Ski-Doo" was accidentally painted on the first prototype, and immediately became the popular name. + +The public soon discovered the great fun of speedy vehicles zooming over snow, and a new winter sport was born, centered in Quebec. In the first year, Bombardier sold 225 Ski-Doos; four years later, 8,210 were sold. Bombardier slowed promotion of the Ski-Doo line to prevent it from crowding out other company products, while still dominating the snowmobile industry against competitors Polaris Industries and Arctic Cat. + +In 1963, Roski was created in Roxton Falls, Quebec as a manufacturer of composite parts for the Ski-Doo. In the 1960s, V-8 engines were added. + +On February 18, 1964, J. Armand Bombardier died of cancer at age 56. Until then, he oversaw all areas of operation and controlled the research department, making all the drawings himself. The younger generation took over, led by Armand's sons and sons-in-law, reorganizing and decentralizing the company. The company adopted computer inventory, accounting, and billing. Distribution networks were improved and increased, and an incentive program was developed for sales staff. That year, a survey was mailed to Ski-Doo owners to find out how the product was being used. Germain Bombardier, who had been groomed by his father, took over the company upon his father's death in 1964. However, he quit and sold his shares in 1966 after a disagreement with other family members. Laurent Beaudoin, the son-in-law of the founder, then became president, a position he held until 1999. He had joined the company as controller in 1963 and was president for 25 years. + +In 1967, the company was renamed Bombardier Limited. By that time, the snowmobiles were very useful for the Inuit. + +In 1968, Clayton Jacobson II invented the jet ski and the company licensed his patents to create the Sea-Doo personal watercraft. + +On January 23, 1969, the company became a public company, listing on the Montreal Exchange and the Toronto Stock Exchange. + +In 1969–1970, the standard round windows reminiscent of portholes were replaced with larger rectangular windows that provided more interior light. A change was made to the Chrysler Industrial 318 engines with the automatic Loadflite transmissions. + +In 1970, the company acquired Rotax, an engine manufacturer based in Gunskirchen, Austria. + +In 1971, Bombardier acquired Moto-Ski. Also in 1971, Bombardier launched Operation SnoPlan, a program to promote snowmobile safety after a mounting death toll due to snowmobile accidents. + +In the 1970s, the company began producing Can-Am motorcycles, which included Rotax engines. + +In 2003, the company sold Bombardier Recreational Products to a group of investors: Bain Capital (50%), Bombardier Family (35%) and Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (15%) for $875 million. + +Aircraft fleet +As of February 2023, Bombardier Inc. has the following aircraft listed with Transport Canada and operate as ICAO airline designator BBA, and telephony BOMBARDIER. +Bell 206 helicopter – 1 +Challenger 600 – 1 +Bombardier BD-100 (CL30) – 1 +Bombardier BD-700 – 9 + +Bombardier Museum + +The Museum of Ingenuity J. Armand Bombardier is a museum in Valcourt, Quebec dedicated to the life of Joseph-Armand Bombardier and the snowmobile industry. Opened in 1971, with substantial renovations in 1990, the museum is professionally curated and features a wide array of Ski-Doos, other industrial designs, and a selection of related books, booklets and other items of interest to snowmobile enthusiasts. + +The museum includes the original garage "factory" where the first snowmobile was built. The garage was carefully removed from its original location in Valcourt and moved to its present site at the museum, which is located blocks away from the present-day Bombardier Recreational Products factory. + +Sponsorships +For the 2021 Formula 1 season, Bombardier was a sponsor of the Aston Martin Cognizant F1 Team. + +Bombardier served as the primary sponsor for Ben Rhodes and ThorSport Racing during their 2021 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Championship season. + +References + +Further reading + Hadekel, Peter. Silent Partners: Taxpayers and the Bankrolling of Bombardier. Toronto: Key Porter Books Limited, 2004. . + MacDonald, Larry.The Bombardier Story: Planes, Trains and Snowmobiles. Toronto: J. Wiley & Sons, 2001. . + +External links + + + Bombardier Inc. Corporate Reports – McGill University Library & Archives + + +1942 establishments in Quebec +Bombardier +Canadian brands +Companies listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange +Conglomerate companies of Canada +Multinational companies headquartered in Canada +S&P/TSX 60 +Truck manufacturers of Canada +Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 1942 +The Break key (or the symbol ⎉) of a computer keyboard refers to breaking a telegraph circuit and originated with 19th century practice. In modern usage, the key has no well-defined purpose, but while this is the case, it can be used by software for miscellaneous tasks, such as to switch between multiple login sessions, to terminate a program, or to interrupt a modem connection. + +Because the break function is usually combined with the pause function on one key since the introduction of the IBM Model M 101-key keyboard in 1985, the Break key is also called the Pause key. It can be used to pause some computer games. + +History +A standard telegraph circuit connects all the keys, sounders and batteries in a single series loop. Thus the sounders actuate only when both keys are down (closed, also known as "marking" — after the ink marks made on paper tape by early printing telegraphs). So the receiving operator has to hold their key down or close a built-in shorting switch in order to let the other operator send. As a consequence, the receiving operator could interrupt the sending operator by opening their key, breaking the circuit and forcing it into a "spacing" condition. Both sounders stop responding to the sender's keying, alerting the sender. (A physical break in the telegraph line would have the same effect.) + +The teleprinter operated in a very similar fashion except that the sending station kept the loop closed (logic 1, or "marking") even during short pauses between characters. Holding down a special "break" key opened the loop, forcing it into a continuous logic 0, or "spacing", condition. When this occurred, the teleprinter mechanisms continually actuated without printing anything, as the all-0s character is the non-printing NUL in both Baudot and ASCII. The resulting noise got the sending operator's attention. + +This practice carried over to teleprinter use on time-sharing computers. A continuous spacing (logical 0) condition violates the rule that every valid character has to end with one or more logic 1 (marking) "stop" bits. The computer (specifically the UART) recognized this as a special "break" condition and generated an interrupt that typically stopped a running program or forced the operating system to prompt for a login. Although asynchronous serial telegraphy is now rare, the key once used with terminal emulators can still be used by software for similar purposes. + +Sinclair +On the ZX80 and ZX81 computers, the Break is accessed by pressing . On the ZX Spectrum it is accessed by . The Spectrum+ and later computers have a dedicated key. It does not trigger an interrupt but will halt any running BASIC program, or terminate the loading or saving of data to cassette tape. An interrupted BASIC program can usually be resumed with the CONTINUE command. The Sinclair QL computer, without a key, maps the function to . + +BBC Micro +On a BBC Micro computer, the key generates a hardware reset which would normally cause a warm restart of the computer. A cold restart is triggered by pressing . If a filing system is installed, will cause the computer to search for and load or run a file called !Boot on the filing system's default device (e.g. floppy disk 0, network user BOOT). The latter two behaviours were inherited by the successor to Acorn MOS, RISC OS. These behaviours could be changed or exchanged in software, and were often used in rudimentary anti-piracy techniques. + +Because of the BBC Micro's near universal usage in British schools, later versions of the machine incorporated a physical lock on the Break key to stop children from intentionally resetting the computer. + +Modern keyboards +On many modern PCs, interrupts screen output by BIOS until another key is pressed. This is effective during boot in text mode and in a DOS box in Windows safe mode with 50 lines. On early keyboards without a key (before the introduction of 101/102-key keyboards) the Pause function was assigned to , and the Break function to ; these key-combinations still work with most programs, even on modern PCs with modern keyboards. Pressing the dedicated key on 101/102-key keyboards sends the same scancodes as pressing , then , then releasing them in the reverse order would do; additionally, an E1hex prefix is sent, which enables 101/102-key-aware software to discern the two situations, while older software usually just ignores the prefix. The key is different from all other keys in that it sends no scancodes at all on release in PS/2 modes 1 or 2, so it is impossible to determine whether this key is being held down with older devices. In PS/2 mode 3 or USB HID mode, there is a release scancode, so it is possible to determine whether this key is being held down on modern computers. + +On modern keyboards, the key is usually labeled Pause with Break below, sometimes separated by a line: , or Pause on the top of the keycap and Break on the front, or only Pause without Break at all. In most Windows environments, the key combination brings up the system properties. + +Keyboards without Break key +Compact and notebook keyboards often do not have a dedicated key. + +Substitutes for : + or or on certain Lenovo laptops. + or on certain Dell laptops. + on some other Dell laptops. + on Samsung. + on certain HP laptops. + on certain HP laptops. + on certain Logitech (LOGI) keyboards. + +Substitutes for : + or or on certain Lenovo laptops. + on certain Dell laptops. + on certain HP laptops. + on certain HP laptops. + +For some Dell laptops, without a key, press the and select "Interrupt". + +Usage for breaking the program's execution +While both and combination are commonly implemented as a way of breaking the execution of a console application, they are also used for similar effect in integrated development environments. Although these two are often considered interchangeable, compilers and execution environments usually assign different signals to these. Additionally, in some kernels (e.g. miscellaneous DOS variants) is detected only at the time OS tries reading from a keyboard buffer and only if it's the only key sequence in the buffer, while is often translated instantly (e.g. by INT 1Bh under DOS). Because of this, is usually a more effective choice under these operating systems; sensitivity for these two combinations can be enhanced by the BREAK=ON CONFIG.SYS statement. + +See also +System request +Scroll lock +Num lock + +References + +External links + +Computer keys +Out-of-band management +A bogie ( ) (or truck in North American English) is a chassis or framework that carries a wheelset, attached to a vehicle—a modular subassembly of wheels and axles. Bogies take various forms in various modes of transport. A bogie may remain normally attached (as on many railroad cars and semi-trailers) or be quickly detachable (as the dolly in a road train or in railway bogie exchange); it may contain a suspension within it (as most rail and trucking bogies do), or be solid and in turn be suspended (as most bogies of tracked vehicles are); it may be mounted on a swivel, as traditionally on a railway carriage or locomotive, additionally jointed and sprung (as in the landing gear of an airliner), or held in place by other means (centreless bogies). + +In Northern England (particularly Yorkshire),Scotland and some part of Wales, the term is used for a child’s (usually home-made) wooden cart. + +While bogie is the preferred spelling and first-listed variant in various dictionaries, bogey and bogy are also used. + +Railway +A bogie in the UK, or a railroad truck, wheel truck, or simply truck in North America, is a structure underneath a railway vehicle (wagon, coach or locomotive) to which axles (and, hence, wheels) are attached through bearings. In Indian English, bogie may also refer to an entire railway carriage. In South Africa, the term bogie is often alternatively used to refer to a freight or goods wagon (shortened from bogie wagon). + +The first locomotive with a bogie was built by William Chapman (engineer) in 1812, this one hauled itself along by chains and was not successful, but he built a more successful locomotive with two gear driven bogies in 1814. +The bogie was first used in America for wagons on the Quincy Granite Railroad in 1829 and for locomotives by John B. Jervis along with the 4-2-0 locomotive to support the smokebox on it in the early 1830s, but it didn't get accepted for decades. The first use of bogie coaches in Britain was in 1872 by the Festiniog Railway. The first standard gauge British railway to build coaches with bogies, instead of rigidly mounted axles, was the Midland Railway in 1874. + +Purpose + +Bogies serve a number of purposes: + Support of the rail vehicle body + Stability on both straight and curved track + Improve ride quality by absorbing vibration and minimizing the impact of centrifugal forces when the train runs on curves at high speed + Minimizing generation of track irregularities and rail abrasion + +Usually, two bogies are fitted to each carriage, wagon or locomotive, one at each end. Another configuration is often used in articulated vehicles, which places the bogies (often Jacobs bogies) under the connection between the carriages or wagons. + +Most bogies have two axles, but some cars designed for heavy loads have more axles per bogie. Heavy-duty cars may have more than two bogies using span bolsters to equalize the load and connect the bogies to the cars. + +Usually, the train floor is at a level above the bogies, but the floor of the car may be lower between bogies, such as for a bilevel rail car to increase interior space while staying within height restrictions, or in easy-access, stepless-entry, low-floor trains. + +Components + +Key components of a bogie include: + The bogie frame: This can be of inside frame type where the main frame and bearings are between the wheels, or (more commonly) of outside frame type where the main frame and bearings are outside the wheels. + Suspension to absorb shocks between the bogie frame and the rail vehicle body. Common types are coil springs, leaf springs and rubber airbags. + At least one wheelset, composed of an axle with bearings and a wheel at each end. + The bolster, the main crossmember, connected to the bogie frame through the secondary suspension. The railway car is supported at the pivot point on the bolster. + Axle box suspensions absorb shocks between the axle bearings and the bogie frame. The axle box suspension usually consists of a spring between the bogie frame and axle bearings to permit up-and-down movement, and sliders to prevent lateral movement. A more modern design uses solid rubber springs. + Brake equipment: Two main types are used: brake shoes that are pressed against the tread of the wheel, and disc brakes and pads. + In powered vehicles, some form of transmission, usually electrically powered traction motors with a single speed gearbox or a hydraulically powered torque converter. + +The connections of the bogie with the rail vehicle allow a certain degree of rotational movement around a vertical axis pivot (bolster), with side bearers preventing excessive movement. More modern, bolsterless bogie designs omit these features, instead taking advantage of the sideways movement of the suspension to permit rotational movement. + +Locomotives + +Diesel and electric + +Modern diesel and electric locomotives are mounted on bogies. Those commonly used in North America include Type A, Blomberg, HT-C and Flexicoil trucks. + +Steam +On a steam locomotive, the leading and trailing wheels may be mounted on bogies like Bissel trucks (also known as pony trucks). Articulated locomotives (e.g. Fairlie, Garratt or Mallet locomotives) have power bogies similar to those on diesel and electric locomotives. + +Rollbock + +A rollbock is a specialized type of bogie that is inserted under the wheels of a rail wagon/car, usually to convert for another track gauge. Transporter wagons carry the same concept to the level of a flatcar specialized to take other cars as its load. + +Archbar bogies +In archbar or diamond frame bogies, the side frames are fabricated rather than cast. + +Tramway + +Modern + +Tram bogies are much simpler in design because of their axle load, and the tighter curves found on tramways mean tram bogies almost never have more than two axles. Furthermore, some tramways have steeper gradients and vertical as well as horizontal curves, which means tram bogies often need to pivot on the horizontal axis, as well. + +Some articulated trams have bogies located under articulations, a setup referred to as a Jacobs bogie. Often, low-floor trams are fitted with nonpivoting bogies; many tramway enthusiasts see this as a retrograde step, as it leads to more wear of both track and wheels and also significantly reduces the speed at which a tram can round a curve. + +Historic +In the past, many different types of bogie (truck) have been used under tramcars (e.g. Brill, Peckham, maximum traction). A maximum traction truck has one driving axle with large wheels and one nondriving axle with smaller wheels. The bogie pivot is located off-centre, so more than half the weight rests on the driving axle. + +Hybrid systems + +The retractable stadium roof on Toronto's Rogers Centre used modified off-the-shelf train bogies on a circular rail. The system was chosen for its proven reliability. + +Rubber-tyred metro trains use a specialised version of railway bogies. Special flanged steel wheels are behind the rubber-tired running wheels, with additional horizontal guide wheels in front of and behind the running wheels, as well. The unusually large flanges on the steel wheels guide the bogie through standard railroad switches, and in addition keep the train from derailing in case the tires deflate. + +Variable gauge axles + +To overcome breaks of gauge some bogies are being fitted with variable gauge axles (VGA) so that they can operate on two different gauges. These include the SUW 2000 system from ZNTK Poznań. + +Cleminson system +The Cleminson system is not a true bogie, but serves a similar purpose. It was based on a patent of 1883 by James Cleminson, and was once popular on narrow-gauge rolling stock, e.g. on the Isle of Man and Manx Northern Railways. The vehicle would have three axles and the outer two could pivot to adapt to curvature of the track. The pivoting was controlled by levers attached to the third (centre) axle, which could slide sideways. + +Tracked vehicles +Some tanks and other tracked vehicles have bogies as external suspension components (see armoured fighting vehicle suspension). This type of bogie usually has two or more road wheels and some type of sprung suspension to smooth the ride across rough terrain. Bogie suspensions keep much of their components on the outside of the vehicle, saving internal space. Although vulnerable to antitank fire, they can often be repaired or replaced in the field. + +Articulated bogie + +An articulated bogie is any one of a number of bogie designs that allow railway equipment to safely turn sharp corners, while reducing or eliminating the "screeching" normally associated with metal wheels rounding a bend in the rails. There are a number of such designs, and the term is also applied to train sets that incorporate articulation in the vehicle, as opposed to the bogies themselves. + +If one considers a single bogie "up close", it resembles a small rail car with axles at either end. The same effect that causes the bogies to rub against the rails at longer radius causes each of the pairs of wheels to rub on the rails and cause the screeching. Articulated bogies add a second pivot point between the two axles (wheelsets) to allow them to rotate to the correct angle even in these cases. + +Articulated lorries (tractor-trailers) + +In trucking, a bogie is the subassembly of axles and wheels that supports a semi-trailer, whether permanently attached to the frame (as on a single trailer) or making up the dolly that can be hitched and unhitched as needed when hitching up a second or third semi-trailer (as when pulling doubles or triples). + +Bogie (aircraft) + +Radial steering truck +Radial steering trucks, also known as radial bogies, allow the individual axles to align with curves in addition to the bogie frame as a whole pivoting. For non-radial bogies, the more axles in the assembly, the more difficulty it has negotiating curves, due to wheel flange to rail friction. For radial bogies, the wheel sets actively "steer" through curves, thus reducing wear at the wheel flange to rail interface and improving adhesion. + +In the US, this has been implemented for locomotives both by EMD and GE. The EMD version, designated HTCR, was made standard equipment for the SD70 series, first sold in 1993. However, the HTCR in actual operation had mixed results and relatively high purchase and maintenance costs. Thus EMD introduced the HTSC truck in 2003, which basically is the HTCR stripped of radial components. GE introduced their version in 1995 as a buyer option for the AC4400CW and later Evolution Series locomotives. However it also met with limited acceptance due to relatively high purchase and maintenance costs, and customers have generally chosen GE Hi-Ad standard trucks for newer and rebuilt locomotives. + +See also + +Articles on bogies and trucks + + Arnoux system + Bissel bogie + Blomberg B + Gölsdorf axle + Jacobs bogie + Krauss-Helmholtz bogie + Lateral motion device + Mason Bogie + Pony truck + Rocker-bogie + Scheffel bogie + Schwartzkopff-Eckhardt bogie + Syntegra + +Related topics + + Caster + Dolly + Flange + List of railroad truck parts + Luttermöller axle + Road–rail vehicle + Skateboard truck + Spring (device) + Timmis system, an early form of coil spring used on railway axles. + Trailing wheel + Wheel arrangement + Wheelbase + Wheelset + +References + +Further reading + +External links + +Truck (bogie) with tyres + Track modelling +Bogies/Trucks + Barber truck parts + Suspension systems + Locomotive’s Bogies & Components + + +Locomotive parts +Rail technologies +Vehicle technology +British Steel was a major British steel producer. It originated from the nationalised British Steel Corporation (BSC), formed in 1967, which was privatised as a public limited company, British Steel plc, in 1988. It was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. The company merged with Koninklijke Hoogovens to form Corus Group in 1999. + +History + +Alasdair M. Blair (1997), Professor of International Relations and Head of the Department of Politics and Public Policy at De Montfort University, has explored the history of British Steel since the Second World War to evaluate the impact of government intervention in a market economy. He suggests that entrepreneurship was lacking in the 1940s; the government could not persuade the industry to upgrade its plants. For generations, the industry had followed a piecemeal growth pattern that proved relatively inefficient in the face of world competition. + +The Labour Party came to power at the 1945 general election, pledging to bring several industries into state ownership. In 1946, it put the first steel development plan into practice with the aim of increasing capacity. It passed the Iron and Steel Act 1949, which meant nationalisation of the industry, as the government bought out the shareholders, and created the Iron and Steel Corporation of Great Britain. American Marshall Plan aid in 1948–50 reinforced modernisation efforts and provided funding for them. However, the nationalisation was reversed by the Conservative government after 1952. + +The industry was re-nationalised in 1967 under another Labour government, becoming British Steel Corporation (BSC). But by then, 20 years of political manipulation had left companies, such as British Steel, with serious problems: a complacency with existing equipment, plants operating below full capacity (hence the low efficiency), poor-quality assets, outdated technology, government price controls, higher coal and oil costs, lack of funds for capital improvement, and increasing competition on the world market. + +By the 1970s, the Labour government's main goal for the declining industry was to keep employment high. Since British Steel was a major employer in depressed regions, it was decided to keep many mills and facilities operating at a loss. In the 1980s, Conservative Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher re-privatised BSC as British Steel. Under private control, the company dramatically cut its workforce and underwent a radical reorganisation and massive capital investment to again become competitive in the world marketplace. + +Nationalisation +BSC was formed from the assets of former private companies which had been nationalised, largely under the Labour government of Harold Wilson, on 28 July 1967. Wilson's was the second attempt at nationalisation, the post-war government of Clement Attlee had created the Iron and Steel Corporation of Great Britain in 1951 taking public ownership of 80 companies but this had been largely reversed by the following Conservative governments of the 1950s with only Britain's largest steel company, Richard Thomas and Baldwins, remaining in public ownership. + +BSC was established under the Iron and Steel Act 1967, which vested in the Corporation the shares of the fourteen major UK-based steel companies then in operation, being: +David Colville & Sons; +Consett Iron Company Ltd; +Dorman Long & Company Ltd; +English Steel Corporation Ltd; +GKN Steel Company Ltd; +John Summers & Sons Ltd; +The Lancashire Steel Corporation Ltd; +The Park Gate Iron and Steel Company Ltd; +Richard Thomas and Baldwins Ltd; +Round Oak Steelworks Ltd; +South Durham Steel & Iron Company Ltd; +The Steel Company of Wales Ltd; +Stewarts & Lloyds, Ltd; and +The United Steel Companies Ltd. + +At the time of its formation, BSC comprised around ninety per cent of the UK's steelmaking capacity; it had around 268,500 employees and around 200 wholly or partly-owned subsidiaries based in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Africa, South Asia, and South America. + +Dorman Long, South Durham and Stewarts and Lloyds had merged as British Steel and Tube Ltd before vesting took place. BSC later arranged an exchange deal with Guest, Keen and Nettlefolds Ltd (GKN), the parent company of GKN Steel, under which BSC acquired Dowlais Ironworks at Merthyr Tydfil and GKN took over BSC's Brymbo Steelworks near Wrexham. + +Restructuring +According to Blair (1997), British Steel faced serious problems at the time of its formation, including obsolescent plants; plants operating under capacity and thus at low efficiency; outdated technology; price controls that reduced marketing flexibility; soaring coal and oil costs; lack of capital investment funds; and increasing competition on the world market. By the 1970s, the government adopted a policy of keeping employment high in the declining industry. This especially impacted BSC since it was a major employer in a number of depressed regions. + +One of the arguments made in favour of nationalisation was that it would enable steel production to be rationalised. This involved concentrating investment on major integrated plants, placed near the coast for ease of access by sea, and closing older, smaller plants, especially those that had been located inland for proximity to coal supplies. + +From the mid-1970s, British Steel pursued a strategy of concentrating steelmaking in five areas: South Wales, South Yorkshire, Scunthorpe, Teesside and Scotland. This policy continued following the Conservative victory at the 1979 general election. Other traditional steelmaking areas faced cutbacks. Under the Labour government of James Callaghan, a review by Lord Beswick had led to the reprieve of the so-called 'Beswick plants', for social reasons, but subsequent governments were obliged under EU rules to withdraw subsidies. Major changes resulted across Europe, including in the UK: + + At Consett, the closure of the British Steel works in 1980 marked the end of steel production in Derwent Valley and the sharp decline of the area. + At Corby, the closure of the former Stewarts & Lloyds site in the early-1980s saw the loss of 11,000 jobs, leading to an initial unemployment rate of over 30%. + In Wales, works at East Moors (Cardiff) closed in 1978. +Shotton closure of the heavy end with the loss of over 6,000 jobs. + In Scotland, Western Europe's largest hot strip steel mill Ravenscraig steelworks, near Motherwell, North Lanarkshire, was closed by British Steel in 1992, leading to high levels of unemployment in the area. It also led to the closure of several local support and satellite businesses, such as the nearby British Steel Clydesdale Works in Mossend, Clyde Alloy in Netherton and equipment maker Anderson Strathclyde. Demolition of the site's landmark blue gasometer in 1996, and the subsequent cleanup operation, has created the largest brownfield site in Europe. This huge area between Motherwell and Wishaw is in line to be transformed into the new town of Ravenscraig, a project partly funded by Corus. + +Privatisation +The Conservative manifesto for the 1987 general election noted that "British Steel has more than doubled its productivity since 1979 and made a profit last year for the first time in over ten years." + +Following Margaret Thatcher's re-election, on 3 December 1987 the Conservative government formally announced in a statement by Kenneth Clarke, Minister of State for Trade and Industry, that it intended to privatise the British Steel Corporation. + +On 5 September 1988 the assets, rights and liabilities of British Steel Corporation were transferred to British Steel plc, registered under the Companies Act as company number 2280000, by the British Steel Act 1988. + +The government retained a special share which carried no voting rights but until 31 December 1993, permitted the government to stop any one party controlling more than 15% of the shares. + +British Steel employees were given a free allocation of shares, and offered two free shares for each they purchased up to £165, discounted shares up to £2,200, and priority on applying for shares up to £10,000. + +Dealing in shares opened on the London Stock Exchange on 5 December 1988. + +Post-privatisation +The privatised company later merged with the Dutch steel producer Koninklijke Hoogovens to form Corus Group on 6 October 1999. Corus itself was taken over in March 2007 by the Indian steel operator Tata Steel. + +Chairmen +Julian, Lord Melchett (1967–1973) +Monty Finniston (1973–1976) +Charles Villiers (1976–1980) +Ian MacGregor (1980–1983) +Robert Haslam (1983–1986) +Robert Scholey (1986–1992) +Sir Brian Moffat (1992-1999) + +Ian MacGregor later became famous for his role as Chairman of the National Coal Board during the UK miners' strike (1984–1985). During the strike the "Battle of Orgreave" took place at British Steel's coking plant. + +Sponsorships +In 1971 British Steel sponsored Sir Chay Blyth in his record-making non-stop circumnavigation against the winds and currents, known as 'The Impossible Voyage'. In 1992 they sponsored the British Steel Challenge, the first of a series of 'wrong way' races for amateur crews. + +British Steel had agreed a sponsorship deal with Middlesbrough Football Club during the 1994–95 season, with a view to British Steel-sponsored Middlesbrough shirts making their appearance the following season. But the sponsorship deal was terminated before it commenced after it was revealed that British steel only made up a tiny fraction of steel used in construction of the stadium, and that the bulk of the steel had been imported from Germany. + +In popular culture + +The English rock band XTC mentioned British Steel in their 1979 song Making Plans for Nigel. + +The iconic heavy metal band Judas Priest named their 1980 album British Steel after the (in)famous British Steel Corporation. Lead singer Rob Halford explained in an interview that the 'sounds of heavy metal' have been with him since childhood, due to the close proximity of the BSC plant where he grew up. + +See also + British Iron and Steel Research Association + +References + +Bibliography + +Further reading + Bank, John, and Jones, Ken, Worker Directors Speak: The British Steel Corporation Employee Directors (Gower Press, Farnborough, 1977) + , on nationalization 1945–50, pp 183–235 +Dudley, G. F., and J. J. Richardson, eds. Politics and Steel in Britain, 1967–1988: The Life and Times of the British Steel Corporation (1990) +Jones, Ken. The Human Face of Change: Social Responsibility and Rationalization at British Steel (Institute of Personnel Management, London, 1974) +Rhodes, Martin; Wright, Vincent. "The European Steel Unions and the Steel Crisis, 1974–84: A Study in the Demise of Traditional Unionism," British Journal of Political Science, April 1988, Vol. 18 Issue 2, pp 171–195 in JSTOR +Scheuerman, William. The Steel Crisis: The Economics and Politics of a Declining Industry (1986) + +External links +British Steel Corporation, 1988 Competition Commission report +British Steel plc and C Walker & Sons (Holdings) Ltd, 1990 Competition Commission report + +Catalogue of the BSC archives, held at the Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick +Catalogue of the BSC Department of Operational Research archives, held at the Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick + +Steel companies of the United Kingdom +Defunct companies of the United Kingdom +Former nationalised industries of the United Kingdom +British companies established in 1967 +Manufacturing companies established in 1967 +Manufacturing companies disestablished in 1999 +1967 establishments in England +1999 disestablishments in England +Companies formerly listed on the London Stock Exchange +British companies disestablished in 1999 +1999 mergers and acquisitions +Tata Steel Europe +BT Group plc (trading as BT and formerly British Telecom) is a British multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered in London, England. It has operations in around 180 countries and is the largest provider of fixed-line, broadband and mobile services in the UK, and also provides subscription television and IT services. + +BT's origins date back to the founding in 1846 of the Electric Telegraph Company, the world's first public telegraph company, which developed a nationwide communications network. BT Group as it came to be started in 1912, when the General Post Office, a government department, took over the system of the National Telephone Company becoming the monopoly telecoms supplier in the United Kingdom. The Post Office Act of 1969 led to the GPO becoming a public corporation, Post Office Telecommunications. The British Telecom brand was introduced in 1980, and became independent of the Post Office in 1981, officially trading under the name. British Telecom was privatised in 1984, becoming British Telecommunications plc, with some 50 percent of its shares sold to investors. The Government sold its remaining stake in further share sales in 1991 and 1993. BT holds a royal warrant and has a primary listing on the London Stock Exchange, and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. + +BT controls a number of large subsidiaries. Its BT Enterprise division supplies telecoms services to corporate and government customers worldwide, and its BT Consumer division supplies telephony, broadband, and subscription television services in the United Kingdom to around 18 million customers. + +History + +Electrical telegraphy + +A number of privately owned electrical telegraph companies operated in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 1846 onwards. Among them were: + Electric Telegraph Company, the world's first public telegraph company, which developed a nationwide communications network + British and Irish Magnetic Telegraph Company + British Telegraph Company + London District Telegraph Company + United Kingdom Telegraph Company + +General Post Office +The Telegraph Act 1868 passed the control of all these to the Postal Telegraphs Department of the newly formed General Post Office (GPO). The Telegraph Act 1869 granted the GPO a monopoly over communications. + +With the invention of the telephone by Alexander Graham Bell in 1876 the GPO began to provide telephone services from some of its telegraph exchanges. It was confirmed in 1880 that the 1869 Act included telephony even though the telephone had not been invented when the Act was first conceived. In 1882, the Postmaster-General, Henry Fawcett started to issue licences to operate a telephone service to private businesses and the telephone system grew under the GPO in some areas and private ownership in others. The GPO's main competitor, the National Telephone Company (NTC), emerged in this market by absorbing other private telephone companies. It controlled most of telephony in Britain before the 1880 ruling on the Telegraph Act 1869 mandated a nationalised service – which was instated in 1911 prior to the absorption of the NTC into the GPO in 1912. + +The trunk network was unified under GPO control in 1896 and the local distribution network in 1912. A few municipally owned services remained outside of GPO control. These were Kingston upon Hull, Portsmouth and Guernsey. Hull still retains an independent operator, Kingston Communications, though it is no longer municipally controlled. + +Post Office engineers in the inter-war period had considerable expertise in both telecommunications and hearing assistive devices. + +Post Office Telecommunications + +In 1969 the GPO, a government department, became the Post Office, a nationalised industry separate from government. Post Office Telecommunications was set up as a division of the Post Office, in October 1969. The Post Office Act 1969 was passed to provide for greater efficiency in post and telephone services; rather than run a range of services, each organisation would be able to focus on their respective service, with dedicated management. By law, the Post Office retained the exclusive right to operate the UK national telecom network, (although since 1914 had licensed Hull City Council to operate its own local telephone network, Kingston Communications). + +The 1970s was a period of great expansion for the Post Office. Most exchanges were modernised and expanded, and many services, such as STD and international dialling were extended. By the early 1970s, subscribers in most cities could dial direct to Western Europe, the US, and Canada; by the end of the decade, most of the world could be dialled direct. The System X digital switching platform was developed, and the first digital exchanges began to be installed. The Post Office also procured their own fleet of vans, based on the Commer FC model. + +Post Office Telecommunications researched and implemented data communications using packet switching in the 1970s, resulting in the EPSS, International Packet Switched Service, and Packet Switch Stream. + +British Telecom + +In 1979 the Conservatives decided that telecommunications should be fully separated from the Post Office. The British Telecom brand was introduced in 1980. On 1 October 1981, this became the official name of Post Office Telecommunications, which became a state-owned corporation independent of the Post Office under the provisions of the British Telecommunications Act 1981. In 1982 BT's monopoly on telecommunications was broken with the granting of a licence to Mercury Communications. + +Privatisation +On 19 July 1982, the Government announced its intention to sell shares in British Telecom to the public. On 1 April 1984, British Telecommunications was incorporated as a public limited company (plc) in anticipation of the passing of the Telecommunications Bill. This Bill received Royal Assent on 12 April, and the transfer to British Telecommunications plc from British Telecom as a statutory corporation of its business, its property, its rights and liabilities took place on 6 August 1984. + +Initially all shares in the new plc were owned by the Government. In November 1984, 50.2% of the new company was offered for sale to the public and employees. Shares were listed in London, New York, and Toronto and the first day of trading on was 3 December 1984. The Government sold half its remaining interest in December 1991 and the other half in July 1993. In July 1997, the new Labour Government relinquished its Special Share ("Golden Share"), retained at the time of the flotation, which had effectively given it the power to block a takeover of the company, and to appoint two non-executive directors to the Board. + +The company changed its trading name to "BT" on 2 April 1991. In 1996 Peter Bonfield was appointed CEO and chairman of the executive committee, promising a "rollercoaster ride". + +In the 1990s, BT entered the Irish telecommunications market through a joint venture with the Electricity Supply Board, the Irish state owned power provider. This venture, entitled Ocean, found its main success through the launch of Ireland's first subscription-free dial-up ISP, oceanfree.net. As a telecoms company it found much less success, mainly targeting corporate customers. BT acquired 100% of this venture in 1999. + +Attempted global alliances + +MCI +In June 1994 BT and MCI Communications launched Concert Communications Services which was a $1 billion joint venture between the two companies. Its aim was to build a network which would provide easy global connectivity to multinational corporations. + +This alliance progressed further on 3 November 1996 when the two companies announced that they had agreed to a merger, creating a global telecommunications company called Concert plc. The proposal gained approval from the European Commission, the US Department of Justice, and the US Federal Communications Commission and looked set to proceed. + +However, in light of pressure from investors reacting to the slide in BT's share price on the London Stock Exchange, BT reduced its bid price for MCI, releasing MCI from its exclusivity clause and allowing it to speak to other interested parties. On 1 October 1997, Worldcom made a rival bid for MCI which was followed by a counter-bid from GTE. + +BT sold its stake in MCI to Worldcom in 1998 for £4,159 million. As part of the deal, BT also bought out from MCI its 24.9% interest in Concert Communications, thereby making Concert a wholly owned part of BT. + +The reaction to the failure of the deal in the City of London was critical of then Chairman Iain Vallance and CEO Peter Bonfield, and the lack of confidence from the failed merger led to their removal. + +AT&T +As BT now owned Concert, and still wanted access to the North American market, it needed a new partner. An AT&T/BT option had been mooted in the past, but stopped on regulatory grounds due to their individual virtual monopolies in their home markets. By 1996, this had receded to the point where a deal was possible and a deal was consummated in 1998. + +At its height, the Concert managed network was extensive. Although Concert continued signing customers, its rate of revenue growth slowed, so that in 1999 David Dorman was made CEO with a brief to revive it. + +In late 2000 the BT and AT&T boards fell-out – partly due to each partner's excess debt, and the resulting board room clear-outs – partly due to Concert's extensive annual losses. AT&T recognized that Concert was a threat to its ambitions if left intact, and so negotiated a deal where Concert was split in two in 2001: North America and Eastern Asia went to AT&T, the rest of the world and $400M to BT. BT's remaining Concert assets were merged into its BT Ignite, later BT Global Services group. + +BT Ireland +In 2000, BT acquired Esat Telecom Group plc, and all its subsidiary companies, and Ireland On Line. It also purchased Telenor's minority shareholding in Esat Digifone. The Esat Telecom Group was split in two with the landline and internet operations were combining with Ocean to become part of BT Ignite. Esat Group was renamed Esat BT in July 2002, and eventually BT Ireland in April 2005. Esat Digifone became part of BT Wireless, before being spun off into a separate independent company mmo2 plc (now Telefónica Europe). EsatBT installed the first DSL lines in Ireland, to try and compete heavily with former state telecoms company Eircom and operate one exchange, in Limerick. + +2001 debt crisis +By 2001, BT had a debt of £30 billion, much of which was acquired during the bidding round for the 3rd generation mobile telephony (commonly known as 3G) licences. It had also failed in its series of proposed global mergers, and the funds flowing from its then virtual monopoly of the UK market place had been largely removed. It was also headed by two executives who had little support from the London Stock Exchange, particularly in light of a 60% drop in share price in sixteen months. + +Philip Hampton joined as CFO, and in April 2001 Sir Iain Vallance was replaced as chairman by recognised turn around expert Sir Christopher Bland. + +Europe's largest rights issue +In May 2001 BT carried out corporate Europe's largest ever rights issue, allowing it to raise £5.9 billion. A few days before, it sold stakes in Japan Telecom, in mobile operator J-Phone Communications, and in Airtel of India to Vodafone. + +Sale of Yell Group and demerger of O2 +In June 2001 BT's directory business was sold as Yell Group to a combination of private equity firms Apax Partners and Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst for £2.1 billion. + +A demerger followed in November 2001, when the former mobile telecommunications business of BT, BT Cellnet, was hived off as a separate business named "mmO2". This included BT owned or operated networks in other countries, including BT Cellnet (UK), Esat Digifone (Ireland), and Viag Interkom (Germany). All networks now owned or operated by mmO2 (except Manx Telecom) were renamed as O2. The de-merger was accomplished via a share-swap, all British Telecommunications plc shareholders received one mmO2 plc and one BT Group plc (of which British Telecommunications is now a wholly owned subsidiary) share for each share they owned. British Telecommunications plc was de-listed on 16 November, and the two new companies started trading on 19 November. + +Aftermath +At the end of the series of sales, in October 2001 Sir Peter Bonfield resigned, and was replaced by former Lucent CEO Ben Verwaayen. + +During Bonfield's tenure the share price went from £4 to £15, and back again to £5. Bonfield's salary to 31 March 2001 was a basic of £780,000 (increasing to £820,000) plus a £481,000 bonus and £50,000 of other benefits including pension. He also received a deferred bonus, payable in shares three years' later, of £481,000, and additional bonuses of £3.3 million. + +mmO2 plc was replaced by O2 plc in a further share-swap in 2005, and subsequently bought in an agreed takeover by Telefónica for £18 billion and delisted. In 2004, BT launched Consult 21, a consultation organisation that was to aid BT 21CN in the eventual conversion to digital telephony. + +In 2004, BT was awarded the contract to deliver and manage N3, a secure and fast broadband network for the NHS National Programme for IT (NPfIT) program, on behalf of the English National Health Service (NHS). + +In 2005 BT made a number of acquisitions. In February 2005, BT acquired Infonet (now re-branded BT Infonet), a large telecoms company based in El Segundo, California, giving BT access to new geographies. It also acquired the Italian company Albacom. Then in April 2005, it bought Radianz from Reuters (now rebranded as BT Radianz), which expanded BT's coverage and provided BT with more buying power in certain countries. + +In August 2006, BT acquired online electrical retailer Dabs.com for £30.6 million. The BT Home Hub manufactured by Inventel was also launched in June 2006. + +In October 2006, BT confirmed that it would be investing 75% of its total capital spending, put at £10 billion over five years, in its new Internet Protocol (IP) based 21st century network (21CN). Annual savings of £1 billion per annum were expected when the transition to the new network was to have been completed in 2010, with over 50% of its customers to have been transferred by 2008. That month the first customers on to 21CN was successfully tested at Adastral Park in Suffolk. + +2007 to 2012 +In January 2007, BT acquired Sheffield-based ISP, PlusNet plc, adding 200,000 customers. BT stated that PlusNet will continue to operate separately out of its Sheffield head-office. On 1 February 2007, BT announced agreed terms to acquire International Network Services Inc. (INS), an international provider of IT consultancy and software. + +In February 2007, Sir Michael Rake succeeded Sir Christopher Bland. In April that year, they acquired COMSAT International, followed in October by the acquisition of Lynx Technology. + +BT acquired Wire One Communications in June 2008 and folded the company into "BT Conferencing", its existing conferencing unit, as a new video business unit +In July 2008, BT acquired the online business directory firm Ufindus for £20 million in order to expand its position in the local information market in GB. On 28 July 2008, BT acquired Ribbit, of Mountain View, California, "Silicon Valley's First Phone Company". Ribbit provides Adobe Flash/Flex APIs, allowing web developers to incorporate telephony features into their software as a service (SaaS) applications. + +In the early days of its fibre broadband rollout, BT said it would deliver fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) to around 25% of the Country, with the rest catered for by the slower fibre-to-the-cabinet (FTTC), which uses copper wiring to deliver the final stretch of the connection. In 2014, with less than 0.7% of the company's fibre network being FTTP, BT dropped the 25% target, saying that it was "far less relevant today" because of improvements made to the headline speed of FTTC, which had doubled to 80Mbit/s since its fibre broadband rollout was first announced. To supplement FTTC, BT offered an 'FTTP on Demand' product. In January 2015, BT stopped taking orders for the on-demand product. + +On 1 April 2009, BT Engage IT was created from the merger of two previous BT acquisitions, Lynx Technology and Basilica. Apart from the name change not much else changed in operations for another 12 months. On 14 May 2009, BT said it was cutting up to 15,000 jobs in the coming year after it announced its results for the year to 31 March 2009. Then in July 2009, BT offered workers a long holiday for an up front sum of 25% of their annual wage or a one-off payment of £1000 if they agree to go part-time. + +On 6 April 2011, BT launched the first online not-for-profit fundraising service for UK charities called BT MyDonate as part of its investment to the community. The service will pass on 100% of all donations made through the site to the charity, and unlike other services which take a proportion as commission and charge charities for using their services, BT will only pass on credit/debit card charges for each donation. The service allows people to register to give money to charity or collect fundraising donations. BT developed MyDonate with the support of Cancer Research UK, Changing Faces, KidsOut, NSPCC and Women's Aid. + +2013 to present + +In March 2013, BT was allocated 4G spectrum in the UK following an auction and assignment by Ofcom, after paying £201.5m. + +On 1 August 2013, BT launched its first television channels, BT Sport, to compete with rival broadcaster Sky Sports. Plans for the channels' launch came about when it was announced in June 2012 that BT had been awarded a package of broadcast rights for the Premier League from the 2013–14 to 2015–16 season, broadcasting 38 matches from each season. In February 2013, BT acquired ESPN Inc.'s UK and Ireland TV channels, continuing its expansion into sports broadcasting. ESPN America and ESPN Classic were both closed, while ESPN continued to be operated by BT. On 9 November 2013, BT announced it had acquired exclusive rights to the Champions League and Europa League for £897m, from the 2015 season, with some free games remaining including both finals. + +On 1 November 2014, BT created a new central business services (CBS) organisation to provide customer services and improve operational efficiency levels. + +On 24 November 2014, shares in BT rose considerably on the announcement that the company was in talks to buy back O2, while at the same time confirmed it was also in talks to acquire EE. BT subsequently entered into exclusive talks to buy EE for £12.5 billion on 15 December 2014 and confirmed on 5 February 2015, subject to regulatory approval. The deal will combine BT's 10 million retail customers and EE's 24.5 million direct mobile subscribers. Deutsche Telekom will own 12% of BT, while Orange S.A. will own 4%. + +In March 2015, launched a 4G service as BT Mobile BT Group CEO Gavin Patterson announced that BT plans to migrate all of its customers onto the IP network by 2025, switching off the company's ISDN network. + +On 15 January 2016, BT received final unconditional approval by the Competition and Markets Authority to acquire EE. The deal was officially completed on 29 January 2016 with Deutsche Telekom now owning 12% of BT, while Orange S.A. own 4%. + +On 1 February 2016, BT announced a new organisational structure that will take effect from April 2016 following the successful acquisition of EE. The EE brand, network and high street stores will be retained and will become a second consumer division, operating alongside BT Consumer. It will serve customers with mobile services, broadband and TV and will continue to deliver the Emergency Services Network contract which was awarded to EE in late 2015. There will be a new BT Business and Public Sector division that will have around £5bn of revenues and will serve small and large businesses as well as the public sector in the UK and Ireland. It will comprise the existing BT Business division along with EE's business division and those parts of BT Global Services that are UK focused. There will also be another new division; BT Wholesale and Ventures that will comprise the existing BT Wholesale division along with EE's MVNO business as well as some specialist businesses such as Fleet, Payphones and Directories. Gerry McQuade, currently Chief Sales and Marketing Officer, Business at EE, will be its CEO. + +On 8 June 2017, BT appointed KPMG as its new auditor to replace PwC in the wake of the fraud scandal in Italy that triggered a major profit warning earlier that year. Also in of that year, KPMG fired six US employees over a scandal that calls into question efforts to ensure that public company accounts are being properly scrutinised. + +On 8 July 2017, The Daily Telegraph reported that BT "has called in consultants from McKinsey to conduct a review of its businesses in the hope of saving hundreds of millions of pounds per year. The work, dubbed 'Project Novator', is understood to include a potential merger of BT's struggling global services corporate networking and IT unit with its business and public sector division". + +On 28 July 2017, BT announced organisational changes to "simplify its operating model, strengthen accountabilities and accelerate its transformation" and involves bringing together its BT Consumer and EE divisions into a new unified BT Consumer division that will operate across three brands – BT, EE and Plusnet. It will take effect from 1 April 2018. + +On 18 April 2018, BT announced further organisational changes following unification of its BT Consumer and EE divisions, and involves bringing together its BT Business and Public Sector and BT Wholesale and Ventures divisions into a new unified division known as BT Enterprise. It will also include BT's Ventures business which "acts as an incubator for potential new growth areas of the company" and will report as a single unit from 1 October 2018. + +In June 2021, the French telecommunications company, Altice acquired a 12% stake in BT, increasing that stake to 18% in December 2021. Drahi's Altice increased its holding to 24.5% in May 2023. Drahi's purchase of 650 million shares cost about £960 million, at BT's share price of 147.85 pence at the close of trading on 22 May 2023. + +Altice's increasing ownership in BT Group posed questions around the national security international ownership of the United Kingdoms infrastructure asset presented. The UK government opened an investigation in May 2022 to look into possible security implications of Patrick Drahi and Alrice's ownership. In August 2022 the Government concluded its investigation and Patrick Drahi would not be forced to cut his stake in BT after the UK government ruled the investment did not pose any national security concerns. + +In July 2023, BT announced the appointment of Allison Kirkby as its new Chief Executive, replacing Philip Jansen by January 2024. + +Operations + +BT Group is a holding company; the majority of its businesses and assets are held by its wholly owned subsidiary British Telecommunications plc. BT's businesses are operated under special government regulation by the British telecoms regulator Ofcom (formerly Oftel). BT has been found to have significant market power in some markets following market reviews by Ofcom. In these markets, BT is required to comply with additional obligations such as meeting reasonable requests to supply services and not to discriminate. + +BT runs the telephone exchanges, trunk network and local loop connections for the vast majority of British fixed-line telephones. Currently BT is responsible for approximately 28 million telephone lines in GB. Apart from KCOM Group, which serves Kingston upon Hull, BT is the only UK telecoms operator to have a Universal service Obligation, (USO) which means it must provide a fixed telephone line to any address in the UK. It is also obliged to provide public call boxes. + +As well as continuing to provide service in those traditional areas in which BT has an obligation to provide services or is closely regulated, BT has expanded into more profitable products and services where there is less regulation. These are principally, broadband internet service and bespoke solutions in telecommunications and information technology. + +Branding + +In 2019, a simplified BT logo and brand was launched to replace the previous mutli-coloured globe logo. In April 2022, BT announced its intentions to focus on the EE brand for consumer products. + +Corporate affairs + +Buildings and facilities + +As BT operates in around 180 countries, it owns and leases a range of buildings and facilities in the UK and around the world. In 2001, it sold some of its UK property portfolio for £2.38 billion to Telereal Trillium in a 30-year leaseback. The deal included 6,700 properties and contributed towards alleviating its debt at the time, with the main advantage being flexibility as it allows BT to vacate property over time, so as to adapt to changing operational requirements. + +Headquarters + +Until December 2021, BT Group's world headquarters and registered office was the BT Centre, a 10-storey office building at 81 Newgate Street in the City of London, opposite St Paul's tube station. In November 2021 BT relocated to new headquarters at One Braham, a brand new 18-storey building completed earlier in 2021. + +Buildings and stations +Some of its UK buildings and stations are: + + Adastral Park – headquarters of BT Labs in Suffolk + The Assembly – building in Bristol + Baynard House – building in City of London + BT Riverside Tower – headquarters of BT Northern Ireland in Belfast + BT Tower – building in Swansea + Goonhilly Satellite Earth Station – satellite earth station in Cornwall + Guardian telephone exchange – telephone exchange in Manchester + Madley Communications Centre – satellite earth station in Herefordshire + National Network Management Centre – network operations centre in Shropshire + Stadium House – building in Cardiff + +Telecommunications towers + +BT remains one of the largest owners of telecommunications towers in the UK and were a major node in its microwave network. Its BT Tower in London is notable for numerous reasons such as being the tallest building in the UK from its construction in the 1960s until the early 1980s, its revolving restaurant at the top known as 'Top of the Tower' in operation through the late 1960s and 1970s, and remains one of the UK's most important communications nerve centres, the heart of a vast broadcasting and communications network. It carries approximately 95% of the UK's TV content, including live broadcasts and 99% of all live football games as well as pioneering the first international HD, 3D and 4K television transmissions. It serves media production and distribution customers around the world and as part of the Things Connected Network launched in London, it became the highest building in the world to host an Internet of things (IoT) base station in September 2016. Some of its towers are: + +Other +Some of its other UK facilities are: + +Divisions +BT Group is organised into the following divisions: + +Customer facing + BT Consumer – provides retail telecoms services to consumers in the UK including: + BT Broadband + BT Mobile + BT Superfast Fibre + BT TV + BT Wi-fi + EE – mobile network operator, provides mobile and fixed communications services to consumers in the UK + Plusnet – internet service provider, provides mobile and fixed communications services to consumers in the UK + TNT Sports (joint venture, operated by Warner Bros. Discovery) + BT Business – products and services to organisations in the small-to-medium-sized business, corporate and public sectors in the UK and globally, and wholesale services. Formed from the merger of BT Enterprise and BT Global Services. + Openreach – fenced-off wholesale division, established in 2005 following a review by Ofcom and commenced operations in 2006, employing 25,000 engineers previously employed by BT. Its purpose is to ensure that other communications providers have the same operational conditions as BT, and is responsible for the provision and repair in the "last mile" of copper wire. + +Internal services + Networks – Responsible for designing, building and running the networks and technology platforms that BT and its customers use. + BT Research + Digital – Responsible for leading BT's digital transformation, driving experience innovation and delivering the products and services customers use. +BT's procurement arm, "BT Sourced", was established in February 2021 and is based in Dublin. + +Corporate governance + +BT's board of directors as of November 2021: + +BT's executive committee as of March 2018: + +Pension fund +BT has the second largest defined benefit pension plan of any UK public company. The trustees valued the scheme at £36.7 billion at the end of 2010; an actuarial valuation valued the deficit of the scheme at £9.043 billion as of 31 December 2008. +Following a change in the regulations governing inflation index linking, the deficit was estimated at £5.2 billion in November 2010. + +Sponsorships +BT sponsored Scotland's domestic rugby union championship and cup competitions between 1999 and 2006. + +On 31 July 2012, it was announced that BT agreed a three-year sponsorship deal with Ulster Rugby and sees BT become the Official Communications Partner. BT's logo will appear on the Ulster Rugby shirt sleeve for all friendlies, Heineken Cup and RaboDirect Pro12 matches as well as a significant brand presence at their home ground; Ravenhill Stadium. + +On 29 July 2013, it was announced that BT had partnered up with Scottish Rugby Union in a four-year sponsorship deal with its two professional clubs; Edinburgh Rugby and Glasgow Warriors that will commence from August 2013. The deal involves BT Sport becoming the new shirt sponsor for both clubs as well as being promoted with BT Group at their respective home grounds; Scotstoun Stadium and Murrayfield Stadium. + +On 13 May 2014, BT joined Sky, TalkTalk and Virgin Media as founding partners of Internet Matters, a not-for-profit organisation that provides online safety advice for parents and their children. + +On 28 May 2014, it was announced that BT agreed a £20 million four-year sponsorship deal with Scottish Rugby Union which includes BT securing the naming rights for Murrayfield Stadium which becomes BT Murrayfield Stadium, become sponsor of the Scotland sevens team, become principal and exclusive sponsor of Scotland's domestic league and cup competitions from next season, taking over the role from The Royal Bank of Scotland and become sponsor of Scottish Rugby's four new academies that aims to drive forward standards for young players who have aspirations to play professionally. + +On 14 April 2015, it was announced that as part of BT's current £20 million four-year sponsorship deal with Scottish Rugby Union that was announced in May 2014, BT has completed its sponsorship portfolio following an additional investment of £3.6 million for the 3 years remaining of its sponsorship deal, to become the new shirt sponsor for the Scotland national teams. + +On 27 January 2016, it was announced that BT, alongside YouTube will be the new joint headline sponsors in a three-year deal with Edinburgh International Television Festival. The two companies will "share prominence across all branding of the 41st TV Festival, including the famous MacTaggart Lecture and will work closely with the festival organisers in their bid to reflect new trends in a rapidly transforming industry, from new ways of distributing content to technical innovations such as virtual reality". + +BT is the founding and principal partner of the Wayne Rooney Foundation, which was established to improve the lives of children and young people. The Foundation will run events "to raise vital funds to support the work of key organisations dedicated to supporting disadvantaged and vulnerable children and young people". These organisations are four chosen charities which are, Manchester United Foundation, NSPCC, Claire House Children's Hospice and Alder Hey Children's Hospital. The first of these events was Wayne's testimonial match in August 2016 between Manchester United F.C. and Everton F.C. which raised £1.2 million. The match was screened live through BT Sport with BT MyDonate being the official fundraising platform for the testimonial, with both online and text options for donations promoted during the match. + +On 26 May 2017, it was announced that BT is to sponsor the 2017 British Urban Film Festival (BUFF) and sees BT host every event of the film festival, including the Awards at the BT Tower. BT will also broadcast the awards ceremony on BT.com and will have the opportunity to screen films acquired from the festival on its BT TV store platform. + +On 6 September 2017, it was announced that BT had extended its current £20 million four-year sponsorship deal with Scottish Rugby Union that was announced in May 2014, for a further three years beginning from June 2018. The new deal sees BT retain the naming rights to BT Murrayfield Stadium, alongside its role as principal partner of the Scotland national team and Scotland 7s. BT's logo will continue to be displayed on the front of Scotland rugby shirts across the world, in the Six Nations Championship, as well as the summer and autumn test matches. BT will also continue to be promoted at Edinburgh Rugby and Scotstoun Stadium in Glasgow. + +Historical financial performance +BT's financial results have been as follows: + +2008–present + +1992–2007 + +Controversies + +World Wide Web hyperlink patent +In 2001, BT discovered it owned a patent () which it believed gave it patent rights on the use of hyperlink technology on the World Wide Web. The corresponding UK patent had already expired, but the US patent was valid until 2006. On 11 February 2002, BT began a court case relating to its claims in a US federal court against the internet service provider Prodigy Communications Corporation. In the case British Telecommunications plc v. Prodigy, the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York ruled on 22 August 2002 that the BT patent was not applicable to web technology and granted Prodigy's request for summary judgment of non-infringement. + +Behavioural targeting +In early 2008 it was announced that BT had entered into a contract (along with Virgin Media and TalkTalk) with the spyware company Phorm (responsible under their 121Media guise for the Apropos rootkit) to intercept and analyse their users' click-stream data and sell the anonymised aggregate information as part of Phorm's OIX advertising service. The practice, known as "behavioural targeting" and condemned by critics as "data pimping", came under intense fire from various internet communities and other interested-parties who believe that the interception of data without the consent of users and web site owners is illegal under UK law (RIPA). At a more fundamental level, many have argued that the ISPs and Phorm have no right to sell a commodity (a user's data, and the copyrighted content of web sites) to which they have no claim of ownership. In response to questions about Phorm and the interception of data by the Webwise system Sir Tim Berners-Lee, the creator of the World Wide Web, indicated his disapproval of the concept and is quoted as saying of his data and web history: + +Huawei infrastructure access +Beginning in 2010 the UK intelligence community investigated Huawei, the Chinese supplier of BT's new fibre infrastructure with increasing urgency after the United States, Canada and Australia prevented the company from operating in their countries. Although BT had notified the UK government in 2003 of Huawei's interest in their £10bn network upgrade contract, they did not raise the security implications as BT failed to explain that the Chinese company would have unfettered access to critical infrastructure. On 16 December 2012 the then prime minister David Cameron was supplied with an in-depth report indicating that the intelligence services had very grave doubts regarding Huawei, and that UK governmental, military, and civilian privacy may have been under serious threat. + +On 7 June 2013, British lawmakers concluded that BT should not have allowed Huawei access to the UK's communications network without ministerial oversight, saying they were 'deeply shocked' that BT did not inform government that they were allowing Huawei and ZTE, both with ties to the Chinese military, unfettered access to critical national systems. Furthermore, ministers discovered that the agency with the responsibility to ensure Chinese equipment and code was threat-free was entirely staffed by Huawei employees. Subsequently, parliamentarians confirmed that in case of an attack on the UK there was nothing that could be done to stop Chinese infiltration. + +By 2016 Huawei had put measures in place to ensure the integrity of UK national security. Specifically their UK work is now overseen by a board that includes directors from GCHQ, the Cabinet Office and the Home Office. + +ZTE, another Chinese company that supplies extensive network equipment and subscriber hardware used with BT 'Infinity', was also under scrutiny by parliament's intelligence and security committee after the US, Canada, Australia and the European Union declared the company a security risk. + +In 2020 following a government ruling, BT began removing Huawei equipment from its broadband and mobile networks in order to comply with new restrictions on the usage of Huawei equipment. As of 2023, the process is still ongoing. + +Alleged complicity with drone strikes in Yemen and Somalia +In September 2012, BT entered into a $23 million deal with the US military to provide a key communications cable connecting RAF Croughton, a US military base on UK soil, with Camp Lemonnier, a large US base in Djibouti. Camp Lemonnier is used as a base for American drone attacks in Yemen and Somalia, and has been described by The Economist as "the most important base for drone operations outside the war zone of Afghanistan." + +Human rights groups including Reprieve and Amnesty International have criticised the use of armed drones outside declared war zones. Evidence produced by The Bureau of Investigative Journalism and Stanford University's International Human Rights & Conflict Resolution Clinic suggest that drone strikes have caused substantial civilian casualties, and may be illegal under international law. + +In 2013, BT was the subject of a complaint by Reprieve to the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills under the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises, following their refusal to explain whether or not their infrastructure was used to facilitate drone strikes. The subsequent refusal of this complaint was appealed in May 2014, on the basis that the UK National Contact Point's decision did not follow the OECD Guidelines. The issue of bias was also raised, due to the appointment of Lord Ian Livingston as government minister for the department which was processing the complaint: Livingston had occupied a senior position at BT when the cable between RAF Croughton and Camp Lemonnier was originally built. + +Overcharging +In February 2017, a review of the telecoms market by Ofcom found that BT's landline only contracts provided poor value to customers. Ofcom ordered BT to reduce their prices but stopped short of demanding that customers were compensated. In January 2021, Law firm Mishcon de Reya filed a claim with the Competition Appeal Tribunal against BT worth £600 million, accusing them of historic overcharging on landlines. The class action lawsuit claims BT have increased their prices for line-only services every year since 2009, whilst the wholesale cost for delivering these services has reduced. The claimants suggest that customers could be entitled to compensation of up to £500 each.